"Pei Chuan, the top science student in the college entrance exam, turned himself in."
"Victim of the past, perpetrator of today."
"Behind the degradation of the top student in the college entrance examination."
......
Throughout July and August, C City was covered with such news.
Later, the adults often taught their younger generations, “See this man? He has good grades, but he didn’t learn anything good. Thus, he can only sit in jail.” Once in prison, no matter how brilliant the medals once had, he would instantly dim. Years of hard work could be wiped out in one fell swoop.
All the students from the First, Third, and Sixth High Schools knew about it.
Jin Ziyang was shocked when he learned about this, then went furious when he heard such words. "What are you talking about! Do you know him? Do you know what kind of person he is? I, this young master, will beat you if you dare speak nonsense again!"
This time, Zheng Hang did not hold him back.
A few teenagers got together and wanted to find Pei Chuan. However, society gave them the most vivid lesson: When you haven’t fully grown up, you can't subvert everything.
Jin Ziyang squatted on the ground and covered his face. For the first time, he understood what it meant to be unable to do anything when something happened to a friend.
Three years of friendship, ah.
Pei Chuan had surrendered.
He’d probably had this plan early on. That was why on the day of the banquet, he had pointed out each of their prospects.
When they had first met Pei Chuan, he had been a cold and silent boy. He liked very few things, didn’t have any hobbies, and sometimes had a bad temper. But afterward, no one could come to hate that kind of Pei Chuan.
Ji Wei was extremely sad, even more than when he had failed the college entrance examination.
Jin Ziyang clenched his fists. “I will learn from my dad seriously and earn a lot of money, then I will bail Chuan Ge out!”
Zheng Hang patted his shoulder. “Yeah!”
Pei Chuan had too few friends in his life. If he lost even them, what would be left of him?
When Ji Wei went to retake his studies, he waved towards everyone and made a public announcement. “I don’t know which year I’ll be able to get into university, but if one day you see Chuan Ge, you must notify me immediately. No matter where he is, I want to see him.”
When Pei Haobin learned about this, he ran around looking and asking for help for a whole day.
He had been a captain for so many years, but it was the first time he had bowed his head to beg for personal matters. But after searching for people, the last thing he was told was, ‘It’s an important national case, I can’t reveal any more information.’
The media reports gradually disappeared in August, when Pei Haobin had already seen a lot of news about the analysis of Pei Chuan's growth.
This news threw Pei Haobin’s torn family and past at him. It led him to understand who it was that had let Pei Chuan to become like this.
He was wrong, he wasn’t a good father.
Pei Chuan had originally been standing in the abyss, but when he was in need, Pei Haobin, as a father, had not pulled him out of it.
Unfortunately, when he realized he was wrong, he already had no chance to find his son again.
That day, Pei Haobin changed his will, and this time, his determination was extremely firm. He invited a lawyer to come as a witness. On that very day, Cao Li was holding her son, who had only been born a while ago, with Bai Yutong at her side.
Pei Haobin said, “After I die, all the money will be left to Pei Chuan except for the alimony for the second child.”
When he said these words, his expression changed rapidly. He wasn’t in his prime anymore. He was no longer the father who would send Pei Chuan to school on his motorcycle.
"No matter which year Pei Chuan is released from prison, no matter what the final verdict is, even if he can't make it in his life, the money is his. If it can't be handed over to him, then it will be left to the country."
After Pei Haobin finished his words, Cao Li’s face was a little hard to look at. However, no one could shake Pei Haobin’s determination this time. Not even Cao Li’s tears, nor the baby in the swaddle.
They had stepped on Pei Chuan's broken legs to get that honor; it should have been returned long ago.
Pei Haobin's feelings had come ten years late, but this was the last thing he could do for his oldest son, whose whereabouts were unknown.
~
In the cold early autumn of September, Bei Yao went to the capital to go to college. Zhao Zhilan was worried about her daughter. What had happened to Pei Chuan was like a stone being thrown into the water. It had splashed and caused countless ripples that had just silently calmed down.
On the day Bei Yao left for the capital, Bei Licai wanted to ask for leave to accompany his daughter to register, but Bei Yao refused.
The whole summer vacation felt particularly long, enough for her to calm down.
Before Bei Yao left, she found the notes that had accompanied her when she had been a child.
