silent garden

When Xia Qi graduated, he had worked in the N city branch factory in Beiliang for five months.At this time, Lu Zhao set up a special research team for the improvement and development of a product.I personally serve as the team leader.Xia Qi served as his assistant and deputy team leader.

With this position, plus his talent introduction conditions, he can already apply for house allocation in Beiliang.

Being able to get such generous treatment so quickly is the result of Lu Zhao's special care for him.

All these years, Lu Zhao has been treating him well.When he was studying, Lu Zhao gave him guidance.Lu Zhao also likes to find him for any projects in the Beiliang factory that need to cooperate with schools and scientific research institutions.These gave him a lot of experience and qualifications.

Now that he is at work, Lu Zhao takes him by his side and gives him the opportunity to perform and produce results.It also made him get the green light repeatedly, but he didn't look obtrusive.In the eyes of others and in his own resume, his promotion can be said to be logical and beyond reproach.

Lu Zhao is his bole.

But he couldn't take it for granted to enjoy everything this "Bole" brought to him.The application form for room allocation had been lying in his drawer for more than a week and had not been handed in. In the end, it was Lu Zhao who came to ask.

"Don't you want to move out from home?" Lu Zhao put one hand on his desk and looked at him, "Although the company's community is a bit remote, it may not be a good location now, but at least you can Live by yourself."

This is indeed what Xia Qi wants.He pinched the upper right corner of the form, hesitated and remained silent.

Lu Zhao patted him on the shoulder: "Don't think too much, you deserve these. I just cleared away the obstacles that a talent shouldn't have on his way forward."

This person always takes care of other people's feelings, and speaks beautifully without hypocrisy.Because the content is true to a certain extent.It's just that in the current environment, that truth is not worth mentioning.

Nowadays, only conforming to rules, even unhealthy rules, is generally recognized as "normal".And his case was not one of them.

But he really needs independence and space.

After marriage, Xia Weijun often mentioned the matter of having a second child. The word "second child" is used very delicately, it seems to be speaking from the perspective of a wife with a daughter, and it seems to put Xia Qi in his "first child" position.

But the meaning of ingratiating and hinting in it is not obvious.

Please your wife.I am so considerate to you, you should also fulfill my wish.Implied adopted son.You are not young anymore, you should be independent and less dependent on your family.

Xia Qi sighed helplessly, raised his head and showed a grateful smile to Lu Zhao, and gave back to the leader unskillfully: "When will Lu Gong have time, I will treat you to a meal."

Hearing this, Lu Zhao's eyes flashed with joy, and then he teased half-jokingly: "Xiao Xia, do you know that I have been waiting for you for two and a half years."

This is the most measured speech he has ever made.But it was as true as anything else he had said.

Xia Qi's ears turned hot when he heard it, and his face turned red.There was a bit of embarrassment in the smile.

Seeing this, Lu Zhao was suddenly very happy, and deliberately teased him, "Then I want to see my itinerary."

Talking about dressing up, she pulled out the phone calendar and moved it in front of Xia Qi.Many of the dates above have labels added, only a few are left blank.

Lu Zhao pointed to the label closest to that day, which will be next month: "Look, there's nothing free recently."

Xia Qi looked embarrassed: "Then wait until you finish your work next month..."

"No need." Lu Zhao shook his head and put his phone back, "I can adjust the time to help you on the day you move. Then you can treat me to a potluck, okay—I heard that you cook very well."

The latter sentence sounds like it was mentioned on purpose.

Xia Qi's previous embarrassment had only just eased, and a new embarrassment came again.With eyes wide open, trying to make a calm and calm expression, he nodded and said "no problem".

So, the application form was filled out in front of Lu Zhao, and then he took it away directly.

After half a month, the application has the result.Xia Qi got a single apartment with one bedroom and one living room in the self-built employee community in Beiliang.

Although the community is far away from the urban area, the industrial zone itself has already formed a mature living environment.Business and entertainment are complete. If it is not for the high spiritual pursuit, living here may not be worse than the urban area.

Xia Qi was very satisfied and heaved a sigh of relief.

The house was uniformly decorated, so he simply bought some furniture and moved in.

On the day of the move, he invited all the members of the special research team to dinner—including Lu Zhao, of course.That meal was indeed according to Lu Zhao's opinion, and he cooked a homely meal himself.

"But you're still cheating."

After dinner, the colleagues left one by one, and Lu Zhao was the last one to stay.When he mentioned this meal, he felt a little resentful, and he looked at Xia Qi with a half-smile and unclear emotion.

Xia Qi avoided his gaze and said, "Then when you're free, I'll invite you again."

Lu Zhao was satisfied with this answer.Picking up his white work coat, he asked Xia Qi to accompany him for a walk, to visit the neighborhood by the way, to get familiar with the environment.Now they all live here, Xia Qi is new here, but Lu Zhao has been living here for almost two years.

When I really walked around, I realized that the community is very large.

A river divides the neighborhood into two halves.Half of the area is for employees of Beiliang, and the other half is for commercial sale.There is a running track built along the river, and many people are running.

They walk slowly along the runway.

Xia Qi felt that Lu Zhao wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what it would be.

Lu Zhao's life these years has been good, it's normal to say it's normal, and it's ambiguous to say it's ambiguous.However, in terms of ambiguity, it's not enough for that.If Lu Zhao intends to spread the word out, he is willing to listen and deal with it early.

"I used to have a friend." After walking a third of the track slowly, Lu Zhao started with this.

Xia Qi turned his head to meet his smiling gaze.Those eyes were deep, looking at him completely.

This kind of look will give people an illusion, as if the world is so big that he can only see you.But Xia Qi felt that Lu Zhao was not looking at himself.He looks at others from him.

