Chapter 7: The Outsiders

The car drove smoothly along the road, passing through streets lined with sycamore trees. The leaves rustled in the wind, blowing Yu Bai's hair, which fluttered in the breeze.

Jiang Jizhou smelled that floral fragrance again.

Yu Bai hurriedly covered her ears with her hair, not wanting Jiang Jizhou to see the hearing aid.

Fortunately, Jiang Jizhou was leaning back in his chair, resting with his eyes closed, and didn't see it.

Sunlight filtered through layers of sycamore leaves, creating dappled patterns of light and shadow that fell on Jiang Jizhou's face, adding a touch of gentleness to his appearance.

Noticing Yu Bai's gaze, Jiang Jizhou opened his eyes, his eyelids drooping, looking uninterested. After a moment of silence, he spoke, his tone indifferent and devoid of emotion, "Idiot."

Yu Bai retorted, "You're the idiot."

"Hmm, isn't that quite eloquent? How come you were the pitiful little thing being surrounded and questioned just now?" Jiang Jizhou wasn't annoyed, a playful smile curling at the corner of his lips.

Yu Bai bit her lip, turned her head to the other side, and looked at the scenery rushing past the car window.

I feel inexplicably empty inside.

A gust of wind blew by, but Yu Bai remained staring blankly at the street scene outside the window, even forgetting about the hearing aid in his ear.

What happened to your ear?

That's how Jiang Jizhou saw the hearing aid that Yu Bai had been trying to hide on his ear.

Upon hearing this, Yu Bai covered his ears with his hands, a look of panic flashing in his eyes.

"I..." Yu Bai hesitated, his lower lip almost bleeding from being bitten.

I won't ask anymore.

Jiang Jizhou suddenly smiled very softly at her.

Yu Bai froze, time ticking by, she was almost drowning in Jiang Jizhou's incredibly gentle peach blossom eyes.

She lowered her hand, the wind blowing through her long, black hair, revealing her hearing aid. The white hearing aid hung on her small ear, her earlobe dripping red.

Jiang Jizhou really didn't ask. He looked away, stared straight ahead at the road, and said softly, "Tell me if you get bullied again next time."

Yu Bai looked at Jiang Jizhou's profile. His features were strong and sharp, always carrying a nonchalant smile. He would sometimes tease others with a sharp tongue, but he also had a compassionate heart.

"Um."

Yu Bai's eyes gradually welled up with tears, and he responded softly.

Yu Bai wondered if it was because he saw his hearing aid that Jiang Jizhou seemed to have changed.

He became gentler and closer to her, and the initial resistance he felt upon first meeting had vanished.

Yu Bai felt a surge of joy. She thought Jiang Jizhou would be like many others and dislike her ears, but he wasn't. Instead, he was even more gentle with her.

Although, he still teases her from time to time.

When Uncle Jiang asked Yu Bai how he and Jiang Jizhou were getting along, Yu Bai also tried his best to praise Jiang Jizhou, partly because he wanted to ease the tension between them.

Since the vase incident, Uncle Jiang hasn't been home for a week, probably taking care of Yang Yang on the other end of the phone. He occasionally calls to ask about Yu Bai's life and studies, but doesn't mention Jiang Jizhou at all.

Now that he's home, even when Jiang Jizhou is mentioned, he speaks coldly to him, as if he weren't his own son. When the two meet, they ignore each other completely.

Yu Bai didn't know what had happened between them, but watching the father and son's tense interactions every day made her feel like she was in Antarctica.

Improving their relationship was urgent, so when Uncle Jiang asked her this question, she spared no effort in praising Jiang Jizhou.

"Yes, and my brother is very popular at school; lots of girls like him..."

A snicker came from behind. Yu Bai turned around and saw Jiang Jizhou coming out after taking a shower.

He was wearing a bathrobe and stood loosely, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

Yu Bai blushed.

"Why did you stop talking?"

Yu Bai immediately explained, "I was praising you."

"I know." Jiang Jizhou smiled and stared intently at Yu Bai. "I just want to know if you like your brother?"

His eyes were smiling, and Yu Bai was momentarily lost in thought.

Yu Bai only came to his senses when Uncle Jiang spoke.

She ultimately did not answer.

But as night fell, lying in bed, Yu Bai's mind was filled with Jiang Jizhou's face.

She pulled the blanket up to cover her head, forcing herself not to think about the problem.

Do you like your brother?

His clear, crisp voice, with its casual tone and nonchalant tone, played repeatedly in Yu Bai's ears.

As the oxygen level in the blankets decreased, Yu Bai felt suffocated and stuffy, so he pulled the blankets down and took deep breaths of fresh air.

However, the blush on her face lingered for a long time.

How could I possibly like him? Impossible.

Yu Bai confirmed the answer and went to sleep peacefully, but tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling asleep around 2 a.m.

The next morning, Yu Bai overslept.

When I went downstairs, Jiang Jizhou was having breakfast.

After a hurried wash, Yu Bai ate something quickly and went to school with Jiang Jizhou.

"Aren't you going to eat? There's still time." Jiang Jizhou saw that she had only eaten a few bites, like a little bird pecking at rice.

"Let's not eat anymore, let's go."

Yu Bai and Jiang Jizhou went to school together. Jiang Jizhou, with his long legs, walked in front, while Yu Bai followed closely behind.

Looking up, Yu Bai saw Jiang Jizhou's tall and straight figure ahead.

She had been at the Jiang family's house for half a month now, and she and Jiang Jizhou seemed to have gotten used to each other's presence.

