Chapter 14
He was feeling what?
Qiao Shao was frightened — 10,000 points frightened!
“Let’s go. I’ll take you to look for Chen Su.” He Shen put his hand on his arm.
This was a movement they’ve often done in the past two days. This was so that the injured Qiao Shao could borrow his strength and walk more easily.
Now......
Qiao Shao looked up at him like he’d gone crazy. “You ...” He couldn’t even bring himself to ask.
He Shen posed a question back to him. “Why, I don’t have any right to be jealous?”
Qiao Shao’s eyes opened wide. He growled ten thousand times in his heart. You think? Just what right do you have???
“Chen Su’s over there.” He Shen looked in the direction of the railing.
East High’s school building was ring-shaped with a hollow in the middle. Students like to play here during their break.
Chen Su stood by the fence in the far corner, holding tightly onto the railing, staring down.
If the railing weren’t so high that it would be impossible to scale, Qiao Shao would have thought that ...
“Chen Su!” Qiao Shao shouted at him. He shifted his “disabled” leg, trying to lean forward.
Who would have known that when he called out to him, Chen Su’s entire body stiffened and he ran away without looking back.
Qiao Shao: “...”
He Shen said: “If I carry you, we can quickly catch up to him.”
It was dinner time and there were a lot of students coming and going. Regardless of how He Shen carried him — from his front or on his back — Qiao Shao was going to jump off this railing!
Qiao Shao clutched his arm and said, “We can still catch up to him like this.”
He Shen decided not to carry him against him will. After all, though Qiao Shao was small, his pride was big. He was the kind of person who would rather lose his head then lose face.
Qiao Shao was naturally unable to catch up. He had just arrived at the head of the flight of stairs, and Chen Su was nowhere to be found.
He Shen said, “He’s back at the dormitory.”
Chen Su was hiding from Qiao Shao. He probably thought that given Qiao Shao’s current situation it would be difficult for him to go to the fifth floor. The best place to hide from him would be the dormitory.
Qiao Shao thought so as well. He gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go!”
He’s going to take it as physical training, although he was a bit hungry.
The two went to the dormitory building. Qiao Shao insisted on going up to the fifth floor. He Shen felt strangely distressed. “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you on my back?”
Qiao Shao panted, “No, I’m not tired.”
He Shen looked at the thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. “I wouldn’t sweat that much even while carrying two of you up these stairs.”
Qiao Shao said in a bad mood. “How can I compare to you?”
This man is 1.9 meters tall!
The legs came up almost to his waist!
The physical power expended to climb stairs by small short legs was not the same as the power expended by big long legs!
Of course Qiao Shao wouldn’t say that. He wouldn’t say it even at the pain of death.
He Shen squeezed his little arm and said, “You’ll have to eat well and exercise more.”
Qiao Shao was out of breath, “I will.”
He Shen comforted him kindly. “When your ankle gets better, I’ll take you to exercise.”
“What kind of exercise?” Qiao Shao looked at him suspiciously. You’re not going to take me to a fist fight, right?
He Shen said, “I’m a versatile athlete. You can choose whatever you want.”
Qiao Shao provoked him, “Ballet?”
He Shen looked at him in surprise. “You want to learn ballet?”
“I don’t want to!” Qiao Shao said, “Didn’t you say you could do anything?”
He Shen thought for a while and said, “I really can’t do ballet, but I can skate. Do you want to learn?”
Figure skating and ballet did have something in common.
But Qiao Shao didn’t believe that He Shen could skate. It was probably some kind of roller derby that delinquents often went to!
“Let’s talk later.” Qiao Shao dismissed the matter, not taking him seriously at all.
While conversing they had already reached room 516. Panting heavily, Qiao Shao opened the door to the dorm room.
As they thought, Chen Su was in the dormitory. He sat at the table with a test paper in front of him, but just one look at him and you could tell that his mind wasn’t in it.
Hearing the door opening, Chen Su looked up and immediately stood up after seeing Qiao Shao.
Qiao Shao entered the room, but He Shen didn’t come in. He stood outside the door and locked the room.
