The feeling of liking Sheng Sui, at least for seventeen-year-old Zhou Shiyu, was an extremely novel experience.
Violence and bloodshed, jealousy and hatred, flattery and servility… He was so accustomed to the evil at the root of human nature that when experiencing pure, clean emotions, he would instead find himself momentarily at a loss.
Fortunately, Zhou Shiyu had lacked maternal guidance and affection since childhood, and his understanding of “affection” was no different in depth from that of an ignorant child.
It’s just that someone accustomed to assessing situations and timing, once required to treat others with genuine sincerity, would appear particularly awkward.
Zhou Shiyu thought that at the very least, he should let Sheng Sui know his name.
“…Young Master Zhou, would you still like to rest in the car for a while before going to school?”
The black Bentley stopped at the dedicated parking lot one hundred meters from the school gate. Secretary Chen in the driver’s seat, receiving no response to his question, glanced through the rearview mirror at Zhou Shiyu, who was silently gazing out the car window, then closed his mouth and said nothing more.
Through the privacy glass, Zhou Shiyu watched groups of three to five students walking into campus, his expression calm.
After lingering for a moment, his gaze shifted to the row of willow trees on the right side outside the school gate, searching through the gaps for that familiar slender figure.
He didn’t know where Sheng Sui’s home was, only knowing that she arrived at school around seven-fifteen every morning.
In terms of punctuality, the girl shared the same understanding as Zhou Shiyu.
Sure enough, when the watch’s hands crossed the number “3” and students swarmed into the school, a figure with a high ponytail appeared in his field of vision, wearing the most ordinary blue and white school uniform, her shoulders bearing a backpack wider and thicker than her person.
When exactly he had developed the ability to spot her silhouette in a crowd at first glance, Zhou Shiyu couldn’t say for certain.
If he had to describe this feeling, it was probably that the moment Sheng Sui appeared, everything around her as the center automatically blurred, with an infinite radius, and the only focal point was the figure right in the center.
Zhou Shiyu opened the door and got out of the car.
The stretch of road from the school gate to the fork leading to the two adjacent teaching buildings was probably the only remaining opportunity Zhou Shiyu had each day to see Sheng Sui up close.
Zhou Shiyu didn’t like the suffocating feeling of being swept along in the crowd and pushed toward his destination. He didn’t like how wherever he went, sticky gazes would follow him like shadows. He didn’t even like the harsh morning light that exposed the darkness deeply embedded in his bones and blood.
But if these were the equivalent exchange for being able to see Sheng Sui’s eyebrows arch and face break into a smile in the spring light, these costs seemed no longer unbearable.
Sheng Sui was actually quite beautiful.
Junior and senior high school students’ aesthetics leaned more toward flamboyant gorgeousness or aggressively stunning beauty at first sight. Sheng Sui clearly didn’t belong to either category.
Even just in profile, the girl’s smoothly lined facial contours had a natural sense of innocence, like blank space in traditional Chinese painting—the more gentle and peaceful, the more it made people involuntarily develop an inquisitive desire to explore.
High cranium, shoulders and neck aligned and slender, her meticulously high ponytail swaying lightly at the ends. The only flaw was her overly thin frame—even the elastic bands at her cuffs seemed decorative, frequently exposing during walking the bruises that climbed from below her wrist bones up along her forearms.
Zhou Shiyu lowered his gaze, his paused look growing heavy.
Her skin was snow-white like lotus root, making the accumulated patches of bruises appear even more ghastly—this wasn’t the first time Zhou Shiyu had seen injuries on Sheng Sui’s body.
In fact, every four or five days or so, he could see new injuries added to the girl’s body; sometimes on her arms, sometimes on her ankles, and even two or three times on her temples and neck.
Zhou Shiyu wasn’t sure whether the places on Sheng Sui’s body covered by clothing would be even more shocking to behold.
He only knew that Sheng Sui’s mother had abandoned her, and her alcoholic father would beat her as entertainment when drunk.
As several students passed by in the corridor, Zhou Shiyu quickened his pace and closed the distance, but he couldn’t see grief or pain on the girl’s profile.
The girl just lowered her head, carefully stepping over the steps beneath her feet.
She even suddenly paused slightly when landing, deliberately stepping over the foxtail grass that had sprouted through the cracks between stone bricks.
