Lu Ji put the envelope away, turned around with ease, and suddenly met Jiang Tu's cold gaze. He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that it seemed not so good to do such a thing in front of him
However, he felt that a boy like Jiang Tu would not meddle in other people's business, so he put his hands in his trouser pockets, walked to the back door, and looked at Jiang Tu as if nothing had happened: "Let's go together."
Jiang Tu didn't know whether Lu Ji thought he was blind or didn't take him seriously. He said calmly, "You are so blatant, aren't you afraid that I will report you?"
"Fuck!" Zhou Yuanxian was furious. "You're not kidding, are you? This kind of thing should be understood privately by everyone. Why report it? There are so many boys chasing Zhu Xingyao. Can you report them all?"
Jiang Tu glanced at him expressionlessly and said nothing.
Lu Ji didn't seem to expect him to say that. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled, "You definitely won't."
Jiang Tu was silent. He picked up the schoolbag on the table, turned to face the door, and said with a stern face: "You guys hurry out, I'm going to lock the door."
Lu Ji and Zhou Yuan walked out, Jiang Tu locked the door, turned around and left.
It was already past six o'clock. Except for the students on duty in each class, almost everyone else had left. The three of them went downstairs one after the other and walked towards the bicycle shed together. Jiang Tu walked very fast, took out his bicycle and got on.
Zhou Yuan called out to him worriedly, "Hey, wait a minute!"
Jiang Tu looked at him.
Zhou Yuan asked: "You really won't report it?"
Jiang Tu said "boring" coldly and rode out on his bike.
Zhou Yuan: “…”
He looked at Lu Ji, pointed at Jiang Tu who was almost out of sight, and said with a dark face: "I always feel that what he wanted to say just now was to report your sister."
Lu Ji laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. "You are indeed quite boring. He was just joking."
There are some things you can never predict, whether it is a joke or a prophecy.
On Friday morning, Zhu Xingyao found the letter in her desk. The big golden envelope stood out among a pile of colorful envelopes, as if it was inlaid with gold. Zhu Xingyao pulled it out and saw the familiar ticket stub cover on it. This was the first time someone gave her tickets to a cello concert.
Li Xixi exclaimed: "Who is this! He knows so much!"
Zhu Xingyao was also surprised. The lowest price for tickets to Chen Lan's orchestra concert was several hundred yuan. Although Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School had many wealthy students, this was the first time she met a boy who knew how to cater to her interests after so many years of school.
The boys openly and secretly called her the cello goddess. Some invited her to dinner, some invited her to sing karaoke, and some invited her to the amusement park...
But no one invited her to the concert.
Zhu Xingyao opened the envelope and found two concert tickets inside. Also falling out was a white note paper. The handwriting on it looked somewhat familiar. She had just seen it yesterday, but it was neater than the diagnosis written on the draft paper yesterday.
There was a line of words written on it: Let’s go to the concert together this weekend.
She turned her head stiffly to look at Li Xixi, and they both looked at each other in shock.
Li Xixi quickly flipped over the two tickets and looked at them, saying again, "Wow, the seat is pretty good, in the middle of the second row."
Zhu Xingyao: "...Is this the point?"
Of course not!
Li Xixi blinked, glanced around like a thief, and said excitedly, "I told you! What did I say yesterday? I said what if he likes you? I am a prophet!"
Zhu Xingyao pursed his lips and turned to look at her: "You are not predicting anything, you are simply casting a curse."
Li Xixi patted his chest and said, "Let me calm down."
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
She's the one who should be calmed down, okay? Why are you calming down
A few seconds later.
After calming down, Li Xixi came closer and asked with a smile, "Lu Ji is the male god of our school. Compared with ordinary boys, he is like a golden boy. If he pursues you, it should feel very different, right?"
Zhu Xingyao didn't know how to describe it. After thinking for a while, she said, "It's very unexpected, right? You said he was everyone's idol. The idol... stepped down from the altar?" That wasn't right. She was no worse than him. She shook her head and made another analogy, "It's just very unexpected. Can you imagine me chasing after a boy, or suddenly liking a boy?"
Li Xixi was stunned for a moment, holding her chin and looking at her: "I understand what you said, it seems that I have never seen you like any boy. At most, you praised him for being handsome, powerful, and a nice person..." She paused, and suddenly realized, "I feel like I have finally seen you clearly today. You have been giving others the nice guy card! My star goddess!"
Zhu Xingyao: "What else? If I reject someone, do I have to stab him in the heart?"
Li Xixi: “…”
That's so tragic.
Li Xixi snorted, "Didn't you go to Beijing to watch the first show during the National Day holiday? I guess Lu Ji didn't find out clearly, so what about the ticket?"
