Chapter 140: Nie Qiu, Sorry ④
“No matter what you’re thinking, it’s impossible!” Li Kai’s words were cut off by Nie Aifang before he could finish.
Nie Aifang’s protective stance resembled a mother cat guarding her kittens, ready to lash out if her young were touched. However, her words were easily misunderstood, and Li Kai was one of them.
“Uh…” Li Kai’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Nie Qiu. Did… did Nie Qiu tell her mom about yesterday? Did Nie Qiu not know that not everyone was like his elder sister? How could parents today agree to them dating? Why did Nie Qiu… “Auntie, I didn’t mean that, that… Auntie…”
“Li Kai… your name is Li Kai, right?” Nie Aifang said, “Li Kai, I know your family is rich, don’t worry, but please, I’m begging you, can you stop bullying my child? I’m begging you, okay, okay? We’ll let bygones be bygones. No matter what, whether at school or outside, if you see my Qiu Qiu, pretend you don’t know her, pretend she’s invisible, okay? I’m begging you. If even acting like a stranger bothers you, I’ll have my Qiu Qiu avoid you, alright? Deal?”
“Auntie, what… what are you talking about?” Li Kai was flustered. His palms were sweating. He looked at Nie Qiu, who was busy bagging vegetables and collecting money for a customer, not looking at Li Kai. “Auntie… no… did you misunderstand something? I… did I do something? I…”
The two people standing outside the vegetable stand, buying vegetables, also sized up Li Kai, trying to figure out why he seemed like a bad person. But looking left and right, he was just a student, dressed neatly, with nothing unusual about him.
Nie Aifang didn’t say anything more. She just weighed vegetables for a customer and told Nie Qiu, “Cauliflower, one jin two liang, five yuan fifty.”
Nie Qiu nodded and started bagging the vegetables. One of the two customers began to take out money, giving Nie Qiu ten yuan. Nie Qiu took four yuan fifty from the iron box and handed it, along with the vegetables, to the customer. After buying the vegetables, the person glanced at Li Kai, who was standing there, before smiling and leaving.
Li Kai clenched his fists and looked at Nie Qiu. “Nie Qiu, tell your mom… say something, what’s going on? Why should I avoid you?” He wasn’t some monster. Why would Nie Qiu’s mom want Nie Qiu to avoid him? What was going on?
Nie Qiu looked up. “Say what? Say how you treated me before?” Nie Qiu knew that the current Li Kai was not the same as the Li Kai from before. But if the current Li Kai encountered someone like the Nie Qiu from before, would Li Kai still play pranks like that? The answer was probably no, but as an observer, she couldn’t stand it. Even if a girl wasn’t clean, even if a girl was unattractive, even if a girl was introverted, she was already weak. If it were her, she might sympathize more with the weak. She might not like them, but she would definitely not bully them. So, what was Li Kai, who bullied the Nie Qiu from before, thinking?
When bullying Nie Qiu back then, did he find pleasure in feeling superior? Did he think he was thus superior? Or was Nie Qiu, as a plaything, considered acceptable in his eyes?
Li Kai’s body stiffened. Scenes from the past flashed before his eyes. He trembled, then looked at Nie Qiu, who was bagging vegetables. Her eyes were empty, showing no emotion.
After entering third grade, he hadn’t grown much in first and second grade. By third grade, he started to shoot up, and his features gradually matured. Many girls showed interest in him, and Chen Li was one of them. Their families also had business dealings, so Chen Li was quite attentive to him, but he didn’t like it, even detesting the hypocritical Chen Li.
Most teachers didn’t pay much attention to Class 10’s discipline, so their seating arrangements, apart from height, were free pairings. No one dared to sit with him, and he was the freest person to choose his seat.
However, he didn’t want to abuse his power. Between Chen Li and this person, he chose to sit with Nie Qiu.
Day after day, he watched this person enter his line of sight, even polluting his sight. Yes, this person’s bangs covered half her face. Originally, they were straight bangs, but perhaps they had grown too long, and due to lack of money for a haircut, she swept them to the side. But her entire face was greasy, as if she hadn’t washed her hair in eight hundred years.
She wore her school uniform all day. Only when her white school uniform turned yellow would she change it. More than half the class treated her as entertainment. The cruelest thing Chen Li did was to place a louse, found from who knows where, on Nie Qiu’s head, and then have someone pick at it, finding the louse on Nie Qiu’s head.
At that time, he thought the louse had grown on Nie Qiu’s head! At that moment, he almost jumped up in shock. Good heavens! How could there be such a dirty girl!
When Wang Chao Lei, Zhang Haiyang, and a few buddies treated bullying Nie Qiu as fun, he tacitly agreed. To avoid touching Nie Qiu, Zhang Haiyang suggested nailing a compass point in the middle of the table to create a dividing line. Also, they bought four bottles of super glue and poured it on her stool before Nie Qiu entered the classroom.
Then, like most of the class, he extended his index finger, pointing at the embarrassed, disheveled, wronged, and utterly humiliated Nie Qiu, laughing heartily, mocking, satirizing, with glee – all sorts of laughter, none with good intentions.
This was… the fun Nie Qiu brought them. Yes, before, this was their entire class’s pastime, their entire class’s fun!
He never thought that this was Nie Qiu. Many girls liked him, many girls confessed to him. He naturally assumed that since a handsome boy like him liked her, she should happily accept him.
He never considered liking Nie Qiu. Except for the very beginning, he had never connected the Nie Qiu from before with the Nie Qiu of now.
But they were both Nie Qiu, that was right! So, the one he liked was the Nie Qiu he had repeatedly kicked to the ground, the Nie Qiu he had glued to her stool with super glue, tearing her pants and the flesh on her thighs, that Nie Qiu… that was the Nie Qiu.
Li Kai lowered his head, swallowed twice, and looked up at Nie Qiu, who wasn’t looking at him. His heart ached so much he almost cried. He swallowed again, his throat tight, making him unable to speak.
He wanted to say, “I’m sorry.” He wanted to say, “Apologies.” He also wanted to say… wanted to say something else… but at this moment, he couldn’t utter a word.
He opened his mouth, then opened it again. Nie Qiu, I’m sorry.
Only his lips moved, no sound came out. He couldn’t speak.
