Two years later, Beijing North.
In a spacious and warm room, a little boy sat on a stool, looking around with his eyes turned around, unable to focus on one point.
After a while, the little boy picked up a green game card from the ground and began to tear the paper, then threw it on the ground. Soon, the floor was covered with torn pieces of paper.
"Yihang." Lin Weixia tried to call out.
The little boy ignored him and continued to chew the thing in his hand with a blank expression. Lin Weixia sat on the other side of the floor. A certain distance would make the autistic and hearing-impaired boy feel safe.
Lin Weixia connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker and started playing songs. Soon, different sounds rang out in the room: heavy drums, pleasant piano, gurgling strings, and melodious accordion...
The sound produced by each type of instrument lasted for one minute. Lin Weixia sat aside with her knees hugged, quietly observing the little boy's reaction.
The clear sound of stringed instruments rang out, but the little boy remained expressionless. When the room echoed with the deep and beautiful sound of the cello, the little boy Song Yihang finally reacted. He raised his head and subconsciously looked for the source of the music.
"You and I are destined to be together." Lin Weixia turned off the music on her phone.
She picked up the cello beside her and started playing. After the little boy finished tearing the paper, he sat on the stool, lowered his head and started shaking.
As his legs swung forward, Lin Weixia held the bow in her right hand and gently pulled out the F major i-degree chord. The little boy changed his posture again, leaning back and kicking his calves, and she pulled the strings and produced the IV-degree music.
After repeating this process over and over again, the little boy thought he had controlled the music. He was no longer immersed in his own world and tried to communicate with the outside world.
…
After an hour of music psychology training, the nanny opened the door and took the child out, and Lin Weixia put the reddish-brown cello aside.
Lin Weixia walked out of the treatment room, stood on the sofa in the living room, bent down and began to stuff markers, teaching materials, and notebooks into her bag.
The nanny, wearing cotton slippers, brought a cup of steaming water and said with a smile, "Teacher Xiaolin, thank you for your hard work. Your music therapy seems to be quite effective. I was talking to Xiaohang just now, and he glanced at me."
"You're welcome. Take your time." Lin Weixia took a sip of the hot water, which made the tip of her tongue numb.
Song Yihang was a student that Lin Weixia met when she was participating in an event organized by a charity organization. It happened that a parent was looking for a family therapist for their child, and the organizer of the event recommended Lin Weixia because of her outstanding personal abilities.
So there was such a fate.
The study upstairs was not closed tightly, and a low, accented French voice came from it, which reminded people of rime in winter.
The nanny glanced in the direction of the spiral staircase and said, "Our boss is in a meeting. Teacher Xiaolin, why don't you stay and have dinner with us? I'm cooking soup in the kitchen."
Lin Weixia smiled and declined: "I have something else to do at school. I'll leave first, Aunt Wen."
"Then be careful on the road." The nanny wiped her hands and reminded.
Lin Weixia picked up her bag and an umbrella standing at the door, pushed the door open, and a damp wind blew in, and it started to rain outside.
August was a rainy month, and it had been raining for more than a month. Lin Weixia opened her umbrella, stepped on the wet ground with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and continued to walk forward.
I have been studying in northern Beijing for two years. The climate here is very cold. When winter comes, it snows all over the sky, as if the end of the world is endless silver-white.
Fortunately, Ning Chao was admitted to Jingbei, realizing his dream of applying to the police academy. Qiu Minghua and others were also there, and they would occasionally go out for dinner together.
No one had any news about Ban Sheng, and he unilaterally cut off contact with everyone.
After snowing so many times, she got used to it.
She has seen the most beautiful snow.
Lin Weixia stood in front of the green platform. A gust of cold wind blew over her and she sneezed. There was a humming sound in her pocket.
She took out her cell phone from her pocket with great effort and put it to her ear. Men Zi's crisp voice came through the receiver, with a hint of coolness:
"Baby, are you here? The takeaway I ordered has arrived. The ingredients are waiting to be put into the pot. There is also a last bottle of red wine in the wine cabinet waiting for you to come and open it."
"Here we go," Lin Weixia said as she looked at the blue bus approaching from a distance, "Just get on."
"Well, the roads are slippery on rainy days, so be careful." Men Zi warned.
"good."
