During his time studying in the UK, Meng Li tasted the taste of loneliness.
Of course, from a physical and biological point of view, he was not lonely. During the day, he had school, teachers and classmates, and at night, the host family was very warm and thoughtful. However, all of these could not replace a real home. Wandering in a foreign land, breathing the foreign air, eating the foreign food, and hearing the foreign language, all of these made Meng Li very uncomfortable.
Before he left China, he was full of ambition and made up his mind to stay in the local area to find a job after he was successful in his studies abroad. What was good in China? Food safety, air quality, and social problems that had not been solved for a long time … But when he really went abroad, he missed those things that he hated so much. No matter how bad the air quality was, it was familiar. No matter how bad the food safety was, it was delicious. What did the social problems have to do with him?
He was not the only one who could not adapt to the environment. Several of the people who came out of the same group lost themselves because of the sudden change of environment.
The host family was very warm. Although he could not blend in, he had to admit that the family was very warm and hospitable. They did not treat him as an outsider, but he confined himself. He always felt that there was a barrier, and he always felt that they were looking at him with strange eyes.
There was a puppy in the family. He did not care at first, because there were so many pets in foreign countries. In addition, he did not know what kind of dog it was. He had never seen it in China. After he asked, he found out that it was called Julie, a cocker spaniel.
The host family was really nice. They might have noticed that Meng Li was a little unhappy, so they assigned him a task — take Julie for a walk outside every morning and night.
This task was easy but time-consuming. Cocker spaniels were hounds, more lively and energetic than ordinary dogs. Each walk took a long time, and at the same time, they had to shoulder the responsibility of picking up poop.
Meng Li had never had a dog before. He did not expect to have a dog, but he did not reject it. He just hated the feeling of walking on the street and stepping on dog poop. When he came to the British town where he lived, he learned that because there were many dog owners, the situation of dog poop in Britain was not much better than in China.
Julie looked very similar to the one in the display case. Both had a pair of big, round brown eyes, and a chiseled face, which made it look like a serious old philosopher when it was not barking. Meng Li often forgot that it was actually a young female dog and always called it "Lao Zhu".
Cocker Spaniels had very long fur and were very active. They liked to drill around, which led to Julie's fur getting caught in the grass and thorns when she was walking outside, causing her to whimper in pain. When Meng Li untied its tangled hair, it would happily lick his hand to express its gratitude, and then quickly forget the pain and continue to drill in the weeds.
In the beginning, Meng Li only walked the dog near the host family. Gradually, he walked farther and farther, even all the way to the outskirts of the town. As time went by, the residents along the road also got to know him. Often, familiar and unfamiliar people would greet him. Occasionally, people with dogs would catch up with him and walk with him.
The days passed in this way, and nothing noteworthy happened until the end of his studies. After graduation, he changed his original intention and decided to return to his motherland, which was not perfect but very familiar. The night before he boarded the plane, the host family held a lively farewell party for him on the backyard lawn. Many residents of the town that he knew or had never met came to attend.
He prepared a lot of gifts, hugged and thanked the family one by one, and also said goodbye to Julie. Julie probably didn't know that he was going to leave. She bit the corner of his trousers and dragged him out, urging him to go out for a walk. He patted her head, pulled the corner of his trousers out of her mouth, and said goodbye to her in Chinese, which she couldn't understand anyway. Julie didn't continue to pester him. She glanced at him and ran to the farewell party to chase and play with the dogs brought by other people.
Early the next morning, because he had to rush to the airport in a big city to catch a plane, he got up very early in the dark, quietly dragged his suitcase out of the house, and took a taxi to leave.
There was no reluctance, only the expectation of returning to his country occupied his heart.
It was not until he boarded the plane, sat in the seat of the plane, and looked through the porthole at the busy airport that he felt a little sad. I'm really leaving …
The stewardess was carrying out the final check and announcement before takeoff, reminding the passengers that the plane was about to take off and asking them to turn off their phones.
At this time, his phone just happened to ring, causing the surrounding passengers to look sideways. The stewardess smiled at him in a friendly manner and reminded him to turn off his phone.
Meng Li was embarrassed and hurriedly turned off the ringtone. In fact, it was not the ringtone of the phone, but his alarm. Every day at this time, he took Julie out for a walk. Sometimes he would be so immersed in his homework that he would forget. Even if he was a few minutes late, Julie would be restless and walk around the house. The host or hostess of the host family would impolitely knock on the door to remind him to finish his work. Maybe this was the typical British rigidity and punctuality?
After a while, he was also very embarrassed, so he set the alarm on his phone in case he forgot again. When the alarm rang, as long as there was no wind, frost, rain or snow outside, he would put down his homework, change his clothes, take the leash and shovel tools, and go out on time. Julie would also happily wait at the door. After tying the leash, it was not so much that he took it for a walk, but that it could not wait to drag him out of the house …
Meng Li apologetically smiled at the surrounding passengers to express his apology, and canceled the alarm that rang every day, because there was no need for it to ring again.
His finger was placed on the power switch, and when he was about to press long press to turn off the phone, he received a message from the host family's male host family. There was a photo in the message. Julie was squatting at the door of his room, putting a paw on the door, looking back at the camera, her eyes full of confusion. There was a very short sentence in the message: She is still waiting for you to go out.
Until this moment, his long-suppressed emotions burst out. He thought of the host family's meticulous care for him for a long time, the friendliness and enthusiasm of the townspeople, and the time he took Julie for a walk every day. He suddenly burst into tears.
The passengers next to him thought that he was sick and hurriedly called the stewardess, but he could only smile through his tears and say that he was fine, he just could not bear to leave.
Meng Li had always thought that he had not integrated into the British life, but in fact, he was the only one who thought so. Whether it was Julie or the host family, they had already regarded him as a member of the family, not a guest, which was why they had ordered him to do this and that.
He suddenly regretted that he should have at least said goodbye in the morning. He must have behaved like a coward.
Under the repeated reminders of the stewardess, although he really wanted to reply, he still turned off the phone.
The plane took off, leaving the once strange but now familiar country, flying to the once familiar but now strange motherland …
At this point, he heard the phone ringing in Meng Li's pocket.
Meng Li took out his phone and turned off the alarm interface.
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