Attempted first love

When I woke up at noon on Tuesday, the rain had still not stopped.

Xia Yan couldn't remember when he fell asleep last night. When he turned on the phone, the chat interface with Ji Qilin was displayed on the screen, and the words "Teacher, I have to resign!" were typed in the input box.

The exclamation point reminded him of everything he recalled from last night, and that last horrific thought.

For a moment, Xia Yan felt that he seemed to follow the memories of last night and returned to the excitable.

Compared with those past events that can't be said to be good or bad, right now, the weather in Haicheng makes him feel more uncomfortable.

When he was about to delete that line of words, the keyboard froze suddenly, and his finger triggered the send button.

With a "whoosh", the overly excited words lay in the dialog box.

Xia Yan paused, and quickly withdrew the message. After 5 minutes, Ji Qilin didn't reply, probably because he didn't see it. Xia Yan heaved a sigh of relief.

After lunch, I dawdled to finish the housework, and it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon.He changed his clothes and walked to the art gallery.

Yesterday, I made an appointment with Lu Zhouyu to inspect the exhibition venue together.

The residence is very close to the art museum, only 15 minutes walk.The road was newly built, there was very little traffic, it was very spacious and clean, and the flowers in the green belt were wilted by the rain.

Xia Yan bought this house three years ago, before the Mirage Art Museum was built.Although this area is not far from the sea, it was neglected to develop, the surroundings were barren, and there was no entertainment construction, which resulted in no one interested in it when it opened.

Therefore, Xia Yan was able to use his modest savings to pick out a good house type and floor.

Walking into the park, bypassing a spherical holly tree taller than a person, there are two people standing on the promenade in front of the art museum.

The rain washes away the vision, and from a distance, it looks like two very light shadows, sticking to the pale outer wall of the art museum.

The taller shadow raised its arm and waved towards Xia Yan.

After approaching, it was Lu Zhouyu and the guard Xiao Li who were sheltering from the rain under the promenade.

Seeing him coming, Xiao Li said enthusiastically, "Ms. Xia is here?"

Xia Yan put away the umbrella and asked while shaking off the rain: "Why don't you go in?"

Xiao Li sighed: "Didn't there be a sudden power outage last night? The access control system is out of order, and it's being repaired, but it's almost over."

Xia Yan nodded and looked at Lu Zhouyu: "Have you been waiting for a long time?"

Lu Zhouyu said, "No."

"Have you had it in half an hour?" Xiao Li said from the side: "Brother Yu was waiting when I came from the equipment room. He said he was your friend."

From preparation to exhibition installation, Xia Yan has been in the exhibition hall almost every day for the past six months. Xiao Li has always called him "Mr. Xia". Why did he call him "Brother Yu" just half an hour after meeting Lu Zhouyu?

When he was in the studio, other people in the studio also called him that.At first, Xia Yan thought it was because Lu Zhouyu had a bad temper and was domineering, so he was given the honorific title of "Brother", but later found out that was not the case.

But indistinctly, everyone called it that way, so that he didn't know Lu Zhouyu's name until the end of the training camp.

Xia Yan said to Xiao Li: "He is also the teacher participating in this exhibition."

Xiao Li said "Oh", and continued the topic just now without paying attention: "He said he was your friend, and I looked like it, otherwise he would not let strangers in."

Xia Yan could only say: "Thank you, how long will it take to get in?"

"A matter of a few minutes..."

The walkie-talkie in Xiao Li's hand suddenly rang, calling him to go back to the equipment room. There was something wrong with the maintenance process.

He didn't have an umbrella, and there was a layer of water stains on the hat on his head. The rain didn't stop at all, Xia Yan handed him the umbrella in his hand.

Xiao Li thanked them and left in a hurry. After running down the stairs, he turned around and said to them, "Maybe we'll have to wait a little longer!"

According to Xiao Li's words, Lu Zhouyu had been waiting for more than half an hour.

Xia Yan moved closer to him, "Why are you here so early?"

"The first time I came here, I went out a little earlier."

