People in Tokyo, the world is clear

Lin Sen knew that she was referring to the first song she had secretly written.

“My opinion shouldn’t matter.”

"certainly not!"

The young man curled his lips helplessly and looked at the girl beside him.

"To be fair, Qingshan is indeed a genius in the field of melody. In a few months, he may not need me to provide inspiration for his songs."

㈨㈤０一８０90九

"I've complained about this many times! Every time, Xiaolin's words of praise and encouragement are too exaggerated."

But judging from the curve of the girl's mouth, she was indeed happy about it.

The new energy overwhelmed the fatigue. She reached out and tugged at Lin Sen's sleeve, extending an invitation.

"For dinner, buy some food and come to my house to eat."

What should have been a simple and accustomed daily life had some changes because of something the girl in the rental house took out.

"This is..."

"Rice wine!"

Dim bulbs provide just the right amount of light for the room.

Against the backdrop of the half-light dusk outside the window, the girl raised the large, cloudy glass bottle in her hand, boasting with a smug look on her face, "It was sent from home."

"I remember Qingshan said last time that if you're allergic to alcohol, it's better not to drink."

"It's rice wine! It's not really alcohol, it's very low in alcohol. I've been drinking it since I was a kid!"

The Summer Solstice girl smiled and skillfully unscrewed the lids, filling the two glasses placed on the table.

Paired with the discounted cheap bento, dinner becomes a bit more refined and sumptuous.

The chatterbox opened up along with the sweet slurry:

"Xiao Lin really doesn't plan to get married at the moment?"

"That's it."

In fact, it is already a marriage in name only.

Moreover, I am alone in this world and have no pressure from family.

You have the right not to think about this.

What surprised Lin Sen even more was that the emergence of this somewhat off-topic topic could be seen from the girl's hesitant and melancholy expression, and the action of supporting her chin with one hand.

as expected:

"My family recently sent me a letter." Taking another sip of rice wine, the girl sighed and raised the corners of her mouth in a wry smile. "Perhaps, it seems, they've already accepted that I'll never be a singer or an entertainer."

"Maybe Qingshan is sometimes too honest with his family. They always see your life more deeply than you do."

"Not really. Actually, my family has always been very supportive. But maybe it's because I'm the only daughter in the family? I only heard from the elders that I had an older brother who died young."

The girl naturally brought the topic back to its original direction.

She began to talk about things in the countryside: the fields, the rice wine, and the customs tied to the solar terms.

And the peace of mind that the older generation feels about the continuation of generations.

"I'm almost 20. At home, girls my age are basically old maids who have already started carrying their children to do housework or chatting with the owner of the fruit shop near the village bus stop."

Time is the most common yet rare thing in the world.

Only when you do the right thing at the right time can you appear to be decent. When the good times are gone, people lose some of their confidence.

Therefore, Qingshan Xiazhi said:

"That's right, it seems like it's time to consider marriage."

But she reached out and grabbed her hair again.

"Oh, really. Why does time fly by so fast? It feels like I was on the train to Tokyo yesterday, but today I feel like I'm already counting the years until I'm thirty."

"How strong is Qingshan's family's pressure on marriage?"

"Well, I mentioned it quite a few times. First, I mentioned that the little girl next door came to play today and made grandma very happy. Then I talked about my playmate who went to elementary school and junior high school with me. He said that he gave birth to a cute baby boy a week ago, and everyone was holding him and couldn't let go."

"I see."

The tragedy of adults is probably their maturity. Unlike children who can be naive and carefree, they can't help but hear some hidden meanings.

Over twenty years old is probably not a young number for a child from a farming family.

The price of pursuing dreams is time and wasted youth that will never come back.

Suddenly I felt a sense of inexplicable emotion.

I got up and opened the window, letting the evening breeze slowly come in, blowing the old sheet music manuscripts and stacks of outdated music magazines piled up in the house.

Before we knew it, spring had deepened, summer was approaching, and half of the year had passed.

The girl's confused mumbling voice could still be heard in my ears.

“It seems like there are still many things I want to do but it seems like I’m about to take the next step in my life.”

"Is Qingshan now seriously considering his future after failing to pursue his dream?"

"A little bit."

In her peripheral vision, the girl picked up the cup and drank the sweet liquid inside.

He took a long breath, and a strange blush seemed to appear on his cheeks.

Miss Xiazhi really can’t drink much.

The drink, which contained almost no alcohol, also made her feel a little dizzy.

Even his speech became somewhat unrestrained.

"Maybe, let's just end it this summer. I'll make up for the last regret with you, Xiaolin, and then I'll accept the reality peacefully and go back home."

She reached out and covered her forehead.

"Pushed by my elders to meet a financially suitable member of the opposite sex, I began to let go of everything and learn to focus on managing my own family. At that time, I might take all the things I have accumulated over the past two years - sheet music, magazines, tapes, posters - to a remote and deserted place and burn them all."

