Chapter 1 Chapter 1 "I laugh at your beauty that makes the moon and flowers ashamed..."

In August, the warm grey nights have descended upon Jiangcheng. A hot wind that is a little steaming blows through the streets, and the memories of summer slowly unfold.

Because it is a coastal city with beautiful scenery, there are endless tourists at this time of year. If you stand on the beach and look out, you will most likely not see the sea, but a sea of ​​people.

However, Shen Xiyu was happy to see this lively scene. There were many tourists at this time, and the wages of summer workers were much higher than usual. For her, this was more real than anything else.

2:30 in the morning.

After seeing off the last table of customers, Shen Xiyu's neck ached slightly. She felt like she had ordered more than a hundred bowls of noodles today. She packed up quickly and closed the shop. The old-fashioned roller shutter door made a "creaking" protest sound, and she rode her bicycle to the apartment.

There are also some small stalls on the road that are open all night long. Nightlife is the main venue of this city, and stories are staged here every night. Everyone turns a blind eye to the quarrels and drunk men and women lying on the street, and is busy going their own way.

On such a hot and humid summer night, Shen Xiyu was awakened by the wind that hit her. She didn't want to go back. Her sleep and rest schedule had been reversed for a long time, so she was not sleepy at this time.

Passing Green City Square, Shen Xiyu stopped the car when he heard the familiar sound of piano. There was a weird guy who liked to play piano in the middle of the night. Fortunately, this place was not a residential area, otherwise someone would definitely complain about this guy in the middle of the night.

She heard it one night when she was reading here. She thought it was haunted and was scared to death.

Later, the two of them formed a strange tacit understanding. No one took the initiative to talk. He played his piano while Shen Xiyu sat on the bench and read his book.

*

But today, when Shen Xiyu went over, he found that there was already someone sitting on the chair.

The grey sleeveless sweatshirt was a little too big for the boy, but his muscles were clearly defined, so he didn't look frail. His face was hidden in the shadow of the hat, and his expression couldn't be seen clearly.

Looking around and finding no other seats, Shen Xiyu still sat on the chair, two or three people away from the boy.

The cool evening breeze blew up the scattered hair of Shen Xiyu, who was reading Gide's "The Narrow Gate"

"I used to recite 'Trusting in others brings misfortune' often, but I didn't quite understand it..."

“…”

"He was not yet twelve, and I had just turned fourteen. There was a bouquet of flowers on the picture, and we thought it was very nice."

The lingering sound of the piano made people feel tired, and Shen Xiyu completely ignored the people around him.

*

"Hello, um, do you know the person playing the piano?" The sudden question in her ear brought her thoughts back to the real world.

"I don't know him."

The boy didn't say anything else. Shen Xiyu looked at him and he had already taken off his hat.

To be honest, she had rarely seen such an aggressive-looking boy in real life. His eyes were clearly black and white, and the light from the street lamps made them sparkle, like a pure black glass bead inlaid. He had thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose bridge, and a not-so-conspicuous scar under his ear.

It looks really weird...

It looks very nice.

Shen Xiyu was amused by the cheesy love words in his heart.

The boy glanced at her and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Shen Xiyu did not put away his smile, but closed the book and leaned back in his chair.

"You are so beautiful that you can make the moon and flowers ashamed, handsome boy."

After a long silence, the boy didn't even look at her and replied lazily, "Thank you, many people say that."

Now it was Shen Xiyu's turn to be at a loss for words.

*

She looked at her watch and it was almost four o'clock. Her shift for tomorrow was at six o'clock in the evening, so she stood up and prepared to leave. She looked back at the boy sitting on the chair with his eyes closed, and the person playing the piano. In the end, she turned around and left without saying anything.

The night was long and it was interesting to meet two people who stayed in the park all night.

Behind her, Liang Qi watched her figure disappear into the night and withdrew his gaze.

*

Shen Xiyu walked through the crowded electric bike pile, locked his bike, and went upstairs from the basement.

She had a short lease for the summer vacation and couldn't find a good house, but she couldn't afford a good one, so she chose this old community. The three-bedroom house was divided into three parts by the owner, with one tenant in each room. The living room and bathroom were shared, and the kitchen only had a simple microwave and sink.

Chen Xiyu rarely saw the other two girls. They usually stayed in their own rooms. Chen Xiyu's room had a private bathroom so it was a little more expensive.

