Youth: You’re my Redemption
Chapter 7: No One is You (3)
The last heavy rainstorm at the end of summer in 2004 was the first thunderstorm night in Qin Lou’s life that didn’t drive him mad.
The devil, emerging from the nightmare hell of his memories, howled and wandered unwillingly in front of his window, repeatedly trying to drag him back into that abyss of despair and fear. However, each time, another voice blocked it in his ears—
That voice said, “I am here.”
Qin Lou couldn’t count how many times Song Shu said it that night, probably more than all the words she had said before combined, over and over, tirelessly.
It was also his first peaceful sleep without nightmares, and in his dreams, he saw a different place—not that abandoned, dilapidated backyard, not those dark, man-eating metal barrels, not those demons with childlike faces waving iron rods and striking him, not the nightmare of the thunderstorm night where he tore everything apart, including himself, yet couldn’t escape.
For the first time, he dreamt of the lawn outside the orphanage’s front door. He lay on it, and the sunlight soothed every inch of his burning wounds, embracing him with its warmth.
Even though the wounds hurt, even though moving slightly would tear them open and cause blood to flow.
He still reached out and tightly held onto his light.
He didn’t want to let go, even if it killed him.
—I am here.
—Then please always be here. Never leave.
—Two years after Song Shu moved into the Qin household, everyone associated with the Qin family was spreading this rumor.
The girl was really strange because she was quiet, didn’t like to talk, and showed little expression.
Most importantly, and most strangely, she wasn’t afraid of Qin Lou.
“She actually isn’t afraid of Qin Lou”—every person spreading the rumor would add this sentence, ideally with a rising tone at the end, to sufficiently convey their inner shock.
In fact, the servants in Qin Lou’s mansion knew better: describing Song Shu’s attitude toward Qin Lou as merely “not afraid” was a significant understatement.
In these two years, Qin Lou and Song Shu both entered the affiliated junior high school of No. 2 High School. It took Qin Lou only a couple of days to become a “legendary figure” whose fame reached even the senior high school students.
The reasons included but were not limited to:
At the entrance ceremony, standing in the front row and “bathing” in the saliva of the school leaders on stage, he spun a six-sided Rubik’s cube rapidly in his hands. When an exasperated teacher called him out, he ignored the teacher and quickly solved the Rubik’s cube, then handed it to the girl next to him. The scene of the teacher fuming on stage while the boy grinned at the girl was captured by a school newspaper reporter and circulated privately throughout the school.
In the first math class, he engaged in a debate with the math teacher, who initially intended to intimidate the students. Starting from the proof of “why the sum of the lengths of two sides of a triangle is greater than the length of the third side, and the difference of the lengths of two sides is less than the length of the third side,” the discussion extended to the “rotational symmetry of triple integrals.” The result was the math teacher stormed out of the classroom red-faced and furious, leaving the students cheering and pounding on their desks in celebration of the “victory,” even though they didn’t understand a word.
Incidents like these were numerous.
Eventually, the school and the Qin family negotiated, with the school sincerely expressing that “a child with such talent coming to our school is truly an honor we cannot bear.” The result was a “win-win” agreement where Qin Lou would not need to attend school except for major exams and activities he wished to participate in, yet he would still be able to graduate smoothly and advance to the senior high school.
The most dissatisfied with this “win-win” result were probably the servants in Qin Lou’s mansion, who dared not voice their anger.
Song Shu’s arrival had significantly reduced Qin Lou’s unpredictable outbursts. Even during occasional thunderstorm nights, the servants no longer had to fear those terrifying scenes and sounds. However, the trade-off was that whenever Song Shu was not at the mansion, such as when she was at school, Qin Lou’s temper was much more prone to explosive episodes.
For example, today.
A black sedan screeched to a halt in front of the mansion. The servant, who had been anxiously pacing like an ant on a hot pan, rushed forward without waiting for the car to park properly.
The driver’s door opened, and the driver stepped out.
“Did you get her?”
“She’s here, she’s here.” The driver, urged by the servants, opened the back door.
The girl, with her backpack on, had just stepped out when a servant grabbed her hand. “Shushu, you’re finally back. We were about to die waiting.”
“The teacher held us late…”
The girl didn’t get to finish her sentence before the servant was already dragging her into the mansion.
“Let’s talk about this later. The young master has been restless all morning. Please hurry up and ‘save us,’ little ancestor!”
