A black Chevrolet Suburban full-size off-road vehicle parked on the wide asphalt road.
Li Biqing got out of the car carrying a sports messenger bag, staring blankly at the dense woods and green grass slopes in front of him, "...Which park is this?"
Leo slammed the car door and walked to him, "Portland State University, the entire campus is an open park. The language training class I contacted you is located on the campus. It is only half an hour away from the apartment we rented. , The bus passes through the campus, it is very convenient to go to school."
The staff sent by the language school to greet the new students had already been waiting at the school gate. He was a brown-haired white man of about forty years old, with a physique like an athlete, and a very burly head. After talking to Leo, he enthusiastically grabbed Li Biqing's hand and shook it up and down. He kept booing and asking warmth in out-of-tune Chinese, expressing the degree of welcome that human language can express to the extreme.
Li Biqing tried to withdraw his hand after a few polite words, then turned his head and glanced at Leo hesitantly.
Leo patted his shoulder encouragingly, "Mr. Wayne is responsible for leading you in. I will pick you up in the afternoon. I will take the bus to school from tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay." Li Biqing whispered, grabbing his sleeve when Leo turned around, and quickly let go, his face hesitated, he looked like an uneasy person who had just been thrown into the boarding school by his parents. Little boy.
The reliance he inadvertently revealed made Leo feel an inexplicable joy, and softened his voice: "Go, relax, just be yourself."
Li Biqing opened a clear smile to him, like the moonlight breaking through the clouds in the night.
Wayne, who stood by, watched this scene somewhat unexpectedly. After the Chevrolet SUV drove away, he smiled understandingly at Li Biqing: "You have a very good boyfriend."
Li Biqing awkwardly explained: "No, he is my girlfriend's younger brother."
Wayne was even more embarrassed and kept apologizing along the way.
After the course of the day, Li Biqing declined Wayne's proposal to send him to the gate and wandered around the campus alone. He didn't want to call Leo so early, and the campus of Portland State University was adjacent to Forest Park, and the scenery was beautiful and intoxicating.
He leaned across the bag and strolled slowly on the soft lawn dotted with fallen leaves. The sunlight penetrated the tender green treetops of oak and red birch, splashing a little bit of light on his body. The summer breeze carried the looming floral fragrance... It was the fragrance of roses, Li Biqingshen After taking a deep breath, it was decided. Rose, rose, and rose, although they belong to the same family, there are many varieties, and their odors are also slightly different. The petals of countless rosaceae plants are mixed with the fragrant scent that evaporates in the sun and spread far into the wind, which is this kind of scent.
The nickname "City of Roses" really deserves its name, he thought as he walked.
"Hi!" A clear greeting suddenly sounded behind him. Li Biqing didn't look back. There were people coming and going on campus, no matter who the voice was calling, it wouldn't be calling him anyway.
A figure walked tightly a few steps, and came up from behind him, blocking the front. Now Li Biqing couldn't turn a blind eye anymore, stopped and looked at those who were blocking the way.
This is a young boy in his early twenties, dressed casually, looking like a college student. He has beautiful curly short dark hair, a dark complexion, with obvious Hispanic ancestry, slender eyebrows and eyes, thin lips, a little thin cheeks that appear slightly higher cheekbones, only the bridge of the nose is straight and straight. Impeccable. It's not a good facial features, but when his thin lips lifted up and smiled, there was no wild and unrestrained charm rushing to his face.
"Hi, this is Lei Zhe." He introduced himself briskly, "Lei Zhe? Dunn."
Li Biqing reluctantly replied a little reluctantly, "Hi."
The other party immediately said a few words, speaking very fast, and Li Biqing couldn't hear clearly, so he spread his hands and said that the language was impassable.
Lei Zhe was a little surprised, and then shrugged regretfully, "New here? IELP student?"
Li Biqing understood this sentence. IELP is an intensive English course affiliated with a state university, which is similar in nature to the language training course he is attending, so he nodded.
Realizing that it was difficult for the two parties to communicate, Lei Zhe hid the disappointment in his eyes and nodded friendly farewell to him.
