Chapter 144 This is for you!
The journey is slow and the letters are far away.
With the speed of postal services these days, it would take at least a week for the magazine to receive the manuscript submitted by Liu Zhiyi.
Considering the time for various reviews and processes, it may take one or two months to get the submission result.
In fact, it is good to have a reply, which means that the manuscript has at least entered the second round. What Liu Zhiyi fears most is waiting for no reply. It is always frustrating to hear no reply.
Except for Fang Wei, Liu Zhiyi did not tell anyone else that she had secretly submitted articles to "Mengya". Not even her grandfather knew about it. It became a little secret between the two of them.
While waiting for the submission results, the girl seemed calm and composed on the surface, but she must have been feeling a little anxious and expectant in her heart.
When passing by the town post office on the way to and from school, Fang Wei would often notice that Liu Zhiyi would subconsciously glance in the direction of the post office. Even though he knew that even if there was a result, it would not be so quick, he could not hide his feelings.
This submission is a beginning, and although it may not be the end, it will still affect the girl’s life.
Fortunately, as time went by, Liu Zhiyi's anxiety gradually faded, and he began to devote himself to preparing for the final exam.
Not only is she working hard to prepare for the final exam, but also Fang Weiwei, Cailing, Asheng, the students in Class 2, the subject teachers and Wen Susu. The most important thing at the moment is the final exam.
The courses became more intense. In the penultimate week before the final exam, all courses in all subjects were basically completed, leaving less than half a month for review or class tests.
Perhaps it was because of their determination to keep the red flag of "model class" in the class forever, the students in Class 2 demonstrated a learning atmosphere that was completely different from that of the other three classes. Just like during the midterm exam, even during breaks, many students stayed in their seats to read books and recite texts.
Of course, after all, they are all boys and girls at the playful age, and it is impossible to expect everyone to focus only on studying and not do anything else.
Fang Wei didn't know when braided ropes became popular in the class.
At first, it was Xu Cailing and Du Peipei who were playing it, and soon other girls joined in. It soon became the most popular pastime for the girls in the class after studying. Even Liu Zhiyi joined in on this game of hand-woven ropes.
As the weather got colder, the little girls stayed in the classroom during breaks. They stayed in their seats in groups of three or four, weaving with colorful strings, tying them into beautiful knots with complex structures, stringing them with beads and shells to make ethnic bracelets, or tying them into rings to make exquisite handmade key chains...
As for the previously popular practice of playing Gobang with geometry notebooks, it is now out of fashion. Knitting and handicrafts are now the most popular!
This skill is divided into different levels according to the difficulty of the manual work. The more common ones are weaving ropes, and the more advanced ones are weaving scarves, sweaters, and gloves.
This became the greatest pleasure for the little girls in the class, and Du Peipei became the head coach, teaching all kinds of knitting techniques. As the first one to start knitting with Peipei, Xu Cailing now knows a lot of tricks, and Liu Zhiyi follows her to learn.
Boys cannot appreciate the fun that little girls have. They think that it’s just a few colorful ropes, what’s so fun about it?
Even when some girls gave them the beautiful knots they had carefully woven, most of the ignorant teenagers didn't take them seriously and just threw them into a corner, gradually forgetting them in the long river of time.
This is probably what it means to be unable to have youth and feel youth at the same time...
Fortunately, Fang Wei doesn’t know how to do that.
That night, when he was studying on the windowsill, the stupid girl next door threw a ball of paper to him.
"Open it and take a look!" said Xu Cailing.
"I don't want it. You must have written something insulting about me in it." Fang Wei picked up the paper ball and put it on the table without opening it.
"I'm not scolding you! Open it now!"
"..."
"hurry up!"
"..."
Fang Wei had no choice but to unfold the paper ball.
The contents were exactly the same as before, with a sentence cursing him: [Open it and you'll be a pig!]
"Ha ha……"
Fang Wei sneered, but when he picked up the exquisite colorful knot that was also wrapped in the paper ball, his eyes softened.
"looks good?"
