Chapter 9 Yang Kang

  Fragrant lily...

  Mu Nianci, who had already entered the teacher's residential area, was suddenly startled and realized that her diary was not in her hand. She hastily threw away her umbrella to rummage through her backpack, but it wasn't there either. Her heart tightened, she turned around and ran back along the original path.

  In the quiet flower shop, the clerk was still sleeping. A push of the door, the copper wind chime on the door "ding dang ding" a crisp sound.

  Miss, have you seen a diary? It's about this big, with a blue cover.

  "No," the shop assistant shook his head in a daze, "let's take a look, if it was lost here it should still be around."

  But in the end, it still couldn't be found. The flower shop was filled with all sorts of flowers and materials, but there was no sign of that blue diary anywhere among them. The store clerk shook her head: "Can't find it, maybe someone just happened to pick it up?" Mu Nianci looked at the honest face of the store clerk and knew that asking further would be useless.

  "Never mind." Mu Nianci said in a low voice, and gloomily took the perfume lily out.

  She finally decided to give up. What else could she do? That blue diary was filled with Yang Kang's name from start to finish, from the first day Mu Nianci saw him lazily walking across the rooftop, his sleepy eyes scanning the playground in the drizzle. The fragments of time were pieced together in a way that only Mu Nianci could understand, forming the ugly duckling in yesterday's blue skirt.

  Is that diary now in the hands of someone who went to buy flowers, being treated as a ridiculous and laughable pastime? Or will the person reading it burst out laughing, laughing at the things she hides in her heart, knowing that somewhere in the world there is such a big fool, fortunately he still doesn't know who Mu Nianci is.

  How many years has it been? Mu Nianci gazed at the overcast sky. It's almost five years, right? The memories accumulated from countless nights were lost just like that. Huang Rong said I never kept a diary, otherwise one day Guo Jing and my old man would see it and chase me to beat me up. Mu Nianci might feel relieved now, she had thought that this diary would eventually reveal her secrets, exposing her cowardly foolishness. Now no one should know about these thoughts of hers anymore, right?

  At that moment, Mu Nianci had an illusion, feeling that from the moment her diary was lost, she had already begun to forget. She stood quietly in the rain, with a blank mind.

  The brother who had just collided with the trash can on his bike pushed his broken bike back to the dormitory, borrowed another one and rode out again in a hurry. This time he was more careful, got off the bike after leaving the school gate, and pushed it down the big slope first. So fortunately, when he saw Mu Nianci again, both of his feet were on the ground, so theoretically, there would be no chance to fall off the bike again in a magnificent way.

  Mu Nianci silently glanced at him and walked away, brushing past his side. The brother was stunned for a moment, wondering if he had entered a time track, and everything around him suddenly became suspicious. Mu Nianci's gaze was calm and constant, as if it came from a sculpture frozen in the depths of space-time.

  Watching Mu Nianci's back disappear at the school gate, that brother dazedly turned his head, and inexplicably jumped onto the car, completely forgetting that he was facing that steep slope. Then once again knocked over a trash can.

  The sky has darkened.

  Qiu Chuji was firing a water gun on one side and cooking in the kitchen on the other. In class, he was majestic and intimidating, yelling at Yang Kang who didn't even dare to blink. But once he got home, Qiu Chuji instantly turned into a good boy. His wife casually sent him to cook in the kitchen while she sat at the table chatting with Yang Kang. Yang Kang was constantly eating Qiu Chuji's fried glutinous rice balls while listening to his teacher's wife sigh: "Alas, thinking back to when your father first brought you to school, you were only that small... it feels like yesterday."

  The door suddenly opened. Mu Nianci stood at the entrance, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms, with long hair dripping wet and a slightly dazed expression.

  "Oh, this child is soaked! Didn't bring an umbrella?" The teacher's wife fussed, turning to grab a dry towel to wipe Mu Nianci's hair. Yang Kang arrived at the same time, also drenched, and the teacher's wife had just finished wiping his head when she went to help Mu Nianci again.

  Mu Nianci shook her head and handed over the flowers: "For you, happy birthday."

  "Oh dear, how much did it cost? Ah... now it's even more beautiful." The teacher's wife happily accepted the flowers and pulled Mu Nianci's hand.

