Dou Xun was in a daze at the door of the hotel for a long time, until the shivering waiter came to ask, and he entered the door absentmindedly.
"Gong Xi Fa Cai" is displayed in the hotel lobby of Guang Kejianwu, and there is a circle of kumquats hanging with copper coins at the door, which brings a festive New Year atmosphere.
Dou Xun silently saved Xu Xilin's mobile phone number, and at this moment, his phone rang.
For a moment, Dou Xun's calm expression fluctuated violently, but then he could see the caller ID - Dou Junliang.
With a "tsk", he was disgusted and lost, hung up directly, and turned to the restaurant on the second floor.
The second floor of the hotel is a Cantonese restaurant that is neither south nor north.
Dou Xun was led by the waiter to find Dou Junliang.
Dou Junliang saw that he was getting old, and his back seemed to be shorter than before, and he did not leave a small parted head. His temples were neatly shaved and pushed up, and they were all white. He had just been hung up by Dou Xun and wanted to call again. A seven- or eight-year-old boy jumped up and down next to him, causing various obstacles to the passing waiters.
Dou Junliang impatiently dragged the little brat back, and was about to scold him when he looked up and saw Dou Xun coming with his pocket in his pocket.
When Dou Xun left, he was a juvenile detained and full of resentment. When he came back this time, his arrogance, which had been bluffing, suddenly became convincing, and he looked like no one else. He was not polite, and he flicked his mobile phone at Dou Junliang not far or near, indicating that the call had been received, then casually nodded to the waiter who led the way, and said to Dou Junliang, "traffic jam."
Dou Junliang saw that he wanted to stand up inexplicably, and immediately reacted, feeling that there was no reason for his father to greet his son, so he sat back again, looked at Dou Xun calmly, he coughed dryly, and half-truthly complained: "Why? Didn't you say a word when you returned home?"
Dou Xun: "It's not too late."
Dou Junliang paused: "There's no reason to go home and stay in a hotel, you..."
He wanted to ask Dou Xun if he wanted to go home. He and Wu Fenfen had been separated for a long time, and Dou Junliang had suddenly lost interest in flowers and plants in recent years. No one would force Mrs. Dou to abdicate for a while. Wasn't salty or bland. As a result, Dou Junliang didn't leave the invitation with expectations, and Dou Xun said lightly, "Oh, just stay, there are still some things in the school, and I will look for a house when I have time in two days."
Dou Junliang was choked by him, raised his chopsticks and tapped the cold hand of the little boy next to him, and scolded: "You can't use chopsticks? No rules!"
Dou Xun followed his gaze and glanced at the child - he should be half his younger brother by blood.
Half of the younger brother's eyes met him, a little afraid of him, a stranger, and restrained a little.
Dou Xun politely said to Dou Junliang, "This child is good-looking, like his mother."
Dou Junliang: "..."
Dou Xun's words sounded like ordinary greetings, and there was no problem at all, but he accurately poked a big hole in Dou Junliang's lung tube.
Dou Junliang has always regarded himself as a character, and thinks that the children he gave birth should follow him in terms of aptitude and character, and follow their beautiful mothers who are fat and thin, such as Dou Xun, although he encountered some problems in the process of growing up. , but overall a "success".
It's a pity that the chromosomes that two people exchanged with each other are obviously blind marriages and dumb marriages. It is really not a matter of people's subjective will to give birth to something. Dou Junliang's youngest son, Dou Zhang, followed him with the exception of a pair of oily hair. No matter how smart the company looks, it's all a pirated copy of Wu Fenfen - or the version before plastic surgery.
Dou Junliang bought a dilapidated and expensive school district room for this bastard, and forcibly sent Dou Zhang to the best elementary school. As a result, on average, he received two complaint calls a day.
All in all, Dou Junliang's biggest heart problem is "the little son is like his mother".
Dou Junliang laughed sullenly, suspecting that Dou Xun was deliberately blocking him.
The father and son, who had not seen each other for a long time, had little substance for a while, and they were no more enthusiastic than passers-by.
When Dou Xun returned to China, he did not inform Dou Junliang at all. It was Dou Junliang who had an old friend who had some cooperative relationship with the school-run enterprise of Dou Xun's alma mater. He knew about his son through outsiders.
