Dawn
As soon as these words came out, the entire auditorium was silent, but for Yang Liguo, this moment was like pushing him naked to the cusp of the storm. Sitting where he was, he could directly feel the nail-like gazes from all directions towards him. Still sitting in his seat, he exhausted all his strength to barely control his facial expression, and showed an expression of being shocked but still “teacher” style to the outside world.
Bian Shengjian sneered.
“This… this classmate!” The host finally came to his senses, trembling as he was about to go up to grab Lan Yun’s microphone, “Don’t you know what you’re talking about!”
“I know exactly what I’m talking about!”
Lan Yun turned around and evaded without hesitation, holding the microphone in her hand, and was a little thankful that the microphone in the auditorium was wireless.
“Teacher Yang Liguo of Class 5, Grade 2, will find all kinds of reasons to let me go to his dormitory! Then…and then…”
There was a loud noise, and all the people who were in great shock couldn’t help covering their ears. After reacting, they found that the speaker was forcibly disconnected from the power, and standing next to it was the teaching director whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
“Go! Catch her!”
“Please let me finish speaking!”
Lan Yun dropped the microphone neatly, and the voice of a girl who usually looked very weak at this moment was enough to be heard clearly by everyone present without relying on any loudspeaker.
“He would humiliate me in bed, call me a whore, tell me to go home and not tell my parents! And…and I wasn’t the only victim! Our class, there are several other girls, they all…”
“Xiao Yun, come down.” Yang Liguo stood up, with a kind tone, “I know that you are usually under a lot of pressure from studying, and you may have some opinions on the teacher, but you can’t say such things, you know?”
Lan Yun bit her lip and shouted with all her strength: “Shut up! There are several girls in our class who were tricked by you like this!”
“Oh? Where are they?” Yang Liguo stared at her, then glanced back at the whole class, “Can you let them stand up by themselves?”
Bian Shengjian stood not far away and stared at him, clearly seeing the beast-like light from his loose and drooping eyes, as if the mask that had been carefully decorated for a long time had been smashed. He could not wait to rush out and tear all the flowers that knew the truth into pieces for a moment. But after a few seconds, he quickly converged. After a pause, he turned around and looked at Lan Yun and still smiled.
“How about it? No one is willing to stand up.”
At this moment, someone from the side of the auditorium rushed towards Lan Yun along the stairs, apparently trying to catch her.
“Student, please come down first, please!”
“I won’t!”
With tears in her eyes, Lan Yun played a game of eagle catching chicken on the stage with the group of people sent by the Academic Affairs Office, but at this moment she looked like a small fish trapped in a fishing net. No matter how hard she struggled, the pocket of the fishing net would only get tighter and tighter. Eventually she subconsciously casted her eyes for help to a corner of the auditorium—
“What to do now?” Bian Shengjian gritted his teeth, his expression ugly. “Just watch her being pushed down like this? Didn’t you say that it would be useful doing this! Look at it now, she…”
“Justice may be late,” Lu Shen said suddenly, looking at the girl whose arms were being held down with heavy eyes, “But it won’t fail.”
“I can testify.”
A clear voice sounded, and even Lan Yun forgot to struggle.
A girl with short hair and a round face stood up on the seat of Class 5, Grade 2. She wore a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses that could almost cover her eyes, but she still tried her best to hold her head up and straighten her chest. Resisting the trembling in her voice, she said, “I can testify that Teacher Yang did…also called me to his dormitory.”
“………Xiao Xin?” Yang Liguo’s face collapsed for a moment. “Do you know what you are talking about?”
“I can testify, too.”
Another voice sounded.
It seemed that the duckweed that had been blown far away by the strong wind gradually gathered together again, and bursted out with such a great force.
“I can also testify! Teacher Yang…He touched my leg!”
The expression on Yang Liguo’s face could no longer be maintained, he panted heavily, and stared viciously at the female students who spoke.
“When did I do this! Don’t slander people with vicious words! Where’s your evidence!”
Now visually, there were five or six female students standing up. Some of them may have been completely raped, and some of them may have just had their legs touched, but even if it was only the simplest physical contact, no one knew how much courage they had used to digest these deep malicious feelings alone. It may be that they washed their bodies in the bathroom again and again, fell down on the bed and cried bitterly, or they may finally choose to cut their wrists with a knife–
The first person that stood up was Li Xin. While wiping away the tears from her eyes, she stared at Lan Yun on the stage without blinking. Her lips moved slightly, as if to say thank you.