  Yang Kang had a glutinous rice ball in his mouth and sat there, mumbling unclearly like a deity: "How come you're later than me?"

  "My diary is gone." Mu Nianci's response was abrupt and made no sense.

  "It wasn't me who stole it..." Yang Kang quickly shook his head.

  His way of doing things is like this, the first step is to separate himself from the matter. For example, when Guo Jing asked him why Zhao Zhi Jing had been limping for the past few days, Yang Kang would definitely shake his head and say it wasn't him who made him limp.

  "I got lost in the flower shop and went back to look for it..."

  "Have you found it?"

  Mu Nianci shook her head: "Forget it."

  "It's just that, what diary are you still remembering? I only remembered a bit when Old Baldy was teaching us language class, my head got all messed up." Yang Kang nodded.

  "Kids, stop calling your teacher 'old baldy', he was already bald when I was young, poor thing." The teacher's wife scolded Yang Kang with a smile, pulling Mu Nianci to sit down at the table and deliberately moving out of the way so that Mu Nianci and Yang Kang could sit together.

  "Has Yang Kang been causing trouble for you lately, Mu Nianci?" The mistress looked at Yang Kang and Mu Nianci sitting together with a pleased expression. This godmother was very enthusiastic about Yang Kang's love life, although Yang Kang had many godmothers, this one was clearly the most troublesome. The mistress had never given birth to children, but every time she saw Yang Kang and Mu Nianci walking together, she felt a sense of happiness, as if they were her own children, or as if it were she herself when she was young and with Qiu Chuji.

  Mo Yan remained silent.

  "By the way, what was Old Baldy's nickname when he was young?" Yang Kang still remembered Baldy with great interest.

  The mistress was overjoyed for a moment, covering her mouth and laughing, unable to help but reveal: "Of course, it's called Little Baldy..."

  In a warm and harmonious atmosphere, Mu Nianci's mouth finally revealed a hint of a smile.

  Late at night, Yang Kang sent Mu Nianci back to her dormitory.

  Yang Kang was originally going to go home and sleep immediately. However, the teacher's wife repeatedly warned that recently, a lecherous thief named Yun Zhonghe had been wanted by the Ministry of Punishment, and all schools were warning female students to avoid going out alone at night. Nian Ci is timid, you must send her back. So, carrying the remaining glutinous rice balls, Yang Kang, who was preparing to escape with his head down, was caught and enlisted.

  The rain has stopped, but the rainwater on the leaves is still dripping down. It's indeed a great summer night, Mu Nianci walks quietly, while Yang Kang rolls his eyes and scrunches up his face - the cold rainwater always seems to land on his head.

  They had walked this road many times, it was the necessary route home from high school. At that time, Peng Lianhu and Liang Ziweng would often stand by the side of the road to earn some small change, every time Yang Kang pulled Mu Nianci past with an unfriendly face, the two brothers Peng Lianhu would retreat in disarray.

  "Didn't you used to walk home on this road before?" Mu Nianci was unusually silent, so Yang Kang had no choice but to speak to himself.

  "Oh." Mu Nianci nodded.

  "At that time, ice cream was only 50 cents a stick." Yang Kang was very nostalgic.

  "Oh."

  "Mu Nianci?" Yang Kang waved his hand in front of her, "What's wrong?"

  "Oh... never mind," Mu Nianci smiled slightly, "By the way, do you still remember that our class is going to have a barbecue next week?"

  "This is starting again." Yang Kang muttered to himself.

  "I put the tennis racket under your dormitory bed, you know?"

  "Oh."

  "Don't forget to go."

  "Really? Is that so?"

  "Let me think for a moment..." Mu Nianci said, stopping in her tracks.

  "I've forgotten, I'll remind you if I remember," Mu Nianci shook her head. "You don't have to see me off, there's nothing going on at school anyway."

  As they spoke, they had already arrived at the school gate.

  "Yang Kang..." Mu Nianci walked out a few steps and turned back to ask, "I'm not too keen on taking Environmental Science Introduction, do you have any notes?"

  "It's nothing." Yang Kang shrugged his shoulders, "Guo Jing has made his choice, I'll just follow suit."

  "Well, I'm going back then."

