When He Smiles - Chapter 18

Ten days before the college entrance examination, the school is closed.

That day, the whole school was in turmoil, and one by one took the teacher to find a suitable place to take a group photo. The teaching downstairs is full of torn books and simulation exercises, which is crazy. In the small playground, Xue Lin took pictures of her and Fu Song while looking for Nie Jing.

Meng Shengnan saw the girl first, and she ran over and called.

The girl was talking and laughing with other female classmates, turned her head when she heard the sound, and was taken aback for a moment: “Meng Shengnan?”

“Let’s take a photo together,” she said.

Nie Jing returned to her senses for a long time, glanced at Fu Song and Xue Lin not far behind her, looked at her again, and slowly nodded. Meng Shengnan felt relieved. In the third year of high school, the two were no longer at the same table and were busy reviewing all day and hardly said anything. Sometimes, she felt very awkward, as if something was behind her.

After the photo was finished, everyone was making a lot of noise, and she packed her schoolbag and was leaving.

At the door of the classroom, Nie Jing stopped her.

“Give it to you.”

Meng Shengnan took the paper cuckoo that the girl handed over and looked over.

Nie Jing smiled suddenly, “You taught me for two days at that time, it’s too difficult to learn.”

She laughed when she heard the sound.

“Thank you Meng Shengnan.” Nie Jing whispered.

The summer sun came in from the window and left the two of them alone, and the students outside were bustling with each other. Everyone’s face is filled with a graduated smile, but also a little bit of reluctance. Meng Shengnan slowly shook his head and smiled, then digs out his schoolbag to find a pen and hand it to her.

“The college entrance examination went well,” she said.

Nie Jing held the pen tightly and nodded, “So are you.”

That was the last time they met after graduating from high school. Later, the photo of the four of them had been clipped in Meng Shengnan’s album. Upon closer inspection, Nie Jing’s eyes turned to the left, looking at Fu Song.

They were separated at the door of the classroom, and Meng Shengnan went downstairs and walked out.

From a distance, she saw a large group of boys and girls outside the class of Li (1○) still gathering together to take pictures, no one was there. She turned her head around to look for it, as if she heard someone calling him by his name again, and it seemed that there was no one.

Suddenly, Qi Qiao’s voice behind her was calling her.

She looked back at the seat in the classroom, slowly retracted her gaze, and moved away step by step.

Qi Qiao asked: “What are you looking at?”

Meng Shengnan shook his head, “Nothing.”

Qi Qiao hugged her shoulders and sighed: “We both graduated from Meng Shengnan.”

“Graduated.” Meng Shengnan thought of something and asked: “By the way, how about Song Jiashu as a soldier?”

Qi Qiao bit her lip and said nothing for a long time.

“what’s happenin?”

“deal.”

“When?”

“The end of August.”

Meng Shengnan exclaimed: “So fast?”

“Just so fast.”

Qi Qiao sighed again and said nothing. The two walked all the way back along the long street. The men and women riding bicycles on the street passed by them, as if the years were moving forward.

I graduated from high school in a blink of an eye.

She remembered that when the last English test was taken during the college entrance examination two days, the rain suddenly poured down from the sky, so that her English score was a dozen points lower than usual. It’s interesting to say, this excuse sounds so funny.

At that time, she truly graduated.

Nothing has changed, and everything seems to have changed. She began to look forward to the university, looking forward to the future, hoping to wake up on the bed of the university dormitory, and spend every minute of freedom and fulfillment. In those years, Jiangcheng’s college entrance examination was still an assessment system, and it was already more than 20 days after the results came out. Qi Qiao went to Xinjiang, and she went to Changsha. I know very little about other people’s news, except that one time I went to the school to visit Lao Shi, and heard from her that several students in the class had dropped out, and Fu Song was among them.

She tried to contact him, but she didn’t hear from him.

The vacation after the college entrance examination was so long and so long. She was bored at home to write things, and occasionally went to the Plaza Bookstore to read books all afternoon. And she never met a familiar person again.

The youth of my youth was empty.

In late August, just a week before Song Jiashu left, he had his birthday, and he invited a bunch of people to cheer at the KTV near the school. Qi Qiao takes her to join in the fun, she can’t go. But when I went, I was just sitting there boring, watching them play upside down.

Meng Shengnan felt bored and slipped out.

She walked along the corridor to the bathroom. As soon as she closed the cubicle door, she heard the rhythm of rushing and shoving footsteps, and someone came in. At that time, she hadn’t seen him for a long time, so she stopped going to guitar class in her senior year, let alone met him by chance.

The girl outside was still screaming in a sweet and greasy voice: “Chi Zheng.”

Meng Shengnan really froze for a while, as if suddenly frozen, he didn’t even dare to breathe.

She heard the boy lightly ‘um’.

“After a while, you and Shi Jin said, shall we leave early, okay?”

The boy chuckled, “In a hurry?”

The girl twisted, “You’re just anxious.”

“Well, then don’t leave.”

