Driver Lao Liu came to pick up Zhu Xingyao from school. The car passed by an old residential building. This place was called Hexi Lane, which was the most bizarre place around the center of Jiangcheng City. The surrounding areas were all developed prosperously, but this place was the only one that had not been demolished. Going around two streets from here was the Xingyuan Villa District where Zhu Xingyao lived.
She looked out the window and unexpectedly saw two students in the uniform of No. 1 Middle School standing at the entrance of the narrow alley. The boy had a tall and thin back. It was Jiang Tu.
Opposite him stood a petite girl. He even took the pink schoolbag from the girl and hung it on the handlebars of the bicycle. The girl looked up at him and smiled. Zhu Xingyao was so surprised that she sat up straight and stared at the two people with wide eyes. Even after the car drove away, she couldn't help turning her head to look back.
This made Lao Liu curious, and he couldn't help asking: "Miss, do you need me to park the car?"
Zhu Xingyao slowly turned around and said no, it was just the first time she saw Jiang Tu talking to a girl and helping her carry her schoolbag. The girl who let Jiang Tu help carry her schoolbag must have a special relationship with her, right? However, this is also other people's business.
She placed her hands on her knees and sat up straight again.
Jiang Tu pushed his bicycle into the narrow alley. Because the houses were close together, the light was blocked and it became darker as he went inside. The exterior walls of several buildings outside had been repainted a few years ago, reportedly for the sake of the city appearance.
It was just past six o'clock and it was already dark inside. His house was on the first floor. Before he even reached the bottom of the building, Jiang Tu heard Jiang Jinhui cursing, "I'm telling you! This piece of land will be expropriated for development sooner or later. Whether it's calculated by headcount or area, the compensation will be over a million. What's the point of giving you these 20,000 yuan? It's just a small amount of money!"
"This place will be demolished next year at the latest. I'll give you 2% interest."
"Why would I lie to you!"
Bang-
Jiang Tu threw his bicycle away, kicked the door open, walked towards Jiang Jinhui expressionlessly, snatched his broken phone, put it to his ear without even looking at who the other party was, and said coldly: "If you lend him money and he can't pay it back, I won't pay you a penny."
After saying that, he hung up and threw the phone back.
Jiang Jinhui gritted his teeth in anger, looked at his son who was half a head taller than him, and scolded: "What are you doing! Do you really think of your father as your own father?"
Jiang Tuli ignored him, walked out of the house, took off the pink schoolbag hanging on the bicycle, walked to the first floor of the opposite building, and handed it to a middle-aged woman, "Auntie Lin, Lin Jiayu's schoolbag."
He and Lin Jiayu were of the same age, grew up in the same area, went to the same elementary school and junior high school, and went to the same high school. Sometimes they worked part-time together, and she was the girl closest to him. However, since they lived here, everyone was about the same poor, but Lin Jiayu's parents were honest and simple, and their situation was much better than his. After all, not everyone was unlucky enough to have a gambling father.
Aunt Lin took the schoolbag, looked across, and said kindly, "Your mother is on night shift tonight, so you can bring Xiaolu here for dinner later."
Jiang Tu refused, "No, thank you."
It was almost seven o'clock when Jiang Lu went home after having enough fun.
Jiang Jinhui has already gone out, and it goes without saying where he went.
On Sunday evening, Jiang Tu took off his apron from the coffee shop, ending his part-time job for the day. It was already seven o'clock when he walked out of the coffee shop.
The coffee shop was located near the city center square. He walked a few hundred meters forward, entered an Internet cafe, and pulled out Jiang Lu, who was lying behind a chair watching others play World of Warcraft.
By the time Jiang Lu reacted, he had been dragged to the door and immediately began to struggle: "Brother... let me go! They are playing and I haven't finished watching yet! Please let me finish watching!"
"What does their competition have to do with you?"
"I'll just take a look. Please let me go back. It'll only take twenty minutes..."
Jiang Lu had no sense of restraint when he struggled, and waved his hands around. Suddenly, with a loud bang, Jiang Tu's glasses were knocked several meters away and fell next to the flower bed.
Silence for two seconds.
Jiang Tu frowned, and when he looked up, he saw a girl standing near the flower bed with a red cello bag on her back. She was wearing a white sweater and an English-style long skirt, with her long black hair draped softly over her shoulders. She blended into the dim light of the glass street, looking fresh and beautiful.
She was staring at him without blinking, her eyes filled with astonishment.
His fingers suddenly loosened.
When Jiang Lu saw that his glasses had been knocked off, he turned around and ran away in fear of being beaten or scolded: "I'll go back by myself later!"
Jiang Tu didn't look at him, but stared at Zhu Xingyao, and saw her move her feet and take a few big steps forward. Zhu Xingyao was carrying a cello, so she had difficulty moving and was slow to bend down. Her hand rubbed against the back of his hand, and they both stopped at the same time.
Zhu Xingyao stood up and looked down at Jiang Tu, and found that he looked better without glasses. His hair hung down to his eyebrows, his eyelashes were thick and black, and the corners of his eyes were slightly upturned, making him look cold and aloof.
