Volume One, Chapter Eight: Repairing the Door You Broke Yourself

With a heavy crash and the mournful splintering of wood, the cubicle door, locked from the outside with a small brass padlock, was forcefully kicked off its frame by Jiang Yu.

She stepped out through the shattered doorframe, drenched and emanating a nauseating stench of rot, taking slow, deliberate steps back toward the classroom.

At that moment, the math teacher droned hypnotically about functions at the podium, while the students below nodded off.

When Jiang Yu’s disheveled figure appeared at the doorway, everyone suddenly perked up.

“J-Jiang Yu, did you… fall into a pond?” The math teacher’s chalk froze midair; frowning, his tone was filled with displeasure and disgust. “Look at you! Go wash yourself immediately! Don’t disrupt the class!”

Instinctively, he covered his mouth and nose, eager to rid himself of this troublesome matter as soon as possible.

But Jiang Yu paid him no mind.

She didn’t even glance at anyone. Her dark, somber eyes fixed directly on the last row of the classroom, where a boy sat with his legs crossed, wearing a smug, provocative expression.

Huo Siyue’s smile hadn’t fully faded, but the moment their eyes met, the curve of his lips suddenly stiffened.

He saw Jiang Yu move.

She strode forward, ignoring all eyes upon her, stepping through the puddles she had left behind until she stood before his desk.

She did nothing. She said nothing.

She simply stood there quietly, looking down on him from above.

Dirty, murky water dripped from her hair ends, chin, and fingertips, splattering onto his pristine textbooks, blotting them with grimy stains.

The foul, nauseating odor aggressively invaded his nostrils, churning his stomach.

“What… what are you staring at? Are you crazy?” Huo Siyue shrank back under her gaze, feeling uneasy.

He shouted fiercely, trying to maintain his authority.

“Here, take some paper.” He pulled out a large pack of tissues from his bag. “Don’t embarrass our family!”

Qin Xuewei, sitting in the front row, looked on smugly.

So filthy and stinking, yet still nothing more than a despised country bumpkin.

Could you ever become a phoenix perched on a branch? You’re just a rat digging holes in the ground.

May you live your whole life in a stinking ditch!

The math teacher finally snapped back to reality and hurried down from the podium, grabbing Jiang Yu’s arm, trying to pull her away.

His tone was stern. “What exactly are you trying to do? The college entrance exam is coming soon; don’t cause trouble here! If you have something to say, wait until after class! Go back to your seat!”

Jiang Yu did not resist, allowing herself to be pulled.

Under everyone’s horrified gaze, she shook off the teacher’s hand, turned around, and walked toward Qin Xuewei.

Qin Xuewei trembled as if stung by a cat’s tail, almost bouncing off her chair.

How did she get out?

“D-Don’t come near me!” Her voice trembled, betraying her guilt.

Jiang Yu stopped right in front of her; dirty water dripped from her hair ends, splashing onto Qin Xuewei’s clean white shirt.

She suddenly tugged at the corner of her mouth, bent down, and leaned close to Qin Xuewei’s ear, speaking in a voice so faint that only they could hear, softly but chillingly:

“You seem to have dropped something on the way to the restroom.”

Qin Xuewei’s mind went blank; she blurted out, “I didn’t! I never even went to the restroom! You’re lying!”

Her sharp denial echoed clearly through the classroom.

Everyone was stunned.

Jiang Yu slowly straightened up, the smile on her face unchanged. Tilting her head, she asked aloud, deliberately loud enough for the whole class to hear, feigning confusion:

“I just wanted to remind you that your pen seems to have fallen on the way to the restroom. Why such a big reaction? Or… did you actually see something in the restroom just now?”

“I… I didn’t! I saw nothing!” Qin Xuewei’s face drained of color. Panicked, she looked toward the teacher, eyes pleading for help. “Teacher! She… she’s bullying me! She’s slandering me!”

A guilty conscience betrays itself.

The math teacher hadn’t expected his most esteemed student to be so foolishly self-incriminating.

He slammed the desk hard and pointed at Jiang Yu, scolding furiously: “Enough! Jiang Yu! Have you caused enough trouble? Look at yourself! Aren’t you ashamed? Go straight home! Tomorrow, bring your parents to school!”

He vented all his anger on the victim.

Jiang Yu didn’t even lift her eyelids. Calmly, she packed up her tattered schoolbag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked out of the classroom.

