In the evening, Lin He brought milk to Lin Zhexia before bedtime. She knocked on the door and said softly, “Xiaxia, are you doing homework? I’m coming in.”
Lin Zhexia replied: “Come in, I’m reading—”
Lin He opened the door. She had been going to bed early recently and was already a bit sleepy.
But she still made an effort to ask with concern: “Did you talk to the teacher about withdrawing from the competition?”
Lin Zhexia took the milk: “No.”
Lin He: “Why not? Are you embarrassed, or afraid the teacher won’t agree?”
“Neither.”
She shook her head and said, “I want to try again.”
Because when she was about to give up, someone told her they thought she could do it.
So, she wanted to try again.
Lin Zhexia took a few sips of milk, thinking about her recent chat with Chi Yao.
—No one thinks you can’t do it.
—Only you think that.
…
It was just a speech competition, so many people participated, if others could do it, so could she.
Lin Zhexia often had these sudden changes of mind, so Lin He didn’t ask why she had suddenly changed her decision.
But since her daughter had decided to go through with it, she naturally had to encourage her: “No matter what the result is, the important thing is to participate. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
Lin Zhexia made a sound of agreement: “You should go to sleep, I’ll read for a bit and then go to bed too.”
That night, she didn’t sleep very soundly.
After all, thinking about the competition, the psychological pressure was still there.
She had a dream where she was captured by a group of monsters, and these monsters forced her to go on stage and give a speech.
In the dream, she performed exceptionally fluently.
Then the monster leader said: You spoke very well, give another speech for me to hear.
…
After waking up, she rubbed her head, feeling a slight headache.
9:00 AM.
She finished her simple morning routine and revised her speech again.
Just as she was hesitating whether to practice at home or go to Chi Yao’s place, someone downstairs called her name: “Brother Xia—”
It was He Yang’s voice.
She walked to the window, leaned out to look down, and saw He Yang and Chi Yao standing side by side downstairs.
Chi Yao was squinting in the sunlight. He seemed to find He Yang standing too close, so he stepped to the side.
He Yang looked up, cupped his hands like a megaphone, and his voice traveled up from below: “Brother Xia, we need to see you, come down for a bit.”
This way of calling her immediately took her back to childhood.
When they were young, electronic devices weren’t as popular as they are now, and she didn’t have a phone. The thing she did most often was to call out for people to come downstairs to play.
“What is it?” Lin Zhexia came downstairs with her hair loose.
“Come on,” He Yang said to her, “to Yao’s place, we’ve prepared a surprise for you.”
Lin Zhexia: “?”
He Yang: “Come on.”
Lin Zhexia was suspicious: “Are you sure it’s a surprise? Why prepare something for me? There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
He Yang: “You’ll know when you get there.”
Lin Zhexia followed the two of them to Chi Yao’s home.
Soon after she entered, the door was suddenly knocked on. The person who came was tall and wearing black-framed glasses: “Brother Yao, I’m here.”
Less than thirty seconds later.
Another person arrived.
“I’m here too, I’m here too.”
“And me, I had something on the way, we said 9:20, I’m not late, am I?”
“Me, me, me, me, I’m here too.”
“…”
More and more people arrived.
Soon, Chi Yao’s living room was filled.