CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57: SUMMER VACATION LIFE

After the college entrance exam, Shi Yang moved back to the staff building. Every day, Zhao Meimei would bring her summer homework to Shi Yang’s house, sticking to him like a little follower from morning till night.

With nothing much to do after estimating his scores, Shi Yang directed his efforts towards supervising Zhao Meimei’s calligraphy practice.

Zhao Meimei’s handwriting was simply disastrous. Whether it was horizontal or vertical lines, her pen would inexplicably wobble in the middle, making her writing look like it was drunk, barely able to hold itself together.

Shi Yang held Zhao Meimei’s hand from behind, teaching her stroke by stroke how to write neat and straight lines.

Zhao Meimei just couldn’t sit still on the stool. After writing a page of practice, she got bored and turned to negotiate with Shi Yang: "Brother, I’ve finished my homework for today. Can you take me out to play?"

Shi Yang was sitting on the sofa reading a book. He glanced at her: "Where do you want to go?"

Zhao Meimei’s eyes lit up when she realized there was a chance: "Anywhere! To the riverside? To the park? Oh! Right, brother, take me to the park!"

Shi Yang checked the time: "Amusement park? No, it’s too late."

Zhao Meimei quickly suggested, "Then not the amusement park, let’s go to Xinglin Road Park? The one you took me to before."

Zhao Meimei was referring to a small abandoned park, which used to be an amusement park before it relocated. However, many of the facilities were still there.

Outside the park was a straight concrete road flanked by green hedges with rows of apricot trees. Every time the apricot blossoms bloomed, the whole road would be vibrant with beautiful colors. The city even held an annual apricot blossom festival for this street.

Shi Yang had taken Zhao Meimei there last year during the apricot blossom festival.

Shi Yang thought for a moment, pointed at Zhao Meimei’s practice sheet in front of her: "Write one more page, and I’ll take you."

The flowers on Xinglin Road had already withered, and between the lush green branches, flashes of brilliant golden sunlight shone, with hanging deep green apricots. Up close, they looked quite round and big.

Zhao Meimei took a clean apricot in her hand and took a bite, smacking her lips at the tartness.

Shi Yang laughed at her: "Is it tasty?"

Zhao Meimei grimaced and shook her head, throwing the bitten apricot into a trash can by the roadside, then turned to ask: "Brother, are you going away to study at a university out of town after the new semester starts?"

Shi Yang said, "Yeah."

Zhao Meimei continued to ask, "Does that mean you’ll be far away from me? Will I still be able to see you?"

Shi Yang smiled: "Why not? I’m just going to a university in the provincial capital, only a few hours by car from home. I’ll be back for winter and summer breaks, and the May Day and National Day holidays, just like when I was in high school."

Zhao Meimei and Shi Yang walked side by side along the paths in the park. Shi Yang had grown taller, and Zhao Meimei had to tilt her head slightly to see his face.

Shi Yang’s appearance was quite intimidating; he looked handsome and seemingly gentle. He was warm and pleasant when quiet, but he was actually quite fiery at heart. As long as you didn’t provoke him, everything was fine. But once you crossed his line, he could instantly turn into a volcano ready to erupt, highly dangerous.

Shi Yang’s palm lines were particularly deep. Elders often say people with deep palm lines are hard-hearted and hit hard. Zhao Meimei held Shi Yang’s hand and traced a few lines in his palm with her fingers, looking closely: "Brother, you have a little gold mountain!"

Shi Yang leaned in to take a look: "Hmph, this is almost half a hand big, and you call it a little gold mountain?"

Zhao Meimei touched the three converging lines and immediately corrected herself: "It’s a big gold mountain. Brother, you’ll have lots and lots of money in the future."

Shi Yang gave a charming smile, his lips curving nicely: "Really? Alright then, I’ll take your word for it. When I earn money in the future, I’ll give you half."

Zhao Meimei grinned widely and laughed along.

Shi Yang turned to look at Zhao Meimei, realizing the little girl was growing prettier and prettier.

Zhao Meimei was gradually blossoming. As a child, she looked like Zhao Dazhuang, but now she was starting to resemble Liu Xiue a bit, especially her slender eyebrows and eyes. However, Liu Xiue had large double eyelids while Zhao Meimei had a subtle double eyelid. The folds were so inward that they pushed the eyelashes in, and when her eyes were closed, her lashes were long and dense. When open, they looked like two fine black eyeliners, making her eyes bright and spirited.

Zhao Meimei had elongated eyes, a melon-seed face, and a thin figure, already starting to show the early signs of a poised young woman.

Shi Yang wandered around the park with Zhao Meimei, and they stopped to play whenever they encountered something interesting.

Zhao Meimei played until she was tired, hanging onto Shi Yang’s arm like a sloth, making him drag her along.

As they walked along, every bench under the shade was occupied, leaving them no choice but to move deeper into the park, finding a clean spot on the edge of a flowerbed to sit and rest.

Shi Yang raised one leg and rested his chin on his knee, while Zhao Meimei tilted her head to lean on his leg.

Shi Yang, feeling idle, teased Zhao Meimei: "Has anything interesting happened in your class lately? Tell me and let me have a laugh too."

Zhao Meimei, eager to share with Shi Yang, quickly reported: "Yes! Last semester, our class was supposed to pay the insurance fees. My desk mate didn’t pay because his mom said they had been paying every year and nothing happened; it was a waste of money. But then he was playing and fell off the stairs, needing three stitches on his chin."

"And once, I was passing notes to Xu Xu during class, asking to borrow his notes, but the teacher caught us. She didn’t even read the content and just assumed I passed it to Xu Xu. How could she be so sure it wasn’t Xu Xu passing it to me? Although it was really me who passed it..."

Shi Yang couldn’t help but laugh: "You’re really close with Xu Xu, huh? Is he a better student than you? Why are you borrowing notes from him?"

Zhao Meimei quickly defended herself: "No way! He ranked fifth in the finals, and I was second. I’m better than him. But during class, I was talking to my desk mate, and by the time I remembered to take notes, the teacher had already erased them."

Hearing this, Shi Yang frowned and scolded Zhao Meimei: "How come you were able to in class..."

Zhao Meimei’s eyes were fixated, staring straight at a spot diagonally opposite Shi Yang, her gaze moving past Shi Yang’s face. Her narrow eyes were gleaming with excitement as if she had seen something novel.

Shi Yang paused, stopped talking, and turned his head. He saw a couple standing by the tree next to the flowerbed, embracing and passionately kissing like they were inseparable. The man had his hand under the woman’s shirt, and the woman’s legs were wrapped around the man’s waist, leaning against the tree. It was quite obvious from where they were standing.

Shi Yang’s expression changed. He frowned, covered Zhao Meimei’s eyes with his hand, pulled her up, and led her in the opposite direction with her head shielded.

Zhao Meimei tried to pry Shi Yang’s fingers apart, curious and wanting to see.

Unfortunately, by the time Shi Yang let go, they had already walked too far to see anything clearly anymore.