warm hearts

[After many years, I am still impressed by the bowl of noodles that Gao Xu cooked for me that night. It is not that the bowl of noodles is particularly delicious, but that the scene is too graphic.That wasn't the first time he ate with me, but it was the first time he just sat across from me and watched me eat.Neither of us is a person who smokes while eating, so the only thing that rose between us was the warm water vapor in the noodle bowl.I couldn't see his face clearly, and I couldn't see what was written in the row of red text on the chest of the white T-shirt he wore inside, but that picture remained in my memory very clearly for no reason. In the memory, it seems that in the memory of my acquaintance with him, a mark with special meaning is clearly outlined.

——Ji Xiaomin]

Typhoon is really a continuous topic throughout summer and autumn, but the power of the last typhoon tail this year is the same as in previous years, and it directly brought a large-scale cooling of more than ten degrees.Many people who have lived in this city for a long time are used to changing their clothes in a second, directly transitioning from summer to winter, while some people who have already added clothes because they are afraid of the cold just have an extra thermos in their hands.

The original cars of that batch of refitted cars were finally in place at No.15. After two full months, except for a few sporadic repair orders and occasional visits from regular customers, everyone in the car dealership focused on this batch. in the car.Wang Ke may be very free during this period, so he runs to the car dealership from time to time, sits at the front desk during the day to look at the store, serves tea and water, hands over his mobile phone, and orders food for takeaway when it is time for meals, which saves a lot of time .

In early November, there was a small episode. The cause was that Wang Ke used the phrase "behind the door" to explain the current situation of the car dealership when he was video chatting with his brother Wang Ze one day.This idiom that he came up with suddenly caused panic in Wang Ze, who was serious by nature and easy to think too much, so on the following weekend, Wang Ze once again rushed to the first high-speed train from S City early in the morning. come over.

The high-speed train took an hour and a half, and just after 08:30 in the city, Wang Ze went straight to the car dealership like the last time he came to persuade Ji Xiaomin to reconsider his resignation, but this time he didn't say hello to anyone in advance.At that time, the car dealership hadn't opened yet, so he ate a bowl of noodles at the noodle shop diagonally opposite, waiting quietly while swiping his phone, but secretly thinking that he must meet Gao Xu this time.

The first time Wang Ze heard Ji Xiaomin mention Gao Xu was before Ji Xiaomin went abroad, but at that time he didn't pay much attention to it, he just regarded him as a new friend that Ji Xiaomin met by chance, just like he himself often met such and such people .He often heard the name Gao Xu from Wang Ke's mouth, so when he realized that the Gao Xu mentioned by Ji Xiaomin and the Gao Xu mentioned by Wang Ke were actually the same person, he just sighed with emotion. Small.

After Ji Xiaomin went abroad and returned to China, the two of them didn't have much contact, and the topics became less and less, and there was almost no chance to hear him mention the people and things around him.It wasn't until the early morning of July [-]th that Ji Xiaomin sent him the news that he decided to resign, and they had a long-lost in-depth conversation. At that time, he realized that this Gao Xu had already occupied so much in Ji Xiaomin's life.

Wang Ze had a very strange feeling in his heart, because he felt that everything that happened between Gao Xu and Ji Xiaomin was taken for granted.He thinks that it is impossible for people to take it for granted, not to mention just meeting by chance, even if they are childhood friends, friends for many years, or even close relatives of parents.Of course, he doesn't take Ji Xiaomin for granted - at least in Ji Xiaomin's eyes, his care and help are human feelings that will bring him pressure, so before accepting the offer recommended by him, Ji Xiaomin actually hesitated for a long time; Because Ji Xiaomin has such an innate alienation even with Fa Xiaomin who grew up with him, Gao Xu seems particularly abrupt.

Wang Ze doesn't smoke, so when he was flipping through the names of Ji Xiaomin and Gao Xu in his mind, he could only swipe his phone while staring at the rolling door of the car dealership diagonally opposite, which looked like Graffiti written by Wang Ke.His thoughts went around in a circle, but he was soon pulled back by a 4X4 that came slowly and just blocked his sight.

This small street is not wide, just two lanes. Sitting here, he can clearly see that it is Ji Xiaomin who got off the passenger side of the Daqier—his clothes were complained by their old acquaintances. It has been a long time, and he is always gray and can't tell the age, but fortunately, it can highlight his face instead.

Wang Ze didn't get up in a hurry, but looked carefully at the man in the cab.I saw him open the car door and turned his head to Ji Xiaomin and said, "Are you cold? Put on your coat, I'll go buy soy milk."

As expected, Ji Xiaomin didn't do as expected, but said: "I'll be in right away." Turning around, he went to unlock the shutter door.

The man who was driving didn't insist, he got out of the car and walked towards the road, bought two pancakes and two cups of soy milk from the pancake stall next door, turned around and walked back a few steps, and walked into the car dealership with Ji Xiaomin .The natural behavior between the two of them made Wang Ze immediately sure: this man is Gao Xu.

Gao Xu actually discovered Wang Ze when he was buying soymilk—he glanced at him because he felt that the other party's gaze was always on him.At first he thought he had met someone he knew, but when he saw that Wang Ze was a stranger, he didn't pay much attention, and walked back after paying the money and carrying his things.

