IP Chapter 88

Incurable Pain | Chapter 88

Sheng Wen x Ning Shumo

Since she could remember, Ning Shumo’s favorite person, apart from her parents, was Bai Xunyin.

In fact, there wasn’t any particular reason for it. It was just that she was short since she was a child, growing slower than her peers. 

When she was in kindergarten, she looked like a little radish head, and many older children teased her as a “little dot.”

Ning Shumo didn’t really understand the malice of those children, but she felt genuinely wronged.

Whenever she felt wronged, she would cry a lot, with snot and tears flowing. Bai Xunyin, who was in the same kindergarten, saw her and proactively handed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.” 

The little Bai Xunyin even gave Ning Shumo candy to eat, her doll-like face showing a sweet smile. 

“Have some candy.”

At that time, Ning Shumo thought she had seen an angel because Bai Xunyin was just too beautiful.

As they spent time together, she found that Bai Xunyin was indeed an angel.

Pure, kind, sincerely treating her friends… 

In short, Ning Shumo was completely hooked on her.

From elementary school to junior high to high school, she always asked Bai Xunyin which school she planned to attend, then told her own parents that she wanted to go there too.

A friendship lasting decades started with a handkerchief and a piece of candy.

When high school ended and her parents wanted to take her to another county for development, Ning Shumo cried just like when she was a child, with snot and tears, like a child.

It was still Bai Xunyin who comforted her with a wry smile.

Ning Shumo was an extremely pa.s.sionate and pure girl. She treated family and friends the same way. Her parents said she was naturally a bit lacking in intelligence, carefree.

It seemed like nothing could affect Ning Shumo’s happiness, including studying, including the pressure of facing the college entrance examination in high school. It was as if all these things had nothing to do with this girl.

Her “lack of intelligence” personality from birth destined her to stay away from all sadness and troubles.

Until the girl met Sheng Wen.

Ning Shumo couldn’t remember the specific day in January when she saw Sheng Wen, but the stunning feeling she had when she saw him remained fresh in her memory. No matter how many years pa.s.sed, it was still a dazzling memory.

When she entered the cla.s.sroom after being a.s.signed to Cla.s.s 3 of Sanzhong, she saw Sheng Wen standing by the desk.

The young man was tall and slender, with a straight back and a pale and tough profile with pursed lips, giving off an aura of not being easy to provoke—but for some reason, he perfectly hit all of Ning Shumo’s points.

Even the few strands of unruly black hair on Sheng Wen’s forehead looked so cute and stubborn.

Ning Shumo felt like she fell in love with a boy at first sight, something she had never experienced in her seventeen years of life. It was like… suddenly being hit by something, unable to stop.

Ning Shumo immediately went up to ask the slim boy, “What’s your name?”

The boy, who seemed to have a cleanliness obsession, was wiping the table repeatedly. He raised his head in surprise when he heard her voice and squinted at Ning Shumo.

Unafraid of his unfriendly gaze, Ning Shumo, with her eyes that had been praised as “big” since childhood, slightly curved them, looking completely silly and sweet.

After a confrontation for a while, the boy with a low voice told her, “Sheng Wen.”

“h.e.l.lo, Sheng Wen, I’m Ning Shumo.” 

It was the first time Ning Shumo had been so familiar and enthusiastic with a boy. She hurriedly said, “You can call me Ah Mo.”

After all, all her friends called her that, and she… wanted to be friends with Sheng Wen.

Unfortunately, the boy was indifferent to her enthusiasm.

Sheng Wen didn’t react much, just coldly responded with a “Hmm.”

Actually, the first time she took the initiative to talk to him was like hitting a wall, but Amo was not discouraged. 

After school, she walked with Bai Xunyin and eagerly said—

“Yinyin, I think I’ve fallen for someone.”

Bai Xunyin was drinking water and almost choked when she heard this, turning her head incredulously to look at Ning Shumo.

She rarely had such a look—like looking at a patient with a mental disorder.

“Oh, I’m serious.” 

Ning Shumo felt embarra.s.sed by her gaze and covered her face shyly, like a shy girl. 

“Do you know that Sheng Wen? Oh, I really like him, completely in line with my aesthetic preferences.”

Indeed, all love at first sight is shallow.

But Ning Shumo thought she had seen quite a few handsome guys, but she never expected herself to fall under the spell of a man’s “pomegranate skirt.” After all, she was indifferent to all kinds of handsome stars, but she only liked Sheng Wen’s type.

Seeing the infatuated look of this girl, Bai Xunyin was surprised at first, but then couldn’t help but laugh.

Amo must have been impulsive for a moment. After all, she had never had feelings for any boy before. This time, she was just stunned by his appearance.

At first, she thought so, but it wasn’t until a month later that Bai Xunyin realized she was completely wrong.

Because this time, Ah Mo… seemed to be really serious.

