Embedded Files
Psst! We're moving!
“Even if I can’t, it doesn’t matter. I like you, Si Tingyan.”
That was it. She always spoke the most beautiful confessions with the most composed attitude.
Fumbling, flustered, at a loss—those were for others.
Not for her.
Of course, there were times when she met her match.
Like the person standing in front of her now.
Si Tingyan seemed to look deep into her eyes and suddenly spoke.
“You’re lying.”
After a few seconds of silence, Cheng Mi said with a hint of seriousness: “Why do you say that?”
Si Tingyan, however, suddenly changed the subject: “Aren’t you afraid?”
Two consecutive sentences that Cheng Mi didn’t understand: “Hmm?”
“Afraid of what?”
Si Tingyan didn’t answer her again.
After a few seconds of eye contact, he was the first to look away. He ignored her and walked forward.
Cheng Mi’s gaze lingered on the spot where he had just stood, then after a second, she turned her head and glanced at his retreating back.
Others ran, they walked. By the third lap, there were only a few people left on the track.
Several people, with legs like lead, collapsed beside the track, breathing heavily.
There was a small convenience store next to the plastic track. Cheng Mi asked Si Tingyan: “Want some water?”
“No.”
“Not even bottled water?”
Cheng Mi thought he would say no.
But this time, Si Tingyan didn’t even reply to her.
Cheng Mi watched his retreating back, not really minding.
She left the track and walked towards the convenience store.
Cheng Mi had been here a few times and skillfully made her way to the freezer opposite the counter. She opened it, preparing to take out two bottles of mineral water.
Then she paused, closing it again.
The bottled water that wasn’t in the freezer was stacked in boxes nearby. She pulled two bottles from one of them.
Walking to the counter to pay, the owner had just received a new shipment and was behind the counter taking things out to display them.
The weather was still a bit muggy; even a little movement made him sweat profusely. The owner’s entire shirt was soaked with sweat, and a towel was draped over his shoulder for wiping.
The electric fan wasn’t on, and the owner was blocked by goods, unable to get out.
Cheng Mi glanced at him, picked up a nearby power cord, and plugged it into the socket.
The fan immediately whirred to life, making a stack of plastic bags on the glass counter rustle.
The breeze made the owner sigh with relief. He quickly smiled at Cheng Mi: “Thanks, little girl.”
Cheng Mi smiled: “It’s nothing.”
She then gestured to the owner: “The money for the water is here.”
“Alright, alright.”
After leaving the convenience store, Cheng Mi’s eyes immediately found Si Tingyan.
Only, he wasn’t alone.
Si Tingyan had probably been cleaning for a while; the bin was full of fallen leaves.
Beside him, Zheng Hongkai and his cronies leaned against a tree, brooms dangling casually in their hands.
They weren’t sweeping but chatting and laughing, poking the ground with their brooms occasionally.
It seemed they had been at it for a while; dust flew everywhere, making the visibility yellow and murky.
From time to time, a larger movement would send sand particles flying in a specific direction, with strong targeting.
With just one glance, Cheng Mi knew the situation was not good.
Indeed, the next second—
A trash can full of fallen leaves was flung towards Zheng Hongkai’s back.
It hit with a dull thud that sent shivers down one’s spine even from that distance.
Shouting and shoving quickly erupted over there, with a few angry curses seeming to rip through the sky.
Cheng Mi ran towards them.
When she was a few meters away, a silver glint flashed in the chaos. She saw Zheng Hongkai pull out a familiar item from his pocket.
She had just seen it this morning; it was an ID tag.
The sharp pin of the ID tag gleamed, several of them. Zheng Hongkai swung his hand, aiming to stab Si Tingyan’s eyes.
Even Cheng Mi, as composed as she was, caught her breath.
Because Si Tingyan stood motionless.
Among those people, his school uniform was the neatest; he was the only one who was a “good student” in the true sense. Due to his physical condition, he also looked a bit frailer than the others.
Yet, there he was, confronting those pins that could blind or bleed him, not retreating an inch.
The needle tips of the ID tag pins were chillingly cold, an inch further and they would pierce Si Tingyan’s left eye.
But he just stood there, staring coldly at Zheng Hongkai, refusing to move.
Cheng Mi’s mind was still clear. She wanted to release the heavy mineral water bottle in her hand to knock Zheng Hongkai’s hand away.
However, the pile of pins in Zheng Hongkai’s hand abruptly halted barely a centimeter from Si Tingyan’s eyes.
