We have come all the way from the midsummer full of blooming gardenias. The dense tree canopies hide the secrets of midsummer, and then comes early autumn, deep winter, and spring again.
The secrets in the tree canopy are hidden deeper and deeper with the growth rings, so deep that they cannot be remembered without being touched.
——Su Shaner

When the sun shines directly at 37 degrees north latitude, it is the hottest summer in the northern hemisphere, roaring in with a fiery breath in a powerful and impossible to ignore posture.
Let's turn our eyes away from the dazzling sun and look down along the blue sky. We can see a forest of tall buildings. However, when we look closer, we can see a large area of ​​the ancient city covered by greenery in a corner of the bustling city. An old long street runs through the ancient city. French plane trees are planted on both sides of the street. It is unknown how many years they have stood like this, like two rows of giant umbrellas, blocking the ancient and dignified black tiles and white walls on the street.
This is really a very ancient long street. When tourists step into this street, most of them will have the illusion of time reversal, as if no matter how the outside world changes, this place will not change.
Time stands still among the weathered treetops of the plane trees.
Time is stranded in a swallow's nest on the eaves of someone's house.
My home, Su Shaner, is right in the middle of this long street. The house with a fan-shaped lantern hanging at the door is the fan shop run by my grandfather, and the courtyard behind the fan shop is where my grandfather and I live.
According to my grandfather, my family's fan shop has been in existence for hundreds of years. Of course, every shop on this street is very old.
I like this ancient Qingtang Street, along with the midsummer and the chirping of cicadas. I love it so much.
"Shan'er." Du Juan held her chin and asked me for the 108th time, "Is Chenxi really coming back today?"
"She called me yesterday and said she would be back today." I answered her for the one hundred and eighth time.
Dujuan finally stopped asking me questions. She stood up and walked along the corridor to the gate of my yard.
I lay on the mat in the corridor, with one hand on my forehead, squinting at the dazzling sun in the sky.
"I'll go outside and take a look. Chenxi should be here soon. I'd better go outside to greet him. I don't know how much that guy has changed in the past three years ." Dujuan turned around and smiled at me, then opened the door leading to the outside.
The small and delicate cuckoo swam out the door like a fish living in the sun.
Outside the door is my grandfather's fan shop.
On Qingtang Street, most families are like mine, with shops in the front and living quarters in the back.
I sat up and let my legs dangle over the side of the hallway, swinging unconsciously.
I remember when I was a kid, there was a grape vine growing in my yard. In the summer, the purple and black grapes were hanging all over the vine trellis, and the kids on this street would stay at my house and not leave. So every summer, my house was the busiest.
I was lost in thought when the door to the outside was pushed open. Then I heard Du Juan's excited laughter: "Haha, Shan'er, Chenxi is here! I just walked outside and saw her coming."
I turned my head and saw Xu Chenxi wearing a pure white dress and smiling, standing next to Du Juan, who was half a head shorter than her.
Seeing me turn around, she nodded at me and said softly, "Shan'er, I'm back."
Like Du Juan, Xu Chenxi grew up with me, but three years ago she went to Rongcheng to attend high school. After that, she seldom came back, and even when she did, we seldom met.
I carefully looked at Xu Chenxi, whom I hadn't seen for three years. In those three years, she had grown from an ignorant girl into the quiet and beautiful woman she is today.
There are seven or eight people of my age on our street, but only three or four of them grew up in Qingtang Street.
Du Juan's family lives next door to mine and runs an embroidery workshop. Du Juan's mother has a pair of magical hands. Every Dragon Boat Festival, she would embroider beautiful sachets and give them to a few of us.
Xu Chenxi's house is a little far from mine. Her family runs a flower shop, and Du Juan and I often go to her house to buy flowers together.
"Chenxi." I stood up and walked towards her, opening my arms and hugging her, "I missed you so much."
Xu Chenxi patted my back and then took a step back unnoticeably.
I looked at her and smiled, "It's been a long time, Chenxi."
