“Crash, crash.”
A test paper with a red tick and "92" written on it was used as a fan by someone next to me, making a loud rustling sound. The person sitting next to me looked very proud and tried to pretend to be nonchalant, with the words "Look, I passed" written on his forehead.
Childish. I smiled in my heart, turned around and said in surprise: "92? You got 92 points in math!" Although I was reluctant, I had to admit that Gu Yue was very smart. When I first started tutoring Gu Yue, I found that he had a quick mind and a fast reaction. After mastering the basic questions, he could quickly apply what he had learned to other situations. If he continued like this, he could even get more than 100 points in a simple weekly test.
Gu Yue was dismissive of my compliments and said shamelessly: "I think math is easy for me. How much did you score?"
I took out a test paper from the math book and spread it on Gu Yue's desk with its back facing up. Gu Yue opened it and the red 136 lay on the test paper looking at Gu Yue.
"Are you kidding me?" Gu Yue crumpled up his paper and threw it on the table.
I laughed and snatched the balled-up paper from Gu Yue's hand: "Alright, alright, let me tell you about the other questions."
Gu Yue has changed.
One day after school, Gu Yue and I ran into Liu Sulan in the stairwell, who was asking Director Guo how to get rid of the punishment before the graduation exam. Gu Yue's first reaction was to pull me to hide so that Liu Sulan wouldn't see us. He was stubborn at the time and said awkwardly that Liu Sulan was meddling in his business, but his actions began to change. He stopped sleeping in class and was much more serious in his after-school tutoring. If there is any evidence that Gu Yue has changed, it is probably this test paper in front of me. Who would have thought that Gu Yue, who used to fill in random answers in multiple-choice questions and copied randomly in big questions, could pass the exam?
He denied Liu Sulan verbally, saying that she didn't care about her studies and that she just wanted to make up for it, but in fact he was quietly changing in the direction Liu Sulan hoped for. Gu Yue is actually a soft-hearted person, right?
After several days of sunshine, the temperature dropped sharply again. It was probably a late spring cold snap. Director Guo was sitting on the podium with his back to the blackboard, and I was distracted by the door. The sky outside was very gloomy and damp, as if a handful of water could be squeezed out at any time. The wind blew a plastic bag into the air, and the plastic bag swirled, and along with Director Guo's flat voice, everything was extremely boring.
In the classroom, where only Director Guo was talking, a light snoring sound suddenly occurred.
Director Guo still faced the blackboard. He uttered a slight tone, tilted his head, and said in the direction of the snoring: "Wake up Gu Yue! Humph, you said you would cancel the punishment, but now you're sleeping after just a few days of being well behaved?"
Gu Yue has been mentioned by teachers more often these days than before. Although they are praised in public, there is always a sense of criticism and sarcasm. It is hard to tell whether the teachers hope that Gu Yue will continue to improve, or whether they can't wait to see Gu Yue "return to his original form" and then sigh "I told you so".
"I've said it before, how can someone like Gu Yue learn so easily?"
"I've said it before, it's easy to be bad but hard to be good. Do you really think Gu Yue will become a good person?"
How many people are waiting to say something like this?
There was someone snoring in the classroom, and Director Guo's first reaction was to think it was Gu Yue, which was not surprising. The strange thing was that the students in the audience looked at each other, no one spoke, and no one tried to wake Gu Yue up. I turned around and saw Gu Yue pointing at himself innocently with a puzzled look on his face. Obviously, Gu Yue was not the one who snored.
"Gu Yue, stand up!" Director Guo was a little angry after not hearing the sound of standing up for a long time. He felt that his authority was challenged, but he did not stop writing on the blackboard - there were always a lot of blackboard writing in history classes.
With some kind of evil taste, Gu Yue stood up quietly and waved at his classmates, signaling them not to speak.
The snoring was still going on. Director Guo was really furious. He turned around and threw a piece of chalk at Gu Yue with surprising accuracy. Director Guo was furious: "Gu Yue is not awake, why don't you wake him up? You must make me..." Director Guo turned around and saw Gu Yue standing upright, and his face was a little embarrassed.
Gu Yue waved his hand with an innocent look, pointed at the boy in front of him, and said to Director Guo: "I stood up, but I'm not the one snoring."
