My Life with Narration

Chapter 542 - 533: I Liked You Since I Was 18

[Thirty minutes ago, Jiang Yu brushed past you here]

On the street by the south gate of the stadium, Su Qing jogged along, observing every passerby, especially approaching young men to inquire.

The reason for asking young men was because Jiang Yu herself was very beautiful, and with makeup, she stood out in the crowd. However, the results were disappointing.

Everyone he asked just shook their heads. After all, not everyone has a detective’s insight, leaving him somewhat anxious.

But just then, a voiceover cue in his mind surprised him greatly.

"Thirty minutes," Su Qing muttered to himself, then opened the map on his phone. As long as she didn’t take a taxi, she shouldn’t have gone too far in thirty minutes.

He then sent a voice message in the temporary WeChat group of the three.

"Stop searching, come over to my side quickly. Someone here said they saw her half an hour ago!"

The message was sent, and he immediately received replies from the two.

Li Zijun: "Got it! On my way!"

Du Qiang: "Really? That’s great, I’m coming over right now!"

Hearing this, Su Qing thought for a moment and said, "You two advance towards me along both sides; let’s meet under the sculpture in the middle of Fengyang Avenue square, and hurry!"

"Okay!"

"Understood!"

Besides him, both were police officers, and their execution was unquestionable. Even though Du Qiang was already losing his composure at this point, he still responded promptly to the command without wasting a word.

Because they both understood that saying more on the phone now didn’t help as much as discussing face-to-face at the scene.

Soon, two young men headed towards him from different directions from the other two exits of the stadium.

And Su Qing himself wasn’t idle either. Since he found a clue, he continued searching the nearby areas. With the voiceover guiding him, he could easily deduce Jiang Yu’s movement route.

[Twenty-nine minutes ago, Jiang Yu passed by!]

[Twenty-seven minutes ago, Jiang Yu stopped here!]

[Twenty-five minutes ago, Jiang Yu stopped by this kiosk to buy something]

Thanks to the voiceover cues, he slowly pieced together her path, though it wasn’t real-time, meaning she was still on the move.

It seemed like there was progress, but it wasn’t fast enough.

Time passed quickly, and another half hour had gone by. It was now completely dark, with streetlights illuminating both sides of the street, and shop signs flashing with colorful lights, keeping the entire street from being dim.

Because the New Year was approaching, the trees were adorned with festive lights, already giving a sense of the upcoming celebration.

"How is it? Any news?"

"No, how about you?"

"None here either!"

At the sculpture in the middle of Fengyang Avenue, the three finally gathered, but still, there was no sight of Jiang Yu.

It was almost nine at night by now, and although there were many passersby, the three of them were freezing.

"What should we do, Ah Qing, think of something!" Du Qiang reached out and grabbed his clothes hopefully.

Even Li Zijun was looking at him, waiting for his next plan, but the truth was he had no plan at all. He was just following the voiceover here.

"Whew~~"

He blew hot air onto his frozen red hands, took out his phone, opened the map, and his mind raced, wondering where Jiang Yu might have gone.

’Come on, give me a hint, just one hint!’

Su Qing was desperately calling out for his internal guide, but with too few clues right now, even the voiceover couldn’t provide any hint. This was also because he had only met Jiang Yu once, whereas with someone like Li Zijun or Shen Yi, who had a significant impact on him, the voiceover might have provided a clue.

As he grew increasingly anxious, Du Qiang’s phone suddenly rang.

"It’s her, it’s her call!" Du Qiang shouted in excitement and joy.

"Answer it, quickly!"

"Let’s keep it down," Su Qing whispered to Li Zijun, pulling him slightly.

Hearing this, Du Qiang hurriedly pressed the answer button, "Hello, Jiang Yu, where are you? I’ve been looking for you for days. Why did you take so long to call me back? Are you okay?"

As soon as the call connected, Du Qiang unleashed all his pent-up emotions from the past few years, his words full of worry.

After he finished speaking, Jiang Yu’s voice came through the phone, soft and giving a very relaxed feeling.

"Sorry to make you worry. But... you don’t need to look for me anymore. I’m leaving. I didn’t intend to make this call initially, but I couldn’t let go. I thought, since I’m leaving, I might as well say goodbye. Consider it my last bit of willfulness; I hope I’m not bothering you."

Even at this point, she still didn’t want to affect others.

As Jiang Yu spoke, the sound of wind whistling through came from Du Qiang’s phone, and in an instant, the voiceover in Su Qing’s mind chimed four simple words:

[Southwestern direction]

Su Qing abruptly looked up, orienting himself, grabbed both of them by the hand, and started running.

Although the hint was just those four words, he knew that once he started moving, the voiceover would definitely provide more guidance.

The two were stunned but had no time to think and could only follow him, while Du Qiang continued the call.

"No, no, not at all. Where are you going?"

"Where? I haven’t decided yet, but I miss home. I think I’ll go back there." Jiang Yu’s voice came again.

At this moment, Du Qiang might not have noticed anything, but Li Zijun sensed something wrong in the other party’s tone. He quickly looked at Su Qing, and the two exchanged a glance. Su Qing didn’t speak, just picked up the pace.

Seeing this, Li Zijun easily kept up, and for Du Qiang, it was even less of a problem as the physical stamina of the two police officers far exceeded that of a young man who never exercises.

"Tell me where you are now, I’ll come find you, we can discuss anything in person, alright?" Du Qiang continued to persuade.

