Zhuang Yi sent Xun Yuming to the San Francisco clinic, and then drove to Berkeley. Today is the second group promotion match, and he has to go to Luenzhen.
The clinic where Xun Yuming works as a volunteer belongs to a private hospital. Because the clinic is a public welfare clinic, students are recruited to do odd jobs. He is determined to go to medical school, but he also knows how difficult it is to get into medical school.
The admission rate of Stanford Medical School is so low that it ranks among the top five in the United States every year, and the admission rate of international students is even lower. If you want to get in, you have to have a good enough resume, and perfect GPA is not enough for these, you also need the endorsement of highly respected people.
Not long after Xun Yuming worked in the hospital, he became acquainted with several doctors, and he only hoped to get a letter of recommendation in the future. He stayed in the clinic until past twelve o'clock, hurriedly finished his lunch, and then rushed to work at a nearby ice cream shop.
At ten o'clock in the afternoon, the shift was changed, and the time was quite short. Xun Yuming ran all the way, got out of the subway station and climbed up the escalator, and accidentally knocked on the steps.
He got up, patted the soil, and ran forward limping without caring about his knees. At this moment, the phone rang, and Xun Yuming took it out to have a look, and pressed the answer button: "Hey, Boss Li, I'll be there right away! I've already got off the subway, and I'll be there in five minutes!"
The mobile phone is a bit old, and the radio noise in the earpiece is "chichi la la", which makes Boss Li's tone more and more apologetic: "Xiao Ming, it's like this. The people from the social security center interviewed me yesterday, and they won't let me hire Wei Wei again. Adult, otherwise I will be fined and sued. I just want to tell you that you don’t have to come here in the future. I will punch you in your salary this month, so let’s count it as a full month, sorry!”
"But Boss Li... hello?" Before he finished speaking, the other party had already hung up, and there were intermittent "beeps" on the phone.
Xun Yuming stood in the empty square in front of the station, holding up his mobile phone for a long time without regaining consciousness.
He lost his job
He lost his job!
Until Zhuang Yi's call came, he was still in a daze: "... hello?"
"What's wrong with you?" His voice was weird, and Zhuang Yi asked, "Why does it sound like you've been bullied?"
Xun Yuming hurriedly covered up: "It's nothing, have you finished the game yet?"
"The competition is over, we have won a big victory." Zhuang Yi laughed heartily, and he knew how good he was when he heard it. There was a voice greeting him on the microphone, Zhuang Yi agreed one by one, and then asked: "Are you off work? We are going to celebrate, play polo together after dinner, and take you with us. Where are you now? I will pick you up go."
"No... no need. I still have something to do, so hang up first!"
Xun Yuming couldn't be in the mood to celebrate, so he hung up the phone involuntarily, and went slowly to the store to pack his things. There were not many people on the street. He came out of the ice cream shop, wandered aimlessly with his suitcase in his arms, and passed by his favorite Chinese restaurant, which smelled strongly of braised pork ribs. The price of Wuxi pork ribs crossing the ocean has also risen. Obviously, the raw meat here is cheap, but it costs several times the price in China when it is made into a dish.
In the past, when he came to work every week, Xun Yuming would order a pork rib rice bowl to take home to eat, which was cheaper than buying a single one. Seeing that he is young and thin, the boss often gives him a few more small ribs. The reddish-brown gravy paired with hot white rice is the best way to soothe his homesick stomach.
Rib rice is a reward for hard work, and it is too luxurious for unemployed people to eat. He sat at the door and smelled it, and occasionally one or two people came over, and they all looked at him with pity, as if the word "unemployment" was printed on his forehead.
I sat there until after eight o'clock in the evening, as if my feet were in shackles, and I refused to move for a long time. He dawdled and didn't want to go back to school, just to avoid his roommates, hoping to stay one more night in Zhuang Yi's dormitory.
Seeing that it was getting dark, Xun Yuming looked down at the cardboard box in his arms, and regretted that he should not have delayed until now. He looked like he was unemployed. Zhuang Yi was so smart that he couldn't be fooled.
After struggling for a long time, someone gradually whistled at him on the side of the road, and a few hippies leaned on the telephone pole and stared at him ambiguously. It seemed that he was not a good person. Xun Yuming took off his schoolbag, stuffed all the contents of the cardboard box into it, went into the shop cruelly, packed a pork ribs meal, and ran to the station.
When Zhuang Yi called him during the day, he felt that something was wrong. Although he didn't say anything, he couldn't hide the frustration in his tone. After much deliberation, Zhuang Yi was still worried, pushed the polo match, declined the celebration banquet, and went straight to San Francisco.
After waiting outside the ice cream shop for more than an hour, the staff left one after another, but Xun Yuming was never seen. Zhuang Yi went in to inquire and found out that he had been fired.
He hurriedly called Xun Yuming, his phone was turned off, the area was in a mess, and the security was no better than around Stanford. He drove the car around the neighborhood a few times, seeing the sunset and the sky getting darker, the social news about college students being murdered while going out kept popping up in his mind.
When he was burning with anxiety, suddenly, a figure flew out from the Chinese restaurant. Zhuang Yi was overjoyed, that big schoolbag, which was heavier than a sackbag, belonged to Xun Yuming or someone else.
