School ended.
It was six o'clock. In September in the Jiangnan region, at this time, the sun hung in the west. The rich, sweet sunlight focused and scattered on the glass curtain walls of Jiangzhe City. Looking down from space, there was an orange-red light spot here. While in the streets of the city, viewed from the right angle, a pillar of light that seemed to fill the sky and cover the earth shot down, creating the illusion of being pierced through.
When the light was too strong, the glass curtain walls of these high-rises would automatically adjust to a matte mode to avoid causing excessive light pollution and even prevent dazzling citizens moving outside.
Simon didn't know what the situation was like in the high school section, but tall evergreen trees were visible everywhere in the Chunhua District. They sliced through this excessively intense twilight. Everyone rode their mobility scooters, hiding in the shade. What could be seen before one's eyes were beams of light—slanted beams, large, high and low, near and far, clear and hazy.
The heat of the light, the cold of the dark—the light of heaven and earth seemed like a sieve. The fine warp and weft cut into one's tactile senses, capable of dissolving weak people, letting their bodies get drunk in the golden world. Simon turned his head. Su Xiangli, sitting to his rear right, sat upright, eyes fixed forward. Light spots suddenly swam over her silhouette like ripples shimmering on a mirror of ice.
He was suddenly a bit gleeful, quietly slowing down his scooter to fall beside her. Simon smiled and stretched his neck, looking quite annoying. Su Xiangli glared at him sideways, but couldn't help laughing at his posture.
She was wobbling on her scooter, so a patrolling security robot quietly ran behind her to ensure she wouldn't actually fall and get hurt.
Simon's phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it, just waved at Su Xiangli and sped up.
Su Xiangli watched his back as he looked back from time to time, and she suddenly stopped being angry. She also increased her speed. The robot behind her followed for two steps, then turned and left.
The surging traffic split at an intersection. The group Simon was in was basically heading to the cafeteria, while students leaving school were heading to the train station to transfer to the road in front of the school gate.
Everything would be orderly.
Zhou Ping and Zhang Yingxuan caught up with Simon and the other on the way. The four old friends huddled together. Slowly, Zou Jiaqi and Gastrointestinal Bacteria appeared from who knows where, followed by Zhou Ping's roommates. Su Xiangli's roommates also appeared briefly. This one's elementary school classmate, that one's deskmate friend—the first dinner at this school unknowingly became a group meal. By the time they reached the Sixth Cafeteria closest to the teaching building, there were already sixteen of them together.
The cafeteria tables could be moved and joined together. Sixteen people gathered. Those who knew each other, those who didn't—everyone just tried to talk to their close companions. Naturally, there were those who didn't fit in, eating quietly in the corner.
Ordering via phone, food delivered by robots—this meal really had the Aura of dining out. It was a pity it was a served-meal system; otherwise, it would have had a festive atmosphere.
This was the only time, the only time, so many students, known and unknown, could eat together. Everyone discussed their first day of school experience, complained about this teacher, grumbled about the strange slogans posted on the blackboard. When it came to the desk cabinets, everyone sighed in unison, feeling they were too ugly, turning perfectly good desks into office desks. Although the user experience was excellent, the upper body felt too empty, and the lower body was restricted from moving too much, which was very awkward.
After eating, Simon asked Zhang Yingxuan to take his schoolbag back to the dormitory. Other students basically finished their homework in the classroom, but he was dawdling and didn't want to start, so he stuffed a bag of homework when school ended. When Su Xiangli ignored him, he just sat in his seat flipping through his Chinese textbook, lazy and scattered. Actually, he had a lot of homework to do today. The math teacher gave him a test paper, telling him to finish it as much as possible, preferably handing it in before next Monday.
Truly a cruel old lady, who never had a clue about the amount of homework she assigned.
Su Xiangli was chatting and laughing with her roommates, intending to go back to the dorm, but was stopped by Simon.
"Uh, Su Xiangli, come here for a second."
"What's the matter? Just say it now." Su Xiangli tilted her head. She was becoming harder to deal with; she was no longer the little girl who would stick to Simon all the time.
Simon licked the taste of anxiety on his lips. With so many onlookers, he remembered what the tour guide robot and the Class Teacher had said: No puppy love.
No, I am not in puppy love, I am caring for Su Xiangli.
[Lu: How much do you care about her?]
"I want to go for a walk with you, okay?" He was fearless at this moment.
Su Xiangli hurriedly flew out of the crowd. As she ran past him, she quietly tugged at his clothes. Simon nodded and smiled at the stunned crowd, turned around, and followed behind her, running wildly.
Su Xiangli was soon caught up. Simon was in front of her. She tried her best to keep up, but soon felt exhausted. The people around became fewer and fewer, the sunset light grew dimmer. In the darkness and her dizziness, he was near yet far.
"Slow down!"
She called out, running with all her might, but the distance seemed to be widening. His back dissolved into the dusk. The school's roadside trees rustled in the evening breeze.
"Wait for me!"
Such running, how unfair.
Simon turned around, opened his arms, and Su Xiangli fell into his embrace.
"We're here."
Su Xiangli was so angry she punched him, but it only made Simon let out a heartless laugh.
"There was a campus map at the cafeteria entrance earlier. I saw there was a lake here, so I brought you over."
Su Xiangli turned her head. The shimmering lake surface looked like black silk with leaping fragments of gold. The sunset on the horizon was gently kissing the horizon goodbye. The high and low pillars of the buildings grew silently between the earth and the water. Everything dead was vivid at this moment.
And everything vivid—Su Xiangli saw Simon's left cheek soaked in golden light. What flashed in his eyes was the sun, a rippling sea.
She lowered her head, a bit shy.
Simon tilted his head, "Did you apply to the school as a special talent student?"
"Yeah, the notification will come down in a few days."
"By then, you'll only have half-day classes, right?"
"What, are you afraid I won't learn it?" Su Xiangli became aggressive again. The way she put her hands on her hips, she was still the presumptuous girl who shouted about the noodle god back then.
"I applied to work in the school infirmary."
"Huh? Since when?"
"See, you don't understand me at all." Simon felt happy inside. It was a chore he specifically applied for from the Class Teacher when he went to the office today, even using the Old Chinese Doctor's Grip to perform a wave of physical persuasion, all just so that Su Xiangli would have a legitimate reason and a legitimate place to relieve fatigue after practicing dance every day. But on the surface, he deliberately acted aggrieved.
Su Xiangli looked disgusted and said softly, "Bring your head over here."
"What for..." He was still distracted by his pride, so he obediently leaned down slightly to be at eye level with her.
Su Xiangli reached out, placed it on his head, and rubbed it slowly. The face of the woman named mother appeared in her heart. She repeated her mother's words from the past, "Don't be sad anymore, okay? Let me comfort you."
Chaotic hot air sprayed onto Simon's eyelashes. He felt his eyeballs pricked and couldn't help but blink.
"Thank you."
[Lu: I empathize with you, have you forgotten?]
Simon stood up straight. Su Xiangli's hand followed his head, so she stood on tiptoe, and he hugged her.
"Thank you, really."
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