climb mountains
As golden autumn leaves fall, Junzhou No.1 High School welcomes its new graduating class for their coming-of-age ceremony, which happens to be on a Friday—just 300 days before the college entrance examination.
Although it was nearing late autumn, the sun was still quite bright, and it was a bit sunny during the coming-of-age ceremony. Xu Changjia and the other first- and second-year high school students stood on the playground for more than two hours, silently listening to and watching the senior students carry out the ceremony, and comforting themselves: It's okay, it's okay, it will be their turn in two years.
The final part of the coming-of-age ceremony was a speech by an outstanding alumnus who had already graduated. As soon as he finished speaking, the principal would come out and give a brief summary before the ceremony ended immediately.
As soon as the words "The coming-of-age ceremony for the Class of 2021 has come to an end" were uttered, the students rushed out and headed home for their seven-day holiday, as if they were afraid that if they were even a little late, they would be locked up in school to study.
And so, Xu Changjia and the other three witnessed a rather magical scene—
Wen Xuanyi, the senior who was giving a speech at the coming-of-age ceremony, stood in front of them dressed neatly in a suit and tie, wrapped in layers of clothing under the blazing sun, and said he wanted to go hiking and have a barbecue with them.
The coming-of-age ceremony started in the morning and ended around 11 a.m. Wen Xuanyi, whom they hadn't seen in a long time, didn't even have time to change his clothes before squeezing out of the school gate with them.
They had originally planned to go the next day, but the weather forecast said it would rain tomorrow, the mountain roads would be slippery and a little dangerous, and their parents would definitely not agree to let them go hiking in such weather. Besides, they didn't want to get wet in the rain, so after talking to their families, they decided to go hiking, camping and barbecuing today.
The parents of the other three families were initially a little worried, but since they also attended the coming-of-age ceremony today and stood at the back to watch, they saw that it was last year's outstanding graduate and top scorer in the college entrance examination who was taking the three of them out to play. Their hearts were completely at ease, and they readily let the kids go out to play.
The place to climb the mountain wasn't far, only a dozen kilometers from No. 1 Middle School, less than half an hour's drive away. The parents dropped their children off at the foot of Mengshan Mountain, nagging about safety a hundred times, and promising to pick them up at 8 pm before leaving with peace of mind, giving them their own space.
Unexpectedly, many people shared their ideas. Although it was Friday, there were still quite a few people visiting Mengshan. Looking around, there were even quite a few of their alumni, wearing their school uniforms and having fun.
Before getting off the bus, Wen Xuanyi quickly changed into some comfortable sportswear and caught up with the children who had just gotten off.
Mount Meng is not very high, and it only takes two to three hours to climb up. It was midday when the sun was shining brightly, and there were few people. They were well-prepared and the climb was not very strenuous.
However, knowing that she was going to Mengshan this time, Ou Liyao not only took good care of herself with sun protection, but also asked her parents to let her bring her camera to take pictures.
She kept taking pictures along the way, and the group took turns capturing many life photos through her lens. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, it was already past four in the afternoon.
This wasn't Wenxuanyi's first time visiting Mengshan. Every autumn and winter, when the scenery here is at its best, he would come with acquaintances to climb the mountain, enjoy the view, have a barbecue, and occasionally sneak in a couple of drinks.
He had called Guizhi Villa on the mountaintop in advance, and they had prepared the ingredients in advance so that they could have a barbecue at home. Because they were regular customers, they specially chose the best view for them.
Wen Xuanyi accepted the offer with a smile and followed the boss to a private room to catch up, leaving the barbecue stall to a few children.
The four children rarely participate in such picnics. They chatted and laughed as they started a fire and grilled meat under the guidance of the shop staff, having a great time.
However, the boss's special treatment of them was noticed by others, which aroused dissatisfaction among some people nearby.
As Ou Liyao was taking pictures of the scenery, she captured the people around her in the photos. When she looked at the photos, she felt that some of them looked familiar, so she specifically pointed them out to Xu Changjia.
She frowned slightly and recognized those people as the ones who had caused trouble and fought in the cafeteria not long ago, and whispered it to Ou Liyao.
It's always better to be careful when you're out and about. She didn't want to provoke these bad students and cause them unnecessary trouble. Little did she know that her gesture of leaning close to their ears caught their attention and angered them.
Those who are ignorant and incompetent think that they are just good at academics, so why should they receive special treatment everywhere they go?
They got into fights at school and the dean of students let them off the hook, but when they came out of school to play, even places like Mengshan looked down on them and fawned over them, giving them conveniences at every turn.
Those so-called good students are still not satisfied. They are whispering in front of them, saying bad things about them.
