Attempted first love

The atmosphere fell silent again.

Usually when Xia Yan meets an artist, he will first chat about the current situation, get closer, and then talk about the works in depth, both of them are much more comfortable.

While waiting for the red light, he turned his head to look at Zhang Lu and Zhou Yu. The other party was replying to WeChat with his head lowered. He hadn’t stopped since he got in the car. His eyes swept over by accident. The dense white bubbles occupied most of the interface, and the green bubbles were only a short one.

Xia Yan withdrew his gaze, turned sideways and stretched out his arms, and took out two cans of Coke from the car refrigerator in the back seat.

"drink water."

He stretched out his hand to pass it over, but his hand missed his head, and accidentally hit Lu Zhouyu's arm, and the water droplets on the soda can stained his clothes.The piece of linen was quickly wet, and the water stains spread and stuck to the skin.

"Sorry." Xia Yan subconsciously withdrew his arm and took the Coke away, but the top of the can was held by the other hand.

Lu Zhouyu said, "Thank you."

"But only Coke."

"It's okay," Lu Zhouyu smiled, "Can you give it to me?"

Xia Yan quickly withdrew his hand as if regaining consciousness, and wiped the moisture in his heart on the hem of his T-shirt.

When the red light ended, he didn't have time to drink his can, so he put it in the storage compartment and started the car again.

When he was about to drive to the destination, Lu Zhouyu raised his arm, holding the mouth of the Coke can with his thumb and middle finger, and pointed to the front right with his free index finger: "Is the Mirage Art Museum there?"

The place he pointed to was full of high-rise buildings, overlapping each other, with various colored glass reflecting light.Xia Yan understood what he meant, the sea was behind the tall buildings, and the art museum was built on the coast.

"Not on the north bank, but on the south bank, where the mangroves are."

He stepped on the brake slowly, looking for an open space to stop. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Lu Zhouyu withdrawing his hand, and his fingertips connected the small drops of water falling on the can, forming a crystal clear one, standing tremblingly on his fingertips, holding it up look in front of your eyes.

Some small fragments of scenes and memories gradually overlap.

It was on a very flat mountain, and he and Lu Zhouyu sat side by side to sketch together, because the whole mountain was very dull, and Xia Yan's drawing board was full of dusty colors, so he was distracted to look at Lu Zhouyu's paintings .

Xia Yan couldn't remember whether he was painting mountains or trees, or the river in the mountains, but he only remembered the feeling of world difference that welled up in his heart at that time.

But he did remember that at that time, Lu Zhouyu stretched out his arms, gently picked up a drop of morning dew from the leaves of a low shrub beside him with his fingertips, wiped it on the painting, and smudged a small piece of red paint .

Xia Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he lost control of his foot movements. Fortunately, the speed of the car was not fast, and the brakes were not rushed. Both the person and the car were safe, and water droplets swayed on his fingertips twice.

"Don't worry," Lu Zhouyu thought he missed the empty parking space, and pointed to the front with a smile, "There are still there."

After finishing speaking, the thumb rubbed against the index finger mercilessly, and the bead shattered on the fingertip.

"I'm going to park this." Xia Yan restarted the car, and plowed into the not-so-spacious seat.

When getting out of the car, Lu Zhouyu praised the field and said, "Mr. Xia has good driving skills."

Xia Yan frowned, and wanted to say don't call him Teacher, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly remembered that he was the one who called him Teacher Lu first when we met yesterday.

The topic was abruptly interrupted, he paused, then asked about the species of goldfish in the video, saying that he wanted to raise another one that was good enough.

"Bristol goldfish," Lu Zhouyu said, "actually, it was first bred by grass gold in China, and now it is only produced in some British ports."

"It's not very easy to buy," he added.

The two walked one after the other on the white stone road outside the coffee shop, their feet creaking.

Xia Yan walked in front and pushed open the door of the coffee shop first. The air-conditioning rushed towards his face, making his breathing much easier.

He turned sideways, let Lu Zhouyu go in first, and said with a little regret: "Forget it, I'll buy another dragon eye."

I haven't been here for half a month, and this small coffee shop also uses mobile phones to order orders. There is a QR code on the corner of the table. After scanning, you have to register and log in.

A series of procedures are complicated and trivial. I accidentally entered a wrong number when filling in the mobile phone number. I don’t know where the verification code is sent. I have to wait another 60 seconds.

Xia Yan was a little irritable, tapping his fingers on the table.

When the countdown reached 40 seconds, Lu Zhouyu pushed the phone from the opposite side, and it just slid to his hand, and the order page was displayed on the screen.

"Order with mine, Coke for coffee."

"Thanks."

A large glass of iced Americano was added to the shopping bag. Xia Yan took a look at the cream-topped hot drink in the new product column. It was soft, sweet and greasy, and it must be delicious.But without hesitation, he chose a regular latte and added three pumps of maple syrup.

While waiting for coffee, Lu Zhouyu was already drawing on the tablet.Xia Yan didn't bother him anymore, his gaze had nowhere to rest, and finally fell on his right hand holding the pen.

After looking at it for a while, he took a fountain pen from the stack of manuscripts, and lowered his head to draw on the napkin.

There is no one around, only the rustling sound of brush nibs rubbing against each other, the aroma of roasted coffee beans, and the floating dust dancing in the sun.

After Xia Yan finished drawing the two goldfishes, Lu Zhouyu just stopped writing.

"Fixed?"

"What did you draw?"

The two spoke at the same time and then paused. Xia Yan smiled, and answered first: "It's been a long time since I started painting, just draw casually, what kind of Thorkin fish are you talking about."

