Chapter 41: Trials "But my girlfriend is very fierce."...
May 14, 2019
I learned that it’s okay to fail because I have you behind me.
——Excerpt from Tao Shuran’s Diary
*
0713 After eating, it swung its tail and left proudly, hiding in the grass and then began to sleep soundly.
Tao Shuran clapped her hands and stood up. Before she could react, Liang Yuanjing had already taken out a wet wipe and handed it to her.
She said "thank you".
Liang Yuanjing: "What are your plans for summer vacation?"
"Maybe I need to work on a project with Teacher Lin."
The specific location was still unknown, and Lin Tingzhou just mentioned it to her, saying that there was a project related to cultural relics restoration, and she could go in as a spectator and help.
No salary, food and lodging provided.
Tao Shuran agreed without hesitation.
After Liang Yuanjing wiped his hands, he threw the wet wipes she had crumpled in her palm into the trash can.
He put his hands in his pockets, the lines of his parka were smooth, and he stood straight like a tree.
"Where do you plan to develop in the future?"
This question was a bit mature, but Tao Shuran was used to following his lead, so he answered without thinking:
"Beijing."
Liang Yuanjing raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Beijing North is quite far from Fuqing, and it takes 4 hours by high-speed rail. She is a real southerner, and she actually wants to move here in the future?
"Why do you want to go to Jingbei?"
Tao Shuran hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Because you are there."
Liang Yuanjing chuckled: "Fortunately it wasn't because of someone in the flight class."
He was still brooding over her secret crush. Even if it wasn't Xu Yanyang, he didn't seem like a good person.
"Why are you following me?" he asked again, this time out of pure curiosity.
Tao Shuran lowered her eyelashes and stared at her toes and his reflection.
“Because I’m used to it.”
I am used to following your footsteps and chasing your voice. The afterglow at the end of the sunset makes me secretly look at you, but my intentions become more obvious.
"Can't."
Tao Shuran was a little stunned. Without looking down, he looked up at him blankly and asked, "What?"
Liang Yuanjing patiently repeated it again.
"You can't get used to it."
The tone he used when he said this was obviously not gentle enough, and the look he gave her was a bit stern.
"Tao Shuran, you have to make your own decisions and follow the path you want to take."
When her full name was suddenly called, Tao Shuran pursed her lips and said "hmm" softly.
She lowered her head again and kicked the stones on the roadside with her toes.
Liang Yuanjing touched his nose, walked over and asked her, "Am I a little fierce?"
"ah?"
Tao Shuran's mind froze at his sudden approach. She subconsciously took two steps back and answered honestly.
"Not really fierce, just a bit like my dad."
Tao Hongfeng often asked her what she wanted to do in the future. Whenever she said something like "whatever", her father would say seriously that her future path is her own, so she must learn to make her own decisions.
Liang Yuanjing was still reflecting on how he was getting used to behaving unruly with his buddies in the training team.
He didn't want to have any unpleasantness with the girl as soon as they met.
I didn't expect the girl to say something like that.
His heart sank.
After a while, he smiled and grabbed the strap of her schoolbag to lead her towards him.
"Tao Shuran, you are so presumptuous."
*
May 14th is the official start date of the Fuqing provincial selection competition.
As a contestant in the calligraphy and painting group, Tao Shuran is the youngest and also the most nervous.
Three days before the exam, she suffered from insomnia almost every night. As soon as she lay down, her sensitive nerve endings automatically emitted signals of theoretical knowledge. Her entire brain was like a movie projector, without a moment's rest.
Finally, the day before the competition, Tao Shuran couldn't stand it anymore and called Fang Qingyi.
Fang Qingyi carried her suitcase and rushed straight to the downstairs of her dormitory.
"Come on, ask for leave. I'll sleep with you tonight."
At 11 o'clock in the evening, Tao Shuran took a shower and climbed into bed. Before going to bed, she swallowed a melatonin gummy, which was grape flavored. It tasted no different from candy when she took a bite.
Because I have a premonition that I will not be able to sleep tonight, my nerves are more active.
Fang Qingyi snatched the book from her hand.
"Why are you still reading at this hour? This competition doesn't happen once every ten years. If it doesn't work out this year, we can just try again next year."
Fang Qingyi said firmly: "I'm telling you, Ranran, I never read before the exam, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to remember anything."
Tao Shuran blinked and asked her, "Do you usually watch it?"
Fang Qingyi: ...
"Not even looking."
"Then I'll listen to some music."
Tao Shuran took out a Bluetooth headset from her bag. She reached out and adjusted the light to sleep mode, and the whole room became dim.
She opened her favorites and skillfully found a piece of audio.
"Tao Shuran, good night."
It was the only time Liang Yuanjing sent her a good night message.
Tao Shuran heard this sentence at least a hundred times, on every sleepless night when he secretly missed her.
*
The competition is divided into two sessions, with theoretical knowledge tested in the morning and practical skills tested in the afternoon.
The competition covers various fields of cultural relics restoration, including ceramics, calligraphy and painting, clocks and watches. Within the specified time, each contestant must complete the restoration of the instrument in front of him, and the judges on the field will criticize and score him.
Tao Shuran is participating in the calligraphy and painting restoration group this year.
The competition was broadcast live. Because of this setting, Tao Shuran became even more nervous before going on stage. He felt as if a thousand pairs of eyes were staring at him from the audience.
"Of course."
It seemed like there was always someone calling me from the audience.