Li Teng, who was in charge, couldn't stand it anymore, so he led several of his henchmen over and rushed over. This time, he was determined to get an explanation from them, and he even started to lay hands on Xu Changjia and Ou Liyao.
This was the first time any of the four of them had encountered such a situation. They were being targeted for no reason and just wanted to reason with the person on the other side, not fight.
However, Li Teng and his friends, already prejudiced, wouldn't listen to a word he said. They were convinced that Li Teng was being given special treatment because of his good grades, and that the other students were being targeted because of their poor grades. They just wanted to beat them up to vent their anger.
Pushing and shoving each other, Zhang Yuning and Zheng Ruoqian couldn't help but start fighting after a few rounds. They shielded Ou Liyao and Xu Changjia behind them. When the resort staff who were helping saw that a fight had really broken out, they quickly went to tell their boss and his friends.
Wen Xuanyi was drinking tea when he heard that a few kids were fighting. He jumped up and ran out, quickly dealing with the troublemakers.
Li Teng and his group were completely subdued by the hard punches and honestly told the whole story.
After finding out the details, I found it somewhat funny, and also inexplicably sad. When will we stop focusing solely on grades?
Wen Xuanyi took charge and made them apologize to the two girls. He also asked the owner to prepare an extra space for them to grill meat. After all, sharing is worse than enjoying alone, and they could be considered friends who became friends through a fight.
Xu Changjia and Ou Liyao were only pushed a few times and were not seriously injured. They accepted their apology without hesitation.
The remaining seven or eight people did fight, but it was just a matter of pushing and kicking each other with Zheng Ruoqian and Zhang Yuning. Most of them managed to dodge the attacks. After the doctor at the resort examined them, he prescribed some ointment to reduce swelling and relieve pain. They were fine after applying it for a few days.
Once the conversation started, a dozen or so people gathered together, eating barbecue, chatting about gossip from No. 1 Middle School, and even secretly drinking some beer, having a great time.
By the time the stars filled the sky, Li Teng and his men had already descended the mountain. Wen Xuanyi and the villa owner were drinking and chatting not far away. The four of them lay on rocking chairs, enjoying the breeze and listening to the autumn hustle and bustle.
Zheng Ruoqian said softly, "I should be leaving soon."
Xu Changjia smiled as he looked up at the starry sky above. Hearing this, he paused for a moment, his eyes filled with reluctance, and he dared not accept such a heavy word.
Ou Liyao immediately sat up, her eyes full of doubt. She just stared at him blankly without saying a word, waiting for an explanation.
Zhang Yuning seemed to have thought of something, and didn't dare to look at him, but calmly asked him, "Have you made up your mind? When are you leaving?"
“Yes, do you remember the agent we met outside the grilled fish restaurant before?” His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached the ears of the three of them.
"Hmm." It was hard to tell whose voice it was, but it sounded somewhat sad.
Zheng Ruoqian tried to use a straightforward tone to tell what happened afterward in a more direct way, so as not to make people feel sad. But how can you say goodbye with a smile?
His mother and piano teacher carefully inquired about YL Entertainment in H country and found that there was indeed an agent named him who liked to travel around. His mother then arranged a meeting with the agent to discuss the matter of him becoming a trainee.
His piano teacher, Ms. Zhang, is an old friend of his father and has influence in H country, so if all goes well, she should leave after the New Year.
"After the New Year, that's more than three months away, isn't it?"
Zheng Ruoqian also sat up, his eyes filled with a smile and comfort, and looked at Ou Liyao, "That's right, in more than three months, we can still eat more than a hundred meals together."
Zhang Yuning silently counted the days in his mind, one hand behind his head, listening to Ou Liyao talk to him. His good deskmate was really good at keeping things to himself, keeping it to himself for so long before telling them. If it had been any later, he would have suspected that he didn't consider them friends anymore.
Xu Changjia knew about this a little earlier than them, but she only found out about the time of parting today, and her reaction was the same as theirs—reluctance to part. Besides reluctance, she also selfishly had a small hope that he would soon become that household name idol, so that she would have completed her rescue mission and could live a good life after her life was extended.
But before that, Xu Changjia wished that time could pause for a moment, stay under such a beautiful starry sky, and give the four of them more space to spend time together, so that her memories of this life would not be filled with blanks and regrets?
But how can the hourglass of time grant everyone's wish and give them the opportunity to stop working? After all, it is the fairest of all, giving you more than 30,000 days to squander, whether you are poor or rich, a tender bud or a withered tree. A mere hundred days or so is just a small interlude in its work-free period.
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