Chapter 31
Lu Bai's father was a very kind person, and one could tell from his features that Lu Bai looked very much like him. The four of them sat on either side of the square dining table, where a variety of dishes filled the air with fragrance and presented a stunning display.
"Oh my god, this is almost as good as a state banquet!" Lu Bai picked up his chopsticks and added a piece of pork ribs to his mouth, chewing it. His cheeks puffed up as he spoke. "So you usually hide your skills, and only show them off when Tian'er comes?"
"What are you saying? I've always been at your expense?" Lu Bai's mother gave Lu Bai a quick and decisive electric shock. When she turned around, a gentle smile appeared on her face. "It's just some home-cooked food. Don't be shy, Xiaotian. Eat whatever you want!"
"Thank you, Auntie." Zhang Xiaotian picked up the bowl, lowered his head and quickly glanced at the dining table, then picked up the cauliflower closest to him with his chopsticks.
"Your aunt told me that Xiaotian is tutoring my little brat in English right now," Lu Bai's father said with a smile. "How's he doing? Lu Bai is quite a headache, isn't he?"
"No uncle." Zhang Xiaotian swallowed his food quickly before speaking when his name was suddenly called. "Lu Bai is very smart. I have learned a lot from studying with him."
"Oh, Lixia, look at how good this child is at talking!" Lu Bai's father beamed after hearing this. He turned and looked at Lu Bai's mother. "As long as he studies well, that's all. I don't expect him to get high grades. As long as he enjoys learning, that's all! When Lu Bai was a child, I supported happy education, combining learning with entertainment. I..."
"You're nothing." Lu Bai's mother glared at Lu Bai's father and said to him in a stern voice, "Finally I know who you inherited that silly, cheerful look from."
"Hey, come on, eat, Mom and Dad. Why are you talking about studying when you're eating?" Lu Bai wanted to quickly skip this topic. He pointed at the whole roast chicken on the table and asked, "Can I take this apart?"
"Tear it down!" Lu Bai's father was interrupted in his long speech and agreed, "Tear down a chicken leg for Xiaotian!"
"No need, uncle!" Zhang Xiaotian quickly refused. "I'll pick it up myself later!"
"Eat it, it's okay." Lu Bai quickly disassembled the chicken, placed the drumstick in Zhang Xiaotian's bowl, and placed the rest on a plate in the middle of the table. Zhang Xiaotian watched the drumstick slide into his bowl, feeling even more uneasy. He put the bowl back on the table, unsure of what to do with it.
"My little brat is good at making friends and has good relationships with people!" Lu Bai's father was very proud and touched when he saw Lu Bai giving Zhang Xiaotian a chicken leg. He said with emotion, "I guess this kid is just like me when I was young in school, hanging out with his buddies in groups of three or two, right, Xiaotian?"
Seeing Zhang Xiaotian nod, Lu Bai's father was obviously even happier: "Lixia! See what I said? This child just follows me and ventures into the world!"
"Dad, please eat quickly!" Lu Bai couldn't bear to listen any longer and wanted to go up and cover his father's mouth.
"You can have something nice." Lu Bai's mother held her forehead, "It's up to you. You keep howling every day and never stop." As she spoke, she looked at Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian was eating quietly with his bowl, his back straight and his eating manners good. The more Lu Bai's mother looked at him, the more she liked him. She couldn't help but say:
"If Lu Bai could learn to be a little more steady like Xiaotian, I would be so lucky."
After she finished speaking, she saw Zhang Xiaotian put down the bowl and smiled at her: "Thank you, Auntie."
"You two, please stop talking and eat!" Lu Bai buried his head in his own food, not saying a word. He stood up and put some food into his parents' bowls, and when he sat down, he also picked up some food for Zhang Xiaotian with his chopsticks, "Eat this, this is my favorite."
"Oh, good son!" Lu Bai's father took the bowl and turned to talk to his wife about Lu Bai's childhood. Zhang Xiaotian drew circles on the bottom of the bowl with his chopsticks. Seeing that the two people were not paying attention, he turned his head and whispered to Lu Bai: "When your other friends come to your house, are the uncles and aunts also this... welcoming?"
"This is all normal operation." Lu Bai replied, "You'll get used to it if you come here often."
