"Love is not everything, you have a better future."
After saying this, Jiang Jianwen said nothing more or tried to persuade Lu Zan. He only asked him to think about it and go back to do his homework with peace of mind.
Jiang Baiyu came back not long after. It seemed like it was going to rain outside, and he had a bit of the moist and fresh earthy smell before the rain.
Probably seeing that Lu Zan was a little unhappy, he raised his hand and rubbed Lu Zan's hair as he passed by:
"Um?"
Lu Zan still thought about what Lu Shaohua and Jiang Jianwen said to him, and he felt a little confused.
But he didn't want Jiang Baiyu to find out, so he just smiled at Jiang Baiyu and casually clicked on the test paper under his hand:
"I don't know this question, please explain it to me."
"Um."
Jiang Baiyu pulled out the chair and sat down next to him. He glanced at the question he pointed at and slowly explained it to him from the beginning.
But halfway through the story, Jiang Baiyu found that Lu Zan was lost in thought, looking absent-minded.
Jiang Baiyu raised his eyebrows slightly and did not continue, but he did not make a sound to remind him. He just looked at him quietly to see when he would come back to his senses.
It may have taken a few seconds before Lu Zan realized that there seemed to be no sound around him. He was agitated, looked at Jiang Baiyu's faint gaze, and just smiled:
"Oh, I'm in a trance."
Jiang Baiyu pursed his lips and didn't say anything to him. He just changed a piece of draft paper and started from the beginning.
Lu Zan listened very carefully this time. In fact, he picked this question at random. He already knew this type of question, so it was not difficult to understand it.
Lu Zan solved the problem completely. Jiang Baiyu watched him finish and looked away after confirming that it was correct.
He picked up the pen on the table, but did not write the question immediately. He turned the pen holder around and around in his fingers. Finally, Lu Zan heard his voice lowered and said:
"You can tell me if you have anything."
"I……"
Lu Zan's hand holding the pen was slightly harder.
For a moment, he really wanted to tell Jiang Baiyu everything, but before he spoke, he thought of what Jiang Jianwen said:
"What would happen if Jiang Baiyu knew the real reason why you left home?"
"How could he stop you from becoming a better version of yourself".
Lu Zan admitted that he is a love-minded person. Some relationships are fine if they are not discussed, but if they are discussed, there must be results. At least for now, in his heart, mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, poetry and distance are not as important as Jiang Baiyu, because mountains, rivers, lakes and seas will not change or run away, but people will.
He can be very determined and brave, but he is only afraid of being given up by Jiang Baiyu.
So Lu Zan didn't speak in the end. He just lay on the table dully, nonchalantly calculating the math problems in his hand.
In the next few days, Lu Zan really didn't ask for another penny from his family.
In the morning, he got up early to have breakfast with Jiang Baiyu and Uncle Jiang, swiped his meal card at school at noon, and Jiang Baiyu took him home to cook in the evening.
Lu Zan said that if he didn't live and eat for free, he wouldn't live and eat for free. He stayed at Jiang Baiyu's house for a week. During this period, he did all the work of boiling water, wiping tables, mopping the floor, and washing dishes, but Jiang Baiyu wouldn't let him. He is still impatient. Lu Zan even learned a dish from Jiang Baiyu. Although it was just the simplest scrambled eggs with tomatoes, it was the first dish Lu Zan made in his life besides small cakes, and he still felt a sense of accomplishment.
Lu Zan's parents and sister didn't contact him this week. He was determined to prove it to them, but he tried his best not to contact him, as if he had spoken on his own initiative. It means the same thing as showing weakness.
On Friday afternoon, Beichuan No. 1 Middle School was cleaning up and had two classes ahead of schedule.
Jiang Baiyu had an extra class to attend for a competition, but Lu Zan took the bus back without waiting for him.
After wandering around the streets and alleys a lot, Lu Zan also remembered the way. He even played chess with the old man every afternoon when he took a walk after school, and walked the dog and teased the cat with his aunt. Within a few days, the streets and alleys Everyone in the street knew that this place was coming. Lu Zan was a person like this. When Lu Zan was walking on the road, from time to time he would be pulled by his aunt to stuff some fruits, and he would be called over by his uncle to watch mahjong.
