There is a crooked hibiscus growing on the corner wall behind the teaching building of the High School Affiliated to East China Normal University. The dark green leaves stretch upwards along the cement wall. The pale pink flowers poke out from the cracks in the bricks, shaking out their fine fragrance under the hot summer sun.
Sixteen-year-old Pei Jin squatted at the base of the wall to pick up fallen flowers. The toes of her canvas shoes scraped against the moss on the bottom of the wall. Chen Yunchu's white sneakers ran over her shadow on the ground. The edges of the shadow were plated with furry gold edges by the sunlight: "The petals fell on her hair." His fingertips brushed the top of her hair, gently removed the petals, and when she lowered her head, she put it into her school uniform trouser pocket. The sound of her heart beat louder than the chirping of cicadas.
Later, the cement wall was painted with new blue and white paint, and the hibiscus still came out of the cracks in the bricks every year, but no one would catch the falling flowers for her when the wind blew.
The hibiscus flowering season is still there, but no one says: "The clouds will stop on the flower branches" anymore.
Concept: be campus
