Novel Name : The Moon is Coming to Me
The Moon is Coming to Me Chapter 65 - TMCTM Chapter 65
Chapter 65 - TMCTM Chapter 65
A year and a half later.
In mid-June, the results of college entrance exams were released all over the country, and as soon as the results were released, the students and teachers of Wenhua No.1 High School were all enthusiastic because this year’s senior class had unprecedentedly produced two provincial science champions.
One was Lin Qinhe in this province, and the other was Tao Xi in the southwest province
Strictly speaking, Tao Xi should be a student of Qingshui County No. 1 High School. After ‘studying abroad’ in Wenhua No. 1 High School for two years due to the remote live broadcast project, he naturally returned to his original place for the college entrance examination.
“Isn’t it the one who I taught at Wenhua No. 1 High School?” Facing the controversy, the principal of Wenhua No. 1High School made a final conclusion.
So there were two banners of the first place displayed at the entrance of Wenhua No.1 High School, and on each side of the school gate were large red display stands with pictures of the two students. The big ‘announcement of joyful news’ in the center of the head was bolded with two red letters. Someone said this was too much like the balloon arch for a wedding, so Tao Xi was embarrassed to go to school during that time.
Reporters from various media and the admissions office of prestigious schools flocked to the school, but couldn’t find anyone after searching for a long time. It was learned from Zhou Qiang, the head teacher of the red1red = popular class, that the two top students had already applied for the top universities in the world, one studying art and the other studying mathematics, both on the west coast across the ocean.
At the same time, the Fang family threw a lively banquet for Tao Xi. All the relatives and friends who had been in touch with them over the years were invited. Tao Xi’s birth was announced at a private party last year and was the subject of much discussion and sighing for a long time, and now everyone had accepted it. They only lament that it was not easy for the Fang family, but they were fortunate to welcome home a grandson who was not an insult to the family’s reputation.
At that time Tao Xi did not take the gossip of those relatives to heart, but his life experience made Qiao Henian sigh with emotion. Fang Sui was once his proudest female student, and her biological son also became his student by accident, so he sighed that the fate was wonderful. When Qiao Yitang learned about it, he didn’t know what kind of nerve she had, saying she wanted to write down the story that was comparable to an eight o’clock dog drama. Tao Xi strictly rejected it.
When he returned from a full day of flowing feast, Tao Xi had long been exhausted and his face was stiff with laughter. Even Lin Qinhe had to carry him to the bath.
“Envy you, there is only a simple family banquet, unlike me being surrounded by so many people like an exhibition.” Tao Xi stood in the bathroom with his eyes closed, his forehead resting on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder, letting Lin Qinhe’s hands rub the foam on his body.
In fact, he understood what Fang Zuqing meant by inviting so many people. It was nothing more than fear that some people didn’t know that his grandson was back, and worried that he felt like he would not be accepted.
Lin Qinhe looked at the “exhibition” covered with white foam in front of him, raised his hand to wipe the foam on Tao Xi’s collarbone and asked in a loud voice: “Have you eaten tonight?”
“No.” Tao Xi shook his head and sighed like an old man, “I was asked by my relatives. Asking how I could study so well, can they borrow some of my notes. I feel like I can open a tutoring class. If I pull you in, it will be named as the No.1 tutor class, it will definitely make a lot of money. “
Lin Qinhe laughed. Tao Xi was not short of money now, but perhaps, it was because he was scared of lacking money before, so every time he talked about making money, he always made the most of it.
“Hey, I really think I can get one.” Tao Xi’s idea was exciting.
“I don’t teach others.” Lin Qinhe spoke in a noble tone.
“Oh, Teacher Lin is only a teacher for me.” Tao Xi smiled with his eyes bent.
After taking a shower, Tao Xi was wrapped in a bath towel as Lin Qinhe dried his body. He found that something was wrong and hurriedly pressed Lin Qinhe’s hand, shaking his head, “I’m so tired today, I don’t have much energy left.
Lin Qinhe said with a raised eyebrow, “Do you need your strength?”
Tao Xi was speechless, so he blushed and said, “I have to go out tomorrow, and I haven’t even packed my luggage yet.”
Lin Qinhe finally let him go and put on his pajamas, only to bite his lips hard.
Tao Xi walked to the bedroom and found the newly bought lubricant in the bedside table, the red flush on his face flushed to his neck. He remembered that the first time he had with Lin Qinhe was on his 18th birthday when they had a grand birthday party at his grandfather’s house. The experience during that night had completely turned his perception of life upside down.
Well, although he had some taste for it, but after all, it was a critical time in senior year, so he and Lin Qinhe both endured and didn’t do much.
Tao Xi shook his head, cleared the picture in his mind, and hurriedly went to pack up with Lin Qinhe.
Tomorrow they were going to Qingshui County. Tao Xi’s provincial first place not only made Wenhua No.1 High School overjoyed, but Qingshui No.1 High School was even more so. The headmaster set off firecrackers in front of the school all day long, and the scene was probably even more lively than Wenhua No.1 High School.
This time coincided with the celebration of the second anniversary of the remote live broadcast project. Taoxi was the first senior high school graduate since Qingshui No.1 High School adopted the remote live broadcast class. It was heard that many of the students in this year’s class got into the first-tier universities2I originally used first choice before as 一本 is the abbreviation for ‘first choice universities’, however, going by how they describe 一本, I think first-tier is a better term for it and there were also a few accepted into heavy universities,3I’m not sure either, but this is what I found on baidu
重本大学 (heavy university): include two ranges of colleges and universities, one is the key institutions directly under the state ministries and commissions, the other is the key provincial higher education institutions;
+ Undergraduate education focuses on theoretically specialised general education
+ Applied undergraduate education focuses on application-based professional education and practical skills education
students are generally awarded a bachelor’s degree and a bachelor’s diploma after normal graduation which made the Qingshui County government leaders’ faces a lot brighter and was going to be promoted as a typical example of education for poverty alleviation in the province.
In addition to this matter, this time he also had to deal with the matter of transferring his own household registration. He was busy studying before, so he never transferred. Yang Zhengming didn’t say anything about Tao Xi’s change of his registered permanent residence to Fang’s family. He just said it was good to transfer back.
It was only ten o’clock when the two finished packing their bags. Tao Xi went to open the gifts that grandparents and Yang Zhengming gave him for continuing his study His grandparents gave him a painting that he had wanted since a long time ago. It was a famous foreign landscape painter and it was not easy to get it.
While Yang Zhengming gave him a sports car, Tao Xi looked at the bunch of car keys a little speechless. He didn’t even have a driver’s license, and he was going to study abroad soon. Was this car to be left to collect dust? He remembered that on his eighteenth birthday last year, Yang Zhengming gave him a suite and a book called “How to Balance Early Love and Study”. It had not been opened yet.
Did he need to weigh? He wanted to study and fall in love.
Tao Xi was surprised to find another book in Yang Zhengming’s gift box. The title of the book was “Those Things Adults Must Know”, and from the cover you could tell that it must be about the same thing.
He was so hot that he threw the book but Lin Qinhe took it over, flipping it open and scanning it a few times while saying nonchalantly, “Uncle Yang also gave me a book last year.”
“What book?” Tao Xi asked, stunned.
Lin Qinhe’s expression was a little hard to say as he said, “How to Become a Responsible Man.”
“…”
Tao Xi hurriedly skipped this topic and asked Lin Qinhe, “When will Mother Luo return to China?”
Lin Qinhe put down the book that was not suitable for children and said, “The flight is next Tuesday.”
Luo Zhengyin gradually walked out of the shackles she set for herself. She divorced Lin Zeshi and became the gifted female pianist again. She had been attending piano performances all over the world for the last six months. In every city she visited, she would send two postcards to Tao Xi and Lin Qinhe, telling them the scenery here, so that they would have a chance to see them in the future.
