novelsite Chapter 14 The Sun Rises in the East
Chapter 14 The Sun Rises in the East
Jiang Ning had no regrets about the subway being out of service, as he had never planned to take the subway in the first place.
I just came here specifically to take a look, purely out of curiosity.
Jiang Ning returned to the crossroads station and stood quietly for a while before deciding to head north.
After walking one kilometer north, there is an overpass auxiliary road. He decided to follow the overpass as far as he could.
His goal today was to stay as far away from the bustling neighborhood as possible, and not return even late at night.
We'll wait until the next time the world goes backward.
He wanted to test whether, if he didn't go home, when the world went backward "tomorrow," he would return home or remain where he was.
If you return home, it likely means that not only you have changed, but also your home, or the environment of your neighborhood, etc.
However, if one's current position does not change as the world regresses, it means that one's own situation has changed significantly.
Jiang Ning had actually come to some conclusions about this.
Before the sixth time the world regressed, I was on Wangjiang Road next to my residential area. At that time, I was regressing along with the world in the external environment. After I regained consciousness, I was at home.
This means that no matter how far away you are from home, if the world were to turn back again, you would most likely end up back at home.
However, Jiang Ning, adhering to a rigorous scientific approach, decided to give it a try.
He felt terrible if he didn't try.
Besides, it's been a year since I've had a proper look at the world. It's time to get out and about, rejuvenate myself, and let the fresh air blow away the musty smell so that I can face Lin Wei again after a year.
As you walk north along Leyuan Road in Jiangning, the most common sight along the way is abandoned cars.
The road stretches as far as the eye can see, filled with all kinds of cars: sports cars, trucks, SUVs, sedans, and even rare vintage cars. Among them, new energy vehicles make up the majority, accounting for almost 80% of the cars on the road.
This is because in recent years, as the concepts of sustainable development and environmental protection that cherish our planet have become increasingly popular, the replacement of gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles has become a new pursuit.
As Jiang Ning walked along, he looked at all kinds of cars and couldn't help but think about himself.
Just one year after graduating from university, I couldn't resist taking out a loan to buy a nice new car. My initial thought was to go for a drive with my friends and maybe pick up a girl – it would be both prestigious and convenient.
But after only two years, they were already suffering terribly.
Every year, the car needs maintenance and insurance premiums, but the biggest problem is that there's nowhere to park, and traffic jams are frequent.
But in just two years, that initial vanity was quickly worn down by reality.
However, I was also lucky to get to know Lin Wei through that BYD Feng that I had been driving for a year.
It was in 2041, just after the Spring Festival. Before returning to Shanghai from her hometown, she posted a carpooling message in a carpooling group. This message was seen by one of Lin Wei's cousins, and that's how she met Lin Wei.
After they established a romantic relationship, the two would often marvel at the wonder of fate whenever they thought back on this incident.
Jiang Ning's thoughts drifted to this point, and she couldn't help but fall into memories:
For twenty years before they met, the two had never known each other.
One grew up in Yicheng, Henan Province, and the other grew up deep in Turpan, Xinjiang Province, thousands of kilometers apart.
When they were young, one of them was in Shanghai and the other in Wuhan, which were 800 kilometers apart.
But fate is sometimes so wondrous, bringing the two together at a certain point in time.
After spending the Chinese New Year in his hometown, the boy initiated a carpooling trip for the first time in order to save on travel expenses back to Shanghai.
The girl went back to her ancestral home in Yicheng with her mother to visit relatives. After the visit, she and her sister decided to travel to Shanghai together at the invitation of their relatives. The two chose to carpool through their cousin from their hometown.
Perhaps fate took a beacon of hope for the boy at that moment, because the other two passengers who had also chosen to carpool decided not to go.
And so, the boy led the two of them onto the highway.
The first hour of the journey: Everyone remained silent, and any communication that did occur was superficial and unproductive.
