Chapter 3 (4)

  "Last one on is a rotten egg?"

  Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed and thought that having money would bring good fortune. He said: "You're great."

  "Just kidding. By the way, are you okay after drinking?"

  "No big deal, I was drunk yesterday and reeked of alcohol, doesn't bother you, does it?"

  "That's not true, the wine smells pretty good."

  Although this sentence is a praise of wine, as a destroyer of wine, Lin Yuxiang still feels very honored.

  "Wasn't it cold yesterday? Did you feel cold when you went home?" Lin Yuxiang asked.

  "It's okay."

  "How long does it take to get to Nanjing by car?"

  "It's only five hours now, and it's already three o'clock. It's really beautiful outside."

  Lin Yuxiang turned his head to look out the window and saw several rows of streetlights intertwined on the overpass, a few lonely lights in the distant night sky.

  Lin Yuxiang thought that in this life, he would be inseparable from street lamps.

  Lin Yuxiang wanted to think of a topic, and after deliberating for a long time, the topic finally came out: "Hey, Susa, do you think you're a sentimental person or a rational person?" Susa smiled slyly and said, "You're a sexy person, aren't you?"

  Lin Yuxiang whispered: "Nonsense, the one sitting next to you is the sexy one!" Then said aloud: "Sorry, I spoke out of turn after drinking."

  "Nowhere, I think you're absolutely right. I'm a sentimental person."

  Lin Yuxiang had already thought it through, no matter what Susa said, he would exaggerate and then attribute it to himself: "I'm a sentimental person too!" After finishing speaking, he became a person with a cold and let out an "ah-choo". Susa asked: "Did you catch a chill?"

  "There's no not farting, it's the body's internal air, how can there be a reason for not letting it out?" Lin Yuxiang revised a poem to explain: "Farting is the body's internal air, how can there be a reason for not releasing it? Those who fart are happy and joyful, those who eat farts hang their heads in shame."

  It's a great poem, unfortunately there is no place to publish it.

  "It's so cold outside, you're only wearing this little bit, aren't you freezing?"

  Yu Xiang glanced at the few clothes hanging on his body and said that he was a little cold. It means that a certain part of his body is not cold, while the rest are cold.

  Lin Yuxiang remembered the poem he wrote last night after drinking, which read: "My dear, I've drunk this cup of wine for you. After getting drunk, I won't have any sorrows. Everything can be said, just don't say that we once had each other. That's a weak person's excuse to deceive themselves. My dear, don't say I don't want to, don't say let's break up. Let's make a pinky promise not to mention it in the next life. In the next life, if I don't meet you, I'll love someone else. This life, I only love you, which is enough." Lin Yuxiang wrote this poem in one breath, and indeed, the strong wine gave him inspiration. He thought of showing it to Susa later, so he quickly took it out. Susa took out a small flashlight and read it, then asked: "Did you write this?"

  "No, it was written by Xu Zhimo."

  "How come I've never seen it before?"

  "Smell, it seems like Dai Wangshu or Liu Yazi wrote it, how's the writing?"

  "Awesome!"

  Lin Yuxiang regretted it greatly, thinking that he should have said it was his own writing from the start. Now, his hard work had added color to someone else's life, which wasn't worth it.

  Susa returned the poem to Lin Yuxiang and asked: "Is it getting sentimental?"

  "Uh-huh"

  "I still remember my language teacher from back then, a young woman who had just graduated from the teachers' college. She was one of the youngest teachers in our school and left a deep impression on me. In her first lesson, she told us not to focus too much on textbooks and instead introduced us to Gao Xiaosong's campus song. She sang 'Youth Without Regret' for us, telling us not to be satisfied with just passing exams, but to enrich ourselves outside of the classroom so that we wouldn't regret our youth. Then she recommended books by Whitman, Xiao Hong, and others on knowledge economy and digital survival. She even took us to the library. However, she was transferred later because our class's language scores were the lowest in the entire grade level, despite having high abilities but poor grades. The principal said she wasn't suitable for teaching work, that her methods didn't align with the current quality education standards, and that she let students get away without thoroughly understanding the lessons. When she left, she cried and said that education was really hopeless, then sang 'Youth Without Regret' again. Actually, the problems in China's education system aren't the teachers' or schools' fault, but a systemic issue. To this day, whenever I hear 'Youth Without Regret', I think of that teacher."

