When Tao Zhi led Jiang Qihuai back, the man was no longer there.
There are still lights and festoons in front of the cafe, pedestrians are talking and laughing, and the snow that has not been cleaned up on the ground is piled up in the corner.
Except for a small piece of body heat on the dark ground where the thin snow melted away, there was nothing left.
Tao Zhi glanced sideways at Jiang Qihuai, and dragged him forward.
The moment the door was pushed open, the store was instantly surrounded by heating, and the air was filled with the aroma of coffee. Tao Zhi hadn't been here for several months, and the store hadn't changed much. The vinyl piano music was soothing.
It happened to be dinner time, there were not many customers in the shop, and there were three shop assistants, and they were not too busy.
Tao Zhi pulled Jiang Qihuai to the small sofa in the corner, and reached out to hold his hand.
The boy's hands were already a little red from the cold, and his fingers were icy cold.
She wrapped his hand tightly in her palm with both hands, covered it for a while before asking: "What time do you get off work?"
"Ten o'clock."
His voice is still a little hoarse.
Tao Zhi wanted to chat with him again, but he was working part-time, and she couldn't waste his time too much, so she nodded, "Then I'll wait for you here?"
Jiang Qihuai looked at her and said "En".
She didn't ask a word about what happened tonight.
Jiang Qihuai didn't say anything either.
Tao Zhi didn't know whether she should take the initiative to ask.
If you don't count the ex-boyfriend who became a good brother like a playboy, she actually doesn't have much experience in dating.
What should be asked, what should not be asked, whether it will be a little overstepped, and whether it will be nosy.
She is not very good at grasping the distance between male and female friends.
She slowly turned out the paper in her schoolbag, wrote a few questions, and crossed out the answers, but her mind was empty, and she couldn't write them in.
After dinner time passed, the store became lively, the girls chatted with friends, showed each other the spoils they bought on the street today, Jiang Qihuai stood behind the coffee machine to order, speaking at a steady pace, standing tall, The temperament is light and cold.
Even though they are young people with almost the same grade, they will always be divided into two worlds.
Some people are innocent, have no worries about food and clothing, and love their parents. The biggest worries in life are just test scores and homework.
Some people have nothing to do, worry about living expenses, and take care of the elderly. He grew up early at the age when he should have been taken care of, and then became the only backbone in the entire weak family.
Tao Zhi originally planned to wait until Jiang Qihuai got off work, but before nine o'clock, he received a call from Tao Xiuping on time: "Are you back?"
Tao Zhi said dryly, "Not yet."
"I knew that you wouldn't react if I didn't urge you," Tao Xiuping said with such a tone, "Zhizhi, you will do what you say. What time did you promise me to come back?"
"Isn't it too late?" Tao Zhi hesitated, "Dad, can I stay a little longer, my friend is not very happy today."
Tao Xiuping: "Is it your friend or your boyfriend?"
Tao Zhi: "..."
She didn't make a sound, as if she had acquiesced, and Tao Xiuping didn't want to let go: "Hurry up, don't play emotional cards with me here. If you don't come back at nine o'clock, the access control will be changed to eight o'clock, don't you Say I didn't warn you."
Tao Zhi puffed his cheeks, and agreed in a muffled voice, a little discouraged.
After she hung up the phone, she looked up, Jiang Qihuai was still busy and didn't notice this side.
She packed up her things, sent him a wechat message, and walked out of the cafe.
Jiang Qihuai didn't see Tao Zhi's WeChat message until he got off work.
At around nine o'clock, the little girl sent him several emojis of cats and cats in succession before she finally said a word.
[Zhizhi Grape]: I'll go home and do a job, and then I'll sneak out to find you at night!
Jiang Qihuai glanced at the table in the corner that had been cleaned up and was empty, curled his lips, and typed a few words.
[Smuggling is illegal.]
The boy who worked together in the back room came out and stood at the door urging him: "Ah Huai, let's go!"
Jiang Qihuai put away his phone and left the shop.
The boy locked the door, turned around and hooked his shoulders, gossiping: "The girl who came in with you later today is your girlfriend?"
Jiang Qihuai let out a "hmm".
"Damn, you're really fast. We asked you what you said last time when you came here?" The boy raised his face and imitated his tone and said, "I'm not familiar with you, classmate."
"Originally, when you said that, I was still thinking about waiting for her to ask for a contact information next time." The boy rubbed his chin, "If you didn't move, my face, let alone make her fall in love with her forever. Well, how can I have a little heart-to-heart promise."