His previous expression had been fierce and resentful, his movements quick, ruthless, and precise, indeed aiming to cripple Si Tingyan in a fit of rage.
But he chickened out at the last moment, forcing a change of direction, though he couldn’t fully retract the force.
The uncontrollable pins left a mark on Si Tingyan’s left cheek.
A sharp tear, a red mark immediately appeared, and beads of blood surfaced.
Half a second ago, Zheng Hongkai’s gang’s angry shouts were still fiercely clamoring, but they sharply subsided.
Time seemed to pause, and the air instantly froze.
Cheng Mi stood a few meters away. Before the others could react, her calm voice broke the stillness.
“What are you all doing?”
Their escaping souls were abruptly pulled back; the group instantly sobered up.
Zheng Hongkai’s face was clearly still pale, and he didn’t dare to look directly at Si Tingyan, yet he pretended to be fierce and menacing.
“Motherf*cker, you think I wouldn’t dare mess with you?”
Someone chimed in: “This time, little bastard, Kai Ge is being lenient. Next time, he’ll beat you so bad you won’t even be able to leave the school gate.”
“Leaving that mark is our Kai Ge’s great act of kindness.”
Human nature cannot escape evil. These people showed no fear, no remorse, no apology, relying on that ridiculous weakness to maintain a paper-thin toughness.
They clearly didn’t even dare to move a finger against Si Tingyan anymore.
The arrogant fear the reckless, and the reckless fear the desperate.
They were all afraid of Si Tingyan.
Zheng Hongkai’s face was red and his neck was thick, blustering to save face: “I’ll let you off this time. Next time, I’ll kill you.”
After speaking, he spat on the ground and led his gang away grandly.
Some students had already finished cleaning and gone back. With their departure, the track instantly became empty.
Only Si Tingyan, Cheng Mi, and two or three whispering students remained.
Cheng Mi looked at Si Tingyan.
He stood in place, coldly staring in the direction the group had left.
If it were anyone else, Zheng Hongkai and his gang would have already ruined them, or at least made them invalids for the next three years of high school.
This one, his backbone was much harder than theirs.
The trash can was overturned on the ground, full of withered branches and leaves.
Some had flown two meters away; with that much force, Zheng Hongkai must have felt it.
Si Tingyan walked over and began cleaning again.
A truly good student.
A thin, shallow wound on his left cheek was still oozing blood beads, strikingly red against his already pale skin.
On the ground was a broom that no one knew who had left behind in the chaos. Cheng Mi bent down, picked it up, and walked over to help clean.
There wasn’t much trash; they finished sweeping in a few minutes.
Si Tingyan didn’t say a word the entire time. After sweeping, he didn’t even greet Cheng Mi and went directly to dump the trash.
Cheng Mi watched his retreating figure, didn’t follow, and walked towards the convenience store across the track.
________________________________________
Back at the convenience store, the owner was already resting behind the counter. Cheng Mi went around to the back of the shelves and picked up a row of band-aids to pay for.
The commotion outside earlier wasn’t small; the owner must have seen it.
“Someone got hurt?” he asked Cheng Mi.
Cheng Mi nodded.
He then asked Cheng Mi: “Nothing serious, right?”
“Nothing serious.”
“That’s good. Just now, seeing that group causing trouble, it scared me enough to call your dean of students.”
The owner had a strong foreign accent, shaking his head as he spoke.
“Ah, kids these days always resort to fists to solve problems. They come to school to study, but they fight every day.”
Cheng Mi didn’t say anything more to the owner. When she came out, the track was already empty.
The sound of reading aloud from the teaching building was faintly audible.
Cheng Mi didn’t walk out of the track but headed towards the old building beside the track.
A while ago, when passing by here, Hong Mao told her this building used to be a teaching building, adding a thrilling “past” to it, which he described very earnestly.
Things like students jumping off the building, and ghosts haunting at midnight.
Then he laughed loudly and said it was actually a sports equipment room and temporary dorms for several teachers, including the dean, Old Tu.
He also said that because of this, Old Tu punished him by making him write a self-criticism. How awesome was that?
Because during that time, his ghost story spread throughout the entire school in one day.
He said this was a blessing in disguise, allowing him to find his life goal: a great screenwriter. From now on, he wouldn’t have to worry about writing essays about dreams.
Cheng Mi therefore had a deep impression of this building.
But in fact, this building was indeed unremarkable.
The walls were mottled and aged, the structure conservative and orderly, covered by old green trees, always cool and gloomy.
Except for the brief bustle when students went up to move sports equipment, the most frequented place was the row of faucets on the side of the building.
