Chapter 25. I owe you something. You owe me something.
As October passed its midpoint, the temperature in Qingshui dropped rapidly, and the Mid-Autumn Festival had arrived.
Chen Zhoudu went to Tianhewan Shopping Mall to buy some warmer clothes. These days, he and Xia Chan and Huang Mao have been going out to set up their stall less and less. After the first mock exam, the tense atmosphere in the entire senior class of Experimental High School finally rose. Perhaps because they had a concrete experience of the tension of the college entrance examination, countdowns were posted on the blackboard of Class 1, and they counted them down every day.
Many signs were put up in the back of the classroom with slogans like "Flip through books now, count money later" and "Don't shed tears for love, only lose sleep for the college entrance exam." They were finally stopped after Director Niu gave them a good scolding and changed them to "A light boat sails over ten thousand mountains, hoisting the sails to overcome ten thousand difficulties."
There was also news about Shen Zhoudu's lawsuit against Zhang Guozhong. At that time, Xia Chan's injuries had not yet healed, so Shen Zhoudu asked someone to consult about matters such as filing a lawsuit, hiring a lawyer, and determining intentional injury.
The uncle who was asked for help immediately arranged for them to hire a well-known lawyer in Tongcheng City. After understanding the whole story, the lawyer said that there were two possible solutions.
Firstly, it is indeed possible to proceed as a serious family dispute. The lawyer has also communicated with Zhang Guozhong and the police, and Zhang Guozhong is willing to compensate Xia Chan for a debt to offset part of the criminal liability.
Secondly, if Xia Chan insists on filing a lawsuit, the case will have to go through the normal public security, procuratorial and judicial procedures. However, Xia Chan should be mentally prepared that the final verdict may not be what she wants.
"I don't want money." Xia Chan's attitude was very firm after hearing the news. This time, she really didn't want a single penny from him. She only said, "I just want him to go to jail."
Grandma and Siyi Huangmao both strongly supported Xia Chan's idea. Chen Zhoudu submitted all her needs and medical examination evidence to the lawyer and notified them that the procedures could proceed. They could then wait for the follow-up matters.
Xia Chan knew that Chen Zhoudu had probably asked someone for help again for her sake. One night, after things had been initially settled, she was alone with him on the rooftop, enjoying the breeze and the moon, when she brought it up again: "Chen Zhoudu, it seems like I owe you another favor."
Chen Zhoudu smiled and gently touched the drink in her hand, "Then I'll owe you."
He said, "I quite like it when you owe me a favor."
Autumn stars are few, but his eyes are forever clear and bright. Xia Chan paused, gazing into his eyes, and couldn't help but smile, "What? Do you think I can bind you by owing you something?"
She tilted her head back slightly, tossed her hair, and sipped her drink, seemingly able to act with arrogance even when she owed someone. "That's not necessarily true! I may owe you, but it's still my debt. Besides, even if I don't pay you back and become a deadbeat, what can you do to me? What can you do?"
“Of course I can’t do anything to you.” Chen Zhoudu sighed, looking at her quietly as if the wind around him could stop. “You are Xia Chan, who can do anything to you? Sometimes… I feel like I owe you.”
Xia Chan tilted her head curiously and smiled mischievously at him, "What do you owe me?"
“There are many…” Chen Zhoudu recalled the past with a sigh, “The first time we met, my uncle was rude to you, and I owed him an apology back then, which I feel like I can never repay…”
"Oh~" Xia Chan chuckled.
"Then we met again by chance. My house had problems, and even though you had a problem with me, you still let me rent your house. It made you seem generous and magnanimous, while I was just being a petty person. With interest compounding, it became even harder to pay off the debt."
"Isn't that because you gave too much?" Xia Chan crossed her arms and looked at him teasingly, now with a hint of dredging up old grievances.
Chen Zhoudu smiled jokingly at her, "Wasn't that because you deliberately quoted a high price to try and get rid of me?"
"So you didn't leave in the end, did you?" Xia Chan retorted defiantly.
"But I don't know what the market rent is here."
