Wild Fire Bids Farewell To Summer Chapter 14

Xiaoshu

Wei Zhiheng was sitting in the second-to-last row of the examination room on the third floor of Miluo Building.The artificial leather surface of the plastic seat was cracked, and the cracks were radiating, consistent with the shape of the bruises from the puncture on his left hip.He holds a 0.5 mm black pen in his right hand. The tip of the pen hovers over the filling box of question 12 on the answer sheet, and the ink smudges into an enlarged black dot.This black spot overlapped with the fixed bleeding spot in his field of vision. When he blinked, the ink stains on the paper spread, and the blood spots in his eyes remained still.

The nosebleed started at 8:29.

There was a warmth deep in the nose, and an underground river broke through the rock formations.The first drop hit the edge of the filling box of question 11 on the answer sheet, and the sound was dull, ticking, like a pendulum hitting.The blood quickly spreads on the paper, forming an irregular circle. The color is dark red with a purple tint. It penetrates into the paper fibers and touches the printing ink of option B. The blue and red mix and turn into purple-black.

The second drop hits the first drop.Tiny blood droplets spattered, and one of them fell on the back of his hand. It was warm and slowly slid down. It was absorbed by the school uniform cuff at the wrist bone, leaving a dark red halo.The third drop fell on the stem of question 12, covering the word “qu” in the three words “hyperbola”. The ink was dissolved by the blood, and the handwriting was blurred and the boundaries were blurred.

The blood continues to flow.The flow rate is faster than last time and the volume is larger.Wei Zhiheng felt a wetness on his upper lip. The blood had flowed through the philtrum and dripped on his chin, hovering and stretching. The surface tension maintained a hemispherical shape, and the light from the fluorescent lamp was refracted inside.After a second, it broke, fell, and hit the table. It merged with the previous blood drops to form a larger stain, about three centimeters in diameter, with irregular edges and a map shape.

He raised his left hand.Instead of lifting it directly, hang it by your side first, spread your fingers, and let the sweat on the cuffs dry for a second before lifting it up.The blood flows backward from the nasal cavity, irritating the throat and producing a sweet, rusty smell.He swallowed, his Adam’s apple rolling, and he tasted a mixture of bile and blood.

“Teacher.”

The voice was squeezed out of the throat, dry and astringent, and the friction of the vocal cords produced a rough sound.The invigilator raised his head from the podium, his eyes narrowed behind his gold-rimmed glasses, and his gaze moved from Wei Zhiheng’s face to his collar.The left lapel of the white shirt has formed an irregular patch of red, map-shaped, with jagged traces of penetration on the edge.The blood was still spreading upwards, crawling along the texture of the fabric fibers, forming a red stream at the collarbone.

“Change the card.” Wei Zhiheng said.He held the answer sheet with his right hand and pressed the blood stains with his fingertips, trying to prevent the blood from continuing to penetrate, but the blood overflowed from between his fingers, leaving five red fingerprints on the paper, and the fingerprint swirls were clearly visible.

The teacher came over.The plastic soles rubbed against the terrazzo floor, making a dry sound.He picked up the red-stained answer sheet. His fingertips were cut on the edge of the paper, and the blood was still wet and sticky.The barcode on the card was covered in blood, and the black stripes appeared blurred against the red background.

“Go and wash.” The teacher said.The voice was calm, dealing with an ordinary cheating incident.

“I want to continue taking the exam.” Wei Zhiheng said.His fingers tapped on the table, and the fingernails glowed lavender. The tapping sound was in contrast to the sound of blood drops. One was the crisp sound of bone, and the other was the dull sound of liquid.”Give me the blank card.”

The teacher looked at him.There was a drop of blood drying under Wei Zhiheng’s right eye, forming a brown scab.His pupils constricted and his vision focused on the pen on the teacher’s chest, the only clear object, everything else fogged at the edges of his vision, eroded by hemorrhages on his retinas.

The teacher picked up a blank answer sheet from the podium.White paper, sharp edges, unstained by any ink, an uncut piece of limestone.He placed it on the corner of Wei Zhiheng’s desk next to the red-stained card.The two cards contrast: one is white, pure, with the chemical smell of printing ink; the other is red, saturated, with the fishy sweetness of hemoglobin.

