Another week of studying.
In the past few English quizzes, Ding Yebai scored a hundred and a few points. Moreover, he specially showed the test paper to Yang Zhi.
Just like before, Yang Zhi wore the purest smile, offering encouragement while calmly helping him analyze where he made mistakes.
Actually, it felt like she was not all that happy.
Ding Yebai wondered if he needed to score even higher for her emotions to change significantly.
So that Sunday, he got up early in the morning to memorize vocabulary, then went out for a stroll.
Wearing a black baseball cap and dressed exceptionally coolly, he caught the eyes of who knows how many young girls along the way.
The monthly exams were coming up soon, and he needed to go to the bookstore to buy some more practice workbooks to grind through.
A dozen minutes later, he came out of the bookstore and stopped by to buy a soft-serve ice cream, sitting down on a roadside bench to eat it.
Ding Yebai took a bite and found it extremely sweet, so sweet it felt like it would melt a person's heart.
The warm sunlight cascaded down, dappled with tree shadows.
While eating the ice cream, he watched the bustling pedestrians coming and going.
He completely emptied his mind, thoroughly enjoying the present moment.
However, not long after, the corner of his eye noticed a foolish, chubby little boy standing not far away.
The boy's eyes were bright, staring straight at... the ice cream in his hand.
Without a word, Ding Yebai watched as the little boy walked toward him step by step, finally stopping right in front of him.
"What is it? Keep it brief," Ding Yebai said, lowering his eyes.
The little boy licked his chapped lips with his tongue, his mouth half-open before timidly snapping it shut.
"You want to eat the ice cream?" Ding Yebai asked.
The little boy instantly perked up, though his gaze remained slightly bewildered: "Ah-wu, ah-wu."
Yet he could not speak clearly, sounding just like a baby who had not yet learned to talk.
Judging by his appearance, however, he must have been seven or eight years old and of elementary school age.
How could he still not know how to talk?
"If you have... whatever thoughts you have, just spit them out. With all this 'ah-wu, ah-wu', I have no idea what you're trying to say," Ding Yebai said, somewhat troubled.
Even if he wanted to be helpful for a moment, the child wasn't saying anything, so how was he supposed to help?
If this kept up, he would just have to get up and leave.
"Ah-wu, ah-wu..." The little boy gestured a few times inexplicably, and figuring that Ding Yebai was getting impatient, he had no choice but to put his hands behind his back and lower his head.
"It really is a headache that you can't talk," Ding Yebai said.
With that, he glanced toward the ice cream parlor in the distance, noticing there were very few people right then, and stood up with a start.
The little boy still kept his head down, looking like a pitiful little thing, so sad and disappointed.
"Hey, wait a minute."
Right at that moment, Yang Zhi suddenly trotted over from afar carrying a bag.
Judging by the direction, she was coming from the bookstore.
The moment Ding Yebai saw her, his eyes instantly brightened and he couldn't help calling out her name: "Yang Zhi..."
Yang Zhi came to Ding Yebai's side, smiled politely at him, then squatted down, put her purchases aside, and gently pressed her hands against the little boy's arms.
Teary-eyed, the little boy turned around and looked at Yang Zhi: "Ah-wu, ah-wu..."
Yang Zhi offered a gentle smile and began to sign with her hands.
[Do you want to eat that ice cream?]
Seeing that she knew sign language, the little boy instantly broke into a smile and nodded.
Yet three seconds later, he lowered his head again silently.
[But I don't have any money.]
[It's fine, consider it my treat as an older sister.]
The little boy was overjoyed and hurriedly pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.
Upon looking, Yang Zhi saw a detailed home address written on it.
[I want to go to this place, but I don't have money for the bus.]
[Then I'll send you there, okay?]
Having communicated thus, Yang Zhi stood up and said to Ding Yebai, "He's deaf and mute."
A soft, tender light flashed in Ding Yebai's eyes, and he softly asked, "Oh, I see... By the way, you know sign language too?"
Holding the little boy's hand tightly, Yang Zhi nodded. "Yeah. When I went to teach in a rural area before, there was a deaf-mute child in my class, so I specifically learned sign language."
