Chapter 15: Ten Years Old – Gossip and Scandal

Of course, Xuezhu didn’t know about these small episodes.

Elementary school lasts for six years, middle school only three, and high school also lasts three years.

Thus, while her older brothers and sisters were enjoying their fresh new school lives, Xuezhu was the only one who didn’t feel any novelty about starting the fourth grade.

The teachers hadn’t changed, and the classmates were all familiar.

Including the one she disliked most—Chi Yue.

After the school year started, everyone was curious to see who had gotten tanner over the summer, who had grown taller, and even small changes in appearance caught the kids’ attention. Xuezhu’s new hairstyle sparked some minor attention among the girls.

The school had a rule that all girls with long hair must tie it up in braids, as wearing hair loose didn’t match the simple and modest spirit expected of elementary school girls. If the girls wanted to do something with their hair, they would have to ask their mothers to style it or buy pretty hairpins and hairbands to attract attention.

Xuezhu’s hair was just long enough to reach her shoulders—not too short, but not long either, so the teacher didn’t say anything.

Normally, she tied it in a tight ponytail that pulled at her scalp, but for the new semester, she let her hair down, which caught her classmates’ attention.

The girls all said Xuezhu’s new hairstyle was beautiful. Her skin was already snow-white, and her eyes were round and clear, like the big-eyed black-haired dolls in cartoons.

“What’s so good about it? Wearing your hair down makes you look like a ghost,” a voice she despised interrupted.

Xuezhu gritted her teeth and hissed, “Who looks like a ghost?”

“Whoever gets angry is the one I’m talking about.”

Chi Yue wrinkled his nose, seeing Xuezhu was about to explode, and immediately made a mocking, exaggerated cross-eyed gesture before running away.

Xuezhu didn’t want to get scolded by the teacher for arguing with Chi Yue and, being unable to retaliate, could only stand there stomping her feet in frustration.

It seemed that since last semester, after she and Chi Yue were forced to reconcile by the teacher in the office, Chi Yue had taken a special liking to targeting her.

The little boy’s revenge tactics were childish, but they really annoyed Xuezhu.

She prayed that Chi Yue wouldn’t sit behind her this semester, but she was too embarrassed to tell the teacher. She feared that the teacher would think she was making a big deal out of something trivial, like a student who liked to complain about small matters. In the end, because she didn’t speak up, the teacher, not being a mind reader, couldn’t guess her feelings, and it seemed that fate was against her—Chi Yue ended up sitting behind her again.

As with the third grade, Chi Yue liked to kick Xuezhu’s chair during class. Xuezhu thought that because her hair was no longer in a ponytail, Chi Yue would have no reason to pull on it. But to her surprise, he came up with a new trick—he started using a pen to hook and play with her hair.

Xuezhu couldn’t stand it anymore and turned around to glare at him.

Her hair, swinging in the air, landed squarely across Chi Yue’s face. He quickly covered his face, and Xuezhu, feeling relieved, snorted in satisfaction, muttering, “Serves you right!”

After Chi Yue recovered, he immediately retaliated by hitting Xuezhu’s head with his pen.

Chi Yue’s desk mate was a girl with hair longer than Xuezhu’s, but Xuezhu had never seen Chi Yue pull that girl’s hair. The two of them had an unspoken agreement: a clear boundary between them, with Chi Yue never crossing it, and he rarely spoke to his desk mate.

How could he treat her differently like this? How much did he hate her?

“I think he’s just hyperactive and crazy,” Xuezhu complained to Zhu Qingying during a break while standing in the corridor. Unable to hold back, she vented her frustration about Chi Yue. “If I were his mom, I’d tie his hands and feet together and see how he pulls my hair!”

“Boys are all like that—hands everywhere and no sense of hygiene, always fighting,” Zhu Qingying frowned, seeming to understand Xuezhu’s feelings. “Girls are so much better. Our class’s girls are far better than the boys.”

As the two girls were gossiping energetically, a gust of wind suddenly swept through as Chi Yue and a few mischievous boys ran down the corridor. As they passed by Xuezhu, Chi Yue reached out his mischievous hand and yanked her hair again.

Xuezhu’s head was jerked to the side by the force, and when she came to her senses, Chi Yue had already run far away, making a face at her that was extremely irritating.

She was absolutely furious, not even caring about her best friend, and stormed after him.

“Chi Yue, stop right there!”

The boys playing with Chi Yue immediately started teasing, “Chi Yue, Pei Xuezhu’s chasing you!”

“Wow! Chi Yue, you’re being chased by a girl!”

“Pei Xuezhu’s chasing Chi Yue!”

Chi Yue turned around in surprise, only to see Xuezhu chasing after him, her hands grabbing his clothes.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

Xuezhu squinted her large eyes into a sinister slit, grabbing Chi Yue’s buzzcut and giving him a sharp knock on the top of his head.

“Ah, Pei Xuezhu, you’re crazy!”

“You’re the crazy one! Your whole family’s crazy!”

