In early September, Lin Yingtao confirmed the National Day itineraries for her two friends.
Coincidentally, they are also in America, across the ocean.
Meng Lijun, a college senior, was not sure if she would have time for the National Day this year. She was very busy at work and had just established herself in the United States. As a young woman in a foreign country, she dared not slack off. Unexpectedly, her parents secretly flew to the United States to see her. Meng Lijun said that her parents thought that she was 28 years old and could not continue to be single. No career was important. Seeing that verbal orders did not work, they actually wanted to take the blind date that the elderly in the family liked to the United States for a surprise attack: "If my cousin hadn't let it slip, I wouldn't have known it myself!"
Senior Meng Lijun couldn't stand it anymore, so she asked her female supervisor for leave, saying that she wanted to attend her sister's wedding. The supervisor was very sympathetic to her.
Lin Yingtao told Jiang Qiaoxi about this. Jiang Qiaoxi had an impression of Meng Lijun. When Yingtao went to the United States to study and take exams, she took good care of her.
"Book the hotel quickly," he said.
Lin Yingtao said: "I have already booked it, I just feel..."
Another friend is my good deskmate at Qunshan No. 1 Middle School, Geng Xiaoqing.
Geng Xiaoqing is currently studying for a master's degree in environmental engineering in the United States. She spends every day in the laboratory preparing for her first SCI paper in her life. She is busy with the final data sorting and said she would try to find time, but she still can't.
When Lin Yingtao heard the word “sci”, she exclaimed in admiration: “Wow!!”
Geng Xiaoqing said embarrassedly: "It's not a zone one or two journal, it's just an ordinary journal."
Geng Xiaoqing said on the phone that when he first came to the United States for college, he was very depressed every day and was not used to the life there, but now he is in a very good mood and feels fulfilled. He is very lucky to have a good teacher and a good direction.
"cherry."
"Um?"
"Has Yu Qiao found a girlfriend?" she asked.
Lin Yingtao thought about it.
"I don't know," she confessed, "I haven't seen him for a long time, but... I should have found him, right?"
Geng Xiaoqing said: "I thought about it for a long time, Cherry. I wondered why I liked him. From the first year of junior high school to the third year of high school, I didn't know him at all. Later, when I talked to him and interacted with him, I felt that he was completely different from what I thought. Why? Later, I understood that only the 'Yu Qiao' that you first mentioned to me, Cherry, was like the Mitsui that I liked, and was the 'Yu Qiao' that I liked."
Lin Yingtao opened her mouth.
"I'm sorry, Xiaoqing..."
"You? What are you sorry for?" Geng Xiaoqing said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "It has nothing to do with you!!"
Lin Yingtao said in annoyance: "My description was too unrealistic. The real person disappointed you!!"
Geng Xiaoqing laughed: "False advertising!"
"Sometimes I think, if only time could go back," Geng Xiaoqing paused for a moment, "I would go back to junior high school and tell the Geng Xiaoqing of that time: Yu Qiao is not the type you like at all!" Geng Xiaoqing thought about it again, "But at that time, living in the mountains, every day was so boring, I would definitely not believe it, I would definitely think, I don't care, Yu Qiao must be my Sanjing, he must be my prince charming."
She and Lin Yingtao laughed together. Geng Xiaoqing said, "I still remember that Dai Lixin liked Daoming Si very much at that time. What about you? What did you like?"
Lin Yingtao thought for a moment and said, "I don't think I have anything I particularly like..."
Geng Xiaoqing suddenly said: "You like your husband!"
Lin Yingtao blinked: "Yes!"
Geng Xiaoqing snorted loudly: "I don't want to give you any money!!"
Just after Teacher's Day, Lin Yingtao received a jar of little stars cut by her classmates. She took a photo of the jar and posted it on WeChat Moments.
Teacher Chen, the high school teacher, called her on WeChat and said, "Little teacher Lin Qile, congratulations to you and Jiang Qiaoxi. When will you have time to come back to the lab and share your college entrance exam experience with your juniors?"
Jiang Qiaoxi learned about Teacher Chen's invitation before going to bed, and he said, "I didn't take the college entrance examination."
