Professor, your turtle!

The old car drove slowly into a remote street and stopped not far from the back gate of the school.

It is not so much a street as an alley, with high walls standing on both sides. The alley is very narrow, broken, and dark. It is an area where you can park casually and there will be no traffic police to investigate.

Chen Zhen turned off the ignition, pulled out the key and turned it twice on his fingertips, and said slowly: "What kind of person are you looking for?"

"He claims to be my cousin. He is about 30 to [-] years old, tall and thin, wears glasses, and looks...maybe somewhat similar to me." Ji Fan said dryly.

He couldn't tell more details, so he could only repeat what Xu Haifan said.

"anything else?"

Ji Fan hesitated for a moment, then took out an old photo from his pocket: "It is said that... he also looks a little like him."

The gloomy young man in the photo is Ji Fan's long-dead little uncle.

Chen Zhen looked down at the photo, and the moment he saw the young man's face clearly, his eyebrows moved slightly.

L.It was raining outside the window at an unknown time, wet water droplets splashed down, the window view was blurred, and the street lamps near and far cast a yellow halo.

"It's very similar, but it's definitely not this person. This is my uncle, who has passed away for many years." Ji Fan added.

Chen Zhen didn't answer, or in other words, he had been silent since just now, even the sound of breathing was inaudible.

"Chen Zhen?" Ji Fan asked anxiously.

Chen Zhen came back to his senses, turned his head and rolled down the window by a small gap, damp water vapor seeped in immediately, and the car was filled with the unique smell of the rainy season.

"Let's go." He looked away, "Didn't you just say you were going to the stationery store?"

Ji Fan intuitively felt that Chen Zhen's expression was a bit weird, especially his eyes, which were very different from usual.But he couldn't say what kind of weirdness it was.

Suspicion only stayed for a moment, and the next second, Chen Zhen seemed to be unbearable to bear the oppressive atmosphere in the room, and opened the door neatly to get off, interrupting Ji Fan's thoughts.

Ji Fan also chased after them, and the two walked around the edge of the fence to the front gate of the school.

As dinner was approaching, the last few students on campus were about to leave, and most of the small shops at the door were already ready to leave work.

The iron gate of the stationery store was half-opened, with bright lights shining from underneath, and the aroma of food wafting.

"Sorry, may I ask—" Ji Fan knocked on the door anxiously.

"Who is it?" The proprietress' voice came out, "Come in and tell me, it's raining outside."

"sorry for disturbance."

Ji Fan and Chen Zhen looked at each other, then bent down and entered the room through the gap between the counters.

There was a low table in the back of the shop, and a boy who looked like a primary school student was eating with his back to them and his legs curled up.His mother straightened up and wiped her hands on the apron: "Student? What do you want to buy, so anxious?"

"Ah, no, we came to ask you about the situation..." Ji Fan was a little embarrassed.

Chen Zhen glanced at him, then took the conversation calmly: "Excuse me, have you seen this person recently?" With a backhand touch, he gently took the photo from Ji Fan and pressed it on the counter.

The proprietress squinted her eyes and looked at it for a long time, she looked embarrassed, she shook her head and said, "I don't remember clearly."

"Please think again?" Ji Fan was a little anxious, pointing to himself, "He should come here often, he is in his 20s, and he looks quite similar to me."

"Huh?" The proprietress took a closer look at Ji Fan, then turned her head to look at the photo, "Oh, don't tell me, you really look like this person, especially the eyes."

A glimmer of hope ignited in Ji Fan's heart: "Then what do you remember?"

"No." The proprietress still shook her head, "To be honest, I have so many students here every day, how can I remember everyone's appearance?"

"Is that so..." Ji Fan couldn't restrain his disappointed expression.

Seeing this, the warm-hearted proprietress felt a little guilty, and held the two of them to sit at the table: "Have you caught a cold from the rain? Take a break, and I'll make a pot of ginger tea."

