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Chapter 17: A Hypothetical Existence
Jiang Yufan got in right on time for the morning self-study. He heard about Yue Zhishi’s fight as soon as he entered the classroom and ran right back out without even putting down his bag. But he still arrived too late — by the time he got to the bathroom, the school guidance director had already arrived.
The bathroom’s few square metres were full of people either fighting or trying to pull others apart. Jiang Yufan forced his way through and immediately saw Yue Zhishi. His right eye was bruised, the corner of his mouth bleeding onto his torn shirt. The blood dripped onto his knitted vest, and his school badge was covered in red.
Unprecedented violence and anger covered his face.
“You all come with me to the office! What are the rest of you guys looking at? Didn’t you hear the bell? Go back to class!”
Jiang Yufan couldn’t understand why Yue Zhishi fought with other people. This was entirely not like him, and he would even believe it if someone said Yue Zhishi was possessed. Not just him, but even the whole class was stunned when they heard of the news.
“Who got into a fight? Yue Zhishi? You’re joking right…”
“No way, Yue Zhishi’s never even been late, let alone hitting someone. Oh, except for the first day of school.”
“I heard he was defending that guy who skipped a grade in the next door class. I’ve never seen those two together before, so why would he end up brawling with someone like Wang Jie for him?”
“And it was one against four too.”
“Shit, Le Le’s amazing.”
Some people were even holding open the windows to peer at the high school building across from them. The administrative offices for the school directors and class advisers were all on the second and third floors of the opposite building.
“Can’t see anything…”
“Maybe they’re still getting yelled at? They might end up in the school corridors writing self-criticism essays in a little while.”
Jiang Yufan felt particularly anxious and unsettled at hearing the girl in the front seat talk about Yue Zhishi as if it was some other person.
“That Cheng Mingming’s long had a history with Wang Jie. I think they used to be elementary school classmates. Last time I was in the cafeteria, I heard him say to other people that Wang Jie’s family is really poor and that he’s even stolen some of his money before.”
“Really? Then…”
“Anyway, Wang Jie’s not someone you should mess with, he’s even said Cheng Mingming is useless without his parents. I feel like Le Le was dragged into this mess. Maybe both parties will find an excuse and blame it all on Le Le.”
After hearing about the topic of no parents, Jiang Yufan appeared to understand something. He was worried Yue Zhishi would be at a disadvantage, so he stood up and said he needed to go toilet because his stomach ached, when he actually ran to the opposite school building.
Inside the office, the bullied Cheng Mingming kept fumbling his words, and the school guidance director couldn’t get the full story out of him no matter how he tried.
“What happened? How did the fight start?”
Cheng Mingming frantically shook his head. “I had nothing to do with it, I didn’t hit anyone.”
This wasn’t the first time Cheng Mingming and Wang Jie caused a problem. The guidance director knew this and could roughly guess what happened just by looking at them. But this case was strange in that a famously good student happened to participate in this fight — every teacher who’d taught him before knew he was sensible and obedient.
Class adviser Wang Qian and the class adviser for next door had also been called over. The director looked at them and said, “They’re from your classes. You ask.”
Wang Qian was well aware of Yue Zhishi’s character, so he didn’t indiscriminately start criticising him.
“Yue Zhishi, what happened?”
“Why’d you get into a fight with your fellow students? This isn’t how you normally act.”
Yue Zhishi’s head was half-lowered, and the blood at the corner of his mouth was already dry. He opened his mouth and directly, obediently admitted his mistake even though he didn’t give out his reasons for fighting. “Teacher Wang, I’ve broken school rules. I’m happy to write either a self-criticism essay or be placed in detention. I’m willing to take anything.”
Someone suddenly appeared at the door, loudly reporting his arrival. Everyone looked over at the same time and saw Jiang Yufan, face full of desperation. “Teacher, Yue Zhishi only went to the bathroom because he saw Cheng Mingming being bulled by Wang Jie! He didn’t start it!”
Yue Zhishi was worried Jiang Yufan would also be dragged into this, so he immediately said to Wang Qian, “Teacher, Jiang Yufan wasn’t there.”
Jiang Yufan anxiously said, “I wasn’t there in person, but people saw it, many of our classmates saw them.”
Wang Qian took a look at Yue Zhishi before he said to Jiang Yufan, “Go back to class, this has nothing to do with you.”
Jiang Yufan was unwilling, but he had no choice but to leave. He worriedly glanced at Yue Zhishi before he unhappily left.
The class adviser from next door looked as if he wasn’t planning on making this a serious matter. He first decided that Cheng Mingming didn’t really commit anything wrong, and after greeting the guidance director, told Cheng Mingming to go back to class. He then turned to interrogate Wang Jie.
At first Wang Jie was listless from being hit so many times, merely holding a tissue to his bleeding mouth. But the interrogation fired up his rebellious heart, and he said, “What’d I do? He poked his nose into something that had nothing to do with him. I already let them go, but then he turned around and punched me like a crazy person!”
His followers chimed after him. “That’s right! Yue Zhishi started it!”