“…”
As the two figures, one big and one small, disappeared, the driver who had picked up Song Shu parked the car and got out, still a bit uneasy.
He asked the person trimming the lawn nearby, “Did the young master throw another fit today?”
The person smiled wryly, “I’ve been here trimming the lawn all morning. What do you think?”
“Sigh. Only Song Shu can handle the young master’s temper.”
“That’s right. Without this little ancestor, I don’t know how we’d manage.”
“But Song Shu is, after all, Miss Bai’s daughter. She can’t stay with the young master forever. And even young children grow up. If she ever wants to leave someday, the young master’s temperament—”
At this point, the two of them exchanged a glance and fell silent. Neither finished the sentence.
As Song Shu stepped into the foyer of the outer building, a crisp sound of a vase shattering echoed from the hall.
The servant following her flinched.
Song Shu, however, showed no reaction. She blinked, her expression and actions calm and quiet, as she changed her shoes and walked inside.
The servant instinctively wanted to pull her back but quickly let go of the thought.
Entering the hall, she saw a scene of chaos.
The servant who had been standing in the corner, too afraid to intervene, brightened up as if seeing a savior when he spotted Song Shu. He desperately gave her meaningful looks.
Song Shu walked in.
Without asking questions or making a fuss, she walked straight to the boy sitting on the armrest of the sofa and stopped. Then she took off her backpack, pulled out a six-sided Rubik’s cube, and handed it to the boy.
The boy has another vase in his hand. He was in a dilemma—should he smash it or put it down. He glanced over with a stiff expression and spoke in a hard tone.
The girl didn’t answer, just raised the Rubik’s cube slightly.
The servants in the corner watched anxiously. They saw their young master’s handsome face tense for a few seconds before he finally put the vase down and took the Rubik’s cube.
The servants collectively sighed in relief.
The cube clicked and clacked as it turned, bringing sound back to the living room.
Song Shu glanced at the armrest where Qin Lou was sitting and then sat down on it as well. She quietly watched Qin Lou play with the Rubik’s cube and asked in a calm voice, “Why are you angry?”
“…” The cube got stuck, then resumed turning. “He wants me to skip a grade and go to the high school division.”
“He” referred to Mr. Qin Liang, and Song Shu understood without needing an explanation.
Song Shu asked, “You don’t want to go?”
“Of course not.”
“Why?”
Qin Lou didn’t answer immediately. He frowned, looked up at her briefly, and then lowered his head to continue turning the cube. “Because you’re in the junior high division.”
“You can’t attend school anyway.”
“…” The Rubik’s cube got stuck again. This time, the person playing with it used a bit too much force, nearly twisting off a layer of the fragile six-sided cube.
The servants in the corner held their breath again, almost fainting from the tension. Only Song Shu dared to speak so frankly in front of their young master; anyone else would have been carried out immediately.
Not only was Song Shu not thrown out, but when Qin Lou paused, she even poked the Rubik’s cube with her fingertip.
Her small face remained expressionless, and her tone was equally flat. “Too slow.”
It wasn’t a complaint, just flat and emotionless, enough to infuriate someone.
“I’m still faster than you,” the boy sneered. “You’ve been trying to learn for years and still can’t do it, so dumb.”
The boy’s attitude was bad, but he obediently lowered his head and quickened his pace in solving the cube, unaware of how compliant he was being.
Song Shu didn’t get angry at all. She kept her expression blank and nodded, “Because you’re smart, that’s why Grandpa Qin wants you to go to the high school division.”
One of Song Shu’s biggest improvements after two years in the Qin family was learning to address people properly.
Qin Lou: “I’m not going.”
Song Shu thought for a moment. “Hmm. Then don’t go.”
The servants in the corner: “…”
Luckily, Song Shu was there to calm him down, not to persuade him. Otherwise, Mr. Qin might have been angry enough to breakdown.
The Rubik’s cube was finally solved, and the boy’s emotions settled down as well. The servants relaxed and began to clean up the mess in the living room.
Qin Lou and Song Shu headed upstairs together.
“Shushu—”
“What did you just call her?” the boy suddenly turned around, frowning, and asked the servant who had spoken.
“Shu… Shushu?”
“Who gave you permission to call her that?”
“…” The servant was taken aback, and after a long pause, he awkwardly smiled, “Shushu has been with us for over two years. We’ve always called her that.”
“Starting today, you are not allowed to call her that.”
“—?”
The servant could hardly believe his ears, but the young master had already taken the girl upstairs.
The two went to the study on the second floor.
