[The summer solstice has not yet come] Carving time

<sixteen>

At dawn, Gu Qiaochu propped himself up and patted Yu Lai, his opponent, and said in a low voice, "Get up, let's go for a morning run."

Yu Lai was full of anger and didn't know where to send it. He wanted to ask Gu Qiaochu what was wrong, but he saw Gu Qiaochu's bloodshot eyes for a while, but couldn't say a word.He pursed his lips and patted Gu Qiaochu's hand, looking a bit in a bad mood, but still followed Gu Qiaochu's rhythm and got up to wash up.

Gu Qiaochu was talking about running in the morning, but he actually put on a full set of sportswear and slipped down the pipe outside the balcony with Yu Lai.

With a dark face, Yu Lai followed Gu Qiaochu to wipe the dust all over the water pipe. He watched Gu Qiaochu pat his clothes and pants as if nothing happened, and his face couldn't stop turning dark.

"I said I came for a morning jog." Seeing Yu Lai's complexion getting worse and worse, Gu Qiaochu seemed to be there.He slapped Yu Lai's shoulder with a slap, but in the end he looked at the dust of his palm rubbing Yu Lai all over in embarrassment.He could only cough a few times, and said in a low voice, "Let's go, don't be caught by the campus police."

Yu Lai suppressed his anger and had nowhere to vent his anger. He followed Gu Qiaochu a little behind and ran around the main road of the school twice.By the time he passed the playground for the third time, there were already sporadic figures running.

"...Qiaochu?" Yu Lai finally lost his composure. He grabbed Gu Qiaochu's arm and said in a muffled voice, "Go back and change your clothes, go have breakfast... It's almost time for class."

"I won't eat, Yu Lai." Gu Qiaochu turned his head and looked at Yu Lai squarely.He stood on the spot and lowered his eyes, as if thinking for a while, before saying, "Yu Lai, I thought about it... I won't be attending school in the third year of high school."

"... hiding from people?"

"What? It's just that it's time for me to start preparing to go abroad. The third year of high school is always reviewing. I can't learn much, right?"

What Gu Qiaochu said was a bit inflated, not to mention he was still smiling when he said this.

Yu Lai thought that if he hadn't listened to this, anyone else would have lowered Gu Qiaochu's favor a lot.But he is different, he doesn't care about these, just thinking that Gu Qiaochu might not be easy.

"Alright."

At the end of the near future, Lu Zhiang was in a bad mood.

First, he is obsessed with the choice of arts and sciences, with the opinions of friends and family, he always has this dilemma.Besides, with such an important choice, he really couldn't make up his mind.

In the end, he wanted to ask Gu Qiaochu for his opinion.But this is the second point that makes him feel bad. He hasn't seen Gu Qiaochu for quite some time.

Lu Zhiang didn't know if it was his own illusion, he felt as if people around him were preventing him from seeing Gu Qiaochu.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhiang was reading comics in the classroom, he reached for the ice coke on the corner of the table, and the water droplets outside the can filled his hands with moisture.Thinking of this, he was a little irritable at first, but in the end he smiled.

People around him have any reason to prevent him from seeing Gu Qiaochu, just think about it.

On the day of the final exam, Lu Zhiang saw Gu Qiaochu from afar at the stairs of the teaching building.

At that time, Gu Qiaochu was standing with his homeroom teacher. I don't know what the two of them were talking about. The teacher smiled and patted Gu Qiaochu on the shoulder, then turned and walked away.

Lu Zhiang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that he wanted to catch up with Gu Qiaochu before he had gone far.He ran over and grabbed Gu Qiaochu's arm, with an unnatural smile on the corner of his mouth, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Originally being dragged by someone, Gu Qiaochu reflexively just wanted to throw his hand away, but when he turned around and saw it was Lu Zhiang, he raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly, "After the exam, talk to the teacher."

"Then what..." Lu Zhiang scratched his hair in a little embarrassment, "We plan to go out to play after the exam, do you want to come together?"

"I won't." Gu Qiaochu smacked his lips for the first time, with a rare smile in his eyes again.He wiped away Lu Zhiang who was pulling his hand, lifted the backpack on his shoulders, pursed his lips and smiled, "Grandma has moved into the city, I have to go home and have a look."

"That weekend..."

"I have something to do on the weekend." Gu Qiaochu cut off Lu Zhiang's words, and he even patted Lu Zhiang's shoulder affectionately, "Zhiang, I'm in a hurry, I'll go first."

When Gu Qiaochu said that he was in a hurry, he was really not lying.He trotted to the school gate with his bag on his back, and saw his mother's car parked on the side of the road.He pressed his forehead with some headaches, and sat in the car with his lips pursed, "I'm sorry, Mom, I just met a friend and was delayed for a while."

"It's okay." Xiao Yu's face was dull, but she was almost like Gu Qiaochu when she was angry.She pulled out a document bag from the side with her backhand and handed it to Gu Qiaochu, "Here is an oral English teacher for you, you choose the one that suits you."

"...Thank you, mom." Gu Qiao was a little embarrassed at the beginning. He thought that at this moment, he should always hug this mother who is always very indulgent to him, but the other party seemed to be angry. After all, they are mother and son. no.

