First come first served. I've seen you so early.
The photo album of about twenty pages records the past of Zichuan's parents in bits and pieces. Judging from their clothing and background, it is probably in the style of the 1990s. Some of them are photos of his parents together, and some are photos of Lin Hanzhen holding the young Wen Zichuan with his grandparents.
"What is this..." Cheng Sizhou saw a special photo. "Look, that little baby in the cradle is you, right? And who's that boy holding you? Do you have a brother?"
"No, you couldn't have two children at that time, right?" Wen Zichuan took out the picture and looked at it carefully.
He also found it strange. Although the appearance of the people in the album had changed, they were all his family members. He knew everyone. But who was this little boy holding him? He had never heard his grandmother or mother mention that he had any cousins, or even brothers from the neighborhood.
"Brother Zhou, can you do me a favor?"
"OK."
"I don't know why my grandmother hid the photo album, but the photos include her and my father. I want to take a copy of them all and keep them. Even if I don't let my mother know, it will be a reminder for me."
Cheng Sizhou saw him spread the picture flat on the table, then raised his phone high and took a picture from top to bottom. He then understood what he wanted him to do for help.
The plastic film embedded in this old photo album will stick to the photos inside after being stored for a long time. You have to be extra careful when taking it out, otherwise the photos may be easily torn.
Take out the pictures one by one, take photos, and put them back one by one.
Although it was a boring and patience-consuming task, Cheng Sizhou was not impatient at all.
On the contrary, he enjoyed the time of doing things quietly and slowly, which was very similar to repairing cultural relics, especially since Zichuan was by his side.
"I still feel that the boy holding you looks familiar." After a moment of thought, he thought of this again.
"Maybe he's the child of one of my parents' friends. Isn't it common to have friends who used to have contact with each other but stopped having contact with each other later?" Wen Zichuan said, but he didn't stop working.
Cheng Sizhou closed his eyes and felt the gentle breeze outside the window. The sun was about to set, and the wind was filled with the coolness before dusk.
There was a suspicion that lingered in his mind for a long time, like a maggot attached to his bones or a fishbone stuck in his throat, but he had never been a brave and fearless person, so he did not dare to verify it or face the consequences of the truth.
Finally, he spoke: "Zichuan, can you send me the photo you took?"
Wen Zichuan noticed that something was wrong with him, so he enlarged the copied photo and stared at it for a long time before he realized that the boy looked very much like someone.
"It's... you? It's you, right?! You discovered it too?!" he almost shouted.
"People do resemble each other, but I can't be completely sure based on their appearance alone. But look at this," Cheng Sizhou pointed to the background of the photo, "that calligraphy hanging on the wall is Su Shi's 'Cold Food Postscript'. The original is in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, so this can't be the original."
Wen Zichuan was completely confused. As far as he could remember, he had never set foot on the other side of the strait.
"It's a copy." Cheng Sizhou held his forehead against his chest, childhood memories flooding back like a tide. "An Yi and I once competed to see who could recognize this calligraphy better. It's hanging in Master Lin's shop... Why would I hold you for a photo? How did you end up in Master Lin's shop?"
Master Lin was Mr. Jiang's master and father-in-law. He had a shop on Dengyuan Antique Street, specializing in mounting calligraphy and paintings. Mr. Jiang also learned his craft there.
Wen Zichuan shook his head. After finishing the photo shoot, he put down his phone and stuffed the remaining photos back one by one: "So, I met you so long ago."
"I'm not sure. What if I remembered it wrong? Hey, why are you crying?"
Cheng Sizhou turned his head to look, but Wen Zichuan turned away so that he wouldn't see, and even covered his face with the back of his hand: "If I say it's you, then it's you!"
"Okay, okay, it's me, it's me." Cheng Sizhou had no choice but to coax her.
"Maybe when you were a kid, you had more than just Jiang Anyi as a good friend, but there was another one, but you just forgot about him..." Wen Zichuan said mysteriously, but in his heart he had already wanted to send the photo to verify it, "If you don't believe me, I'll ask my mom right away!"
"Hey! Don't..."
Cheng Sizhou failed to stop it, Wen Zichuan had already sent the message.
As night falls, the landscape lights on both sides of the river gradually light up, outlining the graceful and elegant outline of the ancient town, like a magnificent dream.
Lin Hanzhen didn't reply for a long time, and Wen Zichuan didn't want to go home. He went downstairs and put the photo album back to its original place, then came to an empty wardrobe, opened the door and went in.
"What are you doing? Playing hide-and-seek?" Cheng Sizhou laughed at him for crying just now.
"This is my territory, come in." Wen Zichuan hugged his knees, still angry.
Cheng Sizhou was tall and wouldn't feel comfortable even if he squeezed into a spacious closet, but he still did it.
The moment he sat down, he thought of Xu Jiaxuan. It turned out that Zichuan's first reaction was to look for someone in the closet, not because Xu Jiaxuan would hide in the closet, but because he liked to hide in the closet when he was a child.
It was pitch black all around, and in the darkness, all they could hear was each other's breathing.
"Don't be sad anymore. Come here, let me hug you." Cheng Sizhou pulled her into his arms and slowly tightened his arms. "Is this okay? Like in the photo, I'm holding you again."
