Fleeting Midsummer Fm Chapter 23 (1/2)
Chapter 23: Ru Ting’s Birthday Party (1)
If she is Teng Tang Jing, then does that mean I am the invulnerable Shan Cai who keeps fighting on despite the odds?
It was just like the last chance of fixing all the multiple choice questions that had not yet been completed just one minute before handing in one’s exam. The unshakable me, decided that on the final day before I withdrew from school, in the final hour, I would work on this problem. I bought an apple and prepared to finish eating the apple. If I got an apple core with an odd number of seeds, then I would withdraw from school. If I got an even number of seeds then I would continue school. I did not antic.i.p.ate that I would meet Xiao Xi when I bought the apple. To be precise, I saw him, and he didn’t see me.
It was nearing the lights out period, and there was only him and me in front of the fruit vendor’s stand. He was at the other end, I was at this end. He was currently lowering his head to make a call. Most of the time, he only quietly listened, and occasionally he would speak. He even spoke very gently, but that sentence “Return, okay?” was enough to wind past the fruit wagon on this tranquil night and bring with it the rich fragrance of fruit, gently stimulating my mental state.
My feet were glued to the ground. The apples had definitely become shy from all my staring, otherwise why would it be so red? I laughed as I waited for him to pa.s.s by me as he called. He didn’t turn, and there was only his rear view. He merely carelessly brushed past me.
I was very happy, not concerned of whether he had discovered me. He had already given me his rear view. Right now, definitely don’t give me any hopeful news. This way, I can slowly heal and slowly recover, until I faintly forget him.
I lifted my bag full of fruit and slowly walked alongside the dormitory buildings. I didn’t have much distress or any need to vent my feelings, and neither did I feel so depressed that I needed to settle down. I merely thought that my love history monument stood tall and upright. I wanted to let the sandstorm wear down those wounds until they became level, leaving only a printed impression. I wanted to look at it from a distance and see when it loudly collapsed.
When I returned to the dormitory, the light was already out. In the pitch-darkness I told these idealistic and youthful thinkings to Julie.
Julie grabbed melon seeds, cracking seeds as she said: “Are your trivial matters enough to establish an imperishable masterpiece? At the most, I see a milestone, and the kind that falls as soon as you kick it. Have you been so idle that you have nothing to do recently? If you have nothing to do then go learn how to swim. Thinking of nonsense all day long, even if there’s nothing wrong, only you could find a tiny moth within.”
As she finished, she began to let go of the melon seeds, brus.h.i.+ng away the sticky melon seed sh.e.l.ls on her clothes. Then, she went out to wash her face and rinse her mouth.
My face was unhappy, like the sound of a sorrowful cellist who was abruptly interrupted by a gong and the sound of a drum, making me suffer from pent-up frustrations endlessly. I picked it up, preparing to throw it into my indistinct grief and complex psychology when I found that I could no longer find that feeling. Alas, I should still crack some more melon seeds. I was just about to be joyful when Julie returned and saw that I was cracking melon seeds happily. In spite of the fact she had brushed her teeth, she began to crack seeds again. Foolishly, we faced each other, devotedly cracking melon seeds.
Suddenly I thought of today’s important mission that was still incomplete. At once, I asked Julie: “What’s the time right now? Let me borrow your laptop, I have to withdraw from cla.s.s.”
Julie turned on the emergency light of her watch. She shook her head and said: “It’s about 12. Don’t think of withdrawing from cla.s.s anymore.”
G.o.d was really helping me make my decision. From a little age, I hated doing multiple choice questions. Some people said having more choices was always good. As for me, I said that more choices signified more piles of dead brain cells. For someone like me, greedy yet at a loss, in front of choices, if I didn’t want both, or if I wanted to cautiously observe the Red Rose White Rose Theory [1], then I felt giving up on that choice was forever better. This time, I didn’t need to use my brain. Doing as G.o.d said, was enough!
I asked Julie: “Julie, if someone you’re very familiar with suddenly wears less and less, and his body is also super hot and he even stands in front of you, and you start salivating, is that normal?”
Julie drank a sip of water and asked me: “Are you talking about Fang Yu Ke?”
The hand that I was using to shove melon seeds in my mouth stopped in midair: “How did you know?”
Julie disdainfully said: “On the day that you started salivating, the swimming pool’s average depth increased by a centimeter. How can I not know about it?”
“Was it that obvious?……”
My face was a little red. Luckily, it had gotten dark and she couldn’t see.
“But, Fang Yu Ke’s figure is indeed very good.Ever since he took off those gla.s.ses, he looks like he’s matured a lot, and he’s become hotter. This time, he’s really drop dead handsome!”
I heard Julie swallow her saliva for a moment. Alas…
I sighed: “In the past, I used to always complain that I didn’t know any handsome guys. Before, at a boarding school in high school, I incessantly hiccuped. No matter how much water I drank, I couldn’t stop. My roommate always loved to say that there were be some handsome guys asking about me in the morning. If it was like this, I would immediately stop hiccuping. It was indeed very humiliating. Right now, there are hot guys , and they’re all friends. It’s really hard to make a move, otherwise I could just take liberties with him. After all, taking liberties with a hot guy is the bigger dream than testing into Peking University.”
“Why can’t you take advantage of them? It’s easier to take advantage of them when you know them. As I see it, the way Fang Yu Ke looks at you is sure different. According to my keen intuition, I have already sniffed out some intimate feelings between you two. Hmph…”
I laughed: “Are you too smitten with love? Your words are sure grievous. If your New Zealand boyfriend hears of it, he’ll be broken-hearted.”
During winter break, Julie had become acquainted with a New Zealand friend. Right now, he was currently fiercely pursuing Julie, on the offensive side.
It was rare for Julie to be sad as she said: “In the past, I despised online love affairs. If I really am to court him, won’t it be slapping myself on the mouth? Plus, dating between two parties from the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere- don’t even mention the fact that there are no common subjects. We don’t even have the same time zones or the same holidays. No one knows if we’ll have a future.”
This was the first time I saw Julie so unconfident. In front of love, no matter if your IQ or EQ was high, you would always worry about personal gains and losses, prudently getting up.
The next day, I received Ru Ting’s invitation card.
When I went to my second cla.s.s, I secretly took out my invitation card and carefully read it. The cover had a red maple fluttering in the breeze, like flowery red clouds. Ru Ting wore a white tiny muslim dress, standing alone with the red wood like a n.o.ble princess, like an elegant fairy.