Chapter 4 (4)

  Yu Xiong, with the help of Song Shi Ping, said in a long and unbroken stream: "When I first went to the sports school, everyone was getting along pretty well. Later on, people started to become more calculating, and if someone used up a bit of hot water, they would start fighting, that's just how people are."

  Yu Xiang still had a crush on collective life and said: "At that time, you were young and didn't understand things. Maybe it will be different when you enter high school."

  Yu Xiong shook his head and said: "Maybe, but being sensible is just a kind of restraint, not letting one's true nature show itself. One's true nature will eventually reveal itself after a long time."

  Yu Xiang was impressed by Yu Xiong's words and thought that Yu Xiong was not a simple person, with a deep understanding of the issues, unlike the American journalist Song Shi Ping. Yu Xiang became interested in Yu Xiong and asked: "How did you end up attending a sports school?"

  Yu Xiong said: "When I was young, I liked reading books and wanted to be a writer, but at the same time, I was also good at sports. A teacher from a junior sports school spotted me, and at that time, the Asian Games were in full swing. My parents said that those who did well in sports could make a lot of money in the future, so they sent me to the junior sports school, and that's how it happened."

  Yu Xiang flattered: "No wonder your words are never simple, now you even want to be a writer?"

  Before Yu Xiong could respond, Song Shipei patted Yu's butt and said: "It's really not easy!"

  Yu Xiong thought for a moment and said: "It's hard to say now, probably don't think about it anymore, don't think about it."

  Song Shi Ping was also disappointed, he had wanted to applaud, but Yu Xiong said such a depressing sentence, leaving him with nowhere to clap, so he just fanned his palm and said: "It's so hot."

  This remark suddenly reminded Yu Xiong and Yu Xiao of the heat they had forgotten, and they felt a strange heat surge up. Unable to bear it any longer, Yu Xiao exclaimed loudly: "You have been detached from worldly desires for four days!"

  Yu Xiong said: "What's the point of 'wearing out the red dust', I look down on those pessimistic people, so-called wearing out the red dust is just treating the originally beautiful red dust as worthless!"

  Yu Xiang laughed and clapped his hands, saying: "Good, good!" He clapped a few more times, feeling that this sentence seemed familiar, but he was sure it wasn't a famous quote, because famous people couldn't say something so earth-shattering. It was as if someone had said it before, and it was stuck in a conspicuous place in his brain, but he just couldn't find it. Yu Xiang used all his might to think, but thinking was one of those things that no matter how hard you tried, it just wouldn't work. When he wasn't thinking about it, the answer would pop up automatically, but when he wanted to think about it, there was only silence. But precisely because it had "popped up" before, Yu Xiang didn't want to give up trying. This experience was very painful - the thing you wanted to think of was often already on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn't say it out loud. It was like a drop of water hanging from the faucet, sometimes long, sometimes short, but never falling.

  At the moment when Yǔ Xiǎng's thoughts were neither here nor there, he suddenly "got it", and this feeling was as refreshing as a clogged toilet suddenly unclogging after being stuffed for half a day. The smell was also terrifying. Yǔ Xiǎng remembered that the person who first said those words was Liáng Yàng Jūn, and it was Liáng Yàng Jūn who jokingly told him the phrase as a riddle at the beginning.

  Yu Xiang's heart was still aching, but whenever he thought of Liang Yangjun, his smile would fade. Yu Xiong also let out a sigh, and that sigh brought an end to their night-time conversation. The three of them leaned against the railing of the balcony, unaware of when they had fallen asleep.

  The next day, Yu Xiang was the first to wake up. There was a gentle breeze outside the balcony, which was rare and blew away some of the worries in his heart. Yu Xiang suddenly remembered that he needed to train, so he woke up the other two people. When he looked at the time, he admired himself for waking up just in time, with only 20 minutes left. For the first time waking up in a strange place, Yu Xiang felt a bit down and disoriented. The sink was too low, and when he bent over to wash his face, he often bumped into the faucet, as he had gotten used to it at home. The towels for washing his face and feet were also often put in the wrong place. When walking around, he would often collide with the furniture in the room, as if no one was there, and he had already knocked over a table and chair twice. Everything was in disarray.

  When the three of them came out of the dormitory gate, it was already drizzling outside. Song Shiping said: "Great, no need to train!"

  Yu Xiong bai looked at him and said, "You think you're so great, but it's still raining outside." He jogged to the playground, where Liu Zhi Zhang was standing on the track, holding a stopwatch. "It was hot yesterday, and we all worked hard. I reported to the school, and they finally agreed to open the gym. Today, reporters are coming for an interview, so everyone should just practice as usual. If you're interviewed, don't say anything empty or boastful, just speak from your heart. Alright, let's jog two laps!"

