rumor

Two days before the Spring Festival, Jiang Ruo went back to the Daping floor in the city center to pack up his things and move them away.

I had confirmed it from Aunt Fang in advance, and specially picked a time period when Xi and Feng were not around.

When he opened the lock with his fingerprints, the inside remained as it was before he left.Jiang Ruo stared at his slippers at the entrance for a while, then took out a disposable shoe cover from his pocket.

Fortunately, he didn't bring many things here, and half an hour was enough to clean them up.

For convenience, Jiang Ruo borrowed a small trolley from the guard, and put all the things that were inconvenient to bag, such as the potted flowers on the balcony, on the trolley.

Before leaving, he stepped on the mop and wiped the floor again, lest there would be traces of ruts or the like.

Passing the door of the master bedroom, Jiang Ruo saw that the floor at the head of the bed was clean, but the anklet had disappeared.

Without giving himself time to ponder his mood at the moment, Jiang Ruo hurriedly glanced away, then strode towards the door.

I thought this action was quiet enough, but I didn't expect to meet someone I shouldn't have met at the elevator entrance.

Xi Yufeng was dressed in a suit and leather shoes on a working day, with his coat draped over his arm, and the moment the elevator door opened to meet him, he seemed to be taken aback for a moment.

Then he looked down and saw the bag Jiang Ruo was carrying in his hand and the cart full of plants, he pursed his lips for a long while without making a sound.

The unexpected meeting made Jiang Ruo's body stiff for a moment, and he almost let go of the bag belt.

Finally, the alarm that the elevator was about to close broke the silence. Jiang Ruo freed his hand holding the handle of the cart to block the elevator door, but was a beat slower. Xi Yufeng raised his arm half a second before him, propping it on the door frame.

The elevator door opened to the maximum again, Xi Yufeng walked out slowly, walked around behind Jiang Ruo, and took the bag in his hand.

The voice was as flat as ever: "Send you downstairs."

It said it was downstairs, but it was actually delivered to the gate of the community.

The van that Jiang Ruo booked online stopped at the main entrance, and the trunk opened. Jiang Ruo bent down and straightened up several times, stuffing all the flowers and plants into it. You Feng passed him and put the bag in for him directly.

With a bang, the trunk was closed, and the driver in the driver's seat started the car. Dust was flying under the wheels, and Wuling Hongguang, which had been in disrepair for a long time, buzzed.

It was also at this time that Jiang Ruo remembered that the two of them hadn't formally bid farewell.

But he was unprepared and had nothing to say. He just lowered his eyes and said in a voice that was almost overwhelmed by the noise: "Then I'm leaving."

He seemed to hear Xi Yufeng say "um", but he didn't seem to.

Sitting firmly in the co-pilot and fastening the seat belt, Jiang Ruo saw Xi Yufeng still standing there from the side rearview mirror.

His usual calm expression seemed to be frozen in place.

But it gave Jiang Ruo a tingling sensation of being burned.

He raised his hand to touch the unfaded scar on his neck, and realized belatedly that Xi Yufeng had been staring at it just now.

This year's Spring Festival, Jiang Ruo lived in a rental house.

On New Year's Eve, he got up early and went to the supermarket to buy enough ingredients to last for half a month. He planned to stay at home during the Chinese New Year to study the script and not go out to join in any fun.

However, since he has no intention to join in, it doesn't mean that the excitement won't come to him.

When he heard the knock on the door in the evening, Jiang Ruo was processing ingredients in the kitchen, and hurriedly wiped his hands to open the door. First, a chicken was held upside down with its claws bound, and then a chicken emerged from its vertical wings. a face.

"Happy Chinese New Year." An He smiled, "I didn't eat in vain, I brought chicken."

Half an hour later, Jiang Ruo stumbled and plucked the chicken while studying the steps on Baidu.

When the chicken was slaughtered and bled just now, An He hid outside the door and did not dare to look at it, but now he talked a lot, holding his mobile phone to guide: "Before plucking the chicken, you can pour a couple of white wine into it first, drink the white wine The blood circulation of the chicken is fast, and the hair is easier to pull out..."

Hearing that, Jiang Ruoda rolled his eyes: "I told you to open the chicken's mouth just now, and I will pour it, but you didn't dare."

