Sludge to the Mountain Ghost

Pleasant experience.

"Old man, who are you looking for? It's embarrassing for everyone to stand here like this..." Xu Rui held back the last part of his sentence.

"Then you get me a computer too, I'll just sit and wait." The old lady skipped Xu Rui and walked towards the front desk. Looking at her back, which was striding like flying, Xu Rui found that this crutch was completely unnecessary.

Xu Rui returned to the front desk and smiled helplessly, "The network administrator is not here, you have to wait for a while to access the Internet. There is still a chair next to me, you can sit."

The old lady sat down on the chair pushed out by Xu Rui, looked around the environment of the Internet cafe, and secretly glanced at the test paper written by Xu Rui, and found that there were red crosses on it, and said, "Are you still studying? You are studying in junior high school." Or high school?"

"High, high school."

"There are so many mistakes..." The old lady finished looking at the Internet cafe, and then began to look up and down Xu Rui, "This guy is running so fast!"

Xu Rui racked his brains and couldn't think of anything else to say.He and the elders on Xu Ping's side had long since stopped dealing with each other. As for He Hui, he guessed that even He Hui's own mother didn't bother to talk to her. He grew up rolling in the mud with his peers in this area.

Just when Xu Rui was at a loss, Lin Pai appeared at the entrance of the Internet cafe like a savior from heaven, but the moment he saw the old lady, his heartbeat seemed to be accelerated suddenly, and his face became red and white. Slowly said two words:

"grandmother?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Xu Rui's heart hung up just after he let go, and he coughed non-stop after being choked by a sip of mineral water. He really didn't expect that Lin Pai was the unlucky boy.

24. Chapter 24

"You go back with me now and explain the matter clearly to me." Grandma Lin Pai had a straight face, her tone was unquestionably firm.

Lin Pai comforted the old man aside, first turned on the machines for the four people in the rest area, then walked over and squatted in front of her, raised his head and half begged, "Grandma, I can't leave now, why don't you go home first... "

"No, or you should explain clearly here." Grandma Lin Pai refused straight away.

Xu Rui peeked here from the front desk, and finally knew where Lin Pai's usual "don't want", "don't go", and "don't" came from.

He walked over and patted Lin Pai, pointed to the computer on the front desk and said, "Why don't you teach me how to order that thing, and I'll watch it for you tonight."

Lin Pai hesitated for a moment, agreed with Xu Rui's statement, thanked him after working for a few minutes, and walked home behind the old man like a child who made a mistake.

It was only around eight o'clock in the evening when I got home, but this place is considered remote in Heshan Town, and there are not many people on the street.

The sound of the neighbor's TV came from next door, and a few dogs barking occasionally sounded outside the house. These two sounds intertwined into the background sound at this moment.

Grandma Lin Pai was sitting on the edge of the bed, with one hand propped on a cane. Lin Pai stood in front of her with her head bowed. An incandescent lamp was hung in the middle of the ceiling. The wind blowing in through the half-opened window made the light bulb light. The ground swayed, causing the figure to sway very lightly, the room was silent, and it was even more deserted against the backdrop of the background sound.

"I heard from Mrs. Chen yesterday that you got the first place in the school in the mid-term exam. I thought about it all night, and I went to the school in the town to find you today. I don't know which class you are in, but I still met Dong Wenwen. Only then did I know where to find you. Let me ask you, where are you studying now?"

Lin Pai was already mentally prepared to be discovered, but it was only a matter of time. He took a deep breath, "I'm in Heshan High School now, and I just transferred back this semester. Grandma, I don't know how to tell you ,talent……"

"Why?" Grandma Lin Pai saw that he buried his head lower, but refused to speak, and sighed softly, "Is it because you are too tired from studying over there? Or is it because you don't get along well with your classmates, is someone bullying you?"

"Neither, no one bullies me, anyway, it's the same wherever I study."

"Then why are you? I still remember that you were very happy when you first passed the exam..." The old man said with tears in his eyes, and the two stalemate for a while, then she asked in a deep voice, "During the National Day this year, You said that you need to make up lessons at school, but you actually went back to Heshan Town, right?"

A flash of astonishment flashed in Lin Pai's eyes, but he still admitted that why grandma knew that he had returned to Heshan Town would always be a mystery to Lin Pai.

"Forget it, if you don't want to tell me, I won't ask..." The old man pulled Lin Pai to sit next to him, holding Lin Pai's hand tightly. Decades of wind, frost, rain and snow had made his hands especially rough. Asked Lin Pai about the new school.

At the end, she stroked the back of Lin Pai's head with her wrinkled hands, and let out a long sigh of relief, "Oh, it's my old woman who is sorry for you. I can't help you for so many years..."

