his substitute

The sweet aroma of silk texture lingered in the coffee bookstore, and the welcome bell rang crisply. The small customers looked at the door like radishes in the sun, and all of them opened their eyes wide in surprise.

The man who came in was obviously not a native of Hu County—the locals live rough and rough lives, and even though this man seemed to have suffered from traveling, his clothes were still neat and ironed, and even the deep frown between his brows Vertical lines have a kind of indescribable luxury.

Moreover, this man was tall and handsome, his eyes were as deep as the sea under the stars, his eyes swept across the store, and the Xiangyang Carrots immediately lowered their heads, pretending to stare at the exercise book that had been spread out long ago but had not written a single word.

Xiaomei said in a low voice: "Is this handsome Shushu the new teacher hired by our school?"

Xiaojun echoed: "It's possible, it's possible! It's scarier than our old class!"

Yuanyuan was unhappy: "Nonsense! He is so handsome, how can he be scary?"

Mangzi complained: "If you're not scary, why do you look down at your homework?"

The Xiangyang carrots were buried together and chit chatting, but the peripheral vision was all on the man.I saw the man walking towards the bar, and the leather shoes made a rigid and anxious sound on the floor.When the man stood by the bar, Xiangyang Carrots looked over as a whole group again, Xiaojun sighed: "He is so tall, I want to be as tall as him."

Xiaomei said: "Don't you want to be as tall as my male god?"

"But this big brother is taller than your male god!"

"Hmph, love the new and dislike the old! Thanks to my male god, I even gave you pig's head coffee!"

During the quarrel, the man at the bar suddenly turned around, his eyes were searching.

Xiaojun thumped Xiaomei lightly, "It's all your fault, why are you yelling so loudly! People thought our shop used pig's heads for coffee!"

"What is our shop!" Xiaomei thumped back: "This is my male god's shop!"

Xiangyang Carrots were arguing so loudly, the clerk was serving them the freshly made nectar grapefruit ice, while looking at the man and saying, "Sir, do you want something to drink?"

The man looked at the menu on the wall, and when he saw the picture next to the "signboard of our store", a small light flashed in his eyes.

His voice was a little hoarse, "Signboard..."

"Do you want our shop's signboard?" The clerk also saw that he was not from the county, and he seemed not even from the Southwest due to his height, so he immediately introduced: "Although our 'Xun Mi' specializes in coffee, our signature drink is nectar grapefruit ice , if you don’t eat ice, you can make it into nectar citron tea. How about a cup for you?”

The man stared at the pictures in the menu with intense gaze, and after a short while, the sockets of his eyes turned red.

The clerk came in without knowing, "Sir? Why don't you sit down first? You can drink coffee if you want, we have all kinds of coffee here."

The man's Adam's apple rose and fell, and when he spoke again, his voice became even deeper, and he pointed slightly backward with his left hand, "They just said, what pig's head coffee?"

The clerk was taken aback.

Xiaojun bumped Xiaomei with his elbow: "Look at you, you've been heard!"

Not to be outdone, Xiaomei slammed back, "If you hear it, you'll hear it! Did you lose your family? What happened to the pig's head coffee? My male god said that a pig's head symbolizes wealth!"

"You don't think this explanation is stupid now, do you?"

"It's none of your business! No matter how poor my male god is, he is still my male god!"

The man turned around and glanced at them again, the clerk suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "They are talking about the lucky coffee in our store. That's right, our boss said, in order to thank everyone for their care, we give out five cups of lucky coffee every day. Brother has a bad taste, if you don’t draw a good little animal, you have to draw an ugly pig’s head. By the way, Brother Yu is our boss, although he likes to draw pig’s head, he is very nice.”

"Brother Yu?" The man's voice trembled slightly, and his hands on the bar were clenched into fists. After a while, he asked softly, "He... Will he come to the store?"

"You want to drink the coffee made by our boss? That's not a coincidence." The clerk shook his head regretfully, "Brother Yu went back to his hometown a few days ago."

"Go back to your hometown?" The man seemed very surprised.

