Lin Qile was standing in a corner of his aunt's living room answering the phone.
"Why did you bring Qiaoxi over there?" Mom asked awkwardly on the phone.
Lin Qile bent her left foot and rubbed it against the instep of her right foot. She couldn't help doing this whenever she started to act like a spoiled brat or wanted to lie.
"Because you brought too much stuff for my aunt," she said innocently, "so much bacon and sausages, I can't carry it all!"
"Didn't I bring a box for you? Put it in the suitcase and pull it over," said my mother. "Your aunt said that other young men came home with so many things in their hands, but you only carried a box of pickled bamboo shoots. How can you be so embarrassed?"
Lin Qile was stunned. She could hear her aunt entertaining Jiang Qiaoxi outside.
"Jiang Qiaoxi lives in a hotel near Tsinghua University, separate from the school. He said that his meals are very expensive..." Lin Qile muttered.
My mother sighed on the phone, probably because she thought her excuse was not sufficient and she was too lazy to say anything more to her.
"After eating at your aunt's house, wash the dishes before leaving. Be careful when you go back home at night and call me when you get to the hotel," said my mother. "Qiaoxi is with you, so both of you should be careful."
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the low living room. He looked at the size of the room. It was probably only slightly larger than the staff dormitory at the Qunshan construction site. Once the dining table was opened in the living room, there was not much room for people to stand. Lin Yingtao's aunt was busy in the kitchen. Her uncle came over with a half-bottle of white wine in his hand and shook it: "Young man, do you want to drink a little?"
Jiang Qiaoxi was stunned and immediately shook his head.
My cousin brought a few cans of Coke and placed them on the table: "She's not even an adult yet, Dad! How could you give her liquor?"
My uncle laughed, put the bottle back, and sat down on his chair: "What year and month are you, young man?"
Jiang Qiaoxi was always a beat slower to react: "March 1990."
My uncle sighed: "It's only half a year until you become an adult!"
Auntie brought over the stewed pork elbow in rock sugar, and my cousin was unpacking the roast duck he bought from Bian Yi Fang. Jiang Qiaoxi tilted his head and heard Lin Yingtao making a phone call by the refrigerator. Lin Yingtao was holding the phone line in her hand and asking her mother some questions about whether she had heated up Mimi's water bowl.
As soon as Lin Qile came over, her cousin stood up, put the roast duck in the middle of the table, and then took down the plates of snacks from the top of the refrigerator and placed them all in front of Lin Qile. "This is for you, Aiwowo, Donkey Roll..." The cousin took a plate and said a name, "Wandouhuang, Qiegao, this is the sugar-coated steamed buns and mending meat pie your uncle bought for you after get off work..." The cousin looked at Lin Yingtao sitting on the stool so happily, and smiled, "Eat it, eat it, and Xiao Jiang, you eat it too."
The eldest aunt came over, bringing a bowl of tomato, shrimp and egg soup. "This little girl has this problem," the eldest aunt raised her head and said to Jiang Qiaoxi, the only outsider present, "She eats breakfast for dinner, eats snacks before going to bed, and likes to eat snacks all day long," she stretched out her hand to poke Lin Yingtao's forehead, "It would be strange if she wasn't fat!"
"Aunt, why do you still live here?" Lin Qile asked as he ate half of a meat pie. "Didn't you buy a new house?"
She had just asked casually, but she didn't expect that the expressions of her cousin, aunt, and uncle all became very strange all of a sudden.
Lin Qile turned her head and glanced at Jiang Qiaoxi. Jiang Qiaoxi, a stranger, raised his eyes and looked at her.
Lin Qile secretly stuck out the tip of his tongue, then retracted it.
"We just paid the down payment for this house, how can we move in so soon?" The eldest aunt said helplessly, picking up some food for Lin Qile to eat, "It will take at least next year or the year after next."
"I thought we could move in right away," Lin Qile asked, "Is this place going to be demolished?"
