growing up

The night shift bus was extremely empty, there were only a few scattered passengers in the whole bus, it was quiet and not as noisy as during the day.

It was past ten o'clock, and the streets on both sides of the way back were not busy, most of the shops were closed, only the lights on the side of the road were still on, and it was dim.

Gu Yuan was sitting in the back row by the window, he was holding his mobile phone and spinning it in his hand.The self-study at school has long since ended, and Ling Chao has been chatting with him every night for the past few days, but there is no message from today.I don't know if I'm studying or I'm already asleep.

The phone in his hand was turned on and off, over and over again, but in the end he didn't move, put the phone back in his bag and didn't look at it anymore.

There are some things that he can't understand, so let's put it aside.

After her mother left, Gu Qingqing stayed in the hospital for another ten days, until mid-October, the city of D had completely turned cold.After passing various examinations, the doctor agreed that Gu Qingqing should be discharged from the hospital.

It happened to be Saturday, Gu Yuan finished his tutoring in the morning, and went to Ling Chao's house to go to the hospital with him to pick up Gu Qingqing.

"Will you go straight after picking up Qingqing in a while?" Ling Chao specially bought a few comic books for Gu Qingqing that she mentioned before, and was putting them in his bag one by one.Gu Yuan said before that when Qingqing was discharged from the hospital, he would send her back to the countryside, and now he happened to take her to the hospital for her.Here, Gu Yuan, a big boy, is not easy to take care of her.

"Well, Uncle Yan happened to be in the city today on business, and we'll take his car back later." Gu Yuan said.

"Okay, it's good to go back, it's suitable for Qingqing to recuperate." Ling Chao still followed Gu Yuan to the hospital every day during this period, Qingqing also liked him very much, and felt that he had another brother's love.

"Brother Chao, how about you go to the countryside with us for two days?" Gu Yuan said suddenly.

"Ah?" Ling Chao thought about it before, but he thought it would be inconvenient, so he didn't mention it.

"Can you?" Ling Chao asked.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Gu Yuan smiled and said, "I just don't know if you won't get used to it."

"No." Ling Chao said quickly, "I actually... really want to go." Ling Chao scratched his head in embarrassment.

"That's good." Gu Yuan went on to say, "We're going to stay at home for one night, and we won't be back until tomorrow. Would you like to bring some toiletries or something?"

"En." Ling Chao responded, turned and walked to the bedroom: "Wait for me for a while, I will clean up."

Speaking of tidying up, there is actually nothing to take with you. It is quite cold now, so Ling Chao just packed a change of underwear and brought toiletries.

By the time they rushed to the hospital, Gu Qingqing had already collected almost everything, and was only waiting to complete the formalities before being discharged from the hospital.

Seeing that Ling Chao brought her books with toothbrushes and towels in her bag, Gu Qingqing happily asked: "Brother Ling Chao wants to go to the countryside with us?"

"Yes." Ling Chao replied briskly.

"Wow, that's great." Gu Qingqing has lost a lot of weight during this time, and her face, which was already small enough, has lost flesh, making her eyes look bigger.However, she is in good spirits now, and she has returned to her previous lively and cheerful appearance, even her voice is full of vitality.

"Don't jump!" Gu Yuan quickly stopped her when he saw that she was about to jump up and cheer.

"Okay, okay." Gu Qingqing grinned and made a grimace: "Then when shall we leave?"

"Before noon." Gu Yuan checked the time with his mobile phone: "It's almost time, Uncle Yan probably arrives at the hospital in about an hour."

"Does grandma know?" Gu Qingqing asked again.

"Yes, I just called and said I would go back at noon." Gu Yuan called his grandmother on the way to the hospital, told the old man when they would arrive home, and also said that he would bring a friend with him.

This was the first time grandma heard that her grandson would bring friends to play, and Qingqing was naturally very happy when she was discharged from the hospital, so she told Gu Yuan that she would cook for them at home and let them go home without eating first.

Gu Yuan could hear grandma's happy voice on the phone, and after listening to her instructions, he agreed one by one before hanging up.

Gu Yuan and Gu Qingqing were brought up by their grandma. Although he came to the city to go to school alone in the past few years, he would go back when he was free during the holidays.They have a very deep bond with grandma.

When he was young, Gu Yuan didn't have any friends to play with, he was always alone, Qingqing was not in good health, and he played with her almost at home during his spare time.

Sometimes Qingqing would go to school with him when she was better, because she couldn't keep up with her schoolwork, Qingqing was always in the lower grades, but she was beautiful, at first some boys would bully her to attract her attention, Gu Yuan wanted to protect her sister , and started fighting with them.

Gu Yuan's temperament is too cold, coupled with his good grades, he looks very lonely and arrogant. The big guys can't understand him like this, and gradually shift their targets and start bullying him.

When he was a child, Gu Yuan was also small and thin, and he was always the loser in fights.But slowly, he found the skills of fighting, and he could bear the pain extremely. Every time he fought, he tried his best. No matter how big or strong the opponent was, he could resist.Gu Yuan suggested that he didn't care if he became ruthless.

