Chapter 8 New Classmates from the Big City When you are immersed in a book, the passage of time becomes difficult to notice. It was not until the pain in his waist, back, shoulders and neck became unbearable that Fang Wei finally closed the book in his hand and stretched on the spot. When I was sitting on the windowsill with my legs stretched out, I accidentally kicked the chubby tabby cat at my feet down. "Eh? July, why are you here?" "Meow wow!" The windowsill was only one meter above the ground. The nimble cat jumped up again, but when it looked at Fang Wei again, there was a hint of resentment in its emerald eyes, and it refused to get close to him for a while. Just as Fang Wei was about to reach out to touch the cat, a small ball of paper flew in from the window and hit him on the head quite accurately. Turning around, she found that the stupid girl next door had appeared in her room at some point and was also standing by the windowsill. The two houses were very close to each other, with a low wall in between. When the window was opened, Fang Wei's room was right opposite Xu Cailing's room.
I still remember when I was in the third grade, the teacher taught us how to make a homemade telephone in the handicraft class. We used two paper cups, connected them with a tight string in the middle, and spoke into the paper cups, and the sound would be transmitted to the other cup. At that time, Xu Cailing was quite childish and pulled Fang Wei to play with the homemade telephone. Even though the windows of their rooms were less than three meters apart, she insisted on throwing a paper cup over and asked Fang Wei to talk to her with the paper cup. It's such a childish idea, so embarrassing! Now that I'm older, I don't use the old telephone anymore, and the way to start communication has become throwing paper balls. Whenever an inexplicable ball of paper flew in through the window, Fang Wei knew it was Xu Cailing calling him. "Hey! I've been watching you through the window for a long time! You only noticed July?" The girl's voice sounded more resentful than the cat's. After all, the cat was at least discovered, but she was not. "What are you doing? Who would look into your window for no reason? Have you been looking here for a long time?" It would be embarrassing to admit that he had been looking at it for a long time, so Xu Cailing snorted, "Only for a while!" In fact, she looked at it for quite a long time. Thinking about it now, I feel that I was bored. I clearly wanted to say something to him before I came here, but seeing that he was reading seriously, I did not dare to disturb him. So I just sat quietly on the windowsill, watching him silently through the low wall in the middle. For some reason, she thought his profile as he sat on the windowsill reading seriously in the moonlight was very nice, so she looked at him for a long time without realizing it, until he moved and noticed the cat but not her. "Then what are you doing? Why are you looking at me when you have nothing to do?" "Who's looking at you? I'm reading a book too." "Where's the book?" “…Isn’t this it!” Xu Cailing tried to show the book in her hand, but accidentally held it upside down, and quickly turned it over. Fang Wei: “…” cat:"……" The embarrassed girl simply threw away the book and quickly changed the subject: "Hey, Fang Wei, have you heard that after the new semester starts, there will be one more girl from a big city coming to study on our island!"
After she said this, Fang Wei understood the purpose of her appearance on the windowsill—— The girl who couldn't keep secrets would always share with him everything new she knew at the first opportunity. "Are you here to study? Or are you from a big city?" It is indeed new. It has always been the case that only people from the island go abroad to study. Isn't this contrary to the norm? "It's strange, and he came from Shanghai!" "In elementary school or...?" "Junior high school! Maybe he'll be in the same class with us!" "Whose family is it?" "Just this afternoon, when we were in Shayang Village, didn't we see someone moving house?" "…So, whose child is it?" "Yes! To be precise, she is Uncle Liu's granddaughter!" Uncle Liu’s granddaughter naturally has the surname Liu. The vague memories from the previous life finally had a trigger point. From a big city, new classmate, surnamed Liu, girl... Fang Wei suddenly remembered a name, but apart from the name, he couldn't remember any other impressions of the girl, after all, they had no intersection. But to this day, I still remember her name. It was quite nice, at least it was particularly eye-catching among the ordinary names of her country classmates. She was pretty and pretty, but it's been so long since I remembered her that I can't really remember what she looked like. Oh, and her personality. From what I remember, that girl seemed quite aloof. In front of her classmates who were mostly from the same hometown, neighbors, or distant relatives, she seemed out of place and felt like she was separated from the group. It was natural that she was forgotten in the long memory because of this. It felt like eating a melon from a previous life. Fang Wei asked curiously, "Then why did she come to study here?" "Well, I also heard it from my dad. My dad just went to Uncle Liu's house for tea." Xu Cailing lowered her voice and whispered, "Actually, the reason is not very good! Because Uncle Liu's son and daughter-in-law... that is, her father and mother, seemed to have died in a car accident, and then she had no one to rely on in Shanghai. Uncle Liu is also old and can't go there, so he had to ask someone to bring her back here to study." Fang Wei was stunned. This was something he didn't know. After all, this kind of thing was quite sensitive. For the person involved, in order to maintain his fragile self-esteem and avoid opening the scars, he would certainly not say much about it in class. "Both parents...are dead?" "Yes, my dad said that he used to have a good relationship with Uncle Liu. Uncle Liu was an old teacher in the village. Uncle Liu was his only son. He was also the first person on the island... no, I think the first person in the entire county to be admitted to university! Isn't it amazing?" Fang Wei nodded, this was indeed amazing. It was so rare to be a college student in the 1970s, let alone one who came from a remote and poor place like Pineapple Island. He was the pride of the entire family. It's a pity that he died young... Just think about it, and you will know what a huge blow this is to the Liu family.
