three feet away

"Is this ok?"

"what about this?"

"Isn't that okay too?"

This was already the countless times that Yan Ruyi had asked Xu Xu if the gift she was holding was suitable.

Every time she promised and nodded, she felt that it was not good enough, so she gave up and chose something else.Then he sighed in frustration as he promised to nod again.

Xu Nuo followed behind her, looked at her hands that were still empty from the first floor to the third floor of the store, and finally couldn't help reaching out to hook Yan Ruyi's hand, pulling Yan Ruyi who asked the teller what skin care products were suitable for her mother. Wearing a belt, taking advantage of his height, he pressed his neck and put his mouth against her ear and asked her with a helpless smile:

"Yan Ruyi, are you nervous?"

Yan Ruyi breathed out, the hot air on Xu Nuo's lips made her ears itchy, she shrank her neck and fled to the side, complaining to Xu Nuo: "You can't even help."

"I don't know them very well." Xu Nuo raised his eyebrows, looked at Yan Ruyi seriously, and smiled lightly: "The situation in my family is complicated, and I have nothing in common with them. In the past six years, except for taking money from the family , just contact them during Chinese New Year, I really don’t know what they like.”

"..." Yan Ruyi frowned, feeling sorry for the seemingly indifferent expression on Xu Nuo's face at the moment, she hugged her, and patted Xu Nuo's back comfortingly.

Xu Nuo hugged Yan Ruyi back, smiled and opened her curled fingers: "Don't be nervous, we're going back to have lunch."

"I haven't been home for so many years, why don't I go back and live for a few days?"

"Hmm..." Xu Nuo was silent for a moment, and said calmly, "Let's see it again." After speaking, he let go of Yan Ruyi, turned around and walked towards the tobacco and alcohol area, and said with his back to her, "Why don't you buy two bottles of wine and go back. I I remember... he seems to like drinking more."

Yan Ruyi stood where she was, watching Xu Nuo's tall back going further and further away, and sighed deeply. She couldn't take another look at such a lonely back. She couldn't imagine that in a foreign country without the care of relatives, Xu Nuo was How did you survive those four years?Now when she deliberately straightened her thin back and said calmly that she didn't know her family very well, she wondered if her heart hurt as much as when she was kicked out of the house?

"Hey, why don't you come? Have you thought of something to buy?"

Xu Nuo had reached the tobacco and alcohol area only to realize that Yan Ruyi hadn't followed. She turned around, waved to Yan Ruyi and asked.

Yan Ruyi looked at her, with a gentle smile on her face, as if she was looking at the most precious thing in the world, her waist-length hair gently swayed with her beckoning movements, and her slender figure under the coat was captured The perfect outline of the close-fitting sweater, she saw the man passing by her secretly looking at her, but she didn't care at all, just smiled at herself.

Yan Ruyi is no stranger to this kind of scene. Xu Nuo is still the same as when she was in school. Wherever she goes, she has the capital of attracting attention. She seems to be the teenager in her teens. other people.It's just that that aloof face at the beginning seldom had an expression that was not bad for the people around her, but now, she seems to like to smile a little bit, always with a smile on her face, using politeness to distance herself from the world At the same time, I gave myself the most intimate zero distance.

Seeing Yan Ruyi standing still, Xu Nuo walked back suspiciously, and asked her when she was about three meters away, "What's wrong?"

Yan Ruyi took a breath, raised her feet and stepped forward quickly, facing Xu Nuo, took her hand and shook her head: "It's nothing, I just saw someone looking at you."

After hearing what Xu Nuo said, he pulled Yan Ruyi back and walked forward in a funny way: "Your eyes are on other people, why don't you let them see them?"

Yan Ruyi pursed her lips, took Xu Nuo's hand and said nothing, she didn't tell Xu Nuo, in fact, she just suddenly felt sorry for her for those years when she walked alone.

Near noon, Xu Nuo drove the car to a place less than three kilometers away from the home in memory and stopped. Following the route given by the navigation, she had already turned around this area for nearly 10 minutes, and then returned to the original place. She finally Discouraged, he picked up his phone and made a call.

Yan Ruyi was sitting on the co-pilot, clasped her left hand on the back of Xu Nuo's right hand that was on the gear lever, and patted gently to calm her gradually uncontrollable emotions.

Along the way, the more she walks to the place she walked when she came to pick up Xu Nuo in memory, the stronger the strangeness becomes.The former gravel road has been replaced with a cement road, and all the houses on the roadside have been demolished. The original farmland is only covered with yellow weeds more than a foot high. White smoke is coming out of the chimneys of the factory, but there are no workers walking around in the factory area. The weeds beside the country road outside the window are shaking their shriveled stems in the cold wind. It seems that there is no life here.

