2009—Yaoyao Tianshangxing: "Brother Tu, you haven't told me your cell phone number yet."
2010—Stars in the Distant Sky: “Brother Tu, is that star light you gave me?”
2011—Yaoyao Tianshangxing: "Brother Tu, Xixi is participating in the xx female singing competition. If you have time, please vote for her."
2012—Stars in the Distant Sky: "Brother Tu, I'm going to have a concert this summer, do you want to come? I'll save a ticket for you!"
February 2013—Stars in the Distant Sky: “Brother Tu.”
The last one was from August 2013—Yaoyao Tianshangxing: “Brother Tu, can you pay attention to me?”
From 2009 to 2013, Zhu Xingyao sent many messages to Jiang Tu on QQ, but all of them fell on deaf ears. In the end, her words were filled with only grievance and sadness. Even so, he ignored her.
Over the years, Zhu Xingyao had many doubts and grievances, but no one gave her an answer, and no one came to comfort her.
Those star-shaped lights almost lit up her entire teenage years, making her crazy and impulsive.
She always thought that the person who could take the trouble to give her a whole field of stars must love her very, very much.
Over the years, she recalled the details of that period over and over again. She remembered that he often skipped classes and slept during the day. He also asked her quietly:
"Those star lights last night, weren't they beautiful?"
"You like it?"
Her memory left clues. It wasn't Lu Ji. Apart from Jiang Tu, she couldn't think of anyone else who would spend so much time and effort to make those thousands of stars. Who else could be responsible for such a huge project
Zhu Xingyao stared at the friend request with the starry sky avatar, her nose sour, and tears suddenly fell on the phone screen. She had almost no doubt that this person was Jiang Tu. After a while, she quit WeChat, put down her phone, turned off the light and got into the thin blanket.
She ignored him too.
The night fell into silence, the stars fell asleep, and Jiang Tu’s friend request was thrown into the darkness.
The next night, at the Jiang family dinner table, Lin Jiayu's family came to eat and welcomed Jiang Tu. Father Lin looked at Jiang Tu and was filled with emotion: "Who would have thought that we were so poor in Hexi Lane a few years ago? Your family had a much harder time than ours. Now everything is over, and we have survived everything. We don't have to live a hard life anymore. It's great."
Shu Xian looked much older in the past few years, but her features still showed her youthful grace. She had been holding back tears when she saw Jiang Tu before, but now she couldn't help but raise her hand to wipe her eyes: "Yeah, it's all over."
Those were not just simple hard days, they still seem like suffering when I think about them now.
Talking about the past, Jiang Tu's face was still emotionless, but Jiang Lu said dissatisfiedly: "It's been so long, can you please stop mentioning my dark childhood? Aren't you afraid that I have psychological problems?"
Lin Jiayu rolled her eyes: "You didn't miss anything at that time, from eating to sleeping to going to the black internet cafe. What's wrong with you?"
The biggest victim, Jiang Tu, has no psychological problems.
Shu Xian put several dishes that Jiang Tu liked in front of him. Jiang Tu didn't say anything and just ate quietly. Father Lin looked at him and turned to ask Jiang Tu: "Jiang Tu, when will you start work?"
Jiang Tu said, "Maybe in a few days."
He just came back, and the company gave him a vacation to rest. He had been studying and working hard for many years without a moment's slack, and he hardly knew what a vacation was.
"What does artificial intelligence study? I heard from Jiayu that you are doing this now." Father Lin was curious.
Jiang Tu didn't care whether he could understand or not. He explained it as simply as possible, giving the simplest example, a sweeping robot. He knew that Lin Jiayu had bought one for them.
After dinner, Jiang Lu was sent to wash the dishes. The three elders sat on the sofa and chatted. Jiang Tu's phone rang once. He went to the balcony and answered the call for 20 minutes. Mother Lin kept looking over there and sighed, "Jiang Tu doesn't have a girlfriend, right?"
Shu Xian said helplessly: "I don't know how to ask, but it seems that there is no such thing. Look at how many times his phone rang, and it was all about work."
Mother Lin looked at Lin Jiayu who was eating grapes and said, "Jiayu doesn't have a boyfriend either. She's already 26 years old. I'm so worried."
