Presence

Chapter 8

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The flyers were not finished, only about a third of them were distributed, leaving a thick wad left in the bag.

Twenty minutes before leaving get off work, Gu Chaoming took off his hood and returned to the store with the remaining flyers.

The hair on his forehead was attached to his forehead, and Gu Chaoming reached out and brushed away the clump of hair.

The clerks who were working saw him sweating profusely, and glanced at him without restraint, not very kind eyes. Gu Chaoming got used to it, he could get his salary and leave this place later, and he would never have to see them again.

Walk slowly across the dining room to the lounge. Pushing open the door of the lounge, some employees are lazy in the lounge.

The man raised his head from the sofa used to rest, and Gu Chaoming opened the door just to meet his eyes, a little embarrassed.

When the man saw it was him, he lay down and continued to play with his phone.

The two treat each other as non-existent.

Gu Chaoming ignored him and walked in directly, placing the hood on the table in the lounge. When pulling the zipper on the back of the doll suit, I heard the sound of the man turning over on the sofa.

Gu Chaoming didn't say a few words to the people in the store, and even if there was something awkward with him, there were only one or two people, but the old employees here like to hold a group.

Gu Chaoming was speechless.

I felt much more comfortable when I changed out of the doll clothes, pulling the sweat-drenched short-sleeves for ventilation. The clerk was finishing a game of landlords, and it seemed that he had lost, and the sound of the game failing came from behind him.

The card didn't win, so the man put away his phone and stood up from the sofa, stretched out, and walked straight out of the lounge. From entering the door to the person going out, the two looked at each other with only one eye, no words, the same as before.

The man who left was a bit prescient, and the store manager came in a few minutes after he left.

Seeing Gu Chaoming with sweaty hair, the store manager said "It's hard work" and threw him a bottle of water.

Gu Chaoming took the Gudong Gudong and took a few sips.

The second thing I received from the store manager was wages.

After paying the salary, he walked out of the store and the first ray of night wind blew. Gu Chaoming felt much more relaxed. He got in the car and clicked on the dialog box to read the message from Su Bing. Gu Chaoming tapped his fingers on the keyboard.

Gu Chaoming: "I'm off work and I just got my salary."

Su Bing replied in seconds: "Congratulations, congratulations, you don't have to go to that ghost place anymore, that clerk is so disgusting."

Both Su Bing and Cen Xili knew the attitude of those shopkeepers towards him, and Gu Chaoming had no intention of saying a few words to them. Su Bing was in a hurry, so that night he urged Cen Xili, who didn't want to cause trouble, to go to their restaurant for dinner together.

After arriving at the store, Su Bing deliberately showed that he was very familiar with him. This is my buddy. He looked like someone was behind him. He put his hands in his pockets, took the menu and chose the expensive ones. After ordering a large table of dishes, he was afraid of others. I didn't know he was rich, but Cen Xili came here after dinner, leaving Su Bing alone to eat a table of dishes.

"We agreed to eat together, why did you come here after dinner?" Su Bing quietly questioned Cen Xili while waiting for the dishes.

He just pressed Cen Xili, who had already eaten dinner, to eat another meal.

"You don't like to eat breakfast anyway, so just make up for the meal this morning." Su Bing said, and gave Cen Xili another chopstick dish.

Does it actually taste good

Now seeing Su Bing scolding the clerk in the store, Gu Chaoming still couldn't help laughing when he recalled this incident. Gu Chaoming scolded Su Bing for being stupid and rich, and Su Bing felt that he was very righteous. After Gu Chaoming got off work, the three of them went to the supper stall together to make skewers, and complained about that shop. It was not until midnight when Cen Xili saw the barbecue and felt nauseous before going home.

I didn't think so at the time, but I made a lot of complaints about you and me at the supper stall. It's still too childish to think about it now. Poor Xili sneaked out of his family at night and accompany Su Bing to eat this meal specially for revenge.

Cen Xili was the one with the best grades among the three of them, and once was in the top 30 of the grade.

Standing in front of the rankings, Su Bing saw Cen Xili's results, knowing that Cen Xili's hard work for so long was not in vain, he was so excited that he kept rubbing Cen Xili's head: "Did you take the wrong medicine before the exam, the top 30, okay? A treat! Don't try to escape!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, You Xin, look, Cen Xili can also be on the list~" Chen Haiyang was afraid that others would not know, so he pointed it out loudly to You Xin, his voice was weird and contrived.

