Strategy

Lin Xue led Sang Tian out of the alley and walked to a small restaurant by the side of the road.

The two aunts were sitting on a small bench choosing dishes, while chatting: "Fuck you, my son-in-law looks weird all the time..."

There is not even a signboard. If Lin Xue hadn't said with certainty that this was a restaurant, Sang Tian would have thought it was a residence.

The aunt who picked the vegetables raised her head when she heard footsteps, and smiled when she saw Lin Xue: "A Xue, why did you come to eat at my place today? Didn't Sufen cook?"

Lin Xue: "No, I have a friend."

"Friend?" Auntie looked at Sang Tian again: "Where did you little ghost girls come from, one or two of you are like angels."

Sang Tian could barely understand the accented dialect, and said to her aunt with a smile, "Thank you."

Lin Xue glanced at Sang Tian quietly.

After all, since the two met by chance, Sang Tian never smiled at her once.

The aunt pointed to a wooden table in the room: "Sit down, I'll see what's fresh today, and I'll cook two for you."

Lin Xue said "Thank you, Aunt Qiao", and brought Sang Tian in.

Sang Tian found out that all women are very close to Lin Xue, so is Tang Shishan, so is Miao Kefei, so is the girl who gave sugar rice cakes, and so is Aunt Qiao just now, women of all ages are killed.

Of course, she can't tell others about this, after all, her own mother, Ms. Sang Jia, was the target of the serious fall.

Just thinking about Sang Jia, Sang Jia called.

Sang Tian reckoned that the second stage of treatment would be quite effective for Sang Jia. Sang Jia's voice sounded full of energy. Sang Tian turned the volume of his phone to the minimum, and he was afraid that Lin Xue, who was sitting across from him, would hear it.

Because Sang Jia was asking her on the phone: "Have you reported to Lin Xue that she is safe? Also, do you check if there are any specialties in Su province? Don't forget to bring some to Lin Xue when you come back. She is so thin, let her eat more. Otherwise, you'll break her up again."

Sang Tian lowered her voice and said, "Is she a sofa, why should I sit on her?"

"That's hard to say." Sangjia said, "Maybe you just like being crowded."

Sang Tian answered casually, then hung up the phone hastily.

She secretly glanced at Lin Xue on the opposite side. Lin Xue half-cast her eyes and looked at the bluestone paved road outside, her face was still lazy, and she couldn't tell if she heard what Sang Jia said just now.

Sang Tian thought for a while and explained: "Don't get me wrong, I haven't told the old lady about our breakup. Didn't you tell her the last time you went to see her? I guess we both think the same thing. Let’s talk about it after the stage treatment is over and the body is better.”

Lin Xue smiled, as if she was a little happy that Sang Jia didn't know about the breakup between the two.

Sang Tian found out that she was quite worthless—when Lin Xue smiled, there was a smell of a baby girl on her lazy face, and the wolf cub turned into a little milk dog in seconds, making people want to touch it touch her head.

But it is impossible for Sang Tian to touch Lin Xue, she is not a love brain, she is a reborn heroine who only wants to make money and start a career, okay?

So she asked Lin Xue in a cold tone: "What do you want to say?"

Lin Xue smiled again, just at this time Aunt Qiao brought up the dishes, steamed sea bass, lion's head, and two seasonal vegetables, said "add more if not enough", and went to the door of the store to chat with another aunt to choose dishes.

For a while, only Sang Tian and Lin Xue were left in the shop.

Sang Tian caught the plane early in the morning and then took the bus to this small town. He was really hungry at the moment, so he removed the disposable bowls and chopsticks in front of him, and planned to make two bites of food first.

"Wait a moment."

Lin Xue took the bowls and chopsticks in front of Sang Tian, ​​went to the cabinet to get a pot of hot water, and heated them carefully before putting them back in front of her: "It's cloudy and cold here, don't use cold ones, it's easy to cause stomach upset."

