driftwood

Chen Xing followed Zhou Chen into the supermarket in a daze, pushed the shopping cart behind Zhou Chen and asked, "Do you want to cook by yourself?"

Zhou Chen turned around and said with a smile: "I don't know how to cook, let's eat hot pot."

The two threw a lot of things into the shopping cart, and when they pushed the cart to the cashier, both of them were dumbfounded. There was a long queue of six or seven meters at each cashier.

"Hey, Chen Xing." A clear female voice broke into Chen Xing's ears, very familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

Zhang Xiaoyu rushed towards Chen Xing excitedly pushing the shopping cart. Chen Xing's frown deepened. Zhang Xiaoyu was the art committee member of their class. Especially acquaintance, Chen Xing thought for a while, as if he had not spoken more than five words to her since high school.He didn't know why the man saw him so enthusiastically.

Zhang Xiaoyu rushed to Chen Xing and excitedly grabbed Chen Xing's arm: "Why are you here?"

Chen Xing pushed her down, pointing to the shopping cart wordlessly, thinking that this is not knowing what to ask, if you come to the supermarket and don't buy something, why come to eat.

Only then did Zhang Xiaoyu notice Zhou Chen who was pushing the shopping cart. Zhou Chen smiled politely at her and said, "Hello." Zhang Xiaoyu felt her face was hot and her heart was beating like a drum. She hurriedly lowered her head and said, He stammered: "Ah... hello."

After Zhou Chen greeted Zhang Xiaoyu, he turned around and chatted with Chen Xing.

Taking advantage of the gap between the two of them talking, Zhang Xiaoyu tugged on Chen Xing's sleeve, and Chen Xing turned around with an impatient expression on his face: "What are you doing?"

Zhang Xiaoyu let go of him, and asked Chen Xing in a low voice, "Who is he?"

Chen Xing frowned: "Why do you ask this?"

Zhang Xiaoyu muttered in a low voice: "I'll just ask, who is he, your brother? Or your friend?"

Chen Xing turned his head and ignored her, he didn't know how to answer, friend?We've only met a few times, are you friends?But as a stranger, he fought with Zhou Chen again, he also helped Zhou Chen block a knife, and cooked Zhou Chen twice, but he never did such a thing to Xu Xin.Chen Xing thought in a daze, this way, they can be regarded as friends.

"I'm his uncle." Zhou Chen's gentle voice with a smile rang in his ears. Chen Xing came back to his senses and looked at the person in front of him helplessly. This person was always very naive in places that some people didn't expect.

"Ah?" Zhang Xiaoyu opened his mouth wide in surprise, and it took a long time before he opened his mouth in embarrassment: "Uh, I'm sorry...Uncle..."

"He's my uncle, why are you yelling?" Chen Xing was a little annoyed.

"I think your uncle is about the same age as us." Zhang Xiaoyu looked up at Zhou Chen slightly: "Uncle Chen Xing, how old are you?"

The smile in Zhou Chen's voice grew stronger: "21."

Seeing Zhou Chen smiling so much, Zhang Xiaoyu felt that her face was almost familiar, she sighed softly: "Ah...so young..."

Chen Xing pulled Zhou Chen's body and pushed him forward a few steps. Zhang Xiaoyu didn't speak again, and his eyes seemed to fall on Zhou Chen's tall and straight back.

When paying the bill, Chen Xing didn't care what Zhang Xiaoyu said just now to let him wait for her, and he took Zhou Chen to take a big stride and walked out all the way. After getting on the bus, Chen Xing was relieved and let Zhou Chen go.

There were very few people on the bus, Chen Xing sat by the window, and Zhou Chen sat beside him.

Chen Xing's face was smudged by the sunlight outside the window, and he looked at Zhou Chen with raised eyebrows: "It's very hard to be my uncle."

The corner of Zhou Chen's mouth couldn't hide a smile: "It's not bad, it's not a loss." It's really not a loss to be such a handsome man's uncle. Zhou Chen thought about this in his heart, but didn't say it.

