Chen Mingsheng took Yang Zhao's car, and it was exactly nine o'clock when they arrived at the school.
Only the senior three students were left on campus to study by themselves in the evening. Yang Zhao came to the school gate, explained the situation to the guard, and then walked into the campus with Chen Mingsheng.
The campus is very dark at night. The third floor of the experimental middle school is separate from the teaching building of the first and second grades, and it is closer to the canteen building at the rear. From the school gate to the third floor of the high school, you have to pass through a small forest. There is a stone-paved road in the forest, and peach trees are planted on both sides of the road.
It is very pleasant to walk here during the day, but it is a bit of a pain to walk at night.
There were only two main roads with lights on the campus. The woods were pitch black, and there were gaps between the stones. Chen Mingsheng kept his head down, watching carefully.
But halfway through the walk, his crutch still got stuck in the crevice of the stone, and he almost tripped over. Yang Zhao was thinking about Yang Jintian all the time, when Chen Mingsheng suddenly shook her, she was startled, and realized that the road was uneven.
She stood still and said to Chen Mingsheng: "Hold the crutches, and I will help you walk."
Chen Mingsheng paused, then nodded silently.
Yang Zhao took Chen Mingsheng's arm and helped him walk out bit by bit.
After finally walking out of the grove, Chen Mingsheng let go of Yang Zhao and said, "I'll do it myself."
Yang Zhao hummed, and Chen Mingsheng looked at the brightly lit four-story teaching building in front of him, and said, "Your brother is here?"
"Yes." Yang Zhao also looked up and said, "Let's go."
Yang Zhao and Chen Mingsheng walked into the teaching building, because it was a teaching building specially prepared for senior high school students. There was not a big hall on the first floor, and two stairs led directly to it. Yang Zhao looked at the stairs and said to Chen Mingsheng, "You wait for me here, I'll go up and look for it."
Chen Mingsheng glanced at Yang Zhao and said, "I'll accompany you."
Yang Zhao said, "Then I'll help you upstairs."
"Um."
Yang Zhao helped Chen Mingsheng go upstairs step by step. Yang Jintian was in Class 9, Grade 3, and both the classroom and the teacher's office were on the third floor.
When going upstairs, a student holding a test paper happened to come down from upstairs, and saw the two of them in a daze, staring at Chen Mingsheng's legs as they passed by.
When the student turned a corner and disappeared, Chen Mingsheng stopped suddenly.
Yang Zhao was a little surprised: "What's wrong?"
Chen Mingsheng walked up the stairs with a cane in one hand and Yang Zhao's arm in the other. He lowered his head, and Yang Zhao didn't know what he was looking at.
Chen Mingsheng said in a low voice, "Or I won't go up with you."
"Huh?" Yang Zhao turned his face to look at him, "What's wrong?"
Chen Mingsheng's hand holding the stairs tightened slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Your brother... your brother doesn't like me very much."
Yang Zhao said, "He doesn't like anyone."
Chen Mingsheng turned to look at Yang Zhao, Yang Zhao's expression remained unchanged from the beginning to the end.
silence.
Yang Zhao has been quietly waiting for his opinion.
Chen Mingsheng had a feeling that no matter what he said, Yang Zhao would agree.
Chen Mingsheng lowered his head again and said, "Let's go."
Yang Zhao supported him and went up.
After finally reaching the third floor, lights were on in every classroom, and the doors of some classrooms were open. Looking inside, they were all students studying hard.
Yang Zhao glanced at his watch, it was less than nine o'clock.
She came to the innermost place, and the class doorplate read "Class Nine, Three Years".
Yang Zhao knocked lightly on the door.
The students who were reading all raised their heads in unison, and Yang Zhao thought inappropriately that this scene looked like flocks of frightened flamingos.
The head teacher was sitting at the small desk in the front. She heard the knock on the door and turned her head to look over.
Seeing Yang Zhao, she knew it. Turning back to one direction in the class, he said, "Liu Yuan, Zhu Jia, Yang Jintian, the three of you come here."
Three boys stood up from the back of the classroom and walked out.
"Others read books carefully." Teacher Sun said.
Most of the students resumed their studies, while some still stared at the door vaguely.
Chen Mingsheng felt a little regretful that he didn't come out with prosthetics, so he took a step to the side while supporting his crutches.
Teacher Sun came out with three boys. Yang Zhao saw that Liu Yuan's left cheek was swollen and the corner of his mouth was broken. She glanced at Yang Jintian and found that Yang Jintian was frowning and staring at Chen Mingsheng.
"Come on, parents, please come here."
Teacher Sun's expression was very serious. When he went out, he saw Chen Mingsheng, hesitated for a moment, looked at Yang Zhao, and asked, "This is..."
