almost lonely

Lost.

——However, grandma didn't ask any more questions, she smiled kindly, and there was a dimple on the left side of her face: "I see, it's not Lanlan but Chenchen. It's cold outside, come in quickly!" Xu Ye squeezed his shoulder, imitating his tongue Followed the same sentence, the tone was half serious and half joking, and when he smiled, he showed a deep dimple: "Let's go, 'Chenchen'."

Ning Juechen suddenly felt that his heart tightened suddenly, as if being grabbed and squeezed by someone, it was so tight that it hurt.For a moment, he stood still, as if he was pinned.

It was the first time in his 15 years of life that someone called him that.

Ning Juechen had read a novel before, and now he still remembers seeing "Under the moonlight, what appeared in front of her was a snow-white face with stiff facial muscles, pupilless eyes, and long hair fluttering in the night sky, like a A lifeless rubber manikin” was so frightened that a layer of white sweat broke out on his back. That night, he dreamed that his left chest melted into rubber, and then spread out little by little until he reached his whole body.

Sometimes he feels in a trance that he is really a rubber man, and every inch of his skin glows like rubber, turning into a rubbery touch.

——But from this second, from the beginning of this sentence "Chen Chen", Ning Jue Chen felt as if he had suddenly turned back into a human being, with a new heart.

Grandma went to cook dumplings and asked Xu Yi to take Ning Juechen to the house to play "games with Lanlan".Ning Juechen was a little at a loss again, he had never been a guest at anyone's house.Xu Ye flicked his forehead: "Why are you in a daze, come here."

Xu Ye's room is very spacious, the bed looks big and soft, and there are two relatively new game controllers at the end of the bed.Xu Ye turned around and asked him, "Are you playing?" Ning Juechen pursed his lips and shook his head. He had never touched these things before, and he was afraid of breaking things, and he was also afraid that he would lose face if he didn't play well.

Xu Ye pushed the handle away and sat down: "Hey, just talk when I ask you, don't just shake your head and nod all day long." Ning Juechen twisted the corner of his clothes habitually, and nodded his head timidly.Xu Ye suddenly felt helpless: "You... Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything."

There is a very delicate bookshelf directly opposite the bed. There are not many books, and there are three or four rows full of models and figures. There are a few photo frames on the outermost layer.Ning Juechen took a step closer and saw that there were photos of Xu Ye and Lu Juelan together since they were young, and each photo had the same face as himself.

Xu Ye jumped up from the bed, stretched out his hand and flicked the glass of the photo frame in the middle: "Look at how stupid your brother is..." In the photo are two boys who are twelve or thirteen years old: one is wearing a thick overcoat Gray wolf doll costume, only showing half of a face with an unhappy expression; one is wearing a brightly colored plaid shirt, a camel jacket vest, and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat of the same color, and is posing with a shotgun on his back. Some outdated poses, smiling so hard that you can't see your eyes, with a pointed canine tooth.

"This was in the sixth grade. At the graduation theatrical party, our class performed "Little Red Riding Hood". Jue Lan didn't know what to think. He thought "Snow White", he wanted to play the prince, so he went to the literary and art committee to apply for a table. Be the leading actor. Then it changed like this, look at his expression..." Xu Ye's eyes brightened, dimples came out again, and his fingers brushed the face wrapped in the big bad wolf's hood. The one holding the certificate is the winter vacation of the first year we met, maybe the fourth grade. Jue Lan won the three-good student, and I am a sports star. Uh, now that I think about it, this award seems a bit... It was in his living room, auntie, that is Your mother took it for us."

Normally, Xu Ye didn't call Lu Juelan by his name very much, it was just a simple and rude way of calling "stupid stupid dog" among boys.Ning Juechen had an indescribably strange feeling in his heart, because when Xu Ye said the word "Juelan", he was so gentle that he was a little strange, and a smile could be heard in his tone.

"This is the first day of junior high school. When I went to the zoo for a spring outing, the giraffe spit on his face. I laughed so hard." Xu Ye pointed to the photo of Lu Juelan hanging on him with a pale face. In the second sports meeting, the sports committee tricked him into running 3000 meters. I was waiting for him at the finish line, and he panted like a dog, and when his legs gave way, he fell directly on top of me.

Xu Ye suddenly turned around and stared at Ning Juechen for a while, Ning Juechen became nervous again, and unconsciously took a small step back. "I found that you are similar to Jue Lan at this time! He is about this tall in the second grade of junior high school." Xu Yi smiled, "It's just too bad. Look at your small arms and legs, and you are thinner than Wang Xinyue." Wang Xinyue is They are full of flowers.

Ning Juechen frowned and replied in a low voice: "Don't compare me with girls..." "Just compare, it's fine if you are thinner than a little girl, and you are more beautiful than others." Xu Ye was beaten when Lu Juelan was beautiful. However, I dare to live my mouth with Ning Juechen, "Okay, just kidding. Seeing how you eat so much food, how can you eat without gaining weight? When will you catch up with your brother?"

Ning Juechen tiptoed anxiously: "I grow..." Xu Ye thought it was very funny seeing his awkward and daring expression, but it seemed that he had grown a little taller, and the school uniform did not drag The bottom of the butt is so exaggerated.

