Yu Xiao was adjusting his clothes in front of the mirror. Today he was wearing a white shirt and washed-out jeans. He was humming a little tune and secretly applied some of his father's "mousse" on his head. It sprayed a lot of white foam when he pressed it. After applying it on his hair, his hair became as thin as needles in a few minutes.
Before leaving, he looked at himself in front of the mirror in his living room and made some cool moves. The Korean wave had invaded this small city without him noticing. He didn't know whether this outfit on the first day of school was out of fashion or ahead of the trend...
Carrying his schoolbag downstairs, Yu Xiao shook his hair and looked cool in front of several girls from the compound. However, the window above his head suddenly opened, and his mother's voice, which could be heard throughout the compound, was heard. "Yu Xiao, you haven't taken your sneakers yet! You are so careless... I'll throw them down for you..."
Then a pair of sneakers was thrown down from the third floor and hit Yu Xiao's shoulder. The sneakers had to be washed clean, otherwise the white shirt he had carefully dressed up today would have had a shoe print on it for the first time. Yu Xiao was greatly embarrassed, and Yang Xia and several other girls laughed so hard that they fell backwards.
The group got on bus No. 22 to No. 1 Middle School on time. Yang Xia, Liu Ying, Yao Beibei and others sat in the last row, and Yu Xiao sat in a seat with two seats in the second to last row. He turned around and chatted with them enthusiastically. After a while, someone got on. Yu Xiao moved his legs and sat in. The bus moved along the road. The group of people talked about interesting things during the holidays and exchanged some news, just like they did every time they went to school after the holidays.
The bus traveled through the city, and the car was full of sounds of chatting, laughter, and discussions about certain things, but Yu Xiao noticed that in the intervals between everyone chatting, Yang Xia's eyes fell on the boy next to him, and then looked out the window... and suddenly became much quieter.
The seats were rearranged in the new semester, and as soon as you entered the room you could hear the noise of tables, chairs and benches. The bulletin board attracted a lot of people, and there were also a lot of voices coming out. Song Shiqiu was at the top of the list this time, but he didn't seem happy.
This was the day, seats were changed, school started, and then it was afternoon school. Then something happened, someone came to the class to hand Yang Xia a letter. This happened on the first day of school, which meant that the guy was very fierce. The school was still lively, and then it was afternoon physical education class. The boys played football, and the girls came to cheer them on.
Yang Xia, Yao Beibei, Liu Ying and other people who lived in the same compound kept encouraging Yu Xiao, to the point that some of them even became jealous of Yu Xiao.
I don’t know if this offensive had hit the other team’s confidence, which led to Yu Xiao’s single-handed breakthrough and goal, winning the game. Amidst the cheers and the limelight, Yao Beibei even brought him a bottle of iced cola and patted him on the back, “You’re awesome!”
After the game, while waiting for the end of school, Yu Xiao, Yang Xia and others sat in the audience after exercise. They bought some drinks and snacks and ate together. Yang Xia held a bottle of mineral water, twisted it open, drank it in small sips, and occasionally came to take a piece of potato chips and put it in his mouth. Yu Xiao kept reaching into the big bag of Cheetos in Liu Ying's hand. Liu Ying frowned and pulled her hand away. Yu Xiao grabbed nothing. He gritted his teeth unwillingly and waved his hand forward. Several people laughed.
In the distance, Song Shiqiu, who had transferred to their class through his family connections, was running. He was said to be in a bad mood, running around in circles...
At this time, the setting sun was hanging on the last hilltop, and in the distance there were still green and yellow farmlands. On the playground, the horizontal bars and climbing frames were leaning in the sunset. On the playground, the boys and girls in such a magnificent scene looked like a colorful oil painting.
In this painting, Yu Xiao looked up and whispered, "It seems... something is missing."
A group of friends, no one was speechless.
After a moment, Yao Beibei stretched lazily, "Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School will start school tomorrow... They actually allowed Cheng Ran to transfer there. This school... is probably in trouble."
…
Just before school was over, Yang Xia suddenly stood up and looked towards the southeast corner. She was stunned for a moment and saw a familiar figure just walking past there.
Several people looked at her, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know if I saw it wrongly, but I seemed to see someone I know..."
"Who is it? There are acquaintances everywhere in the school..."
"It seems to be... Teacher Qin..."
