In an instant, Cheng Ran became like a creature that had lost the ground beneath its feet and was floating in the universe.
The world is still the same world, including the junior high school classrooms and the locust trees that block out the sun next to the teaching building.
But many things in this world are different.
Just like a computer is still the same computer, the location of the chip on the hardware has not changed, but the software installed on it has changed. The name of the country has changed, the ideology is different, and the things derived from this land have also changed.
Is this a parallel world
After traveling through time and space and being reborn, I did not go directly back to the familiar world of the past. Instead, I came to a parallel world that is different from the previous world. Is this a blessing or a curse
But when he saw Yu Xiao beside him, the junior high school teachers, and every familiar person in the classroom, Cheng Ran calmed down a little.
Cheng Ran nudged Yu Xiao with his elbow. Yu Xiao was about to cry. "I want to study hard. You lunatic, please let me go..."
"Who's that?" He pointed to a stranger in the classroom.
"Him? Dou Xiao! He's from the same unit as Ma Biao and the others. Don't you know? We were classmates for three years in junior high school!"
How could he not have the slightest impression of him... and Cheng Ran swore that he had never remembered such a person!
Is this really a parallel world, where some of the things and people that I am familiar with are still on their own orbits, like the trunk of a big tree, but with many more leaves or branches
The bell rang for the end of get out of class, and the next class was physical education. People came to the playground one after another. After running, most of the physical education class was free play time.
At this time, Yang Xia walked straight to Cheng Ran, who was looking at the school under the shade of a tree, and said calmly, "Come with me."
Yang Xia was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and soft cotton sweatpants. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head. She looked unfriendly when facing Cheng Ran. After she finished speaking, she turned and left, leaving a group of people looking at Cheng Ran with gloating eyes.
Generally speaking, if a girl were to so blatantly ask a boy out during physical education class, especially a popular girl like Yang Xia, the class beauty, there would probably be people making a fuss and all kinds of rumors would spread.
Many great things happened to Xiao Yangxia. Not long ago, a good friend of hers was teased by a boy from another class. The boy said some ugly things and the girl was so angry that she cried. As a result, Yangxia rushed to the other class and called the boy out and kicked him hard on the ankle. The boy was also a very powerful person in the class, but he could only admit defeat in front of her.
And no matter who Yang Xia is rumored to be dating, it is impossible for it to be with Cheng Ran in front of him.
Because everyone knew that Cheng Ran was nothing special, just one of the many people in their compound who had admired her since childhood with runny noses.
Everyone in the compound and in the whole class knew that he liked Yang Xia, and Cheng Ran's self-righteous secret love had actually been known to everyone for a long time, even the adults in the compound's units.
The old man guarding the gate would often shake his head with a look of pity at him who had just woken up and rushed to class, "You got up late again... Little Yang Xia caught the bus in front five minutes before you!"
Thinking back to that time now, and still living in that era, Cheng Ran felt a little painful for no reason.
Yang Xia had already been waiting for him under the mottled shade of the tree.
As soon as Cheng Ran came in front of him, he was hit by the girl's frosty face.
"What on earth are you thinking about? It's the last month, and you have good grades now? You dare to bet with Butcher Li? You also heard what he said. He wants you to review the whole school and put it in your file! Do you understand? Now it's not a matter of asking your parents to come. Even if you ask your parents, he won't recognize it! Now it's your future!"
"Butcher Li was once expelled. This is his secret. Who dares to make it public? You are the only one who is amazing. You are a student, but you dare to stand up. Don't you think you are a hero? You are just naive and childish... He will really make you pay!"
Listening to the girl in front of him crisply saying that he was "childish", Cheng Ran felt very close to her. Yang Xia was the girl he had a crush on since childhood and middle school. Now she was right in front of him, so real that he could even smell the faint laurel-like scent emanating from her body. Listening to her rapid-fire words, he not only did not feel uncomfortable, but enjoyed it instead. He said, "Of course he dared not invite the parents. Did he want to make that matter known to everyone? So he could only do it secretly! Is it necessary to save face for a scum teacher who likes to accept gifts, use connections, curry favor with leaders, squeeze out colleagues, and does not really educate with all his heart and has bad conduct?"
"Is this the time for you to talk back? If your mother hadn't asked me to keep an eye on your reports, do you think I would have the time to tell you this? Do you want me to tell Aunt Xu?"
“Okay, let me hear you say…” Cheng Ran casually pulled a grass stem from the flower bed, put it in his mouth, feeling its green taste.
