The one who untied the bell and the one who tied it (3)
After the parent-teacher conference, it felt like a lot of things had entered the next phase: the hard work of the first half of the semester had borne fruit, albeit unsatisfactory results, and the second half had begun. Furthermore, the distances between people were either drawn closer or further apart. In short, this was a turning point, and a "turn point" that was only a hair's breadth away from "holiday" deserved proper celebration.
That night, the two sisters went to a nearby Chaoshan beef hotpot restaurant. For Zhao Shuhua, whose internship salary was not high, it was considered a high consumption. Therefore, after Zhao Shuhua ate the tender and sweet beef dipped in shacha sauce with gratitude, she made up her mind on the spot to study hard and make progress every day, and never let down her sister's wallet and this delicious meal that was like a good harvest.
The celebration continued the next day. After a major exam, there was always a group activity, and their class was no exception. The destination was decided before the exam, like an adult deliberately teasing a child with the promise of a trip if they got good grades. However, the principle of group activities was "no one should be left out," so both Zhao Shihua, who didn't do so well, and Shao Yifu, who performed quite poorly, were allowed to participate.
My ideal outing would be waking up a little later than usual, enjoying the crisp, cloudless autumn weather. Finally changing into autumn clothes that weren't my school uniform, even though after searching through countless options, I found I only had two sweatshirts. I also changed my hairband from a telephone cord scrunchie to one with three small balls of yarn. I carried a slightly wrinkled messenger bag from the bottom of a suitcase, its cartoon print betraying my youth. Before leaving, I grabbed the large bottle of Sprite I was assigned to carry.
The four of them, a rare occasion, left the dormitory at the same time, largely because Zhuo Siqi had stayed behind to wait for them. After breakfast in the cafeteria, they wandered off to the open space in front of the school gate, chatting about all sorts of things. While Xu Jiamei mostly recounted the fun of her junior high school outings, Zhao Shihua, with Qiao Xiaoling on her left arm and Zhuo Siqi on her right, still felt like stepping into a shojo manga.
Turning a corner on the school road, they spotted Pei Nachuan waiting in front of the bus. He was wearing a beige sweater, bathed in the sunlight, looking warm and cozy. Xu Jiamei rushed over to help, while the other three continued their leisurely walk. Zhao Shihua watched the two chat happily, seemingly discussing something particularly amusing. Xu Jiamei was practically slumping with laughter. He recalled the minor disagreement they had had the day before, but it seemed to have faded.
The girls from the other two dormitories were not far behind them. When Xu Jiamei spotted them, she quickly stood on tiptoe and waved, her exaggerated gesture showing her sheer joy. "You're all here!" Pei Nachuan glanced in their direction, then ticked a few boxes on the roster. He then pointed at the drinks they were carrying and said, "Just put your things in the boxes. Get on the bus and find a seat."
"Oh, I would have forgotten if you hadn't told me," Xu Jiamei took out a bottle of Coke from her schoolbag and weighed it, "You made me recite it for a few more minutes and it was all in vain. You have to compensate me for my ATP!" This made everyone laugh.
Normally, classmates, especially girls, rarely joked with Pei Nachuan like this. He was the one who made the announcements, and the whole class listened obediently. Although he never got angry, he was probably too serious to fit in with the others.
Zhao Shihua sometimes felt that Pei Nachuan, like Zhuo Siqi, had an aura of excellence, so dazzling that it blinded people and made it impossible to approach them. But today, it seemed that both of them had let go of their pride, and the people around them had also stopped worrying about it.
Checking her phone, it was still early, and she'd assumed only a few people would be there. Unexpectedly, the joyful atmosphere on the bus was several times stronger. Zhao Shihua had barely boarded when she was startled by the deafening music and the constant barrage of laughter. The post-exam frustration and worries about the parent-teacher conference were instantly dispelled.
