Jiang Shu’s parents divorced when he was in fourth grade.
Neither of them wanted to raise a burden, so they left Jiang Shu with his elderly grandmother in the countryside.
When Jiang Shu was in his second year of middle school, his grandmother passed away, and his uncle took him to the city.
Jiang Shu’s uncle ran a small noodle shop in the city. Because hiring help was expensive there, his uncle had never been willing to hire anyone, the whole family worked in the shop themselves.
As it happened, with Jiang Shu’s grandmother gone and his middle school located in the city, his uncle’s family taking him in made it convenient for him to attend school. He didn’t even have to board at school, saving a considerable sum of money.
After school, Jiang Shu could also go to the noodle shop to help out.
It all sounded nice, but his aunt was not a kind woman. She was the one who made all the decisions, big and small, in the household.
So Jiang Shu’s two years living at his uncle’s home were far from pleasant.
Before, at his grandmother’s, he could at least eat his fill and have a hot meal.
After finishing the farm work for his grandmother, he even had time to go out and play.
At New Year, his grandmother would buy him a new piece of clothing not any big brand, but it was warm.
But now, at his uncle’s house, Jiang Shu had to rush to the noodle shop to work the moment school let out, laboring until late at night. Only after the shop closed would his aunt bring out food for him to eat.
On school days it was manageable, in the mornings he could grab two steamed buns and sneak them into his backpack.
When the shop was quiet, he would hide in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras and eat them, so he wouldn’t suffer too much from hunger.
Saturdays and Sundays were the hardest for Jiang Shu. On weekends the shop had far more customers than usual, and he was kept busy without a moment’s rest.
The food his aunt gave him at night was meager not enough for a growing teenager.
But his aunt was always convinced that Jiang Shu must be sneaking food while working in the shop, so there was no need to leave him much to eat in the evening.
So every weekend, Jiang Shu fell asleep gritting his teeth through the hunger.
New clothes or everyday necessities were even more out of the question. Whatever Jiang Shu had brought with him to his uncle’s house two years ago was all he had two years later.
When he started his third year of middle school, his aunt didn’t want him to continue his education and refused to pay his tuition.
Fortunately, his grandmother, fearing exactly this might happen, had set aside his school fees before she died and left them in Jiang Shu’s care.
Jiang Shu kept the money safe, and when school started, he secretly paid the tuition himself that was the only reason he could keep attending school.
When his aunt found out, a vicious beating was inevitable.
Once the beatings started, they never stopped. From then on, being beaten at his uncle’s house became a regular occurrence for Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu ranked first in the entire province in his third-year exams, and every high school wanted him. But his aunt, afraid that if he went somewhere far away he wouldn’t come back to help out, chose No. 13 Middle School for him.
Jiang Shu didn’t care as long as he could go to school, he was content.
Later, through his own ability, Jiang Shu was directly admitted to C University on recommendation, and he could work part-time jobs to earn his own living expenses.
In university, Jiang Shu was too insecure to make friends and buried himself in his studies. When people spoke to him, he wouldn’t respond. Over time, his standing in class grew worse and worse.
Jiang Shu had actually thought about fighting back, he’d done it back in middle school.
When people mocked him for having no mom or dad, Jiang Shu couldn’t take it and got into a fight with them.
Because he never got enough to eat, he was small and thin, and he was knocked to the ground almost instantly.
Afterward, the kid dragged his parents to the noodle shop demanding an explanation.
The best “explanation” turned out to be dragging Jiang Shu out and beating him brutally and it only stopped because the other kid’s parents couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
After that beating, Jiang Shu couldn’t get out of bed for days, and no one brought him any food.
He just endured it, forcing himself through until he could finally get up.
That memory was painful, and it taught Jiang Shu clearly that there was no one behind him, no one at all.
Putting on this set of clothes gave Jiang Shu a strange, dazed feeling.
How long had it been since he’d felt this kind of warmth? It had only been a few years, yet it felt like a whole lifetime.
Those years had been so bitterly hard that even this tiny bit of warmth brought tears to his eyes.
Jiang Shu couldn’t help sniffing the clothes. The smell of new clothes wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it still filled him with joy.
Tears fell drop by drop. Not wanting to dirty the clothes, Jiang Shu only wiped them away bit by bit with his hand.
Once he’d calmed down, he left the classroom and returned to his own class.
Not long after Jiang Shu came back, the bell rang for the end of class.
Ling An lay sprawled on his desk, completely unmoved, as if in a deep sleep.
Normally the classroom would be noisy the moment class ended, but this time it was different, the room had gone eerily quiet, and no one dared wake Ling An.
Except, of course, for a few clueless ones.
That group came barging in, loud and rowdy.
“Heh heh, that pretty girl is actually their class’s campus beauty. And did you see their class president? He actually tried to play the hero.”
“Exactly, I just gave him one kick and he instantly turned into a quail. Hahahaha!”
“He should be thankful the boss wasn’t around and it was just us he ran into, otherwise he wouldn’t even know how he died.”
“…”
Just as the group was chatting happily, someone suddenly noticed Jiang Shu sitting in the corner.
They automatically ignored Ling An, who was sleeping beside him.
With a loud “Yo!” they started jeering, their voices grating and unpleasant, making Ling An unconsciously furrow his brow.
“Yo, Jiang Shu, how come you’re wearing new clothes? Never seen you in those before. You didn’t steal them, did you?”
“No… they’re not stolen.”
“What was that, Jiang Shu? Come over here, we can’t hear a word you’re saying.”
“Yeah, don’t stand so far away. We’re all friends here, it’s no fun if you stand that far off.”
“That’s right, that’s right. And here we thought of you as a friend, yet you don’t take us seriously at all. No wonder you have no friends.”
The group kept egging each other on. Jiang Shu stole a glance at Ling An, saw that he was still lying face down, and felt a chill in his heart.
Honestly, being bullied wasn’t anything new wasn’t he used to it by now? What had he been hoping for? Wasn’t Ling An just like them anyway?
Swallowing his disappointment, Jiang Shu stood up and walked toward them step by step.
Seeing Jiang Shu approach, a fat kid shoved right up into his face, nearly knocking him to the ground.
Jiang Shu staggered and barely managed to steady himself.
Then he heard the fat kid say, “Hey, bookworm, where’d you get those clothes? You didn’t steal them, did you? I remember I was missing a set of gym clothes turns out you took them. Come on, take them off and give them back now.”
Hearing this, Jiang Shu hurriedly explained, “No, it wasn’t stolen, it was, ah!”
Before Jiang Shu could finish speaking, he was kicked hard in the knee, forcing him straight down onto the ground. The pain in his knee left him unable to get up for a moment.