back edge

"Is my brother out of school?"

Xie Jingnian looked at the message reminder that popped up, and almost didn't hold the phone.As soon as he saw the word Zhou Yantong, he could think of Chen Xi.

When he thought of Chen Xi, he remembered that embarrassing daydream.

"School is over. Is there something wrong?"

"The key is in your hand. Which school are you from? I'll find you. I lost the spare key."

Xie Jingnian found the key wrapped in 100 yuan.He can still feel his own body temperature in his hand.

"Where is the highway intersection? I'll send it to you."

It took Zhou Yantong a while to reply him.

"Alright, just be careful on the road."

Xie Jingnian replied him with a good note, and turned to go to the bus stop.He didn't remember until the car was coming - he didn't have any money on him.

"Brother Yan, I don't have any money with me, can you lend me a dollar to take the bus?"

Xie Jingnian stood there, squeezed next to the trash can by the people waiting for the bus, and edited this sentence several times before sending it out.

The billboards at the station were tattered, the glass was smashed by something, and the light strips inside gave off only a faint light as if they were out of power.It was a good poster, but a large piece was cut off, and the edges looked like a human figure, probably made by a small fan of a certain star.

Xie Jingnian leaned against the street lamp, and the smell of the trash can kept sticking into his nostrils, and suddenly he remembered the house he used to live with Xie Laosan.

It's not actually a house.It was just a dilapidated house that was about to be demolished, and the residents had already moved out, so it happened to be vacant for him and Xie Laosan.The house was old, the tiles on the roof had several holes, and cracks appeared on the walls.Coupled with the low terrain, you can lose your ankles when it rains with a little bit of heavy rain.

Next to the house is a rubbish dump. When it rains, the door will be filled with rubbish, and some will float in through the cracks in the door.

Xie Jingnian didn't remember how he lived in that small house for half a year.If the demolition team hadn't come to clean up the people, they would probably have lived there forever.

Seeing other people getting into the car one after another, Xie Jingnian repeatedly turned off and on the screen.

It took a long time to receive a voice message.

"Why do you borrow money from everyone?"

Not Zhou Yantong.Chen Jiu's deep and hoarse voice was the same as in his dream.Xie Jingnian started to feel hot at the base of his ears again, and even his eye sockets became hot.

The melancholy aura that had emerged just now disappeared in a blink of an eye.

He saw a transfer of 30 yuan from the other party, followed by another voice.

"I'll give you half an hour, take a taxi."

It seems that he has not woken up from the dream.Xie Jingnian covered his face, and he listened to the two voices back and forth several times, and he could even imagine Chen Xi's expressionless face when he said this, or perhaps his brows were tightly frowned.

So much so that the driver called him several times to arrive at the place, Xie Jingnian regained his thoughts and hurriedly paid and got out of the car.

It was still a familiar store, with warm yellow lights shining through the window.Not long ago, he had seen such a window in the cold night wind.

But it's different here.

Xie Jingnian stood outside the door for a long time, until the intermittent melody in the room stopped, he reached out to knock on the door: "Brother Yan, open the door for me."

There was the sound of walking in the room, and then Zhou Yantong shouted at him in a loud voice: "Brother, take the key to open the door! We jumped in through the window!"

Then came Chen Xi's voice: "Come back, play it again."

Xie Jingnian entered the room and closed the door. Instead of sitting on the bed, he stood leaning against the wall covered with posters of various colors, watching Zhou Yantong's ten fingers nimbly beating on the black and white keys.

A very simple melody.

Xie Jingnian doesn't know much about music, but he can hear good and bad.For example, he thinks Zhou Yantong's play is particularly nice.

"This won't work, it's too peaceful, it can't be closed." Chen Xi took down the cigarette dangling from his mouth, and looked up at Xie Jingnian.His eyes were fierce as he glanced over, and he said, "Throw away the cigarette for me."

Xie Jingnian looked at the small half of the cigarette butt, feeling a little helpless.After hesitating for a second, he still pinched it, the cool touch and the warmth on Chen Kui's fingers.Xie Jingnian's heart trembled, subconsciously wanting to dodge.

