Chapter 7 (1)

  Not everyone in this world can withstand the cold like the old soldier in Yang Wanli's poem, who "wore nothing under his icy armor"; Lin Yuxiang was only a little short of that state, and could even wear a few threads to sleep on the street for a night.

  Yu Xiang was woken up by the cold at around 2 or 3 in the morning, with a sore waist and back. As soon as he woke up, he thought "where is this?", and when he realized it, he jumped in fright, then looked at his watch and jumped again. After two jumps, all the soreness was gone, but he just kept repeating one sentence: "It's over, it's over!"

  He was about to be expelled from school and his mind was racing, all the cold air on his body had been squeezed out.

  The school is definitely not going back. Lin Yuxiang wandered aimlessly without a purpose. The whole city was in a state of deep sleep. He felt that yesterday was like a dream, or maybe it really was a dream. Thinking back, that day seemed especially long, perhaps because that day had left some indelible scars on Yuxiang's heart. At first, he had fought to get into Municipal Third Middle School, but after entering, he was cruelly abandoned. He was in a foreign land, but his heart wasn't there. Yuxiang felt like a chess piece, no matter how big his ambitions were, he couldn't control his own moves.

  Yu Xiang's sleep was as if he had slept through the red dust, sleeping soundly and waking up refreshed. This kind of love in the red dust, at first, it's true that one's heart is anxious, but later it will slowly become false. Those decorative promises are just humming a tune to pass the time, a song to dispel loneliness.

  After Yu Xiang realized this, his views on love turned upside down. Previously, when he thought of Susan, he would put himself in the shoes of a character in a play; now that he had retreated from love, his thoughts had progressed, and when thinking of Susan, he would view himself as an outsider, and still a broad-minded outsider - just like God looking at humanity. He decided to refuse red dust, red matchmaker, and red beans from now on - Yu Xiang thought this was a kind of transcendence, and he even wanted to start his own sect.

  So he thought, Susan should be asleep now, maybe dreaming, and there must be that science husband in her dream. Anyway, everything has nothing to do with me? However, one thing has a great relationship with Lin Yuxiang - today is the night when he accidentally escaped last night, although it was an unintentional escape, but the situation is still very serious, and if things go wrong, he will be punished by the school.

  Walking and singing, singing and thinking, I arrived at a railway side, the streetlights disappeared here, and the atmosphere was a bit eerie. A section of that railway was in the light, and both ends extended into darkness, surrounded by wilderness, the sky was ink black, and my mind was dizzy.

  Sitting quietly, the sky finally turned a little gray. Two or three cargo trucks cut through the night's tranquility and drove by, after which the surrounding night crowded around, filling in the piece that had just been torn apart - instantly, the rain fell back into silence.

  After several dozen minutes, the gray sky showed some bright colors, those bright colors seemed to be the money that everyone had taken out, a little bit at a time, flashing on and off.

  More trucks passed by, and in the distance, two dazzling lights appeared. A train whistle pierced through the night air, followed by a deafening rumble. Rain had always been fascinated by trains since he was young, watching them pass by one carriage at a time, imagining where they were headed; the sound filled his anticipation. He didn't know how long he waited, but the train still hadn't arrived, and the rumbling sound seemed to be right next to him. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, he finally caught a glimpse of a beam of light, shining so brightly it was almost blinding. The massive body of the train whizzed past Rain in an instant, without him even noticing how many carriages it had, only hearing its long, drawn-out "whoosh" as it disappeared into the distance.

  Yu Xiang's attention was fully focused on the train, and after calming down, he found that it had brightened up a bit again, but maybe it was an overcast day, and the brightness was dull. The first pedestrian appeared on the road, and Yu Xiang was delighted to see him, like Robinson Crusoe discovering "Friday" on the deserted island, and he couldn't wait to rush up and celebrate. He felt that seeing people was a great feeling, no wonder those monsters in the deep mountains on the journey to take scriptures were so excited when they saw people.

