Chapter 92
◎What's wrong with Zhan Xinyue?◎
Dai Yun stood up from her seat: "Xie Wanzhi, how could you slander your classmate like that?"
Xie Wanzhi scoffed, "I'm just guessing. What, is she allowed to speak, but others aren't allowed to question it?"
"That's not right of you. Crescent Moon is the victim, how could you..."
Zhan Xinyue reached out to block her, and said coldly, "It's normal for you to speak up for that pervert, after all, you're close to him, it's understandable."
Xie Wanzhi was stunned, then immediately retorted angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting? Who's on good terms with him? I don't even know him!"
"Really? I have a feeling you two have known each other for a long time," Zhan Xinyue said. "After all, if you weren't close, who would speak up for such scum?"
Seeing that everyone's expressions were starting to look a little strange, Xie Wanzhi was furious: "What rumors are you spreading here? You say we know each other? Show me the proof!"
"There's no evidence," Zhan Xinyue said, shrugging. "I'm just guessing. What, you're allowed to say whatever you want, but others aren't allowed to question it?"
The class bell rang, and Zhan Xinyue walked straight through to her seat without looking at her again.
The crowd gradually dispersed, but throughout the entire class, there were constant whispers and murmurs in the classroom. The teacher tried to maintain order several times, but with little success. And it was clear that the same topic wasn't limited to Class 10.
However, all this hustle and bustle was far, far away from Shi Ziqian. He was alone in the courtyard of his old home, with no one around him.
The old house had been deserted for six months, and the yard was in a terrible state of disrepair. Tenacious weeds had invaded every inch of the yard, creating deep cracks in the bluestone slabs. As human traces faded, nature once again savagely reclaimed ownership of this land.
Such old houses are kept afloat by the presence of people. They are fine when people live there, but once no one lives there, they begin to decay and deteriorate rapidly until they are unrecognizable.
Although Shi Ziqian comes every year, the traces of his old life have quickly disappeared in his absence, and each visit feels more unfamiliar. He can hardly recognize which part of the courtyard his grandmother used to sit in. Perhaps one day in the future, this old house will completely collapse and turn into weeds and yellow earth inseparable from the surrounding area.
He went to sweep the graves alone in the morning. When his grandmother passed away, she specifically told him not to go into the cemetery alone, but to be buried with his grandfather. Now, both of their graves were overgrown with weeds. It took him most of the morning to tidy them up before they finally looked somewhat presentable.
When he was little, his grandmother would always bring him to sweep his grandfather's grave. At that time, he didn't understand why his grandmother would stand in front of this small mound of earth and gaze for so long. Until later, the person who had been holding his hand also lay quietly here, turned into the same mound of yellow earth.
When he received Shi Qiyue's call, he was clearing waist-high weeds in his yard. Over the years, the neighbors had gradually moved to the areas facing the street, making the area even quieter, without a sound. Shi Qiyue rarely called him. He glanced at the caller ID and pressed speakerphone.
When he answered the phone, he noticed an unread message and casually opened it; it was from Shi Yuesheng.
There is only one flight number, departing next Thursday morning, with the destination being the United States.
Shi Ziqian's gaze lingered on it for a moment before he left.
"Hey, Shi Ziqian." Shi Qiyue's voice rang out, echoing in the empty courtyard, which made the courtyard feel a bit more lively.
"What is it?" Shi Ziqian asked.
"It's nothing." Shi Qiyue's voice was lazy and nasal. "It's just that I get annoyed whenever I think about that old woman Zhu Qing. You don't know how she's been acting all refined at home lately. She's hired a few charlatan 'masters of Chinese studies' to fuss over the yard all day long, making all sorts of decorations. It's so annoying."
Shi Ziqian reached out and pulled away a clump of thorny vines, casually replying, "You'll see her even if I'm here."
Shi Qiyue smiled sinisterly: "That's different. I feel better when you think about how you annoy her even more than I do. So, when are you planning to come back?"
Shi Ziqian paused in his work: "It will take a few more days."
"A few days is a few days, right?"
"Maybe by Wednesday."
"Why did you take so long to get back this time? You usually only need two or three days to come back."
"I'd like to stay a few more days this time. What can I do for you?"
Shi Qiyue: "Didn't I just say that I'm fine, just incredibly bored?"
"I'll hang up if there's nothing else."
"Tsk, what kind of person is he? Hang up, hang up," Shi Qiyue snorted twice, her hand almost touching her phone when she suddenly remembered something and exclaimed, "Oh wait, I remembered I did have something to tell you."
"What?" Shi Ziqian said, casually placing his phone on the low wall beside him.
"About your deskmate." After saying that, Shi Qiyue added, "About your crush."
