The dark gray city was shrouded in heavy rain. The number of vehicles on the road gradually decreased, and slowly the only sound of falling raindrops remained in the ears.
Everyone was in a hurry, and the small platform on the street seemed to be forgotten.
Chen Ge carried his backpack and looked down at their reflections in the water.
Zhang Ya held the umbrella, her eyes full of surprise. She seemed to have not expected Chen Ge to say that.
The No. 104 bus left the station, and the No. 4 bus arrived a moment later.
"Teacher Zhang, bus No. 4 is here. See you tomorrow." Chen Ge waved his hand with a very happy smile on his face.
He watched Zhang Ya walk towards the No. 4 bus while he leaned against the bus stop sign, the smile on his face slowly disappearing.
"I can't go home. The moment I open the door, night will fall, and when I come out it will be a new day."
"When the city falls into darkness, the hidden filth and evil should be exposed. I hope there will be gains tonight."
Looking up, Chen Ge was the only one left on the platform.
The whistle sounded, the vehicle started, and the No. 4 bus quickly drove out of the platform. Only a woman holding a red umbrella was left in the rain.
"Zhang Ya?"
The bus had already left, but Zhang Ya stayed where she was and did not get on.
"Why don't you leave?" Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya in confusion. Zhang Ya returned to the platform holding an umbrella.
"I prepare lessons in the office every day, and then take the last bus to leave." Zhang Ya pointed at the bus stop sign: "That seemed to be the last bus on Route 104. You missed it and didn't bring an umbrella. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to return home, just like last time."
"I..." The eloquent Chen Ge was speechless at this moment, not knowing how to refute.
"You seem very scared to go home." Zhang Ya walked up to Chen Ge and asked, "Can you tell me why?"
"nothing."
"Are you having a conflict with your family? Or are you having trouble in life?" Zhang Ya's voice was filled with concern. Her kindness was innate, and people couldn't bear to deceive her. "You are essentially a good child. The teacher can see that, but you seem to have a lot of things in your heart. You never seem to laugh happily."
Chen Ge did not say anything. The rain was getting heavier and heavier. Even though he hid on the platform, his clothes were still wet.
Neither of them left. After a while, Zhang Ya opened the umbrella and looked at Chen Ge helplessly: "If you don't want to say it, I won't force you."
She waved to Chen Ge and said, "Let's go."
"Where to?" Chen Ge was stunned for a moment. He really didn't react.
"Go to my house and change your wet clothes first. Don't catch a cold."
“Isn’t this bad?”
"Can I leave you alone on the platform? It's too dangerous in such heavy rain." Zhang Ya waved her umbrella. She looked like a mature older sister from the neighborhood. Even her helpless expression was very pretty. "You really should communicate with your family. Many things are caused by poor communication, especially conflicts between family members. Come on, stop wasting time and come here quickly."
Chen Ge couldn't open the door of his own house casually, so in order to delay more time, he reluctantly walked to Zhang Ya's side.
The two walked along the road for a long time and finally saw a taxi.
By the time they got home, it was completely dark.
"Is this your home?" Chen Ge had no memory of Zhang Ya's room. In his mind, Zhang Ya always lived in the dormitory.
Pushing open the security door, there is a small house of 60 square meters. Although it is not large, it is fully furnished with all kinds of furniture.
"I used to live in the city, but then my parents had a car accident. I lived in their house and kept thinking about the past, so I sold that house and bought a small house here." Zhang Ya seemed to have come out of her sadness, and she could tell these stories calmly.
Of course, she might also want to set an example for Chen Ge. In the morning, after she found out why Chen Ge always wore high heels, she felt very uncomfortable.
Because I have experienced it, I can better understand the feeling.
Putting away the umbrella, Zhang Ya turned on the lights in the living room: "I arranged all these furniture myself. How do you think it is? Pretty good, right?"
While Zhang Ya was talking, Chen Ge looked at the trash can, which contained several empty cans of beer and carrot peels with holes in them. "You still like to drink?"
Chen Ge had not expected this hobby.
"Occasionally, I only drink a little bit." Zhang Ya changed her shoes and tied the garbage bag. "I'll go get you some dry clothes. Wait here."
After a while, Chen Ge changed into the clothes Zhang Ya brought over, a wide-cut T-shirt that Zhang Ya herself had brought over. "You can wear this for now. You may not be able to wear my other clothes."
"It's okay, this one is fine." Chen Ge looked down and realized that he and Zhang Ya were wearing the same style of clothes, just in different colors.
