Absinthe

A few days after returning to school, Hao Ai's legs recovered a little, but he still walked with a limp.

In the past few days, as long as Hao Ai leaves the classroom, Zhong Xiu must follow, even when Hao Ai goes to the bathroom, he has to accompany Hao Ai. Lu Fayan laughed and said that he has become Hao Ai's human crutch.

Hao Ai himself feels a little bit sorry, saying that he still has the ability to walk independently, and there is no need to treat him as a toddler who cannot be separated from his parents.

Zhong Xiu said he knew it, but as long as Hao Ai left the classroom, he would follow him step by step.

The venue of the chemistry competition is a high-ranked university in Nanchuan City. This competition brings together top chemistry high school students from all over the country.

Nanchuan is nearly [-] kilometers away from Zhengchuan. In order to save the round-trip time, the students of No. [-] Middle School will be led by their teachers to gather at the airport and fly there together.

Zhong Xiu put all the books and stationery needed into the schoolbag, and after tidying it up, he put the schoolbag on the table. This black backpack used to hold books had a small red Elmo pendant hanging on the zipper .

Hao Ai came from behind, ravaged the furry Elmo on Zhongxiu's backpack, and said, "Come on."

"Will do."

Hao Ai whispered: "Don't feel pressured, it doesn't matter if you can't win the championship."

In the past, every time Zhong Xiu went to participate in competitions or other competitions, someone always told him, if you want to come back with a championship, you will definitely win the first place.

This is trust in him, but it is also an invisible pressure.This force urged him to move forward, making him dare not stop.

It was the first time he heard someone say to him, it doesn't matter if you can't win the championship, you can stop and take a rest.

Zhong Xiu suddenly felt a strange softness in his heart. He was stunned for a moment, and then he agreed with a smile: "Okay, but you worry too much, the champion will only be me."

Before Zhong Xiu left the school, he worriedly told Lu Fayan a lot of precautions for taking care of Hao Ai on WeChat.

Lu Fayan said: "I know! I took care of his injuries before! Don't worry, I will give him the medicine myself."

Zhong Xiu: "..."

"You don't need to do anything, he is almost healed, and he can take the medicine himself."

He returned home to pack his clothes, and only stayed in Nanchuan for two days, so he didn't need much luggage.

His parents were not at home, so he packed his luggage and put it in the suitcase by himself.

Before going out, he sent Yang Yingqiong a message: "Mom, I went to Nanchuan to participate in the chemistry competition."

After he finished posting, he stuffed his phone into his pocket, knowing that it would be a long time before Yang Yingqiong had time to see it.

Zhong Xiu was the second to arrive at the airport, and the teacher who led the team arrived first.

This time the team was led by the chemistry teacher of the Huajing class, named Shen Yilang. He graduated with a master's degree not long ago. He is the most outstanding among this group of young teachers. In addition, his lectures are also very good, and he is very popular with the students.

As soon as Zhong Xiu got out of the taxi, he saw someone standing at the entrance C where he had agreed to meet. Shen Yilang didn't dress as formally as he did in school today. He was dressed in casual clothes, and he didn't wear the gold-rimmed glasses that he usually wears. His attire doesn't look like a teacher's, but rather a college student who hasn't left the campus yet.

Seeing Zhong Xiu approaching, Shen Yilang patted him on the shoulder and said, "They are still on the way, why don't you sit and wait in the lobby first?"

Zhong Xiu shook his head and said, "It's okay."

A few minutes before the agreed time, the students who participated in the competition came one after another.Most of them have their parents to see them off, and some of them are going to other places to participate in the competition for the first time, and they reluctantly bid farewell to their parents who came to see them off.

A black car stopped by the side of the road, Ning Yue got out of the car, said a few words to the people in the car, and then waved goodbye.

He trotted over, gasped and said, "I'm sorry everyone, there is a little traffic jam on the road."

Shen Yilang glanced at him briefly, and said lightly: "Let's go, I'm missing you."

After entering the waiting room, Zhong Xiu sat on a bench and waited, during which time he finally received a voice reply from Yang Yingqiong: "How many days will you stay in Nanchuan?"

Zhong Xiu said, "Two days."

"be careful."

"Ah."

"Tell me in advance when you come back, and I will pick you up if I'm free."

"it is good."

Yang Yingqiong said this every time, but the number of times she was free was very few.She never came to the airport to pick up Zhong Xiu.

Zhong Xiu knew that she was very busy, and besides, she never promised Zhong Xiu that she would come to pick him up. Her answer was always uncertain, so there seemed to be no reason to blame her.

