Chapter 13: Will your wish really come true if you circle the Eiffel Tower three times? ...
The spring outing for Tieta Primary School has begun.
The Iron Pagoda Park is quite famous, but only in Shengping. After all, this small place doesn't have many famous parks; it's just the same few, like People's Park and Forest Park.
However, the forest park requires an entrance fee, and it's not cheap. A regular ticket would cost Jiang Yueming a week's allowance, not to mention a combined ticket. Rather than going in to see those similar artificial hills and pavilions, she'd rather buy a couple of jianbing guozi (Chinese savory crepes) to eat.
Guiying was wearing a bright orange nylon vest with the words "Iron Tower Primary School" printed on it. It was supposedly for "high visibility and ease of management." The effect was outstanding. Jiang Yueming, from a distance across half the park, spotted a dazzling orange object moving in the distance. Upon closer inspection, lo and behold, it was none other than Yin Guiying!
Yin Guiying seemed quite insistent on making Jiang Yueming, that troublemaker and mischievous rascal, wear a smaller version of the orange vest, but Jiang Yueming refused. He thought it would look ridiculous, like some random park cleaner hired on the spot. He'd looked in the mirror at least eight hundred times today, all to look presentable when he went to see Li Leshan. If he really wore that silly vest, wouldn't all his mirror-gazing be for nothing?
After entering the park, Yin Guiying led one group of students, while Mr. Wang, the math teacher, led another. Jiang Yueming didn't care about any of that. His strategy was simple and brutal: whichever group was closest to Class Two, he would move towards that side.
He searched for Li Leshan among the group of students. Li Leshan's figure was easy to spot from behind; he was tall, quiet, and possessed a unique yet striking presence. Even just looking at the back of his head, he stood out from the others.
Having finally reunited with Li Leshan, the two of them tacitly slowed their pace, leisurely trailing behind the group. As they walked, the main group ahead turned a corner and disappeared at the end of the rose-lined path, leaving the two of them completely behind.
There were stalls selling snacks and bottled water in the park. Jiang Yueming, unusually, walked straight past without lingering. Given his love of food, this behavior was definitely a big problem. He told Li Leshan that these stalls looked harmless, but in reality, every single one of them was a rip-off. The prices were only 200 meters apart from those outside the park, but it felt like a ten-year price difference.
As for why Jiang Yueming knew so much, there's no need to ask; it was a lesson learned through blood and tears.
That rusty old iron tower stands in the center of the park. You can see its dark spire as soon as you enter the park. They say "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," and although it looks so close, you still have to walk several hundred meters through a concrete square with hardly any shade under the scorching sun to get there.
This tower is a very old building. It must be at least a hundred years old, though Jiang Yueming wasn't sure exactly how old it was, but it must be at least ten times his age... He had heard Cui Cui mention it when he came here before, but Jiang Yueming let it go in one ear and out the other, his mind only on the grilled sausages.
The two finally reached the base of the tower. The area was crowded with chattering students. Jiang Yueming looked up; the summer sun was so bright he could barely open his eyes, and he had to shield his forehead with his hand.
"Is it exceptionally high?" Jiang Yueming asked, squinting.
Li Leshan nodded; this was his first time seeing the tower up close. A cacophony of voices filled the air, everyone talking about different things—where to go, homework assignments, and even a little girl blushing as she stole glances in his direction, whispering about Li Leshan's face. But Li Leshan didn't hear any of it.
Jiang Yueming said mysteriously, "You know what? I heard that if you walk around this tower three times, your wishes will come true. The more times you walk around, the more effective your wishes will be."
“Really,” Jiang Yueming added, “Although I’ve never turned around before…”
Because the tower was so large, walking around it several times was no easy task. Besides, Jiang Yueming didn't have any wishes that required divine intervention. He could easily get the sausages, marbles, and new stickers he wanted with his pocket money and a little cleverness; there was no need to pray to the gods or worship the tower.
Kids these days are still very innocent. To put it nicely, they're innocent; to put it bluntly, you could say they're naive.
It was indeed foolish. If another ten or twenty years passed, Jiang Yueming would also think her past self was foolish. As she grew older, the burdens, the confusion of life, and the pain would come crashing down, suffocating her. At that point, the pain and helplessness would reach their peak. When she was at her wit's end, Jiang Yueming would sometimes find herself inexplicably wondering in the dead of night: Was it... that I didn't properly walk around the Iron Tower three times back then?
This was the first time Li Leshan had heard of such a claim. It was a matter of belief; if you believed it, it was true, if you didn't, it wasn't. In reality, it didn't matter much; at worst, he could just walk around a few more times and consider it exercise. However, if it were truly possible, hundreds or even thousands of people would probably line up to circle the tower every day, recklessly turning it round and round, eventually trampling a barren circular path.
His fingertips unconsciously traced the rough, sun-baked red brick walls surrounding the tower's base. Jiang Yueming was still babbling in his ear, her words mingling with the surrounding students' voices, making it difficult for him to hear clearly.
Iron Pagoda Park, as the name suggests, is named after a tower. However, the tower is the only thing famous about the park. In fact, there are many beautiful places in the park, such as an artificial lake, a grove of trees, and a rose garden… Unfortunately, the publicity always revolves around the Iron Pagoda.