Chi Yue grabbed Xuezhu’s arm, but Xuezhu used her other hand to give him another hit. The little boy immediately got furious, grabbing both of Xuezhu’s arms, trying to push her down.

Xuezhu was stronger than him, and while Chi Yue could sometimes get the upper hand with petty tricks, he couldn’t win in a straight fight. Before long, Xuezhu pushed him against the wall, and the back of his head hit the tiles so hard that it sounded as though his skull had cracked.

The two kids were clearly fighting, but the surrounding classmates didn’t think so at all.

It wasn’t clear who shouted first, but someone yelled, “Pei Xuezhu and Chi Yue are holding hands!” Then it turned into, “Pei Xuezhu is going to kiss Chi Yue!” Eventually, a group of mischievous kids started surrounding them, teasing with “oohs” and “aahs,” making the situation more ambiguous.

Chi Yue was the first to speak harshly, “Pei Xuezhu, you’re crazy! Let go of me!”

“Then are you still going to pull my hair in class?” Xuezhu wasn’t moved.

“Who cares about pulling your hair!”

“Then promise me you won’t pull my hair in class anymore! And no more kicking my chair!”

“Tch! I won’t promise you! I’m going to keep pulling your hair and kicking your chair!”

The little boy arrogantly tilted his chin, his face clearly saying “asking for trouble.” His cheeks puffed out triumphantly, and his narrow eyes squinted as he looked at her, like an extremely annoying little fox.

Finally, he had completely provoked Xuezhu, whose temper flared up.

Just as the battle was about to erupt, the school bell rang, signaling the start of class. Zhu Qingying, desperate, shouted at Xuezhu from the side, “Xuezhu, stop! If the teacher sees, we’re done for!”

Even the naughtiest kids fear the teacher, so Xuezhu reluctantly let go of Chi Yue, calling a temporary truce.

Fortunately, the teacher was late to class and didn’t know about the confrontation between Xuezhu and Chi Yue. The classmates were all in on the unspoken understanding that kids should resolve their own issues, without adults getting involved, so no one would tell the teacher.

By the time the school bell rang for lunch break, the kids’ grudges were still there.

It wasn’t clear who wrote Xuezhu and Chi Yue’s names on the blackboard with chalk, but someone had drawn a big red heart between their names.

The scene was in complete chaos. First, someone shouted that Pei Xuezhu and Chi Yue liked each other, then it was said that they had confirmed their relationship, and eventually, it turned into them deciding to get married. If Chi Yue hadn’t rushed over in anger and angrily wiped the words off the blackboard with a brush, it would have been rumored that they had already had children.

Xuezhu was stunned.

She and her enemy, just because they had a physical contact during recess, were being unexpectedly paired up by others.

It was disgusting and ridiculous to be involved in gossip with someone she didn’t even like.

Chi Yue’s level of dislike was no less than hers. He loudly declared to the group of annoying boys, “If I liked someone like Pei Xuezhu, that evil girl, then let lightning strike me!”

The boys burst into laughter. The girls who were friends with Xuezhu didn’t dare to speak, but a few girls joined in the laughter.

Xuezhu stood frozen, both angry and wronged. Those lines were exactly what she had wanted to say, but someone else beat her to it and even had the nerve to express disgust toward her in front of so many people.

Because of such an absurd rumor, Xuezhu couldn’t focus on the lessons for the entire afternoon.

By the time school was over, a few boys who walked home along the same route still followed her, persistently asking, “Pei Xuezhu, when are you and Chi Yue getting married?”

Xuezhu bit her lip, glaring at the boys, clenching her fists and pretending not to hear, completely ignoring them.

Zhu Qingying stepped in front of Xuezhu and shouted at the boys, “Aren’t you all annoying?! Xiao Zhu doesn’t like Chi Yue at all!”

“If she doesn’t like Chi Yue, then Zhu Qingying, do you like Chi Yue?” one of the boys provocatively asked.

“…” Zhu Qingying was speechless. “You guys are so boring, all you talk about is liking this and liking that. No wonder your grades are so bad!”

“Tch! What’s so great about being a good student?”

Even so, the boys still felt a bit self-conscious about their grades, and after a few more teasing comments, they put on their backpacks and left, laughing and joking all the way out of the school gate.

Only then did Xuezhu quietly ask, “Yingying, why did things end up like this?”

Zhu Qingying didn’t catch what she said and leaned in closer, asking, “Huh? What did you say?”

“I clearly hate Chi Yue the most, so why are they saying that about us…” Xuezhu, filled with humiliation, bit her lip and couldn’t help but quietly start to sob. “I don’t like him at all. If I did, I’d be a little dog.”

Zhu Qingying sighed and comforted her, “I know. These boys are just so boring. Don’t mind them. Today is Friday, and we don’t have school tomorrow or the day after. By Monday, they’ll have forgotten about it, and no one will be talking about you and Chi Yue anymore.”

Xuezhu sniffed.

“Mm.”