An He put away the phone with a smirk, rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward: "Is it really so difficult to pull it out? Let me try."

Despite numerous difficulties, the New Year's Eve dinner was served before eight o'clock.

Before sitting down, An He ran to turn on the TV in the living room. The TV broke down once a year ago, and after it was repaired, it didn't work very well. Even if the volume was turned up to the maximum, it could only be heard in the dining room.

Although neither of them is good at drinking, they both thought that they must drink some on a good day, so they took the white wine used for cooking and poured half a glass each.

When he was free, Jiang Ruocai had time to ask, "Why didn't you go back to your hometown for Chinese New Year this year?"

It is about the home of An He's adoptive father and mother, in a rural area in a mountainous area in central my country.

"They didn't ask me to go back to celebrate the New Year." An He said, "Anyway, the money was sent back."

Jiang Ruo asked again: "Then shouldn't you be with that man surnamed Meng? Why do you have time to run to my place? Don't you sneak out?"

"No, he has entertainment tonight."

"Why don't you go with him?"

"I don't want to go, and he probably doesn't want me to go either."

"Why? Didn't you two often go to Jinyuan to play together?"

"That was before." An He stuffed a piece of chicken thigh into his mouth, and said while chewing, "He might want me to disappear even more now."

The gongs and drums were blaring on the TV, but Jiang Ruo didn't hear the second part of the sentence: "What?"

An He shook his head: "It's nothing. Just pretend that I miss you and want to spend the New Year with you, okay?"

Of course.

Jiang Ruo vaguely noticed that An He's state was different, but although An He was soft-tempered and easy to handle, he was not without a single bone in his bones. Once he became stubborn, no one would try to pry his mouth open.

Jiang Ruo could only guess that he and Meng Chao had an awkward situation, so he ran to him for comfort.

It was just after nine o'clock after dinner, and the two of them slumped on the sunken fabric sofa in the living room, watching the Spring Festival Gala.

When it came to a bland skit, An He nonchalantly brought up a topic: "You and that one, are you really separated?"

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Ruo said "um".

There is no need to ask where I heard about it, the matter between him and Xi Yufeng has caused a lot of trouble in the city, and now that they are separated, it is naturally known to everyone.

"Earlier is better." An He's comment on this is, "If there is a split sooner or later."

The two slumped on the sofa until the clock struck zero.

Fireworks and firecrackers are banned in Fengcheng, which lacks the "new year flavor" in the mouth of the older generation, but Jiang Ruo feels that the group of people on the TV is already noisy enough.

Obviously nothing to be happy about.

Probably going with him, An He picked up the remote control and pressed it to turn it off.

Then he went back to the dining room and brought two unfinished glasses of wine from the table.

"Come on, let's make a New Year's resolution."

Not wanting to spoil the other party's interest, Jiang Ruo sat up, took the wine glass, and drank it down with his head raised.

Blindfolded after drinking, holding the empty wine glass in a daze for a while, and then said: "You promise first."

An He laughed loudly, and drank the rest of the wine: "Then wish us a new year, don't care about anyone, just live for yourself."

"Okay." Jiang Ruo also laughed, "I only live for myself."

In terms of drinking capacity, An He was a little worse than Jiang Ruo who poured three cups.

Helping An He, who was drunk as soon as he made a New Year's resolution, onto the bed, after leaving the room, Jiang Ruo involuntarily walked to the balcony and opened half of the window.

In an instant, the cold wind poured in, and Jiang Ruo shuddered severely.

Maybe it's because I haven't stood here for a long time, the night scene outside feels strange.

But be steadfast, feel at ease, don't be afraid of sudden heavy rain, and he has nowhere to hide.

Since the naked eye couldn't see clearly, Jiang Ruo simply closed his eyes and silently said a sentence in his heart that he didn't want anyone to hear-Happy New Year.

Different from ordinary people, for people in the business field, the Spring Festival is probably just a boring and vain scene of social entertainment and human relations, but they have to face it.

The Xi family's family banquet is held at noon on the first day of the new year, in order to free up New Year's Eve to pay New Year's greetings to familiar partners and high-level government officials, and to lay a solid foundation for a smooth and smooth year ahead.

