every breath

Yongchuan Primary School is a veritable "small" school.There is only one five-story teaching building in the whole school, and there are only six classes in six grades, and some of the classes are sporadically seated with less than ten students.

Although the number of students is small, the school is still running in an orderly manner.

It only takes 10 minutes to walk from Yuanjia to Yongchuan Primary School.When Zhuang Yu and Yuan Yang arrived, it happened to be the break time between classes, and the children flew from the teaching building to the playground like a flock of cheerful birds.Compared with the pitifully small teaching building, the playground looks very large, with basketball and football fields and running tracks. Although it is not covered with plastic like schools in big cities, the children have fun playing on the dirt-filled field.

When Zhuang Yu followed Yuanyang across the playground to the teaching building, he saw the children happily climbing on the uneven bars at the other end of the sports equipment, and couldn't help but think of what that person had said.

— Have you ever played uneven bars?When I was very young, the elementary school I went to had a set of uneven bars. The boys all liked to hang themselves on the horizontal bar to see who could hang on it for the longest time.Is it boring?Hey, don't laugh, but I was a hero once, climbed on the bar and accidentally fell down, almost breaking my hand.Hey, you're still laughing.

"Have you ever played uneven bars?" Zhuang Yu couldn't help asking.

Yuan Yang followed his gaze and looked over: "Oh, of course there is. The boys in our class are still competing on who can hang on it for the longest time."

Zhuang Yu laughed: "It seems that no matter when, boys are always so boring."

"Children, they have too much energy to use. They like to engage in meaningless competitions. But adults are the same, chasing fame and fortune boringly." Yuanyang smiled lazily, leading him into the classroom building.

Yuanyang was very familiar with this elementary school because he had stayed here for six years. Wearing a hallway, they came to a long corridor. The two walls of the corridor were covered with photos of different sizes, solemnly framed with frames. Some are black and white, some are in color.

Yuan Yang pointed to the photos in the corridor and said: "These are group photos of graduates from previous years. Don't look at Yongchuan Township Primary School, this primary school has a history of nearly 100 years. It is quite spectacular to hang up group photos of graduates every year. .”

He said and pointed to a group photo with relatively bright colors: "Look, this is me seven years ago."

There are no more than [-] children in the photo. Everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. A few teachers are standing behind with their arms around their shoulders.There is a thin and tall little boy at the farthest corner. He does not sit upright and look at the camera like other children, but looks up at the sky excitedly, and at the same time raised his right hand high, as if he found something.

"Why are you pointing at the sky?" Zhuang Yu asked.

"Oh, because I spotted a UFO in the sky," he said.

Zhuang Yu thought he heard it wrong: "U what?"

"UFO. Unidentified flying object. It was right above our heads, but it hid its shape, so no one could see it."

Zhuang Yu froze for a moment: "Since it hides its body...then why did you find it?"

Yuan Yang smiled, showing his brilliant white teeth, and pointed to his head: "Because I can sense supernatural power!"

It was the first time Zhuang Yu met someone who could talk nonsense in such a serious manner.

However, Yuanyang's expression was extremely serious, and it didn't look like he was joking.

"Don't you believe it? I'm not joking. I have been able to see many strange things since I was a child, and I can sense many very mysterious powers. I have felt UFO more than once!"

"Then...how does it feel to sense a UFO?"

He frowned and thought about it: "Well, how to describe it, that is, there will be tingling in the temples, and then some dizziness, and many strange sounds will appear in the head. This sound is different from any sound on the earth. It is beautiful. , and uncomfortable. Brother Zhuang, can you understand?"

Zhuang Yu shook his head: "No, I can't."

Yuanyang, are you sure that is not a symptom of heatstroke?

"Oh, forget it, brother Zhuang, you are also an ordinary earthling, so I won't force you to understand my feelings. In this world, there are too few people as special as me, and you can't find them." He said As he spoke, he walked forward with a look of disappointment, "By the way, when did your friend graduate?"

Zhuang Yu made some calculations: "It should be 12 years ago."

"Well, let me see... ah, here it is. Brother Zhuang, come here quickly."

There is a photo by the window that has begun to fade, and the colors are no longer so bright.There are about a dozen 12-year-old boys and girls in the photo, all wearing simple white shirts and blue trousers, looking at the camera a little cautiously.

Zhuang Yu's eyes wandered among the faces of those boys, and suddenly he was attracted by a boy with a crew cut: he frowned slightly and looked ahead, because he didn't often do outdoor activities, he looked fairer than ordinary children.

