Chapter 5 The Golden Carp

　　The graduation exam is coming up soon.

　　Before the exam, the school had a day off for everyone to regroup and relax before the big day.

　　Gang Chen originally planned to go to Liang Ma's house to help him review physics, but Liang Ma dragged him to the river by the Indian temple to go fishing instead and also invited Jia Xu and Qingchun Huang to come along.

　　Today is a beautiful day.

　　The cool breeze blows on the riverbank, and the wheat waves roll. Between the clear blue water and sky, the river reflects the four energetic figures of the young group.

　　Gang Chen sets up his fishing rod, busily adjusts the float, and finds the bottom, selecting the best spot to fish. Qingchun Huang and Jia Xu run into the bamboo forest with small hoes to dig for earthworms. Only Liang Ma is calm and takes his time. He takes out his pen and sketchpad, then skillfully lights up a cigarette.

　　Liang Ma smokes while drawing a landscape of a distant mountain on the riverbank. He uses bright and intense colors and applies an abstract, bold and surrealist style to the canvas.

　　Gang Chen walked over and stood on the grass behind Liang Ma to watch him paint. Gang Chen knew that Liang Ma can't really paint anything remarkable at the moment, and he had been neglecting his academic responsibilities because of painting. As a good friend, Gang Chen was a little frustrated.

　　"Liang Ma, what on earth are you painting? The background is clearly a distant mountain and the foreground is wheat fields, but now it looks like a mess of burning clouds!"

　　Liang Ma chuckled, "You just don't understand. Painting is not photography, it's not about looking as realistic as possible. I am using the technique of Western Impressionism, blending various colors together to create a strong visual effect. This painting depicts a joyful and fresh atmosphere …forget about it! You wouldn't understand."

　　Gang Chen silently patted Liang Ma's shoulder and went back to his fishing spot to continue fishing.

　　After a few minutes, Qingchun Huang and Jia Xu emerged from the bamboo forest. They were giggling and running towards the river carrying a container of earthworms, afraid of missing the opportunity to catch a big fish.

　　The early summer sun sJie Dong on the two young girls. Their colorful dresses fluttered in the morning breeze, and even the swallows flying over the wheat field were startled by their joyful presence.

　　A bundle of unknown red roses drifted down the river of time by chance and got caught in the arms of water plants underwater. After the river water washed away its initial red color, it whispered with sand and water plants…

　　Jia Xu ran up to Liang Ma and watched him paint intently. Jia Xu has always admired Liang Ma unconditionally. She loved his artistic temperament. In reality, Jia Xu couldn't understand Liang Ma's paintings at all. But she clapped and praised him, saying that Liang Ma's paintings were better than "Qianli Jiangshan" and even surpassed the "Qingming Shanghe Tu".

　　As noon approached, the sun began to feel quite hot.

　　Qingchun Huang sat quietly beside Gang Chen on the grass, keeping him company while he fished. Whenever a fish was caught, she eagerly raised the landing net to help him reel it in. Actually, the fish was very small and did not require a landing net, but Qingchun Huang wanted to prove herself as a valuable assistant to Lambert.

　　Gang Chen was focused on the buoy floating on the water's surface while silently memorizing physics formulas in his mind. The graduation exam was coming up soon, and he tried his best to keep himself in the best condition.

　　The float had been motionless for a long time. Gang Chen turned to Qingchun Huang and asked, "The exam is next week, how are you preparing for it?"

　　Qingchun Huang was secretly peeking at Gang Chen and quickly lowered her head, avoiding his gaze while fiddling with the landing net in her hand. "Me? It's…it's alright. But I'm having a hard time with my chemistry class."

　　In reality, except for music class, Qingchun Huang was struggling in all her subjects.

　　During their conversation, the buoy suddenly sank, pulling the rod with tremendous force that almost dragged it away. Gang Chen quickly raised the rod and moved back and forth along the riverbank, slowly reeling in the fish.

　　Liang Ma and Jia Xu noticed the commotion from afar and hurried over to help. After struggling for a while, the four teenagers finally caught a large golden carp weighing over ten pounds.

　　At a critical moment, Qingchun Huang reached into the fish's mouth to remove the fishing hook but had a minor accident. The fish struggled violently, and the sharp hook scratched Manto's little finger, causing it to bleed profusely.

　　Liang Ma and Jia Xu quickly ran to search for some herbs to stop the bleeding.

　　Gang Chen held Manto's injured finger and carefully examined it. Fortunately, the hook did not penetrate too deeply, but the bleeding was persistent. Without hesitation, Gang Chen put the injured finger into his mouth and sucked out the stagnant blood.

　　Qingchun Huang turned her head, pretending to be in pain and groaning intentionally. But inside, she felt quite pleased.

　　Jia Xu and Liang Ma brought back some herb and saw the scene, and couldn't help but chuckle.

　　Gang Chen cleaned the big carp, gathered a bunch of bamboos,s and quickly started a fire. Liang Ma lost interest in drawing and quickly ran to the vegetable garden to steal a bunch of scallions.

　　In no time, the delicious roasted fish was ready.

　　The four of them sat around the fire, eating the fish and reflecting on their time in high school, which had swiftly passed, and they were soon to go their separate ways.

　　Gang Chen looked into the towering mountains in the distance and had a sudden idea, "What if one day, we could stand higher than the mountains, looking down on the earth? What would that feel like?"

　　Liang Ma, gnawing on a fishtail, had a bright idea, "Isn't that easy? Just buy a globe, and you can have a panoramic view of all the mountains, rivers, and seas with the world at your fingertips."

　　Jia Xu agreed wholeheartedly and rewarded Liang Ma with a small carp.

　　Gang Chen nodded with a smile, "I've never even been to the county town, let alone bought a globe. Besides, we don't have the money for it."

　　What was said in passing was taken to heart by Manto, who quietly noted down the words "globe."

　　At this moment, on the riverbank, these four outstanding teenagers had no idea what a "globe" really meant.

　　Years later, they would fight side by side, living and dying for the entire planet…