Wei Zhiheng took the blank card.His right hand was shaking, and the muscles under the skin were trembling slightly, starting from the inside of his wrist and jumping up and down to his knuckles.He pressed his right wrist with his left hand to force it to stabilize, and then picked up the pen.The tip of the pen touches the paper, which is question 12, the standard equation of the hyperbola.The answer he calculated was 2, but his hands were not in control and the numbers were written crookedly. A tail trailed out of the lower semicircle and broke in a jagged shape.

The blood is still flowing.The flow slows but continues.A drop fell on the edge of the blank card and was quickly absorbed by the paper fibers, forming a small blush and a seal.Wei Zhiheng pressed the wing of his nose with his left index finger. The pressure deformed the cartilage and caused sharp pain.He continued writing, the tip of his pen scraping against the paper, making a rustling sound that mixed with the squeak of the ceiling fan.The ceiling fan rotates overhead, its bearings starved of oil, groaning with metal fatigue with each revolution, stirring up the smell of blood and settling at the bottom of the classroom.

8:45.The bleeding stopped.Ebb tide.Wei Zhiheng wiped his nostrils with a tissue. There were black blood clots on the paper, which were sticky and connected with fibrin filaments.He looked down at the red-stained answer sheet, which was taken away by the teacher and placed on the edge of the podium, a piece of diseased tissue that had been removed.On the blank card, the answer to question 12 has been filled in. Black graphite is adjacent to the red blood halo, a two-color layer.

He continued to answer questions.The pen is held in the right hand, and the left hand hangs under the table. The fingertips are dripping with blood, leaving dark red spots on the trouser legs.Every time he writes a question, he wipes the tip of his pen to prevent blood from contaminating the blank card.The blood forms a thin film on the surface of the skin, which dries and becomes tight, a second layer of skin.

Huang Jinye was not in the examination room.

He handed in the paper at 8:30, or in other words, handed in a blank paper.Only the name and test number were written on the answer sheet, and the rest was blank, swallowing the surface of the skylight.Then he walked out of Miluo Building, instead of going downstairs, he turned towards the end of the corridor on the third floor, where there was a window that opened at an angle of thirty degrees.

He sat on the windowsill.The left leg is bent at the knee, and the foot is placed on the tile inside the window frame. The right leg is suspended in the air, dangling in the air.He was wearing a school uniform jacket with “Guixi Second High School 055” printed on the back. The zipper was only pulled up to his chest, revealing a black sports vest underneath.The right hand is placed on the knee, the palm is spread out, there is a fresh crack in the tiger’s mouth, which was left when the stone was smashed the day before yesterday. The depth is about three millimeters, the edges are everted, and the blood has solidified, forming a dark red scab with white marble powder embedded on it.

His fingers dug at the edge of the scab, and there was black dirt between his fingernails, a mixture of cinders and stone powder.A corner of the scab was picked up, and new drops of blood seeped out, flowing along the palm lines to the wrist, and dripping on the dust on the windowsill.The dust is gray, accumulated to a thickness of three millimeters, and is composed of chalk dust, calcium from peeling walls, and fibers left by previous students.Blood drips onto the dust and is absorbed, forming dark dots, fossil imprints in geological specimens.

He took out a thermos cup from his pocket.Made of stainless steel, there are dents on the surface, and the silver-white metal is exposed where the paint peels off.He unscrewed the cap, and the plastic threads made a dry friction sound.The cup was filled with half-melted ice water. A few pieces of broken ice floated on the water and collided with the wall of the cup, making a crisp tinkling sound.

Huang Jinye stared at the ice cube.They swirl in the cup, melt, shrink in size and round out the edges.There was a small scrap of paper towel floating on the water, which he had used to wipe his hands before. After being soaked in water, it swelled and the fibers spread out, jellyfish.He shook the cup, and the ice cubes hit the wall of the cup, making a denser sound, the frequency increased, and the heart beat faster.

He had another injury on the back of his right hand.When the angle grinder cuts marble, the grinding wheel rebounds, leaving a line across the palm lines. The scab turns purple in color, contrasting with the bronze color of the skin.He bent his fingers, and the scar stretched, producing a tight and painful sensation.This pain is different from the fluid in the knee – it’s dull, deep, like cotton is stuck in the joint cavity; this is sharp, superficial, like a knife cutting through the nerve endings.

9:30.There was the sound of turning papers, rustling, and silkworms eating mulberry leaves in the examination room.Huang Jinye jumped down from the window sill, and his right leg landed first, making a dull impact sound. When his left knee was bent, it made a slight friction sound, and there was water sloshing in the joint cavity.He walked towards the stairs, his steps were heavy and light, heavy on the right and light on the left, just like when he came.

