scorching cold

It's been almost ten years, and thinking about it now, Tao Zhuo still wants to dig a hole on the dining table and bury his head in it.

What did you think then?

He squeezed half of his face on the dining table, feeling puzzled and amused at the same time.

When I was a child, I was really very capable.

"Who is cooking?" Mom came over smelling the smell, "Did Puppy Tao eat?"

"Do you want to eat?" Tao Zhen filled Tao Zhuo's noodles and turned to ask his mother.

"Oh, I'm full," my mother sat down at the dining table, rubbing Tao Zhuo's back, "Take a bite, and have a mouthful of soup."

"Oh, I'm full..." Tao Zhuo hummed while lying on the dining table, pinching his throat.

Mom hit him on the head.

"Where's Dad, take a bite too?" Tao Zhen asked again.

Dad was watching TV on the sofa, rubbing his stomach in response, and didn't say whether to eat or not. The whole family understood that this meant "eat".

"Pour a sip of soup for Comrade Tao, it will burn your stomach," said my mother, "I must have drank too much and didn't eat well."

Tao Zhen knew that this would be the result, so he just gave up the three of them.

A family of four sat at the dining table and ate noodles and soup. When Tao Zhuo was about to finish eating, his mother let out a "hey" and said, "Boss."

"Ah." Tao Zhen didn't eat noodles, and just sat at the dining table to accompany Qi Rongrong. He leaned leisurely on the back of the chair, with one arm draped back, and the other on the dining table, sliding his phone, typing quickly.

"Have you discussed with Qiwei, and when will things be done." Mom asked, "Your dad and I are ready."

Tao Qiwei is Tao Zhen's girlfriend, and they have known each other since college. One majored in business and one majored in medicine. They were not in the same boat at first, and they didn't know how to get together at a fellow townsman's meeting, because they both had the surname Tao and they were destined.

Tao Zhuo glanced at Tao Zhen from the rim of the bowl.

Tao Qiwei is currently working as an assistant nurse in the Pediatrics Department of the Third Hospital, and when he gets busy, he kicks the back of his head and is on the verge of going crazy seven days a week, but in private, Tao Zhuo and her get along very well.

She likes to read books and watch movies, and she also reads all kinds of people. She is very tolerant, and has her own personality and concepts. Her father said that she is "poetry and bookish", and her mother likes Tao. Qiewei's character is generous, he doesn't take Joe, he is calm and sassy.

Tao Zhuo also likes this sister-in-law quite a lot. Tao Zhen and Tao Qiewei have been in a long-distance relationship for the past few years, and he has long regarded Tao Qiewei as his own family.

"Hey, it's coming again. You've been preparing for a year. You have everything you need to prepare, including a house and a car." Tao Zhen has to listen to his mother nagging almost every ten days and a half months this year. Back, I didn't even bother to raise my eyelids, "I'll go and get a certificate after the Chinese New Year, neither of us want to serve wine..."

"Nonsense!" Tao Zhen was interrupted by her mother before she finished speaking, "If you don't want to do it, don't you do it? You don't care what the old Tao family does. Raising such a big girl, oh no wine I just gave it to you without doing anything? Do you understand the truth, you guys!"

"Okay, okay," Tao Zhen said without arguing with her, "You two elders go discuss it, we juniors will follow the arrangements."

"You will be thirty after the end of the year. Tao Zhen and Jiang Yonghua both have grandchildren. Your dad and I can walk around with a dog in one day. If you are not happy when you are urged, you should think about it for the old man! "My mother continued to mutter, "Hey, she is really old, she will become an old girl soon, and children nowadays don't know how to be anxious..."

"Isn't it promoted to assistant nurse? I'm busy." Tao Zhen explained unhurriedly.

"Oh my god, Lao Tao, listen quickly." Mom smiled and patted Dad on the back vigorously, "If you haven't passed the door, you will be protected, and then you will have a daughter-in-law and forget your mother!"

"That's what I said." Tao Zhen laughed.

"Follow me." Dad sat sideways watching TV, and nodded casually while drinking noodle soup.

Tao Zhuo silently speeded up the speed of chopping noodles into his mouth since his mother started this topic.

Sure enough, just as he was about to put down the bowl and want to sneak away, my mother turned the subject around and yelled at him earnestly: "Ergou..."

"I'm done eating." Tao Zhuo took out a tissue to wipe his mouth, pulled away the stool and went back to the room.

"Tao Zhuo!" The mother was speechless, and roared at Tao Zhuo's fleeing back: "Come back here, wash the dishes!"

"Brother!" Tao Zhuo closed the door without looking back.

Tao Zhen said something again with a smile. The sound of putting away the dishes came from the living room, and my mother couldn't laugh or cry: "Get used to it! You just get used to him! When I was young, your aunt and I could fight to wash the dishes one more time..."

Tao Zhuo collapsed on the bed, exhaled, and scratched his stomach contentedly.

