BSS - Chapter 36
Chapter 36
With everyone watching, whether intentionally or not, Xu Wei opened her arms to Deng Chuan.
Deng Chuan stepped forward, her hands sliding past Xu Wei's waist to clasp behind her back. She rested her head in the crook of Xu Wei's neck and took a deep breath, like a parched traveler in the desert finally reaching an oasis.
As she held her, she felt Xu Wei's hand rest lightly on her back in a polite response. If this were a coming-of-age film, the embrace would be neither passionate nor reckless. It carried a hint of youthful, citrusy fragrance-peaceful, serene, and full of tenderness. Like the dawn breeze sweeping over a hillside, it was worthy of a long, slow-motion shot.
In Xu Wei's arms, Deng Chuan realized with unprecedented clarity that the Gaokao was truly over. The path before her was wide and open. She could embrace her openly, as an adult.
It was Xu Wei's embrace that brought her adolescence to a close.
The young woman's warm breath tickled Xu Wei's ear. Deng Chuan's arms were gradually tightening, threatening to grow even firmer. The cicadas chirped endlessly, and the pre-dusk sunlight was unbelievably gentle, yet Xu Wei felt as if she might melt in the embrace. Restraining herself, she patted Deng Chuan's back, signaling for her to let go.
The crowd had yet to disperse. After releasing her, Deng Chuan firmly planted herself by Xu Wei's side, her eyes, as brilliant as stars, fixed on her.
Her gaze held so many things that were only now truly liberated, so much so that Xu Wei turned her head away uncomfortably. With composure, she said, “First, congratulations everyone, the Gaokao is over. Our class will gather tomorrow at nine in the morning in front of the Administrative Building for graduation photos. I've already sent the specific details to the class group chat. Please remind each other, and don't forget.”
“Alright. You should hurry up and pack your things. There might be traffic later, so coordinate with your families.”
After Xu Wei finished speaking, the crowd gradually dispersed. Most people still had to go pack up their dorm rooms. Just as Xu Wei had said, the roads outside the school were always jammed after the Gaokao each year. By the time they got home, it would likely be past dinnertime.
Deng Chuan wasn't in a hurry. Without even putting down the things in her hands, she followed Xu Wei all the way to the office.
After what had just happened, Xu Wei didn't quite dare to look at her. She kept her head turned, looking at the path ahead, and tried to shoo her away. “Why are you following me?”
Deng Chuan beamed, quickened her pace to walk in front of her backwards, and stared firmly into Xu Wei's eyes as she spoke. “I'll help you pack your things.”
“No need. Go pack your own things.”
Deng Chuan ignored her refusal, keeping pace with her while making idle chat. “Teacher Xu. Do you eat oranges?”
“No.”
“Teacher Xu, we're going out tonight. Do you want to come?”
“No.”
“Teacher Xu, for the graduation photos tomorrow, can I stand next to you?”
“N-” Xu Wei looked up, giving her a faint glare.
“That's to be determined,” she said.
Deng Chuan pressed her lips together to hide a smile and moved closer to Xu Wei. In the office, other teachers were also tidying up exam papers. Drawers were pulled open, and the teachers' desks, much like the students', had books, papers, and lesson plans stacked in neat piles.
Xu Wei turned to look at her. The kid's eyes were bright, filled with the joy and uncertainty of a young animal emerging from the forest for the first time. She probably didn't even know why she was following her. A Deng Chuan like this made Xu Wei's heart soften. She was so young; her simple, clumsy overtures were completely transparent.
“Alright.” Xu Wei took a breath and said in a low voice, “You should go back and pack your things first…” Her tone carried a certain unspoken ambiguity, more tantalizing than a direct statement.
“I'm moving in a few days.” She turned her head to the side to tidy a stack of books on the corner of her desk. “If you're free, come help me.”
A brief silence hung in the air. Xu Wei, thinking Deng Chuan hadn't heard, turned to look at her, only to see the kid, looking as if she'd been struck dizzy by a wonderful gift, exclaim gleefully, “I'm free! I'm free anytime!”
The volume was not low. With people coming and going in the office, it was hard not to be noticed.
Xu Wei frowned slightly. “Not so loud.” A hint of a smile touched the corners of her mouth. “Do you want the whole world to know?”
Deng Chuan immediately shut her mouth, her eyes wide as she shook her head.
Are you kidding? She wished they were the only two people in the office. There's a reason people value a world of their own, Deng Chuan thought randomly. If only they were the only two people on earth, they wouldn't have to think about or worry about anything. They could do whatever they pleased.
Then, she would act more directly and speak more plainly, instead of this ambiguous back-and-forth they were doing now.
Xu Wei's gaze interrupted her wild thoughts. “It's getting late. Isn't anyone from your family coming to pick you up?”
“Ah.” Only then did Deng Chuan remember that her parents were waiting for her somewhere. “Then… I'll head back first?”
“Mm.” Xu Wei nodded lightly.
Before Deng Chuan left, she reminded Xu Wei again, still worried, “You have to remember to call me. You can't do it alone.”
“I know, I know.” Xu Wei pushed her towards the door. “I'll contact you then.”
