Chapter 9 Section IX

This summer, I went to Chengda University to attend an academic seminar, two days and one night. After the meeting on the first day, I took a casual walk on the campus of Chengda University. As I was walking, I suddenly remembered that she had said that she might return to Taiwan for a class reunion during the summer vacation. So maybe she will go back to her alma mater in high school for a walk? As soon as this idea came up, I immediately turned around and left the campus of Chengda University, and walked out of the gate of Chengda University. After only five minutes of walking on the street, I came to the gate of my alma mater in high school.

After graduating from high school, although I often passed by the gate of my alma mater when I went to university and graduate school, I never walked in. Now, after 20 years of graduation, I finally entered my alma mater. Today is Saturday, there are no classes in the school, no one is walking around on the campus, it is very quiet. I remembered that when I was studying in the past, the second day of the week had not yet been implemented, and I still had to go to class on Saturday. Although it is a good thing to have more holidays, I have always been thankful that there were no Saturdays off in those years.

So during the days of passing notes with her, there can be six back and forth times a week instead of five. Many buildings were demolished, and new buildings were built on the spot. The campus that has been there for three years looks very strange. The only thing I am familiar with is the building where I took classes in my second year of high school. The building is still three floors, and although the exterior walls have been painted in new colors, they have not been remodeled. Sandwiched between various new buildings, this building looks old and abrupt. I walked towards it slowly, and when there were about 30 steps left, I heard a burst of laughter.

Driven by curiosity, I approached the direction of the sound. The sound came from a classroom on the first floor, and I stopped in the corridor outside the classroom. There are about 30 people in the classroom, both male and female. Although most of them looked to be in their thirties or forties, there were also people who looked like they were in their fifties. Maybe it's a make-up student who graduated from a previous school. The laughter in the classroom suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later came the sound of the guitar. On the podium, there was a woman holding a guitar and sitting on a chair, playing and singing.

It's "Donna Donna," Joan Baez's song, It was also the first Western song she learned to play. I was slightly startled, and secretly looked at the woman playing the guitar. The woman is wearing a cotton white shirt, dark blue jeans, and has a simple and refreshing hairstyle. It's the kind of short hair that's thinned in the back. Although she looks more than 30 years old, her delicate face is full of childishness. I don't know how well this woman plays the guitar, but the singing is very nice, clear and clean. Although she sang English songs, her articulation and pronunciation are very natural, without strange accents.

After listening to it for a while, I was fascinated and stood in the corridor all the time. Suddenly, my heart beat faster because I associated this woman with her. Could it be her? Could it be that their class just chose this classroom to hold a class reunion today? is it possible? My heart was beating faster and faster, and my heart was about to jump out of my mouth. But it didn't take long for a bucket of cold water to be poured over his head. First, there are a lot of people who use the summer vacation to hold class reunions; Secondly, this classroom is on the first floor, while the classroom I attended in my second year of high school was on the second floor.

So it's hard for me to imagine her in this classroom. After "Donna Donna" was sung, there was thunderous applause in the classroom mixed with the sound of "Encore". The woman originally wanted to stand up and walk off the stage, but she couldn't help the audience clamoring again and again, so she had to sit down again. The moment she sat down, the woman turned her head slightly, meeting my eyes. The woman smiled slightly, that smile seemed to say: "Welcome." It also seems to ask: "Does it sound good?" I was a little embarrassed, and it didn't seem very polite to stand in the hallway all the time.

After I nodded to the woman, I turned and left. After walking a few steps, the melody of the guitar and the singing of a woman came from behind again. This time it was "Jackaroe", another Joan Baez song. I can't help but stop. This woman obviously likes Joan Baez's songs, as much as she does. But if this woman is really her, why not play "Diamonds and Rust"? When I figured this out, I immediately felt disappointed. After sighing in his heart, he walked forward slowly, and the singing of "Jackaroe" behind him became weaker and weaker. This couple they got married

Sowell they did dagree This couple they got married Sowhynotyouandme Oh, so why not you and me... The couple later got married and lived happily ever after. The couple later got married, why can't you and I? Why can't you and I? She is right, the melody and lyrics of "Jackaroe" have an indelible sadness. I didn't feel sad when I listened to "Jackaroe" before, but now I feel sour when I listen to it. "Why can't you and I?" Yeah, why can't I be with her? I didn't want to fall into this sentimental mood, so I walked to the stairs,

Then quickly climb the stairs to the second floor. I walked into the classroom where I was in the second year of high school and looked around. It seemed that something had changed, but it didn't seem to have changed. After so many years, the deepest impression on this classroom is the position of my seat. The desks and chairs were newer, but they were still the kind of desks that had room under them to serve as drawers. I sat in the old seat and glanced down, the drawers were empty. The right hand subconsciously digs into the drawer, which is the first action after going to the classroom and sitting down.

