CH 55

“As one pleases.” was one of the most annoying phrases.

There were five tour buses, and on each respective bus, the children were already acquainted with each other. Those who have spoken to each other before and those in the same school sat with each other. The children without their respective groups have to sit alone themself, quite an awkward situation.

“Pei Zhi, Hua Juan, why don’t you come join us?”

Two children from the Experimental School ran towards them and sincerely invited them.

Hua Juan was stunned. He didn’t know how to refuse someone’s invitation.

Lu Zhi Zhao, who was beside Hua Juan, said, “How about you guys go with them since you’re from the same school.”

Lin Zhao Xi was dumbstruck. She wanted to pinch his face.

At this moment, Pei Zhi simply said, “We will sit here.”

Pei Zhi rarely spoke in long sentences and didn’t give excuses such as being too lazy. Instead, he was much more frank.

The children noticed his stubbornness and rubbed their noses before walking away. They didn’t say anything insulting.

*

The tour buses departed for their destination.

The sun had already lost its shine, yet the big lake was still soothing and calm. Occasionally egrets and waterfowls flew to the sky. The children joyfully watched the scene, forgetting that they had just finished an intense exam.

Now, this is what you would call a summer camp. Lin Zhao Xi thought as she stretched.

The scenery in the big lake was beautiful, and since it was recently built, all facilities were brand new. Many schools choose to organize their summer activities here.

On the way, they saw some students exercise in some outdoor educational program,

‘Sing.’ There was also a group of children with a teacher’s hand feeding sheep. There were also children having barbecues. The scent of barbecue drifted into the air and to the children who hadn’t eaten yet.

Hua Juan sniffed the fragrant smell of barbecue and said, “Smells so good! I would be happy to live like this for a month if there were to be no exams.” his tone was filled with emotions.

“Why are you so scared of exams?” Lin Zhao Xi asked while laughing.

Hua Juan turned his head, looked at Lu Zhi Zhao, and said, “Old Lu, let’s talk.”

“Talk about what?” Lu Zhi Zhao wasn’t in a good mood after the exam. He only reacted when Hua Juan yelled at him.

“Tell these two why we are scared of exams.”

“We are scared that we won’t do well in exams!” Lu Zhi Zhao said.

Hua Juan snapped his finger and turned his head back to her. “Understand?”

Lin Zhao Xi shook her head.

“You won’t understand since you got good grades.” He then looked at Pei Zhi, and before Pei Zhi said anything, Hua Juan said, “You shut up.”

Pei Zhi was about to say something, but Hua Juan shut him down. There was a smile on Pei Zhi’s face, and he said in a serious tone, “I just got 0 on a test.”

“That doesn’t count!” Hua Juan exclaimed. “If you can do a high school exam, are you still a human?”

“He’s never a human in the first place.” Lin Zhao Xi said subconsciously.

Hearing this, Pei Zhi raised his eyes and looked at her with a surprised expression.

Lin Zhao Xi shouted while panicking, “I’m talking about Lu Zhi Zhao!”

Lu Zhi Zhao was still feeling down, so he didn’t say anything back to Lin Zhao Xi and Hua Juan. However, even with the cooperation of Pei Zhi, it didn’t make Lu Zhi Zhao a little bit happier.

Lin Zhao Xi used up all her tricks to make Lu Zhi Zhao happy, so she poked him and directly asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I… feel like I won’t be staying any longer. It’s like there’s no point continuing the summer camp.”

“If you think that it’s meaningless, then it’s more meaningless for me!” Hua Juan shouted with an angry tone.

“So, you’re here because you want to get into the top 5 places to enter the Jin Cup, right?” Lin Zhao Xi thought for a while before finally asking him.

“Huh?” Lu Zhi Zhao frowned. He seemed to find it hard to understand the questions. He finally said, “I don’t know, do you?”

“Then all of us should say the reason why we’re here!” Lin Zhao Xi clapped and announced.

“Not all of us….” Hua Juan said, “Just you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have a reason. I got selected, so I came here.”

“You don’t have a reason, but how do you know that Pei Zhi won’t have a reason as well?” Lin Zhao Xi said and looked at Pei Zhi with sparkling eyes.

“I also don’t have one.” Pei Zhi answered.

“Eh?”

His answer surprised Lin Zhao Xi. She felt that no matter the present or the future, Pei Zhi was always a clear-headed person. She thought Pei Zhi always knew what he was doing, what he wanted to do, and why he needed to do it.

