Long Lasting Dreams Chapter 9

Because school doesn't start until September, Sam Shu and Max are still on summer vacation. When Ethan Jiang returned that night, Hannah Tan opened the lunch box sent by Grace Li, and her nose became sore after just one look. Her eyes were red and she didn't say anything.

It was a whole plate of boiled young chicken. Grace Li was considerate enough to remove the chicken carcass and left a note saying that no salt was added.

Ethan Jiang had a really extravagant dinner of two chicken thighs, and he felt a little bit high. After dinner, he went back to his room to press his feet, thinking about how to ask Max to borrow a computer. Because Qing Lingzi was learning painting, they were the only two siblings in the town who had a notebook.

Ethan Jiang stretched his legs and pressed his toes. He was absent-minded and thought of excuses one after another, but he couldn't find a satisfactory and foolproof one. Ethan Jiang sighed, stretched out his legs, and slid them horizontally in a straight line, with his upper body pressed against the ground and his chin resting on the back of his hand.

"Oh!" Ethan Jiang sighed again.

Hannah Tan knocked on his door outside: "Take a shower and go to bed early."

Ethan Jiang agreed and stood up. Hannah Tan was holding clothes outside the door. When she saw him coming out, she urged him to go to the bathroom: "Your father is in there, go and wipe his back."

Lucas Jiang hadn't taken a bath with his son for a while. When Ethan Jiang came in with a towel, he smiled at him.

The father sat on a small stool, turned his back to Ethan Jiang, and asked, "Have you grown some white hair recently?"

Ethan Jiang looked at his arm, wet a towel and covered Lucas Jiang's shoulder with it: "They are not exposed to the sun enough. Dad, I tell you, the girls in the dance studio are all very fair."

"I'm a girl." Lucas Jiang turned around and smiled, "Why would a boy want to be so white?"

Ethan Jiang was quite naive: "She's pretty. There's a boy next door who learns boxing. He's also very white and pretty."

Lucas Jiang asked casually: "Did you make new friends?"

"We just exchanged a few words..." Ethan Jiang thought for a moment, and used a little more force in his hands to rub Lucas Jiang's waist, "Does this count as a friend?"

Lucas Jiang was being kneaded and felt very comfortable. He squinted his eyes and hummed perfunctorily: "It counts, of course it counts... That's right, let me focus on it."

The Cultural Palace has dance practice every afternoon, but Ethan Jiang doesn't dare to sleep in in the morning. He gets up early in the morning to clean the chicken coop. Fortunately, there is only one chicken, Tony, at home, and the excrement is very little.

As a chicken, Tony has a very healthy schedule. He crows at 5 o'clock and keeps his voice warm for an hour. He takes a walk at 6 o'clock and eats breakfast half an hour later. He waits for Ethan Jiang to come at 7 o'clock and practices with him in the yard at 8 o'clock.

After Ethan Jiang finished two hours of basic skills training, Max next door also woke up. Nora Miao prepared breakfast for him, stuffed half of it into his mouth, and Max held the remaining half in his hand and prepared to eat it when he wanted.

Sam Shu was waiting for him in the yard. When he saw him coming out with his hands full, he was speechless: "Can't you eat first before coming out?"

Gou Mao didn't care: "There are so many, are you blind?"

Sam Shu was not blind, of course, but he was too lazy to pay attention to him. The two of them went to find Ethan Jiang together. There were chickens in front of Jiang's house, but Max refused to go over and shouted at the top of his voice: "Shenzi!"

Ethan Jiang let out an "ah" and came out with an omelet in his mouth. He had actually eaten breakfast early, but he was hungry again after practicing, so he asked Hannah Tan to make him one to satisfy his craving.

Sam Shu waved at him: "Is that all you want to eat?"

Ethan Jiang went out of the yard and stopped Tony the chicken who was eyeing him eagerly. Tony was obviously very unhappy and made two "cuckoo" sounds at Max.

"I had porridge in the morning." Ethan Jiang was quite honest in front of Sam Shu.

Sam Shu didn't say anything. He poked Gou Mao and said, "Give the eggs and milk to Shenzi."

Gou Mao was full of questions: "I don't want to eat?"

