After returning to the dormitory and taking a shower, the four of us went to the cafeteria for a meal before heading to the playground to meet up.
When the instructors saw that everyone had arrived, they organized the students to sit in a circle.
"Now that everyone is here, I'll just say a few words. Students, the two-week military training is about to end, and you'll finally be free from the scorching sun every day. You are all the hope for the future of our country. I sincerely hope that you will love your country, keep exercising, strengthen your physique, and have a bright future. Okay, enough of the chit-chat. Now, please welcome the first student to come up and show off their talent."
Lin Chen stood up with a stiff upper lip. The instructor asked, "What kind of performance would you like to give?" Lin Chen thought for a moment and said, "I'll sing a song. Please don't mind if I don't sing well."
Everyone applauded in welcome, which also attracted the attention of students from other classes nearby. Su Xiaowan also saw Lin Chen and, upon hearing that he was going to sing, took out the iPhone that Lin Chen had given her to record it.
Lin Chen cleared his throat and began to sing.
"Someone as outstanding as me should have lived a brilliant life."
How come after more than twenty years, I'm still adrift in the sea of people...?
Yes, Lin Chen sang Mao Juxing's "A Person Like Me". In his previous life, Lin Chen was deeply moved when he first heard this song. He was the school heartthrob since he was a child. Although his grades were not particularly good, they were still average. After graduation, he found a job as a programmer with a decent income. He worked while preparing for the civil service exam, refused drugs, gambling, and prostitution, and didn't even go to bars. Such an outstanding person like him seems to have left no trace in his previous life.
Could it be that his self-perception of "excellence" is completely different from the so-called "excellence" of this society?
"People like me who are lost, people like me who are searching..."
How many people like me, who have accomplished nothing, have you seen...?
Indeed, before passing the civil service exam in his previous life, Lin Chen was always confused about what he was living for. Ten years as a programmer, and still nothing to show for it.
Perhaps, as others have said, I don't know why I'm alive. I just see that everyone else is alive, so I've decided to live too.
"Will anyone feel sorry for someone as inexplicably strange as me...?"
Lin Chen sang the last line with a voice carrying the vicissitudes of a thirty-five-year-old from his previous life. The entire audience fell silent. These eighteen-year-old college students, who had just entered university, could not understand the meaning of the lyrics, but the sadness and helplessness in the song still touched everyone.
A moment later, everyone started clapping, including students from other classes nearby.
Su Xiaowan saved the video and suddenly felt a little sorry for this sunny and handsome boy. She wondered what he had been through and just wanted to give him a hug. She opened QQ and sent Lin Chen a hug emoji.
Lin Chen bowed and thanked everyone before sitting down. His phone vibrated, and when he took it out, he saw the emoji Su Xiaowan had sent. He smiled and typed back, "Are you listening to me sing?"
"Um."
"You want to hug me, but I can't feel you when we're on QQ."
Su Xiaowan looked at Lin Chen's reply and replied shyly, "Then... wait for me after we're dismissed."
Lin Chen put down his phone and continued watching the other students perform. Some sang, some danced, and one student from Tianjin even spontaneously performed a clapper talk. So, is clapper talk really an essential skill for people from Tianjin?
"Alright, it's getting late. Everyone should go back and rest. Those who aren't going back to their dorms right away, please be careful. Dismissed."
As the instructor gave the order to dismiss, everyone scattered. Zhao Yu walked over and said, "Lin Chen, shouldn't you thank me for giving you an opportunity to showcase yourself?"
"Zhao Yu, don't even think about backing out. You'll get a barbecue, or I'll expose you."
"Hey, hey, no, no, Brother Chen, it's not that serious, it's just a barbecue, let's go now."
"Not today, I have other things to do."
At this moment, Su Xiaowan walked over. Today, Su Xiaowan had taken a shower after going home in the evening, so her skin looked particularly supple. Her hair was not tied up and hung down naturally over her shoulders. She had a faint smile on her face and was wearing an ordinary T-shirt and denim shorts. Her pair of straight and slender long legs made Lin Chen unable to take his eyes off her.
Zhao Yu said with great distress, "Lin Chen, did you save the galaxy in your past life? We're not going to eat barbecue anymore. I need to go back to my dorm and think about the meaning of life."
Lin Chen and Su Xiaowan walked side by side on campus, enjoying the evening breeze. There were few people on the road near the teaching building, with only a few students occasionally walking by from the library. The dim streetlights elongated their young shadows.
Su Xiaowan asked, "Lin Chen, you seemed lost when you sang that song. Did something happen?"
Lin Chen thought for a moment and said, "I once had a dream in which I got average college entrance exam scores, went to an ordinary university, became an ordinary programmer after graduation, and then lived a mediocre life for more than ten years before passing the civil service exam. If nothing unexpected happens, I will live an ordinary life like that. What do you think of that kind of life?"
"That's fine too, isn't it? It's ordinary, but peaceful and stable. Do you dream about me?"
"Yes, in my dream you were gentle and graceful, intellectual and elegant. We unexpectedly met again after graduating from university, but you left very soon."
Upon hearing this, Su Xiaowan suddenly stopped, and Lin Chen turned around: "What's wrong?"
Su Xiaowan threw herself into Lin Chen's arms, hugging him tightly, and said in a voice only she could hear, "Lin Chen, I will not leave you."
Unfortunately, the sound was too soft for Lin Chen to hear. Before Lin Chen could react, Su Xiaowan blushed and let go of Lin Chen.
"The hug I just promised you."
"Huh? Oh, I didn't realize that yet, that doesn't count."
"I don't care."
"Su Xiaowan, you can't go back on your word."
"Who's cheating, Lin Chen?"
"I don't care then, hehehe..."
"Lin Chen, sing that song for me again."
"Let me change to another song, cough cough... How I long to see you again, even if it's just a fleeting glance before parting, your silhouette under the streetlights, the increasingly long forest path..."
"It sounds so good, Lin Chen."
"It's a pay-per-view video, hurry up and pay the bill."
How much does it cost?
"It was originally going to cost a hundred yuan a song, but since we're so close, a hug will do."
"Then I'll just choose to default on the debt, hahaha."
Friday finally arrived, the day of the military training performance. In the morning, as the sun rose, one formation after another marched past the reviewing stand.
"Hello, comrades."
"Good morning, leader!"
"Comrades, you've worked hard."
"Serve the people!"
...
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