Xia Yan nodded, they stood side by side, facing the pouring rain outside the corridor, Lu Zhouyu couldn't see his movements, so he added "um".

Now if someone came from behind the holly tree, they would probably see them as two silent shadows.

"Every time it rains, nothing good happens." After watching the rain for a while, Xia Yan couldn't help but say, "Do you remember that time..."

He stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation, and he felt aphasia, so he changed the subject awkwardly, "It seems that it can't be repaired in a while, it's too much time for you."

Lu Zhouyu looked at him sideways, smiled and asked, "Which time?"

Xia Yan originally thought of the incident of being trapped on the mountain on a rainy night ten years ago, but Lu Zhouyu's words reminded him that they had experienced together more than one bad thing that happened on a rainy day.

So he said helplessly and funnyly: "Every time is quite miserable."

Lu Zhouyu seemed to think about what he said, and said with a smile: "It's better this time, at least it's not raining."

The sound of rain fills in the gaps in the conversation.

Compared with the previous few days, the temperature is slightly lower today, and it finally looks like autumn.Xia Yan wore a thin sweater and was tired from standing. He stepped back a few steps, leaned against the wall, put his hands in his pockets, and touched a few hawthorns.

I picked it up before going out in the afternoon, and almost forgot.

Holding the handle of the hawthorn in his pocket, he turned around and called out to Lu Zhouyu's back: "Lu Zhouyu."

The moment he turned around, he threw one.

Lu Zhouyu raised his hand to take it, with a surprised expression on his face, looked down at the hawthorn, and smiled after a few seconds, "Do you still remember my name?"

"How can I forget?" Xia Yan responded, and put the hawthorn into his mouth again, "You can eat it directly after washing."

After eating the hawthorn, Xiao Li still didn't come back, and the heavily guarded door behind him was closed tightly.

Xia Yan raised his eyes and looked at the building not far away. The outer wall was originally warm brown, but now it was a dull gray under the rain curtain, and it seemed to have become a huge shadow.

The world was in chaos.

He walked back to the porch and said to Lu Zhouyu, "Go to my house and wait, it's right in front."

Lu Zhouyu naturally said no.

Xia Yan persuaded him from various angles, and after a rare thunderstorm fell, he said: "Look, the weather is really bad, I don't want to wait here, let Teacher Ji know that I will be scolded by him if I leave you here alone. die."

Lu Zhouyu wore a still loose black shirt today. Perhaps because of the cooling down, the button was fastened to the top, which looked a little more serious.

He was silent for a while, then walked down the corridor, opened the black umbrella in his hand and said, "Then let's go."

The two walked side by side under the umbrella, their shoulders inevitably bumped into each other, Xia Yan felt uncomfortable with nowhere to put his hands and feet, walked a few steps, put his hands in his pockets, and rubbed the round hawthorn.

"The weather in Haicheng is as bad as ever."

"You've been here?" Lu Zhouyu asked.

Xia Yan was not sure how long he had been referring to, "Recently, it is mainly for the exhibition. I am usually in Spring City, and I will get moldy if I stay here all the time."

"The weather in Spring City is really good, and my sister is also in Spring City."

"You still have a younger sister, how old is it?"

"Seven years old."

Hearing this, Xia Yan turned his head and glanced sideways. The distance beyond the social range made Lu Zhouyu's facial features magnified in front of his eyes. His eyelashes and hair seemed to be soaked in rain, and they were dark.

He absent-mindedly replied: "Seven years old, so old."

As soon as the words fell, many questions rushed into my heart unexpectedly.

For example, Lu Zhouyu is from Haicheng, why is his sister in Spring City; for example, he remembers that Lu Zhouyu’s home is in a villa area in the city, why did he stay in a hotel when he came back; He talked about his sister.

These questions popped up suddenly, and quickly slid off like water on an umbrella.

When turning the corner at the intersection, Xia Yan's cell phone rang. It was Ji Qilin's call. He felt a little guilty for a while, and he didn't want to answer it in his hand.

