Chapter 35 Chapter 35
The weather is getting colder. After the beginning of winter, a new round of temperature drop is coming. The forecast says that the first snowfall of this year will occur soon.
"Lili, I heard there's a basketball game this year." Ren Li had barely entered the classroom that morning, barely even settling into her seat when she heard Zhang Xintong excitedly chattering to her. "I was so upset when I heard it was canceled. It seems the school leaders are finally understanding our difficulties. It's a pity we seniors are so lacking in entertainment."
Ren Li heard Shuo mention the resumption of the senior year basketball games on the school bus that morning. Perhaps to minimize distractions for the seniors, the announcement was delayed until now, which meant less time for everyone to prepare. The schedule was incredibly tight, with preliminaries this week and group matches next week. There wasn't enough time left for practice and teamwork, so the team relied entirely on pure skill.
During class, the homeroom teacher, Mr. He, also mentioned it in passing. He, as always, favored Wen Shuo, and this time he spared no effort to recommend him to be the organizer of the basketball game.
Unexpectedly, Wen Shuo directly refused: "Let Zhou Qi go. He should be more concerned about organizing the competition than I am."
Although he felt a little embarrassed after being rejected, seeing the glint in Zhou Qi's eyes, Teacher He couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm, so he agreed. "Okay, then please ask the sports committee member to help organize it with everyone else. Competitions are meant to showcase a spirit of progress. What's important is the process, not the result. I hope you can bring honor to our Class 17!"
His words were quite encouraging. After class, Wen Shuo was pulled away by Zhou Qi. Although Zhou Qi was in charge of the organization this time, he listened to Wen Shuo's instructions on everything.
"Boss, just now in class, I briefly listed the candidates for our class. Take a look. The only ones who can play in our class are you, me, Zhang Yu, and Jin Mingze... If we don't count the substitutes, we're still one player short. Aside from Jin Mingze and you being better at basketball, the rest of us are just average. For the remaining spot, let's pick the tallest one from the short guys, or maybe let Li Dong play..."
Wen Shuo had played class basketball for three years and was well aware of the overall level of Class 17. The best players in the entire senior year of Fourth Middle School weren't in the key classes; the regular classes were where the true hidden talents lay. He felt that as long as he could lead Class 17 to the top of the key classes, that would be enough. After all, basketball is a team sport, and he alone wouldn't necessarily be able to lead the team.
Wen Shuo: "Li Dong is good. He's a good three-point shooter and plays guard. I'll just play as usual, power forward, Mingze small forward, you center, and Zhang Yu point guard. We'll practice more this week and try to get as far as we can in the group stage. Just do our best."
…
Because of the preparation for the basketball game, Wen Shuo did not go home with Ren Li at night these days. He spent a lot of time every day on the school basketball court, even during evening self-study time. After all, he had a legitimate reason, so Teacher He did not interfere too much.
During dinner, every time she passed the basketball court, Ren Li would see circles of people gathered there. Whenever she heard girls screaming, she knew that Wen Shuo had scored again. Every time this happened, she would inexplicably feel that the distance between her and Wen Shuo had become distant.
During class on Wednesday, the beautiful Chinese teacher Zhao Xinmei took advantage of the break in everyone's review and quietly called Ren Li to the corridor outside the classroom.
She stood opposite Ren Li and asked with a smile, "You must be under a lot of pressure studying lately."
Ren Li didn't actually know why Teacher Zhao suddenly wanted to talk to her. She simply thought it was a common practice at No. 4 Middle School, so she nodded and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Teacher Zhao. I'm doing fine recently."
Zhao Xinmei patted her shoulder. "That's fine. You're in your third year of high school now, so don't stress yourself out. By the way, is there any news in the class lately?"
When Teacher Zhao asked this, Ren Li understood that he wanted to know more about the class gossip, but she was not a qualified "snitch" because she didn't care about anything other than academics in the class. After all, she usually learned a lot of news through Zhang Xintong.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhao Xinmei added: "For example, emotional problems."
She had hinted so clearly. Ren Li thought about it and felt that the only relationship issue she knew about was Zhou Qi's confession to his girlfriend and his rejection. However, she was not the kind of person to betray others or tell tales, so she shook her head: "I don't think I know much."
Zhao Xinmei smiled. "I'm not much older than you. I was also your age, so I thought I could be a close friend to you. But since you don't want to talk about it, I believe you. Go back to class first. If you need someone to chat with in the future, you can always find me."
Ren Li nodded and returned to the classroom.
As soon as she sat down, Zhang Xintong came over and asked quietly, "What did Teacher Zhao talk about when he asked you to go out just now?"