“That happens to be that we are also back, we can have a meal together.” Tao Xi said.
Lin Qinhe let out an “en”.
“It’s a pity that my sister has to take the high school entrance examination and can’t go out with me.” Tao Xi said regretfully.
“When she finishes her exams, we can take her on a trip together.” Lin Qinhe said, while helping Tao Xi to put the gift away.
Tao Xi was thinking of something, and there was a smile that couldn’t be hidden from the corner of his mouth as he shook his head: “She said she doesn’t want to be a light bulb and plans to go to summer camp with her classmates.”
Tao Le transferred to the boarding school in his second year of junior high, and would come to live during the holidays. The young girl had come to the big city to learn more about the world. One day she asked Tao Xi, “Brother, is Qinhe my sister-in-law? Tao Xi was so happy that she told Lin Qinhe several times, and as a result, he was taught a lesson in bed by Tao Le’s sister-in-law at night.
After putting away his luggage and looking at the gifts, Tao Xi jumped onto Lin Qinhe and was skillfully held in a hug, he leaned his head on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder and yawned: “Go to sleep, have to get up early tomorrow.”
Lin Qinhe carried Tao Xi to the bedroom.
“By the way, when you went to the family dinner this time, Grandpa Lin didn’t say anything to you, right?” Tao Xi suddenly remembered this and hurriedly asked.
“No.” Lin Qinhe put Tao Xi on the bed while saying, “He told you to go to dinner at the next family banquet.”
Tao Xi straightened up from the bed, his eyes filled with disbelief and joy: “Grandpa Lin doesn’t oppose us?”
Lin Qinhe smiled a little helplessly and said, “Grandpa didn’t oppose.”
“Then this is a complete agreement?” Tao Xi couldn’t help but pounce on Lin Qinhe and ask as he wrapped his arms around his neck.
Lin Qinhe leaned back and wrapped his arms around Tao Xi’s waist on the bed, smiling as he let out a “en”.
Their relationship was known by their families in the second semester of the last year of high school, but it was also very difficult not to be known. After all, they lived together and went in and out of the house together everyday.
The first thing to know was the two elders of the Fang family. Fang Zuqing reacted a bit fiercely at first. It was not that Lin Qinhe was not good, but that Tao Xi was still young and shouldn’t have embarked on a difficult road so early, but then Ye Yurong cried and said, “Do you still want to see him go on our daughter’s path again”, and Fang Zuqing was completely silent.
Lin Qinhe’s grandfather, Lin Weiliang, also found out about it. The old man, who had been in a high position for a long time, was conservative and not easy to compromise. He was furious and threatened to transfer Lin Qinhe to another school. Once he saw that Lin Weiliang did not agree, the protective Fang Zuqing could not sit still and felt that his grandson was being looked down upon, so he immediately went to the Lin family to argue with this long-time friend. Lin Qinhe’s father, Lin Zeshi, also tried hard to persuade him, saying that he had never been successful in his life and did not want to see his son do the same.
But in the end, Lin Qinhe went to his grandfather’s house on his own, and the two of them had a long talk overnight. No one knew what Lin Qinhe said, but the old man’s attitude softened. At least he didn’t ask Lin Qinhe to transfer to another school, and he turned a blind eye to the fact that they were living together.
This time he offered to let Tao Xi go to the Lin family banquet, so it seemed that he had really agreed to it.
With such good news, Tao Xi had no desire to sleep. He sat on Lin Qinhe’s lap and was about to discuss with him about what to do at the Lin family banquet, but before he could open his mouth, he was pinned to the bed by Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe clasped his hand and leaned down to look at him from a very close distance, his breath was lingering, his voice was low and slightly hoarse: “Really not going to do anything tonight?”
Tao Xi raised his neck and kissed Lin Qinhe gently on the lips to answer his question.
The newly bought item in the bedside table finally came in handy.
The next morning, the two of them went to catch a flight, and when they arrived at their destination they took a long bus ride to Qingshui County, arriving almost late in the evening..
They arrived at Qingshui No.1 High School, but did not disturb the teachers. The big red banner of the provincial top student was still waving in the wind on the school gate. Tao Xi was familiar with school and took Lin Qinhe into the campus with him, but it was not yet summer vacation, so there were students in every classroom, and the sound of reading and listening to English was faintly heard.
The two of them stood quietly in the twilight outside the school building. Tao Xi pointed to a classroom on the first floor and said to Lin Qinhe: “I was in this classroom in the first year of high school. It happened to be sunny in the west and there was no air conditioning, it was hot as hell every day.”
Lin Qinhe raised his head to look at the classroom, only to see the burning clouds on the window glass like oil paintings.
Two years ago, his Tao Xi spent the bitter cold and scorching heat in this classroom and wrote a letter to him.
“All classrooms will be equipped with air conditioning this summer.” Lin Qinhe said that Qingshui No. 1 High School received funds allocated by the government, as well as funding from the Lin family industry.
“How wonderful, how I missed it.” Tao Xi sighed enviously.
The two stayed in the county hotel for one night, and the next day Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe to his hometown, Taoxi Bay.
It was the busy season when the villagers were busy planting rice in the rice fields of the mountain cols. An older woman who was planting rice seedlings recognised Tao Xi on the ridge of the field; word had spread in the village about the Tao family’s child being exchanged by mistake, but she had watched Tao Xi grow up and still asked about him like any elder, praising him for his success and for giving Taoxi Bay a good face.
After speaking with the older woman, Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe up the hill, pointing out the streams in the mountains, the insects singing in the forest, and the smoke from the roofs… He told the story of his childhood in detail, and Lin Qinhe listened carefully, walking all the way through the places where Tao Xi had lived.
Returning to Taoxi Bay again, Tao Xi’s mood had changed completely. This was once the place he thought was his homeland, where the hills were full of joyous tracks of his inexperienced life. Then it was his prison, where the rolling hills were turned into a thorny fence that he could not cross. Now it was just a small sentence in his long life, a sinking boat on the side of a thousand sails that he had already crossed, and he had crossed it forever.
Just like the name he didn’t want to change, it was a fatal mark on his life that could not be erased, a bitter tea that had destroyed him and nourished him, and after the initial bitterness, only a long sweet aftertaste remained.
The two of them wandered aimlessly through the mountains. On their way back, they passed by a farmhouse with black tiles and white walls halfway up the mountain, which seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time. The dilapidated wooden door was closed and the dojo was overgrown with weeds, with tattered spider silk tugging at the eaves.
Tao Xi stopped and looked over, and Lin Qinhe knew that this should be the place Tao Xi lived before.
“I used to sun-dry tea on this dojo at this time of the year, and then take it back in the evening and sun-dry it again the next day.” Tao Xi said to Lin Qinhe as he pointed to the dojo where the grass was growing.
Lin Qinhe didn’t know much about this and only asked, “Have you ever drunk the tea you sun-dried?”
Tao Xi let out a laugh and said, “You don’t know this, right? You can’t brew tea directly after it’s sun-dried, you have to go to the tea factory to do it.”
Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows without saying anything.
The two of them turned around to leave the unoccupied old house, and Tao Xi suddenly grabbed Lin Qinhe’s arm and shook it gently, “What should I do, I can’t walk anymore.”
Lin Qinhe glanced at Tao Xi’s hand. With a smile on the tip of his eyebrows, he said: “Didn’t you say that you climb the mountain very well?”
Having said that, he still lowered his body, held Tao Xi’s leg and carried him on his back, and continued walking down the mountain at a steady pace.
The mountain sunshine was just right, and the breeze was quiet. Tao Xi pulled a dog’s tail grass in his hand and rested his chin on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder, quietly tickling him with the grass and being pinched hard on his thigh before he relented.