Dou Junliang cautiously probed: "What are you going to do when you come back?"
"I haven't figured it out yet," Dou Xun said, "Let's see what's suitable and talk about it later."
Dou Junliang depressedly dipped the tip of his chopsticks in the small bowl in front of him, knowing that he was not telling the truth.
He heard that Dou Xun came back at the invitation of his past teacher to participate in a research project led by the old professor. The conditions of the school are very good, and it is not a secret in Dou Junliang's circle.
Dou Junliang could hear that Dou Xun was prevarication, just too lazy to talk to himself about the "future". He was a little frustrated with nowhere to go. After thinking about it, he said, "That son of President Xu... Is there any contact with you?"
Dou Xun looked at him and smiled, and reached out his hand to take his empty tea bowl and poured it over: "Don't patronize drinking water, their dishes are a bit bland, don't you agree?"
Dou Junliang is a good person. From his expression and implication, he can see what Dou Xun didn't say - salty eating radish and worrying about it, it's none of your business
Dou Xun has not used his card for a penny during his years abroad. It was not until Zhu Xiaocheng called him that Dou Junliang knew that Dou Xun had stopped all the cards he used before, and decided not to accept the financial support and financial support from his parents. Point fingers. Dou Junliang didn't know how he had spent all these years, and now seeing him again, only one sentence floated in his heart - this kid's wings are hard.
When the wings are hardened, they will no longer be under his control, and they will no longer have to listen to his bullshit, let alone fight with him, and no longer take him seriously.
Dou Junliang had a suffocating dinner and asked the waiter to settle the bill, only to hear the waiter say to Dou Xun with a smile, "Hello, it's already on your room charge, please confirm the bill."
Dou Junliang: "..."
When a father, no matter whether he is strict or fond of his son or indifferent, finds that his son begins to ignore his father's authority, he will probably feel this kind of loneliness-feeling old.
Dou Xun sent the lonely Dou Junliang back to the hotel room.
Open the standby notebook screen, there is still a half-written paper on it.
Dou Xun sat in front of the computer for a while, flipped through what he had written three or four times, and read nothing, finally sighed and leaned back on the seat.
As soon as he closed his eyes, the folk tunes in Xu Xilin's car kept reverberating in his mind. Ordinary business car, the interior is much more luxurious than the exterior, the car is very clean, and it is very comfortable to sit on. I don’t know if it is often a hitchhiker. His driver’s license is placed in a conspicuous place. Unfamiliar female passengers do not make people feel unsafe.
Dou Xun thought of Xu Xilin's hand that was carelessly resting on the steering wheel - the joints were clear, the hand was clean, there were no messy bracelets and watches, the cuffs were spotless, and there was a small scar on the back of the hand, like a splash of hot oil.
His driving skills have improved a lot. Dou Xun remembers that his level was similar to that of veterans. He was also a car that took up two parking spaces. Now it has become a "centimeter-level operation". Crawling in and out of the alley, not a single chicken feather was glued to it... However, he seemed very tired, his eyes were only half-open, and Dou Xunlu suspected that he was about to fall asleep several times.
Dou Xun walked resolutely back then. In the first year after he left, he hated Xu Xilin so much that he would stare at others with hatred for a long time when he met someone surnamed Xu on the road.
But the foundation of this hatred was not as solid as he imagined. By the time he went to a foreign country alone, most of it had been dispersed. He saw foreigners all over the street who looked alike, and he had a feeling in his heart that he would live in this place no matter what. The illusion of unfamiliarity, anger, hatred and longing began to inextricably ebb and flow.
Sometimes in the middle of the night, Dou Xun wakes up for no reason. He often hears that the roommate next door is calling home, and he can't help but think of Xu Xilin and the small bedroom on the second floor... That's the only thing he has ever admitted in his life." Family".
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that he was still at home.
A single bed, he was lying on his own, but only half the seat, pretending that there was someone next to him.
But he didn't dare and was unwilling to contact Xu Xilin. At that time, Dou Xun was competing with him, and he always felt that the two of them had come this far because of his own inability to do anything.
Dou Xun's fierce self-esteem boiled into the sky in his thin chest, telling him to bear his thoughts and frustrations alone, grit his teeth and want to live a personal life.
