Chapter 16

The rain was getting heavier.

Yu Zhuo wiped off the rain splashed on his face in grief and angrily shouted: "I’ll fight with you!"

Ji Rang looked at him as if he was mentally retarded, then raised his hand and smashed Qi Ying's schoolbag on his body. It happened to hit Yu Zhuo's chin, making him stunned.

He turned to leave with the umbrella, Qi Ying hurriedly pulled the corner of his soaked clothes, took off his shirt, and handed it over with a worried expression, as if to say: Don't catch a cold.

Ji Rang took it and put it on his shoulder.

For a short while, there was a sweet smell wafting out of his clothes. His shoulders were a little stiff, he quickened his pace and left. After walking a little far, he tore off the clothes and carried them in his hands.

Qi Ying watched his back disappear into the rain, sighed in sorrow, and turned and looked, her brother was staring at her with a grimace.

She was a little embarrassed, and took out her mobile phone to type: Don't tell uncle.

Yu Zhuo: Do you remember the last time you threatened me with my fight?

Qi Ying: …I will split my pocket money in half with you.

Yu Zhuo: Who wants your pocket money??? Am I that kind of person!

Paused.

Yu Zhuo: How much?

The secret of a rainy day was buried in a money transaction.

When school started on Monday, the majority of teachers and students discovered that the boss who had skipped class for a week finally returned to school. Of course, it was inevitable to be criticized by the head teacher at the flag-raising ceremony. The head teacher stood up and crooked his nose: "Some students just can't stand the praise!"

After the briefing was completed, a good thing was finally announced: "From today, the school will organize a ‘Caring for students' Mental Health' activity. I hope that all students will have a good psychological condition while studying. Anyone who is over-stressed and annoyed can register with the class teacher. The school will arrange psychological counseling in turn. Haiyi will care for every classmate and let everyone have a fulfilling and happy high school life!"

Applause broke out from below.

Qu Dazhuang said excitedly: "You can go to the infirmary to sleep again!"

At the end of the flag-raising ceremony, each class teacher began to organize the class committee to register the students who needed counseling. Students who are really stressed about learning will not participate at all. If you have that time, it is better to memorize a few words. On the contrary, those poor students who never study jumped at the chance.

In Class 9, Liu Yao, the teacher looked at the list handed in by the class committee and had a headache.

None of them needed counselling.

He slammed the list on the lecture table and said angrily: "Qu Peng! What pressure do you have to learn? Have you studied from the beginning of the school to now? Why have you put your name in this list?"

The class burst into laughter.

Qu Dazhuang stood up and said with great sadness: "Mr. Liu, because of my bad grades, I suffer from contempt and ostracism every day. I feel that I am psychologically traumatized now, really."

Class 9 students: "…"

Who the hell dared to ostracize you?

We don’t want to carry this pot!

Liu Yao also knew that he was talking nonsense, and ruthlessly crossed out his name from the list. He glanced with a complex look at the teenager who slept on the desk in the last row and called him: "Ji Rang, you come out with me."

Ji Rang lazily stood up.

Liu Yao stood at the end of the corridor, holding the counseling list, and when he came out, he pointed to the counseling column and said: "I will add your name here, you remember to go to the infirmary on time."

Ji Rang said, "I'm not going."

Liu Yao glared at him: "You must go! This is ordered by the principal himself!"

Ji Rang's eyes fell for a long time, then he grinned: "Okay."

After Qu Dazhuang learned about it, he was very unconvinced: "Why can they let my brother do it but not me?! Does he have the pressure to study? He bought the new books and never read them, I at least opened them and wrote my name!"

Liu Haiyang hit the nail on the head: "Brother Rang can do anything."

Haiyi's execution ability was very strong, and the next day they arranged counseling time according to the list submitted by each class. After the first class, Ji Rong was notified. He didn't need to attend the next class. He needed to go to the infirmary for counselling.

He left the classroom lazily with the envious eyes of all the younger brothers on him.

When he arrived in the infirmary, he ignored the smiling psychiatrist, laid down on the patient bed and began to sleep.

Sleeping on your stomach is much more comfortable than sleeping on your back.

I have to thank Liu Yao.

The psychiatrist moved the chair to the bed and asked several questions patiently, but unfortunately he did not receive any response.

