An Accident in Broad Daylight

After finishing his work in the laboratory, it was already one o'clock in the morning when Xu Tangcheng drove home.He yawned, rubbed his eyes that were red with tears, and turned the steering wheel to find a parking space.This is the bad thing about the old community. No one cares about parking. In addition, more and more people have bought cars over the years. The original parking spaces in the yard are already not enough. After all "homing", even the small roads in the community were crowded with cars.

It took Xu Tangcheng a long time to move the car into a small space, parked the car, he felt like he had passed the double exam and still passed with a perfect score.

He took a deep breath, touched his pocket, and thought about smoking a cigarette before going up.In order to be able to go home today, he spent two days in the laboratory, his head was dizzy from looking at the computer, and the smell of tobacco entered his body, which made him feel a lot easier.

It was already very late, at this time, almost all the windows had been dimmed, and the humid and hot summer night seemed to have turned into a pool of water, flowing warmly into people's hearts.Xu Tangcheng walked slowly towards the house, and with one glance, he found that even the stray cat that often hovered beside the fitness equipment had gone to rest somewhere.

He didn't expect to see a sleepless person at this hour.

Yi Zhe squatted on the platform of the small flower pond, wearing a black short sleeve and a black baseball cap. In front of him was the black cat with a white stripe on its back.With his back hunched and his head down, he was feeding the cat.

One cat and one person seem to be perfectly adapted to this huge shady scene.

Xu Tangcheng watched the boy gently caress the cat's head, took a puff of cigarette, and called out.

"Yizhe."

Yi Zhe heard the voice, turned his head, and was stunned when he saw the person coming: "Brother Tang Cheng."

He stood up, straightened his legs and jumped off the platform. The black cat seemed to be frightened, and took two steps back, staring at the two people, one black and one white, vigilantly with rounded eyes.

"You just came back?" Yi Zhe asked.

He didn't move forward, but Xu Tangcheng still noticed the two bruises at the corners of his eyes and lips. He frowned and walked towards him.

"Aren't you going to bed so late?" Before Yi Zhe could answer, Xu Tangcheng pinched Yi Zhe's chin with the hand that didn't hold a cigarette, and glanced at him, "Did you fight?"

Yi Zhe dodged for a while, but he didn't dodge.He fixed his eyes on the small cigarette butt held by Xu Tangcheng's other hand, pursed his lips, and gave an almost imperceptible "hmm".

The black cat on the side confirmed from some angle that the visitor was harmless, and went back again, continuing to eat the fish and ham sausage with relish.

Taking a closer look like this, Xu Tangcheng found that the wound on the corner of Yi Zhe's eye was really serious, and there were cracked wounds very close to the eye.

"Have you checked your eyes? There is bleeding in the corner of your eye."

After Xu Tangcheng finished speaking, he let go of his hand, and Yi Zhe quickly straightened his back, shook his head and said "no".

Because Yi Zhe suddenly stood up straight, Xu Tangcheng realized that he hadn't seen Yi Zhe for a long time.

Looking at it this way, the boy in front of him seemed to have grown a little taller. When he looked at the past, he could only see a little above his mouth.His hair has also grown, and it's time to cut it. The hat is pressed down, and the broken hair has already covered his eyes.

Xu Tangcheng saw the few strands of hair stuck to the wound, and brushed them away with frowning.

Yi Zhe froze there, and suddenly asked, "Why did you come back so late?"

"Well, there is something at school."

Yi Zhe wanted to say, why do you have to come back when you have something to do, how dangerous it is to drive so late.

"School starts tomorrow, and I promised Tang Qi that I would send her off." Xu Tangcheng continued.

Fortunately, I didn't say it.Thinking this way, Yi Zhe kicked away the stones under his feet.

The two walked towards the corridor one after the other, passing the trash can, Xu Tangcheng stopped, took a last drag on the cigarette, and then stubbed it out.

When he looked up, he found Yi Zhe was looking at him, his beautiful eyes sunken in the shadow cast by the brim of his hat.

"what happened?"

Yi Zhe shook his head, didn't speak, and continued walking with him.

"You come with me, even if you don't want to go to the hospital, you have to deal with it briefly." Xu Tangcheng raised his hand and nodded his eyes, "If there is an infection here, it is very dangerous."

Yi Zhe's hand just reached into his pocket, clutching the cool key.He looked at the opposite door and shook his head: "I won't go."

"It's okay, they're all asleep."

Yi Zhe still shook his head.

Xu Tangcheng didn't force any more, just said softly: "Then go in and wait for me, and I'll get you some medicine."

Yi Zhe stood there holding the key. The lights in the corridor were off, but he didn't stamp his feet or make a sound.

"Why don't you go in?" Xu Tangcheng came out with the medicine and asked strangely.Afterwards, it quickly became clear: "Aunt Xiang is at home?"

Yi Zhe nodded.

