Flight of the Bumblebee

In the dream, I could vaguely hear the sound of rain, pattering, pattering on their tin house.He Qi opened his eyes and woke up, feeling that the surrounding light was extremely bright, the sun had been slanting into his room from outside, Xing Yan was cooking in the kitchen, and what he heard in his dream was the sound of a spatula turning.

"Are you awake?" Perhaps hearing the slight sound of his bed board, Xing Yan turned around and saw that he was already awake, and greeted him with a smile.

He Qi just woke up from a dream, and he has no clue about the passage of time. He feels as if he has slept for a long, long time. Maybe it is already the next morning.

"What time is it?" he asked confusedly.

There is a fan window in the small kitchen, and the orange sunlight hits on it, and shines on Xing Yan's body through the patterned glass, making him seem to be enveloped by holy light.

"Aren't you going to sleep a little longer? Or did I wake you up?" Xing Yan said with his back turned to him, his voice was like a lullaby from a distance, He Qi only felt his eyelids fighting, and felt Some sleepy.He lay back on the bed, closed his eyes, and listened to the sound of cooking in the small kitchen, and his thoughts returned to when he was very young.

At that time, he lived with his parents in a house in the country, and he still used an earthen stove made of bricks.But his mother’s cooking has always been delicious. Every evening when he comes home from school, he sits on the balcony upstairs in his house, listening to the sound of food being cooked in the kitchen, and waiting for dinner while doing homework.The kitchen is built next to the stairs and is also a tin roof filled with potted plants of all kinds.He was once pricked by a cactus and scratched by a thorn trying to pluck a rose.Spring came, butterflies and bees came to visit at the same time, he was stung with a big lump in his mouth, and was laughed at by his classmates for a long time when he returned to school.Looking back now, those are beautiful and precious memories.

The evening when the sun and the moon alternate will always make him feel inexplicably sad.

The perception of time returned to his body, and He Qi's brain gradually became clear. He clearly realized that he had repeatedly fallen asleep in a daze for nearly three hours.

He sat up from the bed again, looked at Xing Yan's busy back, and yawned habitually.Xing Yan turned to look at him and asked again: "Are you awake?"

"Yeah." He replied in a low voice, this time he really woke up.

"Dinner is ready, do you want to eat out or in?"

He Qi was stunned for a moment, for a moment, Xing Yan's back overlapped with his dead mother, he must have fallen asleep.

Xing Yan was wearing a green apron and standing in front of the stove. He put the fried vegetables in a bowl and put them aside.The room gradually darkened, the sun was about to set, and the prelude to night was drawing down.Xing Yan walked over and turned on the lights in the house.

He Qi suddenly asked, "Where's Niu Niu?"

Xing Yan replied to him: "His mother is back and is cooking downstairs. I told her what happened this afternoon, and she said she would like to thank us."

"Thanks for what?"

"Probably it's about helping Niuniu take a bath. She is worried that Niuniu will catch a cold." Xing Yan moved the table out, and He Qi also got out of bed to exercise his paralyzed muscles and bones, and brought the meal he had prepared go out.

It's rare that today's appearance is good, probably because his culinary skills have finally opened up.After He Qi put the plates and chopsticks on the table, Xing Yan also came out with two chairs.By the way, he turned on the light on the balcony, He Ji sat on the chair, smelled the familiar spicy smell wafting up from downstairs, and immediately knew who was cooking.

For some reason, their meal was more silent than usual.

Xing Yan took off his apron, he knew what was on his mind, and it all showed on his face.He's been like this since he woke up this afternoon.He Qi never took the initiative to ask about his past affairs unless he brought it up himself.Xing Yan likes what he does. It is undoubtedly a sign of respect for a person who has nothing and nothing to lose.So Xing Yan will wait silently, waiting for him to casually talk about his past as before, and it is enough for him to stay by his side as a qualified listener at that time.

He Qi silently picked up the food in the bowl, and praised Xing Yan casually, saying that he has made great progress in this meal, and he will definitely do better next time, so he must have some confidence in himself.

After they finished eating, Xing Yan cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks, while He Qi was still sitting on the chair, staring at the sea of ​​lights in the distance in a daze.

There was a conversation between the mother and daughter on the balcony downstairs. It seemed that they had just finished eating. Niu Niu followed her mother out to dry the clothes. Her mother was teaching her how to hang clothes on the hangers.The wet clothes were heavy, and she accidentally dropped them on the floor. Sister Wang just scolded her in a low voice, then picked up the soiled clothes from the ground, took them under the faucet, and rinsed them with water.Niuniu happily followed her mother every step of the way, and the plastic slippers on her feet made a crisp and happy sound on the floor tiles.

