CH 17

In the early morning, the somewhat chilly wind brought a refreshing scent to the campus.

Cheng Chu was late to class that day. She put down her school bag and walked to the front row to collect everyone’s graded English exam that was handed out last month.

The students were very cooperative and handed out their test papers swiftly. Everything was going very smoothly.

Then, a strong fragrance circulates in the classroom.

It was the smell of meat buns. The buns from the restaurant near the entrance of Haishi Number One High School were notoriously delicious and popular. Many people would wake up early and wait in line to buy the buns.

When Cheng Chu walked toward the student who was eating steamed buns, he pulled out his graded exam from a pile of papers. While he was chewing on his steamed buns, he casually and vaguely said: “Cheng Chu, you did so well yesterday.”

“Thank you.” Cheng Chu took the test paper and said politely.

Perhaps they felt guilty for isolating her a few days ago, but today these people behaved unusually friendly.

Several girls even invited her to go to the canteen during their lunch break.

Cheng Chu felt that they were a joke.

These people would never understand how much impact and harm their unintentional words could have on others. They are terrifying and hideous. If she was replaced by a sensitive and fragile person, how would they survive the physiological trauma at such a young age?

The weather outside was gloomy, and the classroom was dim.

When Cheng Chu walked to her seat, Gu Miao had his head lowered and was practicing writing English words. Hearing the sound of footsteps, he pulled out his graded exam that was folded in his textbook and handed it to her.

On the top corner of the paper, “61” was written in big, bright red ink. Cheng Chu quickly glanced at it; the fill-in-the-blank questions were almost all answered wrongly and nearly half of his multiple-choice answers were wrong.

She knew that according to Gu Miao’s grades, he could secure the spot for the top three in the class, and it’ll be easy for him to join the Special Class.

He was very good at physics and chemistry. He ranks first every time, but his English is a problem.

Maybe it was because he had a deep hatred for English. Apart from English class, Cheng Chu had never seen him willingly flip open an English book at any other time.

At some point, someone turned on the lights in the classroom.

The bright incandescent lamp brightened up the gloomy room.

Cheng Chu lowered her eyes and stared at the top of the young man’s neatly combed dark hair. He was looking down, writing words one by one, but very inconsistently, and he paused from time to time.

This was the first time she saw Gu Miao studying English so seriously.

Cheng Chu lowered her head to organize her stack of graded papers, resisting the curiosity in her heart and continued to walk toward other students.

""

The first period of the day was Chinese class. When Cheng Chu finally returned to her seat, she saw Gu Miao put the journal that he was writing English on into his drawer.

He had a journal, the size of a textbook, filled with English words and phrases, most of which had been corrected with a red pen.

Cheng Chu pursed her lips and silently took out her Chinese textbook.

The class period quickly flew by. When the period was over, Cheng Chu organized and recorded the exam papers she had collected from students, only to realize that Song Xinyu hadn’t handed in her’s yet.

She was sitting right in front of Cheng Chu, so she reached out and tapped her back: “Song Xinyu, you haven’t turned in your paper yet.”

Song Xinyu’s head didn’t even turn back. She promptly took out the graded paper from her drawer. Her hand aimlessly threw the paper backward, the paper whirled in the air like autumn leaves, before slowly landing on the table.

How rude! Cheng Chu rolled her eyes and picked up the paper angrily.

Song Xinyu turned her head, her teary and pitiful eyes looking at Cheng Chu, and whispered: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Just watching her act like a damsel in distress gives her a headache. Cheng Chu didn’t spare a glance at her and said coldly, “Only you know whether or not it was on purpose.”

It was an extremely cold winter and most students were unwilling to leave the classroom, so the room was crowded with people.

Cheng Chu didn’t want to argue with her and swiftly collected all the papers and walked out of the classroom.

The winter wind was bitter and cold.

After a while, Cheng Chu returned to the class, her hands were blue from the cold.

She rubbed her hands together, and as soon as she sat down, her hands were stuffed into a hot water bag.

Cheng Chu raised her eyes in surprise.

The warmth to her fingertips was like an electric current, gradually spreading to the bottom of her heart.

She heard Gu Miao say in a deep voice, “To warm your hands.”

The young man is now more willing to speak. Probably because he’s been talking more and he’s no longer gloomy and alone, he doesn’t stutter as much anymore.

