Chapter 11

How could such a painful memory be forgotten!

Lily was somewhat dissatisfied. She turned her head and glanced at Ye Wei, saying, "In fifth grade, there was a soccer match between St. Martin and Berkeley Hall. That guy really trashed us!"

Trista was stunned, "What? You mean... Soccer?"

"Yes, do you remember?"

"It seems there was something like that, I'm not sure. Are you serious?"

"Vigor-Yeah, number 6, I remember clearly! That guy was the captain of Berkeley Hall, playing midfield. In the first half, he already scored two goals against our school, 2-0. Then in the second half, he still went all out, assisting, scoring, defending... Do you know what the final score was? 7-0! That guy? He's a devil!"

Lily seemed to still harbor resentment, gritting her neat teeth, "He's a devil who doesn't know how to show mercy!"

"Just Soccer!" Trista looked helpless, "My God..."

"Just!?" Lily glared, raising her eyebrows, as if the other party was being unreasonable! She suddenly laughed and said, "You call it Soccer, but I call it Football."

"British people..." Trista almost fainted, covering her forehead and asking in an exaggerated British accent, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Yes!" Lily nodded with a smile.

"But it's all dumped into the sea in Boston!" Trista said, then stopped joking and asked, "Since it was a match, leading the team to victory isn't a crime, right?"

Lily said seriously, "That's true, it should be. But the gap between the two teams was so large, and when it was 5-0, he couldn't have not known. But he just wouldn't stop! And every time he scored, he would say to our players, 'You guys are terrible,' 'It looks like God is on my side today'..."

As she spoke, she made various faces, mimicking Ye Wei's appearance at the time.

"I was standing by the sidelines, I heard it. He wasn't just after victory; he wanted to humiliate our school! This already goes against the spirit of sportsmanship, it's like... in the NBA, a team is leading the Lakers by 40 points, but its star player continues to play, dunking, dunking, dunking... Would you feel good?"

After saying this, she sighed with her head slightly lowered, indicating that she had been greatly hurt by this incident.

Trista, however, showed no sympathy, smiling, "The Lakers wouldn't lose by that much."

"It's not just this, there's also the Monday assembly, the cafeteria, the homecoming... Trista, I think Ye Wei and John-Williams are no different, both are show-offs, immature, rude, and don't care about others' feelings, always talking sweetly, thinking everyone likes him, who cares!"

"Being friends with such a person is a path to destruction." Lily glanced at Ye Wei again, "You have to be careful, don't let him lead you astray."

"To be honest, I haven't thought about dating an Asian guy, but Wei changed my view. Asian guys can be cool too, so if he asks me out, OK."

Trista smiled, showing her braces, and added, "Unfortunately, I know Wei isn't interested in me, he's quite fond of you, haha!"

"Don't talk nonsense, it's impossible between us." Lily was very certain.

"Regardless, you have a bias against him. Maybe everything isn't as you think?"

Lily fell silent, considering the question, and after a while said, "If that's the case, I'll apologize to him."

"Are the girls done talking?" The supervisor, who had been watching from a distance, finally couldn't take it anymore, waving his whip, "Get back to work!"

The two ended their conversation and continued to join in the task of finding and picking up trash on campus.

But Ye Wei was really confused. According to Bob's description, this seemed to be a targeted attack!

In the past, he would have spat, "I don't care, who needs it," but after the university education in his dream, he had a deeper understanding of the word "team." Team, team!

This was especially true for filmmaking. A famous saying at USC was, "Whether you get a job or not, the most important thing isn't your talent, but whether others are willing to have lunch with you on set in the coming months."

The current Lily Collins was that kind of annoying person. As the oldest in the group, he needed to step in and resolve the issue.

Ye Wei walked up to Lily Collins and calmly asked, "If I've done something wrong, you can point it out, and we can solve it, respecting and tolerating each other. Being neurotic like this only ruins the team's enthusiasm."

"I'm neurotic!?" Lily took a deep breath, finding it unbelievable, this guy was really unreasonable!

"Yes," Ye Wei nodded, "I have to say, you're affecting others. Please show some professionalism."

"Is that so, is that so? Who was the one talking about adult drugs and spewing profanity? Was it me? It was you! Don't act all high and mighty with me!"

Just as the two were about to argue, three ninth-grade boys came to add to the chaos. They walked straight over, all staring at Lily. One of the short-haired boys started the conversation, "Hey, Hollywood beauty, need any help?"

Another curly-haired boy laughed, "Lily, will you go out with me? I want to hear Phil Collins' concert."

The other two laughed, "Yes, yes, we're all your dad's loyal fans, which one do you like?"

Lily's expression remained calm, not responding, treating them as if they didn't exist. Trista drove them away, "Go away!" Bob was anxious, "Hey, guys..."

"Kids, don't talk." The short-haired boy glared at Bob, making him embarrassed.

Bob and Trista both looked at Ye Wei, and even Lily couldn't help but do the same. In her heart, Ye Wei, this rascal, could easily deal with these guys.

However, Ye Wei acted as if nothing was happening, not only showing no intention of helping but also looking elsewhere.

