Chapter 116: Elegy

Chapter 116: Elegy

Chapter 116: Elegy

"Actually there are more than just duck blood fans. There is another person."

When Chen Qingluo said this, her eyes became dazed, as if she was sitting in a bar and noticed that a copy of "Kafka on the Shore" was sticking out of the handbag of the girl with the dragon tattoo who was drinking Blue Phantom across from her.

In the eyes of others, her temperament became even more mysterious and profound. Her black eyes were like a deep lake, and whatever she saw was the distant past.

People say that Chen Qingluo is naturally beautiful. Because of her looks and talent, many people are still very concerned about her emotional life. Although there are no paparazzi who keep an eye on her daily schedule to see if she has secret meetings with the opposite sex, whenever Chen Qingluo is exposed to some news about her suspected emotional experience, it will immediately become the headlines in Xihe.

The people of Xihe were so sympathetic to this gifted girl from Xihe that they were jealous of the husband she chose and were also worried about the fact that she had not yet fallen in love.

The host was in a state of mixed fear and surprise. She had not expected that a scripted interview would turn out this way. Could it be that Chen Qingluo had finally figured it out and wanted to use this occasion to make her relationship public? She was cautiously expecting Chen Qingluo to reveal something more. The audience in the audience felt the same way.

Except Wang Zixu.

Wang Zixu's heart was filled with turbulent waves and a storm, as if he was lost in a deep valley with a thick fog. He was trembling all over.

For a moment, he thought, could it be me, the person that Chen Qingluo mentioned that made her unforgettable? But he only thought of this for a moment. Because the answer could not be him.

As long as Chen Qingluo wanted, she had 12 ways to contact Wang Zixu in these years. She had not left their class group, and private chat was not prohibited in the group. If she wanted to find him, she could do it by clicking on his avatar; the email account he had exchanged with her had not changed in ten years, and it was filled with all kinds of junk ads, but he still logged in regularly to check for new emails in case the mailbox was frozen.

If she wanted to find him, it would be easy. He didn't contact her because of his low self-esteem, so what reason did she have for not coming to him?

He was not the person that Chen Qingluo could not forget. There was someone else that she was thinking about.

Wang Zixu knew that this day would come. Chen Qingluo would announce that she fell in love with someone, then get married, have children, and live somewhere, leading a wonderful life that Wang Zixu knew nothing about.

He knew this, but he still couldn't bear it when he heard the news. This subtle emotion is like Kobayashi Issa's haiku: I know she has nothing to do with my life, but, but...

Or maybe he remembered a poem by Heine that he had read in college. The whole poem is as follows:
I wandered in foreign countries,
Waiting for my beloved girl,
Wait until I see her in her wedding dress in the church.

Damn, I'm not the groom!!
She is a beautiful violet.

It shines brightly in my memory.

This frivolous girl! I didn't even touch her!

Damn, I don't regret it!!
...This poem was translated by Wang Xiaobo, and the title of the poem is "Elegy". But when Wang Zixu read it, he did not feel sad, but felt very happy, especially when he saw Heine cursing in the street.

It was not until 10 years later that he recalled the poem again and realized the sadness behind it. He realized how much despair there was behind the scolding, and he was even more sad than Heine - he was not worthy of touching this frivolous girl.

Wang Zixu was in a mess. He felt that he was being hypocritical. After so many years, he had gotten married and lived his life. Why the hell were you still thinking about it? He hated himself for being like this. At this moment, the man sitting next to him looked at him for a long time and suddenly said:
"Hey man, have we met somewhere before?"

Wang Zixu was startled and turned to look at the man. The man had a Mediterranean hairstyle, and his hair was so sparse that it made people feel distressed, but he was indeed familiar. Wang Zixu recalled for a while, and it was the man who remembered first:
"Oh, I remember now, aren't you Xie Cong's classmate?"

Wang Zixu was stunned, he also remembered - the last time he and Lin Feng were eating barbecue at "Old Village Chief", he met Xie Cong by chance. At that time, everyone at the table was either a famous director, a famous reporter, or a famous editor, and this guy was among them. As for his last name, Wang Zixu had completely forgotten it.

