Chapter 997 Lian Dong (extra)
Long Liandong: I suddenly remembered something. Do you remember at your birthday party, I gave you a phone number? I wanted you to call me.
Lu Yuanqiu: Really? What year? When was I five?
Long Liandong: Never mind, it's nothing, it's not important. I just suddenly remembered to ask.
...
1998.
winter.
"Comrade, she is only four years old. In this year, you have arranged so many courses for her, including painting, swimming, piano, violin, dance, and so many commercials."
"She keeps her 24 hours a day fully occupied."
"Let alone a four-year-old child like her, even we adults couldn't handle it."
"Ah, I hadn't thought of that..."
"Then, doctor... was her screaming at the cameras on set yesterday and refusing to cooperate also due to psychological resistance to all of this?" the young man at the desk continued to ask.
"She's resistant to the camera? Is it because she didn't make the expression you wanted or pose the way you wanted that she got criticized?"
The young man remained silent in the face of the female doctor from the "Child Psychology Department's" question.
Because that's exactly how his wife always treated the children; if they made a mistake, they had to accept criticism, even though he couldn't bear to watch most of the time.
But his wife said that children should be educated like this from a young age. After all, their generation is already very fortunate. People in the past couldn't even afford to eat. Now that they have such good resources, how can they waste them?
You'll regret it if you live comfortably now.
The young man lowered his head slightly, his expression somewhat complicated. He had even kept it a secret from his wife when he brought his daughter out to see the doctor this time.
Because my daughter hasn't spoken for many days, she does whatever I ask her to do, so obedient that she seems to have no soul of her own, like a piece of wood.
But when she was shooting the advertisement yesterday, she screamed loudly in front of the camera, her voice so sharp it seemed to pierce eardrums. His wife said it was just a child throwing a tantrum, but he felt something was wrong.
"Did she attend kindergarten? She should be in the middle class at this age," the female doctor continued.
"No... We have hired an all-around tutor to teach her one-on-one at home. We've never let her go out."
"Uh, forgive my ignorance... what do tutors teach?"
"The mentor is proficient in art, etiquette, and sports, and focuses on cultivating children's personal abilities and temperament..." the young man replied, looking up.
The female doctor suddenly felt like laughing, then confirmed, "So... you mean, during her innocent and carefree youth, she had almost no contact with children her own age?"
“That’s how it is.” The young man swallowed hard, already starting to doubt himself. “My wife says that this will cause him to learn some bad habits from other children that he can’t shake off. After all, one is influenced by one’s company, and we can hardly predict what kind of people the other children’s parents are like…”
"Actually, Dongdong was very well-behaved and normal before, especially obedient and polite, but recently..."
"Sigh." The female doctor sighed.
She got up from her seat, walked half a circle around, and squatted down next to the girl.
The girl sitting in the chair kept her eyes on her, looking down and meeting the female doctor's gaze.
"Little friend, what's your name?" the female doctor asked softly.
As she got closer, she couldn't help but sigh.
The child is so beautiful, with such big eyes. Not only are the pupils clear, but the black and white are also distinct, like a finely crafted porcelain doll.
The clothes she was wearing were also very exquisite. She looked so well-behaved sitting in the chair. Her two short legs were dangling in the air, and her little hands were placed on her knees in the exact same position. Her shoes were small and delicate, and she didn't swing her legs like other children. Her sitting posture was as if she had been tied to the chair with a rope in a fixed position. She was so perfect that there was no flaw in her posture.
It's a standard situation, but it also makes people feel sorry for her.
She remained silent and expressionless.
She showed neither affection nor fear, as if the end of the world couldn't stir the slightest emotion on her face.
"How old are you?" the female doctor asked again, touching her hand with concern.
The silence remained the same.
The female doctor stood up, turned to look at the young man behind her, and stated her diagnosis:
"Mr. Long, this is most likely a psychologically triggered silence, a result of long-term stress."
...
"Long Zhijie, what's wrong with you? You actually took her to see a doctor? Do you think your daughter is sick?!"
“That female doctor is the one who’s sick. What do you mean by being silent? Dongdong is just being stubborn with us. We’ve all been this age, can’t you see that? Bring her back right now! The dance teacher will be here in ten minutes.”
After hanging up the phone, the young man took his daughter's hand and went outside the hospital. He looked up and saw snowflakes falling from the sky.
In February, Lucheng experienced its second snowfall of the winter.
Long Zhijie squatted down in front of his daughter, touched her soft little face, and asked gently, "Dongdong, what do you want? Daddy will buy it for you."
The little girl stared into her father's eyes because her mother had told her that when talking to someone, you should look them in the eye; it's basic politeness.
