The story began in 2023.

It was on one of the ordinary weekend nights that I met her online for the first time. I worked out a maths problem that she had posted on a BBS. Then I replied to her post. In order to explain the solution more clearly, I requested her QQ number from her. Thus, we became contacts on the instant messenger.

In the first IM chat, I learned that the girl was located in Lanzhou, Gansu Province and that we were about the same age. She asked if she could turn to me for help the next time she ran into difficulty in her learning. The minute I thought I could review what was learned by answering her questions, I said, “Sure. No problem.”

Since then, we have been steady QQ buddies. As adolescents, we relate very well to each other’s joy and sadness. No week went by without exchanges of our QQ messages. We helped and encouraged each other all along.

Time went by. Both of us finished middle school in the summer of 2025, and each of us got admitted to the best high school in our individual town. It made us two feel proud.

One day, the girl made a short vid of our QQ dialogues and sent it to me to express her appreciation for the help. When the music started and the vid played, tears filled my eyes.

Although I am in Hubei and the girl in Gansu, the distance does not stop us from being friends. A best buddy does not have to be by your side physically day by day. The friendship between us, I believe, will endure forever.