Courir partout et jouer des rôles mineurs

Chapitre 107

Habits are a terrible thing.

She was used to asking Li Changsheng to change broken light bulbs; used to asking him to fix the drains; used to asking him to move heavy objects; used to asking him what he wanted to eat… At this time, Qiu Shanglin was still unaware. Love often begins with habit.

She is now focused on getting used to life without Li Changsheng and considers herself to be adapting well, and does not respond to the various rumors circulating on campus.

The students sighed for a while, then forgot about it. After all, their main task was studying. Leaving aside the college entrance exam, the monthly exams alone were like a sharp blade hanging over everyone's heads.

In the first monthly exam after the start of the second year of high school, Qiu Shanglin performed exceptionally well and actually ranked first in the entire grade, which made their homeroom teacher overjoyed.

Shanglin's academic performance has always been good, but since the beginning of high school, she has consistently hovered in the top ten of her grade, with her best result being only third place. This is the difference between girls and boys. Many girls can maintain the top ranking for three years in junior high school, but once they enter high school, their science scores fall behind the boys, remaining stagnant.

This monthly exam is the standard for class division in the second year of high school. In the first semester of the second year, students will be divided into arts and science classes, which will pretty much determine their future direction. Shanglin's homeroom teacher hopes that she can enter the science class because he teaches physics and thinks that Shanglin is a promising talent. She is calm, rational, and never lacks divergent thinking. She is a natural material for studying science and doing research.

Little did he know how much effort Shang Lin had put in after class to catch up on the difference in grades between science and humanities.

She was self-aware enough to know that she wasn't cut out for academic research. She was better at grasping the big picture than focusing on the details.

When it came time to choose classes, Qiu Xialin chose the humanities stream without hesitation, while Qiu Xialin entered the science stream. The two siblings were in different classes, one upstairs and the other downstairs, making their studies more demanding. They only saw each other briefly in the evenings and on their way to and from school, and rarely saw each other at other times.

Nevertheless, Qiu Xialin's information network remained well-connected.

Shanglin exchanged a few more words with the boy, and within an hour, the news reached Qiu Xialin's ears. He reported all of this in a letter and sent it south.

Qiu Shanglin was completely unaware of the situation; she was fully focused on preparing for the college entrance examination and on the restructuring and reorganization of Mocha Company and Bougainvillea Company.

As the company grew, various internal problems arose. Even if she wanted to be a hands-off manager, she still had to grasp the overall direction. The company had encountered numerous issues in recent years, which she spent time understanding and resolving one by one. Mocha Company dismissed several senior managers, promoted many junior employees, and engaged in a protracted and lengthy legal battle with a shameless clothing company in the south that made its living by counterfeiting Mocha clothing.

Yang Hai felt it wasn't worth it. After all, while the company that copied Mocha's designs, they couldn't replicate the high-quality fabrics and craftsmanship. Domestic laws regarding this area were inadequate, and their lawsuit would drag on, wasting time and effort—it wasn't worthwhile.

Shanglin, however, believes that regardless of whether it is cost-effective or not, and regardless of whether the other party has harmed the company's direct interests, this is a matter of Mocha Company's attitude.

Customers spend a lot of money to buy Mocha's clothes, not to see others walking around in the street wearing the exact same style of clothes that are at least two-thirds cheaper.

Mocha needs to maintain its brand image.

There may be no compensation, but we must convey a message to our customers: Mocha is a well-made clothing brand that will never tolerate counterfeiting and does not want to harm their interests.

She was too busy with these things to pay attention to the gossip on campus.

However, three months after the start of the semester, the campus, which had returned to normal, was once again rocked by a shocking piece of news—Ye Ruru was pregnant!

Ye Ruru is pregnant. Who is the father of the child?

Ouyang Linhao firmly denied it, which almost became a joke at the school.

Speculation abounds, with all sorts of theories emerging, everyone guessing who the father of Ye Ruru's unborn child is—but in reality, everyone knows the answer. Ye Ruru is deeply in love with Ouyang Linhao and would never betray him.

