under fern mountain

The first snow that overwhelmed the whole city ushered in the New Year before it completely melted, and red labels were everywhere.The LEDs on the mirrors of the Twin Towers are unprecedentedly brilliant, the number of holographic floating advertisements on the street is more than double than usual, and the familiar Chinese New Year melody is replaced in the supermarket.The white snow was trampled into black mud, and the wet ground shone red.

Pei Haojie's father was abroad all year round, so they would go back to Shi Ran's parents' house every Chinese New Year.Shi Ran's parents live in a small town, and fireworks and firecrackers are not prohibited in their residential area. Compared with the deserted city, the Spring Festival there will be extraordinarily lively.

When Shi Ran and Pei Haojie went to buy new year's goods on the weekend, Pei Haojie seemed a little uninterested, but Shi Ran kept filling the shopping cart.When he was tangled in front of a shelf and asked Pei Haojie whether the golden gift box or the red gift box was suitable for taking home, Pei Haojie pushed the gift box into the shelf.

"This year, shall we bring our parents over for the New Year?"

Shi Ran was taken aback, and subconsciously asked him why.

"In the past, our income couldn't increase. When our parents came, we were always afraid that they would worry about our poor life. Now we are different. We can bring our parents over to enjoy the blessings. The New Year's Eve dinner can be handled by the two of us." Pei Haojie paused for a while and then Said, "Besides, the business is very busy this year. I have to post a video on the night of the [-]th. The Internet on your parents' side is not convenient."

Shi Ran slowly put down his hand to pick out the gift box: "Is it mainly because of work?"

Pei Haojie frowned: "I found out that you recently...why do you always speculate about me in a bad direction?"

"I'm just asking."

"That's what you think."

Shi Ran didn't speak anymore, he pulled the shopping cart and walked forward, stepped over the gold and red shelves, took a few steps forward after turning the corner, and walked away side by side with Pei Haojie.

"Of course, I haven't finished talking to you yet."

"I see." Shi Ran didn't look at him, and threw the snack bag on the shelf into the car, "I'll call them in the evening and ask their opinion. If they are willing, I will pick them up. They are not willing ...you don't have to go back."

Pei Haojie didn't speak for a long time, he followed Shi Ran silently for several meters: "...What do you mean I don't have to go back?"

"If you think their network is inconvenient and affects your work, you can choose not to go back. It's okay for me to go back with them alone-is that clear?"

Pei Haojie pushed the shopping cart violently, stepped forward and grabbed Shi Ran's arm, the strength he used was painful.

"Why are you angry with me?"

"What evil fire are you throwing at me again?" Shi Ran struggled a bit, but didn't move away, "You said you wanted to take your parents over to live in, okay, how do you live? Our house has two rooms and one living room, one bedroom and one you There is no way to live in the game room. Today we go out to buy New Year’s goods, just to bring them back home. If you have this plan, why didn’t you say it in advance? "

Pei Haojie just looked at him like this for a while, then suddenly withdrew her hand in a dispirited way: "Forget it."

It was already seven o'clock when we got home. The two of them were exhausted from running around all day, and neither of them had the strength to cook, so they ordered takeaway together.

I ordered takeaway, but there was a disagreement on what to eat, and in the end I simply ordered each, and I didn't bother to put together the order.Pei Haojie's takeaway arrived first, he ate very fast, and Shi Ran finished eating by the time he took a shower, and when Shi Ran came out with wet hair, there were three missed calls on his phone.The takeaway staff came and went, and had been waiting impatiently at the door, so they put the takeaway on the ground at the door.

"Why didn't you answer the phone for me?" Shi Ran contacted the delivery man again and pushed open the door of the game room.

In the room, Pei Haojie had already put on his "hat", so he couldn't hear him at all.

Shi Ran held the doorknob and looked at him for a while, then turned and closed the door.

It is estimated that the takeaway has been left at the door for a while. It is freezing outside, and the food is not very hot.The microwave oven at home was broken, Shi Ran ate two mouthfuls in a dull manner, suddenly lost his appetite, and instead lay down on the sofa to call his parents.

The network signal in the small town is very poor, and the two elders' computers are all connected to each other, and they are still disconnected when it snows and thunders.Every time Shi Ran made a video call, he basically yelled at the people on both ends of the line, and he heard it intermittently. Later, he simply found an old-fashioned wired landline in the second-hand market and installed it for them—now he can find it. is running out.

As soon as Shi Ran called, the voices of the two elders rushed to squeeze into the microphone, making it impossible to chat.Shi Ran heard that the two people on the opposite side began to bury each other again, and the smile on his face unconsciously increased.

They chatted with Shi Ran over there for a few minutes, then they yelled to ask Xiao Pei, what about Xiao Pei, Shi Ran could only say wait a moment, and then went to find Pei Haojie while covering the phone.

Pei Haojie is still in the game, the sky is gray today, so his background is also gray today.

Shi Ran has been able to skillfully go over to cut off his game, wake him up, look at his dim eyes and then wake up, and pass the phone over with no expression: "Mom and Dad."

Pei Haojie looked up at him.

"I want you to pick up the call." Shi Ran said.

