Hedgehog's Belly - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

“Is that so?” Yan Qingzhu’s nose bridge tilted slightly as she looked back at the person before her.

After a long silence, Yan Qingzhu lowered her eyes again, her gaze dazed, as she muttered to herself, “I suppose so.”

Instantly, her mother’s words replayed in her mind.

— “Yan Qingzhu, you truly are selfish.”

But if only she were truly selfish.

If she were truly selfish, she wouldn’t be the one suffering right now. It was a pain like flesh being torn until the white bone was visible; a feeling of ten thousand ants devouring her heart while she remained powerless to strike back.

Suddenly, the “bang” of the private room door snapping open startled her. She looked up to see a familiar figure.

“The Eldest Miss is here!” As soon as Ye Nanqiao entered, she rushed behind Yan Qingzhu and locked her arm around Yan Qingzhu’s throat. Her tone was obnoxious: “Can our Green Plum Squad stay together on the Top 50 list this time?”

The “Top 50” referred to the ranking list for the Physics track, which was posted on the Honor Roll after every major exam. Facing competition from over eight hundred students in the physics track of their grade, every teacher felt compelled to mention it.

“Ye Nanqiao, are you sick?” Yan Qingzhu struggled to pull her arm away. “You’d better make sure your essay doesn’t go off-topic first.”

“No way, I definitely won’t go off-topic this time.” Ye Nanqiao patted her chest confidently.

Last time, because her essay went off-topic, she dropped out of the Top 50. Ye Nanqiao couldn’t take the shock and cried for three days; that period became a recurring joke for Yan Qingzhu to tease her with. Yan Qingzhu would never forget that scene: Ye Nanqiao crying her eyes out while Luo Daier held her in consolation. Every time an encouraging word was said, Yan Qingzhu would be beside them, laughing until she couldn’t breathe.

Yan Qingzhu knew that afterward, Luo Daier had organized many essay keywords and frameworks, urging her to analyze the prompts carefully.

Ye Nanqiao was somewhat scatterbrained; she would hug the other girl and talk about how moved she was and how much she loved her.

But back then, Luo Daier didn’t say much, only offering a faint smile. While Ye Nanqiao wasn’t paying attention, she would place a kiss on her forehead.

During their youth, Ye Nanqiao did not understand the meaning of that kiss.

“Then you really ought to thank Sister Daier,” Yan Qingzhu whispered low in her ear.

Ye Nanqiao realized Luo Daier was standing in the corner, her gaze fixed on them. She smiled and gave a victory sign to the girl. “No one loves my Sister Daier more than I do!”

“You should say that to Sister Daier,” Yan Qingzhu corrected her. “You need to let her hear it.”

She likes you so much, you must let her hear it.

Seeing the smile on the person in the corner, Ye Nanqiao naturally responded: “Of course.”

Yan Qingzhu knew very well they weren’t talking about the same thing, but she didn’t say more.

You muddled fool wrapped in love, I hope you are happy forever.

She pushed the arm off her shoulder and took a few sips of Coke.

During the dinner, Yan Qingzhu didn’t speak much. After spacing out for a while, she stared at Ye Nanqiao and Song Chenxi playing games on their horizontal phones. From time to time, she could hear their conversation.

“Xingxing, don’t you know Luo Mu? Did she not come?”

They had known each other since their first year. Ye Nanqiao always liked to call her “Xingxing” (Star), believing she was bright and dazzling.

“She must be busy, she couldn’t make it.” Song Chenxi didn’t tell her the real reason. Yan Qingzhu knew that with such a statement, a cruel truth that one didn’t want to explain had to be covered by another lie.

Yan Qingzhu couldn’t eat. She listened to the laughter of classmates and those from other classes at the surrounding tables, occasionally hearing a few boys crack crude jokes.

— “Hey, did you know that girl in Class 8 is super pretty? Damn, but her boyfriend looks like a Smurf.”

— “Holy crap, don’t insult the Smurfs. I’m such a great catch, why doesn’t she date me?”

At the adjacent table, Liu Jie’s voice was piercing and disgusting, his tone arrogant and condescending. Yan Qingzhu didn’t deign to argue with someone like him; to someone filthy to the core, everything they see is dirty.

“There he goes again…” Luo Daier looked up slightly, frowning.

“I don’t care to deal with trash.” Yan Qingzhu pressed her temples, her eyes sharp as she stared at Zhou Shulei opposite her.

Their eyes met, and Yan Qingzhu used her gaze to gesture toward the bastards at the next table: How did these people get invited here?

Zhou Shulei pushed up his glasses and smiled faintly: They followed along themselves.

Yan Qingzhu let out a “tsk,” extremely irritated and speechless.

“I’m telling you, that Luo Mu from Class 5 isn’t anything good either! I went to their class last time, and that bitch ignored the hell out of me.” Liu Jie’s face was contorted as he spat on the floor.