“We were all holding back at first, who knew why he suddenly went crazy and started hitting people.”
“Teacher, if you don’t believe us, you should look for the people pulling us apart earlier in the bathroom. They would’ve seen who threw the first punch.”
“It was me,” Yue Zhishi calmly confessed. “I wanted to hit him.”
After he said this sentence, all the other teachers in the office looked sideways at him in disbelief.
Wang Jie never thought Yue Zhishi would say something like that. It felt like the Yue Zhishi standing in front of him now and the usual Yue Zhishi were two different people.
“I don’t want to waste time debating with you guys whose mistake was bigger and whose was smaller,” said the guidance director. He stood there with his hands behind his back, and smoothly recited what he believed to have happened. “Wang Jie, you brought people to bully Cheng Mingming, while you, Yue Zhishi, went to stand up for Cheng Mingming but ended up starting a fight. Both you and Wang Jie made a serious mistake, and thus a demerit shall be recorded for the both of you. Your class advisers will deal with the rest.”
He looked at Teacher Wang. “If you believe you should call their parents, then do so. Or tell them to write a self-criticism essay.”
Teacher Wang nodded and escorted the guidance director out. He faintly felt like something wasn’t quite right, so he brought Yue Zhishi to the teachers’ kitchenette next door. “I’ll take you to the infirmary to take care of your face.”
“No need sir,” Yue Zhishi said. “The infirmary will open soon, so I can go by myself.”
Teacher Wang poured him a cup of water. “If it was a student who normally got into fights or other trouble, I would simply call their parents to finish things. But the situation can’t be that simple if it got you angry too.”
Yue Zhishi held his paper cup and was silent for a while before he finally opened his mouth. “Teacher, I don’t want to talk about it. But I can promise you, I definitely won’t fight with other students anymore. I’m willing to accept any punishment you give me.”
“I can call your parents then?” Wang Qian put down his cup and gazed at Yue Zhishi.
“I…” Yue Zhishi then also lifted his head to look at him. “You can, but my parents are out of town for the next few days. You’ll have to wait for them to come back…”
“That’s fine.” Wang Qian then said, “As your class adviser, I respect that you have a reason to not explain your actions, but you have to understand, violence is not a good way to solve problems. No matter when. If someone’s threatening you, you can tell the teachers. If you don’t trust us, you can also ask others to help you. Understand?”
Yue Zhishi knew where he went wrong and nodded. “Yes, I understand.”
He stayed in the kitchenette and wrote his self-criticism essay. By the time he finished and left, morning self-study had already finished. Yue Zhishi went by himself to the infirmary and treated his wound fairly simply before he returned to class. He recited his self-criticism essay in front of the entire class before Wang Qian started his Chinese literature class.
“Go back to your seat,” Teacher Wang said, standing at the podium. “The fight this time can also serve as a reminder to your fellow students, to not casually choose to stand up for other people. If you come across school violence, the first thing you must do is notify a teacher, and don’t try to meet violence with violence.”
Even though it was a fight, Yue Zhishi’s good relationships with everyone meant they all stood on his side. This matter quickly spread amongst all the students, and most of them directly called him a courageous hero. No one knew the real reason why Yue Zhishi started fighting, and no one really wanted to know — it was merely another fresh topic of conversation within the dull and repetitive life of a student.
After class, as they all started heading to the sport ground for some exercises, Jiang Yufan ran to Yue Zhishi’s seat. “Does your eye hurt? Let’s go the supermarket and get a popsicle for it.” He reached out a hand and wanted to touch it, but he was also scared he might hurt Yue Zhishi. Yue Zhishi honestly shook his head, and Jiang Yufan felt some pity for him. “That looks so harsh. Why didn’t you wait for me to go with you?”
“I also made him bleed,” Yue Zhishi seriously reported.
“He definitely provoked you. Seriously, what happened? You usually never take part in these kind of things. Tell me, I’ll find a chance to take revenge for you.”
But no matter how he asked, Yue Zhishi refused to answer. Jiang Yufan guessed it must’ve been close to what he’d initially thought — if it wasn’t because of the topic of parents, Yue Zhishi wouldn’t have bothered and definitely would’t have gotten into a fight. Jiang Yufan changed the subject without batting an eye. “Your osmanthus sugar looks really good.”
“Doesn’t it? But you have to wait until the sugar’s all melted before you can eat it. Song Yu gege and I hit the tree to get the flowers…” Yue Zhishi suddenly hissed, his lively movements just then pulling on his mouth injury.
“Ahhh, be careful, talk slower,” Jiang Yufan said. He then remembered: “You brother should’ve heard about you fighting by now. He wouldn’t yell at you, right?”
Yue Zhishi instantly widened his eyes. “No way, he couldn’t have heard.”
“That’s what you think. The news spread while we were just in the morning self-study. I just saw a post about it on the Peiya school forum, loads of people were replying to it even though they were mostly scolding Wang Jie.”
Yue Zhishi was suddenly concerned and grabbed Jiang Yufan’s sleeve. “Do I look particularly ugly right now?”
