In the Same Boat

It was raining outside when Qu Yiheng went out. He rented an umbrella at the front desk of the hotel with a deposit of 50 yuan, which will be refunded in full before check-out.

Standing at the gate of the hotel, he didn't open his umbrella, waiting for the car to pick him up.

During the few minutes of waiting, the WeChat group on his mobile phone did not stop, and everyone who spoke was from the "No. 13 Middle School Class [-]" group.

The most recent piece of news is that Shao Wei, the monitor of the year, asked who else was going today, and Qu Yiheng replied: I am on the way.

Shao Wei sent an "OK" emoji, and said again that he went directly to the cemetery.

When the car arrived, Qu Yiheng sat in the back seat and said to the driver, "The Cemetery."

On the way to the cemetery, Qu Yiheng looked at the deformed outside world through the glass and rain. He didn't come back for almost 15 years, and the place has changed a lot.

He used to think that maybe one day he would receive an invitation from the classmate association, even though when he was in school, he had little talk, a low sense of presence, and was very popular.

But he never thought that his first "classmate reunion" was in the cemetery. In fact, it is not good to say that, because the purpose of their gathering here is not a party, but to attend the funeral of an old classmate.

15 years after graduating from high school, Qu Yiheng is already 32 years old. In high school, he was one year younger than most people in his class. Focusing on the art exam, I have less contact with the classmates in the class.

But he clearly remembered Che Hao, who died a few days ago.

Che Hao is the sports committee member of their class. He sat at the same table with Qu Yiheng for half a semester. He has good grades, is very popular, tall and handsome, and was in a relationship with the classmate in the next class.

He didn't know where Che Hao went to university, and he didn't know what Che Hao did after graduating from university. It can also be said that after the college entrance examination, Qu Yiheng lost all contact with all his old classmates and joined the WeChat group of this class by himself. It was all an accident.

At the end of last year, he was teaching painting in a studio. At that time, the students were seven or eight years old and had just entered elementary school. Once the class was over, someone called him suddenly. Qu Yiheng, who was packing his things, turned his head and saw that this person looked familiar.

After the two of them chatted, Qu Yiheng realized that this person was his high school classmate, who came to pick up his nephew.

It was because of such a coincidence that Qu Yiheng added WeChat with his old classmate, and was pulled into the class group that night. The group was very lively every day, but he never said a word.

Yesterday he came here to participate in a seminar, and as soon as he got off the plane, he saw the squad leader in the group saying that Che Hao was gone.

At that time, he hadn't realized what "gone" meant, but when he looked at the class monitor and asked if anyone planned to come and see Che Hao, he realized that the handsome sports committee member had passed away.

The squad leader said that Che Hao died suddenly. He had just been married for a year and a half, and the couple had no children yet.

It was only when Qu Yiheng saw this that he suddenly realized that they were all in their 30s, and most of them had already entered another stage of life: getting married and having children.

However, death came too early.

People in their thirties don't realize that they will be so close to death. They often go to the scene of wedding banquets and full moon wine, rather than attending funeral banquets.

Sitting in the car, Qu Yiheng couldn't remember what Che Hao looked like. He must have changed a lot in his thirties from when he was a teenager. Probably his face was full of stories, but he couldn't see it.

Logically speaking, Qu Yiheng is unwilling to participate in any group activities, but he always feels that this time is different. Although his relationship with Che Hao is not that close, but the death of a classmate always gives him a feeling that he should give it to him. What's more, He's all over the city.

Maybe the dead don't even remember him, but he still came.

The cemetery on a rainy day is more melancholy than usual.

When Qu Yiheng got out of the car, the rain was heavier than when he just went out. He held up an umbrella and tried hard not to let the rain wet his clothes.

He walked towards the gate of the cemetery and saw several people standing there smoking.

He was a little nervous because he was not good at talking to people.

When he was about to walk to the gate, a person suddenly called his name. It happened to be the classmate who added him on WeChat before. What was his name?

Qu Yiheng walked over and glanced cautiously at the few people in front of him.

He probably has some impressions of them, but they are all very different from before.

Of course he himself is different, no one stays the same for 15 years.

Qu Yiheng recognized Shao Wei, the class monitor. In middle school, he had poor grades and always failed in mathematics. Shao Wei was not only the class monitor, but also the representative of the math class. He was the kind who could get close to full marks in seven out of ten exams. At that time, Shao Wei Wei pulled Yao Zhan to give Qu Yiheng a make-up lesson. The three of them were in a classroom where there was no one on weekends. Shao Wei wrote and drew on paper, explaining formulas to him one after another. Yao Zhan sat on the table next to him and smoked. Breathe smoke rings out the window.

It was probably the summer of my sophomore year.

"Is Yao Zhan coming?" Qu Yiheng suddenly asked such a question.

I haven't seen him for 15 years. In the past 15 years, Qu Yiheng probably only thought of Yao Zhan three times, and it was just the fourth time.

