The scene of time, the streets are bathed in fire.
The shops in the small alleyway have started to open normally, and Shi Jin approached the innermost part of the alleyway. The door of the shop was half open, and before he could take a few steps in, he yelled, "Dude, I've been stuck for an hour, it's too late." Before he finished speaking, he frowned, and fanned his nose with his hands.
"Damn, how many cigarettes have you smoked?"
Chi Zheng was typing on the keyboard in black short sleeves, with half a cigarette in his mouth.
Shi Jin leaned forward and looked at the code in a flash.
"What are you doing?"
Chi Zheng half-closed his eyes and stopped what he was doing. Turning around, took down the cigarette, twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, and said calmly: "When I finish it, I will talk to you later."
Shi Jinzuo laughed.
"Smile." Chi Zheng was careless.
Shi Jin sighed and kept smiling.
"My buddies now really feel that love is powerful. It's really rare for you to look like a ghost. You're a bit of a prodigal son."
Chi Zheng raised his eyes and let out a 'chi'.
"I said, what's going on with that woman recently?" Shi Jin asked.
Hearing this, Chi Zheng fell silent.
Shi Jin: "You haven't caught up yet, have you?"
Chi Zheng put the cigarette into his mouth again, frowning.
"If you can't do it, just force it. Isn't this your strong point?"
Chi Zheng glanced over coldly.
Shi Jin chuckled, "Don't blame my buddy for having too many things, you have to deal with special circumstances, don't you know that?"
Chi Zheng pursed his thin lips tightly.
He knew how Lu Sibei chased her to death a few years ago. This woman is sensitive and stubborn. What's more, He Liang and the two of them are so inextricably linked, he has always thought that it is best to unravel bit by bit without rushing. But she hid her thoughts so badly, Chi Zheng couldn't help but frown again thinking of this, smoking even more fiercely.
"You don't still care about your childhood, do you?" Shi Jin asked.
Chi Zheng didn't say anything.
Shi Jin shrugged his shoulders, "It's really boring to do this."
"No." For a long time, Chi Zheng said flatly.
"Then what are you dawdling about?"
Chi Zheng arched his back molars.
"I said-"
Halfway through Shi Jin's speech, Chi Zheng's face darkened.
"It's okay, get the hell out."
"Damn." Shi Jin curled his lips, "Are you going to be cowardly when you talk about this?"
"Who the hell is cowardly?"
"You want me to roll your name?"
Chi Zheng: "Fuck."
He took a deep breath of his cigarette, frowning and locking his head. He has been very busy for the next few days, and it was already the end of June when he was free.
That week, the temperature was frighteningly high.
Meng Shengnan returned to the office after class every day, and returned to the apartment later. It's so hot that people fall asleep every night in the middle of the night. One day, a teacher who worked together was temporarily busy and couldn't go to the kindergarten to pick up the children in time. She was idle at the time, so she agreed.
It is within a 20-minute bus ride from Huakou Yichu.
As soon as she arrived in the afternoon, she saw a crowd of people in darkness. I was frightened for a while, and it was obviously half an hour before school was over. She waited across the street, stepping back. Accidentally stepped on someone, turned around and said sorry.
"Meng Shengnan?"
She was also taken aback, looking at Nie Jing, "Is your child going to school here?"
The woman nodded, "Why are you here?"
"Oh, help a colleague pick up the child."
Nie Jing: "That's it."
Meng Shengnan smiled, "What have you been up to lately?"
Nie Jing shook her head and was about to speak when her cell phone rang. The woman glanced at her, turned sideways and picked it up. Within a minute, I heard saying: "Don't be in a hurry, sister ask." Then I hung up and dialed a number, and it took a while to connect. I don't know what was said there, but Meng Shengnan heard something was wrong.
"Then do you have any other way, she is not familiar with her place in Shenzhen—"
After a few words, I hung up.
Nie Jing seemed particularly depressed, her eyelids drooping. Meng Shengnan stepped forward and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
The woman looked up, her eyes wet.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Nie Jing shook her head in a daze, and forced a smile at her, "It's okay."
"If you have anything to say, maybe I can help."
Meng Shengnan handed over the tissue.
The woman glanced at her, hesitating.
"Say it."
Nie Jing sniffed and looked down at the ground, "I asked a friend in Shenzhen to help my sister find a job, but she said she couldn't help."
"How is your sister now?"
"Still living in a hotel." Nie Jing pursed her lips, her voice was a little unsteady, "I consider her my best friend."
Meng Shengnan sighed.
"Don't think too much, the important thing now is to let your sister settle down quickly."
"But I have no acquaintances in Shenzhen."
Meng Shengnan asked again: "What did your sister learn?"
Nie Jing paused, and said: "Junior college, I read printing."
"You just graduated and looking for a job?"
"Um."
"Well, let me inquire for you and let you know as soon as I have any news." Meng Shengnan thought for a while and said, "Do you think so?"
Nie Jing looked at her with wet eyes, "Can it work?"
Meng Shengnan smiled, "Don't worry."
After a long time, Nie Jing said, "Thank you."
"Be polite to me."
So they each left their numbers. At that time, the kindergarten was about to end, and the two parted ways. After the woman walked away, she looked back again. It seems that all of a sudden women really have a lot of vicissitudes, and the market is full of atmosphere. After picking up the child and sending it back, she returned to the apartment with her bag on her back. Along the way, I searched all my friends in Shenzhen. Remembering that the newspaper senior who taught her in Changsha was seconded there, she thought about it and called, but the number was still there.
After a long connection, someone picked it up with an old voice.
"Hello."
"Teacher, I'm Meng Shengnan."
