"Yahui."
She stumbled backwards, falling down onto her bottoms. She was sure just had a heart attack.
In front of her was an old man. He was in his late 40s carrying a huge bag of fish. His face was familiar.
Yeline closes her eyes as a sharp pain stabbed her brain and eyes. This man must be.
"Uncle Jiao? Is that you?"
He grumbles and adjusts the bag over his shoulder, "Yes unless I've turned into a ghost. What are you doing crouching behind here?"
She quickly gathered herself, dusting off the sand from herself. Clearing her throat, she tries to play off the situation.
"Nothing, I was playing with the sand you see."
Throwing the sand everywhere she pretends to play with it. The old man looked at her as if she was doing something weird.
"Alright, then I'm off."
—-
Yeline glanced down at the papers in her hand. She was walking towards the classroom. It seemed the more she tried to look into Yahui's memories the sadder she became.
This person was a loner to be more exact. She was a gambler and a disappointment to her family.
Of all things she must be a character in the novel that was a stepping stone for those little supporting characters. She probably was mentioned with a single word.
Stopping in front of the door, she gets ready to head in. It is up to her to make things better. As long as she is an unimportant character, her actions wouldn't matter much.
Someone quickly slides the door open in her face, causing her to stagger backward.
"Oh, I am so sorry, Yahui."
The guy helps her up and gathers the stuff that rolled away on the ground. She smiled at him, thankful that he had helped. If he had just left her there, they would have problems.
She headed inside and looked at everyone. The teacher isn't here yet so maybe she wasn't late.
"Yahui! Over here!"
That must be her seat besides a youthful looking guy. Yeline made her way to the guy. She thanks the man that had helped her and placed her books on the desk.
"I'm sorry but you are?"
The young man beside her chuckled out loud. He slaps her back as if she was joking.
"Come on now. We are all of similar backgrounds, how could you forget my name already?"
In pain, she rubbed her back. He looked at her, realizing that she was serious.
"Wow, after all these months together? I'm Huang Chin, did you really forget me?"
He waves his hand in front of her face. Awkwardly, she bowed to him and turned back to her papers. There was something off about the classroom but she didn't mind.
It might be because she was acting strange. She needed more than a couple times of practice to understand how Yahui would act.
In enters an older man with scrolls in his hands. He had long, sleek, and gray hair that reached almost his hips. Ultimately, he had stopped for a second, seeming to glance over at Yeline.
Within the next few seconds, he continued to his seat, clearing his throat. What he had unwrapped was a giant book and he held in his hand what seemed to be a guqin.
"Everyone, have you brought with you a guqin?"
Looking around, she realized why the atmosphere was strange, she didn't come with an instrument. As the whole class began to unwrap their guqin, she could feel herself being looked at.
As if she was being scrutinized for not having one. But what were they expecting from someone poor like her?
"Yahui, where's yours?"
Huang Chin asked with a smile as he slowly unwrapped his. It was of good quality and also a much larger size than the rest of the people in the front.
The professor waits for everyone and sees her without one on the desk. Yeline thought to herself, what kind of class did she sign up for?
"I thought you said you had one. Where is it?"
Yeline looked at herself and then at Huang Chin. Did this man go crazy, if she didn't have one on her desk, that obviously meant she didn't have one.
"I can lend you one of mine but it's not good quality anymore. But it is the best I can do to help with my background. I don't want the shifu to scold you for not having one."
How thoughtful. She quickly nods her head multiple times. As long as she had one, then she could play the thing.
Huang Chin directs one of the classmates to hand over a wrapped guqin. It seemed to be heavy as he struggled carrying it, or maybe the man was weak.
Thankfully, Huang Chin placed it on her desk. Dusting off some dust, she carefully unwrapped the whole thing.
This man had said it was in bad conditions but it was brand new and even seemed to have been made from good quality materials.
Either way, the Shifu finally began to explain the lessons and history behind the guqin. He slowly showed everyone the strings and how it was played. Listening intently, she had a grasp on what to do.
"Bye Yahui."
Her head zoomed to Huang Chin who smiled at her. It seemed she had zoned out while the teacher had left. The group of people in the classroom were all busy interacting.
It was the end of the day and yet most of the people hadn't packed their things yet. She looked down at the guqin in front of her desk.
This Huang Chin talked as if he had been from a poor family but he had guqins that were of superior qualities.
"You can have it."
