Nachtpuppe

Kapitel 14

"What is this?"

"That's impossible!" The words, spoken in a thick local accent, made Zhong Lei laugh until his stomach hurt. In that moment of uncontrollable laughter, he even felt that his desire to die was somewhat absurd. After all, there are still interesting things in the world worth cherishing.

Chapter Six: The Return of the Dead (Part Four)

6

"Zhong Lei, come out here for a second!"

Zhong Lei, who was laughing hysterically while lying on the table, suddenly heard a stern voice above him. Looking up, he saw his homeroom teacher staring at him with a serious expression. Zhong Lei's heart skipped a beat, thinking, "I'm doomed! I've been caught by the boss!"

Helpless, I could only slink behind the boss's burly figure as we left the classroom. Wait a minute! Strange! Why does the boss's usually stern face look so friendly today? Could it be that his main purpose in calling me out wasn't to berate me? Thinking about it, it made sense. What I'd been through these past few days had been quite pitiful; the boss must have come to comfort me. Heh heh! Definitely!

Just as I was lost in thought, the teacher spoke up:

"Zhong Lei, do you know where Liu Dong went?"

Zhong Lei immediately refuted his previous N speculations.

Looking back, where did Liu Dong go? I honestly didn't know, so I told the truth:

"I don't know."

"You guys always hang out together, how could you not know?"

Zhong Lei strongly disliked his teacher's words.

"I'll say it again, I don't know! And I don't even know what 'messing around' means!"

The teacher seemed startled by his student's reaction, and he asked angrily:

"What kind of attitude is that! The teacher is asking you something! Answer properly!"

Zhong Lei took a deep breath. His newly cultivated good mood had been completely ruined by this guy's words, leaving him extremely annoyed. So he continued with his own curt reply:

"I've already answered, I don't know!" After saying that, he looked straight at his teacher, who was half a head shorter than him, and began to look at him with some exasperation.

"You couldn't possibly not know! Five people went in that day, so why are you the only one alive and well? I suspected you were up to something from the very beginning! Tell me the truth today, do you have any connections with the underworld?! Admit it now! Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble!"

Zhong Lei was astonished. These words came from the mouth of a teacher, and to his own high school student! How could this be a conversation between a teacher and student? This was clearly a police interrogation of a criminal! So blatant, so merciless, and without a single piece of evidence—pure slander!

Zhong Lei suddenly began to look down on the middle-aged man in front of him.

"You're really professional! I bet even the police aren't as professional as you when it comes to using torture, right?"

Now the teacher seemed completely enraged, but at the same time, he seemed to realize that his words had gone too far, and he secretly regretted it. If this got out, it would be extremely detrimental to him. Even so, he didn't let up verbally.

"Okay! Then I'll tell you what I really care about: how many places has your ranking dropped? What was your ranking when you started your second year of high school? Hmm? What is it now? Tell me!"

This request wasn't excessive, Zhong Lei recalled briefly, and said:

"When he first arrived, he was fourteenth, now he's forty-fourth." This latter ranking was from a monthly exam after the incident. During the exam, Zhong Lei's mind went blank; he couldn't even answer the history questions that required listing historical facts, let alone the political questions about analyzing problems using methodology. So, such a poor result was expected.

"Isn't that convincing enough? Isn't that enough to make you lower your arrogant head? What have you been doing all this time?! Besides hanging out with those few people, what else have you been doing? You don't need to answer! If it weren't for that, your grades wouldn't have dropped so quickly! I advise you to stay put for a while! Otherwise, pack your things and get out of here! Don't waste your parents' hard-earned money!"

The homeroom teacher was about to jump up; his square face was filled with anger, and his voice was rising higher and higher. There were several other teachers standing in the corridor, but they were all used to it; such "lessons" were common in this school.

However, the teacher did not realize that his words had deeply wounded the darkest part of a boy's heart.

After hearing this, Zhong Lei turned around and went back to the classroom, leaving the middle-aged man with only one sentence:

"I have no parents."

7

Zhong Lei walked into the classroom expressionlessly, returned to his seat, and thought to himself, "Anyway, I've completely clashed with the homeroom teacher this time. I'll probably have to reflect on this for a while. But why did he bring up my parents? And I haven't been wasting my time. According to him, I studied hard! I tried my best! But given the situation I'm in, who can I blame? Who will take responsibility for my declining grades?!" Zhong Lei was lost in thought when the homeroom teacher still didn't enter the classroom. It was Chinese morning reading time, and the Chinese teacher hadn't come either, which seemed a bit strange.

