migratory birds do not return

During the nearly four-hour drive, Ai Qi kept talking about the past intermittently, reminiscing about her teenage years, like an old man who refuses to put down the beautiful photos of his youth.

Hou Xiao dutifully acted as a quiet listener, and after listening for a long time, he became a little numb, and the initial sentimentality disappeared, leaving no trace.

He suddenly thought—why, during the time when he received the grades, he was not as calm as he is now, but impulsively, disobeyed everyone's advice, and recklessly put his fate on the gambling table, and finally came a Lose everything?

Hou Xiao got out of the car. Ai Qi and his destination were different, and they separated at the station. He stood at the door for a while with his backpack on his back, took a deep breath, and walked along the street, intending to find Stay in a hotel first.

He didn't intend to go to school in the middle of the night, but he didn't expect it to be so difficult to book a hotel here, and there were no vacancies in several places.Hou Xiao had no choice but to change his destination and go to the school to see if he could get in.

The late night here is much cooler than the late night in the harbour. There are few people on the street, and one or two cars pass by quickly from time to time.Hou Xiao returned the message sent by his aunt asking if he had arrived, then briefly browsed through the others, deleted the advertisements, and then changed hands to put away the phone that didn't have much battery left.

The chat history between him and Du Baigong is still there, and he put it at the top of the list. The last conversation was a few months ago, and it stopped on a message "Where are you?" he sent.

There is no news, like a stone sinking into the sea.

It wasn't until Hou Xiao walked around like a headless fly for almost half an hour that he couldn't find the location of the school at all, his mobile phone was almost out of battery, and there was no one on the road to ask for directions.Standing on the street, he suddenly felt that he had nowhere to go.

He felt powerless, an emotion that had been simmering in his brain since he stepped on the car leaving the harbour, frantically trying to break through.Hou Xiao sat down on the bench and called Hou Yu with the last bit of battery on his phone.

"sister."

The moment he spoke, he was taken aback by his own voice, as if he was grinding on sandpaper with a blade, like a decades-old smoking gun.

Hou Xiao cleared his throat and briefly explained his situation. Hou Yu scolded him bloody on the phone, nothing more than asking him why he didn't contact him when he came over. Hou Xiao listened silently, no explanation.

"...Forget it." Hou Yu belatedly realized that Hou Xiao might not be in a good mood, she sighed, "I'll go pick you up, you wait."

In the middle of the night, Hou Yu, who was already asleep, was called up. Hou Xiao still felt a little guilty, so after Hou Yu came, he was also very obedient. He didn't make jokes with her. up.

When the voice gradually faded, the topic changed from yes to no. Hou Yu, who had heard a little about Hou Xiao's college entrance examination situation, didn't dare to make Hou Xiao unhappy, so he quickly stopped talking.

The air had cooled, the windows were ajar, and the cold night wind was blowing overhead.Hou Xiao felt tired, and he leaned on his backpack, feeling drowsy as if he was about to fall asleep.

However, even when he was sleeping, the old shadows of the past did not give him any pleasure. They rushed out to show off their teeth and claws, showing off their might, causing him to be defeated like a mountain, like a clay figurine crossing a river, and it was difficult to break free from it.

During the whole summer vacation before the second year of high school, Hou Xiao spent most of the time with Du Baigong. Sometimes he would take Du Baigong to the beach to stay for a whole day. go back.

The only regret is that the night market in the harbor is very beautiful, but the old man strictly forbids Du Baigong to go out at night, no matter how hard they talk, they don't agree, so they have to give up the plan.Hou Xiao's photography is good, so he simply showed Du Baigong the photos he took before.They nestled in the small wooden house behind the rockery, and their yearning for the night market was infinitely expanding.

When school started in early September, Hou Xiao rode his bicycle to the steps below the old man's house to wait for Du Baigong as usual, but he didn't see anyone until it was almost time for class, and Hou Yu had already called three or four times to urge him to hurry up and go to school.

Hou Xiao gritted his teeth, turned the bicycle in the other direction, and stepped into the school. He was almost criticized by the grade director at the opening ceremony as a typical example of being crazy and unable to stop.

September is the rainy season in the harbor. Wisps of tangled white mist are drawn out every breath. The window panes are covered with a layer of water droplets that block people's sight all day long. The heater in the classroom has been turned on for a long time, and it seems to be buzzing As soon as the sound stops, these people nesting in the greenhouse will burst into endless complaints.

