Chapter 40 (1/2)

Shi Yan stepped forward and silently dragged He Nuo out. They rode together towards He Nuo’s house. When they reached the door, the courtyard’s door was still locked — it was not yet the time when people ended their cla.s.ses or work. He pulled He Nuo over, “Why were you so foolish? Am I that bad?” Shi Yan no longer shouted angrily, but instead spoke with a gentleness that he never knew he had to He Nuo.

He Nuo’s eyes that were devoid of dirt looked at Shi Yan, “Of course you aren’t bad. I’m the one who deceived you first, you got angry because I did something wrong.”

Shi Yan immediately embraced He Nuo. He Nuo’s words made him feel sour, pained, and bitter.

“I’m not angry anymore, but you need to tell me why your family doubts your books.”

“Fifth brother’s money went missing.” He Nuo pushed Shi Yan away.

“So they suspected that you took it to buy those books?”

He Nuo nodded.

“It’s not like you’re the only one in your family? What about those two younger brothers of yours? Did they get beaten too?”

He Nuo shook his head.

These were all within Shi Yan’s expectations, but he still flew into a rage, “Then why are they okay? If they’re gonna suspect you then everyone else should be suspected too.”

“They spent half their summer holidays at their grandmother’s place, and I’m the one who picked up Fifth brother’s key.” He Nuo told Shi Yan about him picking up the key and how his parents had discovered the books and conch sh.e.l.l on Sat.u.r.day. He also told Shi Yan about how his parents had asked him to invite his schoolmate over to take the books away and tell them clearly that he was the one who picked up the conch sh.e.l.l for He Nuo.

Now Shi Yan understood why He Nuo called him on Sat.u.r.day. He pinched He Nuo’s lower jaw to raise it and examined his face, “Did you get beaten because I didn’t come over on Sat.u.r.day?”

He Nuo wasn’t willing to answer such a question, but Shi Yan was watching him so he couldn’t try to conceal the truth by saying ‘no’; yet he didn’t want Shi Yan to feel guilty by saying ‘yes’.

Shi Yan sighed, “If you hand the money over, won’t you be admitting that you had taken it?”

Of course He Nuo understood that principle. He didn’t want to bear the accusation of being a thief on his shoulders, which was why he had thickened his skin up to beg Shi Yan. But after he was bluntly rejected by Shi Yan, he had no other choice. He had no one else he could beg to tally his testimony with. So he could either hand the money over and admit his fault, or admit that he had taken the money to buy the books and receive his punishment, but the books would belong to his family (and he would never be able to return them to Shi Yan in the future). Which was why He Nuo thought of selling his blood to exchange it for money. It’s just a pity that the sales of blood he read about in novels all happened at blood collection stations in huge cities; the hospitals here go to the nearby countryside at a fixed time every year to collect blood — the farmers’ blood would be deflated to a very low price by the hospital.

“How much money did your fifth brother lose?”

Shi Yan’s question had stunned He Nuo. He widened his eyes in confusion.

“You,” Shi Yan said helplessly and sighed in his heart, “you don’t know, do you?”

“I didn’t ask my parents.”

Shi Yan rubbed his glabella, or else his thick eyebrows would have already stuck to each other in an intimate manner.

People who just ended work and school were beginning to appear. He Nuo asked Shi Yan to wait outside for a little while; when his other family members returned they would open the courtyard’s door for him. He had to go in first to wait so that his family wouldn’t realise that he had sneaked out. The courtyard’s door was locked — he had climbed over the wall to get out, and now he had to climb over the wall again to get back in.

Shi Yan first saw the twins return. They had seen him a few times during the summer holidays, so when they saw him they were considerably polite — because they knew that all the movies they had managed to watch was due to the person in front of them now. They saw that he had an imposing manner, and had heard of his fame, but they couldn’t understand how He Nuo managed curry favour with him.