On Wednesday, the campus forum started having people discuss Long Qi throwing money at the gymnasium. For a moment, it did indeed dispel the storm of public opinion swirling around the matter of Dong Xi, but in actual life, the pressure surrounding Dong Xi didn’t decrease because of this.

The friends around her were still there, but compared to Bai Aiting, they always seemed somewhat weak and outnumbered. During PE class, someone even tripped her. Long Qi found out late—she had been kept in the office that period listening to ideological education. The homeroom teacher advised her not to shoot magazines or do activities during senior year, as it would affect school discipline. She listened perfunctorily and agreed verbally.

But it just so happened that at that time, Bai Aiting came into the office to hand in homework. The homeroom teacher made a digression to extend the topic to her side: “Look at the class president from Class 1.”

Long Qi looked over calmly and composedly.

Bai Aiting finished submitting homework to her class’s homeroom teacher. When leaving, she met Long Qi’s gaze, but she quickly looked away and looked at the teacher beside Long Qi, nodding her head and saying hello. Long Qi sat there, her eyes staying on her the whole time, following her until she left the office.

The homeroom teacher said she could go.

Just as the bell rang for break, when Long Qi left the office, Bai Aiting was still five or six steps ahead of her. In the corridor, students from various classes were sparsely pouring out. Between the two of them were clamor and distance. Bai Aiting’s steps were slightly faster than just now. If Long Qi went faster, she would go even faster than Long Qi, leaving no trace.

Bai Aiting had always looked down on her, but invisibly she also seemed afraid of her, even the fearful component being the majority.

In front of teachers, in front of students, in front of Jin Yiken, she always had an appearance of being gracious, composed, and calm. But once alone, she would develop a faint sense of timidity toward Long Qi. For example, once when they ran into each other at the washroom sink, Long Qi leisurely arranged her hair while Bai Aiting would hurriedly wash her hands and leave without even glancing at the mirror. Even when they met face to face, their eye contact never exceeded three seconds.

Perhaps having been cultivated into too standard a lady, naturally told to stay away from bad people, she produced a kind of groundless fear toward the demonic aura on Long Qi’s body—afraid of contamination and even more afraid of being accidentally hurt. During the exam hall fat guy incident, she was also one who hid the fastest and farthest.

This kind of person who lived depending on other people’s gazes and aspirations, once stripped of these seemed as if skinned of a layer, losing half their imposing manner even walking on the road—Long Qi could least understand this kind of person.

Reaching the staircase entrance, they just happened to run into the class returning from PE. Among them, Dong Xi came up the stairs holding onto the railing. There was a patch of red scraped wound on her left knee. She was accompanied by a girl, walking at the very back of the group, walking very slowly.

Long Qi wanted to go over, but Bai Aiting’s speed suddenly increased. She walked to Dong Xi’s side in a few steps, said something to that girl, then supported Dong Xi’s arm herself. Dong Xi turned her head to look at her. Long Qi also stopped in place watching the two.

Bai Aiting said something to Dong Xi, her tone seemingly friendly, then holding her arm, walked toward the balcony. Dong Xi didn’t refuse but still walked slowly, using her other hand to support herself against the wall, all the way being escorted by Bai Aiting back to the classroom.

Students along this route were all watching.

When Long Qi entered the classroom, Bai Aiting had just left and Dong Xi was already sitting at her seat.

It was exactly break time. The class was very noisy. Dong Xi alone was organizing the books on her desk. The wound at her knee was still red and swollen, while the girls around her were discussing: “Bai Aiting is still quite a good person…”

Long Qi went back to her seat without a word, found a band-aid from her bag, and was about to go over when she was suddenly blocked by a figure entering through the front door. Jin Yiken came in carrying a small medical kit. He walked straight to Dong Xi’s position without looking sideways and placed the box on her desk. Before Dong Xi could react, he crouched down and said: “Let me see your knee.”

That small group quieted down slightly. Dong Xi was forced to turn her body out from under the desk. Jin Yiken’s hand went to the injured area of her left knee, then he took medicinal liquid and gauze from the medical kit to treat it for her. Though his movements were slow, they were meticulous. The entire class reduced their talking. Dong Xi’s hands gripped the chair back and desk edge respectively, watching him without making a sound.

After he finished treating the wound, he stood up to pack the box. He didn’t do anything extra, only saying: “Stay in the classroom after school and wait for me. I’ll take you home.”