In fact, he was not tired, but suddenly remembered that a long time ago, he seemed to have longed for a tall back to carry him across the mountain, cross the river, and take him to the other side of the mountain.
So he did so naively.
On the third day the two could no longer wander around, as Qingshui No.1 High School was scheduled to have its second anniversary of the live remote classroom project and commendation ceremony on that morning.
This celebration conference was not small. The guests included the city’s leaders, Wenhua No.1 High school’s leaders, and the representatives from the Lin Group, which founded the project. Of course, there was also Tao Xi, the first provincial champion in Qingshui County and even the city, in history.
In the early morning, Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe, the representative of the top student’s family, to Qingshui No. 1 High School to report, and was applauded and welcomed by the extremely enthusiastic teachers and students of his alma mater. Tao Xi felt that he was riding a horse with a big red flower on his chest.
He saw his teacher, who had left him for a long time. Feng Yuan, the head teacher who had been on the train all night and took him to Wenhua No.1 High School, was very happy to see him, but his eyes were red. He patted Tao Xi hard on the shoulder and praised him for becoming confident and cheerful, asking him to continue to study hard in the future and stop coming back to the mountains.
When the teachers and the student met, Tao Xi couldn’t help but have a sore nose. After catching up with the teacher for a while, he followed him to the lecture hall to attend the conference.
Because he had to speak afterwards, he was arranged to sit on the podium side of the lecture hall, while Lin Qinhe sat in the audience below the stage. However, because of his outstanding looks, Tao Xi saw the girls on the stage craning their necks to look at Lin Qinhe.
Next to Tao Xi sat an acquaintance, Su Yun, the secretary of the Lin family. Su Yun had been in charge of the remote classroom project, and she came to participate in the conference on behalf of the Lin Group this time. After the two of them exchanged pleasantries, the conference started with the speech of the principal of Qingshui No. 1 High School.
The leaders and representatives took turns to speak on the stage, and each made a generous speech. Tao Xi felt a little bored, so he used his cell phone to quietly chat with Lin Qinhe.
But soon it was his turn to give a speech. When the host said, “Now, let’s invite our province’s No. 1 in science this year, student of the first live broadcast in Rocket class of Qingshui No. 1 High School—— Tao Xi to speak”, the entire lecture hall burst into a tsunami of applause. Many students even stood up and cheered loudly.
Tao Xi felt flattered, he did not expect his popularity to be so high. He stood up and walked to the center of the podium amidst thunderous applause, set the microphone, and looked at the students who were gradually quieting down the stage. They were looking at him with eyes full of expectation and admiration.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered himself two years ago, sitting in the dilapidated classroom in Qingshui No.1 High School. He also looked up at Lin Qinhe who was thousands of miles away on the screen with such hot, bright, hopeful eyes.
And right now, Lin Qinhe was sitting in the audience on the stage, gazing softly at himself.
Suddenly, his eye sockets were hot, he took a deep breath, and started the speech that he had already prepared for a while into the microphone. He didn’t use flashy rhetoric or quotations. He just narrated his own experience and told these students who were as young as him in the past, that he had also been confused and perplexed, but as long as there was something firm in his heart, he could see the way forward and ride the wind.
At the end of his speech, he promised his best wishes to Qingshui No.1 High School students:
“May you not forget to look up at the moon in the sky when you lower your heads to study. May you, like me, find your own moon and discover that you too can shine as you run towards it.”
Tao Xi returned to his seat amidst the even more enthusiastic applause. After sitting down, he was still a little emotional, and Su Yun smiled and applauded: “You speak so well. Even I, a person who has worked for so many years, felt as if I have returned to my senior year of high school, and I want to work hard and study hard. “
Tao Xi just smiled.
The conference was followed by a recognition session. From this year onwards, the top three students of the final examination in Qingshui County would be rewarded to study in Wenhua No.1 High School. At this moment, the three rewarded students were coming up to the stage in turn to give their speeches, and each of them looked very excited.
Tao Xi looked at the students on stage and couldn’t help but whisper to Su Yun on the side: “They are all quite lucky, like me, to stumble upon such a good project and have such a rare opportunity.”
You only had to drop a rope into the deep well, and the people at the bottom of the well would climb up. These few students in the mountains were going to be like him in the past, grabbing this rope to study in Wenhua No.1 High School. Perhaps, they could change their fate completely.
“They have you to thank for their good fortune.” Su Yun said with a smile.
Tao Xi froze for two seconds, did not understand Su Yun’s meaning, and asked, “This is the ranking they have achieved with their own effort and hard work. Why should they thank me?”
Su Yun looked at Tao Xi in astonishment and said, “Don’t you know?”
“Know what?” Tao Xi’s eyes were blurred
Su Yun seemed to feel that she had said something wrong. She couldn’t help but glance at the audience. Even though the auditorium was turbulent, she could still find Lin Qinhe at a glance, and the male teacher next to him was speaking to him.
She did not intend to say, but Tao Xi persistently asked: “What do you know?”
Su Yun again thought it should be okay to say, so he whispered to Tao Xi. “If it wasn’t for you, our group wouldn’t reward the first place in Qingshui County to go to Wenhua No.1 High School with this system. You are the first, and only with you can there be a follow-up now.”
As if he had a premonition, Tao Xi suddenly felt his heart beating violently at that moment, and his expression was still confused: “What do you mean it wasn’t for me?”
Wasn’t this the public welfare education plan that the Lin family had planned from the beginning?
The year before, Tao Xi already knew through his grandfather that the remote classroom project that allowed him to study in Wenhua First High School was founded by Lin Qinhe’s father, Lin Zeshi. In order to repay him, his grandpa also told Lin Zeshi that Tao Xi should recognize Lin Zeshi as his godfather. Lin Zeshi smiled and said no, Tao Xi would eventually be his son in the future, and the grandpa who didn’t know the truth at that time was still a little puzzled.
At that time, Tao Xi was also shocked and emotional for a long time after knowing it. It turned out that the imaginary white-haired grandfather who sponsored himself was actually Lin Qinhe’s father, and he said to Lin Qinhe indebtedly ‘you see, God and your father have arranged for us to be together’. At that time, Lin Qinhe gave a hum, saying that he was lucky, and he replied that of course, how could he come here if he had bad luck.
And at this moment, he heard Su Yun say to him amidst the sound of the report hall reverberating like a heartbeat in his chest. “This reward of sending the first place to Wenhua No.1 High School was entrusted to me by Qinhe. At that time I did not know what he meant. Later he always asked me to show your monthly exam results in Qingshui County to him. I realized that this reward is specially made for you.”
“But also you are smart enough to work hard on your own and really got into first place and didn’t let him down.”
“There is also your allowance. You should still remember that around the midterm examination, the school gave you an allowance. It was given to you by Qinhe using his own money.”
“…”
The students on the stage were still expressing their feelings in awe, thanking their teachers and thanking Wenhua No.1 High School for the sponsoring, and vowing to study hard to get ahead in the future, just like Tao Xi two years ago.
At this moment, Tao Xi couldn’t listen at all. He was in a huge blankness and heartbeat, as if he stepped into the endless clouds in his sleep, but at the moment his body was weightless, he was dazzled by the bright moon and brilliance thousands of miles above the clouds.
With the last applause, the lengthy meeting finally ended. The students in the lecture hall slowly rushed towards the door like a tide. Tao Xi quickly came down from the stage, trying to pass through the crowd to find Lin Qinhe in the audience.
But as soon as he jumped off the stage, he was surrounded by a group of juniors and girls, all youthful and innocent faces looked at him with smiles, and asked him questions in a frantic manner.
