Three months ago, the day before the summer vacation, Shen Mu publicly confessed to Su Yingxing during the club meeting as previously mentioned by Lin Huiru. This incident also caused a huge sensation on the campus of Baiyan University. Shen Xin’s classmate, Su Yingxing’s younger sister, Su Huatong, blatantly walked into the class, stating, “Brother is a homosexual, sister is also a homosexual, by playing with her we’ll also be infected”. The originally popular Shen Xin who had outstanding grades was isolated.
“At that time, I went online to research…” Shen Xin restlessly twisted the hem of her clothing, “Someone said that if my relative was homosexual, then the possibility that I could be homosexual would also increase… I felt very scared, so much so that I even started to feel that when I played with Lulu and the others, it seemed like I really harboured unfathomable ulterior motives…but I really treated them as friends.”
“During that time you skipped classes every day and either went to internet cafes to play games, or drank outside. When you returned home, you just closed the door and continued to play games and drink. At that time, I felt that my brother was so detestable, everything was my brother’s fault. I was also afraid that I was homosexual, and couldn’t lead a normal life any longer…”
Shen Mu comforted his sister on one hand, yet was somewhat absent-minded on the other. Before…did I like this person named Su Yingxing so much? Shen Mu tried to think back, trying to find the fragments of memory hidden deep in his mind, but ended up with nothing.
Forget it, Shen Mu shook his head. He couldn’t dwell on the past, his life was currently suspended…
“At that time, I wanted to tell the teacher, but everyone was looking at me so strangely. I was afraid that when the teacher found out, she would also… so I didn’t tell the teacher. Then…” Shen Xin took a deep breath. “Older brother, you guys had your end of year exams. You missed the exams in several subjects. The counselor called our parents and father found out.”
“Father didn’t know until then?” Shen Mu had some doubts, “Wasn’t I also depressed at home for several days, was Dad not home?”
Shen Xin shook her head, remembering that Shen Mu knew nothing, adding: “Dad is a businessman and has always been busy with work. Usually he rarely comes home. Mother left when I was three years old, the meals and cleaning at home are all done by the nanny, Aunt He.”
Shen Mu nodded and motioned for Shen Xin to continue.
Shen Xin went on to say: “Then father found out. The counselor probably told him about you confessing to Su Huatong’s brother. Dad was super angry, his temper wasn’t good to begin with, and his thinking is very traditional. You were also very angry. The two of you had a big fight, and failed to have a proper conversation. Brother, you just closed the door, no matter what he said, you paid no heed to it. Then, dad smashed a lot of things, even the crystal panda ashtray that mum gave to dad before… he ultimately said, ‘I don’t believe I can’t control you!’ then walked away angrily.”
Speaking up to this point, Shen Xin was somewhat hesitant, but she noticed that time was running out, and quickly continued: “After dad left, you also left. The next day we had an in-class test, but I didn’t get good results. Unexpectedly, when I got home, dad was there. Seeing that I was back and after knowing that I didn’t get good results, dad became even angrier. He told me that he planned to send you to the famous ‘Professor Niu’s Network Management Center’ for treatment.”
Shen Xin sunk into her memories: “At that time…”
……
Shen Xin: “Professor Niu? But Shen Mu didn’t like to play games before, he only started during this period… he’s probably not really addicted to gaming right?”
“You don’t understand, Professor Niu can treat more than just internet addiction!” Shen Yida said proudly.
Shen Xin looked at Shen Yida’s expression, and suddenly understood a little. Apprehensively, she hesitantly spoke about her own investigation: “But I have checked, some sexual orientations are innate and cannot be changed…”
“Hai, Professor Niu actually has a lot of successful cases! The saplings that have grown up crooked should be wrenched back! Before, it was me that neglected you guys, now it’s not too late to be educated. Better late than never!”
Shen Xin couldn’t help but think, even if Shen Mu’s attraction to men wasn’t an illness, men should naturally like women. If Shen Mu continued like this, it wouldn’t end well. If Professor Niu could really rehabilitate Shen Mu’s sexual orientation back to normal, wouldn’t it be very good? Wasn’t it better to like girls? Everyone would have better lives…
Although she thought in this way, Shen Xin still felt a little uneasy. She went back and turned on the computer, searching for information about Professor Niu. Reading some of the web pages high on the rankings, seeing that they all praised Professor Niu’s ability and his ethics, Shen Xin nodded, silently approving of her father’s decision.
At that moment, Shen Xin noticed a forum where the keywords on the search page displayed “Professor Niu’s dark secrets”. Shen Xin couldn’t help but frown as she entered the forum, yet she became extremely shocked. What the forum said was completely different from the description on the other web pages. Professor Niu didn’t actually use reasonable educational methods, but used the brutal “shock therapy” to conduct a brainwashing type of education as well as severe corporal punishment on the students every day. Shen Xin was so frightened that she hurriedly hugged her notebook and went to find Shen Yida, who was just preparing to return to the company.
