Fork in the road

Although Bai Xiaoyuan feels that the Spring Festival Gala is getting more and more boring year after year, and he has to challenge his ability to stay up late every year, but as a high school student, his ability to stay up late can still stand the test. It's already eleven o'clock.

Bai Xiaoyuan planned to go to bed as soon as the Spring Festival Gala was over—although she might not be able to fall asleep, after all, there were still faint sounds of firecrackers outside, and it would be even louder at twelve o'clock.

Every year is like this, Bai Xiaoyuan doesn't feel lonely and cold, but still feels a kind of secret freedom in his heart.It’s not that he dislikes celebrating the New Year with his relatives, but in Bai Xiaoyuan’s view, it is always a matter of brains to get along with people happily for a long time—maybe some people think that showing the truest self when getting along with relatives is It should be, but it is precisely because of this kind of thinking that there are people who can get along well with friends, but often quarrel with their parents.

At least Bai Xiaoyuan felt that if he still showed his true self unreservedly in front of his mother, he might be scolded every day, and in the end, Bai Xinhong would directly cut off the mother-child relationship.

So on this New Year's Eve night, Bai Xiaoyuan was so happy that he was alone on the sofa like a piece of plasticine, holding a mobile phone in one hand and a can of beer in the other. He kept his eyes on the screen of the mobile phone while listening to the Spring Festival Gala on TV.

A can of beer had run out, and Bai Xiaoyuan was not going to take any more. He had just popped off the sofa and barely put the empty can on the coffee table, when the phone suddenly rang.

Bai Xiaoyuan almost wobbled and fell off the sofa. When he sat back and picked up his phone, he was still wondering: It's Chinese New Year, who would look for him so late?

Seeing the profile picture of that salted fish, Bai Xiaoyuan blinked suspiciously and pressed answer.

After waiting for a while, there was no sound from the other side, and Yu Xian asked, "Have you slept yet?"

Bai Xiaoyuan felt that Yu Xian might be looking for him for something, so he didn't rush to ask, but replied: "How can people go to bed so early during Chinese New Year, at least finish watching the Spring Festival Gala."

"Okay, let's talk until the end of the Spring Festival Gala."

Bai Xiaoyuan froze holding the phone, he asked, "What did you say?"

Yu Xian said: "My parents don't stay up late and go to bed. The two of us watch the Spring Festival Gala alone-there is nothing to watch in the Spring Festival Gala, so I called you."

Bai Xiaoyuan remembers that when he was in elementary school, Yu Xian's family seemed to have always stayed up late. I don't know when this habit changed.Bai Xiaoyuan felt that he didn't mind being with Yu Xian, and he felt that Yu Xian actually contacted him because he wanted to accompany him. Bai Xiaoyuan felt that he knew Yu Xian very well, and the other party was the kind If you are lonely to death, you will never take the initiative to find friends to take care of the lonely people.

Although Bai Xiaoyuan didn't feel that he was lonely, he was happy to chat with Yu Xian. After all, Yu Xian was going to visit the New Year with his family a few years ago, and they hadn't seen each other for a few days.

Yu Xian was wearing an earphone, and Bai Xiaoyuan simply turned on the speaker - anyway, everyone's BGM is the same, so they are not afraid of chaos - the two chatted while watching TV, and soon it was time to hear "Unforgettable Tonight" .

Bai Xiaoyuan smiled and said with emotion: "It's really amazing that someone is spending New Year's Eve with me over the phone."

"Every year, more than a billion people spend New Year's Eve with you through TV. Didn't you think it was amazing before?" Although it was a question, Yu Xian used the tone of a declarative sentence.

Bai Xiaoyuan smiled and said: "Hey, that's not what I said—ah, the countdown is counting down, wait a few seconds..."

Bai Xiaoyuan stopped talking, and Yu Xian was also quiet. The moment the countdown ended, the two of them said at the same time, "Happy New Year!"

