Chapter 34 The Bitter Summer: A Daydream
Returning to her senses, Shen Qingli stared at the account for a long time before sighing.
He said that once she got a phone, she could log in and watch whatever she wanted. But after she got a phone, she had no interest in doing so at all.
Originally, reading novels was just a way to relieve boredom in her spare time. However, since coming to Suzhou No. 1 High School, she has been overwhelmed by various pressures. Her freedom at home is also very limited, and her mother often restricts her screen time. Under the pressure of academics and interpersonal relationships, she realized one day that she hadn't tried to read novels for a long time. Without realizing it, she had silently lost this hobby.
If she hadn't heard her classmates mention Baidu Tieba today, she would have almost forgotten about the app.
She opened the account on her phone and stared at the various novel posts she had previously saved. After hesitating for a moment, she finally closed her eyes and ruthlessly deleted all the novels. She wondered if it was really as her parents had said, that she had grown up and could now be so indifferent to those things.
It's better to delete it, she comforted herself in her heart.
Anyway, these things are not allowed in this house, so rather than waiting for them to be discovered one day, she might as well clean them up herself.
Looking at her now-empty favorites list, she remained silent for a long time before finally remembering the important matter at hand.
Following her classmates' advice, she searched for posts on the Nanshi University forum and found quite a few. She clicked on one, followed it, and then read through them one by one.
Just as she was engrossed in reading, Luo Yiqiu suddenly sent her a message on QQ. Shen Qingli clicked on it and found that it was also a photo from a forum, along with the other party's next message.
Qiu: Qingli, look at the forum I found about Jiangshi No.1 Middle School! I just discovered that you can actually ask questions online there! I had a big question I couldn't answer, and I was just thinking of posting it randomly to see what would happen. I didn't expect that someone would actually answer me!
She was also a little surprised after glancing at the comments on the photo; she hadn't expected that the forum could have this function in addition to reading novels.
Luo Yiqiu urged her on her phone to try it too, saying it was much more convenient than searching for solutions online. After all, the answers online weren't always correct, and often, they couldn't understand a bunch of symbols piled up together.
After replying to her message, Shen Qingli looked at the test paper spread out in front of her. There was a question she was having trouble with, so she took a picture and uploaded it to the forum, just to give it a try.
After waiting for a while without receiving a reply, she had no choice but to put down her phone and start working on other problems.
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Before going to sleep, as usual, she checked the forum again. Seeing only a few scattered comments, which seemed rather unreliable, she was feeling a bit discouraged and was about to exit when she noticed a message sent to her a few minutes earlier in the private chat window by someone with the ID "Ing".
She clicked on the red dot with a puzzled look and found a message about the question she had just posted. The message specified which step she had written incorrectly and which formula she should use next.
She sat back down at her desk with some skepticism, and wrote it down in the manner described above. She discovered that the other person's line of thought was actually completely correct.
After solving the problem, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. She had thought she would be troubled by this problem until bedtime, but she solved it so easily.
Looking at the test paper on the table, she immediately sent a thank you message to the other party.
Pear: Thank you so much! I've been struggling with this problem for a long time, and I'm so grateful for your solution.
Ing: You're welcome. I just did this question. It was a quick thing. But I saw you asked it in a post about NTU. Are you planning to apply to NTU?
She was surprised when the other party replied quickly after she sent the message, but she didn't reply immediately. Instead, she curiously clicked on the other party's profile and found that it seemed to be a newly registered account. The profile picture was the one that was originally posted on the forum. However, before she could switch back to the chat interface, she watched as the other party changed the profile picture.
She zoomed in with some confusion and discovered that it was actually a green pear tree.
Shen Qingli, puzzled, switched back to the homepage and replied to the chat box: "Yes, I do have that idea."
The other side quickly replied: Good luck! If you still have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Looking at the message from the other party, Shen Qingli sighed that there were still such kind people in this day and age, but she felt that it would be too much trouble for the other party, since they were complete strangers, so she did not agree.
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Since that day, whenever she had a question she couldn't answer, she would post it on the forum and the other person would always reply to her immediately. Over time, Shen Qingli realized that it would be faster to just send the question to the other person privately.
Shen Qingli felt embarrassed to keep bothering the other party, but the other party only said that he also needed to do these questions and that explaining the solution process to her would help her solidify her knowledge.
She didn't quite understand what the other person was saying. Maybe this was just a different learning style for top students, she thought to herself.
Even though the other party said that, she still felt it wasn't good to keep bothering her. But Ing seemed to have noticed her embarrassment and would send her messages several times, asking if she could tell her about the problem she had solved.