  Lin Yuxiang was so angry that he wanted to jump off the car and fight with the people from the Education Bureau in the frontmost Lingzhi car.

  "What about rational people?"

  "A rational person would analyze every sentence in 'Youth Without Regret' into subject-predicate, and then come up with a question whether adding or deleting this word is good or not."

  "That makes sense. Who sang that song called 'Youth Without Regret'?"

  "Lao Lang and Ye Bei, lyrics and music by Gao Xiaosong."

  "Sing something for me to hear?"

  "Uh, now there are some people resting in the car, it's not very good, I'll show you the lyrics, Nu, here."

  Lin Yuxiang read the lyrics under the swaying lamp light, and the lyrics were indeed well-written.

  The beginning of the beginning is our song, the last of the last is us walking. The most loved you are like a landscape in a dream. After waking up from the dream, I believe that your untroubled face is my youth, and your sincere eyes will not change with time. Our familiar streets have become strangers' evening suns, people saying goodbye to each other on the street corner. You said that your youth has no regrets, including our love affair. You said that time will change, but the promise of a lifetime will remain. You said "goodbye" and turned away, with a young face, smiling eyes, and tears that won't fade. Whose voice is singing our song? Whose piano strings are burning my heartstrings? After you left, the streets remained unchanged, with youth still lingering, and songs still being sung. There will always be people reenacting our story. They all say that youth has no regrets, including all love affairs. They all say "I promise to love forever" and "my dear, my dear". Forever young faces, forever unchanging eyes.

  "The song is also good. You see this one, it sounds great too."

  "Is it 'Model Love Letter'? 'I am the oak tree in front of your window', what a great metaphor!" Lin Yuxiang thought to himself that Old Wolf was indeed extraordinary, transforming from a mammal into a plant with just a flick of his body.

  "Susa gently placed her index finger on her lips and said, 'Don't talk anymore, others are resting, you should sleep too.'"

  Lin Yuxiang nodded, thinking that Susa was really considerate of others. He leaned back against the backrest and closed his eyes lightly. Lin Yuxiang hadn't eaten breakfast, and his stomach was growling with hunger, but he didn't dare take out a bread to nibble on. At this moment, Ye seemed as tempting as bread. Susa had already fallen asleep, sharing a small blanket with the girl who looked like she had run out of "Liaozhai Zhiyi", leaving Lin Yuxiang's affection nowhere to be bestowed.

  At this time, Lin Yuxiang's hunger was like a promise that had been changed, and it was vague and intangible. Unable to sleep, he got up to look at the night view. At this moment, a feeling that was difficult to describe suddenly flashed through Lin Yuxiang's mind. He stole a glance at Su beside him, and the moonlight was like a mask lightly attached to her face, with a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth, and a few strands of hair were tied behind her back, it was the kind of "plucking heartstrings" scene described in song lyrics.

  Lin Yuxiang couldn't bear her consistently beautiful appearance and turned his head to look out of another window.

  Ke Lin Yuxiang felt that sitting in the car was not very stable. Xu Kuangdi had expected this and said "Shanghai is coming, the car will jump", so the inverse proposition is that when leaving Shanghai, the car will also jump. The car was passing over a bumpy road and shaking violently.

  Then the lights suddenly lit up a lot, and it was probably time to collect fees. Only to hear a "whoosh" sound from behind, Lin Yuxiang thought that his bus had overturned, turned his head to look, and was shocked. It was a truck loaded with an astonishing amount of goods. The truck seemed to have divine assistance, and the cargo was piled higher than the length of the vehicle. Such a heavily loaded car must be from the countryside. In fact, this structure has a historical precedent. During World War I, British tanks were afraid of encountering large pits on the road, so they carried a bundle of firewood to fill in the pits and level the road.

  The truck driver was probably also afraid of the big potholes on the road, so he took precautions. After jumping over the uneven road, the loud noise gradually subsided. Lin Yuxiang looked back again and admired that the truck was still intact, with wheels and windows still in place.

