Synopsis of Summer in the Cicadas' Song
That summer after the college entrance exams, my three best friends and I made a pact to take a spontaneous trip.
Determined to make our dream come true without relying on our families, we set out to find work away from home, full of youthful enthusiasm.
We signed up, gathered together, and waited for the bus. On a whim, we scratched off a lottery ticket. I unexpectedly won forty yuan and thought it was a lucky start.
It wasn't until someone spotted the trap halfway there, paid six hundred yuan to get his ID back, and fled in a panic that we realized we had fallen for a scam run by an illegal factory.
Our IDs had been confiscated. In the dead of night, in a strange place, the bus drove toward an unknown darkness.
On the bus, I saw the girl I liked posing for a photo with someone I hated. My friend impulsively confessed my feelings for me, only to get a reply: "I know," neither accepting nor rejecting me.
We were locked in a cramped, damp dormitory. By day, we played video games to hide our anxiety, then walked several kilometers to get documents that were nothing but a formality.
On the second night, they sent us straight to the night shift. The roaring CNC machines were coated in grease. Our hands turned black, our bodies were covered in grime, and our dignity was ground to pieces.
From innocent boys to trapped in desperate straits, from eager anticipation to fear and helplessness, it took only a few short days.
But we didn't give up.
In the darkest night, four boys stood shoulder to shoulder. In a summer filled with the relentless song of cicadas, we embarked on a heart-pounding escape.
This experience of being cheated, suffering, struggling, and running away left a deeper mark than any trip could have.
It shattered our innocence, but it also preserved our brotherhood.
That summer held no poetry or distant horizons, only grease, darkness, pounding hearts, and escape.
But in the end, we made it back to the world of the living together.
