June is ending quickly, the sun is scorching, and the summer cicadas are chasing after people, their calls becoming louder and louder every day.
The students were discussing enthusiastically which country to visit during the summer vacation after the final exams, and whether they should learn skiing or rock climbing to spend the summer. But the news brought by Lao Liu blew everyone away.
After a meeting of representatives from all parties, the school unanimously decided that the senior high school students would have to make up for a month of classes during the summer vacation. As soon as the news came out, the students went wild, and all kinds of complaints occupied every corner of the school.
"Everything fucking started with our class. It's so hard." Qiu Minghua howled.
"Whoever wants to go can go. I have decided to go abroad after graduation. Let my mom get a hospital report and ask for leave." said a girl.
Zheng Zhaoxing sneered: "Do you think those old guys didn't expect that they would give you an excellent graduation resume just because you didn't get full marks? Of course, just ignore what I said about your plan to go to those fake universities abroad."
Ha, no one is as free as him. Even if I don't want to continue studying after graduation, his old man supports me and I can live abroad.
Whatever he wants to do is just a matter of words.
Complaints aside, it is a fact that we have to go to school during the summer vacation, and no one can change it. These kids have been immersed in an environment of maximizing gains and losses since childhood, so they wake up quickly and accept the facts quickly.
There are still more than 20 days until the final exams, and it is time to disrupt the two queues of A students and F students and reshuffle them. The students who are in the middle of the two are the most nervous.
Because of the joke that student A made earlier, student F Lin Weixia made a beautiful counterattack against them. When it came to this exam, they finally had the opportunity to be proud of themselves.
This time, the group of students, led by Student A, became calmer as the exam approached. They acted as if they were born with a better brain and could walk faster than you.
Student F now feels ashamed even when he encounters their teasing looks when he is concentrating on reviewing.
The atmosphere between Student A and Student F became increasingly tense.
While eating at home, my aunt was chatting about family matters and suddenly thought of something and said:
"Xia Xia, last time I went to a parents' meeting, I heard that your school still has A and F grades. I think that's great. Competition brings motivation."
Lin Weixia filled a bowl of soup and handed it to her: "Yes."
"I heard that you are going to have your final exams soon? The exam is coming up soon, so you have to hurry up. The money I saved for you is for your college education." My aunt's tone was a little serious.
Lin Weixia was eating, she was stunned for a moment and nodded: "Thank you, auntie, I will do my best."
Gao Hang concentrated on eating and didn't dare to speak the whole time. His sister had such good grades, and he was afraid that Ms. Lin would get angry with him if she talked.
Ms. Lin glanced at Gao Hang, who ate like a starving ghost, and moved the braised pork ribs in front of him to Lin Weixia:
"Weixia, eat more."
"good."
In this final exam, Lin Weixia was only two points away from being officially counted as an A student. Fang Mo said enviously:
"Weixia, you're going to wear a beautiful red bow tie soon, that's great."
Ning Chao had just woken up and yawned, saying, "My sister will be an A student soon. I am not worthy of you as my deskmate."
Lin Weixia bit the tip of her pen and frowned as she looked at the last question on the physics test paper: "Just kidding me, I might be beaten to death on the beach by physics."
But fortunately, Ban Sheng was there. Every time she asked him a question, the young master would twirl a pen in his palm, often just glance at the question and then start explaining it to her.
His ideas are clear and his thinking is quick. No matter how complicated the problem is, he can solve it with ease and achieve great results with little effort.
Lin Weixia prepared for this exam for a long time. On the eve of the exam, she stayed at Ban Sheng's house. Ban Sheng reviewed the last key point for her.
The boy threw his pen away, leaned back, and stretched his neck lazily, with his joints making "click" sounds.
He got up and went to the refrigerator to get two cold drinks, one of which was an iced cola. Ban Sheng helped her open the can, and with a "click" sound, bubbles spurted out.
"Thank you." Lin Weixia took it.
Ban Sheng held a cold drink in one hand and picked up a stool with the other hand. He turned it over and sat down directly. He took the pen from Lin Weixia's hand and said in a ruffian tone:
"You have to get into the top three this time. How are you going to compensate me for my free labor?"
Lin Weixia immediately praised him: "Ban Sheng is an extremely good person."
