On the other side, Lin Weixia and Fang Jiabei looked at each other when they parted, with a myriad of meanings in their eyes.
Ban Sheng bought a can of milk on his way home and walked slowly on the road. There was a taut string in his mind reminding him that thinking too much would not do him any good.
He crushed the can in his hand and threw it into the trash can, then walked forward with no expression on his face.
He waited for Lin Weixia to come to her in person next week to get the ring.
After we had a great escape and talked to each other yesterday, everyone was looking forward to the new week so that they could attend classes and study together.
But in just one weekend, everything went wrong.
An article and video posted on the YCH website received extremely high attention, sparking widespread discussion, with news media reprinting and reporting on the article extensively. After seeing the post, netizens were outraged and denounced the perpetrator.
Even when parents turned on the TV while eating at home, the local TV station was also broadcasting this news. Although the media mosaiced the video for protection, some parents still asked:
"The school uniform looks familiar. Did this happen in your school?"
"Yes, it's the uniform of Shenzhen High School, but the video is blurred. The post says Class 1, Grade 3, Zheng... My friend is in that class, I'll go ask her."
On Monday, the Shenzhen High School campus was shrouded in a dark cloud.
Every student was refreshing the forum as they walked along the street to see if there was any new revelations. Some people saved the post and video and repeatedly checked them out. The post was called "Confessions of a Marginal Person"
Hello everyone, I am an unimportant person, you can call me an invisible person, a marginal person, or even a passerby, it doesn’t matter.
The boy in the video, Boy A, and I have known each other since junior high school. He is my friend. In junior high school, he developed later than others and was born with a weak physique. He was often bullied by his peers at school. The adults found out very late. When they found out, his parents and the school took action.
In order to prevent him from having a psychological trauma, adults are best at creating mirages for us, who are still children, such as "The high school entrance exam is coming soon" and "When you go to high school, you can leave here."
So boy A studied hard and was eventually admitted to Shenzhen High School with excellent academic performance. The school also waived his tuition and miscellaneous fees. After entering high school, he treated every classmate with kindness and care. Although there were differences in grades and the students were indifferent, it was better than before.
When he wrote to me to share that he had been selected as an outstanding student representative, no one could have imagined that this was an unfortunate beginning.
When people stand on high places, they are not only seen by the general public, but also targeted by some evil insects in the dark. This is how boy A was targeted by a group of people led by Zheng.
The bullies deliberately made loud laughter wherever Boy A passed, attracting onlookers. They stopped Boy A, pushed and hit him non-stop, and loudly called him "sissy" and "pretty boy".
Endless ridicule and bullying hit him, and boy A's life became more difficult than before, but he kept working hard. On Friday after school, boy A and I made an appointment to go home after school to feed the stray cats he adopted.
But that day I stood at his door but no one showed up. What finally happened was that the distracted boy A got into an accident on his way home from school and was hit and killed by a truck crossing the road. Later investigation results showed that the driver was driving under the influence of alcohol.
The result was an accident, no doubt.
But in the hour before leaving school, the boy was bullied by a group of teenagers led by Zheng in the underground swimming pool. They asked the boy to take off his pants, but when he refused, they beat and humiliated him for nearly an hour. The following is some video evidence.
It is true that the boy's death was an accident, but are they innocent? Are they innocent
He is just like us, an ordinary person. Besides studying hard, he likes to draw. His hobbies are also ordinary. He often watches the anime "Slam Dunk", his idol is Miyagi Ryouta, and he has adopted many stray cats.
The only thing that’s unusual about Boy A might be that he’s what the bullies call a “sissy” or “weird”, but I don’t think he’s any different.
This is a person who suffered a lot of bullying during his lifetime.
On Friday, the cat was still waiting for him to come back home, but the kitten didn't know that he had left.
Please punish them.
The video attached to the post is about 3 minutes long. Although the people in the video have been blurred for various reasons and others may not be able to see them, the students in Class 1, Grade 3 were still very sharp and recognized the bullies in the video: Zheng Chaoxing, Ding Li, Zuo Heng, and Zhou Zhenyang.
And Bansheng.
This post quickly became a hot topic and caused quite a stir online. The school office phone was flooded with calls from the media and relevant departments early in the morning, and every teacher who answered the phone was sweating profusely.
When Lin Weixia walked into the school, the atmosphere was strange and chaotic. There were no teachers on duty at the school gate to check their appearance, and students were doing their duty leisurely with mops in hand.
The atmosphere in the classroom was also weird. Everyone was discussing something in a low voice. We were all in the same environment. The posts and truth on the Internet were like a big steamer, steaming everyone's forehead with sweat.
Lin Weixia put her schoolbag on the desk and subconsciously looked towards Fang Jiabei's desk. She just happened to walk over. The two of them stood in the aisle at the end of the row of desks.
Fang Jiabei spoke slowly, but in a questioning tone:
"You broke your promise."
"I'm sorry." Lin Weixia lowered her dark eyelashes.
