Chapter 42: The Little Bird in Life

  "Lazy pig, get up and go to school!" Yan Nan lifted the quilt off Lin Xiaoyu's body with a loud shout.

  At this time, Yan Nian returned to her usual true nature. The sentimental girl who had secretly kissed Lin Xiaoyu with a red face last night was now hidden deep within her own heart. However, when Yan Nian saw that Lin Xiaoyu was still sleeping, she remembered the scene where she had secretly kissed him and slept by his side for a whole night, and her pretty face couldn't help but flush red again.

  Unfortunately, Lin Xiaoyu did not see Yan Nan's shy and beautiful appearance as a young girl, and she was still drifting in her dream.

  Yan Nan saw that Lin Xiaoyu was not showing any signs of waking up, so she sneakily used her small hand to pinch Lin Xiaoyu's nose: "I'm watching you get up or not, this big lazy pig."

  Lin Xiaoyu, whose nose was pinched, immediately reacted. Lin Xiaoyu shook her head slightly in discomfort, trying to shake off the thing that was pinching her nose. Her mouth murmured sleepily: "Mom, can't you just let me sleep a little longer?"

  Mom? Yan Nan heard Lin Xiaoyu calling her his old mom and felt both angry and amused. She grabbed a pillow from the bed and started hitting Lin Xiaoyu's body wildly. "Get up, get up... sleeping like a dead pig... you don't even know where you are... I'd sell you to Africa and you still wouldn't wake up... hurry up, we're going to be late..."

  Lin Xiaoyu reluctantly opened his own drowsy and blurry eyes, only to find that he was not in his own room, but in a room he had never been to before. The only thing familiar to him was the beautiful girl standing in front of his bed, holding a pillow with a hint of anger on her face...

  "Oh, so it was you who got Hui Ge to send me to your house." On the bus on the way to school, Lin Xiaoyu finally understood why she had slept in Yan Nan's room after listening to Yan Nan describe what happened last night.

  "Right, you were drunk like a mess last night and didn't know anything, I didn't even know where your home was, so I just brought you back to my place." Yan Nang's pretty face showed a faint blush, as if she had recalled the incident of secretly kissing Lin Xiaoyu and sleeping by her side.

  "Oh, I see. Thank you, Xiao Nan." Lin Xiaoyu only remembered that she had punched a man the night before and was then kicked in the foot by one of his companions, causing her to fall weakly to the ground. After that, Lin Xiaoyu didn't remember anything else. She hadn't expected the effects of alcohol to be so intense; usually when she saw others drunk, she thought it wasn't a big deal, but now that she was drunk herself, she realized how bad it could get.

  Yan Nan continued to tell Lin Xiaoyu about what happened after she passed out last night, saying in a voice that only he could hear, "Last night, everyone gave their first kiss to you, but this idiot still doesn't know, big idiot." Yan Nan looked at Lin Xiaoyu with a hint of resentment.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't hear Yan Nan's last mutter, of course. After listening to Yan Nan's account of what happened last night, Lin Xiaoyu felt a bit embarrassed and scratched the back of her head, saying: "Hehe, I had no idea getting drunk was like that... I really didn't know what happened afterwards... Luckily, Xiao Nan, you got Hui Ge to call my family for me, or else I would have definitely gotten scolded by my mom when I got home today."

  "You're just a big fool." Yan Nan's sudden words made Lin Xiaoyu feel a bit confused and bewildered.

  A middle-aged teacher wearing thick nearsighted glasses stood on the podium, holding a textbook and lecturing. The teacher's face was expressionless, and his voice was just as lifeless. Many people were made drowsy by this teacher, if he had chosen another profession, perhaps he could have made greater contributions to society as a sleep therapist.

  Lin Xiaoyu felt very excited in this class, and the reason for this excitement was not from that teacher with eyes as thick as a wine bottle bottom who spoke in a dull tone. Lin Xiaoyu's excitement came from the music playing on the CD player in his drawer.

  When Lin Xiaoyu left Yan Nan's home in the morning, Yan Nan gave her two CDs from the CD rack in her room. One had a cover with "Baoshan Street 43" written on it, and the other had a red cover with a black leopard and yellow eyes.

  Lin Xiaoyu couldn't express the excitement in her heart right now. She thought that what was coming out of her earbuds was music she had never heard before, just like the feeling she got from watching the performance last night. This music with strong emotions was like a boiling blood flowing into her body, making her calm blood boil too. Lin Xiaoyu's tightly clenched fists were trembling, and if it weren't for the fact that they were in class right now, Lin Xiaoyu would probably want to run onto the basketball court and listen to this music while wildly sweating out all her energy, just to release the surging power in her heart.

  There is a song on the CD of Bao Jia Street 43 band that Lin Xiaoyu has been listening to repeatedly, and the name of that song is called "Little Bird".

  Ideals are always fleeting.

