glare effect

The sky in Beiyuan is always gray, no matter the seasons.

The winter here is especially long, and the temperature always tends to drop to freezing point after a few heavy rains at the end of summer, making it too late for people to react.

When I came back here again, it was in such a rainy season.

The day and night of this old industrial city seem to have not changed much, and it still looks dark and mottled.

This year is 27 years old.

Five years ago, when he graduated from Beiyuan A University, he didn't even have time to take a good look around the city where he had lived for four years.

Now, he is sitting in a barbecue restaurant at the end of Chaoyan Road in the city center, with the busy street outside the window.Pedestrians on the street come and go in a hurry, holding red umbrellas, blue umbrellas, and transparent umbrellas, like one of the few vibrant embellishments in this world.

At 136:[-] noon, when Shi had counted to [-] umbrellas, a tall young man pushed open the glass door of the barbecue shop.

The man was tall and strong, he looked about 27, and he was only wearing a simple black sportswear.He didn't bring rain gear when he came, and there were still some drops of water on his short hair. His tanned skin and big eyes made him look radiant.

"Shi Que!" The man entered the door and looked around, his eyes suddenly lit up after catching a glimpse of the person sitting by the window, and hurriedly trotted towards him.

At that time, he waved his arms happily at the man, and responded happily: "Chengcheng——"

This person's name is Xie Cheng, and he is a good brother and fan friend who got together every day when he was in Beiyuan A University.Before coming back this time, Shi actually greeted him, but when the plane landed on the front foot, this guy couldn't wait to invite him out for dinner.

Xie Cheng's temperament is best understood when, although this time the appointment was at a restaurant very close to Xie Cheng's work place, but it was still 10 minutes later than the agreed time, but in the end he still arrived one step ahead of the other party.

Xie Cheng had a good time, walked over to Shi without seeing anything but gave Shi a big hug, and gave him two hard slaps on the back, almost choking Shi to choke.

Xie Cheng sat down and poured himself a cup of tea, drank it gulp, and said, "But, you...why haven't you changed at all, you still have such a fair and clean face, and you still have such a clean face. Thin, I can hug you two by myself."

"I haven't mentioned you yet, you are a very busy person." Shi Ke knocked on the table twice with his fingers angrily, and countered, "I work overtime on weekends, and the TV station is so busy now?"

"Hey, that's not it." Xie Cheng's enthusiasm for opening his mouth came back again, his expression became more and more joyful, and he said while taking off his coat, "Let me tell you, if I didn't have dinner with you, I wouldn't dare to be in the boss's eyelids." I'm slipping away, I've just written half of this manuscript, and I'm still dragging it... How about it, my buddy is loyal enough, isn't it enough?"

When the dishes ordered earlier were brought up one after another, Xie Cheng took a plate of meat and began to actively help roast it.

At that time, he took the menu and flipped through it back and forth. He looked up and said, "I have an event in the afternoon, so I didn't order wine. If you want to drink, you can order it yourself."

Unexpectedly, Xie Cheng shook his head and flatly rejected the proposal to drink, "No, my wife won't let me."

"Hey." When it changed now, he was beaming, and said with a bit of teasing, "There is still someone in this world who can control you? I think you were not happy if you didn't drink every day. Sure enough, people are different when they get married. , much more mature."

Xie Cheng chuckled, as if he hadn't eaten meat for a few days, he picked up a large lump of pork belly that was grilled and sizzling, and hurriedly stuffed it into his mouth with the dipping sauce.

When old friends get together, reminiscing about the old days and chatting are indispensable.Fortunately, Shi and Xie Cheng are chatterers, taking advantage of the meal time to gossip and tease each other, it can kill a lot of time.

But Shi still has the physique of being full after eating, so he leaned back on the chair to rest early without eating much, helping Xie Cheng to roast the remaining half of the plate of meat from time to time.

Xie Cheng ate his face full of oil, smacked his lips and asked casually: "You are coming to Beiyuan this time, and you want to go back to University A?"

"Yeah." Shi nodded, and put two slices of mushrooms on Xie Cheng's plate, "There is a studio to cooperate with the promotion of animation entering the campus, this time I want to come to University A, the studio asked me to come with me."

Xie Cheng said "Oh", "When are you leaving?"

