She is in the fog

August 2012, 8. It rained a little last night and when I woke up in the morning the weather was gloomy.

He Xi put on the school uniform of Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School and walked to the living room with an empty schoolbag.

Stepmother Chen Quxin had just brought out three cups of steaming soy milk from the kitchen. Three sets of tableware had been set on the table, and it was obvious that there was no portion for her.

She walked up to Chen Quxin and spoke awkwardly: "Ah...Auntie."

Chen Quxin glanced at her coldly and asked impatiently, "What's the matter?"

The look in her stepmother's eyes was like a cold blade, cutting her hard. Her voice became smaller involuntarily: "Auntie, school starts today, and I need to pay... tuition fees."

"If you need tuition fees, go to your dad. Why are you asking me?" Chen Quxin put three cups of soy milk on the table and went into the kitchen with a tray.

"Dad isn't home," He Xi followed carefully, constantly observing her expression, "I talked to him on the phone, and he asked me to look for you."

Chen Quxin threw the plate into the sink, turned around and looked at He Xi, and said unhappily, "What were you doing so far?"

He Xi lowered his head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Chen Quxin took off his apron, hung it on the hook, and muttered, "I don't have any money. Let's talk about it when your father comes back."

"But school starts today..."

Before He Xi could finish, Chen Quxin pushed her away mercilessly: "Don't block my way! Are you annoying to keep talking about money so early in the morning?"

Seeing Chen Quxin walked out of the kitchen regardless, He Xi's words of argument were stuck in his mouth, and a trace of despair flashed in his eyes.

She stood there hesitating for a moment, then turned and went into the bedroom. Soon she took out all her savings from the piggy bank.
146 yuan.
Then he walked out of the house without saying a word.

Her community is very close to the school, and it only takes ten minutes to walk to the school gate.

She arrived at school very early and the lady selling glutinous rice at the school gate had just opened her stall. She did not buy glutinous rice balls for breakfast as usual, but turned and walked into the supermarket nearby.

She bought a box of chocolates.
The chocolate she always wanted to eat but never had the heart to buy.

She tore off a piece and put it in her mouth, sipping it slowly. It tasted a bit bitter at first, but became sickly sweet later on.

She smiled self-deprecatingly, like a little match girl, and the gentle smiling face of her deceased mother flashed before her eyes.

Instead of reporting to her homeroom teacher first, she chose to go directly into the new classroom.

After two months of silence, the classroom had a smell of rotten, damp and dusty.
He Xi closed the classroom door, opened all the windows, found a seat by the window and sat down, supporting half of his face with his hands and looking at the sycamore tree outside the window.

"boom--"
The classroom door was kicked open heavily. He Xi turned around and looked blankly at the three uninvited guests in front of him.

"I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic about going to school. Why did you come so early this time? What? Did you miss me?" Ning Xiaoduo raised her eyebrows slightly, with a smile on her face, but her eyes were full of danger.

The other two girls burst into laughter upon hearing this and joined in the mockery.
"Sister Ning, she is probably in Stockholm."
"Don't mention it. I haven't seen her for a whole summer. I miss her a lot."

Ning Xiaoduo, a famous rich second-generation in Nanzhou City, is domineering and not easy to mess with.
When Ning Xiaoduo was in junior high school, Li Xingyu, a girl she liked, handed a love letter to He Xi. From then on, she held a grudge against He Xi and often came to cause trouble for her.

"I'm talking to you, are you deaf and can't you hear me?"
Seeing that He Xi didn't say a word, Ning Xiaoduo angrily pinched her chin, lifted her head up, and forced her to look at her.

Seeing He Xi's fair little face, Ning Xiaoduo became even angrier. She frowned, swung her hand fiercely, and slapped her in the face.

Seeing the red marks on He Xi's face, Ning Xiaoduo finally breathed a sigh of relief. She spat, "The more I look at your face, the more disgusted I feel!"
Then, he left the classroom with the other two girls.

He Xi touched his face and it was painful and burning.
But she was too lazy to care about it. She still held up the half of her face that was beaten with her hands and stared blankly at the sycamore tree outside the window.

After a long time, the students walked into the classroom in twos and threes.

There are usually no classes on the first day of school at Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School. Students just receive new textbooks, distribute military training uniforms, and clean the classroom and campus, and then the day is over.

The head teacher Zhong Nuo took half of the boys in the class to the library to get new books. Before leaving, he asked the discipline committee member He Jiahe to take care of the discipline and go to the Academic Affairs Office to get a few boxes of chalk.

He Jiahe was very diligent. She sat on the podium with a pen and a small notebook in her hands. Her eyes gleamed as sharp as an eagle's, as if she could see through everyone's intentions.
Therefore, even if the head teacher is not present, the class discipline remains good.

He Jiahe glanced at everything in the class, and as if he remembered something, he tilted his neck and said loudly: "He Xi, go to the Academic Affairs Office to get some chalk."
The tone was very firm, and more like an order that could not be refused than a request.

He Xi was already used to it. She stuffed the schoolbag in her arms into the desk, stood up, and walked out of the classroom in the gaze of everyone.

He Xi walked alone on the gravel path of the campus. Both sides of the road were planted with jasmine flowers, which were about to wither.
The pure white petals gradually turned yellow, but the fragrance lingered, and the entire campus was filled with a decadent yet romantic atmosphere of the ultimate aesthetic of death, just like Latin American literature.

She vaguely saw her own funeral among these yellow-brown petals.
Then, keep your head down and move quickly.

"Classmate! Classmate!"
Two clear shouts came from the front. He Xi subconsciously raised his head and saw a girl running towards him.

