Chapter 40 He just accidentally...
"Hey, didn't you say you couldn't come? The three of us were just planning to play Landlord, and we just happened to have enough space for one table. We don't need you, so please go back." Jiang Zhen stood at the door and made a very standard gesture to see the guest off.
Xu Ji gave the most common and convincing reason for divorced men - to look after the children.
Now Jiang Zhen had no choice but to let him into the house.
Jiang Zhen looked at the scene of "a loving father and a filial son" and said jokingly, "No, Tao Siyun actually called you on her own initiative. Did I hear correctly? What did she want from you?"
"Pretend to be her boyfriend."
"Pretend?" Jiang Zhen gave an ambiguous smile, discarded a random card, and tapped the table to indicate he didn't understand. "What do you mean? What stage are you two at now? You're already starting to role-play?"
"Literally." Xu Ji raised his eyebrows and looked at him, stroking the Alaskan dog that was clinging to him, and said it concisely.
Ji Yao also moved his gaze away from the poker cards and exchanged a glance with Cao Wenzhen. The three people at the table understood what he meant and said "Oh" in unison.
Cao Wenzheng tsk-tsk-tsk, his face akin to "You two really know how to have fun!" Even while playing cards, he took the time to offer his friend some bad advice: "You've got the chance right here, buddy, you've got to grab it! Come on, I'll teach you. Didn't she ask you to pretend to be her boyfriend today? Listen to me, tomorrow, find some excuse and ask her to pretend to be your girlfriend again. You two, do this and that, and make the fake play real. Do it a few more times, and you'll be there. Oh my god, four Ks, it's blown up! It's blown up! Isn't that right, Old Jiang? I've already blown it up, and you're not even saying a damn thing!"
Jiang Zhen: “…”
Xu Ji glanced down at his phone and said arrogantly, "No need to pretend."
Ji Yao: "...Ouyo?"
There is a small red circle in the Moments column, showing two new messages.
The circle of friends he posted was only visible to Tao Siyun, and the photo of Mengmeng's birthday was sent to him by Ji Yao after he hung up the phone.
Alaska stuck out its tongue, with a bright yellow birthday hat crookedly on its head. In the dog bowl in front of it was a round bread dough that Ji Yao had baked specially for it. There was no cream added, just a circle of strawberries, and then covered with dog food that looked like chocolate.
There was a light blue number candle on the cake, a burning "3".
It seems like a very loving and ceremonial birthday.
Tao Siyun gave Xu Ji a thumbs up, but after thinking about it, he deleted the words "Happy Birthday" from the input box and only commented with a small cake emoticon.
Alaska stretched out its claws to dig out the dog food that had gotten stuck in the cracks of the sofa. Xu Ji patted the dog's head impatiently and said, "Get up."
This thing now weighs dozens of kilograms and is extremely heavy. Xu Ji's thighs are almost numb from it.
***
Xu Ji had not graduated yet when he decided to adopt it. It was already very late when he arrived that day. The other puppies born in the same litter as Mengmeng had been picked up by adopters during the day, leaving only it.
It was a small one, huddled alone in one corner, with a pair of big black watery eyes staring at him timidly, as if blaming him for coming only now, and its cry was particularly pitiful.
"It's fully vaccinated and healthy. Several groups of adopters came today and were all bullied by it. In the end, all of its brothers and sisters were picked off one by one. Now it doesn't have the energy to bully you."
The dog owner was a little dumbfounded when he learned that he had rushed here from Jingfu on short notice. After all, it was not worth it to rush here from another place just to adopt a puppy.
He asked a friend to help forward the adoption message and specifically noted that for convenience it was only limited to the urban area of Nanze. He didn't expect that this person would actually come by plane.
Xu Ji half-knelt down, reached out and touched the puppy's head, trying to get it used to his smell, then opened his coat, put it in his arms, pressed it against his chest, and gently soothed the exhausted little guy.
When he returned to the dormitory the next morning, his roommates were all disappointed to see the furry little thing crawling out of his clothes.
One by one, they shook their heads and sighed, ending their curious speculations and imaginations that had lasted the entire night.
"So it's because of it that you didn't come home last night? We thought you were having a romantic encounter somewhere!" Duan Jingyi had a look of disgust on his face, but his body was very honest. He pinched the back of the Alaskan's neck and picked it up to play with it for a while, looking left and right. After a long time, he still couldn't tell the gender, so he asked Xu Ji curiously: "Is it male or female?"
"Male."
