【Short Story】Memory and the Summer of Dogs

I don’t want to mention what happened that summer, but if you really ask me to say it, I can only sum it up in one sentence: the memory of that summer is completely occupied by a dog.

It still feels humiliating to say it now, but I can't find a more appropriate term.

I still remember that summer and regard it as a shame in my life.

Maybe the shame is too serious, but it is a memory that is unbearable to look back on.

However, my friends who experienced the Summer of Dogs with me did not think so and talked about it with great enthusiasm.

You ask me, it was obvious that four people met the dying dog together, why did they embark on a different path from then on? I can only admit that there is indeed no criterion for fate.

That dog, Wendi later renamed it No. 5, implying that it was the fifth brother besides our four sons, passed away peacefully in the early hours of last night.

Wen Di cried about No. 5's death in a social group in the middle of the night, and invited us to come to his house today to hold a farewell ceremony for No. 5.

It was a crazy move, and I refused immediately, but Wen Di told me that both Azheng and Xingyu agreed, so just treat it as a rare gathering for us.

Wen Di took a fancy to my weakness of attaching importance to friendship, so I could no longer refuse.

When I arrived at Wen Di's house, it was Qiaoyan who opened the door for me. I was stunned because I didn't expect Qiaoyan to show up.

Azheng and Xingyu were sitting on the sofa, comforting Wendi whose eyes were red and swollen.

Wendi saw me and said sadly, "Let's get started."

He laid Five's body gently on the carpet.

Looking at the body of No. 5, I suddenly remembered that when I first saw No. 5, it was also so stiff and motionless.

But at that time it was still breathing and still a living being.

It was Xingyu who suggested rescuing No. 5. He was sitting in the passenger seat and clearly saw the injured black dog lying on the roadside. He had always been indifferent to what was happening around him, but that time he became inexplicably enthusiastic.

The black dog seemed to be hit by a car and was in critical condition.

We worked together to send the black dog to a veterinary clinic near Azheng's home, where Azheng met Qiaoyan and fell hopelessly in love with her when the black dog was dying.

Qiaoyan is the daughter of a veterinarian and helps out at the clinic during her summer vacation.

The subsequent story becomes the love story between A Zheng and Qiao Yan.

You can imagine a camera tracking them to the beach for a love affair, chasing on the highway, and kissing under the street lights. Paired with pop songs, it is simply the most tacky cheap MV.

Do you see through my jealousy? I don’t want to deny that the love affair between Azheng and Qiaoyan, which came and went like the wind, was definitely a stain on Qiaoyan’s life. I still don’t understand, how could she like Ah Zheng at that time? He has the worst personality among us. Well, I have to admit, he is also the most handsome one. Don't you think it's unfair? Just because he is handsome, he easily wins the beauty spot, while the rest of us are destined to be just passers-by, without even a chance to appear. The most hateful thing is that after Azheng got Qiaoyan, he abandoned her like a piece of shit, which is absolutely unforgivable.

Of course I like Qiaoyan, who doesn't like her? She is perfection incarnate.

Three of the four of us fell in love with her. Wen Di only regarded her as a friend because she liked boys.

I am self-aware and admire Qiaoyan. I know that Qiaoyan will not fall in love with me. There is really no need to ask for trouble. Therefore, I had no intention of pursuing Qiaoyan from the beginning. However, Xingyu was the first to express his feelings, but was brutally snatched away by Azheng. like.

Isn’t this a fight to win love? Although Qiaoyan has the right to choose who to be with, since Xingyu has told us that he likes each other, as brothers we should not interfere. What is fair competition? It's not fair at all, okay? A Zheng is handsome, so this is not fair at all, okay?

In short, that summer, Azheng and Qiaoyan were having a heated fight, while Xingyu looked dejected and almost disappeared. So the responsibility of taking care of the black dog fell on Wen Di and I, who were obviously the ones who entered the university. The first summer vacation was supposed to be colorful, but in the end, all that was left was the memory of taking care of the black dog.

In fact, I have always hated dogs. I hate dogs of all types, not to mention a completely uncute, black Tang dog.

In the end, Wendi adopted the dog and renamed it No. 5, saying that it was his lucky star because he met his first love when he took No. 5 for a walk one day.

This dog made the four of us fall in love, but at that time only A Zheng and Wen Di were in love. How could I like it?

Of course I know I can't blame it, but I often take it for walks. Why haven't I met the person I like?

Yes, Qiaoyan is of course my favorite, but she has always been out of reach for me. Besides, I will never be as unloyal as A Zheng and take away the person that my brother likes.

I know that there is no right or wrong in love, but a gentleman should not take what others like. Do I have any disagreements with Azheng? Not really, but we rarely interacted with each other after graduation.

