pedestrian

Without Chang Zheng, only Tao Ran and He Xunyan were left in the huge house.

Before Tao Ranlin's departure, he took an extra day off to pack his things at home. He told Wu Yueyin the truth about this arrangement, and her reaction was that she would pick up the child tonight.

A person who has always been shrewd and capable, even the speed of speaking on the phone slowed down, and he was in a state of being overwhelmed.It took several seconds for her to reply after saying a word. Tao Ran felt really tired for her, so he offered to send He Xunyan home the next morning on his way to the airport.

Wu Yueyin didn't even ask if he was on the way.She only smiled wryly and said that these days are really too much trouble for him.

I am afraid there is no need to ask what is the situation in this family.After the call ended, Tao Ran couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He Xunyan's voice came from behind him: "When will my mother pick me up?"

I don't know how long he stood there, and how much he heard... This child was influenced by both his father's official career and his mother's business career since he was a child. Not to mention precocious wisdom, he also has extraordinary sensitivity. Tao Ran can't fool him. he.

After thinking about it several times, he finally told the truth: "She originally said that she would come at night, so why don't I drop you back tomorrow, and she agreed."

In the cloudy afternoon, the sky was half-light and half-dark, Young Master He looked up at him with a small face, as out of place as a bright moon.He has a lackluster expression, but his eyes are too bright, and he understands everything at a glance.

At this moment, he can keep silent. Tao Ran is an adult anyway. Although he is not his relative, he can barely be regarded as an elder, so he should try his best to explain him a few words.

But in the face of such bright eyes, and thinking of the sporadic discussions he heard when he picked him up from school these days, Tao Ran really didn't know. What kind of relief is there.

He thought for a long time how to speak, until He Xunyan politely looked away and started staring at the mug on the coffee table, he finally found his voice.

"...Did your mother not let you drink coffee?"

After touching it with his hand, it was indeed cold. Tao Ran picked it up and drank it down. He went to the kitchen to make another hot cup, and then turned around and handed it to the child.

Unexpectedly, He Xunyan accepted it hesitantly, but his expression was a little strange: "My uncle... said the same thing, and then gave me a cup of latte."

If an adult said this, of course it would be meaningful, but after all, he still spoke childishly, Tao Ran asked him with a smile after hearing this: "Is there any difference?"

He Xunyan took a sip, carefully differentiated, and said seriously: "This one is more bitter."

"Well, I usually use dark roasted beans in my machine."

Young Master He nodded, then lowered his head to drink slowly.

The silence speaks.

Behind the thick clouds, the light gradually dimmed over time.I don't know where the child got his concentration, even Tao Ran couldn't bear the long silence, and planned to get up to pour himself a glass of water, only then did Young Master He finally open his mouth.

"My mother used to be depressed. Sometimes my father would let me pay attention to her before going on a long business trip. Now..." He quickly raised his eyes to look at Tao Ran's expression, and saw that his expression hadn't changed, and he was obviously relaxed. Tone: "I don't know what else to do."

Tao Ran didn't make him wait even a second longer, and immediately said: "Okay, I understand. This is all our adults' business, you don't have to worry."

The little boy who was as perfect as an ice sculpture revealed a crack: "My family...will it get worse?"

Tao Ran really couldn't smile at him, and couldn't sigh, so he could only look into his eyes as frankly as possible: "I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But anyway, these are not your responsibility."

He Xunyan was speechless for a while.

Tao Ran silently recited the childish He Gu several times in his heart, and finally took out his "killer trumpet".

"I heard you are practicing boat songs recently, why?"

——Tao Ran's progress in learning the piano can be seen as soon as he hears it. No matter how fast the teacher is, it is impossible for a child who has learned the piano for less than two years to play this.

He Xunyan forced a smile at him: "It sounds awful, doesn't it? Mom said that this was my uncle's favorite song. I've been thinking about my family recently, so..."

This tone was extremely calm, but Tao Ran felt that his heart was tightly grasped by a hand.He couldn't help reaching out to touch the top of his head, but He Xunyan didn't hide.

"Let me play it for you. If you want to listen to it in the future, just come to me."

Soon, the living room was full of loneliness unique to "Boat Song".

Tao Ran is naturally very familiar with his hands, and he and He Xunyan are real teachers from the same school, even the feeling of touching the keys makes him feel at ease.

Amidst the rippling music, Young Master He recalled another scene in his memory.

After something happened at home, the so-called friends of the parents stayed away.At the beginning, no one knew that the water was deep and the water was shallow. Only Wu Guizhou intermittently asked for leave to come to help.One late night, when the family returned from a long day of travel, He Xun lay down in the room tactfully, and waited for the sounds outside to gradually start to stop, before going out alone to find water.

At this moment, he saw Wu Guizhou with his back to him, standing by the piano alone, with one hand on the piano cover, motionless.He suddenly remembered that the reason why he knew how to learn the piano was because of the early experience of the person in front of him.His mother was not the person involved, and if he left such a regret that he could never forget, then he himself...

He called him in a low voice: "Uncle..."

I wanted to ask him if he wanted to try again.Maybe after many years of recovery, his hands can already play the piano.

Wu Guizhou turned his head and smiled at him, but didn't respond.

This smile made him understand that he didn't need to say anything.

Some people's yesterday gradually becomes a memory, but some people's is already dead.

Everyone can only move forward tirelessly, driven by time, urged by time, and there is never any turning back.Many years later, He Xunyan can still remember how he suddenly understood Wu Guizhou's smile that day from Tao Ran's piano sound.

This piece of music is the end of his entire childhood.

