At the Dinner Table

Seeing Cheng Xiaoshu smile with a complicated expression, Eucali asked why.

"I'm looking forward to graduating," Cheng Xiaoshu said. "Staying at school all the time... it gets boring eventually."

"How could it be boring?" Eucali asked in surprise. "Take an event like today's, for example—there must be plenty of them every week at school, right? And there are teachers to impart knowledge, companions who share your aspirations... Don't you think so?"

"At first, I did."

"...And then?" Eucali asked softly. "Then you got tired of it?"

"It wasn't that I got tired of it, it was just..." Cheng Xiaoshu thought seriously for a moment. "The whole process of studying is a lot like climbing a mountain. It's the same high mountain, the same long distance. People with full gear can climb it, and barefoot people can climb it too. Some can start halfway up, while others can only start from the foot of the mountain... But as long as you're willing to work hard, there's always a way to reach the top."

Eucali kept nodding as she listened and could not help saying, "Exactly."

"It's just that I used to think things would be different once I reached the summit." Cheng Xiaoshu leaned halfway back across from Eucali. "The people here, the scenery here, the things that happen here..."

"But they are different, aren't they?" Eucali tilted her head. "A few months ago, I went to Songxueyuan for the first time. Even now, I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a city like that."

Cheng Xiaoshu said nothing.

Outside suddenly grew lively. Eucali and Cheng Xiaoshu both heard the unbroken sound of water being poured in the courtyard, and the two of them woke in unison from their steam-filled conversation.

"Sounds like everyone's back."

"Yes," Eucali