Between lines

Teacher Lu is a person with a strong sense of ritual, probably because she has been soaked in the fragrance of books for too long, she has an obsession with the sense of ritual that others cannot understand.Before Chen Tingbai was born, she even wrote letters to her husband. The trivial things in life, after time, were handed over from the postman to her husband, which was another romance.

Later, when Chen Tingbai was still healthy, his home would be decorated for every festive season, even the camphor tree outside the door that was planted when he was born had to be hung with some beautiful decorations.

It's just that since Chen Tingbai's accident, these things rarely appear at home.

It's not that Chen Tingbai himself stopped his parents from doing it.It's just that his energy is far less than before. In the past, after the Spring Festival Gala was over, he could still pay New Year's greetings to his parents, and then go out with a lot of lucky money to spend the night with friends.Now that the Spring Festival Gala is not over yet, his body will slide down, and the toes on the pedals will keep shaking.

Sitting is a problem, let alone eating.

The big New Year's Eve dinner cooked by the cook's helper and his mother, Chen Tingbai didn't have many dishes to eat, so he picked up the chicken soup stewed with slick oil and sipped a few mouthfuls, and then ate some easy-to-digest food, this year would be considered a meal. pass.

After a long time, the family naturally didn't pay attention to these things. Even Teacher Lu, who loves the sense of ritual, restrained a lot, and only stuffed the red envelope into Hu Cong's hand, and listened to the students congratulate him on his mobile phone, which was considered perfunctory.

But for some reason, Chen Tingbai also became interested this year.Hu Cong cut the red paper earnestly, and he wrote the couplet earnestly.

Teacher Lu didn't say anything, but the behavior of decorating the home became more and more blatant, even the pillows on the sofa were replaced with a few bright red pillowcases.Seeing that there are more and more red things in the house, there are even two strings of fake firecrackers hanging on the door of his own study. Chen Tingbai can see it when he raises his head when he is practicing calligraphy, and he thinks it is very beautiful.

Teacher Lu brought the milk lightly, and placed it gently beside Chen Tingbai. She asked kindly, "Son, you are all well, don't stay at home every day, let Hu Cong find you a condom." Put on the clothes I ordered, go to the mall, buy some new clothes, it’s the Chinese New Year soon, and buy some for Xiao Cong.”

It's a contradiction to say, my son runs outside every day, and I'm worried that he won't be able to bear it physically, but I'm afraid that he will be bored and easy to think about things when he stays at home every day.

Chen Tingbai's illness has improved a lot, but his voice is still a little hoarse, so it's no problem to go out.

But in the past two days, I have regained some feeling. I am practicing handwriting very hard. I don’t really want to go out, so I go back to my mother: "Isn’t it just you who go shopping and pick out my clothes? Besides, I have clothes, and they are all grown-up. Now, why are you doing something like buying clothes for the New Year?"

Teacher Lu took out a piece of paper for Chen Tingbai, motioned him to wipe off the milk stains left on the corner of his mouth, smiled and patted his son lightly, pointed at Hu Cong and said, "You are not young, but I have children in my family. You see, Xiao Cong hasn't bought new clothes yet, what will it look like if you don't buy some new clothes for the new year, if you don't go out, how dare Xiao Cong throw you out."

Chen Tingbai looked at Hu Cong, and the little ghost was blushing and practicing calligraphy as if nothing happened, but in fact he secretly glanced at himself several times.

It is true that he is still a child, how can he not want to go out to play, when he was his age, he wished to sleep on the street, but now he wants someone to accompany him to practice calligraphy at the desk every day.

Chen Tingbai threw the brush into the pen sink, raised his head and said to Hu Cong, "Xiao Cong, go find your coat, let's go out for a stroll."

Chen Tingbai suddenly wondered if Xu Shaohua had his annual vacation, and how he had talked since that day when he came to deliver rock candy pears.It's just that I can make a phone call with him every night before going to bed, but because it's too late, I just say a few words and then hang up.

I don't know if Xu Shaohua celebrates the New Year here alone, and if his family is as festive as his own.

When they arrived at the shopping mall, they went straight to men's clothing. Chen Tingbai's clothes were okay, but the pants were a little hard to find.

The length is enough, but the waist needs to be changed a little.He has been paralyzed for so many years, and his figure has long been different from the original one. After sitting for a long time, a little soft flesh inevitably piled up on his stomach, but the muscles in his legs were atrophied. All of them were changed by others, so I only bought those brands, and the colors were the usual black, white and gray.