"It's at the gate of this factory building. There is a problem with the navigation route."

"Well, then I'll wait here."

"it is good."

"OK Bye Bye."

Holding up the phone, Xu Nuo stretched his neck and looked out like Yan Ruyi, briefly said a few words to the person on the other side of the phone, then turned off the car, turned his head to look at Yan Ruyi, and gave her a look. Indescribable how complicated the smile is: "I haven't been back for a long time, the changes are too great, I got lost..." After finishing speaking, he turned his head away.

In the rearview mirror, Yan Ruyi easily caught a glimpse of the blush in the corner of Xu Nuo's eyes. She didn't say anything, but tightly grasped her hand on the gear lever.

After touching for about 10 minutes, Yan Ruyi saw a middle-aged woman riding an electric scooter from the opposite direction from a distance. The closer she got, the slower the speed of the scooter. He felt Xu Nuo's right hand on the gear lever tighten suddenly, and then heard a long sigh.

Yan Ruyi withdrew his hand, hooked his body slightly and watched the electric car stop. A woman about his mother's age who was still wearing an apron came down from the car, hooked her neck tentatively, looked into the car and shouted, "Promise?"

The person around sniffed, coughed lightly, lowered the car window, and yelled a word with lowered eyebrows: "Mom."

Seeing the people in the car clearly, the woman nodded repeatedly and promised: "Hey, hey, I thought I found the wrong one, that's right."

Xu Nuo looked up at her quickly, then lowered his head again: "It's over, I can't recognize the way."

"No, there are plans everywhere, saying that our house will also be moved to the side of the road next year." The woman laughed, the lines in the corners of her eyes were sunken, but there was a golden light in her eyes. Seeing Yan Ruyi on the co-pilot, She bent down and waved with a smile: "Are you Xu Nuo's friend?"

Yan Ruyi nodded quickly: "Hello, Auntie."

"Let you see a joke, our place has changed too much, and she hasn't come back for a long time. No wonder she can't be found."

Yan Ruyi smiled, and looked sideways at Xu Nuo.

Xu Nuo didn't say anything more, he lowered his head and turned on the car: "Let's go back first."

"Hey," the woman nodded heavily, pushed the electric car around and straddled it, turned around and said to Xu Nuo when it was about to start, "You just follow me."

"En." Xu Nuo agreed dully.

Looking at the back of the cyclist in front of her, Yan Ruyi had mixed feelings in her heart. She didn't dare to ask Xu Nuo what it was like to see her biological mother whom she had not seen for four years. She didn't know Xu Nuo's family very well, but she only remembered that she asked herself some questions as if nothing had happened. Regarding family siblings and other issues, I don’t know exactly what happened that made her unwilling to go home, so she can only temporarily act as if she didn’t see anything unusual, sitting quietly in the co-pilot, listening to promises, deliberately suppressing adjustments Emotional breathing.

A few minutes later, the car stopped at the gate of a courtyard that looked like it should have been in the countryside.Xu Nuo unbuckled his seat belt, turned his head to Yan Ruyi with a smile and said, "We're here, get out of the car."

Yan Ruyi got out of the car obediently, walked to the trunk to pick up the gift she brought, promised to stand by her side, and silently helped her put everything on the ground.

Yan Ruyi grabbed Xu Nuo's hand when she reached into the trunk again, and Xu Nuo turned to look at her with a smile: "What's wrong?"

Yan Ruyi tilted her head, looked at Xu Nuo's sad face that couldn't hide her eyes with a smile, moved the corners of her mouth, and shook her head slightly: "It's nothing, I just want to see if you're cold."

When Xu Nuo heard this, he gently rubbed the back of Yan Ruyi's hand with his fingertips: "It's not cold, how about you? Is it a bit unbearable to get out of the car? The temperature in the countryside is lower than that in the city. You will get used to it after a while." .”

"Yeah." Yan Ru nodded and smiled, and said nothing.

"Ah, is this promise back?"

Before the contents of the trunk were taken out, someone from the nearby farmyard had already come out. Seeing Xu Nuo, he looked at her with an expression of disbelief and asked loudly.This question led to more neighbors.Everyone gathered around, staring at the animals that promised to see the zoo, looking up and down and talking to themselves.

"Hey, it's really a promise!"

"Oh my God, I promise you haven't been back for five or six years, right?"

"Your mother has almost lost her eyesight in the past few years, and you are back."

"Oh, your mother is happy now."

"Hey, where's Old Xu? Why didn't you come out to pick up the child?" Someone began to ask Xu's mother.

