Chapter 54. Showing mercy won't save you.

As the days passed, the weather became slightly cooler after the National Day holiday. Unlike in the summer, when everyone was hot and sweaty.

After the third year of junior high, holidays were shortened, and even the National Day holiday was only five days long. The whole class complained bitterly about this. Teacher Wu comforted them on stage, saying that students in the advanced classes only had three days off, and some schools only had one day off. This kind of comforting by comparing their misfortunes with others didn't have much effect. No matter how they compared, everyone had their own misfortunes. This one had a later holiday, that one had more homework, and they were still frowning and miserable without end.

Han Jiang and Xu Qing enrolled in a tutoring class, and their parents paid a hefty sum—the tuition was outrageously expensive. The tutor was supposedly a renowned teacher from the provincial capital, with a group of students from top-tier universities (985 and 211). They also claimed it was classified information and couldn't be leaked, treating students like spies; only students within the tutoring class could access it.

Han Jiang ignored him and made two copies, one for Jiang Yueming and one for Li Leshan. He thought these questions were so difficult they were unbearable, so incredibly difficult that he couldn't come up with anything after racking his brains for a long time, but he guessed that they were just child's play in Li Leshan's eyes.

Li Leshan didn't enroll in any tutoring classes, but he received extra help from Lao Wu, who would keep him after school for half an hour or an hour every Friday—a privilege usually reserved for those aspiring to attend Tsinghua or Peking University. Jiang Yueming wanted to wait, but Li Leshan wouldn't let him. He told Jiang Yueming to go home, do his homework, and then practice problems. They would have a group discussion on Saturday. This had become a routine, happening every week.

"Okay, these two sets are practice exams from the Third Municipal High School. Remember to do them carefully when you get back." Wu Jinzhong patted Li Leshan on the shoulder, his tone slightly cheerful. "My student is a mole planted at the Third Municipal High School."

To put it bluntly, it was just practice exam papers that Wu Jinzhong got from his former students. He managed to make it sound like some kind of underground warfare scenario, which was partly to liven things up.

"You're in your final year of junior high. Although you're facing the high school entrance exam, don't put too much pressure on yourself," Wu Jinzhong said earnestly.

Li Leshan nodded, stood up straight, and bowed deeply to Wu Jinzhong.

Wu Jinzhong felt a pang of sadness. Seeing this, he quickly pulled him up and waved for him to go home early.

Li Leshan stuffed the two sets of practice exam papers into his schoolbag. He planned to finish them when he got home today and give Jiang Yueming his solutions tomorrow morning.

He walked out of the school gate and through that narrow alley that always reeked of fried stinky tofu and cheap grilled sausages. Actually, he had run into Wang Hao recently. Right at the entrance of the alley, in front of the billiards hall with a poster that read "Video arcade all night, five yuan."

He hadn't changed much, hadn't even grown taller, but he'd gotten fatter, becoming quite stout and still looking extremely menacing. Li Leshan walked along, backpack on his back, lost in thought. Memories flooded back; he remembered several equally sleazy young men surrounding him, their hair dyed in various colors, cigarettes dangling from their lips.

They blocked the entrance to the billiard hall, their eyes scanning the passing students with undisguised malice. It was unclear why Wang Hao and his group had come to the No. 1 Middle School, even though it was quite a distance from the vocational school; but judging from their appearance, they didn't seem to be there to see him.

But if they don't look for him, they might look for Jiang Yueming instead.

Besides this, Li Leshan couldn't think of any other possibility.

The narrow alley was somewhat dim because the sunlight didn't reach it much. At the end lay several abandoned tables and chairs, untouched for a long time. If no one wanted them, Li Leshan considered selling them as scrap metal. It wasn't exactly ethical, but of course, he only thought about it.

...

Footsteps.

Li Leshan didn't turn around, but felt a sudden jolt in his heart.

The footsteps grew closer, sounding somewhat hurried. But they were surprisingly light; if it were Wang Hao's group, they wouldn't have taken such quiet steps.

Who is that?

Who will come looking for him?

What exactly is it...?

“Li, Li Leshan…!” A hurried, anxious, and fearful female voice came from behind.

It's Xu Qing!

