Xie Liming
Xu Jianing turned around and saw a person holding an umbrella walking towards him not far away.
The misty rain obscured most of the person's body, leaving only a blurry outline. Furthermore, the person deliberately held the umbrella low, making it difficult to see their face clearly.
Xu Jianing stared at the approaching figure, a strange sense of aversion and unfamiliarity rising in his heart. His brows furrowed little by little until the face was fully revealed, and only then did he recognize who it was.
Xie Liming.
"Xu Jianing, it's been a long time."
"Yes, it's been a long time. And you are?" His expression was indifferent, his lips slightly pursed. "And you are?"
Xie Liming's smile froze, and the confidence and arrogance in his eyes were shattered, turning into embarrassment.
He tugged at the corners of his mouth, trying to maintain his composure. After a long while, he forced a smile, pretending not to care: "What, you don't recognize me after only a few years?"
“I recognize them, but there’s no need to remember them,” Xu Jianing said.
Upon hearing this, Xie Liming's fake smile completely crumbled, and he scoffed, "Heh, still the same old you, all talk and no action. But no matter how tough you are, aren't you still just a cucumber seller? A country bumpkin who crawled out of the fields."
He stepped forward, sneering, "Xu Jianing, do you think you can turn your life around just because you're number one in the warehouse? This achievement is nothing in the city. A country bumpkin is a country bumpkin. Even if you climb to number one, it won't change your lowly fate."
"Xie Liming".
Xu Jianing raised her eyes, her expression indifferent. She rubbed her temples, as if annoyed by the sound of rain and the endless chatter. She said impatiently, "How come a year has passed and you still only know how to repeat the same few nonsense sentences?"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot, you're one of the few people in Cangzhong who was expelled from school."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Liming's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he almost broke the umbrella handle in his hand.
Xu Jianing leaned against a pillar, her expression indifferent, looking down at the people below the steps. Her voice was cold: "Have you forgotten about last year's spring outing?"
Their eyes met in the rain, locked in a fierce confrontation, like a turbulent current beneath a reef, seemingly calm on the surface but churning beneath.
"How could I not remember?" Xie Liming sneered, his eyes sinister. "Because of you, I was disciplined and expelled from school that spring outing."
He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his face turning bright red and the veins on the back of his hands bulging. "I was just making a joke, but because of you, I got fired and then my dad beat me so badly I ended up in the hospital!"
Last year's spring outing.
The school specially chose a mountain in the city as the location for the spring outing. It was not far from the county town, and it took more than an hour by bus to reach the foot of the mountain.
The spring outing wasn't expensive, only two yuan per person, which was quite cheap considering the entrance fee and bus fare. For most students, this was their first time leaving the county town, and their eyes were filled with undisguised excitement as they set off, their hearts brimming with novelty and curiosity, and they were already calculating that the trip would be well worth it.
The car was very lively along the way, with people constantly leaning out of the window and shouting, "Look, that's the department store in the city!"
However, many of the students in the cangzhong area actually came from the city and were used to seeing these sights. The buildings and wide streets outside the car window were nothing out of the ordinary to them.
"See that building? My house is on that street behind it."
Immediately, someone asked, "Can you really buy canned luncheon meat in that building?"
"Of course, there's also a movie theater nearby. My mom took me to see it last time."
A gasp of surprise rippled through the car: "Could we stop by the department store on the way later?"
"You're overthinking it. The teacher definitely won't let us get off the bus."
"I wish I could go; I want to buy a fountain pen."
"I want to buy candy!"
The students in the front row were chatting excitedly. After all, it was their first time participating in a spring outing, and they were so excited that they couldn't sit still. Even the teacher couldn't help but turn around and glare at them.
The back row was much quieter, with most students closing their eyes and taking naps against their backpacks, while a few occasionally flipped through their books.
Xu Jianing sat by the window in the back row, neither reading nor sleeping, but closely following the street scenes rushing past outside the window, trying to firmly imprint these scenes, so different from those in the county town, into his heart.
Wide, straight roads, towering buildings, radios and bicycles in shop windows, and even electrical appliances labeled "imported"—compared to the county town, this place is like another world.
Why aren't you asleep?
Li Changshui had just woken up. He stretched and yawned, then casually rubbed his eyes. "Were you looking out the window the whole way?"
Xu Jianing withdrew her gaze, no longer looking out the window, her expression indifferent: "Anyway, I can't sleep."
He suddenly spoke: "Li Changshui."
"Hmm?" Li Changshui turned his head, still looking sleepy.
Have you always lived in this kind of environment?
"Environment?" Li Changshui's mind wasn't fully clear yet. He looked out the window, then at Xu Jianing, before slowly smiling. "Oh, you mean these buildings, roads, and department stores?"
"Um."
"I guess so." Li Changshui put his hands behind his head and yawned again. "My home is in the city center, just a few steps from the movie theater. My mom goes to the department store often, so it's nothing special for her to buy things there. I'm used to it, so it doesn't seem particularly special."
Xu Jianing listened quietly, then looked out the window. After a while, she spoke in a low voice, "It sounds... quite good."
Li Changshui raised an eyebrow and smiled: "You're envious?"
