Chapter 9 Dream

The sky was bright, and the sunlight brought a burning sensation unique to summer.

Shen Xingzhuo felt himself jumping down from the stairs and running into the yard.

The stairs seemed to be exceptionally high, as did the grass on the ground.

The layout of the yard was extremely familiar, yet very strange.

Shen Xingzhuo looked for a while before he vaguely realized that this seemed to be the old house of the Shen family.

He lived there until he was seven years old.

Later, it seemed that because Mr. Shen fell ill and went to a nursing home, the Shen family moved to the current villa.

Shen Xingzhuo jumped onto the grass, skillfully went around to the backyard, and ran straight towards one.

A little boy was squatting next to the fence in the yard. The

little boy was about three or four years old, wearing a white T-shirt with a robot cat printed on it, and a pair of blue denim overalls on his lower body.

The black hair was fine and soft, sticking to the fair and tender skin. From a distance, it looked like a white and soft rice ball.

The child's two short hands were tightly holding the railing in front of him.

There was a yellow bucket and a small shovel beside him, but his attention was not on the toys at all.

His head was also curiously pressed against the railing, and it was unknown what he was looking at.

When he was about to approach, Shen Xingzhuo felt that he had deliberately slowed down his steps.

He tiptoed behind the little boy, and then suddenly reached out to rub the little boy's hair.

The child was startled.

But when he turned around and saw that it was him, he immediately bent his black and bright eyes.

The child had big eyes, and the corners of his eyes drooped slightly like a dog.

When he looked up, Shen Xingzhuo was all in his black pupils.

He was not frightened by the mischievous Shen Xingzhuo, but waved at him mysteriously.

A slightly slurred baby voice came: "Hey! Guoguo, look!"

Shen Xingzhuo looked over and saw a litter of stray dogs passing by outside the courtyard wall. The

mother dog in front was sniffing food on the ground.

The four puppies behind could already run and were making a mess.

The stray dogs were of all colors, black, yellow, and spotted.

They were rolling on the ground with their short legs.

"Guoguo."

The little boy next to him asked in a low voice, "Can I touch the dogs?"

Shen Xingzhuo wanted to touch them too.

With his temper, he just wanted to rush out and catch one.

But after hearing the unclear "pot", Shen Xingzhuo tried to be serious and said, "You can only touch the ones you raise yourself."

The little boy was a little disappointed, but also a little expectant, and asked him, "Can we raise one?"

"We'll ask grandpa later!" Shen Xingzhuo said.

"Yeah!" The little boy nodded heavily.

His attention quickly returned to the dogs outside the railing.

Pointing to the black puppy, he said, "I want to raise the black one. It's small and will be bullied by other dogs."

Shen Xingzhuo felt that it didn't matter which one he raised.

But a bad taste of wanting to tease children surged in his heart, so he deliberately said, "Raise the yellow one. The yellow one is the largest, called Dahuang!"

"We want to raise Xiaohei!"

"Raise Dahuang!"

The voices of the children arguing gradually faded away.

Shen Xingzhuo, who was sleeping, woke up.

He sat up and touched his forehead.

The palm of his hand seemed to still carry the warmth of the sun in the dream and the soft touch of a child's arm.

Shen Xingzhuo wiped the sweat off his face, stood up, walked to the window and opened the curtains.

The morning light was bright outside the window, and it was already late.

Shen Xingzhuo washed up a little and went downstairs.

The second floor was very large and had a living room.

Shen Xingran was having breakfast in the living room.

Since that day...

they never patronized the restaurant on the first floor again.

"Don't you have classes today? Why are you getting up so early?"

Shen Xingzhuo walked over familiarly and picked up an omelette from the plate to eat.

Shen Xingran was angry: "Brother, have you washed your hands!"

Shen Xingzhuo was in a good mood because of the dream he had that night.

He didn't care about Shen Xingran's anger at all, and ate most of the food on the plate in a playful manner.

Hearing this "brother", he even laughed: "When I was a child, I couldn't even call brother clearly. I kept making pots and pots all day long. I don't know if I thought your brother was a pot."

Shen Xingran didn't know what he was talking about and ignored him.

After almost filling his stomach, Shen Xingzhuo scanned the second floor and asked: "Why are you the only one at home?"

"My parents haven't come back yet." Shen Xingran poked the plate with a fork, "If you ask Lu Ran, he went out with his yellow dog early in the morning."

At this point, Shen Xingran looked up at Shen Xingzhuo: "Brother!"

Shen Xingzhuo immediately understood what Shen Xingran meant.

He laughed a little: "Okay, let's get it done today."

Thinking of the dream at night, he asked curiously: "Didn't you like dogs when you were a child? You even said you wanted to raise a little black dog. Why do you hate them so much now?"

"Who likes dogs?" Shen Xingran looked at him in confusion.

Shen Xingzhuo's eating action suddenly stopped.

Since he dreamed about that child, Shen Xingzhuo always thought that the child was Shen Xingran.

He woke up from the dream and went downstairs. He

had breakfast and chatted with Shen Xingran.

Until now, Shen Xingzhuo suddenly realized that Shen Xingran was already five or six years old when he came to the Shen family.

He was no longer at the age of slurred speech.

They had also moved out of the old house.

