On the day when the weather forecast broadcast that the temperature in Jingzhou City broke below zero degrees Celsius, the last cold of the college era arrived.

Although the results of the postgraduate examination will not be announced until February, Lin Yushan has long had a rough psychological expectation of the exam results. She enlightened herself that she didn't have to stay up in the ivory tower for three more years, and it would be good to start a new chapter in her life earlier.

A few days before the winter vacation, she participated in the joint examination held by various provinces, cities and institutions in Jingzhou City non-stop. These include both coastal cities and north-western interiors. The more you attend, the better your chances of getting into the interview.

The test center is located in a middle school in Guanlan District. This is the first time Lin Yushan has seen that in addition to young fresh graduates like her, there are many people from all walks of life and different ages who take time off on weekdays to take the exam.

The age limit of these people is generally under 35. Despite this, there was still a large crowd of people outside the examination room. Lin Yushan stood in the team, in front of a pregnant woman with a big belly, holding an A4 paper full of knowledge points in his left hand, and putting the hot steamed buns in his mouth with his right hand to nibble, while eating, he was seriously doing the final sprint before entering the examination room.

She gathered her scarf and looked at the endless procession. Perhaps, they all want to win a stable future for themselves.

After a few days of continuous rotation of various examination rooms, Lin Yushan finally had the opportunity to be free and enjoy the last winter vacation time before graduation with Yao Qing.

Both of them are idle personalities. However, since Yao Qing decided to join MT Information after next year, she has confidence and her state has relaxed a lot.

After Lin Yushan's written test, Yao Qing took her to eat, go shopping, buy clothes, and watch movies with great interest. Such a purely happy day is rare for Lin Yushan, so that she can temporarily stop thinking about the fact that Yao Qing will move to the company dormitory after the New Year.

After eating, the two of them opened a private room in KtV and sang until 8 o'clock in the evening before returning home. Lin Yushan drank some wine, came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, and came out with a blushing face and a little dizzy.

She scrambled onto the bed and grabbed the quilt to cover it. The phone suddenly rang, and there was an unread WeChat message on the screen.

Lin Yushan grabbed his phone almost instantly, then sat up from the bed and leaned straight on the head of the bed, rubbing his bloodshot eyes with his hands, and his fingers hovered on the screen for a few seconds before trembling and clicking on the message.

Coach Yang of Jianmeng Fitness: [Miss Lin, I would like to ask when you are free?] Your private lessons aren't done yet. ]

The light in his eyes dimmed, Lin Yushan's back softened, and the hand holding the mobile phone was also spread out on the quilt.

Due to a leg injury, she hasn't been to the gym in months.

Despite some disappointment, she replied politely, "I remember that the previous private lessons seemed to be all over.] ]

Coach Yang of Jianmeng Fitness: [That gentleman has renewed his fee again, when will you be free to come back?] ]

She put down her phone, let out a long exhale, and pulled the corners of the quilt to wrap herself firmly in the fluffy quilt.

Xu Mengzhou seems to have been away from Jingzhou for several days. That day, he was not as gentle as usual, and left with only a faint word.

So why make an appointment to meet?

Perhaps, he finally wanted to open it.

……

One afternoon in late January, when Lin Yushan was at home to swipe the announcement of the announcement of the results of the joint entrance examination, the hand holding the mouse stopped.

She filled in the admission ticket and password in the input box, and then looked at Yao Qing on the side with a look of help.

"Qingqing, your luck is not bad, otherwise you can help me check."

Yao Qing immediately became interested, moved the laptop to his lap, and said something in his mouth: "Manjushri! Master Wenqu Star! Manifest yourself! ”

She took a deep breath and clicked on the query.

Lin Yushan was so nervous that he turned his back on his back.

