Chapter 19: Spring Day Green (2) This world is not uniform, but...
"Why are you sitting there without saying anything?" Lin Xia said angrily, "I almost didn't see you."
He Chuan smiled and said, "I didn't mean to call you, I just wanted to meet you if I could."
"Didn't you say you had something to do?"
"It's not urgent."
Then he was here just to wait for her.
Lin Xia was in a very happy mood and couldn't help but smile.
Then she suddenly felt annoyed. Her outfit today wasn't good at all. She hadn't brought many clothes to Beijing to begin with, and she'd been stuck in her studio painting every day, barely having the time or energy to dress up. She'd just thrown on anything and gone out that morning. Luckily, she'd washed her hair, but it hadn't been trimmed in ages, and she'd tied it into a ponytail before it was completely dry. It must be out of shape by now.
After not seeing each other for two years, she actually appeared in front of him in such a sloppy state. How disgusting!
She had a lot of questions to ask him, but this was not the place to talk, so the two of them walked side by side to the subway station.
"When did you come to Beijing?" She hadn't even heard.
"Last week."
"How long?"
"I'll leave after Uncle Lin is discharged from the hospital."
"So where are you staying? A hotel?"
"They rented a house in Haidian District."
It seems that the dispute in the ward just now has already had an answer. In fact, Lin Xia thinks it would be more convenient for Lin Haisheng to stay in Beijing for recuperation, but Lin Xuedong's suggestion should also have his reasons. Lin Xia doesn't quite understand it, and this is not something she needs to understand.
"Why haven't you come back to Wangchun in the past two years?" She complained. "You didn't even come back for Chinese New Year."
"Hong Kong has long summers and no winter, so the summer vacation is very long, more than three months, but the winter vacation is very short, only a dozen days, sometimes not even in time for the Chinese New Year. It's too troublesome to go back and forth."
This was the first time Lin Xia heard of this. In Northeast China, it was the opposite. The winter vacation was long and the summer vacation was short. She had always taken it for granted since she was a child.
"What about summer vacation? It's so long, why haven't you come back yet?"
He Chuan patiently explained to her: "The school will have some summer courses. The courses are relatively simple and you can take them for credits. The cost-effectiveness is very high."
What a perfect answer from a good student. Lin Xia was puzzled, but she could only accept it. She believed that others felt the same way.
"So, how have you been these past two years?" she asked softly. "Is it fun studying in Hong Kong?"
"I can't describe it in terms of whether it was fun or not," he laughed. "There were some difficulties, but also some gains. Some things were expected, but some were unexpected. I can only say that overall it was okay."
She hesitated slightly. "Why do I feel like your accent has become a little... strange?"
"Yeah?"
He Chuan was stunned, then a little embarrassed, "Maybe it's because most of the classmates and teachers around me are locals and they all speak Cantonese. After listening to them for a long time, my accent has changed unconsciously."
"Is it like in the movies?" Lin Xia was very interested. "Then can you understand it now? Can you speak it?"
"I understand it, but it's not as good as speaking it."
Lin Xia wanted him to tell her, but He Chuan was even more embarrassed. Even when she begged him, his ears started to turn slightly red, but he still refused to say anything. He had thin skin, and it would often turn red when he got excited.
"Don't talk about me, let's talk about you. Why did you come to Beijing?" He Chuan forcibly changed the subject.
Lin Xia snorted lightly and said, "Forget it, let him go."
"I came to Beijing for training, didn't you know?"
“No one told me.”
Yes, if they wanted to know about each other, they could only pay attention to the words spoken by the adults, and in the eyes of the adults, their relationship was far from the point where they needed to know each other's movements specifically.
"I came here in June, and it's been over two months," Lin Xia told He Chuan. "To be honest, before that, I hadn't thought I'd come to Beijing."
Art students typically go on intensive training trips during the first half of their senior year, seeking concentrated training at a higher-level studio to sharpen their skills and prepare for the art exams. Lin Xia's friends who had studied art all along had mostly trained in Wangchun, and she initially assumed she'd follow suit, at best heading to the provincial capital or a nearby city. Then, in May of this year, Zhao Qianyi suddenly told her she wanted to go to Beijing. The story went something like this: a relative of a friend of Li Wen's husband's friend, or a relative of a friend of a friend, had gone to Beijing. It was said that the teachers at that studio were all former teachers from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University working part-time. They were more familiar with the art exams, offering higher-level, more targeted instruction. Each class had a significant number of students admitted. While the cost was higher than in Wangchun or the provincial capital, the results were unparalleled. Zhao Qianyi immediately decided to send Lin Xia.
Lin Xia had no say, but Lin Xuedong argued with Zhao Qianyi about it. Lin Xia had never lived on campus, never been away from her parents, and he was worried about her going so far away alone, without even knowing anyone. Zhao Qianyi was adamant about this, believing that only those who endure hardship can achieve success. Studying art at Wangchun was a waste of talent, and no matter how hard Lin Xia worked, she wouldn't achieve anything.
The final result is obvious. This disagreement concerning Lin Xia's future ended with Zhao Qianyi's victory.
So Lin Xia took a long leave of absence from school for half a year, despite the murderous gaze of her class teacher Lu Hong, and came to Beijing alone.
Of course, Lin Haisheng later suddenly fell ill and came to Beijing for medical treatment, which was a development no one had expected.
After hearing this, He Chuan said, "Your mother has a long-term vision, and her choice is right. Although coming to Beijing for training will be hard and tiring, you will definitely gain a lot."