Even though it would be trampled flat the next second by the students behind her.
Zhou Shiyu thought he had probably chosen a way of life opposite to Sheng Sui’s: both growing up amid violence and beatings, he had cultivated himself into an emotionally deficient walking corpse, while Sheng Sui still harbored warmth and kindness.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat ashamed of himself.
“Hey, watch out, there are still people behind you—!”
When the alarmed cry rang out, two familiar tall, sturdy male students came rushing from the opposite direction, playing and roughhousing. The male student running while looking back was holding a paper ball in his hand, twisting around and raising his arm to throw it backward, completely oblivious that he was about to collide with the girl in front of him.
Sheng Sui, who had been walking with her head down, looked up upon hearing the sound. Seeing the male student about to crash into her, her first reaction wasn’t to step aside or dodge, but to shrink her shoulders and raise her arms to block.
Zhou Shiyu knew all too well that this was an instinctive protective action from long-term domestic violence—afraid that dodging would result in more severe beatings, the body could only instinctively protect itself.
His black eyes behind the glasses darkened slightly. Just as he was about to step forward, the male student who had nearly collided with Sheng Sui, after being reminded, braked urgently and stopped stiffly right in front of Sheng Sui, his hands flailing wildly as he tried to maintain balance.
The male student’s actions were comical, causing the surrounding students to suppress their laughter.
“…Sorry, sorry, junior!” This male student, who was in the same class as Zhou Shiyu, quickly scanned the name tag on Sheng Sui’s chest, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
“Well, it’s because that idiot behind me was chasing me that I almost ran into you.”
“It’s okay.”
Sheng Sui was also amused by the male student’s predicament, her eyes curving into a tranquil smile, with a pair of shallow dimples beside her lips.
The girl’s clear round eyes swept downward, and she kindly reminded him in a soft voice: “Senior, your shoelace is untied. Be careful not to trip.”
“…Oh, oh oh!”
Watching the six-foot-five big guy being dazed by Sheng Sui’s smile, Zhou Shiyu’s brow furrowed slightly. For the first time, he looked directly at the male student who had been in his class for nearly two years—he hadn’t even remembered the male student’s name.
“Thanks, junior. I’ll tie it later,” the male student grinned foolishly, his wheat-colored skin even showing a suspicious blush. “Well, I’m really sorry. Let me, your big brother, apologize to you once more.”
Big brother?
Zhou Shiyu let out a light snort from his lips.
The farce quickly ended, and Sheng Sui walked toward her class like the other students.
The male student who had nearly crashed into someone gazed longingly at the thin figure for a while, and just as he was about to return to class, he turned around and found himself face-to-face with a smiling Zhou Shiyu.
Chen Yuxi.
So that was the male student’s name.
“—Zhou Shiyu? What are you doing here?” Chen Yuxi was confused at having his path blocked, with an instinctive awe toward the honor student in front of him.
The buddy who had been chasing him was quicker-witted, immediately coming over and whispering: “Bro, Zhou bro, I know you’re the student council vice president and the discipline department is under your management, but we three are classmates. If you deduct points from us two, wouldn’t that be embarrassing our class—”
“So you two do know that running and playing in the corridors violates school discipline.”
After the girl turned left around the corridor and went upstairs, completely disappearing from sight, Zhou Shiyu withdrew his gaze, the smile curving at the corner of his mouth somewhat cold:
“The discipline department is on the third floor. One morning should be enough time for you two to report, shouldn’t it?”
Putting it nicely as “reporting,” it was really just going to receive punishment after being caught. Chen Yuxi’s face immediately fell, grumbling reluctantly: “We just ran a couple steps in the corridor. Is it worth being so petty? We’re even in the same class—”
“Enough, stop complaining and babbling,” the other male student quickly tugged at his sleeve, smiling ingratiatingly at Zhou Shiyu. “Bro, just forgive us this once. Otherwise, when the homeroom teacher finds out, we’ll have to write another three-thousand-word self-criticism.”
Zhou Shiyu’s gentle smile gradually faded from his lips as he looked expressionlessly at Chen Yuxi, trying to find whether any traces of that emotional blush still remained on the male student’s wheat-colored skin.