Knowing that Zhang Xiaotian was embarrassed to pick up food, Lu Bai would quietly ask Zhang Xiaotian if he wanted to eat it when he picked up food. This happened many times. When Lu Bai reached out his hand to him, Zhang Xiaotian would subconsciously hand over the bowl before he said anything. It was not until Lu Bai reached out to take it that he felt that this was a bit inappropriate.
"I'll do it myself..." He stood up and wanted to take back his bowl, but he stood up in a hurry and bumped into Lu Bai. He didn't hold it firmly in his hand, and some soup spilled out, right onto Lu Bai's sleeve.
"Oh, you didn't get burned, did you?" Lu Bai's parents looked over here, and his mother said, "Go back to the room and change."
"I'll go change my clothes." Lu Bai also said to Zhang Xiaotian and turned to go into the room.
Without Lu Bai by his side, Zhang Xiaotian had no one to whisper to. His parents, overwhelmed by the incident, also stopped talking. For a moment, the only sound on the table was the gentle clatter of dishes. Zhang Xiaotian swallowed, subconsciously checking his sitting posture. He lowered his head to eat the dish Lu Bai had picked up for him. When he finished, he picked up the dish in front of him.
Lu Bai's mother saw this and put another chicken wing into his bowl with her chopsticks: "Have some chicken wings, kid, they're really tasty."
"Let's get back to Lu Bai's English. Xiaotian, your uncle is really happy when you mention this!" While Lu Bai was away, Lu Bai's father swallowed his food and picked up what he had just said. "Lu Bai, this kid, just doesn't use his brain in the right place. You said he can learn other subjects well, but why is he so stupid in English..."
"Why are you talking about my English again?" Lu Bai changed quickly and touched Zhang Xiaotian's hand when he sat down, which was damp with moisture from freshly washed hands.
"This will allow Xiaotian to learn more about your situation so they can prescribe the right medicine for you later." Lu Bai's father continued, "When he was little, he never liked going to English cram school. He either skipped classes or argued with the teacher. And the teacher always said... what did he say, Lixia?"
"No need to memorize words." Lu Bai's mother replied.
"Yeah, don't memorize words." Lu Bai's father looked drunk even without drinking. He said to Lu Bai, "Memorizing words is so important, son. You can't not memorize them!"
"That was a long time ago, Dad." Lu Bai was speechless. "I'm not like that anymore."
"That's right!" Lu Bai's father said to Zhang Xiaotian, "Xiaotian, you should encourage him more at school and test him when you have time. His uncle and aunt are worried about him."
Zhang Xiaotian looked up and was listening attentively when he suddenly felt his thigh being touched. He lowered his head and found there was another piece of eggplant in the bowl.
"Don't just listen, eat." Lu Bai watched Zhang Xiaotian eat the eggplant and asked him, "Is it delicious?"
Zhang Xiaotian nodded.
"Look, I'm so busy talking to the child. Blame me, blame me." Seeing this, Lu Bai's father slapped his thigh and said, "Lixia, quickly put the braised eggplant in front of the child! The child loves it!"
After hearing what Lu Bai's father said, Lu Bai's mother quickly stood up and brought the dish over. Zhang Xiaotian stood up and stretched out his hand to take it, but was pulled by Lu Bai's father and held it in his hand. Lu Bai's father held his hand and took him to sit down again, muttering: "Good boy, it's not that uncle hasn't thought of a way. Before high school, Lu Bai took tutoring, but he was still the same after studying. I thought he had given up on himself. I didn't expect that this time he would take the initiative to ask you for tutoring. Just for this, uncle must thank you very much!" After speaking, he touched the table, didn't touch what he wanted, and slapped his head, "Mom, why didn't you give Xiaotian and the others some drinks!"
"I forgot!" Lu Bai's mother quickly stood up, "Auntie's house has everything!"
"No need, Auntie..." Zhang Xiaotian wanted to get up, but was held down by Lu Bai.
"Just sit down and eat." Lu Bai stood up. "Mom, you sit down and eat too. You two are making me nervous. Just sit down and eat. I'll get the drinks."
"Get Dad two more cans of beer!"
