What happened later that day was not that important to Lin Chaoxi.
Lao Lin did not come immediately because of the tutoring class on Sunday afternoon, so Pei Zhi left with his mother.
The students who stayed behind went to the hospital for a check-up first, and then the lawyer brought by Pei's mother negotiated compensation matters.
Perhaps Pei Zhi's experience was more cruel than most people could imagine, and subsequent matters were handled surprisingly smoothly.
None of the parents of the students injured by Pei Zhi asked for any compensation. Zhang Yao's father held his son's head and apologized to all of them.
When everyone was about to leave, Lao Lin still hadn't arrived.
Lu Zhihao was very depressed and was the last one to leave.
Lin Chaoxi sent him to the door of the police station and saw that Comrade Lao Lu's eyes were red. His originally round and clear eyes were wide open, as if he was using all his strength to endure something.
The clouds in the sky were getting lower and lower, and the dark gray was almost reaching her eyebrows. She looked at the small flowerbed at the entrance of the police station and asked the police uncle: "Can I talk to my classmate over there?"
After the policeman nodded in agreement, Lin Chaoxi put his hand on Lao Lu's shoulder and led him to the flower bed.
She sat down and took some money out of her pocket: "Go across the street and buy two ice cream bars."
Lu Zhihao held the money, still staring at her with red eyes, and finally spoke: "You knew it a long time ago, why didn't you tell me!"
Lin Chaoxi did not answer his question, but looked at the grocery store across the street and said, "Be careful when crossing the road."
Lu Zhihao had no choice but to turn around and cross the road.
The boy's back was heavy and he looked very upset.
Lin Chaoxi really wanted to go back to Strawberry World and ask Pei Zhi, how did you persuade Lu Zhihao at that time?
She thought about it for a while, but there was no good solution. Instead, Lu Zhihao had already returned with some crushed ice.
"The boss said there's only one left," said Lu Zhihao.
Yellow leaves are falling on the roadside and the branches are empty.
Lin Chaoxi broke the last piece of crushed ice with a "crack", held half in his mouth, and handed the other half to Lu Zhihao.
Lu Zhihao refused to answer the call.
Lin Zhaoxi: "Have a cold drink to calm down."
I don't know how this sentence ignited Lu Zhihao, the boy was extremely painful: "Pei Zhidu did this just to help me!"
"Um?"
"He didn't even want to go to class, he only went to protect me! I'm useless!"
The weather was already very cold, and their hands hurt after they opened the cold drink. Lu Zhihao's parents were standing far away and did not disturb them.
"You said you don't regret it." Lin Chaoxi said lightly.
"I didn't say that. If Pei Zhi had to pay so much, I shouldn't have been with Xiao Mei, and I shouldn't have offended Zhang Yao!" Lu Zhihao hit his head hard, "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy of Pei Zhi paying such a high price, it's all my fault."
Lin Chaoxi sighed deeply and rubbed Lu Zhihao's head vigorously: "I thought about it for a long time, and it seems that you are right. If you were wrong, why would Brother Pei help you?
"I!"
Lin Chaoxi sipped the cold drink and said slowly: "Old Lin said this before, but I didn't quite understand it at the time. We have always needed Brother Pei, and in fact, he needs us just as much."
Lin Chaoxi recalled that this morning, Pei Zhi had told her that this was the only time and there would not be a next time.
Now that I think about it, Pei Zhi still lives more wisely than any of them.
"It's not just me, but you and many other people, including mathematics. He needs all of this, so he will come back to the Olympiad class just to stay with us for a while longer."
"If it weren't for what happened today, Pei Zhi wouldn't have been discovered at all!"
"Then have you ever thought about it? Mr. Pei Zhi was so calm. Before he took action today, did he really not think about what the result would be?"
"He knew what was going to happen, but Shen Mei and I..." Lu Zhihao felt very guilty, "I shouldn't have suggested going out for dinner together."
"It's not actually like that." Lin Chaoxi narrowed his eyes, looked into the distance, and recalled the scenes that happened not long ago.
Pei Zhi seemed to have no regrets from beginning to end. Even after his mother appeared and he knelt down, he only felt relieved.
She thought about it for a long time, and finally felt relieved: "He must be really too tired. He is also a human being, only 16 years old, and he also needs an outlet."
"You can't say that about Pei Zhi. He was acting bravely. You can't say he was venting his emotions."
"He wasn't venting his emotions," Lin Zhaoxi said. "He probably just suddenly wanted to protest against this fucked-up world."
