"Time: Early morning of June 25, 2023"
"The remaining time until the flight to Singapore takes off: +136 hours, 5 minutes and 17 seconds"
——
Gu Weijing woke up to the sound of rain.
It was raining heavily outside the window.
Not big.
The leaves in the yard rustled in the rain, and water droplets dripped from the eaves outside the window, splashing into thousands of smaller water droplets on the moss-covered windowsill. Finally, it formed a shallow pool of water.
A peace knot hung above the bed, gently rotating in the breeze blowing through the gaps in the screen window, like a fiery red wind chime.
Since childhood, this scene has appeared around Gu Weijing countless times.
Swaying leaves, falling raindrops, spinning knots... Gu Weijing grew up in this bedroom and spent his childhood and youth.
He lay in bed like this countless times, with the sound of wind and rain pouring in from the window, drowning him.
Back then, he only felt noisy and felt that such sounds were endless and endless all year round.
Now I’m finally leaving.
Gu Weijing realized that such a voice had become a part of his life.
Even with eyes closed.
He can also clearly imagine such a scene in his mind.
You don’t have to think about it, you can remember it vividly.
Gu Weijing sat up from the bed and turned sideways to look out the window. He saw the swaying shadows of the trees and a drop of rain smashing into pieces on the small pool of water reflecting the faint daylight on the windowsill. .
The only difference from what I imagined in my mind is that there are no more hanging knots by the window.
He just remembered.
We are leaving Yangon soon.
He is going to Singapore to participate in an art exhibition, and his grandfather is also going to the British branch of the Max Gallery to become a "big painter".
The family is undergoing a big move, and he has already taken down the peace knot. Together with many furnishings and ornaments that will not be taken away, he packed the boxes and put them into the storage room in the backyard by his aunt.
He stood up from the bed, took a sip of water, lowered his head and simply made the bed.
The water glass touched the mouse on the desk.
The computer screen automatically lights up, and recent travel reminders are displayed in the widget bar of the screensaver interface——
"sgaporeairlessq761, b38m (wide-body machine), July 1, 2023 22:00 on the same day”
“There are (5) days left before your trip”
“The weather forecast (rain) on that day may cause traffic congestion. In the event of flight delays, please plan in advance and remember to bring rain gear."
Gu Weijing folded his towel and quilt.
Watching in ecstasyLooking out the window.
He woke up extra early today, and the sky outside the window was still blue, not completely bright.
Even King Ngawang did not have time to patrol the streets in the morning and was sleeping soundly on the cushion next to him.
Sometimes people are really contradictory creatures.
When you take something for granted, you often feel that it is full of unbearable depression and boredom, and you try every means to escape.
But when you really want to leave for a long journey.
On the contrary, you will miss its benefits.
Yangon is a city struggling with problems, with a sense of dilapidation far away from the center of the world.
Wars, turmoil, refugees... are also plagued by various health diseases.
All of this seems to make the students in the school eager to travel far away to more prosperous places.
For many people in the world, there are thousands of bad things and ten thousand kinds of bad things.
At least for this moment.
While countless tragedies are happening at this moment, the scenery outside the window is as beautiful as a peaceful and peaceful oil painting.
Beautiful.
This kind of scenery even has a sense of absurdity that "there is always a way of heaven, and it would not have survived for Yao, nor would it have perished for Jie."
If you live in a modern city like New York.
You will naturally feel that humans have conquered the land and nature. The drastic urban transformation has left some eternal patterns, allowing the city to extend along the development of human will, just like in the hands of a painter. Infinitely extended sketch lines.
And live in some cities.
You will feel that it does not matter whether human beings exist or not, nature is the master of everything.
The colonization, hatred and killing, chaos, and fraud of the old era.
All ugliness, of course... must also be accompanied by the brilliant brilliance of all humanity that the ugliness reflects.
But nature remains unmoved.
It is still so beautiful, so peaceful, so motionless as a mountain.
The rainwater slipped between the windows like watercolor paint flowing on the paper
.
Pigments will always spread along the slope of the paper and succumb to the fiber texture, just like water droplets will always succumb to gravity and drip from top to bottom.