Jiang Qihuai smiled indifferently, and glanced at him: "Could it be possible that you can't see it in secret, it's true that you have a thick skin."
The boy hooked his neck and pressed down hard, and said with a smile, "Why are you talking to your senior?"
Jiang Qihuai lowered his body and didn't respond.
The two walked all the way to the bus station. The boy was quiet for a while, and suddenly remembered: "By the way, what did that man ask you to go out today? Who is he?"
Jiang Qihuai frowned, his face was ugly, and he just said firmly: "It's okay."
The boy saw that he didn't want to say more, so he nodded, "OK."
While talking, they walked to the bus stop. The two of them didn't take the same bus. The boy's bus came, so he greeted him and left.
Jiang Qihuai stood under the empty station sign, put his hands in the pockets of his coat, and stared at the layers of small advertisements pasted on the stop sign for a while.
The first time Jiang Qihuai saw Jiang Zhi when he was four years old was the day Jiang Qinghe took him home.
At the gate of the courtyard, the dean's aunt smiled at him for the first time. He took Jiang Qinghe's hand and walked out of the large courtyard gate with a small bag on his back.
Jiang Qinghe wanted to help him carry it: "Is it heavy?"
Xiao Jiang Qihuai shook his head.
It's really not heavy. After tidying up, he found that he had nothing at all. There was only a towel and a toothbrush in the schoolbag, which were empty in the cloth bag.
He came alone and left alone.
But from now on, he has someone who is willing to like him, and he can also have a family.
Just like ants.
Xiao Jiang Qihuai stood in front of the vermilion door, looking at the small hole that would belong to him, thinking with bright eyes.
Jiang Qinghe opened the door, stepped aside, and looked at him with a smile: "Come in."
Jiang Qihuai tightly grasped the strap of the small schoolbag, couldn't help but pursed his lips nervously, and took a step inside carefully and silently.
This house is much smaller than where he used to live, and it doesn't have a big yard, but it is warm.
The temperature came with a voice: "It's too slow? What are you doing?"
Jiang Qinghe's expression changed instantly, he frowned: "Who made you come back?"
"Why can't I go back to my own home." The man dragged his voice.
Xiao Jiang Qihuai secretly raised his eyes and looked inside.
There was a man lying on the sofa in the living room. He was lying obliquely on the sofa with a bottle of beer in his hand. He straightened up and looked over, his gaze fell on Jiang Qihuai.
Jiang Zhi stared at him fixedly, then put the wine bottle in his hand on the coffee table, and spoke in a hoarse voice: "Which kid did you bring back?"
Jiang Qinghe held back his anger: "This is your son!"
"I don't have a son." Jiang Zhi said.
Xiao Jiang Qihuai stood beside him with his head down, not saying a word.
Looking at his small, soft hair, Jiang Qinghe suddenly sighed, and said a little tiredly: "Azhi, I have found the child, you should break off from those people in the future, and those ridiculous things will be ignored." Don't do it, you find a job, live a good life, and let's raise the child together, okay?"
Jiang Zhi didn't speak, just looked at the little child.
Jiang Qihuai bit his lips uneasily, his small body shrank back calmly, trying hard to blend himself into the background board.
There was a moment of silence in the room, Jiang Zhi looked away, and sneered: "I don't know who came out of the stomach, what to feed, I can't live anymore, I don't know what dreams you have every day, old man, Love and support yourself."
Anxiously, he picked up the bag on the coffee table, turned and walked out.
His legs brushed against Jiang Qihuai's small body, and he walked out without even looking at him.
The anti-theft door was slammed shut with a bang.
In the silence, Xiao Jiang Qihuai turned around and looked up at Jiang Qinghe.
The old man stood motionless, his shoulders slumped, as if he was supporting something with all his strength.
"Grandpa." Xiao Jiang Qihuai called him in a small voice.
Jiang Qinghe took a deep breath, raised his hand to wipe his face, and knelt down: "Hey, grandpa is here."
"Is that my father?" the child asked childishly.
Jiang Qinghe smiled and raised his hand to stroke his hair.
The child raised his head and looked at him with clear eyes: "He doesn't want me, will grandpa send me back?"
When the four-year-old child said these words, he couldn't even see a trace of sadness.
Jiang Qinghe cried.
He embraced Jiang Qihuai, hugged him in his arms, and stroked his back carefully: "Grandpa won't send you back. Grandpa said that he wants to grow up with us, Ah Huai."
"Let us Ah Huai study, work, marry a wife when we grow up, and become a man of indomitable spirit."
"Grandpa will teach you the principles of life and watch you become a good person," the old man's voice choked up, "Grandpa will not repeat the same mistakes again."