Ji Fan hurriedly shied away, tried to stand up several times, but was pushed back to the seat by the proprietress forcibly.

Not giving the two of them a chance to refuse at all, she got up and walked towards the back door with the hot water bottle in her hand.

For a while, only Ji Fan, Chen Zhen, and the little boy who had been burying their heads in eating were left in the dark and narrow storefront, so quiet that one could hear the soft sound of rainwater hitting the rolling shutter door.

Ji Fan looked away, and suddenly found that the boy next to him raised his head at some point and stared straight at him.

"Huh?" He touched his face in surprise, and slowed down his voice, "What's the matter?"

The little boy was swinging back and forth with two thin legs that couldn't step on the ground, his teeth unconsciously bit the pair of wooden chopsticks, and his eyes were fixed on Ji Fan without blinking.

"Little friend, you..."

"I've seen him." He spat out his chopsticks and spoke crisply.

"?" Ji Fan was stunned for a second, and then he realized that his whole body was tense, "What did you say? Who have you met?"

"I've seen the big brother you mentioned before." The little boy pointed at Ji Fan, tilted his head again, and showed a trace of confusion on his immature face, "Big brother is very similar to you, but taller than you."

"Really? Then he..."

"Wait, is this the person you saw?" Chen Zhen interrupted Ji Fan suddenly.

Holding the photo in his hand, he held it up to the boy, his fingertips trembling for some reason.

The boy looked down at the photo, and both of them focused their eyes on him, not letting go of even the slightest reaction.

The boy stared at the photo for a few seconds, then raised his head to look at Ji Fan, went back and forth several times, and said firmly, "No."

"No?" Chen Zhen pressed her step by step, "Are you sure?"

The little boy seemed frightened by his tone, shrank back a bit, hugged Ji Fan's arm, and buried his head behind him.

"What's the matter with you?" Ji Fan raised his hand to block it, and gently pushed Chen Zhen, who was half-supporting the table, back to his original position.

Chen Zhen just woke up like a dream, shook his head, and muttered apologetically in a low voice.

Ji Fan patted the boy's hair with his backhand and coaxed him twice.

After a while, the little boy dared to poke his head out and repeated loudly: "I didn't lie! It's obviously not him!"

"Well, I believe you." Ji Fan smiled kindly, "By the way, what's your name?"

"...Little Tiger."

"Little Tiger, you are so majestic." Ji Fan hugged him and sat on his lap, "Then Little Tiger, do you remember, what else did that big brother do?"

The boy peeked at Chen Zhen and saw that "brother with a bad temper" was in a daze, so he plucked up his courage and said, "That afternoon, my mother had something to go to the community street, so I stayed to look at the store. My elder brother happened to pass by and talked with me for a while." , and taught me to do my homework."

"Yeah." Ji Fan said softly, "And then?"

"After finishing homework...after that," the little boy's face gradually turned red, and he murmured, "I tell you, you are not allowed to tell mom."

Ji Fan nodded, and Lagou made a promise.

Xiaohu then boldly confessed: "I finished my homework that day, and it was still early, so we played with the game stick for a while. Really only played for a short while! After I finished playing, I secretly put the box back on the counter Now, don't tell mom about it!"

Ji Fan glanced at the gray counter, and saw that there were indeed traces of damaged packaging on a box of game sticks crowded in the corner. If you look closely, you can spot it at a glance, and I don't know how long this hapless little guy can hide it.

"Besides this, do you remember anything else?"

"It seems that's all... Well, after that, I haven't seen him." The boy racked his brains for a long time and shook his head in frustration.

"It's fine, thank you."

"Wait a minute!" Xiaohu's eyes lit up, "I remembered. The clothes he is wearing are also weird!"

"Clothes?" Not only Ji Fan, but also Chen Zhen looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah." Xiaohu was full of confidence, "I remember it very clearly. It was a hot day and it was very hot. Everyone wore short sleeves to go out, but he insisted on wearing a long-sleeved jacket, buttoned all the way to the throat."

