Chapter 74 How Can You Not Know?
The photo was placed in a frame and placed on Xin Tianyi's desk.
Xin Tianyi picked up the photo, which showed five little friends standing under a tree in the courtyard.
When Xin Tianyi arrived at university, he only brought enough clothes for one season. Summer clothes were thin and could fit in just one backpack. Wang Fang came back that summer and urged Xin Tianyi to bring more. Xin Tianyi explained that he would be back to spend time with his grandfather on weekends and didn't need to bring so much at once.
Finally, Xin Tianyi stuffed the photo frame into his backpack and placed it between layers of soft clothes.
University life is rich and colorful. Xin Tianyi has made many new friends here, but the ones she misses most are still the ones in the photos.
Wei Ran's life is busy yet ordinary. He describes it as being like being back in junior high school. Every time he walks through the hallway, it's like seeing himself and his friends from years past. Wei Ran says he's very satisfied, but feels his knowledge is insufficient. He wants to continue studying and get into a junior college.
Xin Tianyi fully supported Wei Ran's idea. Although technical secondary school students were still very popular in the early 1990s, they would soon be eliminated by society. It would not be long before universities would expand their enrollment, and undergraduate students would emerge like mushrooms after rain. College students would gradually be unable to gain a foothold in society, let alone technical secondary school students.
Yuan Dabao lived the most comfortable life. Xin Tianyi even saw him in the waiting hall during a trip.
After joining the workforce, Yuan Dabao has clearly matured, especially when interacting with passengers and colleagues. His every move tells everyone that he's a competent railway worker. His belly is also smaller than before, and in his uniform, he looks like a proper employee. He feels secure.
But when facing Xin Tianyi alone, Yuan Dabao returned to his old self. He took off his uniform cap, revealing his smooth forehead, and asked Xin Tianyi with a smile, "Where are you going? Have you bought your tickets? Why didn't you contact me in advance? I'm telling you, there's a rice cake vendor right outside the train station where you're going. Her rice cakes are...
Xin Tianyi couldn't help but smile as he recalled that day. Yuan Dabao was just telling him how soft and sticky the rice cakes were when someone next to him interrupted and asked where the ticket check was. Yuan Dabao immediately turned serious, put his hat back on, looked at the other person's ticket, and led the other person through. He was like the serious and dedicated Yuan Dabao again, the Yuan Dabao who didn't like rice cakes.
The last time Xin Tianyi saw Bai Xue was during the summer vacation of his freshman year.
Xin Tianyi went home excitedly. Yuan Dabao was also taking a break. She said someone wanted to see her and made an appointment to have dinner together in the evening.
Xin Tianyi guessed who it was at that time. When he went to the appointment in the evening, he saw that it was indeed Bai Xue.
Bai Xue had also changed a lot, becoming more stable. She was wearing a simple dress, and when she smiled at Xin Tianyi, she still had the same smile she had when they first met. Yuan Dabao told Xin Tianyi that Bai Xue was now the boss, and Xin Tianyi learned that Bai Xue and her sister had opened a hair and beauty salon in the city.
After dinner, Bai Xue did not leave and went to live at Tianyi's house with Xin Tianyi.
That night, Xin Tianyi found out where Bai Xue had been and what she had done all these years.
After failing the high school entrance exam, Bai Xue followed her sister Bai Li to a nightclub to work as a makeup artist. Bai Xue's sister, Bai Li, had always worked in the nightclub, applying makeup to the people who worked there. Bai Xue once told Xin Tianyi that her sister had a miserable life. Bai Li started working at a very young age to support the family and later to pay for Bai Xue's education. When Bai Xue was in the second year of junior high school, Bai Li got married, but the husband was unreliable and often beat her. He used the money Bai Li earned from working in the nightclub and called her a prostitute.
In her third year of junior high, Bai Xue transferred from her hometown to the middle school at the cotton mill. This was Bai Li's decision. She believed her sister couldn't follow in her footsteps and should change her fate through education. Bai Li met a cotton mill executive at a dance hall and, through connections, she was able to transfer Bai Xue from her hometown school. It was then that Bai Xue realized just how hard Bai Li's daily life was.
And Betty was pregnant at that time.
A month before the high school entrance exam, Bai Xue's brother-in-law came home drunk and asked Bai Li for money. Bai Li, desperate to save for her soon-to-be-born child, refused to give him any money. That was the last time Bai Li was beaten, and she lost the child.
From that day on, Bai Li never recovered. After the divorce, she refused to leave the house.
But the dance hall needed work, so Bai Xue temporarily replaced Bai Li and did makeup for everyone. She told Xin Tianyi that she was not qualified to repeat her studies and had no right to ask her sister to do anything for her. Her sister had done enough for her, and she was old enough to take care of her.
However, working in the dance hall made Bai Xue unable to hold her head up in front of her friends. She could work without any dignity, but she wanted to preserve her last bit of self-respect among her friends.
So she chose not to see them. But she knew everything about Xin Tianyi's admission to high school and later to university.
The two did not sleep that night. They lay on the bed hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, looking at the starry sky outside the window. When they talked about these things, their eyes were filled with tears.
Bai Xue finished her confession and apologized to Xin Tianyi, saying that she had deliberately avoided contacting her, all because of her childhood vanity. But now, she no longer worked at the dance hall. She had saved enough money and opened a small shop with her sister. She earned her living with her own hands, and she had nothing to be ashamed of.
As long as Xin Tianyi doesn't despise her.
Xin Tianyi turned around and hugged Bai Xue. How could she dislike her?
They are best friends.
While the two chatted all night, a photo of the five of them was placed on the bedside.
As the sky gradually brightened, Bai Xue saw the photo and reached out to pick it up.
She looked at him for a long time, and suddenly said to Xin Tianyi, "You know, Zhang Yang likes you."
How could you not know?
Xin Tianyi already knew this when he was in the first year of high school.
At that time, Cheng Tianlan told her a huge secret.
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