Cannon Fodder's Rebirth

At this moment, Jiang Xi forgot that he came to return the phone.

Subtle emotions that are difficult to describe in words spread out of the body, too many things I wanted to ask, too many things I wanted to know, flooded my mind for a moment, and I suddenly realized that I had never opened my mouth to seek any answers.

In the previous life, so.This life is also...

The Zhong Yifan in front of him touched Jiang Xi even more than he did six years ago.At this age, his appearance is closer to the appearance in the memory of his previous life.

Suppressing those thoughts that could not be uttered after thousands of times, Jiang Xi could only restrain himself, and greeted him with as natural an expression as possible.

After saying "Long time no see" with difficulty, the person opposite just frowned in confusion?

"You are?" Zhong Yifan should be a little surprised, but he is not quite sure that it is really the person he thought of.

"..." This kind of uncertainty made Jiang Xi momentarily at a loss as to what to say.

Even though he was late in junior high school, Zhong Yifan's height of 140cm when he left was 170cm different from his current height of [-]cm; The memories of the past are far away, but the other party no longer recognizes me, and I still can't help but let the bitter taste surging from the bottom of my heart permeate my mouth.

"Jiang Xi." When he announced his name, Jiang Xi had completely lost Zhong Yifan's confidence in remembering this name.

It's not that I didn't recognize him, it's just that it's hard to believe that I ran into him on the street in this way.Those people and things in his hometown were consciously dusted into the bottom of Zhong Yifan's heart, it was a past that was so painful that he didn't want to dare to think about it again.Meeting Jiang Xi so unexpectedly after so many years, Zhong Yifan was actually in such a complicated mood that he didn't even know how to express himself.

"You... have changed a lot." There was a bit of imperceptible embarrassment in this sentence, and then it changed into an indifferent and teasing tone: "No wonder it looks familiar."

"..." It turned out that it was just a little familiar.As if there was nothing more to say suddenly, Jiang Xi opened his mouth several times, but in the end he just handed over the phone he picked up: "Your friend dropped the phone."

……

After Zhong Yifan drove on the J highway on the Yiquanying section, Jiang Xi finally calmed down a bit.

In fact, he didn't even know why he got into Zhong Yifan's car, it was as if he had heard the password, the other party asked him where he lived and let him get in the car, and he got in.

Now that the Internet is already online, there must be something to say, Jiang Xi tried to find a topic to break the silence between the two of them.

"Back then, why did you change schools suddenly?" I thought it was the safest topic, but I didn't know that I was poking Zhong Yifan's wound.

With a self-deprecating smile, Zhong Yifan took out half a box of soft Chinese from the center console box with one hand, flicked the bottom of the box skillfully, took out one, and then threw the cigarette into Jiang Xi's arms.

"Shall you smoke?" Zhong Yifan asked, pulling out the cigarette lighter and lighting it for himself.

"Don't smoke if you have a cold, cough." Jiang Xi did smoke, but he didn't want to now, he was so stuffy in his heart.

"Heh, you still dare to care about me?" When he said this, Zhong Yifan's expression had an evil depravity.

"..."

The person whom he had been thinking about for so many years suddenly appeared alive in front of his eyes, but Jiang Xi suddenly had a feeling that was difficult to express clearly in words.Obviously the person is still the same person, but the way he speaks and behaves cannot be connected with the appearance in memory, and there is a sense of incongruity and strangeness.

Just now when Zhong Yifan was picking up the cigarettes, he casually glanced at the storage box, besides the cigarettes and chewing gum, there were also condoms in it.

This discovery really made me feel very uncomfortable. Although I knew that I had no position and no right to care about anything, I still felt uncomfortable.

"After you left, I looked for you, but no one knew why you changed schools suddenly." After a slight pause, Jiang Xi turned his head and looked over: "How have you been these few years?"

Regarding Zhong Yifan's identity, Jiang Xi has never understood it.In his previous life, he only knew that Zhong Yifan's family was very good, and that he was also a farm boy, that's all.

"What about you? Why did you come to City B all of a sudden?"

Apparently this was Zhong Yifan's intentional avoidance, seeing that he was unwilling to talk more, Jiang Xi didn't force him anymore, and just followed his words to talk about his own situation.

The whole of China's middle school life is the same, nothing special, Jiang Xi doesn't even know if Zhong Yifan is really listening, but he himself speaks quite seriously.In fact, he is usually a person who doesn't talk much, maybe people are such strange animals, even if he doesn't like to talk, he may become a chatterbox for someone.

So when he shut up, he found that he was already near his own community.

"If you don't mind, why don't you come up and have a cup of tea?" No matter what, he was sent from the city to outside the sixth ring road, even though he knew that Zhong Yifan would never come up, polite words should still be said.What's more, he also sincerely hopes to spend more time with Zhong Yifan.