Shi Ziqian stood up, gripped his phone back in his hand, walked to the peach tree in the corner of the yard, and stood there calmly before saying, "What is it?"
“I was right before, your deskmate really is a saint,” Shi Qiyue said. “You know, the kind of person who’s bursting with savior instincts.”
Shi Ziqian looked at the peach tree beside him without saying a word.
This peach tree was planted by my grandmother many years ago. Despite being neglected for so many years, it has grown even more vigorously, although the fruit has almost all fallen off this season.
"I ran into her by the playground a couple of days ago at noon, and guess what happened..."
Shi Ziqian listened quietly. Something like a vine hung down from a nearby branch and lightly brushed against his brow bone. He casually waved it away, but the thing suddenly fell down, grazed in front of him, and then quickly fell into the weeds in front of him, leaving only a fleeting, stinging pain on his collarbone.
Just as Shi Qiyue was about to keep him in suspense, she suddenly heard a strange noise from the receiver, followed by Shi Ziqian's low hiss—and then there was no sound from the other end, only an eerie silence.
Shi Qiyue was startled, and it took her a while to ask, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Shi Ziqian watched as a green figure flashed past in the grass, then reached out and touched his collarbone, his fingertips stained with two specks of blood. "I was bitten by a snake."
Shi Qiyue was taken aback. "How come there are snakes in this weather?"
"have no idea."
Shi Qiyue paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "You won't die, will you?"
"It won't die. It should be a green snake. I've seen many of them when I was a child. They're not poisonous."
"As long as you don't die," Shi Qiyue said. "However, a blue snake could also be a bamboo viper. I advise you to go to the hospital to get checked out as soon as possible. Your life is quite precious, and it would be a pity if you suddenly died."
"Jin Gui, are you talking about me?" Shi Ziqian chuckled faintly and walked into the house. "I'm going to check on my wound."
"You should go quickly," Shi Qiyue urged. "Should I call 120 for you?"
"No need, I'll go to the hospital myself if anything happens."
Shi Qiyue rolled her eyes. "By the time you realize something's wrong, you'll probably be dead by then. I suggest you go now."
“Okay,” Shi Ziqian said.
"Okay, I'll hang up now. Let me know after you've been to the hospital."
Shi Ziqian stood in front of the mirror, pressed his hand against his wound, stared at the two red marks in the mirror, and suddenly called out to her, "Wait a minute."
"What did you just say about Zhan Xinyue?"
It drizzled a little in the evening. It was just a light drizzle, and you could hardly feel it on your skin. But after walking in the rain for a while, your clothes became noticeably wet.
Zhan Xinyue strolled alone around the back playground. Lately, it had been getting dark earlier and earlier, especially on rainy days like this. There were hardly any people left on the playground. The sky was a deep, inky blue, the drizzle was fine and light, it was a bit chilly, but also very quiet, giving her the illusion that she was the only person left in the entire world.
She didn't really want to stay in the classroom today. She didn't think much of it at first, but all day long, all sorts of sympathetic, scrutinizing, or curious glances kept circling around her, making her a little uncomfortable. Not to mention, people kept taking the opportunity to come over and ask her about the details of the playground, trying to piece together some information from it.
"Why aren't you using an umbrella?" A woman's voice suddenly rang out beside her. Caught off guard, Zhan Xinyue shivered as her wet body trembled.
Looking in the direction of the voice, she paused, "You weren't full either, were you?"
Wang Zhiyi sat on a bench outside the track, with the dark shadows of the trees behind her. She was dressed very differently today, wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants, the large hood covering most of her face. Sitting quietly like this, she almost blended into the shadows of the trees.
"When I arrived, it was still warm, but now that I'm sitting down, I don't want to move and I'm too lazy to hide anymore."
Zhan Xinyue said, "It's getting cold, be careful not to catch a cold."
“It’s good that you have a cold.” Wang Zhiyi looked up at her and smiled. “It’s good that you have a cold so you can take the day off and not have to go to work.”
Her lips were curved in a smile, but her eyes held no joy or light.
Zhan Xinyue said, "That's a good idea, but I remember that teachers get their wages deducted if they take leave."
"Yes, it's too cruel. Being a teacher is very difficult." Wang Zhiyi stretched her legs. "Actually, I don't mind losing a little money, but your art classes will have to be replaced with Chinese, math, and English. Can you handle that?"
Zhan Xinyue thought about it carefully: "I can't stand it, so let's not catch a cold."
"See? There's some value in watching art class this way." She thought she'd said something funny and wanted to laugh, but no matter how hard she tried, her face only showed a bitter smile, so she finally gave up trying to control her expression, and her lips drooped. The dappled shadows of the trees fell on her face, making her look very tired.