My cousin smiled bitterly and said, “It would be great if we could tear it down!”
Lin Qile looked at him: "Why do you suddenly want to buy a new house?"
The eldest aunt said, "Your brother, the ex-sister-in-law I found for you won't get married unless we have a wedding house. I've never seen such a stubborn girl. How much have Beijing housing prices risen to? A few years ago, it was more than 6,000 yuan per square meter, but now it's over 10,000 yuan, an increase of 1,000 or 2,000 yuan a year! How much is 1,000 or 2,000 yuan per square meter? I said, live with your in-laws first, and then buy a house when the housing prices come down, is that okay? She just won't agree."
Lin Qile asked his cousin: "What does my sister-in-law look like?"
The eldest aunt said, "Sister-in-law, it's all gone. People think you don't have money, so you had to borrow from everywhere to pay the down payment."
Lin Qile saw her cousin shaking his head at her.
Lin Qile pursed his lips and didn't ask any more questions.
My uncle said, "I saw a report in the newspaper today - Cherries, don't just eat them by yourself, ask your classmates to eat them too. Give Xiao Jiang a pork elbow, a big one! I saw a report in the newspaper today that experts predict that after the Olympics, Beijing's housing prices may drop by 40%!"
Lin Qile struggled to pick up a big pork elbow and put it into Jiang Qiaoxi's bowl. She caught a glimpse of her aunt almost dropping the chopsticks in her hand.
My uncle waved his hand and said, "Forget it, let's eat. Cherry finally got here."
After dinner, Lin Qile went to help wash the dishes. Her aunt praised her, saying that she could only peel garlic cloves when she was young, but now she can do everything. Jiang Qiaoxi was outside. He was tall and stood on a stool to help Lin Qile's cousin put the clock and photo frame on the wall in the right place.
"You guys are young now," the eldest aunt put the cleaned dishes in the corner, wiped her hands with a towel, and then wiped Lin Qile's hands, and the two of them left the kitchen together, "you don't understand the difficulties in society."
"You are still a student now. When you enter the society and join the work, the company will not allocate you a house like before," said the aunt. She saw that Lin Yingtao's male classmate, Jiang Qiaoxi, had already sat on the sofa and started drinking water. The aunt handed the candy plate and melon seeds to him, fearing that she would neglect him. "Then there will be many big issues to consider, such as when to buy a house, before or after marriage, and whether it should be bought by your family or your partner's family."
Lin Yingtao moved a small stool and sat aside to listen. She felt that her aunt was thinking too complicatedly.
"I buy my own house," Lin Yingtao said, "I don't need anyone else to buy one for me."
"Where do you get the money to buy it yourself?" said the aunt with a smile.
Lin Yingtao said: "The housing price in Beijing is 11,000 yuan per square meter. I earn 3,000 yuan a month, which means I can buy more than 3 square meters in a year."
The eldest aunt laughed and said, "How many years will it take you to buy a house?"
Lin Yingtao just said it casually without thinking it through carefully.
"Then I won't buy it," she immediately felt it was not worth it, "I'll rent a house."
"It's different, my little darling," the aunt said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "When you live alone in the future, it will be very important to have your own house. You haven't experienced it yet."
"I don't live alone, I live with my parents," said Lin Yingtao.
"Then you won't get married? Where's your husband and your children?" the aunt asked, "Are they all living in your house?"
My uncle came out of the kitchen and washed a bowl of grapes for Lin Qile and her taciturn male classmate.
"Now, cherish the pure and simple student life," said the eldest aunt, "after graduation, you will have to think about things that are much more complicated. You have to think about it even if you don't want to. Find a husband with a car and a house, calculate how much money is in his bank account, how much is his monthly salary, if you don't want to calculate, the man will calculate it for you," said the eldest aunt, sighing, "Your brother bought this house because he was chasing after the girl. We bought this house because we have no other choice. The girl is picky about you, and the family owes money for buying a house. In fact, this house is not bad in all aspects, but I bought it at this price. I am really worried every day..."
