"Francisco is the name of the Snow White Queen."
"Uh..." Ye Ruhui gave a speechless look: "Why choose such a name?"
Wu Yiqing had already turned away, and now it was Jian Mingyuan who answered him: "You should ask the author about that."
Jian Mingyuan thought for a moment and added, "But it does sound like a villain's aura." He thought for a moment and added, "You can tell what your parents' expectations are just by looking at the name they gave you."
Upon hearing this, Ye Ruhui guessed what he was going to say next.
“Take me for example.” Jian Mingyuan used himself as an example, “Just from my name, you can tell that my parents’ wishes for me are no different from those of countless other parents.”
Ye Ruhui rolled her eyes: "It's good enough if you have any positive expectations, otherwise what kind of name do you expect your parents to give you? Butterfly Dream Purple Glass Love Tragedy Talia?"
Jian Mingyuan sighed sincerely: "Actually, I've always liked Ying Yunsheng's name—Yunsheng Jiehailou, it sounds very poetic; of course, someone like the class monitor is also good, it matches his temperament well; even your name has a source from the Book of Songs."
Just then, he caught a glimpse of Ying Yunsheng passing by, dressed in a witch's cloak. He quickly reached out and grabbed her, looking up at her with shining eyes: "Ying Yunsheng, tell me why your parents named you Yunsheng?"
Ying Yunsheng blinked: "The hospital where I was born is called Baiyun Hospital."
"Uh..." Because the hospital where he was born was called Baiyun Hospital, he was named Ying Yunsheng?
Why wasn't it named Ying Baiyun?
Ying Yunsheng pulled his cloak back and asked, "Have you seen Ji Li?"
Jian Mingyuan raised his hand and pointed blankly: "It looks like he went to the bathroom just now."
Ying Yunsheng paused for a second, then suddenly turned and left, running as soon as he stepped out of the auditorium.
He pushed open the bathroom door with a "whoosh," looked up, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.
It had started raining outside sometime earlier. The windows inside were open, and the late autumn rain was being blown by the wind into the security bars. The door to the tool shed at the end of the red non-slip carpet was wide open, and mops and sponge mops were lying haphazardly, with two of them even lying outside.
Ji Li stood in front of the wooden door of the tool shed, half of her body soaked from being near the window. She looked up at his shoulders, which were heaving violently from not yet catching her breath: "Why did you run so fast?"
Ying Yunsheng glanced into the tool shed, saw no one inside, and softened his tone: "Nothing." He instinctively tried to pull the other person away from the rain-swept window, "What are you doing standing here?"
Ji Li: "Let's see if we can hide someone in here."
Ying Yunsheng's raised hand suddenly froze in mid-air.
“I passed by our class’s location earlier and saw that Zhu Yi’s clothes were completely wet,” Ji Li said. “He started trembling as soon as he saw me, and said that he had been locked in the tool shed here before.”
He had been locked up, just before the performance started, when Ji Li opened the door and came in to remove the gauze and put on gloves for him.
They remained silent, and the silence in the air grew heavier and heavier, almost suffocating them.
Finally, Ji Li spoke up: "Did you do this?"
Ying Yunsheng remained silent.
If there was still room for doubt before, then not denying it in this situation is basically equivalent to admitting it.
"Do you know that restricting someone's personal freedom in this way is illegal?"
Ying Yunsheng remained silent.
"Are you aware that such aggressive behavior that brings someone to the brink of death is considered a serious crime in society?"
Ying Yunsheng kept his head down and never looked him in the eye.
Ji Li looked at him, her tone unusually reproachful: "If what you did today gets out, no matter what the inside story is, you'll be the one standing on the moral low ground. If you're still angry that he hurt you and you want revenge, couldn't you choose a more respectable method? Why did you have to resort to the most extreme one?"
"If I were only bothered by the fact that he hurt me, I wouldn't have contacted him at all today!"
Ji Li stopped speaking midway through her sentence.
Ying Yunsheng, however, could not calm down. Once the suppressed emotions were broken, the subsequent venting was unstoppable: "If it weren't for the fact that he attacked you before, why do you think I would choose what you consider the most extreme method?"
Ji Li stared at him blankly for a long time: "The police have already fined him, I don't need to..."
"You don't need me to do these things?" Ying Yunsheng interrupted him directly, walking closer and closer to him. "I know, but the reason I chose to do it here and keep it from you in the first place was because I never intended for you to know. These things are my own choice and have nothing to do with you. Even if things really get out, it won't affect you."
Ji Li frowned slightly: "That's not what I meant..."
“But you want me to pretend I didn’t see it, to ignore someone who hurt you, to let him go back to school, to let him continue eating and drinking as usual, to let him sit in the audience and enjoy the performance with others, acting as if nothing had happened. And you want me to be indifferent after seeing it?” Ying Yunsheng finally stopped in front of him, his voice falling to the ground, clearly audible in the small space, “I can’t do it.”
Ji Li looked at him as he slowly raised his head: "You don't know what I was thinking when I saw him raise the bottle at you, so don't try to advise me on how to get revenge on him."
