A basket of jujube flour steamed buns was left alone in the kitchen, and no one touched it.
It was not until midnight that a sleepless boy got up in his pajamas. He walked into the deserted kitchen, holding his math book in one hand and a pen in the other. The light was turned on, and he found a wooden stool in the corner to sit on. He opened his book and continued to do his math while breaking open a jujube-flavored steamed bun and eating it to satisfy his hunger.
Compared with Jiang Qiaoxi, Lin Yingtao, who lives only across the wall, looks much happier.
During the day, she would read comic books, play with Barbie dolls, and occasionally do homework with her friends. It was more like playing around than doing homework together. Yu Qiao hated Chinese class the most. He even copied Lin Qile's Chinese composition.
"My home is where there are three water-drying towers." Yu Qiao picked up the composition written by Lin Qile and read out the first sentence in a clear and loud voice with a frown on his face.
"Lin Yingtao, can you count?" Yu Qiao asked.
"What's wrong?" Lin Qile asked while playing with her Poppy Elf.
Cai Fangyuan said nearby: "Are you stupid? You don't even know how many water towers there are!"
So they put down their winter vacation homework and ran out, ran out of the family compound, headed towards the construction site, and counted how many water towers there were. When Lin Qile was halfway through his run, he looked up and suddenly saw thick clouds in the sky, all of which were round.
Looks like a meat bun, she thought.
The four of them ran out like this, and no one had any money in their pockets, so they couldn't buy anything they wanted to eat. On the way home, Du Shang asked, "Cherry, when is Jiang Qiaoxi's mother leaving?"
“I don’t know.” Lin Qile said.
"Maybe we have to wait until school starts before we leave," said Cai Fangyuan.
"Dushan," Yu Qiao asked, "When will your father come back?"
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, the Qunshan Science and Technology Plaza opened. Electrician Lin took some savings and went to the city with Team Leader Yu and Driver Shao.
He brought back a computer that night, complete with a case and a monitor, a very complicated set. Manager Cai was like a computer expert, helping Electrician Lin connect the home phone line and dial up to the Internet, and he was having a lot of fun.
"Dad, what are you doing online?" Lin Qile watched the adults busying themselves.
Manager Cai rolled up his sleeves and said, "The whole world is online now. If you don't go online, you will be left behind!"
Cai Fangyuan brought a box of software from his home. He was very diligent and installed the software on Lin Qile's computer one by one. He knew every disc in the box by heart, staring at the installation interface on the computer screen, clicking and typing with the mouse in his hand, very smoothly.
Electrician Lin sighed beside him: "Fang Yuan is really good at using the computer!"
Manager Cai was all smiles, and seemed quite proud of his son. "Although Cai Fangyuan is young, he learned computers really quickly. He might have some talent in this area!" Manager Cai said to Electrician Lin happily, "It would be great if he could learn other things as quickly!"
Lin Qile sat next to Cai Fangyuan and also looked at his own computer screen.
"I want The Legend of Sword and Fairy," Lin Qile said to him.
Cai Fangyuan said "hmm" and started looking for the installation disk.
Lin Qile found that Cai Fangyuan usually did things slowly and without any focus. But once he sat in front of the computer, he would unconsciously start to act cool. Lin Qile couldn't help but want to laugh.
"What other games do you have?" Lin Qile asked him.
Cai Fangyuan was unusually generous. Perhaps after hearing his father's praise, he wanted to show off his skills. He waved his chubby little hand at Lin Qile and said, "What do you want to play? Tell me!"
Du Shang's father came back after the New Year. Yu Qiao asked Du Shang to go to his house to sleep, but Du Shang refused.
"If my mother doesn't leave, I won't leave either." Dushan said this stubbornly.
"Then persuade your mother to come and live with you," said Yu Qiao.
"My mom doesn't want to..." Dushan was also embarrassed and said, "My dad only comes home once a year. My mom said that if we both move out... then my dad might be more..."
"What if he hits you again?" Lin Qile asked.
"It's okay! Don't worry, Cherry!" Du Shang grinned when he heard Lin Qile's concern. He stretched out his hand and gestured in the air, "I have practiced Wing Chun for a year this year. I am no longer the 'Sick Man of East Asia'!"
