YiZhe hurried back home.
The house was still as bad as it was before he left, and Xiang Xiyi had already gone out. YiZhe glanced at her bedroom where the door was not closed, and the big black suitcase was taken away.
It should take a long time to come back. Thinking of this, YiZhe breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking that Xu Tangcheng might come in a while, he took a broom and a dustpan to clean up the messy ground, but just when he started to move, he smelled a strange smell.
He stopped, frowned, and finally found the source of the smell—perhaps because he had been wandering outside for too long, and his body was covered with the smell of firecrackers and fireworks.
The smell of fire, in YiZhe's concept, is equivalent to the taste of the Spring Festival. This kind of knowledge made YiZhe become irritable for a moment, and suddenly, he kicked the ground. The shoe kicked the broken tile on the ground, the tile slid forward quickly, and knocked over the dustpan standing there. A series of irregular sounds, as if he thought that YiZhe was not disturbed enough, rushed to join in the fun, trying to knock him on the head.
YiZhe bit his lower lip and stared at a spot in the corner of the room, trying to calm himself down again.
But as far as he could see, a pair of gloves lay in a pool of dried coffee stains.
After standing still for a long time, YiZhe stepped over the mess on the ground, walked to the place where his gaze had just stopped, and bent down to pick up the pair of gloves.
The smell of fire nitrate was still creeping into his nose, and it even seemed to be mixed with a bit of coffee. YiZhe clutched the dirty gloves, and suddenly thought of what Xu Tangcheng looked like when he gave him to him that day.
Just thinking about it like this made me suddenly depressed to the point of giving up.
He threw the broom and walked to the window to see the people downstairs.
Xu Tangcheng was still teaching the little boy, the little boy should have almost learned it, and was already riding forward by himself. Xu Tangcheng chased after him, shouting "I let go", but his hand was always on the top of the back seat.
The handlebars twisted, and the little boy shouted in a panic, Xu Tang Lima supported the car with both hands, preventing him from falling.
YiZhe quietly looked down for a while, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one.
When there was a knock on the door of the house, YiZhe still couldn't clean up the messy ground. He put the gloves in the drawer, closed it, and went out to open the door. He was still wearing a black down jacket and stood at the door after opening the door. Instead of looking at Xu Tangcheng, he lowered his head and kept looking at the ground.
"The house is a little messy, and I haven't had time to clean it up."
Outside the door, Xu Tangcheng immediately understood why Yi Zhe behaved in such a low level. He smiled, opened his legs and entered the room, shrinking his hands hidden in his sleeves: "It's very cold outside today."
YiZhe closed the door, silently walked aside, and turned on the water dispenser.
"I'll boil some hot water for you."
When the small red light of the water dispenser came on, he realized that it would take a while for the water to boil, and Xu Tangcheng should not have stayed that long.
"Yeah." Xu Tangcheng, who was behind him, responded, "You don't have a cold, right?"
"No, I just had a runny nose just now."
Hearing that his voice had indeed returned to normal, Xu Tangcheng was relieved: "That's good, but I still have to stay warm."
Footsteps sounded, getting closer.
Xu Tangcheng stood beside Yi Zhe and shook the bucket: "There is almost no water. People at the water station will also rest during the New Year. I asked for a few more buckets of water. I'll give it to you later..."
After thinking about his uneasy old waist, Xu Tangcheng changed his words and said, "Come with me to carry a bucket later."
The thoughts that had drifted away were dragged back by a bucket of water. On the water dispenser, the water surface trembled. YiZhe looked at the person in front of him, not knowing how to respond.
While he was still silent, Xu Tangcheng had already picked up the broom that had fallen on the ground and started cleaning the things on the ground. These movements made only small noises, and he was still hearing the sound of broken pieces of porcelain smashing into each other, and YiZhe turned around in a hurry, stepped forward, and held his hand.
"Don't do it," he said in a low voice, "I'll do it myself later."
"It's alright." Xu Tangcheng replied indifferently, and then tried to sweep the floor, but his wrist was bound by an unusually stubborn force, and he couldn't break free.
Xu Tangcheng looked up helplessly. The boy's eyes were still calm and firm, silently, but he was telling him that there was no room for negotiation.
