CH 7

The third period was English class. In the middle of the lecture, the teacher asked everyone to form a team with their deskmates. The assignment was to read aloud literature to each other.

Cheng Chu’s mind was stuck and constantly recalled Yu Yin’s abusive words.

She didn’t understand; did Gu Miao used to stutter?

Although Gu Miao was unsociable and silent most of the time in his previous life, he didn’t have any trouble speaking.

The classroom was noisy and Luo Qian Qian, Cheng Chu’s deskmate, flipped to the vocabulary page and read aloud with her head down.

Cheng Chu bumped her with her elbow, pointed her finger to a blank space in her notebook, and motioned to her with her eyes.

Luo Qian Qian shifted to the side and saw Cheng Chu’s neat handwriting which reads…

[When Yu Yin mocked about Gu Miao’s stutter, was what he said true?]

Luo Qian Qian nodded and whispered in her ear: “I think it’s true, that’s what I heard from other people’s gossip. But I’ve only been in the same class as him for about two months, and so far I haven’t heard him fluently say a complete sentence. He usually mutters one or two phrases like ‘Yeah’, ‘Oh’, ‘Ok’ etc.”

Cheng Chu looked down, her long eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings taking flight.

She recalled the first time she saw Gu Miao. He said one simple word to her.

“Hello.” He said slowly and carefully, with a slight pause after, as if trying to restrain something.

Also just last weekend at the hospital, he only said “No” and “Yeah”.

They were all responses in one short word.

Cheng Chu originally thought that he was just cold by nature and didn’t like to socialize, but unexpectedly the reason was that he had a speaking disorder.

She wanted to ask some more, but the English teacher was slowly walking toward them.

The classroom was filled with all kinds of sounds, noisy and chaotic.

Cheng Chu listened intently to Luo Qian Qian’s words but didn’t notice that the people seated behind her were oddly silent.

Zhou Ran and Gu Miao had been deskmates for more than two months. Zhou Ran was not a talkative person either so he had adapted well to Gu Miao’s silence.

But since the teacher was walking over, if they don’t talk at all, it will be equivalent to seeking a death wish.

He could only shift his book a little to Gu Miao and whispered: “The teacher is here, I’ll read first.”

After saying that, he started to read aloud.

But Gu Miao kept his head lowered, intently staring at the textbook with his hooded eyes, acting very serious and concentrated.

However in fact, ever since what happened with Yu Yin, his thoughts had been a mess.

Many groups had completed their tasks and the once rowdy classroom was much quieter.

Gu Miao lifted his eyes and longingly glanced at the girl’s slender back. The anxiousness in his heart grew wildly like weeds.

His heart gradually rose a desire to pummel Yu Yin to the ground and stand confidently as he confronts him.

But he can’t. He can’t even form a complete sentence.

Gu Miao didn’t want to be humiliated in front of the girl.

If he speaks, he’ll definitely stumble over his words. Not only can he not refute Yu Yin, but he will also become more of a joke for the whole class.

She’ll look down on him too.

Gu Miao tightly pressed his lips, his hand gripped the pen so hard that his fingers turned pale.

His thoughts uncontrollably wandered about. Then, he started worrying if Cheng Chu thought that he was being rude because he returned to his seat without a single word.

After all, he did knock down someone’s book and spilled water on it, but he didn’t even say a word of apology.

Gu Miao weakly closed his tired eyes; his well-groomed eyebrows showing a sign of frustration.

The English teacher started lectures again and the classroom went silent.

Gu Miao opened his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the lectures. He asked for a day off last week. He had missed a lot of materials and homework, he can’t allow himself to slack off.

It wasn’t until the end of the period that his heart calmed down a bit.

Unfortunately, Yu Yin didn’t want to let him off the hook. The moment the teacher left, he stood up and slowly paced toward Gu Miao’s desk.

He raised one foot and angrily kicked Gu Miao’s desk.