But her attention was irresistibly drawn to the snowflakes falling beside her.
"I want my grandma."
Grandma is gone.
“I want Grandma…” She stared at the snowflakes, repeating the sentence mechanically and emotionlessly.
Grandma once told her that Grandma would come back every winter, and every snowflake falling from the sky would be Grandma transformed.
So this winter, when the first snow fell, she happily ran outside, caught the snowflakes in her hands, brought them to her lips, and whispered expectantly to the snowflakes, "Grandma, come save me!"
In the past, after saying this, Grandma would appear and hold her in her arms.
But this time, when she brought the snowflakes to her ear, the beautiful snowflakes did not respond, but melted into a pool of lifeless water in her palm.
Undeterred, she caught an even larger snowflake in her palm and whispered expectantly, "Grandma, please come and save me!"
The snowflakes wouldn't listen and melted again.
After repeating this several times, she walked back into the house dejectedly.
Grandma is lying.
Long Liandong looked away from the snowflakes. Now, when she saw snowflakes, she no longer had the desire to reach out and catch them, but she still couldn't help but think of that kind old man.
That was the only person who could possibly appear to save her.
"Let's go home and have our dance class first."
The little girl did not respond and obediently let the man lead her forward.
On the ground covered with a thin layer of snowflakes, there were two rows of slightly messy large footprints and two rows of very neat small footprints that seemed to follow a fixed pattern. The goose feather-like snowflakes slowly drifted down onto the small footprints and soon gently smoothed the ground back up.
...
Four-year-old Long Liandong longs for someone to appear and save her from her dire situation.
She lived a painful life like a puppet on a string.
A few days later, Grandpa, who had been living in the northern part of the city for many years, finally returned home.
Grandpa is very busy, and she is very busy too; they can only see each other a handful of times each day.
However, she still prefers to be with her grandfather, not only because he smells like her grandmother, but also because he never reminds her what she hasn't done yet.
On February 23rd, Long Liandong was woken up by the nanny at 5:30 in the morning, and it took her nearly an hour just to pick out and try on clothes.
Then comes hairstyling.
The nanny told her that she was going to a birthday party today, so she had to dress up very formally.
"Remember to contact the teacher after you get back from the lunch banquet and make up for the etiquette class you missed this morning."
"Contact her early, she has to learn the saxophone at 2:30."
"I need to take her out at 3:30 to meet the photographer I arranged to meet yesterday. Remember to have her change into that purple dress and wear the blue headband."
The mother, also dressed in her finest attire, appeared at the door, tying her hair up as she casually reminded the nanny.
The nanny turned her head: "Madam, Miss got up too early today. Shouldn't you let her take a nap?"
"There's nothing I can do, I don't have time today." The woman at the door shook her head helplessly. She was about to leave when her eyes flickered, and she turned back, her gaze fixed on the headboard of the bedroom.
Long Lian Dong, who had been on edge, immediately jumped off the stool, but the woman was one step ahead of her and walked to the bedside, taking out a paper windmill hidden under the pillow.
"Ah!!!" Long Liandong stomped her feet and cried out desperately, as if the most precious thing she had ever cherished had been snatched from her hands.
She knew what would happen if such things fell into her mother's hands.
She jumped up and tried to snatch it, but the woman ignored her and coldly questioned the nanny, holding the windmill: "Who taught her to make this?"
The nanny admitted somewhat fearfully, "Once when we went out, I saw the young lady staring at the paper windmill on someone's car window, and then..."
“She doesn’t have the time or energy to waste on this kind of thing, you know? Scissors and nails, what if she hurts her hand? How will she play the piano then? Are you going to compensate her?” After saying that, the woman crumpled the paper windmill into a ball and threw it on the ground. “Don’t let it happen again.”
Long Liandong clenched her fists, looked up at her mother with hatred in her eyes, and screamed loudly, making a piercing noise.
That was the only thing she could control regarding her freedom.
It's broken now.
The woman, however, seemed to be used to this scene, looking down at her with cold eyes and letting her scream.
Anyway, when they run out of energy, they'll obediently shut their mouths on their own.
...
On the way to the banquet, Long Liandong sat quietly in the back seat of the car, turning her head to look out the window.
This time, she didn't obediently place her hands on her knees, because she was hugging the paper windmill that her mother had crumpled into a ball.
She loved watching the paper windmills hanging on the car window, spinning in the wind. She could stare at them for a long time, watching them whistle and turn when the wind came and stop when the wind went.
This is freedom.
Suddenly, a "ah baba baba" sound came from the side.
Long Liandong turned her head, drawn by the sight, her eyes widening in surprise.
