Chasing Summer

Old Xu was rummaging through the speeches of the previous session for her reference.

Taking advantage of Lao Xu not paying attention, Lin Zhexia whispered back to him: "You just secretly laughed at me."

"I'm pretty aboveboard."

"..."

Lin Zhexia deleted the word "secretly" and accused again: "You laughed at me."

The man behind said: "Well, I laughed at you."

"..."

"You laugh at me, it's not too much for me to pinch you."

After chatting with him for a few words, Lin Zhexia became even angrier, "I didn't pinch it just now, after you get out, don't leave, let me pinch it again."

Chi Yao's voice paused slightly.

"You think I look..."

"?"

He went on to say, "Does it look like your brain is flooded?"

He certainly doesn't look like it.

So when Lin Zhexia left the office with a stack of speech scripts that had won prizes in previous speech contests, Chi Yao left early.

After returning to work, Lin Zhexia brought Tang Shuxuan's share to her, and relayed the request that Lao Xu had just told her.

Unexpectedly, Tang Shuxuan said calmly, "Yes, I see."

Lin Zhexia: "Aren't you nervous?"

"Why are you nervous?" Tang Shuxuan asked.

"Speech, and Old Xu said that more than a thousand people from the teachers and students of the school will be selected as audiences, more than a thousand."

To her surprise, Tang Shuxuan tidied her hair shyly: "If I can get the senior seniors to notice me on stage this time, let alone more than a thousand, I'm not afraid of even the auditorium of ten thousand people."

"..."

She almost forgot that since she failed to get Chi Yao's contact information, Tang Shuxuan had shifted her target to a certain senior.

Although it took a year, no progress was made.

It was she who underestimated the world of Huaichun girls.

In the next half day of class, Lin Zhexia didn't listen well.

The speech contest weighed heavily on her heart like a big rock.

In the evening, Lin Zhexia sat at the desk, worrying about a piece of paper titled "The 10th Speech Contest of Cheng'an No. 2 Middle School".

The piece of paper was almost crumpled after she checked it over and over again.

At this time, Lin He knocked on the door and said softly, "I'm coming in."

It was too late to collect the paper on the table, Lin He saw the competition paper on the table at a glance when he came in.

"Speech contest," Lin He said, "Do you want to participate?"

Lin Zhexia said a little anxiously: "Well, our teacher asked me to participate."

Her own child knows it best, and Lin He is also a little worried: "It's a good thing to participate in the competition, but with your personality, you usually speak eloquently to people you know at home, and sometimes you can't even speak when you go out. Can you compete on stage?"

"..."

Lin He knew her well.

She probably won't do well.

In the end, she could only say: "I... work hard."

After Lin He left, Tang Shuxuan happened to send a message to comfort her on WeChat: It's okay, I have participated in this kind of competition before, calm down, it's actually no different from standing up in class to answer questions.

Tang Shuxuan: Or do you have any boys who want to attract his attention? You can aim for this, as I did.

Lin Zhexia replied: Then I want to disappear from the eyes of all the boys in the school.

Chen Lin also sent a message: At the same table, you treat more than a thousand people under the stage as cabbages.

Lin Zhexia replied to Chen Lin: More than a thousand cabbages are quite scary.

After Lin Zhexia returned, she put the phone aside and sighed.

She worries she's going to screw it up.

…

This has nothing to do with timidity, because there are many things in life that have to be done, but require a lot of courage to do.

It's just that sometimes it's really hard to have the courage.

During the two days of the weekend, she took one day to write the manuscript, which was quite satisfactory, all of which were very templated sentences.

In the end, I barely sublimated the theme, and it looks like that.

The only thing left to prepare is the "speech".

She first tried to recite without script by herself in the room.

Wei Ping is a professional supporter.

He expressed 100% appreciation for Lin Zhexia's speech: "Uncle thinks it's very good!"

"It's the first time I heard such a wonderful speech. First of all, your content is very professionally written. Secondly, you also memorize it very well. The cadence, such as several pauses in the middle, highlights the key points of your speech and increases the sense of paragraphs. —”

"No, Uncle Wei," Lin Zhexia couldn't help interrupting him, "That's because my back is stuck."