"Oh."
July came quickly, and the exams were officially around the corner. Lin Weixia thought she was well prepared for the exam, and to be honest, she would be lying if she didn't look forward to it.
No one is immune to this. If you put in effort, you want to get something in return.
She wanted to see how far she could go.
The exam lasted two days. Although Lin Weixia and Ban Sheng were not in the same exam room, they went in and out together. They did nothing but simply communicated, looking high-profile yet not high-profile.
The classmates no longer started to talk about the two of them in a low voice as soon as they saw them, and even made some ridicules from time to time. They seemed to have accepted this fact.
The last subject of the exam was comprehensive science, and the time was in the afternoon. Ban Sheng happened to have something to do and sent a message to let her go first. The sun was very hot, and Lin Weixia held the green exam bag over her head and followed the flow of people into the school.
Lin Weixia was walking on the path in Shuxiang Garden, fanning her neck with one hand. Not far away, a figure was walking hurriedly. When she looked closely, she found that it was Jiang Helu.
The two of them had a brief interaction when they were making the blackboard newspaper.
Lin Weixia's impression of her is that she is a girl who studies very hard but has a cold personality.
Lin Weixia remembered her because Fang Mo mentioned her frequently recently. She was Fang Mo's new friend. The two of them were quite close. Fang Mo said that Jiang Helu was actually quite interesting. They would cry because of the same comic.
"Is there something wrong?" Lin Weixia asked her.
Jiang Helu looked anxious, and her voice was trembling: "Fang Mo was taken away by them."
"What do you mean take away? Just explain yourself slowly." Lin Weixia said in a soothing tone.
Jiang Helu grabbed a handful of her short hair and frowned: "Just now we were going to the convenience store near the cafeteria to buy pencil leads, and Fang Mo was taken away by Liu Sijia and the others on the way."
"Did you see which way they went?" Lin Weixia's eyebrows jumped.
"It's Qingyuan Road, then turn left."
Lin Weixia put her hand on Jiang Helu's arm and asked in a pleading tone: "Could you please take me there?"
Jiang Helu glanced at the time on her watch and hesitated for a moment: "Okay, but hurry up, the exam is coming soon."
Under the scorching sun, two girls walked under the shadows of trees, crossed Qingyuan Road and came to the abandoned teaching building behind the school. A faint smell of ink wafted from not far away. It was the school's small printing factory, which specialized in copying and printing students' information, test papers, etc.
The two stood in front of the rusty door. Lin Weixia pushed the door open and walked in. The light inside was dim and the smell of decay made people frown.
"Fang Mo—" Lin Weixia took a few steps forward and called out a few words tentatively.
There was no response, only an empty echo, and the pungent smell made her sneeze.
Lin Weixia turned around and wanted to tell the people around her that Fang Mo was not here, but when she looked for her again, the rough door panel rubbed against the floor and made a creaking sound.
The only white light in front of my eyes was about to disappear, and the door was slowly closed. Through a narrow gap in the door, the girl stood there, closing the door with a stern look.
Lin Weixia ran over quickly.
The girl was tall, with long brown curly hair that shone with a beautiful luster. She wore a dark high-heeled uniform and stood in a bright place. The white mother-of-pearl bracelet on her porcelain-white wrist almost cut her eyes under the refraction of the sun.
It’s Liu Sijia.
Lin Weixia ran to the door and wanted to pull the valve, but with a "click", the sound of the lock being locked came from outside.
The room immediately became dark, and the strange smell made her even more anxious. She couldn't go out, and she was too worried, so she tried her best to calm herself down and think.
In a flash, Lin Weixia remembered that Jiang Helu was the last among the A students. If she advanced to become an A student this time, Jiang Helu would fall into the ranks of F students.
Liu Sijia is very smart. She takes advantage of people's jealousy and unwillingness and easily traps Lin Weixia here.
What Jiang Helu wants is to keep his position.
As for Liu Sijia, she wanted too much. She wanted Lin Weixia to learn this lesson and swallow this pain, she wanted to always be number one, and she wanted the boy she liked to look at her.
The light outside the door faintly revealed Liu Sijia standing there. She looked at her and said calmly:
"I don't know whether to say you are kind or stupid. You actually came here after being deceived."
