Chapter 11
Shen Chumo opened the screen of his mobile phone and ruminated on the conversation between him and Shen Huaixin for a while, then clicked on the portrait and looked at it several times. He remembered this picture very clearly, but it was too blurry. He didn't know where it was taken from, and he couldn't even count how many leaves there were.
I opened her Moments from her personal homepage and saw the first new post. It was a photo of her and a boy in an empty classroom. The boy was tall and slender, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He was casually adjusting his collar. Although he lowered his head, I could still vaguely see that he had a high nose bridge and fair skin. He must be good-looking.
...my sister's friends? He had only seen those three female friends at home before.
Shen Chumo observed carefully and found a sense of familiarity in this handsome figure. It was indeed the boy who played Romeo in Shangjou's circle of friends. The question was, where was Juliet?
He felt that he needed to catch up on this drama, and after thinking about it, he politely replied: Everything is going well.
Su Zihan had clearly noticed that more students were staring at her as she walked around campus. In the past, they'd just glanced in passing, but now she could even hear them whispering about her.
Although she had not intended the increasingly intense competition for the school beauty title, once she was involved, the situation became unpredictable. Coupled with Shen Huaixin's arrogance and domineering nature, if Su Zihan were allowed to win, although she wouldn't show anything on the surface, she would feel somewhat uncomfortable.
But fortunately, at least she still has confidence in Shen Huaixin's talent.
When Su Zihan arrived at the classroom, she saw Qi Yi nodding to her. She felt a little better and quickly walked to her desk and sat down. As soon as she sat down, she heard the boy's clear voice, which was full of subtle concern.
“Zi Han, I saw Shen Huaixin rehearsing yesterday. The program she performed was singing.”
"How was the singing?"
Su Zihan asked casually, but saw Qi Yi lower his head slightly, his fingers resting on his chin, as if lost in memories. After a while, he commented in a serious tone,
“Very free.”
After saying this, Qi Yi fell silent. The boy's jaw, still not yet fully closed, still held the warmth of the last two words. He chewed on the weight of the words, finding an explanation for the feeling that had been lingering in his mind, but it was still inconceivable.
"Yes, it's freedom," Qi Yi nodded and repeated, "Her singing gives me a feeling of breaking free from shackles."
Perhaps it was the rigors of high school, buried in a sea of homework, or perhaps it was the complexity of her wealthy family that prematurely matured her: or perhaps it was simply her nature. But as someone who was similarly bound by rules and regulations, how could I not empathize?
Qi Yi never thought that one day he would empathize with an unlearned and unskillful playboy like Shen Huaixin. He shook his head with amusement and softened his tone.
"Just looking at the show, she is a tough opponent and we can't take her lightly."
However, Qi Yi did not think that he and Su Zihan would lose. After all, compared to pure singing programs, most students still prefer to watch drama performances. They have plots and props, plus some jokes that young people nowadays are interested in, so the effect will not be bad.
He noticed that after he finished evaluating Shen Huaixin, Su Zihan's expression was slightly disbelieving. She opened her mouth, as if she wanted to refute, but finally swallowed it back, only slightly raising her chin, appearing arrogant and disdainful.
"Anyway, you'll help me," she said, her tone tinged with displeasure, her reservations about his assessment.
The boy nodded as usual, taking it for granted.
The tutor in a professional suit and black-framed glasses used a fountain pen to point at the key points in the book. Then he looked up at Shen Chumo and saw that he had already started to do the questions. His thoughts flowed smoothly as if he was assisted by God. He couldn't help but sigh, partly because Shen Chumo was easy to teach and he understood everything at once, and partly because he had a premonition that he would soon be unemployed.
"Chu Mo, your progress is beyond my expectation. I have rarely taught students as smart as you." The tutor put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, drank a sip of tea, and spoke with sincerity.
Shen Chumo only cared about one thing: "When can I go to school?"
"I will advise your parents to let you go to school as soon as possible. It's a pity that you haven't studied for long, otherwise if you studied for a few more years, you really have the talent to make a breakthrough into Beijing North."
He blinked without any expression, having no idea about the highest institution of learning that high school students across the country aspired to.
"Teacher, have you ever heard of Romeo and Juliet?"
"Of course, it's a world classic, and it's also included in the required extracurricular reading. There's an excerpt in the Chinese textbook, which you haven't read yet. It tells the love story of the children of two feuding families, who are thwarted in their love and ultimately commit suicide for love."
When Shen Chumo heard that it was Chinese again, he imitated his tutor's usual expression of having a headache and rubbed his temples, full of questions.
"What is a feud? Why do people commit suicide for love? And why do they fall in love?"
The tutor checked the time and quickly stopped the conversation from going off topic. "Well, you'll know the details if you read the textbook. Let's go back to the textbook. Which question were we at?"
After a day of studying, Shen Chumo couldn't wait to search for keywords and click on the movie to watch this classic play. It was nearly two hours long, but he sped it up at triple speed to keep it under 50 minutes. However, the long and confusing dialogue still left him bored, and he kept clicking on the screen to check the progress bar, which was like a tortoise crawling.
Everyone's actions reveal an incomprehensible strangeness. Of course, the most foolish are the male and female protagonists. The suicide line is even more confusing to him. He can't help but sigh at the profoundness of literature, which interprets absurdity, irony and black humor so well, warning people to always keep a clear mind, think rationally and cherish life.
However, when he sent a message to Shen Huaixin on his way home from school to share his feelings, he only received a long string of ellipsis. He knew that in online language, this often means speechless or difficult to express in words.
Shen Huaixin: What do you think love is?