The light in the elevator flickered, and Shen Xiyu realized belatedly that she was tired. Her brain and body had been working at high speed for a long time, and she leaned tiredly against the wall. Although she was the only one in the elevator, too many people rode in it every day, and the mixed smell of cigarettes, stench, and sweat made her feel a little nauseous.

*

The other side.

Fu Shengrui sat in a recliner smoking. Liang Qi stood eight feet away from him with disdain, "Boy, you're seventeen or eighteen years old, and you can count the number of times you've smoked on one hand. Are you a real man?"

Liang Qi frowned and told him to get lost. "Did you know that David Lynch started smoking at the age of eight and died of lung disease 25 years ago?"

"That's enough for me."

Liang Qi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye without saying anything.

Fu Shengrui smiled and stopped teasing him. "Oh, you don't know, ever since I was complained by the neighbors about disturbing others in the middle of the night and came here to practice piano, that girl, white, thin, and pretty, comes here around two o'clock every day. I can't smoke in front of girls, and there are not many people around here, so I have to suppress my craving for cigarettes. You say a little girl, it's dark and dangerous at night, hey, she runs here every day, isn't she afraid of meeting bad people?"

Liang Qi looked at the direction the girl was walking. "She smells like fireworks. She must be working at the night market by the sea."

"You have a dog nose."

Liang Qi didn't say anything else. The two of them watched in silence as the sky began to light up slightly, like a hole in an inky black curtain. The grayish-white was mixed with faint orange-yellow light. It was almost dawn.

At some point, Fu Shengrui also put out his cigarette. He buried his face in his hands and said in a muffled voice, "Xiaoqi, you should go back. Your mother and grandmother are just worrying about nothing. No matter what, I can't let you stay with me when you're about to take the college entrance examination. Will you take care of me or will I take care of you? Go back to Luocheng. Look, I'm fine too."

Liang Qi didn't respond. This was the third time Fu Shengrui had told him about this in the past few days.

He picked up Fu Shengrui's piano and said, "Come on, stop being so sentimental. I can't be here to find Qin Yiyan and the others. You're really old and have learned to be nagging. Go back and live in the United States every day."

Fu Shengrui took the zither from Liang Qi's hand and punched him softly.

"Go home, old man, please go home."

At five o'clock in the morning, the sound of the piano faded away, and the crack in the sky was torn open. The first ray of sunlight of the morning shone on the chairs where they sat at night, and the sky was bright.

*

Two weeks later

Jiangcheng Experimental High School

On the first day of school, the campus, which had been quiet for a month, was bustling with students returning to school.

The accumulated dust was swept away. Although the atmosphere was filled with students' complaints, the youthful energy still spread to every corner. The security guard grinned at the group of little kids who were battling wits and courage with him.

"Chen Xiyu! Where were you this summer? We all thought you transferred to another school!"

As soon as Shen Xiyu stepped into the classroom, he was blocked by Dai Meng and Chen Ningzhou. The two grabbed Shen Xiyu and shook him around, questioning him.

"I'm just transferring schools, and I came back today to pack my things."

Dai Meng was stunned when these words came out. Seeing her eyes widening to the point where they were almost bigger than her glasses, Shen Xiyu laughed maliciously, "I was kidding you, idiot. You've been fooled."

Dai Meng angrily threatened to punish her.

Before she could even touch Shen Xiyu, "Dai Meng! The English teacher wants to see you! Let's go to the office together. I want to go too!" the study committee member shouted, clinging to the window. Class leaders like them were the busiest at the start of the school year, collecting homework, getting textbooks... and if they got caught, they even had to help clean the office.

"Just wait for me, Chen Xiyu!" Dai Meng pretended to be angry.

Seeing Dai Meng walking away, Chen Ningzhou looked at Shen Xiyu, "Tell me, what happened? We almost called the police. If I hadn't called your brother and he said you contacted him, I really would have filed a missing person report."

Shen Xiyu originally didn't want to tell them about the trivial matters at home. She had her own pride and persistence, and didn't want to make them worry. But Chen Ningzhou grew up with her and was not as easy to fool as them.

"Zhang Weifang contacted me. He had finished his lawsuit with his mother and was going to Jiangcheng to continue his university studies. Less than a week later, his mother contacted me and asked me to transfer schools and stop contacting her son. She offered a considerable sum of money."

