Dear Chen Jiu

On the way home from visiting the prison, there was a bit of cold wind and I caught cold, and that night I caught a cold and had a fever.

In the middle of the night, I felt dizzy with a fever, and I struggled to get out of bed to boil water and take medicine. When Ping An was woken up, I nestled on the edge of the sofa and squinted at me.

"Go in and sleep if you're sleepy, and we, father and son, don't have to put on this show of fatherly kindness and filial piety."

I push him with my foot.

Then Ping An really jumped up from the sofa and went back to the room to sleep.

Heh, Nizi's attitude towards me is almost like a cat born by Chen Jiu himself.

Holding the hot ceramic cup, I spread my hands and looked at the red palm.

The pen writing has been washed off long ago, but the palm still seems to be numb.

I got up and took out the business card from under the coffee table, which had Chen Jiu's phone number printed on it.

I can memorize it after reading it once, but I am still afraid of making mistakes. I click on the column to add friends and enter the mobile phone number, and the WeChat account of Chen Jiuxin pops up.

The nickname is his own name, and the profile picture is the signboard of the firm.

The circle of friends is publicly visible, and there is not much content, just some design works and architecture related.

It turned out that this person's contact information had really been changed a long time ago.

I flipped around and saved a few pictures.

This person seems to be a ruthless money-making machine, which hasn't changed much from five years ago.

Such a person, you say he is going to get married?I was a little overwhelmed when I first found out.

At this moment, I was so burnt and confused that I calmed down and thought about it carefully, but I started to feel a little unbelievable.

Finally, after much hesitation, I sent a friend request.

Then I went back to my room to sleep with the cup in my arms.

Thanks to this cold, for the first time since I returned to China, I slept without sleep until dawn, and when I woke up, the fever had subsided.

I remembered that my phone was still on the sofa, and my ostrich mentality forced me to get it.

After all, there are still things to deal with at work, and my hands are shaking when I hold the phone.

'I approved your friend verification request...', a system message.

Depend on!I was a little inexplicably excited grabbing the phone, and when I was pouring cat food for Ping An, I couldn't help pouring a little more.

"Your father is still reliable."

People are refreshed on happy occasions, and their work efficiency in the morning has improved a lot by the way.

At noon, I received a message from Lao Xiao, saying that he was going back to Qingjiang, but he didn’t welcome me when I returned home. Before I left, I was invited to have a meal and asked if I had time.

There is no conflict between me and Lao Xiao, it's just because many things that happened that year were too sudden, or we both need time to digest.

I understand Lao Xiao's character, he won't really hold grudges against me.

But once there is no contact between people for a long time, even if you want to restore the relationship, it is difficult to find an entry point without face-to-face communication.

I can feel that he is also trying very hard to pick up this relationship again, otherwise it wouldn't be so obvious when we sat in the coffee shop last time.

But today's meal was a bit out of my expectation. I thought we would have to wait until he got engaged to meet again.

I set the place at the restaurant downstairs.

I have packed meals at his house several times, and the taste is good and the portion is sufficient. I remember Lao Xiao has a big appetite.

Today is not a working day, we all dressed more casually, I specially chose the food stall downstairs, and chose a less serious occasion to make the atmosphere more casual.

"Do you have weekends for your internship?" Old Xiao took the lead to open the conversation.

"Study on Saturday and work overtime on Sunday."

I drink water to relieve the dryness of my throat.

"Why do you have a cold?"

"Maybe I caught a cold due to the cold wind. I'm fine. I'm on leave today."

"Is your physical fitness so poor now?" Lao Xiao asked in surprise.

I accidentally ate a prickly ash, and was pouring water into my mouth, when I heard this, I waved my hand and said, "It's rare, I may be a little uncomfortable when I just came back."

"Oh, the temperature has dropped drastically recently, you should pay more attention.

This chicken leg is really good. "

"That's right, then eat more and pack a portion to take away later. I usually rely on this store to support me."

"I thought you've been abroad for so long, and you cook for yourself when you come back."