"Yeah, but he told us that he will be back in a week."

"Did he say which hometown it was from?"

The clerk looked suspicious, "How many hometowns are there?"

The man lowered his eyes and sighed, "I'll just ask."

The clerk smiled, "Have you decided what to drink?"

"Nectar grapefruit ice." The man paused, and then said: "There is also pig's head coffee."

"That one is not for sale." The clerk took out a small cardboard box, "Every customer has a chance to draw a lottery after paying, and only the lucky customer can get the piggy coffee. Today's five cups haven't been delivered yet, you try it?"

The man paid for the nectar pomelo ice, reached into the cardboard box with his right hand, and took out a plastic ball after a few seconds.

The clerk twisted the ball away, unfolded the note, and his eyes lit up, "Congratulations! Sir, you are so lucky!"

The man was sitting on a wooden chair by the window, and his outfit was incompatible with this neither gorgeous nor exquisite coffee and bookstore.Soon, the clerk served the nectar grapefruit ice and piggy coffee together, "Sir, take it easy."

The man nodded his thanks, and then asked, "Your boss, Brother Yu, is his full name Chi Yu?"

The clerk asked in surprise, "You know Brother Yu? Are you his friend?"

The man's eyes flickered, and in an instant, it seemed to gather thousands of lights from the world.

·

It has been two and a half years since Xun Musheng lost Chi Yu.During the nine hundred days and nights, he never gave up looking for Chi Yu for a single moment.In the second year, Zhou Chenzhong confirmed his guess——Chi Yu was protected by the old army, and his identity information had been changed. Unless Chi Yu came back by himself, he wanted to find a needle in a haystack.

Xun Musheng said: "A lifetime is long, and you can always find it."

Zhou Chenzhong sighed, "I can't help you, even I don't know where he is now."

Xun Musheng cast a lot of nets, entrusted all the friends he could trust, and managed all the relationships he could manage, but he still got nothing.

Disappointment is natural, but it is far from enough to give up.

The turnaround came three days ago.

Ke Jin, already a well-known photographer in the industry, made a surprise visit and put a stack of photos in front of him.

He picked it up suspiciously. The first one was an unspecial cafe with the word "Xun Mi" written on the door.

A certain part of his heart suddenly went numb, and he raised his head, meeting Ke Jin's gaze.

Ke Jin raised his right hand slightly, motioning him to continue watching, and then said: "I went to the Southwest to collect wind a while ago, drove around in a car, and arrived at this small county called Hu County. There are many scenic spots in the Southwest, not counting Hu County, and there are almost no tourists. But the customs and culture are well preserved, which is just right for me.”

Xun Musheng continued to look back at the photos. As Ke Jin said, Hu County is indeed remote and backward. The streets and buildings are dilapidated, and the most "prosperous" city center does not look as good as Zhongcheng's most inferior neighborhoods.

The cafe called "Xun Mi" should be considered the most "foreign style" place in the small county.

When he turned to a certain photo, Xun Musheng's wrist froze, his eyes became very deep, "This is..."

Ke Jin took a look, "It's the little girl drinking water in the shop."

In the photo, a little girl with big eyes and round face is biting a straw with a smile.When many photographers go to a place, they like to take mugshots of the children there, and Ke Jin also took a lot of them.The little girl was not beautiful, but her eyes were very lively, and she smiled very cutely.

But what Xun Musheng was staring at was the glass she was holding.

If you read it correctly, it is a drink made of grapefruit.

Ke Jin continued: "This store was opened two years ago, and the customers are almost all students. The day I went happened to coincide with the boss taking a rest, and I chatted with the people around me for a while, guess what I found out?"

At this time, Xun Musheng happened to turn to the last photo.

At that moment, he almost froze, staring at the photo motionlessly, and his blood, heartbeat, and gaze seemed to be frozen in time.

