When Tao Zhi and the others went back after a good meal, Li Shuangjiang and the others happened to be standing at the beef noodle restaurant, took out their mobile phones, and called them.
The mobile phone vibrated twice in his pocket, Tao Zhi picked it up, and watched Li Shuangjiang holding the mobile phone not far away, the voice came through the receiver: "Hey, boss, are you back yet?"
"I'm back." Tao Zhi said.
Li Shuangjiang: "Where are you, is Brother Huai with you?"
Tao Zhi tilted his head, glanced at Jiang Qihuai, and said without changing his face: "No."
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Shuangjiang turned his head and saw them approaching.
Li Shuangjiang: "..."
"Boss, why are you still lying?!" Li Shuangjiang said into the microphone, "Why didn't you come to eat beef noodles together?"
Tao Zhi hung up the phone and walked over: "It's too oily, eat something light."
Li Shuangjiang said "Oh", nodded, and looked her up and down carefully: "Boss, are you okay, did you feel uncomfortable on the roller coaster just now, why does your face look so..."
So rosy
Li Shuangjiang stopped talking.
Tao Zhi's complexion is really not bad at the moment, she doesn't even know if it's because the afternoon sun is too full, her face is flushed, even her ears are a little red.
Although Jiang Qihuai and Jiang Qihuai came back together, but for some reason, they always feel that the aura between the two of them is a bit weird, it's not embarrassing, it's more like a guilty conscience.
Tao Zhi is unilateral.
Li Shuangjiang silently moved to Tao Zhi's side, and said in a low voice, "Are you making Brother Huai angry again?"
Tao Zhi felt that his statement sounded quite dissatisfied: "What do you mean I made him angry again? Do I still pick on him every day?"
Li Shuangjiang realized that he had said the wrong thing, and immediately raised his hands: "I never meant that."
Fu Xiling couldn't stand listening to it, she squeezed over with a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to Tao Zhi: "Drink water."
Tao Zhi took it and took two sips.
Fu Xiling looked up at her: "What's wrong? Stomach? Nausea? Do you want to vomit now?"
Tao Zhi wanted to laugh: "No, I just don't really want to eat beef noodles, so I went to eat something else."
Fu Xiling nodded, walked to her side, and silently hooked her arm.
There are more people in the amusement park in the afternoon than in the morning, and the queues for popular items are longer than before. However, while waiting, everyone chatted and took pictures, and the process was not boring.
After they lined up about three or four items, it started to get dark.
When the lights in the garden came on, Li Shuangjiang took out his mobile phone and glanced at the introduction list, and said, "There will be a fireworks show at eight o'clock, do you want to see it?"
"Choose the coolest position, the tall one." Zhao Mingqi said vigorously, he was the most active all day, running around and having fun, and now he looks very energetic, as if he doesn't feel tired at all.
Tao Zhi was already a little tired, so she walked to the bench next to her and sat down, listening to their discussion about where to go to watch the fireworks.
She leaned her elbows on her knees and dangled the water bottle in her hand, and saw Jiang Qihuai saying a few words to Li Shuangjiang over there, then turned and left.
Tao Zhi stood up, yawned and walked over: "Is it settled?"
"Go and ride the Ferris wheel!" Li Shuangjiang said, "The illuminator has just calculated the time, and we will be stuck there. We will watch the fireworks at eight o'clock from the highest point of the Ferris wheel."
Tao Zhi responded, but stopped talking.
"Brother Huai has something to do at night, so let's go first." Li Shuangjiang said again.
"..."
Tao Zhi looked away, curled his lips: "I didn't ask him."
The Ferris wheel in Happy Valley is said to be the largest Ferris wheel in the entire imperial capital, with a diameter of nearly 100 meters. There are more than forty glass panoramic cabins, and one cabin can seat six people.
There were also a lot of people queuing. Zhao Mingqi squatted at the entrance of the queuing early, holding his mobile phone and watch to count.
It was almost time, he pointed straight ahead and gave an order: "Brothers! Go!!!"
Li Shuangjiang was carrying the bags of Tao Zhi and Fu Xiling on his back, one left and one right crossed in front of his chest to form a diagonal cross to lead the way, a group of people rushed to the queue, their posture was like a live version of Resident Evil Zombie Siege, scaring the Ferris wheel The staff at the queue took a step back.
The Ferris wheel in the night looks like a huge round luminous dial. The neon lights slowly change colors, illuminating an open space around the Ferris wheel. Tao Zhi followed Fu Xiling to the same cabin. Li Shuangjiang, Zhao Mingqi and Jiang Zhengxun sat in their seats. opposite.