The reason why Ouyang Linhao refused to admit it was nothing more than a sudden panic and worry about his future.

The news spread rapidly, and within a few days, the entire school knew about it.

A few days later, the disciplinary office called them both in for a talk. According to the announcement, both Ye Ruru's and Ouyang Linhao's parents were present.

Ouyang Linhao's mother firmly believed her son's lies and did not believe that the child in Ye Ruru's belly was her son's.

Ye Ruru's parents were so angry that they almost went crazy and got into a fight with Ouyang Linhao's parents in the disciplinary office.

This remains an unsolved mystery.

One said yes, the other vehemently denied it. Ye Ruru became the object of sympathy for all the girls, while Ouyang Linhao became a scumbag despised by all the teachers and students.

People have always sympathized with the weak.

Now that things have come to this point, Ye Ruru faces two choices.

Abortion, or give birth and have a paternity test.

Her parents didn't give her a choice. They swallowed their anger and forced her to abort the fetus. Regardless of how outrageous the other party was, their daughter's life had just begun, and they couldn't ruin her future just to vent their anger.

Even if the child is born and a paternity test proves that the child is Ouyang Linhao's, so what? Do you really expect a man who doesn't even dare to take responsibility to take care of your daughter for the rest of his life?

In the end, it's all because the daughter was blind and chose the wrong person.

Ouyang Linhao's family secretly slipped a large sum of compensation to the Ye family. Ye Ruru's parents refused it. "You say the child has nothing to do with you, why give us money?" they said. "We don't want your money, but Ruru's life has nothing to do with you either. From now on, let's pretend we never met, and don't talk about a future reunion."

Regardless of their legal case, the school swiftly imposed penalties. Ouyang Linhao and Ye Ruru were expelled from school and their records were added for violating school rules and repeatedly engaging in group fights.

The punishment was for fighting, not for inappropriate relationships or premarital pregnancy, thus saving face for both families. After all, fighting is somewhat understandable; everyone has experienced a passionate and impulsive age.

Later, Ouyang Linhao and Ye Ruru transferred to different schools, but they did so through underhanded means. Surely they couldn't really be expelled and never be able to study again.

This incident caused quite a stir, and gossip circulated throughout the school for nearly half a year.

Southern Tourism

Walking back and forth, walking back and forth.

Another year has passed, and in the blink of an eye, Li Changsheng has been away from Zifang Town for a year. It's the last summer vacation before his senior year of high school. After the summer vacation, he will enter his senior year and officially face the pressure of the college entrance examination. The leaders of No. 5 Middle School discussed and decided to give the future senior students less than a month of vacation.

Once the money is in hand within a month, students and parents will need to make careful plans.

Whether to send them to a summer intensive college entrance exam preparation class to continue their hard work, or to take the opportunity to relax appropriately, everyone has their own plans.

Qiu Jianguo reflected that he had earned a lot of money over the years, but hadn't really enjoyed much happiness. He discussed with Zhang Hongwei taking his parents on a trip to the south to check out the southern market. However, the two elderly people in the Qiu family disagreed, saying they refused to go with them.

Firstly, it's hard to leave one's homeland; secondly, the old lady's health has been fluctuating in recent years, and she's afraid that if she leaves her roots and dies outside, her soul will never return.

Left with no other option, Qiu Jianguo booked a tour for his elderly parents in a nearby province. At that time, tourism for the elderly was not yet as developed as it would be in later years, but a few travel agencies had already sensed the business opportunity. The elderly tour group that Qiu Jianguo had inquired about not only had an experienced and meticulous tour guide, but also two doctors accompanying the group. Everything was arranged properly, and the destination was a revolutionary old area in a neighboring province, which suited the elderly couple's tastes perfectly.

This frees up two spots.

Qiu Jianguo wanted to take his son to the south to broaden his horizons—although he had been to Shanghai with his sister before, his experience was limited to one place and his perspective was still not broad enough. Besides, he was also worried that his son was too confined and might get sick from boredom.

Since Changsheng left, Xia Lin has continued to laugh and joke as before, but there has always been a hint of loneliness in his heart.

