Rust II

The Olympic Sports Center at night shows a completely different temperament and color from the daytime.

The last time Lin An came was in August when the summer heat was not over.It was also here that he met Xu Xin for the first time after 12 years without warning.

Lin An stood in a daze at the entrance of the hotel surrounded by bright lights. The panic and fear that had gripped his heart tightly more than two months ago seemed to climb up the road again along the blood of his body at this moment. heart.

Bai Jing's voice echoed all the way in his ears, as if he had somehow solved the confusion that he had been hiding in his heart for a long time, but he was afraid to face and study it.

Xu Yuan's figure appeared at the exit of the underground garage not far away, and trotted all the way to the hotel door after a while.

She glanced at the other party with a sluggish expression, and said strangely: "Mr. Lin, why are you standing on the steps and not going in?"

Lin An didn't seem to hear, and just continued to stare blankly in an unknown direction.

Xu Yuan waved her hand in front of his eyes, and called him again: "... Teacher Lin?"

Only then did Lin An come back to his senses, he abruptly withdrew his gaze, and landed on the face in front of him that had a three-point portrait with that person, and it took a long time before he smiled slightly, Panasonic held his breath in his chest, and asked: "... ...where's your uncle?"

"Oh him, when I first came up, I met Ge Jing and Director Chen, and we chatted for a while, let me come and find you first."

Lin An nodded, and became quiet again for a while.

Xu Yuan felt a little inexplicable about his sudden fatigue: he was fine during the day, why did he seem to lose his soul in the blink of an eye?

But he didn't think much about it, he just thought that the other party was too tired after a long day of work, so after taking another look at him, he stepped forward and pulled him familiarly into the hotel gate together.

Xu was influenced by today's large-scale observation, and Xu Yuan's attitude towards Lin An became closer invisibly. She familiarly led him to shuttle in the corridor of the east wing on the first floor, and even the waiter who originally came to lead the way Ying Sheng was also sent away, and within a few minutes, he deftly pushed open the door of one of the private rooms, put his bag on the sofa in the reception room casually, poured tea and turned on the TV, a few actions were done in one go , as naturally as if in their own territory.

She drank the water with a few gulps, and when she turned around, she found Lin An still standing at the door. She couldn't help but raised her hand and pointed to the sofa on the other side, and said enthusiastically, "Mr. Lin, please sit down first. My uncle and the director and the others It will probably take a while to come."

Lin An looked around for a while at the extremely familiar decorations and furnishings, and then slowly walked to the coffee table.

Holding the cup on one side, Xu Yuan quietly glanced at him twice. After a few seconds, she suddenly took another cup of tea and poured it in front of him. Hungry? Do you want someone to bring some snacks over?"

Lin An shook his head.

Xu Yuan secretly raised her eyebrows, rolled her eyes left and right, and wanted to spy on Xu Xin before he arrived.But unexpectedly, before she had time to speak, Lin An smiled at her first, and asked a question without thinking.

"...Are you familiar with this place?"

Xu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then laughed, shook her hands and said, "It's okay, I used to come to my uncle when I was a child, he talked about business, and he usually made appointments here, as for me... I usually come with me for a meal .But after entering junior high school, there were fewer people coming, and the last time I came back was last year, with Director Chen and my uncle."

Lin An's eyes trembled involuntarily when he heard the last few words.Even the body becomes stiff.

Xu Yuan faintly felt the strangeness erupting from his body, and couldn't help poking her probe forward, "What's the matter?"

"Your uncle... is Xu Guang?"

He subconsciously murmured.

Xu Yuan's eyes lit up, and she said pleasantly, "You know him?"

Lin An realized his gaffe, quickly put away the leaked emotions, and smiled a little hastily.

Xu Yuan came to her senses, and she moved to the seat where the other party was sitting, and asked all the questions that were pressing in her heart: "Hey, do you know me, Brother Ding? It's Ding Hua... what else?" Guolian No. [-] Factory, do you know? I heard from Brother Ding that they..."

Lin An was disturbed by this series of questioning, he became more and more uneasy. He fixedly looked at the excited face of the other party, and was speechless for a while, unable to answer a word.

Fortunately, this tormented feeling didn't last long. Xu Yuan's chatter was quickly interrupted by Xu Xin, Ge Jing, and more than a dozen colleagues who followed into the box.

As soon as Chen Jianliang entered the private room, he greeted Lin An with a smile, "Ms. Lin, come here."

Lin An glanced at Xu Xin who was standing next to him, stood up and walked over.