Sure enough, there was nothing in the drawer, only a light layer of dust. I took out a small note from my wallet and wrote on it: "May I see you?" Then put it gently in the drawer. It's kind of boring, but I've been wanting to do it for years. The students who attend classes after the school term should be shocked when they see this note. Will he be like me, suspicious of ghosts? I straightened up, leaned lightly on the back of the chair, and looked at the blackboard. 21 years have passed, the blackboard is still green, but it is still called a blackboard. "Hello." I turned my head when I heard the sound, the woman who just played and sang "Donna Donna" on the guitar, Standing at the door of the classroom, her guitar is carried on her left shoulder. I was a little surprised, but I still nodded to her as a greeting. "This is my alma mater," she said. "Oh." I said. "Aren't you surprised?" she said, "a girl graduated from a boys' school?" "This is also my alma mater." I said, "so I know there is a make-up school here at night, and the make-up school There are female students. " "So we are alumni." She smiled. "Are you holding a class reunion?" I asked. "Yes." she said. "The class reunion is over?" "Not yet," she said, "I just slipped up and wanted to play a song in this room." "Play a song?" "Yeah." She nodded. She walked into the classroom slowly and looked around, just like my reaction when I just walked into the classroom. "The classroom just now was my classroom in the third year of high school." She said, "Because we make up students I have never seen the campus in the afternoon, so I chose to hold the class reunion in the classroom. " "The atmosphere of the class reunion is very enthusiastic, and the feelings of the classmates in your class must be very good." "Yes. But if I had to choose, I would choose this classroom for the class reunion." "why?" "This classroom is the classroom I stayed in when I was a sophomore in high school." She walked and said: "I have a strong attachment to this classroom." "I also taught in this classroom when I was a sophomore in high school." I said. "Oh?" She froze for a moment, then smiled and said, "What a coincidence." She stopped three steps away from me. "May I sit in the chair you're sitting on now?" she asked. "Oh?" I was a little surprised, stood up and took two steps away from my seat, "Please sit down." She took the guitar off her left shoulder, laid it casually on the desk beside her, and approached my seat. "Thank you." She said after sitting down, "I sat in this seat in class when I was a sophomore in high school." I was going to say: Me too. But for some reason, I was a little nervous and couldn't speak. "You play the guitar very well." I said after I collected myself. "Thank you," she said. "Playing the guitar was a habit and hobby of mine in high school." "My habit in high school was reading, and my hobby was also reading." "The tone of your speech is very similar to a friend I met when I was a sophomore in high school." She smiled slightly, "I just want to be in this classroom, sitting in this position, and play a song for that friend." She gently stroked the table with her right hand, and slowly, as if relieved, she let out a breath. Slightly raised his head to look at the blackboard, looked up at the ceiling, and then turned his head to look at the surrounding walls. Then he looked down at the drawer. She suddenly arched up as if frightened, and let out an exclamation of "ah". After a pause for a few seconds, she reached out and took out the note I just wrote in the drawer. She glanced at the note, then looked up at me. "That's what I wrote." I said, "When I was a sophomore in high school, I could find it in the drawer every morning. Someone writes me a note, and I write something on that note and put it back in the drawer. " "It should have been written by a make-up student sitting in the same seat as you," she said. "You guessed it," I said, "but at first I thought it was a ghost scaring me?" "That's because you're stupid." She smiled, "It's you who treat the make-up students as ghosts." "It's just my fault for not tidying up the drawers." I also smiled, "It deserves to be scared." She looked at me meaningfully and said: "You know? When I was a sophomore in high school, the first thing I did after rushing into the classroom every evening, Just sit on the seat and write a note, and put it in the drawer after writing. " "I..." I suddenly stuttered, unable to continue.After a while, he managed to say: "Now I know." "In this classroom, I met a high school boy who had no sense of public morality and was low-level and boring." "What a coincidence." I said, "I also met a kind-hearted, fresh and refined teacher in this classroom. supplementary school girls. " "Can I borrow a pen from you?" she asked. I handed her the pen, and she took it. She wrote