Many things are changing, not static. Sometimes change happens when nothing has changed.
After Chris left, Lin Yifei would often check the mailbox, and would come back after school every time to ask if there was a phone number from Chris. Mother Lin also said with a smile, "What are you in a hurry for? Chris has only been to Washington for less than a week, and his life has not settled down yet. How can I have time to talk to you?"
KK and Mi Gao also noticed Lin Yifei's depression, and joked with him from time to time.
Finally on the weekend, Chris called.
When Lin Yifei heard Mama Lin telling him to answer the phone quickly, his heart almost jumped out.
When I picked up the phone, I had to take a long breath.
"Hey... Chris..." When I really got to talking, I didn't know what to say.
"Yifei." The other party's voice was cool, but it felt very soft when he said his name.
"Are you doing well in Washington?" This was what Lin Yifei was most concerned about.
"Not good." Chris's answer was also faint, and he couldn't hear the joy.
"Not good? Why? Did Mr. Osborne treat you badly?" Lin Yifei was a little surprised. According to his previous experience, Mr. Osborne loved Chris very much, and he was basically responsive to his requests. Aiwu and Wu were both concerned about Lin Yifei.
"What he gave me was not what I wanted."
Lin Yifei understood what Chris was referring to, and an unnatural smile appeared on his lips, "Fool, I can still play with you during the winter and summer vacations, if you are not happy, just call a few more times, I will wait here I have been waiting for your call for a long time."
"Um."
Then Lin Yifei was very happy talking about school affairs, especially the interesting stories between KK and Mi Gao, while Chris mostly listened quietly, as if he just called to hear Lin Yifei's voice.
After that, Chris would call every night after dinner, and Mother Lin also said jokingly, "Xiaofei, you can answer Chris's call more on time than wake you up in the morning."
Then Lin Yifei would giggle silly.
Lin Yifei was happiest about the fact that Mr. Ozborne hired a first-class fencing coach for Chris, and that Chris was going to participate in the saber event of the National Youth Fencing Competition, which made people both happy and envious for him.
Because of the competition, Chris's phone calls could not help but become once every two or three days. But Lin Yifei didn't care, as long as he knew that Chris was always winning during the competition. However, in this competition, Chris did not win the championship. It is not surprising that Chris has just started, and it is already quite good to be in the top three.
That night, Lin Yifei burped just after dinner, when Chris called.
"Haha, congratulations on getting the third place!" Lin Yifei was really happy. The champion in that competition was Luc Bell, who was two years older than Chris and was also a famous fencer many years later.
"Yes." Chris responded lightly, "Yifei will also participate in the competition next year."
"Me? I'm going to study in a middle school with a fencing department, and then participate in the fencing league for middle school students... But middle schools with fencing teams are good schools..." Lin Yifei rubbed his nose, "But it's okay, there are plenty of opportunities."
"Yifei, my mother is sick."
Hearing this news, Lin Yifei took a breath, "Is it serious?"
"It's not too serious, but I'm going to accompany her to Switzerland for recuperation. I'll call you when I get there." What Chris meant by saying this was to ask Lin Yifei to wait for his call, and the point was that If Chris's call comes, Lin Yifei must not be lost.
"Got it!" Lin Yifei smiled, "Be with your mother well. I'll wait for your call."
But what Lin Yifei didn't expect was that their family was about to leave here.
That night, Papa Lin came back and said that the factory was not doing well. He had been planning to start a small business earlier, but it was fully implemented during this time. Last month, his friend in the factory left first to find a place to open a Chinese restaurant, and Papa Lin has been planning to move. Recently, the Chinese restaurant is about to open, and the other party is also anxious to ask Papa Lin to hurry up. past.
"What... go to Washington?" Lin Yifei's eyes lit up when he heard the news. If he moved to Washington, he would be able to meet Chris!
"Yes." Mother Lin didn't say anything, but she was very happy in her heart. After staying in New York for so long, she felt a little emotional, but a friend of Father Lin's restaurant said that there was a suitable location in Washington, the location was good, the rent was reasonable, and there were people. Take care, so naturally they have to move there, "If Chris calls, you have to tell him earlier."
Lin Yifei became nervous when this matter was mentioned.
"We will be moving this Sunday. Your father has found a middle school for you over there. You can go to study directly after the summer vacation." Mother Lin touched her son's head, "Your good friend Didn't Chris go to Washington? This way you two can meet up."
