Irreversible - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Scumbag’s Redemption (Part 1)

Su Zhiyi stared at her sister’s lackey in shock, feeling the blood rush to her head until her brain began to throb.

The lying Ding Yi remained composed, righteous and indignant: “Sister Zhiyi, we’ve been classmates with Gu Xizhou for a long time. You’ve only known her for how long? Do we really have any reason to lie in front of the teacher?”

“You…”

Lying, slinging mud, and shifting blame onto others, these were the signature tactics of Su Nanfeng’s small clique.

Ding Yi was certain there were no third parties present and no surveillance cameras in the restroom, so she insisted: “Teacher, every word I say is the truth. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Gu Xizhou when she gets back from the hospital.”

“Besides, Nanfeng’s family background is so good and her character is excellent, she has no reason to get into a dispute with an ordinary student like her.”

At First High School, there was no shortage of students from wealthy or influential families. Yet, every year, there were always a few new students who required special attention from the school leadership. Su Nanfeng was one of them.

The Kainan Medical Instrument company, under her mother Su Tianyu’s name, was a domestic industry leader and a major taxpayer. As the only Alpha child of the Su family, Su Nanfeng naturally drew a lot of attention. Although a campus is an ivory tower, some children—due to their parents’ immense social leverage, often led lives marked by preferential treatment that differed from the average student.

Based on this, the dean felt a massive headache coming on. She frowned, looked at Su Nanfeng—who was biting her lip, refusing to speak, and looking thoroughly aggrieved, and then turned to Ding Yi to ask: “Is this really how it happened?”

Ding Yi nodded emphatically: “Really. If you don’t believe me, Teacher, you can go and inquire about us among the students who promoted from our middle school. Gu Xizhou is notorious.”

Upon hearing this, Su Zhiyi clenched her fists. She looked at Su Nanfeng, her entire body trembling: “I do not believe that someone who would stand up for justice when encountering a voyeur on the subway would engage in petty theft!”

Su Nanfeng turned at her sister’s words, her eyes reddening as she choked out, “Then do you think I’m the type of person who would beat someone up for no reason?”

“Zhiyi…”

Su Nanfeng sounded so wronged, as if she would burst into tears at any second. If this were a naive Su Zhiyi, one who had never encountered Gu Xizhou, she would have undoubtedly believed her sister’s tears—just like everyone else who had trusted Su Nanfeng in the past, leading them to ostracize Gu Xizhou.

But the current Su Zhiyi knew her sister far too well.

Su Zhiyi looked at Su Nanfeng with reddened, disappointed eyes: “Who knows? Who knows if you’re just an Alpha going through puberty with raging hormones who enjoys brutalizing classmates?”

Her tone was heartbroken. Having seen through her sister’s lies, she was no longer willing to speak with her. Su Zhiyi turned to the dean and said earnestly: “Teacher, I believe Student Gu Xizhou did not do such a thing. This morning, I was late because I helped her catch a voyeur on the subway and we went to the police station to give a statement.”

Su Nanfeng turned to look at Su Zhiyi beside her, a trace of surprise flashing in her long, phoenix-like eyes. The police station? Given Gu Xizhou’s rabbit-like personality, would she really dare to do such a thing? Ah, right. She had almost forgotten that Gu Xizhou was the kind of “well-behaved” child who would break off pieces of her own bread to feed stray cats even when she had nothing to eat at school. Presenting as an Alpha and acting with justice when capable was normal.

But Zhiyi…my little sister…

Su Nanfeng looked at the girl who resembled her so closely. Her face was tight, her expression serious and earnest: “Student Gu Xizhou is a brave and righteous person. Although she is petite—like a rabbit, she has a strong sense of justice. I don’t think she would fight with Su Nanfeng for no reason.”