The scene before me was as colorful as a ball of colorful balloons. Many students refused to sit still, insisting on standing up to chat loudly with those around them or share snacks, just like kindergarteners. Sharing snacks was understandable, but the problem was that some students insisted on throwing them around, playing a game of scattering flowers.
—Boom! From this moment on, reality parted ways with the ideal outing.
As expected, when Zhao Shihua was looking for a seat in the back, she was suddenly hit on the back of the head by a package. She looked up and saw Zhou Xin hurriedly retract his hand, smiling awkwardly and pointing behind her.
"Sorry! Are you okay?" It was that familiar voice again.
Looking back, it was indeed Shao Yifu. This guy was holding several packets of biscuits in his hands, probably preparing to share them with others. Would Pei Nachuan assign him to carry snacks? Seeing Zhao Shihua glare at him, he immediately said with a smug face, "That packet is perfect for you!"
Shao Yifu's face was filled with joy, as if he had completely forgotten the earlier disagreements and cold wars because of their "joyful" encounter. Perhaps his memory was too limited and could only store the latest data. However, she still felt awkward, unable to switch attitudes with the same ease as Shao Yifu.
"No...thank you."
Zhao Shihua was just about to stride over the biscuits that had fallen to the ground when she saw the other person rushing towards her along the narrow aisle. She didn't know whether he was afraid that she would refuse or was deliberately trying to be naughty, but he stuffed something into her hood.
"Hey!" Amidst the shoving and pushing, Zhao Shihua caught a glimpse of a classmate on the side of the road, his hands cupped around his face, watching the fun. He quickly shook his hands away, "I already said I don't want it!"
"No, no, no, thank you for treating me yesterday!" Shao Yifu patted her round hat and ignored her resistance. He then picked up the biscuits on the ground and threw them into Zhou Xin's arms, "I'll give you this bag."
"Get out! What are you going to eat if it's broken into pieces?" Zhou Xin threw it back with a grin, but it hit Li Xuping on the head.
Zhao Shihua took advantage of the chaos to quickly escape to the back seat, but was immediately thrown back up by the object in her hat. She tugged at her coat, and Zhuo Siqi reached out to help her pull it out: in addition to two packs of biscuits, there was also a pack of Little Raccoon instant noodles.
"How can I still buy this kind of snack?" Although the packaging was different from what I remembered, these words were indeed printed on it.
"...Isn't it already ten years past due?"
As they gradually got to know each other, Zhao Shihua discovered that Zhuo Siqi could always hit her funny bone with a serious look on his face.
The remaining half of the students got on the bus one after another, and finally left five minutes earlier. So it’s not that they can’t get up for class, they just don’t want to get up.
Our outing was to Dafushan Forest Park, about an hour and a half's drive from school. The ninety-minute drive naturally became a collective revelry, from snacks to conversation, to passing the parcel, and finally to karaoke. If we hadn't been strapped into our seats, I'm sure everyone in the class would have ripped the roof off the car.
Arriving at her destination, Zhao Shihua finally freed herself from the clamorous buzz of the city, her tired ears instantly soothed by the distant chirping of birds. She stretched, took a deep breath of the fresh, cool air, and felt instantly refreshed.
Pei Nachuan ran to find the owner of the barbecue place. Several boys unloaded the ingredients from the car under Xu Jiamei's command. The remaining students gathered in twos and threes to discuss who would sit at the same table with whom later, and a few of them ran to the public toilet at sprint speed.
Zhao Shihua followed the figure of one of them, only to see him suddenly stop halfway and hurriedly take out a black plastic bag... She quickly looked away, thinking that her memory was really reliable, she could still remember something that happened almost ten years ago.
It was still the story of the outing in elementary school. Besides her own story of spraining her ankle, there was also Guan Yifu who vomited all over the car before reaching the destination. It was said that it was because he was too excited and ate too much breakfast. As usual, he was despised by the classmates around him. After getting off the car, everyone deliberately pinched their noses and stayed away from the radius of five meters.