Even though her memory wasn’t complete, Bei Yao knew that the development of the two lifetimes were completely different.
The notes had been written like this:
“That man is called Pei Chuan, a man who is very bad in the eyes of the whole world. He silently protected Bei Yao for two years. On the day she died, Pei Chuan told her that ‘she was someone he dared not love all his life.’ ”
However, Pei Chuan hadn’t become such a bad person in this life. Instead— he had surrendered.
For two lifetimes, the arrival of Bei Yao was the only variable.
She was the last cage that had trapped Pei Chuan.
Pei Chuan had long known what would be the consequences of a moment of joy with her, but he had still accompanied her throughout her adolescence.
Before Bei Yao went to university, all the teenagers who were still in the neighborhood came to see her.
Everyone envied her for being able to go to university and gave her many gifts.
Later, when she went to the train station, Chen Yingqi said, “Bei Yao, I’ll send you off.”
The two people walked together on the road.
Chen Yingqi crumpled his face, and after a long time, he opened his mouth. “Have you found Pei Chuan?”
Bei Yao said, “No.”
Chen Yingqi took a deep breath. “Bei Yao, do you really like him?”
Above the old neighborhood were some wires crossing each other. A swallow that hadn’t flown away yet tilted its head and stared down at them.
Bei Yao looked at Chen Yingqi silently.
Chen Yingqi sighed and said, “It’s not because of sympathy for him, nor because of pity, but because of love, because of the ‘you wanted to be together for a lifetime’ kind of love.”
Bei Yao’s eyes went misty; she finally nodded.
For the first time, she had confessed her feelings to an outsider.
Chen Yingqi seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but then he became more despondent and said, "You like him, but he loves you. Bei Yao, you will never know how much he loves you."
The chubby teenager took a card out of his pocket. "This is the money he has saved over the years. The night before your college entrance exams, he suddenly found me and asked me to take care of you and Aunt Zhao from now on. He said a man knows a man best. He was afraid that you’d be bullied and cheated, so he let me keep a good watch on you, just in case…"
The chubby boy’s eyes were red. “In case you get together with someone, and that person doesn't treat you well. Or I’ll have to report to him when you want to spend money.”
Bei Yao pursed her lips, tears materialized in her eyes.
Chen Yingqi said, "At the time he decided to surrender, he didn't even know how many years he would be sentenced to, and what the final result would be. You can like anyone, don't think about him anymore."
In fact, Pei Chuan had said a lot more. Like though Bei Yao loved to smile, she would sometimes cry, too. In the future, she must find someone with a good temper. How could they let a girl coax a man?
Bei Yao finally understood that sentence.
…“She was someone he dared not love all his life.”
~
In the early autumn of September, Pei Chuan made a statement.
According to the law, for everyone who may be sentenced to death, even if they didn’t hire a lawyer, the state would help them employ one.
That day, after finishing the statement, the lawyer was still there.
Pei Chuan looked at the white ceiling. “Is it September?”
The inside was no different from the outside, and time felt like it was being drawn out.
The lawyer said, “It’s September 6th.”
Pei Chuan nodded. She should have arrived at B University.
The lawyer frowned. “I just asked and they said you didn’t follow what I told you. Pei Chuan, aren’t you afraid of being sentenced to death? In your situation, you’re likely to get a light sentence if you behave well.”
Pei Chuan said, “Thank you, but I have no need for it.”
The young man was very calm when he said ‘no need’. Lawyer Zhen had been in this industry for many years, but this was his first time seeing someone who didn’t care.
Sometimes, it was obviously the same thing, and saying it in another way would still have the same result. Though Pei Chuan understood this truth, he still explained it in a serene way that was detrimental to him.
“I was 16 that year, yes, I knew they used it to steal from financial institutions.”
“Drug trafficking? I knew part of it.”
“The security system in 2007 was destroyed by me.”
"The last development was a brain chip that could control humans. Once it would be completed, whoever it would be, they would become a puppet. I didn’t finish it; I did half of it and then deleted it completely. They had the help of doctors and doctor*. I was just responsible for the chip, the others were in charge of implanting it.”
*t/n: Doctor degree or Ph.D.
“I also knew that they would abduct people to do the experiments after the chip was done. No one told me, I guessed it myself.”