The sound was grating and nauseating. Luo Daier was instantly worried, her gaze falling on Yan Qingzhu beside her. The girl was abnormally calm, stuffing char siu into her mouth.

Luo Daier thought to herself that if Liu Jie spat out anything else, there was no telling where Yan Qingzhu’s fist would land.

“In my view, people who talk as little as her probably do tobacco and alcohol in private.” But Liu Jie had no intention of stopping: “Hey, maybe she plays harder than anyone!”

Luo Daier narrowed her eyes; here comes the show.

She saw Yan Qingzhu gritting her teeth, her fist clenched tight. At the very moment she stood up, an unfamiliar fist had already slammed into Liu Jie’s face.

Ji Rongshu’s punch swung over. Liu Jie had no defense and tumbled to the ground. Dazed by the hit, Liu Jie was utterly infuriated. He scrambled up to collide with the guy, bending his shoulder to strike Ji Rongshu’s lower left ribs.

He didn’t forget to provoke him, mocking wantonly: “What, you’re getting defensive! Don’t tell me she’s your chick!”

Ji Rongshu couldn’t stand those words, a fire raging in his eyes. Another fist slammed into Liu Jie’s abdomen without a second of hesitation.

Liu Jie staggered a few steps before steadying himself, hunched over and clutching his stomach. Panting heavily, he screeched: “Motherf***er, are you insane!”

Ji Rongshu roared: “You f***ing dare say that again!”

The scene was a mess. If Zhou Shulei hadn’t stepped in quickly to hold Ji Rongshu back, the guy might have been beaten until he couldn’t speak. The veins bulging in Ji Rongshu’s neck were prominent; his fury was unstoppable, like years of resentment exploding in this moment like a bomb.

Liu Jie let out a whimpering laugh, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth, only then noticing a gloomy shadow behind him.

“Oh, Sister Yan, you be the judge. This guy started it.” Liu Jie’s tone suddenly became innocent. To put it bluntly, it was embarrassing; Liu Jie was barely 170cm, about the same height as Ye Nanqiao.

Yan Qingzhu’s gaze was sharp, her arms folded across her chest, like a wild wolf that had escaped death in the snow, wanting to tear apart every obstacle in front of her. Even looking at this trash one more time was sickening. An oppressive aura made Liu Jie tremble; he tried to stay calm, but his legs wouldn’t stop shaking. “Sister Yan, tell me if this guy isn’t a disgrace!”

“Slandering a girl in front of people, and hiding behind a girl in back.” Luo Daier stood aside, watching this farce with a serious face and a sarcastic smile.

But one of her hands gripped Yan Qingzhu’s wrist, preventing her from being too impulsive.

Yan Qingzhu sneered: “Disgraceful.”

“Did you hear that? My Sister Yan says you’re disgraceful!” Liu Jie thought Yan Qingzhu was backing him, and his momentum somehow stiffened; he felt he had found a supporter.

Liu Jie was about to vent further, but he saw Yan Qingzhu ignore him and take a large stride toward Zhou Shulei. She raised her eyes slightly, but her gaze was vicious. She whispered through gritted teeth, her voice carrying an icy chill: “Don’t bring these people in front of me again. They’re an eyesore.”

Zhou Shulei watched her with a calm gaze, his brow furrowing as he whispered with concern: “A-Qing.”

Yan Qingzhu gritted her teeth, wanting nothing more than to tear the person in front of her apart.

“Take a piece of advice from Sister Ye: villains die because they talk too much.” Ye Nanqiao pulled Liu Jie out of the crowd with a smiling face. Suddenly, one sentence from her made Liu Jie’s skin crawl, leaving him drenched in a cold sweat.

Ye Nanqiao’s voice was raspy as she warned him in a low tone: “If you don’t want that video to be leaked, keep acting like a monster.”

Liu Jie’s face instantly turned white with fear, his pupils dilated, and his whole body began to tremble and twitch. Unfortunately, this Liu Jie was a stubborn talker; knowing full well what she meant, he asked tremulously: “Wh… what video?”

Ye Nanqiao put her hands on her hips. “What video do you think? Jingguan Garden, obviously.”

Hearing those three words, Liu Jie bit his lip until it was a bloody mess, stumbling over every word: “You… you think this can scare me!”

“You should have properly thanked your grandmother three years ago!” Ye Nanqiao scolded sharply. “Now get lost!”

“Son of a bitch!” Liu Jie hollered, staggering a few steps, and left with his tail between his legs without looking back.

The scene was now a wreck—drinks spilled everywhere, ceramic shards scattered about. After a long while, once Zhou Shulei had dismissed the crowd, he looked back and saw the familiar figure.

Yan Qingzhu struck first, her tone disdainful: “Fun?”

Zhou Shulei responded: “A-Qing, I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”

Yan Qingzhu: “Liu Jie’s nature is crude; hardly anything he says is worth hearing. You knew that.”

