Chapter 275 Bursting silently
As the evening study session was about to end, it started to rain.

The midsummer rain always comes suddenly, covering the sky and earth, bursting silently.

In such weather, when one foot is about to step into the chaos of the senior year, there are not many students attending the evening self-study in the classroom. The No. 1 Middle School in the city has always been lax in student management. For free-spirited students, this place is a paradise compared to those closed schools that treat students like prisoners in order to compete for grades. Before entering the university, they can already experience the leisurely life of the university.

Jiangchuan No. 1 Middle School does have the capital.

It gathers the largest number of top students in the city, as well as a large number of ordinary students from relatively good families who pay high school construction fees. The school uses the resources brought by this large number of ordinary students to devote and support a small number of top students at the top of the pyramid. The annual college entrance examination results are enough to make the most of the world. As for those ordinary students with poor grades, as long as they don't make trouble, they are all left alone to do whatever they want.

In fact, by the end of the second semester of the second year of high school, the grades of most students have almost been determined. Although there are some who catch up and suddenly become outstanding in the third year of high school, they are still a minority. In short, at this time, students with good grades will work harder, and students with poor grades will start to indulge themselves, especially those boarding students who have no parents to watch over them and only go home once a month. They usually sleep in class and hang out in rental bookstores, billiard halls, and game halls during evening self-study, wandering around with their youth that has nowhere to go.

In Class 156, most of the students who came to the classroom for evening self-study that night were boarding girls. There were few seats, so everyone could sit wherever they wanted. Some girls who liked to gossip gathered in groups of three or five, chatting, eating snacks and reading books. Their life was really leisurely. Some hardworking students chose a secluded corner to sit alone, isolated from any distractions.

This is how we first met, sitting in a secluded corner.

Sometimes she read books and did homework, sometimes she stared at the heavy rain outside the window, and sometimes she wondered if her stepfather, who had made her half-human and half-ghost because of a fake lottery ticket, had returned home. But since he promised her, he probably came back. In this way, her mother wouldn't worry.

Chu Jian thought about all this, watching the raindrops hitting the window, and shook her head. She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but remember what he had said to her in a mysterious way when they went to the Hongshan Mahjong Hall in the afternoon: "Tell me, if a person does something bad, will he never be a good person again in his life?"

After the bell rang for the evening self-study class, the students who attended the class left the classroom in twos and threes. They ran along the eaves back to the dormitory. Soon, Chu Jian was the only one left in the classroom. The sky was dark at that time, and all the lights in the classroom were on. The pale light shone on her figure as she read. The wind and rain poured in from the door, bringing a chill.

It was not until nearly half past ten, when the power in the teaching building was about to go out, that Chu Jian put away his textbooks, locked the door and left the classroom.

I went downstairs and met Lin Zihao when I reached the door.

He probably didn't bring an umbrella either, and was hiding from the rain under the eaves at the entrance of the teaching building, wearing headphones and with one hand in his trouser pocket. When he saw her coming over, he didn't look surprised, but subconsciously threw the cigarette in his other hand into the trash can, then took off his headphones and smiled and said to her, "You just got out of class?"

Nodding at first sight.

The two of them didn't say anything else.

Standing under the eaves at the door, waiting for the rain to subside.

The girl beside him seemed to make Lin Zihao a little at a loss as to what to do. He was always very graceful in front of girls, but his body was a little stiff, his eyes staring straight at the sky, a thumb-sized column of water seemed to penetrate the sky and the earth, the rain fell wildly, the raindrops hit the ground with a crackling sound, and a mist rose up. He didn't know how long it had been, perhaps he couldn't help it, he turned his head to glance at the girl beside him, lowered his head slightly, the warm light reflected on her clear little face, suddenly reminded him of Sophie Marceau in the French movie "The Feeling of Heart", his heart beat violently: "My dad will drive over to pick me up soon, let's go home together then."

Chu Jian shook his head: "Thank you, but no thanks."

Lin Zihao smiled, not showing much disappointment on his face, and handed the headphones in his hand to Chu Jian: "Let's listen to some music? It feels good to listen to music when it rains."

Chu Jian was about to speak when a Honda Accord appeared at the end of the road. A few seconds later, the car cut through the wind and rain and arrived in front of the teaching building.

The car window slid down, revealing a middle-aged man's fair face. There was a big black mole next to his lips, and there was a smile in his eyes: "Son, get in the car."

Lin Zihao immediately put his backpack on his head, walked to the car window in the rain, pointed at Chu Jian behind him and said, "Dad, this is my classmate. She didn't bring an umbrella. Please take her home first."