After this sentence was finished, there was another silence. Bai Xiaoyuan listened to the host's congratulatory speech accompanied by "Unforgettable Tonight". With the waves, they left in an invisible direction without stopping.

In the past, Bai Xiaoyuan would pack up and go to bed when he was about to feel lost and lost, and when he opened his eyes the next day, he would have already thrown that thoughtful and lost feeling out of the sky. Where did he have any artistic thoughts, but this time There was another Yu Xian who didn't speak on the other side of the phone, so Bai Xiaoyuan's mood was slightly different.

Even though Yu Xian didn't speak, Bai Xiaoyuan suddenly had the urge to say something to him that was sour and emotional that didn't match his previous style of painting.

...If you really say it, you will be laughed at for three months.Bai Xiaoyuan refrained from speaking, fearing that once he spoke those words, he would run out by himself.

He didn't say a word, but it was Yu Xian who spoke first: "Actually, I have never felt that the New Year is any good. What is the difference between the last five seconds and so many five seconds in my life. Tonight It’s also the same as lying on the bed and closing your eyes, except that you will be woken up by firecrackers and sleep unsteadily, what is the difference from usual?”

Yu Xian seldom talked a lot. Listening to that passage, Bai Xiaoyuan felt that Yu Xian might be... lonely, or bored, and had nothing to do. The tone of the words was negative no matter how they sounded.If he was given a set of test papers, he would not have so many inexplicable emotions.

Yu Xian said this first, and Bai Xiaoyuan happily found that he had no desire to add anything, so he continued, "At least we have a holiday for the Chinese New Year."

Yu Xian sighed, "Yes."

Bai Xiaoyuan felt that the gloomy aura from Yu Xian was almost spreading to this side along the phone.So going to bed late is really not a good habit. Late night is the breeding ground for such negative emotions. If you wait until tomorrow morning to let Yu Xian listen to what he said, you will definitely feel that your brain was short-circuited at that time.

But Bai Xiaoyuan can't tell Yu Xian that you just went to bed too late and your brain is short of strings, so go get under the covers. As a reliable friend, he still thought carefully about whether he could say something to make you feel better. Yu Xian was happier.

The answer is no.

Yu Xian has changed from lamenting about literature and art to talking about troublesome things during the Chinese New Year in a distasteful tone, such as eating too much New Year's Eve dinner is hard to digest, the sound of firecrackers is annoying to sleep, and the community is full of firecrackers. Can there be more? It's for setting off flowers, these two are noisy fireworks, at least they look better...

Bai Xiaoyuan echoed Yu Xian's words earnestly, thinking that people with few words can chatter very well, put on the earphones, pick up the phone and put it in his pocket, intending to go to the toilet and go to bed after saying goodbye to Yu Xian , when he passed the living room, he looked down and saw something in the corner of the wall, and couldn't help but stop.

The "goodbye" that I planned to say to Yu Xian turned into "What time do you plan to go to bed?"

Yu Xian was taken aback by the question: "I'll go to bed soon." He thought Bai Xiaoyuan was going to hang up the phone, so he continued, "It's getting late, you should go to bed too..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Bai Xiaoyuan's suddenly rising tone, "Wait, uh...a quarter of an hour! Go to sleep after a quarter of an hour!"

Before Yu Xian could answer the call, the call was cut off. He was holding the phone in a daze, quarter of an hour?Although he didn't know what Bai Xiaoyuan was going to do, but it was only a quarter of an hour, even if he lay down on the bed immediately, he couldn't fall asleep so quickly, so it's better to wait.

Yu Xian entered the bedroom without turning on the light, lying on the bed with his mobile phone, not knowing what to do.There are still a few minutes before the time Bai Xiaoyuan said, and he has no time to do anything in such a short time, so he can only stare at the chat interface that has not been exited before, and when the screen dims slightly, he taps it with his fingertips. Yes, until the screen changes not because of his actions.

