Qin Yeyun said, do you know so-and-so and so-and-so from Class 4? They are going abroad together. The monitor of Class 11 is going to take the independent enrollment exam for Nanyang Technological University. His girlfriend is from Class 17, and they are taking the exam together.
Lin Qile curled up in his bed. On the last day of the Beijing Elite School Summer Camp, other students went to Peking University to experience the last glory of the elite school, but Lin Qile stayed in bed in the hotel, whispering to Qin Yeyun who was too lazy to walk around.
"I can't get into Berkeley again." Lin Qile covered his head with the quilt.
Qin Yeyun said: "Are you talking about Wang Leehom's Berkeley?"
Lin Qile sat up from the bed, her hair disheveled. She sat there for a while in silence, then said, "No..."
"You shouldn't have let him go," Qin Yeyun sat on the bed next to him, with his back to the sunlight outside the window, "A man like Jiang Qiaoxi would only hang around you in the mountains or in the provincial capital. When he goes to the United States, there will be so many people around him, all of whom have money, looks, and talent. He will be really overwhelmed by the choice, and slowly he will definitely forget that there is someone like you!"
"Qin Yeyun," Lin Qile sat in bed, wanting to cry but unable to, "Can you please stop talking about me..."
Qin Yeyun was sitting opposite him. He was used to Lin Qile's cheerful and thick-skinned appearance, and rarely saw her like this.
"What are you doing? I'm kidding you!" She sat down beside Lin Qile's bed and hugged the annoying little girl. She felt Lin Qile's back trembling. Lin Qile was so delicate, but she didn't know how to act like a spoiled child to Jiang Qiaoxi at the critical moment. Qin Yeyun couldn't understand it at all.
"You see, he didn't necessarily forget you. He gave you cherries," Qin Yeyun said. "The English word for cherry is cherry. You forgot the reading comprehension we did before. Cherry sounds a lot like cherish, which means to cherish. So giving cherries abroad means giving them to the people you cherish in your heart!"
Lin Qile was moved by Qin Yeyun's words. But she was only moved for two seconds when she heard Qin Yeyun say, "Besides, you can be dazzled by your choices. Du Shang likes you! No, Du Shang is looking for a date... It's okay. There's still your class monitor, Feng Letian!"
When Lin Qile boarded the train home, Jiang Qiaoxi sent her a text message, asking if she had boarded the train. On the surface, the two of them and their contact with each other were no different from the past.
Maybe they are both deliberately ignoring something, ignoring all future possibilities, and then tacitly extending the duration of a certain relationship.
Cai Fangyuan sat next to Lin Qile, eating melon seeds, and asked her seriously why she didn't go to the United States.
Lin Qile hugged his knees and sat in Cai Fangyuan's sleeper berth. "I can't think of why I should go. I don't know anyone in the United States, and my English is not good enough..."
Cai Fangyuan said: "Don't you know Jiang Qiaoxi?"
Lin Qile said: "I only know him, how can I go there..."
Cai Fangyuan blinked, lowered his head and said, "He, he has always been like this, you know. You can't do it, I understand, you really can't do it."
Lin Qile didn't understand what Cai Fangyuan understood. She said, "I can't get into Jiang Qiaoxi's university either."
Cai Fangyuan looked at her and said, "You can apply to other schools. There are many other schools nearby. Many of them can be attended with money."
Lin Qile said: "It would be embarrassing if I went to a bad school."
"What's there to be ashamed of?" Cai Fangyuan said.
Lin Qile lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Cai Fangyuan said, "Do you really have to go to the same school as him?"
Lin Qile said: "I already have no parents, no friends, and only know Jiang Qiaoxi. If I go to a bad university..." As she spoke, she pursed her lips.
Du Shang said from the other side: "That's right, why would she go there? Cherry is doing well in China, and she's not in the same situation as Jiang Qiaoxi. What would Cherry do there?"
Cai Fangyuan turned to Lin Qile and said, "I didn't realize you were so timid before."
Yu Qiao came over from the next carriage with a few cans of iced cola in his hand. He walked up to Cai Fangyuan and handed one of the cans to Lin Qile.
Lin Qile raised his swollen eyes to look at him, whispered "thank you", and then took it.
She closed her eyes and placed the water-soaked Coke can against her eyelids.
Yu Qiao told Cai Fangyuan that when Lin Yingtao was a child, she wanted to go see the white geese, but she never went alone. She always brought a large group of people with her.
"Didn't she run from the mountains to the provincial capital?" Cai Fangyuan said.
Yu Qiao was texting over there, saying, "She was desperate. There was no one in the mountains. What else could she do but run to the provincial capital to find someone?"
When he said this, he raised his eyes and glanced at Lin Yingtao, who had already opened the eye mask and drank half of it. She also glanced in the direction of Yu Qiao, as if she wanted to drink the can that Yu Qiao hadn't opened.
