Solstice Secrets

When he came out of the tea garden, Ling Dongzhi felt a little empty in his heart.

It was an inexplicable feeling, a bit like weightlessness.He has never realized so clearly like this moment that his past has been turned upside down in the hands of fate.A pie that was originally perfect in appearance, just because of such a flip, revealed the burnt and ugly side.

Ling Dongzhi stood by the side of the street quite speechless, not understanding why such an inconspicuous metaphor popped up in his mind.It most likely means one less item on his list of favorite foods.He remembered that when he was in college, he especially loved the pies sold at the early morning stand in front of the school, stuffed with cabbage and mushrooms, stuffed with leeks and eggs, stuffed with pork with green onions...every one is very delicious, if you sleep late, you may not be able to buy it arrive.At that time, Zheng Ci had to run in the morning every day, and he would make a detour to buy pies for him. When they were delivered to his dormitory, the paper bag was still warm to the touch...

Ling Dongzhi sat down on a bench by the side of the road, staring at the red lanterns hanging on the street because the Spring Festival was approaching.He is actually not a person who is willing to recall the past, but at this moment, something that has been suppressed in his mind has a tendency to burst, and he can't suppress it even if he wants to.He remembered the momentary blankness on Zheng Ci's face when the two first met, the slightly nervous expression when they first asked him to go to the library together, the sweaty palms when they first held hands on the campus at night...

After breaking up for several years, Ling Dongzhi faced up to the past buried by him for the first time, and calmly sorted out these past events from beginning to end.

At that time, he was still too young. There was such a person who was willing to buy breakfast for himself every day and accompany him to the library and studio. He thought that this was all about love, but he ignored the two words written on the back of love: responsibility .A man who doesn't take responsibility can't take on the responsibility of being a man. His love is just empty talk.

Or Zheng Ci was too young at that time, and the so-called future was too tempting, he couldn't resist that temptation at all.In fact, in the tea garden just now, Ling Dongzhi wanted to say something to him: Since you have already made a choice, please persevere and continue to walk firmly.

Don't look back, don't go back on your word.

The most unbearable thing in this world is the word regret.

When Zhuang Zhou called, Ling Dongzhi had calmed down and was about to take a taxi to go home.He felt that Zhuang Zhou was really lucky. Every time he called to find him, he happened to avoid the time when he wanted to be alone.When his emotional surge subsided and he wanted to find someone to accompany him, this guy appeared like a pinch.

Almost every time.

Ling Dongzhi smiled and sighed, "Are you good at calculating?"

"Ah?" Zhuang Zhou didn't understand, but he could feel that Ling Dongzhi was in a good mood, so he smiled and said, "Do you want to hear some good news?"

Ling Dongzhi asked him back, "Is there a letter from Xiao Mao's family?"

Zhuang Zhou smiled and said, "You're really smart."

Midwinter Solstice, "..."

Such a mentally retarded compliment, is this a habit developed after hanging around with that silly dog ​​Brown Tang for a long time?

When he was bathing Xiao Mao yesterday, Xiao Mao told Ling Dongzhi the phone number of his hometown in Chongqing that he had seen on the caller ID.Zhuang Zhou felt that only one number was unreliable, so he faxed this number and the mobile phone number on the Xiao Maogou card to the subordinates of the Chongqing branch, asking them to help investigate the family's situation.

"That's it," Zhuang Zhou explained, "I asked the people in the company to go to the boss and told him that we are staff members of the Association for the Protection of Stray Dogs and are responsible for sending his pet dog home."

"He agreed?" Ling Dongzhi felt that the Association for the Protection of Stray Dogs sounded a little silly, but it was already very good to be able to fabricate such a decent excuse in such a short period of time.

"Well, of course." There was a little excitement in Zhuang Zhou's voice, "Xiaomao's original owner was quite excited, saying that he had no intention of getting rid of Xiaomao at first, but at that time he was dragging his family and pets were not allowed on the train. The solution can only be temporarily entrusted to others."

Xiao Mao has heard about this situation a long time ago. No matter what, it is always a good thing for Xiao Mao to be able to return to his master.

Zhuang Zhou asked again: "Where are you? School?"

"Didn't go to school." Ling Dongzhi replied casually: "I'm sitting on the side of the road basking in the sun." After saying this, he subconsciously looked up at the sky, only to realize that it was actually a cloudy day today.

Midwinter Solstice, "..."

Zhuang Zhou, "..."

Ling Dongzhi laughed dryly, "Then what... where are you?"

Zhuang Zhou seemed to sigh, "I was just about to go home. He Qing called and said that their plan was ahead of schedule, and they will leave early tomorrow morning, and he will come to pick up Xiaomao later."

Ling Dongzhi hurriedly said: "I'll go back right away."

"Are you outside? Where?"

Ling Dongzhi reported the address.

"I'll go pick you up." Zhuang Zhou said, "We're going back together after lunch."

"Okay." Ling Dongzhi looked around, "Let's go to that shop last time to eat fried dried radish with bacon. Talk to He Kuan and ask the boss to sell us some more bacon."

Zhuang Zhou smiled and agreed, "Okay."

Standing behind the light box on the street corner, Zheng Ci watched Ling Dongzhi sitting on the bench in a daze from a distance, seeing the expression on his face that was sometimes in a trance and sometimes smiling, his heart felt like being pricked by a needle, and he felt a sharp pain.He remembered that when they separated back then, Ling Dongzhi did the same, saying goodbye to him very calmly.Then he walked along the school's small lake alone for a long time. When it was getting dark, he sat down on the bench until it was completely dark.

