Thirteen Wonders (ShíSānYāo) : Chapter 24 - One Tiao, Nine Tiao
Chapter 24: One Tiao, Nine Tiao
After Chen Xuze finished speaking, he quietly waited for Zhou Yao to make a move. However, instead of acting as expected, Zhou Yao squinted her eyes, tilted her head up to look at him for a moment, and then suddenly opened her mouth and bit down on his chin.
—She didn’t manage to kiss him.
Even the guy outside the door, who was holding in his urge to pee, internally let out a regretful “Ah!” What a pity! And to make matters worse, his movement accidentally bumped into the door, alerting Chen Xuze inside the restroom.
“I… I just… came to use the restroom…”
It was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but somehow, it didn’t sound convincing. However, Chen Xuze didn’t say anything. He simply wrapped an arm around Zhou Yao, glanced at the intruder, and walked out of the restroom in silence.
As soon as they left, the guy, unable to hold it any longer, bolted into the restroom, barely avoiding wetting himself.
After finishing, this guy, whose name was He Li, thought about what he had just witnessed and felt like he couldn’t keep it to himself. So, he went to find Jiang Jiashu.
“I was just in the restroom and saw Zhou Yao, who seemed pretty drunk, kiss Chen Xuze on the chin!”
Jiang Jiashu choked on his fruit wine. “Cough—no way?!”
“It’s absolutely true!”
“Well, that’s it then. They’re definitely going to fall out over this.”
“No, they won’t.”
“Why not?”
He Li said, “After that, Chen Xuze hugged Zhou Yao, and I heard him say…”
“What did he say?”
“—Do it again, higher this time.”
“......”
“......”
A strange silence stretched between them. After a long while, Jiang Jiashu finally processed what this meant. Right! Chen Xuze had always treated Zhou Yao differently from others. Not only did he take care of her in every possible way, but he also treasured her more than anything. He obviously liked her! How could this lead to them falling out? If anything, he was probably hoping she’d bite him a little longer!
Piecing it all together, Jiang Jiashu had He Li recount everything again before sighing, “Those two definitely have something going on.”
“…” He Li said nothing. At this point, could there be any doubt? That was stating the obvious!
……
After a night of partying, almost everyone ended up staying over at Ying Nian’s house. Her villa was spacious, with plenty of rooms. Zhou Yao shared a room with Zheng Yinyin and Ying Nian. While the other two gossiped late into the night, Zhou Yao, who was completely drunk, slept like a rock.
The next morning, when Zhou Yao saw the bite mark on Chen Xuze’s chin, she was surprised. “What happened to your chin?”
Jiang Jiashu, who was drinking his porridge, struggled to swallow and lowered his head even further, pretending not to hear anything.
Chen Xuze remained composed and said, “I hit it on a door before going to bed.”
“A door?!” Zhou Yao found it hard to believe.
“Mm.” Chen Xuze was dead serious as he glanced at her. “A very aggressive door.”
The girls knew nothing about what had happened the previous night, and the boys who did know had been strictly ordered by Chen Xuze to keep quiet. So, as one of the key people involved, Zhou Yao had absolutely no memory of it. The only thing she vaguely remembered was discussing with Ying Nian and Zheng Yinyin about him paying attention to that senior girl.
On their way to school, Zhou Yao and Chen Xuze walked close to each other as usual, speaking in hushed tones. Trying to sound casual, she asked, “I heard another freshman girl stopped you to confess again.”
He admitted, “Mm.”
“Was she pretty?”
“I don’t know.”
“…” You don’t know, but you still stared at her for so long? Zhou Yao silently complained in her heart.
Chen Xuze, who was much taller than her, said, “I only noticed that her outfit was oddly colored. Her top was green, her bottoms were red, and she was wearing those old-fashioned puffy pants that were popular ages ago. She kind of looked like… an unripe chili pepper.”
Zhou Yao froze.
He continued, “Remember when we went to pick peppers in the fields? That green pepper looked so tasty that you took a bite, only to end up crying from the heat all night.”
Zhou Yao suddenly remembered, her face flushing slightly. She nudged him with her elbow to stop him from bringing up her embarrassing past.
Chen Xuze’s lips curled into a subtle smile, unnoticed by anyone.
The wind blew gently as they talked. The morning sun shone softly, promising a bright day ahead.
……
The moment Zhou Yao stepped into the classroom, she sensed something was off. She wasn’t particularly nosy, but after two class periods, she keenly noticed that the girl sitting across the aisle from her was being ostracized by most of the class.
