Manhattanhenge

The first week of the summer vacation was uneventful. Professor Wang held several meetings and brought Ning Yixiao with him. Later, he called another student from the computer department, who was in the same class as him, but in a different class, named Feng Cheng.

Ning Yixiao felt that he looked familiar, but he didn't think of who he looked like for a while.

The previous three-person group became two people, and then returned to three people. It seems to have changed, but it seems not to exist. Everyone agrees to Su Hui's disappearance, only Ning Yixiao has a stick in his throat.

During the seventeen days when Su Hui disappeared, Ning Yixiao tried to call him and send messages, but nothing came of it.

He has an innate shadow about this kind of sudden disappearance, but there is nothing he can do about it. He can only subconsciously check the rather blank chat box between him and Su Hui over and over again, stare at the heart of the kitten doll before going to bed, and even go through the painful and long work. At the end of the night, I used my memory to find the red factory after a long journey.

Can't find him.

Until the No. 18 day, Ning Yixiao discovered Su Hui's missed call afterwards.

At that time, he was writing code in a laboratory where the air conditioner failed. During his work, he often forgot the time. When he remembered it, he turned on his mobile phone and found it.

It was like a joke, Ning Yixiao stared at the word Su Hui on the call page, and a graduate student came in at the door, whom she had met several times before.

"One night? You are here, I thought you had gone to eat." The senior sister said, "There is someone outside looking for you, it seems to be from another courtyard."

"Looking for me?" Ning Yixiao stood up, "A boy?"

The senior sister smiled, "Yeah, I thought you were in the dormitory, so I pointed him in the direction of your dormitory. I didn't expect you to be still working after dinner."

"Thank you, senior." Ning Yixiao didn't say much, grabbed her phone and left.

At first he was hesitant, not sure that the other party must be the person he was thinking of, but gradually he walked faster and faster, and finally ran along the tree-lined road leading to the dormitory, looking around. Fortunately, Ning Yixiao was in the dormitory. In a small rock garden at the back, I saw a figure suspected to be Su Hui.

After calming his heartbeat slightly, he walked towards Su Hui in a calm manner.

When approaching, Ning Yixiao heard Su Hui humming some light tunes in a low voice.

He was squatting in front of a clump of green bushes, wearing a water-blue jacket and a white fisherman's hat.The setting sun filled the air, and his hands gently stroked the ordinary leaves.The fine dust was dancing, and Su Hui's whole body was glowing.

The sound of the lighter appeared, turned it on, and buckled it again, and so on.He stood up, white smoke lingering around his cheeks.

Ning Yixiao stood behind Su Hui, trying to scare him, so he took the initiative to say, "Long time no see."

Su Hui was really frightened. She shrugged her shoulders, turned her head suddenly, and opened her already big eyes even wider.This picture reminded Ning Yixiao of a blue butterfly he saw downstairs in the dormitory a few days ago.

"Smoking secretly again." Ning Yixiao chuckled and walked up to him.

Su Hui held a long and thin cigarette between his index finger and middle finger, and it seemed that he had just lit it.

He was leaning on the rockery, just like in the past, he must be leaning on something, as if there was no support, he would suddenly fall down.

"I haven't smoked yet." Su Hui raised her eyes, her tone was very childish.

He didn't expect Ning Yixiao to appear, and after staring at it for a while, he felt that it was very real, not like a hallucination.

He didn't feel used to it, and he didn't know if it was because he had been locked up for too long, he wasn't used to the sunny daily life, or he wasn't used to Ning Yixiao just appearing in front of him like this, it was a coincidence that he didn't need to wait, he could find it.

Su Hui blinked, but Ning Yixiao suddenly reached out and snatched the cigarette from him lightly.

He thought that Ning Yixiao was going to throw it away, and subconsciously said, "It's a waste."

Unexpectedly, Ning Yixiao retracted his hand, actually took a cigarette in his mouth, took a puff, and exhaled the smoke.His movements are not unfamiliar, and it doesn't look like it's the first time he has smoked.

It doesn't match the appearance of Ning Yixiao's good student at all.

"With explosive beads." Ning Yixiao hooked the corner of his mouth in the smoke.

Su Hui could almost imagine the scene of him biting through the peppermint popcorn with the tips of his teeth.

"What happened to the popping beads?" He raised his eyes.

Ning Yixiao took off the cigarette and held it between his fingers, "Children only smoke with explosives."

"Then what do you smoke?" Su Hui asked.

Ning Yixiao looked away, as if recalling something, then glanced at the black cigarette case in Su Hui's hand, "It's not as expensive as Marlboro, it costs a few yuan a pack, and the white box seems to be called Jiaozi."

