River City Story

After the Lantern Festival, the three of them started school one after another. Lin Cong didn't know what was wrong in his mind, and he refused to go home anyway.He firmly occupies the sofa in the living room of Lin Yan's second-bedroom rental apartment. Luggage and belongings are piled up on the entire coffee table, eating, doing homework, taking off and changing clothes, within a radius of one meter, and reaching out to solve them.A month later, Lin Yan couldn't bear it anymore.He decided to let Lin Cong move into his bedroom first, but this action aroused strong discomfort and opposition from He Zhengxi.

He Zhengxi offered to share half of his bed with Lin Cong, but was rejected by Lin Yan with the reason that "you have different work and rest schedules and will disturb each other".He Zhengxi thought about it, that's true, not to mention that in his closet, under the pillow, and in the middle of the bed, there are some unknown collections scattered everywhere. He even worried that he would be caught in the middle of the night if he courted and confessed to Lin Yan in his sleep. Lin Cong didn't hear well either.

A few days after that, He Zhengxi picked a spare weekend, quickly and decisively moved a set of camp beds back from the shopping mall, and placed them in the small open space in front of the bedroom of the two behind the sofa.

But soon, they ran into problems again.

On a spring day, late at night when the temperature rose, Lin Yan got up to run water in the bathroom. When he opened the door, he heard a heavy panting on the camp bed.He thought something was wrong with Lin Cong, and hurriedly touched the button to turn on the light, but the result was shocking—this kid was so generous in the living room. Whatever...

Lin Conglu was so absorbed in his hands that he couldn't spare the time to pay attention to who was standing beside the bed. During that time period, he was indistinguishable from animals and humans.A few minutes later, one second before Lin Cong was about to reach the peak of human joy, Lin Yanfu bent down close to Lin Cong's ear, and let out a loud roar.He Zhengxi was woken up by Lin Yan's voice, he grabbed the badminton racket out of his daze, opened his eyes for a closer look, and suffocated on the spot.

Not long after, He Zhengxi went to the shopping mall angrily, and set up a tent to cover the camp bed, creating an extremely closed and independent masturbation environment for Lin Cong. Lin Cong was so excited that he almost cried.While tears were still rolling in his eyes, He Zhengxi quickly took Lin Cong's wallet in his hand, pulled out a bank card, pressed his head, walked into a bank near the community, and withdrew 1 yuan money out.During the period, the bank's security guards stepped forward several times and asked the young man if he needed help, but Lin Cong refused with tears in his eyes.

He Zhengxi handed over the money to Lin Yan, and said, "The living expenses, rent and purchase expenses during this period."

Lin Yan happily counted the money and said, "You two have already walked to the bank, why don't you just transfer the money directly, whoever has nothing to do is wandering around with a bunch of money, the brain is plain."

Lin Cong, who once held 3 yuan in cash in his backpack, silently raised his hand beside him.

Lin Yan smiled happily and patted Lin Cong on the head: "I will cook pork ribs for you to eat in the evening, braised in soy sauce, clear stewed, sweet and sour as you like."

"Oh! Buy more, I just collected the rent today!" He Zhengxi cheered.

In mid-April, He Zhengxi's second model ended. With his report card, he chose a sunny Saturday afternoon to make an appointment with He Yi and Fang Ximin, and openly announced that he was about to take the college entrance examination.

Fang Ximin was stunned by the bomb that her own son had prepared for a long time. She was obviously stunned for a moment, then she frowned and took out her mobile phone and said:

"I'm calling your class teacher now. How can she let a minor decide for herself?"

He Zhengxi patiently pressed Fang Ximin's cell phone, closed it on the table, crossed his hands and said calmly: "You didn't even attend my parent meeting."

"Then I'll ask Lin Yan." Fang Ximin stood up and was about to call the shop assistant.

"He went out to talk about things today, and he will go back to school to attend the experimental group meeting. If you are willing to wait, you can sit here until eight o'clock in the evening." He Zhengxi said with a hippie smile.