At that time, Jiang Qihuai was still too young, and he didn't quite understand what the word "repeat the mistakes" meant.
He just curled up in the old man's arms, then nodded lightly, and said in his grandma's voice, "Ah Huai also grew up with grandpa."
When Jiang Zhi didn't show up, everything was going in a good direction.
Jiang Qinghe would teach Jiang Qihuai how to read and recognize characters. No matter what the children learn, they are very fast. Basically, he can memorize all the storybooks he has read once, word by word.
Jiang Qinghe will also teach him how to play chess.
The old man held him in his arms and told him one piece at a time. Only occasionally, he would stare blankly at a certain piece, with deep sadness in his eyes: "Grandpa taught your father to play chess before. You're smart, and you're a quick learner."
The little ball nestled in his arms, holding a wooden chess piece in his hand and asked him cheerfully what it was.
Jiang Qinghe named him Jiang Zhi, hoping that he would become a doctor when he grows up, treating diseases and saving lives.
But he couldn't keep him.
While he was busy working to make money and doing various things, the unpruned sapling got crooked bit by bit, and never came back.
Xiao Jiang Qi Huai'an was quietly hugged by the old man, listening to him talk about the past.
In fact, he didn't like Jiang Zhi very much, because every time he was mentioned, Jiang Qinghe would be upset.
He felt that as long as he didn't show up, it would be fine.
But he will still come back.
Sometimes every few weeks, sometimes months, he came back to ask Jiang Qinghe for money, but if Jiang Qinghe didn't give it to him, the two would quarrel.
When he came back, Jiang Qihuai was usually asleep.
The old houses in the county town are not well soundproofed, and Jiang Qihuai would sometimes be woken up.
He heard the sounds of quarrels and impacts in Jiang Qinghe's room next door. He ran out of the room and saw the drunk Jiang Zhi pushing Jiang Qinghe to the side, then ignoring the old man who fell on the ground, like crazy , Searching through boxes and boxes.
He threw out all the clothes in the wardrobe, checked the bottom of the cabinet, pulled out the drawers, and smashed the vases.
Jiang Qihuai rushed up to hug his leg, biting him like a young wild beast, beating him vigorously, but the tall man just stretched out one hand and grabbed his collar to pull him away. Picking it up, the smell of drunkenness came to my face: "You little bastard, are you going against the sky?"
He was helpless like a little chick, grabbing his hand and struggling to break free, digging his nails into the flesh.
The man let go with a yell and threw him aside fiercely.
He only felt his head hit something hard, and then there was a dark blur in front of his eyes, and warm liquid flowed down his forehead, dripped from his chin, and condensed into a scarlet pool on the floor.
Jiang Qinghe threw himself in front of him, hugged him and called his name.
The moment he closed his eyes, Jiang Qihuai heard Jiang Zhi laughing, and saw that he finally found a brown wallet from under the cabinet, and then walked away reeking of alcohol.
…
Jiang Qihuai lived in the house of his hometown for two years.
The next year, Jiang Qinghe seemed to have made up his mind and took him away.
The house was sold, and all the contents inside were second-hand. The house was not worth much, and the money they got was not enough for them to buy a new one to live in.
Jiang Qinghe's cards and passbooks had already been taken out by Jiang Zhi. They changed cities and rented a small house in a place where the rent was cheap.
After moving, there will be no more quarrels and the sound of smashing things in the next door in the middle of the night.
They have all escaped the hellish life.
A few months after moving to the new home, Jiang Qinghe received a phone call. Jiang Zhi and several gangsters with criminal records in several counties broke into the house and robbed them. The two were seriously injured and the victim was still in danger.
He talked a lot on the phone, but the old man never responded.
He was holding the phone, listening with a blank expression, but his hands were shaking, and then hung up.
Jiang Qihuai raised his head and looked at the old man's red, cloudy eyes looking at him with despair and sadness.
He raised his hand and wiped away the tears hanging on his old face with his fingertips. The six-year-old child said clearly word by word in a childish voice: "Grandpa, I will take care of you."
Jiang Qinghe choked with sobs and sighed: "Fate is fate. I hope that if he has a chance to come out, he can make up his mind in the future, if he has the chance."
Jiang Qihuai held the old man's hand, pursed his lips, and lowered his eyes darkly.
Jiang Zhi is Jiang Qinghe's son, he is reluctant to part with him, but Jiang Qihuai never thinks that he is his father.
He hoped that Jiang Zhi would never come out, he'd better just die silently in prison like this, and use the rest of his life to atone for his sins.