After midnight

The next morning, the alarm clock rang at 4:30. Su Ziling turned it off and got up.

He finished washing and getting ready. Just as he was about to open the door, his peripheral vision swept past An Yan's door. He walked over quietly as if possessed by a ghost. An Yan's door was ajar. He held his breath and peeked through the gap, and saw An Yan lying on the bed sleeping soundly.

Su Ziling smiled and went out.

When he ran to Luxun Park, panting, the sky was already blue-gray. He walked down and unexpectedly found that someone had arrived earlier than him. It was an old man wearing dark clothes for morning exercise.

Perhaps it was out of natural curiosity that the old man took a special look at Su Ziling. After all, at this point in time, Su Ziling was the second person to show up besides him, and he was a young man who didn't get up early these days.

Su Ziling deliberately ignored the gaze and continued walking down, pretending to enjoy the scenery. He walked to the beach, and the sea water splashed under his feet.

Su Ziling looked down at the ripples on the sea water, which disappeared, and then looked back inadvertently. The uneven rocks did not block his sight, and he saw the old man stretching his arms and legs not far away. Judging from this posture, he had no intention of leaving for a while.

There was no other way, so Su Ziling began to walk along the narrow coastline, stepping on the gravel on the ground. This was the advantage of being at the seaside. He walked to the bottom of a cliff, and perhaps because the tide had not yet risen, a meter-wide strip of land was exposed on the seaside.

He looked up and thought it was enough to stand here. No matter whether the place above was still the boundary of Luxun Park, even if someone stood there and looked down, they would not be able to see him because of the perspective.

Su Ziling, as if he had found a treasure, happily began to concentrate on today's homework.

At around seven o'clock, Su Ziling returned home with his feet as heavy as lead. An Yan stipulated that he must run back home, so even if the road was all uphill, he would do it when An Yan was not around.

When he got home, it was already bright. The moment Su Ziling opened the door, An Yan turned around just as he was standing in the light of the living room.

An Yan was wearing a white shirt and black pants, simple, ascetic and yet strangely homely. An Yan smiled slightly when he saw Su Ziling coming back. He said, "You're back, go wake up Xiao Su. Maybe it was her first day of school yesterday, and she stayed in bed unexpectedly today."

"I know." Su Ziling closed the door.

After dinner, An Yan went to send Xiao Su to school. Su Zi Ling lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He stared with his eyes wide open, not knowing what he was thinking about, as if he was thinking about nothing. After a while, there was a sound of a door closing. He calculated the time, just enough time for An Yan to send Xiao Su to school and come back. He immediately got up and went out in his slippers.

An Yan was standing in the living room, about to open the window. Su Ziling could only see his back from his door. He crossed the sofa and stood side by side with An Yan. "What are you doing?"

An Yan shook his head. As soon as An Yan opened the window, the wind blew in. Outside the window, flowers swayed in the wind, and the ground was covered with soft sunlight.

"You really aren't going to bed?"

"Ah."

"How do you feel this morning?"

Su Ziling opened his mouth, but didn't know where to start. Seeing him like this, An Yan could only sigh. "Come with me, I have something for you."

Su Ziling followed into An Yan's room. An Yan leaned over and took out a dark-wooden thick-leather book from the drawer. "This is for you. Read it carefully."

Su Ziling nodded and took it. "Can you pick up Xiao Su for lunch at noon?"

"OK."

"Then I'll pick her up at noon."

"Row."

After Su Ziling finished speaking, he returned to his room and opened the notebook to read it carefully. This was An Yan's own note. The words on the notebook were not written in a regular pattern, line by line. An Yan's words took up several spaces, but overall they were very neat, clean and pleasing to the eye.

Su Ziling couldn't wait to flip through the pages. On each page, An Yan wrote very carefully and thoroughly. Some places were marked in red, with notes and An Yan's own feelings. Su Ziling was so excited that he suppressed his overly enthusiastic mood and started to read carefully from the beginning. This notebook came at the right time.

The soup was simmering over a low fire. An Yan checked the time, wiped his hands, and walked to Su Ziling's door. He could have walked in directly, but seeing Su Ziling's focused look, An Yan stopped in front of the door for a while before symbolically knocking on the door and walking in.