A group of people walked through the reception room talking and laughing, and walked towards the restaurant in the inner room. The two waiters who had already been waiting opened the seats one by one. Xu Xin deliberately fell behind a few steps and walked beside Lin An. , before he was about to sit down, his palm pretended to brush unintentionally across the other's arm hanging by his side, signaling him to sit next to him for a while.

Uncharacteristically, Lin An did not respond or cooperate with this hint.He seemed to be still immersed in the previous chaotic thoughts. On the way, he was called by Bai Jing on the other side, and he followed the other party to sit at the next table until everyone was seated. The direction looked over.

Ge Jing was obviously in a very good mood, at least on the surface, there was really no reason for her to be in a bad mood this day.

The success of the open day will undoubtedly bring a lot of credit to X Central, and more importantly, after today, her reputation of being "rigid" and "unable to adapt" that has been spread since she was transferred to X Central will automatically disappear and disintegrate.

She was holding the glass, and now there was a rare warm smile on her face, which was always serious and indifferent. After she said a few words and thank you words between the two tables, she suddenly changed the subject and walked to the In Xu Xin's seat, he said with a smile: "Today, I would like to thank Mr. Xu. Everyone knows the laboratory building last year, so I won't talk about it. Just this afternoon, Mr. Xu promised to help our school during the winter vacation this year." In addition, donate to build a cultural corridor, just to the left of Luohan Garden and Wenyuan Pavilion, to fully display the century-old culture in our X, come, let’s give a toast to Mr. Xu, thank him.”

Chen Jianliang was the first to respond. He raised his glass and joked behind him: "So Mr. Xu's appearance at our 'Celebration Party' today is definitely not for personal reasons, but because he is behind our school's 'Getting Rich Out of Poverty'." He is a great hero." Everyone was amused by the teasing.

"Oh, by the way, there is one more thing. At [-] o'clock tonight, everyone remember to watch the evening news of our station C. There is an interview with our Principal Ge. If you are lucky, you may be able to see yourself on the screen. His valiant and heroic demeanor."

The crowd laughed again.

Lin An sat quietly on his seat all the time, what the people around him were laughing at and saying seemed to have nothing to do with him, he only had one doubt in his mind, a doubt about the person who was drinking at the moment.

Just in the middle of the meal, Chen Jianliang temporarily received a phone call and left the box. Lin An sat next to him and saw him. He fixedly stared at the other person's back for a moment, then stood up silently and followed him out.

Chen Jianliang didn't stop until he got out of the reception room and reached the corridor outside the door. He said something helplessly and anxiously to the person opposite, and hung up the phone within a few minutes. Unexpectedly, when he turned around, he bumped into the same station Lin An not far away in the corridor.

"Ms. Lin? Why did you come out?" Chen Jianliang asked in surprise, walked a few steps closer to him, and glanced behind him. When he spoke again, a smile was already on his face.

"Are you looking for a bathroom? Oh no, there's one in the living room of the box. Come on, I'll take you there."

Lin An still stood there without moving, just stood silently looking at the other party, and after a while, he suddenly opened his mouth and called him: "Director Chen."

Chen Jianliang paused the hand that was about to push open the box door, and looked back at him.

Lin An smiled at him, paused for a while, and then slowly said: "...I have one thing... I always want to thank you."

Chen Jianliang was a little surprised. He was stunned for a moment, then laughed, and asked: "Thank me?" It’s not enough to just talk about it, you have to treat me.”

Lin An forced a smile from behind, and was silent for a while, Fang Wei continued with some difficulty: "...Of course I would like to thank you, if it wasn't for you, I'm afraid it would be difficult for me to transfer to X. .”

As soon as these words came out, Chen Jianliang was obviously taken aback.

Lin An stared straight at him, his eyes quietly but firmly fixed on the other person, as if he didn't want to miss every subtle expression on that face.

"Of course, there is also Brother Xu. Thanks to him, otherwise I..." Lin An lowered his eyelids and smiled a little shyly when he said this, with a really grateful expression.

"Hey, where is it, Mr. Lin was joking." Sure enough, Chen Jianliang, who didn't notice the abnormality, took the words with a smile, "The most important thing is that Mr. Lin is very strong, or else he would just talk about it at the beginning. If it is worn out, this thing may not be possible. And if you want to talk about merit, Mr. Xu was the one at the beginning," Chen Jianliang gave a thumbs up, then pushed his glasses and smiled, "I, at most Just a little soldier, not worth mentioning. Don't worry about it."

Lin An also laughed.

