Hate
Yun Mi remembered what happened that night and silently poked at the grass.
At Shanfu, PE class was always combined for the two key classes.
After half a day of class, Yun Mi had already received her new uniform. A few girls nearby were chatting about gossip.
Chen Yiyang and Xu Zhiyu's relationship had another explosive rumor: some said Chen Yiyang and Xu Zhiyu were going to the hospital together tonight.
Yun Mi frowned, not quite believing it. Last night when she had given Xu Zhiyu a sanitary pad, the other girl's eyes were already swollen from crying. How could she still go to the hospital with Chen Yiyang today?
The group of girls was also skeptical, and Yun Mi heard someone call Xu Zhiyu a slut. Unable to hold back, Yun Mi, who had been sitting on the grass and picking plastic grass during free time, said, “Can you stop talking nonsense?”
Under the bright sun, the girl in her dark blue school uniform with a high ponytail turned her face, her eyelashes fine and dense.
The rubber track gleamed with a pale light. Yun Mi turned her gaze and gave a full face, “Why don’t I hear you insulting the boys? And, did you see it with your own eyes, or are you one of the parties involved? Don’t spread rumors without evidence.”
She tossed the plastic grass in her hand like garbage and lifted her eyelids. “Aren’t you a good student? Why talk so ugly?”
“… ”
The sarcastic words made the girls blush and fall silent. They got up and moved aside. Once they left, the patch of grass gradually belonged only to Yun Mi.
A PE teacher from another grade came looking for someone to move basketball hoops and only saw Yun Mi. He waved, “Hey, you, yes you. Go to the equipment room and get ten basketballs.”
Shanfu’s equipment room was quite spacious, but it was crammed full of all sorts of debris.
Yun Mi searched for a long time before spotting the ten basketballs in an iron frame. Carrying them alone was really tough. She had to drag the iron frame outside. After a few steps, the rusty edge of the frame scraped her right wrist.
Ding Yuan came back from the restroom and found Yun Mi missing. It took a while before she ran into her. She grabbed Yun Mi’s shirt, “Mimi, where did you go? I was looking everywhere for you.”
Yun Mi stood frowning in a corner.
Ding Yuan was startled, “What’s wrong?”
The girl’s expression was normal, even smiling. “Haha, it’s nothing.”
Ding Yuan didn’t believe her, “You call that nothing?” She hurriedly pulled Yun Mi’s hand, lifting the school uniform sleeve, and screamed, “Ah! You’re bleeding!”
The boys on the nearby baseball field were drawn by the scream.
“Who’s hurt? Da Yuan Zi?”
Xie Yue, who had been about to throw the ball, was shocked by the words. He dropped the ball, “Who? Ding Yuan?”
“No, it’s that new girl… the one called Mi.”
“Oh, Yun Mi.”
The baseball team was a specialty of Shanfu. Last semester, the school team had won the national baseball league championship, with Chen Yiyang playing as shortstop.
He wore reflective sunglasses. At the last sentence, he slightly lifted his baseball cap, revealing a sharp jawline.
Xie Yue relaxed upon hearing this. He propped his bat on the ground, wiggling his hips to loosen up, and said casually, “Oh.”
The difference in treatment. A boy next to him kicked Xie Yue, “Xie Yue, you really are…”
It was hard to put into words. The boy thought for a while but couldn’t come up with a fitting comment. Suddenly, a cold teenage voice answered for him, “Heartless.”
“Right… heartless.”
The boy clapped, then turned, only to realize that the speaker was Chen Yiyang.
“… ”
Something seemed off. He remembered that among their group, the most heartless was supposed to be Chen Yiyang.
-
In the hallway of the school clinic, Yun Mi was comforting Ding Yuan.
Ding Yuan paced back and forth, speaking dramatically: “Thank goodness it’s nothing serious. Your arm was almost spazzing like a propeller!” She plopped down, “Scared me to death!”
The doctor had already examined her—no big deal, just a rusted wire from the basketball frame that required a tetanus shot.
The school clinic was very close to the sports field. Not far away, a boy shouted, “Da Yuan Zi, the teacher is calling for physical fitness tests! You’re the only one left! If you don’t come now, the first two events will be invalidated!”
Ding Yuan couldn’t defy the PE teacher’s authority. As she was about to leave, she suddenly spotted a figure.
Chen Yiyang.
Wait. What was he doing here?
Ding Yuan stared at him warily, wondering who he was here to harass.
Chen Yiyang acted as if he hadn’t seen her at all.
His gaze drifted lightly over her, then to the clinic window. He said, “Peppermint candy.”
“… ”
Ding Yuan watched suspiciously as Chen Yiyang scanned the QR code, paid, and left.
Once Ding Yuan was gone, Chen Yiyang spoke up at the small clinic window. “Are you okay?”
Asking her?
Yun Mi looked at Chen Yiyang. The boy stood a considerable distance away, his gaze fixed on her injured right arm. Next to the fresh, short red wound was a longer scar that had healed, its color lighter than the surrounding skin, somewhat fearsome, as if it had barely healed after being severely struck.