7/Rooftop
Since that text message, Shen Yu had not contacted Chen Mian for many days.
As usual, Chen and Song continued to drink and gamble, and Song Ai still gave Chen Mian a hard time every day.
The stale-smelling dwelling peeled away from Chen Mian's body little by little, like a snake shedding its skin, as the countdown to the college entrance examination began.
She filled out the exam paper, counting the days, crossing off each page on the calendar, and then drew a tiny sun on the last day of the college entrance exam.
When Chen Yin came to find Chen Mian in her class, she had just finished a short quiz.
Chen Yin stood by the back door, not in a hurry to call anyone, but leaned there as an observer to re-examine Chen Mian.
She sat by the window, her books stacked high. She always wore her school uniform jacket, and her calves were straight and slender under her pleated skirt. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, her profile was fair, her lips were light-colored, and her double eyelids were not deep, but her eyelashes were thick and long.
She has a very pure appearance, like a gardenia on a windowsill that has been wet by spring rain but still has its petals open. She looks fragile and pure, but in reality, she is aloof and cold.
"Chen Mian." Chen Yin pointed to the door. Amidst the gazes cast upon her from the classroom, she unusually refrained from teasing and instead said somewhat wearily to Chen Mian, "I need to talk to you about something."
Chen Mian stood up, and Zhao Lili tugged at her hand, whispering to her, "Recently, Shen Yu has been getting very close to the most beautiful girl in the art class, and Chen Yin is in a bad mood. Be careful."
"Um."
The door to the seventh-floor rooftop was unlocked. The school provided students with a space for ventilation, while also installing a fence to prevent unnecessary danger.
The sky outside the barbed wire fence was cut into pieces, and Chen Mian and Chen Yin stood there.
It was a little past six in the afternoon, the last class of the afternoon had just ended, and students were rushing to the cafeteria for lunch downstairs in an endless stream. Looking down from the top floor, all you could see were students in their school uniforms walking around.
Only she and Chen Yin were on the rooftop.
Chen Yin leaned against the wire mesh, her school uniform jacket wrapped around her waist sticking to the rusty mesh. She asked Chen Mian, "How long have you been with Chen Yu?"
Chen Mian was taken aback, but she had guessed that Chen Yin would find out.
Anyone with a brain could have seen something fishy about Chen Mian and Shen Yu when the science class showed the movie. Good-looking men and women are bound to have rumors if they get close to each other, let alone in the dark and alone for so long without anyone knowing.
"Two years."
Chen Mian's voice was as soft as ever, just like her personality. She was low-key in everything she did, and even though she had a pretty face, her style of doing things was no different from that of a transparent person.
So for the past two years, no one has noticed her relationship with Shen Yu.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yin clicked her tongue, not particularly surprised. She tapped the railing with her hand and gestured with her chin toward the ping-pong table under the art building not far away, indicating that Chen Mian should look over there.
There were hardly any people downstairs in the teaching building at this moment, so the boy standing there was particularly conspicuous.
His school uniform was always neatly made up. Unlike his friends who would unzip their uniforms in cold weather to show off their short-sleeved shirts, his white school uniform shirt always had a blue collar as the base color of his jacket.
In the monotonous and dull campus life, darkness is the third color besides black and white.
It was only natural that Chen Yin was attracted to him. The more dangerous something is, the more alluring it becomes; the more unattainable something is, the more desirable it is. Especially for a young lady like Chen Yin, who could have anything she wanted simply by reaching out her hand, the main reason she wanted Shen Yu, besides liking him, was that Shen Yu was dazzling enough.
The stars themselves are nothing special; what gives them special meaning is that no one can possess them.
Standing next to him was a girl with long, flowing hair, who exuded an artistic air about her from afar.
Chen Yin said to Chen Mian, "Isn't Qiao Zhiwan from the art class pretty?"
Chen Mian watched as the girl followed Shen Yu, carrying her drawing board. Even her back view radiated happiness, and her long hair was gently lifted by the wind.
She didn't answer Chen Yin's question, but instead told her without hesitation, "Chen Yin, I don't like Shen Yu."
Chen Yin immediately laughed, "That's why I think you're so interesting. The girls around Shen Yu keep changing, and they all seem to be ambiguous. Actually, they're no different from me. They're all labeled as his rumored girlfriends, but in reality, they're not even close friends. Yet you've been able to maintain a relationship with him for two years."
She took a cigarette out of her pocket, lit it with a lighter.
When Chen Mian exhaled the minty smoke, it reminded him of Shen Yu's scent.
It turned out to be not an odor remover, but a menthol-flavored cigarette.
“When You Huai asked me what I thought of you, I was surprised. What could I possibly think? My weekly allowance could cover your monthly food expenses. To be honest, if we weren’t in the same school, You Huai, Shen Yu, and I might never have crossed paths with you in our entire lives.”
"So I'm contacting you just to offer you some well-intentioned advice as a friend."
"Life is not a fairy tale. No one hands Cinderella a glass slipper, and the prince's party only invites princesses. There are no pumpkin carriages and Cinderella to carry you up the steps to heaven into our world."
"Chen Mian, you're right. I really never intended to target you because you pose absolutely no threat to me."
After Chen Mian left.
You Huaicai, who had been sitting in the shadows playing on his phone, finally came out.
Chen Yin didn't look at him, but simply said, "You Huai, let's take a gamble."
You Huai zipped up his jacket, his chin, covered by a band-aid, pressed against the upturned collar of his school uniform. His voice was a little dry from being exposed to the wind all day. "Tell me about it."
"Let's bet—"
Chen Yin, who had just threatened people with the script of the villainous female supporting character, laughed and leaned close to You Huai, using his body as a shield against the wind. Her voice had a sly quality to it.
