At the end of the day's ceremony, the winners lined up in two rows on the way to the podium and applauded us as our opponents. Lao Ye hugged Ah Fang again, and Mu Zheng and Xuexue also quietly high-fived Li Bin.

"There's always a hunch that we're going to be teammates in the future. I don't know how long it will take, though. Qiao Li took off his goggles, revealing those confident eyes. Teammates who play games are also teammates, right? Wang Rui interjected. We all laughed.

"Alright, you should be happy. It's a championship you've earned yourself. Congratulations. "When I walked up to Li Bin, I patted him on the cheek. It's still so thin, but it's a little stronger than before.

"Keke, that ......" he was still a little embarrassed, and his eyes dodged, "Can we two be friends?" ”

"I think so. I'm a little tired today, though. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow. ”

"Good! I can do it anytime. He was a little surprised and excited. I put my hand on his shoulder, then quickly moved away. Gotta keep going, it's time to go on stage. The award presenters have already presented several of their fellow guests with silver medals. As agreed with the coach, we politely thanked the presenters, nodded, shook hands, thanked them, and then walked out on the sidelines. He only took off the silver medal as soon as he got off the stage, but no one said anything about him, and the coach didn't ask him to put it back on.

It's yours, take it. He stuffed his medal to Yue Yin.

Yan Xi and Luca still had some difficulty walking. When Azzi returned to the stands, he asked Aniwal to take his crutches down. So, on crutches, the two of them walked onto the podium on their own, no longer needing anyone's support. The waddling, cautious and stubborn movements reminded me of Luca's three-legged kitten. There was once a team that stood on the podium with four players on crutches. "The Heavenly Group on Crutches", this name is more poignant and tragic than teasing.

But they won the championship and we still had nothing. The stubbornness and willfulness of perseverance with wounds are a kind memory in the time of victory, and in such moments it only grabs the pain of the mind and body, and misunderstanding and mockery lurk behind.

It's over. Everyone went back to the bench, some took off the medals, some still wore them. It's over. The sun still radiates the earth, and small music and drums quietly sound, at first like falling raindrops, then gradually rising, forming a clear tide, and finally merging into a surging wave. It's that song again, the song that will sound at the end of the ceremony, We are the champions of Queen, and the rest of the time belongs to the winners.

I've paid my due

Time after time

I've done my sentence

But committed no crime

And bad mistakes

I've made a few

I've had my share of sand

Kicked in my face

But I've come through[1]

When I heard this song again, I suddenly felt that Li Bin was worthy of it, and I hope he could think the same way. He did not sin, but he paid the price and survived the long ordeal. His life was much more difficult than mine, and he was rubbed against the earth of fate again and again, and now he was finally qualified to hold up the golden proof. The world belongs to those who fight until the last moment, and he and his companions deserve it.

But...... Am I and my companions unworthy? This song shook the world in the stadium, and I seemed to be able to hear my own destiny in it. Unlike Li Bin, I made bad mistakes, and I did it myself. I'm also struggling, and I'm also facing. My companions also have their own persistence and responsibility. But...... This song still doesn't belong to us today.

Let's go. No time for losers. Leave the stage to the victors to celebrate.

When I returned to the locker room, I could still hear the powerful music. Its waves passed through the walls, washing our ears and brains over and over again, washing our faces out of the dullness of the reef for a hundred years. Xuexue, who was empty around his neck, hugged his guitar bag, and tears were still flowing. Perhaps, if we win the championship today, he will come and sing the song of triumph that is being sung to others. Yue Yin tried to give him the medal back, but he shook his head resolutely.

"Boys, I still have a few things to say before the season is completely over." The coach wiped off all the tactical deployments on the whiteboard, and we all looked at her one by one as she stood in front of the blank space.

"Don't blame yourselves, you've done well enough. The result is full of regrets, but the whole process is without regrets. We lost the final result, but none of them were losers. It is never only the victorious side that is remembered. The children of the second year of junior high school, when it comes to the day of separation, the teacher has nothing to give you anymore, only a word of thanks. If you want to play football again, no matter how old you are, if you're still studying or working, you're always welcome back.