Sam Shu took two and stuffed them into Ethan Jiang's hand: "You think it's too much, don't you? Let Shenzi eat some for you."

Dog hair: ...

Ethan Jiang didn't know whether he should eat the milk and eggs. Max waved his hand and said, "Eat it, eat it."

Ethan Jiang: "How about I return the egg to you?"

Gou Mao gritted his teeth viciously: "Eat it if I tell you to!"

Sam Shu: "Eat it. It's the right time for you to grow."

Gou Mao glared at him and said, "I am growing too."

Sam Shu sneered, very impolitely: "You should grow your brain first."

The entertainment activities for country children are poor but also rich. Although rich, there are only a few, such as collecting eggs in spring, catching fish in summer, threshing wheat in autumn, and playing in the snow in winter. Anyway, you can always find some fun activities so that a bunch of wild boys will have nowhere to have fun.

Max's family owns the largest fishery in the town, so his father Chen Laoshi has to go there early in the morning. When Max and Sam Shu and the others arrive, the fishing nets are almost collected.

Qing Lingzi was sitting barefoot beside the fish pond. When he saw Ethan Jiang, he stood up and said, "Shenzi!"

Before Ethan Jiang could respond, Gou Mao rushed over and said, "Qing Lingzi, put on your shoes!"

Qing Lingzi pouted and said unhappily: "Who would wear it in such a hot day?"

Max didn't listen to the reason: "Then you have to wear it for me too!"

Qing Lingzi was really annoyed with her unlucky brother and hated his meddlesome temper. She sat down with a gloomy face. Max bent down, took the shoes and forced them on her sister's feet. Qing Lingzi struggled several times but failed to get free.

"Don't move." Gou Mao held her ankle, "A little girl's feet can't get cold, don't you understand?"

Qing Lingzi said angrily: "You are my father, you are so nagging."

Max put her shoes on and pulled her up: "Stay away from the water."

Sam Shu advised: "Okay, Qing Lingzi rarely comes, let him have some fun."

Gou Mao was not happy: "She is not your sister, not your baby."

Sam Shu laughed and scolded: "What's wrong with me?" He looked at the little girl beside him, "Lily, do you want me to take you swimming?"

Qing Lingzi blushed and was about to agree when her brother pulled her behind him.

Max pointed at Sam Shu and warned him, "Don't mess around, Shen Sam Shu, don't even think about taking advantage of my sister!"

In the end, only Ethan Jiang accompanied Qing Lingzi sitting on the embankment. The little girl stared at Max and Sam Shu, who were shirtless in the pond, with resentment on her face. The two men had no idea what kind of fish they were trying to catch, and they were chasing each other loudly.

"Why don't you go down?" Qing Lingzi retracted his gaze and asked him hesitantly.

Ethan Jiang actually wanted to play as well, but it was easy to get hurt if walking barefoot in the pond. He remembered what Teacher Emma said, "You have to treat your toes as your life," and he took it as an imperial decree and wished he could copy it on his forehead.

Qing Lingzi sighed maturely and wrinkled his nose: "Dog hair is really annoying."

"No..." Ethan Jiang thought for a moment and spoke well of Max, "He just gave me eggs and milk to eat."

Qing Lingzi chuckled and teased him: "You speak for others just because I give you something to eat. Ethan Jiang, why are you so easy to please?"

Ethan Jiang certainly didn't think he was easy to appease, but he couldn't refute the reasons Qing Lingzi gave. In the end, he could only comfort himself with the saying "food is the first necessity of the people".

It was almost noon, and Sam Shu and Max were obviously not ready to go ashore after playing. Ethan Jiang couldn't wait any longer, so he stood up and said to Qing Lingzi, "I'm going back first. Please tell your brother for me."

Qing Lingzi nodded, as if he understood everything: "You want to go to the Cultural Palace to dance?"

Ethan Jiang was silent for a moment, then stammered, "How did you know?"

Qing Lingzi said as a matter of course: "My mother told me so." She glanced at Ethan Jiang and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else."

Ethan Jiang was embarrassed: "Not really..." He said halfway, and looked around as if he was out of breath, lowered his voice and emphasized again, "Don't say it."

