CH 60

Warning: There is a brief mention of kidnapping and child abuse along with some blood.

That night when they had gone to visit the university, Pei Chuan’s worn-down stumps were red and swollen.

He looked at his hideous wounds and remained silent for a long time.

Because the stump could not bear too much weight, he had just carried her for less than ten meters while gritting his teeth. Nonetheless, the results were still severely swollen and sensitive stumps. Even though Bei Yao’s bones were small and light, he was still too useless.

Such an ugly body…

Pei Chuan sneered coldly.

The winter vacation for third-year students was only a few days. On the seventh day after the Chinese New Year, the third-year students would go back to school.

As soon as he got home, Pei Chuan clicked on an email he had received from a man called ‘K’.

“Satan, I’ll give you one last chance to finish writing that program!” - K

Pei Chuan lowered his eyes. He tapped his fingers on the screen and deleted the email.

Simultaneously, the people on the other side were talking during the period of time that he did not respond.

“What if he doesn’t want to do it anymore?”

K sneered. “Does he have the right to choose? Didn’t he want to have a normal life and go to college? He’s just a mere eighteen-year-old boy who doesn’t know a thing. Just let him know that he can never be a normal person in this life, and that only we can accept a monster like him.”

As the spring of March approached, the willow trees were blown gently by the spring breeze.

There were still three months before the college entrance exams. But inside the Sixth High School, the third-year students became earnest to the point that it affected the first and second years.

Enrollment expansion had not been implemented in 2009. Universities were still divided into priority undergraduate, general undergraduate, private undergraduate, and professional colleges.

Accordingly, Li Fangqun would find some students every evening self-study session to give them psychological counseling. For example, for the students whose passing score was around general undergraduate, she would encourage them to strive for priority undergraduate, while those whose passing score was around professional college would be roused to reach undergraduate.

For a small city like C City, it was not easy to get into B University.

Bei Yao was afraid she would be unprepared during the college entrance examinations, so she studied very hard.

Because she had not been as responsive as her peers when she had been a child, she had a good attitude to expect the worst. As a result, she would be surprised if she succeeded and would not be discouraged if she failed.

Pei Chuan was so powerful that his scores would surely get into B University. She, on the other hand, could only work a little harder so that she could get into that school even if she did poorly in the exam.

This semester, they didn’t have any more nap time. The Sixth High School, which had always been relaxed, suddenly became stricter towards their third years. From time to time, the homeroom teachers and school principal could be seen taking turns patrolling. It turned the students good as they clamped their tails in nervousness

Bei Yao’s Class 6 of the third year also implemented a mobile phone collection system. Every Monday, they would hand their phones to Li Fangqun and would get them back on the weekends.

It was as if the teachers just hated that they couldn’t put the students’ heads on the table and force them to study for the rest of the hundreds of days that were left.

The countdown to the exams, which was written in chalk in the front of the classroom, was getting nearer every day.

Finally, on the 75th day, a post on the school forum circulated wildly.

The first person who saw the news was Wu Mo.

She was stunned when she clicked on the post. In a somber mood, her face whitened the more she looked at it. Upon reading the conclusion, she entered a trance.

How is it possible! Impossible!

She got up from her seat and walked towards Bei Yao. "Tell me! This is fake, right? You know him, he cannot be… a cripple…" Wu Mo gritted her teeth and halted from speaking.

Bei Yao, who was originally solving a math problem, raised her eyes after hearing those words. Her gaze fell onto Wu Mo’s phone.

It was a clickbait article.

The article started off by saying that it was 1996, and it had rained heavily that day.

The anti-drug policemen had made great achievements and had rescued many innocent families. However, two of the detectives' children were targeted in a crazy revenge.

Those people had taken drugs, and kidnapped the two children. One child had his hands cut off while the other had his legs severed.

The criminals were so heartless that they placed the severed hands and legs at the doorstep of the victims' homes so that their mothers could see their children's dismembered bodies with their own eyes.

Those two children were later rescued.