At this moment, the mobile phone in Li Biqing's pocket rang. He took out to connect, and Leo's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Is get out of class finished? I'm at the school gate."
"Well, I'm hanging out on the campus, so I will come out and wait for a while." He hung up the call and happily said goodbye to the stranger who only knew his name. In a very short time, the expression changed from plain to smiling, like a cluster of stunning water lilies suddenly blooming on the surface of a secluded lake, which made Lei Zhe a little bit unexpected, and hesitated when he was about to leave.
Li Biqing had no time to answer him, and walked quickly towards the school gate.
Ten minutes later, he saw the huge and sturdy Chevrolet Suburban.
The temperature is very high today, and it hasn't fallen down until the evening. Leo took off his suit jacket and put it on his arms, tore off his tie, and only wore a white shirt with exquisite workmanship. The black trousers lined his legs especially Slender. He was leaning against the car body quietly wearing sunglasses, with his ankles crossed casually, without any language or movement, which was eye-catching.
There were a few slight clicking noises nearby, like the light sound of pressing the shutter. Three or four girls crowded together on the bench, laughing and whispering towards this side with their mobile phones.
"They probably think that you are very similar to a certain star, but they are embarrassed to come over to confirm. You stand a little longer, there must be a girl over to strike up a conversation." Li Biqing said to Leo.
Leo sternly said: "The shooting without the consent of the person involved is suspected of infringing on the privacy of others."
While full of black lines, Li Biqing secretly paid tribute to Leo’s future partner: this man’s incomprehensible style is like a U.S. Constitution. People who can truly love him are 80% passionate in legal studies. By.
At the moment when the door was opened, Li Biqing looked back inadvertently, and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the shade of a tree not far away. He seemed to have seen it somewhere before, but he had no impression on thinking about it. Just when he decided to abandon this feeling, a name suddenly jumped into his mind: Lei Zhe? Dunn.
The Hispanic student who spoke to him in the woods.
He was probably after class and was going to go home, so he just walked to the gate of the school, thinking about this, he quickly left the meeting in peace.
The next day, Li Biqing got up very early and took the free bus to the State University to familiarize himself with the route. On the third morning, when he was sitting on the bus and admiring the scenery outside the window, a young man who had just got on the bus lighted up after scanning the car, walked to his seat and said, "Hey, do you remember me?"
Li Biqing looked up at him and smiled politely: "Lei Zhe? Tang En."
The Hispanic boy raised his thin lips and smiled, his dark eyes curled up under his thin, thick eyebrows, "I know your English is not very good," he said slowly, and took out a handheld translator from his backpack. , Handed the miniature microphone in front of Li Biqing: "But with this thing, I should be able to communicate."
This guy is really... warm and hospitable. Li Biqing couldn't help but laugh and said, "Why do you have to communicate with me?" The mellow and pleasant male voice came from the translator, and there was no sign of artificial synthesis. It seemed to be a high-end one. goods.
"I think you are pleasing to your eyes." Lei Zhe replied, quite satisfied with the translation effect. "I have always wanted to find a language partner to learn each other's language."
"Well, maybe you will be the first friend I know in America, if we get along."
"How can I know if I don't try?"
When the bus arrived, Lei Zhe put the translator into Li Biqing's hands: "Keep this, I think it will be useful to you." After speaking, he turned around and left, jumped out of the car door and walked away.
Li Biqing took the translator and got out of the car. Confident, neat, willing to express himself, and a little maverick, he made a preliminary judgment on the character of this Hispanic boy. A very interesting person, maybe he can really get along with him.
Afterwards, it was logical. Li Biqing could always run into Lei Zhe in the huge campus, sometimes he was alone, sometimes surrounded by a group of friends. Lei Zhe will always come over and talk to him whenever he encounters it, and the length of time is inversely proportional to the number of people around. In less than a week, the two young people started to get acquainted with each other. Sometimes they would abandon the handheld translator and use gestures to communicate with each other, until the two people talking with the duck and the chicken finally had to laugh and give up. .
