Solstice Secrets

While looking for paper towels and rags to clean up his window sill, Ling Dongzhi casually asked it in disbelief, "What letter, chicken feather letter?"

Xiao Ba tilted his head to look at him stupidly, "What is a chicken feather letter, why is it chicken feathers, are there other feathers, magpie feathers, or pigeon feathers..."

"Stop it, stop it," Ling Dongzhi was about to go crazy again, "let's get down to business,"

"Oh, okay, it's business." Xiao Ba straightened his neck as he said, as if to make himself look more serious, "When you were not back, someone asked me if I knew you, and I said of course I do, My nest is just outside his window, and I can see him every day..."

"Wait a minute," Ling Dongzhi looked at it, his eyes filled with disbelief, "You said someone asked you about my situation?"

"Yes." Xiao Ba blinked his round bean-like eyes, and looked embarrassed for praise, "I'm not talking nonsense. Like you hiding in the studio and eating watermelon, bare feet in summer Ah..." Xiao Ba looked at his face, closed his mouth wisely, and then smiled flatteringly, "I didn't tell him!"

"What kind of person?" Ling Dongzhi felt his head buzzing, as if he had just been hit by a stick, "Did he ask you directly? Or did he ask the guard or someone else, and you happened to be next to him?" ..."

Xiao Ba interrupted him angrily, "I just took Xiao Jiu to visit the park outside the school, uh, you know, our aunt lives in that wooden pavilion by the lake in the park. She hatched two eggs..."

Ling Dongzhi went crazy, "Get to the point!"

"Okay, okay," Xiao Ba shrank his neck from his yelling, and said honestly: "As soon as Xiao Jiu and I came out of the park, we saw a man, oh, it was a man, tall. He rushed I whistled to both of us. Since you sometimes whistled to both of us, I took one extra look at him in the crowd."

Midwinter Solstice, "..."

This guy is a fan of the Queen of Heaven, he must be.

"Then he said to me: Hey, little fat man, I want to ask you something. There is an art teacher in this school whose surname is Ling, and his name is Ling Dongzhi. Do you two know each other?" Xiao Ba looked at Ling Dongzhi a little With dull eyes, I felt a little bit of pride in winning the round, "Then I said I knew him, my nest was built outside his window, and I could see it every day..."

Ling Dongzhi reminded it with a wooden face, "You have already said this part."

Xiao Ba sighed, complained in a low voice, and said: "Then I told him that you are going to another school to attend classes now, and you won't be back until after lunch time. He said that is really true. What a coincidence. I said I could pass the message on for him. He said that there is no need to pass the message, and he will come again anyway.”

"that's it?"

"That's all." Xiao Ba was very dissatisfied with his reaction, and he didn't seem to want to thank it at all.

Ling Dongzhi stared at it for a moment with a blank face, "Did he really... tell you?"

Xiao Ba suddenly became angry, "Do you think there is anyone else beside me that I can't see?!"

"I did not mean that……"

Xiao Ba asked him aggressively, "Then what do you mean?!"

Ling Dongzhi rubbed his face, "Didn't you realize that he was talking to you?"

"So what's the matter? Don't you often talk to me too..." Xiao Ba suddenly reacted, and jumped up in fright, "Oh my god, my god, he is talking to me... ah... "

Midwinter Solstice, "..."

Xiao Ba’s tone of excitement changed, and he flapped his wings back and forth in the studio, “He really talked to me! Oh my God, he will talk to us too! Winter solstice, winter solstice, he’s just like you! Did you find out? ?! Did you find it?!"

Midwinter Solstice, "..."

This reflex arc is really out of proportion to its height.

Ling Dongzhi was about to ask more detailed questions, when the phone rang, and when he picked it up, he saw that it was from the reception room at the gate, Ling Dongzhi's heart was pounding, "Hello?"

"Is it Teacher Ling from the art teaching and research group? There is a gentleman here looking for you."

"Okay," Ling Dongzhi's voice turned into a twist, "I'll go over right away."

Xiao Ba jumped behind him and shouted, "It must be him! It must be!"

The man pacing back and forth with his head bowed in front of the school gate was Zheng Ci.

Ling Dongzhi met his eyes, and his heart was in a daze.The street behind him was wet by the drizzle, and the fresh green branches and leaves were shining above his head. Even the sunlight leaking through the branches and leaves seemed to overlap a certain long-term picture in his memory, making him unable to tell what night it was and what night it was. .

However, the past time has gone away unknowingly after all, leaving only some faded memories.

"Zheng Ci." Ling Dongzhi sighed softly, "Long time no see."

Zheng Ci smiled at him, his slightly gloomy eyebrows stretched out, as if he was the handsome and handsome young man back then, "Winter Solstice, I'm here to say goodbye to you."

Ling Dongzhi felt a slight pain in his heart.

In the memory of the person in front of him, the most painful scene was his farewell.He is leaving him, and going to a foreign country with a person he claims to dislike but who is extremely helpful to his career, paving the way for his future and accumulating capital.

Ling Dongzhi suddenly came to his senses, "Where are you going? Is the Zheng family gone?"

Zheng Ci looked at him with warm eyes, like the young man who stood under the ginkgo tree and smiled at him a few years ago.However, Ling Dongzhi knew in his heart that the young man who held his hand and kissed him behind the canvas on a rainy day was gone after all.

"Let's go," Zheng Ci sighed softly, "I'm afraid there won't be such an opportunity in the future."

Ling Dongzhi followed his footsteps and couldn't help asking: "Where are you going?"