A little boy with a buzz cut, sitting in the back seat of a car parked next to us, stuck his head out of the window, opened his mouth wide as if he were swallowing all the wind, and made a series of "ah-ba-ba-ba" sounds.
He was so happy.
Looking at him, Long Liandong inexplicably thought of a paper windmill spinning in the wind.
Paper windmills make the sound of freedom.
And the little boy was too.
A smile suddenly appeared on her tear-streaked, expressionless face.
This was the first time she had smiled in recent months. In the past, she would stare at people her own age for a long time, regardless of whether they had anything that attracted her. But this time, she discovered a feature in one of her peers that she had never noticed before.
"Why is my daughter laughing? What is she laughing at?" The father, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around at the sound, looking very curious. The mother, sitting in the back seat, also turned around to look.
The daughter smiled, and the couple were happy too.
Long Liandong immediately moved her body forward so that her mother wouldn't see the boy with the buzz cut who was "eating the wind".
She knew her parents would criticize the boy's behavior, but she envied him, envying the person who was as free as a paper windmill on the bus.
"Of course it's because I'm dressed so beautifully today, like a princess in a fairy tale, that's why I'm so happy," her mother said, helping her adjust her clothes.
After she finished speaking, she glanced at her daughter's arms, took the paper windmill, opened the car window, and casually tossed it outside.
This time, Long Liandong didn't shout. Instead, she quietly turned her head to observe the new, free "paper windmill" outside.
When she arrived at the hotel, she finally saw her grandfather. She ran over and hugged his leg, crying softly. Her grandfather smiled and hugged her, without asking her why she was crying. After all, it is normal for a four-year-old child to cry.
At the banquet.
Seeing his granddaughter staring blankly at the birthday boy, Long Sixiang smiled and said, "Dongdong, do you remember that you also attended the Lu family's birthday party last year? And the year before that too?"
Long Liandong shook her head, her gaze still fixed on the short-haired boy, her eyes revealing a curiosity about meeting someone her own age for the first time.
From the time she could remember, all she had was living in a closed environment that made it hard for her to breathe; she had no other impressions.
"You mean, she hasn't met any other children her age at this innocent and carefree age?"
Thinking of the female doctor's words, and noticing that his daughter kept staring at Lu Yuanqiu, Long Zhijie suddenly felt a little guilty. He touched his nose and suggested, "Dongdong, you can go play with Lu Yuanqiu. You two are about the same age."
Upon hearing this, Long Liandong turned her head back, looking down at the table with a restrained expression, showing no intention of getting up.
The woman glanced back at the buzz-cut boy, whose face was smeared with cake and who was acting crazy on stage, and shook her head, saying, "Don't go, or you'll get your clothes dirty with cake."
Long Zhijie didn't say anything more this time.
During the intermission, Lu Tian and Su Xiaoya led Lu Yuanqiu, whose eyebrows were painted white with cream, over to toast the Long family's table.
Long Zhijie and his wife got up and pulled Long Liandong forward as well. The two sets of parents chatted and laughed face to face, while Long Liandong below looked at the "White-browed Eagle King" standing opposite her, curiously sizing each other up.
This was the first time they had ever been this close.
Suddenly, Lu Yuanqiu tilted his head forward and started making faces, letting his white eyebrows dance.
"Hehehe." Long Liandong shrugged, amused.
"Ha! You laughed! You lost!" The short-haired guy took a step back, pointing at her with piercing eyes and exclaiming.
They were complete strangers, yet they acted like old friends.
“?” Long Liandong blinked, looking at him in confusion.
"Wow~ Dongdong has grown so much?" Su Xiaoya squatted down in surprise.
Hmm? She's also called Dongdong? Lu Yuanqiu realized the key point.
"This dress is so beautiful, it makes you look like a fairy," Lu Tian said, bending down to compliment.
Su Xiaoya: "Yes, Dongdong is the prettiest little girl at the whole banquet today."
Long Zhijie and his wife couldn't stop smiling. The woman said, "This was designed by a famous designer who graduated from Central Saint Martins. My daughter and I both love it. She specially chose to wear it for today's occasion and was admiring herself before going out."
No, that's not true, Mom is lying... Long Liandong thought to herself.
"Wow~" Su Xiaoya raised her hand to cover her mouth, very surprised.
"What the hell is 'Saint'?" Lu Tian didn't understand. He leaned his head close to his wife's ear, but Su Xiaoya pushed him away.
Long Zhijie smiled and looked down: "Yes, she likes this dress the most. She'll be very happy to hear you all say she looks beautiful in it."
