Chapter 2 Chapter two

I transferred to the attached middle school in the last semester of my second year of high school. Originally, the attached middle school generally did not accept transfer students, especially those from other places.It was my uncle who made a lot of effort to get me in.I also worked hard myself. On the day of the interview, the dean took a set of papers to test me. As soon as I finished the math paper, he put away the rest of the chemistry and physics papers and said, "Okay, there is no need to take the test. Come to class this afternoon." I am a child who loves to study, because besides studying, I have no other expertise.

After my parents passed away, I didn’t speak for half a year. My uncle recalled that when he finally heard me speak, I locked myself on the balcony and recited an English text. Before I transferred to another school, I was the English class representative in my class. I forgot which text I recited on the balcony that day, but I was deeply impressed by the first English class after entering the attached high school.The English teachers in the attached middle school were all foreigners, and the teacher who taught us was an old British lady.After asking me to answer a question, he criticized my pronunciation, saying that I had a typical Chinese pronunciation, which made me blush and embarrassed in front of a group of classmates who met for the first time.

I was vulnerable then, losing my parents, my home, and all my happiness.She stayed at her uncle's house, carefully hiding her broken self little by little.Learn to act according to my aunt's face, please my cousin, and help her with Olympiad questions for her.Before the age of sixteen, I was also the apple of my parents' eyes, the only princess, the proudest student of my teacher, and the envy of my relatives and friends.But everything is gone, everything I relied on is gone, no matter how good my grades are, my parents will never see it. After school, I hid alone in the playground and cried. Someone was running on the plastic track, with rustling footsteps, passing behind me.I sat on the grass with my back to the runway, buried my head deeply in my knees, and watched the tears fall drop by drop in the grass.I think of many things, mostly when I was a child, my parents took me to the park, rowing boats, riding bumper cars, and buying balloons.When I was a child, there was a kind of marshmallow, which was made of white sugar. It was a big ball, fluffy and fluffy like a cloud. When I ate it, it would always stick to my face.My dad loves to take pictures of my embarrassment. At that time, it was all film. After a year, my dad can take many rolls of film for me.

I cried very sad, I didn't even know a boy was coming, until I saw his sneakers, a leaf was stuck on the snow-white sole, he knelt down to remove the leaf with his right hand, but handed it to me with his left hand A pack of tissues. I was stunned for a few seconds, but I didn't go to pick up the package of tissues. He put the tissues on the grass and left. The next day I found out that this boy was sitting in the row behind me. His name was Xiao Shan. Xiao Shan's father was a diplomat, and he was abroad until he was twelve years old. He spoke a fluent and standard Oxford accent, and he could debate the use of phrases in class with the old British lady.Mathematics is better, so good that people like me will be amazed.He is not the kind of student who works hard, good grades are pure genius.Ten minutes after class, I can run to the playground to play basketball.Once in math class, just after the bell rang, he ran back late holding the ball out of breath, and stood at the door and called "report".Lao Ben, who teaches mathematics, hates students being late. He turned his head and glanced at him as if he hadn't heard of it, so he had to stand at the door and act as a doorkeeper.After a while, Lao Ben began to hand out the test papers for the city's joint entrance exam. Lao Ben's habit is to read the name according to the class's score, from high to low, and the students go up to get it by themselves when they read a name with a score.It is inhumane and hurts the self-esteem of the students, but Lao Ben doesn't care, he likes to take people for what he gets.

As a result, the first paper read that day was Xiao Shan, with a perfect score of 150. Lao Ben turned his head and glanced at Xiao Shan outside the door, reluctantly annoyed: "Aren't you coming in yet?" The whole class buried their heads and held back their laughter. Xiao Shan took the test paper from Lao Ben and said generously, "Thank you teacher." There are many outstanding students in the attached middle school, but there are only a handful of outstanding students like him.There are many girls in the class who are secretly in love with Xiao Shan, and they are just beginning to fall in love. Who has no illusions about such an outstanding boy.I didn't because I didn't have that kind of thought at all. The departure of my parents made me completely incapable of coping with the world.Although he was sitting in the row behind me, except for occasionally borrowing English class notes from him, I basically never spoke to him.