"Just for that one child?" Ding Yebai asked.
"That's right," Yang Zhi replied.
Ding Yebai nodded secretly and pointed at the ice cream shop behind them. "I understood what he meant a moment ago. I was just about to go buy him an ice cream."
"Of course I know," Yang Zhi curved her eyes in a slight smile. "Given your personality, you wouldn't just leave this child alone either."
With that, she took the child by the hand and walked past Ding Yebai.
Ding Yebai's gaze followed her departure the whole time, until he finally couldn't help taking a step forward to walk alongside her. "What are you... going to do right now?"
"The child is lost, and I'm going to take him home," Yang Zhi said.
"I'm going too."
"Huh?"
Yang Zhi turned her head in surprise to look at Ding Yebai, only to find his gaze sincere and uncharacteristically lacking its usual chill.
"Alright."
"Yeah."
After buying ice cream for the little boy, the three of them boarded the bus heading toward his home.
Only after finding out the details did they realize the child had thrown a tantrum and run off on his own, resulting in not bringing enough money for the ride back.
The bus was packed, and there was only one seat left at the time, so the two adults naturally gave it to the deaf-mute child.
Yang Zhi and Ding Yebai stood in front of the little boy.
"By the way, Sister Yang Zhi, what brings you here?" Ding Yebai asked.
"To buy some books to read," Yang Zhi said.
"I see."
"What about you?"
"I'm buying some reference materials to look over. The exams are coming up soon."
"Exams?" Yang Zhi grew interested, turning her head slightly to look at him. "You need to work hard on your exams."
Seeing her smile, Ding Yebai was stunned for a moment before hastily turning his head back to gaze at the scenery outside the window, lowering his voice to say, "Yeah... they're all just simple questions, you don't need to specifically cheer me on."
"Good luck," Yang Zhi said nonetheless, gentle and beautiful.
"Good... luck, I suppose," Ding Yebai frowned, turning his face away in awkwardness.
"If you keep taking exams like this one by one, making progress bit by bit, you'll definitely reap great results when the Gaokao arrives," Yang Zhi said.
Turning half his face, Ding Yebai glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising his eyebrows slightly without saying anything.
Let's hope so...
The bus drove on in a leisurely manner, the space inside the vehicle growing inexplicably stuffy.
Afterward, Ding Yebai and Yang Zhi didn't say anything more.
He simply kept staring at the scenery outside the window, while Yang Zhi lowered her head to chat with the deaf-mute child.
Ding Yebai always felt that Yang Zhi was a very strange person.
She would go out of her way to learn sign language just for the single deaf-mute child in her class.
And she would take the trouble to send this little boy home just because he lacked bus fare.
Doing good deeds often brought good returns, right?
As he thought this, he couldn't help casting another glance at Yang Zhi.
As a result, he happened to see a sneaky middle-aged man standing right behind her.
Judging by his appearance and movements, he was up to no good no matter how you looked at it.
As for Yang Zhi, she seemed to be having fun playing with the deaf-mute child and completely failed to notice the danger creeping up step by step.
Ah... It seems good karma hasn't arrived, but bad business has instead.
The light in Ding Yebai's eyes instantly dropped to zero. He took a forward step, shoving that lecherous man—who was trying to position himself behind Yang Zhi—over to the other side.
Panicked after being bumped aside, the man hurriedly averted his gaze, inwardly cursing himself for not making his move faster.
Later, he unfortunately locked eyes with Ding Yebai and was so frightened by that cold face that he walked straight toward the other end of the bus.
As for Ding Yebai, he stood behind Yang Zhi like a guardian deity—or, to put it another way, he securely and steadily held her protected within his arms.
Thanks to 1666 Koins from Love Is Hard to Follow, 7474 Koins from Warm Tears Allure, 1500 Origin Point Coins from Lost Deer Spirit, Sundy, and 1500 Origin Point Coins from Yin.
I'm sad o(╥﹏╥)o, didn't fully advance, but I got a secondary recommendation. From here on, climbing up further still relies on readership.
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