raw onions
At night, Lin Luo and Tang Zhihua slept in the same bed. Tang Zhihua told her a little secret, "Actually... I like..."
She couldn't say it, so Lin Xiaoxian said, "I see."
"Do you think he knows?"
"I don't know." After the experience with Zhu Sui'an last time, even though those involved are often confused, bystanders can see things more clearly, she no longer dared to conclude whether a person likes another person out of thin air.
"I want to go to NTU with him. Which school do you want to apply to?"
"Kyoto University."
"Wow! Kyodai, you must have good grades."
Lin Luo shook her head. "It's not very good, but I have an appointment with someone, so I have to work harder from now on."
"I have to work hard too." Tang Zhihua had just finished speaking when she pulled Lin Qiao out to the living room and turned on the TV. "Let's stay up tonight to celebrate the New Year!"
"OK!"
The Spring Festival Gala was playing on TV. The skits made the audience laugh out loud. The applause and laughter came from the TV, but the two girls on the sofa couldn't hear them. They closed their eyes and fell asleep.
At six o'clock in the morning, Lin Luo was woken up by the cold. She was only covered with a thin blanket, most of which had fallen to the ground, leaving half of her leg exposed.
Tang Zhihua must have been cold too. She hadn't woken up yet, but her body was shivering. Lin Luo covered her with a blanket, and her expression relaxed a little.
The TV was replaying the Spring Festival Gala. Lin Luo turned off the power, walked out, stretched her body, and breathed in the fresh air.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone was sleeping in and the village was quiet. Lin Luo saw a small flower by the roadside, which looked like a daisy, and she took out her cell phone to take a picture.
She opened the screen and saw that Fu Xingchuan had sent her a message at midnight. She quickly unlocked the screen and saw another message: [Happy New Year!]
This timing was very special, and Lin Luo couldn't help but think more about it. In the end, she thought that he must have sent it to more than just her!
As expected, Zhu Changyu tagged him in the group chat at around 1: [I just saw this now, why are you so romantic?]
Zhu Zhu Xia: [Asleep? Wasn't this a group message?]
No one replied to him, so Lin turned back to the camera and continued taking pictures of the daisies.
“Crack—”
"The photos have been taken, let's go!" Du Yunyan put her arm around Lin Luo's shoulders. Today was the fifth day of the New Year, and they were going back to Nan'an. She couldn't suppress the smile on her face.
Grandma hugged Tang Muchen, and he said goodbye to her reluctantly, and they got back in the car.
Du Yunyan knitted a hat for Tong Yun. Lin Luo asked her when she was free so she could send it to him, but Tong Yun didn't reply.
It was after arriving in Nan'an and taking a break that Lin Luo saw Tong Yun's message, "Give it to me after school starts!"
【Alright. 】
Lin Luo felt strange. "It's been a while since I last saw you. You should be almost done with your test paper! Do you want to come over to our house?"
After a long pause, she replied, "No, Director Wang has assigned some more exercises. I'm busy with my studies right now and don't have time."
"Is that so? Okay then! Come over when you're free."
【good. 】
After the conversation, Lin sat down at her desk, took a deep breath, and then pulled out a math test. She warned herself, "This is a real college entrance exam question. I have to take it seriously."
Keeping in mind what her teacher said about treating every mock exam as the college entrance exam, she pressed the timer, picked up her pen and started doing the questions.
The timer counts down, 00.00.01, 00.00.00.
00.07.59, 00.08.00
“Beep beep beep~”
"The fish is steamed." Aunt Li turned off the timer. Lin Luo helped in the kitchen while Ruan Ye went to pick up Zhu Sui'an.
Aunt Li said she wanted to treat his friends to a meal. Zhu Changyu and Xu Yangyang couldn't come because they were back in their hometowns, and Tong Yun's home was too far away and she had a lot of homework so she didn't want to come. As for Fu Xingchuan, Lin Luo didn't know if he would come.
She was originally cutting cabbage, and when she saw two onions next to it, she cut those as well.
Aunt Li was mixing chili oil and didn't notice her.
Lin Luo heard the sound of the door unlocking, followed by Zhu Sui'an's sweet voice, "Hello, Auntie."
"Hey, hello! You are Uncle Zhu's granddaughter. I haven't seen her much before. When I saw her today, I realized she is so beautiful."
“Thank you, Auntie!”
"Come on, what are you bringing?" Aunt Li warmly invited them in. "Xingchuan, come in quickly."
When Fu Xingchuan came, Lin Luo put down the knife, turned around, and saw that he was wearing a black coat with a white turtleneck sweater underneath, which made him look more gentle.
"Lin Luo, what's wrong with you?" Zhu Sui'an saw her in tears and hurried over.
Lin Qi met Fu Xingchuan's gaze, then quickly looked away, pointing at the shredded onion on the cutting board. "Chop this."
"You scared me." Zhu Sui'an covered his chest. Aunt Li handed over a paper bag and said carelessly, "This kid is so quick! Whoever marries you in the future will be blessed with eight lifetimes of hard work."
