In September, the Zhongneng Power Plant Primary School in Qunshan City opened.
Lin Qile, a fifth-grade student, led the way with four other boys, heading into the mountain again.
But there was still no bridge or road at the end of the mountain road. Lin Qile pouted, and her red leather shoes stepped on the edge of the cliff.
After a year, why can't I get over it
"Why doesn't anyone build a bridge here?" Lin Qile asked.
Yu Qiao said, "You come and fix it."
Lin Qile raised his head and looked across the cliff, at the unknown journey full of temptation.
"What do you think we should call a bridge if we build one here in the future?" Lin Qile asked.
This was Jiang Qiaoxi's first time hiking deep into the mountains. He had never participated in any summer camps, nor had he experienced spring or autumn outings, and he rarely went outdoors.
He was a little absent-minded, looking up at the treetops that reached the sky, and stepping on the thick and soft pine needles.
"Jiang Qiaoxi, what do you think we should call the bridge?"
"All is fine." Jiang Qiaoxi said softly.
Lin Qile was puzzled: "Should it be called 'Duxing Bridge'?"
Duchamp squatted down and picked up the pine needles on the ground under a tree. He said, "Look! There are mushrooms here!"
Cai Fangyuan sat down under a tree. He was still flipping through the brand new photo book of Vivian Hsu in his hand. This was brought to him by Jiang Qiaoxi from Hong Kong. This time he had to hide it well so that no one could find it.
Jiang Qiaoxi not only brought gifts for Lin and Cai, but also bought a copy of "I Yah" for Duchamp and an action figure of O'Neal for Yu Qiao.
The Dean of Studies stood in the guard room, looking through the student roster. He cursed, "Did the new 'Four-time Champion' also run off with Lin Yingtao?"
Lin Qile and five other elementary school students crawled on the concrete floor with their hands and feet, sneaked in from the guard room and nimbly crawled into the school gate. Jiang Qiaoxi was a little unaccustomed to doing this, so Lin Qile grabbed his hand and dragged him back to school.
Lin Qile is in the fifth grade now. She has grown taller and has a pair of long legs when she looks in the mirror. Lin the electrician bought her a bicycle and a repeater so that she can study English well after school.
Lin Qile didn't like learning English, he just wanted to learn how to ride a bicycle. Yu Qiao had already learned how to ride a bicycle, and Du Shang, the idiot, was almost as good as he could be, even though he was wobbling.
Lin Qile tried it for the first time, but she fell to the side of the road after riding it for only a few times. Her knees were scraped, and the wounds were covered with dirt and blood. Lin Qile's face wrinkled up, and she stood up amid Cai Fangyuan's laughter, picked up her bicycle, and sat on it for the second time.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting on the side of the road reading the Little Raccoon Water Margin cards collected by Cai Fangyuan. He looked up and saw that Lin Qile's legs were trembling slightly under her skirt, which looked painful. Lin Qile put her feet on the pedals, held the handlebars carefully, and started riding again with all her strength.
Cai Fangyuan raised the cards in his hand: "Look, I have three Wu Yongs! You can pick whichever one you want!"
He felt Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly stand up beside him.
Lin Qile didn't ride steadily again, and Jiang Qiaoxi was still a step slow and almost managed to hold her handlebars.
This time, it wasn't Lin Qile who fell down. Jiang Qiaoxi was thrown to the ground by her, and the pink headlight on the front of Lin Qile's bicycle scratched Jiang Qiaoxi's forehead. Jiang Qiaoxi turned his head away, otherwise he might have cut his nose.
For a moment, no other voices could be heard in the entire Qunshan construction site, and Lin Qile's loud crying echoed in every street.
When Lin the electrician got off work and went home, he heard his daughter still sitting on the steps at the door crying. Jiang Qiaoxi's forehead had been wiped with iodine by the nurse at the employee hospital and a band-aid was applied, so she was fine.
"Will..." Lin Qile sobbed and coughed, "Will my face be disfigured..."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "It was me who was disfigured, not you."
The culprit was parked at the door, and it fell twice, and the chain fell off. Electrician Lin comforted Yingtao for a while, then found the tool box at home and squatted in front of the car to repair it.
After lunch, Lin Qile went to learn how to drive again. Electrician Lin lowered the seat for her, and Lin Qile sat on it, with her feet planted on the ground.
