【Double Flower】Honeysuckle

The midsummer sky is as blue as a piece of glass.

In city B, it is rare to see such fine weather.

On the gray-blue asphalt road, a white Land Rover was caught in the endless traffic, moving forward inch by inch along with the long queue, slowly crawling across the green shadows of the trees on the sidewalk of the street.

Zhang Jiale nestled in the back seat, squinted his eyes, rubbed left and right against the off-white leather cushion behind him, and stretched long.

From the rearview mirror, Sun Zheping glanced at Zhang Jiale who couldn't sit still and began to roll: "Can't sit still?"

Zhang Jiale rolled around for a while and felt bored, so he flattened himself on the back seat, clutched his stomach and said weakly, "I ate something at the hotel this morning, I'm so hungry!"

Sun Zheping smiled: "It's not that there is no food on the plane, you refused it because you thought it was unpalatable."

Hearing this, Zhang Jiale sat up abruptly, and placed his arms on Sun Zheping's shoulders from behind his back: "If you hadn't changed the ticket and dragged me to City B, we would have been in City K by now. It's time to eat, how can I walk 50 meters after being stuck here for half a day."

Sun Zheping shook his head and smiled: "Yeah, it's all me."

The tenth season finals had ended last night.On a night that was no different from usual, Xingxin defeated Samsara, and Ye Xiu once again led his team to the podium at the pinnacle of glory.

When Ye Xiu was holding up the trophy with the support of the crowd, Sun Zheping was standing under the stage, and his gaze shifted slightly to see Zhang Jiale's profile.

Envy was clearly written on that clear face that was the same as in his memory.But after the excitement and admiration that was about to overflow, there was always a trace of loneliness.

Sun Zheping slowly reached out and held his fingertips.

Feeling the temperature from his fingertips, Zhang Jiale grabbed Sun Zheping's palm with his backhand, raised his head, and smiled at Sun Zheping:

"I'll be there next year too."

Those smiling eyes were curved, twinkling in the suddenly lit lights of the stadium.

Sun Zheping had no choice but to turn his head away, hoping that the noise of the crowd leaving could cover his deafening heartbeat.

That night, in the hotel, with Zhang Jiale's soft breathing on his pillow, Sun Zheping couldn't fall asleep for some reason.

The Glory Tournament came to an end for the time being, and he should have used this time to make up for the deficiencies that he missed back then.

But in this blue and white moon, those emotions that were suppressed by him in the past seemed to be washed ashore from the mud in the middle of the river by riding the tide of Huangpu River.

When he left on the night of the final five years ago, he never thought that one day he would come back.

He really left resolutely, and naturally he would not think about it. After five years of separation, his heart would once again be completely held by the person in front of him as before.

It seemed that the indescribable feelings of those years were not uprooted by him that night, but quietly dormant in the deepest part of the flesh and blood, just waiting for the day when they would break through again.

That day in Tyranny's dormitory, Zhang Jiale could not understand the content of the words he swallowed.Over the years, he dared not count how many gullies have crossed between them, for fear that he would not be able to count.

The two air tickets to City K in Zhang Jiale's pocket under the bed almost made water out of his hands.Sun Zheping was naturally aware of what he was afraid of and hesitating about, but the words turned around to his lips, but he was afraid that Zhang Jiale's painstaking efforts would be broken.

Over the years, in places he couldn't see, how many things did Zhang Jiale experience that he didn't know about, and how many grievances did he hide from him?

He stretched out his finger and slid it down Zhang Jiale's cheek, his eyes were intertwined with the moonlight outside the window, showing boundless tenderness.

Sun Zheping, you are finished.

He frowned slightly, thinking secretly, with a smile on his lips, his mind full of drowsy sweetness.

How can you pay off what you owe him in this life.

He took out the phone from under the pillow, tapped it a few times, and couldn't help but look at the small half of Zhang Jiale's face exposed outside the quilt, sighed, but couldn't help laughing.

So what to do?Little by little, a lifetime is not over, then...

What else can be done?

It will only be repaid in the next life.

Putting down the phone, and taking another look at the person beside him, Sun Zheping reached out to hold his fingertips, letting himself sink into the darkness.

"Speaking of which, I haven't done the math with you yet. What on earth do you want to bring me to City B while I'm asleep to change the ticket at night?" Sun Zheping's white Land Rover was stuck in traffic, and the sun was shining brightly outside the car. The glass was hot from the sun.Fortunately, the air-conditioning in the car was blowing, which finally suppressed Zhang Jiale's stomach full of anger.

