"Give these to the planning department and have them red-mark the parts and write them down clearly for me."
Gu Xie closed the file and handed it to the secretary. The secretary responded, took the file and walked out quickly.
He is the only one in the office now.
Gu leaned back, relaxed his body, lay down in the office chair, tilted his head back, let out a long breath, and looked very tired and exhausted. He had not slept well in the past few days. He was always dreaming, but he could not remember it. When he woke up in the morning, he could only remember some bizarre fragments.
I have to get some sleeping pills when I get home today. I always feel dizzy when I work. As he thought about it, he slowly fell asleep.
Then he dreamed of himself as a child, a teenager, holding a watering can and watering the flowers. It was a strange feeling. He knew he was dreaming, but he couldn't wake up.
He thought about it for a moment and then continued watering the flowers in front of him.
"elder brother!"
Someone was calling him, Gu Xie felt it subconsciously, and before he could turn around, someone rushed over and hugged his waist, like a small cannonball, knocking Gu Xie's left foot forward a step.
Gu Xie lowered his head and saw a little child with bright eyes looking up at him. Ah, it's Xiaoguai, Gu Xie thought, squatted down, holding the kettle in one hand, and naturally picked up the child with the other hand, letting the child sit on his arm.
He was not yet an adult, but he was already as strong as a little leopard. It was easy for Gu Xie to bear the weight of such a small child.
The child put his arms around his brother's neck with great trust. He still smelled of milk and felt soft and cool in his arms, like a glutinous rice dumpling. He spoke in a very obedient manner, which made people feel soft-hearted.
"Brother, can I pick some flowers? I want to put them in a vase."
"That's fine over there, but not here."
Gu Xie gestured with his chin. Many of the plants he was watering had thorns, while the ones over there were thornless seeds, specially grown. It was okay to let children play with them.
It was just that the child was playing too crazy before and fell into the flowers. The flowers were fragrant, but the child was dirty, and his body, which was as soft as a glutinous rice ball, was pierced by many small thorns. Before the child could even cry, his mother lost her temper, and the child was so scared that he didn't even cry out in pain. Instead, he stretched out his two little hands that were wrapped like mummies to wipe his mother's tears. After that, the mother didn't let the child play anymore.
But the child secretly begged Gu Xie for a long time, asking him not to touch anything with thorns. Gu Xie thought, at worst he could go back and secretly give him a bath before his mother found out.
After getting the promise, the child cheered and twisted his body to climb down from Gu Xie. Gu Xie was afraid that the child would fall, so he held the child tighter and squatted down. Before he had time to say anything to the child, the child ran away, just like a little fish that was released into the wild. It swayed its body a little and swam away happily after being lightly touched in his hand.
Gu Xie shook his head with amusement. He was still young anyway, so he should just keep an eye on him more.
Then the child grew up a little and could participate in the parent-child activities between Gu's father and Gu Xie, which he could only watch and cheer for before, such as basketball, horse racing, billiards...
The children did not get excited about these competitive sports. It was not because they hated them or were not interested in them. When they were with their father and brothers, they were always happy and had a lot of fun. They did not care about winning or losing. They only wanted to act cute with their father and eat more ice cream. It was not because they had no talent. The children were very smart. They found the trick after a few tries and took credit from their father once they had learned it.
Gu Xie challenged his father again and again, wanting to cross the mountain. His father encouraged such challenges, but the little boy could only clapped his hands like a seal and cheered on the side.
At that time, their personalities were already very different, but they had a good relationship.
The children would tell Gu Xie everything, including the little troubles they encountered while growing up. Those little troubles might not be worth mentioning or even laughable in the eyes of others, but in the eyes of the children they were a big deal. For example, if they fell down at school, everyone would laugh, or if they received a love letter, they wouldn't know what to do.
Children are more willing to tell their brothers these somewhat private little secrets than their parents.
When the child was young, his father was busy with work and his mother was not in good health, so Gu Xie took him to and from kindergarten. Once he took him there, the child grew from a small child to a big child.
Until the child was in the third year of junior high school, he was reluctant to go to school with Gu Xie. With red ears, he told Gu Xie that some classmates were joking and making fun of him for being so old but still needing his brother to pick him up.
Gu Xie stopped picking up the children from school. The next day, someone came up to him and tried to establish a relationship with him. Gu Xie responded nonchalantly. There were many people like this around him. As long as they didn't disturb him, Gu Xie could get away with it. After all, their parents might have cooperated with him. Until one day, the other party smiled and said.
"You are involved in family affairs now, right? My father said that your father obviously values you more. That little one has no chance, and you will definitely take over your family in the future.
