On the twelfth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, it was Wednesday in Wu Yueming's second year of high school, and the weather was very good. That day, after the evening self-study, when Lei Ruochen walked to the front of the Gangming Building, Wu Yue's name stopped her. "Ruochen, can you wait for me downstairs for three minutes?"

Lei Ruochen was a little overwhelmed by this sudden request, but he nodded and agreed.

Wu Yueming took out the key, opened the aluminum alloy door outside and the security door inside, and rushed to his Gangming Residence on the third floor, when he ran downstairs with the painting, he was already out of breath.

"Ruochen, happy birthday! This is my gift to you. ”

"Thank you" Lei Ruochen took the painting mechanically, was stunned for a moment and asked, "How do you know that today is my birthday?" Did Xu Tingjuan tell you? ”

"It wasn't Xu Tingjuan who told me, I should have known that today was your birthday before him, four years ago, when I was in the sixth grade of primary school, on the afternoon of the twelfth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, I passed by the teacher's office and heard your father ask you, whether to eat chocolate birthday cake or mousse birthday cake at night, I remember that it was Friday."

"Hmm," Lei Ruochen was silent for about a minute before he spoke. "So you've remembered my birthday all these years."

"I always remember," Wu replied.

"Thank you." Lei Ruochen turned around and walked towards her home, she walked very slowly, but she didn't look back, she knew that Wu Yueming would always be watching from behind.

Lei Ruochen took the painting to his bedroom on the third floor, and did not rush to open the paper wrapped in the frame, she put it in the pile of gifts she received that day, which should be the last gift she received on her birthday this year. When she went home for dinner at noon, she received Yu Wei's dolphin doll, Guo Zhiqiang's bear doll, she was not interested in dolls, she didn't understand why the two of them went to Xinhua Bookstore with her so many times, why they chose to buy her what rag dolls, any book is better than a doll. Instead, Xu Tingjuan gave her a copy of Russell's "History of Western Philosophy".

Lei Ruochen tore open the wrapping paper of the painting, and she saw the appearance of herself in the sixth grade of elementary school on the left side of the painting, the current appearance of herself on the right, and the river in the middle, and the line of words written below, "This person may not come back, maybe he will come back tomorrow!" ”。 This is the last sentence of "Border City", she understands what this line of words means, and she also understands what Wu Yueming wants to express. She wanted to walk up the quiet little boy in the sixth grade of elementary school, and slowly the appearance of Wu Yueming appeared in front of her eyes, and she also remembered his promise, he said that when they met again, he would tell her, why is his name called Yueming, not what Wei? Zhiqiang? She planned to get an answer tomorrow.

Lei Ruochen took out the photo album and found a few photos of herself in the sixth grade of primary school, comparing them with herself four years ago drawn on the left of Wu Yueming, she had to admire Wu Yueming's memory is really good. She put away the photo album and walked to the study, wanting to tear open the curtains, she remembered that Wu Yueming had said that they lived in the Gangming Residence.

Lei Ruochen gently opened the curtains, looked towards Wu Yueming's Gangming residence, and saw that Wu Yueming was looking at him, they smiled and looked at each other for a minute, and then, Lei Ruochen closed the curtains and walked to his bedroom. She thought, maybe since Wu Yueming moved into Gangming's residence, she has been looking at her study on the third floor every night, just the moment she opened the curtains just now. may also be the reason why Wu Yueming rented a house diagonally opposite.

After self-study class the next night, Xu Tingjuan and Tang Xiaogang still walked behind talking and laughing. Wu Yueming thought that it wouldn't be long before Tang Xiaogang announced to him that Xu Tingjuan had agreed to be his girlfriend.

On this day, Wu Yueming and Lei Ruochen only had sporadic conversations unlike before.

"I love your gift." Lei Ruochen started the topic first.

"Really? That's good. Wu Yueming was a little overexcited.

"What did you learn about oil painting?"

"A year ago, it wasn't a good drawing." Wu Yueming replied.

"At least the painting you gave me yesterday is good, by the way, do you remember the promise you made to me when you graduated from elementary school?" Lei Ruochen stared at Wu Yueming's eyes.

"Remember," Wu Yueming said, "my original name was Wu Guoqing, because I was born on the day of the National Day, when I was three years old, a fortune teller passed by my house to ask for a bowl of water to drink, and when he saw me playing on the stone steps, he insisted on telling my fortune, and if I didn't charge money, I should repay Fang Cai's kindness with a piece of water." The fortune teller said that I was likely to die alone in this life, without children and daughters. My grandmother panicked when she heard this, and asked what the rescue method was, and the fortune teller said that changing the name might still have hope to crack it. So, I have my current name, Wu Yueming. To be honest, I like my current name. ”

"Do you believe in fate, then?" Lei Ruochen asked.

