Lovers (novella) Zhang Baotong 2017.8.6

A few days later, as soon as school ended in the afternoon, I was about to leave the classroom to go out to play, when Lin Yuqing walked up to me and whispered to me that you wait a while before leaving. So, I went back to my seat and pretended to do my homework to wait for my classmates to leave the classroom. The students are gone, and only a few students are left to clean the classroom. She took advantage of the fact that her classmates who were cleaning were not paying attention, so she stuffed a book into me, saying that you should read it quickly, and I will return it to others after reading it.

Actually, I was just talking casually that day, and I didn't really want to borrow her book to read. Since she's given me the book, I can't say I won't read it, or she'll think I'm lying. I hurriedly packed the book into my bag. However, this outfit was only a week, and that day she asked me if I had finished reading the book. I panicked and said I had seen a little. She asked me how I was. I said it wasn't bad. She asked, can you understand? I hesitated for a moment, and said about it. She said that if you want to be a teacher, you have to understand everything, or if the students ask you questions and you can't answer them, you will have to look foreign. I said yes. She said to me again, you are not good at writing, you have to read more books, read more, and you will write. The ancients said that if you read more than 10,000 books, you will write like a god. I said I heard about it too.

The book was still in my bag, but I had almost forgotten about it. Originally, I wanted to return the book to her, but I was afraid that she would ask me how I read it. It happened to be raining that night, and I couldn't go out to play, so I had nothing to do, so I remembered to take out the book and flip through it casually, if nothing else, at least I should know what was written in the book and what the main characters were. If Lin Yuqing wants to ask me again, I can at least make a show for her to see. Otherwise, she would have been very angry when she lent me the book for so long, knowing that I hadn't even read it.

This book is a story about land reform in Northeast China, which is really not interesting for a child like me. So, I really don't understand why Lin Yuqing likes to read such books. Because I didn't like to read, it only took me about half an hour to finish the thick book. The next morning, I returned the book to her. Thankfully, she didn't ask me questions.

When I was in the fourth grade, my brother transferred from Xianyang Railway Middle School to the county middle school for the third year of junior high school. Because the rebels on both sides of the school are seizing power, the school has long been closed. My brother would go fishing in the ponds of Qu Yuan's farm or Miluo River farm all day long. Every time you say less, you can catch seven or eight catties or more than ten catties, and sometimes you can catch more than twenty catties with good luck, and fill the small wooden basin to the brim. My brother and I have caught fish a few times during this time, and I have become a bit addicted, especially when I pulled the rod up from the water, and the rod bounced up in the air, and then, a white light flashed in the air and landed on the shore. It's a wonderful feeling. I dare say there is no other feeling in the world that is so wonderful and surprising.

I have a natural sense of concentration, and when I'm captivated or fascinated by something, I put my heart and soul into it with all my might. So, I'm destined to be someone who will either be liked or hated by others. Luckily, I chose the good side and didn't become a nuisance because someone was setting an example for me.

It was Saturday, and the school was in class as usual, but in order to go fishing with my brother, I told my brother and my mother that the school teachers were going to the county for a meeting, and the students were not in class. So, I followed my brother to Qu Yuan's farm ten kilometers away to fish, and the harvest was not small, and the two of us caught a total of more than 20 catties of fish.

As soon as I got home, Lin Yuqing came to my house, but she had never been to my house before. As soon as she saw me, she asked me why don't you go to school today? I deliberately pretended not to know and said, "Isn't school closed today?" She said who said it was a holiday? I said I don't know. When the two of us said this, my brother and my mother were not in front of us, and if they knew, they would have to beat me with a bamboo stick.

She said that the teacher specifically asked me to ask why you didn't come to school, and the teacher also assigned homework, and everyone had to write an essay, and if you wrote well, you should copy it and post it on a big-character poster. I asked what to write an essay. She said that writing critiques is useless. I said that some time ago I criticized reading as an official, and now I criticize the theory that reading is useless, is it useful to read? She asked you what it is? I said that reading is of course useful, but if it is useless, why spend so much time in school. She said don't you want to be a teacher in the future? Don't you want to study? I said yes, but I immediately got worried, and I told her that I don't know how to write. Because it's dark now, I haven't eaten yet, and I'm afraid I'm going to fall asleep after eating, so how can I have any thoughts and time to write essays?

When she saw that I was frowning and worried, she said to me, "Otherwise, you will come to my house later, and I will write it for you." When I heard that, I was overjoyed, because I had never been to their house before.

As soon as I finished eating, I wrapped two half-pound live crucian carp in waste newspaper and came to their house. Lin Yuqing was sitting at the table writing under the lamp, and her mother was sorting out her clothes. As soon as I entered her house, I said to her mother, "Mother Lin, my mother asked me to give you these two fish, which my brother just caught, and they are still alive." The Commissioner's wife brought a vegetable basin and poured most of the water into it, and told me to put the fish in it.

At this time, I sat at Lin Yuqing's table and watched her help me write essays. After a while, she wrote the composition well, and copied it neatly and beautifully. She said you can see for yourself. I read the whole essay and said, "That's so good!"

The next day, I handed my essay to the teacher, and on Friday morning, the teacher read my essay to the class and commented on it. I was really embarrassed because I was stealing the fruits of other people's labor. After class, the teacher specially kept me and asked me to copy the essay into a big-character poster, and then posted it on the outside wall in the big criticism column, which was the best criticism written by the students in several classes. And my name is written there in a big way, very conspicuously.

This is an essay written by Lin Yuqing for me, but her own essay was not selected. This made me feel very unhappy, because she is very competitive in her studies, and composition has always been her strong point, and almost every composition is commented on by the teacher as a model essay. My guess was right, she was indeed very unhappy, and her face was gloomy and unhappy all the time. After school in the afternoon, she stood in front of the essay she had written for me, all the while looking up. I just walked past her and said in a very grateful tone, I really want to thank you. But her face was still very long, and she said to see how glorious you are. I say not because you write well. Listening to me say that, she felt a little better.

One day, my brother brought the books from the school library back to our house in a wooden box on a tricycle and stuffed them under the bed we were sleeping in. I heard that someone was going to burn the books, so my brother asked an acquaintance to secretly take them out of it. Among these books are "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Xiao Erhei's Marriage", "Wildfire Spring Breeze Fighting Ancient City", and Lin Yuqing borrowed my "Storm". Because these books were all condemned as poisonous weeds at the time. I casually picked up a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and read it, which made me feel that what happened thousands of years ago was right in front of my eyes. I watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" three times. It was the first time I felt the magic of books. I read not only during the day, but also at night, looking at the books in the box one by one. Only then did I deeply realize why Lin Yuqing was so obsessed with reading.