Read some stories every day app author: Ahan | Reprinting is prohibited
Wedge
Learning about Jiang Li’s marriage, for a moment, Ming Yan felt that his brain seemed to have gone on strike.
The ears were buzzing, and the intermittent dizziness caused by long-term overtime work made a comeback. The scene in front of him gradually distorted and blurred. He stood with the door frame for a while, stumbled into the living room, plunged into the soft fabric sofa, and had not come back to his senses for a long time.
The room was empty, and the sound of the second hand being rotated was amplified countless times, which still could not cover up the frequent vibration of the phone. Mingyan rubbed his temples and pointed the latest news in the notification bar with his sweaty fingers.
For the class reunion at the end of the month, the always deserted high school WeChat group suddenly became lively. The names that had been sealed in the depths of memory appeared on the screen one by one. You said and said, and soon the meeting location was settled.
Mingyan is not concerned about this.
flipped over the constantly updated chat history, and his thumb stopped on a message fifteen minutes ago - do you know? Jiang Li is getting married!
Time flies, Jiang Li, the once infamous Jiang Li, no one cares about her current situation, and even the habitual sarcasm and despise of the past has never appeared. Someone in the group immediately turned the topic elsewhere.
Only Mingyan, as if he had been lit into the acupoint, staring at the message for a long time, until the light around him was completely swallowed by the night, then turned off his phone, got up and walked into the study next door.
carefully took out the high school English book from the desk drawer, rubbing the beautifully written name on the title page with his fingertips. He slowly lowered his head, and the blood in his body cooled inch by inch, and his eyes, which were dry and painful, were suddenly filled with tears.
1
Jiang Li is a thief.
This is what most people in the second grade (3) class default. After the division of liberal arts and sciences, two thefts occurred in this class that had just been reorganized in just two months.
First, during physical education class, a famous brand watch placed by a boy from a wealthy family disappeared. In the same physical education class, the class monitor's wallet containing the class pay he had just collected also disappeared.
6,000 yuan, this number is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for a high school student aged 17 or 18.
Seeing the class leader with excellent character and academic performance lying on the table and crying so hard that he was out of breath, the head teacher was also angry and specially adjusted a class to hold the class meeting. He slapped the podium with a tense face and slapped the podium with a loud bang: "Check! You must find out who did it! Our class has just formed, so there must not be such a black sheep! You can steal at a young age, and you can't grow up?" The atmosphere in the classroom fell to freezing point, and every young and tender face was covered with a layer of cloud. Even the classmates who used to be together day and night could not help but feel a little surprised and confused when they were in contact with each other.
The class teacher pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, paced back and forth in the middle of the seat with his hands behind his back, coughed lightly, and calmed his tone slightly: "Of course, the teacher believes in you. The classroom door was not locked in that class, and it is not necessary for people from other classes to come in and take care of them... Let's do this, I'll check the surveillance in the corridor, you can study for yourself first." Then he pushed the door and went out.
After a brief quiet, the girls began to discuss it all over the place, and the few boys also came up to listen. Only Ming Yan, who was sitting in the front row near the aisle, letting others analyze it, still staring at the Chinese textbook spread out on the table without even raising his eyelids.
Until Li Qian, who was at the same table with the class leader, came over, causing a lot of commotion around him. Ming Yan closed the book with a "pop" and frowned with two beautiful eyebrows and looked over: "What did you say?"
"Why are you glaring at me?" Li Qian tried hard to open her eyes, her face was innocent, and she couldn't help but raise her voice, and she made her guess public. "We were all in the playground that day, and only Jiang Li took leave to go to the infirmary, and she didn't come back for the whole class. Isn't it suspicious?"
Ming Yan pursed his lips, his eyes fell on the empty seat beside him. After a moment, he raised his head and stared at the person who was proudly accusing Jiang Li. His tone was not slow, but it was obviously a bit of protection: "Jiang Li is not that kind of person."
He has always been an inconspicuous person, with an average family background and taciturn words. He only knows how to study and never take the initiative to interact with others. At this moment, this sentence of similar defense sounds not important. Li Qian rolled her eyes, turned her head to continue expressing her opinions, and ignored him at all.
Ming Yan smiled bitterly and shook his head, not saying anything more.
After a while, the head teacher came back from the surveillance room with a gloomy face and announced that the camera in the corridor had broken last month and theft became a headless case. However, the class’s speculation that Jiang Li was a thief was passed down by word of mouth in several afternoon classes and quietly fermented.
After school in the afternoon, Ming Yan hurried home, put down his schoolbag and went to find Jiang Li with today's class notes.