After swiping the card to get on the bus, the bus wobbled forward, and the red wall and white fog disappeared behind it. Lin Weixia's phone made a "ding" sound, and she opened it to take a look.
It was a picture sent by Men Zi showing a table full of hot pot ingredients. Lin Weixia raised the corners of her lips and sent back an emoticon.
There are always many surprises in life, and becoming friends with Men Zi is also an accident.
Lin Weixia was a student in the Department of Psychology at Peking University. In the midsummer of her second year in college, she walked past a row of palm trees carrying a cello on her back. With her black hair, red lips, and an ethereal temperament, she was immediately picked up by Men Zi, a director, to shoot a few shots in her work.
Later, Men Zi specially thanked Lin Weixia for inviting her to dinner, and after chatting, they found that they were quite compatible. After a few visits, the two became good friends.
Men Zi is a native of northern Beijing. Her father is a doctor and her mother is a high school teacher. Because both of her parents are relatively open-minded, they have cultivated her unique character. She chose directing as her major based on her own temperament. Her dream is to make an award-winning documentary.
When Men Zi was in college, she worked part-time as a model to earn money. As she had outstanding professional skills, many advertising companies approached her. She also had enough money and was a small wealthy woman.
Because she often had to stay up late to edit films, Men Zi applied to the school for off-campus accommodation as soon as she reached her junior year. She rented a house on Tanjiang East Road, which she used as both a studio and a living space.
She has a lot of fun in this circle and often invites friends to her house for parties. Men Zi changes boyfriends very quickly but never seriously.
Lin Weixia arrived at Fanyue Community and swiped her card all the way and took the elevator to the top floor. This card was left for her by Men Zi, who said it was convenient for Lin Weixia to come in.
As soon as she entered the room, the cold air blew in from her feet. Men Zi sat cross-legged on the carpet and asked her, "Do you want to watch variety shows?"
"Just take a look." Lin Weixia hung the bag on the coat rack.
The two moved the hot pot ingredients from the dining table to the coffee table, planning to eat hot pot while watching variety shows. Men Zi was eating tripe and asked her:
"Flight the day after tomorrow? Do you want me to drive you to the airport?"
Lin Weixia dipped a piece of yam into the sauce bowl, lowered her head and took a bite, the tip of her tongue was numb from the heat: "No, I ordered an online taxi, it's quite convenient."
"Why did you suffer like that? You studied hard in college, got straight A's, and did everything to the best of your ability, just to get a place as an exchange student in the United States. Although the tuition was free, you were unfamiliar with the place and the exchange was only for three months."
Lin Weixia's lips turned red from the spiciness of the door, her eyelashes fluttered, and she poured her a glass of water and explained, "It's Penn, this is a rare opportunity."
"So Shengxia, are you planning to check it in? You have to keep it with you for just three months." Men Zi was referring to the dog that Lin Weixia raised.
The West Highland White Terrier was quite cute. Lin Weixia raised it so that its fur was snow-white and as round as a cotton candy.
This year, Lin Weixia, a junior, also moved out of the dormitory. She rented a house outside to make it easier for her to prepare for the postgraduate entrance examination.
After renting a house, Lin Weixia brought Shengxia over from Nanjiang and kept her by her side.
"Well, I just happened to know and contacted a student there. I originally wanted to ask her to find me an apartment. It just so happened that she said that there was a vacant room in the apartment where she lived. She also didn't mind me having a dog and said she liked it very much. So I planned to bring the dog over." Lin Weixia blanched a piece of beef and put it into the other person's bowl.
On a rainy day, the hot pot made gurgling sounds. After finishing the hot pot, the two people leaned against each other and drank and chatted.
Men Zi pulled off the rubber band that tied her hair, and her fluffy and charming long curly hair fell. She took a sip of wine and asked her, "Hey, do you remember the junior student who had dinner with me last time? The tall one asked me for your WeChat three times. What do you think?"
"Forget it. My personality is not suitable for love." Lin Weixia refused.
Men Zi pinched her face and said, "Okay, you are a fairy, you have the right not to fall in love."
Everyone knows that Lin Weixia, the beauty of the Psychology Department at Kyoto University, has a beautiful figure and a cold temperament. She basically does not participate in social activities, is not in a relationship, and rarely goes out, as if she is living in an ancient tomb.
