Thinking of Qiao Chu, Su Ziceng remembered the most crucial step, "You said your mother... Ms. Ye kept in touch with my mother. Did she leave any letters that my mother left behind? I... I suspect that my mother was killed by someone, by Chang Mei."
Because of her nervousness and hesitation, Su Ziceng was somewhat breathless as she spoke. Pello might now be the only person who knows the truth about what happened back then. Su Ziceng was anxious and watched as he pursed his thin lips tightly.
"As for that..." Pello did not immediately deny it. He pondered for a moment and nodded, "A Rose Handbook left by your mother can give you some answers."
The Rose Handbook, which every student at Kelly Women’s College once possessed, no wonder Su Ziceng could not find the diaries of Ye Taina and Qiao Chu at school. They were not the kind of students who followed the rules and regulations. Thus, before graduation, unlike typical students, they did not hand their diaries over to the school.
Although he harbored resentment toward Ye Taina, Pello had preserved that "Rose Handbook" very well.
When she turned to the first page, Su Ziceng was shocked by the familiar handwriting. It was the same handwriting of Ye Taina that she had read before, from the Italian Recipe she used to learn French. Ye Taina was indeed a mischievous student; she took away the real "Rose Handbook" but submitted an "Italian Recipe" instead.
Su Ziceng couldn’t help but smile unconsciously; the autumn sun filtered through the windows of the teachers’ cafeteria, falling on her cheeks. The sunlight illuminated her profile, making her smile picturesque, like a late-blooming autumn rose.
Pello had read the text in the diary hundreds of times, familiar to the point of memorization. His eyes followed the movement of Su Ziceng’s fingers, slowly shifting upward to rest on her profile.
The Su Ziceng that Pello had seen was always assertive and impetuous, never before so peacefully serene like a ray of sunshine. Their reflections overlapped. Time seemed to halt at this moment, motionless.
"Chang Mei knew my mother even before Ye Taina did?" Su Ziceng was surprised to see this point, it was written in the notes that Ye Taina enrolled a few days later than the average person, so it was only after a week of normal school start that she came to Kelly Women’s College, where she then met Qiao Chu and Chang Mei.
She was so astonished, the doubts in her eyes yet to be resolved, when the corners of her lips were touched by a warm cheek, and as her view enlarged, Pello’s face was beside her lips; the beating of their hearts clearly audible.
Regarding all this, Pello was not too surprised. He did not adjust his position and stayed just half a centimeter away from Su Ziceng, "Yes, but the encounter between Qiao Chu and Ye Taina was like the meeting of the equator with the north and south poles; the two quickly became good friends." These two young girls, with similar ages and privileged family backgrounds, quickly left behind the cautious and solemn student from the Sixth District.
"Ye Taina didn’t like Chang Mei; intuition told her that Chang Mei had a pair of calculating eyes. Qiao Chu was too naive, so she always advised Qiao Chu to maintain a certain distance from Chang Mei," Su Ziceng wanted to push her chair back a bit to create a safer distance between them. She moved slightly but the chair didn’t budge. Sneaking a glance, she found that Pello had blocked the chair with his hand and shoulder. His shoulders were broad, two-thirds of them slanted into her chairback, and Su Ziceng’s height of 165 cm was completely overshadowed by his towering figure. From behind, it almost looked like Su Ziceng was nestled in his arms.
"Pay attention here," Pello’s breath traveled up along the back of her ear. Alarm bells rang in Su Ziceng’s head; she stiffened abruptly when Pello broke into a pleasurable laugh.
He was teasing her, Su Ziceng thought annoyedly but still looked towards the spot pointed out by Pello’s finger.
"’After the graduation exam results came out, I suspected that Chang Mei had tampered with them. Chang Mei was the class president, and she looked at me very defensively during the drawing of lots.’ What does this sentence by Ye Taina mean?" Su Ziceng didn’t know much about the graduation exam; she had only heard Wen Wuxu mention that the graduation exam mostly occurred in the third year after coming to Kelly Women’s School.
"Generally, the graduation exam is related to the students’ life positioning and the overall course arrangement at the end. Kelly Women’s School cultivates either socialite-style students or strong businesswoman-type students, a typical elite education," Pello explained.
"’Some say Xiao Chu is very lucky, as she doesn’t need to take her graduation exam in a foreign country like I do. But I don’t think so; Xiao Chu is too well-protected by her family and rarely leaves Mo City. I wish she could have a special journey like mine in France, what a pity...’" Su Ziceng finished reading this passage, and when she was about to turn to the next page, she remembered something.
Pello seemed to have said that it was during that journey abroad that changed the fates of Mussen and Ye Taina.
"The location of your mother’s graduation exam was in the Sixth District," Pello added again. He looked forward to seeing the changes in Su Ziceng as she moved closer to the truth after reading further down, a trace of cruelty cross his lips.
"The Sixth District?" Su Ziceng’s biggest question at the moment was what the content of the advancement exam would be and what awaited Qiao Chu. But she no longer needed to wonder because Ye Taina had written all the answers in the subsequent diary entries. (To be continued. If you work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)