The 29th kilometer at an altitude of nine thousand meters

  When the summer vacation was over, the school allocated internship quotas. I asked my dad to use his extensive interpersonal relationships to get me to Shanghai. I didn't want to stay in Beijing anymore, or else I would have been stuck here.

  The day I packed my things, I received a call from Wen Jing. At first, no one spoke, and I was quite scared in my heart. Later, Wen Jing sighed and said, "You're too inhumane to just leave like that." As soon as I heard this, I burst into tears because I knew that Wen Jing speaking to me like this meant she had forgiven me. I cried and cried, feeling like my lungs were going to collapse from crying so hard. Wen Jing on the other end was frantically trying to calm me down, saying "Don't cry, don't... hearing you cry is more painful for me than seeing you get stabbed with a knife." Later, Wen Jing said, "You're really cruel, taking a basin of flowers to smash Lu Xu, he was smashed by you until his head was bleeding and he still didn't want to leave, standing downstairs waiting for you, and later fainted and was taken to the hospital by the community auntie." When I heard this, my heart felt like it was being cut with a knife.

  Wen Jing said she forgave me because she knew that in front of Lu Xu, she had been pretending to be a gentle woman. Even though Lu Xu and her were together, the one he fell in love with was not the real her. So she decided it's better to be free. She finally said, Lin Lan, I think that little turtle egg (slang for someone who is very much in love) really loves you.

  The day I left, a crowd of people came to see me off, like a delegation going abroad. As I looked around, I felt empty and deserted, just like the cold airport waiting room without Lu Xu. I guessed he was still wrapped in white gauze lying in the hospital. I said goodbye to Wei Weibai and Gu Xiaobei separately, then turned and walked into the passage. I left with determination, not even looking back.

  Just as I was about to board the plane, my phone rang and a message came in. It was Lu Xu.

  "I was standing right behind the waiting room, and when you walked through the passageway, all I had to do was turn my head to see you. I thought you'd be reluctant to part with me, but you really didn't even look back before walking away."

  As I got on the plane, the flight attendant politely asked me to turn off my phone. The moment I turned it off, tears burst forth like a flood of the Yellow River. Suddenly, I remembered Lu Xun's praise for me, "Ideas pouring out endlessly like a flood of the Yellow River."

  The plane roared like a monster and charged into the sky, my head leaned against the glass window in a daze, I kept dreaming, struggling back and forth in my dream. In my dream, I saw Gu Xiaobei from my youth again, Weiwei, Wenjing, Bai Song, we were a group of arrogant kids who dominated our high school campus with our presence, we rampaged through the campus leaving blood and tears everywhere. The sunshine in my dream was dazzlingly bright, but I saw sorrow fluttering around like falling flowers, constantly drifting away, countless and uncountable. In my dream, I never saw Lu Xu, I couldn't recall his face.

  The plane enters the clouds, collides, and my tears splash in the high altitude of 9,000 meters, truly magnificent.

  I'm not sure if it's my illusion or because Shanghai is by the sea so the typhoon is big, I feel like the plane was swaying back and forth when landing, and after touching down, it was bouncing up and down like a bumper car. At that time, the sadness on the plane hadn't subsided yet, so I thought to myself in despair, why not just flip this plane over and get it over with, I'd die quickly too, Wen Jing would definitely cry rivers for my death, but as for what would happen to those three little rascals Gu Xiao Bei, Bai Song, and Lu Xu, I have no idea.

  As soon as I got off the plane, I turned on my phone and five text messages popped up. My hand holding the phone was numb with shock. All five messages were from Huo Chai (Firewood). One of them made me collapse. Firewood said: "Damn it, what kind of virgin are you pretending to be? You should at least make some noise to liven things up!"

  Huǒchái was my middle school classmate. My friends, including Bái Sōng and Wēi Wēi, were all afraid of her in school. People thought we were tough, but actually, we were just all talk and no action. Huǒchái's mom died giving birth to her, so her dad hated her (I don't know what kind of logic that is). He would beat her frequently, but she never cried. When she was 15, she ran away from home and started living on her own. The last thing she said to her dad before leaving was: "You're a stupid B."