Although Shen Qingli was somewhat surprised that the other person would have questions they didn't know, the back-and-forth help did relieve a lot of her mental burden. Gradually, the two became more familiar with each other, and they would occasionally recommend good workbooks to each other, or tell each other about more efficient learning methods.
However, apart from discussing academic topics, they rarely talked about other aspects of their lives. Ing only told her that he was studying at Suzhou Foreign Language School and also planned to apply to Nanjing University.
Because they all wanted to apply to the same schools, Shen Qingli felt it was quite rare, as most of her classmates seemed to be choosing universities within the city.
It seems that everyone else wants to stay in Su City, while only she and Luo Yiqiu want to run away. However, the majors and universities they want to study are different, so they can't offer each other any advice.
Moreover, she didn't dare tell anyone about the major she wanted to apply for, because she was afraid that if word got out, other people's reactions would hurt her, and she was also afraid that someone would laugh at her for her unrealistic idea. She herself had little confidence in this matter and didn't want to gamble anymore.
So, apart from herself and...that person, almost no one knew what major she really wanted to apply for.
However, it's different online. She doesn't even know the other person, and she doesn't have to worry about anything. So sometimes, she can chat with Ing for a while.
On one occasion, after discussing the topic, the other person suddenly changed the subject and asked her a question.
Ing: Since so many people around you want to choose universities in the city, why do you insist on choosing a university in the southern part of the city?
The other party's question came suddenly, and Shen Qingli was taken aback when she saw the message he sent.
Why? She pursed her lips, momentarily at a loss for words.
A long, long time ago, getting into Nanshi University was something she never dared to dream of, and admitting her hobbies was something that made her feel ashamed.
It wasn't just because my hobbies seemed like something frivolous to adults, but also because they didn't seem to fit the interests a "good kid" should have.
For most of her early life, she had no parents involved, never attended any extracurricular classes, and didn't even know what she was good at or liked. It seemed like every classmate was good at many things, like dancing, playing musical instruments, and so on.
But when the teacher asked her what her hobbies were on stage, she could only awkwardly say that she liked watching movies, and unsurprisingly, she was ridiculed by the whole class.
From that day on, she secretly vowed never to tell anyone about it again, and her parents' neglect and indifference made her increasingly silent.
I remember that when Shen's mother occasionally returned to the countryside, she would sometimes tell her that she didn't seem as cheerful and outgoing as she used to be when she was a child.
She didn't know what to say at the time, she just felt bitter inside, feeling that her mother had no idea what she had been through.
Later, when Shen Qingli thought about the past, she realized that the reason she had become so quiet was simply because there had been no one around her who would listen to her since she was very young.
Telling her grandparents about her likes and interests would only be a burden for them.
In those years when she had no peers to grow up and chat with, the first thing she learned was to talk less and not talk at all.
If it weren't for Xia Lin and Xia Qing, perhaps no one would ever have discovered the difference in her life, and she would have forgotten her former self, just as she had forgotten that she used to love reading romance novels.
Books often say that everyone has different strengths and their own strengths and talents. If you don't have them yet, it just means they haven't been discovered yet.
Perhaps this statement is true. Someone finally found her in a place covered in dust. And some expectations are like this: if you don't mention them, you'll just pretend you don't know. But once someone points it out, those delusional emotions will grow bigger and bigger, flying further and further away.
Her ideals and future were being changed by Xia Lin's family. It was the different life in Xia Lin's family and the words they spoke that influenced her. It was also Xia Qing's support and encouragement that made her dare to have a daydream.
Thinking of this, Shen Qingli slowly pressed the buttons on her phone and answered with a simple five words: Because I like it.
Because she likes it, she wants to give it a try, even if it is ultimately a dream she can never reach, she still wants to give herself a chance.
Getting into Nanjing University and applying for film studies was her dream, and that dream became even more anticipated after someone made a promise to her.
They agreed to take the entrance exam for the same university together, promising to make this dream even more meaningful.
In countless moments when Shen Qingli had no choice but to give up everything in the past, the one thing she never abandoned was this promise she had made.
Promises are not the same as memories. Once you've made a promise, it can't be easily abandoned. Giving up a relationship is something a person can decide, but a promise is not.
At least not in her eyes. She had abandoned everything, but she still held tightly to this promise, as if it were the last chance she and Lin Xiaqing had left, silently and immensely swirling in her heart.
She didn't have much courage to continue, nor could she easily let go of it all.
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Author's Note: -Ing-
"Snail Boy" version of Ing
Guess what it means.
The next chapter will briefly touch on the subplot involving Ichiki, and then there will be one last point—the high school section—before it ends. Can you guess what it is? ^^
There won't be much urban content; it's almost over.
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