After Professor Zhong signed the last document, he once again offered a solemn apology. “Board Director Yu, I’m truly sorry for what your children experienced at Qizhi.”
“Actually, when I was still running the school, I strongly supported Shengde’s philosophy of education for all.”
“But I really don’t have the energy anymore. I have cancer, and I’m getting old. The doctor advised me not to pursue treatment, but to enjoy what time I have left. So I stopped involving myself in Qizhi’s affairs and only remained responsible for issuing certificates to the students.”
Yu Xiaxing had no intention of comforting him. She had come here to sign the documents, and now that they were signed, she was ready to leave, go home, and get some much-needed rest—to celebrate her first failure!
Suddenly, Professor Zhong pulled a laptop out of his briefcase.
“I have some materials I compiled myself. They’re from the years I spent coaching students for competitions, introducing them to science, and teaching experimental courses. There are even some introductory experiments designed for students with weak academic foundations.”
“Board Director Yu, give me your email address. I’ll send these materials to you as compensation for what happened to the children.”
Yu Xiaxing hesitated for a moment before giving him her email address.
Professor Zhong opened his laptop and began sending the files.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive in Yu Xiaxing’s inbox.
The materials were incredibly comprehensive. There were basic laboratory safety guidelines, recommended reading lists for bridging the gap between middle and high school, introductory lectures on science competitions, and even a complete “Science Interest Program for Students with Weak Academic Performance.”
He really did believe in education for all. He had even researched educational materials for students with poor grades.
Yu Xiaxing quietly glanced at Professor Zhong.
He seemed not to know how to send the files as a single package and was sending them one by one, his expression extremely serious.
Oh no. Oh no. Professor Zhong really might not be a bad person.
He knew that the students at Qizhi had bullied those from Shengde, and he had offered more than a verbal apology. He was also providing genuine compensation.
An educator like that, who was now suffering from cancer—if Qin Mei really managed to swindle him out of his assets, it would be rather tragic.
At last, Professor Zhong finished sending the materials and was about to close his laptop.
Yu Xiaxing suddenly asked, “Professor Zhong, are you pursuing Qin Mei?”
Professor Zhong looked up at her and smiled gently. “She’s already my girlfriend. We plan to return to Pu City and register our marriage after this trip.”
Yu Xiaxing wanted to ask whether he was still planning to hand over everything and fall into the trap…
Just like Mr. Gu, he had no intention of leaving his assets to his children in his old age. The crucial difference was that he hadn’t even gotten to enjoy the money himself—it had all gone to a gang of scammers.
She remained silent for a long while, but in the end decided to let him judge for himself. “Since you’ve given our students so many materials, I’ll give you something in return.”
Yu Xiaxing took out her phone and forwarded the video she had just recorded at the auction to Professor Zhong’s email.
“Watch it yourself. Afterward, decide whether you still want to register your marriage.”
Mr. Gu had been a man of little education who had made his fortune through a property demolition settlement.
But Professor Zhong had been a university lecturer in inorganic chemistry in his younger years. He would certainly recognize sodalite at a glance.
That was why Qin Mei had not brought him to the auction.
After sending the video, Yu Xiaxing gathered up the students’ certificates of completion and left the pavilion with Yu Zheng.
Professor Zhong remained seated in the pavilion. He had already opened the auction video, and the more he watched, the darker his expression became.
—
After they had walked some distance away, Yu Xiaxing asked Yu Zheng, “Has Yu Zhining still not replied?”
Yu Zheng took out his phone and checked. There was still no new message in the chat. “No.”
Yu Xiaxing knitted her brows tightly.
She had originally planned to let Yu Zhining rescue those elderly people from the scammers himself. Once the old people felt grateful toward him, he could successfully renew their contracts with them, which would make her enemy even stronger!
But he had been given an opportunity and failed to make use of it!
Yu Xiaxing pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the police directly.”
The call was over soon enough.
But she still felt restless.
Even now, she had no idea what exactly was wrong with Yu Zhining.
He was clearly such a rational person. Why had he suddenly spiraled out of control?
Yu Zheng walked beside her for a while, watching her. Seeing that she was unhappy, he called out, “Sister.”