Shen Yida looked at the denunciation on the forum, and also looked at what was displayed on the search page, then patted Shen Xin’s head with a smile: “Xin Xin has some ideas, but this is what you don’t understand! This is splashing dirty water* on Professor Niu! With one glance, you can tell that this was done by those internet addicts, or possibly the competitors of Professor Niu, so don’t mind this.” Saying this, Shen Yida began changing his clothes.
*Splashing dirty water basically means spreading bad/groundless rumors about someone, usually with selfish motive.
“But-!” Shen Xin still wanted to say something.
Once he was finished changing, Shen Yida pulled his daughter over along with his laptop: “Look, several official newspapers have investigated Professor Niu before, conducted on-site inspections and interviewed students and teachers. If there was really a problem, shouldn’t it have been found? Anyone can register on a forum and can say anything, but if you believe everything other people say, then you’re too stupid.”
Now that he was finished speaking, Shen Yida left to go to work.
Although Shen Xin still couldn’t quite let the matter go, she also thought that what her father had said did make sense.
When Shen Mu returned home the next day, Shen Yida had long been waiting at home, amiably saying that he would take Shen Mu out for a walk. Both father and son calmed down, talking together frankly and openly. Although Shen Mu found this unexpected, he also wanted to clear everything up with his father, getting into the car without having any suspicions.
The next time Shen Xin saw Shen Mu was more than three months later toward the end of October, in the intensive care unit of the Municipal People’s Hospital.
“Sorry brother! I thought about secretly telling you that day…but I didn’t say it…” Shen Xin sobbed until she was unable to speak.
Shen Mu distressedly patted her: “How could it be your fault? Professor Niu was the one in the wrong. The media doesn’t differentiate between what’s good and bad, you’ve done well.”
But Shen Xin desperately shook her head: “No brother, you don’t know! We started school more than a month ago and must rearrange our seats. The classmate who was paired with me was unwilling to sit at the same table as me. When Teacher Zhang learned about the matter, she was very angry, and firmly disciplined the other students.”
Shen Xin sobbed as she said: “The teacher said that there was no right or wrong regarding sexual orientations. Homosexuality and heterosexuality should both be respected, and homosexuality is not that whenever you meet a classmate, you will like them. No one likes self-satisfied people who think highly of themselves but say hurtful words to others! The teacher said a lot of things. They, as well as me, finally realised that the previous thoughts we’d been having were wrong! Lulu and the others all apologized to me. At that time I regretted it. If I had told the teacher earlier, we wouldn’t have fought… “
“I asked father to pick you up, but he disagreed and blamed Teacher Zhang for making children become skewed, saying that he must find a better class for me when I go to junior high! I had an argument with him, and when he saw that I would keep making trouble, he called Professor Niu. When he hung up, he said that when you met the standards required, you’d naturally come out then… ” Shen Xin continued, “No matter what I said, our father refused to listen, and even wanted to find Teacher Zhang to settle accounts. Professor Niu said that if you did well, you could come out in 3 months. I thought that since there’s only one month left, when brother, you came out, this would all be over… ”
“Sorry brother, if it wasn’t because I was afraid for myself, communicating earlier with the teacher would have made everything alright! If I’d said it at the end of the last semester, at least I would’ve sent you a message when father was going to send you to Professor Niu during the holidays, wu*… “
*Wu or wuwuwu sounds are the Chinese onomatopoeia for crying
“Don’t be afraid, Kexin, brother is fine…it’s all brother’s fault, brother will definitely bring you out. “Shen Mu held his sister, feeling uncomfortable in his heart. She was still so young. Their father was also a middle-aged man with traditional thinking. He was focused on his career and didn’t know how to educate his young daughter. As for himself, he was also an incompetent brother. Kexin was a kindhearted and pure girl with a sensitive mind, but if you were good to her, she’d definitely remember that kindness in her heart. Shen Mu didn’t forget that the first time he met Shen Xin, her attitude towards her brother wasn’t friendly, and could imagine just how unbearable the sibling relationship was previously.
As an adult, no matter how frustrated he was with his relationships, not only did he evade his studies and exams, he even quarreled with his younger sister. He hoped he hadn’t actually felt that it was her fault for ‘not understanding him’?! An unknown fire burnt in his heart, and Shen Mu held his sister even tighter.
Shen Xin finally said the matter that had been weighing down her heart for a long time. Although the sobbing reaction of her body hadn’t stopped, she had already recovered her spirits. Her somewhat red-rimmed eyes twinkled with rays of light. The lively tone and poisonous tongue that Shen Mu was familiar with was restored: “Brother, you are about to be eliminated according to our script and it’s still me who will take you guys out! Rest assured, I definitely won’t lose to you!”
Shen Mu also smiled: “Then it’s up to you, Kexin.”
Shen Mu went up to the 3rd floor and completed killing the third night’s target, No. 4 Yang Ge.
The third day, at six in the morning, Yang Ge’s death was announced.
At 9:00, in the game lounge, the number of people on the round table had been reduced by one third.
The third day’s discussions officially began.
Timeless Translations 
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