Two hundred punishments
The group had a great time and didn't go home until midnight. Dingding was already exhausted and fell asleep in her mother's arms. Ding Anping said goodbye to everyone, got in the car, and went home more than an hour early.
The rest of the group went their separate ways after entering the city. Li Wei and her two siblings, along with her third senior brother and Ji Xiaoqian, rode in one car. Luo Da first took Li Wei and her siblings home, and then went back to the martial arts school with his third senior brother.
When Li Wei got home, she was so tired that she didn't have the energy to take a shower. She just took off her clothes and went to bed. She had to go to school the next day, so the three siblings all fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
The next morning, Aunt Gao came early to make breakfast. Li Wei was also woken up by the alarm clock. She usually didn't use the alarm clock, but she had specially set the time on it before leaving yesterday morning, just in case she came back late at night and forgot. If she couldn't get up the next morning, it would affect her energy for the whole day. As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm, and the early bird catches the worm.
Therefore, Li Wei usually doesn't plan any activities on weekends, and tries to go to bed early and get up early to be full of energy for the new week of study and life.
In a sense, this is also a form of psychological suggestion. Over time, the suggestion will become a habit and a source of confidence.
Li Wei is currently in the habit-forming stage and is far from being confident. It is precisely because of this lack of confidence that she is working so hard to cultivate good habits.
As someone once said, good habits are like saving money. You save small amounts regularly, and you can withdraw a large sum later—it's practically a risk-free business. It seems Luo Daqi isn't late either; he's already eating breakfast early. Li Wei sees him eating with great relish; he can eat twice as much as she and Li Lin combined. Li Lianhui's appetite has also increased dramatically; she doesn't know if it's from excessive exercise or because he's growing.
Li Wei couldn't hold back any longer: "Hey, shouldn't you pay some for your meals? You've been eating at my house for years, you might as well change your surname to Li." This matter had been discussed before, but it seemed to have been left unresolved. It seems that's how it's going to end now, but this guy is taking it all too for granted.
Watching this guy eat made the three siblings' appetites increase, which is such a waste of food.
Luo Da stuffed the last steamed bun into his mouth, took a sip of soup, and swallowed it before he had a chance to speak: "Didn't my dad pay for your meals? Have you forgotten?"
Li Wei: "Don't talk nonsense. That's not for food expenses, it's a red envelope, an award for my outstanding contributions to your family over the years. Otherwise, do you think the second, third, and eldest children would be studying so hard and making progress every day?"
Pfft! Pfft!
Li Lin and Li Lianhui both spat out their drinks at the same time.
They remembered it clearly: Luo Er didn't like studying, and his sister, afraid he'd disrupt everyone's learning, forced him to sit there and copy the Chinese and math textbooks. "Don't copy? I'll beat you to death!"
Li Lianhui found it strange and couldn't help but ask Luo Da, "Brother Hua, back then my sister always beat up Xiao Er and Xiao San, right? Why didn't you do anything about it? If anyone had hit me and Xiao Lin, my sister would have fought them to the death long ago."
Luo Da wiped his mouth, unimpressed: "Why should I care? It's good that someone is helping to discipline them in their studies, so I'm happy to save myself the trouble. Otherwise, my grandma would have told me to keep a close eye on them. I'm too lazy to deal with them anyway."
Li Wei: "Luo Jianhua, you'll be paying for food and lodging starting tomorrow!" Damn it, she'd been babysitting someone's child without even realizing it. No wonder everyone said she was stupid. It turns out this Luo Da guy was a shrewd one from a young age, taking advantage of people from such an early age. It's infuriating.
Although Li Wei lacks confidence now, she always considered herself an adult when she was young, looking down on the children around her as if they were ants, and never taking them seriously. Little did she know that she would be schemed against back then.
But thinking about it, Luo Da did act as her bodyguard quite a bit, escorting goods and payments, so he could at least be considered to have made some contribution.
Oh right, I even said I'd find him a wife in the future because he was behaving well!
The three stared in disbelief as Li Wei muttered something to herself, then suddenly burst into tears—
As usual, a flag-raising ceremony was to be held on Monday morning. Li Wei had a strange feeling again, like the feeling she had a few days ago when she was riding on Gao Jin and Geng Xinyang's two small sampans.
While listening to the speech, she secretly whispered to Lin Xiao behind her, "Has something happened recently that I don't know about? I have a strange feeling, do you?" Could it be that she's having an allergic reaction?
Lin Xiao chuckled secretly, "Of course there is! It's because everyone's suddenly noticed that a classmate in our class is having an affair with a boy from the next class, so everyone's excited. Don't you know how our school punishes early relationships?"
Li Wei had a bad feeling: "What kind of methods?"
Lin Xiao was a bit serious this time: "Wear a tall hat, shave your head in a half-shaved style, and parade through the streets!"
"Huh? It can't be that exaggerated, it's not like it was during the Cultural Revolution."
Lin Xiao: "Of course not, but I heard that in the past, some students were forced to stand in front of the exercise platform as punishment, and the teachers and principal would talk to them, make them write self-criticisms, and vow never to have anything to do with them again. In serious cases, they were expelled from school!"
