Chapter 17 (1/2)

In Chapter 17 of The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful, we begin to see the cracks in Bei Ye and Chen Nian’s quiet lives – now that Wei Cai is officially found to be dead, the police will begin to ramp up investigations. Why is Wei Cai dead? Did Chen Nian really kill her? Or was it the raincoat suspect? Or could it be Bei Ye? All our dear Chen Nian can do now is tightly hang on to her trust and faith in Bei Ye, and if he said she didn’t cause Wei Cai’s death, she’d just believe that she didn’t do it.

Self-revision period.

The form teacher waltzed into the cla.s.sroom, and rapped on the podium with his knuckles. The students raised their heads from their revision materials, and focused their attention on the form teacher. On successfully gathering the students’ attention, the form teacher launched into a speech warning the students about protecting oneself and being wary of strangers.

“Especially female students,” The form teacher cautioned, “Try not to go to places where there’s very little people, and try not to linger around in empty parks and mountainous areas. If you must, go in a huge group – and try your best not to head out at night.”

Curious, a student asked, “Did something happen?”

The form teacher rea.s.sured the cla.s.s, “Nothing happened – but I thought it’d be good to warn the cla.s.s about safety measures since the graduation exams are nearing.” Having clarified the situation, the form teacher continued his lecture by reminding students about having clean eating habits and hygiene issues.

But the sensitive youths continued to scrutinise and a.n.a.lyse the form teacher’s every word, and every emotion; when the form teacher left the cla.s.sroom, the entire cla.s.sroom began to buzz in excitement.

“Something happened. Something definitely happened.”

“Did you notice the form teacher’s tone? ‘Especially female students.’ – Ah, I bet it has something to do with that.”

“What’s ‘that‘?”

“Don’t you know? I mentioned it before – the rapist who goes around committing s.e.xual a.s.saults in a huge raincoat! You guys brushed it off so easily before, surely you guys believe me now?”

“Oh—-” Understanding dawned on the various students.

Chen Nian wasn’t concerned in the slightest, and placed a dried plum in her mouth. Zeng Hao, who was seated in front of Chen Nian, turned back and sprawled on Chen Nian’s desk. Angling her head to keep Chen Nian in view, she signalled for Chen Nian to close the distance between them. Chen Nian s.h.i.+fted herself closer to Zeng Hao, as did Xiao Mi. When the three of them were sufficiently close, Zeng Hao blurted, “I think that there’s a high possibility that the person our form teacher was referring to is Wei Cai.”

Chen Nian and Xiao Mi were instantly shocked.

Zeng Hao contiued, “I’m sure of it. I’m not lying to you two – I’ll even swear on my examination pa.s.s.”

Th dried plum began to dissolve in Chen Nian’s mouth, overwhelming Chen Nian’s tastebuds with its sourness. Carefully, Chen Nian inquired, “What happened…to her?”

A look of hesitation flickered across Zeng Hao’s face, as though she felt awkward about what she was going to say next. “She was first raped, then murdered.”

Chen Nian: “……”

Xiao Mi exclaimed, “Are you sure about this? You’re telling us this based off some rumours, aren’t you?!”

“It’s true!” Zeng Hao retorted, “Do you remember the huge storm that happened one week ago? It was one of the last storms that occurred at the end of the rainy season. In any event, the rain caused the San Shui bridge to collapse.”

Everybody knew about this piece of news. The San Shui bridge was a metal bridge that collapsed recently. However, as it was located in a deserted and isolated location, there were no deaths and injuries resulting from its collapse. Given the minimal impact it had, it wasn’t good gossip material, and wasn’t something that the graduating batch of students were concerned with.

“When the workers went into the water to clean up the debris, they discovered a single shoe. Initially, they simply thought that it was a piece of rubbish, and threw it aside. It was only later when they discovered……”

Xiao Mi interrupted, “The shoe belonged to Wei Cai?”

“Exactly! After Wei Cai disappeared, the Missing Persons poster was put up everywhere. Even the clothes and shoes that she wore that day were displayed on the web.”

“What happened next?”

“Of course the workers reported the incident to the Police! The Police began to scour the area, and finally found a female corpse in the muddy bank beside the river, about 1 km away from the San Shui bridge.”

Xiao Mi pressed on, “She was buried in the muddy bank?”

“Yes – and when the police uncovered her corpse, she was entirely naked without a single piece of clothing on her!”

“But — that doesn’t necessarily mean that she was raped and murdered.”

“You probably don’t know this, but…” Lowering her voice, Zeng Hao whispered to Chen Nian and Xiao Mi, “there are quite a couple of girls in Xi Cheng who have already been, you know, that. It’s just that the culprit has yet to be caught.”

Everybody knew what Zeng Hao was referring to.

Chen Nian suddenly recalled the time she went to San Shui Bridge, and Zheng Yi’s reminder for her to be especially careful when she was heading to and fro from school. Doubtful, she inquired, “Even then, how do we know that the corpse is actually Wei Cai?”

“Where do you think Wei Cai disappeared to? I have a feeling that the corpse is Wei Cai. It’s definitely her.” Zeng Hao said confidently.

If the corpse was truly Wei Cai, and she had died in such a nasty fas.h.i.+on, she must have endured insufferable pain before she died. Chen Nian chewed on the dried plum, a terrible and grotesque sense of happiness rising in her heart. On sensing her sense of happiness, Chen Nian immediately surveyed her own heart, and felt overcome with a sense of embarra.s.sment and shame.

