First Encounter
More than a month ago, at the end of June.
There is a large grove of plane trees in front of the senior high school building at No. 3 Middle School. It had just rained in the morning, but the sun came out again in the afternoon, and the bright sunlight shone through the plane tree grove, casting inch-by-inch bright shadows.
Raindrops dripped from the tips of the branches, sending a cool sensation down Lu Er's face. Her mind wasn't on the rain; she wiped away the droplet and continued listening to the person on the other end of the phone.
“Xiao Er, you know perfectly well that your aunt manages all the money in the house.” Uncle’s voice was tinged with difficulty. “If your aunt doesn’t want to give it, then I can’t give it to her either.”
"How about you try a summer job like your aunt suggested? Your uncle will lend you two hundred... three hundred yuan, okay?"
After a long silence, Lu Er said softly, "I understand. Thank you, Uncle."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Er rubbed his brow with his thumb and forefinger.
With summer vacation approaching, the school ordered review materials for the senior students for the next semester, a wide variety of materials totaling over a thousand yuan. For other students, this might just be considered an extra expense for living expenses, but for Lu Er, it was more than just a pile of books.
Every single yuan of a thousand carries weight for her.
Because Lu Er knew perfectly well that her second aunt, who would frown for ages even if she received an extra penny of pocket money, would never back down on this book fee. She had been nagging about Lu Er getting a summer job since before summer even started. Now that such a good opportunity was available, she was even less likely to give in.
Lu Er sighed, thinking that he should go out more this summer and try his luck.
Just then, several boys appeared at the corner of the stairs in the distance, their arms around each other's shoulders.
Two weeks ago, the college entrance examination ended, and a new class of senior high school students from Huai'an moved into this teaching building. The clutter had been cleared out before they moved in, making the space between buildings somewhat empty. Therefore, the boys' laughter and chatter reached Lu'er's ears quite clearly.
One of them said, "Summer vacation starts tomorrow, where are you guys going to go?"
"Yunnan, I'll go to Kunming to escape the summer heat."
One boy scoffed, "It's only a little over a month, and it's so hot, where can we go to play? I'm going to stay home and play games, using this summer to improve my grades." Lu Er remembered this boy, Chen Xiang, a classmate who was an active student, not in answering questions, but in causing trouble.
After saying this, Chen casually hooked his arm around the shoulder of the person next to him: "Right, Xiyan?"
The person next to him wasn't the tallest among them, but his demeanor was undeniably flamboyant. He had black hair, fair skin, and wore a backwards baseball cap. From afar, Lu Er could see the basketball spinning like a top in his hand.
No student at Huai'an No. 3 Middle School was famous enough to be known throughout the entire school, but Ruan Xiyan was an exception. Lu Er, who was focused solely on studying the classics, had caught up on his story.
It's said that he receives love letters from girls every few days, and he's so popular that everyone at school follows him. Because his family donated a teaching building to the Third Middle School, he's always respectfully welcomed into the classroom by the principal when he's late.
Whether the rumors were exaggerated or not, Lu Er didn't know. In any case, Ruan Xiyan was a genuine young master from a wealthy family.
Ruan Xiyan replied, "Ah, my mom signed me up for tutoring classes, so I won't be going out to play anymore."
Chen Xiang exaggeratedly raised his voice: "You? Going to tutoring classes? Don't be ridiculous..."
The sounds of their laughter and chatter gradually faded around the corner.
Lu Er withdrew his gaze and didn't look any longer.
—
When Lu Er arrived home, her second uncle and aunt were chatting in the living room. They fell silent when they saw her return. Her cousin, Lu Mingyi, was playing video games on the sofa with the volume turned up, making the only sound in the room the deafening, murderous audio.
Lu Er entered the house in the eerie silence. She broke the silence first: "Uncle, Aunt."
"Xiao Er is back?" Her second uncle smiled at her, but it didn't seem quite natural.
Lu Er lowered her eyebrows: "Yes, it's a holiday."
"How long will you leave it?"
"More than a month."
Uncle was speechless, and an eerie silence spread once again.
In this family, Lu Er was an outsider. When she was nine years old, her mother and father died in a plane crash. Lu Er became an orphan overnight. No one in the surrounding area was willing to take in such a little burden. After several rounds of shirking, Lu Er was finally adopted by her second uncle, Lu Guoyang, and her second aunt, Cui Feng.
Lu Guoyang and Cui Feng have a son, Lu Mingyi, who is five years younger than Lu Er and will be starting junior high school this year. From the age of nine to sixteen, she still couldn't get close to this family.
