After Chen Donglan moved back, life returned to what it was before.
Chen Donglan was already satisfied with this.
Early this morning, Chen Donglan received a call from his brother Xiaode. Afraid of waking up the sleeping Yuan Yuan, he walked to the balcony and closed the door firmly before picking up the call.
The sun has not yet risen, and the wind on the balcony is very cold.
"Xiao De?"
"Brother?" Xiaode's voice seemed to have never changed, and it was the same as when he left from junior high school, bright and light. "Brother, my friends and I will arrive in China at about ten o'clock tonight. Mom insists that I call you before boarding and ask you to pick me up."
"Okay," Chen Donglan hugged his arms because of the cold, "I'll wait for you at nine o'clock."
Xiaode muttered over there, "I don't think you need to pick it up..."
"I still have to pick it up. This is your first time in T City, and it's been a long time since you returned to China. I can't explain to my mother and Uncle Xu what happened to me." Chen Donglan usually speaks very little, but Facing Xiaode, he will keep nagging.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Xiaode here.
"Okay okay, then thank you brother." Xiaode seemed to be teased by his friends, thank you casually.
Chen Donglan hung up the phone. He and his younger brother have nothing in common, and they have not been very close since childhood. I haven't seen each other for so many years, I know less, and I have nothing to say.
Back in the room, Chen Donglan couldn't sleep, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
When the time came, Chen Donglan put on his clothes early and went out. It would take a long time to get to the airport by car. It would be bad if he missed it.
Although Yuan Yuan might not care about his movements, he still went to the door of Yuan Yuan's room and knocked on the door: "Yuan Yuan, let me go out."
"Um..." Yuan Yuan took a little effort to take his eyes away from the document, "Where are you going?"
Chen Donglan didn't want to tell him about Xiaode, but when Yuan Yuan asked, he didn't want to lie to Yuan Yuan, so he could only say as vaguely as possible: "There is a relative returning to China, and I'm going to pick up the plane."
This caught Yuan Yuan's attention: "Pick up? You don't have a car, why do you want you to pick up?"
Chen Donglan had to make it clear: "It's my brother."
Yuan Yuan was stunned. It was the first time he heard that Chen Donglan had a younger brother: "Then you can drive my car."
Chen Donglan was embarrassed: "I don't have a driver's license."
Ashamed to say, as a man, Chen Donglan has no interest in cars. He thinks that taking the subway and the bus is good, and walking is fine if it is not enough. If it is really inconvenient, he takes a taxi. He has never thought of taking a driver's license.
Maybe it's time to get a driver's license, so that Yuan Yuan doesn't have to be too tired to drive around every time.
Yuan Yuan closed the folder: "Then I'll go with you."
Chen Donglan was surprised and felt that it would not work at all. This is different from other things. Yuan Yuan doesn't know Xiaode at all, and Xiaode has to stay in China for many days in a row. If there is one, there will be two or three times. It is absolutely impossible.
Yuan Yuan knew from his expression that he was going to refuse. In his cognition, since it was Chen Donglan, that little favor was nothing at all.
"I'll just take a ride there." Chen Donglan really refused, "and my brother brought several friends, and he couldn't fit in a car."
Yuan Yuan no longer insisted. After all, it was the reunion of someone else's family. If they didn't want outsiders to get involved, it was him who was abrupt.
Chen Donglan took a taxi and put up a board with "Xu Mingde" written on it in the pick-up hall. I was a little nervous while waiting because they had been missing for more than eight years.
Xiaode's flight was late, Chen Donglan waited from nine to eleven, and finally waited for his younger brother.
It was not a bunch of green teenagers in the imagination. It was just a young couple who walked towards Chen Donglan. The girl stepped on pink high-heeled shoes and held the boy's hand intimately.
"Brother?" Xiaode didn't dare to recognize it.
The girl was warm and generous, and greeted Chen Donglan with a smile: "Hello, brother." The ending was sweet and greasy.
Xiaode was a little shy and introduced to him: "Olivia, my girlfriend."
Chen Donglan also almost noticed that Xiaode probably lied to his parents and came to play in China with his girlfriend. He was not qualified to say anything about Xiaode's behavior, he just asked them: "Have you booked a hotel yet?"
Olivia shook her head, the couple obviously had no intention of doing anything, and looked at Chen Donglan innocently.
After calling a taxi, Chen Donglan planned to arrange them in a hotel in the city center, but Olivia asked him, "Brother, why don't we live at your house?"
Xiaode was also curious: "Brother, you haven't bought a house and a car yet? I drive to and from school every day at home."
Before he finished speaking, Olivia hugged him and praised him in English as "super sexy to drive".
Chen Donglan didn't think there was anything to hide, and said directly: "I didn't buy a car, and I'm still sharing a house with my friends. It's inconvenient to take you to live there."
Olivia pouted: "That's okay, we'll be obedient."
Chen Donglan was a little displeased: "My friend doesn't like being disturbed by outsiders."
Olivia was not very happy, what more to say, was comforted by Xiaode pinching her face lovingly.
After the hotel was arranged, it was past midnight. Xiaode said that they had not eaten yet, so Chen Donglan took them to a western restaurant for dinner.
Xiaode and Olivia ordered foreign wine when they came up. Chen Donglan didn't understand, so he didn't stop them, but still asked, "Do Mom and Uncle Xu allow you to drink?"
Olivia pouted: "I thought my brother was a young man and wouldn't care about us."