There was a loud, “BOOM!”. The noise sounded like thunder in the quiet classroom.

The textbooks that Gu Miao had placed on the desk shook and scattered on the ground.

“Hey! Useless stutter, don’t you know how to apologize?” Yu Yin shouted.

Cheng Chu pursed her lips, turned her head, and said coldly: “Are you done?”

“Am I done? He hit me first and he’s over here looking aloof and refusing to apologize.” Yu Yin turned around and continued arrogantly demanding: “Gu Miao, apologize!”

Gu Miao stood up, his forehead covered with veins about to burst. His originally cold eyes now burning with flame.

Although his body is thin, he is tall and lean, looking more like a young man than a boy. When he stands up, his presence oozes confidence and poise.

Yu Yin unconsciously took a step back out of fear. But after a while, his eyes shined with determination, and stepped forward again.

The air sparked with tension as if it was electricity.

At that moment, the homeroom teacher’s solemn voice came from the doorway: “What are you doing standing in a group? Huh?”

The excited students dispersed immediately.

Yu Yin glared at Gu Miao and returned to his seat obediently.

The homeroom teacher walked to the podium with a textbook in his arms. He took out a USB flash drive, looked around, and said: “You guys, don’t you dare cause trouble for me again. Last time, the fight was brought up to the principal. It’s humiliating enough, I don’t want another incident.”

Her eyes glared coldly at everyone, like a sharp sword.

“Especially you, Yu Yin, don’t you dare get in trouble.”

Looking into the teacher’s eyes, Yu Yin trembled and lowered his head, behaving as quietly as a frightened rabbit.

Cheng Chu saw his obedient look and laughed mockingly.

It seems that Yu Yin has gotten in major trouble plenty of times, maybe he even orchestrated what happened with Gu Miao.

After the homeroom teacher finished saying this, the bell rang signaling the end of the period.

The students quickly prepared their textbooks and got ready for the next class.

Perhaps the homeroom teacher’s threat worked. Even after the end of class, Yu Yin didn’t dare cause any trouble.

Cheng Chu’s suspended heart was relieved.

The classes flew by and school ended very soon.

During the break, Cheng Chu tried to talk with Gu Miao but he always replied with “yeah” and “okay”, or other short remarks.

She didn’t know if Gu Miao just didn’t want to talk to her or if he was afraid of stuttering and scared that she might laugh at him.

But Cheng Chu does not easily give up. They still have so much time to get to know each other.

***

Cheng Chu thought that Yu Yin’s incident was officially ended with the homeroom teacher’s threat.

But the next day in school, Cheng Chu, who just finished fetching water and returned to her seat, heard Yu Yin’s annoying voice shouting.

“Zhou Ran, have you ever heard Gu Miao speak?” He pulled over Gu Miao’s deskmate, Zhou Ran, and looked around while asking loudly.

Zhou Ran was yanked over and couldn’t get away and could only shake his head.

“Let me tell you. One of my best buddies was in the same class as him in his freshman year of high school. On the first day, he introduced himself like this: “H-H-Hello e-everyone. My n-name is G-Gu Miao.”

He overemphasized his laugh. His face displayed undisguised malice toward Gu Miao as he rocked back and forth in his chair while hitting the table.

A small number of people around him also laughed.

Yu Yin continued with more eagerness: “That stupid stutter. Oh my god, I’m dying from laughter. Haha! “

Autumn at Haishi City isn’t cold, but Cheng Chu could feel a chilliness rapidly rising from the soles of her feet.

She pursed her lips, stood up abruptly, and coldly glared at Yu Yin: “Is it funny?”

He snickered in reply. Yu Yin turned his head and squinted at Cheng Chu and said sarcastically: “And the messenger of justice has appeared again.”

These days, Cheng Chu has been turning a blind eye to him but the moment she hears him mock Gu Miao, she’ll instantly argue with him.

