The classroom was quiet during the evening self-study class, with only the sound of the pen tip scratching the paper spreading in a very small area. Li Xinyan suddenly felt a little irritable and turned her head to look at the empty seat not far away. Dong Chengcheng, the study committee member who was never late or left early, did not come to class for the first time. I don't know if he had some personal matters or was called to the office by Liu Qing to discuss the details of the day when the money was lost.
Thinking of this, Li Xinyan looked back at the back row of the classroom. That annoying woman hadn't returned to class yet. She must still be trying hard not to admit it.
"Hmph! Let's see how long you can last!"
The pen in Li Xinyan's hand paused, and she accidentally scratched most of the math problem she had already finished. She hurriedly picked up the eraser to remedy the problem, but it tore the paper of the exercise book with a "swish" sound.
She frowned, threw away her pen and eraser, and looked out the window at the night with her chin in her hands. For some reason, the feeling of depression in her heart became heavier and heavier.
At this time, the door of the classroom was pushed open, and Liu Qing, Wen Liang, Dong Chengcheng and Zhao Dan entered one after another. Liu Qing stood on the podium and said with a smile on his face: "I have good news to announce to the students. The class fee that was lost a few days ago has been found. However, it is not what many people imagined. It was accidentally lost by Dong Chengcheng outside, and was picked up by a student from another class and handed in to the Political Education Department. After communicating with the school and carefully identifying it, it was confirmed that it was the money lost by our class, not a penny less!"
"Wow, you really found it?"
"Just find it back, otherwise we'll have to hand it in again!"
"Didn't you say yesterday that someone must have stolen it? Are you blushing now?"
"Hey, you thought so at the time, too, okay?"
"Alright, alright, I've already told you that you shouldn't doubt your classmates, and you still accuse me of being hypocritical..."
The class suddenly became lively. Liu Qing waited until everyone was a little more excited before he put his hand down to signal for silence and nodded to Dong Chengcheng. Dong Chengcheng took a few steps forward, bowed deeply, and said, "I'm sorry, everyone. I thought the money was in the classroom at the time. Later, I thought about it carefully and realized that it might be on me. I just forgot it because of carelessness. Fortunately, I met a good classmate who returned the money this time, otherwise I really would be ashamed to face the people of Jiangdong."
Dong Chengcheng even made a self-deprecating joke at the end, which caused the classmates to laugh in good faith. The next speaker was Wen Liang. His eyes casually swept across the people under the podium, paused for a few seconds on the face of Li Xinyan who was sitting in the middle, and then said loudly: "Although I was away these days, all kinds of rumors in the class still reached my ears. I understand everyone's feelings. Everyone is very anxious after losing so much money, but no matter how anxious you are, before there is solid evidence and before there is a definite conclusion, you can't casually be skeptical, doubt this, doubt that, and you can't take revenge on personal grudges and make random accusations. Your momentary anger may have a lifelong impact on some classmates. If you think of this moment in the future, will you regret it?"
The audience fell silent. Although Wen Liang did not mention any names, everyone understood what he meant. All eyes turned to Zhao Dan, who was standing with her head bowed beside the podium. Regardless of their previous impression of her, most people felt guilty at this moment.
Yes, catch the thief and catch the dirty. No one really saw Zhao Dan steal the money, and no one really found the money in her hands. Why can I blame her without any sympathy? They are classmates who spend every day together. Although they can't be friends, they don't have to kill each other.
I have to say that in this era, except for very few exceptions, all students have a kind and pure heart!
"I propose that all those who have pointed the finger or tacitly acknowledged this in their hearts stand up and sincerely say sorry to Zhao Dan!"
"I am the first one. I admit that when I first heard about it, I also thought it was Zhao Dan, but now I know I was wrong!
Wen Liang looked serious, bowed to Zhao Dan, and said, "I'm sorry!"
Zhao Dan was startled and hid to the side, looking at Wen Liang helplessly, not knowing what to do.
Huang Gang stood up immediately and said, "Zhao Dan, I'm sorry!"
With Wen Liang and Huang Gang taking the lead, the deeply moved students rushed to stand up. Even those who wrote "I don't know" in the anonymous box were not willing to be left behind. One, two, three, four, after a while, there were only three or four people left in the seats in the whole classroom, which seemed particularly glaring and prominent.
