The alley where Jiang Ning and Xu Mingyi live is not far from Hengchu. On weekdays, teenagers ride bicycles and rush to school in a few minutes.
Jiang Ning is used to walking, and he will arrive in twenty or thirty minutes at most.
But after Yan Yixie came to school, Jiang Ning began to pester him cheekily and rub against his car after school. Yan Yixie had a look of disdain for this, and even suspected that she came to approach him just to rub the car... But he still asked the housekeeper to drive the car to a small road outside the alley on time every day to stop and wait for someone.
There are too many familiar neighbors in the alley, Jiang Ning was afraid of being seen by Zheng Ruonan, and she didn't dare to let the housekeeper take her too close. parked.
In this way, going back and forth has taken a long way.
Yan Yixie calculated the time. Originally, it only took about 23 minutes for Jiang Ning to walk home from school. Now get into the housekeeper's car, go through the road with heavy traffic, make a big circle to the back of the alley and park, and then she will go home, it will take about half an hour.
Jiang Ning's answer to this was: "I just want to stay with you for a while, a few minutes is fine."
Sure enough, as Jiang Ning expected, the young man immediately became angry from embarrassment: "Do you know how to be ashamed to say such nonsense every day!"
Jiang Ning smiled happily, and the housekeeper also looked at the two children from the rearview mirror and smiled.
Yan Yixie had a tense face, refusing to talk to her along the way.
Sometimes Yan Yixie really didn't know which sentence Jiang Ning said was serious and which sentence was said casually without thinking. Does she often talk nonsense to others
But Yan Yixie used his peripheral vision to pay attention to Jiang Ning's relationship with other people in the class in recent days, but he didn't see her treat others like this. Although sometimes he is not serious, but it seems that he will not wrap around others so tightly, let alone rest his chin on others' elbows.
Although his face was as cold as ever, it was as if a soft-boiled egg had been spread in the boy's heart, slowly overflowing into the sunny sky.
After the car stopped, Jiang Ning jumped out of the car with her schoolbag on her back: "See you tomorrow."
Yan Yixie glanced at her blankly, nodded slightly, and rolled up the window.
"Wait." Jiang Ning rushed forward quickly, grabbing the car window.
Yan Yixie frowned and looked at her: "This is very dangerous, what if the car has restarted."
Jiang Ning said, "Did you forget something?"
Yan Yixie raised his voice in disbelief: "Are you hungry again? You—"
"It's not this!" Jiang Ning blushed a little after eating two pieces of Yan Yixie's deer pancakes in the car just now, and quickly wiped off the foam on his lips, interrupting him: "I told you that I will see you tomorrow, but you can't come back too." I'll see you tomorrow? When someone talks to you, you have to respond."
Jiang Ning has already discovered that Yan Yixie has no habit of responding to others at all. His response is either to give the other person a cold look, or "go away", "stay away from me", "don't get in the way", "get in the way" When he came to school for a few days, apart from talking to himself, the only thing he said to Yan Dahang was "Get out".
Jiang Ning decided to at least let him get used to saying greetings like "good morning", "see you tomorrow", and "have you eaten yet".
Yan Yixie pursed his lips tightly, and looked at Jiang Ning with a frown: "I have already nodded to you."
Meaning, what else do you want.
Jiang Ning seduced him and said, "If you have said 'see you tomorrow' to me this week, next week I will give you a bottle of paper cranes, the kind that other girls would fold for boys."
The butler lowered the window in the driver's seat, wondering if he should remind Jiang Ning that when he was in the hospital a few years ago, the young master didn't speak for a whole year. Since getting to know her, the young master has obviously talked a lot more than before. She also tried to get him to talk nonsense, which was almost impossible.
And something like a thousand paper cranes is too childish.
The young master will not care about it.
Then the housekeeper heard Yan Yixie say without emotion in his tone: "See you tomorrow."
Steward: "..."
Jiang Ning got Yan Yixie's "see you tomorrow" for the first time since he met Yan Yixie. He was immediately satisfied and said, "Remember, you told me for a month in a row."
The boy frowned: "You just said a week."
"Have you recorded it yet?" Jiang Ning said shamelessly, "I clearly said it was a month."
Yan Yixie: "..."
Jiang Ning was victorious, and happily went home with her schoolbag.
The butler couldn't help but glanced at Yan Yixie from the rearview mirror.
Yan Yixie said with a cold face, "I don't care what she gave me."
Butler: "..."
Yan Yixie: "But she has already asked me so much, if I don't agree, she will cry."
Butler: "..."
To be honest, he didn't think Jiang Ning would cry over such a trivial matter.
When Xu Mingyi and Si Xiangming came back from playing basketball, they happened to see Jiang Ning getting out of Yan Yixie's car.