"For me, it doesn't matter if I don't believe in fate, as long as it's my own decision."

"There is some truth, then go to bed early tonight and take the exam tomorrow." Lei Ruochen said that in a state of self-forgetfulness, he came to Wu Yueming's Gangming residence.

"Well, you too, go to bed early."

Since then, Wu Yueming has also had endless words with Lei Ruochen, sometimes the two sides narrated the interesting things that happened in the fifth or sixth grade of primary school, sometimes Wu Yueming listened to Lei Ruochen tell the story of junior high school, and sometimes they would discuss some philosophical topics and each other's favorite philosophers. Ever since Wu Yueming first saw Lei Ruochen buy a copy of "Meditations" at Xinhua Bookstore, he knew that he should read some philosophical books, although he was most interested in history books. Wu Yueming saw that Lei Ruochen bought the three books "Meditations", "Ideal Country" and "The Second Sex", and he also bought these three books and studied them carefully. Lei Ruochen's favorite philosopher was Kant, and his favorite philosopher was Kierkegaard, and they sometimes debated their favorite philosophers.

After the results of the monthly examination come out, it will be followed by a row of seats once a month. According to the results, the specific operation is as follows: the first place can choose to sit in any seat in the classroom, the second place can choose a seat other than the first place, and then the last place has to sit in the last position.

Although there were only 40 students in the class, there were still ten rows of seating in the school, with three columns on the left side of the aisle, four columns in the middle, and three columns on the right. Because there are only 40 people, all there are only four rows. In this way, the left and right sides are positioned at a considerable distance from the podium, so that the seats in the first row of the first row and the first row of the tenth row can also see the full content of the blackboard. From this point of view, it is not so meaningful to choose a seat based on the ranking of results, or more importantly, it is to choose who to be at the same table.

Wang Yixin was the first in the class this time, and the seat he chose was in the third row of the fourth column, which was a good position. Ling Shuang took the second place in the exam, she was small, so she chose to sit in the first row of the fifth column, and she was really in a good position in the middle. The third place is Lei Ruochen, and the seat she chose is the second row of the ninth column, which is not good at all, or does not need to be chosen. Wu Yueming ranked twentieth in the class in this exam, and when he wanted to choose a seat, Lei Ruochen glanced at him, and then he understood why Lei Ruochen would choose such a seat. Then, the seat he chose was the third row of the tenth column. He could also choose a seat in the second row of the tenth row and be at the same table as Lei Ruochen, but this was too flamboyant. The ideal seat was the third row of the ninth column, behind Lei Ruochen, but this seat was occupied by Zhang Lang.

After self-study that night, on the bridge of pity, Lei Ruochen said, "Yue Ming, do you need me to help you tutor your English?" ”

"Of course it is needed" Wu Yueming exclaimed excitedly, Wu Yueming's English score this time was 98 points, his highest English score ever, Lei Ruochen's English score this time was 139 points. "But my English is too poor," Mr. Wu continued.

"It's okay, we can take our time." Lei Ruochen said with a smile, revealing two good-looking dimples on his face.

"Is this tuition free?"

"This? It's free for now, but when I want to ask you for something, it's paid. ”

"Okay," Wu Yueming's face was full of joy that could not be concealed.

On the same day, when he returned to Gangmingju, Tang Xiaogang officially announced to Gang Wu Yueming that Xu Tingjuan had agreed to be his girlfriend, and Wu Yueming also told Tang Xiaogang about Lei Ruochen's seat selection and offer to help him tutor English. The two congratulated each other, rummaged through the cabinets to find a bottle of beer to celebrate, but only found a bottle of fruit juice, so they replaced the wine with juice, drank a glass, and fell asleep with a smile on their faces.

From the next day, every day Lei Ruochen returned to the classroom from dinner at home, and the period from self-study in the evening was the exclusive time for Lei Ruochen to help Wu Yueming tutor English. Lei Ruochen tutored Wu Yueming from the most basic English grammar, stipulating that he must memorize twenty words every day, and gave him a book of exercises, and he must complete the tasks assigned to him that day. In other recess time, as long as Wu Yueming encounters an English question that he doesn't know, he will ask Lei Ruochen. He used to tap Lei Ruochen's shoulder with a pencil tip, and Lei Ruochen used to knock on Wu Yueming's desk with a water-based pen to get his attention.