Li Xinyan put her hands on her thighs under the table, her sharp nails tightly grasping her pants, staring at Zhao Dan, and then stood up reluctantly. The other three or four girls who followed her lead could no longer bear this huge pressure and hurriedly stood up.
"sorry!"
Thousands of words finally came down to three words. Zhao Dan, who had never felt the kindness of his classmates since entering high school, covered his mouth and looked at the scene in disbelief.
Once upon a time, she also hoped to be integrated into the class and become a friend who would go through the youth season with them;
Once upon a time, she also wished to have a few close friends with whom she could talk about anything, to play and have fun together, to learn and grow together, to be dependent on each other, and to be inseparable;
However, since her freshman year in high school, her life has been mired in all kinds of rumors and slanders. The labels of thief, liar, and bad girl are deeply engraved in everyone's impression. She is powerless to refute or struggle, but she grits her teeth and deliberately develops into the kind of girl they think of her. Her out-of-place clothes, simple makeup, messy hair, constant swearing, and cigarettes between her fingers show how a 16- or 17-year-old girl wants to express her rebellion and fight back!
So, during her best years in high school, she stood alone, watching other people's joys and sorrows with cold eyes.
She thought that all this had nothing to do with her from now on!
Until today, until this moment, when familiar or unfamiliar faces said sorry to her in the same sincere voice, she was terrified, flustered, confused, her heart beat faster, and then she burst into tears!
"Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone, thank you..."
Zhao Dan's choking voice was barely audible, but when everyone saw this girl, who they thought was not from the same world, crying so softly, that cry seemed like a soul-whipping response to everyone's prejudice for so long.
Many female classmates shed tears!
After the first evening self-study get out of class, a lot of people gathered around Zhao Dan. Putting aside past perceptions and mutual hostility, after a few simple words, they found that Zhao Dan was actually a very interesting person. Zhao Dan also found that people he usually disliked were also very kind. Laughter could be heard from time to time, and the entire Class 6 was in an atmosphere of being moved and relieved.
Maybe one person is the only exception!
Li Xinyan lowered her head, listening to the laughter behind her. The hatred in her heart surged into her mind like a spring. She scratched the notebook with the pen in her hand meaninglessly, and then stabbed the table hard. As expected, the tip of the pen curled up and it was obviously unusable.
But now she didn't have time to hate Zhao Dan. She still had a lot of doubts in her heart. She wanted to ask Dong Chengcheng, but she looked around and didn't see her. The bell for the second self-study class rang, and the classroom slowly returned to silence. Dong Chengcheng hadn't come back yet. The more Li Xinyan thought about it, the more restless she became. Finally, she couldn't help it, so she stood up and walked to Wen Liang's seat and said, "Class monitor, my stomach suddenly hurts a little. I'm asking for your leave to go to the infirmary to get some medicine."
Wen Liang asked with concern: "Is it okay? Can you find a girl to go with you?"
"It's okay, just a minor problem. I'm in class. I can go by myself."
After Li Xinyan left, Wen Liang smiled and said to Huang Gang, "Thank you very much. If you hadn't told me to secretly hide my novel somewhere on campus and make sure I couldn't find it, I really wouldn't have come up with this idea."
Huang Gang was confused and asked, "What?"
Wen Liang smiled and said, "Excuse me, I need to go to the toilet!"
Li Xinyan looked around carefully. It was time for self-study. The night was dark, and only the sound of wind blowing through leaves could be heard. No one was around, making the campus even more terribly quiet. She tightened the collar of her shirt, walked to the northeast corner of the campus, walked through a small bamboo forest, found a small tung tree painted white, and took out a small half brick from the wall behind the tree. She was shocked to see a thick stack of money wrapped in a handkerchief inside.
Last weekend, the whole school had a routine cleaning, and the Class 6 section was here. She accidentally discovered that a brick on the wall had fallen down, forming a small hole. If she put something in it and then stuffed the bricks in, no one would be able to find it from the outside.