One of the tall boys rushed to him first and said to him excitedly: “Senior Tao Xi, although I thanked you in my speech just now, I still want to say thank you personally.”
Tao Xi looked over in a daze and vaguely recognized the boy as the student who gave his speech on stage earlier, but he hadn’t listened carefully.
The boy reddened his face, seemingly extremely embarrassed, and said expectantly: “Senior, do you remember me? I was in the same junior high school as you, and you saved me when I was bullied in the past.”
Tao Xi was even more confused. His “brilliant deeds” in junior high school had already been deliberately forgotten by him, and he had no impression of the person in front of him at all.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember!” The boy hurriedly said. “I always remember, Senior. I used to get very bad grades, so I thought it was useless to study. But when I saw you on the live screen in the classroom after I went to high school and saw that you were that good in Wenhua No.1, I decided to study hard and go to Wenhua No.1 like you. Now I’ve made it happen, so I thought I’d come and thank you in person!”
As the boy stumbled over his words, the students gathered around him laughed kindly, making him blush even more.
Tao Xi also laughed, he turned into the model senior and patted the boy’s shoulder, encouragingly said: “Cherish the opportunity in Wenhua No.1 High School and pay back your alma mater later.”
The boy nodded very vigorously and clenched his fist: “I will!”
The crowd gradually dispersed and left, and Tao Xi was finally free. He turned around in the lecture hall and saw the clear daylight coming through the long slanted windows, cutting the old auditorium into a bright geometric figure. In that bright place, Lin Qinhe was holding his arms half leaning against the seat, his eyes fell on him, there was a light smile in his eyes.
Tao Xi took a deep breath and walked slowly towards Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe lowered his eyes slightly, and he saw that Tao Xi’s eyes were covered with a layer of water, as if they had been wet not long ago, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, “So happy to be thanked by a student?”
Obviously the scene of the boy’s excitement and gratitude was all caught by Lin Qinhe.
Tao Xi pressed down the long-standing tide of his heart, the corners of his mouth curved and said: “There are people who study hard for me, of course I’m happy.”
He paused, and the corners of his mouth smiled deeper, “Isn’t this the same as when I tried to study hard for you?”
“Not the same.” Lin Qinhe denied decisively.
“Where is it different?”
Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows, raised his chin slightly and said, “He can’t catch up with you.” There was some arrogance in his expression.
Tao Xi was happy and said with a smile, “That junior didn’t want to chase me, ba.”
Of course it was not the same.
No one could be as lucky as he was, so lucky that someone was willing to create luck for him silently.
The two walked side by side towards the outside of the lecture hall, and all the way, there were scattered students quietly looking at them, the bolder girls shouted ‘senior, hello’ and scurried away.
At noon, they had a long and boring lunch with the local leaders, and were dragged to take various pictures. When they came out, nearly half of the afternoon passed. Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe and rushed to do the last thing in Qingshui County this time, to handle household registration migration.
Because it involved the household registration of two completely different places, the migration of household registration was more troublesome than Tao Xi thought, and it took him a lot of time to prepare the documents.
The police station was clean and deserted. Lin Qinhe asked Tao Xi to sit on a chair in front of the window, while he stood aside. The staff placed all the documents next to the computer and meticulously went through the documents to check.
Tao Xi looked at his own archives in the hands of others, like a book bound by fate that hurriedly turned over, and he suddenly realized that this place really had nothing to do with him. The memory of these more than ten years flashed in front of him like a flash of light, like a blanket of fog in the morning ocean blurred, but he remembered the most vivid pictures in the fog.
Thinking of the Taoxi Bay where he grew up, the peach blossoms blooming on the banks of the Qingxi River and egrets flew over the jagged green and white paddy fields. He hid in the woodshed to paint, and unwittingly learned of his fate as a joke, and had since spent his days in the mountains in a muddle.
Thinking of the dilapidated classrooms in the first year of high school, the summer heat in summer was like weeds that start a prairie fire without an end. He saw Lin Qinhe for the first time on the screen, and from then on a bright moon rose in the wilderness of his heart.
Thinking of the empty and huge concert hall, the drooping sunset rolling violently on the horizon, the endless red-gold twilight spreading in through the long windows, blazing over the black piano and kissing them.
Thinking of the Christmas Eve of his seventeenth birthday, they were in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking side by side at the bright neon and drifting snow. Lin Qinhe kissed away the tears at the corners of his eyes and said to him. “Tao Xi, I’ll take you home, okay?”
It was almost evening when they got the household registration certificate. He and Lin Qinhe walked out of the police station together, pushed open the glass door that was condensed with water vapor, and the thick twilight and heat rushed towards them.
They bought two bottles of iced soda, and walked aimlessly side by side in the silent evening streets of the small county. The sunset was like a coral buckle tied to the skirts of the sky and mountains, the twilight was paved with late autumn maple leaves on the bluestone pavement, the feet of two long slanting shadows swaying close to each other.
Tao Xi looked at the sunset at the end of the alley and said to the person beside him: “I used to think I was very unfortunate, but later I felt very lucky. There are three things that I think are my best luck. Do you know which ones?”
“Which ones?” Lin Qinhe asked smoothly.
“The first is to see you, the second is to be sponsored to study at Wenhua No. 1 High School, and the third is to become a student of Grandpa Qiao.”
He paused briefly and turned his head to look at Lin Qinhe, perhaps because he was facing the setting sun, the twilight accidentally haloed in the corner of his eyes, and he said
“Now I know that all my luck comes from the first one.”
Seeing you, meeting you, going to Wenhua No.1 High School, becoming a student of Qiao Henian, and returning to the family that was missed for seventeen years, all the luck was because of you.
Lin Qinhe lowered his gaze, raised his hand and stroked Tao Xi’s thin red eyes with his thumb, swiping the long eyelashes lightly on his fingertips as he asked:
“Then, do you know the luckiest thing that ever happened to me?”
“What is it?”
“Opened the letter you wrote to me.” Lin Qinhe paused, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly, “After all, I didn’t throw away such a fancy letter. It really takes a lot of luck.”
Tao Xi couldn’t help but smile.
In the sleeve of the summer breeze, in the skirt of the setting sun, the hand that caressed his face lifted his chin and he gently closed his eyes, waiting for the kiss of the person in front of him.
Once he was in a deep well looking up at the moon. It was only by following a rope that happened to hang down that he was able to climb out of the well and walk alone toward the moon, never hesitating even for thousands of miles.
It turned out that the rope was not an accidental good luck.
It turned out that when I was running to the moon.
The moon was also running to me.
The author has something to say:
This is the end of the story of Lin Qinhe and Tao Xi. This is the most difficult book to write, a lot of things happened to me during the period, and I am a person who is easily affected by the state of mind, so the writing is not smooth. I’m very sorry to have given you a bad reading experience, and I’m grateful to the readers who have been encouraging and waiting for me. I wish everyone can find their own moon, and I wish everyone’s moon is also running to you. See you in the extras if it’s meant to be!
T/N: So it’s completed (sadly, there is no extra)! Thank you for reading this. It has been a pleasant journey translating this tbh and I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I am!
By the way, please support the author on gongzicp. This novel is free but you can support the author by gifting ‘starfish’ and that requires no money. See the guide here
1red = popular2I originally used first choice before as 一本 is the abbreviation for ‘first choice universities’, however, going by how they describe 一本, I think first-tier is a better term for it3I’m not sure either, but this is what I found on baidu
重本大学 (heavy university): include two ranges of colleges and universities, one is the key institutions directly under the state ministries and commissions, the other is the key provincial higher education institutions;
+ Undergraduate education focuses on theoretically specialised general education
+ Applied undergraduate education focuses on application-based professional education and practical skills education
students are generally awarded a bachelor’s degree and a bachelor’s diploma after normal graduation
A year and a half later.