  The sky brightened a bit more. The surroundings also became lively, mostly with old people buying breakfast for their families, walking slowly and cautiously. Due to years of hard work, their bodies were bent like shrimp; Yu Xiang saw them walking in an arched shape and wondered why he no longer felt sympathy for them. The sky had brightened as much as it could, but it was still gloomy. Yu Xiang suspected that it would rain, and just as he finished suspecting, the sky proved him right, with a drop of rain falling on his nose. He gently wiped it away and said, "Ah, light rain." The raindrop took offense at this and immediately called out to its friends, and suddenly the rain poured down like a deluge.

  Lin Yuxiang couldn't dodge in time and got caught in the rain. Passersby showed their foresight, hastily opening their umbrellas. But the one with the most foresight was Lin's father, who had predicted 17 years ago that his son would get drenched in the big rain, fearing people wouldn't know, he instilled this guess into his name. Lin Yuxiang had the fortune of getting rained on but didn't have the ability to fly in the rain, running wildly in the rain, his vision blurry, luckily a cart driver who also couldn't avoid the rain took pity on him and let Yuxiang get on the cart.

  A person who has been drenched in the rain suddenly finds it torturous to not be rained on, with their wet and sticky clothes clinging to their skin. It's almost better to be in the rain for a refreshing feeling. Yu Xiang's body was unusually wet, even his underwear couldn't escape.

  Yu Xiang said to Che Fu: "Shi Nan San Zhong."

  "Hey, you've run a long way! What brings you here?"

  Yu Xiang thought that this subtle vagabond spirit was something a cart driver couldn't understand, and he fell silent.

  The coachman rode forward, constantly wiping the rain from his face. Lin Yuxiang was in the carriage tempering his will, preparing for another painful blow.

  The scenery outside the car slowly moved backwards. After a long time, Yu Xiang finally saw the gate of San Zhong. He gritted his teeth and asked, "How much money?" His tone was firm, but in his heart he was begging, "Don't be too expensive, please don't."

  The driver wiped his face and said: "Two bucks, students have no money."

  Yu Xiang was like hearing bad news, and he couldn't come back to himself for half a day. The hand that had been holding the 10 yuan in his pocket slowly relaxed, searched out two coins, and handed them over to the rickshaw driver.

  The cart driver put the money in that broken box on the car head, shouting: "This school is good, little brother has half a foot in college."

  Yu Xiang scared Qian Rong out of his blanket. Qian Rong pointed at Yu Xiang's wet clothes and said in surprise, "You went winter swimming?"

  Yu Xiang shook his head.

  Qian Rong let out a snort and said in a strange tone, "Director, even if you've lost love, there's no need to be so desperate. Which hero fished you out of the river?" He admired himself for being perceptive and consoled Yu Xiang: "Love is precious, but life is more valuable. As long as you're alive, you won't lack opportunities. Look forward, not backward. There are flowers everywhere, why die over a trivial Susan? By the way, is Susan pretty?"

  Yǔ Xiáng said coldly: "No, it's raining outside." Then his body was like being electrocuted, he jumped up and said: "You - you, how did you know I and that... I didn't..."

  Qian Rong pulled out a letter and said: "The letter you wrote to her, remember from now on, when sending letters, don't forget to affix postage stamps, otherwise..."

  Yu Xiang's whole body felt hot with anger, and he snatched the letter away, saying: "How could you tear up my letter?" Thinking about the true feelings expressed in the letter that had been given to Qian Rong, he was so ashamed that he wanted to jump off a building.

  Qian Rong said: "I didn't expect it, a man's deep feelings are so... Ah, I really didn't expect it, wow."

  Yu Xiang's blood rushed to his head, he couldn't bear to look at the letter again, forcing himself to forget what was written inside, scolding Qian Rong: "You're too much, you..."

  Qian Rongdao: "Don't forget where you were wandering around last night! If I report that you sneaked out at night, you'll be punished. It's good that I didn't tell on you. What's the big deal about reading a letter?"

  Yu Xiang's throat was scorching hot, his belly full of curses, but as soon as they reached his throat, they turned to ashes and gently fell away: "Doesn't anyone know I ran away at night?"

  "So far, no one, except me."

  "Don't say that..."

  "Let's see how you perform, haha..."