Shen Chumo recalled the performance of the male and female protagonists and got goose bumps: Judging from this drama, it is the culprit that causes people to have unclear minds, a certain emotional trap that should be avoided as much as possible; physiologically speaking, it is the transmission of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, sex hormones, hormones, etc.
So Shen Chumo received another long string of ellipsis, and it showed "the other party is typing" for a long time.
Shen Huaixin: It's stupidity, indeed, and it's also a chemical secreted by the brain, but it's not comprehensive. I think it's both sweet and painful, a confinement within a confinement that's perfectly acceptable. It's incredibly complex and extremely abstract. Others' comments are useless; you need to experience it for yourself, just like "there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand eyes."
Shen Chumo: Forget it.
Shen Huaixin smiled at the reply, but when she thought of the villain's ending, her smile froze on her lips. She didn't know if Shen Chumo was finally moved by Su Zihan. If so, what kind of love did he experience? She was afraid that it would never be sweet from beginning to end.
To him, love is indeed something worse than nothing, but in order to bring about the ending, Shen Huaixin still has to play the villain and work hard to win his favor towards the heroine.
Having determined the overall direction, Shen Huaixin adhered to the basic principle of "building the villain's favor for the heroine" without wavering. When she returned home, she ignored Shen Chumo as usual, maintaining her arrogant image and returning to her bedroom to do her homework. On her phone, she kept praising Shen Chumo with rainbow farts such as "The academic master is taking me to fly" and "The master is really amazing", which made Shen Chumo stunned.
In the living room, Shen Chumo kept looking at Shen Huaixin's bedroom, touching his ears, feeling a little hot. He didn't know that he had such a tall image in his sister's heart. Although he was very surprised, he felt good.
At this moment, the servant brought the express delivery. He walked over to take a look. The express box was all written with Shen Huaixin. Recently, she had received a lot of express deliveries and secretly hid them in the wine cellar at home, thinking that no one would know. However, Shen Chumo stayed at home every day and had already explored every corner of the house. She even knew that Shen's father's private money was hidden in the antique vase on the first row of the bookshelf.
Shen Huaixin walked out the door and quickly sorted out the express delivery before her parents came back. Shen Chumo went over to help: "Sister Xin, why did you buy so many military rations?"
"Picnic."
“Do you need a loose rope, a chain saw, and a felling axe for a picnic?”
Shen Huaixin stopped and glanced at him: “It’s better to be prepared.”
In fact, it is indeed "better prepared than unforeseen". Their family of three was directly wiped out completely, so there was no need to buy any supplies. However, in case the fate of Shen's father and mother changed, it was always good to stock up on some supplies in advance. Even if Shen Chumo was extremely powerful after his blackening, if one or two could be used, it would not be a waste of money.
"Can I go?" Shen Chumo was eager to try.
"It's up to you, but it's very dangerous, so be prepared."
"Are there any wild animals?"
Shen Huaixin thought for a moment, then spread his fingers to scare him: “More terrifying than wild beasts, there are mutated monsters, fallen evil spirits, and whirlpool-shaped…”
[System: Spoiler alert!]
Shen Huaixin shut up and shrugged. In the book, after Shen Chumo turned evil, the whole world had almost become rotten to this extent. People had no idea when they would be polluted and transformed into mindless monsters. This was not her intention to scare Shen Chumo, but the future he himself had caused.
Shen Chumo was stunned: "Will you be in danger?"
"Don't worry. If I were in danger, I would definitely push you out first to take the blame. What do you think? Smart, right?" She raised her head and looked at him jokingly.
Shen Huaixin didn't lie, the original novel was like this. Just think of it as her early warning.
Shen Chumo breathed a sigh of relief: “Then you will be safe.”
Shen Huaixin felt a slight blow in his heart, and was unable to respond for a moment. He lowered his eyes and smiled.
"Are mom and dad going too?" he asked again.
"If you don't go, they may only be able to send you here." Shen Huaixin briefly gave up maintaining his persona and tried to soften his voice, "You have to walk the rest of the way on your own..."
[System: Spoiler alert!]
"...In short, when you're on a picnic, you should learn to take care of yourself and be safe..."
[System: OOC warning! ]
"Fuck, can you please let me finish what I'm saying? How can you interrupt me twice in one sentence? Who will be responsible if you choke me to death?" Shen Huaixin cursed angrily.
"Sister Xin, I don't think I interrupted you?" Shen Chumo was slightly stunned.
…Forget the scolding in my mind. Shen Huaixin rubbed his forehead, sighed, patted Shen Chumo's shoulder, and let him figure it out on his own.
When it was time for dinner, Shen Chumo swallowed the meat in his mouth and looked at Father and Mother Shen: "Can I go on a picnic with Sister Xin?"
Shen Huaixin almost choked on a mouthful of rice and quickly corrected himself: "It's the autumn outing! Ah, yes, he means the autumn outing organized by the school! It's next week, but he hasn't officially enrolled yet, so I think..."
"That's great," Shen's mother smiled, and gave Shen Chumo another piece of meat. She looked at him and said softly, "When the time comes, let the driver take you there. It's a good opportunity to get acquainted with your classmates."
She stood up again, served soup to Shen Huaixin, and reminded her: “Xinxin must take good care of Chu Mo.”
"...Okay, I'll watch him."
Shen Huaixin sighed on the surface and agreed with a disgusted expression.
It's not that I don't want Shen Chumo to participate in the autumn outing. He can meet people of the same age, see the scenery, and play some games that teenagers like to play, which is very beneficial to his physical and mental health, and thus correct the plot. He will be bored at home every day.
But there is a problem. There is such a plot in the original work: When Shen Chumo arrived at the autumn outing site, he stood by the river, feeling relaxed and happy, when he felt a push from behind and was pushed into the turbulent river.
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