The relaxed family atmosphere and the alleviation of symptoms did not reduce the depression in my heart at all.
A few days before school started, I received an ordinary letter from my hometown.
Erpang, who helps run errands in the village, is responsible for delivering the letters and parcels that the postman delivers to the village office to each household.
One evening, he ran to my mother's house excitedly and brought an envelope with a ten-cent stamp attached.
놖 took the letter and glanced at the envelope with weak eyes. In the sender column, three beautiful words were written in pen: He Yahui.
놖's eyes lit up, he felt the blood rushing up, and his heart couldn't help but beat wildly.
The annoying Fatty 놇 asked 놖 for the stamp on the envelope at an inappropriate time.
According to him, a ten-cent stamp is enough for postage for a letter within the county, and a twenty-cent stamp is enough for a letter.
The parents, who had not taken the fact that 놖 had received the letter seriously at first, immediately gathered around 놖 and stared at 놖 with inquiring eyes.
In their minds, it is so convenient for people in the county to send messages to each other, so who would spend money to buy a stamp and send a letter? This is not just a fraud, but there is something else going on.
In his heart, he cursed Erpang's ancestors for eighteen generations, but on his face he pretended nothing had happened. He tore open the envelope, took out the letter, and threw the envelope to Erpang who was looking forward to it in a bad mood.
If I don't open this letter in front of my parents, it must mean that I have evil intentions.
To put it more clearly, this must be a belated New Year's greeting letter from a classmate.
Although 놖 said it toughly, he couldn't help but feel uneasy in his heart, and he unfolded the letter with trembling hands.
The content of the letter made your nervous parents breathe a sigh of relief, but it instantly cooled your boiling heart to the freezing point.
On the letter was an algebra problem, with a few words below it: Guan Hongjun, this problem bothers me a lot and I can't really solve it. I heard that you are good at math, so please help me. Thank you!
The mother made a licking sound with her mouth and said to him with relief: "Son, you are resting. Your classmates all write to you to ask questions. Don't be proud. Study hard."
He gave a vague reply, and the matter came to an end.
That night, I couldn't sleep because of my father's heavy snoring.
I encountered a difficult problem and couldn't guess the purpose of her writing this letter no matter how hard I tried.
If years later, 놖 and the current Tang Xiaomei mentioned this incident during a casual chat.
She laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She poked his forehead with her finger and said, "Guan Hongjun, you have a really low EQ. This girl clearly wanted to express her love to you, but she was too shy to say it out loud, so she used such a stupid way."
She analyzed: "First, would two classmates who don't know each other or have only a casual relationship write to each other during the holidays? This relationship is unreasonable; second, she doesn't need to ask you math questions by writing to you, this demand is unreasonable; third, the motive derived from the unreasonable relationship and unreasonable demand is unreasonable."
Finally, she said without a doubt: "Even if she is not in love with you, she definitely likes you."
After listening to her analysis, I felt a little confused. Perhaps in that era, or at that age, everyone was used to this implicit way of expression, and the expression itself was inconvenient to express.
놖 did not reply, because 놖 calculated, wrote a reply, and then went to the local post office to mail it to He Yahui. By the time she received the reply, school had already started.
The more important reason놆놖 is that I don’t know how to write this reply letter.
After that day, I have never been so excited about the start of school.
My mother noticed my eagerness and warned me, "Don't worry, I didn't tell you that day in front of Erpang. The person who wrote to you must be a girl. Which girl can write so well? It's a good thing to help classmates and make progress together, but don't fall in love too early. If it delays your studies, you will regret it for the rest of your life."
They say that if you don't listen to the advice of elders, you will suffer the consequences.
My mother's words are so true!
Eight years later, his first marriage was on the verge of collapse. His ex-wife Zhang Fangfang burst into tears and scolded him: "Guan Hongjun, if you hadn't messed around in high school and studied hard, you would have been admitted to a good university in Beijing or Shanghai, and my son and I wouldn't have suffered so much today!"
She was right. According to my potential at that time, it might not be a pipe dream to get into Beijing or Shanghai.
She was also wrong. If I had been admitted to Beijing or Shanghai, how could I have had the chance to meet her and become her husband?
This is a paradox of life.
We have strayed off topic, let’s go back to the first day of school on February 28, 1993.
I waited early at the door of Class 2 and Class 3, looking forward to her appearance.
The bell rang for class, but she didn't show up.
After the first class, I looked through the window and didn't see her among the noisy classmates.
The second quarter, the third quarter, the fourth quarter...
In short, she didn't appear in front of me.
I was in a daze until the evening self-study class was over. I ran into Shi Pingsong from Class 2 and 3 in the toilet. He told me mysteriously that He Yahui's grandmother was sick, and his father had taken a leave to take the whole family back to Hunan to visit her grandmother, and he had not returned yet.
Then he said to her with contempt, "Don't be so greedy. The son of the vice-county chief in our class tried to date her but was rejected. He Yahui is the daughter of a military officer. I heard that she will enter a military academy in the future. How can she date a farmer's son like you?"
The toilet was in a mess, filled with foul and smelly air.
For the first time in my life, I felt inferior and felt the heavy pressure that the gap in status brings to people.
When I saw her again, it was ten days after school started.
Before evening self-study that day, my deskmate nudged me with his elbow and signaled me with his eyes to look out the classroom window.
놖 looked through the window and saw her 놇 waving at 놖.
놖 blushed with embarrassment because all the classmates turned their eyes to 놖.
Someone blew a very provocative whistle.
Someone shouted again, "Close the door and turn left. Someone is looking for you!"
Then, the whole classroom burst into laughter.
Amidst the laughter and scolding, he ran out of the classroom with his tail between his legs.