Ten years forward, backward, and forward—people have changed, times have changed, but the only thing that remains unchanged in its promotion is this tower. In Jiang Yueming's words, the name "Iron Tower Park" is truly fitting. Now that the tower is seen, there's not much else to see. The park is full of flowers, all kinds, names I can name and names I can't recall, everywhere you look. The trumpet vines are the most numerous, blooming bright red, bold and flamboyant, in full bloom right now.
The trumpet creeper vines, intertwined and gathered together, forming a shady spot. Jiang Yueming pulled Li Leshan to sit on a wooden bench and rested for a while. It was the hottest time of day, and not far away, Yin Guiying was leading her students to rest under a pavilion.
"No need to even think about it, Yin Guiying is probably having her students recite poems right now." Jiang Yueming glanced at the pavilion.
Indeed, you could tell from Cao Fan's slightly pained expression that he not only had to memorize it, but probably the entire text, and possibly not just the poem, but also annotations and translations.
“I…” Jiang Yueming was about to say something when he suddenly saw Yin Guiying’s gaze glancing in their direction. Her bright orange vest was particularly eye-catching at that moment. He quickly pulled Li Leshan down and squatted on the ground. “Be careful, don’t let Yin Guiying see you.”
Although Li Leshan really wanted to tell him that he was in Class Two and that it wouldn't matter if Yin Guiying saw him, since they weren't under the same jurisdiction, he still obediently squatted down next to Jiang Yueming. The two of them squatted like thieves for a while before slowly moving to the pavilion on the other side.
Further in, there was a patch of reeds, swaying in the wind. Sparsely growing beside a small, not-so-clear stream, the grayish-green reeds rustled in the breeze, not a particularly large expanse. Some tourists were spontaneously playing instruments on the riverbank, producing a "whooshing" sound. Jiang Yueming wasn't quite sure what instrument they were playing. He thought it was both sophisticated and rustic—sophisticated because he couldn't understand the music, and rustic because he didn't think it sounded very good. The first time he heard it, he thought it was a staff member, thinking, "How dedicated! Someone's playing in this remote corner. Who's they playing for?"
Looking back now, it wasn't really meant for anyone to hear. Whether anyone hears it or not, it doesn't matter if no one hears it. The river can hear it, the reeds can hear it, the sparrows perched in the trees can hear it, the vast sky above can hear it... Perhaps, that's enough.
This area is near a small ditch, and the road surface is uneven and full of potholes. Even the few old, clanging sightseeing trains in the park can't pass through here, so there are few tourists, making it almost a forgotten corner. Further in, through a patch of overgrown bushes, there's a secret path "developed" by Jiang Yueming and Han Jiang that leads directly to the park's back gate. The path is narrow and winding, requiring you to push aside thorny weeds to get through, and sometimes it's so secluded that he feels like he's walking on a dog's trail.
Jiang Yueming casually found a grassy slope and lay down. Wearing his school uniform, he didn't mind getting it dirty at all. In his eyes, the school uniform served two purposes: proving you were a student and allowing you to lie down anywhere. And Jiang Yueming felt the only two advantages of the uniform were that it was dirt-resistant and durable.
Looking to the side, Jiang Yueming saw Li Leshan staring blankly at the reeds. A gentle breeze ruffled his bangs. Looking at his quiet profile, Jiang Yueming recalled the times he and Han Jiang had come here before, when the air was always filled with Han Jiang's loud chatter and the noisy scramble for sausages... Of course, now when he thought of Han Jiang, it wasn't out of nostalgia for that noise.
"Li Leshan, what are you thinking about?" Jiang Yueming couldn't help but ask.
Why does he always look so preoccupied? It's as if he has a lot on his mind, but he never tells anyone.
Li Leshan said he didn't think about anything.
Jiang Yueming silently turned his head back. He stared blankly at the clouds in the sky, realizing that Li Leshan was very different from them. Just like Han Jiang, Xu Qing, and himself, they were all different. And he had a thought in his mind: this "difference" might... never be able to become even slightly "same".
The bell in the park rang, signaling the time Jiang Yueming had agreed to meet with Yin Guiying. She was certain Yin Guiying would be angry if anyone was missing. Therefore, Jiang Yueming abandoned her plan to sneak away and obediently followed the group back to school.
The school is only a ten-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower Park. This saves the cost of renting a bus; they can walk there and back. The only thing to be careful about is crossing the street—these days, drivers have no concept of "cars yielding to pedestrians," honking their horns deafeningly, only reluctantly slamming on the brakes when they see groups of elementary school students. Jiang Yueming has only been able to briefly enjoy the privilege of "cars yielding to pedestrians" for the past few years.
When it's time to leave, he can openly stick close to Li Leshan. This isn't called wandering between classes or disrupting discipline; it's officially called walking together to make it easier to check each other's presence, fostering harmonious relationships, and reminding each other to be careful.
Jiang Yueming continued to enthusiastically recount her experiences from her previous visits here. She talked about birds chasing dogs, cats climbing trees, and geese that appeared out of nowhere like magic tricks... Whether Li Leshan enjoyed listening to her or not, he didn't know, but the classmate next to him was certainly engrossed and didn't even notice when he stepped on the student in front of him and knocked off his shoe.
Li Leshan had actually heard everything, and listened very attentively. However, as the group walked through the shady path filled with wisteria and was about to turn out of the park gate, he couldn't help but stop and look back.
That silent iron tower still stands tall in the center of the park. Silent, majestic, and solemn, yet also gentle and all-encompassing, it seems to be telling some unknown secret.
A note from the author:
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Okay, let's continue tomorrow.
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