Qiao Shao: “...” You’re amazing, simply amazing!
This time there was nowhere else to run.
Qiao Shao had over expended his energy, limping and hopping his way up the fifth floor.
He sat on the bed and said, “Why are you hiding?”
Chen Su remained silent.
Qiao Shao was gasping for breath. He looked at him and asked, “Afraid I’m going to ignore you now, like they do?”
He had hit on the heart of the matter with a single sentence.
Sixteen and seventeen year olds had the strongest yet most vulnerable self-esteem.
Chen Su sat back down and said in a hoarse voice, “Didn’t you hear what they said?”
Qiao Shao’s heart tightened, and he asked, “Have you ever stolen anything?”
Chen Su lowered his head. His hands convulsed and the exercise sheet on his table wrinkled. He said, “En.”
Qiao Shao immediately asked, “Why?”
This single word stupefied Chen Su.
After knowing he was a thief, shouldn’t Qiao Shao get up and leave? Why is he still asking why...
Chen Su finally raised his head and looked at Qiao Shao.
Qiao Shao was also looking back at him. There was no contempt in his eyes. It was as clear and penetrating as before, completely without prejudice.
He asked, “Can you tell me why?”
There was unreserved trust in his low, crisp voice. Chen Su felt choked up, and the hot feeling rose up. His eyes were stained red. “I ... I thought ...”
Qiao Shao looked at him and listened patiently.
Chen Su finally said what he’d been harboring in his heart for half a year. “I thought he didn’t want it anymore ... I saw it in the trash can, and thought he didn’t want that backpack.”
Qiao Shao froze.
Chen Su spoke haltingly, but he explained the matter clearly.
He did “steal” something, a black schoolbag.
But he didn’t take it from someone’s desk, but picked it up from the trash.
He thought it was something no one wanted.
Chen Su had always wanted a school bag, a lightweight backpack capable of holding several books for when he went back and forth between the classroom and the dormitory. So he brought it back to the dormitory, washed it carefully, dried it, and then used it.
Those few days, Chen Su was very happy. Although he was still alone, with this backpack, he walked lightly every day.
Until someone shouted, “Isn’t this the backpack I couldn’t find?”
It happened in the cafeteria, and there were countless students. Everyone turned to look when they heard it.
Chen Su’s face turned red, and he couldn’t say a word.
The boy stepped forward and said, “This must be mine. My mother was afraid I would lose it so she sewed my name inside.”
He stepped forward to grab the backpack, unzipped it, and revealed his name.
At this moment, the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria turned to Chen Su and it was like he could feel prickles down his back.
Since then, Chen Su was labeled a thief.
After hearing this, Qiao Shao anxiously said, “Why didn’t you explain?”
He picked it up. He had obviously picked it up!
Chen Su looked at him, and said helplessly, “How could I explain? That I’m so poor that I pick up things in the trash?”
Qiao Shao said, “But he really threw it in the trash!”
If it had been something that someone lost, Qiao Shao believed that Chen Su would have definitely turned it over to the Lost and Found Office.
But how would he hand in a schoolbag that had been thrown in the trash?
Chen Su shook his head.
Qiao Shao stood up, “What’s his name? I’ll go to him!”
Chen Su said, “It’s been six months. It’s useless to say anything now.”
Half a year...
Chen Su has been bearing this stigma and has endured in silence for so long.
Qiao Shao felt very upset.
Chen Su lowered his eyes and continued, “In fact, it’s also my fault, because I gave them the impression that I would steal things.”
Qiao Shao was indignant and said, “How are you to blame!”
“Because I am!” Chen Xu, his voice uncharacteristically loud. “Because I’m poor, because they have everything, and I barely scrape together enough to pay for tuition.”
Qiao Shao froze.
Chen Su looked up at him and said, “You understand, don’t you? Qiao Shao, you definitely understand! It’s wrong to have a poor family. Nothing you have can ever compare to theirs, nothing can be better than theirs! I don’t dare talk to them because they might look down on me; I can’t eat with them because they’ll laugh at what I eat; I don’t dare play with them, because...I don’t even know what it is they’re playing! ”
Qiao Shao’s eyes widened slightly, his throat was blocked by something, and he couldn’t say a word.
