When Xue Yaozu was in elementary and middle school, he wasn’t a stutterer, he was mute.
Of course, he wasn’t really mute, it was just that he rarely spoke. And so people kept calling him mute.
He extremely disliked talking, because whenever he spoke, all the surrounding same-aged kids would laugh loudly and imitate how he spoke. And the adults would purposefully put on a mask of pity and compassion.
In addition, he rarely communicated with his family. It wasn’t like his parents mistreated him, it was just that they didn’t have the time or energy to interact with him. The effort put into surviving was already difficult enough. His father had had a serious work injury and half his body was paralysed. However, his boss had, by way of a court case, only needed to give very little compensation. His mother, therefore, had to take up the responsibility of the whole household and start leaving in the early morning and coming back late at night for work.
Home was always dark and gloomy, all the windows would be tightly shut and the blinds drawn as if afraid others would look inside.
His dad was always lying on the bed. He was either staring into space or was mindlessly staring at the TV.
To sum it up, at that time Xue Yaozu disliked humanity and the whole world.
Even though in middle school Xue Yaozu was tall, he was also really skinny. He was used to being made fun of. His bangs and tacky glasses together took his eyes hostage so that half his face became distorted, as if it had been blurred out. This type of person always couldn’t help but exhibit a ‘come and bully me’ type of aura.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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During the spring field trip they went mountain climbing.
Xue Yaozu was alone as he silently crossed the suspension bridge.
In truth he was afraid of heights, but was still grudgingly crossing it, as otherwise he would attract the teachers’ attention. He didn’t want to see the teachers’ absurd acts of pity, they’d all already been together so long, so having such a look of compassion would just seem fake.
Xue Yaozu thought, with cynicism.
He crossed to about midway, then suddenly the bridge shook and startled him. So he quickly latched onto the railing beside him and then turned to look back at a stranger who was scaring his girlfriend. After such a scare, the girl was starting to fume and it was only now that the boy stopped, laughing all the while. He hugged the girl and they crossed the bridge while he placated her, still in his arms, all the way across.
Xue Yaozu thought that they were idiots.
He let go and was preparing to continue crossing the bridge when the bridge started shaking again.
This time his classmates were bullying him on purpose.
Xue Yaozu hugged the iron cable again. He tightly pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Shake the bridge till sundown if you can, idiots!
He hatefully thought.
Suddenly someone grabbed his hand from the side and said, “Let’s go. It’s okay, there are railings on the sides.”
Xue Yaozu froze, then turned his head and saw that the person who was tugging him along was a guy that was very famous in school. His name was Ren Yigu.
Ren Yigu smiled very brightly and unrestrainedly towards him.
Xue Yaozu was almost blinded by it.
Ren Yigu was very, very, extremely popular in school.
He was very good-looking, had good grades, had a good temper, and rumours said that his family was pretty rich as well. What’s more, he was also really lively, so it seemed as if you could see him in all of the school events. It didn’t matter if he got an award or not, he would always have a smiling face and a humble I participated (in that). Every year among the school’s awards lists there would be a place for him. But every time, his pictures wouldn’t last 24 hours before they were secretly ripped off by someone.
Afterwards the school thought that that wasn’t good for the school environment, so they simply stopped posting pictures.
But MP4’s and smart phones were starting to get popular at that time, so everyone just decided to take the pictures themselves.
The school could only think, half in reluctant despair and half self-comfortingly, that it was a good thing that Ren Yigu was a good student, and he should at least be a good role model. It’s a lot better than the students following and idolizing some delinquent truant or gangster. For example, that student called Yu Shihua from a few years ago, he finally fucking left. He ruined the school’s upstanding environment and yet they also couldn’t do anything to him. So annoying. Especially as this brat liked to harass good students, MMP.
Rinrin: I really love it when authors include different perspectives, and not just those omniscient ones, but a full on switch. It just goes to show that even if a character is not explicitly an unreliable narrator, most are always biased (unless it’s some inhuman computer’s viewpoint or something) and not quite the same as other people
Also, love how we didn’t have to imagine their first meeting.
And this is doubly why I chose the suspension bridge as the book cover. This is where it began, and where it ended.
P.S. stories like this that come full circle are just so satisfyinggg
aww so he basically rescued him! super nice and sweet of him…
thanks for the chapter! <3
Thanks for your hard work!
I didn’t realize Ren Yigu was that popular. That makes his descent into mental illness all the more heartbreaking and poignant.
Really interesting to hear the explanation on the title of the novel! I like that you picked free, I think its got its own double meaning – free, like a joyful RYG, but also free, like him breaking free of the things that were holding him back :). Thank you for translating.
yay it’s Yaozu’s past and POV!!! thank u for the chapter~
Looking at his past, and then his present really hurt 🙁
UGHHHH IM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS NOVEL, AND THE AUTHOR, AND THE TRANSLATOR