The Victim and the Confessor (5)
Early the next morning, Zhao Shihua, who had regrouped, did not go to the cafeteria to eat rice rolls, rice noodle soup or fried rice noodles as usual after morning exercises. Instead, he rushed to the teaching building with the bread he had bought in advance. Seeing that the classroom was still empty, he immediately felt a kind of comfort called "diligence can make up for lack of talent".
After receiving Zhao Shuhua's encouragement a few days ago, her negative, laissez-faire thoughts have diminished somewhat. Instead, she's shifted gears to the principle of "every effort counts." Later, she discovered in a book that someone else had already expressed it better: "Every inch of progress brings joy."
Zhuo Siqi arrived five or six minutes later than her. Seeing this, he was quite surprised and asked her, "Is there something urgent today?" This gave Zhao Shihua a small sense of accomplishment for winning the "early" line.
But not everyone is as tense as she is. Take, for example, Shao Yifu. Although his scores on the first few tests weren't ideal, as evidenced by his exclamation of "Oh my god!" upon receiving his papers, he still played when it was time to play and went home when it was time to go home, always with an air of "I don't care," as if he didn't have to take the college entrance exam after graduation and was just waiting to go home and inherit a multinational company.
Perhaps because of his unusual passion for various sports, the homeroom teacher entrusted him with the important task of physical education committee member. Teacher Rong was right; Shao Yifu was indeed the most suitable candidate. He prioritized sports over schoolwork, which is why, even though he had forgotten his glasses to school one day, he still remembered that he had swimming lessons and needed to wear them.
Although Shao Yifu is nearsighted, he usually doesn't wear glasses because he finds it troublesome. He only takes them out like magic when he is in class, and takes them off immediately when the bell rings. His actions are faster than some innate conditioned reflexes.
Without glasses, the first two math classes were fine; most of the exercises were in the textbook. But the third, politics class, was a problem. The politics teacher was notorious for taking lots of notes; he practically never put his pen down. After the class stood up and just sat down, a long slide appeared on the screen explaining value and price.
"Classmate, what's your name?" Just as Zhao Shihua was busy taking notes, the political teacher suddenly stared at her and asked.
"Me???" She was startled and her handwriting was crooked. Why was he asking her for no reason?
"Teacher, his name is Shao Yiqi, the one wife of a monogamous couple." Zhou Xin always enjoyed playing tricks on others and even rushed to answer the teacher's questions. Zhao Shihua breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that the question was not about her.
"Hmm... your name is quite unique." The teacher actually believed it. It was incredible. Everyone laughed as they copied the answers, but he didn't seem to mind. He continued, "What's wrong with your eyes? Are you amblyopic?"
Everyone was surprised to hear this and turned their heads to focus their attention on Shao Yifu. Zhao Shihua was no exception. But at that moment, she couldn't believe her eyes - Shao Yifu, who had forgotten to wear glasses, was actually wearing swimming goggles in the political class.
A burst of laughter erupted all around. Unexpectedly, the hilarious little military training drama was still going on. Zhao Shihua scoffed inwardly. This guy wasn't just visually impaired, he was clearly mentally retarded, okay? He couldn't help but wonder if he'd gotten into the school through a backdoor.
"No, teacher, I forgot to bring my glasses." Shao Yifu glanced at the people around him who were looking at him as if he were a fool, and muttered to himself, "My goggles have prescription, at least I can see more clearly." His tone sounded as if he should be praised for his quick response.
"Student Shao Yiqi, if you still can't see clearly, ask other students after class."
"Yes, teacher!"
Hearing the teacher's serious mistake in calling Shao Yifu's name again, the whole class laughed even harder. The laughter lasted so long that after class, students from the next class came to ask, "Is the political class really that funny?" The funny thing was not the political class, but Shao Yifu wearing swimming goggles.
While Zhao Shihua was listening to several classmates recounting the scene to others at the back door, he was packing up his textbooks. Suddenly, he remembered the resolution he had made a few days ago. His fingertips paused on the book, hesitating for a moment, and finally pulled it out again.