Until he received Xu Xilin's email one step later.
Until he came back as fast as possible, but found that the "family" people were not free to go to the building and had already changed the owner.
A row of large lanterns hangs outside the balcony of the familiar small building, and a row of pickle jars is placed in the small courtyard full of various flowers. The crooked bicycle they used to have is long gone, a children's walker was thrown under the wall, and the word "Fu" posted at the door was a bit mottled when they moved in. It looked like it had been moved here for a while.
At that moment, Dou Xun, who was dragging the suitcase, didn't know how to react.
There was a huge bulldozer in his world, which destroyed everything and forcibly expelled him. When he finally gathered enough courage and strength to fight back, he found that he could no longer find his original way. .
The entire community, city... and even the vast and boundless land was empty.
Dou Xun wasted his efforts to find the social account that he did not use very much, and stumblingly contacted some unfamiliar classmates, but there was no trace of Xu Xilin anywhere.
He used to think that as long as he moves forward, keeps moving forward, and becomes stronger, one day, he will be able to restore what he has lost. Only later did he realize that the world is also moving forward, constantly moving, and old things are constantly changing. Metamorphic evaporation, ashes.
Nothing will wait for him.
Dou Xun is not a person who gives up easily. After a period of time, during vacations and academic exchanges, he went to China when he had the opportunity. He made many trips, but it was always in vain.
Like a stray migratory bird, he walked past the door of the increasingly unfamiliar "home" countless times.
See the word blessing is gone.
I saw that the walker was gone.
Seeing the baby walker turned into a children's bicycle, the yard grows lush little chives...
The place is getting stranger every year. Recently, the new owner of the house has renovated it once, repainted the exterior walls, and installed strange anti-theft windows.
In fact, Dou Xun just came back from the old Xu family site this afternoon. He went to the school to go through some formalities and called a car. Who knew that Xu Xilin, who could not be found everywhere, appeared without any notice. It's like a homeless person who picked up a lottery ticket and was told that he had won the jackpot.
What is the real feeling of "suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light"
Indescribable... Anyway, he memorized Xu Xilin's driver's license number.
Xu Xilin's company was on holiday. He drove by himself the next day and sent a few pots of flowers from Lao Cheng to the big client. Even in traffic jams and socializing, he spent a whole day of work and looked very busy.
However, when waiting for a red light, when waiting for someone, and when the waiter swiped his card at the checkout, he couldn't help but look down at his phone - he didn't know what he was looking through, and he always felt that he had something to do.
Xu Xilin was an internet-addicted teenager absent-mindedly for a whole day. He ended his work in a daze, and went home with a handful of pine nuts and played the game "You throw me and pick it up" with the grey parrot, causing a mess in the family. They cleaned up together with the bird - the bird was in charge of picking up the scattered pine nuts and the hairs she had lost, and Xu Xilin squatted on the ground and wiped the floor.
Wiping and wiping, he suddenly realized what he wanted to do - he wanted to send a message to Dou Xun, greetings or New Year's greetings... Anyway, say something.
Xu Xilin sat on the floor that had just been wiped, and after deliberating for a long time, he picked up and put down the phone, typed a few words and deleted it, and a short greeting almost exhausted his brains.
The grey parrot glared at his shoulder, peered curiously at his phone, and ripped through another of his sweaters with its sharp claws.
"Hey... a prodigal thing." Xu Xilin complained, but instead of blasting it away, he teased the parrot, "Don't make trouble, sing a song to Dad."
The grey parrot looked down at his paws calmly, scratched his clothes and played without saying a word.
"A few cents for Top Gun, it's rare for a confidant to stay..." Xu Xilin hummed two lines of "Xiaoyaotan", trying to set a tone for it.
As a result, the parrot did not accept his song, and straightened his neck and howled a few words meaninglessly, and then came out: "In the beginning, you wanted to separate, and you separated..."
Xu Xilin couldn't bear to flick the bird's beak and stopped the damn "Love Business".
Grey Parrot was disturbed by Gohing and scratched his shoulder angrily at the bald line.
Xu Xilin: "Little evil animal."
As expected, Dou Xun bought it back.
Then he thought about it, sighed, put the phone aside, and said to the grey parrot, "You're right."