Standing by the side, Yan Ruyi looked at Xu Nuo, who first responded with an embarrassed smile, and then calmly accepted the fact of being surrounded by more and more people, heartbroken, but helpless.Eyes fell on Xu Nuo's side face, Yan Ruyi resisted the urge to go up to hug her, lowered his head and picked out two large boxes of toffee and nuts from the gift box at his feet, opened them, and pulled Xu Nuo together with a smile. After distributing it to everyone, I chatted politely for a while with a group of people who were eating candy and continuing to watch animals, and helped promise to answer some questions that she had no time to answer, until the group of people dispersed because they were going to have lunch Go, she breathed a sigh of relief, turned around to look at Xu Nuo, and couldn't help reaching out to touch her polite and distant smiling face.

"Go back, your aunt and the others are waiting for you." After finally getting away, Mother Xu said to Xu Nuo with a smile.

"Yeah." Xu Nuo nodded, took a deep look at his yard, locked the car, bent down and picked up the gift box that Yan Ruyi bought, looked sideways at Yan Ruyi and motioned for her to follow him, then turned and walked home .

As soon as the three of them walked past the corner of the courtyard, they saw a few people standing at the door. When they saw Xu Nuo, they rushed up calling her name, and exchanged warmer greetings than before.

Xu Nuo stood in the middle of the yard holding the gift box, and answered everyone's questions in a soft voice. Afterwards, who brought the bench, she finally had the opportunity to put down the box and drag Yan Ruyi to sit at the round table full of wine and vegetables. .

When everyone was less excited than before and ready to have lunch, Xu Nuo pulled Yan Ruyi to give everyone a brief introduction: "This is my friend, Yan Ruyi."

During the dinner, Yan Ruyi sat next to Xu Nuo, and scanned the people at the same table twice, probably identifying the people in Xu Nuo's family, including her grandma and father.

Xu Nuo seldom speaks, quietly eating the dishes her grandma and aunt put in her bowl, and whenever they have questions, she will answer them, and she only briefly mentions things about things abroad and her current work.

This attitude seemed to dissatisfy her father. After looking at Xu Nuo several times with displeasure, he finally put down the chopsticks in his hand and asked Xu Nuo:

"Promise, you haven't been home for several years?"

A question, the people at the whole table fell silent, even the people at the two tables next to it fell silent.

Xu Nuo was silent for a while, and replied calmly: "More than four years."

After hearing this, Dad Xu took a sip from the wine glass in front of him: "Yes. I thought you couldn't remember."

Xu Nuo lowered his head and did not speak.Xu's mother took Xu's father's hand to tell him not to talk, and the aunts sitting next to him also started to smooth things over, saying that the child just came back and it was the New Year's Eve, so don't be upset.

Father Xu also listened, cast a glance at Xu Nuo, and said nothing.

Yan Ruyi sat at the side, unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, just about to reach out to pat Xu Nuo's leg to comfort her, when she heard her second aunt ask:

"Promise, after all these years, you have already talked about your boyfriend, right?"

The outstretched hand was stunned, and Yan Ruyi felt a little headache. Neither she nor Xu Nuo expected to see the people at the tables in the yard, but after thinking about it, Xu Nuo hadn't been back for a long time. It happens to be Chinese New Year, so it's normal for my aunt and sister to come to have a meal.It's just that the topic of achievement and work objects that cannot be escaped at this party is really a headache.Putting her hand on Xu Nuo's lap under the table, Yan Ruyi patted her to comfort her. She thought she would deal with it casually and perfunctory, but unexpectedly Xu Nuo took a deep breath and put down the chopsticks, and said with a serious and calm expression :

"It's a relationship, but not a boyfriend."

"..."

Everyone at the table was dumbfounded, because they were older and didn't understand what it meant.

"What does it mean to fall in love again without having a boyfriend?"

Xu's mother seemed to understand something, but looked at Xu Nuo not quite understanding.

Seeing Xu Nuo, Yan Ru took a deep breath and knew what she was going to say. He quickly took her hand, stood up with a smile, walked out with the wine bottle in hand and said, "Xu Nuo, why don't you have a clue when you don't drink or talk?" , Nonsense, Uncle Xu, I'll pour you some wine."

The topic was temporarily put on hold, Xu Nuo raised his eyebrows.Looking at Yan Ruyi's back, he frowned, and said following her meaning: "I talked about it before, but now I don't have a boyfriend."

"Oh, so it is."

"Then you are not young, and you have found a job after returning to China, so it's almost time to settle down."

"Yeah." Xu Nuo nodded and didn't speak again.