After Ban Sheng finished saying this, he evacuated and turned to walk in the opposite direction. He opened the rolling door sideways, and with a "boom", a large amount of air rushed in.
After the people left, someone turned on the light. With a "click", the overhead light turned on, as bright as day, so dazzling that Lin Weixia subconsciously covered her eyes.
After returning home, Qiuyan had almost finished eating. Lin Weixia took the bill to the front desk to pay. When the two pushed the door open to leave, Qiuyan remembered something and said:
"Oh, by the way, Ban Sheng sent me a message saying he had something to do and left first."
"Yeah." Lin Weixia responded.
Since then, Lin Weixia has not attended any gatherings, and has never looked up the number saved in her mobile phone address book again.
She returned to being alone, commuting between school and her apartment.
Tuesday, heavy snow. Lin Weixia walked into the school with her textbooks. The snow was thick and deep today, and the workers in the school were shoveling snow.
Some of the pigeons that did not fly away were hiding under the school's big bell. Lin Weixia was discussing something with her classmates when she accidentally caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.
Ban Sheng was walking and laughing with a group of men and women with tattoos or lip piercings. The weather was so cold that he was only wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. His cold white skin was frozen with red bloodshot eyes, and the hat was buttoned on his head.
It was daytime today and he was no longer wearing his windbreaker. Lin Weixia then discovered that Ban Sheng had a tattoo on his collarbone.
New tattoo, but can't tell what it is.
The tattoo was half covered by the collar, like a mutilated animal snake across the collarbone.
I don't know what others said, he smiled nonchalantly, reached out to brush off the ash, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
Time can really change a person easily.
In the past, Ban Sheng had a cool face, always stayed away from the crowd and never associated with anyone, but now he seemed to be deliberately letting himself go and dragging himself down.
Lin Weixia withdrew her gaze from him and continued walking forward with her classmates. When they passed by each other, a boy who was busy talking to his friends accidentally bumped into Lin Weixia, causing the books in her arms to fall to the ground.
The other party apologized repeatedly and squatted down to help her pick up the book. His companions also stopped to wait for him. Lin Weixia whispered that it was okay.
The other person handed the picked up book to her. Lin Weixia took it and reached out to brush off the snow particles on it, accidentally bumping into Ban Sheng's eyes in the crowd.
He nodded his chin at her as a greeting.
Then they left.
Ban Sheng's greeting was lukewarm. He was neither overly enthusiastic nor hated her so much that he pretended to ignore her.
He saw her as a friend of a friend, nothing more.
This makes people feel even more uncomfortable.
Lin Weixia's nose suddenly felt sore that it stung her eyes. Her classmates didn't notice her abnormality and sighed quietly: "That Chinese boy was so handsome."
"I remember that he had very good grades. He was a student at BME College, right?"
"What, isn't he from the Astronomy Department?" Lin Weixia was stunned. She suspected that what she heard was an illusion.
My companion slapped his head and muttered to himself, "No way, I remember he was majoring in biomedical engineering. I also remember he was good at physics and computer science. I think he wants to pursue this path in the future."
Lin Weixia felt a little uneasy throughout the entire class. She was thinking, when she was in Shenzhen High School, everyone knew that Ban Sheng was the top student in physics. He most wanted to study astrophysics and wanted to work for NASA in the future.
The boy who broke his leg by running to the northwest mountains alone to take a photo, the boy whose room was hung with pictures about various nebulae, the boy who finished all the high school physics courses in his first year of high school, and who was always thinking about calculating the coordinates of his galaxy when chatting with others, why didn't he choose the astronomy major he loved, but chose engineering instead.
She doesn't know.
After returning to the apartment, Lin Weixia stood at the entrance and took off her shoes. Shengxia wagged her tail, took her white socks away, and then ran away happily.
Lin Weixia changed into cotton slippers, took the laptop from the room and carried it to the sofa, bent one long leg on the sofa and stepped the other leg on the wooden floor.
She logged into the official website of the University of Pennsylvania and entered Ban Sheng's name. The circle jumped slowly on the screen. She felt a little impatient. After a while, Ban Sheng's personal information popped up.
It was still a cold and arrogant face, with no expression when looking at the camera.
The official website clearly states that he was born in 20XX, and is a student of Class 1 of Biomedical Engineering. Scrolling down the page, you can see some of his simple personal information.
Lin Weixia was completely confused.
Qiu Yan was sitting cross-legged on the carpet in the living room playing Switch. Lin Weixia wanted to speak but found her throat was too dry and swallowed unconsciously:
"Qiu Yan, has Ban Sheng always been in the Department of Biomedical Engineering?"