Wen Zichuan was overwhelmed with an indescribable sadness. If Cheng Sizhou did nothing, his emotions would have subsided and nothing would have happened. But when Cheng Sizhou hugged and comforted him, his grievances washed away the dam like a torrent.
"...I read the posts online. When you and him were together, you were so passionate and open. You don't know how much I envy you...! Woo...Why? If you had met me first, if you had met me first..." He didn't want to restrain himself anymore and vented all the resentment that had accumulated for a long time.
Cheng Sizhou felt heartbroken. What happened to Liu Shixing was originally a scar on him. However, how could such an old wound hurt Zichuan again?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Zichuan. It's my fault. It's my fault..."
"You're not a bad person. You're always like this, thinking it's your fault. But you've been hurt too. You've got so many marks of hurt on your body... I really want to help you wash them away, but it's no use..."
Cheng Sizhou was speechless. Over the past six years, he slowly pulled himself out of the pain, reduced contact with his friends in the capital, returned to his parents, and diligently played the role of a good son.
He no longer easily got involved in a relationship. He kept himself clean and focused on his work. When he was really bored, he would joke around by taking the kitten for a walk or playing with the puppy. Occasionally, he would annoy Senior Brother Yu and talk back at Zhou Yitang, but it was just to push away the dark clouds pressing on him and let him breathe a sigh of relief.
After all, apart from Wen Zichuan, no one thought that he was also a victim.
"I know, I'm a coward! I...!"
Before he could finish his words, Wen Zichuan blocked Cheng Sizhou's lips. The bitter taste soaked in tears lingered between his lips and teeth, carving dense ice cracks on his soul that had been sealed in dust for many years.
Kissing in the closet was Wen Zichuan's plan.
The narrow space was filled with the smell of stale wood. It was blocked from all directions, so Cheng Sizhou couldn't escape even if he wanted to.
Wen Zichuan knelt down, held down his legs, and pressed his hands on the cabinet board, interlocking their fingers.
A kiss is like a creeper that grows wildly, from the corner of the lips to the tip of the nose to the forehead. He thought, how nice it would be if human kisses could be used as markings, like kittens', so that other kittens would sniff him and say, "Oh, you are Wen Zichuan's."
Cheng Sizhou was enveloped by his scent, the familiar smell of hay, refreshing and sweet, making her unable to resist getting closer but also worried about dirtying him.
But this time, he was the one who took the initiative to get close to her. He was so nervous that his breathing was trembling, and his tailbone, which was pressed against the wooden board, also trembled.
"Brother Zhou," Wen Zichuan choked up, "You can stop liking me, but can you please stop liking others?"
"No, no..." Cheng Sizhou was trapped in darkness and brokenness, like a piece of porcelain buried in the ground thousands of years ago, battered and bruised by earthquakes, floods, and mudslides. "Besides you, there will be no one else. No one will treat me with sincerity anymore."
Wen Zichuan leaned on his chest, listening to his heartbeat: "No. You see, the first time you came to my house, my mother made her specialty to treat you, because I really love you, so those who love me will love you too."
Cheng Sizhou grinned: "Our teacher Wen has a lot of true fans, so I'm going to make a fortune, right?"
Wen Zichuan also laughed: "Yeah, it's so good to be with me, it's a sure win."
It was almost nine o'clock when I got home. The food was heating up on the stove, and Lin Hanzhen had already returned to her room to rest.
Wen Zichuan brought out the food quietly: "My mother has some neurasthenia and doesn't sleep well, so she goes to bed very early, but she may not fall asleep."
Cheng Sizhou ate and whispered, "Okay, I'll try not to disturb her."
Wen Zichuan skimmed half of the steamed egg into his bowl: "Well, after eating, we'll take turns taking a bath. You...will sleep next to me tonight?"
"If you don't want, I can sleep on the floor."
"But I don't have extra quilts at home."
"Oh, what should I do? Teacher Wen is the best. Let me sleep next to you for one night."
Wen Zichuan bit the tip of his chopsticks and laughed, but he didn't dare to speak too loudly: "Okay, okay, I agree."
On the way back, Cheng Sizhou sent the photo to his biological mother, Ms. Wang. She should have an impression of the things he couldn't remember.
Ms. Wang looked at the photo and made an open-mouthed expression of surprise. She continued, "It seems that when you were four years old, your father and I were on a business trip, so we sent you to stay at the Jiang family for a week."
"Whose child am I holding? Do you remember?"
"No impression, I haven't seen it."
What is certain now is that the older boy is him, and the baby in the cradle is Wen Zichuan.
As for why Wen Zichuan appeared in the Lin family shop, I can probably only ask his master or mistress.
Thinking of this, Cheng Sizhou hesitated again. The Lin family shop was where his master and mistress got married and gave birth. If he inevitably mentioned An Yi, wouldn't it make the two elders sad again?
Otherwise, forget it.
Just let Zichuan know that they have known each other since childhood and it is destined to be together, and don't be sad about the first come first served in the relationship. Why bother to get to the bottom of it?
"Zichuan, I have to go out for something and will be back soon."
"Ah? It's so late, can I come with you?"
"No, you can take a shower and rest first. I'm just buying something, don't worry."
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