Content Warning:
This chapter contains themes of bullying, animal cruelty, physical violence, and domestic abuse.
Volume 1: Rise
Rebellion
Where there is oppression, there is resistance.
From that day on, the relationship between the two slowly drew closer. Yu Gui was still being bullied by the big sister, and Fang Zhiyou was still sleeping in class. The difference was that they now shared a common secret.
Every evening after school, beside the garbage dump, with a tacit understanding, Fang Zhiyou would bring cat food from home, and Yu Gui would save her own milk for the kitten to drink. This mutual understanding continued until one day, Yu Gui discovered the kitten was missing.
She almost turned over every cardboard box beside the garbage can, even climbed onto the garbage heap to look, and walked around the school’s fence. She searched the bushes, the drainage ditches, and the small shop.
Fang Zhiyou followed her in the search, and in the end, the two of them returned home, dejected.
While sitting at home under the warm light eating dinner, Yu Gui thought to herself: The kitten probably found its mother and went back to its own home, right?
The next day during physical education class, Yu Gui was also listless. Fang Zhiyou, sitting beside her, was pulling at the foxtail grass on the ground: “Did you find the kitten?”
Yu Gui shook her head: “Let’s go check again after school today.”
She patted her backpack: “I still haven’t drunk my milk.”
After a while, Fang Zhiyou replied: “I also brought cat food…”
When I went to her house that day, I didn’t see any cats being kept there, so where did the cat food come from?
Yu Gui thought about this and asked out loud.
Not knowing how these words touched her sensitive spot, Fang Zhiyou threw the foxtail grass on the ground and stomped on it twice fiercely: “None of your damn business.”
After saying that, she left.
Yu Gui was baffled, made a face at her back, and seeing that there were still five minutes before class according to the digital watch, decided to go to the bathroom first.
She patted her backside, got up, and ran towards the teaching building.
The seventh grade was upstairs, and following the principle of proximity, she walked straight into the eighth-grade girls’ bathroom.
As soon as she stepped in, she wished she could slip out immediately. The big sister and her group were also in the bathroom, acting sneaky. When they saw her, for some reason, their eyes were evasive, and they hid their hands behind their backs.
“Hey, what are you doing here? Looking for a fight?!”
Yu Gui quickly put her hands over her head: “No, no, I’m here to use the bathroom, I’ll leave right away!”
Saying this, she didn’t even want to use the bathroom anymore and turned to run. Just then, she suddenly heard a faint meow, and Yu Gui stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around.
At that moment, the kitten meowed softly again. Yu Gui’s body seemed glued in place, unable to move. She felt her throat dry up: “You… what are you holding in your hand?”
The big sister’s few companions surrounded her: “None of your business! Get lost!”
Yu Gui, with a stiff face, took another step forward: “Let… let me see, please… I’m begging you…”
The big sister wasn’t afraid of her at all. Initially, she had a slight sense of guilt about abusing the kitten, but now, her perverse pride made her somewhat smug. She raised the kitten, which was tied with a rope.
“Alright, if you want to see, I’ll let you see enough.” The rope was tied around the kitten’s neck, and she lifted it with one hand. The kitten struggled in mid-air, its cries stuck in its throat, its limbs flailing wildly. Due to suffocation, the kitten’s eyes were bulging out.
“Ah!” A scream, Yu Gui wanted to pounce forward but was firmly held back by the big sister’s two companions.
She struggled, her eyes slightly reddening: “No! Let me go!!! You all…”
In desperation, she stepped on one of the girls’ foot, which resulted in a harsh slap.
“B*tch, you dare to step on me!”
The big sister swung the kitten in the air, and it was clear that it no longer had the strength to cry out. Yu Gui’s tears streamed down immediately.
When she desperately pushed away the person holding her and tried to pounce forward, someone else moved even faster than she did.
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Fang Zhiyou swung a punch directly at the big sister’s face, hitting hard. It was unclear how much force she used, but the big sister screamed, clutching her nose as blood seeped through her fingers.
“Damn! She dared to hit the big sister! Get her!” Someone shouted, and a few burly girls rushed forward.
Apart from being tall, Fang Zhiyou didn’t have any protagonist aura or any exceptional martial arts skills. Under their attacks—hair pulling, clothes ripping, and pants pulling—she quickly became outnumbered and was at a disadvantage.