Today, when Lu Zan went back, he fed the cat for a while with Aunt Liu in Dongxiang. Before leaving, the aunt stuffed him with a handful of melon seeds. Lu Zan walked while walking, and when passing by the steamed bun stall in the alley, he noticed The grandma at the steamed bun stall seemed to be coughing.
I went over to ask and found out that my grandma's speaker was broken yesterday. There was no one else at home, so she could only stand at the door and shout. But after all, she was old, so she started coughing the next morning.
Lu Zan couldn't stand hearing this, so he volunteered to help his grandma yell, moved a small wooden bench to the stall and started selling steamed buns. Later, he simply snatched grandma's apron and treated the guests by himself. He said hello and asked grandma to sit on the recliner and knit a sweater with peace of mind.
What Jiang Baiyu saw when he came back was this scene. His little boyfriend was wearing a handmade white cloth cap on his head, and also wearing a slightly yellowed white sleeves and apron, helping customers pack steamed buns with unfamiliar movements.
Jiang Baiyu pushed the bicycle and walked over. Lu Zan did not raise his head to look at him. He only knew that someone was coming, so he lowered his head and tied the plastic bag while asking:
"Hello, we have freshly baked steamed buns made by hand. Each bun is wrapped with grandma's love. Do you want a pack?"
As he spoke, he handed the tied plastic bag to the previous customer:
"Hello, it's four yuan in total. You can use WeChat or Alipay. Scan the code here and walk slowly. I wish you a happy life!"
A set of movements is performed smoothly, and the little mouth is sweeter.
After that, he saw Jiang Baiyu next to him.
Lu Zan was stunned for a moment:
"You're back? But I have to help grandma look after the stall, so you should go back first."
"Yeah, Bai Yu is out of school?"
Grandma knew that they were good friends. When she met him, she smiled and explained:
"My speaker here is broken. I have been shouting all morning, and my throat is a little uncomfortable. Xiao Lu is so enthusiastic that he insists on coming over to help me. Okay, Xiao Lu, go back if you have anything to do. I will rest. alright."
"It's okay. Anyway, it's the weekend. I'll help you look after it for a while."
"Oh, hurry up and go back to study, you're still a high school student."
"It's really okay..."
"Click——"
While the old man and the young man were arguing, Jiang Baiyu picked up the broken speaker from the small table next to him and asked:
"Do you have a toolbox?"
Grandma didn’t have a toolbox here, so Lu Zan ran to ask the old man playing chess next to him to borrow one.
Then the two people watched helplessly as Jiang Baiyu removed a bunch of parts from the speaker, inspected it and put it back together.
Finally, Jiang Baiyu tapped the speaker twice, turned on the switch, put it in front of Lu Zan, and motioned for him to speak.
Lu Zan was stunned for a moment, and then said obediently:
“Freshly baked and handmade steamed buns, each one is wrapped with grandma’s love. Don’t miss it when you pass by!”
After saying this, Jiang Baiyu put the speaker back, lowered his head and pressed the button a few more times, and Lu Zan's somewhat distorted shouting came from the speaker.
"Wow!"
Lu Zan was like a child who discovered something new. He played with the speaker for a long time, his eyes were bright.
After seeing enough, he helped his grandma re-hang the speaker on the signboard next to her, turned on the switch, and half of the alley was filled with his voice.
Grandma looked at them and was very happy.
Before the two children left, she opened the small satchel on her waist, took out a twenty-dollar note and gave it to Lu Zan:
"Thank you for the hard work, go ahead and buy some candy."
"no, I'm fine."
How dare Lu Zan accept it?
He helped his grandmother sell steamed buns all afternoon. Each steamed bun cost 50 cents. Forty steamed buns cost 20 yuan, and the profit was even thinner. It would take a long time to earn these 20 yuan.
Lu Zan didn't dare to take his grandma's hard-earned money, but grandma insisted on stuffing it into his hand and wouldn't let him go until he took it.
So in the end, the twenty yuan ended up in Lu Zan's hands.
Speaking of which, this is the first pot of gold Lu Zan has earned since leaving home.
He felt that the money should be spent more meaningfully. It happened that Jiang Baiyu was going to buy vegetables, so he took him to the vegetable market, hoping to spend the twenty yuan on their dinner today.
There were not many people in the market, and under the somewhat worn-out ceiling, there was a mixture of green leafy vegetables.
