Chapter 21
stage play
Lin Chengshuang didn't notice the stack of "birthday gifts" on the balcony until two days later. She immediately called and said, "I saw the autographed photos you sent! I knew you still loved me the most, waaaaah..."
Ji Li: "You've misunderstood. The real gift is the 53rd grade exam."
"Well……"
"It's almost time for my evening self-study session, I have to hang up."
Lin Chengshuang quickly said, "By the way, are you free this weekend? Want to hang out together?"
“Sorry, no,” Ji Li explained. “I’m going to the capital this week.”
"Are you going to see your grandma?" Lin Chengshuang asked regretfully. "Sure, let's make an appointment next time."
.
Taking advantage of the weekend holiday, Ji Li boarded a high-speed train heading north.
The next day, Ji Li went to her father's grave with her grandmother.
The cemetery is located in a quiet area and is repaired every year. Even the texture of the stone railing matches the direction of the blade, which clearly shows that the old lady put a lot of thought into it.
The old lady of the Ji family had lost her husband early and had two sons and a daughter. Her eldest son and youngest daughter were both busy with work and only made time to come out when the elders asked. The children from both families also came along.
The incense, candles, and offerings were all sent over in advance by someone else; they only needed to use them directly. The only things that Ji Li brought personally were two bunches of flowers glistening with dew, and pure white bird-of-paradise birds with their heads raised, wings outstretched as if about to take flight.
One bunch was placed in front of this grave, and another bunch was given to the adjacent tombstone.
Ji Li wiped the small portrait on the stone tablet clean with a silk cloth, stared at the smiling eyes frozen on it for a while, then stood up and bowed to the tombstone.
He had never actually met the other person, at least not when they were alive, because the other person had passed away before he was born, to save his mother.
Now, his mother's grave stands next to his father's, less than ten meters away.
Because the old lady missed her grandson, Ji Li stayed in the capital for lunch before setting off. Even though he bought the next available train ticket, he still wouldn't be able to return to Chongliu City until the evening.
I'm definitely going to miss the weekly test this afternoon.
Others only knew that he went to the capital to visit relatives, but they didn't know who he was visiting, and they all expressed their envy.
Until the class representative appeared and ruthlessly shattered my fantasy.
[Cui Zhuoyue: What are you thinking about?]
[Cui Zhuoyue: This week's Chinese exam, Brother Xiaosai will definitely make him come back and make up the paper.]
[Jian Mingyuan: Suddenly I'm not envious anymore]
[Cui Zhuoyue: Squad leader, are you on the bus right now?]
[Ji Li: Yeah, I'm catching up on my homework. What's up?]
[Cui Zhuoyue: It's nothing serious]
[Cui Zhuoyue: We'll discuss this again when you come back]
Ji Li put down his phone.
The high-speed train seats all have folding tray tables on the back, which Ji Li used to place his exam paper.
The woman sitting to his right had a child. The child was too young to get down and was being held by his mother. The child was waving his paws around and grabbed the pen cap that was moving on his left.
Caught off guard, Ji Li drew a long line on the exam paper with his pen.
The woman quickly stopped him: "You can't take this, give it back to your brother!"
The child was holding onto the pen cap tightly.
The woman tried to pry her hand away: "Baby, be good, let go!"
The child took two breaths and began to sob.
People around couldn't help but look over. The woman was also a novice mother, and she was so anxious that she couldn't soothe the baby. She was sweating profusely.
Ji Li put down his pen, took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket and waved it: "Baby, look at this."
The chocolate was given to him by the old lady before he left. It was wrapped in gold foil and glittered under the light. The child liked it at first sight and reached out to take it.
Ji Li pointed to the pen cap she was holding and coaxed her in a soft voice, "How about we switch?"
The child grabbed the chocolate, released the pen cap, and giggled.
The woman breathed a sigh of relief and said gratefully, "Thank you so much, young student. Did I disturb you while you were doing your homework?"
"No," Ji Li smiled. "She's very cute."
The child can't speak yet, but he can intuitively understand the meaning behind the words of the people around him, and he looks up with a sweet smile.
Having almost finished the exam, Ji Li packed up his things and saw private cars parked outside the station after exiting the station.
The driver's side window rolled down halfway, revealing Aunt Lin's face: "Xiao Li, get in."
Ji Li walked over: "Did my grandma call you?"
"Yes." Aunt Lin turned the key and started the car. "Going to school now? Or should we just go home and rest for the night, and go tomorrow morning?"
Ji Li shook his head: "There's still self-study tonight."
