Chapter 14:

. ...
In late September, the sun at noon was a little bit off from July and August, and the warmth of the whole body was no longer so heroic. The months of sultry heat finally dissipated in these two days.
After October, it is almost autumn. After a while, N City No. 1 Middle School will hold the Inter-School National Day Parade every year.
According to the requirements, in addition to the various clubs and student unions of the school, each class in the first and second grades of high school must register for two programs, and then select. The programs that successfully participate in the National Day Parade will be selected after the end of the Parade. If they enter the top ten inter-school, the school will issue a small pennant to the class or club where the program is located.
Since the first class is an experimental class, grades are the most important, and the class teacher does not pay much attention to this kind of honor, so the programs in the class have not been reported up to now.
Zhang Man remembers that in his previous life, his class had only one show at the end, like a few girls dancing, and there was no splash in the final selection.
After dinner, she and Chen Feier strolled around on the school playground.
As the largest middle school in N City, No. 1 Middle School covers a large area. The school has two playgrounds, one is a 400-meter-long plastic track, and in the middle is a huge artificial green lawn with a wide football field. The other is the cinder track, with volleyball and basketball courts in the middle, where they usually take physical education classes.
The football field is very close to the cafeteria.
Chen Feier walked back and forth on a hollow concrete column lying horizontally by the plastic track, swinging up and down with open arms to maintain her balance, having a great time.
Zhang Man looked a little worried at her swaying appearance, and kept standing underneath to protect her.
Chen Feier walked back and forth for a while, and suddenly remembered: "Manman, I heard that your class seems to be not enough for the National Day Performance, why didn't you sign up? You sing so well and you play the guitar well."
Zhang Man's guitar and singing were learned from Zhang Huifang.
When Zhang Huifang was young, he was the lead singer of the band and sometimes also played as a musician. He is proficient in all these popular instruments. When Zhang Man was young, she taught Zhang Man to play guitar at home when she was all right. From folk songs to rock and roll, she taught everything casually, depending on her mood that day.
The teaching is casual, and the learning is also casual, but the effect is not bad. Perhaps it is also related to the natural sense of happiness.
Now suddenly hearing Chen Feier mention it, Zhang Man couldn't help feeling a little bit: "Me? Let's forget it, I haven't touched it in many years."
She was thinking about past lives.
After Zhang Huifang and Zheng Zhi got married in her previous life, she transferred to H City with them. A lot of things happened after that, and the hardship of life made life difficult for the mother and daughter. Zhang Huifang no longer sings and plays the piano, and she has never touched the guitar again. Later, after working, she couldn't think of it.
After so many years, has long been rusty.
Chen Feier looked at her strangely after hearing the words: "How long does it take, isn't it just over a month? You played the guitar for me on my birthday in the summer vacation, you forgot? Manman, the English song you played It’s so nice, and it sings nicely. I think they can be compared to professional singers."
Zhang Man was slightly stunned, a little startled when he heard the words. Isn't it? She is now sixteen years old. This year, she is still at an age where she can play guitar and sing when she is all right.
Fortunately, Chen Feier didn't take it seriously, she blinked and smiled and said, "And Manman, don't you want to chase Li Wei? I tell you, boys all like versatile and mysterious girls. Think about it. Ah, he usually knows you, quietly, without a few words. Then one day he suddenly found out that this girl sang so nicely, she would notice you more or less?"
After listening to Zhang Man, he was a little skeptical: "Is it...?"
Chen Feier walked crookedly from one end of the concrete pillar to the other, nodded fiercely, and patted her chest: "With my years of experience in reading romantic novels, this trick is correct."
She nodded too hard, unable to maintain her balance at once, and almost fell. Fortunately, Zhang Man had been paying attention to her, his eyesight and hands quickly pulled her.
The two walked for a while, and Zhang Man went to the cafeteria to buy a box lunch for Li Wei, and returned to the classroom with him. Back at the seat, Li Wei was reading a printed paper in English. She glanced at it. There were several words in the title that she hadn't seen.
He looked carefully, and while watching, he made notes on the side of some formulas and images. The pen writing was written on the snow-white A4 paper, making a "sand" rubbing sound.
Zhang Man put the boxed lunch on his table.
"Li Wei... Do you think girls can be a musical instrument?"
She remembered what Chen Feier had just said, and asked such a wicked question.
Li Wei just finished pushing a formula, put down his pen, leaned back on the back of the chair, closed his eyes and pressed his temples: "Well, Janet is a pianist. I couldn't sleep when I was young, so she would take me to the piano room and play the piano. Listen to me."
Even though he looked tired, when he mentioned his mother, he still had a warm tone in his words.
Zhang Man couldn't help breathing when he heard this.
"Then... later?"
The boy's expression was a little trance, as if he was reminiscing. Zhang Man's heart was tense, worried that he found some memory faults that would inspire bad results.
He thought about it carefully, and his voice was calm and natural: "Later... I forgot. She immigrated when I was very young."
When she heard him answer this, she was relieved in her heart, but also a little dignified. His delusion is indeed serious enough to be close to logical self-consistent.
