I had a dream: The peony in full bloom stood in the sunshine, standing in front of me, and suddenly spoke. (Drawing: Akiko/Provided by New Era)
In the winter of that year, I was in the pre-examination class at the Academy of Fine Arts.
I go out at seven o’clock in the morning and come home at seven o’clock in the evening. This happens every day, and the Chinese New Year is no exception. I am very afraid of taking exams and am unwilling to attend this pre-exam class. Even so, every morning, my mother still put a red lunch box in my schoolbag and sent me to class.
It’s winter vacation and the study class is over. Other classmates also went home. I didn’t dare to relax because of my poor foundation, so I found a studio in the Chinese painting department, where I kept painting by myself.
I still remember that early morning, when I was rushing back to school and passed the traffic light, I looked down and suddenly saw a flower bone lying on the ground.
At that time, the Spring Festival was approaching in the South, and many flower farmers carried large pots of kumquats and various flowers to the flower market. It was probably a branch accidentally squeezed out of the flower pot. The fresh green leaves were still stained with soil, and there was no trace of them at all. open. It looks like a sleeping baby. I picked her up and took her back to the classroom. After searching for a long time, I found a small medicine bottle as a container for water.
In this way, I accidentally raised a flower bone.
My life is still from school to home, and from home to school again. I kept drawing those cold plaster figures every day. Sometimes the noses were broken, sometimes the eyes were broken, and in the end, even the paper was broken. When I feel sad and desperate, I will go out to the corridor outside the classroom and stare at the growing flowers that are changing little by little.
This magical and lonely little bone flower slowly grew from small to large, from green to pink, relying on the water I gave her, opening up little by little. I gradually felt that she was as single-minded, firm and dedicated as she wanted to open up the world. The days are still passing by day by day. Every day when I go home, my mother asks how is today, is there any progress? I talked about everything, including the damaged plaster nose, the empty campus, and my depressed mood, but I forgot to mention that I raised a flower.
The paintings I brought back gradually filled one wall of my home.
Late one night, it started raining heavily outside the window.
I hurried back to school early the next morning and was surprised to find that she had opened it.
That morning after the heavy rain, I stood in the sunshine and looked at the flowers that had changed overnight. She actually opened it. There seems to be no need to prepare or doubt. Just like the sun rises every day.
The New Year passes quickly. The weather is getting warmer every day. I can also draw the nose and eyes of plaster statues relatively skillfully. The peony flowers are blooming more and more gorgeously day by day. Sometimes sparrows would come and pace next to her, sometimes bees would come, and even two butterflies would fly at once, dancing their pink wings around her.
I feel very happy.
On the bus back to school one day, looking out the window at the bustling street scene, immersed in the warm sunshine, I fell asleep sitting on the chair.
I had a dream: The peony in full bloom stood in the sunshine, standing in front of me, and suddenly spoke. Of course she doesn’t use human language. She was just shaking the petals, and I actually understood.
She said, thank you for picking me up. Although I missed going to the lively flower market with my sisters. But I am a flower, and the flower’s mission is to bloom.
She paused and said: And I am a peony. You see, I am a beautiful peony. It can be seen that she is shy and proud: I want to repay your kindness. I can grant you a wish. Is there anything you want to achieve?
I stood in front of her in amazement. A little flower actually knows how to repay kindness, and what wish can a little flower fulfill? Seeing my hesitation, she urged me again: Hurry up.
I couldn’t think of my wish at once. I looked down and saw my two tiny braids that had just reached my shoulders. Shrugging and smiling, he said to the little flower: “Okay, let my hair grow faster.”
Then I woke up.
When I returned to school that day, the once empty campus became lively for some reason. Only then did I realize that the pre-examination classes would start early. Those classmates suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying luggage, tables and chairs in full swing, laughing and playing in a bustling manner. Suddenly I felt that this vacation that belonged to me was so short. He walked anxiously through the noisy crowd to the classroom door. As if in an instant, the peonies on the corridor disappeared.
She disappeared, leaving only the empty medicine bottle.
My mind went blank and I looked around in panic. Finally, at the corner at the end of the corridor, I saw that her head was gone, leaving only broken branches and almost fallen leaves lying on the ground. Probably some naughty child treated her as a toy, pulled out her head and then discarded her. My eyes stung, my heart jumped into my throat, and I couldn’t speak a word while holding her remains in my hands.
In the distance, the whistles and claps of students congratulating each other on the new school year could be faintly heard, rippling like a tide in the fresh spring air.
Summer is coming and my hair is past my shoulders. I got into college.
To this day, I still see her in my dreams sometimes. This is a flower that repays my kindness. Until the dream, she was still in full bloom, trying her best to show her beautiful world to me, as if she was completely unaware that parting had already come.
We never said goodbye. @
——Reprinted from “New Era”
Editor in charge: Wang Jin#
