【Zhou Xiang】Gravity

1.

They looked at each other in silence.

The moonlight was quiet, the night wind was gentle, and the temperature was just right. It was such a comfortable atmosphere, but Sun Xiang was stiff from his back to his neck.

He's nervous, super nervous!Not because of cowardice, but because Zhou Zekai is too scary when angry!

——For a moment, he almost thought that Zhou Zekai would beat him up.The draft of the apology scrolled through three or four pages.

However, no.

Don't mention hands, Zhou Zekai didn't even say a word, just sighed, put down his trouser legs again, picked up the watermelon, and the moment he got up, he gave Sun Xiang a faint look.

"stand up."

"...Oh? Oh!" Sun Xiang was taken aback, and hurriedly went to support the wall.

Just as he raised his arm, his other hand grabbed it.

Sun Xiang wanted to struggle, but Zhou Zekai slightly raised his eyebrows.Sun Xiang opened his mouth, not daring to utter a word.

His arms wrapped around Zhou Zekai's neck, resting on his warm shoulders, solid and steady.

Zhou Zekai used a little force to bring Sun Xiang up successfully.

Because the center of gravity was on the opponent, Sun Xiang jumped down the steps safely with one foot.After a while, he realized that the direction seemed wrong.

"where are we going?"

"Drugstore." Zhou Zekai said concisely.

2.

A pharmacy is on the corner not far away.

Two minutes later, Zhou Zekai supported Sun Xiang to jump over the threshold, and arranged for him to stay on the only bamboo recliner in the store.

However, the chair gave Sun Xiang a very bad feeling.Not only did it squeak as soon as it sat on it, but Sun Xiang found a supermarket discount flyer from under his buttocks.

Sun Xiang's face instantly turned half black.

——Take a guess with your toes, and you can guess that the people who love to sit here on weekdays must be the old aunts in the nearby community. Sun Xiang deeply feels that his glorious image has been affected.

"I don't sit." He struggled to get up, and wanted to jump to the counter to lean against.

As a result, just halfway through standing up, someone pinched his shoulders.

"you--"

Before he could protest, he was blocked by Zhou Zekai's stare.

Seeing that Sun Xiang was no longer moving around, Zhou Zekai turned around and continued to communicate with the shop owner.

Sun Xiang secretly pointed his middle finger at his back.

If it wasn't for my inconvenient...forget it!

He held up his phone to cover his face.Xindao, I can't protest, can't I just ignore you?

3.

A certain kid didn't know that his wonderful one-man show was watched by the uncle of the shop owner.

The uncle owner took the medicine, took the money, and raised his chin with a smile: "I haven't seen it, a relative's child?"

Zhou Zekai was taken aback for a moment, intending to deny it.For some reason, Sun Xianglu's daring expression flashed before his eyes, and the idea of ​​playing a little prank instantly gained the upper hand.

"Yes." Zhou Zekai nodded.

"Cousin? Cousin?" The shopkeeper opened the small baffle of the counter and walked out, "Brother Zhou Zekai, which foot is hurt? Stretch it out." The second half of the sentence was directed at Sun Xiang.

"Brother Zhou Zekai?" Sun Xiang suddenly raised his head.He thought he had heard wrong.

"Huh?" The uncle owner looked at him, "Don't look, I'll call you."

"No, look at my size." Sun Xiang was a little puzzled, "Let me tell you that I'm taller than him if I stand up straight! Why am I his younger brother?"

The uncle shopkeeper ignored him, grabbed his ankle and studied it for a while, and then suddenly exerted force.

"Who told you that I'm Zhou—oh!" Sun Xiang was so painful that he couldn't straighten his tongue, "You, you fucking say hello before you do it—fuck!"

"Young people have strong bones. They are full of energy." The shop owner smiled gently, "Congratulations, no dislocation."

Sun Xiang: "..."

"Thank you." Zhou Zekai squatted down and pressed an ice pack on Sun Xiang's ankle, "Don't move."

"Give your brother more massage, and he will recover quickly. At least 5 minutes." The uncle of the shopkeeper hugged his chest and watched the show with relish.

Who is your acquaintance... Sun Xiang rolled his eyes inwardly, even though he was trembling with pain, he insisted on not saying a word.

"I can't tell, your brother is quite strong!" the uncle said cheerfully.

Sun Xiang: "..."

After the cold compress was over, Zhou Zekai applied the lotion according to the instructions, and rubbed it until the skin became hot. Then he took a paper towel to dry it, and finally applied the ointment carefully.

Sun Xiang went from "you go, you go, let me come" at the beginning to being rubbed comfortably in the back, and he no longer struggled. It took less than 10 minutes before and after.

Before Sun Xiang had time to say anything before leaving, Zhou Zekai directly picked up the two plastic bags, signaling him to focus on keeping his balance.

