things i don't know

July [-]th, Hungry Ghost Festival.

After Liu Ting got off her evening self-study, she pushed a bicycle that was bigger than her and walked slowly towards home.

Her family lives on the edge of the city, and she has to cross a pontoon bridge to go home from school.

The pontoon bridge is the only connection between the rich modern and the poor past, and it is also the place where Liu Ting stops every day.

She didn't want to step on the boardwalk, she didn't want to go home.

The failed exam papers were still in her schoolbag, and the cool evening wind blew her half-length black hair up, revealing a young, childish and gloomy face.A pair of big dark eyes hides maturity and sadness that don't match the age.An electric motorcycle was driving on the pontoon, and the headlights swept across her face, clearly illuminating the horrible bruises around her eyes and lips.

Soon, she was engulfed in darkness again.

She pushed the bicycle to the head of the pontoon bridge, put it down casually, and bent her arms to take off the heavy schoolbag.

There were several dim night lights on the pontoon bridge, barely able to teach night walkers to see the road clearly so as not to fall into the water, but more than half of them were broken due to years of disrepair.In the darkness loomed the dilapidated houses across the bridge, where the city's losers, bums, and even criminals lived.They exude an unpleasant smell and fishy smell all day long, like a piece of moldy brown sugar sticking around the splendid city, which is made even uglier by the rules, brightness and cleanliness of the city.

People in the city are reluctant to go to the other side of the pontoon bridge. Liu Ting's classmates are not shy about expressing their disgust for the slums and her family in front of her.

Yes, she belongs to the side of the pontoon bridge, she was born there and grew up there, even though she studied hard and passed the key middle school in the city, she is still her, still carrying the symbols of poverty and vulgarity, even in the bright city symbols around her appear more eye-catching.

She has no friends, and has been in junior high school for two years, and she is still alone.

The violent alcoholic father started to get into the bad habit of gambling half a year ago, and when he lost the bet, he would go home and beat her.Her mother couldn't bear it long ago and ran away with others and didn't take her away.

Every time the alcoholic beats her, she doesn't say a word. When he gets tired, Liu Ting wipes the blood off her face, lifts the big oil pot at home, and continues to do her homework on it.

"What's the use of studying, go to work for me!" This is what the alcoholic father kept repeating.

Liu Ting has never given up on studying. She understands that reading is her only way out and the best way for her to get rid of bad luck.

Learning is her pontoon, a shortcut for her to go from poverty to bright.

But her father didn't give her a chance to study hard.

He forced her to wash dishes in the hotel, and the meager money he earned was taken away by him, and then she went to gamble; after losing the bet, she found a job as a food delivery job for her to do.Liu Ting will always remember that she delivered a beautiful cheesecake to a family in the city, and it was her classmate who opened the door.The classmate was wearing a champagne-colored long dress, a small crown on her head, and her long curly hair resting on her clean and flawless shoulders. She recognized Liu Ting and was a little surprised when she took the cake: "You...why are you delivering food? ?”

The lively and warm voices in the room and the smell of food formed the word "home", which grabbed Liu Ting's heart hard.She flew out of the apartment and shivered on the electric motorcycle.

She saw what she longed for most, and at the same moment she understood how far away from her longing was.

The future she wants may never come.

Because she was forced to work part-time, she had less and less time to study. She never passed the newly added physics subject, and her total score was immediately pulled down.

Last night, her father brought a woman back. The woman twisted into the room wearing clothes that could not cover her chest or buttocks. She glanced at Liu Ting who was doing homework in the corner, and yelled strangely: "Why is there a child?" !"

Her dad said it's okay, you treat her as if she doesn't exist.

The woman was not happy, her father picked her up and threw her out.

Liu Ting slept in the park all night, and received a failed midterm exam paper the next day.This time it's not physics, but mathematics, which she has always liked better.

The math teacher talked to her and asked her what happened recently and why her grades dropped so quickly.Liu Ting lowered her head and said nothing. The teacher went up to have a look and found bruises on her face.

"What's going on? Who beat you? A classmate?"

Liu Ting backed away while shaking her head.

"Or your parents?" The young female teacher stood up all of a sudden, took Liu Ting's hand, and stared into her panicked eyes, "Is it true? Your parents treat you like this?"

Liu Ting withdrew her hand nervously, ran out of the office without saying anything, and even skipped class for the first time.

The young female teacher is just a math teacher, not a head teacher.The teacher in charge once noticed the injury on her face, and his curious eyes stayed on her face for a moment, then moved away indifferently.

Liu Ting doesn't want to be followed by anyone, she is not used to it, and she doesn't know how to respond to these attentions.And she doesn't want to be sympathized by the people in the city with what little self-esteem she has.

Just like the head teacher, just be an indifferent urbanite.

Liu Ting stood by the river for a long time. She knew that many people would drown in this river every summer, and countless ghost stories originated from this river.

It is said that water ghosts gather here in the middle of the night, and those who pass the pontoon bridge in the early morning can hear mournful cries.If anyone dares to look down, they will see pairs of scary eyes floating under the dark green river. They are all water ghosts who drowned in the river. the afterlife.So, they waited under the bridge every night, waiting for their prey to appear.

