Chapter 81 Can I run with you in the future?
Reading and studying are indeed important.
Ever since Fang Wei rented a book about basic financial knowledge for his father in the bookstore, the old man hasn't played his Contra much recently. When he has nothing to do, he just lies on the sofa and reads a book.
After all, Fang Xianfeng is old, and his learning ability is naturally not as good as that of young people, but he has practical opportunities and experience that students do not have. These basic financial knowledge are not too difficult to learn. He can just learn and practice at the same time.
His son often said that one never stops learning. After gradually tasting the sweetness, Fang Xianfeng felt that his son was right.
At least his account books are now written in a more standardized manner, and his efficiency is much higher when he reconciles the accounts on a daily basis, and there are rarely any omissions.
Fang Wei also felt relieved that his father, who had always been rebellious, could calm down and study.
Fang Wei had almost finished reading the book "Ordinary World" that he had borrowed before.
Firstly, he reads slowly, and secondly, he has to attend classes on weekdays and doesn't have much time to read.
Taking advantage of the holiday to relax, he sat on the windowsill and read a book.
He likes this reading position very much, and it somehow improves his reading concentration.
In order to facilitate reading at night, he specially installed a small light bulb on the windowsill. The light shone from behind him, and the words on the pages were clearly visible.
Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival.
Even though the moon is not at its fullest these two days, the moonlight is still very bright.
The temperature began to change gradually. It was still very hot during the day, but it was very cool at night. I didn't even need to turn on the fan in the house. When I sat on the windowsill and read, the natural breeze outside was cool enough.
[call out--]
A small ball of paper flew over.
Fang Wei looked up and saw Xu Cailing chewing a big peach and staring at him with a smile.
Until now, he still couldn't understand why she preferred to throw paper balls to get his attention when she could just call him directly?
Is there something written on the paper ball?
The words were indeed written.
Fang Wei had picked up the paper a long time ago and opened it to read. Inside was a line of words: [Open it and you will be an idiot!]
From that time on, Fang Wei never opened the paper balls she threw to him again.
"what?"
"Idiot~!"
"I'm reading."
"Please have a peach."
"Throw it over here quickly!"
"Humph! You're so active when there's food to eat!"
"Are you not active when you have food to eat?"
Xu Cailing did not tease him. Instead, she reached into her little hand and took out a big peach from somewhere, and pointed it in the direction of the window.
Fang Wei also quickly put down the book in his hand and prepared to take it.
"Got it!"
"Is it difficult?"
Fang Wei easily caught the peach she threw to him.
"That's not because I threw it right!"
"I took the call well."
Fang Wei chuckled and sniffed the peach in his hand.
It's a soft peach.
Peaches come in two types: soft peaches and crisp peaches. The two different types of peaches have different tastes. Soft peaches are softer in texture, but also sweeter, with plenty of juice. They are so soft that you can tear the skin open with your hands and just suck it hard, which is very satisfying.
"Did Sister Caiwei bring it back?"
"Yeah, it's so sweet!"
Fang Wei peeled the peach and started eating it with Xu Cailing.
There are no peach trees on the island, otherwise it might be called Peach Blossom Island.
Fruits like peaches are rarely seen and eaten on a daily basis. I still remember watching Journey to the West and seeing the Monkey King stealing peaches. Xu Cailing was so greedy and has always been curious about what peaches taste like.
Thanks to her sister, she now got to eat it. As to whether it tasted the same as she had imagined, she didn’t know, but the girl still enjoyed it very much.
"Fool!"
"Why are you scolding me again?"
"Humph."
Xu Cailing said as she ate a peach: "You are easy to talk about. Aren't you usually quite smart? Why did you keep talking about Mid-Autumn Festival during lunch?"
"It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Then, then aren't you afraid that Zhiyi will be sad after hearing this?"
"So we should avoid talking about these things?"
"correct."
"All the way down?"
"……Well."
Xu Cailing suddenly didn't know how to respond.
Fang Wei smiled and said, "Do you think Zhiyi is stupid?"
"She must be smarter than you!" said Xu Cailing.
"That's it. Since Zhiyi is smarter than me, even I can see that you are deliberately avoiding this topic. How can Zhiyi not see it?"
"Although we don't say it, and she doesn't say it either, isn't this a disguised way of reminding her of those things?"
"……this."
Xu Cailing was suddenly stunned.