Thank you for being the first to stand up.
If it weren’t for her, many of them might never have dared to face the dirty and nasty behavior they had suffered in the past, the big palm that caressed the skin, and the obscene titles that were passed into the ears, all of which would only drive them to the edge of lowliness, fear and numbness, and finally be shut forever in the self-doubt of infinite inferiority.
“I can testify too!”
Another one.
Those tall or short, beautiful or ordinary girls stood up one by one, tried to puff up their trembling chests, and bravely spoke out for their cowardly self in the past for the first time under the eyes of the teachers and students of the whole school.
“We can all testify!”
After such a detailed count, there were as many as a dozen girls standing up in a class, and all of them turned their attention to Yang Liguo, waiting for this demon’s dying struggle in the silence.
“You…you….”
Yang Liguo raised his trembling fingers and pointed at them one by one. Suddenly, he raised his fist at the girl closest to him, with a fierce light in his eyes that couldn’t be concealed.
“Shut up, all of you!”
The girl subconsciously closed her eyes and screamed shortly, but the pain did not fall on her body. When she opened her eyes, she found that Yang Liguo’s half-waving fist had been blocked by someone.
“You bastard.”
Standing up was a boy from the next class. He didn’t let go of Yang Liguo’s hand, but stared into his eyes and said it word by word, “You bastard, what else did you do to them?”
The power of a group was great, and the people who had been sitting in their seats staring at this farce finally realized what happened, and their eyes quickly turned from shock to anger.
Among those who stood up, some may be objects of their admiration, or young lovers who were already together, but they were actually ignorant of everything these girls had suffered. Now that they were finally revealed, they could only endure as their beloved exposed her ugliest scars in the eyes of all kinds of people in the school.
It’s so unfair.
“I’m asking you, what fucking else did you do to them!” The boy roared, and immediately countless responders stood up, the boys and girls from the next class, from his own class, and the next class all stood up together and surrounded Yang Liguo tightly.
“You bastard!”
“Scum! Why don’t you just die!”
“You still have the face to be a teacher! Go to jail!”
“It’s better to stay in jail for the rest of your life until you die! Lest you come out and harm others when you’re old!”
“Exactly! And apologize to them now!”
“Yes! Apologize! Apologize immediately! Get down on your knees and apologize!”
“Shameless old rascal!”
The situation took a turn for the worse, and Yang Liguo, who was surrounded by angry students, finally lost his composure and became crazy.
“Shut up! Shut up, all of you!”
As he said that, he raised his fist. This last move ignited the most intense anger of the students. The scene lost control in the midst of the director’s loud roar, and Yang Liguo’s glasses, which were blown away in the chaos, was crushed by someone’s foot again–
“Calm down! Calm down, everyone!”
The director was almost frantic. He and the security guard who arrived at the scene tried to evacuate the students who had been furious to the extreme and almost broke his throat shouting out loudly.
“The school has called the police! Let the police deal with it!”
Bian Shengjian stared blankly at the chaotic auditorium, and it took him a long time to say, “…he won’t be beaten to death, right?”
“No,” Lu Shen shrugged, and said, “But if he was really beaten to death, he deserved it.”
“Yes.” Bian Shengjian responded, and coldly curled the corner of his mouth. “He really deserves it.”
****
“Urgent news. A class teacher in the second grade of No.3 middle school in our city was exposed to sexually assaulting more than a dozen female students for a long time. After the police intervened in the investigation, they extracted a number of hairs that matched the corresponding students from his dormitory bed……. After the visit and investigation, Yang was found to have behaved atrociously and finally confessed to his criminal acts. Now he has been transferred to the municipal public security office of our city for further examination and awaits the final judgment……..”
Bian Shengjian’s gaze shifted from the screen to Lan Yun’s face, and finally let out a breath. “You……”
“Thank you.” Lan Yun suddenly bent down and bowed deeply to them. “Although I don’t know who you are, I’m still very grateful. “
“You don’t need to thank us, it’s all your own choice,” Lu Shen said.
