Hello, Old Times Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Villain

Lin Yang’s mum smiled kindly but her eyes were fixed on the gift in Lin Yang’s hand, as if waiting for either of them to provide an explanation.

Lin Yang was still thinking about where to start when Yu Zhou Zhou smiled and bowed sincerely to Lin Yang’s mum and dad, “Hello auntie and uncle.”

Then, she turned to Lin Yang, “Your mum and dad are looking for you for something, I’ll go and find the others, bye.”

Lin Yang stood there blankly as he watched Yu Zhou Zhou politely say goodbye to his parents and before he had even reacted, she had already run off like a puff of smoke. He wasn’t able to describe the feeling, it was as if Yu Zhou Zhou had suddenly transformed, she was there but he couldn’t feel her presence.

After Yu Zhou Zhou left, Lin Yang’s mum stopped smiling. She scrutinized Lin Yang and his apple from head to toe many times without a word before finally looking at her husband.

Lin Yang’s dad however, didn’t respond to her request for help. He gently patted his son’s head and said, “Grandma Chen from dad’s office is critically ill so let’s go to the hospital. There was a period when we left you in her care when you were little. She’s always adored you a lot so let’s visit her together.”

Lin Yang nodded, “Will I still come back to school later?”

“No need, I’ve already requested for a leave of absence from Teacher Zhang.”

“Then I’ll go get my schoolbag from the classroom.”

“Go.”

Lin Yang ran towards the classroom building in relief and swiftly disappeared. With his breath floating up in the air like white smoke, he seemed like a little train.

Lin Yang’s mum gave her husband a reproachful look.

“Yang Yang is getting more and more sly. If you don’t take the opportunity to ask him while he’s caught off guard, he’ll definitely make up an excuse later.”

Lin Yang’s dad smiled and lowered his head to rub his nose – every time his wife spoke in this tone, he would always do this. At first glance, he actually seemed like a high school student.

“What do you want me to ask him?”

“Ask…” Lin Yang’s mum paused and sighed.

She truly didn’t know how to ask otherwise she wouldn’t have signalled for her husband to speak just then.

The name Yu Zhou Zhou had disappeared from memory for a long time. She was his playmate four years ago, an innocent friendship that they had ‘strategically’ ended. Afterwards, whenever Lin Yang’s mum saw Lin Yang happily play with his other friends and grow up, she felt very fortunate. They had used the most direct yet roundabout way to solve a small issue. Lin Yang’s mum thought that what her husband said was very right, a child’s friendship could be cut off very easily. They persisted in sending Lin Yang and picking up from school every day for a year but actually, Lin Yang had never mentioned Yu Zhou Zhou’s name again after that week.  

It was her who thought too much about the problem. Everything went well beyond imagination.

Right up until just then, when under the guidance of Teacher Zhang, they went to the back court which was full of little children running around and chasing each other in bright winter clothes. They searched for a long time before seeing their son by the fence talking to a little girl. He had impatiently unwrapped the wrapping paper and pulled out a glass apple. In addition, when he talked, his expressions were extremely lively, to the point that he seemed somewhat temperamental*.

[In that he was delighted one second and angry the next]

It was a condition that he seemed to never have been in when he was with other kids. When Lin Yang was together with other kids, he seemed like a little adult who was in command whereas when he was holding the apple, he looked like just a rascally kid.

Moreover, very shameless.

Lin Yang’s mum stood on the side and watched, somewhat in a daze. That expression of his seemed familiar but hadn’t appeared for a long time.

Every one of her son’s trivial matters was the most important thing to her.

Hence, when Lin Yang’s mum walked around to the other side and saw the little girl’s familiar side profile, she felt like she was being teased and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

It turned out that they had never broken off contact.

Her baby son had actually kept it hidden from her for over four years.

Lin Yang’s mum muttered softly inside, “What’s going to happen later when you grow up” but she didn’t realize that her anger and dissatisfaction didn’t just come from her son’s lie.

When Lin Yang ran down the stairs carrying his schoolbag, Lin Yang’s mum moved her lips and swallowed her words but her doubts were still stuck in her throat. Once they closed the car doors, with the sound of the car engine trying to start, Yu Zhou Zhou’s mum hesitantly asked, “Yang Yang, didn’t you say before that you and Zhou Zhou… you and Zhou Zhou didn’t play together anymore?”

It was either near the end of their first grade or during their second grade when she had suddenly recalled the little girl who told stories like a little adult hence she had tentatively asked Lin Yang if he still played with Zhou Zhou or if he still saw her often at school.

Lin Yang’s expression had been very normal. He had spoken about it lightly, like an old man who had experienced many vicissitudes of life, “How long has it been already? We’ve long stopped playing together and we don’t see each other either.”