"But, didn't we do this before?"
"We just met then, so it was definitely different. Now we are all friends."
Fang Wei continued, "Since we are friends, she must be as considerate of each other as we are, right? The more we try to be serious, the more uncomfortable she will feel. Zhiyi is a person who doesn't want to trouble others. She will force herself to forget those things, but how can she forget such things? She keeps keeping them in her heart. Not only does she feel uncomfortable, but she also doesn't get along with us as naturally as she did at the beginning."
Xu Cailing didn't think as deeply as Fang Wei, but she had a strong ability to empathize and was thoughtful. Maybe she didn't quite understand some parts of Fang Wei's words, but she roughly understood what it felt like.
"Then what should I do..."
"Just like when you're with me."
"What was it like when I was with you?"
"..."
Fang Wei rolled his eyes at her speechlessly. Perhaps this was the result of the two of them getting along naturally and casually to a certain extent? Even he himself couldn't explain how they got along...
"Just don't be too deliberate. For example, what were you thinking when you threw the paper ball?"
"I didn't think much of it. I just lost it."
"Do you wonder if I'll be mad?"
"Ah? Will you be angry?"
“…That’s the example I gave!”
"Ohh! I see!"
Xu Cailing suddenly understood something, and it was as if a light bulb lit up in her head.
"That is to say, don't worry about what others think, just do whatever you want!"
"...??"
Fang Wei almost fell off the windowsill.
"Isn't that right? Isn't that what you wanted to say?"
"...Then when I'm obviously unhappy, will you still throw paper balls at me?" Fang Wei gave another example.
"No, I'm not that stupid!"
Xu Cailing finally understood what Fang Wei was trying to describe: "That is, friends should still be considerate of each other, but don't try too hard!"
Fang Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to directly telling her what to do, it would certainly not be as profound as letting her figure it out on her own.
"Well, it seems you are not that stupid."
"You're stupid!"
Xu Cailing asked him curiously again: "So I threw a ball of paper at you, were you angry?"
"I am angry!"
Fang Wei made an angry expression.
Xu Cailing giggled, rolled up another paper ball and threw it at him.
"Fang Wei."
"Ok?"
"Come with me to Zhiyi's house tomorrow morning to do homework, let's go together!"
"Why don't you just go?"
"Let's go together! It's fun!"
"You just want to have fun, right?"
“All I have in mind is homework!”
"..." "That's it, bye."
Xu Cailing closed the window and drew the curtains.
She didn't sleep in her own room tonight, but went to her sister's room to sleep together.
……
The next day was Mid-Autumn Festival.
Fang Wei still got up early.
When I walked out of the room to go jogging, Tian Xilan was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
"Mom, why don't you sleep a little longer? Isn't today a holiday?"
"I'm used to getting up early, so I wake up on time and can't fall asleep."
"Where's Dad? Is he going to the dock today?"
"No, I haven't woken up yet."
Tian Xilan said, and then asked him: "Do you want to eat something before running? I'll fry some pickles and cook the porridge."
"I'll eat it when I get back."
"I'll kill a chicken later, and we'll eat at home at noon, and then go to your grandma's house to eat in the evening."
"Well, kill that big capon, it always likes to peck my feet!"
Fang Wei chuckled, waved his hand, and left home to go for a run.
The Mid-Autumn Festival atmosphere on the island is still very strong. Although it is not decorated with lights and colors like in the city, the pier and the market are quite lively.
At night, there are still many Mid-Autumn Festival activities with strong folk characteristics in Baitan Town. Pineapple Island is small and not so rich, but if you have a motorcycle, you can go to the town to join in the fun at night.
Fang Wei ran all the way here, and when he passed Shayang Village, he saw Liu Zhiyi who had gotten up early.
After she learned how to ride a bicycle, Liu Zhiyi didn't get up so early on weekdays. Usually, she would be seen washing in the yard when Fang Wei came back from running.
Today was an exception. Liu Zhiyi woke up very early and rode his bicycle on the country road. He didn't ride too far. Anyway, he was very familiar with riding this road back and forth.
When the girl was turning around and preparing to ride over, she saw Fang Wei running towards her not far away.
She was stunned for a moment, but did not just wait there. Instead, she rode her bike slowly towards him, and then the two met halfway between the rural road between Donghua Village and Shayang Village.
"Good morning. Zhiyi."
"Good morning, Fang Wei."