"Give me your wet clothes and I'll iron them dry for you. Go to the sofa and do your homework first. The test will be coming up soon, so you should put some pressure on yourself."
Zhang Ya took Chen Ge and her own wet clothes into the bathroom. Chen Ge looked around, put the half-wet backpack next to the sofa, opened it and checked it.
"Fortunately, the comic book and Zhang Ya's storybook were not wet." Chen Ge also wanted to do his homework to leave a good impression on Zhang Ya, but he didn't even bring back his textbooks.
A few minutes later, Zhang Ya walked out of the bathroom. She glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "Are you hungry? Let me see if there's anything else in the refrigerator that we can eat. Let's eat something first."
Zhang Ya took out some tomatoes and eggs from the refrigerator. She probably seldom cooked, so she was in a rush. When she was beating the eggs, she dropped the eggshells into the bowl, and quickly picked them out bit by bit with chopsticks.
"Teacher, how about I do it?" Chen Ge watched Zhang Ya cooking, his eyes full of smiles.
“Can you cook?”
"Well, you've worked hard in class all day, I'll cook you a meal as a thank you for taking me in today." Chen Ge gently pushed Zhang Ya aside, opened the refrigerator and took a look, there were some very common things inside.
A few tomatoes, a few carrots that had been peeled beyond recognition, two cucumbers, a whole piece of tofu, half a chicken breast that had been stored for a long time, a piece of lean meat and half a bag of leftover pickled mustard tubers.
"It turns out that the food that the evil spirit eats is similar to what I normally eat."
"Do you need my help?" Zhang Ya doubted Chen Ge's ability. After all, there were not many high school students who could cook.
"You can sit on the sofa and have a good rest. The kitchen is a man's romance." Chen Ge first took out two Xiaowan, put egg liquid, salt, and various seasonings in a bowl, and then cut the half piece of chicken breast that had been left for a long time into dices and marinated it.
Pour water into another small bowl and soak half a bag of old pickled mustard tuber in it.
Then heat oil in a pan, cut the tofu into pieces, fry until golden brown, take out the tofu and set aside. Next, use the same pan to sauté scallions, ginger and garlic, and finally add seasonings and golden tofu and simmer.
After closing the lid of the pot, Chen Ge picked up the knife and trimmed the tomatoes that Zhang Ya had cut earlier, then sprinkled some sugar on them.
He took out the cucumber again, peeled it and cut it into rounds with a knife, then sprinkled some salt and seasoning on it.
On the same plate, there are sugar-coated tomatoes on the left and cold cucumbers on the right, one salty and one sweet, two different flavors.
After doing this, Chen Ge picked up another wok, cut the lean meat into shreds, put it into the wok and stir-fried it, then took out the crystal clear old pickled mustard tuber that had been soaked.
Chop, stir-fry together and add seasoning.
At this time, the tofu that was being simmered on the side was ready and was served on a plate.
After a simple wash and pouring in clean water, Chen Ge put the remaining noodles in the refrigerator into the pot.
When the noodles are ready, the aroma of fried pickled mustard and pork also wafts out.
When the rice is served out of the pot, the noodles as thin as dragon whiskers are topped with crystal clear pickled mustard and fried meat, which really whets your appetite.
"Teacher, serve the food." Chen Ge glanced at the side and said, "Sizzling tofu, pickled mustard greens and shredded pork noodles, and later there will be some homemade popcorn chicken. I think the chicken breast is about to go bad, so I think it's better to eat it early."
Zhang Ya's eyes widened as the aroma continued to tease her taste buds.
The chicken breast soaked in egg liquid is almost marinated. The final step is simple: coat the diced chicken breast with starch and fry it.
It was golden and crispy, with a fragrant aroma, but Chen Ge was still a little dissatisfied: "It would be better if there were bread crumbs. Frying it twice would make it more tender and fragrant."
All the dishes were out of the pot and laid out on the coffee table. Zhang Ya still couldn't believe that these meals were made from the leftovers in her refrigerator.
"The staple food is noodles. If you feel that the grilled tofu and popcorn chicken are greasy, there are also cold cucumber salad to relieve the greasiness. If you don't like salty salad, I also prepared sugar-coated tomatoes, which are sour and sweet and very refreshing." Chen Ge looked at Zhang Ya, whose eyes were shining, and smiled even more happily.
He simply cleaned up the kitchen and sat down next to the coffee table. Although Zhang Ya wanted to eat, she didn't pick up her chopsticks. It was obvious that she was waiting for Chen Ge to join her.
