Nothing is immutable. The amber that Lin Yingtao had worn since she was a child was lost. She was sad for a long time, but slowly, she began to get used to it.
The adults said that 2001 was an extraordinary year, especially the second half of the year. Just ten days after the start of school, a disaster occurred that Lin Yingtao could not understand. An adult around her sighed, "They bombed our embassy and crashed our planes. It turns out that this American himself will also be hit and bombed?"
When it comes to the international situation, Lin Yingtao doesn't understand. She sees thick smoke billowing on the TV screen and the adults seem to be saying that this is a world where the strong prey on the weak. If the United States is not bombed today, we will be the ones being bullied tomorrow.
It's dangerous. In fact, no one in this world is safe.
"Dad, what are the Twin Towers?"
Electrician Lin said: "It is America's Oriental Pearl Tower."
"Is it like the Qunbai Tower?" Lin Yingtao asked. She had never seen the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Electrician Lin smiled bitterly and said, "I guess so."
America is a big and distant concept, and for a long time, it impressed Lin Qile like "Voldemort" in "Harry Potter." Everything "America" represents is powerful and superior, but also evil and invincible.
Duchamp cried while watching the news on TV. Thousands of people died, and one after another people jumped from the buildings. This made Duchamp so sad that he trembled all over.
Cai Fangyuan was dumbfounded. He watched the World Trade Center burn and then collapse. He opened his mouth and said, "…Is this really not a movie?"
Yu Qiao stood among the four of them, looking the calmest. "Isn't the U.S. Air Force the best in the world?" Yu Qiao didn't understand.
Lin Qile said, "Yu Qiao, do you have Jiang Qiaoxi's home phone number?"
Lin Qile wanted to call Jiang Qiaoxi and tell him not to go to the United States. There were terrorists in that place now, it was not safe, and many people had died.
But the phone kept beeping for a while and still no one answered.
Lin Qile hung up the phone at Yu Qiao's house and walked home without staying for dinner.
In mid-September, Team Leader Yu and Electrician Lin drove the children from the factory to the city for fun.
"Cherry," Squad Leader Yu's big hand touched Lin Qile's head. The two heads, one big and one small, were pressed against the glass of the jewelry counter, looking at the price tags of the amber pendants. Squad Leader Yu said, "Take a look. Which one do you want? Uncle will buy it for you!"
Lin Yingtao looked around and pouted: "I don't like any of them..."
Team Leader Yu frowned, smiled, and turned to look at Electrician Lin who was standing behind them.
Electrician Lin hugged his daughter and said, "Once you have seen the ocean, nothing else can compare to it! Isn't that right, Cherry?"
A group of children went to eat KFC together and then went to the game hall to kill time. Qin Yeyun wanted to go to the cosmetics counter to look at adult lipsticks, but Lin Qile wanted to go to the music store to see if there were any new albums. Neither of the two little girls wanted to give in.
Finally, Uncle Yu brought Yu Qiao and Qin Yeyun to look at cosmetics, while Electrician Lin brought Du Shang and Cai Fangyuan and accompanied Lin Yingtao to the entrance of the audio-visual store.
There was a poster of a new male singer on the store door. He had just released a new album. He was wearing a hat and looked very gloomy.
Lin Qile stood in front of the poster, looking up at it blankly.
Du Shang looked at Lin Qile's eyes and said, "Is he as good-looking as me?"
Lin Qile turned to his father and said, "Dad, I want to buy this person's album!"
When she got home that day, Lin Qile lay on her small bed with a mosquito net hanging over it. There was no one else but herself. She was not listening to Cohen or Stefanie Sun, but to the songs of this male singer who looked very unhappy and seemed to have many sorrows in his heart just like her.
The first time Duchamp saw Jay Chou’s poster, he felt extremely annoyed.
Lin Qile was attending class and not only was he secretly listening to Jay Chou's songs, he was also behind his upright textbook, pursing his lips and silently shedding two lines of tears.
