If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

Lu Mingfei sat in the shade of a tree to hide from the sun, leaning against the tree trunk with his shoulders slumped. Dragonflies flew over his head and flew forward along the shade of the long sidewalk trees, occasionally hovering after a brief pause. It flies in a beautiful trajectory, as if it is worried that the cut-off shade of the tree will burn its thin membrane wings.

The time now is two o'clock in the afternoon. The clouds in the sky have dispersed and the wind has hidden into the depths of Lake Michigan. So pedestrians on the road have also hid. Occasionally, you can see a few sparse figures crossing the zebra crossing that bends in the temperature. , and then disappeared into the shelter of the city buildings.

The screen of the mobile phone in the darkness of the trouser pocket lit up with a faint light. It was a red high temperature warning issued by the Chicago Weather Bureau to citizens. The outdoor temperature in the city is expected to reach 36°C at 2:30 in the afternoon, reminding outdoor workers to plan their working hours reasonably. Avoid direct sunlight, which can cause heat stroke and even develop into dangerous heat stroke.

Lu Mingfei felt that the weather bureau in any good place was a liar. He sat on the porcelain table under the shade of a tree and felt that his cheeks were hot, his butt was also hot, and the air he breathed into his chest and abdomen was also hot. , there are shining cars passing by the roadside, and what is blown is not a cool wind, but patches of heat waves.

Is this Chicago? Lu Mingfei thought, Teacher, it’s not good enough.

Lu Mingfei's legs were actually shaking when he got off the flight in the morning. The closer he got to Kassel College, the more he shook. Normal college students return to school with longing for the new semester and new junior sisters, and Classmates who met by chance chatted about their experiences and happiness during the summer vacation. But when he got here, he was colluding with his accomplices all the way.

In fact, Lu Mingfei doesn't like and approve of the word "tongdang". There are two definitions of "tongdang" in the 7th edition of Xinhua Dictionary in 1992. One is the meaning of the same party. The other means accomplices, people of the same kind.

There was no difference, because no matter which interpretation it was, Lu Mingfei felt that he would be finished.

Originally, after he broke away from the command of the execution department and acted rashly in Binhai City, he thought the problem was not too big. After all, if the sky fell, there would be a tall man to hold it up. Lin Nian was that tall man. If the execution department wanted to punish him, it would definitely punish him first, and he would suffer a little. The punishment of big thunder and small raindrops is enough.

But until Lin Nian inserted a 9mm M92F Beretta into the waistband of his pants, he sneered and said bluntly: Those idiots on the school board will probably send people to block us on our way back to the college. If they come, we will There will be no return for them!

At this time, Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat, but since he had spared Ah Q's energy since he was young, he continued to comfort himself.

Lin Nian was just temporarily in a state of stress after his sister ran away from home. The problem was actually not that big. Then on the plane, he heard Lin Nian colluding with him and beginning to denounce the seven deadly sins of the school board.

The more I listened, the more I felt that this guy was reciting "An Exploration for Thieves". He suddenly realized it. It seemed like the fucking problem was really big.

At that time on the plane, he looked left and right, trying to see if there was any good friend with a bone in the back of his head who could take the first step and pin down the rebellious traitor before the fox barked. The result was tragic. When they discovered that the traitor was actually me, both Su Xiaoqiang and Chu Zihang listened attentively. From time to time, they added a few details about the collusion in the confession to increase the credibility of the confession.

Lu Mingfei, who had already been put on the shelf, now had to rebel against the Party. When he got off the plane, he silently recited: Goodbye my college life. Then he was overjoyed to find that the Chicago railroad worker brothers sent him Assisted.

The seven-day stay in Chicago might be able to cushion Lin Nian's stress and the school board's indignation against them? Lu Mingfei wasn't sure how things would develop in the future. He could smell the smell of politics and conspiracy in all the previous things, but he didn't understand politics, let alone conspiracy. The only thing he understood was that if you were late for seven days, school would start early. If classes start, he will probably fail three subjects this semester.