After Chen Jianliang finished speaking, he came to his senses, and asked a little curiously: "Hey, why did you suddenly think of mentioning this today?" After speaking, he winked at the door and said playfully, "It scared me, in fact, if it wasn't just now I really didn't know you were so familiar with the meal we ate here when school started..."

When Chen Jianliang said this, he stopped suddenly, as if suddenly realizing something, he laughed again and didn't continue talking. He just stepped forward and patted the other party's shoulder, saying meaningfully: "Do it well, don't be too aggressive." Pressure, after all, everyone is talking about their grades in the end, you are fine, and don't forget, you have set a new high in our X Middle School teacher satisfaction survey, haha."

Lin An tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, go in quickly, everyone is still waiting inside."

Lin An nodded.

The two then entered the box again, while Lin An followed the excuse of the bathroom a few steps behind.

The moment the compartment door closed behind him, the smile on his lips finally completely disappeared.

Lin An slowly turned on the faucet, the water gurgled through his fingers, and the freezing temperature made his fingers shrink back.

Director Chen's words finally verified the doubts in his heart.

It turned out that this reunion, which seemed unbelievable to me, full of shock and worry, joy and sorrow, was just a "pretentious encounter" that had been arranged long ago.

He stared blankly at the slightly pale face in the mirror, and there seemed to be a voice in his heart, whispering a question that had been hidden in his heart, but was deliberately avoided all the time.A question that, if answered, could shatter a beautiful reality to pieces.

And as the water flowed away, this voice gradually resounded in the chaotic mind. At first it was just a drizzle, but after a few seconds, it suddenly turned into a gust of wind and rain, mercilessly lingering in the body unwilling to The departing sand and silt are thoroughly washed away.

He looked at the answer that finally revealed his true face in horror, but in the next second, he stretched out his hand unbearably and pressed the answer into the mud embarrassingly.

When he returned to the banquet, a bottle of red wine had already been opened on the table. Since most of the women at his table were not very good at drinking alcohol, most of the tree people just poured a little and put it on hand as a garnish. , and Lin An, as the most famous outstanding representative of teetotalling among them, has even omitted this embellishment.

Since Feng Ping got up and followed Chen Jianliang out more than ten minutes ago, her attention has been uncontrollably focused on him. Seeing him staring at the tableware in front of her without saying a word, she hesitated for a long time but couldn't bear it. Zhu softly opened his mouth and called him.

Lin An moved his hand pinching the neck of the empty cup, and turned his head to her.

"... Teacher Lin, what's wrong with you?" Feng Ping asked softly.

Lin An looked at her expression of concern that could not be concealed, and the scene that he accidentally ran into in Luohan Garden in the afternoon appeared in his mind.He quickly looked away, smiled a little hastily, "...it's all right."

Feng Ping's lips moved, and she wanted to ask more questions, but Bai Jing quietly grabbed her under the table.

Bai Jing turned her face slightly, and smiled to smooth things over between the two of them, "Hey, Mr. Xiaolin, you have contributed a lot to the success of today's open day. Many parents have said that this event is too suitable for them. Don’t put forward on the opinion form that you hope to do this every semester in the future.”

Lin An smiled.

Bai Jing glanced at him, then glanced away at the hot dishes that came up on the table one by one, started another topic, and joked: "Well, these dishes today are all famous ones, I just tasted a few of them, really That’s right. It seems that President Ge and Director Chen have spent a lot of money tonight, and I’m sorry for the signboard of this international hotel if I don’t go back to change two papers at night.” He pointed to the glass turntable that had just stopped in front of the three of them, and rushed Lin An warmly recommended: "Just this fish, it's delicious. Just now, Xiao Feng and I ate a chopstick, and it was so fresh that our tongues almost fell off. Teacher Lin, try it while it's still hot."

This time, Lin An simply didn't even respond with that smile, and just sat there, staring quietly at the cup and plate in front of him in a daze.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.

Lin An has always been known for being gentle and courteous, and there are always rumors in the grade group that he is one of the few young teachers who can maintain his demeanor and smile in front of Xu Yuan, the demon king of the world. , but it will never make the other party stand in the cold or fail to come to the stage. A situation as cold and unresponsive as tonight has almost never happened to him.

So while Bai Jing felt a little uncomfortable, it was even more strange.

However, before she opened her mouth again to find a step for herself to go down, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a tall figure suddenly appearing behind the opponent's chair.

The visitor leaned on the back of Lin An's chair with one hand, and the other hand smoothly crossed the gap between him and the seat next door, and naturally supported the edge of the table, thus forming a safe and intimate distance.

