Lin Zhixia heard two “beeps” as the phone rang. Once connected, she said, “Hello, this is Lin Zhixia.”
Jiang Yubai answered from the other end: “Hello, this is Jiang Yubai.”
Lin Zhixia pulled on the phone cord, holding the landline phone as she walked to her bedroom door. She opened the door a crack and looked out, sure enough, her father had picked up the living room extension and was monitoring Lin Zhixia and Jiang Yubai’s conversation.
Lin Zhixia took a deep breath and calmly said, “Hello, Jiang Yubai, I’ve arrived home safely. Today at your house, we all had a great time. Thank you very much for your hospitality.”
Jiang Yubai was even more polite: “You’re welcome, hosting classmates is what I should do.”
Lin Zhixia agreed: “Alright, see you tomorrow.”
Jiang Yubai also said: “See you tomorrow.”
Lin Zhixia immediately hung up. She washed her hands and ceremoniously opened the food container to taste the osmanthus cake… it was truly delicious, and she was stunned for a moment before coming back to her senses.
She put down the container and rummaged through her things, finding a book titled “Michelin Restaurant Top Recipes.”
That night before going to sleep, Lin Zhixia sat at her desk, studying the recipes in this book.
This led to a problem.
Lin Zhixia forgot to do her homework.
Her memory was excellent, and she could generally remember things if she tried.
However, this weekend, Lin Zhixia had completely forgotten about her homework until Monday morning at six o’clock when she finally remembered this important matter. She quickly got ready, grabbed a piece of bread from the refrigerator, shouldered her backpack, and prepared to leave.
Lin Zeqiu had just taken a shower. While drying his hair with a towel, he saw his sister’s frantic state and asked curiously, “Lin Zhixia, what’s the hurry?”
Lin Zhixia replied righteously: “I’m going to school!”
Lin Zeqiu asked suspiciously: “Do you need to be at school before seven today?”
“None of your business!” Lin Zhixia rushed out the door.
She jogged to school.
After arriving at the classroom of Class 4(1), Lin Zhixia rushed to her seat, took out her homework, and began writing furiously. She needed to complete a weekly journal, an English reading response, and a unit of math exercises.
Both the weekly journal and English response only required 200 words, so Lin Zhixia completed them quickly, then opened her math workbook to find it full of multiple-choice questions. She finished them at a rate of one per second, completing everything in less than a minute.
After completing her homework, Lin Zhixia took out her notebook and continued recording her “Human Observation Diary.”
In her diary, Lin Zhixia wrote: Yesterday I accepted an invitation to visit classmate Jiang Yubai’s home. At Jiang Yubai’s house, I played the bubble ball battle with many friends. The Jiang Yubai I observed is brave, upright, honest, and never abandons his companions. I lost to Nie Tianqing in the “rock-paper-scissors” game. Jiang Yubai made a shocked expression. He didn’t believe I could fail. Is this an external manifestation of his trust in me? I can’t help but wonder. My intuition tells me—although I’m not a firm supporter of transcendentalism, if my intuition isn’t wrong, perhaps after I graduate from elementary school, Jiang Yubai will still be my best friend…
At this point, Lin Zhixia stopped writing.
Because Jiang Yubai walked into the classroom.
Today, Jiang Yubai arrived at school earlier than usual.
As soon as Jiang Yubai appeared, Dong Sunqi enthusiastically greeted him: “Jiang Yubai! Good morning!”
“Good morning,” Jiang Yubai responded. He walked to his seat, put down his backpack, and happened to see the “Human Observation Diary” in front of Lin Zhixia.
He couldn’t help but rest his hand on the desk. He slowly sat down, enduring in silence for a moment while secretly thinking: My competition with her will never end.
Lin Zhixia said to him: “The strawberries were sweet, the osmanthus cake was delicious, and the fountain pen works well. Thank you!”
Jiang Yubai asked directly: “May I see your diary?”
“Of course.” Lin Zhixia pushed the diary in front of him.
Lin Zhixia’s action was beyond Jiang Yubai’s expectations. She was perhaps too forthright.
Jiang Yubai took Lin Zhixia’s notebook and turned to today’s page, where he saw Lin Zhixia had written “Jiang Yubai is brave, upright, honest, and never abandons his companions.” His eyes scanned further and saw another line, “If my intuition isn’t wrong, perhaps after I graduate from elementary school, Jiang Yubai will still be my best friend.” He immediately closed Lin Zhixia’s notebook and stuffed it back into her desk drawer.
Then he asked: “What is transcendentalism?”
Lin Zhixia explained: “As I understand it, it’s when a person uses intuition to perceive the world, ignoring the pleasures brought by material things, and valuing spirit and inner self.”
Jiang Yubai thought for a moment: “Like Thoreau?”
Lin Zhixia asked in delight: “You know about Thoreau? Thoreau is a famous writer and philosopher.”
Jiang Yubai said: “I’ve read Thoreau’s ‘Walden.'”
Lin Zhixia turned to face him: “I’ve also read Thoreau’s ‘Walden.’ Thoreau wrote in the book, ‘I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life’… this sentence should also summarize transcendentalism.”
Hearing her recite the content verbatim, Jiang Yubai couldn’t help but ask: “Lin Zhixia, can you recite the entire ‘Walden’?”
“Yes,” Lin Zhixia nodded, “I don’t do it on purpose. Do you understand?”
Jiang Yubai felt confused: “Not really.”
Lin Zhixia explained: “When you memorize text, you need to spend time remembering. I’m just the opposite. I need to expend effort to forget something. I’ve been training myself to improve my ability to forget. Now I’ve made a little progress… last weekend I forgot to do my homework.”
Jiang Yubai asked her: “The ability to forget? What’s good about being forgetful?”
Lin Zhixia shook her head: “Some things aren’t worth remembering. I don’t want to remember the arguments I have with my brother.”
“You have a brother?” Jiang Yubai dug deeper into his competitor’s family information, “A biological brother?”
“Yes. He’s three years older than me, in his first year of junior high this year.” Lin Zhixia answered honestly.
Jiang Yubai asked again: “Do you argue with him often?”
Lin Zhixia rested her chin on her hand: “I often have disputes with him. What about you? Do you have disputes with your parents at home?”