  He ran a lap, and next to the playground, a man carrying a camera appeared. The lens was aimed directly at Yu Xiang, who felt uncomfortable all over, wanting to smile but unable to, hoping the lens would move away. After aiming for a while, the cameraman turned the lens towards the building of Shi Nan No. 3 Middle School. Fortunately, the Hu Shi Building wouldn't blush, allowing the cameraman to take shots from various angles. Then, a reporter appeared with the cameraman, looking like a freshly baked bun, but her delicate skin couldn't withstand the scorching sun for long. Before doing any actual work, she retreated into the car to avoid the heat. Inside the car, she saw that the long-distance running team had finished two laps and was resting, waiting for an opportunity to go over and conduct an interview.

  Song Shih-ping deliberately sat on the outside, and a reporter ran over to ask him first: "What do you think about the summer training?" Song Shih-ping didn't hesitate, opened his mouth to speak, but the reporter saw that the situation was not right, whispered to Song Shih-ping: "Wait, the cameraman said start when he starts." Then made a gesture to the cameraman and said: "Start!" The words Song Shih-ping wanted to say earlier were now nowhere to be found, and he stuttered: "This can improve... my... physical fitness, making me progress." The female reporter looked satisfied, thanked him and walked over to Liu Zhi-zhang's side, asking: "Teacher, you're also working very hard, coming out in the scorching heat to organize training. Do you have anything to say to our audience?"

  Liu Zhizhang said in a flat tone, "This is about long-term training, not just a temporary attack. The quality of this year's sports students is better than before, they are also too hardworking!"

  The female journalist put down the microphone, pondered that these words seemed not to be in harmony, chewed them over several times and found out the root of the problem, then said to Liu Zhi Zhang: "Can you say it again? For the last sentence 'they... are also too hardworking', please don't say 'too'. We can start now, thank you."

  Liu Zhi-zhang shook his head, removing the "too" and repeated himself. The female reporter thought for a moment, then added: "You'd better add something to this, such as combining student quality education with cross-century talent cultivation plans."

  Liu Zhizhang's expression stiffened and he pushed away the microphone, saying: "I won't say it, you can ask someone else."

  The reporter was taken aback, then smiled and said, "Well, thank you." He put away the microphone cord, walked thirty meters away, and when he felt safe, he turned to the cameraman and said, "Who does he think he is? We're just giving him face by interviewing him. Forget about what happened earlier." The cameraman asked, "What about the part on quality education and..."

  The reporter said, "What's the big deal? He won't say it himself, but someone says that in the studio, they'll write a segment for the host to read, called 'A Brief Review After Watching', and it will be even clearer than what that old man said." Having said that, he couldn't take the heat anymore and quickened his pace towards the interview car.

  Liu Zhi-zhang made the sports students get up and said, "Don't mind them," then ordered each person to run ten laps. Lin Yu-xiang pretended to be calm while tying his shoelaces, but his legs couldn't stay still and were shaking nonstop. After running one lap, he felt it was nothing special and sped up, but by the second lap, his eyes and nostrils were wide open, and his physical strength gradually decreased.

  Liu Zhi-zhang asked about their condition on the side, and the two high school sophomores who took the lead in running hurried to answer: "It's okay, no problem." It is said that during the Anti-Japanese War, the famous American commentator ErSe-vareiol interviewed Dr. Kong Xiang-xi of the Chongqing Administrative Yuan. Kong said at the time that China's inflation situation was like a person falling from the 30th floor to the 15th floor, and in mid-air shouting "So far, so good!" If Kong Xiang-xi were still alive today, he would definitely take back that metaphor and give it to these two high school sophomores.

  As expected, the two boys were talking too much and couldn't keep up, starting to fall behind. Lin Yuexiang bit his tongue and stuck with the one in front of him, but didn't dare to overtake, fearing that he would trigger his potential. After following for half a lap, he felt that the speed was getting slower and slower, and his competitive spirit rose, so he tentatively brushed past him and then retreated. Seeing that the boy had no big reaction, just a look of hatred on his face, but unable to take action, Lin Yuexiang boldly overtook him.

  After running five laps, he reached his limit several times, and seeing that he was being pulled away by Yu Xiong, he lost all motivation. Fortunately, there was still one poor guy behind him who boosted Lin Yuexiang's only confidence, giving him a spiritual pillar. However, the pillar didn't last long before it collapsed to the ground, resting and letting Lin Yuexiang take over the last place.

  Lin Yuexiang's only comfort tool was gone, feeling dizzy and dark, taking one step and panting two or three times, his hands and feet numb, his chest burning, his throat on fire, the air he inhaled seemed to not enter his lungs, just circling around his mouth before coming out. His last bit of willpower disappeared, but he didn't want to give up like the first one did, so he used his hand to cover his stomach and use this action to announce to everyone that Lin Yuexiang was only sick with a stomachache, not physically exhausted, pushing the responsibility onto his stomach again, and then collapsed to the ground.

  After being dizzy for a while, he sat up from the ground, looking at others' exhaustion to alleviate his own burden. Song Shiping originally also thought of covering his stomach and pretending to be in pain to rest, but didn't expect Lin Yuexiang to use it first, so he had to run with all his might to prove that his physical strength was limitless.

