Salted Toffee

On December [-]st, after the first snow at the end of last month, another light snow fell.

Zhu Qin came back from his hometown at noon, and hurried back after explaining some things to Zhu Yu.

"Dad," Zhu Yu called to stop Zhu Qin, "do I want to go back?"

Zhu Qin paused: "Do you want to go back?"

Zhu Yu fell silent and did not answer.

"Study hard," Zhu Qin patted Zhu Yu's shoulder, "It's senior year, prepare well."

Zhu Yu responded one by one, and just sent Zhu Qin away at noon, and at night he and Fu Cizhou had a late self-study.

Ever since fireworks were banned in Nanhuai City, Zhu Yu rarely saw fireworks.

He himself is a lively person, and he is still willing to join in the fun in this kind of scene.

On the contrary, Fu Cizhou doesn't really like to stick in the crowd, but Zhu Yu likes it, so he is willing to follow.

The fireworks show started at [-]:[-] p.m., and the venue was the riverside of a park in Nanhuai City.

Fu Cizhou had already bought the tickets and dragged Zhu Yu into the arena an hour earlier.

They didn't discuss it, but they both wore the down jacket they bought together in a tacit understanding.

The lights in the park are flickering and people are coming and going.

Most of them are couples, or parents with children.

Fu Cizhou and Zhu Yu, two teenagers, one black and one white, walked side by side on the road, which was still somewhat conspicuous.

"It's too arrogant," Zhu Yu said in a low voice, "If you don't know, you think we are a couple."

Fu Cizhou held a paper windmill sent on the road in his hand, and when he heard Zhu Yu's words, he paused: "It's just the same style... You can't tell it's so late at night, right?"

Zhu Yu ignored him and ran to look at the colorful lights on the side of the road.

Fu Cizhou followed, not knowing if the other party heard what he said just now.

"It's early," Zhu Yu looked at his phone, "there will be more than 40 minutes before the fireworks."

"Go shopping," Fu Cizhou handed the paper pinwheel to Zhu Yu, "Are you hungry, I'll take you to eat."

The food in the park is quite conscientious. Zhu Yu and Fu Cizhou ordered a bowl of noodles, which added up to less than 50 yuan.

"Do you eat coriander?" Fu Cizhou asked.

Zhu Yu hesitated for a moment: "Add some."

"I haven't seen you eat it before," Fu Cizhou placed an order on his mobile phone, "It feels like the whole world eats coriander except me."

"I haven't eaten much," Zhu Yu leaned on his chin and looked around the store. "If he doesn't eat, I will follow suit."

Fu Cizhou raised his eyes and realized who the "he" Zhu Yu was referring to.

"Coriander is so delicious, I'll take it with you," Fu Cizhou said with a smile, "If you want to eat anything else, I'll take it with you in the future."

"It's nothing." Zhu Yu felt that Fu Cizhou's overly sensitive look was a little cute, "Don't react so much, if I really cared, I wouldn't say it."

"Then you cared about it before?" Fu Cizhou asked.

Zhu Yu tilted his head and thought for a while: "It counts... right?"

I don't know when it started, Zhu Yu has not shy away from what happened in front of Fu Cizhou.

He didn't seem to have said much to the other party, but Fu Cizhou seemed to be omnipotent and knew everything.

Those dark and dark pasts can now be placed in the sun, and they can be spoken out while eating.

As Fu Cizhou said, this is his life, just a little twists and turns, a little bumpy.

Soon, the noodles were served, and Zhu Yu picked up the bunch of coriander with chopsticks, and dipped it in the noodle soup.

"What kind of song is this? It sounds familiar." Fu Cizhou raised his eyebrows and turned his head to find the speakers in the store.

Zhu Yu put the coriander into his mouth, chewed it a little, and his mouth was filled with a strange smell: "What song?"

He is a little uncomfortable, but he can bear it.

"I don't know, I forgot," Fu Cizhou couldn't think of it and didn't get entangled. He picked up the chopsticks and went to scoop up the noodles. "Is the coriander delicious?"

"It's okay," Zhu Yu chewed on the coriander, and when he heard the melody playing in his ears, he felt a little familiar, "It sounds familiar to me, too."

The two of them thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a result. It wasn't until the music played to the chorus that Zhu Yu suddenly realized: "This is not that or that..."

