It's getting cold.
Jiang Huai recently fell in love with taking pictures. He is not good at taking pictures, that is, taking two pictures with his mobile phone, but he suddenly likes to take pictures of the sunset, the leaves that are gradually withering, and the raindrops washing on the glass windows.
He has no photo album to use, and he is not going to buy a new one, nor is he going to print out these photos, just store them in his mobile phone.
He thought that the third year of high school would be a long one, but one day when he was sorting out his phone, he realized that he had taken 700 or 800 photos at some point, and suddenly realized that it was already November.
There are seventy or eighty photos of Bo Jian's little mint by the window.
The little mint is not as weak as in September, and it grows several thin and soft branches with small leaves.
Chairman Bo watered it in the middle of the night every day, but it didn't kill it.
Jianghuai will still go to "exercise".
After a long time, he got used to it, and it doesn't matter "strong or not". He is still obsessed with the leap, weightlessness, loss of control, strong nerve stimulation like dying and the sense of control over his most subtle muscle reactions.
That was the only time he was sober during the years when his mind was muddled after taking inhibitors.
But because of the heavy learning tasks, there are early self-study in the morning and evening self-study in the evening. Jianghuai has not memorized the 3,500 Chinese classical Chinese poems and English until now.
He would set aside all of Sunday afternoon.
The old campus of the No. 4 Middle School has been demolished, and the old district in the east of the city has also been designated for government reconstruction. Some parkour youths temporarily set up an obstacle course in the park, but within a few days, it was also forcibly demolished by the urban management.
Jianghuai changed places almost every week, only to find two or three places that can still run roughly.
Mr. Jiang never knew that her son was playing parkour, which could break his legs and bones or even kill him if he made a mistake.
Because the college entrance examination is approaching, Jianghuai has restrained a lot, and the several venues that are gradually becoming familiar are relatively safer.
The mid-term exam is coming as scheduled.
Every time Jianghuai takes the exam, President Jiang is more nervous than Jianghuai. When he comes back from the exam, he has not yet scored the results. The three of them have a meal and make a table full of vegetables and soups. In other words, he dared not ask Jianghuai "how did he do in the exam this time".
She was nervous, and she was afraid that Jiang Huai would see that she was nervous and that she was under pressure from study.
Jiang Huai took the initiative to speak. Say how he did in this exam, and how he did in that exam. The school sent out the standard answers, and after checking the answers, he figured out the approximate score range from how much to how much.
When the results come down, they will be about the same as the last monthly test scores. Ordinary play.
But because the mid-term exam is simpler than the monthly exam, it doesn't cover much knowledge, and the grades are generally high... So the ranking of the Jianghuai grade department fell to more than 170 in the grade department.
The next monthly exam and final exam will be divided into examination rooms according to the ranking of this midterm exam.
Jianghuai is the No. 3 examination room.
On the back of "Xiaojiang Summer Vacation Plan", there is another line of scribbled records.
"03".
He wrote a vague "01" next to it in pencil.
He hopes that in March next year, he will be in the examination room No. 1 for the one-mode exam.
This year is a warm winter.
By December, all the ginkgo leaves in the school had fallen off, and the maple leaves, which were slowly turning red, also gradually leached a frosty, withered deep maroon color, piled up in layers at the bottom of the tree.
But it's not too cold, Jianghuai wears unlined clothes for daily life.
Since the end of the mid-term exam last month, Jiang Huai has been picking out birthday presents for Bo Jian.
For example, he originally wanted to give away an old book that is valuable for collection, but Chairman Bo picked this and that, and the publishing house would not want it if he didn’t like it; This thing; in the end he came up with it again, and gave Bo Jian some world intangible cultural heritage handicrafts from a country that is related to history, which is a bit compelling. Ask him if he did it himself
He farts.
After the mid-term exam, Jianghuai opened Taobao.
On the Internet, there are buyers who sell DIY handicrafts, such as wood chip buildings, DIY huts... This is cheap and convenient.
On the first day after the mid-term exam, the same-city DIY hut express that Jianghuai ordered arrived.