He did not leave, but stood in the shadows of the third-floor corridor, his back against the limestone tiles.The wall was damp, and hoarfrost crystallized on the cracks between the bricks. His back pressed against it, and the fabric absorbed the moisture and gained weight.He smelled the smell of his cuffs: the astringency of stone powder, the rust of blood, and the sourness of the glutinous rice he had eaten in the morning – the half-bowl of cold leftover rice, which he scraped clean in Wei Zhiheng’s leftover bowl, making a wet and waxy sound when chewing, his teeth grinding the rice grains, saliva mixed with starch, his Adam’s apple rolled when he swallowed, and he swallowed a ball of wet paper.

9:45.Wei Zhiheng walked out of the examination room.

His collar was completely stained red with blood, turned dark brown, and hardened on the fibers of his white shirt, forming a hard shell.He held the blank answer sheet in his right hand, and the edges were soaked in blood and curled.His steps were crooked, and his waist was in severe pain. The wound after the bone marrow puncture caused traction pain as he walked, and the steel needle stirred in the bone seams.

Huang Jinye stepped out of the shadows.He didn’t speak, just handed over the thermos cup.The walls of the cup were cold and condensed with water droplets, which quickly evaporated in the hot air, leaving behind white salt stains.Wei Zhiheng took it and touched the metal with his fingertips. The coolness penetrated the skin and stimulated the nerve endings.

Huang Jinye took out a gray cotton handkerchief from his pocket.It was dropped by Wei Zhiheng three days ago. It was stained with ultramarine blue paint and had dried up and was caked on the fibers.He pressed the handkerchief into the mouth of the cup, and the ice water penetrated the fabric. The handkerchief quickly became heavy, the color changed from gray to dark brown, and the fibers expanded and softened.

He held out the handkerchief, and water dripped from the fabric and hit the terrazzo floor of the corridor, forming dark dots.He pressed the wet handkerchief to Wei Zhiheng’s nose. The position was offset, first pressing it to his upper lip, and then moved it to his nostrils.The cold and wet cloth irritated the nasal mucosa. Wei Zhiheng’s head tilted back, and his cervical vertebrae made a slight friction sound.

“Look up.” Huang Jinye said.The sound was hoarse, rough, sandpapered wood.

His left hand pressed on the back of Wei Zhiheng’s neck.Open your fingers and press your fingertips on the spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae, forcing your head to maintain a backward angle.With skin contact, Huang Jinye’s palms were hot, with the high fever of hitting a stone; the back of Wei Zhiheng’s neck was cold, with the low temperature of blood vessels constricting.The point of contact between his fingers and the back of his neck was cold, because Huang Jinye’s fingers had just touched the metal shell of the thermos cup, and the temperature was lower than body temperature, like an ice cube.

The ice cubes continue to melt in the cup.Wei Zhiheng raised his head, turned his eyes upside down, and looked at the ceiling of the corridor.The texture of the limestone wall tiles is inverted in view, a stratigraphic section.He felt the pressure on the back of his neck and the rough feeling on his fingertips, which were the calluses worn out when breaking stones, rubbing against his skin like sandpaper.Huang Jinye’s thumb brushed against his ear while pressing it, and the fingertip touched the earlobe, and he quickly retracted it.The earlobes are cooler than the back of the neck.

The blood was still flowing, but slower.The wet handkerchief quickly turned red, and the ice water was heated by the blood temperature and became lukewarm.Wei Zhiheng stared at the end of the corridor, where there was another window, and light poured in, forming a bright rectangle.He heard ringing in his ears, a high-frequency scream, mixed with the subtle sound of melting ice cubes – the water molecules breaking away from the crystal lattice, making an almost inaudible cracking sound.

Huang Jinye’s breath sprayed on his forehead.Hot and sharp, with the spiciness of eucalyptus sugar and the sourness of morning glutinous rice.His right hand is still holding the thermos cup. The ice cubes in the cup have melted half, the volume has shrunk, the sound of hitting the cup wall has become sparse, the intervals have lengthened, and the heartbeat has slowed down.

“Ten minutes.” Huang Jinye said.He let go, took a step back, and leaned against the wall.The coolness of the limestone tiles irritated the skin of his back through his athletic vest, but he didn’t move.He put the thermos cup into Wei Zhiheng’s hand. The coldness of the cup wall contrasted with the warmth of his palm.