The child whose hands had been chopped off could not be saved because of excessive blood loss, while the child whose legs had been cut survived vigorously.

Immediately, the spotlight was focused on the child and his family. In the old newspaper from 1996, the child could be seen lying in a hospital bed with his pale face and crippled body that only occupied a small area, like a piece of tofu.

The policeman who had done the meritorious service was called Pei Haobin.

The child whose legs had been cut off was called Pei Chuan.

Years later, their misfortune had gradually been forgotten.

The little boy in the photo was like a little ball.

Bei Yao’s finger pointed towards the boy’s hollow eyes in a daze.

Yang Jia turned her head around and stammered, “Yaoyao, are you crying?”

Really? Bei Yao touched her cheek. There were indeed tears running down her face.

As soon as Wu Mo saw her reaction, she gritted her teeth and snatched her phone back. She still couldn’t accept it! The first person she had liked was a liar, and the second one she had admired with all her heart was actually a… cripple.

The unremarkable youth from the Third High School, Pei Chuan, was gone. He was now the greatest in the hearts of everyone from the First, Third, and Sixth High Schools.

Bei Yao stood up and ran in the direction of the Third High School.

She was too late. The post had been published for a long time. She was behind in knowing the news.

~

Jin Ziyang and the others’ faces were filled with disbelief when they saw this post. How could it be possible?

For almost three years, Pei Chuan had played basketball and ran with them. They had been together for so long, how could this happen? The title of the article was ‘Formerly broken legs boy, now disguised as a rich boy.’

Jin Ziyang’s expression suddenly changed when he saw the frail boy in the photo. “F**k it! Which bastard did this!”

He flew into a rage like a madman. “Zheng Hang, go and check this person’s IP! Find out who he is and I* will kill him today!”

*t/n: ‘I’ used in an arrogant way (老子).

Zheng Hang's face also turned grave, and he looked at Pei Chuan.

Surprisingly, Pei Chuan was calm.

Pei Chuan held his pen and continued to calculate. Because the satellite moves in a circle around the surface of the earth in a circular motion, it can be considered that its orbital radius is the R radius of the earth…

Zheng Hang clenched his teeth. “I will let someone delete the post now.”

As he found the post, he also found out that it was like a carp in a river. Whenever he ordered someone to delete it, another one would pop up.

Pei Chuan lowered his eyes. His pen continued to move. With gravity providing the centripetal forces of the circular motion of the satellites…

Ji Wei, who also saw this post, became stunned for several minutes. Then, for the first time in a few years, he did not continue studying. Instead, he helped Zheng Hang and the others to delete the post.

But their numbers made it impossible to delete them.

No matter how many people were asked to delete them, a new post would pop up in a minute.

Ji Wei's eyes were red.

For the first time, he felt a greater sense of helplessness compared to a failed exam as he looked at the phone screen.

From the start, Pei Chuan had remained composed. He finished his homework and collected his things to go back to his apartment.

He was quite famous at school. After all, he hadn’t had good grades at first and would frequently skip school. Later, he had experienced the “cheating” crisis. Therefore, most people here knew him.

As he walked from the classroom to the school gate, countless people quietly looked at his legs.

Jin Ziyang ran over to catch up with him. “Chuan Ge.” The formerly heartless second-year generation was about to cry. “Don’t worry, there must be someone behind this. Wait until tonight… we’ll be able to delete all the posts by then. We’ll find that bastard and expose the hell out of him."

Pei Chuan glanced at him. “No need. You go back.”

“What about you?”

Pei Chuan was silent for a moment before calmly replying, “Preparing for the college entrance examinations.” He was going to get into B University.

The teenager's silhouette was stretched out by the March sunset.

Jin Ziyang roared and nearly burst into tears.

~

Bei Yao squatted by the front of Pei Chuan’s apartment. He had brought her here once, so she remembered.

The spring breeze in March blew softly. The branches were covered in green and the birds jumped onto them, tilting their heads to look at the girl who kept wiping her tears.

Bei Yao folded down the green stems of the weeds and kept weaving.

