Manhattanhenge

The second time I came to Su Hui's room, Ning Yixiao's role changed from a comforter to a visitor.

It's just that Su Hui's state is much better than last time, and he has calmed down his restlessness and anxiety a little bit.But also because of the change of roles, my previous self didn't care to see how beautiful the room is, but now I can feel it very deeply and intuitively.

Su Hui found an exquisite photo album from nowhere and opened it for Ning Yixiao to read.They were sitting on the wooden floor, Su Hui turned to a page and pointed to him, "Look, this is when I was four years old, with my father and my uncle next to me."

At that time, Su Hui was just a little boy, wearing a yellow hat, denim overalls and small leather shoes.

"You look like a little girl." Ning Yixiao turned his face sideways, looked at him and said.

Su Hui pursed her lips, and showed that expression of pretending to be unhappy, "It's not like that at all."

Ning Yixiao imitated his appearance, "Not at all."

"Ning Yixiao, you are so naive." Su Hui turned to the next page, "I won't show it to you."

"I was wrong."

Ning Yixiao always admits his mistakes very quickly, and he seems to have no bottom line when facing himself.

Su Hui found another one, and leaned over, "Look at this, this is when I was ten years old, I participated in the school's talent show, and I played the piano on the stage, this photo was taken by my mother."

There were many people in the audience, all sitting neatly. Su Hui sat alone in front of the piano on the stage, wearing a tuxedo, and a small spotlight slanted above him, quietly shining on him, like a little prince who was loved all the time.

Su Hui flipped through the photos, most of them were taken by her mother, so she was often not in the picture.

He said to himself, "Actually, my mother loved me and almost died when she gave birth to me. She gave up a lot for me, but her love was deformed by this damn patriarchal family, and she was also deformed." , I haven't, so I'm having a hard time."

These words are painful to hear.

Ning Yixiao felt sad for no reason. In his heart, Su Hui was born to live in a carefree environment, a greenhouse isolated from suffering, poverty and hardship, with superior and sufficient nutrients and conditions, full of sunshine and love.

It's just that sometimes love can make people hypoxic and deformed.Like many parents, their love is not a small piece of free world, but a net, a plastic glass jar, passed down from generation to generation, and worshiped as a standard.Su Hui's grandfather treated Su Hui's mother like this, and also treated Su Hui unchanged.

As an outsider, it is difficult for Ning Yixiao to judge whether this is love, after all, he has not received much care from his family.But what is certain is that Su Hui does have a starting point that many people struggle for a lifetime and can easily obtain many things without any effort.

At this moment, Ning Yixiao was even a little grateful for his progress, if it wasn't for the fact that he gritted his teeth and walked up from a small village, with bumps and bumps and bloody head.

If it wasn't like this, his gray-headed life would never have any intersection with Su Hui.

"Why are you in a daze?" Su Hui glanced at the door, raised the photo album in his hand, covered their faces, and leaned over to kiss the corner of Ning Yixiao's mouth.

Su Hui's eyebrows and eyes are as beautiful as the oil paintings hanging in his room, and his eyelashes are so long that they are almost heavy, just like the setbacks he has experienced in life, suppressing these slightly upturned eyes.

Ning Yixiao also turned his head and kissed the reward that heaven gave him.

"We seem to be having an affair..." Su Hui leaned over and wanted to kiss deeply, but suddenly the door was knocked twice.

A servant's voice came from outside the door, "Master, the meal is ready."

Su Hui had already hugged her up, so she forced a moist kiss with Ning Yixiao, and replied vaguely, "Got it..."

After 2 minutes, they went out, walked through the promenade, and the twilight shone through the ubiquitous glass windows on the retro floor, which was like a huge work of art.

One side of the restaurant is a whole piece of floor-to-ceiling glass, facing Su Huizhong's row of blue rain. The blue-purple flowers are densely covered among the abundant green leaves, exuding a quiet summer fragrance.

There was a little pride in Ji Yanan's tone, and he used suppressed words to cover it up, "Xiao Hui just likes to play with flowers and plants. Many people who come to my house for the first time think that it is a professional gardener. In fact, it is him who messed around."

As she spoke, she took the sterilized hot towel from the servant and handed it to Su Hui.

"Many of them were also made by gardeners." Su Hui wiped her hands carefully.

"There are not many, the gardener will come here occasionally to weed weeds, cut branches and so on..." Ji Yanan took a sip of tea, smiled and said to Ning Yixiao, "You drink it too, this tea is delicious, very fragrant , I brought it from Sichuan."