"Are his songs so beautiful?" Duchamp asked.
Lin Qile looked tragic, like a heroine in a TV drama, and solemnly copied Jay Chou's own lyrics on a math script: Only the piano was left to play with me for a day...
Du Shang pretended to be relaxed and said, "How about you stop listening to it and lend it to me?"
The most direct consequence of lending Lin Qile's most beloved tape called "Fantasy" to Duchamp was that a few days later, Duchamp suddenly gave up learning Wing Chun for a year and a half, found a skipping rope and assembled it, and began to study the fighting method of nunchaku.
During the National Day Golden Week, Cai Fangyuan and his mother went to the provincial capital. After returning, he went to Lin Qile's house and brought some local specialties his mother bought to his uncle and aunt, and then told Lin Qile: "I went to find Jiang Qiaoxi."
Lin Qile was stunned: "Ah?"
"There's no one at his home," Cai Fangyuan lowered his voice. "I heard that he's taking Olympiad classes every day. His parents have enrolled him in several classes. He studies from morning till night. Isn't that scary?"
On the last night of the National Day Golden Week, Lin Qile wondered, is Jiang Qiaoxi still studying
He is still doing Olympiad math problems? Where is he sitting to do them? I have signed up for several Olympiad classes and study from morning till night. Is there really someone who studies this way and never gets a headache
He... Lin Qile thought, will he never think of me
Lin Qile picked up the receiver and subconsciously dialed the number of Jiang Qiaoxi's home in the provincial capital. Just as he dialed, there was a burst of firecrackers outside the window, crackling and making a terrible noise.
Electrician Lin came running in from outside excitedly, and he was splashed with bright red firecracker paper: "Cherry! Juanzi!"
The sound of firecrackers outside the house not only did not stop, but became more and more intense, one after another, and the floor underfoot was shaking.
Mother Lin was washing clothes in the backyard and ran out to ask, "What's wrong?"
Electrician Lin was overjoyed and smiled: "National football team! The national football team has qualified!"
Mother Lin was originally frightened, but after hearing this, she went back to continue washing clothes.
Electrician Lin said, "Cherry, let's go, let's go watch your Uncle Cai set off the fireworks!"
Lin Qile put down the phone that no one answered. She walked out, along the path in front of the house, holding her father's hand tightly. She saw that the streets of the Qunshan construction site were full of men who walked out of their homes and celebrated with beer bottles. The Chinese national football team qualified, and Yu Qiao and Du Shang and others were also running around excitedly in front of and behind the house.
In the following days, the entire construction site in the mountains was like Chinese New Year. Everyone was happy.
In October, the APEC meeting was held in Shanghai. In December, China joined the World Trade Organization. The adults kept mentioning some words, such as "national destiny" and "take-off".
Uncle Cai sounded both pleased and envious at the banquet. He said, "You kids of this generation are really lucky!"
Cai Fangyuan was playing the video game under the dining table. Lin Qile was sitting next to him. After hearing what Manager Cai said, the two children looked at each other in bewilderment.
No one could understand what the adults were saying. Lin Qile urged him quietly, "Just keep playing."
That's all they care about.
During the Spring Festival of 2002, Lin Qile spent the New Year at the construction site in Qunshan. She also began to be happy every day.
Uncle Qin, who runs the convenience store on the construction site, has now recovered very well and can walk slowly without a cane.
"Cherry, what do you want to buy?" he asked.
"Uncle Qin, your legs don't hurt at all now?" Lin Qile asked. She took out the money her mother gave her to buy vinegar.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Uncle Qin smiled, and took a bottle of vinegar from the shelf to Lin Qile. Then he suddenly asked, "Cherry, Uncle Qin wants to ask you something, okay?"
"What?" Lin Qile listened.
Uncle Qin hesitated: "Have your parents... decided when you will transfer to another school?"
Lin Qile didn't understand, so she asked, "Transfer to another school?"
