Reading Guide:
1. My take on everyday life and childhood friends.
2. Hearing-impaired characters. Don't worry too much about the details; follow the situation as presented.
3. Please don't attribute the characters' actions to the author.
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Lin Fengyao's childhood friend, Qi Xiabing, developed acquired hearing loss after a fever at age three.
She herself has struggled with anxiety since childhood, and it hasn't changed in over a decade.
Lin Fengyao thinks there's nothing unusual about them. After all, they were already playing together at the age when even dogs found children annoying, making their parents chase them around to scold them.
The world is full of all sorts of people. As long as they can live normally, that's enough.
She helps Qi Xiabing with his hearing aids,
and Qi Xiabing stays by her through her periods of anxiety.
Until Lin Fengyao's anxiety attacks become more and more frequent, and she grabs Qi Xiabing, rambling about the past and all kinds of nonsense.
Perhaps due to some psychological factor, whenever Lin Fengyao has an anxiety attack, she takes out Qi Xiabing's hearing aids.
He quietly watches her lips, then speaks when she falls silent.
"Lin Fengyao, I can hear you from this close. I heard everything you said."
Lin Fengyao is so startled that her brain shuts down. The anxiety attack stops, though her body still feels the lingering discomfort.
As Qi Xiabing brings up what she said earlier...
"You thought I couldn't hear, so you told me you liked me, then acted like nothing happened. Lin Fengyao, are you a coward?"
Theme: Keep living with determination.
