near and far

Le Mingxin remembered that the time before He Chengan turned away was the hottest time of the semester, and the cicadas were singing tirelessly, as if they would never stop. Occasionally, a typhoon would come, and the school would suspend classes for half a day, and the students would all be in distress. Staying in the dormitory without going out, listening to the pouring rain outside, the ground was covered with flower petals and fallen leaves after the rain.

It was a gloomy day, the weather forecast issued a yellow typhoon warning, and the school issued a notice to suspend classes. The dormitory teacher went through the dormitories one by one to confirm that they were indeed staying well before leaving.

The water vapor in the air is thick enough to make people breathless, only fish can live well in this weather, Le Ming thought irritably.

He was always very irritable during this time. He asked Li Qi to return the sketchbook to He Chengan, but he didn't bother to ask when there was no more text. Cheng An panicked, as if he had done something wrong.

The students in the dormitory were either sleeping with their heads covered, or playing games on the bed, silently waiting for the doomed heavy rain.

Le Ming picked up his water glass heartily, and went out to fill some hot water at the water dispenser at the corner of the stairs.

He held the cup in one hand, and stretched out two fingers in the other hand into the shape of a villain. He walked step by step on the railing of the corridor. Suddenly, he stopped.

The dormitory buildings for boys and girls in the second year of senior high school belong to two buildings. Boys and girls go down their own stairs and meet in front of the gate of the dormitory building on the first floor.

From Le Mingxin's perspective, he could see that there were two people standing under the alley next to the big iron gate of the dormitory building and under the wall covered with green ivy.One of them was a girl, standing straight, her ponytail tied high behind her head, Le Ming carefully identified it, it was Fang Ping.There was another person standing opposite her, with his pockets in his pocket. Because he was tall, his back was slightly arched, and his head to toe was full of sloppiness and impatience. One could tell it was He Cheng'an at a glance.

What is this for?

Before Le Mingxin could react, his own feet had already gone down the stairs, and he was quietly hiding in the corner, like a thief, his palms were sweating from nervousness, and the voices of the two people under the wall were indistinct. can be heard.

Suddenly, someone patted him from behind, and he almost jumped up. Looking back, it was Li Qi with a puzzled expression.

Li Qi: "What are you doing... um..."

Le Mingxin let go of his hand covering his mouth, raised a finger to his mouth, and whispered: "Shh."

"What's the matter?" He Chengan's impatient voice came from behind, and Le Mingxin quickly stood still, pricking up his ears to listen.

"That," Fang Ping's voice was obviously shy and girlishly cute, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Li Qi immediately widened his eyes, pushed Le Ming's heart away, secretly poked his head over the wall to look, took a deep breath, the two held their breaths in unison, and listened to the rest of the text.

"No."

Fang Ping was overjoyed and said, "Then you think I..."

He Chengan interrupted: "But I have someone I like."

Now it's Le Mingxin's turn to gasp, He Chengan usually doesn't talk to anyone much, who does he like?In the blink of an eye, thousands of thoughts flashed through Le Mingxin's mind, but the conversation on the other side had reached a deadlock.

"Stop stuffing my drawers again."

After He Cheng'an finished speaking, he turned around and left from the other side, leaving Fang Ping standing there quietly. After a while, her back shook twice, and she could faintly hear sobs.

Le Mingxin grabbed Li Qi who wanted to go over, and said in a low voice: "Don't go over there, let's go."

No matter how you say it, eavesdropping is disgraceful, and Fang Ping, who has always been proud, wants people to see her down and out.Li Qi was stunned for a while, then quietly followed Le Mingxin back.

The sky was overcast and rainy, and there were several muffled thunders.

Le Mingxin suddenly remembered the sketchbook, and hurriedly asked: "He Chengan's sketchbook, did you return it to him?"

Li Qi was stunned, and said: "I stuffed it in the drawer and forgot..."

Le Ming hurriedly said: "Then hurry up."

Li Qi lowered his head and kicked the pebbles on the road: "Understood."

The rain that has been brewing for a whole day has finally come to the ground. The rainy season in City A has begun. There are endless typhoons one after another. The endless rain is like a corner of the sky. The underwear will never dry, and it will never go out. Umbrella, stuffy without seeing the sun.