By the way, this is probably what I remember about that summer.

At No. 5's farewell ceremony, only Wen Di expressed sadness from beginning to end.

Of course I am also sentimental, but I have not seen No. 5 for many years, so it is difficult to touch the deepest sadness.

In fact, my feelings for No. 5 were limited to the summer when I saved No. 5. At that time, I saw a dying black dog on the road from a distance. I thought about not minding my own business and just pretend I didn’t see it. Or even if we ignored it, someone would come to save it from behind, but just as the car passed by it, I decided in a second thought to ask Asen to stop.

"What's wrong?" Azheng said dissatisfiedly from the back seat.

"A dog is injured. It must have been hit by a car." I said.

"What should we do?" Wen Di was the first to open the car door and ran to No. 5.

Now that I think about it, the fate between Wen Di and No. 5 should have been determined early on.

"Let's take him to the veterinary clinic." I suggested, "Azheng, isn't there a veterinary clinic near your home?"

"Yes, yes, but veterinary consultation fees are very expensive. How can we have the money to pay for them?"

"You can't just ignore death."

If Wen Di and I hadn't insisted on sending No. 5 to the veterinary clinic at that time, he would probably have died due to rescue. Although it cost a lot of money, in terms of the results, it was very worthwhile to save lives.

After No. 5 was able to leave the clinic, we discussed who would take care of him. At that time, everyone looked at me. I lied and said that I could not keep dogs at home to avoid this responsibility. The fact is that I couldn't even take care of myself at that time, so how could I still take care of him? A dog? Azheng was having a heated fight with Qiaoyan at that time, so he naturally had no time to pay attention to No. 5. In the end, Wen Di proposed to adopt him, but he said that he had no experience, so someone had to accompany him to take care of No. 5. In the end, this important task naturally fell on On Asen.

I really didn’t know that Asen didn’t like dogs at the time, and he didn’t show any resistance. But even if he refused, I couldn’t share the responsibility because I was worried about another thing at the time.

Was his love stolen by Azheng?

No, although I fell in love with Qiaoyan at first sight and told them that I liked her, family problems left me with no energy for romance. Ah Zheng had discussed it with me before pursuing Qiaoyan, so it was definitely not a fight for love.

On the one hand, I feel pity that their relationship only lasted for one summer. On the other hand, I am secretly glad. Seeing a good brother walking with the girl he likes, no matter how open-minded he is, he will feel uncomfortable.

That summer, what I remember has nothing to do with No. 5. In fact, it has nothing to do with love. At that time, my father owed a large gambling debt and had to sell the building to find another place to live. I found two part-time jobs to earn money to pay for school. , so how can I be in the mood to care about these things.

I didn't tell them about my family affairs at that time, because they were my brothers, so I couldn't tell them.

I know they won't look down on me, but I don't want anyone to know that I have a gambling father, and I don't want anyone to know that I can't even pay my tuition.

But it's all over. Looking back now, I admire myself for being able to grit my teeth and persist in completing my studies. I worked those two part-time jobs until I graduated from college, and I suffered from severe lack of sleep every day and was mentally depressed.

Of course it's not because of falling out of love. How can I have time to fall in love? It wasn't until I found a full-time job that I finally returned to a normal life.

Do you still have feelings for Qiaoyan? How could it be possible? It’s been so many years. At that time, I thought she was beautiful, but beautiful girls are enough when seen from a distance. My current girlfriend is not very beautiful, but she is attractive, no matter how you look at her. Will not get bored.

In fact, starting from my sophomore year, I rarely attended their gatherings because I was busy with my part-time job. I didn’t know that Ah Sen misunderstood that I was avoiding them because I was robbed of love by Ah Zheng. I was not so narrow-minded.

I was a little surprised to see Qiaoyan tonight. I didn't know they were still in contact with her. Since A Zheng broke up with her, I seem to have never heard any news about her.

My life was indeed turned around that summer, but it was entirely due to my dad's gambling debts and had nothing to do with anyone else.

Of course I knew that No. 5 would leave me sooner or later, but I didn't expect that death would come so quickly and urgently.

He was clearly refreshed in the morning, but when he came home at night, he found that his body was paralyzed, his pupils were dilated and dilated, and he didn't respond no matter how he was called.

Just like that summer, I rushed into the veterinary clinic with No. 5 in my arms. Just like that day, I met Qiaoyan in the clinic. She is now a veterinarian and has inherited her father's veterinary clinic.

However, this time the miracle did not happen, and he passed away that night on the 5th.

Qiaoyan told me that No. 5 suffered from acute viral encephalitis, which may have been caused by previous exposure to some viruses.

I kept recalling every place I took No. 5 to in the past few days, and when and where it was exposed to the virus. I blamed myself for not protecting it properly, and cried until I died.