Jiang Baiyu locked his bicycle outside. When he went in, he asked Lu Zan what he wanted to eat at night. Lu Zan thought about it for a long time and had difficulty choosing the dishes in the vegetable market. Finally, he saw the red tomatoes, so he smiled and said:
"Can I make a tomato scramble tonight?"
Once he learned it, he always wanted to show off his skills.
Jiang Baiyu nodded, then watched him run to the stall next to him, and imitated the people next to him and asked:
"Boss, how much do tomatoes cost per pound?"
The boss was holding a cigarette in his mouth and said vaguely without raising his head:
"One dollar and two."
"..." Upon hearing this price, Lu Zan was stunned for a moment:
"How many?"
"One dollar and two!"
Lu Zan was a little confused.
He subconsciously looked at Jiang Baiyu and asked:
"Can I buy it?"
"Can I buy anything? One yuan and two is too expensive, baby?"
The boss pulled a plastic bag and gave it to him:
"They are all good dishes, just take your pick."
"..."
It wasn't that Lu Zan thought it was expensive, he just felt... it seemed a bit ridiculously cheap.
Later, he also saw celery costing 50 cents per catty, chives costing 1 yuan per catty, and meat costing 12 yuan per catty. After walking around the vegetable market, he looked at the large and small plastic bags Jiang Baiyu was holding, then looked at the remaining change and coins in his hand, and sighed with some emotion. .
"Um?"
"It's nothing, I just suddenly felt that money is so well spent."
Lu Zan put the remaining change in his pocket, leaving only a one-yuan coin:
"It's not enough money for a cup of milk tea. I thought I could only buy some tomatoes, but I didn't expect to be able to buy so many things. You said, how long and how long do you have to sell steamed buns for 50 cents a piece and vegetables for 50 cents a pound to earn 20 cents? It’s ten yuan.”
He raised the coin and looked at the sky:
"It turns out that making money is so difficult."
Lu Zan just said a sincere emotion. Jiang Baiyu looked at him, but lowered his eyes slightly.
He slightly curled up the corners of his lower lips, but that helpless arc quickly disappeared. He hung a few plastic bags on the handlebars of his bicycle and said warmly:
"gone."
"good--"
Lu Zan bounced the coin up, caught it with his hand, and put it into his pocket.
"Can you teach me how to make fried pork with celery today?"
"good."
"Then you teach me a dish every day from now on. When I learn it, I will cook it for you every day."
"Um."
Such a life is ordinary. Lu Zan didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Stay with the people you like every day and do small daily things, as if life can go on like this forever. But for some reason, Lu Zan always felt a little uneasy.
He had been staying at Jiang Baiyu's house for a week. Jiang Baiyu didn't ask anything. But the more he didn't ask, the more uneasy Lu Zan became. It might be some kind of premonition, or it might be the calm before the storm. While enjoying this ordinary happiness, he would always feel a sense of weightlessness that he was about to lose.
So he likes to stick to Jiang Baiyu when he has nothing to do. It seems that he can feel at ease only when he smells the fragrance of jasmine flowers on his body.
On Saturday morning, Jiang Jianwen went to the company for a meeting early. Lu Zan slept a little too long. When he woke up, Jiang Baiyu was sitting at the table reading a book with headphones on.
Lu Zan watched him for a while, but he was not found, so he climbed out of the bed and crawled from the head to the end of the bed:
"Jiang Xingxing."
"Um?"
Jiang Baiyu took off his headphones and looked at him.
"I want to listen with you."
"good."
His request never seemed to be rejected by Jiang Baiyu. Jiang Baiyu stood up and sat beside the bed, put on the other side of the earphones for Lu Zan, and then lowered his head and continued reading.
The weather was very good that day, the sun was shining in from outside the room, and outside the half-open window could be heard the rustling of leaves in the wind and the noisy chirping of cicadas.
Those sounds mixed with the gentle singing in the headphones, causing Lu Zan, who was still entangled in thoughts, to close his eyes again. But he didn't fall asleep in the end. He only tugged on Jiang Baiyu's clothes:
"Jiang Xingxing."
"Um."
"I've been very scared lately."
Jiang Baiyu paused while turning the book:
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid you'll give up on me."
Lu Zan opened his eyes. He didn't want to miss every emotion of Jiang Baiyu.
But there was no flaw in Jiang Baiyu's light-colored eyes.
