Years are warm

The old ginkgo on the edge of the playground has fallen leaves, and the ground is golden when viewed from the teaching building.The laurel in the biological garden is also everywhere. Occasionally passing by the stairs of the Zhiyuan Building, I can hear the auntie cleaner complaining in dialect that there are endless dead leaves and flowers that cannot be cleaned up every day.

Before I knew it, the November calendar was torn to the 11th.

It is also Xu Huai'an's 15th birthday.

She doesn't have any real feelings about her birthday, she only knows that Yu Xiuyun will cook a bowl of brown sugar noodles for her in the morning. From childhood to adulthood, no matter how busy she is, this habit will never be shaken.I didn't understand it when I was young, but I realized it was a habit at my grandmother's house later when I grew up, which means that the future will be as sweet as honey.She is not interested in this kind of sweet food, and was once surprised by this unusual way, but after so many years, she has gotten used to it.

Apart from this bowl of noodles, there is Xie Zhiyao who is more excited than herself every day.

It wasn't the alarm clock next to the bed that woke Xu Huai'an early in the morning, but Xie Zhiyao's phone call.

"Happy birthday Huai Xiao'an! Am I the first one?" The voice on the other end of the phone was full of vitality. If I didn't know that the sky outside the window had just dawned, I would have thought it would be broad daylight.

Xu Huaian closed his eyes, expelled the remaining drowsiness from his mind, and when he spoke, his voice was still hoarse when he woke up: "Thank you, you are indeed the first."

As she spoke, she looked at the time, it was just after five o'clock.

"But what time did you wake up..." Why was she so excited when it was her own birthday?

"Just got up, isn't this in a hurry to send blessings to the birthday star?" Xie Zhiyao on the other end of the phone rolled over with the quilt in his arms, "How is it? Are you very moved?"

"If you didn't call this early in the morning, you probably would." She pinched the bridge of her nose, a little amused, "Need I remind you what time it is?"

"Isn't it time for you to get up after we finish the phone call? I just happen to be your body alarm clock?"

What is this... Xu Huai'an laughed, shook his head helplessly, and said, "Okay, can't I get up? Let's talk about it on the other way."

After finishing speaking, she ignored the "complaint" on the phone and hung up the call.

The noodles for breakfast were still a bit too sweet and greasy. Yu Xiuyun gave her a gift while eating. The box was not big, and it was only after opening it that she found out that it was a watch.

She didn't pay much attention to the brand, she could only tell that it was a quartz watch with a white strap and a silver dial, which looked pretty.

"I heard you say that the original watch was broken, so I wanted to change it for you." She touched her daughter's head and said, "I didn't ask you about the style, do you still like it?"

Xu Huaian nodded, pursed his lips and smiled.

Yu Xiuyun smiled and squinted her eyes. Before going out, she kissed her forehead and said, "Happy birthday, Xiaobao."

She turned her head away awkwardly, and whispered, "Mom, I'm fifteen."

The implication is that such intimacy is inappropriate.

"No matter how old you are, you are still a child with your mother." Yu Xiuyun didn't take it seriously, she straightened her collar with a smile, and waved goodbye.

Once the weather in the south cools down, it will be cold and humid, and the coldness seems to penetrate to the bone, even if it is wrapped in thick clothes, it can't stop it.Although it is not yet winter, the cold wind in the morning has already made people shiver uncontrollably.

Xu Huaian didn't see Xie Zhiyao when she walked to the edge of the cross-sea bridge. She raised her wrist to check the time, and was about to send a message to ask, when she heard someone covering her eyes behind her.

The instinct of the human body made her stiff for a moment, but the next moment, as the person approached, the familiar breath made her relax instantly.

"Surprise! Guess who I am?"

"Ayao, don't make trouble." Xu Huai'an held the other's slender wrist, and called out her name half helplessly.

"Tsk, you guessed too quickly..." The person behind complained softly, let go of his hand, and hung something around her neck.

Xu Huaian opened his eyes and found that it was a beige scarf.

"You did it?" She recalled the figure of the other party who had obviously become busy in the past two weeks, and guessed.

The girl in front of her had curved eyebrows, and her beautiful almond eyes seemed to be filled with warm light. She nodded and said, "Of course, am I ingenious?"

Xu Huai'an raised his eyebrows, and then smiled: "Well, it's quite a coincidence." She really didn't know when the other party learned to weave scarves.

"I pestered my mother to let her teach me for two weeks." Xie Zhiyao stuck out her tongue, "If I hadn't said it was for you, she would have suspected which boy I gave my puppy love to."

The implication is to praise me quickly.

"I learned how to weave a scarf in two weeks, it's pretty good." Xu Huai'an boasted as she wished, and couldn't help but tell the truth after seeing the deeper smile in the other party's eyes, "But isn't it too early for you to give it away now? "

Although Shenning sometimes has a little snow in winter, it is still a coastal city in the south, and the temperature in late November is not so low that you need to wear a scarf to go out.