Yu Xiaxing came back to herself. “Hmm?”
Yu Zheng comforted her. “I know you’re upset because you didn’t complete the contract-renewal mission. How about this? I finished my mission the fastest this time. If I can come in first and get the six million in operating funds, I’ll use it to launch a project in cooperation with Shengde. I’ll take you along so we can make money together. How does that sound?”
Yu Xiaxing: “…No! Don’t help me with such a minor task. You can try your best to win the championship. If you eventually inherit the family business, just give me a share.”
Yu Zheng put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry. I already said I’d give you half.”
She gave him a perfunctory smile, then returned to her troubled silence.
Suddenly, she said, “When Yu Zhining bought the 899-yuan Life Corridor package, he still had one opportunity left on his side. Do you think he might be over there now?”
Yu Zheng finally understood what had been bothering her. He immediately agreed. “Let’s go take a look.”
—
Inside the Corridor Room.
Yu Zhining’s nightmare continued.
Ever since Yu Xiaxing had said she would no longer speak to him, she had not given him a single chance to say anything.
At mealtimes, when their parents went to call her, she refused to come. She always went to eat at their second aunt’s house instead.
Their second aunt’s son, Yu Yuanchen, was a spoiled delinquent, while Yu Suisui was arrogant and willful. Both of them already had terrible reputations at school.
And yet, Yu Xiaxing quickly fit in with them.
Then… the little sister who used to come straight home after school and obediently do her homework in his study had undergone a complete change in personality.
She became a little lunatic who followed Yu Yuanchen and Yu Suisui around every day, getting into trouble wherever they went.
Later, when he went out of town to attend a competition training camp, Yu Xiaxing and Huo Mian had a huge confrontation at home over a dog.
Huo Mian killed her dog, and Yu Xiaxing bit away a large chunk of flesh from Huo Mian’s abdomen.
After some time, the family sent Yu Xiaxing abroad to study.
On the day she left, Yu Zhining posted a photograph of an airplane flying across the sky on his social media account.
From that point on, they disappeared from each other’s worlds.
The sibling bond they had shared, tainted by malicious rumors, became an anchor buried in his heart.
It brought him years of self-loathing that he could never dispel.
All he could do was bury himself in his studies, skip grades, take the college entrance examination early, and pursue the most grueling field of medicine. Every second of his life was packed so tightly that there was no room left for anything else.
That way, he would have no time to suffer…
No! No, that wasn’t true! People couldn’t control pain!
That thorn had grown deeper and deeper until it had fused with his bones. To cure it, he would have to cut open the wound and scrape it out of the bone!
But no doctor could operate on himself. He couldn’t operate on himself. He couldn’t deal with it!
The memories being retrieved began to loop.
It was always his little sister crouching outside the door, slipping drawing after drawing through the crack beneath it.
She kept pushing them through, again and again and again… until his entire room was filled with her drawings.
He picked them up one by one. Each depicted the beautiful memories they had shared as brother and sister.
Clutching the drawings, he wept until his tears soaked through the paper.
Xingxing, I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I believed those malicious rumors. I didn’t know how to deal with the filth others threw at me. I should have protected you, but instead I chose to distance myself from you…
Those beautiful memories of the siblings on the sheets of paper once again transformed into novels passed around by their classmates.
The words from the novel crawled out, transforming into black threads that tugged at him, dragging him down into an impossibly deep well. Human faces covered the walls of the well!
Those faces belonged to the countless classmates who had tormented him with malice in his youth—Huo Mian, Qin Mei… They were all watching him, smiling at him with inscrutable meaning. They were all judging him!
He kept falling, falling… He was about to plunge to the very bottom, to be swallowed completely by that darkness…
Suddenly, a voice pierced through the nightmare.
“Yu Zhining.”
In an instant, his descent stopped.
Light streamed down from the mouth of the well, dispelling the boundless darkness and malice.
He was back in that afternoon.
Little Yu Xiaxing was leaning against the sofa, looking back at him.
Then, the voice of the girl in his dream overlapped with the voice in reality.
“I’ve forgiven you.”