Lin Luo smiled awkwardly. Her nose was filled with a pungent smell, and her eyes were stinging.
Lin Qiao half-closed her eyes until everyone sat down to eat. Aunt Li picked up some fish for her with her chopsticks and said, "If everyone eats fish, there will be surplus every year."
"Thank you." Lin Luo said as she accidentally dropped her chopsticks and quickly bent down to pick them up.
She and Fu Xingchuan sat on one side, Ruan Ye and Zhu Sui'an sat on the other side, and Lin Luo saw them holding hands under the table.
After washing the chopsticks and returning to their seats, Aunt Li somehow brought the conversation to her. She looked at Ruan Ye and said, "I wish I had a daughter like Xiaoxiao."
Lin Luo glanced around, Zhu Sui'an smiled faintly, Ruan Ye's eyes were sharp, as if he had the urge to kill her with a knife, but Fu Xingchuan didn't react much, picking out fish bones in the bowl with chopsticks.
After dinner, they left Ruan Ye's house. A couplet was posted on the door. The banner, clearly not a matching piece, was written by Ruan Ye himself: "Peace every year."
Zhu Sui'an said goodbye to Lin Luo, and she and Ruan Ye were about to go out.
There were not many people in the alley around 2:00 p.m. The Chinese New Year had not yet ended, people did not have to go to work, and the shops were closed, so the alley was empty.
The sycamore tree next to the old villa was also bare, without a single leaf.
Lin Luo and Fu Xingchuan walked side by side. "We've arrived at your house."
He casually asked, "Where are you going?"
Lin Luo was holding a bag with a hat knitted by Du Yunyan for Tong Yun in it. The weather was getting warmer, and she probably wouldn't be able to wear the plush hat when school started, so Lin Luo wanted to give it to her first.
"Send something to Tong Yun."
"I'll give it to her for you." Fu Xingchuan reached out to take it, and Lin Luo let go.
She hadn't noticed just now, but the sun was actually quite bright today, and her eyes started to hurt again. "Thank you."
Back home, Lin Luo wiped away her tears. Du Yunyan noticed and asked, "Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying. I was just chopping onions. I'm almost eighteen now. I won't cry easily anymore."
Lin Luo walked back to the room and closed the door. Du Yunyan's puzzled voice came in, "Did I say anything?"
In the following time, she and Xu Yangyang supervised each other's studies every day. Teacher Wu often tutored her homework, and senior Xia Ruichu also shared some experience with her.
School started in a few days. The cramming class for the new semester moved to the Liberal Arts Building, leaving a floor of classrooms vacant on the top floor of the Shouxin Building. Lin Luo would come to school an hour early every morning and choose an empty classroom to recite aloud or correct test papers.
There is an iron gate next to the school's retractable door. Teacher Wu was promoted to the head teacher of the first grade, so she asked for the key.
At five o'clock in the morning, Lin Luo took the first bus to school and opened the door to go in by herself.
Du Yunyan was worried about her health and feared she might be malnourished, so she would drop by to bring her lunch after delivering goods at noon and in the afternoon. She found a good spot: the abandoned east gate of the school. The iron gate was narrow and quite remote, with few people passing by. Du Yunyan would drop her lunch there every day.
There was a ping-pong court next to it. The ping-pong table was very worn out and covered with moss. Lin Luo didn't mind and used it as a dining table.
Before evening self-study in the afternoon, she went to the fifth floor to study again. There were other students who came in to practice like her, but everyone was very well-behaved and kept quiet.
At the beginning of the semester exam, Lin Luo broke through the bottleneck period and ranked 12th in the class, with a score of 119 in mathematics. She was five points away from a perfect score in biology in the comprehensive science test, but she was still among the top students in the class. Moreover, because she could keep up with the speed, her scores in chemistry and physics also improved a lot.
The intense study schedule had a significant impact on her grades, but it also had side effects, such as less contact with friends. Lin Qiao no longer went to the dessert shop with Xu Yangyang or ate in the cafeteria with Tong Yun. Furthermore, since their classrooms were no longer in the same building, she rarely saw her in a week.
During evening study, they sat in the middle of the first group. Lin Luo was correcting her English test paper. This was a rare moment of relaxation for her in the day.
So he multitasked, listening to the conversation between Zhu Changyu and Xu Yangyang. Xu Yangyang touched his hair and said, "I lose so much hair every day. Will I become bald before the college entrance examination?"
"My dark circles haven't gone away yet!" Zhu Changyu twirled his pen. "My future is worrying!"
His current grades fluctuate around the second-tier line, and Xu Yangyang is stuck around 25th place.
"I can't even eat cake right now." Xu Yangyang said with a worried look on her face. "Can't the days just go by faster?"
"No, go a little slower. I don't want to only get three books."
"There's not much difference between a second-tier university and a third-tier university!" Xu Yangyang wanted to laugh, but couldn't.
Zhu Changyu stopped writing and said, "The difference between first-tier and second-tier universities isn't that big!"
