Chapter Twelve: Dragging Ye Nuanxin to the Ground

Page (1/3)

Even if she missed the chance, she would still have to find a way to ruin the marriage. She remembered that her sister had officially married and moved away around New Year.

Ye Fen and her husband hurried home and only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Ye Nuanxin lying face down in her room, crying.

Ye Fen hardened her heart and grabbed a broom. “Get back to school. No matter what, you must get your diploma first.

“You’re going to vocational school too. You’ll be far better off than that wretched Xiang Yu. There will be plenty of ways to deal with her later.”

Lame Su did not soften this time either. Taking the gentler approach, he said, “That’s right, darling. You can’t ruin your bright future for Xiang Yu. After graduating from junior high, she’ll have to go out and do backbreaking labor. Even at best, she’ll earn only two thousand a month.

“If you attend vocational school—whether you study nursing, accounting, or early-childhood education—you’ll have a respectable, easy job after graduation, with a decent salary. Once you enter society, she’ll have to look up to you.

“She’ll only be able to find someone from her own class, another manual laborer. You, on the other hand, can marry a doctor, a teacher, or someone with a secure job.

“Then your mother and I can go to town and look after your children. You’ll have a job of your own too. You’ll live a hundred times better than Xiang Yu—more than a hundred times better.”

Ye Nuanxin gradually stopped crying. Clearly, his words had gotten through to her.

There was no denying that scheming as he was, Lame Su knew how to persuade people.

Lame Su gave Ye Fen a meaningful look, and Ye Fen immediately turned toward the kitchen.

Lame Su continued to fill Ye Nuanxin’s head with ideas.

Half an hour later, Ye Fen came out carrying a bowl of noodles topped with poached eggs and a plate of stir-fried pork.

Ye Nuanxin could hardly resist. She had eaten neither breakfast nor lunch, and her stomach had long been crying out in hunger.

Before picking up her chopsticks, she said, “I’ll go back tomorrow morning.”

Ye Fen and Lame Su both agreed. A half-day’s absence would not cause much trouble.

She was not aiming for a key high school anyway. Ye Kun had said that, with her grades, she would have no problem getting into a decent vocational school or technical secondary school.

Early the next morning, Lame Su spent fifty cents to put his daughter on one of the village’s little three-wheeled taxis. It was more than four kilometers to the school on foot.

Ye Nuanxin entered the classroom after morning self-study.

Her face was dark with anger. She was convinced that everything was Xiang Yu’s fault, that Xiang Yu had brought all this upon her.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Shame had never had much to do with her.

Xiang Yu had already obtained the homeroom teacher’s permission and moved to the back of the classroom on the opposite side.

The first class was Chinese. Ye Nuanxin could not absorb a word. She wrote her self-criticism letter while glaring murderously at Xiang Yu from the corner of her eye.

In the end, she wrote nothing, instead stabbing holes through several sheets of paper.

The Chinese teacher was a gentle woman. Even watching from a distance, she could not help shaking her head.

Who would have thought that Ye Nuanxin’s true nature was like this? A girl like her was certainly no innocent.

Then she looked at Xiang Yu. Sitting upright, Xiang Yu listened attentively and took careful notes, and the teacher could not help sighing again.

There were still thirty-one days until the high school entrance examination. The girl seemed to have become an entirely different person, studying seriously at last. The homework she had handed in the day before had made that clear. Whatever else one might say, her handwriting alone was worlds apart from what it had been.

Looking closely, the teacher could tell that it was still the same person’s handwriting, yet it was exceptionally neat and graceful.

She had no idea what kind of shock the girl had suffered to undergo such a complete transformation.

Perhaps being used and betrayed by a close friend counted.

In any case, the teacher had begun to feel pity for Xiang Yu.

Xiang Yu had cast all of this aside and immersed herself completely in her studies.

In her previous life, she had been narrow-minded, insecure, and timid. Her thoughts had been clouded every day, as though her eyes and heart were covered over. She had never truly understood what learning was.

Now that she had returned, she had passed through a living hell, endured humiliations that ordinary people would never experience, and even received the touch of Buddhist light. Her heart had long since opened, and her inner self had awakened.

Starting her studies again under such circumstances, she discovered that most of the knowledge was easy to absorb and internalize.

No wonder a revered monk had once told her, “Learning is not difficult. What is difficult is that people have not yet awakened their minds. Once the mind is clear and the heart is open, studying is no longer hard.”

She was overjoyed and resolved not to give up her hard work until the day of the entrance examination.

Ye Nuanxin thought her greatest trouble was merely writing a self-criticism and apologizing publicly to Xiang Yu over the school broadcasting system.

She did not know that she had offended more than just Xiang Yu.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

After evening self-study, the students headed to the dormitories in groups. Ye Nuanxin naturally did not linger, but walked alone.

The entire class knew what she had done, and the girls were all disgusted by her.

The school stood on the hillside, while the dormitories lay below. The walk took about ten minutes, and the streetlamps were exceedingly dim. When Ye Nuanxin reached the bend at the foot of the hill, someone approached her.

“Brother Qiang wants to see you. If you don’t go, you’ll bear the consequences.”

With that, the boy hurried away and waited for her beside an especially dark section of wall.

Ye Nuanxin was terrified and did not dare move.

But she also knew that if she refused to go, things would only become worse.

Li Qiang had countless ways of tormenting people, and there were lackeys in her own class who were close to him.

In the end, trembling with fear, she followed the boy along the wall. At a place where no one could pass through, they jumped down, crossed beyond the wall, and then made their way through a small grove to a slope below.

Several times along the way, she considered running back. But she knew that unless she truly intended to stop attending school, she would have to face the matter sooner or later.

As she walked, she rapidly thought of ways to resolve the situation.

Several boys, including Li Qiang, were waiting there, their glowing cigarette ends flashing scarlet in the darkness.

Ye Nuanxin stopped before Li Qiang and greeted him in a trembling, tearful voice. “Brother Qiang.”

Expressionless, Li Qiang flicked the ash from his cigarette toward Ye Nuanxin. A boy beside him immediately stepped forward and slapped her across the face.

The blow knocked Ye Nuanxin’s head to the ground.

Humiliation overwhelmed her. She simply sat on the ground and began sobbing loudly, refusing to get up.

Page (3/3)