Ying Yunsheng stared at him intently, her voice belatedly betraying a trembling fear as she pleaded cautiously, "Don't be afraid of me...don't hate me, okay?"
Something inside Ji Li suddenly collapsed.
Ying Yunsheng wasn't the type to hold grudges. Whether it was being abandoned by his parents in Tingfeng Lane, burning up and falling into a coma on the sofa, or being slandered in the office when they reunited, there wasn't much resentment in his eyes. He had always thought that Ying Yunsheng had a naturally high emotional threshold, or that he had learned early on not to waste his energy on such upsetting people and things. He was even glad that Ying Yunsheng's personality made him less susceptible to being hurt by external factors. That's why he was surprised to see Ying Yunsheng in the infirmary after Shen Huai's accident.
But only now did he realize that the other person wasn't really emotionally detached. They would cry, feel afraid, and worry about things they cared about. Their indifference was just a protective facade they had to put on. Inside, however, was an undiminished passion.
He didn't know where the other person's anchor point was, but he knew that for someone like that to lose control of their emotions and act so violently, the person involved must be extremely important to them.
After a long silence, just as Ying Yunsheng's eyes began to show signs of retreat, the other party spoke.
"Wasn't it caught on camera?"
Ying Yunsheng was taken aback and subconsciously shook his head.
Even though he closed the door, he intentionally controlled his volume and the content of his speech to ensure that no one in the hallway outside would have the opportunity to overhear him.
Ji Li pulled him outside, saying as they walked, "Don't do that again next time."
Ying Yunsheng did not answer.
Seeing his expression, Ji Li knew he hadn't listened to her at all: "Nothing happened this time, but you can't ignore the possibility of something going wrong, you can't ignore your future."
Ying Yunsheng looked at him: "Are you still angry?"
Ji Li glanced at him: "Speaking of which, I just remembered something. Last time, Tong Siliang was just as scared when he saw me."
Ying Yunsheng suddenly froze.
"You did this too?"
"Well……"
"What else have you done behind my back?"
"It's really gone."
Ji Li led him to the locker room and took out a roll of gauze from the school uniform jacket hanging there: "Hold out your hand."
After removing his gloves and re-bandaging the wound, he gave a third instruction: "Don't let this happen again."
"But……"
“No buts.” Ji Li put away the bandage. “If he had suffocated for a little longer today, if you hadn’t controlled your strength a little too much, or if I had arrived a little later, he might not have made it back to the audience alive. In that case, you would have become the target of everyone’s anger.”
Ying Yunsheng lowered his head: "I really didn't want him to die, I just wanted to teach him a lesson."
"What if he really dies? What will you do then?"
"He won't die."
"just in case."
"There's no 'what if'."
Ji Li didn't look up: "Did you think about what would happen if I found out before you took action?"
Ying Yunsheng fell silent.
"Don't let it happen again." Ji Li peeled a piece of chocolate and put it in his mouth. "Be good."
Just then, the closing announcement came from outside, and the rankings were being announced.
Their collaborative performance ultimately won first place, and the representatives of the two classes went on stage to receive the award and take photos. They ran down excitedly and asked, "Should we also take a commemorative photo before we change our clothes?"
This proposal was ultimately met with unanimous opposition from everyone.
Just kidding, now their roles are either cross-dressing or non-biological comedic relief, and their costumes are more and more exaggerated than the last. If this were actually filmed, it would be the laughing stock of the class for the next two years.
It was nearly 11 p.m. when we left the auditorium after the show. People around us were noisily discussing the performance. Ji Li parted ways with Ying Yunsheng at Exit 2, and was called back by someone the next second.
Zhu Yi appeared behind him without him noticing, his gaze just shifting from Ying Yunsheng's departing figure: "Is he denying it?"
Ji Li looked at him.
"Did he say I slandered him? Did he say he didn't do anything at all?" Zhu Yi's speech quickened. "Did he...?"
Ji Li interrupted him: "Zhu Yi."
The other party stopped speaking.
“I thought I made myself very clear back in the audience,” Ji Li repeated slowly. “Regardless of whether what you said is true or false, even if it is true, why do you think I would be on your side?”
"He almost killed..."
“I submitted a complaint letter to the suggestion box outside the principal's office a week ago, but it was gone when I went to check today.” Ji Li’s expression suddenly changed. “If it’s dealt with quickly, the actual competition results should be out in the next couple of days.”
"Instead of standing here and confronting me, I suggest you think about what you plan to do when the punishment comes down."
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 29
Chapter 29
The sound of drums
Winter has arrived, and the rain fell on and off all night last night, showing no signs of stopping. Some students who are afraid of the cold have already put on their winter school uniforms and cotton-padded jackets.
The excitement of the previous day's arts festival hadn't even died down when Ji Li entered the classroom and was immediately surrounded by stares.
Jian Mingyuan made way for him: "Hey genius, did you know that someone renamed our class group photo album yesterday?"
"What's your name?"
"The King of Comedy in the making."
"Uh..." Ye Ruhui suddenly turned his head: "What's wrong with you?"
Ji Li: "?"
Ye Ruhui stared intently at him, her expression as serious as if she were looking at the final, most challenging question on a math exam: "You're late."