dmims Chapter 142
Chapter 142
After hanging up the phone, Lin Feng put the receiver back on the landline and stood there for a while. The curled corner of the transparent tape pressed against his fingers, cool and refreshing, like the rim of an ice-cold glass.
Cheng Yuxin stood up from the sofa, threw the apple core into the trash can, and the brown core flew through the air in an arc before landing precisely in the trash can with a thud.
"Lin Feng," she said, "I'm happy."
Her eyes were slightly red and the tip of her nose was also a little red, as if she had applied some rouge, but her voice was calm.
She walked back to her room, closed the door, leaving a trail of orange light in the hallway.
Lin Feng didn't know why she was happy. But he felt that what she said was probably true.
That night, he wrote down a new routine training plan under the lamp. The lampshade was an old-fashioned green glass shade, emitting a soft, warm light that illuminated the desk. He tucked the single-line paper into a folder and wrote it down stroke by stroke with a ballpoint pen.
The plan was very detailed, taking into account everything from wake-up time to training content to rest intervals. He knew that from the moment he agreed to Coach Li's request, his life was about to enter a new phase.
He didn't know where that track led.
But at least, he finally got on the bus.
June 1st is Children's Day.
A red banner with white lettering, reading "Celebrating International Children's Day," was hung at the entrance of a shopping mall in Beichuan. The banner fluttered in the wind, and balloons on either side gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight. Several children ran around at the entrance, holding pink cotton candy that was bigger than their heads.
Lin Feng didn't feel anything about this holiday. He hadn't celebrated it in his previous life, and no one celebrated it for him in this one. In the original owner's memories, his mother did take him to a park once when he was a child, and he rode a carousel once; that was the only time he ever celebrated Children's Day. Later, his mother got busy and never mentioned it again.
Cheng Yuxin asked him, "It's Children's Day today, do you want to go out to eat?"
Lin Feng shook his head: "No need. I'm not a child."
Cheng Yuxin glanced at him but didn't say anything. But that afternoon she brought back a cake—small, white cream with a red buttercream flower on top. She placed the cake on the table and lit a candle.
"Make a wish," she said.
Lin Feng looked at the candle; the flame flickered slightly in the air.
He closed his eyes.
Then I opened my eyes and blew it out.
Cheng Yuxin didn't ask him what he wished for. She cut the cake in two, giving the large piece to Lin Feng and keeping the small piece for herself. The cream was a bit greasy, and the cake base was a bit dry; it was the kind of ordinary cream cake you buy at the convenience store downstairs, and the red buttercream flowers on top tasted like wax.
But Lin Feng ate the whole big piece.
In June, Beichuan was unbearably hot.
There was no air conditioning in the classroom, only a few ceiling fans overhead, whirring and blowing hot air down, making the textbooks on the desks rustle and turn their pages. Lin Feng sat by the window, which was open, letting in hot air from outside as well. The chirping of cicadas came from the poplar trees by the playground, rising higher and higher, like an endless symphony.
English teacher Wang Guoqing was explaining the subjunctive mood, fine beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, and two large wet patches under his shirt armpits. Lin Feng listened, taking notes in his notebook with a ballpoint pen in his hand, writing quickly, but every word was legible.