"So, Cherry," said my uncle, lighting a cigarette, "find a husband who has a house. You know, it will save you 30 or 40 years of salary. It's still 3,000 yuan a month, don't you want to earn more?"
The aunt packed up the roast ducks she bought and took out several boxes from the refrigerator. They were donkey rolls, pea yellow and sugar-coated fire cakes for Lin Yingtao. "Take them back and eat them when you want to!" The aunt found several bags and helped her pack them. "Let you, your tall and handsome classmate help you carry them back!"
Lin Yingtao laughed suddenly, but didn't laugh out loud.
In the living room, my uncle and Jiang Qiaoxi started chatting somehow.
"Your family is also in the Electric Power Construction?" my uncle asked, and was stunned. "Your father is Jiang Zheng?"
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded with a calm expression.
"I know Jiang Zheng," my uncle suddenly called my aunt, "Lingzi! Yingtao's classmate is Jiang Zheng's son!"
"Who?" asked the aunt.
My uncle walked to the kitchen door and said, "The one who used to be the project manager in Datong, Shanxi, joined the factory five years earlier than me."
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't know what his father had done before, and he didn't care much about such things. His father before he was born didn't belong to him. Lin Qile was talking to her cousin in the bedroom. Jiang Qiaoxi glanced at her back and felt that Lin Qile was loved by the whole family even among distant relatives. She really lived in a honeypot since she was a child.
Anyone who treats her badly feels like a sin.
Jiang Qiaoxi saw his uncle coming back.
"So you are Jiang Zheng's son," his uncle told him, "I worked in the Electric Power Construction for a while before, and that's when I met Yingtao's aunt. Oh, what a coincidence! Yingtao said today that she had a male classmate with her, and I thought it was Yu Zhenfeng. You are Jiang Zheng's son, oh, you are handsome, your father was also very good-looking when he was young, a handsome guy, often attracting young female comrades in the factory to look at him."
Lin Qile stood at the door of her house, holding a lunch box of snacks in her arms and saying goodbye to her aunt's family. Jiang Qiaoxi helped her carry the rest of the snacks.
"Study hard in your senior year of high school, get into a good university, and find a good job," the aunt touched Lin Qile's cheek and advised her, "Even if you buy a house in the future, help your parents share the burden. But they must have saved money for you, waiting to buy a house for us Yingtao!"
There are still many tourists in Beijing on summer nights. Maybe it's because the Olympics are approaching, and you can see some police officers on the streets from time to time. It's very safe.
"I should have asked my aunt to pack them separately for me..." Lin Yingtao said, sitting on a bench printed with the Olympic rings on the side of the road and dividing the contents of the bag into four portions. "Here you go."
Jiang Qiaoxi sat at the other end of the bench. He obviously didn't like these things, but he still took them. Because the other two portions were from Lin Yingtao to Yu Qiao, Cai Fangyuan and others, and one for her own parents.
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't have many relatives, and even his best cousin's family didn't have such a heavy atmosphere as today. Many things sounded a little weird to him.
"Cherries." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
Lin Qile looked up at him.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood up and took the bags from her. At this time, an empty taxi drove towards them. Jiang Qiaoxi got to the side of the road and the car stopped. He opened the door and looked back at Lin Yingtao.
"Why don't we take the bus?" Lin Yingtao asked.
"It's too heavy." Jiang Qiaoxi said, reaching out to push her waist.
Lin Yingtao sat in the back seat. She had not yet entered adult society and was still enjoying the simplicity and purity that the ivory tower brought her. She also had a sense of optimism about the future. After listening to the advice of her aunt's family, she would forget it in a blink of an eye. She looked out the window at the night view of Beijing, her eyes wide open with curiosity.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat next to her, quietly, and naturally did not take mundane matters like "buying a house" seriously.
"Why did you suddenly think of asking me to come to your aunt's house today?"
