Small alley
Summer vacation melted quietly like an icy icicle held in the palm of your hand. As the September breeze swept across the shimmering moat, the glass windows of Yuncheng High School's teaching building shimmered with tiny shimmers of silver. Sycamore leaves swirled at the end of the corridor, and the dew-soaked school sign trembled slightly, transforming the four gilded characters "Yuncheng High School" into a flowing galaxy. The desks and chairs in the classroom were rearranged into a neat square formation. Sunlight slanted across the scraps of summer homework left in the cracks of a student's desk. The wet ink still lingered with the sweet scent of watermelon juice.
After the summer vacation, Gu Hanzhi's injured knee had completely healed. The morning dew still condensed on the windowsill. She was picking up old things on the floor, her fingertips stroking the faded gauze, and suddenly she remembered the long summer bound by plaster. Amid the chirping of cicadas, a boy came over the wall holding a popsicle. Glass beads rolled into an arc on the blue-gray floor tiles. The sunlight filtered through the gauze curtains, dyeing the tears she had cried when changing the dressing a warm gold. Now the scar on her knee was only a faint white, like the old times blown away by the wind, but at some moment when she turned around, a faint damp warmth always appeared.
When the morning self-study bell rang, Gu Hanzhi was chewing on a pen, sorting through her notebook of wrong answers. Shen Zhihe pushed a cup of warm black coffee over, a note pressed to the bottom: "Solid geometry problem three, the vector conversion method is faster." When she looked up, she caught only a glimpse of the boy's profile, his eyes lowered as he calculated, his eyelashes casting a butterfly-like shadow under his eyes.
During lunch break, the classroom was perpetually filled with the scent of ink and coffee. Gu Hanzhi's draft papers piled up like a mountain, a crumpled ranking list pressed atop. Her name and Shen Zhihe's were always perched atop the mountain, like twin lotus flowers. As the setting sun shone its last rays into the clouds, the young man would circle the key points she'd missed in red pen, his annotations etched through the paper: "Pay attention to the implicit condition on the function's domain."
After school, Gu Hanzhi's canvas shoes trod across the bluestone slabs, the light from the locust tree at the alley's entrance dancing on the hem of her school uniform. It wasn't until the shadow completely enveloped her that she realized, with a start, that her path was blocked.
Three figures blocked the alley entrance, their deliberately exaggerated silhouettes outlined in the dusky light. Lin Yue, the leader, held a half-burned cigarette between her fingers, her dark red-streaked hair sweeping across her jaw in the wind, like an unhealed wound. The face of the man who had bullied her for three years in junior high now looked even more sinister in the twilight.
"Long time no see, second grader." Gu Hanzhi's pupils constricted as the cigarette was crushed into a crack in the brickwork, sparks flying. Her back pressed against the damp brick wall, the straps of her schoolbag rubbing against her shoulder blades. "Don't think you can escape this just because you're in high school. As long as I'm in Linjiang City, you won't have peace."
A rusty fire hydrant cast a spiderweb-like shadow in the corner, and Gu Hanzhi's back pressed against the sticky brick wall. A girl on her left swung her high ponytail, the metal ring scraping against the wall, sending sparks flying. A girl on her right held a box cutter against her palm, her purple nail polish reflecting a cold light. The putrid smell of the sewer suddenly became sharp, piercing her nose and reaching her brain.
The musty smell of her locker suddenly flooded back memories—that late autumn, locked in the equipment room, her nails scratching bloody marks on the metal. Images of ink splattered before her eyes, the word "bitch" smeared across her homework book, perfectly matching the malice in Lin Yue's eyes. Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through her knee, as if she had fallen onto the plastic track again, surrounded by laughter.
"Scared?" Lin Yue approached, stepping over the gravel, crushing a cockroach with her heel. "Why didn't I see you so courageous back then?" The followers raised their hands simultaneously, the sharp sound of metal rings piercing the air and the clatter of box cutters being unsheathed intertwined into a web. Gu Hanzhi's Adam's apple twitched, but she reached out and ripped open the collar of her school uniform, revealing a faint scar on her collarbone—the mark left by a burn from a lighter.
The flood of memories suddenly receded, and she could hear the drumming of her heartbeat in her chest. The sting of her nails digging into her palms brought her consciousness back to life. The putrid stench of the sewers suddenly became distinct, mingling with the scent of cheap hairspray on her henchmen. Gu Hanzhi's lips curled slowly, and as the other man stared in astonishment, she suddenly grabbed a broken brick from the corner. The blood from the shards that had sliced her palm splattered onto the brick, forming a strange flower.
As the sky gradually darkened, Lin Yue dug her nails deep into the collar of Gu Hanzhi's school uniform. The scent of cheap perfume mixed with alcohol was almost enough to bring tears to her eyes. The girl's wine-red hair drooped, casting a spider-web-like shadow on her pale face. "I heard you're hooking up with Shen Zhihe again? Really..."
"Bang!"
Gu Hanzhi's canvas shoe landed precisely on the inside of Lin Yue's knee, sending her screaming and falling to the ground. The two girls behind her took a half-second to react, then grabbed a plastic broom from the corner and started slamming it down. Gu Hanzhi ducked, slamming her knee into one of them's stomach, and as she bent over, she slammed her elbow into the back of her neck. Another girl swung her fist, but she sidestepped and grabbed her wrist, using the momentum to fling her towards the locker, sending a loud crash against the wall.