Now, Shao Yifu was not only fully equipped, but also had friends coming forward to offer their condolences, even though some of them included friends like Zhou Xin who asked if he was pregnant. Before Zhao Shihua could even feel envious or relieved, she noticed Zhou Xin turned around. She quickly turned to avoid his sight, dragging Zhuo Siqi with her to go meet up with her other two roommates.
Zhao Shihua sat in front of the grill, diligently flipping chicken wings, squid, pork tenderloin, sausage, meatballs, tofu, mushrooms, bell peppers, and corn like a barbecue stall owner. Zhuo Siqi sat opposite, smearing honey or barbecue sauce on each dish with a brush.
At first, Xu Jiamei, Qiao Xiaoling, Zhuo Siqi, and four girls from the next-door dorm joined the roommates, making for a lively gathering. But after the first round, everyone couldn't sit still anymore, switching places like visiting friends during the Spring Festival. Those left to tend the stalls were mostly the more obedient students in the class, like the taciturn Zhao Shihua and Zhuo Siqi, who couldn't wait to get out his vocabulary book.
Zhao Shihua actually wanted to play, too, but she was always a step behind. Everyone else stood up faster, announcing, "I'm going over there! You guys help keep an eye on the fire!" So, one after another, she was left behind. Thinking back to elementary school, even with a sprained ankle, she'd still keep jumping around. Those reckless days seemed so distant, like memories from a lifetime ago.
"Shihua!" A classmate from his previous life suddenly broke into his sight.
Zhao Shihua vaguely felt that something was wrong. When he thought about it carefully, he realized that he had omitted his last name, making it seem as if they were very familiar with each other. However, they had never become familiar with each other in elementary school, let alone now.
"Wow, you grilled so much! Are they all cooked? Can I eat them?" Shao Yifu said and sat down by himself, acting like a long-time customer. Li Xuping also arrived and sat at the other end of the bench to balance the weight.
Can't you guys grill your own food? How dare you come to someone else's place and eat and drink for free? Zhao Shihua grumbled inwardly. Looking back, he saw that of the three tables originally occupied by boys, only one was still occupied by the grill; the others had already gone mad. Pei Nachuan shouldn't have booked so many tables. It seemed he had overestimated the boys' interest in playing house and cooking.
"The pork tenderloin should be cooked." Zhao Shihua pointed to a skewer of pork tenderloin that had been moved to the side, and almost wanted to reach out and ask him for another five dollars for the service fee.
"Thank you!" Shao Yifu and Li Xuping said in unison, but his movements were a second slower than the latter. They watched as Li Xuping devoured the entire string of meat in two crunches.
"Get out of here!" Shao Yifu angrily kicked Li Xuping away, nearly falling to the ground due to the sudden shift in his center of gravity. Li Xuping, who also looked badly burned, stood up, breathing heavily, and gave Zhao Shihua a thumbs-up.
"Where's this skewer?" Shao Yifu came over eagerly. Zhao Shihua wondered why he still had an appetite after vomiting, but then she thought that it was because he had vomited everything that his stomach was empty, so she used a pair of tongs to move a skewer of chicken wings to the side.
It happened so fast that Shao Yifu was afraid that Li Xuping would show up again, so he quickly used his invisible hand to grab the food and stuffed it into his mouth. Zhao Shihua had just said half of the word "little" -
"It's so hot!!! It's killing me!!!"
"...Be careful of the heat."
Shao Yifu took a bite, but was burned and quickly closed his mouth. The chicken wing wasn't stuck in the first place, so it swayed twice as if saying goodbye and fell to the ground with a plop. Seeing this, Li Xuping choked and sneered, but ended up choking again and ran to the side to cough. Shao Yifu was of course unwilling to give up. He quickly picked up the chicken wing on the ground, hesitating whether to eat it or not: "Food can be eaten if it is picked up within five seconds after it falls on the ground, right?"
"Isn't it three seconds?" Zhao Shihua heard a different version.
