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Those who are unwilling to die of thirst in the world must learn to drink from all cups! 【Nietzsche】

It has been ten years since I saw Jiang Chu again.

The cold wind of midwinter runs through the streets and alleys, and sweeps through every street in the city.

The first snow in winter fell for two consecutive days, and the soft cotton wool made a "creak" sound when hurried pedestrians stepped on it.The nerves are a little numb from the cold.

Gu Zhi was standing on the second floor of the Nanchuan Art Museum. He had a silver M10-R camera hanging around his neck. The coffee cup was constantly steaming upwards. He stared blankly at the passers-by outside the glass window.

This is the second time I have come here in a month. Every time I come here, I will bring this camera. First, it is small and portable. Second, the sound of the shutter is quiet, so that it does not disturb other visitors to the exhibition.

The air conditioner in the art gallery is a bit old, and it makes the sound of the machine running. In the silent exhibition hall, the low hum is magnified several times in vain.

He held the coffee in one hand, and flipped through the photos he had just taken on the camera's page-turning button with the other.

Suddenly, his finger hesitated stiffly on the delete key.

There was a familiar silhouette on the right side of the photo that was about to be deleted by him, and it was this silhouette that made him hesitate to press it.

Having not seen him for ten years, Gu Zhi still recognized Jiang Chu from the phantom in the photo at a glance.

At that moment, I couldn't tell what it was like, the time between them was too long, so he wasn't sure whether the time behind had changed beyond recognition.

Gu Zhi was almost a little dazed, he silently looked at the profile picture that was frozen in the camera frame, fascinated.

Ten years later, he experienced the wonder of fate for the first time.

That moment was his most emotional moment in these years, and he had two of the three great blessings in the world——

There is a false alarm after a long absence.

I searched all the way along the background of the photo, and finally found the location corresponding to this photo in the camera after going through several galleries.

Across a long narrow road, I saw Jiang Chu talking softly with a man in a suit and leather shoes.

Before he could figure out how to speak, the moment he was stunned, the phone vibrated untimely, and Gu Zhi turned it out of his pocket.

It was a message from Xu Jing.

[Someone in the classmate group said that Jiang Chu is back, do you know? 】

"En." Gu Zhi's gaze only stayed on the phone for half a second, and he quickly pressed the power button to turn off the phone after replying a word.

He stared intently at that familiar yet unfamiliar silhouette, from a distance, as if he wanted to see something.

And the people at the other end of the corridor seemed to be aware of it too.A smile was still on his face when he turned his head.

Looking at each other, Jiang Chu's smile suddenly froze.

Gu Zhi was stunned for two seconds. At that moment, something exploded in his mind, and countless emotions suddenly swept over him:

Where did all these years go?

Why haven't you contacted me?

Why did you come back suddenly?

Gu Zhi stared blankly for a long time, the knuckles of his fingers holding the coffee cup began to turn white, until the sound of caressing attracted the attention of the person who was talking to Jiang Chu, the silence was broken.

"Suit" was obviously stunned for a moment, and then asked somewhat unexpectedly: "Mr. Gu? Why are you?"

He approached Gu Zhi enthusiastically, patted his back and said, "Let me introduce you, this is a painter who just came back from abroad, named Jiang Chu."

painter……

Gu Zhi is not used to linking the title of painter with Jiang Chu, even though this is exactly what he expected back then.

"Suit" didn't notice the subtlety that lay between the two, nor did he see the fleeting clues between them.

He smiled and began to approach habitually. He clapped his hands and suddenly said, "By the way, Mr. Jiang is also in No. [-] High School. You are about the same age. Maybe you knew each other when you were students."

He hesitated for a moment, seeing that neither of them wanted to talk, he was a little embarrassed for a moment, and said with a smile: "But there are more than ten classes at the same level, maybe I haven't seen them before."

Not only have I seen it, I have loved it.

Gu Zhi twitched the corners of his mouth as if sleepwalking, his smile was a little dry, and he lost his mind, half of the cup of hot coffee in his hand was not stable, and it spilled all over the floor.

He said apologetically, "I'm sorry."

A staff member happened to pass by, "Suit" smiled and said it was okay, and beckoned the staff to call the cleaner to clean it up.

The coffee was still hot, and when it touched his fingers a little, the sticky touch caused his blood to flow from his fingertips and slowly flow towards his limbs.

Through the gap of saying sorry, he finally saw the person in front of him clearly.

Still half a head taller than him, wearing a dark overcoat, he was no longer the cold and arrogant look he remembered.

Ten years of time seemed to have smoothed his edges and corners a lot.

"Well, I've seen it." The deep and heavy voice penetrated the eardrum again after many years, as if going back to ten years ago in an instant, back to the dense summer.

In this outburst, Jiang Chu was the first to speak, responding to the previous "suit" question.

Gu Zhi was stunned for a moment, he thought that Jiang Chu would say that he was not familiar with it, or he simply pretended not to hear it.

"Suit" smiled again and said, "Let me just say, you two are about the same age, and both of you are leaders in your industry. You must have been famous when you were students."

Gu Zhi lowered his eyes and smiled deliberately.

Jiang Chu's student days were true, but he wasn't. His student days were all loyal audience applauding behind this influential figure.

Gu Zhi nodded and gave an awkward "hmm"

"Suit" improvised, looked back and forth between the two, and said, "Since we are all acquaintances, it's time for dinner, why don't we go together..."

He might want to talk about drinking tea or having a meal together, but he was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"No need," Jiang Chu said bluntly.

Such an answer was expected by Gu Zhi, but it made him a little bit at a loss.He thought to himself, it was just an illusion just now, he is still the Jiang Chu who never turns a corner when speaking.

"I still have something to do." Jiang Chu added another sentence of explanation.

"Suit" said regretfully: "That's really unfortunate. Teacher Jiang is very busy just after returning to China. Next time, next time I have a chance, I will make an appointment in advance."

Jiang Chu said politely, "Okay."

After Jiang Chu said "OK" that day, he left early because he had something to do.

It wasn't until the car started and the engine sounded that Gu Zhi belatedly realized that he should have asked him for his contact information.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be calling the empty number ten years ago over and over again, and it would always be a mechanical female voice.

Are you still angry?

still--

Gu Zhi thought of Jiang Chu's appearance when he was talking to others in the art museum.

Or have you been relieved a long time ago, and you have said goodbye to the past?

It takes only an instant to say the word ten years, and it only takes two seconds to write it in a notebook, but when I really look back, I find that even the corners of the photos taken back then have begun to turn yellow.

Breaking apart the past time is a minute, a second, a day, a year, a process of waiting for the four seasons to go round and round, and a lot of time that cannot be recovered no matter how hard you try.

The author says:

There are some changes from the first post. When I looked back, I found that many places were not handled well enough, so I made changes, but it did not affect the plot.