Wei Zhiheng held the wet handkerchief with his left hand and held the thermos cup with his right hand.The ice cubes sloshed in the glass, making a crisp sound.He walked to the bathroom, his steps more steady than before because the bleeding was slowing down.He pushed the door open and entered the compartment. The lock was made of metal, rusty, and felt sticky when he turned it.

He unbuttoned his collar.The skin under the collarbone was exposed, and there was a large area of ​​purpura with irregular edges. The color gradually changed from the center to the edge, with the center being dark purple and the edges being light yellow.Bloodstains formed map-like stains on the shirt, echoing the shape of Purpura, two adjacent land masses.

He looked down at the blank answer sheet.The blood on the edges has dried, turning from bright red to dark brown, deposits of iron oxide in the geological layers.He touched the stain with his fingers. It was rough, hard, and scabbed.He folded it in half, then in half again, with sharp edges, cut off his fingertips, stuffed it into his trouser pocket, and put it together with the limestone specimen.

9:55.He walked out of the bathroom.Huang Jinye was still standing in the shadow of the corridor, with his back against the wall, his right leg straight, his left leg bent, and his knees against the wall.He didn’t look back, he just raised his right hand and made a “go” gesture.The crack in the hand’s tiger’s mouth oozed blood again due to the force just now. Blood beads flowed along the palm lines to the wrist, dripping on the fabric of the cuff, forming dark spots.

Wei Zhiheng walked over.The two of them walked side by side towards the stairs.Drafts surged through the corridor, pouring in through the east windows and out through the west windows, taking away heat and smells.The wind blew past Wei Zhiheng’s collar, drying the blood. The cloth hardened and the cardboard rubbed against the skin.The wind also blew across the back of Huang Jinye’s right hand, and the blood at the wound solidified quickly, forming a thin film that was tight and itchy.

They walked down the stairs.Wei Zhiheng was in front and Huang Jinye was behind, keeping a distance of one meter.The footsteps echoed in the stairwell, Wei’s footsteps were light and broken, Huang’s footsteps were heavy and light, heavy on the right and light on the left, some kind of code.When he reached the corner of the second floor, Wei Zhiheng stopped.Misperception: seeing the next step as a dark opening at the edge of a shaft that rattles the skylight.He raised his feet in the air and stopped moving.After hovering for two seconds, my knees were shaking before I stepped firmly.

Huang Jinye stopped behind him.He looked at the back of Wei Zhiheng’s neck, where there were still white marks where his fingers had pressed. The fingerprints were clear, five oval-shaped indentations, and the skin in the middle was white and the edges were red.He stretched out his right hand and hovered five centimeters above the back of Wei Zhiheng’s neck. He opened his fingers to press again and grab something.

The fingers are hanging, the joints are stiff, and there is white stone powder on the edge of the nail plate.

Wei Zhiheng continued walking down.Huang Jinye retracted his hand and put his fingers into his trouser pocket. His fingertips touched the blood-stained wet handkerchief. The cotton cloth rubbed against the tinfoil, making a rustling sound.He followed downstairs, walking in the same rhythm as when he came, but with long, delayed echoes between each step.

Walking out of Miluo Tower, the sun is dazzling.Wei Zhiheng’s pupils contracted slowly, and the light formed a halo on the retina.He squinted his eyes and saw the camphor tree at the edge of the playground, its leaves swaying in the hot wind and reflecting white light.He looked down at the thermos cup in his hand. The ice cubes had melted away, leaving only half a cup of warm water. There was a trace of blood floating on the water, which flowed back from the nose into the mouth and spit out, in the shape of filaments, spinning and sinking.

Huang Jinye walked towards the bicycle shed.His back becomes smaller and lighter against the backdrop of limestone mountains.Wei Zhiheng stood there, the sharp pain in his waist causing rhythmic dull pain with his breathing.He gripped the thermos cup tightly, groaning slightly as the plastic shell deformed in his palm.

The draft in the corridor was still blowing, pouring in from the window on the third floor and passing through where they were standing just now, drying the water stains on the ground – the water dripping from the wet handkerchief mixed with the dust to form gray-black mud, which was compacting and forming sedimentary rocks.

Two answer cards, one dyed red, one blank, one waiting for filing at the edge of the podium, and one rubbing against a stone in his trouser pocket, together constitute the stratum of this summer, recording the exchange of blood and ice, recording the coldness when fingers touch the back of the neck, and recording how the draft blows liquid time into solid salt.