Time makes you fall

◎Birthday◎

Zhu Yao was sitting in the stands of the playground, with his school uniform jacket draped over his shoulders.

What Qu Qingcheng said was right, the extra tight ponytail had become a lot looser after running for 5000 meters. Now when Zhu Yao turned his head, it was shaking behind his head.

If Zhu Yao tied it loosely, it would have fallen apart long ago.

On the playground, Qu Qingcheng was nowhere to be found and where he went.

Zhu Yao's gaze fell on the starting point of the boys' 5000-meter race.

Yi Siyuan waved to the stands and shouted, "Hello!"

He didn't call out his name, but everyone knew who he was calling out, including Zhu Yao.

Zhu Yao didn't turn her head in the direction Yi Siyuan was looking at.

I don't want to see that delicate, cheerful and lovable face.

I don't want to see the face of deliberately chatting with friends and pretending nothing happened.

I don't want to see the face that just attached to my ear and whispered softly.

Zhu Yao looked at Yi Siyuan on the starting line, waved his hands and jumped, and shouted at Shang Xiaoran in the stands: "You have to take it."

"If I get No.1."

There was a heckling sound.

"Yi Siyuan, talk big."

The boy laughed and said, "Damn it, I can outrun you even with my eyes closed."

Because Shang Xiaoran in the stands didn't make a sound, and Zhu Yao didn't turn his head to look at her, so he didn't know how Shang Xiaoran would react at this moment.

If Zhu Yao's guess is correct, what Yi Siyuan wants Shang Xiaoran to accept should be the Draconid Meteor Rain Night, the crystal ball that was not delivered.

The boy finally mustered up the courage, hid it in his schoolbag, and brought it to the botanical garden in early autumn, with the most romantic imagination he could make in his heart.

But it was rejected, and maybe there was an argument.

I also want to leave the result to God, if, if I can get the first place in the 5000 meters.

Zhu Yao often thinks that people are really strange animals, and they always like to find some meaningless details as signals that are meaningful to themselves.It seems that once it happens, my life will be different.

For example, if a coin lands heads up, you will be lucky today.

For example, if the number of steps you walk is odd, you can pass the exam smoothly.

For example, if you win the first place in the 5000-meter race, the crystal ball that you have hidden for a long time can be delivered smoothly.

but.

Zhu Yao was sitting in the stands, a gust of wind blowing from nowhere shook the sleeves of the school uniform on his shoulders.

She looked at Yi Siyuan's youthful and flamboyant face on the starting line, so bright and innocent, she couldn't help feeling sour for him.

Yi Siyuan will never know.

The crystal ball he hid in his schoolbag had already resonated with the years and shattered to the ground, falling to an unspeakable sad ending with fine lines invisible to the naked eye.

Because the girl he was looking at with a smile...

With a "bang" of the starting gun, Zhu Yao stood up all of a sudden, and the school uniform draped over his shoulders fell to the stands in the back row.

"Zhu Yao..." Shang Xiaoran, who was a few rows away, seemed to call her name like this, but was overshadowed by the sudden firing of the starting gun.

Zhu Yao picked up the school uniform and ran away.

******

Zhu Yao, who was running furiously, almost bumped into someone.

Qu Qingcheng was taken aback by her: "Where are you going?"

Xiao Yingying raised the bag in her hand: "Didn't you eat ice cream yet?"

"Did you just go get some ice cream?"

"Yes."

"No need, I didn't get the ranking again."

"I didn't say I was going to invite you to eat because of the ranking." Qu Qingcheng said with a smile: "It's very good to be able to finish the run."

"What flavor do you like? You choose first."

There are three boxes of ice cream in the white bag. Judging from the color, the flavors are vanilla, matcha and strawberry. A layer of frost condenses on the bag with the cool air.

"Teacher Qu."

"Ok?"

"I don't like ice cream at all."

After Zhu Yao finished speaking, he ran away.

"Zhu Yao..."

Qu Qingcheng called her from behind with some bewilderment and confusion, but she didn't look back.

******

Escaping the sports meeting should not be counted as skipping class.

There are security guards at the school gate and cannot leave the school early, Zhu Yao climbed over the wall and went out, thinking that he would come back to school tomorrow to ride the bicycle.

The wall behind the school was probably overturned by too many people, and a piece of cement was rubbed off, revealing the red brick wall inside.

But today, apart from Zhu Yao, there was no one else.

They probably think that skipping the sports meeting is not as cost-effective as skipping classes.