"Don't be in a hurry, take your time, and digest and absorb it based on the actual situation."

"Yeah." Su Ziling raised his head from his notebook, rubbed his eyes, and stood up and fell back on his bed. It was obvious that he had read a lot this morning.

Su Ziling had just laid down when he suddenly jumped up again. "What time is it, An Yan? Should I go pick up Xiao Su from school?"

"Don't worry, Xiao Su's get out of class will end in another 10 to 20 minutes."

"Then I'd better go now."

"Hey, An Yan, what did you cook that smells so good?" Su Ziling walked past An Yan and asked as he walked to the door to change his shoes.

"Pork ribs soup."

"Then you'll have a treat for lunch today. Now that I'm gone, I'm leaving."

After Su Ziling left and the door closed, An Yan smiled and shook his head helplessly.

I picked up Xiao Su for lunch and sent her to school. After coming to Qingdao, it seems that every day is the same. But it is because of those people you know and love that you live this life differently and passionately.

In the afternoon, Su Ziling urged An Yan to come out together.

"If Xiao Su doesn't go to school, you won't leave the house." Su Ziling felt that An Yan must be educated for staying at home every day.

"Go out and play basketball with you?"

"No, I'm the one who's drinking coffee with you." Su Ziling knew that An Yan said this on purpose, so he also deliberately retorted.

After hearing this, An Yan's sharp jawline softened. He looked at the white clouds floating slowly above his head and squinted his eyes. Su Ziling pulled An Yan all the way and ran straight to the coffee shop.

"Two cups of coffee you made."

Su Ziling said this happily and looked towards the last row. An Yan had already gone over and sat there.

"You know her." An Yan said after Su Ziling came over.

Su Ziling shuddered unexpectedly and stroked his nose with his right index finger. "If you come too often, you'll be cooked. How did you know? You're very observant?"

An Yan retracted his gaze towards Yang Kewei and said, "I guessed it."

"Guess?"

"Guess."

After the coffee was served, An Yan nodded slightly to Yang Kewei. After Yang Kewei returned the greeting, she and Su Ziling looked at each other tacitly and smiled.

An Yan took a sip of coffee and looked at the scenery outside the window. Su Ziling took a big gulp of coffee and asked him, "What are you thinking about?"

"How are your uncle and aunt doing in America?"

"Very good. I just talked to my mom on the phone last night. She nagged me for a long time. After she finally finished nagging me, she complained that my dad was too stupid for insisting on renting a car to travel by himself and driving in the wrong direction..."

Su Ziling kept talking like pouring beans, and An Yan supported his head with his left hand and listened to him, feeling envious. His eyes were full of smiles, as if he was lost in reverie, and he tilted his head to look at Su Ziling and chattered.

Su Ziling stopped talking and looked at An Yan. An Yan's expression was so beautiful at the moment that he probably didn't even know it himself.

"Why don't you say anything?" An Yan asked casually.

Su Ziling moved his lips, but before he could utter a word, he was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. He picked up the phone and nodded wildly at the other end. An Yan withdrew his gaze and picked up the porcelain white cup to drink coffee.

"It's Zhang Yi, the one who always makes plans to play basketball with me. He told me that he has no classes this afternoon and wanted me to come over and play basketball."

"Then go ahead."

"Okay." Su Ziling nodded.

After a while, An Yan saw that Su Ziling still didn't move, and cast a questioning look at him.

Su Ziling said with a smile: "Didn't you say so? Then go ahead. I'll wait for you to join me."

"Go ahead, go ahead. I'll give you a chance to admire my heroic figure!" Su Ziling continued before An Yan could speak. An Yan had no choice but to stand up.

"Let's go, let's go!" Su Ziling immediately jumped up, standing up faster than An Yan. He walked in front, opened the door of the coffee shop, and suddenly turned around and smiled shyly and brightly at Yang Ke.

An Yan paid the money and took in Su Ziling's little expression.

"An Yan, have you ever thought about which university you will go to in the future?"

"No." An Yan hadn't thought about it. In fact, he didn't even dare to have such a thought. The future was too beautiful and too cruel for him.

"I think Ocean University is pretty good. Look, Qingdao is so nice."

"Yes, we're here." An Yan saw the shadow of the basketball court from afar and reminded Su Ziling.