Qing Lingzi almost died of laughter: "I really don't know what my brother, who is so big and strong, knows."

Ethan Jiang ran through the countryside. The rice in the fields was growing well and reaching waist-high. Ethan Jiang jumped over the ditch beside the field and opened his arms. The tips of the rice slid gently across his palms.

Hannah Tan took his shoes and rode her bicycle to the asphalt road to bring them to him, shouting from a distance: "Run slower! Be careful not to fall!"

The summer sun was like a piece of embossed silk, pouring down and covering the wild herbs in the fields.

The hot wind from the ridge of the field blew Ethan Jiang's bangs apart. He grinned, spread his arms, and danced a basic simple Paschasse to come in front of Hannah Tan. At the end, he even turned around and bowed.

... Hannah Tan threw her shoes at him, "You are showing off. Look at what you are capable of."

Ethan Jiang laughed loudly. He hung his shoes around his neck and prepared to run to wait for the bus. Hannah Tan stopped him again and handed him a lunch box: "Here, take this."

Ethan Jiang took it, shook it, and heard a "rolling" sound: "What is that?"

Hannah Tan: "There are only two eggs, so eat them sparingly."

When Ethan Jiang arrived at the dance studio, the girls had not yet arrived. Teacher Emma was helping Song Xin stretch her legs. When she saw him, she waved: "Are you here?"

Ethan Jiang just sat on the ground and changed his shoes: "I'm coming." He lowered his head to look at Song Xin. The girl was sitting with her legs split, supporting her chin with an unhappy expression, and glanced at him weakly.

"What's wrong?" Ethan Jiang sat next to her.

Song Xin: "I'm annoyed. I quarrel with my parents."

Ethan Jiang asked: "What are you arguing about?"

Song Xin said: "I will be in the second year of junior high school soon. I have to study hard. When I told them I wanted to dance, they were unhappy." She snorted, "I am not happy yet."

She looked at Ethan Jiang: "What grade are you in?"

Ethan Jiang: "I joined the third grade class."

Song Xin sighed, somewhat envious: "Then you can still practice for three years, how great."

"Can't you practice after entering junior high school?" Ethan Jiang was puzzled. "You are still dancing, and you are so good at it."

Song Xin smiled. She was actually only about twelve or thirteen years old, but when she smiled like that she looked like an adult.

"You don't understand." Song Xin said. She thought about it and seemed to find that she couldn't explain it clearly, so she pretended to be mature and said, "You will understand it later."

There are many basic ballet movements, and Ethan Jiang would take notes while learning. He would replace the words he didn't know with phonetic transcriptions, and then recite them slowly later. Teacher Emma knew his habit, so she spoke slowly, and most of the girls who had learned it well would help him review, so that after half a class, Ethan Jiang's exercise volume was often three or four times that of others.

He was sweating a lot and was not only tired, but boys of this age were also prone to hunger. Taking advantage of the break, Ethan Jiang sneaked out to eat one of the eggs he brought with him.

I was sitting in the corridor peeling eggs when the door of the boxing room opposite opened again.

Ryan Bai walked out with messy hair and steaming hot.

Ethan Jiang peeled half of the eggshell, raised his head, and looked at him with his mouth slightly open.

... Ryan Bai, who was burdened with being an idol, started to fix his hair. He walked over and sat down next to Ethan Jiang.

"What are you eating?" he asked.

Ethan Jiang continued to peel the eggs and smiled at him: "Eat eggs."

Bai Jin said "Oh" and watched him peel the eggs.

Ethan Jiang was almost done peeling one, and somehow he suddenly thought of Lucas Jiang's words "Of course we are friends". He hesitated for a while and asked politely, "Do you want to eat it?"

Bai Jin raised his eyebrows, was silent for a while, and said concisely: "Yes."

... Ethan Jiang handed the egg to him with real heartache.

Bai Jin finished it in one or two bites. Before he finished, he wiped his mouth and said with some disdain: "What kind of egg is this? Why is it so small?"

Ethan Jiang frowned and didn't want to talk to him. He silently hid the other egg in the lunch box behind his back.