The little lion was intercepted from its entire right front leg, and a large amount of muscle was lost on its right hind leg. When I saw it, it was wrapped in gauze and fell asleep under the action of anesthetic. I asked my father, when will it get better? When can it go home?

Dad told me that it will never go home.

This beast at the high end of the food chain, underage, lost one leg and was released into the wild, with only one dead end.

At that time, the movie "The Lion King" was popular all over the world. My father told me that they had a little lazy and named the little lion "Simba".

Simba followed us back to South Africa and moved into the zoo in Cape Town. Later, Derrick and I went to see it many times. It was alone in the cage, looking very lonely. Seeing Simba's missing right front leg, he limped and walked, and it was very difficult. I leaned on the railing and felt a little lost inexplicably.

Derrick is the little boy from my neighbor's house, one year older than me, a white man. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. Derrick told me that in our neighborhood, I am the most special child.

I am indeed the only Chinese girl nearby, with straight black hair and black eyes. Derrick said I am like an elf, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen.

My aesthetic view was probably formed at that time. I never had a special liking for people’s appearance. Just like after returning to China, I heard girls of the same age say that black people look so disgusting, which I find incredible. In my memory, when I lived in Cape Town, Arno, the black child next door, was brave and cute. Many times, I would rather play with Arno than Derrick.

I have been learning violin with Derrick since I was a child. I didn’t learn well, but Derrick was often praised by the teacher. My mother said to me, Xiaojing, do you don’t like playing violin? If you don’t like it, we won’t learn it.

I said, "I don't like it."

Mom was puzzled: "Then why don't you study hard?"

I felt strange: "Who said I didn't study hard?"

I was obviously very serious, but I didn't play well as Derrick, but this did not dispel my enthusiasm for playing the violin. I practice every day. Derrick would knock on my window glass and slid it on my windowsill to make fun of me: "Jodie, you play so badly."

I would silently pry his hands open, lock the window, and continue to play the violin happily.

Only Arno said that I played the violin well. He was Nigerian, with dark skin, big and bright eyes, like two big grapes. Because his father was transferred to work, Arno moved to South Africa for only a few years. He said that listening to me playing the violin will remind him of his hometown in Nigeria.

When I was twelve years old, a plague broke out on the African continent, and the epidemic affected many countries. For the safety of my mother and I, my father accepted the transfer order from the superior units in China and was preparing to take us back to China.

I told Derrick that I was going back to China. Derrick was stunned for a while and finally said, "Jodie, Iloveyou, Iwillmissyou."

I told Arno that I was going back to China. Arno's big eyes, which were clearly black and white, blinked a few times, and returned home silently.

That night, Arno knocked on my window and handed something to me.

It is an African hand drum.

It has strange totems and complex carvings.

Arno told me that this hand drum was made by his grandfather when he was young, and the animal skins used for drum faces were all from animals his grandfather hunted when he went to hunt.

"Jodie, I'll give you this drum." Arno grinned with his pouty lips. In the dark, his eyes and white teeth were particularly conspicuous. He said, "My grandfather told me that this was a magical drum. He gave the drum to grandma, and then they got married. My dad gave the drum to my mom, and they got married. My grandfather said that as long as I gave this drum to my beloved girl, I will be with her in the end."

I don't think I can't accept such a valuable thing. Arno looked a little disappointed and asked, "Jodie, don't you like me?"

No, I like him.

I held the drum in my arms, Arno smiled and said, "Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to play the drum, okay?"

"Okay." I said.

Later, I followed my parents back to China. During the summer vacation before the first year of junior high school, I practiced taming and drumming at home, but my neighbor complained.

My mother said this was not Cape Town and ordered me not to play drums anymore. I begged my father to call Arno's house. I wanted to call him the results of my hard practice, but in the end, I heard a message that was desperate.

Arno was infected with the plague virus and died a month ago.

It was the saddest summer in my life.

On the summer of the first year of high school, I gave the hand drum that Arno gave me to Gu Mingxi. I knew that in a few minutes, he would give this hand drum to Pang Qian.

If this hand drum brought back from the African continent is really as magical as Arno said, then one day, a pair of lovers will come together because of it.

After the second year of high school started, the school conducted a division of liberal arts and sciences. Pang Qian was no longer in the same class as us. Teacher Dai asked me about my opinions and Gu Mingxi, and he and I became new deskmates.

Gu Mingxi said little. After the "outstanding League member" incident in the first semester of high school, he became even more silent. Perhaps it was also related to Pang Qian's absence by his side.