"Maybe you can share your learning experience?" Lin Yingtao knelt on the bed and said to him, "For example, how did you usually attend classes and study during the three years of high school—"
"I barely attended classes during my three years of high school," Jiang Qiaoxi sat on the bed, charging his phone. He turned off the light, pulled back the blanket and sat on the bed, moving closer to Lin Yingtao. "I was busy studying on my own and chasing after my wife."
He said so, but when he really stood on the podium of Class 18, Grade 12, Provincial Experimental High School, Jiang Qiaoxi was much more serious and solemn.
"I don't know how to answer this," Jiang Qiaoxi said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry when faced with the question "Will working too hard be counterproductive for the exam?" He saw a broken piece of yellow chalk on the desk, so he picked it up and threw it back into the pencil case. "The only thing you can do right now is to work hard and don't make excuses for yourself."
Having never taken the college entrance examination, Jiang Qiaoxi faced more questions such as "How to prepare for TOEFL", "Should I stop attending classes to study for the SAT", "Is it meaningful to participate in competitions in the senior year of high school which conflicts with the college entrance examination? What if I fail the exam?" and so on.
There were also students who were obviously participating in a math competition. They stood up and asked very targeted questions.
"Senior Jiang Qiaoxi, you studied math competitions for a long time and did very well. Why did you give up before joining the national training team? Was there something different about math competitions than you imagined?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "Why do you ask such a question?"
The student said, "I'm worried that I'll be like you. I've worked so hard to learn math for so long, but when I get to that point, I'll find something I haven't discovered before, which will disappoint me. Then all my time and energy will be wasted—"
Lin Yingtao stood next to her homeroom teacher, Teacher Chen. She stood in the classroom where she had studied before, looking back at the familiar yet unfamiliar furnishings in the classroom. She looked at the table in the last row, and then at the podium, where Jiang Qiaoxi was now.
"Mathematics itself is very interesting," Jiang Qiaoxi thought for a moment and said, "Mathematics competitions are also very meaningful. Their selection will give you a direction. My withdrawal from the competition was due to my personal reasons. It has nothing to do with the subject or the competition itself."
The student asked, "Then why didn't you study mathematics anymore?"
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at him.
The student blushed. "My assistant teacher is in the same class as you. He admires you very much. He said that he thinks you, Jiang Qiaoxi, are the most talented and should participate in the international competition that year. You will definitely be on the national team and win a gold medal! Then you can go to the United States for further studies and become an outstanding mathematician! Instead of..."
He didn't say anything else.
Jiang Qiaoxi faced the gaze of more than fifty pairs of clear eyes in the audience. These children were still very young.
He was wearing a suit. He had worked in investment banks and funds for nearly three years and had lived in Hong Kong for seven years. The sophistication of an adult could sometimes be inadvertently punctured by the innocence of a child.
"Your initial question was asking," Jiang Qiaoxi thought for a moment and said, "You are wasting your time and energy by worrying."
"Yes." The student nodded.
"No matter what happens," Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at him from a distance, "whether I get results or not, or like me, I withdraw from the competition - I never feel that my energy and time are wasted. In fact, if you have talent in this area, competitions will help you, enlighten you, and spur you on. This is a process of breaking through your own boundaries. Once you have tried and achieved a result, you will not regret it."
Suddenly another classmate interrupted and said, "Well, then, Senior Jiang, what if you don't do well in the competition and miss the college entrance examination—"
Jiang Qiaoxi listened and blinked.
"I think for those who can do well in competitions, the college entrance examination should not be a problem." He lowered his head and put his hands in his trouser pockets.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and these children soon understood: the legendary academic genius of the experiment, the genius that the old principal was most proud of, his experience and insights were of no use to ordinary students.
It was still the kind and lovely senior sister Lin Qile who stood on the stage, and what she said was more approachable.
When senior Jiang Qiaoxi introduced her to the stage, he said, "This is my wife, Lin Qile, an educator who graduated from Beijing Normal University."
The whole class was making a fuss. Teacher Chen stood at the door and asked everyone to be quiet and listen carefully to what the senior student was saying.