Lu Zhihao also fell silent.
The popsicle juice flowed all over his hands. He finally seemed to figure something out and took a deep sip.
"Can we help Brother Pei? What should we do?"
"I don't know." Lin Zhaoxi thought for a moment and said, "We probably have no choice but to trust him."
"What you said is the same as not saying anything!" Lu Zhihao shouted.
"Be respectful to me. Generally speaking, since your brother is under house arrest, you should follow my lead." Lin Chaoxi said in a soft voice.
Lu Zhihao sobbed: "It sounds weird when you say that."
"What's strange?"
"I know you are not with Pei Zhi." Lu Zhihao said very confidently.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Lin Zhaoxi smiled faintly: "Ah?"
"Pei Zhi likes you, and you like Pei Zhi too, but you two are not together, I know."
"What are you talking about?"
"I said you guys weren't together."
"The previous sentence."
"Pei Zhi likes you?"
"Say it again."
"Pei Zhi likes you."
Lin Chaoxi raised his head and saw Old Lin standing across the street, pushing a bicycle.
Cars passed by and yellow leaves fell.
In the smoky gray background, Lao Lin waved to her.
Lin Zhaoxi rubbed his eyes: "Yeah."
——
Lu Zhihao was taken away by his parents, and Lao Lin handled the matter very efficiently.
He signed and took her away.
Lin Chaoxi didn't say a word from beginning to end. Old Lin understood what happened but didn't make any statement.
When the father and daughter walked out of the police station, it was already dark.
Lao Lin kicked up the bicycle stand and finally spoke: "You have grown up and can fight now~"
It was almost a very pleasant tone, full of admiration and praise. Lao Lin sincerely thought it was great that she was sent to jail for fighting.
During the evening rush hour, the dim lights of the cars illuminated the hazy autumn evening. Lin Chaoxi touched her bag and then she remembered that her umbrella had fallen in the hot pot restaurant.
She stood there in silence, without saying a word.
Lao Lin pushed the cart a few steps and turned back to look at her: "What's wrong?"
Lin Chaoxi sniffed and was about to speak, but he heard Lao Lin say, "Are you going to cry right away, or do you want to follow the procedure and tell dad what happened first, and then cry while sobbing?"
Originally, Lin Chaoxi's option was b, but after Lao Lin finished speaking, she walked over, hugged Lao Lin, rested her head on Lao Lin's shoulder, and burst into tears.
Lao Lin was really shocked.
There are so many emotions that are pent up in my heart that I can no longer suppress them.
Even when she was splashed with hot soup in the hot pot restaurant, or when she saw Pei Yu kneeling down, or even when she learned that Lao Lin had Alzheimer's disease, she had never been so scared.
To her, if Pei Zhi were to follow the same old path as Strawberry World, it might also mean that Lao Lin’s car accident was doomed to be unavoidable.
Although she knew that these were two different worlds, everything in reality had already happened and there was no point in her panicking here.
But she knew better that the man who was panicking because of her crying was her father.
Knowing what will happen in the future but being unable to stop it can be a terrifying feeling of powerlessness.
She cried for a long time, clutching the rough cloth coat of Lao Lin, and her nose and half of her face were rubbed red.
Lao Lin muttered a lot and tried many ways to coax her. In her ears was the rumbling sound of cars passing by on the street and the voice of Comrade Lao Lin nagging and teasing her.
Lin Chaoxi cried for a long time, and finally calmed down.
"The beef noodles in Xiaoliangshan are not good." She looked up at Lao Lin's messy hair and said.
Lao Lin was stunned for a moment, then patted her on the back and asked, "What do you want to eat?"
"Barry BBQ buffet."
"The lion opened his mouth wide!
Lin Chaoxi sobbed and was about to cry again.
Lao Lin hurriedly said, "Let's go!"
——
On the way to the barbecue restaurant, Lao Lin bought her some ointment for burns.
The pharmacist advised a light diet, which was exactly what Lao Lin wanted.
He waved his hand, cancelled the barbecue, went to the market and bought a pound of beef, saying he wanted to cook Cordyceps and Beef Porridge for her to nourish her brain.
No. 284, Zhuanzhu Lane.
There was a small fire in the yard, and hot porridge was bubbling on the coal stove. Only a few plants were still green around, so it looked bare.
Lin Chaoxi sat on a stone bench and slowly told Lao Lin what happened in the police station.
It's about to rain but hasn't yet, and the air is humid.
From beginning to end, Lao Lin had his back to her and was busy at the wall.
