Chapter 2 Are you ……
Their eyes met, and the long years were compressed into a thin moment through the transmission of their eyes. It was the distance from a boy to a man, and there was a strangeness in their eyes that had not been seen for a long time.
The man was wearing a black baseball cap and his skin was slightly pale. His eyebrows and eyes were narrow and delicate under the brim of the cap, and the corners of his mouth were slightly drooping. He was wearing a loose black shirt with a pure white T-shirt underneath.
Xu Ji was holding a mobile phone to answer a call, his right hand still pressing the elevator door button. The sleeves of his shirt were casually rolled up, pushed up above his forearms, revealing his well-defined elbows.
Tao Siyun felt dazed and stunned.
He hung up the phone without any extra expression on his face, as if he didn't know her. He glanced at her lightly, then politely moved a little bit into the elevator.
Tao Siyun suppressed his panic, composed his expression, hesitated for two seconds under Xu Ji's gaze, then took a bold step and walked in slowly.
The elevator door closed again, blocking out the sounds from outside. The entire space seemed to shrink several times in an instant, and Tao Siyun felt a little short of breathing.
How should I put it? When you suddenly meet someone you haven't seen for seven years without any preparation, and the two of you are alone in the same closed space and silent to each other, it is absolutely impossible not to feel awkward, especially when this person is your former scandal partner during your school days.
The elevator rose slowly and stopped several times at other floors. During this time, no one came in and he didn't go out.
Two blurry figures, one tall and one short, were reflected on the elevator door. Tao Siyun stood there motionless, but he couldn't help but glance to the side, secretly sizing him up.
Xu Ji put his hands in his pockets, looking calm and composed, and also did not move at all.
She stood near the elevator button, and when she pressed the door-closing button again, she glanced up casually and suddenly realized that it only showed the floor she wanted to go to.
"?" After hesitating for a few seconds, Tao Siyun finally prepared himself mentally and asked him softly, "Are you going to the 19th floor too?"
After a few seconds of silence, she heard the person next to her slowly utter two words: "Negative One."
“…”
Are you kidding me
The hand she had just raised fell down silently again, and for a moment she felt extremely conflicted.
"Why didn't you press minus one first..."
You've already gone up to the 10th floor and you're just saying you want to go down?
Xu Ji raised his eyebrows and said in a lazy and matter-of-fact tone: "I pressed it, thinking you canceled it on purpose."
Tao Siyun: “?”
***
As it approached noon, the temperature gradually rose, and the scorching wind brought waves of heat. It seemed that summer in the south was always much longer than that in the north. It was stuffy and hot. This kind of weather was simply life-threatening.
Qin Shu had said before that with a delicate constitution like hers, who was extremely afraid of the cold in winter and the heat in summer, it was extremely difficult for her to endure anywhere.
Tao Siyun reached out to push away the hair that was stuck to his lips, gritted his teeth and walked towards the bus stop in front.
She had not taken a few steps when she received a call from Tao Qian asking her where she was.
Tao Siyun stood in the sun, her phone pressed against her ear and spinning around stupidly. She subconsciously looked back, thinking that her brother would suddenly fall from the sky and appear in front of her like in the movies.
In the end, I didn't see anyone, but I did see a large supermarket not far away.
"The courier is at your door."
"Ah?" Yesterday she accidentally mentioned in the group that the coffee machine was not working well. Five minutes later, Tao Qian directly sent her a screenshot of the order via WeChat. She didn't expect it to arrive so soon.
"Brother," Tao Siyun licked his lips under the scorching sun and said weakly, "I am now—"
Tao Qian said stiffly, "If you're not at home, I'll ask the courier to deliver it in the afternoon."
After hanging up the phone, Tao Siyun prepared to go to the supermarket to buy some things before going home.
She stood in the shade of a tree and retied her hair.
At that time, I was in a hurry to deliver something to Bian Chengzi, so I just tied my hair into a low bun when I went out. After a long time, the rubber band became loose and a few strands of hair fell down. The wet hair stuck to my neck and it was very uncomfortable.
When she looked up, she saw the No. 91 bus that had just passed her and was now parked at the bus stop. She didn't know when it had changed its route.
At this time, a black SUV drove slowly over from a distance and stopped steadily in front of her.
Tao Siyun looked up and saw that the car window had been lowered, revealing Xu Ji's iconic, almost perfect face.