He sighed, watching Ji Rang fall asleep, shook his head, drew the curtain, returned to his desk, and wrote the words "refused to cooperate" on the page of the medical treatment book.

In the last class of the morning, Qi Ying came to the infirmary.

She is the key focus of the school. As soon as the psychological counseling activity started, Liu Qinghua directly filled in her name in the counseling column.

If Qi Ying could speak as soon as possible, it would be a good thing for everyone.

The psychiatrist had already obtained Qi Ying's information and knew that she had PTSD, so he was more patient when facing her. The two did not speak during the whole process, and communicated by writing.

When Ji Rang woke up, he saw this scene.

The girl was sitting in a chair, holding a pen while writing. Despite her comfortable leather chair, her sitting posture was still very upright, reminiscent of the kindergarten waiting in rows for little red flowers.

I don't know what the psychiatrist wrote on the paper, but she was amused, and her eyes were full of light.

That smile was sweet enough to heal this fucking world.

Who needed fart psychological counseling.

The bell rang for the end of class, the psychiatrist ended the counseling session and sent Qi Ying out. Taking advantage of the gap between them, Ji Rang jumped off the bed and walked out. When he passed the desk, he subconsciously glanced at the handwritten notebook on the desk.

A few dazzling words were written.

Sacrifice, glory, greatness.

-Will you be proud of your father?

——Yes, he is a hero.

Ji Rang's legs seemed to be suddenly filled with lead and sinking heavily. He wanted to leave this place quickly, but he couldn't move his feet.

Even breathing seemed to be difficult.

Those light conversations on the paper pierced his eyes like needles.

Why?

Why be proud of him?

People praise greatness irrelevantly because they have never felt the same way.

What about her? All of what she suffered came from the man who should have protected her, but does she also feel that it is great?

Really…

Extremely ridiculous.

The psychiatrist walked in from the door, and when he saw Ji Rang, he was surprised by the violent madness in his eyes. He walked up quickly, put away the diagnosis and treatment notebook on the table, and tried to make his voice gentle: "Classmate, did you sleep well?"

Ji Rang ignored him and didn't even look at him.

His posture was stiff, like a weight of hundreds of kilograms was placed on his back, and he moved out of the infirmary step by step.

Ji Rang did not go to the cafeteria for lunch, nor did he answer the phone. When they found him, he was playing basketball on the north playground. Like having a grudge with the basket, every time he dunks, he looked like he wanted to smash the basket.

While he was dribbling, Qu Dazhuang shouted: "Brother, I brought you food."

Ji Rang leaped up, the basketball in his hand smashed the basket rim, and the basketball hoop swayed, making a creak as if about to collapse. After shaking for a long time, it calmed down tremblingly.

Liu Haiyang whispered: "I feel like he’s in a bad mood."

Qu Dazhuang: "We don’t need you to say it! We are not blind!"

When Ji Rang approached, several people shut up quickly. He took the lunch box and didn't look at the dishes in it. He put two or three mouthfuls into his mouth, and asked quietly, "Will the internet cafe be open in the afternoon?"

Several people swiftly nodded: "Open, open!"

Then in the afternoon, a few rows of seats at the back of Class 9 were empty.

Liu Yao was so angry that he waited for the few people who had skipped classes to arrive at the school the next morning, and all of them went to the penalty station in the corridor. Pointing to Ji Rang, he said: "Don't you like to skip classes? Wouldn't it be great if you didn't even come to school?"

Ji Rang twitched his lips and laughed: "Who asked me to pay the tuition? It's not a big loss if I don't come."

Liu Yao was almost pissed off by him.

The class bell rang, and the next period was his class, and he didn't bother to care about these bad students anymore, and shouted, "Stand up here for me!"

Then angrily walked into the classroom to start the class.

This group of people had long been accustomed to the penalty station, leaning against the wall, and humorously recalling the qualifying match yesterday afternoon: "It's a real show to see brother play! He can handle even if he was against five or a dozen in reality, he dared to do that in the game too!"

While talking, when they saw the other side of the corridor, Qi Ying and two classmates were coming towards them holding a stack of homework books.

The teachers’ offices are all here.

Qu Dazhuang poked Ji Rang, who had lowered his head to play with his mobile phone: "Brother, your little fairy."

Ji Rang was about to scold him. When he looked up and saw Qi Ying, his expression suddenly changed. Before Qu Dazhuang could react, he rushed in through the back door of the classroom.

