The orange basketball bounced twice on the ground, then rolled along the court to the edge.

No one spoke, and no one knew what had happened, only a few in the middle who were close heard clearly, Li Shuangjiang vaguely listened to their conversation and guessed roughly.

Similar things, Tao Zhi had not never done before either.

When he was in first year, Li Shuangjiang once went to the teacher’s office to pick up a test paper and heard that this cohort had two terrible troublemakers, they ran into other classes and beat several boys in that class into the hospital, because when they passed by they saw them forcing a classmate’s head into a bucket of water.

Later it seemed they were suspended for a while and wrote reflections, no matter what the motive was, a fight had still happened.

In the middle of the court, the girl trembled all over and cried, her pretty face marked with fresh red finger prints, the force so strong it almost showed blood streaks.

Tao Zhi squatted in front of her, arm resting on his knee: “Thirty seconds.”

The girl shook violently, crying as she lifted her head to look at the people around her: “Save…save me—”

She cried miserably, and a boy beside her showed a trace of being moved in his expression and couldn’t help lifting his foot.

Again there was a “pa——” sound, Tao Zhi raised his hand, one slap cut off the words she hadn’t finished saying, and stopped that boy’s step.

The girl was flung aside again as if she had been broken.

Tao Zhi looked at her expressionlessly, her voice calm without a ripple, but the force in her hand had not lessened one bit: “I told you to take off, told you to speak? ”

Jiang Qihuai held a bottle of water, sitting under the basketball hoop watching the spectacle, and watched with relish.

What was hardest to endure was not the pain, but the humiliation.

This kind of humiliation in front of nearly a hundred people, in public, what broke people more was the mental embarrassment.

She understood this very well.

More than a week into the semester, this delinquent girl Tao Zhi who seemed to have a far-reaching reputation in the experiment class had always behaved as quite easy to get along with. She could chat with anyone, lazy and fond of sleeping, would fly into a tantrum when teased, but if you stroked along the fur patiently she’d calm down quickly, like a grumpy but easily coaxed big cat.

A bright personality.

Who would have thought she would bite so fiercely.

Someone finally came to their senses and went to find the PE teacher, running out along the edge of the venue, Li Shuangjiang glanced once, sighed, and still put down the water bottle and stood up.

He walked to Tao Zhi’s side and squatted down: “I don’t want to mind other people’s business, ”his voice low and calm, not at all affected by this almost solidified atmosphere, “but the teacher will be here soon.”

Tao Zhi was instantly alerted, her fingers curled, she made an “ah” sound, finally showing a somewhat troubled look.

She glanced at the girl she had slapped and sent to the ground sobbing, then turned her head to look at Jiang Qihuai, frowning, as if she had just come to her senses, belatedly saying: “How did it happen, I hit someone.”

You even know you hit someone！

I thought you were going to beat her to death right here!!

Li Shuangjiang stood to the side, roaring silently in his heart.

Tao Zhi grabbed the girl’s collar and pulled her up again, rubbed her swollen red face, then reached out to smooth her messy long hair, finally straightening her disordered school uniform collar.

She fussed with her like a rag doll for quite a while, then asked Jiang Qihuai, “Can you tell she was just beaten up?”

Li Shuangjiang: “……”

Jiang Qihuai: “……”

Jiang Qihuai also looked at her and sincerely asked, “Have you ever taken an IQ test? At a proper hospital, I mean.”

Tao Zhi had no mind to argue with him now. The anger in her head had subsided; when reason returned, she sank into a whole new kind of trouble.

She was going to get scolded by Tao Xiuping again.

Would Tao Xiuping think that since he couldn’t even manage one child, having two was even more infuriating—and then refuse to let Ji Fan come back?

Tao Zhi let out a long sigh, suddenly called his name seriously: “It’s over, Jiang Qihuai.”

It was the first time she had ever called his full name so solemnly.

Jiang Qihuai: “?”

“My little brother’s gone,” Tao Zhi said. “It’s all fucking over.”

Jiang Qihuai: “……? ”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

As for why Tao Zhi’s little brother had suddenly “gone,” Jiang Qihuai didn’t know. He only knew that she herself was probably about to be “gone.”

When the PE teacher and Wang Zhezi arrived, Tao Zhi had just brought Fu Xiling out from the girls’ restroom. There were many people in the gymnasium, so she didn’t go out that way—she deliberately took the back door by the tennis court.

Li Shuangjiang went with her, but didn’t go inside. He just waited by the back door and saw Fu Xiling, draped in a jacket and almost half-held by Tao Zhi, coming out. Li Shuangjiang immediately understood what had happened.

“Fuck,” he couldn’t help but curse.

Wang Zhezi frowned and smacked him on the head. “Watch your mouth! Take her to the infirmary first.”

Li Shuangjiang responded, carefully but a little helplessly supporting Fu Xiling as they walked toward the infirmary. Wang Zhezi turned back to look at Tao Zhi, who was standing off to the side.

The girl hung her head and stood there quietly, looking quite well-behaved.

Wang Zhezi let out an exasperated laugh. “You, come with me to the office.”

It was class time, so the office was empty. When Wang Zhezi went in, Tao Zhi followed behind him, lightly closed the door, and walked over.

Wang Zhezi didn’t speak.

Tao Zhi stood with her hands behind her back, waiting to be scolded, without saying a word.

Wang Zhezi slapped the table. “What happened? Tell me.”

Tao Zhi hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to begin. After a long pause, she finally squeezed out a sentence: “I hit someone.”

Wang Zhezi was quite calm. “Why did you hit someone?”

“I didn’t like her,” Tao Zhi pursed her lips. “I just hit her because I wanted to.”