"If you want to master a foreign language as soon as possible, you should speak more. Don't be shy. I swear not to laugh at your grammar and pronunciation. You can also teach me Chinese. Maybe in a few months, we will be able to have no obstacles. Communicating with each other.” Lei Zhe encouraged him, ready to make full use of the role of language partner.
After a few days of intensive training, Lei Zhe had to admit that Li Biqing was the smartest, most diligent, and most savvy student he had ever met—his spoken language ability was rapid, and his memory was amazing. He had heard a word two or three times. It can be remembered and used. This kind of speed of progress is enough to make most language school students ashamed to hit the wall.
During this period of time, Li Biqing visited almost the entire campus of the State University, and sometimes set foot in the adjacent Portland Forest Park-a park, rather than a wild forest with an area of 5,000 hectares. It's impossible to go around the outside world in the short term.
Once Wayne saw him hiking to the Forest Park, he kindly pointed in a certain direction: "Walking there for more than half an hour, there is a small open area full of maple trees. You'd better not approach there."
"Why?" Li Biqing asked puzzledly.
Wayne explained with a serious look: "Five months ago, a murdered body was found there, and the victim was a student at a state university. This incident was a big deal at the time. The police have investigated for a long time, and there has been no one yet. Solve the case. There was a panic on the campus for a while, and now everyone seems to have forgotten it. Although the scene has been cleaned up, I suggest you not approach it casually."
Li Biqing nodded, with a sincere attitude: "I see, thank you."
Wayne smiled with satisfaction, "You are welcome and always will be. I haven't seen an international student more lovely than you."
Li Biqing lowered her head slightly embarrassedly, her ears turned red.
"The Chinese boy who is easy to be shy is so cute! I have to go, or I'm afraid I can't help but bite you." Wayne laughed and walked away happily.
… Is this molesting? It should be regarded as it is, but these Yankees seem to be able to say anything. How straightforward they are, Li Biqing feels that he should go to the countryside and adapt to their way of speaking.
"This is molesting! You can sue him for sexual harassment." A figure turned out from behind the tall oak tree and said calmly.
"Forget it, he's just joking." Li Biqing waved his hand indifferently, and asked his new friend: "It's not time for you to leave school yet, right?"
Lei Zhe said: "Today's club activities have been temporarily cancelled. Go, I will accompany you to stroll around."
The two wandered aimlessly in the woodland side by side, talking with each other. When approaching a remote building hidden by trees, Li Biqing suddenly stopped and sniffed the air a few times, "...Did you smell it?"
"what?"
"Weird smell, I can't describe..." He took out the handheld translator from his bag, and continued in Chinese: "A strange smell, suppressed by the scent of rose flowers, and it smells disgusting..."
Lei Zhe sniffed left and right, frowned and said, "It seems that there is such a strange smell..."
He curiously pulled Li Biqing to the place where the smell was emitted. The two of them waded through the long grass under their feet, pulled away the hanging branches and leaves, and walked around an ocher-colored fence covered with American brocade, and they saw a terrifying scene—
A naked corpse, lying face down in a large pool of blood, the scarred waxy white body was covered with odds and ends, and when he looked intently, it was clearly blood-stained petals. The blood stains of Wuzi have dried up on the corpse, but they could not cover the wounds all over the body. They were torn apart by the murder weapon in a savage and brutal way-pieces of newly broken branches, or dirty withered wood, everywhere. Inserted between the flesh and the skin, at first glance it looks like a parasite growing from the human body.
Li Biqing turned his head abruptly, supporting the tree trunk behind him with one hand and covering his mouth tightly with the other.
Lei Zhe grabbed his arm at a loss and made a "ho-ho" sound from his throat. After a while, he yelled sharply, "Phone! Give me the phone, call 911!" He hurriedly touched all over his body. But for a while, he couldn't find where to put the phone, so he searched Li Biqing's pocket in a hurry, shook out the phone and pressed the number.
After reporting to the police incoherently, the two ran away from the scene together.
More than ten minutes later, the harsh alarm sounded through the quiet campus of Portland State University, adding a touch of coldness to the gradually gloomy sky. Lead clouds fell in the sky, and accompanied by a muffled thunder, the summer afternoon showers finally poured down.