Chen Xing was also amused, and turned his head to look at the slowly receding scenery outside, laughing nonstop.

For a long time, Zhou Chen asked casually, "Is that girl your classmate just now?"

Chen Xing stopped laughing, looked out of the window and gave a soft "um", and added after thinking about it: "I don't know her well." Zhou Chen asked again with a smile: "Are you the school grassroots at your school?" ah?"

Chen Xing turned his head, half of his face was a shadow cast by the sun, his long eyelashes were flickering, his eyes flickered with a smile, Zhou Chen's heart trembled, and suddenly he remembered a poem he had seen a long time ago: "Bi Qi's son , Beauty beyond measure.” At that time, he laughed when he saw it, how could anyone be “beautiful beyond measure”?But now, looking at the young man in front of him, he was a little dazed.

"Thanks for the compliment." The boy pulled Zhou Chen back from his thoughts with a proud voice, and Chen Xing continued: "Maybe, no one said I was a school grass."

Zhou Chen was stunned for a long time: "Ah, that's it." He was thinking in his heart, if he looks like this and is not a school girl, maybe the whole school will be blind.

Chen Xing's phone rang as soon as the two entered the door. He was afraid it was Li Man, so he didn't want to answer it. He made up his mind and took out his phone to check the caller ID—Xu Xin, he was relieved, and pressed the answer button. Shouting into the phone: "You fucking scared me to death!"

Xu Xin was startled by Chen Xing's voice, and it took him a long time to say aggrievedly, "I'm going to be scared to death by you." Chen Xing grabbed the water glass on the tea table and took a sip of water, seeing Zhou Chen's surprised eyes, He put down the water glass in embarrassment: "Your?" Zhou Chen put away his surprised eyes and nodded at him: "Well, mine."

Isn't it nonsense, in my house, whose is not mine?

Chen Xing scratched his hair in embarrassment: "I'm sorry, I..."

Zhou Chen interrupted him: "I'm not a clean freak, I don't mind." After speaking, he went to the kitchen with the dishes.

"Where are you? Who are you talking to?" Xu Xin, who had been left alone for a long time, was a little curious. Chen Xing was usually the only friend like him, and he couldn't figure out who Chen Xing could talk to like that.

"My uncle."

"Your uncle? You still have an uncle?" Xu Xin was a little puzzled, but he never knew that Chen Xing had an uncle.

"I just recognized it. I'll tell you when I go on Monday. I'm busy now, so I hung up."

"Ah."

Chen Xing hung up the phone, squinted his eyes and lay down on the sofa for a while, then stood up and slowly went to the kitchen. Zhou Chen lowered his head to wash the vegetables, and when Chen Xing came in, he said without raising his head: "It's finished." The dishes are all on the chopping board, you can cut it."

Chen Xing said "Oh", obediently walked to the pool, rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands, picked up the knife and began to cut vegetables seriously.The knife fell on the chopping board and made a rhythmic thumping sound. The gas stove was boiling with water, and the flames flickered. Chen Xing stopped and looked at the flower bed downstairs through the window. Several cats lay motionless beside the flower bed. Basking in the sun, a few elderly people and their grandchildren were standing by the flower bed, talking and laughing, chatting about homework. A few children squatted down and gently touched the cat’s belly. The children rubbed their bellies and only occasionally wagged their tails.Chen Xing was fascinated. After Zhou Chen washed the dishes and put them in front of him, he came back to his senses and said softly, "That's great."

Zhou Chen was at a loss: "What's so good?"

"I look so good." Chen Xing hummed a song and lowered his head to continue cutting vegetables.

Zhou Chen smiled: "It's really good."

Chen Xing suddenly raised his head, and asked inexplicably, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Zhou Chen was startled, then immediately smiled and said, "No, do you want to introduce me?" Girlfriend, it is impossible to have a girlfriend in this life.

Chen Xing twitched his lips: "I didn't find it myself, and I didn't have anyone to introduce it to you."