Fang Ximin sat back down with displeasure and crossed her arms. She was silent for a while, and said earnestly: "Your grades are very good. If you are willing to consolidate in school for a year, you will have more choices next year. You don't really want to learn Doctor, you can try a foreign school..."

He Zhengxi immediately made a pause gesture: "Scores are uncertain, maybe I won't have the energy to take the exam next year." He poured a cup of hot juice for Fang Ximin, and continued: "I won't give the professor and The dean is ashamed, don't worry."

Fang Ximin didn't want to chat with He Zhengxi any more, she stretched out her foot from under the table and kicked He Yi who had been quietly watching, "Your son, you also say a few words."

He Yi was replying to work information when Fang Ximin kicked him over. He trembled and typed two words wrongly. Just as he was about to delete and rewrite, Fang Ximin suddenly raised his voice and said sharply: "Can you spare a few minutes and pay attention to it?" What does your son do every day?!"

After He Yi corrected the typo and sent the message, he put away his phone and looked at He Zhengxi.

He Zhengxi looked arrogant, and looked at He Yi fearlessly.

The two exchanged their eyes quietly for more than ten seconds, then He Yi cleared his throat, pointed to He Zhengxi's arm and asked, "Your injury, are you okay? I just found out recently, if it still hurts remember to come Take a look at the hospital, don't leave any hidden wounds."

"My brother personally helps to apply medicinal wine every day." He Zhengxi swung his arms twice, with a childish gesture of showing off on his face, "The pain is gone, although Ms. Fang almost beat me to death I'm weak, but luckily your son is growing vigorously. The most important thing is that she didn't hit me in the face, and I'm still handsome."

He Yi wanted to laugh, but he caught a glimpse of Fang Ximin's gloomy face from the corner of his eye, and immediately withdrew the half-bloomed smile.

"For Lin Yan?" He asked.

He Zhengxi twirled his fingers and said nothing.

Fang Ximin sneered and said, "Don't think that I don't know what you're thinking. The family can turn a blind eye to your sexual orientation, but you can't take your own future into it. You think you can live a good life." Okay, will life be better if you make random decisions? Are you sure Lin Yan can accept your wishful thinking?"

He Zhengxi raised his chin and said, "Don't worry about our affairs, you don't understand."

Fang Ximin smiled helplessly, and said, "You play so hard to impress yourself, and if you don't get a response then, don't go crazy with Lin Yan. Being liked by your own brother, I think his pressure will only be worse than that of Lin Yan. You are bigger." She has been a teacher for more than 20 years, and there is a unique sharpness in her eyes, He Zhengxi turned his head, pinched the paper towel on the table and rubbed the ball.Seeing his appearance, Fang Ximin couldn't help teasing again: "If you are a brother, you can experience it yourself. How does it feel to be sexually harassed by your brother who grew up with you every day?"

After Fang Ximin said these words, he got up and went to the bathroom. When he came back, there were already a dozen standard-shaped tissue balls in front of He Zhengxi.There was no one in the seat opposite him, Fang Ximin cast his eyes out of the window, He Yi was smoking and talking on the phone.

After He Yi finished smoking two cigarettes, answered a few phone calls, and sat back at the desk, He Zhengxi also calmed down.He threw the tissue ball into the trash can, looked at the increasingly fine lines around Fang Ximin's eyes, and the increasingly glaring white hair on He Yi's head, and said hesitantly: "I know you are all working hard. , a person with countless jobs inside and outside the hospital, so I won't complain, after all, you gave me life and let me have the living and learning conditions I have today."

This was the first time he talked about this kind of topic to his parents, his tone was very sincere, He Zhengxi hoped that they would not think that he was deliberately sarcastic or teasing.

"In the past, I did resent why you brought me out of Xicheng, but you always ignored it. Every holiday, the students around me go out to the bookstore, eat, and travel with their families, but I have almost never had such a situation. Experience. Even when I tried to find the picture of going out with my family in my memory, what came to my mind was that my elder brother took me to eat steak in a shopping mall in Xicheng. At that time, the prices were low and there were no Money, 20 yuan a piece of ordinary steak, the taste is ordinary, but we have a very happy meal." Facing his parents who did not say a word, he slowly poured out his thoughts accumulated over the years.

