Chapter 32
Dream.
Beatings and verbal abuse had long been commonplace, but tonight they were especially intense. Every lash Shen Huaixin delivered was tinged with hatred, burning and distorting the air in the basement. He remembered that early morning, Shen Chumo saw his father and mother dressed in dusty clothes, solemn and mournful, a change from their usual self. They didn't even glance at him, and the occasional glances they did cast at him revealed undisguised hatred.
But Shen Chumo still remembered the tenderness in those eyes when he first came, and even felt that as long as he could see them again, he would be willing to pay any price.
“I really want to thank you, if it weren’t for you, how could he die?” Shen Huaixin pressed the handle of the whip against Shen Chumo’s chin and lifted his face up.
The boy stared at her coldly. The girl's heavily made-up face, reflected in her dark pupils, looked eerily like a mask. The faint sting of the whip marks on her body made him feel the pain of being alive.
"Who?" A hoarse voice came out from his throat.
"Of course he's competing with me for the family fortune...my dear brother..."
Shen Chumo spent a few minutes chewing on these words. After recognizing the meaning, he struggled. The chains on his body rustled, causing the wounds to crack and bleed.
"No, I am——!"
"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?" Shen Huaixin was startled, but quickly came to his senses. Looking at his whip wound that had healed automatically, he shook his head, "Are you a monster? Would humans give birth to you? Ridiculous!"
Waking from his dream once again, Shen Chumo still had the afterimage of Shen Huaixin in his eyes. It was clearly the same face, yet no matter how he looked at it, it looked completely different. This had nothing to do with the makeup, but simply stemmed from some mysterious and unknown feeling. The longer he dreamed, the harder it was for him to connect the two.
Looking around, he found that Shen Huaixin had smuggled a lot of equipment into the basement without him noticing. In order to hide his tracks, they did not have delicate shells, but were simple and practical, such as gray backrest cushions, small electric heaters that could be used for heating or grilling meat, air fresheners that had been torn out of packaging, etc. They looked very secretive and inconspicuous, and cleverly integrated into this small basement.
Shen Chumo closed his eyes slightly, his mind filled with the image of Shen Huaixin tonight. Stars shattered into her distinct black and white eyes, radiant and pure. She'd called her nickname "Xingxing," which was so fitting, but he'd never heard anyone call her that in this family before.
But he likes it.
I like special titles that only he knows.
Then, she wished him a happy birthday with this look in her eyes. He tasted something sweeter than honey in his mouth.
So this is joy. Silent and yet so... moving.
The next day, the mock exam results were announced. The class rankings, school rankings, and even the city-wide rankings were all listed in a complete table. The students' names were put into boxes and ranked in order of rank and posted on the bulletin board.
Those with good grades were very proud and talked loudly, so loud that even the ants across the road could hear them. Those with poor grades walked away quietly, thinking out of sight, out of mind. Some even gave up and counted the rankings from the back without any care.
Shen Huaixin stood on the steps not far away for a while, watching the crowds of people.
[System: Host, don't you want to check the rankings?]
[Chen Huaixin: The company would list performance reports every month, using a line chart to rank employees from highest to lowest. It was very similar to this scene. Back then, everyone was vying to avoid being eliminated, including me.]
[System: The two are different. Improving performance is for bonuses, but there is no point for the host to study in a small world.]
[Chen Huaixin: I study just because I want to.]
Back in the classroom, the students were whispering to each other. Some of the sharp-eyed or well-informed ones had already known their results, but more of them were still nervously rubbing their fingers, waiting for the teacher to come in and announce the results.
Soon, the head teacher came in with the clatter of her high heels and placed a stack of test papers on the desk. The students saw the head teacher's serious expression and fell silent, their faces showing guilt.
"In this mock exam, our class's average score was a full three points lower than the four classes next door. We had the same study time and the same teacher, so why..."
Shen Huaixin turned her head and glanced at Fang Xiaozheng behind her. She raised her head from her drowsiness and made a face.
"You guys are the worst class I've ever taught."
After the head teacher finished her summary, the classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She straightened the Chinese test papers and began distributing them one by one according to their ranking.
"First place, Lin Leyao, 131 points. Lin performed well this time. Based on the total score, if she keeps up this performance, she will definitely be admitted to a 985 university."
Under everyone's envious gaze, Lin Leyao shook the ponytail behind her head, stood up, walked forward steadily and proudly, and received the test paper.
"Next, the second place..."
The head teacher called out the names one by one, and the students below - especially those with good grades - all pricked up their ears, waiting for their names to be called before stepping forward to get their test papers.
"Eleventh place, Shen Huaixin."
After these words came out, the whole audience was in an uproar. After a moment of silence, everyone started to whisper to each other. After all, Shen Huaixin was recognized as the last one in the class. He was last in the last exam, but this time he was 11th, a full 37 places higher. It was outrageous to think about it.
What's more, this is a Chinese language score. In most people's perception, Chinese language scores are a relatively stable subject with little fluctuation, and it is also difficult to increase the score.
"Could it be cheating?" someone in the back row whispered.
"No, how can you cheat in Chinese?" someone immediately retorted, "Try cheating for me? I think it's just a blind cat catching a dead mouse."
