This September was a happy September, and Simon took light, quick steps every day.
He secured the position of Publicity Committee member, and the system rewarded him with three hundred Comprehension Points. The simulation pod arrived and was placed in his dorm room. It was truly a full simulation for watching videos, allowing him to feel temperature, scent, airflow, and more, just like an observer behind the camera. Especially when watching exciting films like "cyber machine love," it could make a person incredibly exhilarated.
Su Xiangli hadn't been talking much to him recently, but an unspoken understanding between them was constantly growing.
The math teacher recommended Simon participate in the Olympiad math competition, but he refused. He felt he had taken enough tests in his previous life and wanted to live this life as relaxed as possible.
He continued to learn drawing, specifically digital painting or tablet drawing. Drawing in the simulation pod was particularly enjoyable; it truly felt like holding a brush and painting an oil painting, without the restrictive feeling of wearing VR thimbles. The best part of digital drawing was not having to buy those explosively expensive paints and papers, making it a poor person's pleasure.
The first semester of junior high passed uneventfully, and the winter vacation arrived as scheduled, starting on January 20, 2090, and lasting until the Lantern Festival on February 13. Nearly a month was quite good; the school was still merciful to first-year students, as second and third-year students had to return to school the day after the new year.
Today is Saturday, January 21, 2090.
The temperature is -6℃, with light snow.
The results of the NCAS online poll were out: for three consecutive months, Jiangzhe City would mostly have snowy weather, lasting until February 1.
On the first day of winter vacation, Simon and Su Xiangli each carried a small suitcase and headed to Great-Grandfather's house.
Lu Xuefeng would still be waiting for them at the station. After several months apart, the stubborn old man seemed to have aged four or five years; his back had become somewhat hunched. Seeing Simon and Su Xiangli, Great-Grandfather tried hard to straighten his back.
Simon cheerfully hugged Great-Grandfather. He was now entering the rapid growth of adolescence, not only had his voice become hoarse, but he had also shot up significantly. Usually, he could only huddle at Great-Grandfather's waist, but now he could practically squeeze the old Great-Grandfather's lungs.
"Cough, cough, cough! Alright, alright," Lu Xuefeng coughed, "Let's go home."
Su Xiangli walked over and bowed very politely, "Hello, Great-Grandfather." She wore an apricot-yellow down jacket, a plain white long cloth skirt, white tights, and black leather shoes, exuding youthful vitality that made anyone who saw her feel joyful.
Lu Xuefeng had always been amiable towards her, but his words were very polite, without any hint of closeness, "You're Su Xiangli, right? Welcome."
The old man got into the car. Su Xiangli turned her head and pouted innocently at Simon.
"That's just how he is." Xiao Lu put the luggage into the trailer, then opened the car door and invited Su Xiangli to sit down. But she held the edge of the car door, "I know, but it just feels so distant," she whispered.
"It'll get better after you see him a few more times."
Great-Grandfather's pickup truck drove through the wilderness of the agricultural area. White snow covered the deep earth, and the gloomy sky was even darker than the ground, creating an illusion of the world being inverted. Only the desolate branches of the fruit trees stretched out, covering a small part of the horizon. Su Xiangli loved the English pronunciation of horizon. It was the boundary between heaven and earth in the human eye, with blurred colors blurring the boundaries. When looking at the woods, it was almost impossible to tell whether those fallen, leafless branches were roots growing into the sky.
Su Xiangli leaned against the window. Lu Xuefeng and his grandson were chatting in the front, and she neither wanted to be a listener nor participate in the conversation.
She was simply captivated by such a view, even though it wasn't spectacular at all. Simon's words intermittently echoed in her ears. Stripped of their inherent meaning, his voice became clear and direct, like a song. His vocal cords' development made him prone to cracking, and Su Xiangli knew he had been trying to lower his tone recently. Was this a boy's little shyness?
Speaking of which, this was her second time in the agricultural area, and her second time meeting Simon's family.
Every time she saw that old man, the atmosphere seemed mournful. She hadn't felt this way before, but looking now, indeed, the old man's stubbornness was powerless.
In the countryside, disconnected from modern civilization, this farmer was abandoned by his era.
The guitarist of the Roma Qin Ri Wan Sui Band, would he still pluck the strings now? Su Xiangli thought of the famous "Song of the Pipa Player." She loved music, and she loved poetry, especially poems that described music. She knew that the Roma Qin Ri Wan Sui Band was a trendsetter of "mourning culture" in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
So how should one describe their music?
Perhaps it was like the deep winter world before her; beneath the chilling surface, what was truly conveyed was the meaning of psychedelic life, death, and existence, just like those trees, as if growing upside down, capable of twisting heaven and earth. This was the spirit and the curse of the Long Live Band.
It was too depressing and too radical, so they were all left behind by their era. After the cheers of rock and roll, nothing was left on the scene, perhaps only a ground full of confetti scraps.
Simon smiled, "Great-Grandfather, how about we sing a song?"
Lu Xuefeng thought for a moment, "What do you want to hear?"
"Whose rock songs did you listen to when you were young?"
"At that time, for domestic rock, I listened to Tong Yang, New Pants, and Wan Qing. For foreign bands, there were too many to count, but Queen was the best."
Simon was surprised, "New Pants? What kind of band is that? What a strange name."
"They were niche. Not many people knew about them even back then, so it's perfectly normal that you don't know them now."
"Let's hear one."
"No, I can't sing it without accompaniment." Great-Grandfather was clearly eager but too awkward to start. Simon opened his phone, selected a musical instrument simulation app, and projected an air guitar that could produce almost realistic instrument sounds through the phone's speaker just by strumming.
Lu Xuefeng was surprised, "Is this stuff so convenient now? It used to require a projector." He reached out and pulled the virtual guitar over. The car was self-driving, and he slowly tried to strum the strings.
Su Xiangli turned her head, ready to listen.
Under the gaze of his juniors, Lu Xuefeng, who hadn't touched a guitar in nearly forty years, slowly played the notes of yesteryear. As long as there was an audience, he was still that unrestrained youth.
"The record store I loved to go to,"
"Yesterday was his last day,"
"The fragments that once intoxicated me,"
"Are all scattered on the street..."
"But all those dreams you once had,"
"Have become blurred and unseen,"
"Those struggles for ideals,"
"Were nothing but for money..."
"I don't want to die in failure and loneliness!!!!" he roared. Simon also roared along. Su Xiangli screamed. Everyone went crazy. Before Lu Xuefeng's eyes was a torrent of memories, before Simon's eyes were the roaring faces of his previous life, and what Su Xiangli saw were the frantic man, the lost elder, and the pained boy.
"I don't want to die in failure and loneliness!! I don't want to live underground forever!! The deception of materialism! Hurrying ants! People without culture are not sad!!"
"He won't be sad!"
"He won't be sad!"
"He won't be sad!"
Lu Xuefeng had not a single tear, only his eyes were exceptionally bright. The car's AI buzzed, warning them to observe behavioral norms and driving safety. Simon slapped the car's speaker off.
Su Xiangli quieted down, and everything else quieted with her. Great-Grandfather continued to pluck the strings, intermittently, even the echoes were low and hoarse.
"He will also be sad."
"He will also be sad."
"Sad..."
Lu Xuefeng closed his eyes. After a long while, he sighed, "Ah, that felt good! My skill hasn't diminished a bit!"
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