That night, Lin Qile saw Dushan again in the hospital. He was carried into the hospital by his mother who was unharmed.
Du Shang had a piece of gauze wrapped around his head, and his eye sockets were bruised. His voice was a little weak, but also very calm. He panted and said to Lin Qile who was sitting beside his bed: "Cherry, I think... I really don't have much talent for martial arts..."
The doctor came over and asked Lin Yingtao to help hold Dushan while he examined his eyes.
After the examination, it was daybreak and the doctor left. Lin Qile heard Du Shang muttering, "Doctors are so hard-working... I want to be a doctor in the future, Cherry, do you think I can do it?"
Dushan said that he wanted to be a very good doctor when he grew up, a dedicated doctor like the doctors at the Qunshan construction site workers' hospital, not the kind in computer games who "please don't let patients die in the corridor."
On the day of the Lantern Festival, Lin Qile sat on the sofa, watching the Lantern Festival Gala and eating glutinous rice balls with his feet up.
Jiang Qiaoxi was wearing a coat and sitting at his desk studying.
He scribbled some meaningless numbers on the calculation paper and drew some intermittent circles and lines. Liang Hongfei and Jiang Zheng were packing their luggage in the living room. Jiang Qiaoxi could hear their voices just through a door.
"Principal Zhang of the Provincial Foreign Language Primary School was very satisfied with Jiang Qiaoxi's grades and said that he would be able to catch up when he returned to the sixth grade."
"So what are you going to do now?" Jiang Zheng said.
"What am I going to do? Jiang Zheng, you know that I can't be transferred back to take care of him in the next six months, so can't you ask the leader to bring you back to the provincial capital headquarters?"
"Leaders have their own arrangements," said Jiang Zheng.
"So you don't care about your son's education at all?"
Jiang Zheng said, "I'm already carrying him! How else do you want me to care about him?"
"You asked him to go to school in this small place called Qunshan," Liang Hongfei choked up, "This school doesn't even have English classes, and you're so concerned about it!"
Jiang Zheng said, "Come on, Liang Hongfei, you don't even take him with you. You know I feel bad."
Jiang Qiaoxi heard the woman's tightly suppressed but uncontrollable cry.
He was used to this, used to hearing his parents quarreling loudly, and then falling silent because of a certain moment, perhaps because of some emotion. His mother would cry, and his father would smoke and watch TV, or occasionally sigh in silence.
Only at this time did they look more like a couple - or perhaps not a couple, but comrades-in-arms.
They had "joined the army" together and experienced a long and brutal "battle" together.
They would talk about some details of their past lives: Jiang Mengchu's birth, Jiang Mengchu's growth, and how Jiang Mengchu showed extraordinary talent before he even went to school, which amazed teachers and professors both big and small in the provincial capital.
Since Jiang Mengchu was four years old, Jiang Zheng and Liang Hongfei decided to devote their lives to raising this super-human son. They regarded it as a "mission" and a glory bestowed by God that made their entire family no longer mediocre.
The "genius" Jiang Mengchu started learning Mathematical Olympiad at the age of four, and died at the age of thirteen due to an accident. For ten years, his parents devoted all their personal time and all the family resources to this child. When the child left, they took everything with them.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat at the desk and continued to do his homework. Behind the desk lamp was a stack of English Mathematical Olympiad textbooks sent from Hong Kong. Between the books were a few golden and red papers. They were the awards that Zhongneng Power Plant Primary School had given to Jiang Qiaoxi before the New Year. They included the three-good student, four-time champion, and the top scorer in Qunshan City, etc.
The sound of my mother crying outside the door made all this worthless.
On the morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month, Liang Hongfei packed her luggage and planned to take a bus back to the provincial capital. Before leaving, she told Jiang Qiaoxi to study hard, saying that in half a year, her mother's job would be adjusted and she could take Jiang Qiaoxi back to the provincial capital to go to school.
Several children from the construction site in the mountains were standing at the intersection with their schoolbags on their backs. They might want to look for Jiang Qiaoxi, but because Liang Hongfei was there, they didn't dare to get close.