On the plane, Zhong Xiu’s seat was next to Ning Yue’s, and Shen Yilang was on the other side of Ning Yue. The two of them chatted softly from time to time, as if Ning Yue had been taking the initiative to talk to him, while Shen Yilang looked like he didn’t want to talk too much , and finally turned his back to Ning Yue and said that he was going to sleep.

It was already evening when the plane landed in Nanchuan, Shen Yilang booked a hotel in advance and let them rest for the night, tomorrow is the time for the official competition.

The hotel they stayed in was very close to the competition venue, and after eating together, Shen Yilang asked them to walk around, but they couldn't run too far.

Zhong Xiu was not in the mood to go shopping, he was never keen on finding novelty in strange places.

For some reason, he clicked on Hao Ai's circle of friends again, and found that he had updated a new one yesterday. The photo was taken on the basketball court, a group of teenagers running on the basketball court.

He also matched an emoji pack, which was the one that appeared before: Weak and helpless but edible.He changed the word "eatable" into "lame".

Weak and pathetic and lame.

Below is a string of "hahahahahahaha".

Zhong Xiu also replied with a soulless "hahahahahaha".

He lived in the same room as Ning Yue, but he hadn't seen Ning Yue since dinner, so he didn't know where he went.

Zhong was so bored, he sat on the bed in the hotel and finished a set of real questions, and then watched the analysis video of the competition questions for a while.

It was past ten o'clock, and Ning Yue hadn't come back yet, so Zhong Xiu decided to go out to relax and take a look at where Ning Yue was.

The hotel he lived in was on the seventh floor, and he usually took the elevator up and down. Now he suddenly wanted to take the stairs.

Then two people were seen in the stairwell.

It's two men...

They were embracing each other, and the shorter one weighed his feet, raised his head slightly, and put his hands on the shoulders of the other.The taller man put one hand on the slender waist of the man in his arms, and stroked the back of his neck with the other hand.

Zhong Xiu recognized the two by virtue of their clothes and body shape.

It was Ning Yue and Shen Yilang, they were kissing.

They didn't seem to notice anyone coming, so Zhong Xiu quietly retreated out again.

Ning Yue came back with red eyes, and his lips were also a little unnaturally red.

Zhong Xiu didn't ask him where he was going, but Ning Yue took the initiative to explain: "The room is too stuffy, I went downstairs for a walk."

"Oh." Zhong Xiu didn't poke him.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Zhong Xiu was still a little worried. Ning Yue was thin and usually had no temper, so he was easy to manage.The two people who seem to have disparity in strength do not know whether Ning Yue was forced by Shen Yilang.

Ning Yue rubbed his eyes, trying to cover it up and said: "It's too windy outside, my eyes are a little sensitive, I can't blow the wind."

Zhong Xiu changed the subject: "Tomorrow's game, how are you preparing?"

"Fortunately."

Ning Yue's eyes were evasive, and Zhong Xiu didn't ask any more questions.

Zhong Xiu took the change of clothes from the suitcase and was about to go into the bathroom to take a shower.

Ning Yue said abruptly: "Actually, I saw you in the stairwell just now."

"Ah," Zhong Xiu said, "I didn't see anything."

Ning Yue smiled and said, "Thank you."

Zhong Xiu confirmed, "Are you okay?"

"It's all right."

"It's fine, I'm going to take a shower."

"Ah."

It was late after both of them took a shower, and they were lying on their respective beds ready to go to bed. The lights in the room were turned off, leaving only two wall lamps.

Ning Yue breathed calmly and remained motionless. Zhong Xiu thought he was asleep, so he got up and turned off the wall lamp beside his bed. He is the kind of person who can't fall asleep with a little light in the dark.

Ning Yue over there turned over and asked unexpectedly, "Do you have someone you like?"

Zhong Xiu was startled, he lay back on the bed and said, "No."

"Oh, that's great," Ning Yue said, "I really envy you."

"What's there to envy about?"

Ning Yue sighed quietly: "Oh, you don't understand, but it should be very simple for you to let the person you like like you, just don't like people like me who shouldn't like you."

Zhong Xiu was a little confused by Ning Yue's tongue-twister words.

Ning Yue said again: "I like him, but he doesn't like me."

Zhong Xiu was puzzled: "Why would you like an impossible person?"

"Xueshen, you don't like people at first glance, right?" Ning Yue smiled, his side face looked a little gloomy under the faint light of the bedside wall lamp, "I know it's impossible, but what if, what if he... ..." His voice dropped, "I don't want to give up so early."

"Go to bed early, good night." Ning Yue turned off the bedside lamp and buried his head in the quilt.

The world suddenly fell into darkness again.

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