Loud Mouth quickly realized she was trying to fold the shirt into a paper airplane.
“Hey.” Loud Mouth blocked the window, “That’s the uniform the class leader bought for you. Even if you don’t like it, you can’t throw it away right in front of us!”
“I can’t…” Zhuang Ni repeated slowly.
“That’s right, you can’t…”
“I can’t throw it away because you’re too fat… you’re blocking up the whole window….”
“What did you say, are you making fun of me?” Loud Mouth grabbed Zhuang Ni’s collar, “I’m proud of being fat. I would be considered a beauty in the Tang dynasty.”
Zhuang Ni didn’t resists at all and was rocked back and forth by Loud Mouth like a puppet.
“Geng YuHong, stop.” The class leader stopped her, “Zhuang Ni is sick.”
“She doesn’t look sick at all. Even if she was sick, she’s only mentally ill.”
Zhuang Ni slightly raised her head and looked at the class leader.
“The fatty is right, I am mentally ill…”
“Don’t call me fatty.” Loud Mouth protested.
“To be accurate, I’m lovesick.”
The class leader and Loud Mouth quieted down right away. These topics are extremely effective at making a group of girls quiet.
“I’ve liked one of my classmates since the first year. But it’s impossible for us to have a future together, so I slit my wrists…”
It was the first time Zhuang Ni mentioned the reason she slit her wrists and the temperature in the room dropped by 20 degrees.
I only vaguely remember what Zhuang Ni was like in first year. The most memorable memory I have of her from first year: she was the only one in 28 Middle who went against the school’s rules. She openly wore black stockings to school. When the teacher stopped and questioned her, she explained:
“My legs are extremely sensitive to sunlight. I would have to get amputated if I don’t use it to block out the light.”
Of course the teacher didn’t believe her and ordered her to remove her stockings the next day. Who knew she would run to the top of the school building and hover around the edge with plans of jumping off.
At the time, all the teachers were frightened out of their minds. In the end, teacher Yu was finally able to beg her to come down. The principal decided Zhuang Ni’s legs doesn’t have any problems, but there’s definitely some problems with her brain. It may result in her death if they didn’t let her wear the stockings, so they made an exception to let Zhuang Ni wear stockings to school with mental sickness as the reason.
In addition, the school didn’t install wire netting around the building to save money, but after the incident with Zhuang Ni, they had to properly install wire netting around the school.
It was the class leader who forced her to become the literature and arts committee member, kind of like how the class leader forced Gong CaiCai to be the education committee member. But Zhuang Ni was willing to display her artistic skills. Even though the blackboard would always have some strange elements mixed inside her pictures, it still did enrich class 2-3.
Zhuang Ni didn’t have many friends, and no one had the guts to make her an enemy. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate in killing themselves would probably have no qualms killing others either.
She’s never talked to me before and I’ve never wanted to bother her. The mentally ill aren’t punished by law, so it would be a huge loss for me to be stabbed to death by her with a box cutter.
I was once unfortunately seated next to her in computer class. It felt like I was sitting next to an ice sculpture for the entire class.
Both the class leader and loud mouth were shocked when Zhuang Ni said she cut her wrists because of love sickness.
“Zhuang Ni…. you…. have to be more open minded.” The class leader advised carefully, “We’re only in middle school, so early romantic relationships affect your studies negatively. If you do have someone you like, you should at least wait until you’re in high school…”
“I have leukemia so I might not even live until high school.” Zhuang Ni spoke as if she had a terminal illness.
“Leukemia my ass!” Loud Mouth yelled, “You’re way more healthy than Little Smart!”
Zhuang Ni looked at Loud Mouth with pity:
“Fatty, you might die before me if you don’t lower your cholesterol.”
Loud Mouth really wanted to use her pincers to choke her to death and make her prediction come true, but she couldn’t do it in front of the class leader.
“Zhuang Ni, have you… confessed to the person you like?” The class leader brought the conversation back on track.
“No… they’re unreachable. I don’t have any confidence.”
“Do we have a boy like that in our class?” Loud Mouth was skeptical, “Is the person you like Shen ShaoYi?”
“Who’s Shen ShaoYi?”
“Forget it.”
The class leader muttered to herself before saying: “If it is someone from our class, I can help you pass a message to them. Even if early relationships aren’t good, I can’t let you stay in pain if it will affect your studies and affect your life. As long as you promise to come to school…”
“The one who sits in the last row of class…” Zhuang Ni looked at the ceiling and spoke to herself.
The class leader knitted her brows and Loud Mouth was astonished:
“Zhuang Ni, you have some pretty unique tastes. The only boys in the last row are Ye Lin, Niu ShiLi, and the chameleon. Which one do you like?”
I have to mention chameleon here. Since our class of 45 was divided into 9 rows, each row only had 5 people. The last row, starting from the left, seated: me, Xiao Qin, Niu ShiLi, chameleon, and the class leader.
The reason why I don’t use the chameleon’s name (Sorry, I only remember the nickname and forgot his name) is because this boy has a special ability of being overlooked.
He’s a skinny boy who really doesn’t speak much. He never gets called by the teachers either (since he can turn invisible). The only time when I remember him making any sounds was him sneezing a few extra times because he had a cold.
Since Zhuang Ni couldn’t even remember Shen ShaoYi, there’s no way she would remember the chameleon.