He Qi listened to their conversations where you came and I asked and answered, and found it very interesting, and couldn't help laughing.Xing Yan just came out of the room, saw the smile on his face, and realized that he was not in a daze just now.He Qi noticed that Xing Yanleng was standing at the door, so he asked, "Why are you standing there stupidly?"

He walked over, pulled the chair away and sat opposite He Qi, and asked him what he heard just now was funny.

How could it be said that Niu Niu and her mother were arguing down there, the little girl is so talkative, her mother can't speak against her.

Xing Yan pricked up his ears to hear the movement below, but the two people downstairs had already gone in.It didn't take long before the sound of the electronic organ came, and He Qi's eyes widened in surprise when he heard it.Xing Yan was also a little surprised, and wanted to say something, but was stopped by He Qi: "Wait, don't talk yet."

He had no choice but to shut his mouth and listened quietly to the very clear music coming from downstairs.

"Niuniu can actually play a song! How did you do it?" He Qi asked him excitedly after the last note was played downstairs.

"It's just... a little teaching for a while..."

"When did you teach it? Why don't I know?"

"Just...morning..."

"Learned in such a short time?"

"A little over an hour."

"Are you a genius?" He Qi's expression can no longer be said to be surprised, but shocked, he said: "I lived upstairs in their house for so long, do you know what life I lived before? What a pity You can teach her to save the ears of people nearby."

He Qi didn't feel that he was exaggerating at all, because it was the truth.Niuniu previously used the electronic organ as a tool to vent her anger or a toy that she couldn't figure out the tricks. She would randomly smash the keys of the piano if she didn't agree with each other.And it took Xing Yan just over an hour to teach her to play "Little Star", which had a magical sound before, which is really amazing.At least he won't be upset by the harsh noise in the future.

Xing Yan said that he didn't teach much, he didn't teach finger shapes, keys, and music recognition. Niuniu learned this song because of her ingenuity, and it's not a difficult piece to learn.

He Qi jokingly said that you can still be a piano teacher in the future, if you can't become a pianist.You're not bad looking, and you're sure to win the welcome of the students' parents.

Although Xing Yan was smiling, the light in his eyes was obviously dimmed, and the atmosphere became a little weird.He Qi looked away from his face unnaturally, and noticed a shallow puddle in the depression on the floor, he pretended to ask casually: "Did it rain after I fell asleep in the afternoon?"

"No. What's the matter?"

"I seem to hear the sound of rain, while I was sleeping."

"You may be dreaming."

"probably."

As soon as the words fell, a liquid larger than a bean fell from a high altitude and hit He Qi on the forehead.He Qi touched his forehead inexplicably, thinking it was the blind bird shitting on his head, and was about to yell, when the ensuing drops of water hit the table between them one after another.

Xing Yan was the first to realize that he wanted to close the table, but He Qi was still touching his forehead with a questioning face.The heavy rain was pouring down mercilessly, and it was clear that it was sunny two sentences ago, and the two of them would become drowned in the blink of an eye.

Xing Yan dragged He Qi in, and hid in the house, each patting the water droplets on his head and clothes.It was raining heavily outside, and the two of them stood at the door looking at the continuous rain curtain together, like passers-by who hid in the same ancient temple to avoid the rain in the old days.The latter is Xing Yan's fantasy alone.

The rain was so fierce that it stopped after a while, and only had time to wet the ground, which surprised the two people who were standing at the door stupidly.

"The rain has stopped."

"Yes."

"so fast."

"..."

"Take the table in first." He Qi suggested.

Since it was proposed by him, of course the work of collecting the table fell on Xing Yan.Who told him to be tall and burly, and he has gained a lot of flesh recently, so he really can't compare with him in terms of strength.

Xing Yan put two chairs on the table, intending to move in together, but when he turned around, He Qi was not at the door.He moved the table and chairs in, He Qi stood by the window and didn't know who he was talking to on the phone. He spoke the dialect of his hometown, and he couldn't understand a word.

He put the table away, wiped off the water drops on it with a rag, and kept looking towards He Qi while he was working.

He Qi always turned his back to him.This is not unusual.

He then sat on the bed and talked to the person on the phone for more than half an hour. Xing Yan was sure that the call was not from a colleague or friend.He speculated that it might be an earlier classmate, a good friend in elementary school or junior high school, who hadn't been in touch for a long time, and occasionally warmed up.Or family.But for more than a month, He Qi has never had a phone call with his family.In fact, he rarely has a phone.In this city, he was as lonely as an oasis in the desert.

