Chapter 116: Proud White Moonlight 9: A Clear Conscience
As the year draws to a close, all grades in No. 3 Middle School are preparing for this year’s New Year’s Eve party.
Wen Ying, the arts and culture committee member of Class 1, is trying hard to persuade Ali to join the group dance prepared by Class 1.
Wen Ying is as her name suggests, she is good-looking and has a nice voice. No one can resist such a person when he asks for help.
Unfortunately, Ali is a person without any artistic talent and knows nothing about artistic performances, so he can only tell the truth.
Seeing this, Wen Ying had no choice but to give up.
Ah Li and Wen Ying were close friends, so he felt a little guilty about it. He said, "There are only two large rehearsal rooms in school. Many classes must be vying for them, so it's going to be hard to find one. I'll help you coordinate the use of the rehearsal room."
Wen Ying's eyes lit up, and she took Ali's hand: "That's great! Thank you so much!"
Ali also laughed: "You're welcome."
After Wen Ying came out of the classroom, her friend took her arm and glanced back: "How dare you still talk to her? Be careful she might say bad things about you behind your back."
Wen Ying shook her head and looked at her friend unhappily: "I don't think she's the kind of person you say she is. She's actually a very nice person."
She and A-li had participated in class committee meetings several times and felt that A-li was a very capable person, but not mean or condescending. It was very comfortable to get along with her.
The friend sighed and said earnestly, "Didn't you hear what they said? She's a hypocrite. Don't let her fool you."
Wen Ying thought of something that had been going viral in class recently, and knowing that she couldn't refute anything, she changed the subject.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Don't we need to buy some water? Let's go downstairs."
"OK."
During evening study that day, Ali went to the office to ask for help with a math problem, so when he came back, the school bell rang.
She stood at the classroom door holding a book, thinking about the solution to the problem just now, while waiting for the students who were anxious to leave school to leave first.
After a chaotic sound of footsteps and laughter, the first group to come out was a group of boys.
They pushed each other and rushed out the door, not noticing Ali standing beside them: "Stop dawdling! Hurry up!"
Ali didn't even have time to react before he was knocked to the ground by a huge force, and all the books in his hands fell to the ground.
The moment she fell, she subconsciously supported herself with her hands behind her back. Her right wrist twisted suddenly, and a piercing pain immediately rushed up, and she let out a short scream.
The boy who bumped into her was stunned. He subconsciously wanted to help her, but was stopped by the person behind him: "Hey, it's Ruan Liqiu."
These words seemed to remind the group of boys at once. They all stopped and looked at each other, but no one stepped forward to help her.
The students who came out later were blocked by this sudden change. They stopped and focused their eyes on her.
There was surprise, speculation, and unwarranted ridicule in those eyes, mixed with whispers that echoed in her ears.
It was as if everyone acted as if it was none of their business because she had excellent grades, was not sociable, and had all the good things taken away from her.
The boy who bumped into someone quickly said sorry and left quickly with his companions.
Their figures quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor, leaving behind only a few echoes complaining about bad luck and what they deserved.
Ali's hurt eyes swept over everyone present, many of whom had her patiently answered questions, but they were all the same, standing idly by and watching her plight.
No matter how slow she was or how good she was at studying, she had noticed something was wrong with the atmosphere in the class during this period.
Because of her past experiences, she subconsciously comforted herself that it was okay and it was nothing. Just like her parents taught her, as long as she had a clear conscience, it would be fine.
Her mother once patted her head and said, "...even the things mom and dad do can be misinterpreted. So you must know that as long as you act uprightly and stand tall, no matter how others misunderstand or maliciously attack you, time will reveal everything."
She has always adhered to this sentence. No matter how wronged or hurt she is, she will not cause trouble to her busy parents and elderly grandmother, and she believes that the innocent will be cleared.
So after entering high school, she still maintained her principles, studied hard, and taught her classmates who came to ask for advice. Even if the questions seemed very simple to her, she would patiently explain them over and over again.
She thought that as long as she was good enough and kind enough, she could avoid the hurt she had suffered in the past.
But this scene tonight was like a slap in the face, waking her up hard.
Is having a “clear conscience” really enough?
Are these cold-hearted and malicious people also included among the people that our parents sacrificed everything to protect?
They spent less and less time with her and missed all her important moments. Was it just because of this?
It was like a taut string suddenly snapped. Ali tried to use her left hand to support herself to stand up, but the severe pain in her right wrist made her gasp with every attempt, looking extremely embarrassed.
