until the last minute

Zhou Yin's second sentence was to ask him "Are you hungry?" Then he put the pillow on his lap aside, walked to the dining table and took off the dust cover, and three dishes and one soup were placed on the table.

Zhou Yin handed Li Qing a pair of chopsticks, looked at him nervously, his eyes sparkled, "Try it, it shouldn't taste bad."

Li Qing took a sip, then took a second sip, and opened the rice cooker, there was indeed steaming hot rice in the pot.He filled a bowl full, and just as he was about to fill another bowl, Zhou Yin pressed his hand, "You eat, I don't eat, I have to go back."

Li Qing was stunned for a moment, staring at the smile on Zhou Yin's face, Zhou Yin approached him quickly, with a subtly ingratiating tone, "It's time for me to go back, I can't have dinner with you, you won't blame me, will you? "

"Well, you go back, I'll see you off." Li Qing put down his chopsticks, turned around to get the door key, but Zhou Yin grabbed his wrist.Zhou Yin puffed his cheeks and said, "No need, you eat, I'll go back by myself."

"I'll see you off." Li Qing insisted, Zhou Yin sighed, and shook his hand again and again, "Look, I made you dinner to make up for you. left."

Li Qing bowed his head and said nothing, he looked at Zhou Yin's hand that was encircling his wrist, the palm was very soft, the fingers were small and round, the slightly cool fingertips pressed against his skin and his pulse.

Zhou Yin suddenly grasped his hand with both hands together, and touched the thin calluses of the fingertips and the palm of his hand carefully, "What are you doing with your hands so thick."

Li Qing retracted his hand, "It's nothing, I'll take you back."

"You're really—" Zhou Yin murmured softly, his eyes rolled around, and swept to the pillow on the sofa, he walked a few steps over to pick up the pillow, and hugged it upright like a child.

Li Qing said: "This is my pillow."

"I know, I borrowed it for sleeping just now."

"it is good."

"It's over, I'll return it to you." Zhou Yin threw the pillow on Li Qing, and turned around gracefully.Before opening the door, he turned his head and called Li Qing's name.

Li Qing looked at him deeply.

Zhou Yin asked: "Li Qing, how am I treating you?"

Li Qing raised the corner of his mouth, and he replied: "Okay."

When Zhou Yin left, he wrote down the building and house number of Li Qing's residence, and visited a nearby convenience store. He guessed that this was where Li Qing worked part-time.

As soon as he got back to the door, he answered a phone call, in which Zheng Wenliang reminded him to enter the house in a few minutes.He made up his mind, and asked his mother if she was stimulated by that again.It refers to his father. He is not in the habit of calling him by this title. Every time he mentions it, the meaning is ambiguous. Fortunately, people around his mother have a tacit understanding of this.

Zheng Wenliang didn't tell him the whole story, but kept repeating that he should not enter the house immediately and give Wan Rong a few minutes.

Wan Rong was his mother's name, and Zheng Wenliang called out in a moment of anxiety.After shouting, he immediately reacted, and immediately added with a guilty conscience, your mother would not want you to see her sad.

Zhou Yin replied lightly, I know what to do.

Zheng Wenliang was still worried, and asked if he needed to go there.

Zhou Yin wasn't sure if his expression showed impatience, he didn't refuse directly, but just said to Zheng Wenliang, Uncle Zheng, I've bothered you.His voice remained calm, his attitude polite and distant.

Zheng Wenliang really understood what he meant, and hung up the phone dejectedly.

Zhou Yin went to stand in front of the house, listening carefully to the movement inside.It was very quiet inside, and he knew that his mother would occasionally have hysterical moments, but he couldn't imagine that his mother usually deliberately avoided him, and Zheng Wenliang would also help whitewash the peace.He can only glimpse the cracks in a peaceful life from the missing ashtray and the broken teacup.

Everyone is trying to keep their lives going, even though they all know what's going on.

What Zheng Wenliang didn't know was that his father was not something his mother couldn't mention. On the contrary, she often told him in a very familiar tone, full of longing and fantasy, what his father would be like, what he would like, and how he would treat them in the future.

A fantasy never fails because it has no possibility of being realized, a fantasy remains a fantasy.The mother was already trapped, and he couldn't let innocent people get involved.

Pushing open the door, Zhou Yin saw his mother's closed door at a glance.After hesitating again and again, he didn't knock on the door, but instead went upstairs and returned to his room.

Not long after, footsteps came from outside, Zhou Yin immediately opened the door, and leaned against the railing to lean out.The mother was standing in the living room, holding a glass of water in her hand, and looked up at him when she heard the noise, "Are you back? Have you eaten yet? Why don't you call your classmate to play at home."

Mother's expression was the same as usual, and after she finished speaking, she went into the kitchen and asked for hot dishes.Zhou Yin went downstairs, followed behind his mother, rehearsed what he had said many times in his heart, and said it again at this time, "Mom, let's move, I don't want to study in this school anymore, and I don't want to be in this school anymore." Stay here."

"Where do you want to go?" His mother asked calmly with her back turned to him, "I'll tell your dad next time I've figured it out."

Zhou Yin didn't expect this answer, so he was choked up and had nothing to say.Mother stirred the purple casserole gently with a spoon, with a calm demeanor, and could even order him to hold the soup in a bowl.

