From then on, Nan Fang and I began to correspond.
Xu Nanfang has successfully been admitted to the famous high school in Taipei, Jianguo High School. In his letter, he said that Jianguo High School is an old school with a long history and is the first choice of almost all Taipei boys. The biggest feature of the high schools there is that each school has a special uniform.
"Qianqin, you must have never seen this. Students here love to wear school uniforms. For example, students at Jianguo High School take it as an honor. After school, students wearing various uniforms go shopping in groups in Ximending..."
The top high schools in Taipei are actually the most relaxed schools. Students are free to attend classes, unlike the strict management in mainland China. If you don’t go, you will be considered skipping classes and your parents will be called in at any time. To be honest, the learning atmosphere is a bit lax, and I can’t help but pick up some bad habits. I climbed over the wall with my classmates to skip classes and go to Ximending to play billiards. It was exciting. When I got home, I was often disciplined by my grandfather... .
Qinqin, do you have any club activities in your middle school? The school has a drama club, a music club... I also participate in the drama club, and the latest play I rehearsed is Hamlet...
Qinqin, does your teacher recommend any famous foreign literature works? The one I read recently is "Resurrection"... "
In my opinion, the high school life there is fresh, unique and a little bit fashionable.
I also wrote to him, telling him about our relatively simple junior high school life. Boys passed notes in class, skipped classes to play video games, girls went to the night market in groups of three or five, and on weekends, several classmates made an appointment to climb Luohanpo. I also told him that our school teachers also recommended literary classics to read. I have read "Camel Xiangzi", "The Old Man and the Sea", "Don Quixote"...
I asked, "Are the female students in the south and Taipei pretty? They seem quite innocent and cute on TV."
Nan Fang wrote back, saying that there are beautiful girls and ugly girls, and he doesn’t like pretty girls who speak in a coquettish voice and act like a spoiled brat. He also introduced me to Ximending, the Presidential Office Building, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall… At the end, he wrote, “Zhao Qinqin, have any boys passed you notes?”
I couldn't help but cover my mouth and laugh when I read this. My mother pushed the door open and asked, "Why are you laughing alone?" I quickly put the letter under the book and put away the smile on my face, "Nothing."
Nanfang can only write traditional Chinese characters, which is difficult for me to understand. I have to ask my grandparents for help for the characters I don’t know. I wrote to him and said it was unfair, traditional Chinese characters are hard to recognize, and simplified Chinese characters are much easier to recognize. He replied that traditional Chinese characters are difficult to write because they have many strokes.
Grandpa and grandma are over 70 years old and not as healthy as they used to be. Grandpa, in particular, is not as energetic as before. He rarely goes out when he suffers from emphysema in winter. My father finally got tired of the uneventful life and quit his public office to start a business with his friends. He went to the mountain city of Chongqing. At first, he came back once a week or half a month at most. Later, when his business was busy, he simply went home to visit once a month. My mother took on most of the housework and worked hard.
During the summer vacation after I graduated from the 2nd year of junior high school, Nanfang came with Uncle Xu again. She was accompanied by Nanfang's eldest aunt, Xu Yiqing. Uncle Xu was busy developing his business in Shanghai and did not come. Nanfang kept his promise and we would meet again. The interval between this meeting and the last one was only one year.
Grandpa Xu bought a house in the county town, not far from our yard. He said that he wanted to come back and spend time when he had nothing to do, and it would be bad to disturb us every time. At that time, I didn't quite understand the homesickness of their generation, nor did I know what was special about our small county town. It was much more backward than Taipei. Is there no beautiful place in Taiwan? Why do old people always like to say that fallen leaves return to their roots? All the doubts in my heart were slowly solved in the years that followed and later.
Because I will be in the third year of junior high school next semester, the school organizes summer remedial classes. Although it is voluntary, most students actually participate. The schedule is no different from the formal classes, except that there are no secondary courses, and classes end half an hour earlier in the afternoon.
After class that day, I packed my schoolbag and went home with Jiaqi as usual. Before we left the school gate, we were passing by the school's large playground and heard someone whistling on the side of the road. Jiaqi and I turned our heads and saw several boys in jerseys and shorts looking at us and whistling. They looked like they were from the high school department, judging by their height and appearance. "Hey, isn't that Jiang Shuai from Class 3 of Senior 2?" Jiaqi touched my elbow and pouted. I looked closely and saw that the man with the middle-parted hair that didn't cover his ears and the cigarette in his mouth was not him. He was the notorious gangster in the school, and they were walking towards us. I pulled Jiaqi to lower her head and quicken her pace. Jiaqi asked in a panic, "Who are they looking for? I haven't offended them."
