A Book Dedicated to Our Youth - Tong Hua

Chapter 8: Parting is in front of our eyes.

1. Feelings have always run deep.

Hard work doesn't count for much, waiting for long doesn't count for much either. As long as the crashing waves can settle down, everything will go as one desires. However, life is always a tragicomedy, the amount you put in isn't the same as what you get.

It was once again time for the yearly arts festival. The two shows our class would present was a skit from Song Cheng and Guan He's erhu performance. Guan He invited me to perform with her. I laughed in surprise, "That's not possible, I have no arty cells in me."

Guan He laughed, "You only need to sing along with the music. It's the same as singing karaoke."

I still shook my head so she gave me a deep explanation for why she wanted me to perform, "Our high school entrance exams are coming soon, afterwards, we won't know if we can enter the same school. Even if we do go to the same school, the chances of us being in the same class is very small. Perhaps with time, you and I will naturally drift apart. I only want to leave a memory for our year as desk mates. Perhaps one day, when you see your daughter performing on stage, you'll suddenly remember me, remember that there was a girl who once sang along with you. After we enter high school, I'll focus on studying and stop participating in these cultural activities. This is probably the last performance of my middle school life so I want it to be special. This is my graduation present for myself, and also for you."

Her words were so passionate. What was worse though was that I was actually moved by her words. I said, "When the time comes, don't blame me if we're an embarrassment."

Guan He understood it as me agreeing and laughed, "It's fine, I didn't plan to get the award."

Zhang Jun seemed to be let out but he would still miss classes from time to time. The teachers all knew that it was because he was taken to the police station to be interrogated so he didn't even need to provide an excuse note.

When Zhang Jun was at school, he always wore a solemn expression as if he was pondering a question. I suspected that even when he wasn't in the police station, he would still be thinking of how to answer their questions. The questions he was faced with now wasn't any easier to the ones earlier on. Perhaps he didn't do much but he knew quite a lot, personal loyalty didn't make it an easy decision.

Zhang Jun was still Zhang Jun, still as listless as before. However, the way those few devils from Class(7) looked at Zhang Jun was now different. They were very quiet in class and listened attentively. Anyhow, all of a sudden, Zhang Jun grew a lot of deterrent force.

Hao Lian still didn't come to school. Although even the most gossipy students weren't clear on his news, everyone could tell that his crime was definitely more serious than Zhang Jun's.

Tong Yun Zhu often went to find Zhang Jun. When Zhang Jun wasn't deep in thought, he would definitely be accompanying her.

Everyone saw Zhang Jun and Tong Yun Zhu often but they never saw him with his girlfriend, Chen Su Nan. I had a feeling that Zhang Jun was probably going to get dumped again. And as expected, not long after, news spread from the high school department that Chen Su Nan and Zhang Jun broke up. Her way of breaking up was, compared to his previous two girlfriends, ten times more artistic, it really suited the expectations of teenage girls.

That day, Song Cheng and the others were discussing scripts for their skit and Guan He and I were discussing what we should sing when the hubbub in the corridors suddenly quietened. A few girls ran in and apologetically asked, "Can we listen to the radio?"

We all nodded in confusion, thinking that something had happened in school and the head wanted to speak.

They opened the radio and the radio host's voice ran out in the classroom, charged with emotion, "The next song is chosen by our station's previous president, Chen Su Nan, to her good friend, Zhang Jun. She wants to say three words to him, first is 'thank you', second, 'goodbye' and third, 'sorry'. Let us all enjoy the Taiwanese singer, Chen Shu Hua's 'Red Dust'.