I'm in Delingha tonight

It rained a few times in mid-September, and the water in the Yangtze River once swelled precariously.After the rain, the weather is fine. Although there is still a high temperature of more than 30 degrees in the afternoon, there is no sun exposure in the morning and night, and autumn has successfully entered ahead of schedule.

The air conditioner in the studio, which had been blowing for a whole summer, was finally turned off, the glass windows were opened wide, and the wind from Huangjueping Main Street poured in together with laughter and laughter, and the white floor-to-ceiling curtains were lifted.The light and shadow are graceful, and the interlacing of light and dark, together with the indoor still life, plaster portraits, and casually hung sketches, forms a quiet and delicate oil painting.

Beside the still life in the front row, Chi Nian yawned, stretched out his hand to cover it, and felt a vibration in his pocket.

Maybe it doesn't matter, he thought, and it didn't make sense.

But then the phone started vibrating again, and it didn't stop several times in a row. The female student in the front row looked up at him in confusion, as if suspecting that she had heard it wrong.

After Chi Nian gestured "Continue drawing" to her, he turned around, lowered his head and took out his mobile phone to look at it.It wasn't someone's emergency call as expected. On the screen, Xi Shan sent a few pictures. He clicked on the chat box. It hasn't been loaded yet, but it can already be seen that they took them in Qinghai.

A few days ago, Xi Shan sent the repaired photos to be selected to Chi Nian, and asked him to decide which ones would eventually be hung on the blank wall of "Lanshan".Chi Nian wanted to make the scenery they both had seen more profound, so he deliberately chose the salt lake and the Yadan landform and hills beside the road.Xi Shan didn't seem to see his selfishness, and quickly agreed.

Clicking on the big picture, Chi Nian said "ah" in surprise, and typed: "Just print it! It's so beautiful!"

Even added a photo frame, black, which can highlight the magnificent picture of the photo.

Salt Lake sunset, roasted lamb naan under the sunset, white tidal flats and pink-purple sky.The color is so thick that it cannot be melted away, the layers are distinct and very warm, just looking at it, Chi Nian seems to have returned to that dusk immediately - the first time he and Xi Shan met each other, he was pulled into the car with tears all over his face, I went to see the sunset.

"The most beautiful sunset in the world", Chi Nian thought now, Xi Shan wasn't bragging.

To this day, there is still no special sunset in his heart that can compare with that evening.

Xi Shan's message popped up: "I'll hang up if there's no problem."

"Okay." Chi Nian typed, "Do you want me to help?"

Xi Shan: "Come to the store directly after get off work."

Chi: [little rabbit nods.gif]

Xi Shan: [baring teeth]

Looking at this little yellow face who was laughing heartily, he thought to himself, "Brother Xi finally gave up on his old man's smile", Chi Nian smiled, put his phone back in his hands and returned to work.

Tu Xiangyi had a cold recently, and the class time was also shortened, so the extra hour was used for practice.The students were devastated, and Chi Nian and the other two teaching assistants were not much better.

The sky became gray and the last student left the studio before they finished their work and began to pack their things.

After Chi Nian moved the tables and chairs away, he simply cleaned up the paint on the ground. The two girls moved quickly, and after a while, Lian Shiyu came over with a rag, wiped the balcony and said, "Is there any arrangement for the evening, Nian Nian? Teacher Tao just sent a message, she has nothing to eat, and asked us to eat diving frogs, together?"

"I have an appointment." Chi Nian raised the corner of his mouth and couldn't help but raise his lips, "I will definitely do it next time."

Lian Shiyu signaled that he understood without asking too much.When Xia Yaning next to him heard this sentence, the gossip radar was activated immediately, and he ran to Chi Nian's side in a small step: "I have an appointment with someone, is it that handsome guy?"

Chi Nian didn't mention the fact that he likes men, Tao Zi knew it and would not take the initiative to bring it up.When did Xia Yaning find out, Chi Nian didn't know about it, and the other party didn't ask him to confirm it, as if he just acquiesced, Chi Nian thought it was good, and it saved him from the embarrassment of coming out.

"Coming out", regardless of whether he had expected the result of accepting it or not, it was still a bit embarrassing. Chi Nian was thin-skinned, and after admitting it to Zhuo Pei'an at the age of 15, he never took the initiative to mention it.

Now that Chi Nian didn't answer, Xia Yaning took him as his acquiescing, touched his chin and said "tsk tsk tsk": "Every now and then we have to make appointments to eat and watch movies... When are you two going to be together?"

"It's not like that..." Chi Nian hastily denied, "He's straight."

Xia Yaning: "Who are you lying to?"

"Why am I lying to you when I'm fine?" Chi Nian secretly rolled his eyes.

"No way! Ah Yu, come here and help me see, why is such a beautiful little cutie blind!" Xia Yaning grabbed Chi Nian's shoulder and shook, "That look, that dress, that hairstyle, when we get along with you That look, do you tell me you are a straight man? Are you crazy or am I crazy?"

Chi Nian was dizzy from being shaken by her for a while, and after breaking free, he covered his temples: "Believe it or not, he is really straight, and there are a lot of girls chasing him..."

"I don't think it's a straight man either." In the corner, Lian Shiyu, who was holding a broom, added weakly, "Straight men shouldn't always live with the same sex..."

With reinforcements, Xia Yaning suddenly became more imposing: "Look!"

Chi Nian has gained some insight, but he still doesn't dare to overthrow his conclusion so quickly.

The person he likes is a gentlemanly straight man... right?

