to imply

This birthday surprise was too painful, and Xu Shouxing couldn't bear the second blow. He didn't dare to be a monster for the rest of the journey, and followed Fang Zhi obediently, walking obediently.

He walked in front of the two with his big ears twisting his little butt, his four short legs "clacking" fast, and he looked back from time to time to make sure that the two people behind were keeping up.

Like a leader.

Not long after, I arrived at the door of Master Zhao's hardware store.

He ran into the store with big ears and "woofed" a few times, and saw a man with half-white hair turning out from the middle of the shelf.

The man squinted his eyes to recognize the person, and his voice was a little loud: "What do you want to buy...ah, it's Xiaoxie."

"Hey, Uncle Zhao." Xu Xie responded, and brought Fang Zhi closer to the store, approaching the man to raise the volume, "Our mop is broken, and I want to borrow a mop from you."

"A mop, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, uncle will find it for you."

While the man turned around to look for a mop in the store, Xu Xie explained to Fang Zhi: "Uncle Zhao fought with others when he was helping the elderly in the vegetable market to seek justice, and hurt his eyes and ears. It's not working well in two places."

Fang Zhi nodded clearly, and looked at Xu Xie suspiciously: "Aren't you drunk?"

"...I wasn't drunk in the first place, but I was not so clear-headed. You just woke me up with that slap." Xu Xie touched the tip of his nose embarrassingly, thinking of his series of actions just now, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, and avoided Fang Zhi. He turned his head to play with Big Ears.

The two who had borrowed the mop slowly walked back, and when they reached the gate of Zhuxi, Xu Xie suddenly grabbed Fang Zhi's arm and pulled him into a corner.

"What are you doing... um!" Before he could speak, Xu Xie covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shh."

Facing his suddenly approaching face, Fang Zhi widened his eyes, grabbed his wrist and slammed it hard.

The dry and warm touch disappears instantly from the lips.

Xu Xie was stunned for a while while keeping his arms thrown away by him, and then explained softly in a panic: "No... I don't mean anything else, just over there—"

"Why do you care about me!"

A sudden shout interrupted his explanation.

Xu Xie stopped the sound, looked at Fang Zhi and pointed to the source of the sound, motioning him to look for himself.

In the dim light at the entrance of Zhuxi, there were two figures standing opposite each other. One of them was waving his hands in mid-air, opening and closing his mouth constantly, looking very emotional.

The other was much calmer, standing still for a long time with his hands down, keeping his eyes on the person in front of him without saying a word.

It was Yu You and He Jing.

"Why do you care about everything! Are you my father or my mother?"

Alcohol is really not a good thing.

Yu You thought in a daze.

He clearly knew that all of He Jing's actions and questions were out of concern for him, but the vicious rebellious emotions induced by alcohol took over, and the words he said were a little out of control.

"Since I was young, I like to control me. I have to ask about everything, and I want to intervene in everything. Calling you brother really treats me as an elder?! You have to take care of eating, you have to take care of drinking, and now you have to take care of me when I fall in love! What does it matter to you if I fall in love?! Did I rob you of what you like, or are you just disgusting me and don’t want me to be nice! If you are so free, why don’t you care about your father who smokes and kills himself!"

These words were very serious, and Xu Xie, who originally planned to finish listening to the corner, couldn't help interrupting him: "Yu You! Stop talking!"

Seeing someone coming, Yu You shut up, and then walked to the street without looking back.

"Yu You! What are you doing?"

"I'm going home! Don't bother me!"

The movement downstairs finally alarmed Lao Zhou and Lin Yufeng upstairs, and they hurried downstairs.

"What's the matter? Was it Yu You who was yelling just now?" Old Zhou Zhou saw that the emotions of the people downstairs were not right, especially He Jing, who was pale and red-eyed, and anxiously wanted to understand the situation, "Where are the others? What's going on?" ah?"

Xu Xie patted He Jiu on the shoulder, just as he was about to speak, He Jiu squeezed him secretly.

"...It's okay." He Jing shook his head, "He drank alcohol and couldn't control his voice. I was afraid that he would lose his temper, so I persuaded him to go back first...I...I didn't feel well either, so I left first .”

As he spoke, he didn't wait for a few people to react, and left in a hurry.

"No...they just went to the toilet, how did it become like this?" Lao Zhou turned to ask Xu Xie.

Xu Xie shrugged, saying that he didn't know.

The party ultimately failed to continue.Lao Zhou was worried about the quarrel between He Jiu and Yu You, and was a little absent-minded when he returned to the dinner table. Lin Yufeng received a temporary assignment from the company, and left with an apology.

The remaining three looked at each other, and finally Shou Xing himself smiled: "Then let's break up, anyway, the gathering is almost done."

Lao Zhou looked at Xu Xie apologetically: "This is really... Then, let's forget it, I will clean up these tomorrow, and I will go to Yu You's house to have a look."