He stretched out his hand somewhat embarrassedly, and the man said, "Xie Cong is here too, how about I switch seats with him and let the two of you chat."

Wang Zixu waved his hands quickly, saying no, no, no need to be so polite. But the man ignored his politeness and turned around and whispered: Xie Cong, Xie Cong!
At this moment, the host on the stage started speaking. The man stopped talking and turned to look at the stage at the same time as Wang Zixu.

The host asked, "Teacher Chen, who is that person you are talking about?"

Chen Qingluo was silent for a long time and did not answer her immediately. She seemed to be lost in thought.

Chen Qingluo entered the space of memory: she was no longer sitting under the most dazzling lights of the Xihe Literary Society, but standing under the shade of a tree next to the basketball court in high school; it was not just after dusk, but after the second class in the afternoon, and the bell for the third class had not yet rung; the sun was high in the sky, with a fierce momentum, and when the wind blew, the heat wave rolled over like a tidal wave.

Chen Qingluo had eyebrows as black as ink, lips as red as rosy red, and she was wearing a short-sleeved school uniform. Her exposed arms were blindingly white. She was sitting on the flower bed with one leg crossed and toes raised. In front of her, a short-haired girl stood respectfully, holding a bottle of mineral water in her hands.

Cicadas chirped tirelessly overhead, and from afar I could hear the sound of basketballs hitting the backboard and the cheers of the crowd. The air was saturated with the scent of earth.

"I heard that you were going to give some water to classmate Wang Zixu?"

The short-haired girl lowered her head and said, "This is not my plan. Wasn't this decided at the class meeting? I will be responsible for his logistics for this game."

There was a cheer from classmates behind them. Chen Qingluo and the short-haired girl turned around and saw Wang Zixu clenching his fists and panting as he made a "come on" gesture. Someone patted him on the back. It seemed that he had just grabbed the rebound and scored a layup.

Chen Qingluo turned around and continued her topic: "I didn't go to the class meeting, but I heard that you volunteered to attend it?"

The short-haired girl was somewhat indignant: "Who said that?"

"Someone said so anyway." Chen Qingluo lowered her voice, "It's not good to do this in high school."

The short-haired girl blushed: "What?"

Chen Qingluo fiddled with her hair and said, "The teachers may have misunderstood. I'll ask you to come to their office to talk someday. It won't be clear then."

The short-haired girl pleaded, “Don’t tell the teacher.”

"I definitely won't tell the teacher. Look, apart from collecting homework, where else have I ever talked to the teacher?"

"I really just handed him some water. I don't like him."

"Who said you like him?"

The short-haired girl handed the mineral water to Chen Qingluo: "Why don't you give it to him?"

Chen Qingluo twisted the water and drank it herself: "He is such a grown man, why can't he drink water by himself? Why do you have to pass it to him?"

"To cheer them up and boost morale. This was discussed at the class meeting, and you were not there at the time."

Chen Qingluo finished drinking the water and wiped her fair chin with the back of her hand: "Then go and cheer him up. The main reason is that handing water to a boy is too ambiguous and it's easy for people to talk behind your back. If everyone is cheering, it doesn't matter."

"Aren't you going?"

"Too sunny."

The short-haired girl walked two steps with her hands behind her back, then suddenly turned around and asked in a low voice: "Are you interested in him?"

Chen Qingluo screwed the cap back on: "Who said that?"

"Why don't you care about the other boys?"

Chen Qingluo said: "He is my deskmate."

"…Is that so?" The short-haired girl looked meaningful.

Chen Qingluo rolled her eyes: "What else? Don't think too much. Go quickly."

...During the evening self-study, Wang Zixu was lying on the table, emitting the odor of sweat. Chen Qingluo wrinkled her nose, sat down next to him, and used a book as a fan to fan him.

Wang Zixu turned around and said with emotion: "Thank you. How did you know I was hot?"

"I don't know. I just think you smell too bad."

"Oh. Okay." The prince shook his clothes weakly, and the smell became stronger.