"Ah, I remembered." Chen Xing narrowed his eyes and smiled maliciously: "The girl in our class just now seems to like you."

Zhou Chen pointed at himself amusedly: "Me? I just said two or three words to her." Chen Xing looked at Zhou Chen, and smiled more and more slyly: "Have you ever heard an idiom called love at first sight?" ?”

"At first sight." Zhou Chen glared at Chen Xing, and reached out to turn off the gas stove.

"Hey, I'm serious, she blushes when she sees you and stutters when she speaks."

Zhou Chen didn't bother to pay attention to him, turned around and left the kitchen.

Chen Xing used the chicken he bought to boil chicken soup as the base. He hesitated for a while when he was about to put the chili, and stood at the door and asked Zhou Chen, "Can you eat chili?" After waiting for a long time, Zhou Chen did not agree, and he walked into the living room suspiciously , Seeing Zhou Chen lying on the sofa and already asleep, he may be too tall, with his legs curled up, a book spread out to cover his face, Chen Xing took a closer look - "The Book of Songs", "Still It's easy to learn." Chen Xing chuckled, went into the study and took a blanket and covered Zhou Chen gently.

Zhou Chen turned over in a daze from sleep, the book on his face slid down and hit the floor with a "boom", Zhou Chen immediately sat up when he heard the movement, stared at the ground with his eyes open and yelled for a long time. Dazed, he put on his shoes when he felt that his mind was clearer. He lowered his head and saw the blanket on his body, he lowered his head and smiled softly.

After Chen Xing put all the dishes on the table, he was about to go to the living room to call Zhou Chen, when he turned around and saw Zhou Chen coming out of the living room, Zhou Chen smiled a little embarrassedly: "I accidentally fell asleep."

Chen Xing opened the stool and sat down, and said slowly, "I see you slept soundly, and wiped your drool for you." Zhou Chen also opened the stool and sat opposite Chen Xing, looking at it with a smile on his lips. Looking at Chen Xing: "Really? I remember that I never drool when I sleep."

Chen Xing handed the bowl and chopsticks to Zhou Chen, turned on the fire and put the food in the pot. Only then did Zhou Chen notice that the soup was clear soup.

"Why don't you put chili?"

Chen Xing focused on the dishes in the pot and said casually, "I'm afraid you don't like spicy food."

Zhou Chen moved slightly, pursed his lips and said, "I eat, but I can't eat too much."

"Oh, then shall I put some more now?" Chen Xing said as he got up and went to the kitchen, "Forget it, wait for the wound to heal before you eat spicy food."

"Oh. That's fine." Chen Xing nodded helplessly.

After the dish was cooked for a while, Zhou Chen picked up a piece of mutton and blew it cold and put it in his mouth. After eating, he nodded to Chen Xing, "It's ready to eat."

Chen Xing's hand holding the chopsticks froze in mid-air, the corners of his mouth twitched, looked at Zhou Chen, suppressed a smile and said, "Do you know what we look like now?"

Zhou Chen was inexplicably asked by him: "What does it look like?"

"Like the emperor, before he eats, he needs someone to test the food for him to see if there is any poison in it." Chen Xing laughed, and his hand holding the chopsticks kept shaking.

Zhou Chen glanced at him and continued to lower his head to eat, Chen Xing tried his best to stop laughing, took a deep breath, his face was sour from laughing, he squeezed his face, and put a chopstick of meat into his mouth.

The two of them were silent after the meal, but the strange thing was that the atmosphere was not awkward, and even a little warm and harmonious.

Chen Xing felt that he was full, so he raised his head from behind the pot. Zhou Chen had already finished eating, and leaned on the back of the chair with his head lowered to play with his mobile phone.

From the corner of the eye, I saw Chen Xing put down his chopsticks, Zhou Chen put them in his pocket, looked up at Chen Xing and asked, "Are you full?"

Chen Xing took out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and nodded.

Zhou Chen stood up and pointed to the living room with his chin: "Go and rest, I'll wash the dishes." After speaking, he piled up the dishes and chopsticks of the two of them and walked to the kitchen.

