Chapter 7: Whirlpool One

  One

  In the summer nights of Nancheng, it was always hard to fall asleep, especially lying on the narrow bed in the dormitory without air conditioning or electric fans. Buying a handheld fan and shaking it non-stop, getting tired and stopping for a while, only to have sweat seep into your back soon after. On such nights, in order to fall asleep as soon as possible, you could only secretly put the pirated cassette tape into the recorder and listen to Eason Chan's hoarse yet magnetic voice coming from the earphones over and over again. Just when you were about to drift off to sleep, you would feel a small hand poking out from under the mosquito net, followed by Xiao Yi's body, clad only in pajamas, crawling onto the narrow bed. Lan Yu sat up tensely, looking at Xiao Yi sitting in front of him with the light from outside the window, and asked softly, "What's wrong? Why aren't you sleeping so late?"

  Xiao Yi lowered her head, with a kind of weakness that was hard to speak out loud. Then Xiao Yi raised her head and looked at her seriously, asking: "Lan, do you think I'm suitable for Zhang Chongyu?"

  He stared blankly for a moment, then reached out and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, saying, "What's going on? Of course it's okay. Did you two have a fight?"

  "No." Xiao Yi shook her head, reached out and pulled Lan's hand onto her flat stomach, her eyes shining with mist: "I'm pregnant, it's his."

  Blue? C took a deep breath of cold air, her own hand was still being held by Xiao Yi, her hand was exceptionally icy, it's hard to believe that in the palm of her hand, a new life had already begun to take shape.

  "What should I do? I'm so scared, if Dad finds out he'll definitely kill me!" Xiao Yi tightly grasped her hand, his face suddenly close in front of hers, the girl's warm breath spraying onto Lan'er's face.

  Lan's eyes widened as she swallowed hard, unable to calm the turbulent waves in her heart. Her body trembled uncontrollably for a long time before she finally came back to herself and said, "Don't be afraid, maybe it was a mistake? Go to the hospital and ask the doctor carefully."

  "It can't be wrong... I bought a pregnancy test kit and checked."

  "Does...he know?"

  "I know." Xiao Yi bit her lip, and tears the size of beans rolled down her cheeks. "But he knew what was going on, I told him that night, and then he said to leave him alone for a while and just left me on the street. Do you know? That night I didn't have any money in my pocket, I walked home by myself, it was almost midnight when I got back home, and he didn't even call to ask if I had gotten home safely. Now I'm starting to doubt whether being with him is the right choice, now I'm really confused... Lan?c… I don't know what to do, if he pushes all the problems onto me to solve by myself, I really don't know how to handle it..."

  Enduring the inexplicable sadness stuck in her throat, Lan stretched out his hand to hug Xiao Yi, his right hand gently stroking her back, softly saying: "Don't cry, I'll find a chance to talk to him, he shouldn't be such an irresponsible person."

  "Blue?" Xiao Yi pulled Blue away from her, tears streaming down her face: "I'm sorry, I always thought of competing with you and felt like you stole things from me..."

  "Never mind." He reached out to wipe away her tears, and his own eyes began to mist up, his heart aching. "It's all in the past, what's the point of bringing it up again."

  This night was undoubtedly the most difficult and also the most pleasant, two girls huddled together in sleep, the words that had been suppressed for two years finally poured out on this night, all the misunderstandings and grievances seemed to be destroyed under the impact of this disaster. It turned out that the so-called dislike and resentment in the little girl's mouth would all disappear when facing a difficult problem that could not be solved, and they would start standing on the same front line again. These so-called dislikes, thinking back after many years, will only make people smile wryly, you really understand that there is no distance that has always existed, only an unwillingness to get close.

  After two girls shared a secret, their relationship became closer and closer. It's been over a week since I found out about Xiao Yi's thing that night, and we said we'd find time to talk to Zhang Chongyu, but we haven't had the chance yet. Because last week our seats were changed, and the seats are chosen according to the mid-term exam scores, with the first place choosing any seat they like, and so on.

  Zhang Chongyu first chose a single seat by the window, Xiao Yi looked at him moving his books away, and under the table, he tightly pinched Lan's hand, staring intently at Zhang Chongyu who had moved to a position far away from her. Zhang Chongyu unknowingly successfully transformed into a top student, from previously being weak in mathematics to now ranking among the top three in the grade, every time seeing Zhang Chongyu standing on the award stage Lan was more excited than herself for getting an award, at this time Xiao Yi would turn his head and say to Lan who kept applauding that next time she also wanted to stand with Zhang Chongyu on the same award stage, making a model couple.

  But this time, looking at Zhang Chongyu standing on the podium with a dignified smile, Xiao Yi just hummed softly in her nose and said, "Is all of this so important to you?"

  Every time I stand on the podium, there is always a dazzling illusion. Looking at the people applauding below, the humility and timidity in my heart are all covered up. Suddenly, I find that I like this feeling very much, the thrill of being admired and worshiped by others.

  Always catch a glimpse of Xiao Yi standing under the stage, and Lan'er standing next to her with a smile as bright as a flower. Every time this happens, I feel a little embarrassed, Xiao Yi's face is filled with a proud joy that is because of me, so I will work even harder.