"What the hell is this? I really don't understand. I obviously want to come back and live with my family..."

He Yi rubbed his fingertips repeatedly, frowned, and said apologetically, "It's because we didn't do enough. On your growth path, we really can't be considered qualified parents."

"That's not the case." He Zhengxi denied, "You also have your own lives, and you bear the lives of many more people on your shoulders. That's right, occasionally I have some thoughts, just like just now, I thought Parents will be angry if you don't attend the school, but I understand it. I... I'm actually happy enough. Since I was 7 years old, whenever I see my big brother, I always admire him. He has a straighter back than anyone Straight, as if any problem can be solved; sometimes he has a playful smile on his face, but he dares to shake his fist when he is really annoyed. At that time, I didn't know where his strength came from and what it was for." He Zhengxi's eyes began to turn red When he thinks of Lin Yan, he always feels a little sad. These sorrows contain too many complicated emotions, and these emotions are hard to explain in one or two sentences.

"Until recently, to be precise, after August last year, I tried to understand him and his world." There was a small stain of wetness on the tissue box in front of He Zhengxi, and he raised his hand to wipe it off. Eyes, looking firmly at the opposite parents, "Before you found me, he was my big tree. Now, I want to grow faster and become a big tree beside him. Although I am still young, I I’m working hard, and I won’t give up easily.”

He Yi's face became more serious following what He Zhengxi said. He was shocked by his son's frankness, and even more confused by his son's changes.

"Lin Yan is a rare and outstanding young man, he is very attractive." He Yi said, "You will have longing and even love for such a person. Your mother and I will try our best to express our understanding..." He repeatedly used Words, worried that it would destroy the rare atmosphere between father and son to open their hearts, "However, what you said just now also made me a little worried."

"What are you worried about?" He Zhengxi asked.

"If privacy is involved, you can refuse to answer." He Yi said.

"Thank you." He Zhengxi smiled hard.

"What happened in August last year? Or, what happened to Lin Yan? We are very pleased that you have grown so much, but if these growths are due to the difficulties you and Lin Yan encountered, then I hope you I can say it. Although the family does not have billions of dollars in wealth, but there is nothing missing, and I can help you solve it."

He Zhengxi lowered his eyes and did not speak.The restaurant was noisy and noisy, He Zhengxi huddled in his chair, lowered his head silently, as if a silent world had been isolated.

"Feel sorry……"

After a long time, He Zhengxi finally raised his face.

"I don't know if he is willing to let you know, it requires his permission. But I have confidence, and he has confidence, that we can get over that hurdle."

He Yi said: "Is it the money problem, or..."

"No." He Zhengxi immediately replied, "It has nothing to do with money... No, maybe it has something to do with it, but that's a thing of the past..." He murmured and began to rub his face in a little distress.

Fang Ximin was very surprised by He Zhengxi's performance. She felt that in He Zhengxi's character, there were more and more soft elements, and less domineering appearance.

She stretched out her hand and pressed He Zhengxi's shoulder: "Your behavior makes me and your father both worried. And Lin Yan, his family situation is too special. Now that you are all in Yancheng, you can talk more about it." Rely on family. Self-reliance is admirable, but it’s really okay to know how to ask for help from those around you when the time comes, and don’t make yourself too tired.”

"We don't feel tired, we are getting better and better." He Zhengxi said.His eyes sparkled, making Fang Ximin feel pity in his heart.

"You always say that you have grown up, so as an adult, mother only warns you about one thing."

He Zhengxi tensed up and listened carefully.

Fang Ximin said: "You can be presumptuous, you can lose your temper, it's okay, but you can't leave your worst emotions to those you care about."

He Zhengxi didn't know if he could do it when he heard this sentence for the second time.In the nearly five years since he left Xicheng, for most of the time, he was showing Lin Yan his anxious and stubborn emotions.