After saying this, he left carrying the box, not giving her any time to respond at all. The whole process didn’t exceed five minutes. The girls around Dong Xi raised their eyebrows at each other, conveying a kind of “they’re so ambiguous” information. Only Long Qi stood alone in the aisle, being silently observed by her deskmate.

“What are you looking at.” After a long while, she sat back in her seat. The deskmate beside her shifted her gaze to look out the window.

That day after school, Long Qi left earlier than anyone, only because she didn’t want to personally witness the decision Dong Xi would make to stay or go. But later she didn’t expect that Dong Xi also left school early. The one who picked her up wasn’t Jin Yiken—it was Bai Aiting.

The reason Bai Aiting used to persuade Dong Xi was still unclear, but she had clearly stabbed her with a knife. That evening, a girl uploaded a photo she had “accidentally” taken to the campus network, with a title that said much while seeming to say little: A scene encountered by chance at the mall…

In the photo, three jewelry store salespeople gathered at the counter. On the counter was an unwrapped necklace. Dong Xi leaned against the counter with her arms crossed, and there was also a security guard standing beside her speaking into a walkie-talkie.

The expression on her face was very light, very faint. One could only make out that she wasn’t happy. The crossed-arms posture carried a kind of self-protective consciousness. Bai Aiting wasn’t beside her.

This photo was forwarded over a hundred times on campus that evening. Facing numerous inquiries, the girl answered ambiguously: I also don’t know what happened. This necklace seemingly was taken from Dong Xi’s pocket… Well, it seems they said she forgot to pay.

There, a slander was completed just like that.

Even though the necklace matter was later investigated and clarified, obviously those watching the excitement preferred another conclusion. Dong Xi was placed at the center of the storm’s eye for the following two days, Thursday and Friday. The words pressing on her, in addition to “third party,” gained another item—”kleptomania.”

No matter how indifferent to fame and fortune a person is, there will be a day when they’re driven mad. Dong Xi collapsed after the second period on Friday.

When Long Qi found her behind the teaching building in the flower garden, she was crying.

That kind of crying was soundless, hiding a stubborn self-respect that insisted on quietly getting through even the most desperate circumstances alone. The long hair on one side had fallen down from behind her ear. Tears dropped one by one onto the back of her hand, then slid from the back of her hand to her knee. The collar and hem of her uniform trembled slightly in the wind.

It was at this moment that Jin Yiken came before Dong Xi.

His hands were in his pants pockets, head lowered looking at her crying appearance. He seemed not to see Long Qi, or rather simply had no intention of looking toward Long Qi’s direction. He took his hand out of his pants pocket, crouched down, and grasped Dong Xi’s hand.

Dong Xi slowly looked toward him.

The picture of the two together was like a gentle female lead and a reformed bad boy male lead in an idol drama. The area around Dong Xi’s eyes was red, her hand back and knees were almost wet, even the gauze at the wound area was nearly soaked through. Jin Yiken looked at her and extended his right hand to wipe the tears beside her cheek.

Dong Xi slightly turned her head aside to avoid it, and another tear gently fell.

It fell on the back of Jin Yiken’s hand.

He spoke to her.

When this person Jin Yiken acted, even his lines would be meticulously carved and examined in advance. So even if Long Qi couldn’t hear, she could guess what deeply emotional words he said. When Dong Xi listened, her lips pressed together slightly.

He wiped her tears for her again.

Immediately after, he stood up and helped Dong Xi stand up as well.

Immediately following that, he pulled Dong Xi’s shoulders toward himself, embracing her. Dong Xi’s forehead was completely buried at his shoulder, her hands also gently placed at his waist.

It was dependence, it was emotional release after being successfully comforted, it was formally accepting this person and this relationship that was ready to emerge. That’s why she cooperated like this.

Long Qi understood.

A girl’s most vulnerable moment is when she’s most easily conquered. The harm indirectly caused by Jin Yiken repeatedly attacked Dong Xi, then was directly digested for her by Jin Yiken. On the surface it looked harmless but actually his scheming was deeper than the sea. The inexperienced Dong Xi was thus breached by the experienced Jin Yiken. It was only at this moment that he looked toward Long Qi’s direction.

Yes, while gently patting Dong Xi’s back, he stared at her.