Can it be made public

The others hadn't expected this development either, but since it wouldn't affect them, they were naturally happy to push it along: "Absolutely not!"

Boy: "??"

Ji Li said, "If this requirement cannot be fulfilled, shouldn't it be considered your fault?"

Boy: "..."

He poured himself a drink with tears in his eyes, and when the bottle was empty, he didn't realize that the request couldn't be fulfilled, even though it could have been a problem for both of them.

Ying Yunsheng didn't know those bottle-spinning techniques, and it was from him that the bottle finally had the opportunity to be pointed at other people.

One by one, the onlookers who had initially been watching the spectacle were forced to join the fray, tearing each other apart and escalating the ensuing chaos.

At 11:30, Ji Li got up, said goodbye to everyone, and left.

Yu Ze, who had just finished a bottle of wine, said, "So early? Aren't you going to play a little longer?"

Ji Li put away her phone: "No, maybe next time."

The corridor was lit, but both ends were empty and eerily silent.

Ji Li stopped after taking only a couple of steps, turned around, and asked, "Is there something you need?"

Ying Yunsheng stopped and opened his mouth, saying, "Thank you."

“If you’re referring to the dare just now,” Ji Li said, “I just happened to want to make him uncomfortable, you don’t need to thank me.”

"But you helped me."

"So you think my suggestion that you kiss someone else was helping you?"

“Uh…” A draft happened to blow in from the corridor. Ying Yunsheng watched him leave in silence, and after a long while, he slowly lowered his gaze.

It's always like this.

Every time he gives help, he never lets the recipient have the opportunity to owe him anything.

Not only now, but also in the past.

Ying Yunsheng first met Ji Li ten years ago. It was during summer vacation. He stood downstairs in the tenement building, staring blankly at the aroma wafting from the cart at the entrance of the community for a long time.

He hadn't eaten anything since he woke up that morning. His parents had been busy arguing the night before and were still catching up on sleep, so they didn't have time to cook for him. There were no other snacks at home, and a six or seven-year-old child's body couldn't withstand hunger. He mustered up his courage and went to the kitchen to find something to eat, only to find that his parents had woken up first and were disgusted with each other. He was caught in the crossfire of their anger and kicked out, where he was called a burden and a debt collector. They even told him never to come back.

The cart was selling something that smelled delicious, and from just a door behind him came the sound of something being smashed. He had no money, wasn't an outgoing person, had few friends at school, and couldn't find anyone close enough to ask for help. His only redeeming quality was his grades.

Ying Yunsheng pondered for a long time, tore a flyer off the wall, picked up a pen refill that someone had dropped in the corner, wrote a line of words neatly, and placed it on the first-floor steps as a sign: Help with homework, 50 cents a page.

He hadn't learned the character "帮" yet, so he wrote the pinyin.

Ying Yunsheng waited for an hour. During that time, seven or eight parents with children passed by, but their reactions were all the same: they all pulled their children away to avoid them.

As dusk fell and smoke rose from the chimneys of every household, Ying Yunsheng was about to pick up his "signboard" and leave when someone called out to him.

The person who came was about the same age as him. He stopped in front of him against the light of the fiery sunset, standing at the bottom of the steps, and asked with a smile, "Excuse me, would you still help with homework?"

Ying Yunsheng nodded.

The other person put down their backpack, rummaged through it, and pulled out two workbooks.

Ying Yunsheng recognized it as summer homework assigned by the school, covering both Chinese and math: "I can only help with the math."

Upon hearing this, the other party put away the document.

Ying Yunsheng opened it; it was spotless, not a single word had been changed where it should have been written.

Besides the questions, the workbook also contained pages and pages of extended knowledge, some of which were large sections of question stems. Before he could even figure out how much to charge, the other party, probably impatient, pulled out a bright red banknote and stuffed it into the bound workbook.

"My mom is still waiting for me. Keep this for now, and return it to me when you're done writing."

Ying Yunsheng didn't have time to call out to the other party.

When he got home and was all alone, he opened the first page again and saw the name written in ballpoint pen in the blank space—

Ji Li. His name is Ji Li.

That summer, the house was filled with arguments every day. Ying Yunsheng dared not provoke his parents anymore, and even dared not appear in their sight. Every day, he would secretly take a little bit from his homework and go downstairs to buy the cheapest snacks to fill his stomach, and he actually got through it.

It's hard to say whether he was just too good at deceiving everyone, or whether they simply never paid any attention to him from the beginning.

When the holiday ended and Ying Yunsheng returned to school, he sat at the back of the classroom and saw the new classmate being led in by the homeroom teacher. The classmate stood on the podium and introduced hi

……