When I received my university letter, it was the summer of 1987. Xiao Tong didn't even have a good look at the contents of the big envelope, and was snatched away. I only remember that the house seemed to be in chaos, and the commotion was full of people, the elders of my own clan, the cadres of the village, and relatives who came from far away. It's not that the family wants to show off, but the family has never had anything like this. No, it's not that nothing like this has happened in the family, but that there are very few such cases in the entire village. And the girl was admitted to university, Li Huatong was the first in the village. Although it was lively, no one was looking for Xiaotong, so she secretly hid in the house to read a novel.

I vaguely remember the situation in the examination room, except for the admission ticket and the pen, Xiaotong didn't bring anything, and entered the examination room very calmly. I didn't have any hope, and I didn't have any more ideas, I just buried my head in the questions, and I would do it seriously and strive to be accurate. I won't fumble around and try not to leave a blank on the exam paper. In this way, repeat student Li Huatong was admitted to the university. When she saw the notice, she was still confused and a little overwhelmed. At that time, the biggest thought in her mind was that she didn't have to repeat it anymore, and the mountain of the college entrance examination was finally crossed.

That summer, I was almost at the behest of the adults. Her mother nagged while packing her things, complaining that no one had told her what to bring and what not to bring. Her father always looked at her with a rare smile, solemnly gave her two notebooks, and told her to study hard.

When school finally started, the family decided that her father and brother-in-law would send her to school. That was the first time Li Huatong took a train. When I was a child, the north of the village was the train road, and I often sat on the hillside with my friends waiting for the train, listening to the roar of the train, watching the steaming locomotive with the carriage, rushing all the way to this side, everyone waved their hands and shouted salute to this behemoth. The small checkered windows, the green carriages, and the train roaring away like a swimming dragon look beautiful. Until the train passed for a long time, everyone still refused to go home.

Xiao Tong sat on the train, looking out the window at the crops, houses and mountains, inexplicably excited. More than five hours passed quickly, my father and brother-in-law brought bedding and thermos basins, etc., Xiao Tongxiang followed, got off the train, got on the bus, and arrived at the school indicated on the notice after a while, and there were six big characters written on the door, that is, @@财经学院. There are already a lot of new students in the school, and it is easy to ask where to register, Xiaotong just holds her small bag, stands under the tree to look at things, and her father and brother-in-law help her to register. Soon, she was sitting in dormitory 320 of the girls' building. A big-eyed girl came a little earlier, said hello, and instructed Xiaotong to choose a bunk bed and go out to get hot water. I simply packed up my things, after all, it was a girls' building, and my father and brother-in-law were inconvenient to stay longer, so I hurried downstairs. Xiaotong, who was ignorant, suddenly found that she was left alone in the dormitory, and her father and brother-in-law were about to return home. Deep fear seized Li Huatong, they left her alone in this city, are they going back? What should she do? In an instant, Xiao Tong suddenly burst into tears, she rushed out of the door, and ran downstairs quickly, she wanted to find her father, and she must not let them stay and go home. Rushed downstairs, looked around with wide eyes, did not find his father, and tears seemed to be more. While crying, he wiped it off with his hands, and at the same time, he desperately chased after the school gate from memory. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice calling his name, turned his head, and saw his father and brother-in-law standing under the poplar tree on the right behind them, each smoking a cigarette in their mouths. Li Huatong cried even more, rushed up and grabbed his father's arm, crying and saying, "I want to go home," "I want to go home," while crying again. The father threw away the cigarette, took Xiaotong's hand, lowered his voice to reason with her and comforted her until she calmed down. Xiaotong sobbed silently, and was sent to the door of the girls' building by his father. Watching my father leave, his eyes were full of sadness.

