That Nameless Summer Chapter 36

Classification

The residual warmth of the sports meeting lingered in the laughter and frolics in the classroom for two weeks, and a thick layer of sycamore leaves fell again, clinging to the plastic track of the playground, hiding the traces of the teenagers’ running.It wasn’t until the morning reading class on Monday, when Chen You walked into the classroom with a stack of class placement notices that the noise suddenly stopped, and an indescribable astringency suddenly floated in the air.

“Those whose names have been read, pack your things and report to Rocket Class. The grades are arranged based on monthly exams and comprehensive scores, so don’t waste time.” Chen You’s voice fell, and the classroom was so quiet that you could hear the soft sound of the pen tip scratching the page. Song Li’s hand supporting his chin paused, and his eyes unconsciously drifted to the first row – Ling Qingye sat upright, but his fingertips curled up slightly. He didn’t look at him, but seemed to have had a premonition.

“Ling Qingye, Qin Jiangwen, You Xi, Xun Nian, Xie Jiyu,…”

As the names were read out one by one, some were happy and some were silent.Ling Qingye closed the book, moved neatly but slowly, and put the exercise books and competition papers on the table into his school bag one by one. When his fingertips touched the notebook with the sports meeting schedule, he paused for half a second and stuffed it in.Qin Jiangwen was sitting in the last row. His fingertips turned white while holding the class list. He raised his head and glanced in the direction of Xu Jiangyou. The girl was looking down at the book, but the tips of her ears were red. She didn’t look at him, but gently pushed a pen on the corner of the table farther away.

Within ten minutes, Ling Qingye and Qin Jiangwen’s desks were empty. Ling Qingye’s desk still had a small basketball that Song Li drew casually on the corner, and Qin Jiangwen’s desk still contained the 3000-meter breathing method notes handed to him by Xu Jiangyou.

Song Li leaned on the back of his chair and looked at Ling Qingye’s back walking out of the classroom with his schoolbag on his back. He was as thin and tall as when he crossed the 1,500-meter finish line at the sports meeting, but he never looked back.He suddenly remembered that after the sports meeting, Ling Qingye squatted in the alley to wipe his knees and said, “Don’t be brave in the future.” The wind was also warm at that time, and the sycamore leaves fell on their shoulders, as if they were hiding endless words.But at this moment, the man’s back turned around the corridor and disappeared. He was separated by a wall, like an entire playground.

Xu Jiangyou held the pen, and the tip of the pen poked a small hole in the paper. He glanced at the last empty row with his peripheral vision. When Qin Jiangwen left, he left the unfinished bottle of warm water on the corner of the table. It was the same bottle she handed him that day.She thought of the end of the 3,000-meter run, when he leaned on her shoulder and panted, saying “I’m done”. The light in his eyes was brighter than the autumn sun, but now, he didn’t even have time to say “goodbye”.

The Rocket Class is on the top floor of the teaching building, separated from the regular classes by three floors and two corridors.The noise between classes can no longer reach each other’s ears. Song Li can no longer throw a small piece of paper into the front row during self-study class; Ling Qingye can no longer accompany Song Li to practice basketball and run laps on the playground before evening self-study.Qin Jiangwen could only watch Xu Jiangyou standing in the ordinary class from a distance during morning exercises, wearing a low ponytail and talking to his classmates; Xu Jiangyou could only catch a glimpse of Qin Jiangwen and Ling Qingye walking in front together on the way to school, carrying heavy schoolbags, discussing competition questions that they did not understand.

Occasionally, when they met in the corridor, Ling Qingye would stop and hand Song Li a bottle of warm milk, which was the brand he often drank. He only said, “Don’t always drink ice water.” Then he was shouted away by his classmates in the Rocket Class, and he walked in a hurry.Song Li held the milk and stood there, looking at his back. He wanted to say something, but all he could say was “I got it”, floating in the wind and no one could hear him.

Qin Jiang Wenhui secretly left a bowl of her favorite sweet soup for Xu Jiangyou in the cafeteria, placed it next to the dining table of the regular class, and turned around to leave without waiting for her to come.When Xu Jiangyou saw the sweet soup, he would lower his head and smile, take a spoonful and drink it. It was sweet, but a little astringent, like the autumn wind, blowing on his heart, gently, but still remembering.

The courses in Rocket Class are fully scheduled, and Ling Qingye’s desk is always piled with endless exercises. It is common to stay up late into the night, but he still sends a WeChat message to Song Li before going to bed. There are only four simple words: “Go to bed early.” There are no unnecessary words, but it has become Song Li’s expectation before going to bed every night.Qin Jiangwen’s schoolbag always contains the 3,000-meter notebook Xu Jiangyou gave him. Occasionally, he takes it out and reads it. The handwriting is delicate and the annotations are detailed, as if she were standing by the track and gently saying “don’t panic” to him.

The days in the regular classes were still slow. Song Li would take a look at the rocket class on the top floor during the physical education class and saw Ling Qingye sitting by the window, lowering his head to do questions. The sunlight fell on the side of his face. It was just like the day of the sports meeting, and it was so beautiful that people couldn’t take their eyes away.He would bang the basketball loudly, deliberately letting the sound float up, wondering if he would hear it or look up.

During Xu Jiang’s self-study class, she glanced in the direction of the playground and remembered Qin Jiangwen’s back when she ran 3,000 meters. She was determined and stubborn. She would quietly write “Come on” in her notebook. She didn’t know who she was writing to, but she wrote it to the person she cared about in her heart.

The distance of three floors and the barrier between the two corridors separated the people who were originally side by side on both sides.But the tenderness hidden in the sports meeting, the water handed over, the iodophor wiped, the baton received, the 3000 meters completed, and the unspoken cares are all like the sycamore leaves falling in the heart, gently, but leaving traces, which will not be blown away by the wind or wet by the rain.

They were all on their own tracks, hurriedly moving forward, busy studying, and rushing to their respective futures. But at an inadvertent moment, they thought of that autumn playground, that three-day sports meeting, and the person who ran with them for a while, and their hearts felt warm.

It turns out that for some companionship, you don’t need to be by your side all the time. As long as the corners of your mouth slightly rise when you think of it, that’s enough.It turns out that you care a little, so you don’t need to talk about it, as long as you hide it in your heart, it will quietly sprout and grow slowly in the days to come.

And those distances are just for a better encounter.Just like the sycamore leaves in autumn, they will grow again after they fall; just like the snow in winter, they will melt after falling; just like them, separated on both sides of the river at the moment, will eventually be side by side again at a certain intersection, heading towards a farther future.