"Okay, it'll take a while to get to school from here, you can rest for a bit first."
"Thank you for your help."
"What's the big deal?" Aunt Lin said, turning the steering wheel with a look of "misfortune for the family." "I wish our Shuangshuang would be as well-behaved as you someday."
She had never thought there was anything wrong with her mischievous son. It was perfectly normal for boys to be active. As long as his character wasn't too bad, even if his grades were terrible, he wouldn't be unable to make it in the future.
Later, when the old lady of the Ji family came over, she entrusted her grandson to their family in Chongliu City for care because of his school registration, and they sent money to him on time every month.
She didn't know much about the Ji family. At first, she knew that the child had lost his parents at a young age, but he was still so self-disciplined and polite, which was heartbreaking. Later, she witnessed Ji Li and Lin Chengshuang's glorious achievement of occupying the top and bottom positions of the grade rankings for three years of junior high school and one year of high school.
The comparison instantly caused the hurt.
If it weren't for the limitations of technology, she would have loved to send her son back in time to be remade.
.
Ji Li never expected that the first classmate she would meet after arriving at school would not be Lin Chengshuang or Jian Mingyuan, but Ying Yunsheng.
Originally, I was instructed by the teacher to go directly to the office. As soon as I glanced around, I saw the other person standing by the desk. As if sensing something, I looked up and met his gaze.
Mao Xianzhi handed over a test paper: "The answers are inside. After you finish writing, just check them and correct them yourself. We won't specifically set aside time to go over the weekly test paper in class. Look at the explanations for the mistakes, and come ask me if you don't understand something."
Ji Li walked out of the office with the test paper and answer key, but instead of returning to the classroom, he stood outside the door.
Less than half a minute later, Ying Yunsheng came out with a whole class's Chinese answer sheets.
"Don't you have a weekly test this afternoon?"
Ji Li hummed in agreement: "I went to visit relatives."
The two didn't stop talking outside the office. As Ji Li walked towards the stairs, he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a round, golden chocolate: "This is for you."
Ying Yunsheng was stunned for a moment.
When the old lady gave him chocolates, he took two. He used one to comfort a baby on the way, and now he only has one left.
However, the purpose is the same.
Seeing that he didn't take it, Ji Li simply unwrapped the wrapper and handed it to him: "Open your mouth."
Ying Yunsheng took a bite of the snack from his hand and glanced at him.
The corridor was dimly lit, while the lights from the classroom on one side shone through the windows, creating a half-lit, half-dark boundary, as if smiling gently at him.
Ying Yunsheng suddenly called out to him: "Ji Li".
"Um?"
Do you have someone you like?
"Uh..." Ying Yunsheng didn't know why he suddenly asked the question, but he had to seize the opportunity while he was still emotionally confused. Otherwise, once he calmed down, he would never ask such a question.
Do you have someone you like?
Ji Li had just thrown out the trash when he heard this, and he was stunned for several seconds: "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
“I thought about it for a long time after I got back,” Ying Yunsheng said. “On Wednesday night, it seemed like that girl wanted to confess to you.”
“No,” Ji Li said with a hint of helplessness. “She just wanted to say thank you.”
“People in our class often talk about you.”
"What a coincidence, people in our class often mention you too."
“When you were in elementary school, Wang Lili asked you if you could be her boyfriend.”
The next day, she turned to her deskmate and asked if he could be her boyfriend.
“Since my first year of high school, I’ve seen many people who secretly liked you and wrote you love letters.”
"Their liking is the same as their liking for celebrities; they might say they love one today and switch to another tomorrow."
Ji Li smiled and said, "Most people in this world like butterflies but not caterpillars. But they are essentially the same species. At most, the former lives a few months longer than the latter and looks brighter. Humans are visual creatures by nature. Even if they catch one, their first reaction is to make it into a specimen rather than keep it as a pet."
Ying Yunsheng: "You're using a fallacy to distort the truth."
“That’s true,” Ji Li said. “They never had genuine feelings for me from the beginning, so your question is meaningless.”
Ying Yunsheng stared at him intently: "Has no one around you ever seriously confessed their feelings to you?"
"Yes, I have."
"Then what?"
"And then it broke."
"Well……"
“I can’t possibly keep someone who likes me around as a friend forever; there are other people in the world besides him,” Ji Li said. “What’s the difference between this and raising fish?”
Ying Yunsheng didn't know what "raising fish" meant, but judging from the context, he knew it was definitely not a good word.
He remained silent for a long time before asking, "What if... someone around you confesses their feelings to you again in the future?"