Dust lingered in the dappled sunlight. Lin Yue huddled like a shrimp beside her locker, her hair stained with spilled milk tea, her cheap false eyelashes dangling askew from her eyelids. Two lackeys, like boneless puppets, slumped among overturned desks and chairs. One of them had a nosebleed that spread across the cartoon-printed schoolbag, creating a dark crimson stain.
As Gu Hanzhi knelt on one knee, the laces of her canvas shoes brushed against Lin Yue's trembling fingertips. The girl's pale face still bore the scarlet marks of being kicked. Cast in Gu Hanzhi's shadow, her pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints. "Remember that toilet water?" Gu Hanzhi pinched a silver earring between her fingers, gently shaking it under the girl's horrified gaze. "You pressed me against the toilet and said you'd spare me if I drank it." The metal pendant suddenly slammed heavily against Lin Yue's collarbone. "Now it's time for me to remind you—everything you've done is in vain."
The receding footsteps in the hallway sounded like the sound of a broken guitar string. Lin Yue suddenly stood up, propping herself up against the locker. Her fingers, stained with dark red nail polish, scratched the metal door with five white marks. The setting sun slanted in through the air vents, casting a ferocious shadow over her messy ponytail and swollen left eye, right in the direction Gu Hanzhi was heading.
"Gu Hanzhi!" A hoarse laugh suddenly erupted, flickering the voice-activated lights above her head. She leaned sideways, her cigarette-stained teeth glistening in the twilight. "As long as I'm here, you'll never be able to shed this memory!" She grabbed a half-empty bottle of mineral water from the ground and lashed it at herself. The muddy water washed away the bruises on her cheeks, and thin streaks of blood spread across the cracked corners of her mouth.
She reached out and wiped her face, water droplets dripping through her fingers onto the hem of her school uniform, leaving dark marks: "Why do you think I let you go back then?" Her nails dug deep into her palms, "I'm going to be the most complete villain - to watch someone like you who is good at studying become a bad person!" The last few words were almost squeezed out of her throat, mixed with the strong smell of blood, and echoed for a long time in the silent corridor.
The fire hydrant mirror at the end of the corridor reflected a messy scene: two henchmen were leaning against the lockers, the tall and thin one loosening his school uniform tie, veins bulging on his neck, sweat running down his temples to the bruises; the other shorter and stronger one was pressing the bleeding corners of his mouth with trembling hands, half a broken lens stuck between his fingers.
"Sister, let's just call it a day." The tall, thin man's Adam's apple rolled as he swallowed, a rustling sound coming from his throat. The shoulder of his uniform was still stained with wall dust from the previous fight. Lin Yue stood by the window with her back to them. The setting sun stretched her shadow, carving sharp corners on the mottled floor tiles. She slowly pulled a vintage round mirror from her crocodile-print clutch, twisting the gilded casing in her fingertips.
Her vibrant color smudged along the wound, creating strange lines across her pale skin. "Think?" she chuckled suddenly, the tail end like a blade tempered by ice. The locker made a dull thud as she kicked it, the metal denting half an inch. "My dad, so I could dominate Cloud City High, donated an art building to the school last year alone."
Her fingers, stained with burgundy nail polish, suddenly tightened, and the mirror shattered, the fragments scattering into countless twinkling stars in the sunset. "Gu Hanzhi, do you think you can escape unscathed?" She bent down to pick up the longest lens, a cold glint passing through the crimson veins in her eyes. "Just wait and see—I'll let her know that all her sins are my fault."
The dim streetlights lit up one after another, their orange glow stretching their figures into a distorted, elongated form, swaying across the uneven ground. Lin Yue suddenly stopped and turned to look back in the direction Gu Hanzhi had left. A sinister smile curled her lips, and a chilling glint shone in her eyes. Then, she turned and disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway. Her figure was quickly swallowed by the night, leaving only the empty street and the mess of broken glass, which shone coldly under the streetlights.
Dusk shrouded the city skyline like a veil. Wang Ye leaned against the floor-to-ceiling window of the presidential suite of a five-star hotel, a crystal goblet in his hand reflecting a dark red glow. He gently swirled the glass, observing the delicate tears of red wine on the sides. The rich aroma of whiskey and oak slowly permeated the constant temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. The cold glow of his phone screen contrasted with the liquid in the glass. Lin Yue's last message was clearly visible in white font: "Thursday night, three days from now, proceed as planned."
Outside, neon traffic streamed like a galaxy, his silhouette, lost in thought, reflected in the glass curtain wall. His fingertips unconsciously caressed the stem of his glass, and he suddenly emptied the contents. As the icy liquid slid down his throat, the hotel butler's meticulously prepared ice bucket lay quietly on the marble coffee table, its silvery surface reflecting the half-opened bottle. Wang Ye placed his phone upside down on the velvet sofa, his eyes lowered as he gazed at the wine stain lingering on the rim of his empty glass. His gilded watch shone coldly in the twilight, the ticking of the second hand intertwining with the distant hum of traffic to create an eerie rhythm.
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