So...

who was that kid in his dream?

A feeling of panic mixed with embarrassment surged up.

Shen Xingzhuo suddenly felt that the food in his mouth was tasteless, and his stomach was inexplicably churning and protesting.

Seeing him stunned, Shen Xingran asked curiously, "Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing this "brother" again, the usual joy and relief were still there.

But there was also a kind of inexplicable confusion.

"Oh, I suddenly remembered that I have something to do." Shen Xingzhuo turned around to get the coat on the armrest of the sofa.

He put on his coat and pulled the corner of his mouth to Shen Xingran, "I'll go out first."

Shen Xingzhuo drove out of the villa.

He didn't have anything to do today.

The incident of several rich kids hitting people was exposed, and his studio was implicated. The income was not good to begin with, and now it is on the verge of bankruptcy.

However, this kind of playful stuff has no effect on Shen Xingzhuo.

After he became an adult, he inherited part of the shares of the family company, and the dividends alone made him worry-free about food and drink.

Shen Xingzhuo didn't go anywhere, and drove around on the road.

After walking for a while, he slowly put his mind at ease.

It was just a dream, and it was not necessarily a real memory.

Shen Xingzhuo knew that he remembered things relatively late.

His eldest brother Shen Xingyu had an extraordinary memory and remembered everything when he was one or two years old clearly.

But his elementary school memories were vague.

So Shen Xingzhuo really had no feelings for Lu Ran.

Even though he knew that Lu Ran was his biological brother who had been lost since childhood, he still protected Shen Xingran, who had lived with him for more than ten years.

As a result, he didn't like Lu Ran very much.

I always feel that when this person is brought back after he grows up, he will seize Shen Xingran's interests.

For a family like theirs, changes in members will be very troublesome and dangerous.

After all, the name "Shen Xingran" originally belonged to Lu Ran.

As a brother, Shen Xingzhuo naturally stands on Shen Xingran's side.

He can't remember when it started, probably since Shen Xingran just came to the Shen family, Shen Xingzhuo has had an obsession.

He must protect his younger brother. His

thoughts were confused.

When Shen Xingzhuo came to his senses, he found that he had actually driven to the old house of the Shen family.

The house, which has stood for many years, looks too simple in this era.

Although there are people to take care of it, the house still looks more dilapidated and desolate after the owner is gone.

Shen Xingzhuo sat in the car, hesitating

to get out. He couldn't explain why he hesitated. He

just couldn't push the door open.

But after hesitating for only two seconds, Shen Xingzhuo got out of the car.

He always did what he wanted.

Only when Shen Xingran was around would he be more careful.

After getting out of the car, he found that he couldn't see anything from the outside.

Someone comes to maintain the house every year.

But the partition in the middle is relatively long, and weeds are always growing in the yard.

Ivy and unknown vines wrapped around the railings outside.

Through the thick grass wall, you can't see what's inside at all.

Shen Xingzhuo walked around outside for a while and felt it was boring.

He didn't understand why he was wasting time here.

Just because of that ridiculous dream?

Shen Xingzhuo turned around and prepared to go back to the car, and the door was open.

He suddenly paused and turned to look at a road beside the courtyard wall.

The road was narrow.

The cement on the ground was a little cracked.

In the middle of the road, there was a familiar manhole cover.

In last night's dream.

He and the little boy were lying in front of this courtyard wall, watching the stray dogs jumping over the manhole cover one by one.

The little black dog even fell while jumping.

A sense of unreality between fantasy and reality came over him.

Shen Xingzhuo stood beside the manhole cover and turned his head to look at the railing covered with ivy.

Suddenly, he walked towards the railing.

He directly pulled off all the grass leaves wrapped around the railing with his bare hands.

The thorny stems scratched his wrists, leaving red marks.

Some grass seeds flew up with his movements and stuck to his clothes and hair.

Shen Xingzhuo didn't care at all.

He held the rusty iron fence, climbed up lightly, walked into the yard, and then landed lightly.

Under his feet was soft soil and dead leaves.

The yard was empty. There was no green lawn, no scattered toys, and no soft white ball squatting in the corner.

Shen Xingzhuo laughed at himself.

He turned around in the yard.

Just as he was about to go out, his feet walked towards a corner as if possessed by a ghost.

Shen Xingzhuo didn't know why he came here.

But his body moved on its own.

He squatted down, stretched out his hand and randomly pulled the weeds in the corner to the side.

He also dug up the soil underneath.

Soon, his palm touched a slightly hard wooden board.

The board had almost weathered, turning into the same color as the soil, and the texture had become brittle and soft. There

were small insects crawling in the cracks.

As Shen Xingzhuo moved, the small insects fled everywhere.

Shen Xingzhuo patted the mud on his palm, and after his fingers touched a buckle, he lifted the board up.

The lock was rusted and broke in the middle.

Shen Xingzhuo spent some more effort and finally pulled the wooden board open completely.

With a "click".

The door that had been sealed for more than ten years was completely opened and completely scrapped.

Under the wooden board was a small "warehouse".

There were several building blocks and two identical balls inside.

In the corner, a yellow plastic bucket and a small shovel of the same color were quietly staying.

They stayed in this corner forgotten by everyone for a long time.