Manhattanhenge

Su Hui thought that his grandmother would come to help him, but when she really appeared, the guilt and embarrassment still made it difficult for him to face.

During the parting time, grandma seemed to be older than before, her hair was much grayer, she was not as elegant and delicate as before, and she shed tears just after saying a few words.

Su Hui hugged her and wiped away her tears, but she didn't want to accept grandma's help.

"I can do it myself. You can take the money back." He smiled and said to his grandmother, "I have already found a part-time job. Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

"Grandpa did something wrong this time. This matter was too much. I told him too. It's a good family, and he made it like this."

Grandma had tears in her eyes, thought for a while, and finally said, "Xiaohui, as soon as you left, your mother was also sick. She underwent surgery and a minor operation, and she is still living in the hospital. You... you If you don't have class someday, go see your mother."

Su Hui frowned, "What happened to Mom? Why did you have the surgery?"

Grandma sighed, "Uterine nodules, she is too tired, the company's operating conditions are a lot, and she quarreled with your grandpa. After many years, her body still can't bear it."

After finishing speaking, she handed the bag in her hand to Su Hui. The bag was full of medicines, and the instructions for taking were written on the packaging of each box.

"She prepared these for you. She was afraid that it would be inconvenient for you to buy medicine outside, so she also called the hospital. You should insist on consulting."

After the grandma finished speaking, she reminded him, "There is a card on the side of the bag. Grandma knows that you are capable, but Xiaohui, we don't want you to suffer. We can't bear it. In order to make me and your mother feel at ease, you accept it." Come on, okay?"

Su Hui finally nodded, "I'm going to see my mother tomorrow."

Grandma touched his face and said with a smile, "Where do you live now? Is it cold? Do you want me to send you a quilt? Is there heating?"

Su Hui shook her head again and again, "Grandma, don't worry about me, I'm fine, and I'm renting a house with my classmates now. It's getting cold, you should take care of your health."

"Then you buy more delicious food for your classmate."

"I know, don't worry."

Ning Yixiao did not appear beside Su Hui.

They saw Grandma Su Hui after eating. At that time, Ning Yixiao was packing up the tableware and taking them away, which happened to be staggered, so he did not approach after finishing the tableware, but subconsciously found a place not far away. position, looking at the grandparents and grandchildren.

Su Hui's grandmother seemed to have prepared a lot of things for him, and asked many questions with concern, and Su Hui also responded seriously one by one, occasionally showing a coquettish expression.

The intimate relationship between these families is a bit strange to Ning Yixiao.

Seeing the reluctance in Su Hui's grandmother's eyes when they parted, Ning Yixiao felt a dark sense of guilt in his heart. He thought, if it wasn't for him, Su Hui would have gone home early.

He has always been a realist who analyzes the pros and cons. For Su Hui, giving up everything and running away from home is not the best choice. The loss is far more than the gain.

But he likes Su Hui so much, even though he knew it might not be worth it, he still couldn't persuade Su Hui to leave him.

Dreaming unrealistic dreams, selfishly keeping Su Hui by his side, none of these can be called "good things", so Ning Yixiao always has many bad premonitions.

Until Su Hui bid farewell to grandma and came to him with a smile, Ning Yixiao still couldn't feel the truth.

He smiled like a child, "I want to go home, can I have your tomato egg noodles tonight?"

Ning Yixiao nodded and took the bag from Su Hui, "Of course."

"And egg custard!"

"Ah."

They left the cafeteria side by side. The leaves of the ginkgo had almost fallen, the branches became bare, and large pieces of gold were accumulated on the ground, waiting to be cleaned up.

Ning Yixiao subconsciously walked on the side of the driveway, let Su Hui walk in it, listened to him say a lot, and then responded to them one by one.

Suddenly, a leaf wobbled and landed on Ning Yixiao's head. Su Hui stopped talking, stood on tiptoe, reached out to pick it off, and then he showed a cute smile to Ning Yixiao.

A car passed by them, with a casual glance in the rearview mirror, Feng Zhiguo was stunned and almost forgot to turn the steering wheel.

He quickly made amends and kept apologizing. Fortunately, the old lady had a good temper and didn't care. She just told him to be careful.

Until he drove out of the school gate, Feng Zhiguo suspected that he was dazzled and misread.

But the boy standing next to Su Hui looks exactly like Qin Yue, even the mole at the corner of his eye.

He sent the old lady back all the way restlessly, drove the car to the maintenance place, and smoked several cigarettes outside.

He first called his son and asked him if he knew if Su Hui had any close friends at school.