"If it's not you, then it's not you. Don't you know how to open your mouth and speak? What's the mouth for? Do you think that not sleeping means you're listening carefully to the class?"
The classmates burst into laughter, and the sleeping boy raised his head dazedly. The boy subconsciously sucked back his saliva with a slurp, causing another round of laughter.
Director Guo was a little embarrassed. He picked up a notebook on the podium and threw it at the boy: "How many days are left before the graduation exam? You are still sleeping now..."
Director Guo was scolding the boy enthusiastically. I smiled secretly at Gu Yue. He seemed to notice something and secretly raised his eyebrows at me.
I smiled happily, the previous boredom was swept away, and I felt a vague sense of joy in my heart.
"Still laughing!" A piece of chalk hit Gu Yue, who was grinning at me with his eyebrows raised. Director Guo yelled, and the classroom, which had been a little noisy just now, immediately became quiet. "Stand up and still mess around! Did you do well on the exam? Did you pass?"
"I passed!" Gu Yue said as a matter of course.
Director Guo was repeatedly humiliated, his face becoming increasingly unsightly: "You passed? You..." He flipped open the notebook on the table and looked for Gu Yue's name in the score sheet. His face became even uglier, "Well, 78 points, not bad, and you got a good seat!"
Sitting in a good seat, this sentence is full of sarcasm.
Hearing Director Guo say this, Gu Yue immediately became unhappy: "I took the test myself!" What does "sat in a good seat" mean? Does it mean that Gu Yue's front, back, left, and right are particularly convenient for copying?
Director Guo didn't really believe what Gu Yue said: "Humph, it's best to take the exam by yourself. It doesn't matter if you fool the teacher and the exam, but if you want to fool even the graduation exam, the consequences will be unbearable!" Director Guo seemed to think his words were a bit serious, and added a few more words to cover up the truth, "It's not just Gu Yue, all the students, don't have a fluke mentality for the graduation exam!"
But Gu Yue was not fooled by such words. He was a little annoyed: "Who cheated in the exam? If you don't believe me, check the surveillance!"
"I didn't say you cheated, I just said don't cheat!" Director Guo said righteously, with a rather unhappy expression. He didn't seem to expect Gu Yue to talk back. He glanced at the students under the podium awkwardly, then stared at Gu Yue and said, "Since I have said so much, I will tell you one more thing! I didn't intend to bring this matter to class, but this atmosphere is too bad, and we must warn you! According to the students who live in the dormitory, these few days, at 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock in the evening, there have been students climbing over the iron fence to go online for several days in a row!"
Director Guo looked at Gu Yue as he spoke, his voice becoming more and more severe, as if Gu Yue was caught escaping from the dormitory: "Although he was not caught by the dormitory manager, I hope there are no students from our class here! Especially those who want to eliminate the punishment!"
There are not many boys in our class who live in the dormitory, but the only ones who have the courage to do something like skipping the dormitory are the group that is close to Gu Yue. Although Director Guo said that he "does not want students from our class to come", he also said "especially those students who want to eliminate the punishment". Isn't this obviously talking about Gu Yue?
I turned and stared at Gu Yue. He was holding back his anger, his mouth tightly shut and his jaw clenched.
But I don't believe that Gu Yue would skip bedtime to surf the Internet. If he really had time to go out and surf the Internet, then when did he finish the test papers that I helped him with after dinner and before evening self-study? Those test papers were no longer the ones I provided to Gu Yue, but the ones that the teacher had handed out before and Gu Yue had thrown into the drawer.
Gu Yue was angry and glared at Director Guo defiantly.
Director Guo glared back in a tougher way: "Why are you looking at me? I didn't say anything about you!"
Aren’t you talking about Gu Yue? Why are you staring at him?
Director Guo coughed, looked at Gu Yue in a persuasive but more like warning tone and said, "If you want to eliminate the punishment, it is not enough to just pass the exam. Before May, if you behave yourself and don't make any mistakes, the school will generally be able to eliminate your records. However, the premise is that there must not be any disciplinary violations! If you want to eliminate the punishment, there are some things you need to consider carefully!"
When Director Guo said these words, the classroom fell silent. Gu Yue stood out in everyone's sight like a crane among chickens, his face ashen.
