a protracted war

May 5 was cloudy and windy.

Today Saturday, I went home.

When Yi Yi called me, I was watering my mother's jasmine on the balcony, and the wind was so strong that I couldn't keep my eyes open.

Yi also asked me what I was doing.

I truthfully replied that I was watering the flowers.

Yi Yi asked me again, do you want to have dinner together?

I looked at Jasmine's small and exquisite flower buds in front of me, thought for a while and said, "Okay."

Yi Yi said again: "Come to my house to eat."

Immediately afterwards, he added: "I'll make it for you, okay?"

For some reason he asked me so nervously, my tongue got a little knotted, and I said, "Okay...okay, it's all good."

He and Yi Yi made an appointment to have dinner together.

I was about to go out at five o'clock in the afternoon. At that time, my dad had just put the prepared meal on the table and asked me, "Are you sure you don't want to eat?"

I glanced at the dishes on the table, fried pork with garlic sprouts, duck blood vermicelli, stir-fried liver tips, and pork lungs stewed with mint.

Coincidentally, I don't like to eat them all.

I asked my dad, "Dad, tell the truth, did you do it on purpose?"

My dad said, "Aren't you going to Yi Yi's to eat? I just went to the vegetable market and saw that the pork liver and lungs were still fresh, so I bought some."

I said, "You and my mother don't usually eat like this? Visceral cholesterol is high."

My dad waved his hand: "Just eat once in a while."

I said: "Although you and my mother are in the prime of life, you should pay attention to your daily diet."

My dad said, "My son just knows how to talk."

He also said: "Dad knows it all, today is just the time to be greedy for this one."

When I was about to step out of the house, my mother came out of the room. She stopped me, gave me an encouraging look, and said, "Son, it's okay, no matter what you choose, mother will support you."

Me: "...Thank you, Mom."

He has already sent me the address of Yi Yi’s house on WeChat. His house is actually not far from my house. It takes about 10 minutes by car. Of course, everything is under the premise of no traffic jams.

Yi Yi lives on the eighth floor. I was a little nervous when I rang the doorbell. Oh, I bought a bottle of red wine on the way here. It’s not good to go to his house empty-handed for the first time.

The bag containing the red wine was tightly held in my hand. It was a paper bag, and it felt like it was about to be wet from the sweat of my palm.

This mindless nervousness made me at a loss. Fortunately, Yi Yi who came to open the door was very natural. He was wearing an apron, a very ordinary pink floral apron, which looked unusual on Yi Yi's body. .

I looked at the apron and asked, "The supermarket has an event to buy dish soap?"

The expression on Yi Yi's face was blank for a moment, and then he said: "No, it was a gift when I bought the pots and pans."

Yi Yi put the red wine I brought into the refrigerator, asked me to sit down in the living room, and said it would be ready soon.

I asked him, "Is Yi Jun here?"

Yi Yi said: "In fact, he only comes to my place occasionally. More often, he is more willing to go back to his mother and be his eldest master with peace of mind."

"What's more, it's not appropriate for him to be here at this time."

"He is such a big man, he should think about his brother's happiness."

I:"……"

I felt that what Yi Yi said was right, and I couldn't find words to refute it.

Yi Yi said: "" If you are bored, you can go around the room as you like, although it is not big. "

I nodded, Yi also entered the kitchen.

I looked around, and visually estimated that Yi Yi's house is about [-] square meters in size. I think he must have spent a lot of effort on the soft furnishings. It looks very spacious and has a unique style.

I didn't look at the master bedroom and the second bedroom. Although Yi Yi told me to "walk around at will", I still felt that entering his room seemed to violate his private domain.

But a decoration hanging on the living room wall caught my attention.

A big black tire looks like a truck tire. The tire is used as a flower basket, and colorful flowers are inserted in the gap in the middle. The strange combination of the two makes me feel a little romantic for some reason.

My gut feeling is that Yi Yi did it himself.

This intuition made me curious about Yi Yi's house.

I also noticed a small shelf next to the TV, similar to Duobao Pavilion, but with a metal texture and a copper color.

There are many interesting small ornaments on the shelf, such as ballet girls made of screws and small wires; various keys of different sizes are made into cubes inclined at a 45-degree angle; small chairs made of cans; metal bottle caps A heart made of pieces; a miniature gramophone carved out of wood, etc., among which there are several harmonicas, all of which should have been played by Yi Yi.

"It's time to eat." Yi Yi called me.

I turned my head and asked him, "Did you do all of this?"

Yi also nodded.

