Love Letters

In the evening, the sun completely sets and the city enters night.

He Miao's family lives in an old neighborhood.

Outside the community is an old street, where old residential buildings and various small shops are crowded, including He Miao’s tofu shop.

The aroma coming from the takoyaki shop made He Miao feel a little hungry.

Touching his growling stomach, He Miao quickened his pace.

She followed her memory, taking one step at a time.

All the movements in the darkness were magnified infinitely; the sound of footsteps and heartbeats made her eardrums hurt.

The corridor was dark, the lights were dim, and the air was foggy and damp, making my eyes blurry all of a sudden.

As the knock on the door sounded, the door was opened with a "creak".

"Why so late?"

Before she even entered the house, Zhang Meili pulled her aside and scolded her, "You spend all day fooling around outside. When will you ever focus on your studies?"

He Miao didn't dare to say that he had missed his stop, and said aggrievedly, "My head still hurts, and I forgot the way home."

"Where's the key I gave you?"

“Lost…Lost.”

"How did you get that wound on your head?"

After all, she is Zhang Meili, and her eyes are poisonous.

Even though she covered it with her hair, she still couldn't escape her sharp eyes.

"I fell into a ditch on the way back."

He Miao lied, feeling pitiful, wronged but justified.

Zhang Meili pushed the man into the house, her tone even more helpless: "You are so stupid!"

Before He Miao could even put down his schoolbag, Zhang Meili grabbed him and dragged him back to the living room to apply medicine, applying it according to the severity of the injury.

He Miao grimaced in pain, "Be gentle, it hurts!"

"It's okay to feel pain, so you can learn from it."

As she spoke, Zhang Meili dipped the medicine again and pressed it hard.

There are a lot of beans at home, and also a lot of soy products, such as tofu, soy milk, tofu pudding, fermented tofu, stuffed tofu...

If you can’t sell all of it, take it back and eat it yourself, for three meals a day.

"That's all you're eating? There's still so much left."

As she spoke, Zhang Meili scooped another full bowl for her.

"You are so short and small. If you don't know us, you might think we didn't give you food or water and abused you."

He Miao is a little over 1.6 meters tall, and because everyone in her class is trying to grow as fast as possible, she is relatively short in the class.

She retorted: "You can't grow taller because you are short, and I need to drink milk."

"What kind of milk do you drink? There's plenty of soy milk at home, it's all the same."

Zhang Meili stuffed a large piece of meat into her bowl, "Eat it all, don't waste it!"

I saw that her bowl was full of fat, while mine was all lean meat.

Memories of the future flashed through He Miao's mind, and he said, "You should lose some weight."

"You think I'm fat? You think I'm embarrassing? I also think you're stupid and unpromising."

Zhang Meili kept talking, but her hands were also busy, and she soon filled He Miao's bowl.

"Don't you think about who I'm worrying about?"

Every time this happened, Zhang Meili would always say that when she was young she was a famous tofu beauty in the village, thanks to her father.

......

After drinking a big bowl of hot soy milk, He Miao took a shower, brushed his teeth and went back to his room.

Outside the door, Zhang Meili was busy preparing tofu for the next day.

The door had poor sound insulation, and He Miao could always hear the clanging sound.

"Why don't you let her stop studying and go back to the tofu shop to help out."

Zhang Meili was going to soak the soybeans for the next day. Looking at the plump beans, she suddenly remembered what happened at school and became angry again.

"I know you are saying this in anger, but don't talk about it again. The child will be sad if he hears it."

He Miao's father, He Dahai, came back very late, looking exhausted.

"Why are you sad? She's already grown up. If she really wants to understand her parents, she should study hard."

Zhang Meili's blood pressure rises when she talks about He Miao's studies.

"Do you know what her score was last time?"

She hesitated as if she didn't want to talk about it. She suppressed her anger and said slowly, "She didn't pass any of the subjects. She only got 16 points in physics. How can she be so stupid?"

"Miao Miao's brain is not very good, but as a mother, don't scold her in person all the time. Your daughter has her own self-esteem when she grows up."

Zhang Meili has a bad temper, while He Dahai is a typical good guy.

The two of them rarely had conflicts, and even if they did, He Dahai always gave in first. No wonder they could remain like this even after years of quarreling.

"Sleeping in class, skipping classes and climbing over the wall... I'd rather be angry with her than with her."

Having said this, Zhang Meili stirred the beans with a clanging sound, and to He Miao, each sound sounded like a slap on her body.

"There are still two years before the college entrance examination. She still has hope of catching up."

He Dahai took over the work in her hands and comforted her.

In the room, He Miao took out his grades from his schoolbag and looked at them. It seemed that there was really no hope.

There are 40 students in the class and she ranks 40th.

She searched all the way down before she saw her name, even outside the form.

The top row is Xu Mobai, who has ridiculously good grades in all subjects and ranks first in the grade.

Her scores in two subjects were still lower than anyone else's combined, and she ranked last in the grade.

The sound of two people talking outside continued.

He Miao put on his headphones and ignored what was happening outside.

She doesn't care, she just wants to study.

Since Xu Mobai didn't give her notes, she could write them herself.

Yes! Do it yourself and you will have enough food and clothing.

He Miao suddenly became excited and took out a book from his bag and started reading with great enthusiasm.

He Miao's home is on a high floor, with a large hollow window for ventilation, and a few wind chimes hung on it. The evening breeze blows the wind chimes and brings the fragrance of flowers.

The tree on her windowsill had already wilted, looking as if it was neither dead nor alive.

She gave it some water and it instantly came back to life.

She opened the textbook, looked around, and then closed it silently.

Forget it, notes made by others are better.

Although she can't take notes, she can write a diary.

He Miao did what he said. He wrote down the outline of his future and marked the key points.

It took her less than half an hour to clean up the table.

She rolled over accurately and landed in the bed, tucked in the quilt, and slept soundly.

My own bed is still more comfortable!

......

At night, He Miao had a nightmare.

In her dream, she seemed to see her own corpse, cold and covered with corpse spots...

The dream had no beginning or end, and He Miao slept in a daze.

On Monday morning, what woke He Miao up was not the alarm clock or the dream, but Zhang Meili's loud voice.

"He Miao! If you don't get up now, you won't have to go to school anymore."

He Miao woke up in a daze and glanced at the two boxes of milk under the table...they were not there yesterday.

His eyes gradually moved upwards and looking at the calendar on the table, He Miao suddenly lost consciousness for a moment.

What does she seem to be doing?

Her memories of the future suddenly became blurry, and she began to lose track of what was real and what was a dream.

She seemed to be taking the college entrance examination? Later... I forgot!