In August 2005, Lin Qile was sitting in the back seat of a taxi in the provincial capital, listening to the driver chatting with his parents.
"You guys are from the power industry!" the driver exclaimed. "I heard that people in the power industry are very rich!"
Electrician Lin looked embarrassed and smiled: "We are just workers."
In Lin Qile's impression, when he was a child, everyone lived in bungalows and did not feel so strongly that people were divided into different classes.
The taxi driver stopped the car at the entrance of the headquarters community. Lin Qile got out of the car and heard his father say, "Yu Qiao and Cai Fangyuan's families both live in the West District, and Du Shang and our family live in the East District."
Lin Qile put on her schoolbag, picked up the evergreen potted plant and the sunflower in her hands, raised her head and looked at the tall buildings around her, and at the "Provincial Headquarters Community" that her brothers and sisters had mentioned countless times when she was a child.
The moving company had already arranged the furniture. Lin Qile walked into his own home. At the age of fifteen, Lin Qile finally had a bedroom that truly belonged to him, instead of a small bedroom separated from his parents by a large wardrobe.
Du Shang and Yu Qiao came over at noon to help Uncle Lin move the remaining boxes. In the afternoon, Qin Yeyun also came.
After three years, Lin Qile met Qin Yeyun again. The two little girls had grown up and would never fight each other again. In a way, their relationship was even closer than that with Yu Qiao and the others. This was the natural boundary between them because of their gender.
Qin Yeyun still had permed hair, and was wearing a small vest, shorts, and beach slippers. She was playing with the old Barbie doll that Lin Qile brought from the mountains, and she couldn't believe it and said, "Lin Yingtao, how did a fool like you get into the provincial admissions program of Experimental High School?"
Lin Qile had almost packed her small luggage. She said: "This shows that I am actually very smart!"
"Come on," Qin Yeyun couldn't help but become sarcastic again and teased her, "Don't tell me it's the power of love. Jiang Qiaoxi—"
Du Shang came in with a basket of jujube flour buns that Lin's mother had just steamed. When he heard Qin Yeyun's words, he suddenly started coughing loudly.
"What the hell," Qin Yeyun turned around and choked him, "You scared me!"
Manager Cai called Electrician Lin and said, "Lin Haifeng, why haven't you brought your daughter to the provincial capital yet?"
Electrician Lin held the Motorola phone in his hand and said with a smile, "Here I come. Cherry! Your Uncle Cai wants to talk to you!"
Manager Cai is not in the provincial capital now. He has gone to a new construction site and a new project department as a manager. Manager Cai said on the phone: "Cherry, let Cai Fangyuan take you to the aquarium tomorrow. You are here when school is almost starting. Have you learned about the high school courses? Your uncle Yu had discussed with me before, wanting to get you a place as a transfer student in Experimental High School. I didn't expect you to be admitted to the provincial entrance examination! My little girl, your uncle saw that you were smart when you were young, otherwise how could you be selected for 'Taishan Tourism'-"
When Lin Qile and Yu Qiao went out to play in the mountains when they were young, they always held someone's hand. But now they have grown up.
The strong gender characteristics of each person made Lin Qile realize that she could no longer go out holding the hand of any boy.
Manager Cai's driver drove a private car to pick up Lin Qile downstairs to go to the aquarium. Yu Qiao and the others were in the car, and Cai Fangyuan was also there. He sat in the passenger seat, still fat, but not like a soft ball like when he was a child. He had grown taller, and the flesh on his arms was much firmer.
Cai Fangyuan had a cell phone in his pocket, and something that Lin Qile had never seen before. Du Shang sat in the back seat and asked Cai Fangyuan to borrow it to listen to. He told Lin Qile that it was called an "ipod mini".
An earphone was inserted into Lin Qile's ear, and a female singer sang: "Regardless of everything—"
"iPod, is it the same as MP3?" Lin Qile asked.
Cai Fangyuan turned around and said, "Lin Yingtao, Jiang Qiaoxi can't come today."
Dushan looked up and said, "Why do you keep mentioning him? You don't expect him to come!"