Just when everyone thought the awkward conversation was over, Lu Er headed straight for her room as usual. Cui Feng spoke up, "Um, Xiao Er." She seemed to be choosing her words carefully before saying after a while, "Is that the one you ordered, the one that costs over a thousand, the review materials?"
“A thousand yuan isn’t a small amount. Look, Mingyi is about to start school, and that’ll be a hefty tuition fee. Your second uncle has high blood pressure, and his medication will cost a lot. The family doesn’t have any extra cash on hand right now…” Cui Feng glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “How about this? You’ve just started summer vacation, and you’re free anyway. You can use this time to get a summer job and earn some money. A colleague of mine knows someone at an electronics factory; I can have her introduce you to a job there…”
Lu Er listened quietly the whole time, never raising her eyes. Until this point, she looked up, revealing a hint that she had finished listening: "I understand, Auntie."
Lu Er lowered her eyelashes again: "I will find a summer job myself, you don't need to worry about it for me."
"Hehe," Lu Guoyang seemed to want to ease the atmosphere, and laughed awkwardly twice, "It's good to have a summer job, to train yourself. If Mingyi wasn't so young, I would have asked him to do it too. That brat only knows how to play games during his vacation."
Lu Mingyi was going through a rebellious phase, and his temper was like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest provocation: "What's it to me? If she wants to hit someone, let her hit herself!"
"How dare you talk like that, you brat?"
"Your dad is so annoying!"
Lu Er tiptoed into the house, locked the door with a "click," shutting out the noise behind him.
Behind Lu Er's bedroom door hangs a notebook, which records all the expenses Lu Er has incurred in this home over the past six years.
Living under someone else's roof requires constant caution. She had known this feeling since she was nine years old.
—
The next morning, when Lu Er woke up, she found a 300 yuan transfer from Lu Guoyang on her phone.
She accepted the order, rubbed her eyelids, and got out of bed. Before leaving the room, she took a ballpoint pen and added the three hundred yuan to her notebook.
My second uncle and aunt had gone to work, and my cousin was probably still asleep; the living room was empty. Lu Er ate a simple bowl of porridge, hung the clothes out to dry, and took a bag of trash downstairs.
A woman in her thirties was coming up the stairs. She had permed hair, with slightly wavy blonde hair. Lu Er noticed her first and greeted her, "Teacher Mina."
Mina is a teacher at No. 3 Middle School, teaching English to Class 18. She lives next door to Lu Er's family. Teacher Mina has a six-year-old daughter named Mi Tian. She has been raising her daughter alone since her divorce three years ago.
"Good morning, going to take out the trash?" Teacher Mina greeted her with a smile. She had a gentle demeanor and always looked much younger than her actual age.
Lu Er nodded: "Okay, I'll go to the bookstore while I'm at it." She received some good news before going to sleep last night: the family where she used to tutor was hiring again, and this time they had prioritized Lu Er.
This means Lu Er can find one less summer job.
The family's surname is Jiang. Aunt Jiang's son, Jiang Yanyan, is in elementary school, and Lu Er mainly tutors math. She went out this time to buy supplementary teaching materials and make corresponding teaching records.
"Your class monitor is so reliable. You still remember to study hard even on summer vacation." Teacher Mina smiled at her, then, as if remembering something, asked, "By the way, if you're interested, would you like to come to my English tutoring class? Your English... you got 112 points on the final exam, right? Judging from your foundation, if you study with me, you can improve by another 20 or 30 points."
"For the sake of our relationship, you don't need to pay for tutoring."
Lu Er knew that Teacher Mina took good care of her. In addition to giving her extra help with her studies and inviting her to her home, she would also secretly give her living expenses.
She always seemed willing to devote more energy to Lu Er. Lu Er noticed all these overt and covert acts of kindness.
Lu Er smiled slightly: "Thank you, teacher. I'll think about it when I get back."
After saying goodbye to Teacher Mina, Lu Er walked towards the bus stop.
Summer arrives early in Huai'an City; the temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius, and the intense sunlight is almost deadly. Lu Er walked a few steps, and the sunlight felt like it was burning his forehead.
It wasn't that she was unwilling to work a summer job in the sweltering heat; it was just that there were very few summer jobs available here.
The shadows of trees and the sound of car horns crisscrossed on the main road. Lu'er waited quietly, when suddenly there were more noises by the platform.
She turned her head and saw a boy park his mountain bike in front of the ice cream shop, with a little girl of about seven or eight sitting on the bike.