Me neither, I thought.
"classmate!"
When I looked up, several muscular boys were standing in front of us, and Jiang Shuai was standing in front. "What's wrong with you?" I asked in a low voice.
"Classmates, we want to make friends with you."
Jiaqi and I looked at each other, not knowing who he was talking about. "Zhao Qinqin!" Jiang Shuai took out the cigarette from his mouth, tilted his head back, and shook his hair, trying to be cool! I laughed in my heart. "I want to make friends with you," he turned around and looked at the boy holding the basketball with one hand, "He wants to be friends with Shen Jiaqi."
The boy put down the basketball, patted it on the ground a few times, and asked, "I'll treat you guys to dinner today, do you want it?"
"We have to go home and finish our homework." I said hastily.
"Your grades are so good, why are you still rushing to finish your homework?" Jiang Shuai gave an evil smile, looking very uncomfortable.
Jiaqi explained again, "We really have to go back." Her voice was so soft, like the buzzing of a mosquito.
I pulled Jiaqi up and tried to leave, but they blocked my way. "Hey, what's the big deal about making friends?"
I heard someone whistling behind me.
I didn't care, and didn't want to waste time talking to them, so I pulled Jiaqi up and ran out from among them. They ran to the front again, facing us, talking as they walked backwards with us. "We are not bad people, do you want to have a meal?"... "Tsk! They don't give us face"...
When we were about to leave the school gate, someone yelled "Ouch!" The basketball fell down, and the boy who was holding the basketball bumped into someone. We all looked over and saw Xu Nanfang, wearing a white hooded short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans, with his hands in his pockets, looking at us with a half-smile. I estimated that he was about 1.78 meters tall. His family is full of tall people.
"Hi! South!"
"Who are you?" The boy holding the basketball looked at Nan Fang with squinted eyes.
"Someone you don't know." Nan Fang stood there, answering calmly. "Qianqian, let's go." He called me again.
I was about to walk over with Jiaqi, but Jiang Shuai put his hand in our way and was about to put it on my waist.
"Classmate, don't act so arrogantly." Nan Fang said with a thick Taiwanese accent.
The group of boys burst into laughter, and someone whistled, "Tsk tsk, you're from out of town."
Nan Fang walked towards me, took my hand, pushed Jiang Shuai away, and ran away.
With a "bang", I saw Nanfang's body shake, and the basketball hit his back with a loud noise, leaving a huge black mark on his white T-shirt. While I was patting the dust off his back, I asked worriedly, "Did you get hit?"
He waved his hand and turned around, "Shame on you!" He swung his right hand and punched the man in the face. The action was so fast that the basketball boy had no time to dodge and covered his face and screamed. Jiang Shuai threw away the cigarette in his hand and rushed over.
Nanfang was agile and pushed him away in a few moves. The two boys behind him also rushed over. At that time, I was really worried that he would suffer a loss, after all, they were outnumbered. Fortunately, Nanfang was tall and had strong arms. He knocked one of them down in a few moves and turned around to shout, "Run!"
Before I could react, Nanfang had already grabbed my hand and ran out. Nanfang pulled me, and I pulled Jiaqi, all the way to the door of the supply and marketing cooperative's department store and went in. The people behind us quickly caught up with us, but they didn't dare to rush in, so they had to squat at the door and wait. I borrowed the store's phone to call my father, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The three of us leaned against the wall of the store to catch our breath. We had just run for a while and were sweating profusely. Nanfang's short hair was wet and the sweat was dripping down his temples. He pulled his T-shirt to shake the wind and smiled at me, revealing two cute little fangs.
"Nan Fang, you're quite good at fighting!" I looked at him.
"Do you think I can only act in drama?" He laughed again, and he looked particularly good that way. Every expression and every inch of his skin was filled with sunshine.
I probably fell in love with Xu Nanfang at that time. That day I learned that Nanfang was not only a drama actor, but also a sports athlete at Jianguo High School. In the words of Shen Jiaqi, "Qinqin, your brother is quite fierce, handsome, and cool!" (To be continued)