The alma mater was not much different from before. What had changed were only the people who came and went — each leaving behind an unforgettable memory carved out of four years of youth.
Beneath the green shade and beside the grass, some younger students were reading quietly — a scene of harmony and tranquility. Ye Fan and the others felt as though they had returned to the past, far removed from the restlessness and clamor they had lived through over the past three years.
After graduation, everyone had been busy with life and their aspirations, and many had left this city behind. Aside from Ye Fan and a handful of others, nearly everyone else was returning to their alma mater for the first time.
Not far away, a small lake shimmered with gentle ripples, its scenery unchanged. He could still clearly remember those figures from years past — some brooding and listless, others bright-eyed and full of spirit — sitting by the lakeside with guitars, strumming and singing campus folk songs.
Even years later, whenever a melody like that would drift back, it always brought to mind that carefree and innocent era — a faint, tender sadness that was both bittersweet and sweet, easily touching something deep in the heart.
The passage of time always leaves behind a residue that is a little sour and a little bitter.
As for those from back then — who could say whether they could still pick up a guitar and play. After graduation, it had been nearly impossible to track down where they had gone.
“I vaguely heard from a friend that the brooding guitar virtuoso from back then is singing as a resident performer at a bar in another city. Years on, he’s become quite worn by life.”
“Do you remember the multi-talented girl with the long legs from the school band back then? The vocalist — beautiful and pure? Word is she’s now working as a hostess at a nightclub.”
Everyone could only let out a sigh.
After graduation, many people had come face-to-face with the collision between their dreams and reality. Life could be truly relentless sometimes — leaving one feeling defeated and adrift.
After a brief silence, the group continued walking forward.
At that moment, Lin Jia came to walk beside Ye Fan.
She was wearing a blue-and-white chiffon dress, its hem reaching to mid-thigh, which set off her long, fair legs to even more striking effect. She wore a black belt at her waist, making her figure appear all the more slender and graceful. Her long hair fell loose over her full, upright chest, the curves of her figure captivating.
With her lovely features, snow-white skin, and phoenix eyes — uniquely exotic, tilting gently upward at the outer corners — Lin Jia carried an altogether distinctive air about her.
“You had a car all along — why didn’t you say so yesterday?”
“When exactly did I have a chance to say anything?”
“You’re not going to invite me to ride with you today?”
“I would be delighted to. Allow me to formally extend an invitation to Miss Lin Jia.”
At these words, both of them laughed.
Lin Jia had brought up what happened yesterday in a sudden, abrupt way — but then glided past it just as lightly, neither saying much more about it nor deliberately lowering her guard to draw closer to him because of it.
With that said, she smiled and turned away. Lin Jia was a perceptive woman; she knew that being too deliberate would only make things look false, and that directness and naturalness were far more effective.
This subtle shift was naturally reflected in a number of other classmates as well.
By the time they left the alma mater, it was nearing noon. The group made their way to a food street and climbed to the upper floors of a restaurant.
Wang Ziwen privately invited Ye Fan to come and sit at their table. Ye Fan simply smiled, went over to offer a few toasts, and then settled back in with the same people he had sat with the day before.
“Ye Fan, I was talking out of turn yesterday when I’d had too much to drink — please don’t take it to heart. I’ll drink to you first, bottoms up…” The male classmate who the day before had been so preachy — the one who had mentioned his fiancée was the niece of a senior banking executive — was now going out of his way to explain himself with considerable humility.
And the female classmate who had boasted about her husband’s promotion to deputy general manager had also entirely changed her manner toward Ye Fan compared to the previous day, treating him with courtesy and warmth.
“Come, come — everyone raise their glasses.”
……
Compared to the night before, Ye Fan’s table was very lively today. Everyone kept clinking glasses, and from time to time people from other tables came over to offer toasts. Ye Fan naturally could not excuse himself and kept drinking one cup after another — even going down the line and drinking a cup with each person who came over from Wang Ziwen’s table.
Liu Yinzhi remained composed. Although he had been in an awkward position the night before, today he was like the still surface of an ancient well, giving nothing away — as though nothing had ever happened.