At the beginning, Electrician Lin held the handlebars and almost walked forward while holding his daughter in his arms. Slowly, Electrician Lin let go of the hands that were protecting Lin Yingtao behind her.
When he loosened the handlebars, Lin Qile really learned how to ride. She flew around the square in front of the Workers' Club. Her butt left the seat, and her legs gradually straightened. As if with divine help, she pedaled the bicycle forward quickly.
This was what Jiang Qiaoxi saw when he walked to the side of the road.
Lin Qile rode faster and faster. She was born adventurous and fearless. A bicycle caught up with her from behind. Lin Qile tilted her head and saw that it was none other than Wei Yong, the gangster.
Wei Yong said, "Lin Yingtao, you're about to hit your head against the wall!"
"If you want to crash, you should crash into the wall first!" Lin Qile shouted.
Her two ponytails fluttered in the wind, and even her skirt was lifted up. Lin Qile rode past his father and Jiang Qiaoxi in an instant, but Wei Yong pressed the brake and stopped in front of Lin the Electrician.
"Uncle Lin." He raised his eyelids without hesitation and called out politely.
After glancing at Jiang Qiaoxi who was standing next to Electrician Lin, Wei Yong got on his bike and left.
Jiang Qiaoxi had never seen a father who allowed Lin Qile to be as free as Lin Electrician did. Once Lin Qile learned how to ride a bike, she rode like crazy, and Lin Electrician neither reprimanded her nor interfered. He was indulging her nature. This kind of indulgence could sometimes hurt people, but Lin Qile—she seemed not to be afraid of it.
Until Lin Qile got tired of riding, she got off the bike and shouted excitedly: "Dad! I can ride a bike now!"
Electrician Lin walked over and took her home.
During the break, Jiang Qiaoxi asked Yu Qiao who Wei Yong was.
Yu Qiao said, "Did he provoke you?"
"No." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
He was just recalling what advice Lin Qile had given him when he first came here a year ago.
And that day he saw Wei Yong stop the car and come to greet Uncle Lin.
Yu Qiao said: "When Cai Fangyuan and Du Shang first transferred here, they were both bullied by Wei Yong. Because of this, Lin Yingtao fought with him all day long."
Jiang Qiaoxi was very surprised.
Cai Fangyuan in the front row was reading Vivian Hsu's photo book during break.
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't think that Lin Qile could beat Wei Yong with his physique.
Yu Qiao said these things as if he was talking about other people's affairs, which had nothing to do with him. Yu Qiao raised his eyes and saw Lin Yingtao fighting with Qin Yeyun under the desk again. Yu Qiao suddenly shouted, "Qin Yeyun."
Qin Yeyun was pulling Lin Qile's face, and when she heard Yu Qiao calling her, she turned around.
Yu Qiao said: "My dad asked me to ask you how Uncle Qin is doing recently."
Qin Yeyun let go of Lin Qile and sat next to Yu Qiao. Although she was only ten years old, she looked more like a girl than Lin Qile. There were patches of nail polish on her nails, and she would use the curling irons of adults to curl her hair.
"My dad is fine," Qin Yeyun looked at Yu Qiao and said, "He's doing fine."
Yu Qiao asked, "Can he stand up at home now?"
Qin Yeyun thought about it, and it seemed that she had not paid any attention to these things. "Do you want to talk to me, or do you want to help Lin Qile?" She slammed the table and questioned Yu Qiao.
This happened in September. In Jiang Qiaoxi's memory, Yu Qiao was the first to notice that Qin Yeyun's father "could not stand up". After all, even Lin Qile, who went to the grocery store to buy snacks every day, only said: "Uncle Qin sits behind the counter every day, and I have never seen him stand up."
In the fifth grade, the struggle between Lin Qile and Qin Yeyun seemed to have escalated from simple fighting to a higher level.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting on a bamboo mat doing his homework when he heard Lin Qile smacking his lips beside him: "Jiang Qiaoxi, look at me, look at me quickly!"
When Jiang Qiaoxi looked up, he was immediately startled.
Lin Qile had a thick layer of lipstick on her lips. The red was too bright and too vivid, and Lin Qile didn't know how to apply it, so her lips were covered with lipstick.