Xu Chenxi lowered his head, his hands tangled together unconsciously.
After the warmth after meeting, a sense of strangeness follows.
This feeling is really hard to get used to.
Du Juan reached out and pulled me, saying, "Okay, don't just stand there, let's sit down and have a good chat."
Dujuan pulled me back from my wandering thoughts, so I took the lead and sat down on the mat. Xu Chenxi followed and sat down on one side, and Dujuan sat on the other side.
The three of us formed a triangle, seemingly very close to each other and seemingly indestructible, but what was going on?
I subconsciously clenched my hands, and what came to my mind was the hands of the three of us tightly clasped together when we were young.
Du Juan really wanted to say something to break the quiet atmosphere, but having not seen Xu Chenxi for three years, she probably couldn't find a suitable topic that could bring the three of us back to the time when we were so open-hearted to each other.
What's more, something like that happened three years ago.
Things like that...
"It's Miss Chenxi who's back."
Just when my thoughts were drifting away again, my grandfather came in from outside with a basin of peaches, and his hearty laughter seemed to break our awkwardness.
"Hello, Grandpa Su." Xu Chenxi greeted him quickly.
I stood up, walked over, and took the peach from my grandfather's hand. By the time I sat back on the mat with the peach in my hand, I had come to my senses.
I picked up a peach, handed it to Xu Chenxi with a smile, and said, "Here, Chenxi, this is for you, Dujuan can take it yourself."
"Why? Shan'er, you are too partial!" Dujuan yelled, carelessly picking the biggest and reddest peach. "You have been partial to Chenxi since childhood. I was jealous. As soon as Chenxi came back, Shan'er, you are partial to him again. Humph!"
"Haha, you're jealous, girl!" Grandpa laughed. He took some snacks from the room and put them on the mat. "Chenxi is back today, so I'll give Shan'er a day off. Have fun."
After grandpa finished speaking, he opened the door and walked out, and there were only three of us left in the corridor again.
We stared at each other.
After a while, Dujuan finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.
I smiled and said, "It's quite hot outside, let's just stay home and chat and have some snacks."
"Okay, I agree!" Dujuan was the first to raise her hand in agreement.
Looking at Dujuan like this, for a moment, I thought that the alienation between the three of us had been eliminated.
"Chenxi, how have you been these three years?" I asked her with a smile.
Xu Chenxi raised the corner of her mouth slightly, and her eyes swept towards a corner of the yard, whether intentionally or unintentionally. She seemed to be thinking about something, very absorbed.
I patted her arm gently and called out, "Chenxi?"
Xu Chenxi stiffened for a moment like a frightened deer, then smiled awkwardly: "I'm here."
"Chenxi, what's wrong with you?" Du Juan stopped eating peaches and looked at Xu Chenxi in confusion, "Why are you so absent-minded? I remember you weren't like this before..."
"No, no." Xu Chenxi quickly shook his hands and said, "I just... just..."
"Haha, Dujuan, don't scare Chenxi."
Looking at Xu Chenxi like this, her childhood appearance came to my mind, with timid eyes and always staying quietly in the flower shop.
The relationship between me, Xu Chenxi, and Du Juan is very strange. Now that I think about it, it’s really magical that three people with completely different personalities can become good friends.
Dujuan has been a noisy and carefree person since childhood. Every day he is as lively as a cuckoo, as if he will never have any worries.
Xu Chenxi and Du Juan have completely opposite personalities. She is very quiet, so quiet that you will forget her existence if you are not careful. But I don't know why, I like Xu Chenxi like this.
I still remember that time, Du Juan's favorite words were: "Su Shan'er, you are too partial. As a close friend, how can you be so partial to Xu Chenxi? I'm jealous!"
"Fan'er." Xu Chenxi suddenly looked at me nervously, as if she had made up her mind. She took a deep breath and said quickly, "I want to go to our junior high school campus. Can you go with me?"
I was stunned, and even Dujuan was dazed for a moment.
Neither Du Juan nor I had expected that Xu Chenxi, whom I hadn't seen for three years, would make such a request on his first day back.