Zheng Ci didn't seem to hear his question, and said to himself: "Winter Solstice, I remember you used to love the fruit shaved ice from the dessert shop outside the east gate of the school."

Ling Dongzhi was slightly startled, then shook his head, "I haven't eaten for a long time."

Zheng Ci asked curiously, "Why?"

Ling Dongzhi said indifferently: "No reason, I suddenly didn't like it." On the night when Zheng Ci left, he strolled outside the school by himself, bought a bowl of shaved ice and sat on the curb to eat.After I came back, I had vomiting and diarrhea for some reason, and I had a fever at night, and it took a week to get better.He has never eaten ice since then.

Zheng Ci couldn't think of this, but he felt a little bit about the passage of time and the change of things.

It is working time now, there are no shops before and after the road in front of the school gate, so there are no people on the road.The two walked one after the other for a long time before they heard Zheng Ci say, "Do you believe in Winter Solstice? Buddha? Taoism? Christ or God?"

Ling Dongzhi thought for a while, but his expression became confused, "I think I have it. But in detail, I don't seem to have any belief. I believe that there are things in this world that are higher than people's hearts, but this thing is not Buddha or some specific deity. I probably believe in nature itself, which, in my opinion, is our god."

Zheng Ci smiled, "I actually didn't want to ask something so profound. A friend of my mother took her to Mount Emei a few years ago, and she started to believe in Buddhism after she came back. Sure enough, the power of religion is very powerful. She is now fasting. , I am more open-minded than before in many things, and I think this is also a good thing.”

Ling Dongzhi didn't know why he said this.

Zheng Ci added: "She will go to England with me. I opened a small company with a few friends there, and I probably won't come back in the future."

Ling Dongzhi looked at him in surprise.

Zheng Ci stretched out his hand and gently touched his face, "Winter Zhi, why do you say that you always have to wait for time to regret the mistakes you made when you were young?"

There was a smile on his face, but there was a look of sadness in his eyes.Ling Dongzhi didn't dare to look at him, but a trace of sadness gradually emerged in his heart.

"I do not know."

"I don't know either." Zheng Ci put his hands on his shoulders and walked slowly, as if they were still two college students, going to the playground, the library, and all the interesting places they found together after class , "My mother told me that attachment becomes a demon, and she made me think about it. She also let me read Buddhist scriptures. Have you read Buddhist scriptures?"

Ling Dongzhi shook his head, feeling sad in his heart, but his eyes felt extremely dry.

"Buddhist scriptures say: The other shore flower blooms for 1000 years and falls for 1000 years. The flowers and leaves will never meet. Love is not a cause and effect, fate is destined to life and death. Buddhism talks about fate. When fate comes together, it will disperse. No matter what, you can't escape. With such a rule, life and death are the same. No matter how deep the love is, if there is no fate, you can’t get together.” Zheng Ci looked at him, with a slight mocking smile on his lips, “Winter Solstice, I don’t believe We have no fate. It's just...it's my fault, no matter how good the fate is, I will lose it."

"What are you talking about now?" Ling Dongzhi pushed him away.

"I don't know. Look at you standing here, still the same as before. Your eyebrows, eyes, and everything are the same as before, but everything between us has become different." Zheng Ci paused, difficult Say, "Can you understand this feeling?"

Ling Dongzhi shook his head, "You chose this yourself, Zheng Ci."

"Yes, so I can't blame anyone. No matter how deep the regret is, I can only bear it myself."

"Where's the Zheng family? No more?"

"Only when I got it did I know that it was just a quagmire. If I stayed for a long time, I would only sink deeper and deeper into it, and finally drown in it. I have hardly slept a full night this year. I am very tired and very sad. Even if That’s it, there are still people who are dissatisfied.” Zheng Ci paused and shook his head lightly, “My mother also said that she wanted to open up and would not force me to do things I didn’t want to do. She said she just wanted to be with me , spend a few years in peace and comfort.”

Ling Dongzhi knew that Zheng Ci didn't have any roots in the Zheng family, otherwise he wouldn't have thought of curry favor with the Tu brothers.Even so, it would not be too comfortable to sit on the position of Patriarch, and some people would be dissatisfied.I heard that there are several excellent grandchildren in the Zheng family's generation, and the elders are probably waiting and watching. The position of Patriarch does not depend on Zheng Ci.

Zheng Ci smiled, "Don't think so much, I'm fine with everything now, that's..."

He didn't continue, and Ling Dongzhi just pretended that he didn't hear anything, "Has it been decided?"

"The ticket has been booked." He looked at Ling Dongzhi hesitantly, "Winter Zhi, can I... can I hug you?"

Ling Dongzhi looked at him and nodded.

Zheng Ci's eyes suddenly lit up, and then he took a step forward, gently pulling him into his arms like holding some precious object.

The footsteps of time passed by their ears minute by minute, like quicksand, from the ignorant joy of first love, to the sadness of breaking up, to the helpless sadness of reunion, until the separation again.

Love is not causal, edge destined to death.

After all, it is not something that can be changed with the flow of people's mood.

Zheng Ci quietly put a small cloth bag in his hand into the pocket of Ling Dong Zhi's windbreaker, hugged him again, took a step back, waved his hand at him with a smile, and left.

Ling Dongzhi took out the gray-green cloth bag in his pocket, tipped it lightly, and a cold thing slipped into his palm.A small jade plaque, engraved with a flower swaying in the wind.

The other side flower.

Ling Dongzhi raised his head, and Zheng Ci's back had disappeared at the corner of the street.The sun is falling from the branches and leaves above the head, and the ground is full of silence.

The warm and quiet spring afternoon gave him the urge to cry.