Yu Bai felt a sudden realization.

Yu Bai had also adapted to the rhythm of the new school and made a good friend—Ming Jing.

Everything seems to be moving in a positive direction.

"Yu Bai, do you and Jiang Jizhou have absolutely no relationship?"

During the break between the third and fourth periods in the morning, Mingjing suddenly asked Yu Bai a question.

Yu Bai was engrossed in her work when she heard Ming Jing's words. Her pen trembled, and she drew an ugly ink mark on the test paper.

She looked up, her hands clenching slightly, and calmly asked, "Who said that?"

Seeing that her expression was a little off, Mingjing swallowed and said, "I don't know either. I heard it from the class monitor of Class 16. It's been all over the grade."

High school life is monotonous and boring. Even the smallest things can become gossip among many students, let alone Jiang Jizhou, the pride of the nation, and her, the transfer student who is related to him.

Yu Bai gritted her teeth. So what if it's spread? What impact will it have on her?

Why bother?

She said to Mingjing, "Who's so bored?"

After saying that, she continued to quietly work on her coding problems.

However, the rumors still spread throughout the senior year of high school, and the rumors escalated to the point that the version circulating had evolved into the claim that Yu Bai was Jiang Jizhou's ex-girlfriend who had an abortion, took a year off from school, and was rejected by her original school, so she transferred to Jiang Jizhou's school.

Hearing these rumors, Yu Bai was speechless. Some classmates even made sarcastic remarks to her face, and Yu Bai almost cried from anger.

Jiang Jizhou was completely unaware of this, and no one dared to mention it in front of him.

Yu Bai didn't tell him either. She didn't know how to explain it. Did it start from when she lied to others that she was his relative's sister?

So Yu Bai swallowed the bitterness brought by the rumors, thinking that they would gradually be forgotten over time, but she did not expect that she had underestimated people's malice.

On the last weekend before the National Day holiday, Yu Bai and Jiang Jizhou went home together.

Halfway there, Yu Bai realized he had forgotten to bring a textbook.

She ran back to get the book, while Jiang Jizhou waited for her where she was.

But when she returned to the classroom, she saw the girls who had asked her to confess to Jiang Jizhou were gathered around her desk, whispering and looking through it.

Yu Bai's mind exploded like a bomb. She quickly ran to her desk and snatched the book.

She demanded, "Why are you going through my desk?"

A girl glared at her and said, "You shameless green tea b*tch! You're clearly not Jiang Jizhou's sister, but you still claim to be. How can you pretend like that?"

Another girl said, "Wasn't it you who stirred things up behind the scenes when Jiang Jizhou said those things to An Lan?"

The Anlan they were talking about was the girl who liked Jiang Jizhou.

An Lan's eyes were red, and she looked aggrieved. "If you like Jiang Jizhou, just say so. What's the point of using such despicable methods?"

Yu Bai's head was spinning from their words, and he was completely bewildered.

"What are you talking about? What does it have to do with me that Jiang Jizhou doesn't like her?"

Yu Baisheng mustered the courage to retort, perhaps because her heart had become stronger, or perhaps because of the support she received from Jiang Jizhou and Uncle Jiang... In any case, she couldn't remain weak forever; otherwise, she would only become easier to bully.

"If it weren't for your instigation, how could Jiang Jizhou possibly dislike An Lan?"

Yu Bai was shocked by her shameless remarks. How could someone be so unreasonable?

Yu Bai snatched his book from their hands and said firmly, "I don't have it. Please leave my seat."

By this time, the students who hadn't gone home yet had surrounded the group, whispering and discussing amongst themselves.

"Smack—"

A sudden slap landed on Yu Bai's face, so hard that Yu Bai's face quickly became red and swollen, his hearing aid fell to the ground, and his eardrums hurt terribly. Yu Bai could almost feel blood flowing from his ears.

"Hey, why are you hitting people?"

What is that?

"A hearing aid, perhaps."

"Oh, can disabled people go to regular schools? Shouldn't they go to special schools?"

...

The noisy sounds around him, like the incessant chirping of cicadas, made Yu Bai's head throb with pain.

Upon seeing this, the girl who slapped her mocked, "So she's deaf."

Yu Bai exhausted all his strength and slapped the girl back, leaving his hand numb and painful.

The girl's face was slapped to one side.

"Ah—you dare hit me!" The girl covered her face.

"It's being returned to you," Yu Bai said calmly.

The girl glared at her hatefully, wanting to slap her back, while her companion helped her by holding Yu Bai's arms on either side, preventing her from moving.

Yu Bai struggled desperately, and in the process, the books on the desk scattered all over the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the classmates watching. The boys and girls all had expressions of watching from the sidelines, as if they were watching a melodramatic soap opera, with a hint of anticipation in their eyes.

In an instant, Yu Bai recalled how she had won first place in an English competition because of her hearing impairment, which had made her the target of jealousy from a male classmate who was very good at English. The classmate relentlessly smeared her, making her the object of bullying. Her ears were the first to be attacked, but no one came to her aid…

Dark memories of the past flooded back like a tide. Yu Bai gradually gave up struggling and was restrained. Just as the girl's slap was about to fall, Yu Bai closed his eyes.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't change her predetermined fate.

She was an oddball, unwelcome and out of place wherever she went.

A note from the author:

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While writing this chapter, I thought about my past experience of being bullied at school, and how my good friend was isolated... Every time we talk about this kind of thing, there are always friends who say that they have also been bullied, which seems to be quite common.

Resist school bullying; don't be a perpetrator or a bystander!