Irreversible - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Poor Little One Eats (Part 1)

0820’s persistent nagging finally wore down Little Gu Xizhou, who eventually sent the message to Su Zhiyi.

Not long before that, Su Zhiyi was on the phone with Su Nanfeng.

Sitting at her desk, Su Zhiyi was trying her best to persuade her sister: “Nanfeng, you can still change. Why won’t you just apologize?”

Su Nanfeng was fuming: “Why should I apologize? Gu Xizhou hit me too! And why don’t you believe me?”

“Gu Xizhou’s mother is drowning in debt. They’re making such a huge scene this time just to extort money from our family!”

Su Zhiyi’s temples throbbed with frustration at her sister’s attitude. She raised a hand, running her fingers through her black hair and massaging her scalp to calm herself down. “Nanfeng, I really want to believe you.”

“But you’re the one in the recording instigating the fight, and I saw you hitting Gu Xizhou with my own eyes… the only thing I can believe is that you’ve turned bad.”

“You are bullying a classmate.”

“But when people do something wrong, they can change.”

Su Nanfeng remained stubborn: “I didn’t…”

Su Zhiyi patiently argued back: “Whether you did or not, you know the truth yourself. I know that over these years, you’ve probably been very unhappy.”

“Mother is someone who doesn’t know how to be empathetic, and you probably resent her for taking me away.”

“But Nanfeng, the environment you grow up in doesn’t dictate the person you become. Every virtue you possess belongs to you alone.”

Su Zhiyi, not yet seventeen, spoke with a wisdom far beyond her years. Because she was so piercingly accurate, Su Nanfeng felt like a cat being scruffed—completely silenced and immobilized.

When Su Nanfeng didn’t speak, Su Zhiyi continued: “You might think it’s cool to bully classmates, to torment them like a cat playing with a mouse, knowing Mother will use her power and money to fix it for you.”

“Or maybe this is your way of getting revenge on Mother, but you are destroying your own life.”

“Can you guarantee you’ll always be at the top of the social ladder? Have you ever thought that one day, someone might point a blade at your family because of the violence you inflicted?”

Su Nanfeng’s voice turned sharp: “She wouldn’t dare!”

Su Zhiyi gave a small smile and advised warmly: “Stop it, Nanfeng. At the mediation meeting tomorrow, give Gu Xizhou a proper apology and never do this again.”

“If you don’t apologize, I won’t talk to you for the rest of my life.”

Su Zhiyi hung up. She sat at her desk hugging her knees, looking at her open foreign language book with a sense of melancholy.

Shortly after the high school entrance exams, Su Zhiyi had a vague prophetic dream. She dreamt that Su Nanfeng bullied classmates throughout high school and eventually hit a student while drunk driving, leaving them in a vegetative state. Su Nanfeng committed countless evils and ruined many lives. Finally, one of her victims brought her to justice and sent her to prison.

That person was Gu Xizhou.

Having the same dream for an entire week made Su Zhiyi believe in this “future.” To save her sister and those whose lives hadn’t been ruined yet, Su Zhiyi rejected her mother’s original plan and transferred to No. 1 High School.

Fortunately, she had come. Even if she was a bit late, she could still stop Su Nanfeng before she became irredeemable and save Gu Xizhou.

But… what should she do next? Her sister was already halfway to being “spoiled rotten.” Was she supposed to monitor her twenty-four hours a day?

Just then, her phone vibrated with a WeChat message. Su Zhiyi picked it up and saw it was from Gu Xizhou: “I just heard my mom on the phone; your family’s lawyer plans to use money for a settlement.”

“Our family doesn’t need compensation. No amount of money can heal the past trauma. I only ask for an apology. If Su Nanfeng says she’s sorry and sincerely turns over a new leaf, that’s enough.”

“If your family wants to make amends, why not suggest to your mother to set up an anti-bullying foundation? Put the money there to help children in need.”

Reading this, Su Zhiyi felt a wave of sadness, yet she also felt an inexplicable sense of pride and joy for Gu Xizhou’s selflessness. Doing this would essentially force Su Tianyu to admit she was a failure as a parent—a public apology by proxy.

But in a way, Su Tianyu really had failed to teach Su Nanfeng, and Su Nanfeng needed social supervision.

After thinking it over, Su Zhiyi replied with a single word: “Okay.”

Soon, driven by a mysterious inner force, Su Zhiyi passed this message along to Mu Zhilan as well.

The next morning, the second mediation meeting was held at the police station. This time, Mu Zhilan, who had just flown back from abroad, attended the meeting.

In the original world 0820 came from, she had never met Mu Zhilan. In the second semester of the first year of high school, Mu Zhilan had died in a plane crash while traveling for her global concert tour.

The current Mu Zhilan was a virtual entity 0820 had constructed based on her own understanding of the data. Originally, 0820 believed that everyone except herself and Su Zhiyi was just code. But seeing Mu Zhilan in person, 0820 wavered.

This woman looked so much like the thirty-two-year-old Su Zhiyi. Gentle as water, elegant and charming, she radiated a soft, warm light. Gu Xizhou couldn’t help but stare at that familiar face before taking her seat.

Is this Su Zhiyi’s mother? She’s so much like her.

The only difference was that Su Zhiyi’s eyes were beautiful phoenix eyes with a brilliant spark—they were more determined.

How nice… her mother is still alive… For some reason, this thought echoed in Gu Xizhou’s heart.

Before she could observe further, Su Nanfeng, sitting next to Mu Zhilan, shot her a fierce glare.

Gu Xizhou: “…” How strange.

0820 tsked in her head: “Mommy’s girl!”

Perhaps because her parent was present, Su Nanfeng looked exceptionally well-behaved and soft today, completely lacking the “number one in the world” arrogance she had displayed yesterday.

As the meeting began, Mu Zhilan spoke first, her voice tender: “Nanfeng’s mother and I divorced long ago. For various reasons, I haven’t paid much attention to Nanfeng over the years.”

“I am very sorry for what has happened.”

“Nanfeng has always been a good child; it’s because I didn’t fulfill my responsibilities that she went astray.”

The woman, whose dark circles showed the exhaustion of her travels, turned to look at Su Nanfeng with a gentle gaze. she reached out to stroke the girl’s hair and said firmly: “I believe she will change in the future.”

“Nanfeng, apologize to your classmate, Xizhou.”

To Gu Xizhou’s shock, Su Nanfeng stood up and, like an obedient puppy, gave a deep bow: “I’m sorry, Gu Xizhou. Please forgive me for my past actions. I won’t treat you like that ever again.”

“I will definitely turn over a new leaf.”

Gu Xizhou’s eyes widened as she looked at the gentle Mu Zhilan. She was deeply shaken.

Good heavens, a mother’s power is incredible! If she had known Su Nanfeng would be this obedient, why would she have bothered with Su Tianyu? She should have just complained to her mom from the start!

Even 0820 was surprised, thinking that if Mu Zhilan hadn’t died early, maybe Su Nanfeng wouldn’t have turned into such a monster in the future.