"...Fuck! Can you please stop being so disgusting?" Xu Chen quickly found an empty shoe box, put a towel on it, and rescued Alaska, who was struggling and being forcibly identified as having his gender.
There is a clear rule in the dormitory that pets are not allowed. As the dormitory head, Chen Feng is very troubled. He doesn't know what is wrong with Xu Ji that he has to bring back a dog.
A few people had not yet figured out how to hide the "contraband" that Xu Ji brought back so that it would not be discovered by the dormitory manager, but Xu Ji suddenly said that he wanted to rent a house outside the school.
Now the other three people looked at each other.
"No, Lao Xu, I can understand if you and your girlfriend rent a house to live together, and I can also understand if you rent a house to raise a dog, but... you bought a plane ticket last night to go to Nanze to pick up this puppy, and then you came back and said you wanted to rent a house. I don't quite understand it. Did this dog save your life in your previous life, and you want to repay the favor?" Duan Jingyi asked curiously.
Chen Feng put his hand on Xu Ji's shoulder, with a playful look on his face, and said teasingly: "Other people have beautiful women in their golden houses, but ours is different. It's a dog hidden in the golden house, and it's a male dog..."
Xu Ji had a strong execution ability and soon rented a nice one-bedroom apartment in the community opposite the school. He packed a few clothes and moved in with Alaska on the weekend.
Living on the first floor, you don’t have to worry about your furry kids running around disturbing the neighbors downstairs.
The little Alaskan dog lay obediently in the shoe box, looking around curiously, taking in the new environment, and did not move for a long time.
After hiding in the dormitory for a week, people would come to visit at any time, and then they would cover the shoebox to prevent others from finding it.
It has become accustomed to this comfortable and safe nest and the darkness, and staying in it makes it feel safe enough.
Xu Ji sat on the ground, picked it up, let it lie on his legs, and smiled relaxedly.
"We're home," he said. "I won't let you hide from me anymore."
Xu Ji remembered that he hadn't named this little thing yet. He tickled its chin to tease it while mumbling to himself, "How about calling it 'Meng Meng'?"
***
Ever since Xu Ji rented a house outside the school, the people in the dormitory would go there to play with the dog, spend the night and play games whenever they had time. They treated the place as their own home and were not at all shy.
Once, after receiving a scholarship, the three of them ripped off Xu Ji's money and ordered a table of exorbitantly expensive seafood takeout in the rental house.
Duan Jingyi had just hooked up with the beauty from the neighboring university and was immersed in the joy of being in love every day. The young boy couldn't hide his secrets and happily shared his sweet love with his roommates.
This guy is so proud of himself, even down to every strand of his hair.
The other three people were chatting animatedly at the table, and Xu Ji couldn't get a word in. He listened to the three people's love stories for a long time and remained silent all night.
After a few drinks, Duan Jingyi suddenly started to worry about his brother's lifelong event. He asked drunkenly, "Lao Xu, you don't really want to be alone, do you? There are so many girls in school, but you don't have any feelings for any of them? What kind of girl do you like? Tell me." Duan Jingyi patted his chest and promised, "I'll ask my girlfriend to introduce you to the best one from her school!"
Xu Ji slapped his hand on her shoulder, smiled bitterly, and sighed: "How great is it? Isn't it good to have 'Dorothy'?"
Xu Ji's hardware conditions are absolutely impeccable. Even in Jingfu University, which is full of talented people and has top scorers in the college entrance examinations from various provinces and cities, he is considered to be top-notch. He is also the president of the tennis club. He is handsome and has a good family background. Many people have expressed their affection for him openly or secretly. Some girls even joined the tennis club because of him, but in the end no one could win him over.
After living in the same dormitory for several years, this was the first and only time that Chen Feng heard Xu Ji express his true feelings.
As someone who has experienced early love, what is there for him not to understand? He definitely has someone in his heart, which is why he is still single and doesn't like anyone.
"Brother, hurry up and have a campus romance before graduation. Don't waste the last bit of your youth... Look at you, you've been celibate for years. People who don't know you would think you're chaste for some girl!" Chen Feng was already drunk, but he still managed to hold on and persuade him kindly. After racking his brains for a long time, he finally pulled out the issue that concerned him most from the depths of his mind: "By the way, Xu Chen said that you recognized the wrong person on the subway last week and almost got off to chase a girl. What's going on? How did you recognize the wrong person?"
When Xu Chen heard his own name, he pricked up his ears and came closer, saying to Xu Ji with a thick tongue: "Yes! How could you recognize the wrong person..."