"Yeah, don't you know? He is an engineering genius. He gets A in every subject, is good at everything he does, and wins prizes whenever he participates in competitions. But it's a pity that he is going back to his country..." Qiuyan's eyes lit up when she mentioned Ban Sheng.
Lin Weixia's ears began to tinnitus again, and all kinds of noises continued. She couldn't even think, so she asked, "Return to China?"
"Don't you know? Ban completed all the credits in advance just to return to China, and the instructors here can't persuade him. His flight tomorrow..."
Lin Weixia could no longer hear what Qiu Yan said, she only saw her lips opening and closing. She sent a message to Senior Wu Suan, her fingertips trembling as she typed:
[Senior, do you know why Ban Sheng changed his major? ]
Soon, the phone screen lit up and Wu Suan replied. She said something rather obscure:
[I don’t know about this either. He never tells us this. Go ask Ah Sheng in person and he will tell you.]
Lin Weixia lowered her eyelashes and typed a reply in the dialog box: [OK, thank you, senior sister. ]
The next day, it was a rainy day and there were no classes in the morning. Lin Weixia lay in bed. She had not slept well the entire night and kept thinking about what Qiuyan had said to her.
Biomedical Engineering
Return to China
Change major.
She had no idea what Ban Sheng had gone through after the college entrance examination. She only hoped that Ban Sheng could freely pursue his dreams.
Thinking of this, Lin Weixia took out the mobile phone under the pillow, opened the address book, found his number, hesitated for a moment, and then dialed it.
The phone kept making cold beeps. Lin Weixia was still worried. After a while, a gentle female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sorry, the number you dialed cannot be connected at the moment. Please try again later..."
The phone in his hand dropped limply.
He should be on the plane now. Fate always likes to play tricks on people. She traveled thousands of miles abroad to chase him, but he went back.
Lin Weixia stayed in the United States, studied alone for the last month, and finally flew back to China.
When landing at Beijing North Airport, Lin Weixia pushed the luggage rack out of the security check area. Among the group of people waiting to pick her up, she saw Men Zi at a glance.
Men Zi was dressed very eye-catchingly today, wearing a black jacket with a tight hip skirt, and long boots covering her long legs like chopsticks. She also wore a pair of sunglasses late at night, and her beautiful face had no expression at all.
She acted like a celebrity, and some passers-by actually came up to take pictures of her. Men Zi glanced at them impatiently.
Lin Weixia looked at this scene without recognizing it and smiled. She walked forward and grabbed a strand of long curly hair that was dyed purple, and asked:
"You dyed your hair? It looks good."
Men Zi took her luggage and replied, "Don't mention it. We broke up. I'm going to get a new hairstyle to get rid of the bad luck."
After leaving the airport, Men Zi drove Lin Weixia home. Knowing that she was tired from the long journey and needed to rest, he did not disturb her. He ordered some takeout for Lin Weixia and left.
She rented a small one-bedroom apartment, and the living room was filled with things. It was already midnight when she finished cleaning up. Lin Weixia sprawled out and threw herself on the bed, causing the mattress to bounce up with a "bang".
She was too tired to think and soon fell asleep. In her dream, Ban Sheng's eyes were red and he kept staring at her, saying in a suppressed voice -
Lin Weixia, you have no heart.
When Lin Weixia woke up, she was covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, she only had one class at 10:20 in the morning. Lin Weixia went to the bathroom, squeezed some mint toothpaste, and boiled water while brushing her teeth.
After preparing food and water for the dog, Lin Weixia went to class with her books.
This class was a psychological cognition class, and there was a ten-minute break in the middle. Lin Weixia sat at the desk and organized her notes, while her classmates turned around and chatted in their seats.
A girl said, "Hey, have you heard that there's an exchange student from Penn University coming to the Engineering College. His name is Ban Sheng! I heard he's a genius and a handsome guy. His looks can seduce a lot of girls. Let's go to his class someday. I want to see how handsome he is."
The boy continued: "I heard that his black GTR is more stylish. He drove it directly into the school last time. I passed by and took a picture."
"You boys only care about cars and sneakers. Is there anything else you can pursue?" the girl retorted.
Lin Weixia's eyelashes moved, and she continued to lower her head to organize her notes, not joining in their conversation. But some words still got into her ears:
"But the life of a genius is too decadent. I heard that he only shows up for class and is rarely seen in school. It is said that he is either in a bar or racing. I heard that they are very wild and extravagant."
"I heard that he won the goddess of the art department in two days. How difficult is Shi Li? I have never seen her look at a man straight in the eye..."
The black fountain pen was writing on the retro green notebook. When it wrote "When cognitive impairment occurs", the pen paused heavily and quickly swam out the black words.