Ren Li: "Teacher Zhao was very curious and asked me if I had any relationship problems. I said I wasn't sure, so he let me go."
Zhang Xintong wanted to say something, but he caught a glimpse of the Chinese teacher walking in from outside, so he was forced to end the conversation.
It was not until lunch that Ren Li finally understood why Teacher Zhao wanted to talk to her.
Tang Xiaoyun walked in from outside and placed a cup of milk tea on Ren Li's table. She looked at Ren Li with a strange expression, smiled and pointed outside: "Your boyfriend asked me to bring it to you."
Boyfriend? Ren Li was baffled, thinking it was a prank. She turned to look at Zhang Xintong: "Xintong, you bought this for me, right? You guys are teasing me again."
Zhang Xintong turned around with his phone in hand, his expression serious: "Lili, haven't you seen the confession wall at school?"
The school's confession wall was a section of the campus forum, a secretive area reserved for teachers and the exclusive domain of campus gossip. Ren Li had heard Yuan Jiani mention that Wen Shuo had long dominated the most popular posts on the confession wall, so what did this have to do with her?
Zhang Xintong held up his cell phone and showed it to Ren Li.
On the forum with white background and blue text, the first line is a hot post that has been pushed up thousands of times, but this time the protagonist is not Wen Shuo. Lin Jiacheng logged into the forum with his real name and publicly confessed his love for Ren Li from Class 17.
Ren Li was stunned. Perhaps she was the only one in the world who didn't know about this. What she didn't understand was that she and Lin Jiacheng were just ordinary acquaintances. However, Lin Jiacheng had indeed been messaging her recently, and Ren Li had always replied politely. How could he do such a thing? It must be a prank.
Her photos were now all over the forum, and there were so many posts criticizing her that Zhang Xintong hadn't shown them directly to Ren Li. Thinking back to the morning's conversation with her Chinese teacher, Ren Li realized that the person Teacher Zhao was trying to imply was not Zhou Qi, but herself.
Zhang Xintong: "I used to think Lin Jiacheng was a good person, how could he do this! He spread rumors so blatantly, isn't he afraid that the school will find out? How about I help you open a forum later to clarify your relationship with him."
Ren Li knew that whether she clarified the matter or not, nothing would change. Many people didn't even know her, yet they were judging her with malicious intent. Just like when she was in junior high, someone blocked her at the school gate and said those nasty things. No matter how she clarified, it wouldn't change the "facts" that were firmly in their minds.
【No. 4 Middle School Forum】
"I heard that she was very close to Wen Shuo while keeping Lin Jiacheng hooked at the same time, and then when Lin Jiacheng confessed his love, she rejected him. Tsk tsk, she's really a tease."
"Sister, you're right! I can prove it by riding the school bus every day. Wen Shuo really does sit with her every day, even waiting for her after school."
"I heard that I went to Wen Shuo's friends to confirm it. Ren Li had previously told everyone that she was Wen Shuo's girlfriend, but Wen Shuo himself never admitted it."
"Ren Li is probably just average looking, what on earth is that Campus Prince Wen thinking?!"
"The guy above, you haven't seen Ren Li in person, right? She's quite pretty in person, otherwise she wouldn't have hooked so many handsome guys [photos]"
"WC, no wonder, she's a green tea pretending to be innocent. I don't understand why Lin Jiacheng keeps defending her even though she's like this."
"So, boys just love this kind of thing from her."
"The latest news! Wen Shuo hasn't been traveling with her lately. He must have discovered her true identity. As expected, our school hunk Wen is so determined that he didn't let her scheme succeed."
"I heard she was like this back when she was in the affiliated middle school. Maybe she got expelled from No. 4 Middle School because of something she did with a boy. Otherwise, who would transfer to another school in their senior year?"
"That makes sense. I have an acquaintance at the affiliated high school. Go and ask around."
…
Ren Li logged onto the forum, opened a post at random, and saw the above conversations.
She didn't know how to react to these malicious comments. Should she contact Lin Jiacheng to clarify and ask him to delete the post? Or should she first find out if it was just a prank? Or should she just keep a clear conscience and deal with it coldly? But even her favorite teacher, Zhao, started to believe it, and she couldn't just ignore it.
Zhang Xintong was furious: "Lili, stop looking. I'll take the milk tea back for you. By the way, I'll ask Lin Jiacheng what he means. He dares to post something but not admit it. What a coward."
She stormed out with her milk tea in hand. Seeing the strange looks people gave her, Ren Li's mood was inevitably affected.