At an important moment in Young Master He's life, another key person who secretly helped him complete this transformation is trying to sneak into the high school campus with his former lover, Mr. Chang.

It has been a few years since the school moved to the new site, and the municipal planning is out of the question for a small place. After the previous campus became ruins, it was only pulled with a rope hastily.It's not pretty to walk in from the gate like this on the street. Chang Zheng and Wu Guizhou walked around the school's outer wall for a small half circle, and found a side door at the other end of the playground. It was so unremarkable that there was not even a rope.

As long as the wall is still there, the creeper will always have a way out.In winter, only withered vines remained, but they were still stubbornly attached to the wall, just like the memories left to them here, even if they withered into ashes, they were still there.

The school used to plant a circle of shrubs along the wall, but because no one took care of them for a long time, they were dead and alive. The fallen leaves this year have not been cleaned, and now they are completely rotten, indistinguishable from the soil on the ground.

Chang Zheng wore a pair of snow-white casual shoes to go out, and it was indescribably abrupt to step on such a ground.Both of them noticed this tiny detail. Wu Guizhou took a look at Chang Zheng's clothes by the way. From the upper of the shoe, he could see the elegant metal buckle of the cashmere coat, the trademark on the inner layer folded by him on the scarf, and the clean and clean chin. , and finally met Chang Zheng's probing eyes.

Unknowingly, he has become a person who is so incompatible with the surroundings.

It's true, it's a Yangzhou dream every ten years.

At first glance, his expression was too complicated, Chang Zheng pondered for a moment, and didn't ask him.Now that some things have been decided to have an end, they can't be extravagant.

He felt for the off button of the phone in his pocket, and pressed it all the way for the last time for the person in front of him.

After all, it is a place that has been demolished, and there is nothing to see when you walk in.There used to be four concrete ping-pong tables on the side of the playground, but now there is only one left, standing there alone, almost ridiculous to look at.

At this point, Wu Guizhou stopped first.

The sunlight in this season looks dazzling, but in fact there is no temperature at all, and a little bit of warmth can be blown away by any gust of wind.The two big men vaguely wanted to find a feeling, and wandered around against the wind, which was really enough.Chang Zheng quickly realized what Wu Guizhou meant, turned to look at him, and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"It seems that I am being hypocritical again."

Wu Guizhou casually sat on the edge of the ping-pong table: "No, I've always been more hypocritical, and you usually accompany me."

Chang Zheng's smile faded away, and after a long time, he still smiled slightly: "...Now that we've arrived at this place, don't say these things anymore. I didn't share with you what happened here back then. One regret in my heart."

——It's more than regret.His dislike for this town was so deep that he even regarded his parents as a kind of microcosm. He had been at odds with them for many years, and it was not until he just went out that there was a slight improvement.

The old things, Wu Guizhou's heart has been turned over countless times in these years, so he thought very clearly and answered quickly: "You are right, and I am also right. It's just... everyone has their own destiny."

"When we lived together before, I never...the one you thought later...underestimated you. I actually don't understand what we were arguing about, but after we really quarreled, I felt that everything was over."

"I know." Wu Guizhou carefully looked at the regret on his face for a while, then turned his eyes away, and added calmly: "I think so too."

The fate of nearly 20 years, to put it bluntly, is just a few words.

They have been in opposite directions for a long time, not because of misunderstanding, but because they are not speculative.It's just that the ending came too late, and it was all empty thoughts.Why bother.

Wu Guizhou sighed deeply, jumped ahead of Chang Zheng, and said what they all cared about today.

"From now on...we don't have to meet alone anymore."

He has always been meticulous, and Chang Zheng is too aware of his temperament, so it is not surprising to hear this: "Well, we will stop here."

For a moment, the past and the present flowed like the wind, and the two people who had known each other for a long time had nothing to say.

After being silent for a long time, Wu Guizhou suddenly laughed, turned his head and glanced at Chang Zheng: "...It should have been like this a long time ago. In fact, we still have something to talk about."

Sadness is true, and free and easy seems to be true too.Chang Zheng responded with silence, but he couldn't stop Wu Guizhou from being too clever.

"Your... is probably not someone who cares. You know that he can tolerate it, but you don't want to do things that require him to tolerate it. It can be seen..."

Wu Guizhou didn't say any more.

Chang Zheng's heart ached, he stretched out his hand and hugged him vigorously, giving him a last half hug.

Wu Guizhou smiled at him nonchalantly: "Congratulations... Finally, I found it."

……

As the sun slanted to the west, Wu Guizhou walked slowly along the alley to the door of his house.It was rare for him to come back so late. His mother moved a rattan chair and sat at the gate of the small courtyard. He saw it as soon as he opened the door.

She has gray hair and a stooped figure, but she always treats him like this.He couldn't bear her sitting outside in the winter, and he wanted to help her back to the house immediately.

As the two walked, the mother started nagging: "I went for dialysis today, and I ran into an old neighbor from the past. They always said that Xiaoyin works in a big city, is promising, and gives our parents face. In fact, I always felt that , or you are the most caring. Girls are extroverted, and she has her own home to take care of, which is what it should be. Thanks to having you by my side these years, I feel at ease, so I can live so well..."

She just loves to chatter, and most of the time she doesn't need him to answer.

Wu Guizhou settled her in the chair, put the blanket over her knees, and turned around to tidy up the clothes that had just been collected on the sofa.Mother didn't seem to notice his reaction, but kept thinking about the benefits of him staying by her side.

After she finished speaking for a while, Wu Guizhou raised his head, with a usual smile on his face, and just replied softly: "What's the matter, as a child, you should."

The ending sound was lonely, gradually dispersed in the corner that trapped him, and finally became inaudible.