Su Hui smiled, "The name is a bit strange, like a girl's cigarette."

"It's definitely not mine." Ning Yixiao said in a deep voice, "I stole from my mother, she likes to hide it in the pillow, and I only take one each time, she has a bad memory, so she can't find it."

Su Hui was very sensitive, and could sense something from his downcast eyes.

"What is the taste?"

"The smell of orange peel is very light, and there is a bit of musty smell. It may have been stored for too long, and my mother is reluctant to smoke." Ning Yixiao smiled, "By the way, where have you been these days? None."

He changed the subject again, like a hedgehog.

Su Hui lightly took the cigarette from his hand, took a puff by herself, and exhaled a very non-standard smoke ring in the sun.

"at home."

Ning Yixiao raised his eyebrows, as if to say, is that all?

Su Hui smiled and nodded.

Ning Yixiao didn't ask any further questions, his phone vibrated a few times, and he lowered his head to check the information.

"Did you eat?" He asked casually while replying.

"Well, I ate some."

Ning Yixiao raised his head and held up his mobile phone, "The people from the reading and movie watching party will gather in the playground later, do you want to go together?"

As it was getting late, Su Hui pinched a cigarette, nodded with a smile, "Okay."

Side by side, the two walked across the avenue.Ning Yixiao noticed that Su Hui's walking posture was not right, as if he had injured his knee, but he didn't ask any further questions, and just walked silently with him towards the playground.

As night fell, they came to the lawn, and there was already a circle of people standing in the center, forming a circle, and someone in the middle had placed a searchlight, the light was yellow and fluffy, like a bonfire party without a bonfire.

Ning Yixiao was noticed as soon as he walked over, and everyone stopped to say hello to him.

Su Hui stared at Ning Yixiao's side face, and at a certain moment, he put away the feeling when he was alone with him, a feeling that Su Hui couldn't describe.

Now he has put on a friendly smiling face, and he is very comfortable dealing with so many people and their voices one after another.

Ning Yixiao's strength lies in his effortless transformation.

"By the way, I brought Su Hui along."

Ning Yixiao, who had already sat down, turned his head to look at Su Hui, and introduced him to others.

Unexpectedly, a boy diagonally opposite raised his hand high, and the searchlight illuminated his face brightly, "It's a handsome guy from our department! Su Hui, come here!"

Su Hui glanced at the other party, and then subconsciously looked at Ning Yixiao, but couldn't read his calm expression at the moment, so she nodded and walked towards her classmates with a smile.

In this way, they are at both ends of the circle, their minds hidden in the laughter of the crowd.

Su Hui didn't know the boy next to him, but the other party said that he was famous in the courtyard. He thought it might be a good reputation, so he just smiled and perfunctory.

Fortunately, the other party was humorous, and a few words of complaints about the instructor made Su Hui laugh.

Su Hui is a good listener. When listening to others, he will unconsciously hug his knees, tilt his head, his eyes are bright, and he will show a very serious and cute expression.

All these were seen by Ning Yixiao, even though he also talked and laughed happily with other people.

A tall girl arrived late, holding a big cardboard box in her arms, looking very struggling.

Su Hui saw Ning Yixiao stood up to help her, took the box, and heard a girl next to them shouting "It's great, there are cherries", and then saw Ning Yixiao's forearm line that was tense due to exertion .

Su Hui turned away his eyes and turned to stare at the searchlight. Under the direct gaze, many wonderful hallucinations occurred.

The girl's mother sent her two large boxes of cherries, and she generously brought a box to share with everyone.The cherries were so fresh that they seemed to have just been picked from the tree, with a few branches and leaves. They were divided and everyone got a small handful.

"What a big cherry."

"Hmm! It's really sweet, thank you Miaomiao!"

"No thanks, no thanks, eat more!"

Ning Yixiao listened to the conversations of the people around him, and occasionally participated in a sentence or two. Everyone began to discuss what icebreaker game to play next. When the team members at the side asked him for his opinion, Ning Yixiao only said, "Don't go too far." It’s fine, try to let girls mention it.”

"How about truth or dare?"

"Or four people and five legs? The one who loses...show a talent!"

"How corny!"

"But it sure is fun to implement, trust me!"

"But what if you don't have talent?"

"Then... how about telling me something that impressed me deeply?"

Everyone chatted in a hurry, just for a while, Ning Xiao turned his head and keenly noticed that Su Hui was gone.

"Yixiao, I just wrote this lottery, you draw one." The girl on the side handed over a handful of paper balls.

"I'll answer the phone first." Ning Yixiao got up and left the crowd.