Qiaoyan gave me a big hug and patted my back, "No. 5 passed away peacefully."

Should I be happy about this? I felt at a loss. Even if it passed away peacefully, I still lost it.

Five has been my closest brother all these years. Although A Zheng, A Sen and Xing Yu and I were once the best brothers, we only got together once every two or three months after graduation, but No. 5 and I saw each other every day, and he was the only one to share happy or sad days with me. . I always thought that I still had a lot of time to get along with it, but I never thought that it would suddenly disappear from my world.

Can you imagine how lonely I would be without its warm greeting when I go home from now on?

I just bought a big bag of his favorite dog food the day before yesterday, but the bag of dog food hasn’t been opened yet!

The dolls No. 5 usually plays with are still lying in a mess on the floor. Do these dolls know that they have lost their owners?

I came home that night and stared at its dog bowl for a long time. I felt that I couldn't let it go like this, so I sent a message to Azheng, Ah Sen and Xingyu that I would hold a farewell party for No. 5.

I don't care if they still have feelings for No. 5. Since they witnessed the process of how I met No. 5, they naturally also want to witness my separation from it.

Speaking of the summer when No. 5 and I met, it’s really nostalgic.

Where did the four of us go that day? I must have gone to the beach. I remember that when I was in the car, my hair was wet. I opened the window and the hot wind blew into the car, blowing the water droplets from my hair onto Azheng’s face. He After complaining for a while, Xingyu suddenly asked Asen to stop the car. At that time, Asen was still mumbling that it was too messy. Fortunately, there was no car coming from behind, otherwise it would definitely cause an accident.

When Xingyu said there was an injured dog lying on the road, I immediately got out of the car to check without thinking.

I have never had a pet, and I never thought that this dying black dog would become my partner in the future. But at that time, something seemed to pull me towards it. I squatted down and touched its body to make sure it was My body was still warm, but this touch made my palms covered with blood. I remember my hands starting to shake, and the realization of the fragility of life had an indescribable impact on me. When Asen suggested moving it to the side of the road, I immediately strongly opposed it. How could you despise life so much?

Fortunately, Xingyu insisted on taking it to the veterinary clinic like me, and No. 5 was rescued.

The veterinarian at the time, who was Qiaoyan's father, said that it would have been impossible to save her if she was sent to him any later.

We discussed at the reception desk that we had no money to pay for the surgery. Qiaoyan should have heard it, so she later told us that she had discussed with her father that we would not need to pay for the surgery, but only the consultation fee and medication.

She is such a beautiful and kind-hearted girl. No wonder the three of them were deeply attracted to her at that time.

I was like an outsider, so I saw it most clearly, but I never thought that Qiaoyan would choose to be with Ah Zheng. In my impression, the person she liked was not Ah Zheng at all, so it was no surprise to me that they broke up after the summer.

I adopted Number Five that summer and fell in love with her for the first time.

I remember that day I took No. 5 for a walk with A Sen. In fact, I liked A Sen a little bit at that time, so I proposed to adopt No. 5 on condition that A Sen take care of it with me. But I knew very well that A Sen would not like me at all. He What I like is a girl, Qiaoyan.

Even so, I still longed to spend more time with Asen, so I made this willful request. But I didn’t expect to meet Junkang at that time. He also took the dog for a walk. He played with No. 5 first, and I asked him He asked for advice on raising dogs, and then we got closer and closer, chatting non-stop, and even exchanged phone numbers to make an appointment to walk the dog together next time.

I knew I had forgotten Asen, but I was so excited at the time. It was rare to meet a like-minded person, and I definitely didn’t want to miss him. Junkang and I developed smoothly and established a relationship on the third meeting. Although our relationship ended after two years, I learned a lot of valuable things from him and I am very grateful for his presence in my life.

It was a wonderful summer.

After that summer, my life went very smoothly, so I always felt that number 5 was my lucky star. It not only brought me luck, but also always protected me, reminding me to be true to myself and not to get lost in love or work.

Now that this good friend is gone, when I think of this, tears flow down my face.

Qiaoyan asked me if I would consider adopting another dog.

I shook my head weakly. No. 5 had just died. How could I raise another dog so soon? Besides, I probably couldn't bear the pain of losing another dog.

"That's a shame, and it's also very nerve-wracking that the golden retriever didn't find its owner," she said.

I remembered the lonely look on No. 5’s face before I agreed to adopt him, and I felt pity in my heart.

"If you still can't find the owner, you can tell me again."

Now I just want to mourn my beloved No. 5.

When I saw Qiaoyan again, I almost turned around and left.

Of course I didn't do that. In fact, after so many years, just say hello with a smile. There's nothing to be embarrassed about.

I tried to calm down and didn't want anyone to see the turmoil inside me.

