The King's Game

When Jiang Nan returned to his aunt's house, his uncle and aunt had already had dinner with his cousin and cousin for a while. Seeing him coming back, his aunt asked, "Xiao Nan is so late after school today? The food is still hot in the pot."

Jiang Nan thanked in a low voice, went into the kitchen and brought out the meal.

"Your brother didn't have a good lunch, and kept arguing for dinner when he was hungry, so he didn't wait for you." Aunt explained.

"It's okay, don't wait for me." Jiang Nan said hurriedly, and the dinner table was silent for a few seconds after he finished speaking. Jiang Nan didn't know if it was caused by his own opening. It's late, you...you really don't have to wait for me."

After finishing speaking, he silently lowered his head to eat and dared not speak again.

The aunt said: "It's okay, Xiao Nan, since you have been living in our house for almost a year, don't be so estranged."

Jiang Nan nodded hurriedly, but didn't know what to say, and suddenly heard his uncle click his tongue: "You can't beat a fart with a stick, what are you talking to him about?"

Jiang Nan curled up his fingers nervously, and said sorry in a low voice. His uncle has always disliked him since he was a child, and now he has to move here until he graduates from high school. The other party may be annoying. Thinking of this, I feel a little uncomfortable and uncomfortable .

"Old Lin, don't keep saying that, and you kid, what are you sorry for..." Before the aunt finished speaking, she heard her cousin interrupt her: "Yes, why do you act like we bully you all day long? It's annoying."

"Xiao Bin!" My aunt scolded, "Why are you talking to brother?"

"It's not my own brother, it used to be that every time my other brothers and sisters met, they bought toys for me, took me to the movies and ate delicious food, but he didn't have anything, and even sent paints for my birthday. I hate painting the most. It's already..." Lin Bin muttered and lowered his head to pick up the rice.

"Eat your meal, that kind of paint is very expensive, and your cousin is willing to buy it for you without saying thank you." Cousin Lin Jie slapped her younger brother on the head and said, "Jiang Nan, don't be as knowledgeable as him. God knows toys, you little snob."

However, after saying this, she was glared at by her father, she curled her lips and stopped talking. She knew in her heart that Jiang Nan didn't want to bring toys or something to his younger brother, nor did she want to stay at their house for free, the key is They have no money, Jiang Nan's family is different from theirs, his mother married a poor father, and the factory where his father worked had an accident, Jiang's mother happened to deliver food at that time, and both of them died. , leaving behind Jiang Nan who is still in the first year of high school.

When I followed my parents to bring him home to live in, the boy was holding the urn in his hand and refused to let go, and his mind was still in a trance.

Now that one year has passed, even though I still have a little bit of time to live, I have somehow slowed down. I don’t know what happened after I transferred to another school, and the smiles on my face gradually increased, which is a good thing.

When Jiang Nan returned to the room where he and Lin Bin lived together, he saw the paint all over the floor at a glance. It was given by him on his birthday a few days ago. Throwing it away, squatting down to pick up all the paint bottles, and then wiping the dirty floor with a rag, I still feel a little guilty in my heart, knowing that the child doesn't like it and giving it away, I think it's a little selfish.

Although I bought these because my little cousin is learning to paint, but there is no reason why he likes it himself. I can’t learn it by myself, so I want to see my little cousin’s paintings, and I also think that the other party can use the remaining ones that I don’t want. play around.He has liked this since he was in art class when he was a child, but when he mentioned it to his family, his parents didn’t agree with him learning it. First, he felt that he couldn’t afford the money, and second, he thought it would be useless in the future. Jiang Nan later became sensible. , and never mentioned it again.

After tidying up the paints, looking at the rows of paints, I remembered the scene when I bought the paints. At that time, Qi You waited for him boredly by the side. I don’t know how long I waited. The smile on his face seemed to have seen through his love for painting. Thinking of his smile, Jiang Nan's mood suddenly brightened.

______

During the morning self-study, the head teacher praised Jiang Nan very much. The reason is that yesterday's duty was done very well. The class was kept very clean from morning to evening. During the school's surprise inspection, they rated their class as excellent. Jiang Nan Feeling a little embarrassed by being praised, she keeps blushing and lowers her head, but she can't help but glance forward from the corner of her eyes, just in time to meet Qi You's gaze looking over with a half-smile, feeling like she has nowhere to put her hands and feet.