The old residential building that has been disrepair for a long time is dimly lit, and the air is filled with an old and decay smell. The window of the room that is only separated from his room is empty. Ming Yan hesitated for a while and knocked on the window frame: "Jiang Li, are you still sleeping?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the floral curtain inside was pulled open. Through the glass, a white and clean face came into his eyes. Ming Yan raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and when she opened the window, she approached a little, and asked softly: "Have you recovered from the cold?"
It was already late autumn, and Jiang Li was still wearing only a single dress, and there was no blood on her thin lips. After hearing his words, she barely pulled out a smile, and her voice was a little hoarse: "The fever has subsided, and tomorrow should be It's time to go to class."
Ming Yan nodded and quickly handed the notes in his hand: "Today's English class has a class meeting. There are only Chinese and geography. I'll copy it for you. Take the time to take a look. There will be a geography test tomorrow."
Jiang Li took the notes and flipped through them, and asked casually about the content of the class meeting. Ming Yan scratched her head and remembered the more exaggerated rumors in the class. The smile in her eyes faded a little: "Nothing important is that, I just said a few words casually. I'm going back to have a meal. You have a good rest."
is just a guess that catches the wind and shadows. It's not true. Even if Jiang Li really asked for leave in the physical education class that day, it doesn't mean she is a thief. Ming Yan thought so, and his steps became much lighter.
For Ming Yan at that time, the theft incident in the class was not worth mentioning at all compared to the upcoming physics test. Instead of being affected by those trivial matters, it would be better to read more classroom notes and make sense. It was not until the next morning, when he walked into the classroom side by side with Jiang Li that he realized how naive his thoughts were.
In the face of public opinion, not everyone can stay out of the matter like him and take it indifferently. On the contrary, those adolescent boys and girls have long been tired of the boring life in front of them. They finally got a chance to be heroes, and everyone has become a famous detective who upholds justice.
No pipe, no deer hunting hat, or even the most basic judgment ability. It doesn’t matter, the expression of righteous indignation is their decorations, and the big words deliberately bold on the blackboard are their weapons.
2
"Jiang Li is a thief", "poor ghost, pay back the money", "scum in the class", "black sheep"...
After taking two days of sick leave, Jiang Li, who was eager to go back to school to attend class, never expected that what would be greeted was the insults and accusations that occupied most of the blackboard in front of her.
There is still some time before class. There are only a few girls in the classroom gathered together to chat. When they saw Jiang Li and Ming Yan standing at the door, they immediately closed their mouths at the same time, and the expressions on their faces were the same - they raised their eyebrows, slanted their eyes, and pulled down the corners of their mouths with contempt and disgusting curves.
Jiang Li seemed to be hit by someone, her face looked even worse than when she was sick a few days ago. She stared at the blackboard with her eyes fixed on her, and then slowly turned her eyes to Ming Yan, who had a dull expression beside her.
Mingyan never expected that things would develop like this. She didn't bother to explain to her and rushed to the podium in a panic and wiped off the words on the blackboard one by one, from her cheekbones to the roots of her ears, and she swelled red.
Jiang Li blinked her eyes hard, walked slowly to her seat, sorted out the things in her schoolbag and put them into the desk one by one. Ming Yan put down the blackboard wiper, sat next to her with his head hanging down, and his voice was as light as a mosquito: "The class pay that the class monitor kept is gone. Yesterday, the class meeting was held, and they said that you were the only one who took leave to go to the infirmary that day... I didn't mean to hide it from you." After a pause, he added, "I know it's not you."
"It's okay." Jiang Li gently covered the table with her face as if it was on the verge of the table, with a look on her face. Covered with a thin layer of frost, his tone was calm, but his movements of getting up looked a little stiff, "I'll go sweeping the floor first."
Ming Yan sideways his shoulder and let her pass by, his fingers tugging together uneasyly: "I'll help you..."
"No."
I don't know if it's an illusion, but Ming Yan seemed to hear a hint of unstableness in Jiang Li's always calm tone, like the dead leaves remaining on the branches in late autumn, fiddled by the sudden evening breeze, shaking.
He was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, the other party had already walked out of the classroom quickly, leaving only a thin and thin back.
In just one night, the people in the class reached a certain consensus that Jiang Li was the culprit of two thefts. Ming Yan was determined to defend Jiang Li, which was useless - those "detectives" and "law enforcement officers" who occupied the moral commanding heights and had a hot mind could not listen to the words of an unknown man like him.
After a long time, some people tried to convince Ming Yan to join their camp and instilled in him an irrefutable point of view: Of course, it is because of being a thief. Can the whole school find someone poorer than Jiang Li?
At this age when self-esteem is broken, if the family conditions are not that bad, which girl is willing to take the eyes of the whole school and work with the dirty broom all day long to make herself dirty?
Ming Yan was surprised by this simple and crude reason for conviction, so he simply kept silent and just silently placed Jiang Li in his own protection area. He went to school with her as usual every day, leaving the rumors that were getting worse and worse.