His hand kept ringing, Lu Zhouyu turned his head and glanced at him, Xia Yan had no choice but to answer the phone.

"Have you arrived at the exhibition hall?" Ji Qilin asked in a gentle voice.

Xia Yan told him about the breakdown of the door, and said, "Still waiting for repairs."

"It's raining heavily, find a place to take shelter first."

"Well, I'll take Teacher Lu home and wait."

Ji Qilin suddenly fell silent. Xia Yan thought that the signal was being disturbed in rainy weather, so he called him: "Teacher? It's nothing to hang up beforehand."

"Wait," Ji Qilin said, "Xiao Jiang is right here with me, let him go over and help you do it together."

"No need." Xia Yan was a little puzzled: "I'll take a look at the venue today, and call him over after the exhibition is set up."

On the other end of the phone, Ji Qilin had already told Xiao Jiang to drive, and then said "I'll let him go directly to your house" and hung up the phone.

When I got on the elevator, I happened to meet a child upstairs, wearing a children's raincoat and rain boots, and happily greeted Xia Yan: "Brother Tiantian."

Xia Yan looked him up and down: "School is over so early today?"

"It's raining heavily, the teacher told me to go home early."

"That's it." Xia Yan bent down and patted his head: "Don't play football at home today, my brother is very tired today and needs to rest."

"Okay." The child nodded vigorously.

After getting out of the elevator, Xia Yan took out the key, turned his head and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm not laughing." Lu Zhouyu said.

"I saw it in the elevator." Xia Yan opened the door, guessing at the same time, probably laughing at his coaxing tone, after all, he is already 27, and calling himself an elder brother is quite embarrassing.

He pushed open the door, turned sideways and invited Lu Zhouyu in, and explained by the way: "The children in the community all call it that, and I don't bother to correct it when I'm used to it."

Lu Zhouyu put the umbrella up outside the door before walking in. When he crossed the threshold, he turned his head to look at him, and asked with a half-smile, "What's the name?"

"Brother." Xia Yan said.

Walking into the familiar area, the whole person also relaxed a lot, and he said: "I remember you are three months younger than me, you can call it that if you want."

Lu Zhouyu stopped at the entrance, stood beside the fish tank, stretched out his index finger to touch the goldfish through the glass, and then turned his head: "Brother Tiantian? Is that what you call it?"

When Xia Yan first moved here, it was the time when he was free from work, and the weather was good. He often went to the community to bask in the sun, so he met many children.

There was a little girl with braids who insisted that he was not "Yanyan" but "Tiantian", and she called him that later.

"Ah... this." Xia Yan came back to his senses and coughed in embarrassment, "The child is screaming."

Lu Zhouyu smiled and let out a long "oh".

Fortunately, after cleaning before going out at noon, Xia Yan asked him to sit casually, then went to the kitchen to boil hot water, Lu Zhouyu followed, leaned on the door frame, and asked if he needed help.

"I'll just boil water, you sit down, you're welcome."

Lu Zhouyu responded, still leaning there, neither of them spoke anymore.

The atmosphere in the room is like the mist from the spout of a hot water pot, and like bubbling water, it is a very gentle state.

The sky outside the window was gloomy, and the overhead light was like a very close and round sun, and the two of them were reflected in the glass, like a frame that had been removed, still and silent.

Xia Yan slowly realized that the time he and Lu Zhouyu had really been together was very short, and if the coordinate axis was drawn in units of years, there would probably be only a few invisible sporadic dots.

But those few small dots are continuous, floating, and majesticly shining subtle lights.

The churning mist rolled over the glass like waves until nothing could be seen.

As the water boiled, the doorbell rang.While turning off the power, Xia Yan said to Lu Zhouyu, "Open the door for me, it should be Xiao Jiang."

"Okay." Lu Zhouyu responded, turned and went out.

When Xia Yan came out with the kettle, he just heard the sound of the door opening and Xiao Jiang's bright greeting.

"Brother Yan, Teacher Ji said you're going to resign for a man, what's going on?!"