For the next two weeks, in the eyes of others, Tao Xi continued to study and attend classes as usual during the day, and returned to his dormitory at night to draw, as if nothing was different.

But only he himself knew that he would stare at the empty seat next to him in a daze, and when he couldn’t solve a problem, he would subconsciously ask the other side, only to find that there was no one next to him.

That kind of sudden loss, like a pebble, silently fell into the deep well, and only echoes of thoughts could be heard.

Sometimes he would suddenly come up with a terrible and absurd idea, could it be that he never knew Lin Qinhe at all? Could it be that he never entered Lin Qinhe’s world?

But the next second the red string and turquoise on his wrist would remind him that he was in Lin Qinhe’s world.

He had never found himself so insecure.

Fortunately, he had a mobile phone. At night, he would send Lin Qinhe questions, asking for solutions, and most of the time Lin Qinhe would reply to him in time, which made him feel much less insecure.

Another thing that made him feel at ease was that Lin Qinhe would post some photos in his Moments every day. The twilight in the evening, the birds on the branches, the dark green blackboard reflecting the sunlight.. It was his life through the lens.

Tao Xi liked every single one of them, but he was wondering why no other classmates ever liked Lin Qinhe’s posts.

Maybe it was because no one else had added Lin Qinhe’s WeChat, a guess that he couldn’t help but be happy about.

One day in the second week, Zhou Qiang announced that there would be a parent-teacher meeting on Friday afternoon, and every student’s parents would have to come.

The class was full of sorrows, but Tao Xi did not respond because he had no parents to come.

He had just finished painting the thirty moons, and spent a lot of money to bind them into a collection of paintings. In the past two days, he was planning another important thing.

Love letter.

Tao Xi was good at writing essays, but he felt it was bad when writing love letters. He tore up several copies, and went to the library to search around, which allowed him to find an old “Love Story Collection”.

He hid under the quilt and flashed a flashlight to read the book. The more he read, the hotter his face became. He thought this was too sappy, but finally he picked a few sentences and wrote them in the first few love letters that he didn’t know which one it was.

The class did a big cleanup on Friday afternoon in anticipation of the parent-teacher conference, and Tao Xi specially wiped Lin Qinhe’s desk and chairs several times so that his parents could easily sit when they came over.

Parents of Class 1’s students arrived one by one, chatting with their children in the classroom or in the hallway, some mothers thoughtfully bringing snacks for their children, while some fathers were criticizing their children for disobedience.

Tao Xi packed up his things alone and was just about to leave the classroom to find a place to write his love letter when he saw Luo Zhengyin walking in from the back door with her handbag.

At that moment he felt a sudden panic and weakness, he thought, ‘This is Lin Qinhe’s mother, and he is going to confess to her son.’

Tao Xi immediately shouted politely to Luo Zhengyin, “Hello, auntie!” So respectful that he was on the verge of bowing.

Luo Zhengyin was stunned. She recognized this nervous-looking boy as Lin Qinhe’s tablemate who came to the hospital last time. He seemed to be named Tao Xi. She smiled politely and said hello.

Tao Xi diligently helped Luo Zhengyin pull out Lin Qinhe’s chair, which he had wiped with care, trying to make a good impression on Luo Zhengyin.

Luo Zhengyin said thank you and then sat down, and after a few polite answers to Tao Xi, she didn’t speak any more.

Soon Bi Chengfei’s father, Bi Qian, director of the Department of Neurosurgery of Hannan Hospital, also came in. He and Luo Zhengyin had often attended parent-teacher meetings together since their children were in middle school, so they were familiar with each other and started talking.

Tao Xi left wittily. As soon as he left the classroom, he saw Yang Zhengming and Yang Duole walking to Class 2. The two seemed to have just had a conflict. Yang Duole puffed out angrily, Yang Zhengming had a helpless smile on his face, and his hands held a bottle of Yakult that Yang Duole hadn’t finished drinking.

Tao Xi lowered his eyelashes and quickly turned and walked in the other direction. After searching for a long time, he found a place where no one was there, and then began to seriously transcribe the love letter one last time.

He wrote very slowly to ensure that every word was neat and beautiful. It took him forty minutes to write a one-page love letter. After writing it, he carefully put it in the envelope.

The parents’ meeting would take a long time, Tao Xi wandered aimlessly around the playground with an envelope containing love letters, wondering how to give Lin Qinhe the painting collection and love letter when he came back tomorrow.

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he was, and his stomach started to cramp.

But all the tension couldn’t be compared to the joy of Lin Qinhe coming back tomorrow.

He was so happy that he couldn’t even hold down the corners of his mouth.

When the time was almost up, Tao Xi started to walk to the classroom, he deliberately avoided Class 2 and went up the other side of the stairs, bumping into Bi Chengfei who had just finished playing basketball.

The two of them walked to Class 1 together. At this time, the parent-teacher meeting had just finished and some parents were chatting in the corridor. Bi Chengfei saw his dad talking to Lin Qinhe’s mother at a glance.

“Dad! Aunt Luo! ” Bi Chengfei took Tao Xi to greet the two people. “What are you talking to Aunt Luo? You won’t be saying bad things about me again, right! ”

Tao Xi also politely greeted the two of them. He thought he should leave here, so as to not disturb other people’s father and son getting along. However, when he was about to turn around, he suddenly heard Bi Chengfei’s father say:

“What can we talk about? We’re just worried about your application to American universities. Look at Qinhe, he got his TOEFL exam long ago and his score is so high, he’s going to interview with some top 10 universities at the end of the year. When will you sign up for the TOEFL test?”