The next day, Tao Zhuo slept until ten o'clock in the morning, only to be shaken out of his dream by An Yi's phone call.

After making an appointment for a place to eat, he walked out of the room to wash up with his hair all frizzy.

Tao Zhen was about to go out after changing his clothes, buttoning his shirt cuffs and asked Tao Zhuo, "Is there class today?"

"Go to eat." Tao Zhuo froze in the mirror with an electric toothbrush in his mouth, "Where are parents?"

"I went for a walk with the dog, and I'm going to eat at Zhenzhen's house again at noon." Tao Zhen said, "Are you going by yourself or should I pick you up?"

"Are you in a hurry?" Tao Zhuo looked at him, the toothbrush was still "buzzing" in his mouth, "No hurry, I want to take a shower first."

Tao Zhen raised his wrist to check the time: "5 minutes."

"3 minutes!" Tao Zhuo slammed the bathroom door directly.

At [-]:[-], the brothers got off the elevator to the garage. Tao Zhen asked Tao Zhuo where he was going and asked him to buckle up his seat belt.

Tao Zhen answered three calls on the way. It was almost the end of the year, and he was getting busier every day. He had to report to him for any serious matters in the three shops.After a phone call, the one with the shortest call time was actually Tao Qiwei's.

"Brother," Tao Zhuo called out, rummaging around in his car idly, "You don't want to marry Tao Qiwei?"

Tao Zhen turned the steering wheel at the yellow light, looked in the rearview mirror while turning the turn signal, "Huh?" and asked, "Why do you ask that?"

"Why don't you get married?" Tao Zhuo asked back.

"It takes two people to get married," Tao Zhen said, "It's not just me who says I can get married if I want to."

Tao Zhuo understood, it wasn't Tao Zhen who didn't want to get married, it was Tao Qiewei who didn't want to get married.

"Oh." He looked at Tao Zhen with pity, "My little sister Tao doesn't like you."

Tao Zhen had an expression of "brother, you are very funny" on his face for an instant, and stroked his hair coquettishly.

Tao Zhuo's expression changed: "Could it be that she has something else..."

"Shut your mouth." Tao Zhen stretched out his hand and slapped Tao Zhuo on the head, "It has nothing to do with these messes, Tao Qiwei doesn't want a child yet."

Tao Zhuo let out an "ah" and understood a little bit.

"Then what do you think?" he asked again.

"I don't care. It's the same in the first few years and later years. I can afford it anyway." Tao Zhen said, "The main thing is Tao Qiwei. Although we can get married first and talk about it when she wants it, the pressure is always invisible."

Tao Zhuo and Tao Zhen looked at each other, remembering yesterday's mother's marriage urging speech, they nodded tacitly.

"She spends all day at work around so many sick children, and is constantly being urged when she comes home. It's annoying to death." Tao Zhen looked at the road ahead calmly, "I don't want her to be too stressed."

"What's a 'sick child'?" Tao Zhuo wanted to laugh when he heard it, "how could he say that."

"Aren't they all sick children?" Tao Zhen also smiled.

Tao Zhuo didn't speak anymore. This question was a bit too realistic. Marriage, childbirth, husband and son, family and responsibilities...all made him feel very far away.

He always felt that he was still a child, and so was Tao Zhen. They were taken out by their parents to play together, they held each other's heads to grab an ice cream, and they spread their hands together and asked their mother for pocket money. What happened yesterday.

As a result, when he turned around, his brother suddenly had his own responsibility to take on an independent family and changed to another identity. It seemed that he was the only one left of the two brothers who had stopped at the same place.

And these changes, he hadn't thought about them before. Tao Zhen grew up as a matter of course, from a sophomore boy to a suit and leather shoes, and opened a shop, made money, and was urged to marry as a matter of course.

Tao Zhuo looked out of the window, and then at Tao Zhen, who had lost his childishness and became more and more mature and handsome beside him, suddenly felt a little dazed.

He thought that Tao Qiwei might also feel this way, so he hesitated for a long time, not daring to move towards marriage.

Just as she was about to ask Tao Zhen if she felt the same way, Tao Zhen spoke first and asked Tao Zhuo, "What about you?"

"What about me?" Tao Zhuo blurted out.

Tao Zhen turned to look at him with a relaxed expression, and said, "Do you still prefer men?"

Tao Zhuo looked at him, and what flashed in his mind was Li Suihan's face last night.

Tao Zhuo's germination of his homosexuality, like studying art and taking an art test, all originated from Li Suihan.

After saying that he is a student of the Academy of Fine Arts, Tao Zhuo yelled redly: "How is that possible! You are so strong in mathematics, aren't all art students..."

Aren't they all the kind of messy culture classes?

Li Suihan had heard this kind of words too many times, he smiled indifferently, and said, "I got five hundred and six in the college entrance examination."