This originally confident conversation ended with He Zhengxi's silence.After sending Fang Ximin and He Yi away, he didn't go home, but took a bus to find Feng Bowen, and then stayed in Song Rui's studio all afternoon.It's not because of his temporarily unrequited love, he just wants to see how the two get along and give himself some confidence and possibility.

When he was about to leave in the evening, Song Rui yawned and sent him downstairs. Feng Bowen didn't follow him, and he was upstairs helping to receive customers.

"You look tired." He Zhengxi said.

"Me?" Song Rui smiled, shook his head and said, "Actually, your brother Bowen is quite tired. He has to be busy with studies, papers, projects, mentors, and studio business."

He Zhengxi nodded, and whispered, "My brother is similar."

Song Rui stretched out his hand to poke He Zhengxi's upper arm: "I haven't seen you for a while, why are you getting old?"

He Zhengxi: "Even if you have become more stable, I will definitely change too."

After hearing this, Song Rui leaned over and walked around He Zhengxi twice, asking, "What's the matter, something happened?"

He Zhengxi let out a candid "Yes".

Song Rui was delighted, and said, "Don't think so much, it's useless to entangle, you're still young, just do what you can do."

"My brother said that too, when he was 15 years old."

"Tsk! You can't say anything without your brother."

He Zhengxi smiled slightly.

Song Rui looked at his watch and said, "My dear brother, hurry back, I won't be home all afternoon, go back carefully for re-education."

He Zhengxi bypassed this topic and didn't respond. He turned his face, looked Song Rui up and down, and suddenly smirked and said, "You and Brother Bowen, let's adjust the oil recently."

Song Rui quickly understood, and he immediately counterattacked beautifully: "Are you envious? You don't."

He Zhengxi, who was really envious in his heart, stepped on the return bus depressedly, listening to the parents of the aunt sitting next to him go back.When he opened the anti-theft door on the first floor of the rented room, Lin Yan and Lin Cong chatted and laughed, and He Zhengxi hesitated for a long time as he was about to change the key to open the second door, but finally stopped.

He retreated outside, closed the door again, pulled up his hood, walked downstairs step by step, left the community, and began to wander aimlessly in the street.

The two people in the room didn't notice that He Zhengxi opened the door and left. Lin Congzheng talked to Lin Yan about the school affairs with hands and feet, and Lin Yan also chatted with him about his and He Zhengxi's childhood.

He Zhengxi played basketball with others for more than ten minutes at the court he often went to. During the break, the mobile phone in his trousers pocket rang. He took it out and saw that it belonged to Lin Yan.He Zhengxi thought briefly for a few seconds, put the phone on the nearby stone steps, did not answer, the ringing continued for nearly half a minute, He Zhengxi still stood aside, neither answering nor hanging up.After the light on the phone dimmed again, he drank half a bottle of water and rejoined the crowd.

Lin Yan put down his phone and said to Lin Cong, "You eat first, I'll go out and find him."

Lin Cong glanced longingly at the bowl of steaming beef balls in front of him, stood up and said, "Brother, I'll be with you."

"Eat quickly, remember to read after eating." Lin Yan left a sentence and hurriedly opened the door and left.

As a parent who was half preparing for an exam, he now had some understanding of Xin Huihui's nervousness when she faced her college entrance examination, and even made false claims that He Zhengxi was younger.Lin Yan called He Zhengxi three times in a row, but the other party didn't answer, and he became anxious.Before going out in the morning, He Zhengxi said that he wanted to talk to his parents about the college entrance examination. Lin Yan proposed to go together, but He Zhengxi refused, saying that he could handle it alone.Lin Yan was worried that He Zhengxi's quarrel with his family would affect his emotions.

It has been a long time since He Zhengxi has played a game heartily.Ever since he decided to take the college entrance examination a year earlier, he stopped working on the school basketball team and replaced his daily exercise with jogging after meals.He is very afraid that he will be injured and delay the exam while participating in the ball game, even if the probability of this is actually very small.