On the other end, Jiang Yu, dressed in an old cotton coat, was walking down the street. She looked at the lights on the trees along the road, a slight smile emerging. Hearing this voice, she felt very at ease and then softly said, "Du Qiang, how should someone like me say goodbye to someone I like? Actually, I knew from the start that it wouldn’t work, but I just wanted to see how far we could go. Am I being too greedy?"

"What nonsense, as long as you want, it’s always possible. I want to see you now, we can talk about anything face to face. Send me your location, I promise I’ll be there soon," Du Qiang shouted excitedly into the phone, breathing heavily.

Listening to the voice on the phone, Jiang Yu didn’t respond; instead, she spoke to herself, "You’ve always wanted to be a policeman, I knew this since school. Now you’ve achieved your dream, which is great. This way, you’re happy from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. Then, you find someone you love, and you’ll be happy from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. I’m so envious of you."

"That’s not true, I..."

Before Du Qiang could finish, Jiang Yu interrupted him, "Let me speak first, okay, just this once."

"Alright, alright, you speak, I’m listening."

"Du Qiang..."

"I’m here!"

"I like you!"

"I also..."

"Don’t speak, let me finish. I like you, not because I want you to do anything for me, just to tell you I’ve always liked you, always have. Therefore, I hope in the future, whatever you encounter, never feel inferior. Be optimistic, and if you meet someone you like, be brave. Don’t be like you were in high school and keep silent. A good girl is worth pursuing.

Remember, when you were eighteen or even younger, there was a girl who liked you. As for when you’re 25, whose husband you’ll be, or 30, whose father, I hope you find happiness. And I’ll just stay in your eighteen-year-old memories, where I won’t age, gain weight, or experience the filth of the world, forever young, beautiful, and pure.

I hope you won’t forget me, but also wish you would. On second thought, just remember me at eighteen."

"Thank you for coming into my life and warming me!"

As Jiang Yu finished speaking, a brilliant firework suddenly blossomed overhead, expansive, bright, and beautiful.

[South City Bridge]

At that moment, the narrator’s prompt arrived. Su Qing immediately stopped in his tracks, snatched the phone from Du Qiang’s hand, turned off the microphone, and shouted at him, "South City Bridge, hurry!"

"Huh?"

"Damn it, move, quickly!" Su Qing almost screamed this as he had run out of breath.

Being a homebody who doesn’t exercise, how could he compete physically with two police officers?

Du Qiang, kicked by Su Qing, suddenly realized and sprinted wildly towards the South City Bridge now visible in the distance.

Su Qing, meanwhile, nearly collapsed from exhaustion, but luckily Li Zijun, quick to react, caught him.

But Su Qing couldn’t care less, he unlocked the microphone and, while panting heavily, began to speak, "Huff... huff... it’s me, Su Qing, the one not in police uniform that day."

"Oh, it’s you, I remember, thank you..."

"Listen to me, please, don’t do anything foolish, really. I want to tell you, why can’t Du Qiang’s 25-year-old wife or the people around him at 30 be you?"

This was the only plan he could think of, using his narration to stall Jiang Yu here, waiting for Du Qiang to catch up and pull her back.

Du Qiang is the most clumsy; if left to him, the worst might happen, and he couldn’t keep up with Du Qiang’s pace any other way.

"Me? I’ve thought about it too."

At this moment, Jiang Yu had already stepped onto South City Bridge.

"Then give Du Qiang a chance; you don’t know how worried he’s been about you these past few days, and I can see he likes you, a lot. Wouldn’t you want to start over, no matter what happened before?

Except for illness, the pain you feel is caused by your perspective, not actually existing. Don’t let tears make you think the world isn’t worth it. Don’t you want to see it with Du Qiang?"

Walking on Jiangcheng Bridge, Jiang Yu smiled at these words: "I do, why wouldn’t I? But me, I’m too dirty, AIDS... I don’t want to tarnish the one I love."

"Is it you below? I can see you all!"

Leaning on the bridge’s railing, Jiang Yu saw Du Qiang sprinting up from the bank and caught sight of Su Qing and the others further away.

[Jiang Yu had already decided—she came pure, and though she couldn’t leave pure, she wouldn’t suffer in this world anymore.]

Upon hearing this, words gathered on Su Qiang’s lips, but he couldn’t utter a single one. The narrator’s message was clear; there’s no changing this outcome unless he could fly over to stop her, which he couldn’t.

"Sometimes, alone late at night, I review myself, wondering where I went wrong to end up like this. Now I realize I shouldn’t have come into this world.

Tell Du Qiang, don’t be sad. Meeting doesn’t guarantee an ending, but it’s destined by fate. I’ve never regretted liking him."

As she spoke, fireworks started going off on the bridge, one after another, beautifully captivating, everyone instinctively looked up.

"You... are you really going to do this? Du Qiang, he..." Su Qing asked in a low voice, an indescribable sense of powerlessness in his tone.

"Love doesn’t have to last a lifetime, just experiencing it is enough. Feelings don’t need to be deep, as long as they’re sincere."

"The fireworks are too loud; let him bring a bouquet to see me someday."

"Alright... I understand," Su Qing replied hoarsely.

Upon hearing this, Li Zijun, anxious beyond measure, snatched the phone from his hand, "You..."

But as soon as she spoke, Su Qing grasped her arm tightly.

The next second, only Jiang Yu’s voice came from the phone, with a slightly wistful tone, "The fireworks... are quite beautiful!"

Then, a silhouette leaped from the bridge.

At that moment, the white dove no longer perched on the cathedral, and the bird was no longer caged, moving towards the light, embracing its longing.

...