"What's wrong with your perfunctory tone? Cheng Ran, it's not that you are questioning him now, but what are your abilities and qualifications? You have no ability to compete with him at all... We are students now, we can only study hard, this is our biggest task."
Yang Xia frowned. The Cheng Ran in front of her was completely different from the timid and cowardly person he used to be when he responded to her cold tone. It was like he had become a completely different person.
There was a light sense of ease and carefreeness in his every move, and even a certain... aura that she could not describe or put into words.
As time went by, the young man held a grass stem in his mouth, his hands clasped over his head, and leaned against a tree trunk. My scolding sounded like the sound of nature to the corners of his mouth that were raised in a faint smile.
Yang Xia was also a little flustered, so she spoke more strongly. It seemed that if she said something important, she could bring Cheng Ran back to his original form. This impeccable state made her a little flustered.
But thinking of something, Yang Xia slowly became serious again, "Cheng Ran, don't think I want to control you. How many points did you get in this mock test? 421! Even if you get a full score of 50 in physical education, how far are you from the admission score of about 600 in the No. 1 Middle School in the city?"
"I know you can't go to No. 1 High School, and you don't plan to go there, so you just gave up on yourself and challenged Li Zhan in this way! But can't you just be patient? You can still go to other schools. Take No. 2 High School for example. The admission score last year was also 520. If you work hard, you can still get into this school, or you can just go to No. 4 High School, which also requires an admission score of 470."
"But after what you did today, which school would dare to accept you?"
Cheng Ran thought you were right. Indeed, in his previous life, he was directly eliminated from No. 1 Middle School during the high school entrance examination and fell into the third-tier No. 4 Middle School. From then on, he knew that his fate with Yang Xia, Yu Xiao and others had begun to diverge.
He watched Yang Xia become a big name in the high school department of No. 1 Middle School. Among the celebrities of their class, Yang Xia was definitely one of them. Later, it was said that an equally legendary boy pursued her abroad. Many years later, the stories of the two are still widely circulated.
"Got it. I will be admitted to the senior high school of No. 1 Middle School." Cheng Ran responded, "This bet is really effective."
Yang Xia's expression gradually turned cold, "If you do this again, I will be angry!"
Uh... I still thought I was fooling her.
Cheng Ran felt as if he now held the biggest secret of the entire world, but he had to grit his teeth and keep this secret deep in his heart.
Yang Xia really turned her head away and ignored him, and walked past him, ready to leave with her back to him. Her profile, as white as snow, was dazzling in the light, even when she was angry.
Cheng Ran said in a calming tone, "By the way, is Jiang Xiaochao still secretly writing love letters to you?"
Jiang Xiaochao was one of the kids in the compound. He was famous for frequently handing love letters to Yang Xia and for fighting again and again despite repeated failures. This became the biggest stain in his later life. Thinking of these interesting places in the compound, Cheng Ran couldn't help but smile.
But Yang Xia was stunned for a moment and looked at him with a strange look, "Who is Jiang Xiaochao?"
Cheng Ran was stunned for a moment, "What about Dong Lan? That Alan... is she okay?"
Dong Lan is Yang Xia's good friend in the compound, a quirky girl. When the golden age of Hong Kong dramas arrived and they were very popular, Dong Lan often learned those "fashionable" Cantonese words and made people laugh, so everyone called her "Alan".
In Dong Lan's context, Yang Xia is called A Xia, Cheng Ran is called Cheng Zai, and Yu Xiao is called Xiao Shui Zai...
Yang Xia suddenly stopped and could hear the anger in her tone, "Are you having fun teasing me? Cheng Ran, can you be a little more normal!"
Cheng Ran felt his heart tighten as he stared at Yang Xia. His eyes seemed to have turned into two holes, with an endless abyss inside. After a moment, he asked with a trembling voice, "There's no such person, is there?"
Yang Xia looked at him carefully, and then said word by word, "Cheng Ran, do you know why you disappoint people? It's because I don't see the weight of the word "serious" in you. It seems that everything can be used as a joke."
Her face, which could have been a disaster at her age, was as cold as an iceberg. “I hope that many years from now, your life will not be a joke!”
She said this and turned around. The pink figure in the sweatshirt walked away, but Cheng Ran was left standing there in a daze.
Cheng Ran then found Yu Xiao and even asked around and inquired with his classmates who he knew.
He took out a notebook and kept writing down people's names.
The tip of the fountain pen scratched the handwritten note on the notebook, leaving scars all over it because it penetrated the back of the paper.