"Okay." I quickly came to my senses and said with a smile, "Since Chenxi wants to go and have a look, let's go! Speaking of which, I haven't been back to my alma mater for three years, and I really miss it."
Xu Chenxi lowered his head, twisted his hands together, and said three words in a very low voice: "I'm sorry."
I stood in the corridor, stretched, pretended not to hear her, and turned around to give her a big smile.
She happened to look up, and when she saw me, she was a little dazed.
Dujuan is always full of energy. When she heard us say we were going out for a walk, she suddenly became excited.
She stood up and said excitedly, "Great! I remember that the school has planted many pear trees. If we go there now, we will definitely be able to pick a lot of pears!"
I reached out and pulled Xu Chenxi, winking at her. Her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something to me, but in the end, she just lowered her head and said nothing.
"Let's go, let's go." Du Juan is a man of action. She quickly packed up the things on the mat, put on her small bag, and stood in the corridor to urge Xu Chenxi and me, "Hurry up, hurry up."
Unable to resist Du Juan's urging, we were ready in ten minutes. We each put on a big hat, changed our clothes, and walked to the bus stop.
The school is not far from Qingtang Street, about twenty minutes' walk away, but because the weather was too hot, we didn't want to walk.
"By the way, Chenxi, I forgot to ask you, how did you do in the entrance examination?" Du Juan suddenly asked, "Although you are definitely the best among the three of us, I am still very curious."
"Don't be curious." I said, "The scores will be announced in a week."
"That's right." Du Juan nodded in agreement, and her attention was soon drawn to the on-board TV on the bus.
The bus arrived at the station very quickly. After getting off the bus, we explained our purpose to the school guard and he let us in.
Students haven't had their summer vacation yet and still have to attend classes, but fortunately today is the weekend and there is no one on campus.
"Ah, there's a new teaching building over there!" Du Juan pointed at the new building not far away and exclaimed, and pulled me to look, "Shan'er, look!"
"I saw it." I said quickly, "Dujuan, don't get excited, I really saw it."
"Haha, that's great." Du Juan let me go, turned around, and then raised her head slightly, saying with emotion, "It turns out that not only us, but even our alma mater is moving forward."
The sunlight shone into her eyes, and her eyes sparkled.
Xu Chenxi was stunned for a moment, and then repeated in a low voice: "It's not just us, our alma mater is also moving forward?"
"Yes, we are all moving forward." I took a deep breath and stretched. "So Chenxi, we have to move forward too. No matter what happened in the past, it cannot be changed. The only thing we can do is remember it and then stride forward."
Xu Chenxi lowered her head, and I couldn't see the look in her eyes.
"Let's go." I grabbed her hand and felt her whole body tremble.
I looked at Xu Chenxi in surprise and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Xu Chenxi raised her head and smiled at me. I could see a hint of forcedness in her smile.
My intuition tells me that Xu Chenxi is hiding something from me.
"Hey, you two, hurry up. It's very hot standing under the sun, even though it's bright." Dujuan was standing under the wisteria trellis not far away, waving at us.
"Chenxi?" I pulled her, but Xu Chenxi's legs seemed to be rooted to the ground and she refused to move forward no matter how I pulled her.
"Shan'er!" She raised her head suddenly, her face pale and anxious, "Let's go back, Shan'er."
"Huh?" I was stunned for a moment. "But we're already here. Are you feeling unwell, Chenxi?"
"No... I just suddenly don't want to stay here anymore." Xu Chenxi's eyes were filled with pleading, "Let's go, Shan'er."
"Chenxi." I held her hands with both of my own, looked into her eyes, and said slowly, "There's something wrong with you today. Do you have anything to tell me?"
"No, nothing happened." Xu Chenxi was obviously a little flustered, "Shan'er, Dujuan, let's go home and come back another day."
"What?" Du Juan blinked and looked at Xu Chenxi in confusion, "But we are already here, why should we go back?"