With the comfort from her best friend, Xuezhu felt a little better.

When she got home, instead of watching TV, Xuezhu unexpectedly sat down at her study desk and pulled out her homework, obediently starting to work.

When Song Yanping came home from work, she absentmindedly touched the back of the TV, and it was cold.

When she looked around and saw Xuezhu sitting at her desk doing homework, she almost thought she had walked into the wrong house.

“Xiao Zhu, are you doing your homework?”

Xuezhu didn’t even look up, casually saying, “Mm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Half an hour later, Xuezhu finished one homework assignment, then voluntarily sat down at the piano and practiced for forty minutes.

It was strange, too strange.

This feeling persisted all the way to dinner. Xuezhu didn’t even ask to watch cartoons. Instead, she handed the remote control to her dad so he could watch the news. This time, not only Song Yanping thought it was odd, but even Pei Lianyi thought Xuezhu had taken the wrong medicine.

But when they asked Xuezhu what had happened, she just lowered her head and insisted nothing was wrong, refusing to open up.

Song Yanping had no choice but to call for backup.

She went next door and called Meng Yuning, who had just returned home, to come over and check on Xuezhu.

“Xiao Zhu is acting a bit strange. When I asked her what happened, she won’t tell us. Ningning, can you help Auntie and ask Xiao Zhu what’s going on?”

Meng Yuning had just gotten home and hadn’t had time to change out of his school uniform when Song Yanping hurriedly called him over to check on Xuezhu’s situation.

By the time he arrived, Xuezhu had already taken a bath and was sitting by the desk, wearing a white nightgown and doing her homework.

Her hair was still wet, with droplets falling from the ends onto her homework, but she seemed completely unaware, focused solely on gripping her pen tightly and scribbling on her notebook.

Song Yanping shrugged at Meng Yuning and whispered, “She definitely has something on her mind.”

She then closed the door, leaving space for the two kids.

“Xiao Zhu.” Meng Yuning called her.

Xuezhu looked up, giving him a casual glance before greeting him flatly, “Brother, you’re back.”

“…Mm.”

Meng Yuning could tell something was wrong.

On typical Fridays, Xuezhu would wait for him at the bus stop by the entrance of the neighborhood. When she saw him, she would run over, grab his clothes, look up at him, and say, “Brother, you’re finally back! I’ve been waiting for you!” Then, she would take his hand and walk him home to watch her favorite cartoons.

But today, not only had she not waited for him at the bus stop, she also seemed indifferent to his arrival.

“Auntie told me you have something on your mind,” Meng Yuning bent down to look at her. “What happened?”

Xuezhu pursed her lips and shook her head, her body hunched lower and lower over the desk, looking like her head was about to bump into the table.

Meng Yuning gently placed his hand on her forehead, lifting her head.

“How can you write your homework if you’re so close to the desk?”

Xuezhu stubbornly kept her head down, muttering impatiently, “Don’t mind me.”

“What’s going on?” Meng Yuning gently patted her head, speaking softly and patiently. “Not even your brother can know?”

She had spread rumors with the boys in her class.

How could she talk about something that would ruin her innocent and cute image as an elementary school student?

So, no matter how much her parents asked at dinner earlier, she didn’t want to speak up. Adults could never understand the struggles of a child. Maybe in their eyes, it was something funny and amusing, but in the child’s heart, it felt like a huge disaster, as catastrophic as an earthquake or a fire.

Xuezhu was even afraid that her classmates would bring it up on Monday when she went back to school. She even thought about pretending to be sick and skipping class that day.

But she thought that maybe her brother would understand.

He was still a kid, and he should get how she felt.

Xuezhu mumbled, “Then I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell Mom and Dad.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll pinky swear.”

“Okay.”

After the pinky swear, Xuezhu finally decided to speak.

She nervously told Meng Yuning about everything that annoying Chi Yue had done, and how she had been teased by her classmates into being paired with him. She felt angry and embarrassed about the whole thing, and after telling him, she worried that Meng Yuning might laugh at her. She looked at him with wide, almost tearful eyes, careful not to cry.

Xuezhu pouted and pleaded with him, “Brother, I really don’t want to go to school on Monday. If Mom won’t let me skip, could you pretend to be my parent and call my teacher to ask for leave?”

Meng Yuning tapped her on the head. “What do you think?”

She knew he wouldn’t agree.

Xuezhu also understood that she couldn’t skip school just because of some silly rumors, but they weren’t her, and they would never understand how she felt.

“I really hate Chi Yue. I didn’t even do anything to him, so why does he always bother me? If it wasn’t for him always bothering me, no one would think we’re… in that kind of relationship, and no one would say I like him.” Xuezhu spoke in a low voice, her words filled with frustration, and she nearly bit her lip in anger. “Brother, you’re a guy too, don’t you know what’s wrong with Chi Yue? Why does he always pick on me?”

Meng Yuning slightly parted his lips, but no words came out. He suddenly found himself at a loss for how to handle her frustration.