"Thank you auntie."

"Thank you, Xiaohui never brought friends home, you are the first one." Ji Yanan said with a smile, "Every time I ask him how he is doing at school, he says it's okay, but I actually feel that Xiaohui is pretty good. Lonely, because he has less time to go to school than others, and often asks for leave..."

Speaking of this, Ji Yanan suddenly realized that he had said too much, so he suppressed it and asked the aunt at the side to serve Ning Yixiao soup.

Su Hui was very casual, "It's okay, Mom, he knows about my illness."

Ji Yanan was a little surprised, and glanced at Su Hui, "Really? That's a very good relationship."

Ning Yixiao smiled, "It's okay, auntie, I know what you mean, you care about him very much."

Ji Yanan sighed, "I'm also quite busy, but how can you not care about Xiaohui's illness? His grandfather also has high demands on him, after all, it's just this one child."

The soup is cooked with pigeon and abalone. The aunt at the side brought everyone a bowl. The soup is golden in color and very fragrant.

But when he saw the abalone in the bowl, Ning Yixiao had some uncontrollable physical nausea.

He didn't show it, he still drank some, and he only picked up the few dishes in front of him with his chopsticks.

Su Hui drank a few mouthfuls of soup, took off the meat from the pigeon's legs, and ate, "Mom, didn't you say you were going to Uncle Xu's place today, why did you come back?"

Ji Yanan said, "Your Uncle Xu was called to a meeting halfway. I thought you were still at home, so I'll come back first, otherwise you won't have a good meal. He will come over in a while, and just sent me a text message, saying that he is on the way. Said that I saw your favorite egg tart and bought it for you."

Su Hui's face turned pale, and he picked up the rice grains in the bowl with chopsticks.

Ji Yanan noticed that he was putting on a face, but he didn't say anything, but enthusiastically brought some food for Ning Yixiao, asking him to eat more.

"By the way, Xiao Ning," Ji Yanan looked at him and folded his hands, "Xiao Hui just said that you are classmates, from the same department?"

Ning Yixiao explained, "I'm studying computer science, and I met Su Hui in the same club."

Ji Yanan nodded, "Computer is the best major in T University, so you are a sophomore now?"

"Junior, I'm a year older than him." Ning Yixiao said.

"Then you're going to graduate, right? What's your plan after that?" Ji Yanan asked.

Su Hui interjected, "Mom, why do you have so many questions?"

"It's okay." Ning Yixiao smiled, "I'm doing an internship now, and I'm also applying for CSC to study abroad, so I'm preparing some thesis work at the same time, and I'm also cooperating with Professor Wang from Su Hui's side."

Su Hui admired Ning Yixiao from the bottom of her heart. Under repeated questioning from her boyfriend's mother, she could talk about her future plans in an orderly manner like an interview. If it was him, she would definitely not be able to do it.

Ji Yanan's face also showed obvious favor, "That's great, but the CSC of T University is estimated to be very competitive. If I remember correctly, I should apply in March next year. First of all, I wish you all the best."

"Thank you, Auntie." Ning Yixiao nodded slightly.

"Uncle Zhang's son next door to you is also going abroad. He has taken the IELTS and TOEFL exams countless times, and it's hard to put money and education." Ji Yanan brought some food for Su Hui, "Xiao Ning is so good, you should work harder. .”

Su Hui nodded, glanced at Ning Yixiao, with a smile on his lips.

Unexpectedly, the first time Ning Yixiao was brought to meet his parents, he would become "other people's child".

While chatting, there was a sound of closing the door, Ji Yanan turned his head, "Xu Zhi?"

"Hey." Xu Zhi answered from a distance, and when he walked over, he carried an egg tart and a box of seafood that was very expensive just from the packaging.

"You said there are guests, so I brought tuna and lobster sashimi along the way. They are cut and can be eaten directly." Xu Zhi put the things on the table, looked at Ning Yixiao, and was stunned.

"Yo, it's all my favorite." Ji Yanan smiled and asked the servant to put it on a plate, and unpacked the egg tart and handed it to Su Hui, "Thank you, uncle."

Su Hui took it over, not too happy, "Thank you."

"Sit down." Ji Yanan looked at Xu Zhi, "Why are you in a daze."

Xu Zhi smiled, took a seat beside Ji Yanan, and said with a smile, "So the guest you mentioned is Xiao Hui's friend."