"You've done well this winter vacation," Liang Hongfei said to Jiang Qiaoxi, "If you want anything, call me. It's not impossible to buy it in the provincial capital. Don't bother your cousin all the time."
Jiang Qiaoxi listened without saying a word. He watched his mother's car leave the road until he could no longer see it. Then he turned around and walked towards the group of children of the same age at the intersection.
Lin Qile still had two ponytails and was wearing a red coat, looking at him with a smile on her face.
Jiang Qiaoxi did not walk to her side, but walked side by side with Yu Qiao behind. Lin Qile led the way in front, looking back from time to time. Perhaps she noticed that Jiang Qiaoxi was also looking at her, and Lin Qile was so happy that she walked like a rabbit hopping.
On the weekend of Jiang Qiaoxi's eleventh birthday, he paid for four friends, including Qin Yeyun, who always followed Yu Qiao, to go to the city's game hall. When Du Shang and Lin Qile were dancing crazily on the dance machine, Jiang Qiaoxi brought the juice he bought over. He heard Cai Fangyuan leaning against the wall and saying to Yu Qiao: "Hey, did you notice..."
Jiang Qiaoxi gave him the juice.
Cai Fangyuan took a sip and then lowered his voice and said, "Have you noticed that Lin Yingtao seems to... seems to have..."
He put his hands on his chest and gestured slightly.
Jiang Qiaoxi was stunned.
He turned his head and looked at Lin Qile who was jumping around on the dance machine nonchalantly.
Yu Qiao didn't respond, but glanced at Lin Qile's back. Du Shang pushed Cai Fangyuan.
After this birthday, Jiang Qiaoxi will be eleven years old. When he noticed that his trouser legs were getting shorter and he was growing fast, Lin Qile also became a little strange - she would unconsciously hold her chest when walking, as if she was wearing some strange clothes, and she looked a little shy.
"What's wrong with you?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked her during the break.
Lin Qile pouted and said nothing. She sat next to Jiang Qiaoxi and drank juice with a straw in her mouth.
Jiang Qiaoxi tilted his head to look at her and discovered that there was a faint mark on the shoulder of the light yellow shirt Lin Qile was wearing, which was difficult for others to notice.
Jiang Qiaoxi had a feeling: in the past, he was the only one who knew that Lin Yingtao was a girl. But now, everyone could see her bud.
A major incident occurred on April 1st. A US reconnaissance plane crashed into a Chinese fighter jet in the South China Sea, and the pilot was killed.
The adults were discussing this matter at night, and from what they said, it seemed that World War III might break out between China and the United States at any time.
"They bombed our embassy and now they're trying to crash our plane. Isn't this obviously looking for trouble?"
Lin Qile also read the news, and she asked Yu Qiao: "Will you continue to be a pilot in the future?"
Yu Qiao's pants also exposed his ankles. He was already tall, and his height continued to grow. He looked down at Lin Qile and said, "If I don't take the responsibility, who will?"
"What if a war breaks out?" Lin Qile asked.
"I'll go and fight." Yu Qiao said, sounding as if it was a matter of course.
Lin Qile discussed with Jiang Qiaoxi at night: "Don't go to the United States. Americans are really bad."
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at her.
Lin Qile blinked her big black eyes in front of him, as if waiting for Jiang Qiaoxi's answer.
Cai Fangyuan is right. Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly thought at this time.
She really became beautiful.
"Say it again, I didn't hear you clearly," he said.
"Don't go to America." Lin Qile said it again, his little red lips opening and closing.
The front of the shirt she was wearing bulged slightly, which was indeed different from that of boys.
Jiang Qiaoxi immediately lowered his head and wanted to continue doing the questions.
"Is it okay..." Lin Qile said.
"Don't bother me first." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Lin Qile frowned: "Didn't you just say you wanted to chat with me?"
Jiang Qiaoxi took out a piece of calculation paper from his hand, wrote a problem on it, and handed it to Lin Qile: "If you solve this problem, I will chat with you."
So Lin Qile spent most of the rest of the night lying on her small bed, unhappily doing the math problem. If she hadn't shaken Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders hard at the end, Jiang Qiaoxi would not have told her the answer in advance.