But Zhu Yao didn't want to stay in school even for a minute.

After running to the subway station and getting on the subway, the panting gradually subsided.

Before the evening rush hour, there was a rare seat in the carriage, Zhu Yao glanced at it and didn't go to sit.

Next to the empty seats are two young women, one in a suit and one in a dress.

It looks like office workers and college students.

In Zhu Yao's only glance, he saw the two women's hands holding each other tightly.

It's not the "you accompany me to the toilet" kind of pulling method of the girls in the class.

It's the way of "looking for you across the ocean of time" in love movies.

Zhu Yao was so embarrassed that his whole body tensed up, and his hands were firmly on the subway ring.

To be honest, in this day and age, you can often see such a couple in the subway and shopping malls, and Zhu Yao never thinks there is anything wrong with it.

Or there is a handsome girl with long hair and ponytail in the school who is the stationmaster of the radio station. Every time I pass by the classroom of the second and fifth grades of high school, someone will whistle and call a girl with light brown hair "Madam Stationmaster". I don't think there is anything.

But today.

The scene in front of me and the memory in my brain are all connected with what happened today——

When she crossed the finish line, the hug Shang Xiaoran ran towards her, in anyone's eyes, represented comfort and encouragement among classmates.

After all, she and Shang Xiaoran are two people who have nothing to do with each other.

If you are writing a sports meeting broadcast, you can also write something like "success is precious and friendship is more expensive", and listen to the announcer read it aloud in a nice voice.

Nobody knows.

Shang Xiaoran's arms hugging her tall and thin body trembled slightly.

Shang Xiaoran whispered four words in her ear.

Before Zhu Yao could react with a look of astonishment, he was blown away in the wind.

Like an inexplicable illusion.

It's all...what the hell.

******

When the subway arrived at the station, Zhu Yao got out of the carriage as if fleeing.

I went to the shopping mall where Qu Qingcheng accompanied her to buy underwear, but deliberately bypassed the underwear counter where there might be scary shopping guides accosting her, and went to the ice cream counter where Qu Qingcheng had invited her to eat.

Asked, "What flavor do you want?"

Zhu Yao looked at the menu.

Peaches, strawberries... What else did Qu Qingcheng say about the fruits she likes last time.

Zhu Yao said to the clerk, "Sorry, I don't want it anymore."

Obviously I came here by subway, but suddenly I don't want to eat.

Sitting dully on the bench beside the glass fence of the elevator, the chair is very short, Zhu Yao is tall, and his legs are bent aggrievedly.

In fact, she really doesn't like ice cream.

Participating in the 5000-meter race was not for Qu Qingcheng to buy her ice cream.

After all, Qu Qingcheng bought not one but three ice creams.

In addition to strawberry, there are also more popular flavors such as matcha and vanilla.

Suddenly the phone rang.

Zhu Yao took it out and saw that the words "Teacher Qu" were clearly written on the screen.

"Where did you go? I didn't see you at the end of the gathering just now."

"Just... go home first."

"Are you home?" The noisy voices around were obviously different.

"Be right back."

"You kid." Qu Qingcheng sighed, "Is your leg okay?"

"fine."

"Then, go home quickly. I will tell Lao Fang that you asked me for leave."

"Thank you."

"Thank you, Teacher Qu." Qu Qingcheng said with a smile: "Then hang up. Be careful when you go home."

"Teacher Qu."

"Ok?"

"you……"

After a brief silence, Qu Qingcheng smiled again: "What's the matter?"

"Do you have someone you like?"

After another silence.

Qu Qingcheng replied in a warm voice: "I have someone who I want to fall in love with."

******

During the rest time before self-study on Monday night, Zhu Yao was blocked in the corridor by Shang Xiaoran.

Zhu Yao panicked: "I'm going to eat."

Shang Xiaoran threw a bean paste bread into her arms: "Here you are."

"You buy this often, don't you?"

"Uh……"

Shang Xiaoran pulled her wrist and left.

"Hey……"

"Hey, wait a minute..."

Shang Xiaoran didn't let go, and he didn't know where he got so much strength to create a circle of red around Zhu Yao's thin wrist.

He kept pulling Zhu Yao to the sixth floor before letting go.

"What are you doing?"

"Did you hear that?" Shang Xiaoran asked Zhu Yao, "When you finished the 5000 meters yesterday."

The layout of the teaching building of No. [-] Middle School is as follows: senior one and senior two share one teaching building, and senior three sits in a separate building across the playground.

