The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful (translated)

chapter 22

The sky was a brilliant shade of red and orange as the setting sun cast its amber rays over the cloudless sky. The gentle evening breeze grazed the thick foliage of the mulberry trees, causing the tree leaves to rustle restlessly.

Bei Ye sat on the swing, his eyes inevitably following Chen Nian's tiny figure as she swept the fallen leaves from the abandoned grounds of the steel mill.

"I noticed that, an object is missing from the drawer beneath the basin," Chen Nian asked uncertainly, "They said, Wei Cai had been ......, but I suspect that she wasn't. Did you, perhaps, use that object ......"

Bei Ye raised his eyes to meet Chen Nian's gaze. The two youths fell into silence.

Bei Ye bit onto his lower lip gently. After some time, he spoke up, "In any event ...... I subsequently discovered that Wei Cai had truly been raped. That day, after you injured her with the knife, Wei Cai was subdued by the raincoat man who had been stalking her, and raped."

Chen Nian gripped the broom tightly, "Are you speaking, the truth?"

"It's Lai Zi." That day, Chen Nian tensed up unnaturally upon seeing Lai Zi. At that very moment, Bei Ye realised that Lai Zi could have been amongst the group of males who bullied and hurt Chen Nian that night along with Wei Cai. "I've broken off all contact with Lai Zi. He has now fled to the other districts. The previous two cases of rape were also committed by him."

Chen Nian remained silent.

"Don't you remember? There were a few times when I had to help him to clean up his mess. Once, you were even at my house when he reached out to me for help."

"He was the one who murdered Wei Cai?" Chen Nian asked hesitantly, the suspicion unmistakeable in her voice.

"Yes."

Chen Nian's brows furrowed together slightly;

Bei Ye rose from the swing. Walking over to Chen Nian, he grazed his fingers over her cheeks. Chen Nian gazed at him silently, her brows gradually unknotting themselves. Lowering his head, Bei Ye cupped her face gently in his hands and whispered in a ow voice, "You must believe this – that you didn't kill anybody. That everything would turn out fine."

Chen Nian shivered quietly, "I didn't kill anybody."

"That's right. You didn't."

"You didn't too either, did you?"

Chen Nian stared at him obstinately. Bei Ye broke into a gentle smile, and gave a small, gentle nod.

But Chen Nian's heart remained clouded with worries and fears. She knew that Bei Ye was hiding something from her, that it wasn't anything good, and that it was a disastrous piece of news. She believed in Bei Ye, but at the same time, she felt that he wasn't being entirely truthful with her, and that his reassurances were filled with truths and lies. However, she had no way of differentiating which parts were true, and which parts were lies.

She was overcome with a strange sense of uneasiness, just like he was.

After all, they were still two young, immature youths – they were afraid and fearful of the uncertain future. And yet, like the fields of wild grass who struggled to live despite the harsh conditions and lack of care, they would simply grit their teeth and struggle through what was to come.

That evening, the two youths clambered onto the window sill, hopped onto the cement ledge and sprinted up the emergency stairwell. On reaching the rooftop, the two youths sat side by side on the edge of the roof, their feet dangling beneath them as they gazed at the innumerable households in Xi Cheng. The sun had already dipped beyond the horizon, its remnant glow gradually fading away.