“It was because of that incident last time, wasn’t it,” Wang Zhezi said.

Tao Zhi lifted her head.

Last time, when Song Jiang and the non-mainstream crowd fought, Fu Xiling had been called to the office and cried a whole lot. Later, whether it was because she felt humiliated or because Song Jiang had beaten her badly, after that day, the non-mainstream ones stopped coming to class.

Song Jiang had been causing trouble since the very first day of school. His family had some money, so no one dared to provoke him. Fu Xiling was different.

Usually, she was a well-behaved good student. When she wasn’t familiar with someone, she barely spoke, and she was always alone, quiet, with hardly any friends—a perfect target for bullying.

And judging by what was said in the girls’ restroom, she was probably one of those ex-girlfriends of that non-mainstream guy.

“Do you think you’re the one who’s wronged here?” Wang Zhezi looked at her and said. “What have I told you—if something happens, go to a teacher, right?”

“You have,” Tao Zhi answered honestly.

“Then why didn’t you come find me?” Wang Zhezi, unusually, didn’t lose his temper, and continued, “A student in my class got bullied. Do you think I’d just let it go? That I wouldn’t stand up for her?”

Tao Zhi licked her lips. “I lost my head at the time, couldn’t hold it in.”

Wang Zhezi nodded. “You lost your head. You couldn’t hold it in, and something we had the reason on our side for—now we’ve got no reason at all. You even dragged her to the basketball court to beat her, didn’t you? Afraid no one would know it was you, huh? Feeling pretty bold, are you? Had your fun now?”

Tao Zhi thought for a moment. “…It was okay.”

Wang Zhezi slammed the desk, unable to hold back his anger. “Okay my ass!”

Tao Zhi shrank her neck a little.

Wang Zhezi was so furious his vision went black, his head throbbing. “Enough. Go back for now. I’ll think about how to deal with this.”

Tao Zhi looked up at him, her eyes pleading. “Teacher, I want to go check on Fu Xiling.”

Wang Zhezi rubbed his forehead and waved her off. “Go ahead.”

Tao Zhi walked out.

After leaving the office, she closed the door behind her, her mind still preoccupied with Ji Fan.

She didn’t know whether Tao Xiuping would be angry about this.

She’d long since grown used to being punished and didn’t really care, but the thought of it still made her a little unhappy.

Even though Ji Fan was unbearably annoying and foul-mouthed, and the two of them had fought since childhood, when she thought about him coming home, she had actually been a little happy inside—even if she never said it out loud.

Tao Zhi stood for a while, then finally lifted her head.

Across the hallway, Jiang Qihuai was standing against the wall, watching her.

The girl stood at the office door, her lips drooping listlessly, deep in thought, all her usual rowdiness gone.

If she had pointy ears and a tail, they’d probably be drooping right now too, Jiang Qihuai thought suddenly, out of nowhere.

Tao Zhi blinked at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Eavesdropping,” Jiang Qihuai said.

“……”

Tao Zhi remembered being caught eavesdropping by him before, and couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

How could someone be this petty.

She didn’t respond again and turned to walk toward the infirmary.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to see Fu Xiling,” Tao Zhi said sullenly.

Jiang Qihuai said nothing, straightened up, and walked forward with her.

The faint sound of classes drifted from the nearby classrooms as the two of them walked downstairs side by side in silence, neither saying a word.

The school infirmary was a small, standalone building between the second-year teaching block and the outdoor basketball court. When they arrived, they saw Li Shuangjiang squatting on the steps by the door.

Tao Zhi walked up. “Where’s Fu Xiling?”

“Inside. It’s girls, I can’t go in,” Li Shuangjiang pointed behind him. “And I’m pretty pissed right now anyway—thought I’d get some air.”

The infirmary had several rooms, though usually only one school nurse was on duty. Tao Zhi pushed open the door; no one was inside.

The door to the examination room next door was closed—Fu Xiling and the nurse were likely in there.

Tao Zhi pulled back the curtain, sat down on the bed, resting her head in her hands as she waited.

The bed was the one closest to the door. The door wasn’t shut, and Jiang Qihuai followed her inside.

It was his first time in the experimental school’s infirmary. He glanced around and noticed the medical cart beside the bed.

He walked over, head slightly lowered, back facing her. She didn’t know what he was fiddling with, but the faint clinking of glass bottles rang out—soft and delicate, like the chime of wind bells.

“What are you doing?” Tao Zhi asked curiously.

Jiang Qihuai didn’t answer. He turned around, fingers holding a few medical cotton swabs soaked in iodine, and handed them to her.

Tao Zhi tilted her head, looking at him blankly. “What for?”

“Your hand,” Jiang Qihuai said simply.

Tao Zhi instinctively stretched out her hand, only then noticing the six or seven scratches bleeding along her forearm.

The fair skin was covered in deep red claw marks, shockingly vivid. Some were deep enough that they must have bled earlier, now sealed over with a thin, dark crust.

Tao Zhi froze for a moment.

They were from that girl earlier.

She’d been so furious then that reason had completely deserted her—she hadn’t even felt the pain. And after all the running around that followed, she had forgotten about it altogether.

Everyone’s attention had been on something else. No one noticed these small injuries, not even her.

Tao Zhi just stared, dumbly not reacting, not reaching to take them.

She stayed dazed for quite a while. Jiang Qihuai stood there, still holding the cotton swabs, waiting in front of her.

For quite some time.

“What,” Jiang Qihuai lowered his eyes and looked at her coolly, his gaze resting on her hand, his tone carrying a trace of impatience, “do you want me to apply it for you?”