Chapter 114: Proud White Moonlight 7 He Wants to Understand Her

At the restaurant entrance.

Jiang Ye asked Ali to wait for him in front of the door for a while while he went to the school to get his bicycle.

"Wait for me! Don't leave!"

Ali looked at his anxious back, shook his head, and left without stopping for a moment.

When Jiang Ye rode over breathlessly, she was no longer in front of the door.

Without caring about his loss, he quickly raised his eyes and looked at the two roads in front of the restaurant.

One leads to the school.

He had only been away for less than five minutes, and he had been running. Ali's walking speed would not be faster than that, and he did not see Ali on the way back, so it could not be this direction.

Jiang Ye rang the bicycle bell. The clear sound was particularly abrupt in the silent night. He got back on his bicycle and headed in another direction.

She just left.

Because I don't want to have any contact with him anymore.

Because I hate him.

This realization made Jiang Ye feel a little stuffy in his chest, an indescribable strange feeling, like a trembling soap bubble being popped, "pop", and nothing was left.

Jiang Ye rode very fast, and the mountain bike slid silently into the night. The night wind blew past his ears, and he kept searching for every back on the roadside that might be her.

A few days ago, he suddenly took out this modified mountain bike and told his family that he wanted to ride it to and from school by himself in the future. His parents didn't say anything and just let him go.

There are many forks in the road when looking for someone, and in order to save time, Jiang Ye can only choose based on his intuition.

He had never been so nervous before. Every decision made his heart rise high, but as time passed, his heart gradually sank.

I must have taken a wrong turn.

It's too late to look back.

A heavy feeling of frustration surrounded Jiang Ye. He stopped under a dim street light on the side of the road and scratched his hair in frustration.

He was the one who made this mess, and he deserved it.

Jiang Ye gradually calmed down, curled the corners of his lips, and was about to turn the car around, but he found the person he had been looking for all the way at the corner of the intersection ahead.

All the bad emotions strangely stopped at this moment. He tightened his grip on the handlebars slightly and immediately caught up.

The tires made a short and sharp sound when they rubbed against the ground. Jiang Ye pushed with his long legs and swung the front of the car sideways. With a not-so-cool drift, he stopped the car steadily in front of her.

The sudden interception made Ali take a step back, and the book in her arms fell out of her hands in shock. Jiang Ye caught it quickly and handed it back to her.

She looked up in shock, as if she had seen a ghost: "Jiang Ye?"

He supported himself on one leg, his chest rising and falling slightly due to the pursuit and unknown emotions. When he heard Ali calling his name, he responded softly.

Ah Li came to his senses and refused again: "Thank you for your kindness, this place is very close to my home, no need to send me."

Jiang Ye, however, was like a piece of stubborn taffy, pushing his bicycle and slowly following her, and he couldn't be driven away.

The two walked side by side for a while. Jiang Ye glanced away unnaturally, and said hesitantly: "That..."

Ali didn't look at him, still staring straight ahead, walking without stopping: "If you want to talk about the competition, you did a great job and were very efficient. It helped me a lot. Thank you."

She always blames things rather than people, and this sentence comes from the heart.

Although Jiang Ye was sometimes careless and seemed unreliable, he still followed her arrangements most of the time when preparing for the competition and put in a lot of effort.

Jiang Ye's original words were blocked and he looked a little annoyed: "It's not this, I mean before, those things before, I apologize to you..."

Only then did Ali turn his head to glance at him, his eyes filled with pure confusion: "What happened before? What are you referring to?"

"I was picking on you on purpose, deliberately making things difficult for you, and deliberately making you angry..." His voice got smaller and smaller, and his tone became awkward. He even felt that he was childish and ridiculous.

Ali was stunned for a moment: "Oh, that, I remember now."

She paused for a moment and said calmly, "I was quite angry at the time, but I forgot about it afterwards."

She really forgot.

The anger at that time was real, but just like the difficult problems encountered in the learning process, solve them when you encounter them, and don’t think about them anymore after solving them. Don’t waste extra emotions and energy on them.

