every breath

Yuanchen picked up the boy on the road some distance from the town.

When she came back from the neighboring town that afternoon, when she was riding a bicycle on the road, she saw a teenager sitting on the side of the road with a backpack on his back, with a half-drunk bottle of mineral water on the side of the road. He looked down at the A paper map, cheeks flushed by the midsummer sun.

From a distance, Yuan Chen noticed the confusion on his face staring at the map.

Looks like another lost kid.

She slowed down slightly to approach him, stopped in front of him, and asked, "What's the matter?"

The boy quickly stood up and licked his slightly dry lips, anxiously: "Sorry, I would like to ask how to get to Yongchuan Town. The map on my mobile phone does not have this town at all, but this paper map does. Yes, but the location is marked and not very clear..."

While he was talking, Yuan Chen looked at this young man—he looked about ten years old, his slightly frizzy short hair curled up in the hot afternoon wind, his appearance was quite handsome, but his expression was very tired, as if it had been a long time. I haven't had a good rest.

He scratched his head embarrassedly: "If it's convenient, can you tell me how to go?"

Yuanchen pointed to a small path beside the road ahead: "See that path ahead? Go straight along this path, and then you will see a big tree, along the branch road on the left side of the trunk Keep going, and you will arrive at Yongchuan Town in about 10 minutes."

His eyes lit up and he smiled at her: "Thank you so much."

Seeing him picking up the water bottle on the ground and going forward, Yuan Chen called to him: "Hey, let me give you a ride."

"Ah?" He turned around in surprise, looked at Yuan Chen, and then at the bicycle under her feet, "It's still not necessary."

"What are you afraid of? It will take you at least 10 minutes to walk, and I will take you there in 5 minutes by bicycle." Yuanchen patted the back seat of the car boldly.

Under the scorching sun in midsummer, the young man wiped the sweat off his face and smiled a little weakly: "It's okay, I'll just take a walk..."

"Oh, why are you a mother-in-law?" Yuan Chen glared at him, "Little brother, I kindly carried you because I saw that you would suffer from heat stroke if you walked any further! You are a big man and you are afraid that I will be robbed?"

The boy smiled and didn't smile, and didn't smile and didn't. He stood there for a while in a bit of confusion.The afternoon sun made him very uncomfortable, and the sweat made his shirt stick to his back, which was extremely uncomfortable. Maybe he really felt that his physical strength was a little weak, so he didn't insist anymore, and smiled bitterly: "Then... trouble You."

Yuanchen waved his big hand boldly: "No trouble, anyway, my home is in Yongchuan. Just drop in."

The bicycle was speeding on the road again, a short-haired woman in her early twenties, wearing a simple T-shirt and denim shorts was riding in front, and a slightly thin teenager was sitting behind.

The sun was chasing them from behind, the boy turned his head to one side, staring at his own shadow on the ground in a daze.

In a daze, a question came from ahead, and he was distracted for a moment and couldn't hear it clearly, so he asked, "What are you asking, I didn't hear clearly?"

Yuanchen repeated the question angrily: "I, ask, you, come, Yong, Chuan, what, what?"

The bicycle just turned from the concrete road to a dirt path. The wild grass on both sides of the path swayed its leaves listlessly in the hot summer wind, and a fresh smell of mud and grass blades came to my face.

"Oh, I'm here..." The boy paused, "...to find someone."

"Who are you looking for? There are not many people still in Yongchuan, maybe I know them." Yuan Chen pedaled hard ahead, and after a while, a tall tree appeared at the end of the path ahead.The tree stands in the distance like a signpost, the trunk stands straight, and the upward branches open up a large area of ​​green.

The boy's gaze was attracted by the big tree, and instead of answering Yuanchen's question, he asked instead: "Is that a kapok plant?"

"Hey, your eyes are so good, you can tell it's kapok from such a distance?"

If it is in spring, when the kapok is full of red flowers, it can be recognized from a long distance.But now its huge and gorgeous flowers have been turned into mud, and the branches are full of green leaves that are not ordinary at first glance. It is very rare to be able to judge the tree species from such a long distance.

"Are you a botanist?" Yuan Chen joked.

"I heard from him that there was a big kapok tree in front of the town where he was born." The boy's voice was a little hoarse.

"Him? Your friend?"

"Hmm... how old is this tree? Is it a hundred years old?"

"Well... I don't know about this, but I heard from my father that the tree had grown very tall when he was a child, so it's not surprising that it is a hundred years old."

The boy fell silent as he watched the kapok tree getting closer.

——Hey, Zhuang Yu, there is a big kapok tree in the town where I was born. When spring comes, it will be full of kapok. It is bright red and can be seen from a long distance. It is very beautiful.I think it's about a hundred years old, I'll take you to see it next time.

The summer wind blew over, without the slightest coolness, and it was so hot that people felt itchy.

Even with a young man behind her, Yuanchen still rode to Yongchuan Town in only 5 minutes with her courage and leg strength.