We really got to know Xiao Shan during the winter vacation. The winter vacation homework assigned by the old British lady was to arrange a Shakespeare play in groups.The whole class was divided into several groups according to the seats. Some groups chose "Romeo and Juliet", some groups chose "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and some groups chose "Hamlet"... Xiao Shan and I were divided into one group, we chose this group.After the Spring Festival is over, each group will perform in class and then graded separately. I really like the days of rehearsal during the winter vacation, because I don’t have to stay at my uncle’s house, and the closer the Spring Festival is, the more miserable I feel about being homeless.My aunt is always talking about things to buy for the New Year, and my cousin is clamoring to buy a new laptop.A few years ago, notebooks were not as popular as they are now. My cousin already had a Lenovo notebook, but he said that some students in the class were using Sony’s new models, so my uncle promised to buy it for her if she got the top 20 in the class.

The cousin pulled her uncle and acted like a baby: "Dad, look at what my cousin said." I just feel sad. During the Spring Festival last year, I was still holding the hands of my parents and acting like a baby, but now no matter what I want, no one buys it for me. At that time, I was very sensitive and vulnerable to everything around me, so I would rather hide out to avoid feeling sad. The rehearsals are usually at Xiao Shan's house, which is very spacious, and there are no adults at home, only his grandparents.I still remember the kindness of the two old people.We locked ourselves in a well-heated study room, reading dialogues aloud as if no one else was there, and grandma made us snacks in the kitchen and brought them out on a plate.

Sometimes it is glutinous rice lotus root, sometimes it is sweet-scented osmanthus rice cake, sometimes it is crystal siu mai...all of them are very delicious.Xiaoshan's grandma is from the south, and the dim sum she makes is home-style. Grandma always takes good care of me, the only girl, so I often eat until I'm full. At that time, I was not used to the winter in the north, and it was so dry that I often had nosebleeds.One day at Xiaoshan's home, when I was doing a line rehearsal, a classmate shouted, "Oh, Tong Xue, you've got a nosebleed." As soon as I lowered my head, the bright red blood dripped on the sweater in front of the lapel. The sweater was white, and it was very shocking to see it dripping on it.In the end, it was Xiao Shan who carried me to the bathroom, brushed my hair up indiscriminately, and patted the back of my neck with cold water desperately.Grandma was helping, wiping the water dripping from my neck with a towel, and said while wiping, "Oh, this child, it's really hard to see."

Xiao Shan's slightly cool palms patted cold water on my neck, he patted, the blood was still dripping down into the washbasin.The faucet was turned on very loudly, and the sound of rushing made me feel even more dizzy, and I saw strands of blood being quickly washed away by the water.After a while he would always ask me: "How is it? Why is it still bleeding?" My grandma scolded him for being unable to hold her breath, and then pinched the acupuncture points on my hand. After pinching for a while, my grandma asked him to pinch: "You are very strong. If you pinch with a little strength, the flow will stop."

His hand was really strong, and he pinched it so hard that tears welled up in my eyes.Seeing me crying, he quickly let go, and grandma blamed him again: "Why are you so rude, the girl's hands are so tender." So while my nose was bleeding and crying, I tried to persuade my grandma: "Don't blame him, he also wants to choke me quickly." He actually laughed out loud at the side: "Stop it...why is this so weird?" Grandma patted him aside: "Stinky boy, you're still laughing!" I forgot how my nosebleed stopped that day. I only remember that I stuffed cotton wool in my nose and ate the jujube paste pancake made by my grandma.While persuading me to eat, my grandma said: "Jujube paste nourishes blood, so eat more."

