Our eyes met briefly in the air,
Like a "cherry blossom rain" in spring,
The petals slid down my face, feeling itchy, and I couldn't help but raise the corners of my mouth.

On the morning when I left home to report to University A, my uncle and aunt started arguing again. The reason was simply "whether my uncle should send me to school." My uncle insisted on sending me there, while my aunt insisted that she must be sent to work today.
In fact, I also understand that she just doesn't want me to take up any resources in the family. Today, my uncle refused to compromise at all and insisted on sending me to school no matter how my aunt made a fuss.
Before they said the word "divorce", I asked to leave by myself, but my uncle held me back and refused to let go.
Just as the two were pulling and neither of them was willing to let go, my cousin walked out of the room, squeezed out from the gap between them as if no one was around, walked to the door, turned back and muttered impatiently: "You are so old, if you want to leave, just leave, don't keep talking nonsense." He glanced at me again and said with disdain, "And you, what the hell are you wearing on the first day of school? At least dress decently! I put a set of clothes on your bed, I bought it for my girlfriend, you can wear it!"
"You little brat, when did you get a girlfriend?" The word "girlfriend" completely attracted my aunt's attention. She stopped arguing with my uncle and rushed out, pulling my cousin's ears and questioning him sharply.
Suddenly, I didn't know what to do.
"Go change your clothes first. The boy bought them especially for you." The uncle took the suitcase in his hand and said, "I'll go downstairs first. You wait for me at the parking lot entrance."
The clothes my cousin bought was a white dress. After putting it on, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I seemed spotless. I grinned. Maybe this is the legendary straight male aesthetic.
I changed my clothes, walked out of the community, and got into the gray BYD. The cooling function of the car was no longer very useful because it was so old. I sat in the passenger seat, my stomach was churning with acid, so I had to lean back in the chair and squint my eyes to stop myself from thinking too much, and then I fell into a deep sleep.
It was already noon when we arrived at the school. I had slept for too long and my head was a little groggy. It was my uncle who pushed me awake. When I opened my eyes in a daze, he had already opened the trunk and taken out my luggage.
I touched the corners of my mouth and found no saliva. I breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly got out of the car to take the suitcase from my uncle: "Thank you, uncle. I can go in by myself."
My uncle lowered his head and rubbed his hands back and forth. After a while, he looked up and said to me, "Why don't I take you in? What if they see that your parents are not here and want to bully you?"
I finally understood why he insisted on sending me to school. He had been timid all these years and had rarely spoken for me. I thought he was like my aunt, and both disliked me as a burden. When I heard his words, I raised my head, afraid that tears would flow down.
After calming down for a while, I smiled at him and said, "It's okay, I can go in by myself. You still have to go to work in the afternoon, so don't be late."
"Well... then I'll go back first. We are all college students now. Don't act like you were in high school. Get along well with your classmates. Also, don't blame your aunt. She has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Don't take it to heart. If you are free on the weekends, come home for dinner. No matter what, there will always be a place . Well... if you don't have enough money, just tell me. I still have some pocket money... I seem to be blocking the car behind us. Weiwei, I'm leaving first!" My uncle quickly got into the car, rolled down the window, waved to me, started the car and left.
As the car disappeared from my sight, my nose felt sore and the tears that I had managed to hold back just now fell. I bit my lips subconsciously, trying my best to suppress the emotion from spreading.
After taking a deep breath, I pulled my suitcase towards the school gate. Many parents accompanying their children were coming and going around me. They were muttering, repeating similar words over and over again.
City C was still very hot in September. With the temperature reaching nearly 40 degrees Celsius, I struggled to find the registration office following the signs at the school gate.
Before people have experienced anything, they always think they can do anything, but after trying to be strong, they realize their own incompetence. For example, now I am standing in front of the buildings at a loss, not knowing which one is Building Number 3 on the sign.
Living a self-centered life for so long has made me unsure of how to communicate with strangers. I tried to speak several times but swallowed the words back, and my mind became even blanker.
"Hey, we meet again! What a coincidence!"
When he appeared in front of me again, I was even more flustered than last time.
Cun Zhiwei, oh Cun Zhiwei, how could Cun Zhiwei, who was once so energetic and courageous, become timid and cowardly now?
I knew long ago that we would meet on the campus of University A, but I didn't expect it would happen so soon.
Compared to the clean and refreshing outfit of the white T-shirt and jeans that day, he was wearing a red basketball jersey today, looking particularly sunny and energetic. He squinted his eyes slightly, and his clear eyes looked innocent: "Are you scared by me? We met in the coffee shop before, and you gave me a paper bag, did you forget it?"
"Remember... remember." I tried hard to act more natural, but still looked very flustered.
"I told you not to rush forward so rashly. You scared my junior sister!"
Only then did I notice that there was another young man standing next to him. He was wearing the same red basketball jersey as him. His hair was wet with sweat and hung in strands in front of his forehead, looking quite unruly.
The boy squinted his eyes and looked at me, his clear eyes looked innocent: "Junior sister, are you scared by me?"
“No…no.” I took a small step back, unwilling to admit that I was tempted by “beauty” and started stuttering.
He smiled and asked me, "Can't you find the registration place?"
I nodded.
After learning about the situation, he began to help me lead the way enthusiastically. Following him, we arrived at the registration office not far away. It turned out that I had found this place before, and I thought I had gone back again.
After sending me to the place, he did not leave immediately, but enthusiastically taught me how to fill in the registration form. He stood next to me, very close, and I could feel the heat from his excessive sweating from playing basketball. My face was burning, and the hand holding the pen was shaking slightly.
"Your parents' names haven't been filled in here. You can hand it in after you fill them in." The boy pointed to the blank spaces for his parents' names and occupations on the paper. His slender white fingers tapped on the paper, and I couldn't take my eyes away from there.
"Can I not fill this in ?" I asked, my voice a little weak.
"Are your parents high-ranking officials? Are you afraid of scaring us if you tell us?" another boy interrupted.
"No...I...I didn't..." Thinking about myself, I used to be such an arrogant person. No matter who I met or what happened, I would not be cowardly at all. But on this question, in front of this boy, I really didn't know how to answer and face why I couldn't fill in the parent column.
"There's nothing you have to fill out here. I'll hand it in for you first." The boy took the form and walked over to the teacher who was collecting the forms. The two whispered something to each other, and the teacher nodded and took the form.
"Okay, I've handed it in for you. Just take this and find the girls' dormitory." The boy handed me a piece of paper with the location of the girls' dormitory and the door number of the dormitory where I would live in the future written on it. "I'm leaving first. Don't get lost on your way to the dormitory!"
I wanted to respond to him and get more information about him, but before I could open my mouth, a boy jumped in front of us.
"I've been looking for you for a long time! Why are you here? Come quickly! It's urgent!" The boy came running over in a hurry. When he saw me, his eyes changed a little. He smiled at me and said, "Hello, junior sister!"
Seeing his playful look, I felt a little annoyed and wanted to respond coldly, but out of politeness, I could only pretend that I didn't hear it.
"Could it be that the teacher is looking for me?" he asked.
"Of course not! Hurry up!" The boy suddenly remembered his important business and hurriedly pulled him away.
In a panic, he waved at me and left with his back to me.
Once again he was let go...
I hope that next time we meet, he won't leave my sight so easily...
"503, 504, 505, this is it." According to the card given by the teacher, I found the location of the dormitory. I pushed open the door and a strong fragrance hit me in the face. My nose started to itch and I couldn't help but sneeze. Then I rubbed the tip of my nose with my index finger, but couldn't help sneezing again.
"Why, you're not used to my perfume?" A girl with brown curly hair near the window glanced at me, put down the brush in her hand, and blew on her nail polish. "No one has lived here for a long time, and the musty smell is too strong, so I just sprayed it on. This is a new model from Hermès."
Seeing her taking it for granted, the smile on my face couldn't stay on. I couldn't help but wonder, was I also so... annoying when I was in high school?
"Hello, my name is Shi Shuxia, and the one painting the nail polish is Xu Meng'er." The other girl put down what she was doing, walked up to me with a gentle smile, and took my suitcase in her hands, "You must be Cun Zhiwei, right? We'll be roommates from now on."
"How do you know my name?" I was a little surprised.
"Didn't you look at the paper on the door when you came in? Each of our names is on it!" Shi Shuxia took the suitcase from me and asked me, "Where do you want to sleep?"
"Isn't the other person here?" There are four beds, but only three people are now occupied.
"Although it's a four-person room, there are only three of us in the dormitory. I don't know if we will arrange for students from other departments or seniors to come here in the future. For now, there are only three of us." She laughed at me, "It seems that you really didn't read the paper at the door when you came in, so you probably didn't read the dormitory regulations either. Remember to read them later!"
"Thank you!"
Just as she was about to choose a seat, Xu Meng'er suddenly said, "I don't like someone sleeping on the bed opposite me. You can sleep on Shi Shuxia's side!"
Shi Shuxia didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Meng'er, you can choose your bed freely, Cun Zhiwei..."
"I said I don't like it, so why are you talking so much nonsense!" Xu Meng'er raised her eyebrows, her eyes were sharp and there was a hint of anger in them.
“You are…”
Shi Shuxia seemed to want to argue for me, I pulled her sleeve and shook my head gently: "It doesn't matter where I sleep."
I didn't originally want to choose that position. Shi Shuxia in front of me looked so gentle when she smiled, which made me feel warm. I couldn't help but want to get closer to her.
The girls' dormitory building of A University is an old building. There is no air conditioning, and there is not even a ceiling fan, which I was afraid would fall and hit my head when I was a child. If I wanted to cool down, I had to buy a fan myself, but I forgot about this.
I had just climbed onto the bed and hadn't even tidied myself up for a while when I was sweating profusely. I finally found a piece of painted cardboard that I had put in the box at some point and used it to fan myself with air, but my chest still felt stuffy and the heat didn't subside at all.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew from behind, and the sweat on my back was blown away, taking away most of the heat from my body, making me feel extremely comfortable. I turned around, and Shi Shuxia was sitting on the bed, smiling at me, and her fan was blowing in my direction. The cool breeze blew again and again, and the heat in my chest finally dissipated. I smiled back at her and said, "Thank you."
"After you pack up, why don't you go out for afternoon tea? We can treat it as our first gathering in dormitory 505!" Shi Shuxia suggested, looking at Xu Meng'er at the same time.
"Okay." I agreed happily.
"Let's go. This damn place is so hot that I'm dying. It would be better to find a place with air conditioning to cool down." Xu Meng'er agreed to Shi Shuxia's suggestion as if it was alms. She finally finished painting her ten nails. Each nail was more or less covered with small diamonds on the pink base, reflecting colorful light in the sun.
In the light and shadow, I vaguely saw a familiar figure in her, the only difference was that the person in my memory had a headache-inducing green hair. In the past, whenever I laughed at her green hair, she would always shake her short hair and reveal a smile that said, "XX toothpaste, you deserve it," as if that row of teeth had a flashing special effect. Her next words were like feeding you a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water. She said, "If you want to live a decent life, you have to have some green on your hair."
When I shook my head and sighed at her words, she would always come to me, put her arms around my neck and say, "Zhiwei, why don't you dye your hair bright red, and we can form a 'red and green, dog shit' combination."
Like Xu Meng'er, she also likes to have sparkling nails, and the rhinestones on them can always blind a group of people's eyes.
I thought about the past again. Didn’t we clearly agree to say goodbye to the past?
"Zhiwei, what are you daydreaming about?" Shi Shuxia asked me.
“I wonder if there are any delicious dessert shops near the school?”
An hour later, we stood in front of a dessert shop called "Matcha". We were surrounded by students coming and going. From their clothes, we could roughly tell which were the freshmen and which were the seniors. Occasionally, there were students like Xu Meng'er who looked mature and charming as soon as they arrived.
Xu Meng'er looked up at the sign and curled her lips: "What brand is this? How come I've never heard of it? Also, the billboard says it's Japanese matcha. Tsk tsk, the color in the picture is obviously photoshopped. Do you think others have never tasted Uji matcha?"
My face darkened and I couldn't help but get angry. She had been finding faults all along , and Shi Shuxia was completely despised by her. We were all classmates, but she really thought she was superior to others?
Shi Shuxia said, "How about we go to another one? There seems to be a coffee shop a little further ahead. I bought a cup of it tasted pretty good."
"The cheap coffee shops here basically sell instant coffee, not even as good as Starbucks." Xu Meng'er sneered again, "Have you never tasted good coffee? You actually think the coffee here is pretty good."
"Why do we need to change? I think the yellowish domestic matcha here is pretty good." I dragged Shi Shuxia inside. After opening the door, a cool breeze made every cell in my body feel refreshed. I couldn't help but say, "It's so cool!"
"I really can't stand you guys." Xu Meng'er muttered and followed him in.
The store was playing Take Me Home Country Roads by Lisa Ono. Her deep and gentle voice made me feel calm, and all my unhappiness was gone.
After flipping through the menu several times, thinking that I still owed the man a lot of money, I finally ordered a relatively cheap ice cream drink. Shi Shuxia ordered several dishes, including strawberry daifuku, matcha mille-feuille, matcha cake roll, and matcha ice cream, while Xu Meng'er flipped through the menu with a bit of boredom, and didn't order anything with particular disdain, just a glass of ice water.
After the food came, I was a little envious of Xu Menger who didn't order anything. The picture showed a emerald green matcha dessert, but the one served was a rather yellowish color. The waiter even explained casually that it was matcha from an island in Japan. The matcha here is yellowish and tastes much better than Uji matcha.
The first bite was filled with artificial flavors. Both the tea aroma and the sweetness were greasy, and I had no desire to take a second bite.
"I told you this place is bad. You have to finish what you ordered even if you cry!" Xu Meng'er said to us sarcastically.
Shi Shuxia looked up at her, bit her lip stubbornly, lowered her head and continued to eat the indescribable desserts in front of her without saying a word.
After finishing all the desserts, Shi Shuxia had tears in her eyes: "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom first."
As soon as she closed the bathroom door, she heard the sound of vomiting from inside. After she came out of the bathroom, her face was a little pale and her slightly red eyes returned to normal.
I glanced at Xu Meng'er. She frowned and turned her head away with some reluctance.
Everyone has a side that is unknown to others. For example, Shi Shuxia appears to be gentle and cheerful on the surface, but is actually very stubborn in her heart. She would rather vomit uncomfortably than admit defeat. Xu Meng'er appears to be arrogant and sarcastic, but she has a soft side in her heart .
I couldn't help but wonder, what is the other side of me? What does my surface look like?
It was already dark when we left the dessert shop. Shi Shuxia and I spent most of the afternoon chatting. Xu Menger would occasionally interject a sentence or two, which would bring the originally relaxed atmosphere back to zero. After several times, we gradually got used to this way of chatting. However, I think Shi Shuxia, like me, disliked this arrogant young lady from the bottom of her heart, but she seemed to not care about it at all and continued to do her own thing. With such a person, I don't know what my future college life will be like.
On the first night at A University, I couldn't sleep. I lay on a strange bed and tried to close my eyes several times but couldn't fall asleep. I half leaned on the bed and watched the curtains blown up by the wind, letting in a little light before reluctantly closing. In the fleeting light and shadow, I vaguely saw the boy holding the basketball, and he called my name - Cun Zhiwei.
After falling asleep in a daze, I had a dream that was completely different from the one I had in a trance. In the dream, a young man stood on the other side of the cliff, reaching out to me, and shouting at the top of his lungs: "Cun Zhiwei, come here quickly! Come here quickly!"
I screamed, “I can’t get through!”
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but the cliff beneath his feet suddenly collapsed and I watched him disappear in front of me without a trace.
After waking up, my eyes were a little wet. I laughed at myself, Cun Zhiwei, you actually cried for a boy whose name you didn’t even know and for an unrealistic dream. It’s ridiculous!
At that time I didn't know that our meeting itself was a sad, unconscious and ridiculous farce.