Hello, Comrade. I'm Here to Marry You!

Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Then Go Die

Right then, on the balcony outside, sat a young woman. She looked to be only in her early twenties.

A small crowd had gathered around her, trying to talk her down.

"Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll jump!" the young woman shouted.

She seemed on the verge of a breakdown, crying uncontrollably. "My man doesn’t want me anymore. There’s no point in living, so I might as well just die in front of him."

"Miss, don’t do something you’ll regret. Whatever it is, you can sit down with your boyfriend and talk it over. There’s no need to take things this far!"

Yu Huijun was at the front of the crowd. Since she was about the same age as the young woman, everyone had pushed her forward to do the talking.

In truth, they were all extremely nervous, having never encountered a situation like this before.

"No, you don’t understand! He hasn’t written to me in so long. I only came here hoping for some kind of explanation, but he won’t even see me. It looks like the only way he’ll see me is if I die right in front of him!" the girl cried, agitated.

"No, no, no, miss! There’s always hope as long as you’re alive!"

"That’s right! You’re so young and beautiful, what man wouldn’t like you? My younger brother is a soldier, too. How about I get him to talk to you?"

Zhang Jingshu also joined the effort. "Honey, there are so many handsome guys in the world. You can always find another one."

’She had just arrived and was already running into something like this. It was terrifying.’

The girl shook her head, her expression resolute.

Just then, a new voice cut in. "Then go ahead and jump. You won’t die from a three-story fall, anyway. But not dying would be tragic. You’d be covered in fractures. It would hurt. You’d be crippled, incontinent, with broken arms and legs. Your face would be smashed and disfigured. And that man would want you even less."

As soon as Su Zhaozhao finished speaking, the chattering crowd instantly fell silent.

They turned to look at Su Zhaozhao.

’This woman is gorgeous,’ they thought, ’but how can she say something so vicious?’

’The poor girl is already miserable enough. How could she say something like that? Is she trying to push her over the edge?’

The girl on the ledge stared wide-eyed at Su Zhaozhao. She was probably so shocked she’d forgotten how to cry.

"You..." She pointed at Su Zhaozhao. "Why would you curse me like that?"

"I’m just telling you the truth. You want to jump, don’t you? So go ahead. The man you love won’t be sad to see you jump. He’ll probably set off firecrackers to celebrate no longer being pestered by a nuisance like you."

Su Zhaozhao’s tone was still ice-cold.

Her words were so harsh that the bystanders started chastising Su Zhaozhao. "Hey, miss, there’s no need to talk like that! She’s already in a pitiful state. It’s one thing not to help, but you’re just kicking her while she’s down!"

"That’s right. Those are nasty things to say. Even an uncultured person like me wouldn’t say something like that. How can a pretty, well-dressed young woman like you say such hurtful things?"

Su Zhaozhao ignored them and kept her eyes on the girl, noticing her expression shift from sorrow to anger.

With that, the young woman climbed down from the balcony. "I’m not jumping anymore!" she said to Su Zhaozhao. "You’re right. He hates me so much that my death would probably be a relief to him. And if I didn’t die, I’d be the one left to suffer!"

The people who had just been criticizing Su Zhaozhao were stunned into silence.

They couldn’t believe it. They had been trying to persuade her for half an hour to no avail, yet Su Zhaozhao said a few sentences, and the woman came down on her own.

The truth was, Su Zhaozhao had only dared to say those things because she’d analyzed the young woman’s mindset.

The girl was thinking of her beloved even as she faced death. This meant that everything she did was for his sake.

When she realized the consequences of jumping were not what she imagined, her desire to die naturally vanished.

Su Zhaozhao pushed through the crowd and walked over to the girl. She took her hand and pressed two pieces of candy into her palm.

"Have something sweet. It’ll make you feel better." This was one of Su Zhaozhao’s favorite tricks.

The sweet taste stimulates the brain’s endorphin-secreting regions, producing a rush of dopamine and creating a feeling of pleasure.

The girl obediently popped one into her mouth. Instantly, her eyes lit up.

’This candy is jasmine-flavored! It’s delicious!’

Su Zhaozhao spoke again. "You were about to give up your life for a man. Have you thought about what that would do to your parents?"

"I..." The girl shook her head, fresh tears instantly welling up and spilling over.

"I just wasn’t thinking straight. I’ve waited here for him for three days, and he hasn’t come. I didn’t know what else to do," she said. "If he won’t come see me, there’s no way for me to see him."

After all, they had no official relationship. She wasn’t family, so the sentries wouldn’t let her onto the base to find him.

"It’s not that hard to arrange a meeting. But what happens after you see him? What do you want?"

She bit her lip and shook her head, unsure of what to do.

"Where are you staying?" Su Zhaozhao asked.

"I’m on the second floor."

"Let me walk you back to your room."

’She knew the girl was too emotionally unstable to be left alone right now.’

"Thank you," the girl said to Su Zhaozhao.

Su Zhaozhao waved the onlookers away and accompanied the girl back to her room.

She poured the girl a cup of hot water. Seeing how spartan the room was and how little luggage she had, Su Zhaozhao said, "My name is Su Zhaozhao. What’s yours?"

"Wen Xiaoqi."

"How long are you planning to stay before you head back?"

"I wasn’t planning on going back." Wen Xiaoqi wiped away her tears. "I figured I’d either stay here or die here."

’So extreme,’ Su Zhaozhao thought. ’But she could understand it. Young people this age could be so lovesick and impulsive, prone to doing something rash.’

"Your boyfriend... he’s in the military?"

Wen Xiaoqi nodded, then shook her head. "He’s a teacher at the school next door. But that school is affiliated with the military region, so if he doesn’t want to see me, there’s no way for me to go find him."

’A teacher, of all things.’

There was, in fact, a recently opened elementary school nearby, built for the convenience of the military families so their children wouldn’t have to travel far.

A school like that would naturally have security as strict as the military base itself.

"I can get you in to see him. But have you thought about what you’re going to say?"

The girl shook her head, looking completely lost.

"Why don’t you think about it first? If he won’t see you and won’t write to you, it means one of a few things: either he doesn’t care about you, he’s too busy, or he doesn’t know you’re here."

"I already had the sentry at the gate pass on a message that I’m at the guest house. He just refuses to come," Wen Xiaoqi said, her lips trembling.

Seeing her state, Su Zhaozhao said, "Alright, then how about this? I’ll arrange for you two to meet. You can talk things out properly. You can ask him what he’s really thinking, whether he wants you in his life or not. If he truly doesn’t like you anymore, can you let go of this obsession?"

Tears streamed down Wen Xiaoqi’s face again.

Su Zhaozhao handed her a tissue. "The way I see it, if he really cared about you, he wouldn’t be able to stand seeing you cry. But if he doesn’t care, then your tears only hurt yourself and the people who truly love you."

Wen Xiaoqi nodded. "Zhaozhao, you’re right. Please, arrange for us to meet. I need to get some closure."