Feng Cheng on the phone didn't seem to want to answer this question, so he was silent for a while.

Feng Zhiguo suppressed his temper and asked again, "Do you know?"

Feng Cheng paused, and finally insisted on telling his father, "I don't know."

Probably because he had done something wrong and couldn't let it go easily, Feng Zhiguo called Xu Zhi on the phone and told him what he saw, his tone was impatient, as if he had bumped into a ghost.

Xu Zhi was much calmer than him, "You mean Ning Yixiao? I've seen him before. He even came to Ji's house for dinner and overnight when you were away."

"Is he Qin Yue's son?" Feng Zhiguo asked hastily.

"Yes, what are you afraid of?" Xu Zhi said contemptuously.

Feng Zhiguo quickly denied, "I have nothing to be afraid of! I just feel a little... Unexpectedly, I did not expect that her son is also in Beijing."

"Not only that, her son is also in the same major as your son, what a coincidence."

There was a bit of a smile in Xu Zhi's voice, "His grades are pretty good. I've checked, and he's good in every aspect except his family background. If he continues to develop like this, his future cannot be underestimated."

As he said, he mentioned Qin Yue seemingly inadvertently, "It's a pity that Qin Yue is gone. I don't know where she is now. After another two years, maybe she will be able to enjoy life in peace."

Feng Zhiguo was preoccupied with other things, so he didn't pay much attention to the rest of the words. The man who washed the car called him several times behind him, and Feng Zhiguo finally came back to his senses. He heard Xu Zhi say on the phone, "I heard that your son also wants to go to the United States. , There are not many places, let him prepare more and fight hard."

"What do you mean?" Feng Zhiguo has only had his son as his weakness all his life, and when he heard him talk about his child, he immediately became anxious, "Our family Cheng Cheng is very good at studying, and even won an award..."

"It also depends on who the competitor is." Xu Zhi interrupted him, didn't intend to continue, and hung up the phone directly.

Feng Zhiguo was so angry and anxious that he threw his unfinished cigarette on the ground and stomped on it a few times.

When driving back to Ji's house, many memories of the past popped up in his mind. He was doing well in the village at first. Although he was not a wealthy family, but following his family to go to sea, the family earned a lot of money. , is more than enough.

Feng Zhiguo always felt that he was backlash against a woman in his life, and he shouldn't have been interested in it at the beginning, so he ran to provoke Qin Yue, and he was beaten up by Qin Yue's man. Now there is still a scar on Feng Zhiguo's face. Cheng was only three years old at the time. Seeing him being beaten, he was so frightened that he became a wimpy character, and he has never recovered.

"It was that bitch who seduced me, fuck it."

At the beginning, he just saw how pitiful she was as an orphan and widowed mother, so he hired her to look after the shop and gave her some money every day to make a living, but he got drunk, confiscated her, and raped her.

It was also discussed at that time, and this matter should not be known to others. He knew that Qin Yue was helpless in the local area, and he didn't dare to judge her for the sake of the child.Unexpectedly, this matter was discovered by Qin Yue's husband, Zhang Kai, and the trick fell into his hands.

The hole was getting bigger and bigger, and Feng Zhiguo couldn't fill it in. Later, he found out that Zhang Kai was gambling outside and owed a lot of debts, so he kept asking him for money, and kept quiet.

Knowing this, Feng Zhiguo hardly hesitated, and sent a message overnight, leading the creditors to the village, hoping that they would catch Zhang Kai.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Kai ran faster than he imagined. The creditors who brought the guy rushed to nothing, and they were unwilling to run for nothing, so they took their anger on Qin Yue.

That's how Qin Yue lost her little finger.

She gave birth to a pair of extremely beautiful hands, white and soft, shining like shells on the beach in the sun, no matter how hard she worked, they would not leave the slightest trace, as if they were blessed by God.

But that day, they chopped off Qin Yue's little finger in public, and Feng Zhiguo clearly remembered that her son was there at that time.

The child was only four years old at the time. He didn't understand why those people surrounded his mother and wanted to run over, but he was pushed to the muddy ground.

The fish had just been killed there that day, and the smelly blood, dirty fish scales and sand mixed together, all stained his pants.

He was completely stunned, his eyes fixed on the knife falling, and amidst the screams and panic, the child ran over, picked up the detached little finger in the dirty mud, and wrapped it in his clothes.

But Qin Yue's hand was not connected until the end, leaving one empty, still very beautiful.

Feng Zhiguo didn't feel guilty at the time, but he would dream about it at night, which was very scary.