It’s not tolerance, it’s not magnanimity, it’s just not caring, there are just more important things.

Her main purpose of coming to school is to study, not to become good friends with anyone.

Jiang Ye was completely stunned and his steps slowed down.

He expected her to be indifferent, sarcastic, and possibly not accept his apology, but he didn't expect that she would have completely forgotten it.

This feeling of being completely ignored made him feel worse than being scolded.

"...I'm sorry." He said these three words more seriously than ever before, even stopping, looking into her eyes, and repeating them again.

Ali nodded and accepted it quickly: "Well, I accept your apology."

Jiang Ye took a deep breath, his heart felt like it was gently squeezed, and he felt complicated.

He would rather she not accept it, would rather she scold him, would rather she vent all her grievances and anger on him.

He had already prepared himself to apologize, and even if Ali hit him or scolded him, he would never dodge or refute.

But now she actually accepted it so calmly, like a punch on cotton, making Jiang Ye feel deeply powerless and ashamed.

Jiang Ye didn't know what to say, with mixed feelings in his heart, and could only hum dejectedly.

The two turned the corner and Ali stopped: "I'm here, thank you for giving me a ride today."

Jiang Ye was inexplicably flustered and didn't want to leave like this.

He looked around and saw that under the dark night sky, a few scattered street lights flickered on and off, barely illuminating the bumpy concrete road. The air was faintly filled with the sour smell of garbage.

Following Ali's gaze, both sides of the road were filled with messy bicycles and electric bikes. The exterior walls of the buildings in the old community were mottled, revealing the brick red background inside.

Occasionally, there was the noise of television and vague arguments in the distance.

Jiang Ye frowned unconsciously, slowed down his pace, and glanced vigilantly at the dark corners and dark corridor entrances around him.

He subconsciously protected Ali behind him: "This place... doesn't look very safe. You're alone every night..."

He didn't finish his words, but his meaning was clear.

Ali stopped walking when she heard that, and Jiang Ye turned around to look at her. The dim light cast a soft shadow on her calm face, but there was no fear in her eyes.

“Well, I’m actually used to it.”

She smiled a little surprised and led Jiang Ye around a puddle that he hadn't noticed at all: "Go this way. The road here is uneven and it's easy to trip at night."

Jiang Ye was stunned and followed her footsteps.

As Ali walked, he raised his hand and pointed in a few random directions. "That place with the red light on the corner over there is the night duty station of the community police station. I've been there several times, and there are people there 24 hours a day."

"There are cameras along the road we just walked. Although they are a bit old, they are all in good working order and cover all the intersections in this area."

"The lady who owns the small shop up ahead is a loud, warm-hearted person. She's often open until after 1 a.m., so she's the first to know if anything happens at night. If you have an emergency, you can contact her."

She spoke slowly and clearly, and was fully aware of the surroundings on the way home, implying that she did not need his self-righteous concern.

Looking at Ali's calm profile, Jiang Ye fell completely silent, and an extremely complicated emotion surged in his heart.

It was surprise, admiration, and an indescribable bitterness.

Ali held the book in his arms, his eyes shining: "Now you finally believe it, right? This road is very safe. I've walked it many times."

"As for you, it's so late, go back quickly and don't let your family worry."

Her calmness and composure, which were beyond her peers, convinced Jiang Ye unconsciously. By the time he reacted, he had already pushed his bicycle to the end of the road.

Jiang Ye turned around suddenly and found that Ali was still standing at the other end of the road. When she saw him looking at her, she smiled and waved goodbye to him. The street light outlined a faint halo behind her.

He suddenly remembered the book he had taken from Ali. It said that ancient people liked to use flowers to describe beauties, but Jiang Ye felt that Ali was more like a tree than a flower.

She is like a quiet little tree.

The branches and leaves stretch towards the sky, and the roots are deeply rooted in the soil. The posture is peaceful, but it contains vigorous vitality.

