Chapter 69 (Part 1)
Two days later, Mingxi and Fu Yangxi were discharged from the hospital together.
The wound on Fu Yangxi's shoulder healed so fast that the doctors were shocked. Originally, such an injury was prone to repeated infection. It might take three weeks to remove the gauze, but Fu Yangxi could remove it in less than four days.
But everyone only thought that Fu Yangxi was young and had a strong recovery ability.
On the day they were discharged from the hospital, Zhao Yuan had already been detained.
Because no major harm was done to anyone's life, only property damage was caused, in the end the sentence was only three years.
This was a fair and just judgment of the court.
The Fu family did not intervene, otherwise she would only be given a heavier sentence.
And another art school gangster friend who helped her unconsciously was also sentenced to seven months in prison.
Zhao Yuan was 18 years old when she was imprisoned. She will be 21 years old when she is released from prison. She is still young, and she can start all over again.
But the question was whether she herself wanted to start all over again.
This irreversible result of the matter was undoubtedly something that no one in the Zhao family wanted to see.
The Zhao family was not only angry that Zhao Yuan almost killed Zhao Mingxi, but also distressed about why it ended so badly.
Zhao Zhanhuai naturally thought that maybe he had spurned Zhao Yuan by ignoring Zhao Yuan more than a dozen times.
The last time he was disgusted and indifferent to her in the garage, it directly became the fuse of her arson.
However, Zhao Zhanhuai asked himself, did his family feel sorry for Zhao Yuan?
He didn’t think so.
Not to mention the care they gave her for more than 10 years.
Even after finding Zhao Mingxi and discovering that Zhao Yuan was not his parent’s biological daughter, the family still treated Zhao Yuan as before.
It was not until they discovered that Zhao Yuan's biological mother, Zhang Yufen, was the criminal who exchanged the two children, that their family had a psychological breakdown and drove Zhao Yuan out of the Zhao family.
Not only because they could no longer face Zhao Yuan who was the child of the criminal, but also because, under such circumstances, they still kept Zhao Yuan at home. So, how sorry should they be for Zhao Mingxi who had been living away from home for many years and suffered so much?
In fact, because of the last sliver of old love, she was not asked to compensate them, nor was she reported to the police about her instigating Zhang Yufen to escape.
However, things have still come to this point today.
Perhaps it was their family's education that fundamentally failed.
What Mr. Zhao and Madam Zhao taught their children when they were very young was that you have to do everything you can to get what you want.
When their lives were good and their status was superior, this kind of education would undoubtedly make them more motivated.
However, Mr. Zhao and Madam Zhao forgot how to educate them and teach them what to do when they encounter setbacks. So, when Zhao Yuan returned from the sea to her original living environment of river mud, what she thought of was to do everything she could to get what she wanted, and finally, she went astray.
To a certain extent, the grandmother who adopted Zhao Mingxi may have been more successful in educating Zhao Mingxi than Mr. Zhao and Madam Zhao. At least, Zhao Mingxi learned from her how to be strong and grow in adversity.
This incident caused the Zhao family to reflect a lot on themselves.
It's just that the matter had come to this point, and everything was irreparable.
*
After the Zhao family found out when Mingxi would be discharged from the hospital, they drove to the hospital in advance and waited for several hours.
When Mingxi was still in the ward, there were people from the Fu family near the elevator and they couldn't get close. Now that Mingxi came out of the hospital, before getting into the car, they could finally catch a glimpse of Mingxi.
It was just a short while before Mingxi got into the car.
She was wearing a gray sportswear suit. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, her slender neck was fair, and she looked very energetic. She was talking to Professor Gao who was also picking up his grandson from the hospital.
Only upon seeing with their own eyes that Zhao Mingxi was fine, her whole body was intact, and she just lost weight after staying in the hospital for a few days, the Zhao family finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They stayed in the car and watched the Fu family's car drive away, followed by the Dong family's car, as if they were going to pick up Zhao Mingxi, Fu Yangxi, Professor Gao and his grandson for a meal. Both cars left in the same direction.
This time, they didn't follow.
Because the current Mingxi looked really satisfied.
She had a lover, friends, relatives, and she lacked nothing.
To her, they may be just a trace in her memory which did not need to be repaired.
If they follow them, it would make them seem like uninvited guests and disturb everything.
Zhao Yuning spoke first, "Mingxi won't marry Fu Yangxi in the future, right?"
Zhao Zhanhuai thought of Fu Yangxi's vicious punch on Zhao Mo's temple. He actually still had the mood to laugh, and said, "Then, Zhao Mo is probably going to die of anger."
Mr. Zhao stared at the car driving away and frowned in displeasure. He said, "She’s only 18 years old, why would she be talking about marriage? And I don't like that kid from the Fu family very much. That kid has no sense of etiquette at all. They’ve been together for so long, but he never thought of coming to see his father-in-law. He is so rich but he doesn’t seem to show his affection for her, so I think it's better to find someone else who can marry into our home."
Zhao Yuning said, "Dad, what's the use of your disapproval? It’s not like she’ll invite us when she gets married."
Mr. Zhao: “...”