Lin Weixia stood at the door, looked straight into those eyes, and spoke slowly: "Si Jia, let me out, this exam is very important to me."
Life is long and unpredictable. So when something happens to her, Lin Weixia won't ask why, she chooses to accept it calmly.
Although her aunt didn't treat her as her own child and sometimes favored Gao Hang, it was good enough that her aunt rescued her from the alcoholic, raised her up, and gave her a stable life.
When Gao Hang was a child, he was sent to learn cello. His aunt was afraid that he would be lonely and have no one to accompany him, so she asked Lin Weixia to go with him, saying that she wanted him to keep him company. She still gritted her teeth and hired the same cello teacher for her.
During that time, my aunt worked from dawn to dusk just to let them learn piano. When the neighbors laughed at her, she spat and said in a hoarse voice like a street woman: "Bah, the daughter is not a daughter anymore."
Although her aunt was sometimes partial, calculative, and took advantage of her, she always treated her as a family member.
Lin Weixia was very grateful.
Since her aunt asked about this exam, Lin Weixia would try her best. She had to let her aunt know that investing in her and raising her would pay off.
Through a crack in the door, Lin Weixia looked at Liu Sijia. She didn't answer, but looked at her deeply. The expression on her face was extremely complicated and unpredictable.
The last thing Lin Weixia saw when she saw Liu Sijia outside the door was the bright red bow tie on her collar as an A student. It was a dazzling, eye-catching, unattainable red.
Not long after they left, the exam bell rang and the originally noisy world fell silent.
In the dim light, a pair of amber eyes opened and looked around the place in front of him. It was an abandoned warehouse, full of old sports equipment, and even a bicycle with a missing tire lying on it.
Lin Weixia found a quiet place to sit down, leaning against the equipment. The surroundings exuded a stale smell of old parts, which was very unpleasant. She could only force herself to get used to the smell.
This was a warehouse converted from an abandoned tin house. It was dark and unventilated. In addition, it was midsummer, so Lin Weixia only sat there for a while before a layer of sweat appeared on her forehead and neck.
It's unbearably hot.
Lin Weixia sat there, hugging her knees quietly, thinking about something. Her legs felt numb from sitting for so long, and when she was about to stand up and stretch her muscles, her elbow accidentally hit the equipment behind her.
With a "crash", several wooden boards fell down one after another, and the corners hit the snow-white kneecap and rolled on the ground.
Lin Weixia gasped in pain.
Bright red bruises immediately appeared on the white and tender knee. Lin Weixia dragged her injured knee and found a place to sit against the wall, far away from the equipment.
Two hours later, the bell rang to signal the end of the exam, and the school resumed its noisy pace, which lasted until dark. When it gets dark, the fear in people's hearts is magnified.
The darkness of the night was uncomfortable, and it was difficult to see the light. Lin Weixia leaned against the wall, feeling thirsty and uncomfortable. Her face was a little pale. She clutched something in her pocket, lowered her eyelashes, and it was unknown what she was thinking about.
The deeper into darkness one sinks, the lower one's spirits become.
There were bang-bang-bang sounds one after another. Lin Weixia stood up with one elbow on the wall and looked towards the door. With a clang, the door was kicked open by someone.
The light from outside suddenly poured in. Ban Sheng stood at the door. He was tall and straight, but his face was gloomy and he exuded a cold aura.
He raised his eyelids, glanced at Lin Weixia in the corner, threw the wrench away, and walked towards her.
Ban Sheng half-knelt in front of Lin Weixia, his shadow completely covering her, as if he had created a separate shelter for her.
His eyes swept across her face and injured knee without saying a word, suppressing a certain force.
"I looked for you for a long time, and then I received a strange text message saying you were here." As soon as he opened his mouth, Ban Sheng's voice was hoarse.
Lin Weixia was stunned. She could guess who sent it and smiled faintly: "Why didn't she do something more drastic?"
He held Lin Weixia horizontally in his arms, and Ban Sheng carried her out. The street lights were dim, and Lin Weixia looked up and saw a hint of gloom in his dark eyes.
"Put me down. My legs are no longer numb and I can walk now," Lin Weixia said in a gentle voice, pausing, "Besides, it won't be good if the patrol teacher sees us."
