Chapter 363 - 177: The Secret History of the Girls’ School
Are traditions also categorized as good or bad?
Qiu Zhi noticed Su Ziceng’s confusion and started to explain, "Every school has its own traditions. Like Kelly Women’s College, an old and established school with over two hundred years, it has traditions of all sorts - black, white, gray, any color you can think of."
"But I was there for three years and didn’t know about it; how would you know," Su Ziceng grudgingly accepted this concept of varied traditions.
"Just three years, I’ve been in a boys’ school since elementary," Qiu Zhi muttered, "It wasn’t easy growing up into a lively and straight young man."
"What does your being in a boys’ school have to do with anything?" Su Ziceng curled her lip. This fatso must have gone cross-eyed from watching stock market charts all day.
"How can you be so clueless? The traditions of boys’ schools and girls’ schools are..." Qiu Zhi glanced around, passed by a few students, then whispered, "Homosexuality."
"Tsk, you nitwit, who asked you about that tradition," Su Ziceng glared at him. The traditions of Kelly Women’s College could hardly be about homosexuality.
"Hey, don’t just brush it off. If you hadn’t told me you were deeply attached to Hang Yishao, I wouldn’t have asked for your help with Mai Xue, and who knows, with time, feelings might develop, which wouldn’t be fun," Qiu Zhi said convincingly, not sounding like he was joking at all.
"I like Wen Maixue; what’s wrong with your brain," Su Ziceng was annoyed, yet hearing the phrase ’deeply attached,’ she couldn’t help but stop smiling. Over the three years, so many things had changed, giving her a sense of everything and everyone being different, an illusion that made her unsure of how to handle the future.
"I know you don’t like Wen Maixue. You’re straight, but that doesn’t mean all students at Kelly Women’s College are like you. Everyone knows it’s hard to date girls from Kelly; aside from battling with social status, one also has to guard against other women," Qiu Zhi gossiped, perhaps even more fervently than any woman.
Yet this shocking news still startled Su Ziceng. What puzzled her even more was if the so-called tradition mentioned by the drunkard was actually this tradition. Only now did Su Ziceng realize that inside Kelly Women’s College, indeed many female students were often seen together, too intimate to be just ordinary.
But what does this have to do with Qiao Chu and Chang Mei?
"This phenomenon was even more severe in the past. Back then, interactions between men and women were even more restricted, nearly all female students had some lesbian tendencies. Before the reforms, Kelly Women’s College was almost shut down by the government because of this," Qiu Zhi continued to share bits of the past.
"Back then, there was even a sticky term used, they referred to the homosexuality at Kelly Women’s College as ’Rose Honey Friends’," These scandal-like pieces of news, of course, could not be spread online, but they were widely circulated in the boys’ dormitories. ’Rose’ referred to Kelly Women’s College, and ’Honey Friends’ meant friends who shared unusually deep feelings.
"Don’t pin this on me," Su Ziceng felt like she was onto something but then lost the trail again.
"Why would I blame you? Your family already has someone from Kelly Women’s College. But I’m curious, how did someone as strict as Secretary Chang survive in the old Kelly Women’s College?" Qiu Zhi knew that Su Ziceng disliked Chang Mei, so he mocked without any reservation.
The strict Chang Mei. Indeed, Chang Mei always gives off that impression. Her style is never too glamorous, often even leaning towards grey tones. However, Chang Mei is quite popular among the women, having good relations with many wealthy ladies in the city.
"Your mother would be heartbroken to hear this. In this world, no one sincerely hopes for the Su Family’s well-being like she does. The Su Family embodies all her dreams." Were those drunken words meant only for an angry Chang Chi to hear, or did he intend to reveal some truths to Su Ziceng?
When Yan Wuxu married into the Su Family, Chang Mei did not overreact. She might have opposed the marriage, but never wholeheartedly. Her relationship with Su Qingzhang was more like comrades fighting side by side rather than lovers. If her stay at the Su Family wasn’t to protect her love, then what was it for?
"Oh my God," Su Ziceng put down the cold hamburger, "Pello, what have you told me? I’m completely confused."
Chang Mei was defending her love, but her love had already withered over twenty years ago.
When Su Ziceng returned home, Chang Mei was still sitting on the balcony, her gaze somewhat vacant. Below the balcony, the beautiful roses that once thrived had been flattened, leaving only stone sculptures that emitted a cold light in the night, completely lifeless.
Chang Mei hated Yan Wuxu the most, even going as far as having the drunk try to harm them, all because Yan Wuxu went too far. She changed too much about the Su Family, including the clusters of roses that Qiao Chu had carefully tended during his lifetime.
"Have you heard of the Rose Honey?" Su Ziceng silently walked in, looking at Chang Chi bathed in the sunset. Dressed in plain grey, at some point, Chang Mei’s ordinary face had developed fine lines. Perhaps she had long stopped considering herself a woman, or maybe she had both mentally and physically become a man.
"So what if I have?" Time had reversed the roles, and now it was Chang Mei who responded with the defiant tone Su Ziceng used to have.
"Then tell me, are you part of it, and is my mother also one of them?" The framework Su Ziceng had built over the years was crumbling in this moment.
The lies about Su Qingzhang’s love didn’t surprise her. In her eyes, Su Qingzhang was never a sincere man. But Qiao Chu, with his gentle voice; was his love also fake?
In Su Ziceng’s mind, the structure formed; Qiao Chu had first developed a close relationship with Chang Mei in Kelly Women’s College, but it fell apart after he met Ye Taina. Following Ye Taina’s departure, Qiao Chu then poured his love onto Su Qingzhang. The complex emotional shifts of the older generation were unbearable for her. Behind these distorted emotions, she, Chang Chi, and Pello were placed in what position?
"I am one of them, but your mother is not, although I’ve always wished to change her mind, even if it led to irreversible consequences," Chang Mei felt genuinely exhausted. Facing a face that strongly resembled Qiao Chu, revealing the truth was much harder than she had imagined. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)