Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Coward, turn back.
After school at noon that day, Tao Siyun and Li Huan went to the snack street near the school to eat hand in hand.
Li Huan chirped like a happy little bird along the way, but Tao Siyun was uncharacteristically silent most of the time, occasionally responding to her with a word or two.
When they arrived at the noodle shop, Li Huan pointed to the menu with colorful pictures printed on the wall and asked her what kind of noodles she wanted. Tao Siyun was absent-minded and blurted out three words: "Zhajiangmian."
“No noodles with soybean paste.”
Tao Siyun finally realized that he was not in Beijing. He lowered his eyelashes in disappointment and said sullenly, "Whatever."
"Would you like some plain noodles?"
"Um."
Li Huan finally noticed that Tao Siyun was not in a good mood and asked her cautiously: "What's wrong with you? You shouldn't be so tired after physical education class. I'll make you another fried egg later~"
Tao Siyun lowered his head and said nothing. After a while, he stammered, "My mother is from Shanghai West, too. Why didn't she ever tell me that people from Shanghai West are so xenophobic?"
"You're heartless. I'm not like that. Please don't slam everyone with the same brush."
"I'm not talking about you..." Tao Siyun pulled a pair of chopsticks out of the chopstick holder, tore open the outer packaging, broke them open, and rubbed them against each other a few times, looking at her pitifully: "Just now, when I went to collect English homework, Xiang Yipeng deliberately pinched her voice to talk to me. When did I ever offend her? Why is it so serious? She's always so sarcastic when she sees me."
"Tsk," Li Huan rolled his eyes speechlessly. "Don't bother with her. I went to the same junior high school as her. She was like that back then. She was always talking in a cheesy way and always mocked the accents of the other new Shanghainese people in the class. She felt superior to them and she'd always show off how many houses her family had received as compensation for demolition, as if she was afraid others wouldn't know she was a native."
"Demolish the second generation!"
"She's a piece of shit, a second-generation demolition worker. Her uncle's and aunt's house demolitions have nothing to do with her."
Tao Siyun: "..."
Li Huan saw that Tao Siyun's pretty face was still tense, and suddenly wanted to coax her: "Do you want to drink some yogurt?"
"Hmm..." She nodded.
"There's a dessert shop across the street. I promise it tastes the same as Jingfu's. I'll go out and buy some. You wait here."
"oh."
Tao Siyun supported his chin with his hands and stared blankly.
At this time, the proprietress who was cooking noodles in the kitchen lifted the door curtain, and a head with a fashionable perm poked out from inside. She asked her in a slightly faster tone: "Little girl, do you want cilantro in your noodles?"
Tao Siyun was lost in his own thoughts. He snapped back to reality when he heard the voice and uttered a short "Huh?"
The lady boss thought she hadn't heard clearly, so she asked again with a smile, "Do you want cilantro?"
Tao Siyun seemed to understand, but from the ending tone, it was obvious that it was a question, probably asking her what to add toppings or something. After a little hesitation, she said "hmm" and nodded slightly.
The next second, a very familiar voice suddenly rang in her ears, translating for her as if to save the situation: "She asked if you wanted cilantro."
Tao Siyun was stunned and immediately changed his words and said, "I don't want it."
“Puff…”
Jiang Zhen appeared in her sight, his arm around Xu Ji's shoulders. Seeing her bewildered look, he laughed and teased her, "Hey, desk mate, where's your personal translator, Comrade Li Huan? Your deskmate is always the most useful in a critical moment!"
Xu Ji pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her, and couldn't help laughing.
"..." Tao Siyun looked embarrassed and his face turned red instantly.
Fortunately, Li Huan also came back at this time. Seeing the two of them here, he asked curiously, "Didn't you go to the cafeteria?"
Jiang Zhen said with a playful smile, "The entire senior year is taking exams today. The cafeteria is too crowded, and I'm too lazy to queue. Do you mind if we share a table, class monitor?"
Li Huan rolled his eyes at him and said, "To be honest, I do mind."
Jiang Zhen sat down next to Xu Ji and made a face at her, "It's useless to mind."
"..." Li Huan took out two glass bottles of yogurt from a plastic bag and placed them in front of Tao Siyun. He tore open the seals, inserted straws, and coaxed her like a child, "Here, drink it quickly. You won't miss home after drinking it."
Tao Siyun ate noodles with yogurt and fried eggs in a very elegant manner.
Finally, she couldn't eat anymore, so she pushed the bowl of noodles forward and prepared to drink the two opened bottles of yogurt.
Tao Siyun bit a plastic straw and drank yogurt in small sips. While Jiang Zhen was slurping noodles and still gossiping, "What did Xiang Yipeng do to you?", he met Xu Ji's equally curious gaze.
Tao Siyun subconsciously avoided Xu Ji's sight and blurted out the matter with a few words, "Nothing, maybe I accidentally did something annoying without realizing it."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Jiang Zhen sighed with great sympathy in the tone of an audience enjoying a show, "The Peacock Princess really lives up to her reputation. She treats everyone prettier than her with equal respect. This can be considered as not forgetting her original intention."
"..." Tao Siyun lowered her head and drank yogurt. In fact, she was a little speechless and didn't know how to respond.
Li Huan couldn't help but retort, "Just because you can dance the peacock dance makes you a peacock? Then if you eat so much every day, are you a pig?"