Ban Sheng had no choice but to put her down, and instead supported her arm and walked her out. While standing at the school gate waiting for the bus, Ban Sheng took out his cell phone and made a call.
"Who are you going to call?" Lin Weixia felt something was wrong.
Ban Sheng's tone was cruel, and he spoke slowly:
"Let Liu Sijia come out and solve the problem."
There was a gloom in his eyes. If Ban Sheng let this fire out, everyone would be finished, so she had to comfort him.
Lin Weixia tugged at Ban Sheng's shirt hem, and the boy lowered his neck to look at her. Her voice was soft, and she spoke in a negotiating tone:
"How about tomorrow? My knee hurts a little and I want to take care of the wound first."
Ban Sheng took a look at her injuries and finally agreed.
Ban Sheng helped Lin Weixia stand on the roadside and hailed a taxi. The car drove for more than 20 minutes and arrived at the hospital. After getting off the car, he sent Lin Weixia to the hospital, holding her shoulders with one hand and sitting her down on a blue chair.
Ban Sheng called the medical staff, and the nurse quickly came over with disinfectant and powder. The nurse came over to treat Lin Weixia's wound, and Ban Sheng took the bill to pay.
The nurse unscrewed the iodine and used a cotton swab to apply the liquid to the wound on her knee. It was cold. After the disinfection was completed, Lin Weixia saw the nurse unscrew a can of medicine, which seemed to be white powder. Her eyebrows jumped and she asked:
"Nurse, does this hurt?"
"Yes, a little. You have to bear the pain." The nurse smiled.
Before the powder was sprinkled on, Lin Weixia turned her face away, her nose wrinkled with nervousness, and her breathing became rapid. She didn't dare to look, always feeling that this was a torture.
Suddenly, the light in front of her eyes disappeared, and there was darkness. A large palm covered her eyes. A faint smell of cigarettes came, and her head just rested on him.
There was a reassuring feeling.
I only heard him chuckle, his voice was low and faint:
"Nurse, please blow on her when you apply the medicine. My child is quite delicate."
This made Lin Weixia blush, and her long eyelashes gently brushed her cold palms. After he teased her like this, the pain from applying the medicine quickly passed.
After treating the wound, Ban Sheng took a taxi to send Lin Weixia home. When they were 1.5 kilometers away from Shuiwei Lane, they encountered road construction and the car could not pass, so the driver had to drop the two off at the intersection.
Ban Sheng stood in front of Lin Weixia and said, "I'll carry you."
"No, there are too many people."
Lin Weixia felt that this was not a serious wound. The most important thing was that she was thin-skinned. It would be embarrassing for an adult like her to be carried on the street.
Ban Sheng glanced at the wound on her knee, worried that she would hurt the wound due to the activity. Without thinking, he chuckled and took off the black baseball cap he was wearing and put it on Lin Weixia's head.
Lin Weixia looked up in a daze, and met a pair of dark eyes. A warm hat was buckled on her head. Ban Sheng's expression remained as calm as usual, but he helped her adjust the hat with a bit of clumsiness. His cold fingertips touched her, and he reached out and hooked the hair on Lin Weixia's forehead behind her.
Ban Sheng walked back, bent over and picked her up on his back. Lin Weixia put her slender arms on his tall neck and slowly lay on the boy's broad back, her tense mood finally relaxing.
Lin Weixia thought of something and asked hesitantly, "Did you divide the school into different levels?"
Ban Sheng was stunned for a moment and chuckled softly, then said, "It's not me. It's a sand card game played by rich people when their capital has accumulated to a certain stage."
After returning home and washing up, Lin Weixia lay on the bed in a daze. She remembered something and stood up to open the drawer.
Inside was something Liu Xiping gave her. Lin Weixia picked it up, looked at it for a while, and then stuffed it into her schoolbag.
Early the next morning, Ban Sheng asked the driver to pick someone up. After what had happened, he couldn't let Lin Weixia out of his sight for even a moment.
Everything was business as usual on the Shenzhen High School campus. No one knew what happened yesterday. Liu Xiping loudly rebuked and criticized Lin Weixia for missing the exam on the podium, claiming that she was irresponsible for her own life and asked her classmates to take it as a warning.
Jiang Helu took a day off.