Xu Ji stared at her with his dark eyes and asked, "Where are you going?"
Tao Siyun's mind went blank the moment he saw him. He forgot everything and muttered unconsciously, "Come to Xinjie."
The air conditioner is on in the car, so it's very cool and you won't feel cold even if you wear a skirt.
Tao Siyun sat in the back seat somewhat uncomfortably, with his hands placed politely on his legs.
I just got into his car without thinking, and when I realized what was happening, the SUV had already merged into the traffic flow...
Seeing the supermarket getting farther and farther away, she finally gave up and silently swallowed the words "Just drop me off at the intersection ahead."
If I say I want to get off now...it doesn't seem like a good idea, right?
It was just a sudden brain freeze that caused a moment of confusion, which made it difficult to tell the direction of time.
Tao Siyun sighed silently in his heart and glanced at the driver's seat in front of him on the left.
Xu Ji was wearing a black samurai watch on his wrist. The black strap formed a huge contrast with his slightly pale skin. He held the steering wheel with one hand and drove silently. It didn't look like he had any intention of talking to her.
Tao Siyun lowered his eyes, silently pulled the seat belt, and fastened it with a "click".
Xu Ji: “…”
The car turned a corner and entered Binjiang Avenue. After driving for a while, it stopped. A man and a dog on the roadside had been waiting for a long time.
Jiang Zhen walked up and knocked on the car window, looking inside: "It's so hot, why did you come just now? Your son brought it to you, you two should seize the time to bond, why did you raise such a thing for nothing—"
When Jiang Zhen saw the person in the back seat, he stopped talking, was stunned for several seconds, and then let out an "ouch".
Tao Siyun's heart skipped a beat when he suddenly heard this long-lost and extremely familiar voice.
Jiang Zhen clung to the car door, looking at her with a half-smile. His gossipy eyes flickered between her and Xu Ji, and finally he couldn't control his mouth anymore: "How did you two meet in this huge crowd?"
“…”
Do you believe that I met him on the street?
Xu Ji leaned back in his seat, glanced at him sideways, and tapped the steering wheel with his right hand. "Stop talking so much nonsense, are you going to get in the car or not?"
"Go, go, go, we must go."
“…”
Jiang Zhen opened the back door of the car, and the dog next to him couldn't wait any longer and got in the car with ease.
Tao Siyun looked at the Alaskan dog sitting side by side with her, taking up most of the space, with its tongue out and a silly look on its face, and she wanted to fasten the seat belt on it.
"Hey, Tao Siyun," Jiang Zhen swiftly got into the passenger seat, his tone so warm it didn't sound like they hadn't seen each other for a long time. "Where did you go after the college entrance examination? Is your QQ number useless? I haven't seen you online."
Faced with the sudden question, she was silent for a while.
After a long time, he said, "I didn't take the college entrance examination."
"Fuck, you, you didn't take the college entrance examination? No—" Jiang Zhen thought he had misheard, his face full of shock. "I remember you returned to Beijing in your senior year of high school." He tilted his head to look at Xu Ji and confirmed again: "Really?"
Xu Ji looked straight ahead, not even glancing at him, as if he hadn't heard anything.
Tao Siyun licked his lips and said softly, "I went abroad later."
There was a brief silence in the car.
A few seconds later, Jiang Zhen suddenly laughed muffledly.
He turned around and continued laughing. He looked at the man beside him, who was driving seriously with both hands on the steering wheel, and laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. "No, you two have been sitting at the same table for over a year for nothing. You didn't even know your former rumored boyfriend went abroad. Do you have a fucking 2G network?"
Tao Siyun: "..."
Jiang Zhen had laughed enough, clicked on the WeChat QR code, and reached for the back seat with his phone in his left hand. He said enthusiastically, "Let's add each other on WeChat. You haven't contacted many of your high school classmates, right? Come on, I have them all here. I'll recommend them to you when we get back."
"……good."
***
It is said that Tao Siyun transferred to Shanghai West No. 1 Middle School as a transfer student. She had been learning cello since she was a child. When she was in the first year of high school, her aunt who was a leader in the university took her in.
In early September, the lingering warmth of summer has not yet completely faded away. The fragmented sunlight slowly gathers and condenses into beams of light, passing through the corners of the campus.
It was class time, and the corridors of the teaching building were empty and quiet. Tao Siyun, wearing a white cotton short-sleeved shirt and a knee-length pleated skirt, stood at the door of the principal's office, looking a little reserved.
