Chapter 16 (1/2)

In Chapter 16 of The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful, we return to a strange sense of normalcy, one that isn’t expected after the recent upheavals, but isnevertheless gladly  welcome, for it gives us a short reprieve before we truly head into the storm. After the incident, Bei Ye and Chen Nian become more essential to each other than ever, and it is at this point where Chen Nian really seems to begin placing her utmost faith, love and trust in Bei Ye – so much so that I wonder whether she still recalls her initial plan to ditch him and leave for Beijing after graduation exams.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. How do we translate this quote by Oscar Wilde?” The English teacher stood behind the podium, his sharp, bespectacled eyes sweeping across the cla.s.sroom. “Can someone volunteer to translate this sentence? What about Chen Nian?”

Chen Nian was about to rise from her seat when the English teacher waved his hand at her, “You may remain seated.”

Chen Nian replied softly, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

“That’s absolutely correct. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” The English teacher repeated the translation once more, and pushed his spectacles up before continuing, “Next question.”

It was the fourth day after the stabbing incident. Everything was as per normal.

Wei Cai never sought Chen Nian out for revenge.

As the rainy season neared its end, the weather gradually grew hotter and hotter. Bei Ye purchased a small electric fan for Chen Nian. Chen Nian hung it underneath her desk, the electric fan whirring silently as it provided her with much-needed comfort.

The English teacher was still going through the questions on the worksheet when a familiar figure appeared at the entrance of the cla.s.sroom. On seeing the form teacher’s skinny figure, Chen Nian’s heart skipped a beat – only to hear him announce, “Zeng Hao, could you excuse yourself for a minute?”

Zeng Hao left the cla.s.sroom.

Chen Nian redirected her attention to the English teacher. Not long after, Zeng Hao returned to the cla.s.sroom, hints of delight barely concealed beneath her mask of normalcy.

After cla.s.s, Xiao Mi poked Zeng Hao’s back, “Zeng Hao.”

“Yes?” Zeng Hao turned back to look at Xiao Mi.

“Why did the form teacher look for you? Did something good happen to you?”

Chen Nian opened a packet of Pocky biscuits.

“May I have some?” Zeng Hao reached over and grabbed a single Pocky stick. Xiao Mi reached for a Pocky stick as well, commenting as she munched on the Pocky stick, “Nian, you seem to have plenty of snacks recently.”

Several cla.s.smates began to gather round Chen Nian’s table, each grabbing a Pocky stick from her. Before long, the packet of Pocky was depleted.

“Wei Cai’s missing.” Zeng Hao shrugged her shoulders as she nibbled on her biscuit, unable to hide her gleeful expression from her face.

Surprised, Xiao Mi continued asking, “Why would the form teacher look for you if Wei Cai is missing?”

Zeng Hao rolled her eyes, “They’re just going through the motions and asking me about her whereabouts as a symbolic step – after all, everybody knew that I was a victim of the bullying Wei Cai and her friends inflicted on me. At that time, they all persuaded me not to overcomplicate matters, and to simply think of it as a prank between cla.s.smates. Now, seeing that I’m the first one to be questioned by them, they must have reversed their viewpoint on the incident.” Zeng Hao let out a cold, short laugh before continuing, “I’m not the only one who had been targeted by Wei Cai – students from neighbouring schools have been targets of her bullying as well! Am I the only one who hates her? In any event, I can’t be bothered about what happened to her – she deserves to be missing.”

Chen Nian raised her head, and warned Zeng Hao, “Don’t be so sure about that. What if, she had simply gone away for a short recreational trip? She might return, after a few days.”

Zeng Hao pouted, “I hope she never returns. Ever.”

Xiao Mi chimed in, “Ah, our form teacher is going to have a head full of white hair soon.”

“Why should he grow any white hair?” Zeng Hao retorted, “Wei Cai has already been expelled from school; the responsibility of monitoring her now lies with her parents, so the school has nothing to do with Wei Cai. Previously, the school administrators didn’t want to admit that their students were involved in such a huge scandal, so they tried various ways and means to resolve the incident amicably. Now, they’re probably thanking the heavens that Wei Cai is no longer connected to them – otherwise, the reputation of the school would go down the drain.”

Chen Nian spotted Xu Miao standing behind Zeng Hao, and nudged Zeng Hao indiscreetly; Zeng Hao turned around, an awkward expression flas.h.i.+ng across her face upon seeing Xu Miao. Turning back to Chen Nian, Zeng Hao stuck her tongue out in an attempt to diffuse the situation. The topic came to a halt.

Evening time.

Chen Nian headed to the entrance of the school, and saw Bei Ye waiting in his usual spot, on the street opposite the school compound. But…… Bei Ye wasn’t looking at her; instead, Bei Ye was staring at Xu Miao, a strange, cold smile forming on his lips. It was only when Xu Miao hopped into her parents car did Bei Ye turn to look at Chen Nian.

Puzzled, Chen Nian mulled over Bei Ye’s odd behaviour before coming to the conclusion that she must have seen wrongly.

On spotting Chen Nian, Bei Ye began to walk towards Chen Nian.

Chen Nian continued to walk by herself.

After the previous incident, Chen Nian often felt ill at ease, and had to frequently turn back to look at Bei Ye in order to feel a sense of security.

Just as she turned her head to look at Bei Ye, she heard Li Xiang’s voice ring out, “Chen Nian!”

