Chapter 89 Memories [VIP]
Chapter Summary: Pany Founder: Linzhao Gu.
School started its holiday about a week before Christmas.
Fu Xianyin's class was a large lecture, and the final exam was held in a lecture hall. All the teaching assistants went to proctor the exam, including her.
Andrew was there too. The old man sat leisurely on the podium. When he saw Fu Xianyin enter the classroom, he greeted her: "Yin, how about it? Why don't you come and spend Christmas with us this year?"
After finishing the last stroke, Fu Xianyin wiped her hands with a tissue and said, "Okay."
She spent Christmas with Andrew's family last year, and Fu Xianyin could feel that Andrew's family was genuinely good to her, rather than just making a show of inviting her.
The invigilation time was incredibly boring, so Fu Xianyin paced around the auditorium, his gaze sweeping over the students' answers.
Finally, the exam ended. Fu Xianyin was helping to organize the exam papers at the lectern, while Andrew said from the side:
“Alex is going to attend the graduation ceremony and will be back a few days later. It might snow during that time, and the flight might be delayed. He plans to take the bus back.”
Alex is Andrew's eldest son, 22 years old this year, two years younger than Fu Xianyin.
Fu Xianyin asked, "Won't the bus be delayed? And what about his luggage? Also, aren't you going to his graduation ceremony?"
Andrew shrugged and said, "We need to decorate for Christmas, so the timing doesn't work out. He can bring his own luggage back; he has his own ideas."
Fu Xianyin put the papers away and placed them in her bag, saying, "I'm going to New York to visit a friend in a couple of days. If he'd like, I can pick him up on the way."
Andrew looked at her with some surprise and said, "You've actually become enthusiastic."
Fu Xianyin has always believed in the life motto of "It's none of your business and it's none of my business," and Andrew is well aware of this.
It's not that she doesn't know how to help, it's just that she rarely offers help, especially not something casual. In the years Andrew has known her, he's hardly ever seen her be kind.
Fu Xianyin smiled and said, "It's on the way, and it's not good to eat for free."
She was referring to the Christmas trip to Andrew's house.
Andrew said, "Then I'll ask that kid for you, and you two can take turns driving it back."
Fu Xianyin smiled and said okay.
The drive from Boston to New York takes about four hours, and Fu Xianyin listened to music the whole way, driving leisurely.
The friend she met this time was a classmate she knew from her undergraduate years. After graduation, they continued their graduate studies in New York, and the two have kept in touch. The distance between New York and Boston is not far, and it is not a problem to drive back and forth on weekends.
When Zhao Wei saw Fu Xianyin, she gave her an exaggerated hug. Fu Xianyin had just finished her last exam and still had dark circles under her eyes.
Carrying her tote bag, she looked up at the sky and sighed, "Let's go, let's go eat. I've already made reservations at the restaurant. Only good food can soothe my wounded heart right now."
Fu Xianyin said, "Why are you injured again? Weren't you studying very hard?"
Zhao Wei rolled her eyes at her and said, "Reviewing diligently and reviewing well are two different things, okay, baby? Never mind, it's normal for top students not to understand these things."
Fu Xianyin just smiled.
Time wasn't in a rush, and the two strolled leisurely through the campus, chatting as they went. Fu Xuanyin looked at the university students carrying bags coming and going, and sighed:
Ah, youth.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a surprised female voice suddenly appeared beside him: "Hey, hello?"
Fu Xianyin turned her head in the direction of the sound.
The voice belonged to a fair-skinned, slender girl of short stature, with large, bright eyes. Seeing Fu Xianyin turn her head, her eyes crinkled with delight as she said:
"Hey, is that really you?"
When she said that, Fu Xianyin also felt that the face looked familiar.
But she just couldn't figure out who it was.
She hesitated before asking, "Who are you...?"
The girl said, "I'm Zhang Tong. We were on the same flight to Hong Kong Island several years ago, do you remember?"
Fu Xianyin then realized what was going on.
Zhang Tong's appearance hadn't changed much; she still had that quirky and clever look. She greeted Zhao Weiru familiarly, saying, "Are you also doing your master's at Columbia? What's your major?"
Fu Xianyin said, "I'm not at Columbia University. I'm here to visit a friend. I'm pursuing my PhD in astrophysics in Boston."
The three of them were going the same way, so they chatted as they walked.
Throughout the journey, Zhang Tong kept glancing at Fu Xianyin.
Fu Xianyin only applied a base layer and a light-colored lipstick today, her face was pale and cool, and she only wore a pair of large black-rimmed glasses.
