Manhattanhenge

Ning Yixiao was stunned.

He didn't expect that his excessive attention would be discovered by Su Hui.

Seeing Ning Yixiao's reaction, Su Hui pursed his lips into a smile, and the topic suddenly changed, "Student, do you have an umbrella? I don't want to get wet again."

Ning Yixiao was startled for a moment, then nodded, "Yes."

He handed all the opinion cards in his hand to Li Cong, turned around and walked towards Su Hui under the obviously strange eyes of the other party.

The two left the classroom and walked side by side in the crowded corridor, neither of them spoke, they walked quietly.

It was raining heavily outside, and many people crowded at the door at the end of the corridor.Ning Yixiao opened the umbrella to give Su Hui some space to let him in.

Ning Yixiao was not used to the sudden closeness of the distance between the two of them to the point where their arms touched each other.Some worries popped up in his subconscious, and he tilted the handle of the umbrella.

Su Hui's jacket had a large neckline, and a lot of skin was exposed when he was walking. Ning Yixiao inadvertently found some bruises on his neck, which looked like marks left by the rope.

Realizing that he was staring again, Ning Yixiao raised his head and stared straight ahead.

The umbrella is not big, but fortunately there is no wind outside, and the rain has already accumulated a small puddle. He lowered his head and found that Su Hui was wearing a pair of snow-white canvas shoes. You can tell from the brand that they are expensive, and they have been wet for no reason. It's a pity.

As for himself, he was wearing sneakers that were so old that they could barely wash their true colors, and the bottoms of his old jeans were soaked in water, and it took him a long time to wash them when he went back.

"Where are you going?" Ning Yixiao looked at him, "Send you to the dormitory?"

Su Hui lowered her eyes, her upper eyelids were almost white to transparent, faintly showing blue blood vessels, her long eyelashes were drooping heavily, her whole face was covered with water vapor, hazy.

"I don't live in a dormitory." Su Hui carefully avoided a small puddle, looked up, and caught a glimpse of Ning Yixiao's wet right shoulder, "I don't have a dormitory."

These two sentences seem to have the same meaning, but they don't seem to be.

As long as his eyes meet him, he will reveal that very straightforward childishness, as if he has never been hurt, and he grew up in a love that is overflowing.

"Can you take me to the electronic reading room in the library?" Su Hui said, "I want to go there for a while."

"You're still wet, it's best to change clothes." Ning Yixiao glanced at him, the blue T-shirt was completely stuck to Su Hui's body.

"It doesn't matter. I won't get sick. I hardly ever catch a cold. The last time I caught a cold was a year ago. That was because the weather in that summer was weird. The temperature was 38 degrees the day before, and the temperature dropped suddenly the next day. And I went to learn to swim that day, although I didn't learn..."

I don't live in the dormitory, but I don't go home. I used to bluntly point out the fact that I stared at him, but now I'm talking about the weather and activities of last summer.

The topic is so jumpy.

Listening to Su Hui's words, Ning Yixiao realized that she couldn't even get in her mouth.

Before sending him to the library, Su Hui finally stopped talking about the topic.

Only then did Ning Yixiao open his mouth, and smiled, "You are indeed a strange person."

Su Hui seemed to be very used to hearing such comments, so he didn't intend to refute at all, but just looked into his eyes.

He showed Ning Yixiao a defenseless smile again, and took out another tissue from his pocket and handed it to him.

Ning Yixiao took it and found that there were two lines written on it, the first line was the mobile phone number, and the second line was the WeChat ID.

"You too." Su Hui walked up the steps of the library, turned around, looked at the raindrops dripping from the eaves, and reached out to catch some rainwater, "You are also very strange."

Hearing this sentence, before Ning Yixiao could say anything, Su Hui stretched out his hand again, and pointed his fingertips at the end of his eyes, only a few millimeters away from touching them.

"Ning Yixiao, you have a mole here." He changed the topic again, but his tone was very serious, as if he was thinking about something.

Ning Yixiao froze, the sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella was very clear.

it's wired.

"I got to go, bye."

Su Hui spoke as if there was no need for a response.

