Loving Strangers

"Baizhi, I cooked supper, come out and have some."

Baizhi opened the door and saw her mother busy in the kitchen, and suddenly felt her eyes burning.

I haven't seen this scene for a long time.

She rubbed her eyes, went to the bathroom and flushed her face.

Go to the dining table and pull out the chair to sit down, and a bowl of hot noodles is placed on the table.

It is a bowl of longevity noodles.

Baizhi looked up at her mother in astonishment.

"Your 25th birthday, I wish you happy every day and every year, and make a lot of money as soon as possible."

She turned her head, and the old quartz clock hanging on the wall was slowly turning to [-]:[-].

After years of getting along, Bai Zhi couldn't change the ridicule he blurted out: "Will you continue to gamble if you make a lot of money?"

Words cannot be remedied, and the rare moments of warmth are destroyed by Baizhi.

The atmosphere was stiff for a long time before Baizhi said, "Thank you."

"Thank you, mother and daughter, I'm going out, you take this." Baizhi's mother stuffed her a rectangular red package, and she looked down, it was a red envelope.

She clenched it tightly in her hand, "Are you going to gamble again?"

"No, I just play a few mahjong games. I seldom gamble these days, so don't worry. Hurry up and rest after eating.... Bang." No matter how the door is closed, it will make a sound.

Baizhi stirred the longevity noodles in the bowl with chopsticks, tears could not stop falling into the bowl.

Since she was in high school, after her mother got involved in gambling, she was originally a single-parent family. She didn't come home all day and night, which made her feel even more like home.

It's been years since my birthday.

In this situation, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh, or believed that the days were gradually getting better, and began to look forward to tomorrow's arrival.

Xiaoju looked at the address on WeChat and reported it to the taxi driver.

The taxi stopped at the gate of the community, and she only glanced over, and saw Baizhi teasing with the guard at the gate guard.

The other party obviously saw her, and greeted her and came over to her.Baizhi paid her the fare and led her home.

Xiaoju turned to her profile and said, "I'll return the money to you later, and also, thank you for taking me in tonight."

"It doesn't matter. Why did you come out at this point and have a conflict with your family?"

"Ah."

She obviously didn't want to say more, so Baizhi stopped asking.

Xiaoju followed Baizhi and walked into the cramped and dark stairs. She had night blindness and could only walk up by touching the wall.

Listening to Baizhi talking in front: "The light in the corridor has been broken for a long time and I haven't come to fix it for a long time, but it doesn't matter, it's just these two floors." Realizing that Xiaoju was far behind, Baizhi turned around and stretched out his hand to her: "Take me, I'll take you up .”

Xiaoju was stunned.

It took several seconds to react and put his hand in Baizhi's, but he still walked cautiously.

Both of them seemed to have forgotten the fact that the mobile phone had a flashlight, and as they traveled through the darkness, the hidden fear hidden in the night was all forgotten by Xiaoju.

After reaching the third floor, Baizhi let go of his hand.

When the warm orange corridor lights came on, it was still a bit dazzling.

Going two floors further, Baizhi stood in front of the door and inserted the key to open the door, letting her in first.

"My mother is not here, so you don't have to restrain yourself. Do you want to take a bath, and I'll get you a suit?"

"Okay, thank you." Xiaoju put down the drawing board, the sweat on her body made her whole body sticky, she really needed to refresh herself.

When she came out of the shower, she saw Baizhi sitting in front of the sofa, with her ponytail tied up, bowing her head to write something from time to time.

Xiaoju suddenly remembered the photo she secretly took of Baizhi in the studio, and she drew it.

She didn't disturb Baizhi, who was serious about writing, and quietly walked to the other side, took out a stack of papers from the bag containing the drawing boards, and searched for the one she needed one by one.

Ah, found it.

On A4 paper, there is only one profile picture.

Baizhi lowered his head, biting the bandage at the corner of his mouth, and grabbed a ponytail behind his head with both hands.

sketch drawing.

"Did you wash it?" Baizhi was looking at her.

Xiaoju: "It's finished. By the way, this one is for you." The A4 paper was handed to Baizhi.

Baizhi took it with some doubts, held it up in front of him, and smiled happily: "The painting is really beautiful, thank you."

"As long as you like it."

The conversation between the two ended here, and Baizhi went to take a bath.

She just took out her mobile phone, but it was all missed.She turned on Do Not Disturb, was idle and bored, and checked Moments all over.

Until she saw Taozi's circle of friends——

Happy birthday Baizhi!

The accompanying picture is Baizhi singing intently in the Qing bar.

It turns out that today is Baizhi's birthday.

Suddenly, I remembered the resistance Tao Zi, who was a WeChat businessman, wanted to add her WeChat. Now, I should be glad that I added it.

The time above the phone is 1:30.

At this time, the cake shop is also closed, not to mention where to prepare the gifts.

"Clap."

With the slight sound of the door opening, Xiaoju turned her head——

"Is today your birthday?"

Baizhi: "How do you know?"

Xiaoju shook her phone, "Moments posted by Taozi."

"Yes." Baizhi fiddled with her half-dried hair. On the fifth floor, the wind was strong with the windows open, so she simply turned off the extra fan.

"Sorry, I don't know, I didn't prepare a gift."

"It's okay, it's not important." Baizhi sat back on the sofa nonchalantly and asked her, "Are you sleepy?"

"I want to paint."

When she is in a bad mood, she always draws.

"Well, if you are busy with your work, I will leave you alone." Baizhi continued to write in the notebook with a pen.

"Hundred branches."

"Ok?"

"Birthday……"

Baizhi heard her pause and looked up at her.

Under the gaze of the two, Xiaoju smiled for the first time.

"hapiness."