"Children! Come out to eat with Chenchen!" The old lady's voice was loud.Before Xu Ye could react, Ning Juechen couldn't hold back, and burst out laughing: "Children? Is it the word "Zi" in a box?"

Xu Ye suddenly felt very embarrassed, raised his hand and pinched Ning Juechen's thin and shaved face: "Why are you laughing, you, who doesn't have a nickname yet."

Ning Juechen silently withdrew his smile, thinking: I don't have it.

There were two steaming bowls of steaming dumplings on the table of the Eight Immortals, and the old lady brought up the last bowl and instructed Xu Ye to go to the kitchen to get chopsticks and spoons.Ning Juechen originally wanted to go with him, but his grandma stopped him: "Does Chenchen eat coriander?"

Ning Juechen nodded, and then added a sentence, afraid that the old man didn't hear clearly, "eat." Grandma put the coriander in the small plate into the bowl next to her: "Lanlan doesn't eat ginger or ginger. I didn’t dare to eat garlic, onions, or parsley.”

The three of them sat down to eat dumplings, and Xu Yi handed a porcelain spoon to Ning Juechen: "Actually, my grandma made a mistake. I thought it was the winter solstice, and I started rolling the dumplings early in the morning." Ning Juechen said thank you cautiously , especially sincerely asked: "What's wrong with the winter solstice?" Xu Ye mixed some pepper into the bowl: "Eat wontons during the winter solstice, it's only the beginning of winter today."

Ning Juechen let out a soft oh, and stirred the dumplings in the bowl with a spoon. He didn't know that Lidong wanted to eat dumplings. No one told him, no one cooked them for him, and no one accompanied him to celebrate the festival like this.

Jingcheng is close to the water and is a land of fish and rice. In addition to meat and vegetables, the dumplings are filled with Jingcheng’s special dried shrimps, which are fresh and fragrant after peeling and chopping.The heat kept rising up, making people's eyes hot and wet. Ning Juechen rubbed it twice vigorously, but he couldn't see clearly what was in the bowl.

To exaggerate, Ning Juechen felt as if he had never eaten such a delicious food. He ate so fast that his tongue was numb from the heat.The radio rang and went silent. The old lady walked over and knocked twice, and the loudspeaker immediately started babbling again.Ning Juechen didn't know Peking opera, but only heard "Yingying", "Zhang Sheng" and the like, and he guessed that it was "The Story of the West Chamber".

Ning Juechen quickly finished his bowl of dumplings, looked up and saw that Xu Ye hadn't finished eating, he was a little embarrassed, picked up a spoon and drank a few mouthfuls of soup hastily.Xu Ye asked him if he was full, and Ning Juechen nodded with the soup in his mouth.Xu Ye glanced at his bowl: "You're full." After speaking, he went to the kitchen to order a bowl of dumplings, and shared them with Ning Juechen.Ning Juechen didn't expect Xu Ye to cook dumplings.

This scene appeared in his dreams too many times later. He, Xu Ye and grandma sat around the Eight Immortals table in Xu Yi's house to eat. Sometimes there was a large pot of crucian carp soup in the middle, and sometimes it was mutton hot pot. Sometimes there is a bowl of Yangchun noodles for each person, but the most common ones are dumplings, which are shrimp dumplings with thin skin and big meat like this day.An incomprehensible excerpt of Peking opera was playing on the radio, and grandma sang along, shaking her head. Xu Ye turned to ask him if he was full.

Ning Juechen finished the soup and put down the bowl embarrassingly: "Well... I'll wash the dishes." Xu Yi pushed the bowl forward: "Okay, let's go." The old lady patted The back of his head: "What's the matter, don't bully people!" Xu Ye usually looks so aggressive and fierce, but he didn't expect that he was controlled so obediently at home. Ning Juechen wanted to laugh but didn't quite like it Dare to laugh, stood up holding the bowl, and followed Xu Ye into the kitchen.

Xu Ye went to get a pot of hot water, and when he turned his head, Ning Juechen had already turned on the tap and was washing with cold water.Ning Juechen glanced at Xu Ye flickeringly, hesitated for a while and pulled off the wet wristband.Xu Ye's temples twitched, and he heard Ning Juechen say: "Brother Yi, I'm sorry."

Xu Ye pouted: "What are you sorry for?" Ning Juechen squeezed a little dish soap into the bowl: "Just... you shouldn't have said you were meddling last time." Xu Ye stood behind with crossed hands, His face was not very happy: "That's right, it's true that I'm meddling in my own business."

Ning Juechen didn't know what to do when he heard him say such irony on purpose. He pursed his lips uncomfortably, and his voice was not as loud as water: "No, because no one has ever asked me, and I have never told anyone about it. .”

Seeing that his hands were red from the cold water, Xu Ye walked over to add some hot water to the sink: "Then don't tell me, I've already told you, I'm a dog." Ning Juechen lowered his eyes, Seriously rinse off the foam with warm water: "... oh."

Seeing his lost expression at that moment, Xu Ye's heart softened again, and he muttered