Lin Jiayu: “…”
She knew what her mother was planning with just her toes, and she said with a smile, "Mom, I'm telling you, don't think about Jiang Tu anymore. There's no way he and I will be together in this life, so give up!"
Mother Lin really regretted it. Who knew Jiang Tu would be so successful now? Even if he still had a useless father, it didn't matter. After all, it was hard to find a son-in-law as good-looking and promising as Jiang Tu. She whispered, "If I had known, I would have let you fall in love early."
Lin Jiayu: “…”
Even if Jiang Tu is in love prematurely, he won't be with her!
Shu Xian looked at Lin Jiayu. This girl had grown much prettier in the past few years. She looked like a beautiful girl from a small family. She couldn't help but laugh, "Why is it impossible?"
Lin Jiayu glanced at the balcony and smiled: "It's impossible anyway, so don't ask."
On the balcony, Jiang Tu hung up the phone and opened WeChat. He had set the work group messages to be do not disturb, so WeChat was empty and there were no messages. He gently rolled his Adam's apple, swallowed the unspeakable emotions, and put the phone back into his trouser pocket.
A few days after returning home, Jiang Tu met with his work partners one after another. On Friday evening, he drove to Xingyuan Villa and parked under the shade of a tree where he could see Zhu Xingyao's front yard. When it was completely dark, a Mercedes-Benz stopped in the yard, and Zhu Xingyao got out of the car with a cello bag on her back. She was slender and walked lightly to the door of her house, and soon disappeared.
Jiang Tu took a long time to look away and drove home.
He walked into the study, turned on his computer, and opened QQ. Apart from some groups, there were almost no messages in his already small friend list. His email was linked to several forums. After graduation, he used his work email, so some of his QQ emails were rarely used and he rarely checked them.
At this time, an email reminder pops up in the lower right corner of the computer.
Jiang Tu opened his mailbox to clean it up. His eyes scanned it from top to bottom and suddenly stopped. Two months ago, Ding Xiang sent an email to everyone in the Grade 3 (1) class. It was an electronic invitation. He was getting married, and the wedding would be held at 7pm on August 20th.
It happened to be Sunday, two days later.
Jiang Tu replied: Congratulations, I will attend on time.
Soon, QQ started flashing, and Ding Xiang was very excited.
Ding Xiang: “Brother Tu????”
Ding Xiang: "You're alive?!"
Ding Xiang: "No, no, I mean your account hasn't been hacked? Is it you?"
Jiang Tu looked at the dialog box and smiled.
He replied: “It’s me.”
Ding Xiang was about to cry. He sent a voice message directly: "I am not dreaming! I heard that you went abroad. When did you come back? Can you give me your phone number and WeChat? I haven't seen you for a long time."
Jiang Tu sent the phone number and WeChat, paused, and asked: "Do you want to come out and sit down?"
Ding Xiang couldn't ask for more!
They met at a barbecue restaurant in a nearby food court. Jiang Tu drove himself and arrived a little earlier than him. He sat down at the table at the edge of the restaurant, where the light was a little dim.
The food street was bustling and noisy on a summer night. The barbecue restaurant was almost full. Ding Xiang was still wearing a police uniform. When he walked in, everyone thought something had happened and looked over. Ding Xiang coughed and said, "Don't be nervous, I'm here to eat barbecue too."
Jiang Tu was still wearing the same clothes he wore during the day, a white shirt and black trousers. He leaned on a chair and looked over. He looked a little out of place in the barbecue restaurant. He used to work there. Ding Xiang was in a trance when he saw him, scratched his head, and then strode over.
Jiang Tu stood up.
During the three years of high school, Ding Xiang was the boy closest to Jiang Tu. Seeing Ding Xiang in a uniform, with the acne on his face long gone, he smiled and said, "It suits you very well."
Ding Xiang grinned, and suddenly didn't know what to say. He said, "Brother Tu, you have changed a lot."
Jiang Tu sat down and asked, "Is it big?"
Ding Xiang sat down opposite him, looked at him and said, "Actually, the appearance hasn't changed much, but... the feeling is different. Maybe it's because we haven't seen each other for too long, and the impression is still stuck on the high school days. I'm already 27 or 28 years old, and I've become a man."
