Wei Yang was startled, and hurriedly replied: "Mi language!"

"What words!"

"Rice language!"

"They don't speak English?"

"No."

"They speak Rice?"

"Yes, in the rice language. The English name is American. ”

“American？ I've heard of British English, American English, but I've never heard of any Rice language! ”

"But what they speak is in the rice language. You've heard them speak, too. ”

Shujie carefully recalled that this rice language did not have any resemblance to English. For a moment, he was so choked that he couldn't even speak.

"You definitely don't watch Korean dramas much," Wei Yang prompted: "The pronunciation and text of this rice language are similar to Korean." ”

"How is this possible! Do people in the United States speak Korean? "Shujie's world is spinning again.

"I don't know. I also came here to find out. Wei Yang in turn held Shujie to prevent him from falling to the ground: "My reaction at that time was exactly the same as yours, and it took a long time to adjust my mentality. You know? It's good to get used to it. ”

"Get used to it!"

"That's right. If you think about it, the rice language is also a square word. We have a foundation in Chinese, and we learn no faster than those students from Europe. I have a quick copy of ASL there. ”

“ASL？”

"American as Second Language. This material was brought from South Korea by a Beijing buddy. I used the bag. ”

"What's the bag?"

"Mi language proficiency test. The school will first assess your language level. You must pass the ASL exam before you can officially take the class, otherwise you will have to remediate the rice language first. ”

"Even if I pass the ASL exam, what should I do if others can't understand what they are saying?"

"Learn slowly. If you master the following sentences, your daily life will be basically fine. Now, the first sentence is this..."Wei Yang asked Shujie to open the pamphlet given by the secretary, pointed to the title page and said: "President Bush will always be healthy!" ”

"Isn't that the slogan you just said?"

"Yes, this is the most important sentence." Wei Yang then explained to Shujie that the people of the United States must first bless the leader or quote a quotation before speaking. The current president of the United States is George W. Bush. Since the death of President George H.W. Bush, he has always held the supreme power in the United States. His deputy was Dick Linney, who had assisted Bush for two generations. And the blue and red booklet in Shujie's hand is the quotation of President George W. Bush, and he must carry it with him in the future. In addition to 'always healthy', 'sailing to the sea requires a helmsman, and the country cannot live without a president!'" And 'the Democrats are all reactionary' also worked.

This familiar remark surprised Shujie: "This is not a-"

"Shh Wei Yang pressed Shujie's lips: "We are guests and do not interfere in the internal affairs of the United States." ”

"Han Ming blew the country of rice to the sky back then."

"Don't mention that old liar, the more you mention it, the more angry you get..."Wei Yang dragged his luggage and continued to move forward.

"Since the country is so bitter, why don't you go back?"

"Go back? Why didn't you think about it," Wei Yang's pace slowed down again: "It's just... How to get back? ”

"How do I get back?" Shujie was puzzled.

"Yes, when I went abroad, the whole village came to my house to congratulate me. Not only was I the only one in my village who went abroad, but I was also the only one who went to a national key university. The banquet lasted for three days, and the house was full of villagers who came to congratulate them. I still remember the pride on my dad's face. ”

"My own father is not like this," Shujie also remembered the situation before leaving home, and the reluctance in his father's eyes was drowned out by the envious gaze of the neighbors.

"At that time, he boasted to people about Haikou, saying that I wanted to stay in the United States to 'enjoy happiness'." Wei Yang continued: "This time abroad, I have more of the face of my parents on my shoulders. ”

"Hmm..."Despite his gloomy mood, Shujie couldn't help but nod his head in agreement.

"Actually, it's the same everywhere." Wei Yang realized Shujie's emotions and tried to say some comforting words: "After a long time, I will get used to it." ”

"After a long time, I'm used to it," this sentence kept echoing in Shujie's head. The two were speechless all the way, and soon returned to Wei Yang's dormitory. Wei Yang piled his luggage by the door and said politely, "Shujie, you will be on the sofa tonight, okay?" ”

"No problem, thank you." After that, Shujie looked left and right. This apartment is small in size and minimalist in style. In the center of the living room, there is a three-seater sofa against the wall. There is a large TV opposite the sofa and an open kitchen on the left. Behind the kitchen should be the bedroom and toilet. In front of the living room window, there is a computer on the large writing desk, and there is an electronic keyboard on the countertop. There are two guitars standing on the instrument stand next to the desk, one acoustic and one electric.