  When facing Nan Xiang, he had a leisurely expression as if strolling in the clouds, but once his back was turned, his suppressed expressions were all released, his mouth open like a snake intimidating its prey, his eyes closed, unable to bear seeing his own suffering. After ten laps, Song Shiping collapsed to the ground motionless, using feigning death to gain sympathy. Yu Xiong stood above him with an expressionless face, patted him a few times, and then walked over to Lin Yuexiang and said: "How did you get hurt here? You must have drunk too much water before running!"

  Yǔ Xiǎng said: "Yes, I'm so thirsty!"

  Yu Xiong took off his clothes, squeezed out a lot of sweat and said: "Go take a bath."

  Yu Xiang laughed and said: "The sweat you squeezed out is enough for me to take a shower! Can you stand it?"

  Yu Xiong smiled faintly and said: "In the junior high school, we were all required to run 30 laps, which is 12,000 meters."

  Yu Xiang was startled and didn't dare to think, took off his shirt, propped himself up on the ground and stood up, walked a few steps, and felt like his feet were floating in mid-air. The three of them had finished washing up and were planning to go to San Ta Yuan to escape the heat, but when they reached the entrance, they saw large crowds of students surging in, and were shocked, thinking that they had run too fast and exceeded the speed of light, seeing a future scene of the start of school, confirming Einstein's theory of relativity. Only after looking at the notice at the entrance did they realize it was the exam for the first year students' class division. The cars in front of the school gate were stopped for hundreds of meters, with no end in sight. Song Shi Ping said unfairly: "Why didn't we have a class division exam?" Yu Xiong said: "Us? You don't even think about what kind of people we are, like leftover meat, casually assigned to whatever class."

  Three people smiled at each other and continued on their way to the Three Pagodas Garden. The Three Pagodas Garden is said to be where Li Tianwang, the heavenly king of the pagoda, descended to earth to suppress evil spirits in ancient times, throwing down three pagodas to press the evil spirits underneath. As the three people entered the garden, they suddenly felt a chill run through their bodies. The garden was full of trees, which helped lower the temperature, but unfortunately, there were also many mosquitoes flying about, which didn't need tickets to enter and had gathered in the garden to wreak havoc.

  There were few tourists in the garden, and the largest tour group was just Rain, Xiang and three people.

  Yu Xiangdao: "I thought there would be more people, but instead there are so many bugs." He makes a shooing motion, "It's like when we're sightseeing, it's as if the bugs are watching us."

  Three people walked to a martyr statue, where there were fewer insects, and sat down to rest. Yǔ Xiáng pointed at a sign under the martyr statue and said: "Climbing is strictly prohibited", with a tone of confusion, thinking that modern outdoor rock climbing had developed to this point.

  Song Shipei said, "This sign is useless, later someone will definitely climb up to take a photo!" The three of them chatted for a while, but soon lost interest and didn't feel like admiring the three towers that Li Jing had thrown. They hurried back to school to sleep. At this time, the first subject of the class division exam had already ended, and people were dispersing in all directions. Yu Xiong saw Hu Jun chatting with a high school sophomore athlete and told Yu Xiang, "In the future, you should spend less time with him." A parent next to them was opening a can for their child and said, "Hey, listen up, from now on you're not allowed to hang out with athletes. They look so sloppy, and it's not easy to get into Municipal Third Middle School either. In the future, if they talk to you, just ignore them..." Yu Xiang heard this and felt indignant, wanting to defend his own group's reputation and himself, but was held back by Yu Xiong, who said, "What's the point?"

  The days flew by in the morning and evening training sessions. The summer training period had already passed halfway, and everything in the school was familiar, no longer fresh, and the days were getting harder to get through. At night, a sports room was crowded with twenty or so athletes, even the tables were full of people sleeping, those who couldn't sleep on the high table could only spread out on the floor, using chalk to draw a circle to mark their territory, warning others not to enter, like dogs marking their territory with urine. Getting up to use the bathroom at midnight was like walking through a field of corpses. Those who didn't snore were most guilty of sleeping because the rhythmic snoring would suck them in; people's attention went to counting and forgot to sleep. Twenty or so athletes trained tiredly during the day, relying on snoring to vent their dissatisfaction at night, the snoring sounded like a 19th-century European bourgeois uprising, one side quieted down, another corner started again, often from northeast to southwest, this kind of surround sound-like snoring made Rui Xiang's dreams fragmented and disjointed.

  There were many people from junior high school in his dream, making Yu Xiang feel suffocated and unbearable in a foreign land.

  On the Hth day in the afternoon, Yuexiang plucked up his courage to call Susa, but no one answered. Thinking that she must have gone for military training, he felt a deep sense of melancholy and couldn't express it in words.

  In three days, it will be the freshman registration and military training. This year's scorching heat is still going strong, without any sign of weakening.

  The rain in Shanghai all ran to Wuhan to join the excitement, leaving only a sun overhead, occasionally not even forming a weather condition to drop a few drops of rain. The athletes are like Arabs, every day praying for rain, every day no rain. Training under the scorching sun has the result that their whole body is black and shiny, at night their skin can reflect moonlight, saving the school a lot of electricity fees for lighting.