stepping into the night

The work in the office is much easier than delivering food at the milk tea shop. The teacher knows that he is a work-study student, so he will not make things difficult for him. It needs to be from 06:30 to 09:30, leaving much more free time for himself, but Ruan Chu is not very happy.

The news conversation between him and Lin Jiang stayed half a month ago, which was when he delivered food in the store on the last day.

They only said goodnight to each other after they parted ways at the fork in the road and returned to the dormitory. Ruan Chu struggled for a long time, but he still didn't get the sentence "Senior, I will resign from the milk tea shop tomorrow" which he repeatedly edited and deleted many times. Move over to the office" sent out.

Lin Jiang herself got the position after passing the work-study application. She asked Ruan Chu before if she had any intention of changing positions. How could she not know that he resigned from the milk tea shop to go to the job offered by the school?And Lin Jiang's work in the milk tea shop is actually not easy, if he sends it so redundantly, will it make Lin Jiang feel bored instead?

Ruan Chu struggled for a long time, and also expected many kinds of results of Lin Jiang's response, but he finally silently deleted the sentence that had been in the dialog box for a long time, word by word.

But what Ruan Chu didn't know was that his small step of retreat also made Lin Jiang retreat.

The temperature in autumn is getting colder and colder, and the store also launched hot drinks such as oatmeal roasted milk. Lin Jiang waited for a day and wanted to make a cup for Ruan Chu when he came, but Ruan Chu didn't show up all day.It wasn't until the lunch break at noon, when she was about to go to class, that Lin Jiang suddenly remembered that the freshman's work-study application results had been released, and Ruan Chu had also changed to a new position.

But he checked his phone, and Ruan Chu didn't leave him a single word, as if he had already tacitly agreed that the relationship between the two would become estranged with the distance between their jobs. This kind of cognition made Lin Jiang a little annoyed.But he didn't show it at all on his face, everything seemed to be back to the starting point, and he was still the indifferent senior Lin Jiang who didn't want to get in touch with others, but he stayed until closing time because he wanted to walk a little longer with Ruan Chu But the habit is hard to change for a while.

He admitted that he was still unrealistically looking forward to, maybe when the youth cafeteria was about to close, there would be some elementary school boy who came over the moon, lying on the bar quietly and seriously watching him pack his things, and then softly Shout out "Senior".

But he didn't wait, and only occasionally saw Ruan Chu when he came to the cafeteria with his roommates for dinner. He could feel that Ruan Chu was also looking towards him, but when he looked up, Ruan Chu He has already lowered his head or looked away, as if deliberately avoiding him.

This made Lin Jiang start to wonder if she had revealed her sexual orientation to Ruan Chu inadvertently before, or if her petty thoughts were a little too obvious, causing Ruan Chu to alienate silently when changing positions. he.

Pei Yun's unbearable scolding didn't make Lin Jiang's heart fluctuate in the slightest, but Ruan Chu's avoidance made Lin Jiang's heart, which was finally willing to let herself go to test and touch, locked up again. I no longer take the initiative to contact Ruan Chu, but I am reluctant to cancel the pin.

No one knows which moment those feelings sprouted because of the heartbeat, but once they take root, they spread unstoppably like the moss on the pond after the rain.

Ruan Chu drew a few sketches of her idols for Liu Yuanyuan in his free time. He used better paper, and after the drawings were finished, he specially used a fixative to send them to Liu Yuanyuan. After he finished drawing, he couldn't help but want to use Draw a picture of Lin Jiang from the impression.

But he hasn't said a word to Lin Jiang for almost a month, and every time he sees him coming out of the cafeteria along the crowded crowd, only at this time can he look at the milk tea shop openly for a while Lin Jiang is busy in the house, because no one will notice where his eyes are looking, only his careful roommate will ask him, "Does the youngest want to drink milk tea?"

He is not keen on appetite, but he misses the countless nights since he started school, making him a cup of milk tea at closing time, carrying him into the inner room of the milk tea shop, staring at him to eat on time, and standing side by side with him The one who walked for a while back to the dormitory.

Ruan Chuming could clearly remember every time Lin Jiang talked to him in a gentle voice, but when the tip of the pen fell on the paper, he found that he couldn't draw anything, just like the ball covering Lin Jiang in a dream With the thick fog on his face, he should know who it is, but he can't get close.

Ruan Chu couldn't help but cast aside his greed.

——But he still wants to see Lin Jiang again, not the kind that looks at him from a distance across the crowd, but the kind that there is no other person or thing between the two of them, only each other.

He also wanted to... personally hand over the already carved seal to Lin Jiang. He didn't know how Lin Jiang would react when he saw it, but he still wanted to give it to him.

"Is the work in the office tiring?" Ye Xingzhi was the first to notice the slight change in Ruan Chu's mood. On the way back to the dormitory from the student union meeting, he happened to meet Ruan Chu who was returning from work, so he walked back with him. , this road does not need to pass through the youth restaurant near the artificial lake, but when Ye Xingzhi followed Ruan Chu to detour, he didn't ask anything, just asked him about part-time jobs in a normal tone.