Zhou Nanzhong and Wang Song would help Gu Mingxi in life. At other times, he would slowly cook his own business with his feet and rarely ask me for help. If he didn't say anything, I wouldn't take the initiative to ask, and even when he was having lunch, he would go with Pang Qian to eat with him. When queuing in the cafeteria, I often saw them standing at the window together, Pang Qian handed two lunch boxes, pointed at the vegetable bowl inside, and asked Gu Mingxi what he wanted to eat.

Only when he is with Pang Qian, the expression on Gu Mingxi's face is relaxed and relaxed. He will smile lightly and discuss with Pang Qian what kind of dish is delicious.

I still remember the way they were eating together. Two people were face to face, one lunch box, Pang Qian would snatch Gu Mingxi's food, and Gu Mingxi would also help her eat what she didn't like.

One person uses his hands, one person uses his feet, and two spoons pick each other's lunch boxes. That kind of intimacy and tacit understanding is like an invisible wall that blocks everyone from the wall.

Therefore, there are actually very few communications between Gu Mingxi and I.

Maybe in the eyes of others, I am a very strange person. I have no friends in the class. I don’t know the topics of chatting with girls in the same class. I don’t know the comics they like, the stars they like, and the clothes they are popular on the market.

I have always had short hair, big glasses, and simple T-shirts and jeans. I know that my appearance is not eye-catching among girls, but I don’t care about these things at all. After returning to China, others said that I was very gentle. At first I didn’t understand the meaning of this word. After understanding it, I was a little surprised and then felt relieved.

Why am I qualified to say that Gu Mingxi is not talking? Obviously, I am also a dull person.

I am very small and shorter than Pang Qian, so when I was studying, I sat in the front row. It was the first time I sat in the last row after being at the same table with Gu Mingxi.

I sat in Pang Qian's seat and found that it was really an interesting seat. In the most corner of the classroom, there was a glass window next to it, and you could clearly see the playground.

Zhou Nanzhong and Wang Song in front were very tall. Sometimes, I even suspected that I hid in my seat and did some small movements, and the teacher couldn't see them.

Pang Qian’s table is very colorful, with graffiti on it. Among the secretly copied English words, chemical formulas, and physical nouns, I found one person’s name, and more than one.

——Xie Yi

I've heard of this name, but I can't match the name with myself. I turned to look at Gu Mingxi, who was doing the exam by Gu himself. I sighed in my heart, guessing whether Mingxi knew Pang Qian's little secret.

After two months of being at the same table with Gu Mingxi, I found that he was not that boring. Sometimes, he would do something stupid and interesting like a child.

For example, when he is tired of doing the test, he will draw comics quietly. Like all boys of this age, he likes to draw girls with big breasts, thin waists, long legs, and strong muscles, or various robots and monsters. He graffiti on the draft paper, bowed his back, lowered his head, and twisted his body slightly to the right. The outer instep of his left foot was against the table and blocked the drawing paper. Obviously, he didn't want me to discover it.

Of course, I pretended not to see it, but I still couldn't help but look at it secretly. After drawing for a while, Gu Mingxi would continue to do the questions. The drawn paper was folded and stuffed into the drawer.

More than once, I saw him drawing a girl, using sketches, and the girl either stood, sat, jumped, or turned around playfully, with a lively ponytail behind her head and a bright smile on her face.

I sat beside him with my chin in my arms, watching him draw secretly, and really wanted to remind him that Pang Qian doesn’t have that long legs, a thin waist, and a big chest.

Of course, I didn't say anything.

In the autumn sports meeting of the second year of high school, I ran 800 meters, and Pang Qian participated in the 4*100-meter relay of their class. In the stands in the stadium, she slipped to our class, sat down next to Gu Mingxi, and chatted with him.

"It's so hot." She spread her long hair, stretched her hands behind her head and tied her braids, turned her head to look at me, then turned her head to say to Gu Mingxi, "Hey, are you good to cut my hair short? Like Xiao Yujing, it's easy to wash her hair and cooler."

Gu Mingxi was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and said softly: "Don't cut it, you can look good when you have long hair."

After Christmas, I met the angry man again in the rehabilitation hall.

He no longer yelled, but practiced walking very hard, and his white T-shirt was wet with sweat. During the training interval, he would whisper a few words with the rehabilitator, frowned and pointed at his left leg prosthetic, as if he was saying something was wrong.

Later, I met him several times, but never spoke again. When I saw me, his expression was a little unnatural. I didn't care at all. I would smile at him every time.

Before the Spring Festival in 2011, I decided to return to China for the New Year.

Before leaving, I had a headache about where Ah Miao could go in the past two weeks. I didn’t want to bother my friends, classmates or colleagues, and finally decided to store it in a pet store.

I looked for a pet shop around the school. When I was carrying A Miao's cage, I actually met the angry man in the shop. He was also a little surprised to see me. At this time, we had to introduce ourselves.