Tao Xi was suffocated, and suddenly squeezed the envelope containing a love letter in his hand.

“That person is xueshen. You don’t always compare xueshen with me, okay?” Bi Chengfei took the tissue from his father’s hand to wipe the sweat on his face and said discontentedly.

Luo Zhengyin smiled and said, “There is no need to rush, there is still more than a year to prepare, Qinhe only started to prepare last year.”

“Auntie, is Lin Qinhe going to the United States for college?”

Luo Zhengyin heard Tao Xi, who hadn’t spoken, ask her as soon as the words left her mouth. She looked over and was slightly stunned. She saw the boy looking at her with those red eyes that looked like Fang Sui, his face was tense, as if he was about to be crying.

She suppressed the inexplicable panic in her heart, and said: “Yes, this is planned by Qinhe very early and several promising universities have already been selected.”

But TaoXi didn’t want to believe it. He clenched his envelope hard, his throat vibrated violently and he opened his mouth. After working hard for a long time, he made a dumb voice and asked Luo Zhengyin:

“Lin Qinhe, will he go to the United States to study with Yang Duole?”

Bi Qian felt that the boy was a little strange, but he didn’t say anything. Bi Chengfei looked at Tao Xi worriedly.

Tao Xi clenched his teeth and stared at Luo Zhengyin with a paranoid and fragile gaze, like a dying man waiting for the last question of judgment.

Finally, Luo Zhengyin hesitantly pronounced the result:

“Yes, he and Lele will go to school in the United States together after graduation, this is what our two families discussed a long time ago.”

Their families had discussed it well.

What about me?

Tao Xi bit his inner lip hard until the sharp pain spread in his mouth and tasted the smell of blood.

He pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled, trying his best to maintain his politeness in front of Luo Zhengyin, and said to her:

“Thank you, auntie, I got it.”

Then he turned around and walked away quickly, walking faster and faster, and finally simply ran.

He didn’t know where he was going, the school was so big, but there seemed to be no place to hold his anger and sadness.

He was uncontrollably angry, too angry, so angry that his vision began to blur.

He was angry at how Lin Qinhe could lie to him?

How could he go to school in the United States with Yang Duo Le?

Then what was he who had worked so hard for so long?

Was it a joke?

Tao Xi didn’t know when he walked to the entrance of the concert hall on the top floor of Qiushi Building. Lin Qinhe once played for him a piano music that only he could hear.

Without looking at the door, he walked quickly towards the trash can in the corner.

He tore the love letter in the envelope, which he had written many times, and threw it into the trash can.

But he didn’t feel much better after tearing it up. He looked at the pieces, as if watching his heart being mashed and torn apart.

Tao Xi squatted down, hugging his legs and burying his face in his knees.

He still couldn’t help but find reasons for Lin Qinhe lying to him.

Perhaps Lin Qinhe just told him a white lie.

Lin Qinhe hoped that he would be admitted to the best university in China and had a good life.

But Lin Qinhe would not have him in his life.

But, he thought.

I should have been in your life.

The person who grew up with you should have been me.

I have nothing left, no mother, no father, no favoritism from relatives.

I was robbed of everything by Yang Duole.

I have worked so hard, but why can’t I even go to the same university as you?

Bi Chengfei was going to go after Tao Xi to ask him what happened, but his dad pulled him back: “I asked Teacher Zhou to talk to us in the office. Don’t leave.”

“Dad, why are you looking for the class teacher again!” Bi Chengfei hung his head in despair, he had to follow his dad towards the office. After thinking about it on the way, he took out his mobile phone and sent Lin Qinhe a WeChat.

After the father and son left, Luo Zhengyin still hadn’t come back to her senses. The eyes of Tao Xi when he questioned her just now came to her mind over and over again. A long time ago, Fang Sui had also asked her a question with red eyes like that.

Luo Zhengyin stretched out his hand and squeezed his eyebrows, planning to go to Class 2 to see Yang Duole, but suddenly she saw Lin Qinhe walk over quickly.

“Qinhe? Why did you come back early?” Luo Zhengyin looked at her son in surprise. He hadn’t had time to change into his school uniform, obviously he had just arrived at school.

“Did you just say something to Tao Xi?” Lin Qinhe asked Luo Zhengyin in a deep voice, frowning deeply.

Luo Zhengyin was stunned. She felt that Lin Qinhe was too harsh on her. She frowned and said, “I just talked with Dr. Bi about your application for an American school. At that time, Tao Xi was there, and suddenly asked me if you wanted to study in the United States with Lele. I said yes, he seemed ..”

She was about to continue speaking, but found that Lin Qinhe’s expression changed abruptly. She had never seen Lin Qinhe reveal that kind of expression, as if his most beloved thing was hurt by someone, and she seemed to be the culprit.

When Luo Zhengyin saw Lin Qinhe turn around to leave, she pulled him back and asked, “What’s wrong? Did you come back early because there was something wrong with the training?”

Lin Qinhe looked at her unaware mother, and could only carve his nails into his palm as hard as he could, as if this could ease some kind of pain in his heart.

Why did he come back early?

Because he knew that there would be a parent-teacher meeting today, and everyone would have their parents coming over, but one of them didn’t.

That person would be sad.

And he would feel distressed.

But he still made him sadder.

In the end, Lin Qinhe didn’t answer Luo Zhengyin’s question, turned and left quickly.

_____________________

The author has something to say:

I’m pinching my fingers, the next chapter will be together

But I am very busy recently, the update may not be stable 555