In mid-June, the results of college entrance exams were released all over the country, and as soon as the results were released, the students and teachers of Wenhua No.1 High School were all enthusiastic because this year’s senior class had unprecedentedly produced two provincial science champions.
One was Lin Qinhe in this province, and the other was Tao Xi in the southwest province
Strictly speaking, Tao Xi should be a student of Qingshui County No. 1 High School. After ‘studying abroad’ in Wenhua No. 1 High School for two years due to the remote live broadcast project, he naturally returned to his original place for the college entrance examination.
“Isn’t it the one who I taught at Wenhua No. 1 High School?” Facing the controversy, the principal of Wenhua No. 1High School made a final conclusion.
So there were two banners of the first place displayed at the entrance of Wenhua No.1 High School, and on each side of the school gate were large red display stands with pictures of the two students. The big ‘announcement of joyful news’ in the center of the head was bolded with two red letters. Someone said this was too much like the balloon arch for a wedding, so Tao Xi was embarrassed to go to school during that time.
Reporters from various media and the admissions office of prestigious schools flocked to the school, but couldn’t find anyone after searching for a long time. It was learned from Zhou Qiang, the head teacher of the red1red = popular class, that the two top students had already applied for the top universities in the world, one studying art and the other studying mathematics, both on the west coast across the ocean.
At the same time, the Fang family threw a lively banquet for Tao Xi. All the relatives and friends who had been in touch with them over the years were invited. Tao Xi’s birth was announced at a private party last year and was the subject of much discussion and sighing for a long time, and now everyone had accepted it. They only lament that it was not easy for the Fang family, but they were fortunate to welcome home a grandson who was not an insult to the family’s reputation.
At that time Tao Xi did not take the gossip of those relatives to heart, but his life experience made Qiao Henian sigh with emotion. Fang Sui was once his proudest female student, and her biological son also became his student by accident, so he sighed that the fate was wonderful. When Qiao Yitang learned about it, he didn’t know what kind of nerve she had, saying she wanted to write down the story that was comparable to an eight o’clock dog drama. Tao Xi strictly rejected it.
When he returned from a full day of flowing feast, Tao Xi had long been exhausted and his face was stiff with laughter. Even Lin Qinhe had to carry him to the bath.
“Envy you, there is only a simple family banquet, unlike me being surrounded by so many people like an exhibition.” Tao Xi stood in the bathroom with his eyes closed, his forehead resting on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder, letting Lin Qinhe’s hands rub the foam on his body.
In fact, he understood what Fang Zuqing meant by inviting so many people. It was nothing more than fear that some people didn’t know that his grandson was back, and worried that he felt like he would not be accepted.
Lin Qinhe looked at the “exhibition” covered with white foam in front of him, raised his hand to wipe the foam on Tao Xi’s collarbone and asked in a loud voice: “Have you eaten tonight?”
“No.” Tao Xi shook his head and sighed like an old man, “I was asked by my relatives. Asking how I could study so well, can they borrow some of my notes. I feel like I can open a tutoring class. If I pull you in, it will be named as the No.1 tutor class, it will definitely make a lot of money. “
Lin Qinhe laughed. Tao Xi was not short of money now, but perhaps, it was because he was scared of lacking money before, so every time he talked about making money, he always made the most of it.
“Hey, I really think I can get one.” Tao Xi’s idea was exciting.
“I don’t teach others.” Lin Qinhe spoke in a noble tone.
“Oh, Teacher Lin is only a teacher for me.” Tao Xi smiled with his eyes bent.
After taking a shower, Tao Xi was wrapped in a bath towel as Lin Qinhe dried his body. He found that something was wrong and hurriedly pressed Lin Qinhe’s hand, shaking his head, “I’m so tired today, I don’t have much energy left.
Lin Qinhe said with a raised eyebrow, “Do you need your strength?”
Tao Xi was speechless, so he blushed and said, “I have to go out tomorrow, and I haven’t even packed my luggage yet.”
Lin Qinhe finally let him go and put on his pajamas, only to bite his lips hard.
Tao Xi walked to the bedroom and found the newly bought lubricant in the bedside table, the red flush on his face flushed to his neck. He remembered that the first time he had with Lin Qinhe was on his 18th birthday when they had a grand birthday party at his grandfather’s house. The experience during that night had completely turned his perception of life upside down.
Well, although he had some taste for it, but after all, it was a critical time in senior year, so he and Lin Qinhe both endured and didn’t do much.
Tao Xi shook his head, cleared the picture in his mind, and hurriedly went to pack up with Lin Qinhe.
Tomorrow they were going to Qingshui County. Tao Xi’s provincial first place not only made Wenhua No.1 High School overjoyed, but Qingshui No.1 High School was even more so. The headmaster set off firecrackers in front of the school all day long, and the scene was probably even more lively than Wenhua No.1 High School.
This time coincided with the celebration of the second anniversary of the remote live broadcast project. Taoxi was the first senior high school graduate since Qingshui No.1 High School adopted the remote live broadcast class. It was heard that many of the students in this year’s class got into the first-tier universities2I originally used first choice before as 一本 is the abbreviation for ‘first choice universities’, however, going by how they describe 一本, I think first-tier is a better term for it and there were also a few accepted into heavy universities,3I’m not sure either, but this is what I found on baidu
重本大学 (heavy university): include two ranges of colleges and universities, one is the key institutions directly under the state ministries and commissions, the other is the key provincial higher education institutions;
+ Undergraduate education focuses on theoretically specialised general education
+ Applied undergraduate education focuses on application-based professional education and practical skills education
students are generally awarded a bachelor’s degree and a bachelor’s diploma after normal graduation which made the Qingshui County government leaders’ faces a lot brighter and was going to be promoted as a typical example of education for poverty alleviation in the province.
In addition to this matter, this time he also had to deal with the matter of transferring his own household registration. He was busy studying before, so he never transferred. Yang Zhengming didn’t say anything about Tao Xi’s change of his registered permanent residence to Fang’s family. He just said it was good to transfer back.
It was only ten o’clock when the two finished packing their bags. Tao Xi went to open the gifts that grandparents and Yang Zhengming gave him for continuing his study His grandparents gave him a painting that he had wanted since a long time ago. It was a famous foreign landscape painter and it was not easy to get it.
While Yang Zhengming gave him a sports car, Tao Xi looked at the bunch of car keys a little speechless. He didn’t even have a driver’s license, and he was going to study abroad soon. Was this car to be left to collect dust? He remembered that on his eighteenth birthday last year, Yang Zhengming gave him a suite and a book called “How to Balance Early Love and Study”. It had not been opened yet.
Did he need to weigh? He wanted to study and fall in love.
Tao Xi was surprised to find another book in Yang Zhengming’s gift box. The title of the book was “Those Things Adults Must Know”, and from the cover you could tell that it must be about the same thing.
He was so hot that he threw the book but Lin Qinhe took it over, flipping it open and scanning it a few times while saying nonchalantly, “Uncle Yang also gave me a book last year.”
“What book?” Tao Xi asked, stunned.
Lin Qinhe’s expression was a little hard to say as he said, “How to Become a Responsible Man.”
“…”
Tao Xi hurriedly skipped this topic and asked Lin Qinhe, “When will Mother Luo return to China?”
Lin Qinhe put down the book that was not suitable for children and said, “The flight is next Tuesday.”
Luo Zhengyin gradually walked out of the shackles she set for herself. She divorced Lin Zeshi and became the gifted female pianist again. She had been attending piano performances all over the world for the last six months. In every city she visited, she would send two postcards to Tao Xi and Lin Qinhe, telling them the scenery here, so that they would have a chance to see them in the future.
“That happens to be that we are also back, we can have a meal together.” Tao Xi said.