Tao Shuran looked in the direction of the voice and saw Fang Qingyi waving enthusiastically at her in the audience.
She actually sneaked into the competition.
It wasn't just Fang Qingyi. Tao Shuran looked over and saw Fu Changpei and Zhao Zhengnian standing together.
And there is Liang Yuanjing.
He sat lazily in the audience, his hands supporting his forehead and his eyes closed, then suddenly opened his eyes.
Perhaps it was destined, he raised his eyes and happened to meet her cautious gaze at him at that moment.
Tao Shuran's heart trembled, and he subconsciously wanted to dodge.
Liang Yuanjing looked at her and waved his phone at her.
Tao Shuran immediately took out his cell phone from his pocket.
She watched him lower his head as if to send a message. Soon, her phone vibrated and a message from Liang Yuanjing arrived as expected.
Tao Shuran put the phone to her ear and heard Liang Yuanjing's voice.
He said, "Come on."
Across the crowd, his voice traversed the distance, carrying with it the metallic rustling of electricity, quietly soothing all the restless hearts.
The moment the game started, Tao Shuran saw her four friends off the court giving her thumbs up of encouragement, and all her nervousness suddenly disappeared.
It doesn't matter if you fail.
She has everyone.
In this competition, Tao Shuran was responsible for repairing a damaged calligraphy and painting. She took a rough look and found that the damage to the calligraphy and painting was not too serious. She initially planned to use a brush to press it to make it clear, and then use a clean towel to press and absorb the dirty water. She would repeat this operation several times to complete the basic cleaning.
Restoring cultural relics requires patience. From two o'clock in the afternoon to eight o'clock in the evening, until the lights come on, the work in her hands is not finished.
When he stepped down from the stage, Tao Shuran had a little cold sweat on his face and couldn't stand steadily.
She staggered forward and almost fell into the arms of Liang Yuanjing who was walking towards her.
The latter gave her a slight hand and joked with a smile, "Your job requires quite a bit of physical strength."
Tao Shuran pursed her lips. The feeling of actually completing a whole set of repair processes was completely different from her usual training.
The energy consumption of concentrating the mind for such a long time was extremely huge, and she felt that she really needed physical training.
Zhao Zhengnian suggested, "How about I take you guys jogging in the morning from now on?"
"Forget it, I can't get up." Fang Qingyi said, holding her face. "Did you know that beautiful women need beauty sleep?"
"Come on, beautiful women usually go to bed at nine and get up at six. You slept until eleven, you're just a lazy pig taking a nap."
Fang Qingyi slapped him and shouted, "Zhao Zhengnian, are you looking for a fight?"
Zhao Zhengnian wailed, covering his back and howling like a ghost. He hid behind Fu Changpei and complained to him in his ear.
"Old Fu, look at her. She's so fierce. She hits people at every turn. My back must be red."
"Hurry up and discipline her."
Among their group of five, Fu Changpei has become the "head of the family" because he is the most introverted and stable.
He felt a dull pain between his eyebrows when he heard that Zhao Zhengnian and Fang Qingyi had started fighting each other. He stretched out his arms to stop Fang Qingyi who was gathering her strength to continue rushing forward.
"You two should be quiet. We have to clean up later."
The ticket was a volunteer ticket that Fu Changpei got from a friend. He was mainly responsible for maintaining order and doing post-match cleaning work.
Tao Shuran didn't expect that everyone had paid so much to encourage her to enter the venue. She was so moved that she picked up the broom and wanted to sweep the floor with everyone.
"Sit down."
Liang Yuanjing stretched out a finger and pushed her back into her seat.
He fished in his pocket and pulled out a handful of mints, then reached out and grasped her wrist, placing them all in her hand.
Tao Shuran was stunned for a moment, then realized the dizziness he had just experienced.
It turns out he noticed it.
She whispered "thank you", peeled a mint candy and put it under her tongue. It tasted sweet, like spring.
Halfway through cleaning, Fang Qingyi came over and said mysteriously, "Of course, I heard that Liang Yuanjing is going to give you a surprise on your birthday."
"You think he's not going to formally confess his feelings to you?"
The mint candy that Tao Shuran was biting broke into pieces. She looked away in panic and covered Fang Qingyi's mouth with her hand.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Catching a glimpse of his approaching figure out of the corner of her eye, Tao Shuran quickly winked at Fang Qingyi.
Fang Qingyi immediately made an expression of "I understand".
"Oh, by the way, I just saw someone over there asking for Liang Yuanjing's contact information."
"If you ask me, a handsome guy is a handsome guy, and there are people who hook up with him wherever he goes."
"Yeah?"
Tao Shuran looked at Liang Yuanjing's figure walking slowly towards him not far away, wondering curiously, did he give it to her or not?
Just as he was thinking, Liang Yuanjing stopped where he was.
"Tao Shuran." He suddenly called her name and waved at her with his raised arm.
After hesitating for only a second, Tao Shuran stood up and walked towards him.
When Tao Shuran got over, she discovered that there was a girl standing opposite Liang Yuanjing.
She has a tall figure, big chestnut-brown wavy hair, and bangs pinned to one side with a pearl hairpin. She has a bright appearance.
He was also proactive and enthusiastic, chatting with Liang Yuanjing with a smile.
"Handsome guy, can I have your WeChat?"
Liang Yuanjing put his arm around Tao Shuran's shoulders, speaking in a casual tone.
"But my girlfriend is very fierce."
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