Jiang Zhixu and Jiang Qian walked together, chatting happily. Jiang Zhixu said that once she earned more money, she would move out of this house and stay far away from that scumbag.
When they reached the entrance, they found many people gathered in the hallway. Some lived on the same floor, while others were unfamiliar faces. When these people saw them, some recognized Jiang Zhixu and began gossiping. Some even started pointing at her. Cruel words mixed in the crowd.
“Her father died at home, and she’s out here doing who knows what.” “Look at how she’s dressed. She doesn’t look like a decent girl.” “What’s the point of raising a daughter like this? Her father’s dead at home and she’s still out having fun.”
Jiang Qian was so angry she squeezed the plastic bag in her hand tightly. She stood in front of Jiang Zhixu and confronted those people: “Have you said enough? Do you even know the situation before speaking nonsense? Is it right to judge other people’s family matters so casually? Do you feel proud of yourselves gossiping about someone right in front of them?”
In all the years Jiang Zhixu had known Jiang Qian, this was the first time she heard her speak so harshly. Those people were stunned by Jiang Qian’s words and scattered away sheepishly.
Jiang Zhixu didn’t know how to describe her feelings that day. The home she had always wanted to escape from was gone. Her father was dead. She wasn’t sad and didn’t shed a single tear. At the funeral, relatives called her cold-blooded, saying she was heartless for not crying when her father died. Only Jiang Zhixu knew how much she hated this person and this home.
When her mother was alive, she had been somewhat happy. After her mother’s death, she lived almost completely in darkness, unable to see any hope for the future. The drunk abuse and beatings, the wounds that healed only to be replaced by new ones, all took root and rotted in some unnamed corner of her heart. But they would never go away.
He was gone, but left her with a pile of debt. Everyone blamed her, called her cold-blooded, said she was unfilial, questioned how her father had raised such an ungrateful child. Jiang Zhixu couldn’t even be bothered to refute these words.
Only Jiang Qian felt for her, hugging her with a tear-stained face: “Don’t be afraid, Xu. From now on you have me. I’ll always stay by your side.”
Before this, when Jiang Qian first saw her being beaten, she immediately called the police. She took the injured Jiang Zhixu home, crying while applying medicine to her wounds. Jiang Zhixu felt like broken pieces that Jiang Qian picked up one by one and put back together.
Jiang Zhixu took out a small box from her bag and handed it to Jiang Qian: “I brought you a little gift. Open it and see if you like it.”
Jiang Qian opened the box to find a necklace with a silver chain and a small moon pendant.
“Mine is a star, yours is the moon. I’ll always orbit around my little moon,” Jiang Zhixu said as she put the necklace around Jiang Qian’s neck. There could be many stars, but she only had one little moon.
Jiang Qian held the pendant, her eyes curving with joy: “It’s so pretty, Xu. I love it.”
Jiang Zhixu pinched her nose: “How are you doing here? Have you adjusted?”
“It’s fine. The classmates are nice too. First exam is next week.”
“Your studies are the last thing I worry about.” Jiang Zhixu smiled brightly.
She remembered when she was in eighth grade, she was often scolded by teachers for poor homework. Later, Jiang Qian started doing her homework for her, which got her called to the office. She thought it was because Jiang Qian, a seventh grader, had made too many mistakes on eighth-grade work. But the teacher put the homework on the desk and said earnestly: “See? You can do homework well when you try. Why weren’t you doing it properly before?”
Jiang Zhixu was confused the whole way home with that homework.
Thinking of Jiang Qian’s illness, Jiang Zhixu felt a sharp pain in her heart. Her little friend was only seventeen and already suffering from this disease.
“Xu?”
“Huh?” Jiang Zhixu snapped back to reality, meeting Jiang Qian’s confused eyes.
“I asked what you’re planning to do here?”
Jiang Zhixu smiled. “I’ll be a photographer at a studio. I can take lots of beautiful photos of you in the future.”
“Great!” Jiang Qian gave her a sweet smile.
“Has anyone bullied you here?”
Jiang Qian shook her head seriously: “No one bullies me, Xu.”
“You’ve been out for a while. You should go back to class. I’ll come see you again when I have time,” Jiang Zhixu said, then added: “Take care of your health, and don’t study too hard.”
“I know. Xu needs to rest at work too.”
“Alright, I’ll go now.”
When Jiang Qian returned to class, it was already the third period. She checked the time – still half an hour until class ended.
Yang Shikun suddenly turned around and asked mischievously: “Jiang, who was that beautiful lady who came to see you?”
“A very good friend of mine.”
Yang Shikun: “I have a friend who wants to get to know your friend.”
Jiang Qian: “?”
Hao Ming turned to Jiang Qian: “Just ignore his nonsense.”
Yang Shikun: “…”
He had some choice words he wasn’t sure whether to say.
Xu Si was leaning back in his chair playing a mobile game when he suddenly heard someone say: “What did those two mean just now?”
“Making something out of nothing. He wants to meet her himself.”
Xu Si saw Jiang Qian nod seriously, then returned his attention to his game.
Li Qiuhong’s waist was sore, so she decided to walk around. Jiang Qian looked up to see Li Qiuhong coming down, then poked Xu Si: “Teacher’s coming down.”
She watched as Xu Si skillfully hid his phone, then looked away.
Li Qiuhong stopped at Yang Shikun’s desk and frowned: “Yang, your handwriting… it’s truly unique, with a mind of its own.”
“Thank you for the compliment, teacher.”
Li Qiuhong pointed at his homework: “You really think I’m complimenting you? If I let a turtle crawl across paper with ink, it would look better than your writing.”
Yang Shikun replied: “Fast or slow turtle? Maybe I should let a little turtle do my homework.”
“Stop joking around. Buy a calligraphy copybook, practice one page every day, and bring it to my office. I’ll check daily. Presentation is very important in exams. In Chinese class, as long as you write something with neat handwriting, you won’t get zero points. But with your handwriting, it’s hard to say. If negative points were possible, I’d give you negative points.”
“Okay.”
Li Qiuhong glanced at Xu Si, then returned to the front desk to continue writing her lesson plan.
Xu Si turned his head to look at Jiang Qian who was writing homework: “Thanks, classmate.”
Jiang Qian replied: “You’re welcome.”
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