Still tide

The sudden "Happy Birthday" made Miao Jiayan feel dazed for a moment before remembering that today is her birthday.

Chen Chao made him grow up quickly. Miao Jiayan had never heard anyone say that before, but somehow felt that these four words were very cute.

—Thank you Brother Chao, I will grow up soon!

Chen Chao saw his reply on his mobile phone, laughed out loud, and sent again: That's all, don't worry about it.

Miao Jiayan said: Hurry up.

It is every child's wish to grow up quickly, looking forward to growing up and becoming an independent adult.Miao Jiayan wanted to grow faster than everyone else.

This year seems to go by really fast.

I don’t know if it’s because the time in high school flies by so fast. Every day is full of class and study, and I only take one day off on weekends. I take four vacations and a month passes.

In the final exam of the first semester of high school, Miao Jiayan got No. 15 in the class. Their school can pass more than 20 exams every year, and there is hope for more than a dozen.

Miao Jiayan's grades in elementary school and junior high school are average. He is not a particularly smart kid. It is incredible that he can be ranked in the top ten in high school.

Chen Chao asked him how he did in the exam on the phone, Miao Jiayan told him, and Chen Chao praised: "It's a good job."

They don't communicate often, and they may not contact once a month for nothing.The battery of the mobile phone is not working well, and it can't last a day if it is fully charged. Miao Jiayan went to the mobile phone store in the town to buy a new battery, so that she doesn't have to charge it every day.

In the summer vacation of senior high school, Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen were picked up by Chen Guangda to live in the city for a while. The day he came was a Sunday, and Miao Jiayan was going to the field wearing a straw hat.

Chen Guangda walked over holding the car keys, Miao Jiayan looked at him in surprise and called "Uncle Chen".

"Hey, hello," Chen Guangda said with a smile, "I've grown taller."

Miao Jiayan hurriedly looked behind Chen Guangda, Chen Guangda saw what he meant, and said with a smile: "Don't look for it, Chen Chao hasn't come back."

Disappointment instantly rolled up Miao Jiayan, nodded and said "oh", said goodbye to Chen Guangda, and left.

Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen were taken away for more than half a month. Chen Guangda wanted them to stay in the city, but the old couple did not agree.They are used to living here, and it is inconvenient to go everywhere in the city.

During the days when they left, Miao Jiayan often came back from school to help Grandma Chen water the flowers and vegetable garden, and also helped feed the chickens and ducks every day.

When the make-up classes are over, the hottest period of the year will come.

One sunny day, Miao Jiayan dug out the dress Chen Chao gave him from the closet and put it on.The long skirt is a few centimeters shorter, and it still fits well, but the waist is very narrow, making Miao Jiayan look very thin.

The wide brim of the hat covers his face, and passers-by will not look at him much.

The cotton has already budded. Someone came to see the cotton recently. Half of the cotton in the Miao family was booked, and the money was generously paid.Miao Jiayan saw that group of people in the cotton field. He hadn't spoken to him before, and he was just working in silence. Someone was standing next to him, talking to him when he was bored.

The man called out "little girl" and asked, "Why didn't I see you doing drip irrigation here? Didn't you bury the pipes?"

Miao Jiayan was bent over to pinch the top of the cotton, but when she heard it, she looked up.

When he raised his head, the man froze for a moment, looked at Miao Jiayan's face, and moved his eyes slightly down to look at his neck.

Miao Jiayan said: "With drip irrigation, isn't that an organic well?"

He pointed to the front, pointed to the little red house, and said.

The other party was around thirty and looked quite young.He looked at Miao Jiayan for a long time before he sighed and let out a tone expressing shock.

Miao Jiayan was wearing a long skirt, with long hair hanging down, and she didn't care what others thought of him.

"Absolutely." The man observed Miao Jiayan back and forth, from head to toe several times.

Miao Jiayan wanted to leave, so she stood up straight and turned around to leave.

"Are you still in school?" the man asked.

Miao Jiayan said, "Come on."

"Can I take a photo of you?" the man quickly added, "I'm not a bad person, don't think too much about it."

Miao Jiayan said bluntly, "No."

"I'll just take a random picture, a back view," the man continued, "You don't need to show your face."

Miao Jiayan took a step further, shaking her head and said defensively: "No."

Miao Jiayan left quickly without letting that person take a picture.

Because half of the cotton has been bought and they don't need to collect it, so this year there is no machine, and all the cotton is picked by hand. The cotton picked by hand is cleaner.