"I don't know if it was copied or copied. It's very rare to take a photo in the top 30. It's not a big deal for us You Xin to take the top 30 every time."

They are all in the same class. Everyone knows how Cen Xili's grades were in the past. He was just out of 100.

It was not an easy thing for Cen Xili to reach the top 30 in the grade from such a result. During this period, after continuous efforts, his grades rose steadily. Both Gu Chaoming and Su Bing knew how much Cen Xili had paid for his grades. Su Bing was afraid that he would learn to be bald, but it seemed that Cen Xili's hairline was still very good.

Everyone can see Cen Xili's efforts. Su Bing didn't believe that Chen Haiyang, who was in the same class, didn't see it, and Chen Haiyang smeared all Cen Xili's efforts in one copy in order to be quick.

Seeing Chen Haiyang's mean mouth opening and closing, Gu Chaoming felt that how could God give such a person the opportunity to grow a mouth

Su Bing just wanted to sew up Chen Haiyang's mouth so that he could no longer be bitten by mad dogs.

You Xin, who was named, stood quietly and did not speak, his eyes swept across the ranking list lightly, and then slid a turn and landed on Cen Xili who was not far away.

Cen Xili was a bit shorter than You Xin, and You Xin's gaze that moved from the ranking list went downhill and moved down obviously, and his chin was slightly lowered because of his gaze.

Cen Xili never thought that being short was a shortcoming, but in front of You Xin his shortness became one of his many shortcomings.

Maybe God wanted to make Cen Xili special. Among the three of Cen Xili, Gu Chaoming and Su Bing, Gu Chaoming and Su Bing both exceeded 1.8 meters in height. There must be one short in a three-person line. The three of them stand in a row, forming a natural concave character. Cen Xili is the one that is concave in the middle.

But You Xin, like Gu Chaoming and Su Bing, didn't know whether it was a genetic mutation or her parents' inheritance, and her height was like a bamboo shoot.

The God of Luck takes care of You Xin comprehensively. You Xin is tall and has a good face. He is also the captain of the basketball team and the president of the student union. He has excellent grades and has never been in the top ten of the grade. He is the perfect male god in the hearts of girls.

Although You Xin is not as arrogant as Chen Haiyang's mouth, but You Xin's proud height and Cen Xili's shortness make You Xin's drooping eyes look somewhat contemptuous and contemptuous.

The silent stare makes people look very uncomfortable.

What annoyed Su Bing and Gu Chaoming the most was that Cen Xili raised his head to catch You Xin's "reward" look every time.

Hearing that Chen Haiyang said that You Xin was in the top 30, Su Bing looked at the ranking table and found You Xin's name in the second place.

It is a fact that I have to admit that other people's grades are ahead of you. Although Su Bing also ridiculed whether Cen Xili had taken the wrong medicine and was able to take the test so well, but that's him, he can do it, others can't, when will it be Chen Haiyang's turn to say that his family is Xili

Su Xiaoma's calf guarding is not an ordinary guard. Seeing that You Xin is unattainable and deliberately looking down on Cen Xili, she is angry. She wants to teach You Xin and Chen Haiyang a lesson, and teach them how to Talk and be a man.

Su Bing looked past Cen Xili, who was short in the middle, and looked at Gu Chaoming. Gu Chaoming turned his head in a heartbeat.

The two teenagers looked at each other across the air, and they immediately understood what the other meant when they met. Gu Chaoming and Su Bing thought the same, and were very unhappy with You Xin's condescending attitude.

For You Xin, the two of them have always had the same hatred.

After the eyes of the two met, before Su Bing shot, Cen Xili grabbed his arm.

Su Bing looked down at Cen Xili, who persuaded him not to be impulsive with his eyes.

In order to avoid trouble, Cen Xili dragged them away.

Cen Xili knew the two of them, and they both knew Cen Xili as well, and knew that Cen Xili was a man who could bear it.

Cen Xili could bear it, but Su Bing couldn't. Su Bing was pulled away by Cen Xili, but he didn't forget to look back at You Xin and Chen Haiyang.