"He's there, the owner of that cafe. The students showed me his photo and said he is the most handsome male god in Hu County. But he probably changed his name, no wonder we can't find it, he Now it’s called Chi Yu, late Chi, met Yu, it’s not called Wen Yun.” Ke Jin sighed, and calmly said: “He even named the cafe after your surname, it’s really..."

Suddenly there was no sound around, Xun Musheng looked at the person in the photo without blinking, his fingers gradually changed from light trembling to violent trembling.

"I didn't meet him, and I didn't want to disturb him. Even this photo was secretly taken by the river—the people in the store said that he often went for a run by the river, so I followed him with my camera. I didn't expect to see it. Here, you see, my pictures are fairly clear."

Xun Musheng covered half of his face, he was speechless, his shoulders trembled violently, his chest was filled with great joy, his heart and lungs almost exploded.

But Ke Jin joked, "We don't have friendship. I didn't want to tell you. He's living a good life now, much happier than when he was here. If you find out and disturb him, you will definitely ruin his life again." Made a mess."

After a pause, Ke Jin's tone changed and his voice softened, "But his store name is 'Xun Mi', and now he has changed his name to 'Late Yu', 'Xun Mi' and 'Late Encounter' Together, probably because he has never forgotten you."

"You searched for him all over the world, I guess, he probably also hopes that you can...find him in that small county."

·

Xun Musheng looked at the cool nectar grapefruit ice and latte art coffee, his eyes gradually became unbearably hot.

The pig on the coffee was drawn by the clerk, but it is very similar to the one Chi Yu painted for him back then.Come to think of it, Chi Yu should have taught everyone how to draw this ugly little pig.

"Sir, sir?" The clerk saw that his expression was different, "Are you here to see Brother Yu?"

Xun Musheng quickly wiped the corner of his eyes with his right hand, "He will be back in a week, won't he?"

"It won't take a week, and he has been gone for three days." The clerk was curious, "Since you know him, why didn't you contact him before coming?"

"I..." Xun Musheng was speechless.

He already knew that Chi Yu was in Hu County, and he also knew Chi Yu's current name, so it was not difficult for him to find out the contact information.

But after Ke Jin left, he didn’t want to investigate further, and immediately booked air tickets and train tickets—Hu County is remote, without an airport, and part of the journey can only be taken by ordinary express trains, and ordinary express trains only go to neighboring counties more than 200 kilometers away. , You have to hire a black car driver when you get off the train.

But he came so unprepared and without hesitation, leaving everything in Zhongcheng behind.

Shy of his hometown, he stood in front of the word "Xun Mi", he was in a daze for a long time, and finally tidied up his clothes before pushing open the wooden door.

Chi Yu was not there.

He didn't know where the "hometown" referred to by the clerk was Chi Yu's real hometown?Or Zhongcheng?

If Chi Yu went to Zhongcheng...

He shook his head slightly, unable to believe this guess.

But no matter where Chi Yu went, "Xunmi", "Chi Yu", the signature drinks of nectar grapefruit ice, and lucky piggy coffee have already explained everything.

His Chi Yu did not forget him, and was quietly waiting for him in this small county town among the mountains.

"Sir?" the clerk called again.

Xun Musheng came back to his senses, "Can I wait here for his return?"

The clerk knew for a long time that the boss was a man with a story, so he thought for a while and said, "Of course, how about I contact him for you?"

Xun Musheng was startled, then shook his head, "Don't disturb him, as long as he comes back."

The clerk smiled: "Do you want to give him a surprise?"

Xun Musheng smiled bitterly.

Even though he knew that Chi Yu was waiting for him, he was still timid involuntarily, fearing that things might change on the way, and Chi Yu left without saying goodbye again.

He was already scared, and would rather wait here quietly, until the day when Chi Yu came back.

·

When I went to Zhongcheng, I took the high-speed rail for the last leg, but when I left, I just wanted to escape as soon as possible.Chi Yu bought the latest flight, and the plane took off, bringing a huge sense of weightlessness. He murmured a name that he hadn't spoken for a long time amidst the booming noise——

"Mu Sheng."

A tear fell silently from the corner of his eye against the light on the cloud.