Generation Z Artists

Chapter 24 Warmth
Mao Xiaotong, 12 years old this year, is in the sixth grade of primary school and his academic performance is not ideal.

But she has a good artistic talent. She passed the fifth level piano exam and started learning Latin dance. She is a beautiful girl among her peers who can sing and dance well.

This afternoon, as soon as she arrived at school, she saw a group of female classmates gathered together, chattering, and she had no idea what they were talking about so excitedly.

None of my business, she thought.

Xiaotong didn't have a good relationship with the girls in her class because she was dull and quiet, and she decided early on to go to a dance school instead of a normal junior high school, so she didn't have much in common with her peers.

She sat down in her seat without looking around, let her hair fall down on the sides to cover her face, and began to daydream.

Her classmate suddenly poked her: "Xiaotong, didn't you buy today's sprouts?"

"Hmm?" Not sure what was going on.

"Fang Xinghe!" My deskmate gestured exaggeratedly, "That super handsome cover from last issue! Haven't you seen it?"

"Ooh!"

She remembered, but still didn't understand what this had to do with her: "So? What happened?"

"His composition was published in the newspaper, it's amazing!"

"???"

It's not my business?

She was a little impatient in her heart, but she didn't show it. She just nodded: "Oh, that's really amazing."

"Is that so?" The classmate grinned and recommended it to her with some perseverance, "Hey? Don't you want to take a look?"

“I didn’t buy it.”

"It's okay, I can lend you mine!"

No, do you really need to?
And why should I read any essays? Just because the young writer you like is so handsome?
Xiaotong was speechless. She didn't care about handsomeness at all, and the same went for middle school students' essays.

But before she could refuse, her desk mate forced the magazine into her hand with an expectant look on her face.

"Look! Fang Xinghe is so handsome, cool and talented!"

"Oh, ok, ok."

It’s not that she doesn’t know how to refuse, but she feels there’s no need to refuse such a small matter.

There's no point in attending class anyway, so I might as well just watch it.

But she did not go out of her way to read Fang Xinghe's article. Instead, she casually opened the book and started reading from the beginning, turning the pages one by one. She would glance at the ones she was interested in and quickly skip the ones she was not interested in.

It wasn't until page 22 that the title of the article attracted her at first sight, truly and thoroughly stirring some emotion deep in her heart.

My fate should be decided by myself?
It feels so good...

She moved her butt, laid down on the table, and focused.

Then, start immersing yourself from the first sentence.

The word "infection" made her feel something was touching intuitively.

Then came the long, unbroken sentence, "Only the people who make up civilization and the various consciousnesses, behaviors, emotions and desires born from people can sculpt, shape and even play with and destroy the young individuals in civilization." I was confused as I read it, but my heart trembled violently.

"Young individual" seems to be the key word in her life, instantly turning on a switch.

She clenched her fists subconsciously.

None of her classmates knew that her biological father was a drug addict who often fought with her mother. He was like a wild beast when he had an attack, and even went so crazy as to abandon her in a trash can when she was very young.

why?
It’s just because I couldn’t get money from my mother to buy medicine.

It was a cold day and she was very scared and cried very loudly.

Maybe it was God’s will that her mother closed her stall early, and when she passed by, she heard her crying, which had become weak, and picked her up from the garbage dump.

That very night, a little girl died quietly, and a new life came back to life that was sensible, cautious, and rarely cried.

Now she no longer remembers the specific circumstances, but the coldness and fear that penetrated deep into her bones still reminds her from time to time - Mao Xiaotong, you are not a complete child.

Therefore, she knows very well what a "bad infection process" looks like and what it feels like to be "bitten" by someone.

Every word Fang Xinghe said seemed to be written directly in her heart.

The girl who used to hate studying and reading, at this moment, miraculously resonated with words.

"Xiaotong? Xiaotong?!"

The classmate woke up Mao Xiaotong, who was immersed in the out-of-control emotions, and asked timidly and worriedly: "What's wrong with you?"

"No, nothing..."

It wasn't until she answered that she realized her voice was hoarse.

Then she reached out to wipe it away and discovered the hot tears still on her cheeks.

"I'm just... just... so touched."

Mao Xiaotong sniffed hard, lowered her head again, and choked up, "Don't worry about me, let me finish reading."

"Oh……"

My deskmate scratched his head in confusion, thinking: Fang Xinghe's article is good, but is it really that touching? Why do I only feel that it is amazing?
She didn't understand, but she didn't bother him anymore, letting Mao Xiaotong indulge in her greedy reading. "Things that happen in childhood are always the most tragic. Childhood deprivation is a disease that takes a lifetime to cure, but no one can guarantee that it can be cured..."

Yes, it cannot be cured.