"Burn it?"

"Too many. They're packed into so many bags, and I might not even have room to put them all back home."

and--

Qingshan Xiazhi lies on the table.

"When that time comes, these things will be useless. Keeping them will only make me witness regrets again and again. Perhaps, when I see and think about them, my heart will be pricked."

She seemed a little sleepy, her speech was unclear and she even had a bit of a Kansai accent.

"Maybe I'll take the guitar back with me. Maybe someday in the future, when I'm in a good mood, I can play the few songs I still remember for my own children."

"Have you thought about the child?"

Lin Sen sat back at the table in the room and found that the girl lying on the table had only a hint of confusion in her eyes.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke solemnly:

"I rarely hear Qingshan talk about matters related to love. While you can certainly refer to the news from home, when it comes to life matters like marriage, I think your own wishes are more important."

"me?"

The Summer Solstice girl murmured. Suddenly, she pursed her lips, not knowing what she was thinking about, and then slowly squinted her eyes as her body prompted her to do so.

She looked really sleepy.

"I think I've probably longed for love. Xiaolin, have you read the book I recommended to you? 'The Last Kiss'?"

"This one, I must have looked at it carefully."

In other words, is there a possibility that I have read this book more than once...

Ok.

Lin Sen did not interrupt the story, but let the girl next to him continue.

"Actually, I've thought about it. Meeting someone like the one in that book who doesn't seem to be good at anything, who doesn't seem to be able to do anything well. We can encourage each other and do things together that seem childish or even silly. I tell him about my failures, how I fall again and again. He also generously shares his stories with me."

For some reason, Lin Sen noticed that the girl's eyes had lost some of their luster when she said these words.

The gaze that was directed towards me was in my direction.

"We are trapped in the city together, supporting each other and facing the difficulties of life. Of course, there are always troubles of this or that kind, but it seems that none of them matter."

After this, there was a brief silence.

Then came a new round of dazed mumbling, with a hint of drunkenness in the voice.

"But life isn't a novel. I'm a lonely person who works part-time to make a living and spends all day in my rented room listening to music and writing lyrics. How could I possibly meet someone like that?"

Qingshan Xiazhi breathed in a daze.

His eyes opened and closed, probably due to fatigue and drunkenness, he was already feeling quite sleepy.

However, the next second, the words that came out of his mouth startled everyone:

"I've been having strange thoughts lately. For example, I wish Xiaolin wasn't a bachelor."

"?"

What do you mean?

Lin Sen was a little scared.

Looking over in surprise, I found that the girl was already in a state of half-asleep and half-awake, and was drawn into another state by a scene that seemed to be a dream.

She lay on the table with her eyes closed, and hot liquid gathered from the corners of her eyes.

"I...why."

There was a hint of tears in her voice.

"I've tried my best, and I know success is accidental and failure is normal, but I still can't accept it. I feel bad. Why haven't I accomplished anything yet? Why don't I have the chance to work harder?"

"After this summer, will a part of me die? And then I'll go back home and face the rest of my life..."

The girl fell into a strange state of crying while sleeping, and her mumbling became softer and softer.

"But, yes, I... don't want to die yet. I don't want to die, I don't want to die..."

The girl was clearly sleeping on her stomach, but her face was covered in tears.

After that, the volume became smaller and smaller, and her words became increasingly unclear, so that it was impossible to hear what she was mumbling.

All that was left was the body shaking slowly due to instinct, mixed with the sound of soft breathing.

I seem to remember that the girl said that she was twenty-four years old.

He certainly has an admirable optimism and maturity that is beyond his years, but there is always a passionate child living in his heart.

At this moment, sleep breaks down all the walls of the heart, revealing the fragile side of even the strongest person.

Qingshan Xiazhi seems to be the kind of girl who is invincible. She can hold her head high even in the face of setbacks and failures in life.

But the more realistic side is that she also feels lost, sad, and unwilling, and even more afraid of an irresistible fate.

When this kind of contrast appears in a girl who has always been optimistic, it always makes bystanders feel a strange and profound resonance.

Lin Sen stood up, took out a handcloth from his pocket, and gently wiped the mess on the sleeping girl's face bit by bit.

Looking around, I see music-related items everywhere: equipment, instruments, magazines, sheet music, tapes.

There seems to be some stagnant emotions in my heart.

Green Mountain Summer Solstice.

Her dream of being trapped in the city has become an important part of her life.

Perhaps, for her, going home to embrace a new life is like peeling this inseparable part from her body.

It was impossible to describe the pain in a concrete way, but it was obvious that just thinking about it made her so terrified that she started to cry.

She really doesn't want to.

This conclusion brings about a strange mentality.