Seeing that Xu Jianing did not respond immediately, he stopped smiling and said, "I was just born here. All of this was earned by my parents. It's not my ability, and there's nothing to brag about."
“I’ve been to the capital with my parents before, and that place is much bigger than this.”
"The capital?" Xu Jianing repeated subconsciously, "What's a capital like?"
"It's huge, much bigger than here. Buildings stand one after another, so tall you can't see the top. The roads are wide enough for four or five cars to drive on. The train station is even more amazing, packed with people carrying luggage everywhere. Just standing there, you feel like you can't take it all in. It's much bigger than Huaihan City."
As Li Changshui spoke, he suddenly smiled and said, "That time, my parents took me to eat a Western meal called KFC. There was a big red sign hanging at the entrance, saying that the chicken came from America. We waited in line for more than an hour before we could get in."
He became more and more excited as he spoke, and was no longer sleepy: "One serving costs more than seven yuan, and it only includes two chicken legs, some mashed potatoes, and a glass of bubbly soda. It was my first time drinking it, and I almost choked and coughed, but it was really satisfying."
"Ah Ning, do you want to get into a university in the capital?"
This question came out of nowhere; one second we were discussing Western food, and the next we were jumping to the future.
Li Changshui stared at him and said seriously, "If you go, you will definitely get into the best university."
“Although our Huaihan City has many good universities, I always feel that you don’t belong here.”
Xu Jianing countered, "And what about you?"
Li Changshui grinned: "Me? Well... I'll probably stay in Huaihan City. My home is here, and my parents don't want my sister and me to go too far away."
Xu Jianing didn't say anything more, only turned his head to continue looking out the window. The street scene rushed past, becoming blurry shadows in his eyes. His expression remained indifferent. "I'm not sure about my future either."
Li Changshui looked at him, didn't try to persuade him anymore, and stuffed the bag of sunflower seeds in his arms into his hand: "Then eat some first. We'll talk about the future later."
The car swayed and bumped its way to the foot of the mountain, where it finally came to a stop.
The students in the front row were already incredibly excited, and before the bus had even come to a complete stop, they couldn't wait to shout, "We're here! We're here!"
The teacher in charge shouted in the aisle, "Don't push! Line up to get off the bus!"
Xu Jianing patted Li Changshui on the shoulder, "Let's go, get off the bus, let's see if it's worth two yuan."
Li Changshui casually tossed his schoolbag onto his back and complained, "We're finally here. My butt is numb from sitting so long."
A group of students got off the bus one after another. The mountain mist had not yet dissipated, and the light veil clung to the mountainside, with the verdant peaks stretching endlessly.
Because it was early spring, the wildflowers along the path had just bloomed, their yellow and purple hues scattered among the green grass, swaying gently in the breeze, while birdsong echoed from the woods from time to time.
The teacher in charge shouted through a megaphone, "Everyone line up! No running around! Today, the students from Cangzhong High School are aiming for the pavilion at the top of the mountain!"
"Teacher, this mountain is so high, do we really have to climb to the top?" Everyone looked up at the towering mountain and started to have second thoughts.
The teacher in charge, holding a megaphone, laughed as he maintained order: "The students of Cangzhong never admit defeat!"
Li Changshui plucked a foxtail grass and put it in his mouth: "This little hill isn't bad, it looks quite nice."
"Ah Ning, want to have a race? Whoever gets to the pavilion first wins."
Xu Jianing glanced at him and uttered two words indifferently: "Immature."
At the foot of the mountain, the three grades of Cangzhong were divided into three teams. The first-year students were the most excited because it was their first time participating in a spring outing and they had the most energy. The second-year students were much calmer. Although some people were making a fuss, most of them had already lost interest. The third-year students were the most silent, with their teachers standing guard on both sides.
They all knew in their hearts that this spring outing was just a rare moment of relaxation before the exam. The real battlefield was the college entrance examination two months later. The school took them out to climb the mountain only to let them relax a bit before they went back to burying themselves in their studies.
Xu Jianing walked slowly forward with the group, when suddenly she saw a familiar figure in the crowd. The person was mixed in with the second-year students, still arrogant, holding a bottle of soda in his hand, chatting and laughing with a few people around him, and tapping the shoulder of the classmate next to him with the bottle as he walked.
The student who was hit simply shrugged, pretending nothing had happened, and forced a smile to keep up with the group.
The mist swirled along the mountain road, obscuring his expression, but Xu Jianing recognized him at a glance with that defiant air.
Xie Liming.
He also knew the classmate he hit with the bottle; the classmate was the top student in the second year of high school.
Lin Fei.
The teacher in front suddenly urged everyone to quicken their pace: "Don't fall behind, hurry up and climb to the pavilion!"
"Ah Ning, what are you standing there for? Everyone in our class has moved forward." Li Changshui saw Xu Jianing standing still and went back to urge him.
Xu Jianing had no choice but to look away, grunted in response, and followed the group.
The mountain path was rugged, and soon he was separated from the group of senior high school students. Xie Liming and Lin Fei's figures were gradually swallowed up by the fog and the crowd.
He didn't see them again until he was resting halfway up the mountain.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