When he went back that night, Le Mingxin had a dream.

The person standing in front of He Chengan changed from Fang Ping to him. He grabbed the seam of his school uniform pants and asked in a trembling, uncertain voice, "Who do you like?"

He Cheng'an's face was shrouded in the sunshine that hadn't appeared in the rainy season for a long time, and he was blurred. He didn't speak, but held something with two fingers, squeezed his lips, and stuffed it into his mouth.Le Ming gritted his teeth up and down, and the sweet and greasy chocolate sandwich flowed out, filling his entire mouth.

Then he woke up, lying on the bed in the dormitory with his eyes wide open, hearing the snoring of his roommates, and the non-stop rain outside the window, his heart beating like a drum, as if echoing with the thunder in the sky.

He never liked anyone, nor did he ever think that he would like the same sex.

Le Mingxin had no one to confide in, and he had no way of sorting out his thoughts from the chaotic sexual orientation, and then rumors and rumors arose one after another.

First, there was a rumor that someone in the class was dating and the teacher found out, and then He Chengan became the protagonist of the rumor. He was frequently called to the office by the teacher, confirming the rumor.Then the rumors escalated, saying that He Chengan was gay and liked men, and those speculative remarks were either gossip or disgusting and shameless, making Le Ming feel restless, obviously not talking about him, but he felt on pins and needles.

The last time Le Mingxin saw He Chengan in high school was one afternoon.

He Chengan was called into the office by the teacher again, Le Mingxin waited quietly at the corner of the stairs outside the office door, and waited for a long time before he saw He Chengan coming out of it.During this period of time, he seemed to have lost some weight, and grew a little taller, his facial features became inexplicably sharp, his eyes were a little blue, and he looked like he hadn't slept well.He walked out of the office, ignoring the teacher's order to "close the door", left the door open, strode out, and happened to meet Le Mingxin who was guarding the corner.

Le Mingxin opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

He Chengan was holding the sketchbook in his hand, holding it very hard, the veins on his forearm were raised, and the paper surface was slightly wrinkled.

"You..." Le Ming wanted to comfort him, to ask him, to talk about his dream, but in the end he only said one word.

He Chengan didn't wait for him, looked down at the ground, walked away from Le Mingxin, and passed him by.

Le Mingxin followed behind him, and the two walked towards the classroom silently, one behind the other, He Chengan didn't look back.

The self-study class is over in a few minutes, everyone in the classroom has already started talking, Le Mingxin saw He Chengan stopped outside the classroom's half-hidden back door, and the people inside were discussing again, it was Li Qi's sound.

"I don't know who he likes, it's too scary to be targeted, gay or something..."

He made an exaggerated long sound, and some people cheered and laughed.

Le Mingxin's entire head was blank. He saw He Chengan kick the back door open suddenly, with a loud "bang", the door fell to the wall, bounced back, and hit him.The girls' screams were mixed with the harsh "creaking" sounds of tables and chairs being pushed.Le Mingxin hurried in and saw He Chengan and Li Qi twisted together, He Chengan was obviously in the upper hand, he clenched his cheeks tightly, pressed Li Qi on the table with one hand, and used the elbow of the other hand to hold Li Qi on the table. He hit his nose quickly and hard, and the nosebleeds gushed out immediately.

The boys all went to fight, and pulled He Chengan away, but they still couldn't stop, He Chengan kicked Li Qi's stomach for the last time, and Li Qi curled up on the ground moaning.

The sketchbook that He Chengan was originally holding fell to the ground, and the person who was dragged stepped on it a few times.

Le Mingxin quickly picked it up and looked at the two obvious shoe prints on it.

The teacher came here out of breath, and said, "He Cheng'an, your parents will be rescued later, you go to the office and wait!"

Panting heavily, He Chengan took away the sketchbook that Le Mingxin was holding.

He strode out from the back door. Although he won the fight, he was not satisfied, and his face was terribly gloomy.It was still raining outside, He Chengan didn't say a word, and left when everyone was in a hurry, leaving only Le Mingxin a back view.