Just after the long vacation, many people are still immersed in the joy of eating, drinking and having fun. They gather in the front and back rows to discuss, and they don't feel that school has started at all.Hou Xiao sat by the window, turning a deaf ear to the noise of the class, just let out a sigh of relief at the glass, and then painted it out.Repeatedly.

He sent Du Baigong a message to inquire, but the other party did not reply.

"Hou Xiao, lend me your math homework, I forgot." Qin Ran in the front row patted his desk twice, Hou Xiao rolled his eyes at him, found out his homework and handed it to him.

Qin Ran wasn't too polite, he just lay down on Hou Xiao's desk and copied it, his hand speed was extremely fast, Hou Xiao thought he had written the process of the big question briefly enough, but he didn't expect this guy to be even better, directly Save more than half on the original basis.

"You know there is a transfer student in the class." Qin Ran quickly turned over the homework, "The old man's grandson should be here soon."

"I know." Hou Xiao didn't watch him copy homework anymore, and took an extra-curricular book to read by himself.Du Baigong had told him about this in July, so he ran to wait for someone this morning, but unexpectedly, he was in vain.

"Only here, why would anyone want to turn around?" Qin Ran kept talking while writing, and was more interested in gossip than little girls.Hou Xiao concentrated on reading the book and ignored him, Qin Ran was making fun of himself, and soon he didn't have anything to say.

The whole morning passed like this. At noon, the cloud cleared up, and the sun gradually came out, so Hou Xiao was dragged by Qin Ran to play.

In fact, he doesn't like sports very much. He belongs to the kind of boys who have no interest in basketball. Occasionally, he can exercise his muscles and bones as if he was killed half of his life. He was looking for all kinds of weird reasons to be a trainee. The teacher was so angry that he vomited blood and finally didn't care about it. He directly gave him a permanent leave of absence.

Normally, Qin Ran would not force him to play or something. This time, he probably copied his homework and short-circuited his brain, so he didn't think about it for a while.

"Why does this school's ball feel smaller after being left for a summer vacation? Does it seem to have shrunk?" Qin Ran patted the ball in his hand twice, and immediately put on an unpleasant expression. "Hey Hou Xiao, don't you like playing ball? I fucking forgot."

"I know you have a bad memory." Hou Xiao took off his coat, "Forget it, let's fight with you today."

A row of sycamores were planted on the school playground, next to the basketball hoop, separated only by an iron railing. The not so strong sunlight passed through the gaps between the leaves, was cut into regular shapes and fell, in the light blue Incomplete halos of light spread out on the rubber floor.

The basketball really didn't feel very good, so Hou Xiao stopped it when he was sweating, and stepped aside to drink water.He was sitting on the rostrum, leaning against the railing behind him, with the national flag and the school flag above his head, and a school uniform jacket that had been taken off on his head, half of his face was firmly blocked, and half of his face was exposed to the sun.This feeling of ice and fire is not very pleasant, and Hou Xiao didn't want to be half-black and half-white, so he pulled off his school uniform jacket twice to cover himself more tightly. Du Baigong, who was talking to the director on the other side of the railing.

He found that some people really look good no matter what they wear.

Hou Xiao woke up at a very coincidental time, when Hou Yu had just parked his car at the door of the studio.She has opened an independent studio here for some years, and the business is not too big or small, and she has allocated a separate floor as a place to live.

On the first floor of the studio, there are wallpapers with pictures of the blue ocean and countless green potted plants. Two brown sofas are placed in the waiting area at the entrance for people to rest.Hou Yu left his hiking bag there, pointed to a sofa, and signaled him to sit down first.

"It's a bit messy. I'll clean it up first. If you have nothing to do, go shopping around, although there is nothing to see."

Hou Xiao nodded and sat down on the sofa, rummaged through the things in the backpack, and pulled out the admission notice.

After checking the scores, his mind was completely blank, like snowflakes on the old TV screen, and he had no time to think about what kind of school he should choose next.

Later, he was very stubborn and randomly picked a university that was pleasing to the eye, blindly reported the major, and all kinds of behaviors seemed to tie his future destiny to the spinning top, letting the invisible whip to whip Change it without doing anything yourself.

He later found out that the school he applied for was a comprehensive private school whose name was not known to many people, and the number of successful graduates every year could be counted with ten fingers.

