Chapter 24: Faint Traces Flying Over the Warehouse Net

  Lin Xiaoyu, who had recovered from his injury, returned to school for classes. Without the basketball game, Lin Xiaoyu went back to his daily routine of attending classes, playing ball after school, and going home. Lin Xiaoyu lived a somewhat monotonous life like this every day. Fortunately, Lin Xiaoyu had basketball, a few close friends, and an unruly little dog, which also brought him a lot of joy in his daily life.

  Time is still following its own unique way, neither slow nor fast, passing through our side. Lin Xiaoyu is also slowly growing up in this constantly slipping away light and shadow from his side.

  Lin Xiaoyu is already a third-year junior high school student. In the eyes of Lin's father and mother, Lin Xiaoyu has reached an important stage in his life. Because the results of the third-year junior high school graduation exam will determine whether Lin Xiaoyu can be admitted to a key middle school, and attending a key middle school is a guarantee for being able to attend a good university in the future. Therefore, Lin's father and mother are extremely anxious about Lin Xiaoyu's learning life as a third-year junior high school student.

  Every day, preparing nutritious food for Lin Xiaoyu and from time to time asking about Lin Xiaoyu's grades at school with concern. As the eldest grandson of the Lin family, all members of the Lin family have placed their hopes on Lin Xiaoyu becoming the first university student in the Lin family.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't feel any pressure on herself at all. Lin Xiaoyu still cycled to school every day with her backpack, just like before. However, Lin Xiaoyu had a clever mind and although her grades weren't the best in class, she always managed to rank among the top few in every exam. Her teacher was also very reassured by Lin Xiaoyu's grades, as it seemed that getting into a good middle school wouldn't be a problem for her at all. So the teacher turned a blind eye to Lin Xiaoyu's somewhat casual attitude towards studying.

  The lives of other junior high school students are very different from Lin Xiaoyu's. Many parents who want their children to become dragons and phoenixes put a lot of pressure on them. Yang Tianxiao is an example of a student who suffers.

  Yang Tianxiao's parents were both former athletes, and their own academic performance during their school days was also very poor. However, humans are strange creatures that often want their offspring to fulfill the dreams they themselves couldn't achieve. Therefore, Yang Tianxiao's parents were extremely strict with his studies in third grade. They found him tutors and sent him to cram schools, making his life miserable. What made it even harder for Yang Tianxiao to bear was that his parents wouldn't let him play basketball anymore in order to focus on his studies. Every day, he would complain to Lin Xiaoyu at school, saying that this third-grade year felt like being in prison.

  Yang Tianxiao not only inherited his parents' tall and robust athletic physique, but also seemed to have inherited their dislike of studying. Faced with the complex characters of Chinese, math, English, and other subjects that made his head spin, Yang Tianxiao felt it was more difficult than playing a one-on-one basketball game against Michael Jordan.

  This way, Lin Xiaoyu's life in the first year of high school was missing a good friend to play basketball together.

  However, there are also parents who never worry about their children. Li Jingru's father and mother are like this. Li Jingru's father and mother both graduated from university. They have a very clear understanding of learning and life, and they believe that cultivating children's interests is more important than cultivating their grades. Their daughter, Li Jingru, is also a sensible and good student. Every time she takes an exam, she basically ranks first in the whole school. Now that she has just started her third year of junior high school, several teachers from key middle schools have already called to ask for her early admission, with one condition more generous than the last.

  Li Jingru's parents let Li Jingru make her own decision, and Li Jingru has been a girl with her own ideas since she was young. However, this time she didn't choose any school, which made her parents a bit curious. But with Li Jingru's grades, it wouldn't be a problem to get into any key middle school, so her parents weren't too concerned about their daughter's decision.

  The students in their third year of junior high school are at a subtle age. The hearts of fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boys and girls will always have some fluttering emotions.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who is handsome and sunny, and has a tall and upright figure from playing basketball, has also become the object of admiration for some girls. Lin Xiaoyu had received love letters from two girls, but he didn't have any feelings for those two pretty girls, so he didn't reply to them.

  At the age of sixteen, Lin Xiaoyu had already felt that kind of flutter in her heart during the flower season. Lin Xiaoyu also had a certain feeling towards the opposite sex, but she couldn't be sure if it was love or not.

  Lin Xiaoyu likes to listen to music, so the CD store has become a place she often visits when she is free. There is a small CD store 300 meters away from Lin Xiaoyu's home, and there are many things in the store that Lin Xiaoyu likes. Recently, every time Lin Xiaoyu passes by the store, she can't help but take a look inside, not for the neatly arranged CDs, but to see the girl in the store who always wears purple clothes.

  When Lin Xiaoyu first went to that CD store, she began to notice the girl who always sat at the counter by the door, wearing a purple outfit and listening to music. Her elegant and refined face had a pair of very bright eyes, but for some reason, Lin Xiaoyu was always afraid to look into those eyes that seemed to hold a warm gaze. Every time Lin Xiaoyu handed over her selected CDs to pay, she felt a bit unnatural, always dodging the girl's gaze, even not daring to look at her beautiful face with its sunny smile.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't know why she had this feeling, Lin Xiaoyu actually really wanted to lift her head and take a look at that smile of hers which made herself feel very comfortable, but Lin Xiaoyu always couldn't muster up the courage.