Du Shang said from the side: "That's right. If Cherry wants to find someone in the mountains, she can come to the provincial capital. If she goes to the United States, what if Jiang Qiaoxi treats her badly, what if she is unhappy there, how can Cherry come to us!"
Yu Qiao reached out and took his own can, opened it, and drank most of it in one go. Lin Yingtao glanced at him and then looked away in dismay.
Senior year has started. Every day, besides reviewing in class, Lin Qile is thinking about what she wants to do in the future. Most of her classmates have clear aspirations, but Lin Qile is still confused. She talked about this when Jiang Qiaoxi called her. Jiang Qiaoxi planned to study statistics in undergraduate studies and also chose this subject in the AP exam. His mathematical talent is so outstanding that Jiang Qiaoxi can try anything he wants. But Lin Qile doesn't have any special talents. She hasn't even found her ideal major.
Maybe she should choose a major like accounting, like many of her classmates, to make it easier to find a job in the future.
But Lin Qile vaguely felt that this was not what she wanted.
Even Jiang Qiaoxi said to her: "You will find it, Cherry, don't worry."
Cai Fangyuan plans to study computer science. His own website seems to be doing well now. He occasionally receives calls from advertisers at school, so he is quite busy. Lin Qile went to his house on the weekend because Manager Cai went on a business trip to Chifeng and brought back two Inner Mongolian lambs from the trunk of his car. He unloaded two lamb legs for Lin Qile to take home and let his parents cook.
Lin Qile sat next to Cai Fangyuan's computer, eating the big strawberries in the bowl and watching the American TV series "The Big Bang Theory" on the computer screen, which tells the stories of American scientists. Lin Qile said as he watched, "Do all people in the United States live in houses like this?"
Cai Fangyuan ate strawberries without looking at Lin Qile and said, "Yes, there are also blonde beauties like this next door."
Lin Qile was silent and unhappy. After a while, she said, "Look at the subtitle group. You and Huang Zhanjie used to just make up stories."
Cai Fangyuan said that Huang Zhanjie had been arguing with his parents recently.
"Why?"
"He wrote a novel. He wanted to study Chinese, but his parents insisted that he study architecture. I don't think he would get the score."
After entering the third year of high school, Huang Zhanjie was not the only one who quarreled with his family.
Xin Tingting cried and called Lin Qile at the South Campus, saying that she and her class secretary had texted, and her mother saw it: "We were just talking about going to college together, but she insisted that I was in a premature relationship!"
Lin Qile heard that she was crying so hard, so he asked her if she wanted to come to his house to play on the weekend.
Xin Tingting choked up and said, "My mother...she won't let me go find you."
"Why?" Lin Qile asked.
She suddenly realized the reason.
"Manager Jiang's son is going abroad, so Engineer Lin's daughter is left alone. What do you think a premature love relationship can end well?"
Yu Qiao signed up for air force and civil aviation pilot programs as soon as his senior year of high school began. In October, he had to study while preparing for the civil aviation interview and the air force preliminary examination.
At this busy time, he received a letter from the class life committee member. It was a light blue envelope with elegant handwriting on it. It was sent from No. 2 Middle School.
Several boys from the school team came over and tried to make fun of Yu Qiao, trying to snatch the letter and open it. "Stop it," Yu Qiao said impatiently while writing on the test paper, and stretched out his hand, "Give it to me!"
He stuffed the letter into the drawer and lowered his head to continue writing the questions.
Lin Qile sat next to Huang Zhanjie and looked back at him for a while.
In the evening after school, Geng Xiaoqing called and asked about the letter. Lin Qile was sitting on the bus, watching Qin Yeyun happily talking to Yu Qiao in the front, and suddenly he felt very guilty.
"He kept the letter and didn't let anyone else open it." Lin Qile said honestly.
"Really?" Geng Xiaoqing said happily.
Lin Qile said "hmm", and after a while, she asked quietly: "Xiaoqing, you... you like Yu Qiao?"
"What do you like about him? Did you chat with him in Beijing?"
Geng Xiaoqing said: "Yingtao, I fell in love with Yu Qiao the first time you described him to me."
There were fewer and fewer students who attended classes regularly. Some were preparing for independent enrollment, some wanted to have a final try in the competition, and some were preparing to go abroad, such as Cen Xiaoman. Lin Qile heard from his classmates that Cen Xiaoman was studying for the SAT and would go to Hong Kong to prepare for the AP exam next semester. She was going to the University of California, Davis, which was only a two-hour drive from Jiang Qiaoxi's school.
Of course, Lin Qile would be somewhat envious and admire Cen Xiaoman's courage and ability, which she did not possess.
And what does Lin Qile have
As he got closer to his senior year of high school and the age of eighteen, a fork in his life, Lin Qile began to ponder such questions more and more.
Jiang Qiaoxi has been a bit busy with his studies recently, so it was always late when he called. Lin Qile wanted to hear his voice a few times, but she didn't want to continue the conversation because she could feel that Jiang Qiaoxi was very tired and sleepy.