After overhearing bits and pieces of gossip, she finally pieced together what had happened. Apparently, when the class collected funds for activities, the money had all been gathered, but just before it was due to be handed in, 300 yuan suddenly went missing.
Everyone was saying that the girl, Cheng Yuan, had stolen it.
Zhou Yao had known about Cheng Yuan for a while. She was the one who had lent her a piece of scratch paper on her first day in class. Cheng Yuan didn’t talk much, wasn’t the lively type, and usually just sat quietly at her desk. Zhou Yao had always thought she was a nice person.
Throughout the morning, Zhou Yao heard all kinds of things she hadn’t known before. People said Cheng Yuan came from a poor family. Her father had another woman and child outside and didn’t care about her or her mother. Her mother, struggling to make ends meet, worked odd jobs to support them. All of Cheng Yuan’s school and living expenses came from her mother’s hard-earned money.
Unlike other students, she always wore her school uniform since she couldn’t afford many clothes. On the rare occasions she wore her own clothes, they were outdated and unfashionable, even drawing ridicule.
She didn’t own a phone and had almost no friends in class. The only people who occasionally spoke to her were other middle-achieving students discussing homework.
Now, because of this missing money, the classroom atmosphere was tense. Guan Xiaoxiao, the girl in charge of collecting the funds, came from a wealthy family. She loved dressing up and was popular and outgoing. She had left the collected money in her bag while she went to lunch, and when she returned, 300 yuan was missing.
Since Cheng Yuan was the last to leave the classroom, she naturally became the prime suspect.
Guan Xiaoxiao’s group had started calling her a thief, at first behind her back, but soon loudly enough for her to hear, enunciating every word with cruel clarity.
Already friendless, Cheng Yuan now found herself completely isolated.
Zhou Yao didn’t know how to judge the situation. She wasn’t a detective, so she couldn’t tell who was right or wrong. However, she often noticed that Cheng Yuan sometimes forgot to bring things but was too afraid to ask for help. When that happened, Zhou Yao would quietly lend her whatever she needed.
When she handed Cheng Yuan a pencil, the girl stared at her for a long time. Worried that she was overthinking it, Zhou Yao gave a faint smile and said, “Borrow it. I have another one.”
Cheng Yuan gripped the pencil tightly for a moment before quickly looking away. Zhou Yao then heard a barely audible, “Thank you.”
From then on, whenever Cheng Yuan lacked something, Zhou Yao would lend it to her—never once mentioning money.
Some people started saying Zhou Yao was just pretending to be kind, that she was deliberately hanging out with a ‘thief’ to disgust others. But she had heard far worse things before. It didn’t bother her in the slightest.
During a break, Cheng Yuan suddenly said to her, “You… don’t lend me anything anymore. They’ll hate you too.”
Zhou Yao couldn’t hold back a smile. “I was hated by people a lot in the beginning too,” she said. “There are countless reasons for people to dislike you. Sometimes, opinions change in an instant. If you care too much, you’ll just tire yourself out.”
Her light-colored pupils reflected in Cheng Yuan’s heart forever in that moment.
“…I don’t care.”
Since Zhou Yao didn’t mind, Cheng Yuan didn’t say anything else.
For almost a week, the only people who spoke to Cheng Yuan—besides the ones who only focused on studying and didn’t get involved in these matters—were just Zhou Yao.
That afternoon, it was time for the class meeting, and the teacher told Guan Xiaoxiao to hand in the collected money.
“Stop delaying. Our class is already the last one.”
Guan Xiaoxiao raised her hand and said loudly, “Teacher! I want to hand it in too, but the money was in my backpack, and someone stole it. I have no choice! We’re missing several hundred yuan—”
She glanced sideways at Cheng Yuan, making everyone else look in her direction too.
The teacher had heard about the situation before and glanced at Cheng Yuan, saying, “There are no surveillance cameras in the classroom, so you can’t make accusations recklessly. In any case, try to find a solution. If it really can’t be helped, I’ll cover the missing amount.”
After the class meeting, Guan Xiaoxiao lost her temper again. She and her group gathered together, speaking loudly enough for Cheng Yuan to hear, making sarcastic remarks.
“Being poor is one thing, but being a thief too? Stealing without a shred of guilt. Just thinking about being in the same classroom as her makes me sick. She’s always making trouble for others!”