"Well, you go."

As the door closed with a "bang", the originally lively and joyful space fell silent in an instant.

Xu Xie felt very helpless when a good birthday party turned into this inexplicably.He twitched the corner of his mouth, and said to Fang Zhi, who was the only one left behind, "I didn't expect this to happen... Sigh, I didn't eat much from the table..."

It was just after seven o'clock, and there were still five hours before the end of his birthday. It was supposed to be a bustling time, but there were only empty tables with meals.

Seeing Xu Xie's downcast and sad look made Fang Zhi's heart ache.

Fang's mouth is just a display most of the time, especially in this delicate atmosphere, he doesn't know what to say.

The two were silent for a while, and Xu Xie asked him, "Do you still eat?"

Fang Zhi shook his head.So the two began to tidy up the room together inexplicably and tacitly.

While Xu Xie went downstairs to put the dishes, Fang Zhi poked Jiang An's WeChat.

[FZ.]: Let me ask you something, is there anything interesting here?

Jiang An didn't return.Fang Zhi waited with his mobile phone in his hand, and after waiting for a while, there was the sound of Xu Xie's footsteps going upstairs from the door.

In a panic, he hurriedly stuffed the phone back into his trouser pocket.

After stuffing it, I realized it later and began to wonder-why did I panic?

Before he could figure out why, Xu Xie opened the door and came in.

He bounced up immediately, pretending to start stacking the plates.

Xu Xie didn't pay attention, watching him take the hand after stacking a stack, and went downstairs again.

Jiang An replied the message.

[Ah huh]: Brother Fang, it’s really time for you to ask. I just heard from the staff of the central playground that there will be a fireworks show around [-] o’clock. Would you like to come and see it?

Fireworks show?

[FZ.]: Where is the central playground?

[ahmm]: [location]

[Ah huh]: My dear Brother Fang, you should come out for a walk once in a while, you don't even know that the Central Amusement Park is so famous.

Fang Zhi didn't respond to Jiang An's teasing.After Xu Xie came up again, Fang Zhi extended an invitation to him: "It is said that there will be a fireworks show at around eight o'clock in the central playground, do you want to watch it together?"

Hearing this, Xu Xie's eyes lit up even though he was somewhat depressed.He nodded happily and agreed, "Yes."

The two quickly packed everything in the house and took a taxi to the central playground.

It's a holiday, and it's a well-known entertainment venue. The central playground is full of people.As soon as he saw this scene at the entrance of the playground, Fang Zhi wanted to run away on the spot.

"There are too many people..." Xu Xie also stopped, and looked at Fang Zhi hesitantly, "Should we not go in? Fireworks, you can see them everywhere."

...The point is not fireworks at all...

Fang Zhi patted the back of his neck in embarrassment, looked around, and suddenly his eyes lit up, pointing to a shopping mall not far away: "There! Let's go there and have a look!"

Xu Xie looked in the direction he pointed, skeptical: "I can't go up there...uh..."

Before he had time to finish expressing his doubts, Fang Zhi grabbed his wrist and started running forward involuntarily.

Facing the colorful lights reflected in the playground, the boy turned his head, his eyes brightened: "Don't worry about it, it's still 10 minutes to eight o'clock, let's go and have a look first."

They crossed the zebra crossing and bypassed all kinds of pedestrians. The night street scene was quickly left behind as the two ran, turning into illusory lights and shadows.

Xu Xie looked at Fang Zhi's back in front of him, and the previous depression was swept away, replaced by a burst of unrestrained joy.

This is probably the magical power of the boy he likes, there is always a way to save him from bad mood.

After rushing to the entrance of the shopping mall, the two of them barely stopped, and changed from running to walking to take the sightseeing elevator and go straight to the top floor.

"It's still hot to run."

Fang Zhi's gaze originally fell on the electronic screen showing the floor in the elevator, but when he heard this, he raised his eyes to Xu Xie, and saw a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

He didn't think there was anything at first, but when he looked at it this way, Fang Zhi suddenly felt that Xu Xie was emitting heat from the inside out, and the sense of existence standing beside him suddenly became extremely strong.

The sightseeing elevator has a small area, and after a while, the heat seemed to melt into the air, filling every part of the car.

Fang Zhi felt a little suffocated for no reason.

Fortunately, this feeling didn't last long, and the elevator quickly reached the top floor.

The two circled along the corridor for a while, and finally found the door leading to the rooftop in a corner at the far left end.

The door was unlocked, but there was a stainless steel chain in front of the door, and a no-entry sign stood next to it.

Xu Xie looked at the sign, then turned to look at Fang Zhi: "Shall we go in? Isn't it a bit immoral?"