Si Xiangming quickly grabbed Xu Mingyi, said "Fuck, look over there", and stared at the car enviously.
Xu Mingyi stared at Jiang Ning for a while, until Jiang Ning's figure disappeared at the intersection of the alley.
When Jiang Ning was out of sight, the engine of the black car restarted and turned around to drive away.
In the cold autumn wind, Xu Mingyi stared at the car with an ugly expression on his face.
When Si Xiangming came back to look at him, he had already thrown the basketball, turned his head and left without saying a word.
When Xu's mother came home from get off work, there was no sound of basketball playing in the yard, and the TV was off, and Xu Mingyi was not watching the Go channel. The room was so quiet, she almost thought that Xu Mingyi had something to do at school and hadn't come back yet.
Thinking of tidying up Xu Mingyi's room, when she opened the door of Xu Mingyi's room, she was startled: "Son, are you home?"
Xu Mingyi was lying on the bed, covering his eyes with the back of his hands, the corners of his mouth drooping, his usual vigor was gone, he looked lost and confused.
"What's the matter? Shall I pour you a glass of milk?" Mother Xu walked over and sat down.
She took Xu Mingyi's hand away.
Xu Mingyi opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling.
Xu Mingyi sat up, scratched his short hair distractedly, wanted to say something, but couldn't say it.
Too many things happened recently, all related to Jiang Ning.
There was an accident in Jiang Ning's family, Jiang Ning's grades improved, Jiang Ning transferred to their class, and he was very close to him, but far away.
She began to become good friends with another person, and left his world step by step.
Even though he is far away from Zhong Congshuang now, the relationship between Jiang Ning and him has not returned to the past. She doesn't seem to care much about who he cares about and who he likes.
Xu Mingyi finally determined that it was not what he imagined, she was not jealous, but simply alienated him.
How did things become like this
Mother Xu guessed something, and asked, "Is it because of Jiang Ning?"
Xu Mingyi immediately denied it: "It's not."
Mother Xu smiled and said, "Then why? Are you so depressed?"
Xu Mingyi said vaguely, "It's just that I failed the quiz."
"You are too strong, and you care too much about face. Sometimes you will make wrong choices and lose something because of this." Xu's mother slowly stroked her son's shoulder, and I don't know if the absent-minded Xu Mingyi understands .
She said: "But the fate between people is so shallow. You will know many people from birth to old age, and many fates will come and go, and you will be friends for a short time and then separate."
Xu Mingyi looked up at Xu's mother.
Xu's mother also tried to help Xu Mingyi to repair the relationship some time ago, but she thought, maybe there is indeed some irreconcilable conflict between Jiang Ning and Xu Mingyi, which is also normal. Everyone is growing up in adolescence, and it is impossible to be the same as when they were young. . Maybe Xu Mingyi should be persuaded to think about it.
She said: "It's like you and Si Xiangming are good friends now and play basketball together all day. In another year, you may go to different high schools and you will not be able to get together often. In another three or four years , You will go to different cities to go to college again, and you may not see each other for a few years, but there is no need to regret it, because at that time, you will have new feelings and friends again."
"If you can't keep it, maybe it doesn't belong to you in the first place, so don't force it."
Xu Mingyi understood, but the bottom of his heart still felt like a pinprick.
Does he like Jiang Ning
He swore he didn't like it.
Then it's just a loss of a friend.
But since he was a child, he has changed schools several times, and gradually lost contact with five or three or four friends, but none of them have ever made him feel so uncomfortable.
why is that
"I see, Mom." Xu Mingyi stood up and pushed Xu's mother out of the room: "Leave me alone for a while."
Maybe his mother was right. When did he ask for peace again and again without dignity
If Jiang Ning wants to leave his world, he will leave her world at the same time.
It's just a complete loss of a friend, no big deal.
He will have dozens of friends like Jiang Ning in the future, he doesn't care at all.
During this time, Jiang Fan went home early after school.
He didn't tell Jiang Ning that when he came back a few days ago, he found some swear words such as "a bad death" were pasted outside the courtyard. The white paper was torn off, and I looked around, but I didn't see anyone, and I didn't know who posted it.
Jiang Fan suspects that the old lady came back to vent her anger after being kicked out, but there is no evidence. He still hated his father in his heart, and he didn't want to call Jiang's father to ask about it.
Fortunately, after that time, nothing like this happened again.
But Jiang Fan was afraid when he thought about it, if he was not the first to come back, but Jiang Ning and Zheng Ruonan came back first, they would be bullied when they saw the old lady swearing.
Originally, Zheng Ruonan was going through a divorce lawsuit during this period of time, and he was a little bit mentally unable to hold on.