Zhuo Siqi, who had been silent the entire time, put away his brush and looked at the other two in disbelief, as if doubting whether they had really gotten into high school based on their brains rather than sponsorship fees. He couldn't help but say, "You'd better not eat it... and the five seconds are already up. Here, these sausages are grilled."
Four sticks were shared among four people, so now there was no need to fight over them.
After finishing his sausage, Zhuo Siqi picked out four more skewers of squid balls, then sprinkled sesame seeds on four slices of dried tofu. The entire process flowed so smoothly that barely a second was wasted. Zhao Shihua couldn't help but admire Zhuo Siqi's ability to coordinate. Not only in his studies, but even when it came to barbecue, he was a cut above the rest, leaving no room for others to escape. The two elderly men present ate their meals with such satisfaction that they stopped fighting and waited obediently for their food.
"By the way, Shihua, what happened last time when my mom said your leg was broken? I don't remember it at all." Shao Yifu put down the bamboo stick and casually mentioned, "Also, where did we go together when we were little?"
Zhao Shihua cursed inwardly. This guy's ability to bring up irrelevant issues was only getting worse. Luckily, Zhou Xin and his ilk weren't around right now, or else he might have invented a long, childhood sweetheart romance novel.
"Huh? What did you say?" She said casually, "The chicken wings are ready. Didn't you just not get to eat them?" Zhao Shihua picked up the chicken wings and wanted to stuff them into his mouth to block his mouth.
"Ah? Thanks," Shao Yifu said, having learned his lesson. He took the chicken wing and blew on it a few times. "I have no recollection of it at all."
"You two... got back together?" Li Xuping didn't know which word he'd come up with to come up with this shocking conclusion, shocking the two people opposite him so much that their eyes almost popped out. He continued calmly, adding, "Otherwise, why did you hang out together when you were little?"
"Nonsense!" Zhao Shihua was so angry that he threw down the clamp.
"How is that possible?" Shao Yifu put down the chicken wings anxiously.
The rebuttals and actions were so synchronized that even Zhuo Siqi, who adhered to the principle of "turning a deaf ear to the outside world" when reading, observed their reactions with great interest.
Zhao Shihua suddenly regretted leaving first out of fear of being exposed. If she had known this might lead to even greater, deeper misunderstandings, she would have preferred to sit down and talk, rather than endure the bitter consequences of one lie after another, with no end in sight. Whether it was scolding or beatings, if she had explained the whole story beforehand, and solemnly asked her old classmate to keep her mouth shut, the story might have ended there.
And the snowball that has not been stopped in the past will only roll bigger and bigger until it causes an avalanche.
Zhao Shihua didn't know where to begin, but then she heard what sounded like laughter behind her. She was so startled she turned around and saw a group of boys shoving and jostling their way back. Among them was Zhou Xin, and Pei Nachuan walking behind them.
"Didn't I tell you? Oh, I remember, you went to the parents' meeting to speak." Shao Yifu pointed at himself and Zhao Shihua with a bamboo stick and explained to Li Xuping, "It's amazing to say that she and I were elementary school classmates." This person is definitely not suitable to be a spy in the intelligence agency.
"Shh!!!" Zhao Shihua's eyes turned red with anxiety.
"What are you guys talking about at the table?" Zhou Xin put one hand on Shao Yifu's shoulder to help him sit down. Seeing several kinds of food grilled on the rack, his eyes suddenly lit up. "Can I eat this corn?"
"Did you really go fishing just now?" Shao Yifu nudged Zhou Xin with his elbow and pushed him away.
"No, we just went to take a look. What's so fun about fishing? It's just sitting there and waiting. Zhu Miaoyan and the others even went to fly kites. Isn't that childish?"
"...But is there wind today?" Li Xuping stretched out his hand to feel, but he probably felt nothing.
"I don't know," Zhou Xin shrugged, with an expression that said, "I don't understand girls' minds." He took a bite of corn and looked at Zhao Shihua and Zhuo Siqi respectively. "Delicious! You two are really capable. You will definitely be good wives and mothers in the future!"