"I can stay for a while." Shi said indifferently, "There will be cooperation with other studios in the future, and it may be necessary to keep people here to watch for a while."

"That's a good relationship." Xie Cheng opened his eyes wide, and said flatteringly, "I just saw you, and ran away before I warmed it up."

But Shi gave him a strange look: "I know stinking poverty."

Xie Cheng wiped his mouth with a tissue, and continued to ask: "By the way, if you go back to University A, you can go to Brother Luo. Didn't he stay in University A?"

The name made Shi's hand holding the clip pause.

His voice was slightly weaker, and after thinking for a while, he said, "That's right, but I haven't had time to tell him... I'm back."

Xie Cheng patted his thigh, and then suggested: "If you don't meet him this time, I'll call him out in two days. Don't tell him you're here. Let's make an appointment. Hey, he will definitely be shocked."

The meat was sizzling on the oven, but at the same time, he picked out a bunch of charred enoki mushrooms with tongs, and looked up with a very standard smile.

"Well, I think so too."

"We haven't seen each other for a long time, too."

long time no see.

Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.It has been nearly [-] days since the last time I saw Luo Wenjiao, a long [-] hours.During this period, apart from a few greetings sent by the other party every festival when we just parted, and a few daily records on his social accounts, there was no other news.

The only thing I remember deeply is the photo Luo Wenjiao posted on Weibo during the Spring Festival four years ago.

In a group photo of a group of people, Shi can always spot the most familiar face at a glance.

That person still looks clean, restrained, and full of sunshine, and his eyebrows and eyes are a little more mature and stable than before.Judging by the pretty girl with an obvious pregnant belly beside him, that expression seemed to imply infinite happiness and fulfillment.

Beautiful women make a pair, and the house is full of children and grandchildren.

At that time, I realized that it was time for me to let go.

When I come back this time, if I can see Luo Wenjiao, maybe my all-time worries can be resolved smoothly.Thinking about it this way, it would be good to go to University A to meet him.

When I thought about this step, I felt unreasonably uneasy again.

After eating and saying goodbye to Xie Cheng, the rain had stopped.The sky began to clear up slowly from the west, and while it was still early, he walked into the nearby subway station and prepared to wander around the vicinity of University A leisurely.

Just when he got on the escalator, his phone vibrated suddenly in his trouser pocket.

When he took it out, he found that it was a call from a colleague who came to Beiyuan on a business trip together, and immediately pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Brother Xing."

The background sound on the other side was a little noisy: "Shi Que, where are you? There may be a traffic jam today, so come to the school early."

But when he connected the earphones, he skillfully tapped the payment code and swiped into the subway station, saying, "Well, I'm at the subway station now, don't worry."

The other party seemed to nod slightly on the other side of the phone, "By the way, because you are a surprise guest this time, when you come in, hide from people a little bit, and come up from the back door on the negative floor of the activity center, you should know the way."

At that time, he simply said "um", and went down to the platform, just in time for the next train that was coming at a high speed.

The interior of the subway car is basically the same as it was five years ago, but it has become slightly older over the years.At the station in the city center on weekends, every time the train stops, there are a large number of passengers coming and going.

At that time, I still clearly remember that when I first came to University A, this subway line was just extended to the school gate.Every holiday, the students of University A would take a car from the remote suburbs into the city to do some shopping and have fun.

From the business district to University A, no more, no less, just half an hour's drive.

At that time, he took a pair of masks from his bag and put them on, and walked from the platform to the ground with ease, and walked to the school gate, accompanied by many students who had just returned from the urban area.

A new face recognition gate was installed at the gate of the campus, but Shi Shi showed his work card to the dozing security guard in the shed for a long time before being let in.

When he set foot in his old place, Shi Bute originally wanted to put away his usual provocative temperament, but when the streamlined white building came into view, Shi Bute's heart softened silently.

This is the largest gymnasium in all the universities in Beiyuan.

It's also my favorite place.

From a distance, it seems that there are many vans transporting equipment in the parking lot opposite the activity center on the first floor.Fancy billboards and banners had already been placed at the gate, and some students stood in line in front of the gate, as if chattering about the upcoming event.

At that time, he quietly avoided the crowd, went down the steps from the side of the gymnasium, and entered the activity center from the basement floor.The underground is a corridor extending in all directions, but Shi has lost his way here countless times.