"Why are you still standing? Do you want me to ask you to sit down?" Director Guo ignored the dark look on Gu Yue's face and said casually as if he didn't care.
Gu Yue and Director Guo stared at each other for a long time, but finally, with a stern face, they sat down unwillingly. The class, which had been interrupted for a long time, resumed.
People hope that a person will change, but when that person really changes, they are still used to looking at him with the old eyes. I understand that Gu Yue has actually changed, but these changes are still question marks in the eyes of teachers, or they always believe that "it is easy to change the country, but it is difficult to change one's nature."
If you keep trying to get better, others will always see it, right? But for those who are hostile, no matter how you get better, they are still hostile to you, and your kindness is weakness and surrender to them.
I did not respond to Tian Tian's provocation, so after running 800 meters, I got a school uniform thrown into a puddle of water - my school uniform. I only had two school uniforms for changing.
My dad said that I didn't have to wear the school uniform. He said that if I explained the reason to the teacher, the teacher would understand. So I stood at the school gate in my cotton jacket, hesitating and unable to move. Some classmates had encountered the same situation as me before. They just asked their friends to borrow a school uniform from the classroom and send it to the school gate, which easily solved the problem.
But I turned around with my schoolbag on my back, going in the opposite direction of the students who were entering the school. It's not that I haven't thought about borrowing a school uniform from someone, but the thought made me feel awkward, or I didn't think anyone would help me. It would be better to wait until the teacher on duty left.
However, I saw Gu Yue standing a few meters away: "Why are you here?"
I was very surprised. Gu Yue was a boarding student and it made no sense for him to be outside the school so early in the morning. I thought of what Director Guo said yesterday about skipping the dormitory and shook my head. Gu Yue had changed, so he shouldn't skip the dormitory to surf the Internet, right?
"Don't tell me you really..." Really skipped bedtime to go online. If that's the case, then wouldn't all my efforts for so long be in vain?
"Eat breakfast!" Gu Yue shrugged, not caring at all whether his reason was tenable or not.
"The school has a cafeteria and you want to eat outside? Director Guo is still watching you." Thinking of Director Guo's affirmative look yesterday, I said, "Don't worry about what they think of you. Anyway, the graduation test results are real, and their nonsense will not work."
Gu Yue looked at me quietly until I felt a little awkward, then he spoke: "Do you care about me?"
There was a cunning light in his eyes, which made me jump. I didn't know how to respond for a moment: "I, I have helped you for so long, I can't just let you waste my time, right?"
"If you care about me, just tell me!" He suppressed his laughter and suddenly became serious again, "Where's your school uniform?"
I curled my lips. Everyone knows that you are not allowed to enter the school without a school uniform. You either have to ask someone to deliver it to you, or stand at the school gate for two classes. This is the rule of Director Guo.
Gu Yue frowned, a cold light flashed in his narrow eyes, and his expression suddenly became fierce: "It's Tian Tian again? Why is she never-ending!" His tone was very dissatisfied.
"Forget it, it's only a few months away anyway." Gu Yue's hostility towards Tian Tian was very obvious, which made me feel very happy, as if Gu Yue was on my side.
"Excuse me!" Gu Yue took off his school uniform and threw it to me. "You can wear it in. I have another one in my dormitory."
My face flushed, and I returned the clothes to him disapprovingly, saying, "You gave it to me, so how are you going to get in?"
"Over there in the dormitory, you can climb over the iron fence to get in."
I was about to say something to refuse, but Gu Yue stuffed the clothes into my arms and said, "Don't waste time. You'll be late if you don't go in!" After that, Gu Yue turned around, waved his hand, and left in big strides.
The clothes in my hand were still warm. I stared blankly at Gu Yue's back as he left, with inexplicable emotions surging in my heart. I thought about it, quickly put down my schoolbag, put on my school uniform and prepared to go to the iron fence of the dormitory to wait for Gu Yue.
It's called a student dormitory, but it's actually just a row of bungalows. Because it's just a simple dormitory and there's no distinction between men and women, fortunately there aren't many people staying there, only about 30 or 40. Due to the terrain, the neighborhood next door is one person taller than the iron fence next to the dormitory. Standing at the entrance of the dormitory alley, you can only look up at the ground on the other side of the iron fence.