Lin Qinhe let out an “en”.
“It’s a pity that my sister has to take the high school entrance examination and can’t go out with me.” Tao Xi said regretfully.
“When she finishes her exams, we can take her on a trip together.” Lin Qinhe said, while helping Tao Xi to put the gift away.
Tao Xi was thinking of something, and there was a smile that couldn’t be hidden from the corner of his mouth as he shook his head: “She said she doesn’t want to be a light bulb and plans to go to summer camp with her classmates.”
Tao Le transferred to the boarding school in his second year of junior high, and would come to live during the holidays. The young girl had come to the big city to learn more about the world. One day she asked Tao Xi, “Brother, is Qinhe my sister-in-law? Tao Xi was so happy that she told Lin Qinhe several times, and as a result, he was taught a lesson in bed by Tao Le’s sister-in-law at night.
After putting away his luggage and looking at the gifts, Tao Xi jumped onto Lin Qinhe and was skillfully held in a hug, he leaned his head on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder and yawned: “Go to sleep, have to get up early tomorrow.”
Lin Qinhe carried Tao Xi to the bedroom.
“By the way, when you went to the family dinner this time, Grandpa Lin didn’t say anything to you, right?” Tao Xi suddenly remembered this and hurriedly asked.
“No.” Lin Qinhe put Tao Xi on the bed while saying, “He told you to go to dinner at the next family banquet.”
Tao Xi straightened up from the bed, his eyes filled with disbelief and joy: “Grandpa Lin doesn’t oppose us?”
Lin Qinhe smiled a little helplessly and said, “Grandpa didn’t oppose.”
“Then this is a complete agreement?” Tao Xi couldn’t help but pounce on Lin Qinhe and ask as he wrapped his arms around his neck.
Lin Qinhe leaned back and wrapped his arms around Tao Xi’s waist on the bed, smiling as he let out a “en”.
Their relationship was known by their families in the second semester of the last year of high school, but it was also very difficult not to be known. After all, they lived together and went in and out of the house together everyday.
The first thing to know was the two elders of the Fang family. Fang Zuqing reacted a bit fiercely at first. It was not that Lin Qinhe was not good, but that Tao Xi was still young and shouldn’t have embarked on a difficult road so early, but then Ye Yurong cried and said, “Do you still want to see him go on our daughter’s path again”, and Fang Zuqing was completely silent.
Lin Qinhe’s grandfather, Lin Weiliang, also found out about it. The old man, who had been in a high position for a long time, was conservative and not easy to compromise. He was furious and threatened to transfer Lin Qinhe to another school. Once he saw that Lin Weiliang did not agree, the protective Fang Zuqing could not sit still and felt that his grandson was being looked down upon, so he immediately went to the Lin family to argue with this long-time friend. Lin Qinhe’s father, Lin Zeshi, also tried hard to persuade him, saying that he had never been successful in his life and did not want to see his son do the same.
But in the end, Lin Qinhe went to his grandfather’s house on his own, and the two of them had a long talk overnight. No one knew what Lin Qinhe said, but the old man’s attitude softened. At least he didn’t ask Lin Qinhe to transfer to another school, and he turned a blind eye to the fact that they were living together.
This time he offered to let Tao Xi go to the Lin family banquet, so it seemed that he had really agreed to it.
With such good news, Tao Xi had no desire to sleep. He sat on Lin Qinhe’s lap and was about to discuss with him about what to do at the Lin family banquet, but before he could open his mouth, he was pinned to the bed by Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe clasped his hand and leaned down to look at him from a very close distance, his breath was lingering, his voice was low and slightly hoarse: “Really not going to do anything tonight?”
Tao Xi raised his neck and kissed Lin Qinhe gently on the lips to answer his question.
The newly bought item in the bedside table finally came in handy.
The next morning, the two of them went to catch a flight, and when they arrived at their destination they took a long bus ride to Qingshui County, arriving almost late in the evening..
They arrived at Qingshui No.1 High School, but did not disturb the teachers. The big red banner of the provincial top student was still waving in the wind on the school gate. Tao Xi was familiar with school and took Lin Qinhe into the campus with him, but it was not yet summer vacation, so there were students in every classroom, and the sound of reading and listening to English was faintly heard.
The two of them stood quietly in the twilight outside the school building. Tao Xi pointed to a classroom on the first floor and said to Lin Qinhe: “I was in this classroom in the first year of high school. It happened to be sunny in the west and there was no air conditioning, it was hot as hell every day.”
Lin Qinhe raised his head to look at the classroom, only to see the burning clouds on the window glass like oil paintings.
Two years ago, his Tao Xi spent the bitter cold and scorching heat in this classroom and wrote a letter to him.
“All classrooms will be equipped with air conditioning this summer.” Lin Qinhe said that Qingshui No. 1 High School received funds allocated by the government, as well as funding from the Lin family industry.
“How wonderful, how I missed it.” Tao Xi sighed enviously.
The two stayed in the county hotel for one night, and the next day Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe to his hometown, Taoxi Bay.
It was the busy season when the villagers were busy planting rice in the rice fields of the mountain cols. An older woman who was planting rice seedlings recognised Tao Xi on the ridge of the field; word had spread in the village about the Tao family’s child being exchanged by mistake, but she had watched Tao Xi grow up and still asked about him like any elder, praising him for his success and for giving Taoxi Bay a good face.
After speaking with the older woman, Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe up the hill, pointing out the streams in the mountains, the insects singing in the forest, and the smoke from the roofs… He told the story of his childhood in detail, and Lin Qinhe listened carefully, walking all the way through the places where Tao Xi had lived.
Returning to Taoxi Bay again, Tao Xi’s mood had changed completely. This was once the place he thought was his homeland, where the hills were full of joyous tracks of his inexperienced life. Then it was his prison, where the rolling hills were turned into a thorny fence that he could not cross. Now it was just a small sentence in his long life, a sinking boat on the side of a thousand sails that he had already crossed, and he had crossed it forever.
Just like the name he didn’t want to change, it was a fatal mark on his life that could not be erased, a bitter tea that had destroyed him and nourished him, and after the initial bitterness, only a long sweet aftertaste remained.
The two of them wandered aimlessly through the mountains. On their way back, they passed by a farmhouse with black tiles and white walls halfway up the mountain, which seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time. The dilapidated wooden door was closed and the dojo was overgrown with weeds, with tattered spider silk tugging at the eaves.
Tao Xi stopped and looked over, and Lin Qinhe knew that this should be the place Tao Xi lived before.
“I used to sun-dry tea on this dojo at this time of the year, and then take it back in the evening and sun-dry it again the next day.” Tao Xi said to Lin Qinhe as he pointed to the dojo where the grass was growing.
Lin Qinhe didn’t know much about this and only asked, “Have you ever drunk the tea you sun-dried?”
Tao Xi let out a laugh and said, “You don’t know this, right? You can’t brew tea directly after it’s sun-dried, you have to go to the tea factory to do it.”
Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows without saying anything.
The two of them turned around to leave the unoccupied old house, and Tao Xi suddenly grabbed Lin Qinhe’s arm and shook it gently, “What should I do, I can’t walk anymore.”
Lin Qinhe glanced at Tao Xi’s hand. With a smile on the tip of his eyebrows, he said: “Didn’t you say that you climb the mountain very well?”
Having said that, he still lowered his body, held Tao Xi’s leg and carried him on his back, and continued walking down the mountain at a steady pace.
The mountain sunshine was just right, and the breeze was quiet. Tao Xi pulled a dog’s tail grass in his hand and rested his chin on Lin Qinhe’s shoulder, quietly tickling him with the grass and being pinched hard on his thigh before he relented.