Chen Qingluo fanned even harder and asked casually, "Didn't you win? Why do you look so depressed?"

In fact, she could guess why. All the boys in the class had someone to help pass water during the game, except him. He must have thought he was excluded. Winning the game was more painful than losing.

But Wang Zixu didn't tell Chen Qingluo why. He was too embarrassed to say it, so he just said, "I'm a little tired."

Chen Qingluo stopped, her dark eyes turned, and her long eyelashes fluttered twice: "How about..."

"how?"

"nothing."

She wanted to ask her to help him pass the water next time, but it seemed a bit too stiff to bring this up so abruptly at this moment, and it seemed particularly impure.

Chen Qingluo coughed twice, turned around, and took out the book. It would be troublesome to persuade some girl to give up passing him water at the next game.

……

Chen Qingluo didn't understand why she would think of this experience. In fact, whenever she thought of this dark history, she would wrap herself in a quilt and torture her pillow before going to bed at night.

The host reminded her again: "Teacher Chen?"

"Hmm?" Chen Qingluo woke up as if from a dream.

"You just mentioned that you have an unforgettable person in Xihe."

The host's tone was full of gossip. Chen Qingluo lowered her head, and when she raised her head again, the ripples in her starry eyes had disappeared, as if she suddenly discovered that the girl reading "Kafka on the Shore" in the bar was not drinking Blue Phantom, but duck blood vermicelli soup.

"The person I can't forget is the old lady who sold duck blood vermicelli outside the entrance of my high school. The duck blood vermicelli I ate later was never as good as the one she made."

The host asked, "After you came back this time, did you go back to the old place and have another bowl?"

"It's been so many years, the old lady has stopped doing it."

Offstage, the man next to Wang Zixu laughed dryly: "She is really humorous."

Wang Zixu said nothing. He finally stopped shaking.

The man said, "I'd better call Xie Cong over."

Wang Zixu was unable to stop him, and Xie Cong finally came over. The two old classmates simply greeted each other, and Xie Cong sighed:

"I was so nervous just now. I thought Chen Qingluo was going to talk about someone in our class!"

Wang Zixu rolled his eyes in the dark: "Why are you so nervous? Do you think you could be the one that Chen Qingluo can't forget?"

Xie Cong took a deep breath and said, "Who knows!"

"How long has she been your deskmate? Two months or so? After she went to another high school, did she keep in touch with her old classmates? How could she be talking about you? You are being too self-indulgent, buddy."

Xie Cong blushed: "Just kidding, why are you so excited?"

"Am I excited? I'm not excited? Aren't you telling the truth?"

Wang Zixu rarely criticized others so sharply. Or rather, he was not criticizing Xie Cong, he was criticizing himself a minute ago.

Xie Cong was a little embarrassed, and suddenly asked in surprise: "By the way, why are you sitting here?"

"Why can't I sit here?"

Xie Cong turned around and pointed: "I just saw your unit's signboard, isn't it behind?"

Zhao Peilin poked his head out from the other side of Wang Zixu: "He is the top player in today's essay contest award ceremony. He will go on stage to receive the award later."

Zhao Peilin was stunned: "You also participated in the competition? Did you make it to the final round?"

Wang Zixu nodded gently. The process of him entering the final round was somewhat bumpy, but of course it was not something that could be told to outsiders.

Xie Cong laughed dryly and said, "I also participated in the competition, but unfortunately I was eliminated in the second round. You actually made it to the third round, which is great."

Wang Zixu didn't want to pay attention to him. He felt that he had been feeling inexplicably irritated since he saw Chen Qingluo.

……

Diao Yiwen looked at her phone for the 15th time tonight, feeling a little annoyed.

The chat history between her and her father still stopped at the line "I'll let you know when the score is out." Half an hour passed, and the other party still hadn't responded.

Even though knowing the result in advance wouldn't do anything, and no matter how powerful she was, she couldn't change the result, but she still wanted to know it in advance, at least to calm her restless heart.

Beside him, Guo Ranran came over: "Yiwen, are you nervous?"