Although the school's geographical environment is very good, with mountains and rivers nearby, the principal doesn't like to recruit students. In a few years, there will be no enrollment, and it will be changed to an independent school. Now there are no new students, such as Hou Xiao, who are all entering according to the quota of the last class.

He really doubted how he was picked on by this school.

Hou Yu cleaned up a small bedroom for him and came out. There was a table by the window. When Hou Xiao lay down on the bed, it was five o'clock quietly.He has been tossing all night, and now he has lost a lot of sleepiness, so he can only stare at the ceiling in a daze.

Hou Yu was so meticulous about life, she even drew a picture on the ceiling, Hou Xiao carefully identified it for a while, and found that the scene was surprisingly familiar.His eyes turned hot—the night view of the harbour.

Ever since Du Baigong appeared in Hou Xiao's class as an airborne transfer student, there has been an endless stream of people around him, attracting people from all walks of life like a magnet, even people from clubs.

Such popularity is of course related to the old man's fame, but most of the reason is that Du Baigong's personality is easier to get along with, and he will share with them some things that are relatively unfamiliar to people who were born and raised in the harbor.

Hou Xiao sat on the seat, biting the straw of the drink, thinking about things in a mess.After listening to those interesting stories verbatim, he felt a little more comfortable, and proudly crossed his hips in his heart——he had already told me about it, you guys were slow.

For Hou Xiao, Du Baigong was like the wishing lanterns full of rivers that he was lucky enough to see once when he was young. The scattered candlelight gathered together to outline a magnificent scene like the sea and stars. The candle lamps that disappeared into the blind corner of his vision ignited his inner curiosity, and he wanted to know the wishes and secrets accumulated under those candle lamps urgently and extremely eagerly.

Du Baigong is such an existence. He wants to know Du Baigong's past, and wants to explore Du Baigong's story like seeking the love and hatred behind a photo.It is an attraction, an invisible hand.

Du Baigong doesn't know how to smoke, but he likes to bite the cigarette in his mouth to inhale the faint smell. As a result, his body has been tainted with the smell of tobacco all year round. Hou Xiao didn't meet him until he got to know him for a few months. He actually lit a cigarette once.

It was probably a rainy night, the night market was cancelled, the old man went to another city and did not come back, Du Baigong, who was alone at home, sneaked out of the window of Hou Xiao's room, fortunately it was the first floor, he climbed up without much effort, knocked knocked on the window and asked if he could go to the cabin.It seems that in just a few months, his love for that wooden house has surpassed Hou Xiao's love for it.

As usual, Du Baigong pushed away the two pots of cacti and opened the window—because it was raining, he opened it smaller this time.Then he took out the cigarette case in his pocket, poured out a cigarette while holding the case between his fingers, put it skillfully in his mouth and bit it.

Hou Xiao thought it was over, but Du Baigong took out the lighter after two seconds.

A white lighter with a dark taupe owl printed on the front.

He lit the fire, then lowered his head to light a cigarette, and the thin smoke quickly covered his eyes.Du Baigong was a freshman and didn't know how to smoke. He coughed and coughed to death at the first sip, and his mouth was full of bitter taste.

Hou Xiao couldn't stand it anymore, and wanted to smoke the cigarette in his hand, but the man waved his hand to stop him, and he took the second and third puffs as if resigned to his fate, until the ashes of the cigarette fell all over the ground and formed a pile of smoke around his hand. After a circle, Du Baigong put away the cigarette case and took out a lemon candy that the English teacher had given out during the festival to swallow.

At that time, lemon candy was bitter, and cigarettes were also bitter. When the two things were superimposed, it was even more impossible to feel better, so Hou Xiao couldn't understand Du Baigong more and more. A layer of fog, isolated from thousands of rivers and mountains, clearly says and does things are very ordinary, but the mind goes deep into the bottom of the sea, only revealing a ten-millionth of the tip of the iceberg for people to spy on.

And after Du Baigong left, he had this dream so many times that he was able to imitate Du Baigong's movements so proficiently, remembering his docile appearance when he lowered his eyebrows and eyes, and the uninhibitedness in his bones was well hidden.I remember that he was wearing a blue plaid shirt that day, some long hair that hadn’t been cut in time was tied into a small braid behind his head, and two buttons on the collar were unbuttoned, revealing a very ugly tattoo on the lower part of his neck. Eye-catching patterns.

Only that pattern, he rummaged through his memories, but couldn't remember it no matter what.

The author has something to say:

The national volume is really red and professional, blind snipers tremble qaq