Chapter 50: A Vicious Heart, Keep Away from Strangers

“Back then, back then! That’s all you remember—back then! If it weren’t for the fact that you couldn’t produce an heir, my mother wouldn’t have…!” Father Su angrily removed the pipe from his mouth, knocking it twice against the wooden table with a loud “bang.”

Mother Su argued back, her face red, neck veins bulging. “I couldn’t give birth? And what about Xiaohuai and Sixiu? Didn’t they both come from my womb?”

As Mother Su spoke, two tears splashed onto the back of her hand, icy cold, dripping down the creases of her skin. Her heart trembled along with each drop.

“Crying! Crying! What’s there to cry about?” Father Su’s voice had just risen when the door swung open from the outside.

The moment Su Sixiu entered, she saw her father clasp his hands behind his back, taking long strides as he walked out.

Su Sixiu approached her mother, whose eyes were still red at the corners. Like she was offering a treasure, Su Sixiu held out a bar of soap in front of her mother, Lin Aiqiu. “Mom, smell this! Eldest Brother just gave it to me. He said it’s rose-scented, a foreign import from the West. It’s super valuable.”

Mother Su looked at her daughter’s silly, delighted expression. Other people would give her a small favor, and she’d run off with them. She reached out and stroked Su Sixiu’s hair, which was dark and glossy.

“Mom, why are you touching my hair? Didn’t you notice the little braids I tied today? Don’t they look nice?”

“They look nice, they look nice,” Mother Su said with a soft smile that crept to her lips, though tears lingered within it. What would become of her dear daughter if anything were to happen to her?

“I wonder how your brother is doing now. We left without even saying goodbye to him.”

Su Sixiu thought of Su Huailin. She tightened her grip at that moment, snapping off a small piece of the soap in her hand. She clenched the small piece in her palm. “Why worry about my brother? He’s doing perfectly fine at the Gu family’s place.”

A few days ago, Su Huailin had come to look for them, but Su Sixiu blocked him from entering. She had no idea what had gotten into her brother—he’d started claiming that Su Nianmei wasn’t part of their family and even tried to convince them to return home.

But Su Sixiu wouldn’t agree to that. Eldest Brother had told them that they could stay here for as long as they wanted, so long as they wished. Going back would mean studying to death and suffering all over again.

—o—o—o—

Su Nianmei leaned against a tree during a break, resting with her eyes closed. Qí Màn nudged her arm. “Look at those two kids—they’ve been standing there staring for a while. Are they here for you?”

Su Nianmei opened her eyes and saw Gu Xiaobao and Er Gouzi standing at a distance, with half a watermelon placed by their feet.

“Xiaobao!” Su Nianmei called out, getting up and walking over to them.

Squatting beside the two kids, Su Nianmei took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from their faces. “How did you guys get here?”

The watermelon was cut into small pieces, and Su Nianmei picked up a spoon, feeding each of them a bite.

Chewing on his watermelon, Gu Xiaobao replied, “Uncle brought us here.”

Er Gouzi spat a watermelon seed into his hand. “We just ran into Uncle Ji as well!”

Gu Xiaobao, sharp for his age, added, “Uncle Ji and our uncle told us to come over first. Those two went off talking about who-knows-what.”

Qí Màn squatted down beside them too, opening her mouth with an “ah” sound, and Su Nianmei picked up a spoonful of watermelon and fed it to her.

“Call her Auntie,” Su Nianmei instructed.

Gu Xiaobao called “Mom,” scooting a few steps closer to Su Nianmei, while Er Gouzi eagerly called out “Auntie.”

“Is this your kid?” Qí Màn pinched Gu Xiaobao’s cheek, which was soft and smooth. Hearing him call Su Nianmei “Mom” momentarily startled her, and a flash of surprise crossed her face. “Such an adorable child, Xiao Su. You really kept this under wraps!”

Su Nianmei wrapped an arm around Gu Xiaobao’s neck, smiling. “That’s right, my own. Can’t you see the resemblance?”

Qí Màn, munching on her piece of watermelon, studied the two closely, her gaze going back and forth between them. “Yes! The resemblance is striking!”

During the formation training, Gu Xiaobao had been taken away by Su Huailin.

That night, Su Nianmei squeezed into the crowd. She did not know who had leaked the news, but now everyone had come to shower. The crowd surged together, bustling and noisy. Su Nianmei stood at the crowd’s edge when suddenly someone tugged at her arm.

The pull was a bit strong, and when Su Nianmei looked up, her head bumped right against Gu Xichao’s chest.

“What are you doing here?” Su Nianmei rubbed her forehead, her tone still hinting at grievance.

“I waited for you over there for a long time and didn’t see you, so I came here to watch for you,” Gu Xichao said as he took Su Nianmei’s basin from her. With one hand, he rubbed her head. “You must be exhausted.”

Su Nianmei turned her head slightly, feeling Gu Xichao’s fingers on her forehead, rubbing just right, a tingling sensation spreading through her. She even forgot the pain from earlier. “Compared to your training, this is just a minor issue for us. But the fact that we can’t shower is really annoying. After a whole day in the heat, I’m covered in sweat, and my clothes are sticking to me.”

As she spoke, Su Nianmei tugged at her shirt hem a little. The wind slipped through the edge of her clothing, cooling her off and easing the damp feeling on her skin.

Gu Xichao immediately withdrew his hand from her head and laid it on the back of her hand. “It’s late at night; it’s easy to catch a chill in your stomach.”

The warmth from Gu Xichao’s palm transferred to her hand, and Su Nianmei’s hand stiffened. The hem of her shirt was pressed back down, snug against her stomach. Glancing down, she caught sight of Gu Xichao’s wrist.