Being close to the track, students taking physical education, or playing ball after school often came here to wash their hands.
When Cheng Mi arrived there, Si Tingyan was indeed present.
The old building had two high walls, their surfaces weathered and mottled, with a two to three-meter-long passageway in between. Along the walls was a row of dark silver wash troughs.
Si Tingyan stood at the furthest spot.
The blood mark was still on his face, redder and more glaring than before; clearly, he hadn’t even wiped it.
The water pressure from the faucet was considerable, loudly rushing into the iron trough.
Cheng Mi walked in, stopping at the closest faucet. She turned it on, and a stream of water poured out, hitting the bottom of the wash trough with a gurgling sound.
Two streams of water, one on the left and one on the right, merged.
Both were washing their hands.
After a while, Cheng Mi turned off her faucet, and the sound of water stopped abruptly.
She walked towards Si Tingyan.
Reaching his side, she neither asked nor called his name.
She reached out, and just as her fingertips were about to touch the wound on his face, her wrist was tightly grasped.
Si Tingyan stood up and turned off the water.
A thin, crimson mark slashed across his pale skin, and his eyes were stark black and white.
“Don’t touch me.”
His voice was cold.
Cheng Mi, taking him by surprise, slipped something into his school uniform pocket with her fingertips.
At the same time, she met his gaze, then shifted to his wound.
Although the scratch left by the pin wasn’t deep, it was still continuously oozing blood, forming fine, mottled beads.
Her wrist was just held by him; as long as she moved her fingertips slightly, she could still touch him.
She extended her finger, rubbing the bloodstain on his wound, her tone unchanged from usual.
“Why didn’t you dodge?”
It sounded as if she was truly concerned.
The touch beneath her hand was cold, slightly stinging, his blood staining her fingertips.
Si Tingyan looked at her, saying nothing.
His face looked even sicker than usual. Cheng Mi remembered Si Huiru saying he wasn’t feeling well this morning.
Anyone being stared at by Si Tingyan like that would lose their composure in less than two seconds, because he was handsome, and secondly, ordinary people couldn’t handle his eyes.
He gave no emotional feedback, making it impossible to discern a single thought of his.
Sometimes so aloof that it made people recoil at first glance.
Cheng Mi believed that many girls must have suffered from this, falling head over heels with just one look.
He was still holding her wrist, his grip showing no decrease in strength.
Her thumb pad was stained red with blood. Cheng Mi stroked his wound, looking into his eyes.
“Does it hurt?”
Suddenly, a voice on the phone came from not far away.
“Still at the track, I’ll be right back.”
This voice was certainly not unfamiliar; just half an hour ago, her ears had been filled with half an hour of scolding from this very voice.
The dean of students’ voice grew closer.
Cheng Mi didn’t even turn her head; her gaze remained fixed on Si Tingyan’s face.
Likewise, Si Tingyan’s was on hers.
Her voice didn’t rise or fall: “Such a handsome face, what if it scars?”
Si Tingyan stared deeply at her.
“A few students causing trouble, I was wondering why this bunch of rascals didn’t lead a protest against running a thousand meters today. Turns out they came here to cause trouble for me!”
The dean of students’ voice was even closer now, full of furious anger.
Just as Cheng Mi was about to reach out and touch his face again, the black hair tie at the back of her head suddenly loosened.
She was slightly surprised and looked at Si Tingyan.
Si Tingyan was still staring intently at her, a face like that of a good student.
Without him needing to speak, Cheng Mi knew what he was saying.
He said, don’t touch him.
Almost simultaneously, the force on Cheng Mi’s wrist suddenly changed direction.
Before her hands could be brought behind her back, Cheng Mi realized what he was going to do.
After a moment of surprise, she became calm.
Both her right and left hands were clasped together behind her back. Because her hands were behind her, Si Tingyan’s shoulders lowered, and the distance between them instantly shortened.
Cheng Mi, however, didn’t retreat an inch and didn’t resist Si Tingyan.
She asked knowingly: “What are you doing?”
Their breaths were so close they could almost touch.
Si Tingyan, with that thin red blood mark on his left cheek, didn’t look menacing at all due to his pale skin.
It even had a kind of delicate beauty.
Yet, with such a face that one would hate to even touch, he acted mercilessly the next second.
The black hair tie circled Cheng Mi’s wrists.
Another circle, the hair tie tightened around her.
Outside, the dean of students was still endlessly talking on the phone, and his voice was getting louder and louder.
Even his footsteps became clearly audible.
They might have been only five or six meters away.
