alternate performance

"What's the matter with you?" Xu Chenhe asked.

Zhu Huiting squeezed the space between his eyebrows and said, "Did he mention his state after Jiang Hua's death?"

Xu Chenhe put down his fork: "His mother told me."

When Wei Fangling invited Xu Shenhe to visit the garden with him yesterday, she told him about the illness that Gu Congran suffered from four years ago.

It is very stressful to witness the moment of the death of a lover but being helpless. At that time, Gu Congran returned to the villa from the seaside surrounded by waves. Nothing has changed in the new home he shared with Jiang Hua, but one of the owners has changed. Died suddenly.

It sounds absurd, but Gu Congran really thought about dying.An Ding bought it, and informed her mother and special assistant of the matter to be explained on the phone. Wei Fangling noticed that something was wrong, and urged Gu Shenli to apply for a temporary flight plan, and launched a private jet to land directly in Lucheng.

"I understand his stubbornness towards Jiang Hua. Before that, I tried to bring him out of the pain of the past, but now..." Xu Chenhe tapped the fruit plate with a fork, "I flinched."

"Your choice is very wise." Zhu Huiting said.

Xu Chenhe raised his eyes in doubt: "Are you two feuding or is he in arrears of your salary?"

Zhu Huiting laughed so hard that his shoulders were shaking: "Although I am friends with him, I have never stood up to others. Besides, you are really innocent. At that time, I thought about dragging you into trouble."

"I can swim." Xu Chenhe said.

Zhu Huiting leaned forward a little while leaning on the armrest: "Everyone close to him could see his state when he got sick a few years ago. I really wanted him to start another relationship, so at first I had several I want to push you towards him for the second time."

"For this matter," Xu Chenhe cried in the morning, but now he looks like an idler, "What responsibility do you take, if I don't like this person, it's useless how much you push, I'm not brainless."

"After all, what do you like about him who has brains?" Gu Congran was curious.

The two of them seldom talked about love for so long. Xu Chenhe had no chance to say anything in front of Gu Congran, so he told Zhu Huiting all the words, regardless of whether he would relay it to Gu Congran in the future. , Xu Chenhe just wanted someone to confide in: "I was probably in a rebellious period when I entered the second year of junior high school. I sneaked out of the house again and was taken home and slapped. I packed my luggage and ran away from home in the middle of the night. I didn’t leave a letter, and I didn’t go to school anymore, so I took some of my usual savings and took a car somewhere far away.”

It sounded like the answer was irrelevant, but Zhu Huiting listened seriously: "Rongjing Town?"

"Yes," Xu Chenhe nodded, "Rongjing Town more than ten years ago was even more backward than it is now, but it has a lot of human touch. I lived in an uncle's house, worked as a child laborer in the town while studying, and passed the middle school entrance examination in the city."

Life in the city was not satisfactory, people in the class were divided into cliques, and the mentality of comparison was strong, Xu Chenhe seemed out of place among a bunch of city children, it was inevitable to be bullied, so he had to rely on his grades to get the teacher's favor and favor. shelter.

After finishing college and returning to Rongjing Town, he became a teaching supporter without hesitation. Because of his experience, he knows how to care. For more than 20 years, Xu Chenhe had very few chances to really receive attention, and many small details that were not noticed were infinitely magnified in his eyes.

"I don't know when I thought about it, maybe it was the glass of boiled water he handed me when I was sick, maybe he helped me block the crowd when I was surrounded at the airport, maybe it was him when I was afraid of the camera Always by my side."

He thought that Gu Congran's every move was pure, and then he realized that Jiang Hua's name had been branded on him in the other party's eyes.

"If he knows that you are so clear, he will collapse sooner or later." Zhu Huiting broke his knuckles, and his tone was full of revenge, "He tricked me once, and I won't help him."

Seeing that Xu Chenhe's mood turned from cloudy to sunny, Zhu Huiting explained the reason for this trip: "I don't need to go out to discuss business today, and you just happen to be free, so let's go out for a while."

It is definitely not an idle matter that can make Zhu Huiting deliberately spare time, Xu Chenhe understood, changed his clothes and set out to go out immediately.

The place where Jiang Hua grew up was in an unknown small county in Cheng'an City. Before departure, Zhu Huiting filled up the car with gas, and Xu Chenhe sipped a sports drink on the passenger side: "How far is this?"

"Two and a half minutes if there is no traffic jam," Zhu Huiting said, "it will take more fuel to go back and forth."

"Let me drive when you're tired." Xu Chenhe sat up straight, "With navigation, I won't go wrong."

In fact, the navigation can also make mistakes. The roads in small county towns are winding and winding. In the past few years, the road has been rectified.

Parking in front of a food stall, Xu Chenhe looked out the window at the street view to identify the surrounding road: "Are you there?"

"Not here," Zhu Huiting unbuttoned his seat belt, "have a meal first."

It was meal time, and the food stalls were bustling with people, and the plastic chairs in front of the wooden square tables were full of people, all of them were dark-skinned uncles or aunts who were selling goods on the floor, holding crying children, and eating a meal to save time. Inexpensive light meal.

"Take off the mask," Zhu Huiting said, "They won't recognize it, and even if they do recognize it, they will only treat it as someone who looks similar."

The seats were crowded and the aisle was narrow. The two sat down in a ventilated corner and exhaled in unison.

