The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful (translated)

chapter 14

In the silence of the dawn, a fake sense of calmness settled over the world at large.

Chen Nian put on her school uniform, combing her hair till her dark strands of hair fell around her like a neat curtain. Seating herself by the table, she began to eat the steamed pudding on the table.

She seemed as though she had forgotten everything that had happened to her. She acted so normally, it was abnormal.

"Must you go to school?" Bei Ye asked.

"Yes." Chen Nian's calm and slow voice rang out, "There's no way for me to, take a leave of absence."

"There are still some injuries on your face."

"I'll say that I was bitten by a centipede, that's why my face is swollen." She was still extremely quiet – so quiet that she resembled a body of stale water.

Bei Ye didn't respond. All this while, he only let Chen Nian gaze at his side profile, stubbornly refusing to let her look into his eyes.

But Chen Nian knew.

Last night, he hugged her the entire time, his tears falling onto her eyes as his body was wracked with silent sobs. He had stopped at several intervals, but it wasn't long before his tears would begin to flow once more.

"Let's go." Chen Nian gently held his hand.

In the darkness of the night, she had also held onto his hand. Last night, when it seemed as though she was deep in sleep, Bei Ye stealthily began to get up from the bed – however, before he could even sit up, Chen Nian had already tightly grabbed his hand. She knew what he wanted to do, and she refused to allow him to leave.

On the way to school, Chen Nian once again told Bei Ye in all seriousness that he wasn't allowed to go looking for revenge. Chen Nian told Bei Ye hthat she knew a police officer, and that she would report the incident to the police. She even told Bei Ye that he couldn't let anything happen to him, that he had promised her previously that he would always stay by her side.

Bei Ye simply grunted once, to signify his agreement.

Subsequently, the two youths lapsed into silence, each troubled by their own respective worries.

The graduation exam was about to arrive. It was time to make that one final push. The students busied themselves with their revision and failed to notice Chen Nian's red and swollen face. When Xiao Mi saw Chen Nian, she was extremely shocked – but with Chen Nian's explanation, Xiao Mi's initial shock subsided, and she chattered to Chen Nian, "I was bitten by a poisonous spider when I was young. At that time, my forehead swelled into a huge lump, and I looked exactly like the peach immortal!"

Chen Nian couldn't focus on Xiao Mi's chatter – she didn't know what Bei Ye was doing right now. She knew that Bei Ye would definitely be out looking for Wei Cai. and she hoped fervently that he wouldn't be able to find her. Before Wei Cai left yesterday, she had whispered to Chen Nian that she would come to look for her sometime soon.

Chen Nian stayed in her seat the entire day, burying her head in her books so as to prevent others from looking at her face. When Li Xiang came by her desk and began talking to Zeng Hao, she lowered her head even further, refusing to join the conversation. Thankfully, the pile of books on her desk was able to easily block her face from his line of sight.

Xiao Mi understood Chen Nian's thoughts, and quietly sat beside Chen Nian, choosing not take the initiative to converse with other students. Once in a while, however, she would make small talk with Chen Nian.

"Oh right, Titanic 3D just came out recently!"

Chen Nian answered slowly, "It's probably really difficult to get tickets, isn't it?"