"You think that with this, you think..." Lei Jun didn't finish. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a stick, lit it, then cursed, "Fuck."
Lei Jun squatted and smoked the cigarette. After a while, he stood up and said, "What is this? To feel better about yourself? Don't goddamn bother doing useless things... No use. I can't let this go and I'm not letting this go. Don't show your face in front of me again. Go around if you have to. I'm worried I won't be able to stop myself from getting someone to beat you until you're crippled."
He Zhao wanted to say it wasn't like that, but the words only made several rounds in his head and he couldn't spit them out.
Lei Jun didn't intend to keep talking, either. When he was done, he dusted his pants off and left.
He Zhao didn't go straight back to the classroom. He went up to the sixth floor—the door to the rooftop was locked, but it was easily opened with a pin. Who knew what kind of locksmith had come up with this.
He pushed open the door and walked out. The wind on the roof was strong and blew his hair into a mess, and also brought him to his senses.
People would occasionally go up on the roof and in the corner were piled several crushed beer cans as evidence. A gust of wind rose, and the cans made a racket as they rolled around.
He Zhao lay on the roof, eyes fixed unblinkingly above him. He seemed to be seeing himself from the third year of junior high, and the strong, determined Fang Xiaolei, too.
"Nobody's in the chem lab at this time, for sure."
"Zhao-ge, didn't the teacher say this experiment was very dangerous? If we slip in like that..."
"I've memorized all the steps from the video. It'll be fine."
"Where did you get the key?"
"Stole it."
Many sounds circled by his ear, dragging him down into a bottomless depth.
Thick black smoke, choking him and making it hard to breathe.
The fire truck siren.
The frightened tone of the security guard who had placed the phone call.
And lastly, the stern voice of the woman interrogating them. "Who allowed you to go in and do experiments on your own? Miss Liu was in the adjoining office and we almost couldn't save her. Who'll take responsibility?!"
The matter blew up: a student had stolen the lab key and done chemistry experiments on their own. An accident had happened and someone had nearly died.
De Yu Middle School kept a tight watch on their chemistry lab and there was a small adjoining room that served as an office for the teacher on duty. Miss Liu had happened to be on duty that day, and who would have thought that she was still there after hours. She had worked too hard and fallen asleep at her desk.
If not for the security guard who had told them he hadn't seen Miss Liu leave through the school gates, they might not have even known someone was still there.
"What on earth happened? Fang Xiaolei, if you won't explain, then He Zhao, you explain."
"I stole the key." He Zhao heard his own voice. Even though this matter had also thrown him off balance, he still admitted the truth. "I did the experiment. I made him go along with me and it has nothing to do with him."
The woman sat in her seat, a red pen in her hand. Her thumb pushed at the pen cap and after a long time, she calmed down enough to pinch her forehead and say, "I understand. You two go back to class first... don't tell anyone about this. No matter who asks, don't say anything."
