star chaser poem

-Fu Jing's perspective-

For more than a week, since Xiang Shi asked for sick leave to rest at home, Fu Jing didn't go anywhere after school every day.

He still remembers that a few nights ago, when he opened the door and returned to the familiar room, he could not see the face of the owner of the room, only the backs of his hands covered with rubella and interlaced bloodstains.

Those red silkworms feed on the healthy skin, constantly gnawing and biting, absorbing the nutrients and growing stronger.

The terrifying creature didn't seem to grow on Xiang Shi's body, but got into Fu Jing's heart.

He didn't show any strangeness when the two got along, but after closing the door, he felt a faint pain in his palm - there were a few purple-red fingernail marks left there.

For the first two days, Xiang Shi did nothing except sleep and doze with concentration.

The side effects of the medication had left him drowsy, and being asleep was undoubtedly more liberating than being awake.

Fu Jing was afraid that he would be bored, so she didn't go home after class, so she stayed in his room to do homework.

Later, the wheals on her face had almost faded, so Xiang Shi reluctantly exposed her head, and began to sit at the table to study with Fu Jing.

The water-like bulging skin has been flattened, but the pale pink marks on the outer edge of the lump have not disappeared. The pathogens used his body as a canvas to paint patterns full of malice.

His eyes were originally sunken than ordinary people, but now the orbit of his right eye is surrounded by a large circle of faint pink, like the dead body of a jellyfish.

Xiang Shi sat in front of the desk, while Fu Jing took the seat at the other end, sitting at right angles to him.

"Can you lend me a copy of the paper?"

Accompanied by Fu Jing's voice, the refill of the mechanical pencil broke suddenly.

The tip of the pen directly pressed against the paper, making a muffled sound.

"Which one?"

"These mathematics, physics and chemistry, you learn quickly. I want to see what knowledge points Meishan takes."

"..."

"That's right, tell me the questions, I don't know how to circle here."

After finishing the above words in one breath, Fu Jing stretched out her hand and pushed the paper over. Seeing the indescribable expression on Xiang Shi's face, she childishly gained the joy of a successful prank.

The other party gave him a cold look, "Are you messing with me?"

"No, I want to pass the university entrance examination."

With a "click", this time the mechanical pencil in Xiang Shi's hand fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Fu Jing naturally bent down to pick it up. He patiently opened another person's stiff fingers and stuffed the pen back.

"The desire to learn is almost like appetite."

Without waiting for the poem to ask, he explained in a serious manner: "I will not force myself to read a book when I am full, because I will spit it out after reading it. It is better to wait for the body to become hungry and then go to the book spontaneously." Eat."

"Then you are in a state of hunger when you treat learning now?"

"Yes. I have been hungry for several years. My brain is starved and thin."

Xiang Shi was amused by his funny anthropomorphism, and couldn't help shaking her head, "Which school do you want to go to?"

When he was really asked this question, his first reaction was silence.

Like a shy snail, it quietly retracted into its shell after being touched, curled up its soft body, trying to protect the fragile dream in its belly.

Fu Jing feels that he is a person who is prone to self-doubt and wavering, but he never shows weakness on the surface, so it is difficult for others to perceive his external strength but internal mediocrity.

This was originally a secret desire he hid in his heart, but inconceivably, he did not resist sharing this fragile instability with Xiang Shi.

"Medical school."

"seriously?"

"seriously."

The person who heard the answer first stared at his eyes for a while, then the lower half of his face gradually lost its tension, and finally broke into a long suppressed smile, "Then your brain needs to eat rice cakes."

Fu Jing kicked his calf, "I think it's time to pour washing powder into your mouth."

Xiang Shi let him attack herself desperately, and the test papers and books fell on her one after another, but she didn't have any intention of fighting back.

"Then make an appointment. We will receive the admission letter together in two years."

The voice of that person seemed to be injected with the paint called "expectation", and it became colorful in an instant.

"You are not allowed to go back on your word."

Dazed, she stopped her nonsense, and Fu Jing raised her head to look at him.

This should be the first time Xiang Shi laughed since returning home.

"Actually, learning at this stage has nothing to do with whether you are smart or not. It mainly depends on the difference in learning strategies and time spent, and whether you can maintain focus."

In fact, most of the problems at the beginning stage are due to insufficient practice time, which is not enough to discuss talent. Poor playing can only explain one problem: laziness.

Fu Jing replied reflexively: "I'm sorry, I haven't practiced too much."

"What did you say?"

Even Xiang Shi had never seen such a reaction, he stretched out his hand and waved it tentatively in front of the other party.

Fu Jing blinked her eyes as if waking up from a dream, and after confirming that the person sitting beside her was not Ji Yin, her face turned red.

"No...cough, you continue!"

Xiang Shi pursed his lips, as if he wanted to ask something, but he didn't say it in the end.His eyes stayed on him for a moment, then returned to the paper in his hand.

"Let's look at this question first."

When talking about topics, Xiang Shi is used to writing while sorting out his thoughts on the draft paper.

