Class reunion invitation

A light snow fell on the winter solstice. Lin Weixi was proofreading the layout of the Spring Festival special issue in the editorial department when the class group icon in the lower right corner of her computer suddenly jumped. After clicking it, a message from Zhou Xufa popped up: "The five-year reunion will be on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month at the Yijiangnan Restaurant next to our alma mater."

The group chat suddenly became as lively as boiling water. The class leader who worked in a foreign company posted a photo of the reserved private room, and several students who stayed in the local area began to count the number of people. Lin Weixi silently watched the messages that kept refreshing the screen until Shen Siyu's private chat window popped up.

"You absolutely have to come!" Chen Siyu sent a flower-scattering emoji. "My baby already calls me auntie, and you haven't seen that yet."

Lin Weixi replied with a smiley face, but her eyes fell on the starry sky avatar in the group member list. Chen Wang's avatar lay quietly in the middle of the list, and the last update was a photo shared from an academic conference half a year ago.

"I heard that Chen Wang will come too." Chen Siyu sent another message, followed by a winking emoticon.

Outside the window, snowflakes stuck to the glass and slowly melted. Lin Weixi remembered the same weather on graduation day. When Chen Wang put the graduation cap on her head, his fingers accidentally touched the ends of her hair. That touch, like snowflakes, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The editor-in-chief knocked on her partition as he passed by: "Weixi, how's the progress on the aurora feature for the Spring Festival issue?"

She hurriedly closed the chat window: "I'm currently selecting films. I can submit the first draft tomorrow."

The snow had stopped by the time I got off work, and the branches of the sycamore trees lining the street were covered with icicles. Lin Weixi walked towards the subway station on the crunching snow, her phone vibrating in her pocket. The class group was registering in a chain, and familiar names popped up one by one, like flipping through an old photo album.

In the swaying subway car, she clicked on Chen Wang's WeChat Moments. The latest update was a picture of the snowy scene outside Zhang's lab window, captioned with just two words: "First Snow." She recalled that snowy day in her senior year of high school, when Chen Wang had drawn a comet's trajectory on the blackboard, chalk dust falling on his shoulders.

"Should I go or not?" she murmured to herself, the white breath she exhaled forming fog on the car window.

When I got home, my mother was making dumplings. The TV was playing a replay of the Spring Festival Gala, and the host's enthusiastic voice filled the whole room. "Mom," Lin Weixi asked while changing her slippers, "Do you need my help preparing New Year's goods on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month?"

"Your Aunt Zhang asked me to go to the flower market the other day," my mother said, pinching the folds of her diaper without even looking up. "Didn't you say we were going to a class reunion? Let's go. It's been ages since we've seen our old classmates."

She quietly walked into the room and opened the box at the bottom of the closet. Inside was her high school yearbook, and the first page was a class photo. Chen Wang stood on the left side of the third row, two buttons of his white shirt undone. She remembered that it was an exceptionally hot day, and he kept leaning slightly to the side during the photo shoot, as if to leave room for the students behind him.

Suddenly, the phone rang. It was a voice message from Zhou Xu: "Wei Xi, Chen Wang just asked me if you would come."

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened. Outside the window, neighborhood children set off fireworks in the snow, golden and red sparks blooming and fading in the night. She clicked on the group chat and typed her name after the last one.

My palms were slightly sweaty when I pressed the send button.

The next day at work, the editor noticed the dark circles under her eyes and asked, "Did you stay up late selecting films last night?"

"Well," she lowered her head to sort through the manuscripts, "I'm sorting through some old photos."

In reality, she'd been looking through her high school photo album all night. In those blurry group photos, Chen Wang always stood not far from her, not too close, just like the trajectory of their lives. What surprised her most was that, in the corner of a sports meet photo, she spotted Chen Wang looking in the direction of her camera.

Chen Siyu sent the detailed arrangements for the party, along with a list of attendees. Chen Wang's name was followed by the words "confirmed," like a formal note falling on a sheet of music.

"What do you think I should wear?" Lin Weixi rarely took the initiative to send a message to Chen Siyu.

"Just wear that beige sweater," Chen Siyu replied immediately, "the one you wore at the graduation party."

She opened the shopping app and ordered the same beige sweater, but when she placed the order, she realized it was a five-year-old model.

A week before the party, she went to her usual hairdresser. "Just a little trim," she told the barber, "but not too short."

The person in the mirror seemed almost the same as he was five years ago, except that his eyes were calmer, like settled lake water.

The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month arrived in the blink of an eye. As she was leaving the house that morning, her mother slipped a red envelope into her bag and said, "If you see the boy who always helped you with your studies, please say thank you for me."

On the subway, she repeatedly looked at the old photos stored on her phone. Her heartbeat quickened with each stop. On the transfer platform, she nearly brushed past a man in a dark coat. His back resembled Chen Wang's.

Yijiangnan Restaurant remained the same, with lanterns hanging beneath its vermilion sign. She stood across the street, watching her classmates file into the private rooms. Zhou Xu arrived first, holding her child, followed by a few students who had stayed behind.

Just as she was about to cross the street, a taxi pulled up to the restaurant. The door opened, revealing a pair of slender hands, followed by a familiar profile. Chen Wang was wearing a dark gray coat, a scarf casually draped over his shoulders, exactly as he had been on graduation day.

He raised his head and looked towards the road, his eyes seemed to linger on her for a moment. Lin Weixi subconsciously retreated behind the sycamore tree, and the shadow of the tree obscured her figure.

The phone vibrated, and Shen Siyu sent a message: "Where are you? Everyone is here."

She took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the tree. Snowflakes began to fall again, a flake landing on her eyelashes, cold and icy. As she crossed the street, she could hear her heartbeat, as pounding as when she'd run the 800-meter race in high school.

The glass door of the restaurant reflected her figure, her beige sweater looking particularly gentle in the snow. The moment she pushed open the door, warm air hit her face, mixed with the sound of familiar laughter.

Chen Wang was talking to the squad leader with his back to the door, a few snowflakes falling on the shoulders of his coat. Just as she was hesitating whether to say hello, he suddenly turned around.

Five years seemed to freeze at this moment. His eyes were filled with surprise at first, then a faint smile spread across his face, his dimple looming.

"Long time no see," he said. His voice was a little deeper than I remembered, but still eerily familiar.

The snow outside the window was falling harder and harder, covering up the footprints we had left on our way in. But the excitement in the box was just beginning, like a new chapter in a youth story.