Taking off her heavy schoolbag, Liu Ting quietly walked into the river in a relaxed suit.

Being a water ghost can have hope, so she would rather give up her life.

A wonderful afterlife...can she have it too?

The sound of paddling water at her feet was very clear in the empty midnight. When the water flooded her waist, there was no wave in her heart.

She is not afraid of death, because she has no concern for this world.Even when she thought that death could take her away from troubles and despair, help her escape, and even give her some hope, she felt an unprecedented affection for death.

She wanted to embrace hope, embrace death.

The moment the river slowly rose and swallowed her, there was a sudden sound of splashing water behind her, as if someone was calling her name.

"Liu Ting! Don't do anything stupid! Grab my hand! Liu Ting!"

Liu Ting was dragged ashore by the people behind her. After drinking a few sips of water, she became dizzy and couldn't see anyone in front of her clearly.

The man shook her a few times and she didn't respond, her body became limp and paralyzed. The man turned her over, put her on his lap, and patted her on the back hard.A large wave of water stuck in Liu Ting's mouth, nose and chest, but she couldn't spit it out. She was so uncomfortable that she lost consciousness.

Seeing this, the man turned her back and lay flat on the ground, gave her artificial respiration hastily, and pressed her chest hard.

When she was in a daze, Liu Ting felt a pair of gentle lips sticking to hers again and again, pulling her back from the brink of death unremittingly.

"Wake up! Wake up!"

This voice is somewhat familiar, as if I have heard it somewhere.

By the way, this is her math teacher, that young female teacher who just graduated from college, what's her name, come to think of it, her name is Meng Xin.

"Liu Ting! Liu Ting!"

Meng Xin's voice was very anxious, pressing harder and harder, outputting more oxygen, until Liu Ting finally let out a big cough and vomited a large puddle of water, Meng Xin gradually regained consciousness, and then Meng Xin was able to press firmly. With a sigh of relief, he collapsed to the ground.

Liu Ting coughed continuously, as if she wanted to cough up all her internal organs.

Meng Xin gasped and gave her the back, and said in a bad mood: "I have been with you all night. I saw you at the pontoon and thought you must go home, but I didn't expect you to run into the river for me... What's the matter, who is it?" Bullying you, you said it, how can you help others if you don't ask others?!"

Meng Xin had long felt that the little girl was in a bad mood, and had been observing her for the past few days. After finding that her math grades had plummeted and seeing the obvious scars on her face, Meng Xin was particularly worried. She didn't go back after school and waited in the carport for a long time. Only then did Liu Ting come to get the car leisurely by herself.Meng Xin followed her just to make sure who was doing the trick to her, but she didn't expect to save her life by the way.

"I don't need others to help." Liu Ting was lifeless like a pool of algae fished out from the bottom of the river, and she didn't have the emotional fluctuations just after breaking free from the death line. Her voice was very calm, "I want to Want to show your greatness? Do you know you're in the way."

Meng Xin never expected that she would be treated like this: "I'm in the way? I saved your life and you still say I'm in the way? You want to die that much?"

Liu Ting stood up and walked unsteadily to the river to find her bicycle.

Meng Xin couldn't understand that this kid was only 13 years old, yet he could be so calm in the face of life and death.

She stepped forward quickly and pressed Liu Ting's bicycle handle.

"Why did you commit suicide?" Meng Xin looked directly at her and asked very sternly, "Have you never thought about how sad your parents will be after you die?"

Liu Ting's unwavering eyes looked at Meng Xin's face from behind her dripping hair.

Meng Xin is young, beautiful, and very tasteful. She changed clothes every day. She has been teaching them for more than a year, but she has never seen her wear the same clothes repeatedly.

She lives on the other side of the pontoon bridge, receives a good education, and leads a prosperous life—this is the life Liu Ting yearns for.

"Do you care about me?" Liu Ting asked in a low voice.

Meng Xin paused for a moment, and restrained his previous vigor: "Of course I care, you are my student."

"Can you always care about me? Will you always care about me?"

Meng Xin was a little puzzled, and soon she noticed the tears on Liu Ting's face.

Meng Xin held her hand and said, "I can't guarantee 'forever', I can only walk through junior high school with you, and when you go to high school, university, and enter the society, you will understand that there is nothing in the world. Forever. But what I can guarantee is that during the three years of teaching you, I will do my best to teach you all my knowledge and ensure your safety. I am your teacher. If you have any difficulties, you can Tell me, and I'll do my best to help you out."

Meng Xin's words were calm and true, and Liu Ting understood that this was the truth of adults.

But it was this truth that broke Liu Ting's heavy defense.

Liu Ting no longer remembers what year the meeting happened that night, she only remembers that she was still alive at that time, and she still had a human name—the "Liu Ting" who had been abandoned long ago.

At that time, she hadn't met Liu Kunyi, and she didn't know that her life was about to reach a subversive turning point.

She only remembered that the night was very dark, and Meng Xin was the only light.

The young governess made her for the first time less eager for death.

Because she started to have a little bit of hope in life.