Zheng Wang

At eight o'clock in the evening, Jiarui Building, the large conference room of the R&D Center.

The vibrating sound sounded for the third time, Ke Jinrui turned over the upside-down phone and glanced at the screen, his eyebrows raised unknowingly, but he didn't answer the call because the meeting was in progress, instead he cut off the call and changed it to silent mode.If Yu Shaojia, who was in charge of the meeting, felt something, he looked in the direction of the big boss. After a few seconds of silence, he lowered his eyes to look at his watch, and then announced: "Half an hour rest, the assistants hurry up and sort out the minutes of the meeting. continue."

After finishing speaking, the subordinates were busy, and the two looked at each other in the air. Yu Shaojia smiled easily while holding a coffee cup, and tilted his head towards the door in a very tacit understanding.

The meeting lasted from three o'clock in the afternoon until now, and the participants did not take a break regardless of their positions. Ke Jinrui was a little tired. He pinched his nose with two fingers and kept quiet for a while, then picked up his mobile phone and quickly left the meeting room.

The two met in the elevator, Yu Shaojia sipped his coffee to refresh himself, and pressed the elevator. "What's the situation?" As he asked, he looked up at Ke Jinrui.

Ke Jinrui has already dialed back the number, and said calmly: "The housekeeper called, I don't know exactly what happened."

Yu Shaojia hurriedly put down the cup when he heard the words, restrained his smile, and said, "Don't say that something happened to the old man."

"Probably not." Ke Jinrui frowned slightly, "There will be a concert tonight, and Zan Zan will participate in two of the songs. The old man is too happy, how could something happen?"

After the voice faded, the phone over there was connected, and the elevator happened to arrive, and the two walked in back and forth.

Yu Shaojia consciously kept quiet and stopped talking, drinking coffee absently while listening to Ke Jinrui's speech.

After a while, the 27th floor arrived, and the door slid open to both sides, but Ke Jinrui did not move.

Yu Shaojia stretched out his hand to stop the elevator door from closing, just in time to hear Ke Jinrui say: "How is he doing now, which hospital has he been sent to?" Yu Shaojia froze suddenly, and hurriedly turned to look at him.

When the two eyes met, Ke Jinrui looked serious, and shook his head slightly at him, but there was no other expression.When the other party answered, he gave an understatement "Yes", and asked again: "Does my sister know?" There was another silence, Ke Jinrui listened carefully, and he walked slowly into the corridor until the elevator alarm bell sounded.

Yu Shaojia silently accompanied him. Before entering the office, he heard Ke Jinrui ask the last question.Ke Jinrui said, "Where's Guan Zan?"

The call lasted less than a minute, Yu Shaojia closed the door, and Ke Jinrui hung up.He didn't sit down, and quickly tapped the screen a few times with his fingers, but finally hesitated.Yu Shaojia stared at his finger that had not dropped for a long time, and after a long silence, asked, "What's the matter?"

"Something happened." Ke Jinrui said, "It's quite complicated, and I can't explain it clearly to you for a while. Anyway, the current situation is that the old man has a recurrence of myocardial infarction and is hospitalized. Zan Zan..." He paused for a moment Then he said again, "I don't know where Zan-Zan has gone so far."

"Their grandfather and grandson can still have conflicts?" Yu Shaojia didn't mean to ask, but simply found it incredible, "I think the old man is closer to Guan Zan than to you. Is there some misunderstanding?"

Ke Jinrui sighed inconspicuously: "There are many things you don't know."

Yu Shaojia didn't know why, but still nodded understandingly: "Then now, are you going to the hospital or looking for Guan Zan?"

Ke Jinrui said: "I know Guan Zan's character well. He usually looks gentle and understanding. He seems to have no temper at all, but in fact he is very stubborn. If I go to him, I may not be able to get him back. Come." After speaking, Ke Jinrui hesitated, holding the phone and walking a few steps in the direction of the French windows. "How about it," he turned to look at Yu Shaojia, "I'll try to call him, if the phone is not turned off, you can help me find the location."

"No problem." Yu Shaojia agreed, pulled the high-back chair behind the desk and sat down, and started the desktop computer on the table.

