英文版，板板：

华州的MP3:
http://space.wenxuecity.com/media/1271150506.mp3
叶子的故事

叶子，在大地沉吟时生发，在金风绕树时飘零。
叶子，黑白晶莹的眼睛，月满珠圆的脸蛋，齐整整的刘海和飘扬带风的小辫。
飘扬带风的小辫，让你可以如此轻易地认出她，就算是隔得再远……
真的好远了，阿琅认识她的时候，只有十岁。

那时阿琅家住在第九中学里，每天到了傍晚，大大小小的孩子——大多是教师子弟，就从四面汇集起来，在黑灯瞎火的操场和周围的民居间玩“踢罐子”，叶子也常常来，她跑得很快。
阿琅认识叶子，可是从来没有说过话。
玩踢罐子的人每天都在变，每年都在变，大概是年纪大的孩子不再来了，年纪小的孩子又不断在补充。
阿琅喜欢玩踢罐子，所以他每天都去，叶子大概也一样。
不知不觉，阿琅已经成了踢罐子的元老，他长大了，上了初一。在他走进教室的第一天，阿琅惊奇地发现，叶子竟然是自己的同桌。
叶子玩踢罐子常常会赢，叶子还很聪明，每门功课都很优秀，阿琅不服气，为了不比她差，阿琅不得不“头悬梁，锥刺股”。

阿琅好多年没见过叶子了，直到那一天，他意外地在同学录上看见叶子的婚讯，阿琅才想起来，应该给叶子打个电话了，其实阿琅常常会想起给叶子打电话，但，又常常忘记……大概，是忘记吧。
他们聊了很多，旧友新朋，如意失意，间中，阿琅调笑叶子：“这么快就结婚了，也不等等我。”
叶子忽然沉默了，许久之后，才轻轻地说：“我等了你十五年了。”
阿琅的心里忽然一阵刺痛，然后隐隐约约地，化作酸楚。
阿琅不知道怎么结束了跟叶子的通话，也不知道自己呆坐了多久。天黑了，他打开了旅行箱，取出薄薄的三页信笺。
那是叶子写给他的情书，一九九三年。

一九九三年，阿琅是意气风发，争强好胜，却懵然不知情为何物的毛头小子。
阿琅收到叶子情书的时候，意外，紧张，不知所措，他找他的好朋友商量，那家伙却很不厚道地把叶子的情书当众念了出来，然后笑得前仰后合。
原来是那痞子，冒阿琅的名字先给叶子写了一封情书，叶子她才……
叶子坐在角落里，脸憋得红红的，泪水一直在眼眶里打转，但是，一滴也没有流出来。
叶子是坚强的女孩，阿琅，却是懦弱的男子，他不知道如何面对这份感情，于是他逃避，他不敢跟她说话，甚至，不敢瞧她一眼。
同学们一直开他们的玩笑，直到初中毕业。


阿琅去了另一所中学上高中，见不到叶子的日子，他却突然有了改变，他对女孩有了兴趣，还鼓起勇气向一个女孩表白，要她做自己的女朋友。
她跟叶子同一间学校。
放了学，阿琅常常骑自行车去接她，偶尔会碰见叶子。每次，叶子都会对他自然地笑笑。
阿琅的成绩一落千丈，眼看高考在即，他不知是幡然悔悟，还是迁怒于人，跟女友提出了分手，她哭得很伤心，阿琅却咬紧牙根，狠心离去。
事隔多年，阿琅仍然不知道，他当时的决定是对的还是错的。

叶子又开始出现在阿琅的视线里，她总是不知道从哪里冒出来，手里拿着一本习题集，问阿琅一些刁钻的问题，数学，物理，外语，什么古怪的问题都有。
阿琅可笑的自尊心又开始作祟，为了不在叶子面前丢脸，为了显得比叶子强，他再一次“头悬梁，锥刺股。”
高考了，试卷上的题目跟叶子问阿琅的一样刁钻，然而，阿琅已经驾轻就熟。
阿琅收拾好行装，春风得意地来到某重点大学，在同乡会上，他赫然发现叶子坐在自己对面的长椅。
他讶然，惊喜，跑过去兴奋地说：“你也来了，我们还真是有缘。”
叶子淡然地笑着，“是啊，我们还真有缘。”
因为在不同的院系，阿琅跟叶子见面的时间不多。不久以后，年少轻狂的他，又跟一个漂亮的女同学——雨，坠入了爱河。
那天夜里，阿琅放肆地抱着雨在后山小道上疯跑，迎面碰上叶子，叶子的目光闪烁了一下，把左手藏在身后，伸出右手挥了挥，说：“嗨。”
阿琅有点不好意思，尴尬地应了一声，匆匆逃去。