Yang Zhao said, "We are together."
From the corner of his eyes, Yang Zhao saw that Yang Jintian's expression changed obviously.
Teacher Sun led everyone to the other side of the corridor. There are three teachers' offices here. Teacher Sun led people into a small room next to the office.
Pushing open the door, the room is small, with a coffee table in the middle and two sofas on both sides of the coffee table, which seem to be specially set up for conversation.
There were already two women sitting on one side of the coffee table. Seeing someone coming, they glanced over here. Yang Zhao took a closer look. The two women were in their forties, one was wearing a patterned dress with a gray background, the other was wearing a dress, and there were two handbags on the sofa.
When the two women saw Teacher Sun, they both stood up and glanced at Yang Zhao who was behind him, their expressions were a little unsightly.
"Come on, Yang Jintian's parents, sit here first." Teacher Sun pointed to the other side of the sofa. Yang Zhao turned to look at Chen Mingsheng. Chen Mingsheng stood at the back and whispered to Yang Zhao, "I'll wait for you outside." .”
Just as Yang Zhao wanted to say something, Yang Jintian spoke first: "Sister, sit down first." He turned to look at Chen Mingsheng, and said, "I'm sorry, please let me go."
Yang Zhao frowned, Chen Mingsheng shook his head at her, and walked out the door with a cane. The two women on the sofa saw Chen Mingsheng, looked at each other, and sat down again.
On the couch on both sides, Liu Yuan and Zhu Jia's parents were sitting on one side, and Yang Zhao and Teacher Sun were sitting on the other. The three children stood in a row in front of the tea table.
Teacher Sun spoke first.
"You may already know what happened today. We called our parents here. The main reason is to take this incident seriously." Teacher Sun adjusted his glasses and said, "You all know that it is very important to enter the third year of high school now. The school pays close attention to learning, and now such an incident has happened, and the school leaders also attach great importance to it. The most fortunate thing today is that it did not cause too much impact." Speaking of this, she turned her head and said to the three students : "Come on, one of you will tell me what happened again."
The three students lowered their heads and no one spoke.
Yang Zhao glanced at Yang Jintian, he was standing with his hands behind his back, and he didn't look injured.
Teacher Sun said: "Why, everyone was aggressive when they started fighting, but why are they all languid now? Someone stand up and talk about it."
At this time, a parent sitting across from the sofa said: "The one who hit someone, come out and talk."
Yang Zhao took a look, but the parent didn't look at him, and kept looking at Yang Jintian.
Yang Jintian raised his head and glanced at Yang Zhao.
Yang Zhao said flatly, "Let's talk."
Yang Jintian kept looking at Yang Zhao, as if he was just explaining to her, he said: "Liu Yuan came to me after school, so I didn't go to study at night, and went out to play, I didn't agree."
Liu Yuan bared, and squinted at Yang Jintian, "Well, you are a good student."
"Liu Yuan." The woman in the dress seemed to be Liu Yuan's mother, she called Liu Yuan, turned her head and said to Yang Jintian:
"Our Yuanzi is looking for you. I won't say whether you will follow or not. Who are you beating? Let's see how he has been beaten."
Zhu Jia's mother also nodded, and said, "That's right, we can't just leave it like this, the child is young, and the parents are not sensible." Then, she glanced at Yang Zhao, "I don't even talk about education."
Yang Zhao kept looking at Yang Jintian, not knowing how much he listened to what the two parents said.
She asked Yang Jintian: "Who will make the first move?"
Yang Jintian said, "Liu Yuan."
"What do you mean?" Liu Yuan's parents immediately became unhappy when they heard this. They stood up and pointed at Yang Jintian, and their voices became louder. "You beat Yuanzi, and now you are still biting back, do you want to bully someone?"
Teacher Sun quickly stood up and said, "Zhou Hui, let's calm down first."
The woman named Liu Hui turned around and said to Teacher Sun: "Yanhua, you must be the master of this matter. Does this student have to be punished for beating someone?"
Liu Yuan's mother works in the Experimental Middle School, is a teacher in the Academic Affairs Office, and also knows Sun Yanhua. Teacher Sun was very aware of Zhou Hui's temper, and comforted her in a good voice: "Calm down first, calm down first, let's sit down and talk."
Yang Zhao was sitting all the time, she looked at Yang Jintian and said, "Xiaotian, let me ask you again, who made the move first?"
Yang Jintian did not avoid Yang Zhao's eyes, and said, "Liu Yuan."
Liu Yuan squinted, exchanged a clear look with Zhu Jia, raised his head and said, "Mom, he hit us first!"
