trap

The clock ticked around and around. The sunlight from the last class of the afternoon slanted through the classroom window, casting dappled shadows on Cheng Xiaorui's desk. He unconsciously scratched a shallow scratch on the table with his fingernails, his left hand trembling slightly under the table.

The classroom was mostly empty; Lu Ziyi and the others' seats had long since been taken. Only a few diligent students, buried in their homework, remained, and the silence of chalk dust slowly drifting down in the beams of light. Cheng Xiaorui stared at the girl in the front row, watching as her handwriting trembled slightly as it finally fell onto her exercise book.

"Ding—" the school bell pierced the silence sharply. Cheng Xiaorui shuddered, and his pencil case slipped from his hands, making a noise in the quiet classroom. The girl in the front row glanced back at him, her eyes lingering on his pale face for a second before quickly turning away. He packed his bag slowly, putting his math textbook in and out, stalling for time. Only when the monitor began to wipe the blackboard and chalk dust fell did he feel compelled to take a step forward.

The air in the alley was hot and humid, mingled with the sour stench of garbage cans. Cheng Xiaorui leaned against the mottled brick wall, counting the clovers sprouting from the cracks. Ten minutes had passed, and his fingernails had already carved crescent-shaped red marks into the palms of his hands. Familiar laughter echoed in the distance. Three figures cast long shadows in the setting sun, like three snakes spitting their tongues.

"No way, you're really here, haha!" Zhao Dakun's exaggerated laughter echoed through the alley. He deliberately hunched his back and shrunk his neck, imitating Cheng Xiaorui's cowering expression, which made Zhou Mingxuan laugh too. Lu Ziyi walked last, toying with a lighter in his hand. The click of the metal lid opening and closing was particularly loud in the quiet alley.

Cheng Xiaorui's Adam's apple rolled. "What do you mean?" His voice was even drier than he'd expected. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he took off his schoolbag. He had clearly put the box of Double Happiness in the innermost secret pocket.

"..." He was silent, then suddenly thought of something and could only sigh. Zhao Dakun snatched the schoolbag away, and all the textbooks and notes fell to the ground. A physics textbook fell to the ground, raising a fine dust.

"Oh? It's not gone, is it?" Zhou Mingxuan strolled over, his brand-new Air Jordan sneakers deliberately stepping on Cheng Xiaorui's scattered notebooks, leaving a clear shoe print on his "Photosynthesis" notebook. Cheng Xiaorui stared at the shoe print, his ears buzzing. He clearly remembered it; he had put it in that secret bag and had even checked it yesterday.

"Tsk, Brother Lu," Zhao Dakun nudged the silent Lu Ziyi with his elbow, "What do you think we should do? He lost the pack of cigarettes you asked him to hold." He deliberately dragged out his tone, "What are we going to smoke tomorrow?"

"Is there anything else? If not, I--" Cheng Xiaorui's words were interrupted by the sudden pain.

Zhao Dakun's fist slammed into his left cheek with a whistling sound. As Cheng Xiaorui stumbled back, the back of his head banged lightly against a raised brick on the wall. He felt it, thankfully, no blood. A taste of rust lingered in his mouth, and a trickle of blood slid down his jaw, dripping onto the collar of his white school uniform, like a red plum blossom blooming in the snow.

"No way! Look, I just touched him lightly and he started bleeding." Zhao Dakun turned around and said to his companions as if to show off, with malicious joy in his voice. But the next second, his expression froze.

Cheng Xiaorui's fist, brimming with the rage he'd accumulated over the past few days, smashed into Zhao Dakun's nose. The dull thud of flesh colliding made the air freeze for a moment. Zhao Dakun stumbled back a few steps, blood gushing from his nose.

"Damn it! You dare to hit me!" Zhao Dakun's curse changed tone, and dark red blood oozed from between his fingers as he covered his nose. Zhou Mingxuan opened his mouth in shock and took two steps back, his back hitting the wall of the alley.