The midday sunlight was shining beautifully, with the curtains of the large floor-to-ceiling windows drawn open, letting the lazy sunlight pour in.
The study was divided into two areas. One was Song Shu’s, filled with artworks and books from various schools of art; the other was Qin Lou’s, with stacked bookshelves full of advanced mathematical texts.
Usually, once they entered the study, they each engaged in their own activities.
But today, upon entering, Qin Lou paused and turned to look at Song Shu. “Draw a picture for me.”
Song Shu didn’t quite understand what he meant.
Qin Lou pointed to himself, “Draw me.”
“…”
After he spoke, Qin Lou saw the girl, who rarely showed any expression, very slowly, like a little sloth, gradually furrow her brows.
This annoyed Qin Lou greatly.
Before he could express his anger, the girl nodded.
“Okay.”
“…”
Qin Lou’s anger dissipated immediately, and he even felt a bit cheerful.
“Make it look nice.”
He returned to his section of the room, filled with bookshelves that could bury ten of him, and took out a book. With a subconscious smile, he stared at it for two minutes before snapping out of it. You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
Why was he smiling?
For the first time in his life, Qin Lou, with an IQ of over 160, suspected he might be an idiot.
Half an hour later, Song Shu walked over with her sketchbook.
Qin Lou put down the heavy book in his hands.
To him, the contents of these books were somewhat long-winded. Things that could be explained in one sentence were stretched into several pages—he believed this was why he had been distracted for half an hour, and it had nothing to do with anything else.
“Is it done?”
“Yes.”
“Let me see.”
“…”
Taking the sketchbook, Qin Lou tried hard to control his expression and voice, so as not to seem overly eager.
Then he saw the drawing clearly.
It was a Gothic-style spire castle, tall and slender.
Except for a small window at the very top, there were no other windows, making the entire spire castle completely sealed.
And in that one and only window, stood a boy.
Undoubtedly, the figure was Qin Lou—because in this drawing, there was no other figure that could be considered human.
The suppressed delight in Qin Lou’s eyes cooled down.
“And where are you?”
“?”
“Why aren’t you in the picture?” The boy gripped the sketchbook tightly and turned to look at the girl, not realizing that his expression was a bit pale.
Song Shu seemed to realize something. She pulled the other side of the sketchbook and pointed to the bottom of the tower. “I’m here.”
Qin Lou lowered his head to look, frowning.
“This is a garden.”
“Yes.”
“There are only flowers in the garden. Where are you?”
“These are violets,” the girl said. “I like violets.”
So, the violets represented her.
Understanding this, the boy’s expression finally softened. He looked at the drawing and murmured to himself, “Flowers are good. Flowers won’t grow legs and run away.”
His voice was too soft for Song Shu to hear clearly, so she looked at him curiously.
The boy’s fair face flushed red, then he deliberately put on a stern face. “Then why am I so far away from you?”
Song Shu thought for a moment. “Have you heard the story of ‘Princess Rapunzel’?”
“That’s something for little kids. And it’s called ‘Rapunzel,’ not ‘Princess Rapunzel.'”
Song Shu nodded and pointed to the bottom edge of the sketchbook.
It was only then that Qin Lou noticed, hidden among the violets in the garden, lightly written in pencil, was the title of the drawing:
《Prince Rapunzel’s Adventure》.
Qin Lou: “…”
For the first time, Song Shu showed a slightly mischievous smile. “When the prince grows violet-colored long hair, he can come out of the castle, and the violets will catch him below.”
“… According to this logic, shouldn’t it be Prince Violet?” Qin Lou questioned.
Song Shu thought for a moment, then nodded. “Do you want to change it?”
“…” Qin Lou pondered for 0.1 seconds between
“Prince Rapunzel” and “Prince Violet,” then firmly shook his head.
He took the sketchbook again and examined it closely. This time, as he looked, a slow smile spread across his face.
Song Shu stood beside him quietly.
After a long silence, she spoke softly, “I know it’s not because of Grandpa Qin.”
“…” Qin Lou’s smile faded.
“Why are you unhappy?” she asked gently.
“…” Qin Lou set down the sketchbook and turned to look at the girl.
In the boy’s eyes, Song Shu saw a shadow she hadn’t seen in a long time, slowly engulfing the light.
She saw him suppress his smile.
She heard him ask quietly, “They say, someday you’ll leave me.”
“Will you, Doll?”
Sansukini: The violet hair will be a significant detail later.
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