Cai Fangyuan said, "His parents arranged for him to study for a math competition during the summer vacation, so he couldn't go anywhere." He added, "I just told Lin Yingtao about this!"
Lin Yingtao sat in the back seat, listening to Vivian's songs attentively, and didn't say anything. In fact, she also wanted to tell him not to mention Jiang Qiaoxi to her all the time.
Lin Yingtao was fifteen years old. She had just arrived in a big city and entered one of the best high schools in the province. She should be able to forget Jiang Qiaoxi very quickly. After all, she was still young and would always meet new people she liked.
When watching the dolphin show at the aquarium, there were too many spectators and Lin Yingtao was watching so intently that when she came to her senses, she could no longer find the people around her.
Fortunately, Yu Qiao is tall and can be seen everywhere.
Lin Yingtao was jumping in the crowd and calling him. Yu Qiao heard it, turned around, grabbed Lin Qile's hand, and told her not to run around.
"You can get lost even when visiting an oceanarium, and yet you still want to live in the South Campus." Yu Qiao glanced down at Lin Qile.
Lin Qile pouted, a completely unconscious reaction. She said, "I didn't get lost when I was in the mountains myself."
Yu Qiao said, "It seems that you only get lost when there are people around you."
Lin Qile said that this is not the case.
"If there's no one around, I can just follow the signpost and walk out by myself," Lin Qile said to Yu Qiao when she saw Cai Fangyuan and others waiting for them at the exit of the aquarium, "but I don't like walking by myself."
When she said this, she felt Yu Qiao suddenly let go of her hand and ruffled her hair.
Before school started, Class Monitor Yu came to Lin Qile's home and introduced a new classmate to Lin Qile.
Her name is Xin Tingting. She is also a member of the Electric Power Construction Company. She had been living at the Laishui construction site before and only moved to the provincial capital headquarters this year.
A few days later, she will report to the South Campus of Experimental High School like Lin Qile.
"Yu Qiao and the other boys are all day students at this school. If you have any problems, you can ask him to help you," Class Monitor Yu said to the two girls, "You two are the only ones living in the South Campus. You must be good friends, help each other, and be obedient!"
Xin Tingting is a good girl. She studies well and listens to her parents. Her family education is even stricter than Lin Qile imagined. She won't drink Coke or eat shrimp crackers. She doesn't like to read comics. She said, "My mother doesn't let me read these."
Lin Qile couldn't find a topic to chat with her, so he asked: Do you have a favorite star
Xin Tingting pursed her lips and shook her head as if a little scared.
Lin Qile did not mention it to anyone else. She felt that the tutoring Xin Tingting received reminded her of Jiang Qiaoxi.
She couldn't help but feel some sympathy for her.
In mid-August, the new batch of freshmen at the Provincial Experimental High School officially enrolled. They had to take a series of entrance exams, be divided into classes, and then undergo the most difficult military training.
Lin Qile was assigned to Class 29 in the South Campus. Coincidentally, Xin Tingting was also assigned to Class 29. It was a pity that they were not in the same dormitory, otherwise Electrician Lin might have felt more at ease.
At the beginning of the military training, Lin Qile kept refreshing his impression of Xin Tingting in his mind.
"Report to the instructor... I feel a little dizzy..."
"Instructor, can I go to the bathroom? I... I..."
"Report to the instructor, my shoelaces are untied..."
After getting permission, Xin Tingting squatted down to tie her shoelaces. She had only tied half of her shoelaces when her body went limp and she fell to the ground. She could then go back to her dorm to rest for the rest of the afternoon.
Lin Qile faced the scorching sun every day, and saw more and more girls in the class pretending to be sick and running away. Xin Tingting was so good at this, but Lin Qile didn't know how to do it. She was only good at skipping classes in elementary school, and her lies were often discovered.
Xin Tingting looks well-behaved and obedient. She has her hair tied up in a high ponytail behind her head and speaks in a soft voice.
"Qile," she said to Lin Qile while they were having lunch in the student cafeteria, "You should squat down first and lower your center of gravity before falling. This way it won't hurt too much."
How did Xin Tingting master such a mature disguise? She lied without blushing or beating her heart. As an excellent student, no one could find any flaws.
