If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

In 2009, February 4th, Lichun.

Lin Nian walked out of the city's Children's Palace with a thick wad of money in his arms, feeling inexplicably that this year's spring came earlier than in previous years.

When the little girl at the front desk counted the money to Lin Nian earlier, he thought that the other party had taken too much, but after repeated confirmation, it was indeed so much. The part-time job fee of two thousand yuan was placed in a thick stack in his hand, which made people feel unreasonable. I want to sing the song "Where is Spring" that the music teacher has been teaching since elementary school.

Winter is gone and spring is coming again, Lin Nian, a second grader in high school, will turn 17 at the age of 16.

He was orphaned since he was a child, and grew up in an orphanage. He met a god-sister in the orphanage, and they moved out of the orphanage to live with each other when they became adults. For several years, the two siblings have been dependent on each other, and they are mostly financially strapped, so he never misses any opportunity to work illegally.

Lin Nian was walking on the street exhaling white mist. Judging from the current world prices, although the two thousand yuan he earned this time is not too much, it is definitely not too little. His old sister's monthly salary is only About 1,000, for a student who is still in the second year of high school, being able to earn 2,000 by himself is already enough to attract the attention of others.

Lin Nian knew that what the coach gave him was a formal exhibition match fee. The standard and treatment of two thousand yuan for an appearance fee could not be won by anyone in the industry. There is no test for the first stage of the rank, and the two thousand is not a performance fee, but a favor fee.

For Lin Nian, the coach has always been very interesting, probably because he is talented as the coach said, so he loves talents, but it may also be one-sided sympathy. The nature of ability will take care of it.

A coach is a capable person. Those who can hold training classes in the city's Children's Palace are not capable. The kendo training costs 5,000 yuan per person per session, and there are 20 people in one class per session. This year alone, the coaches have led five classes.

Lin Nian worked as a small worker in the Children's Palace in the early days, and out of interest, he touched the bamboo sword a few times. The coach saw that he was talented, and he took him to a class. The achievement also depends on the coach's love.

The coach also asked Lin Nian before if he wanted to develop with him, but Lin Nian refused because his sister wanted him to go to college, so the coach stopped mentioning it afterwards.

Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite, and the scriptures in Lin Nian's family are particularly difficult to recite.

After leaving the entrance of the Children's Palace, there is a bus station. Take Line 2 and transfer to Line 3 at the subway station. Get out of the subway at the terminal station and then take a bus.

Lin Nian's family lives in the inland suburbs of this coastal city. There is no so-called residential property system in the old housing area. There are some old houses standing side by side on a large open space. The tall ones are seven or eight stories high, and the short ones are On the fourth and fifth floors, the walls of the house are mottled. There are also some owners who have redecorated and put bricks in order to save face, and the stores have been rented out as breakfast shops or hot pot restaurants, and the streets are lively with people coming and going.

Lin Nian entered the old housing area and went straight to his own house—an old house with Mala Tang on the front of the ground floor. He went around from the alley to the back door, went all the way to the fifth floor and knocked on the door.

"Boom boom boom."

After knocking three times, Lin Nian waited at the door with his hands in his pockets. After a while, a girl's voice sounded from inside: "Who?"

"Me." He simply replied and the door in front of him was opened.

Behind the door stood a girl younger than Lin, wearing furry pajamas and a kitchen apron, with a pink cotton slipper on her feet and holding a spatula in her hand when she opened the door.

Her name is Lin Xian, and she is Lin Nian's older sister.

Seeing Lin Nian's head covering his face, Lin Xian asked, "Where did you go so early in the morning? You didn't even leave a note. If you don't come back after noon, I'm going to go to the Internet cafe to arrest you."

"Didn't go to the Internet cafe." Lin Nian crossed the threshold to change into slippers and walked to the door: "I went to the Children's Palace, and the coach asked me to play an exhibition game."