  Ethereal and elusive

  Reality is indeed real

  Cannot hide

  Full of desire in heart

  The body has no strength

  Don't want to feel sad

  Have no choice but to pretend

  Flying back and forth

  Flying back and forth

  Full of hope

  I am like a little bird

  I don't feel tired

  But nowhere to go

  Emptiness threw me onto the streets

  Like a patient dodging death

  Here is suitable for **

  Eyes can't be closed

  The building complex is so magnificent

  The light is so bright

  Flying back and forth

  Flying back and forth

  Reality is a cage

  I am like a little bird

  They gave me a pair of wings

  They gave me a direction

  They say that's happiness

  So I was full of hope

  I flew sweetly there this morning

  Then saw the truth

  There is no happiness there

  There is only one big wall

  Flying back and forth

  Flying back and forth

  Full of hope

  I am like a little bird

  I never want to be numb again

  Never want to be manipulated by others again

  Never again want to let life drift away in lies

  We used to roam the streets

  The cold wind slaps against his chest

  We once clenched our fists

  Struggling for a little bit of freedom

  Let's sing together

  Sing a song of freedom

  Let's fly together Fly into the sky

  Let's sing together

  Sing a song of freedom

  Let's fly together

  Like a small bird

  Like a small bird

  Because we

  Every simple lyric seems to hit Lin Xiaoyu's chest like a large iron hammer, and Lin Xiaoyu feels that she is just like the song describes, a small bird yearning for freedom, bound by the cage of reality. Always flying numbly in the direction guided by others. Just like being in this dull classroom now.

  Lin Xiaoyu really wants to get rid of such constraints, but as a Lin Xiaoyu who has been educated by this Chinese education system for nine years, she can't use her own immature self to fly out of this lock. What does such a struggle mean? Lin Xiaoyu is also very clear in her heart, what can she do if she doesn't go to school? How will her future life be? Now Lin Xiaoyu can only catch this song full of longing for freedom to release her imprisoned soul, but the reality of that cold and cruel lock still tightly holds all the small birds yearning to fly freely.

  Although Lin Xiaoyu was very calm in facing her own life at that time, the seeds of pursuing a free life had been deeply buried in Lin Xiaoyu's young heart through the dissemination of rock music and its spirit.

  Lin Xiaoyu and Yan Nan sat on the stone steps next to an empty basketball court at Shiyan Middle School. Lin Xiaoyu's gaze was fixed intently on a group of people playing ball beside the court, while Yan Nan's eyes secretly drifted onto Lin Xiaoyu's profile.

  "How come you want to play ball in school today? How did you end up here?" Yan Nan was a bit puzzled as to why Lin Xiaoyu would come to the school's basketball court to watch others play after school that afternoon. She knew that Lin Xiaoyu wasn't too fond of playing ball in school, because she was used to playing on the high-level courts at Tengyun, and it was rare for anyone in school to be able to match her level, so Lin Xiaoyu thought it was pointless to play ball in school.

  "I listened to the two albums you gave me today, and I've been listening non-stop in every class. It feels amazing! After listening to them, I feel like there's something stuck in my chest that makes me want to scream out loud... So now all I can think about is sweating it out properly, I think that'll make me feel more comfortable."

  "I knew you'd like it. What are you still sitting here for? Why don't you go find a court to play on?" Yan Nan felt very happy that he and Lin Xiaoyu shared the same interests.

  "It seems that the school team hasn't arrived for training yet. I asked someone, and they said the school basketball team would have a practice today. And this court number one is where they usually train." Lin Xiaoyu asked Zhang Bo, who looked like a girl with his soft voice, and was probably the only classmate Lin Xiaoyu was familiar with. This kid seemed to know everything about the school, which made Lin Xiaoyu feel a bit uneasy.

  "Oh, our school's basketball level is pretty average. In junior high, didn't you represent your school, Feicui Fourth Middle School, and win against us? Our high school team is even worse, just a bunch of idiots who can't play at all. If you join the team, maybe it'll become stronger, but I hope those idiots won't drag you down." Yan Nan was also very familiar with his own school after three years, and when talking about his school's high school basketball team, he showed no interest. He only liked watching Lin Xiaoyu play basketball.

  "Hehe, it's really hard for one person to change a team, unless that person is an absolute master. I don't have that kind of ability. I'm also thinking about whether or not I should join the basketball team, school classes are really too boring." Lin Xiaoyu had played ball for several years and had gained some understanding of basketball.

  Yan Nan looked at Lin Xiaoyu, who had already begun to mature, with deep affection. Yan Nan still remembered the first time she saw him, when he was just starting to learn how to play basketball and could hardly even beat himself. Now, however, even her cousin Zhihui, whom she considered the best basketball player, couldn't defend against Lin Xiaoyu. Time really flew by quickly, didn't it? Lin Xiaoyu had transformed from a rookie into one of the top players at Tengyun Stadium, and Yan Nan was no longer the crazy girl who dressed herself up like a boy back then...

  At this time, a group of tall boys wearing uniform jerseys walked into an empty basketball court, led by a middle-aged male teacher wearing a blue sports suit, conducting warm-up exercises.

  Sorry about that! I was busy yesterday and didn't have time to update. Please forgive me!