Pulling Gu Chaoming and Su Bing back to the teaching building, the smoke of a provocative and fruitless battle between the two sides dissipated.

As soon as they went upstairs, the three of them stood in the hallway in a concave shape.

"You Sanjin's grades don't know how much moisture there is." Su Bing said indignantly.

Even Gu Chaoming hates You Xin, but he is also a reasonable person. You Xin's grades have always been stable, dominating the top three, never wavering in small and big exams, and he has a share in all kinds of competitions, a typical three-good student. In the arts and sciences branch, You Xin’s parents and mother also visited the school several times to discuss with the teachers. Others’ subjects are all a matter of checking an option.

Gu Chaoming persuaded Su Bing: "Don't talk nonsense, You Sanjin's grades should be lackluster."

Although Gu Chaoming hates You Xin, he also agrees with You Xin's advantages. It has to be said that when he was still in a class, Gu Chaoming envied You Xin's grades. .

But no matter how you envy you, brothers are more important. You still have to be scolded. Who made You Xin a "hypocrite".

Throwing the past out of his head, Gu Chaoming took out the key and opened the door. Gu Chaoming was greeted by a dead silence, and the room was still the same as when he went out.

Nothing has changed, just one more Gu Tao.

Without having to walk to the door of Gu Tao's room, Gu Chaoming could hear his thunderous snoring.

sleep dead.

Gu Chaoming packed up and returned to his room in the habit of snoring.

In the dead of night, the silver-white moonlight poured in from the window without the curtains and sprinkled on the bed.

Gu Chaoming pulled the curtains to block the moonlight, and slowly lay down on the bed with a bit of stiffness. He could only sleep on his side to avoid touching the wound.

Gu Chaoming's room is like a pond. Gu Chaoming is a lonely fish living in this pond. Someone pointed out two drops of gray-black ink upstairs. The ink spreads and becomes lighter as it goes to the edge. Gu Chaoming lay at the bottom of the pool and watched the two inks expand.

When I woke up the next day, the roof was damp as usual.

For more than ten years, he had opened his eyes on this small square roof. Gu Chaoming blinked his eyes and got up and opened the curtains. The sunlight in the summer morning instantly leaked from the window and filled the entire room.

When the early morning sun just fell on him, Gu Chaoming heard the sound of a door opening outside.

Gu Tao woke up, it was quite early.

Gu Chaoming judged from the sound outside the door that Gu Tao was awakened by urine, because Gu Tao ran to the toilet after opening the door.

Didn't want to see him, but always wanted to.

After Gu Tao finished using the toilet, Gu Chaoming opened the door to brush his teeth and wash.

Gu Tao didn't know what to do in the living room, he swayed around, rummaged around on the sofa and walked to the TV to look left and right.

Gu Chaoming ignored him and brushed his teeth with a mouthful of toothpaste.

Gu Tao went around the living room and the room to find the lighter, but to no avail, he asked, "Chaoming, where is my lighter?"

Being able to talk to him like this, and calling him Chaoming, it seems that Gu Tao hasn't noticed his thoughts, and he turned over the events of yesterday for no reason, just thought it was normal.

Gu Tao is like this, sometimes he doesn't go home for ten days and a half months, sometimes he stays at home for the whole month, he skips some things if he wants to, and hits you if he wants to.

No reason, he is the reason.

Gu Chaoming brushed his teeth and saw Gu Tao leaning against the toilet door frame from the broken vanity mirror in front of him.

lighter? It should be in the coat pocket he wore yesterday, and his coat...

Gu Chaoming tilted his head slightly and gestured to Gu Tao that the lighter was in the washing machine with his eyes.

He vomited on his body yesterday, and Gu Chaoming didn't have time to wash the clothes he left, so he just cleaned the vomit and threw it into the washing machine.

Gu Chaoming turned his back to Gu Tao, Gu Tao didn't understand what he meant by turning his head, thinking that Gu Chaoming ignored him again, angered his head, and instantly increased the volume: "Speak, why are you pretending to be dumb this morning, and your mother the same."

There was a sudden roar, and a flat thunder exploded in the small toilet in the early morning. Gu Chaoming trembled unpreparedly, and the toothbrush head poked his gums.

sharp pain.

