River City Story

He Zhengxi bought a steam foot tub for his family. He bought it at a discount at the end of the year and spent more than 400 yuan.He Yi and Fang Ximin liked each other very much, they smiled and praised him for growing up.

He Zhengxi was a little shy by what he said, and desperately suppressed his expressionless face and rushed into the kitchen before he was willing to grin his teeth and laugh out loud.

"I just said they must be happy." Lin Yan whispered, "Look, there is no need for expensive things."

He Zhengxi nimbly picked up a dumpling wrapper and filled it with stuffing, regained his expression, and said, "Then what about you..."

"Me?" Lin Yan slowed down the speed of rolling the skin, "What do you want to say?"

He Zhengxi lowered his head and muttered, "You know."

Lin Yan laughed twice and said, "I really don't know."

He Zhengxi put down the dumplings he made in his hand, moved behind Lin Yan, stretched out his arms and hugged his waist tightly, "I will try my best to shorten the five-year period, before that, you can't find a girlfriend."

Lin Yan looked down at the two white handprints on the sweater, and said helplessly, "Mature people don't just put flour on others."

"I'm an immature person." He Zhengxi buried his head into Lin Yan's collar, and the tip of his nose searched for the heat source to probe deep, "Even the soap smells better on you."

"Soap has always smelled good." Lin Yan pinched He Zhengxi's wrist and pulled him back, "Are you planning to give your parents a second New Year's gift?"

"Too lazy to think about it, I'll just come out of the closet quickly, so that they can be mentally prepared." He Zhengxi walked to the chopping board indifferently, snatched the rolling pin from Lin Yan's hand and waved it a few times.

Lin Yan switched places with him, turned around and asked seriously: "Is it true that you don't like girls? Is there any possibility?"

He Zhengxi's answer was very firm: "I don't like it, I haven't liked it since I was a child."

The topic could end here, Lin Yan wisely didn't ask any more questions, he was afraid that He Zhengxi would really come out to his family on New Year's Eve, and he was also afraid that he would not be able to help but preach.

He Yi had to rush back to the hospital after eating dumplings at noon. Every year he spent New Year's Eve with the doctors and nurses on duty in the hospital.Fang Ximin will not stay in this house for too long, as long as He Yi is not around, she will go back to Fang's house and watch the new year with the people there.In previous years, He Zhengxi would follow him, but this year Lin Yan was here, and He Zhengxi didn't want to leave. Of course, he preferred to celebrate the New Year with Lin Yan.

"I will definitely go in the second year of junior high school." He Zhengxi stood at the door and swore to Fang Ximin, "Go to kowtow to grandma and grandpa in the second year of junior high school."

Fang Ximin sneered: "Do you want lucky money to kowtow?"

He Zhengxi graciously handed over the car keys and bag, and said with a smile: "Be careful on the road, don't drive too hard."

Fang Ximin's sharp eyes fell on his face, and He Zhengxi shrank back uncomfortably.The two looked at each other for a while, Fang Ximin lowered his shoulders, turned around and walked towards the garage, and said, "You should also pay attention to the occasion in courtship, don't be too hasty, consider us old people..."

He Zhengxi didn't react for a while, he asked in a daze, "What do you mean?"

Fang Ximin stopped, ran back angrily, pointed at He Zhengxi's back and beat him up, and said out of breath after the beating: "After eighteen, let's miss the world of adults again! Brat! The second day of the new year!" Come back and talk to you in detail! Your mother and I are in a very bad mood now!"

He Zhengxi nodded in bewilderment: "Oh..."

Fang Ximin gritted his teeth and turned away, stepping on the cement slab with his high heels, with the momentum of piercing the earth.

He Zhengxi stood in the yard, thinking about Fang Ximin's words.

"Are you making auntie angry?" Lin Yan pushed the door out with a garbage bag and handed it to He Zhengxi.

He Zhengxi took the trash, put it at the door, and said, "How is that possible? I just think that she must know that I like you."

Lin Yan crossed his arms and leaned against the pillar at the door, smiling with tears in his eyes, "It's hard for them not to know if you attack me every time regardless of the occasion."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Anyone who is not blind can see it."

He Zhengxi approached Lin Yan with a smile, stood under the steps, raised his face and asked, "What about you, they all understand, why don't you understand?"