Zhao Zhanhuai: “...”
Madam Zhao: “...”
The Zhao family sitting in the car suddenly fell into a death-like silence.
It was they who took Zhao Mingxi's sincerity for granted before.
Just like a shattered glass, when something is broken, it is broken, and it can never go back to how it was in the beginning.
They thought they could make up for it before, but if Mingxi didn't get enough warmth from them in the first place, then what's the point of mending it now.
They were afraid that on the day she gets married, their family really won't appear on the invitation list.
"Let’s go home," Mr. Zhao said solemnly.
Zhao Zhanhuai looked at the red-eyed and silent Madam Zhao from the rearview mirror and sighed inwardly. He turned the car around and drove home.
Zhao Yuning became aware that he made a slip of the tongue, causing the atmosphere in the car to turn lifeless suddenly. So, he quickly said, "But a lifetime is so long, who can say for sure? Who knows what will happen? Maybe one day in the future Mingxi will reconcile with us?"
After all, humans always carry hope in their hearts.
Hearing his words, the other three people felt somewhat comforted.
Zhao Zhanhuai took a look at Zhao Yuning and thought, Zhao Yuning has made a lot of progress visible to the naked eye.
He is not as ignorant as before.
This was probably the only comforting thing among a lot of bad things in the past six months.
*
Mingxi and Fu Yangxi returned to school after dealing with the problem of Professor Gao's relocation.
As soon as they returned to school, they were greeted by the followers in the class with tears in their eyes.
It's almost the college entrance examination, and yet this kind of thing happened. It was really worrying.
Two followers even lit a brazier in the corridor and asked them to step over it.
Mingxi thought it was silly, but couldn't reject the enthusiasm of the group of people, so she bravely jumped over it.
Fu Yangxi saw her bouncing posture and thought she was so cute. He caught her on the opposite side.
Ke Chengwen and the followers were still making noise. Even though the dean was late, he arrived and hurried over with a pointer. He shouted, "It's still a few days before the college entrance examination, and your class is still making noise! Where's Lu Wangwei?!"
Teacher Lu Wangwei who was sitting in the office sneezed.
Great, my performance bonus for May is gone again.
The fact that Zhao Yuan committed arson and was directly arrested caused heated discussions in the school.
The teachers and students in the school were so shocked that they felt as if they had watched a TV series.
It was even the kind that destroyed one’s moral views.
Because before this, Zhao Yuan hadn't been to school much this semester, and when she did go to school, she was still dressed in the kind of boots that showed her thighs. Thus, the people in the Evergreen Class were no longer familiar with her.
So when they heard about this incident, no one in the Evergreen Class thought it was weird— In fact, some of them felt that Zhao Yuan's mental state was a little bit off.
But no matter what, everyone's mood was quite complicated. After all, they were classmates for almost three years, and she actually committed such a twisted crime.
Among them, Pu Shuang and E Xiaoxia had the most complicated feelings. One was Zhao Yuan's friend and the other was Zhao Yuan's enemy. The two looked at each other amidst the discussions in the classroom, and then looked away.
Late May.
It rained several times.
People in the Gold Medal Class discovered a very rare thing.
Recently, after school, Shen Liyao didn't go home directly, or go to the laboratory assigned to him by the school. Instead, he stayed behind to tutor his classmates who were about to take the college entrance examination and were still a little short of the score of their chosen college, helping them to rush during the final hours. He helped them cross the threshold of the college entrance examination and get them admitted to their ideal college.
Ye Bai and the others felt it was unbelievable. They felt that Shen Liyao was not Shen Liyao at all.
Others in the class also wondered if Shen Liyao’s soul had been replaced.
"What are you looking at? I’m definitely passing, so I might as well do something to pass time," Shen Liyao said coldly as he wrote a topic analysis on a piece of white paper for the few people who gathered around, still not lifting his eyelids.
Judging by the indifferent tone of this speech, it was definitely Shen Liyao.
Ye Bai and the others looked at each other, hesitating whether to stay and wait for Shen Liyao.
The former Shen Liyao really wouldn’t do these things. No matter who came to ask him questions, ask for help, or even if the homeroom teacher Mr. Jiang came to him with irrelevant questions, to him it was all worth three words: ‘waste of time’.
The reason God Yao was called God Yao was not only because of the gold medals in major competitions that he was sure to win every year, but also because of his almost ruthless indifference.
To be honest, some boys thought he was deserving of a beating, but girls liked his pretentiousness.
But maybe it was because of the loss to Zhao Mingxi in that final that Ye Bai and others felt that some changes had taken place in him. They couldn't tell exactly what changed. In short, this feeling was like he got dragged off the altar of pride.
Shen Liyao lowered his eyes, pursed his lips and calculated on the piece of paper.
ray's note: hey guys! it's been a while since i've asked this but if you feel like there's something i can do to improve my translations, please feel free to let me know via the comments section here at ISOTLS. would love to know if there's anything i can do to make the reading process a smoother one for you all.
fyi, we have 2 more chapters to the end of the novel. BUT i will be translating the 5 chapters of extras as well so we've got a little more before this story is finished!