His black eyes behind the glasses flickered. Facing two hopeful gazes, Zhou Shiyu’s thin lips parted slightly: “So,”
“Do I need to repeat what I just said a second time?”
—
That afternoon, Zhou Shiyu left school alone and went to a nearby pharmacy.
At noon, with the fierce sun hanging high in the sky, the pharmacy filled with rich traditional Chinese medicine aromas contained only the old traditional Chinese doctor sitting at the counter, the old radio broadcasting afternoon news, and the creaking ceiling fan.
Hearing footsteps, the old traditional Chinese doctor lifted his reading glasses and asked directly without getting up: “Who are you buying medicine for? What symptoms?”
Zhou Shiyu ignored the old doctor’s question and stopped in front of the counter for treating bruises and injuries. Looking down at the dozen or so types of medicine under the glass layer, he smoothly recited several external topical medicines for wounds.
He had personally tried all of these before, and their effects were all above passing grade. More importantly, even the strongest-smelling ointment among these medicines couldn’t be detected from half an arm’s distance, so they could also be used at school.
Only after selecting six or seven types did he stop and walk directly to the cashier, asking: “Please ring these up.”
At this point, the old traditional Chinese doctor, who was lowering his head to write receipts, glanced at Zhou Shiyu again and snorted with laughter: “Young man knows quite a lot.”
After paying and leaving the pharmacy, Zhou Shiyu carried an entire bag of medicine back to school, attracting numerous curious stares along the way.
Not noticing the surrounding gazes, he was only thinking about how to deliver the medicine in his hands to Sheng Sui.
As he approached the main gate of Third Middle School, the row of teaching buildings came into view, and he could hear the enthusiastic and excited shouting and calling from students coming from the campus, which should have been solemn and quiet.
Only then did Zhou Shiyu remember that this year was Third Middle School’s annual club recruitment day, with no classes for the entire afternoon.
As a provincial key experimental high school, Third Middle School not only emphasized test scores but also greatly valued students’ comprehensive development. Among these, the most famous club exhibition, renowned outside the school, was an activity that drew attention from the entire school.
Zhou Shiyu wasn’t interested in these activities. Last year, he had casually joined the same club as Qiu Si, but ended up being surrounded and watched whenever he participated in activities, which was extremely bothersome.
With students and teachers all gathered on the playground, the teaching building was instead empty. Zhou Shiyu walked directly to the teaching building where the first-year students were located.
With no one around and no other students visible in the corridor, only the orange afternoon light poured down the corridor eaves.
Sheng Sui’s classroom was not far away, just around the corner.
Zhou Shiyu still didn’t know how to give the plastic bag containing medicine to the girl.
“…Come on, just accept it. These medicines don’t cost much money altogether. Besides, didn’t I almost bump into you today? Consider it your senior making amends and apologizing.”
A somewhat familiar, silly male voice sounded from around the corner—it was Chen Yuxi.
Zhou Shiyu’s steps halted.
He stood in the shadows away from the light, with large patches of light and shadow scattered beyond the corner before his eyes. In his ears, only breathing and distant student shouting remained.
In what seemed like an endless wait for a reply, Zhou Shiyu silently lowered his gaze, ignoring the spot where the plastic bag handle was cutting in and causing a dull ache.
He changed his grip, hanging the ties on his wrist, raising his hand to let his palm bear the weight his hand had been carrying.
“I’m sorry, I can’t accept this.”
A gentle but firm female voice responded, with some awkwardness rejecting Chen Yuxi: “Thank you very much for your kindness, but I can’t accept these medicines.”
“But your hand is injured, right? I saw the bruises on your forearm this morning—”
“That was also something I did to myself and can’t be blamed on others,” Sheng Sui answered with a very sincere tone, which undoubtedly made her straightforward rejection more hurtful.
“I really appreciate your kindness, but I truly have no reason to accept your things—and the school has regulations prohibiting overly close relationships between male and female students.”
—In the end, she even used the formal “you” in her address.
After several more exchanges, footsteps gradually faded away, leaving only the sole audience member who hadn’t left his seat, leaning against the wall with wandering thoughts.
If the person who had rashly offered medicine just now had been him, would Sheng Sui have refused with the same righteous sternness? Or even if he confessed their past interactions, would the girl look differently upon him, this voyeur hiding in dark corners?