“What happened here? You’ve got a cut!” Su Nianmei pulled her hand from Gu Xichao’s grasp and rummaged through her pants pockets.

Gu Xichao raised his hand to take a look, unsure when he had received the cut. There was a small wound.

Su Nianmei tugged at Gu Xichao’s hand, blowing on the wound while tearing open a band-aid and placing it over the injury.

“It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt,” the girl said as she applied the band-aid, her expression serious, suddenly making Gu Xichao laugh.

—o—o—o—(Flashback)—o—o—o—

That incident brought him back to June 9th, when Su Nianmei’s second-year class held a sports day. The third-year students had just finished their exams, and the school organized a fun sports day to help the second-year students relieve their stress while preparing for the third year.

Before the event, Su Nianmei’s homeroom teacher, Old Qian, approached Gu Xichao and mentioned that they were short on volunteers for the fun sports day—people to dress up in bear costumes and act as mascots. He asked Gu Xichao if he would like to come and take a look.

Old Qian and Gu Xichao shared a close friendship despite their age difference. In the future, Old Qian would be the first person to help Gu Xichao.

Old Qian was a good teacher in every sense, shaped by his moral standards. In his forties or fifties, he had squinty eyes that always seemed to smile, and he wore plain glasses.

He was usually dressed in a striped shirt tucked into black athletic pants, appearing somewhat chaotic, but deep down, he was incredibly kind-hearted.

Old Qian thought that Gu Xichao was too lonely. He believed that interacting with the children might alleviate some of his pressure. Old Qian always encouraged Gu Xichao to participate in any social events at school.

Initially reluctant, Gu Xichao had a change of heart when he thought of Su Nianmei and the upcoming parent-child sports day. He decided to agree to join.

On the day of the sports event, the sun was blazing. In the mascot costume, Gu Xichao felt his shirt become soaked with sweat dripping down from his short hair.

He held up a sign in front of his chest, standing in the centre of the playground, searching everywhere for Su Nianmei under the scorching sun.

Gu Xichao was tall, and the mascot costume only partially covered his legs. A crowd of people squeezed in around him, prompting Gu Xichao to flip over the sign hanging from his neck.

A little girl sat alone in the shade of a tree, holding a small notebook, reciting English words. While other children were surrounded by their parents, she sat all by herself at the side of the path.

When the girl looked up, she saw a brown bear mascot waving at her.

“Me?” she pointed at herself.

There was a track separating them, and the brown bear nodded. It stretched out its arms but suddenly remembered something was off and shuffled its chubby hands to flip the sign back over.

“Hug me.” was written on it.

The brown bear wobbled awkwardly in the sunlight, its left foot bumping against its right, arms outstretched, and the ears on its head swayed back and forth.

The girl put down her book and walked over.

Suddenly, the gunshot for the 50-meter dash rang out. The girl stood in the middle of the track, and the athletes at the starting line surged forward.

She took a few quick steps forward but stumbled over a raised patch of grass, leaning forward.

The bear rushed out and hugged her, the costume cushioning her fall against the hard synthetic turf beneath. The impact made a dull thud.

Startled, tears welled up in the girl’s eyes.

The girl’s eyes were filled with tears, shimmering but not yet spilling over.

Her foot was swollen, and she lay on a cot in the school nurse’s office, clutching a piece of the bear’s sign that had just broken in two.

She had managed to piece it back together, the backside displaying the words “Keep Away.”

“Does it hurt?” Gu Xichao asked.

He still wore the mascot head, and through the holes in the costume, he saw the girl biting her lower lip as she shook her head.

The girl rummaged through her backpack, searching frantically. Suddenly, she found something and pulled Gu Xichao’s hand over.

“Are you hurt?” she asked softly.

Gu Xichao looked down and noticed that his wrist was scraped, likely from when he had fallen. A band-aid adorned the wound, decorated with cute pink strawberries.

The girl puffed gently at Gu Xichao’s wound, pouting as she murmured soothingly, “Blow on it, and it won’t hurt anymore.”

—o—o—o—(End of Flashback)—o—o—o—

Gu Xichao gently ruffled Su Nianmei’s hair, her short strands soft beneath his fingers. He took her hand and led her out of the school. “Let’s go.”

Su Nianmei didn’t quite understand. “But I still need to shower.”

Gu Xichao shook the basin in his other hand, his eyes half-closed with a smile. His girlfriend was adorably clueless. “I’ll take you to another place to wash.”

Su Nianmei followed Gu Xichao to a hotel near the school. As soon as he entered, he removed his jacket and hung it on a hook by the door.

Su Nianmei sat on the edge of the bed, hugging the basin to herself.

“Why aren’t you going to shower yet?” Gu Xichao leaned one leg against the bed and sat down casually, draping his arm over Su Nianmei’s shoulder.

Su Nianmei looked at the bathroom in the room, its walls made of glass, allowing her to see the general layout from where she sat on the bed.

She fiddled with the hem of her clothes, stammering, “I—I think I’ll go back to school to shower.”

“But you just complained about the crowd,” Gu Xichao said, his hand playfully sliding up Su Nianmei’s shoulder to pinch her earlobe.

“I’ve changed my mind now!” Su Nianmei stood up abruptly.

Gu Xichao also quickly stood, blocking Su Nianmei’s way and wrapping his arms around her waist. “Be good, don’t be shy.”

He leaned down, whispering something in her ear.

Su Nianmei’s face instantly flushed red, and she hurriedly dashed into the bathroom.

Gu Xichao listened to the sound of water splashing from inside the bathroom.

The door was made of frosted glass, providing a hazy outline of a figure.

The temperature inside was high, steam rising. As Gu Xichao watched the silhouette, he felt like the water splashed onto him, creating a restless heat.

He laughed softly, bringing his finger, still covered with a band-aid, to his lips.