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墨書 Inktalez
A Fei's surgery was very successful. Due to the bandages covering his eyes after the operation, he would have to spend some time as a blind person. I went to the hospital with Shuai Dong and Pang Hao to visit him. "Guess who I am?" I said, lowering my voice. "Come on, don't mess around," A Fei chuckled. At that moment, I was quite surprised; I thought A Fei would be irritable and difficult after the surgery, but he seemed relaxed now. "Ai II, how do you feel?" Shuai Dong walked over and patted A Fei on the shoulder. "Shuai Dong is here too, welcome!" A Fei's personality seemed to have brightened up a lot. "And me, and me!" Pang Hao quickly stepped forward to introduce himself, afraid of being left out. Just as they were chatting, A Fei's mother came in. "Aunt Yu!" we all greeted in unison. "Oh, you all came! Please sit down," Aunt Yu warmly invited us. "Aunt Yu, when can A Fei have the bandages removed? When can he see again?" "The doctor said it would take about a week to remove the bandages and about a month for full recovery. Thankfully, the doctor treated him in time; if it had been delayed by ten or fifteen days, he would have needed a retinal transplant," Aunt Yu said with relief. "By the way, who is that pretty girl who often comes to visit A Fei? A Fei has always been such an honest kid; I never expected him to..." Aunt Yu sighed, but she didn't seem angry. "Oh, that's Sha Xiaomei; she's a classmate of ours but from a different class—she's the school beauty," Pang Hao chimed in. This guy really had a big mouth; I noticed a slight smile on Aunt Yu's face. Why didn’t she blame A Fei for having a crush? After a while, Aunt Yu went to the supermarket across from the hospital to buy something. Once she left, A Fei quickly asked me, "Jie, how did it go with Hejiang Middle School today?" As soon as he mentioned it, my mood suddenly dropped. I stammered, "Ah, A Fei, just focus on recovering; don’t worry about this..." A Fei was silent for a moment; even through the thick bandages, I could still sense his unwillingness and helplessness. "Team lost again, right?" A Fei softly said. "Yes... but we definitely won't lose next time! Blood Blade Twenty-Four Middle School!" I replied firmly, almost swearing an oath. "Maybe..." A Fei said helplessly. "Alright, enough of that; Pang Hao and I can't get a word in anyway. By the way, I heard Situ Jianfei is transferring schools." Shuai Dong quickly changed the heavy topic. "What!" A Fei and I exclaimed simultaneously; we were both shocked—why was he transferring? I decided to meet him for a chat.
After class, I waited at the entrance of their teaching building for him. When I saw him come out, I didn't know where my courage came from and approached him: "Jianfei, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" "What's there to talk about?" Situ Jianfei replied without even looking at me. "Then why are you transferring schools?" I asked in an interrogative tone. Situ Jianfei paused with a serious expression. "What does it have to do with you? Stop talking to me like that; while I'm in a good mood right now, just get lost!" He still wouldn’t look at me. "Is it because of A Fei and Sha..." "Shut up! Follow me." Situ Jianfei interrupted me as we moved to a corner. He sighed and said, "Xiang Jie, don't meddle in things that don't concern you."
"Jianfei, if you're really transferring because of A Fei and Sha Xiaomei, I hope you'll stay because do you think I can let things go easily with A Fei? Do you think Sha Xiaomei will be happy? Who will protect her?"
"Yu Chengfei can protect her just fine; she doesn't need me." Situ Jianfei's tone softened slightly.
"What if A Fei bullies her? Who will seek justice for her?" I decided to provoke him.
"He wouldn't dare! If he dares to let Sha Xiaomei suffer even a little bit of grievance, I'll make him pay!" Situ Jianfei became agitated.
"So you..."
"Enough!" Situ Jianfei interrupted me again. "Xiang Jie, you and Yu Chengfei are both good guys—loyal and caring—and I admire Yu Chengfei's low-key personality; I'm at ease with Sha Xiaomei being with him. But don’t think that just because I'm changing schools means I can't protect Sha Xiaomei anymore; I'll keep an eye on her." Situ Jianfei extended his right hand and surprisingly showed a hint of a smile. "Please send my blessings to them!"
I stopped trying to persuade him further. "Okay!" We exchanged firm handshakes before he turned away.
"Jianfei, will we meet again?"
"Yes!" At that moment, I felt that the misunderstandings and barriers between us crumbled away in an instant. Safe travels, Jianfei...
Back in class just as the bell rang for lessons to start, Xia Ying immediately asked me: “Big Casanova! What were you doing just now? You disappeared right after class ended—were you rushing off somewhere?”
Uh... fine! I've gotten used to this annoying girl teasing me when I'm feeling down. “Xia Ying! Can you say something nice next time?” I looked at her.
“Nope! That wouldn’t be like me!”
True enough... 'Never change yourself for anyone.' Suddenly I found this girl's straightforward personality somewhat admirable.