Zhang Hongwei hesitated, unable to make up his mind.

Her two children are about to enter their final year of high school, a time when they should be focusing on their studies. She is worried that her son might get carried away with playing around and affect his college entrance exam results.

Qiu Jianguo laughed at her for worrying too much. With Shanglin following along, why would Xialin be afraid of disobeying?

Qiu Xia Lin, upon hearing his father's hint, became restless and impatient, urging his father to go to Shantou and Guangzhou to find Chang Sheng one moment, and advising his mother that Hong Kong was at the forefront of fashion the next. Shang Lin watched his antics coldly, neither nodding nor shaking his head.

Xia Lin jumped around for several days before his father reminded him that if Qiu Shanglin didn't let him go, it would be all for nothing even if he jumped to the sky!

Using his silver tongue, he persuaded Shanglin with all sorts of sweet talk, and finally convinced him to agree.

The trip started in Shanghai, then continued through Wuxi, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, and finally Guangzhou. The itinerary was planned for three weeks, and I had a week to rest after returning.

They made a brief stop in Shanghai, not lingering long. After all, they had been to Shanglin and Xialin before, and Qiu Jianguo and his wife had been there several times on business trips. Excited, the four of them, each carrying a backpack, headed enthusiastically towards Wuxi. What sparks would fly when these northern country folk met the rice-and-fish-land of the south?

Despite having seen it countless times on television and in books, the scenery of small bridges and flowing water in Jiangnan still evokes admiration from everyone. Shanglin, having witnessed countless times the Jiangnan scenery so different from that of the North, remained the most composed. Qiuxialin, on the other hand, was like a bird that had escaped its cage, hopping around joyfully, sometimes jumping into the rice paddies to catch leeches, sometimes chasing kites floating in the air.

The long-distance bus stopped midway, which made everyone on the bus laugh at him.

Several kind-looking elderly women chatted with Qiu Jianguo in Wu dialect. They could barely understand Qiu Jianguo's Mandarin, which had a northern accent, but Qiu Jianguo had to use gestures and guesswork to understand them.

Despite the language barrier, it did not dampen the enthusiasm of both parties for the conversation.

The pleasant atmosphere of their conversation quickly influenced those around them. Several middle-aged people who had been pretending to doze off with their eyes closed joined in the chat. With their translation, Qiu Jianguo was finally able to understand the old lady's fast and difficult Wu dialect.

They inquired about Qiu Jianguo's family's trip to Wuxi, and offered suggestions and proudly introduced the scenery of their hometown.

Shanglin didn't get off the bus. He sat by the window, gazing blankly at the fields and the villages in the distance.

With its gray tiles and walls, she could vaguely see smoke rising from the chimneys behind the houses. She could almost picture an old woman with bound feet, her head wrapped in a blue floral cloth, feeding chickens with a winnowing basket, making soft chirping sounds as she did so. In the rice paddies, the lush green rice stalks thrived, and occasionally an old man with a wrinkled face would straighten up to glance at the long-distance bus parked by the roadside before indifferently bowing his head to work again.

The bustling car suddenly fell silent; the white poplars overhead suddenly stood still. In that instant, it seemed as if she were the only one left.

Qiu Shanglin didn't want to be sentimental, but a feeling of calm yet loneliness suddenly came over her, like a tidal wave, silent and abruptly encroaching. Even though her closest loved ones were all around her, there was a black hole in her heart that no amount of laughter could fill; it was empty, as if the world itself couldn't fill it.

Just as she was feeling sad, a young man rushed onto the car and almost couldn't stop in front of her, panting, "Sis, sis, Mom wants you to get off and take a picture!"

Without a word, he grabbed her and pulled her away. Shang Lin was wearing a seatbelt, and he pulled her so hard that she stumbled. Qiu Jianguo quickly helped her loosen her belt and said, "Slow down, don't fall!"

Autumn came and went like the wind, pulling Shanglin along as they quickly disappeared into the farmland behind the bus.

Seeing Qiu Jianguo's smile, the old lady asked, "Your child?"

Qiu Jianguo proudly replied, "Yes."