Old Friend and Herself (3)
After filling their bellies, they went home and changed into their normal clothes before heading out. Zhuo Siqi had even looked up various performance times and transportation information, more attentive than a travel agent.
Zhao Shihua, who had almost never gone out on New Year's Eve, was stunned by the surging crowd in the subway. She had never expected that there would be so many people out and about at night in a big city. The crowd was so tight that she didn't even need to hold on to the handrails, and she could remain motionless when the subway braked.
It was nearly ten o'clock when the two finally reached the Pearl River. From a nearby stadium came the thumping rhythm of drums, punctuated by waves of cheers. It seemed some television station was holding a New Year's Eve concert there.
As they approached the guardrail, they faintly heard the theme song from this year's hit TV series. Zhao Shihua excitedly tugged on Zhuo Siqi's sleeve, shook it vigorously, and asked if the star who played the lead role was singing it. Before she could answer, she eagerly raised her phone to record a video—in which nothing could be seen or heard clearly—and sent it to Zhao Shuhua.
While waiting for a reply, she casually opened her Moments, but unexpectedly, Zhu Miaoyan had uploaded a video from a concert. The picture showed a dazzling stage, and under the spotlight were two tiny people like commas. The camera then panned to a large screen high up, and it was indeed the male and female protagonists in the TV series.
"Ah! It's really them!" Zhao Shihua held the phone in front of Zhuo Siqi, "Zhu Miaoyan is actually sitting inside, I really envy her!" But they could only stand outside in the northwest wind, prick up their ears to catch the few notes brought by the wind. The difference in treatment was too big.
Soon after, the class group also exploded. The girls sent several starry-eyed emojis in a row. Then another classmate threw out a list of stars who would be performing, which triggered even more intense screams. The originally quiet group suddenly became lively.
Zhang Xiaohe: I'm watching this live on TV! See if the camera can see you @喵喵猪
Zhou Xin: What a coincidence, we are here too.
Meow Meow Pig: Where is it? Which district are you in?
Zhou Xin: P Zone
Meow Meow Pig: Is there a P area?
Li shopping: PARKING, referred to as P area
Meow Meow Pig: ...
"Li Xuping and the others seem to be nearby." Zhao Shihua put away his phone helplessly and waited for a long time but his sister still didn't reply.
"If you're going to celebrate New Year's Eve, a lot of people will probably come here." Zhuo Siqi shrank his neck. "Let's go. It's a bit cold here, and it's a perfect place for wind. We can't hear anything clearly anyway, so why don't we go to Huacheng Square and take a look? I saw online that there's a light show every hour."
Just as they turned around, the wind seemed to carry a few words besides the cheers. Zhao Shihua felt that they sounded familiar. Looking back, she saw five dark figures standing against the colorful background lights. It was like the five-star team appearance on TV when she was a child. One of them raised his hand high and shouted loudly: "Hey - Zhao Shihua!!!"
Shao Yifu ran along the curve of the guardrail, the light from the street lamp flickering on his face. When he finally reached her, he brought a gust of wind with him. He suddenly grinned at her, his eyes flashing in the light, and Zhao Shihua couldn't help but be stunned.
"You, ka ka ka, why are you here too?" He stopped and held the railing to catch his breath.
"Wow! What a coincidence!" Zhou Xin, who arrived a little later, greeted them, "Are you here to watch the fireworks too?"
Zhao Shihua was also excited by this wonderful encounter and nodded repeatedly. Then he noticed that there were two other people in the group of five who he didn't recognize, but they looked familiar. When the light illuminated their faces, he realized that they were the five members of his band.
"Then let's go together," Shao Yifu regained his breath and stood up again, "Maybe we can run into someone else later!"
Seeing that Zhuo Siqi had no objection, Zhao Shihua readily agreed. On the way from Haixinsha across the bridge to Huacheng Square, more and more tourists came, and they gradually split into three rows and walked side by side.
The two girls were at the front, because Zhuo Siqi was the one who took charge every time they reached an intersection; Zhou Xin and another boy were at the back, arguing with each other about the battle strategy of the game just now. Zhao Shihua and Zhuo Siqi couldn't get a word in; as for Shao Yifu and Li Xuping, they protected the lead singer and walked in the middle, chatting with the two people in front and then talking to the people behind.
When they reached the Grand Theater, they heard deafening music blaring from the speakers at the edge of the square. The intense rhythm almost synchronized their heartbeats. Zhao Shihua couldn't help but half-cover her ears and mouthed to Zhuo Siqi, "Should we move back a bit? It's too noisy here!"