Zhou Shulei: “I was wrong. Scold me if you want.”

When solving problems on paper, he was always correct; in his conduct with the world, he never made mistakes.

But in this moment, Zhou Shulei admitted his own error.

“I only agreed to you in the first place to make my mom happy, you should know that,” Yan Qingzhu took a breath, forcing down her exploding emotions, her words crystal clear to Zhou Shulei. “You were the one who brought up the breakup in the end, do you remember?”

“I remember. I don’t regret it,” Zhou Shulei answered calmly.

Outside the door of the private room, Ye Nanqiao stretched, looking down at her phone screen: 9:12 PM. She calculated the travel time home. Good—she could get back before her curfew, otherwise her big brother would start his “serial phone bombing” technique again.

“Nanqiao.” Ye Nanqiao turned back to see Luo Daier leaning against the corridor wall, her expression somewhat grave.

“Sister Daier, what’s wrong?” Hearing Luo Daier’s voice, Ye Nanqiao turned around elegantly, placing the backs of her hands behind her with a sweet smile.

But Luo Daier’s face remained heavy.

The girl in front of her was still the Ye Nanqiao she knew—innocent, clear, and always unyielding. But behind the light, there must be a shadow, deep, long, and pitch black.

Liu Jie was no good bird; what could intimidate him was nothing but a more powerful and oppressive force.

Was Ye Nanqiao still the same Ye Nanqiao who copied answers for English reading comprehension?

“Liu Jie, the video, and Jingguan Garden… what is all that about?” Luo Daier knew that learning these things wouldn’t benefit her, but if it concerned Ye Nanqiao, she wanted to know everything.

“I was talking nonsense. The video was just to bluff him.”

Ye Nanqiao’s fingertips danced across the carvings on the wall as she smiled leisurely, her tone sounding relaxed. “Three years ago, he took people to the Jingguan Garden club to cause trouble and smashed a lot of things. Even if they took all his family’s assets or even their underwear, they couldn’t pay back a single ancient flower vase from that club.”

After Ye Nanqiao’s reminder, Luo Daier realized she was talking about the Jingguan Club—a place that gathered all the wealth and people of equivalent power.

“Later, I heard his mother came to plead for mercy. Since Liu Jie was a minor then and the compensation fee was just a feather to Jingguan Garden, the matter was dropped.” Ye Nanqiao scuffed her foot on the ground; her new shoes rubbed against the floor, but she didn’t care in the slightest. “But the truth isn’t entirely like that.”

Luo Daier was confused: “Nanqiao, why do you know all this?”

“Sister Daier, do you know why Yan Qingzhu always calls me ‘President Ye’?” Ye Nanqiao turned her back to Luo Daier and covered her face with her hands; she didn’t want her dearest friend to see the emotions on her face. “Maybe because Jingguan Garden belongs to my family.”

Ye Nanqiao admitted she indeed felt compassion.

When her elder brother walked up to Nanqiao—who was eating a lollipop—and pointed at Liu Jie’s mother kneeling in the hall pleading for him while Liu Jie stood aside, ashamed yet angry.

Faced with a choice of capital, heaven and hell were but a moment apart.

Her brother asked Ye Nanqiao kindly: “Do you think Big Brother should forgive this person?”

Ye Nanqiao scanned Liu Jie; the boy’s eyes were fierce yet pleading. Liu Jie knew that if this man demanded full compensation, the cost would instantly wipe out all of his mother’s hard-earned savings.

Her brother explained again: “If I forgive him, Big Brother will have to pay for it out of his own pocket.”

Ye Nanqiao had no concept of the compensation amount, nor could she grasp the despair of an adult facing the oppression of capital. She just glanced at Liu Jie and said casually: “Forgive him.”

“Thank you, Boss Ye! Thank you, Eldest Miss!” As soon as she spoke, Liu Jie’s mother instantly burst into tears, her voice echoing in the hall. She quickly pulled Liu Jie down to kneel, pressing his head against the smooth marble floor.

Ye Nanqiao’s heart skipped a beat, feeling unsettled.

At that time, she didn’t understand why someone would kneel and kowtow for a few silver coins, compromising their dignity.

Afterward, Brother Ye waved his hand and only kept the surveillance footage of Liu Jie’s disturbance and the previous damage compensation agreement, but did not pursue financial compensation.

“Sister Daier, I’m saying this not to brag about how good my family background is.” Ye Nanqiao approached Luo Daier and rested her head against the other’s chest, her tone slow, like a gentle breeze. “You wanted to ask, so I’m telling you.”

“Sister Daier, will you treat me just like before? I’m not the ‘Eldest Miss Ye,’ nor am I ‘President Ye’.” Luo Daier lightly stroked the back of the person in front of her, feeling her shoulders tremble.

“I’m still the same Ye Nanqiao who likes to copy your English reading comprehension answers.”