She was wearing a down jacket and snow boots, and even her hair was casually tied up with a ballpoint pen. She looked every bit the part of a science and engineering student.
But she was still exceptionally beautiful; in just a few steps, she could feel several pairs of eyes looking at her from all around.
Long-buried memories are reopened, and the person in front of me gradually overlaps with the girl on the plane six years ago.
As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Zhang Tong blinked and asked, "Could I... gossip a little bit?"
Her eyes held a hint of tentativeness, and her expression was somewhat embarrassed, yet it also revealed a deep curiosity.
They're actually quite cute.
Fu Xianyin was amused by his cautious expression and said, "Okay."
Zhang Tong asked, "It's... that..."
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I was too embarrassed to say them.
Fu Xianyin immediately guessed what she was going to ask.
She shrugged and laid everything out:
"We broke up, many years ago."
"ah……"
Zhang Tong said, "What a pity, you two are such a good match. Wait, could it be him...?"
Fu Xianyin chuckled and said, "No, it was a peaceful breakup."
Fu Xianyin's tone was extremely natural and calm, without any emotion, as if she were an observer narrating a story that had nothing to do with her.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Tong exclaimed "Oh!" with a look of regret.
"It's a real shame."
She repeated it again.
Fu Xianyin simply smiled this time and didn't say anything.
Is it a pity?
Yes, for her it was true, but for that person it wasn't really a pity.
If I were to continue like that with her, wasting my precious youth, that would be a real pity.
Zhang Tong and she walked together for a while before parting ways, exchanging WeChat contacts before parting. After saying goodbye to Zhang Tong, Zhao Weiru suddenly turned to look at her and said, "So, what did you talk about with Zhang Tong when you first met her?"
Fu Xianyin said, "I ran into him on the way to Hong Kong Island to take the SAT and we chatted for a bit."
Zhao Wei was speechless: "Yes or No, give me an 'or'."
I don't know if it's because I just finished talking with Zhang Tong, but part of my heart started getting entangled with memories because of the conversation.
Fu Xianyin was momentarily dazed after hearing these words.
She could almost see that late autumn day, with the boy looking down at her, his eyes filled with a helpless smile.
He blocked the blinding sun, and his lazy voice drifted into her ears:
When asked "Yes" or "No," you replied with "or"?
Fu Xianyin, how did you get 139 in Chinese?
She blinked, pushing back the memories that were flooding back, and said softly, "I met Zhang Tong on my way to Hong Kong Island to take the SAT. He had taken leave from school and bought a plane ticket to Hong Kong Island without saying a word. Zhang Tong thought we were together, so he chatted with me. I told him we weren't together yet, and that I had a crush on him."
There was no warning in the switching between "he" and "she" in this passage, and the references were not very clear, but Zhao Weiru understood all the meaning from this string of "ta".
She looked at Fu Xianyin, her feelings becoming increasingly complex.
Zhao Weiru met Fu Xianyin when she first enrolled in university. The two attended some classes together. Zhao Weiru was a business major, and even the simplest calculus was incredibly difficult for her.
At that time, Zhao Wei shamelessly asked Fu Xianyin for her notes and homework answers, and the two gradually became acquainted.
Of course, the term "familiar" is only defined by Zhao Wei herself.
At that time, Fu Xianyin's condition was frighteningly bad.
She was completely devoid of life, her eyes were empty, and she spent all her time either in class or studying in the library. She had absolutely no social interaction, not even the most basic human social interaction. Fu Xianyin hardly spoke at that time, as if she were isolated from the world, living like a walking corpse.
Even more frightening was that during her first semester of freshman year, Zhao Wei watched helplessly as Fu Xianyin lost 20 pounds.
She was already quite thin, and after losing 20 pounds, she was basically skin and bones.
After the first semester final exams, Zhao Weiru insisted on taking Fu Xianyin back to her dormitory and staying with her for the night before taking her to see a doctor the next day.
Because she genuinely felt that, given Fu Xianyin's current trajectory, she might one day die silently and without a trace.
In particular, she herself didn't seem to have a very strong will to survive.
Later, Fu Xianyin's condition improved slightly, and Zhao Weiru gradually realized that Fu Xianyin's poor condition seemed to be due to a relationship.
She genuinely cursed that boy for a while back then, but every time, Fu Xianyin would defend him.
At that time, Zhao Weiru thought Fu Xianyin was love-struck, but it wasn't until later, when the two became more familiar, that Zhao Weiru finally learned the truth.
However, she still has to piece together some details from Fu Xianyin's fragmented words.
Take today, for example.
The car was warm inside, and with the seat heaters on, Zhao Wei felt all the chill on her body completely dissipate.
