Moonshine Flavored Mangosteen

That summer, Lin Zhi stopped by a flower bed and handed half a peeled mangosteen to the young man sitting there. The young man did not raise his head and said he would not eat. Lin Zhi left. When I left, I took away the old book that the boy had left under the chair. I turned to the title page and saw a line of scrawled pencil words: Summer is over, but I haven't figured out who was there that night. He recognized the handwriting. He also recognized the boy. Half a year later, Lin Zhi, who ranked first in the joint entrance examination, transferred to Ji Ye's school and sat next to him accurately. He brings a box of peeled mangosteen every morning. The flesh is white and not a trace of purple skin is stained. He talks little, is polite, and does not leak anything. He is like a cleanly peeled fruit and seems to be inoffensive. The whole school thought they were mortal enemies. With two competing students and two top graders, there must be someone who can't afford to lose. But Ji Ye discovered that Lin Zhi's kindness was considered a good thing. You only say words when you think they are good, and you laugh when you think they are good. Every step was precise and as gentle as a knife's edge. His notebook was full of notes about Ji Ye for a whole year, from competition rankings to which way to get food in the cafeteria, from the types of questions he was good at to the test points where mistakes were easy to make. In the summer camp photo, he used a red pen to draw from one end of the photo to the other, connecting the two people's positions into a line. It took him a whole year to break away all the distance and get to Ji Ye. But after summer comes the rainy season. Lin Zhi's parents forced him to transfer school because of a maliciously intercepted photo. The teenagers were separated by two cities, turned off mobile phones and unreceived letters. When the mangosteens are out of season, there is only the dark side of the mailbox that cannot be illuminated by the moon. Ji Ye said, just wait. He passed the national competition and took the last bus to the next city. Under the streetlight on the platform, Lin Zhi stood there waiting for him. The two looked at each other for two seconds after not seeing each other for half a year. Then Ji Ye stepped over the fence and held down the back of Lin Zhi's head. When he thought about these things later, he found that it took him three years to finish half of the mangosteen. No matter how hard the fruit shell is, it will soften after being soaked for a long time. And some people are reluctant to give even half a pill to others. Lin Zhi gave him a whole summer. Then winter came too. In the warm yellow light of the kitchen, Lin Zhi lowered his head to peel the mangosteen, and the pulp was placed one by one in the white porcelain bowl. Ji Ye leaned against the kitchen table and looked at him, suddenly remembering that night at the summer camp many years ago - the moonlight illuminated the ground like mercury, and someone passed by him and handed half a mangosteen. This time he answered. I took it and ate it for a whole youth. Concept: All hard shells are waiting for someone who is willing to slowly peel them off. The mangosteen shell is purple-black and hard, but the inside is white, tender and soft, just like the sincerity of young people wrapped in unruliness or thoughtfulness. Ji Ye's thorns are like shells, and Lin Zhi's are also shells. One uses indifference to hide the gap, the other uses precision to hide the search. They all thought the shell was all, until someone stopped and peeled it bit by bit for a long time. Wherever the moon shines, the hard shell will eventually crack. And the sweetness hidden in the pulp is reserved for those who are not afraid of trouble.