In the end, it was Jian He, Yang Xiaolian and other girls who helped Ali into the classroom, but the school infirmary was closed at that time and they could not do anything.
Ali forced a smile and said that she was fine and asked them to go back first. After Jian He and the others left, she slowly lowered her head and lay on the table.
On the other side, Jiang Ye waited for her at the school gate for a long time but she didn't show up, and he was full of doubts.
Ali is always punctual, and even if he is late sometimes, it will never be later than half past ten.
He skipped the last evening self-study class tonight to go out and practice Sanda, and rode his bike to wait for her at the school gate twenty minutes before school was over. There was absolutely no way he could miss her.
Jiang Ye frowned and waited for a few more minutes. The crowd gradually became smaller, but he still didn't see the familiar figure.
As the night deepened, Jiang Ye, who had been waiting for a long time without seeing anyone, immediately parked the car and ran quickly up to the teaching building.
It was already past school time, and only a few classrooms in the teaching building still had lights on. Jiang Ye brushed past a few senior students who had just left in the stairwell, and stopped at the door of Class 1, breathing slightly.
The light inside was on, but the door was closed.
Jiang Ye tried to push the door, but it wouldn't open because it was locked from the inside.
There was obviously someone in the classroom, but there was no response.
His heart tightened, and he intuitively felt that Ali was inside.
Jiang Ye threw his schoolbag to the ground, grabbed the window sill with both hands, jumped up suddenly, climbed over the window nimbly, and quickly scanned the classroom with his eyes.
Sure enough, I saw Ali curled up in his seat.
She leaned against the wall, her face buried in her knees, her thin shoulders trembling slightly.
Jiang Ye jumped down from the window quietly, walked slowly to her side, and found a few books scattered beside her.
He picked it up and saw several obvious footprints on the book.
A surge of anger mixed with sharp heartache suddenly rushed to the top of my head.
He squatted down, his tone was aggressive and urgent, and a terrifying look was now surging in his usually careless eyes, as if he was about to fight someone to the death in the next second: "Who did this?!"
He had some vague guesses in his mind, but he had to hear it from her own mouth.
Ali shrank back like a frightened bird, without looking up, and curled up tighter.
No matter how Jiang Ye asked, she remained motionless and silent.
This expression of not saying anything not only failed to calm Jiang Ye's anger, but instead added fuel to the fire.
"Speak!" Jiang Ye almost growled, his patience running out. He put his hands on Ali's shoulders somewhat forcefully and turned her to face him.
When Jiang Ye raised his head, his breathing suddenly stopped.
Ali's nose tip and eye sockets were red and swollen, his long eyelashes were wet with tears and trembled constantly. His eyes, which were always calm and cold, with a little pride, were now filled with water, panic and grievance.
Seeing Jiang Ye yelling at her angrily, her tears fell silently even harder, but she had to bite her lips to hold them back.
All her irritability and harsh questioning were completely extinguished by her helpless tears at this moment, leaving only complete heartache and helplessness.
"...You," Jiang Ye's throat tightened, and the hand that was originally supporting her shoulder suddenly withdrew as if it was burned, "I'm not angry with you, I just, just..."
He stood up in a hurry, then squatted down, wanting to wipe her tears, but was afraid that she would hate him even more, so he didn't know where to put his hands.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was wrong, please don't cry..." Jiang Ye's voice suddenly fell silent, with a kind of clumsiness and gentleness that was totally inconsistent with him.
"I...I won't be mean to you anymore, and I won't ask any more questions..."
After hearing his words, Ali was stunned at first, and then the pain and grievance came over him belatedly, and he cried breathlessly.
It felt like someone finally noticed me crying silently in the corner since I was a child.
But Ali was not used to having her emotions directly touched by others, so she subconsciously covered her tear-filled face with her hands and wanted to turn her back.
It was this action that made Jiang Ye suddenly see the obvious unnatural swelling on her wrist.
His eyes suddenly widened, and the anger in his heart instantly burned him all over.
Jiang Ye's eyes swept over her dishevel and the books scattered on the ground, and he immediately pieced together a general idea in his mind.
His expression became even uglier. He took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice, "Besides your wrist, is there anything else injured?"
Ali shook his head and said with a heavy nasal voice: "No."
"Okay," Jiang Ye squatted down, his eyes level with hers, "I won't ask you what happened, but you have to go to the hospital for treatment of your hand now. This is non-negotiable."