Sang Tian didn't move his chopsticks at this time, and kept staring at Lin Xue, making Lin Xue feel a little nervous: "What's wrong?"

Sang Tian: "Do you think you're so flirtatious or something? By doing these superfluous things, do you want to see that I have no more love for you?"

Lin Xue smiled pitifully: "Can you?"

Sang Tian hardened his heart and said, "I won't."

Lin Xue lowered her head, and the arc of her mouth was a little self-deprecating: "I will."

Sang Tian suspected that he had heard it wrong: "What did you say?"

Lin Xue raised her head, looked into her eyes and said word by word: "It's because I have no more love for you, okay?"

At this moment, it began to rain suddenly outside.

Although Sang Tian seldom comes to the south, she has watched many documentaries and knows that the winter in the south is like this. The cold and damp chill penetrates to the bone, and it doesn't often snow, but it often rains continuously.

Accompanied by the sound of rain ticking outside, the two of them fell into silence again, watching the raindrops fall on the rolling shutter door in front of them, forming a dense and transparent curtain.

The rain blowing in with the wind made Sang Tian, ​​who was used to the heating in the north, freeze her fingers. She squeezed her frozen red fingers, and Lin Xue brought her a cup of hot water and put it at hand: "Warm."

Sang Tian looked at the cup and said, "What do you mean?"

Xue Lin: "Take two bites of vegetables first."

Sang Tian wondered if what you are going to say next can scare me to death?

She picked up a chopstick of Suzhou Green and fed it into her mouth. This is a unique local vegetable, and its sweet taste is very pleasing to her tongue.

She chewed the vegetables and said, "You can talk, talk while you eat."

"No need." Lin Xue picked up a piece of sea bass and put it on her plate, picked out the thorns carefully and put it into Sang Tian's plate: "We'll talk after you finish eating."

Sang Tian: "What you want to say can still scare me to death?"

Lin Xue smiled: "No, wait until you put the chopsticks down, let's be more serious."

After Sang Tian ate all the dishes, he put down his chopsticks and looked at Lin Xue: "Okay, tell me."

With the sound of the rain, Lin Xue stretched out her hand and scratched her head. Her dyed black hair hung down her shoulders, echoing the rain outside.

This wolf cub is actually nervous.

Lin Xue cleared her throat, scratched her head again, and said, "Actually, it's nothing, I just want to introduce myself to you."

"Hi Sang Tian, ​​my name is Chu Lingxue, Chu from Chutian, Ling from Lingyun, and Xue from Xuexue. I am 24 years old this year."

"When I was three years old, my parents died in a car accident. The only family left was my aunt, but she didn't want to take me with me, so she sent me directly to the nursery. During a dance performance in the nursery, Wen Xinzhu, who happened to pass by, saw me and thought I am a good seedling, which brought me to Beicheng."

"Since then, figure skating has been the only thing in my life, because I know that it is the only straw I can hold on to. If I can't practice well, I will go back to my hometown and live a life that no one cares about."

"I met Chao Xi at the ice school. She came a year later than me, and her family is not in Beicheng. She is the only one who trains as hard as I do. She is also my only friend. The bracelet I wear, She gave it to me."

"Since *sha, she seemed to have a premonition that something would happen to her, and she whispered to me that if something happened to her, let me find a way to get out of the figure skating circle, and don't follow her old path anyway, her parents will rely on me. Then At that time, I smiled and said to her, what can happen to you? We will also participate in the World Championships together and win gold medals together."

Lin Xue looked at the rain curtain outside the store, and her eyes became damp like today's weather.

She didn't cry, but her eyes were full of mist. Lin Xue, who was in her teens, hid in it, like being trapped in a maze that she could never get out of.

Sang Tian felt a sharp pain in his heart: "So you have been supporting Chao Xi's parents?"

