At half past nine, Squad Leader Yu was still sitting in the living room of Electrician Lin's house. Two middle-aged men were drinking wine and watching Lü Xiucai and Guo Furong quarreling on TV. Squad Leader Yu was shaking cigarettes into the ashtray, watching the TV show and laughing, stroking the kitten that was purring on his knees.
"How could Yu Jin get drunk at home?" asked Electrician Lin.
"Oh, I'm so worried," squad leader Yu cursed softly, "I didn't even know that Yu Qiao hid some wine in his room."
"As a boy," Lin the electrician advised him, "Yu Qiao is very sensible."
"It's still easier to worry about your daughter, Lao Lin," Squad Leader Yu said, sighing, "Now there's Du Yongchun's son at home, three boys, I get annoyed if I stay at home for even a minute."
Electrician Lin laughed out loud from the side.
Squad Leader Yu said, "I'll bring you one tomorrow. I'll bring you two! I'll take the cherries away."
Lin Yingtao came out of the house. She had just finished taking a shower and had her hair blown dry and draped over her shoulders. "Dad, Uncle Yu, I'm going to bed!"
Electrician Lin quickly said "Oh" and used the remote control to turn down the TV volume.
Squad Leader Yu said, "Cherry is going to bed so early!"
Lin Yingtao asked: "Where's my mother?"
Electrician Lin said, "She went to Yu Qiao's house. Yu Jin is sick, go check on her."
It was 9:40. Jiang Qiaoxi finished his communication class and returned to his dormitory exhausted. His roommate had already made the bed and was ready to go to sleep. After all, the lights were turned off at 10 p.m. at the Foreign Languages High School, and dormitory inspections were very strict.
I will stay here for one day today, another day tomorrow, and go back the day after tomorrow. Jiang Qiaoxi put down the papers and pen in his hand, took out his cell phone from his trouser pocket, and checked the time.
"Hey, Jiang Qiaoxi, I unplugged your charger for you," his roommate said to him, "I think it's already fully charged."
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded, took the cell phone battery out of the charger and put it in his pocket.
Pushing open the door of the dormitory bathroom, Jiang Qiaoxi turned on the tap and washed his face with cold water. He stood there for a while, thought about it, and then took the toothbrush and started brushing his teeth.
Suddenly, someone pushed the door open. Jiang Qiaoxi looked up and saw that they were several classmates from the foreign language competition class who were taking the communication class together.
"Jiang Qiaoxi, can we...can we ask you a few more questions?" They blocked the bathroom door.
Jiang Qiaoxi still had a toothbrush in his mouth.
My roommates were all lying on their beds. Now they sat up and said, "Hey guys, let's go tomorrow. It's already this late, turn off the lights!"
Those students hurriedly apologized, left, and closed the dormitory door from the outside. Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head to brush his teeth, and in his mind, time jumped back precisely second by second.
The roommate was still sitting on the bed. When he saw Jiang Qiaoxi coming out, he said attentively, "Well, Jiang Qiaoxi, I might talk in my sleep at night. If I disturb you—"
"It's okay." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
He could often hear louder things at night.
My roommate smiled and said, "Also, thank you for explaining the questions to us today. You are so nice. I thought you were not willing to talk to us!"
Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at him, nodded, and took out a lighter from his schoolbag.
It was nine forty-five. Lin Yingtao, in her pajamas, filled the cat's water bowl and went to water the evergreen potted plant by the window. She took a comb and sat by the bed, combing her hair slowly. Her hair had grown longer and it was time to get it cut.
Lin Yingtao raised her eyes and tried to pull her eyelashes with her fingers to see how long they were. She sat on the bed for a while, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. Suddenly, the phone on the table vibrated, and Lin Yingtao raised her head in shock.
A text message appeared on the screen.
New information from Duchamp:
[Cherry, do you know what the password for Yu Jin's kid Wenquxing is? ? ]
Lin Yingtao picked up her phone and replied: "I'm very busy today, please don't text me!"
Soon, Duchamp replied again.
[It’s Qin Yeyun’s birthday!!!]
Lin Yingtao was originally very annoyed and wanted to break up with Du Shang immediately, but she was still surprised. She replied: "Really??"
It was already 9:55, Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting on the toilet seat in the bathroom, smoking and reading a book. The lighter and cigarette box were placed next to him, and there were already spots of cigarette ash on the floor.
Through a door, he could hear his temporary roommate calling home.