  The road to Nanjing is like the career path of ancient literati, full of ups and downs. After driving for a while, you have to stop again to pay tolls, and the money in the driver's pocket seems destined to wander without a home.

  Then the tour guide gave the driver a pack of cigarettes to refresh himself. The driver struggled and said no, but was eventually overpowered by the tour guide's hands, slowly accepting one and putting it in his mouth. Suddenly, the car was filled with smoke, and some of the passengers who didn't know the power of nature opened the windows wide, waking up almost everyone in the car, all cursing to close the window.

  Lin Nanxiang hurriedly went to send warmth and said: "Are you cold? Wear my clothes."

  Susa shook her head and said it wasn't cold.

  At this time a girl in the car stood up and suggested: "How about we sing a song?"

  "Alright."

  "I'll sing for everyone first, 'Sparkling Tears of Decision'!"

  "Good!"

  "How embarrassing!"

  After finishing, the girl loudly sang. However, in this society, people who speak like that girl about credibility are rarely seen; offering ugliness is indeed ugly, and the tune has gone so far that even seven or eight head of cattle can't pull it back.

  As she sang, she became more and more excited, waving her hand to the side, this pull seemed to pull the pitch flat, singing like speaking.

  After finishing the song, Lin Yuxiang looked at Susa beside him and said, "How can it sound so bad?"

  "Don't talk about others, she's also here to add to the fun. Ah, Lin Yuxiang, are you hungry?"

  "It's okay."

  "Have something to eat, 'Hao Li You' or whatever, I'll pay for you."

  Lin Yuxiang was shocked and thought that this abstract thing "hunger" could actually be seen by Su Sa, what a sharp eye.

  At this time, Susa gave him a piece, Lin Yuxiang declined and quickly put it away, feeling grateful. However, eating in front of the girl he loved seemed impolite, and the "good friend" was like a small hamburger, making it even harder to eat. He could only nibble on one side and then the other. Suddenly, he thought of a book that said girls hated two types of eating styles: one was "cat-like", where you play with your food, too elegant; the other was "snake-like", where you swallow quickly, not caring what you eat, even stones would be swallowed. Too violent, giving people a sense of insecurity. Moreover, Chairman Mao taught us that "hurting ten fingers is not as good as cutting off one finger". So Lin Yuxiang took a big bite, just right, exactly half.

  "Susa asked him: 'A lot of money, huh?'"

  Lin Yuxiang was about to speak, but suddenly found his throat constricted, jammed like the entrance of a mosque during a stampede on Eid al-Fitr, and he could only manage to squeeze out one word: "No".

  After a while, the esophagus was finally unblocked from the heavy burden of saliva, and I thought that this kind of thing is really easy to choke on. There's still half left over, which needs to be treated with caution. Susa distributed the remaining few pieces to the surrounding classmates and asked them to bring one to the teacher. Lin Yuxiang thought to himself that Susa was indeed good at tormenting people's teachers. However, today's teacher was particularly quiet, not saying a word, nor controlling the situation. It must be because being a teacher is the most glorious profession under the sun, but it's useless under the moonlight. No wonder teachers advocate for students to look at the bright side of society and not the dark side. The environment determines everything, after all.

  Then the people around gathered on the car to have a meal. Although there was no spectacular feast, it was enough to exchange for several tons of oil in Iraq. At this time, the front seat handed over an unimaginable object to the back seat, Lin Yuxiang held it and didn't dare to move his mouth, Susa said: "Eat, it's delicious." Lin Yuxiang immediately showed a face that was eager to try the food.

  At this time, Susa was sitting next to him, enjoying the delicious food, and with a slight movement of his body, a puff of dust rose from the ground. Lin Yuxiang smelled it and felt that this smell should only exist in hell, and it's hard to find it in the human world. Suddenly, a sneeze got stuck in his throat and couldn't come out, so he had to put down the food and Susa, turn his body around and focus on brewing this sneeze. It just so happened that the amount of powder he inhaled was just enough to produce a sneeze but not enough to make it happen, which shows that mediocrity is not a good thing. Yuxiang held his breath, slightly opened his mouth, stretched his neck back and stuck out his tongue, trying to induce the sneeze. However, things are unpredictable, and the feeling of wanting to sneeze suddenly disappeared, and the sneeze was unfortunately suppressed in its infancy.