She clutched the book in both hands and turned around to see that Shao Yifu had pushed his goggles up to his forehead. He inexplicably looked like an adventurous boy in a comic book, but because they were too tight, there were red marks around his eyes, and he instantly turned back into a clown on the stage.
Zhao Shihua suppressed his laughter, took a deep breath, and said, "Um... I'll lend you the politics textbook first. I've taken notes on it. Just return it to me after school this afternoon."
Shao Yifu was stunned for a moment, as if he had not expected her to be so helpful. He took the textbook with both hands and said solemnly, "Thank you! I will read it during lunch break."
"You're welcome. This is what I should do."
"What?"
Her enthusiasm seemed a bit excessive, making lending her notebooks to Shao Yifu seem as natural as helping an old lady cross the street. Zhao Shihua quickly turned around, feeling a little embarrassed. But she had finally taken the first step, fulfilling the promise she had made during the Mid-Autumn Festival. However, this joy lasted only a few seconds before it was shattered.
"Wow!" Shao Yifu exclaimed as he flipped open the book. Zhao Shihua pricked up her ears, expecting him to compliment her on her meticulous notes. But, as expected, he couldn't produce anything. "Your textbook is so colorful it makes my eyes blurry."
Zhao Shihua's eyes nearly rolled back at this. Her notes weren't as neat and concise as Zhuo Siqi's, with the key points highlighted, but her colorful textbook looked like an art class, and she wasn't satisfied until she filled it with color. But no matter how well-intentioned, she whipped around in anger and found Shao Yifu rubbing his eyes, as if the highlights she'd highlighted with multicolored markers had truly stung them. "If you don't want to read it, forget it!"
"No, no, no!" Shao Yifu quickly put the book aside and said, "I will study hard, uncle, don't worry!"
Zhao Shihua couldn't help but feel a little regretful. Was she really necessary to apologize so sincerely? The other party seemed to have no appreciation at all. However, a sudden flashback of the past made her feel a surge of guilt. Zhao Shihua sighed, smiled, and said, "If you still don't understand something in the next class, ask me."
The Mid-Autumn Festival had just passed, and the National Day holiday would begin the day after tomorrow. Since the holiday lasted seven days, Zhao Shihua could finally go home.
On the last day before the holiday, it was her group's turn to be responsible for the sanitation of the area under her responsibility. Zhao Shihua suddenly remembered that the news also mentioned "the upcoming golden October". She looked up at the lush greenery, wiped the sweat off her face, and continued to sweep a few lonely dead leaves on the school road into one place.
I remember when she was on duty as a child, if there were fallen leaves on the ground, Zhao Shihua would perform a long stick dance with the broom, or compete with her classmates for a few rounds before going to sweep the floor obediently, because the leaves flying up and down around her were especially like the scene of masters fighting in the movie.
Unlike most regions, the leaf-fall season in Lingnan falls in the spring, when the grass is green and the birds are singing. Because the street trees are mostly evergreen, they only shed their old leaves when new ones sprout in spring. Therefore, when she read the spring scenes described by northern writers, she always found it difficult to grasp the hope they contained.
As for autumn in Guangzhou, the average temperature doesn't drop from the low 30s until late October or early November. The autumn heat lingers overhead for a long time, stretching out its paws, yawning, and then returning to its slumber, only to reluctantly move on when the Siberian cold air arrives with a knife in hand.
However, some people seemed to strictly adhere to the astronomical seasons, experiencing both spring and autumn fatigue, and even entering holiday schedules early. Zhao Shihua gathered several piles of garbage together and waited for a long time, but Shao Yifu, the garbage collector, did not arrive.
Did this guy forget to go on duty or set the alarm? Zhao Shihua looked at his watch and figured if he waited any longer he'd be late for morning reading, so he simply went back to the classroom to get the trash can down.
"Where is Aunt Shao? Hasn't she come yet?" Zhang He, who now serves as the labor committee member, asked when she saw Zhao Shihua carrying the trash can with great effort.
"I don't know. Well, no need to wait. It's just a trash can. I'll do it for him."
"Can you do it by yourself?" Zhang He pointed to the trash can that was almost half his height. "If not, you should find a boy to help."
