Time passed, and Si Baifang gradually came out of the shadow of failed interviews. Like Wu Dao, she is looking forward to her first trip to Beijing in her life. Si Baifang said to Wu Dao:

"For as long as I can remember, the word Beijing has been coming up in my ears. It seems to be close at hand, yet far away. ”

"I'm the same way, for me, Beijing is a city that is both familiar and strange, and I seem to know everything about it, but it feels mysterious. There is no other city in China that feels that way. Wu Dao said.

The two men agreed on a specific date for the round trip, and they will take the train to Beijing on May 1 and return by train on May 6. A week before departure, Wu Dao went to the train station to buy train tickets for him and Si Baifang to and from Beijing.

The day before departure, Wu Dao and Si Baifang went to the supermarket together to buy instant noodles, mineral water, yogurt and other things to be used on the road, and temporarily put them in Si Baifang's dormitory.

On the morning of May 1, after having breakfast, Wu Dao departed from Jeju University and took a bus to Goyang Middle School, where he met Si Baekbang, and then the two of them took another bus to the train station.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the train from Jeju to Beijing departed on time. On the way, Wu Dao said to Si Baifang:

"Baifang, where do you want to go after you arrive in Beijing?"

"I want to go to the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, there is the Cao Xueqin Memorial Hall on Xiangshan, I also want to go to see it, as well as Peking University, Tsinghua University, I also want to go to see it. Wu Dao, what about you, when you arrive in Beijing, where do you want to go? Si Baifang said.

"Where you want to go, that's where I want to be. It's just that we went today and came back on the 6th, and the time we could play in Beijing was actually only four days, and the time was too tight, and there may be some places where we can't go. ”

"Go as many as you can. Actually, I didn't really want to go to so many places, and it would be too expensive to go to every single place. Let's find a few major ones to see, and we won't go to places where tickets are too expensive. Besides, if we run outside every day, we are too tired. ”

"That's fine."

The two of them watched the changing scenery outside the car window, and both longed for the appearance of Beijing. At the same time, Wu Dao is also looking forward to meeting Jing Like, and I don't know what this friend has become now, and whether the work is going well. Wu Dao suddenly remembered that he hadn't told Si Baifang about Jing Like, so he said to her:

"Baifang, when we arrive in Beijing in the afternoon, a friend will come to pick us up."

"Is that the friend who helped you buy "Gu Cheng's Poetry Collection" last time?" Si Baifang said.

"Yes. His name is Jing Like, and he was one of my best friends when I was an undergraduate. His calligraphy is very good, and after graduating with a bachelor's degree, he went to work in Beijing. He also gave himself a pen name Jing Ke. ”

"Is that the Jing Ke who assassinated the King of Qin?"

"Yes, those two words. When I was an undergraduate, I had two good friends, one was Jing Like and the other was Zhao Wu, who called himself an orphan of the Zhao family. ”

"Why did Zhao Wu choose such a strange name, I remember that there was a Yuan miscellaneous drama called "Zhao's Orphan"."

"The Yuan miscellaneous drama "The Orphan of Zhao" is based on a real historical figure in the Spring and Autumn Period, and that historical figure is called Zhao Wu."

"I see. What is Zhao Wu doing now? ”

"He was a graduate student at a university in Hangzhou, and he also majored in modern Chinese literature."

"Those two friends of yours, one who calls himself Jing Ke and the other who calls himself an orphan of the Zhao family, they are both very individual. When you were an undergraduate, you must have had a name like that, right? ”

"At that time, I liked to write novels, and I gave myself a pen name called Choice, Choice, and Truth."

"Why did you choose such a pseudonym, meaning to choose the right path?"

"That's one aspect. At that time, I was too young, or rather, too impetuous, and after reading a few books, I wanted to not only find the right path in life, but also realize the ultimate way. That kind of thinking is really naïve, the way of life requires us to spend our whole life to choose and understand. ”

"Yes."

The train traveled on the established tracks, station after station, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, it finally arrived at Beijing West Railway Station. When Wu Dao and Jing Like were on the phone, Jing Like said that he would pick him up at the train station, and at that time he also said that he didn't need to pick him up, he could find the stop sign by himself, and then take the bus to Peking University by himself. Walking out of the train station, Wu Daocai realized that Beijing West Railway Station was so big that it was not easy to find a bus to Peking University. Si Baifang has been to several different cities, and has never seen such a large station.

The calligraphy training institution where Jing worked held several training courses during the holidays, and he took an afternoon off to pick up Wu Dao and Si Baifang at Beijing West Railway Station, and borrowed a digital camera from a colleague in case of emergency. Jing Like, who had already arrived at the station in advance, saw Wu Dao, waved his hand, and walked forward quickly. Wu Dao also saw Jing Like soon and waved to him. Jing Like is a slender figure and likes to wear light-colored clothes, and after nearly two years, Wu Dao found that he had hardly changed at all, but he looked more mature. As they got closer, the two friends patted each other on the shoulder. Wu Dao introduced Si Baifang and Jing Like to know each other, and then Jing Like took them to Peking University by bus.