Lin Yan pushed his face away, squatted down, picked up a leaf and turned it back and forth. After turning enough, he threw the leaf into the flower pot and said, "Take care of my position. It's Chinese New Year, let's not talk about it." This thing, okay?"

"Okay." He Zhengxi said, "Why not." He opened the door and entered the room, brought out two cups of hot tea, handed one cup to Lin Yan, and squatted down on the steps, saying frankly: "Mom and Dad will never Don’t even think about stopping us, even if they don’t agree, I don’t care, it’s me who wants to fall in love, not them. So as long as you can accept it, I have nothing to worry about.”

Lin Yan was once again shocked by the fact that He Zhengxi surpassed ordinary people's thinking logic, he didn't know how to answer.The current He Zhengxi is more and more like a presumptuous wild beast. At a mature age, regardless of his carelessness, his fighting power is unrivaled.But after all, isn't he also at the same age?But his own strength seemed to have been exhausted, or, before he had time to act presumptuously, he was beaten into a mess by the heavy waves.

The sun faded into the thick clouds, the sky darkened, and a grain or two of snow fell on the face.

"We have to go." Lin Yan looked up for a while, got up and said.

On the way back, the snow outside was getting heavier and heavier. Someone on the bus felt that the road on the first day of the new year would be difficult. After a while, another person comforted him and said that this is a good year with auspicious snow. Lin Yan smiled after hearing this.When the dishes are broken, it is said that the year is safe; on the [-]th of the new year, it is cloudy and snowy, which is called the year of auspicious snow.People always have a way to make themselves accept the fact that it is not easy to change.Lin Yan leaned against the back of the chair, leaned over and breathed on the glass with his mouth open. The white mist gathered quickly and disappeared in a flash.

Everyone is persuading himself to find a balance between getting along with the outside world, and so is he, otherwise how would he go on?Lin Yan closed his eyes, his thoughts were like snow, flying aimlessly.

He Zhengxi stared at Lin Yan all the way, he felt that he might have gone too far today, the words he said before he left were really a bit arrogant.But he really thinks that, except for Lin Yan, no one is the reason for him to stop or give up.

The bus stopped and stopped, and there were fewer and fewer passengers. When they arrived at the station near their residence, there were only the two of them left besides the driver.Before getting off the car, Lin Yan took a bag of peanut crisps from his bag and gave it to the driver.The other party took it and said with a smile: "Thank you, let's go home early for the New Year."

Lin Yan replied, "You too."

The master started the car, waved at them and said, "I have to drive a few more times, it's early to get off work!" He blew the horn twice as farewell, and then the bus drove slowly into the heavy snow.

Lin Yan kept watching on the bus platform until the headlights became dim and finally disappeared, then he looked away.

"This scene is quite artistic." He suddenly turned around with a smile and said to He Zhengxi.

The tip of Lin Yan's nose was red from the cold, his bangs and eyelashes were covered with flakes of snow, and his appearance was a bit charming, which made He Zhengxi's heart flutter.

"Well, it looks good." He stammered and replied.

Lin Yan blinked a few times, let out two muffled laughs from the thick and soft scarf, then he turned around again, stepped on the snow-covered ground and began to move forward step by step carefully.He Zhengxi followed behind, stepping on the footprints left by him.

The two walked back to the community, and when they opened the door, a figure suddenly rushed towards Lin Yan from the side. Before He Zhengxi could reach out his hand, Lin Yan had already pushed the man out.

"Brother! You are so strong!" Lin Cong got up covered in snow, and limped back to Lin Yan, "It's so fierce for the New Year's Eve."

He Zhengxi's eyebrows twitched, and he raised his hand to push the bushes he had walked in out, "Don't pretend to be relatives, what brother, hurry back to your home for the New Year, we are not a social security institution here."

Lin Cong also stretched out his hand to push He Zhengxi, and said with disdain: "My brother didn't recognize my parents, he didn't say he didn't recognize me, you have no relatives and no reason, why are you messing around?"

He Zhengxi got a little annoyed when he heard that, "Who do you say has no relationship?" He pointed at Lin Cong's forehead, gritted his teeth and said, "Believe it or not if I say one more thing, I can beat you to death?"

Lin Cong ran to hide behind Lin Yan and said, "No way, can you beat me in front of my brother?"

"You guys are playing." Lin Yan turned around neatly, and walked upstairs without looking back.