Only then did Ji Yanan realize, "Yes, I forgot to introduce, this is Xiao Hui's classmate, Ning Yixiao." She looked at Ning Yixiao, "This is my husband, Xu Zhi."

Faintly, Su Hui felt something was wrong, and turned to look at Ning Yixiao.He looked very calm, with a very polite and kind smile, Su Hui suddenly realized that he had hardly seen such a smile on Ning Yixiao's face.

When facing himself, Ning Yixiao was real and lovely, but at this moment, he was full of defenses and concealed his heart.

"Hello, Uncle Xu." Ning Yixiao said calmly.

Xu Zhi nodded his head, just as the servant brought the seafood sashimi he had bought.They are all put into a huge off-white wide dish, arranged in a beautiful shape, just like the expensive dishes in high-end restaurants, waiting to be tasted by rich people.

"Try it, it's very fresh." Xu Zhi smiled, took a piece of tuna belly for Ning Yixiao with his serving chopsticks, and explained that this is the most delicious and tender part of the tuna, because it can hardly move , the fat is accumulated here, and the taste is excellent.

Ning Yixiao lowered his head, staring at the pink tuna flesh covered with frost patterns, the familiar smell of the sea surged again, making it unbearable for him.

But he still ate it quietly, enjoying the lump of fat that made his stomach sick like a gentleman treats a delicacy, chewing, swallowing, he picked up the tea and drank a lot, but it still couldn't dilute the fishy smell of the sea.

Su Hui was very sensitive to everything about Ning Yixiao. Even though Ning Yixiao acted flawlessly, he still felt something was wrong, so he gently put his hand under the table on Ning Yixiao's lap, turned his face and asked him in a low voice, "Yes?" Don't you like it?"

Ning Yixiao just smiled and didn't answer.

Su Hui stared at him, then looked at Xu Zhi opposite, always feeling that there seemed to be an inexplicable incompatibility between them.Although he thought it was normal, because he also hated Xu Zhi very much.

But why did Xu Zhi freeze when he saw Ning Yixiao?

He suddenly thought of what Feng Zhiguo had said the first time he drove to pick him up.Feng Zhiguo was brought over from his hometown by Xu Zhi, and he was considered one of his people.

Ning Yixiao is from Beibin Province, and so is Xu Zhi.

Su Hui didn't think it was such a coincidence, but she always felt something strange in her heart.

Xu Zhi smiled and asked Ji Yanan, "How is it?"

Ji Yanan nodded again and again, "It's delicious, everything you buy is good."

She had just taken a few bites when she was interrupted by a phone call. She left the dining table and went upstairs to the workshop. Before she left, she asked them to eat more.

The dining table was deserted in an instant, the initiative finally fell into Xu Zhi's hands, and the topic was thrown to Su Hui and Ning Yixiao.

"Actually, I'm quite surprised that you two became good friends." Xu Zhi smiled, eyes half-closed, "Xiao Ning seems to be a person who has a plan for his future, and is very realistic and motivated. Xiao Hui, It felt completely different.”

He smiled and pointed to the paintings hanging at home, "Xiao Hui likes these, paintings, works of art, and flowers and plants, sometimes staring at the sky for a whole day. I still remember him My mother told me that Xiao Hui had a lot of whimsical ideas when she was a child, and her words were different from those of ordinary children."

He imitated Su Hui's tone, "What impressed me the most was when he said, 'I think this society is one-dimensional. Everyone only cares about material things and has no spirit. They live like a crumpled piece of paper.'"

After finishing speaking, Xu Zhi smiled, "Isn't it cute?"

Su Hui didn't smile, he hated Xu Zhi repeating his words, and also hated Xu Zhi's gesture of being close to him in such a situation, so he couldn't sit still.

Ning Yixiao smiled lightly, "He is very cute, but also very deep."

"Profound, that's right." Xu Zhi tasted the tea and said with a smile, "That's why I think it's amazing that you can get along so well. Xiaohui is naive, idealistic, and he despises the common sense. Successful, don't like people who are too realistic."

Ning Yixiao lowered his eyes and quietly picked up the vegetables on the plate, but he couldn't pick them up no matter what.

"I'm full." Su Hui stood up, ended the topic very roughly, and turned to ask Ning Yixiao softly, "Can you change the pot for me?"

"Yeah." Ning Yixiao stood up, nodded slightly, and also stood up.

