Volume 12
Chapter 32: The Moon Has Phases (Part 3)
How can there be such a timid person in the world… Lu Li thought. In Lu Li’s mind, a girl should be like Yameng—brave, strong, yet gentle and considerate.
Lu Li took this girl to the academic affairs office to get her books, and only then did he remember to ask her name. “What’s your name?”
“An… An Baili.” An Baili wanted to steal a glance at this boy. Seeing Lu Li look down at her, she quickly lowered her little head again, pretending to look at the road. “I-I’ll carry the books myself…”
“Forget it. Your little arms aren’t even half as thick as mine. Leave it to me. I still have this much strength.” Lu Li smiled. “My name is Lu Li. The Lu Li from ‘fantastic and dazzling.’ Your name sounds quite nice.”
“Th-thank you…” An Baili’s voice was soft and delicate. “…I was… I was doing housework yesterday and forgot to come and register to get my textbooks…”
“Doing housework? I thought students who go to this school don’t do their own housework.”
“I-I’m a special admission student.” When An Baili said this, her head was almost hanging down to her chest, as if the words “special admission student” were some kind of curse that made one inferior. Who would have thought that Lu Li would grin, revealing a mouthful of big white teeth. “I’m a special admission student too. What a coincidence. My family is quite poor. If not for special admission, I wouldn’t even have had the chance to sweep the floors at Chuanhai No. 1 High. I don’t even know what the admissions office saw in me.”
An Baili could only see Lu Li’s chin through her bangs. Seeing Lu Li’s cheerful smile, she was a little confused. Why could he so confidently and frankly admit that he was a special admission student, admit that his family was poor? Wouldn’t he feel inferior?
Lu Li glanced at the head-bowed An Baili and sighed, freeing a hand to gently pat her back. “Don’t walk with your back hunched over. You’ll get a hunchback in the future.” An Baili was startled and shivered subconsciously. “S-sorry…”
“…” Lu Li averted his gaze. “Did people used to hit you?”
“…”
“Did boys hit you?”
“…They did,” An Baili said in a small voice. “Once in elementary school. Later, the teacher found out, and they stopped hitting me. They would just stay far away and throw stones and slippers at me. They would also… also find dead rats in the gutter and stuff them into my shoes.”
Lu Li pursed his lips. Where did this girl go to elementary school? If he ever got his hands on such boys, he and Yameng would definitely team up and teach them what real school violence was.
“Did the girls help you?”
“…No.”
“Oh. How mean.”
“…Yes.”
Lu Li said, intentionally or not, “If anyone bullies you in the future, just find me.”
An Baili still had her head down. “You’re also a special admission student… You can’t hit people.”
Lu Li remembered what Yameng had said before he started school. Yameng had said that he was a high school student now, and in the Low-Rent District, he was considered a top student. And the students who studied at Chuanhai No. 1 High School were either rich or noble. He couldn’t rely on fighting to solve problems like he did at his old school. She had also told him to be more steady, more rational.
She was right. He really couldn’t protect An Baili.
The thought of having to walk with his tail between his legs for three years of high school made Lu Li a little unhappy, and his anticipation for high school life was diminished by more than half.
Especially that girl on the podium before. Her bossy demeanor had annoyed Lu Li a little. Who is she? The class president hasn’t even been elected yet, and she’s already acting like one?
An Baili’s gloomy and timid temperament made it hard for Lu Li to find a topic of conversation. The two of them just walked back to the classroom in silence. Fortunately, the head teacher was a kind person. Seeing the situation, he just told them to return to their seats and didn’t even give them a verbal reprimand.
…
After school. Lu Li was writing and drawing on a piece of paper. He had heard that making games was very profitable. Before, someone in the Low-Rent District had earned some money from working, and had spent it all on a game. If he also knew how to make games, then his family wouldn’t be short of money. With this simple thought, Lu Li began to conceive his own game.
To make a game, one couldn’t just talk. One had to learn the relevant skills. Lu Li planned to take some of the money he had earned from working part-time and go to the bookstore to see if he could buy some professional books. Walking on the way to the bookstore, Lu Li happened to see a lonely and pitiful figure ahead—An Baili.
She walked strangely, liking to stick to the edges and corners, and she also loved to walk with her head down, looking both cowardly and sneaky. Her schoolbag was also overly worn out, even more worn out than Lu Li’s. The pink schoolbag had been worn until it faded, and all the textbooks were packed inside, weighing down her small shoulders.