Lu Zan felt that he seemed to understand everything, knew everything, and said nothing.
Lu Zan pursed his lips and asked in a low voice:
"Can you teach me how to cook?"
"Um."
"Can you keep telling me the topic?"
"Um."
"Can we live together?"
"Um."
"Do you believe me?"
"Um."
"Do you believe I can solve all difficulties?"
"..."
"You do not believe?"
"I believe."
Jiang Baiyu's book finally couldn't stand it anymore.
He frowned slightly, lowered his eyes, and raised his hand to straighten Lu Zan's sleep-tangled hair:
"But Lu Zan, you didn't have to face difficulties."
"..."
Lu Zan regretted saying this.
But he still asked:
"If I won't let you go at all, do you want to give up on me?"
Jiang Baiyu would probably not answer this question, and even if he did, the answer would not be what Lu Zan wanted to hear.
So he said before Jiang Baiyu opened his mouth:
"I don't want to hear the answer anymore, Jiang Baiyu, please kiss me."
The book in Jiang Baiyu's hand fell to the ground.
One corner of the quilt hung down from the bed, and deep wrinkles were printed on the quilt surface.
I don't know if it was Lu Zan's misunderstanding, but Jiang Baiyu's kiss seemed a little more fierce than before, as if he wanted to vent something, or maybe...
Lu Zan closed his eyes.
Like a countdown, or a farewell.
Lu Zan didn't know how much time had passed, but Jiang Baiyu's kisses were always gentle and long, like a drowning person who refuses to let go once he grabs the driftwood.
The quilt was rubbed to the ground, and Jiang Baiyu picked it up and threw it to the corner of the bed.
The weather at the end of May was already a bit hot, and the temperature in the room was a bit burning. Lu Zan felt that his whole body was hot.
His heart was pounding and his hands were shaking a little, but when he was moved, he still tentatively lifted the hem of Jiang Baiyu's clothes.
Jiang Baiyu felt his movements, trembled slightly, and quickly let go of him.
His breathing was a little heavy, and although he didn't continue kissing, the distance between the two was still ambiguous.
He lowered his eyes and looked at Lu Zan, then heard him ask:
"Jiang Xingxing, do you want to try it?"
The young man and Midsummer collide, like two groups of fiery fires that can easily burn each other.
At an age and season when you are prone to restlessness, do something impulsive, as if everything is so logical. But Jiang Baiyu held his wrist and stopped him from causing further trouble.
His voice was low and a little hoarse:
"Lu Zan, no."
"I allowed it."
"There are some things that you can't even allow."
Jiang Baiyu gently rubbed Lu Zan's lips with his fingertips and wiped away the water stains on them. He slowly traced Lu Zan's eyebrows with his eyes, from the bridge of his nose to the corners of his lips.
Finally, he said:
"Don't give me too much."
"Again you're not worthy?"
Lu Zan was a little sad.
He hugged Jiang Baiyu's neck and wanted to talk to him a lot, but finally gave up.
He only said:
"Jiang Baiyu, I'm hungry."
The young man's turbulent affection was finally hidden in the chirping of cicadas in midsummer. Jiang Baiyu turned on the fan and calmed down in the squeaking noise of the old fan and the slightest breeze.
He took out the ingredients from the refrigerator to make a lunch for Lu Zan, only to find that there were no eggs at home. Fortunately, the vegetable market was not far from home, so he went out and bought some dinner dishes.
There are many people in the vegetable market on weekend mornings, and there is noisy bargaining everywhere.
Jiang Baiyu called and asked Lu Zan what else he wanted to eat for dinner. After asking, he picked out the items, paid for them, and walked out with his bag.
But when he walked out of the vegetable market, he accidentally raised his eyes and found that a black car that was incompatible with the place had parked in the narrow alley on the side of the market.
Jiang Baiyu's eyes paused slightly, and he probably had a guess in his heart.
Sure enough, soon, the door of the back seat of the car was opened, and a woman in a white dress got out of the car.
"Jiang Baiyu, classmate Jiang, right?"
Xu Zhili took off his sunglasses, his delicate face looked slightly tired, but he still smiled at Jiang Baiyu:
"I'm sorry that I came to you suddenly without saying hello. Hello, I am Lu Zan's mother. Do you have time now? I want to chat with you, is that okay?"