Then he bent down and asked softly in a low voice: "What's wrong? The food is not to your liking?"

Lin An's frozen eyes moved suddenly, and turned to look to the side - facing Xu Xin's eyes full of concern.

The attention of the surroundings obviously gathered after this question one after another, especially Feng Ping, who was seated closest to Lin An, since Xu Xin appeared, his gaze was involuntarily fixed on the other party.Fortunately, Chen Jianliang, who followed closely behind, broke the faintly weird atmosphere in time. He smiled and said, "Mr. Xiaolin, Mr. Xu said, I have to pay special respect to you." And Xu Xin straightened up, leaving only one hand behind the chair.

Holding the cup, Chen Jianliang continued with a smile: "Xu Yuan has made a lot of progress this semester, and soon she will represent the school to participate in the Nursing Cup. Mr. Xu is very happy. He is busy with work on weekdays, and sometimes he can't care Ma'am, thanks to Teacher Lin's help this semester, I saved a lot of worry."

Everyone's attention was drawn back within a few words, and those who happened to be her teacher or who had been in contact with her recently also echoed.After Xu Yuan ate something casually, she made an excuse to sit on the small sofa beside her. At this moment, she suddenly heard the compliments towards her in front of her, and she couldn't help rolling her eyes secretly.

Lin An was caught in the middle of what you said, and he didn't say anything until Xu Xin suddenly picked up a cup of tea that had been cooled before he had time to drink, and touched it lightly on his empty wine glass. After slamming, there was a small ding sound, and then he suddenly came back to his senses, gathered his slack mind again, and fixedly watched the other party.

Xu Xin met his gaze, with a faint smile in his eyes, and he said in a warm voice, "I still have a car to drive later, so it's not convenient to drink. If Teacher Lin doesn't mind, I'll use this cup of tea instead." Pausing for a moment, and staring at him meaningfully for two seconds, Fang raised his cup and drank the tea.

"Mr. Lin, thank you for taking care of me in recent months." After drinking, he smiled at him with a deep meaning.

Lin An's eyes moved slowly following his movements, but there was still no other superfluous response.

Chen Jianliang chatted briefly with the rest of the colleagues present, and then cheerfully turned back to his seat. Xu Xin also greeted Xu Yuan's other teachers, and then left.Before leaving, the two passed by Lin An's seat again, and the latter stopped for a while without a trace, stretched out his hand and patted him gently on the shoulder, and then left completely.

Feng Ping, who had been staring at Lin An closely, saw this fleeting movement. Her eyes flickered, her heart was shocked, and her eyes slowly dimmed uncontrollably.

For nearly an hour thereafter, until the "celebration banquet" was almost over, Lin An seldom sat in his seat, except for the occasional person who took the initiative to speak to him, the rest of the time he just kept his head down. Staring at the turning table turning up from time to time without saying a word, or taking down the decanter on the table every ten minutes or so, silently pouring a little into the wine glass, although the amount is not much each time, But after three or four times, he still felt a little tipsy to the already overwhelmed drinker.

Feng Ping was secretly worried about the increasingly abnormal behavior of the other party, but because of the soft nails that Bai Jing had encountered before, she dared not open her mouth to ask more questions. When the banquet was over, everyone surrounded Ge Jing and Chen Jianliang and went out of the box Only then did Feng Ping muster up the courage to look in a certain direction behind her.

I saw Lin An moving slowly, quietly falling at the end of the crowd, perhaps because of drinking, the color on his face was no longer as pale as when he first entered the table, but slightly red, and his eyes were sad As he walks unsteadily, his whole body reveals an inexplicable sense of frustration and helplessness.

Feng Ping stared straight at the thin figure, her heart was astringent and sour, and for a while, even the discomfort caused by the other party's rumors in the afternoon was forgotten.Bai Jing, who was walking in front of her and was exchanging something with Jiang Yuefang, suddenly noticed that her friend hadn't followed, she couldn't help but turned her head curiously, at the same time, she took a few steps back and reached out to pull her, asking, "Why don't you leave?"

Feng Ping suddenly broke free from her hand, and wanted to walk towards the direction where the person was, but just as she walked up to the other person and called Teacher Lin softly, Xu Xin's figure appeared behind the other person again.

"I'll send him out."

Feng Ping raised her head when she heard the sound, and saw that the other party was smiling faintly at her. The hand that was about to be stretched out couldn't help but froze slightly, and after a while, she silently stepped aside a little.Xu Xin nodded politely to her again, then hugged the people around her tightly, and walked towards the door of the box where the crowd had already cleared away.

