Lin Yingtao had a key chain on her wrist. She left the door ajar and walked down the stairs quickly.
It was dark, and the corridor was dark too. It was voice-controlled. Looking from downstairs, it felt like Lin Yingtao was a princess from some magical world, like Harry Potter. Wherever she walked, the lights would light up.
Finally, even the dark first floor in front of Jiang Qiaoxi came on.
Jiang Qiaoxi was carrying a school bag and a bulging travel bag in his hands. He stood in the darkness outside the corridor door, and the street light five meters away cast a silent shadow under his feet.
Lin Yingtao stood on the stairs on the first floor. She opened her eyes wide and looked at him through the gap in the door. Lin Yingtao walked down faster. Her nightgown had suspenders and her sandals made clacking sounds as she stepped on the ground.
Lin Yingtao unlocked the door from the inside and pushed it open to go out. Without this layer of obstruction, she could see Jiang Qiaoxi's face more clearly.
"Jiang Qiaoxi..." she said unconsciously. It seemed like they hadn't seen each other for the entire senior year of high school.
Jiang Qiaoxi also looked down at her, his hand loosened, and the travel bag in his hand fell heavily to his feet.
Bicycles of the electric power construction workers are parked on both sides of the unit door. Not far away, there are residents taking a walk in front of and behind the building. They are walking their dogs, talking while holding their children, and chatting about big and small things with soft laughter. Lin Yingtao has known them since she was a child, and she always calls them "Auntie" when they meet.
Most of Jiang Qiaoxi's body was facing away from the light.
"Jiang Qiaoxi," Lin Yingtao called him softly. Just saying the name made her nose sore. "Where have you been..."
Soon, she was hugged and her voice was swallowed up in a kiss.
Jiang Qiaoxi said nothing. He walked over and hugged Lin Yingtao around her waist, hugging her waist, her thin back, her arms, and her wrists, which were hung with a key chain like a child afraid of losing it. He lowered his head, lowered his neck, and kissed Lin Yingtao's lips very lightly. Lin Yingtao half-raised her head, a little confused at first, and then raised her head a little higher.
Jiang Qiaoxi hugged her even tighter.
He was wearing a dark grey T-shirt, which was wrinkled. He was carrying his schoolbag and kissed her downstairs. It was not the kind of cherishing touch and separation in the past. Jiang Qiaoxi kissed Lin Yingtao for a long time until Lin Yingtao's back was tense with nervousness.
A child ran to the door of the next unit, making childish voices, which would definitely attract the adults.
Jiang Qiaoxi reached out and opened the iron door behind Lin Yingtao. He held Lin Yingtao's wrist and pulled her down to the first floor and walked towards the stairs leading to the basement.
Lin Yingtao almost fell down the stairs.
The basement was completely dark. The corridor was deep and even if someone came and turned on the lights, they would quickly go out after a few seconds, so few people would notice this place.
Lin Yingtao stood at the end of the corridor. When the lights went out, she could only hear Jiang Qiaoxi's breathing. Jiang Qiaoxi held her waist and hugged her tightly, pressing her against him. Lin Yingtao wanted to say, Jiang Qiaoxi, your luggage is still outside, but her hands were on Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders, and she soon couldn't think of anything to say.
Lin Yingtao opened her lips a little, and in the darkness, she trembled and gasped in such a kiss, her cheek pressed against Jiang Qiaoxi's drooping neck, her eyes hot.
"Cherry," Jiang Qiaoxi said suddenly, "don't forget me."
Lin Yingtao didn't understand for a moment, and soon Jiang Qiaoxi kissed her again, kissing her face, and then her lips. This time it was not as gentle as before, and Lin Yingtao's panting lips were kissed open all at once. Lin Yingtao raised her head high, and her long hair fell from her shoulders and hung on the protruding knuckles of Jiang Qiaoxi's arms around her. Lin Yingtao made a nasal sound. She was already eighteen years old, but she had never been kissed like this.
Jiang Qiaoxi seemed to want to kiss all the joys and sorrows of the outside adult world into Lin Yingtao's mouth in advance.
