Chapter 102 That summer, the cicadas were singing...
That summer, the sound of cicadas echoed under the layers of lush green trees, and the air was filled with the warm and moist fragrance of leaves.
The campus of Rongcheng No.1 High School was empty for a long time during the summer vacation, and the ground was covered with fallen leaves.
Ye Yuying was returning books to the school library when she met Lin Zhiyan on the empty street; they had arranged to meet beforehand.
In my memory, Lin Zhiyan always looks like he's wearing a school uniform, but even with his high looks, he doesn't look as good in casual clothes.
He was wearing a sky-blue shirt, his back was thin, and as always, he was clean and composed.
On the day the results were released, I heard that he had successfully entered one of the top universities in the province, and his admission to the best university in the country was a foregone conclusion.
"Ye Yuying".
A deep voice called out in her ear. She stepped on the fallen leaves and saw Lin Zhiyan's unusual figure, which made her feel a little unfamiliar for a moment.
For a brief moment, she looked at the person in front of her and imagined what she would be like after the college entrance examination, whether she would also be so youthful and vibrant.
She is full of longing for herself two years from now.
"Congratulations on graduating." She spoke, but her voice was softer than expected, carrying an indescribable sense of emotion.
Lin Zhiyan nodded slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips. He carried an old wooden box in his hand, as if it were just something he was casually holding, without any grand meaning attached to it.
His cold expression softened slightly when he was facing her: "This is a gift for you."
He placed the cuckoo clock on a bench by the roadside and brushed away the fallen leaves on it with his hand.
The wooden clock body gleamed with a warm luster in the sunlight, carrying a faint, deep woody fragrance unique to antique objects.
"A gift?" She was puzzled and even at a loss for words. "You're graduating, I should be the one giving you a gift."
"I don't care about these things."
Lin Zhiyan smiled but didn't explain much: "It's a cuckoo clock, it must be quite old. I just fixed it recently and gave it to you."
Ye Yuying was even more confused. She reached out and touched the worn edge of the cuckoo clock, only to see a hint of tenderness hidden deep in his eyes.
Why did you give me this?
"Consider it a memento." Lin Zhiyan paused, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately just shook his head. "After all, I don't have many friends, so there should be something to commemorate our friendships."
He stopped speaking after he finished.
Ye Yuying held the cuckoo clock, which struck the hour precisely on time.
The hands of the cuckoo clock pointed exactly to the hour, the mechanical gears clicked, and a small wooden cuckoo sprang out from a hidden compartment, making a clear cuckoo sound.
The sound seemed particularly empty in the summer schoolyard, like an echo coming from an ancient place.
Ye Yuying was slightly taken aback, then laughed out loud: "So cute."
She lowered her head and gently touched the cuckoo with her finger. The wooden bird swayed slightly, and when its call ended, it retreated back into the clock, the hidden compartment closed, and everything returned to calm.
Lin Zhiyan stood beside her, watching the faint curve of her eyes caused by a smile, and his expression instantly became very quiet.
They sat side by side on a bench in the courtyard. A summer breeze blew through the gardenia bushes, carrying a faint fragrance.
"What are your plans for the future?" Lin Zhiyan asked.
Ye Yuying paused for a moment, then thought for a moment before answering, "Shouldn't I be asking you this question?"
Her voice was soft, tinged with a hint of confusion. But after a moment, she pursed her lips and slowly said, "If I could, I'd like to go to North America."
North America.
She had almost no concept of overseas, but Cheng Mingdu's academic journey, his photos, his glory, and the things he had mentioned were all on that distant continent.
That was a reason she kept deep in her heart, but she never told anyone.
Lin Zhiyan looked at her, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. He hadn't originally planned to go abroad, but at that moment, he suddenly felt an impulse: if she really went far away, should he follow her?
“North America…is indeed quite nice.” He said it casually, his brow furrowing slightly for a moment, and his voice trailing off softly, as if he were deliberately hiding something.
After a brief silence, she looked up and asked, "What about you? You'll probably go to... Tsinghua University?"
Lin Zhiyan gazed at the quiet tree-lined path in the distance, a slight smile playing on his lips: "I was originally going to go, but I might reconsider."
The chirping of cicadas rose and fell among the branches and leaves, while the rustling of the wind through the grass came from afar.
