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When evening self-study began, Jiang Jianbin returned — but He Youyuan and Wang Jianbo were not with him. He walked into the classroom with a dark expression, flung the politics textbook and lesson plan onto the teacher’s desk with a loud slap, sending a puff of chalk dust into the air. The girl in the front row was hit by it and nearly choked — but after one quick glance at the homeroom teacher’s face, she didn’t dare raise a hand to cover her nose and mouth, only letting out two quiet coughs.

Jiang Jianbin looked like he wanted to say something, but was biting it back. He paced back and forth on the platform a couple of times, picked up the politics textbook, gave it a shake, and said: “No self-study this period. We’re catching up on politics class.”

On any other occasion, students would groan when a teacher came to take over a study period, but right now no one said a word. Everyone obediently pulled out their textbooks, heads ducked like ostriches, listening to the lesson.

The politics class had only reached its halfway point when Jiang Jianbin stopped, told the students to read over the material and consolidate what they’d just learned, and called Meng Ran out of the classroom.

In the classroom, students could faintly hear Jiang Jianbin questioning Meng Ran outside, saying that since his seat was close to where the incident had occurred, did he know why He Youyuan had hit someone. Everyone couldn’t help but be astonished: was this for real? Two or three hours had already passed, and the teachers still hadn’t gotten the reason for the fight out of He Youyuan?

Meng Ran said he wasn’t sure what had happened either.

Jiang Jianbin let out a helpless sigh, waved Meng Ran back inside, told him to keep order in the class, and said he still needed to go deal with the fight situation.

He Youyuan and Wang Jianbo had been sent to Chen Guoming’s office. When Jiang Jianbin arrived, he heard Chen Guoming in the middle of an outburst: “Call your parents! Tell them to come here!”

Neither boy reacted as if they’d heard. He Youyuan still had his fist clenched, face turned to the side, his expression cold and rigid. Wang Jianbo had his head slightly bowed; the blood at the corner of his mouth had dried, but the bruise on his cheek was becoming more and more pronounced.

Seeing them like this only stoked Chen Guoming’s anger further.

As the head of the grade, he’d handled more than a few student fights — but this was the first time he’d encountered two students who, no matter how many questions he asked, would not say a single word.

There had to be a reason for throwing punches.

He still wasn’t sure what had gotten into He Youyuan today. Chen Guoming had always kept a watchful eye on him, but only out of concern that the boy might use his good looks to attract attention or get mixed up with girls — he had never imagined He Youyuan would be sent to him over a fight. When he’d first seen him, He Youyuan’s eyes were red and puffy with rage, the picture of someone who’d been wronged — Chen Guoming had actually assumed he was the one who’d been hit. It wasn’t until he saw the injury on Wang Jianbo’s face that he realized He Youyuan was the one who’d thrown the punches.

He wasn’t talking. He refused to say a single thing about why the fight had started. Wang Jianbo wasn’t willing to say either. The two of them together nearly drove Chen Guoming to the brink.

Chen Guoming silently cursed the pair of stubborn mules under his breath, walked over directly, grabbed He Youyuan by the arm, and physically dragged him to stand in front of the telephone on the office desk: “You first. Make the call. Go on.”

The boy was tall but lean, his back curved. He extended a hand that hesitated for a moment, then pressed a series of numbers on the landline.

When the other end picked up, the boy finally opened his mouth to speak: “Auntie, it’s me.”

“Could you come to Principal Chen’s office…” His voice was low and hoarse. “…I got into a fight… Yes, I did get into a fight… With someone from my class… Yes, Duxing Building, fifth floor, far west end… Okay.”

He Youyuan hung up. Chen Guoming then gave Wang Jianbo a nod: “Your turn.”

But Wang Jianbo still didn’t move from where he stood. After a long pause, he said: “My parents are both out of town. I live here on my own.”