"To hell with it!" Zhong Lei wanted to shout this out, but he held back because they were in the classroom. Suddenly, he remembered that Li Xue's letter was still in his desk drawer, so he quickly took it out to read it.

Zhong Lei:

I hope you are doing well when you receive this letter!

This seems to be the first time I've written anything for you, because, well, it's better to write it down anyway!

As I write this letter, I don't know what kind of dangerous situation you're in, because those four people have all run into trouble, and only you are safe and sound. While I'm relieved, I'm also very worried. I don't know why, but I'm just worried—worried that I'll never see your sunny smile again. Never see your carefree, cheerful face again. Am I being silly? I wish I were silly, that I was just overthinking, that I was talking nonsense, that nothing would happen to you!

But I'm still worried, especially after seeing you so down in the hospital a few days ago. The doctor told me you were at risk of a breakdown at any moment, so I couldn't rest easy. Then I was surprised how quickly you recovered and were discharged. I'm genuinely happy for you. Seeing this, you're probably smiling and laughing at me for being silly. Hey, actually, I really like it when you call me silly.

Actually, the purpose of writing this letter is to express what I've been thinking about for a long time. I wasn't planning to tell you back in high school, but now, don't blame me for being a jinx! I've liked you for a long time. Although we've always been like buddies, I know that's not the relationship I want most.

Well... I've said everything I needed to say. I hope you can stay strong. No matter what happens, no matter how terrible it is, I'm willing to stand with you through it all, okay?

Okay, that's all for now!

No need to reply!

Snow

Zhong Lei looked at the delicate signature at the bottom of the letter and was genuinely surprised. Li Xue had confessed her feelings at this time, which made him think of the past. In fact, he had already noticed the change in Li Xue's feelings for him. It was during that holiday when a few of them were playing cards, and Zhong Lei won and insisted on kissing Li Xue, but she blushed and dodged away. Maybe Li Xue had already fallen for him then! Thinking about himself, he suddenly realized that his feelings for her were no longer just those of a best friend. Perhaps he didn't even realize when they had evolved.

As Zhong Lei sat in the cafeteria at lunchtime, staring blankly at the table, Li Xue appeared before him, looking directly into his eyes, her tone of voice unchanged.

"You're still alive, huh?"

"How can I die before I've even kissed you?"

After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled.

8

Zhong Lei returned to his dormitory in high spirits, and even the fact that his name had been noted down by the teacher on duty on the first floor did not affect his mood.

However, when he pushed open the dormitory door, his mouth dropped open in astonishment once again.

Bi Bin sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him with a mischievous grin:

"Lei Zi, you're back?"

Chapter Seven: Basketball League (Part One)

One

“Bi Bin! What are you doing?” Zhong Lei was so surprised he choked. He never expected Bi Bin to appear in front of him again.

"What's wrong with me?" Bi Bin asked, looking puzzled.

“Aren’t you already dead?” Zhong Lei was even more puzzled, but less afraid, because he hadn’t seen Bi Bin die with his own eyes.

"Go to hell! Damn it, you're cursing me to die as soon as I get back? What the hell!" Bi Bin cursed, but he spoke with a smile. Looking up, he saw Liu Dong making his bed, preparing for a nap. Turning sharply, he saw Su Shengwen's bed was empty.

"Where is Su Shengwen?"

“Idiot! That mentally challenged guy's gone mad! You didn't know? He was sent to Dongguan Hospital a long time ago. He's even in the intensive care unit!” Bi Bin winked at Zhong Lei after saying this. Zhong Lei nodded; this matched what Yu Kai had told him.

"After you were hospitalized, I immediately took leave and went home to rest until now!" He deliberately dragged out the word "rest," implying that he was just out having fun somewhere. So, this remark immediately drew out laughter in the dormitory. Zhong Lei forced a few smiles, but he couldn't really laugh because things were in complete chaos again. He needed to sort things out; as Uncle Zhao had said, it was a mess and needed to be organized.

"Look, the school basketball league starts tomorrow! Our class has to win the championship this year! I've been looking forward to it for so long!" Bi Bin continued, a look of great anticipation on his face. Last year, due to the discord between their two key players, Zhong Lei and Bi Bin, their teamwork was consistently poor, as if one team had split into two. The opposing team was already strong, and with their own split, they suffered a crushing defeat.

Bi Bin looked up at Zhong Lei, who was standing there, sighed, and suddenly said with a very serious expression:

“Lei Zi, we absolutely have to win this championship this year! Otherwise, I might not make the school team, and then my family won’t let me play basketball anymore. They’ll make me drop out of school and go back to work, you know? Do you know how much I love basketball? I’ve been playing basketball since I was very young, and it’s been with me for almost ten years, ten years! Even a girl would fall in love with it after being together for that long, right?” Bi Bin’s eyes seemed to be filled with tears. Zhong Lei was surprised again. These past few days, things he had never encountered before kept happening, constantly overturning Zhong Lei’s previous memories and views.

