That dawn was silent

By dawn, I was in the car on the twisting mountain road back to the city. I sat in my seat and watched the dim village flash by the window, my eyes fixed on the reflector in front of me: behind me, the dust was rising, and the village was moving away from me, or I was moving away from the village. I clearly understand that I am more and more far away from her, maybe this silent parting will be forever.

That year I was in the second year of senior high school. During the summer vacation, I went back to my hometown to collect wind and write. It was a remote mountain village surrounded by mountains. I was looking for inspiration on a big rock at the top of the mountain with my travel bag and my book, when I happened to see a girl of my age and a couple of mountain children below observing the features of plants. I did not speak, but watched them carefully, and gradually became distracted. Time has slipped through the fingers of the pen. When I came to my senses, THEY had reached the top of the hill and were standing near me. The girl talked to me in a friendly way, and I noticed that there was not much accent in her words. I asked in surprise, "Are you from the county, too?" She smiled faintly and sat down on the rock next to me. She told me that she went to school alone in the county town from the age of ten. This year, she just took the college entrance examination and was admitted to an undergraduate college in Chongqing. She came from a neighboring village, and her parents sent a message to her to come back and work as a tutor. She could get a lot of money in one summer vacation, which my parents thought was a lot. She smiled and thumbed the grass under her feet "200 pieces." I just smiled without speaking. She looked up and explained, "In our opinion, 200 yuan is small, but in this remote village, 200 yuan is a lot. In fact, THIS holiday I have found a temporary job in the county with a monthly salary of 800 yuan, but my parents are very easy to meet. I didn't want to disappoint them, so I gave up that job and came here to help these kids find hope for themselves. Tell them the world is big beyond the mountains."

She said she thought it was worth it.

Looking at those lively children in the field happily chasing, looking at their smiling faces, listening to their folk songs, we have no words for a long time.

The wind was blowing and the grass was rustling around it. She sat with her right hand resting on her cheek, her long hair flowing gently in the wind, obscuring her eyes, so I could not read what was coming out of them. I took a deep breath and felt the mountain air. Yes, there was no noise, no steam, no smell of dust and oil in the air. I did not smell the earth, but the grass and wild flowers. When she recovered, she realized we had been silent for a long time. She smiled again and apologized profusely for her distraction. I asked her, "Do you miss your family so much when you leave home so young?" She brushed her hair behind her ears and asked, Are you homesick I'm embarrassed, because I'm such a family freak. I can't stop thinking about my mom for two days. I gently nodded a nod to be a positive answer! "That's what happens in the beginning," she says. "But over time, it goes away." She asked me, "Do you want to go to college?" "Of course I want to go to college. It's the only way out for me now." "How can you be homesick when you have to go to college? You should try to forget homesickness. "I knew she was admonishing me, and I also knew there was too much emotion in her words. Unfortunately, I still didn't understand what that emotion was.

I asked her if she would go to college after the vacation, she said yes, that was her dream, for it, she gave up homesickness.

Under the setting sun, the artistic conception of the mountains around is very beautiful, I took out the camera from the traveling bag, took the eternity of that moment. There are a group of children playing, there is a girl, she is smiling... I left the only photo of her, and then they have been left in my memory, as well as the beautiful folk songs and the faint smile.

The next morning dawned still, with the faint crowing of chickens echoing through the hills. All was quiet, the village nestled among the surrounding mountains and lost in the misty morning mist.

I left the village with my bags on my back, driving on the rough mountain road. The village moved further and further away from me, and I moved further and further away from her. I do not know if this parting will be forever, nor why the dawn is silent...