"Go back."
Even if it was Lu Ji, Zhu Xingyao always refused outright. Li Xixi understood that beautiful people could be willful after all. Considering that the target was the male god Lu, she confirmed again: "Lu Ji is really handsome, do you really want to consider it again?"
Zhu Xingyao took out her textbook to prepare for morning reading, lowered her head and said, "I can't date him just because he's good-looking, right? Then how many people would I have to date!"
Li Xixi: "What you said makes a lot of sense. I can't refute it."
He was a man of my dreams! Only Zhu Xingyao could reject him so straightforwardly.
Zhu Xingyao thought for a moment and said, "Come with me to return the ticket after school."
Behind them, Zhou Qian kicked their chairs hard: "Put your things away quickly, Lao Cao is here."
Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi hurriedly stuffed the pile of letters back into the hole in the table. Just as they finished, Cao Shujun walked in. His face was unusually serious and his tone was stern: "The midterm exam is almost here, and you are still so lazy. Have you finished your review?"
Everyone took out their books silently, not daring to say a word.
The whole day was a little subtle. Class 7 and Class 8 were next to each other, and they ran next to each other during exercises. Class 7 even had to pass by Class 8 to go to the toilet. Every time Zhu Xingyao left the classroom, she would run into Lu Ji standing in the corridor.
Their eyes met. After all, they were young and both felt a little embarrassed. Lu Ji knew that she must have seen it. Zhu Xingyao felt that he was waiting for her reply.
Jiang Tu leaned against the wall and saw Zhu Xingyao and Lu Ji looking at each other. From his direction, he could only see Lu Ji smiling.
The weather was not too cold and the corridor was always busy. It became even more busy after Lu Ji came back. Ding Xiang was lying on the guardrail chatting and laughing with the boys. When Zhu Xingyao passed by, a boy from Class 8 whistled. Lu Ji pressed the boy's head and then smiled at Zhu Xingyao.
Zhu Xingyao paused and looked at Lu Ji. Lu Ji was wearing a clean school uniform with a light-colored sweater underneath. The corners of his mouth were curved into a smile, and he looked like a warm and sunny boy.
Ding Xiang was stunned when he saw this scene. He returned to his seat and whispered, "Fuck, why do I feel like Lu Ji likes goddesses? Does he really want to be a live-in son-in-law?"
Jiang Tu lowered his eyes, his mood suddenly became very bad, and he looked cold and irritable.
Ding Xiang suddenly heard a "click" sound and turned around in shock. He saw Jiang Tu pressing down with his thumb and breaking a 2B pencil into two pieces.
He asked tremblingly, "What's wrong with you?"
Jiang Tu let go of his hand, took out a rusty knife, lowered his head to sharpen a pencil, and said in a dull voice, "Nothing, I just think the pencil is too long."
Ding Xiang: “…”
He looked at the pencil that was broken into two short pieces with an indescribable look on his face, thinking that his deskmate might have a bad temper... Who would break a pencil for fun!
After school on Friday, the classroom was empty in an instant. Zhu Xingyao and Li Xixi packed their schoolbags slowly. She put on her schoolbag and turned around and was stunned, "Jiang Tu, you haven't left yet?"
Jiang Tu stood up and caught a glimpse of two tall and thin figures standing in the corridor. The two men were talking in low voices, which could be vaguely heard in his ears.
Zhou Yuan said proudly: "I said she would wait for you. She is a goddess, and you are also a male god. I don't know why you are so nervous."
Lu Ji whispered: "You don't understand."
Zhou Yuan: "Don't look down on me. I've been in more relationships than you've participated in competitions."
Lu Ji: "So you don't understand."
Liking only one person is different from liking many people. Jiang Tu stood up at that moment, looked up at Zhu Xingyao, and said in a hoarse voice: "Let's go now."
The weather was getting colder and colder, and he was still wearing that thin T-shirt under his school uniform. Zhu Xingyao sighed in her heart that he was really not afraid of the cold, and then she curved her eyebrows and said, "Goodbye."
The young man turned around, his back looking tall, thin and neat.
Li Xixi glanced back and whispered, "In fact, if Jiang Tu wasn't so gloomy, his family conditions were better, and he took off his glasses, he would have the looks and temperament of a perfect male god."
Zhu Xingyao thought of what Jiang Tu looked like without glasses. His temperament was completely different from Lu Ji's, but that didn't stop him from attracting girls' attention. Many girls said he was good-looking.
She turned to look at Li Xixi: "Do you like Jiang Tu's type?"
Li Xixi smiled and said, "I like him, but boys like Jiang Tu are cold and difficult to train. I can't control him."
