After the Frost Descent, Laicheng entered a period of rainy and cold weather. Shi Ci's birthday was on Saturday, and the sky was clear with a little sunshine, which was the color of fresh grapefruit, tinged with moisture washed away by the rain.
Shi Ci's birthday was on Friday, and it was the first time that Tang Zuo asked for leave and didn't go to class. However, she lingered in the dormitory and didn't go to the teachers' dormitory area until nine o'clock.
She should have contacted him first. Tang Zhao looked at the WeChat dialog box that had been static for nearly a month, and she really couldn't muster up the courage to send a message. She came to Shi Ci's door with the wrapped gift. After hesitating for a long time between ringing the doorbell or putting the gift down, she still rang the doorbell.
My heartbeat went from pounding to disappointed silence.
No one came to open the door. Shi Ci was not at home. She could leave the gift here, and Shi Ci should be able to receive it. But would this ease the awkward mood between them
Tang Zhao walked around the old ginkgo tree downstairs for several times, and finally couldn't help but dial the phone. While pressing the keys, she even thought that maybe Shi Ci wouldn't answer the phone, maybe she couldn't answer the phone right now. She thought a lot of random thoughts, and a piano piece sounded. Soon, Shi Ci's voice was beside her ear, "Hmm, Xiao Tang?"
When Tang Zuo heard her name, he was speechless.
Shi Ci did not say anything right away. Her background seemed to be that of a street, with car horns and the sounds of pedestrians.
"I'm driving, what's wrong?" Shi Ci's tone was calm and gentle, just like when she spoke normally.
Tang Zhao pinched her fingers subconsciously, "Professor Shi," she realized she was really nervous as soon as she opened her mouth, and she swallowed to calm down a little, "Happy birthday."
She couldn't think of what to say, so she could only say it directly. After she finished speaking, her cheeks felt hot and she felt inexplicably embarrassed and relieved.
Finally said it.
Finally we can talk.
"Oh?" Shi Ci's tone was smiling, and he sounded very surprised. "How did you know?"
"Michelle told me..." Tang Zhuo lowered his eyes to look at the canvas shoes on his feet and stepped on the slightly wet golden leaves on the ground.
"Thank you." Shi Ci's smile deepened, and his voice didn't sound so distant anymore. "Don't you have classes?"
"Oh, um..." Tang Zuo said softly, holding the gift in his hand, "Will you come back to school today?"
"Today?" Shi Ci's side was a bit noisy, so she spoke a little louder, "My friend held a birthday party for me and invited some friends I haven't seen for a long time to get together. Some of them just happened to be back from abroad. I'm going there now, and I might be back in the evening, but I'm not sure about the time..."
This is normal. Shi Ci's social circle has no intersection with hers, and his life is more rich and wonderful than she can imagine.
Tang Zuo let out a sigh of relief.
Then she put the gift at the door. Should she tell Shi Ci
"Are you at my door now?" Shi Ci's voice came a little closer.
Tang Zuo paused for a moment and glanced at the door of Shi Ci's house, "... um, I..."
"Just... just... walked over here."
Tang Zuo's face became even hotter. She couldn't even believe what she said. She really wouldn't lie.
The two were silent for a second or two.
It was quiet on her side, but Shi Ci was probably still on the road, and there were some harsh and noisy sounds. Tang Zuo hurriedly said, "Professor Shi, please drive. I have nothing to do."
"...Okay then." Shi Ci seemed to hesitate for a moment, and didn't say anything else, and they ended the call.
It was as if all the anger had suddenly been released. Tang Zuo squatted down, sighed unconsciously, stood up, and was about to put down the gift and leave when her cell phone vibrated.
When I opened it, I saw that Shi Ci had sent me an address.
Another one: "As I said before, this is a store that my friend and I opened together."
She didn't explicitly invite her, but by sending this message, does that mean she wants me to go over
Tang Zhuo first took a bus, then a subway, and came to the old town of Yingcheng after leaving the subway station. She was not familiar with the road conditions here, so she had to take a taxi. When she arrived at a nearby destination, the driver showed her the way.
In the afternoon, the alleys here have a kind of quietness as if one has not yet woken up from a nap. There is a faint scent of osmanthus in the air, and there are some relatively classical buildings.
Tang Zuo walked step by step according to the address given by Shi Ci and came to a two-story building. In front of her was a white fence. Beautiful cosmos daisy peeked out from behind, wondering where she was from.
The lettering on the wall reads—heat.
This is it.
Tang Zuo was carrying a backpack and took out his cell phone.
She gave up on calling and sent messages instead—
"Professor Shi, I..."
Keep pressing with your thumb to delete.
"Excuse me, I'm coming over here."
Delete.
Tang Zuo let out a breath and wanted to slap himself on the head, feeling that he was really weird today.
"heat?"
She exhaled again, closed her eyes, and finally sent the message. If Shi Ci didn't reply in ten minutes, she would go back.
When Shi Ci came out, he saw a young girl standing under an osmanthus tree, looking up and counting the petals. She was carrying a backpack, a light blue sweatshirt, some faded jeans, and a pair of black canvas shoes.
Shi Ci narrowed his eyes slightly.
The first time I saw Tang Zuo in the school cafeteria, she was wearing the same outfit. The only difference was that her hair was already past her shoulders, black and draped obediently. When she heard the voice, she turned around and seemed to be startled. Her eyes flickered, like the sun shining through the water, soft and timid, but extremely lethal.
Shi Ci's heart was warmed by her look.
She smiled and quickly walked up to her, "Here I come."