The Ferris wheel gradually rose, so slowly that people sitting inside could hardly feel it moving. Tao Zhi leaned his forehead against the cold glass window, staring out in a daze.
At the moment of rising to a certain height, there was a very faint sound from the small square of the amusement park to the left of the Ferris wheel. The fireworks rose from the ground into the night sky, and then exploded in midair, blasting the clouds to light up the night.
Several people in the cabin cheered and leaned towards the window, taking out their mobile phones to take pictures.
Tao Zhi heard someone calling her.
When she turned her head, Fu Xiling was holding her mobile phone up to her. The white light of the mobile phone's flash flashed in front of her eyes, followed by a clicking sound that entered her eardrums.
Tao Zhi was still in a daze, not realizing that she was the protagonist in this photo.
Until Li Shuangjiang's head came closer, he rubbed his chin and looked at the photo comments on Fu Xiling's phone: "As long as our boss doesn't speak, he is a figure of the goddess of experimentation."
Fu Xiling was not too satisfied with what he said, and said seriously: "It's better when you're talking."
"Yes, yes," Li Shuangjiang nodded, pointing to her mobile phone, "You can send me this photo, I will sort out the photos we took when we went out to play and send them to Moments, just to make a nine-square grid."
Fu Xiling refused very simply: "No, I want to keep it for myself."
Li Shuangjiang: "Student Fu Xiling, you are being stingy. Everyone has the right to appreciate beauty."
Fu Xiling held up his phone and continued to take pictures of the fireworks outside the window: "No."
"Hey, why are the fireworks you took so much better than mine? Why don't you just pack up and send them all to me."
"Do not."
Tao Zhi heard the two chattering there, turned his head and continued to look at the night scene.
In the end, Fu Xiling couldn't resist Li Shuangjiang's stalking, so he packaged and sent the photos he took out all day today to the WeChat group. When Tao Zhi got home at night, Ji Fan was sitting on the sofa flipping through the photos in the group. photos.
Tao Zhi went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water and came over, stood behind the sofa, and looked over.
Jiang Qihuai was captured in some of the photos taken during the day, Ji Fan pointed at the people in the photos: "He went too."
With water in his mouth, Tao Zhi replied.
Ji Fan flicked across a few photos of fireworks taken in the Ferris wheel, and saw her photo: "Your photo is quite deceptive."
Tao Zhi was speechless while drinking water, so he raised his hand and patted his head.
Ji Fan covered his head and let out an "ow". Just as he was about to speak, the door of the bathroom next to the corridor on the first floor was pushed open: "Xiao Fan, where are the tissues? Mom will change them for you."
Tao Zhi froze for a moment, then turned his head away.
The woman was wearing a dark blue long dress, her makeup was exquisite, and her skin was so good that it seemed that the years had left no traces on her body. She was almost the same as Tao Zhi's impression a few years ago, familiar to a little strange.
Two pairs of similar black eyes collided, the woman stared at her, and was also taken aback for a long time before she smiled and said, "Zhi Zhi is back?"
Tao Zhi stood on the spot with a water glass in his hand, without saying a word.
Ji Jin walked over slowly and stood in front of her: "Our Zhizhi has grown up and is now as tall as our mother."
Tao Zhi's lips moved. He had just drank water, but the words he spit out were a bit dumb: "...Mom."
Time is the sharpest weapon, it can cut a relationship as pale as paper, and it can also cut a title into dullness and obscurity.
Even if this person is related to her by blood, he was the closest person she ever had.
Tao Zhi stood where he was, not knowing how he should respond to such a situation.
As if seeing her helplessness, Ji Jin leaned over slightly, took her hand, and took two steps forward: "It's also become more beautiful, mom almost didn't recognize it at first glance."
Ji Fan casually lay on the back of the sofa, and patted the sofa twice: "Why are you standing and talking?"
Ji Jin glared at him, pulled Tao Zhi around the sofa and sat down next to Ji Fan.
Tao Zhi sat beside her stiffly, put the water glass in his hand on the coffee table, and turned his head.
"I sent Xiaofan the procedures for transferring to another school. He told me that you went out to play with your classmates, so I just wanted to wait for you to come back and see you." Ji Jin looked at her with a smile, "Look at how our little branch has changed. Nothing changed."
"It's not just a change," Ji Fan said shaking his head beside him, "he has become more bully."
Ji Jin turned her head and patted the back of his hand: "You look a bit manly, how old you are, and you are noisy every day, from now on, I will be in the same class with Zhizhi and study with your sister more, don't I think about playing every day."
