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墨書 Inktalez
After returning home and opening the door, I heard my mom say, "You're back! Get ready for dinner." She was mopping the floor, and when she looked up and saw the injuries on my face and head, she exclaimed, "Oh no! What happened to your face? Let me see." My mom gently touched my face with concern. "It's nothing, I got into a fight at school," I replied while trying to stop her hand. "What? Why did you get into a fight? Did someone bully you?!" My mom was indignant. I knew she was worried about me, her baby, not wanting me to be bullied for no reason. "No, no, I threw the first punch. Neither of us came out on top," I deflected. My mom continued to press me, "There must be a reason!" "There isn't, Mom. Isn't it normal for students to fight? Just let it go," I said. Just then, Dad came home. "You're back just in time; look at what they did to our Xiang Jie!" Mom quickly explained the situation to Dad, who was also upset: "Who did this? I need to go to your school. I sent my son there to learn, not to get beaten up!" "Dad, calm down! It wasn't someone else who hit me; I provoked them first," I said. "That doesn't matter!" Dad's temper flared as well. After a while of trying to calm them down, I sneakily retreated to my room. My whole body hurt. After taking off my outer clothes and looking in the mirror, I saw bruises all over; my shoulder was even a bit swollen. Those scoundrels really went hard on me. Slowly lying down on my bed, I took out my phone from my pants pocket and logged onto QQ. Xue Er and Cookie were both online. Cookie was the first to message me: "Soda, are you okay?" I was puzzled: "I'm fine! How about you?" She replied, "Oh good! I'm relieved; make sure you rest early tonight." I said, "Yeah, I should rest early today." "Okay then, I won't disturb you anymore. Bye!" Cookie logged off.
It was strange; what was up with Cookie? That was unusual behavior for her. Never mind that; Xue Er sent me a message: "Dao Dao, are you there?" "Yeah, I'm here! Have you eaten yet, Xue Er?" "Not yet! Dao Dao, I want to share a secret with you; you have to keep it confidential." "Sure! I'll definitely keep it secret." Xue Er sounded quite mysterious; what could this secret be? After a moment of silence, she said: "Dao Dao, I've got someone I like now. I know he likes me too, but how should I make this clear?" "Really?! Congratulations! I'm happy for you finding your prince charming! Just express your love loudly!" "Thanks Dao Dao!" she replied with a giggle... Hmph! Why is everyone talking about love? Are you trying to tease me?
The next morning A Fei called to ask how I was doing and whether I'd still go to school. Since he was going, I decided to get up too. As soon as I stepped out of my room, I saw Mom making steamed eggs. "Why are you up so early? You should rest a bit longer; I'll have your dad ask the teacher for a day off today," she said. "No way! Today's basketball class is important," I replied as I grabbed my backpack and tried to leave. "Wait until you've finished eating before you go; I'm making steamed eggs for you." Not wanting to disappoint Mom's kindness, I turned around and ate quickly before saying, "I'm off!" and bursting out the door.
As soon as I stepped outside, I saw A Fei coming over. "How did you sleep last night?" I asked him. "I slept great!" A Fei replied with a smile; he always seemed carefree like that. When we reached the school gate, we ran into Sha Xiaomei again. "Hey! Cheng Fei... What happened to your injuries?!" she exclaimed. "It's nothing; just fell off my bed and hit a chair," I said casually. She looked concerned and insisted on checking my injuries... It seemed my decision was correct; Sha Xiaomei couldn't possibly like me because her heart already belonged to A Fei. Of course, A Fei liked her too now, so seeing them together didn't bother me anymore; I wished them well—A Fei and Sha Xiaomei.
Before long, it was time for basketball practice again. As we entered the gymnasium, Zhongqi Senior and Bing Ge came over asking about my injuries: “We heard you got beaten up; how bad is it? Do you know who did it?” “Haha, it's nothing serious—just some surface wounds,” I replied optimistically. Teacher Qiu arrived and asked if we could still train today: “Can you train?” “Yes!” “Then rejoin the team!” We started running drills and doing frog jumps when Teacher Qiu announced: “We will be holding a 'Spring Challenge' in preparation for the new season of the city-wide high school basketball league involving our school and three others. We will play three away games and host three home games in a round-robin format.” He continued outlining team changes based on last semester's roster: “From third grade: Zhang Yingjie and Zhou Litong stay; from second grade: Cheng Zhongqi, Lu Yan Bing, Zhang Jun, Zhang Ruizhi stay; from first grade: Yu Chengfei, Xiang Jie, Ouyang Shangqiang stay; the remaining three spots will be filled from other students.” “Class dismissed!” Phew! Another competition coming up along with away games—but at least I'm still on the team.