Jiang Fan is still a kid and doesn't know how to deal with it. He wants to tell Jiang Ning, but he feels that Jiang Ning is already worried about his parents.
He also thought about finding a group of friends to warn the old lady, but after thinking about it, he felt that this was not the way, what if something happened.
In the end Jiang Fan could only hold back in his heart.
Because of this, Jiang Fan not only stopped going to Internet cafes with a group of friends after school, he even stopped playing basketball. As soon as the school bell rang, he quickly picked up his schoolbag and rushed home. First, he went around the yard to check. Make sure there are no more new things outside the yard, and then open the door and go home.
Jiang Ning didn't know about it yet, she just felt that Jiang Fan seemed to be a different person recently.
It may be because of the changes in the family that made him mature and sensible a lot.
Jiang Ning didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
During this time, Zheng Ruo’s business increased and he returned home late, doubling the pocket money for Jiang Ning and Jiang Fan. Homework together.
Regardless of Jiang Fan's error rate when writing the papers, at least he can settle down to complete a complete set of papers.
Jiang Fan is actually very smart. Once he puts his mind on his studies, the effect is obvious. It has not been half a month since Jiang Ning gave him supplementary lessons, and he has barely reached a passing grade from zero duck eggs.
If this continues, you should be able to take the transfer exam soon.
Even if you can't enter the top class of Hengchu, it is a good thing to transfer to the last class first.
Jiang Ning was quite relieved, and promised Jiang Fan that if Jiang Fan could pass the transfer exam before New Year's Eve this year, she would buy him a limited-edition basketball.
In fact, Jiang Fan didn't care much about the basketball, but Jiang Ning stayed with him after school every day, so he was very happy.
He used to go to Internet cafes with a group of low-class gangsters, just because no one cared about him at home, and the group of children in the alley also excluded him.
But now Jiang Ning is doing homework and watching cartoons with him after school, and the group of kids in the alley also took the lead to play with him because of the Jiang family's misfortune.
But he refused to admit that he actually hoped that his sister would spend more time with him.
He only pretended to want to get the basketball, and did two more questions, in exchange for Jiang Ning's praise.
After dinner in the evening, the housekeeper heard that Yan Yixie had gone to the rooftop and was calling someone.
After listening for a while in the corridor, the housekeeper discovered that Yan Yixie was the secretary who called his father.
The housekeeper was a little surprised. After moving into this abandoned villa in the past few years, it was the first time that the young master contacted the Yan family on his own initiative.
After a while, Yan Yixie turned the wheelchair and came out from the rooftop. The old butler didn't hide that he heard his call, and said directly, "Have you greeted Mr. and Mrs. Madam for me?"
Yan Yixie said coldly: "I didn't contact them, I just asked Secretary Xiao to help me purchase a set of foreign mountaineering equipment."
"What climbing equipment?"
Yan Yixie ignored the housekeeper's question: "Secretary Xiao will send someone over in a few days, you and Secretary Xiao check the time, and wait at home when the time comes, and check when you arrive."
The housekeeper followed Yan Yixie into the elevator and went downstairs. He was inevitably a little worried, hesitated, and said, "The doctor said, you'd better not do exciting exercises, things like mountain climbing—"
"It's not me." Yan Yixie interrupted him, but he didn't hide it: "Jiang Ning will go to the winter camp in a while."
"Oh." The housekeeper breathed a sigh of relief, and almost thought that the young master was acting recklessly like he did a few years ago.
The housekeeper asked about the date and said, "The school bus will inevitably cause motion sickness. I can take her there that day."
Yan Yi thanked, "December 25th."
It's Christmas, and it's also the young master's birthday.
The butler was taken aback.
After a moment of silence, the housekeeper said: "If you tell her that day is your birthday, I believe she will come to accompany you."
For about five years, the boy did not celebrate his birthday.
The first birthday happened to be shortly after his accident. Mr. and Mrs. bought a cake and went to the hospital to spend it for him, but they were kicked out by him. The housekeeper didn't know what happened in the ward at that time. Mr and Mrs seem to have given up on celebrating his birthday.
In the past few years, on December 25 every year, Mr. and Mrs. only made a phone call.
Yan Yixie flipped through the ghost movies that the housekeeper had bought for him, paused, lowered his eyes, and said without emotion: "I hope she will have a better time."
He occupied a lot of her time, and it was impossible for her to stay by his side all the time.
There are many moments when the young man wants to desperately cling to Jiang Ning, the life-saving straw, when he is in a nightmare, when he is out of tune with the world.
But most of the time, he is sober.
She is like a river flowing happily, meeting countless people along the way. And he is like a dry well that has stopped moving forward, it is difficult and he cannot go further.
One day, she'll move on, and he stays here.
I don't know when we will be separated.