From the beginning, I clearly told Xie Yi that I didn't like him. But he couldn't seem to accept my answer. Perhaps, he didn't believe me at all.

In June of the second year of high school, the Korean and Japanese World Cup was in full swing. One day at noon, Xie Yi called me out of the classroom and confessed to me again.

"I'm sorry." I left these three words and was about to go back to the classroom, but Xie Yi grabbed my hand and dragged me to the small balcony at the end of the corridor.

He asked me fiercely: "Xiao Yujing, do you like Gu Mingxi?"

I pursed my lips and looked at him silently.

He said, "I knew you like Gu Mingxi! I asked you to come to my house to watch the football that day, but you refused to come. I said Gu Mingxi would come too, so you agreed! Xiao Yujing, you sit next to Gu Mingxi every day. Don't you know that he likes crabs? The whole world knows that he likes crabs! Would you not know?! Wake up! He won't like you!"

I looked at him coldly: "Xie Yi, do you know you're bored?"

He stared at me with anger, his beautiful eyes full of anger.

I turned around and wanted to leave, and he grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.

Then, he kissed me.

On Christmas 2004, I was in Beijing. Xie Yi called me and said that he and Pang Qian went to Z City to find Gu Mingxi. At that time, Gu Mingxi had already lost contact with us.

"Not found, right?" I asked.

He said "hmm" and told me what he and Pang Qian had found out.

Gu Mingxi has been off school.

This is something I didn't expect.

"Gu Mingxi likes crabs for so many years, but he has lost his tracks, and the crabs understand their hearts." Xie Yi's mood was a little depressed, "Jodie, if one day I also lost tracks, will you suddenly wake up? Oh, it turns out that I like Xie Yi."

I really don't want to hurt him, but I have to be honest: "Sorry, no."

Xie Yi was silent on the other side of the phone for a long time, and finally laughed softly and said, "I understand."

Two months later, he sent me an email with a photo attached. He was playing in Disney with a cute Asian girl. Xie Yi said that the girl was his girlfriend.

However, his relationship did not go smoothly. The relationship lasted only half a year, and Xie Yi and his girlfriend broke up peacefully.

Later, he had two more girlfriends. At that time, I had already gone to the United States to study. He flew from the United States and the United States to the East, which made everyone around me misunderstand that he was my boyfriend.

I am so heartless that I never comment on Xie Yi's private life.

I have no position, I just treat him as an old friend.

Over the years, I have been following my plan step by step, getting into the best university in China, choosing a major I like, and studying in an excellent university abroad. I have not taken a step forward and made up my mind not to fall in love while studying.

In short, I haven't returned to China for four years, but my parents have been here in New York for a while. This time during the Spring Festival dinner, I met relatives and friends I hadn't seen for a long time. They all said that I have changed a lot, become beautiful, fashionable, and feminine. In fact, I just grew long hair, learned to put on makeup, and knew how to buy clothes that suit me.

I think they all misunderstood. It seems that I used to be very individual, very unique, and a unique girl. In fact, I am no different from everyone else. I am already twenty-seven years old. If I don’t dress up at all, I will probably become a Frankenstein in the eyes of others.

After returning to City E, Wu Min called me and said that my high school classmates were going to have a dinner party. It happened that day that I had a dinner party at home, so I refused to go.

Wu Min and I didn’t communicate much when we were in high school. After going to Beijing to study for college together, our relationship became closer. He was a very pure and simple person who was obsessed with academic research. When I was in the United States, I often chatted with him online and became a good friend.

Wu Min said that Gu Mingxi would come to this dinner. Everyone hasn't seen him for eight years and hopes that I can attend as much as possible.

I thought about it and said, OK, give me the time and place.

After hanging up the phone, I sat at the table and posted it for a while. It was actually eight years.

In my memory, Gu Mingxi was still an 18-year-old boy. He and I sat by the desk beside the window. The warm afternoon sun shone into the classroom, making me drowsy. I lay on the table and slept for a while. My eyes passed over my arms and looked at him beside him. The sun was shining on his shoulders. There was countless dust flying in the air. His thick black hair shone out a healthy luster under the strong light. I could see his slender and graceful neck, the snow-white shirt collar at the back of my neck, the small fluff on his skin, and the sweat beads falling from his temples.

During lunch break, the weather was stuffy and the ceiling fan in the classroom was spinning. Although there was almost no wind blowing in our corner, my heart was still calm.

Gu Mingxi never takes a nap, probably because it is related to his physical condition. Everyone is resting, but he is still doing the exam.

I looked at his side face, looked at the subtle expression on his face, the thick eyebrows slightly frowned, the eyes gently blinked, the bridge of the straight nose, and the thin lips.

Sometimes, sweat slid down his cheeks, and he felt it, and would lower his head and shook his shoulders and wipe it off. When his broken shoulders twisted, his empty sleeves would shake greatly.

He would look at me without a trace, maybe he didn't want me to see his slightly embarrassed movements, so whenever this happened, I would close my eyes and pretend to be sleeping.

Such a scene has always been engraved in my mind. Every summer, I always remember that wet afternoon, with sweat soaking my clothes and sticky all over.

I used to secretly look at a boy like this, at the age of eighteen.

The ringtone of the cell phone suddenly rang. I answered the phone and it was Lin Weiqi.

"Jodie, did you bother you?" he asked.

"No, is there anything?"

"Amiao is sick." Lin Weiqi's tone was full of apology, "Maybe it was because he suddenly changed the environment, and he was a little scared. In addition, I gave it some other brand of cat food, so it seemed to have acute gastroenteritis."