It hurt so much that Gu Chaoming cursed inwardly.

In the early morning, Gu Chaoming didn't want to choke with Gu Tao, so he endured the sharp pain and lowered his face enough to clearly raise his chin towards the washing machine beside him.

Gu Tao understood then, ran to the washing machine to take out his clothes, and fumbled for the lighter from his pocket.

Gu Chaoming took a sip of water, spat out the toothpaste in his mouth and said to Gu Tao, "The washing machine is rotten, I'm going to school, you wash the clothes yourself."

Gu Tao responded casually a few times, and it was not a fool.

After taking a shower, Gu Chaoming took off the Band-Aid he forgot to throw in the trash can yesterday and lay on the sink, as if to remind him with concern: "You have an injury on your hand, remember to put the Band-Aid on today."

Gu Chaoming raised his hand to look at the injuries on his knuckles. He forgot all about it. He didn't feel anything when washing his face and brushing his teeth.

No need to post.

Gu Chaoming rubbed the small band-aid into a ball, held it in the palm of his hand, and looked up to see the broken wash mirror in front of him.

It was he shattered, and the mirror was torn apart with just one punch.

He remembered very clearly that day when he rushed to the toilet in the middle of the night, his chest heaved violently, his breathing was messy, his hands could not help shaking, he turned on the faucet in a panic, and poured cold water on his face, trying to cool his constantly flustered nerves. The icy water stopped his panic and drove away the voice that had been following him in the dream.

The icy water irritated the skin, and by the faint moonlight, Gu Chaoming straightened up in the dark, and saw his pale and panic-stricken face in the vanity mirror.

It was the first time he had such a dream, a dream that made him drenched in cold sweat after waking up.

The hands are full of bright red, and the neighbors around them form a tight circle, all the light is blocked, and only darkness is allowed to pass. Their voices echoed like annoying flies, more like sharp knives piercing him. They looked at him strangely, pointed at him, and whispered.

"He is the child who killed his own father."

The figures in front of them were all black, and they were talking about him, and those discussions were not as terrifying as the blood on their hands.

You are a murderer!

Gu Chaoming woke up from his dream.

Darkness is the most loyal follower, and has been following Gu Chaoming to the toilet.

The voice still refused to stop, and the washing mirror in front of him became Gu Chaoming's vent. He punched the mirror, his fist felt pain, and there was liquid flowing from the place where the fist and the mirror were in contact.

When Qu Yingyi heard the voice, she hurried to the toilet, saw Gu Chaoming's injured hand and the broken mirror, and asked him anxiously, "What's the matter? Why does it hurt to smash the mirror?"

Gu Chaoming only said that he had a nightmare.

He never mentioned the content of his dreams to anyone, nor did he talk to anyone about what he was thinking, allowing these voices to take root in his heart.

The vanity mirror has not been changed. Gu Chaoming walked out of the toilet holding the crumpled Band-Aid. Gu Tao was enjoying the happiness that cigarettes brought him.

Gu Chaoming threw the band-aid into the trash can, his eyes fell on the cigarettes Gu Tao bought yesterday.

Gu Tao thought he wanted to smoke too, so he took out a cigarette case and shook one out, and handed it to him: "Come on, your mother isn't here, don't be a coward."

Gu Chaoming glanced at him and didn't answer: "I don't smoke."

"You don't know how to smoke? I know you smoke, but I won't tell your mother. Your mother can't control it in the hospital if she wants to."

Gu Chaoming was indifferent. He didn't know how Gu Tao could understand "no smoking" as "no smoking".

Seeing that Gu Chaoming didn't answer, Gu Tao thought he didn't dare, and put the cigarette back into the cigarette case: "I don't have the guts to smoke a cigarette while hiding from your mother."

Until Gu Chaoming was about to go to school, Gu Tao was still smoking his birthday cigarette on the sofa.

The house was full of second-hand smoke, and Gu Chaoming closed the door without looking back, keeping the smell of Gu Tao's smoke behind the door.

Most of the students on the bus were wearing the same school uniform as him. After the driver braked and stopped, the door opened and the students in the bus filed out.

