Published at 8th of October 2024 3:10 am

Chapter 1258: Bohemia’s Teenage Years

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From a box that hadn’t been opened in who knows how long, a musty and unpleasant smell wafted out as if it had been sealed away for ages. Bohemia quickly exhaled twice as if trying to blow away the smell she had inhaled. Then, she cautiously reached inside and began rummaging through the contents.

Old clothes, stacked women’s boots, a few romantic romance novels, bundles of magazines… Her gaze stopped on the magazines for a moment, carefully examining them. She realized that these magazines ranged from 1978 to 1980. It was evident when this box had been stored in the attic.

In the second box below, she found even older items. When she cut open the tape, a cloud of dust almost made her cough. She rummaged through more old household items and pulled out a stack of baby clothes.

“So small?” She unfolded a baby’s top with a small bow tied to it and felt that even a cat would find it tight to wear. “What kind of child could fit into this?”

These were probably the baby clothes that Baby Bao had worn as an infant. They were stored in the attic after she grew out of them. Given the timeframe indicated by the previous box, these items were likely packed before 1978. That was the latest possible estimate since Baby Bao was already four years old in 1978, and her baby clothes couldn’t have been left outside for three or four years.

The top box had the most recent items; the further down she went, the older the items were. However, regardless of which box she checked, there was nothing particularly strange; it seemed like this was just an ordinary family’s storage.

She couldn’t waste time here forever, right?

Bohemia held her breath and pushed open the last box. The corner of the box pressed against an old tablecloth, and when she moved it, the cloth came down as well. Two square-shaped suitcases wrapped in old black leather were exposed in the corner behind the box.

The suitcases were not locked.

Bohemia carefully opened the lid, her gaze pausing, and then sighed with disappointment.

She had thought that this box would contain some important clues hidden under the tablecloth, but it turned out to be some of her personal belongings before she got married. These were the things she brought from her parents’ house. The days before her marriage probably had little to do with what happened to this family later, so they wouldn’t be of much use.

However, even though she knew that the contents of this box might not be useful, Bohemia couldn’t resist and carefully examined each item. ‘Green Lake High School graduation certificate,’ she had only heard about high school from entertainment programs, other people’s mouths, and books. She never imagined that she would see her high school graduation certificate one day. “Oh, I have graduation photos too?”

In high school, her face was brighter and rounder than it was now. In the graduation photo, she was surrounded by several classmates, laughing heartily as they tossed their books into the air, their eyes squeezed into crescents.

Bohemia put down the certificate and found some old notebooks below. When she opened them, she saw notes she had taken during her school days, a graduation memento book, and contact information for some old classmates. The contents of both suitcases were similar: memories of her teenage years, preserved and collected through various items before she married Yuan Xiangxi. Even if she kept a diary after giving birth to her son, it couldn’t be left here.

Bohemia flipped through the graduation memento book page by page, feeling reluctant to part with these old items. During that time, she was carefree and happy; even if she had any worries, they were the most inconspicuous little things in the world, like arguing with classmates she didn’t get along with in the message book. That time was wonderful.

“I will always remember the summer we went swimming in the lake together. – Tai.”

“You are the most adorable girl I know, but I hope you can change your habit of being passionate about everything for only three minutes! – Lily.”

“You are indeed very popular among boys. Most of the messages are from boys, haha!”

The last message seemed to have a story behind it because Bohemia scribbled it out with her pen.

After reading for a while, she found nothing of use. Bohemia was about to pack up and go downstairs when her palm pushed against the side of the leather suitcase, and she suddenly discovered something thick hidden under the lining fabric.

It was a stack of diaries.

Not the diaries she had been looking for, dating from after 1976, but the ones she had written before getting married, during her school days. Perhaps there were too many of them, and they wouldn’t fit, so Bohemia removed the outer covers, carefully cut out the diary pages, and bound them together by date.

Before opening the diaries, Bohemia listened to the sounds downstairs; there was complete silence throughout the house.

Slowly, she opened the diaries.