Xu Chenxi's face became paler and paler. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Du Juan scream "Ah" and then look behind Xu Chenxi with wide eyes.
Du Juan pointed in that direction in an exaggerated manner, with an expression of disbelief and excitement on her face, but there was also a hint of surprise mixed in with the excitement.
Then she shouted, "Jiang Huai?"
When Xu Chenxi heard the name, his body trembled violently, and then he lowered his head, not daring to look me in the eye, as if he had done something wrong.
I raised my head and looked in the direction Dujuan pointed, and saw at the end of the corridor, between the green vines, a young man holding a basketball, looking at this side with a smile.
He was a very handsome boy with shining eyes.
When he looks at you, it's like the entire galaxy is hidden in his eyes.
"Shan'er..." Xu Chenxi apologized softly, "I'm sorry."
I was stunned for a moment and asked her: "Why do you want to say sorry?"
"Because I was the one who called Jiang Huai here." Xu Chenxi took a deep breath, bit her lip, and finally said, "I'm sorry, Shan'er, I knew very well that three years ago..."
"Three years ago?" I smiled, and a sour feeling came from the bottom of my heart . "Three years ago, such a long time ago, I have forgotten it a long time ago."
"I knew you didn't want to see him, but I still deliberately called you here." Xu Chenxi murmured.
"If you're apologizing to me for this matter, there's no need at all." I smiled and walked towards Jiang Huai at the end of the corridor.
Jiang Huai stood there motionless, as if he had taken root.
Like Xu Chenxi, Jiang Huai transferred to the same school as Xu Chenxi three years ago.
In my memory, Jiang Huai was always clean, wearing a white shirt, light-colored jeans, and a pair of shoes that were always brushed clean.
Jiang Huai, whom I haven't seen for three years, seems to have grown taller, but he is still the same thin and gentle as he was back then.
I stopped one meter away from Jiang Huai, raised my head slightly and looked at him.
Then I smiled at him.
I said, "Jiang Huai, long time no see."
Jiang Huai subconsciously glanced at Xu Chenxi, then smiled and said to me: "It's been a long time, Su Shaner."
If a person's life is a repetitive process of getting to know people, getting to know them, gradually fading away, and eventually being forgotten, then Jiang Huai and I are definitely an exception.
It is difficult to explain the relationship between him and me in a few words. To put it simply, I started to have a crush on him when I was a little girl, but I already knew what he thought of me three years ago.
Three years ago, he stood under the French plane tree and said to me expressionlessly: "Su Shan'er, let's see each other again. We don't want to see each other again in this life."
At that time, I seemed to keep smiling and watched him turn and walk away.
The wind blew through the tips of the plane trees, and the smell of midsummer was so strong.
"Jiang Huai, when did you come back? You are such a dishonest guy!" Du Juan finally reacted.
She walked over, clenched her fist, jumped up and punched Jiang Huai hard on the shoulder.
Jiang Huai smiled, his eyes were like a crescent moon.
He said, "I haven't seen you for three years, Dujuan. How come you haven't grown any taller? "
Dujuan suddenly became a little annoyed.
Du Juan is the same age as us, but she is much shorter, only about 1.5 meters tall. She has waist-length hair and looks as small and delicate as a doll, but her personality is like a hot pepper, very spicy.
"You are the one! You are still so thin, you will fall down when the wind blows, bean sprout!" Du Juan shouted angrily , "As expected, Jiang Huai is so annoying, humph!"
"Haha!" I couldn't help laughing.
This long-lost quarreling sound is so nostalgic.
Jiang Huai heard my laughter and turned his gaze back to me, looking me up and down.
I don't know why, but I still felt a little nervous when he was staring at me like this. I thought that after three years, I could have no distractions about Jiang Huai, but in fact, I overestimated myself.
I can say "long time no see" to him naturally, but I can't face his gaze calmly.
"Let's go sit in the school pavilion for a while." I couldn't help but suggest, "It's tiring to stand here."
"Okay." Jiang Huai looked at me and agreed with a smile.
He looked like he could see through my thoughts.