阿琅回到寝室的时候，桌上多了罐东西，是叶子给他的。
阿琅好奇地扒开塑料袋，里面装的是他最爱吃的家乡辣椒。

次一年的三月，樱花如雪，阿琅的高中同桌慕名而来，他问阿琅：“叶子呢？”
阿琅很奇怪，“你也认识叶子？”
同桌笑说：“认识，怎么不认识，那时她天天来缠着我，打听你填报了哪所学校，还千叮万嘱，别让你知道。”

阿琅默默无语，他一直以为，叶子只是跟他有缘。他伸出手，等了很久，想看看会不会有一片无心飘落的花瓣落入自己的掌心。
他没有等到。

雨，总是说来就来，说去就去，雨，也一样。
阿琅跟雨分手了，心里堵得难受，加上不小心染上了感冒，内忧外患，病得他有气无力。
阿琅以为自己就快死了，朦胧中却有叶子来看他，她给阿琅带了好多药来，还用酒精炉帮他熬了稀粥。

那天，外面漫天风雨，叶子的伞挂在门边，水珠滑落，一滴又一滴，静静地，坚定地，敲打着门前的顽石。

阿琅懂得叶子的心。
阿琅假装不懂叶子的心。

雨要跟阿琅复合，阿琅暧昧着，犹豫着，没有表态。他不知道为什么，也许，是那片飘在他肩头的叶子太轻，轻得他感觉不到，又或者，是她太重，重得他承担不起。
大学毕业，阿琅决定出国留学，他没有带走雨的任何东西，却带走了叶子的三页信笺。其实这些年来，无论阿琅走到哪里，他总带着那三页信笺。他从来没有想过为什么，直到今天他才忽然明白，有了它们，自己心里才踏实，什么也不怕。
叶子，在初春迎风招展，在盛夏翘首以盼，然而，阿琅却忘了四季有秋天，却忘了那摧心断肠的岁月风刃……
叶子结婚了，阿琅把三页信笺叠成纸鹤，挂在窗前。阿琅会永远带着它们，因为在它们的翅膀上，叶子曾说，会为他永远守候。

English

Leaflets, sprout when the mother earth awakens, fades when the autumn winds wind around the tree.

Leaflet, the little girl, she has sparkling bright eyes, a cute round face, an even hair bang and a ponytail that fluttered with the wind.

You could recognize her immediately by that ponytail, no matter how far away she was.

It was truly a long, long time ago, when Lang met Leaflet, when he was only 10 years old.

At that time, Lang lived at the No. 9 High School. At dusk, all the kids, most of whose parents were teachers at the school, would gather. In the dimming sunlight, the kids would be playing in the playground and all over the neighbourhood; the game was called kicking the can. Leaflet joined them all the time, she ran the fastest.

Lang knew Leaflet, but they never really talked.

Every day, and every year, different groups of kids played the same game – ‘kicking the can’. The older kids moved on, while younger new comers would come along.

Lang enjoyed the game so much that he went every single day; same did Leaflet.

Before he knew it, Lang became the oldest kid of the group. He grew up, he went to middle school. When he walked into the class room, to his surprise, Leaflet was his deskmate.

Leaflet was the best in the kicking the can game and she won all time. Leaflet was also very smart, she got straight As. Lang wanted to beat Leaflet, he wanted to do even better, for which he worked extremely hard.

A long long time later after high school, during which Lang hadn’t seen Leaflet for years, one day, to his surprise, he found out that Leaflet was getting married. Lang thought, maybe I should give her a buzz. Actually, he did think of calling her from time to time in the past, but then he always forgot… yeah, he just forgot.

This time he called. They talked and talked, they talked about their old friends, new friends, good days, bad days…. Lang made a joke and said ‘Hey you, why the rush getting married, why not waiting for me?’

There was a silence, for a long long while. After which, Leaflet said ‘I waited for you, for 15 years.’

Now, there was a sharp pain to Lang’s heart, later, vaguely, the pain became a sore.


Lang couldn’t remember how they finished the phone call, neither could he recall how long he just sat there, doing nothing. It turned dark, he opened his suitcase to find a letter, written in three pages.

That was a love letter to him from Leaflet, that was 1993.

In 1993, Lang was young and wild, extremely competitive, yet he had no idea what love was.