The visual hallucinations and the auditory hallucinations have constructed a scalp-numbing, highly authentic world of delusions. He completely believes that the fantasy in his mind is reality, so even if someone tells him now that his mother has passed away, I am afraid he will not believe it at all.
Zhang Man didn't dare to ask any more, and quickly changed the subject: "What about guitars? Do you like guitars?"
The teenager nodded gently: "Sometimes I can't figure out what I read, I also listen to some country music, or shake it slowly."
So after the self-study in the evening, Zhang Man went to the literary committee Dai Qian to sign up. Dai Qian herself is one of the few dancing girls. Seeing that she came to sign up so late, she was a little confused: "There are more than ten days left for the formal performance. Wouldn't it be too late for you to start rehearsals now?"
She deliberately made things difficult for Zhang Man, so she said: "In this way, I won't report to you. You will go to the literature and art department with me after class tomorrow. We will play a song and listen to it. At that time, our minister will be there. We will talk about it if we pass. Otherwise, the face of our class will be lost."
Generally speaking, it takes more than three days to prepare from registration to selection. She asked Zhang Man to participate in the selection the next day, which really embarrassed her.
Zhang Man frowned and thought about the possibility of getting it done in one day. She had already thought about the repertoire. There was no problem with singing, mainly playing the guitar.
In fact, it shouldn't be difficult to pick it up. Zhang Man nodded and planned to leave after filling out the registration form.
As soon as she turned around, Dai Qian stopped her.
"That's right... Zhang Man, do you like Li Wei?" Her voice hid a bit of joy that pierced her mind, and her voice rose, "It's a pity, he seems to have a girlfriend."
"He usually stays away from strangers, but the last time I heard him call that girl from the school's public phone booth, his voice was very gentle. I think he seems to be cold to you now."
Zhang Man turned his head and glanced at her blankly: "You don't need to take care of my business."
She forced herself back to the seat, and suddenly lost all her strength after sitting down, because of her rebirth, many things in her previous life had been advanced.
Such as this rumor.
This incident is what she has never wanted to remember, the reason why she separated from Li Wei in her previous life.
. ...
That was the first semester of the sophomore year of the previous life, one or two months before Zhang Man transferred.
Usually at the same table at school, and she has to go to his home every weekend to make up lessons, the two get along almost day and night.
Their feelings were much better than they are now, at least Zhang Man thinks so. Although I didn't say it clearly, the teenager always sent her home every night after the make-up class was over and walked her through the street lights one after another.
When she occasionally came to school, she would bring him some soy milk and breakfast to nourish his stomach, and he would eat it one bite at a time without waste. At that time, his eyes looked at her with a soft and warm light.
It's the kind of closeness and liking that I haven't had before.
Seventeen-year-old Zhang Man is simple and ignorant, knowing in his heart that he has fallen into a young love, but he is afraid of a deeper understanding.
In other words, he is actually the same.
Maybe it was worrying to scare her, he never mentioned his family in front of her. As for her side, because she had known about his father's suicide from some rumors, and was worried about poking him in the wound, she never asked.
Love is always like this when you are young. Both want to touch but are afraid of touching, both sides deliberately keep the distance beyond a certain limit.
The sense of distance brought by this obscure and green liking led to various misunderstandings and even breaks.
Zhang Man was at the beginning of his love at that time. Every day, as long as he saw Li Wei by her side, his heart was as sweet as eating honey.
But one day, she heard someone say that Li Wei actually has another girlfriend.
They told her at the time that Li Wei always called the girl, and he was kind to that girl like never before.
They also said that Li Wei's girlfriend was named Janet.
Hearing these words, Zhang Man thought it was just one of Li Wei's many untrustworthy rumors, so she didn't bother to pay attention to it. She told herself in her heart that she should learn to trust him.
However, this trust was completely broken shortly afterwards.
Zhang Man remembered everything that day. In November, it was early autumn in N City, and the weather gradually turned cold. During that time, Li Wei had just returned from the national final of the physics competition in City Z. She remembered that she even bought him a small gift to pray for him.
That evening, after dinner, she and Chen Feier went for a walk and chat on the playground, walking along the plastic track.
The afterglow of the setting sun and the dark red plastic runway almost merged into one. After passing a certain curve, Zhang Man saw Li Wei calling in the public phone booth next to the playground.
The boy dressed in school uniforms properly, his tall and tall figure was stretched very long in the sunset, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his hand with distinct bones was holding the microphone, and the smile on his lips was thrilling.
Zhang Man was excited because of the chance encounter, and approached him quietly from behind, trying to slap him on the shoulder while he was hanging up to startle him, but he heard the sound of his call.
The teenager said with a dumb voice: "Janet, is it cold in Canada now? You have to wear more clothes, you must wear a hat and scarf when you go out, and you must also wear a mask... Well, I just came back from the finals. You can come anytime during this time..."
He babbled about some trivial things in life, his voice was so gentle, and his low voice followed the autumn wind clearly to her ears, like someone scratching her ear sockets with a soft feather.
Zhang Man stood behind him, very close to him, but listened to him calling another girl in such a gentle voice.
The first reaction in her heart was that there really was such a girl named Janet. However, in the next second, she felt afterwards that an extremely sour sensation began to spread in her chest, like being stuffed into a peeled lemon.
So uncomfortable.