"Hey, do you think you will meet your ex-boyfriend when you go to the United States? I'm curious about who he is, how handsome he is, and how much he dotes on you, to the point that you don't even look at other boys now." Men Zi pushed her arm.
The two of them had been close friends, so Men Zi knew about her affairs.
After a long time, when Lin Weixia heard others talking about him, even without mentioning his name, her heart still shrank uncontrollably.
Lin Weixia leaned on Men Zi's shoulder, swirled the red wine in the glass, lowered her crow-like eyelashes, and concealed the emotions in her eyes, and said:
"The world is too big to just happen upon someone."
Two days later, Lin Weixia boarded a flight to the United States and landed in Pennsylvania. Her roommates welcomed her warmly and helped her change her phone card and complete all the complicated procedures for admission.
The weather here is similar to that in northern Beijing, cold and wet with lots of rain, and it snows in winter.
During the one-month exchange at Pennsylvania University, Lin Weixia successfully got to know the main streets of Philadelphia, which are divided into three main streets: Main Street, Chestnut, and Walnut.
She also managed to unlock a Chinese restaurant with a red sign near Chestnut Street.
After each class, Lin Weixia would either be in the library or at home. She would often do her homework with a notebook in hand, and when she was hungry, she would cook frozen dumplings bought from ACME supermarket.
My roommate is also Chinese, her name is Qiuyan. Every time she comes home from a party and sees Lin Weixia curled up in the living room, she will smile and say:
"Aren't you going out to play? I'll take you to a party someday and introduce you to some handsome guys."
Lin Weixia leaned back on the sofa, with her laptop on her knees, her fingertips still tapping the keyboard. Just as she was about to smile and decline, she suddenly realized that her computer was broken. She frowned and asked, "Qiu Yan, do you know where I can get my computer repaired?"
Qiu Yan came over, sat on the sofa, picked up a pillow and hugged it in her arms, her eyes brightened: "Hey, you asked the right person. I have a friend who I have known for a long time, in the same grade as me. He is very good at computers. I will ask him to help you fix it."
"That's embarrassing," Lin Weixia nervously pressed the restart button and joked, "What kind of friend is that? It can't be—"
"You guessed right, I really want to pursue him. He's the kind of bad boy I like, and he's very cool. But this kind of person is too hard to figure out. I'm so old and I'm actually having a crush on him. Hey, Weixia, have you ever pursued anyone?" A suspicious blush appeared on Qiuyan's face.
Lin Weixia stopped and shook her head: "No."
In the end, Lin Weixia did not ask Qiuyan for help. She found a computer repairman near the school and it took her a long time to fix the problem.
On Friday, roommate Qiu Yan enthusiastically invited Lin Weixia to attend the capsule party, saying that they were organizing a party to raise funds to help the healthy development of mentally ill teenagers. She also emphasized that the party was fun and that there would be several handsome guys there.
"Thank you, but what should I do? I haven't finished my homework yet." Lin Weixia shook the notebook in her hand at her and said with a wry smile.
Qiu Yan expressed her understanding: "Well, it's a pity that you don't go."
"Have fun." Lin Weixia waved at her.
The door was closed with a snap. The apartment was quiet. Lin Weixia changed the water for the puppy, prepared some dog food, and then went back to her room to do her homework.
After finishing her homework, Lin Weixia went to the living room, turned on the TV, and found a movie to kill time. She leaned back on the sofa, covered with a blanket, and the white puppy came in from time to time to lick her arm.
Philadelphia's nights were always so quiet, with the occasional curse from a drunk foreigner next door. The eighth season of Game of Thrones was playing on TV, and she had actually watched the last season.
The lattice windows made a ticking sound from the rain from time to time. Lin Weixia was concentrating on watching TV when she heard the "click" sound of a key turning in the lock from outside the door.
Lin Weixia guessed that it must be Qiuyan who came back. Qiuyan always came home drunk after attending a party.
Sometimes her classmates would take her back, and sometimes Qiuyan would stumble back on her own in her six or seven-inch high heels.
Whenever Lin Weixia saw Qiuyan, she would go to pick her up and then help her back to her room to rest.
The doorknob turned with a click, and someone pushed the door open. Lin Weixia lifted one foot of the blanket and stood up to greet him.