Zhang Weifang is the "brother" that Chen Ningzhou refers to as Shen Xiyu.

Shen Xiyu leaned on the railing, looking down at the boys and girls laughing and playing downstairs.

Chen Ningzhou looked at her calm profile. Although so many things had happened in the past few years, he still felt that Shen Xiyu had not changed.

She still liked to laugh, talk nonsense, and was romantic and innocent, just like when they first met. When she was a child, she always heard adults say that she was mature, but when she grew up, she seemed to be the most innocent one, as if she only lived in her own world.

At this moment, Shen Xiyu tilted her head and lay on her arms, her eyelashes drooping, and she put away the smile that was welded to her face, speaking calmly as if she was talking to someone completely unrelated.

The affairs of the Shen family are a tangled mess that cannot be cut or sorted out. Everyone is caught up in it and no one is having a good time. As an outsider, Chen Ningzhou cannot say much.

"Then you don't have to contact us."

"This was really an accident. Zhang Weifang's mother broke my phone, and he didn't get in touch with me until the next day."

Chen Ningzhou did not continue to ask. He knew Shen Xiyu. She was strong-willed, but not the kind of person who would blindly act on her own. She must have had her own considerations for not contacting them.

"By the way, don't tell Dai Meng and the others. Even if you tell them, they'll just worry about nothing. You're also worrying about nothing."

"Come on, they're all shrewd people. Just like you just did, if you don't bring it up, she won't ask again. Qin Yiyan is busy in Los Angeles during the summer vacation, and Zhang Zhi was caught participating in a competition. Neither of us told them about this."

Chen Xiyu smiled and said, "That's right."

"Why are you two here so early?" A boy's clear voice came from behind.

Qin Yiyan put his hands on their shoulders and said, "Are you forming a small group behind our backs again?"

When Chen Ningzhou saw it was him, he feigned anger and punched him. "How dare you say that? You spent your entire summer just clinging to your childhood friend. You went to Los Angeles for a month, and then someone brought you back. So, your boyfriend?"

"Go to hell, he's a boy! A boy! Oh, and he's transferring to our class this semester, so please take care of him."

Shen Xiyu deliberately spoke in a strange tone, "I understand. Take care of the young wife you kidnapped from Luocheng."

"Chen Xiyu! Stop hanging out with Chen Ningzhou. You're talking even more disgustingly than he does now!"

Chen Ningzhou was watching the fun with great interest. "What's it to me? She's always been like this. This is the first day you met her."

…

As more and more people sat in the class, the class monitor came out and urged the students outside to return to the classroom to prepare for class.

The three of them walked back. Chen Ningzhou trailed behind unnoticed and whispered to Shen Xiyu, "I don't know if they've sent you any messages. If they really ask, just say you went back home and your phone card is broken. I'll cover the rest for you."

Shen Xiyu patted his arm and gave him a look that said "got it".

*

"Classmates, it's a new semester. How were your grades at the end of last semester? Needless to say, there were six Rocket Classes, and our class was fourth! Isn't that shameful?"

The head teacher, Teacher Fang, stood on the podium, holding a thermos cup and looking heartbroken.

"Hey, I've never seen someone put cold water in a thermos like Old Fangtou. It's totally weird."

"How do you know it's cold water?"

"Last time I wasn't..."

Chen Xiyu and Qin Yiyan were desk mates. At this moment, facing the same rhetoric from their homeroom teacher that had remained unchanged for ten years, the two were whispering to each other while shielding their heads with books.

"Qin Yiyan! Chen Xiyu! You two, come on, Qin Yiyan, do you know what your math score was in the final exam? I'm embarrassed for you!"

"Mathematics again..." Qin Yiyan muttered softly.

It’s no wonder that Old Fangtou always mentions his math grades. Last semester, Qin Yiyan once again won the first place in math in Class 17 of Grade 12 with an excellent score of 72.

Countdown.

If it weren't for English, I would have almost fallen out of the top 100 in my grade.

"You two get out and stand here!"

…

The author has something to say:

----------------------

Click to add a collection [Let me know][Let me know]

Leave a comment [Breaking cry][Breaking cry]

The next series of articles "Are You Drunk?" has started pre-collection, please add it to your collection before leaving [poor]

Double Evil Hunter

Cold and heartless bartender x romantic and scheming young master

A couple on the road of confrontation who exploit each other

Let's go check it out [Let me check it out]