"Bristol."

"Bristol." Xia Yan repeated.

"Actually, it also has a name, Sweetheart Goldfish."

"Sweetheart?" He glanced at the fish he drew from his impression, and commented: "It looks quite aloof, it doesn't eat the fireworks between fishes."

The afternoon is always drowsy and sluggish, Xia Yan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about a basket of past events fermented by the goldfish.

When I was a child, I also raised goldfish at home. Due to neglect of care, I remember that they all turned upside down and died after a short time, floating on the water surface with a layer of white flowers.

Although I always feel that fish are the same as aquatic plants, without emotion, trapped in a small pond, shaking and shaking with the water waves.But he was still sad for a long time, and he was no longer interested in fish.

Later, one year I was sketching on the mountain. The mountain was ordinary, but there was a clear and swift river. Lu Zhouyu knew a very calm water.

When it was very hot, they took their drawing boards to the river and soaked their calves in the river water. Groups of small gray fish would come to peck their skin, which was cool and soft.

Xia Yan fell in love with that lively creature again.

"Mr. Xia." Lu Zhouyu pushed the tablet over and showed him the plan.

Xia Yan suddenly came back to his senses and forced himself to concentrate on browsing the files.

After reading it, he commented pertinently: "The three plans are very suitable in terms of concept, design, and communication direction, and I can basically... get your ideas, and I am confident that I can help you realize them."

Apart from technical jargon, he rarely mixes English in Chinese conversations.According to past communication habits, it is usually said that I understand, I understand, I understand, and so on.

At this moment, I want to express more that I can "understand" and "appreciate", but I can't think of the wording for a while, so I can only choose a whole word and pass it by.

Lu Zhouyu looked up, propped his chin with the capacitive pen in his hand, and pondered for a few seconds, "It's the first time a curator said he could help me realize everything."

"I didn't say everything."

The chairs in the coffee shop were very soft, Xia Yan finally relaxed his whole body, and sank back into the seat as if his bones had been pulled out, with his legs stretched forward, showing a non-serious negotiation appearance.

"Under the premise of guaranteeing your ideas, fine-tuning will definitely be done, and some commercial materials will be added to facilitate later promotion."

Lu Zhouyu raised his eyebrows: "For example?"

Xia Yan was half joking: "Print your photo on the brochure to attract more audience."

"Okay," Lu Zhouyu laughed, opened his arms and shrugged his shoulders, "Please feel free."

"I thought you would refuse, shouldn't it be said that performing arts is not selling one's body?"

"So I'm so upright in Teacher Xia's eyes."

His voice is lazy, and with a just right tone, people can't help but think about it deeply.

In the illusory afternoon due to the high temperature, white-collar workers in the surrounding office buildings came down one after another to order a cup of coffee to renew their lives, leaning on the counter to brush their mobile phones, and complain about work by the way.

Gazes over the only person sitting in the store, feeling envious, takes a sip of coffee, and then hurriedly returns to work.

As soon as the glass door opened and closed, the sunlight was refracted and pierced into the eyes suddenly, and the eyes were suddenly white.

No, Xia Yan thought in a daze, all the programs went wrong.

Fortunately, the coffee was served in time, and a sufficient amount of ice cubes floated on the liquid, rubbing against each other to make a crisp sound, and the surrounding temperature dropped a bit.

Xia Yan bit a piece of ice, and forcefully dragged the topic to the established program, "The art museum is an ArtDeco-style building, with many lines and geometric figures inside, so I think... the garden version of the installation would be more appropriate."

They talked a lot about visual effects, color distribution, expressive power of various media, how to use the exhibition wall to extend the exhibition line...

Everything is back on track, with professional curators and creative artists.

After five o'clock, people gradually sat in the coffee shop to pass the time. The strong smell of coffee in the afternoon dissipated and was replaced by the aroma of milk tea and baked desserts.

There should be a high school nearby, and at a certain point, students in blue and white school uniforms popped up, occupying the entire street outside the coffee shop.

Of course, school uniforms are not allowed to be worn properly. The trouser legs are wide, wide and long. The shirt buttons were fastened honestly, leaving one open just right.

The unique laughter of teenagers spread into the coffee shop, announcing the end of working hours, which is suitable for some topics outside of work.

Xia Yan straightened his body, propped his elbows on the table, and raised his head outward, "Why didn't you wear white sneakers before getting dirty, but ours were always stained with pencil dust and paint."

"Don't you know?" Lu Zhouyu turned to look at him when he heard the words, the capacitive pen was dangling between his fingertips, and he smiled slyly, "I repaint it with white paint every night."

"real or fake?"

"Really, just after you fell asleep."

"Come on," Xia Yan picked up the cup to drink coffee, the syrup was sufficient, and his teeth trembled with a sip of the sweetness, "I can't see the paint on the shoes, it's not a waste of time to learn to paint."

Lu Zhouyu smiled lightly, and finally did not reveal the answer to the mystery, but the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

So naturally, they chatted about the past in the studio ten years ago.The art teacher's glasses broke a leg, the erasers are always lost in the studio, and the white paint is never enough.

The reminiscence session was straightforward, and I always felt that something was missing, but no one went into it.

Irrelevant topics are like the fuse of firecrackers. Once ignited, you can't think about it, and you can't stop it.

It turns out that the days have been long enough for them to look at each other and recall the past.

Xia Yan raised the cup, shook it, and said to him, "Long time no see."

Outside the window, dusk came quietly.