He turned around and walked towards the side door, but he turned his head once halfway, with eyebrows and eyes curved, whispered thank you to him, then turned back, flicked the water from his hair like a small animal, and disappeared around the corner.

As if waking up from a dream, Ning Yixiao came to his senses, gripped the tissue in his hand tightly, and stuffed it into his pocket without taking another look.

He wanted to know why Su Hui thought he was strange, and why it was so strange, why Su Hui noticed his eyes, noticed that he was looking at him, and why she gave him his contact information.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, but Ning Yixiao didn't seem to notice it, and even forgot the original purpose. When he was almost in the dormitory, he remembered that he forgot to go directly to the home of the tutoring student.

Arriving late, apologizing, getting the student's report card, starting tutoring work, discussing with the student's parents, and rushing to the next part-time job location, these are all the same as in the past.

After changing the overalls in the coffee shop, Ning Yixiao got on the last bus back to school. There were only three passengers on board.He pushed open the window, and some cool wind after the rain blew past his face, which soothed his slightly restless heart for a day.

He reached into his pocket and took out the tissue, only to find that the writing on it was soaked with water, making it difficult to distinguish.Like a gleaming sword that hangs above his head for a whole day, it finally dies when he looks directly at it.

This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

Back in the dormitory, Ning Yixiao unlocked the desk cabinet, took out a very old notebook from it, opened it, recorded today's expenses on it, calculated the days of salary and the remaining debts, feeling breathless .

Still a heavy day, but a little different.Ning Yixiao closed her eyes after going to bed, thinking of something in the dark.

He pretended to mention Su Hui casually, but from his roommate, he got the same result as Li Cong.

There was even a more intimate gossip from a roommate.

"I've heard that he's very indecent in his private life and promiscuous, but he prefers to sleep with men."

"Really? It's disgusting, I threw up."

"I'm dying of laughter, did Su Hui really sleep with a guy? The girl I like also liked him..."

"Why did Yixiao mention him today? Could it be..."

"How is it possible! Our Ningda handsome man has been completely a monk in the past few years, okay? He is not close to women at all, and it is even more impossible for men, right overnight?"

Ning Yixiao heard their laughter and discussion, pretending to fall asleep.This is not the first time this kind of topic has happened in the boys' dormitory. Usually he will echo or laugh a few times, pretending to be gregarious.

But today he had a cold face in the dark and didn't smile.

He had a lot to say, but in the end he held back and said nothing.

One afternoon after seeing Su Hui again, he happened to have no electives that day, and the tutoring students asked for leave again, so an afternoon was unexpectedly vacated.Ning Yixiao used this rare time to review English in the self-study room and prepare for the TOEFL test.

He only intends to take the test once, and he will succeed once.It is not easy to save 2100 yuan for the registration fee, and Ning Yixiao has no way out.

In this self-study room, he met Su Hui again, but the other party didn't seem to notice his existence.There was only an aisle between them, and from a diagonally opposite angle, Ning Yixiao could see Su Hui's side face with one glance.

Su Hui studied much more seriously than he imagined, and hardly even took a sip of water in the afternoon.His professional textbook is very thick, and when he turns the pages, he reveals a lot of notes and post-it notes, and he is also very focused on typing on the keyboard.

When it was time to eat, the originally full study room gradually emptied, and everyone left one by one, until only the two of them were left.

The air was very quiet, Ning Yixiao packed his things, put on his schoolbag, and left without saying anything.

When he was working in the coffee shop at night, Su Hui's side face, the afternoon light and tiny fluff, and the way he leaned back on the chair with his eyes closed and his head up when he was tired would always appear in front of his eyes.

This troubled Ning Yixiao, and even made low-level mistakes that he never made when ordering.

It was raining again outside, but it wasn't too heavy. Ning Yixiao, who had returned to school, ran on the deserted tree-lined road. Under the dim light, his sense of direction seemed to be confused, and he returned to the science building where he studied in the afternoon.

Probably because of running, Ning Yixiao's heart beat fast after going upstairs, but the moment he entered the classroom, he suddenly calmed down.