"Why is it so tiring to study?" Lin Qile asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "You often asked this question when you were a child."
Lin Qile said: "So why, you have already taken the TOEFL and SAT."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "No reason, there is nothing else to do."
"Can't you go to your cousin's house?" Lin Qile asked.
"I used to go there for fun during holidays," Jiang Qiaoxi said. "My cousin has his own life, and I'm going to be 18 soon, so I should be independent."
Lin Qile said, "Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "I want to chat with you again."
"Why?"
"I don't know either," Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly laughed, "Yingtao, if there is a profession that can make people happy, you can go and be a researcher."
Traffic Music Radio said that Jay Chou's 2007 world tour will move to Shanghai at the end of November. This will also be his only performance in the mainland this year.
Whenever Duchamp had time, he would wander around the school buildings, handing out flyers with a blushing face. On weekends, he would go to the classrooms of nearby cram schools to promote Cai Fangyuan's strange website called "1990 Hard Love."
Boss Cai Fangyuan waved his hand and paid for two 880 yuan tickets for his good brother Du Shang and his girlfriend to go on a date in Shanghai.
There was major international news on TV: the second meeting between the North Korean and South Korean leaders.
"President Roh Moo-hyun and his wife crossed the yellow line and shook hands with North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-il. This day is destined to go down in history!"
At the end of October, a large banner was hung in front of the Xinhua Bookstore: The Harry Potter series of novels, which accompanied the entire childhood of the 80s and 90s, is about to come to an end.
There were so many adults and children queuing up in the bookstore to buy the last copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Lin Qile was waiting in line with her schoolbag on her back while looking down at her English vocabulary book. In the middle of the queue, Huang Zhanjie came back from McDonald's and handed her a vanilla milkshake. The two of them stood together waiting.
Huang Zhanjie looked at the long crowd in front of him and suddenly sighed: "When will I have as many readers as Auntie Rowling..."
"By then, your parents won't object to you writing novels." Lin Qile looked at him.
Huang Zhanjie raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, with a hint of evil charm.
Lin Qile finished his homework at home, took a bath, and curled up in bed, concentrating on watching the finale of "Harry Potter". It was almost 12 o'clock when his father knocked on the door from outside, pushed the door open, and whispered, "What's wrong with you? Go to bed early."
Lin Qile quickly inserted the bookmark into the book, pulled back the quilt, lay down and closed his eyes.
What she used as a bookmark was a broken Chinese Olympic Winter Camp membership card. Jiang Qiaoxi's face was covered with cracked plastic lines, which Lin Yingtao carefully glued back together.
In the photo, Jiang Qiaoxi looked completely different. He seemed to hate himself and wanted to break away from the past. Lin Qile always knew that he had his own Voldemort to defeat.
Lin Qile had been reading Deathly Hallows for almost a week. Sometimes she would pick up the bookmark and stare at Jiang Qiaoxi's emotionless eyes as he wore his school uniform.
Her entire girlhood, her entire adolescence, was all about him.
Jiang Qiaoxi would send text messages from time to time. He went to his cousin's house for dinner on the weekend, and his cousin had a puppy named Lassie. Jiang Qiaoxi sent a photo of him and Lassie, and this photo suddenly made Lin Qile understand why Jiang Qiaoxi was moved when he heard her mention "little rabbit" when he came to Qunshan.
The boy in the photo who is smiling on the bench holding Lassie is actually the same person as the lifeless "Jiang Qiaoxi" on the camper's card.
"I've finished watching the finale of Harry Potter."
Jiang Qiaoxi left the study room late at night and returned to his nearby rental. There were carts selling Hong Kong-style desserts on the roadside, mothers holding their children, and couples hugging and kissing. Even in Hong Kong, Jiang Qiaoxi sometimes felt that Cherry was with him. In his childhood, he learned to rely on fantasy to get spiritual comfort.
He asked on the phone: "Is it a good ending?"
"Well," Lin Qile sat on the bed, rubbing her red eyes, and reading the book on her knees, "Harry defeated Voldemort. Justice defeated evil, light defeated darkness, and love defeated hate."
Jiang Qiaoxi asked: "And then?"
"Then Harry became an Auror and stayed with Ron, Hermione and the others. He married Ginny and had a happy family with three children. He sent them to Hogwarts."
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "He is so happy."
"Well," Lin Qile turned to the last page and read the last sentence to Jiang Qiaoxi, "The scar has not hurt for 19 years. Everything is peaceful."
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
*On September 24, 2007 (Beijing time September 25), "The Big Bang Theory" officially premiered.
*Jay Chou's second stop of the 2007 World Tour was held in Shanghai on November 24, 2007. This was also the only one in mainland China that year.
*On October 28, 2007, the finale of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in mainland China.
*McDonald's vanilla milkshake was discontinued in 2014.