But Cheng Chu would never know how much effort this quiet teenager had secretly put in to speak smoothly.

Some people were always like this, hiding all their love and pain in their hearts.

The incandescent lamp above his head was brightly lit, and there was an English book opened on Gu Miao’s desk.

Cheng Chu’s hands gradually got warmer. She released the hot water bag, took out a notebook from her school bag, and handed it to Gu Miao.

His eyes were doubtful but he obediently accepted the notebook.

“Here is my English notebook, you can take a look, it should be helpful.” Cheng Chu said.

Gu Miao’s hand stiffened and whispered, “But you, what about you?”

He wasn’t speaking consistently; but at least, he wasn’t stuttering at all.

“It’s fine, I don’t need it. You should use it instead.” Cheng Chu waved her hand: “Take your time. You don’t need to give it back to me any time soon.”

The light blue notebook was adorned with small flowers as if it carried the same light floral fragrance as the girl.

The hands that held the notebook trembled slightly, and Gu Miao softly said, “Thank you.”

***

The moon was not bright that night.

Gu Miao had just finished his part-time work at the restaurant.

Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, his aunt and uncle who were sitting on the sofa nonchalantly glanced at him, then continued to watch the T.V. again.

Gu Miao returned to his room and took out a notebook from his bag.

On the front page was the girl’s graceful handwriting, which reads: [Cheng Chu, Sophomore Class 3]

Gu Miao curled his fingers, tenderly and carefully turned the page.

Her notes were very detailed, albeit a little too detailed. From the grammar of each English phrase to the vocabulary words, she pointed out which words were easily mistaken, and what topics would most likely be tested on. Everything was written clearly and neatly.

Under the dimly lit desk lamp, Gu Miao’s dark eyes had a trace of warmth.

Staring at the notebook, his barren heart seemed to sprout a tiny, fragile seedling.

His sunlight seemed to have gotten a little closer to him.

Gu Miao imagined if his English improved, would it be possible to enter the Special Classes? That way, if Cheng Chu later returned to the Special Class, he could also follow her.

If she doesn’t go back, then he will stay here.

He will go wherever his sunlight goes.

The rain was drizzling outside, the fine rainwater lightly landed on the windows, and his humble, small room was lit up by the warm light.

Gu Miao lowered his head, silently practicing English with his heart full of enthusiasm.

***

Lin Yue, the homeroom teacher, was very strict and would give an English quiz every week.

On the recent quiz, Gu Miao scored 80 out of 100.

This may not be a big deal to others, but Cheng Chu knew how difficult it was to make such progress.

After all, it was difficult for him to barely pass the quiz before.

Gu Miao is a very hardworking boy. Once he sets a goal, no matter how difficult it may be, he will work to death to accomplish it.

He wanted to get rid of his stuttering disorder, so he would get up before dawn to practice speaking. He wanted to improve his English score, so he would use his spare time to recite vocabulary and practice grammar.

But even though his love for her had overflowed from his heart, he couldn’t dare to take a step closer.

She was like a bright and dazzling sunrise. She grew up being deeply loved ever since she was a child.

On the other hand, he was poor and humble, had autistic and stuttering disorder, and couldn’t help but be flustered when saying a couple of words to her.

The bell rang signaling that the class was over. The next period was a psychology class, and most students had left for another classroom.

Cheng Chu was being dragged by Luo Qian Qian, then Cheng Chu turned her head and asked, “Want to go together?”

Gu Miao put down the pen in his hand, nodded, got up, and followed them.

Thursday was the most anticipated day for everyone. After the English class in the afternoon, there will be a relaxing psychology class.

There was a certain distance between the psychology classroom and the academic building.

""

After psychology class, Gu Miao walked through the crowd and walked back to the classroom.

He was walking much faster than the other students.

When he arrived in the classroom, the room was empty.

Gu Miao walked into the room; the bitter winter cold still lingered on his body.

The frigid wind blew into the empty classroom.

He lowered his eyes, his gaze drifting to Cheng Chu’s seat. His dark, hooded eyes grew frosty; instantly, his body turned cold with fury.

On the originally clean chair, a puddle of bright red ink was dripping down the chair slowly, slowly fading away into the carpet.

Red as blood.