Ke Jinrui stood still in front of the French window and pressed Guan Zan's phone number.A few seconds later, the beep sounded in the handset waiting to be connected. Seeing that the phone was not turned off, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.Guan Zan was too calm and thoughtful. This kind of person is really good when he is good, but once he turns his back on him, if he doesn't keep it right, his relatives will not recognize him.He endured humiliation at his uncle's house for ten years, and immediately thought of leaving after becoming a little independent, and he absolutely refused to go back as soon as he came out. In fact, it just proved this point.

Ask yourself, Ke Jinrui already knew that such a day would come.The conflicts of the past were buried so deep, and the consequences have affected the present. Once it is revealed, there will inevitably be a storm. Guan Zan can't be expected to ignore the previous suspicions and act as if nothing happened.To be honest, he was not afraid of the little guy questioning out of control, or hysterical, but he was afraid of him leaving without saying a word.

The first phone call ended without a problem, and at the end the busy tone sounded, and the voice prompt "The user you dialed is temporarily unavailable."Ke Jinrui was very patient. He waited for a while and then called again. This time, he didn't wait too long. The other person answered the call, but no one spoke. There was only the sound of dense rain, otherwise it was extremely quiet.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the torrential rain engulfed the radiant night scene.

Ke Jinrui calmed down a bit, and after a few seconds of silence, he slowly said, "I know you're not feeling well, but it's raining too much tonight, so don't run around, at least find a place to hide, and don't make yourself sick."

Guan Zan didn't speak, Ke Jinrui coaxed him to say "be good", then turned to look at Yu Shaojia, and gave him a questioning look.

Yu Shaojia beckoned to come over, and then clicked on the location information that appeared on the map.Ke Jinrui walked behind the high-back chair, stared at Guan Zan's position and fell silent.

He didn't leave at all, and stayed in Zhongshan Park, which seemed to be near the concert hall.

Guan Zan was worried, so he called an ambulance as soon as he came out, and then waited outside, watching the ambulance come, and then watching the ambulance leave.

"Mr. Ke, do you have anything else to say?" Guan Zan said.

"Yes." Ke Jinrui turned his back and stopped looking at the screen, "But I want to explain to you more in person."

"Probably not." Guan Zan's voice was very weak, like a cluster of flames that could be extinguished by the rain at any time, and he was in danger. Fortunately, he was very calm and did not lose control or lose his composure.He said: "I need to calm down. I am afraid that I will not be able to control what I will say to you when we meet now. Let's meet again in a few days."

This little guy is too sensible, but under such circumstances, the more understanding he is, the more Ke Jinrui feels distressed.

"Zan-Zan." Ke Jinrui said calmly, "I can give you time, as long as it takes, but I don't want any gaps between us because of this matter. It's not that I haven't thought about telling you, but I don't know what happened back then. I don't understand clearly, and I also reminded the old man that he shouldn't continue to hide it, but this matter is too sensitive, and he didn't say it because he didn't know how to say it."

"I understand." Guan Zan trembled, "I just need time to accept..."

"Stop saying 'understand'." Ke Jinrui was rarely excited, and interrupted him bluntly, but his tone softened when he spoke again, "Zan-Zan, you can be self-willed, you don't have to be so rational. Everyone involved in this matter is better than you." You are older and should be more responsible than you, you don’t need to understand others, it’s their turn to understand you.”

Guan Zan took a low breath and remained silent for a long time before saying, "I dare not..."

"Why don't you dare?" Ke Jinrui said, "I'm making you angry now. If you have any grievances and dissatisfaction, come to me. Don't hold it in your heart, let alone torture yourself! As long as you can vent it, you will never beat me or scold me." Stop it!"

"No!" Guan Zan yelled, and then sobbed, "If I let go, I won't be able to hold it back. I'm afraid that I will become more and more wronged and unwilling. Others don't care, but you..." He cried The sound seemed to be washed away by the heavy rain, every word was chilled to the marrow, and it hurt my heart, "I'm afraid that the more I think about it, the more I complain, I'm afraid that tomorrow I won't love you as much as I did today!"

Ke Jinrui was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry." Guan Zan restrained his emotions and forced himself to be calm, "I've been struggling for a week, and I've been trying to convince myself not to mention this matter every day, but I can't control it..." He took a deep breath, and gasped again, "Leave me alone Now, go to the hospital... Let's see how the teacher is doing!"

After speaking, he hung up the phone without hesitation.

Ke Jinrui remained motionless on the call, distracted by the busy tone.