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
Okay, she knew that Li Xixi had already added Jiang Tu as a member of the "Li Xixi Appearance Association", for good-looking people.
Li Xixi added: "Besides... it must be difficult to be with him. You see, many girls say he is very good-looking, right? But have you seen any girl chasing after him? Or have you seen any girl getting close to him?"
Zhu Xingyao thought for a moment and said, "He has a childhood sweetheart, and they have a very good relationship."
"Wow! Is this true?"
"Hush."
Zhu Xingyao felt that this was Jiang Tu’s business and it was not good for others to hear it, so she covered Li Xixi’s mouth. When she raised her eyes, she saw Lu Ji leaning on the corridor railing and looking at her.
She paused, put down her hand, grabbed Li Xixi, and they walked over together.
Lu Ji was really nervous, but when she saw Zhu Xingyao handing over an envelope from her schoolbag, she suddenly felt relieved, as if it was something she had expected.
Zhu Xingyao said: "Thank you, but I went to Beijing to listen to it during the National Day holiday."
Lu Ji looked down at the envelope, but didn't take it. He looked down at her and said, "If you've read it, you can give it to a friend or anyone else."
Zhou Yuan didn't expect Lu Ji to be rejected. He was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but speak up for his brother: "It's been sent out and it's coming back. Isn't it... too embarrassing? If you don't want to accept it, just give it away."
Zhu Xingyao was a little embarrassed. Lu Ji kicked him and looked at her: "How about this, next time you hold a concert, please save a few tickets for me, okay?"
Zhu Xingyao was stunned, thought about it, nodded and said, "Okay."
The night always comes quickly in late autumn. On Friday, everyone leaves especially quickly. Less than ten minutes after school, the campus is almost half empty. The hustle and bustle fades away, and the campus becomes deserted and desolate.
Jiang Tu stood under a dead tree in the library, looked back at the classroom corridor, stepped on a pile of dead leaves, and walked away.
Zhu Xingyao gave the two tickets to Li Xixi. Li Xixi said she was going to sell them to scalpers. She was embarrassed for a while and let her do whatever she wanted.
On Saturday afternoon, Zhu Xingyao went to the practice room to practice piano until six o'clock. The band members she was working with left or went to eat. A senior sister called her: "Xingyao, don't you want to come with us?"
Zhu Xingyao put the cello into her bag, stood up and smiled: "No, my dad will pick me up later."
"Happy child, let's go now."
"Bye-Bye."
She had just waved to her senior sister when her cell phone rang. Zhu Yunping had an emergency dinner and said he couldn't come to pick her up. He had asked Lao Liu to come and pick her up, and he should be downstairs soon.
Zhu Xingyao pouted, a little unhappy: "Well, Mommy is also not free, and you are getting busier and busier. I am almost a child left in a detention center."
Zhu Yunping felt very sorry and coaxed her with a smile: "After your midterm exam is over, we will go out for a big meal together. You should go back early and let Aunt Zhang cook for you. Review your lessons well in the evening."
After hanging up the phone, Zhu Xingyao sighed and walked away carrying the heavy cello.
There is always a bit of traffic jam at this time on weekends, especially at the west entrance of Hexi Lane, where many night market stalls are set up at midnight. Now the car is stuck at the intersection and can't move. Lao Liu sighed and turned around and said, "Miss, I don't know what's going on up ahead, it's blocked."
Zhu Xingyao lowered the car window a little and smelled the aroma wafting from the night market. She felt even hungrier. She knew there was a very good duck blood and vermicelli soup restaurant nearby. She and Ding Yu had eaten there several times before.
"I want to get off here."
Zhu Xingyao walked forward for a few dozen meters and saw the reason for the road blockage. A car hit a hawker who was selling midnight snacks on a tricycle. The two had failed to agree on compensation, and the hawker was cursing loudly but refused to give way, blocking the road so that no traffic could pass.
Fortunately she got off the bus, otherwise the traffic jam would have lasted for a long time.
Zhu Xingyao was a little directionally challenged, and she thought it was because she always took the car when she went out. She wandered around the older shops in that area for almost half an hour but couldn't find the store.
She was tired and hungry, standing under the dim street light at the corner with a frown on her face, her whole body exuding a sense of confusion and dejection.
Like every ordinary night, Jiang Tu walked into the black Internet cafe at the corner of the street that sheltered primary school students. A few days ago, Jiang Jinhui won money, but Jiang Tu disdained to take it. However, Jiang Lu took the opportunity to ask for a lot of pocket money.
He spent most of the money in Internet cafes.
He was turning on the computer, a small and thin guy, hunched in a chair, playing a game with others.
