Summer Challenge Camp (Part 3)
Jiang Yichun sat in an exam room in a teaching building at University A. She picked up the pen that had been with her since high school and wrote down her answers on a white sheet of paper.
The black ink left long trails on the paper, taking her back to her high school days.
At that time, she and her mother came from the small town to attend a private junior high school in the city.
Say goodbye to Grandma, say goodbye to Big Yellow, the mother of potatoes, say goodbye to the boundless fields, say goodbye to the lush green pond at the village entrance.
Her mother traveled all over the country, but in the end she chose to stay in the county town for herself. She found a bar and went there every night to mix drinks and sing.
In her childhood, she would always listen to her mother's lullabies, her mother's laughter, and her mother's stories about her dreams.
"Xiaochun, Mom wants to be a singer."
"Xiaochun, this is Mom's album. You have to be my first listener. Your dad can only be considered the second oldest."
"Xiaochun, Mom is having a performance in the city."
As a child, she always thought her mother was a big star, like the bright red rose on an album cover.
People in town all said that the Hu family had produced a big star, and they flocked to her house.
She was held in the old woman's arms as she met the gazes of those who claimed to be her mother's relatives and friends.
Her mother's surname was Hu, and her father was a stranger who came to this city by chance, but they called themselves "Jiang family girl".
They benefited from their mother's fame, but they also spread gossip, saying that their mother was immoral and that she sold her body.
Greedy and fearful eyes surrounded her, and surrounded her mother.
At first, the mother didn't care about those stares and continued to live a carefree life, often going to big cities, leaving herself and her artistic father in the small town.
It wasn't until she saw her father embracing a young woman in his studio, and until the painting of a skirt fluttering in the rain appeared before her mother, that she understood.
The father accused the mother of being immoral, while the mother accused the father of infidelity.
His own painting was also torn up during their argument.
The father also traveled all over the country in search of his "muse," while the mother, who had a daughter, was expected by society to grow up holding her daughter.
The mother buried her dreams deep in her heart and gradually moved towards her own path.
Rumors, her father's infidelity, and the mundane details of daily life eventually eroded her mother's dreams.
The red rose was dried by the scorching sun, leaving only withered petals.
My mother could have left and gone far away, and she could have completely broken ties with my father.
But she also has a daughter, and the judgmental gaze of those in her hometown.
"Xiaochun, Mom is back, and she's not leaving anymore."
The day my mother moved me to the rented apartment, she made my favorite braised pig's trotters.
Jiang Yichun ate heartily without saying a word.
She finally asked, "Mom, does my existence prevent you from achieving your dreams?"
I only asked it in my mind.
She didn't want to throw the red rose back into the boiling water; she just wanted to prove to those people that she wasn't Jiang Jianan, and that her mother wasn't a promiscuous person.
Jiang Yichun studied desperately. While her classmates in junior high school were troubled by adolescent issues, she flipped through her English book, memorizing word by word.
While several young couples in her class were playing out common tropes in angst-filled literature, she rushed into the office and asked various teachers for advice.
She suppressed the stirrings and bittersweetness of adolescence, her only focus on moving forward, forward—moving forward by any means necessary, just like in a certain novel.
After evening self-study, she would always ride the second-hand bicycle her mother bought back to the old, dilapidated apartment they rented together, and recite Chinese texts under the dim light.
My mother would always smell of alcohol, put a bottle of water on the table, stumble back to her room, and fall asleep immediately.
Jiang Yichun closed the book and looked towards his mother's room.
Those rumors once again engulfed her like a raging flood.
Why does Mom always come home so late? Is it really true...?
She was ashamed to discover that she herself was looking at her mother with the same loathing gaze.
She didn't know how to face her shameful feelings, so she could only slowly distance herself from her mother.
At home, the two are each other's most familiar strangers.
The mother was singing in her room, while Jiang Yichun was doing his homework in his own room.
Jiang Yichun could only place his hopes on the pile of books in front of him.
She wanted to get out of the small town, she wanted to go to the big city, she wanted to prove herself to those people.
After the high school entrance exam, she was admitted to the best high school in the county, but the gossip from those people still persisted.
She lived on campus during high school, still getting up early and working late, scrambling for food in the dense crowds, opening her textbooks in the dim morning light, and turning on a small lamp in the pitch-black twilight.
At that time, she casually bought a ballpoint pen at the school stationery store, never expecting that this pen would accompany her through all three years of high school.
On the day of the college entrance examination, she carried this pen and wrote down her own answer as an adult.
However, she inexplicably caught a cold at that time, which caused her grades to fall short of expectations.
Gossip surged again when she temporarily fell from grace, and the words were sharper than the insignificant sarcasm of the past.
Jiang Yichun originally wanted to repeat a year of high school, but she wanted to escape the gossip even more.
She then applied to a university in the same city as University A, hoping that she could finally attend the university of her dreams during her postgraduate studies.
She carried that worn-out pen as she stepped into the university gates, beginning a new chapter.
She actively participated in competitions, classes, exams, and student organizations, leaving her own mark in the process.
The bustling metropolis spun in her eyes. She was immersed in it, seeing towering skyscrapers and ever-burning neon lights, as well as dilapidated demolition areas and electric scooters rushing through traffic.
