only time

Qiu Rang no longer went to eat at Qi Shi, but he would still stop by every day to see if Lian Shaoguang was around and if he was in good spirits.

In his spare time, he was always staring at the yard downstairs in a daze.When he was in a daze, he was thinking about Lian Shaoguang.

Time flowed into autumn, and on a certain Saturday two months after he confessed to Lian Shaoguang, he worked overtime at work.

In the afternoon, after a busy period, he took a glass of water and sat down by the window to rest.His eyes fell on the small courtyard, and he found that the door of the small courtyard was open.He thought he was wrong, rubbed his eyes and looked again, the gate of the yard was still open.

He stood up abruptly, put down his water glass and ran out the door.

Lian Shaoguang, is he finally willing to enter that small courtyard?

He ran wildly all the way, and when he reached the gate of the small courtyard, he remembered to ask Fenghuang.

"is it him?"

"No."

He was suddenly deflated, and stopped to catch his breath in disappointment.

He heard something like sweeping in the yard, and he took a step forward.

Under the sycamore tree in the yard, a man was cleaning fallen leaves with a broom.

He knocked on the door, and the man raised his head when he heard the sound. He smiled and said hello: "Auntie."

Seeing him, my aunt immediately smiled and stopped her hands, "Xiaoqiu! Long time no see!"

He walked in, looked at the yard and responded, "Long time no see, how are you?"

"Okay, it's alright."

He had always looked at the yard from above, and it was the first time he observed it so closely, it was very fresh.

The yard is not as small as imagined, and it feels quite big when you are in it.The ground is paved with bluestone bricks, which have turned the color of mud over time.The doors and windows of the house were closed and covered with dust.There is a small sycamore tree half a person's height in the corner on the right hand side of the entrance, and the big sycamore tree is on the opposite corner.He walked under the tree and stretched out his hand, just enough to wrap around the trunk.Looking up, the branches and leaves are so lush that you can't see the sky.

The aunt walked up to him, raised her head to look at the tree, and said, "This tree was planted by Xiaoguang's mother when she was pregnant. It was only a little bigger than a palm when she planted it. His mother was weak and only conceived him after three years of marriage. The reaction during pregnancy was also more severe than normal people, and he was admitted to the hospital many times in order to protect the fetus. His father heard that "planting a sycamore tree will attract phoenixes." Planting a sycamore tree in the yard is a symbol of auspiciousness, so he planted this tree Unexpectedly, the last two months of pregnancy are really stable. It has been 41 years, but it is a pity that it will be cut off soon.”

Qiu Rang was surprised, "Has it been settled?"

"It has been settled long ago, and the demolition contract has been signed. It will be demolished this winter, and the tree will be cut down together."

Qiu Rang thumped in his heart, wouldn't it be two months?

"Can't it be transplanted? Why do you have to cut it down?"

"Can it be transplanted?"

Facing his aunt's expectations, Qiu Rang was not sure.He scratched his head, "It should be ok...I'll go back and check online, it would be a pity if I cut it off."

"Yes, yes, check."

"Okay." He walked up to his aunt and stretched out his hand: "Let me sweep."

The aunt looked at him, smiled and gave him the broom, "Then I will trouble you."

"You're welcome." He said, and began to clean up.

My aunt cheerfully found an open space that had been cleaned and stood there, watching him sweep.

"Are you still working today?"

"Well, work overtime."

Last time he told his aunt that he worked in the building opposite.

"It's so hard? Xiaoguang used to be the same, day and night. Whenever I found him, he said that he was working overtime. Oh, it's really hard!"

Qiu Rang smiled, and echoed: "Programmers are like that, and there is nothing they can do if they are busy."

"Fortunately, he didn't continue to do it anymore. Recently, there have been news about the sudden death of programmers. I am scared after seeing it. You should also pay attention to your health. You can't risk your life at a young age."

"Don't worry, I'm not that busy."

"That's fine, that's fine."

A topic ends, and no one looks for another topic for a while.While Qiu Rang's hands were busy, his mind was also busy.

When Lian Shaoguang was mentioned, he began to think about Lian Shaoguang.

Lian Shaoguang should be resting today, I don't know what he is doing, whether he has eaten well.

"Have you not been in touch with Xiaoguang recently?"

Suddenly hearing her aunt's question, Qiu Rang paused for a moment before continuing.He didn't know why his aunt would ask such a question, so he could only answer honestly: "No."

"Xiao Guang is a child who is slowly growing up. If there is anything about him that makes you feel uncomfortable, please be more concerned. This child is still very good-hearted."

Qiu Rang shook his head quickly, "I did something wrong that caused us to lose contact."

"Did something happen?"

Qiu Rang stopped, turned to face his aunt, and asked solemnly, "Auntie, how much do you know about homosexuality?"

The aunt was taken aback, and asked him, "You...don't accept homosexuality?"