He Zhengxi hurried over, showed his fist and waved towards Lin Cong twice, and followed him upstairs.

Lin Yan closed the bedroom door and leaned against the writing desk in a daze. The snow outside the window was falling down like fine pieces of paper, and the world was in chaos.

He doesn't like the days of "auspicious snow heralds a good year". It's cold and chaotic, which makes people feel at a loss. Bad emotions always like to pick such days to invade.After sitting alone for a while, Lin Yan opened the drawer, took out a three-inch old photo from the middle of the notebook, and stuck it in the palm of his hand.He caressed Xu Jialin, who was still young in the photo, and himself when he was five years old, stretched out the quilt and got in, his 1.8 meters tall shrunk into a small ball.Soon, indescribable longing filled his chest, and sadness quickly spread to his limbs.

When the cold air on his body was gradually melted away by the room temperature, the speed of his blinking slowed down. A few minutes later, with the sound of wind and snow knocking on the window, Lin Yan fell asleep.

He Zhengxi looked at the bags and coats that were randomly thrown on the hangers, with a gloomy look in his eyes.He lingered outside Lin Yan's bedroom for a long time, but he still didn't go in after all.He hopes to be Lin Yan's support when he is sad, but he doesn't know how to handle it. He is afraid of hurting Lin Yan's self-esteem.Sitting blankly in the living room for a while, He Zhengxi picked up the key, opened the door and went downstairs.

"Aren't you going?" He asked Lin Cong who was hiding in the cave, "Do you want to show pity in front of him?"

Lin Cong stroked his bangs that were soaked in snow water, glanced at He Zhengxi, and remained silent.

"Why don't you go home and celebrate the New Year with your... parents?" He Zhengxi asked again.

With his left hand, Lin Cong was playing with the snow ball he had caught from the mail box. He sniffed his nose, revealing a red nose that was almost exactly like Lin Yan, and said in a low mood, "It's boring, I think you are more comfortable here, more like home. .”

He Zhengxi looked down at the forest condescendingly, finally sighed silently, turned around and said, "Go up and do logistics quickly, don't just expect others to hand you the food."

"Oh..." Lin Yan was still squatting, the snow ball in his hand was getting smaller and smaller.

He Zhengxi clicked his tongue and walked back, stretched out his hand to pat off the snow that Lin Cong was playing with, and roared in a low voice: "Aren't you coming? If you don't come, I'll get you outside and lock the door directly!"

"Do you really want me to go?" Lin Cong raised his face, his bangs lying on his forehead in bunches.

He Zhengxi said anxiously: "If you stay any longer, the residents on the first floor of the house will come out to call the police! Besides, my brother definitely doesn't want you to be exposed to the cold outside..." He picked the key, awkwardly said: "Of course, I will My brother has such a good heart, even if there is a stranger outside, he will give you a mouthful of hot food."

Lin Cong grinned, stood up happily, shook his hair, put his schoolbag behind his back, and said crisply: "Let's go, let's wish my brother a happy new year!"

"Tch." He Zhengxi rolled his eyes impatiently, and then said earnestly: "My brother has no prejudice against you, but don't tell him about your parents, it will cause trouble during Chinese New Year, you know."

Lin Cong stretched out his hand and swore: "I promise not to mention it, I'm not that stupid, don't worry."

He Zhengxi sneered: "Remember to pay the living expenses, our house is not free for people to eat and drink!"

Lin Cong smiled at him with squinted eyes, trotted out, dragged back a medium-sized suitcase full of snow, and said proudly: "All-round preparations, including blankets, pillows, money, and winter vacation homework."

He Zhengxi couldn't help cursing: "You must be out of your mind!"

When the two went back noisy, Lin Yan was still asleep.He Zhengxi rolled up his sleeves and signaled Lin Cong to lower his voice. He walked to the kitchen and began to prepare the ingredients for the New Year's Eve dinner.Lin Cong tiptoed over and asked in a low voice, "Isn't my brother's sleeping time too weird?"

He Zhengxi took a pack of shiitake mushrooms and threw it to Lin Cong. He weighed a piece of meat in his hand and said, "It's not like you don't know how busy he is. What happened to sleep. Besides, being able to sleep is better than insomnia."

Lin Cong nodded half-understanding, and asked again: "Then what shall we have for New Year's Eve dinner?"

He Zhengxi thought about it distressedly, and said, "How about hot pot? It's simple and lively."

