Chapter 31 Exposed
The next day, when Gu Qiuyue arrived at the Propaganda Department office, the others were already there.
Meng Hui was sitting at his desk near the back, his brows slightly furrowed as usual, staring at a mimeographed briefing in his hand.
Lin Xiu was also sitting at her desk, carefully sorting out a pile of documents.
Gu Qiuyue sat down at her desk, her eyes scanning the office as usual. Ever since Li Xiu arrived, Meng Hui had become as silent as a mountain. Lin Xiu's head was lowered even lower than usual, and her movements as she sorted through the briefing paper seemed particularly clumsy and slow.
The laughter and playful sounds of children chasing and playing in the family compound coming from outside the window made the office even quieter.
Sun Juan hummed an unknown tune and went out with a thermos to boil some water. Not long after, Meng Hui also stood up and left the office with a document, his face sullen and without a word, closing the door quietly behind him.
Gu Qiuyue's eyes fell on the half-worn English novel in the drawer again. This book was brought to her by Director Li from the provincial capital. It was a rare item in such a small place. She liked it very much and would flip through a few pages in her spare time.
The strange look that flashed across Lin Xiu's face when she saw the book yesterday made her a little concerned. Although Lin Xiu behaved like a complete country girl, Gu Qiuyue always felt that there was something indescribable about her, and she was not as simple as she seemed.
Gu Qiuyue took out the book and turned to the page with the bookmark. This time she did not immediately immerse herself in Heathcliff's story, but casually spread the book on the corner of the table.
In the quiet office, only the old-fashioned wall clock made a monotonous "ticking" sound. Gu Qiuyue picked up a document and seemed to be ready to read it, but the corner of her eye was sharply locked on Lin Xiu who was diagonally opposite.
In this brief moment of silence, Lin Xiu paused for a moment while organizing the documents. She tilted her head ever so slightly toward Gu Qiuyue. Her gaze, as swift as a dragonfly skimming the water, swiftly swept across the open book cover, glancing over the eye-catching English title and author's name.
It was so fast that one could almost think it was just an illusion caused by the shaking of light and shadow.
But Gu Qiuyue's heartbeat inexplicably quickened. She was certain she had seen it! The look in his eyes was no longer the usual bewildered and timid one. Instead, there seemed to be an inexplicable focus, even... an almost instinctive recognition of familiar words...?
A bold idea arose in Gu Qiuyue's mind. She picked up the book and her slender fingers seemed to accidentally brush over the author's name "Emily Bront" printed on the title page.
Then, in a clear voice, but at a volume just loud enough for Lin Xiu, who was a few steps away, to hear clearly, she slowly and tentatively read out the following words with just the right amount of hesitation and uncertainty:
"Emily...B...Bronty?" She deliberately pronounced "Bront" unclearly, as if her tongue was curled, so that it sounded like "Bronty".
The moment the words fell—
"It's Bron-t, with the stress on the end, pronounced like 'Bronte'." A voice as thin and weak as a mosquito's, but with a clear and unmistakable sense of correction, came from Lin Xiu's direction almost instinctively and without hesitation.
The office instantly fell into an eerie silence, even the ticking of the wall clock seemed amplified. The noise outside the window seemed to be blocked off by a layer.
Lin Xiu suddenly covered her mouth with both hands. Her big eyes, which always looked docile and harmless and were always lowered, were now wide open, filled with great astonishment, disbelief and panic that swept over her in an instant.
Her face suddenly lost all color and her body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably, as if what she had just blurted out were not a few English words, but some deadly taboo words. She was on the verge of collapse.
Gu Qiuyue's hand holding the book stopped in mid-air, her eyes calm but with a kind of insightful power, looking steadily at the figure who had suddenly lost his composure and was like a frightened bird.
"Do you understand?" Gu Qiuyue's voice was not loud, but unusually steady, with a hint of inquiry. "Do you know these English words? Comrade Lin Xiu." There was no questioning in her tone, but more of a confirmation and a kind of "as expected" understanding.
"I... I..." Lin Xiu's lips trembled violently, and her eyes were as panicked as a bird trapped in a cage. She dodged in fear between Gu Qiuyue's calm gaze and the empty office.
Just then, the office door was pushed open with a creak.
Sun Juan came back holding a steaming enamel teacup and humming the tune that had been interrupted just now. As soon as she stepped in, she was immediately frozen by the stagnant air in the room and the two people's very different expressions.
Her gossip radar instantly activated. Her eyes flickered back and forth several times between Gu Qiuyue, who sat upright with a deep gaze, and Lin Xiu, who was pale, trembling all over, and almost collapsed to the ground. Her voice unconsciously rose: "Hey, what's going on? Comrade Lin Xiu, why do you look so grim? It's like you saw... that thing?"
She swallowed the word "ghost" in time and turned to look at Gu Qiuyue cautiously, "Qiuyue, she...?"
Gu Qiuyue slowly closed the English book in her hand, tapped the title page with her fingertips, and glanced at Lin Xiu's fleeing figure at the door, then fell on Sun Juan's face full of curiosity and inquiry, and chuckled softly.
"Nothing," Gu Qiuyue's voice returned to its usual cool and gentle tone as she placed the book firmly back into the drawer. "Maybe... I suddenly discovered I could recognize a few foreign letters. I was a bit surprised and took a while to recover."
Sun Juan said "Oh" in a half-believing and half-doubting tone, with a long tail sound. She obviously felt that this explanation was too light and was completely inadequate to explain Lin Xiu's terrified look just now.
She put down her teacup, bent down to pick up the chair that Lin Xiu had hastily knocked over, and couldn't help muttering, "What's the big deal about knowing a few foreign words? Why is she so scared... This girl is too timid.
But it's no wonder, knowing foreign languages these days... well, it's always a bit eye-catching, isn't it? Of course, I'm not talking about you, after all, you are a formal translator with a translation certificate."
Gu Qiuyue didn't say anything else, and looked thoughtfully at Lin Xiu's empty seat. Her disguise was suddenly punctured. Lin Xiu's huge panic was real and not a disguise.
Why was she so careful to hide her knowledge of English? Was it simply due to the current situation? Or was there something more to it? And how much did Meng Hui know about this?
She withdrew her gaze and prepared to continue processing the documents on the table, her eyes inadvertently sweeping across Meng Hui's desk.
The document he had just read was casually placed on the corner of the table. There were several irregular deep wrinkles on the edge, as if it had been squeezed hard by someone, which was somewhat inconsistent with his usual meticulous style.
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