"Okay, Mom! I'll be back the day after tomorrow! Jiang Qiaoxi and I were assigned to the same dormitory. Jiang Qiaoxi! He's ranked first in the province this year! Of course I have to study hard. Do you need me to tell you... Okay, okay, the lights will be turned off soon! Just buy something. I'll... just have Nanjing duck!"
Suddenly, the overhead lights went out.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the dark and looked up. There was a red spark between his fingers. He reached into his trouser pocket and took out his cell phone.
The screen lit up and he flipped through his address book. He had few friends, so he found the one he found quickly.
Lin Yingtao turned off the bedroom light and pretended to be asleep. She crawled into bed, put earphones in her ears, and turned sideways to open a diary beside her pillow.
With the faint light from the bedside, Lin Yingtao silently read the contents of the diary. How long ago was this written? The handwriting had been blurred by water, and the pages were uneven, as if they were soaked with water.
Buzz buzz buzz—her cell phone screen lit up beside her pillow.
Lin Yingtao put down the diary and immediately leaned over to read it.
It was a call from an unfamiliar number.
Lin Yingtao was lying on the head of the bed, her long hair hanging down from her ears, hanging on the screen of her mobile phone, hanging on the number.
The screen stayed on for 56 seconds, then turned into a missed call record. Lin Yingtao stared at the screen, she was stunned for a while, watching the screen gradually go dark.
Lin Yingtao turned back and lay back on the pillow. She couldn't help but take a deep breath again because she felt nervous and it seemed uncontrollable. She opened the diary and continued to read it closely. She wanted to find out how many times she had called Jiang Qiaoxi when she was a child, but she couldn't count at all.
In particular, when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school, she was always crying, didn't study math well, and couldn't even keep clear notes in her diary.
The handwriting was also messy. Lin Yingtao flipped through the pages and found that several pages were filled with depressed watercolor doodles by elementary school students, or there were no doodles at all, just wet pages.
"Yu Qiao and Du Shang called me today. People in the provincial capital can call Qunshan." Occasionally, there would be clear words that formed a sentence. "Why didn't Jiang Qiaoxi call me?"
In the headphones, a female singer is singing a song.
Hard work, happiness, patience and dedication.
Lin Yingtao held the diary in her arms. She felt that what she was holding was not a notebook that she had been reluctant to throw away for so many years. What she was holding was a little girl who was always crying out of grievance. Even Lin Yingtao felt sorry for her.
Outside the window, the moonlight is hazy and shines into Lin Yingtao's window.
The pillow vibrated again.
Lin Yingtao raised her head and moved closer.
It was that strange number again, calling at exactly 10:10.
Lin Yingtao walked into the living room, and Dad and Uncle Yu were still watching "Wulin Wai Zhuan" outside. "Why did you wake up?" they asked.
"Dad, I want to use your phone," she said.
Lin Yingtao sat on a small stool in the kitchen and called Cai Fangyuan's home. The person who answered the phone was Cai Fangyuan's father: "Fangyuan, Fangyuan, Yingtao is looking for you!"
Cai Fangyuan answered the phone: "What time is it, sister?"
Lin Yingtao spoke with a nasal tone. She asked, "What is Jiang Qiaoxi's cell phone number? Do you know?"
When Cai Fangyuan heard this, he was stunned.
"He asked me for your cell phone number a few days ago," Cai Fangyuan put down the phone and went to look for his phone. After a while, he came back and said, "Let me read it out to you."
Lin Yingtao wrote down the string of numbers on her palm with a pen. Her palm was sweaty as she traced it again.
She put down her father's phone and closed her door. Lin Yingtao lay back on the bed and looked at the phone screen beside her pillow.
There are already two missed calls.
Lin Yingtao opened her palms and said, "That's right."
She sniffed suddenly.
At 10:30, Lin Yingtao's cell phone suddenly rang again. Lin Yingtao was still lying on her side in the quilt, eyes wide open. Her pillow was wet, and her hair was also wet, sticking to her cheeks, sticking and itchy. Lin Yingtao hugged the diary in her arms and closed her eyes fiercely.
Ten minutes later, Lin Yingtao opened her eyes and looked at her phone sideways.
She heard her mother opening the door and coming home. Her mother said Yu Jin's fever had subsided. It seemed that Uncle Yu was also leaving and was saying goodbye to her father.
Suddenly, her cell phone started buzzing again.
Lin Yingtao was startled. She held her breath and looked at the lit screen of her mobile phone.
She hid in the quilt and thought, she hated him, she hated Jiang Qiaoxi.
But she was also unconsciously afraid and worried.