Lin Xue: "Uncle Chao was seriously injured on the construction site many years ago. He was paralyzed for life and had to sit in a wheelchair. Aunt Chao was also in poor health and couldn't work. The two of them used to rely on Aunt Chao to do manual work, and they all relied on Chao Xi's competition. Live on the bonus."

"They rented the cheapest house in Beicheng, and the family reunited for a while. Later, Chao Xi had an accident, and they didn't want to stay in Beicheng anymore, and they didn't want to go back to the hometown where Chao Xi grew up. They went to Aunt Chao to marry an aunt. It's Mudu."

"After Chao Xi's accident, I trained desperately. I couldn't tell whether my Achilles tendon was ruptured. Is it true that I overtrained, or I always hoped that it would be broken."

"In short, this injury gave me an excuse. I announced my retirement directly. Everyone thought that I had gone abroad. In fact, it was a senior in the figure skating circle who helped me change my name to my mother's. Later, I paid It took a lot of effort to find Chao Shu and Aunt Chao, and I bought them a house with my previous competition prize money, and I also finished middle school and university here.”

"After that, I didn't have much money left, and Aunt Chao Chao's health became worse and worse. I couldn't find a good job because of my grades, so I went back to Beicheng and found the most inconspicuous ice school as a flower. Skate coach, dance part-time in bars again. I dyed my hair silver, and I kept avoiding places where people in figure skating circles used to go. I hid for a few years and no one recognized me.”

"Until Dai Qing followed you to find me. I was once afraid of facing my past, and I was so afraid that I would run away. But I found that I was even more afraid of your absence."

Lin Xue looked at Sang Tian and said, "Since you found Mudu, Chao Shu and Aunt Chao will tell you about my past later, but I still want to tell you personally before that, and then tell you Sorry."

"I'm sorry Sang Tian, ​​I'm keeping these things from anyone in the world, and I shouldn't be keeping them from you."

"Can you forgive me?" Lin Xue looked at Sang Tian, ​​her tentativeness was almost humble: "Can we start over?"

Sang Tian took a deep breath.

Only now did she fully understand what the 15-year-old Lin Xue was carrying.She really wanted to find those trolls in the figure skating circle, shaking their shoulders one by one and asking——

When you defined a 15-year-old girl as a "deserter", when you vented your dissatisfaction with wanton and hurtful language, did you ever think about knowing the truth for a second?

Or, you don't care what the truth is at all, you just want to find an outlet for your anger?

Sang Tian said to Lin Xue sincerely: "You don't need anyone to forgive you for what happened back then. I can understand and forgive you for lying to me by concealing your true identity."

Lin Xue smiled at Sang Tian almost gratefully.

"But," Sang Tian said, "I can't start over with you."

Lin Xue's face darkened in an instant, like the winter in Jiangnan who had lost the last ray of sunshine: "Why?"

Sang Tian: "If I were still your girlfriend, and I said I wanted to investigate what happened to Chao Xi back then, would you agree to my investigation?"

Lin Xue's face became more and more gloomy: "Why do you need to investigate? I am still alive and can take care of Chao Shu and Aunt Chao, that's enough."

Sang Tian: "I don't mean to avenge Chao Xi, but if Chao Xi's death is really related to the quota for the World Championships, then Chao Xi must not be the only one who was killed. If there is any gray industry chain now It’s still going on, if we don’t continue the investigation, there will be a second, third, and countless Chao Xi.”

In Lin Xue's usual lazy voice, there was almost an urgent resentment: "Are you a police officer? You want to take care of the whole society?"

Sang Tian wasn't sure whether this loss of control was because Lin Xue was always dissatisfied with the self who chose to escape back then, and whipped her every day.

Sang Tian just told her very calmly: "I am a reporter. Mountaineers want to climb mountains because the mountains are there. Journalists want to find out the truth because the truth is there."

And years of protecting Chao Xi's parents convinced Lin Xue that this was a more meaningful thing, so that she was unwilling to take any risks that might endanger it.