The girl on the windowsill held her face in her hands, her legs swaying under the table, looking very proud.
"It's nice. Did you make it yourself?"
“Yes, this is the best one I have ever made!”
Fang Wei held the colorful rope knot and looked at it with a smile. She used four thin ropes of four different colors to weave it. The colorful ropes were interwoven together in a unique weaving technique, which had a unique beauty. For decoration, she also strung together two small shells the size of fingernails and tied a ring to make it into a keychain.
It's a very meticulous handicraft.
"Given to me?"
Fang Wei couldn't let go of the colorful rope keychain. He preferred this handmade product that was full of girlish love to the finished products bought outside. Not everyone has the opportunity to receive such a gift, and it becomes rarer as one grows older.
"So do you like it?"
"I like it! It's so beautiful and so thoughtful, who wouldn't like it!"
He was clearly praising the knot, but Xu Cailing always felt like he was praising her, so much so that she blushed. Fortunately, it was dark at night and no one could see it, but the girl was in a very good mood and her calves swung much faster.
"If you like it, I'll give it to you!" Xu Cailing said generously.
"Really? Didn't you say this was the best one you made? Why are you giving it to me now? I won't give it back to you, okay?"
"I just want to send it to you, is that not possible?"
"Okay, I like it very much."
"Don't you dare throw away the things I gave you!"
"how come."
In front of her, Fang Wei took the key off the original keychain and strung it onto the handmade keychain woven with colorful rope that she had given him.
He picked it up by the colorful rope and shook it, and several keys jingled.
"See? I hung my keys on it. If I accidentally lose the keychain you gave me, my keys will also be lost, and I will be punished by not being able to go home."
"hey-hey……"
Xu Cailing smiled contentedly: "You dared to lose the things I gave you, so I'll punish you like this!"
After all, she was reluctant to throw away any of the things Fang Wei gave her.
The next day.
Fang Wei received another carefully crafted handicraft from another girl.
The two girls seemed to have discussed it beforehand. They both made handicrafts woven with colorful ropes, but in different styles. The one Liu Zhiyi gave was a pendant.
She had known for a long time that Cai Ling was going to give Fang Wei a key chain. In order to avoid conflicts in gifts, she pondered for a long time before deciding to give Fang Wei a pendant woven with colorful ropes.
Maybe the pendant is not as practical as the keychain, but it is more in line with her personality, quiet and not conspicuous.
"Here, here you go."
The girl was very thieving, and even giving a gift was like a thief. She took out the prepared colorful string ornament from her schoolbag, without even looking at him, but just looking at the book on her desk. She stretched out her hand and put it on his desk, then immediately retracted it. Fang Wei hadn't reacted yet, and only when he lowered his head did he notice the beautiful colorful string ornament on the desk.
This is also a very thoughtful work. The three-color thin ropes are woven into a beautiful knot using a unique weaving technique. On the top of the knot, she also specially strung a few colorful beads, and the bottom of the knot is made into a tassel style, which looks quite ethnic.
Fang Wei picked up the knot with a smile and looked at it, looking at the small gift in his hand for a while, and then turned to look at her.
Liu Zhiyi's expression remained calm, but her heart was beating fast. She secretly observed his reaction out of the corner of her eye.
"Knowledge."
"..."
"Did you do this yourself?"
"Ah."
"When did you make it? You don't usually braid ropes like this."
“Made at home…”
"Oh oh."
Fang Wei looked as if he had suddenly realized something: "I see! So you had thought of giving it to me a long time ago, so you secretly made this at home and gave it to me as a surprise, right?"
“…No, no!”
Liu Zhiyi's pretty face turned red and she quickly tried to make excuses.
"Ah? It's not for me?"
"It's for you..."
"That's good. I thought it wasn't a gift for me. Now that such a beautiful knot is in my hands, there's no reason for me to take it back."
"..."
Liu Zhiyi couldn't ask him whether he liked it or not, but from Fang Wei's expression and the words he said, she knew that he definitely liked it.