She had been a lively, enthusiastic, and popular teenage girl, and you could tell that from the diaries. After flipping through several pages, Bohemia’s gaze stopped on a familiar name.

“I made plans with Tai to go to White Bear Ridge together during the summer vacation. Although it’s not just the two of us going, I’m still so happy! Spending two weeks with Tai up close is like a dream! I want to buy the cutest swimsuit. Will Mom scold me?” Signed, May 1969.

Different from her post-marriage diary style, teenage Bohemia wrote her diary as if there was no end to the pages: how she fell in love with Tai, how beautiful Tai’s eyes and fingers were, how she got scolded by her mother after buying the swimsuit, but Tai looked at her several times while they were swimming, and how they lightly held hands for the first time under the summer stars… It went on for more than a dozen pages. Calculating the time, this probably happened when she was a sophomore in high school. Bohemia wanted to see how things went with Tai later, so she continued flipping, only to find that Tai’s name seldom appeared again after returning from White Bear Ridge.

In its place were long narrations about her recently enrolled guitar lessons, full of the names of each string, some techniques, and the names of songs… it seemed like she even performed in the classroom. After seven or eight pages, the guitar lessons also vanished completely.

Bohemia’s reading speed increased as she read on, and she could also see the pattern. Lily was right about her having a three-minute passion. She had been crazy about various things, such as dramas, guitar, and swimming, but none lasted more than a year. After getting to know a boy named Aji, she completely tossed aside Tai, whom she used to like so much, and wrote nothing more about him in her diary.

Aji had taken up all her attention during the day and every dream at night. However, the days he supported were still shorter than the time she had with Tai because, when graduation was approaching, Bohemia became infatuated with and idolized an upperclassman.

Even though she had a three-minute passion for everything, she gave it her all when immersed in something and was completely devoted to it. She wrote, “Is it because my emotions burn so intensely that they also burn out quickly?”

Bohemia hesitated for a few seconds before flipping to the last stack.

This was her diary from 1971.

In 1971, Bohemia graduated from high school and helped her family on the farm when she met Yuan Xiangxi, a young man visiting friends in town.

Compared to all her previous boyfriends or crushes, Yuan Xiangxi was like a haute couture dress by Dior in Paris compared to a discount dress that cost only 1.50 yuan—this was the metaphor she wrote in her diary.

Yuan Xiangxi was clearly different from everyone else; he ended Bohemia’s three-minute passion. Even a year later, she still idolized this man she had been in love with for a long time.

“I have never seen someone like him… he is naturally refined to perfection as if God deliberately created the best human being. … Every time he looks at me, I feel like my soul is going to melt into the wind, about to be blown into the mountains and the world. When I am with him, I always feel like I am so rough… when I wear makeup, it seems like I am overly adorned and cannot match his temperament; without makeup, I look like an ugly and crude person who doesn’t even know that I am not attractive, yet keeps trying to get close to attractive people.” August 1972.

It was less than a year away from their marriage.

Bohemia’s heart slowly began to tense up.

In December 1972, Bohemia told her mother she was visiting friends while, in fact, taking a long train ride to Yuan Xiangxi’s farm. The loving couple spent two weeks together, inseparable and deeply in love. During this time, she naturally did not continue writing in her diary.

In fact, based on her memories, she wrote this diary entry after she returned home.

“I’m really happy. Whenever I open my eyes, I see my favorite person lying beside me. If I marry him, every day of my life will be so happy! There is nothing better in the world than marrying him.”

“I’m so shy. One morning, he hugged me in the bathroom, startling me. We’ve been in love for so long, but my heart still pounds when I see his face in the mirror. I can’t express how much I like him; if I say it out loud, I’ll be too embarrassed!”

“I really want to keep looking at his face. I don’t want to move my eyes for the rest of my life…”

Bohemia’s body suddenly stiffened. She rubbed her eyes, almost suspecting her mind was too chaotic, creating an illusion. She looked at the diary entry again, but it remained unchanged.

She took out the diary she found in the master bedroom and opened it beside this old stack of diaries.

The diary from 1974 was almost identical to the one from 1972, with the same content written.

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