In this building of senior one and senior two, the first to fourth floors are graded by two grades, and the fifth to sixth floors are laboratories and empty classrooms, which will be requisitioned as examination rooms during exams.

Usually, except for some unscrupulous teenagers gathering here to smoke during evening self-study, no one comes here during the rest of the time.

At this moment, Zhu Yao was blocked by Shang Xiaoran at the corner of the stairs, and he could still smell the lingering smell of smoke.

Shang Xiaoran stood in front of her and asked, "Did you hear it? Why pretend you didn't hear it?"

"I……"

"Why on earth are you avoiding me?" Shang Xiaoran was obviously angry: "From usual to yesterday..."

"Even if the school does not allow it, there are many such things. Zhu Yao, you are not a good student."

"You, you are against girls..."

Shang Xiaoran slowly approached Zhu Yao, in the cramped space, the smell of perfume on Shang Xiaoran's body overwhelmed the smell of smoke from Zhu Yao's nose.

It was a mix of lime, lily-of-the-valley and vanilla.

Mixed with hormones, it belongs to the unique fragrance of young girls.

Zhu Yao bounced away like an electric shock: "I...how am I?"

In a panic, he kicked the legs of the discarded desks piled up behind him.

"I'm not good at all, from appearance to personality... If there is anything good..."

"I change?"

Zhu Yao was about to cry.

An almost violent reaction finally made Shang Xiaoran stop.

Zhu Yao threw the bean paste bread that had been crushed in his hand back to Shang Xiaoran: "You should eat it, I'll go to the cafeteria..."

"Now that I've made it clear, I'm leaving."

"Zhu Yao." Shang Xiaoran called her to stop.

"What are you afraid of?"

Zhu Yao's footsteps froze for a moment, and he ran away without looking back.

******

It was many years later, when she and Qu Qingcheng got together, that Zhu Yao realized what she was afraid of back then.

A girly blend of lime, lily-of-the-valley and vanilla.

The eyelashes brushed up by transparent mascara, the soft lips coated with colored lip balm, and even the faint freckles on the bridge of the nose that are clearly visible because they are too close.

There is also elevated body temperature due to nervousness and restlessness.

All these mixed together became a force that urged Zhu Yao to awaken her long-suppressed gender consciousness.

Like a volcano that has been silent for many years, the magma inside is gradually melted and flowing by the scorching temperature, making the cold mountain on the surface rumble and tremble. Once it erupts, it will be unstoppable.

Zhu Yao instinctively ran away.

Before that, the matter of "who you like" only existed on the screens of movie theaters and TVs.

It is "Auntie washes the railway" spoken by the Two-dimensional paper man, and "Ouba" shouted by a girl with a cute Korean accent.

Even if it is closer, it is something that only exists in the school's good-looking and outstanding personalities.

It has nothing to do with Zhu Yao, who is ordinary-looking, gloomy, and can only run 5000 meters at the end of the crane.

She ran, saw a figure in front of her, waved her arms desperately, and ran over faster.

Unexpectedly, the man turned his head suddenly, as if he had forgotten something and wanted to go back to get it.

Zhu Yao didn't have time to brake and almost bumped into the man's back.

The man's white windbreaker and light blue skirt covered Zhu Yao's dilated pupils.

"Qu, Teacher Qu..."

Qu Qingcheng was taken aback by a rampant figure that suddenly appeared. After seeing clearly that it was Zhu Yao, he smiled and said, "You little child, why do you always run in such a hurry?"

"Qu, Teacher Qu..."

Qu Qingcheng said warmly: "What's the matter? Take a breath and speak slowly."

Zhu Yao bent down, stood with his arms on his knees, and before he could catch his breath, he laughed first.

Qu Qingcheng was baffled by her laughter, and seeing that Zhu Yao was still not talking, he laughed along with Zhu Yao: "What's the matter?"

Zhu Yao took a breath, shook his head, and said with a smile, "It's nothing."

"Why don't you smile so happily?"

"Didn't you say that I look good when I smile?"

Qu Qingcheng was stunned for a moment, and narrowed his eyes amidst doubts about Zhu Yao's being too open-minded today: "Yeah... are you so obedient?"

Zhu Yao smiled and said, "Yes."

Qu Qingcheng stretched out his white palm and patted Zhu Yao's shoulder: "Don't talk like me."

Zhu Yao smiled.

"Are you going to the cafeteria to eat?"

"Yes."

"so late."