Due to the lack of exercise since he entered Meishan, his muscles disappeared unconsciously, and his whole body turned into a slender bean sprouts, which looked weak and weak; only his right hand was full of strength, and he could write quickly And fast, comparable to a hard-trained athlete.

He would stop in time to confirm Fu Jing's understanding, like holding up a torch to lead the way in the dark, and paying close attention to whether the people behind him were left behind.

It's not that I've reached the finish line long ago, waiting for you to wait impatiently; it's that I accompany you through the tunnel with your speed.

"If you don't understand, just say you don't understand. I'll explain it in another way. Don't pretend to understand, or it will be more confusing later."

"Some knowledge points will be difficult to follow when you listen to me dryly. After all, you don't come to the conclusions by yourself. Only when you do a lot of questions and suddenly become enlightened while doing it, can you keep the whole logic in your heart."

"Actually, you're a quick learner, and you can understand a little bit. I have taught similar questions to others, and you are better at teaching them."

Xiang Shi's attitude was unexpectedly patient, and he even gave praise without hesitation.

Fu Jing is very skeptical that this is consciously establishing his positive feedback on learning.But knowing this, he still willingly ate this mouthful of artificial sweetener.

Of my two "teachers", one is good at making whips, and the other is addicted to feeding sugar.

In the past few years, they rarely sat together like this, concentrating on the process of finding the same answer.

Rather than walking side by side, it is more like standing leaning on one's back.

The world they see in their eyes is very different, but they can find each other immediately when they turn their heads slightly.

Fu Jing propped her chin with her right hand, turned the pen with her left hand, and secretly traced Xiang Shi's profile with her peripheral vision.

There are faint scars left on the bloodless skin, like the patterns on a snake, and the spreading light pink edges outline the shape of scales, which are dense and of different shades.

This seems to be the first time he pays attention to observe, Xiang Shi who became serious.

He has no distractions, immerses himself in his own world, and uses down-to-earth efforts to grab what he wants one by one.

If I were a girl, my brain would be short-circuited and I wouldn't be able to hear a word.

he thinks.

After dinner in the evening, Fu Jing stayed in the kitchen to help Bai Ru wash the dishes.

Xiang's father had to go home late for a social event, and the three of them ate that meal.

"By the way, have you visited the new house?"

Xiang Shi looks very similar to his mother, especially the outline of eyebrows and eyes.

So, when Fu Jing turned her head and bumped into those familiar eyes suddenly, she couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.

"...Not yet, my parents are busy."

Although it was an open kitchen, Xiang Shi was staying in a room far away at this time and could not hear them talking.

The two made an appointment to watch a movie together later, it is estimated that he is busy choosing movies now.

"Auntie, don't tell him yet." The sound of flowing water destroyed the original weight of the words, making Fu Jing's voice sound shaky, "Anyway, I won't move out before I graduate, and I will tell you when the exam is over." he."

"Then remember to come back and play often."

Different from her attitude towards Xiang Shi, when Bai Ru talked to Fu Jing, there was always an unconcealable doting in her tone, "Auntie will cook you favorite dishes."

"Really?" He tiptoed happily, "I love Auntie Bai's home-cooked food the most."

When the packing was almost done, Fu Jing opened the freezer of the refrigerator, ready to replace Xiang Shi with a new cold pack.

He opened a separate drawer casually, and there were many single papico (*) popsicles scattered in it, all of which were coffee and chocolate flavored, like fish swimming vertically.

It is a kind of milkshake smoothie filled in a tubular plastic shell. There are two pieces in a package. The opening on the top is designed with a pull ring connecting the left and right. When eating, it needs to be broken into two halves.

Seeing him squatting on the ground without saying a word, Bai Ru leaned over to take a look, and laughed inadvertently.

"It's my fault that you haven't seen each other very much recently, and no one shared the food with him."

With just such a simple explanation, Fu Jing has already fully imagined: Xiang Shi must have turned the entire drawer into something because she only wanted to eat one at a time, but she had to unpack a new one every time. The grave of a single popsicle.

He retracted his frozen fingertips into the sleeves of his clothes, and asked softly, "Can I take all of these back?"

"It was originally left to you."

Bai Ru's eyes were bent, forming two gentle arcs.

However, Fu Jing couldn't simply smile at the childish obsessive-compulsive disorder like his Aunt Bai.

His mind was full of Xiang Shi breaking the popsicle alone, waiting for it to melt, and eating it silently.

When she returned to the room, the projector was on, and Xiang Shi was still picking and choosing movies.

Sensing that someone was coming, he said without raising his head, "I put your exclusive big cushion on the bean bag."

"Thank you."

"Would you like to watch a cult movie?"

"it is good."

"I only keep one night light, if you think it's dark, you can turn it on again."

"Ah."

Xiang Shi thought about it, and it seemed that there was nothing else to explain, but Fu Jing suddenly sat down next to him, and placed several ice packs and a familiar brown packaging bag on the table one by one.

"You break it." He said, tearing off the jagged edges on the bag, and pushed the two complete papicos over.

"Let's eat together."

The author has something to say:

papico: Ezaki Gree is a tube-shaped shaved ice that was launched in 1974.

(From Wikipedia)