Lin Qile himself didn't seem to notice. Boys and girls are two completely different species. When they were in the fifth grade, the kids could no longer play together like they used to. The girls in the class gathered together to talk, while the boys played ball and boasted in sweat, with clear distinctions between them.
Once someone crossed that line, even if it was just passing water or borrowing an eraser between a boy and a girl, the classmates would make endless noises.
The only one was Lin Qile. She still played with Yu Qiao, Du Shang, Cai Fangyuan and Jiang Qiaoxi. However, because she loved to fight, no one dared to tease her.
In early April, Lin Qile finally celebrated her eleventh birthday. Electrician Lin went to Xinhua Bookstore in Qunshan City and bought three Harry Potter novels for her. Lin Qile had read the serialization of this novel in China Youth Daily and had wanted it for a long time.
Manager Jiang heard that Lin Yingtao was having a birthday, so he took out his wallet and asked Jiang Qiaoxi to take some money out of it and invite the young classmate to have a meal together: "You will be leaving in three months. Have you told your classmates?"
Jiang Qiaoxi had his own pocket money, but he still took his father's wallet. When he opened it, a photo came into his sight.
A family of three, smiling happily, greeted the sunrise on the top of Mount Tai.
There was no Jiang Qiaoxi inside, so he closed his wallet.
Lin Qile sat on a bamboo mat and read Harry Potter with great interest, forgetting to eat and sleep. She told Jiang Qiaoxi that she didn't like Journey to the West very much. She didn't like the four masters and apprentices who encountered dangers, redeemed their sins, and went through trials again and again in the dangerous world. She liked to watch Harry and his friends grow up rapidly under the guidance of Professor Dumbledore and get to know this vast magical world full of love.
"Do you believe there is magic in this world?" Lin Qile asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head.
Lin Qile's eyebrows really drooped. "I know," she said, "you like Journey to the West, and you like Sun Wukong the most."
She opened the birthday gift Jiang Qiaoxi gave her, and it turned out to be a lipstick.
"Why did you give me this..." Lin Qile took the black tube lipstick in her hand and looked at it back and forth. She felt it was very fresh. There were two opposite "c"s printed on one end of the lipstick. She didn't know what it was. She was just a little girl and had never had her own lipstick like a mature woman.
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at Lin Qile's face.
They brought a mirror, and Lin Qile sat in front of it and carefully unscrewed the lipstick. In front of Jiang Qiaoxi, she carefully applied the cherry-like red paste on her lips.
"Does it look good?" She pursed her lips, pouted again, came closer and asked him excitedly.
That was Lin Qile’s first red face when he was eleven years old.
The second one appeared in May of that year. Lin Qile and Yu Qiao were playing outside. At first, she just felt a little uncomfortable. She stopped running and realized that she had a stomachache.
When she got home and pulled down her pants, she saw blood. Lin Qile's tears immediately rolled down her cheeks and she cried.
At noon, when her mother came home from get off work, she coaxed Lin Qile for a long time. Lin Qile endured the stomachache and squatted beside the small basin to wash his underwear.
During the nap, her mother hugged her and slept in the crib. Her mother said that all women bleed because they will give birth to babies in the future.
Duchamp noticed that Lin Qile was always daydreaming during class. After class, Lin Qile did not go out to play. She drew a little girl on the back of her homework book. The little girl had colorful hair and a lightning-like scar on her forehead. She had a pair of small wings, waved a magic wand in her hand, and had a somersault cloud under her feet, which could fly in the clouds.
"Cherry, what are you painting?" Duchamp asked.
Lin Qile took out a watercolor pen from the hole in her desk and painted the little girl's hair. She said, "I am painting my future baby."
"Little baby?" Duchamp asked. "Let me see it."
"No," Lin Qile said, "I won't show you my little baby."
She painted for a long time before she finished the coloring. She used a red pen to put a small dot on the little girl's chest as a gift of cherry amber to her in the future.
She wrote the little girl's name next to it stroke by stroke: Jiang Yulu.
As soon as he finished writing, Duchamp picked up the painting and said, "No, Cherry! Why is your baby's last name Jiang?"