It was midsummer. The hot cement road seemed to distort the air, and the familiar camphor trees were rustling.
After traveling by high-speed railway, train and bus, I finally got on the bus from Sangxia County to Changli Township.
The bumpy roads in my memory have never been encountered again. It seems that they have all been repaired. It is also more than ten years since camphor seedlings have grown into forests, and it is almost time to clamor for the construction of a dirt road.
here we are.
"Hey, young man, I have been driving for at least four or five years since Changli came to the county. I know all the people in the countryside. You look strange. Which child came home from outside?"
The uncle who was driving was very familiar. When the bus arrived, he pinched the empty cigarette case and casually looked at the young people who were getting off the bus.
Zhang Yan smiled, handed a cigarette to the driver's uncle, and explained, "I have been away from Changli for about ten years. On a whim, I came back to see the school."
The driver took a deep breath of his cigarette and vomited out, "No wonder I'm not impressed. Come back and have a look. There are fewer and fewer young people in our village. They are old people and children..."
Stepping on the shadow of cinnamomum camphora, the breeze from the leaves is not hot.
The distance from the station to the school is not far. Zhang Yan walked to the school gate in seven or eight minutes.
During the summer vacation, the school was empty. The guard lay in the reception room for a rest, and the fan slowly shook his head.
Without alerting my uncle, Zhang Yan entered the school through the side door.
The school has changed a lot. The original gray white walls and some broken bricks and tiles of the teaching building have been reinforced, decorated and painted into blue and white. The praise and publicity columns beside the flower beds on both sides have also been replaced and added with rain shelters.
The teaching building has been locked, and the idea of going to the class to have a look has been dispelled.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
A sharp shout suddenly sounded behind Zhang Yan.
Lao Yang from Changli Middle School came out of the school toilet and saw a figure wandering in the school. Why didn't he find a cool place to stay and run to school on this hot day?
Zhang Yan was so frightened by the sudden drink that he was going to explain.
Lao Yang came closer and saw Zhang Yan's face clearly. "Eh?" Lao Yang thought hard, "Are you Zhang Yan?"
Zhang Yan also recognized the old man as Mr. Yang, who used to run the canteen in the school. She was glad that she could still be recognized after such a long time, and she smiled and responded.
"Miss Yang is me. Do you still remember my name?"
Lao Yang was also happy. "Your boy was making a lot of noise in our school. Of course, I still remember why you came to our school?"
Zhang Yan's old face turned red. His feelings were still remembered because he was too naughty. I remember that I was honest in junior high school. How could I be impressed by others.
After Zhang Yan explained that he had visited the school during the holiday, Lao Yang warmly pulled Zhang Yan to his home.
"Heller."
Sitting at Mr. Yang's house, they chatted while eating frozen watermelons.
"Miss Yang, are you alone at home?"
"The child signed up for a tourism project to cool off. I didn't want to go, but I let my wife go. I'm too lazy to bother. Where do you work now?"
"Go to work in Mordor, and come back to have a look after your vacation."
"In the big city, my son also works there."
...
The two talked without a word. Lao Yang learned that Zhang Yan wanted to go to the class to have a look. He took out a bunch of keys from the drawer and threw them to Zhang Yan.
"There are marks on the keys of the teaching building and the class. Go and have a look. There are not many students like you who still remember to go back to your alma mater." Lao Yang sighed.
Thanks, Zhang Yan finally got into the class in the teaching building.
On the third floor, Zhang Yan opened the door of Class 2 in his memory with a squeak.
The sun shines on the yellow wood desk through the glass window. The blackboard behind the classroom is painted with a blackboard newspaper for preparing for the mid-term exam. On the message wall on the other side, there are various kinds of convenience stickers to write students' wishes.
Zhang Yan grinned, everything remained unchanged as if everything had changed. Zhang Yan could no longer find her own trace in this familiar and unfamiliar class.
The windows on the south wall can see the new rows of small western-style buildings, which are not the vegetable gardens managed by teachers and friends.
Zhang Yan wiped the dust off the stool, sat in the first row with his hands on his cheeks, looked at the clean blackboard, and his mind was wandering.
The group of graduates ten years ago went crazy for a summer vacation. After making an appointment for ten years, they returned here to get together again.
It seems that they have broken their appointments.
Career, family, life.
A sudden agreement is insignificant compared with it.
Eason Chan's ten years of singing on his mobile phone is a bit of a fitting occasion.
Zhang Yan looks tired as she rushes back to Changli.
Slowly, his hands supporting his cheeks fell on the desk, pillowed his arms, and Zhang Yan fell asleep.
...
Zhang Yan had a dream. In the dream, he was reborn back to junior high school as the novel wrote, but after rebirth, he did not carry the golden finger of the rebirth predictability as the follow-up of the novel.
I didn't buy lottery tickets that could make me rich overnight, get to know the business tycoons in the low entrepreneurial period, or break into Tsinghua Peking University with amazing knowledge.
Just very satisfied with the very serious modification of the last life I made the wrong choice of life, ordinary but not mediocre life.
When I met you, the story should not be too mediocre.
The cool breeze is blowing at the corner of Changli Alley. The two old men who are free to travel on the chessboard, and the school bell rings melodiously.
The originally empty class was filled with students who were fighting and making troubles.
......
In his sleep, Zhang Yan feels more and more noisy. Zhang Yan frowns and slowly opens her eyes.
Then he froze.