When Lin Weixia wanted to say something else, there was a "bang" and someone kicked open the back door of the classroom. Before anyone could react, Zheng Zhaoxing rushed over. He strode over, grabbed a handful of books and threw them at Fang Jiabei.
Zheng Zhaoxing's face was gloomy. He stretched out his hand and kept tapping Fang Jiabei's forehead. His nails were so long that they almost blinded her eyes. He cursed:
"Sister Yulin, I didn't expect you to have such a trick. I thought I was dazzled at the swimming pool that day. It turned out to be you. You took the video, and you wrote the post, too."
"You don't want to fucking live anymore, do you?"
Zheng Zhaoxing pushed her down and cursed her with vulgar words. Fang Jiabei lowered her eyes. Her bangs were still very long, so her expression could not be seen clearly.
Everyone turned their heads to look, and just when they thought Fang Jiabei would just accept it as usual and wait for Zheng Zhaoxing to calm down after scolding her.
Fang Jiabei suddenly looked up and slapped his outstretched hand away. There was a loud and clear "pop" sound, and the air seemed to stagnate. Everyone took a breath.
"I say, how does it feel to be condemned and abused? It's humiliating, right? Especially those curses and comments online that scold you to pieces. It's annoying and uncomfortable, ha, but you can't do anything to them across the Internet. But I have suffered ten or a hundred times more than you." Fang Jiabei sneered.
"And I have a name, Fang Jiabei." Fang Jiabei put her hands in her pockets and looked at him calmly, "Believe it or not, with such a big fuss, the police will come to investigate soon. You should be very scared now, Zheng Zhaoxing."
"Bugs like you deserve to go to hell."
Fang Jiabei's words hit Zheng Zhaoxing's heart completely. Panic came over him and then turned into anger that he had nowhere to vent. Zheng Zhaoxing raised his palm high and was about to slap him hard when -
A slender arm grabbed his wrist. Lin Weixia stood aside, with an overwhelming aura and a calm and distant look: "I wrote that post."
Zheng Zhaoxing was stunned on the spot. It took him a while to digest the information before he realized that the video was given to her by Fang Jiabei. He shook off Lin Weixia's hand and stared at her with sudden realization:
"So it's you. You went to great lengths to transfer to Shenzhen High School just for your old lover. What's his name? Yes, Liang Jiashu."
As soon as the three words Liang Jiashu came out, there was an uproar around them, and the discussion gradually became louder. This name was once a taboo among the students in Class 1 of Grade 3, and no one dared to mention it, but now it has been revealed again.
"You are not worthy to mention his name!" Lin Weixia raised her voice, her chest heaving unsteadily, and her eyes began to turn red.
Lin Weixia suffered severe bullying in junior high school. The reason was that she was deaf and was laughed at as a monster.
There was another boy who was bullied. He had excellent grades, was talented in drawing, and was pretty, so he was very popular with the girls in school. Excellence sometimes breeds jealousy, and because he was thin, more people bullied him.
But when Liang Jiashu was bullied, he would stand in front of her, compromise for her, and suffer the humiliation from those people.
Just to protect her.
They were two marginalized people in the class, but they leaned on each other, kept each other warm, and got through a long period of time together.
Liang Jiashu is a very nice person. He has fair skin, curly hair, and when he smiles his eyes narrow into slits, and he has dimples on his face.
He was isolated and constantly bullied, but he still stood up and protected her, taking the pain for Lin Weixia.
He is the person that Lin Weixia vowed to protect in the future after she became stronger.
But she didn't do it. In the end, Liang Jiashu only left her a leaf amber pendant.
Liang Jiashu is not a name that others can mention casually.
"Liang Jiashu is the pretty boy with curly hair," Zheng Zhaoxing smiled and turned around, looking at the man standing at the door and shouted, "Isn't that right, Ban Sheng?"
Everyone looked over there. At this time, the morning sun continued to move forward. A piece of light that fell behind the door panel disappeared. The slender figure of the boy stood there, as if he was standing in the shadow.
Ban Sheng is here.
No one knew how long he had been there.
No matter how much I heard, I heard it all.
Because the teacher was called to an emergency meeting, there was no one to supervise the morning reading, so the class was in chaos and everyone gathered together to watch the fun.
Lin Weixia stood there, taking one step, two steps, three steps—
She saw Ban Sheng walking over. He was wearing a black T-shirt, his hands with obvious knuckles resting on the edge of his trousers, and he was walking slowly towards his seat.
When passing by them, Ban Sheng paused for a moment.
Lin Weixia saw his thin lips opening and closing, and said, "Zheng Zhaoxing, go back to class."
Ban Sheng turned to face them, without even glancing at Lin Weixia. The blood vessels in his neck rose and fell as he spoke, but he still couldn't tell what emotion he was feeling. He said:
"Let's all go."
He spoke to everyone except her.
It was as if Lin Weixia had never existed in his eyes.
As soon as Ban Sheng spoke, everyone dispersed, pulling chairs against the floor with a "sizzling" sound. Some handed in their homework, some copied homework and some borrowed homework, and some started to eat breakfast.
But there were still people secretly paying attention to Ban Sheng's reaction, but he didn't give any response.
After all, Ban Sheng has always doted on Lin Weixia, but he didn't expect her to be so hard-hearted and kill her own relatives for the sake of justice.
Everyone took out their textbooks and pretended to read, discussing the key words "forum", "posts", and "bullying". But Ban Sheng was very calm. He pulled out a chair, sat down, handed in his homework, and started to eat breakfast.
He was eating a sandwich, eating very slowly, his cheeks drooping slowly, as if he was only concerned with the food in front of him.
Li Shengran came to school very late. When she arrived at the classroom, the morning reading bell had already rung. She sat in her seat and took out her English textbook, which made a loud noise and attracted the attention of others.
Lin Weixia was sitting in her seat reading a book and received Li Shengran's gaze many times. She was turning back and staring at her fiercely.
The teacher didn't come until the morning reading class was over.
Lin Weixia closed the book and turned her head to pick up the breakfast hanging on the table. As soon as her fingers touched the white plastic bag, a gust of wind blew over and Li Shengran walked over aggressively, wanting to slap her.
Lin Weixia saw it, and she sat there without hiding, waiting for the slap to fall.
She deserves it.
A tall shadow fell on the table. The boy stopped Li Shengran's arm and signaled her not to make trouble. Li Shengran was unwilling to give in and shouted with red eyes: "Brother—"
The two of them were very close, standing next to Lin Weixia. The girl twisted her arm fiercely, her eyes red as she wanted to teach her a lesson. The boy used a little force, and the lines of his slender arm were taut, and it was wrapped in white gauze, oozing a little blood.
The two of them were entangled together, and Lin Weixia smelled the familiar smell of tobacco and perfume on him. It must be because the two of them were too close, and the smell of Li Shengran's body got on him.
"That's not necessary." Lin Weixia heard him say.
Soon, Li Shengran's hand fell down weakly, and Ban Sheng took him away. In the chaos, the books and pens on Lin Weixia's desk were about to fall down, but he pushed them back carelessly with his hands.
In addition to homework books and other things, a bunch of small dinosaur key chains were also pushed back to the table.
Lin Weixia stared at the key chain in a daze. She felt a tightness in her chest and difficulty breathing. Her heart felt like a blunt knife, cutting back and forth and causing a dull pain.
Ban Sheng took the person out. Lin Weixia saw that Li Shengran seemed to be holding back something. He kept talking and finally couldn't help crying.
I think he was crying for Ban Sheng.
Ban Sheng lowered his eyes and looked at her, patted Li Shengran's arm and handed her a tissue.
The bell finally rang and the teacher came late. After the 40-minute class, Mr. Liu repeatedly emphasized that students must return home safely after school and not stay outside. The school has already notified parents to pick them up from school.
"The school has notified the parents involved in the incident and immediately reported it to the higher-level education department. The school has also contacted the public security department to intervene in the investigation and will definitely give everyone a fair result."
Lin Weixia didn't really listen to the class the whole morning, and she just sat there the whole time. After the break, several girls came into the classroom arm in arm, still discussing this matter.
“Hey, my classmate from Class 8 came to ask me about the post and the video, so I told him the truth.”
"Ah, aren't you afraid of Zheng Zhaoxing's retaliation?"
"Please, Zheng Zhaoxing and his gang are protected by law. Their names and photos are not published online, but now everyone is calling for their destruction. Moreover, they are really evil."
"What about Ban Sheng? Have you told your classmates about him?"
"Didn't we let her finish speaking?" The girl glanced at Lin Weixia.
"I remember that after Liang Jiashu got into a car accident, it seemed that Zheng Zhaoxing's family said they would donate a new swimming pool, so the underground pool was closed. Ban Sheng never swam in the school pool again. Didn't everyone suspect it at the time? But if it weren't for the power behind those people's families, no one dared to mention it."
The teacher asked for leave in the fourth period and asked them to study on their own. Every day, piles of test papers were handed out, and the classroom was filled with the smell of ink.
Lin Weixia picked up a Chinese test paper. She had never done the questions in order and couldn't concentrate at this moment, so she simply read the explanatory text.
The classroom was noisy, with most people discussing that incident. Lin Weixia read quietly: "Sharks, one of the creatures in the ocean, have gone through billions of years of changes. How did they change from hunters to prey?"
"Oh my god, the police came and took Zheng Zhaoxing and the others away."
"Where's Bensheng?"
"Took it away too."
"Why did you send him away too?"
"The rapid extinction of shark species is not only related to the ecological environment, but also to the recent illegal hunting by people. When fishermen go out to sea to hunt sharks, they will quickly cut off the shark's fins, which is the part of the shark's back. After cutting it, the fishermen throw it back into the sea. The sharks swim back to the sea with blood on their bodies. Whether they will die is an unknown probability problem..."
"Of course, isn't he an abuser?"
As I was reading, a crystal tear fell on the Chinese test paper, quickly spreading the black words on it. The word "prey" on the reading instructions was melted by the tears and gradually became blurred.