Cheng Mi’s hands were behind her back, her voice mixed with the dean’s talking and footsteps.
She sounded noticeably unhurried: “Aren’t you afraid of being discovered by the dean of students?”
“We’re pretty easy to spot standing here. He might just walk past and see us.”
In the time it took for one sentence, the footsteps were already right beside their ears.
Si Tingyan didn’t answer her, only looked at her.
Cheng Mi couldn’t see any sign of nervousness in him.
Two meters.
One meter.
The dean of students, with brisk strides, reached the end of the passageway.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her wrists behind her back.
The elasticity of the black hair tie was stretched to its maximum, constricting her two wrists almost to the point of dislocation.
Si Tingyan’s grip was so heavy that Cheng Mi gasped.
In her peripheral vision, the dean of students was still wearing the same blue shirt and suit pants from the morning: “Someone said they got a minor injury. Being so blatant in school, these rascals are rebelling.”
Cheng Mi knew Si Tingyan was doing this on purpose. She didn’t let out a soft hiss, briefly biting her lower lip instead.
As for Si Tingyan.
His face was calm. Cheng Mi suspected he was observing every subtle expression on her face at that moment.
Neither of them turned their heads to look at the dean of students passing through the passageway.
Soon, only the dean of students’ hurried words were left in the passageway: “I think if I don’t teach these kids a lesson, they’ll never learn!”
The footsteps, having just approached, now receded.
Si Tingyan’s hand left her back.
Cheng Mi heard him say: “Who’s afraid now.”
Si Tingyan’s school uniform was worn more neatly than hers. Ignoring his aura, his features were “fairer” than hers, and his academic performance, needless to say, was excellent, a model student in both conduct and academics.
Such a person, after speaking, took his eyes off her face and simply stood up and walked away.
Cheng Mi knew Si Tingyan was answering her previous question: she had asked if he was afraid of being discovered by the dean of students.
He had turned it back on her.
Cheng Mi looked at his retreating back.
Si Tingyan showed no intention of helping her free her hands and quickly disappeared around the corner.
The hair tie behind her back made her wrists swell, but thankfully, it still had some elasticity.
Cheng Mi took a little effort to free her hands. Her wrists suffered quite a bit, with several thin red marks on her fair skin.
He had indeed used quite a bit of force.
Cheng Mi smiled, ran her fingers through her chestnut-colored long hair, and flicked the black hair tie back onto her hair.
She then followed Si Tingyan, leaving the place.
________________________________________
In Senior Three, it wasn’t just the students who were racing against time, but also the teachers for each subject.
It was common for classes to run over during breaks. Teachers wished they could directly pour their knowledge into students’ heads.
There were five classes in the morning, and not a single break was spared; all were completely occupied by teachers. The fragmented break times added up to less than ten minutes.
However, no matter how well-intentioned the teachers were, some students still didn’t put in the effort.
For example, Zheng Hongkai, who sat behind Cheng Mi, specifically came to school today just to cause trouble. This morning, apart from being called out by the dean of students and his homeroom teacher because of the incident on the track, he was unconscious for the rest of the time, sleeping on his desk all morning.
The students in Class Four were already a mixed bag, with varying academic performance and conduct. The teachers were simply grateful when the troublemakers didn’t disrupt class, so they didn’t say anything when they slept.
By the last class, the classroom barely recovered a bit of vitality.
Zheng Hongkai’s head also lifted from his desk. The Chinese teacher was lecturing at the front, and he leaned forward to talk to Cheng Mi: “Do you know that guy surnamed Si?”
Cheng Mi twirled her pen, checking that the teacher at the podium wasn’t looking their way.
“Why do you say that?”
Zheng Hongkai said: “Weren’t you defending him this morning?”
Cheng Mi remembered she only said “What are you all doing?”
She said: “How is that defending him?”
She added: “Stop doing such wicked things. You almost caused a death this morning. Did he provoke you or something?”
Zheng Hongkai then let out a breath through his nostrils: “I just don’t like him. He’s so arrogant.”
Cheng Mi knew he held a grudge against Si Tingyan because of a girl.
The girl he liked was fond of Si Tingyan, which made Si Tingyan annoy him in every way.
But Cheng Mi didn’t expose him, only saying: “Just pay less attention to him.”
“Me paying attention to him? Am I crazy to pay attention to him?”
Zheng Hongkai said: “That kid ruined my limited edition basketball. Damn, I spent so much effort getting it from a netizen this summer. Do you know how much it cost? This much! He just ruined it. Damn it, I’m lucky I didn’t kill him!”