"The internship is too busy. I still have homework at my school."

"Have you found someone yet?" Old Xiao asked.

This topic is relevant. Seeing that I didn't reply, Lao Xiao looked up at me, and I shrugged helplessly.

In this case, Lao Xiao will not ask any more questions, but the topic cannot be stopped here, so I will take the initiative to change the topic.

"You," I was going to ask, are you going to get engaged to the person you like?But I can't say these words, if the parties choose to forget things, why should I use this as an entry point to expose other people's scars.

Seeing that I hesitated to speak, Lao Xiao looked at me, and I put a chicken leg into his bowl, "Eat more."

After losing contact for five years, it is impossible to expect to be brought back to the past with just one meal.

This meal is probably the warmest meal Lao Xiao and I have had since we have known each other for so many years. There was no confrontation or quarrel.

After watching him leave in the car, I went home and continued to work overtime.

Before going to bed at night, I found that the cold seemed to be getting worse. It may be because I ate a little spicy at noon. At this moment, not only my nose is stuffy, but my throat is also burning.

Thinking about not delaying my work tomorrow, I got up and prepared to go to the hospital for a water hang.

On the way to the hospital by taxi, I thought about whether I should take the time to get a driver's license, otherwise it would be too inconvenient to travel.

I stuffed a roll of toilet paper in my coat pocket, and looked for a trash can while blowing my nose. The fire in my throat hurt, and the pepper was harmful.

***

"Mr. Chen, the doctor said it's best to hang water."

"No, the plane at [-] o'clock on the South Bridge."

"I'll pick you up from Mr. Nan's side. You'd better stay here to hang water... It's really not going to go on like this."

...

When I opened the form to pay the fee, I heard a familiar voice.

I sniffed, but my ear canals were blocked.

I looked back, but didn't see a familiar figure.

Are you hallucinating?

I was sitting in the infusion room and taking a bottle. The hospital is really a busy place 24 hours a day, all year round.

My ears are filled with the sound of children crying, and when I close my eyes, I feel a splitting headache, this fucking world.

I endured it, and finally stood up in a compromise, squinted my eyes and looked around, trying to find a quiet corner.

I really found it, and I walked over holding the hanging bottle.

There is another man in this corner who is getting an infusion. His upper body is covered by a piece of clothing, only a hand with a needle hole is exposed, and his lower body is black trousers and leather shoes.

The whole look of not being close to strangers is obviously tortured by this noisy environment.

I walked over with light steps, and when I took out a tissue from my pocket to blow my nose, a piece of tissue that I crumpled up accidentally bounced on him, making a slight movement.

As if facing a formidable enemy, I moved my hand carefully, and just as I was about to pick up the tissue paper, I was grabbed by the hand with the pinhole.

"Thief?" A weary voice came from under the clothes.

Wrong, if you take your clothes away and look at me, you know that it is impossible for a person like me to do this.

But it was indeed me who disturbed others, so I confessed first, "Misunderstanding, I dropped the tissue paper on you, I'm sorry."

This man is quite strong, and he still has such strength in his hand when the needle is pierced.

As soon as I finished speaking, the hand holding me paused for a moment, then let go of the strength in the hand, and ignored me no more.

It is easy to deal with civilized people.

"I'm sorry."

I picked up the tissue and put it in my pocket, then took out my mobile phone to watch the surveillance in the living room at home.

Ping An, who was supposed to be sleeping at this time, actually squatted at the door of the house.

This Nizi is really duplicity, he doesn't want to see me when he's at home.

I went out to hang the water in the middle of the night, and you started to wait for me?

I clicked on the intercom function on my phone, and was afraid of disturbing the man next to me, so I turned my head and whispered, "Peace, don't wait for me, go to sleep."

Ping An in the surveillance system searched for the familiar voice to find the source of the sound.

I was suddenly moved by this kitten, it's not that he doesn't love me, he obviously needs me very much.

"Hey, Dad will go home after hanging the water."

After hearing the sound, Ping An slept directly under the surveillance, the place closest to my voice.