"In fact, many times, including when I was in school, I would also think, what's the point of learning these things, physics, mathematics, geometry, functions, will I be able to use them in the future?" Lin Qile looked at the children in the audience and smiled, "Regardless of whether it can be used or not, even if it is not useful, in high school, this is the only way to prove ourselves. It can prove what level of intelligence we can reach and what level of self-control we can have."
The students in the audience were listening, and some of them were looking at Lin Qile. Their faces showed an expression that seemed to understand, but still full of confusion.
"We are obviously very smart and have the ability to control ourselves, but we didn't do it," Lin Qile said seriously. "We could have reached such a high level, but we didn't. So it's not that the good universities don't want us, it's that we don't want them."
"As long as we work hard, it will definitely feed back to us at some point... As long as we prove our ability, we can go to a better university, learn more knowledge, and have a better life. From childhood to adulthood, growing up is to gradually prove myself, to prove that I can go to a good university and have a good job." When Lin Qile is not smiling, her big eyes are very serious, making people listen to her words, "Even in the future, when you grow up, this ability may prove for you that you can have a good partner and build a better family."
The students burst into laughter. When they heard the word "partner", they couldn't help but have wild thoughts and just joined in the fun.
Lin Qile and Teacher Chen smiled at each other. Teacher Chen folded his hands over his chest, nodded, and agreed for her to continue.
"Senior Lin," a classmate said, "What if I'm just stupid and I just can't learn it—"
"Yeah," a student in the back row asked, "I know I need to work hard, but if I don't perform well in the exam, there's nothing I can do."
Lin Qile said to them.
"Each of us has different talents. Some students may not be suitable for the path taken by most people. They may have other talents, but this is not a reason to avoid the college entrance examination," Lin Qile said, "because the college entrance examination will never be the last exam in our lives. Whether it is college, entering the workplace, being an actor, doing business, any path you can think of, there will always be more and more complex assessments waiting for you—"
"Ah???" the students screamed.
They are in school and don't understand the adult world yet.
"So we should try to change our mindset," Lin Qile said, clenching his fists in front of him. "Exams are not a process of screening us. You should think of them as a process of urging us to prove ourselves. In each exam, we are always making progress, and it is helpful to us."
The children were silent, and only a few students who were obviously top students nodded in agreement.
Lin Qile said: "If you always hold it in your arms, you will be squeezed off the single-plank bridge, thrown off the wheels, and crushed under the wheels. You will always have this fear—"
Jiang Qiaoxi stood in the back row of the classroom, looking up at the podium.
"Then it will be very hard not only in the last year of the college entrance examination, but also in the future no matter what happens, it will affect your state in turn. So learning to adjust your mentality is also an extremely important part of our personal ability."
“And this is not the ability to live,” Lin Qile said, “this is the ability to survive.”
When she said this, the students laughed.
They were too young and thought she was joking.
"Learning is very important. Everyone who has experienced it will tell you this. Like me, I was a poor student when I was young, and my grades were always at the bottom of the class," Lin Qile saw the surprised eyes of the audience, "so I am very glad that I worked hard in time and studied well, so that I have the opportunity to stand here and communicate with you today. When you are in school, no matter what difficulties you encounter or what unhappy things you experience, your studies and grades are your support. The same is true when you enter the workplace in the future. Let your career and work ability support you, and don't be afraid of any storms in life."
Among the freshmen who have just entered the Experimental High School, there are already some people born in the 2000s.
Lin Yingtao, wearing a dress, walked around the campus of Experimental High School with Jiang Qiaoxi. Jiang Qiaoxi had just visited the principal's office, and he sat down on a bench in the woods and said, "Shouldn't the post-00s be in kindergarten?"
Lin Yingtao said beside him: "All the children in our kindergarten are 'post-2010s'!"
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded, sighed, and put his hand on Lin Yingtao's knee.
After school, the campus was full of students. Lin Yingtao raised her eyelashes and saw young students walking by them in groups of two or three. From a distance, she could hear the sound of someone playing basketball on the basketball court. The girls left the playground, holding tennis rackets, and turned to a corridor, which led to the tennis hall.
Lin Yingtao raised her head and looked at the leaves blowing in the wind above her in the evening.
She suddenly remembered that she used to sit here with Duchamp and listen to Stefanie Sun’s songs of that era.
Lin Yingtao said: "I always feel like I'm still in high school."