"Zhang Yi~" Su Ziling greeted everyone and saw a figure standing at the side of the basketball court from a distance.

"Come here, Zhang Yi, let me introduce you to my brother, An Yan. He is amazing~"

"Play basketball?"

"Ah no... Anyway, it's super awesome."

"...Hello, hello, I'm Zhang Yi."

"Hello, I'm An Yan."

Zhang Yi curiously fought back and forth between the two and wisely changed the subject. He asked Su Ziling, "How do you want to fight?"

"How can I fight you if you call me? One on one. By the way, why don't you call your classmates?"

"They all have classes. Besides, it's new to play with you. It's annoying to play with the same group of people all day long."

Su Ziling and Zhang Yi laughed as they entered the court. An Yan watched them from the sidelines and felt as if he had seen Su Ziling like this a long time ago. Boys of Su Ziling's age should be full of vigor and vitality. Although he did not hate his dull personality, he did not think it was good. At least, he did not think Su Ziling was good like this.

Su Ziling fought with Zhang Yi for a while. As he dodged Zhang Yi's attack, he glanced at An Yan.

An Yan was emptying his mind again, as if he had nothing to do with the hustle and bustle around him. Su Ziling was afraid of him being like this, not because An Yan was bad, but because he was too good like this. An Yan was in control of himself with ease, and had an independent personality, as if he could withdraw from himself at any time, turn around and never linger. Su Ziling was afraid of him being like this.

The basketball hit Su Ziling's calf and rolled down without Su Ziling noticing.

Seeing Su Ziling's absent-minded look, Zhang Yi followed his gaze and saw the young man standing there with his face raised to the sky, as if he would disappear if the wind blew.

"An Yan! Anyan!" Su Ziling shouted loudly and waved his hand to let Anyan come over.

An Yan came over and walked up to him. Su Ziling patted his shoulder with his big hand, "An Yan, can I teach you how to play basketball?"

An Yan looked at him without saying anything, then he leaned over, picked up the basketball on the ground, jumped up and shot. The basketball hit the center of the target without any suspense.

"Shit! Didn't you say you wouldn't?"

"I said I'm not very good at it." An Yan seemed a little innocent.

"Whatever, come on, Zhang Yi, let's play a game between the two of us."

Zhang Yi didn't dare to raise any objections. It was quite interesting anyway.

Twenty minutes later, the game was over, and all three were exhausted and panting. Su Ziling and An Yan teamed up to crush Zhang Yi's score.

"Su Ziling, go home and take a shower. It's time to pick up Xiao Su from school."

"Yes, then hurry back."

Zhang Yi looked at the two of them who made a prompt decision and went back, and fell to the ground speechlessly. He panted and retracted his previous thoughts that the two of them were not compatible.

The two of them strode across the tree-lined campus, feeling refreshed after the exercise.

"An Yan, smile." After taking out his cell phone and checking messages out of habit, Su Ziling pointed the phone at An Yan.

An Yan didn't ignore him and walked over calmly, nor did he dodge and tell Su Ziling to stop making trouble with a stiff face. He tilted his face, made a scissors gesture, and touched his cheek with his index finger, leaving a soft pit.

An unexpected surprise, acting cute is a sin. Looking at Su Ziling's slightly stunned eyes, An Yan instantly regained his expressionless face.

"Hey, compare again~ I haven't taken the photo yet."

Su Ziling yelled, and An Yan ran away. Su Ziling withdrew his hand awkwardly, and followed him with a stifled smile.

On their way back, they passed the entrance of the coffee shop together. Su Ziling suddenly looked straight ahead and walked in a proper manner. As he walked, he could not help but secretly look at the high wall. There was the scent of roses and the girl inside the wall.

An Yan took in Su Ziling's little movements calmly and walked forward steadily.

After walking a long way, Su Ziling looked at An Yan beside him in panic. An Yan looked straight ahead and walked seriously. That was right, how could An Yan notice the little thought he just discovered?

Although An Yan didn't notice it, his heart was still pounding and he was extremely nervous. He asked himself, why do I feel that someone is special?

Maybe it's because you know that wherever she is, that place is different from others. When you pass by that place, there are obviously many scenes and many people around, but you only miss her, only her. Su Ziling's face turned red.