The smoke fell on the drum set in front of Chen Xi, and a small piece of ash was scattered, which was particularly conspicuous on the white drum skin.Being close, Chen Xi raised his head slightly to look at him, Xie Jingnian quickly picked it up, with a word of apology sticking in his throat, looking at Chen Xi for a long time speechless.

Chen Xi withdrew his gaze and showed no expression. He just stroked a handful of cigarette ash with his thumb, and then turned his head to discuss music issues with Zhou Yantong.

Xie Jingnian stood outside for a long time again.The spark of the cigarette butt had already been extinguished, but the restlessness in his heart did not cool down.

He thought about the way Chen Xi looked up at him just now.His lips were thin, slightly pursed, and the smoke swayed between his lips as he spoke.

Xie Jingnian looked at it, then ran to the corner suddenly, took out his mobile phone and turned on the flashlight to shine on the cigarette butt.Sure enough, a faint tooth mark was found on it.

Xie Jingnian's eyelashes trembled and drooped, and his breathing became short of breath. As if he had been bewitched, he lowered his head under the cover of darkness and opened his lips. Just when the tip of his tongue was about to touch—he heard the sound of Zhou Yantong pushing the door out .

"Why don't you come back, isn't it cold outside?"

Xie Jingnian's heart stopped for a moment, his hands trembled, and he pinched off the cigarette butt in a panic, leaving only a piece of filter tightly in his palm.

"Just got a call."

Zhou Yantong nodded, but didn't notice anything unusual about him. He walked over and hugged him on the shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Actually, he's very easy to get along with, but there's something wrong with the way he expressed it. I didn't mean to embarrass you just now, but I didn't want to make things difficult for you. Looking for something to say."

Xie Jingnian didn't speak, his palms were already sweating a little, listening to Zhou Yantong's comforting words flowed into his left ear and out of his right ear.

That's why Chen Xi was just showing his affection to him...

Zhou Yantong saw that he lowered his head silently, and followed suit, like a primary school student peeking at his deskmate lying on the table.

"What's the matter, are you crying because of grievance?"

"No."

Xie Jingnian buried his head even lower.

Until Zhou Yantong reached out and touched his head: "Don't think about it, go back, it's too cold."

Xie Jingnian hurriedly put the things in his hand into his pocket.When he entered the room, Chen Xi was loading the guitar, and had another cigarette in his mouth.

"I'm leaving now? It's only 08:30, it's too early." Zhou Yantong sat on the bed and swiped his phone, showing no intention of moving, "By the way, Zhou Zhou was looking for you, why don't you reply to his message?"

"It's none of my business that she's arguing with Qian Ke." Chen Xi puffed out his cigarette, zipped up the piano bag, and sat on the side looking at his phone.

"Then you can't ignore it. Don't you know them, what happened to the quarrel between the young lovers..."

"..."

Xie Jingnian's fingertips were tightly clinging to the seams of his trousers. He was wearing a school uniform and carrying a schoolbag. Standing there seemed to be isolated from the world, looking a bit out of place.The scorching air all piled up on his side, making it difficult to breathe.

Can't tell what emotion it is.Xie Jingnian didn't look up to look at Chen Xi, and interrupted their conversation the moment he regained his breath.

"I'll leave the key and go first."

Zhou Yantong looked away from the phone and looked at him reluctantly: "Don't go, brother, I originally asked you to come here to take you to play, so what are you going to do when you leave."

Before Xie Jingnian came back to his senses, Chen Xi was already standing in front of him.

"Will you go to the bar show?"

The strong smell of tobacco came, Xie Jingnian looked up at him, his mind went blank, and he nodded in agreement without thinking.

"Then you can't wear this suit, why don't you go home and change?" Zhou Yantong said.

"I'll go back and change it. Brother Yan, please send me the address of the bar."

"Okay, then I..."

"No need." Chen Xi interrupted Zhou Yantong, moving the cigarette from his mouth to his fingers, "I'll take him by bike."

Probably because the doubts on Xie Jingnian's face were too obvious, Chen Xi stretched out his hand and flicked his brains, and said in an impatient tone, "I have no money to lend you, so hurry up and leave."