"Would you like to sit for a while?" Wang Zhiyi asked.
"good."
Wang Zhiyi reached out and used his palm to wipe the wet bench for her. Her fingers were slender, but two of them were wrapped in gauze. She didn't seem to care about protecting them and just wiped away the rain.
Seemingly noticing her gaze, Wang Zhiyi said casually, "I tore my fingernail off during the scuffle yesterday. I went to the hospital this morning and the doctor removed it."
Zhan Xinyue asked, "Does it hurt?"
Wang Zhiyi shook her head: "Back then, I didn't care about the pain." She paused, "And I don't care now either." As she spoke, her eyes seemed to be looking somewhere else, lost in thought.
"By the way, I haven't told you what exactly happened yesterday."
Zhan Xinyue said, "I heard Zhang Chao cursing him, and I saw you, so I can probably guess what happened."
Wang Zhiyi said, "Yes, it was pretty much what I expected. I was taking a nap in my apartment that noon when someone knocked on the door. When I opened it, I found it was a student. Actually, I didn't recognize him very well, as I teach too many classes, but I guessed he must have something to say to me in the middle of the day, so I let him in... I didn't close the door... After all, he was a boy, so I was quite sensible..." As she spoke, she drifted off into thought again.
Zhan Xinyue pulled her back to reality. "And then?"
"And then...and then he said he loved me." Wang Zhiyi glanced at her; she must have cried many times in the past few days, her eyelids were swollen beyond recognition.
“I told him I was his teacher and how could he say such things, and asked him to leave. He got angry and said, ‘You clearly like me too, don’t you? You even sharpened my pencil for me before class last time, and you said I always looked at him and chatted with him during class…’ But I don’t remember him saying any of those things at all. I yelled at him to leave, and he suddenly hugged me…”
As Wang Zhiyi finished speaking, he shrank back, rubbing his arms incessantly. "It's disgusting. These past few days, every time I close my eyes, I can't stop thinking about that disgusting touch. I feel like his hand is still stuck to me, and I can't shake it off..."
She suddenly came to her senses: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said these things to you, you're still a child."
Zhan Xinyue said, "It's okay, I'll stay with you."
“I keep going back to every single word he said. He said, ‘You clearly like me too, don’t you?’ I keep wondering what I did to give him that kind of hint. Crescent Moon, why did this have to happen to me? Did I do something wrong?”
Zhan Xinyue said, "Does blaming yourself make you feel better?"
Wang Zhiyi: "...No. But I can't control myself. I just want to know why, why did he do this..."
"The human heart is the most fragile and precious thing in the world. Don't bully your own heart like this." Zhan Xinyue looked at Wang Zhiyi. "If you can't even treat yourself well, no one else can help you."
"Really? You also think I'm too cowardly, right?" Wang Zhiyi forced a smile. "You're right. I can't keep getting trapped by these meaningless things. I must pull myself together and not give in to their wishes."
"Them?" Zhan Xinyue asked in confusion. "Who?"
Wang Zhiyi's lips moved, but he didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Xu Shen is still in the detention center and hasn't been released yet. I'll go see him tonight."
Zhan Xinyue slowly turned her head and looked into the distance, without saying a word.
It was quite late when Zhan Xinyue returned to the classroom. As soon as she got upstairs, she saw Shi Qiyue leaning against something in the corridor. As soon as she saw her approach, Shi Qiyue immediately straightened up and walked over.
"Are you looking for me?" Zhan Xinyue asked, puzzled.
“Yes,” Shi Qiyue said. “Sister, is my brother back? I just went to your classroom and didn’t see him. I can’t reach him by phone either; it says his phone is off.”
Zhan Xinyue looked bewildered: "Didn't he take leave and go back to his hometown?"
“Yes.” Shi Qiyue frowned. “But my brother was bitten by a snake today. I don’t know if he’ll be alright. I told him to go to the hospital, but he wouldn’t listen. He insisted on coming back today.”
Zhan Xinyue was startled: "Bitened by a snake? Why is he in such a hurry to come back?"
"You'll know when you see him," Shi Qiyue said. "He'll definitely come looking for you when he gets back."
Before Zhan Xinyue could understand, Shi Qiyue had already shaken her head and turned to leave. "Never mind, I'll think of another way to see if I can contact him."
After Shi Qiyue left, Zhan Xinyue remained somewhat distracted. She couldn't understand why Shi Qiyue had said he would definitely come looking for her after he returned, and her words kept replaying in her mind: "bitten by a snake" and "can't be contacted."
After sitting restlessly in the classroom for two periods, she simply slipped out and decided to go to the junior high section to ask Shi Qiyue.
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