Bai Xiaoyuan sent a voice message, Yu Xian put on the earphones and clicked, Bai Xiaoyuan's voice came from the earphones: "Salted fish! Look out the window!"

The voice was a bit unsteady, and the background seemed to be carrying wind noises. A guess suddenly appeared in Yu Xian's mind, and he felt that it was absurd. He stopped thinking about it, turned over and sat up.The head of Yu Xian's bed was facing the window. He knelt on his pillow and opened half of the curtains. First, he looked downstairs—his house was on the fourth floor, and things downstairs could still be seen clearly—there was a person upstairs. Xia looked up, seemed to meet his gaze for a moment, waved happily, and bent down next to a box after running a few steps.

Yu Xian looked at the figure downstairs who had turned into a small ball because of the waist of the cat, and stared at him in surprise while dialing Bai Xiaoyuan's number.

The other party straightened up and ran to the side before answering his phone.Yu Xian heard the other party's panting in a hurry, and before he could speak, he was attracted by the loud noise from the air.

Bai Xiaoyuan said excitedly on the other end of the phone: "Don't you want to see the flowers, look, I'll show them for you alone!"

Yu Xian looked up at the brilliant fireworks blooming in the sky, with the mobile phone in his hand still attached to his ear, he moved his lips but didn't know what to say.Yu Xian stretched out his hand to open the window, the cold wind blowing against his face made him shiver, but he didn't care, he leaned out half of his body, as if this way he could get closer to the gorgeous flowers.

Yu Xian stared blankly at the light in the dark sky, and listened to the loud noises in his ears, but he didn't have time to appreciate and admire in his heart. His mind seemed to be blank and messy, and the traces of fireworks appeared in his eyes. There was a flash of brilliance in the middle, and the scorching sparks fell directly on his heart with the afterglow, making him burn from fingertips to toes.

He wondered blankly, was this for him alone?Is Bai Xiaoyuan also looking up downstairs?

The flower was not big, and it was put away in a short while, leaving a blackened cardboard box standing on the spot, Bai Xiaoyuan ran over with his pockets in his pocket, stretched out two fingers and squeezed it into the trash can on the side .

He said to Yu Xian who hadn't spoken for a long time on the earphone: "It's not loud, but it should be enough to watch, right? By the way, if uncles and aunts are woken up by the shock, don't say that I ran to you in the middle of the night." The cannons are coming downstairs." Said Bai Xiaoyuan and was about to leave, before he left, he raised his head, saw Yu Xian in pajamas with the window open, and immediately yelled at the phone that hadn't hung up yet Said, "Close the windows quickly, it's so cold at night, don't catch a cold on the first day of the new year!"

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at Yu Xian who was protruding from the upper floor, stretched out his hand and waved at the people on the fourth floor like chasing a cat, and said to the other end of the phone in coordination: "Go Go back to the house and sleep, I'm going home too." He shrank his neck as he said, "It's really cold..."

Yu Xian lowered his head and looked at the figure downstairs, and he could vaguely see the smile on the other's face from a not too far away.

Yu Xian shrank back, closed the window, and said to the phone: "It's so late, you should go home quickly, do you want me to see you?"

Bai Xiaoyuan burst out laughing, "I'll be home in five minutes. If you send me off, I'll wait for you downstairs for ten minutes. Go to sleep, by the way, Happy New Year!"

Looking at the back of Bai Xiaoyuan leaving downstairs, Yu Xian smiled sincerely, and said to the phone: "Happy New Year."

Bai Xiaoyuan trotted home all the way back home with the excitement of lighting the fire, washed it briefly, and happily got under the covers.In the middle of the night, he did this on a whim, seeing the unfinished fireworks he had bought for the fun, and thinking of Yu's complaints about being too busy, he got dressed and went out before he could react.

Judging from Yu Xian's tone afterwards, he should be in a much better mood.Bai Xiaoyuan felt that his convulsive behavior was actually very wise, and he closed his eyes contentedly.