Pei Chuan hung his schoolbag casually on his shoulder. But before he had gotten home, Bei Yao had already wiped away her tears.

He walked across the small flowerbed in the apartment when suddenly, a soft body hugged him.

“Pei Chuan!”

He laughed.

“En. Yaoyao, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be reviewing right now?”

She lowered her eyes. “I was too drowsy and slept on the desk. When I woke up, I realized that I missed you.”

He lowered his eyes and looked at the little head in front of his chest. "Well, I miss you too."

She asked him, “How much do you miss me?”

Pei Chuan silently stroked her hair and gave the top of her head a soft kiss.

“I saw a Chinese magnolia flower blooming on the way back and thought that you’d like it.”

He opened his hand and revealed the white magnolia that he’d bought.

“What if I didn’t come?”

He was silent.

Because it didn’t matter whether she came or not, he had just gotten used to doing it every day.

She accepted the flower. "I have a gift for you too."

He looked at her.

“Pei Chuan, give me your hand,” she said. “No. The other hand.”

He switched his hands obediently.

Bei Yao opened his clenched hands and slipped the soft green grass ring onto his ring finger.

It was a ring. And the size was just right.

She asked him, “Do you like it?”

Pei Chuan's throat twitched. "Hmm."

She smiled and stood on tiptoe, stroking the corner of his lips with her thumb. "Pei Chuan, you have to smile when you're happy and cry when you're sad. You can't live like a machine and suffocate yourself."

He lowered his eyes and looked at the "ring" on his ring finger.

After contemplating for a long time, he was unwilling to return it to her.

He clenched his fist tightly.

Her true ring would be given to another person in the future. He had this… it was good enough to have this.

Bei Yao said, “I’m very greedy. I’m giving you this now, but in a few years, you need to give me a real one. Alright?”

She was very serious. Her shining eyes reflected his silent look.

Pei Chuan said, “Okay.”

She nodded joyfully, stepped back, and looked at him while tilting her head. "Guess who's boyfriend is this? How generous and handsome."

His lips curved imperceptibly.

~

When he went to school again on Monday, Pei Chuan found that many people had stopped looking at his legs secretly or curiously.

Ji Wei stood nervously in front of the classroom and shouted, "Brother Chuan is coming!"

Jin Ziyang gave an "OK" and took out his signature book from his desk.

When Pei Chuan entered the classroom, his classmates didn’t look at him with weird gazes like before and acted just like usual. They were studying hard and joking around.

No one looked at him with weird eyes.

Pei Chuan raised his gaze.

Jin Ziyang ran over and stuffed a small booklet into his hand. He coughed in a serious manner. “Chuan Ge, last time we didn’t manage to give you a present for your birthday, so we made it up today.”

It was a book with a black cover.

Pei Chuan looked at him. Jin Ziyang coughed. This was the first time he was doing such an emotional thing. The group of second generations all felt awkward.

Pei Chuan turned to the first page.

Written with ugly, huge, and crooked words was, “Chuan Ge is the coolest in the world! - Jin Ziyang.”

Below was Zheng Hang’s. “Chuan Ge is awesome, number one forever.”

He flipped again. It looked like the writing of an elementary school student.

“Chuan Ge, take the Cambridge entrance examination! Cambridge! - Ji Wei.”

Cambridge was the noblest in Ji Wei's heart.

Pei Chuan looked down and continued to turn the pages.

There were a lot of messages. Thousands of them. Some he knew, others he did not. From boys to girls, from the first-year students to the third-year students. Each sentence was encouraging. Even Wei Wan had also written a sentence: ‘there is still a road ahead.’

Jin Ziyang, Zheng Hang, and Ji Wei, had taken this book and ran for a whole day to fill it with messages.

In the end, those numerous words all converged into one sentence.

“Pei Chuan, fight on!”

Although Pei Chuan said nothing, his fingers clenched the notebook tightly.

It turned out that the world was not just filled with malice and loneliness. No one had mentioned his disability.

It's good to not do bad things, and be an honest person. Right?

