Chapter 57 The Past
Lin Qin’s childhood was no different from an average person’s, with loving and caring parents who doted on their son and a relaxed family environment that shaped Lin Qin’s lively and cheerful personality. He had friends everywhere and even though his academic performance wasn’t outstanding, life was carefree.
However this kind of life didn’t last. As Father Lin’s business grew, he became busier, often leaving home early and returning late, causing his marriage to face a crisis. Mother Lin suspected her husband of infidelity, while Father Lin accused her of not understanding him or supporting his career.
Causing them to argue about this issue repeatedly, and in the end, eventually get a divorce.
And Mother Lin, determined and not one to give up, went abroad after the divorce to pursue her own career. She never returned after the divorce, hoping to build her wealth and then fight for custody of Lin Qin.
After going abroad, she managed to call Lin Qin amidst her busy schedule, however due to time zones and her hectic life, the frequency of their calls dwindled and it got to the point where they only spoke once in a month, with the longest gap between her calls an astonishing six months.
With Father Lin’s career on the rise, he threw himself into it after the divorce. He used to come home when Mother Lin was around, however after the divorce, and with anger inside, he focused solely on his work, often sleeping at the office, leaving Lin Qin in the care of a nanny.
At the beginning, Lin Qin fell silent a few times because of the gloomy atmosphere at home. However later, he came to terms with it. Since his parents really didn’t want to be together, he stopped caring.
After the divorce, the entire house felt empty, and Lin Qin occasionally felt lonely. However in the end he was just a child, and since his family didn’t care, he enjoyed the freedom.
However everything changed for him when he reached high school. He attended a prestigious school in the city and was admitted at the bottom of the list. With his handsome looks, he became a sensation as soon as he entered the school, receiving love letters every day, enough to fill a backpack.
Lin Qin was lively and kind-hearted to the core. Whenever he received love letters, he didn’t throw them away. Instead, he rejected everyone who wrote him the letters with nice words.
In the second semester of his freshman year, a new student transferred to the school, and it was none other than Fang Ming Hui.
Fang Ming Hui was handsome, came from a wealthy family, and excelled in his studies, a perfect embodiment of the male lead in a campus idol drama, making it so that he instantly became the talk of the school. Lin Qin often overheard his female classmates discussing him.
However Lin Qin wasn’t interested, but he didn’t expect that one day he would be stopped by Fang Ming Hui.
Fang Ming Hui confessed his feelings to Lin Qin and asked him to be his boyfriend.
This was the first time Lin Qin had been confessed to by a man and his first encounter with same-sex attraction. However he didn’t find it repulsive and only rejected Fang Ming Hui politely.
Fang Ming Hui was persistent and kept pursuing Lin Qin time and time again. At first, he thought Lin Qin was just playing hard to get and that he would eventually win him over. However, after several rejections, he finally realized that Lin Qin genuinely wouldn’t accept him.
Most people would have given up at this point, but not Fang Ming Hui. He had been pampered since childhood and was used to getting what he wanted, and Lin Qin was the first person to make him face rejection. Which was why Fang Ming Hui decided that he needed to teach Lin Qin a lesson.
After Lin Qin rejected Fang Ming Hui once again, rumors began to circulate in the school, saying that he was gay, liked men and was disgusting.
Back then, high school was different from now. The concept of homosexuality wasn’t widely accepted, and high schoolers tended to follow the crowd and echo popular opinions. Hence, if one person said someone was disgusting, it wouldn’t take long for most people to say the same thing.
And according to the rumors, not only was Lin Qin disgusting, he also had a mental illness and needed to be locked up in a hospital to protect others. This kind of talk spread widely in the school.
So Lin Qin felt his friends drifting away, and whenever he walked on the campus, not only did his classmates avoid him, they also looked at him with mocking and disdainful eyes.
His desk mate was a boy, and Lin Qin noticed that from a certain day onwards, that desk mate kept his distance from him, and if they accidentally touched, he would take multiple tissues and repeatedly wipe the area Lin Qin had touched until his skin turned red.
Then the desk mate would say to him, “You’re really disgusting.”
Although Lin Qin was confused, he didn’t argue for himself. After class, Lin Qin went to the homeroom teacher to ask to change his seat.
And it was from the homeroom teacher that Lin Qin learned about the rumors circulating in the school regarding him.
He remembered that the homeroom teacher asked him bluntly, “People said they have seen you confess to Fang Ming Hui from the sophomore class and all say you’re gay. Is it true?”
“I didn’t.” Lin Qin defended himself. It was actually Fang Ming Hui who had pressured him into confessing. How did it turn into him confessing to Fang Ming Hui?
The homeroom teacher believed him. “Okay, I believe you.”
The teacher also said to him, “Whether someone is gay or straight, it’s a normal sexual orientation, and people shouldn’t mock or ridicule those with a minority sexual orientation. Everyone has the right to love, whether it’s a same-sex or opposite-sex love, and no one should infringe on that right.”
Lin Qin received the right values from the homeroom teacher, so even though he was isolated because of being labeled as gay, he didn’t develop any aversion to homosexuality.
The next day, the homeroom teacher stood up to clarify the situation, but it seemed like an invisible hand was pushing everything forward, because the teacher’s clarification had no effect whatsoever, and even worse, the teacher was transferred a week later.
And hearing about this, Lin Qin rushed to the principal’s office to confront the principal, however right outside the principal’s office, he overheard a conversation between Fang Ming Hui and the principal.
The homeroom teacher had been transferred away because of Fang Ming Hui’s connections, and it was because the teacher had stood up for Lin Qin. The teacher had been transferred to a notorious rogue school in the city.
Lin Qin stood at the door for a long time, and when Fang Ming Hui saw him, he didn’t feel any guilt. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and smirked, “So, how about it? If you agree to be my boyfriend, everything will be fine. Lin Qin, don’t think too highly of yourself. If I want to make your life miserable in this school, you’ll be better off dead!”
Lin Qin glared at him fiercely, but his heart was filled with guilt towards the homeroom teacher. It was all because of him that the teacher had been transferred.
Fang Ming Hui seemed to enjoy the expression of anger he had provoked in Lin Qin. Lifting Lin Qin’s chin, he told him, “Beg me. Just beg me, and I’ll let you go.”
Lin Qin spat directly in Fang Ming Hui’s face, his spine stiff and straight.
Fang Ming Hui, being much larger, punched Lin Qin directly.
Lin Qin curled up on the ground, blood seeping from his mouth, and his face happened to be in the view of the principal’s office. The principal saw him but quickly picked up a newspaper to cover his face, pretending not to have noticed anything.
Lin Qin didn’t even have the energy to pierce through the principal’s attempt to hide behind the newspaper. He smiled weakly, his smile filled with desolation.
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