Du Juan is right, Jiang Huai is such a nasty guy.
This school is as familiar to us as the back garden of our home. Behind the first row of teaching buildings, there is a small garden with a pavilion in the middle of the garden. At this time of year, the pavilion is covered with creepers.
Xu Chenxi hasn't said a word since Jiang Huai appeared. She kept her head down like a child who had done something wrong.
Du Juan sat next to me, Xu Chenxi sat on the other side of me, and then Jiang Huai sat opposite me.
"Huh!" Dujuan stretched lazily.
The breeze dispelled the midsummer heat, and my mood gradually calmed down.
"Let's go pick some pears." Dujuan couldn't sit still for less than three minutes after sitting down.
Of course, I think the overly quiet and strange atmosphere was also one of the reasons. Three years is enough to make familiar people become strangers, not to mention that there was already a rift between us three years ago.
"Yes, let's go pick pears!" Xu Chenxi felt like he had grabbed a life-saving straw.
I know that she wants to get rid of this atmosphere more than anyone else.
"Su Shaner, what about you?" Jiang Huai didn't move, but looked at me with a smile.
I was stunned for a moment. I didn't expect him to ask for my opinion. I thought it was an exception for him to say "long time no see" to me. However, before I could answer, Du Juan pulled me up.
"Let's go, let's go."
Du Juan has always been a person of action. She pulled me forward a few steps, turned around and found that Jiang Huai had not caught up, so she let go of my arm and went back to pull Jiang Huai.
Xu Chenxi walked quickly to my side, twisting her hands unconsciously. I grabbed her hands and gave her a smile.
Xu Chenxi's eyes were red, and she whispered, "Shan'er, I just don't want you and Jiang Huai to have no contact with each other forever. There is no reason for you to never meet. So I deliberately brought you here, deliberately brought you to see Jiang Huai."
"It's not your fault." I said softly, "Chenxi, no matter what happens between Jiang Huai and I, it's not your fault."
Xu Chenxi paused and stopped.
She stared at me blankly, then quickly lowered her head and said, "Shan'er, you are so cunning."
Is it cunning?
Maybe!
"You are always like this, always saying 'it's not your fault', but I feel guilty! What's more, everything that happened three years ago was indeed my fault." Xu Chenxi raised her head suddenly, and I saw the moisture in her eyes, which was about to condense into tears and fall.
I reached out my hands to cover her eyes and said, "Chenxi, no one is wrong. Believe me, I will not stay in the past. Everyone and everything are changing little by little, and we are all moving towards a better future."
"But..." Xu Chenxi was still worried.
Three years ago in the midsummer, cicadas chirped, and Xu Chenxi stood in front of me like this. Three years ago, Xu Chenxi said to me, "Shan'er, I'm sorry."
Looking at Xu Chenxi like this, I suddenly felt that maybe I was really as cunning as she said.
I thought that pretending nothing had happened was the best way to forgive and deal with it, but I never thought that others would feel more guilty because of me, and Xu Chenxi has been carrying this feeling for three years.
In fact, Xu Chenxi did nothing wrong at that time, and no one was wrong. The only result was that our small group, which had originally played well together, fell apart, and it ended with Xu Chenxi and Jiang Huai going to study in the big city.
"If you feel sorry, please do me a favor." At this moment, I made a decision in my heart.
I turned around and saw Du Juan and Jiang Huai walking towards us, playing and fighting like they did when they were little. Even if it was just a momentary illusion, I wanted to go back to the past and play together happily and carefreely like that.
Xu Chenxi looked at me in surprise. She probably didn't expect me to say that.
She asked, "Shan'er, what do you want me to do for you?"
"I haven't thought about it yet. I'll tell you when I have thought about it." I smiled at her and said, "Let's go. Du Juan and Jiang Huai are about to catch up with us."
As a result, the Pear Garden was closed that day, we couldn't find the gardener, and had to go home empty-handed.
Dujuan was regretful all the way, and only after I told her that I would accompany her to pick pears another day did she stop muttering.