"What did you say?" Zhuo Siqi also blocked his ears with his fingers.
Before Zhao Shihua could ask again, his gaze was drawn to the light on the other side of the river. A brilliant light suddenly illuminated the night sky, a multicolored band of light swirling from bottom to top, illuminating the towering waist of the woman on the other side of the river.
People around them paused, looking up at the dazzling spectacle. First, a dazzling dance of light, like the aurora borealis, followed by a brilliant silver beam that swiftly swept across the night sky across the other shore like a beacon at sea. Zhao Shihua stared intently at the scene before him, as if lost in a dream. It was only after a moment that he remembered to record it.
She took out her cell phone and held it above her head. As the light show reached its climax, the musical accompaniment almost resounded through the sky.
"Why are you opening your mouth? You're like a fool." Shao Yifu suddenly yelled into her ear, scaring Zhao Shihua so much that her hands trembled, and the video had to be shot again.
"Balance the ear pressure!" Assuming that the other party didn't understand, she pointed to her ears and the giant speakers not far away.
"What?" he called out, moving closer.
"It's too loud!"
"Then cover your ears!"
"I want to record something!" Zhao Shihua was worried about missing another wonderful scene, so he ignored him and quickly switched back to the recording mode.
She didn't hear the words "Let me help you then." The sounds around her seemed to be covered with a thick layer of cloth, becoming sluggish and dull. Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands covering her ears from behind.
The fingertips of those hands were cool, but the palms were warm, instantly burning her ears and cheeks red. She couldn't tell for a moment whether the thumping sound in her head was the beat of music or her heartbeat.
Zhao Shihua's hands froze in mid-air, staring unblinking at the Canton Tower on the screen. After a moment, the screen went dark, and she realized she'd been so nervous she'd forgotten to press the start button. Shao Yifu seemed oblivious, still meticulously covering her ears, his pressure increasing. Only then did Zhao Shihua realize this wasn't help at all; it was pure lynching and revenge.
While the music was transitioning from a passionate march to a light tune, she took a step forward, put away her phone, turned around and said with a stern face, "Enough, enough, you're almost squashing my head." I was about to ask him why he didn't think the sound was too loud, but then I remembered that he usually listened to a lot of heavy metal music. No wonder he heard "sprout" as "front teeth" and always couldn't tell the difference between forty and fourteen in English listening questions.
The light show lasted about ten minutes, but when it ended, Zhou Xin and the others were nowhere to be found. The square was so crowded that the signal was poor, and there was no telling if text messages would reach them. They walked around in circles, but couldn't even see the other two. The lead singer, however, had met her friends along the way and left with another group.
"Never mind. They won't get lost and can't get home anyway. Maybe they went back to play games all night." Shao Yifu sighed. "It's so cold, Lao Li, do you want to go get something to eat?"
"How about going for some evening tea?" Li Xuping checked the map on his phone. "There's a yum cha shop nearby that's still open. You two want to come too?"
They weren't very hungry, but there was still more than an hour before the midnight fireworks, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to find a comfortable place to rest, so they followed along.
There were many more customers in the teahouse than expected, and they had to wait a while before they were seated. They had originally said that just some porridge would be enough, but as soon as the two boys got the menu, they ordered several more main dishes and snacks like hungry ghosts, including red rice sausage, glutinous rice chicken, radish cake, durian cake, etc.
"It's to celebrate the New Year, so eat more." Shao Yifu explained after handing the order menu to the waiter.
"Didn't you have dinner?" Zhuo Siqi said as he took a sip of tea.
"I ate a sausage bun and went to play games as soon as school got out."
"Were you not caught by the Dean of Academic Affairs?"
"Pfft, pfft, pfft, can you please stop being such a pessimist?" Shao Yifu glared at Zhao Shihua. "He needs a holiday too."
Because most of the snacks didn't need to be made on the spot and could be heated up temporarily, the dishes arrived quickly. The table for four was almost full, and the feast was so sumptuous that it seemed like they were celebrating the Spring Festival rather than New Year's Day. Zhao Shihua couldn't help but worry about whether her wallet could hold up.
"Happy New Year!" Shao Yifu raised the exquisite teacup and placed it in the middle of the dining table.
"It hasn't arrived yet..." Li Xuping poked his chopsticks on the plate to align them, his eyes wandering over several snacks.
"Oh, let's celebrate!" He forced the teacup into Li Xuping's hand. "Come on, don't spoil the fun. It's rare to have so many people here."
However, after saying a perfunctory and uneven "Happy New Year", the New Year's atmosphere really became stronger. With new hope, the new year was less than an hour away.