As the successor of the Xi family, no matter how tired Xi Yufeng was of this kind of occasion, he had no choice but to show his face.After finishing the finishing work, he stepped on the wine table as soon as he came out of the company.

Gongchou lingered until midnight, and rejected the partner's suggestion to open a room to sleep here tonight, Xi Yufeng insisted on going back.

When he returned to the flat in the city center and unlocked it with his fingerprints, the door opened in front of his eyes, facing a deadly empty room. After a long time, Xi Yufeng walked in.

Turn on the floor lamp, the sofa next to it is empty.When I went to the kitchen, I passed the dance studio. There was no light inside, and the wind blew in through the open window. The branches and leaves of the monstera next to me were sparse, and the curtains swayed with the wind.

Originally, I just wanted to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator, but when I saw two dishes sealed with plastic wrap on a certain day last week, Xi Yufeng took them out and put them in the microwave to heat them up.

The dishes after several nights can hardly taste the original taste, besides, they are not thoroughly heated, and the inside is still frozen hard when smashed with chopsticks.

He put down his chopsticks after finishing the leftovers. He just drank his stomach full of wine and ate unfrozen food. The discomfort in his stomach made Xi Yufeng frowned.

Aunt Fang's call came in at the right time, asking him if the party was over.

Seeing that it was almost midnight, Xi Yufeng said, "Go to bed early, don't keep vigil."

"You have to keep it." Aunt Fang said on the phone, "Next year, I will go to the temple to offer incense, and I hope the Bodhisattva will bless you in the coming year, with no illness or disaster."

Aunt Fang's son died early, and later she came to Xi's house and stayed there for nearly 30 years. Even if she didn't say it, she cared and loved Xi and Feng as her own flesh and blood.

Because of this, it is the worst thing to see him alone, this time on the phone, he still asks: "What about Xiao Jiang, did you come back to spend the New Year with you?"

Xi Yufeng remained silent, and Aunt Fang sighed, and said, "What a good boy, he added a lot of commonly used medicines to the family before leaving, and even sent a message asking me to take care of my health...It is common for young people to get awkward, Sit down and speak clearly, and then coax him, won't it be fine?"

The day after Jiang Ruo moved the things away, Aunt Fang came to deliver food and cleaned the house. When she opened the closet and saw that it was half empty, she was so frightened that she called Xi Yufeng, thinking that the house had been burglarized.

Xi Yufeng was tired of explaining, and only said that Jiang Ruo couldn't move here anymore. Aunt Fang turned around and thought that the two had quarreled. These days, she gave Xi Yufeng many tricks to coax him back.

To avoid future troubles, this time Xi Yufeng directly said on the phone: "He's gone, and he can't be coaxed back."

When he said this, Xi Yufeng couldn't help but feel a wetness in his palm, as if the tears that fell on his palm that day were deeply embedded in the palm lines and dripped out again.

Perhaps sensing something from his relentless tone, Aunt Fang didn't say anything more after all, letting Xi Yufeng take a good rest during the New Year's Eve, and hung up the phone.

After sitting at the dining table for a while, Xi Yufeng walked to the living room and sat down on the sofa next to the floor lamp.

For many nights in the past, Jiang Ruo sat here with a light on beside him.

And he didn't remember the reason for it. He never told Jiang Ruo that he was used to being in the dark and didn't need anyone to wait.

But get used to this thing, it will change, and it will be completely different without knowing it.

The regular ticking of the wall clock was inexplicably irritating, and the churning discomfort in his stomach spread to his whole body.

Without realizing it, Xi Yufeng stood up, lit a cigarette, bit it on his lips, then lifted his foot, and walked to the dance room purposefully.

Stop at the door.

There was no wind at this moment, and the curtains stopped swinging, but the jagged shadows on the ground still had a ghostly sense of loneliness.

Xi Yufeng folded his pockets with both hands, his face sinking like water.

He stood there motionless, letting the smoke that was about to engulf him fill in wantonly.

It is also at this moment that I start to look back on the past and study just now.

—He left and couldn't be coaxed back.

Not perfunctory.It's true that he's gone, and it's true that he can't be coaxed back.

The word "coax" should be removed. It's not that I don't want to coax, but that I won't come back even if I coax.

he's gone.

He didn't say goodbye.

He will not come back.