Then he asked knowingly, in a very low voice: "Do you like it?"
"I like it! It's so carefully made and looks so beautiful, of course I like it!"
"~~~"
She was naturally happy, but she didn't show it. Inexplicably, she felt that the sunlight outside the window was much brighter.
"How did you think of giving me this?"
"Cai Ling gave you a keychain, I, I will give you a pendant."
"...?"
No, is this also a reason? Can this question be answered from this perspective?
In fact, Liu Zhiyi didn’t know why she gave him a small gift, but just like Cai Ling, she gave it to him when she wanted to.
She inexplicably felt that this hand-woven rope was meant to be given as a gift, and the first person she thought of was him. From the beginning of weaving to the final successful gifting, such a handicraft had successfully completed its mission.
If you have made it but cannot send it out, isn’t that also a kind of frustration?
Only then can you welcome everyone who comes.
It would be great for other little boys to receive a small gift like this carefully prepared by the girl, but he alone took two!
Fang Wei happily played with the knot in his hand.
He didn't put it in the drawer or in his bag. Instead, he took out his schoolbag and, in front of Liu Zhiyi, hung the beautiful knot she had given him on the schoolbag.
"I'll hang it on my schoolbag from now on!"
"Oh……"
Liu Zhiyi responded calmly, but she was already very happy in her heart! Nothing could make a girl happier than him always carrying the things she gave him!
Just imagine him walking outside with his schoolbag on his back, and someone asked him, "Hey Fang Wei, where did you buy this pendant?" Then he said, "I didn't buy it, it was given to me by my deskmate Liu Zhiyi..."
When she thought about him mentioning her name to others, Liu Zhiyi felt her face turn red and her heart beat fast. The more she thought about it, the more she thought about it. She couldn't even concentrate on reading!
Looking at the girl's curved eyebrows and absent-minded eyes, Fang Wei was also stunned, then stretched out his hand and waved it in front of her eyes.
"Hey?"
"……Well?"
Liu Zhiyi came back to her senses, quickly put away her wild thoughts, blinked her big eyes and looked at him.
"This weekend is New Year's Day, Zhiyi, do you have any plans?"
"Read a book."
"…So there's nothing else?"
"Ah."
"Didn't we have dinner at your house during the last Mid-Autumn Festival? And on New Year's Day, my parents want to invite you to our house for lunch. You have to come over then."
"Ah? No, that's not necessary."
Liu Zhiyi refused out of habit, mainly because he was too shy and felt embarrassed.
Fang Wei could see what she was thinking and said with a smile, "It's okay. I didn't invite just you to come. Cai Ling and A Sheng are also coming. It's a good opportunity for us to have hot pot together!"
Hearing that everyone was going, Liu Zhiyi nodded and agreed.
Today is already Friday, and New Year's Day is next Monday. Including the two-day weekend, there will be three days of holiday... Phew, actually it's only one day!
When they went to the cafeteria for lunch at noon, Fang Wei and his three friends met Wen Susu.
"Hey! Teacher Wen! Isn't it New Year's Day holiday? Why hasn't Teacher Wen returned to Shanghai at noon today?" Xu Cailing asked.
"I won't go back for New Year's Day. There's only three days left. Plus, the final exams are coming up soon. I'm too lazy to go back and forth. I'll just stay on the island." Wen Susu said with a smile.
"Ah, then everyone is on vacation, and Teacher Wen must be very bored at school alone," said Xu Cailing.
"Hahaha, no, the teacher is not a child. Unlike you guys who play every day, it's so quiet when you are alone!" Wen Susu looked like she didn't care.
"That's just right."
Fang Wei smiled and invited, "Sister, come to my house for hotpot on New Year's Day!"
"Eh? Hot pot?" Wen Susu was stunned.
Cai Ling, Zhi Yi, A Sheng and the other two also reacted and quickly followed suit, "Yes, yes! Teacher Wen, let's go to Fang Wei's house for hot pot on New Year's Day! Let's all go!"
"This……"
"Let's go together, let's go together!"
(End of this chapter)