Fu Cizhou listened to his "that" for a long time, and seemed to suddenly remember: "Ah, don't say it!"

"Last year's New Year's party!" Zhu Yu blurted out, "Where is the final chorus!"

Fu Cizhou covered his face with his hands.

He still clearly remembered the phrase "I love you" that Zhu Yu said to him with a sideways smile.

In the next few days, Fu Cizhou's mind was full of the melody of this song, and he even secretly found it to listen to it.

So after a year, he heard the song again. Although he had forgotten it, the memory engraved in his DNA was still there.

"You have a really good memory," Zhu Yu praised, "You can remember it after listening to the beginning."

Fu Cizhou laughed dryly, but did not continue to answer.

But only a year ago, he was still blushing and beating at Zhu Yu's joke.

What likes and loves, if you touch him a bit, you are disgusting him.

But thinking back carefully, Zhu Yu really dared to say anything at that time, and didn't care at all.

Recently, he has restrained himself a lot and stopped joking with him.

But Fu Cizhou thought that Zhu Yu didn't dare, otherwise he could just rush up and deal with him.

There is a price to pay in the end.

After eating at 40:[-], the number of people in the park increased at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The corridor, which was originally quite spacious, was already crowded, especially the lakeside in the center, surrounded by a dense circle of people.

Zhu Yu and Fu Cizhou wandered around leisurely, the former was like a rabbit, where there were many people, he went there.

Fu Cizhou followed Zhu Yu and bought a strawberry candied haws, but he was lost.

"What the hell..." He held up a sugar-coated strawberry, and after pawing at people for a long time, he finally found Zhu Yu who was squatting by the side of the road.

"What are you looking at?" Fu Cizhou squatted beside him, and passed the strawberry, "Here."

Zhu Yu opened his eyes slightly, his mouth curled into an "o": "What a big strawberry!"

This is a small shop that sells goldfish. The white plastic square basins are placed three or four meters away, and there are all kinds of small fish wagging their heads and tails.

"Want to buy a koi?" The shopkeeper handed Fu Cizhou a bag of red goldfish in a small plastic bag, "You're lucky!"

Fu Cizhou picked it up subconsciously, and looked down after taking it: "Is this a carp?"

"Little carp," the storekeeper explained, "will grow."

Fu Cizhou has never believed in ghosts and gods, nor does he feel that he needs a fish to protect him.

But this little fish is really pretty, its tail is spread out, and it seems to raise its orange skirt in the water.

The water was transparent, and there were two leaves the size of a fingernail in it. Fu Cizhou brought the plastic bag in front of him, and looked at it through a layer of transparency through the light hanging on the booth.

And the little fish in the water also seemed to feel something, moved closer to the corner of the bag, and seemed to be staring at Fu Cizhou too.

With a "click", Zhu Yu took a photo with his mobile phone.

"Shoot me?" Fu Cizhou reacted immediately.

With half a piece of strawberry in his mouth, Zhu Yu shook his head indiscriminately: "Shoot the fish."

"Show me if it looks good." Fu Cizhou leaned over to have a look.

"Looks good," Zhu Yu put away the phone and took Xiaoyu from Fu Cizhou's hand, "Boss, how much is this?"

Zhu Yu has always been very economical in spending money, and sometimes he is reluctant to add sausage to the pancake fruit.

But this time, he was willing to spend 30 yuan to buy a small fish, without even a jar, just a plastic bag filled with water.

"He is a koi," Zhu Yu said earnestly, "Good luck."

"You don't really believe it, do you?" Fu Cizhou said in surprise, "I thought no one under the age of 30 would believe this stuff."

There were still a few minutes before the fireworks were set off, and they found a place with fewer people.

There are many trees here, so it is not the best place to view the scenery, but fortunately, people stand more apart, so that it will not be crowded with people by the lake.

"It's fun to buy it," Zhu Yu said, "and this fish is quite beautiful..."

He ate the last of the strawberries, the sugar shell stuck to the corner of his mouth.

Fu Cizhou tapped his lips with his hand, and Zhu Yu was holding a small fish in his other hand, and rubbed it with the back of his hand reluctantly, but the small piece of sugar shell stuck to the back of his hand again.

"Hey..." Zhu Yu wiped the back of his hand with the hand holding the candied haws again.