Faced with the threat of trial by the school board and the disaster of failing the exam after returning to school, Lu Mingfei simply gave up in the face of the terrible dilemma.

"Here, ice cream."

Lu Mingfei, who was about to squint and enjoy the feeling of heat and coma between the red line between heatstroke and non-heatstroke, felt a gust of air-conditioning, and then hurriedly took the ice cream from Su Xiaoqiang, with four balls of various flavors on it. , the candies on top are even more colorful, "Thank you, thank you."

But after getting the ice cream, Lu Mingfei raised his head and glanced at Su Xiaoqiang who had empty hands, "Where's yours?"

"I'm afraid of catching a cold, so I won't eat."

Lu Mingfei raised his head and looked at the extremely hot sky, thinking to himself, sister, you are really made of water. He lowered his head and took a big gulp, his temples hurt from the cold.

Su Xiaoqiang looked at Lu Mingfei, who was showing off like a starving man while holding ice cream, and sighed, "If it's hot, go into the hotel lobby and turn on the air conditioner. Isn't it the same as waiting anywhere?"

"This should be what I want to say. How can you steal my line?" Lu Mingfei, who was biting his ice cream, sighed similarly, "Can't you wait in the hotel lobby? He just said it in just a few minutes. arrive."

Su Xiaoqiang didn't answer Lu Mingfei. He handed Lu Mingfei the ice cream and then sat down in the shade of a tree elsewhere.

Lu Mingfei lazily nestled in the shade of a tree, eating ice cream, and his ears were filled with the noisy sound of cicadas on the trees above his head.

There were not many clouds in the sky and not many people on the ground. Some are just invisible thoughts between people.

So good, so good. he thought idly.

The girl in her sight who had been looking at the intersection, wearing a tea dress and a rolled-up straw hat, was sitting there quietly with her chin in her hands, ignoring the heat and the sun, just wanting to see her lover for a few more seconds.

Ah, love, love! Lu Mingfei, who was born in a literary club and thought he had been tortured by love, wanted to sing about love again.

It can make a girl as lively as a fierce horse become as quiet as a lamb, make the gorgeous shooting stars stop and become an eternal starry sky, even the cicadas stop chirping, and give more silence of missing and waiting. This is probably the magic of love. .

He leaned against the tree trunk in the shade and stared blankly at the girl's back, the black hair and neck flowing out from under the curly straw hat behind her tea dress.

For a moment he saw the shadow of another person in this girl.

The cicadas above me stopped chirping, leaving behind a quiet street. Perhaps it was too quiet, and my thoughts had the soil to grow, growing unbridled under the irrigation of the sun.

—

Lu Mingfei is a person who loves fantasy, and summer and silence give him the soil for fantasy.

At that moment, he probably wrote a new script for himself in his mind - it was probably the same Chicago, the same midsummer, the first day of seven long days, and a lovely person in his imagination also appeared. Sitting under the shade of the tree, I waited for the person who appeared at the crossroads with the same longing as Su Xiaoqiang.

He didn't know if he would have the chance to see this scene again in his life, and he didn't even know who the cute person sitting in the shade of the tree would be if that scene happened, but that person's shadow must be cute and white. There is a bitter smell and a slightly fragrant smell.

The person that the lovely person is waiting for must be herself. She likes and loves herself so much. If that kind of enthusiastic and sincere love appears in herself - when she thinks of this, Lu Mingfei is happy, and the countercurrent of happiness flows from her. The feeling from the bottom of my heart spreads to my limbs, it rushes for a while, then slows down for a while. Coordinated breathing makes people twitch slightly, what a longing.

There was a faint sound of cicadas chirping in the distance. It came gradually from one end of the street, then the other, and near the end.

That’s right, the chirping of cicadas has never been about thousands of troops ready to go. If you are willing to sit in the shade of a summer tree and listen, you will find that the chirping of cicadas is a chain reaction that affects the whole body.

I still remember that in Shilan High School, the old-fashioned biology teacher stood by the window during the summer class and looked at the branches and leaves leaning outside the window and talked about it: the cicadas are chirping, the behavior of male cicadas when courting female cicadas, like It's beating drums to spread flowers, one sound, a thousand sounds.