Chen Guoming looked toward Jiang Jianbin with a skeptical eye, as if asking whether Wang Jianbo’s words were true. Jiang Jianbin nodded and confirmed: “That is indeed the situation.”

“Ugh—” Chen Guoming rubbed a hand over his face, let out a heavy sigh, settled back into his chair, and looked at the two students before him. “I’m giving you both one last chance. If you tell me the truth, the school will consider a lighter punishment.”

Meanwhile, word of He Youyuan’s fight had spread quickly through the entire grade. He was already a subject of considerable attention for his looks alone, and given the school’s strict stance on fighting, almost the entire school building was alive with heated discussion: would He Youyuan be expelled for this?

“Oh no — please don’t! There aren’t many good-looking boys in our grade to begin with. If he gets expelled, there’ll be practically no one worth looking at.”

“Exactly — handsome boys are already in short supply.”

Li Kuiyi wrote her journal entry during the second half of politics class, and on her way to hand it in to Liu Xinzhao, she overheard this kind of conversation. By the time she came back from Liu Xinzhao’s office, she ran into a crowd at the classroom door — Fang Zhixiao, Zhou Ce, Zhang Chuang, and Xia Leyi had all come, heads poking through the window to gather information about He Youyuan from Class 17 students. Even Qi Yu was standing quietly to one side.

When they saw Li Kuiyi coming, they immediately crowded around her, asking what exactly had happened. Li Kuiyi could only shake her head and say she didn’t know either — it seemed no one knew why He Youyuan had struck someone.

Zhang Chuang said: “It must be that guy in your class — what’s-his-name — who stirred things up. He Youyuan at worst has a bit of a moody side. Unless you actually cross his bottom line, he really wouldn’t resort to hitting someone.”

“Right,” everyone agreed.

Everyone believes in you, He Youyuan, Li Kuiyi thought.

Unable to gather any useful information, everyone let out a collective sigh and each went back to their own classes. Li Kuiyi also returned to her seat. She was a little worried — what if tomorrow morning, a notice announcing He Youyuan’s expulsion was posted on the bulletin board?

She and He Youyuan could probably be considered friends. Actually, thinking about it more carefully, he could be quite endearing at times.

Though the majority of the time, he was not.

Well — she simply didn’t want him to be expelled.

Li Kuiyi pressed her lips into a slight curve, rummaged through her pencil case for a red pen, and pulled out the last issue of the English weekly newspaper from her folder, intending to mark it against the answer key herself. At that moment, someone walked over and tapped on her desk.

She looked up — and it was Zhang Yun.

“Come out for a moment,” Zhang Yun said quietly.

Li Kuiyi couldn’t imagine what Zhang Yun wanted with her. Was she about to declare war? That would be too melodramatic…

But she put down her pen and followed Zhang Yun out regardless. A few classmates had noticed and began whispering among themselves, wildly speculating about whether the two of them were about to have a fight.

They went to a small open area in front of the school building. Zhang Yun walked to an unoccupied corner, stopped, and turned around. In the light filtering from the adjacent classroom, Li Kuiyi could see traces of the afternoon’s crying still visible in her eyes.

“Um…” Zhang Yun hesitated before speaking. “He Youyuan hitting Wang Jianbo — it seems like it had something to do with you.”

“What?” Li Kuiyi was stunned.

For two reasons: first, she hadn’t expected Zhang Yun to be seeking her out about this; second, she couldn’t immediately grasp what it meant for it to have something to do with her.

Zhang Yun lowered her eyes and explained further: “At the time, Wang Jianbo was sitting in Meng Ran’s seat. I was sitting in front of them, so I heard everything. Wang Jianbo… said some very unpleasant things about you, and then He Youyuan hit him.”

She paused, then added: “Of course, this is only my speculation — I can’t be certain.”

Zhang Yun couldn’t be certain. But Li Kuiyi could — she knew.

It had to be exactly that. Wang Jianbo had the sharpest tongue of anyone; he’d said something awful about her, He Youyuan had been provoked, and he’d hit him.

