“Brother Zhong, I’m going to be expelled!” Zhou Xinxin took out a pregnancy test from her pocket. Her eyes were swollen and an eye-catching bright red. She was pale and seemed to be talking to herself. “What should I do?”
Yuan Zhong was livid. “I told you to stop wearing revealing skirts! Otherwise, how could this kind of thing happen?! Who can you blame now that you’re like this?”
Zhou Xinxin’s expression worsened when she heard his words. She didn’t speak as she stuffed the pregnancy test back into her pocket.
How many times had she ended up in this situation? Why was she always criticized even though she was clearly the true victim? Her friends looked at her as if she were a fierce flood or a savage beast! She didn’t know how many people mocked her behind her back. This was the case both at school and at home. Even her relatives, parents, and everyone else pointed at her and swore! They laughed at her as if she deserved it!
She was despicable enough to seduce her own cousin!
Why? Was it only because she was a girl? Just because she was good-looking, she deserved to be hurt when she wore a short skirt?
Zhou Xinxin’s father obviously knew who had done this to her. But he was bribed by that person and concealed this incident. He used the money he had received to make sure that her younger brother was set for life. Then, he also warned her that she wasn’t allowed to reveal that person’s name!
How funny!
Zhou Xinxin’s face was cold. Just as she was intending to leave, a burned out Yuan Zhong abruptly grabbed her hand. He anxiously said, “Give me a day. I’ll gather enough money. Later in the week, I’ll take you to get rid of this child.”
Zhou Xinxin looked at him expressionlessly and said, “You’re truly a man, Yuan Zhong!”
Yuan Zhong suddenly opened his eyes. He was covered in cold sweat and his whole body felt clammy. His clothes were tightly glued to his skin, making him uncomfortable.
He sat up with some effort and used his hands to support his head. The dizziness he was experiencing was almost enough for him to collapse. He could only pant heavily in order to relieve some of the pain.
It was this dream again!
Yuan Zhong exhaled laboriously. He endured the discomfort as he nimbly pulled himself up. His movements were extremely light, and he didn’t disturb the others sleeping in the room.
For some reason, there was a depressing atmosphere in the room. Yuan Zhong couldn’t explain it. His chest was stuffy, to the point that he found it difficult to breathe.
His surroundings were bathed in darkness, seeming a bit weird. He had never felt this way before. Even his roommate, who lay asleep on a bed, looked increasingly like a corpse in a morgue.
In this incomparably tranquil night, the clock hanging on the wall let out an unexpected noise, shattering the calmness. But Yuan Zhong couldn’t even see the numbers on the clock.
“Hiss.” Yuan Zhong took a deep breath and quietly swore. “D*mn.”
Someone had placed a pile of books next to his bed. Yuan Zhong was planning to stand up, but when he lowered his foot, his toe collided with the books.
Yuan Zhong used his right hand to hold a cigarette between his index finger and middle finger. He skillfully lit it and exhaled, watching as the smoke circled around in the air.
His mind began to scatter.
In this life, there were two things he was ashamed of.
First, he couldn’t protect Zhou Xinxin. He let her be bullied, and didn’t even find the murderer who had hit her with a car.
Second, in order to collect money for her abortion, he stole ten thousand in cash from a limping uncle.
If he had known that there was so much money in that bag, Yuan Zhong definitely wouldn’t have chosen him.
Having said that, this was merely a case of fifty paces laughing at one hundred paces.
But he had neither the courage to return the money, nor the courage to spend all of it.
After close to the time it took an incense stick to burn, Yuan Zhong dropped the cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped on it twice. His face remained indifferent.
As he gazed into the pitch black darkness around him, his chest tightened further. But soon, he adjusted his mood and slowly crawled back into bed.
It was as if an enchantment spell had been cast upon him. In only half of the time it took an incense stick to burn, Yuan Zhong fell into a deep sleep of death.
“Whoosh.” A gust of wind blew by.
The cigarette butt that had been previously crushed was ignited again. As it was moved by the wind, it actually fell onto a textbook someone had casually thrown onto the ground.
And at this moment, the hands of the clock all pointed towards four…
Did you know? A single spark can start a huge blaze.
Danger always arrives inadvertently.
“The school was burned down?” Liang Jing stared at his phone. The school authorities had sent out a notification message, and its contents left Liang Jing involuntarily with his mouth wide open.
This was especially true when he saw that a boy surnamed Yuan died on the spot, while two others were injured. He instantly covered his mouth and nose, his mental state disorderly.
Liang Jing was disgusted for a while. Strangely, in his mind, several images emerged out of thin air. It was just like he was given special close-up shots of a movie.
In the pictures, he saw a corpse. Or more precisely, the heap of charred bones that remained of it. A mass of unknown black substance disgustingly clung to the bones. It appeared to be a human’s internal organs, and the rest of the body’s insides had completely burned to nothing.
Yuan Zhong!
As the images flashed across his mind, Liang Jing was dumbfounded. He was completely unable to recover from his shock.
Liang Jing’s hands began to tremble, and his eyes were bloodshot.
What was going on? Shouldn’t it have been Wang Xing? How did it directly become Yuan Zhong?
Then, wouldn’t the next one be himself?