I pointed to the decoration with the tire flower again, and said, "This one too?"

Yi also said, "Yes."

I thought to myself, he really possessed all the qualities that a Wenqing needs to possess.

After seeing a table of sumptuous meals on the table, I was even more convinced of the above point.

My mother was right, Yi Yi is the kind of love candidate that is difficult to find even with a lantern.

After the meal, Yi Yi and I sat side by side on the sofa, drinking the red wine I brought over. Yi Yi’s house didn’t have a goblet, and each of us held a mug with a cute cow printed on it.

Yi Jun suddenly sent me a video invitation on WeChat.

I glanced at Yi Yi beside me, and wondered why Yi Jun wanted to make a video call with me instead of his brother.

When the video was connected, what I saw were two big faces crowded in front of the camera.

As soon as Yi Jun came up, he complained to me: "My brother is inhumane, he doesn't respond to messages, and the video also hangs up."

"It's like forgetting about my brother when I have a partner."

Lu Zijie also echoed: "That's right, if you have a partner, you forget your friends."

Yi Jun asked again: "How was your date today? Did it go well? Was it great? My brother drove me back early in the morning for you."

Yi Yi squeezed to my side and said in an elusive tone: "Yi Jun, I seem to remember that Mom said that you are forbidden to go to the bar again."

Yi Jun complained tearfully: "Brother woo woo, you are inhuman, you have no conscience, you threaten me."

Yi Jun also said: "Brother Lu called me out today and said he would take me to meet some musicians."

Yi Yi: "I'll give you one hour to meet the musicians you want to meet, and I'll call Mom after one hour."

Yi Yi: "Lu Zijie, I told you not to take Yi Jun to the bar to fool around."

Lu Zijie raised his hands in the video: "With me watching, he can't be tricked into being a cheap father, right?"

Lu Zijie said, "Then he is too stupid."

Yi Yi said: "You are unreliable, and last time he also went with several of his friends."

Lu Zijie: "..."

Lu Zijie: "...That's because his friend is unreliable."

I listened from the side and felt that the amount of information was quite large. I suppressed my curiosity and finally waited for the video call to end. I asked Yi Yi: "What is it like to be tricked into being a cheap father?"

Yi Yi pinched the bridge of his nose, and said helplessly: "When Yi Jun was in the United States, he went to a bar with his friends, and was followed by a girl who was also Chinese, but she had fun, and she accidentally got pregnant, and she didn't know Who does the child belong to? Seeing that Yi Jun is so stupid and fast, I counted Yi Jun on."

I opened my mouth wide and didn't know what to say for a while, should I say Yi Jun is simple?Or is Yi Jun stupid?

Yi Yi sent me home that night. I actually only drank a little wine, but he was still worried.

I actually remember he drank more than I did, but I didn't tell.

Before getting out of the car, Yi Jun kissed my lips. I didn't feel much, but the sudden effect of alcohol made me feel a little hot.

He was driving my car, and he took a taxi back.

I hold in my hand the gift that Yi Yi said he would give me some time ago, but we all forgot about it until today.

A clay doll.

Wearing a black T-shirt, blue pants, and white sneakers, with a durian on his head.

Yi also said this: "When I first saw you, I felt that you were covered with thorns, and you would stab anyone who approached you."

I was very unconvinced: "Isn't I always easy-going?"

Yi Yi didn't argue with me, just smiled.

The kid at the opposite door seems to have changed his hobby. He stopped playing the piano recently and started playing the saxophone. When I arrived at the corridor, the kid was standing in the corridor practicing. He was playing a long note, out of breath, and his face It was so hot that I felt like I was going to recite it in the next second.

When he recovered from his earth-shattering performance, he saw me standing in front of the house looking at him, so he reluctantly called out: "Hello, Uncle."

I said sternly, "Hello, but it's more polite to call me brother."

The child lowered his head and stroked the saxophone in his hand, saying, "Oh."

I don’t know why I’m in a good mood tonight, so I wanted to chat with this kid who doesn’t have much musical talent but is always working hard. I asked him, “Xiaojie, why don’t you play the piano anymore.”

Xiaojie looked up at me, his eyes sparkling: "I like jazz now."

I thought for a while and said, "Can't the piano also play jazz?"

Xiaojie bit his lip and stared at me: "...Anyway, I just don't want to play the piano!"

I said, "Oh." Then I told him to keep working hard, never give up halfway, and it's also rude to play the saxophone in the corridor.

But before I finished speaking, Xiaojie ran away.

He ran into the door opposite my house, and the door was slammed shut by him.