It just happened to be the weekend, and Jianghuai didn't do his homework, so he worked hard at home for a day. This kind of gadget is purely based on the liver, and it looks very delicate, but whether it is the bed or the book in the hut, they are all glued together piece by piece.
In order to show his intentions, Jianghuai also specially placed an order for the most expensive... Gui means complex, four-story villas with sky garden swimming pools.
So on Sunday afternoon, Jiang Huai worked hard for two days. The DIY hut that had not reached 5% progress in more than 30 hours was handed over to A Cai, and then he made up his homework until two o'clock in the morning the next day.
Jiang Huai hated to give gifts to people, he asked people what they wanted, and others asked him to guess.
For Lao Qin and Wei Heping's birthday, he asked directly what he wanted, and he answered exactly what they wanted.
Finally, Jiang Huai finally decided what gift to give Bo Jian, and it was already December.
Jiang Huai figured out what to give because he remembered... Next week after his birthday, Bo Jian has an event outside of school to attend. It is a debate competition for young mathematicians and interested persons jointly organized by many universities at home and abroad. This year, it happened to be held in China.
Bo Jian is always one step ahead of his peers.
He is very busy, but the schoolwork actually only accounts for a very small proportion.
When Bo Jian was tired, he didn't talk much, and quietly hugged Jiang Huai.
Sometimes he can't go back to the dormitory until after eleven o'clock. Jiang Huai happened to go to bed at this time every day, and he went to brush his teeth and wash his face, and Bo Jian from behind put his arm around his shoulder, lowered his eyes slightly, and gently rubbed his chin against the socket of his neck.
"Tired." He whispered.
Jiang Huai looked at him in the mirror: "Don't arrange so many things for yourself. It's unnecessary."
"No, it's necessary." Bo Jian rubbed against Jiang Huai: "My hands are tired and I don't want to move anymore. Please help me."
"...?"
The date of December 12th is indeed very ordinary.
It's Thursday.
There is an exam next Thursday.
Wei Heping knew about Jiang Huai's birthday.
Although Wei Heping babbled endlessly all day long, he was really timid and never dared not to do his homework or skip class... His family is strictly controlled, and if Lao Lin makes a small report, his own father can take care He was tied to the door frame and hung up to intimidate the public.
But today Wei Heping unexpectedly came to Jianghuai for the first time, and proposed to skip class and go out tonight, have a quick drink, drink until he is not drunk, and welcome the world of adults...
Jianghuai refused.
Wei Heping's expression was a bit complicated: "Oh, I see... Brother Huai, are you going to celebrate the chairman's birthday with the chairman tonight?"
Even if he was poked at the center, Jiang Huai's expression did not change. He leaned against the corridor window, lazily, put his hands on the back of his neck and said, "No, I'm thinking too much. For your personal safety, you are half a year younger than me. I don't want to welcome the adult world alone and leave you alone forever at seventeen and a half."
Wei Heping: "..."
In the evening, Bo Jian was gone for evening self-study.
Jiang Huai occupied two tables by himself, and worked on the questions all night.
Bo Jian said that he was going to prepare for next week's math competition tonight, and he would return to the dormitory late at night, probably around ten o'clock. Jiang Huai was used to him coming back to the dormitory late, and Bo Jian came back quite late in the past month.
The birthday itself doesn't mean much to Jiang Huai, but because it's the past with Bo Jian, Jiang Huai was a little distracted just after the evening self-study. It wasn't until he brushed up a few multiple-choice questions on the topic of physics and kinetic energy that he was familiar with it, and his attention slowly returned to his studies.
Jianghuai did not focus on the questions, but it was not easy to be distracted.
The school’s evening self-study class ends at 8:30, but the lights and doors of the teaching building are not turned off until 10:30. So when get out of class was over, many students stayed in the classroom to write homework.
Jianghuai didn't leave the school ceremony building until after nine o'clock.
It doesn't snow this winter, it's just cold.
A thin shell of ice formed at the bottom of the water pipes outside the teaching building. The street lights of the school are not bright, and the thin branches with fallen leaves are dark under the yellowish and blurred moonlight.
