08 Old Friends (3)

At dinner time in the evening, someone would deliver Lin Jing’s lunch box.

There are both meat and vegetables, and they are nutritiously balanced.

Lin Jing was indifferent to the lunch boxes that were delivered every day. He often couldn't finish more than a few bites or simply threw them into the trash.

The real change in the relationship between Li Yaya and Lin Jing started with the lunch box.

After school, I don’t know what Li Yaya was busy doing, but she didn’t have time to eat.

Li Yaya slumped weakly on the table. Study time was quiet except for the occasional whisper. "Gurgle~" Li Yaya's stomach rumbled at an inopportune moment.

Feeling a bit awkward, Li Yaya smiled sheepishly at Lin Jing.

"are you hungry?"

"Hey, I was busy at that time and didn't have time to eat. It's okay, I'll just drink some water and then go home from school."

Lin Jing hesitated for a moment, then took out the lunch box he hadn't touched and was planning to throw away after school. "I'm not hungry and I haven't touched it yet. Do you want to eat?"

Li Yaya was about to refuse when a "gurgle~" sound rang out again. "In that case, I won't be polite."

He took the lunch box with his pious hands and said, "I'll eat for a while. Please help me watch the teacher order. Thank you."

The relationship between the two people underwent a qualitative change from the moment Li Yaya finished this meal.

Lin Jing began to invite Li Yaya to eat together, intentionally or unintentionally. After several attempts at half-heartedly agreeing, Li Yaya brought her lunch box to school, disloyally "abandoning" her lunch partner. Every day, she held her lunch box, waiting for Lin Jing to "give her food."

Before this, Lin Jing always thought that eating was a boring thing, but after being with Li Yaya, eating became the most anticipated moment of the day.

Lin Jing also developed an appetite and could eat several more mouthfuls of rice. Even Shao Lan noticed that Lin Jing's complexion had become much more rosy recently. Shao Lan didn't say anything, but just asked the cook to cook more rice.

Li Jianren also noticed that Li Yaya's complexion looked much better. He didn't think too much about it and didn't ask anything. He just thought that since he gave her more pocket money, she naturally ate more.

On this day, there were carrots in the meal. Lin Jing frowned because he didn't like carrots.

After spending some time together, Li Yaya had learned to read Lin Jing's expressions like a lackey. The moment Lin Jing frowned, she understood that there was something in here that Lin Jing didn't like to eat.

Li Yaya's mind raced. Aside from the carrot, all the other items had appeared before. This young master must have frowned because of the carrot. Li Yaya flatteringly moved the carrot in front of her, "I love carrots the most. I'll have this, and you can have the others."

Lin Jing's complexion improved a lot. "Your favorite food is carrots?"

"Yes, when I was a kid, I lived with my grandma. She grew a lot of carrots in her vegetable garden. They were delicious."

"So what else do you like to eat? Or what do you dislike to eat?"

Li Yaya held the lunch box and thought carefully for a long time before speaking, "It seems that there is nothing I don't like to eat. As long as I can eat my fill, there is no such thing as liking or not liking something."

"As long as I can eat enough"? This was something Lin Jing couldn't understand. In this day and age, how could anyone not have enough to eat?

Seeing that Lin Jing was silent and looked thoughtful, Li Yaya explained, "It's mainly because my dad's cooking is terrible, and sometimes he doesn't cook it well, so now everything I eat tastes good."

"What about your mother? Doesn't your mother know how to cook?"

"My mother died of illness when I was very young, and I don't remember much about her." Li Yaya said these words lightly, not even interrupting her meal. Li Yaya's family situation was no secret. It was just that Lin Jing, who transferred in later, didn't know about it and thought he had glimpsed some big secret.

There are no earth-shattering events in the life of high school students, only some trivial daily life.

Li Yaya became Lin Jing's only friend. On holidays and weekends, Lin Jing would invite Li Yaya to study together at the milk tea shop in the county's only shopping mall. Of course, studying was often just an excuse, and Li Yaya didn't always go.

After no longer having to pay for meals, Li Yaya became very wealthy. She generously treated Lin Jing to the cheapest milk tea in the store, and even brought a cup for Li Jianren when she went home.

Li Jianren never blamed her for spending money recklessly. Instead, he would ask Li Yaya if she had bought him a drink. After getting a definite answer, he would feel at ease and drink his own drink.

Time flies, and it is the spring of 2012, and the second semester of senior year has begun.

Li Yaya couldn't understand how she and Lin Jing had been deskmates for over a year. Anyway, the two of them were now very close. So close that Li Jianren even knew this classmate named Lin Jing.

One spring afternoon, Li Yaya lay on the table thinking about life.