The next day, he gave Qin Yue 100 yuan and told her not to come to the fish shop. A month later, he also ran away, because Feng Cheng was going to the kindergarten in the town, so he turned around to make a living outside, and left just like that fishing village.

Seeing the grown-up Ning Yixiao, these dusty past events reappeared, Feng Zhiguo felt cold to the bone.

He was sure that Ning Yixiao was still very young at that time, so he probably didn't know that these things were related to him, but Feng Zhiguo didn't know whether Qin Yue would tell him.

No matter what, he hoped that Ning Yixiao would not come to find trouble for him, let alone trouble his precious son. They are living happily now, and Feng Cheng will have a bright future in the future. Maybe he can buy a house in the future. Stay in Beijing.

To avoid being bitten by the little bastard, Feng Zhiguo decided to keep an eye on him secretly during this time.

Ning Yixiao was cutting tomatoes in the kitchen.

Because of listening to Su Hui's speech, he was distracted for a while and accidentally cut his index finger.

He didn't have a big reaction, he just stopped moving, and his fingertips soon bled, which reminded him of some not-so-pleasant childhood memories.

Su Hui was peeling the grapefruit with his back to him, and talking, suddenly found that the sound of chopping vegetables stopped, looked back, and found Ning Yixiao's injury.

"Why did you get hurt? Show me." Su Hui pulled over, and immediately found a tissue to wipe his blood and press the wound, and said to him seriously, "Don't cut it, let me do it."

Ning Yixiao felt that he was making a fuss, so he smiled, "It's only a little bit of skin, just wrap it up, go to the second drawer in the room and get a Band-Aid."

Su Hui didn't want to, so she just looked at him like this, so Ning Yixiao had no choice but to touch his face, and when there was no one else at home, she kissed him, "Good boy, go."

Su Hui came back soon, first applied the powdered medicine, and then bandaged him with a bunny band-aid, meticulously.

Ning Yixiao couldn't help but kissed his forehead again, "You're so serious, you'll be fine tomorrow."

"Really?" Su Hui was a little skeptical, "How could it be so fast."

Ning Yixiao turned around and said in a calm tone, "Yes, and it's not broken."

He also did not exaggerate.The first thing Su Hui did when he woke up in the morning was to carefully tear off the Band-Aid and observe Ning Yixiao's injured index finger. To his surprise, the wound had basically healed.

Su Hui carefully kissed the wound, then continued to nest in Ning Yixiao's arms, and stayed for another 10 minutes before getting up.

Because the big project in the R&D department is coming to an end, Ning Yixiao's internship job is getting busier and he's going home later and later, and sometimes he's not at all on weekends.

Su Hui also spends her weekends with the children. Teaching them to draw is not as good as expected. Most of the children are uncooperative and willful.

That day, Su Hui wanted to wait for Ning Yixiao to get off work immediately after finishing, so he wore a white knit jacket that he thought looked pretty. As a result, one of the children didn't want to paint, so he lost his temper and threw all the paint on him.

At that time, Su Hui went to the bathroom and wiped it with a paper towel for a long time, and it became more and more dirty.

He thought of Ning Yixiao's obsession with cleanliness and found it unbearable, so instead of going to Ning Yixiao's company after get off work, he planned to go home first and change his clothes.

At the end of November, the city was very cold, and the night fell quickly, engulfing us like a black wave.

Su Hui was huddled in the subway wearing a dirty coat, feeling that everyone around him was tired, and only he was in a good mood. After thinking about it carefully, his good mood probably came from hypomania.

Entering the community, he walked through the shadows of the dark buildings, returned to the building that belonged to them, went downstairs, and looked for their door.

The door was open, Su Hui thought Wang Cong was at home, so he greeted him warmly.

But when Wang Cong came out, his complexion was very bad. He scratched his hair irritably, "Su Hui, go to your room and have a look. A few men came here just now."

He hesitated to speak, but Su Hui closed the door suspiciously, walked straight to their room door, and froze in place.

All the neat and clean things that Ning Yixiao had arranged fell on the ground, books, ornaments, puzzles, clothes... everything was messed up, scattered all over the place, and even splashed with red paint.

The whole room was like a bloody ruin.

Su Hui went in and picked up a pale pink piece on the ground. It was a vase he bought in the second-hand market with Ning Yixiao last week, and he liked it very much.

When he first moved here, Su Hui had wallpapered the place, which was the blue color he liked, but now the wallpaper is full of "pay back" and phone numbers, which is shocking.