"Damn it! Squad Leader, you have a really vicious mouth. I may not be as good as Xu Ji, but my face is not bad either. How dare you call me a pig?"
Li Huan didn't bother to pay attention to him and continued to eat his noodles.
***
The sky gradually darkened.
It was already past six o'clock when Tao Siyun finished practicing the piano at his teacher's house.
After leaving Hudong Lane, an electric bike collided with a tricycle loaded with goods in front of it. The two owners quarreled fiercely, causing traffic congestion.
Tao Siyun avoided the cars and trucks coming and going and walked towards the bus stop.
At this moment, the mobile phone in the pocket of the down jacket suddenly vibrated without warning.
The ringing of cell phones is almost silent on the busy street.
Tao Siyun looked down at the caller ID. It was a number without a name on it. She didn't dare answer it rashly. After the call was automatically disconnected, she carefully put the phone back into her pocket.
However, after walking a few steps, the phone started ringing again, and it was the same number as before.
Tao Siyun stood under the street light and thought to himself, this number has been calling again and again in such a short period of time, could it be something urgent?
Xu Ji was kind enough to lend me his cell phone, but it would be bad if something really delayed him.
Tao Siyun bit her lip and forced an end to the various tragedies that she had already imagined. Just as she was quickly organizing her words and hesitating to press the answer button, the other party hung up.
Then a text message came the next second -
[Tao Siyun, answer the phone.]
"..." Tao Siyun's originally frowned brows relaxed instantly. He pressed the answer button as soon as the call came in, put the phone to his ear, and said "Hello" softly.
Xu Ji's lazy laugh came from the receiver: "Why didn't you answer the phone?"
"..." Tao Siyun gently kicked the pebbles on the ground and answered honestly in response to his question: "I didn't know it was you."
"Coward, turn back."
"What?"
"Tao Siyun, turn around, I'm right behind you."
The voice on the phone suddenly became clear and came from behind.
The streetlights on both sides of the road have been lit up one after another. It is the rush hour after get off work, and the streets are very congested with traffic.
Before Tao Siyun hung up the phone, her face suddenly felt hot. She shrank back and turned her head to see a slender, white, and bony hand.
Xu Ji held a cup of hot milk tea in his hand and waved it in front of her. "What are you staring at? Hurry up and take it. I've been holding it for a long time."
Tao Siyun took it mechanically, and his cold hands quickly warmed up the moment they touched the milk tea.
The average temperature in early winter nights was only a few degrees. Tao Siyun stared at Xu Ji for a long time amid the sound of horns honking all around him.
He was still wearing the thin coat he had worn at noon, and the raised collar covered everything below his nose. The tip of his nose was a little red from the cold, as were his ears, making his face look even paler.
After a while, Tao Siyun's voice came out from the mask, and he asked in confusion: "You are obviously right behind me, why did you call me?"
Xu Ji hadn't expected her to ask that, and he didn't think about the reasons for his actions. He just said what he thought: "That's right, I want to fight."
The two stood face to face, and the vague sound of cars in the distance became closer and clearer as they looked at each other briefly.
Tao Siyun raised her head slightly, and the yellow light from the street lamp gently covered her, like a layer of warm sunshine.
Those usually very beautiful almond-shaped eyes now looked lifeless due to illness. They just kept looking at Xu Ji, as if they didn't realize what he meant by his words.
Xu Ji clenched his fist, put it close to his lips and coughed lightly.
This action is actually a subconscious behavior that people make in certain situations to relieve embarrassment.
Xu Ji felt that it was a bit deliberate.
He remained calm and nonchalant, saying, "I gave you my phone, but there's so much traffic on the street, you might not be able to hear me."
"...Oh." Tao Siyun sniffed, "Just now I thought someone was looking for you urgently."
"Then why don't you answer it?"
"You hung up just as I was about to answer you."
The two walked slowly along the road towards the bus stop.
Xu Ji suddenly turned his head, stared at the top of her head, and said jokingly: "Then I won't hang up next time. I will keep calling until you answer."
“…”
Seeing that she didn't respond, Xu Ji changed the subject.
"Tao Siyun, didn't you grow up in the north? Why are you so afraid of the cold?"
Sure enough, as soon as the topic started to shift to differences between the north and the south, Tao Siyun immediately started talking more.
"People in the north all have heating and floor heating in their homes. It's 20 to 30 degrees below zero outside, but the opposite is true inside. I feel hot even when I'm wearing short sleeves and eating popsicles with the window open at home."
"Is it so exaggerated?"
"Well, although Beijing has heavy snow every year, it's a dry, cold climate, closer to the physical sense of cold. A down jacket is all you need when it snows. Shanghai West is too humid, and clothes never seem to dry out. No matter how many layers you wear, you won't be warm."
At this time, the bus on the opposite side of the road sped past and just brushed past them.
Seeing Tao Siyun squinting his eyes and looking confused, Xu Ji said with a suppressed smile, "You're not going the wrong way. It's going in the opposite direction."
“…”
"Let's go. I'll wait with you for the next one."
Just when Tao Siyun was feeling awkward, Xu Ji suddenly stopped and raised his eyebrows and asked, "Tao Siyun, do you want to learn Shanghainese dialect? If you do, just tell me and I'll teach you."
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