【Summer Five】Iron City Wall

After nightfall, the already gloomy void becomes darker and darker, like a mask covered with full gray scale.Only the winding and undulating eaves of the buildings are within the field of vision, and they are connected in a line, forming the background color of the hasty and rugged night.

Xia You left the hut under such night and headed for the furnace factory.

He really couldn't hold it these few days, so he lay down on the table and squinted for a while, and was afraid of being noticed by Wutiao, so he only dared to give himself ten or twenty minutes.The ever-increasing funds in the savings card really encouraged Xia You. Whenever he swiped his card for consultation at the Earl Bank, he would be spurred by the real money to continue his day's work.

This has also become an alternative consolation—especially when the chip experiments are not going well.The card reader is normal, but the comprehensive network "Walden Lake" has always been invincible, so strong that it almost jumped in front of the two of them.Xia You often encourages Wu Tiao with old-fashioned sayings, but she is inevitably a little depressed. Every day, she worries about the huge sum of money that cannot be filled and the card reader that keeps turning on the red light, and turns 16 into 46.

Stepping into the factory, Xia You quietly held the small thing that had been polished for a long time in his pocket, and the corners of his lips curved slightly.

As long as Wu can stay in the attic with peace of mind, and live in such a clean, pure, and ignorant way, everything will be worth it, he thought.I do this not for anyone, but for peace of mind: Just as believers cannot accept a god who has stepped into the mortal world, Xia You cannot imagine that Wu is exhausted day and night.

To put it vulgarly, he will feel bad—he will feel badly.

The central bearing was turning heavily, and a dozen circles of workers took turns heating it to ensure that the fuel was always sufficient.The hot air filled every inch of the air, Xiayou wiped the sweat from his forehead, and took a shovel to join in.

At first, he was buried in his work as usual, not paying attention to his surroundings.The huge workload makes people breathless, and there is nothing else to do except urge the muscles to move continuously.Until the change of group in the middle, Xia You wiped his sweat and looked up, and suddenly saw a silver shadow in the crowd.

He laughed at himself, thinking he was wrong.

But the bright color has not faded, and it has always stood clearly in the center of the field of vision, from a stand-out angle—Gojo Satoru is so tall that it is difficult for you to confuse him with others.

For a moment, Xia You's mind went blank.

When he came back to his senses again, what he was holding under his hand was no longer a shovel, but someone's immaculate white collar.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Xia You almost roared angrily, "Johnny told you...?"

Wujo looked at him with nothing in his eyes, like a sea without rocks.He didn't blink, and the cold and indifferent sense of isolation overflowed from his body, driving Xia You out.

"You care about me?" He spoke clearly, and the syllables were as cold as if they had just been chiseled out of a thousand-meter glacier. "Who are you, why do you care about me?"

Xia You was startled, and immediately let go of her hand.

In the past, there have been countless disputes between him and Wutiao, and there are many people who quarreled red-faced and directly engaged in a fight; but no matter which time, it has never been so biting and fatal.What is he?A dispensable "friend", a worthless "partner"—a far cry from Wutiao, a small and ridiculous passerby.

Wujo turned back into the god sitting on the high altar, his eyes were as clear as rhinestones, but they were no longer vivid.The gods have identified the seven inches of the believer, and with just a light pinch, he can be wiped out.

The flow of people changing groups around was bustling, and the noise covered up this small farce.Xia You took half a step back, suddenly not knowing what expression to put on.Or he couldn't control his facial muscles at all, so he could only keep his face stiff like a marionette, and his voice was unusually calm.

"Okay." He said, his voice was very low, almost forced into a line: "You are right, I am indeed nothing, and I have no right to influence your choice."

It was as if he was clearly in pain in his heart, but he didn't show it at all on his face, only the tails of his slender eyes drooped slightly, leaving a numb and pale crease.

"Wu——" Xia You called, as soft as a sigh, "Wu, I just don't want to see you do these things, you shouldn't be here."

