deep in time

Chapter 4 (1)
[one]
Under the south window where the sunlight was blocked by a huge locust tree, Cheng Lichen with a livid face and Baili, who was twisting his clothes but refused to bow his head, stood side by side like a pair of colons.The head teacher frowned, rubbed his forehead, and said in a low voice, "What's going on?"

"It's nothing." Cheng Lichen was the first to talk.

"Cheng Lichen, don't interrupt, I'm asking about Baili." The head teacher sternly reprimanded.

Baili bit her lip and said nothing.What would she say, Cheng Lichen said that I was so dirty, thanks to Cheng Lichen, last night I slept at the gate of the community with my schoolbag against the wall, Cheng Lichen didn't like me, I kicked Cheng Lichen's important person s position……

She glanced at Cheng Lichen, who was warning her with fierce eyes.

[two]
Ji Nan stood under the pagoda tree next to the door of the teacher's building, folded a piece of grass in his hand countless times, and finally waited until Cheng Lichen came out of the head teacher's office.

"I thought you died in Sir Lin's saliva." Ji Nan greeted him with a smile, winked, and stared maliciously at the boy's lower body that was kicked by Baili.

"Go to hell." Cheng Lichen clenched his fists.

Ji Nan still had a playful smile on his face, and whispered as he walked, "Ah, there won't be any crippling sequelae."

"..."

"I can't see that Baili has such a hot personality, tsk tsk tsk."

The two of them gradually entered the teaching building, and there was a distant yell of "Oh, it hurts, stop beating, can't I stop talking?".

After a while, this corner became silent like a painting.

A figure quietly came out from the women's toilet behind the locust tree.

The shadows of the trees on the school road are mottled, and the sunlight filters through the gaps between the trees, leaving some bright light yellow on the ground.Baili quietly looked at the teaching building in front of him, slowly lowered his head, his teeth pressed a light crescent white on his lower lip.

[three]
The scent of sycamore leaves lingered in the nose, and Baili walked across the school road full of sycamore trees to the teaching building.

It has been more than an hour since the first class in the morning, and it is time for exercises between classes.

The corridors of the seven-story teaching building are full of students, looking from a distance, it looks like a dense cloud.

Baili's figure left the cover of the plane tree leaves, and when she walked slowly to the stairs on the third floor of the teaching building, she suddenly heard someone shouting her name from the third floor or the fourth floor - "Baili!"

She raised her head subconsciously, and what she saw was the light pink outer wall of the teaching building. After such a moment of hesitation, some unknown liquid suddenly fell from her feet.

Some were stained on her body and hair. She stretched out her hand to touch it. It was a sticky, transparent and colorless liquid with suspicious white foam. Looking at the unknown liquid on her fingers, which was suspected to be human saliva, her stomach There was a sudden tumbling.

There was a bang—a burst of laughter came from nowhere.

In a place that Baili couldn't see, someone spat again.

Baili's hands were clenched tightly, her fingernails almost pinched into the flesh of her palm.Calm down, Baili told himself.She slowly raised her hand, wiped off the slimy liquid that was about to drop from her forehead, and slowly walked forward a few steps, stepping into the corridor from the exposed open-air stairs.

——Rush up floor by floor to find the culprit?No, people are not that stupid, who is waiting to be caught by you?

——Are you always holding other people's saliva on your head to find someone to reason with?
——Baili, you won't make people laugh like that.

In the girls' toilet, with a square mirror wall, Baili turned on the faucet and poured handfuls of water on his face and hair.She took off her school uniform and put a long and wide white T-shirt in her school trousers. It was cool when the water splashed on her body. The waves hitting the rocks splashed in all directions, and drops of water fell on her body, making her feel at ease as if being hugged.

Thousands of miles away from the bustling city of Yilang Island, there are no seas, beaches, reefs, or waves, only artificial water full of disinfectant gurgling from the faucets.

Baili closed his eyes and splashed water on his face and body.

Deep breath deep breath deep breath!Her chest throbbed as if the hot sun had finally calmed down slowly.

Looking up again, the girl in the mirror has bright eyes and a stubborn face.

[Four]
When Baili walked into the classroom, he was already late.The English teacher was a burly foreign man in his 50s. He frowned, looked at Baili who was wet all over, and spoke Chinese fluently: "What's wrong?"

Baili raised his head and said in a low and clear voice: "Teacher, I'm sorry, I fell down, so I have to wash it."

"Big talker." A sneer came from an unknown corner.

The confrontation between Cheng Lichen and Baili after the first class, and the saliva farce in the hallway between classes were unstoppable fires.

The English teacher looked at Baili, said nothing, and signaled Baili to return to his seat with his eyes.

Bailimao got dressed, walked across the podium, and walked to his desk.She was sitting by the window, and Cheng Lichen was sitting outside. The boy's tall figure almost blocked all the space.

"Please let me go." Baili's voice was cold.

Cheng Lichen raised his head and glanced at her, then quickly looked away, stood up, strode to the aisle, raised the corners of his mouth indifferently and frivolously, and said in an inexplicable voice that seemed to be gloating: "Please."