At the gate of the community, the car was parked without turning off the engine.

Zhong Yifan's eyes only stayed on the steering wheel, he smiled and didn't look up: "No, your family is here, so don't trouble them."

This kind of refusal made Jiang Xi nod his head knowingly. He had already stretched out his hand to open the door, but there was still a voice in his heart that didn't know what to say.

"Well... in the future, can I keep in touch with you?"

"Do you really want to keep in touch with me?" Zhong Yifan's tone suddenly became frivolous, and Zhong Yifan turned around, smiling a little thought-provoking.

"..." Jiang Xi was really not used to Zhong Yifan like this, and couldn't help being speechless again.

Taking out another cigarette and lighting it, Zhong Yifan took a deep breath and turned his head away again.

The dimmed eyes slowly passed over the cigarette between the fingers, and the sight became distant in the dense smoke, as if vaguely seeing the long, long ago yesterday through the existence of the river and stream around him.

"What happened that time, you were unlucky enough to be bitten by a dog! As for contact, it's best not to. If you accidentally meet me in the future, it's true to hide away." Now he is not qualified to talk about feelings.

Many things, once happened, cannot be erased.Zhong Yifan felt that he was already festering from the inside out, no matter how much he spoiled it, it was nothing more than a skin that his grandma didn't love and his uncle didn't love.But in the end, Jiang Xi didn't owe him anything. On that night when his life changed completely, he really shouldn't have done that to Jiang Xi who was still a child.

"You...what's the matter?" Jiang Xi didn't make himself remember that matter too deliberately, he knew that it wasn't Zhong Yifan's nature.If there is no grudge, it doesn't matter whether you forgive or not.It's just that now I feel that Zhong Yifan has become so different, he must have experienced something unusual.

"Don't ask, get out of the car!"

"Do you really hate seeing me so much?" Frustration emerged from the bones. It turned out that he was just caring, and he was so rejected.

As if he didn't hear it, it wasn't until the cigarette was finished that Zhong Yifan turned his attention to Jiang Xi's face again, and a light smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

"You really don't want to get out of the car?" The eyes intertwined, the smile on the corner of Zhong Yifan's lips grew stronger, and the self-loathing in his eyes grew deeper: "If you don't leave, be careful that you won't be able to leave."

The one who couldn't leave was Zhong Yifan himself.

When Jiang Xi got on and off the car and was about to leave, Jiang Ma happened to come back from the supermarket opposite the neighborhood.At first I thought it was because my son met new friends when he came to the city, Jiang Ma came over to say hello, but when he heard that Zhong Yifan was also a fellow from the farm, and sent his son back all the way from the city on purpose, he couldn't help but feel very disgusted. Go to your own house to have dinner before leaving.

"Auntie will give you our authentic Northeast home-cooked food! It's just that it's not cooked well, so don't dislike it!"

Seeing that his mother was overly enthusiastic, Jiang Xi was afraid that Zhong Yifan would make things difficult, and he was also afraid that his mother would be embarrassed if he stepped on the accelerator, so he wanted to help smooth things over for him.

"Then I won't be polite to my aunt. It's true that I haven't eaten authentic Northeast cuisine for a long time."

Jiang Xi was about to stop his mother who couldn't refuse her kindness, but the Lord's promise choked him.

Listening to Zhong Yifan's promise to get up after parking the car, Jiang Ma took a step ahead.The community is too old and there is no parking lot, they parked casually in the open space in front of the building, after Zhong Yifan parked the car, he opened the trunk, took out a box of Pu'er cooked tea cakes in a premium gift box and handed it to Jiang Xi.It was brought to him by Cheng Zhiyuan from Yunnan years ago, but as usual, he just didn't appreciate it.

"Do your parents drink tea? This box is 30-year-old naturally ripe, and the taste is said to be okay." Ripe Pu'er tea warms the stomach and is suitable for drinking in winter.

Even though Zhong Yifan said it lightly, Jiang Xi was still taken aback.Pu'er is known as an "drinkable antique". The older it is, the more valuable it becomes. Moreover, it's hard to estimate the value of this kind of thing without professionals. Jiangxi feels that it is not cheap.At the moment, he refused to accept it, but Zhong Yifan insisted that he could not pay New Year's greetings empty-handed, but in the end he couldn't hold him back, so he had to let him go.

In fact, Zhong Yifan himself was quite surprised that he would agree to have dinner at Jiangxi's house.There was a hidden voice in his heart, and he had been unwilling to face it squarely, but the moment he saw Jiang Ma, that voice was so clear that it was about to come out.

Reluctant to admit, he misses his mother very much.

"Your mother, it seems that walking is a bit..." Zhong Yifan noticed that Jiang Ma's walking was more or less unnatural.