"You still play the piano?" Shujie couldn't help but ask.

"Why don't you play?" Wei Yang shrugged his shoulders and replied: "Although this is not good or not good, there is one thing that is particularly good, that is, the electrical appliances are cheap. If this set of things is brand new, it will cost hundreds of thousands in China. You also play the piano? ”

"I've only been playing with Yao Jun for a few days." In front of Wei Yang, Shujie didn't dare to get an axe.

"What do you like to play?"

"Campus Ballads."

"It's such a coincidence, I like it too. Want to bounce? ”

"Forget it, it's too troublesome..."Shujie played the guitar with no emotion.

"It's okay, I'll just do this." Wei Yang insisted. Without waiting for Shujie to answer, Wei Yang opened the drawer, took out a harmonica from it, and then took the acoustic guitar from the instrument rack and sent it to Shujie, and asked, "Which one do you want to play?" ”

"Let's just play a song." Shujie couldn't help him, so he had to reach out and take the guitar, then put his fingers on the strings, and thought to himself: "What are you playing?" Or "The Brother Who Slept on My Top Bunk". Then he swiped his right thumb down, and the familiar prelude sounded in the living room. Beside him, Wei Yang put the harmonica to his mouth, and used the harmonica to harmonize while beating the beat, which seemed to be full of musical skills.

Playing and playing, Shujie's left hand and spin press were wrong several times. Finally finished playing the first paragraph, he quickly stopped and said to Wei Yang: "I like this one the most." But I haven't played it for a long time, and I'm almost forgotten. ”

"I'll remember it if I play it twice." Wei Yang replied, and then told Shujie that if heavy metal is used to interpret campus folk songs, there will be a feeling of rebirth.

"Really?" Shujie had never had such an idea.

"Hearing is believing." Wei Yang returned to the desk and pressed the power button on the computer: "This has a heavy metal version that I recorded myself." Do you want to hear it? ”

"You recorded it yourself!" Shujie was taken aback.

"yes, otherwise why would I buy this professional equipment?" Wei Yang said with a smile. The computer started, Wei Yang slid the mouse, and with a few taps, rows of yellow and green sound wave bars appeared on the monitor. He dragged a bright white line from top to bottom to the front of the sonic bar and clicked on a triangle icon in the toolbar.

Rattle! Quack quack!

The surging rhythm of the guitar is accompanied by the drumbeat.

"So fast-paced? What's going on? Just when Shujie was puzzled, a fast-paced rap came from the stereo:

"Brother who sleeps on my top bunk!

"You are silent!

"Those questions you used to ask me!

"No one asks anymore!"

Wei Yang's voice was sonorous and powerful, and a little hoarse, which made Shujie stunned. He didn't expect campus ballads to be sung like this. The wild music stopped for a long time before Shujie came back to his senses, opened his mouth and asked Wei Yang: "You made it all yourself?" ”

"yes, I made the drum beat on a computer. The other instruments and harmonies are recorded separately and mixed together. ”

"It's so professional! It's almost the same as on the radio. Although he was in a bad mood, Shujie still sighed sincerely. He didn't expect that a student of history would be able to play campus folk songs with such an effect.

"I haven't finished the final mix yet." Wei Yang smiled slightly: "After using the computer to polish, the effect will be better." Do you want to record two sentences to try? ”

"Let's talk about it later, forget it today."

"Okay, when you settle down, you can come to my place often to play the piano and record songs." Wei Yang saw that Shujie was really emotionless, and he no longer insisted. "If you want, you can go online for a while and I'll cook. When I met a confidant in a foreign country, I forgot about dinner as soon as I was happy, and I was embarrassed. ”

Wei Yang casually swiped it twice in the pot and made two plates of fried rice with ham, intestines and eggs. Although the ingredients are simple, the taste is much better than those on the plane. Wei Yang's dining room was converted into a music studio, so the two of them ate and chatted at the kitchen counter. After a few words, the two felt even more speculative. Wei Yang said angrily: "This going abroad, just like Chen Daoming said, the people inside want to come out, and the people outside want to go in." ”

"Fang Hongjian said it, right?" Shujie corrected with a smile.