"Does it look good?" Lin Qile looked at him with starry eyes.
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head.
Lin Qile pouted unhappily. It would have been better if he hadn't pouted, but this time, the red area became even bigger.
She secretly took her mother's lipstick, a good tube, and let her smear half of it. "Qin Yeyun always scolds me for being unsophisticated." Lin Yingtao said.
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "You are not unsophisticated, just wipe it off."
Lin Qile said, "Really?" and took the paper to wipe his mouth.
She had put on makeup in a mess, and it was even messier, and her already red lips were even redder. Lin Qile used the back of her hand to wipe her lips.
Jiang Qiaoxi watched her for a while, watching her fumbling movements and the lipstick stains on her face. Jiang Qiaoxi put down the pen in his hand, wearing the black watch on his wrist and his fingers stained with pen ink, and reached out.
His thumb rubbed along Lin Qile's lower lip from the left to the right. As soon as his hand touched Lin Qile, Lin Qile looked at him with big cherry eyes and stopped moving.
"Is it clean?" Lin Qile asked.
There was no Band-Aid on Jiang Qiaoxi's forehead any more, but there was still a thin scar. Only when he was very close could Lin Qile see it clearly.
Lin Qile felt Jiang Qiaoxi's palm coming over and covering her mouth at this time, and she became quiet. Jiang Qiaoxi's palm pressed and rubbed her lips.
"It's clean now." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
The adults hadn't returned home yet. Lin Qile crawled into the mosquito net and listened to the tape with Jiang Qiaoxi.
It was not someone else's tape, but the album of a new female singer that Jiang Qiaoxi had given her last time. Ever since her father bought her a new repeater, Lin Qile no longer needed a Walkman.
She lay on the bed with her legs pulled up behind her, wearing one earphone and asked, "Why don't you buy that... that Uncle Lai tape for me?"
Jiang Qiaoxi leaned his head on Lin Qile's pillow, closed his eyes, and seemed to be resting. He said, "What do you want that for?"
Lin Qile said: "Because I haven't heard of it."
Jiang Qiaoxi opened his eyes.
Lin Qile had never heard Jiang Qiaoxi sing before. That was the first time she heard Jiang Qiaoxi humming a few lines to her.
like a bird the wire,
like a drunka midnight choir,
i have tried my way to be free.
If I have been unkind, I hope you will try to let it go;
If I have ever deceived, it was because I thought there must be lies in love.
Like a babe that has never been born, like a wild beast with horns;
I stabbed everyone who opened their arms to me.
I swear by this song that all my mistakes will be compensated.
Lin Qile thought the song sounded "lifeless" and she asked Jiang Qiaoxi what the lyrics meant.
Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at her and shook his head.
Lin Qile acted like a spoiled child in front of him: "Then sing it again."
"Sing it again!"
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at the time on his watch. Unable to persuade Lin Qile, he sang it again.
There are no adults in the Lin family, only the two children.
It was very quiet in the mosquito net, with only Jiang Qiaoxi singing an English song in a low voice.
Lin Qile looked at him intently, holding her breath and listening quietly. She held the tape recorder in her hand, and the tape of a new female singer was quietly and silently turning in the tape recorder.
At the end of November, Jiang Qiaoxi's cousin sent a small box of books from Hong Kong, which also contained a tape of Leonard Cohen. Jiang Qiaoxi took Lin Qile to his home, opened the box, and gave the tape to Lin Qile.
Lin Qile asked: "Your English is so good, is it because you want to go to the United States in the future?"
Jiang Qiaoxi was rummaging through the remaining books in the box.
Lin Qile asked: "How do we get to the United States? By train? By boat?"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes and looked at her.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat on the bed where he slept, pulled over his square schoolbag, opened the layer containing books, and found a ten-centimeter square inner pocket on the inside, which was very concealed.
Jiang Qiaoxi's secret is hidden in this schoolbag. Since he came to Qunshan City from the provincial capital, this schoolbag has rarely left his side.
In the inner pocket was a plane ticket, a ticket from Hong Kong to Boston, USA in 1998.
“Is this your ticket?”
"It belongs to my cousin."
Lin Qile took the plane ticket and looked at it, but she actually didn't understand it.
There are many things and events about Jiang Qiaoxi that Lin Qile cannot understand.