The head teacher used gestures to suppress the noise in the room, cleared his throat,
"I want to especially praise Shen Huaixin. She made great progress overall in this exam, not only in Chinese but also in several other subjects. We teachers have also discussed this internally, and everyone said that she has been listening carefully in class recently. Although there are mistakes in her homework, she has worked hard to complete them, and her mistakes are getting fewer and fewer."
"This is enough to prove that she is studying hard and striving to improve herself. What about most of you? It's like sailing against the current. If you don't move forward, you will fall behind! Even Shen Huaixin can jump from the bottom of the class to the top, leaving the students who were ahead of her far behind. What else is impossible? We should all learn from her."
After speaking, the head teacher nodded towards Shen Huaixin, his face showing satisfaction and encouragement.
Shen Huaixin stood up and realized her heart was beating faster than usual, as if she was also nervous about her grades. She couldn't help but shake her head. This little turmoil was nothing at all. It just fulfilled her dream of further education, which had been prevented by her poor family background. She didn't have to worry about the mock exams in the small world of books.
"Sister Xin, you're amazing!" Fang Xiaozheng - also known as Shen Huaixin's King of Support - clapped his hands vigorously.
The head teacher nodded and smiled, then followed her in clapping. Led by the head teacher, the applause in the classroom became enthusiastic.
Shen Huaixin looked around, seeing yearning and jealousy on the young, innocent faces of his classmates. All these emotions seemed so real. But these daily routines were about to be wiped out by the pollution outbreak.
Shen Huaixin slowly stepped forward and took her answer sheet, which was the fruit of her several months of study since she entered the book.
The head teacher looked at Fang Xiaozheng who was making a lot of noise, and seemed to be proud of it. She couldn't help but point her out: "As the saying goes, 'A red flower blooms near a red flower.' You should also learn from Shen Huaixin."
Fang Xiaozheng's arrogance suddenly subsided and he scratched his head.
Shen Huaixin saw this scene and laughed secretly. She almost forgot that in addition to the improved grades, she also gained family love and... friends who played tricks together. They rehearsed, played, and performed in the same venue together, wantonly swaying their youth.
Occasionally, she could feel a glimmer of life injected into her heart, which had become lifeless due to work.
Returning to her seat, she flipped through the Chinese test paper and saw that her mistakes were relatively evenly distributed, with no obvious shortcomings. When she turned to the last page of the composition, she thought of Shen Chumo.
The maternal love she wrote about was the scent of sunshine on the quilt, and the snack that would never fall after the sound of the door opening. But she didn't know what he had written about Shen Chumo.
Her reputation had reversed. Her classmates finally took off their prejudiced glasses and looked at this once notorious girl.
"I always feel like Shen Huaixin seems to have changed. He's been in the spotlight recently, with the videos of the art performance and his grades..."
The boys in the back row nodded frantically. "Yes, and her looks have improved several notches. Why do I feel like she's already got the aura of a campus goddess? She's becoming increasingly unattainable. Am I broken?"
After he said this, the classmate fell into deep thought: "It seems that the scandal between him and Qi Yi might be true."
The boy in the back row was stunned for a moment, then quickly retorted: "That's not necessarily true. I think she's still single. They don't usually get very close."
The classmate saw through him at a glance and teased him, pinching his chin: "Why do I feel that you have impure thoughts about Shen Huaixin?"
The boy in the back row's wheat-colored skin flushed and he stopped talking.
At noon, after the crowd of onlookers had dispersed, Shen Huaixin walked to the bulletin board and took a photo. Seeing this, Fang Xiaozheng next to him flattered him.
"As expected of our boss, if you work a little harder, your grades will go up immediately. This is even higher than Tianyu's, right?
Tianyu is the best student in the team, and she usually performs above the school average. Xiong Chentao's performance is slightly lower than hers, and he is lucky enough to be able to reach the average occasionally.
This time, however, Xiong Chentao's grades dipped. Fortunately, she hadn't originally been a student, prioritizing athletics. With her long legs, leopard-like physique, and explosive power, she was a natural runner and, of course, a capable fighter.
Tianyu quickly nodded in agreement: "Sister Xin is really smart. If she had studied hard from the beginning, it wouldn't be difficult for her to be number one in the school."
Seeing that they were getting more and more outrageous, Shen Huaixin quickly stopped them: "How are your supplies prepared? The holiday is almost here."
Xiong Chentao said hurriedly, "Then we must prepare according to Sister Xin's instructions. Besides, there was an earthquake recently. My father said that we should increase our awareness of crises and prepare more supplies in case of emergency."
"Earthquake?" Fang Xiaozheng was confused. "How come I didn't know?"
Tianyu explained: "There was an earthquake late at night two nights ago, but the amplitude was small, so few people noticed it. It even made the news."
Shen Huaixin's face darkened slightly. According to the timeline, the outbreak had already entered the countdown. It wouldn't be long before the world would be devastated and barren. No one, not even Shen Chumo himself, could stop the pollution.
According to the book's setting, as long as human malice continues, this pollution will inevitably erupt, and Shen Chumo will become increasingly powerful.
Seeing Shen Huaixin remained silent for a long time, Fang Xiaozheng looked solemn: “Sister Xin, what’s wrong?”
"Nothing." Shen Huaixin came back to his senses and fooled away.
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