Several classes were having physical education classes on the playground downstairs, and the basketball court was surrounded by people, as if they were having a basketball shooting competition. She walked to the guardrail and looked down for a while, calmly sizing up the environment of the new school.
Although she was born here, she has been studying in Jingfu since she was a child and has not left home for more than ten years. She felt particularly uncomfortable after coming to Shanghai West.
Soon the door behind her opened and Qin Ru walked out, accompanied by a female teacher. They spoke in Shanghainese dialect at a slightly fast pace, which was completely incomprehensible to her as a newcomer.
Tao Siyun felt inexplicably nervous and his hands unconsciously tightened the straps of his schoolbag.
"Teacher Li, I'm leaving my child in your care. She did well in her studies at Beijing Fudan University, especially in English. She usually got full marks. Please take good care of her from now on."
"Oh, really?" Teacher Li looked at her with a smile in his eyes: "I just happen to teach English."
"Hello, teacher." Tao Siyun walked up and greeted politely.
Soft-spoken.
Teacher Li patted her shoulder and unconsciously softened his voice. He said to her in Mandarin, "There are some differences in teaching methods between us in the south and the north, but don't worry. If you have any questions, you can ask the teacher after class or ask your classmates. Got it?"
In fact, as teachers, whether they are willing to admit it or not, there is a common problem that is tacitly acknowledged by everyone, which is that they are particularly tolerant and fond of students with good grades.
Especially students like Tao Siyun, the little girl is fair-skinned, well-mannered, looks very well-behaved, has good grades and is well-mannered. She is simply the teacher's favorite.
"Okay, I see." She smiled shyly, and her nervousness suddenly relaxed a lot: "Thank you, teacher."
Huxi No. 1 Middle School is a key school in the city. Qin Ru had asked a friend to help her find connections, which delayed her admission for some time. She just didn't have to participate in military training, and she started classes directly after registering.
The next period happened to be English class, so Tao Siyun followed Teacher Li to the classroom. It was break time and there was no one in the classroom.
Teacher Li pointed to a seat in the fourth row and said to her, "You can sit there. Yesterday, a classmate of yours was transferred to a special interest class. By the way, after the exam, the seats will be arranged according to the ranking. They will be adjusted every month."
"OK."
"Oh no! I almost forgot," Teacher Li said anxiously, her Mandarin accented by Shanghainese. She spoke a bit quickly, "The logistics teacher won't be here this afternoon. You need to go get your school uniform first. Just ask for Teacher Zhang on the third floor of Mingzhi Building. She's the skinny one with curly hair. Remember that?"
"Yes," Tao Siyun nodded obediently, "I remember it."
Since the head teacher was notified to attend a meeting at the last minute, the English class was naturally changed to self-study. Tao Siyun heard cheers in the corridor.
When she pushed the door open, dozens of eyes turned to her, and the originally noisy classroom immediately became quiet.
"Um, classmate, did you go to the wrong class?" The class monitor was a girl with a low ponytail and a face that looked like a top student. Her name was Li Huan. She was managing discipline at the podium and looked at her in some surprise.
"I just registered today and went to pick up my school uniform."
"Oh? A new classmate!" Li Huan's eyes lit up, revealing his playful little fangs. Without saying a word, he pulled her to the podium: "What's your name?"
"Tao Siyun."
"Welcome Tao Siyun to our Senior 1 (2) class. Let's give him a round of applause."
There was a burst of sparse applause in the classroom, and it was obvious that the audience was not very enthusiastic.
Tao Siyun secretly guessed that since she had just reported today, they probably thought she was someone with connections who was just a few points short of the high school entrance exam and was squeezed in through the back door?
"Okay, hush! Be quiet, and keep your voices down. We'll call the inspector over soon," Li Huan turned and whispered to her, "Go back to your seat first. You've missed two days of class. I'll lend you my math notes later."
"Thank you." Tao Siyun smiled at her gratefully, then walked towards his seat holding the newly received school uniform under the gazes of strangers.
When she reached the fourth row, she stopped.
The seat was inside by the window, and now there was a boy sitting outside.
He leaned back in his chair, covered his face with an open English book, and fell asleep.
Outside the window, the shadows of the trees were swaying, and the big trees with lush branches and leaves were gently blown by the wind. The sunlight found the gaps between the leaves and poured into the classroom like a sieve.
