Chapter 99: Crimson

Ultimately, Chu Yuanxi and Chu Susu left together. It was mainly because of Susu’s dazed appearance—they figured it might not be safe for her to drive alone.

Following the navigation’s guidance, the car slowly drove toward Han Yao’s home.

At the red light, Chu Yuanxi braked and shifted gears. She turned her head to see Chu Susu resting her head against the car window, her eyelashes lowered, not saying a word. She was so quiet it wasn’t like her usual self.

Chu Yuanxi felt this wasn’t a good time to talk to Chu Susu, so she stayed silent, giving the other some time to compose herself.

But Chu Yuanxi couldn’t help pondering what Chu Susu had just told her—she’d only met Han Xuan a few months ago. How was that possible?

No matter how bad someone’s memory was, they wouldn’t forget someone they’d spent years with. What’s more, something unpleasant had happened between the two, which had deeply hurt Chu Susu…

The two of them had been deskmates back in high school, so Chu Yuanxi had seen every change in her with her own eyes.

She remembered it clearly: from a certain day onward, Chu Susu had become much more silent and would occasionally shed tears in secret.

At the same time, Chu Yuanxi never saw Han Xuan in the high school section again.

But Chu Susu had always been strong-willed. Even in her extreme heartbreak, she refused to seek comfort from others. When Chu Yuanxi asked, she only vaguely brushed it off, unwilling to speak.

That was why Chu Yuanxi still didn’t know what had happened to this day.

“Go on in.” The car came to a steady stop not far from the Han family mansion. Chu Yuanxi said, “I’ll wait here for you.”

Chu Susu forced a smile. “Thank you.”

“Call me if anything comes up.”

Chu Susu gave her a grateful look before hurrying toward the Han family gates.

The butler had already spotted her on the door monitor and opened the door in some surprise to welcome her. “Miss Chu, what brings you here? The appointment day with the young miss should be next week.”

“Mm, Uncle Liu. I have something and need to see Han Yao,” Chu Susu said softly. “Is she home right now?”

The butler frowned. Chu Susu had visited a few times before, so she wasn’t a stranger. In theory, he shouldn’t bar her, but today’s situation was special. “Sorry, the young miss is currently in the study holding a remote meeting.”

“I can wait until she’s done.”

The butler looked troubled. “It’s a very important corporate meeting. It might not wrap up until evening. How about this—you head back for now, and if there’s anything, I can pass the message on to the young miss…”

“Uncle Liu.”

He was caught off guard by the interruption. Han Yao’s voice came through the intercom at the door. “Let her in. The meeting can be paused.”

“How can we do that?” The butler was shocked. “Young miss, please think this over!”

“I’ve already paused it. Susu, come on in.”

Chu Susu paid no mind to the butler’s awful expression. Without waiting for him to lead the way, she hurried into the Han residence.

In the study, Han Yao was dressed formally, clearly having just stepped away from an intense meeting. She now lounged casually on the sofa. The computer screen had gone dark in the background, displaying a countdown timer.

It now read 4:32.

“You’ve got 4 minutes and 32 seconds left,” Han Yao said. “I can only pause it for 5 minutes. Say what you need to say quickly.”

She then looked up at Chu Susu, a hint of surprise in her eyes. “What happened to you?”

It was obvious she’d put effort into her appearance, but her eyes were a bit swollen, and the makeup around them had smudged slightly, making her look somewhat disheveled.

Chu Susu stared into her eyes, as if trying to read something from them.

“When did you find out about my amnesia?” she asked straightforwardly.

There was no doubt Han Yao knew something. Recalling what she’d said to her before, Chu Susu felt it was all full of hints.

If it weren’t for her, Chu Susu wouldn’t even know that Han Xuan had gone to the same school as her in the past. And if not for Han Yao, she might not have attended this class reunion at all, opting instead to gather privately with a few familiar faces.

It was only because Han Yao had deliberately brought it up in front of her that Chu Susu had slightly changed her mind.

She wouldn’t buy it if Han Yao claimed it wasn’t on purpose.

But Han Yao looked somewhat baffled. She leaned back slowly. “What are you talking about? You had amnesia?”

Chu Susu gritted her teeth. “Don’t play dumb. I already know everything.”

Han Yao seemed intent on speaking in riddles with her. “Know what? Anyway, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Han Yao, you…”

Eldest Miss Han waved her hand tiredly and abruptly shifted the topic to something unrelated:

“Ah, if you’re here for the high school photo album, it’s on the third shelf from the top, all the way to the right—purple cover.”

Chu Susu instinctively looked in the direction she indicated and indeed spotted a thick purple album.

Han Yao propped her forehead with her left hand and blinked lightly. “If you need to look through the album, you can sit here and take your time.”

That look in her eyes was clearly hinting that some things couldn’t be said carelessly. The Han family had deeply entangled internal relations—even in her own home, it wasn’t necessarily safe.

Chu Susu got the message. She took a deep breath and let go of pressing Han Yao. She walked to the bookshelf and pulled out the album.

Five minutes passed quickly. Han Yao put on her earphones and resumed the meeting, while Chu Susu sat on the carpet and opened it.