"... Ah Chu." Xiao Yu thought for a while, turned his head and rubbed Gu Qiaochu's short, prickly hair, and said softly, "You know what your grandpa and I mean... you can do what you like. good."

"Look, I'm so glad I was born in such a family."

During the summer vacation, when Gu Qiaochu and Yu Lai made an appointment to meet at the carving time, he sighed to Yu Lai like this.

As he said this, he curled the corners of his lips and showed a slight smile, but his eyes were filled with regrets bit by bit.

"But sometimes, I feel that all their connivance to me...is like pressure on me."

Yu Lai heard every word of Gu Qiaochu clearly. He turned his head to look at Gu Qiaochu. Seeing his friend's eyes full of regret, he finally couldn't bear to say anything, so he just patted Gu Qiaochu. shoulders.

Like silent comfort.

Throughout the summer vacation, Gu Qiaochu was so busy that his feet didn't touch the ground.The family was all pampering to him, even when he said he wanted to spend his whole senior year preparing to go abroad, no one said anything to him.

But this connivance was a little too much. Gu Qiaochu went to school alone to run the relevant documents, and Xiao Yu would only intervene a little when the parents needed to sign or need to be contacted.

Not long after the summer vacation started, Gu Qiaochu started various complicated courses.He had already planned the major he wanted to study abroad when he was going to study abroad. At this time, he started the superficial study one step ahead. Coupled with the study of oral English and professional foreign languages, he had a full day's time.

One night in November of this year, after dinner, Gu Qiaochu sat in the living room with his family watching TV.

At that time, there was a news broadcast on TV that the first case of SARS had appeared in a coastal city.

At that time, Gu Qiaochu didn't pay attention. He just listened to the people on TV reporting the case in a serious voice, and went into the study with the water glass on the coffee table.

Asakawa is located in northern China, and the illness from the coastal city should not be contagious.Gu Qiaochu thought so at the time.

He did not expect that a few months later, when the afterglow of the New Year still lingered in the streets of Asakawa, the first case of SARS infection was reported in the capital next door.

Gu Qiaochu heard this news from his mother. At that time, he had just gone to Japan and was introduced by an acquaintance at home, saying that he would visit a certain university professor.Xiao Yu's meaning is very clear, this meeting, it is good to stay in Japan to study for a period of time, whether it is the local customs or more contact with the local people.

"The country is not safe now, so don't come back."

Gu Qiaochu pursed his lips and smiled, thinking that Japan and China are separated by a narrow strip of water, and the country is not safe because of the epidemic, so how safe will Japan be?

Every night, Gu Qiaochu would talk to his family on the phone, and gradually realized how terrible this SARS was.

A little later, although Xiao Yu didn't tell him, when he called Yu Lai, he heard that the capital next door had unknowingly become a hard-hit area, and even Asakawa Middle School was suspected of being diagnosed with a SARS patient.

Xiao Yu told Gu Qiaochu on the phone that the family didn't go out very much these days.The daily necessities in the shops outside are being snapped up, and everyone is trying to reduce the need to go out as much as possible.

Gu Qiaochu listened to the grandmother on the other end of the phone and said, "Ah Chu, you study hard, and everything at home is fine."

Gu Qiaochu sat in the convenience store and ate instant noodles, thinking that it would be fine for me to announce the good news outside but not the bad news, but what is going on with you at home.

But even so, Gu Qiaochu did not intend to return to China.In his free time, he went to a famous shrine in Japan, watched the beautiful woman lead the little girl to wash her hands in front of the shrine, and finally walked in to worship with utmost reverence.

He doesn't believe in gods and Buddhas, and the shrine came not very cleverly, so he just asked for an amulet outside the temple to keep him safe.

That night, when he returned to the B&B where he was staying, he packed his luggage neatly.The owner of the homestay held his hand, and the two saluted and said goodbye again and again, and then they were able to leave.

The next day, Gu Qiaochu transferred to Asakawa. This was the first time he saw such a desolate street in Asakawa.He hailed a taxi, and the driver wearing a mask frowned at him, saying that due to the special circumstances recently, the starting price of the taxi had increased.He nodded to express his understanding. It is human nature to risk his life to make money.

He took a taxi back home, the whole family was complete, and he didn't lose his temper when he came back suddenly, he just hugged him and said it was fine.

After putting away his luggage, Gu Qiaochu was planning to go out. Xiao Yu was sitting in the living room, and when he saw him walking towards the entrance, he stopped him, "Ah Chu?"

"I'll go out for a while." Gu Qiaochu turned his head, squinted his eyes and smiled, he unconsciously tightened the mask in his hand, and said in a slow tone, "Mom, don't worry."

He was pampered by this family, and he was very self-willed at this time. He went downstairs and rode his bicycle towards the suburbs.

When approaching the gate of Qianchuan Middle School, Gu Qiaochu called Yu Lai with his mobile phone, "I'm back, pick me up?"

"Fart!" Yu Lai sneaked out the back door to answer the call, he hid in the bathroom and said in a low voice, "I told you that Asakawa is closing the school, where can I pick you up?!"

Yu Lai heard the person on the other end of the phone laugh, he was suddenly startled, and heard the person say with a smile.

"At the school gate."