"I can't lose basketball! I really don't want to go work for that damn construction crew carrying cement bags! So, we have to win! Okay? I'm begging you!" Bi Bin's expression made Zhong Lei feel sorry for him. His previous dislike for Bi Bin vanished instantly, so he nodded heavily without hesitation. At the same time, he began to think about what he wanted to do in the future. Currently, his condition was very precarious. How could he face the city orphanage that sponsored his education with such results? How could he face the kind Aunt Li?

"We must win!" Zhong Lei silently repeated to himself.

II

"The next match is between Class 28 of Grade 11 and Class 20 of Grade 11! Players, please enter the field!"

Zhong Lei and his team faced a very weak opponent today, who already had an age advantage. In addition, Zhong Lei and his teammates were all basketball experts, so the outcome of this game was a foregone conclusion.

The jump ball began. Zhong Lei leaped lightly, and the basketball flew gracefully from his fingertips into Bi Bin's hands. Bi Bin gave a thumbs-up, and Zhong Lei responded with the same gesture. Both men smiled slightly. This action surprised almost everyone present, because their on-court animosity last semester was so intense that such harmony was practically impossible. It was truly astonishing.

Bi Bin was enormous, but his footwork was incredibly agile. With a few quick steps, he had already reached the opponent's three-point line. A defender came to guard him, and Bi Bin first darted to the right. The defender quickly moved to the left to block, but Bi Bin was merely faking it. While still leaning forward, he had already retrieved the ball, executed a skillful behind-the-back dribble, and switched the ball to his left hand. Then, with a quick change of direction, he dribbled with his left hand and charged forward. The opponent's center was already blocked by Zhong Lei, so Bi Bin easily made a layup. "Swish!" Score!

Then Zhong Lei, Bi Bin, Yu Kai, and two other classmates quickly returned to defense. By the time the opponent had just served the ball, they had already taken their positions in the zone defense: Bi Bin was positioned as center, Zhong Lei as guard, and Yu Kai as forward.

The opposing center, a tall number four, was very fast and cut to the basket. The guard on the outside was about to pass him the ball, but Zhong Lei was a head taller than him. As soon as the ball left his hand, Zhong Lei grabbed it and stole it!

The opposing team had already crossed the mid-court line, so their half of the court was empty. Zhong Lei seized the opportunity, dribbled and sprinted, and in the blink of an eye, he was under the opponent's basket. The nearest player on the opposing team had just entered the three-point line. Even if he fouled, he couldn't reach that distance!

Without a second thought, Zhong Lei sprang up from the ground and slammed the basketball into the hoop with both hands. Two points again! And this dunk had a clear impact on morale. The players of Class 28 were all excited and eager to try, while Class 20 of Grade 1 looked like wilted eggplants right from the start, all of them listless.

As everyone expected, Zhong Lei and his team won by a margin of forty points.

Chapter Seven: Basketball League (Part Two)

Three

On an early autumn afternoon, the leaves on the treetops trembled precariously. The golden rays of the setting sun spilled across the ground, casting a gentle romance over everyone on the road.

Zhong Lei and Li Xue walked side by side. One was a tall, handsome young man, and the other was a graceful and beautiful young woman. Their presence in the usually gloomy campus was like a stone stirring up ripples, adding a touch of brightness to the somber atmosphere.

Zhong Lei looked at Li Xue beside him. Her long, flowing hair was now tied back, and her large eyes were blinking as she stared at something in front of her, her lips unconsciously pursing twice. Li Xue's adorable appearance sent a sudden surge of happiness through Zhong Lei. He looked down at Li Xue and asked:

"What would you like to eat?"

Li Xue no longer had that domineering attitude she used to have. After that letter, she was like a different person, becoming incredibly gentle.

"Anything is fine, hmm, how about some stir-fries at a small restaurant?"

Zhong Lei said,

"Okay! Hehe!" He smiled happily after saying that. Zhong Lei didn't really like dating before, but now it seems that one saying is true: not liking to date is because you haven't met the right person. Zhong Lei has met the most suitable person for him. They've been playing together since they were little, and they know each other very well, so there's no need for a period of adjustment in their relationship.

As he was lost in thought, Zhong Lei suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You didn't even invite me when you went to eat stir-fry?" Zhong Lei turned around and saw Bi Bin looking at him with a smile in his eyes.