  Yu Xiang had no choice but to hand over the handle to Qian Rong, unable to resist. He hung his head and left room 101, tearing up the letter and losing the courage to write to Susan again. Every time he thought of the letter, his face turned red and his heart skipped a beat, like a girl reminiscing about her first kiss - it felt the same, but with a completely different nature. One kind of recollection left him feeling sweet, while the other filled him with anger, an anger that made him want to explode at any moment but was powerless to do so. Even when he tried to vent his emotions, Qian Rong's single glance would intimidate him into silence. It was like those lobsters in the market, placed in a basin and struggling desperately to climb out, only to slide back down halfway up. Even if they managed to grasp the edge of the basin with their claws, all it took was for the vendor to slap them once and they'd fall back to where they started.

  Yu Xiang wiped his body, put on new clothes, and lay in bed reading. Outside, the horn sounded loudly, Qian Rong rushed out of the door, without even saying goodbye.

  Put down the book, Lin Yu knew he had fallen asleep, and in his dream, he was a child lying by the roadside counting train cars - "one, two, three, four..." When he woke up, he looked at the empty room, nostalgic for that dream scene, closed his eyes and wanted to continue, but unfortunately, like a person's arm and leg, once broken, it's hard to reconnect, even if reconnected, it's not the same as before.

  It's been a week since he went home, Yu Xiang packed up his things and walked down the stairs lazily.

  It's easier to gloss over Yu Xiang's injury, as they haven't seen each other in a long time and won't notice the hurt. But it's harder for Qian Rong, who sees Yao Shuqin every day and can't avoid her, making it theoretically more painful.

  Qian Rong once heard a famous saying that the best remedy for a broken heart is to fall in love again. Qian Rong thought that with his identity as a TV host, other girls should be crazy about him and he just had to pick one out. Unfortunately, most of the girls who were interested in Qian Rong were too flirtatious, and occasionally those who weren't were unfortunately not good-looking enough to stir up any excitement. More than a week has passed, but that remedy still hasn't taken effect.

  Yao Shuqin should also have some pain, but Yao Shuqin heard that famous saying earlier than Qian Rong, so he made preparations early, like repairing the roof before the rain, and avoided future troubles. As soon as Qian Rong left, the substitute player immediately filled the empty position and continued to fulfill Qian Rong's unfulfilled responsibilities.

  Qian Rong investigated for a long time before finding out that the all-around talent was an art student from the neighboring class who had been specially admitted, skipping physical education. Thinking about it, since he was a special admittee and skipped PE, his family must be very wealthy, which turned out to be true - his father was the deputy district head, Qian Rong's dad was no match for him.

  However, Qian Rong was naturally a bit shorter in front of him. That all-around talent belonged to the introverted type, with an unimpressive appearance, wearing glasses with a prescription of 700 or 800 degrees. After taking them off, his eyes couldn't be seen, and he might bump into things within ten meters. It was these eyes that fell for Yao Shuqin, "awakening the love buried deep in her heart". Not only did they awaken, but it was like a volcanic eruption, writing two or three love letters to Yao Shuqin every day, using half-learned English to call her "hu!mysunandmoon", making people misunderstand that the sun and moon were together in the sky. At first, Yao Shuqin resisted a few times, but she knew she couldn't resist, like a fly falling into water. But she was troubled by not being able to find a reason to break up with Qian Rong - she had already lost feeling for him, but he was still devoted to her. Yao Shuqin felt like the air pressure was weighing on her, knowing there was weight but having no sensation. Fortunately, Qian Rong happened to propose breaking up at the right time, saving Yao Shuqin a lot of brainpower.

  Yao Shuqin changed boyfriends without any time gap, just like the soldiers who held the flag of our party during the war against Japan, as soon as one fell down, he immediately took over and went on. On the first day, he walked side by side with Yao Shuqin. Yao Shuqin's girlfriend couldn't understand, asked her, Yao Shuqin suddenly became a realist: "Being with Qian Rong, I didn't have a sense of security, I was always afraid that he would change his mind and whatnot, after a long time, I just didn't feel anything anymore, but this one won't bring me such feelings."