  Every time she lies quietly in bed at home listening to CDs, Lin Xiaoyu's mind always emerges with the shadow of a girl wearing purple clothes, which cannot be shaken off...

  She was probably seventeen or eighteen years old, with a maturity that Lin Xiaoyu couldn't feel in girls like Li Jingru. Lin Xiaoyu knew she was still a high school student because she only appeared at the CD store on weekends. Every time she appeared in front of the counter, Lin Xiaoyu could hear the Beatles' songs playing in the store, especially the one called "Imagine".

  This also made Lin Xiaoyu like the British band called "The Beatles".

  When Lin Xiaoyu took a THE BEATLES' No. 1 album to the counter to pay, she smiled and asked Lin Xiaoyu: "Do you like Beatles too?"

  Lin Xiaoyu nodded shyly.

  She seemed delighted to say, "Nowadays, fewer and fewer people like the band 'Tortoise'. I also love them very much. Their music always carries a kind of sincerity and passion, which always makes one feel hopeful about life. Do you think so?"

  Lin Xiaoyu looked up at her face, Lin Xiaoyu's first close-up look at her face, her warm smile like spring breeze made Lin Xiaoyu feel dizzy for a moment. Lin Xiaoyu replied: "Yes, their melody is very simple and sincere. Just like... just like the water of Yudai River, it's always flowing slowly and quietly, but forever full of vitality, endless." Lin Xiaoyu spoke with some embarrassment, having lived by Yudai River for sixteen years, Lin Xiaoyu had a deep feeling about this river.

  She looked at Lin Xiaoyu with great interest after hearing her words and said, "Right, what you said is very apt. Just like the river water of Yudai River... Are you in high school now?"

  Lin Xiaoyu is now about 1.75 meters tall, with a slender figure that makes people feel that Lin Xiaoyu doesn't look like a middle school student, but her face still has that youthful innocence.

  I am now in junior high school year three.

  "I thought you were a high school student, haha, you're half a head taller than me!" She looked at Lin Xiaoyu who was taller than her.

  Lin Xiaoyu heard her words and scratched his head awkwardly.

  "Wait a minute, I have something to give you." She said and walked into the inner room of the store, soon came out with something in her hand and handed it over to Lin Xiaoyu, "This is for you, I rarely see someone who likes beetles as much as I do, you'll like this."

  Lín Xiǎo Yǔ saw that what she had given herself was a CD, John Lennon's, and among the tracks on it was that song "Imagine" which she often listened to.

  "How much does this cost?" Although Lin Xiaoyu liked the gift she gave herself very much, Lin Xiaoyu was too embarrassed to accept her gift.

  When she heard Lin Xiaoyu wanted to buy it with money, her expression became a bit unhappy: "I'm not selling this CD, I'm giving it to you. If you want to pay for it, I won't give it to you."

  Lin Xiaoyu saw that she was a bit angry and apologized: "Sorry, how can I let you send it to me?"

  "I'm giving it to you, just take it, there's no need to be polite."

  "Then thank you." Lin Xiaoyu took over the CD.

  She saw Lin Xiaoyu put away the CD and immediately became very happy, with a smile on her face that was like a rainbow.

  "My name is Chen Xue, and I'm a senior at Feicui City No. 1 Middle School." She stretched out her hand to Lin Xiaoyu with great ease.

  "Oh, I'm Lin Xiaoyu, a student of Feicui Fourth." Lin Xiaoyu hastily extended her hand and shook hands with her. As she held the other girl's smooth and slightly warm hand, her heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

  From then on, every time Lin Xiaoyu went to the CD store to pick out CDs, she would always chat with Chen Xue for a while. Chen Xue could always recommend a CD that Lin Xiaoyu really liked. Lin Xiaoyu had an inexplicable feeling towards Chen Xue, who loved wearing purple clothes.

  I don't know when the idiom "heavenly jealousy of talented people" appeared, but Lin Xiaoyu found that her favorite singers all had such a fate. BEYOND's Wong Ka Kui was like this, John Lennon was also like this.

  John Lennon's life was also cut short in an unexpected event.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't know if this was fate or not, but all the brilliant glory always seemed so fleeting.

  When Lin Xiaoyu saw her for the last time in the CD store, she told Lin Xiaoyu that she was going to Shanghai to study music. And gave a poster of John Lennon to Lin Xiaoyu.

  Lin Xiaoyu saw a sentence she wrote for herself on the poster:

  Nice to meet you, Xiaoyu, hope to see you again someday. ---- Chen Xue

  After that, every time Lin Xiaoyu heard the turtle's "Imagine", a beautiful figure in purple clothes would always appear in her mind. The figure was faint and vague, but it would always appear in Lin Xiaoyu's heart...

  After that, Lin Xiaoyu never saw her again in that CD store. Lin Xiaoyu always felt like she had lost something in her heart. Lin Xiaoyu still went to the store every week, but she never heard John Lennon's emotional rendition of "Imagine" in that CD store again...

  "Imagine"

  John Lennon

  P.S: I don't know if this counts as a first love. Lin Xiaoyu doesn't know, and neither do I. Hehe, this story hasn't ended yet. When they meet again in the future, it will surely spark even more dazzling fireworks. Please give me some feedback, little brother is grateful.