Fang Zhi also didn't expect things to develop like this, but he came here, and he suggested it, and it was probably only once in this life, so he gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and said that immoral would be immoral, and observed. After looking at the surrounding situation, he pulled Xu Xie, quickly stepped over the chain, opened the door and got in, then turned around and closed the door carefully.

The moment the door closed, there was a loud noise in the air.

It's fireworks.

The two looked at each other, and they saw the surprise in each other's eyes clearly under the gorgeous fireworks.

They rushed to the guardrail of the roof, and everywhere they looked were fireworks that soared into the sky and then burst into bloom, which was magnificent, colorful and romantic.

"It's so beautiful... I haven't seen fireworks for a long time." Xu Xie said sincerely as he looked at the night illuminated by the fireworks all over the sky.

They stood tall and close to each other, and the sound of the fireworks exploding was almost in their ears, so Fang Zhi didn't hear him speak, lying on the railing, watching the fireworks from himself fascinated.

Xu Xie, who didn't hear the response, turned her head and saw Fang Zhi's smiling profile clearly amidst the fireworks.

Suddenly, I felt that the fireworks I hadn't seen for a long time were nothing more than this.

This is probably the case when you like someone, and you will be moved countless times because of this person inexplicably.

The fireworks show didn't last long, and as the last spark turned into smoke, the noise receded like a tide.

The rooftop returned to silence, and the boy under the dark blue night remained silent for a long time.

Xu Xie stared at the bustling crowd downstairs for a while, and then said, "I'm done watching, let's go."

"...Where are you going?"

Fang Zhi thought hard for a long time, and the birthday continuation program lasted only 5 minutes, which made him a little depressed.

"Uh... Anyway, let's leave here first, otherwise I'm afraid that people from the mall will catch us later."

Fang Zhi: "..."

Oh, almost forgot about this.

So the two sneaked out from the rooftop like thieves again, and started wandering around the mall.

Walking around while chatting, the time passed quickly, and by the time Fang Zhi felt the same, it was already past ten o'clock.

While the two were waiting for the car, Fang Zhi took out the photo album that had been hidden in his chest bag for a long time.

"What is this?" Xu Xie took the photo album, and smiled when he saw the cover, "The exclusive photo album from Brother Fang?"

"Yeah." Fang Zhi stretched out his hand to hold down the hand he wanted to open the photo album, and rubbed the tip of his nose in embarrassment, "Go back and look at it."

Xu Xie didn't know why and said hello.

The homes of the two were not in the same direction, and the car called by Xu Xie arrived first.

"Then I'll be leaving first." Xu Xie opened the back door and waved to Fang Zhi, "Goodbye."

"En." Fang Zhi also waved his hand, then added after a pause, "Happy birthday."

As they approached the house, Xu Xie hid the photo album in his pocket, took a deep breath, and then inserted the key into the lock.

"Why did you come back?!" A voice shouted violently.

Xie Wen was sitting on the sofa in the living room, and when she heard the sound of the door, she shot her eyes sharply: "It's already so late! Does a birthday need to be so late?!"

Tired of explaining, Xu Xie silently changed his shoes and prepared to go back to his room.

"Speak!" Xie Wen, who didn't get a response, shouted louder, "Why did you come back so late?! Huh?! Do you dislike me?! Do you want to abandon me?! You want to leave me alone like your father Down?!"

Xu Xie didn't speak, and confronted Xie Wen indifferently for a while, but in the end, he was defeated by the fragility she showed.

He sat beside Xie Wen, took a tissue to wipe away the tears on her face, and coaxed her softly: "Don't think that way, I'll be back a little later."

Questions followed: "Why did you come back late?"

"It's May Day today, it's more difficult to get a car."

"Then why didn't you message me in advance?"

"Not paying attention to the time."

Xie Wen raised her bloodshot eyes and stared at Xu Xie's expressionless face: "Really?"

Xu Xie stared at her face and nodded, "It's true."

Xie Wen was drowsy, and it was all because she was worried about Xu Xie that she was able to last until this time. Now that she saw the person in front of her, she couldn't resist the drowsiness, so she went back to her room and fell asleep first.

It wasn't until the door was completely closed with a "crack" that Xu Xie slowly let out the breath that had been held in his chest.

Xie Wen's condition is getting worse.

Knowing that this is not going to work, Xu Xie is going to find some part-time jobs to save some money, and take Xie Wen to a good hospital when he has time after the college entrance examination.

After Xu Likai passed away, Xie Wen's mental state was not suitable for continuing to work. After being dismissed by the company, she stayed at home and occasionally did some manual work.

So the life of the two is basically supported by Xu Xie's part-time job and Lao Zhou's occasional support.

... not enough at all.

Xu Xie stood in the empty living room, looking out the window in a daze.

The dark sky was so dark that not even a few stars could be seen. It was completely different from the bright and gorgeous ones seen on the rooftop of the shopping mall a few hours ago.

The fireworks have passed.