There was only one boy wearing glasses in the classroom. When he heard the movement at the moment he entered the door, he looked up suspiciously.

Ning Yixiao rolled his eyes, walked to his afternoon seat, put down his bag, and glanced at the seat Su Hui had been sitting in. It was empty at this time.

The requirements for all-night self-study are posted on the whiteboard in the classroom, the lights on the ceiling are blindingly bright, and there is rain coming in, so Ning Yixiao gets up and plans to close the window.

Standing by the window on the third floor, he suddenly found a man squatting under the street lamp downstairs, holding a transparent umbrella, holding half a ham sausage in his hand, and feeding the stray dogs hiding under his umbrella.

Probably because of the familiar clothes, Ning Yixiao recognized Su Hui at a glance.Even though there was a distance, he could clearly see Su Hui's raised eyebrows, and gently stroked the puppy's forehead.

He closed the window and sat down to read a book.

Not long after, there was movement at the door of the self-study classroom, and a third person walked in. Ning Yixiao didn't look up, but he also guessed that it was Su Hui.

When he saw Su Hui's back seated but didn't find the umbrella in his hand, Ning Yixiao turned his head and saw the puppy outside the window, still hiding under the transparent umbrella.

Very inappropriately, Ning Yixiao recalled the rumors Li Cong and his roommates had said in his mind, and recalled how Su Hui squeezed under his umbrella that day.

In the quiet air, he immersed himself in the test questions and stopped looking at Su Hui's silhouette.

Time flows minute by minute.At about two o'clock in the morning, the boy in the classroom with glasses left, leaving only the two of them in the empty room.

During this period, Su Hui never looked back.

Ning Yixiao finished the two sets of questions, put on the earphones and started listening.

All kinds of part-time jobs squeezed on the schedule drained his energy, as long as he stopped the pen in his hand, his thoughts would be too tired to flow, leaning towards the cliff of sleep.

He didn't remember when he fell asleep, and when he woke up again, the sky light appeared faintly, and in the blurred vision, the whole room seemed to be soaked in light blue sea water, extremely silent.

Looking at the table and chair where Su Hui sat, there was no one there. Ning Yixiao suddenly woke up and propped up his paralyzed elbow.

"woke up?"

He heard that soft voice again, as if after a long, long time, when he looked over, he saw Su Hui standing by the window.

Su Hui smiled, took an unlit cigarette from his mouth, held it between his fingers, and showed him a very clean and innocent smile.

Ning Yixiao was in a daze, didn't answer, just looked at Su Hui quietly.

Su Hui lowered his head, stuffed the slender cigarette back into the black case, and looked up at him.

"You slept so deeply." He smiled and put away the cigarette case, "I envy your sleep quality."

Ning Yixiao looked out of temper when he just woke up.He stared at Su Hui for a while, then looked dully at the clock on the wall, only to find that it was only 04:30 in the morning.

In his inherent thinking, people who smoke often have not-so-good descriptions, such as vulgar, barbaric, decadent, and vulgar.

Su Hui is neither, but he is very suitable.

The hazy sky shrouded his jade-white face, and his slender fingers held a thin cigarette, as if catching a piece of moonlight.

"I'm still worried that you won't wake up, so I plan to smoke a cigarette and wait for you." Su Hui picked up the schoolbag on the window sill, "Otherwise, it doesn't seem safe for you to sleep here alone."

He put his bag on his back, and smiled beautifully at Ning Yixiao, "Since you're awake, I'm leaving."

There is a natural intimacy in the end of Su Hui's speech, which seems to be the trace left by being pampered and growing up.

Probably because he fell asleep, that's why Ning Yixiao called him to stop for no reason.

"where to?"

Su Hui was obviously also taken aback, stopped and turned around, "I... go back."

Ning Yixiao glanced at the time again, came to his senses completely, and put on his habitual smile, "Is there no access control in your dormitory?"

Su Hui didn't deny it, but asked back after a while, "What about you?"

"The access control will be released at six o'clock." Ning Yixiao put away the books on the table, put them one by one into the old bag that was worn to the corners, stood up and looked at Su Hui with a friendly smile, "Are you hungry?"