When he got out of the car, Gu Chaoming saw Cen Xili who was about to enter the school. He was happy that his line of sight was far away, and he saw You Xin, who was riding a bicycle with Chen Haiyang to school behind Cen Xili. The few people were separated by about 100 or 200 meters, and the bicycle quickly caught up.

In order to protect Cen Xili from being bullied by Chen Haiyang and the others, Gu Chaoming ran to Cen Xili's side at a sprint speed of 100 meters and put his arms around Cen Xili's shoulder.

The wheel pressed across the road, but Chen Haiyang didn't say anything this time. Seeing the two of them next to each other, he put his finger on his lips and whistled while watching a play, and rode his bike past with a playful look.

Gu Chaoming glared at him.

Chen Haiyang and You Xin were one after the other, because You Xin's eyes were not as "unattainable" as when they were standing.

You Xin held the handlebars in his hand and hunched his back. His school uniform was restless and refused to cover his hunched back. The hot sun in the summer morning clung to the boy's figure, and the wind from riding a bicycle blew his hair.

As he passed by, the boy's "reward" eyes first fell on Gu Chaoming's hand holding Cen Xili, and then turned to Cen Xili's face.

Cen Xili raised his eyes to meet the gaze that fell on You Xin's face, and as soon as he met You Xin, he immediately retracted his gaze and stepped on the pedal to leave.

You Xin's eyes shifted and Gu Chaoming clearly felt how quickly You Xin's last eyes were withdrawn, as if he didn't want to take another look.

For You Xin's eyes, the irritable Gu Chaoming just wanted to scold people, but You Xin had already entered the school by bicycle, only to see You Xin's school uniform bulging in the wind.

Cen Xili in his arms didn't struggle, Gu Chaoming looked down and saw an unnatural and lost expression on his face.

Gu Chaoming patted Cen Xili's shoulder, and Cen Xili raised his head.

Cen Xili's eyes are like spring water, and the blink of an eye reminds people of the speed at which maple leaves fall in autumn.

Cen Xili didn't want Gu Chaoming to worry about him, so he raised his head and smiled slightly at Gu Chaoming.

All over the mountains and plains, the maple leaves that dyed the forest are fluttering and flipping in a soft autumn wind that runs through the maple forest.

Gu Chaoming comforted Cen Xili: "Don't think about it, You Sanjin is just that kind of person."

Cen Xili lowered his eyes and seemed to want to say something, but in the end he didn't speak.

After a while of silence, Cen Xili asked, "What's wrong with your mouth?"

Gu Chaoming almost forgot that he still had an injury on his lips, but Cen Xili licked his injured lips unnaturally, and found a random reason to answer: "I'm angry."

"Can you get angry like this in one night?"

In response to Cen Xili's questioning, Gu Chaoming was instantly defeated. He smiled helplessly and reached out to rub Cen Xili's head: "Xili, can you not be so smart."

"Your father is back?"

Gu Chaoming nodded.

"Then you didn't hurt anywhere else, did you?"

Cen Xili had seen Gu Chaoming's scar and the brutality of that man.

The first time in high school was also the only time to go to Gu Chaoming's house with Su Bing to play, and Gu Tao just came back from outside. Gu Tao clearly entered the door with a genial look, but when Gu Chaoming saw Gu Tao, he was in a hurry to drive the two of them home like a devil. The next day, Cen Xili saw Gu Chaoming's injured face, and only then did he know how terrible Gu Tao was.

"No, don't worry." Gu Chaoming smiled lightly.

Cen Xili glanced up and down to check if there were any other injuries on his body, and Gu Chaoming cooperated with spreading his hands and spinning in circles.

The wounds that Gu Tao brought to him, Gu Chaoming, hid, for fear of being talked about. The obvious and visible injuries were passed on as the glorious symbol of his "south and north war", and only Cen Xili and Su Bing knew the reason behind it.

Walking downstairs in the teaching building of the high school, seeing the yellow blooming little by little in the green garden beside the teaching building, Gu Chaoming remembered the dumb boy in a white hat he met after school yesterday.

There are many such little yellow flowers in the school, which is not uncommon. Gu Chaoming looked up at the teaching building as he did yesterday, and he was greeted by a golden sunshine, and the entire teaching building was bathed in it.