The puppy started barking wildly when he heard the sound, and rushed to the door first, barking before Lin Weixia.
Lin Weixia was wearing a dark green sweatshirt, revealing a section of her fair calves. She was wearing white floor socks and stepped on the wooden floor. The corners of her lips curved slightly, and she habitually called out to her roommate:
"You're back—"
When she saw who was coming, her eyes froze. The door was pushed open, and a tall boy in a black jacket came in with the drunk Qiu Yan.
"He's tall, cool, and kind of bad at heart." During the month they've been renting the house together, Qiu Yan often whispers in Lin Weixia's ear about a good friend she wanted to pursue but didn't dare to, and whom she had a crush on for a long time.
There was no light on in the living room, and the light was dim. After not seeing him for three years, he seemed to have changed, yet he seemed to have not changed.
His facial features became even colder and his facial lines were as smooth and sharp as a knife blade. The zipper of his windbreaker was casually pulled up to his collarbone, revealing a neat curve of his jaw.
Cold and hard.
He took off the pink scarf that he never took off, revealing a vacant circle on his wrist with a piece of bony protruding out.
She wore a silver ring on each of her index and middle fingers. One was a ring engraved with Sanskrit, and the other was the plain ring she had asked him for at the beach many years ago.
He was in a dark and depressed state, and his every move revealed an aura of madness.
Also more attractive.
It is Ban Sheng who is very capable and has a bad vibe.
It was also Ban Sheng who no longer had her in his eyes.
Any look of his seemed to invite people to interpret it more, and then jump into the abyss of his eyes, never to return.
Ban Sheng held Qiuyan with one hand. She leaned her head on his shoulder as if she was drunk. Qiuyan was wearing a tight red skirt, which overlapped with the boy's black pants when she pulled it.
Like a forbidden color.
Ban Sheng grabbed her arm and took a step forward with the others. Qiu Yan frowned and cried out in pain. Lin Weixia looked over and saw that the girl's long curly hair had gotten tangled in the zipper of his jacket.
"Burned?" Ban Sheng raised his eyebrows and said in a rude tone.
Qiu Yan shook her head and whispered, "Where's the hairstyle I just did."
They chatted as if no one was around, totally forgetting that there was a third person present. Ben Sheng reached for the lighter in his trouser pocket, as if the word "compassionate and gentle" did not exist in his dictionary.
Qiuyan was so frightened that her hair was pulled free from its tangles.
Shengxia was very excited to see Bansheng. She kept wagging her tail at him and making whining sounds.
Lin Weixia stood there in a daze, her throat was so dry that she couldn't utter a syllable, her eyes were sore and her vision was blurred, but she secretly clenched her fingertips to force back the moisture in the corners of her eyes.
"Where is her room?"
This was the first sentence Ban Sheng said to Lin Weixia. His tone was as cold as usual, devoid of emotion, and reminded people of ice cubes frozen on the sea.
It’s cold, so cold that it makes people shiver.
Lin Weixia stretched out her hand and pointed to the right. Ban Sheng supported Qiu Yan and walked past her towards the girls' room.
A scent of perfume mixed with a faint smell of tobacco floated in the air.
With a "click", the door slowly closed, and with a "pop", the light turned on, and Qiu Yan's sweet laughter floated out from the gap of the tightly closed door.
Lin Weixia didn't know why her hearing had become so sharp. She felt as if the blood in her body was flowing backwards and her feet were numb from standing.
I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there.
It was unknown how long Ban Sheng had been in there, probably three minutes or five minutes. Lin Weixia just felt that time was very long, and her throat seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, tightening inch by inch.
After he came out, his tall black shadow was cast on the ground. He took a cigarette out of the cigarette box and put it in his mouth. With a "pop", a bright red flame jumped out from his palm. Shengxia was still biting his trouser leg excitedly to show her affection.
Shengxia never treats strangers like this.
Ban Sheng exhaled a puff of white smoke, and faint smoke rings floated in the air. The astringent taste seemed to enter her eyes. Lin Weixia felt herself enveloped by a familiar cold breath and couldn't breathe.
He didn't look at her and took the cigarette out of his mouth:
"Qiuyan wakes up, please make her some hangover soup."
This was the second sentence Ban Sheng said to her.