When Deng Chuan returned to the classroom, sure enough, Tang Lijuan and Lao Deng had probably already driven the car onto campus and were standing by her desk, chatting cheerfully about something.
She walked over and greeted them. The moment Lao Deng saw her, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Where did you run off to? You're the absolute star of the day! So? Figured out how you're going to relax yet?”
Deng Chuan said, “I went to help my teacher pack her things.”
“Aiya,” Lao Deng said immediately. “That's my daughter, alright. So helpful even after graduating. Great! Helpful people usually have bright futures…”
Before he could finish, Tang Lijuan shot him a glare, and he trailed off awkwardly.
After glaring at her rambling husband, she looked at her daughter, her face blooming into a smile. “You've worked hard, Baby. Mom helped pack up your books a bit. See if anything's missing. We're not in a rush; there's probably still traffic outside.” Then she asked, “Where are you planning to go tonight?”
While checking the neatly sorted books and papers on her desk, Deng Chuan said, “I've made plans with my classmates. We're going for dinner first, then to KTV.”
This was the plan Pei Qingyu had made. She had invited classmates they were close with from school. Everyone's friend circles mostly overlapped, so it would be a large, lively group.
“Good,” Lao Deng said. “Do you have enough money? If not, Dad can give you some more.”
“It's enough.”
“When you're out with friends, be proactive about paying the bill. Don't be too calculative with friends.”
“I know.” Deng Chuan retrieved the textbooks she had left in the temporary study room and moved her notebooks into a box. It was a tradition at their school for graduates to choose whether or not to take their books home, making it convenient for younger students to pick them up. The rest would eventually be collected by the school.
Tang Lijuan didn't like hearing her husband lecture their daughter. “Does she need you to tell her that? Your daughter understands far better than you do.”
Lao Deng shook his head, joking, “Aiya, aiya, I knew it. My daughter is much richer than I am. Honey, the money your old dad gives you is just what leaks through your mom's fingers. When you start earning money in the future, remember to help out your old dad.”
Before the words were even out of his mouth, Tang Lijuan slapped him on the arm. He didn't get angry, just took the hit with a grin.
Lao Deng was busy with work. He was still wearing dress pants and a white shirt, looking like he had just rushed over from the office. On a normal schedule, Deng Chuan rarely saw him at home, but their family wasn't distant, which had a lot to do with her dad's personality.
The family chatted and laughed as they finished packing up the classroom and headed to the dormitory.
The dorm room was already half empty, and the other half was almost cleared out too. Bed curtains and duvet covers were piled up messily. Just as Deng Chuan reached the doorway, a roommate grabbed her. “Deng Chuan, hurry, come take a picture-”
Her dad beamed and waved her over. “Go on, go on. Mom and Dad will pack for you.”
The dorm was full of parents. Deng Chuan heard her dad's loud greetings behind her as a phone was placed in front of her. The screen showed the six girls from her dorm room.
Jiang Meng stood next to her, leaning on her arm. Deng Chuan, feeling a little awkward, put one hand behind her back and smiled innocently at the camera. The roommate in charge of the photo set a timer and scrambled back into the group.
The camera clicked, like the evening breeze letting out a soft laugh.
Though they had just completed a major journey in their lives, the girls in the photo were still so young, their faces radiant with youth. People grow up, but that radiance is eternal; along with a youth that never returns, it would forever glitter in the river of time.
After the group photo, they had to take more pictures in pairs and small groups. The sky gradually darkened, but the campus remained bustling. The headlights of cars coming and going flickered on the campus roads, reflecting the twilight sky and creating a somewhat magical atmosphere.
After saying goodbye to her roommates, Deng Chuan stood in the hallway for a while. She watched the layers of clouds rolling across the horizon, interwoven with pale purple and orange-red, and suddenly missed her camera.
Because of the Gaokao, she hadn't picked up her camera in a long time.
Deng Chuan loved photography, not just for the peculiar sense of balance within the frame. A lens was so small, yet so large-it could capture the wing of a bee just as it could the landscapes of the entire world. What she loved even more was the effort required to capture a single shot. A moment worth recording, like inspiration, was something one could only stumble upon, not seek out. Before pressing the shutter, Deng Chuan most often found herself searching for an opportunity and waiting, for a very long time.
On a weekend in her first year of high school, she went with Pei Qingyu and Su Mian to camp on the highest mountain in their city, just to photograph the most beautiful sunrise. Of course, they weren't the only three on the mountain; it was crowded with the small tents of photography enthusiasts. In the darkness before the sun rose, an older girl next to her even poured her a cup of hot water.
After the sunrise was photographed, everyone had more or less gotten to know each other.
Later, she would team up with people she met on such trips to shoot time-lapses from the tops of skyscrapers, photograph meteor showers in mountain ravines, and capture maple leaves in the mountains. For the perfect light, she would wait an entire afternoon. Occasionally, if an elevator was broken, she would have to climb more than twenty floors with a heavy camera bag on her back.
Later still, for the sake of her studies, she temporarily stepped away from such short trips.
At this very moment, before night fell, Deng Chuan had the vague feeling that she had, in fact, never been far from that kind of waiting.
She had an even stronger premonition: though dusk had not yet faded, the moon was already hanging in the treetops. The moment to press the shutter was not far away.
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