Back then, he broke Dou Xun's hand involuntarily and broke it in two. He also called Dou Junliang with a phone call to break up the last wiggle room between the two of them.
Now that so many years have passed, Dou Xun will always have a new life, and with a few words in the car that day, he seems to have a little bit of a heartbreak for himself. Xu Xilin thought, it would be too much for him to go back and disturb him with a shy face and pretend that nothing happened. Made the next.
Xu Xilin said to the bird, "It's not a thing, right?"
The grey parrot replied with a misaligned donkey's lips: "Eight hundred pacesetters rush to the north slope—"
"Okay then," Xu Xilin changed the water for it, and promised the parrot in a serious voice, "Then let's go to the north slope - back to the south for the New Year."
He didn't want to go to the "Heaven and Earth Society" to invite him. When Xu Xilin was counseling, he was very motivated. He booked a plane ticket back to the "township" base camp in five minutes, and was ready to smear oil under his feet and slip away.
As a result, just when the text message of the successful booking was sent to his mobile phone, Lao Cheng called in and told him the time and place of the class reunion.
Xu Xilin was full of excuses, and opened his mouth to come: "I may not be able to go, I have to go back to the headquarters during the New Year..."
"Hold on." Lao Cheng interrupted him rudely, "No, this time you have to come, and you have to come too!"
Xu Xilin: "I..."
Lao Cheng: "Lao Cai is out!"
Xu Xilin: "..."
Really irrefutable reason.
Yue Banwan officially closed down a year ago. The building was demolished into two floors. The second floor became a Sichuan restaurant. The first floor was divided by several small shops. After the merger, it moved to a more spacious place. Familiar places are completely unrecognizable, Lao Cheng had to book a newly opened ktv, bring a buffet, and eat without hassle.
Not being able to meet in the "old place" always feels a little weird, making the old classmates party not like a party, but a bit of a "face base" for netizens.
Xu Xilin checked the route in advance, parked the car, and went in with a few bottles of red wine. At the door, he met a tall, long-haired girl who was on the phone. Go inside silently.
The girl suddenly screamed: "Xu Tuanzuo!"
Xu Xilin looked back at her blankly.
The girl said, "Can you do it, I don't even recognize you!"
While smiling awkwardly, Xu Xilin carefully distinguished the facial features of the other party covered with delicate light makeup, but still did not recognize it.
When she saw her height, which was no more than a few centimeters shorter than herself, she was even more puzzled—did there ever be such a tall girl in their class? Could it be that after graduating from high school, someone secretly and shamelessly grew longer
unless…
Xu Xilin: "...Wait, you're not Yu Yan, are you?"
Yu still reduced himself to half the width of the year, as if he had changed his personality. The short hair became long and fluttering, the big pants became a pleated skirt, and he learned to smile without showing his teeth!
She looks like a "normal" girl.
Xu Xilin came late, and when he entered the private room, he found that many people had already arrived. For a moment, he felt that the room was full of strangers.
Wu Tao was blessed early. When he was a teenager, he had a small pointed face. Now he has grown into a square, and he has become a honest man. He looks a lot more gentle, which is very suitable for the image of a physical education teacher in primary and secondary schools.
Luo Bing is also plump, just got engaged, wearing a diamond ring of five or six points on his hand, a small one, but a very delicate style, as if he has stepped into an ordinary and happy marriage with one foot. She can no longer see the twists and turns of her early years. Seeing Xu Xilin entering the door, she greeted him generously. She even reached out and hugged him. She turned around and joked with everyone: "Look at how good my first love is, and how handsome!"
Deng Shu, who was pregnant, laughed at the back: "It's also my first love."
Xu Xilin: "Thank you, thank you, thank you all the beauties for your support, it's worth it I went to make a face yesterday."
He greeted everyone who seemed to be from a different world, and finally raised his eyes to look at Dou Xun in the corner.
Dou Xun chatted with the non-mainstream youth Lao Cheng, but his eyes haven't been divided since Xu Xilin came in. Cai Jing is cutting apples next to them - he is the protagonist in this party, and he has a sense of presence. But it's too thin to be seen if you don't pay attention.
In the private room full of society and life, the three of them are non-mainstream and self-contained.
Xu Xilin paused in his footsteps and joined the "non-mainstream" site.