"Huh?"
Huang Chin points to the guqin. Despite giving off an ignorant impression, he seemed quite humble for himself. Yahui smiled and thanked the man, carefully wrapping the guqin.
When she sat up and began to carry the guqin, she felt herself toppled over. Falling onto the ground, a bunch of smelly fish guts spilled onto her.
Surprised, she cleans herself off the fish guts. Huang Chin began to laugh tantalizingly. The group behind him followed suit, laughing at her.
When she glanced around, she saw how the rest of the classroom ignored the situation. A sharp pain makes her close her eyes. This situation was a lot more familiar than she thought.
The memory of the fish gut incident replays once more, slowly showing the face of someone.
"Huang Chin."
"Hmm? I thought you would notice the smell but it turns out you live in the slums with those nasty things. It wouldn't matter."
The man said as he continued to laugh. Yeline thought to herself, so those bullies were not fishermen. They were her classmates.
That was why she had that strange feeling from earlier. The weird awkwardness when the guy helped her up and the way that Huang Chin called to her as if she was a servant.
"I'll remember your name."
She said as she quickly got up with the guqin in her hand. The group of boys looked at her as if she had gone crazy, making their way out of the classroom.
Yeline scooped the remaining guts and threw it towards the group, successfully hitting the boy in the back.
"S-sir!"
They called as the guts slowly began to fall down his hair. Yeline laughed at the sight of the guts making Huang Chin's hair slimy.
Huang Chin turned to look at her and felt the slimy guts down his hair and attire. The group that was with him looked scared.
If they were of the same backgrounds, then he shouldn't mind getting the same treatment from her.
"Yahui!"
She looked at him nonchalantly as he hurried over to her with anger. The group of boys followed behind him like his minions.
Yeline gulps as she realizes she really was in trouble. But as the boys made their way, she took the guqin and held it up.
They stopped in their tracks afraid of what she might do. When she didn't do anything at all, Huang Chin began to laugh.
"You're scared. Aren't you?"
"Who said that?"
She quickly threw the guqin at the boys, she was barely contemplating whether she could still make the guqin good now that it was filled with fish guts.
Despite trying to avoid the throw, the boys still were hit by the guqin. She smiled as they all freaked out but the next second, Huang Chin stomped over to her.
She puts herself in a defensive state. They tried to grab her but she yanked her arm away.
As long as she keeps getting out of their grasp like this, she can run out of the classroom and out of here.
"Grab him!"
Huang Chin ordered the group of boys. Her body seemed to react to the boy's scream. It seemed that Yahui was truly a loner here.
The treatment from before made her put her guard down but she shouldn't have done so. As they try to approach her, she takes everything she could and throws it at them.
Despite her creating a loud ruckus, no one seemed bothered by it. This whole classroom was in on the plan to bully her. Fuck them all.
"Got him."
She desperately tried to struggle as the boys held her down. Even though she struggled recklessly, they held her firmly, not allowing her to be able to escape.
Huang Chin walked over to her side and looked down on her. He took a deep breath and then punched her in the stomach. She could feel the pain reaching her rib.
She glared at Huang Chin, a laugh escaping her mouth when she saw that he was almost fully covered by the fish guts.
"You're fish shit."
He angrily punches her face and beats her. The other boys encouraged Huang Chin as he continued his fighting. Huang Chin grabs onto her hair and makes her kneel.
"You're begging me, the fish shit."
He said as he held her face close to the fish guts on his shoes. This boy was trying to make her touch it.
"Eat it."
She closes her mouth, refusing to do what was demanded from the young boy. Angered by this, he bangs her head on the ground. She grits her teeth from the immense pain.
She had just recently gotten better from the incident and here she was getting injured again.
"I said eat it."
Refusing once more, she closed her eyes as she was prepared to get slammed once more.
"Stop it."
Someone got up from the corner. He had in his hand a fan that was adorned beautifully.
"X-Xiang Fan."
Huang Chin stuttered as the man made his way towards the group. Yeline slowly glanced upwards. These boys seemed to be afraid of the young man approaching them.
They slowly got out of the way. Huang Chin lets go of her hair and she gets up from the ground. Her hair was messy and she had fish guts all over her.
The young man gave her a hand, and she slowly accepted it. Putting the hair behind her ear, she thanks the man and runs out of the classroom.
Xiang Fan stared at her as she ran out of the classroom, seeming to be observing her.