Li Leshan whirled around and, upon seeing Xu Qing's appearance, noticed that the girl's eyes were red and swollen, as if she had just been crying. He instinctively looked her up and down, but didn't see any injuries. But she should be at her tutoring class at this time; why was she here? Why did she look so…

"What's wrong?" Li Leshan instinctively tried to use sign language, but realized she couldn't understand. He quickly pulled a piece of paper from his bag, so eager to ask what had happened that he even dropped his pen cap on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Li Leshan handed the paper to Xu Qing.

Seeing his concerned expression, Xu Qing's tears welled up instantly. She nervously picked up the paper and pen, momentarily forgetting that Li Leshan was just unable to speak, not that he was deaf.

“Someone is following me…” Xu Qing felt her mind go blank, and she could no longer hear her own voice.

Li Leshan was taken aback, then suddenly realized something. He knelt down on one knee, gently patted Xu Qing's shoulder, and hurriedly wrote on a piece of paper: Don't be afraid, right, Wang Hao?

"I...I don't know. I don't know any Wang Hao." Xu Qing's voice was broken. She didn't know who Li Leshan was talking about. What Hao or not, she had never met such a person. She was just going to the tutoring class as usual today, without waiting for Han Jiang, because Han Jiang had been kept behind to do his homework, and she didn't know when he would finish.

"He took pictures of me without my permission!" Xu Qing's voice suddenly rose with fear as she clutched the corner of her school uniform tightly. "I don't know why he has the photos, Li Leshan, what should I do? Should I... call the police? I'm so scared..."

Xu Qing covered her face, her voice slightly choked with sobs.

“I didn’t dare tell Jiang Yueming, I was afraid he’d get anxious and start fighting again. He can’t fight anymore. What those people were saying, ‘Next,’ I didn’t understand. They asked me what my relationship was with Jiang Yueming? And what my relationship was with you?” Xu Qing’s eyes were filled with confusion. She was completely bewildered, not knowing what had happened between the person in front of her, including Jiang Yueming, and those people. She had no choice but to come to Li Leshan.

It was Wang Hao. Li Leshan knew it in his heart.

He didn't know why these people were using such underhanded tactics, nor did he understand why they wanted to drag others into it. In an instant, impulse overwhelmed reason, and it felt like a fire was burning inside him.

He thought that if he hid, he could find a way out.

But the current situation clearly told him that hiding was useless, and being afraid was useless. The more he hid, the more aggressive those people would become. They would hurt him first, then hurt the people around him. Today it was Xu Qing, tomorrow it might be Han Jiang, or… Jiang Yueming. The image of the injury on Jiang Yueming's face flashed through his mind.

“Don’t be afraid.” Li Leshan took a deep breath and wrote on the note, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened today.”

After Xu Qing saw and understood, Li Leshan added another line: I'll handle this, don't worry. I'll definitely delete the photos.

"What are you going to do?" Xu Qing grabbed Li Leshan's hand, her voice trembling, her beautiful face contorting in an instant. "You can't go to them! There are so many of them!"

She couldn't let Li Leshan be in such a predicament, much less let him go through fire and water. She was just scared; she didn't know who to turn to. Her instinct was to turn to Li Leshan, to ask him to help her think of a solution, but she didn't want him to do that!

“I’m not going,” Li Leshan continued writing. “I have a plan.”

Li Leshan helped Xu Qing up from the ground, put all the notes back into his schoolbag, and finally added: "Trust me, stay with Han Jiang for a while, and if you run into that person again, come find me."

After escorting the distraught Xu Qing home, Li Leshan didn't leave. He squatted in the shadow of the bicycle shed downstairs, pasted with small advertisements for "drain cleaning" and "gas replacement." He was enveloped in the distinctive smell of cooking oil and damp mold typical of old-style apartment buildings.

We can't tell Jiang Yueming about this; we can't drag him into this anymore.

He couldn't call the police. He couldn't let anyone know about this. He couldn't give Wang Hao the chance to spread these photos, not even a sliver. A scumbag like Wang Hao would only be in jail for a few days before being released; the photos would probably already be backed up and distributed, and in that case, only Xu Qing would be hurt.

The chill of late autumn night seeped into his bones. He looked up at the dim, yellow light shining from the windows of the apartment building.

There's no escaping it.

You can't reason with them.

He only has one choice.

Go find Wang Hao.

He had only one choice in front of him.

...