Lin Xian glanced at him and sniffed. He did not smell the smoke, then turned around and ran back to the kitchen to work on the lunch in the pot and asked at the same time: "The coach of the Musashi training class?"

"Which coach could it be?" Lin Nian lay down on the sofa in the living room and could see his sister cooking in the kitchen when he turned his head: "This time I owe you a favor again, and I gave you two thousand for an exhibition match."

"Two thousand? That's a lot." Lin Xian's voice raised slightly, but soon dropped down and was covered by the sound of oil sizzling in the pot.

"At least the rent for next month is enough." Lin Nian took the money out of his pocket and put it on the table.

"Aunt Wang said that our rent will drop next month." Said Lin Xian, who was cooking.

"How much?"

"five hundred."

"Good thing." Lin Nian nodded: "Then keep the two thousand for your family."

"Besides, keep it for now. I'll go to the bank in the afternoon." Lin Xian turned off the gas stove, put the stir-fried vegetables on the table and said, "Don't just sit there, go scoop up the rice."

"Oh." Lin Nian obediently got up and trot to the rice cooker, filled two bowls of rice and sat down at the dining table with chopsticks.

"School is about to start, how are you preparing for the exam?" Lin Xian knocked his chopsticks on the table and looked at Lin Nian and asked.

"So-so." Lin Nian said perfunctorily.

"So-so? You were admitted to Shilan based on your grades. If you fail the entrance exam, you may not be given preferential treatment for next year's tuition." Lin Xian glanced at Lin Nian while holding the rice: "You know the pros and cons of it."

"Oh, I see. I'll read at night." Lin Nian sighed, put a piece of bacon into the bowl and asked, "Where did you get the bacon? Did you go buy it?"

"It was sent by Dean Li from the orphanage this morning. Don't change the subject. Reading at night is not enough. Not only tonight, but you have to stay at home until the start of school on the 19th. I will help you with tuition. Anyway, the year is over, it's time to play." I’ve had enough fun with you, it’s time to calm down.” Lin Xian chewed slowly and said, “Don’t go out with that surname Lu all day long to surf the Internet, the smoky environment in the Internet cafe is not good.”

"He covers my internet fee and nutrition express." Lin Nian said solemnly, "Are you willing to see your brother malnourished?"

"You don't have to go to the video store to rent those messy things a few times, and you won't be malnourished." Lin Xian said with a chopstick of leeks in a bowl.

"Hiss." Lin Nian felt a chill in his heart as if his loincloth had been whipped in the street.

Lin Xian glanced at him a few times, but didn't continue talking.

The dinner table fell into silence again.

After a while, Lin Xian suddenly said, "I changed jobs."

Lin Nian paused and said, "Is it a coffee shop?"

"how do you know?"

"The coach said that his daughter met you in the high-tech zone." Lin Nian said, "Why did you quit your previous office job?"

"Inappropriate." Lin Xian said as he lowered his head to eat.

inappropriate? Sitting in an office is not suitable for anyone, as long as they have a straight buttocks, anyone can be suitable. Lin Nian thought, but after a while he sighed again in his heart.

How could he not know why Lin Xian said it was inappropriate, most likely because he was harassed in the workplace again, counting the last time, this was already the third time. A girl in her early 20s who just graduated from college, has no social experience, has a bad family background, and has a very good-looking life. I don’t want to harass you or anyone else.

"Good things, all good things, as long as you can find a job." Lin Nian didn't show any expression on his face: "You didn't suffer, did you?"

"So what if you suffer a loss?" Lin Xian looked up at Lin Nian while eating.

"Then I will definitely beat someone up." Lin Nian said without hesitation: "At most, it is defined as a fight. I will strike lightly and leave no injuries. At most, I will fine and detain you for a few days."

"Then you will leave your case." Lin Xian smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Do you think I seem to care about these people?" Lin Nian said with a smile.

"You should care." Lin Xian shrugged and shook his head: "Besides, I didn't suffer."