When I ran to the iron fence, Gu Yue was already inside the fence, and he was about to find a relatively low place to jump down.
"Be careful!" I was a little nervous when I saw Gu Yue hanging in the air by the iron fence. It sounded easy to climb over the iron fence, but I couldn't help feeling nervous when I saw a person hanging in the air with my own eyes.
"It's okay!" Gu Yue smiled heartily and prepared to jump down.
At this moment, a cold snort sounded behind us: "Humph, you are quite courageous, not returning to bed at night, and climbing over the fence to enter the school in the morning!"
"Bang." Gu Yue was startled by the sound. He jumped down without standing firmly and fell to the ground with a dull thud.
I hurriedly helped him up and turned to look at the place where the sound came from. I don't know when Wang Zhenzhen stood at the corner, staring at us with her hands crossed and cold eyes flashing, as if she had caught two criminals in the act.
I gestured to our clothes and explained to Wang Zhenzhen, "No, he wanted to go back to the dormitory to get his school uniform, but my uniform wasn't dry yet, so he borrowed his to go to school..."
"Is the school uniform you are wearing his?" Wang Zhenzhen pursed her lips and looked at me with a half-smile, as if she was mocking me, but also as if she was waiting for me to nod.
I gritted my teeth and nodded, "Yes."
"Ha," Wang Zhenzhen seemed to have heard a joke, "you really are helping each other."
Her last few words were slurred and I couldn't quite catch them: "What?"
"Nothing. If you enter the school without a school uniform, you will be deducted points and punished to stand for two classes. Am I right?" Wang Zhenzhen was calm and collected. Seeing that I had no objection, she turned to Gu Yue and said, "My classmates have heard people making a lot of noise at the iron fence for several nights in a row, but the dormitory manager is old and fell asleep and couldn't hear it. Gu Yue, you are very flexible in climbing over the fence!"
"He is not!" I explained hurriedly.
Unexpectedly, Wang Zhenzhen's eyes shot over like arrows: "Did I say anything? Did I talk to you? Don't say anything!"
I stared at Wang Zhenzhen unwillingly. Why didn't she say anything? She just saw Gu Yue climbing over the iron fence, but now she wanted to accuse Gu Yue of not returning to the dormitory at night. Was this her idea?
She looked Gu Yue up and down and said, "It's really a sin that Liu Sulan gave birth to a son like you."
Gu Yue let Wang Zhenzhen's gaze pierce him like a knife. After a long while, he finally spoke: "Teacher Wang, my ability to climb over the fence can only prove that I am agile. It does not prove that I did not return to bed last night."
"You didn't stay out all night?" Wang Zhenzhen said with a squint, "If you didn't stay out all night, then you should be in school now, instead of crawling in from outside!"
"He just went out for breakfast!" I couldn't help but yell at Wang Zhenzhen.
"Eating breakfast? Who would believe that?" Wang Zhenzhen acted magnanimously, "Let's go. I won't argue with you anymore. Follow me to the office!"
Wang Zhenzhen looked regretful, "Your mother is so pitiful. She keeps humiliating herself around Director Guo and Principal Zhou every day. She keeps crying and begging, asking, 'How can I get Yueyue to get rid of the punishment?' She rushes to give gifts, fearing that you will be persuaded to leave." Wang Zhenzhen glared at Gu Yue with pity and ridicule on her face, "Okay, for the sake of your mother and my colleagues, as long as you honestly admit your mistakes and write a letter of guarantee that you will not skip the dormitory in the future, I will not punish you."
It might be okay if Liu Sulan was not mentioned, but once Liu Sulan was mentioned, it was like stepping into Gu Yue's minefield: "Don't blame everything on my mother! Why should I admit my mistake for something I didn't do?" Gu Yue's eyes turned red and he said with gritted teeth.
Wang Zhenzhen, however, acted as if she didn't see anything. She looked at Gu Yue with regret, sighing, "Why are you so ignorant? Your mother's shameless begging for help is in vain. Wouldn't it be better if you just admitted your mistakes honestly? Why are you so stubborn? If I were your mother, I would give up my life and beg for help. You are too ashamed to face anyone!"
"Shut up!" Gu Yueli roared, scaring Wang Zhenzhen so much that she shrank back.