"Well, who told you to be such a sucker?"
"If you want me to leave, you can't just say it directly instead of beating around the bush."
"Who wouldn't want free money? People die for wealth, birds die for food."
"Then why did you return the money to me in the end?"
"Then give it back to me—"
She opened her hand and demanded the money directly from him, clearly intending to get it back. Chen Zhoudu paused for a moment, then turned his head, took a sip of his drink, and said leisurely, "Just owe it! Anyway, you can't do anything to me if I become a deadbeat."
Xia Chan slapped him directly on the body, and the two of them couldn't help but laugh.
"Xia Chan".
"Um?"
When the moon pierced through the clouds and shone brightly in the sky, Chen Zhoudu gazed at her face and solemnly said, "You really need to consider my suggestion from that day."
Xia Chan knew what he was talking about, and her heart skipped a beat for a moment.
His eyes were deep and clear, reflecting only one shadow, which shrank small in his pupils like a single star shining in the dark night.
"I want to return this to you."
The next day, as soon as Xia Chan arrived at school, she went to Vice Principal Liu's office. She knocked on the door three times and pushed it open before the person inside could say "come in."
"Old Liu, um..."
Vice Principal Liu was talking to someone when he was startled by the loud bang of the door opening. Upon seeing who it was, he became even more furious.
"Xia Chan! Can't you at least wait for someone to say they're coming in before you knock? When are you going to get rid of this self-centered habit of yours?!"
"I'm so sorry... I didn't know there were people here." Xia Chan immediately made an apologetic gesture and left.
After Vice Principal Liu saw the guests off, he called her into the house, but he wasn't very friendly when he faced her.
"What's wrong?"
Xia Chan smiled and respectfully handed him a test paper.
The test paper was the science comprehensive exam from the last mock exam. Vice Principal Liu glanced at it and paused for a moment.
Vice Principal Liu felt even more furious when he thought about her combined science score. He wanted nothing more than to jump up and knock her on the head. "How dare you bring this paper to me! Look at how you answered that last paper... This time you barely even wrote down the formulas, and you just filled in random answers for the multiple-choice questions! There are only so many days left until the college entrance exam, don't you even realize how long you can go on like this...?"
"Alright, alright." Xia Chan leisurely took two steps back to avoid it, raised her chin and pointed at the roll of paper, "Take a good look again."
Vice Principal Liu frowned and glared at her as she shook the test paper. After looking at it more closely, he suddenly paused.
I looked at her again, surprised.
Xia Chan was already waving her hand arrogantly as she strode out, saying, "This time, don't say that sitting next to someone makes me like the 'ink' in 'one is influenced by one's surroundings'..."
This was still a mock exam paper, but she answered it again carefully.
Vice Principal Liu, adjusting his glasses, carefully examined the papers before taking out his red pen and beginning to grade them, working with utmost seriousness.
Her foundation was already quite good; although she had slumped for a while and hadn't returned to her peak level overall, she was already in the upper-middle tier. Vice Principal Liu held that rare answer sheet with immense relish.
After returning home that night, Chen Zhoudu ate dinner and, as usual, went back to his room to do his review work.
Suddenly, the door was opened from the outside with a "click." Chen Zhoudu turned his head in slight surprise and suspicion, only to see Xia Chan walking in with a schoolbag slung over her shoulder and a stack of books in her arms.
She walked to the side of Chen Zhoudu's desk and calmly sat down, then began taking things out of her bag one by one.
Math books, Chinese books, English books, chemistry books...
Workbooks, exam papers, textbook helpers, "53" (a popular set of practice materials)...
Chen Zhoudu stared in disbelief as she piled up half of her table into a small mountain, wondering what she was up to. Xia Chan looked up and met his gaze, tilting her chin up indifferently.
"What are you looking at? Didn't you say you'd tutor me for free? Let me tell you, I'm not a good tutor. Just look at Old Liu's bald head, and you should watch your hair too..."