Just as Lu Li was about to go up and say hello, he saw a rider on a racing bicycle coming down the slope, ringing his bell. The other passersby all got out of the way in time, not forgetting to curse. Only An Baili reacted slowly and was foolishly grazed by the handlebars. Her already tattered schoolbag was torn open with a rip, and the books fell out all over the ground. The rider just hurriedly shouted an apology but didn’t even turn his head back.
An Baili stared blankly at the books on the ground and the schoolbag with a large tear in it, standing foolishly on the spot, not knowing what to do.
Lu Li walked up and, without a word, helped her pick up the books on the ground. An Baili was stunned for a moment, then also squatted down to pick them up with Lu Li.
“You don’t have to take all of them back. Just take the homework. Leave the rest in the classroom,” Lu Li said as he picked them up.
“…I’m afraid of losing them. I don’t have money to buy new textbooks.” An Baili’s words also hit a sore spot for Lu Li. He remembered that he used to have his books lost by others, so he would pack all his books in his schoolbag every day and then carry them all back the next day—it was quite silly.
“You can get a lock for your drawer.” Lu Li held the textbooks. “Are you planning to carry them back?”
“…Mm.” An Baili still didn’t dare to look at Lu Li. The schoolbag was broken, so she could only carry them back… She didn’t dare to tell her father about the broken schoolbag. If he found out, he would definitely be angry. If he was angry, he would hit her. She didn’t want to be hit.
“How far is your home?”
“Not far…”
“How far is not far?”
“…” No more words.
Lu Li sighed. He understood the feelings of a person with low self-esteem all too well, because he was also such a person. People with low self-esteem are very contradictory, both proud and cowardly. Lu Li felt his pants pocket. He had originally planned to buy a few professional books. Forget it. The books in the school library should be more comprehensive, and they were also free.
“…You… where are you taking my books…” An Baili followed behind Lu Li anxiously. “Please… can you give my books back to me…”
Lu Li turned and entered a stationery store. “Boss, do you have schoolbags?”
An Baili quickly stopped him. “I don’t have any money… don’t buy it…”
“I’ll buy you one.” Lu Li frowned. It was precisely because he had lacked money since he was little that he had developed a certain aversion to it. “You don’t have to pay.”
“No… give my books back to me.” An Baili’s strength was no match for Lu Li’s; she couldn’t pry his fingers open at all.
The boss glanced at them and pointed to the back. “There are schoolbags over there. Discount price 55 yuan. They’re all 55 yuan.” Lu Li chose a new schoolbag that was similar in style to An Baili’s previous one and began to take out money from his pocket.
An Baili watched in a daze as Lu Li took out three ten-yuan bills, two crumpled five-yuan bills, four wrinkled one-yuan bills, and a one-yuan coin that was spinning on the table from his pocket. After Lu Li had packed her books into the new schoolbag, he handed it to her. “Your home is in a different direction from mine, so I won’t walk you. Take this new schoolbag as my meeting gift for a new friend.”
55 yuan.
An Baili looked at the brand-new schoolbag. She had a strange thought: perhaps these 55 yuan were enough to buy her.
Lu Li waved at her and said a cool goodbye. Only then did An Baili dare to look up at Lu Li’s profile. Coincidentally, as Lu Li turned around, his back was against the vast, setting sun. The golden light outlined the young man’s silhouette, tearing open a heavy, dark cloud in her heart.
At this moment, An Baili had only one thought.
He’s so handsome. More handsome than any man in the world.
An Baili would never know that this fleeting glimpse, worth 55 yuan, would plunge her into an abyss of unrequited love.
…
In the turbulent flow of time, a yellow-robed, aged figure stumbled along.
“Lu… Li… quick… come and see me…”
(End of this Volume)
Preview next volume
A great roc one day rises with the wind.
Even if the wind were to cease, it would still come down,
“I-I like you, Classmate Wen. Can-can you be my girlfriend?”
And still be able to scoop up the waters of the vast ocean.
“I was clearly here first… why… why!”
The world sees me as always out of tune.
“Lu Li… I’ve waited for you… for who knows how many decades…”
Hearing my grand words, they all sneer.
“Scumbag man! Scumbag man! Scumbag man!”
Even Confucius could fear the younger generation.
“Can I find a death row inmate to smash the crystal and bear the Price for me?”
A man should not underestimate the young.
“I want to give the child back to you.”
A great roc one day rises with the wind,
“From today on, his word is my word. I’ve said my piece. Who agrees, and who objects?”
And soars tens of thousands of miles into the heavens.