However, she only shuddered for a moment. She immediately remembered that she was an adult and Gu Yue's teacher, and her airs immediately returned: "Why, did I blame you wrongly? You said you didn't stay out all night, so how did you, a boarding student, come back from outside the school so early in the morning? You violated the rules here by climbing over the fence and escaping from the dormitory, and don't even think about the humble look on your mother's face when she begged for help! Oh, come to think of it, Zhang Yuanyuan has seen it too!" After saying that, Wang Zhenzhen folded her hands and imitated the way Liu Sulan grabbed my hands at that time, "Please, teacher, please, Yuanyuan..."
"you!"
Wang Zhenzhen imitated Liu Sulan, and those humble actions of Liu Sulan at that time seemed even more humble and lowly at this moment.
The veins on Gu Yue's neck popped up, and his face flushed with shame: "Don't learn it!"
"Isn't that so?" Wang Zhenzhen laughed sarcastically, "Could it be..." Wang Zhenzhen hunched her back and tried to please him, "Could it be so? That's what happened when Liu Sulan asked Director Guo for help."
Gu Yue's eyes were bloodshot, and his narrow eyes almost cracked in anger. He stretched out his hand and swung it towards Wang Zhenzhen, shouting, "I told you not to learn!"
Almost subconsciously, I opened my arms and quickly grabbed Gu Yue, holding him tightly and pulling him back, but I only dragged him back one step.
Wang Zhenzhen was a little scared and stepped back. When she saw me hugging Gu Yue, she immediately became arrogant again and shouted, "You still want to hit me? Hit me! Hit me! I have never seen such a student! The teacher tried to persuade him with kind words, but he still wanted to hit me!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Gu Yue roared.
I was also roaring: "You call this giving good advice? You are rubbing salt into someone's wounds and using someone's mother to insult the student. You call this giving good advice?"
"Humph, you insulted the teacher, stayed out all night, climbed over the iron fence, and you ignored the school rules and regulations like this. You still want to get rid of the punishment? I tell you, dream on!" Wang Zhenzhen attacked fiercely as if she had found a weakness, shouting, "Then I'll see how your mother begs for favors and gives gifts! Oh, yes, there's also this guy next to you!"
Gu Yue, who was held by me, was shaking with anger. He was furious . I didn't know if Gu Yue would break free from me and really punch me if Wang Zhenzhen continued to take revenge and make trouble unreasonably.
But I didn’t expect Wang Zhenzhen to mention me, and I didn’t expect her to shamelessly want to knock down everyone standing around Gu Yue with one stroke.
"Zhang Yuanyuan, top of the grade, the golden signboard of No. 6 Middle School!" Wang Zhenzhen's eyes were filled with malicious light, and those words of praise were now filled with ill intentions. "You can deny your mistakes, you can ask your father to smooth things over, you can pay to get rid of it, but Zhang Yuanyuan can't! She still has to take the graduation exam, and she still wants to get into a good school! If you do something, she can't get away with it! She will definitely be punished for getting involved in your mess! Ha, when the key universities look at her file, I don't know if they will still consider her!"
I suddenly looked up and my eyes met Gu Yue's, whose eyes were filled with anger and hatred. I felt like I had drunk several bottles of wine, and my head was foggy.
Gu Yue's mother is like the dignity that he swears to defend to the death. Any insult or contempt for his mother will be severely retaliated by him.
My heart was torn apart, throbbing with pain. I was suddenly affected by Wang Zhenzhen's resentment, at a loss, but I understood Gu Yue's feelings - you can say anything, but you must never say my mother. The word "mother" is more important than anything else, more important than anything else, to a child who only exists in memory and has only retained all the warmth but now has nothing to hold on to!
I lowered my eyes and stopped looking at Gu Yue. I know Gu Yue, I know what he would do, he would not let anyone insult his mother, he would not bow down to anyone who insulted his mother. If he was a person who didn't care about his mother, those scenes of flipping my desk, roaring at me, and even punching me would not have happened; if he was a person who easily bowed his head, he would not have let out that hesitant and helpless wail in the office at that time.
I know him too well, I understand him too well, just like me, we both have things that we will never give up. But this time, this time our "never give up" collided again. What will he do?