You just won't tell me if you suffer a loss, Lin Nian took a bite of his meal and didn't say a word.

"By the way, you went out when Dean Li came this morning, and she said she wanted to see you." Lin Xian raised his chopsticks to change the topic.

"Look at what I'm doing, I'm not missing any arms or legs." Lin Nian didn't seem to be too impressed with the Dean Li that Lin Xian was talking about.

"It seems to be about the college entrance examination." Lin Xianjiacai paused: "Dean Li said that if you haven't volunteered yet, she can recommend you to study abroad."

"Study abroad?" Lin Nian looked up suspiciously: "When did our orphanage have a relationship with a foreign university? If you say that there is a relationship with a foreign orphanage, I will believe it."

"Dean Li doesn't look like he's making fun of us." Lin Xian said after a moment of hesitation.

"But even if it's true, isn't it too early? I'm only in the second half of my sophomore year when school starts." Lin Nian was a little puzzled: "And you need financial guarantee to study abroad?"

"Dean Li said that she is willing to be a guarantor." Lin Xian picked up the bowl and put it down again, looking like he wanted to talk about it: "It is said that she recommended a private university in the outer suburbs of Chicago."

"America? That's more nonsense. What kind of family conditions can afford to study in the United States." Lin Nian seemed to lack interest: "And you have to take the TOEFL, which is very troublesome."

Speaking of this, Lin Xian simply said directly: "Dean Li said that the school is willing to give out scholarships."

Lin Nian was silent, lowered his head to dig two bowls of rice, thought for a while and said, "Isn't Dean Li going to sell me to the Middle East to dig coal?"

"It's possible." For the first time, Lin Xian didn't condemn Lin Nian's rebellious speech, but was seriously thinking about this possibility—now this situation does look quite conspiratorial.

The two siblings have worked hard to survive these years, and they all know a truth. All the pies in this world are filled with ecstasy, just like the free cocktails given by passers-by in the bar are not free.

"I heard from Dean Li that the name of the school seems to be Kasai Kassel?" Lin Xian thought for a while and said, "Why don't you go to the Internet cafe in the afternoon and check to see if there is such a school."

"You can't even remember your name, so find an excuse." Lin Nian shook his head and said, "By the way, let's talk to those who came out of other orphanages and let them pay attention to Dean Li. , Nothing can be decided in the current world."

"Then what university are you going to study, do you have a direction?" Lin Xian nodded and asked.

"No direction." Lin Nian said: "I can't afford to study if I pass the school exam, and I don't want to study if I fail the exam."

"College entrance examination volunteers can fill in well, and there is always a solution for tuition fees." Lin Xian knocked on the side of the bowl: "Whether you can get in is a matter of ability, and whether you can afford it is a matter of economics."

"In the past, there are a sea of ​​sour literati who were underappreciated and starved to death. In the end, it is still an economic problem." Lin Nian said indifferently: "It doesn't matter what I do."

"You know what to do." After Lin Xian said this, he didn't say any more.

She has always known the art of leaving blank space in her speech, but this art often makes her think a lot about the person at the table, and the more she thinks, the more uncomfortable she will be, until she forgives, and then backs down.

"Yes." Lin Nian replied.

"Clean up after eating. I have work in the afternoon, so I won't come back to eat at night." Lin Xian put down the dishes, took off her apron, walked into her room, closed the door and changed clothes.

Lin Nian on the dining table held up his chopsticks for a long time, but finally put them down. He suddenly lost his appetite.

The wind blows in from the wide open window in the living room. This year's late spring cold came earlier, and the room is full of coolness, which penetrates to the bottom of my heart. It seems that I can smell a scent that belongs to this place. The astringency of a coastal city.

In 2009, February 4th, Lichun.

Lin Nian is 16 years old and Lin Xian is 20 years old. They are both lonely and depend on each other for life in this coastal city.