The basement was bright for a while, and if the two young people held their breath, it would be dark again in a while. It was dim and it was hard to tell the real from the fake. Lin Yingtao raised her eyes, her cheeks flushed, and she took advantage of the few seconds of brightness to look at Jiang Qiaoxi.
Her hand moved up from Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulder to his much thinner face, and she hugged Jiang Qiaoxi's neck.
"Jiang Qiaoxi," she said, "where have you been?"
Jiang Qiaoxi's eyelashes were so long that they hung down in front of her.
"Have you had dinner yet?" Lin Yingtao asked him, "My parents cooked for me before they left. I haven't eaten yet. Come up and eat with me."
Lin Yingtao still had a lot to say to him, so it would be better to go home and talk.
Lin Yingtao's head was suddenly pressed against Jiang Qiaoxi's chest. The lights dimmed again. Lin Yingtao felt Jiang Qiaoxi's breath on her cheek, and his kisses fell on her temples and between her eyebrows.
"Cherries." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
"ah?"
Jiang Qiaoxi swallowed in his throat for a while, then he gently kissed Lin Yingtao's lips again.
"I want to eat the jujube flour buns made by Aunt Juanzi."
Lin Yingtao said, "She steamed a lot today. I'll go heat it up for you."
Jiang Qiaoxi's travel bag was still on the roadside outside the unit door. Lin Yingtao came out of the basement stairs. She turned around and was about to go upstairs. She turned back and said to Jiang Qiaoxi, "I'll go upstairs to heat up the food. You bring the travel bag up!"
Jiang Qiaoxi pushed open the door of the unit and stood at the door to look at her. Lin Yingtao was wearing that childish nightgown, which hung down, vaguely outlining her curves. Her long hair fell down, covering her shoulders, and the ends of her hair swayed gently when she walked. She was wearing a pair of light yellow sandals on her feet, and when she went upstairs, her heels were raised, smooth pink, without even a trace of calluses.
Lin Yingtao is surrounded by her ordinary family who take good care of her. She deserves to live in happiness, complete and irreplaceable happiness that will not make anyone worry.
Jiang Qiaoxi closed the door from the outside.
Lin Yingtao hurried upstairs, her cheeks burning, she was dazed, but she couldn't help laughing. She went into the kitchen, opened the lid on the steamer, and quickly counted, there were four jujube buns. Lin Yingtao quickly turned on the rice cooker, while she was busy getting water, she went outside to get the dishes that her parents had prepared but had gone cold.
The minute hand on the wall jumped one by one. Lin Yingtao put the steamer on, covered the pot, and plugged in the power supply. She turned around and noticed the open door.
Why hasn’t Jiang Qiaoxi come in yet
In the residential area of the Power Construction Corporation of China headquarters, at night there were only the laughter of aunts and sisters-in-law and the barking of puppies. Occasionally, a car would start and its headlights would shine over, illuminating the figure of Lin Yingtao in her nightgown as she looked around in the middle of the road.
It was driver Shao from the small car team. He rolled down the window, stuck his head out and said with a smile: "Cherry! What are you doing standing here?"
Lin Yingtao turned around and saw that it was Uncle Shao, who had just returned from outside with Aunt Xie and the baby.
"Cherry, what's wrong with you?" Aunt Xie also leaned her head out of the passenger window and looked at her with concern.
"Uncle, Auntie..." Lin Yingtao said in a trembling voice, facing the car lights, "Did you see Jiang Qiaoxi on the way here?"
Lin Yingtao ran out of the gate of the community. She stood in front of the sentry post in her sandals and asked the guard. The guard was very young and didn't know who Jiang Qiaoxi was. He just said, "Just now there was a young man over 1.8 meters tall, carrying a schoolbag. Yes, he also carried a bag. He got in a taxi and left. He was going in that direction!"
Lin Yingtao ran along the street outside the community. She passed Qin Yeyun's store and ran even faster than when she participated in the sports meeting. She had to stop only when she reached the intersection.
There was a surging flow of traffic all around, even on the viaduct, cars were coming and going at very high speeds, and they disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yingtao squatted down, lowered her head and opened her mouth to cry.
Jiang Zheng went home to check. He sat down on the sofa in Yu Zhenfeng's house and asked weakly, "Where's Yingtao?"
