Ice and Dew

1982, White Dew.

Sixteen-year-old Dong Lu had just finished school and was walking on the road with her schoolbag on her back.

She was admitted to a good high school in this year's high school entrance examination, but it was a bit far from the welfare home and it took nearly an hour to walk there.

Of course, she couldn't afford a bicycle. She knew the situation in the welfare home very well. The occasional meat meals they had were all saved by the old director from his teeth. How could she possibly hope to have a bicycle?

Anyway, walking is pretty good. If you walk quickly, you can finish the walk in 50 minutes.

Summer is okay, the days are long anyway.

She is more afraid of winter because the nights are long and it might get dark halfway through her walk.

What she feared most since she was a child was the darkness.

So she hoped she could walk faster and faster, preferably so that she would never be caught up by the darkness.

Last week she found a shortcut that would save her about five or six hundred meters by taking that road.

It’s just that the road was a bit deserted and there were few pedestrians, which made her a little scared.

So she decided to take a shortcut for the time being, and when winter came, she would take the main road.

This shortcut passes over a bridge with a turbulent river beneath it.

Today, when she was about to reach the bridge, she saw a thin boy standing by the river not far away.

There is a schoolbag at the boy's feet.

Dong Lu just took a casual look and happened to see the young man on the shore stretching out a foot.

One more step forward and the boy would fall.

Dong Lu immediately shouted: "Hey! Stop jumping!"

This shout frightened the young man so much that he shuddered and involuntarily retracted his feet.

The young man turned around, and Dong Lu saw a handsome face with traces of tears still on it.

The boy glanced at her, bent down to pick up his schoolbag on the ground, turned around and ran away.

Dong Lu immediately chased after him, shouting, "Don't run!"

Two young figures ran upstream along the shore.

After running for five or six minutes, the boy's pace gradually slowed down, and finally he bent over and panted.

Dong Lu's breathing was steady, but beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Why...why are you chasing me?" The young man bent over, pressed his diaphragm with one hand, and asked while gasping for breath with a painful expression.

Dong Lu pointed at him and said, "I...I'm afraid you might still want to jump into the river and commit suicide."

"I didn't!" the boy said stubbornly.

"I saw it all, and you still say no."

The young man stood up, turned around and was about to leave, but was grabbed by Dong Lu.

The boy was stunned and looked at the girl in front of him as if she were a lunatic: "Let me go!"

“No!”

"open!"

"If I don't let you go, what if you jump into the river again?"

"Let go! Let go..." The boy tried to break free, but found that he was not as strong as the other person. His eyes suddenly turned red and tears burst out.

Dong Lu was stunned. She didn't expect him to cry. She let go of his hand and said bewilderedly, "You... don't cry... Can't I let go? But you have to promise me not to jump into the river again."

The boy turned away, wiped his eyes with his sleeve and said, "You are so annoying."

By the river, young boys and girls sat side by side on the grass, with the rushing river in front of them.

"Were you bullied by your classmates?" Dong Lu asked.

The boy said with a straight face, "It's none of your business."

"What are you afraid of when you're bullied? Fight back. If you can't beat them, bite them. If all else fails, run away. It's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge." Dong Lu said, waving her slender arms. A child without parents knew how to protect herself from a young age.

The boy turned to look at her and said, "Why don't you look like a girl?"

"Tsk, you don't even look like a man." Dong Lu curled her lips.

When the boy heard this, he glared at her angrily.

Unexpectedly, Dong Lu laughed: "Yes, yes, that's right, use this expression. If anyone dares to bully you again, just glare at him. Stare him to death."

The young man was annoyed by her unconventional way. He lost his temper and turned his head away, looking at the river and said, "You are such a weird person."

Dong Lu nudged him with her arm and asked, "Hey, do you still want to commit suicide?"

The boy looked back again, and the fiery red sunset shone on his face.

"Can I...can I tell you a secret?"

…

The boy said that six years ago in the summer, right where he had just stood, his parents tried to save a child who fell into the water, but in the end both of them were unable to come up.

"Actually, at that time... my mother used up her last bit of strength and pushed the child to the shore. I heard my mother struggling and shouting in the water. She said, 'Hurry up and pull him up, hurry up and pull him up'."

"But...but my mind was blank at the time. I...I didn't know anything. I just stood there like an idiot, watching my mother and the child being washed away. If I had...reached out at that time, the child wouldn't have died, and my parents wouldn't have died in vain."

The boy burst into tears and cried out loudly: "I killed them... Wuwuwu..."

As he was crying, he suddenly felt a hand gently stroking his hair, just like the touch he received when he was lying in his mother's arms as a child.

He looked up at the girl beside him with tears in his eyes.

The girl looked at him tenderly and stroked his head like a kitten.

"It's not your fault. You were so young at that time. If you had reached out to pull him out, you might not have been able to pull him out, and you might have fallen into the river instead."

"But……"

"Your parents are both good people, but think about it. If you had drowned in the river, how sad and guilty they would have been." Dong Lu said seriously, "They would have died with regrets."

Seeing that he had calmed down, Dong Lu withdrew her hand, hugged her knees with her arms, and murmured, "No matter what, at least you still have parents. They still love you very much and are very kind people. Unlike me... I don't even know who my parents are or what they look like."

The boy was stunned: "You..."

