Chapter 12: There Is No Future
As soon as I walked on the campus of Shanghai University, I tried my best to find some traces of my father's breath and father's traces.
I touched the high walls and low tiles in the campus vigorously, touched the desks, chairs, books, I don't know if the desk and chair my father sat on back then are still there, what books he read in this library, and is there any one of so many tall trees that he planted with his own hands back then? In almost 20 years, a lot has changed here.
I don't know everything about my father's time here, I just stroked it over and over again, and remembered it over and over again.
I said, "Dad, I'm here, I'm going to study here with you!" β
Once, I heard a classmate walking next to him pointing to an old scholar in front of him and saying, "Look, that's the oldest professor in our school, and his students are all over the world, many of them famous scholars." β
I hurried to catch up with the old man, and I asked him if he remembered that there was once a student named Lu Baishi in this school.
The old man looked at me in amazement, and the setting sun gave him a golden glow.
The old man said, "Lu Baishi was a student of mine a long time ago, one of the most rigorous and studious of all my students, I once wanted him to be my assistant, and he agreed, but in the end he stubbornly returned to his hometown. Later, I heard that it has been gone for many years, and God is jealous of the talent! The old man sighed.
I was standing alone in the twilight, the campus was still there, and the professors who taught him back then were still there, but why, my father, wanted to lie alone on the hill in his hometown?
That night, the four of us drank bottle after bottle of beer, and in the end we were all a little drunk, talking nonsense, or grandma was a little uneasy, and came out to help us collect the stall.
When I woke up the next day, I rubbed my slightly aching head, and before I got up, my grandmother asked me, "Who is Lu Tong?" β
Lu Tongββ!
My head came to my senses, how did my grandmother know about Lu Tong?
I looked at my grandmother cautiously, and her voice was almost down to my throat, "Lu Tong is my senior." β
As I spoke, I secretly observed my grandmother's face, which was a little scary.
"Is it really just a senior? Seniors need you to talk all night like that? β
I reflexively covered my mouth with my hand, and when I saw my grandmother glaring at me, I quickly took my hand down.
Grandma continued: "How old are you, you've only been here for a few days, and you've already spent your heart, so unobtrusive?" Where do you want to study, I think we should go back to farming! β
"Grandma, I didn't, Lu Tong ββ, Lu Tong ββ,"
I looked at my grandmother's eyes, gritted my teeth, and her voice became lower and lower, "Grandma, I'm not young anymore, girls like me in the village have families, I and Lu Tong, Lu Tong and I are actually nothing now, just very good friends." β
After saying that, I didn't dare to look at grandma.
"You are not a competitive thing, you were asked to work early to earn money and get married, you have to read with all your heart, is this the book you want to read? I don't know what kind of person this Lu Tong is, you cried and laughed last night, how long can you know each other? You're just three souls and two souls, and that's how you read? Listen to me, child, stay away from him, there is no future between you. β
"But, Grandmaβ"