Qiu Rang shook his head, "No, I'm gay."

My aunt seemed relieved when she heard this.Qiu Rang asked: "You know that Shaoguang is too, right?"

Aunt nodded and began to talk about Lian Shaoguang.

Lian Shaoguang has always been very busy with work, and his parents understand that they have never urged him.After the age of 30, people flocked to introduce him to him with a Beijing household registration.He is a filial child, so he went to see his parents in fear of embarrassment.But in the end, the woman couldn't stand his indifference and busyness and gave up voluntarily.At first, the Lian family's parents were very anxious when they saw that none of them succeeded, but later they gradually saw it away, no longer blindly, and rejected all who could be pushed.Until he was 36 years old, a very distant relative wanted to introduce someone to his niece, and it happened that the girl was also in S City, so that relative found Lian Shaoguang's parents.At that time, Lian Shaoguang had not been on a blind date for two years.The parents of the Lian family looked at the girl's photo, got a general understanding of it, and thought it was pretty good, so they tentatively told Lian Shaoguang.Although Lian Shaoguang hesitated, he finally did not refuse, and the two sides arranged for the two to meet.Although I told the girl in advance that Lian Shaoguang was slow to warm up, the girl still felt that Lian Shaoguang was too cold.It should have ended here, but the relative found the Lian family's parents not long after and said that the girl wanted to get in touch further.The parents of the Lian family thought that they might not be able to make a good story, so they gave her all of Lian Shaoguang's contact information.Unexpectedly, the two soon got on good terms.However, one day half a year later, Lian's parents suddenly received a call from the police saying that Lian Shaoguang had been hospitalized.

Qiu Rang knew what happened after that.

"His mother called me the night before to ask me what to do, but the next day..."

The aunt held the tissue and choked with sobs, "Little Guang, this child's life is so miserable. Why did he encounter such a thing?"

Qiu Rang didn't know how to comfort her, so he patted her on the back silently.

To be honest, after listening to it again, he still felt sad and depressed.

My aunt gradually stopped her tears and her mood stabilized.

"What happened between you and Xiaoguang?"

"I confessed to him, and I thought he liked me too, but he didn't accept me."

"That's it." The aunt sighed softly, "This child has always felt that his parents' accidents were caused by himself, and he lives in guilt and self-blame."

"I know. I want to help him out."

Auntie sighed again, "It's not that easy."

Qiu Rang said firmly, "I have a solution."

"Oh?" There was hope in Auntie's eyes.

"However, I need your help. It's best to settle the dust before the yard is demolished."

"As long as you can save the child, just say what you want me to do."

After coming out of the small courtyard, my aunt took Qiu Rang to the supermarket to buy a bunch of vegetables, and then went to Lian Shaoguang's house.

Because there was no notice in advance, when Lian Shaoguang saw Qiu Rang, he was stunned on the spot.

Qiu Rang smiled at him, and said hello: "Long time no see, excuse me."

He just came back to his senses and lowered his head.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere between the two, my aunt quickly smiled and said, "I'll cook, you guys talk. Xiaoguang, treat Xiaoqiu well, he helped me clean up the fallen leaves all afternoon today."

While speaking, she gave Qiu Rang a look, and pushed Lian Shaoguang in front of Qiu Rang.

Perhaps it was the aunt's intentional force, Lian Shaoguang staggered, his feet were unsteady, and he fell into Qiu Rang's arms.Qiu Rang opened his hands to stabilize Lian Shaoguang's shoulders.

The aunt smiled and went into the kitchen, and there were only two people still hugging in the living room.

Lian Shaoguang quickly struggled out of Qiu Rang's arms, and turned to go to the bedroom.

Qiu Rang grabbed his arm and said, "The courtyard will be demolished this winter, do you know?"

Lian Shaoguang paused and nodded.

"That's good."

Qiu Rang let go of his hand and didn't bother anymore.He turned and sat down at the end of the sofa.

Lian Shaoguang stood with his back to him for a while, then turned around and came to the sofa, and sat down on the other side of the sofa.

Qiu Rang smiled, feeling a little helpless in his heart.He has long known the contradiction in Lian Shaoguang's heart: on the one hand, he hates his homosexuality, but on the other hand, he yearns for love.The former made him pretend to be indifferent, while the latter made him show a little tenderness from time to time.Qiu Rang loves his little gentleness.

The two sat in silence, Qiu Rang leaned on the sofa and stared at Lian Shaoguang unscrupulously.

Finally, Lian Shaoguang suddenly raised his head to look at him, then lowered his head suddenly.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

Lian Shaoguang bit his lower lip and asked him, "Can I really see my parents again?"

Qiu Rang said firmly, "Yes."

This time, Lian Shaoguang raised his head again, without looking away, he looked straight at Qiu Rang, with light shining in his eyes.

Qiu Rang felt that the stone that had been hanging in his heart could finally fall to the ground.