The people who bought the cotton were florists. They bought them as ornamental flowers and sold them together. There was not enough cotton for an event in summer, so they temporarily collected them in the surrounding area.They collect their cotton by themselves, no one needs to manage it, and they don't collect it all at once, they collect a batch every few days.

During the National Day holiday, when Miao Jiayan was helping her grandparents harvest cotton, she caught up with that group of people to pruning.The man was still there last time, and this time there is a younger sister, 25 and six years old, she looks much more acceptable.

She talked to Miao Jiayan for a long time, then explained to her grandparents for a long time, and showed them with her mobile phone.Grandpa and grandma didn't think it was anything, and said it depends on what Xiaoyan thinks.

So that day, Miao Jiayan was wearing old clothes, with a big flower pocket tied around his waist, with half a bag of cotton in it. He worked as usual, but raised his head when people said "look here".

There was no makeup on his face at all, his face was clean, and there was still sweat on his forehead.There was always a little daze in his eyes, and he was a little nervous and cramped at first, but he forgot about it later.

After a day's work, I forgot that someone was taking pictures. Miao Jiayan was about to go home when the sun went down. My sister gave him 2000 yuan.

The other party said that they were selling flowers and opened an online store, and that they would like to ask him to take pictures in the future.

Miao Jiayan said: "Are you still photographing me picking cotton? No more, not this year."

The other party said: "Don't shoot cotton, shoot other flowers."

"I don't have any other flowers," Miao Jiayan said honestly, "Our family only has cotton."

"You don't need it, I'll take you to take pictures." My sister looked at him with loving eyes, "Just follow me."

"Where are you going to shoot?" When Miao Jiayan heard that she was going to be taken away, she shook her head and refused, "I won't shoot anymore."

"Haha, you are so cute," my sister patted him on the shoulder and said, "Are you afraid of being kidnapped? My sister looks like a bad guy?"

Miao Jiayan didn't reply, anyway, she didn't shoot anymore.

Miao Jiayan gave the 2000 yuan to her grandma when she returned home, but the grandma didn't take it, saying that he should keep it as pocket money.

Miao Jiayan didn't have much money to spend on. He usually didn't spend a lot of money, so he put it in a drawer for a long time.

Later that sister called and said she wanted to send him a photo and asked if he had an email address, Miao Jiayan said no.I asked him if he had QQ or something, Miao Jiayan also said no.

"Then do your parents have it?" The sister on the opposite side was already helpless, "How can you receive it?"

Miao Jiayan said: "I can't keep it, I won't watch it."

"Then why don't you go to the store yourself?" My sister gave him a name and said, "If you can access the Internet, search for this store by yourself, and you can see it when you click in."

Miao Jiayan actually wanted to see it, he was a little curious about what he looked like in the photo.But he has never been on the Internet, and he doesn't have a computer at home, so he can't watch it.The mobile phone that Chen Chao left him was several years ago. He could access the mobile webpage but could not see pictures, only simple text.

My sister said: "I strongly recommend you to take a look. You don't need to edit the pictures you took. Brother, you are so beautiful."

For rural children, the more enthusiastic others look, the more they look like liars.

Miao Jiayan let the other party wear out their mouths and didn't agree to let them take pictures again, and she didn't change her mind if she said she didn't want to take pictures.

Later, my sister had no choice but to say: "My sister really won't cheat you. You will be a model for my sister, and my sister will give you money. There are so many things that students are eager to do. You will scare you when you come here."

No liar would directly say that she was a liar, she was so enthusiastic that it made people panic, and Miao Jiayan didn't even answer her phone calls afterwards.

There are several Internet cafes near the school, but Miao Jiayan has never been in one.

Of course he wouldn't go in just to look at the photos. At that time, the students thought that Internet cafes were like billiard halls and game halls, a place where unscrupulous teenagers gathered.

Later, Miao Jiayan put this matter behind her and couldn't remember it anymore.

"Hey!"

Miao Jiayan had just finished eating and was returning to the teaching building from the cafeteria when she heard someone shout behind her and looked back.

It was Jiang Xun, clapping a basketball in his hand, and asked him, "Where are you going?"

"Go back to the classroom." Miao Jiayan replied.

"Watch me play?" Jiang Xun raised his eyebrows, angry, "Watch Brother Xun shoot a three-pointer."