Tomorrow is the day of the competition against Twenty-Four Middle School; it feels like I've lost sleep over it already. At ten-thirty at night, I opened my phone and logged onto QQ; Cookie was surprisingly online too.
“Cookie! Are you also having trouble sleeping?”
“Nope! I figured you would be sleepless tonight so I waited for you,” she replied.
Looks like my guess was right; she indeed knew I'd be restless! Could this really be fate?! She continued: “Let’s listen to some music; it might calm your racing heart.”
I’m starting to like Cookie more and more; she banters with me when I'm bored and keeps me company when I'm troubled.
“Sure! Do you like Wang Sulong’s songs?”
“I love them! From 'Bitter Smile' to 'Love That Doesn’t End,' I'm a fan of all his songs.”
“Yeah! I'm also super fond of 'Love That Doesn’t End'...” We promised each other that we would share any good music we found in the future.
Today is competition day! I got up early specifically to visit A Fei at the hospital. He was sleeping when I arrived; standing at the door watching him made me think: A Fei, pray for us!
Twenty-Four Middle School is located in the north of the city—it’s quite far away—so we took a bus there this time with Qiu Junze filling in for A Fei’s spot.
Teacher Qiu addressed us on the bus: “This time during the competition don’t rush for results; maintain your composure while playing and organize every attack well…” His words were loud and piercing as they drilled into our ears.
Today’s match between City No. 1 High School and Hejiang Middle School coincided with ours; both Twenty-Four Middle School and we had lost our previous two matches so this game was crucial for us as well—like two starving wolves meeting each other—whoever is weak becomes prey for the other.
Our desire for victory had reached its peak.
Teacher Qiu simply said three words: “Play well.”
Once we took the court our offense was fierce—Bing Ge scored three consecutive inside shots successfully while Zhongqi Senior was on fire hitting two three-pointers in the first quarter alone—his gentlemanly demeanor reminded me of Ray Allen... or rather a mini version of Ray Allen.
I also contributed by stealing three times during that quarter while shooting five times successfully—the first quarter ended with us leading by ten points.
“We played well this quarter by scoring thirty-three points against our opponents but remember that in the second quarter we must switch from offense to defense without slackening our efforts…” Teacher Qiu calmly instructed us while we listened attentively.
As the second quarter began our opponents picked up their pace while ours slowed down significantly—we clearly disrupted their attacking rhythm with our close defense allowing them only fifteen points while we scored nineteen ourselves—by halftime we led by fourteen points at 58-44.
Now came the crucial third quarter where Teacher Qiu signaled for Zhongqi to take a break while substituting Qiu Junze in.
Bing Ge and I worked well together as Zhang Ruizhi set screens for Bing Ge's drives—the third quarter had seven seconds remaining when I held onto the ball wasting time before shooting—but unfortunately... it bounced off the rim!
At this point our score stood at 74-54—we had already established a twenty-point lead making the entire fourth quarter feel like garbage time as Bing Ge, Zhang Ruizhi, and Zhang Yingjie were successively substituted out to give newcomers some experience while ultimately it was me leading a group of substitutes onto the court.
In the end we won decisively against Twenty-Four Middle School with a score of 101-88 marking our first victory of the new semester—a huge relief!
After returning home immediately rushed back to tell A Fei this good news—it was Saturday when upon opening his hospital room door I saw Sha Xiaomei peeling an apple for him.
“Hmmmm! In broad daylight—be more reserved! People are watching!” I joked as I coughed lightly causing Sha Xiaomei to jump in surprise.
“Xiang Jie! What are you doing here...”
“Haha! Don’t be scared—I’m one of your comrades,” I laughed before turning back toward A Fei saying: “We won! We crushed Twenty-Four Middle School!”
A Fei smiled slightly replying: “Not bad—but are you prepared for revenge against City No. 1 High School next?”
“Of course!” I answered without hesitation.
“Well then.” Suddenly remembering something important: “A Fei... Jianfei officially transferred schools...”
“What!” Sha Xiaomei exclaimed in surprise. “Why didn’t Jianfei tell me? When did he leave?”
“Yesterday.”
I didn’t expect such a big reaction from Sha Xiaomei—it startled me.
“Maybe Jianfei really had his reasons…” A Fei sighed knowing full well that both he and I understood Jianfei wanted no regrets hence his departure.
After some time when Sha Xiaomei prepared to leave after seeing her off and closing the door behind her—I told A Fei: “Jianfei is truly a good brother; he asked me to send blessings your way…”
We whispered quietly in the hospital room where I could sense A Fei feeling slightly guilty.
“Alright alright enough about that—when can they remove your bandages? How does it feel being blind during this time? It must be quite thrilling,” I teased him playfully.
“If you're really curious you could try it yourself,” A Fei replied cheekily now becoming increasingly witty.
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