Zheng Ci just looked at him from a distance, and he didn't understand why he did this.He knew that he couldn't bear to part with this person, but he had no choice. The multiple-choice questions Tu Xiaobei laid out in front of him were very realistic. If he wanted to get ahead in the Zheng family, he had no other choice.Even the ancients said that a man can’t establish a career because he has a problem—without a career of his own, and without a status that others value, what qualifications do he have to talk about relationships?He knew he made the choice that was in his best interest.However, at that moment, watching Ling Dongzhi's figure being swallowed up by the night bit by bit, the pain in his heart was so painful that it was difficult to breathe.

It was he who said sorry to this person and couldn't be together.But when he said this, he clearly knew that he still had some kind of secret expectation in his heart: one day he would reappear in front of this person.Zheng Ci has always felt that no matter what compromise he chooses in the face of reality, this secret expectation has always been the motivation to support him to persevere.

He never thought, or rather, he never dared to think that one day when he really stood in front of this person, Ling Dongzhi no longer needed him, and would no longer look at him with tender eyes.

There was already someone else's shadow in those tea-brown moist eyes.

Seeing Ling Dongzhi pick up the phone, Zheng Ci's eyes faded from the empty and bewildered look just now, and became bright and full of life, and the expression on his face softened.He tilted his head slightly and said something to the person on the other end of the phone, with a slight smile on his lips.This was an expression that he was extremely familiar with, and seeing it again after a long time, he had a certain illusion for a moment, as if time was still stuck in a long, long time ago, in that dreamlike good day.

Zheng Ci didn't know how long he was in a daze, but when he came back to his senses, the person next to the bench had disappeared.He walked over slowly and sat down, feeling too tired to even lift his fingers.He heard the phone in his pocket ringing non-stop, non-stop ringing, like a death call in a ghost story.It bored him.But sadly, even this boredom has become normal.

When I first met him, Tu Xiaobei was still a child, he didn't talk much, and always smiled shyly when he saw strangers.At that time, Zheng Ci's mother would say every time she saw Tu Xiaobei, "Oh, why is Xiaobei so obedient, he is like a little prince in a fairy tale." He knew that his mother's words contained flattery, because Everyone knew that Tu Xiaobei and Tu Shengbei were born to the same mother, and that Tu Shengbei was the next successor of the Tu family.

Even so, Zheng Ci still felt that what his mother said was right, Tu Xiaobei was really well-behaved when he was a child, and everyone loved him.At that time, Tu Shengbei already had a lot of homework, so he couldn't accompany this brother every day.Zheng Ci is two years older than Tu Xiaobei, just at the age when Tu Xiaobei likes to stick to him and let him play with him, and Zheng Ci's mother is very happy to see her son have a good relationship with the Tu family brothers - if Zheng Ci doesn't help, It is very difficult to stand out among the grandsons of the Zheng family.So logically, Zheng Ci and Tu Xiaobei became so close.

The children of the Zheng family were not close to each other. At that time, Zheng Ci sincerely regarded Tu Xiaobei as his younger brother. He would always think of him when he had anything delicious and fun, and sometimes he even felt a special sense of satisfaction: Tu Xiaobei is closer to himself than his own brother.

But when did this closeness start to change?

Zheng Ci couldn't figure it out.Obviously everything is so beautiful.There is a younger brother with a close relationship, and a lover with the same interests, but in the blink of an eye, everything has changed beyond recognition.

When Tu Xiaobei said to him: "Aci, I will let my brother help you get the Zheng family. I will help you with whatever you need. But..."

But his help is conditional.

Zheng Ci's feeling at the time was even shocking. He never knew that this inseparable child, the young son of a noble family, had such thoughts for him.However, when he knew it, he already understood that whether he wanted to reject Tu Xiaobei or not, Tu Xiaobei was not someone he could easily refuse.

Destiny made a noose out of Tu Xiaobei, and he hung the noose around his neck with his own hands.

They were so familiar that there were hardly any secrets.It seems to be a matter of course that this intimate relationship has been transformed into another more intimate relationship. Although Zheng Ci felt entangled and painful because he had to give up the Lingdong Solstice, to be honest, this pain has nothing to do with Tu Xiaobei. Compared with the benefits, it is really insignificant.

It was not without a good day of tenderness and sweetness between them.When Tu Xiaobei was in a good mood, he was very gentle and considerate.He loves to play, knows how to play, and can always arrange his life colorfully.It's a pity that this honeymoon-like good time didn't last long, and the conflict between the two people's personalities gradually began to reveal their edges and corners.

Quarrel, reconcile, quarrel again...

It never ends.

The life of two people together gradually became breathless, like being stuck in a swamp, desperately trying to climb out, but always falling back again and again.Such a bleak life is like a bleak background board, highlighting the existence of Lingdong Solstice more strikingly, like an iconic symbol that can guide his soul to be saved.

So hope was rekindled in his heart.The desire to be close to that person grows stronger each time.He was so burned that he almost lost his mind and almost forgot the methods of the Tu family brothers.Looking back now, it seems that when he gave up Ling Dongzhi and chose Tu Xiaobei, his life was no longer up to him to decide.

Zheng Ci looked down at his open palm.He couldn't figure it out, even though he had worked so hard, why did his life become more... involuntary?