"This way," Xu Tangcheng thought for a while, and made a compromise negotiation posture, "I'll help you sweep the floor, can you promise me one thing later?"
YiZhe shook his head.
"I promise you something, you don't have to sweep the floor."
This answer was unexpected by Xu Tangcheng. The negotiator did not play cards according to the routine at all, and plundered his negotiating capital with a light touch. His mind went blank for a while, and he made him laugh. Taking advantage of this, YiZhe took another hand and snatched the broom from him.
Seeing that he couldn't beat him, Xu Tangcheng had to say, "Come to my house for dinner at noon."
Seeing the person who just held the sweeper in his hand, he was stunned, as if he had pulled back a whole city, Xu Tangcheng grinned: "You agreed just now."
YiZhe opened his mouth and suddenly realized that he had just subconsciously equated the "thing" in Xu Tangcheng's mouth with a "request".
Now he suddenly made an invitation.
"The little boy you saw just now is the son of Tang Xi's godmother. His home is not here. His mother put him here this morning and went to see relatives here. There are no outsiders for lunch, so come and eat together. Bar."
"No." After the silence, YiZhe slowly shook his head.
"No, what are you eating at home, restaurants these two days..."
Xu Tangcheng swallowed the latter words, but the room was still suddenly silent—in the past two days of the Chinese New Year, even if there are restaurants open, they will only provide some New Year's Eve dinners with fixed recipes that have been reserved for a long time.
"Is it useless to sweep the floor for you?" Xu Tangcheng sighed and his voice became lower, "I just want to treat you to a meal."
YiZhe didn't know how to explain it to him. In his opinion, "request" is easy to achieve, but "invitation" is not.
In fact, his reaction was probably as expected by Xu Tangcheng. If YiZhe was a heartless person who didn't care about anything, he wouldn't take the initiative to keep a distance from his mother and Xiang Xiwe after they completely turned their backs on them.
"So, is it a return gift?"
A sentence without a reason tested Yi Zhe's comprehension ability.
"You bought a dress for Tang Xi, right? We've been thinking about how to thank you. You know, Tang Xi is really not suitable for a cold. It just so happens that I invite you to a meal. It's a return gift. Don't take it lightly, okay?"
It seemed that he had no reason to refuse. YiZhe shook his body, and he followed suit.
He lowered his head and glanced at the clothes on his body. He said in a muffled voice, "You bought me clothes too, so don't thank me anymore."
"It has nothing to do with me buying you clothes," Xu Tangcheng emphasized, fearing that he might misunderstand, "That's a gift, you know?"
The suddenly raised tone of words made YiZhe nodded involuntarily.
Afraid that he would say something to turn the situation around, Xu Tangcheng quickly grabbed the broom from him and made a one-sided decision: "That's it, go to my house for dinner later."
After he finished speaking, he didn't look at YiZhe and walked forward on his own. Yi Zhe followed him a step. Just as he moved his lips, Xu Tangcheng, who was in front of him, suddenly turned his head and pointed at him with the broom in his hand, "Don't follow me."
YiZhe stopped, blinked, and said "oh".
"The two of you will clean up faster, and just eat when you're done." Xu Tangcheng pointed to the toilet, "I'll sweep the floor, you go to the mop to wipe the floor, my back hurts as soon as I wipe the floor, so I won't take this from you."
Yi Zhe listened, and walked straight to the toilet.
Xu Tangcheng shook his head secretly, thinking that it is not easy to invite people to dinner. He just breathed a sigh of relief, but YiZhe stopped and turned his head.
Looking at each other, Xu Tangcheng's heart was raised, for fear that he would say something to refuse again, and he would have to persuade him for another round.
Fortunately, Yi Zhe just asked, "What's wrong with your waist?"
After the cleaning was over, Yi Zhe followed Xu Tangcheng to his house.
As soon as he entered the door, Zhou Hui and Xu Yueliang greeted him warmly. YiZhe lowered his head, saw the neatly arranged shoes on the shoe cabinet at the door, and asked Xu Tangcheng if he wanted to change his shoes.
Zhou Hui happened to hear it, and immediately waved her hand and said, "No, no, come in directly."
Xu Tangcheng was about to say no, but when he turned his eyes, he changed his mind when he saw Cheng Cheng's shoes on the door. He bent down and picked up a pair of gray slippers on the ground and put them at YiZhe's feet: "Change these pairs."