Liang Jing’s breaths sped up. He abruptly remembered Xiao Chen’s theory of scapegoats and the fact that Wang Xing had witnessed someone die in front of her in an accident.
Could it be?
Scapegoats really were useful?
So now, Wang Xing had actually been successfully rescued? The god of death had let her go?
Liang Jing’s lips twitched, and a hint of anxiousness rose up within him.
He certainly didn’t want to die!
Who? Who could die for him?!
It was at this moment that he suddenly thought of someone!
Every night, old waste pickers would come to the neighborhood, rummage through the garbage, and collect the refuse.
They were just beggars, black children, helpless people, and old men who went about by themselves. If one of them died, who would know?
Liang Jing’s hands were clenched into fists. His gaze was chilly as he fiercely stared at Wang XIng.
Wang Xing was startled by the look in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“The two of us share a destiny. Now, we absolutely cannot sit back and await death!” Liang Jing stressed each and every word. His tone was slightly threatening as he said, “If you don’t want to die, just obediently listen to me!”
The limping old man walked slowly. Countless wrinkles marred his face. They crowded together in folds of yellow, waxy skin. His face was covered in senile warts, and his eyes were sunken. He carried a trash bag, which was larger than his whole frame, on his rickety back. Inside the bag, there were broken scraps of water bottles, drink cans, iron wires, etc.
“Uncle!” Liang Jiang called out. He lifted the corners of his mouth, but just enough to show the old man that he had good intentions.
The other turned his head with difficulty to peer at Liang Jing.
“Do you accept waste? I have a lot of it in my house. Would you like it?” Liang Jing stepped towards the old man and used his hands to support the trash bag on the elder’s back. He donned a humble and fawning appearance.
The old man swiftly evaded. “Young man, no worries, no worries.”
“Where is your home? I’ll help you carry your stuff to it. Later, come to my house to collect more rubbish.”
Liang Jing’s voice wasn’t too loud and he enunciated every word. But somehow, though it was concealed well, there was a trace of panic when he spoke.
The old man couldn’t stop Liang Jing, so he gave up and nodded his head.
Along the way, Liang Jing chatted with him. “Are you living alone? What about your family? Are you a local? Why haven’t I seen you before?”
The old man’s eyelids jumped and he hunched his back even more. “It has been years since my wife died from cancer! We originally had a girl, but a few days ago…” His heavy foreign accent was entirely unlike the local dialect. He didn’t finish his sentence, but one could already understand his meaning. “It was just in Yu Hua Neighborhood!”
Liang Jing’s expression changed. A frightening conjecture suddenly appeared in his mind. His lips quivered as he asked, “What, what is your daughter’s name?”
Tears formed in the corners of the elder’s eyes. “Meili, my daughter’s name is Yang Meili! This child suffered greatly! She sacrificed too much for this family in high school. Unexpectedly, in university, this sort of misfortune befell her.”
Liang Jing’s face immediately darkened.
How could this be so coincidental?
The old man began to mumble. “Everything is my fault! If I had been more careful back then, the money wouldn’t have been stolen. If she had received treatment, this child’s mother wouldn’t have been forced to endure the late stages of cancer! This child is so foolish! Foolish! How could she think of making money in that way?”
The old man shook his head as he recalled those painful memories. His expression worsened and he didn’t continue to speak.
Liang Jing’s hands started to shake. He had the look of someone who owed millions. His eyes subconsciously lowered, and he bit his lip until it paled. He suppressed the turbulent and surging waves in his heart, forcing himself to calm down.
It didn’t matter whose father the old man was! Was that as important as his own life?
Liang JIng tightly clenched his teeth, causing the muscles in his cheek to twitch.
I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!!
“What happened afterwards? Did the little prince end up with the rose?” Xiao Chen was lying on the bed, attentively listening to the man’s story.
The man closed the book. “No.”
When he saw the child lower his head in dejection, he added, “Later, that rose met a snake. It fell in love with the rose and didn’t mind the thorns on the other’s body. Even if the rose was damaged, the snake stayed by its side and guarded it.”
The man placed his hand on Xiao Chen’s shoulder blade and seemed to have thought of something. “Finally, the rose and the snake lived together happily.”
T/N: Hahaha, the underlying connections are being revealed! What’s your take on the relationship between the five club members?
Also, I ultimately managed to post the manhua on CG (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ! Give me some congratulations!
In terms of a schedule, I’ll most likely do a few chapters of HEAL for every one chapter of DTSB. Don’t ask me why translating a manhua is easier than translating a novel for me. Actually, it all depends on the strip size and the SFXs of the HEAL chapter, plus the word count of the DTSB chapter.
Fun fact: I don’t write translator’s notes on HEAL chapters. I mean, doesn’t it feel strange when you’re reading a manhua, but then you suddenly encounter a bunch of small text at the end?
Fifty paces laughing at one hundred paces: the story
A fable from Mencius’s King Hui of Liang Part 1. Mencius tells King Hui of Liang that when soldiers flee from the frontlines, some run fifty paces, while others run one hundred paces. In the end, the former ridicules the latter for being cowardly. King Hui of Liang replies by saying that they shouldn’t laugh, because though they didn’t run one hundred paces, they still ran away. Thus, this fable depicts a situation where someone mocks others’ mistakes even though they themselves did the same, just to a lesser degree.
