Chapter 56 Don't Tear Off His Veins Like Wild Grass

Xu Qing has been worried these past two days. Although Li Leshan told her not to overthink it, she always seemed preoccupied no matter who she was with.

"Xu Qing," Jiang Yueming called out, but there was no response.

"Xu Qing!"

Still no.

"Don't even think about using the disconnection to escape the two 800s later." Jiang Yueming put the timer back in his pocket, unaware of her unusual behavior, assuming she was nervous because of the 80s.

Xu Qing finally came to her senses. After a moment, she murmured, "Why haven't I seen Li Leshan these past two days?"

Jiang Yueming exclaimed "Ah!" and unscrewed the bottle of mineral water beside her. "You can't run away without him, can you?"

"No, that's not it." Xu Qing said in a low voice, not in the mood to chat or play games with Jiang Yueming.

“He’s busy, he texted me.” Jiang Yueming didn’t think much of it. “It’s okay, you should worry about your own 800 instead of him.”

"Then...! Did he say when he'd be back?" Xu Qing asked hurriedly. Actually, she didn't care about the photos anymore; she just wanted to know how Li Leshan was doing.

"These next couple of days." Jiang Yueming wasn't entirely sure, but at this crucial juncture in the third year of junior high, everything had to be resolved quickly so as not to delay studies. Although Jiang Yueming believed from the bottom of her heart that even if Li Leshan had something to deal with, he would probably still do two sets of practice papers without fail.

Li Leshan returned before the mock exam. He hadn't been able to see anyone for the past two days. He originally wanted to tell Xu Qing that the "photo matter" had been resolved, but he was afraid that Xu Qing would worry if she saw the injury and realize that he had gone to see Wang Hao and his group.

It seems Wang Hao and his group understood the principle of "no destruction, no construction; no battle, no peace." After the incident at the scrap metal factory, they never even came near the school again, not even a trace of them. It was only that day that Wang Hao realized that the seemingly easiest target had changed completely. He was no longer the person who had been beaten and scolded without uttering a sound or resisting. He was even more terrifying than Jiang Yueming.

Li Leshan's injury healed quickly. Although he didn't use any ointment, he managed to cover up about 70-80% of it by simply enduring the pain.

He returned just after finishing the Chinese exam. He missed one Chinese exam and was scolded by Wu Jinzhong for some unknown reason.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Jiang Yueming asked with a smile. He hadn't noticed the injuries on Li Leshan's face; he had deliberately covered his face when he was hit. Although there were injuries on his ribs and waist, they were completely hidden by his clothes.

Did he deliberately skip a Chinese exam because he didn't want to write an essay?

Li Leshan smiled; the aggravated wound no longer hurt. Although he thought Wu Jinzhong would definitely be very unhappy, Li Leshan really thought so. He skipped a Chinese exam, not because he was lazy or didn't want to write a long essay, but simply because his hand was still a little shaky when holding a pen.

"Where have you been these past few days?" Jiang Yueming asked. The brief message only said that he had something to do and told him not to worry, but he still needed to know where Li Leshan had gone and whether he would leave again.

"It's from a relative's side." Li Leshan casually made up an excuse that Jiang Yueming wouldn't ask any more questions about. Once it involved family matters, the man wouldn't ask anymore.

Jiang Yueming said "Oh," and continued, "You'd better be prepared, Li Xiaojuan is definitely going to scold you this time."

Li Xiaojuan was their Chinese teacher. The original teacher was on maternity leave, so Li Xiaojuan substituted for their ninth-grade classes. Jiang Yueming thought she was the fiercest Chinese teacher in the entire grade, without a doubt. She didn't hold back when scolding students, regardless of whether they were promising or not. Someone like Li Leshan, who skipped a Chinese class, was sure to get what's coming to him.

"If she calls you out, respond to her more, okay? She should calm down after a few scoldings," Jiang Yueming instructed.

He was adept at dealing with Li Xiaojuan. Because Jiang Yueming's Chinese language skills hadn't improved at all since he entered junior high. So he was always being scolded; Li Xiaojuan always said that with his attitude towards learning, he wouldn't get into high school, let alone university.

Jiang Yueming ignored it all. He didn't know what was wrong with his attitude towards learning. He only had a slightly lower score in Chinese, which didn't mean he had a problem with his attitude. Explaining it was pointless; he would just be labeled as arguing with the teacher, which would be even worse. It was better to just say he had a problem with his attitude.

Li Leshan nodded.

Jiang Yueming was still a little worried. He was urgently trying to think of a solution, otherwise he might make an even more serious mistake: helping Li Leshan get back on his feet and preventing Li Xiaojuan from having time to look for Li Leshan.

Li Xiaojuan didn't really make things difficult for Li Leshan. Perhaps Wu Jinzhong had given her prior notice, or perhaps for some other reason, although she scolded Li Leshan with a few words such as "Can you be late for the high school entrance exam?", "Chinese has reached the point where it doesn't need to be tested anymore", and "You students this year are really all talk and no action"... Li Leshan listened silently with his head down.

He can't write.

He can't write for the time being.