The network administrator got scared when he saw Jiang Tu. He quickly ran out of the counter and was about to grab Jiang Lu. Jiang Tu raised his hand to stop him, strode over, stood behind the chair and stared at the screen.
He didn't understand why this little kid Jiang Lu was so obsessed with this game. Jiang Lu clacked on the keyboard and pressed the mouse furiously until a boy three or four years older than him came over and whispered in his ear, "Turn your head back."
"… "
Jiang Lu turned around and was almost frightened to death.
Jiang Tu saw that the time displayed on his phone was only 10 minutes left. He picked him up expressionlessly. Jiang Lu hurriedly shouted: "Brother, there are still 10 minutes! Don't waste it..."
Then he was taken aside.
Jiang Tu got in. Jiang Lu looked at him in confusion and asked again, "Brother, what are you going to do?"
They didn't have a computer at home, nor did they have the money to buy one. Jiang Tu rarely went to Internet cafes. He clicked on the web search page, his fingers paused on the keyboard, and said, "Look something up."
"oh… "
Jiang Lu wasn't interested in what he was checking, so he moved over to look at other people's screens.
Jiang Tu searched for "Jiangcheng Cello Concert" in the search bar, and many pages popped up. He clicked on one and found that the Chen Lan Orchestra's concert in Jiangcheng would be held at 7:30 pm on Saturday.
10 minutes are up.
At exactly 7:30, the computers in the Internet cafe automatically locked themselves.
Jiang Tu carried his troubled brother out of the Internet cafe, and Jiang Lu shouted: "I want to eat duck blood vermicelli, I have my own money, I stole it from that gambler's pocket..."
That gambler was talking about their biological father.
"There's food left for you at home."
Jiang Tu grabbed his collar, and with a glance, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around and saw the slender figure of the girl under the street light, with long hair softly flowing over her shoulders. She suddenly turned around, her face was white, with soft and beautiful features. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him, and she called him in surprise: "Jiang Tu!"
He thought it was probably an illusion.
He blinked, and she was already standing in front of him, saying with surprise, "It's great to see you!"
Jiang Tu grabbed Jiang Lu's collar tightly, and Jiang Lu was strangled and coughed: "Ke... Ke brother, if you don't loosen up, your brother will die!"
Jiang Tu came back to his senses, loosened his hand, lowered his eyes to look at the smiling girl in front of him, and said in a low voice: "Zhu Xingyao?" Yes, it's so good to see you. At that moment, it seemed like something in my heart had withered and turned green again, died and came back to life again.
Zhu Xingyao ignored the strangeness in his tone and smiled happily: "That's great, I was lost just now and just happened to see you..."
"Why are you here?"
At 7:30, shouldn't she be attending a concert with Lu Ji
Zhu Xingyao explained a little embarrassedly: "The driver and I were stuck at an intersection. My mother and I had eaten duck blood vermicelli nearby before, and I wanted to find that store, but couldn't find it..."
Jiang Lu looked at Zhu Xingyao with curiosity, and suddenly remembered the goddess of their school that Lin Jiayu mentioned. He smiled sweetly: "Sister, are you my brother's classmate?"
Zhu Xingyao was a little surprised. She looked at the troublesome kid and didn't expect him to be so sweet. Unlike Jiang Tu, she pursed her lips and smiled: "Yes, classmate."
"You want to eat duck blood vermicelli? I'll take you there! I want to eat it too, my brother..."
"Shut up." Jiang Tu growled.
Jiang Lu: “…”
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
Quite fierce.
Jiang Tu paused and looked at Zhu Xingyao: "I'm not talking about you."
Zhu Xingyao suppressed his laughter: "I know."
"Let's go." Jiang Tu calmly retracted his gaze and turned to look at the alley in front. "The store you mentioned is on the street ahead. You went the wrong way. I'll take you there."
"Okay." Zhu Xingyao was almost starving. She followed him and couldn't help but say, "Here... many places look similar."
It's a pretty old street, and the shops all look similar except for their different signboards.
Jiang Lu was not dragged away. He waited until they left before realizing that he was left behind. He hurriedly chased after them, touched his stomach and said, "Then brother... can I have a bowl too?"
Jiang Tu frowned and said unhappily: "Did I say I won't give you any to eat?"
Jiang Lu: “…”
You clearly said it before!
Zhu Xingyao silently turned his head to look at the two brothers, his eyes fell on Jiang Tu's profile. He had a very straight nose, a long neck, a taut jaw, and his entire outline became clear and beautiful in the night, even the disgusting feeling on his body faded.
Jiang Tu suddenly turned around and looked at her: "This place is actually not very big, are you not familiar with the road?"