The two had known each other for so many years, and it was the first time Yu Shaojia saw him lose his temper, so it was not good to persuade him, but it didn't make much sense to spend so much time.He stood up hesitantly, thought for a while, and said softly, "Guan Zan is not a fool. If he is really ignorant, he would not be able to answer your call."

"Jinrui, the old man is hospitalized right now, so you should go there first anyway." He reached out and patted Ke Jinrui on the shoulder, and said, "I'll explain the rest of the meeting to the assistant later, don't worry, go to the hospital, I'll help you." If you bring Guan Zan back, nothing will happen."

Ke Jinrui shook his head slowly and said, "Go ahead with the meeting and don't delay the serious business."

"Then what about Guan Zan?" Yu Shaojia asked.

"He wants to calm down for a few days," Ke Jinrui said, "let him go, don't force him."

Yu Shaojia was dumb, and said helplessly after a while: "I understand your thoughts, but the problem is that Guan Zan doesn't even have a place to go, but if there is one and a half people who can get by, I won't advocate looking for him now."

He took a few steps forward and stood beside Ke Jinrui, and carefully reminded: "What relatives and friends does Guan Zan have in Beijing? Except for the few classmates he just met, isn't it just us and his cousin? Most of Yangyin's classmates are not from the local area. Man, he will definitely not contact someone who has something to do with you at this time, and that boy surnamed Yuan is even more impossible! It is still raining at night, can you rest assured that he is left alone outside?"

"I'm worried." Ke Jinrui said, "But I'm even more afraid that you will scare him away."

Yu Shaojia raised his eyebrows when he heard the words, and said dumbfoundingly: "Is my EQ so low that I can't even handle a child?"

Ke Jinrui said: "Guan Zan is not a child, and this matter is not that simple. You made it simple."

"Anyway." Yu Shaojia took a step back, "When people are weak, they always say what they mean. If he wants to calm down, you can't really ignore him. You can give him space and time, but you have to let people feel our concern, right?"

Ke Jinrui also let go: "Okay, then you go there and coax patiently, Zan-Zan eats soft but not hard." As he said, he pulled his tie and threw it on the high-back chair, took the car keys, and didn't turn his head. Back to the door, "I'll go to the hospital first, call me if you need anything."

"Be careful." After Yu Shaojia finished speaking, he picked up the phone and dialed the assistant's number.

At the same time, Guan Zan stopped the taxi and told the driver the address of the villa area.

At nine o'clock, the neighborhood was quiet.

Xia Mingxi had nothing to do when he had nothing to do, and he carried a cat teaser to accompany Sola to eat, but it was a pity that the character of the puppet cat was raised, and he was not interested in those fluffy fake things. It doesn't look as exciting as the owner.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Xia Mingxi has not been back to China for a long time, and there are almost no visitors on weekdays, and it is especially quiet at night. Sola was more sensitive than him, and when she heard the sound, she immediately twitched her cat's ears, and the next moment she "swished" off the sofa, and slipped into the hall like a quick smoke.

Xia Mingxi took a slow step, put down the cat-teasing stick, got up and went to open the door, and was stunned when he saw the person coming.

Guan Zan was drenched all over, his face was pale, and he stood very stiffly under the porch. Sola stared at him and meowed, wanting to go over and ask for a hug, but she didn't like the wet rain on his body, so she had to pace up and down in the hallway.

"come on in."

Xia Mingxi stepped aside to open the door, took his own coat from the coat rack with his backhand, and directly wrapped it around Guan Zan.Interrupting late at night, Guan Zan really had nowhere to go. When he saw Teacher Xia, he didn't know what was wrong, but felt that he should explain something.He opened his mouth hesitantly, but before he could speak, Xia Mingxi touched his lips very considerately, indicating that it was okay, then pulled him into his arms, hugged him, and gently patted his back .

"Take a breath first, and talk about other things later."

At that moment, the grievance that Guan Zan had suppressed for many days was completely out of control, and tears could not be restrained from falling down.He buried himself in the teacher's arms and cried for a long time, from losing his voice to sobbing, and finally calmed down slowly.

"I've changed my mind." Guan Zan whispered.

Xia Mingxi stroked the hair sticking to his forehead, and asked patiently: "What idea?"

"Vienna's exchange qualification." Guan Zan came out of the other party's arms with a serious and firm voice, "I refused before, and now I want to get it back. I don't want to go through Yangyin. I wonder if Teacher Xia can help me with this?"