"The line test is 85, and the comprehensive response is 91.3...... 88.15 overall! Yao Qing's voice became louder and louder, "How many places, guess!" ”

Her palms were already sweaty, and she asked in a trembling voice, "... Is it the third? ”

"First! You're number one! Yao Qing cheered, put the notebook aside, and shook Lin Yushan's shoulder vigorously, "Yushan, you are really amazing!" ”

Lin Yushan was stunned, thanks to Yao Qing's strength, she woke her up.

"Huh? The unit you reported ......"

Yao Qing paused, and suddenly squinted his eyes and read word by word in front of the screen: "Xinjiang Geological Survey Institute of China Metallurgical Geology Administration... Xinjiang? The unit in Xinjiang that you reported?! ”

Lin Yushan nodded sluggishly, feeling incredulous that he had entered the interview in one go.

She has been hooked on this place since the last time she was in Altay. After seeing it in the JAE list, she didn't hesitate at all and immediately registered.

"Have you figured it out? Really going to Xinjiang? ”

A trace of loss crossed Yao Qing's eyes, and his right hand put on Lin Yushan's shoulder, and said worriedly: "... That's Xinjiang, and Jingzhou is from the south and the north. You're alone as a girl, do you really want to go there? ”

Even though modern transportation has greatly shortened the distance between people, it is after all Xinjiang, a vast and sparsely populated place with thousands of mountains and rivers in Jingzhou.

I don't know when it started, Lin Yushan suddenly realized that he was different from others, and later realized that he didn't have a hometown complex.

She is a kite floating in the sky, and her hometown is the thread held by her parents; The person who pulls the string is gone, and the kite can only fly to the unknown distance.

"Are we never going to see each other again?" Yao Qing's voice was hoarse, and her eyes became red, "What should you do with Teacher Xu?" It's been so long, are you really ......?"

Lin Yushan stared at the computer screen intently, and didn't move for a long time.

A few days after the results, Yao Qing suggested from time to time that she should go back to her hometown in Changde for the New Year, on the grounds that she would go to Xinjiang to work in the future and would never see each other again. Lin Yushan understood that Yao Qing was afraid that she would be alone in the rental house, so she didn't return to Changde until the winter vacation.

It wasn't until the last week of January that Lin Yushan finally waited for an interview notice from the Xinjiang Geological Survey Institute, and Yao Qing reluctantly returned home.

With the experience accumulated from the last trip, she is familiar with this revisit.

The moment the plane landed in Urumqi, the boundless snow fell on the world in a white and clear way, and Lin Yushan couldn't help but look forward to what kind of scene Altay would be like at this time.

It's just that she's in a hurry, and her wallet isn't enough to keep her here for too long. After the interview, Lin Yushan went to the Xinjiang Address Mineral Museum and saw dinosaur fossils from the Cretaceous period and many ores that are very rare in the interior.

Before leaving, she pestered the boss in the local ore trading street in Urumqi for half an hour to negotiate the price, and bought a piece of symbiotic raw ore of Tianhe stone and smoky quartz.

This is a crystal ore specimen that Xu Mengzhou took her to see in the geological museum, and she was surprised and delighted that it could be bought in Xinjiang.

It was already evening when the plane returned to Jingzhou. Lin Yushan couldn't wait to go to MINISO to buy a glass specimen cover, and when he got home, he carefully covered the ore with a glass cover, and then went to the kitchen to cook dinner for himself with peace of mind.

As the night grew darker, she ate and cleaned her room leisurely, then took a hot shower and fell asleep.

That night, she dreamed intermittently for a long time.

When I opened my eyes, it was pitch black, and a ray of light came through the cracks in the curtains that didn't close completely.

Lin Yushan sat up suddenly, and she instinctively touched her phone to light up the screen.

January 31, 2023, 18:10.

Almost immediately, she got out of bed, quickly put on her coat and scarf, and limped to the hallway to change her shoes.

Just as she went downstairs to take a taxi, she suddenly stopped.

Four hours had passed since that time. But WeChat did not receive any messages or missed calls.

She stood on the side of the busy street with empty eyes, and under the dim streetlights, the slender shadow was stretched long.