Unexpectedly, Ji Yanan happened to end the work call, and when he went downstairs, he saw the two of them leaving, "Did you finish eating so soon?"

Su Hui stood where she was, and hummed.

Ji Yanan asked from behind, "Would you like some fruit?" She glanced outside, "It's getting late, why don't Xiao Ning sleep in the guest room today, and leave tomorrow morning."

Ning Yixiao subconsciously refused, "No need, Auntie, I have to go to work tomorrow Monday."

"It's okay. Let the driver take you there tomorrow morning, it will be soon." She smiled, "Just stay in the room next to Suhui, it's a little small, if you don't mind, I'll let auntie clean it up."

Having reached this point, Su Hui kept looking at him again, and Ning Yixiao couldn't refuse.

"Then thank you, Auntie."

"You're welcome." Ji Yanan smiled, "Look, I don't know how many thank yous for coming here."

Seeing that they had made a decision, Su Hui took Ning Yixiao to change pots in the garden.The garden was a bit hot and filled with the sound of insects. The plants here had absorbed the sun and rain, and unscrupulously exuded the sour aroma of grass leaves.

Su Hui dug the soil patiently, and when the branches and leaves completely covered them, she leaned over to hold Ning Yixiao's hand, and asked cutely, "Do you think I'm dirty?"

He asked the same question when Ning Yixiao was stretching him, and when he licked his fingers, but he got the same answer.

"how come?"

The remaining sentence, Ning Yixiao has not been able to say.

You are the cleanest, purest person in the whole world.

Ning Yixiao would subconsciously use all the good words on Su Hui. For him who has never been favored by fate, he can only feel lucky.

He held Su Hui's soil-stained hand, but felt extremely peaceful, as if the fragrance of grass leaves and soil could cover up the inexhaustible fishy smell on his body.

Su Hui changed the flower pot, supported him to stretch like a kitten, and then suddenly asked, "What do you think of Xu Zhi?"

Ning Yixiao thought for a while, "I'm not sure, it feels very ordinary."

This answer made Su Hui a little confused. It seemed that Ning Yixiao didn't know Xu Zhi.

"I don't like him." Su Hui said directly.

"I can tell." Ning Yixiao smiled.

"I don't think he really likes my mother, but my mother doesn't think so." Su Hui pulled two weeds, "He is eight years younger than my mother, but he is actually fourteen or five years older than us."

Ning Yixiao thought for a while, a little distracted, "I always feel like I've seen him, but I can't remember it no matter how I think about it."

Su Hui frowned, "Really?"

"Maybe I remembered it wrong." Ning Yixiao frowned.Childhood memories are not good for him, perhaps the brain has formed a protection mechanism and selectively lost many.

When leaving the garden, Ning Yixiao found a large glass fish tank in the grass, but now it seems that some flowers and plants that he doesn't know have been planted.

Su Hui noticed his gaze, but didn't say anything. Her mother urged them to take a bath and go to bed, so Su Hui took Ning Yixiao in, walked around his guest room, and returned to her own room to take a bath.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the whole house fell silent.

Ning Yixiao lay on the soft bed in the guest room, unable to sleep.This room, which Su Hui's mother called "small", was bigger and nicer than all the rooms he had ever lived in.

The room exuded the scent of scented candles, a flower scent he didn't know well, and Su Hui's scent was hidden, which made him feel uneasy and wanted to wash his hands or smoke.

But soon, there were footsteps outside, Su Hui slipped in from the connected balcony, and pushed open the glass door of his room.

The wind rushed in with him, and the white gauze curtain was blown up. Su Hui pushed it away with his hands, and walked towards him barefoot.The moonlight illuminated his skin white, his knees, the lines of his shoulders and neck, as well as his eyebrows and eyes against the light, every subtle detail was remembered by Ning Yixiao.

Su Hui quickly got into his thin quilt, and hugged him with his unique fragrance.

"Why are you here?" Ning Yixiao lowered his voice.

Su Hui leaned into his ear and said softly, "I miss you so much." His voice trembled, his breathing was unsteady, and with obvious confusion, he kissed Ning Yixiao's ear, "You What? Do you miss me?"

He actually didn't need Ning Yixiao's answer, so after he finished asking, he lifted the quilt over his head, leaned over and kissed Ning Yixiao very proactively and deeply, until he was about to suffocate, and then he instinctively let go.

