Chapter Twenty-Three: Reuniting Old Friends
Yesterday when I went home, after sleeping at home with a full stomach, I regained my mood, and Lin Congrong now has such a belief repeatedly going back and forth in his mind. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ο½ο½ο½Uο½Eγ ο½ο½ο½ο½
"I can't let people look down on me! For myself, and for the parents who gave birth to me and raised me! β
Because Xue Jiazhu once said such a sentence when they were separated: "Exercise in the real world can also be fed back to your basic attributes, your current strength and agility are only 4, and if you exercise, you can reach the 6 attributes of a man in the prime of life!" β
With this understanding, Lin Congrong plans to go to the gym in the city to train, and strive to strengthen his physical strength and endurance in reality.
It's 8 o'clock in the morning on Friday, office workers on the sidewalk come and go, and the road is already full of traffic.
After getting out of the car and breathing the fresh morning air freely, Lin Congrong came to his destination.
Surrounded by many buildings, there is a brand-new building, outside the building is placed clean and bright large azure windows, next to the floor-to-ceiling windows are hung a series of colorful huge billboards, from the first floor to the fourth floor are hair studios, dance training centers, KTV, gyms, each floor is in business.
The gym is on the fourth floor, Lin Congrong took the elevator, the elevator moved in the floor, making a steady buzzing sound, and after coming to the fourth floor, facing Lin Congrong were two glass sliding doors, Lin Congrong opened a door and walked into the gym.
In front of me is a beautifully decorated hall, which is equipped with various fitness equipment such as treadmills, barbells, and weight machines, all of which are brand new, and it is estimated that the decoration has only been completed and opened for a short time.
Even though the morning sun shines through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, the ceiling is still luxuriously lit with incandescent electric bars, and the dazzling light reflects from the mirrors that are everywhere in the gym, making the hall even more bright and clean.
It's just because of the early morning, there are only three or four people scattered in the huge gym, after all, it's work time, and it should not be until the evening that there will be more.
After getting a membership card at the front desk, Lin walked to a strength training machine, a machine that sits on it and exercises the strength of your arms and back by pushing and pulling two levers behind your shoulders.
After doing a round of movements, Lin Congrong only felt that his body was hot and sweaty, very happy, just when he felt that his muscles were tired and began to slow down, a person suddenly came over next to him.
"Hey! Arlin! Sure enough, it's you! Do you still recognize me? β
"Ahh You are? β
Interrupted by a sudden greeting, Lin Congrong raised his head.
The young man in front of him looked ordinary, his skin was not white, his eyes were round, his lips were a little thick, and he was now shirtless, his hair on his head was wet with sweat, and wisps were sticking to his forehead, and he was looking at himself with a smile.
"Don't you know? I'm Royan! Luo Yang in junior high school! β
"Oh...... Right! Royan! I remember. β
This boy named Luo Yang is Lin Congrong's friend in junior high school, the two used to have a good relationship, Luo Yang grew up reading martial arts novels, and he is also very righteous, and Lin Congrong, who loves to fight and fight, has a similar temperament, but after graduating from junior high school, he has less contact.
"You're working out here, too?"
"Yes, this gym is opened by my brother, I don't do this, I stopped studying after graduating from junior high school, and now I'm helping him."
"Really?" Hearing the news that his good friend had left the campus, Lin Congrong had some surprises.
"Hehe, it's also that when I was studying in the past, I was more naughty and mischievous, and the teacher complained a lot more often, and my family slowly had opinions about me, and I was not very interested in school anymore......" Although Luo Yang was talking with a smile, he was obviously emotionally disappointed and self-deprecating when he said this, listening to his words, Lin Congrong's face slowly became solemn.
"Do you think everything we used to do was naughty?" Lin Congrong suddenly interrupted Luo Yang's words and asked Zhengse.
"Huh?" Luo Yang was obviously caught off guard by Lin Congrong's question, and said hesitantly, "It should be, or else ......"