“Furthermore…” Su Zhiyi turned to face Su Nanfeng, taking a deep breath to suppress her sobs, her words becoming sharp and pointed: “Student Su Nanfeng is a special-arts student in Class 1. The restroom should be on the first floor, yet she went all the way to the third floor to use the one next to our class. That is highly suspicious, isn’t it?”

“If you claim Student Gu Xizhou stole your watch, why would she viciously bite your face?”

“Besides, I heard the commotion. When I arrived at the door, the only thing I saw was Su Nanfeng kicking Student Gu Xizhou.”

Su Nanfeng looked at the tears of doubt in her sister’s eyes, her heart shaken to its core. In her memory, her sister had never spoken to her like that, nor had she ever shown such intense dissatisfaction or suspicion. How is it that after so long apart, just because of a Gu Xizhou…

Gu Xizhou…what a Gu Xizhou.

Su Nanfeng balled her fists, a hidden anger accumulating in her chest. Once this matter was over, she would have to see exactly what kind of love potion Gu Xizhou had fed her dear sister to make her trust her so implicitly while doubting her own flesh and blood.

The inquiry yielded no results. Su Zhiyi spoke up for Gu Xizhou repeatedly, urging the dean to handle the matter fairly, but they were eventually dismissed from the office.

As the three left, Su Nanfeng called out to Su Zhiyi: “Zhiyi…”

But Su Zhiyi ignored her, brushed past her, and marched back to the classroom, fuming.

All afternoon, Su Nanfeng bombarded Su Zhiyi with messages. At first, she asked why Su Zhiyi had come to First High School; later, she tried to explain her grievances with Gu Xizhou. Following Ding Yi’s narrative, Su Nanfeng painted Gu Xizhou as utterly degenerate: a thief, a liar, a peeping tom, and a lesbian.

Su Zhiyi scanned them, just a single glance was enough to see, between Su Nanfeng’s lines, exactly how the girl had bullied Gu Xizhou before she had ever even met her. Su Zhiyi knew full well that campus bullying was never as simple as physical abuse.

The bullies wove a net of rumors and slander to capture fish that had once swum freely in the school, dragging them away from the crowd. Isolated and helpless, like someone standing on the edge of a cliff, one step forward meant a bottomless abyss of despair, until the bullied could take no more and chose death, finding physical release while their souls would never know peace.

Her sister was a murderer of exactly this kind.

Thinking of this, Su Zhiyi felt a tightness in her chest, as if she couldn’t breathe. Su Nanfeng… she wasn’t like this before; why has she become so cruel?

She vaguely remembered that from the time they were four or five, their two mothers were rarely home. Their mother, Su Tianyu, was busy with corporate business, and their mother, Mu Zhilan, was a world-touring pianist. In that massive villa, the sisters only had each other.

It wasn’t until they were ten that their mother cheated, and their mother chose to divorce. When they divorced, their mother had wanted to take both daughters, but their father only allowed her to take one, so she chose Su Zhiyi, who was a few minutes younger.

Later, their father forbade Su Nanfeng from seeing their mother. Although they stayed in contact privately, they were never as close as they had been as children. She had been so happy to convince her mother to let her attend the same high school as Su Nanfeng.

Even though there were many buried issues and lingering resentments, she had still been happy to see Su Nanfeng again. After all, that was her sister. But she had never imagined that her own sister could be such an abuser.

Thinking of this, a tear slid down Su Zhiyi’s cheek. She raised a hand to wipe it away, looking through blurry eyes at Gu Xizhou’s empty desk in the front row. Relying solely on the morning’s experience, the clever Su Zhiyi saw through Gu Xizhou’s essence at once: she was a good child, as weak as a rabbit but full of justice.

Su Zhiyi bit her lip, her expression growing firm.

She told herself: I must help her.

But how?

First, I need to talk to Su Nanfeng to see what she’s done all these years, to see if she’s truly beyond redemption.

If Su Nanfeng is truly hopeless, she didn’t mind stepping into a parental role and teaching her how to respect other people.