The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young) Volume 1 Chapter 3

Is Lin Jing really just a pa.s.sing legend like all Zheng Wei's dorm mates call him? Anyways, keep believing!

Chapter 3

Zhu Xiao Bei said, "Zheng Wei, stop, the way you are right now in the dormitory, walking back and forth, is almost like a bear pouring sulfuric acid. It annoys people to death.

Zheng Wei suddenly yelled, "Why does everyone have to say I'm annoying? Today you didn't talk about Zhou Mei when she was cracking open seeds for a half hour. Li Wei Juan just brought headphones into the dormitory and was just hanging around all day. She sang out of tune, nonstop, and you didn't talk about her. But I only walk a few steps and you'll see me as annoying. You guys are all bullying me! Why won't you guys let me soothe my inner pain?"

After seeing her fierce reaction, Zhu Xiao Bei estimated that it was herself who was in the wrong, and laughed, "Well it's mainly your depressed expression that contradicts your Jade Small Dragon image, causing some serious discrepancies. I was only talking about it a bit, walking around isn't that bad. Carry on, carry on."

Ruan Guan, who had just finished bathing, wrapped her hair in a towel and emerged from the bathroom. She just happened to see the scene and chuckled, "I think Zheng Wei is facing intense internal conflicts again."

It was dinner time now, and the dormitory only had the three of them. Zheng Wei heard Ruan Guan's words, and didn't maintain her normal annoyed att.i.tude towards Ruan Guan. With a wail, she sat on her bed, facing the table saying, "I am confused, confused! What should I do?"

"Does this have to do with the legendary Lin Ge Ge again?" Ruan Guan asked from the side.

"How did you know?"

Zhu Xiao Bei's laugh drifted over. "This is such a little thing to see. Your expression is extremely obvious; even others could see it."

"I really am very confused. It's already pa.s.sed half a month and he still hasn't come over to find me. I can't even find him. He can't be kidnapped right? I am considering whether I should go to the school to find him or not."

"Go, I support you. Quickly, go find out if he's been stolen by another girl," Zhu Xiao Bei said.

"Lin Jing isn't that kind of person!" At this time, Zheng Wei started to defend her loved one, "He said he would wait for me before, which means that he definitely will wait for me. I am quite certain, that if Muhammad hadn't went to go find the mountain, the mountain would have went to find him [1]. In just a while, I will go to Zheng Fa University myself."

Zhu Xiao Bei patted her leg, "Yes, this is more of your style."

Ruan Guan finished combing her hair and said, "You should think hard; what will you do if he isn't here?"

Zheng Wei was already on the bed, burying her head into her clothes, "If he's not here, I'll just wait until he comes back… which looks better… this outfit or this one?"

Zhu Xiao Bei also did not know how many clothes she changed into. Until Ruan Guan finished organizing her belongings, did she decide to go to the library. Zheng Wei had just put on her original clothing again, and wore a small, blue, floral s.h.i.+rt and jeans, "I think this one is still better."

Ruan Guan glanced at her, "These clothes are not bad- innocent yet cute. They suit you well."

Zheng Wei looked at the small mirror and started worrying, "My forehead has a big pimple on it, how will I go meet people?"

Zhu Xiao Bei pretended to be dizzy, "Girl, your nickname is "Burdensome". I'm ignoring you, Ruan Guan, are you going to the library? Wait for me."

Ruan Guan stood at the door waiting for Zhu Xiao Bei saying to Zheng Wei, "What's scary about a small pimple? It's only that there's cicada noise over Lin Jing, and more secluded mountain birds… "

"What are you trying to say?," Zheng Wei turned to Ruan Guan, bewildered. "Are there people like you who are polite and refined engineering students?"

From childhood, Zheng Wei's use of language was her weakness, so she hated people who liked to quibble with words. Besides a stepmother was a step mother after all, as the tales all said, she never said anything that Snow White could understand.

Her 'stepmother' said, "Saying that sentence made you understand, right? Your pimple may be big, but your face is more white. You can prettily exit the dorm now."

"Is this so… " Zheng Wei's heart rushed with happiness. As she took a closer look, she could see more and more of Ruan Guan's logic.

When she looked up again, Xiao Bei and Ruan Guan had all already left, and she hurried after them. "Hey, you guys haven't told me how many bus stops I have to take to get to Zheng Fa College!"

Zheng Fa University and G University were the Southern region's most famous inst.i.tutions and not that far apart geographically. Zheng Wei sat on the bus for 30 minutes and entered Zheng Fa University. She walked a bit, looking around, thinking that Lin Jing had also walked like this many times, walking on the path she was on right now. She looked at the scenery, and almost unconsciously started feeling a sense of love. This was also a college, and yet it could stir up such a different feeling.

G University's greatest source of uniqueness was that they didn't care about when students walked around, and it was mainly students who were pressing into the paths with their backpacks on, rus.h.i.+ng to get to their next cla.s.s. There, students would often involuntarily start to speed up their feet with the people by their side. Even mouse run faster to be elsewhere. After 10:00 PM, the schoolmaster would rush so quickly that all birds would scatter and fly away.

After thinking about these words, the Zheng Fa University before her had a lot more people. It wasn't only the bordering building that was more lively. It was also the people on the path that had increased. Thus, many beautiful girls came wave after wave. All of the people moved in an orderly fas.h.i.+on, walking quickly. So this was why G University's male students all said Zheng Fa University was their mating paradise. Zheng Wei's heart started sinking little by little. So Lin Jing lived in this kind of flowery paradise. So this why he was never at his dorm- he was always partying.

