Chapter 4

Shen Juan came from our village. She had once lived next door to the Suns, and the families knew each other.

They had joked about arranging a marriage between the children. Shen Juan had taken it to heart.

Now Sun Heng ignored her and went out of his way to help me.

Instead of taking it up with him, she turned her anger on me.

One day my schoolbag was stuffed with rubbish. The next, there was a nest of crawling insects inside my desk.

Her friends stood nearby, enjoying the spectacle.

They waved their hands in front of their noses and said, with disgust, “It stinks! It stinks!”

I was still as slow to react as ever.

None of it stirred any feelings in me.

I simply tipped the rubbish and insects into the bin, shook my bag clean, and sat down to work.

The insects crawled out of the bin and scurried through the classroom, making the same girls scream. I did find that rather interesting.

My lack of reaction left Shen Juan’s attack with nowhere to land. Of course she wasn’t ready to give up.

She began telling everyone I was our village’s notorious half-wit.

“Some people couldn’t even talk at five or six. Let them cook a meal and they nearly burn the house down. So stupid their own parents didn’t want them—dumped them with another family and haven’t bothered visiting for years.”

“Then they come to No. 1 and suddenly they’re top students. How could they do it without cheating?”

She hadn’t named me, and I couldn’t be bothered to answer.

Then Ms. Qin, our class teacher, walked in and snapped, “It’s break time. Rest or read. This is a school, not a market. You’re pupils, not village gossips. What’s all this tongue-wagging?”

“You’re almost ready for university. Show some manners!”

Shen Juan persisted. “Ms. Qin, it was wrong of me to discuss Lin Huisheng’s family. But does that make her cheating right?”

Ms. Qin adjusted her glasses. “You say she cheats. Tell me how she cheats her way to full marks.”

“Instead of studying, you spend all day making accusations with nothing to back them up!”

Her attempt to slander me had earned her a scolding instead. Shen Juan grew angrier still.

She could only sit behind me, sniffling and sobbing.

I had no time for her. Just as the crying began to quiet down, I felt something cold at my back.

A sharp pain cut across it.

I reached behind me. Shen Juan had slashed a long cut in my clothes with a small knife. She had cut my skin too.

I had never been able to shout. Pain and hurt stayed trapped inside me. I wanted to cry out but couldn’t; I wanted to cry but didn’t know how.

I stared at her, stunned. She showed no remorse.

She leaned close to my ear. “Keep hanging around Sun Heng and I’ll slash every piece of clothing you own. Then let’s see you show your face at school.”

I pulled my clothes together and straightened the books I had knocked out of place in my alarm.

Then I picked up the thickest book and slammed it into her face.

Her wails shook the classroom.

And I was told to bring in a parent.