"Here we come," Shao Wei said, "It's inside."

Qu Yiheng stretched his neck to look inside, Shao Wei asked him: "Are you here?"

Qu Yiheng glanced at the cigarette handed over by the other party and said, "No, thank you."

This is not the first time Qu Yiheng has attended a funeral. He attended his grandfather's funeral 13 years ago, his father's funeral ten years ago, and his mother's and his stepfather's funeral five years ago.

At the funeral just five years ago, his stepfather brought his brother who was one year younger than him and put his arms around his shoulders and said, "Come on, brother, we are both orphans this time."

At that time, he was 27 and his brother was 26. It is not appropriate to use the word "orphan", but it is true that neither of them has a father or a mother.

The unrelated brothers lived together for the next two years, until the younger brother fell in love and moved in with his boyfriend.

At that time, his brother laughed and said, "Didn't you think I'm gay? If you knew, you wouldn't want me to live with you for so long, would you?"

Qu Yiheng said, "What's the matter?"

His brother shrugged again: "You straight men can't bear it, can't you?"

Qu Yiheng didn't say anything at that time, of course it doesn't mean he is straight.

If he was a straight man, how could he have masturbated with Yao Zhan in an empty gymnasium in high school, how could he have hidden in the corner of the table tennis room and knelt down to be bitten by Yao Zhan.

But at that time, they probably didn't think too much about it. It was just that they were young and had strong desires, so they did these things in a daze.

Looking back now, I find it kind of funny.

"People should be almost there, let's go in." Shao Wei walked in front, and the five of them walked into the cemetery together.

Qu Yiheng stepped on the rain, heard the sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella, and saw Yao Zhan from a distance.

Qu Yiheng recognized Yao Zhan at a glance.

He remembered that Yao Zhan was half a year older than himself, and his birthday seemed to be in the summer, that is to say, Yao Zhan should be 33.

Shao Wei was still joking just now, saying that after the age of 30, everyone has moved towards the image of a middle-aged man with a beer belly and a high hairline. The old days when he walked on the street and could whistle to beautiful girls will never come back.

It is true that that era will never come back, but when Qu Yiheng saw Yao Zhan, he found that he did not have the "middle-aged feeling" of other people.

Yao Zhan was wearing a black shirt and black trousers. He was still very white and tall, standing out in the crowd.

The man was chatting with a girl next to him. The girl's eyes were red, and he just frowned slightly.

Shao Wei led them over, and Qu Yiheng shifted his gaze to the tombstone in front of him.

It turns out that Che Hao looks like this now.

He looked at the man in the photo, with a sharp face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a round cut head. The man was smiling and looking at everyone.

Qu Yiheng suddenly felt regretful, in his early thirties, he was really too young, and he left without even having time to say goodbye to this world.He suddenly felt that perhaps he should write a suicide note first after returning home. For such an important and grand event as death, it is better to prepare in advance.

There were about a dozen people present, all wearing dark clothes and holding dark umbrellas. As before, they listened to the squad leader's arrangement and stood in front of the grave of their old classmates, mourning.

The white chrysanthemums were arranged one by one, and some people really cried.

Qu Yiheng listened to the sobbing sound coming from his ear, turned around and found that it was the girl who chatted with Yao Zhan just now, he remembered that the girl was not in their class, but the temporary class who had a relationship with Che Hao in high school Banhua.

He didn't know the name of this class flower, but he knew that she was crying for her first boyfriend at the moment.

Qu Yiheng stood there thinking, maybe this is the first time they met after they broke up, or maybe not, but no one would have thought that they would meet again on such an occasion.

He looked away and met another pair of eyes.

Yao Zhan looked at him, and when they looked at each other, Yao Zhan nodded at him.

Qu Yiheng's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he turned around quickly. He sighed and began to think about his epitaph again.

The mourning was over, and everyone went out together.

Qu Yiheng intentionally stayed at the end, but he still couldn't force himself to talk and laugh skillfully with so many people who he once knew and are now strangers.

In order to make himself look less out of place, he took out his mobile phone and pretended to be replying to messages, making people think that he was walking so slowly because of replying to messages.

"I didn't expect you to come."

A voice suddenly appeared, Qu Yiheng shook his hand, and the phone almost fell to the ground.

He raised his umbrella and raised his head, and found that Yao Zhan was walking beside him.

"Ah..." He didn't know what to say for a while, so he nodded in a daze.

"Last week, Cha Hao also asked me to drink and told me that he planned to change jobs."

Qu Yiheng frowned, and gave a soft "hmm".

"You're still so unwilling to talk."

Qu Yiheng turned his head to look at Yao Zhan. This person was half a head taller than him, and he had to raise his chin when looking at him.

He explained: "Nor..."

"Want to have a drink?" Yao Zhan said, "Have we not seen each other for more than ten years?"

Qu Yiheng looked at him and replied, "15 years."