Chapter 109
At the end of May, wild lavender, goldenrod, and hemp flowers in border areas are in full bloom.
There were also a lot of lavender and goldenrod planted in the flower beds of Tianli High School. The flowers were in full bloom, and bees and butterflies were flying among them, making buzzing sounds that made Chen Tianyou yawn impatiently.
"Chen Tianyou, can you please be more serious? The Dragon Boat Festival is only three days away. The school is going to have a large-scale performance and our class has to perform three programs. You have been so inattentive that the performance is not good and we have to keep delaying the class."
On the playground of Tianli Middle School, Wang Songyue was wearing a short-sleeved Dacron shirt, a long skirt of the same color, a pair of red plastic sandals with butterflies, and her hair was tied into a ponytail with a red rope. She was standing on the stage in the middle of the playground, looking fresh and beautiful.
Students from other classes were rehearsing everywhere on the playground. It was a rehearsal before the holiday and it was said that teachers from Ava High School would come to visit. There was only one stage on the playground and each class took turns to rehearse on stage. Time was tight and other classes were still waiting in line. Chen Tianyou was not serious and Wang Songyue was very anxious.
Chen Tianyou came back to his senses and met the angry looks of Wang Songyue and his classmates. He apologized and said, "I'm sorry. There was a fight on the street last night. My dog kept barking. I didn't sleep well all night. Let's continue rehearsing."
Their class has three programs, one is a class chorus, one is a skit performance, and the other is a poetry recitation.
In addition to the skit, Chen Tianyou also participated in the other two programs. He has a handsome appearance and good grades. He and Wang Songyue, who is a study committee member, were paired together at the request of the class teacher.
In the first program, they led the chorus, and in the poetry recitation program, they recited individually.
There is nothing wrong with the class teacher's arrangement. Because they are both outstanding and are children of military personnel, the class teacher gives them preferential treatment.
Some people like them, while some people dislike them. The one who dislikes them the most is a little fat boy named Dou Zhi. He looks okay, but his character is average. He is usually arrogant and domineering, very jealous, and competitive. He likes Wang Songyue, but Wang Songyue ignores him and gets close to Chen Tianyou, so he has always been targeting Chen Tianyou.
"I say, Chen Tianyou, if you don't have the energy to rehearse, then don't participate in so many shows and drag down our entire class. Don't you see that other classes are still waiting for us?" Dou Zhi said impatiently.
Chen Tianyou sneered: "I was distracted for a moment, and I dragged down the whole class? Who is tone-deaf and dragged down our class? What? Do you still want to recite poetry with Wang Songyue alone? With your duck voice, do you think you are qualified?"
Dou Zhi is the son of the mayor. He started school late and is already fourteen years old this year, but he is only in the first grade of junior high school. His grades are still good and he has always been in the top five in the class. However, he has never surpassed Wang Songyue and Chen Tianyou and has always been suppressed by their grades.
Dou Zhi, who is in adolescence, started to have a duck voice last month. When he speaks, he sounds like a duck quacking. When he sings, it's even worse. He is often laughed at by his classmates.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, all the students in the class burst into laughter, especially the girls, who laughed more coquettishly than each other.
The reason is simple: Chen Tianyou is so handsome that all the girls like him. They don't like Dou Zhi, who relies on his father being a local and is particularly arrogant and domineering in school.
When Dou Zhi heard the female classmate's voice, he was so angry that his white and fat face turned red, "What are you laughing at? You are not allowed to laugh!"
Then he turned around and glared at Chen Tianyou and said, "It doesn't matter if I sing badly. It's better than you being lazy and dishonest. If you didn't have a father who was a military officer, do you think you could be a partner with Wang Songyue? You're not even a squad leader."
That's right, Chen Tianyou ranked second in the class and the whole grade, but he was not a class leader. It's not that his classmates and teachers did not choose him, but he felt that being a class leader was too troublesome, with too many things to take care of and a waste of his time.
He would rather be nothing and have a leisurely life. After school and homework, he would go out to play and he would not bother himself with trivial matters in the class.