Jiang Tu quickly picked up his glasses and put them on. He stood up and looked down at her. Zhu Xingyao stood in front of him and glanced behind him: "Was that your brother just now? He looks a lot like you."
Jiang Tu said "hmm" in a low and deep voice.
Jiang Lu skipped back to the Internet cafe. Zhu Xingyao remembered what Li Xixi said, that Jiang Tu had a younger brother who was five years younger than him and was very worrying.
Seeing it with my own eyes, he really looked very worried.
Zhu Xingyao asked: "Aren't you going to chase him?"
Jiang Tu didn't expect that she would see him in such an embarrassing state. If she wasn't standing in front of him, he would have chased after her.
This was not their first conversation, he knew that she would carry her cello to this building during holidays, and he heard that there was a private music playing upstairs, so she should be going to class or practicing.
This summer, she went to the coffee shop to buy lemonade several times with her cello on her back. One time, the cashier went to the bathroom and he took the money, but he was wearing a mask at the time, so she didn't look at him much, and even if she did, she might not remember it.
He looked up at her and said, "Forget it. He wants to watch the game. Let him finish it."
Zhu Xingyao didn't know what to say for a moment. She suddenly remembered Zhou Qian's complaints about her brother, saying how naughty and annoying her brother was. Li Xixi asked if there was nothing she could do about it. What did Zhou Qian say at the time? She said, "Yes, a beating would make him behave himself."
"Your brother..." She pointed towards the Internet cafe, her tone very serious, "If he is really too disobedient, just give him a beating. Zhou Qian said that when her brother was disobedient, he would behave himself after a beating."
Jiang Tu looked at her in surprise. He didn't expect her to say such a thing.
A black Mercedes stopped in front of them, the window rolled down, and Ding Yu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked over and said, "Xingxing, get in the car."
Zhu Xingyao didn't wait for Jiang Tu to speak, and looked at him: "I'm leaving first." After thinking for a while, he added, "See you tomorrow... at school."
Jiang Tu paused and nodded: "Yeah."
Zhu Xingyao smiled, opened the car door, put the cello in first, and then got in holding up her skirt. Zhu Yunping was on the phone, and when he heard the sound of the car door closing, he drove out.
Ding Yu glanced at the rearview mirror and asked, "Is that boy your classmate?"
Zhu Xingyao suddenly felt a little annoyed. Jiang Tu's father was a gambler and violent. He grew up in that kind of environment. She even said something like "just give him a beating and he'll be fine"...
Isn't this stupid
She nodded absentmindedly: "Yeah, we just happened to meet."
Ding Yu didn't think much about it and explained with a smile: "You've been waiting for a long time, right? A patient had a problem before we got off work and we were delayed."
"Not long."
Zhu Xingyao lowered the car window and glanced at the rearview mirror. Jiang Tu had already walked away, his back looking tall and thin.
When Jiang Tu returned to the Internet cafe, Jiang Lu had already finished watching the game, so he didn't need him to carry him and took the initiative to follow him home. The two of them walked all the way to the entrance of the alley, which took them half an hour.
A thin figure with a ponytail was standing at the entrance of the alley.
Jiang Tu looked up and saw Lin Jiayu running over to him, explaining, "The street lights were broken and it was too dark. I didn't dare go back. I was just about to ask my dad to pick me up when you guys came back."
The street lights had been broken for two days. Jiang Tu glanced at the dark alley entrance and walked ahead, "Let's go."
Jiang Lu said with disdain: "Sister Jiayu, you are so timid."
Lin Jiayu: "It's none of your business."
Jiang Lu asked her to walk in front, "I'm not afraid. You walk in front of me. My brother and I will protect you."
Lin Jiayu ignored the brat and carefully pinched the corner of Jiang Tu's clothes. Jiang Tu frowned and quickened his pace, and the corner of his clothes automatically slipped away. Lin Jiayu sighed and stomped her feet on the spot. He was so stingy that he couldn't even grab her. When they were young, they held hands and played house, but it became more and more difficult to get along with each other as they grew older.
She followed him and said to his back, "By the way, Brother Liang said that one of their employees asked for leave on Sunday and can't work the night shift. Do you want to go? If you do, I'll let you know."
Jiang Tu's work is different from others. He only has a fixed part-time job. The rest of the time, as long as someone needs to cover for him and it does not conflict with school courses, he will go no matter it is day or night and no matter what the job is, because the pay for temporary cover is higher.
Lin Jiayu sometimes felt that he worked too hard.
After passing through this alley, a ray of light gradually appeared in front of us, coming from the windows of a residential building.
"Then please help me tell him."
Jiang Tu's voice was dull.
Lin Jiayu said: "You can buy a mobile phone later, it will be more convenient."
At this time, most high school students have cell phones, and they can use them as long as they don't get caught playing with their phones during class. Jiang Tu used to have a very old keypad phone, which he usually used to contact his part-time job. Some time ago, debt collectors came over, and Jiang Tu's phone was broken during the fight.
The three of them walked to the door of their home, Jiang Tu said "hmm", and each went home.
