Chapter 2 – Confrontation

◎ You run away when you see me, am I that scary? ◎

Gu Xiwen had been feeling stifled the past couple of days.

He wasn’t sure if Ming Xue had gone stupid after hitting her head, but after waking up, she kept insisting on breaking off their engagement.

He wasn’t particularly attached to the engagement itself, but the whole situation still made him feel wronged.

Back then, he had endured endless nagging from his parents before reluctantly agreeing to the engagement. His plan was to wait until after graduation and job placement to bring up breaking it off. By then, his parents wouldn’t be able to interfere too much.

He didn’t expect Ming Xue to beat him to it.

At first, Gu Xiwen thought it was for the best—after all, it was better for her to initiate the breakup than for him to do it. He was just a rough guy; he didn’t care about reputation. But Ming Xue was a girl—by taking the initiative, at least she wouldn’t be labeled as the one who got dumped.

But things didn’t go as he expected. He began to notice the strange looks people gave him.

Originally, the Ming family had approached them about the engagement. Back then, Ming Xue had been hell-bent on marrying him. Now, she was breaking off the engagement so decisively, it made people think Gu Xiwen had been violent with her.

Otherwise, why would a girl who had once desperately wanted to marry him suddenly change her mind so ruthlessly?

Gu Xiwen was speechless.

He sat with one foot propped on a concrete pipe, the other dangling as he frowned, clearly irritated. He turned to his close friend, Zhang Tao, and asked, “Do I look like someone who’d hit a girl?”

Zhang Tao sat on another concrete pipe and nodded honestly. “Yeah, kinda.”

“Go to hell.”

Gu Xiwen kicked Zhang Tao off the pipe to prove his point.

Zhang Tao dusted himself off and sat back down like nothing happened.

Noticing Gu Xiwen’s foul mood, he quickly tried to console him. “Come on, don’t take those gossipy relatives seriously. Just ignore them.”

Gu Xiwen rubbed his face, sighing. “People look at me like I’m some kind of criminal now. Even kids avoid me.”

“Come on, that’s an exaggeration. Who avoids you? I haven’t seen that.”

Just as he said that, a girl who had been walking toward them suddenly turned around and went the other way, as if on cue.

Zhang Tao froze, then turned to look at Gu Xiwen.

Gu Xiwen’s face darkened like a pool of ink. When he didn’t smile, he gave off an intense, unapproachable aura—like a stone on a snowy mountaintop, cold and hard.

Zhang Tao shivered. As Gu Xiwen shouted at the girl and started walking toward her, Zhang Tao couldn’t help but feel sorry for whoever she was.

Bad luck.

Gu Ying also felt unlucky. She had only turned around naturally, and yet somehow she’d ended up being confronted.

Not wanting trouble, she stood still and put on an obedient, apologetic expression—though she had no idea what she’d done wrong.

But being obedient couldn’t go wrong. Gu Xiwen surely wasn’t the type to pick on a defenseless girl. And even if he was, maybe he’d go easier seeing her good attitude.

She kept her head low, avoiding eye contact.

A moment later, a cold voice came from above. “Why did you run when you saw me? Am I that scary?”

Still avoiding his eyes, Gu Ying softly replied, “I wanted to buy some sugar but forgot my ration ticket, so I turned back—not because of you.”

Her voice was completely different from the loud tones typical in the northern city. It carried a soft, delicate rhythm like the southern river towns, making it hard not to soften when hearing her.

Zhang Tao couldn’t help but speak up. “Let it go, Xiwen. She just wanted some sugar. Don’t make things hard for her.”

Sugar?

Gu Xiwen stared at the girl, who kept her head lowered so much it was nearly touching her chest, and snorted internally.

He had clearly seen her glance at him before panicking and turning around. That sugar excuse might fool someone like Zhang Tao, but not him.

Gu Xiwen pointed at a nearby shop. “Didn’t you want sugar? Go ahead.”

Gu Ying quietly repeated, “I didn’t bring a sugar ticket.”

“No ticket?” Gu Xiwen narrowed his eyes, sounding like a sneer. “Fine. Come to my house and get one.”

Gu Ying: ?

Even as she stood in front of Gu Xiwen’s house, she still didn’t quite know how she ended up there.

Watching the two men ransacking the house in search of sugar tickets, she found the whole situation amusing.

Maybe her intent to laugh was too obvious, because Gu Xiwen suddenly shot a sharp glare her way.

“What are you standing there for? Come help us look.”

Gu Ying didn’t want to go in. It was her first time entering a grown man’s house. She didn’t even dare look around too much, just noticing briefly that it was tidy and more spacious than her own home.

Still, knowing they probably wouldn’t let her leave until they found a sugar ticket, she hesitated, then stepped inside.

She didn’t start searching right away but surveyed the room. Under the table, she spotted a sewing basket. She pulled it out, reached inside, and found a small cloth pouch filled with various ration tickets—food, cloth, and sugar all mixed together.