Chen Tianyou smiled and said, "Dou Zhi, I think you shouldn't be called Dou Zhi, you should be called Idiot. Why don't I become a class leader? Don't you have any idea? I want to become a class leader, such as a math class representative. Do you think you have a chance to become one?"
Dou Zhi choked. He remembered hearing someone say that when Chen Tianyou was in elementary school, he and Wang Songyue went to the city to participate in the Mathematical Olympiad and won a good result, ranking among the top five in the city.
In Tianli Junior High School, Chen Tianyou's math score has always been 99 points. Many classmates suspect that he is manipulating his grades. If he doesn't control his grades, he can get 100 points in every mock exam, so there is no chance for him to become the math class representative.
Chen Tianyou was too lazy to talk to him, so he returned to the team and started rehearsing the chorus with his classmates.
The song they sang was called "The Spring Water on the Frontier is Clear and Pure", which was an interlude in a movie called "Black Mountain Cape". This song praises the soldiers and people on the frontier.
The first few lines of the song were sung by Wang Songyue and Chen Tianyou: "The spring water in the border area is clear and pure. The songs in the border area warm people's hearts. The spring water flows endlessly. The songs praise our relatives. We sing about our relatives, the border guards. The soldiers and the people have a deep friendship. A deep friendship. Hey... Hey... Hey..."
The following lyrics were sung by the students as a group. Although the song was sung by singer Li Guyi in a gentle and lingering manner, it became more powerful when sung by the children's chorus.
The only drawback is that the competitive Dou Zhigong duck has a very loud voice and runs away in an eccentric manner, which greatly reduces the pleasantness of the entire song.
Wang Songyue couldn't help but frown and said, "Dou Zhi, can you please stop singing with such a stretched throat every time you sing in the chorus? The voices of so many of our classmates can't drown out yours. I heard that for this performance, in addition to inviting teachers from Ava High School to watch our performance, our principal will also invite some officers and soldiers from the border defense department to watch our performance. You can't sing like this, it will drag down the ranking of our entire class."
Ava High School is the best high school in the entire Ava area. The admission line for the senior high school entrance examination is particularly high, and a class can accept up to 25 people.
These 25 people are the top students in the entire Ava area. Once admitted, the chance of them being admitted to university is 85%. Students and parents from the entire area are racking their brains to get into Ava High School. After all, these days, being able to get into high school or university, these academic qualifications are of extraordinary value.
The principal of Tianli Junior High School is a Uyghur teacher. His son holds an important position in the government of the autonomous region. He is a very good person and every year he invites some teachers from Ava High School to visit Tianli Junior High School to watch performances and recital.
In fact, in private, the school uses the school's funds to treat them to delicious food and drinks, and suggests some wealthy family members to use some backdoors. In this way, students with good academic performance have a high chance of being admitted to Ava High School.
Inviting border guards to watch the show is also to attract them and make them pay more attention to the safety around the school.
Dou Zhi likes Wang Songyue. He thinks this girl looks like a fairy. She wears clean and beautiful clothes such as pure white and light pink every day. She speaks politely, moves gently, and has good academic performance. Even when she is angry and swears at people, she is not as good-looking as those female classmates in the school who wear gray clothes, have old colors and dark skin.
He was particularly obsessed with Wang Songyue. He might not listen to what others said, even what his teachers said, but he would definitely listen to what Wang Songyue said.
He said aggrievedly: "Songyue, my voice is just like that. I didn't mean to drag you down."
"Please call me classmate Wang, or call me Wang Songyue. We are not familiar enough to call each other by nicknames." Wang Songyue said righteously: "Since you know that you are a burden to everyone, you should find a way to restrain yourself and change yourself. Don't just step on others and put all the blame on others."
This was blatantly defending Chen Tianyou. Dou Zhi was furious. "Chen Tianyou can call you Songyue, why can't I?"
"I grew up with him, and we have called each other that since we were young. Did you grow up with us?" Wang Songyue asked back.
Dou Zhi choked and looked at Chen Tianyou. The boy was grinning with a brilliant and proud smile.