The events that followed that day were no longer vivid in Ye Yuying's memory.
I only remember that the sun was blazing that day, dappling the ground through the tree canopy, and the shadows falling on me were exceptionally gentle.
She could still remember the woody scent of the cuckoo clock and the sweet, refreshing fragrance of gardenias in the air long afterward.
She never had such a confused and melancholy summer again.
Summer vacation ended, and Ye Yuying entered her second year of high school.
Shortly after the start of the semester, she received a message from Lin Zhiyan, who was already on the streets of Times Square in New York.
Unexpectedly, he went to North America without saying a word.
However, Ye Yuying did not know at the time that taking the path of German would actually take her further away from North America. In fact, she never set foot on that place she had casually mentioned again.
After the new semester started, the English teacher disappeared without a trace, and was replaced by an older teacher who had a very pure American accent, almost indistinguishable from the recording.
Her grades began to slowly improve. Because she was following the German language route, she no longer had to struggle with English, and learning each subject became much easier.
The teachers gradually discovered that this quiet girl had an astonishing talent for mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
She has a strong comprehension ability, never loses focus in class, and can keep up with the pace almost without needing extra help.
Her confidence has finally returned, little by little.
At the same time, the physical education teacher approached her: "Ye Yuying, the city's track and field competition is short of people. I heard that you are a student with sports expertise. Would you like to participate?"
The long-missed playground, the long-missed running track. She tightened her shoelaces once more and stood on the starting line.
"On your marks—get set!"
The starting gun fired, and the wind whistled past her ears. Her heart found its familiar rhythm in the wind again, and every step felt like a pursuit of freedom, exhilarating and unrestrained.
At the moment of the finish line, she crossed the finish line.
She had been away from training for a year, but she still won the city-level amateur group without any difficulty.
A cheer erupted from the playground.
Ye Yuying lowered her head and gasped for breath, sweat sliding down her cheeks. She finally remembered how to smile.
Her victories on the track and field made her name known throughout the campus.
"That's her, the girl who runs really fast."
"I heard he's a top science student, no wonder he got into No. 1 High School."
Ye Yuying became one of the few people who could balance her studies and sports. She didn't deliberately show off, but this made her more noticeable.
Some people were envious, some were jealous, but she had learned not to care too much.
Despite her busy academic schedule, she found her former teacher, Mr. Yang, and continued training in her spare time. She also participated in some professional competitions when time allowed, and won first place in all of them.
She could sense Professor Yang's complex feelings. Professor Yang still knew that her talent had not diminished, but if she maintained her current grades, she should be able to reach the halls of academia in the distant future.
Therefore, although Teacher Yang felt deeply regretful, she supported her decision.
Before the end of her second year of high school, her athletic performance returned to its peak, and she was able to beat Sun Ying in almost every competition.
At first, the two were like oil and water, but after a competition, they shook hands and made peace.
From then on, Ye Yuying gained a sincere friend.
Sun Ying attended a sports school. When she wasn't training, she would come to Rongcheng No. 1 High School to see Ye Yuying, carrying two cups of iced milk tea. The two of them loved to sit next to the school's football field and watch people play football.
"Aren't sports schools supposed to have good physiques on average? Can you appreciate the level of sports at our school?" Ye Yuying asked, tilting her head.
Sun Ying bluntly stated: "Abdominal muscles are the one thing sports schools have in abundance, but..."
"I like abs that show intelligence." The moment she finished speaking, she noticed someone dribbling the ball into the penalty area, shouted, and stood up, megaphone-shaped with her hands, yelling, "Great opportunity! Shoot!"
Sure enough, the ball went in!
At that moment, the atmosphere in the entire venue was ignited.
Sun Ying was completely carefree, almost spilling her milk tea, and was so excited that she was jumping on the ground with her toes.
Ye Yuying couldn't help but smile, her eyes crinkling: "It's like you're playing football."
Sun Ying plopped back down, putting the straw in her mouth: "What do you know? Watching is the most enjoyable. When you're working up a sweat, you don't have time to appreciate this kind of atmosphere."
Ye Yuying turned her head to the side, but a faint emotion flashed in her eyes, as if she also felt some empathy.
"Ye Yuying, are you really not planning to pursue a professional career in the future?" Sun Ying suddenly asked, her tone unusually serious.