But the supervisor wasn't blind; his eyes were sharp. He quickly shouted and walked over, "Boys, it seems you like 'squid,' right? How about I tell the principal to add 100 hours to your time!"

"No, no!" The three big boys quickly laughed and left. The supervisor looked at the four and said, "Ignore them, keep working."

The supervisor hadn't walked far when Trista indignantly said, "They're too much, how can Harvard-Westlake admit such students!"

"Harvard-Westlake isn't heaven," Ye Wei said.

"Now you know how to be sarcastic? Why were you like a stone just now?" Lily was smiling, showing a sweet smile to Ye Wei, but it was actually out of disgust for his silence and a bit of disappointment she couldn't understand. What bias, what misunderstanding? He's just as she thought!

"What?" Ye Wei raised his eyebrows, the supervisor was right there, what did he need to do? Beat up those idiots?

Moreover, he sneered, "I have to remind you, it was you who didn't let me swear before. But with those guys, there's nothing to say except swearing." Lily mocked, "Maybe I overestimated your eloquence."

Failed resolution! Ye Wei was fed up with her. This kind of person, beyond help, should be kicked out of the team. He wasn't going to be polite, "Why should I help you?"

Trista and Bob didn't know what to do, trying to mediate, "Calm down, let's talk it out!"

"So I was right, you're a... a..."

Lily paused, Ye Wei playfully urged, "Want to swear? Go ahead, go ahead." She gritted her teeth, "You're a Hooligan!"

A small thug, a rascal, a delinquent. She didn't say "Asshole" or other dirty words, but this traditional term, anyway, he was a hateful, cruel, cold-blooded bad guy!

"Thanks." Ye Wei didn't care, thinking of something, he shook his head and smiled, as if saying, "To think of this, she's right about me."

Lily narrowed her eyes, her voice lowering, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing, just thought of a joke..."

"What joke?"

"You won't like it, I won't say it."

"Vulgar?"

"No, suitable for all ages."

"Then say it."

"You really won't like it."

"I don't care, everyone wants to see how mean you are, say it."

It was like the calm before the storm, their words were light, almost a whisper, but Bob and the others could clearly feel the tension about to explode...

At Lily's insistence, Ye Wei finally agreed, "Alright, do you want to see a Phil Collins concert?"

The three blinked in confusion, Lily's eyebrows already raised, and she heard him continue, "Then let's watch 'Tarzan,' the 1999 version, hahaha!"

His joke wasn't very good, he laughed, but Trista and the others didn't, not understanding the funny part.

But Lily was different. As someone who had watched the 1999 version of 'Tarzan' many times and was familiar with its reviews, she knew why Ye Wei was laughing. The movie's soundtrack had a controversial point: Phil Collins' songs were used too much!

"How dare you!" Her eyes widened, she raised the net in her hand and hit Ye Wei, "Don't make fun of my dad! His songs are amazing!"

"Oh! Hey!" Ye Wei didn't expect her to hit him, quickly using the garbage can to block, "I didn't say Phil Collins' songs were bad, I love 'You'll Be In My Heart.' The problem with 'Tarzan' isn't his fault, it's the fault of the music director! Wait, I can even sing that song, listen, Come, stop-your-crying..."

"You dare!" Hearing him sing, Lily panicked, she didn't want this rascal to desecrate her song. If she could, she would stuff his mouth with the garbage can!

"Don't you sing! Shut up, you can't sing!"

"Why not, I'm going to sing, the song isn't... uh..."

"Say it, the song is mine, my dad wrote it for me, now I don't allow you to sing it!"

"Fine, I won't sing, I'll sing Elvis Presley's 'Always On My Mind,' is that yours too? Hey, you're still hitting!"

Watching the two fight with the garbage cleaning tools, Trista and Bob were helpless. It seemed the best solution was for Ye Wei and Lily to never be together again after today, or else the whole world would eventually be torn apart by them.

"Hey, get back here!" The supervisor was also helpless, "The 'squid' task isn't for playing!"

...

An hour, neither fast nor slow, finally came to an end amidst the repeated confrontations. The seven students completed their squid task for the school year.

Ye Wei received a small punishment, one-fifth of his original. He exchanged phone numbers and emails with Bob and the others, but not with Lily and Trista.

Everyone said their goodbyes and left, but Ye Wei still had a task: to dump the garbage from the garbage can into the large bin and return all the tools to the cleaning room. The supervisor didn't need to supervise this, he had to finish these tasks before he could leave.

Coming to the bin outside the academic building, Ye Wei lifted the garbage can and looked at the half-full contents. There were quite a few people who littered.

Suddenly, something in the can caught his eye. He gently flipped the can, and the object was fully revealed: a broken multicolored braided bracelet, with two angel wings woven in the middle. Though not valuable, it was intricately crafted and very pretty.

"Such a nice bracelet, to throw it away, these rich kids at Harvard-Westlake, sigh!"

Ye Wei shook his head, thinking of reaching into the can, cleaning it, and giving it to Toto. It would look nice.

He shook the braided bracelet and put it in his pocket.

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