I can't forget the days of rehearsal, mostly because my grandma was kind to me, she was so kind to me. When the Spring Festival was approaching, we had already memorized the lines backwards. One day after finishing the rehearsal, it was still early. I don’t know who proposed to go for a walk on the ice.I'm from the south, so I don't know how to walk at all.But up to the rehearsal, it can be said that the members of our group are already monolithic, and that friendship is harder than iron and stronger than steel.Several classmates dragged me to go with them, and Xiao Shan also said: "With us here, I can't fall you." After putting on the skates, I didn't even know how to move my legs. Two classmates held one of my hands, and I walked forward cautiously. When they moved a little faster, I screamed in fright.Finally, a classmate got impatient and turned to call Xiao Shan: "You can take her." Then he said to me: "Xiao Shan is the best in skating backwards." Xiao Shan taught me very patiently. He explained the essentials of movements while skating backwards, just like he usually talks about math problems.After the winter vacation group got acquainted, I occasionally asked him questions, and he could always speak clearly and clearly, and it must be the simplest solution.After skating for a few laps, I slowly realized it myself. He saw that I was walking well, so he gradually let go of his hand: "You still have a bit of talent for learning this." I was embarrassed to be praised by him: "No, I used to play roller skates, so I know a little balance." My first pair of roller skates was bought by my father on a business trip to the United States. I still remember that the shoes were pink. My father always liked to buy me pink things, because in his heart, girls should be pink. tender.I bought those shoes a little bigger, and I have been wearing them for several years.Later, similar roller skates were sold in China, but the style was much simpler.It was also my father who taught me how to learn roller skating. He took my hand and walked on the basketball court in front of my house. I learned it after walking for several Sundays. I fell hard, Xiao Shan pulled me up, and said angrily: "What are you thinking? You have not learned how to use one mind, why are you always like this?" I didn't make a sound. Sometimes I asked him about English reading comprehension, and I was still in a daze after speaking for a long time. He was so impatient, thinking that I was stupid and careless.No one said I was stupid when I was young, and my teacher always praised me for my ability to accept, but I was stupid in front of him because he was too smart. He was afraid that I would fall again, so he never let go, took my hand and led me to slide slowly.There was a little wind that day, and it wasn't cold on my face. I didn't wear a hat, so I just wrapped a scarf around my head casually.I've grown up and never held hands with boys for so long, even though they were all wearing gloves.But the last time I held hands with a boy, it seemed to be when I was in elementary school, performing a program on Children's Day on June 1st.Thinking of this, my heart beat suddenly, so fast that it made me feel slightly uncomfortable.But Xiao Shan was magnanimous at all, he held my hand tightly, like holding a younger sister, or a classmate—I was just his classmate, I no longer turned my head to look at him, just tried to let myself Appears more natural. After ice skating, we went to a small shop to drink pearl milk tea. Holding the hot bubble tea in our hands, it looked particularly mellow.Everyone talked about where to go during the New Year, and some people suggested going to temple fairs.I was silent by myself, just drinking milk tea and sucking pearls, when I suddenly heard Xiao Shan say: "Ah, your face is freezing!" I touched my face, and there was a hard lump that was itchy. I had never had chilblains before, and I didn’t expect that the first time I had chilblains was on my face.I heard people say that frostbite will break the skin and fester, if it grows on the face, wouldn't it be disfigured?I didn't even drink milk tea, I pressed hard on the hard lump, trying to squeeze it out.Xiao Shan said: "Don't rub it, the more you rub it, the worse it will be. My relatives gave me some snake oil. I'll bring you some tomorrow. Just rub it twice with snake oil and you'll be fine." The next day was New Year's Eve. It had been agreed that rehearsals would be suspended from this day until the fifth day of the first lunar month. After all, it was the New Year's Eve.I originally thought it was fine for him to talk, who would run out of the house on New Year's Eve.Who knew that not long after waking up, I heard the phone ringing.The cousin hadn't gotten up yet, so my aunt hurriedly answered the phone for fear of waking her up.Hearing a sentence, he called me: "I'm looking for you." I was afraid that my aunt would be unhappy, so I seldom told anyone my home phone number.So I didn't know who would call me on the morning of New Year's Eve, but I was nervous when I heard Xiao Shan's voice, he said: "Your phone number is really hard to find, I only found out after asking the old class." My aunt was on the sofa next to me, looking at