Ali raised his eyes and moved his lips, as if he wanted to refuse.
Jiang Ye's tone slowed down considerably this time: "The final exams are coming up soon. How are you going to take them with your injured right hand? If you leave this injury alone, will you still have your hand?"
"And your family, how worried will they be if you go back like this? I'll take you to the hospital later and then call them and tell them you're studying with your classmates and will be back later, okay?"
These words left Ali with no reason to refuse. Seeing her nod slightly, Jiang Ye finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He bent down and picked up the books on the ground one by one, put them carefully into Ali's schoolbag, and then put the schoolbag on his shoulder.
Seeing Ali stand up, Jiang Ye wanted to reach out with his empty hand, but finally let it hang at his side, clutching the hem of his clothes.
"let's go."
*
The lights of the hospital shone glaringly overhead, and the air conditioning in the corridor was turned up a bit too high. Jiang Ye put his coat on Ali's shoulders and watched her enter the treatment room.
After a moment, he withdrew his gaze, turned around and sat on the chair outside, took Ali's schoolbag beside him, and took out the books that were stepped on and soiled.
Those were Ali's meticulously organized notes. There were clear shoe prints on the cover, the corners were curled and damaged, and some pages were even torn from being stepped on, making it impossible to make out what was written on them.
Jiang Ye's breathing became heavier, and he pursed his lips. Since there was no tissue at hand, he pulled up the hem of his white T-shirt and began to wipe the stains on the notebooks, carefully and seriously.
When Ali came out, he had already put all the notebooks back.
Ali's right wrist and arm were fixed with plaster and bandages, hanging limply in front of his chest. His face was still a little pale, but he looked much better.
When she looked up, she saw Jiang Ye standing outside the door.
He immediately stood up and strode towards her, his voice tense: "Does it still hurt? What did the doctor say?"
"It's a minor bone fracture. You need to take time to recover. The doctor just prescribed some painkillers." Ali said softly. He had recovered and returned to his usual self.
The coat on her left shoulder slipped off, and she subconsciously wanted to reach out and pull it up, but she forgot that she was in a plaster cast and pulled the injured area, causing her to groan in pain.
Seeing this, Jiang Ye immediately reached out and put his coat back on her.
Ali lowered his eyes uncomfortably, then noticed a large stain on his white T-shirt. He pointed with his uninjured hand: "How did you get it here?"
Jiang Ye looked over and patted it nonchalantly: "It was just dust I accidentally touched."
As he spoke, he carefully held Ali's left hand and said, "Come on, the car is outside. We'll take you home."
Ah Li didn't move. Jiang Ye looked over curiously, only to see her expression calm yet determined: "Something must have happened in class recently, and it's something related to me."
"You know something about these things, right?"
Jiang Ye slowly put down the hand that was supporting her and nodded.
The two sat down on a bench outside the hospital, and Jiang Ye told Ali everything he had recently found out, including some disputes and rumors caused by the scholarship.
No. 3 Middle School selects and awards scholarships every semester, and this year is no exception.
The scholarship selection criteria are based on a comprehensive assessment of academic performance, extracurricular activities, and daily performance, and are evaluated by the class teacher and grade director. Each class has five places per semester.
Ali's performance ranked first this year, so naturally the person ranked sixth could not get the scholarship.
"Do you still remember Ding Hao? I asked you a few days ago if he came to you to ask questions again later, and you said no." Jiang Ye said.
Ah Li listened quietly and looked up at him: "So it was Ding Hao who did it?"
Jiang Ye nodded: "Almost right."
He felt that Ding Hao's eyes and expression were not right that day. He thought he was a love rival, but he didn't expect that there was no love, only a rival.
After knowing the whole story, Ali understood a little bit. She stopped talking and just looked at the night sky above her head quietly.
Jiang Ye didn't rush her and paid careful attention to her injured arm.
He had already prepared himself for Ali to not care, but even if she was magnanimous and did not pursue the matter, he would not let go of those who spread rumors behind her back.
There was silence all around, and Ali was thinking a lot.
Her voice was soft, yet remarkably clear: "Jiang Ye, is it true that blind kindness and patience may not always be rewarded with understanding and goodwill, but rather with further harm?"
Jiang Ye was stunned, with a strange light flashing in his eyes. He moved closer to her and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Ali looked over and saw her own appearance in his focused eyes. She tilted her head and whispered something.
Jiang Ye understood what she meant and said slowly: "Okay, I'll help you."
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