"I am determined to obtain the Sinking Domain."
*
As Chen Mian came down from the rooftop, she ran into Chen Ke, who was carrying his homework to the teacher's office.
After saying something that sounded like a rejection, Chen Mian didn't intend to greet him first.
Just as they passed each other, Chen Ke called out to her.
Chen Mian looked at him, but Chen Ke pursed his lips, seemingly wanting to say something but not saying it. In the end, he simply asked her, "Have you signed up for the essay competition?"
"I've submitted it."
"Okay, see you at the essay competition."
"good."
After saying goodbye to Chen Ke, Chen Mian returned to the classroom to pack her things and prepare to go home.
As soon as I stepped out of the classroom, I saw Chen Yu leaning against the railing.
He was looking down at his phone, and there was no one around, but Chen Mian didn't realize that Shen Yu was waiting for her.
It's not Shen Yu's style to take the initiative to find people; he only tries to force people to come to him for help.
Sure enough, Chen Mian passed by him without Chen Yu even looking up.
She stepped down the stairs, and the motion-activated light turned on.
A soft, gentle voice called out Shen Yu's name from not far away.
A bolt of lightning ripped across the sky, and rain began to fall again in northern Suiyuan.
When I opened the door, Song Ai was home.
She was wearing a black slip dress, and her exposed skin was covered with bruises from the beatings.
"Chen Mian." The woman who had always either ignored her or called her a little beast rarely called her by her name properly.
The two individuals, both from disadvantaged backgrounds in the family, have always maintained a distance, avoiding any interference with each other.
Chen Mian didn't know what Shen Yu had given Song Ai that made her willing to stay by Chen Song's side.
Now, Chen Song wasn't home. Song Ai sat on the sofa, legs crossed, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from under the coffee table, lit one for herself, and then said to Chen Mian as she exhaled the smoke, "You're in your final year of high school, right?"
Chen Mian didn't speak, his dark eyes staring at Song Ai like a silent beast, his whole body filled with vigilance.
Song Ai laughed immediately. "Why are you so nervous? I just want to say that I've taken the beatings for you several times in this family. Even your missing biological mother wasn't this good to you. The first time your father beat me, I was seriously injured and the doctor said I would never be able to have children again."
"Whether or not we have children isn't that important. This miserable life is only making things worse by having another one. I know what you're up to. Aren't you just circling around on the calendar, waiting to finish the college entrance exam and leave here as soon as possible? Let's do a deal. You can give me some of the money you make in the future, how about it?"
This deal has no leverage; it doesn't sound worthwhile at all.
But Chen Mian vaguely sensed that Song Ai's unfinished words carried a heavy price.
She sat on the sofa, her hand trembling as she lit a cigarette. The cigarette butt fell onto her skirt, but she didn't care, brushing it away casually. Her face was numb to life, and there were bruises on her left cheek. After taking a puff, her cheek sank in, making her protruding bones even more noticeable.
It's like a layer of human skin hanging on a skeleton.
"Okay," Chen Mian agreed.
Chen Mian's life has two colors: black is when she steps into her home, and white is when she steps into the school gate.
Entering the room and locking the door, I briefly stepped into the blank space between black and white.
She was alone in the small room, and the desk, which was missing a corner, was covered in scratches.
Chen Mian pulled out a chair and sat down, slowly exhaling the breath she had been holding in since the rooftop.
My phone chimed.
Zhao Lili sent her a WeChat message.
It's a photograph.
The background looked familiar to Chen Mian; it was Shen Yu's home.
The place was packed with people, some of whom Chen Mian knew, and some she didn't.
The protagonist is sitting on the sofa, with a girl sitting next to him, holding a pen and sketching something in a notebook.
Zhao Lili: I bet you don't read the group chat. Lin Lin somehow got involved and got into Chenyu's group.
Zhao Lili: Look at the photo, Chen Yin's face has turned white with anger.
Zhao Lili: Although I think Shen Yu is a scumbag, it's so damn satisfying to see him bossing you around! What's with the queen act? In Shen Yu's eyes, she's nothing!
After a while, not receiving a reply from Chen Mian, she asked Chen Mian curiously: Did you go to help someone take care of a dog again?
Chen Mian then replied: No, I'm at home.
Zhao Lili: Huh, don't we need to take care of the dog today?
Chen Mian: It shouldn't be needed for a while.
She put away her phone and opened the window.
It was raining when I left the school gate, and it's still raining now.
Aunt Zhang parked her car in the shed downstairs, held up an umbrella, and hunched over as she crawled into the building.
The garbage dump had been vacant for days. A stray cat jumped up, grabbed a fish bone, and then hopped back into the bushes.
Outside the door, Song Ai was adjusting the radio while muttering to herself with a smile.
—This life is utterly bullshit.
really.
Chen Mian took the beautifully packaged box of chocolates out of the drawer and threw it into the trash can next to her desk.
At the bottom of the chocolate, there were black lines drawn with markers, the writing of which was so messy that it was impossible to make out what they were.
It was a spacious room with the curtains drawn back.
Someone held her and coaxed her to stand up while supporting herself on the table.
He said, "Good student, shouldn't you record this moment?"
He pressed down on her waist, his penis inside her, her skirt swaying, and red marks were left on her fair thighs from being pinched.
Chen Mian should have been unhappy, but strangely enough, perhaps because the boy's low voice and coaxing tone were too pleasant, she actually picked up a pen and drew a few strokes on the chocolate box on the table.
As their passion subsided, Shen Yu glanced up and asked her, "What is that painting?"
She answered casually, "You."
It's a chaotic mess, impossible to understand, and impossible to escape; it's a maze of tangled threads from which you can't get out.
Yes, this has always been Chen Mian's understanding of the Deep Domain.
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