Chapter 213: Ah Xue Chapter 213: Ah Xue But you know, madness is contagious.
All the students went mad, so it’s quite normal for the teacher to catch it too.
Su Yinhe thought it was perfectly normal.
She actually quite enjoyed watching them go mad, found it quite amusing.
“Don’t you think they crawl with a certain elegance?”
What had he just heard?
Did he hear it wrong?
Madness with elegance? Where does that elegance come from, was it stolen?
“No feeling.” Lin Murong thought for a while and replied with three words.
“That’s because you lack artistic taste,” Su Yinhe said, looking at him scornfully.
Are you even speaking human language?
“Galaxy, do you know what ‘artistic taste’ means?”
“I know. But I think you don’t really have it.” Su Yinhe really enjoyed watching them crawling, her eyes fixed on them without blinking, and she didn’t look up as she responded to Lin Murong.
“Your ‘think’ is wrong.” Lin Murong was very angry, he had good taste too.
Su Yinhe directed her gaze at him, she looked at him intently for a long while, then let out a long sigh.
No, what do you mean by that?
Su Yinhe did not seem very inclined to explain, she sighed and then disappeared.
Lin Murong tried to catch her but couldn’t.
He could only rage impotently.
After raging, seeing his group of students crawling around in a dark corner, he suddenly felt very weary.
Might as well destroy it all.
Hope Base, despite its name, which should suggest it brings hope,
Ah Xue felt that there was only despair, no hope in Hope Base.
Ah Xue was 26 now, it had been the apocalypse when she was 16, still in school.
Back then, her biggest worry was that her grades were fine during regular exams, but she would falter during the big ones. There were endless assignments, endless papers, endless lectures.
She dreamed of a life different from this one.
She wanted to turn 18 fast, to graduate, to travel, to chase celebrities, to play everywhere.
Life at 16 was constant repetition, repetition, repetition.
She despised such days, she craved for every day to be different.
Suddenly one day, an event broke the repetition of her 16th year, and from then on, those repetitions ceased.
She started anew, with new repetitions.
Repeating going out, repeating searching for food, repeating being robbed, over and over again.
And this repetition was unlike the repetition at 16.
The repetition at 16 was full of hope.
The repetition at 16, although tedious, was occasionally interesting and sometimes even brought a bit of happiness.
But now, the repetition had no hint of hope.
The current repetition seemed only to be about staying alive.
Yet, she didn’t even know where the meaning of living was anymore.
She was now 26, having lived so many years in the apocalypse, her appearance matured, her actions matured.
How could she not mature? Doing the same things every day.
But Ah Xue always felt, deep down, she was still a child.
She was still stuck at the age of 16.
The year of 16 wasn’t so tedious after all.
Cicadas chirping, sneaking off during PE class to buy a chilled coke from the snack shop, and also… that incomplete letter.
The letter was never finished and could never be finished now.
Now, she didn’t even have a piece of paper or a pen.
She even, somewhat forgot what writing looked like.
In her days at Hope Base, life was incredibly dull, always repeating. Such repetition was exhausting; besides repeating, she was sleeping. But no matter how long she slept, that deep-seated tiredness could not be shaken off.
Her mind couldn’t take in anything more.
There was no way around it; at Hope Base, at this time, just being alive already took all her strength.
She was so, so tired.
She really wanted to sleep, deeply, to sleep till the end of time, without having to worry about searching for food the next day.
To sleep without thinking about anything.
“Sister, I’m hungry.”
Ah Xue’s train of thought was interrupted.
She looked down at her little sister clutching her stomach, her lips twitching with an almost invisible smile, then slowly reached out and gently embraced her.
“Be good, go to sleep. You won’t feel hungry if you’re asleep.”
There was actually some food at home, but she couldn’t bring it out.
That was reserved for the next day.
In case she didn’t find anything tomorrow, it could be used as an emergency ration.
Today, absolutely no eating was allowed.
“Sister, I’m really so hungry I can’t sleep.” Little sister clutched her stomach, her stomach continuously growling, feeling sour, she wanted to sleep, but she couldn’t.
Today, she had only eaten a little bit of something hard.
Drank so much water; the water kept gurgling in her stomach, making her belly hurt.
She wanted to sleep, but her stomach kept growling.
“Ah Xue, your sister is hungry, give her the food,” Jiang Minrou said looking at how her older daughter treated her younger daughter, displeased.
This was her daughter, born with so much difficulty during the apocalypse; she believed countless times that her younger daughter wouldn’t make it, but she was strong and survived.
Such a small one, surviving strongly.
When she was pregnant with the younger sister, there was nothing to eat and she had already suffered.
After giving birth to the younger sister, there was no breast milk, and the younger sister could only eat a bit of rice paste. It really was tough.
It hadn’t been easy for the younger sister to survive; now she couldn’t sleep because she was hungry, what was the big deal in asking for some food?
They weren’t out of food at home.
Ah Xue’s eyes darkened. It was always , always .
“Mom, that’s food for tomorrow…” If she ate it now and she didn’t find food tomorrow…
“Tomorrow is tomorrow; tomorrow’s food can be found tomorrow. How did I end up with such a useless child? My life really is tough… Why wasn’t it you who died? If your father and brother were still here, the younger sister wouldn’t be hungry and unable to sleep…” Jiang Minrou spoke and thought of her husband and son.
Her husband and son were remarkable; she knew several other pregnant women, but in the end, only she managed to give birth.
Her husband and son were capable.
Despite the harsh conditions, they still managed for her to give birth properly to the younger sister.
Already very tired, now even more so.
Ah Xue slowly withdrew her hands that had been cradling the younger sister.
Why wasn’t it her who had died?
It should have been her.
Why did dad and brother push her away?
Wouldn’t it have been better if she had died?
This family needed them more.
She, alone, was so tired.
Why was it so tiring.
Hadn’t her tears run dry the day her dad and brother died? Why were her eyes still so stinging now.
“Sister, what’s wrong?” Little sister didn’t understand; just a moment ago her sister was still holding her, why had she let go?