After Yu Cheng was taken back, he was punished to kneel in the study. Yu Yao closed his eyes and leaned against the chair, unable to understand where he had made a mistake.
“If you cut ties with him completely, I can let him go, Yu Cheng.” Yu Yao opened his eyes and looked at Yu Cheng kneeling on the ground. As someone who has been in the business world for many years, his words were imposing, and his eyes were unnaturally cold.
“I can’t do that.” The young man’s posture was as straight as a pine tree.
“You can’t do it, can you? Yu Cheng, you know my abilities. No matter what you do in school, I can protect you, and I can easily kick him out as well.” Every word Yu Yao spoke carried a warning. “I can even make sure no school will accept him. Which school would want someone with a tarnished reputation, like a homosexual? Even in society, there will be people pointing fingers at him. If you cut ties with him completely, I guarantee he won’t have a good life.”
“You’re shameless.” Yu Cheng clenched his teeth and looked at Yu Yao, his body trembling with anger.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can’t protect him. You have to listen to me, cut ties with him completely, and become a ‘normal person’, understand? The Yu family won’t accept a monster, a pervert.” Yu Yao didn’t want to admit it, but he knew that Qin He was Yu Cheng’s biggest weakness, and manipulating Yu Cheng required using Qin He against him.
“You want us to cut ties completely? Fine, I’ll transfer schools. But you better not touch him. I want him to have a clean record with no punishments.” Yu Cheng’s every word was filled with rage, displaying his anger.
“Fine, but if I catch you secretly meeting him, you know the consequences, Yu Cheng.” After saying that, he left the study.
Traces of the beating still remained on his face, and Yu Cheng slightly bowed his body. He had learned to submit, and the words “can’t protect him” had become a permanent pain in Yu Cheng’s heart. He had the college entrance examination to prepare for, and he was so outstanding. He wanted a clean slate for himself, and he still had a bright future ahead.
He knew Yu Yao’s capabilities. Whatever he said, he would do it. If he cuts ties with Qin he Even if someone dared to accept him, he was afraid that he would have to pay a hefty price to ensure Qin He couldn’t go to school.
Qin He was brought back home, keeping his head down the whole time. He didn’t know how to face Qin Wanqing.
“Qin He, can we cut ties with him? Is that okay? If you drop out of school, what will you do? Are you going to ruin yourself for him? Can we cut ties with him?” Qin Wanqing pleaded with him, her eyes swollen and red.
But Qin He remained silent.
“Speak up! Have you become mute?” Qin Wanqing slapped Qin He’s face, the first time she had ever laid hands on him, scolding him.
“Why are you treating me like this? I raised you so that you could fall in love with a man!”
“Why did you do this? Why?” Qin Wanqing’s repeated questions pierced Qin He’s ears, and then she began to cry, choked with sobs. “What sins have I committed?”
“Did you buy a phone because of him too? So you could contact him easily, right?” Qin Wanqing snatched the phone from Qin He’s hand and smashed it on the ground, shattering it into pieces.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Qin He kept apologising and begging for forgiveness, his voice hoarse. He knew it was over between them.
He had known all along that it couldn’t last long, that it was impossible, but he couldn’t help but get closer. Every day he spent with Yu Cheng afterwards, he was always on edge, thinking that maybe it could last a little longer…
“No one wants to get close to him now. Everyone just finds him disgusting and avoids him. But the discussions about him are still loud enough for the whole class to hear.”
“Look, the pervert is here.”
“I told you he had something going on with Yu Cheng. Now they’ve probably broken up. He really thought he could become a phoenix perched on a branch by playing with him.”
“Damn, he’s so disgusting. Why doesn’t the school kick him out?”
“Maybe he’s sold himself to someone, or he’s using some connections to avoid punishment and continue attending school.”
The words and gazes became needles that pricked at his life, causing him pain. Qin He was isolated…
Every day, Qin He could hear these discussions: monster, pervert, disgusting, these labels were stuck on him. There were even people who took pleasure in mocking him, walking up to him and asking, “How much for a night? Has Yu Cheng tried you?”
He could only grit his teeth; no one would stand up for him. They would only watch indifferently, like emotionless spectators. The first few times, he was provoked and got into fights with others in class, ending up with injuries all over his body. But the teachers who saw it would pretend they didn’t and make him write a self-criticism for causing a disturbance.
Later, he learned to endure. But the group of people intensified their actions, putting chalk dust in his water cup, stepping on his books, and graffitiing his desk with words like “monster,” “shameless,” and “get lost.”
Shen Shu, as he watched Qin He being despised and humiliated, felt a sense of satisfaction. They deserved to be treated like this, after all.
Qin He became increasingly silent, like an emotionless robot, mechanically going through the motions. But all of this was just the beginning…
Qin Wanqing took precautions to prevent him from contacting Yu Cheng. He rented a room near the school. Qin He started going to school during the day and working part-time jobs, using a basic keypad phone instead of a smartphone. But even so, Qin Wanqing still didn’t trust him completely. She checked his phone messages and incoming calls every night, and didn’t allow him to go out for fear that they would secretly meet.
Since the day Yu Cheng was taken away from school, it was as if he had suddenly disappeared, without coming to school or sending any messages. Everything was as sudden as it had been at the beginning—sudden intrusion, sudden disappearance. Qin He’s life returned to calm, but he knew he could never go back…
He began to suffer from insomnia night after night, looking at the moon outside the window, engulfed by the darkness of the night. He started doubting himself, occasionally despising himself, and wondering if he was really so disgusting and disappointing.
It wasn’t until he received that text message that he finally saw a glimmer of light in the endless darkness.
“I’ll wait for you.” It was a vague sentence, but it made Qin He smiled a little.
He knew that the fact that he wasn’t punished was thanks to Yu Cheng’s efforts. He had heard occasional rumors about Yu Cheng transferring schools, as if trying to distance himself from Qin He.
“I’ll wait for you.” Qin He sent the message, stared at it for two seconds, and then chose to delete it.
The two of them kept in touch intermittently like this, finding solace in each other’s company, and that was enough, regardless of whether there would be any outcome. Qin He never mentioned his own situation, he just encouraged Yu Cheng to focus on studying.
He suffered from insomnia day after day, unable to eat more than a few bites of food. Even when he returned home, there was only endless silence, and he would use studying as an excuse to hide in his room.
He had passed out at school before, but no one knew. Everyone paid special attention to him, yet they also ignored him. Due to continuous insomnia and loss of appetite, he fainted at school, but no one cared, not even the teachers. He regained consciousness slowly on his own, gently wiping away the dirt from his body as if it were an insignificant matter. Then he returned to the classroom, enduring insults and pranks. He didn’t care about his own health, not even bothering to see the school nurse.
Sometimes he would daydream, wondering what he had done wrong. What had he done wrong to make everyone avoid him like a snake or a scorpion, finding him repulsive at the mere sight of him? Did he deserve to be fooled like this?
Qin He closed his eyes, feeling like he probably couldn’t figure out this question.
Yu Cheng believed that they would definitely meet again, treating this time as a temporary long-distance separation. He worked tirelessly day and night just to protect Qin He.
He was determined about Qin He…