"What do you want to eat?" Jiang Tu handed over the menu. "I ordered a few random things. Take a look at what you want to add."
"Let's have some beer then."
Beer and barbecue were served. Ding Xiang took a sip of beer to calm down, then started talking: "Have you settled down this time when you came back?"
Not many people know about Jiang Tu, but we can hear some rumors. For example, we heard that he got a girlfriend very soon in college, and his girlfriend always paid for the rooms they checked in. There were also rumors that he won awards in science and technology competitions, and the same was true when he went abroad...
I just haven't heard that he has come back recently.
"Yeah." Jiang Tu said.
"So what are you doing now?"
“Artificial intelligence.”
"That's good. This field is developing well now. You can make money by doing this." Ding Xiang said while eating. He didn't study hard when he was in school and was admitted to a second-tier police academy. Now he is quite satisfied. He talked about his wedding, "Li Xixi and Zhu Xingyao can come. You haven't seen them for a long time, right?"
Jiang Tu half-lowered his eyes, his voice slightly lowered: "Well, I haven't seen you since graduation."
Ding Xiang didn't notice anything and continued, "That's a good opportunity to meet them now. They will definitely be happy. Li Xixi is a big star now. It's hard to meet her! Goddess... Oh, my girlfriend doesn't allow me to call her goddess. Zhu Xingyao didn't have any concerts in the past two years. She had one last year. This year, she's much more active. Did you see it? There's news about her on the Internet."
Back then, Zhu Xingyao went on stage to help Li Xixi in the finals, and became famous for a while because of her beautiful looks. She was indeed active for a while during that period, and basically appeared at Li Xixi's events. Some singers began to invite her to go on stage to compose music.
Jiang Tu has watched every performance and activity she participated in, and Du Yunfei really regards Zhu Xingyao as a goddess and often talks about her in the dormitory.
After the Spring Festival in 2013, Zhu Xingyao has rarely appeared on the screen. She said through the media that she will graduate soon and will concentrate on studying in the next two years. The next time we see her is when she will hold a concert.
From 2013 to 2015, Jiang Tu hardly saw any news about Zhu Xingyao on the Internet.
At the beginning, some paparazzi would take photos of her, but they only took up a small amount of space, and then they almost disappeared. Until the beginning of 2016, Zhu Xingyao appeared at Li Xixi's performance again, holding her precious cello to support her, and opened a Weibo account, occasionally posting a few updates, very casually.
For Jiang Tu, Zhu Xingyao has always been active in his eyes.
Jiang Tu didn't eat barbecue very often. After drinking half a can of beer, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair smoking calmly, just like when he was in school. He seemed to be nonchalant when listening to Ding Xiang talking about Zhu Xingyao, but he was actually very serious.
After a while, Ding Xiang suddenly said, "By the way, she broke up with Lu Ji. It seems like they broke up a long time ago."
Jiang Tu was silent for a moment, then smiled faintly: "I heard about it."
Ding Xiang muttered, "It's really hard to maintain a long-distance relationship. What a pity. I used to think they were a good match. Lu Ji also put a lot of effort into pursuing Zhu Xingyao. Now the students of No. 1 Middle School are still discussing that piece of star lights. Their photos are still posted on the forum. It's simply a model of premature love! People often try to imitate them, but they never succeed. There was even a boy who fell from a tree and broke his bones. Director Liu was so angry that he would often use Lu Ji and Zhu Xingyao as negative examples to educate them."
Jiang Tu lowered his eyes, took a puff of cigarette, and said nothing.
At about 12 o'clock, Ding Xiang's girlfriend called to urge him to go home before he left. Jiang Tu called a designated driver, and Ding Xiang stood on the roadside with him waiting. He flipped through WeChat and asked, "Can I post a circle of friends? Give us a heads-up in advance so that everyone won't be too surprised at the wedding the day after tomorrow."
"Just send it if you want." Jiang Tu said, looking ahead.
At the time, he didn't know that Ding Xiang had taken the photo.