Wujo also looked at him with cold eyes: "Then where should I be? A castle in the air, a Taoyuan town, or a deserted wasteland? You shouldn't treat me like a vase, Jie, you will only scratch your hands bleeding."

This is quite true, but Xia You just smiled wryly after all.Wujo never understood his position in his heart, because he had already planned to take these delusional thoughts to the grave without revealing the slightest bit.

"You are by no means a vase, Wu. You are a beautifully carved sword, which should not be held by anyone; the sword is not used to cut wood and make fire, it should only appear in the coronation ceremony, and be placed lightly by the pope. On the shoulders of emperors, bathe in the most noble prayers and cheers."

The more he spoke, the calmer he became, and his brain had never been so clear.But the stranded giant whale will only feel torment, waiting and panting in shallow water, but it has been too long to call the tide.

"Jie, I don't agree." His god was still unmoved, "You still don't understand, I—"

So Xia You broke out in the silence: He simply turned around and left without stepping into the crowd.The five unspoken words fluttered around lightly, falling into the noisy and extremely lonely air.

"—I just wanted to help."

Just as Wutiao thought that Xia You didn't take herself seriously, Xia You did not fully understand Wutiao.The latter fell into almost the same situation as him at that moment: it seemed to be rational to the extreme, and the layer of skin was lifted, but it was just a huge wave that was about to burst the embankment.

He still came, but with a very different purpose from before.

Not out of unreasonable jokes, Wujo just tasted an unprecedented huge impact from this fact.Like someone pouring down a bucket of icy water, his hands and feet were cold, every slow heartbeat beat heavily on his ribs, the cage made of frost shook, and cracks spread one by one; this wave The culmination came when I saw Jay hunched over and staggered to and from the workshop.

Something instantly shattered into pieces, and the fragments turned into thousands of snowflakes that sank into the bone marrow, and it was too cold to think.He was speaking almost instinctively, and he was so calm and indifferent, as if his soul had been pulled out of his body, looking down at Gojo Satoru with frosty eyes.

Since that day, they haven't spoken to each other for a whole week.The experiment was still progressing smoothly, and the hard ice between the two didn't seem to hinder the tacit understanding at all. No matter what they did, the shadow of the other person was always lingering.Old Chen was the first to notice something strange, but he really didn't know how to intervene in the troubles of young people, so he sighed all day long and looked at Wutiao with more and more hateful eyes.

Little did he know that Wujo also felt overwhelmed, even slightly panicked.Xia You had never had a serious cold war with him. In the past, no matter how fierce the quarrel was, as long as he slapped him with a good voice, he could always be coaxed back.But this time he was even stingy with sharing a look. Even though he gave up and ran to the furnace in the middle of the night under the offensive of blocking the door all night, he never expressed frustration or anger.

Wujo thought that Jie would not leave; but as the days passed, he became uncertain again.

After all, what difference does one more person have and one less person make?Five articles have always distinguished "self" and "others" very clearly, never staying in the middle of the matter, and never feeling the truth.

By now, he could easily draw a line to drive Jie away from his body and remove all the traces left by him; but when Jie turned his face away, he scratched his heart and lungs and felt uncomfortable, his hands hanging high I can't fall down for a long time, I just want to take another look at those clear eyes.

Kejie didn't look back.He stood where he was, neither far nor near, as if he was about to ride the wind and leave at any time.

At the rally the next Thursday, Gojo found Jonny for the first time and apologized reluctantly.

"It's not all your fault," Johnny sighed. "It's always because everyone didn't communicate well—disagreements are just an inducement."

Gojo squatted in front of the bonfire, covering his eyes irritably: "Then I apologize to the head office, right? Jie really didn't make it clear, he didn't discuss such a big matter with me, and in the end he just left me alone."

"Don't be rude."