I heard the sound of cooking from someone's house. The oil in the pot was sizzling under the heat, just like my heart. I was really suffering again. I was punished and punished. In my last few months of studying hard and trembling with fear, in my last few months of enduring and almost winning, could I bear it?
I am tormented by my unpredictable future, but also seem to be tormented by something else.
Just as I was daydreaming, a dull and unwilling voice came from above my head: "I'm sorry."
I finally waited for the verdict, I finally waited for the sentence.
But what did I hear, sorry? Gu Yue said sorry?
I'm beginning to doubt my ears. Is what I heard true?
I suppressed my pounding heart and looked up in disbelief.
Gu Yue's stiff chin was looking straight at Wang Zhenzhen, his trembling lips showed his manic anger and unwillingness, his Adam's apple moved, and the bulging veins on his neck showed his humiliation without reservation.
What did he say? How could Gu Yue apologize to someone who insulted his mother? How could he? How could he?
Gu Yue apologized to Wang Zhenzhen for me?
My chest seemed to have a hole in it, and air was constantly pouring into my chest and abdomen. I was shocked by these words and lost all my senses. The only thing I could feel was the uncomfortable beating in my chest, like my heart being cooked by a raging fire.
It wasn't guilt, nor was it the joy of having escaped a disaster, but it was discomfort, a discomfort that could not be suppressed or concealed. He should be cheerful, sharp, and flamboyant, but he shouldn't be this humble.
"Sorry? Who are you saying sorry to? What do you have to say sorry for? How come I don't know it?" Wang Zhenzhen was so arrogant that she crossed her arms and glared at Gu Yue.
Why apologize? My arms were still tightly around Gu Yue, but they couldn't fill the hole in my chest. The fire was still burning, and my mind was filled with the word "why". I actually understood that if Gu Yue angrily attacked Wang Zhenzhen, I was even mentally prepared to be punished, but I didn't understand why Gu Yue would say such a thing, and I didn't understand why I felt so painful that I almost suffocated when Gu Yue said the three words "I'm sorry".
Stop it, Gu Yue, stop it. Wang Zhenzhen's face was full of the arrogance of a villain who had succeeded, full of arrogance and contempt. Stop it, Gu Yue, she just wants to embarrass you, just wants to suppress you... But I can only shout helplessly in my heart, I clenched Gu Yue's arm, trying to get his attention back.
Gu Yue looked down at me, the scarlet red of his rage was fiercely suppressed by the deep darkness, and the look in his eyes when he looked at me was like a surging dark river.
What was he going to say? I pursed my lips and shook my head in panic, trying to stop him from saying anything.
Don't say it, please don't say it. I opened my eyes wide and stared at Gu Yue. Don't say it. When I shook my head, liquid splashed out of my eyes.
Gu Yue stared at me deeply, then turned his head resolutely.
Don't……
"I shouldn't...talk back to the teacher, and I shouldn't...I'm sorry." Gu Yue paused for a long time. He couldn't open his mouth until Wang Zhenzhen sneered contemptuously and glanced at me in a demonstrative manner. Only then did Gu Yue open his mouth and say, "I'm sorry, Teacher Wang."
I'm sorry, Teacher Wang. Every word Gu Yue said seemed to be tugging at my heart, and I was dragged along step by step. Watching Gu Yue lower his head, which had always been held high, towards Wang Zhenzhen, his neck forming an imperceptible curve, as if his neck was bent by humiliation, my heart felt empty and cold.
At that moment, I felt like I was trapped in the cold and wet snow. The silver whiteness of the vast land made me shiver with cold. This huge world was so cold that it seemed as if only Gu Yue was with me. Although my arms were still holding Gu Yue, although we were still leaning on each other, and although we were still warmed by each other, my heart was damp and could not resist the severe coldness of the whole world.
Gu Yue. I can only call out softly in my heart, as if it can drive away the dampness and coldness.
"Why?"
Under Director Guo's decision, Wang Zhenzhen was ultimately unable to punish Gu Yue for not returning home at night, but the two people who violated school rules were ordered not to enter the classroom until they had cleaned all the toilets in the office building.
Gu Yue snatched the buckets from my hand, staggered up the stairs carrying two buckets of water step by step.
"Why?" I asked unexpectedly, looking at his back.