Yu Yin was burning with jealousy and anger.

He suppressed his anger, turned his head slowly, stroked the kettle placed on the corner of the table, and sneered: “Fake kindness. Let me tell you, This stupid b*stard was impolite and broke my bottle. He wouldn’t even say a word of apology. What? Do you think if you help him and stand up for him, he’ll remember you and feel gratitude? Don’t make me laugh!”

Many people were sitting in the classroom, but only Gu Miao wasn’t there.

Yu Yin glanced at the doorway and there were lots of people coming and going in the hallway outside. The homeroom teacher had just called out Gu Miao to talk to him, so they probably wouldn’t be back for a while.”

Thinking of that he continued even more brazenly: “So I recommend you to stop talking for him, that kind of person doesn’t have anything. If you help him, maybe that d*rn stutter can’t even say thank you properly.”

Cheng Chu pressed her lips tightly, her beautiful doe-like eyes flashed into flames.

Seeing this, Luo Qian Qian, who was next to her, hurriedly pulled her, beckoning her not to get into this mess.

This Yu Yin is a member of a small gang. He goes around the school and causes mischief every day. Only after the teachers got involved a few times that they stopped causing that much trouble. But it is still not good to provoke them.

What’s more, it’s not worth it for an irrelevant person.

But Cheng Chu doesn’t care about that. Although she is usually a good-tempered girl, she is not someone who can swallow her anger. If someone touches her bottom line, she’ll fight back fiercely without hesitation.

She turned sideways slightly and saw Yu Yin’s bottle sitting on the corner of the table.

It was a black heat-preserving water bottle with some paint torn on the corners of the lid. Probably because it was dropped on the ground yesterday and rubbed off.

And this is a broken bottle?

Cheng Chu darkly laughed, walked quickly to Yu Yin’s desk, raised the bottle, and slammed it on the floor with all her strength.

“BOOM!” It made a thunderous sound as it collided with the floor.

Yu Yin lowered his eyes to see his black water bottle was smashed open with a hold in it and was rolling along the ground toward the podium.

“F*ck! What are you doing?” Yu Yin flushed with anger and loudly screamed at Cheng Chu.

Cheng Chu condescendingly glanced at him and ran toward the podium. As if smashing it wasn’t enough, she harshly kicked the water bottle fiercely as if playing kickball.

The bottle scratched against the floor, making a piercing noise.

The black paint was completely worn out and there was a huge dent in the bottle.

Cheng Chu slowly picked up the bottle, lightly placed it on the corner of Yu Yin’s desk, and whispered: “This is called a broken bottle. You understand?”

“You!” Yu Yin’s neck flushed with anger and he couldn’t speak a word.

Cheng Chu smiled sweetly and replied with a low voice that only two people could hear: “Don’t think I didn’t know. The last time, he fell was because you tripped him.”

Yu Yin’s face froze for a brief moment.

Cheng Chu beamed happily and took out a few hundred dollar bills from her pocket, threw them on his desk, and said: “Here you go. Go buy yourself a new one. I sure hope you won’t go around asking for pity and saying that I broke your water bottle and didn’t compensate you.”

You can hear a pin drop in the classroom. Everyone was shocked by Cheng Chu’s series of motions.

Cheng Chu turned her head and smiled softly at Luo Qian Qian: “Let’s go, didn’t you say you want to have breakfast?”

“Huh? Oh, Oh!” Luo Qian Qian recovered from the shock, pulled Cheng Chu’s sleeves, and ran out. She repeatedly said: “Wow, you were so handsome! It couldn’t be that you were so furious because yesterday I told you that Yu Yin deliberately tripped Gu Miao?”

Cheng Chu was dragged by her for a couple more steps.

The bright morning light filled the corridor. Gu Miao was standing in the sunlight holding a handful of homework. The morning breeze blew against his forehead; the eyes hidden under the black-framed glasses were looking at her unblinkingly.