Small round spots of light fell on his black T-shirt, like the sparkling reflections on the calm lake at sunset.
The waves are sparkling and the shadows are hazy.
Several spots of light were moving slightly with his deep and shallow breathing, as if they were quietly waiting for the sun to set.
This scene is simply unbearable to disturb.
Tao Siyun looked at Jiang Zhen at the back table and said embarrassedly, "Can you call him for me?"
"...Okay." Jiang Zhen agreed readily.
Tao Siyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In the next second...
Jiang Zhen kicked Xu Ji's chair, pulled his own desk back, and shouted at him, "Xu Ji, your new deskmate is here. Stop sleeping and get up quickly to let him in!"
Tao Siyun was shocked. He never expected that he would call him that.
Such a loud noise attracted the whole class to look at them. She was extremely embarrassed and stood in the aisle at a loss as to what to do, her face turning red.
"Jiang Zhen!" Xu Ji seemed to be still asleep. He called out to him in a long, warning tone, his voice lazy: "Try kicking it again!"
"..." Jiang Zhen immediately became intimidated and looked at Tao Siyun: "How about you give it a try?"
“…”
Tao Siyun was being watched by everyone around him. He steeled himself and mustered up the courage to step forward. He knocked on the table with his hands, "Classmate, could you please move aside? I need to go in."
The sound was very light, like a feather gently brushing across his cheek, and Xu Ji woke up immediately.
He took the book away from his face and saw Tao Siyun standing beside the table with an awkward look on his face in his sleepy eyes.
The two men, one high and one low, stared at each other for a few seconds.
Xu Ji is one of the rare handsome boys.
He has fair skin, long eyelashes, a narrow nose, sharp facial features, and delicate eyebrows and eyes that look as if they were specially drawn with fine brushwork.
Xu Ji tilted his head and looked at Jiang Zhen behind him, and for a moment he was a little confused about what was going on.
Jiang Zhen held his forehead with his hand and said, "There's a new student in our class, your deskmate, please get up quickly and let him in."
“…”
Tao Siyun thought that he should be about 1.8 meters tall, much taller than himself when standing up straight, and looked similar to Tao Qian.
Just at this time, Li Huan also brought the notes over. She thanked him, took out a new notebook from her schoolbag and began to copy the math notes carefully.
"Hey," Jiang Zhen gently kicked Xu Ji's chair and asked curiously, "What were you doing last night? We were all waiting for you to play games, why weren't you online? It's only been two days since school started, don't tell me you're already burning the midnight oil to study for the college entrance exam in three years."
"Do I need to burn the midnight oil to study?" Xu Ji twirled the pen in his hand and said absentmindedly, "I've been a recommended student since I was a child."
"Alright," Jiang Zhen laughed heartily. "Your experience of being recommended for admission all the way from kindergarten—or nine years of compulsory education, if you will—is truly impressive."
"roll."
Tao Siyun was copying her math notes intently and didn't want to listen to their conversation until Jiang Zhen said the words "nine years of compulsory education". She couldn't help but pursed her lips and tried to hold back her laughter. This scene happened to be caught by Xu Ji who was standing next to her.
At this moment, Jiang Zhen suddenly poked her from behind: "New classmate?"
Tao Siyun paused with her pen, her body stiffening. She thought her little action had been discovered. She turned around awkwardly, feeling uneasy, and asked in a low voice, "You, is there something wrong?"
Jiang Zhen propped up his chin and asked her with a smile, "Hey, which school did you go to in junior high school? No. 3 Middle School or the Affiliated Middle School? Were you recommended as a student?"
Tao Siyun didn't hear the teasing in his words. He shook his head honestly, leaning halfway to the side and answering his question in a low voice: "I'm not a recommended student, nor am I a local. I just transferred here from Beijing Fudan University."
Hearing this, Xu Ji stopped spinning the pen and glanced at her with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
"Are you from the north?" Jiang Zhen said, "You don't look like it."
"My father is from the north, but my mother is from western Shanghai."
Jiang Zhen suddenly understood and said, "Oh."
"Hello, my name is Jiang Zhen. Like the person next to you, I'm a recommended student who graduated from junior high school with excellent grades and was admitted directly to this school this year—"
Xu Ji scoffed, picked up the English book on the table and threw it back: "Shut up, please."