The uncle owner smiled and waved at the awkward kid: "There is such a good brother in the world, you just admit it."

Sun Xiang twisted his head to look at the road, pretending not to hear, but almost tripped over the threshold.

"Go slowly—" A loud laugh came from behind.

Sun Xiang wanted to die already.

4.

After walking a few hundred meters on the way home, Sun Xiang walked over awkwardly, and couldn't help feeling sorry for Zhou Zekai again.

"Let me share the plastic bag." He danced more and more skillfully, "I can walk steadily, really!"

Zhou Zekai's eyes fell on his golden rooster's independent foot, and he smiled half-smile.

Sun Xiang curled his lips: "Don't believe me. Let me tell you, I have a very strong body. I used to play basketball, fights and so on, and I was injured as much as a cow's hair. Is he alive and kicking now? Look——"

As he said that, he compared the pose of a Popeye, and then swung forward in a circle.

"For example, the right shoulder was dislocated in elementary school, and it was dislocated several times later. It has already come out of experience! The most recent time was in a game last year. Anyway, I didn't go to the school hospital, so I pushed it back!"

After he finished speaking, he paused, subconsciously looked at Zhou Zekai, and thought to himself, now you should believe that Brother Xiang is a tough Alpha, right?It would be even better if we applauded and worshiped by the way.

Unexpectedly, after hearing Sun Xiang's words, Zhou Zekai immediately frowned.

"Habitual dislocation?" He tilted his head and stared at Sun Xiang, "You should pay attention to the intensity of exercise, and don't catch cold..."

"It's up to you," Sun Xiang interrupted him, "Every time the doctor nags, I almost hear callouses! It's okay, okay."

Now that Sun Xiang said so, Zhou Zekai stopped telling him.

But when Zhou Zekai remained silent, Sun Xiang's heart beat instead.

"...Hey, aren't you angry again?"

"No."

"Oh, that's it." Sun Xiang coughed uncomfortably, staring at the tree far away, "I forgot to say, I, I know your kindness, including the matter of the pharmacy just now... Thank you."

The last two words are as thin as a mosquito murmuring.

But Zhou Zekai heard it.

How can you not be angry?With Xiong at this level, if it were his real cousins, he would probably have been educated to be honest by Zhou Zekai, but Sun Xiang is a special case.

Strangely enough, just thinking about the extent of this friend's duplicity never made him angry.

But in order to prevent the other party's tail from sticking up into the sky, he didn't plan to tell him for the time being.

5.

When passing by the street park outside the community, a few aunts dancing in the square recognized Zhou Zekai, greeted him kindly, and asked him to go home for dinner when he was free.

Zhou Zekai politely refused, saying he wanted to take care of his "cousin".

The aunts expressed their understanding while regretting: "Your parents will not come back for the holidays this year, at least knowing that you can ask your cousin to accompany you is considered an improvement."

Zhou Zekai smiled, didn't answer, and walked away slowly with Sun Xiang's arm.

Fast forward to the community, Sun Xiang couldn't help asking: "Your parents didn't come back for National Day before?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he shut up abruptly, wishing he could slap himself twice - which pot is not opened and which pot is to be lifted!

Zhou Zekai didn't answer.

His hands were full and he couldn't take out the access card. The first thing to do was to say hello to the community security.

After the door opened, Zhou Zekai supported Sun Xiang to walk in while explaining: "Yes. They are busy."

Sun Xiang was upset: "Cut, no matter how busy you are at work, how many days in a year are you not free? Can work be more important than your son?"

"Maybe." Zhou Zekai thought for a while, "Anyway, Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival...don't come back."

"I'll go, there are only a few festivals in a year, right? What's left, Spring Festival and Qingming Festival?" Sun Xiang's eyes widened.

"Well. Back to the day."

Sun Xiang wanted to speak.His throat was blocked by intense emotions, and he couldn't speak a word.

——The busyness of one party can be barely explained by working hard for the family. Both parties are busy, so busy that they come back twice a year?what is this?

——What's more, there is such an excellent son in the family, and they don't want to see him more?

Sun Xiang intuited that there must be a reason beyond his cognition.At least Zhou Zekai has enough food and clothing, which means that this is not "giving up".

——But even if there is a good reason, remember to give money to ensure that Zhou Zekai can read the book normally?

Among other things, who has considered Zhou Zekai's feelings?What did Zhou Zekai do wrong?Need to get used to living alone early in the days when other peers are accompanied by their parents?Hungry, cold, sick, all alone?

No wonder he is good at cooking and repairing rectifiers...

But, still the same sentence, why?

Because he is good enough?Reassuring enough?

As soon as this idea came up, Sun Xiang was so angry that he wanted to curse.