Sure enough, Lu Zhao said, "You are very similar to him."

Then he heard a truly regrettable story.

Lu Zhao has a friend, and they have known each other since they could not speak.The parents of both parties were colleagues, so they played together since childhood.Fighting and fighting, falling in love and killing each other, and growing up together until high school.

That friend was an illegitimate child, and his father kept it a secret from the family for many years, and finally revealed it when he was 17 years old.The father's original wife was killed.After some negotiations, the original partner agreed to accept him, but never his mother.

In the winter of that year, his mother threw herself into the river in order to let him go away with peace of mind and not to be guarded against and suspicious in the future.He fought hard for a month, and finally had to go with his father.

"We made an appointment to go to the same university. I got in, but he didn't. It's not that he didn't have bad grades. In fact, he's more gifted in reading than I am. It's because of family affairs that interfered with him. I was not reconciled, so I persuaded him. Re-reading, saying that I will wait for him. He listened to me and really went to re-read. I went to see him once a month or two. At that time, he was very depressed. Only when I went would he be happy. It’s fine, just pass the exam, just change the environment. Even if he doesn’t pass the exam this time, let him go wherever he wants. After graduation, he can still go to the same city. However, once the college entrance examination is over, he will disappeared."

Having said that, they stepped onto the bridge, facing the setting sun in the distance.

Lu Zhao stopped suddenly and stood by the bridge looking at the big round red ball.The surrounding clouds are also colorful.Everything is very hot, as if it would hurt the eyes.

In such a situation, Xia Qi instinctively wanted to say something to comfort her.But this is not his proficiency.After thinking about it, I finally stayed silent with Lu Zhao.

It wasn't until dark that Lu Zhao spoke again, ending the story with only one sentence: "I have never seen him again, I only know that he is still alive."

"Why?" Xia Qi blurted out.

Lu Zhao raised his hand and patted his chest: "I know, because I can feel it."

Xia Qi moved her lips, but after all she didn't make a sound, she just nodded.Naturally, he still has questions. He wants to know if Lu Zhao is empathetic to him, and if there is anything else besides empathy... But any question seems to be abrupt.

And Lu Zhao looked tired.There was no smile on his face, nor in his eyes.The long time did not make him take the past lightly, but seemed to smear it more heavily.

Looking back, that color will be eye-catching.

"I live there." After a long time, Lu Zhao pointed in one direction, "I went there, do you remember the way back?"

No matter how big the neighborhood is, it's just a neighborhood, how could I not remember.Xia Qi was stabbed in the heart by this question, as if he felt a little distressed when he saw Lu Zhao talking to that friend.Because it hurts to read the story.

He nodded: "I remember."

"Let's go back then." Facing him, Lu Zhao tried to raise the corner of his mouth.As if remembering the original intention of today, he said consolingly, "Relax and work hard."

Xia Qi nodded, "I understand."

That day Xia Qi couldn't sleep very late.The way Lu Zhao looked at the other person through him, and the way Lu Zhao was stabbed by the thick-colored past gave him an indescribable shock.

In the past, he always believed that if people want to live a more comfortable life, their feelings should be light, and their nostalgia and obsession should be less.Otherwise, it is a burden to move forward.Even sinking deep in place, digging their own graves.

However, Lu Zhao made him realize that living with deep and heavy feelings, nostalgia for the past and anticipation for the future at the same time, the warmth and beauty he can have is so strong that it is enviable.

He envied Lu Zhao.

I envy him for daring to live like this.

He felt that Zhou Huailuo who let him let go of the past was very brave, and Lu Zhao who stood firm and waited was also very brave.

Only to deny and bury the feelings that have not been pursued to the end. I dare not go back, and I am unwilling to let others into my heart. I secretly kept a photo of myself for more than a year, deceiving myself like a fool, a coward, and a joke.

Living alone, eating alone, and walking alone after leaving the factory laboratory, people have a lot of time to think about it.

So for a long time after that, Xia Qi let himself go backtracking.He kept thinking of Pinggang City and Fei Tianlan.

From the side I met by chance on the plane, to Fei Tianlan's bewildered and sullen eyes at the end.From the emotion he didn't dare to say, to Fei Tianlan's grievance that he regarded him as fresh and fantasy.From his reluctance to Fei Tianlan's reluctance to stay... everything was like doing a chemical experiment, carefully thinking about the smallest unit of measurement.

By the end, he felt a little crazy.

When he thought that Fei Tianlan would never come to him, unless he turned around, there would be no way to understand all this, he felt as if he was being oppressed by some invisible thing.I don't know where my body is, and it's always aching.

The growing impulse finally broke the dike on Fei Tianlan's birthday without warning and unexpectedly.

Finished the morning work that day and entered the lunch break.Colleagues went to the cafeteria in twos and threes, and he was among them.The moment he stepped into the door of the cafeteria, he stopped suddenly.

"I'm going to make a phone call." He turned his head and said to his colleague.

The colleague said: "Then we will wait for you at table number three inside."

He nodded.After watching his colleagues go in, he took out his mobile phone, his palms already sweating profusely.But he pressed Fei Tianlan's mobile phone number on the dial pad clearly, decisively, and every digit was fine.

Fei Tianlan answered quickly, his voice a little deep.

"Hello?"

The sound knocked on his eardrums, and he couldn't help thinking about it in a daze.Swallowed throat, throat is dry.Then hurriedly said before asking questions or hanging up, "Fei Tianlan, it's me, Xia Qi."

For a long time, there was no voice belonging to Fei Tianlan over there.Not even the sound of breathing.Only some background sounds let him know that the call is still in progress.

"Fei Tianlan..."

"How did you know I was coming today?"

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