Good heavens — it was because of her!

Li Kuiyi genuinely didn’t know what expression to put on her face. She bit her lip and released it quickly, afraid Zhang Yun would notice something unusual between her and He Youyuan. She tightened her fists, forcing herself to stay composed, and asked: “What exactly did Wang Jianbo say? How bad was it?”

This had to be clarified. It would define exactly what kind of incident this was.

“He said some very disgusting things.” Zhang Yun seemed too embarrassed to repeat them directly, hesitating and stumbling over her words. “…He was mocking you for being flat-chested, or something like that — saying you needed a boyfriend to, uh, grope you more and they’d grow…”

Just hearing Zhang Yun’s retelling, Li Kuiyi felt a wave of revulsion surge through her.

She was certain that if she’d heard those words in person, she would’ve slapped Wang Jianbo without a second thought.

What a vile man. Why didn’t he just drop dead?

Li Kuiyi took two deep breaths, reined in her emotions, and said to Zhang Yun: “Thank you for telling me this. And… I’d ask you to please keep this confidential. He Youyuan was only acting out of goodwill on my behalf — I don’t want people talking about things that don’t need to be said.”

Zhang Yun agreed. Li Kuiyi thanked her again.

The bell for class rang, but Li Kuiyi had no intention of going back to the classroom. Not wanting to put Zhang Yun in an awkward spot, she said directly: “I need to go explain this to our homeroom teacher. You can mark me absent for this self-study period — it’s fine.” With that, she hurried toward Jiang Jianbin’s office.

When she arrived, she scanned the office and found no sign of Jiang Jianbin or He Youyuan. She thought for a moment, then turned and climbed the stairs, heading straight up to the fifth floor.

Li Kuiyi walked to the outside of Chen Guoming’s office, did her best to steady her breathing, then knocked on the door.

The door was actually open. She could already see He Youyuan’s back.

At the sound of the knock, the people inside assumed it was He Youyuan’s aunt arriving — but when they looked up, they found Li Kuiyi standing in the doorway.

Chen Guoming and Jiang Jianbin exchanged a look of utter bewilderment, eyebrows furrowing in unison as they asked in the same breath: “What are you doing here?”

He Youyuan turned around too, and seeing her, was momentarily stunned.

Li Kuiyi met He Youyuan’s gaze briefly, then moved her eyes to Chen Guoming and Jiang Jianbin, and said calmly: “I’m here to serve as a witness for He Youyuan.”

Chen Guoming was thrown off completely: “A witness? What are you serving as a witness for?”

Jiang Jianbin was faster on the uptake: “You mean to say you know why these two got into a fight?”

You don’t know yet?

Li Kuiyi thought silently, and felt once more how truly impossible He Youyuan’s mouth was to pry open.

She glanced at He Youyuan again — he was still looking at her, his brow faintly drawn, his gaze fixed and wet, as if moved that she had come, and yet reproaching her for coming at all.

Li Kuiyi gave a firm nod: “Yes.”

Without waiting for the teachers to ask more, she extended her finger, pointed at Wang Jianbo, and said: “The reason He Youyuan hit him is because he sexually harassed me. He Youyuan simply couldn’t stand by and watch such disgusting behavior, so he acted on my behalf.”

Sexual. Harassment.

Those three words carried immense weight. They nearly launched Chen Guoming and Jiang Jianbin off their seats in shock. Wang Jianbo seemed to feel the accusation was disproportionate to what he’d done, and quickly denied it: “I did not!”

“You absolutely did!” Li Kuiyi walked directly to stand in front of him, met his eyes head-on, and did not back down. “Don’t think sexual harassment only counts when it’s physical. Speaking those filthy words to me verbally — that counts too!”

Wang Jianbo avoided her gaze and kept denying it, though his voice had dropped: “It was just a joke.”

“Was it funny?!” Li Kuiyi raised her voice and fired the question at him point-blank.