The bell for class rang soon, and those who were gossiping dispersed like birds and beasts, and the classroom returned to its usual quiet and engaged atmosphere.
After class, Lin Weixia put her pen back into the cap and walked out of the lecture hall with her book in her arms. When she got downstairs, she saw Men Zi standing under a sycamore tree not far away, waiting for her with a camera on her back.
"What are you having for lunch?" Lin Weixia walked over and asked her.
"Beef noodles? Fried rice cake? Or dinner?" Men Zi replied.
The two girls chatted as they walked towards the cafeteria. It was lunchtime and the cafeteria was packed. Men Zi thought there were too many people and wanted to queue up so she dragged Lin Weixia to the second floor restaurant.
They all ordered fried rice cakes. As soon as they sat down, Men Zi pointed to a cold drink not far away and said, "Xian Ning Qi, I remember it's from your Nanjiang side."
Lin Weixia was startled, her long eyelashes drooped, hiding the ripples in her eyes:
“I haven’t had one in years.”
The two of them were eating. Lin Weixia picked up a piece of bread and put it in her mouth. She remembered something and asked Men Zi, "If you hurt someone in the past and he is not doing well now, what would you do?"
"Your question is too broad. First of all, is it because you hurt that person that he became like this, or is it because of his own fault?"
"Secondly, who is this person to you? A friend? Or an old lover? The things you do will be different depending on the nature of your identity. The most important thing is to ask your own heart." Men Zi usually looks out of tune, but his words are to the point.
Lin Weixia had eaten half of the beef noodles in front of her when she received a message from her teacher asking her to come to the laboratory building to pick up something at 2 p.m.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Weixia and Men Zi parted ways. She went to the second floor of the laboratory building to find Teacher Liu's office and got a bunch of information.
She glanced at the information and decided to go to the rooftop to read a book by herself. Lin Weixia walked up the stairs and passed by some classrooms where experimental classes were being held. From time to time, the sound of students whispering to each other could be heard through the cracks in the closed doors.
Climbing to the rooftop of the sixth floor, Lin Weixia opened her moist lips slightly, leaned one hand against the wall and breathed lightly. She glanced at the door in front of her, and it was half open.
Lin Weixia walked up, the cold wind was blowing, the sky was a blurry grayish white, she suddenly heard a whimpering female voice, followed by a low male laugh.
The boy's voice had a cold tone and sounded familiar.
There is a small warehouse near the stairs on the rooftop, which is full of abandoned equipment, and the sound came from the open space in front of the warehouse.
No one can be seen.
Lin Weixia walked over and leaned her back against the wall, but she didn't dare to move forward. Her heart felt like it was being twisted back and forth by a sharp rope. Her heart was tight. What was she afraid of
Afraid it's him.
It was him I was afraid to see.
Lin Weixia leaned against the wall and leaned over to take a quick look. The boy was hugging a girl in his arms, with his back to her, and was being intimate with her with his neck lowered.
The boy was wearing a black jacket, about 1.80 meters tall, and had a build very similar to his, but his face could not be seen clearly.
Lin Weixia was feeling a bit tormented at the moment, her hand against the grey cement wall, a small stone she dug out rolled silently onto the ground.
She wanted to confirm it and was about to go out to take a look when her snow-white wrist was pulled by someone and a cold and aggressive breath came from her.
Before anyone could react, the warehouse door near the stairs was opened and Lin Weixia was pushed in. It was dark all around and she screamed in fright. The other party quickly covered her mouth.
Lin Weixia opened her eyes wide, the mottled light outlined a face with distinct features, and her gaze moved to the small mole under his eye.
A sigh of relief.
Originally it was Ban Sheng.
But they made quite a noise when they came in, and the boys outside shouted, "Who's there?"
The couple outside responded with silence.
"Maybe it's a wild cat from somewhere." said the girl.
They stood quietly in the cramped space, the first time they had been so close since their reunion. Ban Sheng covered Lin Weixia's mouth, his palm was broad and slender, and the overly hot temperature passed over and burned her face densely.
The breathing sounds were intertwined, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
Burning out a hint of ambiguous beauty.
"Forget it, let's go." said the girl.
Ban Sheng also let go of his hand at the right time. After the strange couple left, the air was quiet, with only the call of the skylark.
He turned his head and opened the door, and bright light poured in. Ban Sheng bent down slightly and was about to leave. Lin Weixia stared at the careless figure and called out, her voice trembling unconsciously:
"Ban Sheng, why did you change your major instead of studying astronomy?"
The boy's tall figure paused. He leaned against the door and played with the lighter in his hand. He turned back and looked at Lin Weixia in a casual tone, saying:
"Want to know? Meet me at TAK bar on Sunday night at 8 o'clock."