The person opposite Pei Chuan couldn't help asking, "Do you hate this world?"
The boy's pupils were dark, and he laughed for a long time. "No. Police officer, I love this world."
This answer had been out of everyone's expectations.
At that time, in order to check Pei Chuan's mental state, they had also called a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist put his hands in his pockets and frowned. "He’s in a very special situation. Maybe it’s not because of the poor environment that he grew up in. He suffered such a bad thing when he was a child, and there was a part of anti-social psychology in his personality, but now it’s gone. It's not a lie to say that he loves the world. He stopped and didn't become a vicious social disruptor. He’s very smart. If he developed as before, he may have become the leader of those people."
Yes, not only he had not become Satan*, but he had also taken down all the people who could have been his ‘subordinates’ in the future.
*t/n: Originally in English, if you remember, it was his code name.
The several people looked at each other and laughed.
Could this be counted as the genius “killing himself”? To destroy the whole clan by himself.
However, the joke stayed as a joke. In January of the following year, Pei Chuan’s trial was held in secret.
Before the trial, the lawyer was so anxious. "Pei Chuan! I’m warning you for the last time, if you want to live, you cannot take a laissez-faire attitude. Think about it! How old are you, do you want to spend the rest of your life in jail? This is not a trivial matter, you committed a crime when you were 16 years old. It's already at the age of significant criminal responsibility or high IQ crime. The country is most afraid of people like you!"
Pei Chuan did not speak.
Lawyer Zhen yelled, "Pei Chuan! Why didn't you fight to get out sooner?"
Pei Chuan did not look back, and said, "Lawyer Zhen, thank you for everything you've done for me. But, even if I get out, it's no different than being inside."
A person who has been in jail is unworthy of her.
At least in this place, he can lock up his body so that he can't defile her again.
Remembering the investigation of the past few days, Lawyer Zhen said, "Pei Chuan, don't you want to see her again? If you promise to behave well, I'll show you her photos from a few days ago."
The teenager's steps jerked to a halt.
Lawyer Zhen saw an opportunity and couldn't help but tell him, "You don’t want to see it? She's 18 this year. Trust me, I'll find ways to bring it in!"
Pei Chuan gritted his teeth. "I'll… speak properly today."
Lawyer Zhen laughed. Brat, stubborn monkey.
The brat was much calmer today. He would finally speak in his favor. At the end of the day, Pei Chuan also provided an account number. "It's the money they paid me. I haven't used a single cent. The money I use is the one I got from developing software. The money from them is in this account, the password is 190815, all turned over to the country."
As a result, when the officers took a look, they all thought, good boy!
The money in that account was 300 million!
Lawyer Zhen was also stunned. The teenager looked at him, his pale lips pursed. "You promised me."
"...O, okay."
Within two days, Lawyer Zhen kept his words. With a heavy fist, he brought a screenshot of the forum, printed it in color, and gave it to Pei Chuan.
Lawyer Zhen said, "Sorry, I can't bring the photo, and the paper is a little bit crooked. Don't mind it."
Pei Chuan shook his head and took the colored printed paper.
She is eighteen years old.
The photo had been taken in December. It showed the girl's long hair that was tied into a ponytail, its ends were slightly curled, and her bangs made her look gentle. She was reading a book in a pavilion by the lake, wearing a white down jacket. It was snowing outside the pavilion and the lake had yet to freeze.
Pei Chuan's fingertips traced the face in the photo, his black eyes calm.
Lawyer Zhen sighed in his heart and patted him on the shoulder. "Little Pei, she is very beautiful and cute. The photo was downloaded from the school's forum, and she was the most popular in the school flower popularity contest! This little girl is excellent, you have to behave well so you can see her again, okay? Even if it’s just a glance from afar."
Pei Chuan whispered, "Can I keep this piece of paper?"
The piece of paper was finally taken away. For a 'dangerous' person like Pei Chuan, not even a strand of grass would be given to him.
He watched Lawyer Zhen with the 'photo'. He stood up, but was pressed down again.
This year, his prosthetics weren’t the most advanced ones and it hurt when he bent.
Lawyer Zhen said, "If you want to see her, just see her openly in the future. Only seeing a photo doesn’t count!"