  "Susa said: 'Lin Yuxiang, why haven't you spoken all this time? Are you unhappy today?'"

  "It smells nice."

  A group of people were living in a cramped space, passing the time by eating and sleeping until the sky showed a hint of light on the horizon. The car finally quieted down a bit. Lin Yuxiang vaguely saw the mountains still shrouded in mist in the distance, and he was extremely excited, his sleepiness completely gone.

  Suddenly, he saw another bald mountain and thought that even the mountains were smart and had reached a new height in this era. He wanted to invite Susa to watch the mountain together. Looking aside, he saw that Susa seemed to be asleep, with her eyelashes trembling slightly. Her hand was naturally hanging down beside the armrest, just one step away from Lin Yu Xiang's hand. A man who doesn't have evil thoughts in this situation is not a real man. Moreover, that hand was as moving as a person's face and heart, even a senior monk would be tempted to jump into the secular world. As for Lin Yu Xiang, he was hesitant, afraid to hold her hand, yet unwilling to let go. The struggle of thoughts did not affect the autonomy of his actions, and Lin Yu Xiang's hand had a strong local government style, ignoring the central government's orders, constantly moving forward.

  Just as the bus was about to start, it suddenly stopped. The tour guide shouted: "There is a free toilet ahead, three-star level, students who want to use the toilet get off the bus!"

  "Susa woke up and rubbed her eyes, saying: 'Have we arrived?'"

  Lin Yuxiang let out a deep breath, his two sweaty hands clenched together, and said angrily: "We're here."

  "Have you arrived in Nanjing?" Susa asked.

  "No, I'm going to the bathroom."

  "Didn't you say we were going to Nanjing?" Susa looked puzzled.

  Lin Yuxiang found that clever girls who pretend to be foolish are much more lovely than foolish girls who are clever.

  "Susa suddenly came to her senses, stuck out her tongue and said: 'Sorry. Am I very silly?'"

  "A little bit."

  "Are you going down?" Susa asked.

  "Let's go for a walk."

  "I'm not going out, it's too cold outside."

  Lin Yuxiang had thought Susa was inviting him to the bathroom, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase. Since he'd already spoken up, he had to go down and freeze even if nothing was wrong. More than half of the people in the car had left, leaving behind those who were easily suspected of having endocrine problems or relieving themselves on the spot.

  A large empty space appeared under the car, and it was unclear where it came from. The heavy fog made it impossible to tell which direction to go. Several tour guides had been silent for a long time, but finally, they found an opportunity to show off their skills and excitedly led everyone to the restroom.

  In the daze, I saw a long line in front of me and knew that was the women's restroom. This situation is easy to understand - if there were only one toilet stall, ten men could use it together, but two women couldn't.

  Next to the restroom was a 24-hour convenience store with prices that seemed to have been inflated by the restroom's presence. Lin Yuxiang wanted to buy a bottle of milk, but when he saw the price tag of 12 yuan and only had 10 yuan on him, he felt extremely distressed.

  In the end, he decided to swallow his pride and haggle with the store clerk. His mother was skilled at haggling, and according to her theory, the price of a 12-yuan bottle of milk should start from 1.2 yuan. However, Lin Yuxiang was not good at this and couldn't even get the price down a little: "Uncle, how about 10 yuan?"

  Lin Yuxiang thought this knife was ruthless and wouldn't succeed, so he left some wise words to prepare for a comeback. Unexpectedly, the waiter agreed immediately, and Lin Yuxiang regretted it too late. Holding a bottle of milk back in the car, he suddenly felt that spring had arrived inside the vehicle.