“Right? Her clothes are so ugly, full of loose threads, washed so much they’ve turned pale… Oh, have you heard? Her mom is a cleaner—she scrubs other people’s floors on her knees. No wonder she’s so dirty!”
“If she really needed the money that badly, she could’ve just asked me! My house is huge, I could’ve hired her to mop my floors and given her two or three hundred yuan as a tip. Did she really have to steal?” Guan Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. “Filth breeds filth, no surprise there.”
Cheng Yuan kept her head down, her expression unreadable. Zhou Yao noticed her shoulders trembling. Unable to bear it anymore, she put down her pen and slowly stood up.
“No matter what you think, at the very least, shouldn’t you have evidence before accusing someone? Do you understand the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’? And besides, discussing the issue is one thing, but personally attacking someone like this—don’t you think you’re going too far?”
As soon as Zhou Yao spoke up, Guan Xiaoxiao turned her fire on her. “Oh, so now you’re standing up for her?” She glared. “Don’t think that just because you have—”
“—Have what?” Ying Nian happened to walk in, catching the end of the sentence. She narrowed her eyes slightly.
Guan Xiaoxiao paused and immediately backed down, grabbing her group of friends and leaving in a hurry.
Ying Nian sat down and chatted with Zhou Yao for a bit, then asked what had just happened. Zhou Yao didn’t want more people to know, so she shook her head. “Nothing.”
In the next class, Zhou Yao, as usual, handed Cheng Yuan some scratch paper. Cheng Yuan took it but, unlike usual, stared at her for a long time.
“What is it?”
“Zhou Yao.” Cheng Yuan seemed dazed, her lips trembling slightly as she smiled. “I think… you’re really pretty.”
“You’re pretty too,” Zhou Yao smiled, gesturing for her to keep quiet. “Let’s stop talking. If the teacher catches us, we’ll get scolded.”
Cheng Yuan nodded, and the two focused on class.
On the paper Zhou Yao had given her, Cheng Yuan worked through her problems, writing each stroke with care. On the other side of the aisle, Zhou Yao concentrated on her own notes.
She didn’t notice the tear that fell from Cheng Yuan’s eyes as she wrote her final answer.
……
The school was organizing a field trip to the Guinan Mountain Museum.
At home, Zhou Yao told Zhou Ma, “We’re going on a school trip to the Guinan Mountain Memorial Hall this weekend, so I’ll be back late.”
Zhou Ma sipped his tea and waved a hand dismissively. “Alright, alright.” He didn’t seem to care much and even muttered, “Your school sure has a lot of activities.”
Seeing that he didn’t even turn his head, Zhou Yao just stood at the entrance of the mahjong room for a moment before turning back upstairs.
The next day, the teacher suddenly announced a change of plans. “The school has decided to switch the destination from the Guinan Mountain Museum to the Shazhong Museum. It’s closer and more convenient. Spread the word, and don’t forget.”
At noon, after finishing house chores, Zhou Yao approached Zhou Ma again. “Dad, yesterday I told you we were going to the Guinan Mountain Memorial Hall, but today—”
“I know, I know! How many times are you going to repeat it?” Zhou Ma snapped impatiently. In the front room, customers were calling out. “Hurry up with the tea! And bring some snacks—hot ones, not cold!”
Zhou Ma laughed loudly, “Coming, coming!”
As he bustled around, Zhou Yao followed closely behind. “But today the teacher said that the Guinan Mountain Memorial Hall—”
“Enough already! I don’t want to hear about your school stuff. Go upstairs and study! Stop wasting my time!” Zhou Ma cut her off, his tone even harsher. “Go upstairs!”
Zhou Yao was silent for a moment, watching his figure disappear down the hallway before turning around and heading back to her room without another word.
……
After lunch, she packed her things and left early for school. Chen Xuze had gone to visit his parents in the city, so she took the bus alone.
Before she even entered the school, she saw a crowd gathered outside—guards, security personnel, curious onlookers. Several cars were parked at the entrance, and the air was filled with noisy chatter, making her head buzz.
Dressed in her school uniform, she was questioned before being allowed to enter. Her ears were bombarded with murmurs and gasps—
“Someone at No. 7 High School died!”
“......”
“I heard a student jumped off the building. They couldn’t save her!”
“......”
“So tragic… A girl stood on the roof crying, shouting ‘I didn’t steal the money,’ ‘My mother is not dirty’… And after that, she just jumped. She hit the ground and—turned into a pool of blood—”
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