Zhao Shihua couldn't help but roll her eyes. She knew Zhou Xin must be a lifelong, carefree young master. Roasting corn was no big deal. It was just a matter of spreading some sauce on it and flipping it a few times.
Seeing the topic drifting off in other directions, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She glanced up at Pei Nachuan standing beside her, hesitating whether to ask him what he wanted. In front of her was a skewer of tenderloin that seemed perfectly grilled, golden brown, neither burnt nor scorched. She picked it up and was about to speak when someone else spoke first.
"Is it for me?" The skewers happened to be moved within Shao Yifu's foraging range, and he was not polite at all.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I can't stand it anymore!" It seemed like someone was making a fuss next to them.
Zhao Shihua felt embarrassed and annoyed, so angry that she wanted to flip the grill and stop everyone from eating. Did the tiger treat her like a sick cat just because it didn't show its might? She had had enough. When would these gossip jokes ever end? She had thought she could hold it in for a while, but she hadn't expected to run into a long-term gossipmonger. The more she took a step back, the angrier she got.
Zhao Shihua quickly lowered her head to hide her panic and anger, especially the presence of Pei Nachuan beside her, which was like a huge rock pressing down on her, almost making her unable to move. She clutched the clamp tightly in her hands, as if grasping at the last straw, but the heat from the coals climbed up the metal handle, burning her so much that she could no longer hold on.
"Are you still staying here as a light bulb?" Two or three boys laughed and turned to leave.
"I'd love to be a third wheel, too. The problem is, they're just ordinary elementary school classmates. They've known each other for almost ten years, and the adults still interact with each other. Sigh... It's just like me and that guy. We've been accused of being engaged since we were little, and it's so annoying." Zhou Xin, who usually clings to the "Waffle Couple" like a paparazzi, now has a nonchalant expression. After explaining lightly, he went back to chewing enoki mushrooms with great effort. "By the way, Zhao Shihua, thank Auntie for the fried chicken! It's so delicious!"
On the return bus, Zhao Shihua pondered how things had finally developed to that point, but she couldn't figure it out. Despite her utter inability to figure out the missing link, she couldn't help but feel extremely fortunate afterwards, deeply experiencing the saying "A blessing in disguise."
She only remembered that she was so nervous that she closed her eyes. When she was waiting for Zhou Xin to say something shocking, she suddenly heard him snort like a deflated ball, and finally complained to Shao Yifu: "Why didn't you say it earlier? It's really boring..." His tone was as sad as if the serial novel she had been following for half a year ended up being written into a clichéd plot of "lovers finally become siblings".
What kind of circuitous train of thought was that? Did people who grew up reading boys' manga and girls' manga really think differently? The problem was, she wasn't raised reading girls' manga either, so why couldn't she understand his logic at all? Zhao Shihua couldn't help but look at Zhou Xin as if he were an alien. Her previous dislike and resentment instantly vanished, and she even felt a surge of admiration for this man with such a unique mind.
Furthermore, judging by his words, even the fried chicken his sister bought unexpectedly played a role in dispelling the rumor. Zhao Shihua had no idea what had happened after she left the playground yesterday, how the fried chicken had ended up in Zhou Xin's mouth, and what bizarre words Shao Yifu had said to achieve such a dramatic turnaround. It seemed he was already skilled enough to join the debate team.
"Why should I tell you this so early?" Debate team candidate Shao Yifu heard Zhou Xin's complaints. Although he had never taken them seriously before, he would probably get annoyed after hearing those jokes too many times. "Do I have to tell you my entire ancestry?"
"That's not necessary. We all have the surname Shao anyway."
Really not… Zhao Shihua retorted in his heart, his ancestors all had the surname Guan. Seeing that the students around him didn't respond, Zhou Xin felt bored. Just then, the wind changed direction, causing the smoke to blow in their direction, so he stood up and walked away with the other boys.