Jiang Huai pulled the zipper of the jacket to the top, shrunk his neck slightly, and left the Xueli building with his satchel.
Bo Jian has been very busy these days, almost no one can be seen in the morning and evening.
Bo Jian left early, and Jiang Huai didn't see Bo Jian this morning.
But Chairman Bo still remembered to water the mint on his windowsill this morning.
Today is the twelfth.
Although Jianghuai really felt that the birthday itself was not very meaningful, but it might be that he expected too much, so Jianghuai didn't want to admit that he was a little disappointed.
Now he hopes to go back to the dormitory and wait for Bo Jian to come back before he goes to bed.
There was always a gift for Bo Jian in his schoolbag.
He couldn't think of what to give, because he remembered that next week Bo Jian's defense competition would be attended in formal attire. He picked one for half a month, inquired about many people, and picked out one that he thought looked good. The style was formal and the quality was in line with Bo Jian Trouble fine requested tie.
Jiang Huai dawdled all the way to the door of the dormitory, and there were more than a dozen photos on the phone that he took casually on the road.
I didn't shoot anything, just the moon, night clouds, tree trunks, and silhouettes.
He twisted his hand on the doorknob, and at the same time sent a message to Bo Jian: "Are you still busy?"
Bo Jian didn't return.
He unscrewed the door, and there was no one in the dormitory.
The curtains were drawn tightly, the corridor lights were dim, and the dormitory was dark, with only a light and shadow reflected by the door. The laughter of the boys in the stretched corridor downstairs sounded distantly and indistinctly.
The dorm light switch is by the door.
Chairman Bo changed all the lights in the dormitory into smart and controllable ones, and there is an operating software on the mobile phone. But for the sake of appearance, the light switch by the door is not removed, and it can be used.
"click".
Jianghuai pressed it.
But the light didn't come on.
"Click clack clack clack clack—"
Jiang Huai stood by the door and pressed it several times...the light was broken.
"..."
Jiang Huai frowned, turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone, and entered the dormitory.
The dormitory was quiet, only a swaying tree shadow leaked through the cracks in the curtains. He closed the door and went to turn on the lamp on the desk with his schoolbag. He touched the lamp switch, and when the flashlight of his mobile phone was shaking, he saw a book on the table.
The lamp is not broken.
While the desk lamp was dimly lit, something by the wall flickered a few times, casting a beam of light onto the clean white wall opposite.
Jiang Huai was stunned.
He saw clearly that the "book" on the desk was his photo album.
Or a "photo album" that is exactly like his photo album, but without the ink splashed on it.
He picked it up, bowed his head and turned a page.
A thin envelope fell from the first page...he caught it.
On the cover of the envelope is Jiang Li's words:
"Xiao Huai, happy birthday."
The first page of the photo album is... a painting.
Very detailed painting, even the strands of hair are carefully traced stroke by stroke. It's not painted, it's drawn with black fine-tip brush strokes. It was him and Jiang Li, he was only as high as Jiang Li's thighs, with a sullen face, half hidden behind Jiang Li, as if waiting for someone to take a picture of him.
This is the first photo on the JAC album.
Jiang Huai paused.
After a while, he opened the letter from Jiang Li.
The light and shadow cast by the corner equipment on the white wall swayed slightly, Jiang Huai looked up and saw Jiang Li.
He heard Jiang Li laughing and said: "Today is your eighteenth birthday, you are at school, I can't go to spend it with you. In a blink of an eye, so fast, I still remember your first day in primary school, I rode a bicycle to give you… "
He saw the words on the letter: "But in a blink of an eye, you are already in the third year of high school, and you have grown up so much. I am not the kind of person who is particularly good at words. If you want me to say how much I love you, I can't express it. I know I'm not a qualified mother, I didn't give you a complete family, and I didn't take care of your family... "
Jiang Huai quietly flipped through the album.
The "photos" in the album are all drawn one stroke at a time. There are Jiang Li who he secretly photographed, and some things he photographed randomly, such as dirty old buildings, and ant nests in the weeds.
The projector in the corner projected Jiang Li.