Zhou Shiyu didn’t know the answer.
The plastic bag handle left marks on his wrist, with pale red traces of varying depths climbing up his cold skin. The dull pain spread, giving Zhou Shiyu a sudden taste of venting pleasure.
Tying the thin bag tightly around his wrist, half-carrying and half-dragging it this way, Zhou Shiyu straightened up. He didn’t choose to walk into the sunny corridor that Sheng Sui had passed through, but instead turned back the way he came, retreating into the darkness from whence he came.
The club recruitment was, after all, a key school activity that Zhou Shiyu couldn’t avoid participating in.
In fact, his unexplained absence had already drawn considerable attention from the start of the activity. When Zhou Shiyu emerged from the teaching building, many students distributing flyers and student council officers at booths put down their work to enthusiastically wave and greet him.
Soon, Qiu Si, who was distributing flyers around the venue, also spotted Zhou Shiyu. He ran over in two quick steps and immediately bombarded him with questions:
“Brother, where did you go? The president has been looking for you for ages, grabbing me and asking where you were.”
As he spoke, his gaze moved downward, seeing the plastic bag tied around Zhou Shiyu’s wrist clearly, his eyes widening: “Why did you buy so much medicine? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“No.”
Qiu Si was like a hundred thousand whys. Zhou Shiyu deliberately skipped the peripheral questions and asked: “What does the president want?”
Club recruitment was mainly handled by the activities department and publicity department. Zhou Shiyu usually managed the discipline department more, with almost no overlap in their assigned work.
“What else could it be? He wants to pull you into his club and then use your good looks to ‘lure’ other students, our school heartthrob.”
Qiu Si warily surveyed their surroundings, treating all the gazes coming from all directions as covetousness toward the hot commodity beside him, clearing his throat twice: “But don’t worry, I’ve already refused on your behalf with the president!”
How could Zhou Shiyu not see through this person’s ulterior motives? He glanced at him sideways and, as expected, saw Qiu Si obsequiously presenting a promotional brochure while vigorously advertising:
“Take a look at our agriculture department. Besides studying, you can get close to nature and plant your own loving vegetables. More importantly, in today’s high-pressure learning environment, physical exercise can actually promote mental relaxation and might even have sleep-inducing effects—”
Zhou Shiyu’s patience wore thin, and he coldly interrupted: “Speak plainly.”
Qiu Si immediately changed his tune, drooping his face: “There’s a wasteland behind the teaching building. The biology teacher was too lazy to deal with it himself, so he dumped this mess on me.”
Probably seeing his impatient expression, Qiu Si quickly grabbed Zhou Shiyu’s arm: “Bro, only you can save me now. It’s been an hour and a half—only ten people have taken flyers, and not even one person has filled out a form. You can’t just watch me die, bro!”
“……”
Seeing that this person was about to hug his thigh the next second, Zhou Shiyu raised an eyebrow: “What are the attendance requirements?”
“Activity time is the last class period every Tuesday and Thursday. There are no attendance requirements—you just need to show up!”
As Qiu Si had predicted, the previously ignored agriculture department—which people avoided even when being handed flyers—suddenly saw a surge in inquiries and form-filling after Zhou Shiyu took a seat in the deputy position at the booth. Half an hour later, even the hundred prepared flyers were completely gone.
“…I told you, Zhou Shiyu’s face is the best sign. As long as he sits here, we don’t have to worry about not having people…”
While Qiu Si was busy bragging to his stunned underclassmen, Zhou Shiyu felt there was no need to waste more time and was about to get up and leave when he heard a crisp female voice not far away:
“Suisui, come quick! It’s so lively over here. Should we go take a look too?”
Zhou Shiyu naturally recognized the girl who was always with Sheng Sui—Xiao Ming.
Sheng Sui was being pulled along behind Xiao Ming. Having apparently spent some time in the sun, her forehead and nose tip were dotted with fine perspiration. She was now curiously examining the standing sign erected outside the booth, carefully reading the introduction.
Zhou Shiyu suddenly spoke up: “…Qiu Si.”
“Hey! What’s up, my bro?” Qiu Si hurried over upon hearing his name.