He couldn't say that he couldn't write because he injured his hand in a fight.

At this moment, his inability to speak seemed to become a shield. He didn't need to think about how to explain to Li Xiaojuan, or how to answer her questions. It was as if the ten years of losing his voice had also worn down his thoughts, making him unsure how to express many things.

People who couldn't speak before really couldn't speak anymore.

I'm sorry, Teacher Li. Li Leshan thought to himself.

He bowed to Li Xiaojuan, a gesture that seemed to have caught her completely off guard. Li Xiaojuan's hand, which had been gesturing for a while, remained suspended in mid-air before she finally waved him out.

"Li Leshan!" Xu Qing saw the familiar figure and her heart tightened. She quickly ran forward and called out.

Her gaze lingered on Li Leshan from head to toe.

Li Leshan turned around, still holding a blank Chinese test paper in his hand. Li Xiaojuan had told him to finish it and hand it in during the next self-study period. Although the grade would still be counted as zero, it didn't mean he didn't have to write the test. Li Leshan's idea was to write a little slower and a little less; whether Li Xiaojuan would notice anything unusual was her concern.

Upon seeing Xu Qing, he quickly pulled a note from his school uniform pocket. He had written it for Xu Qing beforehand, but Tian Xiaojuan had called him away and scolded him for an hour as soon as he arrived at school, so he hadn't had time to give it to her yet. If he gave it to Han Jiang or Jiang Yueming to act as messengers, he was afraid they would misunderstand.

The note clearly stated: "It's resolved. They won't bother you anymore."

As for whether they would cause trouble for Xu Qing again, Li Leshan thought they probably didn't have the guts, because the result of the bet was no longer something that could be taken lightly.

After Xu Qing clearly saw the handwriting on the note, her heart calmed down somewhat. However, many thoughts suddenly flooded her mind again, such as why he was involved with Wang Hao, who those people were, and most importantly, how did Li Leshan resolve the situation?

Xu Qing's eyes revealed confusion as she stared into Li Leshan's eyes, her lips pressed tightly together.

After a full half minute, Xu Qing finally realized she couldn't discern anything from his face. She sighed heavily, took out her own notepad and pen from her school uniform pocket, pointed at the pen, and then at Li Leshan.

This stalemate can't go on; if it goes on too long, Jiang Yueming will start to worry, Li Leshan thought. He might even be planning to storm into the office right now to see what's going on.

He was just about to pick up a pen to write something to tell Xu Qing to stop thinking about these things when two boys ran past him playfully, one of them accidentally bumping into Li Leshan's shoulder hard.

Immediately, the pen and paper fell to the ground.

A palpable pain flashed across Li Leshan's face; the injury on his shoulder shot straight to his brain, causing him to take a half-step back in pain.

"No, I'm sorry, bro," the boy quickly apologized and ran to the other side.

Xu Qing saw it all, including his pain. She quickly squatted down, stuffed the paper and pen back into her school uniform pocket, and stared at Li Leshan for a long while.

Li Leshan remained silent, his expression losing its initial calm. Looking at his perpetually indifferent face, Xu Qing couldn't imagine whether he would laugh like others, or cry like others. She couldn't imagine it, even though Li Leshan was right in front of her.

Whose expression will move him the most?

"You went to fight, didn't you..." Xu Qing's voice was so soft it was as if she wasn't even talking to Li Leshan.

Li Leshan shook his head.

Seeing his seemingly unaffected state, Xu Qing felt a sense of loss. She should have realized, and understood, that there was only one solution facing Li Leshan.

“You went, didn’t you?” Xu Qing forced a bitter smile. “You didn’t tell Jiang Yueming at all, you didn’t tell anyone, and you went to see them on your own.”

Li Leshan looked at her quietly, lost in thought. These things had nothing to do with Jiang Yueming, and he had never intended to tell her. He shouldn't tell her, and he couldn't tell her.

“I’m fine,” Li Leshan said in sign language.

He's grown taller. Xu Qing has witnessed all of Li Leshan's changes from fifth grade to his current ninth grade. She and Li Leshan used to be about the same height, as Xu Qing also inherited her mother's height. But as they've grown, the height difference between them has widened.

She had to look up, or even stand on tiptoe, to talk to Li Leshan.

"Li Leshan," Xu Qing's voice trembled, this was the first time she had ever been so cautious with someone, "I'm sorry..."

If she hadn't brought it up, would Li Leshan have avoided the fight and gotten hurt?

Li Leshan turned around and, using the railing beside him, wrote a few more lines: Xiao Qing, these things have nothing to do with you. It's not your fault; it's me who dragged you into this.

Xu Qing looked at the handwriting on the note, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. Li Leshan's figure appeared in her field of vision, somewhat blurry, like an illusion, like something very distant. His steps were slow, somewhat hesitant, which involuntarily reminded her of the weeds by the stairwell entrance, overgrown and disorderly, lonely and insignificant.

When the wind blows, the wild grass sways.

The wind picked up, and the wild grass, unable to withstand the strong wind, bent and twisted.

Wind, blow gently, very gently, don't break its veins.