Ji Fan protested wrongly: "Isn't my age just for playing, how can I waste my wonderful youth in books? Besides, Zhizhi has turned around now, she has realized the true meaning of youth and started to enjoy life , the last test was not much higher than mine."
Ji Jin froze for a moment, subconsciously glanced at Tao Zhi, a little surprised.
Ji Fan didn't think about it when he said this, and after he finished speaking, he realized that he might have said something wrong, so he pursed his lips and stopped talking.
The living room fell into silence for a while, and no one made a sound.
Tao Zhi lowered his eyes, curled his fingers together, and dug his nails deeply into his palm.
She suddenly felt very embarrassed.
She didn't know if it was because of Ji Jin's cautious and familiarity when talking to Ji Fan, or because Ji Fan mentioned her achievements in front of Ji Jin.
She didn't feel embarrassed about her poor grades during the parent meeting, she didn't feel embarrassed when she got into trouble and was criticized by the school, and she didn't feel embarrassed when her classmates said behind her back that she was admitted to a good class.
But at this moment, she felt that if there was a crack in the ground in front of her, she would definitely slip in, along with her bit of self-esteem that had been knocked to pieces.
Ji Jin should be surprised. After all, Tao Zhi was the first in all the parent meetings she attended and the report cards she read.
In the past few years since she left, she has never participated in or understood any of Tao Zhi's growth and changes.
Ji Fan felt that he had said the wrong thing, jumped up from the sofa the moment Ji Jin was about to pinch him, and fled the scene of the crime on the pretext of urgent urination, wanting to leave some time for the two of them to be alone.
Only Tao Zhi and Ji Jin were left in the living room.
Ji Jin didn't stay for long, the two sat on the sofa and talked for a while, she answered the phone, turned around after hanging up: "It's getting late, mom is leaving first."
Tao Zhi nodded and stood up.
Ji Jin put on her coat, Tao Zhi handed her the bag on the sofa, went to the entrance and opened the door, and sent her all the way to the gate of the yard.
She was following behind the woman, and she hadn't noticed just now, but looking from behind now, Ji Jin seemed to be thinner than she thought.
The two stood still at the gate of the courtyard. Ji Jin turned around and looked at her with gentle eyes: "Don't take what Xiaofan just said, grades are not the most important thing to you, and mom also hopes Zhizhi can be happy, if Zhizhi feels a little easier now, that's fine."
Tao Zhi lowered his head: "Yes."
Ji Jin's tone is always gentle and gentle: "Zhizhi should eat well, and don't be picky eaters like when she was a child."
Tao Zhi nodded again, and whispered, "You should also eat well."
Ji Jin looked at her.
Tao Zhi still didn't look up, she bit her lip and said softly, "You've lost a lot of weight."
Ji Jin's fingers moved.
She seemed to want to raise her hand to hug her, but in the end she didn't. She just smiled and said, "We Zhizhi have learned to care about people now."
It wasn't until Ji Jin turned to leave that Tao Zhi raised his head.
The night fog was thick, and she watched the woman's back disappear into the night, standing still at the gate of the iron gate.
The shadows of the trees were swaying, and the cold wind blowing the fallen leaves rolled over in the autumn night. When Tao Zhi came out, she was wearing no coat but a thin sweater. She stood there habitually shrinking her neck and shivering. It didn't feel that cold either.
It's not that she never thought about it, even if Ji Jin and Tao Xiuping were separated, it might not be any different to her.
She is still her mother, she can still talk to her, meet her, and tell her about the things she met at school, but the number of times she may meet will be less, and the chats will not be so frequent.
But in fact, many things are different.
From one phone call in the first week, she would talk to Ji Jin endlessly, and she would ask her when she would come back to see her, and then once in a few months. Then, apart from a brief phone call or text message during the holidays, there is no other contact.
Tao Zhi never asked why, there are too many reasons and reasons in the adults' world that children don't understand.
Even though she clearly understood deep down, Ji Jin probably just didn't miss her enough.
Just like it was Ji Fan who was chosen by her back then, not her.
She folded her arms and squatted down slowly against the iron door, wrinkled the tip of her nose and took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes fiercely against her arms, and the material of the sweater rubbed against her eyelids a little sorely.
Until the sound of footsteps came from far and near, then stopped and disappeared soundlessly.
There was someone standing in front of her, and Tao Zhi was about to raise his head when he heard a familiar voice accompanied by the wind from a short distance in front of her: "Whose family's little groundhog."
Tao Zhi raised his head.
Jiang Qihuai was still wearing the suit he wore when he left in the afternoon. He squatted in front of her, looking straight at her, with a clear and cold voice, with a hint of teasing: "Don't go back to the cave at night. Sleep here and let the wind blow."