"It's a holiday, why did you get up earlier than usual today?"
"Well……"
"Didn't you sleep well?"
"good."
Fang Wei smiled, and knowing from the dark circles under her eyes, she must not have slept well. After all, today was Mid-Autumn Festival, and she must have been thinking about random things the whole night.
"Haven't you already learned how to ride a bicycle? Why are you practicing again this morning?"
"Because I couldn't fall asleep after waking up, I wanted to go out and get some fresh air."
Liu Zhiyi looked a little embarrassed and continued, "I thought you would also get up early to run, so I..."
"Waiting for me specially?"
"No, it's just that..."
"Want to go watch the sunrise?"
"Uh-huh!"
Liu Zhiyi nodded. It was easy to chat with Fang Wei. He could always guess what she wanted to say.
"Okay, then let's go together."
"Can you make it?"
"It's still early."
Fang Wei thought for a moment and then asked, "Should we increase the difficulty of the challenge?"
"Eh?"
"You can go running with me this time!"
"Run, run?!"
Liu Zhiyi was stunned. It would be fine if she went by bike, but if she went by running, could she really run that far?
"Why don't I just ride my bike? I run slowly and will hold you back..."
"It's okay, we can just run slowly. I usually jog too, and it's still early today, so I'm sure we can catch up. Let's run together! Exercise during the day, and you'll sleep better at night!"
"Then... I'll go back and put my bike away."
After hearing what he said, Liu Zhiyi hardened her heart and decided to run over with him.
After putting the bicycle away, the two of them started running slowly together from her doorstep.
"Adjust your breathing rhythm, look forward, don't run with your head down, raise your arms a little bit, and swing them..."
"Is that so?"
"Well, you don't have to say anything. Just listen to me."
Because she didn't do much warm-up exercises and Fang Wei took her physical condition into consideration, she ran very slowly at the beginning.
He wouldn't rush her, but would just help her adjust her running posture.
This was Liu Zhiyi's first time running somewhere other than school.
At first, facing the villagers' surprised looks, the girl was a little shy.
But as her body heated up, she began to follow Fang Wei and slowly accelerated, and she no longer had the energy to think about anything else.
[Huff—Huff—]
"Breathe as deeply as possible and keep your head up."
[Huff—Huff—]
"We're at the dock now. We're already halfway through the journey. Hang on, hang on!"
All the random thoughts that she had from last night until early morning had now disappeared completely. The only thing left in her mind was Fang Wei's voice. She didn't even pay attention to the people and things around her.
His tender chest and lungs felt as if they were about to explode, and his legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.
Fang Wei could see that she was probably reaching her limit.
But Liu Zhiyi didn't say a word, nor did he suggest stopping to rest.
She seemed to be competing with herself, using this method of overdrawing her physical strength to release her depressed mood.
Since she didn't take the initiative to stop, Fang Wei wouldn't stop either.
The most difficult part of running is this first extreme point, but it will be much better as long as you grit your teeth and get through it.
Liu Zhiyi suddenly staggered and was about to fall, and he supported her in time.
"Are you okay?"
"Thanks……"
The girl shook her head, steadied herself, and started running again.
……
It’s less than two kilometers from Shayang Village to Xiaobaisha.
But for Liu Zhiyi, who was running such a long distance for the first time and whose physical fitness was not very good, it was a feat!
"arrive!"
When Fang Wei's words rang in his ears, Liu Zhiyi's legs almost went weak and he sat down directly on the beach.
“Don’t sit directly after running.”
Fang Wei quickly reached out and supported her again.
The girl's body was delicate and she didn't weigh much to support.
When the skin of their arms touched each other, they could feel each other's sticky sweat.
Liu Zhiyi looked up and saw a red sun slowly rising where the sea and sky met in the distance, breaking through the hazy morning light.
A shadow appeared behind her. Even though her mind was still blank, a sense of unbridled satisfaction rose in her chest.
This was a completely different experience from her previous experience riding a bike to watch the sunrise!
“Just in time!”
"Catch up..."
"How do you feel now? You just ran almost two kilometers!"
"..."
Before she could catch her breath, a smile appeared on the girl's face.
She feels very good.
"Fang Wei..."
"Ok?"
"Can I run with you later?"
"Are you serious?"
"Ok!"
Liu Zhiyi nodded, very hard.
(End of this chapter)