“Everyone, last night I received a phone call from across the ocean…”
The speaker was Zhou Yi — a very refined and cultured young man. Word of his family’s deep and powerful background was no secret among the classmates. He was the person for whom Wang Ziwen had stood outside Sea and Moon City the previous night, specifically waiting to receive.
Everyone stopped and looked toward Zhou Yi. Whether in school or now, he had always been approachable — one never felt any arrogance from him.
Zhou Yi shared a piece of news: the three classmates who had gone abroad to study were on their way back to the country. This immediately set off a lively wave of chatter and reaction among everyone present.
……
“After graduation, we all went our separate ways. Every one of us has followed a different path in life. It’s not easy to be gathered together like this. When we next meet, we may well all be parents ourselves — and by then, who knows how many years will have passed. Our three classmates who were studying abroad are coming home. I have a suggestion: let’s extend this reunion a little longer…”
※※※※
Ye Fan drove home, brewed himself a light cup of green tea, and sat quietly gazing at the paulownia tree outside the window. His thoughts drifted to certain memories from the past.
The person he had missed the boat with. The footsteps that had walked away. The road that had grown further and further into the distance — like a paulownia leaf drifting gently to the ground before his eyes.
Li Xiaoman. That name had long since faded from Ye Fan’s memory.
When Li Xiaoman had gone overseas to study at graduation, the two of them had still been in close contact during the first several months. But as time passed, the emails and phone calls grew fewer and farther between, and eventually contact ceased entirely.
Rather than gazing at each other across the sea, you could better say they had forgotten each other across the sea. A love that their friends had never thought much of had, as predicted, run its course.
Today, hearing from Zhou Yi that Li Xiaoman was about to return to the country, Ye Fan had found her name almost unfamiliar when he first heard it. Looking back now, more than two years had already passed.
※※※※
The reunion was to be extended. They were going to travel to Mount Tai for a visit, with all expenses covered by Wang Ziwen, Zhou Yi, and the others — for most people this might represent a sizable outlay, but to them it was nothing to speak of.
Three days later, Ye Fan encountered that familiar figure again at the foot of Mount Tai. Three years had passed, yet Li Xiaoman was still graceful and upright in bearing, without much change.
She stood at about 170 centimeters tall, wore a pair of sunglasses, and her jet-black hair billowed freely in the wind. She stood there poised and slender. Her outfit was simple and casual — short pants that ended above the knee, revealing long, fair, and shapely legs, paired above with a T-shirt printed with a cartoon design.
Li Xiaoman was undeniably very beautiful — her skin snow-white and delicate, her eyes large, her lashes long, giving her a vibrant and spirited quality. The overall impression she gave was one of quiet confidence rather than ostentatious display.
She was engaged in easy, relaxed conversation with the classmates around her, clearly drawing everyone’s attention and becoming a natural focal point — yet one who also made people feel a sense of warmth and approachability.
Beside Li Xiaoman stood a tall young man who was introduced as her American classmate. In contrast to the soft and smooth features typical of East Asian faces, he had a distinctly Western appearance — strong three-dimensional features, a high, straight nose, deep-set blue eyes, and somewhat curly golden hair. By Western standards of attractiveness, he was quite handsome.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Kai De. Mount Tai has been… a long-held wish of mine, and I can finally… see it.” This American young man named Kai De, though his Chinese was not entirely fluent, could still express himself clearly enough.
Up ahead, the other two classmates who had returned from abroad had also already been warmly surrounded, and people were asking them about their lives and studies on the other side of the ocean.
Three years had passed, and seeing Li Xiaoman again gave Ye Fan a sense that spaces had shifted and time had moved on.
Both of them were calm and undisturbed. They exchanged a polite greeting, with none of the joy of a reunion after a long separation — only a sense of things being as plain and still as water, even carrying a hint of something light and cloudlike.
No lengthy words were exchanged. They brushed past each other gently, each moving on. Some things needed no further saying — silence itself was already an answer.
