The little gray wolf also loves giant pandas.
Jiyuan Road No. 1 Middle School is located opposite Jiyuan Road No. 1 Primary School. Essentially, it's a combination of a junior high school and a primary school, so most students from Jiyuan Road No. 1 Primary School directly enter the junior high school, reducing their academic pressure. Since the best opportunities are within the family, the excellent Fu Jia was naturally persuaded to attend Jiyuan Road No. 1 Middle School, while Xia Tong, whose grades weren't ideal, also paid some money to get in.
So this summer vacation was exceptionally relaxing for Xia Tong, a primary school graduate. She no longer had to attend various tutoring and extracurricular classes. She actually hated boring academic classes the most; the teachers would repeatedly go over the exercises in the textbook, which was incredibly tedious. Her only favorite class was calligraphy. The teacher was a tall, bespectacled, and refined-looking man. Unlike other primary school teachers, he always spoke gently and never lost his temper, yet his slow, methodical speech always commanded respect. Because of her love for calligraphy, she practiced diligently, meticulously copying characters with a fountain pen filled with pure blue ink, submitting a perfectly written calligraphy assignment every weekend. Teacher Tao also noticed this diligent student and often drew many red circles to encourage her, and wrote comments below: "The strokes are good, but pay attention to the structure." "The characters are very elegant, keep up the good work!" Teacher Tao is indeed a calligraphy teacher. Her strokes are vigorous and her characters are strong and elegant. Xia Tong is always very happy to receive comments from the teacher. She carefully binds the calligraphy assignments with the teacher's comments into a book and will look at it whenever she has free time.
In the calligraphy class, there was an unusual student. When he wrote well, his handwriting was neat and tidy; when he wrote poorly, it looked like a dog's scribbles. That student was Fu Jia. He joined the class simply because Xia Tong had chosen such an unpopular activity, and he thought writing calligraphy would be easy, so he followed suit. Therefore, he lacked Xia Tong's persistent enthusiasm. He usually disrupted others' practice, and only hastily scribbled something down when they were ready to hand it in. Teacher Tao was quite helpless about this. Other students' handwriting improved significantly after coming here, but this little guy persisted in writing his dog's scribbles. Once, when handing out calligraphy assignments, he put Fu Jia's scribbles together with Xia Tong's and handed them to Fu Jia: "You're both beautiful children, but Xia Tong's handwriting reflects her personality. And you, are you really going to be the opposite of that?"
Fu Jia, who had been fiddling with the little mechanism on his toy pen, looked up at the words and saw his and Xia Tong's calligraphy assignments placed side by side in front of him: one with neat handwriting and a tidy paper, while the other's writing was so messy and messy that even a large calligraphy grid couldn't hold his characters. He immediately felt unhappy: How could I be worse than Xia Tong?! So he immediately stood up and retorted to Teacher Tao: "Teacher, I'm not the 'negative example'!"
Teacher Tao nodded in strong agreement: "I believe that, but how you prove it will depend on your future performance." He then turned and returned to the podium to begin the lesson. Fu Jia, speechless with resentment, sat down.
After the teacher left, Xia Tong, who was sitting upright to the side, immediately took her homework back from Fu Jia's desk, muttering to herself, "Doesn't she know any manners? She even yelled at Teacher Tao."
Fu Jia naturally heard her mutterings, grabbed her ear, and leaned close to her: "You want to rebel? You think you can look down on me just because your handwriting is a little better than mine? You just wait!" After this spur, Fu Jia's handwriting improved by leaps and bounds, which made the teacher praise her repeatedly. Every time, Fu Jia would drag Xia Tong to hear the teacher's praise for her. In Xia Tong's eyes, the way Fu Jia acted like a serf determined to turn over and become the master was very petty!