me intentionally or unintentionally, because no male classmate had ever called home, so I was afraid that she might misunderstand something, so I quickly asked, "Aren't there no rehearsals today?" "Did you forget? I told you yesterday that I will give you snake oil, come out and get it." I still can't react: "Ah..." He said, "I'll wait for you at the gate of Junbo subway station." It was the nearest subway station to my uncle's house, and it only took ten minutes to walk there. I quickly made up my mind: "Okay, please wait for me, I'll be right there. Putting down the phone, I told my aunt that the script for the rehearsal had been changed, so my classmates called to inform me that I had to get it.I don't know why I lied to my aunt, maybe I thought telling her that a male classmate sent me snake oil would make her think wrong, maybe I just didn't want to tell her. My aunt didn't care too much, but my uncle asked me, "Where can I get it?" "They live in Huilongguan, it's a little far away." I continued to lie without blushing and heartbeat: "If there is a traffic jam, I won't come back for lunch." Well, because today I just want to be alone. My aunt said: "It's better to come back early, it's almost New Year's Eve." Before going out, I was changing my shoes in the porch. My uncle came over and gave me a hundred yuan. I didn’t want it. He said, “Take it, there’s always a traffic jam over there. If you can’t make it back for lunch, I’ll buy a hamburger.” My aunt saw it as soon as I pulled it, and said with a smile: "You can take it when uncle gives it to you, it's not someone else." When she said that, I had to put the money away. I took the one hundred yuan to the subway station, and I saw Xiaoshan from a distance.He was tall, with long arms and legs, and very striking.I ran up to him. He didn't even wear a down jacket in such a cold day, and the jacket was still open, revealing the plaid scarf inside.Seeing me, he grinned and showed his white teeth: "It came very quickly." I wore a hat today, but forgot my scarf, and ran all the way, my face hurt by the wind, especially the place where I had chilblains.While rubbing my face with my hands, I asked, "Where's the snake oil?" As a result, he put his hands in his pockets and didn't move at all: "I haven't had breakfast yet, please treat me to breakfast." I called Lucky in my heart, lucky to have a hundred yuan from my uncle in my pocket.I said, "Please eat McDonald's." He didn't pick at all: "Okay!" I didn't expect Xiao Shan to be a big eater, and he still couldn't get enough after eating two set meals. Fortunately, he didn't ask for a third set, otherwise my one hundred yuan might not be enough.He ate quickly, but drank very slowly. He drank two cups of hot drinks for a long time and still hadn't finished one cup.I have always eaten slowly, so I finished my set meal, and he was still drinking slowly.With a boy alone like this, I don't know what to say to him.I just watched his eyelashes drooping down, seeming to be concentrating on sucking on the straw there, the long eyelashes trembling slightly, as if there were invisible elves dancing on them.I suddenly didn't dare to look at him, so I took the paper that was on the plate and folded it casually. I finally folded a very fat paper crane, Xiao Shan suddenly smiled, let go of the straw, and said, "What is this, ugly duckling?" I feel very depressed, even though I am fat, I am still a paper crane, okay? He took the paper crane and folded it again: "You folded it wrong." The paper crane he refolded was indeed very beautiful. When he went to the bathroom, I struggled with my thoughts for a long time, and finally I secretly picked up the paper crane and hid it in my coat pocket.As soon as he hid Xiao Shan, he came back and greeted me: "Let's go." Leave the warm fast food restaurant and stand on the cold and windy street.He took out the snake oil and handed it to me. It was in a small glass screw cap bottle. The bottle was very unique and exquisite.The snake oil inside looked yellow, semi-solidified like a paste.I said "thank you", and he asked me, "Do you live not far away?" I nod. He seemed to pause for a few seconds before finally saying, "That's it. I'll take the subway back." "Then I'm leaving too." "goodbye!" "goodbye!" I turned around and walked forward slowly, with my hands in my coat pockets.On one side is a bottle of snake oil, which is hard.In the other pocket is the paper crane, which is soft.After walking a few steps, I suddenly heard someone call my name. I turned my head and saw that he was catching up with me. He smiled at me, showing his neat white teeth: "I forgot to tell you, happy new year tomorrow." Today is New Year's Eve, so I also smiled with relief: "Happy New Year." I stood there watching him turn away and join the rushing crowd.He took big strides and walked very fast. Although the weather was gloomy, I always felt that there was a ray of sunlight hitting him in the gaps in the clouds.Let him shine, and let me see his back at a glance among so many pedestrians. I wandered the streets alone for a long time that day, and didn't return to my uncle's house until it was almost dark at dusk.My aunt is cooking, my uncle is helping her in the kitchen, and my