Story Magazine: 2005 Bimonthly Combined Issue 9 (Total Issue Numbers 342-345)

Author: Story Magazine Editorial Department / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Dai Xiaojun is a junior student. Recently, at a campus singer concert held by the school, a long-haired girl from the English Department sang a folk song, moving both the judges and Dai Xiaojun deeply. These days, the shadow of this girl kept flickering in Dai Xiaojun’s eyes. He mobilized all his connections and quickly found out her name, even learning which self-study classroom she used every night. The next step was how to approach her politely. On a moonlit night, Dai Xiaojun found the long-haired girl working in the self-study room. Gathering his courage, he walked up and asked, "Hey, do you have time on Friday night?" The long-haired girl looked up in surprise, paused for a moment, and said, "Isn’t there an academic lecture in the school auditorium on Friday night?" Her expression was very serious. Dai Xiaojun blushed and asked again, "Then—Saturday?" The long-haired girl said, "I have a classmate from a university in the south visiting Beijing on Saturday." This was clearly an excuse to reject Dai Xiaojun! Hearing this answer, Dai Xiaojun lost all courage to ask about Sunday. At that moment, his only wish was to find a crack in the cement floor to crawl into. Blushing, he fled the classroom as if escaping, leaving his first crush behind. The first attempt failed, and Dai Xiaojun was extremely disheartened. A few days later, the student union held a March 8th Women’s Day party, with the highlight being a masquerade ball. Dai Xiaojun also attended, hoping to vent his frustration. The organizers had a rule that only girls could wear masks, and boys were not allowed. More interestingly, all the boys had to sit on the side during the dance, and could only stand up to dance only after being invited by a masked girl. Dai Xiaojun was a great dancer, so many girls asked him to dance. He stood up and sat down, busy as could be. When the band played the fifth song, a girl wearing a grotesque mask walked gracefully toward Dai Xiaojun and extended her hands. As Dai Xiaojun took her hand and took a step, a strange feeling came over him—his hand trembled uncontrollably! His sixth sense told him that this girl who had invited him was definitely connected to his recent confusion. Although she wore a mask, Dai Xiaojun felt she was the folk song singer he had been thinking about. She had been sitting there until the fifth song played before inviting him. Dai Xiaojun’s heart raced as he danced, saying to the masked girl, "This isn’t fair. You can see my expression, but I can’t see yours. I don’t know who you are, and I can’t guess what you’re thinking." The masked girl said nothing. Dai Xiaojun could only mumble to himself, "But this is okay. As long as you can see how serious I am when I say the last four words. Whether you’re free or mocking me doesn’t matter. I can’t see your face behind the mask." Dai Xiaojun spoke to the grotesque mask, but the mask remained silent, and it was unclear whether it had heard him. Dai Xiaojun was impressed by how much he had said in that moment. When the song ended, he said four words very seriously: "I like you." When they parted, Dai Xiaojun noticed that the girl’s hand was also trembling slightly. After the dance, Dai Xiaojun didn’t know what to do next. He tried several times to approach the long-haired girl, but the memory of his previous rejection made him shrink back. By coincidence, a few days later, on a midday, Dai Xiaojun went out and happened to meet the long-haired girl and her roommates. The girl glanced at Dai Xiaojun, and he quickly pretended to be casual as he greeted her. Just as they were about to pass each other, the girl suddenly said in a perfectly natural tone, "You have a letter that got sent to the girls’ dormitory by mistake. It’s with me. Come pick it up when you have time." Dai Xiaojun stood frozen until the long-haired girl and her roommates were out of sight, then realized, "How did my letter end up in the girls’ dormitory? And how did it get into her hands?" He thought for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. That night, Dai Xiaojun went to find the girl. Since boys weren’t allowed in the girls’ dormitory, he stayed downstairs, watching a letter slowly drift out of a window in the girls’ dormitory, accompanied by a whisper, "Take a good look." The letter had no return address, but it was stamped with a postage stamp. However, a closer look revealed it was fake—the stamp was incomplete, with only half of it on the stamp and none on the envelope. In other words, the letter wasn’t sent by mistake—it was written by the long-haired girl for Dai Xiaojun! That night, Dai Xiaojun stayed up late for his self-study session. After the lights-out bell rang, he found another open classroom. He hadn’t dared to open the letter, thinking there were only two possible outcomes—good or bad—and he wanted to delay both. He waited until three in the morning, when sleepiness began to creep in, and decided to open the letter and reveal the mystery of his first love. The letter read: "Although I don’t know you well, I’ve heard you’re a nice person, and I’ll try to get to know you. By the way, I did have a classmate from the south visit on Saturday afternoon. Also, do you have time this Sunday?" Heaven, if he had just kept asking on that day in the self-study room, he wouldn’t have wasted so many days agonizing! Thinking this, Dai Xiaojun felt like slapping himself. On that early morning, in the best years of his university life, Dai Xiaojun waited for the best love. After the elation came hunger, and he walked resolutely for over twenty miles to find a 24-hour fast-food restaurant. In the bewildered eyes of the drowsy staff, he devoured three large bowls of beef noodles—five yuan per bowl, half a pound each. P55-57