Gu Yue paused, but did not stop. He walked all the way to the second floor before putting down the two buckets of water. He turned around and looked at me: "What do you think?" His eyes, shining with blazing light, stared at me without blinking.
I looked away as if to avoid her: "How should I know? I'm asking you."
"Oh." The light slowly dimmed, and he said, "I..."
I suddenly looked up at him, expecting him to say something, expecting him to give me an answer.
Gu Yue smiled and said, "Let me help you carry the water up first."
He said nothing. Maybe it was to avoid making a big deal out of it, after all, Liu Sulan wanted to help him get rid of the punishment and pass the college entrance examination with a clean file; maybe it was like he said, there was no need for hostility, and the conflict could be resolved in other ways... Various explanations formed in my mind, but Ke Xin told me that it was not, it must not be like this. What kind of answer did I want? I didn't understand it myself.
I was still on the first step of the stairs. Gu Yue turned around and found that I had not caught up with him. He poked his head out from the top and said, "You."
"You," he repeated.
I didn’t quite understand and just stared blankly at the furious Gu Yue.
He finally got angry: "Are you going to leave or not? How many times do I have to tell you, you..."
What? What is Gu Yue talking about?
Seeing that I was still confused, he picked up two buckets of water and walked angrily, making the stairs thudding loudly.
Why?
you.
I suddenly understood, and I asked why, and Gu Yue’s answer was you.
A wave of throbbing came over me, and my heart was beating like a drum.
Me? The reason for doing this is me? But why? I looked up and wanted to ask Gu Yue again, but he disappeared.
I suddenly fell silent. Why do I have so many whys?
When I climbed to the fourth floor, several girls were standing at the door of the women's toilet, laughing and joking. They were old acquaintances, led by Tian Tian, ​​and they would stand at the door of the toilet after every class.
Since they knew I would come to the office building to clean the toilet in the morning, they took the trouble to run from the second teaching building to the office building just to watch me clean the toilet. They really had good intentions, I mocked in my heart, and quietly prepared to pass them and go directly to the toilet.
My silence was met with even more cheerful laughter from them. The girls gathered in a group, pretended to glance at me casually, then exchanged some opinions and burst into laughter again.
I rolled my eyes impatiently. How many times would he have to play the same trick again?
Tian Tian looked at me, a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, and she mouthed - toilet cleaner.
These people are like flies, the more you deal with them, the more excited they become. I persuaded myself not to get excited, even Gu Yue could ignore Wang Zhenzhen... Thinking of Gu Yue, Wang Zhenzhen's arrogant and arrogant appearance and Gu Yue's bent neck appeared in front of me again, with surging palpitations and pain. I turned left and prepared to push open the half-open door of the women's restroom.
"Wait a minute!" Gu Yue suddenly shouted at me and walked quickly towards me from the other end of the corridor, every step seeming to be filled with anger.
Seeing Gu Yue's fierce and angry expression, I immediately realized that something was wrong. I turned to look at Tian Tian and her group, and sure enough, they had changed their arrogant and complacent expressions and became a little nervous.
Suddenly, Gu Yue stretched out his hand and pulled me to the side, then kicked the half-closed door open and quickly retreated. The moment the wooden door bounced open, a plastic basin fell down, and the water in the basin splashed all around, even splashing onto Gu Yue's calves.
I looked at Tian Tian who was a few steps away from me. Tian Tian's face was livid, and the faces of several girls also changed. It was obvious that they had put the basin of water there, waiting for me to push the door and get poured on, and then they would laugh at me without restraint.
I was drenched in water, but these girls became closer because they helped Tian Tian vent her anger or dealt with the enemy together. They acted as if nothing had happened, pretending that it was just a coincidence, and then made disgusting laughter, ridicule, regret, and perhaps even some pretentious concern.
How disgusting! I looked at this group of girls and couldn't help but feel sarcastic.
However, even when their trick was exposed, they were still aggressive and confident. Tian Tian pointed at Gu Yue's nose and said, "Don't meddle in other people's business!"
This was said to Gu Yue. Boys generally don't get involved in girls' fights, because girls won't do it so obviously, and it's hard for boys to notice these fights.
Gu Yue stood in front of me, hooked the empty basin in front of himself with his toes, and then kicked it towards the girls.
"ah!"
