Chapter 1: Acquaintance Eight Years Ago
Han Yao:
Hello.
Asking you to come to Lime River is actually a combination of some small factors.
A few years ago, I met two or three female elementary school classmates, all of whom dropped out of junior high school, went out to work hard in their early years, and then got married hastily and lived in fear.
This year, when I saw their children, I felt an inexplicable sourness when I looked at my classmates who were about the same age as me, but ten years older than me.
The age of early twenties, the good times, and the youth of forging ahead are strangled in their own hands. For them, whose family background is not good, having marriage and children too early is almost equivalent to making their future possibilities very narrow.
In fact, it is better not to compromise on a marriage that does not have a material foundation, an emotional foundation, and the charm of mutual appreciation.
I used to hear Sister Ting talk about you, and I was sad for a while. During the banquet, when I heard her say that you were going to go on a blind date in Lime Park, my heart chuckled suddenly, and I subconsciously thought of those female classmates who I was in elementary school and had become strangers.
When I see you up close in the park, I have deep eyebrows, red lips, and red nails...... I think of eight years ago, that thin and cute, simple and generous you, such a contrast makes me feel a little cruel.
I have a special affection for you, and I especially didn't want the lively and beautiful girl in my memory to go on a blind date. Because she has already experienced some things that have saddened her, she is only in her early twenties, she still has young capital, and her future has infinite possibilities......
Of course, the words may be a little heavy, or too worried, Han Yao, I don't mean to preach, I just want you to become better and happier in the future.
I don't know, have you ever envied those beautiful, intelligent, and knowledgeable girls, those talented girls who can music, draw, sing and dance, and have a skill, those craftsmen who can carve, mechanical design, and civil engineering......
There are so many professions, and I am almost not good at supporting myself.
However, have you ever thought that you too can be one of them?
It's just that you didn't learn, you defined yourself too early, it was too easy to bury your potential in setbacks, and it was too easy to be hurt in rumors and comparisons and not be confident.
Sensitive nerves, blank knowledge, fragile enough to wrap layers of camouflage in front of friends, fragile enough to refute their parents' arguments about firewood, rice, oil and salt, and fragile enough to compromise on love, life, and ideals, will ......
I think you have to have a skill that you are proud of, and even a capital worth showing off, in exchange for self-confidence, with the joy of success, the joy of progress, to satisfy yourself, to motivate yourself.
To put it more bluntly, a girl like you needs a sense of accomplishment and security.
Moreover, the need is urgent.
You were drunk last night, and I heard you talk about getting back together with your ex, so I have a few words to say about it.
If the boy you choose only has an emotional foundation, does not make you appreciate or even admire a skill, cannot make you better, and does not make you feel secure, then how much practical significance does he have to you?
Impulsive and unforgettable feelings are not worth a bunch of trivial things.
From laundry and cooking, to injuries and illnesses, the accumulation of time is enough to shatter a rough love.
Once, when I was choosing between my ideals and the college entrance examination, my teacher said that to build a 100-story building, how many manpower, material resources, financial resources, and how many social resources are needed to gather together, but to destroy it, only a few bundles of detonators are needed.
Yes, it's really hard to succeed and become excellent, but if you want to fall, it's easy to get any easier.
However, this is not a reason for us to be lazy, decadent, and choose to give up. As long as you work hard every day, no matter how much pain you have, no matter how many tears you shed, no matter how much face you lose, no matter how big the difficulties are, it is better than standing still in the same place.
Han Yao, I really think that even if you start your life struggle now, it is not too late at all. As long as you are willing to work hard, even if you have no knowledge of learning English as a translator, there is nothing impossible.
Han Yao, to be honest, seeing your current state of life, I can't tell you the heartache.
I've been watching you for a long time since you left the park last night.
Seeing the neon lights flashing on the street, I seem to see you, who are overwhelmed by the burden of life under heavy makeup, and can only sigh "forget it" in confusion, and I can also feel that you are exhausted by the world in the red light and green wine, and no one listens even if you stand on the overpass and shout hoarsely.
Yes, the beautiful girl who was once full of youth and vitality and fell in love at first sight can never go back.
I still remember the days in my hometown eight years ago, when you wore knee-length skirts and loose T-shirts.
Skinny, low, fresh, lively, free and cheerful.
If I were to meet a girl like that now, I would like to wait for her to grow up, and spend ten years teaching her to read and exposing her to different humanistic thoughts.
It's a pity that at that time, I didn't know anything, only reading.
Now that I think about it, it's a shame. Maybe that fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy bravely confessed to you at that time, maybe the trajectory of our lives is not what it is now.
It's a pity that all of this has passed away with the wind as we grow......"
……
……
In the evening, on the banks of the Lime River, reading Jiang Qiao's letter, Han Yao had already burst into tears.
Since she was a child, she has never been so shaken like now, let alone cried so bitterly as she is now.
Yesterday, at the moving banquet of a relative in his hometown, Han Yao and Jiang Qiao met again after eight years. Although the two sat at the same table during the banquet, they did not communicate much.
In the evening, the family arranged a blind date for Han Yao, Han Yao was very disgusted and had a big quarrel with her family, so she drank a lot of wine during dinner, and went directly to Lime Park after the dinner.
Unexpectedly, he met Jiang Qiao again in the park.
Han Yao was in a bad mood, so she took advantage of the strength of the wine and poured some bitter water on Jiang Qiao. From the study career to family trivialities, from his own hard work experience to emotional experience.
All the sadness, all the bitterness, all unreservedly presumptuous.
Han Yao originally thought that crying with an unfamiliar "stranger" would not have any intersection after venting, but she never expected that Jiang Qiao would write such a letter to her the next day.
This is undoubtedly a tsunami for Han Yao, who went to the coastal city to work hard after graduating from junior high school and experienced the warmth and coldness of human affection early.
She now knows that she was also the first love of an excellent boy, and it turns out that she was also so touching.
Although, that's just from the past......
Reading the letter, Han Yao was moved innumerably in her heart.
The silent confession from eight years ago, Jiang Qiao's praise and encouragement without hesitation, are like the first sunny day after the rain, the blue light behind the dark clouds in the sky, which makes people so warm.
However, with the same amount, there are countless regrets and deep losses......
"Han Yao!"
At this moment, an unfamiliar and very gentle voice sounded behind him.
Han Yao's shoulders trembled, she quickly wiped away her tears, brushed her slightly scattered long hair, and turned her head away with a light smile.