Instinctively, he searched around, passed the school pharmacy, went in to buy some things, and finally saw him in the dark gazebo, separated by the bright red Ling Xiao climbing up.

Su Hui sat loosely in the pavilion, bent over, and seemed to be talking to something, softly.

"I'm good to you, don't be afraid of me, I'm not a bad person..."

Ning Yixiao approached a little bit, heard more clearly, and saw the soft smile on his face.

It turned out that he was squatting in front of a stray puppy and stroking its head with his hand.

"It was you last time, remember me?"

"How are you doing today? Are you hungry? I have cherries." Su Hui said, taking out a cherry from his pocket, breaking it open with his hands, removing the core, and handing it to the puppy.

But the other party didn't seem to be interested in the fruit. He just sniffed it, wagged his tail, and backed away a little.

Su Hui tried a few more times, but the puppy still didn't accept it, so he had to stuff it into his mouth, "...this one is a bit sour."

Seeing his sour nose wrinkled, Ning Yixiao thought it was very cute, but he didn't realize that Su Hui raised his head, just in time to find himself who had been "peeping" for a long time.

After being caught on the spot, Ning Yixiao pretended to be innocent and walked over, brushed aside the hanging vines, and stepped into the gazebo, "Why did you sneak away?"

Su Hui was very frank, "That classmate kept asking me why I didn't come to school."

"You don't want to answer?" Ning Yixiao asked.

"I haven't figured out how to make it up." Su Hui stuffed another cherry into his mouth, and said slowly, but in a good mood, "Take too much medicine, and my brain is blocked."

Ning Yixiao stared at the little sick seedling in front of him, and the street lamp outside the gazebo sprinkled sideways, illuminating his fingertips and the corners of his mouth, which were stained with red juice, and it felt very sweet.

There was a singing voice not far away, a beautiful cappella, the lyrics were diluted by the summer night wind, and only a few vague words about love could be heard, as if they were talking about love, but it seemed that they were not, ambiguous.

"They are playing a game. If they lose, they will have a talent show, or they will talk about something impressive. It seems that someone has already lost." Ning Yixiao said, sitting next to Su Hui.

Su Hui turned around with a smile, "What game are you playing?"

"Four people and five legs?" Ning Yixiao wasn't quite sure which one they finally decided on, "Similar to these."

Compared to being surrounded by crowds, Su Hui prefers to be found by someone who disappeared in the crowd, and this person is Ning Yixiao, and the joy swells even more.

He smiled, turned his head and said to Ning Yixiao: "There are only two of us, why not play rock-paper-scissors."

Ning Yixiao nodded in agreement, but he didn't expect that the game would end sooner than he imagined.As soon as the rock came out, I saw Su Hui stretching out the scissors excitedly.

Su Hui's expression changed, like a rapidly withering flower.Ning Yixiao laughed, "Two out of three rounds."

He nodded immediately, and said, "I've never been very lucky."

This sounded like finding a way for him to step down, but when Ning Yixiao gave the rock for the second time and wanted to release water, Su Hui actually chose the scissors again, and he had to believe what he said.

After losing two rounds in a row, there was no room for maneuver. Su Hui gave up and leaned back on the bench, "Sure enough, I knew it."

"Then you also have to accept the punishment?" Ning Yixiao raised his eyebrows, "Perform a talent."

Su Hui was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Ning Yixiao sized him up.

Su Hui got up and got closer, "I think I do have a talent." He said, he took out another cherry from his pocket, but he didn't eat it, but took off the cherry stem.

"I will tie a cherry stem." Su Hui put the cherry stem in his hand into his mouth, and said vaguely, "Use your tongue."

After finishing speaking, he pursed his lips.

Ning Yixiao inappropriately remembered the tongue nail he had shown before.Thinking of the juice stained when he bit the cherry just now, he also thought of his soft mouth and soft palate, the tips of the white teeth, the tip of the tongue curled back, and the hole left on the tongue.

He suddenly wanted to know how it felt to the touch, put on the tongue stud, or not put it on, pinch it with the index finger and middle finger, or poke it in.

"All right."

The vague voice pulled Ning Yixiao back from his thoughts.

In a daze, Su Hui had successfully completed his "talent show". He spit out the knotted cherry stalk in his palm with satisfaction, and brought it closer to Ning Yixiao, "Look."

Curved cherry stem with knotted center shaped like Cupid's love arrow.

Su Hui's voice was softer than the evening wind in Xia Ye, like Ling Xiao, who was about to bloom, drifting to Ning Yixiao's heart, "How is this talent? Isn't it great?"

Ning Yixiao used a smile to cover up her uneasy heart and the lingering afterimages in her mind.

"awesome."