Chen Xing is also used to it. It seems that he has known Zhou Chen for many years. This kind of familiarity makes him feel very comfortable.

Chen Xing collapsed on the sofa, touched his stuffed stomach, saw the "Book of Songs" on the coffee table, and reached out to take it.After Zhou Chen cleaned up and walked to the living room, what caught his eyes was Chen Xing sitting cross-legged on the sofa, frowning with confusion.He couldn't help laughing, and walked over to sit next to Chen Xing, only to see clearly that the "Book of Songs" was on his lap.

Chen Xing turned his head and asked, "Why can't I understand?" Zhou Chen read a lot since he was a child, and it's easy to read "The Book of Songs". He bought it to read it when he was free, so he didn't buy the annotated version .

"There is no comment on this, so it's not easy to understand." Zhou Chen explained with a smile.

"Can you understand?" Chen Xing asked.

"Yes, I've read it many times, what don't you understand?"

Chen Xing pointed to a line of words: "I don't understand the title."

Zhou Chen took the book over and glanced at it, his heart skipped a beat twice, the bold block letters were right in front of his eyes——"Fen Juru".Thinking of Chen Xing's smile on the bus this morning, Zhou Chen closed the book with a snap, and said with some guilt: "I forgot this, I'll check it out later and I'll tell you."

Chen Xing didn't ask any more questions, but just said "um" lightly.Remembering that he hadn't seen Ergou since last night, he turned his head and asked Zhou Chen, "Where's the cat?"

Zhou Chen leaned back on the sofa with his hands on the back of his head, and raised the corners of his mouth: "You just remembered to ask now."

"I asked you last night, when you..." Calling... Chen Xing swallowed the second half of the sentence, a little annoyed at how he spoke without thinking think.

"Oh." Zhou Chen still smiled: "It will get bored if it stays at home for a long time. It goes out to play, and sometimes it doesn't come back at night. Now it may be basking in the sun in the flower bed downstairs."

"Oh." Chen Xing replied sullenly, he was not so rash at ordinary times, what's the matter now?

Zhou Chen sat up straight, picked up the water glass in front of him and took a sip of water, and said calmly, "It was my mother's call last night."

Chen Xing was confused by Zhou Chen's sudden explanation, and nodded blankly, "Oh." Does he look gossip?Why did Zhou Chen tell him this?

"My mother and I have some conflicts. We had a fight last night. Did it scare you?" Zhou Chen wanted to smile, but when he thought of Yang Qiu, he felt that he couldn't laugh at all.The conflict between him and Yang Qiu is no longer a contradiction, which word should be used to describe it, oh, in Yang Qiu's opinion, he may be her enemy.He was really curious, since he didn't like him since he was born, why didn't he strangle him while he was still young.

Listening to Zhou Chen's pretended relaxed tone, Chen Xing saw the helplessness and sadness that couldn't be hidden from the corners of Zhou Chen's eyes and brows.

Chen Xing's tone contained a gentleness that he hadn't noticed, as if comforting a child who was awakened by a nightmare: "Do you know why I came back to look for you last night?"

Zhou Chen asked cooperatively: "Why?"

Chen Xing smiled indifferently: "My parents are going to divorce, and my father still has a son outside."

Zhou Chen's throat tightened, with unspeakable bitterness, he forced himself to smile and said, "Are you trying to comfort me?"

Chen Xing looked serious: "Didn't everyone say that the best way to comfort someone is to tell them that I am worse than you?"

Zhou Chen didn't speak, he leaned sideways and gently hugged Chen Xing, his chin rested on Chen Xing's shoulder lightly, and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you."

Thank you for being kind to me. We are similar but different. You are still loved. I am different. No one loves me.

The moment Chen Xing was hugged by Zhou Chen, his body froze uncontrollably. Zhou Chen's breath brushed against his ears, softly and itchy, and that hoarse voice filled his heart. Throwing a bomb, there was a moment of thunder and splashes everywhere, the blood in his body seemed to be still, and he could hear his heartbeat gradually speeding up in the quiet, his face seemed to be hot, his whole body seemed to be hot, he seemed to be... ····Blushed.