Compared with those bustling cities, this small town lacks a modern atmosphere. Except for the wires outside each house, there is almost no shadow of a modern town. The streets and houses in the town are almost not paved with wood but bricks. After the paving, every household has a yard, where either flowers or vegetables are planted, which is quite idyllic.

It seems that in the overwhelming wave of modernization, only this small town still maintains the virtues of quietness and simplicity.

Amidst the cicadas singing like huge waves in summer, this small town fell asleep in the summer afternoon. There were almost no pedestrians on the street, except for an old man selling goldfish while waving a fan under a banyan tree by the roadside. The little boy with only shorts on his upper body was squatting by the fish tank and teasing the fish.

Yuanchen stopped the car in the shade of a tree by the side of the road, and the boy thanked him while getting down from the back seat.

She shrugged her shoulders and said that it was a piece of cake. Seeing him looking down for a map again, she asked, "Is that friend of yours coming to pick you up?"

He paused for a moment, then shook his head: "He... He probably didn't know I was coming."

"You didn't contact me beforehand? Then call him now and ask him to come over."

He still smiled wryly: "He doesn't have a phone."

Yuan Chen looked in disbelief: "Is it a modern person who doesn't have a phone? Then do you know where he lives? I'll take you there."

He waved his hand: "No, no, it's too much trouble for you. I'll find a place to live first, and it won't be too late to find it slowly."

"Looking for?" Yuan Chen's eyes widened, "You...you don't know where he lives, do you?"

He smiled wryly again.

Yuan Chen never thought that he would meet such a confused person in his lifetime: "You don't know where he lives, and you don't know his phone number, so you haven't seen that person at all, have you? Little brother, you are here to meet netizens right?"

This time he didn't show a bitter expression, but smiled quite comfortably: "No, you misunderstood. He is indeed my friend—a real friend, but the two of us..."

Under the shade of the tree, the bright sunlight fell on his eyes.

"...It's been a while since I saw him. I guess he's returned to his hometown, so I came here to take a look. But I don't know the exact address of his hometown, so I can only find it by myself."

I don't know whether he was lucky or unlucky, but Yuanchen, who was idle and enthusiastic, was found. After hearing this, she put the bicycle aside, and asked, "Do you have any clues? Although we Yongchuan said It’s not that big, but it’s still a town, and you can’t find someone by knocking on doors.”

He scratched his head again: "He didn't say in detail where he lives, I only know his elementary school."

Yuanchen sighed a long time, and gave him a small white look: "Just based on this little bit of information, do you think you can find him like Sherlock Holmes?"

Instead, he smiled gently: "I'm not in a hurry, I have plenty of time, so take your time looking for it."

"Didn't you say that you haven't seen him for a while, and you don't want to see him sooner?"

"Take your time, you can always see it." His smile seemed a little heartless in Yuan Chen's eyes, which made her sigh in her heart that young people nowadays are so laid-back.

Hey stop, she remembered that she was a young man in his early twenties, so it's better not to rush to criticize this young man who is not much younger than her.

Although the young man was a little careless, he was quite considerate in etiquette. He thanked Yuan Chen again: "Thank you for driving me here. I won't bother you about the next thing. I will find my own solution. Then I will go first." gone."

"Wait a minute." Yuan Chen stopped him leisurely, "Since you said that you can find a solution, then tell me, where do you plan to live today?"

He looked naive: "I'll just find a hotel to stay in."

The corners of Yuan Chen's mouth twitched, and he sneered: "Little brother, let me tell you a cruel fact: there is no hotel in Yongchuan Town."

Yuan Yang, a 19-year-old college student, lay down in a large font on the bamboo mat spread out in the living room, enjoying the cool breeze from the floor fan while biting a freshly sliced ​​iced watermelon.The neckline of his white vest was crooked, revealing his unsexy collarbone, and his lower body was straight male duck pajama pants, without any fashion taste that a 19-year-old college boy should have.

Just when he was feeling the infinite beauty of life, the door of his house was suddenly opened.

From the sound of the door lock being roughly unscrewed, he knew that it must be his sister Yuanchen who was from the same mother.Before he could speak, he was taken aback by the scene in front of him:

His older sister, who had been single for 26 years and had never even been in a relationship, came home with a handsome boy.

He jumped up from the bamboo mat in an instant and yelled into the kitchen: "Mom! It's not good! My sister kidnapped a minor and brought her home!"

With a crisp "snap", Yuanchen's fist landed on his head with precision, and he also gave him a very difficult supercilious look.

The mother in the kitchen heard the sound and walked out of the living room. When she saw the boy, her eyes lit up and she smiled all over her face: "Oh, who is this young man? Yuanchen, your friend?"

"Come on, she has no friends."

With another sound of "boom", Yuanyang immediately added a big bag to his head.

Yuanchen explained: "I picked it up on the road. He came to Yongchuan to find friends, but he couldn't find it for a while, and there was no place to live, so I brought him back."

The 19-year-old Yuan Yang looked at Yuan Chen again with a look of "sister, you are so proactive", and by the way, looked at the slightly reserved boy.