“Chi Zheng.” Those two words circulated and faltered, and the tired Meng Shengnan got goose bumps.

The boy speaks neither low nor high, “Early departure is fine, and the goods must be inspected first.”

The girl blushed, “You rascal.”

“What’s the matter with the rogue?”

“You—what if someone comes in?”

The boy gave a short smile and whispered: “No.”

“Then—then touch it.”

The movement was not big or small, and it was especially clear in this empty space. Meng Shengnan held his breath and slowly closed his eyes. But the charming voice outside still made her frown and nauseous, the girl twisted and screamed, and the boy laughed: “It’s really soft.”

After a few minutes, there was no movement. Meng Shengnan came out after making sure that they had gone far, but his feet were soft.

She went back to the box and found an excuse to go first, but almost ran into the pair at the KTV gate. The girl looked up and fell into the boy’s arms to act like a coquettish, and the boy held the person in his arms and smiled in a variety of styles. Then she stood on the steps and watched them come to the intersection. The car came, they sat in, and the car left.

My vision gradually blurred, and I could no longer see clearly.

The singing from the private room upstairs came out, and Cecilia Cheung’s clean voice sang, ‘I want to control myself and no one will see me cry. Pretending to be indifferent to you, not wanting to think of you, to blame yourself for not having the courage. Heartache can’t breathe, can’t find the trace left by you. Seeing you helplessly, but can do nothing, let you disappear at the end of the world. ’

She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky at three or four o’clock in the afternoon.

I just remember the rain on the morning of graduation. She arrived at school very early, then slipped into their class and sat in that seat. His school uniform was still stuffed in the drawer, a mess. She didn’t dare to stay for long, so she wrapped the book and put it in his bag and looked back three times.

I don’t know if he has seen it.

Meng Shengnan laughed slowly, and then walked back down the street.

The Yandian Street was very lively that day. She went shopping alone for a long time and bought a lot of gadgets. From shop to shop, I met a lot of boys and girls who looked at her as big as her, accompanied by her parents to buy clothes, shoes, and suitcases. It was estimated that she was going to study university far away.

She is too.

Turning out of the stationery store, she checked the time, it was six o’clock, and she walked home. There were many vendors yelling on the street, and she smirked all the way and pretended to be in a good mood.

There is a tofu seller in the street. It is a middle-aged woman with gray hair and a lot of people. She glanced at it casually, and the woman was frantic and smiled very enthusiastically. There was a boy next to him with his back to him, helping out on the side.

She slowly withdrew her gaze, after a few steps, she felt something wrong again, and looked back again.

“Fu Song?” She almost cried.

Across the road, she watched the boy bend down and bowed her head from a distance, with a faint expression on her face. It seems that a long time ago, she ran away and didn’t study, and boys always missed very philosophical words not salty and not indifferent, and the girls always used it as a laughingstock. Later, he talked less and less, and was very taciturn.

Meng Shengnan stood for a long time, and she didn’t know what he would do in the future, so she went to the school after resuming. Later that day, she finally did not go to look for him, but slowly turned and walked away. A long time later, she told Qi Qiao.

The girl said: “Dignity.”

A few days before going to Changsha, Jiang Jin and the others called to make an appointment.

Meng Shengnan had no choice but to say that her school started early. Jiang Jin wanted to beat her angrily, Meng Shengnan smiled. It is worth celebrating that both Jiang Jin and Lu Huai passed the Beijing International Examination. Li Xiang, this buddy did not take the college entrance examination and went directly to study abroad. A few of them were also torn apart.

It was big noon, and she was lying on the bed to bask in the sun, Zhou Chuanxiong was singing lonely Shazhou cold in the repeater.

The ceremony shouted downstairs: “It’s dinner.”

She put her head in the quilt and rolled, and went downstairs. Meng Jin did not go to work on Saturday, moved the small table to the yard, the ceremony was served, and the three of them sat under the tree to eat. Knowing the tweet, the leaves creaked. The ceremony started again: “How did Qiao Qiao report to Xinjiang? It would be great to go to Changsha with you.”

Meng Shengnan drank a coke and said, “Mom, you don’t understand that, Qi Qiao is chasing her husband for thousands of miles, so weeping.”

“Go.” The ceremony scoffed at her and laughed.

“I’m serious.”

“If you have the ability, you can bring me one too?”

“My son-in-law?”

Meng Jin also laughed, “Eat and eat.”

Meng Shengnan made a ‘cut’, “It’s great that you should have given birth to a brother before me at that time.”

“You don’t like brother?” The ceremony asked slowly.

“Either way, it’s not bad to be a sister.”

Shengdian and Meng Jin looked at each other and didn’t talk to each other. It wasn’t until she went home for the Chinese New Year after studying at university, and she found a big secret and finally understood the meaning of the words in the grand ceremony at that time. She was almost unhappy, smiling stupidly, Qi Qiao envy and hate.

“Come on, eat more.” Meng Jin put some greens in the bowl of the ceremony.