"Those people told me not to meddle in my own business. I wanted to call the police..." Wang Cong said with some hesitation, "They held sticks in their hands and said that if they don't pay back the money, it will be more than that next time."

Wang Cong thought for a while, "I have owed money before, but the creditor is not so vicious. You'd better wait overnight to discuss it, don't be impulsive."

"Okay, I know." Su Hui turned his head and smiled at Wang Cong, then fell silent and began to clean the room.

In fact, he is not very good at tidying up by nature, unlike Ning Yixiao, so after a long time, it seems to be a waste of time.

The idea of ​​being a cleaning staff popped up in his mind. This speculative thought that appeared from time to time was like a lesion left by a wealthy life in the past 20 years, making it difficult for Su Hui to truly stand on his own.

At least the bed was cleared, and everything that was stained with paint was wrapped in a dirty sheet and dragged to the trash can outside the building.Standing in the dark, Su Hui felt a little scared.

He quickly returned to the room. While tearing off the wallpaper, his hands froze for a moment, and he froze in place, staring at the wall.

Finally, Su Hui closed the door and dialed the number they left behind.

Ning Yixiao didn't come back until near eleven o'clock. When he came in, he found Su Hui was bending over to mop the floor. The floor was wet, the walls were bare, and the moss-green damp spots and cracks that had been covered up reappeared.

"What happened?" Ning Yixiao's premonition was always accurate.

He walked over, took the mop from Su Hui's hand, and stroked his back.

Su Hui leaned on his shoulder and whispered, "The debt collectors are here. They have made the house very dirty. I have been cleaning it for a long time."

His eyes were a little red, his pupils were moist, and it took a long time before he spoke again, with a choked sob, he was really scared.

"Ning Yixiao, let's move to another place first."

Moving is actually useless, Ning Yixiao knew that unless he really left here and went abroad, he might get rid of these things.

When he was in high school, he thought that if he severed his relationship with his family, those people would not find him.But in fact, his thinking was too simple, debt collectors would still show up, and even if they didn't show up, that damned stepfather Zhang Kai would still show up from time to time, interfering with his life.

He is like a lingering ghost, making Ning Yixiao clearly know that he is not worthy of stopping, and he is not worthy of living a normal life.

But it's different now, Ning Yixiao longs to live with Su Hui in a house with a view of the sea, wants to accompany him to plant flowers every day, raise dogs, and live a happy life.

He didn't want to go back to the past and live in numb pain.

As long as he survives this winter, next summer, he can go out and be with Su Hui.

This has almost become the spiritual pillar for Ning Yixiao to persevere.

Even though he knew it was useless, he still satisfied Su Hui and spent a week looking for another house.The strange thing is that the debt collectors didn't rush to make trouble again this time, and gave them a period of clean life.

The previous house was not due, and the landlord also knew about the debt collection, so he refused to return the deposit no matter what, so Ning Yixiao had no choice but to give up.

On the night of the new house, neither of them wanted to tidy up, so the two of them nestled in the pile of luggage.

Sleeping in his arms, Su Hui told him, "I also applied for CSC. I don't know if I can pass it. Anyway, even if I can't, if I really want to go to the United States, my mother will definitely help me in the end. She is just stubborn. It’s actually quite soft-hearted.”

Ning Yixiao nodded, "Yes."

"You apply for S University, and I also want to go to California, so we can stay together every day."

While talking, Su Hui was so tired that he fell asleep, Ning Yixiao didn't sleep well all night, half dreaming and half awake, sometimes going back to the past, and sometimes fantasizing about some future scenes.

The sun that is about to burn people in the fishing village, the heat wave in California, the green shadows of the coconut groves, the rotting fish and the broken nets.

After the net disappeared, it was the face of his mother fanning him, with a smile, the smile was very beautiful, as if they had never been apart.

When it was almost dawn, Ning Yixiao dreamed that it was snowing heavily, but in the three years since he came to Beijing, it had never snowed.

Opening his eyes again, the time displayed on the phone screen has jumped from November to December.

So fast.

As usual, Ning Yixiao kissed Su Hui first after waking up, but a phone call interrupted their daily tenderness.

To his surprise, the call came from the police station, but not from the police station in the capital, but from Beibin Province.

"Hello, is this Qinyue's son Ning Yixiao?" The policeman on the phone explained his branch, and said succinctly, "We have received a fire report and are currently investigating it. Your cooperation is needed."

"Fire?" Ning Yixiao frowned, "Then my mother..."

The voice of the policeman on the phone was calm: "This fire caused two deaths, a man and a woman. I need your help to identify the remains and assist in the investigation."