At the end of the road, you held my hand, hoping that time would stand still, but in the end, we still came to the dead end of fate. In the end, we have not escaped the shackles of life, rather than carrying the burden of regret, it is better to never meet each other, or forget each other in the rivers and lakes.

(a)

In the early morning of midsummer, Liu Zhixi slowly strolls along the boulevard of Orange Well Middle School. The summer wind carried a slight heat on Liu Zhixi's snow-white cheeks, and hidden behind the blue glasses frame was a pair of bright eyes, which bent into a shallow crescent moon when she laughed. Sunshine is a mischievous child, shuttling through the tall plane leaves on the side of the road, shaking and throwing a little spot of light. "The shadows can be so beautiful," she said, brushing the black hair on her forehead, and couldn't help but think, "Everyone has never paid attention to the heat of the sun, but they have forgotten that the shadow on the back of it is also smart and lively." Liu Zhixi smiled slightly, and the corners of her mouth raised a beautiful arc.

A crisp bicycle bell sounded behind her, Liu Zhixi subconsciously looked back, only to see a young man in white fluttering, with delicate eyebrows, clean eyes, and a smile on his face. She froze in place, her gaze swept over the back seat of the bike, and on it sat a good-looking girl, whose hair was tied into a ponytail, and let out a pleasant laugh like a silver bell.

Today is the first day of high school at Tachibana Junior High School, and the freshmen are returning to their classes after a long and boring opening ceremony. Liu Zhixi stood in the corridor of the corridor, a ray of sunlight hit her like a searchlight, and the dust in the air was like sand raised in the sea of sand, misty. Now all the students in the class are lining up in the corridor, waiting for the class teacher's order.

The acting class teacher was busy directing the temporary class cadres to receive the books, collect the tuition receipts, and count the number of people. The morning sun was already strong and fierce, and many girls were busy applying sunscreen. Liu Zhixi doesn't know skin care and never skin care, one is because she doesn't have this habit, and the other is because she doesn't have the spare money. She quietly looked at the hustle and bustle of the world in front of her, leaned against the wall, closed her eyes comfortably, and suddenly opened them as if in response. She smelled the faint smell of carved laundry detergent again.

"Su Huai, you sit here." The acting head teacher commanded resolutely, and then pointed at Liu Zhixi, "That girl, sit next to Su Huai." She raised her head in surprise, and her eyes met Su Huai, and the other party's eyes were full of smiles, but with a bit of indescribable politeness and politeness.

"Hello, my name is Su Huai, and I am the Huai of Huainan." The boy said politely, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.

"I, my name is Liu Zhixi, hello." The girl replied a little shyly, but her eyes kept looking at Su Huai.

"I'm in junior high school, what about you?" The boy continued to ask, as if interested.

"Oh, I know......" Liu Zhixi didn't return to the boy's question, but her heart was surging with faint excitement. In the junior high school where she studied, almost all the students who studied seriously knew Su Huai in No. 1 Middle School. In City C, where Liu Zhixi is located, junior high school students from all schools subscribe to the English Weekly, and Su Huai is the first junior high school student in the city to publish an English essay in the English Weekly. At that time, the girls in the class would also discuss privately whether Su Huai was handsome or not, and whether the shoes he was wearing were Adidas or Nike.

Liu Zhixi recalled the girls' suppressed but uncontrollable whispers and thoughts, I don't know why I blushed, glanced at Su Huai in a panic, and saw that he didn't find anything strange in his heart, so he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and hurriedly lowered his head and pretended to read the textbook.

Suddenly, she felt something poke her back, and she looked back to see a dark-faced boy holding the mechanical pencil she had just bought yesterday. Oh, it turned out that the pen was dropped, she whispered thanks, and when she got the pencil back, her fingertips touched the boy's fingertips, and she hurriedly withdrew her hand as if she had touched a flame, but the other party was still calm, and his angular face was calm. Liu Zhixi couldn't help but laugh at herself for being too neurotic.

"Hey, that, what's your name?" Liu Zhixi called softly.

"Zeng Xiao." Two short words, but the tone is not high, with a hint of friendliness, and it is not abrupt.

When the sunset was about to set, Liu Zhixi packed her schoolbag and squeezed into the vast sea of people with the students who came out of the stream, like an inconspicuous small droplet, blending into the vast blue sea. For fifteen years, she always felt that she was different from ordinary people, even if it was a drop of water, she must be the most affectionate drop of dew left by the night to the day, not the salty sea water that cannot be swallowed. She always confidently insisted on what she excelled in, even if it might seem to others to be nothing more than a small carving skill.

Orange Well Middle School is the best high school in City C, and in recent years, it has expanded its enrollment because of economic benefits, and parents of those children in City C who have mediocre grades but have deep pockets have spared no expense to let their children enter the best schools. As a public institution, the school pays attention to the actual income and tends to be market-oriented, which has brought unhealthy trends to the original simple campus environment. Many students are openly and secretly competing with each other about which car is more luxurious and who wears more expensive luxuries.

After a 20-minute walk to the right after leaving the crowded school gate, Liu Zhixi passed by Country Garden, where rows of villas shone in the afterglow of the setting sun, like beautiful palaces. She suddenly saw a tall figure in front of the window of a villa, wearing a white shirt. Because of the distance, she couldn't see the face clearly, only a rough outline, and the man quietly looked at the moon faintly in the dusk, thoughtful.

Walking through the overgrown abandoned park, Liu Zhixi came to a dilapidated community, which had fallen into disrepair and was deserted, and the residents who had the conditions had long since moved away, leaving behind some people who were struggling to live or elderly people with limited mobility. When she climbed the stairs, she didn't know whose cooking fumes covered her face, sticking to her face greasy, like applying a layer of skin cream that couldn't be wiped off, and mixed with a pungent smell. Liu Zhixi's mind flashed the figure standing by the window, those who don't eat the fireworks in the world, won't they have the experience of being full of smoke just now, right? However, at that time, she didn't know what a deep copper stench was hidden under their shiny skin.

The key turns three times through the keyhole, and then the door is opened from the inside. The soft light filled the small hall, and in front of her was the kind smiling face of her grandmother, who took the schoolbag in Liu Zhixi's hand and brought her favorite sweet and sour pork ribs with a smile. Grandma watched her feast dotingly, lovingly rubbing her hair against her head.

Liu Zhixi's parents passed away when she was very young, leaving only her grandmother, who was over the age of old, to live with her. Although the days are hard, she is very happy and content. Grandma lost her son in old age, Liu Zhixi lost her father when she was young, this lonely, like two pieces of broken porcelain, hugged each other tightly and inlaid tightly, fitting each other's broken lives.