DTTM 40

Chapter 40: Go Forward Without Hesitation and Never Give Up

Wuxi Li handled the matter exceptionally well that time, quickly and discreetly. I didn’t know the specifics of how she did it, but when Zong Yanlei and I returned to school, Wuxi Chen had already transferred schools. Apparently, he was scolded by his father and sent abroad.

It was only later that I learned that Wuxi Chen’s background was actually quite similar to Zong Yanlei’s. Wuxi Kunpeng lost his wife early in life and never remarried, but he had several mistresses. Wuxi Chen’s mother was one of Wuxi Kunpeng’s mistresses.

Wuxi Chen lived abroad with his mother until he was fourteen. When he was fourteen, his mother was chosen to become the new Prime Minister’s wife, and he returned to Penglai with her.

His and his mother’s honor and disgrace depended entirely on Wuxi Kunpeng, who had more than one son.

Wuxi Kunpeng had five sons with his first wife, all of whom were exceptionally talented. There was also a group of illegitimate children outside the family waiting to claim ancestry. Perhaps Wuxi Kunpeng’s constant comparison of Wuxi Chen with his older brothers contributed to his sensitive, jealous, and narrow-minded nature.

The bullying against me had actually disappeared when Zong Yanlei returned to school, but after Wuxi Chen transferred schools, those people seemed to fear that they would be the next to be “retaliated against,” and they became very cautious. Even when passing by me, they would unconsciously quicken their pace.

Zong Yanlei had limited vision and could only learn through hearing in class. Faced with his special circumstances, the professors have shown understanding and tolerance, allowing him to be exempt from submitting written assignments or to complete them by recording them.

Among them, Yi Yingzhen was the most considerate of Zong Yanlei’s condition and the most respectful of him, never treating him as a “useless person”.

During lectures, she would deliberately sit close to Zong Yanlei to ensure he could receive the information more clearly; during Q&A sessions, she would never skip him, giving him an equal opportunity to participate; if he answered correctly, she would praise him generously and give him a small star she had folded himself; after class, she would proactively ask Zong Yanlei if he had any questions, and if not, she would leave decisively, and if he did, she would patiently answer them for him.

She would even distribute her carefully made soft and fragrant bread rolls to us, citing Zong Yanlei’s thinness as the reason.

Sometimes when we ran into her in the cafeteria, she would make a point of coming over to dine with us.

“Your mother was incredibly mischievous as a child. She skipped school, climbed over walls, and played pranks on teachers. Her crimes were too numerous to count…”

Each time, she would share some interesting anecdotes about Wuxi Li with us. It was hard to imagine that the lively and bright young girl she described was the same person as the Wuxi Li of today.

Perhaps this was her purpose: to let us… or rather, to let Zong Yanlei understand his mother better. To let him know that she wasn’t as cold-hearted as she appeared, nor was she unapproachable.

“That girl used to dream of becoming a sailor, but now she’s a royal press secretary. You know, that used to be the kind of job she hated the most.”

Professor Yi said as she secretly forked a piece of beef into Zong Yanlei’s plate next to her, it was the steak I had just cut for him.

“A sailor? Does Mother like the sea?” Zong Yanlei was completely unaware that his meat had been stolen.

“She loves all things vast, boundless, and profound; they seem very mysterious to her.” Professor Yi swallowed the food in her mouth in a few bites, then reached her fork toward Zong Yanlei, only to have it caught by my chopsticks halfway through.

I pushed the chicken breast salad in front of me towards her, and she glanced at it and shook her head in disgust.

“Then she must really like the universe.” The knife and fork slid gently across the plate, and Zong Yanlei picked up a small piece of beef and put it in his mouth. If you didn’t look closely, his movements were almost no different from those of an ordinary person.

Feeling the fork jolt forward again, I picked up my half-eaten steak and dumped the entire portion into the old lady’s now-empty plate.

“She likes it, but she’s afraid of heights, so she can only be a sailor.” The old lady was overjoyed and immediately retracted her fork before devouring the half-piece of meat.

“Xiao Zong, what do you want to be when you grow up? You’re smart, I feel like you won’t do too badly at anything.” Her cheeks were bulging from eating, and at first glance, she looked a lot like a hamster.

“Me? I want to be…” Zong Yanlei pondered for a moment, then gave an answer even more outrageous than that of a sailor, “I want to be a race car driver.”

If others heard about such an unrealistic career, even if they didn’t say it out loud, they would at least think that Zong Yanlei was daydreaming. After all, anyone could see that his future was bleak.

“A race car driver,” Yi Yingzhen was no ordinary person. This bishop of the Jing Shi religion who did not condone suffering, sincerely believed that human life was far more resilient and powerful than any other substance in the world. “That’s a good profession, it suits you. You’re a brave kid, and brave people are good at driving. What about Xiao Jiang? Have you thought about what you want to do?”

I paused as I dragged the salad back to my side; I hadn’t expected there would be one for me.

I am a servant of the Zong family, yet she asked me what I wanted to do. Was it up to me to decide?

“Wherever the young master is, I will be there.” Since it was impossible for it to come true, I chose the safest answer.

I thought the old lady would find it perfunctory and shake her head, asking me to repeat myself. To my surprise, she smiled and didn’t find the answer strange.

“That’s good, that’s good. Being together means you can look out for each other. Since it’s what your heart desires, you should go forward without hesitation and never give up.”

It seemed that in her eyes, any dream was worthy of affirmation, and as long as it came from the mouth of her beloved students, everything was “good”.

