Chapter 14
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In late September, the autumn wind already carried a subtle chill.
The teaching building for Class 3 of Grade 7 was newly renovated this year. The freshly painted white walls look a bit glaring, and the lower half is painted with grass green paint, still retaining a faint smell of paint.
In the classroom, Xu Chen sat by the window, his fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of the desk. He had grown considerably taller than two years ago, his figure more slender, and his face had lost its childlike roundness, gaining a more refined and handsome youthful look. Only his eyes held a faint, almost imperceptible, melancholy.
His gaze once again drifted uncontrollably toward the classroom door.
Li Muxue has arrived.
She wore a soft-washed white cotton shirt under a blue school uniform jacket, zipped up high, almost obscuring half her face. Her features had matured, making her more delicate, but that aloofness was even more pronounced than two years ago, like a hard shell of ice enveloping her entirely.
The atmosphere instantly became a little awkward as soon as she entered the classroom.
Li Muxue walked straight to the last row of the classroom without looking to the side. Just like in elementary school, she sat down in the corner by the window, placed her schoolbag on the table, took out her textbook, opened it, and stared blankly at the pages, clearly not reading anything. Her presence was like an invisible barrier, making the surrounding air feel colder.
This is the current situation in Class 3, Grade 7. Xu Chen has above-average grades and a personality that is neither particularly outgoing nor withdrawn. Because his father, Xu Zhenguo, has now been promoted to deputy factory manager, his family is relatively well-off, and he has a few friends in the class. Li Muxue, on the other hand, is the quiet and solitary student who is almost universally ostracized by the rest of the class.
The reason is simple: it's still that old incident from many years ago. Although the specific details are now just vague rumors among the children, the core information that "Li Muxue's father had been to prison because of Xu Chen's father" is etched into everyone's mind like a brand. Especially in junior high school, the children are more adept at reading people and are more likely to subconsciously distance themselves from those who "have problems."
"Xu Chen, look at the way she's acting, like someone owes her eight million." Xu Chen's deskmate, Wang Lei, nudged her with his elbow and whispered, "Your dad's become the deputy factory director, why are you still staring at her? Why bother with her?"
Xu Chen didn't speak, but simply shifted his gaze away from Li Muxue and pretended to tidy his schoolbag. That familiar feeling of guilt and bitterness welled up in his heart again.
A few years is enough time to change many things. Her father got a promotion, the family's life improved, and they moved to a new dormitory building assigned to them by the factory. But for Li Muxue's family, life seemed to have been put on pause, or even regressed. It's said that after Uncle Li was released from prison, he went to work at a car repair shop, and Aunt Qiao aged considerably. And Li Muxue, from a cheerful, singing little girl, had completely transformed into the prickly person she is now.
Xu Chen knew the root of all this better than anyone. His father, Xu Zhenguo, was now occasionally showing deliberate avoidance of the Li family, which was a silent reminder to Xu Chen that his father's hands were stained with the Li family's "stain".
For six long years, he was unable to atone for his father's sins. He could only try to get closer to and help the girl who had been hurt in his own way, hoping to make some small amends, even though his efforts were always in vain.
Middle school courses are much more difficult than elementary school courses. After the first math unit test, Li Muxue's score was not ideal, and she frowned as she looked at the red crosses on the test paper.
When the bell rang, Xu Chen took a deep breath, picked up his math test paper—he had ranked second in the class—and walked to Li Muxue's seat.
“This question,” he said, pointing to a wrong answer on Li Muxue’s test paper, trying to keep his voice gentle, “the auxiliary lines should be drawn like this, you see…”
Li Muxue suddenly raised her head, her eyes like icy knives, glaring fiercely at Xu Chen. "Take your hand away." Her voice was cold, devoid of any warmth.
Xu Chen's hand froze in mid-air, the corner of the test paper almost touching hers. Several classmates who were secretly watching around her chuckled softly.
"I don't need your fake kindness." Li Muxue's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears. "Xu Chen, do you think this can make up for what your father did? Do you think that if you help me with my homework, I'll forget the suffering my father endured inside?"
Her words pierced Xu Chen's heart like needles. He knew she would refuse, but he hadn't expected her to be so direct and so unforgiving. His face flushed instantly, not from anger, but from embarrassment and a deeper sense of guilt.
"I..." He wanted to explain, to say that he didn't mean it that way, he just wanted to help.
"Stay away from me."
Li Muxue interrupted him, lowered her head again, and covered the paper with her hand, as if it were dirty.
Xu Chen stood there, at a loss. He could feel the strange looks he was receiving—some sympathetic, some mocking, and some just watching with amusement. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails almost dug into his palms. In the end, he silently turned and walked back to his seat, his back looking somewhat forlorn.
Wang Lei patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, stop making a fool of yourself. That's just how she is, like a block of ice."
Xu Chen didn't speak, but simply took out a pencil and scribbled randomly on a scrap of paper. He knew this path would be incredibly difficult, but he couldn't give up. He always felt that as long as he persisted, as long as he could make her feel even a little warmth, perhaps... perhaps one day, she would understand that he and his father were different.
The school bell rang, and the students poured out of the classroom like a tide. Xu Chen deliberately slowed down and waited at the classroom door, wanting to see if Li Muxue would need help—like carrying a heavy schoolbag or encountering any trouble.
Li Muxue packed her schoolbag, walked out of the classroom alone, saw Xu Chen, her eyes turned cold, and she walked around him on the other side and quickly went downstairs.
Xu Chen didn't follow her; he just watched her figure disappear at the top of the stairs. He knew that following her now would only make her more disgusted.
He carried his schoolbag and walked slowly home. The streets of the 1990s were lined with low factory buildings and the occasional red-brick structure, the air thick with the distinctive smoky smell of heavy industry. An old man selling ice cream from a bicycle pulled out a long, drawn-out cry: "Ice cream—Huanggu ice cream—!"
(To be continued)
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