Warning: There is a brief mention of kidnapping and child abuse along with some blood.

That night when they had gone to visit the university, Pei Chuan’s worn-down stumps were red and swollen.

He looked at his hideous wounds and remained silent for a long time.

Because the stump could not bear too much weight, he had just carried her for less than ten meters while gritting his teeth. Nonetheless, the results were still severely swollen and sensitive stumps. Even though Bei Yao’s bones were small and light, he was still too useless.

Such an ugly body…

Pei Chuan sneered coldly.

The winter vacation for third-year students was only a few days. On the seventh day after the Chinese New Year, the third-year students would go back to school.

As soon as he got home, Pei Chuan clicked on an email he had received from a man called ‘K’.

“Satan, I’ll give you one last chance to finish writing that program!” - K

Pei Chuan lowered his eyes. He tapped his fingers on the screen and deleted the email.

Simultaneously, the people on the other side were talking during the period of time that he did not respond.

“What if he doesn’t want to do it anymore?”

K sneered. “Does he have the right to choose? Didn’t he want to have a normal life and go to college? He’s just a mere eighteen-year-old boy who doesn’t know a thing. Just let him know that he can never be a normal person in this life, and that only we can accept a monster like him.”

As the spring of March approached, the willow trees were blown gently by the spring breeze.

There were still three months before the college entrance exams. But inside the Sixth High School, the third-year students became earnest to the point that it affected the first and second years.

Enrollment expansion had not been implemented in 2009. Universities were still divided into priority undergraduate, general undergraduate, private undergraduate, and professional colleges.

Accordingly, Li Fangqun would find some students every evening self-study session to give them psychological counseling. For example, for the students whose passing score was around general undergraduate, she would encourage them to strive for priority undergraduate, while those whose passing score was around professional college would be roused to reach undergraduate.

For a small city like C City, it was not easy to get into B University.

Bei Yao was afraid she would be unprepared during the college entrance examinations, so she studied very hard.

Because she had not been as responsive as her peers when she had been a child, she had a good attitude to expect the worst. As a result, she would be surprised if she succeeded and would not be discouraged if she failed.

Pei Chuan was so powerful that his scores would surely get into B University. She, on the other hand, could only work a little harder so that she could get into that school even if she did poorly in the exam.

This semester, they didn’t have any more nap time. The Sixth High School, which had always been relaxed, suddenly became stricter towards their third years. From time to time, the homeroom teachers and school principal could be seen taking turns patrolling. It turned the students good as they clamped their tails in nervousness

Bei Yao’s Class 6 of the third year also implemented a mobile phone collection system. Every Monday, they would hand their phones to Li Fangqun and would get them back on the weekends.

It was as if the teachers just hated that they couldn’t put the students’ heads on the table and force them to study for the rest of the hundreds of days that were left.

The countdown to the exams, which was written in chalk in the front of the classroom, was getting nearer every day.

Finally, on the 75th day, a post on the school forum circulated wildly.

The first person who saw the news was Wu Mo.

She was stunned when she clicked on the post. In a somber mood, her face whitened the more she looked at it. Upon reading the conclusion, she entered a trance.

How is it possible! Impossible!

She got up from her seat and walked towards Bei Yao. "Tell me! This is fake, right? You know him, he cannot be… a cripple…" Wu Mo gritted her teeth and halted from speaking.

Bei Yao, who was originally solving a math problem, raised her eyes after hearing those words. Her gaze fell onto Wu Mo’s phone.

It was a clickbait article.

The article started off by saying that it was 1996, and it had rained heavily that day.

The anti-drug policemen had made great achievements and had rescued many innocent families. However, two of the detectives' children were targeted in a crazy revenge.

Those people had taken drugs, and kidnapped the two children. One child had his hands cut off while the other had his legs severed.

The criminals were so heartless that they placed the severed hands and legs at the doorstep of the victims' homes so that their mothers could see their children's dismembered bodies with their own eyes.

Those two children were later rescued.