Soon, the screen went dark again.
Lin Yingtao felt a chill in her heart.
She turned over on her pillow to sleep on the side that was not soaking wet.
The bedroom door was pushed open. Lin Yingtao closed her eyes tightly and pretended to be asleep. She felt her mother coming over, tucking the quilt for her, and taking the old diary from her hand.
Mom went out quickly and closed the door.
Lin Yingtao opened her eyes in the dark and saw the little stray cat she brought back from South School standing in front of her and licking her cheek.
Lin Yingtao fell asleep in a state of loss and sadness. She was not sure what she was doing, she just felt that there were too many complicated emotions in her heart and it was difficult to sort them out. From the time she was eleven years old to now, when she was sixteen years old, Lin Yingtao no longer had a headache because of studying or doing exercises, but when she thought of Jiang Qiaoxi and the past, Lin Yingtao still felt very uncomfortable and painful.
"Jiang Qiaoxi".
Full of humiliation, unpleasant experiences, ridicule, and mockery. Jiang Qiaoxi's photo was hung at the top of the commendation board, and he was so far away from Lin Yingtao. He was no longer the Jiang Qiaoxi who would sit on Lin Yingtao's bamboo mat, force her to do her homework, play games with her, watch her laugh, watch her make trouble, eat shrimp chips together, feed the little rabbit, and listen to music with her on the crib.
Nothing is forever.
Lin Yingtao may have been sweating, because when she woke up in the morning, her pillow was still wet, and even her hair on her neck was wet. She woke up, and sunlight shone in through the gap in the curtains.
When Lin Yingtao saw the cell phone placed next to the pillow, she was stunned for a moment, trying to recall what happened last night.
New information comes from Jiang Qiaoxi:
[Cherry, I'm sorry.]
Lin Yingtao looked down at the phone screen.
She opened her eyes and was stunned as she looked at the words.
She unlocked the screen, clicked on the inbox, entered the complete text message interface, and looked at it carefully.
The email was sent at 2:54 this morning, in the middle of the night.
The sound of birds singing came from outside the window, and a small figure jumped onto Lin Yingtao's desk and approached the window.
Meow! It's a young cat pretending to be a tiger to show off its power.
Lin Yingtao looked at it and suddenly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She opened her eyes again, and her vision soon became blurry again.
At ten past seven, Lin Yingtao had just taken off her pajamas and put on an apple-collared shirt under her school uniform. She wiped her nose with tissue paper and the paper balls were scattered everywhere.
Her cell phone, which was placed beside the bed, suddenly buzzed again.
Lin Yingtao wanted to go out and wash her face, but she just stood there in a daze.
She picked up her phone.
"Cherries?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked over there.
Lin Yingtao took a deep breath and put the phone to her ear.
"Are you up?" Jiang Qiaoxi said.
"Yeah." Lin Yingtao responded in a muffled voice.
"I was afraid that you went to bed early yesterday and didn't hear the call, so..." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
"I heard it." Lin Yingtao choked.
She didn't say anything else.
Jiang Qiaoxi was silent over there.
Lin Yingtao was still sniffing from time to time.
It feels very useless, especially compared with Jiang Qiaoxi's usual silence.
Maybe Lin Yingtao should add, I heard it, I just didn't want to answer it, I was just angry with you, why should I stop being angry, why should I call you so many times -
"Can I call you again tonight?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked.
Lin Yingtao was stunned.
"Cherry," Mom said from outside the door, "Why don't you come out to wash your face and brush your teeth?" The bedroom door was pushed open. "Why don't you put on your pants? Look at your underwear and school uniform thrown everywhere—"
Lin Yingtao hurriedly ended the call. "Mom!" she cried, "I was on the phone! Who let you in?!"
Jiang Qiaoxi stood at the entrance of the cafeteria of the Foreign Languages High School. He looked at his forehead through the glass on the door. The phone was suddenly hung up. He lowered his head and looked at his phone again. Seeing the word "Cherry", he put the phone in his trouser pocket.
When Jiang Qiaoxi left home yesterday morning, he was still feeling lucky that he didn't have to go home at night. He could sleep peacefully in the dormitory of another school and call Lin Yingtao without worrying about anyone finding out.
But now, he really wants to go back to school.
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
* "Wulin Wai Zhuan": A chapter-based costume sitcom directed by Shang Jing and starring Yan Ni, Sha Yi, Yao Chen, Yu Entai, Jiang Chao, Wang Shasha and others. It premiered on CCTV's TV drama channel on January 2, 2006.