Later, Xia's mother forbade Xia Tong from going to calligraphy class anymore, saying it would affect her studies and that she should do her homework diligently at home. She was extremely sad. Taking advantage of her mother's inattention, she slipped out and ran alone to the calligraphy class. Listening to Teacher Tao's lesson as usual, she suddenly felt a deep sense of loss: Would the teacher notice that the little girl sitting by the window wasn't here today? If the teacher knew I couldn't come anymore, would she be as sad as I was? Would the teacher think I was a bad student who gave up halfway? Thinking about this, her nose tingled, and her heart was filled with grievance. She took off the jade gourd that had been hanging around her neck for a long time, placed it at the classroom door, knocked twice, and then immediately hid. She heard Teacher Tao open the door, then exclaimed in confusion, "Huh? Why is no one here?" before closing the door and going back inside. Xia Tong quietly returned and saw the jade gourd still at the door. It was too small; perhaps the teacher hadn't even seen it, or perhaps she had thought it was just a little toy left behind by some child? She clutched the gift that hadn't been given away, tears streaming down her face. "Teacher, even if I don't come to class anymore, I'll still practice my calligraphy diligently. Teacher, I really like you. Goodbye, teacher." Then she went home, sobbing.
Perhaps Teacher Tao, who has taught countless students, wouldn't remember an ordinary student for so long, but he was an ordinary student's only and most beloved calligraphy teacher in his life.
Later, when Fu Jia learned that Xia Tong would no longer be going to the calligraphy class, she didn't want to go either, but her father scolded her, saying: "You lack perseverance, you only have a three-minute attention span, and you'll never amount to anything." So Fu Jia practiced calligraphy in that class for many years. Although she often skipped classes, she still developed beautiful handwriting. Her characters were elegant and bold, and everyone who saw them praised them.
During her summer vacation, Xia Tong, with nothing to do, was practicing calligraphy, stroke by stroke. Suddenly, the phone rang. She put down her pen to answer it, and Fu Jia's voice on the other end was as annoying as ever: "Xia Xiaotong, I'm taking you to Nanshan Park later. Tell your mother first." He hadn't even asked if she was willing or had time before informing her of his decision in such a commanding tone. Xia Xiaotong was a little annoyed: "No, I have something to do."
"What could possibly be wrong with you? I'll come pick you up later, just wait at home."
"I really have something to do—I—I made plans with Lu Lu to go jump rope." Xia Tong said hurriedly, making up an excuse.
"Jumping rope in this heat? Are you crazy? Stop nagging, I'll take you to do something fun today." Fu Jia's tone was quite impatient after being rejected, and she hung up the phone.
When the doorbell rang, Xia's mother was cooking and asked Xia Tong to open the door, but she sat on the sofa like an ostrich, burying her head in the sand. Xia's mother called several times, but no one answered, so she had to wipe her hands and go open the door.
She was a little stunned when she opened the door: What was this? An adult was standing at her door with a group of children. Fu Jia stood at the front, smiling warmly: "Hello, Auntie, Xia Xiaotong made an appointment with us to go to the park, and we've come to pick her up."
"Oh, it's Fu Jia! Tongtong is watching TV inside! Everyone, come in quickly, don't stand at the door." Xia's mother recognized the adult as the driver who often picked up and dropped off Fu Jia, and hurriedly welcomed them in.
The driver, Xiao Wu, said in a deep voice that it wasn't necessary. They were in a hurry to pick up the child and head to their destination, and there was no need to come in and dirty the floor.
Upon hearing this, Xia's mother quickly called Xia Tong over. Xia Tong reluctantly walked over in her slippers, only to hear a very familiar voice: "Xia Tong, hurry up, we've been waiting for you!" Fu Huiyao, who had just been peeking in from the doorway, immediately became energetic upon seeing Xia Tong, stretching her neck out like a large white goose in attack mode.
Xia Tong was delighted to see Fu Huiyao. Since their last parting, the two had become allies in the united front against Fu Jia, fighting side by side for the cause! Xia's mother was also very pleased to see Xia Tong had made a friend. Because Xia Tong was young, timid, and quiet, and her grades weren't outstanding, she was often overlooked in class and didn't have any particularly close friends. Now that she had a playmate, it would help her personality development. These children seemed very outstanding, speaking confidently and appropriately, and not shy around strangers. What was rare was that they were willing to play with Xia Tong, which would be good for her to interact with them more. She patted Xia Tong on the back: "Go on, don't keep everyone waiting, go and have fun."