"En!" Lin Yifei was looking forward to Chris's call even more in his heart, as soon as he called, he would tell him the good news.
I just waited until the night before the move, but Chris still didn't call.
This made Lin Yifei worried, did Chris's mother suddenly deteriorate? I remember Chris saying that his mother died not long after she got back to the Ozburns. Could it be...
Anyway, at least let Chris know that he is going to Washington. So he called Ozburn's house, and a middle-aged man answered the phone.
"Hello, this is Ozburn's house."
"Hi sir, I'm Chris's friend, Lin."
"I'm George the housekeeper. The young master is still in Switzerland. What can I do for you?" The other party's voice was far from cold, but it had a formulaic feel to it.
"That's right, I'm about to move tomorrow, but I can't reach Chris now, could you please give him my new address?"
"Can."
After the other party wrote down his address, Lin Yifei hung up the phone with peace of mind, hoping that Chris would come to find him after he moved to Washington.
KK hated Lin Yifei very much. On the day the Lin family moved out, she and Mi Gao sent him to the street.
Lin Yifei was moved when he saw KK's snot and tears.
Thank you for letting me experience a wonderful childhood again.
After a lot of twists and turns, Lin Yifei finally came to Washington's Chinatown. The place where they live is above the restaurant run by Lin's father, and the two live together. Washington's Chinatown is only a few blocks from the White House, and it takes only fifteen minutes to walk. On the first day of Lin Yifei's arrival, he accompanied his mother to visit outside the White House and took many photos.
Father Lin is still very far-sighted. He didn't want Lin Yifei to plunge into the greasy Chinatown like this and never get out of it for the rest of his life. Since Lin Yifei's English is so good, he naturally hopes that his son can go to a good school, integrate into the local culture, find a decent job in the future, and move out of the crowded apartment in Chinatown.
So Lin Yifei went to a school a little farther away, which is above average among public schools. What made Lin Yifei most happy was that there was a fencing club in this school. Students have made it to the quarter-finals in the National Middle School Fencing Championship, but something is better than nothing.
The Chinese restaurant downstairs has opened, and Papa Lin’s partner, Uncle Chen, even hired someone to perform a lion dance. Sometimes I really feel that Chinatown is more Chinese than my hometown. On the first day, the house was full of guests, and everyone liked fresh food. They came here to try the taste of the newly opened restaurant and see the reactions of the guests. Father Lin and the others will be busy in the future.
And Lin Yifei would often subconsciously look at the door, maybe at some point Chris would appear.
Unfortunately, the whole holiday has passed, and there is no news from Chris. Lin Yifei made another phone call to the Ozburn family, and it was still the butler George who answered.
"Excuse me, is Chris back from Switzerland?"
"Yes, the young master is back."
Hearing this news, Lin Yifei was both happy and sad. The happy thing is that they are finally in the same city, and the sad thing is because since they are back, why don't they have a phone call or come to find themselves
"Can I speak to him, please?"
"The young master is very busy, and it is not convenient now."
very busy? Is it because his mother's condition is still not optimistic
Lin Yifei frowned at this thought. Maybe now is really not a good time to disturb Chris, and I can actually go to Chris's school to find him after school officially starts. I took out the map of Washington and studied it carefully, only to find that Griffith College where Chris is located is not close, so I had to give up the rest time at noon to find him.
After school started, Lin Yifei had to adapt to a new school, and he was relatively rare in that school. Most of his classmates were native whites, a few blacks, and the rest were Spanish and Korean. Lin Yifei was the only Chinese, which made him unnaturally lonely, and he couldn't find his belonging in the whole class.
It made him miss Chris even more.
When the lunch break time came, Lin Yifei left the school, took the bus first, and then took the subway. It took him almost an hour before he arrived at the school gate. Griffith is an aristocrat in a private middle school. The children who attend classes here are either rich or expensive, and the teachers and teaching hardware are first-class.
Standing at the door, watching the occasional famous cars drive in and the students wearing neat school uniforms, Lin Yifei suddenly felt that he couldn't go in.
He stood at the door stupidly, expecting that Chris would suddenly come to the school gate.
The sun's rays were a bit dazzling, Lin Yifei stood under the shade of the tree, as if he was about to disappear into the sunlight.
In the end, he still returned to his school on the same road.
When he got home that night, he called the Ozbornes again, and it was still George who answered.
"Can I speak to Chris, please?"
"I'm sorry, master..."
Before George could finish speaking, Lin Yifei hung up the phone directly.