Of course, there will be sadness, but for the time being, Li Huatong was soon swept up in the excitement of the new students and transformed into a happy bird. Six girls from all over the world met in room 320 of this university. When I was a freshman, I did almost everything together. From Monday to Friday, we go to the cafeteria to eat together, go to the teaching building to attend classes together, go to evening self-study together, go to hot water together, take a bath together, relaxed, laugh-and-laugh, noisy, like a flock of happy birds. When the weekend came, we took the bus to the bell tower together, one popsicle per person, and six people sat on the stone bench and nibbled with relish. Or, buy a big bag of melon seeds, and six people eat melon seeds in a row to press the road. If you just walk to Wu's tomb, you will have a bowl of Qishan rolling dough, which is spicy, sour and refreshing, and unforgettable. Of course, the delicious thing is not only the rolling dough, but also the sour and hot dumplings of the ancient city, a big bowl, which is filled with chopped green onions, coriander, white sesame, red pepper and aged vinegar, and then poured with hot oil that has been burst with pepper star anise ginger and dried chili peppers, and the aroma is bubbling outward, the dumplings are boiling, the water has been turned over a few times, by the way, scoop a spoonful and pour it into the big bowl, and the sour soup is officially adjusted. It just so happened that the dumplings were also cooked, and the fence was filled, so I shook it, and poured it into the sour soup as soon as I turned over, it was really delicious!

The family portrait of 320 kept by Li Huatong was taken when he was a freshman. At that time, it was supposed to be early autumn, and the roommates were wearing long-sleeved single clothes and standing on the steps outside the library gate, with sunny smiles on their faces, full of youthful atmosphere. On either side of the high steps of the library are two green lawns. On weekend nights, there are often boys playing guitars and singing, mostly slightly sad campus songs. Whenever such a situation occurs, the six people of 320 will sit on the steps, tilt their heads and lean on the shoulders of their companions, listen to the song quietly, and slowly, their thoughts will drift far, far away.

Time always passes easier than imagined, and in the blink of an eye, it's the sophomore year. I don't know when it started, but it is rare for the six people to get together and act in unison. So it became a small gang of threes and twos. Naturally, such a relationship seems to be closer and more satisfying to the girl's need for friendship.

Xiaotong and Yan'er have become inseparable partners. Yan'er comes from a medium-sized city with particularly rich mineral resources, her parents are both public officials, and her family education is very strict, but it does not prevent her from becoming a quirky little clever ghost. With big eyes, a round face, short ear-length hair, and a penchant for tilting his head, he smiles happily when he looks at people pursing his lips. It seems that all the people and things in the world are very interesting and can arouse her strong interest. She is two years younger than Xiaotong, but she takes care of Xiaotong everywhere. Knowing that Xiaotong is from the countryside, she has a shy personality and doesn't know how to deal with people, so she always shouts that Xiaotong will do this and that together, so that she doesn't have time to miss home. Xiao Tong knows that the home in the distance is not very good, adults often quarrel and fight and are not peaceful, but it is the haven she has always relied on to hide, how can Xiao Tong not want to!

Yan'er is a woman with the same wind, she always likes to wear a denim windbreaker, without buttons, and on canvas shoes, coming and going like the wind, which really makes Xiaotong envious and like. I like to hang out with her, I like to listen to her pleasant laughter like wind chimes, I like her shouting "Xiaotong, come and see", and I also like to watch her read comics while eating, and her mouth keeps pouching, "It's fun, hey, hey!"

On a late autumn weekend, the autumn is cool, the sky is blue and the clouds are white, Yan'er and Xiaotong made an appointment to go out. They said that there was no destination, and that they would go south from the school gate and wherever they went. The two of them walked leisurely all the way, without saying much, and followed the main road all the way to the south. A few hours later, I walked out of the city and became more and more like a rural scene, which was probably the legendary Nanshan County. The sun was lazily shining, and the white clouds like cotton wool were constantly changing shapes, and a yellow mound appeared in front of the right, shining in the sunlight. The two of them quickened their pace, almost trotting up and climbing up, only to find that on this small hill, there was a piece of dead grass covered by dozens of centimeters high, and a gust of wind blew, and they all fell to the side. Yan'er ran and jumped over, leaned back, and shouted, "It's so comfortable, Xiaotong is coming!" Xiaotong also hurriedly ran over, like her, lying down side by side, putting her hands under her head. It's already afternoon, and the sun is shining obliquely, warm. As the wind blew through, the grass around me emitted bursts of fragrance. Xiaotong narrowed his eyes, and the two of them did not speak, only quietly enjoying the autumn afternoon sun. Suddenly, Yan'er asked, "Xiaotong, what do you want to do in the future?" Xiaotong was reading Sanmao's book at that time, and he liked it very much, and he was dreaming of literature, wanting to be a writer who could write "Thousands of Mountains and Rivers". However, Xiaotong felt that this dream was a bit too dreamy, so she moved her body and said that she hadn't thought about it yet! Maybe her hand was uncomfortable after being pressed for a long time, Yan'er pulled out her right hand under her head, grabbed a branch of grass beside her, and said that she wanted to be a traveler and travel all over China's great rivers and mountains like Xu Xiake. Xiao Tong thought that Yan'er wanted to travel all over the mountains and rivers, and she wanted to write interesting stories all over the world, so you could do it together! Xiao Tong didn't say anything, and her heart swelled with joy one after another. The two of them lay quietly like this, wishing that time would stop at this moment forever. I walked a lot that day, and when I returned to the city, it was already lit up, and when night fell, the city was shining with neon, and the two people were like birds with dreams, trying to flutter their wings and fly into the distance.

