Chapter 22
There were more and more follow-up replies, countless of which replied "Wish you 99", and Shen Chumo's phone fell to the ground with a "bang".
He touched his cheek, then his ear, and expressionlessly imitated Shen Huaixin in covering his head with the quilt, which made him even hotter.
——So that’s what you mean.
It was his stupid brain that couldn't understand the girl's thoughts. The thunder rumbled outside the window and the rain crashed, all piercing his heart with the lightning, torrentially stirring his heartbeat.
Something was shaking. At first, Shen Chumo took it for granted that it was his heart, but then he found an extra message on his phone.
Good friend: It’s raining.
He touched his chest: Well, it's raining.
The next day, Su Zihan went to school as usual. The only difference was that she brought her cell phone with her.
Since mobile phones are not allowed in school, Su Zihan has a mobile phone but usually does not bring it with him. In order to prevent distraction from studying, he rarely uses it and it is almost just a decoration.
She always pays attention to mobile phone forums, as if she is worried about public opinion. She can't help but refresh the page every once in a while. After each refresh, she carefully minimizes the webpage to prevent it from being seen when she opens her phone.
As she'd expected, aside from the recent post "Shock! A girl who was so nice to me actually said something like that!" that went viral last night, most of the discussion was about the cultural performances. The performances "Chasing Dreams" and "Romeo and Juliet" dominated the discussion, leaving students wanting more, some even uploading videos.
When she went to the bathroom, she secretly turned on the video with the sound muted and reviewed her performance. She felt that her expression and emotions were well conveyed. Although she could not compare with professional actors, she was not out of character and her performance level was already among the best in the school.
But she also saw some discordant replies, such as "It was interesting to watch it live, but looking back, it felt like Romeo was just reciting lines the whole time", "There's not much of a CP feeling, but I admit that the school hunk is still handsome", etc.
She frowned slightly, propped up her sore legs and changed her posture, then clicked on another post she had saved for a long time - "The competition between Su Chen and the school beauty is getting fiercer, and the winner will be decided in the art performance!"
The voting for the school beauty had widened, from being evenly matched at first to Shen Huaixin being left behind. When I refreshed the page again, an update appeared:
Ladies and Gentlemen, after voting by the judging panel and the public, and considering the performances of both beauties in the gala, we have decided to award the Campus Beauty crown to Su Zihan! Congratulations to Su Zihan for officially being crowned our campus beauty!
Su Zihan looked at the last two words, feeling both relieved and lost. Was the false reputation of school beauty really what she wanted?
But she didn't know what she wanted. Ever since Shen Huaixin changed her personality, the things she had easily accumulated seemed to be disappearing bit by bit, even though most of them were things she didn't care about before.
It's okay. Qi Yi has seen Shen Huaixin retreat without a fight. After that, he will realize who is better and who is more suitable to stand shoulder to shoulder with him and be his companion.
Moreover, there will be a mock test next Monday. Qi Yi doesn't like stupid people, and everyone knows that Shen Huaixin's results are at the bottom.
She didn't read the comments anymore and exited the post.
The homepage showed a new post. Su Zihan wanted to close the page, but her finger slipped and she hit refresh—just one last post.
The first post, with a simple title, made Su Zihan's breath pause and her heart sink. She brought her phone closer to her eyes to make sure she was not seeing things.
——"Chen Huaixin's Live Version of Chasing Dreams".
She hurriedly clicked on the post and saw that the video cover was Shen Huaixin standing alone on the stage, a beam of light shining on her, separating her from the world. Su Zihan clicked on the video and found that it was muted, but then she remembered that she didn't bring her headphones, so she hurriedly stood up and put her phone away.
She turned on the faucet to wash her hands. The water rushed in front of her. She suddenly looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes frozen.
That post...
The poster is...
Impossible, impossible, it must be an illusion. Su Zihan shook her head vigorously, put her hands into the cold water, and rubbed them again and again until her hands and feet were cold. Then she took out toilet paper to wipe away the water droplets.
She barely dared to pull out her phone to check who had posted the message, and hurried back to the classroom to sit back down. She was also absent-minded during class, and when the teacher deliberately asked her questions, she hesitated and could not answer.
When the bell rang, Qi Yi asked, "What's wrong? Don't you know how to solve the problem?"
A nameless anger rose up in her, and Su Zihan shook off his tentative hand. She felt betrayed by her companion, but he actually asked her innocently, what's wrong with her?
Qi Yi was stunned for a moment, and wanted to ask for clarification, but there were too many people in the classroom, so he could only suppress it and ask after school.
The two of them tortured each other, and when school was over, Su Zihan hurried away with her schoolbag on her back. Qi Yi finally waited until there were fewer people, took her arm, and said in a gentle tone,
"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood or mad at me?"
"...Qi Yi," Su Zihan said expressionlessly, looking at him holding her hand, feeling extremely annoyed, "Let go."
“…” He let go of his hand.
Su Zihan asked: "Did you post this?"
"You said Shen..." Qi Yi paused, and seeing her unhappy expression, he changed to a pseudonym, "The video of her singing was posted by me."