"Li Yaya, where do you want to go to college?"

"Ah? Me? I'm not picky. I'll just take whatever I can."

Lin Jing's grades were average before he enrolled at Huanshan No. 1 Middle School. However, the disparity in educational resources allowed him to rank among the top students at Huanshan No. 1 Middle School.

Lin Jing's parents had already planned his future.

Huanshan County is considered impoverished, and candidates from impoverished counties can participate in a national special program. When most people were unaware of this special program, Lin Jing's information was submitted early on.

This is the value and significance of household registration.

If all goes well, Lin Jing will go to Beijing.

Beijing, for Li Yaya, is a very distant world.

But Lin Jing wanted Li Yaya to be closer to him.

At this time, Li Yaya is sunny, brilliant and bright.

Those unspeakable thoughts in his heart made him selfishly want to possess Li Yaya. He didn't care about her studies, family, etc. He just felt that if he could be with Li Yaya, his life would become better.

Those emotions that were once confusing and incomprehensible were answered when Li Yaya appeared in his dream and when he had an unconscious physiological reaction.

He likes her.

But he also knew that she didn't like him.

But it didn't matter, she was just not sensitive to these things. When they went to college, he would naturally let her know that liking him and staying with him was the best choice in her life.

However, the most important problem now is how to get Li Yaya to go to college with him at least in the same city.

Li Yaya, on the other hand, did not feel any sense of urgency about the approaching college entrance examination, even though Li Jianren followed her around every day, nagging her over and over again, "Yaya, try your best, you will definitely get into a good university." "Yaya, I think you can do it." and so on.

Li Yaya felt like her ears were about to get calluses.

On the day of the college entrance examination, it rained heavily all over the mountain.

Li Yaya went out and was about to open her umbrella when she saw Lin Jing waiting at the door. Li Yaya was surprised and asked, "Why are you here?"

"It's raining too hard, get in the car first."

Li Yaya carefully sat in the back seat, and the car drove slowly in the storm.

Lin Jing didn't say anything, and neither did Li Yaya.

A crowd had already gathered at the school gate. Li Yaya thanked the driver and got out of the car with an umbrella. Lin Jing didn't hold an umbrella, but chose to stand with Li Yaya.

Li Yaya had a unique scent, a mix of rain and earth. A few strands of her hair were wet from the rain, sticking to her forehead and ears.

"Li Yaya, work on the exercises carefully. Your level is good enough for you to get into a good university."

"Okay, you have to work hard too."

The two of them held an umbrella and walked towards the examination room together, but they were not in the same building.

When they parted, the moment Li Yaya turned around, Lin Jing called out, "Yaya!"

"kindness?"

"If possible, let's go to college in the same city."

"Okay." Li Yaya agreed without hesitation.

It's not that young boys don't have their own worries, but at inappropriate times, everyone has secrets in their hearts.

Lin Jing successfully passed the national special program and, after the results came out, was admitted to a Beijing university through the early admissions process. In reality, Lin Jing didn't really care about his own affairs. He didn't have the right to make his own decisions anyway; Shao Lan would take care of everything for him. He might as well help Li Yaya fill out her application.

Unfortunately, Li Yaya was not accepted into a school in Beijing. Her university was in a coastal city more than 400 kilometers away from Beijing.

Li Yaya was very excited because she had never seen the sea.

They left Huanshan County on the same day. Li Jianren was worried and wanted to send Li Yaya to school, but Li Yaya knew that Li Jianren was not feeling well during this period and insisted on going by herself.

After a stalemate, Lin Jing said that he and Li Yaya would go to school first and then go to his own school. Li Jianren then gave up.

After arriving at school, they went to the beach together. Lin Jing didn't seem too excited, but Li Yaya was so excited that she couldn't contain her joy. She thought that once Li Jianren got better, she would definitely ask him to come over.

Li Jianren has never seen the sea.

Li Yaya saw Lin Jing off at the school gate, treating it as just an ordinary farewell. Lin Jing also felt that some things should not be rushed, and they still had time.

Waving her hand, Li Yaya said that she would go to Beijing to visit him during the holidays and he would be her tour guide.

He said yes.

Lin Jing said that when he had nothing to do, he would send him QQ or call him.

She also said yes.

The two of them said goodbye with their dreams and expectations for the future.

Unexpectedly, this would be their last meeting.

In reality, Li Yaya's memories of the people and events of the past were already very faint. Apart from a few vivid moments, she chose to forget them all.

If it weren't for Lin Jing, those people and things would have been buried like the dead Li Jianren.

However, people have a long memory line. Walking from one end to the other and looking back, they follow footprints step by step, and everything has a traceable path.