Tang Li didn’t know someone had already set her as their goal to strive for.
Exiting the audition venue, Tang Li made an excuse about having an errand and bade farewell to Yu Sui on the roadside, watching Yu Sui hail a taxi and leave, then she headed to the bus stop sign and sat on the bench to wait for the bus.
A few minutes later, a bus stopped in front of the sign.
Tang Li realized it was the one she was waiting for and hurried to board it.
About 50 minutes later, the bus stopped by the stop sign on the north side of National Square, Tang Li got off, her hands in the pockets of her down jacket, strolling slowly inside, her white board shoes stepping on the sunlight on the square’s tiles, and beneath the rolled-up pant legs, a stretch of yellow sock could be seen.
Around the perimeter of the square, as usual, sedans filled the parking spaces.
Just like last time, Tang Li chose an empty chair to sit down, but her mood was different, no longer eager and anxious, she simply sat on the edge of the square, utterly bored.
Suddenly, a child ran over with a box of chalk in hand.
He squatted down next to the fountain and started drawing with a piece of blue chalk.
After a while, Tang Li squatted next to him.
The little boy glanced at her, continued with his masterpiece, switching among several colors during the process. After watching for a while, Tang Li pointed at the "ghost talisman" on the ground and asked him: "What is this?"
"Buzz Lightyear." The boy answered while drawing.
Observing his seriousness, Tang Li asked again, "Is it allowed to draw on National Square?"
"That’s why I chose near the fountain, right?" the boy explained. "If I finish drawing now, by four thirty in the evening, when the fountain starts, all this will be washed away. I’ve been drawing here for more than ten days, and no one has come to chase me away yet, it’s been fine. After the New Year, our school is holding a blackboard newspaper competition, I need to practice more during the winter break."
Tang Li spoke up: "Can you give me a piece of chalk?"
The boy glanced at her and took out two red ones from the box for her: "I’ll give you two, I don’t really use this color anyway."
After thanking him, Tang Li walked with the chalk to an empty spot nearby.
She looked up at the Ministry of Finance building.
Then she walked forward another dozen meters.
Making sure the location was right, Tang Li squatted down, held the chalk, and drew a large heart on the ground.
To make the "heart" look good, she deliberately filled in the color.
Before long, a full red "heart" appeared on the square.
Tang Li wrote the letter "T" to the left of the "heart", then moved to the other side of the heart and wrote the letter "S". After finishing all this, she put away the chalk and pulled out her cellphone from her pocket.
Checking the time, it was already four in the afternoon.
She sent Song Baiyan a text message asking: "Are you busy right now?"
Five or six minutes passed, and Song Baiyan replied: "You’re texting now, has the audition ended?"
"Yeah." After replying to the message, Tang Li continued typing: "If you’re not busy, could you please walk over to the window of your office, there’s something I want to show you."
Having edited the content, she pressed the send button.
Soon after, she received a reply: "Are you outside the Ministry of Finance?"
"Just happened to pass by, and wanted to show you something." Tang Li sent this text out, not planning to stay next to the "heart" anymore, just about to get up to run behind the statue next to the fountain, her shoulder was tapped, turning around she saw a security guard in uniform.
"Did you draw this heart?" the security guard asked.
Not far away, the little boy had already been snatched up by another security guard, like a quail in hand.