"No." Miao Jiayan shook her head, not interested.

"Don't pull it down." Jiang Xun asked casually, waved his hand and went to the playground by himself.

Because of Chen Chao's relationship, Miao Jiayan and Jiang Xun are getting acquainted with each other now.They all have a good relationship with Chen Chao, which makes them "our own people".

They saw each other a lot, they were both sophomores, they were on the same floor, Ding Wentao was not with them in his senior year.Sometimes when we met in the cafeteria for lunch, we would sit and eat together, and occasionally we would chat about Chen Chao.

It was only later that Miao Jiayan realized that he could use his mobile phone to view photos.

Jiang Xun bought a new iPhone this semester. During lunch, he showed a picture to Miao Jiayan and asked him, "Which one of these two is handsome?"

The two pullover T-shirts look the same to Miao Jiayan, so she can only say: "I can't tell."

"I guess you can't tell, you little village girl." Jiang Xun said with a chuckle.

He always called that, Miao Jiayan got used to it, and didn't get angry with him.Seeing him keep looking at pictures on his phone, he suddenly remembered.

He asked Jiang Xun: "Can you search for shops on your mobile phone?"

"Yes, what do you want to buy?" Jiang Xun asked.

"If you don't buy anything, I'll just take a look." Miao Jiayan told him the name of the store, and told him about the photos.

"Yo, amazing," Jiang Xun said while searching, "Let me see what photos I took."

Seeing herself in the photo in this way, Miao Jiayan felt uncomfortable.

He in the photo is very different from himself in the impression, and the people in the picture seem very strange.He stood in the continuous cotton field, staring directly at the camera with straight eyes, holding several freshly picked cotton in one hand.A few thin locks of hair around the face were wet with sweat, and the rest of the hair was hanging behind the head, not very neat.

This is the largest photo, and you can see it as soon as you enter the store.Miao Jiayan looked at herself in the photo, looked at her for a while and said, "It's not like me."

"It's quite similar," Jiang Xun commented, "It's quite similar to that."

"Can other people see it?" Miao Jiayan asked again, "Won't they find it strange?"

"What's so strange about this," Jiang Xun said with a smile, "It's more strange when it's rare, and it's not strange when it's more."

Jiang Xun clicked into some cotton products, and saw a few others.

Miao Jiayan looked at it for a while, then returned the phone to him.

Miao Jiayan didn't tell Chen Chao about this because they haven't been in touch for a while.The last time he called was Chen Chao asking him about his final exam results, and he never passed it again.

That night Miao Jiayan finished her homework early and was sitting on the bed reading an idle book, planning to read it and go to sleep.

The phone rang on the table, Miao Jiayan poked her head to look, and it showed that Chen Chao had sent a text message.

He put down the book and took the phone over.

— What photo did you take?

Miao Jiayan hadn't received his text message for a long time, so she was a little happy.

He sat up straight and typed a reply: He told me to take a photo and gave me 2000 yuan.

Chen Chao: What photo?

Miao Jiayan: It’s a photo of me picking cotton. Can you surf the Internet, Brother Chao?

Chen Chao: Yes.

Miao Jiayan sent over the name of the shop.

After a while, Chen Chao's phone call came directly, Miao Jiayan looked at the time, he had finished his evening self-study.

"Who asked you to take the photo, and what did you say?" Chen Chao asked directly.

Miao Jiayan liked to hear his voice when walking, and replied: "It's the people who come to collect flowers, they are flower sellers."

Chen Chao asked again: "What are the photos for?"

Miao Jiayan said: "They said they just posted it here, and don't use it for anything else."

"They said?" Chen Chao's tone sounded a little angry, and Miao Jiayan could already imagine his frown, "Did you sign the contract? Is it on the paper?"

Miao Jiayan had no idea about what he asked, so she couldn't answer it.

Miao Jiayan could hear that he was unhappy, so she didn't dare to say this again, so she asked carefully, "What's the matter...Brother Chao?"

He was always afraid that Chen Chao would get angry, and he didn't want Chen Chao to lose his temper.

Chen Chao didn't get too aggressive with him, he just said, "They shouldn't be able to do anything else, but next time you have to be smarter and don't let them say what they say."

Miao Jiayan was disappointed. After so long, she finally received a call from Chen Chao, but she only received a pause.

Miao Jiayan sat not as straight as before, her shoulders slumped, she lowered her head and said softly, "... Got it."