"Dad is lying too..." Long Liandong thought to herself, feeling heavy-hearted.
"But the clothes look so tight, won't she feel uncomfortable wearing them?" Lu Yuanqiu said, picking his nose.
What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Long Liandong's lifeless eyes immediately lifted, and she looked at the boy again.
Her chest heaved, as if a rebellious emotion was slowly gathering there.
Lu Tian clicked his tongue and slapped his son on the head: "Can't people say they're not feeling well themselves? Do you have to tell them for them? You're just jealous."
"Awooo!" Lu Yuanqiu raised his hand to cover his head, glared at his father, and bared his teeth: "Big monster! You actually hit me! I'm going to destroy you!"
He clasped his arms together and fired a laser.
"Go finish off the cake before you try to kill me." Lu Tian made up an excuse, grabbed his son by the collar, and walked away like he was carrying a kitten. He didn't like chatting with this couple; he felt they had nothing in common.
Su Xiaoya also left with a smile.
"Don't go..." Long Liandong cried out in her heart.
The woman stared coldly at the Lu family and said to her daughter, "Such an impolite child, Dongdong, remember to stay away from him in the future."
When she said this, she seemed unaware that her daughter had no chance to see a boy at all under her strict control.
Long Liandong's eyes reddened, her chest heaving, as her father led her back to the table.
The family sat back down, and she finally couldn't hold back her tears. She cried so hard she could barely breathe, but she didn't dare to cry loudly because that's what the etiquette teacher taught her.
She vented her emotions at the table, tears streaming down her face. Her grandfather and father tried to comfort her, but nothing they did could soothe her.
No one could have guessed why she was crying.
No one could guess why she was crying.
It's simply because someone has finally appeared who doesn't care whether she looks good in this dress, but cares about whether she's comfortable.
In the past, only my grandmother would ask this question.
Grandpa eventually took her to the restroom. After washing her face, Long Liandong suddenly stopped walking and saw Lu Yuanqiu holding a little girl who was less than two years old, swaying on the steps.
He then saw Long Liandong and happily ran over with his younger sister in his arms.
"You're also called Dongdong, and she's also called Dongdong. Will my Dongdong be as beautiful as you when she grows up?"
The little boy asked expectantly.
Long Lian Dong remained silent, but his image was already imprinted in her eyes.
I don't know if she's pretty or not.
But she must be happier than she was at four years old.
She sat back down and spent the rest of the time looking at the little boy, wondering when she would see him again and see him so free in the wind.
Children have short memories.
Four-year-old Long Liandong kept Lu Yuanqiu in her heart for a whole year.
They met again at Lu Yuanqiu's sixth birthday party, which was also his last birthday party. Lu Yuanqiu no longer remembered her, but he still took the initiative to smile and greet her on the day they met.
When Long Lian Dong saw him, he still didn't smile or speak, but she took out a birthday gift that she had carefully prepared for a long time.
Open the box, and inside lies a paper windmill.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why she insisted on making such a simple birthday present herself..." The woman shrugged, looking apologetically at the other party's parents.
"It's not simple at all. This is the first time the little rascal has received a birthday gift from a girl his own age!" Lu Tian said with a smile.
"I like it!" Lu Yuanqiu happily took the paper windmill from the box, puffed out his cheeks and blew on it. Long Liandong looked at him and remembered again the way he opened his mouth to the wind outside the car window.
Just then, Lu Yuanqiu walked up to her with a paper windmill and gestured for her to join him.
Five-year-old Long Liandong was stunned for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth and stood with the boy, blowing the paper windmill together. Listening to the whirring sound of it spinning, she turned her head to look at the boy next to her and smiled.
Sitting back down, the woman spoke to her daughter in a cold tone: "As soon as the banquet is over, come with me to the film set. Change into the clothes you brought in the car. You have to smile today. Weren't you smiling quite happily just now?"
"I've arranged to meet your Latin dance teacher at 3 PM..."
"Teacher Liu will come to pick you up at 4:30 to go to the gallery..."
The woman kept chattering in her ear, but Long Liandong didn't hear a word. She was completely focused on the boy she had been looking forward to for a whole year, watching him blow on the paper windmill she had made.
The paper windmill spins very fast, like a free flower, but freedom should not be confined to the spinning blades, nor should it be confined to the wind.
Freedom must be spoken.
"I don't want to."
Long Liandong suddenly looked at her mother and interrupted the woman's arrangements.
The woman stopped speaking and stared at her: "What did you say?"
Long Zhijie frowned and reached out to touch his wife's arm: "Don't scold the child at this time."