Xia Mingxi was taken aback for a moment, and then remained silent for a while, seeing that Guan Zan didn't seem to be joking, so he didn't ask any further questions, but said, "Yes, professional?"

Guan Zan's mind went blank. After thinking for a while, he replied, "Let's compose."

"Okay." Xia Mingxi patted Guan Zan's head and said with a smile, "Go take a hot shower first, and I'll get you two pieces of my clothes to change into later, so you don't catch a cold."

"Teacher." Guan Zan didn't move, stared into his eyes, and asked tentatively, "You agreed without asking why?"

Xia Mingxi laughed out loud, and said, "It's selfishness. Of course I'm glad you changed your mind. As for the reason, it's too private. If you want to talk, I'll listen. If you don't, I won't ask."

"Then..." Guan Zan said again, "Can I...can you stay here for a few days?"

Xia Mingxi looked down at him, and didn't rush to answer.Guan Zan pursed his lips, and added in a softer voice: "And don't tell my senior sister, and don't tell anyone else."

"How serious is it?" Xia Mingxi couldn't help asking, "Teacher is willing to help you, but I'm afraid I might help you by mistake."

Guan Zan lowered his head and said calmly, "It's quite serious. I have no choice but to disturb you?"

Xia Mingxi didn't ask questions, nor did he criticize. After a short silence, he just said lightly: "So serious that you have the heart to give up Guzheng?"

Guan Zan suddenly raised his head, his eyes trembled slightly, his pupils shrank slightly, and his eye sockets turned red little by little, but he didn't say another word.

"Go take a bath." Xia Mingxi let go, "Remember what you asked, teacher, you can stay if you want, but I won't do it for the time being, you think it through carefully, and tell me your decision in a few days."

Guan Zan heard that he was about to speak, but Xia Mingxi didn't give him a chance to speak, and told him again: "Remember, it's a decision, it's the kind that will never regret it, it's not a spur of the moment, you know?"

Guan Zan froze, then nodded.

Xia Mingxi patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go quickly, don't stand here like a soaked chicken, you look pitiful."

After finishing speaking, the two went upstairs together. Xia Mingxi sent Guan Zan to the door of the bathroom, then picked out a set of unworn home clothes from the closet and put them in the clothes basket at the door.When everything was ready, he went downstairs again, took an umbrella from the umbrella bucket, opened it and went out.

A very eye-catching red Tesla was parked outside the yard. Xia Mingxi went over with an umbrella, the glass on the driver's side came down, Yu Shaojia put his elbows on the car door, and smiled at him.

"I wish I didn't know you?" Xia Mingxi said politely.

"Me too." Yu Shaojia said, "But I know the kid who just went in."

Xia Mingxi understood, and stretched out a hand towards the other party: "I am his piano teacher, surnamed Xia."

The two shook hands briefly, and after they let go, Yu Shaojia took a business card from the storage compartment and handed it over, introducing himself: "It's a friend of a friend, something happened tonight, my buddy is worried, he temporarily If you can’t go away, let me follow.”

Xia Mingxi glanced at the content on the business card, then smiled, and said, "So it's Mr. Ke's friend."

"It will be easier if you know each other." After Yu Shaojia finished speaking, he turned his eyes and pointed to the villa behind, "Is it convenient for me to pick him up?"

Xia Mingxi said: "I don't care, but it seems that Guan Zan may not leave."

"Would you mind telling me what you talked about?"

"There are quite a lot, so I won't repeat them in detail. The more important point is probably that he doesn't plan to continue playing the guzheng."

Yu Shaojia was instantly surprised: "Mr. Xia, are you sure?"

Xia Mingxi said "hmm" and said, "Guan Zan didn't say it directly, but he wants to regain his qualifications for an exchange at a university in Vienna, and his professional intention is to compose music. I heard about this opportunity a few months ago, and I also I have been following him for a long time, the reason he refused last time was that he wanted to continue his studies in guzheng playing, but now he suddenly changed his mind, the reason is actually quite obvious."

Yu Shaojia remained silent, feeling that this matter was out of his scope, and it seemed to be much more difficult than imagined. "I see." He couldn't decide, so he had to say to Xia Mingxi first, "You go back first, please take care of that little thing inside, I'll make a call and ask what Jinrui means."

Xia Mingxi smiled and said, "I just promised Guan Zan to keep it secret, otherwise I'll invite you in."

Yu Shaojia had already dialed the number, but he didn't mind, so he smiled at the other party again, and then raised the car window.