"Where's your paper pinwheel?" Seeing Zhu Yu's flustered appearance, Fu Cizhou simply grabbed his wrist and flicked the little sugar shell for him.

The winter night is very cold, and when I speak, I exhale a lot of hot air.

Zhu Yu's hands were cold, as if he couldn't warm them up.

With such a momentary impulse, Fu Cizhou wanted to hold that hand in his palm forever.

"Ah..." Zhu Yu thought for a while, "It must have landed in a noodle shop."

Fu Cizhou lowered his head and chuckled, and let go of Zhu Yu's hand.

Suddenly, there was a sharp sound in the distance, and all the people sitting around stood up.

"Snapped--"

The first fireworks exploded in the dark night.

The orange one was almost right above Zhu Yu's head, covering most of the sky.

"Wow..." Zhu Yu raised his head to see the sparkling tail of the fireworks, and let out a sigh of astonishment with everyone else.

Fu Cizhou also looked up at the sky, but he quickly retracted his gaze and looked sideways at the boy who was carrying a goldfish beside him.

As the blossoming fireworks rushed into the sky, warm yellow light shone on Zhu Yu's face.

His bangs were on his forehead, and they were blown up a few by the night wind. His mouth was half open, as if he saw something extraordinary.

Fu Cizhou raised the corners of his lips and raised his arms to wrap around Zhu Yu's shoulders.

It's like a long time ago when the two of them came out of school together, the boys were playing and fighting, and they hugged each other naturally.

He wanted to get closer to Zhu Yu.

"Master," Zhu Yu leaned against Fu Cizhou, poking him excitedly with his elbow, "I like the blue one just now!"

"Little boy," Fu Cizhou looked at Zhu Yu's eyes with a little light, and his whole person became happy, "It's just to watch the fireworks, what's the matter?"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a burst of cheers from the crowd not far away.

Zhu Yu was instantly attracted to the attention, and stretched his neck to look over there: "What's wrong?"

"Someone proposes." A passer-by who hurried past said casually.

"Wow," Zhu Yu followed the crowd and was about to walk there, "Go and see."

"Hey..." Fu Cizhou dragged him back, "Why do you like to join in the fun so much?"

"I haven't seen a marriage proposal yet," Zhu Yu said after eating the strawberries and throwing the bamboo sticks into the trash can, "Go and see!"

Fu Cizhou had always let Zhu Yu go. The two stood outside to watch the proposal. Except for the black head, they didn't even see the protagonist.

Zhu Yu was quite happy, and followed the crowd to coax him several times.

"What are you yelling for?" Fu Cizhou couldn't laugh or cry, "I didn't even see anyone."

"I didn't see it either," Zhu Yu said, "but they should be very happy."

"Nonsense," Fu Cizhou pulled Zhu Yu out of the crowd, "Of course I'm happy to be married."

Zhu Yu held Fu Cizhou's hand, and asked him with a smile: "Are you happy getting married in the future?"

Fu Cizhou glanced at Zhu Yu: "Let's see who."

Zhu Yu smiled and pointed at himself: "Why are you looking at me when you say that?"

Fu Cizhou rolled his eyes: "You talk to me, I don't look at who do you look at?"

He pulled Zhu Yu away from the crowd, and Zhu Yu lowered his head to check if the bag of his little goldfish was broken.

The fireworks have not stopped yet, and the bouquet of flowers is reflected on the lake, which is both water and sky.

Fu Cizhou took out an exquisite small box from his pocket and put it in front of Zhu Yu before he felt something was wrong.

"Fuck!" Zhu Yu was taken aback, "You won't propose marriage too, will you?"

This box is too similar to the ring box!

"I'm begging for a fart!" Fu Cizhou blushed, and quickly opened it without waiting to give it to Zhu Yu, "It's a wood carving!"

Zhu Yu took a look through the dim street lamp, and there was indeed a small dark brown fish lying among the shredded paper.

"Huh? Is it a fish?" He took out the wood carving, looked at it in his hand and asked again, "Is it a dolphin?"

"No," Fu Cizhou's face darkened again, "What do you think? I clearly carved fangs, this is a shark."

Zhu Yu turned the wood carving over and saw that there were indeed sharp teeth in the mouth.

