8 Chapter 8
When Zeng Yun first came to K City, he didn't get along at all with the children in the community.
Strangely enough, the little kids seemed to have already started to develop the concept of a group. Those kids who had known each other since they were little were certainly unwilling to bring Zeng Yun along.
But there were no extra activities at that time. Zeng's parents were busy with work, and Zeng's mother didn't allow Zeng Yun to watch TV for too long and always hid the remote control.
Zeng Yun had no choice but to watch the children playing in the community, and then showed some envy and longing in his eyes.
Children always have some innocent evil. They are good at noticing different looks and then trampling them with their own hands.
The leading child saw Zeng Yun staring at them intently, so he ran over with the others and asked Zeng Yun with a smile, "You keep looking at us, do you want to play with us?"
Thinking back to the scene at that time, Zeng Yun only felt that the smile of the child at that time was filled with obvious malice, but due to the lack of company, he did not realize it at all and could only nod his head hurriedly.
The child looked at the other boys behind him, and they all smiled at each other, as if they had already known the leader's plan.
"Okay, but we're at war now and we're short of a warhorse. Would you mind being our warhorse?"
The so-called war was nothing more than a group of children using sticks to fight with each other.
But once they had another "war horse", they had new fun.
At that time, Zeng Yun didn't know that these things were abnormal. He just felt a little embarrassed, but loneliness was more unbearable than embarrassment, so he foolishly accepted this unequal condition.
From that moment on, the branches were no longer swords with which the horses fought, but whips with which they lashed the horses.
Until the little Gu Yue passed by.
Seeing injustice and helping others with one's sword was probably the scene when the two met for the first time.
Girls of this age group are often bigger and stronger than boys of the same age. If they can't speak clearly, they will just go up and beat them.
Gu Yue was like a female knight descending from the sky at that time. She fought against the crowd and beat the leading boy until he cried for mercy. Finally, she showed off her achievements to Zeng Yun with her dirty body.
Only then did Zeng Yun realize that he seemed to have been bullied.
But looking at the pitiful Zeng Yun, Gu Yue was a little confused, "Why are you so stupid? They bullied you, and you didn't resist?"
But Zeng Yun became even more frustrated and whispered, "But if I don't become a horse, they won't play with me..."
Gu Yue widened his eyes, almost unable to believe what he heard.
Thinking that he had just saved such a useless guy, Gu Yue pushed him, and Zeng Yun lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Gu Yue said angrily, "Are you really stupid? They're not playing with you at all! They're just fooling you!"
Gu Yue's anger was not fake. She had heard her parents say since she was a child that people should have backbone and dignity.
Now seeing Zeng Yun's spineless look, she felt that her actions were in vain.
Just when Gu Yue was about to pack up and leave, he suddenly heard bursts of low crying coming from behind him.
The cry was restrained, as if squeezed out from between gritted teeth. Gu Yue turned around and saw Zeng Yun sitting on the ground, his head buried in his arms, his shoulders shaking with the weak sobs.
Gu Yue was just a little girl after all, and had never seen such a scene. She also felt wronged. This guy didn't cry for a long time after being bullied, but he cried like this after she just said a few words to him.
It felt like I had bullied him.
At this moment, Gu Yue and Zeng Yun, who were at a loss, cried to each other, as if they were competing to see who could cry louder. An old lady passing by happened to know Gu Yue, the little devil, and while comforting the two of them, she notified Gu Yue's parents to come and see.
When the parents from both sides arrived, they saw two little kids with red faces from crying, neither of them willing to talk to the other.
After finally figuring out the whole story, Gu Yue's parents were at a loss whether to laugh or cry, while Zeng Yun's parents were all worried about their child.
The first photo of the two of them in the album, in which the two children with red and swollen eyes ignored each other, was taken at this time.
Later on, the two gradually became more familiar with each other and became good friends.
After school started, we found ourselves in the same class again.
With Gu Yue, the children in the neighborhood no longer dared to bully Zeng Yun, and Zeng Yun also accepted the fact that those children didn't like him.
As they grew older, the two were no longer as inseparable as before. Zeng Yun joined the school's painting class. The teacher said he was very talented, so he always stayed to study with him, and he always came home later.
He returned to the days of being alone. Although he was not used to it at first, Zeng Yun was no longer the child who longed for companionship like he did back then.
The process of painting tempered his character. Two weeks later, when he came out of the painting class, he saw Gu Yue waiting for him at the door.
“Surprise!”
Gu Yue's sudden appearance startled him. Zeng Yun was surprised and delighted, but still asked with a straight face, "Why are you here?"
"Oh, I remembered I had some math problems, so I went to ask the teacher. That's why I came out late."
"Oh..." Zeng Yun uttered a word slowly, and then seemed to remember something, "But, don't you always get full marks in math?"
Gu Yue was choked by these words. At that time, Gu Yue was not very good at lying. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't come up with a suitable explanation. He could only say angrily: "What do you care?"
From that day on, Zeng Yun, who was originally the last one to leave school and was responsible for locking the door, now had someone to accompany him home.
Year after year, they always invited each other to their birthdays, and the relationship between the two families gradually became closer.