"Huh? Really? That's serious enough. What do you mean by 'serious'? Who's that rumor with the girl from the next class?" Li Wei felt a little breathless, cold sweat dripping down her back, but she still clung to a sliver of hope.
Lin Xiao glanced at Li Wei: "Sigh, the so-called serious situation is that a girl suddenly gained weight and her belly got bigger, and she's suspected of being pregnant. As your deskmate, I really don't want to upset you, but if I don't tell you early so you can prepare, you might suffer. To be honest, I think our class teacher, Mr. Cao, must have heard about it. You should be prepared, he's probably contacting you in the next day or two."
Lin Xiao patted Li Wei's shoulder with great sympathy. Poor child, probably only a few people in the whole school know about this except for the boiler operator. It's only a matter of time before she gets criticized. No. 1 High School has always been very strict about this kind of thing. That Luo Jianhua actually dared to hug and kiss Li Wei in public. He's simply courting death.
If her parents found out, a well-behaved girl like Li Wei would probably be skinned alive.
Lin Xiao had always had a good relationship with Li Wei, so she felt very sorry for her.
During the break between classes, Cai Lianhua secretly told Li Wei, "You'd better think of something quickly. I reckon Teacher Cao will talk to you after school today. You'd better think of an explanation so the teacher doesn't call your parents."
Then Ding Anni and Zhou Xiaoyan arrived in the next class and pulled Li Wei to a secluded spot. Zhou Xiaoyan muttered, "Our teacher announced to the whole class that anyone who's dating like that good-looking girl from Class Two will be expelled from the class to avoid affecting the class atmosphere."
Ding Anni muttered to herself, "My class teacher talked to Luo Jianhua this morning for a whole class period. Then the teacher came back and Luo Jianhua disappeared. He's probably being punished in the office. You should get ready too, your class teacher is probably going to summon you soon."
Li Wei felt that if she was already a little scared, now that these people had frightened her, she was terrified to death!
Teacher Cao is like a fat, bald dagger hanging over Li Wei's head, ready to fall at any moment. Everyone thinks that Li Wei, with her short stature, will be half-killed.
Li Wei was naturally worried and scared. Losing face was a minor issue; what if the school was furious and expelled her and Luo Da? How would she then go on to take the college entrance exam?
However, that wasn't the most pressing matter. The real issue was figuring out how Luo Da was doing; if he was in serious trouble, they needed to rescue him! She knew his homeroom teacher was an extremely ruthless and uncompromising woman. The fact that she'd already placed Luo Da under house arrest or forcibly detained him so early showed how resolute her attitude and how forceful her methods were; things were getting a bit complicated.
Li Wei decided to secretly visit Luo Da in prison first, just in case there was a mistake and the teacher only wanted him to do some physical labor.
During the break between exercises, Li Wei, along with Lin Xiaoding and Annie, secretly went to the teacher's office, while the other two acted as lookouts to cover for Li Wei.
They soon arrived at the teachers' office building, which was on the first floor. The homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 1, was a physics teacher. Li Wei and the others went straight to the physics office, only to find that the door to the teachers' office had a small glass window at the top. Ding Anni, being tall, stood on tiptoe and peered through the door. After looking for a while, she said, "I can't see clearly, but I feel that the person standing against the wall by the window looks like Luo Jianhua. Are there any other teachers there? It seems like my class teacher isn't here."
Li Wei was somewhat discouraged upon hearing this. She didn't have the guts to rush in like that, but how could she visit the prison without going in? How could she get information from Luo Da and coordinate their testimonies without visiting him?
Li Wei felt that since they were stubbornly denying it, the school was helpless; they couldn't very well be subjected to torture. The principle of "confess and be punished severely, resist and be leniently" applied, meaning they wouldn't be expelled or anything like that.
The three of them came out somewhat dejected. Li Wei glanced back at the office building. The flowerbeds outside were lush and vibrant, but her heart was filled with unease.
Li Wei grabbed Ding Anni: "Do you know which window that physics office is in?" If there's no way in, we still have windows! Every single one of these windows is wide open. Climbing in is probably unrealistic and we'd be caught, but it's quite convenient to sneak a peek. It's true that when God closes the office door, Hehe.
Ding Anni and Lin Xiao exchanged a glance. With such a long row of offices, it was really impossible to determine which window it was. It also seemed that these offices were of different sizes, making it even more difficult to count.
Ding Anni suddenly said, "I'll go to the office and pretend to look for my teacher, then I'll secretly throw something out the window. That way, we'll have a mark."
Li Wei suddenly understood: "Annie, you're so smart. We'll keep an eye on things outside. You can throw something that's easy to spot. I have a little flowery handkerchief here, here you go. Don't let me down."
Holding the small floral handkerchief, Ding Anni walked along, pondering. This scene seemed so familiar; it appeared many maids in ancient times did this. Should she give the handkerchief to Luo Jianhua? Or should she just toss it out the window like trash? Should she ask Luo Jianhua for a keepsake or something to take back to her mistress, Li Xiaoming?
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