"Long sleeves?" Chen Zhen thought of something, pursed his lips, "It's okay, you can continue."

"Later we were playing games, and my elder brother was sweating all the time, so I asked him to take off his coat, but he refused, even rolling up his sleeves. He said he was afraid of the cold." Xiaohu said worriedly, "You said , Big brother has reached the 'rebellious period'?"

Ji Fan was full of doubts at first, but when he heard this, he couldn't help laughing: "What's the 'rebellious period'? Where did you hear this word?"

"The boys in our class said it." Xiaohu said, "They said that when the 'rebellious period' comes, we will grow up!" He paused for a moment, showing a trace of childish melancholy, "If the rebellious period really comes, I will Disobedient and naughty, my mother will definitely feel very sad... Well, if I want to be a bad child when I grow up, then I don't want to grow up."

Now, even Chen Zhen, who had always been serious, was amused.

Ji Fan rubbed his head, smiled and said: "No, Xiaohu must be a good boy."

"Ok!"

At this moment, the proprietress moved in from the door with difficulty, holding a kettle in one hand and snacks such as tea trays and melons and fruits in the other.

Seeing them laughing together, she was surprised: "What are you talking about? So happy?"

"Auntie." Ji Fan quickly stood up and took the heavy thermos from her hand.

"Go back and sit back and sit." The proprietress said forcefully, snatching the thermos back from him, "Xiaohu is afraid of life, and he doesn't have many friends of his age. It's rare for anyone to play with him. I have to thank you all." Another small bowl was brought, and each of them filled a bowl of ginger soup, forcing them to drink it.

Chen Zhen was obviously not used to the pungent spicy taste, and coughed violently after taking a small sip.

He really couldn't drink ginger tea, and wanted to find a chance to put it down secretly, but his head hurt from the proprietress talking about it, and in the end he had no choice but to hold his nose and feel bored.

Seeing this, Xiaohu poked his head out from behind Ji Fan, grinned at him and made a grimace.

"You are all students of the Experimental Middle School, and your grades are particularly good," the aunt muttered, and pushed Xiaohu, "You must study hard from your brother, and you will also pass the test in the future, do you hear me?"

"Got it." Xiaohu replied in a drawn out tone.

They drank ginger tea and ate some snacks, but the aunt refused to take money for anything, so the two felt sorry, so they stayed to help Xiaohu check his homework, and explained a few topics along the way.

Gradually, it was getting late, and the two got up to say goodbye.Before going out, Ji Fan glanced at the wooden box containing the game stick, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Under Xiaohu's nervous gaze, he raised his hand to pick up the opened box, and weighed it.

"Auntie, is this 20 yuan?"

The proprietress was bending over to clear the table, and she turned her head to look at the words: "Hey, just take it if you like it. Second-hand goods that can't be sold are not valuable things."

"It can't be sold, why? I remember this was very popular, my sister used to play with me all the time." Ji Fan was a little surprised.

The proprietress sighed: "That's all in the past, now children don't like to play with these things, and our business is getting more and more difficult."

Ji Fan let out an "ah", took out 20 yuan from his trouser pocket, and pressed it on the counter: "Then I'll take a box, auntie, I just lost the old box when I moved. Thank you so much today!"

After speaking, he stuffed the game stick into his jacket pocket, and when he turned around, Xiaohu heaved a sigh of relief.While his mother wasn't paying attention, the child sneakily gave him a thumbs up.

"Why are you so polite... Hey, wait! I said you don't need to pay—"

However, by the time the proprietress wiped her hands clean and got out of the rolling door holding the banknotes, the two had already disappeared.

In the old car outside the back door, raindrops pounded on the roof.

Ji Fan fastened his seat belt, and turned his head to find Chen Zhen looking out of the window in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Ji Fan."

"Ok?"

Chen Zhen turned his head to look at him, his eyes were dark and he couldn't see to the end.

He paused for a moment and said, "Can you put that photo with me temporarily?"