Chapter 20 Ninety-Nine Steps
Even though Zhou Su tried hard to cut himself free, saying none of it had anything to do with him, multiple call records proved otherwise.
He hadn't only picked up. He had provided classmates' information. He was a solid accomplice.
"You never really know a person. So it was Zhou Su who gave the address, and he specifically picked households with only the old, the weak, women and children."
"Xia Lin was devoted to him. Ai, a murderer's son. No wonder he was that ruthless."
"If he didn't help, everyone would know he was the son of a death-row fugitive. It would affect him in every way later."
Xia Lin's family sued him. Zhou Su's college entrance exam scores were canceled too.
And none of that had anything to do with me anymore. I stood completely outside the storm.
I performed steadily on the exam.
Not long after, the homeroom teacher pulled me aside for a talk. Her words were pointed.
"I never made that report call. The cameras show the call went out from the school's public phone booth. I watched the footage... it was you, Qin Song."
"It's just the two of us now. Can you explain what this is about?"
It was nearly dusk then. The sunset dyed the campus red.
I smiled, calm.
"It was a coincidence, teacher. How would I know any of that? I only called home. That's all."
I believed the homeroom teacher wouldn't talk.
When the scores came out, there was no suspense. I was admitted to Tsinghua, majoring in Electronic Information Engineering.
It was only 2008. This would be the most profitable major of the next ten years.
The day the admission letter arrived, the neighborhood came beating gongs and drums to celebrate. Grandma changed into brand-new clothes and coiled her hair without a strand out of place.
In the group photo, she held my hand, her back ramrod straight, looking immensely proud.
In my sophomore year, I earned my first pot of gold through programming.
In my junior year, I rented two apartments in Zhongguancun. One for the startup. One for Grandma to live in.
I took Grandma to watch the flag-raising she had talked about for most of her life.
We took photos at the Forbidden City, rode ice carts at Shichahai, drank douzhi in the Ten Great Hutongs.
The little pine in the cliff crack had grown up. It was enough to hold up a stretch of sky.
One day, I was packing a schoolbag in the old house. Something shook out of the inner layer.
I picked it up. It was a worn Protective Amulet.
Grandma saw it and mumbled, looking embarrassed.
"Aiya. Back when you took the exam, I put it in for luck."
Second Grand-Aunt beside us immediately called her out.
"Songsong, this charm isn't simple."
"Your Grandma heard people say the mountain temple was efficacious and insisted on getting you one. Those steps were so high and steep. She kowtowed all the way to the Buddha, said she had to knock her head ninety-nine times to show sincerity. Her head split and she wrenched her waist."
"All she asked was for her granddaughter to be safe and smooth, for everything to go her way!"
There were spots of blood on it. If I sniffed carefully, there were even traces of fire.
They reminded me of those heart-pounding moments in the past.
They had all truly existed.
I couldn't stop shaking. Tears burst out. Only at this day and this hour.
Did I finally understand. Every chance to restart. Ninety-nine steps. Ninety-nine chances.
It had been Grandma who begged the gods and Buddhas, and obtained for me—
The only blessing.