“Why?”

When Lin Zhao Xi asked this, she felt stupid. She also wasn’t sure why she was there. It was like an infinite loop.

Looking at the three dazed children, Lin Zhao Xi also became dazed and thought.

Why did I come here?

“What about you?” Pei Zhi asked her.

Looking at the boy’s clear and peaceful eyes, Lin Zhao Xi thought to herself.

I can’t say I did it to fix my regrets from my previous life. I can’t say I did it for Old Lin nor for you….

So she chose the most honest and reasonable answer at this stage. “I made a promise with the dean* that if I make it into the Jin Cup and win, I can choose whether I want to go with someone’s family or not.”

[*Lin Aimin, the dean of Lin Zhao Xi’s orphanage.]

“You want to go with someone’s family? What does that mean?” Hua Juan was stunned.

“It’s an adoptive family.” Lin Zhao Xi said, “The dean found a home for me, but I don’t want to go with them.”

Hua Juan gasped and said, “I forgot again!”

“No problem, Sister Xi, don’t mind. You don’t have to be careful.” Lin Zhao Xi said as she patted Hua Juan’s shoulder.

When she finished, she turned her head and saw Pei Zhi’s eyes focusing on her.

When Pei Zhi was young, he always made people feel unorganized and indifferent. He rarely looked at someone seriously. But, especially now, there was puzzlement and the desire to know more in his eyes.

Lin Zhao Xi felt ashamed and wanted to say, ‘It’s not what you think.’

“So, what kind of family did your dean find for you that makes you unsatisfied.” Hua Juan interrupted. He gave Lin Zhao Xi a thumbs up, he’s acting like a big brother, and continued: “If there’s a problem, tell me, I will let my big sister…….”

“The family dean found for me is a good family. The parent are professors!” Lin Zhao Xi said with a smile.

“Then why don’t you want to go!?” Hua Juan asked.

Lin Zhao Xi continued with a smile on her face, “Just because a family is good doesn’t mean I want to go with them. I have my own dreams to pursue.”

When they heard this, Hua Juan and Lu Zhi Zhao were dumbfounded, but Pei Zhi wanted to know what kind of dream she had.

Not so far away, there were white houses that were clearly visible. There were gardens, a small lake, and European-style street lamps. There was a teacher leading a group of students, the teacher was probably teaching them about the plants by the road, and further away, the sound of an English Poem being recited could be heard.

*When you are old and grey and full sleep,

And nodding the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream the soft look*

[*When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats. The poem reflects the reality of passing time and the importance of love.]

—When Lin Zhao Xi heard this poem, she was taken aback. When she was very young, Old Lin had her memorize this poem.

Only then did she realize that their conversation was beyond what normal elementary school students should be having.

However, it’s probably because the wind and laughter of the children were too beautiful, or also because the poem was too beautiful. She put her arms behind her back and stretched before slowly saying:

“Right now, I also don’t know what my dream is. So I think that people who already have a dream at a very young age and are determined to achieve it are amazing.”

She glanced at Pei Zhi and continued, “Also, like other normal students and myself, there are many times that we would be at a loss. Maybe times when we would doubt the reasoning behind our very actions. Even towards studying… why should we study? To get into a good university? To earn more money at work? After that, then what?”

“I also don’t know what I should do in the future. But at this stage, I can think of a reason. I want to study hard and use my grades to receive more opportunities in life, which is very important to me.”

She then looked at Lu Zhi Zhao and said in a serious tone, “No matter what, opportunities are still opportunities. Although, of course, sometimes it provides us with difficulty, sometimes it will be ugly and hard to bear, and sometimes it will be destined to make you feel sad. But in a way, you still have to seize every opportunity! This is because so many things can happen if we do something with the utmost effort. That way, we can then find out the real meaning.”

“If you always feel like it doesn’t matter if you miss the opportunity this time, or that it doesn’t matter if you don’t put in the effort, then when you grow up, you will regret it.”

When she finished, she felt that the surrounding atmosphere wasn’t right, then she realized that the speech she gave was not something a primary school student would say.

Sure enough, Lu Zhi Zhao looked at her and was deeply moved. “Thank you, Lin Zhao Xi. You memorized the last paragraph well. Which book did you memorize it from?”

Lin Zhao Xi was stunned for a long time before laughing helplessly. She couldn’t help but think of Old Lin.

The wind brought in the sound of children’s laughter outside. Lin Zhao Xi thought about how good it would be if Old Lin was here.