Calm and powerful.

The lights around him brightened, traffic was flowing behind him, and the hustle and bustle of the city enveloped him again.

Jiang Ye found that he couldn't understand her at all.

She was someone who had never appeared in his world.

Bo Gao always said that he envied him for having an open-minded pair of parents, because his parents never lectured him and always let him do what he wanted.

Not only did he do his best to satisfy him materially, but he also paved the way for him early on. No matter whether his grades were good or bad, his future would be smooth sailing.

Jiang Ye's efforts, successes and even failures could not arouse any emotional fluctuations in his parents.

They always said that as long as he was happy, nothing else mattered, but Jiang Ye felt that he was not happy.

He was like the only person living in a vacuum. No matter how much he shouted, all he got was his own echo.

Before, he thought Ali was the same person as his parents, calm and cold, and no matter what he did, he could not really affect her.

So, he provoked her again and again, wanting to see how far he would go before she would see him and feel a little moved by him.

But tonight he discovered that Ali was actually different from his parents.

Her silence did not make him feel uneasy. Instead, he couldn't help but want to get closer to her and figure out what she was thinking.

He wanted to understand her.

Jiang Ye took one last look back at the deep alley, his eyes flashing.

*

The atmosphere before the midterm exam is always tense. Teachers of all subjects are conducting intensive review sessions, saliva is flying on the podium, and knowledge points are written densely on the blackboard.

Jiang Ye, however, was somewhat listless and frequently lost his focus during class.

His eyes always unconsciously drifted to the figure sitting upright by the window. He saw that she was taking notes with her head down, concentrating.

So when Zhang Chunping called his name, Jiang Ye was unable to react until his deskmate Fang Yuan reminded him.

"Jiangyo, the speed of the object in this diagram is decreasing. Is its acceleration positive or negative?"

Jiang Ye finally came to his senses, stood up hastily, and glanced at Ali first.

She didn't look back, as if this little episode in the classroom had nothing to do with her. The pen in her hand continued to move smoothly on the draft paper, calculating the unfinished problem.

He calmly hid the emotion in his eyes, looked at the blackboard, and said without hesitation, "Teacher, you didn't specify the positive direction. Just looking at this picture, we can only conclude that the direction of acceleration is opposite to the direction of velocity, so the object is decelerating, but we can't tell whether the acceleration is positive or negative."

He did not panic because of the sudden question and fall into the trap set by the teacher.

Zhang Chunping paused after hearing this, his expression a complex mix of relief and worry. "...You're right. This is a point that's easy to make mistakes on. Everyone should remember this."

As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Ye again, and his tone softened: "Sit down, don't be distracted, and listen carefully."

Jiang Ye nodded and sat down, his eyes once again drifting uncontrollably to the other end of the classroom.

However, until after the midterm exam, he still couldn't find a proper opportunity to talk to Ali.

Perhaps it was because of what Jian He said, but during this period of time, Ali's desk was always surrounded by classmates who came to ask questions, and the gossip about the two of them gradually died down.

Everyone in the class's relationship with her is gradually getting better, except Jiang Ye.

He seemed to be excluded by Ali. Although they were in the same class, they had no intersection at all.

Jiang Ye felt that he could no longer sit there and wait for death. When he saw his "terrible" Chinese language score on the mid-term report card, his gloomy face finally showed a hint of joy.

It was lunchtime and most of the students were resting on their desks. He picked up a notebook and wandered over to Ali's seat.

She's not here. She must have gone to the bathroom or the office.

He was thinking about how to ask her to help him with Chinese when his eyes accidentally swept across the open hole in her desk.

The books inside were neatly arranged, but something out of place on the outside attracted all his attention.

It was a small, beautifully wrapped gift box, square in shape, tied with a silver bow ribbon, and a pink letter was placed on top of the box.

Jiang Ye's brain buzzed, and all his thinking ability was instantly frozen.

Someone gave her a gift?

Someone... is chasing her?