Chapter 29: Sea Without Light
When Kui Xin stepped into Teacher Wang’s house, she was greeted by the rich aroma of food.
“Xiao Xin is here, sit down,” Teacher Wang said, sorting vegetables on the balcony. “I’ve simmered spare ribs soup, and later I’ll make braised pork and garlic greens.”
“I’ll help you with the vegetables, Teacher,” Kui Xin said as she moved a chair over. “Is no one else home?”
“My husband is on a business trip, and my son is staying at school for study this summer,” Teacher Wang replied. “When you go to university, I’ll have my son pick you up.”
“No need, I can manage by myself,” Kui Xin quickly refused. “Anyway, the university is in the same province, pretty close to our city. It only takes an afternoon by train, and there’s a direct bus to the school from the train station.”
“That won’t do. A child going far for the first time must have someone accompany them. You can go by yourself after you’ve gotten familiar with the route,” Teacher Wang insisted. “Don’t worry about bothering me; I don’t mind. I talked it over with my son, and he readily agreed.”
“…Fine.” Kui Xin swallowed her refusal, focusing on sorting the vegetables.
Teacher Wang asked, “Do you have any goals you want to achieve in university?”
“Right now, the only goal I have is to study hard,” Kui Xin hesitated. “The rest will come slowly. I’ll take the necessary exams and aim for a graduate school recommendation. The job prospects for AI are quite promising…”
“You’re smart; why not try for a federal agent exam?” Teacher Wang suggested.
Kui Xin replied, “I don’t think that’s feasible… My dad ran off abroad after failing his investments. If you search the wanted poster’s official website, you might find his information as a fugitive.”
Teacher Wang was taken aback for a moment and sighed, muttering, “What a sin.”
Kui Xin also felt that her father’s existence was a sin.
But what could she do? That’s just the kind of unworthy father she had. Although this unworthy father had smoothly rolled out of Kui Xin’s life, he continued to bring her bad influence; she could forget about ever eating from the public pot.
As a child, Kui Xin lived quite a wealthy life. The family house was a large villa; when visiting relatives in the rural hometown, they would drive a fancy sedan. People in the village said the Kui family produced a big boss, someone of stature in the city.
But then her father became arrogant, divorced her mother, and ran off with another woman. For the next few years, he gathered a group of shady friends to invest, ultimately failing. Facing bankruptcy, her father abruptly embezzled money and fled abroad, abandoning his parents, relatives, and multiple mistresses.
Kui Xin was in elementary school when her trash father ran away.
Later, the villa was auctioned off, the shops were auctioned off, and the car was auctioned off, yet the debts remained unpaid. Her mother abandoned Kui Xin to her grandparents, leaving to start anew.
Fortunately, her grandparents’ house was under their own name, which saved it from being auctioned off to pay debts.
In the past two years, Kui Xin’s grandparents passed away one after the other, and no relatives were willing to take on this hot potato. Without financial support, Kui Xin found a distant cousin working in the city who helped her get in touch with her mother, who now sent her eight hundred yuan a month for living expenses.
As for whether her mother remarried, how she was doing, which city she lived in, or what she looked like now, Kui Xin didn’t know anything.
The monthly bank transfer records were the only connection between Kui Xin and her mother.
Now, as Kui Xin reminisces about her childhood, she realizes she has almost completely forgotten those past events—both the sad and the happy—she remembers nothing, and upon careful reflection, only numbness and indifference remain in her heart.
Neither “father” nor “mother” holds any significant meaning in her mind, merely symbolic labels, devoid of emotional impact.
Perhaps it’s the body’s protective mechanism at work. Kui Xin remembers feeling frightened and wronged when her family first encountered upheaval; she cried every day. But crying was futile—no one comforted her, and if she cried too much, her grandparents would scold her… Eventually, she stopped crying altogether.
It wasn’t that she learned to bear it but rather that she felt nothing inside anymore; no emotions at all.