"You have nothing to do, but you keep calling me."
After hearing this, Jiang Qiaoxi met Lin Yingtao's eyes as she looked at him.
"Lin Yingtao."
"Um?"
"You seem to have sugar cookie grease on your lips."
"Impossible," Lin Yingtao quickly wiped her lips with the back of her hand, "I washed my face after dinner."
Jiang Qiaoxi reached out and rubbed her lips. He suddenly lowered his head, not knowing whether it was because he was far away from the provincial capital and completely freed from the restraints, or because it was very late.
Lin Yingtao turned her face away and smiled, her long hair rubbing against Jiang Qiaoxi's wrist.
Jiang Qiaoxi put down his hand, pursed his lips, and looked out the window on his side.
The driver was still driving from the front.
"I don't think this meat pie is very tasty." Jiang Qiaoxi said frankly, his eyes shining as he looked at the front window.
Lin Yingtao said: "But my uncle bought it specially... It was delicious last time, but it's a bit salty this time..."
Jiang Qiaoxi's hand was between the two of them. He first covered the back of Lin Yingtao's hand, and then slowly grasped her hand that was like a little rabbit ear.
It shouldn't be that difficult for Jiang Qiaoxi to give her a happy life in the future.
Jiang Qiaoxi accompanied Lin Yingtao all the way to the downstairs of the hotel. He put his hands in his trouser pockets and watched Lin Yingtao go in before stepping back.
Qin Yeyun sat barefoot on the sofa by the window. Behind him, Yu Qiao and Cai Fangyuan and a few other boys were playing cards. Qin Yeyun waved at them: "Hey! Hey! Lin Yingtao is back!"
Cai Fangyuan put the new card in his hand: "Where did she go?"
Qin Yeyun turned around and said, "It was Jiang Qiaoxi who sent her back!!"
Yu Qiao sat on the bed, looking at the cards idly. Du Shang was a little dissatisfied: "Why did you come back so late?"
"What's your business?" Cai Fangyuan said to Du Shang, and urged him, "Hurry up and draw your cards!"
Suddenly, the door was kicked open from outside. Everyone turned to look at the door and saw Lin Qile holding up two large plastic bags of food with both hands, like a gymnast landing perfectly, with his own music: "Dangdangdangdang!!"
On the morning of the 11th, a group of students took a bus to the Bird's Nest Stadium, which was still under construction. Outside the stadium was a white wall covered with rust. When Lin Qile got off the bus, she saw many citizens and foreign tourists trying to step higher so that they could climb over the wall and take a look at the Bird's Nest building that was taking shape inside.
Lin Qile tried running to several places, but he couldn't see anything no matter how hard he stretched his head. Instead, Yu Qiao stepped easily on an old tire and squinted his eyes to look inside for a while.
Lin Qile turned around and looked for someone: "Cai Fangyuan!"
"What are you doing?" Cai Fangyuan heard her chattering as soon as he got off the car.
Lin Qile walked over and pointed to the bottom of the wall, suggesting: "Go squat down at the bottom of the wall, I'll go up and take a look for you!"
"Go away, go away! Get away from me!" Cai Fangyuan was not angry at all. After hearing what Lin Qile said, he remembered something and started laughing.
Lin Qile heard someone calling her from behind at the gate of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Lin Qile turned around beside Yu Qiao and saw a pale blue shadow in the distance, across the street.
It was Geng Xiaoqing, who was wearing a halter dress and a sun hat.
Lin Qile was shocked from a distance: "Wow, you are so beautiful!!!"
Geng Xiaoqing left the No. 2 Middle School team, ran across the sidewalk, and came to the experimental team. She looked much thinner than the last time they met. Although it was hot, she put on some makeup, but it was not obvious. She stood next to Lin Qile and just chatted with Lin Qile excitedly.
Geng Xiaoqing raised her eyes and saw Yu Qiao standing behind Lin Qile, waiting for them impatiently.