“I’m weird, I’m unsociable, I’m poor, so it’s just natural that I steal!” Chen Su yelled and poured out the grievances that had hid away in his heart for more than half a year.
Qiao Shao felt extremely unwell in his heart, he whispered: “No ... Chen Su, you’re not ...”
Chen Su wiped away his tears, and when he looked up, his eyes were full of concern, “Qiao Shao, don’t be like me. Don’t want anything, don’t touch anything, don’t ever given them a reason to bully you. ”
Qiao Shao was speechless.
He understood, he understood everything.
Chen Su’s family condition was bad, they were probably very poor.
He felt inferior, was sensitive, and had a young man’s strong self-esteem.
He did not want to become the laughing stock of his classmates, so he kept his distance from everyone, which left a strange impression on them.
The school bag he innocently picked up from the trash became something that he stole.
No one questioned the matter. No one wanted to know the truth. Because Chen Su was poor, because Chen Su was a loner, because he seemed like a person who would do such a thing.
All the while, Chen Su suppressed all these in his heart, and endured it silently. These things that he absolutely refused to say even at the pain of death, now, suddenly came pouring out.
And why was that...
Was it just because Qiao Shao asked?
It wasn’t just because of that, but because Chen Su felt that Qiao Shao was like himself. He thought that Qiao Shao would understand, and he even wanted to ... protect Qiao Shao.
Yes, he hoped that Qiao Shao will not “make mistakes” like he did, and won’t be pushed aside like he was.
But actually, Qiao Shao ...
But then Qiao Shao saw how much Chen Su cared.
Chen Su regarded him as one of his kind and Chen Su reminded him using this grim and bitter way that exposed his scars.
How could Qiao Shao bear to let him go at it alone again?
“I see.” Qiao Shao told Chen Su, “Thank you.”
Chen Su froze, but soon a smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and there was vigor in his eyes.
He said, “Don’t be afraid, we don’t need to worry about this. We’ll study and work hard together. When we get into a good university, our lives will be different!”
So what if the family is poor? What made people laugh at being poor?
Better to look down on the elderly poor than it is to look down on the impoverished young. For there will come a day when dragon will pierce through phoenixes, they will surely not wear rags their whole lives. (Note 1)
There was a warmth that surge within him, and Qiao Shao nodded hard, “Let’s work hard together!”
Chen Su also nodded. “En!”
He Shen stood outside the door, leaning against the wall. There was a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.
You shouldn’t bully poor young people. You really shouldn’t.
Chen Su cheered up, and Qiao Shao also finally understood what it was like to have a true friend.
Not just a friend, but a comrade!
At this moment, there came a voice from outside.
The startled voice came from their blue-haired roommate. “Shen Ge, why are you blocking the door?”
He Shen’s casual voice said, “Don’t go in.”
Blue-hair’s tone has always been high and arrogant. “Why? What’s the matter?”
He Shen opened his mouth and spouted nonsense. “Lou Xiao is inside.”
Lan Mao was surprised. “Xiao Ge? But I just saw him in the class.”
He Shen: “Oh, he just came back.”
Blue-hair was suspicious. “So what is Xiao Ge is here? Why can’t I go in?”
“He also has his sweetheart inside.”
Blue-hair: “!”
He Shen sold out his teammate without a trace of politeness. “Understand?”
Blue-hair whispered, “I understand!”
And he high-tailed it out of there.
In the room, Qiao Shao and Chen Su: “.........”
The uncomfortable atmosphere suddenly disappeared.
Both of them burst out laughing.
The author has something to say: Note 1: No. 46 of Rulin Waishi by Wu Jingzi of the Qing Dynasty
Mwah Mwah! See you tomorrow ~
No need to be anxious about some of your questions. They’re all foreshadowing and will be explained later.
Same goes for Xiao Qiao’s height. XOXO
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