When he spoke, he seemed to be biting something, with a strong retronasal voice and almost no retroflex.With a lower and softer tone of voice than usual, the accent sounds like coquetry.If Xing Yan had a little understanding of the accents of various places, he would know that He Qi spoke a very southern dialect.It belongs to the same language family as Cantonese, but it is not like Cantonese at all.Very few people understand it, and only the few villages in his hometown can speak this language, which is a language that is about to disappear.

Xing Yan made his wooden bed, and He Qi was still talking on the phone.He looks very happy, he is smiling, and the tone at the end of the sentence is always drawn very long, as if he is coaxing someone.Xing Yan sat on the bed facing him, with his hands crossed on his thighs, a faint bad premonition filled his chest.At this moment, he felt vaguely uncomfortable.It may be because He Qi talked for a long time on the phone, or because he has no way of knowing the content of the conversation.But he thinks he is not qualified, so he can't talk about jealousy.

Xing Yan lowered his eyes, and began to think about what the emotion was rushing to his heart at this moment.His chest was sore and stuffy due to the rising emotions, and at the same time he felt the long-lost alienation.In this room now, he felt like an ice floe sailing away from the Antarctic continent.

Lonely.He thought he had finally found his ideal reason.

He Qi hung up the phone with a smile, and when he looked up, he saw Xing Yan looking at the floor under his feet with a gloomy face. He was surprised and said, "What's wrong with you?" He thought that Xing Yan might be uncomfortable somewhere.

Xing Yan raised his eyes, pretending to be relaxed and asked him: "Who are you calling?"

He Qi threw the phone into the pillow, lay down on the bed, and said in a tired tone, "My dad."

Hearing what he said, the swell in Xing Yan's chest disappeared immediately: "I didn't understand a word you just said, what did you say?"

"Hmm—" He Qi murmured.Thinking back on the conversation just now, most of the parents were short-tempered, and after a few words with the younger sister, they hung up.Oh, that's right—"My dad told me to go home and take the civil service exam." He Qi suddenly remembered, he sat up from the bed and said to Xing Yan.

When Xing Yan heard the word "go home", his heart skipped a beat and he froze.

"You... want to go back?"

He Qi didn't look at him, but turned his head to the side, his eyes were empty, and his heart was full of thoughts.He suddenly let out a long sigh, and said with a self-deprecating smile: "Which home should I go to, my mother would have died a long time ago." As if he had exhausted all his strength, he lay back on the bed.

When Xing Yan heard this, his heart moved, and he stood up involuntarily, sat on He Qi's bed, and looked at him sadly.At this moment, He Qi closed his eyes, moved his lips, and began to tell him his own story:

"My mother passed away when I was in junior high school." He opened his eyes and stared blankly ahead. "After a few years, my father remarried and married a woman who was more capable of making money than he was. I started a pig raising business from scratch, and bought several houses in our small county town. Later we moved out of our hometown, and my sister was born at that time. She is a very nice person. I call her Aunt Li. She treats me well. It’s as good as my sister, sometimes even better, and I’m always flattered. I’m a third-year student in college, and she pays tens of thousands of tuition and living expenses a year. It’s hard to say Well, my dad and I are just the two of us at home. My dad may still be complacent about marrying such a capable wife, alas—" He sighed heavily, and continued: " It stands to reason that our father and son have received such a great favor from her, so we should repay her. After graduation, she asked me if I would go home to help, but I refused. Even now, I still have no way to treat her as a mother." He Qiyan The light in the house disappeared, and Xing Yan had never seen him so melancholy.

"In her opinion, I'm an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf."

Xing Yan watched him close his eyelids again, as if closing his eyes to rest his mind, his heart felt like a needle prick, and he felt very sorry for him.Originally, his hand was propped on the bed, and he couldn't help reaching out to touch He Qi, but he moved a little distance on the bed, and stopped at the place where he touched the corner of his clothes, after all, he didn't dare to touch him.

He searched his brains and couldn't even say a word of comfort.

He Qi sat up suddenly from the bed after a while, and had already returned to his usual expression.While saying that he forgot to take a shower, he took out some clothes from the closet and walked to the bathroom.Xing Yan didn't know why he opened his mouth, he hurriedly asked He Qi before he entered the bathroom: "Did you dream about your mother this afternoon?"

He Qi paused at the door with his back turned to him, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and said in a low voice: "Who knows, I don't remember..."

The door closed in front of him.