However, reason desperately reminded him - even Zhou Zekai himself doesn't care, what right do you have to be angry?

"I see...you haven't had a good holiday since the third year of junior high school." Sun Xiang took a deep breath, and said in a joking tone, "We are here on the National Day this year, and someone doesn't say anything about it, but he is actually very happy. Right? ?”

Zhou Zekai glanced at him: "Yes."

Holy crap, is Zhou Zekai going to admit it so quickly? !

Sun Xiang had originally planned that Zhou Zekai would ignore him and tease him until he opened his mouth, but he didn't expect such a reaction.

He froze for a moment, and didn't want to admit that he wasn't ready, but he didn't know how to smooth things over.

"I'm very happy." Sun Xiang was distracted, and Zhou Zekai said again.

The two combos of honesty made Sun Xiang's brain almost stop thinking, and every sentence he said next was an instinctive response: "Since, since you are so happy, come and celebrate the festival with me in the future!"

After saying these words, Sun Xiang's rationality came belatedly, and his brain once again took over.

and many more!

What did he say?

Said "Come, follow, me, one, together, over, festival?"

Depend on!

Even if invited, it should be "we"? !

It's a pity that there are no tools at hand, and the person can't stand steadily, otherwise he can dig a hole and bury himself in just one minute.

He could only slowly, slowly, move his gaze to the side, as if as long as he stopped looking at Zhou Zekai's eyes, he could pretend nothing happened.

No, of course nothing happened.

Sun Xiang took a deep breath, and decided to make amends: "It's not convenient—"

He didn't have time to finish the word "it's okay".

Because Zhou Zekai had already nodded: "Okay."

6.

Zhou Zekai saw Sun Xiang's astonishment, but he didn't intend to explain it—it's hard to explain.

He was soberly aware that Sun Xiang's invitation was entirely out of sympathy for his own situation, and it was a hot-headed move, and it was not certain that he would regret it afterwards.

It was precisely because he clearly knew these things that he clearly understood what he was promising.

He wanted to be willful - whether Sun Xiang took it seriously or not, it didn't matter, at this moment, he just wanted to agree.

7.

He still remembers that day, the summer vacation before the third year of junior high school, just after a rain, he was doing his homework alone at home as usual.

That evening, my parents suddenly came home early, and facing their delighted self, they dropped a bombshell—"Kaikai, mom and dad are going to work in other places."

Where to go, don't tell him.

What kind of work, of course, did not mention.

This means that the number of times they can meet each other is very small.

He remembered that he was stunned for a few seconds at that time, and after he realized it, he also had the urge to object and question.But that's just impulse.

In the end, before his parents left with their suitcases, they stood at the entrance and asked him if he had anything to say, but he remained silent.

Because his intuition told him that even if he cried and complained, his parents' decision could not be reversed.From start to finish, he was just "told".

—and what does it matter?

He didn't reveal it to Sun Xiang. In fact, before the third year of junior high school, things were not much better:

He appears to have been "physically" separated from his parents at an early age.

While others finished cooking and waited for their children to leave school, Zhou Zekai's parents were working.Zhou Zekai's parents were still working when others were accompanying their children to do their homework.

He has a regular work and rest habit and goes to bed at 11 o'clock every day.The bird clock in the living room will chirp 11, and Zhou Zekai will lie on the bed, listen quietly, and then secretly count to 100.

It was a delusion that knew it was impossible, but still existed—maybe within 100 strokes, there would be a sound of unlocking the lock.

However, after 100 strokes.The house is still quiet, so quiet that you can hear the movement of the hands of the wall clock and the sound of the compressor of the refrigerator.

Only the slippers that had changed positions at the door the next morning could provide a little proof that his parents had indeed returned home.

"Kaikai is really good/sensible." No matter relatives, neighbors, or nearby shopkeepers who are familiar with him, they all say so.When talking, the eyes of those people looking at him were not only sympathy but emotion.

Why do you have to feel sorry for yourself?he thought suspiciously.

After so long, he has already gotten used to it, and it doesn't matter anymore.Anyway, it has always been like this, accompanied by loneliness and quietness, having enough time to do what you like, and there is no parental opposition and interference.Zhou Zekai thought amusedly, this kind of life, in a sense, is much more free than other children.

With this thought in mind, he kept brainwashing himself until today——

Until suddenly there was a person standing in front of him, angry at what happened to him. He was obviously not good at hiding his emotions, but because he was worried about himself, he abruptly turned his anger into a "joke".

It was both funny and clumsy... But it was also such a funny and clumsy performance that suddenly broke him out of the long-term self-hypnosis.Let him realize that there is nothing wrong with "wanting to be accompanied."This is obviously a legitimate request, and he should speak out with confidence.

"—From now on, you all come to celebrate the festival with me!"

"it is good."

TBC