a few words on the little note and handed it to me. On the note, under "Can I see you?", there is a line of words: "I want to see you too." We looked at each other without leaving each other's eyes, as if we were staring at the past youth. Although it was only a dozen seconds, it was as long as the past 21 years. When my vision became a little blurry, I was the first to break the silence and say: "This classroom doesn't seem to have changed." "The classroom hasn't changed much, but the scenery outside the window has changed a lot." She glanced out the window. The time and space inside the drawer may stay in the same year, but the world outside the window is constantly advancing and changing. "The Buddha said that looking back five hundred times in the previous life is only in exchange for passing by in this life." I said. "It should be: The Buddha said that he looked back 500 times in the previous life, only to pass by in this life." She smiled, "You added two more ''s." "Sorry." I also smiled, "This is after I wrote a 10,000-word composition in my sophomore year. bad habits developed. " "It seems that the composition had a great influence on you." "That's right." I nodded, "When I write articles now, I will add "'s" mixed word numbers everywhere." "You are too dirty." She laughed, her childish face became younger. "However, without that composition, I would not have known that kind-hearted, fresh and refined Make up girls. " "If you didn't know that female student, you're probably still immoral, low-level and boring." "probably." "Then do you think, how many times have we looked back in our previous lives?" "The exact number is unknown, but it has been identified more than five hundred times." We looked at each other and smiled, and if we could pass by, we would not be in vain looking back at the previous life. "Want to hear Diamonds and Rust?" she said. "It takes more than a thousand times to look back." I said, "No wonder my neck has been sore all my life, It must be that I looked back too many times in my previous life. " "Then after listening to it, will you cry bitterly?" "It will." I smiled, "It's like hearing someone's bad joke." She stood up, walked to the table where the guitar had just been placed, opened the cover of the guitar and took out the guitar. I suddenly found two red stars hanging on her guitar cover. Looking carefully, it was acacia beans. She also saw the two reds following my line of sight, and said with a smile: "You really know how to pick them up. After 21 years, these two beans are still so red." My memory instantly returns to the school gate on a windy day 21 years ago. It was as if the howling wind at that time sounded in my ears, and I felt the illusion of being soaked all over my body. When I came back to my senses, she had adjusted the straps, carried the guitar in front of her body, and sat down on the desk. "Haven't played this song in years," she said, "don't laugh at me if I get it wrong." "Did you forget that I don't know how to play an instrument at all? I don't know if you play it wrong." I smiled, "Just be careful with the guitar strings, they might break." "Well, because you are a hero." She smiled happily, "so I will be careful." Then she stopped laughing, put her head down, and played a few chords. "I'm ready." She looked up and asked, "Are you ready?" "Yeah." I took a deep breath and nodded. But when her fingers made their first arcs on the guitar strings, I was suddenly thrilled. It has been 21 years, although time never turns back as sung by "River of no return", But I still vividly remember her telling me the story of "Diamonds and Rust" on the note. The guitar prelude of "Diamonds and Rust" is about 30 seconds, 30 seconds late for 21 years. The prelude was still going on, and before she sang, I already felt the moisture in the corners of my eyes. "Well, I'll be damned... Here comes your ghost again..." She just sang the first line, and my tears were squirming restlessly in my eyes, almost bursting out. When she sang, her expression was very peaceful, without any fluctuations, until she sang the line: "FortyyearsagoIboughtyousomecufflinks..." when, A smile appeared on her face. And I always take deep breaths to calm the inner waves. "Yes, I love you dearly Andif you're offering media monds and trust I've already paid for..." The melody of the guitar fades away and then goes completely still. Tears were shining in her eyes, but her face was filled with a touch of satisfaction. I also feel satisfied, especially the moisture in the eye sockets is already full. "Class is about to start." She looked at the direction of the sunlight and said softly. "get out of class has been over for a while." I also glanced at the direction of the sunlight. And the evening sunlight was pouring into the drawer obliquely, revealing a warm golden color inside the drawer.