"It would be nice if you were here." Finally, Lin Zhaoxi said silently, "I really don't know what to do."
"It's useless even if I'm here." Lao Lin was very calm. "We've talked about it."
"With whom?"
"Of course it's Pei Zhi's mother."
Lin Zhaoxi looked at Lao Lin's back: "Then?"
"Without then, there is no way to communicate." Lao Lin stood up, returned to the stone table, grabbed a few balls, and walked towards the flower bed again.
"You can't convince his mother? What did Pei Zhi say?"
"If we can't communicate, how can we convince him?" Lao Lin put the balls into the soil. They were tulip bulbs. "If possible, I would like to adopt Pei Zhi. Oh, or even let Pei Zhi marry me."
"Dad, is this a time for jokes?"
"Then what should I say? It's okay to let you marry Pei Zhi?"
Lin Chaoxi simply couldn't continue.
During the summer vacation, she knew nothing about what happened to Pei Zhi, so she could not do anything.
And now, she already knows what will happen in the future, but she still seems powerless to do anything.
Fatalism puts people into a state of mind where no matter how hard you try, nothing can be changed.
Lao Lin was still busy beside the flower bed, burying the tulip bulbs one by one in the soil.
He planted tulips last year, thinking that planting in autumn would produce flowers in spring, which was a good omen, but it ended in failure.
Lin Chaoxi was a little sad. She stared at Lao Lin's movements for a while, then suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Sort deep in the soil and shallow in the pot. The depth of the pit you dug is wrong."
"Nonsense! It's obvious that plants should be planted shallowly in the soil and deeply in pots. This is scientific logic." Lao Lin shouted.
"Plant deep in the soil and shallow in the pot!" Lin Chaoxi shouted.
Lao Lin put down the shovel and walked into the house. "Did I really remember it wrong?"
He began to rummage through the drawers in the house. Lin Chaoxi, who was sitting on a stone bench, turned around and looked at Old Lin.
“Have you hit a bottleneck?” she asked.
"Why do you say that?" Lao Lin shouted.
"When people hit a bottleneck, they always try to find something else to change their minds, plant some flowers or something like that?"
"Student Lin Chaoxi, what misunderstandings do you have about yourself? It's not enough for your father to have you to change his brain. Do I need to grow flowers?" Old Lin stood up, held up a "Tulip Planting Guide" and said happily, "I found it."
Lao Lin sat down in front of her with the book in his hands and began to flip through the pages.
"Were you implying that I'm a troublemaker?" Lin Chaoxi asked.
In the darkness of the night, Lao Lin looked at her carefully: "When have you ever stopped being a troublemaker?"
"If I'm a troublemaker, why would you give up your studies for me?" Lin Chaoxi asked.
"When did I give up for you..." Lao Lin said this and suddenly jumped up, "You stole Dad's things?"
Lin Chaoxi was stunned.
She had read the letter that Lao Lin had tucked into the photo album in Strawberry World, but this was Cheese World. The scene where she cried and shouted that Lao Lin gave up his life for her never happened, so was the letter still there?
"What do you mean by peeking? I was watching openly." Lin Chaoxi became flustered.
After she finished shouting, she rushed into the study and looked for the photo album where Lao Lin had just flipped through the gardening book.
On the second to last shelf of the bookcase, next to the iron box, where the photo albums were placed, the yellow-covered photo album was indeed still there.
The style is an old model from more than ten years ago. When I opened it, the photos were not exactly the same as I remembered.
Her heart was beating very fast. On the next page, a letter fell out of the album.
Sure enough, it’s still inside.
Lin Chaoxi picked up the letter, ran out of the house, and slapped it on the stone slab in front of Lao Lin.
"Chu is such a good school, you were admitted, why didn't you go, and you said it wasn't because of me!"
Lao Lin raised his head slightly and looked at her with gentle eyes.
The courtyard lights shone on the stone table, casting a grey, moist sheen.
Lin Chaoxi lowered his head and saw the printed envelope with red words on a white background.
It was a standard printed envelope from Chu, with the school emblem and address printed on it.
The recipient's English address was Lin Zhaosheng of Yongchuan University, printed out using a standard dot matrix printer.
It seemed that in Strawberry World, the letter the professor wrote to Lao Lin was not placed in the envelope.
Lin Chaoxi took out the letter paper with some surprise, and what caught his eye was a line - congratulation.
The signature is the dean's.
This was the admission letter that Lin received, not the letter she had seen.
It seems like something has become different.
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