Lin Xue's voice became cold: "You don't need to ask Uncle and Aunt Chao Chao, they don't know anything, I've lived with them for many years and I know best, you don't need to stir up their sorrows."

Sang Tian nodded: "I believe you, then I won't bother them anymore. I'll stay in the hotel overnight and fly tomorrow morning."

Lin Xue lowered her eyes, staring at the cracks on a bluestone slab on the road.

Finally she said softly, "Got it."

At this time, the rain was falling heavily, changing from tick-tock-tick-tick-tick-drip-drip, obliterating the footsteps of pedestrians far away, the voice of Aunt Qiao chatting with neighbors at the door, and also obliterating Lin Xue's words "can we start over?" , making these words completely lose the meaning of being responded to.

The two stood up, and they walked out silently without speaking. Sang Tian wanted to pay the bill, but Lin Xue snatched the bill.

Standing outside the store door, Sang Tian said, "Can I ask you one last question?"

Lin Xue: "Yes." Her fingertips trembled slightly.

Sang Tian: "Can you point me to the direction of Qingyi Hotel? I really can't understand the electronic navigation when I look at these winding alleys!"

Xue Lin: ...

Finally she said, "I'll see you off."

Sang Tian did not refuse.

Perhaps at that time, both of them had a consensus in their hearts - this may be the last part of the road they walked together.

They are all stubborn to the death, unwilling to give up the ideas they stick to.

Mudu is very small, and the hotel I hoped I would never reach, I arrived soon.

Sang Tian stood at the door and looked at Lin Xue: "Thank you, hurry back, Aunt Chao must still have a lot of things waiting for your help."

Lin Xue put her hands in her coat pockets: "Then, I'm leaving. What time is your flight tomorrow?"

Sang Tian smiled: "You don't have to worry about it."

She checked in and went upstairs with her luggage.

This hotel is not in the tourist area of ​​the ancient town, and there are very few people living there. The room smelled of dampness. Sang Tian pushed open the window and took a look out against the misty rain——

On the bluestone road, a black figure walked slowly, alone, looking undeveloped and sparse.

And this alley is very quiet, so quiet that Sang Tian only needs to open his mouth slightly, the person can hear it, and there is still time to turn around.

However, Sang Tian looked at the back for a while, opened his mouth, but didn't make any sound, and closed the window silently.

******

Sang Tian turned on the laptop and worked for a while, and then it was time for dinner.

She turned on her phone and looked, and found that the non-tourist area of ​​the town was not even good for takeout. It was raining outside, and she was too lazy to go out, so she went downstairs to the front desk to buy a box of instant noodles.

While boiling the water, she called Yang Jingsi: "How is your godmother today?"

"It's all right." Yang Jingsi said, "I'm going to watch their fresh meat with Aunt Fang. I ordered pork rib porridge and I'll ask them to eat it together later."

Sang Tian: "Guess who I met in Mudu?"

"Who is so mysterious?" Yang Jingsi asked: "Is there any celebrity filming in Mudu?"

Sang Tian: "I met Lin Xue."

"What's the matter with me!" Yang Jingsi became agitated all of a sudden, causing Sang Jia to pause the play: "What's wrong with you, goddaughter? Are you burning your tongue?"

Yang Jingsi: "No godmother, I have a small matter at work. I agreed to replace the coriander-flavored shampoo with garlic. They said it would disinfect and relieve itching!"

After talking nonsense for a while, she slipped out of the ward and asked Sang Tian, ​​"Isn't this a coincidence? What kind of fate is this for you?"

Sang Tian: "There is no destiny, only evil."

Yang Jingsi: "You guys haven't reconciled?"

Sang Tian: "No, she and I started with the five senses and ended with the three views."

Yang Jingsi: "What's the matter?"

Sang Tian withheld the name of Chao Xi's matter, and told it as an old news, and also talked about her and Lin Xue's respective attitudes.

Yang Jingsi: "Tsk tsk, they broke up because of a TV series, and you broke up because of an old news, which is quite in line with your status as a reporter."

