After Hell

It was still sunny in the morning.But after noon, the sky gradually darkened.At some point in the sky, the dark clouds had slowly gathered, layer upon layer, covering the sun airtightly.

In a Family Mart convenience store not far from the city center, a clerk picked up a spare umbrella, looked up at the sky, and hurriedly said to another clerk:

"Xiaoheng, I'm really sorry. My water meter is broken, so I have to trouble you to do it alone today."

"It's okay, you can go quickly. I guess it will rain later, so the store shouldn't be too busy."

"Oh! I'll go first then. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, be careful on the road."

Zhang Xiaoheng watched his colleagues leave in a hurry and gradually walked away. Seeing that there were no customers in the store at this time, he sat down on a chair beside him to rest.The originally dark sky became more and more gloomy, and Zhang Xiaoheng stared at the sky covered by dark clouds above the store door in a daze.

After a while, it began to rain in the sky.One drop, two drops of rain fell on the roof and the ground, making more and more frequent "tick-tock" sounds.Like the prelude to a majestic symphony, people cannot ignore its growing momentum.

Zhang Xiaoheng counted the days silently in his heart, and found that it had been seven days since he broke up with Qin Yijie in the hospital last time.

In the past seven days, whether he was consciously walking around the campus or unconsciously wandering around the teaching building where freshman students had more activities, he never met Qin Yijie once.Qin Yijie didn't call him once, or even send him a text message.It was as if he had suddenly disappeared from his life, completely out of touch.

Zhang Xiaoheng's mood also changed from self-conceived calm at the beginning, then slowly to restlessness, and then to depression in the past two days.All these emotional changes are signs that may only appear after a broken relationship.But this kind of emotional change is not strong, everything is slight, and it doesn't make him feel very sad, but he will always feel uncomfortable in his heart.

For him, it was already a very special first experience.

After all, in his 21 years of life, this was the first time he felt this way.And Qin Yijie was the only one who caused him to have these emotional changes.

Zhang Xiaoheng took out his phone again, staring at the still dark, unchanged screen in a daze.

At this moment, the music bell of the automatic door rang.

This means that there are guests coming at this time.

Reminded by the ringtone, Zhang Xiaoheng hurriedly packed up his mood and stood up, put his mobile phone in his trousers pocket, stood behind the counter and greeted customers with the standard service language of convenience stores:

"Hello! Welcome to Family Mart."

But when Zhang Xiaoheng faced the visitor with a professional smile, his smile suddenly froze on his face because he saw who the other person was.

——Qin Yijie? ? ! !

"...um... hello." The boy, who hadn't seen him for a long time, looked a little reserved and embarrassed at this moment.He scratched his head as if hiding his guilty conscience, and glanced at Zhang Xiaoheng once and for a while: "I, I'm here to hide from the rain."

Zhang Xiaoheng has been thinking about him in his heart for several days, but he also feels that Qin Yijie will not take the initiative to appear in front of him again in the future.Seeing Qin Yijie suddenly at this time, besides feeling a little strange, I also felt a little nervous, so when facing Qin Yijie, I didn't know what to say.

Hearing Qin Yijie stammering at this moment, Zhang Xiaoheng still couldn't turn his head around, so he could only answer "Yes".

Qin Yijie saw that Zhang Xiaoheng's smile was a little restrained, thinking that he hated seeing him, he cringed a little, and quickly added in a self-explanatory way: "No, I didn't come to see you on purpose."

—I'm here to see you.

Listening to Qin Yijie's awkward excuse, Zhang Xiaoheng immediately understood the boy's intention.The slight anxiety and depression that had been lingering in my heart for days seemed to be soothed by a gentle hand at this moment.A slight sweetness emerged from the bottom of his heart, calming his nervousness and clearing his mind.

"Well, there is something you want to buy. Please take a look." Zhang Xiaoheng bent his eyes and smiled at Qin Yijie with a relaxed and natural smile. It was not a professional one, but a sincere smile.

Standing at the door of the store, Qin Yijie, who was exuding a cautious atmosphere, looked at Zhang Xiaoheng's warm smile, and his face turned red.This can be regarded as their "first" long-distance reunion since they separated in high school.Qin Yijie suddenly realized this, and his heart became more and more nervous.The blush on his face spread from his face to his neck.Fortunately, Qin Yijie's skin is relatively dark, so it doesn't look obvious.But Zhang Xiaoheng was close, and Qin Yijie's youthful and shy boyish behavior immediately made him feel happy.

Seeing Qin Yijie swaying to the east and west, he felt awkward no matter how he moved his hands and feet.Zhang Xiaoheng suddenly felt that such Qin Yijie was strange and cute, so he was in the mood to tease him:

"What you said later sounds strange, doesn't it?"

"I really, really didn't come here on purpose to see you." The more Qin Yijie said, the more he stuttered.A pair of eyes that were originally narrow and slightly gloomy looked around at this time, which seemed a little guilty.It's funny no matter how you look at it.

Zhang Xiaoheng stared at him leisurely and smiled with the corners of his lips curled up, exposing his lie in a second: "Then why are you stuttering?"

Qin Yijie saw through his motives, and looked up at the sky with a guilty conscience, even his ears were red.The lights were dim when they met in AfterHell before, and at that time he could get along with Zhang Xiaoheng with the image of a dandy and arrogant "guest", building a false protective layer around himself.But now there is no money transaction relationship between them, and I have expressed my feelings for Zhang Xiaoheng to him before.So now he wants to use his true identity as a "long-term crush" to meet Zhang Xiaoheng face to face, and talk to him in broad daylight, which makes Qin Yijie feel very flustered and at a loss what to do.