Ye Yuying paused for a moment, then smiled, her voice as soft as the wind: "I don't plan to. My path should be different."
Sun Ying didn't press further, but took a deep sip of her milk tea, as if swallowing her regret. "Talent is something that's really a matter of some people having too much and others having too little..."
The next second, she smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll treat my opponents as your shadows when I compete in the future."
Ye Yuying raised an eyebrow: "Are you going to hold a grudge all the time?"
“Of course.” Sun Ying laughed heartily. “My motto in life is—I can’t let Ye Yuying outshine me for nothing.”
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.
The lights of the campus on a summer night cast long shadows of the two girls sitting side by side on the edge of the basketball court. Their laughter seemed to be carried away by the wind, but after circling around, it settled into their hearts.
She often thought of Ji Zi afterward, and she was still a little afraid of this precious friendship, worried that it would end as miserably as it had with Ji Zi.
She wondered if Ji Zi would send her a message using her new phone number to ask how she was doing.
Unfortunately, she never saw Ji Zi again.
*
During the summer vacation after my second year of high school, the school organized a study trip to a nature camp in another province.
The mountain forest was cool and refreshing, with a babbling brook. Beside the campsite was an extremely ancient dry well, next to which stood a century-old tree, planted behind an ancient temple, with a thick trunk and lush foliage.
Legend has it that if you make a wish while facing the ancient well, it will come true.
Ye Yuying sneered inwardly; every tourist attraction that tries to make money uses the same excuse.
You throw coins into those wishing wells during the day and retrieve them at night.
"Wow, how romantic!" Lin Manyin exclaimed from the side.
Ye Yuying glanced at her. "Seriously? You believe that?"
Lin Manyin wrote: "I hope my family is healthy, and I hope I can get into the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University."
Zhou Yi wrote stroke by stroke: "I hope to become a football manager in the future."
Ye Yuying sat in the corner, holding a transparent glass bottle in her hands, lost in thought.
After Lin Manyin finished writing, she came over to urge her, "Yuying, won't you make a wish?"
Ye Yuying casually stuffed the bottle into her pocket, got up to go swing, and said, "No, I don't believe in this."
In the evening, she came to the tree alone, glanced at the dark, dry well, and threw the bottle from her pocket into it.
Inside the bottle was a note she had written during the day. On the front, she wrote, "Get into a good university." This was the most ordinary and appropriate wish for someone of her status.
But on the back, she secretly wrote three words:
Cheng Mingdu.
She wrote in such small a size that only she could see it.
Hearing the sound of the bottle hitting the bottom, her heart trembled slightly.
"...This wish will never come true."
She looked up at the large banyan tree with its swaying branches and leaves, her heart filled with tension.
The secret of youth was thus thrown into a dry well unknown to anyone.
The summer breeze blew through the valley and across the campfire at the campsite.
Ye Yuying sat on the grass, watching the flickering flames, her eyes clear and bright.
She knew she would face many more challenges in her life.
But at this moment, she regained a brief period of peace, having achieved a level of performance she was satisfied with both in the classroom and on the track.
She never looked at that dry well again, but writing down that name became the most secret footnote to that youthful period.
The future is far away, and she doesn't know where she will end up.
But at least this summer, she was both anxious and expectant, hoping to grow up quickly, to the point where she could see him without having to strain her neck to look up.
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Author's Note: I highly recommend my upcoming novel, "Black Domination," a work I've been working on since the beginning. Please add it to your favorites! The synopsis is as follows:
Five years ago, she trembled under Xiao Hanqi's control, and that memory became the deepest fear in her heart.
From that moment on, she vowed to never share the same sky with this man.
She believed that Xiao Hanqi's desire to dominate was ingrained in his bones, an innate aura of a superior.
But during the years he disappeared, her preferences and identity completely reversed—
She was no longer the submissive girl who was at everyone's mercy, but the unattainable dream girl in everyone's eyes.
Everyone had to obediently call her "sister" in front of her.
Especially in that enclosed space, she is the true master.
She had been waiting for that moment—
She waited for Xiao Hanqi to return to China, and for him to stand before her again.
She wanted to make the man who had once subdued her kneel at her feet, begging for mercy.
Until one day, she pushed open that door—
And that man who always looked down on her actually put a collar around her neck right in front of her...
[Female lead is not male virgin; male lead acts like a dog for love; author's insane work]
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