He just picked up the phone and called "Mom and Dad" in a gentle and low voice, responding to the two noisy old people opposite.

Shi Ran folded her arms, leaning on the window lattice of the bay window, looking at the dusty scenery outside the window.From time to time, he lowered his head and saw two twists on Pei Haojie's thick hair, and then turned his head to look out the window.He remembered the sexual orientation he had discovered since high school, but he didn't have the courage to come out until he met Pei Haojie after work.His parents were locals from a small town. In the winter when he brought Pei Haojie back, his parents chased them for half a street, and finally they were so tired that they were out of breath and bent over with their knees propped up.So Pei Haojie, who was halfway running, turned back and carried his father back to the room.He beat and scolded, but never compromised.Shi Ran always thought that if the person he brought back was not Pei Haojie, his parents would not have accepted it so quickly.

While in a daze, Pei Haojie had already handed the phone back: "Looking for you."

Shi Ran nodded, took the phone and walked to the living room.

It's been a long time since I had a good chat with my parents, and once the chatterbox started, I couldn't stop it for a long time. It wasn't until the end was almost over that he got to the point and talked about this year's Chinese New Year.

The second elder scolded him on the opposite side for thinking about it.Firstly, it will be Chinese New Year in a few days, Shi Ran has to take them back and forth too hard, secondly, the two of them have prepared bacon and sausages, and the recipes for the New Year’s Eve dinner have been written, and thirdly, the old man misses the past and prefers to be lively, listening at home It is better to listen to the sound of firecrackers than to go to the city to listen to it.Shi Ran could tell that the two of them hadn't considered this possibility at all, and before he could respond, they began to persuade them to come back early as soon as the conversation changed.Come back early, there is delicious food and drink at home, and everything is available.

Shi Ran lowered his head and his eyes were red. He looked at the cold takeaway box on the table and was unable to speak for a long time.

"Okay, I see." Shi Ran said before hanging up the phone, "We will go back early."

After hanging up the phone, he sat on the sofa thinking for a while, and went back to the game room to talk to Pei Haojie about what his parents meant, but when he entered the room, he saw Pei Haojie wearing a "hat" immersed in the game again.Shi Ran took a deep breath, calmly approached him and cut off the game again.

"What's wrong?" Pei Haojie sounded obviously annoyed.

Shi Ran didn't bother him: "My parents don't want to come over."

"Then go back." Pei Haojie fiddled with the music reader in the palm of her hand, "Leave at [-] o'clock, and you can drive home in three hours. If you leave at noon on the third day of junior high school, I will have to play video with my dad when I go back."

"We can take the Wi-Fi transmitter over there."

Pei Haojie was about to shake her head: "It doesn't work, I tried it before!"

Shi Ran remembered something again: "My parents said that this year their snow is very heavy, we need to drive slowly, it is conservatively estimated that it will take four and a half hours to get there!"

"I'll take a look at the air ticket later! If there is a suitable one, buy the air ticket, and save the trouble on the road."

"We have to hurry up to book a plane ticket. It's hard to get a ticket now."

Pei Haojie answered the phone, Shi Ran didn't bother him anymore, went back to the room and began to browse the ticket information.Screening is a cumbersome process, especially repeated ticket bounces and comparisons take a lot of energy and patience.He sat at the desk for half an hour, and when he finally saw a better route, he took his mobile phone and went to find Pei Haojie.

"I see the class isn't bad—"

Shi Ran, who pushed the door open again, saw Pei Haojie still wearing the "hat".

He didn't let go of the doorknob, and he gripped it harder and harder. He took a deep breath, walked up to Pei Haojie, and cut off the game for the third time today.

Pei Haojie didn't even look up at him when she woke up this time.He lowered his head and rubbed his temples, his eyebrows were twitched, and his face was full of pain.

"Can't you really wait until the evening?"

Shi Ran's emotions were already on the verge of erupting, but he forcibly pushed down the angry self, and tried to talk to Pei Haojie as calmly as possible.It's just that Shi Ran didn't realize that he has a very natural habit - he likes to get to the bottom of everything.It's as if the more you know that the answer to a question will hurt someone, the more you want to tear that layer of skin.

"Aren't you working now?" Shi Ran looked down at the brain wave reader in his hand, hating it from the bottom of his heart, he suddenly remembered the first time Pei Haojie introduced this mesh "hat" to him, He was very conflicted.Now that I think about it, it was not without reason, "Your job is to promote online, including live broadcast. "Messiah" is a closed beta game, and Mr. Lin specifically explained that it is not allowed to promote to the public. I brought this to you at the time. So you Playing "Messiah" is not for work needs at all."

"..."

"You just want to play!" Two seconds later, Shi Ran said firmly.

He didn't expect that this time Pei Haojie would welcome his conclusion without hesitation.

"Yes, you are right. I just want to play." Pei Haojie said.

No explanation, nothing to add.

"I regret giving you this set of "Messiah"." After a long silence, Shi Ran suddenly raised his head, and the emotion in his eyes was no longer concealed, "If I knew it was like this, I wouldn't run to the next door if I was killed. Go ask Mr. Lin!"