"Well, I'm an orphan, an abandoned baby, raised in an orphanage. But I've never thought about dying. I want to live tenaciously. They don't want me, but I insist on living like a human being and letting them know what a big mistake it was to abandon me!"

The faint light of the setting sun gradually faded away, and before night fell, Dong Lu in the boy's eyes was shining brightly.

"My name is Xiao Bing, what's yours?"

"My name is Dong Lu," the silvery voice replied, "Your name isn't very good."

"W-why?"

"That sounds so cold. How about you call yourself Xiao Nuan? Or Xiao Yang is also fine."

"No! That's my name!"

"Um... Xiao Bing, can you take me back to the orphanage? I'm a little... afraid of the dark, hehe."

…

It was a summer evening in 1983.

The cicadas on the treetops kept chirping.

Under the shade of the trees by the river, the slender Dong Lu was memorizing words with an English book.

A figure on a bicycle came from a distance, but the sound came before the person arrived.

"I passed the exam, I passed the exam." Xiao Bing shouted excitedly.

Xiao Bing parked the car, ran to Dong Lu, waved the admission letter in his hand and said, "I...I..."

Dong Lu handed him a cup and said, "Don't be anxious, drink some water first."

Xiao Bing took the cup, gulped down most of it, and then said, "Dong Lu, I got into the French Department of Hongda University. I got in."

"Really? Let me see it quickly." Dong Lu snatched the admission letter from Xiao Bing's hand, looked at it again and again, and the smile on her face was brighter than Xiao Bing's.

"I told you there would be no problem!" Dong Lu said proudly.

"Dong Lu, you should also apply to Hongda next year! We'll go to the same university."

Dong Lu returned the admission letter to Xiao Bing, a trace of worry on her face. "As for Hongda... I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult with my grades, but the teacher said I should have no problem getting into undergraduate studies."

"Besides, I'll be eighteen next year, and I won't be able to stay in the welfare home anymore. What if..." Dong Lu said worriedly, holding her English book, "What if I don't perform well in the exam and can't go to college? Then I'll have to go work... I heard they said that if I work in the south, I can earn more..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Bing excitedly shouted, "No, you can't go to the south to work!"

When Dong Lu heard this, she smiled and asked him, "Why can't I go to the south to work?"

“Because… because…”

"If I can't get into college, I have to make money to support myself. If I don't work, I'll starve."

Only a year later, Xiao Bing was already half a head taller than Dong Lu. Dong Lu looked up at him and saw his face slowly turning red like the sunset.

Xiao Bing stammered, "I...I can support...support you."

Xiao Bing looked down at the girl in front of him. The evening breeze touched the hearts of both of them.

…

Early spring, 1988.

The nights still have a chill almost like winter.

Xiao Bing stood at the gate of the Normal College, watching people coming and going.

The street lights had just come on, stretching his shadow very long.

Suddenly, someone patted his left shoulder. Xiao Bing turned around, but didn't see anyone.

Then there was another tap on the right shoulder.

After turning around, Xiao Bing turned around and was greeted by Dong Lu's smiling face.

"Teacher Xiao, have you been waiting for a long time?" Dong Lu smiled and threw herself into his arms, giving him a big hug.

Xiao Bing picked her up and spun her around, then said, "Well, the food at your school is pretty good."

Dong Lu punched his chest and scolded him, "Damn it! I'm wearing too many clothes. It's really cold at night. Come on, stretch out your hand and let me warm you up."

Xiao Bing stretched out his hand tacitly, and Dong Lu placed her hands in his palms. Then Xiao Bing put his hands together, wrapped Dong Lu's hands and rubbed them gently.

"Teacher Xiao's hands are so warm." Dong Lu asked with a smile, "Teacher Xiao, what delicious food are you going to take me to eat?"

"You can eat whatever you want. It's up to you. I got paid today anyway."

The two held hands and walked slowly forward.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll eat you out of money?"

"Don't be afraid, I said I would support you for the rest of your life."

"What if I become a fat man?"

"Then I'll support you too."

Dong Lu hugged Xiao Bing's arm and said, "Teacher Xiao is so kind to me."

"I'm just worried that you'll eat too much and be afraid of the dark when you go back."

"I'm not afraid of the dark anymore."

"Is this true?"

"Really? Because of Teacher Xiao, I don't have to be afraid of the dark anymore." Dong Lu suddenly stopped and said, "By the way, I have an internship next week."

Xiao Bing was surprised: "So soon? Was it arranged by the school?"

"Um."

"Where are you going to intern?"

"I teach English at Kaiping No. 3 Middle School." Dong Lu said with a smile, "Teacher Xiao, you have to call me teacher from now on."

"Okay, okay, from now on I'll call you Teacher Dong."

"No, that sounds too old." Dong Lu pouted.

Xiao Bing was stunned: "Then what are you shouting?"

"Just call me... Teacher Xiaolu."

Xiao Bing laughed: "Teacher Xiaolu, why does it sound like a kindergarten kid calling you that?"

"Are you going to shout or not?" Dong Lu pulled his arm and said coquettishly.

"Okay, okay, I'll call you... Teacher Xiaolu."

The warm yellow street lights overhead cast a star-like glow.

Dong Lu looked at Xiao Bing affectionately, and suddenly whispered, "Teacher Xiao, when Teacher Xiao Lu graduates... can you... give her a home?"

…

May 30, 1990.

In the darkness, Xiao Bing's desolate voice rang out: "Teacher Xiaolu, we're going home."