Chapter 30

Sixteen or seventeen-year-old Chu Ci didn't see her parents at the entrance of her residential compound, nor at school. She didn't understand that she hadn't seen her parents back in her hometown either.

On the eve of the county's final joint examination, Chu Ci returned to school.

She then learned that her parents had arranged for her to take a leave of absence from school, and later gave her gifts to get her back to school to take the college entrance examination. The principal was also understanding.

At that time, the Chu Ci (a type of classical Chinese poetry) considered these to be trivial matters.

After starting university, I often did part-time jobs, and the more experiences I had, the more ironic it seemed.

If she weren't a top student, if she didn't have a report card that the school and all her teachers always kept in mind, this one act of willfulness might have meant she would never have been able to return to school.

When the college entrance examination results came out, the principal called Chu Songbai first, and then revealed that Chen Feng had been given a warning.

The Chu Ci says that it was because he wrote the letter of denunciation that the little Laozi was only satisfied with the result, without any cunning or defense.

At sixteen or seventeen years old, who would think about being wary of their parents?

Chu Songbai and Xu Yunhua were low-key and honest their whole lives. After holding a thank-you banquet for Chu Ci's teacher, they held a family banquet after receiving compliments from their relatives.

The atmosphere at the dinner was harmonious, with the uncle, aunt, and younger aunt saying all sorts of nice things.

He praised Chu Ci for his excellent learning.

They praised Chu Ning for being well-behaved, obedient, and sensible. Not only is she a student at a prestigious university, but she also takes care of her younger siblings, tutoring them during winter and summer vacations. She's also very diligent...

It's good to interject a line from the Chu Ci (a collection of classical Chinese poems) when studying.

Kua Chuhao is from a top-tier high school, studies well, and will definitely get into a good university in the future. He's also helpful to others. Your education is truly a success...

After going around in circles, Auntie came back to tutoring, "Xiaofei went to a regular high school, which is not as good as a key high school. Sigh! If someone had helped tutor him back then, he wouldn't only be able to go to a junior college now."

Xu Xiaofei is Chu Ci's cousin. They were in the same grade and scored over 200 points. Both she and Chu Ning tutored her, but Chu Ning was the main tutor in the past.

After Chu Ning went to university, Chu Ci tutored her a few times. She didn't have much patience for Chu Hao, who was in the top ten of the class, let alone her cousin who scored 200 points.

“My sister tutors Xiaofei every winter and summer vacation, but he hasn’t made any progress.”

Chu Hao's words made his uncle and aunt lose face. His uncle picked up his teacup and said, "Your parents have already invited teachers to your home to tutor you every week. What's the use of just having summer and winter vacations?"

"Xiaofei mainly suffered from the disadvantage of regular high schools. Back then, the transition from primary to junior high school was based on designated school districts, and he kept going up the ranks. You guys bought your houses too early."

Chu Ci glanced at his mother. What did it matter?

High schools are not zoned by district; top high schools are entered through entrance exams, not through promotion.

The uncle and aunt nodded repeatedly, then sighed, saying that the decision at the time was a mistake. Then they said, "Why not let Xiaofei repeat a year?"

Chu Ci and Chu Hao both laughed out loud. Their cousin Xiaofei had told them many times that he was going to do business somewhere and that he wanted to marry Feifei as soon as possible. He didn't want to study at all.

Although Xu Yunhua stopped the laughter with a look, it still aggravated his uncle and aunt's nerves, especially the contrast between the top scorer in the college entrance examination and the student who only scored 200 points in a junior college.

The uncle slammed the teacup down on the table, and the atmosphere immediately turned cold.

The aunt said coldly, "Your children are all so capable, all of them are college students, top scorers, and you look down on our Xiaofei. Hey, Xiaofei is your own nephew! I begged you with a pig's head to let Chuci help her brother with his homework, but your daughter chased me away. People should have some sense of kinship."

"I never hit my cousin Xiaofei."

Chu Ci lacked patience when explaining problems to Xiao Fei, and Xiao Fei loved to play, which led Chu Hao to go out and play as well. Xu Yunhua was afraid of interfering with her son's studies, as it was a crucial time for Chu Hao to take the high school entrance exam. Therefore, she did not force Chu Ci to do so. After a while, the couple realized the situation and stopped letting Xiao Fei out.

“You even dare to hit the teacher. Xiaofei is so honest. He wouldn’t say anything if you hit him while he was explaining a problem.”

"Chu Ci doesn't even tutor his own brother Chu Hao, so why would he tutor our Xiao Fei? You're overthinking it."

The uncle and aunt chimed in, the aunt tried to smooth things over, and Xu Yunhua chimed in with polite words. Chu Ci tried to argue several times, but was stopped by Chu Songbai's stern gaze.

“You two are really willing to go to great lengths for your child. Chen Feng only made Hao Hao run a few laps as punishment, but you two reported him and gave him a warning. If it weren’t for my brother-in-law and niece pulling strings, he might have been transferred to a rural high school. Now his chance to be recognized for outstanding performance is gone, and he has no hope of being promoted for the next two or three years. With this disciplinary record, who knows how many more years it will take to get promoted again.”

The Chu family members were all taken aback. Upon asking, they learned that Chen Feng was the husband of their aunt's niece, and that their uncle's small business relied on the help of his niece's family.

"Xiaofei couldn't answer a question in class once, and his leg was swollen from being hit by the teacher, but we didn't say anything. His aunt, you're really making a mountain out of a molehill. How could you do something like this to ruin someone's future?"

Xu Yunhua looked troubled. "Actually, Chu Ci wrote a letter of complaint to the city."

