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Seventh Period (1)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
When he’d gone back to Pingjiang to attend high school, he’d precisely stayed at 23 Xiping Road.
Unexpectedly, after going around in a circle, he ended up returning here again.
Zhou Yanli’s dad was the only child in his family, and he was also his dad’s only child.
His treatment at home, one can easily imagine.
Going back a few pages in the Zhou family’s ancestral records, for several generations, they were all capitalists that only cared for profit.
But Zhou Yanli was undoubtedly fortunate. In this ice-cold family that only values their own interests, even if his mom wasn’t liked, he nevertheless still obtained complete indulgence at home.
Whenever he got into fights or caused trouble, only his dad would scold and reprimand him.
His grandfather and grandmother greatly spoiled him, this precious grandson of theirs, using money to clear the way for him every time, blocking those people’s mouths.
Even though his grandfather and grandmother urged his father countless times to remarry, they also made it clear that all the assets in their family would go to Zhou Yanli alone. Others have no right to touch it, even if Zhou Jinwei remarries, and even if he has another son with his new wife.
No one dared to go against the Zhou family, let alone the fact that Zhou Yanli was even the sole heir of the Zhou family.
Living with the privileges of status and money, he became increasingly willful.
This was also one of the reasons why Jinwei moved out with Zhou Yanli.
Continuing like this in the long run, Zhou Yanli will sooner or later go astray amidst such pampering and indulgence.
He was busy with work, having no time to keep an eye on him, yet in this world, only he alone was capable of keeping him under control.
Seeing Zhou Yanli absentmindedly in a daze, Jiang Huihui asked him what was wrong.
Zhou Yanli waved his hand and said it was nothing, even sending her to the bus stop.
There were fewer buses at night, having to wait for more than ten minutes before one showed up. Zhou Yanli had her backpack handed to her.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
He watched her get on the bus, not forgetting to remind her, “Directly go home when you get to your stop. Don’t randomly run around, understand?”
There were a lot of people on the bus. This shout of his successfully made everyone look towards Jiang Huihui.
Those words like instructing a child also successfully made her turn red. She hurriedly said, “I know.”
Afterwards, she buried her head, randomly finding a seat to sit in.
Even through the glass window of the bus, one could see her with her head down covering her face in embarrassment.
Zhou Yanli possessed a kind of vibrant youthful energy. It was obvious that he has never suffered hardships before, having gotten protected well. He was sunny and confident, even having a bit of childish swagger.
Jiang Huihui secretly glanced at him. He was standing in the snow, his figure tall and upright, with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs. He had the vigor and charm befitting of a seventeen year old boy.
Under his coat was the school uniform, his backpack casually hanging from his shoulder.
He had an American crew cut, but his excellent bone structure completely didn’t need any embellishment from his hairstyle.
The bus drove away. His eyes followed it as he waved goodbye to her. The smile on his lips was bold and unruly, yet also a bit doting.
Clearly, the streetlight was very far from where he was standing, yet he was like as if carrying his own glow, very eye-catching.
Jiang Huihui stared at him, feeling it was somewhat unbelievable.
Such a radiant and dazzling person actually said that he was her son.
After the bus had gone far, Zhou Yanli finally retracted his gaze and sat down on the long bench behind him.
Even now, he still feels that this was a dream, a dream to make up for the motherly love that he’d lost.
Jiang Huihui was indeed a bit different from the mother he’d imagined. Growing up, his dad very rarely talked about his mom with him. Occasionally when mentioning, it was also when he was drunk.
Majority of the times, his dad would just silently sit there, lighting cigarettes one after another.
Zhou Jinwei would always absentmindedly stare at his mouth in a daze.
Zhou Yanli had seen the pictures. On his entire face, the only place that resembled his mom was just this mouth.
He perhaps was also thinking of her, his longing even stronger and deeper than his.
That man was stern and solemn, powerful and cold. That’s why, others would say that he didn’t have feelings for his mom. Zhou Yanli also once believed this.
Now that he had seen that vibrant life appear before him, she was no longer an ice-cold photo in a frame.
She was timid, meek, and easily embarrassed, yet also possessed a kind of unique resilience. Clearly, his words were incredibly absurd. She perhaps didn’t believe him, but she still chose to accept him.
It was like having a kind of special trait, that innate trust a mother has for her child.
Born from the flesh, ingrained into the bone and blood.
As the setting sun sank in the west, Zhou Yanli stared at that touch of warm yellow in the distant horizon, suddenly feeling incomparably relaxed in this moment.
At least it wasn’t like what those people said.
His mom was a very cute and very kind girl.
–
A bus stopped across the street. It was the return route.
It just happened to be a green light. Someone was heading this way on the crosswalk.
It was a young girl in her school uniform, her hair tied in a high ponytail. She ran before him, her backpack even sliding down to her forearm. As she tried to catch her breath, she had it adjusted back onto her shoulder.
Zhou Yanli blanked, surprised by her sudden appearance, “Why did you come back?”
Jiang Huihui looked at the injuries on his face, her voice soft, “I’m still……a bit worried.”
“Worried about what?”
“Your injuries.” Looking at it up close, she discovered that it was even more swollen than during the day. Just now, she’d been thinking about it the whole way on the bus. If they don’t properly treat it, it will only get worse.
