After returning to the room after dinner, Xie Jiaran received a WeChat message from Liang Sunian, which contained a photo of Chanchan sleeping on his back on the floor.
It turns over its furry belly and lets people touch it, curls up its paws and squints its eyes, looking very comfortable.
Xie Jiaran enlarged the photo and took a quick look at the kitten before fixing his eyes on the hands that were rubbing the cat's belly.
Very white, with clear bones under the skin.
His knuckles were long and slender, his nails were neatly trimmed, and he made a casual bending movement very beautiful.
Xie Jiaran looked at it for a while before closing the large picture and slowly replying, "Very cute."
It took a while for the other side to reply. The first message was still a photo, and the second one was text:
Previous year: Look, I told you, this little pervert only picks the good-looking ones to chew o^o
It is still a man and a cat, but this time it is not the hands that appear in the shot, but the entire part above the neck and below the mouth.
The photo was captured at the moment when the kitten was holding his cheek and biting his jaw with its baby teeth. The slightly tilted back movement made the jawline on the side of the face clearer.
Looking up, the corners of his mouth are raised in joy, and looking down, there is a protruding Adam's apple, and half of his bony collarbone is exposed because a button of his white shirt is undone.
This time, Xie Jiaran didn't even bother to look at the kitten.
His eyes wandered over Liang Sunian's body, and the picture he captured was extremely clean and beautiful, which reminded him of the black butterfly he saw when he was waiting at the door of his house in the afternoon.
If it could just stay on this collarbone and occasionally flap its wings...
The romantic and imaginative little artist touched his slightly hot eartips and silently saved the photo in his photo album.
By the way, let’s also post the picture of the belly being rolled up.
The other party seemed to be idle and had nothing to do, chatting with him about meaningless small things.
Xie Jiaran could imagine his current state—watching live game broadcasts while holding his cat, bored and surrounded by a group of internet-addicted teenagers, and occasionally picking up his phone to share something interesting when he saw one.
Xie Jiaran was not good at chatting and didn't know how to find topics to talk about. He could only respond simply to whatever Liang Sunian said to show that he was still there.
He came back with a backpack with nothing in it, except for the dormitory key, a charger, and the notebook he bought at the school gate.
He spread out his notebook on the table, but couldn't find the few watercolor brushes he had kept at home for convenience.
I searched the drawer and pen holder for a long time but couldn't find it, so I had no choice but to open a new box of paint.
Liang Sunian's message ended at 11:46, and the light in his room remained on until nearly five in the morning.
He slept for about three hours. In his dreams, there was always a black butterfly flying around and disturbing him. When he woke up, he felt dizzy, as if he was thrown into a cloud hanging in the air. He felt weightless and insecure, and his blood was tickled by the gentle touch.
He supported himself on the bed and sat up. It took him a while to realize that his illness had recurred.
Downstairs there was a child's screaming for ice cream, and the sound was still unpleasantly piercing even through the door.
He let out a breath, and his usually cold and calm personality meant that even when he was in a bad mood, he would only frown slightly.
I rubbed the back of my hands vigorously, then got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The cold water poured over my shoulders and flowed down from my shoulder blades. The slight discomfort that the coldness had temporarily taken away was washed away and flowed all over the floor.
After going downstairs and having breakfast, Zhou Wenyue sat on the sofa in the living room watching the morning news. Xie Jiaran hesitated for a while, but decided to go over and watch it with her for a while.
But before he sat down, his eyes swept across a few watercolor brushes in the corner of the second layer of the coffee table.
The pen was scattered all over the place, the cap was missing, and the tip of the pen was visibly damaged.
Xie Jiaran was stunned for a moment.
Just as he leaned over to pick up the paintbrush, Lu Shang hurried over and snatched it from his hand. He turned around and leaned on the sofa to hide in Zhou Wenyue's arms. His eyes rolled around twice, and he didn't say a word. He just held the paintbrush tightly, fearing that he would be snatched back by him again.
Xie Jiaran stood up and looked at Lu Shang, his voice cold: “That’s my pen.”
Lu Shang buried his head in Zhou Wenyue's arms and hid himself, not even revealing his eyes.
"Of course, they are just a few pens. If your brother wants them, just give them to him."
Zhou Wenyue tried to be a peacemaker in a gentle tone: "Besides, you have a lot of pens, so you don't need these few, right?"
Xie Jiaran didn't say yes or no, but turned to Zhou Wenyue and said, "Mom, did you go to my room to get the pen for Shang Shang?"
Zhou Wenyue hesitated, looked down at his little son in his arms, then looked at Xie Jiaran, and finally nodded in confirmation: "Yes."
"I see."
Xie Jiaran heard the lie clearly and had no intention of watching TV anymore: "I don't want the pen anymore. If he wants it, he can take it. I have something else to do. I'll go back to my room first."
