meet by chance

The sky was gray, a sign of impending rain.

The streets with few pedestrians are even more empty.

Zhou Linye calmly put the paint and paper on the ground into his backpack. Before he could open the umbrella at his feet, a young boy with an expressionless face came into his sight.

White T-shirt and black trousers, with long legs as straight as compasses kept approaching Zhou Linye, and vigorous muscles could be vaguely seen in the slightly swaying arms.

Zhou Linye looked at the boy's sturdy figure with admiration, but such fiery eyes could not shake the boy's unwavering gaze.

"Hey! Handsome, how about a portrait?"

The boy stopped and looked at Zhou Linye with some uncertainty, his expression was numb and empty.

"It's been open for a day, and there is no serious person who wants to draw it. How about I draw it for you for free?"

The boy looked up at the whiteboard behind Zhou Linye:

Draw a picture, 50 yuan a piece.

Only now did the boy look at Zhou Linye's face.

There was a smile on the fair face, and the clear pupils reflected the boy's appearance.

The young man was stunned for a moment, then chuckled, "You sell paintings in this kind of place, and you clearly don't want to make money."

Zhou Linye leaned against the graffiti wall behind him, "How about drawing one for you?"

The boy pointed to the sky, "It's going to rain, change another place?"

Zhou Linye stood up swiftly, and the raindrops hit the ground intensified. He opened the umbrella and handed it to the boy.

The boy glanced at the whiteboard Zhou Linye was holding in his right hand, but said nothing.

Zhou Linye stopped at the door of the milk tea shop, "Did you draw it here?"

"Ah."

The boy followed Zhou Linye into the milk tea shop.

"A cup of hot red bean milk tea, thank you." After a pause, he turned to ask him, "What do you want to drink?"

The young man looked indifferent, "Whatever, just be like you."

"Okay, two cups of hot red bean milk tea, drink here."

After paying together, Zhou Linye sat down, put his schoolbag on his knees, put the whiteboard by his feet, and took out paints and drawing paper from the schoolbag.

Zhou Linye asked while taking tools, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Xu Zhou."

"Which week?"

"The continent of the seven continents."

"What about you?" Xu Zhou didn't have much interest in understanding, he just wanted to be courteous, so he asked casually.

"Zhou Linye, that Zhou of Xia Shang Zhou, that Lin Ye of Mu Huohua."

"Oh." Xu Zhou responded.

Zhou Linye is already holding a pen, ready to start drawing a line draft.

Zhou Linye's gaze made Xu Zhou straighten up uncomfortably, with a slightly stiff expression.

Zhou Linye smiled, "Your name is quite grand, don't be too nervous."

Xu Zhou frowned and looked at the paint on the table, "Do you still want to paint?"

"Yes," Zhou Linye raised his eyes, then looked down at the drawing paper, "Or do you want to draw a sketch?"

"Sketch, anyway, don't show colors other than black and white."

After Zhou Linye nodded "Oh", he stopped talking and focused on painting, looking at Xu Zhou with serious and pure eyes.

Xu Zhou laughed disdainfully in his heart, but he couldn't help recalling that he had never seen such a pure gaze a few times in his life.

"Two cups of red bean milk tea, please take your time." The young lady's voice interrupted Xu Zhou's memory.

Zhou Linye didn't change his face, he continued to paint, and he didn't forget to say "thank you".

The milk tea shop was very quiet. The raindrops outside the house fell on the ground, and puddles were formed in the sunken ground. The ticking sound of the raindrops falling on the puddles again, as well as the rubbing sound of Zhou Linye's brush and drawing paper, all got into Xu's mind. in Zhou's ears.

Xu Zhou couldn't judge the length of time. Anyway, he managed to drink more than half of his milk tea. He didn't like to drink this sweet and greasy drink. The rain still didn't stop, and Zhou Linye had already finished the painting.

Zhou Linye handed it to Xu Zhou, with Zhou Linye's name signed in the lower right corner, dated 2021.6.21

"How is it?" Zhou Linye asked, his tone still slightly imperceptible.

"It's pretty." Xu Zhou couldn't make any professional comments, so he thought about it and said, "It looks like me."

Zhou Linye said while collecting things, "Of course!" He was quite proud.

Xu Zhou took out 50 yuan from his trouser pocket and handed it to Zhou Linye.