People who chase Xi Shan can line up from Jiulongpo to Yubei. This sentence is said by Meng Qing, another clerk of "Lanshan". When will brother Xi teach me the secret of attracting girls, and then Chen Mianmian slapped me mercilessly in the face, "relying on my appearance".

Chi Nian used to be sure that Xi Shan was a straight man, but when Xia Yaning and Lian Shiyu's rarely unanimous opinion was stumped today, a new idea came out of nowhere——

Indeed, if he is a straight man, why is he so widowed that he doesn't even have an ambiguous girl?

In the last conversation, I heard that Qi Xing had a new boyfriend recently, so the alarm was lifted on the spot.At that time, Chi Nian felt that they probably played too well together so they couldn't be together. He logically and self-consistently branded Xi Shan as a "straight man", and then used various clues to prove "that's it".

He was about to convince himself, but now the more he thought about it, the more unreliable he was: Xi Shan was a 27-year-old man from Chongqing who had no relationship with the opposite sex (including ex-girlfriends who wanted to get back together).

...Could it be really not straight?

Chi Nian pressed his temples, his eyes widened in disbelief.

But if it is not straight, then the next serious question is quickly placed in front of Chi Nian:

Will they collide?

Xia Yaning: "I don't want to talk to you anymore, go on a date and remember to give out wedding candy when you get married."

He left Tao Yi's studio lightly on the soles of his feet, and almost hit a street tree with his forehead. It was not until he took a taxi to the light rail station all the way to Guanyin Bridge, and walked through the crowd in a vain manner, that Chi Nian barely regained his sanity from the terrifying brain supplement.

"Am I thinking too much?" Chi Nian whispered to himself who was thinking more and more crookedly, "Maybe, maybe, maybe... your initial feeling was right. But what if?"

What if Xi Shan is like him?

The difficulty of the strategy seems to be reduced by 50% in an instant.

a little happy.

Chi Nian's footsteps immediately became brisk, and there were several methods in his record to test whether Xi Shan was straight or crooked.Just when Chi Nian was thinking about when to practice it, Xi Shan called him as if he had a heart, and asked straight to the point: "Where have you been?"

Chi Nian almost slipped his hands and walked through the winding commercial street on the first floor of Joy City: "I'm almost there..."

"It's okay, slow down." Xi Shan's voice was a little strange, as if floating somewhere, "I'm hanging a painting." After finishing speaking, he told Chi to read a few words and then left "see you later".

"Okay, we'll be there when we go upstairs." Chi Nian smiled, "Wait for me."

He didn't get a positive answer from Xi Shan, because the phone was disconnected suddenly for some reason.

Chi Nian:?

Half a minute ago, Meng Qing was using Douyin at the ordering counter.Business is normal in the afternoon on weekdays, and Chen Mianmian is in charge of making most of the drinks, so he seizes the time to catch fish.

Xi Shan hangs photos in front of the wall of the bookshelf.The hole was measured by a professional in the morning, but at that time, I lost everything and missed a photo. Xi Shan drove home at noon to pick it up. He decided not to bother the decoration company he was looking for, and hung it up by himself .

"boom!"

When the sound came, Meng Qing stood up with a conditioned reflex, and he looked in the direction of the bookshelf.A few rows of low cabinets blocked the line of sight, Xi Shan stood where he was, and just stood still, with one hand propping up the wall, his head lowered as if he was enduring something.

Meng Qing ran over quickly: "What's the matter, brother?"

"It's okay, the phone fell on the ground." Xi Shan was serious, bent over to pick up the small black apple on the ground with his back turned to him, and without looking back, he hooked his finger at him, "Go ahead."

"Call me if you have something to do, brother." Meng Qing said in a daze and was about to leave. Seeing that the picture hanging on the wall was a little crooked, she kindly reminded, "The last sunset, bro, you seem to be hanging crookedly, and you have to go to the left Adjust it."

Xi Shan gritted his teeth, and said calmly, "I'll do it later."

After Meng Qing left, Xi Shan recovered from the splitting pain and let out a long breath.He lowered his head, and the conversation with Chi Nian was cut off because of a small accident. Fortunately, it was not too late, and Chi Nian didn't hear anything wrong - when he finished hanging the painting and went down, he stepped on the air and almost fell to the ground on his back.

Luckily, Xi Shan used his feet to support him, but when Meng Qing asked just now, his toes were in sharp pain again.As soon as he passed, Xi Shan took two steps to find a sofa chair, but his legs softened due to the pain, and he quickly supported the corner of the table.

"Damn..." Xi Shan gasped, the experience of going to the roof tiles in his childhood, playing crazy in Delingha for a summer vacation and being injured countless times made him realize one thing.

In the fall just now, he may have broken one of his toes.

It's all Chi Nian's fault, she said "wait for me" if it's nothing.

Can you say something like this casually?

As soon as he pulled the little turtle out in his mind and wanted to knock on its shell, the sound of Chi Nian's footsteps immediately appeared at the door—maybe because he heard too much, Xi Shan could immediately distinguish Chi Nian from the footsteps of other people every time. .There is no pattern, no fixed rhythm, but he just knows that Chi Nian is coming.

Let's call it intuition.

Xi Shan raised his head, and Chi Nian walked quickly towards him wearing a cartoon T-shirt.

The youthful smile froze when facing Xi Shan, realizing something was wrong, Chi Nian's quick steps turned into a trot: "Why are you sitting here? Your face is so pale."

"Your Pikachu," Xi Shan pointed to the collar of Chi Nian's clothes, "so cute."

Chi Nian: "...Huh?"

Xi Shan: "Help me, it's broken."