Tao Zhuo was dumbfounded.

The image of Li Suihan in Tao Zhuo's heart became more powerful in an instant.He really wished he could start over from scratch that day, he would rather be unkempt again, than repeatedly relive his deliberately placed drawing books, and contrived self-effacement that would make his throat spasm just by imagining it.

The abuse point of adolescence is so delicate and sensitive, and Tao Zhuo is so smug and self-loving, this kind of embarrassment that others can only hear, can kill him every night when he suddenly thinks of it .

I'd rather die.

Tao Zhuo kicked the quilt left and right, weeping towards the wall.

After that, for two or three weeks of class, Tao Zhuo remained honest and showed no desire to show off.

It wasn't until after the monthly exam that he showed the paper that he had finally passed the [-]th grade, and when he received a nod of praise, he felt elated again.

Mathematics has improved, and one class a week is not enough.After discussing with Li Wei, my mother changed the tutoring class to two sessions a week, two hours on Wednesday night and the whole day on Sunday.

The time Tao Zhuo spent with Li Li quickly added up, and the two became more and more familiar with each other, and they talked more and more, and they became more and more relaxed.

Tao Zhuo likes to ask Li Yi about things during the break time, talking about some things.

His Chinese and history are very good, because he likes to read books, miscellaneous, and read everything.

In addition to those masterpieces that middle school students must read, they include "Historical Records", "White Deer Plain", "The Moon and Sixpence", "Gone with the Wind", "Novel Monthly", "Yilin", "Story Club", etc. He read everything he found on the bookshelves at home, such as the unofficial history of the Qing palace and the painful youth that was popular at that time.

Whether you can read it or not is another matter, I just love it.Like Dad said, he was born to like humanities.

If you are good, you can chat with him in all kinds of ways.

For Tao Zhuo, who is in the third year of junior high school, the second-year student, Wei Wei, knows a lot of things and has been to many places. He didn't say it deliberately, but a person's knowledge and experience are often revealed through inadvertent words and demeanor.

Tao Zhuo thinks that there is a very special temperament in being powerful. The free and easy art students are skillfully mixed with the rational and rigorous mathematical thinking. In addition, his own indescribable energy makes Tao Zhuo admire him willingly. He is willing to listen to powerful words.

He likes it very much.

It is the kind of liking that young people admire a powerful person.

After that, Tao Zhuo accidentally saw something that made him dumbfounded again.

On a certain Sunday in the second month of my acquaintance, it was rainy, and the rain continued to tick all day, which made people unable to cheer up in class.

During the lunch break at noon, Tao Zhuo rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find a magazine, and his drawing book fell out again, so Wei Wei picked it up to read.

This time Tao Zhuo really "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Wei Wei was so amused by his reaction that he easily lifted the drawing book out of Tao Zhuo's reach, pressed his head and pushed him aside, saying: "No, you really draw very well. "

Tao Zhuo squinted at him with distrust.

"You use the line very neatly." Li Wei turned one side and pointed it out to him, "You don't draw repeatedly, and you don't shake. This kind of hand is suitable for holding a paintbrush."

Tao Zhuo scratched his neck, and couldn't help admiring his own painting: "...Really?"

He wanted to tell the truth, but when he saw Tao Zhuo's expression, he leaned against the table and laughed.

"Ah! You are so annoying!" Tao Zhuo almost went crazy, snatched the picture book away and stuffed it into the top shelf of the bookcase.

Until the end of the class in the evening, Tao Zhuo paid the class fee to Lie with a stinky face, and sent him to the door. After Lie went out, he turned around and smiled casually at Tao Zhuo, saying, "Really."

Tao Zhuo was stunned for a long time, and he didn't realize what he was talking about until he passed the corner of the corridor.

"It will be an afterthought!" He was a little embarrassed, and shouted towards the corridor.

He laughed far and wide again.

After closing the door, Tao Zhuo always felt that he had forgotten something.

He opened the door again, smelled the rain, and suddenly remembered that he was about to get an umbrella for Li, but was interrupted by the word "really".

Should be still downstairs.

Tao Zhuo quickly took out his umbrella and chased downstairs.

At that time, their family still lived in an old house, on the sixth floor, without an elevator, and they were exhausted from going up and down.

It was also because of this that Tao Zhuo was able to look down at the corner of the stairs on the third floor with his head hooked, and saw Li Li and another boy.

The boy was holding an umbrella in his hand, and he looked about the same size as a powerful man, as if he had come to pick him up in the rain, his hair and sleeves were still soaked in moisture, his features were clear and his eyes were flying.

The man's name was Li Yang, which Tao Zhuo found out later.

Li Yang is Li Suihan's boyfriend, and Tao Zhuo didn't think of it until later.

What he saw at the time was Li Yang talking to Li Suihan with a smile, and while Li Suihan smiled back at him, he grabbed the back of his neck and gave him a rainy kiss.