"So, it's completely impossible for me to talk to her." Sang Tian opened the box of instant noodles and took a look: "Okay, I won't tell you, my instant noodles are about to spoil."

Yang Jingsi: "Even if we don't make up, you don't have to be so depressed to eat instant noodles, right? You should go find out what's delicious in Mudu, and save me some ingredients."

"It's because I didn't reconcile." Sang Tian said stiffly, "It's raining outside. Let's talk about it later when the rain stops."

After hanging up the phone, she froze for a while.

When I first arrived in Mudu today, it was cold and cold, but the small town in the south of the Yangtze River is like a beauty who walked out of the old days. The days here are stained with retro yellow, which made her sink at a glance.

She found that she really wanted to walk with Lin Xue in such a small town, on the road paved with bluestone slabs, and lightly step on the moonlight.

She didn't expect to meet Lin Xue for real.

So what if we just met?Now she was still alone in the small room on the second floor of the hotel, guarding a bowl of noodles that was about to soak. Lin Xue was in the small courtyard of Chao's family a few streets away. It was so close, but it was difficult for them to cross.

Until tomorrow morning, we will be on each other's side.

At this time, someone knocked on the door, and Sang Tian remembered that she was just about to buy instant coffee, and the proprietress said to look for it in the warehouse, and it would probably be delivered to her by now.

Unexpectedly, when he opened the door, he saw Lin Xue's slightly astonished face.

She probably didn't expect Sang Tian to open the door without even asking who it was.

She didn't speak, so Sang Tian had no choice but to ask, "What's the matter?"

Lin Xue: "The rain has stopped. There is a market in the tourist area tonight. Do you want to go and see it? Just treat me as a landlord."

Sang Tian hesitated for a long time: "Okay."

It is estimated that both of them felt that the bluestone road that they walked back to the hotel just now was too short.

It is estimated that both of them know what it means to say goodbye tomorrow morning.

Lin Xue looked into Sang Tian's eyes and said, "Then, let's go together."

******

"Why are the tourist markets the same everywhere in the country?" Sang Tian walked side by side with Lin Xue, looking left and right: "Shortbread, dried beans, candied gourds, tie-dyed paper umbrellas and cowhide bags, I can tell without looking What stores are there?"

Lin Xue laughed at the side.

Sang Tian found that he was like this, he usually talked a lot, and when he was nervous, he became more talkative.

She wanted to quickly shut her mouth: "I'm going to buy bunches of candied haws."

Xue Lin: "I'll buy it for you."

Just as Sang Tian wanted to say no, Lin Xue added: "Don't get me wrong, it's just a bunch of candied haws, as a landlord."

Refusing to continue would only look deliberate, so Sang Tian had no choice but to walk side by side with Lin Xue to the stall.

The candied haws in the south of the Yangtze River are more elegant than those in the northeast. Sang Tian chose the one with hawthorn, and said to Lin Xue while eating: "Do you know how wild the candied haws in the northeast are? Chicken feet, bitter melon, crispy noodles, anything can be made into candied haws!" "

This is what she wanted to share with Lin Xue when she was in Heilongjiang Province, but she just wanted to eat a bunch of strange candied haws together with Lin Xue, and it was impossible to say it now.

Lin Xue: "Did you go to the Northeast to investigate Chao Xi's affairs?"

Sang Tian: "Yes."

The atmosphere between the two of them had finally eased up a bit, but now it froze again.

Seeing that Sang Tian was struggling to eat while walking, Lin Xue pointed to a bench beside the road: "Sit down for a while."

When two people sat down, one leaned against the left armrest and the other leaned against the right armrest, leaving an awkward distance.

Since no one spoke, Sang Tian could only bite the candied haws in her hand with crackling noises. She was afraid that if there was no sound like this, the relationship between the two of them would become more embarrassing.

Lin Xue couldn't help asking, "Is it that delicious?"