"Oh, no, although you and I," Jiang Zhen took the book, rolled it up, and pointed at the classmates around him who had become almost familiar with each other after half a month of military training, "and them, we are all recommended students who passed the nine-year compulsory education test, but your deskmate is different. He is a real top scorer in the high school entrance examination."
Tao Siyun was shy and felt very embarrassed after being teased by Jiang Zhen. He quickly said "hmm" and turned around to continue taking notes.
Xu Ji leaned back in the chair with his legs crossed. He glanced at her ears which were slowly turning red and curled the corners of his lips slightly.
***
After returning home, Tao Siyun took a photo of the new coffee machine he received and sent it to Tao Qian.
When she passed by a supermarket, she was too embarrassed to ask Xu Ji to stop nearby and drop her off on the roadside. Instead, she waited until she got home to sign for the express delivery and then took a taxi to the supermarket in the scorching sun.
Just now in the car, Li Huan quickly added her WeChat through the group chat.
They had a good relationship in high school. Although they had not been in touch for many years, time did not seem to take away the friendship between the two girls.
Li Huan was an impatient person. After learning that she was in Shanghai West, he couldn't wait to make an appointment to meet her.
Before getting off the car, Jiang Zhen shared a WeChat business card with her and winked at her. She knew without thinking that it was Xu Ji's WeChat, so she didn't act pretentiously and generously sent a friend request.
I thought I would have to wait a while, but I was approved immediately.
Tao Siyun has a mild obsessive-compulsive disorder, and this habit has extended to almost every aspect of his life. In addition to noting the names of people in the WeChat list, he also has to add a number in front of them to group them.
Classmates and friends usually start with "O".
I clicked on the avatar and was about to leave him a note, but for some reason, my hand trembled and a line of small words immediately appeared below: [I patted seven↑'s shoulder and called him dad]
“…”
Tao Siyun's eyes went dark and his heart skipped a beat.
What are these settings?
She covered her face and whimpered twice, feeling a little like she wanted to die.
Before she could finish feeling embarrassed, her cell phone suddenly rang.
seven↑：【？】
Tao Siyun's face flushed red. He bit his lip, took a deep breath, and hurriedly typed a reply: [My hand just slipped accidentally.]
seven↑：【Oh】
“…”Oh what!
seven↑: [Don't be so careless next time.]
"?"
Tao Siyun forced himself not to block him.
Xu Ji put down his phone, walked to the kitchen door with half-wet hair and asked, "Mom, where are the clothes I just changed?"
Song Jing was tasting the soup with a spoon and asked in surprise, "What's wrong? You still want to wear those dirty clothes?"
"No, I still have something in my trouser pocket."
"Oh, I put the washing machine in." Song Jing put down the spoon in her hand and turned down the heat. "Call your uncle later and ask if his car is fixed."
"It's fixed. He was having dinner and discussing business with someone at the hotel today. I went to drive the car back at noon."
"That's good. You're such a fool. Your dad is allergic to dog hair, but you insist on getting a dog home, but you can't keep one."
As Xu Ji walked towards the laundry room, he said, "My uncle has been helping me find a house recently."
"You don't have time to raise a dog when you're working. Why don't you ask your uncle to help you raise it first?"
"knew."
There were only two pieces of clothes he had just changed in the washing machine. Xu Ji took out his student ID card with "Department of Art and Design, Huxi University" written on it from his trouser pocket and returned to the room.
***
At nine o'clock in the evening, Tao Siyun made himself a cup of black coffee for the first time.
She glanced at the listless person in the video, lowered her head and continued fiddling with the coffee machine, and casually asked, "How does it feel to attend the wedding of your ex-crush?"
"I don't feel anything at all. I can't find the feeling I had before..." Bian Chengzi scratched his head and thought for a while, but he really didn't know what to say, so he gave up. "You understand what I mean?"
"I don't understand." Tao Siyun was busy pouring milk into the brewed coffee to adjust the concentration, without even raising his head.
"It can only be understood but not expressed in words. Forget it, even if I tell you, you won't understand."
“…”
Bian Chengzi rolled her eyes without any manner, snorted, and continued to sigh: "I realized after seeing him today that the people I liked in school are only suitable to be hidden in my heart. Once we meet again, the filter of adolescence is immediately shattered, and there is no way to put the rest of my life together..."
Tao Siyun's mind was distracted and most of the coffee in his hand spilled.
She pulled out a few tissues and quickly soaked up the coffee on the table. She said in disbelief, "You're exaggerating, aren't you?"
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