The electric shutter door was just halfway opened, and Ji Xiaomin didn't bother to get in first, so he waited for him at the door.It was cold in the morning, and after taking the soy milk, he held the paper cup tightly with his hands for a while, and then took turns rubbing his ears with the warm palms.

Gao Xu took a look at his movements and disapproved: "You are stubborn. You don't wear a coat when you are asked to wear it, and you don't want to turn on the air conditioner if you are asked to enter the room. Is it cold?" Turn on the air conditioner, and plug in the power to boil water.

"It's okay." Ji Xiaomin responded casually, his face was still calm, but he ate a mouthful of soy milk and pancake fruit, and slowly showed some satisfaction in his eyebrows and eyes.His dark pupils gradually became active following an unclear melody in his heart, first he looked around aimlessly, and landed on every car he could see, and then he was attracted by the sound of the electric kettle, He stared at the blue indicator light for a while, then turned around and looked at Gao Xu.

Gao Xu ate very little at night, so he always devoured his meal when he got up early. At this moment, the pancakes and fruit were already eaten, and the cup of soy milk had already run out.With enough water and food, he seemed to be satisfied, and while waiting for the water to boil, he hummed a song softly.

The two of them were not close, Ji Xiaomin actually couldn't hear clearly what kind of lyrics or even the melody Gao Xu hummed softly, but inexplicably felt that the melody in his heart gradually became clear.Then at a certain moment, he seemed to have a flash of inspiration in his mind, and his eyes suddenly met Gao Xu, and at the same time he sang a paragraph of lyrics that just overlapped with him.

This kind of situation is not uncommon for the two of them, so the two of them just looked up to the sky and laughed a few times before getting busy with their own work——Ji Xiaomin made himself a cup of wolfberry and chrysanthemum tea after eating breakfast, and began to look through the work records of the previous day; Gao Xu Then boiled another pot of boiling water, and then dug out a ledger to check the entry and exit of relevant parts and consumables.

It was just after nine o'clock at this moment, and the car dealership didn't open until ten o'clock, so no one else came yet.Gao Xu and Ji Xiaomin seem to be used to it, one pulls a chair and sits by the front desk with legs crossed, the other simply sits on the desk at the front desk, facing each other from side to side, occasionally exchanging a few words about the content they are looking at in their hands, but more often They are silent.

Wang Ze walked into the car dealership at this moment, hesitant for some reason because of the atmosphere.After hesitating for a long time, he took two steps back, stretched out his hand and "knocked" on the glass door twice.

Ji Xiaomin and Gao Xu looked up at him almost at the same time. Although they were clearly two completely different faces, at that moment Wang Ze felt that they looked so similar that the opening remarks he had prepared in advance were all at the same four eyes. When Qi looked at him, he choked in his throat, which made his gesture of "sayhi" raised with one hand look somewhat awkward.

Fortunately, Ji Xiaomin stood up in surprise because he suddenly saw him, so the embarrassment didn't last long. "Why are you here?" Ji Xiaomin asked, subconsciously taking out his phone to see if he missed any information.

"I came in a hurry, so I didn't call you." Wang Ze said as he walked towards him. On the way, he saw Gao Xu standing up and walking towards this side. He straightened his back subconsciously, thinking in his heart that he didn't It looks so tall when viewed from a distance.

"Is there something wrong?" Ji Xiaomin looked puzzled.

Wang Ze was straightforward: "Oh, I heard from Wang Ke that your car dealership doesn't seem to be doing very well, so I came here to see if there is anything I can help you with."

One sentence made Ji Xiaomin and Gao Xu look at each other, but Ji Xiaomin reacted first and introduced Wang Ze and Gao Xu to each other: "This is my friend, Wang Ke's brother Wang Ze—this is Gao Xu."

Of course Ji Xiaomin knows that when a person introduces others, he can best reflect the person's position in his heart, just like no matter when and where, Wang Ze is his childhood friend, Wang Ke's brother.But he seems to have never given Gao Xu a position in his heart from the beginning to the end, no matter before going abroad or after returning to China and becoming a partner with him.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with this before. After all, when he entered the current circle from the original circle, most of the time it was Gao Xu who introduced him to others, but it was rare for him to introduce Gao Xu; After the introduction between the two, Gao Xu and Wang Ze glanced at him at the same time, and he suddenly realized that... maybe it was indeed a problem?

But at that time, because Wang Ze's words were too inexplicable, he only cared about finding out the whole story, so he didn't bother to think about it.After that, the three of them started a round of question and answer about that sentence, and finally figured out that this was another oolong made by Wang Ke's insane mother tongue.

As a result, Wang Ze became even more embarrassed because of this. He pretended to say something at first, but now he didn't know how to say it. He didn't even agree to ask Ji Xiaomin to let him have lunch, so he found a reason and left in a hurry .Ji Xiaomin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he looked back at Gao Xu after watching him walk away, wanted to say something but didn't say it, just shook his head with a broken smile.

The air pressure around Gao Xu has obviously changed compared to before Wang Zelai, and he stared at Ji Xiaomin as he came back from the door for a long time, before he said vaguely: "It was he who made a special trip to resign for you last time." Right? You are a little boy... it's so kind to you."