In an instant, Chen Zhoudu understood what was happening. His heart pounded as he stared intently at her. Xia Chan glanced at him, then pretended not to notice and turned her lips away, curving slightly. She pushed a test paper away and said, "I don't know how to do these questions, I don't understand them."
Chen Zhoudu then slightly curved his lips, no longer wasting time, his fingertips pressing on the scroll, his knuckles clear and white.
"The component of barium salt is barium chloride. Why did you fill in 'slightly salty' when the question is testing your properties?"
"Isn't that a barium 'salt'?"
"...Have you tried it?"
"I guessed."
"..."
Xia Chan: "What's with that expression?"
Chen Zhoudu: "I'm thinking about whether to call an ambulance for you..."
The dim light from the table lamp in the room shone through the window like a bright yellow lantern, and the occasional whispers of argument drifted out late into the night.
-
In late November, Qingshui experienced its first snowfall of the year, causing the temperature throughout the city to drop rapidly.
Winter has arrived.
That afternoon, Grandma received a phone call. After hanging up, she was restless. Xia Chan noticed and asked her what was wrong when Huang Mao and Siyi were not around. Grandma sighed with worry and almost burst into tears, "It's Siyi."
Xia Chan paused.
Siyi had congenital heart disease and underwent open-heart surgery when she was seven years old. However, the doctor said that if her condition were to be completely stabilized, she would need to undergo two more major surgeries, both of which should ideally be performed before she reaches adulthood.
She had already controlled and maintained her condition very well over the years, and the surgery would have been fine in the next year or the year after.
However, the bullying she experienced in the past has caused her condition to become somewhat unstable recently. After the county hospital sent her medical records to several top-tier hospitals for review, experts advised that it would be best to have a second surgery soon.
However, money has become the biggest problem right now.
Grandma had been saving every penny to pay for Siyi's surgery all these years. Xia Chan and Huang Mao, though they earned very little, were doing their best to help support the family.
The reason why Grandma planned to have Siyi have the surgery next year or the year after was because they estimated that they would have saved enough money for the surgery by then, and then they could take out a loan. It shouldn't be a problem. But if the surgery is suddenly brought forward, the missing 200,000 yuan will become an insurmountable obstacle.
That evening, they tried to distract her from her thoughts, but Grandma was still wiping away tears from her sorrow. Uncle Chao, Aunt Chao, and several old neighbors from Shanfeng Lane came over, discussing the situation and offering comfort.
"No matter what... we can't really let Siyi get into trouble!" Aunt Chao sat beside her, putting her arm around her shoulder and comforting her. "Don't worry, I still have some money on hand! It's not much... but every little bit counts. We can each borrow a little from each other and chip in, which should solve our immediate problem. If all else fails, I can take out a loan! Anyway, the most important thing is to be alive. Everything else is just a piece of cake. We're not going to be killed by holding our pee, are we?"
"Yes! I'll contribute too!"
"My family is contributing too!"
"Siyi is such a good child, we can't let anything happen to her..."
Other neighbors chimed in, with even Lala and Panghu offering to contribute their years' worth of New Year's money.
Grandma was so grateful that she shed even more tears. She knew they didn't have much money, but their kindness was priceless. She bowed repeatedly to express her gratitude and was quickly helped up by Aunt Chao and the others.
After hearing about this, Huang Mao secretly cried. His eyes were still red, and he clenched his fists and said firmly, "I'll sell my blood... or at worst, I'll sell my kidney! I'll save up enough money!"
He was about to rush out like a headless fool when Xia Chan grabbed him impatiently. "Come back!" She shoved his head hard and wiped away his tears haphazardly. "Nobody wants your kidneys! Calm down. Don't worry, Si Yi will just waste money saving you if nothing happens."
The blond-haired man pursed his lips tightly, tears welling up in his eyes. He wiped them with his sleeve. "What should I do... Sis, what should I do! Why is it so hard to make money..."
At this moment, Chen Zhoudu came down from the stairwell on the side, and everyone subconsciously composed themselves when they saw him.
He walked straight up to the crowd and said to his grandmother, "I have money."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com