"The children of the first year of junior high school, we still have a chance in the future. The teacher is ashamed and sorry for you. Suo Ming, Yin Qiu, Wen Qian, Hong Yu, the teacher hasn't given you a minute of playing time in the whole year. I'm really sorry, but our goal this season is very utilitarian, this is not what football should be, not to mention that your usual study life is hard enough. Please allow the teacher to apologize to you, but you really can't get back the time you lost. ”

There was a knock on the door, slightly interrupting the sad atmosphere in the room. Can we come in? Of course. After opening the door, I found that there were a lot of people. The girls were at the front, behind them were Taotao, and the seniors who came to watch the game after the high school entrance examination. Everybody's the same. Kwong Hao patted me on the back and said that this year was a good year, and said that Miller's performance was unprecedented in the history of the Mayor's Cup. Yuan Yikong shook his huge body and rubbed Ye Ruiyang and Huang Minxue's hairy heads. Thank you, actually, I still have that money, but I don't want to spend it. Mu Zheng said to Taotao. Is it? Teacher Zhou gave Xiaofei the book, and the two of us read it seriously. Tao Tao replied with a smile. Guys, take a picture. It's rare for people to be so together, "three generations in the same house", and I don't know when the next time we meet. Minxue, you lie to the front with your guitar. Isn't that the way you've always been? My sister grabbed Xuexue and pushed Yue Yin into the crowd. I'll take a picture of you, Yue Yin, go where you should be. No, you're going to shoot with us too. Xuexue wiped away the last tears and pouted at his sister.

"Wait a minute, I'll go find Xiaobai and shoot for us." Yue Yin sighed and walked out of the room with the singing that had not yet subsided. Someone will accompany her, as if they are through a rain of bullets together. During the waiting time, my sister asked Xuexue if Ye Junfang was the lead singer of their band. No, he shook his head, only occasionally came to help, home was too far away. So, do you think I can do it? My sister gently pinched his little face. Huh? Xuexue was a little surprised. And his sister's gentle humming completely dispelled his doubts. It's that song You belong to me again, like a slow cloud. I'll be so alone without you. Maybe You'll be lonesome, too. We seemed to have forgotten the music outside the venue, and were sent by our sister to the plane through the clouds, the cabin was clean and warm, spotless, and the sun was like a soft blanket covering our bodies, until Yue Yin's footsteps sounded in the corridor and woke up like a dream.

It was two weeks before Xuexue plucked the strings again, and that time at the school gate. Printed photographs and the number 10 jersey signed with everyone's name signed were handed to Luka. I've never been a fan of taking pictures, but on that bitter afternoon, I still left as much of a smile as I could in the pictures. After many years, thousands of mountains and rivers, I don't know if this life is goodbye. There are enough regrets in a lifetime, so let's leave a little more joy for my companions when they look at the photos and remember them in the future. Maybe in a few decades, a hundred years, Luca's descendants will come to China again, looking for traces of the life of their elders based on a photograph. Our history has turned a new chapter, and it is no longer as thrilling as it was a hundred years ago, but it is also the day that a generation really lived. Perhaps when we tell our descendants, we can say that in this era, our lives are more tolerant, rational, confident, and happy than our predecessors, and we have not forgotten to inherit their courage and faith. And your life will be better, and all good people will become friends.

Lukka handed me his papers. 66 points, the only time in a whole year that he passed the language exam, he did. The essay is written very long and is about our story. I have to say, his handwriting is still so ugly - maybe he has worked hard to write. I kept it in exchange for the latest issue of the Literary Society, "The Hunter and the Hussar". "Cazador till I die" and "Husband is close to each other" are the words written on the title page.

Luca's family is also going back to Europe, and in addition to the memories and emotions that cannot be separated by time and space, there is also the three-legged kitten. It has a new owner. Give it a new name, we'll stop calling it "pathetic". Luca said to Leben. On the night they left China, the green-eyed boy suddenly felt that the name they had given the Chinese kitten was not the right one – they didn't know what it had been through, whether it was suffering or joy, or whether it was unrepentant or melancholy about its past. People should have enough reverence and respect for every life and their past. Leben agreed, and took good care of it after that. I heard that Brother Chuan and his little sister often go to play with it. Before that, the little girl and her brother took the initiative to return the parrot to Azie. Some people and animals have returned to square one, like a big circle. Everything is the same as before, but it will never be the same again. Fortunately, this time I can probably say that they all turned out well.

