Section 28 Left Ear (28)

  No one is allowed to come and disturb me. When I returned to the city, it was already 10 o'clock at night. The temperature after the rain was still very high, and my hair and clothes that had been rained on were all dry.

  Because I couldn't hail a car, I walked for a very long time. I thought of that girl who went to see Ba La with me, she might be a frequent visitor, I don't know what kind of transportation she takes to get back and forth, looking at her frail appearance, if she also walks for such a long time, she must be exhausted.

  I didn't expect Jiang classmate to be waiting for me under the street lamp not far from my home.

  She was squatting there at first, and when she saw me, she stood up, leaning against the street lamp behind her, looking at me with a tired expression. She had already gone home to change into a new dress, and I found that she had also changed her hairstyle, with dark red hair disheveled and curled ridiculously on her head.

  I walked up to her.

  "I'm eighteen now," she said.

  "Happy birthday," I said.

  "I had my hair permed," she said.

  "It doesn't look good," I said.

  Her face suddenly contorted violently, and then she burst out crying. She didn't throw herself into my arms, I had a moment where I tried to reach out to hug her, but in the end I didn't do it.

  We just stuck like this.

  I waited patiently for her to finish crying.

  But she just went on and on.

  I maintain my chastity etc.

  Luckily, there hasn't been anyone passing by around here, but even if someone did pass by, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm already the talk of this small town, and whatever happens to me, nobody would find it surprising anymore.

  Finally, I patted her and said: "Okay, crying too much will make you old, your new hairstyle already makes you look old enough."

  She raised her head and looked at me: "You don't like it, I know you like it!"

  "What nonsense are you talking about!"

  "You can't forget her, I know you can't forget her!" Jiang Jiao grabbed her hair and cried out, "If that's the case, then just forget about me too, Zhang Yang, let's cut ties completely from now on!"

  "Okay," I said.

  She stared at me with wide eyes, and I knew she was starting to regret what she had just said. But I looked back at her calmly, remaining unchanged in the face of all changes.

  She glared at me and pushed me forward, running ahead. In front of us, a motorcycle was speeding towards us. Judging from her appearance, she didn't even know to dodge, my mind racing, I quickly caught up with her and pulled her to the side of the road.

  The motorcycle stopped suddenly just one millimeter away from us.

  "Sick!" The motorcyclist, a man in his forties, cursed and restarted the motorcycle, driving away.

  Jiang Jiao's classmate's curly hair brushed against my cheek, making me feel itchy. I wanted to push her away a little bit, but she hugged me especially tightly.

  She sobbed: "Cockroach, don't abandon me, please don't leave me."

  "One cut two halves is what you said, not what I said."

  "I was wrong, I was wrong." She admitted her mistake faster than blinking an eye.

  "Alright." I gently pushed her away. "I'm really tired today, you should get some rest too. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

  "Will you take me home?" she said, "There's a dark stretch of road ahead, you know I'm afraid."

  I'm really tired and starving. But I had no choice, so I could only accompany her on the way home. Her hand was holding mine tightly, not letting go. We walked a few steps, and then she put my hand around her waist again. When we turned into an alley in front of us, I felt her shudder slightly.

  "We can leave here next week." She said in a trembling voice, "I really hate it here. After we leave, let's never come back again, okay?"

  I forgot to mention that Jiang also got into a university in Beijing, studying science and engineering. She actually wanted to go to Shanghai for college, but because I like Beijing, she ultimately chose a school in Beijing instead.

  "Okay," I said.

  "I won't cause any more trouble," she said. "I'll be good."

  I've heard such promises a thousand times before.

  As I walked down the alley, my hand involuntarily tightened around hers. This road was completely different during the day and at night, it seemed like we hadn't passed through here for many nights already. On the other side of the road was a dilapidated small house, I will always remember that winter night when I rushed there, Jiang Jiao's mouth was gagged with a cloth by a few black hooligans, pressed against the wall corner, silent whimpers and desperate eyes.

  The black man held a shiny sharp knife against me and said, "You stinky little kid, you choose yourself, is it that several of our brothers do your woman in front of you, or you take this knife to end it yourself?" Jump! ~ !????..