He kicked the accelerator to catch up, he honked the horn, and shouted: "Little ear, where are you going!"
Xun Yuming was worried in his heart, afraid that some strong tattooed men in leather jackets would follow him and suddenly saw him, like seeing a fountain in a fire, and immediately jumped on it.
Zhuang Yi picked him up, turned around quickly, and the car sped crookedly out of the long street. Xun Yuming had just recovered from his shock, and his heart was beating wildly, holding his schoolbag and asking him, "Why are you here?"
"The polo field is nearby, I'll pick you up on the way." Zhuang Yi lied without changing his face and heartbeat.
"Oh, have you eaten yet?" Xun Yuming took out his lunch box and asked him, "I bought pork rib rice, do you want to eat it?"
"Eat it yourself, I've eaten it before." Zhuang Yi said nonsense.
"Then I'll eat it myself." Xun Yuming grinned, rubbed his hands, and opened the lunch box full of anticipation. Although he was unemployed, he was still very satisfied to be able to eat the ribs meal that he had been thinking about day and night.
"It's so happy to eat pork ribs, what a child." Zhuang Yi turned his head with a smile, and saw his eyelashes trembling slightly, and he cried out with a "sob".
Zhuang Yi was startled, braked quickly and asked, "Why are you crying? Don't cry... I'm not good at coaxing people."
Xun Yuming raised his head, tears streaming down his face, looking extremely aggrieved, he choked up and said, "...you forgot to give me ribs!"
There is only a layer of white rice in the lunch box, and there is no shadow of half a rib. Zhuang Yi looked down, couldn't help but burst out laughing, patted him in his arms, and said like a child: "Okay, okay, don't cry. I thought what's wrong, we don't have ribs, let's go back and ask for it , what's the big deal."
Zhuang Yi's embrace was so hot, like a fire accidentally found in the middle of the cold winter night, it made people feel warm all over. Xun Yuming was hungry, his knees were aching, and he had just experienced unemployment. The grievance and loneliness that was originally full of him melted away in an instant when he hugged him.
He wiped away his tears, cleared his throat, and said with some embarrassment: "Let's go back, I won't eat."
Zhuang Yi didn't answer, just smiled at him and drove towards San Francisco. When the two rushed back to the city, the Chinese restaurant was closed. Zhuang Yi drove to the Bay Area again, and said, "I know a waffle shop that is open 24 hours a day. It tastes really good. Let's go buy it."
Xun Yuming felt embarrassed, and hurriedly said, "No need, I'm actually not hungry. Let's go back quickly, it's almost nine o'clock."
Zhuang Yi drove the car and said with a low smile: "Don't worry. Didn't you live with me? There is no curfew in my place, so it doesn't matter if you are late, you have to eat. If you cry again, I will not be able to coax you."
Xun Yuming is not a person who loves to cry, and he has never cried a few times since he was a child. But the sea breeze at night is so gentle, just looking at him, the nose can't help panting.
Zhuang Yi dusted off the cigarette, his face flashed in his mind, indifferent, melancholy, aggrieved, happy... It was like a movie frame by frame. He sighed, and said: "Don't persuade me, if you can forget it, why delay it until now."
Zhuang Man also lit a cigarette, and his two breasts were stacked on the open-air coffee table, puffing out smoke rings and said: "When I suffered a setback in my relationship, I flinched and gave up countless possibilities in the future. Oh, I I'm impressed with you."
The sea breeze tonight was as gentle as before. Zhuang Yi sat in the rattan chair, half of his face was submerged in the night, and there was a faint light in his eyes, like a bit of ashes unwilling to extinguish itself.
Holding the cigarette butt between his index finger and thumb, he raised his hand and took a sip. The sparks flickered and said: "An unresolved relationship brings only consumption." This kind of internal friction is like digging a hole in a person's body. It dries up day by day.
Zhuang Man held a lighter in his hand, pressed his thumb lightly, and the flame burst out instantly, "Either light it up." Then it fell down because of her letting go, "Either press it out."
Zhuang Yi smiled and exhaled a puff of smoke, "How can it be so easy, there is no solution to this problem."
The person who had disappeared for eight years was right in front of him, so he didn't know how to take the initiative. But the remaining rationality told him that the consequence of continuing to lead is to repeat the same mistakes. On the one hand, he couldn't help getting closer to Xun Yuming, but on the other hand he had to keep a distance.
Want to love but can't love, want not to love but have love.
Two-phase pulling, a dilemma.
"Maybe it's different this time." Zhuang Man twitched the corner of his mouth, "How will you know if you don't try?"
Since you can't forget, can't let go, why don't you try again? What has not been done is not necessarily bound to fail.
Zhuang Yi smiled. He was facing the deep sea in the distance, and the moonlight shone on it, which was more romantic than ever. "Do you know how we broke up?"
Zhuang Man only knew that they were lovers in college. At that time, Zhuang Yi disclosed it to his family. He originally planned to take Xun Yuming to meet his grandparents after graduation, and then got engaged in the manor of his hometown. Unexpectedly, this relationship ended without a problem.
"How did you break up?"
The author has something to say: Thank you for the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angels who irrigate [nutrient solution]:
The world is sweet 2 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!