Auld lang syne, a folk song compiled by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, is a piece that Xuexue played for Luca. In China, it has a familiar name - "Friendship Lasts Forever". Same as a year ago, Xuexue's performance also has encore. So the song sounded, and the lyricist was for our school-song-writing Master Hongyi. But Xuexue changed the order of the lyrics, and when we first heard it, we were a little confused:

Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green. Q: When will you come? Don't linger when you come.

The end of the sky, the corner of the earth, the acquaintance is half scattered. The evening breeze blows the willow flute, and the sunset is outside the mountain.

He was kicked by Xu Mu and sang again in the correct order. Well kicked. He had to be so sad, even though we were all sad too. But since we have been separated for so long, I still have to be happy to see each other for a few minutes. Lukka blinked his green eyes at us from the back window, his chestnut hair flattened out by the window, and faded away from the road. The sound of the guitar never stops, as if waiting for him to go away completely, so that we can forget the farewell music.

After the third year of junior high school, the days have not changed much day by day, and I write homework in and out of class. I was sad for a while, but I didn't seem to be too unbearable to quit the school team. Life hasn't been turned that upside down. On the next Qingming Festival, I went back to my grandparents' house and saw him again for the first time. My sister was with me. A small river flows behind us, separating the solid castles in front of us from another noisy, busy, ever-turning world. That night, I stayed in my room alone, flipping through his favorite books. Did he start reading these writers at such a young age? And it's so relishing. Everyone always thinks that Xianxian is a sunny and enthusiastic boy. That's right. But his heart is equally delicate, as he draws densely in these books.

There is a story that strikes me at the beginning and the end, "There are legends everywhere, but it doesn't always end so well." Huqin babbled and pulled, in the night of ten thousand lights, pulled over and over, endless desolate stories - don't ask! [2] Much like the protagonist of the story, I have been fulfilled, but at too high a cost. My place in history isn't subtle, let alone legendary, just a mosquito coil plate that has been kicked under the table.

However, in the early days of junior high school, I wasn't too selfish and didn't get along with people with such a clear purpose. I also want to ask about the cause and effect behind this unreasonable world, and I want to keep up with the huqin of life.

I didn't know anything outside of my life, I hadn't personally found the sheep, the wind, the Milky Way, or the larger lake or garden. But I know that one cannot allow oneself to remain in the labyrinth of mirrors forever.

"But that night he could not think about one thing for a long time and fixedly, and he could not concentrate his mind on one thing; And now he doesn't consciously make any decisions; He just had some of these feelings. Life replaces eloquence, and something completely different should be formed in the mind. [3] That's how I felt that night. In addition to this, I also know that "he cannot get a new life without paying a price, and he must also pay a high price for a new life"[4].

I don't know if I fell asleep that night, maybe I slept all night. What did I dream about? The tall walls stand in the smoke of gunpowder, the aftermath of falling stone balls on the top of the mountain, the roar of horses rushing towards windmills in the wilderness, the blind wanderers on crutches that are about to break? It may be yes, it may not be neither, but it is the mountains and rivers, the sun, the moon and the stars, or the millions of soldiers. No, probably neither, I put them aside and maybe all I saw was the face of everyone I knew, including my own—I could tell the difference between it and the person in the disappeared photograph. Other than that, the only thing that convinced me was that a bird jumped up to my window when the first rays of the morning sun hadn't really risen. Graceful dark blue feathers flowed from its back to the tip of its long tail, and it turned its head to look at me, then flapped its blue-edged wings twice and flew away.

(End of book)

[1] Lyrics:

I've paid the price

over and over

I served my sentence

But there was no crime

I've made a few mistakes

Serious mistake

I do it myself

Self-inflicted

But I got through it

[2] Zhang Ailing, "Love in a Fallen City".

[3] Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment.

[4] Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment.