Time flies by, and I still haven't received any news from Xia Li. It seems that she has completely disappeared from Weibo. But refreshing Weibo every night has become my unchanging habit. In other words, I have become accustomed to sharing everything with Xia Li, accustomed to telling her about my depression when I am depressed, accustomed to telling her first about even the smallest joy, accustomed to her enlightenment when I am confused.
I don’t know when it started, but I have become very dependent on Xia Li. Although I don’t know what she looks like or how old she is, in my heart I have already regarded her as my most special friend.
When the rainy season came in City C, a special transfer student came to Baisha College. It was said that he was so special that the Baisha students, who were known for their calmness and composure, were eager to tell others about him as soon as possible. Even Long Xuan couldn't help but run over to watch out of curiosity.
The first thing Long Xuan did after returning was to grab my arm and said excitedly: "Banxia, ​​you really should go see that transfer student."
I smiled disapprovingly: "Could that transfer student be a fire-breathing alien with a big head, small eyes, ten feet tall?"
Long Xuan deliberately kept the secret: "Anyway, you'll know when you see it."
"Oh." I said, looking uninterested.
Long Xuan held it in for a long time, but finally couldn't hold it in anymore, so he pulled me aside and said, "Banxia, ​​you don't know how much the transfer student named Gu Xi looks like Jian Chen. How can there be two people in the world who look so much alike? It's incredible. But, I've never heard the adults mention that Jian Chen has an older or younger brother."
It turns out that the reason why I am "special" is that I look like Jian Chen. But how much can they look alike? No matter how much they look alike, Jian Chen will always be Jian Chen. In my heart, no one can replace him, not to mention that they just look alike.
Later, thinking back, the only memory left of that day was the distant sound of wind and rain.
Outside the classroom window, raindrops hit the banana leaves, and every drop seemed to fall on my heart.
The heavy rain lasted all day and finally eased a little on the next morning.
After school at noon, I walked alone with an umbrella across most of the campus to look for Jian Chen. When I passed by Yue Lake, I just glanced up inadvertently and saw a tall figure standing far away in the misty rain. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, just standing there quietly. It was already an unforgettable picture.
I didn't even need to get closer to see, I knew it was Jian Chen.
When I looked over from afar, he happened to turn his head, saw me, was stunned for a moment, then smiled brightly, and in an instant, the originally dark blue sky seemed to brighten up.
I was in a playful mood, so I ran over and said angrily, "Didn't we agree to wait in the Plum Garden? You didn't even tell me when you came here. I almost made a wasted trip. Someone has a really bad conscience." Suddenly, I threw the schoolbag in my hand at him.
He didn't catch it, and the backpack hit his eyebrow and fell to the ground, with the books and other items in the bag scattered all over the floor.
I exclaimed and looked at him. But he didn't frown as usual, but just smiled at me quietly, with a gentle and tolerant look, and his narrow eyes were full of a warm and soft light that I had never seen before.
"oops!"
I screamed, staring at the person in front of me with eyes wide open in disbelief. He is not Jian Chen. Although this face is 80% similar to Jian Chen, he is definitely not Jian Chen. Jian Chen's eyes would not be like this. I knew I had recognized the wrong person.
I quickly said, "I'm sorry, I recognized the wrong person."
At the same time, he said: "I think you must have recognized the wrong person."
I apologized again, feeling extremely embarrassed: "Sorry, I didn't hit you just now, did I?"
"No." He pointed to the schoolbag on the ground and said, "I should apologize for not catching your schoolbag."
I then remembered to rescue the books that fell into the mud. I squatted on the ground, concentrating on picking up things. After a long time, I thought he had left, but when I raised my head, I found a pair of feet still standing there within my sight.
After a while, he squatted down in front of me at an extremely slow pace and said, "I can't help you much with picking up things."
I quickly waved my hands and said, "No, no, I can do it myself..." Then, all my movements stopped when I saw the part of his left "leg" exposed between his trouser leg and socks...
That was not a flesh-and-blood human leg, but a cylindrical prosthesis made of metal.
Perhaps my surprise was too obvious; he noticed my strange gaze, looked down at his left leg, and said lightly, "The advantage of a titanium alloy prosthesis is that you will never get arthritis, but the disadvantage is that you can't be a brave warrior who rescues books in time." After saying that, he smiled, and the smile at the corner of his mouth was as gentle as a light stroke in an ink painting.
This seemingly gentle and peaceful person has an absolutely strong and tough heart.
I was moved by his nonchalant strength and couldn't help asking, "Your legs..."
He lowered his head and said, "It was just a car accident."
I don’t understand why he emphasized “just”, but this is someone else’s privacy and I don’t want to delve into it.
I packed my bag and stood up to say goodbye to him. When I turned around, I heard him say, "My name is Gu Xi, and I'm a new transfer student."
I turned around and said with a smile, "I know. That 'special' transfer student who looks like Jian Chen."
He also laughed and said, "Actually, if you look closely, they don't look particularly similar. At least you recognized it at second glance."
Maybe it was because of the bleak sound of the rain, I always felt that although he was smiling at the moment, there seemed to be an inextricable desolation and loss hidden in his eyes when he looked at me.
I waved my hand at him and said, "Yes. Someone who is interested can still tell the difference at a glance." After thinking for a moment, I turned around and said, "My name is Ai Banxia, ​​nice to meet you."
I walked quite a distance away before I heard him murmur behind me, "Nice to meet you, too."
It was a barely audible sentence, and if you didn't listen carefully, it would probably be drowned out by the sound of the rain.
When I arrived at the Plum Garden, Jian Chen seemed to have been waiting for a long time, and even his brows were frowned impatiently.
After putting away my umbrella, I stuck out my tongue at him and explained succinctly, "I mistook someone for you on the way, so I got delayed."
Unexpectedly, Jian Chen, who has always been indifferent to unimportant things, listened to what I said and asked with interest: "Is that person really as similar to me as the legend says? Even you could make a mistake?" He probably has heard of the transfer student.
"You haven't met him yet?" I thought he would at least be curious about what someone who looked like him looked like.
"Why should I see him?" Jian Chen asked back in a calm tone.
"Maybe it's your long-lost brother?" I laughed, "Or maybe someone secretly cloned you."
"Impossible," he blurted out, "I don't have any brothers."
"Actually, they don't look alike ." I tilted my head and glared at Jian Chen, deliberately angering him, "He's much more handsome than you, and he's also very gentle."
"Ai Banxia!" Jian Chen glared at me, raised two fingers and threatened me, "Are you looking for a fight again?"
Although he said this, his hand suspended in the air never landed on my forehead.
I jumped away with a smile and raised my hands in surrender: "Your Highness, I was wrong."
Jian Chen deliberately frowned and said, "Tell me yourself, how should I punish you?"
"Well?"
"I'll punish you by making you tell me something about yourself that I don't know." Jian Chen's eyes fell on my right hand placed on my chest and said, "For example, this necklace that you treasure."
"Huh?" I loosened my right hand that was holding the necklace pendant and said cunningly, "I don't think of it as a treasure."
"But you will hold it when you are nervous." Jian Chen pointed out the key.
"You discovered all this?" I took off the necklace from my neck and handed it to him. "Well, actually I don't know where it came from. It seems that I have been wearing it around my neck since I can remember."
It was an old necklace consisting of a thin silver chain and a pine green thumb-sized pendant. The only special thing about it was that the pendant could be opened, and inside it was a small black-and-white photo of a young woman. As for who that woman was, I had no idea.
"There is a photo here." Jian Chen discovered the secret of the pendant.
Without even glancing at her, I said, “I already knew that, but I didn’t know who she was.”
"Can't remember anything at all?" Jian Chen said, "He must be a very important person."
"I can't remember." I answered calmly. Is he a very important person? How important can he be? An important person will always be by my side.
"Then think hard about it." Jian Chen looked carefully at the woman in the photo facing the light.
"It's no use trying hard." I let out a long breath and said, "When I first went to the orphanage, every night when I couldn't sleep and was scared, I would think very hard, who is that person in the photo? Could it be my mother? Have I seen her somewhere? Will she suddenly appear one day and take me home?"
The rain outside the plum garden was gray, and the sky in the distance was even more gray and despairing. I said in the sad sound of rain: "Unfortunately, I can't remember anything at all. She didn't show up in the end, so I don't know who she is. In fact, who she is and what relationship she has with me is no longer important to me. I have been wearing it just because I am used to the feeling of the pendant falling next to my heart. That's all."
I didn’t know if Jian Chen was listening to me. He remained silent, staring at the photo for a long time, and his expression gradually became solemn.
After a long while, he suddenly said in a daze: "I think I have seen the woman in the photo somewhere."
"How is that possible?" I thought what he said was nothing short of a fantasy. "How could you possibly know someone I don't even have the slightest impression of? Besides, I lived in another city before I was seven years old."