"Is it important?" I asked. I have been raising Ah Miao for almost two years and it has not had any serious illnesses.

"Some of vomiting and some diarrhea, but I gave it medicine, so there is no problem for the time being." Lin Weiqi said, "I think I should call you and say, sorry, I didn't take good care of Ah Miao, but I will try to get it back to health before you come back."

I thought about it and said, "Virgil, don't force me. I believe you have taken good care of my cat. If, I mean, if it worsens and dies, you don't have to be too frustrated. I won't blame you."

Lin Weiqi seemed speechless: "Jodie, Ah Miao just had gastroenteritis."

"You will call me this, which means the situation is still a bit serious, right?" I said, "Virgil, do your best to heal it. If Ah Meow is about to die, please tell me something to it, I love it. But if you want to say it in Chinese, it can no longer understand English."

Lin Weiqi was stunned for a while and asked, "Jodie, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Um?"

"If you have a boyfriend, how could he stand your weird temper?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

I said, "Luckily, no, if you have a girlfriend, how could she stand your temper?"

Lin Weiqi: “…”

After the call, I was a little unhappy because Lin Weiqi said that I had a strange temper.

I admit that I am not the kind of person who can be good at everything. Even now, in the organization where I work, my relationship with my colleagues is not close. They have dinner and go to the bar for a drink. I rarely attend, so I would rather go back to my hut and hug Ah Miao and read.

But reality always smooths people's edges a little. I don't want to be a weirdo in people's minds. In fact, I always feel that I am just an ordinary woman, but I'm a little socially incompetent.

A few days later, I went to a high school classmate dinner, but I didn't expect that I was late for traffic jam on the road.

I opened the door of the private room and it was very lively inside. After seeing me, the people at the table suddenly became quiet. I smiled and said, "What's wrong, don't you recognize me?"

They all stood up, and the young and tender faces in their memory have changed a little now. I saw Gu Mingxi. He was wearing a beige shirt, black trousers and black leather shoes. He was mature and handsome, and he was no longer the boy in my memory who was wearing a white shirt. He stood with the fashionable and beautiful Pang Qian, very close.

I also saw Xie Yi, who was still a shining image of a young man. On the dining table, in front of so many people, I said, "Xie Yi, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you?"

He was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "It's pretty good, where are you?"

I said, "I'm pretty good too, but I'm a little busy with the subject."

After that, there was nothing to say.

(4)

Xie Yi drank red wine one cup after another. After the dinner, he got drunk without any suspense. I decided to send him home and talk to him.

Outside the hotel door, Xie Yi held the tree trunk and vomited a lot. Pang Qian thoughtfully bought him a bottle of water. I turned around and saw Gu Mingxi standing not far away.

In the cold wind, he was wearing a short gray coat, and his whole body exuded a calm breath. After touching my gaze, he smiled slightly. While Pang Qian was beside Xie Yi, I walked up to Gu Mingxi. The cold wind blew by, and we looked at each other, but we didn't know what to say.

Finally, he broke his silence and asked: "Are you planning to return to China to develop after graduating from a doctorate?"

I shook my head: "I guess I will not return to work in the past ten years."

He frowned slightly, as if he was considering the sentence, and said, "I heard you and Wu Min were chatting just now. Sorry, I'm not very good at English now. I seem to hear... Are you talking about prosthetics?"

I almost communicated with Wu Min in English because I didn't want others here to understand it. I looked up at Gu Mingxi's eyes, did not hide, and calmly answered him: "Yes, I followed my tutor to study intelligent prosthetics, mainly upper limb prosthetics. Because the lower limb prosthetics are now very advanced and perfect, and the compensation effect on the human body is very good, but the upper limb prosthetics are far from compensating for human arms."

He smiled, not unhappy at all because of this sensitive topic, and said, "It's like this, the hands and feet have different functions, and it's hard to compare."

"Our research has made good progress." I briefly explained to him, "There may be a breakthrough in the next few years. At that time, after implanting a small chip in the human brain and putting on the upper limb prosthesis, people can sense and control the prosthesis, and then cooperate with the muscles and nerves remaining in the residual limbs of the upper arm to fully manipulate the prosthesis. The best situation we imagined is that humans can rely on the upper limb prosthesis to take care of themselves."

Gu Mingxi smiled and said, "Just like a robot?"

I thought about it, shrugged, and nodded: "Yes, it's like a robot."

Perhaps because he drank wine, a naughty expression suddenly appeared on his face: "When I was a child, I always wanted two such robotic arms. Later, I realized that this was impossible, and I was still depressed for a long time."

"Nothing is impossible now." I said in a silly way, "Gu Mingxi, if... I mean if... you need help in this, you can call me or send an email." I heard my voice, and it was hard to believe that this was what I said. I continued, "Your situation is suitable for an EMF prosthesis, and you may not be very adaptable at the beginning, but after training, the prosthesis can help you do a lot."

He nodded: "I know, I have known it before. Thank you, Xiao Yujing, but... I don't plan to have a prosthetic."

I didn't ask him why, because I knew the answer.

Maybe prosthetics will be a burden for Gu Mingxi, but I believe that for more disabled people, they will need our help, especially those young, poor and disabled children. I firmly believe that our career can change their destiny.

When I set my ambition to go this path, it was the winter of 2003. I was in my freshman year in Beijing. My father called me and told me that Simba was dead.

The Lion King, who should have galloped on the African savanna, died of old age in the zoo alone.

At that time, I thought of Gu Mingxi. Not long ago, I learned about Simba's death, Gu Mingxi and I had just called on the phone, and it was the number Pang Qian asked Wang Song to give me.
Chapter completed!