The middle-aged man had already noticed the pretty girl behind him. He reached out and touched Lin Zihao's head, smiling meaningfully. Then, he said to Chu Jian very politely, "My classmate, get in the car. I'll take you home first."

Chu Jian was silent for a moment, then said politely, "No need, uncle. My dad will come to pick me up later."

When the middle-aged man heard Chu Jian say this, he smiled and nodded: "That's good, we'll leave first, and you should go home early too." Then he retracted his gaze and asked Lin Zihao to get in the car.

Lin Zihao tilted his head, with a look of youthful unwillingness on his face. The middle-aged man just smiled helplessly, then rolled up the car window, blocking his sight in the rain.

Chu Jian stood under the eaves and watched the Honda Accord slide silently into the night, its taillights flashing and its engine roaring away.

The rain was getting heavier. In midsummer, the hot air suddenly became extremely cold. When the Honda Accord disappeared at the end of the road, Chu Jian looked up at the dark sky. She couldn't help wondering if it was raining in Lijin, the provincial capital.

Holding her schoolbag in her arms, Chu Jian lifted her foot and stepped directly into the rain. The pair of white cloth shoes embroidered with a jasmine flower patch on her feet got wet instantly, and a chill spread from the soles of her feet to her heart.

Facing the heavy rain, walking through the dark campus.

When he ran to the school gate, Chu Jian, who was out of breath, suddenly stopped and looked at the private car parked in the rain in front of him. The car window was open, and through the rain, he could vaguely see Lin Zihao and Lin's father.

Father Lin patted the steering wheel, waved and said, "Girl, it's raining so hard, it's not safe for a girl like you to walk on the road at night. Listen to your uncle, get in the car quickly, I'll take you home, it's not good to catch a cold later."

Many times, it is not easy to refuse others, especially when they are sincere and you seem to have no other choice. Of course, you know that every friendship will not be light, and all gifts have been secretly marked with a price.

Driving through the streets of Jiangchuan late at night in a Honda Accord, I saw the branches and leaves cut down by wind and rain outside the window for the first time, and it reminded me of the movie Queen Elizabeth II that I had just watched a few days ago.

"By the way, where do you live?"

Dad Lin handed the tissue box to Chu Jian who was behind him.

Chu Jian said politely: "Hongshan Nong, my name is Chu Jian, uncle, thank you for your help."

Father Lin said "OK". He seemed to have thought of something and smiled casually, "Chu Jian, your name should come from Nalan Xingde's poem "If life could only be like the first encounter", right? Haha, what a good name. I remember that the surname Chu is in the Hundred Family Surnames, but it is quite rare in Jiangchuan. Chu Jian, what's your father's name, and where is he from?"

Chu Jian was silent for a moment: "A local man named Chu Dapeng."

Father Lin nodded: "Okay, let's get to know each other when we have a chance."

After a while, he stretched out his somewhat stiff hand and turned on the music in the car. It was Chen Shuhua's "When Awakening from a Dream": "You said you made a mistake that you shouldn't have made, and your heart was full of regret. You said you had tasted all the bitterness of life and couldn't find anyone you could trust. You said you felt extremely frustrated and even began to doubt your life..." Amid the singing, the Honda Accord passed through the stormy night.

As they gradually approached the shantytown of Hongshan Lane, Lin Zihao watched the car turn into a muddy dirt road. On both sides of the dirt road were rows of low, dilapidated tiled shacks. In the dark rainy night, they were lit with a dim, even poor, light.

This is Lin Zihao's first time here.

He never knew there was such a slum in Jiangchuan.

When the car arrived at Chu Jian's home, he looked at the three tiled houses that were as old as those from the last century, and seemed to suddenly understand why Chu Jian had always been the top student in the second grade of high school at the No. 1 Middle School in the city. But what he couldn't understand was how such a poor and backward land could raise a girl like Chu Jian.

While I was thinking about this, the car had already stopped.

Chu Jian politely thanked Lin's father and Lin Zihao repeatedly before pushing the door and getting out of the car. But just as she turned around, a figure holding an umbrella suddenly walked out of the dark courtyard gate: "Chu Jian! Girl! Are you back?"

When Chu Jian looked up, he saw that the person was Aunt Yu from the Hongshan Lane Residential Committee. He was stunned for a moment: "Grandma Yu, why don't you go in such a heavy rain? Is there something wrong?"

Aunt Yu cried out “Ouch!” and hurried over to hold Chu Jian’s hand and said, “My daughter, you just got back from school. Something big happened! Two policemen came to your house just now. Your mother and your sister followed them to the hospital. Your mother ran to my house and asked me to wait for you here. She also asked me to tell you that your father, your father had a car accident! It seems that he was seriously injured. When he was sent to the hospital, he was already dead…”

There was a "boom"!
A bolt of thunder came down from the sky.