"Just now there was a child in class three, who wrote the composition... I talked to him." Qu Qingcheng asked, "Are you so late?"

"Too lazy to line up. Why did you go back again just now?"

"I forgot to bring my meal card, and the teacher sometimes gets confused."

"Use mine."

"How about that?"

"Last time I said that I would treat you to eat, thank you for taking me to treat my leg injury, forgot?"

"Oh, yes..."

"Let's go, or there is really no food."

Qu Qingcheng smiled: "Then thank you."

******

Today, the two of them were lucky, there was still some food left in the cafeteria, and they were not swept away by the hungry boys who had finished playing.

I don't know if it was because of the Zhuyao meal card, but Qu Qingcheng was very restrained in ordering, and ordered a shiitake mushroom choy sum and a mapo tofu.

"Eat so little?"

Qu Qingcheng smiled: "Afraid of getting fat."

Zhu Yao realized that she shouldn't have ordered the wheat-flavored chicken drumstick, and she was too embarrassed to eat it in front of Qu Qingcheng.

Qu Qingcheng picked up the rice one by one: "Why were you so happy just now?"

"Well... because I think I did the right thing."

"Why, you decided not to copy the answers for homework anymore?"

"Not that one."

"what is that?"

Zhu Yao stroked the not-so-smooth edge of the stainless steel dinner plate with her fingertips: "I can't tell you the secret."

"You children have so many secrets."

"Yeah."

Qu Qingcheng glared at her again, Zhu Yao smiled and stuffed a piece of potato into his mouth, trying to avoid the topic by shutting up and chewing.

I can't tell you that my heart is filled with the pleasure of "surviving the aftermath".

I can't tell you how grateful I am to escape from Shang Xiaoran just now.

Can't tell you how thankful I am to still be someone who doesn't understand the thing about liking.

As long as I pretend I don't understand "like" yet, you're just pinning all my adolescence to the person I aspire to be, the person I look forward to growing up to be by your side one day.

I can still be a simple child in front of you, and I don't have to avoid you because I am afraid of "like" you.

Teacher Qu, really, luckily.

******

When the two of them were about to finish eating, Qu Qingcheng's cell phone, which was sitting upright beside the dinner plate, rang.

Zhu Yao glanced at the three words "Mr. Zheng" displayed on the phone screen.

My heart skipped a beat twice.

Qu Qingcheng glanced at Zhu Yao, then answered, "Hi, hello."

Not very happy, nor very unhappy.

The consistent gentle voice made Zhu Yao unable to get a glimpse of her true emotions.

"Ah."

"Ah."

"Ok."

Qu Qingcheng only responded in this way a few times, then said: "Then, goodbye." and hung up the phone.

Zhu Yao lowered his head to pick up the rice, and found that he didn't know how to eat it, and the question "Is this your boyfriend?" was blocked by the rice again, and he couldn't ask lightly anyway.

Will it appear that you are gossip.

Qu Qingcheng hung up the phone, put the phone back next to the dinner plate, and put it in the pocket of the windbreaker as if he didn't want to see it.

Pursing her lips, she brought the topic to the composition: "Speaking of which, I wish Yaoyao your composition..."

"what happened?"

"A powerful and unconstrained style, that is to say... there is no logic."

Then somehow there was a discussion about the difference between "doing my part" and "duty".

Finished one meal.

******

When Zhu Yao was doing her homework in the study at night, she remembered the meal she had with Qu Qingcheng tonight, and realized that Qu Qingcheng was very strange.

After Qu Qingcheng understood Zhu Yao's silence, most of the time, he let Zhu Yao be silent comfortably.

It's not as urgent to find a topic as it is tonight.

Zhu Yao bit the cap of his pen and stared at the reading comprehension question in front of him, and found that he didn't know how to face the matter of who "Mr. Zheng" was.

At that time, she didn't know, and Qu Qingcheng didn't know how to face the matter of who "Mr. Zheng" was.

Zhu Yao felt that the existence of "Mr. Zheng" kept her away from the danger that Shang Xiaoran might bring.

But at the same time, the existence of "Mr. Zheng" subtly made the title "Qu Qingcheng's favorite student" that Zhu Yao worked so hard for become small.

Qu Qingcheng was the back view that filled her pupils when she was running towards it.

And Zhu Yao is a small piece of the puzzle in Qu Qingcheng's perfect world.

How to check and balance the huge gap.

******

During self-study on Tuesday morning, Zhu Yao walked to his seat with pancakes and fruit, and saw a cup of soy milk on the table.

