Chapter 204: Of Life And Men (2/2)
When Cheng Xi saw Qin Shiya this time, she was resting in bed. By then, she’d already improved, and she even smiled upon seeing Cheng Xi. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”
“Did you want to see me?”
“I wanted to beforehand.”
“Well, why not now?” Cheng Xi’s tone was gentle and warm, but also filled with an unquestionable confidence. “I can always help you.”
After a quick discussion with Qin Shiya, Cheng Xi then used her connections and found a somewhat influential media company to comprehensively interview Qin Shiya. Her family initially didn’t object, but when the footage of the interview came out, they were all surprised and shocked. The interview was titled, “The hero of the Gansu earthquake who now suffers from severe PTSD: who crowned her a hero, and who ruined her?” The interview began with Qin Shiya calmly describing the actual events of the earthquake. “It was I who ignored the teaching association’s ban against teachers holding remedial classes by forcing my husband to take on that class. It was also I who, in order to increase our profits, rented out that classroom that wasn’t up to code at all. The only reason why I saved those children was because I was afraid that they’d die inside, and that I’d then have to carry an unbearable burden…… In the end, I’m no hero at all. I’m just a greedy woman who ruined myself and lost my husband’s life.”
In the video, Qin Shiya had a pure white outfit on, a clean and unadorned face, but an unusually calm and peaceful expression.
After all of these years, she had finally revealed her true self to the world.
Qin Shiya’s interview stirred up a significant amount of commotion over the Internet, and her family almost went crazy from anger. But since she’d already given the interview, they couldn’t do anything about it.
After Qin Shiya recovered some more, she moved out of her family’s house and into her old place, where she started up a small kindergarten. Cheng Xi pushed some of her friends and classmates to sponsor her books and toys, and that gave Qin Shiya enough of a start to sustain herself.
One month later, Cheng Xi went to visit Qin Shiya. It was currently the tail end of August, and school was about to start. Qin Shiya had just finished setting up her classroom’s decorations. The classroom had originally been the gathering place for the village committee, which meant that the room was large and spacious. After Qin Shiya started renting it, she had repainted the entire place, making it indistinguishable from a regular classroom.
When Cheng Xi entered the room, Qin Shiya was drawing a mural on the back wall of the classroom. She had outlined the figure of a young man sitting behind his desk and concentrating on drawing something.
When she saw Cheng Xi, she smiled in a self-deprecating manner. “My drawing skills are pretty bad, aren’t they?”
“No. Your style is very evocative, and it gives off a warm feeling to anyone who looks at it.”
Cheng Xi wasn’t mindlessly praising her. Although Qin Shiya’s drawing technique was untrained and almost childish, the lines and colors that she chose were mellow and soft, and the man that she had drawn gave off an impression of gentleness.
Qin Shiya smiled genuinely, her eyes curving up. Her thin face was far more lively compared to when Cheng Xi had first met her. “Perhaps it’s because I’m drawing him?”
Cheng Xi stayed with Qin Shiya and spent half the day chatting with her. After affirming that her condition had truly improved for the better, Cheng Xi decided to head back, saying, “I’ll be back when school starts.”
Qin Shiya nodded and walked her all the way to the main road. Cheng Xi was preoccupied with her conversation, so she didn’t notice anything off about her car. As she opened the car door and was about to step inside, however, she suddenly noticed something amiss. When she stooped down to inspect the car floor, she saw a pair of feet underneath the car, near the wheels.
Cheng Xi was flabbergasted.
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