"Hi." I greeted her in as natural a tone as I could.

"Long time no see." Her tone was relaxed and normal, calm.

She probably never took me to heart. I couldn't help but feel that I was so pathetic that I couldn't let go of my obsession with her all these years.

I know that everyone thinks I was the one who started to fall in love with Qiaoyan and finally abandoned her, because this is the effect I deliberately created.

The truth is that I was severely abandoned by Qiaoyan.

For the sake of my damn self-esteem, I would rather be regarded as a bitch than a pathetic person.

Asen, Xingyu and Wendi witnessed my relationship with Qiaoyan. At that time, I was so excited about successfully pursuing Qiaoyan that I deliberately acted sweet and infatuated with Qiaoyan every time in front of them, vowing to let them know that we were together. Love each other more.

Now of course I know how naive I was back then, and true love doesn’t need to be shown to others.

Love is a matter for two people, but I make it seem like it is a matter for the whole world.

When I reviewed it afterwards, I realized that I had been insecure in this relationship from the beginning.

I fell in love with Qiaoyan at first sight, and so did Xingyu. That night he told us that he fell in love with the daughter of a veterinarian we met by chance. At that time, I originally planned to give up on my budding relationship, but seeing that Xingyu never took action, I I asked him to meet and asked him about the progress of his pursuit of Qiaoyan. Unexpectedly, he said that he just liked her and had no intention of taking action. So I obtained his consent and started pursuing Qiaoyan.

She is a goddess-like existence to me. I was ready to be rejected by her, but I didn't expect that she agreed to date me. She was hesitant when I confessed my love for the first time, but I didn't give up, and finally got her nod to date me on the third date.

I should have sensed her reservations about her love for me from the beginning, but I was too excited at the time, thinking that as long as I loved her enough, one day I could make her truly fall in love with me.

But the good days only lasted for one summer. One day she suddenly broke up with me.

I tried my best to keep her, and I can't tell you how much I begged her not to leave me. It was so embarrassing, but even if I threw away all my dignity, I still couldn't keep her.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I loved you at all."

There are no words more hurtful than this.

I didn't ask her, since she doesn't love me, why did she agree to date me? Are you pitying me?

All my love for her turned into hatred at that moment, and I never saw her again.

I made up another breakup story, portraying myself as a passionate man who got tired of playing with her, describing her as a passionate woman, begging me again and again in a low voice not to abandon her, but I remained unmoved.

The dignity I lost in front of her seemed to be regained bit by bit through this meaningless lie.

That summer was so sweet and so painful when I think back to it, so I really don’t want to remember that summer again.

Although I am married now, I still can't let go of this person.

It's not that I still like her, and of course I don't hate her anymore, it's just that the feeling of humiliation is still there.

Now when she stands in front of me, I feel like I have returned to the time when I begged her so hard. It feels like all these years have never passed.

It's really ironic that we met because of No. 5's rebirth, but now we meet again because of its death.

Qiaoyan took the initiative to chat with me about the current situation, and I made the same mistake again, exaggerating and inaccurately describing my happy marriage life with my wife.

But it doesn’t matter. After this day, she and I should have no contact with each other again. Anyway, we will never meet in the future. It doesn’t hurt to say it a little exaggerated.

She said that she now spends all her time with animals and has no time to make a boyfriend.

I never thought that she was still single. Given her condition, there should be an endless stream of suitors.

Maybe she pursues the principle of "it's better to lack than to abuse".

Time has passed, no matter what happened that summer, it has passed. The point is that everyone is living well now, so there is no need to delve into it.

Besides, even if you know what happened back then, it won't change the present.

Let go and be at ease.

I am grateful for attending the farewell ceremony on the 5th today, allowing me to meet Qiaoyan again, and allowing me to truly let go of her.

In the summer of that year, I fell in love with one person and failed another.

When I never got a response, I mistakenly thought that I could just grab another love, but it didn't work at all.

As soon as I recognized my feelings, I broke up with Azheng. I didn't expect it would hurt him so deeply, but I really couldn't deceive him anymore.

After breaking up with A Zheng, I didn't have the chance to see the person I liked.

It's not that I haven't been in love since then, but they never lasted long.

After so many years, we met again because of No. 5’s death.

I was secretly happy to know that he was still single, but I didn't show it.

In the past, I was too reserved and always passively waited for the other person to pursue me. As a result, I hurt others because I couldn't wait. This time I will take the initiative.

After the farewell ceremony on the 5th, I got his contact information. I will send him a message tomorrow and then ask him to meet alone. If I confirm that I still have a crush on him, I will take the initiative to confess to him. As for whether he will accept me Whether you reject me or not is beyond my control.

Everything is planned and just waiting to be implemented, so impatient.

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