In fact, he was not tired, but suddenly remembered that a long time ago, he seemed to have longed for a tall back to carry him across the mountain, cross the river, and take him to the other side of the mountain.
So he did so naively.
On the third day the two could no longer wander around, as Qingshui No.1 High School was scheduled to have its second anniversary of the live remote classroom project and commendation ceremony on that morning.
This celebration conference was not small. The guests included the city’s leaders, Wenhua No.1 High school’s leaders, and the representatives from the Lin Group, which founded the project. Of course, there was also Tao Xi, the first provincial champion in Qingshui County and even the city, in history.
In the early morning, Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe, the representative of the top student’s family, to Qingshui No. 1 High School to report, and was applauded and welcomed by the extremely enthusiastic teachers and students of his alma mater. Tao Xi felt that he was riding a horse with a big red flower on his chest.
He saw his teacher, who had left him for a long time. Feng Yuan, the head teacher who had been on the train all night and took him to Wenhua No.1 High School, was very happy to see him, but his eyes were red. He patted Tao Xi hard on the shoulder and praised him for becoming confident and cheerful, asking him to continue to study hard in the future and stop coming back to the mountains.
When the teachers and the student met, Tao Xi couldn’t help but have a sore nose. After catching up with the teacher for a while, he followed him to the lecture hall to attend the conference.
Because he had to speak afterwards, he was arranged to sit on the podium side of the lecture hall, while Lin Qinhe sat in the audience below the stage. However, because of his outstanding looks, Tao Xi saw the girls on the stage craning their necks to look at Lin Qinhe.
Next to Tao Xi sat an acquaintance, Su Yun, the secretary of the Lin family. Su Yun had been in charge of the remote classroom project, and she came to participate in the conference on behalf of the Lin Group this time. After the two of them exchanged pleasantries, the conference started with the speech of the principal of Qingshui No. 1 High School.
The leaders and representatives took turns to speak on the stage, and each made a generous speech. Tao Xi felt a little bored, so he used his cell phone to quietly chat with Lin Qinhe.
But soon it was his turn to give a speech. When the host said, “Now, let’s invite our province’s No. 1 in science this year, student of the first live broadcast in Rocket class of Qingshui No. 1 High School—— Tao Xi to speak”, the entire lecture hall burst into a tsunami of applause. Many students even stood up and cheered loudly.
Tao Xi felt flattered, he did not expect his popularity to be so high. He stood up and walked to the center of the podium amidst thunderous applause, set the microphone, and looked at the students who were gradually quieting down the stage. They were looking at him with eyes full of expectation and admiration.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered himself two years ago, sitting in the dilapidated classroom in Qingshui No.1 High School. He also looked up at Lin Qinhe who was thousands of miles away on the screen with such hot, bright, hopeful eyes.
And right now, Lin Qinhe was sitting in the audience on the stage, gazing softly at himself.
Suddenly, his eye sockets were hot, he took a deep breath, and started the speech that he had already prepared for a while into the microphone. He didn’t use flashy rhetoric or quotations. He just narrated his own experience and told these students who were as young as him in the past, that he had also been confused and perplexed, but as long as there was something firm in his heart, he could see the way forward and ride the wind.
At the end of his speech, he promised his best wishes to Qingshui No.1 High School students:
“May you not forget to look up at the moon in the sky when you lower your heads to study. May you, like me, find your own moon and discover that you too can shine as you run towards it.”
Tao Xi returned to his seat amidst the even more enthusiastic applause. After sitting down, he was still a little emotional, and Su Yun smiled and applauded: “You speak so well. Even I, a person who has worked for so many years, felt as if I have returned to my senior year of high school, and I want to work hard and study hard. “
Tao Xi just smiled.
The conference was followed by a recognition session. From this year onwards, the top three students of the final examination in Qingshui County would be rewarded to study in Wenhua No.1 High School. At this moment, the three rewarded students were coming up to the stage in turn to give their speeches, and each of them looked very excited.
Tao Xi looked at the students on stage and couldn’t help but whisper to Su Yun on the side: “They are all quite lucky, like me, to stumble upon such a good project and have such a rare opportunity.”
You only had to drop a rope into the deep well, and the people at the bottom of the well would climb up. These few students in the mountains were going to be like him in the past, grabbing this rope to study in Wenhua No.1 High School. Perhaps, they could change their fate completely.
“They have you to thank for their good fortune.” Su Yun said with a smile.
Tao Xi froze for two seconds, did not understand Su Yun’s meaning, and asked, “This is the ranking they have achieved with their own effort and hard work. Why should they thank me?”
Su Yun looked at Tao Xi in astonishment and said, “Don’t you know?”
“Know what?” Tao Xi’s eyes were blurred
Su Yun seemed to feel that she had said something wrong. She couldn’t help but glance at the audience. Even though the auditorium was turbulent, she could still find Lin Qinhe at a glance, and the male teacher next to him was speaking to him.
She did not intend to say, but Tao Xi persistently asked: “What do you know?”
Su Yun again thought it should be okay to say, so he whispered to Tao Xi. “If it wasn’t for you, our group wouldn’t reward the first place in Qingshui County to go to Wenhua No.1 High School with this system. You are the first, and only with you can there be a follow-up now.”
As if he had a premonition, Tao Xi suddenly felt his heart beating violently at that moment, and his expression was still confused: “What do you mean it wasn’t for me?”
Wasn’t this the public welfare education plan that the Lin family had planned from the beginning?
The year before, Tao Xi already knew through his grandfather that the remote classroom project that allowed him to study in Wenhua First High School was founded by Lin Qinhe’s father, Lin Zeshi. In order to repay him, his grandpa also told Lin Zeshi that Tao Xi should recognize Lin Zeshi as his godfather. Lin Zeshi smiled and said no, Tao Xi would eventually be his son in the future, and the grandpa who didn’t know the truth at that time was still a little puzzled.
At that time, Tao Xi was also shocked and emotional for a long time after knowing it. It turned out that the imaginary white-haired grandfather who sponsored himself was actually Lin Qinhe’s father, and he said to Lin Qinhe indebtedly ‘you see, God and your father have arranged for us to be together’. At that time, Lin Qinhe gave a hum, saying that he was lucky, and he replied that of course, how could he come here if he had bad luck.
And at this moment, he heard Su Yun say to him amidst the sound of the report hall reverberating like a heartbeat in his chest. “This reward of sending the first place to Wenhua No.1 High School was entrusted to me by Qinhe. At that time I did not know what he meant. Later he always asked me to show your monthly exam results in Qingshui County to him. I realized that this reward is specially made for you.”
“But also you are smart enough to work hard on your own and really got into first place and didn’t let him down.”
“There is also your allowance. You should still remember that around the midterm examination, the school gave you an allowance. It was given to you by Qinhe using his own money.”
“…”
The students on the stage were still expressing their feelings in awe, thanking their teachers and thanking Wenhua No.1 High School for the sponsoring, and vowing to study hard to get ahead in the future, just like Tao Xi two years ago.
At this moment, Tao Xi couldn’t listen at all. He was in a huge blankness and heartbeat, as if he stepped into the endless clouds in his sleep, but at the moment his body was weightless, he was dazzled by the bright moon and brilliance thousands of miles above the clouds.
With the last applause, the lengthy meeting finally ended. The students in the lecture hall slowly rushed towards the door like a tide. Tao Xi quickly came down from the stage, trying to pass through the crowd to find Lin Qinhe in the audience.
But as soon as he jumped off the stage, he was surrounded by a group of juniors and girls, all youthful and innocent faces looked at him with smiles, and asked him questions in a frantic manner.
One of the tall boys rushed to him first and said to him excitedly: “Senior Tao Xi, although I thanked you in my speech just now, I still want to say thank you personally.”