For a whole month, she brought breakfast to Sheng Wen every day, ate lunch with him, and pestered him to help her with her studies after cla.s.s.

This was completely the standard way to pursue someone, and Ah Mo was completely smitten!

It was only then that Bai Xunyin understood the seriousness of the situation. So, one afternoon, she grabbed Amo, who was about to go find Sheng Wen, and seriously wrote on a piece of paper—

[Ah Mo, Sheng Wen is a top student, always ranking in the top three of the school. But it seems like his family conditions aren’t that good, and he’s usually quite cold. He probably won’t have time for a relationship.]

It was a bit straightforward, but regardless, she didn’t want her friend to get hurt.

Ah Mo was very important to her.

“I know.” 

After reading it, Ning Shumo blinked, smiled sweetly, and seemed completely indifferent. 

“Yinyin, do you know, he’s just a block of wood.”

“I just want to be nice to him, I won’t force him to date me.”

“I like him, and I can’t control myself.”

…

Perhaps, when you like someone, you can’t help but want to be nice to them. It’s really hard to control.

Bai Xunyin’s eyelashes fluttered as she looked at Ah Mo’s bright smile and sighed softly.

Actually, there was something Ning Shumo was afraid to say, thinking it would make her seem too conceited, so she didn’t tell Bai Xunyin.

Actually… she felt that Sheng Wen wasn’t completely indifferent to her.

One rainy day, she forgot to bring an umbrella.

It often rained in Linlan, and she was careless, often forgetting to check the weather forecast and bring an umbrella. This had happened countless times, and Ning Shumo was used to it.

But as she stood at the entrance of the teaching building, about to run out in the rain as usual, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her slender wrist.

Ning Shumo looked over in surprise and was even more surprised to find Sheng Wen standing beside her, seemingly having walked over at some point.

The young man’s long and slender hand was firm and broad, and after grabbing her, he quickly let go.

Ignoring Ning Shumo’s surprised eyes, Sheng Wen, with emotions as indifferent as ever in his eyes and voice, casually shook the umbrella in his hand and said, “Don’t get wet, let’s go together.”

Later, they went to the bus stop together under the umbrella.

The umbrella wasn’t big enough, but Ning Shumo was completely shielded from the rain, while Sheng Wen got wet on one side.

The young man didn’t mind, and after escorting her to the bus stop, he even handed the umbrella to the girl without saying a word, then silently ran off.

Ning Shumo knew that his home wasn’t far from Third Middle High and he never took the subway or bus.

But today… he accompanied her to the bus stop.

Watching Sheng Wen’s retreating figure, Ning Shumo couldn’t help but smile. She was so silly that she forgot to take the umbrella even after getting off the bus and ended up drenched in rain.

But the girl vowed that this was the happiest rain she had ever experienced in her life, she was extremely happy.

From that moment on, Ning Shumo decided not to live aimlessly anymore.

She wanted to study hard and try to go to university with Sheng Wen. Perhaps by then, Sheng Wen wouldn’t reject her anymore.

Unfortunately, the girl knew that Sheng Wen’s goal was to attend Xiaoda University in the northern city, the kind of university only top students could attend.

And she… although she was in the top cla.s.s and her grades were good, there was still a gap between her and the “top.” A

fter being reckless for over a decade, with only three months left until the college entrance examination, it seemed that it was too late to cram now.

“Yinyin, I don’t want to have regrets, but…”

One day, Ning Shumo earnestly confided her worries to Bai Xunyin, sighing softly, “I might really not be able to get into Xiaoda University.”

Even a carefree girl like her, who had been lacking in intelligence since she was a child, could feel anxious sometimes.

This time, Bai Xunyin didn’t write down any futile words of comfort on paper. She just hugged her little girl—she didn’t want Amo to get hurt, but maybe everyone’s life had an inevitable “mirage.”

Brief happiness would eventually fade away.

And once it faded, it was hard to come by again.

As the college entrance examination approached, Ning Shumo’s smile became less and less frequent.

Even though she pretended to be as carefree and indifferent as usual, she couldn’t hide from those who knew her well.

One evening after self-study, when almost all the students had left, Ning Shumo was still in the cla.s.sroom struggling with a math problem.

Although she had grown taller, she was still slender and pet.i.te, and she curled up on the chair, frowning and solving the problem.

She was unusually focused, ignoring the hustle and bustle around her—until a shadow blocked the light above her head and cast a dark shadow.

Ning Shumo was startled and subconsciously looked up.

Her eyes, which had been tortured by these countless math problems, met Sheng Wen’s black eyes. 

The young man’s eyes under the bright light were even colder, with tightly pursed lips, and his facial expression was obscure.

He didn’t say anything, just stared at the cramped girl.

Unfortunately, Ning Shumo didn’t notice the boy standing beside her, his long fingers clenched into a fist, restrained.