That love letter from Leaflet surprised him and freaked him out. Not knowing what to do, Lang asked for advice from his best buddy. That guy, without mercy, read the letter out loud to everyone in the class, then he laughed and laughed.

What really happened, was that this very same guy faked a love letter to Leaflet from Lang earlier, which was exactly why Leaflet wrote her letter as a reply.

Poor little Leaflet, sat in the corner, her face all flushed and her eyes watered, but she didn’t shed even one single drop of tear.

Leaflet was a tough girl, but Lang was not a tough boy. Lang was not ready for her love, so he ran away. He wouldn’t talk to her, he wouldn’t even look at her.

Others kept joking about them, until they finished middle school.

Afterwards, Lang went to a different high school. In days without Leaflet, Lang changed from boy to man. He began to want girls, and he asked a girl out to be his girlfriend.

This girl was a schoolmate of Leaflet.

After school, Lang would bike to pick up the girlfriend. Sometimes he would run into Leaflet. Each time, Leaflet just gave him a smile, nice and easy.

Lang’s grades went downhill to disastrous. Now he was about to take the entrance exam for college. Maybe he realized that he should have focused on his study, or, maybe he thought his downfall was because of the young love, he broke up with the girlfriend. The girl cried her heart out, but Lang heartlessly left.

Many years later, Lang still didn’t know if he did the right thing.

Now Leaflet seemed to reappear in Lang’s life. Out of nowhere she would bring a booklet of study questions. These questions covered all subjects such as math, physics, English and what not, and they were real tough.

Lang’s dignity was acting out again. He wanted to do better than Leaflet, and again, like when he was younger, he worked extremely hard.

Then came the exam. The real questions were as tough as the ones Leaflet asked him, but now, Lang answered all without a sweat.

Lang got admitted to a top university. To his yet another surprise, he found Leaflet sitting next to him on the school opening day.

What a pleasant surprise! He ran to Leaflet ‘Hey you are here too? That’s fate.’

Leaflet just smiled ‘yeah, that’s fate.’

Because they were in different departments, Lang hardly saw Leaflet. Not too much later, still young and wild, Lang fell in love with a pretty girl, Rain.

One evening, when Lang was running with Rain in his arms, Leaflet came across. There was a sparkle in Leaflet’s eyes. Leaflet quickly waved hi to Lang with her right hand, while hiding her left hand behind her back.

Lang felt embarrassed; he said hi and ran away.

When he got back to the dorm, he found that Leaflet just left him something.

It was his favorite, a can of hot peppers from their home town.

Next March, the oriental cherry trees blossomed in full bloom, beautiful like the winter snow fall. Lang’s high school deskmate came to visit, he asked Lang ‘where is Leaflet?’

Lang was surprised, ‘You know Leaflet too?’

‘Of course I know her. Back then, Leaflet used to come to me everyday just to ask me which school you picked for college. She told me not tell you.’

Lang was speechless. He always thought it was fate that brought Leaflet to him.
He opened his palms and waited for a long time; he was waiting to see if a pedal the cherry flowers would fall into his hands.

But nothing happened.

Rain, comes and goes, as always. The same was the pretty girl, Rain.

Lang and Rain broke up. His heart suffocated, and meanwhile he caught a cold. Everything was against him, he was very ill.

Lang thought he was about to die. Sick and drowsy, he saw Leaflet come to visit him. Leaflet brought medications, and cooked congee for him with an alcohol oven.

It was raining hard that day. Leaflet’s umbrella was hung on the door, with water dripping down against the floor. Each and every drop hit the ground, silent but strong.

Lang knew what was in Leaflet’s heart.

But he pretended he did not know.

Rain wanted to get back together with Lang. Lang hesitated and hesitated, he said nothing. He didn’t know why. Maybe, it was because of the very lightness of the little leaflet on his shoulders, which was too light to feel. Or, maybe, it was because of the heaviness of that same leaflet, which was too heavy to afford.

After graduation, Lang decided to study abroad. He brought nothing from Rain with him, but he carried the three paged love letter from Leaflet. Actually, for all these years, he has been carrying them wherever he goes. He didn’t know why, but today, he realized, these pages makes him feel home, feel safe, feel fearless.

The leaflet, standing in the spring wind, holding on in the summer sunshine. However, Lang didn’t realize autumn always comes afterwards, and he forgot that the flying of time breaks our hearts.

Leaflet got married. Lang folded the three pages of the love letter into Origami cranes, and put them on his window. Lang will always carry them, because on their wings, Leaflet said, she would be right there waiting for him, forever and ever.