Zhao Shihua was still a little dazed and didn't dare say a word, fearing that if she said too much, she would make mistakes. If she explained too much, it would become a cover-up, and would only bring the unexpected development back on track. After everyone at their table had left, she slowly stood up and asked Zhuo Siqi, "Do you want to go to the bathroom together?"
She washed her face, which felt greasy from the smoke and also to sober herself up. Then she and Zhuo Siqi walked around the area again, taking in the surroundings. When they returned to the barbecue area, they found that the tables reserved by the class were empty. Not only had the food been looted, but there was no one there either. She almost thought aliens had arrived. Turning around, she saw Xu Jiamei running back from the intersection, waving her hand towards them. "Pei Nachuan and the others are planning to rent bikes to go around the area, and we want to go to the pier to take a boat. Which one do you want?"
Fishing, kite flying, and now cycling and boating, Zhao Shihua has seen how big and fun the forest park is.
Later, because Zhuo Siqi said she couldn't ride a bike, Zhao Shihua walked with her to the dock to reunite with most of the girls in the class. Arriving a little late, they had to share a boat with Zhu Miaoyan, who had just arrived from the kite field. Zhao Shihua wasn't happy about it, but she smiled and maintained a friendly facade.
"Siqi, you don't know how to ride a bike either?" Zhu Miaoyan asked, turning around while sitting in the front row of the pedal boat.
“My home is in the downtown area and there’s not much open space, so I never had the chance to learn.”
"Me too!" Zhu Miaoyan raised her hand excitedly. "How about we learn together in the future? I'd actually rather ride with them, but unfortunately I just don't know how. And being carried by someone is too dangerous, with all the ups and downs."
"Some bicycles come with training wheels," Zhuo Siqi added.
"Huh? Training wheels? That looks so silly, like a three-year-old." Zhu Miaoyan waved her hands exaggeratedly, causing the boat to sway for a moment. After it stabilized, she carefully turned back to Zhao Shihua, her body practically twisted into a pretzel. "Oh, Shihua, I just heard from Zhou Xin that you and Shao Yifu were classmates in elementary school?"
Zhao Shihua didn't know what important speech Comrade Zhou Xin, who liked to publicize everything, had made while he was washing his face.
"So you two were classmates in elementary school. You knew him so well that I thought—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! We're just elementary school classmates, hahaha..." Zhao Shihua guessed what was going on and quickly chimed in. She was so hot she fanned herself vigorously and accidentally let go of the tiller, causing the boat to veer off course. Fortunately, Zhuo Siqi helped her turn it back in time.
"If you had said it earlier, there wouldn't be so many misunderstandings!" Zhu Miaoyan's tone was as familiar as usual.
Zhao Shihua laughed it off awkwardly, then added to distance himself from the matter: "Because I'm in the same class with him again, I'm so unlucky! That's why I don't really want to talk about it."
"What's unlucky about that? Look, Shao Yifu and I were classmates in junior high school, you and him were classmates in elementary school, and now we are classmates in high school. It's such a coincidence!" Zhu Miaoyan gestured with her fingers at the character relationship diagram. No matter how Zhao Shihua looked at it, it seemed like a triangle relationship typical of romance dramas.
It was fine if she couldn't understand Zhou Xin's alien logic, but now she couldn't even figure out what Zhu Miaoyan was thinking. Whether it was childhood sweethearts or a love triangle, Zhao Shihua didn't want to be involved in any more complicated relationships. But since they were willing to interpret it as a pure coincidence in time and space, she was happy to accept it. It was a good opportunity to sever the ambiguous branches that bound her.
The more Zhao Shihua thought about it on the bus, the sleepier he became. He still couldn't figure out Zhu Miaoyan's sudden change of mind. He seemed to have realized something in a trance, but was eventually swept away by sleepiness.
"It's such a small world!" Before she lost consciousness, she suddenly remembered Zhu Miaoyan's final sigh. Recalling this sentence soon after, Zhao Shihua couldn't help but wonder if she was a prophet.
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