The desks are a set of single-person iron student desks, each of which has an independent three-sided sealed desk belly for storing schoolbags.

The Chinese books, pens, and notes used in the previous class were still on the table. Baili's hand reached into the stomach of the desk, and her heart skipped a beat. She bent down and looked down in disbelief.

The three-sided sealed and poorly lit desk has an empty stomach.

What about your schoolbag?

Baili stared sideways at Cheng Lichen, almost desperate.

Cheng Lichen was listening to the class seriously, his beautiful face became more calm and charming because of the rare serious expression.How can this boy who can make people obsessed even in silhouette have such a bad heart?
My own anger and loss of control are exactly what boys expect to see.Never lose your mind.

Baili's fingers grabbed the iron edge of the desk, inhaled forcefully, and took a deep breath.

[Fives]
The last class is physical education.

The physical education class that was switched a few days ago was actually made up. Two physical education classes a day made people see that short physical education teacher almost wanted to shout long live.

When the old foreign teacher announced that get out of class was over, there was cheering in the classroom, those who packed their schoolbags, those who were going to change their sneakers, those who leaned on the desk with their basketballs in their hands impatiently urged their classmates, and whispered "Wow, your auntie" It's just in time, two physical education classes."...

Ji Nan walked towards Cheng Lichen. The sunny boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes tapped on the table carelessly with his fingers. His body seemed to be covered with a vigorous and happy atmosphere. He said to the slow-moving Cheng Lichen: "Don't act like a woman." " Turning his face to the side again, Yiyi looked at Baili with sunny eyes, and said with a smile, "I'm Ji Nan, hello."

Baili raised his head, forced a smile and said, "Hello."

But his eyes were fixed on Cheng Lichen, his voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, and he said word by word: "B, my, my, book, bag, return, give, me!"

The boy didn't respond, he didn't even look at Baili at all, put his hands in his trouser pockets, stood up and walked straight forward, as if he could hear him muttering in a low voice: "Crazy."

Now even Ji Nan was embarrassed, he waved his hand towards Baili, followed Cheng Lichen and walked out.

After walking about three or four steps, Ji Nan suddenly turned his head. The summer sun covered the boy's soft long eyelashes, and he said, "Your schoolbag is missing? Let me take care of it."

Baili was stunned, before he had time to digest Ji Nan's words, his eyes followed the back of the boy who was striding towards the door, and suddenly felt sad.

When saliva fell from the sky and spit on her body and hair, she told herself not to cry, and when she curled up by the flower bed all night because of fear and dared not sleep too deeply, she wanted to stop crying, Cheng Lichen projected her hatred With cold eyes, when the girls ridiculed her for being "unsophisticated and ignorant of the world", she didn't cry, but why Ji Nan just said such a sentence, but made her tears burst out of her eyes?
Is it because this warmth is too rare, making it extremely precious?

Baili lowered his head, and a drop of tear fell on the ground at 37 degrees Celsius in summer, as if turning into a cloud of white water vapor in the air.

[six]
On the school road filled with the fragrance of summer, two boys were walking side by side.

With his hands in his trouser pockets, his expression was cold, like a beautiful boy in a manga.The other is like a beating little sun, constantly changing its position beside the quiet one.

"Hey, that... Baili's schoolbag..." Ji Nan asked tentatively.

"I don't know." Cheng Lichen cut off the conversation coldly, and said impatiently, "Do you think I'm such a villain who takes revenge by any means?"

"Hmm..." Ji Nan shook his head solemnly, "You don't look like that, because you are. Haha."

The hearty and happy laughter suddenly stopped.

On the side of the playground directly in front of Ji Nan and Cheng Lichen, a century-old locust tree symbolizing the glorious history of the school stands high on the school road that must pass. Some students form a circle under the tree, facing the tall section Branches point and point.

An army green schoolbag was hung on a tree trunk five or six meters high, and textbooks, exercise books, and pencil cases were scattered on the ground.

Baili didn't have any dazzling running shoes or sneakers to change into. She only had one pair of sneakers. Most of the girls had left the classroom, so she walked out of the classroom slowly.

At this time, Zheng Caocao, a girl with a round face and big eyes sitting in front of Baili, seemed to have forgotten something, turned back from the stairs, ran into Baili's body in a hurry, and said "sorry" Without saying anything, he hurried into the classroom.

Baili walked forward expressionlessly, passed a few girls who were waiting for Zheng carelessly at the stairs, and walked slowly to a deserted place. His right hand, which had been tightly held all the time, spread out, and a note read: "Your schoolbag is on the century-old locust tree next to the playground."

It was a note that Zheng Caocao had slipped into her when he bumped into her just now.

And earlier, Liu Yujing and Zheng Caocao passed under the locust tree beside the playground.Liu Yujing didn't know what she stepped on, so she stopped suddenly, frowned, and said under Zheng Caocao's concerned question: "It seems that I sprained my ankle, shall we rest under the tree before walking?"