After a long time like this, Gu Yuan's demeanor became even colder, let alone a friend, even the neighbors and children around him had no one to play with him.But he is also used to staying quietly.

So, in these years, the first time I heard that Gu Yuan was going to bring friends back to play, Grandma Gu was very happy. She hung up the phone and started to make some delicious food to entertain Gu Yuan's friends.

Grandma Gu is almost seventy now, and her health has not been as good as before in the past two years. It takes a lot of time to arrange a table of dishes.

The three of them stayed in the ward and waited for Uncle Yan to come over. Gu Yuan was going to complete the discharge procedures for Gu Qingqing, and Ling Chao followed.

"Why did you come out?" Gu Yuan looked at Ling Chao who was following up and asked.

"I'll go out for a while, and I'll be back in a while," Ling Chao said.

"Oh." Gu Yuan didn't pay much attention, there was still time anyway.

The discharge procedure was done quickly, he was already familiar with the process, and it was done in a short while.When he went back to the ward, Ling Chao hadn't come back yet.

"Huh? Where's Brother Ling Chao?" Gu Qingqing saw that Gu Yuan came back alone, and asked with some doubts.

"He said he has something to go out, so he should hurry up." Gu Yuan didn't know why Ling Chao was going out at this time, so he could only answer according to what he said.

Gu Qingqing had nothing to do and couldn't walk around, so she sat on the edge of the bed and slowly shook her legs.

"Brother." Gu Qingqing turned her head and called to Gu Yuan who was counting things on the side: "We have troubled brother Ling Chao a lot during this time, and when my mother left, she asked us to invite him to dinner. Home, you have to remember."

"Yes." Gu Yuan replied while sorting out the pile of documents, "I know."

After a while, Gu Qingqing said again: "I think Brother Lingchao is very kind to you. Although I was in the hospital during this period, it seemed that he also came to see me, but I just felt that it was because I was you sister, he is like this."

Gu Yuan put the arranged documents into the back of his backpack and put them away, then turned to look at Gu Qingqing with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Why do you say that?" Gu Yuan asked.

"Every time he came, he carried the lunch box, and you were empty-handed. And every time he left, although I would greet me when I was awake, his eyes were on you. This feeling, It's like how the protagonist in the comics treats the other protagonist." Gu Qingqing changed his posture and sat down: "Oh, I can't say it, anyway, I think he is very good to you."

Gu Yuan's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and the numb feeling went from the bottom of his heart to the top of his head.He also knew that Ling Chao was good to him, but he didn't understand what Gu Qingqing said, but the feeling at this time was very strange, and there was an inexplicable feeling spreading in his heart.

"He's pretty good." Gu Yuan walked up to Gu Qingqing and sat down, stretched out his hand and lightly pressed her forehead: "But what's going on in your mind, it's a mess."

"I don't." Gu Qingqing pouted and rubbed her forehead, which didn't feel any pain.

Just as footsteps came from outside, the two brothers and sisters didn't continue the conversation just now. After a while, they saw Ling Chao walking in with a big bag of things.

"Brother Ling Chao, why did you go?" Gu Qingqing asked.

"Nothing." Ling Chao walked over with a smile, and put the bag on the low stool next to it, which contained some apples.

"Have you gone to buy fruit?" Gu Qingqing asked after looking at the bag full of red apples.

"I'm just..." Ling Chao was a little embarrassed to say it, but after thinking about it, he still didn't say anything.

He actually wanted to buy some gifts for Grandma Gu, but there was nothing for sale near the hospital, and he didn't have time to go too far, so after a long run, he only chose the most common fruit to buy.

Gu Yuan could see his embarrassment, and said, "Actually, you don't have to be so polite."

Ling Chao smiled and said nothing.

The three of them stayed for a while, and Uncle Yan called and said that the car had arrived at the entrance of the hospital. He wanted to come up to help, but Gu Yuan said that there were not many things and they could take them away, so he waited downstairs and did not move.

Uncle Yan was a little surprised when he saw Ling Chao, but he immediately put on a smiling face.Gu Yuan introduced the two of them, and Ling Chao politely called out "Hi Uncle Yan", and together with Gu Yuan put the bags of several people in the trunk, Gu Qingqing sat in the co-pilot, he and Gu Yuan sat later.

A few people talked and laughed along the way. Uncle Yan is a cheerful person with a wide range of knowledge, but he didn't expect Ling Chao to be able to chat with him on every topic. Ling Chao's clothing and temperament look like a child from a wealthy family , he was very restrained and humble in words and deeds, neither humble nor overbearing, and Uncle Yan had a very good impression of him during the short trip, and he couldn't help but praise him in his heart.

We arrived at Gu Yuan's hometown around one o'clock.The road into the village is relatively flat. On both sides of the road is a large area of ​​mature sorghum fields. Some places have been harvested, exposing yellow stalks. When driving past, there are rows of small buildings with fences in front of the houses. up the small yard.

The car drove into the village for a while and stopped at the gate of a yard that was almost the same as other houses. Uncle Yan honked the horn a few times, and an old man came out and opened the door. It must be Gu Yuan and his grandmother.