The meal was lively and lively, and by the time they were satisfied, it was already night outside the window. Lu Bai's parents wanted to let Zhang Xiaotian stay at their home, but Lu Bai saw that Zhang Xiaotian didn't want to stay and was embarrassed to refuse, so he offered to take Zhang Xiaotian home.
"You can actually stay at my house for one night. Your foot is still so swollen."
When they went out, Lu Bai saw Zhang Xiaotian walking with one foot deep and one foot shallow, so he pushed out the bicycle with a rear rack.
"I have to go to school tomorrow, and my things are at home."
"Then you stay home alone, be careful, and call me if you have anything."
After Zhang Xiaotian carefully sat down in the back seat of the car, he couldn't help but look back. He saw the couple standing by the kitchen window. Seeing that Zhang Xiaotian noticed them, they waved to him again.
Zhang Xiaotian also raised his hand and waved.
The streetlights on both sides of the road lit up in rows, casting a warm yellow glow on the ground. The bicycle carrying the two of them left this glow and soon entered another. Before they had left for long, Zhang Xiaotian was already savoring the taste of the braised eggplant.
It was indeed delicious. Lu Bai hadn't lied. Not only did it taste good, but it also warmed my heart. However, once my heart warmed, the coldness in my body became apparent. The late autumn night wind was a bit harsh on my face, and Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but hide behind Lu Bai.
"Master is talking to you, can you hear me?" Lu Bai asked and waited for a long time, but when he didn't hear any answer, he turned his head slightly.
"What are you talking about? Master?" Zhang Xiaotian replied absentmindedly. As he spoke, he smelled something and couldn't help but move closer to the person in front of him. It was the smell of laundry detergent on Lu Bai.
"Okay, you forgot so quickly?" Lu Bai laughed in the front. His breathing was a little heavy because of pedaling. "I didn't explain those physics problems to you three for nothing."
Zhang Xiaotian remembered. He thought it was funny: "If that's the case, then I was explaining a problem to you recently."
"That's why I call you teacher, Teacher Xiaotian."
"cut."
Zhang Xiaotian was about to insult him when Lu Bai warned him from the front: "There's a small slope ahead, hold on to me."
"Where was the slope when we came here?" Zhang Xiaotian muttered to himself. He loosely put his arm around Lu Bai's waist and was about to continue when a sudden downhill slope made him throw himself forward uncontrollably.
"Hey, hahaha, I told you to hold me tight!" Lu Bai was bumped into, but he couldn't stop laughing.
"You..." Zhang Xiaotian barely finished his sentence before Lu Bai's skirt, lifted by the wind, blew into his face. The warm scent of lavender, as if with a sense of its own, seeped into his nostrils, drawing him closer and closer. Zhang Xiaotian lost consciousness for a moment, then finally, with the next jolt, he immersed himself in the warmth of this body.
"Is it fun today?" Lu Bai's voice came with the vibration of his chest, flowing into Zhang Xiaotian's nerves along his forehead like an electric current.
"It's fun." Zhang Xiaotian leaned his head against Lu Bai's back and nodded.
"What are you talking about? Your voice is too soft to hear." Lu Bai raised his voice, which made Zhang Xiaotian suspect that he had heard it and was just teasing him. "Say it again!"
Zhang Xiaotian thought he was stupid, but he couldn't help but laugh out loud. The bicycle quietly passed through the deserted streets. The colder the wind, the more precious the warmth of the small forehead touching his.
Lu Bai asked again, but didn't hear Zhang Xiaotian's response. He only felt a warm sensation in his lower back. He had been quite confident, but now he felt uneasy. So he asked again, "Is it fun?"
"It's so cold!" Zhang Xiaotian finally spoke, but what he said was not what he was waiting for.
"Are you cold?" Lu Bai said to him, "If you're cold, hold on tight. I should have gotten you a coat earlier."
The hand on my waist tightened.
"If you like, come to my house when you have nothing to do."
The head leaning against his back moved. Lu Bai felt encouraged. He spoke to the empty street, and the person behind him responded with gestures. This was like some kind of game.
"Next time, after the monthly exam, let's go cycling again." Lu Bai said, "We won't be able to ride many times before winter comes, and the temperature has dropped."