"I found it." Zhuang Yu pointed to the child in the center of the photo.

Yuanyang took a closer look: "Oh, this is the Qin Xuanyang you mentioned. I don't know if the school still has his address..."

A female teacher happened to pass by. She looked about 40 years old, with short hair that reached the ears, and her eyes lit up when she saw Yuanyang: "Hey, little alien, why are you back on Earth?"

"Mr. Chen, I'll come back and have a look." Yuanyang greeted her respectfully, and said to Zhuang Yu: "This is my former class teacher, Mr. Chen, who has been teaching here for many years. By the way, Mr. Chen, you Have you ever taught a student named Qin Xuanyang? Graduated about 12 years ago."

"It was so long 12 years ago..." She tried to recall for a while, "I have a little impression of this name, maybe I really taught him. Does he have any other characteristics?"

Zhuang Yu recalled: "He... never took physical education class, but once he bet with others and climbed on the horizontal bar, but he almost broke his hand and recuperated at home for a long time."

Teacher Qin suddenly realized "Ah": "I remembered, you are talking about Qin Van Gogh!"

Teacher Qin, who holds several jobs, not only teaches Chinese but also teaches ideology and morality, and also teaches painting, still has the paintings of Qin Xuanyang in primary school. Although he is not good at sports, he has his own set of styles in painting .

This style is called postmodern abstraction.

If you want to describe the characteristics of this school of painting in simple and easy-to-understand words, it is - ghost painting symbols.

Qin Xuanyang, an outstanding painter of postmodern abstractionism, has shown extraordinary artistic talent since he was a child. When the whole class could accurately draw apples with simple lines, he filled the space with abstract, messy and complex lines. The whole drawing paper, and when others laughed at where his apple was, he retorted: You can't understand!I am art!

Over time, everyone got used to his unique painting style and gave him an appropriate nickname: Qin Van Gogh.

Although Mr. Qin is not an art major, he also knows that Qin Xuanyang's paintings are not so much art as they are free expression without a theme.But it was the lines, circles, and all kinds of animals that she drew as she wished, which gave her a glimpse of the distressed and sensitive side of this boy who usually doesn't talk much.

From those messy lines, she seems to be able to feel the tension of life, fragile and tenacious.

She has been carefully keeping the child's paintings in the picture album, as if looking forward to the day when he can return to his alma mater and bring back the boredom and arrogance of his youth.

Zhuang Yu didn't expect to meet Qin Xuanyang's teacher, nor did he expect to see the paintings he drew when he was a child.He has never seen Qin Xuanyang paint, and he doesn't know that he used to vent his emotions through painting when he was young, so even though it is just some immature lines, he is also fascinated by it.

He was bold enough to ask Mr. Qin for a few paintings, but he didn't expect Mrs. Qin to give him the whole picture album generously.

"It was originally Qin Xuanyang's thing, and I have been thinking that I can return it to him when he comes back to Yongchuan. Since you are his friend, I will trouble you to keep it."

Yuan Yang took the opportunity to ask again: "Mr. Qin, do you know which side of Yongchuan Qin Xuanyang lives in?"

"Him? He moved to the city with his parents as soon as he graduated from primary school, and we haven't been in touch since then. He probably doesn't live here now."

The two of them looked at each other, slightly disappointed.

Zhuang Yu bit his lips: "Then where is their old house, do you remember?"

Teacher Qin shook his head with a smile: "It happened more than ten years ago. I really don't remember the exact address. I have visited my home a few times, but I only remember that it is probably in the west, in the old neighborhood. I don't know the house. Have you sold it?"

Yuan Yang said that most of the residents in the old block have moved out, and that block has become more and more depressed in the past two years, and only a few people still stay there.

It was almost dusk when they left school, and they decided to go to the old neighborhood tomorrow to find out if they could find Qin Xuanyang's home.

After dinner in the evening, Yuanchen asked in the living room about the results of their investigation during the day.While Yuanyang was still washing the dishes, Zhuang Yu lowered his voice and asked a question: "Well, your brother told me during the day that he can sense supernatural power."

"Oh, did he still tell you that he sensed an alien's UFO when he was taking graduation photos?" Yuan Chen's face was calm, not frightened at all.

Zhuang Yu nodded.

She sighed: "If you stay here for a few more days, you will hear more of his wonderful deeds. He has said since he was a child that he has magical supernatural abilities and can see things that others cannot see." , I can sense the existence of aliens, because of his rich imagination since childhood, he has caused a lot of troubles for our family."