cousin is watching TV on the sofa in the living room. Such a beautiful family atmosphere makes me look more out of place.I went to the kitchen to say hello to my uncle and aunt, and then quietly went back to the room. I took the paper crane out of my coat pocket. It had been crumpled. I smoothed out its wings and put it in the diary.I didn't want to keep a diary, so I just wrote today's date on the paper crane with a pen. "Happy birthday, Tong Xue." I said to myself in my heart, the TV in the living room was very loud, the bedroom window was facing the driveway of the community, there was a car coming in, the sound was vague, and everything around me was noisy and trivial.This is the first birthday I have spent alone in sixteen years, without cake, gift, blessing and warm smile from my parents.But the next birthday, I have to spend it alone. After the school term started, we lost out to another group's "Romeo and Juliet" with a small number of votes. Lin Zixian played the role of Juliet.She is the English class representative of our class and once represented our school in the English speech contest for middle school students in the city.Some people say that she is the beauty of the school, but there are quite a few beautiful girls in our school, so there has been no conclusion as to who the beauty of the school is.But she played Juliet, which made the whole class slap red. It was really wonderful, and the limelight completely overwhelmed the male classmate who played Romeo.Later, the British old ladies merged with each other, and the personnel were readjusted to "Romeo and Juliet". Xiao Shan played Romeo, and Lin Zixian was still Juliet.This play was quite a sensation at the time, with handsome men and beautiful women, elegant and standard English pronunciation, it was a repertoire of performances for two years when there were foreign guests visiting our school and fellowships between friendly schools. The chilblain on my face has been healed, the snake oil is very effective, although the smell is a bit smelly, but after a few times of application, the effect is seen, and before the bottle of snake oil is used up, my chilblain has disappeared without a trace .After the new semester started, the seats were adjusted, and Xiao Shan no longer sat behind me.Ten minutes after class was over, he still went to play basketball without hesitation, and he had a lot of extracurricular activities, such as rehearsing "Romeo and Juliet" with Lin Zixian, participating in the Olympiad... All my thoughts are also on my studies, and I will be in my third year of high school in the second half of the year.Occasionally, I still borrow English notes from him, because the notes he wrote are neat and complete, and many people in the class ask him to borrow them to copy. I like math class the most, because I am the favorite student of Lao Ben who teaches mathematics, and Xiao Shan is the most troubled student of Lao Ben.Because Xiaoshan's math grades are good, but he is a disobedient student.As soon as Lao Ben gave a lecture on the sample questions, he called Xiao Shan and me up to answer them on the blackboard.We always use different methods to solve the same problem.My solution method is always the safest, while Xiao Shan's solution method is always the simplest. In order to be lazy, he often uses whimsical steps, like the dangerous move of a sword in a martial arts sword.And I follow the rules, the chance of error is the least.Lao Ben likes to watch the two of us compete on the same stage. If I solve better and faster than Xiao Shan, he will praise me with a smile on his face.If Xiao Shan solves it quickly, he will stand aside with his hands behind his back and watch me struggling to write down the steps, like an old monster in a martial arts novel, afraid that his proud disciple will lose to others.In fact, I also like to do problems with Xiao Shan, standing side by side in front of the blackboard and listening to the chalk on my fingertips creaking, and from the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the other party's line of conversions popping up quickly, and I felt a kind of pleasure in my chest.I always wanted to beat him.But most of the time we are evenly divided, and occasionally he wins me more. Once we finished the problem, we went back to our seats.Lao Ben said very proudly: "Pairing the two of them is the most perfect solution." In fact, he made a slip of the tongue, but the whole class roared with laughter, and I blushed and couldn't lift my head for a long time.This sentence became popular in the class for a long time, and even the foreign class knew that Lao Ben had said this famous saying.But very few classmates joked about me and Xiao Shan, probably we two seemed too incompatible, Xiao Shan was outgoing and smart, and I was a good student who was too well-behaved.On the contrary, some people often make jokes about Xiao Shan and Lin Zixian.Girls always make fun of Lin Zixian: "Juliet, where is your Romeo?" Sometimes Xiao Shan and a group of boys stand in the corridor, and when they see Lin Zixian passing downstairs, a group of boys will also boo: "Oh! Juliet, where is Romeo?" here!" Lin Zixian was very generous, she never got angry when she made such a joke, at