This discovery also made her start thinking about the class funds. Otherwise, eight hundred yuan is not just a few dollars or tens of dollars. No. 1 Middle School is under military management and students are not allowed to leave the school except on weekends. Students are together every day and it is absolutely impossible to hide the money safely.
So with this hole, hiding money was no longer a problem, and Li Xinyan began to pay attention to Dong Chengcheng's every move. It happened that the class fees were collected that morning, and Dong Chengcheng forgot to bring money when he left at noon. Li Xinyan pretended to be calm and went to the cafeteria with a few friends. Halfway through the journey, she made an excuse that her period had come and she had to go to the dormitory to change, and quickly ran back to the classroom.
The classroom was empty. She stole the money, wrapped it in a simple handkerchief, and hid the money in the northeast corner when no one was around. She clapped her hands and returned to the cafeteria. Anyway, her period was during these days and no one would suspect anything.
What happened next was just as she had expected. Dong Chengcheng discovered that the money was missing, and Liu Qing was furious. After investigating, Zhao Dan, who had the worst reputation and popularity and had a history of stealing money several times in his first year of high school, became the recognized suspect.
Once again, she won, just like she had done several times in her freshman year of high school!
"ah?"
Li Xinyan blinked and confirmed that it was her handkerchief, and also confirmed that the handkerchief contained 800 yuan intact. She had not come here to check in the past two days to avoid suspicion, and thought that the brick had accidentally fallen out again (after all, when she found it, the brick had fallen out), and the money wrapped in the handkerchief also fell out, and was found by a classmate who happened to be here, and then handed it over to the political education department.
But how do you explain all this
Li Xinyan instinctively felt that something was wrong, but with her age and experience, she couldn't figure out why this happened. Because in her opinion, if the money hadn't really been found, why would Liu Qing, Wen Liang, Dong Chengcheng and others say that
There is no reason!
"Don't you understand?"
Suddenly there was a sound behind her, and Li Xinyan screamed in fright, thinking she had run into a ghost. Her legs and feet went limp, and she fell to the ground, even her heart almost stopping beating.
A strong light from a flashlight lit up in the bamboo forest. Li Xinyan, who was frightened half to death, finally saw the people coming: Wen Liang, Liu Qing, Dong Chengcheng, and Zhao Dan, who should have been in the classroom.
Li Xinyan's face turned pale, her body trembled, and her mouth trembled, unable to speak. She suddenly felt that even if it was a ghost, it should be better than the people in front of her.
Wen Liang sighed slightly, too lazy to care about what happened next, stuffed the flashlight into Liu Qing's hand, turned around and left. After walking a few steps, Zhao Dan caught up with him and walked side by side with Wen Liang without saying a word.
"I thought you would stay there and scold her to vent your anger?"
Zhao Dan was silent for a while and shook his head.
Wen Liang asked curiously, "You're not angry?"
"No, I wanted to slap her hard in the face... But when I saw her like that just now, I suddenly felt that it didn't matter whether I scolded her or not. My life has been entangled with her for more than a year, and there is no point in entanglement any further. Thank you, monitor. After this incident, I think I have really grown up!"
Wen Liang stopped, stared into Zhao Dan's eyes, and chuckled, "Zhao Dan, forgiveness is always more powerful than hatred. Although I can't do it, I'm glad you can do it. You are very good. Work hard and get into a good university. Your life should be controlled by you. Remember this night, it will be your lifelong wealth!"
Zhao Dan nodded vigorously, trying hard not to cry, and said, "Thank you, squad leader!"
(Maybe someone will ask what does this plot have to do with the main storyline? In fact, it really has little to do with it. It’s just that I have always believed that writing a novel is also writing about life. There will always be some insignificant but significant things happening in life, just like Zhao Dan in the story. The prototype of this character is a real person from my high school years. The only difference is that the person who wisely found out that the person who really stole the money was the class teacher at the time. It is no exaggeration to say that the class teacher gave Zhao Dan a new life. A little girl who was thought by everyone to be going astray after graduating from high school eventually got admitted to a very good university. Now she has a happy job and family, and she returns to her alma mater every year to say hello to her class teacher, which has become a good story. I like this story that happened in high school very much, so I wrote it, not for anything else, just to commemorate the youth that had nowhere to go in those years!)
(Sincerely!) (To be continued)