  Yang Kang watched as Mu Nianci's white figure turned into the school gate, he hugged his own arm and stood there dazed for a moment before turning around and walking away.

  Yang Kang gradually found that his life was changing. He began to remember things by himself - Mu Nianci seemed to have stopped nagging in his ear.

  Yang Kang also suddenly realized it after a long time, and he also remembered that he hadn't seen Mu Nianci for a long time. However, Yang Kang was very relaxed, although no one reminded him of this or that, at least he got quiet. Anyway, he was familiar with Mu Nianci, Mu Nianci was there, and she couldn't run away, right? Yang Kang knew that he could find Mu Nianci with just one phone call, but he never made the call.

  About two months later, Yang Kang saw Mu Nianci again in the bustling cafeteria. At that time, Yang Kang was holding a chicken leg and squeezing forward with all his might, followed by a young man carrying free soup behind him. A familiar voice came from afar, and Mu Nianci said timidly: "Sorry."

  Mu Nianci had just spilled a box of black rice porridge on a boy's chest. The poor brother's white jacket immediately took on an abstract art style. Unable to appreciate the beauty of art, the boy didn't care that he was facing a girl and suddenly roared: "What the hell is wrong with you? How could you do this?"

  "How many hands do you have?" Yang Kang turned his head to look at Linghu Chong.

  "Here, here," Linghu Chong opened his mouth wide. Yang Kang brought the rice bowl to his lips and let him take a bite, then rolled up his sleeves and walked away.

  "Can you keep your mouth clean? Are you sick?"

  The guy who rushed in front of him was not only tall and imposing, but also had a cold gaze. The boy who was scolding was stunned for a moment, and the few words in his throat were swallowed back. Then a few banknotes were stuffed into his hand, and the other party glanced at him: "Compensate you, is it okay? With this kind of behavior towards girls, I've never seen anyone like you at Bian Da University."

  This sentence is really winning people's hearts, and it seems like everyone around is nodding in agreement.

  "Let's go, don't look back."

  Peng Lianhu pulled Mu Nianci and squeezed the boy to the side with his tall figure, taking Mu Nianci out.

  Yang Kang was stunned for a moment, and together with others, they made way for Peng Lianhu to pull Mu Nianci past. As they brushed shoulders, Mu Nianci nodded at him, but said nothing.

  It just passed like this.

  Yang Kang lifted his head. There was once before, he had also looked up at the sky with an ice cream in hand, now there was only a pale ceiling above him and nothing in his hands.

  "Fourth brother... pity me... my teeth..." Linghu Chong shouted from between his teeth, "Your chicken leg is so heavy..."

  Yang Kang was stunned for a long time and didn't respond to him.

  Every story has an ending, and Mu Nianci will no longer appear in our story. However, she still exists in a corner of the Bian Da campus, she remains, just like withered flowers melting into the soil, turning to ash or mud.

  But that flower is no longer there.

  Autumn, evening, Yang Kang was listlessly eating his dinner, leaning against the table and gazing out of the window. In front of their window stood a tall Ginkgo biloba tree, and when he looked up, the entire sky was filled with golden Ginkgo leaves.

  When the wind blows, the fluttering leaves are like rolling fragments of the sky.

  Someone walked on the road covered with silver ginkgo leaves, Yang Kang blinked his eyes and didn't see clearly before passing by. Yang Kang suddenly thought, was Mu Nianci now holding hands with Peng Lianhu, walking in some unknown corner, walking a long way without saying a word.

  It's been a long time since Yang Kang saw Peng Lianhu and Mu Nianci, thinking of this, Yang Kang felt that Peng Lianhu was very promiscuous and unreliable in friendship.

  "Fourth Brother?" Linghu Chong shouted from outside, "Help me reserve a seat in the library tonight."

  "This time you should take a seat, right?" After taking one last look outside the window, Yang Kang put away his rice bowl and left.

  Leaves fell in profusion, some landing among the grass, some blowing onto the roof, and others scattering across the tables in their dormitory, a six-drawer table, one of which belonged to Yang Kang, was locked.

  In the drawer that was locked under the fallen leaves, there was a diary with a blue cover. Someone had written on it in beautiful handwriting:

  "Yang Kang is a big bad egg."