"I just want to show you around the capital. Why?" Sun Zheping frowned, "Tell me, for so many years, you and I have eaten almost all the rice noodle shops in K city. You and I Have you ever had fun in City B?"

"Sun Zheping, why do I feel like I'm going to be tricked by you again?" Zhang Jiale looked skeptical, "You said you invited me to eat old Beijing-style famous food, and I still remember the taste of that bean juice!"

Sun Zheping yelled at the injustice: "You have held grudges for too long! I don't think reciprocity is allowed anymore?"

Zhang Jiale curled his lips: "Then where are you taking me now? As I said before, refuse all kinds of strange food."

"Nanluoguxiang, you haven't heard of it, have you?"

"No." Zhang Jiale shook his head honestly.

"It's the same thing as Nanping Street, City K." The light ahead turned green, and the long queue of vehicles finally moved.Sun Zheping lightly stepped on the accelerator to keep up with the car in front: "But... I want to show you something else."

Parked the car and walked all the way. Under the scorching sun, Zhang Jiale was sweating down his back. He followed Sun Zheping through the bustling crowd. Suddenly, he felt that he would turn into a puddle of water and sprinkle it on the stone slab under his feet. .

His skin was sticky and damp, but there was still a hand with a temperature hotter than the sun, passing through the sea of ​​people and holding his hand.

Sun Zheping tightened his fingers so that he wouldn't let him get rid of it, looked at Zhang Jiale's tanned red face, winked at him, and leaned closer to his ear: "I used to set up a stall here."

"Really?" Zhang Jiale opened his eyes wide, "I always thought you..."

"It's just that one person is full and the whole family is not hungry. The Internet cafe where I worked part-time is also nearby. If you are interested, I can take you to see it later. But now you have to fill your stomach. Already." Sun Zheping smiled, pulled Zhang Jiale, and cleared a path through the crowd with ease, made several turns, and entered an unremarkable shop in a small alley beside the road.

Pushing open the glass door of the small shop, the cold air mixed with the smell of barbecue blows in.Zhang Jiale was so choked that he coughed twice, while Sun Zheping walked through the crowded tables and chairs like a regular visitor, and directly brought two white plastic bags from the back kitchen window.

"In the earliest days when I was a network manager, I was so poor that I didn't even have enough money for food. I came here to help people look after the stalls, and I discovered this shop by the way." He handed a plastic bag to Zhang Jiale, and he took it out of another bag. He took out a mutton skewer: "Although the location of this store is a bit remote, the taste is the best in the whole street, and the price is cheap. It's different from the store that fools people on the Folk Street in ordinary scenic spots."

Zhang Jiale blinked: "You never told me about your past."

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything today." Sun Zheping raised his toes and hooked a round metal stool covered with grease: "Sit down and eat first?"

"No, I can't wait." Like a promise, Zhang Jiale suddenly became happy.He put his arms through the ears of the plastic bag, pushed Sun Zheping's back with both hands, and pushed him all the way to the small shop: "Eat on the road. Show me where you used to set up a stall first?"

Sun Zheping smiled helplessly: "Alright, alright, watch the road carefully."

Under the overturned heat wave outside, Sun Zheping and Zhang Jiale walked forward with the crowd one after the other.

Zhang Jiale held five skewers of mutton in one hand, gnawed until his mouth was full of oil, and he never forgot to turn his head to look at Sun Zheping behind him: "Where's the stall you set up before?"

"How many years has it been? It's long gone."

"What are you selling?"

"Sweatshirts, the ones with letters printed on them." Sun Zheping laughed for a while, "If you ask so carefully, do you want to take care of my business?"

"That's not it." Zhang Jiale chewed all the mutton in his mouth, but fortunately he didn't swallow his tongue.He wiped the sweat covering his face aside with the back of his hand, and the cumin smell on his hands was stained everywhere.

The sun is scorching the ground from overhead, and the whole body is full of the smell of roasted cumin.

This burst of burning and dizzy happiness is so real and familiar.

"Sun Zheping."

Zhang Jiale stood there, hesitated for a while, and finally turned around and stuffed the bamboo stick in Sun Zheping's plastic bag into the plastic bag in Sun Zheping's hand, leaned on Sun Zheping's shoulder, and whispered, "Are we dating?"

Sun Zheping was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "You have to say it, don't you?"

Zhang Jiale bit his lip and smiled: "Then let's go! Let's go buy cultural shirts."

"Didn't it mean that my stall was gone more than ten years ago..." Before Sun Zheping finished speaking, Zhang Jiale excitedly pulled him forward: "Can't you find another place?"