It will make personal heroism become small and powerless in the face of some grand contrast.
Yangon is such a city.
No matter where you grow up, everyone’s childhood will leave an indelible mark on a person’s life to a greater or lesser extent.
Gu Weijing did not know that his father, whom he had not seen for a long time, was a bank clerk in Lyon, France.
When the other party starts a new relationship in a new country, new city, and new family,A long, long time later in a new life.
Would he suddenly wake up one rainy morning?
Listening to the rain outside the window.
It feels like I am back when I was a child, lying on the bed in this bedroom, with the peace knot hanging on the window beside me spinning and swaying.
Gu Weijing shut down the laptop and e-books on the table, as well as the Singapore Biennale VIP guest list with his name and headshot in the drawer, packed them all into his backpack, and threw them away On top of the 30-inch large suitcase in the corner, prepare to grab it and take it with you on the plane.
Awang rolled on the ground sleepily.
Seeing that Xiao Guzi had no food in his hand and no intention of giving it extra food, he fell back with regret and continued to lie flat on the mat.
"Well, you also have a ticket on the plane, but you have to be good, otherwise you will have to be put in a cage."
Gu Weijing raised his eyelids and looked at it. Awang glanced at it, wondering if Awang could stay obediently next to the plane seat, and casually sorted out the "Animal Quarantine Certificate", "Rabies Vaccination Certificate" issued by the Health Bureau yesterday, and Singapore Airlines' "Pet Transport Agreement in the Cabin" Book".
In the past, Singapore Airlines was one of the few airlines that allowed pets to enter the cabin and fly with their owners.
Because of management difficulties and passenger complaints.
On April 1 this year, the airline revised the regulations and canceled this policy.
Theoretically, unless you apply through a series of complicated procedures, when traveling with pets, you must check in the aerobic cargo space separately, and the service of selling "pet tickets" is no longer provided.
However.
Singapore is a very small country, and it is also a country that is very efficient in a good way, but very capitalist in a bad way.
Just...the internal hierarchy of society is actually quite strict.
Take immigration as an example.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Eastern Xia, India and even Myanmar have imported a large number of labor groups into the Lion City, with a total number ranging from 700,000 to 1.2 million, almost accounting for the total population of Singapore. One-sixth of .
There is a neighbor’s nephew in the neighborhood who works as a servant in Singapore all year round.
Gu Weijing has heard about some situations.
The working class at the bottom is actually quite miserable.
They do the hardest, most tiring, most dangerous, low-end jobs that no locals want to do, and earn very, very little money (of course, the minimum wage in Singapore is certainly higher than that in Myanmar or the Philippines) The average local salary is still much higher), and all social welfare, education, and medical care have nothing to do with you.
Theoretically, Singapore will provide opportunities for naturalization and immigration for low-level workers, but this kind of thing is like a big cake hanging in front of you on a rope. There seems to be a door, but you can never reach it. .
Whether you have dedicated half your life to this city or not, living in a small pavilion of a few square meters is even more difficult.She went to the balcony and worked as a Filipino domestic servant for 20 years, picking up children, cooking, and washing clothes for the locals.
They definitely don’t want you.
The Lion City only wants the cheap labor you provide, not your people. When you get sick, old, and can no longer work, go back to your country as quickly as possible.
Internet programmers, engineers, lawyers, doctors, business representatives... If you are such a white-collar worker, technician or employee of a multinational company.
Then what Singapore looks like in your eyes is actually that of a standard small developed country.
There is no big difference from Japan, South Korea, and some European countries.
Not enthusiastic, but not too cold either.
Although Singapore hardly publishes the details of the review of immigration applications, it is considered a semi-black box state. Basically, if you work locally for three to five years, if there are no particularly big problems, you can go to the Immigration Bureau. Submit an application for permanent residence or something, and it won't be particularly difficult.
And if someone is the real upper class, they are celebrities, rich people, factory owners, top technicians, etc. who can bring a lot of wealth.
For example, if your personal assets exceed S$300 million, you are the largest shareholder of a listed company, and you enter the country with a special entrepreneur visa.
Then Singapore is one of the nicest cities in the world.
