◎Chasing Wind and Sun◎
Since the tenant next door had changed, this was the first time Chun Chuzhen had seen both kids from home appear together in the entryway after evening study hall.
She was somewhat surprised: “You came back together?”
Yuan Ye waited beside for Chun Zao to change her shoes first and was about to speak when Chun Zao quickly answered: “We ran into each other downstairs.”
“Oh.” Chun Chuzhen didn’t ask further, only instructed: “Come out to eat after putting down your backpacks. The porridge is getting cold.”
Chun Zao responded with a sound, returning to her room with an expressionless face, not glancing at Yuan Ye again during the process.
Her heart was about to leap out of her throat.
Before bed, she logged into QQ as usual and discovered the boy had sent her a message fifteen minutes ago.
Yuan Ye: Not bad, Student Chun Zao. Not only are you good at ghostwriting, you’re also good at acting.
Chun Zao: “…”
Connecting this to tonight’s “stationery store waiting for someone incident,” she smiled without quite smiling, staying quiet for a few seconds, then turned to her side and punched her pillow twice before she could calmly reply.
She gave a specific reason: Better to avoid trouble than invite it. I was afraid my mom would misunderstand and overthink.
The boy’s message came immediately: Misunderstand what?
Chun Zao was speechless again.
What was wrong with this person? Did he have to make everything so clear?
She took a deep breath: Last time you clearly stated in front of her that you wouldn’t help me with math, and she was a bit upset. I was afraid she’d misunderstand that we’re saying one thing and doing another, secretly learning from each other behind her back.
Making things up turned out to be such a shameful thing.
After sending it, Chun Zao covered her eyes with her hands. After a while, she put them down. Fortunately, the other party neither doubted nor pressed further, and was already making concluding remarks.
Yuan Ye: I see.
Chun Zao agreed: Mm, that’s right.
Whether it was really like that, what it was actually like – perhaps only the person involved truly knew. However—
The conversation from tonight at the stationery store was still burned into her heart. She couldn’t help but want to ask clearly about this question that had trapped her since the first week of school.
Back then, she and Yuan Ye were still half-strangers, so she was cautious, worried about being presumptuous no matter what she asked.
But tonight seemed different. He had come to the stationery store to find her and waited for her at the entrance, giving her sudden confidence, as if she held a magnetic card that could access his inner world – beep once, and she could board his bus of memories.
So she asked: Why aren’t you participating in competitions anymore?
The chat window fell silent.
After a long while, Yuan Ye returned with a few light and breezy words: Because I want to take the college entrance exam, I want to be the top scorer.
Said as casually as eating or drinking water, Chun Zao was struck by his confident arrogance, like a fishbone stuck in her throat. Finally, alright, I wish you success. Going to sleep, good night.
The other party seemed to sense her mood and entered typing mode again.
Chun Zao stopped there and waited patiently.
Yuan Ye said: If I get provincial first place, maybe my mom will see it.
Chun Zao froze.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t speculated about Yuan Ye’s birth mother’s situation, or even considered the worst – the kind of eternal separation between heaven and earth, life and death. But now it seemed she had spilled too much melodrama in her mind.
It might also be that Yuan Ye appeared too independent and carefree, often making people forget he was still a teenage boy the same age as herself, who also needed the familial attachment that ordinary people couldn’t strip away.
Without experiencing someone else’s situation, any comfort would seem dry. Chun Zao slowly typed: If that day comes, everyone will see it. Everyone will cheer for you. In ancient times, you would have flowers pinned to your clothes, riding horses through the streets for people to admire.
Yuan Ye asked: What about you?
Chun Zao’s heartbeat quickened: Of course.
She began making promises: I’ll even give you a gift.
—Actually, she had zero clues. She didn’t even know if he would need it by then.
It was just that, at this moment, Yuan Ye was very much like a young male lion lying on his back, exposing the bowl-sized scar on his belly. She suddenly didn’t know how to approach and comfort him, even looking felt like an offense.
Chun Zao asked: Don’t you keep in touch with your mom?
Yuan Ye: She went abroad.
Chun Zao wanted to say that overseas calls and video chats were possible even from foreign countries, but obviously, time differences and distances could sometimes become the cruelest way to sever relationships. The earth was split by the equator into two semicircles – some people still indulged in old gardens while others had already leaped into another forest sea.
Chun Zao didn’t ask more.
Of course, the boy across the wall didn’t say more either.
Finally, she swore earnestly: It’s okay, you still have many friends who care about you, like me. I absolutely will never lose contact with you.
She would always pay attention to him.
Witness his triumphant ride to high honors, when spring breezes brought success, forever the outstanding branch in the Herb Garden.
The boy became serious, though it might also have been childish joking.
He said: Swear it.