  It's actually easy to understand, for example, if Yao Shuqin eats something delicious in the classroom, a group of girls will definitely come up and snatch it away. But if Yao Shuqin eats feces in the classroom, no matter how savorily she eats it, there is absolutely no worry about being robbed of food.

  So Qian Rong was miserable, watching Pin Shu Qin and Quan Cai being intimate with each other. He was furious and went around spreading rumors saying: "Luckily I dumped her early, what kind of eyesight does she have? She chose a guy who's an ass, always playing tricks on people by showing off his butt, and he looks like he has acne all over his face, like he's been bombed, ugly enough!"

  The students in Room 1 all cheered: "Well done!"

  Qian Rong's face regained its composure: "That kid is still relying on his father, the beam is not straight and the house is crooked. I hate this kind of person the most, they have no skills and only rely on their father."

  Lin Yuxiang has just recovered from a week of dazed and confused studying. This week, Lin Yuxiang can't even manage to put on a good face, let alone smile, as if smiling would be an insult to his already wounded heart. The situation in the Literature Club is also not looking good - he realized that he made a mistake by dividing the club into three groups, each with its own leader, which ultimately left him without a position. No one wants to listen to Lin Yuxiang's words - at first, they had a mysterious impression of him, but later they saw that the president was nothing special, just an errand boy. But now, Lin Yuxiang can't even run errands - club members are afraid he'll hoard their articles, so they personally submit their masterpieces to Wanshan.

  The situation in the dormitory is even more pessimistic. The first thing that went wrong was the faucet. The faucet in the third school of Shicheng seemed to have formed its own government, not under the control of the school leaders, and would suddenly turn on at midnight. Then the two people in the dormitory would practice their endurance, although they were both startled awake, neither of them wanted to get up to turn it off. Yuxiang's skills were not strong enough, every time he was the first one who couldn't bear it and got out of bed to turn it off, as a result, he developed heart disease and had dreams about flood control all the time.

  The dormitory head finally gathered the courage to reflect on the school, and the school quickly dispatched two workers to repair it. However, the sudden leak was a stubborn disease that had been incurable for a long time. The two workers tapped and hammered for a while, bringing psychological security to the students. The water pipe also behaved well for a few days, and the boarding students praised the two workers' excellent medical skills. Just after they finished praising, Rain Shower was unlucky again that night, getting up in the middle of the night to turn off the water.

  Then there is the cabinet. The dormitory safety work of Shiniuzhong is so weak that it's like a wet paper, not even worthy of being described as "one poke and it breaks", it can even break by itself without anyone touching it, often for no reason at all, and most of the time it happens at night, just like many hair salons' business hours. Although the school has locks, those locks only prevent people from entering, if a key is lost, they become impenetrable, but when it comes to preventing theft, they can't withstand even a slight push. The school experiences theft every day, except for beds and cabinets which are too heavy to carry, almost everything else has been stolen, people have to be on high alert even while sleeping, afraid of being robbed. Although the management personnel of Shiniuzhong are incompetent, they did have a glorious moment once, when on a full moon night, they miraculously caught a thief, and for a time, everyone was overjoyed, the school kept boasting about their achievement, urging all students to actively prevent theft. But that thief was also a failure among thieves, didn't even get anything, after being detained for a few days for attempted theft, he was released.

  Recently, the school spread rumors that it would be equipped with campus police. Of course, this is just a beautiful idea, because the anti-theft facilities in Hushilou, where the school leaders live, are excellent and there is no possibility of theft. It seems that if we want to have campus police, we will have to wait until some great thief steals the entire building of Hushilou before doing so.

