When Yang Zhao picked up Yang Jintian, Chen Mingsheng had already left for a long time.
She opened the door, and looked involuntarily at the table in the living room, on which there were three dishes. Yang Zhao walked over and saw a plate of green pepper and potato shreds, a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs, and a plate of cold lettuce.
Yang Jintian took off his shoes and entered the room, and was a little surprised when he saw the food on the table.
"Sister, have you cooked?"
"Ah?" Yang Zhao turned to look at Yang Jintian, who was a little surprised, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Yang Zhao didn't want to lie, and she didn't want Yang Jintian to know about Chen Mingsheng, so she said to him, "Xiaotian, let's eat first."
"Yeah." Yang Jintian was very face-saving today, washed his hands, and sat on the edge of the table. He asked Yang Zhao, "Sister, is there no rice?"
"Rice?" Yang Zhao was still a little dazed, "...I'll go and look for you."
Yang Zhao returned to the bedroom and found that the quilt had been folded. She walked to the corner of the room, quietly took out her mobile phone, and called Chen Mingsheng.
After a few rings, Chen Mingsheng answered.
"Hello?"
Yang Zhao lowered his voice, "Chen Mingsheng, it's me."
Chen Mingsheng: "... I know."
Yang Zhao continued, "Have you cooked?"
Chen Mingsheng said, "I put it on the table."
"No, I mean rice." Yang Zhao said.
"Oh, I did it too." Chen Mingsheng paused, then said with a light smile, "Don't you go and see the rice cooker?"
Yang Zhao: "..."
She felt like a fool tonight.
"It's okay." Yang Zhao whispered, "I'll hang up first."
"good."
Yang Zhao hung up the phone, frowned as if complaining to himself, and went back to the house. Yang Jintian was eating ribs, he looked up at Yang Zhao, and said, "No food?"
"Yes, wait a minute." Yang Zhao went to the kitchen and turned on the rice cooker. Hot steam came out of it, and a scent of rice wafted out. Yang Zhao served Yang Jintian a bowl of rice and brought it out.
That night, Yang Jintian cleaned up all the ribs on the table, took a shower and went to sleep.
After Yang Zhao took good care of him, he also served half a bowl of rice himself.
Yang Jintian was so picky about food, he didn't even touch the whole plate of shredded green peppers and potatoes. Yang Zhao took a bite and put it in his mouth, the dish was already a bit cold.
Yang Jintian had already fallen asleep, and the room was silent.
Yang Zhao glanced at his watch, it was half past eleven.
The short hour hand slowly turned in her eyes, and she remembered four hours ago...
Yang Zhao took out his mobile phone and looked at it for a long time, but he didn't know what he was going to do.
This won't work... Yang Zhao told himself, this won't work. She put the phone back and stood up to clear the dining table. Then he went back to the study to sort out Yang Jintian's homework.
Yang Zhao put down all the work at hand, just to help Yang Jintian improve his score.
In order to sort out Yang Jintian's exam papers, Yang Zhao stayed up late every day. She took notes one by one, sorting out the questions that Yang Jintian got wrong.
She never told Yang Jintian what she had done for him, she would not tell him that she had done all the exam planning for him, and she would not tell him that she had found Teacher Sun many times and followed his courses at school.
She is his younger brother, and she expects something from him, but that's all.
As she said before, Yang Jintian's life is his own, she has no right and doesn't want to interfere.
The next day, Yang Zhao got up early as usual to buy breakfast for Yang Jintian and sent him to school. After that, she came to the city book center to choose the college entrance examination guidance books.
Although Yang Zhao did not go to university in China, she also participated in the national college entrance examination that year.
Yang Zhao was a science student in high school with excellent academic performance. After taking the college entrance examination, he went abroad directly, studied as an undergraduate at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in Russia, and then moved to the United States to continue his studies.
She and Xue Miao also met in the United States. Xue Miao was generous and generous as the boss, and Yang Zhao worked for him until now.
Ten years have passed, and the college entrance examination has been reformed several times. Yang Zhao selected a few reference books and sat down in the coffee shop of the library to read them.
Fortunately, Yang Jintian is also a science subject, and his high school knowledge also has a fixed range. After reading a few books, Yang Zhao felt that the questions for the college entrance examination are still different. With Yang Jintian's foundation, there is still hope for the university entrance exam.
Before I knew it, a day passed. Yang Zhao ordered a piece of bread in the coffee shop at noon. She selected a few books that she found useful, and put the rest back where they were.
Just as she was about to leave, her phone rang.
It's Chen Mingsheng.
Yang Zhao felt a little relaxed, and she answered the phone.
"Hello."
Chen Mingsheng said, "It's me."
Yang Zhao heard a slight noise on the phone, and she said, "Are you outside?"
Chen Mingsheng said, "Well, I just got off work." He paused, and then asked, "Where are you?"
Yang Zhao said, "I'm in the city library."
Chen Mingsheng said, "Have you eaten yet?"
Yang Zhao said, "No, I bought reference books for my brother."
Chen Mingsheng paused and asked, "I haven't eaten either, should we eat together?"
He is inviting her.
Holding the reference book in his arms, Yang Zhao stood up straight and said, "Okay."
Chen Mingsheng asked Yang Zhao to wait for him at the city library. Yang Zhao settled the bill and came to the door with the book in his arms.
Not long after, Yang Zhao's cell phone rang. When she pulled out the phone, she saw Chen Mingsheng's car slowly approaching.
Chen Mingsheng also saw her.