At this moment, several customers suddenly came to the store.The automatic doorbell rang continuously, and Zhang Xiaoheng quickly put away his relaxed smile and put on a professional one: "Hi, welcome to FamilyMart."

"Brother, get me some Kanto cooking."

"Please get me Bao Zhonghua."

"Please give me a cup of soy milk, thank you."

Qin Yijie saw that the small convenience store suddenly became crowded due to the addition of a few customers, Zhang Xiaoheng's attention was also diverted from himself, but he was relieved, looked at Zhang Xiaoheng and asked: "Isn't there usually two people?" Why? Why are you alone in the store today?"

While Zhang Xiaoheng was checking out the customers in an orderly manner, he glanced at Qin Yijie with a smile in his eyes: "How do you know that there are usually two people in our store?"

Qin Yijie was embarrassed, and he didn't answer for a long time: It's over, it's over, it makes me seem to be following him all the time.

Qin Yijie realized how many mistakes he had said, so he changed the subject a little bluntly: "Uh...do you want me to help you?"

"Okay." Zhang Xiaoheng looked up at the wall clock on the wall: "Now it happens to be the rush hour, and I'm a bit busy."

"Ouch!" A guest was holding soybean milk in one hand and just opening an umbrella in the other.As a result, the soy milk was not held firmly, slipped from the hand, fell to the ground, and spilled all over the floor.A sweet smell permeated the slightly crowded convenience store for a while.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Xiaoheng immediately wanted to come out from behind the cash register.

Qin Yijie quickly picked up the mop in the corner: "Don't come here, pay them quickly. I'll just mop it up."

Zhang Xiaoheng quickly found change for the remaining two customers. When they left the store, they looked up at Qin Yijie's mopping gesture and were speechless.

This guy is really a young master. Seeing him clumsily mopping the floor back and forth with a mop, he has a good posture, but it's a pity that the soy milk was scattered everywhere by his mop.Zhang Xiaoheng raised the corner of his mouth secretly. Seeing that there was no one in the store for the time being, he went up to take the mop and said, "That's not how you mop it, but you get it all over the place. Watch how I do it."

Qin Yijie stared at Zhang Xiaoheng's movements in embarrassment, scratched his neck and explained: "Oh! So it was dragged like this, I have never dragged the floor before..."

Zhang Xiaoheng glared at him angrily and amusedly, and put the mop into the bucket for washing.

The two were in a hurry, and finally it was time to get off work.Seeing that Qin Yijie was so busy that his brow was sweating, Zhang Xiaoheng thought that he was really embarrassing the young master, so he paid Qin Yijie out of his own pocket for more than a dozen dollars:

"Here, here you are. I can't let you work in vain. This is your hourly wage for this hour. I'll pay it according to the hourly wage standard in our store. Take it."

Qin Yijie was quite surprised. He glanced at Zhang Xiaoheng a little strangely and subtly: "Huh? I still have a salary? I'm so touched." To be honest, his own pocket money is tens of thousands a month, and it's a lot of money for him. It's kind of funny.But this is really the first time in his life that he has been paid for his "labor". This sour taste is really new to him.

Zhang Xiaoheng said hello to the colleagues who came to hand over his class. Although the rain was not light, it was not yet to the level of a heavy rainstorm.His house is only two streets away from the convenience store, so it shouldn't be a problem to run all the way back and change clothes and take a shower right away.At this time, Xiaolin should have been cooking at home, and he couldn't let his sister wait for him.Today's time was not coincidental, and the weather was not good. He thought that since Qin Yijie could come to see him today, it meant that the obstacles in his heart should be gone, and there must be a chance to meet next time.

So he saw Qin Yijie looking at himself with twinkling eyes, and said to him in a good mood: "Come on, don't pretend to be good. I have to go back today. I have a class the day after tomorrow. If you have a class, I will wait for you in the cafeteria at noon." Bar."

Qin Yijie was dawdling behind Zhang Xiaoheng at first, trying to find an excuse to send him home, but he was worried that Zhang Xiaoheng would bother him to cling to him, so he never had the nerve to speak.This time, hearing that Zhang Xiaoheng's tone didn't mean he hated himself, he immediately said cheerfully: "It's raining so hard, I'll take you back."

As he said that, Qin Yijie raised the two-person long-handled umbrella in his hand to Zhang Xiaoheng, and looked at Zhang Xiaoheng expectantly.

Zhang Xiaoheng saw Qin Yijie's longing eyes like a big dog looking forward to his master's return, and his heart softened. He was about to say "yes" to him, but suddenly there was a familiar voice from his good buddy not far away.

"Xiaoheng!" Liu Zhaofeng was standing across the street, with an anxious and worried expression on his face, which Zhang Xiaoheng could see clearly.This face is not right... Zhang Xiaoheng saw his friend's serious face, just at this time the traffic light on the road turned green, so he ran towards his friend in two or three steps, regardless of the rain outside.

Liu Zhaofeng crossed the road and ran towards Zhang Xiaoheng, and saw Qin Yijie who was following Zhang Xiaoheng.Frowning and pursing his mouth, a look of rage suddenly appeared on his face. He ran to Zhang Xiaoheng angrily, and punched Qin Yijie without saying a word.

Qin Yijie originally wanted to dodge, but with his skill, he could dodge completely.But looking at Liu Zhaofeng's fierce expression at the moment, he suddenly remembered that this is Zhang Xiaoheng's very good buddy.When he realized this, he vaguely guessed something in his heart, and actually stood there obediently, and received Liu Zhaofeng's punch solidly.

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There are 5 more chapters to finish~~