Chapter 57: Early Summer
In early June, the hands of the clock of the four seasons slowly turned to early summer. It was as if in a daze, a gentle and hot wind had blown away the cool and warm spring. When he came back to his senses, it was already a scorching summer with a blazing sun.
The sun was like a fire, and the weather was so hot that it was ridiculous. The air outside the window was burned and distorted. A few strangely shaped clouds were scattered in the clear blue sky. A whole row of seasonal ginkgo branches downstairs were swaying gently, and the leaves were dehydrated by the sun, drooping on the branches.
The old cabinet air conditioner in the classroom was humming, and the cool and refreshing air filled the entire classroom. But the sweat on her palm was still nervously condensing and getting wet. The tip of her pen was scratching on the blank test paper, making a rustling sound.
He Mu Qing drew the last period, turned the page, and her gaze shifted to the last composition question on the English test paper. Her big eyes widened in surprise, and her cherry-pink, moist lips subconsciously parted, and then turned into a smile at the corners of her lips, as bright and brilliant as the afternoon sun.
…
“Sigh, is English something that humans can learn? It’s harder than math. The composition always gives me so few points. How can I do well?”
“Memorize more, remember more, and collect more materials. If a person is lazy… then they can’t learn anything well.”
“Su Yu, if only I could know the composition topic. Then I would definitely get a full score.”
“What a coincidence. I happen to know…”
“You know? Are you kidding me again?”
“Yeah… there’s a small condition.”
“What are you doing with your chopsticks? I don’t want to know now. Go away.”
“The composition topic is…”
“Su Yu, get lost! I told you I don’t want to know. The last piece of braised pork ribs, I won’t let you have it. Take your chopsticks away! You’re so annoying.”
…
The scorching sunlight in June was getting more and more dazzling, burning the fiery passion that had been accumulated for three years. The bell rang suddenly, and the desks and chairs were dragged with a creak. The examinees crowded out, and for a moment, it was a little noisy.
He Mu Qing spread the test paper flat on the desk, put away her pen and paper, and stood up from her seat. She looked at the sun, which was gradually setting in the west, and a certain emotion that had been suppressed in her heart for a long time was rising like the rising sun. She curved her eyes, and her pupils were bright and shining, with a cloud-like gentleness.
She followed the crowded crowd and walked out of the examination room. She took the last few steps and stepped firmly on the rough and old concrete.
The old teaching building was still standing behind her, casting a large, dark shadow, as if it were saying goodbye. From now on, the sky is high for the birds to fly, and the sea is wide for the fish to leap. There were still some unspoken words hidden in her heart, but it seemed that it was also time… to say goodbye.
He Mu Qing looked back at the teaching building. The noisy cicadas were chirping incessantly in her ears, and the sun in the sky was a little dazzling. She squinted her eyes and showed a happy smile, then turned and quickened her pace towards the school gate.
Father He’s car was parked not far from the school gate. He Mu Qing saw the few familiar cartoon stickers on the back window at a glance through the crowd.
She walked out of the noisy crowd with a skip in her step, opened the car door, and squeezed in. Before she could sit down, she grabbed Mother He’s arm, who had come with her. Her light pupils were shining, and she tilted her head and smiled, holding out her hand. “Mom, where’s my phone? Give it to me quickly. I haven’t touched it since the beginning of this semester. I have something important to do.”
She shook Mother He’s arm, her voice soft and sweet. Perhaps it was because the sun was too strong, but her face was flushed red, and the temperature in the cool car did not drop for a long time. It was hot and scorching to the touch.
She almost didn’t want to wait another second. The girl had hidden her hot and beautiful love in her heart for who knows how many days of hard study. The moment she stopped her pen in the examination room, they were all gathered together, and the seedling that was buried in her heart began to take root and sprout again.
“Oh… the phone. I forgot. We’ll… we’ll see when we get back.”
Mother He looked at Father He in the rearview mirror. She smiled a little unnaturally and shook her head. She held her daughter’s hand in return. The girl’s sparkling and star-like, clear eyes made her heart ache for some reason.
“Oh… alright then. Hey… why aren’t you guys asking me how I did?”
He Mu Qing nodded. She suddenly realized that she had been so rash that she had forgotten the most important thing.
“How could my daughter do poorly? She must be one of the top students in your grade.”
Father He was woken up by the constant honking of the car behind him. He had thought of and deleted the words in his heart. He could only start the car and praise his daughter loudly.
“Hmph, I have to praise Comrade He for his awareness.” He Mu Qing raised her long and fair neck and puffed out her cheeks. “I feel pretty good. And… let me tell you, that guy Su Yu, I don’t know what was wrong with him that day. He asked me to memorize a composition, and the topic he randomly gave me actually hit the mark.”
“I see. Then you should really thank Xiao Yu.”
Mother He also smiled. She pushed Father He in front. “Old He, hurry up and drive back. The soup I made is still waiting at home. We’ll celebrate tonight. I wish my Mu Qing can get a good result this time.”
Father He nodded repeatedly and stepped on the gas pedal.
“Alright, we’ll be right back. We’ll be right back.”
…
“I’m finally home. Mom… I’ll come out to eat later.”
He Mu Qing was the first to push open the door. She ignored the fragrant dishes on the table and rushed into her bedroom. The old phone, which was hidden in a drawer and pressed under a book, was still lying there obediently. The heart in her chest was beating faster and faster, and the rhythm was out of control.
She plugged it in. The phone’s battery was so low that it could barely turn on. She inexplicably thought of that headless Christmas Eve. Perhaps it was because of her stubborn personality, but a girl’s love was always hard to express to others. She was suppressing some increasingly uncontrollable emotions, which were now surging up in her heart like a geyser, watering the small seedling in her heart.
If she could, she wished it were at this moment.
There was once a scorching summer. The annoying cicadas on the trees had playfully revealed the girl’s little secret, and it was almost known to everyone.
She had been ashamed and annoyed by it, but she was also a little disappointed. She had complained in her heart why the boy had to come back in the winter. When the next summer came, would those summer cicadas still remember this secret that had been buried a year ago?
The phone screen lit up slightly, with a dim light, illuminating her light pupils. Her fingertips trembled as she entered the password. The flickering light was as unpredictable as her pounding heart.
The moment she opened the chat software, she held the phone to her slowly rising and falling chest, a hint of a resolute look in her eyes after a moment of hesitation.
She would not be cowardly this time. The thoughts that had been hidden in her heart and could not be said, she would tell the other party frankly. Her years of love, her youth that was as brilliant as the morning flowers of a prosperous summer, could not just end so hastily, with a cursory ending.