He put down his phone, Yang Zhao walked over, opened the front car door, and got in. She turned to look at Chen Mingsheng. He is wearing work clothes today, a white shirt, and suit pants. She looked down, Chen Mingsheng was wearing prosthetics today.
He looks so complete.
Chen Mingsheng turned his head, saw that Yang Zhao had been looking at him, and said, "What's wrong."
Yang Zhao shook his head.
Chen Mingsheng looked at Yang Zhao and said, "So you are short-sighted."
Yang Zhao wore glasses today, a simple tracksuit, and a backpack for convenience. The whole person looks like a student on a university campus.
"Well, I usually wear contact lenses." Yang Zhao said.
Chen Mingsheng smiled, and Yang Zhao put the book on the back seat, and then began to pull the seat belt on the front seat.
Chen Mingsheng: "..." He said to Yang Zhao, "My car is too old, and no one usually wears a seat belt, so it may not be easy to use."
Yang Zhao struggled for a long time to no avail, so he turned to look at Chen Mingsheng without saying a word.
Chen Mingsheng looked at those plain eyes for a while, and then said, "I'll change them in a few days."
Only then did Yang Zhao sit back in his original position.
Chen Mingsheng glanced at her and asked, "What do you want to eat?"
Yang Zhao said, "Noodles."
Chen Mingsheng nodded, turned the car around and drove back. Chen Mingsheng drove very fast and seemed to be very familiar with the streets. He turned around a few small alleys where Yang Zhaoming was not well-known, and finally Chen Mingsheng parked the car in front of a "Four Seasons Noodles".
It was already lunch time, and there were quite a few cars at the door.
Yang Zhao said, "Can I leave the book in your car?"
Chen Mingsheng found a good location, reversed the car and stopped, and said, "Okay, let's put it here."
Today, Chen Mingsheng was wearing a prosthetic limb and did not use crutches. Yang Zhao watched him get out of the car while holding his leg, and said to him, "Why don't I go buy it and we'll eat it in the car."
Chen Mingsheng shook his head and said, "It's okay, let's go."
After entering the store, there were many customers inside. Yang Zhao looked around and found that there was no place on the first floor. A waiter saw the guests and said to the two of them: "You two sit upstairs, there is a seat upstairs."
The stairs in the store are very narrow, with some greasy marks on them, Yang Zhao felt very unsafe to step on them. She took a few steps and looked back at Chen Mingsheng with a worried look.
It was very difficult for Chen Mingsheng to go upstairs, and he had to pull his thighs with his hands to barely walk up. He noticed that Yang Zhao had stopped, so he raised his head, just in time to see Yang Zhao's worried expression, he smiled, and stretched out his hand to her, Say, "Come on, give me a hand."
Yang Zhao held Chen Mingsheng's hand, and Chen Mingsheng borrowed a little strength to go up two steps.
Fortunately, the second floor was relatively empty, so Yang Zhao and Chen Mingsheng found a seat by the window and sat down.
Yang Zhao went to the counter to order food. When she came back, she saw Chen Mingsheng rubbing her right leg unconsciously. She sat across from him and said, "What's wrong, my leg hurts?"
Chen Mingsheng let go of his hand, shook his head and said, "No."
Yang Zhao said, "What are you doing without you rubbing it?"
"..." Chen Mingsheng said, "It's just that I've been wearing it for a long time."
Yang Zhao hesitated for a moment, and said, "You..." She hesitated to speak, but Chen Mingsheng looked at her and said, "What about me?"
Yang Zhao said, "I think it's more convenient for you not to wear this."
Chen Mingsheng was startled, then lowered his head slightly, and said in a low voice, "It's not convenient." Then he looked out the window, and Yang Zhao looked at his chiseled profile, and asked, "Do you leave work at this time every day?"
Chen Mingsheng turned his head and said, "I don't have a fixed time, because I don't have to hand in the car, so I can leave work at any time."
Yang Zhao said, "Then can you come tomorrow night?"
Chen Mingsheng raised his eyes, "Where are you coming from?"
Yang Zhao sat by the window with his back to the setting sun, his face was calm. Yu Hui outlined a faint red border around her body, as if washing away the usual sharpness and replacing it with a soft breath.
She looked at him and said softly, "my home."
Chen Mingsheng looked a little dazed.
Yang Zhao smiled again and said, "Or your house."
Yang Zhao didn't smile often, at least Chen Mingsheng couldn't picture her smile in his mind. But the strange thing is that whenever Chen Mingsheng thinks of Yang Zhao and her plain, unmoving expression, he always thinks she is smiling.
Especially when she looked at him, she didn't dodge or escape, her eyes were always clear.
Yang Zhao said, "All right."
Chen Mingsheng opened his mouth, and when he was about to answer, Yang Zhao's cell phone rang.
She said sorry in a low voice, then got up and went to the side to answer the phone.
Chen Mingsheng looked out of the window again, poplar trees were planted beside the narrow street, and there were several stores connected together by the roadside, including small shops, shoe shine shops, milk stations...
He vaguely heard that Yang Zhao's tone was a little anxious, and he asked many questions.
When she hung up the phone in a hurry and returned to her seat, before Chen Mingsheng could ask her, she said, "I'm sorry, I have something to do today, so I'll leave first, and I'll contact you later."
Chen Mingsheng saw her frowning, and grabbed her wrist when she turned around.
Yang Zhao turned his head and saw Chen Mingsheng sitting on the seat looking at him.
"Don't panic, what happened."
Yang Zhao pursed his lips and said, "The phone call from the school just now, my brother is missing, I'm going to find him."