Cheng Ran didn’t know when school was over. He only knew that when he finally arrived in the classroom, even the student on duty had left, and he was the only one left.
The red sunset was shining in from the window, bringing with it the afterglow of the distant mountain range, shining its last warmth on his face and body. His shadow stretched long on the ground.
Cheng Ran pulled out his schoolbag from the drawer, walked out of the school, went down the ramp, got on the bus, and walked up and down the bus. He was sitting in the single seat in the second to last row, his face against the glass. Everything in Shanhai City was reflected in his eyes.
That familiar noodle shop has started to close, that stationery store with a changed sign still has students lingering there, the fried potato stall on the corner of the old street has a fragrant aroma coming from the grandmother's wok, the sound of cooking spatulas can be heard from the old house on the bluestone road, the lake on the road around the lake is still covered with ripples like gold coins, and the streets lined with sycamore trees are filled with people hurrying for a living under the shooting stars that streak across the sky and fly away.
Everything I see is so familiar. The city in my memory where I once lived has not disappeared, but it has become extremely strange and has another name.
Shanhai City.
It was like a gift bestowed by the power of the Creator, but along with the mountains and seas that were given to him, some things were taken away from him.
There were many names on the manuscript held in Cheng Ran's hand. Some of those names were circled by him, and some were crossed out by him.
The circled ones are the people he is familiar with who are still in this world, such as Yang Xia, Yu Xiao...
Those with crosses are people who have disappeared and have never appeared in this world.
Jiang Xiaochao, Dong Lan, Zhang Jun, Wang Wei, Li Yadong, Zhang Ping, Liu Yuchao, Zhang Yong, Wang Jun, Deng Jianguo, Li Bo…
He had once walked arm in arm with them, talked with them over drinks, and had fun together. These were old friends who were once like old dogs, those who reminded him of strong tea and aged wine, and those faces that he could never forget or could not forget.
There are crosses on their names, which are so cold and cruel.
"Can we discuss this... Can we discuss this?"
The bus was shaking as it moved forward, but as Cheng Ran's hands tightened on the manuscript, his eyes turned red and his vision blurred.
Cheng Ran found that it was as if a part of his life was forcibly and brutally torn apart, taken away, and either stuffed into a bottomless abyss or entered a crack in time and space somewhere, and this was something that he, a tiny human being, was powerless to do anything about.
The past and the present are separated by vast time and space!
Cheng Ran couldn't bear it anymore and tears welled up in his eyes.
He had already felt the shock of being hit by the power of time and space.
Helpless sorrow filled his entire chest. He cried on the bus, cried on the street, his eyes were blurred with tears all the way. Finally, he found the familiar building and door, and pushed open the door with trembling hands.
The parents who were putting the food on the table turned around and looked at Cheng Ran in surprise.
The two men, who were obviously much younger, were about to say something when Cheng Ran suddenly rushed over, bumped into his father's chest, stretched out his hands and hugged him, and enveloped him with a familiar and generous aura like a mountain.
At that moment, the floodgates in the most painful part of his heart were breached by the surging tide, and he burst into tears and cried loudly.
Every day and every moment, we always pass by some people, or say goodbye to people we know at the intersection.
But in fact, you never know, that might be the last time you meet each other in your life.
And what's even worse about this is.
No time to say goodbye, we will never see each other again.
… …
… … Thanks to the first leader “Luanshi Feibai” for the reward. Feibai’s writing is excellent, so the quality of his book reviews is also very high. It seems that I can see a soul that is unwilling to go with the flow. Handshake! I am not a novice in the opening of a new book, but I am still very nervous. In short, I have been busy. Fortunately, I have always had the support of the moderator “Lin Weichu”. He has been with me since Kaoyu started writing books... I am really grateful. In the first two days, I didn’t open the reward, the contract status of the book was not right, and I forgot to bind the account of the book review area, and I couldn’t operate the background of Rebirth of Nirvana. That was a lot of accidents. Fortunately, I got through it step by step. Seeing that the recommendation votes are rising all the way, I know that you have been supporting me behind the scenes. This can be regarded as supporting my helpless mood at the time. Now, I have settled down a little, and I have time to thank the people who silently voted for me and collected this book. Thank you "xanthe001", "Qiu Huaihan Dream 90s Non-mainstream Boy 20160718 Come Here "Kid" Lonely and Confused", "Liangfeng Youxing SL The Seventh Lost Dream", "Chasing Light in the Wind", "Chronicles of the Qin and Han Dynasties", "Ten Years of Yi", "I Wanted to Draw Eyebrows for You" and other brothers and sisters!