Perhaps, in those people's hearts, the truth of the matter and Jiang Li's innocence are not important. What is important is that for a long time, they had more topics of conversation that could adjust their lives after dinner.
The only thing that made Ming Yan feel comforted was that Jiang Li was not affected by public opinion at all.
She acted more calmer than anyone else, without discernment, and was not uneasy, and still followed the steps. In the morning, she carried a broom to clean several main roads and playgrounds of the school. During lunch break, she ate the steamed buns provided to her by the canteen and memorized words while chewing on the steamed buns provided to her for free. After school, she cleaned it and then went home with Ming Yan.
Her calmness and wind straightened her back in the meaningful gazes around her, which was like a silent struggle. So the rumors in the class grew wings and flew farther and farther away. In less than a week, various different versions have been derived.
The most incredible version was reported by girls led by Li Qian. They found out that Jiang Li's mother worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. They added fuel to this discovery and turned it into the leftovers of Jiang Li and her daughter who ate customers every day, and had long been infected with some kind of infectious disease.
In the Chinese class that afternoon, the sky outside the window was gray, and a dull thunder came faintly, and a heavy rain was brewing.The teacher wrote a blackboard with his back to the podium. The girls in the back row whispered under the cover of thunder, like a few mice gathered together to chew a piece of biscuits for entertainment. Scattered pieces of debris fell from their lips and teeth. Ming Yan vaguely heard words like "Jiang Li" and "infectious diseases", and subconsciously turned his head to look to the right.
Jiang Li was still copying notes, and her right finger joints, holding the pen, were faintly white. She obviously heard the sound in the back row. From the perspective of Mingyan, she could just see her thin neck, like the stem of a gardenia, bent under the shadow of the curtains, weak, quiet, and harmless.
Ming Yan sighed silently in his heart, and was about to comfort her, but suddenly he heard Li Qian's half-smile and half-angry voice: "Oh, stop talking, stop talking, so dirty!"
Before he finished speaking, Jiang Li suddenly stood up and stared at Li Qian tightly. Qingming's eyes contained a sharp anger like a blade, and in just a moment, it disappeared into a heavy sadness.
Li Qian seemed to be frightened by her, and curled her lips and snorted, not saying anything too much.
"Jiang Li, what's wrong?"
The teacher on the podium heard the movement and turned around and asked. Jiang Li sniffed, and said in a muffled voice, "I want to go to the toilet", then squeezed out from Ming Yan and disappeared in a hurry at the back door.
A thunder exploded in the sky. Ming Yan in the classroom was anxious, but he did not dare to chase him out in front of the teacher. He could only copy Jiang Li's unfinished notes absent-mindedly. He was distracted several times in the middle and thought of something else.
Ming Yan knew the situation of Jiang Li's family best. His father died prematurely, and only his mother left him to grow up with great difficulty, doing the dirtiest and tiring work for her to go to school. He hoped that she would make a name for herself one day and completely get rid of the stretched life in front of her.
Ming Yan clearly remembers that shortly after the first year of high school, Jiang Li was called out by her class teacher during class break. When she came back, she was abnormal and excitedly pulled his sleeves, her eyes full of sunny smiles: "Do you know? The teacher helped me apply for work-study. In the future, I can eat in the cafeteria for free if I just clean the food!" He hasn't seen the smile of
for a long time.
3
In the winter of this year, when the first snowflakes fell from the sky, the school began to have winter vacation.
Jiang Li finally temporarily pulled out of the dilemma of school full of spits. On the second day of the holiday, she found a promotional job in a nearby supermarket. She went out early and came back late every day, busy and fulfilled, and her frown was a little loosened.
Compared with her, Ming Yan's situation is not so easy.
As soon as the holiday began, he learned from his mother that his father had used most of his savings to buy a new house near his school, and he would start decorating after the New Year, and strive to move over before he was promoted to , senior high school .
That night, Mingyan had rare insomnia.
The parents had already fallen asleep. He lay on his narrow single bed, buried his face deep in the quilt, remembered the newly posted Spring Festival couplets at the door, the crayon drawings he had applied to the corridor wall when he was young, the small window next door that he had knocked on countless times, and the face that was scattered by the snow in the window, and the part in the chest suddenly twitched slightly, a little sore, a little painful, and more confused.
In the following days, my father worked overtime and my mother was busy buying New Year’s goods. Mingyan spent a few days alone at home. It was not until New Year’s Eve that he remembered that the winter vacation homework issued by the school had not written yet. After the New Year’s Eve dinner, he went back to his room without even watching the Spring Festival Gala.