"I ask you." Lin Congrong's expression began to become serious, "Do you remember the time in the second year of junior high school, Li Longlong in our class sprinkled chalk ash on the English teacher's cup?" β
"How could you forget." Speaking of this, Luo Yang couldn't help but laugh dumbly, "The English teacher is very strict with us, and every time before class, he will randomly check and ask questions, and those who can't answer will be punished for standing, and Li Longlong, who has been punished for standing many times, is very disgusted with the strictness of the English teacher, so he sits in the first row, and always sprinkles chalk ash into the teacher's hot water cup when the teacher turns around to write on the blackboard." β
"Hehe, that's right. But the English teacher is really a good teacher, for those who can't answer the questions in class, he will take the initiative to find someone after class, help him draw out the key points, and tell him to memorize next time, and although he likes to call people to punish the station, but he has never beaten and scolded the students, have you ever heard the English teacher call anyone 'stupid' or 'poor'? No, in the years he taught us, I don't think there was anyone who cared more about the students than this teacher. β
"Haha, so that's why you suddenly yelled in class that day?" Luo Yang remembered the past and smiled.
"That's right." Lin Congrong's eyes were full of memories and nodded, "At that time, that guy Li Longlong was about to put chalk ash in his glass when the English teacher turned around to write a book, I had already warned him, but he still had to do it, so I yelled at the time, and then rushed up and grabbed his hand tightly." β
"Then the head teacher came." Luo Yang also helped to recall, "The head teacher called the two of you to the office, but Li Longlong refused to admit that there was such a thing, and the head teacher called a few classmates to the office on the spot to ask, because Li Longlong has always been used to fighting and making trouble in the class, they are afraid that Li Longlong will retaliate, and no one is willing to prove it." β
"Hehe, so then this matter was over, but since then, the English teacher has also increased his vigilance, and Li Longlong didn't dare to throw chalk ash into his cup, I think it's worth it."
"Even if the next day you 'coincidentally' bumped into six young people from outside the school, and they beat you up on the way to school? You and I both know that this must be Li Longlong's revenge on you. Luo Yang deliberately pointed out the part that Lin Congrong ignored.
"Those are the little things, haha." Lin Congrong laughed, "But the teachers are not all people who really care about the students, do you remember our physical education teacher in the first year of junior high school?" β
"Oh, yes, that guy always punishes us for trivial things, hehe, sometimes just because a classmate didn't gather in time, he will make the class run twenty laps around the playground."
"It's also called for our good." Lin Congrong added, "As a result, seven or eight people often get sick the next day because of physical overload and sweating. β
"Do you know, the purpose of his doing this is actually because the physical education class he led was often scolded by the teacher in our class for bad discipline, and then he not only did not rectify the discipline in his class, but instead came to corporal punishment of our class, thus proving that the discipline and quality of our class are also 'poor'."
"And then when he asked the class to run twenty laps again without stopping, you stepped up."
"Yes. I had to point out the mistake in what he did, and I said to him, "Teacher, I don't think it's right for you to do this," and you stood up in solidarity with me. β
"But immediately we were scolded by him by the nose and told the class to run ten laps overtime."
"Looking at his face, I knew it was useless to argue with him, so I immediately said I was going to the principal's office, and he grabbed me by the collar and threatened to beat me."
"Yes, the whole class stood up at that time, but in the end, if the girl in the class hadn't called the head teacher in time, he might have really sent you to the hospital."
"So after that, we were often troubled by those sports students in his class, but in fact, they were all instigated by this person."
"Hahahaha...... "The two of you talked about the past one by one, and suddenly laughed in unison at a certain moment.
"I ask you, we have done all these things before, do you think these things are all naughty?" Lin Congrong laughed for a while, and after his emotions subsided slightly, he asked this sentence.
"No, that's not true." Luo Yang replied thoughtfully.
"In fact, there are many things that cannot be rectified by regulations and discipline, you say that Li Longlong himself does not come forward, and then finds someone to yin me on the way from school, who can I go to? The people in the PE teacher's class have been instigated to give me a little stumbling block from time to time, who can I go to? In a small school, so many bad things can be born, and in the huge society, how many more things affect everyone? Lin Congrong looked into Luo Yang's eyes and asked seriously.