"Grandma, don't say that." Lin Pai took out a palm, wiped away the two drops of dirty tears that seeped into the wrinkles on the old man's face, turned around and hugged her.

"I just made the dumplings yesterday. The neighbors next door said they were delicious. I'll make a pot for you." Grandma Lin Pai let go of him and stood up, walked to the door of the room and turned around and said, "Move back and live. It’s also more comfortable than living outside.”

Sitting by the bed, Lin Pai looked at the somewhat hunched back through the door frame of the room. Just like the countless moments of hard work in the past 17 years, her figure gradually narrowed in his eyes until it shrank into a thin piece. , Falling in the cracks of time.

-

A week later, after a lengthy opening ceremony, Heshan High School's sports meet was in full swing.

"A few tall boys in the back row, help move four tables and chairs upstairs to the playground! Students who participated in the 100-meter run can go to the gymnasium for inspection now!"

Li Chanjuan yelled in the class, the students just stood for two hours at the opening ceremony, and now they are all slumped in their seats, you look at me, I look at you, no one wants to move.

"Everyone move!" Li Chanjuan waved her arms excitedly, but the classroom was still full of laziness, "Xu Rui! Hurry up!"

Being named, Xu Rui had no choice but to stand up reluctantly. His movements were like throwing a stone on the calm water. First, Zhou Ning also stood up, and then the classroom gradually became restless.

A few tall boys went upstairs to move tables and chairs, and the girls were responsible for taking supplies for the athletes in the class, tablecloths and other not-too-heavy things.

Xu Rui walked to the door of the classroom, suddenly turned to look at Lin Pai, and found that he was also looking at himself.

Lin Pai was still sitting on the seat, looking at Xu Rui eagerly, without any intention of moving his seat, he almost wrote "I don't want to move the table" on his face.

There were classmates going out all around, Xu Rui took two steps back against the crowd to make way for them, he raised his hand to Lin Pai's chin, moved his finger at him, coaxed and said, "gone--"

Lin Pai looked back and forth several times between Xu Rui's face and fingers, and finally had to resign himself to following.

A total of eight boys went there, and four sets of tables and chairs were just enough.Zhou Ning thought the table was heavy, so Li Cheng entrusted the stool to another person, and moved the table with Zhou Ning.

On the way, Zhou Ning, who was walking backwards, met Lin Pai who followed from behind. Seeing that he was empty-handed and holding two bottles of Coke leisurely, he shouted at him with dissatisfaction, "Lin Pai! I watched you go upstairs. Yes, you didn't move?"

"Moved, moved! It's all here with me."

Hearing Xu Rui's voice, Zhou Ning looked behind Lin Pai, and saw Xu Rui carrying the table with both hands, with the stool stacked on the table, and walking leisurely behind.

They are both classmates, so why is there such a difference in treatment? Zhou Ning thought about it, and suddenly had an idea, "Brother Rui, let me help you get that chair. How about you move two tables?"

"You're dreaming!" Xu Rui replied without hesitation, walked past Zhou Ning and Li Cheng quickly, turned his head and raised his chin at Lin Pai, "Hurry up, they will definitely not be able to catch up."

"Oh, good." Lin Pai responded in a low voice, and waved at Zhou Ning when he passed him.

Both sides of the road around the playground are full of various stalls, which can be regarded as the "base camp" of each class, where you can sell some old books or some gadgets.

Boxes of water and snacks and buns are also placed here. Athletes who have events but have not yet played can sit here and rest.

The task of Xu Rui and the other boys is to move the tables and chairs here, as for how to place them, how to store things, etc., it is not their scope of responsibility.

After the tables and chairs were delivered, Zhou Ning accompanied Li Cheng to the gymnasium for inspection, but Xu Rui took Lin Pai to the stands and trotted.

There is still some time before the start of the first competition event. Most of the classes are setting up the base camp, or they are just gathering in the gymnasium to wait for the inspection.The stands were empty, Xu Rui walked straight to the front.

The frontmost position is about one meter above the ground. The fence is painted with white paint. In front of it is the red plastic runway. The field of vision is very good. Now you can see the staff walking around with rulers and poles. Venue layout.

"The competition time for each event is written on the blackboard in the classroom. There is still more than half an hour left for Li Cheng's 100-meter race. Is it necessary to come so early to take a seat?"

Lin Pai lay on the railing and closed his eyes. It was a cloudless and sunny day. The wind in early November was slightly cool, and the sun was neither hot nor cold, which was very comfortable.

"It's not for you to come to see him, but to come to see me."

"Your competition is going to be after eleven o'clock..." Lin Pai said, suddenly opened his eyes and turned his head to ask, "Hey, when is the final?"

"The hurdles are the preliminaries! Just one time!"

"Oh, why?"

"You'll know after a while, remember, just once, you have to polish your eyes."

"Um