There was a loud bang in my ears when I first saw it, and then there was a blank.

******
Dark night, heavy rain, cold.

The Honda Accord was running on the streets late at night.

The wipers wiped away the endless layer of rain on the windshield, but they couldn't wipe away the depressing atmosphere in the car. Dad Lin, who was driving very fast, didn't say a word. Lin Zihao in the back seat looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. He silently looked at Chu Jian next to him. Chu Jian was looking out the window. The street lights reflected her pale face. Raindrops were dripping from the tips of her hair. She looked so beautiful that it was breathtaking.

The car sped all the way and soon arrived at the hospital.

When I first saw him getting off the car, I said to Lin's father, "Thank you, uncle."

"You're welcome. Go see your dad." Father Lin had a smile on his face. The mole next to his lip shone under the light. He took out six hundred-dollar bills from the black leather bag on the passenger seat and handed them to Chu Jian: "Such a big thing has happened. This is just a small token of my appreciation. Take it."

"No need." Chu Jian waved his hand and said politely, "Thank you, uncle. You guys go home early. I'll go first." Then he opened the car door and ran towards the hospital gate.

"Chu..." Lin Zihao shouted, and then stood up to get out of the car and go to the hospital, but his hand was grabbed by Lin's father. Lin Zihao turned his head and said, "Dad, I want to go over and take a look."

"What you should think about now is going home to sleep!" Father Lin threw Lin Zihao's hand away, lit a cigarette, looked at the girl running in the rain and gradually blurred, and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel: "How could she die? It's weird."

Lin Zihao was puzzled: "What do you mean dead? You mean Chu Jian's dad? You know her dad? Oh! By the way, her dad Chu Dapeng won the special prize by faking lottery tickets. You must know that. I was wondering why you suddenly asked Chu Jian her dad's name on the road just now. Dad, then we should go see him now. Besides, tomorrow is the weekend and we don't have to go to school. Such a big thing happened in my classmate's family. I want to go over and take a look and show some concern."

Father Lin had already started the car and turned the steering wheel: "You have a lot of reasons."

Lin Zihao immediately said: "What's in my heart."

Father Lin smiled and said, "Do you like your female classmate?"

Lin Zihao was stunned, and then a hint of embarrassment appeared on his handsome and fair face: "No, no, we are just good friends."

Father Lin dusted off his cigarette ash and said, "You're almost 18 years old, can you be a little more manly? If you like it, you like it. If you don't like it, you don't like it."

"like……"

"Unfortunately, people don't like you."

"What do you mean by that?"

Father Lin said succinctly: "The meaning is very simple, stay away from this girl in the future."

"why?"

“Not so many whys.”

Lin Zihao was very upset: "Dad, can you please not be so rude when you talk?"

Father Lin suddenly stepped on the brakes. This kid was spoiled by his mother. If he didn't make things clear, he probably wouldn't listen to him: "Silly boy, you even dare to scold me. You're getting cocky. But don't be so stubborn. Your father has crossed more bridges than you have walked. Is he going to hurt you? It's obvious that this girl doesn't like you at all. Of course, you must be dissatisfied with what I said and want to compete with your father. Okay, silly boy, then I'll convince you."

Father Lin dusted off his cigarette ash and said, "Just now, Chu Jian was sitting in the car. Logically, a girl of this age whose father had another car accident should be the most lonely and helpless when she needs care the most. In front of the people she is close to and likes, she will show her vulnerable side. But, did she reveal this emotion to you in the car just now? Did she say a word to you nicely? No, it's obvious that she doesn't like you. But is it wrong for her to not like you? That's right, you are not RMB, why should everyone like you? But if you keep pestering her, it's your fault."

Father Lin threw away his cigarette butt and rubbed Lin Zihao's tilted head with his hand: "Let's not talk about some of your actions that make people hate you, and let's not talk about the money you lost. I don't need these small things, but it hurts my heart and time! Lin Zihao, please understand that you have to take the college entrance examination in two months, so save your father some worry. Although you are so old, I don't want to oppose you to fall in love, but you should work harder in the next two months. When you enter a good university, what good girl can't you find? That's it, stay away from this thing called "first encounter" in the future."

Lin Zihao was choked with speech.

He couldn't even utter a word of rebuttal.

He knew that what his father said was reasonable, and even hurtful. But besides the inexplicable feeling of depression in his heart, he also felt that something was wrong. If his father really opposed him pursuing Chu Jian because he was about to take the college entrance examination, then why was he so enthusiastic about sending Chu Jian home when they were at school?

******
(End of this chapter)