More than half an hour passed, and He Zhengxi finally had a good time playing. He sat on the stone steps to let the air go, and watched with great interest a few boys around 10 years old holding the ball. A few words about remote guidance.

Lin Yan walked along the boulevard all the way, and when he got near the stadium, he took out his mobile phone and dialed it again.The familiar ringtone soon came faintly.He followed the sound and looked not far away. He Zhengxi was shouting to a group of children with a smile on his face. On the stone steps on the right hand side, the familiar mobile phone of the same model was ringing on its own.Lin Yan stood outside the guardrail for a while, hung up the phone, and dialed again. When He Zhengxi heard the ringtone, he lowered his head and glanced casually, then went to greet the group of children again, as if he had no intention of answering the phone.

Lin Yan sighed inaudibly, turned and left.He returned home, gave Lin Cong instructions, edited and sent a text message to He Zhengxi, then picked up his schoolbag and went downstairs, then rode back to school.

At 9 o'clock in the night, when he finally finished the group experiment with his classmates and walked to the school gate with the cart, He Zhengxi's expression when he casually put the phone aside suddenly appeared in his mind, and some subtle sadness surged in his heart.He twisted the bicycle handle twice, feeling bored.

On the campus in late April, the night breeze is mixed with the mixed smells of crabapple and rose. The air is warm, and people are wrapped in it, comfortable and comfortable.Lin Yan turned the car around and decided to stay in the dormitory for one night.

He Zhengxi smiled and said goodbye to the little boys in the stadium, turned on the phone to read the messages, the first one was sent by Yang Lin, the two chatted for a while, and didn't see Lin Yan's message until they exited the interface.

"Why don't you answer the phone? I made beef balls today, and they are in the kitchen casserole. Remember to eat them when you get home."

He Zhengxi has played golf and gained admiration from elementary school students. He is in a very happy mood at this moment.He smiled and typed a line to reply, humming a song comfortably and went home.

Lin Yan occasionally goes back to the dormitory for a nap at noon, and there are spare clothes in the cabinet.It took him a few minutes to re-roll the bedding, go into the bathroom and take a shower, lie comfortably on the narrow bed, turn off the phone, and quickly fell asleep amidst the busy voices of his roommates.

Lin Cong sat at the dining table, holding a gel pen in his hand, watching He Zhengxi call Lin Yan repeatedly with trepidation.

"My brother should not come back, he went to school." He said.

"Then I should be able to answer the phone call! No text messages!" He Zhengxi flicked his spoon irritably, and a few drops of soup were splashed on Lin Cong's open workbook.

Lin Cong wiped it with a paper towel, looked at the stubborn grease stains on it and curled his lips, "Didn't you answer the phone... and said that my brother couldn't get through to you, so he ran out to find you."

He Zhengxi sat back on the chair angrily, and kept silent.

Seeing that his aura was not so strong, Lin Cong suddenly became more courageous, and said in a rambling tone: "He must have made this for you. He said you like it, and asked me if I like it. I think he bought it back. I must say I like it. In fact, I don’t like it. I want to eat Sixi meatballs, the big ones, which are fried after cooking, and then braised in soy sauce or sweet and sour.”

He Zhengxi gave Lin Cong a cold look, and asked, "When are you leaving?"

Lin Cong shook the pen holder in his hand and shook his head, "I'm not leaving. I live here during the Golden Week and summer vacation. My brother told me that he can help me improve my grades by more than a dozen places. He also said that he will make plans for me during the summer vacation. Brother is so smart, I'm sure I'm not bad. My brother also said that he played around for a few years when he was a child, but he got better later, he encouraged me, I believe my brother..."

"Your brother?"

He Zhengxi was quite displeased by Lin Cong's continuous "my brothers". He interrupted Lin Cong's words and stood up extremely abruptly.The chair made a sharp hiss on the floor, and Lin Cong covered his ears with his hands.

"What do you want?" He shrank his head back in fear.

He Zhengxi didn't reply, he reached out to pick up the casserole on the table, and smashed it towards the opposite side with all his force, expressionless.