But this time, Chen Tingbai picked out an extra sweater of another color, and planned to save it for New Year's Eve.

After swiping the card and paying, let the salesman send it to help change it.Chen Tingbai and Hu Cong went to other stores, and the store he often bought was a bit mature for Hu Cong, so it was not suitable.

When he was about to leave the store, Chen Tingbai saw a long camel-colored windbreaker hanging beside him, and he immediately thought of Xu Shaohua.Xu Shaohua is tall and lean, so he would look good in a windbreaker.

The bank card was still in Hu Cong's hand, and the kid was quite clever. Before Chen Tingbai could order, he had already taken off his windbreaker to pay.

It's just that I didn't expect that after a while, the salesman came over and asked, this windbreaker has a short style, do you want to change it for Chen Tingbai to a short style.

Chen Tingbai didn't understand why the salesman would ask such a question.

The salesman said: "This windbreaker is a bit long. If you wear it, the hem is too long...it may look unspiritual."

The implication is that Chen Tingbai is sitting in a wheelchair and wearing such a long windbreaker, he will feel very suffocated.

Chen Tingbai couldn't get angry, what he said was true, but he replied with a half-hearted smile: "No need to change it, I'm giving it to a friend."

After leaving the store, Hu Cong asked Chen Tingbai, was that windbreaker for Xu Shaohua?Chen Tingbai nodded, and then asked Hu Cong: "Is it good-looking?"

Hu Cong made up his mind, but couldn't imagine it, so he had to answer: "It should be okay, he is tall. But Master, you must look better in clothes, you are much better looking than him."

Chen Tingbai was amused when he heard it, but he still pretended to be angry and said to Hu Cong: "Didn't you hear what the salesman said just now? I'm in a wheelchair, and I'm not suitable for wearing long styles. Did you do it on purpose?"

Hu Cong became nervous all of a sudden and hurriedly stammered to explain to Chen Tingbai: "That's not what I meant, I was praising you for looking good. I think Master, you look good in anything you wear. You look better than anyone else I've ever seen. .”

After hearing this, Chen Tingbai laughed even more happily, and then took Hu Cong into a trendy brand store.

Taking advantage of Hu Cong's young age, Chen Tingbai picked out a lot of gaudy clothes for him, all of which were the styles Chen Tingbai liked when Hu Cong was his age.Hu Cong came out of the fitting room. The little ghost has been raised by Chen Tingbai's family as his own child for the past two years. He is no longer as shy as when he first came here. Clothes worth thousands of yuan are not so cramped, but he is still The mentality of a child, the expression is full of irrepressible excitement.

Excited and cramped, Hu Cong pinched the hem of his clothes in embarrassment, turned around slightly, and stammered to ask Chen Tingbai if he looked good.

Chen Tingbai nodded, Hu Cong was used to Chen Tingbai's behavior, he seldom complimented others positively, and even seldom smiled happily.It is rare to be able to raise eyebrows and grin like today.

He nodded and said it looks good, which means it is really good-looking.

-

Xu Shaohua is packing up his things for going home during the Chinese New Year. He goes home every Chinese New Year, and he would go back with his cousin in previous years.When my cousin called this year, I rejected him, and I always felt uncomfortable being caught in a new couple.Moreover, this year, I and my parents have boasted to Haikou, so how could it be possible to take my cousin's car home.

It's just that he kept thinking about how to talk to Chen Tingbai and lend him the car to drive back. He originally wanted to let Chen Tingbai go back with him, but when he thought that Chen Tingbai would also appear in front of his family, He thought it was okay.

But after all the words have been spoken, you can't slap yourself in the face.

How do you say something?What did he say, this person really didn't mention it, Chen Tingbai called himself and told him to go downstairs to get something.

Xu Shaohua didn't have enough budget when he bought a house, so he could only settle for the next best thing and buy an old-fashioned stair house from the former electric power bureau.It's a good thing that the original owner, the old couple, cherished the house very much. When Xu Shaohua took over, they just decorated it a little and then they could move in happily without spending much money.Coupled with the fact that it was only three stops away from the place of work, he still picked up a big bargain.

But in the old community, the barrier-free facilities are really poor. Every time Chen Tingbai sent him downstairs, he couldn't get in.Recently, the gate of the community is undergoing maintenance of the access control system. The construction tools are all over the place, and Chen Tingbai can't even enter the gate of the community.

Xu Shaohua ran out wearing an old long overcoat. It could be seen that he was on vacation, and his hair hadn't been combed properly. It would be blown by the wind and make it even more messy.