Xiaode also smiled: "Mom is not allowed, Dad is allowed, but I finally ran out once, brother, you can't see it."
Chen Donglan had a headache. But he didn't care about Xiaode, and he didn't know what to do at this time, so he let it go.
After the meal, Chen Donglan sent them back to the hotel and went home, standing on the side of the road for a long time at night before getting a ride.
He was a little worried about Xiaode. He booked a single room for the two of them, but the young people who were not watched by him liked each other. It was really hard to say whether anything would happen on the big night.
Yuan Yuan was already asleep when he got home. He opened and closed the door as slowly as possible, and the lights were not turned on. He stood at the door and got used to the darkness for a while before walking inside.
She should wash up and go to bed right away, she has to go to get off work tomorrow, and she has to entertain Xiaode and Olivia, who is difficult to serve. But when Xiaode came, it meant that the end of the year was approaching, and Yuan Yuan would be away for a while.
It is a pleasure to live together. Every morning, he was the first to see Yuan Yuan; every night, he was the one who could say good night to Yuan Yuan before he went to bed. These days, they don't know how many times they went to the supermarket together and how many dinners they had together.
But…
Chen Donglan passed by Yuan Yuan's room, but did not go in in the end.
Lying on the bed, Chen Donglan scolded himself in his heart.
How can there be such a useless person as him
Don't even dare to take a peek.
The next day, Chen Donglan got off work early and rushed to the hotel where Xiaode and the others lived, but he was empty. After calling to ask, I found out that Olivia didn't know what was going on, but she actually had a domestic driver's license. They rented a car and drove around to play around. When they were happy, they forgot to notify Chen Donglan.
Chen Donglan thought that something had happened to Xiaode. Knowing that he was fine, he was not angry at all, and worried: "What's wrong with Olivia's driver's license, does she really know how to drive?"
"Brother, don't worry, we are having a good time now, let's hang up."
"Xiao De," Chen Donglan hurriedly stopped him, "Don't play too much, you can only do anything here with the permission of Mom and Uncle Xu, you know?"
Xiaode's tone was not very happy: "Brother, you didn't care about your parents for two days, and you didn't make a phone call at the end of the year. How did you know they wouldn't allow me to play?"
Chen Donglan was stunned for two seconds and almost didn't make a sound: "I..."
He couldn't go on.
Xiaode also reacted with hindsight, and he may have gone too far. After all, it's a brother who hasn't seen each other for so many years, and his relationship is unfamiliar. Unlike his parents who would spoil him unconditionally, he lowered his attitude: "Brother, you can let us play freely, and ensure that nothing will happen."
Chen Donglan had nothing else to say: "Well, it's fine if you have an idea yourself."
He hung up the phone and didn't recover for a long time.
He also thought that he would not be sad anymore because of his family.
After leaving the hotel, Chen Donglan went to buy vegetables. Entering the house with a few shopping bags, Yuan Yuan, who was about to order takeout, was very surprised: "Didn't you say you want to eat with your brother?"
Chen Donglan carried the dishes into the kitchen: "They young people like to eat by themselves."
Yuan Yuan also followed the kitchen; "How much younger is your brother than you?" He looked at the shopping bags, grabbed two potatoes from them, and put them in the basin, "Is it enough to braise pork with potatoes? "
"Well, let's add a small one." Chen Donglan helped him turn on the faucet, thought about it, and said, "It's probably too small... a little over three years old."
Yuan Yuan rubbed the potatoes: "Then you are not far behind, why are you excluded from the ranks of young people?"
Chen Donglan said without thinking, "It's probably because I'm too bored."
Yuan Yuan: …
Although it is not wrong, how can anyone admit their shortcomings so honestly? Not ashamed of it at all.
But as far as Chen Donglan is concerned, there is nothing wrong with being stuffy.
Rubbing the potatoes, Yuan Yuan suddenly remembered one thing: "By the way, I have brought the day back to City A earlier, and I will leave tomorrow."
There was only the sound of water from the faucet in the room, and Chen Donglan paused and did not answer for a long time.
"Chen Donglan?" Yuan Yuan looked at him suspiciously, "Did you hear that?"
"I heard it." Chen Donglan woke up like a dream, "I heard it, you will go home tomorrow, why is it suddenly earlier?"
"We won two more days for the holiday." After draining the potatoes, Yuan Yuan asked, "Do you want to peel them? I think it's fine not to peel them."
"Peel, I'll peel it, you can put it down." Chen Donglan snatched the potato from his hand and hurriedly took the peeler off the cabinet. These movements look neat, but it seems more appropriate to describe them as hasty.
Yuan Yuan felt that something was wrong with him, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.
While eating, Chen Donglan had returned to normal.
"By the way, I'm not at home after tomorrow, do you want to entertain your brother and his friends here for dinner?" Yuan Yuan said.
Chen Donglan almost scared the chopsticks off: "How can that be?"
Yuan Yuan thought his reaction was strange.
"You cook for me every day, but my brother comes all the way but can't eat a single meal. Is there any brother you do?" Yuan Yuan said with a smile.
Chen Donglan shook his head: "This is different."
What's the difference
"Your brother prefers to eat outside?" Yuan Yuan could only think of this reason.
Chen Donglan squeezed his chopsticks tightly and acquiesced to Yuan Yuan's words.
He just doesn't want a third person other than them in this house, even if this person is Xiaode, his relative.
If there is, he can no longer deceive himself that this is their home.
They are just co-tenants.
Friends who happen to live together.