Tang Zuo breathed a sigh of relief, seeming a little embarrassed.
The next second, she looked behind her with wide eyes.
"Who is this little beauty? Why does she look familiar?" Shi Ci saw that it was Sister Miu's voice.
She turned sideways, and Sister Miu came over with a smile, accompanied by Chen Yiyi with a curious look on her face.
"This is Tang Zuo." Shi Ci took a step back, stood beside Tang Zuo, and introduced her, "These are my two old friends, Miao Xiyin and Chen Yiyi."
"Hey, hey, hey? You're suddenly called out by your name!" Sister Miu looked at Tang Zuo and suddenly realized, "I've seen you before! Oh, Tang Xiao Zuo? Were you working part-time last time? Hey, aren't you Shi Ci's student?"
Tang Zuo had just remembered who she was, but was so confused by her familiar attitude and frequent words that he was unable to respond.
"He's not my student, we just go to the same university." Shi Ci corrected.
"Oh oh oh, we are in the same university, you are a professor and she is a student, is that right?" Sister Miu's eyes turned into crescent shapes when she smiled.
"Are you an adult? You can't enter the bar if you're not an adult." Chen Yiyi had no expression on his face.
"I..." Tang Zuo was about to speak.
"Oh, he looks young, but he's definitely an adult!" Sister Miu patted Chen Yiyi and waved to Tang Zuo, "Come in and play, little Tang Zuo."
These two people were strangers, people she was not familiar with and had never met before. They were not like the people she had to meet in her previous part-time job, but old friends of Shi Ci.
Tang Zhao suddenly felt the pressure doubled. What's more, several people came out from the back of the bar, both men and women.
"Is it Shi Ci's friend?"
"Ah, so young, haha."
"We're late. We've already started drinking, but we're just getting started..."
Tang Zhao's palms were sweating, and a voice in his heart kept saying, "It's okay, it's okay. They are the ones who listen to your lectures, they are the teachers who ask you questions during the oral exams, they are the people who sit down and listen to your translations..."
"Don't panic, don't panic... They are a bunch of letters, a bunch of talking letters..."
The people opposite her were looking at her intently and smiling with ambiguous smiles, examining and analyzing her. There was no hostility in their expressions, but rather a sense of teasing and joking that Tang Zuo was not familiar with or used to.
"Do you want to go in and play?" Shi Ci moved sideways, half blocking her side, and asked her softly, blocking out everything from the outside world.
Tang Zhuo looked up and saw the curve of her lips. In the crowd of unfamiliar smells, Shi Ci's familiar smell gave her a sense of security, and she nodded.
The bar was decorated with a lot of colorful balloons, like rainbows. Musicians were singing in the hall, some people were dancing, and some were drinking at the bar. There were a lot of food for guests to choose from on the long self-service table, including various small cakes, fruits, fried snacks, hamburgers, sliced pizza, sushi...
Tang Zuo was sitting at the bar. She had no makeup on and was not tall, but her proportions were excellent. Her pair of long legs wrapped in jeans and stretched straight together attracted a lot of attention.
"What do you want to drink? How about a Bloody Mary like your sister?" Sister Miu was very interested in her. Without waiting for Tang Zuo to say what she wanted to drink, she gestured to Chen Yiyi to make a cocktail.
Tang Zuo roughly knew that Bloody Mary was a cocktail, but she had never seen or drunk it before, and it was difficult to refuse. She glanced around. Shi Ci had just been pulled away by her friends, and she wanted to know where she was. She didn't want to be too obvious, nor did she want to act like a minor.
Chen Yiyi had been observing Tang Zuo without making a sound since she met her. While she was still mixing the cocktails, she glanced at Tang Zuo again out of the corner of her eye.
Soon, a glass of tomato red liquid filled with ice cubes was pushed in front of her. Tang Zhao blinked and pursed her lips a little at a loss.
"Hahaha. Your expression is so cute! It's not poisonous at all!" Sister Miu was amused by her and bewitched her, "Come on, have a sip."
Tang Zhuo hesitated to touch the cup. She could feel the scent of Shi Ci behind her neck. She hooked the cup into her hand and said, "She doesn't drink this."
Shi Ci sat down next to her and took a sip. "Hmm," he said to Chen Yiyi, "There are too many ice cubes."
Chen Yiyi stared at her and forced a smile, "Maybe I accidentally put too much in."
"Are you hungry? If you are, where can you find food?" Shi Ci turned his head and said to Tang Zuo, "Do you want me to get it for you?"
"Pfft!" Sister Miu laughed, "Shi Ci, she's not a child, don't act like a babysitter."
Shi Ci retorted with a smile, "I didn't treat her as a child..." She didn't finish her words, but stared at Tang Zuo.
The lights in the bar were a dim warm yellow. Her gaze was a little suffocating, reminding Tang Zuo of when Shi Ci brought her in just now and her hand brushed her shoulder, the strap of her watch slid across the surface of her sweater.
Tang Zuo went to look at her watch, a watch she had never seen before. The platinum chain and the diamond-studded square frame peeked delicately from the cuff of her black leather jacket. The back of her hand was slender, her skin was very thin, revealing tiny blood vessels, and her fingertips were delicate.
Tang Zhuo looked at the hand approaching her, the movement was natural and unreserved. In front of her good friends, she reached out and touched her little finger.
When Shi Ci smiled, her eyes were slightly raised and her eyes seemed to speak love words. She was happy from the bottom of her heart, "I'm glad you came."
The author has something to say: The next chapter will be on Monday, I will try to write it longer.
Muah. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
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Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!