Surrounded by flames, Jonny glanced at Xia You who was alone in the distance, approached Wutiao and said, "You should be considerate and considerate of Jie. It's not that he looks down on you if he doesn't let you know."

After so many days, no matter how dull Wujo was, he understood this.He snorted vaguely, and when Johnny cleared his throat, he continued uncomfortably: "You don't understand, it's a feeling, do you understand? I don't want people who value me Seeing his tired and haggard appearance...Jie is always thinking of you, but you insist on confronting him and say such hurtful things, who would not be angry?"

The five were shrinking into a ball. "It's not that I don't know." He murmured softly, "It's just nonsense nonsense, put it on."

"Jay..." Johnny paused, and changed his words abruptly: "Jay cares about you very much, you should be convinced of that."

Wujo put down his hands, his eyes without sunglasses were dyed warm orange by the flames, like sunset glowing against the sky.He frowned unconsciously, and gently stroked his heart, always feeling that something was about to break through the ground.

It was a seed that had already been intertwined, and after years of infection, each root was strong and tough enough.Wu Tiao didn't know how to name it, the seeds never germinated, but grew quietly, long enough to wrap the entire heart.

Fissures burst open and sunlight diffused heat.Even if it is not yet known, the seeds will eventually poke out the bud horns, trembling and pulling up,

"Then how can he..." Gojo thought for a while, "Not angry?"

Johnny shook his head, not in a hurry, and even smiled slyly: "Don't panic, I just said you have to believe it, so you forgot?"

"The person who is annoyed and introspective by this - you are not alone."

Back at the attic, Wujo was still pondering what Johnny said, when the door suddenly opened.

In the past few days, Xia Youda had the attitude of being out of sight and out of mind, and stayed in the laboratory without leaving.At this moment, he opened the door and came in, sat down on the edge of the bed with a serious expression on his face.

Gojo didn't say a word, and looked at him quietly, his heart beating a few beats faster.

"I've been thinking about this matter for a long time," Xia You said softly, without seeming to complain, "It was my fault to hide it from you. I'm sorry for not being able to consider your feelings."

The desk lamp was on warmly, Wu Tiao straightened his waist, and rushed to speak: "It's my fault! I apologize! Next time if you don't listen to what you say, just hit me directly-I will let you do a few tricks, just don't hit your face! "

He hurriedly seemed to be asking for credit, but Xia You couldn't hold back, and a small smile escaped from his throat.

He finally recovered his sleep these days, his complexion recovered a lot, and the lingering gloom between his brows and eyes almost disappeared.With such a smile, a faint joy lingered upwards, embellishing the tails of the eyes with a bit of Gu Qi.

Wutiao looked at him with his mouth open, as if he hadn't expected this.

"I thought I'd give it until my birthday, but who knew that something like this happened, so I simply used it to make amends." Xia You didn't hide her smile, and motioned for Wutiao to come over.The latter stretched out half of his neck in a daze, as if he had made a mistake and let others slaughter him.

The back of the neck was slightly cool, it was Xia You's fingertips rubbing against the skin, leaving a feeling of coldness and burning.

"All right."

Wujo raised his head, and the front of his neck was slightly heavy.

A ring was strung on the bright red cotton thread, hanging firmly on the chest.The texture of the ring cannot be seen, the whole body is silver and white, with a little blue shimmer in the texture, changing and swimming like life.

Under the warm lighting, the alloy seems to have heat.The size lining the front was only a small grain, but it fell into the chest like a red-hot iron, scorching the five pieces so hard that the head couldn't turn at all.

"An early birthday, or a simple gift." Xia You said with a smile, with a slightly embarrassed expression, "I just want to tell you that we still have a long way to go in the future, and I will always be there around you."

Just entrust my last thoughts to accompany you in the years you still want to remember; from now on, I will no longer be greedy for delusions, return to my duty as a friend, and firmly guard the boundaries not to exceed half a step.

——At that time, Xia You thought so.