Two years ago, she insisted on leaving, but the senior couldn't keep her. Speaking of it, she was quite embarrassed to bother, after all, it was rare to meet a good teacher in college. After briefly talking about the situation, the old senior asked her before hanging up, "Are you coming back?"
Meng Shengnan was silent.
Then, after a long sigh in the receiver, the beeping sound continued.
It's windy underfoot.
She was walking slowly along the path, and didn't go straight back to the apartment. Instead, I went to the small playground next to it, and the school was over. There was no one around, she sat there until the dark starry sky blinked. Slowly, without seeing her fingers, she got up and went back the same way.
A few minutes after entering the house, Xiao Lin knocked on the door and came in.
"I'm bored to be alone, so I came to talk to you."
She should have just returned from a date, and the woman's face was still flushed. She poured a glass of water and handed it over. Xiao Lin sat on the sofa and couldn't hide his smile. Meng Shengnan knew what was going on without guessing, it was exactly the same as Qi Qiao and Song Jiashu Wen Cunwan in high school.
"Is the wedding date going to be fixed?" she asked.
Xiao Lin was surprised, "My God, you are amazing."
Meng Shengnan smiled, "Seeing you can guess seven to eight points like this."
The woman lowered her head in embarrassment.
"By the way, I heard from him that you two are still classmates in high school?"
Meng Shengnan nodded.
"I didn't expect such a coincidence."
Xiao Lin became interested: "Then tell me more about what he was like at that time?"
"At that time—"
Meng Shengnan briefly said a few small things, and the woman couldn't stop laughing. In fact, she always felt that Fu Song looked like a person. A few years ago I read Keigo Higashino, the math genius Ishigami in Suspect X. If you think about it carefully, it's not very similar. In the end, the classmates and friends who were young found the person they love. Together through wind and rain, walk side by side.
The night gradually deepened.
Xiaolin asked her to borrow books before going back to her room to rest, and Meng Shengnan went to the bedroom to get them. Her cell phone on the sofa rang throughout the night, Xiao Lin leaned over to take it, went to the room and handed it to her, "Your phone number."
Meng Shengnan took it and glanced at the caller ID.
"Why didn't you pick it up, who is it?" Xiao Lin was curious.
Meng Shengnan licked his dry lips, and the ringtone persisted. She didn't know what to do, and her subordinates slipped. On the other end of the phone, Shi Jin covered his mouth, handed the phone to the man who was almost moldy from the smoke, and said with his lips: "It's connected."
Chi Zheng frowned and touched his nose.
Meng Shengnan slowly pressed the phone to her ear, Xiao Lin smiled and took the book in her hand, and whispered to go first. The room was silent for a while, except for quiet breathing and silence on both sides of the receiver.
"Is something wrong?" she asked softly.
Chi Zheng pursed his lips, and looked at the perpetrator coldly, Shi Jin's witty flash. The whole night, this guy either typed the code or stared at the contact interface, which had the woman's name on it. Shi Jin was really impatient, so he pressed him while he was not paying attention.
The shop door was closed.
Chi Zheng whispered: "Haven't slept yet?"
"Um."
"What are you busy with?"
Meng Shengnan: "Nothing."
Chi Zheng was silent for a while, "Last time—"
Meng Shengnan's heart tightened.
"Do you have time these two days? Come out and meet up." The man temporarily changed the subject.
Meng Shengnan: "The school will be very busy preparing for the final exam."
"Then when are you not busy?"
Meng Shengnan paused for a few seconds and said, "I've been very busy recently."
"Is it?"
"Um."
Chi Zheng didn't say anything more, neither did Meng Shengnan.
After a while, Chi Zheng said, "Then go to sleep."
"goodbye."
The busy tone on the receiver lasted for a long time before Chi Zheng answered the call. He threw the phone aside and stuffed the cigarette into his mouth. The cumbersome and lengthy codes on the computer spread all over the screen, Chi Zheng frowned for a while, biting his cigarette and knocking again.
It was dark and bright again.
The next morning, Meng Shengnan received a call from his senior. Said that a publishing house in Shenzhen had a job, so she hurriedly called Nie Jing. The woman thanked her very much for inviting her to dinner, but Meng Shengnan couldn't postpone it, and accepted the second day of July after the final exam.
At ten o'clock in the morning, it was also the last class she went to the classroom.
A section of forty-five minutes is basically spent by fifty-two students chatting with her. I have a holiday in the afternoon, and the final exam is two days later. There was a boy and girl who had a puppy love in the class. They changed seats and stood next to each other, winking in class.
A student asked her loudly: "Teacher, don't you care?"
Meng Shengnan smiled, "The world is free today."
There was a roar in the classroom.
A girl was lively and outgoing, stood up and asked everyone: "I read a post two days ago, saying that if you were given a chance, what superpower would you like to have? Let me tell you first, let Wu Yanzu fall in love with me."
The whole class let out a long boo.
"Never forget!"
"Past and Present!"
"Teleport!"
"Control your destiny!"
"Let the person I like like me!"
The whole class clapped their mouths.
The girl yelled, "Teacher, what about you?"
It was quiet.
Meng Shengnan thought about it seriously, and said with a smile, "I want to hear Cao Xueqin continue talking about Dream of the Red Chamber."
The whole class: "..."
After class was over, she went downstairs and went outside. There are students going up and down the stairs from time to time, smiling and youthful. She walked slowly, remembering that she had just lied. If given a chance, she would like to go back to her 16.5-year-old self in 2004 and be a brave person.
Outside the teaching building, there was a sudden light rain.
She suddenly remembered that it was Friday today, so she hurriedly turned to the newsstand at the school gate against the rain. The old man looked kindly and asked her which one she wanted. She laughed and said that there are all kinds of flavors in the world.