The last place they stayed last night was a hotel in the amusement park. Because there would be a meteor shower and a float parade in the park tonight, Lin Sitian suggested that they just watch the whole thing before leaving. So after checking out, the two of them continued to play in the park until the evening.

"Ah, I caught it!" Lin Sitian's big eyes followed the grappling hook without blinking. The grappling hook clamped a Samoyed doll and swayed all the way to the edge of the glass cover. It was released at the right time, and the doll rolled into the prize chute.

"Wow!" Lin Sitian excitedly hugged Zhou Sheng's arm and shook it, "Zhou Sheng, you are so amazing! You got it on the third time!"

"The first two times were to test how much it had been adjusted." Zhou Sheng bent over, took out the Samoyed doll and stuffed it into her arms, "Do you want more? You should be able to get them later."

"You are so confident." Lin Sitian smiled with her eyebrows curved, "No need, just take one, I can't carry so many back."

She didn't seem to doubt his words at all.

This Samoyed was wearing a shirt and a pair of black-framed glasses, with a bright gaze. At first glance, he looked like an old-fashioned intellectual, but even the glasses could not hide his innocent and cute appearance. The more Lin Sitian looked at him, the more she liked him.

She lifted it up, placed it on the side of Zhou Sheng's face, and tilted her head to compare.

Zhou Sheng looked puzzled.

"Very similar," she said.

"…Like a dog?"

"But it's cuter than you."

"I'm smarter than he is."

"Compared to a dog?"

“…”

"No matter what, I decided to give it a name--" Lin Sitian left him and walked away quickly holding the Samoyed.

Zhou Sheng raised his eyebrows and chased after him, "What's your name?"

Lin Sitian turned back and said, "Call me 'Little, Teacher'!"

"Change it."

"don't want."

Zhou Sheng said with a sour tone, "Change to something else, call it 'Silly Dog'."

"You don't have any talent for naming, why are you scolding yourself?"

"I……"

Perhaps they were too engrossed in playing at the market stalls in the park, and when they rushed over when the parade started, the roads were already lined with crowds of people.

Even the nights couldn't beat the heat on a July summer night.

The floats were singing joyfully all the way, but they couldn't drown out the noisy cicadas.

She stood in the bright lights of the wandering crowd, and suddenly, she felt that the world was crowded and she had nowhere to go.

Someone pushed her away, and someone held her.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Sitian turned her head and Zhou Sheng held her hand tightly, "I called you several times but you didn't respond."

"It's okay." She shook her head and felt that time passed so quickly.

In a blink of an eye, tonight is almost over.

Zhou Sheng asked her: "Can you see the float like this?"

He was still looking around to see if there was another suitable place to watch the parade, but Lin Sitian said, "No, let's go somewhere else."

They found a small hill.

There is a small hill in the amusement park. There are no facilities further up. It has yet to be developed. From below, one can only see the colorful lights of the park. The team of floats is at the other end in the distance. It is bustling there, but it does not affect the quietness of this side at all.

Zhou Sheng has never been in love, but he finally understands why men and women in love like to avoid others and be alone in quiet places.

It's just that he gets nervous easily.

Lin Sitian was wearing a long dress with small floral patterns that she had just bought in the park today. She stretched out her hand and sat down casually on the grass beside the hillside. Seeing Zhou Sheng still standing on the hillside without moving his head, she waved at him, "Come on."

Zhou Sheng came over, took off his short-sleeved shirt, and spread it on the ground, "Sit here."

The sound of insects chirping under the tree was particularly loud, and Zhou Sheng was curious why she was not afraid at all.

Lin Sitian hugged her knees and watched Zhou Sheng sit down next to her. She then tilted her head and leaned on his shoulder.

Zhou Sheng paused for a moment, turned his head and his nose was filled with the fragrance of her hair, which also carried the smell of her hair warmed by the summer sun.

He curled up the corners of his mouth and leaned towards her quietly.

"What are you going to do with the remaining days of summer vacation?" she asked.

"Do the exercises." Zhou Sheng said, "There is a league in September."

That’s right, Zhou Sheng doesn’t fight a battle he is not sure of winning.

But Zhou Sheng quickly added: "But I can come out to find you...if there's somewhere you want to go."

"Then I have a lot." Really, a lot.

"Then let's all go," Zhou Sheng pursed his lips, "There are still many days in summer vacation, and my competition won't be a problem..."