most she raised her face and smiled at the boys upstairs.She has a good personality, a gentle temper, and many friends. Not only many girls have a good relationship with her, but many boys are also very good friends with her. On Xiao Shan's birthday, the whole class was invited to eat Pizza Hut because he won the Olympiad prize.The homeroom teacher was overjoyed and felt that he would be recommended to a prestigious school next year without any problems, so he made an exception and went happily.It was the most lively party in the class, even more lively than having a dinner after the college entrance examination.Because we are still in the second year of high school, we are about to face the torment of the next year in the third year of high school, so everyone is excited.Jumping out from the day-to-day study for a short time, it is rare to be free and easy. After eating Pizza Hut, the class teacher and several teachers left first, so we quietly went to the barbecue restaurant, not for food, but for drinking.Guys sneak in beer, girls drink Coke.I forgot what I ate that day, but I remember that a classmate Hou Yudong nicknamed "Monkey" was drunk and kept pulling Xiao Shan to toast him again.Xiao Shan had been drunk several times by him, and he had no choice but to drink again, Lin Zixian rescued him: "Don't let Xiao Shan drink, he will be really drunk later." Hou Yudong covered his face in pain: "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" All the people were amused by the monkey's weird pronunciation, and the monkey said: "Romeo won't drink, but Juliet, or you can drink this glass of wine for him." People were booing, Lin Zixian said generously: "Drink it." She just took the cup, but Xiao Shan took it over: "Come on, I'll drink it." Xiao Shan raised his neck and drank the big glass of beer slowly. Some girls were applauding and some boys were whistling.After he finished drinking, the monkey smiled and put his shoulders on his shoulders: "Okay, this is called demeanor." I sat in the corner and ate the grilled chicken wings. It was so spicy that I drank one glass of water after another, gradually feeling sick to my stomach. It was quite late when everyone left that day, and we went home in twos and threes. Almost all my classmates and I missed the way, and we hurried to catch the last subway, but Xiao Shan caught up and said, "Let me go with you." I asked, "You don't live in the west?" He said: "My parents are back, I'm going back to my home today." He urged me: "Hurry up, or I won't be able to catch the subway!" We rushed to the subway station at a sprint speed of 100 meters. We heard the rumble of the subway entering the station when we were still descending the steps. When it was about to close, Xiao Shan rushed into the carriage with a stride, turned around and grabbed my arm and dragged me in.I figured the door just barely closed behind me, barely catching my hair.Xiao Shan was still holding my hand tightly, because of inertia I jumped forward, and he had already hugged me. My ears are pressed against his chest, and under the soft T-shirt is the sound of his fast and rapid heartbeat, pounding, pounding, pounding... faster than my own heartbeat.We ran too fast just now, both of us were still panting desperately, he still had a faint smell of alcohol on his body, and he was much taller than me, his breath seemed to be blowing on the top of my head, once and for all, slightly blowing my forehead hair, It itch on the face.I almost felt scorching heat from my ears to my neck, and within a few seconds, I almost lost all ability to react, and could only raise my head instinctively.He was also looking at me, his eyes were so black, so deep, so bright, like the stars all over the sky were shattered, crashing down on me overwhelmingly.I was so dazed by the stars that I didn't even know how to breathe. I don't know how long it took, Xiao Shan's hand finally let go, but it slipped down and grabbed my hand.I didn't dare to raise my head at all, and struggled a bit, but he held it tighter and said to me, "There are seats over there." The two of us sat down side by side. There were not many people on the last subway, and the carriage was empty.Nobody noticed us, but I figured I must still be flushed, just feeling uneasy.He didn't speak, but he didn't let go of my hand either. I tried to pull my fingers out again, and he finally asked, "Why?" I muttered, "This is not right." "Yeah," he suddenly smiled at me and said to me, "We're sitting in the opposite direction." I was dumbfounded, and when I heard the name of the station announced on the train announcement, it turned out that I was going in the opposite direction.I just followed him and ran all the way, hurriedly took the monthly ticket and rushed inside, who knew that he would enter the wrong platform and sit in the opposite direction, and even I followed him to get on the wrong train in a daze. He seemed very happy and laughed.I don't know why he was so happy, but I will always remember the way he smiled that day, with his eyebrows stretched and his face bright.Under the bright white lights of the carriage, his face seemed to have a hazy light and shadow, and it has always appeared in my dreams for so many years.