Ah Chen turned his head to look at Ah Mo:
"Amo, do you think this person who invested in Qingyu is brainless? He dared to start planting fruit trees on two or three thousand acres without any confidence. If this investment goes down the drain, won't he feel the pain?"
Amo shrugged her shoulders. "Even if it's all for nothing, it's the other party who suffers the loss. But if Mu Laosan really makes that boast, he's finished!"
"Old Mu should have died long ago."
Ah Chen didn't dwell on the matter. He left with that remark and then dragged Ah Mo away to figure out his DVD player.
After a while, the couple finally went upstairs.
"Huh--"
Amo stopped and gestured for Achen to look at Duoduo's room.
There were lights, but it was very dim.
"Is Arui home?"
"It should be. I guess it's because of the college entrance exam. Let's go check it out."
Ah Chen nodded, told Ah Mo to go upstairs first, and then turned and went to Duo Duo's room.
thump--
“Arui”.
Ah Chen didn't barge in; instead, he knocked on the door first, after all... Ah Rui was a grown woman!
Soon, the door opened.
Arui really is there.
When Ah Chen turned on the light, he saw that Ah Rui's eyes were red, as if she had been crying.
"Brother, when did you get back?"
Clearly, Arui didn't know her brother had returned.
"I was back before dark!"
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll go make some."
"have eaten."
Ah Chen gestured for Ah Rui to sit down, then looked at her reddened eyes and said, "Relax a bit now that you're back. The college entrance exam is over, so don't think about it anymore. Thinking about it won't change your score."
"Brother, I—"
"Grades are not the only measure of whether a Miao boy or girl is successful! The college entrance examination is not the end, but a new beginning, understand?"
Arui nodded. She thought her brother would ask her how she did on the exam, and if she didn't do well, he would scold her.
But--
Instead of scolding her, the brother comforted her.
At this point, Arui could no longer hold back, and tears fell like a kite with a broken string.
But she quickly wiped it away, "Brother, the content of the test paper is not much different from the types of questions I practiced before, but... it's still so difficult."
"It's alright, just fill in the major information when the time comes! You can ask your sister-in-law, she knows more about this than your brother does; don't think about anything now, hurry down and eat, the food is still hot."
"Brother--"
Ah Chen's concern made Ah Rui even more upset!
Because she felt she had let her brother down.
She was afraid of letting her brother down, so she worked very hard, hoping to go to a university in Beijing and fulfill her brother's unfulfilled wish.
But now, it's definitely impossible to go.
So the more her brother cared for her, the more upset she became.
"Brother, thank you!"
"You still want to get slapped, huh? Wipe your tears and go eat."
Ah Chen turned and left with a stern face.
Arui smiled, a smile through her tears.
Third floor.
After Amo and Achen talked about Arui's situation, Amo said, "Arui is under a lot of pressure. You didn't scold her, did you?"
"Why would I scold her? She's a grown woman, she'll be getting married in a few years. Why would I want to make myself a target of hatred?"
After the sound faded, Ah Chen changed the phone battery and then went to the rooftop terrace.
night.
The moonlight was as still as water, silent and serene.
Mu Achen smelled the rich fragrance of fruit around him, looked at the figures busy picking fruit in the orchard, and gazed at the increasingly lively scene below the mountain due to the sale of sacred fruit. He smiled.
"It's chilly at night, don't catch a cold."
Amo came over with a coat and put it on Achen.
Yes, the heat of midsummer in eastern Guizhou is only intense for a short period at noon.
At night, the temperature in the mountains is only fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius.
It's refreshing and cool.
Ah Chen pulled Ah Mo down to sit, then took out the number that She Ling's mother had given him in the county town that day. After thinking it over, he dialed it anyway.
At this moment, Ah Chen's mind flashed back to She Ling's youthful, smiling face.
He still remembered how they used to go to Teacher Meng's house for tutoring together, how they helped the teacher dig soil and pick vegetables, and so on—
Ah Chen was just as green and inexperienced back then.
All those memories flooded my mind instantly; they were beautiful, but had nothing to do with romance.
Now that everyone has grown up, we don't know how She Ling is doing!
We haven't been in contact for years, partly because circumstances didn't allow it, and partly because they didn't have any way to contact us.
now--
Ah Chen dialed She Ling's number.
It rang for a long time before it was finally answered.
"Hey, who is it? Don't you even know what time it is?"
The voice on the other end of the phone was languid and impatient, as if someone had been woken up from a nap.
Perhaps it had been too long, because Ah Chen couldn't tell if it was She Ling's voice, so he asked:
"Hello, is this She Ling?"
"Are you crazy? You call me and ask if I'm She Ling? Who are you?"
Forehead--
Ah Chen is so frustrated!
I thought to myself, all I did was ask in Mandarin first, why did they have to be so hostile?
"Not very old, but quite the temper!" Ah Chen switched to their old local dialect from eastern Guizhou this time, but not Miao.
She Ling, on the other end of the phone, immediately asked in the same local dialect, "Who are you? How do you know my number?"
"Mu Achen! Do you remember him?"
"Who? Say it again?"
"Mu Achen!"
Mu Achen?
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
There was a long silence!
If it weren't for the rapid breathing sounds, Ah Chen would have thought the other person had hung up on him.
But he didn't rush to speak, because the rapid breathing meant that the other person had thought of him.
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