Zhou Yin opened the sterilizing cupboard, took the bowl and put it where his mother could get it.He stood beside his mother, staring at her no longer young face, with a few white hairs mixed in the thick black hair, which was extremely glaring.

He said to his mother: "Mom, you know that's not what I meant. Uncle Zheng called me tonight. You should stop contacting there. After so many years, everyone should wake up."

His mother froze for a moment, and Zhou Yin couldn't bear to look at her expression. He stared at the bubbling pot of soup, and slowly shifted his gaze to other places. unwashed chopping boards and fruits.The kitchen is often open and still looks deserted, and the house is still empty after being carefully arranged by my mother.

In the past, my mother often complained that the house was too small. For a while, she was obsessed with adding various large pieces of furniture, hoping to make the house look fuller.Later, she stopped tossing about, and Zhou Yin guessed that her mother had probably realized the fact that what this family needs is popularity, not cold furniture.

Zhou Yin didn't understand why his mother was still obsessed with the delusion that his father would come back, since his mother could clearly see the current situation.

After the flag-raising ceremony on Monday morning, Li Qing went to the Academic Affairs Office.When the dean saw him coming in, he put down the cup in his hand, and said straight to the point: "Your homeroom teacher told you, the bursary application was not approved, do you know why?"

Li Qing shook his head.

The dean of teaching took out a few photos from an envelope, threw them on the table, bent his index finger and tapped them heavily, "You skipped class and went to the bar, and your classmates found out and reported to me. Students are not allowed to enter commercial entertainment venues. You Do not you know?"

Li Qing walked to the desk, reached out and pushed aside the photos on the desk, staring at them for a long time.

He only went to the bar once with Zhou Yin, and the photo was indeed from that night.From the point of view, it should be taken across the street. His face was exposed in front of the camera. Fortunately, Zhou Yin, who was embraced by him, turned his back to the camera. His figure almost blended into the night, and he could not be recognized just by looking at the photo. who is it.

The dean raised a photo and looked at him with scrutiny, "Who did you go to the bar with? Who is this person? Is it because you drank too much and couldn't even stand up?"

Li Qing kept silent, and the dean of academic affairs became more and more stern, "You still have a punishment for fighting that has not been revoked, and you have to bear another punishment for skipping class and going to bars, not to mention applying for bursaries, you may even be put on probation."

"It's the bar I went to, it has nothing to do with anyone else."

Li Qing's indifferent attitude made the director of academic affairs even more dissatisfied. He pointed to the door and said harshly: "Go out and write a review, and wait for the report of criticism."

Li Qing bowed and said "Thank you, director". He didn't go out immediately, but stared at the photo on the desktop, and said without thinking, "Can I take the photo with me?"

The dean obviously didn't expect him to be so bold, "What do you want to do?"

"Since you have seen it all, I can take the photos. Is it an invasion of privacy to take pictures without consent? I think I should be able to ask to take these photos away."

Li Qing stretched out his hand to press the photos on the table, grabbed them in front of the director of academic affairs, then bowed again, and walked out of the office of academic affairs without looking back.

Back in the classroom, he clipped the photo into the dictionary and used the dictionary to flatten the creases caused by excessive force.With less than 5 minutes before class, he randomly took out a test paper from the test papers that had just been handed out, picked up a pen and began to solve the problem.

The solution to the problem was stumbling, and the results were different after three calculations.Looking back at the calculation process, he was full of mistakes and omissions. The handwriting on the draft book was illegible, and the dark ink was so badly stained that the entire page became a ghostly drawing.

The afternoon class meeting was changed to general cleaning, and Li Qing was assigned to clean the public health responsibility area of ​​the class.Carrying the trash can, dustpan and broom alone, he walked through the laughing crowd in the corridor, while being careful not to leave footprints on the floor in front of the door of the other class, and at the same time unable to control his eyes from wandering.

He hasn't seen Zhou Yin for a day, he wants to know what he is doing now, and wants to talk to him very much.

The sanitation responsibility area to be cleaned up is the grove behind the playground, where the trees block out the sun and the ground is covered with fallen leaves.He cleaned out lighters, cans, plastic bags and other garbage from the piled up fallen leaves, and then swept the fallen leaves together.The trash can was too small, and it was hard for him to look at the piles of trash.

A voice suddenly came from behind, "You can't handle it like this. When will you sweep?"

Li Qing turned around, and a person who appeared out of nowhere walked towards him with a cigarette in his mouth and stepping on fallen leaves.The other party threw the school uniform jacket over his shoulder with one hand, pouted his nose and said, "I'll teach you a way, just set it on fire and you'll be fine."

Li Qing looked at the person in front of him intently, and recognized him as the one who asked Zhou Yin for a cigarette in the gazebo last time.The other party obviously recognized him, and tilted his head, "I remember you, you came to find Zhou Yin, what a coincidence."

"He's also nearby?" Li Qing keenly grasped the key.

"I don't know, you can look for it." The man took a sharp puff of cigarette, and then slowly exhaled, "I said you should get rid of this pile of garbage first. I just happen to have a lighter, so it will save trouble if I burn it with a fire."

"Schools forbid students to play with fire."

"This is not called playing with fire, this is called solving problems." The man handed over a lighter, and Li Qing looked at him calmly for a while, then reached out and took the lighter.

The man shrugged, with an expression of fearing that the world would not be chaotic, "Happy to use."

After he left with a cigarette in his mouth, Li Qing threw the lighter into the trash can.