The big sister, with her overwhelming weight, pinned Fang Zhiyou down. Fang Zhiyou almost vomited bile.
“F*ck… F*ck… Yu Gui, why are you just standing there?!”
Yu Gui looked at Fang Zhiyou, pinned and unable to move, then at the lifeless kitten on the floor. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a trash bin used for disposing of tissues and charged forward.
“Screw you!!!”
They did get their revenge, but now both of them stood at the office door, battered and bruised, being punished to stand.
“Creak——” The office door opened, and the big sister limped out, giving Yu Gui a fierce glare.
Since the fight had already happened, there was nothing to be afraid of at this moment. Yu Gui glared back, and the big sister, somewhat timidly, threw down a harsh remark, “Just you wait!” and left in a hurry.
“Fang Zhiyou, Yu Gui, get in here!” The homeroom teacher shouted from the office.
The two of them exchanged a glance and walked in dejectedly.
Fang Zhiyou’s mom had already arrived and was standing there anxiously. Seeing Fang Zhiyou come in, she didn’t say a word and immediately gave her a hard slap.
Fang Zhiyou neither dodged nor flinched, taking the slap directly without even furrowing her brow. Mother Fang then twisted her ear.
“You’re disobedient, you’re disobedient! You don’t study well, always causing trouble! Now you even dare to hit people! Just wait, today I’m going to beat you to death!”
Mother Fang cursed while slapping and shoving her. Yu Gui was frightened by the scene and tried to intervene, but before her hand could reach her, Mother Fang spat at her: “Pah! Don’t you pretend to be kind! I don’t think you’re any good either!”
Spit sprayed all over her face, and Yu Gui was stunned. She watched as Fang Zhiyou was beaten by her mom, yet remained indifferent and didn’t fight back. She even held her head down, apologizing to the teacher.
The homeroom teacher finally put down the teacup and spoke earnestly, “Fang Zhiyou, we’ve all heard about your expulsion from the city middle school. Initially, we weren’t planning on accepting you, but…”
She glanced at Mother Fang, “Your mom insisted on getting you into school, begged the teachers for a long, long time. You have a good mother. You must listen to your mother and listen to the teachers, understand?”
“Yes, yes, yes, thank you for your hard work, teacher,” Mother Fang couldn’t stop smiling apologetically and pressed her head down to bow to the teacher.
Only then did the homeroom teacher feel satisfied and let them go. Mother Fang yanked her by the backpack strap and shoved her out. As they passed by, Yu Gui softly called out, “Zhiyou…”
The other didn’t look back and gradually disappeared down the corridor.
When she pulled herself out of the dream, it was already broad daylight. Fang Zhiyou was not in bed. Yu Gui suddenly woke up and sat up: “Zhiyou?!”
There was the sound of the door opening. Fang Zhiyou came in carrying breakfast and touched her forehead: “Finally, the fever’s gone down.”
Yu Gui pulled her hand down and nestled into her arms: “Zhiyou, stay with me, okay?”
Her voice was muffled, sounding quite unhappy.
Faced with such a request, she could only respond with silence, feeling powerless.
As time slowly slipped away, Fang Zhiyou noticed that her chest seemed to be getting a bit damp. She gently lifted Yu Gui’s head and planted a kiss.
“Alright, I rarely come to Jinzhou. Won’t you take me out for some fun?”
Yu Gui wiped away her tears and nodded: “There are lots of delicious foods in Jinzhou. I’ll take you to try them.”
Fang Zhiyou tapped her forehead: “Little foodie.”
Yu Gui stuck out her tongue and began to get dressed: “Turn around.”
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She pulled the blanket up, revealing just her face, which was adorably small.
Fang Zhiyou laughed and reached out to tease her: “It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”
“Hey, don’t move! Ah! Annoying!” The narrow little bed became a mess, and both of them were panting. But the moment the blanket was lifted, Fang Zhiyou’s head buzzed. A pair of snow-white little bunnies were pressed together, and their tips trembled in the cold wind.
She licked her lips, and only one thought filled her mind: Kiss her, right now.
So, the planned visit to the scenic spot and the delicious foods remained unvisited and uneaten. The time was just enough to spend a wonderful afternoon together and to share a bowl of fried rice noodles by the station, head to head.
Fang Zhiyou stood on the platform to say goodbye, and Yu Gui kept looking back at her every three steps.