The child whose hands had been chopped off could not be saved because of excessive blood loss, while the child whose legs had been cut survived vigorously.

Immediately, the spotlight was focused on the child and his family. In the old newspaper from 1996, the child could be seen lying in a hospital bed with his pale face and crippled body that only occupied a small area, like a piece of tofu.

The policeman who had done the meritorious service was called Pei Haobin.

The child whose legs had been cut off was called Pei Chuan.

Years later, their misfortune had gradually been forgotten.

The little boy in the photo was like a little ball.

Bei Yao’s finger pointed towards the boy’s hollow eyes in a daze.

Yang Jia turned her head around and stammered, “Yaoyao, are you crying?”

Really? Bei Yao touched her cheek. There were indeed tears running down her face.

As soon as Wu Mo saw her reaction, she gritted her teeth and snatched her phone back. She still couldn’t accept it! The first person she had liked was a liar, and the second one she had admired with all her heart was actually a… cripple.

The unremarkable youth from the Third High School, Pei Chuan, was gone. He was now the greatest in the hearts of everyone from the First, Third, and Sixth High Schools.

Bei Yao stood up and ran in the direction of the Third High School.

She was too late. The post had been published for a long time. She was behind in knowing the news.

~

Jin Ziyang and the others’ faces were filled with disbelief when they saw this post. How could it be possible?

For almost three years, Pei Chuan had played basketball and ran with them. They had been together for so long, how could this happen? The title of the article was ‘Formerly broken legs boy, now disguised as a rich boy.’

Jin Ziyang’s expression suddenly changed when he saw the frail boy in the photo. “F**k it! Which bastard did this!”

He flew into a rage like a madman. “Zheng Hang, go and check this person’s IP! Find out who he is and I* will kill him today!”

*t/n: ‘I’ used in an arrogant way (老子).

Zheng Hang's face also turned grave, and he looked at Pei Chuan.

Surprisingly, Pei Chuan was calm.

Pei Chuan held his pen and continued to calculate. Because the satellite moves in a circle around the surface of the earth in a circular motion, it can be considered that its orbital radius is the R radius of the earth…

Zheng Hang clenched his teeth. “I will let someone delete the post now.”

As he found the post, he also found out that it was like a carp in a river. Whenever he ordered someone to delete it, another one would pop up.

Pei Chuan lowered his eyes. His pen continued to move. With gravity providing the centripetal forces of the circular motion of the satellites…

Ji Wei, who also saw this post, became stunned for several minutes. Then, for the first time in a few years, he did not continue studying. Instead, he helped Zheng Hang and the others to delete the post.

But their numbers made it impossible to delete them.

No matter how many people were asked to delete them, a new post would pop up in a minute.

Ji Wei's eyes were red.

For the first time, he felt a greater sense of helplessness compared to a failed exam as he looked at the phone screen.

From the start, Pei Chuan had remained composed. He finished his homework and collected his things to go back to his apartment.

He was quite famous at school. After all, he hadn’t had good grades at first and would frequently skip school. Later, he had experienced the “cheating” crisis. Therefore, most people here knew him.

As he walked from the classroom to the school gate, countless people quietly looked at his legs.

Jin Ziyang ran over to catch up with him. “Chuan Ge.” The formerly heartless second-year generation was about to cry. “Don’t worry, there must be someone behind this. Wait until tonight… we’ll be able to delete all the posts by then. We’ll find that bastard and expose the hell out of him."

Pei Chuan glanced at him. “No need. You go back.”

“What about you?”

Pei Chuan was silent for a moment before calmly replying, “Preparing for the college entrance examinations.” He was going to get into B University.

The teenager's silhouette was stretched out by the March sunset.

Jin Ziyang roared and nearly burst into tears.

~

Bei Yao squatted by the front of Pei Chuan’s apartment. He had brought her here once, so she remembered.

The spring breeze in March blew softly. The branches were covered in green and the birds jumped onto them, tilting their heads to look at the girl who kept wiping her tears.

Bei Yao folded down the green stems of the weeds and kept weaving.

