Chapter 22 Green Lips Cherish Him as Much as They Cherish You
The class went from quiet to eerie silence, and Lin Kaisheng, one of the people involved, opened his mouth so wide that it seemed like a light bulb could be stuffed in it.
This was the first time a girl confessed her love to him—was it even a confession? Lin Kaisheng had a vague feeling that this confession was different from ordinary confessions, but the shock of a girl publicly saying she liked him still left him dumbfounded. The embarrassment he had imagined would appear on Zhu Yingning's face didn't work on her. Instead, it shifted to his face, making his cheeks feel as hot as boiling water.
Without giving everyone much time to react, Zhu Yingning tilted her finger again, randomly pointing at the boy next to Lin Kaisheng who was making the most noise, and repeated, "And you, I like you too."
After pointing out several boys and girls and "liking" more than a dozen people, she stopped panting, took a breath, and said to Lin Kaisheng: "I know what you mean. You want to embarrass me. You think I should be ashamed of myself for defending Xu Sirui."
She paused, a smile forming on her lips. "But, I don't think liking someone is something that needs to be hidden, nor do I think it's a dirty thing. I certainly don't think liking someone is just about the relationship between a man and a woman. Liking your parents is liking someone, liking your teachers is liking someone, and liking your classmates is also liking someone. Yes, I like Xu Sirui because he's a member of our class."
On an early summer morning, warm sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the right half of her face.
The scene was far less beautiful than in idol dramas, because the sores on her mouth hadn't healed and she was still applying the herbal compress. Her green lips made her look a little funny, but no one laughed.
Her voice was deep but powerful as she spoke calmly, "I think everyone remembers how rare it was for us to have the opportunity to study. Five years ago, before this school was built, we all had to go to the school in town. I was lucky enough to live close by, but it still required a 20-kilometer walk. Many people lived even further away, 30 kilometers? 40 kilometers? Because of distance restrictions, many people lost the opportunity to study. That was until Teacher Chen, Principal Lin, and a group of young teachers arrived here and transformed this abandoned hospital into a teaching building."
She said: "It is because the opportunity to study is so hard-earned that on the day the school was founded, Teacher Chen told us that being classmates is a fate we should cherish for a lifetime. I have always remembered this."
"I know many people think Xu Sirui isn't a part of our class, that he's not a 'classmate,' but just an outsider who stayed with us for a short while and then left. But I think..."
She struggled to find the right words, her fingers nervously rubbing together and unclenching as she spoke sincerely, "I think this might be the only chance in our lives to be in a class with a classmate from such a unique background. This fate, like the fate between us, is hard-won. If there had been even the slightest mistake, he wouldn't be sitting here, reading with us, attending classes, and taking exams. This is such a tiny probability. The universe has undergone millions of changes to bring us to the same classroom and share the same sky, so... I cherish it very much."
"Cherish him as much as I cherish you."
After she finished speaking, she paused for a few seconds, then cleared her throat a few times embarrassedly and concluded: "This is what I want to say."
The class was silent, and everyone's expression was complicated.
Only after the dust settled did Zhu Yingning slowly catch the sound of reading aloud from other classes. Her rigid dogma kicked in again, pulling her out of the lingering throes of her confession. While everyone else was still dazed, she was the first to run back to her seat, offering it to Xu Sirui. Then, hurriedly pulling an English book from her bag, she returned to the podium, her face set in a serious tone, and assumed the posture of leading the reading: "Please open your English textbooks to the vocabulary list for Unit 3."
Even though everyone was already used to the squad leader's straightforward style of doing things, they were still a little slow to react.
At first, only a few people took out their textbooks as they were told. Later, more and more people came to their senses, turned to the corresponding pages, and started morning reading one after another.
The low and weak sound of reading is like a hemp rope that is gradually tightened, from loose to loud and neat horn.
Amid the uniform sounds of reading, Xu Sirui, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly woke up as if from a dream. He slowly stood up and sat on the chair that Zhu Yingning had temporarily lent him.
He had an indescribable feeling, as if his heart had been lightly punched. It didn't hurt, nor was it itchy, but it felt a little warm.
He's been loved and disliked by many. Yet, whether it's love or dislike, people tend to keep these feelings hidden, expressing them in euphemistic ways. They try to veil their outward emotions, diminishing their impact and, in doing so, constructing a perfect self-defense mechanism. If rejected or ridiculed, they can immediately buckle down and protect themselves from harm. Few people openly express their love or dislike in public.
But Zhu Yingning is different from everyone else.
She was honest with herself. She said she loved him—a love that was unlike any confession he had ever received; it was the most sincere and open love between classmates.
Of course, Xu Sirui has reason to believe that if one day she falls in love with someone as a woman, she will express this feeling openly without feeling ashamed or embarrassed.
Could there be any shadow in the emotional world of a person who can say, "I cherish him as much as I cherish you"?
**
After morning reading, Zhu Yingning put the English book back on her desk and hurried to ask Chen Bin for a new chair.
After she left, Zhou Tianrui clenched his fists and said with admiration: "The squad leader is worthy of being my idol."
Xu Sirui shook off the goose bumps on his body: "Exaggeration."
"What do you know?" Zhou Tianrui glared at him. "If anyone else had said what he said today, everyone would have thought he was showing off, but not the squad leader. Do you know why?"
He was really curious, so he showed an attitude of listening attentively.
Zhou Tianrui shook his finger proudly and said, "Of course it's because our whole class has been helped by the class monitor, so those words come out of her with extra sincerity. You may not believe it..." He lowered his voice and whispered mysteriously into Xu Sirui's ear, "Lin Kaisheng also received help from the class monitor. His sister was born by the class monitor herself."
