DDT - Chapter 32
Chapter 32: School Tyrant × The Pushover (9)
Yi Shuhan deftly tidied up the bottles and jars, arranging them neatly on the small bedside cabinet. Meanwhile, Chi Junluo had already pulled a large T-shirt from the wardrobe and put it on. It was an extra-large size, the hem falling past her waist and covering most of her thighs.
Now changed into loose clothing and sitting on the bed, Chi Junluo had shed the sharp aura she carried during the day. Perhaps because she was back in her own little den, she seemed completely relaxed.
Chi Junluo gestured to the dazed-looking Yi Shuhan, patting the empty spot beside her on the bed.
Yi Shuhan didn't hesitate and sat down to Chi Junluo's left.
After the big fight that evening, followed by the long "teasing" from Yi Shuhan while she applied medicine, Chi Junluo felt truly exhausted, both mentally and physically. All she wanted now was to clear her mind, so she sat there, her eyes staring blankly ahead.
After sitting down, Yi Shuhan remained silent. She turned her head to look at Chi Junluo, who was staring off into space, her gaze unfocused. A question that had been brewing in her mind ever since she truly got to know Chi Junluo surfaced.
"Chi Junluo."
Chi Junluo was spacing out when she heard her name being called from beside her. She pulled her thoughts back and turned her head, a questioning look on her face. "Shuhan, what is it?"
Yi Shuhan met Chi Junluo's dark brown eyes directly. It was the first time she had truly looked into them. There wasn't a trace of impurity in those eyes; their clarity was almost bewildering. The eyes of the person before her were unlike those of the other boys and girls she had seen, which were so often filled with calculation, schemes, jealousy, resentment, and an indescribable vulgarity.
Chi Junluo's eyes held none of that emotional clutter.
"Why do you do all this?" Yi Shuhan asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Then, before Chi Junluo could respond, she quickly added, "If it's not convenient, you don't have to say."
"What's so inconvenient about it?" Chi Junluo looked at Yi Shuhan's wide eyes with some amusement, noticing her cautiousness. "I do these things mostly for the thrill, I guess?"
"But, in the beginning, it wasn't like that." As she spoke of the original owner's past, the original owner's emotions suddenly washed over Chi Junluo's mind.
An indescribable feeling surged from some unknown corner of her body into her heart. Chi Junluo could clearly feel it—a sense of suppression, resentment, and even a bit of helplessness.
"In the beginning, I started coming home late to avoid my father's drunken beatings and verbal abuse." Chi Junluo did her best to suppress the sudden wave of emotion, immersing herself in the memories of the original owner that the Heavenly Dao had given her.
"As you can see, I come from a single-parent family. My dad has always had a drinking problem. When he drinks too much, he likes to go on drunken rampages. On top of that, his business failed later on, and he spent his days drowning in alcohol. My mom couldn't stand his despondence and endless drinking, so she eventually divorced him. For some reason, when my mom left, she took my younger brother but not me."
"I was only thirteen that year. In the five years since, I've never seen my mother or my brother again."
"After the divorce, my dad got even worse. He spent most of his time drinking and got into buying all sorts of lottery tickets. We used to have a 140-square-meter house. After the divorce, they sold it and split the money. At first, my dad rented a decent-sized apartment for us in the city center. That was the year I started middle school, at the city's No. 1 Middle School."
Hearing this, Yi Shuhan's eyes widened slightly. She had also attended No. 1 Middle School.
"You probably know that No. 1 is the best middle school in the city. Everyone says that if you get in, you've already got one foot in the door of a key high school."
Chi Junluo recounted the story in a calm voice.
"Originally, things weren't so bad. But ever since my dad got addicted to the lottery and gambling, I could feel our financial situation getting tighter and tighter."
"We moved four times during middle school. The houses got smaller and smaller, and he became more and more irritable."
"Every time he lost money or a lottery ticket didn't win, he would drink like crazy. At first, he was a bit more restrained, going to KTVs or bars to drink. Later, he just started bringing cases of alcohol home."
"Those three years of middle school were the hardest for me. Whenever he drank, he'd use me as a punching bag. The scars on my back are from the beatings he gave me during those years."
"The worst time was right before the high school entrance exams in my third year. He rushed into my room with a kitchen knife, saying he was going to kill me."
"I don't know what wire got crossed in his head. Even though I ran around the house trying to dodge him, he still managed to slash my back with the knife."
"It was a huge scene that day. The sight of my blood seemed to sober him up. He rushed me to the hospital. I was unconscious for several days and completely missed the entrance exams. As you can see, he must have felt guilty during that time, because he actually bought me a spot in a high school. And that's how I ended up at Qingshui High."
"I thought that after hurting me, he would feel guilty and restrain himself. But once my wound healed, he started drinking uncontrollably again. He was cheated out of over a hundred thousand yuan at the mahjong table by a group of people, and when he came back, he took it out on me."