Wei Ping: "...Ah, uh."

Wei Ping: "But your card is also very beautiful, not obtrusive, uncle didn't notice."

Lin Zhexia: "Thank you, you also worked very hard to comment."

Finally, she stood in the living room, holding the speech, thought for a while and said, "You two can't do it, I'd better listen to me with someone else."

ten minutes later.

She knocked on Chi Yao's door with her speech in hand: "Congratulations."

Chi Yao: "?"

"You've won the lottery."

Chi Yao was dragged by He Yang to play games last night, until midnight, he looked like he was not awake. He wore a white T-shirt on a rare occasion today, which was crisp and clean, and he looked like a civilized person rarely.

Then Lin Zhexia listened to the man's mouth and said something uncivilized: "Send all the madness you want to go at once."

Lin Zhexia took out the speech script in his hand: "Congratulations, you have been selected as today's lucky audience, and you have a chance to watch classmate Lin Zhexia's speech."

"Civilized person" glanced at the speech: "Can you."

Lin Zhexia: "No."

"What about the transfer?"

"Yeah, no, okay."

"Is it strong buying and strong selling again?"

"Yes," Lin Zhexia nodded, "I want to refuse, unless you are dead."

Chi Yao's reaction was very indifferent, and he made a gesture to close the door: "Oh, then just treat me as dead."

"..."

Lin Zhexia squeezed in through the crack of the door with one hand, and forced his way into the room. In order for him to listen to his speech, he blurted out: "No, how can I be willing to pretend that you are dead."

After she finished speaking, she froze for a while.

Chi Yao's hand that was about to close the door also paused.

How willing.

Willing to.

The word "willing" sounds strange.

Her head was blank for two seconds, and after re-starting, she habitually made up for herself: "I mean, if you die, I have to harm other people, which is not good for other people."

Chi Yao sneered: "So you're hurting me?"

Lin Zhexia: "..."

Chi Yao sarcastically said: "Do I have to boast that you are a very conscientious person?"

Lin Zhexia: "It's okay, no need to boast."

After she entered the house, she first prepared a glass of water for herself.

Then she pressed Chi Yao on the sofa and ordered him not to run around. She cleared her throat and shook out the speech in her hand: "Hello everyone, I am Lin Zhexia from Class 7, Grade 2, and the topic of my speech is Yes, youth."

She paused for a while, opened one hand outward, and sighed an aria according to the posture: "Ah—youth. A word that seems simple, but not so simple."

Sitting on the sofa, Chi Yao casually applauded her: "Listening to what you have to say is like listening to what you have to say."

Lin Zhexia: "..."

Chi Yao raised his chin slightly: "Continue."

Lin Zhexia didn't really want to continue.

She stopped: "I drink saliva."

After she finished covering her embarrassment with drinking water, she continued to read: "—everyone of us has, or once had, youth."

Chi Yao had already started yawning.

He propped his chin with one hand and interrupted her: "Do you have anything else besides nonsense?"

"..."

"How can this be nonsense," Lin Zhexia said, "Is there something wrong with my words? Can you say something wrong with it?"

Chi Yao: "It's nonsense without a problem."

"..."

Hearing this, he seemed to perk up a bit: "Go on, suddenly you feel that your speech is not useless, at least it can add some jokes to my ordinary day."

Lin Zhexia took a deep breath.

Force yourself to calm down.

She came to Chi Yao.

Just a wrong decision.

But looking at other aspects, Chi Yao is the first obstacle in her speech road.

If she could finish her speech smoothly in front of Chi Yao, would she still be afraid of other monsters?

Will there be an audience more annoying, more critical, and more tricky than Chi Yao?

Not anymore.

She will fear no one.

Lin Zhexia tried hard to remember what the second paragraph was about, and then read it out with a slight stammer.

This time Chi Yao didn't pick on her again.