Back in class after practice, Xia Ying was playing on her phone. “Xia Ying! Are you on QQ? What's your account? I'll add you.” As I took out my phone, Xia Ying hurriedly logged off when she saw me approaching. “What do you want?! Why would I tell you my QQ number?! No way!” Wow! Her attitude was really something else! “Fine then! Whatever!” Rolling my eyes at her response made me feel annoyed too. “Wait! Even though I'm not telling you my QQ number... I'll share my phone number instead.” “Stop it! I'm not interested in your phone number!” she retorted dismissively. “I'll just read it out loud; whether or not you remember it is your problem—18…” Secretly noting it down on my phone while pretending nothing happened… Hehe, Xia Ying will get a taste of her own medicine now! “Your doll face fell beside me; too bad I haven't noticed yet…” Sure enough, Xia Ying's phone rang just then as she reached for it but missed the call instead: “Who is this? Crazy person!” Haha! Xia Ying looked confused as she prepared to call back when I quickly turned off my phone—“What an annoying person calling harassment calls!” she complained angrily afterward. Finally got back at that girl; her angry expressions were hilarious and reminded me of Doraemon.
Shuai Dong probably felt hopeless about his future since he had no advantages in any aspect and decided to quit the basketball team: “You two are partners now but we can't leave Pang Hao alone,” he said while accompanying Pang Hao with a grin. As the Spring Challenge approached closer, our training intensity gradually increased due to time constraints; A Fei and I had no choice but to push through our injuries—just like A Fei would say: Let's give it our all!
Since being selected for the team began A Fei's journey alongside me; his goal is one day to help his team dominate nationally—championships mean everything in his eyes—and he's willing to sacrifice everything for that dream. He often takes out his Eagle Pendant and stares at it dreamily; one day he plans to replace that pendant with a championship medal! Despite his pain from training hard every day under Teacher Qiu’s supervision suddenly called A Fei into his office for about fifteen minutes before he came back expressionless again: “A Fei! What did Teacher Qiu talk about?” My curiosity piqued as usual: “Nothing much,” A Fei simply replied before continuing training again—what could Teacher Qiu have discussed with him?
“A Fei! What did Teacher Qiu say?” On our way home after school, I kept pestering him about it again: “I told you it's nothing!” A Fei sounded slightly impatient now: “Fine fine fine! You win—I won't ask anymore!” With that remark of mine pushing ahead on my bike while A Fei leisurely followed behind lost in thought...
I always felt something was off about this situation when A Fei and I passed through an alley on our way to school one day when suddenly someone called out: “Hey juniors! Do you remember me?” That voice belonged to… Situ Jianfei!! “Situ Jianfei! What do you want?!” I shouted back at him angrily as he approached us swinging a baton threateningly: “I want you two to know how powerful I am!” A panic-stricken A Fei yelled at me: “He’s gone mad! Run!” We didn’t have time for our bikes so we ditched them and sprinted towards the main road where traffic flowed heavily behind us—we instinctively turned around only to see Situ Jianfei charging out of the alley just as a car sped by at that moment! “Watch out!” Both A Fei and I shouted simultaneously as he rushed forward tackling Situ Jianfei just in time—the car zoomed past without hitting anyone—thankfully both boys were unharmed afterward. “A Fei! Are you okay?” I rushed over concernedly asking him while Situ Jianfei stood there shaken up asking incredulously: “Why did you save me?” A Fei calmly replied: “Because you're my senior.”
“Jianfei,” I added emotionally while trying reasoning with him further: “We’re all classmates at the same school—do we really need this animosity between us?” Continuing on with sincerity: “Jianfei—you know that in Sha Xiaomei’s heart you're like an older brother—a very kind one—like family even… Do you really want to ruin that beautiful bond?” Instead of pushing Sha Xiaomei away further why not respect her choices instead? You want her happiness too right?” To which surprisingly A Fei spoke eloquently sharing profound insights—it seems he has quite a way with words!
“Enough already!” Situ Jianfei interrupted us abruptly standing up taking two steps forward looking dazedly into space saying softly: “Do you know how Sha Xiaomei and I met?” His gaze drifted far away lost in thought as he reminisced aloud: “Last autumn during freshman orientation there was this girl who had just entered high school being bullied by some third-year delinquents—I happened upon them with friends nearby—I absolutely despise boys who bully girls so naturally intervened pulling those seniors apart…” He paused briefly before continuing thoughtfully: “…because I'm somewhat well-known around school they didn’t dare retaliate against me—I made them apologize right there on spot warning them that anyone who bullies her would have issues with me—after they left we agreed that if anyone ever bothered her again she'd come find me since she's now considered part of my family—my little sister… That’s when it struck me how innocent pure-hearted she truly is—her eyes shining bright clean—I feared others might deceive or harm her so from then on vowed I'd protect her forever…”
A sweet smile spread across Situ Jianfei’s face as he spoke…
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