Dou Zhi was so angry that he thought to himself, if only he could get rid of this kid Chen Tianyou, he wouldn't be an eyesore in front of him every day, and he wouldn't attract the attention of Wang Songyue and other female classmates, making them revolve around him.
But this idea is just a thought. No matter how arrogant and domineering he is, he is not willing to kill anyone.
After Class 1 finished rehearsing all the programs, everyone dispersed. Wang Songyue and Chen Tianyou walked side by side into the classroom, intending to get their homework and then go home together.
Halfway through the walk, Wang Songyue asked, "What's wrong with you today? In the past, whenever Dou Zhi pointed a finger at you, you would scold him profusely, but today you were like a mute, letting him talk nonsense."
"You are here to speak for me." Chen Tianyou plucked a lavender from the flowerbed and stuffed it into Wang Songyue's hand. He then pulled out a weed and put it in his mouth while chewing it, saying, "Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Dou Zhi likes you very much. He is targeting me because you are close to me. I want to fight with him every day to show how much I care about you. Aren't you afraid that others will laugh at you?"
Wang Songyue received his flowers and heard his frivolous words. Her fair face flushed and she said softly, "You and I grew up together. We are like siblings. I am afraid of being laughed at. Besides, Dou Zhi likes me, that is his business. It has nothing to do with me. If he wants to scold you, you should scold him back. Don't get used to him."
Chen Tianyou squinted at her and asked, "Are we really like brother and sister?"
"What else?" Wang Songyue's face turned red like an apple and she almost blurted out, "Could it be that you really like me?"
"If you say so, then it is." Chen Tianyou smiled and said nothing more.
There was a hint of loneliness on the boy's face. Wang Songyue saw it and was at a loss for a moment.
She held the lavender in her hand and thought to herself that she must be overthinking it. Chen Tianyou grew up with her since childhood, and there was actually not much difference in the way he treated her and other female classmates in the family compound. She even felt that Chen Tianyou treated Xu Tao better than she did.
Last time, Xu Tao and her sister were missing. She later learned from others that the day after Xu Tao disappeared, Chen Tianyou followed Uncle Chen to rescue Xu Tao and her sister. He was almost shot and injured. He had lent money to Xu Tao and protected her...
Oh, she couldn’t think about it anymore. When she thought about it, she felt so upset that she lost all the joy of receiving the lavender flowers. She just put them in her bag and followed Chen Tianyou back to the classroom.
As soon as the two arrived at the classroom door, they saw several female classmates whispering at the door.
Wang Songyue walked over and heard a female classmate say, "Have you heard about Xu Tao's incident? I heard that she and her sister were sold by hooligans to a nomadic family in the mountains. They were rescued by her father the next day. Xu Tao had already been slept with by those nomads."
"I heard about it a long time ago. I even secretly asked her if she had done that, but she refused to admit it. I thought I couldn't just spread the word, so I didn't tell you."
"Oh, if she really was slept with, she would still keep trying to get close to Chen Tianyou. How shameless!"
"That's right, she's already a pair of whores, but she's still trying to get close to Chen Tianyou. She doesn't even take a piss and look in the mirror to see if she's worthy of him?"
Chen Tianyou perfectly inherited his parents' genes. He has a slender figure, handsome features, and is excellent in all aspects of morality, intelligence, and physique. His parents are military officers, and his family background and appearance are both top-notch among all the boys in the school. There are countless young female classmates in the school who like him. Many of them passed him notes or confessed their love to him openly or secretly, but he rejected them all mercilessly, so no one was too sad.
Because he rejected everyone, it proved that he didn't have anyone he liked in his heart now, even though he was very close to the beautiful Wang Songyue and they even lived together, but Wang Songyue always stated that they were just brother and sister. Everyone saw that Chen Tianyou was not too nice to Wang Songyue, so they believed what Wang Songyue said.
On the contrary, Xu Tao was also pretty and often came to see Chen Tianyou. Chen Tianyou was always very polite to her, unlike the cold attitude towards other girls. This made these little girls very angry. They made up stories about Xu Tao every day, and now when they caught Xu Tao doing something, they said some very unpleasant things.