The two families always teased that the two children were born of the wrong gender. Gu Yue, a girl, was extremely naughty, while Zeng Yun, a boy, was always quiet.
During the sixth grade holiday, Zeng Yun, who had no classes, habitually came to Gu Yue's house. Gu Yue lived on the first floor and had a small garden. Her mother loved to care for flowers and plants, and even Gu Yue learned a lot from her.
In the summer, Zeng Yun always comes to copy sunflowers.
Zeng Yun, who is in a bottleneck period, has been feeling very upset recently. No matter how he paints, he can't find the right feeling. What's more, there is the mischievous Gu Yue next to him, which makes him even more restless.
Gu Yue ran around like a whirlwind, and the clattering sound of her shoes on the ground made it impossible for Zeng Yun to concentrate.
Zeng Yun put down his pen and said with a headache, "Can't you just be quiet for a while?"
"No," Gu Yue glanced at Zeng Yun's painting. After half a day, there was still only a rough draft. "Don't blame me if you can't draw it yourself."
Although Gu Yue said this, she still walked much more lightly. Zeng Yun held his breath again, then gave up completely and collapsed in the chair.
"well……"
Zeng Yun was busy all day but gained nothing.
Before Zeng Yun was about to go home, Gu Yue suddenly called him. The next second, a large bunch of beautiful sunflowers appeared before his eyes.
“Dangdangdangdang!”
When Zeng Yun saw this bunch of bright and beautiful sunflowers, his mind suddenly twitched, and the first sentence that came to his mind was:
"Gu Yue, your mother won't beat you, will she?"
He remembered that Gu Yue had secretly taken him to the garden to pick flowers without her mother's knowledge, and then her mother found out and punished her by making her water the flowers for a month.
Gu Yue rolled her eyes upon hearing this, then stuffed the flowers into Zeng Yun's arms, "Don't worry, I took care of these sunflowers myself."
Zeng Yun nodded blankly, then looked at the flowers with some regret, "Such beautiful flowers won't last long if you pick them."
"Nonono!" Gu Yue shook her hand and said, "Many flowers don't bloom for long. Take sunflowers for example. Even if they're grown in soil, their flowering period is only about five days longer than when grown in water."
"But now it's in your hands. Once you capture it with your brush, it will live forever in your painting."
When saying these words, Gu Yue seemed particularly serious, which surprised Zeng Yun.
She looked at Zeng Yun and continued, "In fact, many things in this world are not permanent. The most beautiful moments may be fleeting, but they will remain in our memories forever."
“That’s why I like photography. Photos can preserve fleeting memories until they fade away.”
Zeng Yun looked at the flowers in her hands and the sketchbook in her arms, and suddenly seemed to understand something.
The lifespan of fresh cut flowers is about fifteen days. At the end of that holiday, Zeng Yun gave Gu Yue an oil painting of sunflowers. Although the brushwork was immature, Gu Yue liked it.
Gu Yue hung it beside the bed in the bedroom, so that she could see the bunch of sunflowers that she had grown every day when she opened her eyes.
After entering junior high school, the two were no longer in the same class, but they still often went home together.
When they were in junior high school, all the classmates in the class had reached the age of falling in love. The two of them often walked together, and naturally they were teased by their classmates.
At first Zeng Yun would try to explain, but later on he couldn't tell whether it was because he was mentioned too much or Zeng Yun had something to hide. He began to quietly distance himself from Gu Yue, but he felt a little sad in his heart.
After actively avoiding him, Zeng Yun realized that people who were not in the same class could have so little interaction.
Only when the flag is raised on Mondays can he secretly catch a glimpse of Gu Yue's back from a distance.
There were fewer and fewer teasing voices around Zeng Yun, but he didn't feel happy.
Gu Yue may or may not have noticed. She is bright and outstanding, and there is always a lot of company around her.
Across the corridor, the lonely Zeng Yun looked at Gu Yue, who was surrounded by a group of three or five people, and suddenly felt a little regretful.
This situation continued until the end of the semester, when Gu Yue took the initiative to come to Zeng Yun's class and asked him for a geography notebook.
From the moment she appeared at the door, Zeng Yun had been secretly looking in her direction. When he found that she seemed to be looking for him, he lowered his head to read a book as if to cover up his mistake.
As if he felt his ears getting hot, he touched them embarrassedly.
Zeng Yun knew that although Gu Yue had good grades, she wasn't good at geography. When Gu Yue asked to borrow his notebook, Zeng Yun pulled out the notes he had prepared long ago from his drawer and whispered, "Remember to return them to me after school. I need them tonight."
Just like that, a small "avoidance of suspicion" was completely resolved by a notebook.
They still discuss class matters and enjoy the future on their way home.
Zeng Yun said that he would continue to study painting and then take the art major exam. Gu Yue tilted his head and thought for a long time, but he still couldn't decide what he wanted to do in the future.
"Who cares? I'm so talented, I can do anything well! So, we'll talk about it later!"
Zeng Yun took the photo frame from the bedside table. If everything went well, they should go to the same high school, and maybe even the same university.
The person in the photo frame was smiling brightly, completely unaware that at that time, fate had already quietly set a trap for them.
Zeng Yun smiled bitterly.
Would everything have been different if it had been discovered earlier?
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