Zhang Tao had helped search for ages but found nothing. When he saw Gu Ying walk in and go straight to the sewing basket under the table to retrieve a sugar ticket, he nudged Gu Xiwen with his elbow.

“Hey, is this your house or hers? She seems more familiar with it than you do.”

Gu Xiwen hadn’t paid attention to where his mom kept the tickets and felt slightly embarrassed when Gu Ying found it instantly. Zhang Tao’s teasing didn’t help.

He glared at Zhang Tao. “Shut up.”

“Fine, shutting up.” Zhang Tao covered his mouth obediently.

Ignoring him, Gu Xiwen stepped forward, took out a sugar ticket, and handed it to Gu Ying. “Go buy your sugar.”

Somehow, Gu Ying suddenly felt like a criminal being escorted to complete a task.

Gu Xiwen really was strange—he handed out sugar tickets just to prove a point. And sugar tickets weren’t easy to come by these days unless you had the right connections.

Maybe his dad was a deputy factory director and didn’t care about losing one or two.

Gu Ying took the ticket, thinking that she didn’t have any extras at home anyway. Might as well take the chance to get a bag of sugar. After all, it was practically forced on her—it’d be a waste not to use it.

She happily bought a bag of sugar from the shop. From a distance, Gu Xiwen saw her delighted expression and began to doubt himself.

Was she really just here to buy sugar?

He watched her walk out and suddenly asked, “What’s your name?”

She looked small, her skin tanned, limbs thin like sticks. She couldn’t be very old.

Gu Xiwen didn’t really remember much about the younger girls around the compound, but this one looked unfamiliar. He had no clue who she belonged to.

Gu Ying tucked the sugar into her pocket and looked up with an innocent, harmless smile. “I’m Gu Ying.”

The name rang a vague bell, but before Gu Xiwen could place it, Zhang Tao jumped up in shock.

“Whoa! So you’re the new girl who everyone says is tiny, dark, and skinny—like an ugly duckling?”

Everyone? So people had been talking about her appearance behind her back.

Gu Ying’s smile twitched. She wanted to punch someone, but her expression remained polite. “Yeah, I moved in a month ago.”

“Wow, it’s really you! You look so small—are you even an adult?” Zhang Tao stared at her like she was some rare creature.

Gu Ying took a deep breath to calm herself and put on her best social smile. “Yes, I’m almost twenty.”

“What?! You’re almost twenty? You look like you’re fifteen or sixteen! How do you look so young?”

His dramatic reaction stung a little. It was like she was some clown, standing there for others to mock.

Gu Ying felt her smile faltering and quickly excused herself. “I’m going home for dinner. Bye.”

She ran off without looking back.

After a while, once she was sure they weren’t following, her pace slowed and her expression turned cold.

Tiny, dark, and skinny—an ugly duckling?

So that’s how people saw her?

She was lost in thought when someone suddenly tapped her left shoulder. Gu Ying turned to see a pair of clear, smiling eyes.

“Zhang Kuo, you scared me again.” She pretended to scold, though there was no real blame in her tone.

Zhang Kuo knew she didn’t mean it. He smiled warmly. “What were you thinking about? I walked right up behind you and you didn’t notice.”

“I was thinking…” Gu Ying paused, then stared at him. “I was thinking—how do you see me?”

“People say I’m small, dark, and skinny—like an ugly duckling. What do you think?”

Zhang Kuo raised an eyebrow teasingly. “So you do care what others think. I thought with how you hide at home all the time, you’d already reached a zen-like state, completely indifferent to others’ opinions.”

“I don’t really care much about other people’s opinions, but you’re the only friend I have right now, so I care about what you think.” As Gu Ying said this, her eyes sparkled, full of unhidden sincerity.

Zhang Kuo was momentarily moved, unable to respond right away.

There was something very captivating about Gu Ying—when she looked at you with those sincere eyes, it felt like nothing else in the world mattered to her but you.

Every time Zhang Kuo was looked at like that by Gu Ying, a wave of emotion would rise from deep inside him.

In truth, he hadn’t known Gu Ying for very long, but it felt as if they’d known each other forever. Their interactions were naturally easy, like a connection formed at first sight.

Zhang Kuo reached out his large hand and gently ruffled the hair of Gu Ying, who was a head shorter than him. His voice was warm: “The ugly duckling will eventually become a swan, and you’ll shine in your own way. Don’t rush—life is long.”

The early evening breeze in May was soft, the scent of blooming violets in the courtyard filled the air, and the broken light of the sunset fell across the face of the person in front of him. Everything seemed beautiful.

Gu Ying broke into a wide smile, like a child who had just received the candy they’d longed for.

She pulled a Chinese knot from her pocket and handed it to Zhang Kuo, both solemn and proud: “I made this. It’s for you.”