When they opened the door, the table was already filled with food. Jiang Jinhui was still not at home. As long as he was not at home, this house still barely felt like a home. Shu Xian came out of the kitchen with a plate in her hand and smiled at them: "You're back, wash your hands and have dinner."
Jiang Lu was very hungry and ran over to grab the chopsticks.
Jiang Tu unceremoniously dragged the man away and said in a deep voice: "If you challenge my patience again today, I will beat you up."
Jiang Lu: “…”
He reluctantly put down his chopsticks and followed his brother to wash his hands.
When Jiang Tu was washing his hands, he suddenly remembered Zhu Xingyao saying seriously, "He'll be obedient after a beating." He found it a little funny for some reason, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
Jiang Lu was like he had seen the King of Hell. He washed his hands and ran away.
On Monday morning, Zhu Yunping was able to take Zhu Xingyao to school. When Li Xixi saw this, she couldn't help but sigh, "Every time I see your father, I can't help but think of my dad. He's also a 40-year-old middle-aged man, but he has a beer belly and his hair is faintly bald. I can't imagine how embarrassed I would be if he turns bald in three years and comes to the parent-teacher meeting! Uncle Zhu is different. He keeps a good figure and is elegant and handsome, like a gentleman."
Zhu Xingyao reminded: "Even if he is bald, he is still your father..."
Li Xixi was very worried: "I know, I'm just afraid that baldness will be hereditary."
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
She couldn't help but ask, "Does your dad know that you dislike him so much?"
Li Xixi laughed heartlessly: "How dare I let him know."
Zhu Xingyao walked towards the school and said, "Next time I go to your house, I'll tell him."
Li Xixi: “…”
The school gate was full of students wearing the same uniform. They were loose and had no shape. However, some people had good figures, so this kind of uniform looked good on them. Zhu Xingyao was one of them. Li Xixi could feel everyone's eyes following her unconsciously. She quickly chased after them and said fiercely, "If you dare to say that, I will break up with you!"
Zhu Xingyao was fearless: "I am beautiful, you can't bear to let me go."
After the flag-raising ceremony, they returned to the classroom and representatives from each subject began to collect homework. Zhu Xingyao encountered difficulties in collecting homework for the first time. She stood at the last table in the first group and felt worried when she saw the boy who had his head buried in the desk and seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Jiang Tu was sleeping, with his glasses taken off and resting on a pile of textbooks, his hands also resting on them. His fingers were long and slender, whiter than those of most boys, and the veins on the back of his hands were clearly visible, making him look slender and strong.
Zhu Xingyao glanced at his desk. It was tidy, but there was no homework book to be seen.
Ding Xiang always seems to be copying homework.
He quickly looked up at Zhu Xingyao, then lowered his head to copy, "Jiang Tu's homework is here, I'll copy it right away."
It turns out that I did my homework.
Seeing Ding Xiang copying homework word for word, Zhu Xingyao couldn't help but say, "Can you write your own homework for once? I seem to see you copying homework every day. By the way, Jiang Tu got full marks in physics, and you just passed the physics test in the last monthly exam."
Ding Xiang blushed at what the goddess said, and deliberately wrote a wrong answer, coughed and said, "I won't let you see me copying next time."
Zhou Qian came over and said angrily: "You are mentally retarded! Is this what Zhu Xingyao meant?"
Li Xixi still hated Ding Xiang because she was mocked for her stunted development last time, so she immediately came over and joined the team attacking Ding Xiang, "Xingxing wants you to copy homework with some level, okay? Idiot!"
The math class representative came over and cursed, "Ding Xiang, hurry up!"
Chinese class representative: "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Chemistry class representative: "Quick!"
Ding Xiang: “…”
For a moment, Jiang Tu's desk was surrounded by people, making a lot of noise.
Jiang Tu buried his head, sleeping very uncomfortably. He moved his hands and pushed his glasses forward a little with his fingertips. After Ding Xiang finished copying the homework, he stood up and slammed the homework on the table: "Give it to me! It's urgent!"
The homework book accidentally hit the temple of the glasses and flew out. The key point was that no one could see clearly what happened. They just saw that something seemed to fall down.
Zhu Xingyao was the first one to finish his homework. Just as he took a step and was about to go out, disaster suddenly struck.
Snap—
A very crisp sound.
She looked down at her feet and saw that the black-framed glasses that were just next to Jiang Tu's hand were broken by her unexpectedly. She stepped on them so hard that the frame, which was not of very good quality, broke into three pieces.
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and were stunned.
Ding Xiang was stunned: "Fuck! No way..." He looked down at Jiang Tu's desk, and his glasses were gone. He looked at Zhu Xingyao, then looked down at Jiang Tu, and was speechless for a moment, "That..."
"Is it Jiang Tu's glasses? I didn't even look at them carefully, how come they suddenly fell off?"
"I didn't see it clearly..."
“It seemed to fly away suddenly.”
It's really too noisy.
Jiang Tu sat up straight with his elbows on the table, frowned and looked up. He looked very sharp without his glasses, and there was a lot of impatience in his eyes, which made everyone around him quiet down.
Zhu Xingyao pursed her lips and turned to look at him: "Um, I accidentally stepped on your glasses and broke them..."