She would always find a way to survive; at worst, she could go to an orphanage, and once she turned adult, find a job and rent an underground space to live in. In modern society, she wouldn’t starve to death.
This was the worst-case scenario she considered after becoming a bit more sensible.
In reality, the situation was much better than her worst-case scenario. She had the old house left by her grandparents. After completing her compulsory education with excellent grades, she entered a prestigious high school, and with the school’s aid and the teachers’ care, she got through three years of high school and finally enrolled in a fairly good university.
Efforts bear fruit; suffering is temporary, and Kui Xin firmly believes in this.
Her unreliable parents meant she had to rely on herself.
“Teacher, you’ve never asked about your father’s situation,” Teacher Wang spoke gently.
“It’s been nearly ten years without contact. He might have passed away from a serious illness abroad,” Kui Xin speculated seriously. “He embezzled money, had no proper passport, no green card, no social security, and was unfamiliar with the surroundings… I vaguely remember my dad struggled with English; it’s possible he was scammed into mining somewhere. Abroad, where guns aren’t prohibited, the chances of encountering an accident are higher than in China. He might have already died in some unknown corner… In short, I unilaterally believe my dad is no longer in this world.”
Teacher Wang responded, “…?”
This child truly hopes for her father’s death… but who wouldn’t wish such a scoundrel dead if he made trouble for anyone?
Teacher Wang gently served Kui Xin a piece of braised pork and filled her bowl with fragrant spare rib soup, saying, “Eat more, Xiao Xin; look how thin you are.”
After finishing this lunch at the teacher’s home, Kui Xin chatted with her for a while, and by two o’clock, she went to teach the little girl according to the address given by the teacher.
Actually, the girl wasn’t very little; she was not much younger than Kui Xin, who had taken a year off from school due to illness in high school and had been struggling to keep up with the school’s curriculum since returning.
At that rebellious age, she didn’t listen to her parents, and when they hired a tutor for her, she resisted learning and argued with the teacher. Her parents, at their wits’ end, wanted to find someone with good grades who was roughly her age to teach her, hoping to reduce her resistance to learning.
In the current year, the going rate for college student tutors in Kui Xin’s city was about fifty to one hundred yuan an hour, and Kui Xin’s wage was eighty yuan per hour, which was not considered low.
Kui Xin arrived at the girl’s house at the scheduled time.
She rang the doorbell and patiently waited for it to open.
With her exceptional hearing, Kui Xin could hear faint footsteps behind the door; the peephole was blocked, and someone was looking at her through it.
“Is anyone there? I’m Kui Xin, sent by Teacher Wang to tutor Su Rong,” she clarified her purpose.
After waiting a few seconds and still not getting a response, Kui Xin frowned and knocked again.
“Rong Rong, why aren’t you opening the door for her?” a woman inside called out.
“I just wanted to confirm who was coming,” the girl behind the door mumbled.
With a creak, the door opened.
A beautiful girl stood at the door, assessing Kui Xin: “Hello, I’m Su Rong. I didn’t see clearly who you were just now, so I didn’t open the door.”
“Hello, I’m Kui Xin,” Kui Xin nodded at her.
Su Rong’s mother brought out a platter of cut fruit and warmly welcomed Kui Xin inside. “So you’re Kui Xin? Come in, sit down. I’m a good friend of Teacher Wang.”
“Hello, Auntie,” Kui Xin said politely. “Teacher Wang mentioned that Su Rong mainly wants to improve in math, and my math grades are decent. I’ll do my best to help her solidify her foundation, so it won’t be too hard for her in her senior year.”
“Take your time; relax first. It’s hot outside; eat some fruit and cool down a bit,” Su Rong’s mother urged Kui Xin to sit on the sofa. “Our Rong Rong doesn’t do well in math, and we’ve switched several tutors, but her grades just won’t improve; it worries me.”
Su Rong couldn’t help but exclaim: “Mom!”
Su Rong was close in age to Kui Xin, but if they stood side by side, anyone would think Kui Xin was the older one.