Pei Chuan hung his schoolbag casually on his shoulder. But before he had gotten home, Bei Yao had already wiped away her tears.

He walked across the small flowerbed in the apartment when suddenly, a soft body hugged him.

“Pei Chuan!”

He laughed.

“En. Yaoyao, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be reviewing right now?”

She lowered her eyes. “I was too drowsy and slept on the desk. When I woke up, I realized that I missed you.”

He lowered his eyes and looked at the little head in front of his chest. "Well, I miss you too."

She asked him, “How much do you miss me?”

Pei Chuan silently stroked her hair and gave the top of her head a soft kiss.

“I saw a Chinese magnolia flower blooming on the way back and thought that you’d like it.”

He opened his hand and revealed the white magnolia that he’d bought.

“What if I didn’t come?”

He was silent.

Because it didn’t matter whether she came or not, he had just gotten used to doing it every day.

She accepted the flower. "I have a gift for you too."

He looked at her.

“Pei Chuan, give me your hand,” she said. “No. The other hand.”

He switched his hands obediently.

Bei Yao opened his clenched hands and slipped the soft green grass ring onto his ring finger.

It was a ring. And the size was just right.

She asked him, “Do you like it?”

Pei Chuan's throat twitched. "Hmm."

She smiled and stood on tiptoe, stroking the corner of his lips with her thumb. "Pei Chuan, you have to smile when you're happy and cry when you're sad. You can't live like a machine and suffocate yourself."

He lowered his eyes and looked at the "ring" on his ring finger.

After contemplating for a long time, he was unwilling to return it to her.

He clenched his fist tightly.

Her true ring would be given to another person in the future. He had this… it was good enough to have this.

Bei Yao said, “I’m very greedy. I’m giving you this now, but in a few years, you need to give me a real one. Alright?”

She was very serious. Her shining eyes reflected his silent look.

Pei Chuan said, “Okay.”

She nodded joyfully, stepped back, and looked at him while tilting her head. "Guess who's boyfriend is this? How generous and handsome."

His lips curved imperceptibly.

~

When he went to school again on Monday, Pei Chuan found that many people had stopped looking at his legs secretly or curiously.

Ji Wei stood nervously in front of the classroom and shouted, "Brother Chuan is coming!"

Jin Ziyang gave an "OK" and took out his signature book from his desk.

When Pei Chuan entered the classroom, his classmates didn’t look at him with weird gazes like before and acted just like usual. They were studying hard and joking around.

No one looked at him with weird eyes.

Pei Chuan raised his gaze.

Jin Ziyang ran over and stuffed a small booklet into his hand. He coughed in a serious manner. “Chuan Ge, last time we didn’t manage to give you a present for your birthday, so we made it up today.”

It was a book with a black cover.

Pei Chuan looked at him. Jin Ziyang coughed. This was the first time he was doing such an emotional thing. The group of second generations all felt awkward.

Pei Chuan turned to the first page.

Written with ugly, huge, and crooked words was, “Chuan Ge is the coolest in the world! - Jin Ziyang.”

Below was Zheng Hang’s. “Chuan Ge is awesome, number one forever.”

He flipped again. It looked like the writing of an elementary school student.

“Chuan Ge, take the Cambridge entrance examination! Cambridge! - Ji Wei.”

Cambridge was the noblest in Ji Wei's heart.

Pei Chuan looked down and continued to turn the pages.

There were a lot of messages. Thousands of them. Some he knew, others he did not. From boys to girls, from the first-year students to the third-year students. Each sentence was encouraging. Even Wei Wan had also written a sentence: ‘there is still a road ahead.’

Jin Ziyang, Zheng Hang, and Ji Wei, had taken this book and ran for a whole day to fill it with messages.

In the end, those numerous words all converged into one sentence.

“Pei Chuan, fight on!”

Although Pei Chuan said nothing, his fingers clenched the notebook tightly.

It turned out that the world was not just filled with malice and loneliness. No one had mentioned his disability.

It's good to not do bad things, and be an honest person. Right?