I'll Help You!

"Hold on."

Though he really didn't want to interrupt Gan Yan Yu in such a sorrowful atmosphere, Lin Tian couldn't hold back.

"Asthma?"

"Yeah. I've had it since birth. It acts up when I'm nervous, and it's gotten much worse these past few years."

Lin Tian fell into thought.

Indeed, for most people, even severe asthma might not count as a major illness.

But for someone who wanted to chase her dreams on a grand stage, it was practically fatal.

Still, that kind of "fatal" was a little different from this kind of "fatal."

What kind of terminal illness was this supposed to be?!

Lin Tian was numb.

Thinking it over carefully, he couldn't blame Gan Yan Yu.

From beginning to end, it had all been Lin Tian's own guesswork.

Who told Xu Yong to sound like he was describing a dead person over the phone?!

Lin Tian tried hard to calm himself before confirming it once more.

"So you went to the United Kingdom to treat your asthma?"

"Yeah. Sorry for lying to you before, but I really did study cello there too."

"That doesn't matter. So you don't have a terminal illness, right?"

"No. Why would you think that?"

Lin Tian quickly stepped forward.

He raised his hands and grabbed Gan Yan Yu by the shoulders.

?!

Gan Yan Yu abruptly looked up like a startled Little White Rabbit.

Wrapped beneath the boy's looming figure, she stared blankly at Lin Tian.

"That's good."

Lin Tian spoke softly.

He raised his head, looked at the girl, and revealed a relieved, gentle smile.

Gan Yan Yu froze.

Over the past few hours,

Lin Tian had once believed that Gan Yan Yu did not have much time left.

The boy had been desperately trying to stop the girl from killing herself, while constantly being reminded that her life was nearly over.

No matter how hard he tried, the girl's final destination would still be death.

That profound sense of helplessness had kept washing over Lin Tian throughout this night beneath the gentle moonlight.

The instant he learned the truth,

he felt as though a great burden had been lifted.

The massive weight in Lin Tian's heart finally came crashing down.

He was happy.

Truly happy!

Lin Tian was genuinely moved.

And now,

it was time to settle the score!

"Your grandpa is still lying in a hospital bed, and you haven't achieved your dream yet, but you were thinking of killing yourself?!"

Suddenly,

Lin Tian grabbed the girl's shoulders and shook her vigorously.

He was furious!

If you died just like that, what would happen to your grandpa?

You said you wanted to keep playing forever, but the moment your grandpa ended up in bed, you stopped playing?!

He had seen pathetic people before, but never anyone this pathetic!

Gan Yan Yu had not expected Lin Tian to change his expression as quickly as flipping a page. She was immediately shaken so hard that the world spun around her.

The girl hurriedly raised her hands in surrender.

She let out a dejected cry.

"S-Sorry!"

Lin Tian released her. Gan Yan Yu held her head in both hands as the world continued spinning before her eyes. She staggered, lost her balance, and crouched down on the ground.

Once the dizzying whirl finally stopped and silence returned to the surroundings,

Gan Yan Yu's expression gradually dimmed. She slowly began to speak.

"Two days ago, my father and mother came back."

Lin Tian was slightly taken aback.

"They opposed me playing the cello. They cleared out everything I kept at Grandpa's house, including my trophies and certificates. They threw it all away."

"I tried to fight back, but it was useless. They easily made the agency terminate my contract."

"From then on, I could no longer take part in any competitions."

Gan Yan Yu finished speaking.

The surroundings fell silent again.

Lin Tian finally understood why Gan Yan Yu was in such a state.

She had depended on her grandfather since childhood. After spending a year away receiving treatment, she returned home only to find that her grandfather had become a vegetable.

Before she could recover from that grief,

those two people—a man and a woman who had abandoned her when she was three—returned.

They claimed to be her guardians and destroyed every precious thing she had left after losing her grandfather.

If there had been anything supporting Gan Yan Yu's will to live after her grandfather's car accident,

it was completing the dream he had failed to fulfill.

But that road had been completely killed by those two people who called themselves her "parents."

And along with it, the motivation for an eighteen-year-old girl to keep living was killed as well.

Lin Tian finally understood why Gan Yan Yu always seemed so emotionally stable.

When even the meaning of your existence was gone, what else in this world could possibly matter?

"But, Lin Tian... thank you."

Gan Yan Yu stood up from the ground, looked at Lin Tian, and spoke seriously.

The story of "Jacqueline" that Lin Tian had told earlier was beautiful.

Until the very last moment, she could not give up like this.

"I'll wait for the day Grandpa wakes up. No matter how long it takes, I'll keep waiting."

"And you have to keep playing the cello."

Lin Tian added.

"But—"

"Isn't it just that no company has signed you? You can compete as an independent musician!"

"And you're already eighteen. Do you think you can't live without your parents? People who abandoned you when you were three don't deserve to be called parents! What right do they have to come back now and interfere with your life?!"

Lin Tian's tone turned fierce as he spoke.

There was more than a little personal resentment mixed into it.

After a moment of silence,

"You're right," Gan Yan Yu said.

The girl turned her gaze back toward the distant city.

Living alone would naturally be confusing.

But hadn't Lin Tian spent all these years living that way too?

The boy before her had already become so outstanding. Perhaps she, too, could become the person she wanted to be through her own efforts.

"It's just that competing as an independent musician means starting from scratch. And it'll be much harder than it is for ordinary people."

Talking about dreams was always wonderful.

But these were very real problems.

"Can you tell me about your grandpa's dream?"

Lin Tian asked, sitting on the railing.

"To win the Kohl Cup and let the whole world hear our classical music."

Gan Yan Yu answered almost without hesitation.

Those words had echoed through the girl's mind countless times already.

No one understood more clearly than Gan Yan Yu.

Without her family's support and without the help of a large company,

how difficult the road would be if she wanted to fulfill her grandfather's dream on her own.

The Starlight Cup, the Parrot Qin Cup, the Dragon Qin Cup.

From amateur competitions, to provincial competitions, to the national league.

Only by reaching the top four in the national Dragon Qin Cup

could she qualify, alongside three others, to represent China in the highest cello competition—the Kohl Cup!

She would go to Vienna and compete there against cellists from other countries around the world.

The cello was considered quite a niche instrument in China.

And Gan Yan Yu herself, though she was called a professional cellist, had previously only just reached the threshold for provincial competitions.

Not to mention that now she had to start all over again, setting out anew as an independent musician.

Gan Yan Yu was still lowering her head.

Suddenly,

the sun slowly revealed a corner beyond the distant mountains. A glimmer of dawn pierced through the curtain of night.

The sky shifted from deep black-blue to soft gray-blue, then gradually filled with light.

That gentle light fell across Gan Yan Yu's face.

Day... had broken?

Gan Yan Yu's pupils trembled slightly.

"Lin Tian?"

When she turned around, she discovered that at some point, Lin Tian had already climbed onto the guardrail.

He turned around, pointed at Gan Yan Yu with an imposing gesture, and declared,

"I'll help you!!"