Chapter 5: Time forgets, past events like clouds and smoke

  I met Xiying in the second year of high school. It was during the cherry blossom season. The petals were falling from the sky, and it was very beautiful.

  When I followed my dad to complete the registration formalities, standing in the school's hall, I saw from afar the class teacher's kind smile. He led me to Class 2 of Grade 10, and as soon as I entered the classroom, all my classmates put down their books and pens, looked up at me, and the class teacher introduced: "This is our new transfer student, her name is Lin Qingyi." Everyone's eyes were focused on me, including Xi Ying.

  "You can sit next to He Xiying, then." The class teacher pointed to the empty seat beside Xiying. As I walked over, I realized that all the students were seated in pairs of girls with girls and boys with boys, except for me. Let's sit down first. I caught a glimpse of Xiying's clear and transparent gaze; he was a handsome boy.

  He glanced at me with a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his pale face, and then it was gone. He lowered his head to continue solving his math problems.

  As the days went by since I came to the new school, apart from studying, I also made friends with some of my classmates.

  My Chinese and English don't need to be reviewed, I can still get good grades, but for math, I also hope to excel. Mr. Xi gives me a question every day. It seems that I have gotten used to doing the questions he gives me.

  Tao Sha and Jing Jing always want to put me in their category, but the prettier girls are not as diligent as those with ordinary appearances. The latter only have studying in their eyes, without anything that can distract their attention. However, these two always think of other things. Every noon they will talk to me. But I am here to study, and I strive to be diligent.

  One day, Jingjing said to me: "I suddenly feel that you and Xiyin are very compatible."

  I absent-mindedly replied: "Don't say that, okay?" My mind was still thinking about the topic Western Shadow gave me.

  Tao Sha, Xi Ying and my home are on the same route. Before, Tao Sha and Xi Ying would walk together. Now, Tao Sha says to Xi Ying: "Let's wait for Qing Yi!" After school, we go back together.

  One day, Jingjing said to me: "Do you know? When you and Xiyin walk together, the classmates from the neighboring class all gather at the window to watch!"

  Later, she also told me that on that day, when Tao Sha asked Xi Ying how I was doing, she saw Xi Ying lower his head, think for a moment, and then raise his head to say seriously: "I feel she's very good."

  I didn't mind and couldn't mind either. I continued reading books.

  Every time I go to school, I meet Xī Yǐng, and he also goes to school with me. On the way, we can talk, sometimes it's very quiet.

  Time quietly slipped away in the midst of learning and living, and before I knew it, we had already reached the second semester of our senior year. Those few days when snowflakes fell gently from the sky, this city seemed to have grown accustomed to the snowfall.

  But we still had to go to school for extra lessons. One day, after school, Tao Sha, Xi Ying and I were waiting in a small shop opposite the school for the snow to let up a bit before heading home.

  Looking at the snow outside, each of us was lost in our own thoughts, and the shop owner also kept quiet like us.

  Tao Sha asked: "Xi Ying, who did you send a greeting card to this year?" She broke the silence first.

  Xiying smiled and looked at me, saying "I won't tell you." He had a mysterious look on his face.

  "I know there must be a way," Tasha said.

  Xi Ying still didn't speak. His eyes were still gazing at me, with a faint and almost imperceptible smile. Actually, sometimes I think he's arrogant. But when discussing math problems together, and when we meet on the way to school or home, I feel happy again, a natural kind of happiness.

  I remembered the greeting card he gave me, it said: "Friends forever bless you." A very short blessing, just one sentence. But I looked at it for a long time on that winter night. On the front of the card was a doll wearing a princess dress. I wonder why his dressing and the items he chose always give people a sense of visual beauty? He is a boy who makes people feel good.

  Mom was checking my study situation and found out. She said: "Don't respond to him, although it's nothing, but you're in an important stage of studying now, everything should prioritize learning, don't be disturbed by the outside world. Don't do anything that might affect your studies!" I calmly agreed.

  I don't know if he will be very disappointed, I don't know if he has been expecting something, and if so, then it is I who personally severed his hopes.

  This is high school life, which doesn't allow you to think about things unrelated to studying, even if some might be very beautiful, but once you turn around, they no longer exist, at least in form they are already unrelated to the past.

  That summer day, Xi Ying said to me: "I hope to continue our relationship." But I had never considered it. He naturally did not get the result he wanted. The melancholy light flickering in his eyes is forever unforgettable.

  Maybe someday I'll suddenly feel that he should be pitied. Only at that time, I couldn't think so.

  Everything has become calm and peaceful. The western shadow left my line of sight. When I finished the exams and all sorts of things about entering school, on a certain idle day, I suddenly remembered him. Was it just because he helped me as a friend during those days? Did I only recall a kind of friendship as clear as his eyes? I started writing for him, because he used to write for me. My writings back then wished so much that he could see them.

  It's been a long time, the winter break of my freshman year, a day with snowflakes falling gently. My empty heart was as cold as the sky. He suddenly sent me a message on QQ: "Are you okay?" I replied: "I'm fine!" But I knew that my heart had gradually calmed down, and all that was left between us were simple greetings. I couldn't feel any special warmth in those words. No, it should be said that it never started, so it's just like this. I also knew that I once hoped he could see those texts, but now whether he can see them or not is no longer important.

  Perhaps time can indeed change the profound yet unfulfilled emotions in human relationships. Or perhaps they are destined to remain, lingering in a corner of one's heart, and when remembered, she will unfold her beautiful wings, just like before.

  Time cannot be recalled, flowers bloom and wither, the flower has bloomed, love has passed. After the flower has bloomed, a season is over, and it drifts away in an evening. The flower is like this, so are the emotions of the world, especially those that slip through one's fingers and are lost, destined to be fleeting, why aren't they also like this?

  So time forgets, past events are like clouds and smoke.