The gray cotton slipper is printed with a bear pattern, which is obviously a series with the slippers on Zhou Hui's feet.
Xu Tangcheng squatted down, rummaged through the shoe cabinet, and found a pair of sandals.
Xu Tangxi and Chengcheng were playing games on the sofa, and they never bothered to say hello to Yizhe. Xu Tangcheng walked into the living room, glanced at the sofa, and turned his head towards Yi Zhe. Under YiZhe's puzzled eyes, he slowly walked forward and stood firmly in front of the coffee table, just completely blocking the TV.
"Ah! Brother!"
"Brother Tang Cheng!"
The two people with serious expressions shouted at the same time, but Xu Tangcheng smiled wickedly and just refused to let go.
"Brother, go away!"
"I didn't see your brother Yizhe coming, so I didn't say hello."
"Brother Yizhe is good, brother Yizhe!" Xu Tangxi shouted quickly, she turned her body to one side and tried to look at the screen, "I'll play a different game later! Hurry up..."
Before the words were finished, the music of "Game Over" was already playing on the TV, Xu Tangxi and the little boy wailed and stared at Xu Tangcheng.
"Chengcheng, don't learn from your sister Tang Xi," Xu Tangcheng ignored the gazes of the two, raised his chin towards Yizhe, and said to Chengcheng, "Brother Yizhe."
Cheng Cheng was remorseful, but he was quite sensible, so he obediently put down the handle and called out "Hello, Brother Yizhe".
Compared to the child who called out to say hello, the person called the elder brother seemed more flustered. YiZhe coughed lightly and replied, "Hello."
After returning, he looked at Xu Tangcheng, saw that he had left the place with a smile, and stood beside him again.
At Orange's urging, Xu Tangxi manipulated the handle and started the game again. YiZhe finally had the energy to look at the TV screen, and when he looked at it, he found that it turned out to be a very familiar interface.
Just select the cursor over "1 player" and slide to the next grid - "2 players".
This is not familiar.
YiZhe couldn't handle two controllers by one person, so he never played a level with two people.
He stood there staring at the TV, and Xu Tangcheng noticed it sideways, thinking it was him who wanted to play too.
"Orange, I remember your mother said that you can only play games for half an hour a day. It seems that you have already played before we went out for a bike ride."
The most common way that children respond to questions that are unfavorable to them is to ignore them. Orange squeezed the handle, staring at the screen intently, pretending not to hear Xu Tangcheng's words.
"Orange," Xu Tangcheng called out again, "I'll block the screen if I don't speak."
"Don't stop, don't stop," Orange blushed, finally glanced at Xu Tangcheng, begging for mercy, "I'll finish this game, I won't play anymore."
"Okay, just one game, and then let your brother Yizhe play."
In the living room, the three people looked at Xu Tangcheng.
Xu Tangcheng chose Xu Tangxi's gaze and replied, "You too, Cheng Cheng went for a ride for a while. You've been here all morning, didn't you say that you're not feeling well?"
Xu Tangxi was also guilty, and obediently said "oh".
Until Xu Tangcheng shoved the handle into his hand, YiZhe was still thinking about a question - how much strength did he use
Although he has never played the two-player scene, he is no longer familiar with the single-player combat mode. After the battle interface was released, he glanced at it and knew how to run the route. He secretly glanced at Xu Tangcheng, thinking that he should retain some strength and give the people around him a chance to play
Xu Tangcheng suddenly turned his head and asked him, "Can you play?"
YiZhe paused, overturning his previous thoughts in his mind.
Just show how awesome you are.
The familiar piece of music that he had listened to thousands of times was still ringing in his ears, but this time, he was looking forward to the start of the battle.
At the beginning of the game, Yi Zhe's small tank rushed to the middle of the two walls, and Xu Tangcheng said "hey" from the side: "Why are you running so fast."
He charged in front, Xu Tangcheng looked at the situation and found that he had absolutely no need to go up. He took two steps up and squatted in front of the house to guard their nest.
Cheng Cheng was on the side, eating the orange without covering his mouth: "Brother Tang Cheng, why don't you run up?"