Chen Nian’s gaze flew towards Bei Ye, only to see Bei Ye staring at her. Stuffing his hand in his pockets, he took a small, deliberate step to the side – only to ram into Li Xiang’s shoulder when Li Xiang ran past him. Bei Ye reeled slightly from the impact.

“Oh, sorry!” Li Xiang turned back, apologising brightly to Bei Ye before continuing to run towards Chen Nian.

Chen Nian quietly glanced at Li Xiang before turning back and continuing to walk ahead.

Sensing the strained atmosphere, Li Xiang hurriedly explained himself, “I’m heading to my aunt’s place for dinner again.”

“Oh.”

“Chen Nian, I heard that Wei Cai’s missing.”

“Is that so?”

“Maybe she fought with her parents and ran away from home.” Li Xiang mulled over it before continuing, “I suppose it’s good that she left. That way, she can no longer affect you.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Nian’s sensitive nature caused her to raise her head, and she cut him off, “I have no, connection with Wei Cai. The way you said it, made it sound like, I would be extremely happy, if she disappeared. She didn’t, affect me. It’s probably more accurate, to say that she affected Zeng Hao.”

Li Xiang was momentarily stunned. After coming back to his senses, he began to apologise, “That’s true.”

His apology hung awkwardly between the two of them as they continued walking side by side. Just then, Li Xiang unintentionally cast a backwards glance. His smile faltering slightly, he lowered his head and warned Chen Nian under his breath, “Chen Nian, I’ve seen this person before. He had previously followed you before.”

“Ah?”

“Don’t turn back!”

But Chen Nian had already turned back. The very next moment, Li Xiang grabbed Chen Nian’s hand and dragged her forward into a run, “Run! We have to ditch him!”

Chen Nian stared at Bei Ye in surprise – but before she could react, she had already been dragged off by Li Xiang.

Chen Nian struggled against Li Xiang’s grip the entire way, but Li Xiang was simply too strong. Grabbing Chen Nian by the hand, he dragged her across entire streets before turning back to check that “the mysterious stranger” was no longer following them. After ascertaining that they were no longer being followed, Li Xiang gradually came to a stop.

Chen Nian wrested her hand out of Li Xiang’s grip. Bending her body, Chen Nian tried to catch her breath.

“Why did you start running!” Chen Nian was extremely unhappy.

Chen Nian rarely showcased any emotion, so it was extremely rare for her to reveal her negative emotions; Li Xiang rationalised Chen Nian’s odd behaviour away by a.s.suming that she was in a bad mood today. Lowering his voice, he tried to explain to her as patiently as he could, “I was afraid that someone was tailing you.”

“Who?” Breathing heavily, Chen Nian stared at him, “Who!”

“… He didn’t follow us after all.”

“There’s so many people, in school.” Chen Nian was drenched in sweat, and her face was flushed, “Of course there would be people walking in the same direction!”

“That’s true. But, it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’m sorry.” Li Xiang smiled at her apologetically.

Chen Nian turned away, averting her gaze, “It’s alright.”

Chen Nian bid Li Xiang goodbye at the intersection and began to wait for Bei Ye. Her inexplicable feelings of unhappiness and anger with Li Xiang only began to subside when she spotted Bei Ye in the distance.

However, Bei Ye didn’t stop as he strolled past her. Instead, he merely cast a quick glance at her as he walked past her. Without a moment’s hesitation, Chen Nian fell into step next to Bei Ye, the two youths separated by a distance of roughly two to three persons.

Ever since that day, Bei Ye no longer used his motorcycle to fetch her to and fro from school. Chen Nian no longer returned to her own home; neither did she stay in school in the afternoon to revise her work. Nowadays, she simply returned to Bei Ye’s home during the afternoon break – as long as she was not in school, Bei Ye’s presence was essential for her to feel a sense of security.

When the two youths arrived at the abandoned fields surrounding Bei Ye’s home, Chen Nian closed the gap between her and Bei Ye, and stared at him with her innocent and wide eyes. She was waiting for Bei Ye to speak up, to ask her how was her day in school.

But Bei Ye remained silent. He didn’t even spare her a single glance.

After some time, Chen Nian spoke up, “Are you unhappy?”

“No, I’m not.” Casually plucking out some green foxtails by his feet, Bei Ye returned the question, “What about you?”

“Ah?”

“Are you unhappy?”

“I’m not unhappy either.” Chen Nian shook her head in response.

The fiery golden orb hung on the horizon beyond the abandoned field.

Unable to repress her curiosity, Chen Nian inquired, “Why did you, knock into him, just now?”

“Who?”

“– Li Xiang.”

Bei Ye snorted, “What an odd name.”

“Why did you knock into him?” Chen Nian persisted, demanding an answer from Bei Ye, “I saw you, you did it on purpose.”

“I don’t like him, so I knocked into him.” Bei Ye turned his body slightly towards Chen Nian. Leaning down and brus.h.i.+ng the green foxtail against the tip of her nose lightly,  he teased, “Do you intend to seek revenge for him?”

“……” Chen Nian’s face reddened in embarra.s.sment. After a momentary silence, she continued asking, “Why do you, dislike him?”

Bei Ye let out a short laugh before glancing at Chen Nian coolly, “Don’t you already know why?”

Lowering her head, Chen Nian tried to rub the sweat off her palms, “But I don’t, like him. Not, in that way.”

“If that’s the case, who do you like?” Bei Ye asked.