"It's all the same." Wei Yang shook his head: "Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the people inside can't get out, and the people outside can't get in if they want to." ”

"yes." Shujie deeply agreed with this, and said in his heart: It is worthy of studying history, and it is summarized so incisively.

"By the way, it's almost morning in China. Do you want to call home and say you're safe? Wei Yang put the dishes and chopsticks in the dishwasher under the stove, turned his head and asked Shujie.

"Thank you." In fact, Shujie thought of this just now, but he never had a chance to ask: "Can I borrow your phone?" I'll give you the phone bill when I get back. ”

"It's rare to meet a confidant, don't worry about the phone bill for a few dollars."

"Thank you then, I'll invite you to dinner when I'm settled!"

"It's a deal. However, this phone cannot be broadcast live, and a phone card must be used. Wei Yang pointed to a piece of letterhead next to the telephone and said, "I wrote the dialing procedures on this." You need to dial 213-086-0081 and hear the voice prompt before dialing the number in China. Oh, and don't forget to dial 01186 in front of your family's area code. I'll go take a shower first. After saying that, Wei Yang politely left.

There was silence in the living room. Shujie sat on the sofa and picked up the phone and began to dial the number at home in Chengdu. He didn't know if his parents had slept well last night, but he knew that they must be standing by the phone at the moment waiting for him to hear back.

213-086-0081, toot... 0118628- Halfway through the number, Shujie suddenly cut off the phone and sat on the sofa in a daze. After a while, he took his schoolbag, took out Yaojun's number from it, and reported to him that he was safe: "Just arrived, everything is fine." Be sure to bring your greetings to both of them when you turn around, and you can rest assured. ”

Hanging up the phone to give the drug Jun, Shujie was silent again. He looked at the number given by Ed and Dapeng, and his fingers rubbed against the keys for a long time. Shujie still remembers the excitement when the three of them met on Thanksgiving. But at this moment, he has mixed feelings in his heart, and he doesn't know what to do next.

"Is there no money on the card?" Wei Yang returned to the living room and saw Shujie in a daze on the sofa, so he took the initiative to ask, "If it's not enough, I can recharge it immediately." ”

"No, it's not, I just... Walk for a while. "Shujie told a white lie.

"It's for you to use blankets and pillows. I'll go and rest first. Wei Yang put down the futon in his hand and left the living room again. Looking at Wei Yang's back, Shujie pondered for a long time, and then dialed the number at home.

"Hey...", my father's familiar voice came from the earpiece, kind and distant.

Shujie didn't answer for a long time.

"Hello?" The other end of the phone asked suspiciously.

"Dad, it's me, it's school."

"Shujie, it's good that it's safe to arrive. Your mom is worried to death and hasn't received a call from you. “

"There's nothing to worry about." Shujie's tears were about to fall, but his tone was still pretending to be strong: "I'll arrive at noon, I'll go to the department to report first, then find a place to live, and call you when you get up." ”

"It's okay. Can the people of the United States understand what they say? ”

"Understand, understand!" Shujie hurriedly replied, and then praised the environment of the University of Notre Dame as if it were heaven: "Don't worry, Dad, everything is going well." ”

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'm assured, the man has ambitions in all directions. It's your mother... Do you want to say a word to your mother? ”

"No need, I'm temporarily living in my classmate's living room now, it's inconvenient to say more, I'll call you later." Shujie hurriedly hung up the phone. He was afraid that as soon as he heard his mother's voice, he would no longer be able to hold back his tears. Shujie turned off the light, pulled back the blanket, and lay down on the sofa. After more than twenty hours of long journey, he was exhausted by the psychological bombardment of the relentless reality. But Shujie was lying on the sofa, unable to calm himself down.

"What the hell am I in? It is absolutely impossible for the United States to be like this. "Whether this is a nightmare or a parallel universe, Shujie doesn't know. But he really didn't have the slightest psychological preparation for what he saw and heard today.