"Your brother Yizhe can do it alone," Xu Tangcheng explained professionally. "There needs to be someone near the house to watch the house, don't you know?"
Orange smacking his lips: "I know."
After watching two more rounds, Cheng Cheng peeled a piece of candy and put it in his mouth: "Why do you keep looking after the house?"
Xu Tangcheng did not speak.
"They're all bad-fighting housekeepers. When sister Tang Xi and I were fighting, she asked me to go up and fight, and she would watch the house down below."
With a rude speech, Xu Tang glanced at the child who was twisting his head.
"Why are you stealing candy again? Don't eat it, your mother..."
Halfway through the words, Xu Tangcheng felt that something was not right, he looked up again, and sure enough, he and the bird in Yizhe's nest had been beaten.
Chengcheng turned around with her cheeks bulging, and she didn't hide her mocking expression: "Brother Tang Cheng, why don't you like it at home?"
Xu Tangcheng took a breath: "You spit out the candy for me."
The four of them chatted and laughed for a while, and Zhou Hui called them to eat over there. After everyone was seated, Zhou Hui brought a plate of dumplings up. Xu Tangcheng took two for Chengcheng, another two for Yizhe, and finally two for Xu Tangxi.
Eating and eating, Chengcheng suddenly shouted vaguely: "I've eaten candy!"
Like when he was younger, Cheng Cheng still loves the feeling of eating dumplings and eating sugar. Zhou Hui and Xu Tangcheng looked at each other and smiled.
Xu Tangxi was no longer a child, and she had known for a long time that whoever got candy was actually arranged by Zhou Hui and Xu Tangcheng long ago, but she also cheered in cooperation and said that she had it too.
"Brother Tang Cheng, do you have any?" Cheng Cheng poked his head and looked around.
Xu Tangcheng shook his head, picked up a dumpling and pretended to try to see if there was any sugar, but Yu Guang kept paying attention to Yi Zhe next to him.
Everyone's reactions were all excited, except Yi Zhe, when he bit something sweet, his throat suddenly throbbed.
He lowered his head and bit the sugar between his teeth on one side, the tip of his tongue against it, slid to and fro in the sweetness of the sugar cube.
Xu Tangcheng was still worried that he would swallow the sugar wholeheartedly. After noticing his sudden stagnation, he was relieved. But when he put the dumplings that had cooled between the chopsticks into his mouth and swallowed them, he found that the person beside him still didn't seem to make any new movements.
This time he didn't pay attention secretly, but turned his head to look at him directly.
Unexpectedly, the people around him were also looking at him.
It was amazing, in the eyes of the handover, Xu Tangcheng felt that he understood the "mother's love overflowing" said by the girls in the class - when he saw the corners of Yi Zhe's drooping eyes, he suddenly wanted to hug him.
I also suddenly felt regret that I couldn't say a Happy New Year to him personally.
The rest of the people at the table were chatting lively, and YiZhe knew that he must be stupid with his right cheek half puffed out. He bit the candy and thought, in Xu Tangcheng's eyes, he was probably like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, who wouldn't cheer even after eating a piece of candy.
But he still insisted on staring at him like this stupidly.
This is the last candy. When making dumplings, Xu Tangcheng hadn't met Yizhe yet, and he didn't include Yizhe in the category of dining staff, so there were only three dumplings with sugar.
The sugar between the teeth melted a little and slipped onto the rutted tongue. YiZhe wanted to raise the corner of his mouth at Xu Tangchengyang to let him know that he was also happy, but his face was frozen, very embarrassed, and he was not under his control at all.
Xu Tangcheng, who had also been watching him, suddenly put down the chopsticks in his right hand and turned around to face him completely.
Two fingers pressed against the corners of YiZhe's eyes, and gently lifted them up.
YiZhe stared blankly at the smiling face in front of him.
"Aren't you happy eating candy?" Xu Tangcheng asked him.
how come.
That piece of candy is sweeter than ever before, like the morning when you wake up naturally, the sunshine superimposes the sweet dreams of last night.
And he smiled at him, his dreams were shaking.
Orange Orange was still asking Xu Tangcheng if he had eaten candy, and when Yi Zhe lowered his head in a hurry, he heard Xu Tangcheng laughing and saying, "I have it, I have eaten it."