"Summer vacation is so short," Lin Sitian suddenly sighed, "It passed in the blink of an eye - the same thing happened in the second year of high school. Before I knew it, a semester had passed, and then the next semester would be the third year of high school. Everyone would have to bury their heads in study. By this time next year, we would have graduated from the third year of high school, and everyone would have to go our separate ways."

"Lin Sitian..." Zhou Sheng didn't know why she suddenly became sentimental.

He reached out and covered the back of her hand which was a little cold from the mountain breeze. "Even if the summer vacation doesn't have enough time, we can still go in the future. I promise you."

A galaxy hangs in the indigo sky, with countless stars twinkling and shining brightly, a beautiful scene that cannot be seen in the city.

"Ah, a shooting star." Lin Sitian suddenly sat up, "Zhou Sheng, look at the shooting star!"

Zhou Sheng looked in the direction she pointed, and sure enough, a meteor streaked across the sky.

"Make a wish quickly, make a wish quickly." She urged him, then closed her eyes, clasped her hands together in front of her chest, lowered her head and prayed.

Zhou Sheng did not make a wish, he just held his chin and looked at her quietly.

He is a materialist. He firmly believes that as long as you can do it, you have to fight for it yourself. If you can't get it, it doesn't belong to you. Wishes are such illusory things that are unrealistic.

He didn't need a wish, and what's more, the wish he wanted most had already been fulfilled.

Lin Sitian opened her eyes and saw another meteor falling from the sky.

Then came the third and fourth.

In fact, it is different from what you imagine. They don’t have such gorgeous flame tails, nor are they bright. They are fleeting.

——If I can’t even protect my own life, how can I fulfill other people’s wishes? Zhou Sheng thought.

But she was still very excited, with the corners of her lips raised and her eyes filled with a light brighter than a shooting star.

She closed her eyes again.

"If you make a wish for each one, you'll be very busy tonight." Zhou Sheng couldn't help but tease her.

"The three that Xu wants to achieve the most are enough. One should not be greedy."

"What is it?"

"It won't work if you say it out loud, so don't ask." She said seriously.

——I hope grandma’s illness can get better. I don’t ask for her to live a hundred years, but I hope she can live in peace and see her get married and start a family.

——I hope both she and Zhou Sheng can be admitted to their ideal universities.

--hope……

A whistle interrupted her wish.

Lin Sitian opened her eyes and saw the midsummer fireworks at the end of the float parade.

Have you ever seen fireworks?

Brilliant, grand, short-lived, fireworks.

Stranded in the midsummer of her seventeen-year-old life.

"What if we can't see the shooting stars because of the fireworks?" Zhou Sheng asked with a smile.

"Zhou Sheng."

She looked up at the fireworks blooming in the sky.

"I'm transferring schools."

Zhou Sheng's smile suddenly stopped, and he turned to look at her, trying to find a hint of teasing in her expression.

Lin Sitian's profile was illuminated by the fireworks. She smiled and said, "So, summer vacation is really short."

He was suddenly at a loss.

"Lin Sitian..."

Lin Sitian tilted her head and explained to him, "Dad has a new partner and will soon buy a house and get married in the city where he works. Grandma is sick and can't take care of me, so he wants to take us all over, and the new mom will help take care of our lives."

"My household registration will also be moved, so it's impossible for me to come back to take the college entrance examination."

She spoke calmly, so calmly that it reminded Zhou Sheng of that rainy night when she mentioned her mother.

Everything is taken for granted, sometimes it is a compromise, sometimes it is understanding.

"So..." She finally took a deep breath, smiled, and turned to him.

"Let's break up."

The fireworks were still setting off in the distance, making a loud noise that made my head buzz.

Zhou Sheng asked: "Why?"

"What 'why'?"

"Why do you want to break up?"

"Because I'm leaving." Lin Sitian looked at him heartlessly, "I'm leaving and going to another city. We won't see each other anymore. Next year in the senior year of high school, we will both study hard and have no time for romance. Then we will go to different universities and do completely unrelated jobs after graduation..."

At this point, she paused, suddenly smiled and asked, "You don't still believe in long-distance relationships, do you?"

The innocence and passion of her youth turned into clichés in her mouth at that time.

The young man clenched his palms tightly, his knuckles turned white, he blocked the light in his eyes, and squeezed out her name from his throat -

"Lin Sitian..."

