Bicycle
Chen Yiyang was called to the principal's office. This incident might even result in a disciplinary demerit on his record.
Yun Mi stood frozen outside the principal's office door, her heart heavy as if a stone were pressing down on it, restless and unsettled. Ding Yuan gently tugged her arm and whispered, "Let's go. Standing here won't help, you can't do anything."
Yun Mi opened her mouth, but in the end, nothing came out. She just stood there quietly, her gaze fixed on the closed door.
The office door was shut tight, and the commotion inside was already heated. The bald principal's furious shouts were piercing, as if they wanted to tear apart the quiet afternoon: "Chen Yiyang, do you think there are no rules? How dare you physically harm someone on campus! Do you know this will result in a demerit? A demerit goes into your record—how will you get your recommendation then?"
"I don't need a recommendation."
Chen Yiyang's voice was cold, as if pulled out of ice.
The principal's tone was urgent and exasperated, deliberately lowered but still unable to hide his anger: "Fine, no recommendation, no future! You hit so hard—what if you really crippled someone? Who would take responsibility if something happened?"
The next moment, Chen Yiyang's cold and sharp voice came through, without a trace of panic or fear: "Me."
He said, me.
That single word seemed to land on Yun Mi's heart. Through the window crack, she vaguely saw the tall figure of the boy standing there, his back straight like a pine in the wind.
The principal suddenly shouted sternly: "Chen Yiyang!"
Chen Yiyang's voice remained steady, without any fluctuation. He let out a light snort, his tone wrapped in piercing cold: "Principal Sun, I'll say it here. If anyone keeps running their mouth, I'll keep hitting."
...
At noon, the cafeteria was noisy, but Yun Mi had no appetite. She took out her phone and sent Chen Yiyang a message: Did this affect you?
The message was sent, but it sank like a stone in the sea.
Chen Yiyang didn't reply.
Before coming to Shancheng, Yun Mi had privately made an agreement with Coach Jiang.
Xu Mingyi would leave the team at the end of the year under "other reasons" and pay compensation.
At that time, Xu Mingyi insisted that the trunk was Yun Mi's. No one on the team was willing to testify for Yun Mi—it was too dark in the locker room that day, and no evidence was left.
Coach Jiang and the others knew the truth, but without solid proof, they could only handle it this way.
The reason Xu Mingyi kept pestering was simply to make Yun Mi take all the responsibility, achieving so-called "loss minimization." In her eyes, since Yun Mi had already retired, taking a bit more blame didn't seem like a big deal.
She was willing to pay compensation, any amount.
After lunch, Yun Mi returned to the classroom and immediately contacted the school's confession wall.
That disciplinary record had long been revoked due to the joint efforts of Coach Jiang and Yun Mi.
She sent over the complete evidence record. Soon after, the confession wall issued a public apology on behalf of the anonymous poster.
Xie Yue was still chattering beside them, talking about the "hitting" incident: "Seems like the guy hit was from Class 13. His parents came to school..."
"Don't worry, it's fine. That idiot's nose bridge isn't broken," Xie Yue said, as a distant relative of his worked as a leader in the school. He brought two cans of lychee and white peach soda for Ding Yuan and Yun Mi. Xie Yue clicked his tongue, with a hint of schadenfreude in his tone, "If he really wanted to cripple him, Brother Yang would have just used a basketball, not a volleyball."
Ding Yuan saw Yun Mi's pale face and nearly threw her soda can at Xie Yue's head: "Say something nice, where's your tact?"
Xie Yue replied blandly with an "Oh."
Then, seeing Ding Yuan's expression, he added, "Good news is... no one dares to run their mouth anymore. Everyone wants to keep their face, right?"
"..."
Ding Yuan couldn't take it anymore.
Yun Mi had been working on a cloze test for thirty minutes, barely moving her pen.
She looked up, her voice soft: "Yuan Yuan, help me ask the teacher for leave this afternoon. I'll be back later."
Ding Yuan was a bit worried about Yun Mi. She looked at her and said, "Don't do anything stupid."
Yun Mi forced a smile. "I won't."
She ran out of the classroom.
On the third floor of the school administration building, Yun Mi saw Chen Yiyang at the end of the corridor.
He had just finished a call with Chen Jici. His gaze shifted to her, his figure tall.
His school jacket from the morning was missing somewhere. He was only wearing a simple white short-sleeved shirt with gray-black pants, his bangs slightly messy. His dark brows and eyes tilted as he squinted at her, his voice cold: "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in self-study?"
Yun Mi lied, her voice low: "I skipped class."
"Oh."
Chen Yiyang didn't comment, just looked down at his phone again.
Chen Jici said he would pay compensation, and this matter would probably be handled internally.
So many things had happened today, each worse than the last. Yun Mi couldn't hide the exhaustion and grievance on her face.
She lowered her head and slowly walked over to Chen Yiyang, her gaze falling on the century-old banyan tree outside the window. Its leaves were lush, dyeing the entire white campus in the color of deep summer.
Chen Yiyang asked, "All dealt with?"
"Mm."
Yun Mi wanted to explain to him: "That post was fake..."