Xu Tao was from the second class next door. She happened to be out of the classroom taking out the trash. When she heard what they said, she said with a pale face, "I was not raped. I am innocent. Nothing happened between me and those herdsmen. Uncle Chen and the others can testify to that."
"Who would believe that?" A tall girl with a flat nose said, "I heard from my mom that the day you were brought back, your body was covered in bruises and your face was swollen. If you hadn't been raped, how could you have those injuries? My mom said that only if you were raped would you have those injuries."
The girl was from the military family compound and usually had little contact with Xu Tao, but Xu Tao knew her mother, who was a notorious gossip in the compound.
"If I say no, then no. Your mother is talking nonsense. She is not me, so how does she know what I have been through?" Xu Tao defended loudly.
"So you admit that you were abducted by those nomads and taken to the mountains?" The girl said aggressively, "You stayed in those nomads' homes for a night. How can you be so clean? You still don't admit it."
Xu Tao was so angry that she started crying, "I said no, then no!"
The girls wanted to say something bad about her, but Chen Tianyou suddenly appeared in front of them and asked coldly, "Have you said enough? I can testify that Xu Tao is innocent, because it was me and my father who rescued her, as well as her father and the police. We can all testify that she is innocent. If I hear you say anything bad about her again, don't come to me if you have any problems with your studies in the future."
When the female classmates heard what he said, they all curled their lips and kept silent. They looked at Xu Tao as if they wanted to gouge her out and eat her.
Facing the hateful looks from those girls, Xu Tao was so angry that tears streamed down her face. She glanced at Chen Tianyou, without saying a word to him, and walked away with the garbage.
After returning home, Wang Songyue said to Chen Tianyou: "You shouldn't have spoken up for Xu Tao just now. You thought you were helping Xu Tao, but you didn't know that girls are very jealous. If you spoke up for Xu Tao, it would make them even more jealous and spread more rumors about Xu Tao. Then the whole school would know that Xu Tao was kidnapped."
Except for a few people in the military family compound who knew about Xu Tao's abduction, everyone else kept it a secret for fear that it would ruin the reputation of Xu Tao and her sister.
It has been more than a month since then, and Wang Songyue thought everyone would have forgotten about this incident. Unexpectedly, she heard gossip about Xu Tao from a female classmate who was also in the military compound. Wang Songyue felt that Chen Tianyou was too impulsive and had the opposite effect.
Chen Tianyou was doing his homework in the living room. He took Xiao Tianxing away from the mess and touched his ink bottle and said, "What do you say we should do? If I don't speak up for Xu Tao, what will they say about her?"
Wang Songyue was doing her homework opposite him. School had started, and unless it was the weekend, she would live in the Chen family's compound in the town. She would live in the empty house next to Li Xiu'e, and Li Xiu'e would be responsible for her eating, drinking, defecating and urinating.
Wang Songyue wrote down a question and said, "I think I should talk to Aunt Yang and Uncle Chen about this matter. It would be best if they can help me come up with a plan."
She was taught by Liang Xueqing since she was a child that if she encountered difficulties, she must tell adults and not try to do it on her own. Adults will try every means to help their children solve the problem. She always kept this in mind and would tell adults whenever she encountered something she couldn't solve.
Chen Tianyou thought it made sense, so he told Yang Qiujin and Chen Shengqing about it during dinner.
Yang Qiujin gave a big piece of pork to each of Wang Songyue and Xiao Tianxing, and she ate the soft and sticky pork head and said, "Songyue is right. Girls' jealousy is terrible. If we don't find a way to stop the rumors, Xu Tao might really be forced to commit suicide to prove her loyalty. We have to find a way to help Xu Tao."
"How can I help?" Li Xiu'e said as she stuffed a large piece of meat into Chen Shengqing's mouth. "For this kind of thing, people of our generation would like to keep it secret. If we want to let others know, there is really no other way to prove our innocence except to die to show our determination."