“……?”
Xu Sirui scratched his ear, suspecting he had a hearing problem. Is this Chinese? How come he knows every single word, but can't understand them all together?
"Delivery?" He repeated the word, stammering. "The kind of delivery you give birth to a baby?"
"Yes," Zhou Tianrui said, "it happened several years ago. When his mother gave birth to his sister, the midwife in their village was away. His mother had a difficult labor and was bleeding heavily. The villagers were afraid of being held responsible, so they didn't dare to help. He borrowed an ox cart to push his mother to town, but their village is very far away. Like the squad leader said, it's 30 kilometers! If they really pushed her there, she might die."
"And then?" Xu Sirui listened with great interest and turned around.
"Then halfway through the process, we happened to meet our squad leader. Without saying anything, the squad leader asked Lin Kaisheng to push his mother to her home. She personally delivered the baby for his sister, treated his mother's wounds briefly, and worked with him to send his mother to town."
"Zhu Yingning's mother didn't say anything? Zhu Yingning was only a few years old at the time. What if she accidentally killed someone?"
"Oh, her mother. Her mother doesn't have any opinions. When there were no men in their family, her mother always listened to her."
"Are there any men?"
"If you have a son, listen to his son. If you have a husband, listen to his husband."
“…”
Xu Sirui thought about Liu Guifang's timid look and was speechless for a moment.
After a while, he said, "Anyway, she's very brave."
"Of course not! Our squad leader is the bravest in our group. I've never seen her afraid of anything. Look at that girl, Lin Senmiao. Her grandfather was attacked by a wild boar in the mountains last year, and it was the squad leader who helped drive the wild boar away."
“???”
Xu Sirui's mouth twitched, "...She's really busy."
From delivering babies to hunting wild boars, even superheroes are not as busy as her.
"Our squad leader's dream is also great." Zhou Tianrui said in a boastful tone.
"What is it?"
He looked at him with contempt: "Don't you ever look at the bulletin board? Her composition, "My Dream," is posted on the bulletin board. If you're interested, go and read it yourself."
Xu Sirui immediately retorted: "Who's interested? It's boring."
**
During lunch break, when everyone was resting, Chen Bin suddenly came to the classroom and asked Xu Sirui to go to his office.
Every time he said that, it was always bad news. Xu Sirui was almost having PTSD, lying in his seat and refusing to move. He had no choice but to say, "It's not a bad thing this time. I asked Zhou Yueshan's homeroom teacher to bring him here to apologize to you."
Xu Sirui was skeptical about whether Zhou Yueshan would apologize, but he still went there with the intention of watching the show.
Just as he'd guessed, Zhou Yueshan was leaning against the office wall, standing unsteadily, shaking his legs and sneer-grimacing, his face practically emblazoned with "I refuse to accept." His homeroom teacher first gave him a nice talk, saying things like, "Zhou Yueshan's behavior is undoubtedly extremely bad," and "I've already criticized him," then leaned over and gestured for Zhou Yueshan to come forward and apologize.
He didn't move, but raised his eyelids from bottom to top, glared at Xu Sirui fiercely, pursed his lips, and spat on the ground with a "Pah" sound in full view of everyone.
“…”
The whole place was dead silent.
His head teacher was a thin female teacher. Seeing this, she was so angry that she almost couldn't stand. She took a ruler and slapped his bare arm several times, scolding him: "Zhou Yueshan, what's wrong with you! You promised to apologize!"
Xu Sirui watched with a clenched fist. It wasn't that he felt bad for Zhou Yueshan getting beaten, but rather that he was worried about the teacher's safety. Zhou Yueshan's arms looked as thick as her waist. If he really wanted to resist, he could swing her to Antarctica with one arm. Fortunately, he still had a sense of awe for the teacher. He didn't move even when he was hit, but his face was not good. He stared at Xu Sirui angrily and said in a muffled voice, "He was wrong too. Why am I the only one to apologize? Isn't it just because he's from the city that you all favor him?"
"Are we biased towards him?" The female teacher took a deep breath in anger and asked, patting her chest. "Then tell me, what was his fault? Did he also smear cow dung on his classmates like you did?!"
Zhou Yueshan yelled, "He thinks I stink!"
As soon as this was said, everyone fell silent again; even Chen Bin looked embarrassed. It was clear that Xu Sirui disliked Zhou Yueshan. Was this right? It was definitely wrong, and it had clearly hurt the feelings of his classmates. But even if he was wrong, he hadn't violated any school rules. After all, there wasn't a rule explicitly prohibiting covering your nose when you think a classmate smelled bad.
Just as Chen Bin and the female teacher were urgently brainstorming about how to break the deadlock, Xu Sirui suddenly interjected nonchalantly, "Isn't it true that you stink?"
“…”
Well, it's all over.
Zhou Yueshan was truly enraged upon hearing this. Like an enraged Bull Demon King, his face was reddish-black as he gritted his teeth and said, "Say it again?"
Xu Sirui crossed his arms and said with a lazy smile, "Just go out and pick up ten people. If they all think you don't stink, I'll apologize to you."
"you--!"
Finally, Chen Bin and the female teacher used a combination of persuasion and persuasion to calm the two flammable Buddhas. As for an apology? Of course, no one offered one. Zhou Yueshan, unable to speak effectively, was outmatched by Xu Sirui, and his fury took over, his face red and his neck thick with anger. Xu Sirui, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, humiliating him with a carefree air before walking away with his hands in his pockets, not even looking back.
The matter eventually came to nothing.
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