Chapter 16: The Little Pitiful One Eats – 1

After much coaxing and pestering from 0820, little Gu Xizhou finally sent a message to Su Zhiyi.

Not long before that, Su Zhiyi had been on the phone with Su Nanfeng.

Seated at her desk, Su Zhiyi was earnestly trying to persuade Su Nanfeng: “Nanfeng, you can still change. Why won’t you just apologize?”

Su Nanfeng was furious: “Why should I apologize? Gu Xizhou hit me too! And do you just not believe me?”

“Gu Xizhou’s mother is saddled with a pile of debt. The only reason this has blown up this much is to extort money from our family!”

Su Zhiyi was so angered by her attitude that her temples pulsed. She raised a hand, threading her fingers through her black hair to massage her scalp, forcing herself to calm down: “Nanfeng, I really want to believe you.”

“But in the recording, the one inciting others to beat someone was you. The one I saw with my own eyes hitting Gu Xizhou was you… The only thing I can be sure of is that you’ve become bad.”

“You’re bullying a classmate.”

“But when people make mistakes, they can change.”

Su Nanfeng remained stubborn: “I didn’t…”

Su Zhiyi patiently argued with her: “You know whether you did or not. I know these past few years might have been very unhappy for you.”

“Mother is someone who cannot be considerate or understanding. You probably also resent that Mom took me away.”

“But, Nanfeng, the environment you grow up in doesn’t determine what kind of person you’ll become in the future. All the character you possess is your own.”

Though not yet seventeen, Su Zhiyi could reason clearly and logically, hitting the nail on the head every time.

Because her words were so piercingly accurate, Su Nanfeng was like a cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck, completely rendered speechless.

She didn’t speak, so Su Zhiyi continued: “You might think bullying classmates, tormenting them like a cat playing with a mouse, and then having Mother use her power and money to clean it up for you is cool.”

“Or maybe it’s some form of revenge against Mother. But what you’re destroying is your own life.”

“Can you guarantee you’ll always be the one at the top of the power structure? Have you ever thought that one day, someone might turn the knife on your family because of the violence you inflicted on them?”

Su Nanfeng’s voice suddenly became shrill: “She wouldn’t dare!”

Su Zhiyi chuckled softly and gently advised Su Nanfeng: “Stop, Nanfeng. At tomorrow’s mediation meeting, properly apologize to Gu Xizhou and don’t do such things again.”

“If you don’t apologize, I won’t speak to you ever again for the rest of my life.”

Su Zhiyi hung up the phone, hugged her knees as she sat at her desk, and looked at the newly opened foreign language book with a touch of melancholy.

Shortly after the high school entrance exams, Su Zhiyi had vaguely had a prophetic dream. She dreamed that in high school, Su Nanfeng bullied a classmate, and in the end, drunk drove and turned a student into a vegetative state.

Su Nanfeng committed countless evils, ruining many people’s lives. Finally, one of the people she bullied brought her to justice and sent her to prison.

That person was Gu Xizhou.

Having the same dream for a week straight forced Su Zhiyi to believe such a “future” could exist.

To save her own older sister, and for the sake of those who hadn’t yet been destroyed, Su Zhiyi refused her mother’s suggestion and instead transferred to No. 1 High School.

Thank goodness she came.

Even though she came a little late, she managed to stop Su Nanfeng before it was too late, and also saved Gu Xizhou.

It was just… what to do next…

Her older sister was already nearly rotten to the core. Was she supposed to monitor her 24/7 and see what she might do?

At that moment, her phone on the desk vibrated. A new message had arrived on WeChat.

Su Zhiyi picked up her phone. It was from Gu Xizhou: “I just overheard my mom on the phone. Your family lawyer is planning to settle with money.”

“Our family doesn’t need compensation. No amount of money can make up for the trauma caused before. I just want an apology. If Su Nanfeng sincerely says sorry to me and resolves to turn over a new leaf, that’s enough.”

“If your family wants to make amends, why don’t you suggest to your mom setting up an Anti-Bullying Foundation, putting the money there, to help other kids who need it.”

Reading this message, Su Zhiyi felt a pang of sadness for no particular reason, yet also a strange sense of pride and joy at Gu Xizhou’s thoughtful consideration.

But doing this would be tantamount to having Su Tianyu admit her failure in raising her child, a public apology of sorts to society.

In a way, however, Su Tianyu truly had been negligent in teaching Su Nanfeng, and Su Nanfeng did need societal oversight.

After considerable thought, Su Zhiyi finally replied to Gu Xizhou with a single word: “Okay.”

Soon after, driven by some mysterious force, Su Zhiyi tacitly conveyed this message to Mu Zhilan as well.

———

The next morning, the second mediation meeting was held at the police station.

This time, Mu Zhilan, who had just flown back from abroad, attended the meeting.

In 0820’s world, she had never met Mu Zhilan. Because in the second semester of freshman year, Mu Zhilan died in a plane crash during a global concert tour.

The Mu Zhilan now was a virtual construct built by 0820 based on her own understanding of data.

Originally, 0820 had thought so. In her belief, except for herself and Su Zhiyi, everyone else was data.

But upon seeing the Mu Zhilan before her, 0820 wavered.

This woman was so much like the thirty-two-year-old Su Zhiyi. Gentle as water, elegant and charming, radiating a soft, warm light.

So much so that when Gu Xizhou took her seat, seeing that incredibly familiar face, she couldn’t help but look a couple more times.

So this was Su Zhiyi’s mother? She really resembled Su Zhiyi.

Except Su Zhiyi’s eyes were beautiful phoenix eyes, sparkling with the spirit of spring flowers, and more resolute.

How wonderful, her mother is still alive…

Somehow, such a thought emerged in Gu Xizhou’s mind.

Before Gu Xizhou could scrutinize her more, Su Nanfeng, sitting beside Mu Zhilan, shot her a fierce glare.

Gu Xizhou: …

So inexplicable.

In her mind, 0820 clicked her tongue disdainfully: “Mama’s girl!”

Perhaps due to a parent’s presence, Su Nanfeng seemed exceptionally well-behaved and docile today, completely lacking yesterday’s “I’m the greatest under heaven” swagger.

As the mediation started, Mu Zhilan spoke first, her voice gentle: “Nanfeng’s mother and I divorced very early on. Over the years, for certain reasons, I haven’t paid much attention to Nanfeng.”

“I feel very sorry about this whole matter.”

“Nanfeng has always been a good child. It’s my failure to fulfill my responsibility that let her go astray.”

This woman, with visible dark circles under her eyes from her rush back, turned her head. She gazed at Su Nanfeng with gentle eyes and reached up to ruffle her hair. Her voice was firm: “I believe she will definitely change from now on.”

“Nanfeng, apologize to classmate Xizhou.”

Under Gu Xizhou’s terrified gaze, Su Nanfeng stood up, behaving like a tame pug. She obediently bowed to Gu Xizhou: “I’m sorry, Gu Xizhou. Please forgive everything I’ve done before. I won’t treat you like that again.”

“I will definitely turn over a new leaf.”

Gu Xizhou’s eyes widened, staring at the gentle Mu Zhilan across from her, her heart shaken violently.

Oh heavens, a mother is too amazing!

If she’d known Su Nanfeng would be this obedient, what was the point of tangling with Su Tianyu? Just go straight to her mom and tattle!

Even 0820 was very surprised. She thought to herself, if Mu Zhilan hadn’t died young, maybe Su Nanfeng wouldn’t have become that monstrous later on either.