Afternoon break.

Chen Nian sat cross legged on the cool bamboo mat. As Bei Ye sprinkled small droplets of water on the area surrounding the bamboo mat in an attempt to lower the temperature of the room, Chen Nian told him the rumours surrounding Wei Cai. Bei Ye simply gave a cursory “oh” in response, and didn’t bother engaging Chen Nian further in the topic. The electric fan messed up his fringe, causing his fringe to cover his eyes, effectively s.h.i.+elding his expression from view.

“Do you suppose, it really is Wei Cai?” Chen Nian asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” Bei Ye raised his eyes to look at Chen Nian, “I’m not the police.”

Having sprinkled the water, the room felt marginally cooler than before. Bei Ye sat himself on the bamboo mat and told Chen Nian, “Let’s sleep.”

Chen Nian lay on the bamboo mat and closed her eyes; Bei Ye lay on the mat beside Chen Nian, and gently shut his eyes as well. The electric fan whirred quietly, the gentle wind grazing across their skins and offering them some much-needed comfort. After some time, the heat gradually dissipated. When Bei Ye carefully placed a pillow cover on Chen Nian’s tummy, Chen Nian opened her eyes.

On seeing Chen Nian stare at him with her eyes wide open, Bei Ye asked in a low, muted voice, “Did I wake you up?”

Chen Nian shook her head, and continued gazing at him.

“What’s the matter?” Bei Ye asked.

Chen Nian finally spoke up, her voice quivering slightly, “That day, when you went to the hill behind the school building – was Wei Cai really missing by the time you arrived?”

“Yes.”

“If so, why did you return home so late, that day?”

“I combed the entire hill very carefully.”

Chen Nian opened her mouth; ultimately, no words came out of her mouth, and she simply stared at Bei Ye quietly. She had a pair of eyes that spoke volumes, but at this very moment, her gaze was void of any message. She appeared to be extremely troubled and confused, but at the same time, she had no idea what she was confused about.

A distant smile formed on Bei Ye’s lips, “Do you think that I’m lying to you?”

“That’s not it.” Chen Nian protested weakly.

“Let’s sleep.” Bei Ye suggested once more.

Chen Nian shut her eyes, as did Bei Ye. When Bei Ye and Chen Nian woke up from their afternoon nap, Bei Ye made arrangements to send Chen Nian to school. Just as the two youths exited the abandoned steel mill and ventured onto the wild, gra.s.sy area surrounding the mill, a bright, youthful voice rang out from behind them, “Bei Ye!”

It was Bei Ye’s friends – Da Kang and Lai Zi, youths who, like him, were extremely tall and skinny, and who frequently played hooky with him as well. Chen Nian instantly hid herself behind Bei Ye, grabbing onto Bei Ye’s s.h.i.+rt as tightly as she could. She was trembling – Bei Ye could feel it. After that incident, she had begun to fear all youthful hooligans, except for him.

“Bei Ge[1] –”

“Xiao[2] Bei –”

[1] Ge is directly translated into older brother; and [2] Xiao means little, young. By addressing Bei Ye as Brother Bei and Little Bei, the two friends are showing their affection for him and how close they are to him.

The two youthful hooligans ran over to Bei Ye, “Let’s go skate at the half-pipe!”

“You guys go ahead, I’d join you guys shortly.”

The wind rustled across the gra.s.sy plains, whipping strands of Chen Nian’s long black hair and her white, clean skirt into view.

“What’s going on with you recently? What have you been busy with?” When Da Kang tried to peer over Bei Ye’s back, Bei Ye swiftly stepped to the right, completely blocking Chen Nian from view. Da Kang raised his eyes in surprise, only to see the harsh warning in Bei Ye’s eyes. It was as though Bei Ye was staring at an enemy. Stunned, Da Kang stared blankly at Bei Ye – he had grown up together with Bei Ye, and Bei Ye had always treated him as a brother. This was the very first time Bei Ye was so hostile towards him. The two brothers stared at each other – stalemate.

On sensing the hostility brewing between his two friends, Lai Zi stepped forward and tugged at Da Kang’s arm. In a small voice, he tried to defuse the situation, “Let’s go skate first, we can always talk later.”

Da Kang glanced at the two shadows beside Bei Ye’s feet, a short shadow and a tall shadow had formed, and were stuck together, like two inseperable figures; Da Kang was extremely unhappy, and wanted to leave Bei Ye with some harsh words in order to express his unhappiness and dissatisfaction with Bei Ye’s absence the past few days. In the end, Da Kang only managed a sarcastic asnarl, “Guess you’re exactly like those guys, huh? Gals before pals.”

Stalking back in the direction he had originally come from, he shrugged Lai Zi’s hand off, “You — Get lost too!”

Lai Zi turned to look at Bei Ye, and was about to chide him when he noticed Bei Ye’s gaze. Swallowing his words, he said feebly, “I’ll call you later.” And then, Lai Zi ran off too.

Bei Ye reached behind him, and grabbed Chen Nian’s hand gently. Chen Nian’s palm was drenched in sweat, and she was gripping his s.h.i.+rt so tightly that he had to expend a fair amount of effort to loosen her grip. Chen Nian’s face was deathly pale, and she lowered her head, refusing to look into Bei Ye’s eyes.