Chapter 5: Li Xiaoman
The alma mater was not much different from before. What had changed were only the people who came and went — each leaving behind an unforgettable memory carved out of four years of youth.
Beneath the green shade and beside the grass, some younger students were reading quietly — a scene of harmony and tranquility. Ye Fan and the others felt as though they had returned to the past, far removed from the restlessness and clamor they had lived through over the past three years.
After graduation, everyone had been busy with life and their aspirations, and many had left this city behind. Aside from Ye Fan and a handful of others, nearly everyone else was returning to their alma mater for the first time.
Not far away, a small lake shimmered with gentle ripples, its scenery unchanged. He could still clearly remember those figures from years past — some brooding and listless, others bright-eyed and full of spirit — sitting by the lakeside with guitars, strumming and singing campus folk songs.
Even years later, whenever a melody like that would drift back, it always brought to mind that carefree and innocent era — a faint, tender sadness that was both bittersweet and sweet, easily touching something deep in the heart.
The passage of time always leaves behind a residue that is a little sour and a little bitter.
As for those from back then — who could say whether they could still pick up a guitar and play. After graduation, it had been nearly impossible to track down where they had gone.
“I vaguely heard from a friend that the brooding guitar virtuoso from back then is singing as a resident performer at a bar in another city. Years on, he’s become quite worn by life.”
“Do you remember the multi-talented girl with the long legs from the school band back then? The vocalist — beautiful and pure? Word is she’s now working as a hostess at a nightclub.”
Everyone could only let out a sigh.
After graduation, many people had come face-to-face with the collision between their dreams and reality. Life could be truly relentless sometimes — leaving one feeling defeated and adrift.
After a brief silence, the group continued walking forward.
At that moment, Lin Jia came to walk beside Ye Fan.
She was wearing a blue-and-white chiffon dress, its hem reaching to mid-thigh, which set off her long, fair legs to even more striking effect. She wore a black belt at her waist, making her figure appear all the more slender and graceful. Her long hair fell loose over her full, upright chest, the curves of her figure captivating.
With her lovely features, snow-white skin, and phoenix eyes — uniquely exotic, tilting gently upward at the outer corners — Lin Jia carried an altogether distinctive air about her.
“You had a car all along — why didn’t you say so yesterday?”
“When exactly did I have a chance to say anything?”
“You’re not going to invite me to ride with you today?”
“I would be delighted to. Allow me to formally extend an invitation to Miss Lin Jia.”
At these words, both of them laughed.
Lin Jia had brought up what happened yesterday in a sudden, abrupt way — but then glided past it just as lightly, neither saying much more about it nor deliberately lowering her guard to draw closer to him because of it.
With that said, she smiled and turned away. Lin Jia was a perceptive woman; she knew that being too deliberate would only make things look false, and that directness and naturalness were far more effective.
This subtle shift was naturally reflected in a number of other classmates as well.
By the time they left the alma mater, it was nearing noon. The group made their way to a food street and climbed to the upper floors of a restaurant.
Wang Ziwen privately invited Ye Fan to come and sit at their table. Ye Fan simply smiled, went over to offer a few toasts, and then settled back in with the same people he had sat with the day before.
“Ye Fan, I was talking out of turn yesterday when I’d had too much to drink — please don’t take it to heart. I’ll drink to you first, bottoms up…” The male classmate who the day before had been so preachy — the one who had mentioned his fiancée was the niece of a senior banking executive — was now going out of his way to explain himself with considerable humility.
And the female classmate who had boasted about her husband’s promotion to deputy general manager had also entirely changed her manner toward Ye Fan compared to the previous day, treating him with courtesy and warmth.
“Come, come — everyone raise their glasses.”
……
Compared to the night before, Ye Fan’s table was very lively today. Everyone kept clinking glasses, and from time to time people from other tables came over to offer toasts. Ye Fan naturally could not excuse himself and kept drinking one cup after another — even going down the line and drinking a cup with each person who came over from Wang Ziwen’s table.