This was because Kui Xin’s demeanor and aura were far more mature; she already resembled a real adult, whereas Su Rong, living in a happy family, had not entered society and was, from head to toe, nothing more than a young person with a touch of innocence and emotions hard to hide.
“I’ll discuss her studying progress with Su Rong later,” Kui Xin pondered. “How about we just try a day today so we can get used to each other’s teaching and learning styles?”
Su Rong’s mother eagerly agreed.
Kui Xin was indeed not very good at handling elders; she had very little experience interacting with them. After awkwardly chatting for ten minutes about trivial matters, Su Rong could no longer stand it. She stood up and said, “I’m going to the room to study with Sister Xin Xin now, Mom. Didn’t you say time is precious?”
She felt awkward calling Kui Xin “Teacher” since they were not that far apart in age, but not calling her that seemed disrespectful, so Su Rong cleverly opted for “Sister Xin Xin.”
Delighted that her daughter took the initiative to study, Su Rong’s mother quickly said, “Okay, okay, you two go ahead. Turn on the air conditioning and bring the fruit platter in with you.”
Kui Xin felt like a burden had been lifted and quickly followed Su Rong out of the living room.
“Why do adults always have so much to say?” Su Rong closed the door to her room. “Whatever, let’s just study. Honestly, I scored thirty in my math exam… and twenty of those were guessed.”
“I heard from Teacher Wang that you don’t like math?” Kui Xin asked indirectly.
Teacher Wang hadn’t stated exactly that; she had said, “Su Rong is a bit resistant to studying.” Of course, Kui Xin couldn’t say that in front of Su Rong, so she phrased it differently.
Su Rong’s face turned red: “I don’t like it…”
Kui Xin took Su Rong’s math textbook, pristine like new, without a single note or highlighted mistake, and said, “With only a year until the college entrance examination, raising your math score to above one hundred might be unrealistic, but aiming for sixty to seventy is still possible if you put in the effort.”
Most people in the world are not geniuses; the majority have average intelligence. Su Rong wasn’t a genius either; her foundation in high school math was effectively zero. It truly made Kui Xin feel a bit of a headache to raise her grades.
“Are you planning to take the arts exam?” Kui Xin asked. “How long do you study art each day? I can help you schedule problem-solving time.”
“I’m studying acting,” Su Rong hesitated. “But I don’t want to be an art student anymore; I want to take the normal college entrance exam.”
“Have you discussed it with your parents?” Kui Xin asked, puzzled.
“No, not really,” Su Rong replied. “I used to want to be a star… But now I feel like being a star isn’t that great… Sigh, if I had to choose, I would want a regular job.”
Kui Xin could only say, “With your current grades, pursuing the normal college route is a bit challenging.”
Su Rong sighed, “I know… I’ll try my best to study, Sister Xin Xin. There’s still a year left; if I don’t push myself, I won’t know where my limits are.”
This sincere display of fighting spirit… Kui Xin couldn’t see any signs of Su Rong being resistant to learning. Teacher Wang wouldn’t lie about such matters, so had Su Rong come to that realization herself?
Kui Xin actually had a fleeting feeling that Su Rong looked a bit familiar, like she had seen her somewhere before, but couldn’t recall it upon closer thought.
Su Rong’s appearance was quite advantageous; with careful makeup and styling, she could easily rival a star.
Star?!
A light bulb went off in Kui Xin’s mind as she suddenly remembered where she had seen Su Rong’s face—on the projection advertising screen in the Second World.
She had once curiously observed the advertising billboards on the street, viewing countless real and virtual faces. Su Rong’s face was among them; she looked incredibly similar to a promotional star from the Second World!
No wonder Su Rong looked suspicious when Kui Xin visited her house; no wonder a child who resisted studying suddenly changed her mind and became motivated to learn—it turned out she had undergone the ruthless baptism of the Second World.
Kui Xin believed that Su Rong was very likely also a player!