It was a homemade photo album. On every page, a specially printed photo was stuck down alongside a small colored sticky note.

The handwriting was the same as on Han Xuan’s diary that she’d seen before.

The photos weren’t very clear—some were downright blurry from shaky hands—but that didn’t stop the album’s owner from treasuring and preserving them carefully.

Chu Susu flipped through page by page.

Even after so many years, she could still recognize that every photo, starting from the title page, featured the same face.

It was her high school self.

There were shots from outside the classroom window of her listening intently to class; shots from across the library table of her with her head down writing homework; even ones where Chu Susu herself had struck a pose with something in hand, smiling brightly.

The sticky notes held brief records behind each photo—just one or two short sentences: “Susu got the sleeve of her new jacket dirty while doing homework.”

“Susu supplementing homework.”

“Susu eating bread.”

“Susu,” “Susu”—it was all Susu, her own name that was more familiar than anything, yet she couldn’t recall a single thing.

It was as if Han Xuan’s gentle voice calling those two characters echoed in her ears.

Everything before her eyes felt utterly foreign. Chu Susu’s head throbbed more and more painfully, like there was a pupa inside her body on the verge of a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon.

She didn’t stop. Relying on sheer willpower, her trembling hand turned to the very last page.

When she finally made out the words there, Chu Susu’s hand went limp all at once, letting the album drop onto her lap.

She suddenly remembered the dream from her last trip home—the one where her younger self had hidden a note in that secret spot in her room.

And what had happened after her fight with Chu Zhen…

…

It was still that overcast day with a light drizzle.

After being summoned to the school by the dean and questioned about whether she wanted to “get a room” with a lower-grade girl, Chu Zhen had driven her home from school.

The sky outside was a misty haze, and neither of them spoke a word the entire way, both steeped in silence.

Chu Susu’s eyes were already swollen from crying. She racked her brains over and over, but she just couldn’t figure it out.

Why had Xingxing done this to her? Hadn’t they always gotten along so well? Why had she taken the initiative to ask her out, only to tell her parents that Chu Susu had harassed her?

Where was she herself? Why hadn’t she come out in person to confront Chu Susu?

Was this really Xingxing’s own intention, or had something else happened?

What was even more despairing was the way her father looked at her. His gaze was flat and emotionless, like a pool of dead water.

Once home, he didn’t say a single word to Chu Susu. He went straight into his study, locked the door, and stayed inside alone.

Chu Susu stood there in a daze, not knowing what she should do.

No one else was home. Her stepmother Li Yan had taken the two kids out, leaving the house empty and echoing, as if the entire world had been reduced to just her.

Chu Susu wanted to call Chu Qingyang, but the line was busy. It was only when she tried approaching the study that she overheard Chu Zhen’s voice from the doorway—he was on the phone with someone.

Indifferent, laced with faint heartache.

Through the door, she only caught these words.

“Susu… how did she end up like this?”

Chu Susu staggered back two steps. The tears she’d thought were spent welled up again.

That night, she sobbed into her bed until dawn. She didn’t go to school the next day either.

Later, Chu Zhen sincerely apologized to the school and the parents, vowing it would never happen again. As a result, the school issued no formal punishment—just a short suspension before everything returned to normal.

Even so, Chu Susu still harbored unrealistic fantasies.

Xingxing was a real, living person. She wouldn’t just vanish like that. Maybe in a few days, she’d show up and clear everything up for her?

She waited and waited—day two, day three… until a full half month had passed, and Xingxing was still nowhere to be found.

Finally, Chu Susu couldn’t hold back any longer. After school that day, she rushed into the junior high section, determined to go to Xingxing’s classroom to find her. But a sharp-eyed teacher on duty stopped her and escorted her straight to the dean’s office.

“Chu Susu, what exactly is wrong with you?” The director’s tone was stern. “Haven’t you learned your lesson from last time?”

All explanations seemed utterly powerless and pale.

Chu Susu could only repeat: “It’s not like that. I just wanted to see her one more time…”

“Do you want to get expelled?”

The director warned her angrily: “It was your father who begged us for one more chance before you could come back to school so easily. Even if you don’t care about yourself, at least think about your parents!”

“Teacher, I…”

“Susu, you’re about to take the gaokao. You should attend a good university and find a good job, not ruin your life at this most critical moment!”

“Teacher, but…”

“And besides, Han Xuan doesn’t want to see you.”

With these final words, the color in Chu Susu’s eyes faded bit by bit, ultimately turning completely ashen.

“What you said… is that true?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

Whatever the director said afterward, she didn’t hear a single word. She just stood there woodenly, nodding nonstop.

That night, Chu Susu squatted in front of the “secret base” and pulled out all the little notes, unfolding them one by one. Like fishing a needle from the sea, she stubbornly searched until she found the one she wanted.

She stared at it for a long time.

Then, as if burning away the past, she tore it to shreds.

—

In Han Yao’s study, the last page of the photo album before her eyes had no colorful sticky note.

There was only a sheet of paper that had been torn to pieces and then meticulously reassembled. Every fragment had been carefully retrieved and pieced together into a single sentence written in Chu Susu’s own hand.

“My wish is to be with the stars forever.”