Chapter 3 (1/2)

In Part 1 of Chapter 3 of The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful, we delve further into the mystery of Hu Xiao Die’s suicide – did Hu Xiao Die say anything to Chen Nian before she died? If so, why is she keeping mum? Did Wei Cai play a role in Hu Xiao Die’s death? Everything remains shrouded in mystery due to Chen Nian’s silence. And once again, when Chen Nian runs into trouble, the youth in the white t-s.h.i.+rt makes a timely appearance to help her out. It appears that although Chen Nian’s spontaneous moment of kindness has been causing her to run into various forms of trouble, it nevertheless also offers her a safe harbour from which she can seek protection.

The afternoon sun blazed down in its fiery glory. Chen Nian darted into the shaded pathway, coolness was.h.i.+ng over her body.

The man-made mountain and the pavilion was linked to the back entrance of the school. As Chen Nian walked along the pathway, she spotted Zeng Hao, Hu Xiao Die’s good friend who had previously pa.s.sed her a note in cla.s.s.

Chen Nian knew that Zeng Hao had intentionally waited for her at this spot, and came to a stop.

Zeng Hao’s eyes were as swollen as walnuts. She stared at Chen Nian, “Why didn’t you reply my note?”

Chen Nian silently shook her head in an attempt to indicate that she had nothing to say to Zeng Hao.

Zeng Hao clenched her fist tightly, “They interrogated me several times too, because I was Xiao Die’s best friend. But I really had no idea what happened, so I’m not able to offer any form of help.” As she spoke, tears began to fall from her eyes, “That day, Xiao Die was behaving weirdly. Everybody could discern Xiao Die’s drastic change – she no longer liked to talk, and she always appeared to be brooding over endless problems. I’m not sure whether she was unhappy due to her deteriorating friends.h.i.+ps with the rest of her friends, but I don’t think it would have affected her so much. I did ask her what was troubling her, but she claimed that the deteriorating friends.h.i.+ps weren’t the cause. Subsequently, she……”

Chen Nian stood there expressionlessly, and turned her head to take a quick glance at the cla.s.sroom. The leaves rustled in the wind whilst the sunlight danced on the swaying leaves.

“I don’t believe that Xiao Die would…… But they said that when Xiao Die died, the entire school compound was empty, and that no strangers were present. Even the security guards have been eliminated as suspects. If Xiao Die truly did commit suicide…” Zeng Hao suddenly raised her head to look at Chen Nian, “Chen Nian, you’re the last person to see Xiao Die alive. Did she tell you anything?”

Chen Nian shook her head.

“Chen Nian, please say something.” Zeng Hao was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

There was a silent pause. Chen Nian slowly opened her mouth, “Nothing. I’m not fa……familiar with……her. If you……you don’t even kno……know her secrets, how…….how would I know?”

Zeng Hao insisted, “It’s impossible for Xiao Die not to have said anything if she truly did commit suicide.”

Chen Nian looked at Zeng Hao straight in the eyes, and countered, “What……what would she say?”

Zeng Hao was stunned into silence.

Yeah. What would she have said?

“Chen Nian, are you speaking the truth? Xiao Die really didn’t say anything to you before she died?”

Chen Nian: “It’s true.”

The older one grows, the more excellent one’s ability to lie convincingly becomes. It’s as though this talent was naturally cultivated over the years.

Zeng Hao scrutinised Chen Nian. Chen Nian was as pale as ever, her skin resembling that of a person who’s perennially stuck in winter; Chen Nian’s eyes were extremely black and calm, and they resembled the dark winter night.

Zeng Hao’s shoulders sagged, “Alright.”

Chen Nian managed to capture a glimpse of Zeng Hao’s discouraged and saddened expression. For a moment, Chen Nian almost wanted to remind Zeng Hao that it was more important to focus on the upcoming final examinations, and to stay away from Li Xiang – but in the end, Chen Nian simply kept her mouth shut.

As they walked into the stairwell, Zeng Hao, who had been trailing behind Chen Nian all this while, suddenly grabbed Chen Nian by the arm, the words tumbling out of her mouth, “Could it be because of Wei Cai? I always felt that Xiao Die couldn’t possibly have committed suicide over Wei Cai, but I can’t think of any other plausible reason! Tell me, is it because of Wei Cai?”

Chen Nian quickly wrenched her arm out of Zeng Hao’s iron grasp.

……

Chen Nian carefully stored three hundred dollars into her bag and stuffed the remaining one hundred dollars in her pocket. Having stored away all her money, Chen Nian walked away from the ATM machine. She took a quick glance at her surroundings before scurrying away.

Just as Chen Nian walked past the intersection, Chen Nian smelt the heavenly scent of freshly baked bread. She entered the bakery, intending to purchase two loaves of bread  for her dinner. She handed the one hundred dollar bill to the shop-owner, and waited for her change.

“Don’t you have smaller denominations?” The shop-owner furrowed his eyebrows.

Chen Nian pursed her lips and shook her head. The shop-owner began rummaging in the drawer, but was unable to find any fifty dollar notes. Annoyed, he looked into his bag for some change. On finding sufficient change, he immediately stuffed the notes to Chen Nian.

Chen Nian stood at the front of the queue, and concentrated on counting the change. $98.80. She checked the ten dollar and twenty dollar notes, and proceeded to check the fifty dollar note. However, as the fifty dollar note was too old, Chen Nian had to spend a longer period of time checking the note. By then, a long queue had gathered behind her, and some customers began to mock her, “You’re taking so long just to check your note. Why don’t you bring a counterfeit detector around in the future?”

The shop-owner also began to rush Chen Nian, “Stop blocking the way. Everyone in the queue is waiting for you.”

Chen Nian felt slightly embarra.s.sed, and simply stuffed her bread into her bag before leaving the shop.

Having walked some distance away from the shop, Chen Nian still felt a niggling sense of unease, and took out the fifty dollar note once more for a more detailed check. However, before she could discern any problem with the note, she spotted a few familiar faces – it was the group of hooligans who had extorted money from the boy in the white t-s.h.i.+rt a few days ago. They were headed to another destination whilst smoking various cigarettes. Chen Nian’s heart plummeted. She quietly crumpled the money into her fist before slowly moving her fist to her pockets.

Chen Nian tightened her grip on her bag and prepared to make a detour. Just then, the entire group recognized her, “You there! Stop!”

Left with no choice, Chen Nian stopped in her tracks.

“I heard you have a habit of stuttering.” The leader of the group laughed aloud, “Say…say… two sen……sentences……we wanna lis……listen.” The entire group burst into laughter.

Surrounded by the group of hooligans, Chen Nian lowered her head. She was like a small kitten which had been surrounded and attacked by a bunch of mice – her movements were clumsy, and she had nowhere to run to.

The hooligans continued mocking her for some time before turning to the main topic.

“Do you have any money on you?”

Chen Nian shook her head.

“You really don’t have any?”