My father is very good at judging people. He said that he saw your brother holding your father's hand and acting like a spoiled child at the last banquet. It was obvious that he was not going to let him take over the family. But you'd better be careful with your brother, he seems to be very likable. "
Gu Xie was doing his English homework. Hearing this, his pen made an ugly scratch on the paper. Gu Xie stopped writing and turned to look at him.
The man was unaware of anything and looked like he was speaking from the heart.
"You seemed to like him quite a lot before, but I would say there's no need to worry. Just see clearly and don't take it so seriously. Just keep him as a piece of trash and you can deal with him as you wish in the future—"
He was halfway through his words when Gu Xie grabbed him by the collar, lifted him up, and then slammed him hard against the wall. There was a loud thud, and the whole classroom fell silent, and everyone turned around to look at them.
Gu Xie stared at him closely, giving people a very terrifying feeling for a moment. Some classmates around him hesitated whether to separate them. Finally, Gu Xie slowly let go of his hand. He had used a lot of force just now, and after letting go, the other party collapsed against the wall, hunched over, and coughed for a long time.
Gu Xie stood there looking down at him and said calmly.
"Be quiet."
Then Gu Xie sat back in his seat and continued to do his homework as if nothing had happened. The classroom was very quiet. It was so quiet that the whole classroom could be filled with the regular sound of Gu Xie's pen tip rubbing against the paper.
From then on, Gu Xie continued to pick up and drop off the children at school, and did not compromise even when he was complained about, until the children went to college.
What happened next? Then the child disappeared. It was as if his life had been cut in the middle, and there was nothing left after that. It came to an abrupt end.
When the dream reached this point, Gu Xie woke up suddenly.
It was already afternoon when he woke up. Gu Xie took a while to come back to his senses. After he recovered, he packed up simply, put his coat on his forearm, and prepared to go home.
I met the secretary on the way.
"Mr. Li just sent someone to deliver the invitation. Mr. Li's daughter is getting married next month. You, your wife, and your husband are invited to attend the wedding."
Few people know my home address, so these invitations are sent to the company, and the secretary can save a stack of them every once in a while.
Gu Xie frowned slightly.
"Let me take a look."
The secretary was a little surprised. Gu Xie seldom went to such events. Unless it was a particularly close family friend, he would just ask someone to send a gift.
"Wait a minute, I'll get it right away."
When he got the invitation, Gu Xie flipped it over and saw that at the end, there were only Mrs. Gu, Father Gu, and his name, but not Gu Qingchi's.
"I sent it back and asked them to redo it. My brother's name was not written on it."
…
Gu Xie returned home earlier than usual today. When he returned, he saw Gu Qingchi lying barefoot on the sofa, holding a pillow and lying next to Mrs. Gu, watching TV series with her. He looked very comfortable.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Mrs. Gu and Gu Qingchi turned their heads to look.
"Why are you back so early today? If you're hungry, there's still food in the kitchen. Find something for yourself. Your dad said he was going to buy some groceries, and he hasn't come back yet."
Normally, the Gu family has fresh vegetables, milk, and even desserts for the children delivered to them every day, but sometimes when they suddenly want something, it’s faster to buy it themselves.
As soon as Mrs. Gu finished speaking, two car horns were heard outside.
“I’m back.”
Gu Qingchi seemed very happy. He ran to the door barefoot without even putting on his shoes and looked around. Gu's father soon came in with something, opened the bag at the door, and gave Gu Qingchi a small jelly the size of his palm. Gu Qingchi kept talking about it for a long time.
"Where's yours? I'll go put it in the fridge to cool it down."
Father Gu then took out another one. Gu Qingchi and Gu Xie’s things were the same, so if one had it, the other would have it too. Although Gu Xie would often just taste it and then leave it, it was a good deal for Gu Qingchi to have two portions all to himself.
"Eat it after dinner."
Gu Qingchi agreed as he walked, and Little Lihua also jumped off the sofa and followed Gu Qingchi.
Father Gu smiled and shook his head.
Gu Xie sat down next to Mrs. Gu.
"Xiao Chi's birthday has already passed this year, so let's make up for it by holding a party and inviting everyone."
Father Gu and Gu Xie looked at each other. There was a tacit understanding between the father and son.
Mrs. Gu didn't think too much about it. She was the first to agree. This was something she had been planning for a long time, but had been postponed again and again because of Gu Qingchi's condition. Now that Gu Qingchi's condition was much better, Mrs. Gu had been talking about it to Gu's father for some time.
"I was thinking about it a while ago. I want to invite the band from last time. I really like their style..."
Gu Xie agreed to all of them. He had only one request. He wanted to tell everyone that he had a younger brother whom he loved very much. He wanted the name on the invitation to include not only his and his parents' names, but also his younger brother's, an important member of his family.
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