The fireworks and firecrackers outside were heard incessantly, and it continued until the early morning before gradually calming down. After Ming Yan finished writing the English part, he was about to get up and pour a glass of water in the living room. A slight voice suddenly sounded in the corridor outside.
is very light and short, like a muffled groan, suddenly and forbearable.
Ming Yan was stunned for a moment, reached out and lifted the curtain in front of him, stretched his neck and looked out.
is Jiang Li, who squatted at the stairs not far away, her body shrank into a small ball, her two faint brows were crumpled by the dim light above her head, and when her eyes blinked, a string of tears fell silently.
Ming Yan's heart was pounding. Just as he was about to open the window to call her, he remembered the moving matter, and his hand that he hurriedly lifted froze in the air.
was hesitating, Jiang Li was already standing up slowly, limping forward while taking the key from her pocket, her figure shaking. Ming Yan then found that the canvas shoes she was wearing on her left foot had a big crack. When she raised her foot, the soles would droop down, like a laughing mouth, which was very inconsistent with the tears on her face.
Ming Yan only took a look and pulled up the curtains. Hearing Jiang Li's slow footsteps pass by the window, hiding behind the door that opened and closed next door, he leaned back on the chair and slowly exhaled.
The next morning, Ming Yan went downstairs with two dark circles to throw garbage, and ran into Jiang Li, who had just come out of the alley next to him.
"Happy New Year."
Jiang Li stopped to say hello to him, holding a shoe in her hand, the one that was broken yesterday. The cracked place had been repaired by the old man who repaired shoes in the alley. A row of black lines were neatly sewn on the white upper, like a wound that could never heal.
Mingyan seemed to have seen something that he shouldn't know. His face was hot and his heart was swelling and uncomfortable. He replied in a low voice, "Happy New Year", and ran upstairs, ran a few steps and looked back at Jiang Li, his eyes flashing, like the light that was about to go out in the corridor at night: "I'll go back first, I haven't finished my winter vacation homework yet..."
Jiang Li stood under the stairs and looked at him, his pointed jaw slightly raised, and a very shallow and faint smile appeared on his pale and almost transparent face, like the hazy fog in the morning: "My writing is done, do you want to refer to it?"
Mingyan hesitated for a moment, and soon shook his head again, rushed upstairs hurriedly, not daring to look back at her again.
He clearly has something to tell her.
told her that he was moving and told her that soon, she would go to and from school alone and do her homework alone, and told her that more than ten years of life living close to each other would soon end, and he could no longer knock on the small window.
But he couldn't speak, and couldn't bear to say a word. He could only run away in a hurry, throwing his armor all the way, letting his heartbeat get faster and faster, shattering the layers of fear and cowardice, revealing the increasingly intense pity and reluctance inside.
4
After that day, Ming Yan began to avoid Jiang Li intentionally or unintentionally.
It was not until the Lantern Festival that the school started to attend classes, and the two met again.
This is a habit for many years. Every morning, Ming Yan would wait for Jiang Li in the corridor and walk to school with her. They are not talkative people. Sometimes they don’t talk along the way and don’t feel embarrassed, but this time it’s different.
Jiang Li was still wearing the pair of canvas shoes and wrapped in an old cotton coat. Her expression was as calm as ever, and she could not see her emotions. Ming Yan looked like she wanted to speak but stopped. Her lips were silently twitching. She bumped into Jiang Li's inquiring gaze several times, and hurriedly lowered her head to the stone beside her kick.
After more than twenty minutes, he was in his heart, his steps slowed down and slowed down. The simple sentence "I'm going to move away" was brewing repeatedly in his throat, almost tasted the bitterness, but he finally swallowed it.
He was timid and had a little luck mentality. He thought that there was still tomorrow after today and the future was long, so he could delay it. However, he did not know that the days of walking side by side had already entered the countdown ahead of schedule. There would be no Jiang Li in his future.
enters the school gate, bypasses the central flower bed, passes the bulletin board in front of the teaching building, and goes from the stairs to the second floor. The front door of the third classroom is faintly hidden, and the sound of girls laughing and joking can be heard.
Jiang Li stopped at the door, took a deep breath, let go of her left hand holding the strap of her schoolbag, and gently pushed the door. The dirty wet rag fell out of the crack in the door at this time, and hit her head without any hesitation.
The voices in the classroom stopped abruptly, and a more noisy laughter broke out after a moment. Jiang Li stood there, pulling off the rag, her fair face was wet, and there was a dirty hair sticking to her eyebrows that did not belong to her.
Ming Yan, who had been thinking all morning, finally came back from his tangled thoughts, stepped forward and blocked Jiang Li behind him, clenched his fist and smashed the door panel hard, and a quiet flame ignited in his eyes. (Original title: "The Years Are Not Like Brocade", author: Ahan. From: Read some stories every day APP Public account: dudiangushi, see more exciting things)
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