"The center of the city has developed, but the peripheral areas are still the same," Zhu Huiting sighed. "Be patient, the number of decent restaurants near this area is almost zero, and the standard of living has not kept up."

Xu Chenhe didn't think there was anything wrong, he took a paper towel to wipe off the oil on the menu, and said, "Rongjing Town was like this in the early years, the crowds were bustling and lively."

Zhu Huiting had never been to Rongjing Town. He and Gu Congran were both children of rich families. When they were studying, they went to play with Jiang Painter. It was the first time they saw such a backward scene. It was a long time since they were surprised.

Unexpectedly, Xu Chenhe had such a life background before, and Zhu Huiting said with emotion: "You two brothers are really similar."

"It hasn't been hammered yet." Xu Chenhe wiped the menu card and put it in Zhu Huiting's hands, "Come, have a look."

After eating, he continued on his way. The more sideways the road was, the more difficult it was to drive. Xu Chenhe looked at the bicycles and little sheep parked on the side of the road all the way, and said, "There are very few small cars here."

"The road is narrow, and the residents' families are not rich, so there is no need to drive a small car on the road." Zhu Huiting moved forward with difficulty, "I should drive a more ordinary car, so that people who pass by will not glance at me. "

The car drove into a cement-grey tube building, five stories high, connected by corridors. The walls eroded by rain all the year round were covered with clothes and quilts on long bamboo poles. Various old non-motorized vehicles and vans with advertisements were piled up on the ground. The sequence stops.

"Did Jiang Hua live in this place before?" Xu Chenhe asked while holding the car window.

There are no designated parking spaces around, Zhu Huiting parked the car on the side of the building with less traffic, and said: "At least I have lived here for 20 years. After graduation, Jiang Hua always wanted to take my mother-in-law to live in the city, but my mother-in-law When I am old, I know the land, and I am reluctant to move my nest."

Xu Chenhe felt a little sympathy for each other, he got out of the car, and pressed down the brim of his hat: "This kind of place... Although the law and order must be very chaotic, the relationship between neighbors should not be that bad."

"It depends on the character, it's common for shrews to swear." Zhu Huiting pushed Xu Chenhe's back, "It's the building in front, let's go."

The stairs were steep and narrow, Xu Chenhe worried: "How can the old man walk on these stairs?"

"Don't underestimate the old people here. Their physical strength is good, and they were forced out by the environment." Zhu Huiting walked in front to lead the way, looking back from time to time, "Be careful."

The house numbers of each house were very vague, but Zhu Huiting did not need to look at the house number at all, and led Xu Chenhe to stop in front of a wooden door with peeling paint.

The doors and windows were closed tightly, and the window glass was covered with thick dust, and a plastic hollow board of the same height stood inside, making it impossible to see clearly the scene inside the house.

"This is the home of Jiang Hua and her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law passed away in the house a few years ago, and Jiang Hua didn't make it in time to send her off for the last time." Zhu Huiting stood on the guardrail and looked around, feeling melancholy.

On the day her mother-in-law passed away, Jiang Hua was still filming in the group. Zhu Huiting and Gu Congran were following the group. After receiving the news, they couldn't wait to leave the scenes and rush back to Cheng'an City from other places. Jiang Hua's trembling during the long journey Never stopped.

Maybe Jiang Hua's illness started from that day. He spent his whole life looking for his family, but in the end he lost his mother-in-law who raised him. He thought he had lost something precious, and the most precious thing was always by his side.

A gust of cool wind hit, and the clothes hung up by the households above the aisle were blown up, and someone shouted at the top of their voices: "It's going to rain——"

The doors of each floor opened one after another, rushing out to collect their own clothes and quilts. A woman in the next room muttered about collecting dried fish hanging outside. When she turned her head, she saw two familiar people standing at the neighbor's door.

It wasn't until Zhu Huiting yelled "Aunt Chen" that the uncertainty in the other party's eyes dissipated. He put a bunch of dried fish in his hand on the small table by the door, and said happily: "It's really a painting. Painting and going back to the court, you haven’t come for a long time, and Auntie almost won’t recognize you.”

She beckoned the two of them to enter the house: "It's going to rain, come in and hide, let's talk about the housework, Auntie misses you."

Foreshadowing the first rain in early winter pouring down, one side of the world intermittently heard the loud noise of doors and windows being slammed by the strong wind, Xu Chenhe sat in the rough but tidy hut, imagining that Jiang Hua came here to play when he was a child Scene, will you stand on tiptoe to reach the sugar bowl on the high cabinet, or lie on the balcony to observe the sprouting plants?

Zhu Huiting leaned over and said in a low voice, "Auntie Chen taught Jiang Hua how to speak. They have a very good relationship."

The curtain at the door of the kitchen was lifted, and Aunt Chen came over with two glasses of water: "Just count it, we haven't seen each other for four years, how have you been in recent years?"

Xu Chenhe spoke cautiously: "It's okay, but I'm very busy. Isn't it time to go back to my hometown to have a look?"

"Oh, you admit that this is your hometown," Aunt Chen said with a smile, "You always hated this compound when you were a child, but your mother-in-law was so sad that she tried every means to send you back, but in the end you became stubborn again. Hold your mother-in-law's leg vigorously so that she won't abandon you. Thinking about it now, it's been a long time ago."

Xu Chenhe and Zhu Huiting looked at each other, they didn't expect that the topic would get to this crucial point so quickly.