He used a very decisive tone that made it hard to doubt.

Now that Lin Yang’s mum thought back to it, her heart grew bitterly disappointed.

Lin Yang though, who was sitting alone in the backseat didn’t expect his mum to ask about Zhou Zhou and not the apple.  

He didn’t know that his mum had already firmly believed that Yu Zhou Zhou was just as scary as the apple she gifted. It was as if Lin Yang was that dumb Snow White and the witch had already come up to the door with the poisonous purple apple.

Moreover, regardless of whether the Snow White Lin Yang was right or wrong, he was a good liar.

Lin Yang instantly relaxed and said with a smile, “Zhou Zhou, originally we truly didn’t play together but now, we’re good again ah!”

Good again ah. The “ah” at the end carried an unpretentious and undisguised sense of joy.

Lin Yang’s mum choked. All the different considerations that she had all disappeared with Lin Yang’s answer – indeed, they had never clearly said, or at least they had never been as clear as Jiang Chuan or Ling Xiang Qian’s parents in instructing their child not to play with Zhou Zhou. Hence, she had nothing to say in response to Lin Yang’s explanation.

Lin Yang persisted, “Plus, just because our relationship wasn’t good before, it doesn’t mean we can’t start over again!”

Lin Yang’s mum took a deep breath, “If your mum, me, and that Yu Zhou Zhou both fell into the river, who would you save?”

Lin Yang’s dad who had been silent the whole time burst into laughter. He suddenly stepped on the break and the three of them jolted forward. Lin Yang, who didn’t have his seatbelt on in the back, almost fell to the front.

He struggled to sit back up before looking at his mum seriously, “Mum, you’re so childish.”

Lin Yang’s dad laughed as he restarted the car.

Lin Yang sat peacefully in the car, yawning towards the car window. Meanwhile, on the other side, Yu Zhou Zhou was currently suffering.

The group of girls who had just been staring and whispering about Yu Zhou Zhou dispersed back to their classrooms after the bell sounded. Ling Xiang Qian had just been gossiping with the others and had somehow made her way to walk behind Yu Zhou Zhou and said in a complicated tone to her, “My mum told me to stay away from you.”

Yu Zhou Zhou didn’t stop walking, she only lightly smiled, “So you should listen to your mum.”

Ling Xiang Qian paused and thought for two seconds before understanding the meaning behind Yu Zhou Zhou’s words. She was not reconciled and chased up and continued to talk, “My mum says that you’re not from a decent family.”

Yu Zhou Zhou still didn’t stop walking.

“Your mum is so childish.”

Ling Xiang Qian didn’t need to think about the meaning behind this line. With a scream, she charged up and yanked off Yu Zhou Zhou’s hat. The light grey woollen hat was pulled until it was deformed in her hands. Yu Zhou Zhou stood there and watched her vent her anger on her hat with the other onlookers who had been attracted over by the scream.

“Qian Qian, what’s wrong with you?” A brave girl had already rushed over to stop Ling Xiang Qian.

“She scolded my mum!” Lin Xiang Qian fiercely pointed at Yu Zhou Zhou with one hand while throwing the hat on the floor with the other. She stepped on the hat vigorously with her foot while checking Zhou Zhou’s reaction.

Yu Zhou Zhou was still smiling as if she had no other expression she could pull out in this lifetime.

“That’s why you yanked my hat off, so we’re now even.”

Ling Xiang Qian was stunned. She still had her foot on the hat but because the snow on her shows was clean, the hat wasn’t dirty at all.

“What did you say?”

“I said that we’re even. As for my hat, I don’t want it anymore. Your mum though…I’ll leave it to you.”

She turned and left with her hands behind her head. A few strands of hair on her head were still sticking up in the air from the leftover static energy of the woollen hat.

She left behind a group of bylookers who were stunned silly.

Yu Zhou Zhou faced the dirty mirror that had the school motto painted on in red and looked at her fake smile that couldn’t be even more fake.

She tried a few times but couldn’t get the curves of her lips down. It seemed like she had gotten aftereffects from smiling.

Do you think I’m still that same Yu Zhou Zhou? She seemingly saw herself in a black tight-fit costume with a large cloak, stepping viciously on the so-called saints who were full of justice. She even laughed out ominously to match.

Then, she finally managed to scare herself.

 Yu Zhou Zhou felt weird inside, panic, fear, excitement…

Yu Zhou Zhou had pretended not to care for the first time. She suppressed the gushing anger from hearing that she was “not from a decent family” and turned it into a smile.

Being a villain was a happier thing than defeating a villain.

Yu Zhou Zhou stroked that fake face in the mirror – she wasn’t even able to push down the curves of her smile with her fingers.

Right until she heard a loud eruption of laughter and screams in the classroom.

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