Parallel Extra: The Protagonist's Youth (Part 1)
—When she looked up from the swing at the age of sixteen.
one
July in midsummer. Nanhuai, the Jian family.
As the dog days of summer approach, the maximum temperature in Nanhuai has climbed to nearly 35 degrees Celsius.
In the bright and spacious living room of the Jian family, Meng Shuyu stared at the old-fashioned red rope on the fan blade of the vertical air conditioner, floating and floating, and his eyes gradually lost focus...
"Is it Xiaoyu?" Meng Zhouping on the side suddenly asked a question.
Meng Shuyu looked confused as if she had been caught slacking off. She glanced at her father's stern eyes and answered without thinking, "Ah, yes."
Then I heard Uncle Jian across from me say with a smile: "It is said that 'a man of learning is naturally elegant'. This child who loves reading has a different temperament. He looks very refined and elegant."
It turned out that she was asked whether she liked reading.
With her dad as her Chinese teacher, she would love reading even if she can't read, right
When you are a guest at someone else's house, you have to behave yourself and be nice. Meng Shuyu cooperated and smiled politely: "Uncle, I am still at least ten times closer to being a man of great learning and elegance!"
The Jane couple burst into laughter.
Meng Zhouping seemed to have forgiven her for her inattention just now.
Fang Manzhen smiled and patted her shoulder: "It's not good to read too much of this book. Look, you are so slick at such a young age."
"That's not glib, that's sharp-tongued, it's good for society. Unlike our Xiaocheng, who is still only good at studying even at the age of Xiaoyu."
When the topic turned to the son of the Jian family who was not present, Meng Shuyu "retired after accomplishing his mission" and continued to slack off in a polite manner.
When I lost focus again, I finally heard Uncle Jian's words of amnesty: "Xiaoyu, isn't it boring for you to listen to us talking here? Why don't you let Auntie take you to the garden, or you can go to the study upstairs to read a book."
Meng Shuyu glanced at his parents, and seeing that they showed no objection, he waved his hand and said, "Don't bother Auntie, I can go around by myself."
A shady garden is a much better place to be than being bored to the point of falling asleep and having to be alert all the time to be asked questions.
Meng Shuyu was strolling leisurely in the garden of the Jian family's villa alone, and he felt it was quite fresh.
After all, she lives in a high-rise building and doesn't usually see large flower gardens.
However, after going around the backyard to the front yard and then back to the backyard, there is not much to see.
Meng Shuyu squatted beside the flowerbed in the backyard, holding his chin with one hand and poking the unknown little white flower in front of him with his index finger: "Aren't you bored?"
"Have you finished your homework?"
"It's nice in the summer, isn't it?"
Apparently this flower was not bored, did not need to do homework, and was not afraid of being exposed to the sun. Meng Shuyu changed his hand to support his chin and sighed in boredom.
After squatting for a while, she noticed that the hem of her white dress was covered with mud. She stood up and brushed it off with her hand, not daring to squat any longer.
Tired of standing, Meng Shuyu suddenly remembered that he had just noticed a swing in the corner of the backyard, and walked towards that direction.
When I walked to the swing, I saw a book on it.
Meng Shuyu blinked, clearly remembering that he hadn't seen it when he passed by here just now.
She tilted her head to look at the cover and saw that it was a collection of poems by Borges, so she picked it up curiously.
I casually flipped open a page and saw handwritten Chinese characters between the printed English words.
The strokes are vigorous and powerful, the brush strokes are open and closed, and the brush strokes turn neatly and efficiently.
Meng Shuyu was attracted at once. He slowly turned around, sat on the swing, and started reading the poetry collection.
Only then did I realize that it wasn't just the handwriting that was beautiful, even the words used in the translation were romantic and clean.
After reading so many sour poems, it’s rare to see a love poem that can be so passionate yet not at all pretentious.
Meng Shuyu turned the pages one by one, and gradually he no longer felt the heat, forgot the boredom, and even forgot where he was.
It was not until the sun gradually set and its golden-red light fell on the black words on the white paper that she realized a lot of time had passed. She rubbed her neck and looked up.
When I looked up, I suddenly saw a tall and straight unfamiliar figure standing on the balcony diagonally above me.
The young man was wearing a white shirt and casual trousers. He was standing upright by the railing, tilting his head to look in her direction.
Separated by a floor, their eyes met for a moment and Meng Shuyu's heart skipped a beat.
For this face that is so beautiful that it is both "striking" and "heart-stirring", and for the beautiful and unreal sunset that is surrounding him at this moment.
Meng Shuyu felt that he should look away politely, but his gaze seemed to be pulled by an invisible thread and he couldn't move.
The whole garden seemed to become the background of fleeting shadows. It seemed as if a long time had passed, but it also seemed like only a few seconds. When she came to her senses, the balcony was empty.
The last image her eyes recorded was the man turning around and opening the balcony door after staring at her for a long time.
Therefore, it can be concluded that this glimpse was not an illusion.
At the end of his visit to the Jian family, Meng Shuyu took away the collection of Borges' poems.
Meng Shuyu asked the adults because he was curious about how the book appeared out of nowhere on the swing in the garden.
The answer she got was that none of the four adults left the living room. Jian Cheng, who was busy with his homework upstairs, must have played it for her because he saw that she was bored.
Jian Cheng.
Meng Shuyu silently repeated the name in his heart and returned home with the collection of poems.