Zhou Chen hugged him for a while and then let go. Chen Xing turned his face away in embarrassment, and gently touched his face with his hands. It turned out that it was not an illusion, his face was really hot.

"I'll accompany you to the hospital to remove the stitches in a while." Seeing Chen Xing twisting his head and not looking at himself for a long time, Zhou Chen was a little puzzled. This man saw that he was not such a thin-skinned person, so he hugged him. This is, shy ?

"Ah... okay, okay." Chen Xing couldn't speak well, and his heart was broken. He even laughed at Zhang Xiaoyu last night, and now he is not much better than others.

"It's still early, why don't you sleep first?" Zhou Chen tentatively asked Chen Xing, pointing to the study.

Chen Xing ran away, rushed to the study and closed the door before yelling, "Call me later." Zhou Chen was left sitting on the sofa and staring blankly.

After the thread was removed, the two came out of the hospital. Zhou Chen looked at his watch. It was 04:30.Before he had time to speak, Chen Xing opened his mouth first: "I won't go back with you, my house should be quiet, I'm going home." Zhou Chen looked at him, nodded, turned around and took two steps and stopped: " Call me if you have anything to do, and come to my house if you have nowhere to go." Chen Xing replied with a smile: "Understood." Now he can be sure that he and Zhou Chen are really friends, he smiled and took out his mobile phone to Xu Xin Make a phone call: "Where is it?"

"You just came out of the cram school, and you are in a good mood." Xu Xin also laughed a few times there.

"I invite you to dinner tonight, where are you going?"

"Little Sichuan, boiled fish, I failed to eat it last time."

"Okay, I'll wait for you at seven o'clock."

Chen Xing swayed home humming a ditty, touched the door frame, and the key hung on his little finger brightly and securely.Chen Xing heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Han Ya remembered to put the key on the door when she left, otherwise she would not be able to return to such a ruined house.Chen Xing opened the door, the living room was still the same as when he left last night, or even more chaotic.He called a part-time worker online, dropped his phone and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

He arrived at Xiaosichuan at [-]:[-] by his watch, and when he entered the door, Xu Xin followed him in.Chen Xing raised his eyebrows: "Why are you here so early?"

Xu Xin sat down opposite him, with an excited expression on his face: "I knew you had to arrive 10 minutes early, tell me, what's the good news?"

"Ah, I had my stitches removed today, please have a meal to celebrate."

Xu Xin's eyes widened: "What else?"

Chen Xing spread his hands: "It's gone, that's all." Xu Xin didn't find any surprises, and a look of disappointment flashed across his face.Chen Xing stopped teasing him, "Okay, let's order, I'll take my time."

"You want to break up with Li Man?" Xu Xin was so shocked that he forgot to eat the fish with his chopsticks.It was so hard to see that Chen Xing fell in love once, but ended up breaking up within two weeks. He was a little incapable of accepting it.

Chen Xing rubbed his brows, and said helplessly, "You can shout louder, so that everyone from the restaurant next door can come to see you." Xu Xin looked around, and indeed many people were looking at them.

He smiled embarrassedly, lowered his voice and asked Chen Xing anxiously: "Why, I think Li Man is pretty good, why do you want to break up with him?"

Chen Xing shook his head: "I still can't like her, I really can't like girls."

"All right, all right, if you don't like it, let's break it up." He leaned closer to Chen Xing, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "If you like boys, let's talk to them. If you can't find me, talk to you." He looked at Chen Xing sincerely.

Chen Xingle: "Do you know what you look like?"

"like what?"

"Like a kind old father." After Chen Xing finished speaking, he walked up to the dazed Xu Xin and bent down to hug Xu Xin.Xu Xin patted Chen Xing on the back in confusion.

It's strange, how to hug Xu Xin without blushing and heartbeat, and even want to laugh a little.