Meng Shengnan raised her eyebrows: “Dad, you are very concerned about mom today.”

Meng Jin also clipped her: “Little clever ghost.”

She bared her teeth and smiled.

“Eating still can’t stop your mouth.” The ceremony gave her a glance.

Meng Shengnan sticks out his tongue.

“That’s right.” The ceremony said again, “I ran into your teacher Chen two days ago, and I asked you to lie down and walk around in the afternoon.”

Meng Shengnan nodded, “I see.”

After eating, Meng Jin took the initiative to wash the dishes, making Meng Shengnan stunned. She took a break in the house, the family watched TV, and it was about four o’clock that she left home to visit Chen Si. He mentioned some fruits and sat on the familiar 502.

I haven’t come again for a long time, and the community is still the same as before.

At that time, Chen Si was making soup in the kitchen. She rang the doorbell, and after a while the door opened from inside. Holding the fruit, she stared at the boy in front of her, and was stunned. The boy suddenly smiled, and Meng Shengnan hurriedly introduced himself: “Hello, I’m here to see Teacher Chen.”

The boy turned sideways: “Come in.”

Chen Si came out of the kitchen and smiled in surprise: “Sheng Nan?”

“Ms. Chen.” She put the fruit on the coffee table in the living room.

Chen Si was wearing an apron and was too busy. “Sit down first. I’m making the soup. You and Xiao Bei will talk first.”

After speaking, he turned around and went back to the kitchen. The boy named “Xiao Bei” poured a glass of water and handed it to her.

“sit down.”

Meng Shengnan took the water, “Thank you.”

“Are you a former student of Aunt Chen?” he asked.

Meng Shengnan was startled, almost thinking that he was Chen Si’s son who had never seen the end of the dragon.

“Ah, yes.”

The boy smiled, “Are you in high school?”

“Just graduated this year.” Meng Shengnan smiled back.

“Really, where did you take the test?”

Meng Shengnan said: “Central South University.”

The boy was in a trance for a moment, and slowly asked: “Which major?”

“news.”

The boy laughed after listening.

The two didn’t talk any more, Chen Si had already cooked the soup, and after chatting, she wanted to keep her for dinner, Meng Shengnan declined to leave. Chen Si couldn’t help but closed the door as she watched her leave. Lu Sibei asked in the living room: “Aunt Chen, what is the girl’s name?”

“You just didn’t introduce yourself?”

The boy smiled: “She’s pretty shy, I didn’t ask.”

Chen Si smiled and shook his head, “Meng Shengnan.”

As soon as her voice fell, there was a movement of slippers kicking on the stairs, “What Meng Shengnan, who?”

“I am a student.”

Chen Si looked up and said, “Look at what time it is. I guess if you don’t get up again, I will let Xiaobei take care of you.”

The boy being trained sneered and smiled, “Are you willing?”

Chen Si helplessly looked at Lu Sibei: “Look at him, I will burn the incense if it is half as good as you.”

“Tsk, did you talk like that?”

Chen Si smiled, “Hurry up and wash the two to eat.”

“Aunt Chen, I’ll help you.” Lu Sibei finished speaking and followed.

The boy on the edge of the stairs shook his head and sneered, “Okay, Lu Sibei.”

The meal at that table was very lively.

Chen Si said, “You finally come here for a few days, and let A Zheng take you out for fun.”

“Mom, don’t worry, I will never lose Xiaobei.” The boy said solemnly.

Lu Sibei gave it a kick, and the boy ducked sideways.

“You called Xiaobei?”

“Not just a name, then Beibei?”

Chen Si looked at them and couldn’t help but smile.

That night, the two boys lay on the bed on the second floor and chatted late into the night. After waking up again, it was bright. Lu Sibei had already washed up and went out for a morning jog. Here, Chi Zheng lifted the quilt and slowly got up, his hair messed up and went downstairs. Chen Si said that someone outside collected the tatters and asked him if he wanted to sell those books.

He simply washed, and went back to his room to pack his books.

After a while, a large box was packed. When he picked it up, he was about to go out. When he left the door, he cast his eyes to the schoolbag in the corner of the wall. He left it there since he came home on graduation, and he hasn’t moved for two months. He put down the box and walked over, picked up his schoolbag and poured it out.

A book smashed the foot.

He couldn’t help hiss and glanced over. It was a book wrapped in a pale green cover, very new. He had never had this thing in his schoolbag, so he picked it up doubtfully and went to tear the outer packaging. At that moment the sun fell all over the ground, shining on the title of the book.

Meditations.

Chi Zheng was stunned for a while, and after watching for a long time, he freed a hand to light a cigarette.

The wind of August and September in the sun at eight or nine o’clock, a leaf fell from the parasol tree outside the window. It was a very quiet morning, and the curtains were blown by the breeze and floated at a small angle. The room was full of sunlight, basking on the unkempt quilt, and the boy stood half facing the light.

He bit the cigarette and opened the book.

The title page reads: May you be full of grace when you smile.

The signature is Shu Yuan.