The train announcement echoed: “The K261 train bound for Zengcheng is about to depart. Please check if your ticket matches this train. Friends seeing off passengers, please get off the train…”
“Zhiyou!” Yu Gui suddenly shouted.
She turned around and caught her as she came running, tears streaming down her face.
“I can’t bear to leave you…” Yu Gui sobbed, barely able to catch her breath. Who knows when they would see each other again after this farewell?
She first understood the meaning of parting when she got accepted into Jinzhou University. Fang Zhiyou had worked hard with her for three years but still didn’t make it.
On the day she received the acceptance letter, she cried for a long time on the playground. Fang Zhiyou came to find her: “I just didn’t pass the exam, it’s not like we’re breaking up.”
She looked up at her, her eyes red, like a little rabbit.
Fang Zhiyou ruffled her hair: “I’ll repeat a year and then come find you.”
Fang Zhiyou ruffled her hair again: “Be good, go back. I’ll work hard, save money, and come see you whenever I can.”
The scenes overlapped in time, and Yu Gui almost couldn’t stop crying.
The train whistle blew, and Fang Zhiyou gently pushed her away: “Close your eyes and count to three.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
She opened her eyes. Fang Zhiyou jumped onto the train, and as it started moving, Yu Gui felt a large emptiness in her heart, and the tears wouldn’t stop falling.
She turned around, not wanting her to see her in such a miserable state, and tried desperately to swallow her tears.
Her phone screen lit up with three big words: “I love you.”
It was late at night, and there weren’t many people around the train station. The small stall where they had just eaten fried rice noodles was about to close. She walked over and bought another serving.
The stall owner, seeing her red eyes, didn’t say much. She just added an extra egg when she served it.
“This… I… I didn’t ask for an egg…” Yu Gui fumbled for some change in her pocket to give to the owner.
The stall owner declined. She looked to be in her early thirties, but her face was already etched with lines from life’s hardships. Yet her smile was unwavering: “It’s okay, it’s okay. Young lady, finish eating and go home quickly. It’s getting late, and my husband is coming to help me close up.”
As she was speaking, a man arrived on a tricycle to help the stall owner load the tables and chairs onto the vehicle. Yu Gui quickly stood up: “Then… I’ll take it to-go!”
Holding the still-warm rice noodles, she boarded the last subway train heading to Renji Medical University. Because of this small act of kindness from a stranger, she felt a bit better and took out her phone to send a message to Fang Zhiyou.
Yu Gui: “Where are you now?”
Zhiyou: “I won’t arrive until tomorrow morning.”
The green train may be cheap, but it couldn’t compare to the comfort and speed of high-speed rail.
Yu Gui held her phone and suddenly didn’t know how to reply. She typed and deleted a few lines, and then chatted with Fang Zhiyou in a somewhat disjointed manner.
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Until she returned to the hospital, the brightly lit emergency center.
The ambulance was quietly parked in the parking lot, and there were hardly any people left in the outpatient building. She put her phone into her pocket, took a deep breath, and walked in.
It seemed that every meeting with Zhiyou could bring immense strength to her heart. Those things she used to find unbearable, those times she thought she couldn’t persist, as long as she thought of her face, thought of her warmth, she could grit her teeth and try again.
Whether in the past or now, it was Fang Zhiyou who gave her the courage to face everything.
She decided to go apologize to Dr. Sun. She was an adult and needed to take responsibility for her actions, but that didn’t mean she agreed with what he had said. Similarly, he was also an adult and needed to face the consequences of his actions.
“Hey~ isn’t this the new—Yu Gui! Decided to come back? How was it playing with your little lover…” As soon as she stepped into the emergency observation room, Hao Renjie came up with a gossipy look.
Yu Gui didn’t have time for his banter: “Move aside! Where’s Dr. Sun?”
The head nurse immediately threw down her pen upon hearing this: “Hey, Yu Gui, don’t push your luck. Dr. Sun has already been suspended, and you’re still fixated on giving him trouble?”
????
What is going on????
Yu Gui was completely baffled. Hao Renjie shrugged, indicating he had nothing to say.
After a while, Yu Gui kept chasing after him, asking incessantly. He finally got fed up, pointed towards the office with a flamboyant gesture: “Fine! Go ask your Teacher Lu yourself!”
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