Tao Xi looked over in a daze and vaguely recognized the boy as the student who gave his speech on stage earlier, but he hadn’t listened carefully.
The boy reddened his face, seemingly extremely embarrassed, and said expectantly: “Senior, do you remember me? I was in the same junior high school as you, and you saved me when I was bullied in the past.”
Tao Xi was even more confused. His “brilliant deeds” in junior high school had already been deliberately forgotten by him, and he had no impression of the person in front of him at all.
“It’s okay if you don’t remember!” The boy hurriedly said. “I always remember, Senior. I used to get very bad grades, so I thought it was useless to study. But when I saw you on the live screen in the classroom after I went to high school and saw that you were that good in Wenhua No.1, I decided to study hard and go to Wenhua No.1 like you. Now I’ve made it happen, so I thought I’d come and thank you in person!”
As the boy stumbled over his words, the students gathered around him laughed kindly, making him blush even more.
Tao Xi also laughed, he turned into the model senior and patted the boy’s shoulder, encouragingly said: “Cherish the opportunity in Wenhua No.1 High School and pay back your alma mater later.”
The boy nodded very vigorously and clenched his fist: “I will!”
The crowd gradually dispersed and left, and Tao Xi was finally free. He turned around in the lecture hall and saw the clear daylight coming through the long slanted windows, cutting the old auditorium into a bright geometric figure. In that bright place, Lin Qinhe was holding his arms half leaning against the seat, his eyes fell on him, there was a light smile in his eyes.
Tao Xi took a deep breath and walked slowly towards Lin Qinhe.
Lin Qinhe lowered his eyes slightly, and he saw that Tao Xi’s eyes were covered with a layer of water, as if they had been wet not long ago, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, “So happy to be thanked by a student?”
Obviously the scene of the boy’s excitement and gratitude was all caught by Lin Qinhe.
Tao Xi pressed down the long-standing tide of his heart, the corners of his mouth curved and said: “There are people who study hard for me, of course I’m happy.”
He paused, and the corners of his mouth smiled deeper, “Isn’t this the same as when I tried to study hard for you?”
“Not the same.” Lin Qinhe denied decisively.
“Where is it different?”
Lin Qinhe raised his eyebrows, raised his chin slightly and said, “He can’t catch up with you.” There was some arrogance in his expression.
Tao Xi was happy and said with a smile, “That junior didn’t want to chase me, ba.”
Of course it was not the same.
No one could be as lucky as he was, so lucky that someone was willing to create luck for him silently.
The two walked side by side towards the outside of the lecture hall, and all the way, there were scattered students quietly looking at them, the bolder girls shouted ‘senior, hello’ and scurried away.
At noon, they had a long and boring lunch with the local leaders, and were dragged to take various pictures. When they came out, nearly half of the afternoon passed. Tao Xi took Lin Qinhe and rushed to do the last thing in Qingshui County this time, to handle household registration migration.
Because it involved the household registration of two completely different places, the migration of household registration was more troublesome than Tao Xi thought, and it took him a lot of time to prepare the documents.
The police station was clean and deserted. Lin Qinhe asked Tao Xi to sit on a chair in front of the window, while he stood aside. The staff placed all the documents next to the computer and meticulously went through the documents to check.
Tao Xi looked at his own archives in the hands of others, like a book bound by fate that hurriedly turned over, and he suddenly realized that this place really had nothing to do with him. The memory of these more than ten years flashed in front of him like a flash of light, like a blanket of fog in the morning ocean blurred, but he remembered the most vivid pictures in the fog.
Thinking of the Taoxi Bay where he grew up, the peach blossoms blooming on the banks of the Qingxi River and egrets flew over the jagged green and white paddy fields. He hid in the woodshed to paint, and unwittingly learned of his fate as a joke, and had since spent his days in the mountains in a muddle.
Thinking of the dilapidated classrooms in the first year of high school, the summer heat in summer was like weeds that start a prairie fire without an end. He saw Lin Qinhe for the first time on the screen, and from then on a bright moon rose in the wilderness of his heart.
Thinking of the empty and huge concert hall, the drooping sunset rolling violently on the horizon, the endless red-gold twilight spreading in through the long windows, blazing over the black piano and kissing them.
Thinking of the Christmas Eve of his seventeenth birthday, they were in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking side by side at the bright neon and drifting snow. Lin Qinhe kissed away the tears at the corners of his eyes and said to him. “Tao Xi, I’ll take you home, okay?”
It was almost evening when they got the household registration certificate. He and Lin Qinhe walked out of the police station together, pushed open the glass door that was condensed with water vapor, and the thick twilight and heat rushed towards them.
They bought two bottles of iced soda, and walked aimlessly side by side in the silent evening streets of the small county. The sunset was like a coral buckle tied to the skirts of the sky and mountains, the twilight was paved with late autumn maple leaves on the bluestone pavement, the feet of two long slanting shadows swaying close to each other.
Tao Xi looked at the sunset at the end of the alley and said to the person beside him: “I used to think I was very unfortunate, but later I felt very lucky. There are three things that I think are my best luck. Do you know which ones?”
“Which ones?” Lin Qinhe asked smoothly.
“The first is to see you, the second is to be sponsored to study at Wenhua No. 1 High School, and the third is to become a student of Grandpa Qiao.”
He paused briefly and turned his head to look at Lin Qinhe, perhaps because he was facing the setting sun, the twilight accidentally haloed in the corner of his eyes, and he said
“Now I know that all my luck comes from the first one.”
Seeing you, meeting you, going to Wenhua No.1 High School, becoming a student of Qiao Henian, and returning to the family that was missed for seventeen years, all the luck was because of you.
Lin Qinhe lowered his gaze, raised his hand and stroked Tao Xi’s thin red eyes with his thumb, swiping the long eyelashes lightly on his fingertips as he asked:
“Then, do you know the luckiest thing that ever happened to me?”
“What is it?”
“Opened the letter you wrote to me.” Lin Qinhe paused, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly, “After all, I didn’t throw away such a fancy letter. It really takes a lot of luck.”
Tao Xi couldn’t help but smile.
In the sleeve of the summer breeze, in the skirt of the setting sun, the hand that caressed his face lifted his chin and he gently closed his eyes, waiting for the kiss of the person in front of him.
Once he was in a deep well looking up at the moon. It was only by following a rope that happened to hang down that he was able to climb out of the well and walk alone toward the moon, never hesitating even for thousands of miles.
It turned out that the rope was not an accidental good luck.
It turned out that when I was running to the moon.
The moon was also running to me.
The author has something to say:
This is the end of the story of Lin Qinhe and Tao Xi. This is the most difficult book to write, a lot of things happened to me during the period, and I am a person who is easily affected by the state of mind, so the writing is not smooth. I’m very sorry to have given you a bad reading experience, and I’m grateful to the readers who have been encouraging and waiting for me. I wish everyone can find their own moon, and I wish everyone’s moon is also running to you. See you in the extras if it’s meant to be!
T/N: So it’s completed (sadly, there is no extra)! Thank you for reading this. It has been a pleasant journey translating this tbh and I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I am!
By the way, please support the author on gongzicp. This novel is free but you can support the author by gifting ‘starfish’ and that requires no money. See the guide here
1red = popular2I originally used first choice before as 一本 is the abbreviation for ‘first choice universities’, however, going by how they describe 一本, I think first-tier is a better term for it3I’m not sure either, but this is what I found on baidu
重本大学 (heavy university): include two ranges of colleges and universities, one is the key institutions directly under the state ministries and commissions, the other is the key provincial higher education institutions;
+ Undergraduate education focuses on theoretically specialised general education
+ Applied undergraduate education focuses on application-based professional education and practical skills education
students are generally awarded a bachelor’s degree and a bachelor’s diploma after normal graduation
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