Look at me.

"If I can't even get closer to you geographically, how can we be together when we are so different?"

"You can trust me—"

"I believe you, Zhou Sheng." Lin Sitian held his face with her hands, "I just don't believe in myself."

Zhou Sheng's eyes sparkled slightly.

"I don't want to become the person I hate the most. I'm afraid." Lin Sitian lowered her head and smiled. "I've said before that I'm very lacking in love. People who are lacking in love will be very clingy. If two people are too far apart, the feelings will disappear little by little. Instead of suddenly realizing one day that we have no love, it's better to let it stop at the best time."

At that moment, tears suddenly rolled down from Zhou Sheng's eyes.

It ended in haste and confusion.

He lowered his head and pretended to be calm and said, "I don't understand what you are talking about."

He doesn't understand, and doesn't want to understand.

"Ah, what are you doing? Don't cry," Lin Sitian moved forward and held him in her arms, "I have kept this secret until today because I wanted you to be happy in the last month or so, and you can prepare well for the competition. Isn't that good? You see, I still like you very much, the most..."

I love you the most, Zhou Sheng.

I love you the most.

The sudden hot tears seeped into his hair, and Lin Sitian closed his eyes to stop the sob that was rising in his throat.

"It's just a pity that you are going to break those 'so many, so many' promises."

Faintly, she heard Zhou Sheng's suppressed crying.

Until now she herself couldn't remember how she could say those words so nonchalantly. She must have hurt him a lot. As expected, she didn't know how to fall in love. She thought that they could part ways amicably as long as they smiled.

They planned to break up after graduation, but they are breaking up even before graduation.

Lin Sitian raised her head, and the tears that she had finally stopped fell.

She didn't want Zhou Sheng to see it.

“You can’t do this…”

Zhou Sheng's shoulders were shaking slightly.

"You can't..."

The sound was muffled and intermittent.

"…Let me learn how to like someone…and then turn around and leave…"

He can learn everything and learn it well.

However, it was she who taught him how to love someone.

So, no.

His body was suddenly hugged tightly, Zhou Sheng stood up and wiped his face.

His flushed face could not be seen under the fireworks, but the tears and bloodshot in his eyes betrayed him.

"We can get into a good university together."

Zhou Sheng stared into her eyes stubbornly, trying to find a positive answer in her eyes.

——But no, there is no definite answer.

"Zhou Sheng, you don't think I can get into Tsinghua University, do you?" Lin Sitian smiled and curved her eyebrows. "Even if you give me hope, people have to be realistic."

"You will definitely be great in the future, getting better and better, going to a big city, to the best school, and you can't stop because of me."

She tried to smile at him, but as she smiled, she started crying.

“And I’m a small-town girl.”

What happened next?

He was admitted to Tsinghua University, and after graduation he continued his studies to get a doctorate, and then entered a top research institute at home or abroad. With his family background and vision, he will definitely find a girlfriend who is equal to him. The two outstanding people will live in harmony and go to further places to expand their world.

As for her, she was admitted to a good university, and after graduation she found a good job in her own city. She might take the civil service exam, marry a decent man, and live an ordinary life which is actually extraordinary.

This is the most reasonable story line in his and her life.

If they hadn't left the campus, these wouldn't have been something they would have to think about, but now they were going to separate.

Lin Sitian's thoughts stopped here, and she finally realized that -

They are going to separate.

…

…

She couldn't bear to do that.

How could she be willing to do that?

Liking someone is like missing someone without any excuse. All those hidden rebellious loves burst out at this unexpected moment.

For a long, long time.

He seemed to have made a decision.

"Okay, let's break up then."

The heart that was beating constantly because of him suddenly felt empty and missing a piece.

"You don't want to become the person you hate, and you are afraid of waiting, so I won't force you."

"You're right. People always strive for higher goals. I won't turn back for you."

Words are like knives, and she experienced what it felt like to feel a pain in her heart.

"but……"

Zhou Sheng hugged her tightly with all his strength.

"I can wait for you out front."

"As long as you are willing, I can wait for you forever."

"And you must remember—"

She heard him say.

"You are not a small town girl, you are Lin Sitian."

"It's someone I like."

His soft voice and her crying were drowned out by the sound of the last firework blooming.

First love is like the fireworks in the July meteors, which are at their peak, extremely romantic, and engraved in our short life.

Goodbye, my first love.