After the morning class, Jiang Nan returned to the classroom after lunch, lowered his head and carefully reviewed what the teacher said just now, when the desk was suddenly knocked, he raised his head in a daze, and when he saw the person coming, his body Immediately tense up involuntarily.

Hu Yongzhi leaned on his desk, raised his eyebrows and said, "Good student, don't be so nervous, I need your help with something."

Jiang Nan held his pen and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

"Didn't you do a good job on duty? Will you help me and my brother do it in the future? It just so happens that it's my turn today."

Jiang Nan pursed his lips, lowered his head and didn't look at him: "Shouldn't you do your own things? If you do it seriously, you can do it well..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw someone slapped the table hard, and the loud sound made a few sporadic people in the classroom frown and look over. Jiang Nan was even more frightened and shivered, and swallowed the rest of the words I can't say it anymore.

"I'll just ask you whether to do it or not? Qi You is not here now, don't keep thinking about recruiting soldiers, if you refuse me now, there will always be a time when he is not around in the future, when the time comes, you can figure it out." Hu Yongzhi threatened , He made an appointment to play golf this afternoon, so he didn't even bother to stay here on duty. He could escape most of the time, but in the past few days, the investigation was strict, and he didn't want to be talked about by the teacher. He heard the teacher praise this so-called good student in the morning. Immediately a plan came to mind.

Jiang Nan's family used to be poor, and he didn't have enough to eat. A year ago, an accident happened, and he couldn't eat any food. Now, his arms and legs are small, how can he beat Hu Yongzhi, who is full of muscles at a glance?In the end, he was half-forced to agree.

He didn't want Qi You to know about this matter, and he didn't want the other party to think that he was cowardly and had to rely on others for everything. He just felt that it was just a matter of duty, and it didn't matter for a few days. Compared with the housework I did every day when I was a child, it can only be regarded as insignificant.

So comforting himself, Jiang Nan stayed after school, cleaned up the paper scraps and food packaging bags all over the floor, closed the doors and windows, and when he was approaching the corridor with his schoolbag and a large bag of garbage on his back, he suddenly heard a sound at the corner of the corridor. what sound.

His ears were sharp, and he subconsciously looked in that direction when he heard the sound, and stopped immediately when he saw the two people, neither advancing nor retreating.

There were two people standing in the corner, one was Qi You who hadn't left yet, and the other was a girl named Xu Yan whom she met during the summer vacation.

Qi You was a little overwhelmed.

In the past two days, the rumors in the class have become more and more serious. When walking on the road, I can hear someone pointing at him and saying, "Hey, isn't this Qi You from Class [-]? I heard that he is the boyfriend of Xiaohua?"

I have never seen such rumors spread so strongly. If we want to refute the rumors, we have to start from the source, but now I don’t know who spread the rumors. He plans to talk to Xu Yan about it and see the attitude of the other party. , just as he hadn't looked for the other party, the other party had already found him one step ahead.

Although he had vaguely guessed whether it might be Xu Yan herself, he didn't really know the other party, and he didn't have any real evidence, so he couldn't speculate on his own.

What he doesn't know is that this is really Xu Yan's handwriting. She knows the terrible speed and distortion of rumors, and that day she pretended to let go of a girl with a big mouth in her class that she and Qi You went shopping together in the mall. Huijie, as expected, within a few days, the version turned into dating with Qi You.

But of course she won't let Qi You notice it.

When Qi You saw Xu Yan, the other party looked around in embarrassment. Although it was late, the students in the school were still in twos and threes. Qi You hesitated for a while, and then went to the corner of the corridor with the other party.

"Qi You, I really didn't expect things to turn out like this, and I don't know who is talking nonsense, you, you don't blame me, do you?"

Qi You shook his head: "It's just that it has caused trouble to some extent. Whether it's for you or me, I haven't clarified it now because I have considered your attitude."

Xu Yan's eyes lit up.

"After all, such things as puppy love have a bad reputation as a girl. If I explain it alone, they may believe it, but you may encounter some troubles."

Xu Yan first twitched the corner of her mouth, feeling a little disappointed, but a warm feeling slowly rose from the bottom of her heart. Of course, she understood what Qi You meant. Wasn't it because of Qi You that she fell in love with him in the first place?

"So I thought, why don't we find a time to talk to everyone together, it's a misunderstanding anyway."

Xu Yan looked at him determinedly, and went all out: "But Qi You, is it really impossible for us to be together? Instead of spending so much effort explaining, why can't we give it a try?"