It turned out that the real departure was quiet.

Lin Yushan didn't know where to go for a while.

For a long time, she walked aimlessly along the riverside.

It wasn't until the noise around him became weaker and weaker that Lin Yushan came back to his senses. She looked up, and a towering stone tablet stood in front of her.

[Jingzhou Municipal Forest Park. 】

Suddenly, before she knew it, she had come here.

I haven't been here for four years.

The mountain air was humid and slippery along the way, and she almost fell several times. But in the end, I still came to a small waterhole in the depths of the forest park with a thrilling memory.

This is their "old place".

When she was in junior high school, Xu Mengzhou often took her here to catch tadpoles, and because of the remoteness and difficulty of walking, few people would wander into the depths of the forest park.

She sat down on the edge of the pool, turned on her phone to light the water, and couldn't help but reach out to touch the cold water. It was crystal clear, but there was no trace of tadpoles.

She finally recognized her reluctance. It's just me here, but I still feel comfortable.

"Tadpoles don't usually appear until after March."

Lin Yushan's hand froze on the water.

Is it his voice?

She turned around and slowly stood up.

Xu Mengzhou stood behind her in a loose black jacket, her cheeks seemed to be thinner, and her exposed skin looked even paler because of the cold.

He suddenly appeared in front of her eyes, like a haunting hallucination every night.

"Why... I already said that day I wouldn't come. ”

She asked him, surprise and hesitation intertwined back and forth, "... It's dark, why are you still here? ”

The man's hair was soaked in the mountain mist, and the transparent lenses were also covered with a layer of mist, making it difficult to see through the emotions.

"Why are you still coming when it's dark?" The man asked her rhetorically, word by word.

Intense emotions rampant through the chest.

Feeling like he was about to be torn in half, half yelling to leave now, while half pushing himself immediately rushed up and hugged him.

There was silence in the mountains, and only the sound of insects chirping and him stepping on dead leaves and slowly approaching her could be heard.

"Don't come here..."Lin Yushan's voice became weaker and weaker, with a subtle trill.

Xu Mengzhou stopped in front of her, a pair of bony hands slowly moving up her arms to her shoulders.

"I have something to tell you." He whispered.

Reason has long been occupied by the great joy of being lost and restored, and all the thoughts that have been deposited for months are pouring out.

Four hours ago, he should have left.

But he was waiting for someone who wouldn't come, and he waited until now.

She was already prepared, and as soon as she passed the interview of the Xinjiang Geological Survey Institute, she left Jingzhou without regret after graduation.

For so many years, as long as she has a pair of moist and lonely eyes on Xu Mengzhou, she will be completely defeated.

The person she thought she would never see again miraculously appeared in front of her.

What the future, what sanity. She felt like she was crazy.

A strong sense of shame spreads throughout the body.

Xu Mengzhou has disappeared from her world for too long, and has reached a critical point where she is about to become unbearable.

Whether psychologically or physically, she missed him and was about to go crazy.

"Wait."

With a desire that she couldn't hide anymore, she took the initiative to reach out and hook the man's neck and lean into his arms.

Receiving the signal, Xu Mengzhou almost immediately lowered his head to meet her, his forehead against her forehead, and the tip of his nose was high to probe her damp breathing.

The man's eyelashes flickered, and the dew on the eyelashes rolled down her lips, and the strange touch made her dizzy. His rough fingertips cared against the lines of her neck, sometimes gently and sometimes violently sucking her delicate lips.

Entangled for a long time, until both of their lips became warm and moist. The man reluctantly nibbled lightly, moving down to her neck.

His damp hair wet her face, and she closed her eyes, supported only by his arms around her waist, and a tingling sensation caused her to collapse in his arms.

She had been waiting for a long time, and as soon as he lit the fuse, she would immediately offer it to herself.

The man went up her neck and bullied her earlobe, and his breath became heavier and heavier.

"Go to the car."