After hearing what I said, he hesitated again and said, "It just feels very familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it before."
I joked, "Don't worry, just think about it slowly. Maybe one day you will really remember it. Then, she and I will be reunited as mother and daughter. How wonderful it will be."
"Banxia!" He suddenly called me in a low voice, his eyes full of pity, "You already knew that she was your mother?"
"What else?" I spread my hands and pretended to be indifferent. "Who else could have put the photo in the necklace and worn it around my neck? It could only be my biological mother. Maybe when she decided not to have me, she put the necklace around my neck with her own hands."
"I will help you find her. I promise." Jian Chen took out his mobile phone and took a serious picture of the photo in the pendant.
The sound of rain hitting the banana leaves is like a complaint or a cry. Perhaps he is the only one in the world who understands that behind my pretending to be indifferent is my deep concern.
Thank you for understanding my duplicity.
I saw Gu Xi again in the evening of the next day.
I received a sample magazine from the street photographer last time, and I was ready to present it to Jian Chen. Passing by the playground, I saw him standing alone at the end of the tree-lined path in a loose white cotton shirt. The gorgeous sunset behind him made his white figure look as light as fog, as if it would disappear with a gust of wind.
I couldn't help but slow down my pace. I saw him bend his right leg and try to bend down very slowly. Then I noticed that his right shoelace was untied. After the last incident, I knew how difficult it was for him to do "bend his legs and squat", which is a simple action for ordinary people. However, he didn't give up. Although his lips were pursed straight, he always kept a faint smile on his face.
This person has a completely different temperament from Jian Chen. How could I have made a mistake last time?
Without thinking, I walked over quickly, squatted down in front of him, put the magazine on the ground and said, "Let me help you."
When he saw it was me, he was stunned for a moment, then he smiled, his smile as pure as the first ray of sunshine in the morning: "I can do it myself, but I will be slower."
When he smiled, his head tilted slightly, and his bangs slid to the side with his movements. The golden orange sunset just fell on the exposed eyebrows. I saw a white band-aid there, and I couldn't help but be shocked. I really hit him last time.
I pointed to the band-aid on his eyebrow and said, "I will tie a beautiful bow as compensation for hurting you last time."
I thought he would still insist, but I didn't expect him to say readily: "Then, thank you for your help."
Then he stood up straight and stretched his right foot towards me.
I was halfway through tying a bow when a small blue figure suddenly appeared from nowhere, rushed to my side, pushed me away and said, "Stay away from Brother Gu Xi."
I fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time. I only heard Gu Xi sternly say to the visitor: "Xiao Yu, don't be so rude."
The girl called " Xiao Yu" blushed with grievance. She looked at me, then at Gu Xi, then stomped her feet in anger and ran away.
"I'm sorry. I apologize to you on behalf of Xiaoyu." Gu Xi reached out her hand to me who was still sitting on the ground in a daze, and said with a helpless smile, "She was a little too worried about me."
"It's a blessing to have someone worry about you." I generously extended my hand and used his strength to get up.
"It's not a good thing for a boy to always make people feel that he needs protection." His eyes were full of smiles, "My cousin always thinks that I will be bullied at any time."
I see. I almost couldn't help but say, "Who made you look as kind as an angel when you smile?"
I lowered my head and quickly tied his shoelaces, then clapped my hands and said, "Alright."
He whispered "thank you" above my head but stood still.
I stood up, looked at Xiaoyu who had already run away and said, "Aren't you going to chase after him?"
He looked at me and was about to say something when suddenly, a gust of wind blew up from the ground, and blew away the magazine that I had just picked up in my hand, and it stopped on the page with the photo of Jian Chen and me.
He whispered, "It looks good."
His eyes rested on the photo for a long time.
"Really?" I pointed to the title next to it and said with a proud look on my face, "It won the Best Photogenic Award."
He kept a smile on his face, looked at the photo carefully, and said, "If I didn't smile, it would really be indistinguishable from the real thing. No wonder you made a mistake last time."
"But how could you not smile?" I have never seen him not smile, and I couldn't help but blurt out, "He and you are completely different types, there is no comparison."
As soon as I finished speaking, I realized that this was very ambiguous, and hurriedly explained: "I want to say that you two have completely different personalities. He is very good, but you are also very good." To show my affirmation, I nodded heavily and said, "Yeah. You are also very good."
He just looked at me quietly, smiled and listened to me patiently, then said, "Yes. I understand."
When I turned around, I couldn't help scratching my head. Even I didn't understand what I was saying, so what did he understand?