Chapter 6
Time slipped past the tail end of summer, and Qi Zheng and I entered the first year of high school. At sixteen, Qi Zheng suddenly shot up in height, his voice and appearance shedding all traces of childishness, now tinged with the raw, exuberant energy of youth.
He had changed a lot compared to when we were younger.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was probably how he still liked to stick close to me, just like before.
“Moon, Moon-” He would always lean over his desk, looking at me with a pleading gaze. “Fourth period is PE. Will you come watch me play basketball?”
I would always reply coolly, “I don’t have time.”
Seeing that I remained unmoved, Qi Zheng could only walk away, crestfallen.
The girls in the row ahead saw this and couldn’t help but sigh, “Oh my god, Zhong Yue, Qi Zheng is begging you like that and you’re still so unmoved… Is this the confidence that comes from being childhood friends?”
After saying that, she couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Zhong Yue, do you really not feel anything at all?”
My hand paused unconsciously as I picked up my book.
At that age, everyone was just beginning to feel the stirrings of young love; it was perfectly normal to be attracted to the opposite sex.
Qi Zheng was handsome, his grades were good, and his well-off family added another layer of luster to him. Ever since we started high school, love letters had never stopped piling up in his desk.
There were plenty of people at school who liked him-there was no doubt about that.
But Qi Zheng didn’t seem to care at all. Day after day, he still revolved around me, carrying my backpack, going to and from school with me. In all his plans, I was always his top priority.
Faced with a boy whose eyes were always full of me, could I really say I never felt anything?
I’m not made of wood.
No one can resist such passionate affection, and I was no exception.
Back then, Qi Zheng was sincere. His feelings for me were as pure and transparent as crystal. But I was also very clear-headed about what I wanted, and I knew what I should be doing at that moment.
So I left everything to time.
Time decides who you meet in your life. Your heart decides who you want in your life. And your actions decide who stays in the end.
On the day Qi Zheng moved away, I went to see him off.
It was July. The boy’s heart was full of reluctance and sorrow at parting, and he couldn’t help but cry his eyes out under the Goldenrain Tree.
He had grown even taller; I had to stand on tiptoe to wipe his tears.
For once, I was patient with him, coaxing him gently, “Alright, alright… It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”
“But it’s not the same.” Qi Zheng rubbed his red eyes, looking at me with grievance. “Once I move, I’ll see you so much less.”
I couldn’t quite say what I felt when I heard that. It was as if, in that instant, a string in my heart was gently plucked, or as if a tiny ant crawled across, leaving behind a subtle but undeniable itch.
“How could that be?” The corners of my mouth lifted slightly, my voice very soft. “Qi Zheng, we’re still so young.”
There’s still so much time ahead of us.
Qi Zheng felt even worse, mumbling, “I don’t want to leave you, Moon. I don’t want to move… not at all… You’re so annoyed by me, you’ll definitely forget about me!”
“I won’t forget you.”
Qi Zheng had always been persistent; I was used to it. So I simply promised him we’d see the Goldenrain Tree bloom together in the fall. “You know I always keep my word.”
Hearing this, Qi Zheng finally felt reassured.
The black sedan had been waiting by the side for a long time. After pouring out all his sorrow, it was time for him to go.
The wind blew gently, cicadas chirring endlessly in my ears.
I stood beneath the Goldenrain Tree, watching the boy leave, never expecting that this would be the last time I’d see him.
When I saw Qi Zheng again, he had already become someone else entirely.
Sensitive, gloomy, violent, restless.
Drinking, smoking, street racing, fighting.
The person summer took away from under the Goldenrain Tree was never returned to me in the fall.