“…”

Cheng Xiaorui didn't reply. As he bent down to pick up his schoolbag, he caught a glimpse of something he had never seen before in Lu Ziyi's eyes: a look like the surprise of a predator upon discovering its prey's sudden resistance, or the excitement of discovering an interesting toy. Even more frightening, the corners of Lu Ziyi's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile. Cheng Xiaorui left the alley without a backward glance, feeling the sharp gazes of three men on his back.

The setting sun stretched the shadows very long, and the shadows of the four people were tangled into a blurry blackness in the alley. In the distance, the noisy sounds of other schools after school came, as if it was a world away from here.

Sure enough, the next morning, as soon as Cheng Xiaorui stepped into the classroom, he heard the voice of his head teacher, Teacher Li, coming from behind him: "Cheng Xiaorui, come to my office."

Teacher Li's tone was calm, but Cheng Xiaorui's heart sank. His throat tightened, as if someone was choking him. He followed Teacher Li with his head lowered. The footsteps in the corridor were particularly clear in the quiet morning, and every step felt like stepping on his nerves. He could feel the curious glances from his classmates, especially the gloating eyes of Zhao Dakun and his group.

In the office, Teacher Li sat down and slowly pulled something out of a drawer: the missing box of Marlboro cigarettes. The gold letters on the cigarette box gleamed in the sunlight, stinging Cheng Xiaorui's eyes.

"What's going on?"

Teacher Li's voice suddenly grew stern, and her fingertips drummed heavily on the crumpled pack of cigarettes on the table. Her gaze was fixed on Cheng Xiaorui, but within those eyes, which always held a gentle smile, there was not anger but something more complex—shock, confusion, and a resolute refusal to believe anything easily.

"Where did you get this?" She leaned forward, her tone urgent, almost with an urgency to immediately expose the absurdity of the situation. "How could you have cigarettes? You can't, right, Xiao Rui?"

Her voice even took on a subtle pleading edge, as if she desperately needed a negative answer from him to confirm her image of him as a sensible, hardworking boy who would never fall prey to such a bad habit. The pack of cigarettes lay on the mottled table, like a crude and malicious joke, standing between them, incongruous and stinging her eyes.

Cheng Xiaorui's breath hitched, his eyes fixed on the cigarette pack. The edges of the pack were wrinkled, as if someone had squeezed them hard. His mind raced. His schoolbag had been in the classroom the entire time, and he was the last one to leave during break time... Was it then? Or was it during lunch break when he went to get some water?

Cheng Xiaorui's voice was dry, with a subtle sluggishness. He lowered his eyelids, his gaze fixed on the mottled lacquer of the teacher's desk, not daring to look up at the scrutinizing eyes. He swallowed, but still couldn't find the right words.

He didn't know what to say. Was he going to say that Lu Ziyi and the others were deliberately picking on him, trying to get him hurt? Or was it all about those countless seemingly harmless but annoying little actions they'd used before?

Cheng Xiaorui didn't even know how to explain himself. Every attempt at justification seemed like a pale, powerless smear, only making him look even more ridiculous and suspicious. The reasons and the process were never important; the result was what mattered. And the result was that he was forced.

Even if he explained, would the teacher really believe him? Perhaps... Compared to others, Cheng Xiaorui would most likely be believed, but compared to Lu Ziyi... This thought was like a tiny ice thorn, silently piercing into the depths of his heart.

Cheng Xiaorui lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the tip of his shoe. He knew what the teacher's silence at that moment meant—a common-sense, yet suffocating, inference. In a world that always prioritizes appearances, the words of those like Lu Ziyi, who are sunny and cheerful, have excellent grades, and come from a wealthy family, carry inherently greater weight. Their smiles convey confidence, while his silence suggests aloofness; their pranks convey liveliness, while his excuses become sophistry.

The scales of trust never needed to be manipulated; they were always tilted from the start. And he, Cheng Xiaorui, simply stood silently in the shadows, perched on the light, unnoticed tray at the other end of the scale. His reticence, his family beyond the realm of wealth and nobility, became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

He could even imagine how Lu Ziyi would calmly explain if he were standing here at this moment, how he would look at the teacher with those bright eyes and easily dispel all doubts.