  This time, he mechanically smiled as he took the certificate handed to him by the principal, hastily searching for her figure, but fell into the deep whirlpool of her eyes. Her expression was somewhat strange, as if she was saying something, but he didn't hear it. Since that night when he found out about that thing and anxiously abandoned her on the street, by the time he came to his senses and went back to look for her, he couldn't find her anywhere.

  She must have hated herself, nervously thinking that she would call to break up at night, but until now she hasn't said anything. Obviously, I was afraid, for the first time in my life, I was so anxious that I couldn't sleep all night, but still couldn't think of a way to face this thing, so I had to escape, seeing her expectant eyes could only dodge, fearing that I wouldn't live up to her expectations, suddenly feeling like a coward.

  The campus is always the most lively after class, and as soon as the bell rings, Hongyi throws his books into the drawer and heads to Lan's classroom, dodging the study committee member who is anxiously calling out to him to hand in his homework. With a pleasant mood, he weaves through the crowd of people fooling around in the corridor and stands at the door of Lan's classroom, where the teacher inside is still desperately trying to drag out the lesson. The students in the classroom have clearly already stopped listening, but the teacher who is dragging out the lesson is still lecturing on gravity with great relish and in a slow and measured tone.

  Blue? C also didn't know if she really understood, with a serious face looking at the teacher, from time to time changing to an expression as if thinking deeply. Hiroto knew her too well, when this expression appeared on her face, it actually meant: What? The teacher can do it like that? Wow, so profound, no way.

  Hongyi couldn't help but burst out laughing at this thought, and the classroom suddenly fell silent. The teacher, who was in the middle of a lively lecture, gave Hongyi an unpleasant glance before assigning some homework and finally saying that school was dismissed. Lan slowly gathered her books and notes from her desk, and when she saw Hongyi approaching, she glared at him with annoyance. Hongyi just smiled and stood beside her with a good temper.

  "Zhang Chongyu, don't go yet, I have something to say to you." Just as Zhang Chongyu was about to walk out of the classroom, Lan Qicai hurriedly called out to his back.

  Zhang Chongyu was taken aback and immediately turned around to look at Lan Yu.

  "You can't always avoid it, some things aren't going to disappear just because you pretend they didn't happen."

  Hearing this, Hongyi's throat tightened and he inexplicably started to feel tense, "Escaping what? You..."

  "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "Is the child in Xiao Yi's belly yours or not? Do you think you can just shirk your responsibility like this?" Lan rushed forward and pushed Zhang Chongyu hard, who was caught off guard and stumbled backward several steps.

  "Hehe, it seems like Xiao Yi has told you too, but these things are between me and her, I don't want outsiders to interfere."

  His words pierced her heart, Lan was momentarily speechless, just as she tried to comfort herself and calm down, tears fell without warning.

  "Damn it!" Hongyi pulled Zhang Chongyu to his back, his furious breath approaching him, "What's wrong with you? Do you have to speak like that?"

  "It's none of your business no matter how I speak."

  "I get it now," Hongyi gritted his teeth and stepped forward, grabbing Zhang Chongyu's school uniform collar with his hand. "You're just a coward! Open your eyes wide and take a good look! This is the person you've liked for two years! Coward! He's the one who's a coward!"

  "Hongyi, let him go." Lan grabbed Hongyi's hand, which had bulged with blue veins, and looked into Zhang Chongyu's eyes, saying: "Xiao Yi is also very scared to bear these things alone. If you are still a man, don't ignore it. What to do next is something you both need to discuss and consider together. I've said my piece, and from now on, I won't interfere with your affairs again."

  Zhang Chongyu walked out of the classroom in a daze, his collar was wrinkled and his neck seemed to be injured by Du Hong's grab, but he didn't notice these things, he just walked quietly trying to calm down, until he stopped in front of his family's fruit stand in the vegetable market.

  Zhang's mother rarely sat in front of the fruit stand without being busy moving fruits. Seeing her son's figure, her tired face gradually revealed a smile: "You're back, wait another half an hour and mom will pack up and go home to cook for you."

  Zhang Chongyu took his backpack off his shoulder and put it on the erected frame, sat down beside his mother, "It's okay, mom, I'm not very hungry."

  "It's the time to grow taller, how can you not be hungry? Eat some fruit first to fill your stomach." Zhang's mother took a big red apple from her clothes and wiped it clean with force before handing it to her son. "Business wasn't good today, so let's wait till later to sell these fruits at a discount, otherwise they'll go bad in this heat tomorrow."

  Zhang Chongyu silently took a bite of the apple, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart. After hesitating for a long time, he stammered and said: "Mom... our school... has a female student who is pregnant."

  "Really? Oh my, nowadays students are too reckless. How can a girl be so promiscuous?" Zhang's mother stopped her work and thought for a moment before continuing: "But on the other hand, that boy is also responsible, he's too reckless, causing trouble for both families. Son, you must not have an early romance, do you know? The harm of early romance is really too great."

  "Uh-huh, I won't." After saying this, Zhang Chongyu fell silent. Even though he had slapped himself thousands of times in his heart, all his courage crumbled when he saw the fatigue on his mother's face and the loving look in her eyes. For the first time, it was so hard to bear that even swallowing an apple felt like a sour and nauseating lump in his throat.