"Did you hear that!?" Both Zhou Hui and Zhu Jia's parents stood up, pointed at Yang Jintian, and said, "At such a young age, you not only hit people, but also lied! Let me tell you, you will recite this punishment! And This parent—" Zhou Hui stared at Yang Zhao closely, and said, "Look at how you beat our child's face!?"
Yang Zhao's eyes were still on Yang Jintian, and her eyes seemed strange to outsiders, not angry, caring, or worried...
It was an objective, even cold, look.
Finally, she seemed to have judged something, stood up, and said to Yang Jintian lightly:
"My sister believes in you."
Zhou Hui narrowed her eyes, looked at Liu Yuan, and said, "Yuanzi, did he beat you?"
Liu Yuan and Zhu Jia said in unison, "He did it first!"
Zhou Hui looked at Yang Zhao and said, "Everyone says that your child did it, so what are you arguing about?"
Teacher Sun seemed to be a little bit uneasy, and stood up and said, "Zhou Hui, calm down first, don't be too stiff."
Zhou Hui glanced back and said, "Why doesn't she say that those things can be so stiff!?"
Yang Zhao finally turned his head to look at her, and said, "What did I say?"
Seeing that she replied, Zhou Hui immediately became more energetic.
"What did you say? What did you say? What do you call your child's words? After beating someone, the parents don't criticize or educate them, but condone them. How do you educate your children?"
Yang Zhao said, "How do you want me to educate you?"
Zhou Hui was tall and strong, like a mare, looked at Yang Zhao, and said, "Let's not talk about anything else, you have to pay for the medical expenses, half of Yuanzi's face is swollen like that. You have to take him to the hospital for an examination, and you have to be responsible for any problems."
Yang Zhao thought for a while and said, "You can check, and I can also pay for the medical expenses."
After hearing this, Zhou Hui calmed down a bit, and gave Yang Zhao a vague look.
Yang Zhao stood up, came to Yang Jintian, and said, "Where did you fight?"
Yang Jintian whispered, "It's behind the cafeteria."
Yang Zhao said, "Take me there."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone in the room froze for a moment.
Teacher Sun asked Yang Zhao, "Parent Yang Jintian, where are you going?"
Yang Zhao said, "Mr. Sun, I'm going to take a look at the place where they fought."
Seeing what Yang Zhao said, Zhou Hui was unhappy and said, "What are you doing, running around behind the cafeteria."
Yang Zhao picked up the handbag, looked at Zhou Hui, and said, "Ten years ago, I also graduated from this high school. The year before last, I attended the 60th anniversary of Experimental Middle School."
No one knew why she said this, only Teacher Sun thought it over, "Ah, yes, what a coincidence, she's still an alumnus."
Yang Zhao continued: "If I remember correctly, there were surveillance cameras near the wall of the Experimental Middle School at that time."
The people in the room finally understood, Zhou Hui's complexion changed instantly, and his emotions became a little agitated.
"What do you mean, what do you mean!? You are saying that we are all lying to you."
Yang Zhao looked at her and said, "Whether you're cheating or not, you'll know when the time comes." She glanced at Yang Jintian and said, "Let's go."
Yang Jintian nodded abruptly, "Yes."
Yang Jintian was worried all night. The scene of Yang Zhao lying on his test paper and sleeping soundly yesterday has been lingering in his mind, so when Liu Yuan came to look for him, he didn't agree and they had a fight.
He was very afraid that Yang Zhao would be angry with him, but Yang Zhao didn't seem to blame him.
But just now, he and his sister were only two people, which seemed to be very unfavorable in this room. When he heard the woman talking about Yang Zhao, he was so angry that he wanted to rush up and slap her twice, but seeing Yang Zhao's completely trusting gaze in the blink of an eye, he felt a sour excitement welling up in his heart.
Yang Jintian took Yang Zhao out first.
Zhou Hui lowered her head and whispered to Liu Yuan, "Yuanzi, don't be afraid, Mom will definitely punish him."
Liu Yuan nodded, Zhu Jia looked at him, raised his eyebrows, and laughed.
Liu Yuan walked at the back, and when he went out, the people in front were already going downstairs. He took two steps, and suddenly heard a low voice.
"Boy..."
Liu Yuan was taken aback, then turned his head, and saw a person standing against the wall at the corner of the corridor.
Chen Mingsheng had a cigarette in his hand. He knew it was at school, so he never lit it. He twirled the cigarette lightly between his fingers.
Liu Yuan recognized him, his leg was too obvious.
Liu Yuan frowned, "Is that you?"
Chen Mingsheng raised his eyes, Liu Yuan looked into those dark eyes, and his heart suddenly felt cold.
"Who are you, what's the matter?"
"It's nothing." Chen Mingsheng squeezed the cigarette in his hand, and said softly:
"I just want to remind you of one thing."