Sang Tian choked on the two hawthorn pits that slipped directly into his throat. Because he was too nervous and lost his mind, he directly stretched out the candied haws he had bitten in front of Lin Xue: "Do you want to try?"

For a moment she was stunned, and Lin Xue was also stunned.

Sang Tian was so embarrassed that he wanted to pick out three rooms and one living room with his toes: What are you doing?It's as if Lin Xue deliberately kissed her indirectly!

Lin Xue coughed: "No need...well, you know my sense of taste is not that good."

Sang Tianfei usually retracted his hand.

Lin Xue took a look at the candied haws in her hand, why did she feel a little regretful?

Both of them looked forward in embarrassment.

The Chinese New Year is approaching, and the small town market is more warm with lights and festoons.

Sang Tian looked at a stall selling New Year pictures not far away, and suddenly remembered that Sang Jia looked at the New Year picture doll and asked her to have a baby with Lin Xue, and blushed for no reason.

Fortunately, a hawker selling lanterns came at this time, which attracted Lin Xue to look over, and asked Sang Tian, ​​"Did you play with lanterns during the Lantern Festival when you were young?"

Sang Tian nodded: "Let's play."

Lin Xue: "I was only three years old when my parents had an accident. I don't have a deep impression of them. I just vaguely remember the Lantern Festival before the accident. They seem to have bought me a rabbit lantern."

Sang Tian stood up: "You wait for me here for a while."

She stood up and threw the eaten sticks of candied haws into the trash can, then walked towards the lantern seller.

Lin Xue sat where she was, with her hands in her pockets and looked at Sang Tian's back.

Now that the rain is over, the moon is showing half of its face in the clouds. The bright moonlight falls and falls on the white fluff of Sang Tian's white coat, jumping and jumping, just like the lively smiling faces of Sang Tian before, Always deliberately teasing Lin Xue.

Lin Xue stretched out her hand towards Sang Tian's back, those jumping lights seemed to be within reach, but why she couldn't grasp anything when she curled her fingers, only the cold wind remained between her fingers.

How cold is it?The blow made Lin Xue's eyes sour, and a thin layer of mist formed under his eyes.

Lin Xue blinked desperately, trying to force the mist back, because the back of Sang Tian, ​​who was affected by the mist, became more and more blurred in her eyes.

Obviously I don't know if this is the last time I saw Sang Tian's back, how could I not look more carefully?

At this moment, Sang Tian walked up to the peddler and said a few words, then trotted all the way back to her side, and called her, "Let's go!"

Xue Lin: "Where are you going?"

Sang Tian: "The rabbit lanterns just now sold out, let's look for them at other houses."

Lin Xue stood up and walked with Sang Tian.

When the crowd gathers and then separates, when the market is lively and then becomes deserted.

It was already a little late, and the mottled bluestone road echoed with the sound of kicking and tapping footsteps, walking and walking, as if it would never end.

Lin Xue glanced at Sang Tian's short boots with heels: "Don't look for them anymore, don't your feet hurt from walking? It's okay if you can't buy them."

"Why is it all right?" Sang Tiente insisted, "I don't believe there are so many lantern sellers in the market, and I can't find a rabbit lantern."

Fewer and fewer people went to the market, and gradually there was a depressed atmosphere of closing, but Sang Tian kept walking back and forth.

"Why are you all right?" She just said repeatedly: "Why are you all right?"

Lin Xue glanced at Sang Tian's frozen red finger, and couldn't help but grasp it: "Sang Tian, ​​you don't want to investigate Chao Xi's affairs, can you?"

The author has something to say:

感谢在2022-01-2516:58:49~2022-01-2616:53:37期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angel who threw the landmine: the piece in the middle of the watermelon is for you to eat, and Mu Chenyan has one;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigate the nutrient solution: 18 bottles of Twelve; 10 bottles of Little Magic Powder; 1 bottle of Boyan;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!