He quieted down, propped his jaw, looked a little lethargic, but listened to her the whole time.

Occasionally he would comment: "This time is better than the last time."

Lin Zhexia was a little proud: "I still have a little talent for speech."

Chi Yao raised his eyes: "I thought it was called diligence can make up for one's weakness."

"..."

This manuscript is very long, and it is difficult to memorize it completely and fluently.

Lin Zhexia spent the whole afternoon at his house reciting manuscripts to him, and drank two buckets of water from his house halfway through.

When she recited the manuscript for the last time, she still forgot the words in the middle of the recitation: "So we have to cherish our youth, uh, we have to... what comes next."

The man on the sofa who was about to fall asleep supported his head, and said casually: "Why don't you go to tomorrow without regrets."

Lin Zhexia: "Oh, yes, if you don't regret it..."

She stopped in the middle of speaking, "No, you can recite it no matter what."

Chi Yao: "Because I have normal intelligence."

Lin Zhexia: "If you want to say I'm stupid, just point it out."

Chi Yao put down his hands, stood up from the sofa, wanted to go to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, stopped when passing her, then inadvertently put his hands on her head for a moment, and said sleepily, "Well, you are stupid."

"..."

Lin Zhexia was somewhat frustrated.

After all, I've memorized things for so long, but none of the "audience" can memorize them smoothly.

Waiting for Chi Yao to come out of the kitchen holding the water glass.

Lin Zhexia looked at him and said, "Since you know how to memorize it, how about I give you this precious spot, and you can go to the competition."

Lin Zhexia stayed at Chi Yao's house all afternoon.

When it was time for dinner in the evening, she was urged by Lin He to go home for dinner.

On the way to dinner, she was a little depressed. This depression stemmed from: a matter that she didn't have much confidence in the first place, after a day of hard work, it still didn't seem to get better.

She began to wonder if she could do it at all.

Once people start to doubt themselves, the first thing that comes to mind is to give up.

"Mom, Uncle Wei," Lin Zhexia said with his head down, poking the rice in the bowl with his chopsticks, "I kind of want to tell Mr. Xu to let him go to the competition with someone else."

Lin He didn't want to embarrass her, and the speech contest wasn't something he had to participate in, so he followed her and said, "If it doesn't work, just tell the teacher to change."

Wei Ping also said: "Yes, and you have tried it. If it is really difficult, please talk to the teacher."

Lin Zhexia responded.

After eating, she seriously considered the replacement.

Sitting in the living room, she clicked on Lao Xu's profile picture through the class group.

Lao Xu's profile picture is a quietly blooming lotus flower. She hesitated for a long time before looking at that lotus flower, and then quickly deleted the words in the dialogue box.

In the end, she wrote a very official sentence, but before sending it out, the hand that was about to press the sender paused for a second.

But at this very second.

The phone vibrated suddenly.

Chi Gou: Haven’t practiced yet?

Suddenly, Lin Zhexia's emotions for the whole day exploded in these five ordinary words.

She sniffed very slightly.

Cut the chat box over, and type with all ten fingers flying.

- Do you think I can't do it too?

- I know, I can't read fluently, and I keep getting stuck

- I can't memorize such a simple content

- And when I think about going on stage, I get nervous when there are so many people in the audience

She typed several lines.

Finally, he slowed down his typing speed and repeated the first sentence.

-so

-are you

- I don't think so either

If Chi Yao was in front of her now, she wouldn't have said so much.

It may be because of the network, or it may be that she almost sent the words about giving up to Lao Xu in the same second just now.

After she sent it, the other side did not reply immediately.

It took about ten seconds before she saw the familiar line "the other party is typing".

Chi Gou: Although your speech is full of nonsense, it’s true that you didn’t read it very well.

Chi Gou: But no one thinks you can’t do it

Chi Gou: You think you can’t do it

Very strange, obviously only a few lines of words.

But she seemed to hear Chi Yao's habitually mocking, but sometimes eerily gentle voice appearing in her ears through these few lines.

The last sentence was sent from the other side.

Chigou: I don't think so