"His head teacher in elementary school seemed to call him a little alien."

"Oh, that's because since he sensed the UFO, he has been saying in front of others that sooner or later the spaceship of the aliens will land in Yongchuan Town. Go on a UFO and go to space for a great adventure. Although they are all elementary school students, everyone is not stupid. How can they believe his nonsense, so everyone nicknamed him "Little Alien" later, but he is quite I like this nickname. My younger brother, his brain is too big to fill in, he should be a novelist."

It was also the first time for Zhuang Yu to meet such a miraculous person, and he didn't know what words to use to describe him: "He is indeed... quite special."

Yuan Chen shook his head: "Xiao Zhuang, it's too polite for you to comment on him like this. He is a man, to put it mildly, there are two words: middle school two, and to put it badly, three words: god, meridian, and disease."

"Who are you talking about crazy, I can hear you." Yuan Yang, who just finished washing the dishes, returned to the living room, and took out a plate of sliced ​​watermelon by the way.He sat down next to Zhuang Yu, and leisurely began to enjoy the fruit after dinner.

Yuan Chen ignored Yuan Yang, and poked Zhuang Yu: "Hey, you haven't said what collections you have in elementary school today."

Zhuang Yu smiled and took out the album: "This is Qin Xuanyang's album when he was a child."

Yuanchen took it and flipped through it, and instead of frowning and complaining as he imagined, he nodded: "There is no skill, but it is quite spiritual. It's just that your friend's painting style seems to be dark."

Yuan Yang was biting a watermelon, frowned and spit out a few black seeds, and gave her a sideways glance: "Come on, you're not a painter, stop pretending to be an expert."

"Don't compare a highly educated intellectual like me with a person like you who only appreciates RMB headshots, okay?"

"I'm also an intellectual who is receiving higher education." Yuan Yang especially emphasized the word "is", "You who write horror novels don't come here as a cosplay art connoisseur."

"Hurry up and go back to your alien planet." Yuanchen picked up a pillow with one hand and covered his face, "The earth is so dangerous, why don't you hurry up and summon your UFO back to Mars!"

Yuanyang picked up the back pad and wanted to launch a full-scale attack. Seeing that a big battle was about to break out, Zhuang Yu didn't know how to mediate, so he held up the fruit plate and shook it in front of them, and asked weakly: "Would you like to eat watermelon? "

The two siblings glared at each other, and then reached out to the fruit bowl in an irreconcilable and tacit understanding.

"Hmph, I don't care about petty people like you." Yuan Chen threw the pillow back on the sofa and took a bite of the melon.

"I don't care about women." Yuan Yang sat down, stared at her, and took a big bite of melon.

Yuan Chen also stared back at him, and swallowed it down, the flesh of the melon was gone.

Zhuang Yu sat in the middle, helplessly watching the two siblings fight childishly.There was nothing he could do to ease the atmosphere, so he had to lower his head and continue flipping through Qin Xuanyang's childhood album.

Many are scribbled with pencil or blue ballpoint pen, not much coloring, and most of the paintings are in a single tone.Turning to the back, there is a painting that is different.

The lines of that painting are not as messy and random as other paintings. It can be seen that the painter painted it with care, and even rarely painted different colors to match the picture.In the picture, a little boy is standing under the blue sky, the grass is green and the flowers are blooming on the ground, but the boy has no smile on his face, he is looking ahead blankly, holding a heart in his hand, but the heart has been broken Cracked into countless pieces, and can never be put back into its original shape.

On the left side of the screen, primary school student Qin Xuanyang wrote two words in immature words: Broken.

He couldn't help touching the little broken heart on the screen, feeling a burst of sadness.

After a while, he lowered his head and put away the album, "I'm a little tired, so I'll go back and rest first."

The Yuan brothers and sisters were still in the cold war and had no time to pay attention to him. They said "um" and did not speak again.He bowed his head and hurried out of the living room, along the back door to the unlit garden.

The summer night sky was dotted with stars, he didn't look up to see the stars in the sky, he hurried through the garden, bypassed the nameless flowers in bloom, pushed open the bedroom door of the guest room, and hurriedly closed it, he didn't turn on the light, only the window outside the room Floating flowers and endless darkness spread.

He sat by the bed, holding the picture album.

Thinking of the heartbroken person, his eyes unconsciously burst into tears in the darkness.