The car turned a corner, kicked up a few pieces of fallen leaves on the ground, and drove into the residential area where Zhang Xiaotian lived.
"What else is there to do when you can't ride a bike anymore?" Zhang Xiaotian asked.
"There are a lot of things to do, of course not just riding a bike." Lu Bai answered him, "We can... study at your house first, and then go for a stroll in the square. If your mother hasn't come home yet, I can take you to the Internet cafe for the night. If it gets colder and snows, we can even have a snowball fight." Having said that, the car stopped, and Lu Bai supported himself with one foot and spoke to the person behind him.
"Get out of the car, Teacher Xiaotian, I'll help you upstairs."
"Thank you, Master Lu Bai." Zhang Xiaotian also said.
Lu Bai smacked his lips: "That sounds like calling a taxi driver."
The two of them laughed foolishly again because of this sentence.
"Have you applied the medicine again?"
As soon as Lu Bai got home, he called Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian turned on the speakerphone and carried his phone with him no matter what he did. Now he had finished washing up and was about to go to bed. When he passed by the desk, he saw the exercise book that Lu Bai had written, and sat down at the desk for some unknown reason.
"Didn't you take a break?" Perhaps he heard the sound of a stool being pulled away, so Lu Bai asked him on the phone.
"The questions you did haven't been graded yet." Zhang Xiaotian opened the answer sheet.
"I'll review it before class next time. Now go to bed," said Lu Bai.
"You're not judging by sitting down, you're not standing up," Zhang Xiaotian thought, feeling that he was being overly concerned. He switched the hands-free mode to the handset and said seriously, "Just follow the answers. It's easy and quick."
There was silence for a moment, and then Lu Bai's lazy voice came: "You are really serious, Teacher Xiaotian."
How long will this name last?
"Hang up if you're sleepy." Zhang Xiaotian didn't respond to him and lowered his head to correct the papers. When he finished correcting all the papers and looked at the time, he found that the phone had not been hung up yet.
It was already past eleven. Zhang Xiaotian subconsciously slowed his breathing. He wasn't sure if Lu Bai was asleep, so he tiptoed to clean the desk. He had placed the exercises for Lu Bai in their designated spot on the bookshelf. He stood up to put the workbook back on the shelf. But the more he tried to be quiet, the more likely he was to get hurt. As he stood up, he wasn't paying attention and bumped his injured ankle against the table leg.
Zhang Xiaotian only had time to cover his mouth, but the sound of his ankle hitting the table leg still came through the receiver.
"What's wrong?" Lu Bai seemed to have not slept yet.
"It's okay." Zhang Xiaotian replied with pain.
"I heard it." There was a sound of footsteps coming from Lu Bai's side. "Did you fall again?"
"No." Zhang Xiaotian explained, "I just bumped into it."
"Just stay at my house." The sound of a drawer opening and closing, followed by the sound of clothes zippers, came from the phone.
"What are you going to do?" Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry about it." Lu Bai said this and hung up the phone.
Looking at the phone screen that had returned to the desktop, Zhang Xiaotian felt a little confused.
Why are you wearing a coat at this hour? You're not coming over, are you?
As soon as this thought occurred to Zhang Xiaotian, he felt a fire burning in his chest. This burning sensation made him nervous and at a loss. His intuition told him that something was about to change. The full moonlight on the train that night had become like the sun today, so bright that one could neither look directly at it nor ignore it. All these changes were beyond Zhang Xiaotian's imagination. He realized that he no longer had time to adapt gradually as planned. Lu Bai's actions were forcing him to see things clearly.
But no one could tell him what to do.
Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but turn off the lights and lie down on the bed, pulling the quilt over his head. His phone, still lit in the corner, remained stubbornly lit, and Zhang Xiaotian stared at it motionlessly.
There were no new messages or phone calls. Zhang Xiaotian forgot to even blink, the dim light of his phone screen illuminating his eyes. He stared at it without blinking until the screen dimmed and went out.
Maybe I'm overthinking it.
A sense of inexplicable disappointment and relief washed over him. Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but laugh at his own self-conceit. He sat up and wanted to send a message to ask Lu Bai what was going on, but suddenly there was a knock on the door.
When he opened the door, Zhang Xiaotian hardly felt the cold.
The fire in my heart started burning again.
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