Chapter 335 A Night Without Stars

It was late at night and the whole city was brightly lit.

Li Yufei stood quietly at the door, watching Zhang Yunqi's back disappear at the end of the road.

The movie theater at the Longjingyuan Cannery Cultural Center not far away had just ended, and the quiet road suddenly became noisy. The noisy crowd scattered in all directions. The workers in the factory, who rarely had the opportunity to watch a movie, could be heard talking non-stop.

After a while, the street became quiet again.

The snow had stopped, and the sky was filled with broken clouds that fled southward in the dark night like a retreating army. The outlines of the mountains on all sides could only be vaguely distinguished.

Li Yufei was in a state of confusion and had no intention of going home for a while.

She left Longjing Garden and came to the street. She strolled slowly in the shadows under the camphor trees on the sidewalk, and couldn't help but walk north.

Strangely enough, she had some inexplicable hope that Zhang Yunqi could drive back on this road. This emotion didn't seem right, and Li Yufei had never thought that she would be trapped in this emotion of Zhang Yunqi for a long time.

In fact, before Zhang Yunqi came to No. 1 Middle School, she had already studied in the junior high school of No. 1 Middle School for three years and was accustomed to getting along with the boys and girls around the school. Even when she entered high school and Zhang Yunqi also came to No. 1 Middle School, she still had little contact with Zhang Yunqi and only treated him as an ordinary friend. If Zhang Yunqi was not the top scorer in the high school entrance examination, it would be difficult for her to even notice this poor student from the countryside. This was not because of power, but because Zhang Yunqi was too far away from her circle of life. More importantly, compared with her peers in school today, Zhang Yunqi really seemed a little different.

You know, after so many years of imprisonment, many seemingly natural concepts have been overturned one by one, new thoughts are flooding in like a flood, and popular culture is unprecedentedly prosperous, which is dazzling. The boys around her are all keen on football and basketball, Hong Kong and Taiwan martial arts movies, pop music, and electronic games. They are full of vigor and vitality, or they are excellent students with excellent grades. They study hard and are enthusiastic about the various changes of this era. They actively exchange various information with their classmates, and debate various social issues and national development... They are also changing with each passing day in terms of food and clothing, and they are very happy when playing. But Zhang Yunqi is completely different from these boys.

What’s different about Zhang Yunqi?

From the outside, he has grown a lot taller, his skin has become much whiter, he has a well-proportioned figure, and he is dressed neatly and cleanly. He has the demeanor of a real man. Compared to the dark and thin boy when he first came to Jiangchuan, his appearance has changed greatly.

However, what makes Zhang Yunqi different from other boys mainly lies in his thinking. He can think independently, has a mature outlook on life and the world, has a unique understanding of life, and has a deep understanding of things, but he never talks big or cynically worries about the fate of mankind. What is even more amazing is that he did not confine himself to the small world of the school, but chose a more difficult path of struggle. This boy from a poor family in a remote rural area, when his peers were still sentimental in their youth, rushed into the cruel and realistic adult society, created a big career with his bare hands, and used practical actions to silently repay the society and help those around him.

Li Yufei thought more than once: if Zhang Yunqi had not bought the bankrupt Longjingyuan and revitalized the cannery with his outstanding management skills and vigorously developed the industry, where would those laid-off uncles and uncles go? And where would her father, the factory director, go?

Li Yufei had no answer.

She often recalled the time when Zhang Yunqi was selling electronic products in high school. At that time, she could not understand some of Zhang Yunqi's practices. She still remembered that she once met Zhang Yunqi on the street selling game consoles like a peddler. At that time, she was really annoyed. How difficult was it for a child from a poor family to enter the best high school in Jiangchuan from a remote mountain village in a province with the highest number of high school entrance examinations? It must have been a great hardship and a lot of suffering.

She felt that Zhang Yunqi should firmly grasp this opportunity, work hard, and enter a key university. This is the bright road, so she said some very unfriendly words to Zhang Yunqi at that time. Of course, even though the times have changed, Zhang Yunqi has achieved very remarkable results. At a young age, he has become a famous young entrepreneur in the city. He is no longer comparable to them, the students of Qingzhi. However, Li Yufei still does not regret what she said. She thinks those words are right. After all, how many boys like this are there in the world? Zhang Yunqi's success is too dreamy. It is not a universal law of success. Ordinary students should focus on studying if they want to have a good future.

Li Yufei walked alone on the streets of Jiangchuan at night, thinking carefully about Zhang Yunqi and his path. In the past, she only regarded him as an ordinary student with good grades, but now, this person has established a unique "coordinate" in her world.

Unconsciously, Li Yufei had reached the intersection of Yuxian Street. There were not many people on the street. The street lights cast long shadows on the snow-covered street. On the opposite mountain, a nine-story ancient tower like a cone pointed straight to the sky with chaotic clouds in the hazy sky.

It was a starless night.

When Li Yufei returned home, she found that only the study in her three-bedroom apartment was lit, probably because her father was still at work. Her mother worked in the provincial capital, Lijin City, and usually did not come home.

Li Yufei heard her father talking in the study. She thought there was a visitor, but when she listened carefully, she found that he was scolding her cat Pudding - saying that the cat was jumping around in the room and making trouble, affecting his work; Pudding only answered his accusations with "meow".

Li Yufei stuck out her tongue in the aisle and couldn't help laughing.

The kitten Pudding was a birthday present her cousin gave her when she was fifteen. Sometimes she went out to play with her classmates and her mother was not at home most of the time, so her father would feed Pudding. As a result, Pudding became very attached to him.

Li Yufei didn't intend to interrupt their "conversation" and quietly went into her bedroom. After washing up, she went to bed, but she couldn't fall asleep for a long time. New Year's Day was just a few days away. She couldn't help but wonder what song Zhang Yunqi would sing at the New Year's Eve party. Zhang Yunqi didn't say it, and she had never heard Zhang Yunqi sing before, so she was still looking forward to it.

Later, she thought cunningly: Although this is just a small party in the class, she can organize a simple rehearsal in her capacity as the arts committee member and let Zhang Yun perform first!
Li Yufei was buried in the quilt with a smile on her face.

Thinking of this, she remembered that when Zhang Yunqi sent her home and they parted, she said the line from "Léon: The Professional". Zhang Yunqi seemed a little confused at the time, and said that the line was very affectionate. He also said that in his opinion, this movie was a story about two children, a girl and a boy. In fact, in their hearts, they were both 12 years old, they both felt lost, and they loved each other deeply.

It was already very late at night.

There was snow falling outside the window, and the street lights and car lights on Yuxian Street in the distance were flickering.

Yu Fei kept thinking about what Zhang Yunqi meant by this sentence. Was there a different "deep meaning" behind it? As she thought about it, for some reason, the image of Zhang Yunqi when they first met popped up in her mind. Her happy heart suddenly became filled with an inexplicable sense of loss.

Years later, she would often have this feeling late at night.

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(End of this chapter)