There was a lot of noise and play in the corridor after class. A group of girls, led by Liu Sijia, leaned against the railing to get some fresh air. When they saw Lin Weixia coming out from the direction of the office, they poked each other's arms and exchanged glances as she came over.
It looks like a good show is about to begin.
"Ah, isn't this our new A student Lin Weixia?" someone said in pretended surprise.
"You forgot, I missed the exam yesterday. I'm probably the last in the class, and an F student." The girl said with a smile.
Liu Sijia tied her hair up today to reveal her full forehead. She carefully used eyeliner to draw a mole under her black eye, making her face look even cooler and more aggressive.
Liu Sijia raised her red lips, looked down at her, and smiled to comfort her:
"If you miss the exam, there will always be next time."
The tiny bursts of laughter rose and fell, growing louder and louder. They were laughing at Lin Weixia's efforts and preparations, and at her arrogance.
They are born with a high starting point, how can they be surpassed so easily
Lin Weixia spoke amid the contempt of the crowd, her tone distant and calm:
"Really? Then I don't want to play by your rules?"
For a moment, the whole audience was in an uproar. After all, since the rules of the game were established, no one had said no. Lin Weixia was the first person to say no.
The smiles on the faces of the female high school students disappeared, not understanding what she meant. Liu Sijia was stunned for a second, and asked coldly:
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that I don't want to participate in the evaluation of this school. I don't want to be an A student, nor do I want to be an F student. I'm just me." Lin Weixia swept her beautiful eyes around them and continued speaking.
"Two points short, right? Sorry, I forgot to tell you about the poetry competition I participated in last year. I was shortlisted and won the first prize in the final. My head teacher informed me some time ago that my poem was selected into a poetry anthology abroad, and that unit also awarded me the prize. Before the exam, the teacher gave me the red bow tie." Lin Weixia took out the bow tie from her pocket.
Lin Weixia's attitude was one of disgrace. She was telling them that she was qualified to be an A student, but she would not play with them anymore.
For a moment, the whole place was boiling with people talking about it, and the students in the classroom also ran out to watch. Some people were just watching the game, wanting to see how things would develop. Others were excited, wanting to see the fight between Lin Weixia and Liu Sijia, because Liu Sijia represented the A students, after all, the A students were always superior to others and had never lost.
Liu Sijia's expression changed again and again. Ban Sheng leaned not far away, drinking milk with one hand, watching all this. He did not go up to stand up for Lin Weixia, because he knew that she wanted to solve all this by herself.
Ban Sheng glanced at Lin Weixia who was not far away, took out the mobile phone from his pocket, walked to a nearby place and made a call.
"So? Are you here to show off?" Liu Sijia sneered, crossing her arms.
Lin Weixia threw the beautiful red bow tie that F Sheng had envied and desired for a long time, which seemed to make her superior, onto Liu Sijia and began to speak. Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but everyone present could hear it clearly:
"I don't need this ranking to prove that I am strong. Being an A student doesn't mean you are strong, nor can it be used to bully others, create prejudices against them, or classify them. We don't choose our background or experience, and we don't choose to be stupid. All we choose is to seize the present, make progress, be satisfied with ourselves, be proud of ourselves, and recognize that we are strong."
"Rather than suppressing and bullying others and then feeling the pleasure of that moment and thinking you are the winner."
"I don't plan to participate in your game." Lin Weixia looked directly at the group of girls.
At the same time, the bow tie was thrown on Liu Sijia and fell off with a snap, and even the bow tie on her collar was knocked crooked.
Like a sign.
The whole place suddenly fell silent. The group of female high school students looked at each other, speechless for a moment. They had not expected Lin Weixia to fight back, and her fightback was so beautiful.
The atmosphere around was strangely quiet, so quiet that one could almost hear the sound of air flowing. No one spoke. Suddenly, someone in the crowd said:
"Then you should transfer to another school instead of staying in Shenzhen High School."
"Fuck your stupid level."
A small voice seemed to form a small boiling point, and various discussions became more and more frequent, and they even quarreled. It was like a fire roasting a beehive, the frequency of flapping wings became louder and louder, noisier, and louder.
For the first time, Liu Sijia's usually calm face showed an expression of being overwhelmed.
A storm is coming.