After walking two steps forward, seeing that Sun Zheping still didn't keep up, Zhang Jiale rolled his eyes, turned around suddenly, wiped all the oil on Sun Zheping's front, and smiled slyly: "Oh, the clothes are dirty, buy some Replace it with a new one?"

Sun Zheping tugged at his neckline, and before he pulled his clothes up to his nose, a burst of barbecue smell came over his face.He frowned, and Shu Er also stretched out his hand, rubbing the oil on Zhang Jiale's lapel, before he could react, he rushed to the front in two or three steps, turning around and laughing: "Let's go?"

Against the sunlight, Zhang Jiale couldn't see Sun Zheping's face clearly, he could only see the row of white teeth neatly arranged in an arc that made his heart beat wildly.

"Let's go." In order to hide the shyness of the eyelashes, Zhang Jiale forced himself to be calm, took a big step forward, and grabbed Sun Zheping's hand.

The two wandered along that small alley, Zhang Jiale seemed to be in high spirits, interested in everything.Sun Zheping was not in a hurry to move forward, so he followed behind him, watching him perform the miraculous bargaining skills to himself with a smug face.

Seeing Zhang Jiale cut off two printed shirts at a [-]% discount, Sun Zheping couldn't help but ask, "Where did you learn all this?"

"It's great." Zhang Jiale smiled triumphantly, and then gestured another T-shirt to Sun Zheping: "Look at my mother haggling too much, so it will happen naturally."

Most of the sunlight was blocked by the walls of the alley, but Zhang Jiale's cheeks were still red.If it wasn't for the peddler who was setting up a stall at the side looking at them, Sun Zheping even thought that he couldn't help but hug the person in front of him just like that.He coughed dryly: "You bought so much, how can you wear it?"

Zhang Jiale didn't understand, so she raised her head to look at him, and blinked: "It's not me who wears it myself, but you as well."

At that moment, Sun Zheping seemed to have lost all ability to think.

"You...if you like..." His lips began to tremble, and the broken syllables jumped out of his throat one after another uncontrollably: "One or two, we can..."

"What are you thinking about!" Zhang Jiale smiled and gave him a gouged look, turned around and picked up some clothes wrapped by the boss, and handed them to Sun Zheping: "Take it, let's go!"

After receiving the bag, all the rationality seemed to return to the body in an instant.Thinking about the gaffe just now, Sun Zheping wished he could bite off his tongue, but Zhang Jiale was still watching him with a sly smile on his face, so he could only shake his head and smile and follow his footsteps.

The alley was not that long, and the two of them walked to the end soon while eating the popsicles bought from the cold drink shop by the roadside.But Sun Zheping didn't seem to want to stop.He took Zhang Jiale's hand, crossed the road with him, and walked for a while, until the sweat on Zhang Jiale's body soaked the T-shirt he had finally dried with the air conditioner in the cold drink shop, Sun Zheping finally He stopped and turned around.

Behind him, and in front of Zhang Jiale's eyes, was a drum tower.

Even though it is midsummer, at this time, the sun hanging high above the head will show some signs of setting.Three or two strands of crimson floating clouds lingered on the raised horns of the drum tower, reflecting a golden color on the string of gods and beasts lined up neatly on the eaves.

"Zhang Jiale, listen to me."

Sun Zheping's well-defined face gradually softened in the twilight.

He took a deep breath, as if he had made a great determination, and said word by word: "I have never told you the truth about my family before."

"The day you grouped me at the gate of the Spider Cave, I was just kicked out of the house. I only had 600 yuan on me, and I didn't know where I could live at night."

"The Internet cafe was demolished a few years ago, and it's where we stand now."

"Every Chinese New Year, I go back to City B, but I won't go home either, because at that time my dad will almost sever ties with me."

"In the arena on New Year's Eve that year, it was the first time that someone set off fireworks for me in the years since I left home."

"I left back then because I didn't want to drag you down. You deserve a brighter future, but I flinched because of a few words."

"I'm not such a brave person."

"Zhang Jiale, see me clearly."

Sun Zheping looked down at the person in front of him, and after several words, he still didn't say the phrase "but please don't leave".

He walked away talking to himself, and came back talking to himself.At this moment, what else could give him the courage to say "don't leave" shamelessly.

But Zhang Jiale still understood, smiled, and leaned towards him.

What landed on his lips was not a response, but a cold kiss.

It seems to still have the sweetness of the popsicle in the cold drink shop.