"Hopefully it's a nightmare. Sleep, sleep. When I wake up again, it'll all be over. Shujie told himself. But his mind was running like a wild horse, and he couldn't sleep at all.

"Maybe I've been deceived. Perhaps, this is what the United States is supposed to be. "Shujie doesn't hate Mi Guo, but he can't accept that he was deceived. Listening to the ticking of the bell on the wall, he became more and more irritable. Shujie couldn't help but turn over, grabbed the pillow and stuffed it on his head, but Han Ming's voice sounded in his ears:

"Learning English is like learning to call a bird in the woods. When four birds land on your shoulder, it means that you have passed the fourth level. When six birds land on your shoulder, it means that you have passed the sixth level. If there are many birds that land on your shoulder..."Han Ming paused deliberately, and then said, "It means that you have become a birdman." ”

There was a burst of laughter in the large lecture hall by the unnamed lake.

Shujie still remembers that summer, it was unusually hot and muggy. The three brothers in dormitory 606 hummed Qi Qin's 'train go fast' and came to Peking University in a green car without air conditioning to participate in the GRE intensive class of New West. New Western is the best English test tuition school in China, and its founder and principal, Han Ming, is the first batch of international students to go to Mi after the reform and opening up. In the first class, Han Ming's words made the students feel excited.

"The people of the United States will not memorize the topic, nor will they be flexible. Whether it's TOEFL or GRE, it's all in a big question bank. All of you here are students who have been nurtured by the thousand-year-old imperial examination. In terms of exams, the people of the United States are not our opponents at all. As soon as Han Ming's words fell, the sound of ear-to-ear exchanges sounded in the lecture hall.

"Those words are so obscure."

"I've heard that there are some words that even Lao Mi has only seen once in his life."

"When have you seen it?"

"I saw it when I took the GRE."

Han Ming stood on the podium and smiled slightly. He shook the glittering watch on his left wrist and said aloud: "Some people do not have glory in their lives, not because they cannot be brilliant, but because they do not have the thought of glory flashing in their heads, or do not know how to be brilliant. ”

The lecture hall quickly fell silent, and everyone looked at Han Ming, wondering what he was going to say next.

"If you use my method, you will be able to remember the words. As long as you use my paper, you will definitely be able to pass the GRE! "Han Ming's voice is like thunder, and his success is beyond doubt." I, Han Ming, originally wanted to be in the top 100 of Chinese Studies in English, but later I found out that it was impossible. So I memorized words, memorized an English dictionary in 1 year, and became an expert in Chinese words. Now, I have published more than a dozen red books from junior high school to GRE, and they have sold millions. I think back then, I just arrived in the United States..."

Han Ming's study abroad story is told vividly, and at the same time, it is full of fun, which makes the students look forward to the United States even more. For the next month or so, the three of them lived in the dormitory of Yaojun's high school classmates, and they memorized the red treasure book every day when they got up. 24 hours a day, in addition to eating and sleeping, is to prepare for the exam, and dare not have a trace of slackness. Shujie just didn't expect that his wholehearted efforts would come to such an ending. It took so long to take the test for G, but in the end, I had to learn Mi again.

Shujie hated, he hated his own innocence, and he hated Han Ming's deception. But at the moment, what he hates most is Roc and Ed. They are their best friends, they have been in the United States for so long, and they haven't told themselves the truth about the United States! The more he thought about it, the more he hated, the more angry he became, and before he knew it, he fell asleep in a daze.

I don't know how long it took, Shujie woke up from his sleep. He looked up and saw that it was still dark outside the window, so Shujie fumbled with his glasses, turned on the light, and looked at the wall clock on the wall. It's only half past three. He looked around him again. In the living room, everything is still the same as last night, without the slightest change.

Shujie was exhausted. He stared blankly at the ceiling, emaciated. Suddenly, Shujie pinched the tiger mouth of his left hand fiercely, allowing himself to grin in pain. It was only then that he truly realized his fate:

"Whether it's a nightmare,

"It's still a parallel universe,

"I have nowhere to escape,

"There's no escape."