The next day, when Xin Tingting successfully escaped again and turned around and winked at Lin Qile from behind the instructor, Lin Qile finally plucked up the courage and raised his hand.
Before she could even utter the words "report to the instructor", she heard the instructor scolding the boys in her class on the other side of the team.
"Look at the way you are standing! You all have no posture! And you are trying to imitate other girls and find excuses to be lazy. Why don't you look at the girls in your class, look at Lin Qile, huh? Such a pretty girl has been standing there since the first day until now—"
Lin Qile had no choice but to put his hand down awkwardly.
The days of military training were interspersed with class activities. Lin Qile came and went every day in a military green short-sleeved shirt and long pants. Unlike other girls, who had a minute to change clothes, she would change into the clothes she brought with her. The girls in the same dormitory were also fully equipped with curling irons, cosmetics, pots and pans, and they even wanted to ask the nanny to bring the refrigerator and washing machine from home.
In addition to textbooks, a few comic books, some music tapes and a very old Barbie doll were placed on Lin Qile's desk.
"Qile," the girl in the same dormitory also called her like Xin Tingting, "You also...didn't bring any cosmetics?"
They were dressing up for the class meeting and wanted to introduce themselves in a nice way. Fifteen-year-old girls would inevitably pay more attention to boys. They had just started school, so I believed that the teachers would not be particularly fierce.
"Can I wear makeup in high school?" Lin Qile asked.
"It won't be that strict!" These local girls laughed, "Don't we have to wear makeup at the welcome party?"
Lin Qile turned around and opened the drawer next to her.
The girl in the same dormitory suddenly stared at Lin Qile's drawer: "Is that... Chanel?"
Lin Qile's hand paused.
The dormitory head came over and snatched the black tube lipstick that Lin Qile had just received from her hand. She even smelled it and said, "It's really Chanel lipstick!!"
In 2005, Chanel had not yet opened any counters in the provincial capital. For most middle school students, it was still an overseas luxury product that could only be seen in Japanese fashion magazines.
Lin Qile saw her roommates scrambling to hold her lipstick in their hands and look at it. They said, two Cs, this is Chanel.
"It's fun!" a roommate asked, "Aren't you from the countryside... Aren't you from the provincial school? How come you have Chanel?"
"Where did you buy it?"
Lin Qile was surrounded by them and asked, so he had to answer: "I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me-"
"I want to apply some paint! Qile, lend it to me!" said the roommate, and turned back to look for his mirror.
"I want one too!"
This lipstick, which had never been used, was just a decoration in Lin Qile's hand. She thought she should be more sociable, so she took out the lipstick, but she didn't expect her roommates to really use it. Lin Qile realized it later and stood up: "But, it may have expired-"
After all, it was a birthday gift I received four years ago.
"It's expired, but it's still Chanel!" the girls wailed.
At the age of fifteen, the news that "girl X has a Chanel lipstick" would quickly spread among the dormitories. On the way to the classroom, Xin Tingting curiously asked Lin Qile, "Why would someone give you a Chanel lipstick?"
Lin Qile shook her head, perhaps she didn't know why.
"Was it a gift from a boy?" Xin Tingting asked curiously.
Once she arrived at the boarding school and was away from her parents, Xin Tingting seemed to become much more lively.
Lin Qile said "hmm".
"That's really strange," Xin Tingting laughed. "When I was in junior high school, I only saw boys giving girls small pendants, hairpins, watches, etc. This is the first time I've heard of lipstick as a gift. Isn't this a gift for adults..."
The class was already full of students. Fortunately, with Xin Tingting, Lin Qile didn't feel as lonely as she did when she was in Qunshan No. 1 Middle School. She watched the students around her go up to the stage to introduce themselves. Several times, she heard the students on the stage say that they were students from the "Provincial Experimental Middle School Affiliated to the Province" and were very happy to be promoted to the affiliated high school.
Lin Qile unconsciously buried her head lower and lower until the head teacher called her name in front.
Lin Qile had no choice but to walk up despite the gazes of his classmates.
She raised her head and said to the whole class, "I come from the beautiful city of Gunshan. My name is Lin Qile."