In the morning, the teaching building was very lively. The corridors were full of students carrying schoolbags. Every figure in the campus was silently telling about their vigorous vitality.

When the bright youth meets the scorching sun in the morning, the vitality of every youth exudes a white light.

Gu Chaoming doesn't like a home with Gu Tao, but he likes the school bathed in sunshine in the early morning, and the people who accompany him at the school. Even Lao Chen, who always asks him when to take off his hat, looks so interesting.

At some point in time, the school became a refuge for him to escape the repression of his family and escape from Gu Tao.

In the early morning sun, Gu Chaoming's mood was baked back to the brightest color in the color card.

Seeing the people around him looking upstairs, Cen Xili also raised his head to look upstairs, but found nothing special: "What are you looking at?"

Gu Chaoming smiled and talked to Cen Xili about yesterday's yellow-flowered youth.

The two went downstairs all the way to the classroom, put down their schoolbags, and Gu Chaoming took Cen Xili's homework: "Su Bing hasn't come yet, copy it for me first."

Cen Xili persuaded him: "Gu Shuai, you can do it yourself, it's not that you don't know all about it."

Old Chen arranged for the two of them to sit together, and also talked to Cen Xili, asking him to supervise and drive Gu Chaoming to study.

Gu Chaoming copied his homework and replied casually, "I'll do it next time."

Cen Xili looked at him, sighed slightly and didn't speak any more.

The pen in Gu Chaoming's hand did not stop, and he copied an English word incorrectly. For an English word he did not know, the pen in his hand could not help but stop. Cen Xili persuaded him to study more than once. Gu Chaoming remembered the math problems that he couldn't do yesterday, and opened Cen Xili's exercise book, full of problem solving process.

Forget it, let’s keep copying.

Not long after, Su Bing, who wanted to copy Cen Xili's homework like Gu Chaoming, came. Su Bing threw his schoolbag and walked towards them. The cleaner yesterday forgot to hit the chair. Su Bing bypassed the empty desk behind Gu Chaoming and accidentally bumped into the chair of the empty desk. The chair was kicked out of place, and there was a brief whimper.

Su Bing pushed the shifted chair back to its original place, and said with some disgust, "This table is really troublesome."

Gu Chaoming copied his homework: "I don't know who sat here yesterday and said that this position is good."

"I won't be able to sit in this position in the future. There will be no empty tables as soon as the freshmen arrive, so I can't kiss and fall in love with you." Su Bing said, spreading out his arms from the back and hugging one.

Su Bing's arm stretched across Gu Chaoming's entire shoulder, and the injured and uninjured parts were all covered. The sudden pain made Gu Chaoming almost want to scold him, Gu Chaoming frowned in pain, grabbed Su Bing's arm with his hand without a pen and threw it off his shoulder, turned his head and said "Go away" that came out of his chest with special sincerity. Su Bing.

"Why is Gu Shuai so angry this morning?" Seeing that Gu Chaoming's expression was a little wrong, Su Bing put away his jokes, "What's wrong?"

Cen Xili was a little surprised that Gu Chaoming still had an injury on his shoulder. Cen Xili could not see the injury on his shoulder under his clothes. Only then did Cen Xili understand why Gu Chaoming had been carrying a schoolbag on one shoulder in the morning.

Cen Xili gestured to Su Bing with his eyes.

Gu Chaoming said: "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Gu Chaoming said this and Cen Xili's gesture, Su Bing understood what was going on.

Su Bing sighed slightly, Gu Chaoming continued to copy his homework as if nothing happened. Su Bing stood behind Gu Chaoming and reached out to grab Gu Chaoming's collar, wanting to check the wound on his shoulder.

Before Su Bing even turned down Gu Chaoming's school uniform collar, he received Wu Shan's secret gaze.

Wu Shan, Wu Shan, obviously his parents want him to be kind, but his surname is Wu, and he really lives up to his name.

The two mouse feces, You Xin and Chen Haiyang, from the Arts and Sciences Branch, left him alone. Wu Shan also took the lead, and he liked to use his lip-smacking skills to spread rumors behind him.

Su Bing, like Gu Chaoming, glared at Wu Shan who came over, Wu Shan guiltily looked away.

Su Bing hummed and continued to check Gu Chaoming's injury.