Jiang Qiaoxi held her hand and said, "It's too fast."
The crown of the huge ginkgo tree that covers the sky still covers the sky above the Little White Building.
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes and looked at the building that was once familiar to him and felt like home to him.
He hugged Lin Yingtao and took a photo together in front of the main entrance of the Little White Building. Lin Yingtao turned around and looked into the door of the Little White Building. Jiang Qiaoxi asked if they wanted to go in and take a look. At this time, the student who helped them take the photo returned Jiang Qiaoxi's phone to him and asked tentatively: "Are you... Senior Jiang Qiaoxi?"
Jiang Qiaoxi himself didn't know that there had always been a photo of him in the Little White Building. It was taken when he was studying here before going to Fuzhou to attend the winter camp.
Lin Yingtao stood at the bottom of the stairs, carefully holding up the students' mobile phones, and took a photo with Jiang Qiaoxi and half of the class of contestants.
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Lin Yingtao was eating at her parents' house and told her parents that the songs that kindergarten kids like now have become very fast: "Last semester, they asked me to play "Little Apple", but now it's become a slow motion of left hand and right hand..."
Mother Lin asked, "What is that?"
Lin Yingtao held a half-eaten jujube-flour steamed bun in her hand, sat on the sofa, sang, danced and gestured.
She pushed open the door of her small bedroom from her student days, squatted in front of the bedside table, and found a pile of books that she had not taken with her when she moved.
She took out all the books, as well as a few pens that were placed in a transparent plastic pencil case and were probably out of ink.
She turned around and found that Jiang Qiaoxi was standing behind her at some point.
"What time is this?"
"I got them from the Little White Building," Lin Yingtao said, "You looked very serious about writing these papers. It would be a pity to throw them away."
"When did you take it?"
"Senior year?" Lin Yingtao recalled in his arms, "After you left."
Mother Lin knocked on the door and asked her daughter if she wanted to take some nutrient soil with her when she left. Lin Haifeng made it herself at home. She pushed the door open and saw her daughter sitting on the floor piled with books, checking the open exercise book page by page: "Look, you haven't done a question yet!"
The son-in-law Jiang Qiaoxi was wearing trousers and a shirt, sitting cross-legged on the floor on the other side. He held a pen in his hand and lowered his head to casually solve the math problem pointed out by his daughter.
"What is this for?" asked Mom.
Lin Yingtao turned around and said with a smile, "Mom, we have nothing to do, so let's just play around."
Squad leader Yu called and asked Lao Lin to pack up his fishing gear and go fishing together in the afternoon.
"Jiaoxi," Electrician Lin said to Jiang Qiaoxi, who was putting on his suit jacket and preparing to leave, standing by the door, "Have you quit smoking recently?"
Lin Yingtao came over with a cloth bag full of old Olympiad mathematics books and looked at her parents.
Mother Lin helped her son-in-law straighten his collar and gently patted his tall shoulders: "Qiaoxi, quit smoking and drinking, you know."
Jiang Qiaoxi hurriedly said to the two elders: "I am quitting. I haven't smoked for two months."
"That's good, that's good," Electrician Lin said with a smile, meeting Cherry's gaze. "I should have reminded you last time I came, but you forgot. I was afraid you were too young to know."
After Lin Yingtao's period ended, she stopped taking birth control pills. Thinking about it carefully, she first took them at the end of 2010. Before she knew it, she had been taking them on and off for four years.
Jiang Qiaoxi asked her if she had stopped taking the medicine. He picked her up and put her on the bed, pressing her down and kissing her.
Jiang Qiaoxi took a cushion and placed it under Lin Yingtao's waist to raise her waist.
Lin Yingtao frowned.
He bent down and kissed her.
Lin Yingtao held his shoulders worriedly and whispered, "What if I'm really pregnant... Will I have morning sickness during my honeymoon?"
Jiang Qiaoxi paused for a moment, then raised his eyes to look at her.
Lin Yingtao pouted her lips and blushed. She looked into his eyes and discussed with him: "How about we wait until our honeymoon to prepare for pregnancy..."
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
* "Left Hand and Right Hand in Slow Motion": "Youth Training Manual", a song sung by tfboys, was officially released on July 24, 2014.