Lin Shuyi and Bian Yu'an were born in the same year, a month apart.
They lived in the same residential compound for the families of the Jing City Highway and Bridge Design Institute,
with one living above the other and in neighboring classes at school.
Every night, Bian Yu'an would keep an eye on the light in the room upstairs.
At nine, it was on. At eleven, it was still on.
Upstairs, Lin Shuyi hunched over her desk doing homework,
her silhouette on the window motionless.
"Lin Mianmian, please just take a look at my homework. I guarantee a perfect score. If even one symbol is wrong, I'm a dog!"
"No! I want to do it myself!"
"..."
Many years later, teachers at the Jing City Highway and Bridge Design Institute's affiliated school still told their students about two people.
One was Bian Yu'an, the top scorer who gave up a recommendation to enter A University’s finance department with an excellent score. The other was Lin Shuyi, whose name was nowhere to be found on the college entrance exam rankings.
But the teachers mentioned Lin Shuyi more often.
"Shuyi was the most hardworking student I've ever met," a teacher would say. "But for some reason, her grades were always at the bottom of the class."
The students in the audience waited for the teacher to tell them how this senior had triumphed through sheer perseverance.
Instead, the teacher shook their head. "She didn't. She still didn't do well on the college entrance exam."
"Huh?" That wasn't very inspirational.
One student asked, "So what happened to her later?"
The teacher smiled and pointed out the window at the Dongjiang Bridge. "See that bridge?"
"Her name is on the list of people who built it."
>>> A soft, sweet childhood friend who loves studying but can never get the hang of it × A hot-tempered childhood friend who offers up his finished homework, only to be sternly rejected every time.
>>> A little student who battles her homework until late every night × A top student who finishes his work early every day but always stays up late with his childhood friend.
>>> A story about growing up, and about love.
>>> *The cotton pygmy goose is the world's smallest waterbird, a clumsy little thing also known as the cotton duckling.
Written on 2020.04.29
Theme: Childhood friends