Oh right, Cheng Mi had witnessed that too.
Zheng Hongkai’s limited edition basketball was directly thrown away by Si Tingyan.
“He’s just a wuss who relies on his brother to survive. This time he got lucky. Next time, I swear I’ll kill him.”
Next time, actually meant no next time.
Someone like Si Tingyan, a person like Zheng Hongkai who still valued his life knew he couldn’t afford to provoke.
He could only pretend to grit his teeth.
No sooner had Zheng Hongkai finished speaking than a textbook came flying through the window, hitting him squarely on the head with a loud thwack.
Cheng Mi turned her head at the sound. It was the homeroom teacher, Wei Xiangdong, hitting Zheng Hongkai’s head with a book.
Many students in the class turned to look, including the Chinese teacher lecturing on reading comprehension at the podium.
Wei Xiangdong awkwardly nodded to the Chinese teacher a few times, then lowered his voice and told Zheng Hongkai: “You brat, did the moral education this morning go in one ear and out the other?! What did I just say? No trouble, no trouble. Did you eat that promise?”
Zheng Hongkai never expected Wei Xiangdong to make a surprise attack during class. He covered his head: “Damn, Old Wei, you’re too perverted. You even spy on our Chinese teacher’s class.”
Wei Xiangdong was in his early thirties this year, at the age for marriage, and recently someone had been trying to set him up with the Chinese teacher. This was no longer a secret among the students.
Zheng Hongkai teased him about it and got another whack with a book.
“You talk too much, don’t you? Pay attention in class!”
He had originally come to call Cheng Mi. After speaking, he called Cheng Mi: “Cheng Mi, come out for a moment.”
Cheng Mi put down her pen and went out.
After stepping out, she asked Wei Xiangdong: “What’s wrong, teacher?”
“The Academic Affairs Office called and said there’s a minor issue with your enrollment procedures. You need to go there. The teacher at the Academic Affairs Office will tell you the specifics.”
“Okay, got it.”
Just as she was about to leave, Wei Xiangdong stopped her: “Do you know where it is? Third floor, the biggest room.”
“I know.”
Third floor, the floor where the Senior Two classes were located.
The Academic Affairs Office was in the central area of the third floor. To get there, one had to pass through the long row of Senior Two classrooms.
The tree canopy formed a continuous deep green shade. There was a damp chill in the air, and the sound of teachers lecturing could be heard along the way.
Today, Cheng Mi’s long chestnut hair wasn’t down; it was tied high at the back of her head. She had good bone structure, and her features were naturally bold; with her hair tied up, she looked even sharper.
Approaching the Senior Two Class One, the loud voice of their teacher explaining math problems echoed from the doorway.
Cheng Mi remembered that Si Tingyan’s seat was in the third row of the fourth group.
Walking past the Class One classroom, Cheng Mi’s eyes immediately found Si Tingyan among the piles of school uniforms.
She didn’t need to deliberately search; anyone would look at Si Tingyan’s face first.
Their class was having a math lesson, and the teacher at the podium was explaining difficult problems that Cheng Mi had limited understanding of.
The atmosphere among the students in this classroom was cohesive; unlike Cheng Mi’s class, which had a mix of good and bad students, resulting in varied learning paces and a chaotic atmosphere, their entire class exuded an aura of good students from within.
Si Tingyan was one of them.
His skin was fair, his shoulders straight, and his posture upright.
The only thing out of place in this classroom was the thin red scab on his left cheek.
The band-aid she had secretly slipped into his school uniform pocket this morning wasn’t on him.
Just then, across a row of windows, Si Tingyan also saw her.
Their gazes met.
Because someone was passing by outside the window, many students in Class One looked towards Cheng Mi.
And she was looking at Si Tingyan.
His eyes were no different from earlier at the abandoned old building by the track, indifferent.
Cheng Mi’s wrist faintly recalled the stinging pain from the black hair tie on her head this morning.
Two seconds later, Si Tingyan looked away.
Cheng Mi also withdrew her gaze and walked on unhurriedly.
Reaching the entrance of the Academic Affairs Office, she remembered the unbandaged wound on Si Tingyan’s face.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she reached into her school uniform jacket pocket.
Sure enough, reaching in, she touched a few band-aids and a chemistry test paper folded into a square.
When did Si Tingyan put them back in her pocket?
Cheng Mi’s fingertips brushed against the slightly sharp edges of the band-aids.
She thought he had seen them and didn’t put them on.
But he had already slipped them back into her pocket without her knowing.
Google Sites
Report abuse