Maybe you just come here for a trip, to have a
meeting, and just wander around, and you will receive a visiting call from the Lion City government, warmly greeting you. They will introduce Singapore’s customs, the city’s appearance, and ask you about your impressions of the place, whether you had any unpleasant experiences during your stay in Singapore, whether you had any difficulties in getting things done, and whether there are any needs that they can help you with.
Dedicated staff will contact you for all questions.
From a profit perspective, the Lion City government’s approach is probably understandable, but it’s just... quite realistic.
Gu Weijing is definitely still far from the concept of the real "upper class".
But as a participating artist in this year’s Lion City Biennale, he is an officially invited guest by the Singapore government, so he enjoys the privilege of being treated like half of the upper class.
When he was discussing the redemption of air tickets with the curatorial assistant on social software, he casually mentioned the shipping of pets.
I actually received an "Agreement for Transporting Pets in the Cabin" from the staff of Singapore Airlines, which directly defined King Ngawang's identity as "the emotional support that artists must carry with them." "Sexual companion pets" enjoy exactly the same treatment as special working dogs.
You can accompany you on the plane.
The only requirement for Gu Weijing is to take good care of Awang during the flight and ensure that the pet does not affect the normal flight order due to stress reactions.
Otherwise.
You will be locked in an aviation cage in the cabin.
Awang is a very noisy cat.
Fortunately, as long as he has something to eat and can cook, he is still willing to give Gu Weijing some face.
It only takes about three hours to fly from Yangon to Changi International Airport.
It shouldn’t be a big problem.
After Gu Weijing collected all the visas, documents, and personal information cards needed to attend the art exhibition in Singapore, he picked up the mobile phone on the table and looked through the information.
In the message column, there were only a few chat messages from the classmate group at midnight yesterday.
Most of them are discussing the closure of schools.
Gu Weijing shook his head.
A person will be powerless in the face of many things in his life, and the ups and downs of his personal destiny will be swallowed up and defeated by the larger changes of the times.
Including him and Shengzi, Fitz’s Myanmar campus has achieved the best enrollment results in recent years.
But there is something.
It can never be changed with a report card.
It is not something that Gu Weijing can change, whether the painting is good or bad.
In Japanese-style college comics and club comics, as long as the teenagers can play football well and play the euphonium well, they can hit a home run in the bottom half of the ninth inning and win the national competition. reward.
They can save a club that is on the verge of bankruptcy, revitalize a school that is about to close, or even win the whole world just by lifting the trophy.
Reality has never been like this.
Even international schools don’t need Gu Weijing’s rescue at all.
Neither necessary nor meaningful.
Not even worth it.
This place was originally a small world surrounded by wealth, separated from the lives of ordinary people around it by clouds and mud.
Even if this is not arrogant, it must at least be out of place.
If there are any things that are essential to life in a city, international schools are not one of them. If there are those children in a city who are most in need of help and worthy of sympathy, they are also the children of the Lucky Orphanage, not the princesses and young masters.
Capital is always profit-seeking.
When there is no profit to be gained, it will of course leave. Rich people will also find their own way.
That’s all.
Gu Weijing didn’t even feel sentimental.
In his past school life, he met all kinds of people.
There is a teacher who is always smiling at you, no matter whether your grades are good or bad, telling you "Great!" But in his heart, he has the kind of grace and arrogance unique to white people.
There was also a sketching professor like Vattel who looked stern, but called him over after class to teach and encourage him privately.
There is Miao Angwen.
There are also Koko and Mona.
There are students who are frustrated when faced with doubts, and there are also students who are willing to encourage him.Palm, classmates cheering for him.
A person's life is never defined by a school, but by the people around you.
There are people who treat him well, people who treat him badly, and there are even more people who treat him well or not, it doesn’t matter, they will never see each other again after graduation.
In the last week of turning eighteen.
It’s the last week before leaving Yangon.
Gu Weijing looked back on his past life and found that he was not angry or resentful towards those who treated him badly.
He was grateful to those who were willing to be kind to him.
That’s all.
He withdrew from the classmate group and sent a message to Katsuko Sakai. The transcoding has been serious recently, which makes us more motivated and updates faster. Please use your little hands to exit the reading mode. Thank you