As she spoke, she put another large piece of meat into Chen Sheng's green bowl.
It has been more than a month since I last saw him. Chen Shengqing, who had been busy from morning to night, finally came home today. He looked much thinner. As his mother, I felt so distressed that I wished I could give him more meat to eat so that he could have more nutrients in his body.
"Don't worry about this. I'll go to the army tomorrow and talk to Xu Tai about this. I'll ask him to find a way to catch those people who spread the rumors and ask them what they really think." Chen Shengqing said while eating the meat in the bowl with big mouthfuls.
Yang Qiujin helped Xiao Tianxing hold the bowl so that she could eat by herself. She looked up at Chen Shengqing and said, "It's not enough to just tell Captain Xu. You know that Captain Xu doesn't care much about his two daughters. He has a bad temper. If he knew that a gossiper was spreading gossip about his daughter, he might rush to someone else's house and beat the person up, which would hurt everyone's harmony and he would also be punished. His daughter-in-law is not a reliable person. She often treats the Xu Tao sisters harshly. You can't rely on her. I think I should step in on this matter."
Chen Shengqing asked: "How do you want to manage it?"
"Don't worry about it. I guarantee it will be handled properly," said Yang Qiujin.
Yang Qiujin did what she said. On the weekend, she rode her Benying back to the military compound early in the morning and went straight to the Li family compound. She shouted outside the compound, "Sister-in-law Zhao, are you home?"
"Well, I'm at home." Today is Sunday, students don't have to go to school, and Zhao Erfeng doesn't have to go to work, so naturally he is at home.
When she heard Yang Qiujin's call, she ran out of the yard with a spatula in her hand, opened the door and said, "Big sister, why are you here alone today? Where's Tianxing?"
"She is in town, with her grandmother." Yang Qiujin walked into her yard and said, "Sister-in-law, I have something important to talk to you about."
"What's the matter? Why did you make such a special trip?" Zhao Erfeng wiped his hands and made her a cup of tea.
"This is what happened..." Yang Qiujin briefly explained the matter of Xu Tao, took a sip of the tea she had brewed and said, "Originally, for the sake of the reputation of the Xu and Tao sisters, everyone kept silent and the matter was over. Who knew that the children of our troops were spreading rumors in school, and the rumors were so ugly. I want you to help find out who are the people spreading rumors about Xu Tao, and I want to take them to refute the rumors."
Zhao Erfeng said, "Well, big sister, I'll be honest with you. I heard Xu Tao's gossip a month ago. I was wondering at the time why the Xu Tao sisters had so many injuries on their bodies. I thought they were beaten by Captain Xu and his wife, but it turned out to be the case. When I heard it, I felt that the two girls had bad luck. I didn't think anything about it and didn't tell anyone about it. Who knew that the story would get more and more serious? I often saw Fan Yinliu and Jin Xiaohua gossiping with some military wives. Maybe they were the ones who spread the story about the Xu Tao sisters."
Yang Qiujin thought about it and felt that this was very possible. At that time, only Xu Tai and his wife, four police officers and their family knew about the disappearance of the Xu Tao sisters.
Yang Qiujin felt sorry for the two girls' experience and would not say a word to anyone. Li Xiu'e was not the kind of person who would talk nonsense. Chen Shengqing and his son understood even better what impact these words would have on the two girls if they were made public.
It is impossible for their family to gossip about this to outsiders. The police have professional ethics and will not mention these things to their family members. Xu Tai is too proud to tell anyone about it. So the only person who leaked this matter is Fan Yinliu.
Come to think of it, it's possible.
Ever since the women's director of the Xu Tao sisters' family district asked Xu Tai and his wife to support their studies, the two sisters went to school, and all the housework fell on Fan Yinliu, and there was no one to help her take care of the baby.
In addition, the Xu Tao sisters worked illegally in the town and earned dirty money, which they all hid. No matter how hard Fan Yinliu tried, she couldn't find it. As time went by, she hated the two sisters to death. Those gossips might have really come from Fan Yinliu's mouth.
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