After slamming the door shut and leaving home, Zhang Feng ran out on the road and went straight to Gao Qi"s house.
He wanted to see her and explain everything that had happened. He wanted her to know that he had never told his mother about her, let alone even thought of leaving her.
Gao Qi was still missing.
Zhang Feng knocked on the door fervently, yet he got no reply.
Unwilling to give up, he asked Gao Qi"s neighbors, who all certified that they had not seen her for the past few days.
Where did Gao Qi go alone? Was something wrong?
Zhang Feng contemplated for a while and decided to go to the police station near Gao Qi"s house to report her disappearance first.
But, to his surprise, the police who had contacted the school, told Zhang Feng that Gao Qi was not missing. She had called in to the school in the morning and asked for leave.
It turned out that Gao Qi didn"t want to go to school to face those rumors, nor did she wish to see him.
Zhang Feng"s heart was pained. Every breath he took made his chest burn, his worries piling up one over the other. He didn"t know how to patch up his relationship with Gao Qi. Even now, the fact that all the past incidents had happened, the pain they inflicted on Gao Qi…he could only imagine how much they must be tearing her down.
The rumors continued to spread like wildfire, even without the centre of them being present. But precisely because of this, the supposed “victim”, Zhang Feng, had become an even more well-known figure in the school unknowingly.
Everyone looked at him with sympathetic eyes, commenting on his misfortune.
For the whole week, Gao Qi didn"t come to school, and Zhang Feng didn"t talk to his mother.
On Monday, when Zhang Feng arrived at school, he found that all the students were viewing him with different eyes.
Most of the glances thrown at him were a mixture of disdain and disgust, as if the one they were looking at was a filthy creature and not their cla.s.smate.
It turned out that the week-long bunch of rumors among students had undergone a huge reversal.
It was said that all the rumors about Gao Qi were deliberately spread by her boyfriend Zhang Feng"s mother.
Zhang Feng"s mother did this because Gao Qi had discovered an amazing secret!
Zhang Feng"s father and mother had divorced when Zhang Feng was in high school, and now Zhang Feng and his mother lived alone.
Zhang Feng was only 17 years old now, his mother wasn"t forty yet. According to the rumors, the mother and son had lived alone for so long that it made them develop a twisted kind of affection for each other. An affection, that crossed the boundaries of familial love. They had entangled themselves in a relationship that would only receive scorn from the onlookers.
Gao Qi was hostile towards them because she had accidentally stumbled upon a shameful scene when she went to Zhang Feng"s house to send study notes on Thursday evening.
So Zhang Feng"s mother deliberately spread rumors about Gao Qi in the school. Zhang Feng also broke up with Gao Qi decisively and added oil to the fire.
Gao Qi"s parents did die, but that was because of a car accident.
Gao Qi really wanted to invite Zhang Feng to live in his own house, because Gao Qi felt that Zhang Feng and his mother"s behaviour and affection for each other was highly unethical. She hoped that Zhang Feng would calm down and end that disgusting, incestous relationship immediately.
Unexpectedly, all of her efforts turned into a tool for Zhang Feng"s mother and Zhang Feng to strike back on her. Gao Qi was so distressed that she didn"t come to school for a week.
After hearing this ridiculous rumor about himself, Zhang Feng"s insides twisted in disgust, bile rising up his throat, but he didn"t know what to say.
Were these rumors Gao Qi"s revenge?
Things shouldn"t have progressed to this point.
Zhang Feng strode towards Gao Qi"s cla.s.s. He wanted to find Gao Qi and explain all the misunderstandings.
He wanted to go home and ask his mother to apologize to Gao Qi.
He ardently wished to go back in time. If only he could tell his past self to have accompanied Gao Qi during the break to protect her. If only he could prevent his mother from utterig those foul words.
However, Gao Qi didn"t want to even spare him a glance.
On the contrary, the students in Gao Qi"s cla.s.s looked at Zhang Feng as if he was a pest, especially those who had secretly spread Gao Qi"s rumors. Their expressions and feelings were undisguised.
“Disgusting”, “perverted”, “shameless” .
Such words were thrown out from the crowd to Zhang Feng.
Because Zhang Feng insisted on meeting Gao Qi, a lot of students gathered together at the door of Gao Qi"s cla.s.s. A grumpy boy even directly slammed his hand on Zhang Feng"s shoulder and pushed him to the hard ground.
The boy then rolled his eyes and said dismissively, his tone laced with disgust: “There is nothing to say about this kind of sc.u.m. Don"t let him appear in front of our cla.s.s in the future, it is best to not even let him inside the school. “
This push was like a pebble flung on clear water, consecutive ripples stirring the one-calm water surface.
(T/N: The original phrase was “key to broken window effect” but I felt this would suit the situation better, but it"s just my personal opinion ? )
[The translation belongs to Wordrain. Support us by comments, clicking on ads, or buy Yui a coffee (＾-＾)＿日 ]
1 ko-Fi = extra chapter
Please mention the novel u are supporting and want an extra chapter in as there is more than one novel and more than one translator