"What kind of family we were born into, what kind of environment we grew up in, what kind of education we received, what kind of gaps we were eaten away by, before the age of 18, we can't decide anything..."

That's right, what can I do?
"When you find yourself bitten, don't panic. Look carefully at where you got bitten and how big the wound is. Think about why it happened, and then make a promise to yourself - I will never let this happen again..."

Yes! That’s absolutely right!
I should really make a vow to myself: never let that person hurt me and my mother again!

"I am fine now, living a hard but bright life. I hope you can be the same, not be tamed, not be infected, not succumb to fate, and take the initiative to become the you that you most want to be..."

Wow, that’s great!

Really, if this can be done, there would be no better future.

I want to be like this too, I want to be a strong and bright me!
Mao Xiaotong seemed to be looking in a mirror. The person facing the mirror was herself, but the person inside the mirror was Fang Xinghe.

There was a great power that allowed her to see herself clearly through Fang Xinghe, and she drew courage and fighting spirit from the wild declaration that followed.

This was a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time, unique and different, but real.

"How about it?"

Suddenly, her deskmate bumped into her lightly, her innocent eyes full of pride: "Isn't he awesome?"

"Yeah." Mao Xiaotong sniffed and nodded vigorously, "Amazing!"

"Hey Hey……"

The little girl smiled happily, as if she owned the whole world.

Mao Xiaotong solemnly took out 5 yuan, bought the magazine that was wet with tears, and then carefully put it into her schoolbag.

After returning home from school, she cut out the cover and pasted it on the wall next to her bed where she could see it by turning her head.

Although she still doesn't understand the meaning of idol chasing, she has already kept Fang Xinghe close to her heart.

The night is getting darker and heavier.

Mao Xiaotong had a dream that she fell into an absurd and terrifying world.

There, the earth was dry and desolate, the air was filled with scarlet ashes, and in the distance stood many shadowy figures like mummies, looking up blankly at the sky.

Mao Xiaotong raised her head and her pupils shrank - where was the sky? It was clearly a bloody sky covered with cuts!
The sky was beating restlessly like a heart.

Every expansion and contraction would tear the wound, causing a blood rain to fall, covering the sky and the earth.

The mummies let out sharp howls, as if in pain or anger, which never stopped.

Mao Xiaotong hid back to her original place trembling.

It was a huge and gloomy trash can, very scary, but she had no choice but to pull over all the debris around her, cover herself with it, then bite her lips tightly, curled up in the corner and shivered.

An unknown amount of time passed, and she felt increasingly colder and more afraid.

Fear was like an invisible rope, tightly strangling the little girl's throat.

Suffocation, pain, despair...

Just when she felt she could not bear it any longer, suddenly, the wailing stopped, and the blood rain above her head also inexplicably stopped.

She looked up blankly, and saw that in the bloody horror, there was a pair of hands gently touching the wound on the sky.

The fingertips gently stroked the torn wound, and the restless flesh and blood immediately calmed down, like a little animal soothed by the warm spring breeze.

Who is that? !

The girl tried to open her eyes wide.

However, I could never tell clearly who the owners of those hands were. Sometimes they looked like my mother, sometimes like a red-haired boy, and sometimes like myself when I grew up.

Mao Xiaotong stared at it infatuatedly, her fear gradually subsided, her emotions settled a little, but there was something in her heart that was about to burst out.

huh, huh, huh...

Her breathing became heavier and heavier, and her courage grew inch by inch. She suddenly gritted her teeth, pushed aside the debris, climbed up the gap in the trash can, turned over and jumped!
boom!
She fell heavily to the ground, but regardless of the pain, she used her hands and feet to climb up the garbage mountain in front of her.

who are you?
Let me see clearly!
The girl waded through the dirt and climbed up desperately. Her small figure was looming in the garbage and she struggled hard in the ashes.

The perspective is raised, and tens of thousands of figures are running at the same time, climbing mountains and wading through water.

The zombies are crossing the border, it is extremely terrifying.

The man in the sky suddenly stopped moving and slowly lowered his head.

Mao Xiaotong held her breath and looked expectantly...but at the last moment, she suddenly woke up.

Xiaotong jumped up from the bed and gasped for a while. Suddenly she remembered something and turned her head sharply. Finally, she could see the face of the red-haired boy clearly in the moonlight.

The cold moonlight shone on that face, bright and grand.

The girl was stunned for a while, and suddenly burst into tears. The more she cried, the more aggrieved she felt, the happier she felt, and the more relieved she felt.

Playing with words is not a big deal, but tonight, and in the days and nights that followed, Fang Xinghe's empathetic words warmed and encouraged one child after another who had been bitten...

(End of this chapter)