/

"He said to have Jiang Yueming come find him!" At the school gate, Xu Qing tugged at Li Leshan's school uniform sleeve. These days she had been going to and from school with Han Jiang. Only yesterday, after she and Han Jiang parted ways at the intersection, a woman wearing a tight top and leather skirt, with heavy makeup and striking black and purple eyeshadow, blocked her way.

"Where?" Li Leshan asked, his eyes eerily calm.

Xu Qing tried hard to recall the address and said, "It's at a scrap metal yard on Chengguan Road... Li Leshan, we..."

Li Leshan nodded. He gently patted Xu Qing's arm, signaling her to relax.

For some reason, Xu Qing felt a strange sense of peace looking at the boy in front of her, who was clearly about the same age as her. Being close to him seemed to calm her down, as if she had been given a tranquilizer, and an indescribable feeling gradually arose in Xu Qing's heart.

"Don't worry, I can handle it. Don't tell anyone, and don't be afraid." Li Leshan handed her the note and smiled at her. That smile was infectious, making Xu Qing freeze on the spot.

His gaze fell on Han Jiang, who was waiting not far away. He raised his hand to signal Xu Qing to go find him, and then walked out of the school gate alone.

Soon, Li Leshan's figure gradually disappeared into the crowd, vanishing among a group of students wearing the same No. 1 Middle School uniform. Xu Qing hurriedly tiptoed to look for his figure, but found that he had drifted away like the wind, without a sound. Only in the last second before parting did she see his somewhat thin figure, firm and resolute.

Xu Qing didn't know what his solution was, nor did she know what his method actually was. She didn't ask, nor did she dare to ask. But she still chose to trust Li Leshan without hesitation.

Because at that moment, she had no other choice but to believe and pray.

God, have mercy!

Xu Qing turned around, her eyes moist, her heart pounding with anxiety, like waves crashing against her.

No matter who it is, never let him get hurt.

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Author's note: My darlings, with everyone's support, I'll be going to start paying for content tomorrow!

Special reminder: Chapters 28-54 are reverse V chapters.

Thank you everyone for being with me for so long, and for supporting Yueming and Lele for so long. I'm truly, truly grateful, and I hope we can continue this journey together >3<

I will update daily from now on (every night at 9 PM sharp!), and occasionally update twice a day if I feel like it. I will continue to work hard!

Yueming and Lele: Sisters, we'll grow up quickly! Welcome to come see us! [Let me see!]

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My next book, "The Prime of My Life," is a story about strong characters and a band, written by a guy from the opposite side, but he secretly loves her.

A handsome, strong, and tragically arrogant uke (bottom) X a slightly rascally young master seme (see the author's column for the full synopsis).

Zhuo Fei was certain that he and his new roommate were incompatible.

The day Zhou Jin moved in, Zhuo Fei was squatting on the balcony repairing the washing machine. His "celebrity face," which the landlord had praised to the skies, was indeed quite striking. If you ignored the way he addressed you at that moment, you'd say, "Hey, you lousy refrigerator repairman."

First of all, he repaired the washing machine.

Secondly, who puts their refrigerator on the balcony?

Zhou Jin was unlike anyone else he had ever met.

Zhuo Fei had seen arrogant people before, but he had never seen someone who was both poor and arrogant. He couldn't cook, and he didn't even know how to turn on the gas stove.

Zhuo Fei sometimes wondered how he, who knew nothing and could do nothing, had managed to survive to this day, acting all high and mighty like a big shot.

There's a knife above the word "patience," but there's nothing you can do if you don't endure it. After all, the only value this person has is sharing the rent with him.

One night, Zhou Jin, drunk, went into the wrong room and, seeing his face, kissed him in a daze. In the instant the smell of alcohol hit Zhuo Fei, he clearly felt the warm, wet touch on his lips.

The air fell into a deathly silence.

In bed at night, the two of them lay back to back.

After a long pause, Zhou Jin spoke first, his voice hoarse: "What...did I just do?"

Zhuo Fei scoffed, "What, are you going to silence me?"

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For all you interested readers, please, please bookmark this! It's incredibly important to me for the Thomas Flair! This book will be a little faster in terms of pace, and it also features two very cute boys. I'm sure you'll love Zhuo Fei and Zhou Jin! [pat on the head]

Thank you all, and I'm grateful to every baby. (bows)