Liu Yinzhi remained composed. Although he had been in an awkward position the night before, today he was like the still surface of an ancient well, giving nothing away — as though nothing had ever happened.
“Everyone, last night I received a phone call from across the ocean…”
The speaker was Zhou Yi — a very refined and cultured young man. Word of his family’s deep and powerful background was no secret among the classmates. He was the person for whom Wang Ziwen had stood outside Sea and Moon City the previous night, specifically waiting to receive.
Everyone stopped and looked toward Zhou Yi. Whether in school or now, he had always been approachable — one never felt any arrogance from him.
Zhou Yi shared a piece of news: the three classmates who had gone abroad to study were on their way back to the country. This immediately set off a lively wave of chatter and reaction among everyone present.
……
“After graduation, we all went our separate ways. Every one of us has followed a different path in life. It’s not easy to be gathered together like this. When we next meet, we may well all be parents ourselves — and by then, who knows how many years will have passed. Our three classmates who were studying abroad are coming home. I have a suggestion: let’s extend this reunion a little longer…”
※※※※
Ye Fan drove home, brewed himself a light cup of green tea, and sat quietly gazing at the paulownia tree outside the window. His thoughts drifted to certain memories from the past.
The person he had missed the boat with. The footsteps that had walked away. The road that had grown further and further into the distance — like a paulownia leaf drifting gently to the ground before his eyes.
Li Xiaoman. That name had long since faded from Ye Fan’s memory.
When Li Xiaoman had gone overseas to study at graduation, the two of them had still been in close contact during the first several months. But as time passed, the emails and phone calls grew fewer and farther between, and eventually contact ceased entirely.
Rather than gazing at each other across the sea, you could better say they had forgotten each other across the sea. A love that their friends had never thought much of had, as predicted, run its course.
Today, hearing from Zhou Yi that Li Xiaoman was about to return to the country, Ye Fan had found her name almost unfamiliar when he first heard it. Looking back now, more than two years had already passed.
※※※※
The reunion was to be extended. They were going to travel to Mount Tai for a visit, with all expenses covered by Wang Ziwen, Zhou Yi, and the others — for most people this might represent a sizable outlay, but to them it was nothing to speak of.
Three days later, Ye Fan encountered that familiar figure again at the foot of Mount Tai. Three years had passed, yet Li Xiaoman was still graceful and upright in bearing, without much change.
She stood at about 170 centimeters tall, wore a pair of sunglasses, and her jet-black hair billowed freely in the wind. She stood there poised and slender. Her outfit was simple and casual — short pants that ended above the knee, revealing long, fair, and shapely legs, paired above with a T-shirt printed with a cartoon design.
Li Xiaoman was undeniably very beautiful — her skin snow-white and delicate, her eyes large, her lashes long, giving her a vibrant and spirited quality. The overall impression she gave was one of quiet confidence rather than ostentatious display.
She was engaged in easy, relaxed conversation with the classmates around her, clearly drawing everyone’s attention and becoming a natural focal point — yet one who also made people feel a sense of warmth and approachability.
Beside Li Xiaoman stood a tall young man who was introduced as her American classmate. In contrast to the soft and smooth features typical of East Asian faces, he had a distinctly Western appearance — strong three-dimensional features, a high, straight nose, deep-set blue eyes, and somewhat curly golden hair. By Western standards of attractiveness, he was quite handsome.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Kai De. Mount Tai has been… a long-held wish of mine, and I can finally… see it.” This American young man named Kai De, though his Chinese was not entirely fluent, could still express himself clearly enough.
Up ahead, the other two classmates who had returned from abroad had also already been warmly surrounded, and people were asking them about their lives and studies on the other side of the ocean.
Three years had passed, and seeing Li Xiaoman again gave Ye Fan a sense that spaces had shifted and time had moved on.
Both of them were calm and undisturbed. They exchanged a polite greeting, with none of the joy of a reunion after a long separation — only a sense of things being as plain and still as water, even carrying a hint of something light and cloudlike.
No lengthy words were exchanged. They brushed past each other gently, each moving on. Some things needed no further saying — silence itself was already an answer.