Chen Guoming and the others were startled by that outburst. They instinctively leaned back in their seats, and then, catching themselves, felt it was rather embarrassing to have been rattled by a student. Chen Guoming quickly stepped forward, pulled her aside, cleared his throat, and cautioned her: “Don’t act impulsively.”

To his surprise, Li Kuiyi turned to face him and said: “Teacher Chen, may I borrow your phone?”

“What for?” Chen Guoming asked, somewhat warily.

Li Kuiyi still didn’t answer: “Just for a moment.”

And just like that, Chen Guoming, in a somewhat bewildered state, fished his phone from his trouser pocket, helpfully unlocked it, and handed it over.

Li Kuiyi opened the camera, tapped “video,” pointed the lens at Wang Jianbo, and said steadily: “If you won’t admit that your words constituted sexual harassment against me, that’s fine. Then do you dare to repeat, word for word, everything you said about me this afternoon, right here in front of the teachers? Say it out loud, and let the teachers decide for themselves. Whether you meant it that way or not — they can tell. And I won’t be falsely accusing you.”

Wang Jianbo of course didn’t dare. His throat moved. He turned his body to the side, avoiding the camera.

“You don’t dare say it in front of the teachers — doesn’t that in itself mean you know, deep down, that those words were filthy?”

Li Kuiyi finished speaking, stopped the recording, and returned the phone to Chen Guoming. “Teacher, I trust that you now have a clear picture of what happened. The facts are: Wang Jianbo said disgusting, demeaning things to humiliate me, and He Youyuan stepped up and hit him out of a sense of justice. The method was certainly not right — but if the school is going to expel He Youyuan for this, then I object!”

Chen Guoming’s head was already buzzing from the barrage of her words. It took him quite some time to pull himself together and extract a single coherent thought from the tangle: wait — who said anything about expelling He Youyuan?

For a small fight like this, expulsion was nowhere near the table.

That said, Chen Guoming could understand why students might think that any fight would result in expulsion. It had all started years ago, when a serious group brawl between students in the city had ended with one student being killed. Two students from their school had been caught up in it and sent to a juvenile detention center. At the time, the school principal had been incensed during a safety assembly and declared: “Anyone who dares fight again — pack your bags and get out of my school!”

Not only had most of the students believed it, even many teachers had — and they often repeated the line when disciplining students. It had become a saying among the school’s students: “Use words before fists; a true gentleman wins with reason.”

Chen Guoming hadn’t known how much longer he’d have to keep up the standoff with He Youyuan, but then Li Kuiyi came barging in and, in one fell swoop, allowed him to piece together everything that had happened. What needed to be done now was straightforward: carry out criticism, education, and disciplinary measures for both He Youyuan and Wang Jianbo.

“Hitting someone is hitting someone — what do you mean ‘acting out of justice’?” Chen Guoming shot a look at Li Kuiyi. “What, because he violated school rules, I should be giving him a commendation?”

Li Kuiyi thought it over carefully: “You don’t have to commend him — but you shouldn’t punish him either. Could it be considered… a case where the merits and the faults cancel each other out?”

Jiang Jianbin, watching her, shook his head helplessly and pulled her back a step: “Stop meddling in the school’s decisions — people might think you’re the vice principal.”

“I can’t do that. I can’t just abandon my conscience.” With that, Li Kuiyi turned and walked back to stand in front of Wang Jianbo. “If you intend to hold He Youyuan accountable for hitting you, then I will hold you accountable for insulting me. Your move.”

Chen Guoming laughed despite himself, and pulled her back again: “So you were planning to handle this yourselves? Do you think this is just a private matter between the three of you? Don’t you know how badly fights reflect on the school?”

Oh — she really hadn’t considered that.

Li Kuiyi said nothing more, her expression deflating.