Ning Yixiao asked in a low voice, "Aren't you afraid?"

Su Hui shook her head, her face turned pink from boredom, "At worst, I'll go to my mother as soon as you leave tomorrow and tell her that you are not my classmate, but my boyfriend."

Ning Yixiao quickly stopped his crazy thought with words, "It's too soon, wait a little longer."

Su Hui smiled and rubbed the bridge of Ning Yixiao's nose, "Are you afraid?"

Ning Yixiao really wanted to say no, but he was actually very afraid of losing Su Hui, because having him was like a too good dream.He can even conclude that whether it is the first 20 years or the next 20 years, he will never have such a good dream again.

"I don't know." Ning Yixiao said.

Su Hui keenly sensed the flow of negative emotions from Ning Yixiao, so she hugged him tightly, "I'll listen to you."

They didn't speak for a long time, just silent, or silently kissing.

Seeing Ning Yixiao's eyes, Su Hui was full of confusion, and thought of how he looked at the glass jar a few hours ago.

He whispered, "You just saw a fish tank in the garden, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Ning Yixiao looked at him tenderly.

"An uncle once gave me a very expensive ornamental fish, which seems to be called a wrought iron butterflyfish, in order to please my mother."

Su Hui described it to him according to his memory, "Just one, very expensive, small, with scales all over the body like metal sheets, and the tail and pointed fins are lemon yellow, very conspicuous. I like it very much, every day after school Will be the first to see it.

Soon, Su Hui's eyes dimmed, "I found out later that this kind of fish actually has a strong sense of living in groups, and it is almost impossible to accept captivity. They need the sea and many of their own kind, not a small fish tank. and some counterfeit decorations pretending to be under the sea."

"What happened later?" Ning Yixiao asked.

"Dead, only lived for a month." Su Hui blinked quietly, "Isn't it very pitiful? I was put in the wrong place, watched by the wrong people, and I couldn't swim in the sea again before I died. "

Ning Yixiao knew that what he was talking about was not the beautiful butterfly fish, but himself.

He carefully kissed Su Hui's moist eyes, and said to him, "You know what? I don't agree with what Xu Zhi said today."

Su Hui raised his eyes and looked at Ning Yixiao.

Ning Yixiao's voice was very deep, and he told Su Hui calmly, "Actually, you are not mistaken, I really hate seafood, because I always feel that my bones exude the fishy smell of the sea, just like those fish."

Su Hui frowned, leaned closer to Ning Yixiao's neck, and retorted in a low voice, "You smell nice."

Ning Yixiao smiled, "Psychological effect, no matter how far I go, I can't seem to get rid of that fishy smell. Didn't I say before that people in our area rely on fishing for a living, like the tuna we eat today. It's almost impossible to catch in our waters."

"My mother took care of the fish stall for a while and would take me with her. Once, the owner of the stall came back from the sea and said that they were lucky and caught a tuna.

I really wanted to see what fish sold so expensive, but I didn't see it.It’s just that the fishing master chatted with my mother for a few words, and I followed along to realize that tuna is different from other fish. Their gill muscles are seriously degenerated, and there is no way to open and close. There is only one way to get oxygen. "

Su Hui raised her head and rubbed his chin, "What can I do?"

Ning Yixiao told him, "Swim non-stop. Only in this way can fresh water flow quickly through the fish's gills and get oxygen. So they are very tired, and they have no way to stop since they were born. Swim, keep swimming, you can get the oxygen that others can get easily, once you stop moving forward, you will suffocate to death."

Su Hui suddenly felt sour on the tip of his nose, he understood what Ning Yixiao wanted to say.

But Ning Yixiao hugged him and kissed his forehead tenderly, "So I said, I don't agree with what he said at the dinner table. On the surface we are indeed very different, it can be said to be completely opposite."

"But in a sense, Su Hui, we are the same kind. Growing up in the wrong environment, we don't want to be assimilated, and we don't want to be deformed, so it's very difficult to live."

The author has something to say:

This article is an interlude, because I am more worried that it will cause difficulties in reading, so I divided it into chapters P and N. It was also arranged at the beginning, and some past chapters must be covered , not to say that they wrote a lot about how beautiful the two of them were in love in the past. In fact, the focus in the past was also on the character design and contradictions. It is said that there are readers who don’t like to read Chapter P. In fact, you can wait until the update to the present to read it. It’s okay. In fact, I have tried my best to compress the past plots. A memory won't be long