  The difficulties with the hardware can be overcome, but the friction between people is harder to deal with. In the early days of school, everyone got along harmoniously, and there was even communication between Room 1 and Room 2. Later on, however, Room 1 looked down on Room 2, and Room 2 despised Room 1, so they just ignored each other. Every evening, they would eat instant noodles, which scientists say can increase physical strength (although it's unclear what university these scientists graduated from). As a result, the people in Room 1 would rush to finish their homework quickly after dinner and then start playing cards. People bumped into each other, and it was crowded everywhere you looked - if the mayor of Mexico City saw this scene, he would probably use it as an example to prove that his city isn't crowded at all. With so many people together, conflicts were inevitable. One time, Shen Ji accidentally spilled soup on someone from Room 1, but that person surprisingly had a broad-minded attitude, rare among Shanghai people, and even gave Shen Ji a big bowl of soup in return, which almost led to a fight between the two rooms. As soon as you entered this dormitory, no matter who you were, you would be treated like an animal - suddenly someone would blurt out: "Which donkey used my laundry detergent?" or "Which pig used my hot water?" After being treated like animals for a while, they would then start using classical Chinese phrases to curse each other: "What's it got to do with me?!"

  "I'll screw your mom!" "This guy is too stupid."

  According to today's news, the school dormitory will be equipped with telephones. Principal Qian went on a trip to Nanjing and returned to launch patriotic education enthusiastically. At today's radio conference, he read out the instructions for using the telephone, but unfortunately, it had nothing to do with patriotism. He had to introduce the origin of the telephone first, stumbling over his words to say that the telephone was invented by Bell. In order to let students understand who Bell was, he spelled out "Bell" once, almost letting his true thoughts slip out when he added an extra "e" after the "L". Holding back his words, he repeatedly emphasized that "the school has installed a telephone in each student dormitory", implying that the school is installing telephones for the "dormitories" rather than for the "students" themselves.

  In the dormitory at noon, Lin Yuxiang saw a red phone hung on the wall and rushed to the guard room to buy a 50-yuan phone card. The "201" phone card was designed for people with exceptional memory, requiring dialing 201 first, followed by a 12-digit card number and then a 4-digit password, totaling 19 digits to remember. Perhaps Shao Zhenxian from the Kangxi period could do it, but Lin Yuxiang, being clumsy, had no chance of smoothly making a call. He would look at the card with one eye and his hand with the other, only to make mistakes every time, getting frustrated and angry.

  Qian Rong was the second to go upstairs, hearing the ringing sound constantly, excitedly also bought a card, afraid that the password would be seen by Yu Xiang, dialing with his body covering the phone, like a mother hen holding her nest. Yu Xiang said coldly, "Who's looking at you? I have one too, and I haven't even changed the password."

  Lin Yuxiang just casually said it to show his generosity, but didn't expect that later there were tens of yuan missing from the card, and even more unexpectedly, who did it, thinking it was a computer error.

  Lin Yuxiang is not cut out for long-distance running after all, and can't take the daily training. He writes a withdrawal application to Liu Zhizhang, saying "I feel that I'm falling behind many of my teammates in terms of speed, and if I participate in future competitions, I may become a laughingstock for Municipal Third Middle School. It's better for me to focus on studying, maybe I'll make some breakthroughs. So I'd like to apply to withdraw." He thought his writing was elegant and persuasive, and that he would be successful, but Liu Zhizhang only cares about physical ability, not writing skills. He insists that Lin Yuxiang will definitely achieve results if he trains hard, and if he really wants to quit, then he might as well drop out of school altogether. He also notifies Lin's father by phone, and Lin's father takes advantage of the newly installed telephone to scold Yuxiang severely, saying "Do you remember how you got here? What will you do if you don't train or study?" Yuxiang is so scared that he immediately puts down his butcher knife and says he won't make the same mistake again. Only then does Lin's father calm down and hang up the phone.

  In terms of studying, Lin Yuxiang is even more hopeless. He often skips science classes and his exam scores are always around 30 points, never changing. The questions in the city's south third middle school are so difficult that once you fall behind, you can't catch up. Yuxiang has lost all confidence and can only hope to make up for it in future supplementary lessons. Mei Shou appreciates articles that are soft and delicate, with a big beginning and end, but short and concise in the middle. It's like choosing a good figure. Yuxiang's article doesn't have a good figure, so it doesn't conform to this new style of writing and naturally isn't favored by Mei Shou. In the new district essay competition, Yuxiang wasn't selected, but fortunately, thanks to the literary society president's reputation, he got an extra spot.