“Not at all, you look super manly,” Jiang Yufan laughed. “How come you’re suddenly caring about your looks? Don’t worry, all the girls are worshipping you right now. This one fight of yours have made you super handsome.”
Yue Zhishi pretty much didn’t care about those things — he just didn’t want Song Yu to know he got into a fight, and he definitely did not want to face him with this face of his.
“I’m not going to do the exercises anymore, I’m going to take some leave,” Yue Zhishi said. He immediately ran to find the class monitor and hid in the classroom to do his homework. He’d have to hide even if he went down to the sports ground anyway, and it would be even more awkward if he bumped into Song Yu face to face.
His eye was now swollen and aching, and Yue Zhishi started to regret the morning. However, he didn’t regret choosing to hit someone — he was regretting the fact he didn’t move better. If he could redo the fight, he definitely would dodge those few punches and would knock that guy to the floor in one blow.
After the school exercises, a few girls in class gave him bandaids. One girl from another class even bought him a bottle of ice water, telling him to put it on his eye. Yue Zhishi thanked them one by one even though he wouldn’t be able to use most of the items. He didn’t quite like the feeling of standing out and thought he’d definitely keep a low profile in the future.
Luckily, Aunt Rong wasn’t at home this afternoon, so he didn’t have to go home for lunch. This gave Yue Zhishi a chance to avoid Song Yu. He wasn’t hungry, so he decided to continue staying in his classroom and work on his homework. If he did more of them now, there would be less for him to do tonight. He needed to go home early later, so he could quickly shower and then hide in his room and lower the chances of bumping into Song Yu.
While holding onto his ‘perfect plan’, Yue Zhishi was immersed into his homework questions, his head lowering and lowering until his chin was almost on top of his exercise book.
“Is there a point E… if you make equal…” Yue Zhishi read out the question in a low voice, his eyebrows drawing together so closely until they almost touched. His eye started to ache harder. “How do I prove this…”
“Assume it exists.”
A voice suddenly flowed over the top of his head. Yue Zhishi thought he was hearing things and frantically lifted his head.
Exist?
He currently doubted his own eyes. The gege in front of him didn’t actually exist.
Song Yu’s face was still as calm as usual. He didn’t look at him and looked only at the question. “Proof by contradiction. First hypothesise that the point exists, and then use that assumption to solve the problem. In an equal proposition, it cannot be both true and false.”
He really was here.
Yue Zhishi softly said, “Oh.” He lowered his head and wrote down the word ‘proof’, then carefully opened his mouth. “When’d you get here?”
“Just now.”
“Oh…” Yue Zhishi hung his head and wrote the phrase ‘assume point E exists’.
Song Yu glanced at the top of his head and said, “Stop working, let’s head back for lunch.”
“We’re going home?” Yue Zhishi blankly stood up and followed Song Yu outside. Both Aunt Rong and Uncle were away, and there was no one at home to cook. “We’re not going to the cafeteria?”
“Home.”
He definitely must’ve heard about the fighting, and yet he didn’t look too unhappy. Yue Zhishi was a bit apprehensive.
Song Yu walked in front of him, half a step’s distance away. His arms were by his side, fingers long and slender, and as he stared at him, Yue Zhishi absentmindedly thought about their childhood. He remembered in the first year of elementary school, when he’d just started going to school, they’d also walked like this on the road, one in front and one behind. But back then Song Yu was the one who’d gotten into a fight, and Yue Zhishi was the one who’d been bullied.
His tears had flowed in unending streams, and he’d held Song Yu’s hand as they went home.
How come they couldn’t hold hands anymore?
This curious thought suddenly appeared in Yue Zhishi’s mind, and his hand reached forward without conscious thought.
But the person in front unexpectedly put his hand into his pocket. Song Yu’s phone had been vibrating from the moment he left the classroom, and he couldn’t take it anymore, taking it out to look at it. The messages were all from Qin Yan.
[Qin Yan: oh my god, i just went to the toilet and you disappeared. where’d you go?]
[Qin Yan: everyone said you’re not going to the cafeteria? didn’t we agree we were going to eat lunch together today]
[Qin Yan: are you coming back to school? let’s play some ball with lao zhang later]
He was about to simply reply with ‘going to rest at home for lunch’ when a long paragraph suddenly jumped into the chat, the content of it causing Song Yu to frown.
[Qin Yan: fck! xiao hei just said he saw you and your brother leave the school, don’t tell me you’re going to publicly humiliate him, it’s just a small fight between boys don’t get angry at him, hey wait isn’t your mom away today who’s going to cook? are you planning to starve our le le?]
Song Yu abruptly stood still and lowered his head to respond. Yue Zhishi stopped moving as well and pulled his hand back in a fluster, hiding it behind his back.
The sun in autumn wasn’t very strong, but it still scorched his back, burning the palm of his hand.
Having finished his reply, Song Yu glanced back at Yue Zhishi. “Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Qin Yan was eating some soy sauce fried rice in the cafeteria. He checked his phone and almost spat out everything in his mouth.
[I’ll cook. People should eat something nice after being wronged.]