As for Cheng Xiaorui, even the courage to raise his head disappeared bit by bit in this silent contrast.

This feeling of powerlessness weighed heavily on his stomach, making it difficult for him to even breathe. He finally lowered his head even deeper, suppressing all the surging emotions deep in his throat and repeating his pale apology.

"sorry."

Teacher Li stared at him for a few seconds, the sternness in her eyes gradually replaced by a deeper scrutiny. She suddenly sighed, a heavy sigh, as if she had let go of some teacher's airs, and her tone softened, with a subtle hint of concern.

"Xiao Rui," she lowered her voice, "Tell me honestly, where did this smoke come from? Did... someone bully you?"

She paused, her eyes falling on the boy's tightly pursed lips and slightly trembling fingers, and her tone became more certain: "Because the teacher believes that you simply cannot and will never take the initiative to do such a thing."

Cheng Xiaorui's head shot up, his heart pounding. The teacher's eyes held a hint of concern, and a sudden, bitter, hot feeling rushed up his nose, catching him off guard and nearly blurting out something. He remembered Teacher Li's words at class last semester, "Come to me if you have any questions," and how she'd once lost her temper over a student being bullied...

"Teacher... Actually, the way is—"

"Teacher, I'm here to hand in my homework," a clear voice interrupted Cheng Xiaorui. "I've collected everything." Lu Ziyi hadn't noticed when he'd finally stood at the office door, standing tall and straight, a stack of workbooks in his arms. He walked in calmly, his eyes casually glancing at the cigarette on the table, his expression revealing no sign of anything unusual.

Cheng Xiaorui stared at him intently—this time, surprisingly, his lips weren't adorned with his usual, unpleasant, mocking smile. It seemed he wasn't going to smile today, unlike his usual, satisfied grin after framing someone. Lu Zi also casually placed his homework book on the corner of the teacher's desk, his movements smooth and natural.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Teacher Li raised his head and saw Lu Ziyi. A smile appeared on his face unconsciously. His tone was obviously much gentler and more familiar than when he treated Cheng Xiaorui just now.

Before Lu Ziyi left, his gaze lingered on Cheng Xiaorui for a second, a warning and a hint of mockery in his eyes. The office door closed gently, and Cheng Xiaorui's courage vanished.

"Oh, right," Teacher Li seemed to have just remembered something and turned his gaze back to him, "What were you about to say?"

Cheng Xiaorui lowered his head, using all his strength to keep his voice from trembling too much. "Nothing, teacher..." His voice was so low that it was almost inaudible, "Can I ask how you found out?"

Teacher Li stared at him for a few seconds, then said doubtfully, "Didn't I have Lu Ziyi tell everyone yesterday morning that people from other schools would be checking to see if students had brought in any prohibited items? I emphasized that. Why didn't he explain that clearly?"

Cheng Xiaorui was stunned. Lu Ziyi had indeed spoken something at the podium during the morning reading yesterday, but he'd been sleeping on the podium and hadn't paid attention. Now that he thought about it, it was all a trap.

"Right... No, no, he did say it, maybe I didn't pay attention."

"Okay, let's forget about it this time, but there must not be a next time, otherwise the consequences will be more serious, understand?"

Cheng Xiaorui nodded, his throat tightening, "I understand."

By the time he left the office, his back was soaking wet. In the hallway, Lu Ziyi was leaning against the wall, twirling a pen in his hand. Seeing him come out, he chuckled. "Why," he asked in a long, playful tone, like a cat and mouse, "didn't you complain?"

Sunlight streamed in from the corridor window, illuminating Lu Ziyi's profile, leaving him half in light and half in shadow. Cheng Xiaorui didn't answer, but walked right past him, but Lu Ziyi's voice still drifted past him.

"You're smart."

Cheng Xiaorui paused for a moment, but did not look back.