Lu Mingfei, who was lying on the table and squinting lazily while listening, thought, that cicada who made the first cry was so bold, shouting so clearly and shamelessly, I want to mate with you! Then other followers followed suit, and the whole street was filled with the chirping of cicadas, all eager to respond, extremely grateful for that bold response.

If you understand the meaning of cicadas in this way, it feels really beautiful. In my fantasy, the cute girl I like is sitting in the shade of the tree, looking at the unobstructed sky behind the intersection building, dark blue The sky and sea are waiting for him, just like a child lying by the window during summer vacation, waiting for the next irregular cicada chirp, and while waiting, he forgets his original intention.

I don’t know when the cicada will come, and I don’t know where it will come from, but it will definitely come! She believes so deeply because she is such a lovely person! Even if it is too cute, you will forget that you are waiting for the cicadas to chirp and think about other happy things.

And often at that time, just like now, the smell of summer and the noisy sound of "cicada" will suddenly appear. The sound of cicadas comes from the other end of the sun-baked Chicago street, just like being beaten. The wave of love comes one after another. Maybe the meaning of the cicada chirping at this time can be a little more euphemistic, and it would be appropriate to replace "I want to mate with you" with "I want to be with you."

Then she, the lovely girl under the tree, will stand up. Lu Mingfei thought.

So the girl stood up, her curled legs suddenly straightened, the lines behind her knees were so clear, and the streak of white on the side of her thighs was like the paint painted on a building by the sun, it was so piercing that it was hard to open your eyes.

Something stirred deep in his heart, just like the soil of love that Lu Mingfei thought was dead long ago loosened just an inch.

Lu Mingfei thought that the wind would blow her hair again.

She held down her straw hat to stir up her black hair, and the sun's rays on her skin would release a bitter yet slightly fragrant scent, which Lu Mingfei loved.

The scent of dandelions.

The smell of galbanum and oakmoss mixed together swept past Lu Mingfei's nose with the wind. It was not the scent of dandelions. It was the scent of Chanel No. 19. It had a strong presence and was faintly proud. It was the scent of Su Xiaoqiang. .

Before his daydream became clearer and clearer as the slightly curved mirage in front of him due to the sunlight, Lu Mingfei suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

He suddenly lowered his head and took a big bite of the ice cream ball, letting the intense freezing sensation drive away any thoughts from his brain.

Lu Mingfei, Lu Mingfei, sometimes stop daydreaming that you have given up!

He told himself this. But another voice told him: But if you keep thinking about it, there will be repercussions, Lu Mingfei!

"But it's nothing to think about when we're back in Chicago." Lu Mingfei muttered after recovering from his headache.

Hey, didn’t you come out? His mood became heavy and depressed for no reason.

After eating the ice cream in two or three mouthfuls, Lu Mingfei stood up from the shade of the tree and went with Su Xiaoqiang to meet the two figures in the distance. Lin Nian came back holding Xia Wang amid the chirping of cicadas.

The sound of cicadas also stopped suddenly.

In fact, it is probably accurate to use the chirping of cicadas to refer to the joy of young people. They are always waiting for the chirping of cicadas, and then forget about the chirping of cicadas. Only when the noise of the world suddenly fills their ears again, they will suddenly feel happy again. Then they continue to wait for the next time in the sudden silence of the cicada chirping, repeating this process endlessly until they are no longer young people and no longer deliberately capture the summer with the cicada chirping.

"But if you don't forget it, there will definitely be repercussions, especially for people like you, brother."

Under the shade of the tree, Lu Mingfei's figure gradually faded away. The little boy holding the same ice cream ball sat in his original position without anyone noticing, smiling at the figures who immediately started chatting enthusiastically when they met. , "But when the time comes, there will definitely be thunder in the valley and waves thousands of miles away, brother. Can you really bear that heavy joy?"

ps: There shouldn’t be any young genius misunderstanding that Lu Mingfei misses Sister Niu (right)