She could not pinpoint the exact location of Lin Jing's dormitory; but, cute girls had obvious benefits. She was unimpeded when asking for the location of his dormitory, and before she reached a nearby floor to ask around for the third time, a professor had remembered something of Lin Jing and actually led her up to Lin Jing's floor.

"Ah, it seems like it's here."

After the person who had led her there left, Zheng Wei stood at the dorm's room and looked around. When she saw the room's door was unlocked, she knocked perfunctorily and pushed the door, walking in. The dorm inside was a little better than her own. There were only two bedmates who had placed books, suitcases, and computers on it. She had heard Lin Jing talk about this before, but she only saw two beds. There was only one bed that had one blanket and a pillow on it, arrayed neatly. The other bed was empty. One boy sat on the bed that had the computer on it and started to play some games, but it just wasn't Lin Jing.

She thought that she had walked into the wrong location when the boy immersed in his game looked up and saw her. His mouse's movement became more rapid as he asked, "Little sister (friendly, school cla.s.smate language), who are you looking for?"

Zheng Wei's heart surged with happiness. She recognized this voice. This was the guy who had answered the phone the previous times always saying annoyedly that Lin Jing was not home right now. It looked like she really hadn't entered the wrong door. She stopped worrying a bit; so she really had found Lin Jing's lair. To sit back and wait, she wasn't afraid that she couldn't have found him, and after he came back, she would scold him a bunch.

"Hi, is Lin Jing living here?"

"You're looking for Lin Jing ah… he originally lived here…."

"Ah? He moved dorms? So that's why, do you know where he moved?"

The boy's expression was surprised, "He left two days ago."

"Left? Where did he go?" Zheng Wei couldn't wrap her head around the situation immediately, her expression blank.

"He left the country, already went to America. What, you didn't know?" The boy's expression seemed to say, Of course.

"Liar! I phoned two days ago and you said he only went out. Why didn't you tell me he went to America?" Zheng Wei looked at this lying boy.

"Oh, I know now. You are that girl who calls often." The boy put on a look of sudden comprehension."

"You're right, that is me. So you'll tell me the truth right? Where did he go, what time will he come back? It must be that you didn't tell him that I called right?" Zheng Wei angrily returned.

That boy's face looked as if he had been wronged, "Why would I trick you? He really left a few days ago for Los Angeles. Our relations.h.i.+p only consists of exchanging a student's name. It must be him. This situation isn't a secret too. If you don't believe this you can go next door to ask, everyone already knows. I couldn't even trick a lady like you. And he already knew about your calls and told me to say that he wasn't here. What solution could I have come up with?"

Before he could finish, Zheng Wei's sudden murderous expression scared him, "You are a liar! If Lin Jing really went to America why wouldn't he tell me? If he was really here why wouldn't he pick up my phone? What kind of heart do you have?"

The boy backed away, dumbfounded, "The world has a pa.s.sionate heart, what kind of evil motives can I have? Can you look at the empty bed over there; it used to be where Lin Jing slept."

Zheng Wei looked at him guardedly, and then turned towards the empty bed he was pointing towards. Her eyes discovered something at the bed's head; looking at it from far away, it looked familiar. She took a few steps towards the bed and picked it up. It was a book of Anderson's quotes. She took it into her hand, it felt so familiar. She didn't have to open it to know that she had written some calligraphy on the 32nd page. This used to be her most favorite book, but in the end, she gave it to her most most favorite Lin Jing. As if to confirm that she was in the wrong, she flipped to that page and saw orderly lines of a few calligraphy words. "Jade Small Flying Dragon's book."

"Really, I didn't trick you." That boy was still behind her, rambling, only to find that this quick-spirited girl wasn't talking, her eyes shut and red. Before she could wait for his reaction, he heard a crying sound that could have moved even the heavens, "He really left, why didn't he tell me?"

Zheng Wei didn't remember how long she stayed at Lin Jing's dormitory or how long she cried. In the beginning she was standing, but later she was simply squatting. She moved towards the boy's pants and continued to cry. Her crying sound brought a lot of dorm mates over to look at what the fuss was about and even the dorm master came to check it out. Everyone all asked that boy how he had bullied the girl but the boy felt embarra.s.sed and wronged. He had been victimized by Lin Jing. In the end, the people had to coax her to stop, and escorted Zheng Wei to the bus station and gave her some money. When they saw the bus take her away, they sighed in relief.

On the bus, Zheng Wei's eyes were both as red as peaches, but the tears kept flowing as she cried out her heart's sadness, confusion, disappointment, and her wronged state. And the person who had not cared about her pain, and who had not recognized this fact, was her Lin Jing. From childhood, she had chased him, this Lin Jing who had said that he would wait for her, but said nothing when he left her for America. The whole world knew he had to leave except for Zheng Wei. Before leaving, he had purposely not answered her calls. She became gloomier and gloomier until her feelings erupted again with a "Wahhh…" The people on the buss all looked at this normal girl whose tears came down like rain hitting flowers. Having such a big pain was all the more reason why she cried so badly. Not long afterwards, a lot of kind people gave her a seating place and Zheng Wei took the seat without courtesy. Sitting down, her tears continued to flow and she felt like the Matchgirl [2] as her short fire light was extinguished, the world gave up on her.

When she returned to the dormitory it was 8:30 pm and her dorm mates hadn't returned yet. She sat on her own bed, thinking of her morale just before she had left. It really seemed like a totally different universe.

[2] Matchgirl refers to one of the stories by Anderson where a little girl died selling matches. It sounds a little gruesome when put so bluntly, but it is actually a touching tale of a little girl~

[1] Muhammad refers to the religious prophet who followed a call from Allah to go and be a prophet. ZW is trying to say that she must go find Lin Jing no matter what!