Lin Cong lowered his head and complained in a low voice: "I'm envious of that kind of big family where many people celebrate the New Year together. It's just the three of us. What's the excitement..."

"It's lively, why isn't it lively?" He Zhengxi said with a smile.

After Xu Jialin was imprisoned, he also returned to Yancheng with his family. Since then, until last year, Lin Yan spent the Spring Festival alone in Linshui Street.

Lu Chi's family is very enthusiastic, and they always call Lin Yan to have a reunion dinner.However, when the fireworks were over and thousands of households were reunited, Lin Yan returned to the cramped and crowded hut in the old ancestral hall, would he feel... a little lonely?

Lin Cong said that three people eating hot pot for the New Year is not lively enough, but Lin Yan has always been alone.Studying alone, working alone, riding a bicycle from the south to the north of the city to catch different part-time jobs, facing the pain hidden deep in the memory alone, eating, studying and falling asleep alone in front of the dim desk lamp... …

But he never told others about suffering, and never showed weakness.

He Zhengxi stretched out his fingers, smoothed the frost on the plastic wrap, and murmured with emotion: "It's better than before..."

Lin Yan slept in a chaotic state, and there would be noise outside the window from time to time, but he refused to open his eyes and kept falling into a light sleep.At 8 o'clock at night, he heard the countdown to the Spring Festival Gala through the door, and he sat up from the bed, put on a sweater and went out.He Zhengxi and Lin Congzheng were crouching in front of the coffee table, watching TV while making five-watch dumplings, and chatting occasionally.

After looking at such a picture for a long time, there is an inexplicably joyful taste, and a trace of something called happiness rises in Lin Yan's heart.

When He Zhengxi looked up and saw him, he shook the rolling pin in his hand and shouted, "Wait for 10 minutes, let's eat hot pot after wrapping."

Lin Cong also turned his head, held up a dumpling and said, "Brother, please praise me, I'm so good, this dumpling is perfect!"

Lin Yan walked over, raised his hand and gave everyone a brainstorm, "We won't know until we cook it in the early morning. If the quality is not up to standard by then, there will be no lucky money."

Lin Cong immediately picked up a piece of dough, and added another layer of protection for his dumpling as if facing a big battle.

"You really..." Lin Yan smiled helplessly.

The three children's New Year's Eve dinner does not require wine, does not require rules, and no one lifts their ears to recognize relatives' faces.Lin Yanduan sat on the chair, looked at the plates full of fresh vegetables in front of him and said in shock: "You guys are amazing this afternoon!"

He Zhengxi laid out the dishes and said, "They didn't fire, so don't be disgusted."

Lin Cong took the credit: "I washed the shiitake mushrooms, cabbage cores, and bamboo shoots by myself."

Lin Yan looked at him and said, "One year older, next year you have to be able to cook, just wash?" He shook his chopsticks, "It's far from your Brother Xiao He!"

He Zhengxi raised his eyebrows at Lin Cong and raised his chin: "Learn a bit."

After eating a round, Lin Yan raised the glass full of orange juice in his hand, and said solemnly: "The three of us are one year older, and we are still young, so give this blessing to yourself."

He Zhengxi also raised his glass: "Everyone is safe, healthy and happy."

Lin Cong clinked glasses with the two cheerfully, and shouted: "Happy, happy, let me move forward in the ranking!"

Lin Yan laughed, lowered his cup and said, "Learning is the most important thing right now, I wish you all..." He slowed down his tone, turned his gaze to He Zhengxi, and raised his voice to shout: "Fulfill your dreams, leap into the dragon's gate !"

He Zhengxi clenched the glass tightly: "That's right, it will definitely work!" He poured down half a glass of Coke, returned to the kitchen, brought out a cake box, looked at Lin Yan with the courage brought by the carbonic acid bubbles, and said loudly : "Brother, we haven't eaten our birthday cake this year. No matter what date is written on your or my ID card, we can still live as we want. Birth and starting point don't mean what kind of road we will take in the future. You can't draw conclusions to life, this is what I learned from you. Now, I want to tell you this sentence, I..." He raised his hand to wipe a small tear from the corner of his eye, choking his throat Continued: "I hope you can still be as happy, sunny, cheerful, brave, and fearless as when we first met! But... People always have fragile and sad times. We are all ordinary people, not gods. Today, I He Zhengxi, as your younger brother and as someone who has always admired you, here I want to say! I, I am willing and able to be your reliance! No matter how difficult the road ahead, I will accompany you Go together!"