Chen Tingbai opened the car window and waved at Xu Shaohua, but he was tightly restrained by a special seat belt, so it was difficult for him to make too many movements.

As soon as he got close to the car, Xu Shaohua muttered, "You said you are so cold, why are you here to wander around? Is it cold? Just let Hu Cong bring you something!"

As soon as the words were finished, he saw that Chen Tingbai was dressed enough, even wearing a scarf around his neck.

Chen Tingbai's collarbone is very good-looking because the reason for his thinness is particularly obvious. The fly in the ointment is that there is a cut at the bottom of his neck.Xu Shaohua once asked Chen Tingbai how he did it when he was bored. At that time, Chen Tingbai told him that it was the scar left by the tracheotomy when the accident happened, and it turned into a round circle with the passage of time. a small hole.

It may be that there are more serious scars on the body than this one, and such a "painless" scar is nothing.Sometimes Chen Tingbai would not button his shirt to the top, and the round scar would be exposed. Today, Xu Shaohua was not used to it being covered by the scarf.

"I took Hu Cong out to buy some clothes, and I bought you a windbreaker as a New Year's gift." Chen Tingbai has been holding the paper bag since he got in the car, so that he can give the paper bag to Xu Shaohua as soon as possible. .

Xu Shaohua took it, took a look into the bag and said a few words of thanks. It was obvious that he liked it very much.

"Shao Hua, will you spend the Spring Festival here?" Chen Tingbai has checked several restaurants that are not closed during the Spring Festival in the past two days, and chose two restaurants that are well accessible and have good reviews. Shao Hua went to try it together, so I had to ask Xu Shaohua about the arrangement in advance.

"Those who want to go home during the Chinese New Year, as you know, usually we don't have so many holidays, and those who can go home to spend time with their parents will spend the New Year's time." The day is going.

Chen Tingbai lowered his head, feeling lost was inevitable, but he couldn't say anything, but the smile in his eyes dissipated in an instant.

"That's right, take advantage of this time to spend time with your family and relax yourself. See you after the festival."

Xu Shaohua could see that Chen Tingbai was unhappy, so he felt upset and said what was in his heart: "Don't! See you after the festival, I want to ask you if you want to go back to my hometown with me for two days , there is a scenic spot near our house, it is very beautiful. Many people go there to travel during the Chinese New Year every year. You are either at home or in writing all day, have you never gone out? Hu Cong must have never been there, let’s go together Ah, it’s just a trip.”

Chen Tingbai raised his head and looked at Xu Shaohua in disbelief.

What did this man just say?Want to take yourself home?Are you sure you haven't had a drink?Not drunk?

He asked uncertainly: "...you...what did you say?"

Xu Shaohua repeated again: "I said, do you want to go home with me? It's time to travel."

Chen Tingbai confirmed again, the answer he got was still the same, his heart was about to jump out.

Xu Shaohua lowered his head and talked to him. He didn't smell any alcohol, so he wasn't talking drunk.

"Then when are you leaving?" Chen Tingbai became nervous for no reason, thinking about a lot of things, going out by himself is very troublesome, let alone going to Xu Shaohua's hometown, there are too many preparations to do, I don't know There was not enough time for him to prepare.

Xu Shaohua made some calculations, took out his mobile phone and looked at it, and answered Chen Tingbai: "It's only the [-]th today, it's still early, let's go back on the [-]th, stay in town for one night, and get home at [-]."

Chen Tingbai listened to the time and thought about it again.

There is enough time, if you hurry up these few days.

"Okay, Hu Cong and I will pick you up on the morning of the 29th, but Hu Cong doesn't know the way, so you have to drive, you drive slowly, I may feel uncomfortable if you drive fast, so I don't know if I can arrive when it is dark .”

Chen Tingbai was a little embarrassed, he was very sorry for the latecomers because of him, let alone this is Xu Shaohua.

"Oh, it's okay, I'll drive slowly, we can arrive at any time."

At this time, how can I still care about what time I can arrive, not to mention that it is the next day to go home, and it doesn't matter what time it is until one o'clock the first day.

When Xu Shaohua entered the community, Chen Tingbai hadn't recovered yet, and was so excited that even his left hand was shaking.Chen Tingbai pressed his left hand firmly with his hands, letting it calm down quickly, and he also calmed down as soon as possible, lest "extreme joy begets sorrow".

"Xiao Cong, if you have nothing to do, I might trouble you to go shopping with me again."