Bian Shengjian didn’t speak, but turned his head to the side silently.
“Now that the matter is settled, we should go.” Lu Shen reached out and touched her head, and when he withdrew his hand, he threw out a spell, which quickly burned out where Lan Yun couldn’t see.
The scene in front of him began to blur for a moment.
“In the future…….. remember to protect yourself.” Bian Shengjian opened his mouth, but he didn’t know if she heard the last sentence .
“Actually, I want to tell those boys’ parents more of these things,” Lu Shen sighed, “To please don’t let your sons hurt them.”
After the familiar feeling of dizziness passed, Bian Shengjian couldn’t help holding the wall and coughing a few times, but still felt a little sick, as if Yang Liguo’s old and greasy face was still haunting him.
“Are you okay?” Lu Shen asked with concern, patting him on the back.
“I’m okay.” Bian Shengjian wiped his mouth, stood up straight and watched the fine grains of light that were like grains of sand disappeared quickly until they completely dissipated in the dark corridor.
It’s actually not that dark.
Lu Shen turned on the flashlight of a cell phone, and held Bian Shengjian’s cold knuckles with one hand. “Let’s go.”
“I used to……….form a band with Li Fei and the others.” Amidst their series of small footsteps, Bian Shengjian suddenly said, “But then we disbanded.”
“Oh? Why?” Lu Shen held his hand and raised his eyebrows, “Why haven’t I heard you mention it before?”
“Besides Li Fei and Tan Ming, there was actually one person who didn’t come to see me last time. His name is Xiao Liping.” Bian Shengjian didn’t answer, but continued on his own. “He has a sister who is a primary school student, but because she was once raped on her way to school before, she developed mental problems, and could only be locked up at home.”
“I see.” Lu Shen tightened his hands, keenly aware of Bian Shengjian’s emotional changes. “Once when our band was returning from a performance in a bar, Liping saw a very drunk woman who was being picked up by a group of men, he then rushed and fought with that group of people.”
“What about you?” Lu Shen stopped and looked at him.
“Me? Of course I think he’s fucking nosy.” Bian Shengjian clicked his tongue, “But I can’t just watch him being beaten like that, can I? Anyway, the four of us ended up with those bastards getting into trouble, and Li Fei and his parents also knew about it…then the band broke up afterwards.”
“That band is very important to you, right?” Lu Shen asked seriously.
“……Mn.” Bian Shengjian responded, as if he didn’t want to talk about this topic too much. “Forget it, it’s over.”
“Then what happened to the girl who was picked up?” Lu Shen continued to ask.
“What else can I do? I only found out later that the bar arranged for that woman to sell herself. After being picked up by someone, the others would have to queue up and wait for their turn to pick her up next time.” Bian Shengjian took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. “Xiao Liping is simply an idiot…so am I.”
“Then if it happens again, will you still rush forward?” Lu Shen looked at him.
Bian Shengjian was silent for a while, and after walking out of the haunted building, he stamped his feet on the side of the road before saying a little irritably, “How would I know?”
Lu Shen smiled and said nothing, then looked up at the full moon in the sky. “I feel that girls are really fragile creatures…how come there are so many people thinking about hurting them?”
“Yeah, a few old hooligans can be caught on any bus.” Bian Shengjian clicked his tongue, and it took him a long time to say softly, “I will.”
“I know you will,” Lu Shen scratched his chin: “After all, my baby is so kind, how could it be possible to watch the evil forces do evil.”
“Go away!” Bian Shengjian looked at him with disgust on his face and said, “Lu Shen, I noticed that your words are really getting more and more disgusting……”
“Yeah, so are you going to hit me?” Lu Shen smiled, put his arms around his shoulders, and rubbed his shoulder sockets a few times.
“I will hit you!” Bian Shengjian slapped his arm without hesitation, then stood where he was and looked up at the moon with Lu Shen.
“Let’s go,” Lu Shen said softly, “If we don’t go, it will be dawn soon.”
“Mn.” Bian Shengjian responded, but did not move.
Yes, no matter how the darkness spreads, there will always be the light of the stars to light it up, and finally wait until the moment when the light breaks through the clouds.
As long as you wait patiently, the sky will always shine.
“Let’s go.” Bian Shengjian said.