"Wipe the white one first, then the green one," Xu Tangcheng handed the bag to Yi Zhe, "I brought you a cotton swab, dip it in front of the mirror, and wipe it with the cotton swab. Be careful not to get it in your eyes."

"Yeah," Yi Zhe took it over, clacked the bag, and said after two seconds, "Thank you Tang Cheng."

Xu Tangcheng looked at the man with his head slightly lowered in front of him, his lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

Sometimes he would feel in a trance that Yi Zhe seemed to be frozen in that summer, and everyone else was coming and going, stained with all kinds of dust and lights, but he was the only one who kept his head down in silence forever, as if he had nothing to do with anyone. It doesn't matter.

In the early morning, the alarm clock rang once before Xu Tangcheng turned it off. He lifted the quilt and got out of bed, kicked on his slippers and began to wash and make breakfast.When he came out with breakfast, he saw Xu Tangqi was fully dressed, sitting obediently at the dining table waiting.

"Brother, you're back!" Xu Tangqi smiled until his eyes rolled, "What time did you arrive?"

"It's eleven o'clock."

Xu Tangqi likes to eat fried eggs, especially the kind with a little runny heart.Xu Tangcheng felt that the omelet was cooked just right, so when Xu Tangqi picked up the chopsticks and reached for the omelet, he did not order her to eat something else before eating the egg.

Xu Tangqi was so satisfied that he even opened the door briskly.But when the door was opened, the two heard a sharp female voice.The door on the opposite side was wide open, and from the distance between the two doors, Xu Tangcheng could clearly see the terrible living room of Yi Zhe's house—clothes were thrown everywhere, and even the sofa cushions had been flying miserably to the ground.

"Fucking looking for keys and keys again, are you thinking of feeding pigs? What a fart in the morning."

Xu Tangcheng could only hear voices, but could not see anyone.He carried Xu Tangqi's schoolbag, touched her shoulder, and signaled her to continue walking down.After walking a few steps, Xu Tangqi stopped and looked back.

"Let's go, we're going to be late."

Xu Tangqi sighed, and walked down the stairs: "Aunt Xiang is scolding Brother Yi Zhe again."

Xu Tangcheng's family is opposite to Yi Zhe's family, but unfortunately, they don't have that kind of close and harmonious neighborhood relationship with Yi Zhe's family.To be more precise, in this six-story residential building with mottled walls, everyone’s relationship is decent, except for Yi Zhe’s family—it’s not because of anything else, but because Yi Zhe has someone who speaks extremely mean words. The provocative mother has offended every household over and over.Xu Tangcheng's mother completely hated her because of her saying "a little sick child who is going to die early", broke off contact with her, and Yi Zhe also stopped taking care of her as before.

Yi Zhe never entered his house again, let alone another house.

Xu Tangqi has always wondered why Auntie Xiang is so beautiful, yet she doesn't look old at 40 years old. It is obviously such an enviable innate condition, why she has to speak so harshly.

"Are you fighting again?"

"I can't hold back a fart for a long time. I have the same virtue as your dead father, with a poor face."

When Xu Tangcheng heard this, he stopped and looked up through the railing of the stairs, because he had already turned down the stairs, and he could only see a narrow crack in the door.

"Brother?" Seeing that he hadn't come down, Xu Tangqi stood at the entrance of the corridor and called him.

The upstairs door was suddenly shut with a bang, and there was no sound of a woman singing a one-man show.

This was Xu Tangqi's first day in high school. Before she got out of the car, Xu Tangcheng was still worried, took her by the arm and told her, "School has just started. If you want to clean up, you have to..."

"I'm going to explain the situation to the teacher. If I'm not feeling well, I'll contact you or my parents. Don't be brave, go home and rest." Xu Tangxi finished speaking in one breath, then tilted his head, looked helplessly at Xu Tangcheng and said, "I Brother, you and your mother have said it eight hundred times, aren't you exaggerating?"

"So I said, let me explain it to your teacher directly, so as not to be inconsiderate in the future."

"No," Xu Tangqi refused flatly, "I can do it myself."

Xu Tangcheng nodded, let go of his hand, and finally asked: "Did you bring the spray?"

"I have." Xu Tangqi nodded.

"Then be careful yourself."

Xu Tangqi agreed with a smile. When he closed the car door, he made a face at him in a good mood and waved his hand.

Xu Tangcheng watched her enter the school before turning back.Driving to the gate of the community, from a distance, I happened to see Yi Zhe riding a red mountain bike.

The boy put on his school uniform, took off his hat, and put on the earphones that never leave his body.He rode the car very fast, and when he turned the corner, both the person and the car were tilted, drawing a beautiful arc, the earphone cable made a circle, and also caught a ray of sunshine.

Xu Tangcheng blinked when he passed by him. He looked at the yellow bars on the boy's school uniform and thought, he's already a senior in high school.