On the podium, Liu Yao looked at Ji Rang who appeared suddenly, vomited blood with anger: "What are you doing in here! Get out!"

Ji Rang stood by the wall of the back door and said, "The penalty can't affect listening, I love learning.”

Liu Yao: "???"

What do you love

Can you say that again?

After class finally ended, Liu Yao knew that these poor students would not take his words to heart at all, but still to uphold the teacher’s duty, he named each person one by one, and warned them not to skip class again, even if they are sleeping, they must sleep. In their seat!

Several people absently responded.

Liu Yao said to Ji Rang again, "Remember to go to the infirmary on time."

Ji Rang curled his lips: "Yes."

Liu Yao knew what his idea was: "And you are not allowed to go to sleep! The school arranged doctors for your healthy growth. You must cooperate with the doctors!"

Ji Rang sneered.

It’s perfect, he was merciless to him even before he beat him[1].

After the third period bell rang, Ji Ran lazily walked to the infirmary. As soon as he walked around the corner, he saw Qi Ying coming out of the infirmary. With their eyes facing each other, she showed a really sweet smile and ran towards him.

Ji Rang turned around and left.

He kept going faster and faster, she couldn't catch up no matter how she chased.

Qi Ying stopped panting, feeling aggrieved looking at the back of him walking away.

This morning also he did the same thing.

She actually saw him. Among the students in the corridor, he was the tallest and most conspicuous, but when he saw her, he hid in the classroom like a ghost.

Did he start to hate her?

Does he hate her so much that he didn’t even want to see her?

Qi Ying felt so sad, but she had no choice but to rub her eyes and walk back to the classroom with her head down.

She didn’t see Ji Rang for the next two days.

She didn't know if he avoided her deliberately or the school was too big.

Qi Ying glumly wrote the words in her vocabulary book silently. Yue Li, drinking milk, rushed in from the door, pulled her vocabulary book and began to write: Yingying, do you know what happened to the boss recently?

Qi Ying shook his head blankly.

Yue Li wrote excitedly: Even you don’t know? The boss is so terrible lately. He has been provoking fights everywhere. I heard that he had an appointment with an off-campus society after school today! I just met him at the top of the stairs; the corner of his eye is covered with band-aids!

Qi Ying's eyes widened.

After school, she hurried to Class 9 without waiting for Yue Li, holding her schoolbag.

There are no people in the classroom.

She went downstairs again, and as soon as she reached the second floor, she saw Ji Rang walking upstairs.

He seemed to have dropped something, his face was anxious and irritable, and a few people followed, looking for it and asking: "Is it pink? The pen lid looks like a whale?"

He hummed impatiently.

Looking up, he saw Qi Ying standing on the steps.

She was holding her schoolbag, her eyes were a little red, her lips were pursed, and she looked at him stubbornly.

Ji Rang felt his throat tighten.

He touched the band-aid at the corner of his eye and turned his head to go into the men's bathroom.

He didn't come out even after more than ten minutes.

Qu Dazhuang had good luck, and found the pink whale pen at the back door of the classroom, and ran to the toilet excitedly to ask for credit: "Brother! I found it!"

Ji Rang was smoking, a cigarette butt in hand.

He took it silently and stuffed it into his schoolbag.

Qu Dazhuang felt that he was done, and called him: "Let's go, brother."

Ji Rang was silent for a while: "Wait a moment."

Liu Haiyang and the others also came in. They were taken aback by the cigarette. Luo Bing asked, "Brother, what are you doing here, staying in for so long?"

The dignified school tyrant was chased by a girl and hid in the men's bathroom. If it spread out… didn't he want face?! 

Ji Rang got angry when asked, "I like to smoke in the toilet, how about it!" He kicked Luo Bing and said in a harsh tone: "You all fucking smoke with me! Nobody can leave without smoking!"

Everyone: "…"

Fortunately, school was over. The toilet on this end couldn't be flushed because of the broken pipe, so no one came to use it.

A few people looked at each other, and took out cigarettes.

A group of people squatted in the toilet and smoked.

During this period, a male student who came in with urgency was directly scared out.

He didn’t know how long it has been, Qu Dazhuang held Ji Rang with tears and trembling on his face: "Brother, let’s go, my eyes are hurting…"

[1] I think he means the psychiatrist.