Su Zihan clenched his fists and scowled coldly: "You don't have any explanation for this?"
"I thought it looked good, so I posted it."
"Oh, it's beautiful, so beautiful that I can't even take care of my own performance and want to watch it!"
Qi Yi frowned, his patience gradually fading: "Su Zihan, I don't think there is anything wrong with my post. It's you, why do you always look at Shen Huaixin with prejudice? When she asked for help yesterday, if it weren't for you, I would have..."
He suddenly fell silent, realizing that although he made the decision in the end, he was blaming Su Zihan deep down in his heart.
Su Zihan understood, sneered, and shook off his hand: "In that case, there is nothing to say." After that, she left without looking back.
Qi Yi looked at her back and stood there.
If it were before, he would chase her without hesitation, happy that Su Zihan cared about him, and indulge her sudden temper, but now, he just felt that she was being unreasonable. He didn't even know if he had changed.
Maybe they should all calm down.
Shen Huaixin returned home from school and keenly noticed that the atmosphere had changed.
In the past, Shen's mother would always be waiting for her with a smile on her face. Today, both her parents were at home, discussing something solemnly. They stopped talking when she came in. Shen Huaixin's bad premonition was deepening. She pretended not to notice anything and greeted her parents.
"Mom and Dad, I'm back. Why didn't you come home yesterday?"
"Xinxin, sit down," Father Shen said with a serious face. Mother Shen tugged at his clothes and winked at him, but he continued to talk to himself, "There is something Mom and Dad want to tell you."
Mother Shen quickly said: “Why don’t we first…”
"Are we going to hide this from our daughter forever? It would be better for her if she could recognize this beast's true face sooner rather than later."
Shen Huaixin's heart sank. She guessed most of it and sighed that the plot was too powerful. She helped to conceal and cover up, but her parents still found out. She couldn't save anything, so she could only sit quietly and listen to the two of them tell them the fact that Shen Chumo was an impersonator.
According to the police investigation, Shen Chumo's origins are unknown, and it is impossible to determine whether he is a victim or the child of a criminal gang. The real Shen Chumo's body has been found. He died of long-term hunger and cold, coupled with backward medical conditions. Before his death, he was so thin that his bones were visible.
After identification, it was confirmed that it was undoubtedly the bloodline of the Shen family.
"We've asked the driver to take him to the police station to record his statement," Shen's father patted Shen's mother's shoulder in a comforting manner, and said to Shen Huaixin, "He must have learned about Chu Mo's life experience and impersonated Chu Mo for the sake of wealth... shameless!"
“Poor Chu Mo…my child…” Mother Shen cried so hard that she couldn’t speak clearly, and just kept repeating it over and over again.
Shen Huaixin listened to the two people's stories in silence, and then inquired: "Then...what about him? Should we still adopt him?"
Father Shen fell into deep thought, as if he had not yet considered the placement of Shen Chumo.
"Raise him, why not?" Mother Shen raised her head, her eyes revealing deep hatred, and she choked and said, "Isn't he greedy for our family's wealth? I'll let him stay here and enjoy himself!"
“Mom, although Shen Chumo is hateful, he usually…”
Shen Huaixin was about to dissuade him, but her mind was already filled with system warnings. She brainstormed and said in a hurry,
"Why not hand him over to me? I'll make sure he knows the price of pretending to be my brother!"
“…”
Shen Huaixin's proposal perfectly matched the original plot. Shen's mother wavered, her mind dazed, unable to think of a rebuttal. In the end, she remained silent, saying she would carefully consider it.
The whole night, the family atmosphere was shrouded in a dark cloud, and Shen's mother's sobbing could be heard from time to time.
Mother Shen's expression was like a sculpture, with numb and gray eyes on the sculpture, from time to time dripping a few drops of water onto the paper money. Her movements were mechanical and repetitive, stacking the gold ingots over and over again.
Shen Huaixin couldn't say anything to comfort her. She imitated her method of stacking gold ingots and silently prayed in her heart that the real Shen Chumo would forgive her for what she had done. She didn't mean to excuse the villain's mistakes, but just hoped to reduce the harm, no matter to whom.
After folding a sack, Shen's mother wanted to continue folding, but was stopped by Shen's father, who asked her to rest first. She didn't sleep a wink yesterday. She looked at her husband with empty eyes, as if she could no longer think about anything, but just followed his advice.
When Shen Huaixin saw her mother dragging her heavy steps with a hunched body, as if she had changed from a once radiant lady to a middle-aged woman with gray hair overnight, she realized how much of a blow her son's death had dealt to her.
This poor mother searched for her son for many years in vain, and thought that her hard work had finally paid off, but she didn't expect to fall into an even deeper abyss.
Shen Huaixin couldn't help but redden her eyes. She waited until Shen's mother went into the master bedroom to rest before she softly asked Shen's father,
"Dad, there's something I don't understand. Didn't you do a paternity test when you first recognized each other?"
"This is the abomination of that beast. He actually used Chu Mo's hair to impersonate him!" Father Shen gritted his teeth, his eyes dark, and it took a long time for him to catch his breath. "Your mother is right. Letting this beast go is too easy for him. We must not let him off easily."
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