The second hour of the journey: The moving car successfully lulled the thirteen-year-old sister who was traveling with the girl to sleep, leaving only the boy in the driver's seat and the girl in the passenger seat.
In the third hour, after a short rest at the service area, just as the boy was about to open the car door and continue on his way, he noticed an extra bottle of eight-treasure porridge in the cupboard area in front of the center console. The girl looked at him with a smile.
During the fourth hour of the drive, perhaps because of the bottle of eight-treasure porridge, the atmosphere in the car became much more relaxed. Just then, it started raining heavily ahead, and the car had to slow down. To pass the time, the boy put on his playlist, and the girl listened quietly for a while before happily humming along.
The boy hesitated for a moment before asking, "Have you heard these songs before?"
The girl said, "Yes! I like old songs..."
This marked the beginning of their formal exchange, and since they shared some common ground, the two gradually began to talk more.
When the boy learned that the girl lived in Turpan, he shared his experience of visiting Xinjiang.
After hearing this, the girl became even more enthusiastic in introducing her hometown, talking about the Hexi Corridor and the old city of Kashgar. As she spoke, she would playfully open the car window and let the drizzle patter on her cheeks.
She said she liked the rain.
The boy asked why?
The girl replied that it rarely rains in XJ, especially this gentle rain, which is like the clouds that have been crushed in the sky.
This was the first time the boy had ever heard anyone describe rain like that.
As the rain intensified, neither of them spoke; one focused on driving, while the other silently watched the rain.
For a long time, whenever the boy turned his head to check the right rearview mirror, he could see the girl lounging on the seat, quietly looking out the window.
Aside from the rain, the boy didn't know what she was looking at.
I have no idea what she's thinking.
At this moment, the boy did not speak to break the silence, feeling that silence spoke louder than words.
Later, perhaps the girl got tired of looking and quietly closed her eyes. Only then did the boy dare to take a closer look at her profile. Her face was clean and beautiful.
In the fifth hour, the boy swore he wouldn't have turned into the service area if it weren't for needing to recharge.
After entering the service area, the car slowed down, and the jerking sensation from braking woke the girl up.
The girl asked, "How long did I sleep?"
The boy replied, "About half an hour!" He then quickly explained, "The next service area is too far, so I have to charge my phone for a while first."
After the battery was recharged, when the boy set off again, he had just sat in the driver's seat and turned around to pull his seatbelt when he felt something being pushed against his mouth.
Upon closer inspection, it was a girl with crescent-shaped eyes, holding a fruit platter, her gaze clear as she said, "Driver, please have some watermelon..."
The boy was taken aback for a moment, then quickly and subtly moved back a little, smiling as he took the toothpick, indicating that he would do it himself.
After eating, he waved his hand and said with a smile, "You guys eat, it's very sweet, one piece is enough for me."
……
Jiang Ning's mood improved as he recalled this, and when he came to his senses, he realized that he had unknowingly walked quite a distance. He was now standing on an overpass, and looking down from there, the view was expansive, and the city was bathed in the glow of the rising sun, shining brightly.
In the morning light, the expressway behind us seemed frozen in place, like a long, straightened dragon. Car headlights formed a dense, impenetrable sea of red, stretching as far as the eye could see and backed by a massive traffic jam. The air was thick with the acrid smell of tires burning from sudden braking, and occasionally, terrified screams could be heard. Large crowds were rushing along the emergency lanes on both sides...
Jiang Ning seemed oblivious to this, his gaze fixed on the rising sun.
He started crying as he watched...
The girl used to love drawing the sun, and the two of them watched many sunrises together in order to draw the sun.
One day, the boy asked curiously, "Why do you like drawing the sun?"
The girl answered, "Because the sun always rises from the east." After saying this, the girl smiled slyly, tilted her head, and rested it on the boy's arm.
At that moment, Jiang Ning hunched over, one hand gripping the railing on the overpass, the other covering his face, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
"Yes, as long as the sun still rises in the east, even if the world goes backward, tomorrow..."
"I shouldn't be afraid anymore!"