At night near eight o'clock, it is illuminated by various lights in the city, like a diluted turbid stream hanging upside down in the sky.

Xu Yuan was sitting in the co-pilot, and couldn't help but turn her head to look in the direction of the back seat every once in a while, and then muttered with doubts: No way... Teacher Lin can also get drunk?

When it was over, he turned around again, glanced meaningfully at Xu Xin who was staring ahead, and said, "It must be because I was selected for the Seedling Cup this time, and he is very happy!" The son showed off and was proud: "Hey uncle, do you know that last time I went to the office of the language group to hand in my homework, but I heard that our teacher Lin usually doesn't even drink beer, and if he encounters alcohol when going out to a party, whoever will I can't persuade you... It's weird today, everyone in the room is awake, but he fell down..."

Hearing what she said, Xu Xin couldn't help but think of the time when he was in Guolian No. [-] Factory, where Ding Hua and Chen Jialou would laugh at the other party every now and then for being too timid to drink. He couldn't help but smiled, and said casually : "Normal, he used to..." However, just after saying these words, he stopped as if realizing something, coughed lightly and stopped speaking.

Xu Yuan's eyes flashed with curiosity again, and he asked with great interest, "How was it before?"

Xu Xin didn't answer any more, and only glanced at the man leaning sideways in the rearview mirror, and said in a low voice, "...I'll send him up in a while, and you'll wait downstairs."

"...Oh." The gossip was forcibly interrupted, and Xu Yuan agreed rather reluctantly.

Cuifangyuan is not far from the Olympic Stadium. Within a few minutes of getting down from Qingyun Road, it turned into Bo'ai Road where X Zhong is located. After a few minutes, the car stopped at the downstairs of Lin An's apartment. .

Xu Xin told Xu Yuan, who was yawning profusely, to lift her out from the back seat and take her upstairs.The other party's mind seemed to be quite clear, except that he staggered a few steps when he first came into contact with the cold air outside the car, and when he stepped into the corridor, he basically didn't need to use any other external force.

But Xu Xin still supported him tightly with one hand until the two stood outside the familiar door.

Lin An seemed to be extremely tired, and leaned against the white wall on one side when he arrived at the door, while Xu Xin took out a bunch of keys from his coat pocket, opened the door skillfully, and then pressed on the door to control the living room headlights.

Lin An's eyes were half-opened, his eyes wandered following the opponent's series of actions, and finally fixed on the copper-yellow key that he casually placed on the shoe cabinet.Xu Xin changed his shoes at the door, turned around and found that the other party was still standing outside, so he called him, and then walked back to the other party, touched his face and neck affectionately, and asked, "What's the matter?" Not going in?"

Lin An didn't answer, but only moved a slightly dull gaze, and looked at him silently.

Seeing this, Xu Xin smiled, didn't ask any more questions, just took the other person's hand, and brought him into the room and placed him on the sofa.Then he turned around and went into the kitchen to make him a glass of honey water and serve it to him.

"Are you dizzy?"

Lin An took the warm water glass in his hand, but didn't respond immediately. After a while, he lowered his gaze and shook his head.

Xu Xin looked at his slow and strenuous movements, sat down beside him, watched him drink almost the water in the glass, and then asked softly, "Why did you suddenly drink wine tonight?"

Lin An still didn't say a word, but the hand holding the glass trembled slightly.Xu Xin paid attention to his reaction, seeing that he seemed unwilling to speak for a while, so he raised a hand that was clasped in front of him, brushed it over the other's head, and took out the cup that he was holding tightly in his palm, and put it On the coffee table in front of you.

The two sat quietly side by side for a while, and I don't know how long it had passed, Xu Xin suddenly sighed softly, and said softly: "It's getting late, Xu Yuan is still waiting in the car, I'll take her back first, You... Take good care of yourself, go to bed early, and call me if you feel uncomfortable. "

The other party finally responded this time, bending his back and nodding to his hands hanging on his knees.

A smile appeared on Xu Xin's mouth when he saw this, and he stretched out his hand and squeezed the man's palm, "Then I'll go first? Huh?" After speaking, he stared at the other party for two seconds, and stood up with his legs propped up.But he didn't want to have just walked out two steps, the hem of the jacket was tightly grabbed by a force from behind.

Surprised, Xu Xin turned his head to look, but he didn't expect that in the next second, there would be a slightly anxious and eager kiss, which suddenly greeted him under the dazzling light.