The boy smiled awkwardly, and then bowed to Yuan's mother: "Auntie, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Don't bother, don't bother." Yuan's mother smiled hospitablely, "What's the boy's name?"

"My name is Zhuang Yu."

"The name is really sweet." She nodded and said to Yuan Yang who was still squatting next to her, "Hurry up and tidy up the living room to greet guests."

Yuan Yang reluctantly began to tidy up the bamboo mats. Zhuang Yu glanced at the simple and low-key interior decoration in confusion, and then at Yuan Chen: "Didn't you say that your house used to be a hotel? Why..."

No matter how it looks, it doesn't look like a hotel at all.

Hearing his question, Yuan's mother laughed: "That's right, our house used to be a hotel. In the late Qing Dynasty."

Late Qing...

The corners of his mouth twitched.

There are four members in Yuan’s family: Father Yuan Jingtian—has nothing to do with the Taiwanese actor—temporarily out of town due to work reasons; mother Liu Jialing—has nothing to do with the Hong Kong actor—is an ordinary housewife who usually does things. Discipline the children to wash and wash the clothes, and occasionally play mahjong with the neighbors, and live a happy life; the eldest daughter Yuanchen, aged 26, is celibate, and usually stays at home because of the flexible nature of work; the eldest son Yuanyang, 19 years old, a college student One, this kid's personality is more difficult to describe. To sum it up in a sentence from his sister Yuanchen, it is: not enterprising, not learning, not skillful, neither fish nor fowl, not sympathetic—hey, something seems wrong...

All in all, this is an ordinary and happy family.

Wait, the word "ordinary" doesn't seem to be suitable for them.

Yuanjia, which used to run a hotel in the late Qing Dynasty, was a big house. The first half of the house was mainly occupied by people, and it was transformed into a modern house structure: the living room, kitchen, and utility room are located at the entrance of the entrance, and the bedrooms of the owners are on the second floor. .The interior decoration is also modern.But go out from the back door, pass through an atrium full of flowers and trees, and the back side is a small house with blue tiles and white walls. past.

The main house didn't have any spare bedrooms, so Zhuang Yu had to be arranged in the back hut.Fortunately, although no one lives in the hut, Yuan's mother will occasionally take care of it, so it can be moved in after a little tidying up.She specially chose a bedroom with a good view for Zhuang Yu, and when she opened the window, all kinds of flowers and plants flourishing in the garden can be seen everywhere.

That night, Yuan's mother specially cooked a sumptuous dinner to welcome him.He was touched by the enthusiasm of the family, and he was not as embarrassed as before.

At the dinner table, there are inevitably various inquiries: how old is this year, where do you go to school, why did you come to this small town, who are you looking for, and so on.

When Zhuang Yubi answered "I'm 24" lightly, the three members of Yuan's family all looked at him in horror.

"You are a monster, you don't look like 24 years old..."

"I'll believe you even if you're a high school student."

"A 24-year-old doesn't look like you, okay?"

Facing their extremely questioning eyes, Zhuang Yu had no choice but to smile wryly and took out his ID card.

The three members of Yuan's family looked down at the date of birth on the certificate, then looked up at him again, even more shocked.

"How can a 24-year-old child look like a 14-year-old these days..."

"Hey sister, they are all from Earth, you are only two years older than him, why do you look so old?"

"Comrade Yuanyang, if you want to finish this meal alive, I advise you not to say a single word."

After dinner, he took a hot bath in the main house, and was about to go back to the bedroom to rest through the garden in the atrium, when someone stopped him suddenly:

"Hey Brother Zhuang."

It was Yuan Yang who called him. The 19-year-old boy was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of the garden, with his slender legs stretched forward, beckoning to Zhuang Yu and patting the chair next to him.

Zhuang Yu walked over and sat down.

Above the wooden chair is a simple flower shed. The branches of morning glory softly wind up the thin bamboo shed, split green leaves and vines cover the whole shed, and the curly branches hang down, swaying gently with the breeze.

"My sister said that you are looking for someone." Yuanyang leaned back in the chair leisurely, and pointed to a bedroom with lights on above the main house, "She is busy with work these two days, so she may not be able to help you, so she Let me help you find it."

"It's nothing, I can find it slowly by myself. Living in your house is already a lot of trouble for you—"

Yuanyang waved his hand casually: "What's the matter, anyway, I'm on summer vacation and I'm free. I can also pass the time by helping you find someone. Tell me, how do you plan to find someone?"

"I don't have a specific solution, but he mentioned some places to me before, and I want to go and have a look, maybe there will be some clues."

"Then where do you want to go first?"

He pondered for a while: "Go to his former elementary school. It seems to be called..."

"I know, it's called Yongchuan Elementary School." Yuan Yang smiled, "There is only this elementary school in a small town like ours. All the children in the town study there. It's not far from our home, and we can visit it tomorrow. look."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Oh, by the way, what's your friend's name?"

In the night wind, Zhuang Yu's eyes softened.

"Xuan Yang. His name is Qin Xuanyang."