She turned to look at Fu Xianyin.
Fu Xianyin remained calm, seemingly unaffected by the conversation and memories she had just shared.
Fu Xianyin spent four or five days in New York, and except for the day of Alex's graduation ceremony, she spent most of her time with Zhao Weiru.
Graduation ceremonies are all pretty much the same.
When Fu Xianyin graduated, she was still a confused and somewhat bewildered girl. She didn't feel much about the graduation ceremony and just thought it was a formality.
Now that it's Alex's graduation ceremony, Fu Xianyin is able to truly feel the sense of graduation.
She dutifully took a few photos of Alex and sent them to Andrew. Then she watched Alex laugh and joke with his friends, and saw them agree to drink until they dropped that night.
Fu Xianyin didn't join their gathering. Her return trip was scheduled for the afternoon of the following day, so she could spend some more time with Zhao Weiru today.
The two of them just strolled around the city.
As Fu Xianyin walked into a record store, she looked up and suddenly asked a question out of the blue:
What's today's date?
Zhao Wei asked, "December 20th? What's wrong?"
Fu Xianyin sighed softly and said, "It's nothing."
She simply felt that memory is actually something much more honest than the body.
Looking at the dazzling array of records, Zhao Wei casually remarked, "Records are actually quite suitable as birthday gifts."
Fu Xianyin did not speak.
Her memory had already provided the answer for her.
She didn't actually know why these memories appeared so frequently.
Shouldn't memories be sealed away somewhere forever as time goes by?
Then it slowly fades, slowly disappears, and then new memories slowly fill in this blank space.
It goes on and on, in a never-ending cycle.
However, it now seems that some memories do not follow this pattern.
Perhaps it's because they are special enough, or perhaps it's because they are important enough.
They won't fade or disappear. Instead, they firmly occupy a small corner, quietly lurking, waiting for the slightest spark to trigger them to emerge with their claws out.
Fu Xianyin didn't know whether she liked it or hated it.
All she knew was that every time these memories surfaced, she felt a strange sensation in her heart.
It was a feeling of loss mixed with excitement, something indescribable. You could only feel your heart pounding, slowly filling those dark, damp places where the sun couldn't reach.
That's a different kind of satisfaction.
It wasn't a feeling of lingering comfort or warmth; it was a sense that the area was filled, but upon closer inspection, all that grew was a dense thicket of weeds.
It is a creature that lives only in dark swamps.
Enveloped in filth and soaked in silt, it took root here.
On the way back, Fu Xianyin drove to the school to pick up Alex.
Fu Xianyin initially thought he didn't have much luggage, since he had planned to take the bus back by himself. However, when she saw a pile of boxes next to her, Fu Xianyin's eyebrows still showed signs of distress.
She pointed to the pile of things, somewhat incredulously, and said, "You have so much stuff and you're planning to take the bus back? Are you planning to kill all the passengers on the bus to make room for your luggage?"
Alex smiled a little sheepishly: "I was originally planning to send it back, but I thought about it and realized your car might be able to fit it..."
Fu Xianyin said expressionlessly, "Then you can stuff it yourself. Also, my bottom line is that you are not allowed to use straps to tie this pile of things to the roof of my car."
Alex felt a moment of disappointment.
He looked at Fu Xianyin with a pitiful expression.
His clear, azure eyes stared intently at her, like a sea of jelly.
But Fu Xianyin remained unmoved.
She lifted her tire and urged, "Hurry up and move it."
The entire space of the off-road vehicle was utilized, with even the back seats crammed full. There were only two seats in the entire vehicle, one for the driver and one for the front passenger, and even two packages were placed on the floor in front of the front passenger seat.
He probably felt a little embarrassed, because after only an hour of driving, Alex said he wanted to take over.
Fu Xianyin didn't stand on ceremony with him and switched places with him at the next service area. She then took out the project proposal from the passenger seat and started reading it.
Since I've decided to go on this business trip, I need to know as much detail as possible about the other company.
The project proposal mainly consists of the experimental schedule, which Fu Xianyin did herself. Apart from Andrew, no one knows it better than her.
She quickly flipped to the company section at the back, looking at the project proposal while searching for company information on her laptop.
However, after reading only a few lines, Fu Xianyin was stunned.
It was clearly written in black ink on white paper.
pany Founder:
Linzhao Gu.
[Author's Note]
A few new volume titles have been added, and they seem to quite reflect Yin Yin's emotional journey at these different stages.
Transitional chapters are really tiring, sob sob. My already low number of favorites has dropped even further. For those who leave comments on these chapters, there will be red envelopes! Red envelopes will be given out for comments until the reunion!
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