critical

Yan Ji supported the steering wheel, feeling tangled in his heart.

Yan Deng whispered the address: "Taoyuanli."

Hearing her vague voice, Yan Ji turned his head and asked, "You didn't sleep last night?"

Yan Deng's eyelashes trembled and he half-opened his eyes, his eyes blurred and foggy.Yan Ji couldn't help laughing when he thought of Xiao Yandeng in his dream who was always in a daze.

Seeing Yan Ji laughing for no reason, Yan Deng stretched out his hand to pinch her cheek.Yan Ji raised his brows in surprise, and his smile suddenly deformed to look weird and funny.Yan Deng hooked the corner of his mouth to restrain his smile, let go and patted Yan Ji's cheek, opened the door and got out of the car.

Yan Jizheng was a little dazed when he saw Yan Deng go around the car, open the passenger door and sit in, staring straight ahead and commanding in a very dignified way: "Drive."

Yan Ji reminded: "You are not wearing a seat belt."

Yan Deng gave her a sideways look, and silently fastened his seat belt.

The white BMW passed by the breakfast shop where the two had eaten wontons, and drove up the main road leading to the city. Along the way, the street lights receded rapidly, and the warm yellow light and shadows flickered on and off, reflecting on the faces of the two of them in an orderly manner.

There was a lonely song playing in the speaker, the female voice was deep and cold, full of affection that was about to be said.

Taoyuanli is a newly-built apartment building, and the two of them are not familiar with the road conditions, so they found a parking space in the underground parking lot after a few laps.

After entering the elevator, Yan Ji asked, "Which floor?"

Yan Deng looked at the elevator control panel: "Twenty...one."

Hearing her hesitation, Yan Ji was a little worried: "Do you remember the house number?"

Yan Deng flatly refused: "It's not necessary."

It is not necessary.

The elevator arrived at the 21st floor. There were only three households in total. Mr. Yan tried the fingerprint locks one by one, and successfully opened the door of the third household.

Yan Deng pushed open the anti-theft door, and lightly raised his chin to signal Yan Ji to go in.

Yan Ji smiled and praised: "It's great."

Yan Deng narrowed his eyes, and Yan Ji changed the subject calmly and forcefully: "It's nice to be rich. Buying a house is like buying vegetables. Hey, the lights are turned on automatically, and the air conditioner is also turned on. Can I wear these slippers?"

"No."

"what?"

"You're wearing the pink bunny pair."

"..."

The floor of the house is small, with a typical upper and lower double-storey duplex structure, and the overall decoration style is simple and bright.To say something special, the living room has become a combination of a study and a game room.The TV wall is made into a whole bookcase, which is neatly filled with unopened books, models, and figures.

There is no coffee table, a thick carpet is placed under the sofa, and stacks of various electronic products are placed in different categories, which are also unopened.Excluding mobile phones and computers, the most popular ones are all kinds of game consoles, Nintendo's NS, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PS4, and various supporting peripherals. There are four stacks of game cartridges alone.

Yan Ji picked up a box of Super Mario, waved it at Yan Deng, and joked: "Life is nothing more than reminiscing about childhood, or making up for childhood."

Yan Deng took the game card and looked at the plumber wearing a red hat and overalls on the cover: "Want to play?"

"Eat first." Yan Ji bent down and picked up a box of mobile phones, "Can you open it? I want to charge the phone and order a takeaway."

Yan Deng pointed to the electronic products on the ground: "Order the takeaway and dismantle them all."

Yan Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What kind of strange way of revenge are you doing?"

After charging the phone, Yan Ji ordered a KFC set meal for two and snacks, turned around and saw Yan Deng standing at the corner under the stairs.

Yan Ji walked over and stood side by side with Yan Deng, only to find that this triangular wall was made into a blackboard wall, and couldn't help being a little strange: "Did you draw a star?"

Yan Deng said softly, "This is Jing Xing."

Jing Xing?

Yan Ji's memory was instantly brought back to the day when he first met Jing Xing: the clothes were meticulous, the eye sockets were deep, the bridge of the nose was straight and the lips were thin and sharp, many people were not as tall and handsome even when they were young.

After contacting it a few times, I just want to stay away from it.

Yan Ji didn't pay much attention to Jing Xing, and turned his head to look at Yan Deng.

Yan Deng stared at the chalk-painted star, returning to the night in the dense forest of Myanmar in a daze, with poisonous insects neighing beside his ears, and the sky full of bright stars.For the first time, the silent and stern man became chatty, asking the meaning of the word "Jing Xing".

"Jing Xing sees, the auspicious wind is here, the yellow dragon is descending, the phoenix nest is lined up with trees, and Linzhi is in the countryside." Yan Deng pursed the corners of his lips, turned and walked away, "He can't hear you."

Doomed many years ago, the barrier between them can only be broken by death.

Yan Ji watched Yan Deng walk into the kitchen, and swallowed the questioning words.She heard vague feelings, different from the grief when talking about Walter, Yan Deng's feelings for Jing Xing were complicated and entangled, and there was also a sense of relief that the dead had passed away.

Yan Deng searched around the kitchen, took out two bottles of mineral water from the refrigerator, and came out to see Yan Ji sitting cross-legged on the carpet, studying the manual of the game console seriously.

Yan Deng sat down beside her, elbowed her and passed the water over: "So obedient?"

Yan Ji took the water: "He prepared two handles."

Yan Deng was silent, unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip.