"When I was born, I had to take care of my grandma who was paralyzed in bed, and she suffered from confinement disease. I didn't take it seriously when I was young. This time I came here and found that it seemed to be more serious than before." I helped my mother wash her feet and massage her ankles, but unfortunately the technique was unprofessional and didn't seem to have much effect.While talking, Jiang Xi led the person to his door: "I went to the hospital to take an X-ray, and they said it wasn't rheumatism or rheumatoid, and I couldn't find out what's wrong."

Hearing Jiang Xi's caring tone when he talked about his mother, Zhong Yifan stared at him taking the key to open the door, a trace of envy and disappointment flashed in his eyes...

The area of ​​the two-bedroom old building was already very small, and Zhong Yifan's 1.8m[-] height standing inside made the living room space look cramped.

Jiang's father is an honest person who is not good at talking. After seeing his son go out for a while, he brought back a guest. After giving up the cigarettes and tea, he went to the kitchen to help Jiang's mother cook.

After working for a long time, the authentic Northeast dishes are served on the table.

Sauerkraut white meat blood sausage, pork stewed vermicelli, chicken stewed mushrooms...

"Xiao Zhong, right? Come and taste this mushroom, this is our serious Northeast hazel mushroom brought over by Xiaoxi."

At the dinner table, Jiang's mother kept greeting the guests, but Jiang's father would only say "eat more" with a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Auntie." Taking the bowl to pick up the dishes that Jiang Ma kept bringing over, Zhong Yifan didn't correct Jiang Ma's name of "Xiao Zhong", even though his name on his ID card was already "Cheng Yifan". "This sauerkraut is really pickled, did you make it yourself?"

"Is it authentic? I made a big jar on the balcony, if you like it, take two home and eat it!"

Hastily said no, Zhong Yifan smiled wryly in his heart, no one would make it when he took it back: "I remember that when I was young, I loved dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut the most." My mother made the dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut by herself.

"You also like dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut? It's the same as Xiaoxi in our family. There are still some dumplings I made in the morning in the refrigerator, and I'm going to cook them tomorrow morning! Auntie will cook some for you."

Jiang Ma said that she was going to get up to cook, Zhong Yifan already knew that Jiang Ma had a chronic leg pain, so he hurriedly got up and stopped him.

"Mom, you sit down, I'll cook." Jiang Xi also hurriedly stood up.

"You can chat with Xiao Zhong, mom can just go." Knowing that Jiang's father is not good at greeting people, Jiang's mother wanted to keep her son with the guests.

I have always felt a little guilty about my sons Jiang Ma and Jiang Dad. They haven't been around for six years, but this child has never asked them for a penny of living expenses. After entering high school, they don't even have to pay for their tuition.I often hear parents who work together in the factory mention that children who are about the same size as their sons often clamor to buy brand-name sneakers worth thousands of dollars, and the parents are so angry that they yell on the phone that they don’t understand parents who eat outside get bitter.And every time their family called Uncle Jiangxi, what they heard was that his son had never rested at home, no matter on weekends or winter and summer vacations. What is rare is that his academic performance has always been among the best.This time when Jiang Xi came over, he even gave her and Dad Jiang 1 yuan each, and forced them to accept it, so that they would not be reluctant to eat and wear.The son is a freshman in the third year of high school. If parents have such a son, they feel relieved and feel distressed at the same time.It is said that the children of the poor are in charge of the family early. Jiang Ma didn't know that in the small place on the farm, the son had to work hard and work several jobs to save the money slowly.

"Are you afraid that I won't be able to cook it well? Make sure you don't let the guests eat it raw!" Smiling and pressing his mother down, Jiang Xi still insisted on cooking it.

"Jiang Xi, I really don't need to trouble you, so many dishes are enough to eat." Looking at the mother-child relationship, Zhong Yifan was really envious.

"It's okay, cook a few less, I want to eat too."

When Jiang Xi came back with a plate of freshly cooked dumplings, Jiang Ma was jokingly talking to Zhong Yifan about the significance of this dish of stewed chicken with mushrooms to the new son-in-law in his hometown in Northeast China.

"There is an old saying that 'my son-in-law enters the door, the chicken loses his soul'. In our hometown, when the new uncle came to the door for the first time, stewed chicken with mushrooms is an indispensable main dish. If you find that this dish is not on the dinner table, there are nine out of ten It's the mother-in-law, I didn't like this uncle." Jiang Ma just chatted casually, but what she said had no intentions, but the listeners did.

Jiang Xi felt hot when he heard that young master entered the door. He felt a little ashamed and panicked for no reason, so he hurriedly put down the dumplings.Zhong Yifan was chewing on the chicken and reminiscing about those eight characters, wondering if his grandma made this dish for that man when he went to his mother's house for the first time...