Apart from the Chu family, everyone else was shocked. Even the grandmother, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened her cloudy eyes and tried to lift her droopy eyelids.

Auntie asked incredulously, "You wrote a letter of complaint? Chu Ci, is what your mother said true?"

Chu Ci nodded. What was there to deny?

"But the punishment notice says it was for corporal punishment of students..." Chu Hao's voice trailed off as he spoke, and he finally lowered his head under the glaring eyes of his parents.

Xu Yunhua hurriedly said, "Punishing students is just a pretext. Sister-in-law, didn't you say their family used connections?"

You pulled some strings and changed the punishment from sexual harassment to corporal punishment—a world of difference. You should be happy about that.

In other words, without a complaint letter, corporal punishment of students will not be punished.

At that time, neither Chu Ci nor Chu Hao understood the unspoken meanings or hidden messages between the adults at the dinner table.

An eerie silence was followed by a complete explosion.

Aunt took the lead:

"You're so vicious! At such a young age, you dare to write a whistleblower letter. You'll definitely be a threat to society in the future. How could such a despicable person be associated with our family?!"

Chu Ciqi retorted, but her voice was completely drowned out by her parents' warnings.

"I was going to give you some face because you're young, but you're shameless and have a dissolute lifestyle. You actually dared to frame a teacher and ruin someone's future."

"I did not frame you," Chu Ci slammed her hands on the table and loudly refuted her uncle.

Her aunt pulled her aside and whispered, "Just lower your head and admit your mistake."

"Chu Ci, you must learn from Ningning, and never go astray..." Grandma's voice was drawn out and unclear, making it hard for anyone to listen.

"I did nothing wrong, it's that bastard Chen Feng who's wrong."

The uncle slammed his hand on the table. “You little slut, you lifted your skirt to seduce men, and after being taught a lesson by Chen Feng, you turned around and made false accusations. You’re rotten to the core. If it were me, I would have beaten you to death long ago.”

In my more than ten years of studying Chu Ci, in my extremely limited life, I have never heard any elder say such vulgar things.

Completely at a loss for words, she was so angry that her face turned red. Her parents could only say "Alright," "Okay," and "Stop talking." Her aunt forced her to admit her mistake, but no one spoke up for Chu Ci.

She shook off her aunt's grip on her wrist and knocked over the water glass in front of her.

The uncle picked up his teacup and splashed it at Chu Ci, still hurling vulgarities at her, "You used-up slut!"

Before he could finish speaking, Chu Ci had already picked up a bowl of spicy blood curd and slammed it down on his uncle's bald head.

The whole world fell silent.

The uncle was sent to the hospital and had to be stitched up with more than a dozen stitches. Chu Songbai gave all of the 100,000 yuan bonus that the county had given to Chu Ci to his aunt.

That time, she wasn't beaten.

Xu Yunhua said, "I only have one son and one daughter."

No one in the family spoke to Chu Ci anymore. She quietly packed her things, took the school's prize money, and headed north.

A light autumn rain began to fall outside the window, and soon a layer of yellow flowers fell under the goldenrain tree, rippling on the water.

Huo Junyan felt his arm was wet, so he hugged the person in his arms tighter, closed the window, and Chu Ci dabbed her eyelashes on his sleeve. When she talked about these things, her tone was playful, and she thought she was impulsive, irritable, and funny at the time.

However, with her current abilities, looking back at herself at sixteen or seventeen, she finds that the things from back then are still unsolvable.

There was no one behind her; even if she went to court, she couldn't find a guardian to sign the papers.

She was furious and impulsive because her parents tacitly allowed all the relatives to bully her, and even offered her knives, but she didn't understand it at the time.

Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) has also done some embarrassing things.

One year, when the whole family returned from visiting relatives, Xu Yunhua said that with Chu Ning's New Year's money, Chu Hao was still short of money to buy a learning machine, so she would make up the difference. Chu Ci gave her own money to her younger brother. Her mother didn't say anything, but Chu Hao laughed at her for having so little money. Chu Ci said that she hadn't taken her to visit relatives, and her mother said that taking her would only make her look bad.

There were two or three such minor incidents, but later she felt ashamed and refused to mention them, and even forbade herself to think that she was trying to please her parents.

Xiaofei's cousins' grades were both average. The resentment that his aunt and uncle had been building up for many years reached its peak on the day of the top scholar's banquet. Chen Feng was the starting point, and Chu Ci was the target with nothing to hide.

No one expected that Chu Ci would resist so fiercely, and for many years afterward, she only returned once.

She suddenly looked up. "Junyan, what brought me back?"

"Don't you remember?"

Chu Ci frowned, midterm exams... Grandma passed away, "Ah!" His scalp felt like it was being pierced by a steel skewer, stinging and dripping, cold sweat pouring down his face.

Her trembling body was held tightly in his arms, and the voice beside her, sometimes near, sometimes far, gradually became clearer, "...It's okay, I'm here, I'm here, I've always been here..."

After a long while, Chu Ci rubbed her nose against his chest, looked up, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Am I bad-tempered?"

Her parents and family all said she had a bad temper, and Zhou Yubai and Lin Muchen also said she had a bad temper.

"Hmm, a little... Ouch, you... gentle, considerate, and especially understanding..." Huo Junyan deliberately tensed his waist and abdomen, making her fingernails hurt from pinching him. He groaned a few times, and she felt that he seemed to relax. She poked him with her finger, and her fingertip suddenly went limp. Why again...?

The room fell into an eerie silence.

She looked up, blinked, and asked, "Am I considerate?" Her gaze followed the tip of his nose, down to his chin, and then to his Adam's apple. Her eyes gradually focused, and her breath mingled with his. "Considerate."