Uncle Qin said, "I heard that Manager Cai and Team Leader Yu's children have already been chosen. I am no longer an employee of the company, and I am afraid that if I transfer to another school too late, I will not be able to keep up with the rest of the group, which will delay Ye Yun's studies..."
Lin Qile went home with the vinegar bottle. Before she entered the house, she heard her parents arguing inside.
"What will Cherry do if the construction site leaves you here alone? Go talk to your boss again!"
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, it snowed in Gunsan City.
Lin Qile was making a snowman with Yu Qiao and several other boys. She rolled up snowballs with her gloved hands and hit back at the snow that Yu Qiao threw at her.
Yu Qiao pinched Lin Qile's cheeks hard with his hands covered in ice and snow. It was cold and painful, and Lin Qile grimaced in pain.
"My dad told you to come live at my house when you're in junior high," Yu Qiao looked down at her, "Will you come?"
Lin Qile was about to grab his face, but Yu Qiao dodged by stepping back.
No matter what decision the adults make, children seem to have no choice but to follow the result. But there are always exceptions.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Du Shang used his homemade nunchakus to beat his father Du Yongchun into the hospital.
This incident caused a sensation in the entire Qunshan Project Department.
Dushan's mother had been hesitant in the past, unable to make up her mind to divorce, and she had no way to deal with her alcoholic and violent husband. When Manager Cai and Team Leader Yu rushed to the staff hospital, they saw little Dushan with bruises under his eyes saying to his mother: "If you want to divorce, then divorce. If you don't want to divorce, then don't. Anyway, if he hits us again in the future, I will beat him up!!"
In March 2002, not long after the Zhongneng Power Plant Primary School opened, Cai Fangyuan packed all the books in his desk drawer into his schoolbag. He was going to transfer to a school in the provincial capital.
After school, the "Little Four" from the Power Plant Primary School walked on the road and slowly went home.
Du Shang and Cai Fangyuan talked intermittently, while Lin Qile looked at his toes and didn't say a word the whole time.
"Lin Qile," Cai Fangyuan suddenly said as the group separated in front of the Workers' Club, "Why don't you talk to me?"
Lin Qile raised her eyes only then. She was unusually quiet today and shook her head.
"Look at your eyes," Cai Fangyuan said with a strange smile, as if he was about to laugh at Lin Qile again, "They are as red as a rabbit's."
Duchamp persuaded from the side: "Cherry, it's not like we'll never see each other again—"
"You are the rabbit..." Lin Qile couldn't hold back and burst into tears. She grabbed the shoulder straps of her schoolbag with both hands, walked over and kicked Cai Fangyuan.
Cai Fangyuan was laughing just now, and now he is still laughing after being kicked by Lin Qile.
"Why are you crying!" Cai Fangyuan shouted, a little at a loss.
Lin Qile blew out birthday candles at home in April. She turned twelve.
Squad Leader Yu took a bite of the cake Lin Qile gave him and said, "Cherry, come to the provincial capital and live with Uncle Yu after junior high school!"
Yu Qiao's mother also said, "I'm so annoyed with having two boys at home. Cherry is here to keep Auntie company and relieve her boredom!"
The adults were all cheering, and Electrician Lin also asked, "Cherry, do you want to go?"
"I don't..." Lin Qile stuck to Electrician Lin and ate her cream cake.
The Yu family was large, so the move had to be split into two groups. Grandma Yu passed away on April 16, along with Yu Qiao's mother and younger cousin Yu Jin. Yu Qiao and his son were the only ones left at home, so they simply went to Electrician Lin's house for a free meal.
That night, Yu Qiao sat on the edge of Lin Qile's small bed and flipped through the comic book "The Phantom Thief Saint Girl" on the bedside table.
"What's so good about this?" He didn't understand why Lin Qile loved reading comic books so much.
Lin Qile stuffed his mouth with shrimp crackers and said, "It's much better than your Sports Weekly!"
Yu Qiao turned her head to look at her and saw that Lin Qile's mouth was bulging.