Ruan Xiyan wore a blue and white T-shirt and shorts. Her burgundy baseball cap was still upside down on her head, and Lu Er couldn't help but take another look.
The girl jumped out of the car, muttering with obvious dissatisfaction: "Cousin, you got up way too late. I guess the matcha I wanted is already gone."
"You insisted on dragging me here to buy it. It's a miracle I even got up at this hour." Ruan Xiyan bent down and flicked her forehead, laughing. "We haven't even gone inside yet, how would we know if they have any?"
"They're definitely gone." The girl was still sulking. "As punishment, I'm going to eat two."
"Okay, I'll buy two. You're a puppy if you can't finish them."
That ice cream shop is a well-known international brand, with an average price of thirty or forty yuan. Lu Er hasn't tried it, but she's heard it tastes great.
She wouldn't spend money on such a place; she couldn't afford it, and it wasn't necessary. Lu Er had been learning the principle of saving money to pay off debts for six years.
Lu Er was well aware of the gap between herself and people like Ruan Xiyan. It was an insurmountable chasm; she could never reach it, nor could she ever look up to it.
The two figures, one tall and one short, disappeared from view. The bus arrived, and Lu Er looked away and boarded.
—
The phone rang suddenly, and Ruan Xiyan slowed his foot pedal movement. He tilted his head and pulled the phone out with one hand: "Hello?"
"You haven't arrived yet? Where are you now?"
"I just dropped my cousin off at home, I'm on my way." Ruan Xiyan had arranged to have hot pot at home with some friends. "Have you started yet?"
"We're playing cards, and we're just missing you." Chen thought for a moment and then said, "We're starting to cook, so could you buy some drinks? I don't think I have anything left in my fridge."
"good."
After hanging up the phone, Ruan Xiyan lowered his eyes slightly and put his phone back in his pocket. This action only took a few seconds. When he looked up again, he saw that the car was about to hit a girl who suddenly appeared from the side.
"Hey! Watch out!" Ruan Xiyan shouted, slamming on the brakes.
The girl reacted quickly, stepping aside at the sound. Unfortunately, the books in her arms suffered the consequences, scattering onto the floor with a clatter.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" Ruan Xiyan stopped the car on the side of the road and ran over to check on the girl.
The girl had short, ear-length hair and looked to be about his age. Her eyebrows were thin, and her eyes had a somewhat cold look. After a while, Ruan Xiyan recalled the word used to describe eyes: clear and distinct black and white.
The visitor was none other than Lu Er.
She bought tutoring materials at the bookstore to prepare for her teaching plan. Unexpectedly, she ran into this incident as soon as she stepped outside; and coincidentally, the person who bumped into her was none other than Ruan Xiyan.
Lu Er shook her head: "I'm fine." She lowered her head to pick up the book.
"It's alright." Ruan Xiyan felt embarrassed and quickly picked up the clean item, handing it to her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going while I was on the phone."
Nothing was wrong, and she didn't want to linger. Lu Er said "it's alright" and walked away along the sidewalk without looking back.
Ruan Xiyan remained where she was.
He felt the girl looked familiar. He glanced at her back a few times, rode his bike for a few miles, and then pondered her for a while before finally realizing who she was.
This girl seems to be... his class monitor?
—
Summer days are long, and as Lu Er finished cooking dinner, the afterglow of sunset was gradually being absorbed into the mountaintops. A dark cloud lingered on the horizon, its shadow deepening. A chill crept into the air.
It's a sign that it's going to rain.
A silence fell over the dinner table. Lu Er was the first to finish eating, and then she had to wait until the table was empty before cleaning up and washing the dishes.
She went back to her room to write the report first. When it was almost time, Lu Er was about to open the bedroom door when she suddenly heard Cui Feng and Lu Guoyang talking.
Lu Er paused in his steps.
"Do you need to buy medicine even if your blood pressure isn't high?" Uncle's voice was slightly low, sounding somewhat worried.
My aunt's voice was much more forceful: "Are you stupid? Do you think she'd come into our room and search to see if you bought your medicine...?"
Her voice softened. Lu Er's fingers, which were gripping the doorknob, remained still for a long while before she lowered her hand.
With the windows closed, the room was stuffy and hot. There was no electric fan in Lu Er's room, and she usually took off her shirt before going to sleep.
Ruan Xiyan played cards and ate hotpot at a friend's house. After finishing up and going home, he still had to play role-playing games with his cousin. After a long day, he was exhausted, feeling like he was filled with lead from head to toe.
He washed up and went to bed early, too tired to notice that the door was ajar.
The summer rain began to fall. From a light drizzle to a torrential downpour.
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