Section 44 Left Ear (44)

  "Yes." He snubbed out his cigarette and said, "Where are you planning on going?"

  "Return books to the library."

  "I'll go with you," he said.

  I want to ride a bike there.

  "Then I'll take you," he said, "where's the car?"

  I handed the book in my hand to him and asked him to hold it for me, then I went to the garage and pushed out my father's bicycle. The sun at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon was no longer so poisonous. Zhang Yang helped me put all the books into the front basket of the bike, then he got on the bike first and told me: "Come on."

  I hesitated for a moment, and he smiled crookedly and said: "Afraid?"

  I jumped onto the bus.

  Zhang Yang pedaled the vehicle, and it moved quickly along the road. The leaves of the plane trees on both sides of the road were so green that they dazzled my eyes. A gentle breeze blew, and I heard my white skirt rubbing against the wheels, making a sound like music, like someone's heartfelt sighs.

  I couldn't help but recall Ba La, recalling her riding a bicycle behind Xu Ye, stopping and starting suddenly, with a mischievous look. The 18-year-old bicycle, the memories of that year, the girl with a green scarf and a bright smile, at this moment is so vivid, as if she had never left, always by our side.

  "What are you thinking?" Zhang Yang turned his head and asked me loudly.

  "How did you suddenly come back?" I asked him.

  "My father's rheumatism has gotten worse, I'm coming back to take him to Beijing for treatment."

  "Oh." I said, "How many days can we stay?"

  "Just for half a day." He said, "Return at 8 o'clock tonight, the ticket has been booked."

  Ah! It turns out he came to see me just for half a day.

  "Is Yunnan fun?" I asked him.

  "Didn't make it, I'll go next year," he said. "By the way, how did you do on your exam?"

  "I'm going to Shanghai to study Chinese."

  "It's great," he said. "Girls studying Chinese is good, and Shanghai is close to home." His tone was just like my dad's.

  I got off the bus outside the library and said thank you to him.

  "He suddenly said: 'You go return the book, I still have time, wait a minute and I'll take you back.'"

  "Thank you, it's really not necessary."

  "No nonsense," he said, "Go quickly!"

  I rushed into the library with a book in my hands, finding the staff's movements too slow. When I ran out empty-handed, I found that Zhang Yang was really waiting there without leaving. He held a colorful ice cream cone and said to me: "You seem to like this?"

  I forcibly hold down my heart, not allowing it to ache up and down. I think I really don't hate him anymore, I don't hate him anymore.

  Forget it, let's not hate each other anymore, okay?

  I took that ice cream and put it in my mouth, letting its sweetness melt away. Then I smiled at Zhang Yang.

  "Are you going home?" he asked me.

  "No." I suddenly made a decision and said: "Zhang Yang, take me to that rooftop again. I wanted to go later but couldn't find it no matter what."

  "Alright, let's go!" said Zhang Yang after a moment of thought.

  Riding a bike is much faster than walking, and in just a short while, we arrived at our destination. The place looks very different during the day compared to night. That house stands dilapidated, surrounded by overgrown weeds, with a crooked-necked tree standing lonely, without any poetic charm.

  Zhang Yang leaned on his bicycle and said to me: "It's better to come here at night, it's boring during the day."

  "Did you always come at night?"

  He looked at me and said: "I've only been here twice, once with Bala, and once with you." After that, he smiled meaningfully and then took out a pack of cigarettes to smoke.

  "Give me a cigarette," I said.

  "Get out of here, kid!" he said.

  "I've tried quitting several times," I said.

  "Where's Ping?" He glared at me.

  "Mind your own business," I said.

  "Don't provoke me." Zhang Yang said with his hand holding a cigarette, "If I want to control it, there's no reason why I can't. Do you believe it or not?"

  "I believe," I said.

  "You're clever as ice and snow." He praised me, "If you weren't so well-behaved, you'd be in trouble."

  I looked down at my white skirt, where a ugly mud stain had been smudged. Zhang Yang bent down and gently flicked it off with his finger. Then he said, "Let's go back."

  That night, I was alone on the balcony of my small house smoking a cigarette. I don't have a habit of smoking, but cigarettes make me feel calm. At 10 o'clock at night, the train to Beijing had already left for two hours, two hours, almost over three hundred kilometers away, and then it would become four hundred kilometers, five hundred kilometers, all the way to over one thousand kilometers.

  This long road, I know it's hard for him to turn back. Jump to! ~ !!!!!!!