The sounds of car horns and noise filled her ears. She had heard the all-night singing in karaoke bars and the howling of drunkards on the streets in the early hours of the morning.
The aroma of barbecue stalls seemed to come from nowhere. She had smelled gasoline dust on the road, the delicate fragrance of perfume in high-end shopping malls, and the delicious aromas hidden in alleyways.
She came to the big city, liberated from that small world, and became one of the crowds, where life was no longer predictable.
She also gradually began to question where she came from and why she came.
The town's roots still clung to her feet, but she felt that those roots could no longer bind her.
Grandma Tian, who ran away with her daughter; the proud Qiao Maizi; Yan Yue, who pursued her dreams; and Manager An, who was successful in her career—they all came from all over the country to chase their own lives in this metropolis.
And I am one of them, too.
My efforts are perhaps never meant to prove anything to those who gossip.
She raised her hand, overturned the camera that had been mounted in front of her since childhood, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and pointed it at the world.
It is we who record the world, not the other way around.
A figure suddenly appears in the shot.
He wore glasses and a white shirt, with a slight smile playing on his lips.
He was smiling at himself.
This conman did so much to get close to me, but in the end, I still pushed him away.
This fool! His parents gave him so many good opportunities, yet he still chose to sever ties with them and work part-time and study day and night.
It's silly, it's annoying, but he chose his own future and moved forward.
Jiang Yichun felt as if he were looking in a mirror, his own reflection gradually distorting and turning into his own image.
Isn't he another version of himself?
Because, like him, she wanted to stay in this city.
I want to be free forever.
In a daze, she realized that she had neatly filled in the knowledge on the black lines.
She already possessed this knowledge, but during the nearly two months of tutoring, his simple and patient words were like rain, nourishing the knowledge that had been compressed and dried up by her.
He wasn't by her side, but she could almost hear his voice echoing in her ears.
"This problem should be solved using the substitution method."
"This is the question about exchange rates."
"Go Xiaochun, you'll definitely get into A University."
Those hands with distinct knuckles enveloped hers, guiding her to write down the answers stroke by stroke.
She flung those hands away and wrote down the answer herself.
All she needed was for him to watch from the sidelines.
Jiang Yichun wrote the last number on the exam paper and let out a long breath.
"Ding!" The bell rang, signaling the end of the exam, and her illusion shattered.
Jiang Yichun looked at his exam paper, which was filled with writing, smiled, straightened his chest, handed in the paper, and walked out of the examination room with his meal ticket from University A.
After the exams, it's time to have a good meal.
Jiang Yichun hummed a little tune and plopped down in a chair.
She still needs to stay at University A for two more days to complete her group's paper and give an interview presentation.
She has already found teammates, who are also top students from prestigious universities.
She chewed on her rice and vegetables, listening to two or three girls gossiping around her.
"Have you heard? There's a huge scandal in our college!"
Jiang Yichun paused in her chewing, and quietly moved toward the group of girls.
"Oh, you're from the School of Management, right? I've heard about you. You're a total jerk."
"His girlfriend even made a scene at the school. I heard he's dating a lot of girls there, but he's almost engaged to his girlfriend."
"Although I'm not from the School of Management, I have indeed heard of such a person, I think his name is Liu something-Yang?"
"Yes, yes, isn't he my senior? He and his girlfriend are in a long-distance relationship. I thought he was a devoted guy, always talking about his girlfriend in front of us. I never expected him to be like this!"
"And it seems that when he was trying to seduce a girl, she recorded the conversation and that's how it got exposed. He especially likes to target girls who seem obedient and have never been in a relationship."
"Tsk. Some people are just really good at pretending. This is what you call trying to cover up the truth. So what about his girlfriend? Did she cut her losses in time?"
"I heard they've already called off the engagement. I don't know much else, but I guess it's a case of cutting their losses in time."
"By the way, Sister Yan, aren't you and your boyfriend in a long-distance relationship too? He..."
"If he dares, I'll make him a eunuch right now."
"...As expected of you."
After finishing their meal, the girls gathered together, chatting and laughing, and walked towards the cafeteria entrance.
Great, this is the kind of satisfying novel about annulling engagements that I enjoy reading.
Jiang Yichun breathed a sigh of relief after listening to their conversation.
It seems that the scammer did indeed help her send the recording to Ham Bro's girlfriend.
Will that girlfriend also start a new life of her own, or turn around and fall into another relationship?
Jiang Yichun didn't know that this wasn't her life.
She had no right to judge; her only obligation was to finish the meal in front of her.
After filling his stomach, Jiang Yichun walked out of the cafeteria and his phone beeped.
It was a message from a fellow group member, informing her that the group would be dividing up the writing tasks for tonight.
Jiang Yichun replied "Received" and put his phone back in his pocket.
She took a few steps forward and then suddenly stopped.
As if struck by a sudden thought, she opened her contacts and pressed the call button on a number she hadn't dialed in a long time.
"Hello, Mom, yes, I've finished my exams, and I only have one more interview to go before I'm done."
"Okay, I'll do my best. Mom, you too. Don't overwork yourself. I'm doing fine here."
"Okay, I'll go home as soon as the summer camp results come out."
"I miss you."
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