Zhu Yao looked around in confusion, and found that the people around were reciting texts or chatting quietly, and no one noticed her inquiring eyes.

Zhu Yao put the soy milk aside, set up his English textbook, and began to secretly eat pancakes.

After the morning self-study get out of class, Shang Xiaoran walked to her table: "Why don't you drink?"

"It is you."

"Otherwise who else could it be?"

"I bought it myself."

"Then you don't buy from tomorrow."

"No."

"I want to buy it for you, okay?"

"It means——no way."

"Zhu Yao, are you really going to do things like this?"

"It's not good to be vague."

Shang Xiaoran glanced left and right, and leaned closer to Zhu Yao's ear under the cover of noisy chatter: "If you don't let me like you..."

"Aren't you afraid that I will do something more powerful?"

When Zhu Yao was about to ask "what is that", Shang Xiaoran had already walked away.

Tang Nuo was asking her, "Why are you looking for Zhu Yao?"

Shang Xiaoran smiled and said, "It's nothing, I thought Zhu Yao liked listening to music, and I wanted to ask her to borrow a CD, but she didn't."

"What CD? You asked me to borrow it."

"A very small band, you sure don't have..."

Zhu Yao lowered his head and stared at the phone screen, listening to Shang Xiaoran's charming and cheerful voice, thinking——

What is the "greater thing"?

*******

Zhu Yao didn't expect that there would be someone at home after the evening self-study was over.

A lamp lit up in the dining room, the light is weak, and it cannot penetrate the boundless darkness in the large space, but instead shows a kind of incompatibility and alienation.

Zhu Yao hesitated for a moment and walked over: "Mom."

She hadn't seen Zhu Yinglan for more than a month.

Zhu Yinglan's hair was dyed, maybe she had thermage or protein thread buried, and the flesh on both sides of her cheeks was hanging, which gave Zhu Yao a strange feeling that she was looking at a doll.

The strange yet familiar woman in front of her was her mother.

How can my mother be strange and familiar.

Zhu Yao's calf where he was injured before suddenly felt a dull pain, but it has been almost a month since the injury was healed, and even the scars are no longer visible from the outside, and he has long since lost the meaning and qualifications to talk to his mother.

Zhu Yinglan didn't ask Zhu Yao "How are you doing?" Instead, she shook a glass of red wine and hummed disdainfully in her nose: "Rich people pretend to be b!"

Perhaps the signing of the contract was frustrated again.

Zhu Yinglan's vulgar and vulgar language immediately reminded Zhu Yao of the red envelope she desperately stuffed for Qu Qingcheng, and she turned around and left impatiently.

"You stop."

Zhu Yinglan called her to stop: "Do you know that this Saturday is your teacher Qu's birthday?"

Zhu Yao quickly calculated the date in his mind.

November [-]th, Scorpio.

Zhu Yao mobilized all the knowledge about zodiac signs in his heart, what about Scorpio?

Passionate and jealous.Deep scheming.Cold outside and hot inside.

No matter what the word is, it seems that it has nothing to do with the Qu Qingcheng she imagined.

Except for Qu Qingcheng's words: "It seems that my appearance is quite deceiving."

Zhu Yinglan said again: "I want to treat Mr. Qu to dinner."

"When I go to the most expensive R Western restaurant, it doesn't matter if she doesn't accept red envelopes. It's always appropriate to give some gifts on birthdays..."

Zhu Yao couldn't bear it anymore and turned her head: "Mom, the teacher can't do this anymore."

"Do you understand black-box operations? You don't understand anything, you little heartless..." Zhu Yinglan's bloodshot eyes were full of drunkenness: "Mr. Qu has just graduated, and she is weak in vigilance. As long as she accepts it, what will happen in the future?" Good opportunities are always thinking of you."

"There are many paths..."

Zhu Yao: "Mom."

"You! Tell Teacher Qu tomorrow that I want to treat her to dinner! If you don't go, I will contact Teacher Qu myself."

"I'm not going."

"Do you owe..." Zhu Yinglan approached her step by step.

"What, do you want to hit me again?" Zhu Yao said calmly, "Mom, do you know what size my underwear is?"

Zhu Yinglan was taken aback.

Zhu Yao turned around and left.

The author says:

感谢在2021-09-2410:51:11~2021-09-2616:18:18期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angel who cast the rocket launcher: 1 Huosen;

Thanks to the little angel who threw the landmine: 4 welcome;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!