"That's right," Luo Yang sighed...... "but now, I find that with my economic ability and my social status, I can't do everything like before...... All I can say was naΓ―ve. β
"That's your reason?" Lin Congrong said word by word, "What do you think the previous you used to be, if you can see the current you through time, what will he think of you?" From full of enthusiasm to now fearful? β
"......" Luo Yang's eyes wandered, as if his thoughts had returned to his former youth, and he did not speak.
"I'm in a good ...... right now It's kind of a place called a school. Lin Congrong continued to say seriously, "There, I believe that I will eventually gain the strength to realize my heart's dream, and I don't want to be distorted by reality What I originally insisted on - what I believe is right." β
"How so? I stopped studying after junior high school, and I mixed in the society for two years, and only recently helped my brother run this gym. Luo Yang said slowly, "In the past two years, I have seen a lot of things, suffered a lot of losses, suffered from hunger, been beaten and scolded, served dishes to people, repaired cars, slept on overpasses, and set up stalls...... I feel that there are many things that I don't have the power to change even if I think they are wrong and unfair at the time. β
"In the past two years, thinking of our former youth past, I gradually discovered that every teenager is a white cloth, and after entering the big dye vat of society, the white cloth will be dyed into various strange colors...... This is the process of going from teenager to adult. β
"Your analogy is realistic." Lin Congrong listened to Luo Yang's words and said with a solemn expression, "However, if you want to be dyed in various colors, so as to abandon and deny what you originally insisted on the most, I don't want to, I want to ...... Always be a teenager. β
"Hehehe, is there such a good thing? When you can only eat a 5 yuan box lunch for three or four months in a row, when you can only live in a broken embryo room for 200 yuan a month, when you can't find a job because of your junior high school education, you are scorned...... You'll grow up, my brother. β
"No, my brother, if you speak of growth...... If I deny my former self and deny my beliefs, I'd rather not have that kind of growth. That's right, when we were in junior high school, because we caused a lot of trouble, we were also 'educated' many times by teachers and principals, and they kept telling me that academic performance is the most important thing, be less nosy, and do more exercises. β
"But in high school, I still didn't change. You don't know, in fact, I have a mental problem in my body, called low-risk depression, which affects my thinking - even so, it is still easy to stop meddling, as long as you close your eyes in time, cut off contact with the outside world, and do not let external things continue to stimulate the nerves in your head, even if low-risk depression can affect my will, it will not affect my actions. β
"But I never closed my eyes, not once, it was determined by my true personal will, so in high school, I was still the kind of 'nosy' person in the eyes of my classmates. Just two weeks ago, I was expelled from school because of a conflict with the son of the school director, which made my parents look up in front of others, even relatives. But I was only saddened by their unhappiness, not by my expulsion. β
"Then I came to the school where I am, and I seem to have a premonition that the school is ...... Eventually, I will be given what I am after. β
Lin Congrong gushed endlessly, indeed this teenager's heart also carries too many thoughts and emotions, and at this moment, he met another teenager who had a common past with him, and finally completely confided his thoughts.
"Don't say it."
Luo Yang lowered his head, unable to see his facial expression clearly, and then suddenly raised his hand and patted Lin Congrong on the shoulder.
Lin Congrong paused, only because he noticed that Luo Yang's mood had fluctuated strangely.
"It's good to stick to yourself......" Luo Yang suddenly sniffed, and then sighed, but his head still didn't rise, "Do you know, in fact, many nights after I gave up my studies, I have asked myself countless times whether what I did in junior high school was worthy of my three years of time and years...... But every time I felt that I was right, a voice kept hitting me, and that voice asked me why I had come to this point if I had done the right thing......"
Luo Yang suddenly fell silent, and Lin Congrong didn't speak, the air was full of quiet breathing.
After another half a while, Luo Yang spoke: "The place where you are now should be a good place, you can hear it from your words and feelings." Then, you can fulfill the will of your heart. My eyes will always be on your ......"