Diao Yiwen shook her head: "Not bad."

"Don't be nervous, you can definitely do it." Guo Ranran said, "And you've already made it into the top ten, you've already proved yourself."

"Thank you."

Diao Yiwen's hand holding the phone was extremely tense, and the joints were a little white.

We have already been invited to Yanzi Mountain, it is not enough to just get into the top ten.

……

Lin Luo gritted his teeth and stared at his phone.

The chat record between him and Shen Qingfeng ended when he asked Shen Qingfeng about the score ten minutes ago. The previous one was when Shen Qingfeng told him the score of his first manuscript.

No one knew what happened at the awards ceremony, and this "something" caused Shen Qingfeng to delay sending a message. Was their little trick discovered? Or was the awards ceremony suspended? Lin Luo was a little nervous.

Or worse, his grades were not ideal and Shen Qingfeng was so unhappy that he didn't bother to pay attention to him.

After the interview with Chen Qingluo, there was another interview with another celebrity, followed by a song and dance performance, and then the leaders took time out of their busy schedules to come, came on stage to say hello, and then sat in the first row.

The wait was so long that some people had already started to desert. Wang Zixu couldn't explain what he felt. He kept staring at Chen Qingluo, not wanting to miss any possibility that she would look at him.

Unfortunately, she never noticed herself. The light in the audience was too dim, and the stage was bright, so she couldn't distinguish an old classmate whom she hadn't seen for more than 12 years in the dark.

"Come out! Come out!"

Everyone looked up suddenly and finally saw that several judges of the jury walked up to the stage from the back, with Shen Qingfeng being the first one.

The new process on the stage caused cheers from the audience, especially when Shen Qingfeng came on stage. He seemed to have many fans at the scene, and he smiled and greeted the audience.

But judging from his expression, he looked a little tired. In fact, all the judges had tiredness written all over their faces, including Ning Chunyan behind him. Ning Chunyan's steps were a little unsteady, and he was about to fall. Before he sat down, he exchanged a meaningful look with Chen Qingluo next to him.

Behind the crowd was Yan Zishan. This famous writer seemed the most energetic among all, but his expression was serious, and there was no emotion at all on his slightly dark face.

Li Tingfang was the last to go on stage. This old lady had obviously reached her physical limit, and the look of fatigue on her face was the most intense among all the others.

Lin Luo stared at Shen Qingfeng eagerly, trying to find the answer from his face, and even wanted to know the ranking from his face, but he naturally couldn't see anything. He even wanted to ask why he didn't reply to his message.

Diao Yiwen also stared at Yan Zishan anxiously. She wanted to find out from Yan Zishan's face how her work would rank in the end. The more serious Yan Zishan's expression was, the more panicked she felt, because that manuscript was also written by Yan Zishan, but his expression did not seem like the expression of someone who had won a good ranking for his manuscript.

Lin Feng also stared at Li Tingfang anxiously. During the selection process, he maintained the greatest degree of restraint and never asked about his own results because his teacher didn't like this. But at the last moment, he couldn't hold on any longer.

Everyone stared at their soul mentor, trying to see something on the judges' faces. Among all the people, only Wang Zixu stared at Chen Qingluo. Then he found that she had been absent-minded and was hiding in the corner among everyone, playing with her fingers.

Li Tingfang stepped onto the central platform and said into the microphone:
“Now we will begin the award ceremony for the essay contest.

“The final round of selection for this literary competition has the strongest judging panel, the most fair and rigorous scoring process, and the most comprehensive supervision in all previous literary competitions.

"The final result of this evaluation has been discussed and unanimously recognized by the judging panel. Now, please let the host read out the final result."

After saying this, Li Tingfang seemed to have finally reached his limit. He sat down aside and let out a long sigh.

The female host in a red cheongsam came on stage with a typical smile on her face. After delivering a string of extremely elegant words, she said:
"Now, let's announce the winners of this competition's Excellence Award: Lin Luo and Cui Xian!"

After that, she added: "Please ask the winners to come up to the stage to receive their awards, and our special guests to present them with their awards!"

(End of this chapter)