Xiao Wu nodded and smiled, "I'll bring her back safely tonight, don't worry!"
In a child's world, some friendships may simply be about submission—a rudimentary yet enduring bond, a kind of inexplicable centripetal force. And what cannot be conquered is only an enemy. For example, Di Yue.
Di Yue was handsome but lacked a certain heroic spirit. Compared to the mischievous and naughty Fu Jia, he was seen by adults as a gentle and harmless good boy. But heaven knows how many bad ideas he was plotting behind the scenes. To put it bluntly, he was treacherous; to put it vulgarly, he was a lump of coal—full of cunning; and if we were to put it nicely—well, let's not talk about it.
Fu Jia's father, Fu Shaohua, and Di Yue's father, Di Jianguo, were childhood friends, inseparable since they were little. They were comrades-in-arms who had weathered many storms together over the years, and their brotherhood was unmatched. When Di Jianguo learned that Di Yue's mother was pregnant, he immediately invited Fu Shaohua to dinner. Holding a wine glass, his face flushed, he said to Fu Shaohua, "Brother, I'm going to be a dad! My son is nestled peacefully in my wife's belly. You'd better put in the effort and get your wife to find a wife for my son soon. Then my son will be so proud, he'll be born with a wife! Hehehehe!"
Fu Shaohua scoffed, "Stop 'hey,' look at you, so silly. My daughter wouldn't even want your son. Stop laughing, you're already drunk before you've even had a drink, you don't look like someone who's going to be a father." He downed his glass of wine in one gulp, and that night, both men, who had good drinking capacity, got completely drunk. That night, Fu Shaohua hugged Li Funing's belly and kept muttering, "I want to be a dad too, I want to--" Li Funing later used this to tease him about it.
Perhaps it was because Di Yue resented that Fu Jia wasn't the "matching wife" he had hoped for, that the two, who should have had a good relationship, had always been at odds. Di Yue disliked Fu Jia's wild and domineering nature, like a bandit king, while Fu Jia disliked Di Yue's effeminate and delicate manner, like a timid young lady. Each of them ruled their own territory and had their own supporters. Both families had tried many times to improve their relationship, but everything they did was in vain. Therefore, this trip to Nanshan Park could be seen as an ice-breaking trip arranged by both families for the two of them.
Fu Jiasheng was very enthusiastic. As soon as they arrived, he led everyone on a hike, played ball, had a barbecue, and participated in various activities as if they were at his own base camp. That's why people always say birds of a feather flock together; the group around him was surprisingly relaxed, enthusiastically and noisily moving about. Only Fu Huiyao and Xia Tong were exhausted like dead dogs in the back. When Fu Huiyao heard that Fu Jiasheng wanted to visit the zoo behind Nanshan Mountain, she exploded: "Fu Jiasheng, can't you just sit still for a bit? How many times are you going to come to the zoo? It's just two pandas, are they your own brothers or sisters? Have you missed them terribly after just two days?!"
Fu Jia turned around, initially a little impatient. This annoying little sister was always the most troublesome; he wouldn't have bothered playing with her if his mother hadn't insisted on including her! But when he saw Xia Tong's face, flushed red from the sun as she held Fu Huiyao's hand, he sheepishly touched his nose: "I was just worried Xia Tong hadn't seen pandas before." Then he waved his hand: "Let's go back to the Nanshan Clubhouse to rest for a while." He then led everyone down the mountain, before suddenly turning back, his eyes shining, and saying to Xia Tong, who was not far behind him, "I'll take you to see the giant pandas this afternoon, they're very cute!"
Xia Tong only noticed his faint dimples when he smiled, and he looked even more pleased when he mentioned giant pandas. For a moment, she even felt dazzled by his pure, sunny smile.
If Xia Tong could still recall this moment many years later, she would surely sigh: If love is not about possession, but simply about sharing what one loves, then the person being loved wouldn't suffer so much.
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Waaaaah... I have to get another tooth pulled today... I need some comfort ┭┮ ﹏ ┭┮
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