Of course, the person who suffered the greatest blow was definitely the girl who was about the same age as Fang Wei Cailing. Just when she was entering her beautiful youth and before she could imagine the distant future, her parents passed away with such a sad regret. The young girl had to leave the familiar city and start a new life on a distant and unfamiliar island. This scar is difficult to heal even with time. "Oh, she's so pitiful..." Just by putting herself in the other person's shoes, Xu Cailing also became sentimental. Don't be fooled by the girl's carefree and optimistic appearance. She is actually very kind-hearted. She is the most loyal person on Pineapple Island. Although Xu Cailing often says that she is very capable and can take care of herself even if her parents are not around, and she looks fearless, she actually knows that her parents are her greatest support. If such a thing happened to her, she feels that she would not be able to bear it and would collapse all of a sudden. “It’s a pity.” Fang Wei nodded. Suddenly he knew there was such a thing behind this. He didn't know what to say for a moment. Although the island is small, the human touch is very strong. If something like this happens in one family, other families will not be happy to hear about it. In the distant past when supplies were scarce on Pineapple Island, people lived by helping and caring for each other. This has almost become a belief engraved in the genes of the islanders. "Hey, Fang Wei, if we become classmates in the future, if she needs any help, we should help her!" She didn't even know her personality or preferences. Just hearing about her sad past, Xu Cailing couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with love. The girl's mind was so simple and cute. If she were written into a novel, Fang Wei felt that Xu Cailing would definitely be a heroine in the martial arts world. She would probably pick up a sword every few days and shout that she wanted to kill the dog officials. Fang Wei said with a smile: "Why do you care so much about her? What if she is not willing to accept your help?" "What?" "It's just about self-esteem. No one wants to be seen as a pitiful creature by others." Although Xu Cailing didn't understand any profound principles, she was quite empathetic. After hearing what Fang Wei said, she put herself in his shoes and found that it seemed to be true. "Then what should we do?" "Nothing to do, just read more books and study more, and improve your own ability first, otherwise you may need others to help you and tutor you in the future." "..." After hearing this, the girl was immediately deflated. This was totally different from what she had imagined, a scene where a female hero saved people from dire straits! If only the urban world was changed into a martial arts world, she, Xu Cailing, would definitely become a world-famous female knight, and the arrogant Fang Wei would only be a scholar under her protection! After a bit of second-year fantasy, the girl was satisfied and started talking to Fang Wei about other things. "Hey, Fang Wei, do you know who gave my sister and I our names?" "Didn't your father take it?" "No." Xu Cailing was very proud, as if she had gained some knowledge, and began to explain it to Fang Wei: "My name comes from a poem in the Book of Songs - "Tang Feng·Cai Ling"; and my sister's name also comes from a poem in the Book of Songs - "Xiao Ya·Cai Wei"" "How is it? Is it super allusive? Is it super nice to listen to? Do you feel like I am emitting the scent of books?" "..."
Fang Wei thought, even if you put on a doctoral gown, you might not be able to find that scholarly scent! Of course, this name is indeed very interesting. After hearing what Xu Cailing said today, he finally knew the origin of her name. It is no wonder that Xu Cailing said that the sisters' names were not given by their father. It was not easy for Uncle Xu, a big and rough man, to give birth to these two pretty girls, let alone give them such literary and beautiful names. "Who gave you and Sister Caiwei your names?" "Hey, that sounds good, right?" “It sounds good…” Fang Wei knew that if he didn't praise her today, he would not be able to get over this hurdle. Sure enough, after Fang Wei finished praising him, Xu Cailing told him: "Actually, they were all chosen by Uncle Liu! I only found out about this tonight when my dad told me about it. At the time, my dad was so exhausted from thinking about names that he almost exploded. Then he remembered that Uncle Liu was the most educated elder on the island and also an old teacher, so he went to Uncle Liu to name them Caiwei and Cailing~" A name is not only a symbol, but also a synonym for family emotions and expectations. A good name can not only make people more confident in social interactions, but can also subtly influence their character and mind. The same goes for Fang Wei's name. When his parents gave him this name, they were thinking that only those who endure hardships can become successful. "Look how proud you are. Can you recite Tang Feng Cai Ling?" "I...I'll recite it tomorrow!" After talking about names, the girl continued to share more information with Fang Wei. "Uncle Liu's granddaughter has a very nice name too. Can you guess what it is?" "what is it call?" "Take a guess." "No guessing." "You said you were a scholar, so let's see if you have the culture of Uncle Liu. If you can guess right, I will do all the laundry for you tomorrow, no, this week!" "...You're playing it this big? Are you sure?" "Tsk! You sound like you could guess it right." "So I guess?" "Guess, one chance!" "Liu Zhiyi." "Haha! Guess what... Eh?! Did you know this a long time ago? It doesn't count! Goodbye!" The stunned girl jumped off the windowsill, closed the window, and ran away. (End of this chapter)