She took out her cell phone, thought it over again and again, and sent a message to Lin Jiacheng.
Li [I saw a post on the campus forum today. Someone seemed to have posted something unpleasant under your name. Are you aware of this?]
As soon as she finished sending the message, Lin Jiacheng replied.
Lin Jiacheng [I posted that. Do you have time after school? I want to talk to you in person.]
His words seemed to explain but also seemed not to explain. Ren Li didn't know why he did this.
Pear [Your post has caused me trouble. I don't want people to misunderstand it. I hope you can delete it. I'm sorry, I don't have time today and don't want to hear anything else. I don't have any other thoughts right now. I just want to study hard.]
A while later, Lin Jiacheng sent a message, saying he'd been impulsive and had deleted the post, assuming Ren Li wouldn't read the forum. Ren Li had been feeling down all day, enduring the strange looks from others. She didn't know what Lin Jiacheng wanted to say to her, but she didn't want to go. Before the evening study session ended, Wen Shuo returned from training early, a rare occurrence.
A group of girls gathered outside, looking in at the classroom. Ren Li didn't want to go out. Wen Shuo took his coat and stood in front of Ren Li, obviously waiting for her.
"Don't you have to practice today?" Ren Li didn't look up.
Zhang Xintong on the side unconsciously raised his eyes and looked over here.
"Well, there's no training today. I'll wait for you to go back together." Wen Shuo replied.
He was standing a little too close. Ren Li didn't want to provide new material for others to spread rumors, so she shook her head and said, "Why don't you go back first? I have some wrong questions that I haven't finished writing today."
"Okay, then I'll wait for you." Wen Shuo pulled a chair and sat down next to her, looking like he would not give up until he achieved his goal.
Ren Li gritted her teeth, took out her collection of wrong questions, and began copying them while waiting for the people outside to leave.
During this time, Zhou Qi came back from outside and chatted with Wen Shuo for a while. Zhang Xintong didn't want him to appear in her sight, so she said hello to Ren Li and went back alone.
For some reason, Ren Li felt that since she broke up with Zhou Qi, Zhang Xintong's impression of Wen Shuo had also declined a lot.
She was writing the wrong questions, and her thoughts were constantly interrupted. It turned out that she didn't have such a strong heart. She began to think that this was just a prank by Lin Jiacheng. Since he had deleted the post, maybe over time, everyone would naturally forget about it.
She wrote for a long time, and Wen Shuo waited for a long time. Later, when everyone outside had left and the student on duty was about to turn off the lights, she stopped writing.
She walked out of the teaching building with Wen Shuo, her mind heavy with worry. She had a hunch that Wen Shuo had already seen the post, otherwise why would he be waiting for her in the classroom today? Was Wen Shuo trying to prove something, or did he want to hear her explain something? She didn't know what Wen Shuo would feel when he saw all those negative comments about her. Maybe he came to her today just to be honest and say he didn't want to be friends anymore.
She was lost in thought until a cold breeze blew in from her collar, and then she realized that she had left her scarf in the classroom. When she was about to reach the school gate, Wen Shuo suddenly said, "There's a basketball game tomorrow morning, don't forget to go to the basketball court."
Ren Li raised her head, trying to catch up with Wen Shuo's thoughts: "Is it tomorrow? The basketball game starts so soon?"
Wen Shuo: "Well, tomorrow is the points qualifying round."
Although Ren Li didn't understand the rules, she still asked, "Which class are you following?"
Wen Shuo: "Class 20."
Ren Li suddenly remembered that Lin Jiacheng was in Class 20.
She didn't know whether Lin Jiacheng would appear in the Class 20 basketball team tomorrow, nor did she know whether Wen Shuo had any hidden meaning by coming to tell her about this matter today. In short, she still hoped that the other party would not show up tomorrow.
Wen Shuo: "Don't take Lin Jiacheng's post on the forum today too seriously."
Ren Li didn't expect Wen Shuo to say that. She raised her head instantly and looked at him with a little panic.
Wen Shuo: "Yesterday on the basketball court, we had a conflict over the court... Anyway, don't believe a word he says. Remember to come and cheer me on tomorrow."
Ren Li didn't know what Lin Jiacheng's post about her had to do with the conflict with Wen Shuo. She thought Lin Jiacheng might have done this because he heard Wen Shuo say something about her. But posting a rumor about herself wouldn't do Lin Jiacheng any good, unless...
She wanted to ask for clarification, but Wen Shuo didn't seem to want to answer. His words also confirmed that Lin Jiacheng would be present at tomorrow's basketball game.
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