"My surname is Xiao, Xiao Yuexiao." I spoke in Chinese, and I was a little uncertain because some ABCs could speak Chinese but didn't recognize Chinese characters. I added in English, "You can call me Jodie."

"I know Xiao Yuexiao." He stretched out his right hand to me with a stern face and said in Chinese, "Lin Weiqi, English name Virgil."

I shook his hand politely. His hands were big, warm and powerful. Withdrawing his hand, his eyes softened a little, and he said, "I want to apologize to you for what happened last time. Jodie, I was indeed a little irritable that day and scared those children. I'm sorry, I promise that it won't happen again in the future."

I smiled, picked up my box and showed him the Ah Miao inside: "I want to store this cat. If you give me a discount, I will forgive you."

He laughed in silence. When a slightly resolute face suddenly filled with a smile and a gentle light spilled in his eyes, I suddenly felt that I was in a good mood.

Before the Spring Festival, I returned to China. This holiday was two weeks. I chose to fly to Beijing, first visit the teachers in the university, gather with my college classmates, and then return to City E.

Xie Yi knew that I was in Beijing and called me to meet me. I said my itinerary was very fast and I would talk about it when everyone returned to City E. Xie Yi did not force me anymore.

My entanglement with Xie Yi began with the New Year's Art Performance in the second year of high school. Before that, I didn't know him.

Although Xie Yi had long been named the school grass of E City No. 1 Middle School at that time and was the favorite of countless girls in the school, I only heard him in the girls’ chat content and saw his name on Pang Qian’s desk.

In the teacher's office, Xie Yi and I met for the first time. The teacher asked me to rehearse the violin duet with him. I immediately said, "No need to be so troublesome. I can cancel the performance and let this classmate perform solo. I am not used to playing ensembles with others."

I swear, this is what I said in my heart, it is completely literal, without any innuendo or metaphor. But strangely, the teacher and Xie Yi seemed a little unhappy. I think they must have misunderstood my last sentence. Sure enough, Xie Yi said: "This classmate, I am not used to playing with others, but I don't want to deprive you of the right to perform. If you don't want to play with ensembles, then I'll quit."

I don’t want to continue to worry about such issues anymore and said, “Forget it, then let’s play the ensemble. As long as you are willing to rehearse, I have no objection.”

He and I made an agreement to rehearse together at noon and after school every day, but on the first day of the rehearsal, we had a quarrel.

I'm not good at playing the violin. If I go to a professional school, I will definitely be defeated. But I just like playing the violin. I play it with my own style and my heart. I never care about fingering, standing posture, or even rhythm. I want to play it as fast as I want to play it, and if I want to play it, I can only perform a song in one way? So, when Xie Yi pointed out that my rhythm was wrong, I said to him: "I think we are wasting time. Really, I don't want to perform anymore. You can go solo by yourself."

Later, Xie Yi told me what he thought at that time. When he heard me say the four words "waste time", he couldn't believe his ears.

Xie Yi is indeed like an eagle, who likes to soar freely in the sky, but at the same time, he is also like a peacock, very popular and has a very good reputation. No matter where he goes, he is the focus of attention. I guess there should be countless little girls who want to rehearse the violin with him, but I said that we are wasting time.

Xie Yi did not agree to my request to withdraw from the show. On the contrary, his fighting spirit seemed to be ignited by me. He transformed into a violin teacher, wanting to guide me from the basics. He hoped that after his surprise training, I could bring you a wonderful ensemble performance with him. But in the end, all we quarrel again and again.

After practicing, I let him go. I still felt that we were wasting time, but Xie Yi obviously didn't think so.

It is said that the performance was very successful. Many years later, when she talked to Teacher Dai, she would talk to me about the ensemble, saying that the teachers would remember it every year during the art performance.

I have no deep impression of what happened that day. What I remember most clearly was the expression on Gu Mingxi's face when I stepped down. He was not as excited as the people around him. Everyone was applauding. He just waited by my piano box and waited quietly for me, with a small surprise and a small praise in his eyes.

It was just the little bit of shiny eyes that reminded me of Arno.

I changed my clothes and picked up the piano case and asked him: "Gu Mingxi, what do you think of my performance?"

"It sounds nice," he said, emphasizing again, "It sounds really nice, I'm not perfunctory."

I smiled secretly, saw Pang Qian waiting not far away, and asked him: "I'm going to the audience, where are you?"

He blushed and said softly, "I want to wait a little longer."

I nodded: "Okay, thank you for helping me take care of the things, I'll go down first."

The performance was over. I thought Xie Yi and I would never have any intersection again, but I didn't expect that this was just the beginning.
Chapter completed!