The bus just happened to arrive at this time, stopping right in front of them. There were passengers waiting to get on.
To avoid blocking them, Jiang Huihui pulled the somewhat stunned Zhou Yanli away from there, “There’s a drug store up ahead.”
Zhou Yanli obediently let her take his hand as they headed towards the drug store.
A good while later, he finally returned to his senses.
He lowered his head to look at the girl walking in front of him. She wasn’t tall, much shorter than him. When looking at her, he had to look down, even able to see the whorl on the top of her head. There was only one.
Heard that those with just one hair whorl were all very obedient.
She was also very obedient.
The nurse inside helped applied the medicine for him. Jiang Huihui watched as she bared her teeth in a grimace, as if the injuries were on her.
She asked the nurse to be a bit more gentle, also asking him if it hurt.
The boy was 188cm tall, completely ruthless when beating up people normally; fighting one against ten wasn’t a problem at all.
Yet, at this time, he was pulling a girl’s sleeve, acting pitiful and saying it hurts.
Jiang Huihui thought for a moment and took out a piece of candy from her bag, removing the wrapper and feeding it to him, “Eat something sweet, and it won’t hurt anymore.”
A clumsy way to coax a child.
Zhou Yanli didn’t like eating sweets. Normally, any dish with the slightest bit of sweetness, he all won’t eat.
This while, an entire piece of candy got shoved into his mouth. However, that overly sweet taste that was almost sickening wasn’t that unbearable.
He had the candy pressed against his left cheek, “Your backpack is that heavy because you’re carrying around this kind of thing?”
She murmured, “Of course not. There’s just one left. It’s very expensive.”
Seeing her treasuring it that much, he said in amusement, “This expensive, yet still willing to give it to me?”
She pursed her lips, holding her backpack and not saying a word.
Zhou Yanli slightly narrowed his eyes, teasing her, “I’m this important to you?”
She buried her head even more. Although not directly admitting, her reaction at this time was just like a kind of tacit acknowledgement.
His body leaned back, lazily sitting on the chair. His coat and backpack were currently both in Jiang Huihui’s arms.
She hesitated for a long while, finally opening her mouth again, “How do you feel now?”
He crushed the candy in his mouth, “Feel quite good.”
“Your wound doesn’t hurt anymore?” This ointment’s effect was this good? Immediately not hurting after applying it?
“Not talking about the wound.”
Jiang Huihui was puzzled. Then what was he talking about?
“I mean, the feeling of having a mom to dote on me is quite nice.”
The nearby nurse: “……..”
She’d finally finished applying the medicine. She couldn’t wait to get away from this place. What was wrong with high schoolers nowadays, not caring about the time and place when it comes to flirting.
His appearance was quite pleasing to the eyes, just his behavior was too clingy.
Even playing around this wildly, already calling mom.
She had the cotton swab thrown into the trash can and mentioned the things to keep in mind, afterwards saying, “Later, just directly go to the front counter to pay.”
Jiang Huihui thanked the nurse and then looked left and right at Zhou Yanli’s face, “What the nurse said just now, do you have it all memorized?”
“Nope. She was saying it to you, shouldn’t it be you memorizing it?” He shamelessly said.
“I do have it memorized, but you…….” She helplessly sighed, “Forget it, I’ll help you reapply the medicine when you come to school.”
Zhou Yanli suppressed the smile on his lips, pretending to be hurt again, saying that his shoulder hurts too. It can’t be that it was an internal injury left behind from yesterday’s beating?
Jiang Huihui immediately had a nervous look, reaching out to tug his clothes, wanting to check.
There was heating inside the store, and for the sake of applying the medicine, he’d taken off his coat earlier.
There was just a hoodie inside.
With Jiang Huihui tugging like this, she directly had the collar tugged crooked, revealing a large section of his neck and shoulder.
He wasn’t good at studying, but he excelled in sports, normally either on the ball court or in the gym, even getting into fights every other day. The muscles on his body were firm and sturdy.
Zhou Yanli didn’t expect that she would suddenly do this, thus also freezing in place.
“What are you two doing?” A deep male voice broke this silence.
It was Zhou Jinwei.
Pingjiang High School maintains strict discipline; students must wear the school uniform, even in winter.
But Zhou Jinwei seemed to have special privileges. Jiang Huihui hardly ever saw him wearing the school uniform.
Strictly speaking, they also very rarely run into each other in school.
The distance between the two school buildings was vast like the social gap between them.
Zhou Jinwei walked over, his gaze very indifferent.
His eyes landed on that hand clutching Zhou Yanli’s collar, as well as the shoulder under the collar.
Jiang Huihui let go. Worrying that he will misunderstand, she stammeringly explained, “I-it’s not what you think.”
The scene just now was indeed too awful, a bit like an innocent young boy from a respectable family getting taken advantage of.
Zhou Jinwei didn’t speak, his gaze still on them.
He had a pair of extremely intimidating eyes. Actually, that pair of eyes were very pretty. It was a pair of relatively typical peach-blossom eyes.
If he was a bit more gentle, just a bit more gentle, then the passion in that pair of eyes would be more than enough to make everyone all drown in them.
But, he always had a cold and aloof look. This caused those admirers to both love and fear him.
Jiang Huihui wasn’t one of them. She only has fear towards him.
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