In fact, I knew He Xubei a long time ago. At that time, he was still a little boy as white as porcelain.
At the city-wide elementary school talent show, I performed a folk dance with a few little girls. Halfway through the dance, the accompaniment went wrong, and the leader hurried to find a new accompaniment, but the host asked us girls to leave first.
I thought we were not allowed to perform. You know, I had prepared for this performance for a long time in advance, just to win the prize and please my father. Now we were only halfway through the dance and they chased us off the stage. I got angry with the host and cried and shouted that I wanted to finish the dance. There were also city leaders sitting in the audience at the time. The teachers were afraid of the bad influence, so they carried me off the stage.
At this moment, a crisp voice shouted: "Wait a minute!"
I saw a boy in a white suit in the audience. He stopped the teacher backstage, looked at me and said, "There is a piano on the stage. I can play it."
He told the teacher that he could play the piano accompaniment for the song I was dancing to, and he guaranteed that the effect would be great.
I was crying like a kitten, but I immediately burst into laughter. I danced the whole dance to the sound of music flowing from his fingertips, and finally my friends and I won the second prize.
The boy who played the piano won the special prize. His performance was a piano solo.
Until now, I can still recall his appearance on the stage. The whole stage was his world. He was obviously just a little boy of seven or eight years old, but he had the posture of a world-class pianist.
The teacher told me that it was He Xubei, the little piano prince of Experimental Primary School.
I kept repeating that name, fearing that I would forget it. Until the day I came to register at Y High School, when I was filling out the information at the registration desk, I heard a voice: "Teacher, my name is He Xubei. Which classroom am I assigned to?"
He Xubei? Is that the He Xubei who can play the piano?
Tianjin is not big, but it is not small either. What are the chances of meeting someone in such a city?
I turned my head slowly, afraid that I had recognized the wrong person, and even more afraid that he was no longer the same as I remembered.
I saw a familiar face. Even though it had been nearly nine years, I could still recognize that temperament at a glance. But I didn't dare to ask him directly. After he filled out the form and left, I took out the student information sheet when the teacher wasn't paying attention. It was him, the boy who accompanied me on the piano.
Holding my pounding heart, I went to the classroom with my new textbook, only to see He Xubei reading a book at his desk. His profile against the light was reflected in my eyes.
I wanted to go up and say hello to him, and I wanted to ask him if he still remembered the girl who danced the folk dance.
Unexpectedly, he asked me, is there anything wrong?
I thought it would be a story of reunion after a long separation, but I didn't expect that he didn't recognize me at all!
Well , who would deliberately remember a cat with a crying face?