He forced himself to hold back his tears, and hoarsely finished this chaotic but sincere confession.

Lin Yan's hands trembled slightly, his eyes and He Zhengxi's stubborn and focused eyes were intertwined and reflected each other in this big day wrapped in hot pot heat.

After a long time, He Zhengxi finally calmed down. He opened the cake box, lit candles, and together with Lin Cong, the three of them made a wish and began to eat this belated birthday cake.

Lin Cong was still stuck in the shock just now, and he forgot the wish he made before blowing out the candles.His limited IQ was not enough to figure out exactly what meaning He Zhengxi wanted to express.

In short... After listening to the set of words that seemed to be a speech at a ceremony, he couldn't help but want to search for "Wedding March" or "Ode to Joy" on the Internet.After all, it shouldn't be "Spring Festival Overture", because the atmosphere is wrong!Even if the IQ level is not as high as the other two for the time being, Lin Cong has one quality that is particularly good - shut up and keep silent if you don't understand.After all, silence is golden, talk less and work more, that's right.

After eating, he quickly and quietly helped to clear the table and clean up. Later, he even made a pot of tea and brought it to the coffee table.

Three people squeezed together on a sofa, eating melon seeds, drinking tea, watching the Spring Festival Gala...

"Let me say," He Zhengxi spat out a mouthful of melon seeds, frowned and looked at Lin Cong, "Can you stop crowding with the two of us? Don't you care about things?"

Lin Cong was crackling, and took the time to say back and forth: "Family and everything is going well, and it will be said on TV when the Chinese New Year comes."

He Zhengxi frowned tightly, his teeth itching with hatred, "What the hell... You're so old, haven't you ever had a puppy love?"

Lin Cong shook his head, "What's the point of puppy love? It hurts the kidneys and money."

"Yo!" He Zhengxi became interested, "Who taught you this?"

Lin Cong glanced at him with disgust: "Look at the students around you and you'll understand, who else should I use to teach..."

He Zhengxi didn't bring it up in one breath, and swallowed it back again, thinking that this is indeed exactly the same theory as Lin Yan upholds.But this fart kid is caught between the two of them, it's really in the way!Still pouring tea, pouring what kind of tea!Do you keep your eyes open until dawn in the middle of the night? !

Lin Yan shrugged his shoulders with a laugh beside him, he took a sip of tea and said, "I think, there is no need to perform any sketch cross talk on this TV, it's good for you two to go up, open a theater, and it will be full of seats." ,Hahaha!"

He Zhengxi was extremely depressed, he had just spoken his heartfelt truth during the meal, and was about to strike while the iron was hot and warm up with Lin Yan, to get closer to each other, but was completely disturbed by Lin Cong, an idiot.

"It's really rare." Lin Yan said after laughing for a while, "This year, all three of us have gathered together to celebrate the New Year together. Although the home is not my home, and this is not my hometown...but it feels good. The three of us, It doesn't matter whether there is blood or not, a certain classmate said it right just now, let's go on leaning on each other in the future, it's very good and very satisfying." He took out three red envelopes from his close-fitting pocket, and said to himself Keep one, and share the remaining two between He Zhengxi and Lin Cong, "I'm not a few years older than you, but there's no one else here. I don't have much money, so take it as a gift."

"Thank you brother!" Lin Cong stood up and bowed to Lin Yan.

"Hey! Don't give such a big gift, it will cut my life!" Lin Yan quickly stood up and bowed back.

He Zhengxi was much smarter. He took advantage of the gap between Lin Cong's buttocks and quickly moved to the middle to occupy a favorable position. As soon as Lin Yan sat down, he hugged him directly, and when he got close to Lin Yan's ear, he quickly kissed him again. one time.

"Convinced, is this your innate ability?" Lin Yan pinched his earlobe and smiled with a blushing face.

He Zhengxi curled his lips, and said in a low voice honestly: "You gave me my tutoring, and all my abilities belong to you. There is nothing inborn, everything is just because of you, let nature take its course." , as it should be."

Lin Yan gasped, when did I teach He Zhengxi these things?

Lin Cong also gasped, what magical scene did I watch?

The author has something to say:

Thank you everyone who read the text.