Chapter 171 Xie Tong x Xie Yi: One Step Away 1
October has already brought autumn to Beijing, and the temperature has dropped significantly.
From the dim alley came bursts of sarcastic laughter, mixed with a few unbearable insults.
"The bastard has learned to steal!"
"That's right, big brother, let's teach him a lesson so that he won't dare to steal anything again!"
"If you hit something that no one wants, you can only eat garbage!"
…
"The police are right here! There's a fight going on here!"
The few people who heard the sound stopped for a moment, then dispersed.
The figure on the ground squirmed a few times, then coughed weakly a few times. The cold wind hit his thin body wantonly, and the fists and feet that had fallen on his body disappeared. He lay on the ground gasping for breath, holding the sweet potatoes full of dirt in his arms.
"Are you okay?"
He had never heard such a gentle, caring voice before, so he thought he was hallucinating. He opened his eyes and saw a pair of clean white shoes, with a few drops of mud on them, but still clean enough to be out of place in this dirty alley. Then the shoes took a step towards him.
"Are you okay?"
It's not an illusion.
He moved his gaze upwards and saw a round face with bright eyes that showed alertness and worry.
Having never been treated so kindly before, he was a little overwhelmed for a moment and struggled to get up from the ground.
"I'm fine, go ahead."
"Once they realize they've been duped, they'll come back quickly."
"I'm lost."
He stopped in his tracks, not knowing why she told him all this. In his opinion, he was not trustworthy and he had no place to stay.
For some reason, he allowed her to follow him, through the twists and turns of the house, and after opening the old wooden door, he arrived at his "home" where he would be staying for a short time this winter.
"Is this your home? Where are your family members?"
“This is not my home.”
“I don’t have any family either.”
It's okay to leave.
He felt inexplicably awkward. He put the sweet potatoes in his arms on the ground, started a fire in the yard, and then fetched water from the water tank next to him.
"I'm sorry. I don't know."
"My name is Xie Tong. If you don't mind, we can be friends."
Friend? The water in the water tank was freezing, but he forgot to take his hands out.
Without saying a word, he fetched water, washed the sweet potatoes on the ground, and then put them next to the fire.
There were no chairs in the yard, so he sat on a wooden stake he had picked up, and a girl who said her name was Xie Tong also sat on the stake.
No one was talking, only the crackling sound of burning branches. He used a wooden stick to turn the sweet potatoes in the fire, and when the shells turned black, he used the stick to move them out.
After hesitating for a moment, he handed the larger one to the girl opposite him and said, "It's not stolen."
Xie Tong smiled instantly, "Thank you! What's your name?"
"I don't have a name."
After asking three wrong questions in a row, Xie Tong was a little afraid to speak any more. He ate his sweet potato silently. After a while, he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "You didn't steal, why didn't you tell them?"
She just saw it, he didn't say a word when he was beaten.
"They just wanted to beat me up."
"I don't care if I actually stole something."
It's not that he didn't explain it, but the more he explained, the harder the punches and kicks became. Later, he gradually realized that those people didn't care about the truth of the matter.
"sorry….."
She seemed to always like to apologize, but it meant nothing to him. In fact, such caring questions were an unprecedented kindness to him.
The atmosphere became more subtle. Xie Tong quietly ate the sweet potato, which was a little dry but very sweet. "Did you grow this?"
"Um."
"I picked up some sprouted sweet potatoes and planted them."
"The new growth is clean," he added.
"You're amazing, this is delicious."
As soon as she finished speaking, the wooden door was pushed open with a creaking sound, hitting the wall and almost falling apart.
There were two uninvited guests at the door. The girl in front was petite and looked a little weak. She ran over quickly and jumped into Xie Tong's arms. The half-eaten sweet potato rolled to the ground.
He stood up subconsciously, and when he saw the girl beating Xie Tong, he rushed over to pull her away.
She stopped when she saw the man rushing towards her.
He was stunned for a moment, and then came to the conclusion that they knew each other.
He couldn't tell why, but he felt a little lost.
"Let's go! What are you standing there for?"
Xie Tong grabbed his wrist and ran behind the man. He asked a lot of questions, but Xie Tong didn't answer any of them.
"If you want to come home with me, shut up!"
He shut his mouth in awe. In his ears was the sound of the whistling wind and his heart beating rapidly from running.
Go home...will he have a home now?
For the first time, someone cared about him, for the first time, someone smiled at him, for the first time, someone praised him, for the first time, someone said they would take him home.
*
He had never known that there was such a warm place in the world. It was not the faint warmth radiated by the fire in the cold wind, but a place that made people feel warm all over as soon as they walked in.
A bright, warm, and filling place is called home.
That was the best night's sleep he could ever remember. He was not hungry, there was no cold wind, and there was no sudden rain falling on his face.
And on the next day, he had a new name, Xie Yi.
He was no longer a wild child wandering around without anyone around. He had an identity, a family, and people closest to him.
Xie Tong took him to school, stood up for him when he was laughed at by his classmates, and tutored him when others laughed at him for being a fool and having the worst grades.
Xie Yi gradually discovered that Xie Tong was not as gentle and kind as the day they first met. On the contrary, he sometimes had a very bad temper.
For example, at this moment, when he once again deliberately miscalculated the result, Xie Tong couldn't control himself and grabbed his ear.
"Xie Yi!"
"This question is the same as the one just now. I just taught you this!"
Xie Yi felt a little guilty, and his ears turned red. "I, I forgot."
"Don't be angry."
"I can't teach you forever." Xie Tong complained, picking up the test paper and flipping through it.
Xie Yi looked at her in confusion. She kept talking with a worried look on her face, "What are we going to do when the time comes for the exam? Tangtang and I are going to University A. Where do you want to go? I can't ask Shi Chengyu to help you get in through the back door. That would be so embarrassing!"
He found it difficult to understand that studying was not just about learning, but also about taking exams.
On the big notice board in the school, Xie Tong's name was in front and his was in the back, which meant that they could not go to school together in the future.
"I understand." Xie Yi said seriously, taking the test paper back, "I will study hard."
From then on, Xie Yi never slacked off again. He memorized those obscure formulas one by one, and the two people's names on the report card became closer and closer.
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