When it came to him, she never acted like a girl.
"How old are you? How long do you want to stick to your dad?" Yu Qiao asked.
Lin Qile was stunned and swallowed the shrimp crackers: "What's wrong?"
"Your parents want you to go to the provincial capital, you know?" Yu Qiao said.
Lin Qile was silent for a while.
"My parents are so pitiful," she said, "I want to be with them..."
Yu Qiao left Lin Qile's house in the dark. Lin Qile chased him out, wanting to say goodbye. Yu Qiao didn't even turn his head, but raised his hand and waved, as a farewell.
In June, the sixth grade students of Zhongneng Power Plant Primary School were making final preparations for their graduation examinations.
Du Shang told Lin Qile that his father and mother went to the provincial capital to get a divorce.
Lin Qile sat on a heating pipe wrapped in black insulation and asked, "Why do we have to go to the provincial capital to do this?"
Du Shang sat next to her and thought for a moment: "Because my mother's household registration is in Qinghai, and my father's household registration is in the provincial capital."
Lin Qile stopped talking.
Since the New Year, Lin Qile felt that Duchamp had grown up overnight. Just like a weak boy who slays a dragon in one day, he finally dispelled the dark clouds that had been hanging over his head for years. He was about to become a hero.
Du Shang held the tape of "Fantasy" in his hand and said: "My father also gave the house in the provincial capital to me and my mother."
Lin Qile said "hmm".
All other friends were gone, only the two of them. Even the family compound at the Qunshan construction site had many people move away in the past few months. The adults said that the project here was about to end, and only the finishing work was left.
Duchamp sat next to Lin Qile and suddenly hummed a melody.
Lin Qile recognized that it was the prelude to a song in Jay Chou's tape.
Duchamp began to sing something in his mouth.
If he had wings and was ready to leave at any time, he would take his mother away.
"I find it more interesting to sing rap in Chinese," Du Shang said to Lin Qile, shaking his head, "I didn't even know what the lyrics of Hot meant before."
Lin Qile said "hmm" again.
"Duchamp," Lin Qile said softly, "this tape is for you."
Dushan was stunned: "No, I wanted to return it to you-"
"I bought another plate." said Lin Qile.
Duchamp looked at her.
"You cried when Jiang Qiaoxi transferred, you cried when Cai Fangyuan transferred, and you cried when Yu Qiao transferred," Du Shang paused and smiled, "Now that I'm transferred, you should stop crying."
"Yes." Lin Qile nodded and agreed to him.
"Then... when I get to the provincial capital, I'll go to Jiang Qiaoxi's house and block him for you!" Du Shang said, rolling up his sleeves as he spoke, "I'll ask him, why didn't you call our Yingtao?"
At the end of June, the graduation examination of Zhongneng Power Plant Primary School was over.
On the way home from school, Lin Qile ran home alone, carrying his small schoolbag.
As soon as she entered the door, she shouted, "Dad! Mom! My score is good enough to get into Qunshan No. 1 Middle School!"
As the last group of people left at the construction site, Lin and his wife, electricians, are now facing many inconveniences in their lives. Because the workers were transferred to other construction sites, the dormitory area was demolished ahead of schedule.
As the number of people decreased, even the tobacco, alcohol, restaurant and breakfast stalls on the street outside the compound closed down.
Now, if you want to buy something, you have to go to the city's shopping mall. After hearing the good news, Lin the Electrician happily picked up Lin Yingtao and said, "Juanzi! Let's go to the city to eat hot pot tonight to celebrate!"
Mother Lin quickly called the home of squad leader Yu in the provincial capital. She said excitedly, "Oh, yes! He can go to No. 1 Middle School!"
Lin Yingtao sat in front of the mirror and re-combed her two crooked ponytails. She put on the dress her mother had just bought for her and her red leather shoes and went out.
Mother Lin was closing the door at the back, and Electrician Lin said, "Cherry, walk slower!"
Lin Yingtao was walking very fast in front, leading the way for her parents.