Two girls were leaning against the tree trunk, one of them looked up at the sky and saw the schoolbag hanging on the branch, then moved his eyes down, Zheng Caocao screamed: "I just thought it was strange, the one who tripped you was a Pencil case, there are books and homework scattered on the ground, I thought it was some lunatic who came here to vent, it turned out to be..."

The girl looked up at the schoolbag on the branch again.

Liu Yujing narrowed her eyes slightly: "This schoolbag looks familiar, it's old and old, maybe someone doesn't want it."

However, Zheng Caocao had already been reminded of "familiar" and "old and old", so she covered her mouth: "This is the new Baili's schoolbag!"

"Ah, it seems to be hers. You go report to Baili."

"But..." Zheng Caocao hesitated, the conflict between Baili and Cheng Lichen had surfaced, why did she help Baili and offend Cheng Lichen?

"If I hadn't sprained my ankle, I would have gone." Liu Yujing held Zheng Caocao's hand and said softly, "Baili is actually quite pitiful. If you don't want Cheng Lichen to know, you can tell her secretly. "

After all, she is still a kind-hearted and simple girl, Zheng Caocao nodded: "Then I will go back to the classroom first, and I will come to you later."

"Well, I'm fine, you go quickly." Liu Yujing made a "I'm OK" gesture.

[seven]
Baili took off his shoes and socks, leaving his feet bare.

"Is she going to climb up?"

"Can she climb such a tall tree?"

The sound of surprise rose like a rising tide. During the discussion among the gathered students, Baili really grabbed the raised place on the tree trunk with both hands, and climbed up with both hands and feet.

Cheng Lichen, who said "boring" but was pulled over by Ji Nan, still looked careless, but secretly looked at the man who had climbed to the main trunk and put his hand on a thick branch more than two meters away. Baili, a look of confusion flashed in his eyes.

"My God, this trunk is so bare, how can she climb up it?"

No one noticed that Ji Nan narrowed his eyes in a rare way, and withdrew his usual warm and sunny smile.

A little more, a little more, and you will be able to reach the branch with the schoolbag hanging on it.

Baili gritted her teeth, sweat had already soaked her school shirt, her palms had been worn out in many places, and there was a hot tingling sensation from her bare feet and ankles, even on the island of Yanlang, which often Walking barefoot on the beach and rocks, I have never felt so painful.The blade-like bark on the old tree sharpened her delicate skin, but she didn't care about that at all, and she didn't dare to relax in the slightest.Her body was tightly attached to the tree trunk, and she crawled like a snake, embracing the branches, and slowly stretching out her arms.

"Oh, I failed again, just a little bit."

"If the twig doesn't break when you pull it, it will be able to hook the schoolbag." The tone was full of regret.

From the astonishment at the beginning, gradually, the gathered students felt the same for Baili's every move.Maybe it was the moment when Baili slipped his foot and almost fell off the tree trunk, or maybe it was infected by Baili's resolute eyes, or maybe it was Baili's failure again and again, trying again and again.

Who among the students gathered under the tree uttered the first "Come on" in a low voice, and then, as if contagious, the voice gradually became louder, and slowly twisted into a bunch of neat and firm noise.

"Come on, Baili."

"Come on, Baili."

The moment Baili grabbed the schoolbag strap, the crowd standing under the tree burst into cheers!

Baili tightly grasped the strap of the schoolbag, carried it on his back, and slowly slid over the rough branches inch by inch in a prostrate posture. The bare feet and the palms that had been exerting force were deliberately ignored. In pain, she grasped the last branch more than two meters above the ground, swayed it like a swing, and slid down the main tree trunk.

The bark was hard and slightly convex, and the thin school trousers couldn't resist this kind of friction at all, but all the way down, they saw smiling faces cheering her up. For some reason, Baili's heart was soft and sour. covered by meaning.

"Baili, you are amazing."

"Haha, it's easier to climb a tree than Sun Monkey."

There was a burst of good-natured laughter.

Being accepted is sometimes hard and sometimes easy.

Baili smiled slightly, responding to the kindness of his classmates.

Then, she saw Cheng Lichen, standing on the periphery of the crowd, with a cold expression, Baili glared at him angrily, how did she provoke Cheng Lichen, and he wanted to bully her with such despicable means?
Baili didn't want to rest in peace anymore, so she walked towards the direction where Cheng Lichen was standing.

"Hi."

Baili looked suspiciously at Ji Nan who was a head taller than her, blocking the light in front of him.

Against the light, Ji Nan's face was covered with light gray. He took off his school uniform jacket and put it on Baili's body, showing a rare shyness on his face, and said softly: "Your pants... are torn. .”

[Eight]
Baili looked very embarrassed. She was wearing a boy's school uniform jacket around her waist, which could just cover her knees. The torn skin and blood spots on her palms looked like a broken red paper window grille.

After asking for leave from the physical education teacher, I got a reply of "go to the school doctor to see it quickly".Unexpectedly, Ji Nan suddenly raised his hand high and said loudly: "Teacher, Baili's schoolbag is so heavy and it's inconvenient to walk. I'll go with her." We were sent off and left the playground.

The two figures, one in front of the other, were transparently illuminated by the sun.

(End of this chapter)