“Clang!”

Zong Yanlei suddenly dropped the fork in his hand to the ground.

“I’ll have someone bring a new one.” I gestured for an attendant to come.

Zong Yanlei rubbed the hilt of the knife in his hand with his thumb, and then, somewhat dazed, turned to Professor Yi beside him and smiled, “Yes, that’s right. Everyone should pursue their passions with unwavering determination. Also…” He looked down, “I just have poor eyesight, I’m not blind. Professor, could you please stop stealing my food?”

“Oh dear, hic…” The old lady covered her mouth and couldn’t help but hiccup.

After the meal, she told us that she had been assigned by the Pope to go on a long trip, and told us to study hard and eat well. She said she would bring us back some local delicacies when she returned.

After hearing her words, I had only one thought in my mind: it seems that even the Pope couldn’t stand her and wanted her to leave Baiyujing for a while.

During those days, a subtle atmosphere permeated the campus, not among the students, but rather among the professors themselves.

From the moment Professor Yi publicly opposed the “Project Beyond the Century,” she resolutely stood on the opposite side of the entire Jing Shi religion. As a bishop with extremely high prestige and popularity among believers, her every move affected public sentiment. If she held opposing views, the public would inevitably begin to doubt about the existence of the neuro-navigation pods.

Zong Yanlei said she was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, and that was absolutely true. However, as she herself said, since it was for the love in her heart, she should forge ahead without hesitation, even if… the hope was slim and she was destined to fight alone.

“Goodbye, children, see you later.” She gave each of us a farewell hug, then waved goodbye with her back to us, like a flame wrapped in the wind, nimbly passing through the crowd and disappearing into the cafeteria.

That day, Zong Yanlei didn’t say much until he returned to the dormitory that evening. He kept his eyes down, seemingly deep in thought.

Before I went into the bathroom, he sat on the bed. When I came out after my shower, he was still sitting on the bed, motionless.

“Young Master, why aren’t you sleeping?” I knelt down in front of him and gently took his hand to check. “Are you feeling unwell?”

Zong Yanlei didn’t answer. He withdrew his hand and silently reached out to my face, starting from my eyebrows and eyes, his fingertips slowly tracing my features.

I remained and let him touch me.

He touched my eyes, nose, mouth… very slowly, as if he wanted to engrave every detail into his mind with his hands.

After rubbing my soft lower lip, his hand moved to my neck. His fingers encircled my neck. He placed his thumbs on my Adam’s apple, and gently pressed down. I immediately felt an uncomfortable, suffocating sensation.

“Where I go, you go?” His eyes, gradually covered by a thin white mist, landed unfocused on my face. As he spoke, the pressure on his hands continued to increase. “If I die, will you die with me?”

What was I thinking at that time?

I remembered every detail of that day: the light in the room, the warmth of his hands, and the scent of shower gel in the air. But what I was thinking at that moment has become unclear.

All I could remember was that, out of instinct, I reached out and grabbed his wrist, but I didn’t pull him away.

“I’ll die with you.” I smiled at him, but then remembered he couldn’t see me, and the smile vanished the next second.

The pressure on my neck gradually loosened, and Zong Yanlei turned his head slightly, as if to hear what I said more clearly.

“I hate it when people lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you.” I tilted my head back and, in response, pushed his hand closer to my neck. “If you don’t believe me, kill me in your last moments. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

Zong Yanlei remained silent for a long time, simply “looking” at me before falling back into his own thoughts.

Suddenly, he scoffed, broke free of my hand, and placed his palm precisely on my face before gently pushing it away.

“After I die, I will return to the embrace of the Sun God. We go to different places. Why would you follow me?”

Suddenly everything went black, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. When I looked up again, Zong Yanlei had already pulled back the covers and lay down.

“Don’t follow me.” He had his back to me, and his tone was tinged with annoyance.

I sat on the ground, watching his back, and slightly raised the corners of my lips.

“Good.”

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A week later, a package sent by “Yi Yingzhen” and labeled “pastries” was delivered to the school and placed on the teacher’s desk in the classroom.

The students thought it was a local specialty sent back by Professor Yi, so they gathered around the podium. They chatted and laughed as they tore open the seal, teasing the old lady about her peculiar taste.

The red lacquered box was opened with a “click”.

The next instant, the four panels fell down in four directions at the same time, revealing the contents of the box—a head.

It was placed in an open lacquer box. Its once shiny silver curls were now charred and pitted, its rosy skin had turned ashen and dull, its lips were a deep purple from lack of oxygen, and two streaks of bloody tears slid down from its empty eye sockets, reminding everyone of the fact that its eyes had been cruelly gouged out.

The classroom fell into a deathly silence, followed by a sudden burst of screams. Some students leaned against the wall, retching; others curled up on the floor, clutching their heads; still others, tears streaming down their faces, screamed and fled the room.

Fear swept across the classroom like a sudden hurricane, engulfing the entire room in an instant.

I reacted immediately and covered Zong Yanlei’s eyes in front of me.

“Jiang Man, what happened?” Hearing the commotion around him, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

My hands trembled, and when I opened my mouth, I couldn’t make a sound.

…WRA.

On the forehead of the head, three deep English letters were carved. My gaze was fixed on those letters, imprinting every detail deep into the depths of my eyes.

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The assassination of Bishop Yi Yingzhen shocked the entire nation. Shengzhe University immediately issued an emergency order, evacuating all faculty and students, closing the campus, and placing it under full martial law.