Perhaps it was because Lu Yuanqiu was there, or perhaps it was because the resentment that had been building up for a year was about to explode, but Long Liandong opened her mouth, looked at her mother, and repeated in a childish yet icy voice, "I! Don't! Want!"
The woman picked up her chopsticks and tapped her hand.
Long Liandong pulled her arm back and started crying. She cried loudly, no longer bound by the etiquette she hated.
No one noticed this scene. Who would care about a mother disciplining her crying five-year-old daughter?
After the banquet ended, Lu Yuanqiu was playing with his three-year-old sister sitting at the table when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Long Liandong, whose eyes were red from crying, quickly slipping him a note.
That person who cherishes winter like a grandmother! That person who is as free as a paper windmill!
“Save me…” Long Liandong cried as she looked at him.
Lu Yuanqiu didn't hear what the girl said because Uncle Long quickly ran over and took the girl away.
Back home, the girl, who had successfully defied her mother for the first time, was locked in her room. She sat on the floor by the door, hugging her knees and pressing her head against the door, listening intently to the sounds outside.
Because that location is closest to the telephone.
She waited all day, listening intently every time the phone rang.
But the person she was hoping for never came.
Two days.
Three days.
Four days.
...
On the tenth day, she continued attending dance, painting, and piano lessons like a good child...
The following year, she didn't get to see the boy's birthday party again.
In the third year, she still didn't get to see him.
In the fourth year, she forgot about the little boy named Lu Yuanqiu.
In the seventh year, after returning from Beicheng and settling in Lucheng, the grandfather finally realized how outrageous his son and daughter-in-law's way of educating their granddaughter was.
Year 12.
Long Liandong has grown up.
She became a 17-year-old girl.
She will make the right expressions and pose correctly for the camera.
She filmed countless commercials and even starred in several movies, becoming a dazzling child star.
Grandpa said she was free to choose whether or not to take this path.
Of course she said no.
Because she had never loved.
She returned to her own rhythm of life, reading many books every day, sitting in various places—on the balcony, by the lake, in the library—and most importantly, she could read while feeling the free breeze, tucking her flowing hair behind her ears.
One day, she suddenly saw a video of dunking in the library.
A free breeze blew in through the window, ruffling the girl's long hair and the boy's clothes in the video.
She lightly touched the screen with her snow-white fingertips, pointed to the three words on the back of the boy's jersey, and softly read them aloud:
"Lu, Yuan, Qiu".
Countless images flashed across the screen, finally settling on the paper windmill spinning in the wind, with a rustling sound seemingly audible in one's ears.
The paused video continued playing. The girl laughed as the backboard shattered with a thud, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. The boy in the video landed and shouted in celebration, while her laughter grew louder and louder, as if carried by the wind of freedom out of the window and back twelve years, echoing around the two children who were blowing windmills with their mouths bulging.
Winter of 2010.
She once again awaited the birthday banquet hosted by the Lu family.
On her way to the hotel, just like before, she saw a familiar profile in the back seat of the car parked next to her.
He stopped sticking his head out the window to catch the wind and started chatting and laughing with another girl sitting next to him.
The owner of that face then turned around, and Long Liandong immediately looked away.
When they bumped into each other at the hotel, the girl tried her best to control her facial expression and looked at him normally, just like always.
Even though they didn't know him, they still smiled and nodded to greet him, just like when he was six years old, but now more composed.
Long Liandong's heart was racing, but she didn't respond, just like before.
After the boy left, the grandfather sighed, "He must be that old lady's grandson. He looks just like him, just like his grandfather when he was young."
“He’s pretty good. His name is Lu Yuanqiu. He’s a student at No. 7 Middle School. I’ve seen a video of him shattering a backboard during a basketball game,” Long Liandong replied to her grandfather.
"Does Xiaodong like it?"
Long Lian Dong hadn't expected to answer so quickly. At that moment, she heard a "whoosh" sound and the boy "eating the wind," and she blurted out:
"He is definitely my type."
...
Lu Yuanqiu: I really don't remember, but I know I definitely didn't call you.
Long Liandong: Why?
Lu Yuanqiu: Because mobile phones were too expensive, my dad never let me touch them. I didn't even know how to use them until they were phased out.
Long Liandong: Okay.
Lu Yuanqiu: Was it when I was five years old? Why did you give me your phone number?
Long Liandong: I forgot too, hahaha.
This book doesn't reveal the characters' fates; the epilogues are just to supplement their character development. I didn't expect the epilogues to be so difficult for me. I'm the kind of person who wants to give up when faced with trouble, so I've been putting it off. But I'll finish it as soon as possible. Don't worry, clicking "completed" will be good for me too.
(End of this chapter)
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