It's just that the street lamps are too dark and the wood is very dark, so you have to look carefully to see it.

"Really!" Zhu Yu sighed halfway, suddenly realized something, and suddenly raised his head and said, "You engraved it?!"

"No?" Fu Cizhou raised his head and chest, and wrote the word "drag" on his face.

"Really or not?!" Zhu Yu Xin was so curious that he looked at this small wooden fish carving over and over in his hand, "Why don't I believe it?"

"Is it so difficult to admit that I'm great?" Fu Cizhou covered the box and threw it into Zhu Yu's arms, "Birthday gift!"

The wood carving is not big, at most half the size of a fist.

Zhu Yu's fingers are long and slender, holding the body of the fish, he can directly hold the wood carving in Shini's hand.

"When did you learn it?" Zhu Yu asked.

"During the summer vacation," Fu Cizhou said, "when I went to Yuanzhou, the red sandalwood my dad bought was said to be a medicinal material to ward off evil spirits."

Zhu Yu held the shark wood carving, and his heart warmed up: "Don't you not believe this?"

Fu Cizhou paused and forcefully explained: "Occasionally believe in letters."

As he spoke, he took out another small thing from his pocket.

"There's one more..." Fu Cizhou looked down at his palm, and flicked something in it with his thumb, "I want to give it to you too."

He spread his fingers, a string of dark sandalwood beads lay in the palm of his hand.

Zhu Yu took the string and looked at it carefully under his eyes. The beads on it were not big, only the size of a little finger cap.

It's just that those beads are crooked and different in size, so they don't come off the qualified production line at first glance.

"You did it too?" Zhu Yu lowered his head, his voice hoarse.

"The leftovers are just used for waste." Fu Cizhou pinched one end of the bracelet with his fingers and passed it to Zhu Yu for viewing. "There is also this, which is also a small shark."

This shark was only half the size of a fingernail, and mixed with the wooden beads, it was unavoidably inconspicuous.

"Shark again?" Zhu Yu asked.

"do not like?"

"No." Zhu Yu brushed the little fish lightly with his fingers, "I just thought, I thought it was a dolphin."

"Why dolphins?" Fu Cizhou was puzzled.

"Dolphins are cuter," Zhu Yu didn't know why, "they are more popular, so... I think so."

"It's cute but it can't be eaten," Fu Cizhou raised his head, looking over Zhu Yu's head and looking into the distance, "It's better to be a shark."

"Where is it good?" Zhu Yu asked.

"You can bite people," Fu Cizhou said, "Be a shark, no one dares to bully you."

Zhu Yu's eyes were moist, but he laughed: "Who bullied me?"

Fu Cizhou was silent for a moment, then raised his hand to rub Zhu Yu's hair: "I'm afraid that people will bully you."

Be a baby shark with pointy teeth showing.

Whoever treats you badly will bite back hard.

It’s okay not to be liked, it’s okay not to be that good.

As long as you protect yourself, you will always be healthy and free, and you will always be free and happy.

"No one... bullied me." Zhu Yu's voice was very low, choked with sobs.

He said so in his mouth, but the emotions in his heart had already turned into a stormy sea.

His parents bullied him when he was young, the older children in the orphanage bullied him, Wei Xia bullied him after he was adopted, and he was still bullied by people he hated when he went to school.

But he can only be the most obedient and obedient child, silently accepting these malice from all directions.

The world seemed to be against him all the time.

Make things difficult for him in different ways.

He almost couldn't bear it.

But that summer, Fu Cizhou lay on the horizontal bar and learned to cry twice.

The slightly irritable teenager stepped into his world cursing and swearing.

Some people understand the grievance he suppressed in his heart, and some people understand the unwillingness behind his hesitation to speak.

Someone told him that he could live in the sun, so Zhu Yu didn't want to keep shutting himself in the shadows.

He wants to call his name and celebrate his birthday.

This is his life, Fu Cizhou's life.

The fireworks continued to bloom, and exclamations came from the crowd.

The crowd was noisy, laughing, fighting, and noisy.

But in this environment, Fu Cizhou heard a tiny sob.

"Hey..." He boldly wrapped his palms around the back of Zhu Yu's head.The other hand pressed down on the shoulder, and with a little force, he pressed the person to his chest, "Okay, okay, let's hug at the same table."