"But I sincerely hope that you have things you like, people you like, and a better future. You have been the pride of your mother from the past to the present."
"Xiao Huai, happy eighteenth birthday."
He stood still.
The lights were dim, and the shadows were blurred.
He flipped to elementary school, to the next letter.
It is Qin Yuhe's character.
"Jianghuai, happy birthday."
Lao Qin didn't mention it to him, but Lao Qin's voice.
After passing the current, it became much murmured, as if telling an old story.
Jiang Huai flipped through the photo album page by page.
It's a photo of him and Qin Yuhe, a photo of him in primary school, a photo of his spring outing in primary school... The thin black pen tip even outlines the sparrow that happened to be in the mirror.
The pictures are all in black and white, and the ink has already dried out.
Jiang Huai paused for a while, then continued to scroll down. He flipped to junior high.
A letter fell from the album.
It is Wei Heping's character.
Wei Heping was still asking Jianghuai this morning if he would skip his self-study and go out to party all night, but the letter seemed to have been written long ago, and the projected video also seemed to have been recorded long ago.
Jiang Huai didn't open the letter, he put it away, and continued to flip through one by one, one by one.
He rolled over to high school.
Then one by one the letters in the photo album fell down one after another like snowflakes——
Ni Li's.
Liu Chang's.
Zhao Tianqing's.
money management.
Xu Wenyang's.
Wang Jing's.
Old Lin's.
…
He flipped through the “photos” one by one—
When he entered school, Ni Lilai gave him a "photo" of milk tea.
He and Liu Chang clashed several times, but in the end nothing happened, and Liu Chang even gave him a "photograph" of pinching his shoulders and giving him water.
He was forced to participate in the school basketball game, and some idiot made a bet. As a result, all the Alphas in the class lined up to find the "photo" of his "confession".
In the semi-finals and finals of the basketball game, he practiced with his teammates, and when he played on the field, he scored again and again, and the "photos" of his classmates cheering outside the field.
New Year's Day rehearsal program, no one was on, so he was forced to be on top, and was surrounded by several girls discussing "photographs" of how to dance house dances.
He started to study the basics seriously, and when there were math problems he didn't understand, he marked them in class, and asked for Lao Lin's "photo" after class.
One by one "photos", one by one "letter".
Different characters, different ink colors.
They have the same sentence written on the cover:
"Jianghuai, happy birthday."
He didn't know who the projected video was cast to, and he didn't know when he turned to the last page.
Letters piled up in a thick stack on the desk. They were neatly stacked by the recipient, and even the slightly rolled corners of the envelopes were carefully smoothed by the recipient with his fingers, and placed one by one.
There was no letter on the last page, and no picture.
It is a two-page hand-drawn composition paper.
The above is the Chinese model essay that Jianghuai once swore to Chairman Bo in the last monthly exam that he would frame it and stick it on the bedside of the dormitory.
Inside were his scribbled words.
But it was not written by JAC.
Jiang Huai finished reading the composition.
Under the last line of the composition, there is a line of correct and elegant pen writing:
"Boyfriend, happy birthday."
Jianghuai's cell phone vibrated suddenly.
BJ: Do you like it
He stared at this message for half a minute before replying, "Where are you now?"
BJ: The door.
Jiang Huai went to open the door of the dormitory.
Bo Jian stood outside the door, carrying two boxes. He lowered his eyes slightly and looked at Jiang Huai: "I went to order some wine, and I just got it back, it may be a bit late. You have written all your letters..."
Jiang Huai tilted his head and kissed him on the lips: "Bo Jian, happy birthday."
…
Jiang Huai never felt that eighteen years old had any special meaning.
But today he probably found one.
He sniffed very faintly, if there was nothing there, he didn't know if it was the flimsy mint on the window sill or other cold and astringent smell, his slightly dizzy mind under the alcohol exploded...
He remembered that Bo Jian seemed to have said this to him, and he murmured, "Bo Jian, do you want to try?"
The author has something to say: Chairman: I am definitely not using pheromones to seduce, it is Xiao Mint who made the first move!