Table tennis hall.

Volleyball hall.

badminton court.

Basketball Hall……

Shi sometimes feels that this complicated route may have become a certain part of his body. When facing a fork in the road, it is almost an instinctive reaction, making him turn around in the huge venue.

But in the next second, he discovered with some frustration that this ability to recognize the way seemed to only allow him to find the basketball gym smoothly.On the road after that, Shi went back and forth for 10 minutes, but couldn't find the stairs that could go up.

At this moment, Shi was standing in an empty corridor, completely confused.

Obviously, he has walked this road many times, but he just lost his way in a daze.If it wasn't for the fact that the surrounding furnishings were very familiar, Shi would have wondered if it had been dismantled and reinstalled in the past five years.

There was no signal on the phone at all, and it was almost time for the event to start, but Shi turned around twice, and found that he didn't even have a clue how to get back to the basketball hall.

Just as I was impatient, I suddenly heard the sound of a ball hitting the ground at the corner in front of me. I was overjoyed, and hurriedly followed the sound and walked over.

This place seems to be the place where the clubs pile up props, and no one comes here on weekdays.But when he walked past a huge mirror attached to the wall, he found that at the corner of an open area, there was a boy who didn’t look big, chasing a basketball that was bigger than half of his body, back and forth. run.

When the little boy saw it, he stopped timidly.

But Shi picked up the basketball that had fallen on the ground, handed it to the boy gently, and looked at him carefully for a while.

The boy was born gentle and beautiful, but there was some firmness and calmness in his eyes that ordinary children never had. For some reason, Shi felt that this child's appearance seemed familiar.

"Little friend, why are you playing ball here alone?" Shi squatted down and smiled softly.

The boy blinked his big clean eyes, looked at him innocently, and didn't speak.

At that time, he asked in as amiable a voice as possible: "The little friend, do you know where you can go up the stairs?"

The boy shook his head blankly, as if he didn't understand Shi Que's words.

"What about your parents?" Shi looked down at the basketball he was holding tightly in his arms, as if something flashed through his mind, and asked, "Or do you know how to go back to the basketball hall?"

The question this time was obviously within the scope of the boy's understanding. He nodded seriously, and said in immature and disorderly words: "I know. Parents... parents are teachers, and they are in the basketball...basketball store."

At that time, he couldn't help but laughed softly, and didn't point out the mistake in the boy's words, "Then why don't you take uncle back? Uncle is lost and doesn't know how to get back."

The little boy agreed very readily, and led the way by bouncing and bouncing in front of him with the basketball in his arms. He went back and forth a few times, passed through a dilapidated door, and came to a staircase in time.

This unexpected joy came quite suddenly, the stairs that had been looking for for a long time appeared in front of Shi Que, and was led to find by a child who looked only three or four years old.

But Shi sighed and vowed to remember the road well from now on.

Going up from the ground floor, Shi suddenly understood where the "basketball shop" the boy was talking about was.

This indoor basketball court is reserved for games on weekdays. It is not open to ordinary students, and it is occasionally used as a training ground for the school basketball team.In the distance, you can hear the sound of "dong dong" dribbling, as well as the all-too-familiar sharp sound of basketball shoes rubbing against the wooden floor.

The boy was bouncing and running towards the basketball court, but suddenly he felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Parents are, teachers.He is in the basketball court.

But when he suddenly understood why this child made him feel familiar.

Concentrated demeanor, introverted character.

His regardless of obsession with basketball, his tone of voice when talking to people, and the frown when he looks at people are all the same as Luo Wenjiao.

The little boy ran and threw himself into the arms of a man, but when he realized it, he was too late to dodge.Maybe it was a trick of fate, or it seemed like a predestined fate, but when Shi saw the person striding out from the venue, he missed him day and night.

"... Shi Que?"

Although he was wearing a mask, the other party recognized him quickly when he saw him for the first time.

Luo Wenjiao was always good-looking, that was the only certain thing.

The all-black sportswear set off his tall and straight figure, which is well-proportioned and handsome. The years seem to have only taken away a little of the sharpness and hostility on his face, making him look even more outstanding than in college.

At that time, he took off the mask, his fingers trembling slightly, but there was still a very happy smile on his face calmly.

"Wen Jiao, long time no see."