The next morning, the number of messages in the Senior 3 (1) class WeChat group increased to 99+. Everyone in the class was talking about Jiang Tu. Zhu Xingyao did not check it out, but a message from Li Xixi came over.
Li Xixi: "What the hell! I actually saw Jiang Tu in Ding Xianghua's circle of friends!"
Li Xixi: "[Picture] Did you see that? He's back, I almost didn't recognize him! It looks like he's doing well now. I knew he was good-looking in high school, but I didn't expect that after shedding that high school skin, he would be so outstanding."
Zhu Xingyao was carrying a cello and preparing to get in the car. She stood under the camphor tree in the yard. The morning sun was bright and gentle, and pieces of golden light leaked from the branches and fell on her. She clicked on the picture. The photo was taken casually, with dim light. The man had fair skin and cold features. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and lowered his eyes. His temperament was still cold, but he looked mature and handsome, which was different from what she remembered. She lowered her head and stared for a moment, then looked up at herself reflected in the car window. Compared with high school, they had all grown up.
She replied to Li Xixi: "I know he is back."
Li Xixi was probably busy and didn't reply for a long time.
On the wedding day, Zhu Xingyao was afraid of traffic jams, so she asked Lao Liu to take her out at 5:30. Lao Liu took her to the elevator entrance of the hotel's underground parking lot. Zhu Xingyao got off the car with a cello on her back and a large bag of things. She and Li Xixi promised Ding Xiang that they would perform for his guests at his wedding to save his face. Li Xixi, Xu Xiangyang and Lu Ji were in Beijing most of the time. Li Xixi and Xu Xiangyang flew back on the afternoon flight and were rushing over not long after getting off the plane.
Lao Liu said, "I'll park the car and carry it up for you."
Zhu Xingyao smiled and said, "No, it's not that heavy. Go back and eat first. I may finish very late tonight, so you don't have to pick me up."
When Lao Liu was reversing, a black Mercedes-Benz next to them had just parked and drove into the parking lot along with their car.
She turned and walked towards the elevator entrance. She heard a click. It was the sound of the Mercedes door opening. She stood in front of the elevator door waiting for the elevator, and there were several people standing next to her. The elevator door opened, and she let others go in first. Just as she was about to take a step, her left hand suddenly felt light, and the bag was taken away from behind.
Zhu Xingyao was stunned and quickly turned his head away.
She moved too fast, and her long hair flew up, brushing against the man's arm, with a strand of hair hanging on it, with a hint of entanglement. She raised her fair and beautiful face and stared blankly at the man standing behind her.
Jiang Tu lowered his eyes and saw his face reflected in her clear eyes.
"Are you guys coming in?"
In the elevator, someone asked nervously, but they seemed not to hear it and the elevator door slowly began to close.
Zhu Xingyao suddenly came back to her senses. She lowered her head and blinked. When she saw the elevator door closed, she reached out to call the elevator. Jiang Tu grabbed her hand from behind and whispered above her head, "It's very dangerous. Let's wait for the next one."
Zhu Xingyao pursed his lips, lowered his head, and said nothing.
The author has something to say: I’m on my knees…
This story begins on campus. Brother Tu is not proactive, Xingxing is kept in the dark, and there is also Lu Ji... I thought for a long time and didn't know how to connect the two parallel lines, so I created Lin Jiayu, a character who can connect them. This is also the first time I write such a depressing theme. It is the first time I write that the heroine is with the second male lead first, and I also wrote the whole process. In fact, I have the plot smooth, but my writing ability is limited. I write very slowly and always waste the draft. I slowly think about it and feel that it is written right. I think about it every day in a state of collapse, and I have stayed up all night many times.
I was relieved after finishing the school part, but I couldn't switch to it all at once. I'm still adjusting to the feeling of the two grown up, so I'm still writing very slowly. This book is the one that took me the most energy and stayed up late in the five years I've been writing. The poor updating is my fault. Sometimes I see messages asking when the update will be done. At that time, I estimated that I could probably finish it, but when the time came, I couldn't write it to my satisfaction, so I had to keep revising it. I didn't slack off, and it really took me a lot of time every day. I won't estimate the update time in the future. I'll write as much as I can every day, but I'm really sorry~
It's still 300 red envelopes, thank you everyone~