  At this time, the sky was a little brighter. Lin Yuxiang looked down and saw that a Lincoln car from the county education commission had stopped, and he couldn't help but be greatly surprised, thinking that even gods like them needed to use the restroom. Looking more closely inside, two gods in the back row were sleeping with their heads thrown back. The Lincoln was indeed steady as could be expected of both people and cars. The TV station had already started its day's work, with cameras aimed at the women's restroom door. Lin Yuxiang seemed to have already heard the report from a few days later: "Students entered the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in an orderly fashion."

  The car finally started after a long time.

  The road only felt the surroundings gradually brightening. The Education Bureau's car seemed to be afraid of the light and ran off somewhere. The distant mountains and green waters on both sides were more flavorful than steel and concrete, but unfortunately, this mountain had no connection with patriotism. Lin Yuxiang suddenly thought that if he could hold hands with Susa on the mountain, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at Susa, who smiled faintly and turned her head to look out the window.

  The next morning, Lin Yuxiang opened his eyes to look at the ceiling. The content of patriotism yesterday can be ignored, and the memory stops after arriving in Nanjing and parting with Susa. This trip only left a good teacher in my memory, a song called "Youth Without Regret", a regret that was about to be grasped, a toilet set in the underworld, several green hills, several green waters, several farmhouses, and most directly, several wooden ducks.

  After a while, Lin Yuxiang received a call. He said "hello" for half a day, but the other end only had a faint breath.

  "Hello, is this Lin Yuxiang? I am..."

  Lin Yuxiang's heart skipped a beat when he heard the voice, and he couldn't stop jumping with excitement. Susa asked him to meet on the big bridge in an hour. Lin Yuxiang was overjoyed and agreed repeatedly. For the next hour, Lin Yuxiang busied himself getting ready, primping and preening like a peacock. After calculating that it was time, he hailed a rickshaw and headed out. The old driver looked like he was already in his twilight years, and the rickshaw seemed to be on its last legs as well. As they approached the bridge, Lin Yuxiang got anxious, fearing that if things went on like this, he'd end up back home before long. He hastily told the driver to stop, paid him, and ran towards the bridge. Looking out at the vast expanse of sky and earth, his mood lifted, and he thought they must be going on a romantic outing. As he pondered how to reveal his true feelings without arousing Susa's suspicions, like a master assassin leaving behind subtle clues, he suddenly felt a jolt and saw that Susa was already standing on the bridge, her hair fluttering gently in the breeze.

  "Did you sleep well yesterday?" Susa asked.

  "Alright!" Lin Yuxiang didn't dare look directly, and silently let a river of winter water flow eastward.

  Susa didn't say anything, picked up a stack of books from the ground and mischievously said: "Oh my, it's so heavy!"

  Lin Yuxiang wanted to go and help, Susa handed the book to him and said: "Okay, these are all the exercises I've done. Don't laugh at me, it's just exam-oriented education, there's no way around it, so I have to do exercises. Remember, it's very useful for exams, some of the questions I added a five-star mark, these questions need to be taken seriously, in order to get into a slightly better school, I can only do this, doing like a fool, you won't laugh at me? Then I'll leave, goodbye."

  After finishing speaking, he hailed a tricycle and waved goodbye.

  Lin Yuxiang stood there in a daze, thinking about what to say next, but from start to finish, he only said one word: "good". He looked down at the stack of tutoring books in his hand and was surprised to find a letter on top. He was so excited that he almost threw the book into the river, leaving the letter behind.

  Hello. I didn't reply to the previous letters, sorry about that. Don't get too worked up over education, in the end it's you who will lose out. These books are fine.

  Help you improve your score a bit. You're a very smart boy, I believe you'll definitely get into the municipal key school. Let's meet again there.

  Lin Yuxiang was shocked after reading the letter, he himself had not been educated, but simply didn't like it. He only belonged to the Montesquieu type of person. Didn't like education, but his ideological awareness hadn't reached the height of overthrowing the current educational system. Because once he reached this height, he would immediately be overthrown by the educational system.

  Lin Yuxiang is holding a letter, thinking that wishes are beautiful, but hopes are non-existent. Lin Yuxiang is now in his prime and does not want to give up his prosperous life to read books. He doesn't know that many times "prosperity falling" is like the stripper's "clothes falling", which can bring people a more beautiful realm.