In the late 80's and early 90's, the university life was quite colorful, there were no mobile phones, no computers, no games, so students went out to social activities more, in the school, there were often dance parties on Friday nights, and the boys and girls dormitories sometimes held social gatherings, and even went to other schools to participate in social gatherings. A few of Xiaotong's classmates in the same period were admitted to university, most of them were junior colleges, and there were also one or two undergraduates. Boys and girls who were afraid to speak in high school could sometimes find two or three of them and go to the botanical garden together for half a day. Sometimes it will be a few girls who have a good relationship to play together, and they don't want to leave, so they squeeze into the dormitory of their female classmates for one night. Xiaotong is the youngest one, and it seems that he is also the one who will always be taken care of.

I don't know how other people's college life is spent, and Xiaotong is still ignorant, but he really doesn't know what he wants. There always seemed to be turmoil in her heart that disturbed her and made her uneasy. No one told her what to do? He A is a high school classmate, he never said a word during his high school years, he studies hard and hard, has a restrained and gloomy personality, does not like to talk, and has no sense of existence in the class. After graduation, he was not admitted to university, so he ran to join the army and was admitted to the military school according to the plan. Only then did I muster up the courage to write a letter to Xiaotong, who was in college, about his secret love in high school. After the two got in touch, they kept communicating at the frequency of one letter a month, unhurriedly, no less at a time, not too much at a time, polite and polite, persisted for four years, and finally because of a common trip, Xiaotong resolutely broke off. A was very angry and came to Xiaotong's city to get all the letters he wrote back. He B is also a senior in high school, and he once spent time in a class in high school. I have an impression of him because during the repetition of high school, there is a senior sister who has been pursuing him either explicitly or secretly. Admitted to the same city, B often brings a boy to Xiaotong's school, and then hangs out together. He was familiar with the city and knew where to go and what cars to get there. At that time, Xiaotong was full of curiosity about that city, and the dizzying abundance of weekend trips made her have no time to think about anything else. In addition, the senior sister who pursues B, who studies at a school that is an hour's drive from the city, will come to play with Xiaotong from time to time, and she is completely a sister, taking Xiaotong around, and occasionally living here in Xiaotong. Sometimes when we meet, we are together, and sometimes there is a little unpleasantness. Xiaotong didn't want to get involved, he just wanted to go out and have a good time. Until one day, Xiaotong received a letter in English, and B said that he liked her. No, Xiaotong was resisting in her heart, she knew that he took good care of her, she knew that he had given her many hints, and she also knew that others were not bad, but what should she do if she 、、、、、、 this? He probably understood, and eventually stopped insisting. He C is also a fellow countryman, but he belongs to a fellow country far away from home, and he was admitted to a good medical school, but he is not too impressed, and he can't even remember what he looks like, and suddenly a love letter fell from the sky, and he said that he didn't remember anything. Although it caused a riot in his heart, he was as calm as water in a few days, and the inexplicable love letter was quickly drowned out by the rolling torrent of history.

In fact, on a university campus full of talents, Li Huatong, who is from the countryside, does not have much presence. He can't sing pop songs, he can't dance, and he has basically no talent. It's just that after a few years, girls who knew her well would call him a little boy, because she went to their dormitory to play, and when she knocked on the door, she always shouted: "The boy is coming"! She would occasionally be mischievous with them and sing them "Pass the Three Levels".

When graduation came, a boy wrote a sentence in her commemorative guest book: You are a little bird, only singing in the girls' building! This sentence made her think about it a lot and think about it for a long time. Yes, she's a little bird, a little bird who wants to fly in the sky!

At that time, Xiaotong really wanted to be a bird, hoping that one day, he could fly to a distant place to have a look.