The doorbell rang to break the silence, and Yan Ji got up to get takeaway.Yan Deng pushed the boxes away, leaving a space on the carpet.The two sat on the carpet, leaning on the sofa and eating fried junk food.

Yan Ji chewed the hamburger and said suddenly: "I have a lot to ask you."

Yan Deng let go of the straw: "Ask."

"There are too many problems. I was worried about you disappearing from the world before, as if you appeared suddenly. Now I feel that this is already the case, what else can I do."

"I used to think that ostriches are so stupid, but now I know that people are the same... Sometimes I can't help but think of my teacher, my mother, or I don't think about it, or I just think of recent things when I don't pay attention. I slap myself, and then find Do something, draw pictures, count, watch TV and read lines..."

Yan Ji felt that what he said was muddled, and he couldn't explain clearly, so he simply ignored it and said something when he thought of it.

"I have always wanted to be like a teacher, self-disciplined, principled, doing what I love, and silently dedicating myself to my ideals. I am sick and living in her house. I don't remember much about other things. I just remember that when I woke up in the morning, she had run back She is practicing calligraphy. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, her desk lamp is always on. Sometimes she reads books, sometimes she carves chapters. She likes to go to their museum with her. A broken pottery bottle can listen to stories for a long time, but the teacher’s house has no antiques. Not a single coin..."

"...I used to sometimes feel that my life was too ordinary and boring. After thinking about it for a while, I knew what it would be like in the next few decades. I ate, slept, went to classes and worked part-time. , and then there is a one-stop process of blind dates, marriages, and children. I suspect that Chinese parents copy and paste what is said on the Internet.”

Speaking of this, Yan Ji smiled, bit his lower lip quickly, and took a big gulp of Coke.

Yan Deng picked up a French fries and put it in her mouth. The sweet and sour ketchup made her body instinctively happy.

She didn't know how to comfort Yan Ji.

Having her own house, and watching TV on the sofa with Yan Ji to pass the time is the best ending of her delusion.The wish from a long time ago was to see each other again, or Yan Ji would be sad for a while when he heard the news of her death.

She picked up a French fries and handed it to Yan Ji's lips: "Eat the French fries."

Yan Ji tilted his head to look at her, his eyes were red, he bit the french fries: "I won't forgive you even if you eat french fries."

Yan Deng got up and went to the refrigerator to get a box of ice cream, inserted a small plastic spoon and handed it to Yan Ji.Yan Ji looked at the ice cream and Yan Deng, and finally reached out to take it, complaining helplessly: "I really don't understand you."

Yan Deng: "As long as I understand."

After a pause, she said again, "Don't be angry."

Yan Ji didn't talk, and took a bite of the ice cream.The ice cream in the box that doesn’t seem to match the price tastes really good. It has a solid and soft taste. After melting, there are natural ingredients in your mouth that are mild and sweet, which is completely different from KFC’s sundae.

Yan Ji bit the spoon and said vaguely: "Did we know each other when we were young?"

Yan Deng asked back, "When did we first meet?"

Yan Ji blinked innocently: "I won't dance, this is a proposition."

Yan Deng narrowed his eyes: "What do you mean?"

Yan Ji bit the bullet and said: "Well, if I'm sure I remember it clearly, it was at the fork in the airport road that night. Do you remember? At that time, you should have just returned to China and got off the plane."

Yan Deng: "I remember, I really wanted to kill you at that time."

"Ah!" Yan Ji was startled.

Yan Deng recalled the night of their reunion, and felt a little grateful for that ghost thing called fate, but Yan Ji greeted her with "Excuse me, your surname".

Yan Ji was curious: "Then why didn't you kill me?"

Yan Deng gave her a sideways look: "You really aren't afraid at all."

"Say it." Yan Ji leaned over with his body tilted, and threw his ponytail on Yan Deng's back.

Yan Deng finished a piece of Colonel's chicken nugget slowly: "After many years, it's dark and urgent."

Yan Ji was overjoyed: "It turns out that you sat in the back and said nothing to help me find a reason."

Seeing her smiling complacently, Yan Deng kept silent about himself, and then repeatedly found excuses to forgive her, so that her tail would not go up to the sky.

Yan Ji moved and moved closer to Yan Deng: "Tell me about when we were young. I dreamed a few times, and when I thought about it, I vaguely remembered the fragments. It was real and like I made up my own brain. When I saw a dustpan and a broom, I dreamed of the school. Cleaning up. I saw watermelon rinds during the day, and dreamed that we were eating watermelon at night. By the way, I also dreamed that I broke my head in a fight, and my eyes were red, and I woke up with fright.”

Yan Ji pointed to the scar on his forehead: "Could it be because of forgetting the past?"

Yan Deng touched the scar on Yan Ji's forehead with his little thumb and ring finger: "I'm going to take a bath, you study the game console."

Yan Deng went to the bathroom, Yan Ji cleaned up the trash with a blushing face, and sat on the carpet in a daze.Sometimes she picks up the game console and sometimes puts it down, sometimes she wants to leave without saying goodbye, and sometimes she wants to stay.

Yan Deng came out wearing a bathrobe, and saw Yan Ji hugging a pillow: "I'll play later, I'll bring you a change of clothes, they're all new."

Yan Ji didn't look back, stroked the pillow, put it back on the sofa gently, and fled into the bathroom without making eye contact with Yan Deng.

Yan Deng picked up the pillow and sat on the sofa. Hearing the slight movement in the bathroom behind her, she hugged the pillow and suddenly smiled.