Seeing this, Zhou Linye pushed the money to Xu Zhou, "Come on, it's free if you say it's free."

"Okay." Xu Zhou took back the money in a shy manner.

After changing hands, he took out another 20 yuan and handed it to Zhou Linye, "I invite you to drink milk tea."

Zhou Linye didn't shirk again, "All right, I'll accept it."

Outside the door, the rain continued to pour down.

"Where are you going next?" Zhou Linye asked.

"go home."

"Then do you know where the purple sea of ​​flowers is? There seems to be some kind of big sculpture in there. Tourists draw portraits of the sculptures. After they are finished, they can enter the venue for free. That's why I came here."

For some reason, Xu Zhou suddenly remembered that Zhou Linye's untouched milk tea was still on the table of the milk tea shop.

Xu Zhou looked at the street blurred by the rain, and the passing vehicles would not slow down even if they saw a big puddle.

For portraits, or for free?

It's none of my business.

Xu Zhou thought.

"That place was just repaired this year, and it's quite far from here. If you want to go, I can take you there when the rain stops."

"Hey buddy, I'm not kidding you."

Zhou Linye took out his mobile phone from his muffler, "What is your number, I will add you for easy contact."

Xu Zhou glanced at Zhou Linye's cell phone, "My cell phone is out of battery, the phone is 1×××... I agree with you when I go home."

"Okay, thank you very much!"

Xu Zhou couldn't hold back, and asked, "Hey, aren't you afraid that I'll lie to you?"

Zhou Linye seemed to think seriously for a moment, "What can I lie to, do I look rich?"

Xu Zhou paused, "Let's go, see you later."

"Hey, you don't have an umbrella—" Zhou Linye grabbed Xu Zhou who was about to turn around.

"It's not a slanting wind and rain, walk close to the front door, and the rain won't catch me, please pray for your own blessing."

Zhou Linye touched his nose, "Okay."

Xu Zhou's back was getting farther and farther, Zhou Linye also turned around and jumped into the rain, and took a taxi on the side of the road. There were very few taxis at this time. I wanted to take a Didi Express, but it was more than half an hour away from me. It was hard By the time the taxi arrived, he was already drenched in water.

When we arrived at the hotel, the rain was getting lighter. Zhou Linye took a hot shower and ordered takeaway before turning on his phone and adding Xu Zhou.

Xu Zhou's profile picture and nickname... are a bit unorthodox.

The head portrait is a black background with a hand with a middle finger.

Nickname... a rolling word.

Xu Zhou didn't agree yet, and Zhou Linye didn't care. He took out the tablet from the suitcase, found the picture of the big sculpture in the sea of ​​purple flowers, and started to draw.

The takeaway was delivered to the front desk of the hotel, and Zhou Linye hadn't finished the painting yet. For this painting, Zhou Linye strived for perfection.

When he saw the attractions and activities in this small county on the Internet, he arrived here by train from Lhasa for two days. He likes to see the scenery along the way while taking the train.

It is said on the Internet that the finished paintings will be hung up as publicity.

It would cost a lot of money to order a pair of paintings like this specifically. It is really shrewd to save this expense with a free signboard.

But Zhou Linye is willing to be recruited.

It was already past nine o'clock in the evening when work was over, and the fried dumplings and roll noodles that Zhou Linye bought were already cold. Fortunately, he had a hunch that these two things would not affect the taste too much when they were cold. After taking a few bites, he washed up Get ready for bed.

It was ten o'clock, and Xu Zhou still didn't agree to his friend application.

A little suspicious, but not a big deal.

Take a taxi tomorrow and give the address directly to the driver, and it will always arrive.

Just as Zhou Linye was about to turn off his phone, Xu Zhou agreed.

The dialog box kept showing that the other party was typing. Zhou Linye waited for a long time but did not wait for Xu Zhou to send a message, so he took the initiative to send a message.

Lord Zhou: Hey, I'm Zhou Linye

Roll: Yes, I am Xu Zhou.

Master Zhou: If it doesn't rain tomorrow, are you going to the Purple Flower Sea?

Roll: go.

Lord Zhou: OK, I will contact you tomorrow.

Xu Zhou didn't send any more messages.

Zhou Linye turned off the light and fell asleep.