Restraining the urge to steal glances at her figure in the crowd, Zhou Shiyu leaned back in his chair, his slender fingertips tapping lightly on the table: “Is there a limit on club recruitment numbers?”
“The school doesn’t have explicit regulations, but most clubs set a safe number for easier management since the budget allocation is limited—why do you suddenly ask this?”
So the agriculture department could recruit a few more people.
“Then stop recruitment after those two girls join the team,” Zhou Shiyu said, seeing that Sheng Sui was still hesitating in front of the booth, holding a thick stack of promotional brochures. “Have someone notify them.”
He then placed his meal card on the table and methodically issued instructions: “Also have someone confirm the number of people joining the club, and based on headcount, go to the convenience store to buy each person a sugar-free drink and a chocolate mousse cake—also buy a handheld fan and a pack of cooling patches. After buying, deliver them directly to the activity venue.”
“……”
Qiu Si was stunned for several seconds without reacting, stammering: “Bro, are you trying to do charity?”
Zhou Shiyu watched as the male student he’d sent over walked up to Sheng Sui and Xiao Ming, raising an eyebrow in response: “What, unwilling?”
As he spoke, he made a gesture to take back the meal card.
“No, no! I’m willing, of course I’m willing!”
This kind of windfall was something only a fool would refuse. After receiving his orders, Qiu Si immediately took action. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to call out to the still-hesitating Sheng Sui and her companion:
“You two girls who are still hesitating! Let me tell you again, we have a living bodhisattva here paying out of his own pocket to treat everyone. Today anyone who signs up for the club gets drinks and cake, everyone gets a fan and cooling patches. There are many people queuing behind you, so if you miss this opportunity, there won’t be another!”
Soon, Zhou Shiyu received Sheng Sui’s application to join the club, which didn’t surprise him at all.
Human hearts are both hard to fathom and easy to guess. Hunger marketing doesn’t only apply to marketing—when hesitant people are asked to make immediate decisions and discover that something that should belong to them is being coveted and fought over by many others, in most cases, the impulse to avoid loss outweighs rationality.
Fifteen minutes later, the fully enrolled agriculture department officially closed its booth and led the new members to the activity room next to the wasteland behind the teaching building.
Qiu Si had an easygoing personality and, as department head, put on no airs. After leading everyone in, he told them to sit casually and gestured for someone to distribute the drinks, cakes, fans, and cooling patches that Zhou Shiyu had bought.
For a moment, surprised thanks filled the entire activity room—most of the early arrivals sat around the long oval table, while latecomers found chairs to sit wherever.
“…Our agriculture department’s main focus is freedom and mutual assistance. Interested students can form small groups and choose their own fruits and vegetables to cultivate. For those who really don’t want to come, we don’t force participation in group activities—after filling out the survey form in your hands, everyone’s tasks for this semester will be complete.”
Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Zhou Shiyu faced the chattering Qiu Si but kept his gaze on the girl sitting in the corner.
Qiu Si indeed had some oratory talent. Amid wave after wave of hearty laughter, Zhou Shiyu clearly noticed that the gazes falling on him constantly disappeared.
Until Qiu Si told the story of his fertilizing with manure last year, when everyone’s attention was drawn to him—
Except for Sheng Sui, who was buried in eating her cake in small bites.
Hugging various little items in her arms, Sheng Sui only had eyes for that palm-sized chocolate mousse. Zhou Shiyu guessed she had taken insulin before coming so late, because the girl only blinked lightly a few times before carefully opening the packaging, as if afraid the sound of plastic rustling would interrupt the current joyful atmosphere.
This was the first time Zhou Shiyu had observed Sheng Sui eating at such close range.
Even though she took very small bites, the girl would still puff out her cheeks slightly. When she tilted her head slightly to bite into the soft mousse, her water-red thin lips would always be stained with cream and chocolate.
At these moments, Sheng Sui would extend the tip of her tongue, lower her head, and quickly lick the chocolate from her lips clean, while her two thin eyebrows curved slightly. When she smiled, the dimples at the corners of her lips were particularly charming.
Zhou Shiyu suddenly felt his throat becoming somewhat dry and hot. The red marks on his wrist that hadn’t faded from being cut by the plastic bag began to itch wave after wave, the sensation flowing directly through his blood vessels to his heart.
She… so this was how she ate cake.
Really like a little kitten.