"Hey, after watching the fireworks, do you want to stay up all night and watch the sunrise together?" Li Xuping, who was originally not in high spirits, seemed to be infected by Shao Yifu.
"I won't go!" Shao Yifu refused flatly.
"We still have to go back, right?" Zhao Shihua asked Zhuo Siqi.
"Yeah." Zhuo Siqi stared at Li Xuping. It seemed that she had already regarded him as her primary enemy in the final exam.
"Huh?" Li Xuping's disappointment was clearly written on his face. He squinted at Shao Yifu and said, "It was you who dragged me out here to play."
"I have to start reviewing tomorrow, so I need to get a good rest tonight!" Seeing the other three people narrow their eyes and look suspicious, Shao Yifu argued, "In order to get my mom's sponsorship to buy a guitar and band tickets, I have to at least be in the top 500!"
"Horse a horse? You'd better take the photon rocket. Time will slow down a bit." Li Xuping continued to pour cold water on me. "The problem is, even if you review for one more day, you won't necessarily gain an extra ten points on the test."
"Hey!" Shao Yifu ignored him and turned to Zhuo Siqi, "I've made up my mind. My composition score is just too low. There's still hope of improving it by ten points. Teacher Zhuo, can you give me some guidance when you come back from vacation?"
"Increase by ten points? How low can your score be? Teacher Zhuo, going to watch the sunrise to accumulate life experience will also be beneficial for writing essays, right?" Li Xuping also looked at Zhuo Siqi.
"Don't think about it," Zhuo Siqi suddenly turned his phone screen towards everyone, "It's going to be cloudy tomorrow."
By the time they finished their evening tea, it was past eleven. The riverside was already packed with people, leaving only the green belt along the roadside with a decent view. The midnight fireworks lasted only a brief ten minutes, and half of them, bursting high above, were obscured by the treetops overhead. Zhao Shihua didn't even bother to pull out his phone, completely focused on capturing the dazzling scene as clearly as possible in his mind.
Whether it is formality or self-indulgence, at the moment of countdown, the arrival of the New Year is enough to inject new energy into people. Zhao Shihua subconsciously clasped his hands together and made a wish silently.
"What wishes did you all make?" The four people asked each other in unison as the last grand golden firework finally disappeared in the smoke.
Shao Yifu stretched out his palms and made a big five. "Of course I'll get into the top 500! What about you, what about you?"
"I hope things get better," Zhao Shihua said, tucking her neck into her scarf, a little embarrassed. She hopes her family stays healthy, her studies improve, and she likes herself more.
"Why are you so unclear about your topic? You'll lose points for writing like that." Shao Yifu seemed determined to achieve something great with his composition. He then consulted Zhuo Siqi, who was standing nearby. "Teacher Zhuo, what do you think? What is your wish?"
"Prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony—"
"Okay, okay, okay... I know you've done well in politics. Where's Lao Li?"
"You're stupid, of course it is—" Li Xuping raised his index finger to his lips, "Keep it a secret. It won't work if you tell it out loud. Hey! Why did you hit me? Isn't that how it's played out on TV?"
The four of them parted ways at the subway station, and when they met again, it was already the final sprint before the semester ended. The campus had returned to its usual state, with some secretly studying late into the night in the bathroom, others waking up before dawn to study, taking breakfast straight back to the classroom after morning exercises, and everyone walking along the campus path at twice their usual speed.
During the first day of self-study after the holiday, Shao Yifu handed Zhuo Siqi a stack of writing papers, saying that he had collected and sorted out the materials during the New Year's Day holiday and hoped that she could help take a look. Although he had been carefree before, he was unexpectedly quite intimidating when he got serious. It really is true that the power of idols should not be underestimated.
Adhering to the idea that "knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory in every battle", Zhao Shihua took a curious look and found that most of the materials were about athletes, with stories about ten years of hard training, not giving up after being injured and finally breaking through the limit to return to the top. At first glance, one might even mistake it for a sports news broadcast script.
"Didn't the teacher tell us to find some positive examples?" Shao Yifu leaned out from behind, looking eager for recognition. "I think these are particularly positive!"
"They are all good, but the theme is a bit monotonous," Zhuo Siqi returned the manuscript paper, "But Teacher Shan might like it." Teacher Shan is the Chinese teacher in the next class who is as strong as a physical education teacher.
"Really? Then I'll add some more band stories!" Shao Yifu grabbed the paper and shook it. "Thank you, Teacher Zhuo. I have hope for this year's composition!"