“Who’s the chameleon? Do we have someone like that in our class?”
“Well, it’s fine if you don’t remember him.” Loud Mouth said, “I’ve almost forgotten him too, then who do you like between Ye Lin and Niu ShiLi?”
The class leader’s expression tensed.
“Niu ShiLi always thinks of himself as someone who can turn into a hero, like the reporter Clark Kent. But the problem is he’s unwilling to wear underwear on the outside, and he can’t fly…”
“Huh, so you like Ye Lin?”
“Ye Lin.” Zhuang Ni said my name like she was mentioning junk, “Ye Lin has vicious eyes and short legs, he’s like a guide dog for the blind…”
“Guide dog?” Loud Mouth didn’t understand the meaning behind her words.
“As in only blind people would like him.”
The class leader sighed but was also a bit peeved.
“Then who do you like? There’s no other boys left in the last row.”
Zhuang Ni suddenly faced the class leader and stared at her with heated eyes.
“Shu Sha, I like you.”
“I didn’t have the courage to say it before, but now I finally said it.”
“As long as you agree to go out with me, I’ll return to school.”
The class leader almost fainted.
“Nonsense, we’re both girls.”
“Ah… as expected, you rejected me. I already said we had no future… I should kill myself tonight and try to reincarnate into a cuter girl so the class leader would like me…”
“Hey, even if you were going to reincarnate, shouldn’t it be into a boy? If you’re still a girl, how would you be with the class leader?”
Loud Mouth and Zhuang Ni’s conversation caused the class leader’s face to flush red.
Zhuang Ni responded sharply:
“I hate men. They’re the most foul and disgusting creatures I’ve ever seen. Class leader you have to promise me that even if you don’t get with me, you can’t marry a man.”
“How could I agree?” The class leader said angrily, “It’s clearly only an excuse you’re using to not go to school, between two girls…”
“If you kiss me on the lips, then you will know my feelings for you are real.”
Loud Mouth jeered: “Okay, since you’re both girls anyway. Class leader, you should try…”
The class leader glared at Loud Mouth and she shut her mouth.
“If you really like me.” The class leader calmly analyzed the situation, “Then you wouldn’t despise the uniform I brought you. If someone I like gave me a gift, even I don’t say thanks, I would never think of tossing it in the trash…”
“That’s true.” Loud Mouth chimed in, “The uniform was ¥35. If you’re not going to give the class leader the money back, then it would be a gift from her. And ¥35 can buy quite a bit of food.”
“Fatty, you should start saving money now.” Zhuang Ni responded mindlessly.
“Why should I save money?”
“So you can buy a crane.”
“A crane?”
“Didn’t you know that once you reach a certain level of fatness, a crane becomes a necessity? Without a crane, you wouldn’t be able to bathe, turn around, walk around.”
“I’m going to choke you to death!” Loud Mouth grabbed Zhuang Ni’s collar again, “Wait until I save enough money, then I’ll hire 100 men to gang rape you.”
Upon hearing Loud Mouth’s threat, the edges her pupils were like the edges of a knife. Her cold and somewhat frightening expression seemed to indicate that if so many men did try to touch her body, she wouldn’t hesitate to cut her face and slit her throat, leaving behind nothing but an ugly corpse.
Zhuang Ni turned back to the class leader, “I’m happy you gave me the uniform. I have nothing to give in return, so I could only offer my body. As long as you sleep with me for one night, you would know my feelings for you are real.”
She caught onto the class leader’s hand and was pulling her towards the bed.
“I’ll be gentle.” Zhuang Ni guaranteed.
The class leader shook off her hand angrily and said to Loud Mouth: “We should be leaving, my brother’s still waiting at home for me.”
Loud Mouth was a bit hesitant as she wanted to watch a good show, “Then… are you not going to urge her to go back to school?”
“I’ll go back to school as long as you go out with me.” Zhuang Ni interjected.
“I don’t care.” The class leader declared, “Zhuang Ni keeps messing around, who knows what she would do in class.”
“I’ll be careful and make sure the teachers don’t discover our relationship.” Zhuang Ni promised.
“Who’s in a relationship with you? I’m leaving, but Geng YuHong can stay behind and you can offer your body to her…”
“No way.” Loud Mouth said.
“My bed wouldn’t agree.” Zhuang Ni muttered, “It’s not wide or sturdy enough…”
“Do you want to die? I’ll kill you!”
“That’s what I want, just make it quick.”
The class leader didn’t fight back even after being teased by Zhuang Ni since she was a sick classmate. She could only keep her anger down and say farewell to Zhuang Ni’s mother.
“Auntie, we’re leaving. If Zhuang Ni gets better, we hope she can come to school.”
Zhuang Ni’s mother was a stay at home mom and she had a fashionable wavy perm hairstyle, but her face was full of worry because of Zhuang Ni.
“Thanks for coming to see my daughter. I’ve been a bit worried about the scary pictures she drew a few days ago.”
“It wasn’t a scary picture.” Zhuang Ni’s voice came from inside her room, “It was a cow’s heart.”
Zhuang Ni’s mother, the class leader, and Loud Mouth’s faces all darkened.
Today the class leader sat at her desk with a frustrated expression because she was confessed to by a girl the day before. She was able to taste defeat and helplessness from Zhuang Ni.