"It's okay. It's flat ground anyway. It won't be difficult for me to drag it over." Zhao Shihua never believed that boys are naturally stronger than girls since she was a child. She performed for Zhang He on the spot what it meant to be "women are as good as men."
"Okay, okay, then go ahead." Zhang He hurried off to check on the hygiene elsewhere, then turned back after a few steps. "Then after school this afternoon, let Uncle Shao take care of your work. Otherwise, it would be too easy for him."
Zhao Shihua nodded, but in reality, she ignored him and let it go. Firstly, she wasn't that picky; secondly, every time she helped him, she felt a little less guilty.
As Zhao Shihua was dragging the empty trash can back, she saw Shao Yifu running towards her from the distance. However, because he was nearsighted, he didn't seem to notice her at first. He even went around the designated area and only saw her when he was nearly ten meters away.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I forgot to be on duty today and got up late." Shao Yifu snatched the trash can from Zhao Shihua with a smug look on his face. In the end, he held one side alone, which made the empty trash can seem very heavy.
"It's okay, I'm just taking out the trash." She was so used to saying "it's okay" that others thought she was easy to bully. Fortunately, Shao Yifu was not a person who would bully the weak and fear the strong. After all, he was nearsighted and his eyesight was not very good, so he could not tell who was a soft persimmon and who was a hard bone.
"I could have just made it, but you know what happened? I was just a few seconds late, just a few seconds! The uncle at the back door looked at his watch and slammed the main door in my face! He only left me a side door and even marked me as late." Shao Yifu was furious and wanted to show his teeth and claws. Add to that the height difference between the two of them, and the trash can swayed back and forth between them like a pendulum.
Zhao Shihua has always been punctual, so being late for class is a nightmare for her. She's like the rabbit with the pocket watch in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, always crying out, "Oh my god! Oh my god! I'm late!"
I owe this to my childhood martial arts instructor, who, in his opinion, meant arriving one second before the hour, and therefore insisted on arriving before the hour. If I was late, I'd have to sit in horse stance for an extra quarter of an hour, watching others box.
Shao Yifu was truly different now. It wasn't that he wasn't punctual, but he was no longer a timid child, prone to crying at the slightest provocation. In elementary school, even the smallest incident would bring tears to his eyes. If he was late and stopped by security, he'd burst into tears.
Shao Yifu now seemed to be indifferent to everything. To put it nicely, he was carefree; to put it bluntly, he was heartless. He didn't care about being late, he didn't care about poor grades, and he didn't care about people making fun of him.
Although Zhao Shihua had never seen the security guard at the back door, he couldn't help laughing as he watched him imitate the scene so vividly, like he was performing a skit. Shao Yifu, seeing that he had amused himself, was even more proud. He recounted the experience of sneaking through the door under the uncle's nose a month ago, making it seem as if the key point was not whether he was late but whether he had successfully passed the security checkpoint.
Zhao Shihua couldn't help but wonder what he had experienced in Canada to cause such a drastic change in a person - could it be the forgetfulness water he drank? But she was relieved to see that he was changing for the better.
It was great that her ignorance hadn't harmed anyone else. Despite having been ostracized and bullied, Shao Yifu had grown into a sunny and kind young man. Thinking of this, her mood brightened, and she casually asked him how he planned to spend National Day.
"Not sure yet. My mom said we might go to Shunde to have some fun and eat some delicious food," Shao Yifu asked. "What about you?"
"I must be going home. I haven't been back for a month."
Oops, she'd dug herself into another hole. Zhao Shihua silently prayed that Shao Yifu wouldn't ask her where her home was next. Fortunately, he just nodded. He was about to ask something else, but the sudden ringing of the school bell cut the conversation off. They both hurried back to their morning reading class. To be more precise, it was Zhao Shihua who quickened her pace, dragging Shao Yifu along with her.
The two of them were being pulled apart by a trash can, not a particularly pleasant image at all. However, Zhao Shihua seemed to sense a renewed connection between people from this combined force. She hoped this would allow them to go further, until she could finally come clean about her past.
But Zhao Shihua didn't know that going too far would be counterproductive.
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