She had a slender figure and long flowing hair, and wore a red, knee-length, long-sleeved French retro dress, which made her calves look even more slender and white, and she was very eye-catching among the other school uniforms.

The girl came closer and closer, and after seeing her appearance clearly, He Xi's breathing almost stopped.

The other person's facial features are very delicate, with a butterfly hairpin in her hair, and a pair of peach blossom eyes that seem to be drunk and always express deep affection. Perhaps because she rarely sees the sun, her face is a sickly pale color, and her hair is coated with a light yellowish brown. However, there is a gentle breath between her eyebrows, and her whole body reveals an elegant temperament that makes people unable to take their eyes off.

Perhaps because she was running too fast, the girl couldn't help but gasp for a moment when she stood in front of He Xi. After that, she raised a bright smile and asked politely: "Excuse me, I'm a transfer student and I don't know the structure of the school. Can you tell me where Director Jiang Qi's office is?" He Xi was obsessed with the girl's beauty and blurted out subconsciously: "The road is a bit roundabout. I'm going to the Academic Affairs Office. I'll take you there."

The girl smiled even more happily when she heard this: "Thank you so much."

Along the way, the girls were particularly enthusiastic and kept asking her about the school, which made her seem a little reserved.

When they were almost at the Academic Affairs Office, He Xi pointed to the building in front and explained, "The Academic Affairs Office is in front. Director Jiang Qi is on the third floor, office 305."

The girl stopped and asked curiously, "Oh, I almost forgot. Can you tell me which class you are in? What's your name? I'll buy you milk tea if I have the chance in the future."

He Xi was stunned for a moment. In the future? I'm afraid there will be no future.
But she still responded quickly: "Class 5, Grade , He Xi."

"He Xi."
The girl repeated her name, then extended her hand to her and said, "My name is Mingmei, the sunny Mingmei. Nice to meet you."

He Xi was a little at a loss, but when he saw the other party's expectant eyes, he slowly stretched out his hand, his ears slightly red.
"Nice to meet you too."

When he let go, He Xi had a purple candy in his hand.

Mingmei smiled and said, "This is a thank you gift."
Seeing He Xi standing there in a daze, she added, "It's not poisonous, it's very sweet, try it."

He Xi looked at her smiling face and felt very strange. She clearly didn't have dimples, but she was almost drunk. She clenched the candy in her hand, and her heart was beating fast.

Under bright and expectant gazes, she opened the transparent laser wrapping paper and put a round purple candy into her mouth.

The aroma of grapes instantly spreads on the tip of your tongue.

It was just as she said, very sweet, with a hint of sourness.

After taking the chalk box and walking out of the Academic Affairs Office, He Xi was surprised to find that there was a bright sun hanging in the sky, which made her feel warm inside.

When he returned to the classroom, the head teacher and others had already returned with new books. He Xi put the two boxes of chalk on the podium and hurried back to his seat.

"Forgive me for my uninhibited and free-spirited love of life, but I am also afraid that one day I will fall..."
It is the song "Boundless Sea, Vast Sky".

He Xi knew that this was the ringtone of the class teacher Zhong Nuo's cell phone.

Zhong Nuo picked up his phone and answered a call, then turned to the sports committee member Qin Yiran and said, "Go to the library and get a new textbook."

Qin Yiran was puzzled: "Teacher, Wen Wan's textbook has already been collected, why do you want an extra one?"

"Of course there are new classmates."

"Really?" Qin Yiran's eyes suddenly lit up, "Is the new classmate a boy or a girl?"

"Stop talking nonsense, you'll know in a moment, go get the book."

"Yes, sir!" Qin Yiran saluted Zhong Nuo solemnly, then ran towards the library happily.

New classmates?
Mingmei's figure suddenly emerged in He Xi's mind. She remembered that she seemed to say that she was a transfer student.
It can't be such a coincidence, right?

The fact is that it is such a coincidence.

When He Xi saw Zhong Nuo leading that red figure into the classroom, the expression on his face could no longer be described as "shocked".

Mingmei slowly walked up to the podium, picked up a piece of white chalk, and wrote the word "Mingmei" on the blackboard.

Her fingers are slender, but her writing is vigorous. Her handwriting is not as beautiful as her appearance, but has a kind of mighty power that can swallow mountains and rivers. The two words "Mingmei" on the blackboard are as lively as dragons and phoenixes, and are deeply engraved in the wood.

After finishing, she put the chalk back into the chalk box, gently rubbed the chalk dust on her hands, and introduced herself to everyone with a smile: "Hello, classmates. My name is Mingmei. Please take care of me in the future."

Qin Yiran's eyes widened, and she couldn't help but sigh sincerely: "The new classmate is so good-looking!"

Although Qin Yiran was a boastful person, what she said was not nonsense. He Xi blinked slightly, as if agreeing with her words.

"Mingmei, please choose an empty seat and sit down."

Hearing Zhong Nuo's words, He Xi's heart beat inexplicably.
There were only two empty seats in the class at this moment, one was the seat next to Li Xingyu, and the other was the seat next to her.

Li Xingyu had a cold personality and bad temper. She had no friends in the class, so naturally no one was willing to sit at the same table with her.

As for He Xi, because she had offended Ning Xiaoduo, no one dared to be friends with her, and naturally no one dared to sit with her. During her three years in junior high school and one year in high school, she always sat alone at a double table. Although the table was spacious, she always felt a little out of place.

Then, in full view of everyone, Mingmei walked around Li Xingyu's seat and sat next to He Xi.

She smiled at her: "Hello again, classmate He Xi."

She saw countless tomorrows in her smile.

It was at that moment that He Xi suddenly felt that being alive seemed pretty good.

(End of this chapter)