Seeing the other party's serious look, Zhao Shihua quickly forced himself to calm down and continue copying the English verb phrase collocations, making sure not to be overtaken by the later comers.
In two weeks, we will have three consecutive days of final exams, and the remaining two days after the weekend will be used for review and closing ceremony.
This year's essay was about the past and the future: "A philosopher once said, 'Only by looking back can we understand life, and only by looking forward can we live it,'" the title read. Zhao Shihua used her experience watching fireworks on New Year's Eve as a metaphor for "looking back on the past and looking forward to the future." As she began writing, she couldn't help but admire Li Xiuping's foresight. Indeed, accumulating more life experience is helpful for writing. She wondered how many of the four people who watched the fireworks together used the same material; only after the sample essays were distributed did she realize that Zhuo Siqi had used Shao Yifu's sports news clippings instead.
Zhao Shihua twirled her pen, her thoughts returning from the essay to her chemistry paper. The final exam was less than ten minutes away. The first day's physics had been so difficult she'd nearly cried. The final day's chemistry had been even easier than she'd imagined, so she had to hurry and review it, trying to make up for any physics-related gaps.
"Siqi, do you still remember the answer to the last question?" After the exam, Zhao Shihua rushed back to the original classroom without even having time to go to the toilet. Seeing that her deskmate was packing her schoolbag, she grabbed her and asked, "The concentration is 1.5, right?" As long as the last answer is correct, it means that there are no mistakes in the previous questions, and the total score is more than ten points.
"I think so." Zhuo Siqi seemed to have done well in the exam, with a rare relaxed look on his face.
"Really? That's great!" Zhao Shihua was so excited that she wanted to hug Zhuo Siqi again, as if the other party was not just one of the candidates, but the embodiment of the answer.
"How much was it? I didn't hear it clearly!" Zhou Xin asked.
"Oh, forget about checking the answers! The test is over. Wouldn't it be nice to have a couple of days of leisure?" Shao Yifu, who had returned to the classroom, put down his pencil case and quickly plugged his ears with his index fingers. "Anyway, don't talk. I won't listen!"
"Who wants to tell you, Zhuo Siqi, what is your answer?" Zhou Xin deliberately leaned forward and covered his ears with his hands, pretending to listen attentively.
"Siqi, I'll buy you some milk tea later!" Zhao Shihua, having confirmed she'd secured the final dozen points, felt a bit elated, thinking she'd have to reward not only herself but also her deskmate for bringing her the good news. She pulled a points card from her bag, emblazoned with eight stamps: "Look, drink two more and you'll get one free!"
"...Thank you, but I have to go to the office later." Zhuo Siqi's tone reminded Zhao Shihua of the first day of school, when she'd been politely turned down in the same way. Unexpectedly, a semester later, it was still the same. "The math teacher asked me and Li Xuping to help with the score tally. You don't have to wait for me. How about next time? I'll tell you the score later, if you'd like." Seeing Zhao Shihua's disappointment, Zhuo Siqi patiently explained. Clearly, something was different.
"I don't want to listen!" Shao Yifu, who was standing next to him, closed his fingers again when he heard the word "score", but he didn't miss the previous key word, "Is there any milk tea? I want to go too!"
If Xu Jiamei and Qiao Xiaoling had not been in a hurry to move some of their luggage back home early and had not had the time to go to the milk tea shop at the back door with her, the discount that Zhao Shihua had saved up for several weeks would never have fallen into the hands of these two people - she had originally planned to have milk tea with her deskmate and then go to see a comedy movie together.
Zhao Shihua glanced at Shao Yifu and Zhou Xin beside him, feeling a little unconvinced. Even though it was Zhuo Siqi who had taken the initiative to give the opportunity to Shao Yifu, and the expenses were still split equally as usual. The three of them drank drinks at the bus stop on the side of the road, and the topic inevitably returned to the exam.
"So the answer is really 1.5? I think I wrote 1.75, which is just off...Is it really not that you underestimated it?"
"...Didn't you say you didn't want to know?" Zhao Shihua rolled her eyes at Shao Yifu, feeling guilty when he asked her back.
It wasn't like him to suddenly be so concerned about grades. But what student wouldn't care about grades? Especially when those grades were tied to rewards.
"1.5? I remember calculating over a hundred..." It seemed that Zhou Xin should review the basics of decimal points rather than chemistry. He probably didn't want to recall the exam scene anymore, so he asked, "What are you planning to do during your winter vacation?"
Hearing this question, Zhao Shihua suddenly felt the reality of the long vacation falling on his shoulders.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com