"Okay, okay... Oh, by the way, Xiaoran."
Zhou Wenyue suddenly thought of something: "Shangshang's weekly test results are not very ideal. The test papers have been distributed. If you don't go out this afternoon, explain the test questions to your brother."
Xie Jiaran responded with an unclear answer, and when he reached the stairs he heard Lu Shang asking Zhou Wenyue for ice cream as he acted normally.
"Didn't you just eat one? Why do you want to eat another one?"
"Only one! It's so hot today and it doesn't quench my thirst. No matter what, I want to eat more!"
"Okay, okay, this is the last one for today. You can't have more after you eat it. Don't eat it later and get a stomachache."
"yeah!"
"You're such a naughty boy. You're not a worry at all. When has your brother ever asked for ice cream like you did?"
Xie Jiaran quickened his pace and closed the door, blocking out all the sounds outside.
He leaned against the door and closed his eyes for a while. His cell phone vibrated. He opened it and saw that Lin Shan had sent him a message, asking him when he would return to school and wanting to go with him to the newly opened snack bar at the side door to try something new.
He replied with an uncertain word, exited the chat box, and his eyes naturally fell on the second friend he had contacted most recently.
Liang Sunian’s profile picture is a paper airplane placed diagonally on the table.
There is a test paper under the paper airplane and a ballpoint pen on the right.
It is dark outside the background window, and the desk lamp is on. In the illuminated area, you can clearly see the geometric arithmetic problems on the wings of the paper airplane and the solution process written in clear handwriting.
It's a high school test paper.
It feels amazing.
To describe it, everyone's life is like countless parallel time and space, and everyone lives their own life in their own small circle.
The accidental intersection is the collision of two parallel time and space, which can bring about a chain reaction that is mutually unknown but can arouse people's curiosity.
Just like Xie Jiaran at this moment, because of a picture of a paper airplane, he began to be curious about what Liang Sunian looked like in high school, what kind of people and things were in his circle of life, and what he was thinking.
Also, I felt inexplicably concerned and curious about where he was and what he was doing.
While dialing the phone, Xie Jiaran looked at the trees outside the window, without thinking about anything, leaving everything to his subconscious and instinct.
"As for me, I just came from my high school classmate's house, and I bought a pair of headphones at a digital store on the way, and also the charger that Li Tang asked me to bring for him."
Liang Sunian on the other end of the phone answered his question and then asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Is there anything you need me to bring?"
"No."
Even though he knew he couldn't see, Xie Jiaran still shook his head out of habit and asked him, "So are you going back to school now?"
Liang Sunian: "Yeah, what about you? When do you plan to go back to school, tomorrow afternoon or the day after tomorrow morning?"
Xie Jiaran still wanted to say he was not sure, but he heard the noise coming from downstairs and Zhou Wenyue's mild scolding with a smile, and the words melted into bubbles at his lips, colliding and combining into another answer.
“I want to go back to school, too.”
He dug his fingertips into the skin of his wrist and murmured, "Liang Sunian, I also want to go back to school now..."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for two seconds.
Soon, Liang Sunian asked him where his home was, then smiled and sighed in a casual tone, "It's a bit far from our school." He chatted a few more words casually and soon hung up the phone.
Xie Jiaran touched his forehead with the back of his hand and sat back down at his desk.
The itch hidden under the skin came in waves like the ebb and flow of the tide. He sat there patiently for a while, then opened the photo album and found the photos he had saved last night.
He held the phone in silence for a while, then gently closed his eyes, lowered his head, and rested his forehead against the screen.
He thought that he was no different from someone who was just trying to satisfy his hunger with empty promises.
I really envy that little kitty that can bite people's chins.
He gradually felt sleepy and didn't know when he fell asleep on the table. He was soon awakened by the vibration of his cell phone. Liang Sunian called him.
"Asleep?" The other party heard the hoarseness in his monosyllables and sneered: "Do you still want to go back to school now?"
"?"
Xie Jiaran felt that he was too sleepy, otherwise why couldn't he understand what Liang Sunian said
"Come on, kid, stick your head out so I can make sure I'm in the wrong place."
"?"
Xie Jiaran stood up and looked out the window with a sleepy and confused face. His sight then fixed on a figure downstairs. His sleepiness disappeared and his eyes widened.
It started to drizzle at some point. Liang Sunian was holding a gray-blue umbrella. When he saw him, his eyebrows curved and he waved at him with a bright smile.
"How did you... come here?"
Xie Jiaran stood there, somewhat at a loss: "It's so far, how did you get here?"
"Not far. My high school classmate's house is close to here. It only takes an hour to drive there."
Liang Sunian's voice was transmitted to his eardrums through the electric current, neither fast nor slow, just like the cool drizzle at this moment, soothing his confused emotions at this moment:
"Xie Jiaran, do you want to go back to school with me?"