Several girls were frightened by the sudden attack and screamed and jumped to avoid it.
"Gu Yue, don't go too far! This matter has nothing to do with you, don't meddle in other people's business!"
I don't deny that Gu Yue was trying to divert his anger. He was upset by Wang Zhenzhen in the morning, and now he was being pointed at and yelled at by several girls.
"You're making petty movements like a rat. You're useless!" Gu Yue said to Tian Tian with contempt, without even waving away the hand that was pointing at his nose.
Tian Tian didn't feel Gu Yue's low mood, and still said arrogantly: "Say it again if you dare! Say it again!"
"You are sure that she won't tell the teacher or fight back, so you keep doing these little tricks. Then I can tell you--" Gu Yue suddenly pointed his finger at Tian Tian's head and said sternly, "I am also sure that you dare not tell the teacher or fight back!"
The deep meaning in this sentence stunned the crowd. Gu Yue was saying that if Tian Tian and the others continued to make small moves, he would punish them? My face was hot. Was this what Gu Yue meant?
The girls who were clamoring about whether Gu Yue was a boy all shut up and trembled as they leaned behind Tian Tian. As the others retreated, Tian Tian stood at the front. Her face was livid, but she still said with courage: "What do you want? I'm telling you, I'm not someone you can easily mess with. I..."
"I won't talk nonsense with you." Gu Yue lowered his voice and sounded a little grim. I saw Tian Tian shudder, and then Gu Yue continued, "If you want to try, just keep targeting her. I'll let you know how it feels!"
Gu Yue's left hand was still covering my arm, neither loose nor tight. I felt the part of my arm being held, being ironed by a warmth that did not belong to me. Gu Yue stood in front of me, one step away, with his body and the arm holding me in a protective posture. He looked at Tian Tian coldly and fiercely, like a hedgehog spreading all its thorns to attack an enemy with ill intentions.
He is protecting me, or rather, he is defending me! When this thought formed in my mind, I was shocked by it.
Gu Yue stood in front of me, my shadow was covered by his, the two shadows merged into one and overlapped, showing the defenseless side to each other. Looking at that shadow, my heartbeat instantly surged like the surging river, and the amplified heartbeat sounded back and forth in my ears.
All this in front of me is more heart-shaking than the thought that "Gu Yue is on my side". I have a pair of eyes in my eyes, eyes with black sediment, eyes with turbulent water, eyes that stared at me when Gu Yue said sorry to Wang Zhenzhen!
Why?
My brain raced, thinking back to everything that happened today. Was Gu Yue bowing to Wang Zhenzhen because of me? Was Gu Yue, a boy, declaring war on a girl to protect me? The truth seemed to be laid out in front of me, but I didn't dare to look it up to verify it. Why?
In my mind was Gu Yue's pair of narrow, shining eyes, which kept getting bigger and bigger.
"What are you daydreaming about?"
Gu Yue's face suddenly enlarged in front of me. He bent down slightly to bring his eyes to the same level, and waved his hand in front of my eyes: "Are you stupid? Are you scared?"
I suddenly woke up from my own world and found that the chattering girls had left. Gu Yue suddenly came close to me. I was startled and my face turned red. I said awkwardly: "What are you doing!"
"Look at you!" Gu Yue said as a matter of course, "What are you thinking about?"
Gu Yue's eyes were full of seriousness. Unexpectedly, I asked the doubts in my heart: "Why do you..." want to help me out?
But in a flash, I swallowed the words back into my stomach.
Gu Yue came closer with a puzzled look on his face. His narrow eyes seemed to be able to see what I was thinking, and he smiled cunningly.
My face turned red, thinking about the things I had just thought about when I was distracted. Feeling guilty, I pushed Gu Yue to the other side and said, "Come on, go, clean the toilet!"
"Why? You haven't told me what you were thinking about. What were you thinking about just now? Are you..."
I wanted to cover Gu Yue's mouth, or plug his ears that could still hear his voice. I fled away, holding my chest and breathing steadily. But the question with excitement and doubt was like throwing a stone into a calm lake. The ripples expanded, swayed to the shore, and bounced back again, eventually drowning all my thoughts.
Why are you helping me out?
Why would you compromise with Wang Zhenzhen for me?
Why are you so nice to me?