Su Hui stared at Ning Yixiao quietly, seeing him approaching step by step, then nodded, "Yeah."

It was too early, and none of the canteens in the school would open at 04:30, so they could only go out and sit down at the KFC nearest to the school gate.

Ning Yixiao seldom goes out to eat on weekdays, and he is not very familiar with the KFC menu, so he spent a little more time looking at it, and finally ordered the cheapest breakfast set, and walked to the pick-up counter to wait. With his body bent, he happened to see Su Hui paying the bill.

It was very different from what he had imagined. Su Hui, who was rumored to be a nobleman, actually took out a few banknotes from his pocket and handed them to the cashier in front of him. His movements were slower than him.

He felt it was weird, but he thought, Su Hui was a strange person in the first place.

After picking up the meal, Ning Yixiao found a seat by the window and sat down. Not long after, Su Hui also came, holding a cup of coffee and a piece of red bean pie in his hand.

Ning Yixiao didn't ask too much, and ate his own food.He found that Su Hui was eating like some kind of small animal, with small mouthfuls, closed lips, no sound, but it looked delicious.

He quickly finished the red bean pie, and then drank most of the coffee in one gulp.

After staring at it for a while, Ning Yixiao still couldn't help asking him: "Is this all?"

Su Hui straightened the red bean pie wrapping paper, then nodded.

"Are you full?" Ning Yixiao asked again.

Su Hui and him looked at each other for a few seconds, and finally chose to shake his head honestly.

"Eat this." Ning Yixiao pushed the mushroom and chicken porridge in his set meal to Su Hui, with a gentle tone, "I haven't touched it, I'm not very hungry."

Su Hui paused for a moment, but didn't bring it over immediately, only picked up the spoon after Ning Yixiao's urging again, and ate the porridge bite by bite.

Halfway through the meal, Ning Yixiao asked, "You didn't bring any money?"

Su Hui carefully picked up the mushrooms in the bowl, carefully avoiding them, "I brought a little, not many."

"Is it in the phone?" Ning Yixiao asked again.

Su Hui didn't seem to think that he was a weird person asking the bottom line, but nodded sincerely, "No."

He was wearing the most expensive clothes, and even the price of his schoolbag was breath-taking. He was picked up by the driver to and from school, but he only had a little money on him, and the payment function of his mobile phone was turned off.It's all so weird.

But Su Hui's expression, as well as the small sound at the end of his answer, seemed to confirm the authenticity of these words.

"Then where did your cigarettes come from?" Ning Yixiao asked.

Su Hui pursed her lips, stirring the warm porridge with a spoon, "I bought it because I bought cigarettes, an umbrella, and some books, and the money I brought was almost spent."

As he spoke, he moved the heavy schoolbag to his lap, unzipped it and showed it to Ning Yixiao, and told him that there were several books in it that he liked very much, and it took a long time for them to arrive.

I also bought ham sausage for stray dogs.

Ning Yixiao didn't pay much attention to Su Hui's words, and thought of him squatting under the street lamp, but he didn't break it.

After eating the porridge, Su Hui thanked him very sincerely, and then said to him: "Usually they don't give me much money at this time, for fear that I will spend it indiscriminately."

Ning Yixiao glanced at the porridge bowl, it was clean, only a layer of shredded shiitake mushrooms remained at the bottom of the bowl.

He didn't understand who the "they" Su Hui was talking about, and when was "this time".

Su Hui has too many secrets that he doesn't know, and he doesn't seem to plan to reveal them.

Before he could continue asking, Su Hui seemed to close the small valve for answering questions. He zipped up his schoolbag and smiled at Ning Yixiao, "I'll transfer the porridge money to you. I remember you added me. yes, right?"

These words inexplicably made Ning Yixiao feel bad.

It turned out that Su Hui didn't remember whether he had added him at all, or that Su Hui couldn't count people like him who had obtained his contact information.

Ning Yixiao was noncommittal, grabbed his bag and got up, and gently refused: "No need."

He picked up the plate, lowered his head slightly, and gave a habitual smile.

"Next time we meet, buy me a drink."