"I knew you would stand on my mother's side," Lin Xia sighed, "Now I know she is right."
There is a huge difference between the studio in Beijing and Wangchun's studio.
We chatted all the way and before we knew it, we had arrived at the subway station.
He Chuan asked, "Where are you going? Back to the studio?"
Lin Xia shook her head. She hesitated for a moment, then mustered up the courage to speak.
"Actually, there's a place I really want to go, but I don't dare go alone. Today is a good opportunity. Can you go with me?"
He Chuan agreed to her: "Where are you going?"
"I told you not to laugh at me."
"How could that be?"
Lin Xia took a deep breath and said word by word:
"I want to go to Tsinghua University."
.
Beijing is very big, much bigger than Wangchun. Being in it, you won’t have any idea about the comparison of quantitative data. However, Lin Xia’s most intuitive experience is that no matter where you go, it is so far away and a waste of time. One bus or subway stop is very long, almost two or three stops as long as Wangchun.
Although the Cancer Hospital and Tsinghua University were both located in Haidian District, they were still quite a distance apart. Back then, without smartphones or navigation systems, the only way to get around in an unfamiliar city was to ask for directions. This was He Chuan's first time in Beijing, too. He and Lin Xia asked a few helpful passersby on the street, bought a Beijing map at a newsstand, and then spent some time studying the route map at the subway station. They ultimately decided to take the subway to Wudaokou.
"When I was in Wangchun, I only thought that getting into a top university would be great, and getting into a key university would be even better. Everyone around me thought the same, aiming to get into the fine arts department of a provincial university or a normal university. But after arriving in Beijing, I found that the new students in my studio had different ideas. They wanted to get into Tsinghua University, Central China University of Art, the United States, and at the very least, Beijing Forestry University, Shandong Academy of Fine Arts."
On the subway, the two of them sat side by side in a corner with few people. Lin Xia whispered to He Chuan,
"When I was at Wangchun, I was the best artist in the studio. But now, I'm just average in the class. They're all very good, better than me. I realized I was just a frog in a well. The world is so big, and there's always someone better than you. If I hadn't come to Beijing, I would never have understood this. There's a difference between reading in books and experiencing it firsthand."
The two months of intensive training in Beijing had a profound impact on Lin Xia, even more so than the shock of being surrounded by academic elites in her second year of high school. Subconsciously, she didn't consider academics her primary focus. She was an art student, and drawing was her trump card, her true strength, her strength, the source of her confidence. But now, she suddenly realized that the things she had always been so proud of weren't as impressive as they seemed. Compared to those exceptional classmates, she was still far behind.
"Will you feel the same way when you go to the Chinese University of Hong Kong?"
Lin Xia looked up and stared into He Chuan's eyes, as if seeking some kind of recognition.
"Yes," He Chuan said softly. "Compared to Wangchun, compared to the mainland, Hong Kong is a very different city. We'd barely seen even the big cities in the mainland, so suddenly arriving in Hong Kong was dazzling. Some of my classmates came from incredibly wealthy families, drove sports cars to school, lived in luxury homes on Victoria Peak, and frequently jetted around the world on vacation. Some were exceptional, speaking several foreign languages, playing the piano, riding horses, winning numerous international honors and awards, and publishing numerous professional papers. Those were the chosen ones. Compared to them, I was nothing. I couldn't speak English well, knew almost no computers, and nearly made a fool of myself on my first elevator ride. It was impossible not to feel frustrated. But there were also classmates whose circumstances were even worse off than mine, with families of seven or eight crammed into caged houses of just over ten square meters, who took years of exams before entering university in their thirties. This world is full of differences, and as you said, only personal experience can make you understand."
They came from the same city, the same small county in the northeastern border area, and even attended the same high school. They had similar circles of relatives and parents. Now, they had each left Wangchun and entered the outside world. She had just begun to get a glimpse of the world, and he had a basic understanding of it. They shared the same feelings.
"Yes, the world is uneven." Lin Xia murmured.
China is too big, with too many people. The regional gap and the development difference between the north and the south are too huge. You can't feel it at all if you don't leave the city where you grew up and live elsewhere.
She hadn't eaten at KFC until she was sixteen, and hadn't taken the subway until she was eighteen. These were things that many people took for granted, or even looked down upon, but she had to work very hard and be very lucky to get them.
The gap has been blatant from the very beginning.
"So what would you choose to do?"
Should I give up on myself and feel sorry for myself, or should I catch up and keep moving forward?
"Many things are destined at birth, such as talent, family background, and resources. The college entrance examination is not the final end; it is the beginning of a new journey. I cannot climb over those mountains or fill those ravines, but I want to try my best to climb higher and go further. Even if one day I am really tired, give up, and stop, I will not regret it."
The boy's eyes are as bright as ever, as firm as ever, like a lighthouse that shines brightly in a foggy harbor, giving people endless direction and strength.
Lin Xia suddenly laughed and nodded vigorously:
"Yes, I think so."
That's why she wanted to go to Tsinghua. They could all aim for a place in Tsinghua, so why couldn't she? It was just a dream, and it didn't cost any money, so why couldn't she have it? Lu Hong was certain she wouldn't be able to get into a good university, that there was no future for her, but she was determined to make her mistake! What if she actually did get in? Everyone would be shocked, wouldn't they?
Maybe they have nothing, but at least they are young and have unlimited possibilities. It is natural for young people to dream!
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