When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, I turned on the night light beside the bed and continued reading the poems that I had not finished reading in the afternoon.
As I read, the black words in front of me suddenly broke up stroke by stroke and became moving lines.
The white paper underneath seemed to melt into water, as the moving lines created ripples of light.
A tall and thin figure was reflected in the waves, and his handsome face turned towards her when he turned his head.
Meng Shuyu was startled by this sudden recollection. He closed the book and lay down to sleep.
Three days later, in the early morning, Meng Shuyu woke up naturally in bed as the sun rose high in the sky.
I opened my eyes and turned my head, and saw the poetry collection on the bedside table. Then I remembered something belatedly and slowly covered my face with my hands.
She had the dream again last night.
I dreamed of Jane's garden again. I dreamed that I was sitting on the swing, holding a collection of poems and meeting the eyes of the person on the balcony.
This is the third time in three days.
Unlike the previous two times which came to an abrupt end just like reality, this dream had a sequel.
She dreamed that the man came downstairs, walked into the garden, walked towards her with a smile, and stopped in front of her, as if he wanted to say something.
Then, the stingy dream disappeared like squeezing toothpaste.
… She had never seen what the other person looked like when he smiled, so how could she dream about him smiling
A person whom you have never even met once can play a role in your dream for three days. Meng Shuyu, your imagination is too rich!
Meng Shuyu got out of bed with his face in his hands, walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He found that his cheeks were an abnormal blush. He patted his face and turned on the faucet to wash.
"Even the pigs are up basking in the sun, why don't you get up?!" Meng Zhouping knocked on her door.
It's so tragic to have a dad who is a teacher.
When you are on vacation, he happens to be free too.
"It's getting up!"
Meng Shuyu replied to the person outside the door, quickly washed up, changed her clothes and walked out of the room. She saw that her father had already heated up the breakfast reserved for her and was waiting for her at the dining table.
"Do you think that summer vacation is really for you to have fun? For people like you, vacation is like a curve. After a summer vacation, do you know how big the gap is between those who eat and do nothing all day and those who study hard every day?"
"Dad, you said the same thing during the winter vacation..." Meng Shuyu buried his head in drinking soy milk.
"If you listen to me, do I need to wait until the summer vacation to talk about it? I took you to visit Uncle Jian's house a few days ago. Did you hear how Brother Jian Cheng studied in high school?"
Hearing the name, Meng Shuyu suddenly raised his head from the soup bowl.
The person who gave her the collection of poems was Jian Cheng.
So the person who appeared on the second-floor balcony that day was Jian Cheng.
This person, who should have been a stranger, appeared in her dreams for three consecutive days, giving Meng Shuyu a strange sense of familiarity.
Did Uncle Jian talk about this episode that day
She certainly didn't hear it.
"How did you study?" Meng Shuyu asked, risking being scolded.
"I knew you weren't listening. Don't think you'll be stress-free just because you chose liberal arts. You'll be a sophomore when school starts. Be careful!"
No, why don’t you continue
She is asking a question!
Meng Shuyu coughed lightly: "So, is that brother studying arts or science?"
"People are studying medicine now, so of course it's science."
"Oh, so amazing..." Meng Shuyu nodded, "Then he studied science and his English is pretty good too."
"If you hadn't been well-rounded, would you have been able to get into Nanyang University? The books they gave you are just for you to read more."
"I finished reading it, but only half of it was translated, and I couldn't understand the rest."
"Then I'll ask for advice from others when I have the chance someday."
Meng Shuyu's heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
A strange emotion she had never experienced before squeezed her chest, making her breathing more and more urgent.
Meng Shuyu drank a big mouthful of soy milk and blinked: "Don't change it to another day, Dad, how about today?"
Meng Zhouping glanced at her sideways with a strange expression.
Feeling guilty about being looked at, she added, "If you don't ask me today, I will definitely forget about it someday."
"That depends on whether it's convenient for them. It's hard to just show up so suddenly."
"Then I'm too lazy to go there," Meng Shuyu curled her lips, "Or you can ask Uncle Jian for that brother's QQ number? Just say that I can't understand some parts of his book."
Until she received a piece of paper with a string of numbers written on it from her father, Meng Shuyu still felt that the smooth progress of everything was very unreal.
But on second thought, I don’t know what going smoothly is.
After all, she didn't seem to know what she wanted to do by asking for other people's contact information.
But suddenly she heard from her father that she might have some contact with this person, and she didn't want to miss this opportunity.
Meng Shuyu held the note and looked at it for a long time, wondering what information he should fill in for the friend verification.
How can I say it without seeming abrupt
—Hello, I am Mr. Meng’s daughter…
"?"
Is there something wrong with her
—Hello, Brother Jian Cheng, my name is Meng Shuyu…
"?"
It's too sweet and childish. She's not young anymore.
—Hello, Mr. Jian Cheng…
"?"
But you can't be so fussy. After all, he is a college student and an adult. There is still a wall between them.
Meng Shuyu, who had always been among the top three students in his grade in Chinese, sat in front of the computer and became dazed after he failed to organize his language for the tenth time.
Just when the situation was at a stalemate, two "cough cough" sounds were suddenly heard.
She held the mouse and clicked the lower right corner of the computer screen, and saw a friend verification message -
I am Jian Cheng.
The author has something to say: Are you Jian Cheng