It took the car nearly an hour and a half to arrive, which gave Wu Dao and Si Baifang a glimpse of Beijing's bigness. On the way, Wu Dao asked Jing Like:

"Like, why did you end up living at Peking University?"

"You know, the university I wanted to go to the most when I was a child was Peking University, and I always wanted to see there, but I didn't have the opportunity. When I first arrived in Beijing, I didn't know where to go, so I thought of Peking University and took a bus there. After arriving at Peking University, I found that there were many bungalows for rent in Weixiu Garden, which was directly opposite the west gate of Peking University, and the rent of the house was not high, and the surrounding environment was also good, so I lived there. Later, I found out that there are many advantages to living there, I can eat in the canteen of Peking University every day, the price of meals is much lower than outside, and when I have nothing to do or am bored, I can also go to Weiming Lake to sit. So, I stayed there for a long time, and I couldn't find a better place in Beijing. On the edge of Weiming Lake, you can often encounter strange people and strange things, after arriving at Peking University, I will take you and Si Baifang to Weiming Lake to have a look. Jing Like said.

"Okay, I've been yearning for Peking University and Weiming Lake for a long time."

"When I first arrived at Peking University, a very interesting thing happened. When I arrived in Beijing, it was July, and Peking University was also on summer vacation, and when I entered the campus of Peking University, I wanted to inquire about the way to Weiming Lake, and asked a few people one after another, and they all came to Peking University from other places without exception, and they didn't know how to go. Later, I saw an old teacher with fairy wind bones, he was dressed in white clothes and had a long beard, and he looked like a very unusual person. I asked him for directions, he told me how to go to Weiming Lake, and asked me which school, I told him that he was Jeju University Maoseong Branch, he said that school he knew, a few years ago Jeju University Maocheng Branch had gone to Peking University to recruit teachers to give lectures, on the condition that he had to be a professor, he was rejected because he was an associate professor, and said that if it was Lu Xun, he would not be qualified, because Lu Xun was only a lecturer when he taught at Peking University. ”

"There is such a thing, how many sins have been caused by Jeju University Maoseong! In the future, when you go out, don't say which school you graduated from, just say that you didn't go to college. ”

"It's a good idea. Your words reminded me of one thing, I once saw an article about a professor of literature who was on a long train, and often encountered people asking them some very ridiculous questions, no matter how he answered, it was not appropriate, and then when the professor went away, he would not say that he was teaching literature. ”

"And what did he say he taught?"

He said he taught nuclear physics. When the other party heard that he was studying such advanced knowledge, he would not ask any more questions, even if someone really asked, he could also say some nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, atoms, etc. to deal with, as long as he did not meet experts in this area, he would generally not be a gangster. ”

"It's a really interesting thing."

"In the past few days, you and Si Baifang can live in Weixiu Garden. I'm there like a university dormitory, four people live in each room, the bed is bunk beds, most of the people who live are preparing to take the graduate and doctoral exams of several universities around the country, during the May Day holiday, many people have returned to their hometowns, I am now the only one left in my room, you can live in a bed, and there are also empty beds in another women's dormitory, let Si Baifang live there. The hotels in Beijing are very expensive, and if you live with me, you don't have to spend money to stay in a hotel. ”

"That's good, I don't have a lot of money." Wu Dao asked Si Baifang again, "What do you think?" ”

"I think it's good. I've been living in the school dormitory and don't have any requirements for accommodation. Si Baifang said.

"Then let's live in Weixiu Garden. By the way, Ricko, how is your job now? Wu Dao said to Jing Like.

"It's okay. After I arrived in Beijing, I first went to a company to work as a copywriter, and after working for a while, I found it very boring, so I left. Later, I saw a calligraphy studio recruiting calligraphy teachers, so I applied for the job, but I didn't expect that the person in charge there was a very famous calligrapher, and he admired my calligraphy, so I stayed, on the one hand, to study with calligraphers, and on the other hand, to teach calligraphy to students in calligraphy training classes. ”

"This job is a good fit for you."

"Yes. It is also a right choice for you to leave the town government and go to Jeju University for graduate school. Jeju National University is still much better than the Maseong campus, and it is also a good school. Have you ever thought about taking the doctoral examination after graduating from graduate school in the future, such as the doctoral examination of Peking University? ”

"I haven't thought about that yet."

"I asked Zhao Wu, and he said he didn't want to do a Ph.D. because he thought it was boring to go to graduate school."

"I haven't been in touch with Zhao Wu for a long time, and I've heard him say something bullshit about graduate school. Now that I'm in graduate school, I often find it boring, and I don't know what I'm doing or what the point of doing this research is. ”

"The last time I contacted Zhao Wu was a long time ago. The three of us are all too familiar with each other, and sometimes, I feel like we're just one person, and we don't need to be in touch and know what you're thinking and doing. We are all thinking about the ultimate meaning of life, so there are many troubles in life, but this is who we really are. I often think that the three of us will become more and more mature, but I hope that no matter what time comes, our hearts will not change, and we will always remain innocent. I miss the three of us when we were in college. ”

"I miss that time too. I believe that we will all keep our original intentions at that time and never change. ”