"Ah..." They all stood up and looked around. There was only the garden in the big square. Even if someone had passed by there, they would have turned into the small paths at this time.
…
Qin Xizhen came back today. During the holidays, there were no letters and she and Cheng Ran basically lost contact. She originally wanted to come home later, but thinking that today was the first day of school at No. 1 Middle School, she dealt with her affairs in advance and postponed the work on hand. She caught an early flight back home. After she came back, her uncle came to pick her up and escorted her home. Qin Xizhen put down her luggage, had lunch, took a nap, and came to No. 1 Middle School in the afternoon.
Qin Xizhen was very low-key throughout the whole process, wearing a peaked cap. When she arrived at No. 1 Middle School, she only found her former class teacher Tan Qingchuan. Tan Qingchuan was shocked at first. Qin Xizhen became famous at the Shanhai Music Festival, and it was even revealed that her father was Qin Keguang. This kind of news later spread like wildfire among the teachers in No. 1 Middle School. The music classroom she taught in is still a topic that many No. 1 Middle School students proudly talk about. "Qin Xizhen graduated from No. 1 Middle School and worked as a music teacher for half a year" is a well-known saying in all levels of Shanhai City society.
People talked about her as if she were a legend, and the teachers at No. 1 Middle School probably had a deeper feeling. Some male teachers even thought about how they had liked Qin Xizhen and even discussed education with her, and they felt that it was a very unique experience, enough to brag about for the rest of their lives.
So it is conceivable that when Tan Qingchuan was getting water in the office, he saw Qin Xizhen, who was standing at the door in a T-shirt, a baseball cap, and wide-leg pants, and was no longer in her former professional attire, the water in Tan Qingchuan's teacup overflowed before he realized it.
Later, Tan Qingchuan and Qin Xizhen had a brief chat. Thinking of Qin Xizhen's youthful appearance when she just started working, Tan Qingchuan smiled and said, "What a pity. I originally thought that some young male teacher would be lucky enough to marry you..."
Seeing Qin Xizhen's face turning slightly red, Tan Qingchuan said again, "But it's not a pity. You are destined to fly very high. A small city like Shanhai can't hold you back... None of these young people are worthy of you."
Qin Xizhen could only chuckle and let it go. When the two were chatting about the past, Qin Xizhen asked Tan Qingchuan if he had received a house.
Old Tan seemed to be in a good mood. He said that if he didn't get the house, his wife would keep complaining to him every day! He got the house a few months ago. Wang Qi didn't take the right path after all. There was a sense of shrewdness and complacency in his words.
The teaching battle between Old Tan and Wang Qi seems to have come to an end. Tan Qingchuan, now the head of the grade teaching and research group, is also highly respected in the education circle of Shanhai High School.
Qin Xizhen said at this time, "Then the first place in your class... who always caused a lot of trouble... Cheng Ran, is no longer on the bulletin board?"
"He transferred to Chengdu No. 10 Middle School! He passed the transfer exam... No. 10 Middle School accepted him. Speaking of this kid, he is a rare one in my class over the years... He has his own ideas, and even many adults today may not be as mature as him..."
Tan Qingchuan held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers, took a deep breath, and slowly raised his head. His eyes were as deep as an abyss. "This kid is good. I always feel that I will hear his name again in the future..."
…
Qin Xizhen left No. 1 Middle School and walked up the slope of the avenue. There was a nearby piano store. She could now buy the pianos that she could not afford, but she could only look at them in the window before. But she did not stop at the door of the piano store where she always stopped and worried about her favorite piano. Instead, she walked forward and stopped for a while at the hoof flower shop she often visited. Then she came to the piano room in Dishuiyan where she used to practice piano... and sat on the embankment where she and the boy once sat side by side.
Open the foam lunch box and there are two braised pig's trotters inside.
Then Qin Xizhen held the pig's trotter in his hand, sat on the embankment and started to eat it by himself.
The wind was warm, the electric poles facing the fortress were crisscrossed, and above the ancient buildings, the last dark cloud of dusk was rimmed with gold. From a nearby shop came the sound of a song on a tape recorder, her song.
Suddenly, the clouds moved and a beam of light shone through, and Qin Xizhen's eyes under his baseball cap were dyed like amber.
"Ha..." Qin Xizhen raised the corners of her mouth, her nose delicately tilted, but her voice was a little dull, "I originally wanted to treat you to a meal..."