Qi You didn't expect the other party to be so direct. After a moment of silence, he said, "Sorry, I really didn't think about this."

"Don't you like me?"

"...Well, at least not that kind of liking." Qi You wanted to sigh, not understanding why the other party was so sure that he should like her.

"Why?" Xu Yan didn't understand. She lived a life full of stars since she was a child: "Is there something wrong with me? Or do you want to study hard? Then you can talk about it after you graduate from high school."

"It's not this question. I don't want to be discussed by everyone around this topic all day." Qi You didn't explain further.The reason why he didn't agree to the other party was not only because of the problem he said, but also because of the other party's attitude of taking everything for granted. From the beginning, he treated Xu Yan like a friend who met a stranger. It's not kind, maybe they will have a close friendship in the future when they meet some opportunities, but now they really don't have that idea. After saying these things, he feels that Xu Yan doesn't seem to understand.

"What kind of problem is that? If they want to say it, let them say it? It's not a bad word," Xu Yan herself enjoyed the attention of everyone, and didn't think Qi You would hate it. She gradually became aggressive, and her eyes were red: "I like you very much. I have liked you since the beginning of high school. It is the first time in my life that I actively pursued a boy. How can you not like me? Besides, my classmates think we are dating, and now they say no, it is my face Where to put it?"

"That's why I said to explain together, they will understand." Qi You suppressed the desire to frown and said patiently.

"You don't know, they won't understand, they just want to say what they want to say, say what they find exciting, who cares whether it's true or not?" Xu Yan seemed a little excited.

"Xu Yan, you are too extreme, why don't you go back and think about it first." Qi You felt a little tired, and felt that his original intention of standing here had gradually deviated from Xu Yan's crying, so it was good to just talk about it Okay, what's the situation now?

"What are you thinking? I don't have anything to think about, Qi You, unless you give me a perfect explanation."

Qi You opened his mouth, thinking about how to get rid of the current situation, when he suddenly heard a weak voice: "Well, can you let me have a moment?"

Xu Yan's expression froze immediately, and she turned her head together with Qi You.

Jiang Nan stood at the entrance of the corridor helplessly carrying a large bag of garbage.

"Are we standing here blocking your way?" Xu Yan was already in a bad mood, but seeing Jiang Nan, who had no good impression at all, couldn't help asking.

The question she asked was also correct. The place where she and Qi You were standing was still some distance away from the handrail of the stairs. Jiang Nan's thin and small body would not make it impossible for him to walk through. What's more, the teaching building is so big, and there is not only one Corridor, won't you take a detour for fear of running into embarrassment?

Jiang Nan seemed a bit cramped, but still insisted on squeezing the words out: "No, but Qi You and I made an appointment to go home together after school. Have you finished talking?"

Qi You was a little surprised to see this boy who was usually timid enough to stutter a word, but now he finished this sentence without stopping under Xu Yan's cold gaze.

"I haven't finished talking." Xu Yan looked at Jiang Nan with an unfriendly expression. If he really made an appointment to go home, how could Qi You not say a word, and when he walked out of the classroom, he clearly came out with Jiang Yuan. It's just that I called the other party away, why is it that I suddenly made an appointment with Jiang Nan to go home together?

"Xu Yan, it's really late now, what can we talk about tomorrow?" Qi You said.

Xu Yan pursed her lips and looked at Jiang Nan, knowing that there were some bad things to say in front of others, but her eyes suddenly became sharper: "How much did you hear just now?"

"Ah? What, what are you talking about?" Jiang Nan looked flustered, and Qi You thought to himself that this guy is really not good at lying.

Xu Yan was obviously not a fool either. She frowned and was about to speak again when she saw Qi Youdang in front of the other party: "Okay, don't embarrass him anymore, he won't say anything."

Xu Yan stared at Jiang Nan who bowed his head and shrunk behind Qi You's back. The other party seemed to be tough for a few seconds, and showed his true colors so quickly. This time, she showed a contemptuous smile unabashedly, but Qi You Having said that, he couldn't be bothered with outsiders, so he turned around and was about to leave when he heard Jiang Nan's small voice: "If you really like him, why are you willing to talk to him like that?"

Qi You was stunned, Xu Yan also stopped, and turned to stare at Jiang Nan, but the other party didn't look at him at all, just lowered his head, looking unhappy, as if he didn't say that sentence just now.