Jiang Qiaoxi took the plane ticket back and put it back in his secret little space.
In the winter of 2000, Qin Yeyun's father fell down in front of his shop. Many workers who got up early to go to work saw a big lump on his knee. They didn't know how many months it had been there, and the skin was brown and purple.
"Lao Qin," they stopped their bikes, "you should go to the hospital!"
Lin Qile and several other kids also witnessed this scene on their way to school.
Uncle Qin was helped up by many people. His forehead was covered with sweat, but he insisted, "It's okay, it's okay."
When school was over, Lin Qile saw that the entrance of Uncle Qin's grocery store was full of people.
Lin Qile walked over with his schoolbag on his back and heard the voice of Yu Qiao's father from inside the house.
"We are workers, and we are honestly workers! Lao Qin, tell me the truth, have you been provoked by Wang Daolin?"
“Brother Yu, Brother Yu,” Uncle Qin was the one who comforted Uncle Yu, “I’m fine, I’m fine! I feel like I’ll be well soon—”
"Bullshit!" Uncle Yu cursed, "Come with me to the hospital now!"
"I'm not going!" Uncle Qin said hurriedly, "Brother Yu! Brother Yu! Please don't hurt me. I'm not going. I'm not going. I really can't go! If I go, all my efforts will be wasted and I'll fail at the last hurdle—"
Uncle Qin was very emotional, and so was Uncle Yu. Uncle Qin said, "I still have my daughter, Ye Yun, watching over me. Ye Yun is watching over me in the house. Brother Yu, please don't hurt me, Brother Yu, I beg you, I beg you!!"
When Lin, the electrician, came back from work and heard about the incident at the store, he also rushed over to persuade him. Uncle Qin refused to go to the hospital. He said he would be well soon. He could already feel his legs moving and his feet were strong. He would be able to return to work next year. He said he had been unlucky all his life and he had a premonition that his future was going to change.
During the winter vacation of 2000, Jiang Qiaoxi refused to go back to the provincial capital. Not only did he not go back for the summer vacation, he didn't even want to go back for the New Year. His mother Liang Hongfei sensed something was wrong and called her several times, but Jiang Qiaoxi said he wanted to stay in the mountains. Liang Hongfei was tough, but Jiang Qiaoxi was even tougher.
Liang Hongfei said: "I heard from the aunt who was transferred back to the headquarters from the Qunshan construction site that you found a 'girlfriend' in Qunshan?"
Jiang Qiaoxi clenched his hand holding the receiver.
Even Jiang Qiaoxi had never heard of such words.
Liang Hongfei said, "If you don't want to come back, then don't come back. I just want to go to the mountains to visit you and your son."
Liang Hongfei plans to come to the mountains on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
There was a heavy snowfall in the mountains, and the fountain in front of the Workers' Club was frozen. Lin Qile stepped carefully onto the ice wearing his new cotton shoes.
Duchamp said, "Cherry, be careful!"
Lin Qile found that the ice was very solid, so he stepped on it casually.
The Workers' Club was very close to Qin Yeyun's store. Just as Duchamp told Lin Qile that he was learning Wing Chun from a Hong Kong movie, a burst of crying suddenly broke out in the store.
It was Qin Yeyun's voice: "Dad!! Dad!!"
Team Leader Yu rushed back from the construction site. He broke into the Qin family's store, picked up the man and left without saying a word. "Ye Yun!" he shouted, "Go find Yu Qiao and ask him to take you to the hospital!"
That night, at the Qunshan People’s Hospital, many patients who had to spend the New Year in the hospital were watching the news broadcast.
Uncle Qin had just finished the operation and was still in a coma. He was pushed out of the operating room by the doctor.
Qin Yeyun was terrified. She hugged Yu Qiao and cried outside the ward, her tears soaking Yu Qiao's down jacket.
Yu Qiao probably didn't know what to do, so he could only let her hold him. He raised his head and watched the pictures on the TV news.
Lin Qile used the hospital's phone to call Jiang Qiaoxi's home, but no one answered. Du Shang also came to the hospital and asked, "Yingtao, what has Jiang Qiaoxi been doing these days?"
"His mother is coming." Lin Qile said softly, staring at the receiver in front of him.
Duchamp didn't understand: "So what?"