"Then I won't be polite." Zhang Ya took a bite of the grilled tofu first. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and soup oozed out when she took a bite.
"Is it tasty?"
“It’s delicious!”
Chen Ge sat opposite Zhang Ya. He looked at Zhang Ya while she was eating, and the corners of his mouth began to curl up unconsciously: "It would be nice if I could cook for you every day."
There was heavy rain and thunder and lightning outside the window, but the two people in the house were enjoying a very simple and almost impossible to reproduce dinner.
After finishing the meal, Zhang Ya went to clean up the dishes while Chen Ge sat on the sofa. He forced himself not to look at Zhang Ya, but his eyes always fell on her involuntarily.
As if she sensed something, Zhang Ya raised her head when she put down the dishes and chopsticks, and her eyes met Chen Ge's.
In just a few tenths of a second, Chen Ge lowered his head and started flipping through Yan Danian's comic book.
"Is that your own painting? So cool!" After washing the dishes, Zhang Ya walked to the sofa. The living room was not big, and there was not much space left after putting down the sofa and the coffee table.
“My friend drew it.”
Chen Ge closed the comic book, but Zhang Ya didn't quite believe it.
"Really? Actually, I like people who have a wide range of hobbies and talents."
"Then this is what I drew, and you discovered it." Chen Ge admitted it decisively. Anyway, Yan Danian couldn't show up now.
"You, I don't know what to say to you." Zhang Ya made two cups of tea and placed them on the coffee table: "Why do I feel like you can do everything except study?"
"That's about right." Chen Ge thought about it carefully and concluded that he could indeed be said to be multi-talented and proficient in skills from many industries.
"You're welcome." Zhang Ya shook her head. "That's good. It's a good thing to have your own hobbies and interests and work hard for them. Unlike me..."
Chen Ge could sense a hint of disappointment in Zhang Ya's voice, and he suddenly remembered something. In real life, Zhang Ya was a dancer and had even won first prize in a competition, but now she was an English teacher, a profession that had nothing to do with dancing.
He moved towards Zhang Ya, picked up the cup of hot tea and handed it to her: "Actually, I understand that you have been deliberately making yourself strong. The first time I saw you, I knew that you had a lot of things in your heart, but you just didn't say it out."
The tea in the cup was steaming as they sat together.
A homemade dinner brought the two closer together. As a teacher, Zhang Ya was supposed to guide Chen Ge, but from some point on, Chen Ge began to try to slowly open Zhang Ya's heart.
"Others just think you have a good personality, are gentle and kind, but what I care about is whether you have been wronged."
Sitting quietly beside Zhang Ya, Chen Ge picked up Zhang Ya's bedtime story book and said, "I have never had such thoughts before, but when I saw you, approached you, listened to your advice, and walked with you, I always had a feeling that you were covered in scars, but you still had to force yourself to smile and comfort others."
After a long time, Zhang Ya raised her head. She looked at Chen Ge and tried to smile as usual, but she couldn't.
"I also felt you were familiar the first time I saw you. Maybe it's because we have the same experience." Zhang Ya took a sip of tea and said, "Teacher used to study dance. I like dancing very much. I really like it. When I dance, I feel like I become a breeze. I can stretch freely without having to think about anything."
"Then you later..."
"When I was in school, no one wanted to be friends with me. They said that my dancing was just showing off my body and kept making up more and more outrageous rumors. But these were not the reasons why I finally gave up dancing." Zhang Ya put down the teacup in her hand: "One evening, something happened. I was practicing in the dance studio and a drunk guy rushed in. I was so scared that I ran around and shouted loudly, hoping that someone could save me, but no one came."
"I ran downstairs in my dance skirt and finally saw my teacher, who helped me stop the drunk behind me."
"I thought I was finally saved, but who knew that the nightmare had just begun. When I came to school the next day, everyone pointed fingers at me. I was called to the office before the first class was over. The drunk was there too. He and the teacher who saved me slandered me, saying that everything was directed and acted by me. No one was willing to testify for me, and everyone in the class thought that this was the truth." Zhang Ya couldn't go on: "From then on, I didn't dare to enter the dance studio again. I didn't dare to practice dancing alone, and I didn't even dare to be alone for a long time."
Chen Ge gently patted Zhang Ya's slightly trembling shoulders and let her lean on him.
"It's okay. We'll be inseparable. I won't let you be alone again."