The punishment was indeed difficult to determine. Too light, and it wouldn’t be convincing. Too heavy — well, as Li Kuiyi had said, however ill-advised his method, He Youyuan had, in this instance, acted with a sense of justice. What a headache, Chen Guoming thought.

He was beginning to realize: any situation that involved Li Kuiyi gave him a headache.

Li Kuiyi — in two years’ time, you’d better score first in the city on the college entrance exam, or you’ll truly have let me down.

Well, for now — criticize and educate them, and figure out the punishment later at home.

Chen Guoming waved a hand and said to Li Kuiyi: “Alright, there’s nothing more for you here. Go back to your self-study. The school will handle this — you don’t need to worry about it.”

Li Kuiyi still said she couldn’t leave: “I’m also a victim. Shouldn’t I at least know how this gets resolved?”

“Can’t you find out tomorrow?” Chen Guoming stared at her, genuinely at his wits’ end.

Li Kuiyi thought for a moment: “I suppose I could — but… He Youyuan should leave with me too.”

Chen Guoming understood what she was thinking — she was afraid He Youyuan would be treated unfairly if left alone. But why wasn’t that clever brain of hers turning right now? Even if the person in question was absent, he could still be disciplined.

“You can go for today too. I’ll call for you tomorrow.” Chen Guoming couldn’t be bothered to argue with Li Kuiyi further, and decided to let He Youyuan off for the time being.

Tonight he still needed to properly educate Wang Jianbo — because verbally sexually harassing a girl was truly unforgivable. If this wasn’t criticized and corrected now, what would he be like as an adult?

A flash of relief went through Li Kuiyi’s heart. Without overthinking it, she grabbed He Youyuan’s wrist and, like a valiant knight who had rescued a prince in distress, said to him: “Let’s go.”

She led him by the hand and walked straight out of the office.

The three people left in the room froze.

A moment later, Chen Guoming raised a finger and pointed at the doorway where the two figures had long since disappeared, and asked: “Did I just imagine that?”

He Youyuan let her lead him. Her hand was slightly cool — like a soft, gentle snowflake landing on his burning skin. His blood stopped flowing; even his heartbeat became cautious, afraid that if he disturbed her, she would let go.

He watched her profile, and his chest ached. He despised Wang Jianbo with every fiber of his being — how dare he say those things about her. He couldn’t bear to see her suffer that kind of indignity.

By the time they reached the landing at the midpoint of the staircase, Li Kuiyi suddenly came to a realization and released his hand with an abrupt jolt, not daring to turn and look at him. She quickened her pace and stepped away — but found he hadn’t followed. It was as if he wanted to be led.

“You—” Li Kuiyi thought he was being unreasonable, and turned back to say something — but then she saw his eyes had reddened again, a faint mist gathering in them.

She lost the heart to say anything. Instead, she asked softly: “Are you upset?”

She knew — whenever he was angry, his eyes would go red.

“No.” His voice was faintly hoarse.

He couldn’t let her know he was upset. If she did, she’d think he wasn’t gentle again.

But how could he not be upset? He was absolutely seething.

What right did that foul-mouthed person have to say those things about her?

Because of that disgusting person, she hadn’t just endured the harassment — she had also had to stand before a teacher and calmly say, out loud, that she had been harassed. That took courage, didn’t it? When she held that phone up and pointed it at Wang Jianbo — did she truly not fear that he might actually repeat those words?

He knew she had always been brave. But looking at her face, He Youyuan felt his heart ache more and more, and as he kept looking, he could no longer hold it back. He quickly turned his face away, squeezing his eyes shut as hard as he could — but the disobedient teardrops snapped free regardless, falling one after another, and no matter how he tried, they wouldn’t stop.

He was crying.

The school building was blazing with light, bright as day. Li Kuiyi stood there and watched, transfixed, as the boy before her — eyes red at the corners, lashes wet — let tears fall one by one, his throat bobbing visibly. He held his ground in stubborn pride, face turned away, refusing to look at her.

Deep in her chest, something fell with a resounding crash.