"That was the first time I fought back. Although I still got beaten, I got a taste of the release that fighting brought." Chi Junluo's calm narration sent shivers down Yi Shuhan's spine. Yi Shuhan gently placed her right hand over Chi Junluo's left, feeling its warmth. A flicker of warmth spread through Chi Junluo's heart, and she continued, "You've experienced how chaotic Qingshui High is. In my first year, some senior girls came to our class to collect protection money. That was the time I organized a few classmates to grab chairs and drive them away. Later, to prevent retaliation, I gathered a group of people who had been bullied. After more than a dozen fights, big and small, basically no one in the school dared to mess with me anymore. After all, I'd seen knives and blood. As they say, those with shoes fear the barefooted, and the barefooted fear those who have nothing to lose. I'm the one who has nothing to lose."
"Later, a few of my lackeys cornered my dad a couple of times, and he didn't dare hit me as much. I've been fighting for almost three years now, and he can't beat me anymore."
"So now, he and I basically don't see each other. During the day, I'm at school, and he's at home drinking and eating takeout. By evening, he goes out on his own. God knows if he's off gambling or visiting a brothel."
Towards the end, Chi Junluo spoke of the man called her father with cold contempt. The original owner's intense emotions tore at her thoughts, making her unable to resist speculating about her father with the most malicious assumptions.
"I usually clean the house before I leave in the morning, but every time I come back, he's made a complete mess of it…" Thinking of the scene she saw when she brought Yi Shuhan home tonight, Chi Junluo couldn't help but complain, offering a small defense for herself.
She hadn't even mentioned that for the past two years, the original owner had earned her own living expenses by working illegal jobs during summer and winter breaks and on weekends. Otherwise, she might not have been able to survive at all.
Turning to see the look of pity on Yi Shuhan's face, Chi Junluo changed the subject. "Shuhan, you seem to come from a good family. Why did you come to a school like Qingshui?"
Hearing Chi Junluo's curious question, Yi Shuhan felt a little embarrassed to answer. Compared to Chi Junluo's tragic experience, her own little reasons seemed like the unreasonable tantrum of an immature child.
"Although my family is well-off, I rarely get to see my parents. Back then, I did it to get their attention and concern. It was an impulsive decision. My entrance exam scores were excellent, but I deliberately chose this school, which you could say is both bad and chaotic."
"Unfortunately, I didn't expect them to show no reaction at all. They just said it was the path I chose, and I should walk it myself." Speaking of her parents, Yi Shuhan's tone also grew a little dejected.
"Actually, I've regretted it a lot these past few years…" But after meeting you, I feel like all that regret was worth it.
Yi Shuhan didn't say the second half of the sentence out loud. She had never had many friends, so she wasn't used to expressing her feelings to others.
"I have regrets too. I think my dad probably regrets it as well—being stuck with a burden like me after the divorce. Maybe he wishes I'd never been born?"
"I stopped having much hope for life a long time ago. Everything now is just getting by."
Chi Junluo was being subtly manipulative, laying the groundwork for her departure in six months.
Yi Shuhan was surprised to hear Chi Junluo voice such thoughts. Although she had always felt she lacked love, she had never given up hope for life or her expectations for the future.
She spoke up, telling Chi Junluo, "Don't think like that. We're still young, and the future holds infinite possibilities. Studying can change your future and your destiny. Besides, there are people who care about you a lot." Like me.
Hearing Yi Shuhan's words, Chi Junluo turned her head away, afraid that Yi Shuhan might see the guilt in her eyes. Of course, she understood what Yi Shuhan meant and heard the subtext in the heroine's words. Yi Shuhan cared about her.
And that was what she wanted—Yi Shuhan's care. The deeper, the better.
"The college entrance exams are in six months. I'll study with you. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask me. We'll get into university together, leave this place together, and go far away." Yi Shuhan tightened her right hand, gripping Chi Junluo's left, and spoke with solemnity.
Chi Junluo didn't say anything. It was a promise she couldn't make, and one she couldn't keep.
The original Chi Junluo's lifeline ended six months from now. She was destined to leave then. At this moment, feeling the faint warmth beside her, she knew that Yi Shuhan was a real, tangible person right next to her. And she, Chi Junluo, was fated to leave an indelible mark on Yi Shuhan's heart before leaving this world.
Chi Junluo suddenly felt that this was a terrible thing to do. Didn't the Heavenly Dao say that Yi Shuhan was its most precious heroine? Why did it require her to contract the soul fragment by branding herself onto someone else's memory?
Moreover, before coming to this world, she had only thought about completing the tasks of collecting the Power of the Heavenly Dao and contracting the soul fragment. She had viewed everything that would happen as just a series of missions she needed to complete.
But now, she suddenly, truly understood. Yi Shuhan wasn't just a simple soul fragment. In this world, she was also a real person with real feelings!
And she was destined to hurt her.
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