Yu Zhenfeng said that he was talking to Yu Qiao and others in the room.
Yu Qiao came out of the bedroom after a while. Just then, someone knocked hard on the door. His younger cousin Yu Jin went to open the door, and Liang Hongfei suddenly came in from outside.
Jiang Zheng stood up suddenly, and Yu Qiao reached out and locked the bedroom door from behind.
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly returned to the Power Construction Corporation headquarters late at night. While his parents were not at home, he packed his luggage. Before leaving, he only went to Lin Haifeng's house to see Lin Haifeng's daughter.
This boy was introverted and taciturn, but stubborn, very worried, and prone to extremes. Even Jiang Zheng couldn't maintain his prestige in front of him. When he encountered problems, he never communicated with his father.
But no matter how much of a math genius he is, he is only eighteen years old. How much can he understand about the principles of life
Lin Yingtao had been dreaming for many days.
In her dream, she was carrying her schoolbag and walking home from school with Jiang Qiaoxi.
"Jiang Qiaoxi," she said, "will you call me after you go to the provincial capital?"
"meeting."
"You lied to me," she kicked the stones at her feet unhappily, "You didn't hit me at all."
Jiang Qiaoxi had been walking in silence. At this moment, he turned around.
Lin Yingtao stood there, staring at him blankly with her two ponytails.
Jiang Qiaoxi's body was a thin shadow. Lin Yingtao was only concerned with her own walking and didn't notice that after walking so far together, he was actually just a vague outline. The "Jiang Qiaoxi" in the outline said to her, "Yingtao, I'm sorry."
Lin Yingtao said: "What's the use of saying 'sorry'?"
At that moment, "Jiang Qiaoxi" suddenly scattered, like a pile of sand blown away by the wind, or like fireflies that gathered together and suddenly flew into the depths of the jungle.
Lin Yingtao stood there, staring blankly at him disappearing. Until her father called her from behind. Yingtao, her father came over and picked her up. She still looked up, staring blankly.
The financial crisis in 2008 did not leave much of a shadow on the lives of Lin Qile's generation. They had just finished the college entrance examination and ended their years of hard study. What did the joys and sorrows of adults have to do with them
Before the college entrance examination results were released, Class 18 of Senior 3 held a class reunion, which was somewhat like a farewell dinner. Many girls cried, but Lin Qile did not. She sat next to Cai Fangyuan and Yu Qiao, watching her classmates hugging each other, reluctant to leave.
Huang Zhanjie came over, and Lin Qile raised his beer and clinked glasses with him. Huang Zhanjie smiled, his eyes slightly red. He has always been a sensitive boy. "When I publish a successful masterpiece in the future, I will send it to you!" he said.
"Okay!" Lin Qile agreed with a smile and raised the bitter beer to drink.
She had long understood that people gather and disperse, which is the natural cycle of the world. After dinner, the class went to KTV together again. A girl wanted to drag Yu Qiao to sing "Today I Want to Marry You", and half of the class was cheering. Lin Qile lowered her head and saw a text message from her junior Qi Le on her phone.
"By the way, Senior Rongrong, I suddenly remembered, have you seen Senior Jiang's schoolbag?"
Lin Qile didn't reply. She walked out of the KTV room and called Jiang Qiaoxi, but the call still didn't go through.
"Cherry, don't forget me." Jiang Qiaoxi said that day.
He seemed to be begging her.
The college entrance examination scores came out, and Lin Yingtao went to Yu Qiao's house for lunch. Yu Qiao's test scores were based on his usual mock test scores, and he was probably ranked in the top five among the pilot students. Lin Yingtao performed exceptionally well, scoring several dozen points more than Yu Qiao.
The adults celebrated at the wine table.
Lin Yingtao sat beside Yu Qiao's bed and listened to her MP3 player. Yu Qiao sat beside the desk and talked to her. Lin Yingtao looked up at him, but didn't hear clearly, so she took off her headphones.
Yu Qiao looked at her and said, "You did well in the exam."
Lin Yingtao chuckled.
"I think, if it weren't for Jiang Qiaoxi," Lin Yingtao suddenly said, "I definitely wouldn't have started studying so hard in junior high school."