She didn’t go home but instead rode her bicycle in the opposite direction—toward the scrap recycling station in the southern part of the city.

That evening.

Huo Jianjun and his brothers had all returned. Dinner was laid out on the table, but Jiang Yu’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Xiaoyu?” Huo Jianjun asked Lin Wenxiu.

Lin Wenxiu shook her head, worry unspoken in her eyes.

Only Huo Siyue sat restlessly, frequently glancing at the door, his face pale and sallow, his chopsticks nearly broken from his tight grip.

Just then, the front door creaked open.

Jiang Yu had come back.

She wore a clean set of clothes—the faded blue cotton school uniform she had worn before. Her hair was still damp, but the foul stench was gone.

In her hand, she carried a heavy mesh bag.

“Xiaoyu, you—”

“Bang!”

Jiang Yu slammed the mesh bag onto the table.

A pile of scrap copper and iron tumbled out: rusty gears, broken bearings, and several heavily worn steel balls clattered across the floor.

Under everyone’s eyes, she lifted her gaze, calmly sweeping over the ashen-faced Huo Siyue before finally settling on Huo Jianjun.

“Dad Huo,” she said, “this afternoon, someone locked me inside a school restroom stall and poured two buckets of dirty water on me from above.”

She paused, then continued, “When the class bell rang, I was anxious to get out and ended up breaking the stall door. The teacher told me to bring my parents to school tomorrow and pay for the damages.”

She gestured to the pile of scrap metal on the floor.

“These are parts I picked up from the recycling station and sold for three yuan and twenty cents. I’ll pay the compensation. This matter doesn’t concern anyone in the Huo family.”

Lin Wenxiu was the first to rush forward, hugging her cold daughter tightly. Tears fell silently, her heart breaking with pain.

“Bastards!” Huo Jianjun’s face flushed red with anger. He stood abruptly, slapping the rosewood tea table fiercely.

The loud bang made everyone’s hearts jump.

Pointing at the dirty scrap metal on the floor, his fury shot straight to the top of his head.

“Our daughter has been bullied to this extent, and she still has to pick up scraps to pay for it herself?! Today, I, Huo Jianjun, have been utterly humiliated!”

His eyes, sharp as knives, suddenly locked onto Huo Siyue, who had been restless and pale since Jiang Yu returned.

“Huo Siyue! Get up right now!”

Huo Siyue jolted awake and stood upright but dared not meet his father’s eyes.

“I’m asking you!” Huo Jianjun stepped closer, his powerful aura suffocating Huo Siyue. “What were you doing at school? Didn’t I tell you to look after your sister? Huh?! Your sister was locked in the restroom and drenched with dirty water—where the hell were you?”

“I… I didn’t know!” Huo Siyue stiffened his neck, eyes evading, but still trying to defend himself. “Who knows what trouble she caused outside again! Dad, this isn’t my fault—it’s her own doing!”

“You dare talk back!” Huo Jianjun trembled with rage, raising his hand to strike.

“Dad!” The eldest brother, Huo Chenyuan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. “Now’s not the time to assign blame. The urgent matter is to understand what happened.”

The second brother, Huo Mingyu, adjusted his glasses and added calmly, “Xiaoyu must be exhausted. Let her take a hot shower first so she doesn’t catch a cold. Whatever it is, we can settle it behind closed doors.”

Huo Jianjun looked at his sons, then at Jiang Yu curled up silently in Lin Wenxiu’s embrace. The anger inside him was softened by pain and guilt.

He took a deep breath and pointed at Huo Siyue, issuing a final warning:

“Starting tomorrow, you don’t live at school anymore! You come straight home every day! You go to school and come back with your sister! If she suffers even the slightest grievance at school again, I’ll break your legs! Also, if you rank at the bottom in the next monthly exam, you’re going to the kitchen duty to feed the pigs!”

Huo Siyue angrily threw down his chopsticks. Huo Jianjun showed no mercy and slapped him on the head.

“Dad! Hitting the head won’t make me smarter!”

“Then go feed the pigs directly!”

Huo Siyue: “......”

The eldest brother picked up his chopsticks, wiped them, and handed them to his youngest brother. “Say less and eat.”

As for Jiang Yu, she never uttered another word.

Late at night, Jiang Yu had just finished her shower and was drying her damp hair with a towel when a soft knock came at the door.

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