Ruan Chu froze for a moment, then shook his head.

Of course, the job of an assistant in the office is not tiring. It is much better than the job of delivering food where he does not even have time to eat.

"But I feel that you are not as cheerful as before after you changed your part-time position." Ye Xingzhi said flatly.However, he didn't want Ruan Chu to give him any explanation, but rather a kind reminder to Ruan Chu when he vaguely knew something, and quickly changed the subject, "It's almost Christmas Eve, and the heads of all departments of the school will organize Deliver the fruit to the secretary and deputy department, this year the head of our department asked me to help deliver it to the seniors in Dongyuan, if you are free, would you like to go and see it with me?"

"Dongyuan?" Ruan Chu turned to look at Ye Xingzhi suspiciously.

"The dormitory area for the boys of the School of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Chemistry." Ye Xingzhi thought for a moment, and said the two schools he remembered, "It's fine if you don't have time, I mean you can join in the fun, At that time, there will still be many ministers downstairs who will deliver the Ping An fruit, Zhou Yue and Zhao Tong are also arguing to go, let me ask you."

"Okay." Ruan Chu nodded, but the thoughts in his heart quietly became active.

Dongyuan...

Isn't it the dormitory building where Lin Jiang and his college live?

Ruan Chu had some calculations in his heart, and his mood rose a little. The autumn night wind blew a little of his hair, like two little ears pricked up because of happiness.

Lin Jiang's life has returned to the original three-point-one-line, non-flavored routine. He will not take the initiative to have any disputes with others, nor will he help others enthusiastically. The colleagues in the store feel that he seems to have changed, but he seems to be something Nothing has changed, and the interior of the milk tea shop seems to be a little empty.

Although his family is local, he will not go back because he has to work in the store during school, but there is only his mother at home, and he will call his mother once a week to check on his physical condition.

"Mom?" Lin Jiang frowned worriedly when she heard her mother's cough that became smaller after taking the phone receiver away, "Are you sick?"

"No." After a while, the mother's voice became closer and clearer again. It was the gentle tone that had never changed in memory, "The temperature has changed a lot in the past two days, and I have caught a cold. It's okay. Don't worry. You How was school?"

"It's not bad." Lin Jiang waited for a while, and she didn't hear her mother coughing again before letting go of her snacks.

"Then is there a girl you like?" There was a smile in the mother's voice.

"...No." Lin Jiang's eyelashes trembled, she lowered her eyes slightly, and her eyes fell on the post-it memo on the desktop.

The first item highlighted in the memo was written half a semester ago.

——Remind Ruan Ruan to eat according to the order.

Ruan Ruan is a name he only dared to say secretly in his heart. This name, like its owner, makes people feel a soft emotion involuntarily when they say it.

He has no favorite girl.

But there is a favorite elementary school brother.

But before he had time to fully recognize and admit his intentions, this boy who had unknowingly made him pour so much affection into him quietly alienated him.

Lin Jiang thought of Ruan Chu, and the way he focused on her with those beautiful eyes like peach petals every time he lay on the bar counter, and suddenly wanted to sigh.

The mother and son talked a few more words about homework and then hung up the call. Lin Jiang lay flat on the bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

Lin Jiang is a single-parent family. His mother, Lin Ran, found out that his father was cheating while she was pregnant with him, and resolutely filed for divorce. His father disagreed, but he became angry because of his mother's accusations, and violently beat his pregnant wife several times. This was even worse. After losing Lin Ran's determination to divorce, she spent money to find a lawyer and finally got a divorce certificate when she was in labor. From then on, she lived alone with the infant Lin Jiang.

Life has dealt too many blows to this weak woman, but as a first-time mother, she seems to have infinite energy, allowing her to grit her teeth and work two jobs, and raise Lin Jiang upright without asking for help.Lin Jiang is also very sensible. Even though he doesn't speak often and seems very restrained, he has never complained to his mother because of his family.

He has seen his mother's hard work, and he seldom said words of consolation, but he kept everything silently in his heart. Since high school, he has been looking for some odd jobs that he can do during the winter and summer vacations, and won all the scholarships in the school. , Share the pressure for the mother as much as possible.Later, he was successfully admitted to the Normal University and got this relatively stable part-time job. With his several suggestions, his mother stopped doing odd jobs, and his life gradually got better and better.

Lin Ran never asked for any feedback from Lin Jiang. Her greatest wish was to watch her son grow from a small meat dumpling to the handsome young man he is now, and live a happy life in the future.

Of course Lin Jiang knew his mother's expectations, and also knew how gentle and extremely open-minded her mother was, but he didn't have the courage to tell her his sexuality.

He was afraid of seeing disappointment in his mother's gentle eyes, afraid that his mother would be gossiped by the neighbors, but she would force her to calm down for him and bear the pressure for him.

But Ruan Chu appeared in his boring life with a touch of brilliance that he couldn't ignore. He had a calmness beyond his peers, but he had suppressed it for too long, and he couldn't make himself indifferent to such attraction.

If he was given another chance, he would still stretch out his hand to rub the soft hair of this shy little boy whose ears were always red when facing him.