Yu Qiao said, "Your change of topic is a bit sudden."
Lin Yingtao laughed again.
"Well... I'm afraid I've forgotten him," she murmured.
"Where has he gone?"
"have no idea."
"There are two more students in our grade who are going to Berkeley," Yu Qiao recalled, "one from Class 8 and one from Class 15."
Lin Yingtao looked at him.
The mp3 was placed on her lap and it slipped and fell into the gap between the cushions at the end of Yu Qiao's bed.
Yu Qiao saw Lin Yingtao looking at him with bright eyes, and he smiled: "He has to go to school anyway."
Lin Yingtao came out of Yu Qiao's house. She looked back as usual and saw several moving company trucks parked in front of Building 23.
"Yes, your Uncle Jiang is divorced." Dad was fertilizing the pot of evergreen that Lin Yingtao had not taken care of for a long time.
Lin Yingtao stood at the door, motionless.
"Jiang Qiaoxi's mother moved away a few days ago," Dad turned around and said, "Your Uncle Jiang has been transferred to an overseas construction site and will no longer live in the headquarters."
Lin Yingtao stood downstairs of Building 23. She looked up at the window.
A long time ago, Lin Yingtao had hoped that one day she could come here to play with Jiang Qiaoxi.
Sometimes, there are shadows of airplanes flying over the headquarters community. On August 8, 2008, Lin Yingtao stood in front of the TV and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
The Olympics are here.
When she was young, Lin Yingtao once thought that this was something that would only happen in the next life.
Electrician Lin did not watch the opening ceremony. He sat on the balcony and read the news in the newspaper about the continued economic turmoil in Hong Kong caused by the US subprime mortgage crisis. Many companies went bankrupt, the rich were in huge debt, and the laid-off employees could not afford the high living pressure in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong people who lost all their wealth in the stock market were even more disheartened and chose to jump off the roof.
Lin Yingtao came over, and the exciting music from the opening ceremony was still playing on TV. Electrician Lin took the newspaper aside and asked Lin Yingtao to sit on his lap.
Cherry has grown up and it is difficult for Electrician Lin to hold her.
"My aunt and uncle don't like the major I chose." Lin Yingtao didn't say anything at first, but now she leaned on her father and spoke.
Electrician Lin smiled.
"Grandpa and dad, when they were young, their jobs were assigned by the state," said Lin, the electrician, as he put his arm around her back, "because everyone has to work hard to build the country together."
"The country is now developing. Dad hopes you can find what you want to do, Cherry. As long as it is something you want to learn, you should study hard in college in the future."
"Maybe I won't be able to make much money in the future." Lin Yingtao lowered her head.
Electrician Lin was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"How much money can you make? How much more do you want to make?" Electrician Lin reached out and pinched her cheek. "Mom and Dad both have pensions from state-owned enterprises. It's enough for you to support yourself."
"Dad," Lin Yingtao leaned on Lin the Electrician's shoulder for a while and said, "What do you want to learn?"
"What?"
"If you could have gone to college, what would you have studied?"
Electrician Lin thought about it, then lowered his head and smiled.
"I've never really thought about this question," said Lin. "Going to college is not something that everyone can have."
"I will study hard." Lin Yingtao whispered.
After a while.
"Dad," she said, "I feel like I will never see Jiang Qiaoxi again."
Electrician Lin looked down at her.
Lin Yingtao choked up: "I feel... I will never like someone this much again."
Electrician Lin heard Cherry sniffing.
"Cherry, you are only eighteen years old," Electrician Lin said to his daughter, holding her hand at night, "Don't say forever."
The author has something to say: Cherry and her friends’ high school days are over.
The two sentences written in the copywriting have basically ended here. After 20 years of mixed sadness and joy, there will be no more sadness, only joy.
Today is the Lunar New Year of 2019. Happy New Year to my friends. I haven’t had the New Year’s Eve dinner yet, but I’m going to have it now. Probably in another universe and time, Jiang Qiaoxi is also preparing to have a hot New Year’s Eve dinner with his sister Cherry. Jiang Yulu is running around the house holding the toys given by Uncle Cai, causing trouble for his already busy mother, and is picked up by his father and put into a child’s chair.