"Shut up. Start reviewing! The first mock exam is coming soon. The teachers said that the results of the first mock exam are about the same as those of the college entrance exam. If we both get such low scores, we might as well pack up and go to the factory together!" Xu Yangyang said as he lowered his head to read a book.
"Didn't you speak first?" Zhu Changyu glared at Xu Yangyang. "Look at Lin Luo, she didn't say a word. With such perseverance, it's no wonder she's made such great progress!"
When the bell rang, they fell silent. Lin Luo remained silent, but a strange smell hung in the air. They all looked over and saw blood pouring from Lin Luo's nose, dripping onto her white school uniform.
"Xiaoxiao." Xu Yangyang handed her the paper.
Someone nearby noticed the commotion. Cheng Kaizhong, who had just come in from the back door, asked, "What are you doing?"
"Teacher, she has a nosebleed."
"It's just a leak! Is it that strange? Why make such a fuss?" Cheng Kaizhong shouted, "Go clean it up yourself and don't disturb others."
Xu Yangyang wanted to go with him, but Lin Luo held her hand and indicated that she could.
She went down to the edge of the pool alone. There was an incandescent lamp hanging on a camphor tree nearby. Its shadow fell on the ground, floating around like a ghost.
It was my first time having a nosebleed, and it felt so weird.
But it was very embarrassing.
The weather warmed up very quickly this year. It was only the end of February, but the temperature was already over 10 or 20 degrees Celsius. Lin Luo was only wearing two pieces of clothing: a short-sleeved school uniform inside and a winter school uniform outside, but the blood had stained both of them red.
It kept flowing out of her nose and she couldn't stop it.
She turned on the faucet to clean the blood stains, but they wouldn't come off at all. Her clothes were wet and stuck to her body, which was very uncomfortable.
The smell of blood was strong in her nose, like the irritation of onions, and her eyes immediately turned red.
There was no one around, so she burst into tears.
She thought she would cry while reviewing her Chinese test because she only got four multiple-choice questions right. She thought she would burst into tears while eating lunch alone at the deserted East Gate. She thought she would cry when Cheng Kaizhong asked her to copy the basic questions she got wrong a hundred times. But she didn't expect her to cry at the moment when she felt she had finally grown up.
As she cried, the bleeding stopped without her noticing. Lin Luo hadn't noticed yet, but she saw Fu Xingchuan coming out of the liberal arts building. Was he simply here to see Tong Yun? Or was he here to accompany her to evening study?
Lin Luo turned her back and waited for him to leave.
Go quickly, don't see her. She prayed in her heart, but the wind was disobedient, blowing the incandescent lamp, and the ghost shadow moved around on the ground.
She was panicking, but he probably wouldn't notice from such a distance!
"Why are you here?" Fu Xingchuan's voice came from behind.
She couldn't hide.
"I... came out to use the restroom."
"Why don't you turn around?"
"Avoiding me on purpose?"
"I..." Before she could finish her words, Fu Xingchuan walked up to her and took a closer look at her. "Are you bleeding from your nose?"
"Yeah." Lin Luo nodded and turned on the faucet again to wash her face.
The smell of blood wasn't as strong anymore, and I finally felt a little better.
Why didn't Fu Xingchuan leave? She didn't want him to see her in such a state of disgrace.
"Have you cried?" he asked.
“No…no.”
Lin Luo secretly washed her eyes with water and stood up. "You go, I can do it myself."
"Have you asked for leave? I'll take you home." He said lightly.
Cheng Kaizhong was on duty today, and she had to review test papers during the last evening study session. She forced a smile and said, "I can't ask for leave... I'm fine now."
Calculating the time, the get out of class was about to end, and she had been dawdling here for a long time, "You go!"
Fu Xingchuan looked at her coldly, chuckled, and said nothing more.
Lin Luo didn't care about him anymore, took off her coat and cleaned the blood stain again.
One hand came over to turn off the faucet, and the other hand handed over the coat, "Don't wash it, I'll lend you mine."
Lin Luo hesitated whether to take it, but Fu Xingchuan just put it on her arm and left.
She didn't even have time to say thank you.
Lin Luo turned around and looked at his back in a thin sweatshirt until he disappeared.
A familiar figure passed by. Before the get out of class was over, Lin Qi asked, "Ruan Ye, why are you here?"
"To the bathroom."
"oh."
Lin Luo also went to the bathroom, took off her wet clothes, put on Fu Xingchuan's coat, and zipped it up.
Back in the classroom, Cheng Kaizhong had already started explaining the test paper. Xu Yangyang was playing with her hair, and Zhu Changyu was holding his head. They asked in unison, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Lin Luo took out the test paper and tried her best to keep up with the progress.
Twenty minutes later, Cheng Kaizhong's phone suddenly rang. He went out to answer it, and Lin Luo breathed a sigh of relief.
She smelled a fragrance coming from Fu Xingchuan's clothes. The smell was not strong, but it overwhelmed the bloody smell that remained in her nostrils.
Just like the sweet-scented osmanthus in the old villa, it temporarily and completely relieved her stress.
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