Xu Ji leaned back in his chair, covering his eyes with the back of his hand, and muttered "Fuck" softly. He said drunkenly to himself, "I thought I was my white moonlight..."
It was just a casual turn of the head on the subway.
It really looks like her.
The familiar figure was not far away from him. She was carrying a cello and wearing a long white down jacket. She almost looked like the girl in his memory who borrowed his cell phone to make a call in the urban village.
Xu Ji was stunned at the time and almost thought he was dreaming.
The longing accumulated over countless days and nights was replaced by the inner "nervousness" at the moment when he was about to see her. He did not expect that such a flat, single and general word would roughly carry all his joy and emotions at this moment.
The world seemed to have been muted. Xu Ji felt that his heart had never been beating so violently and so fast, as if it was about to jump out of his chest in the next second.
He had imagined more than once the places where they might meet in Jingfu and what the scene would be like when he met Tao Siyun again.
If you meet her, what should be the first sentence?
Xu Ji had designed many opening remarks in his mind for his imaginary idea.
After being in this state for a long time, unsurprisingly, he had a sweet dream.
It must have been a summer evening. He somehow ended up at the music conservatory next door. While walking on the tree-lined avenue that was similar to the one at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he suddenly heard someone calling "Dorothy".
Xu Ji suddenly stopped and turned back to look for the source of the sound.
In front of the girls' dormitory building not far away, Tao Siyun stood quietly under the street light with his cello on his back.
There is no concept of time in dreams, but Xu Ji can still feel that a long time has passed since they last met.
He still recognized her at a glance.
Tao Siyun wore an ankle-length white skirt and flat white shoes, looking like a white jasmine flower blooming in midsummer.
Pure and fairy-like.
According to the original idea, he should pretend to be passing by casually, and when he walked in front of her, pretend to meet her by chance, and greet her casually, such as suddenly realizing something, and then say something like "Hey, classmate, why are you here?"
…
However, all the prepared remarks she had rehearsed countless times were now rendered useless because of the boy standing next to her.
This unexpected accident was something he had not expected.
Xu Ji didn't know how to describe the feeling of having prepared for a long time but seeing all the plans fall through in the end.
He seemed to have never thought that there would be another person beside Tao Siyun...
I don’t know how long it took, until I heard Tao Siyun reject the boy’s confession with my own ears, Xu Ji walked over with a sense of relief.
In high school, the bulletin board in front of the teaching building had several notices specifically labeled "Forbidden...", outlining the penalties for premature love. The only benefit of those "warning" notices he had once tried to defy was that they constrained himself while also constraining those who liked her.
But now, not even one is needed.
As naturally as a boy in love holding his girlfriend's hand, Xu Ji possessively took away Tao Siyun, who was stunned by his sudden appearance, in front of the pursuer.
…
He asked her if she wanted to date him with one-third of the summer left.
When Tao Siyun heard his confession, even his breathing became nervous.
"Speak, do you want to?"
It seemed like a long time had passed before Tao Siyun finally nodded slightly and hooked Xu Ji's little finger before he could react.
She shyly yet proactively held his fingers together.
So the previous hand holding didn't count, and they started over with this one.
If possible, Xu Ji wanted to kiss her before the snow fell.
It would be best if Tao Siyun took the initiative first, so that he would hug her and kiss her more deeply.
…
Jasmine has a long flowering period. Unknowingly, the fragrance that permeates the campus quietly extends the entire season.
But the dream was short.
Xu Ji woke up before Tao Siyun's kiss.
When he came back to reality, he realized that there were many people between them. He didn't even have the chance to get close to her and couldn't move even a step in that direction.
It wasn't until the clear and melodious announcement came that Xu Ji woke up from his dream. The next stop before Beijing University was...
Conservatory of Music!
Beijing Fu Conservatory of Music!
Before Xu Ji could react, the girl at the other end of the car had already gotten off the car with the crowd.
In a hurry, he ignored the eyes of the people around him and called out her name loudly: "Tao Siyun!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the subway door closed mercilessly, but the girl under the car turned around at this moment, and finally he saw the face he had been thinking about day and night.
After three years of sharing a dormitory, this was the first time Xu Chen had seen him so excited. He was stunned and asked, "What's wrong? Who are you calling?!"
"No one, I recognized the wrong person."
It was like fate was playing a prank on him. He thought they were going to pass by each other, but found out it wasn't her at all. Xu Ji really didn't know whether he should be disappointed or relieved.
He just accidentally recognized the wrong person.
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