Wearing a scarf now... She was afraid that she would receive a lot of attention along the way.

"Oh, anyway, you will need it sooner or later." Of course Xie Zhiyao also thought of this, she helped take off the scarf and put it in a bag, and winked at her mysteriously, "It just so happens that I almost decorated this one, Pure color is too plain. So this, as a Christmas gift next month, and your birthday gift, keep it a secret for now!"

"Mysterious..." She shook her head, just as the first bus was leaving, she swiped her traffic card and got on the bus, belatedly realizing something was wrong.

"...are you just too lazy to give Christmas gifts and just don't finish knitting your scarf?"

Xie Zhiyao: "Aha, the weather is good today!"

Xu Huaian: "..." She knew it!

The surprise of this birthday gift was kept until the last evening self-study of day students.

Li Siyuan found an excuse to drag her out 10 minutes after class, and kept looking for topics to chat, and it was obvious at a glance that she was delaying time. Xu Huaian felt strange, so he let them go.

When she turned back to the classroom when class was about to start, she realized that all the lights inside had been turned off.

"Go in and have a look?" Li Siyuan, who was behind her, encouraged her with a smile.

Xu Huai'an gave her a funny look, and obediently pushed the door open.

"Happy birthday to you~" Almost at the same second, the students hiding in the darkness clapped their hands and sang in unison.

She froze for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise.

Xie Zhiyao turned in from the back door with the cake in his hands, his Qingli face was full of smiles.

"Make a wish, birthday boy?"

Xu Huaian looked at her for a while, raised the corners of his lips, closed his eyes, made a brief wish, and blew out the candle.

"Pa—" the lights in the classroom were turned on the second the candle went out.

A group of people clamored for the birthday cake to be shared, and the young faces were filled with smiles.

Xu Huai'an shared the cake in a somewhat uncomfortable response. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the piles of gifts on the table. With a smile on her lips, she rarely softened her eyes.

Even the ringing of the bell could not stop the noise of the house.

Xie Zhiyao was holding a fork, and when she came down from the podium, she took out a small box from the drawer, and said vaguely, "Here, your gift."

"Swallow the cake and talk."

It was a necklace with a small fan-shaped metal rubbing hanging at the end. She took a closer look and found a white bird was carefully carved on it.No. [-] Middle School rules do not allow jewelry to be worn, but necklaces are usually firmly covered under the collar of the school uniform. Unless the buttons are unbuttoned, they cannot be seen. Check violations.

"You made it?" She blinked her eyes twice, looking at the shape of the rubbings but hesitated to speak, "The engraving is beautiful, but... this shape..."

"Huh? What's the matter? What do you think it looks like?" She swallowed the cream cake, her eyes sparkling under the light.

Xu Huai'an looked at the rubbing necklace in his hand and was silent for a moment, then his throat moved slightly and he said, "...dog tag."

Xie Zhiyao, holding the cake: "?" That's too much!

"Xu Huaian, your brain circuits are poisonous! This is art!"

This voice directly knocked the rest of the self-study class down. Before the grade director murderously rushed to the door of the classroom with the heavy textbooks, everyone around quickly cleaned up the mess and sat back in their seats obediently.

Xie Zhiyao caught someone and hung the chain around her neck involuntarily, as if you dare to take it off and I will never end with you.

Of course, in the end, the grade director still stood at the door until the evening self-study was over. If it weren't for the good grades in the experimental class, or the girl's birthday, he might have dragged him by the collar and scolded him in the corridor.

After the evening self-study get out of class, Xie Zhiyao was still happily talking about today's plan with her on the way home.

"When did you start preparing?" Xu Huai'an waited until she finished talking, and then interrupted.

"Weekend, I thought it was Tuesday." Xie Zhiyao took her arm and gave her a serious look, "Are you surprised that everyone attaches so much importance to your birthday?"

"A little bit." She touched her neck subconsciously, the chain Xie Zhiyao forcibly fastened hadn't been taken off yet, "It's just a birthday, why is it so grand?"

"It's not as simple as a birthday, and it's not just my intention." Xie Zhiyao let go of her hand, and walked past her to the fork in two steps. She turned her hands behind her back and said with a smile, "It's also Everyone's meaning."

"……what?"

"You've helped a lot of people, Huai'an." The girl turned against the light, her eyes were filled with tenderness, "Whether it's giving lectures or giving papers for reference, you may think it's nothing, but you did help everyone invisible, you Didn't you realize that Lao Zhao is praising us in these exams?"

Not good at speaking, taciturn, these traits stem from the loneliness generated by childhood experience, but this kind of acquired indifference cannot be concealed from the tenderness and kindness in the heart.Xie Zhiyao knew this very early on, but she also knew that the shadow brought about by that experience cannot be eliminated overnight.

So she's been channeling, past and present.

"You are never alone, Huai'an, everyone is a unique treasure." Under the dim streetlights, the girl's voice seemed to be mixed with the sound of the tide beating against the rocks, and was transmitted to the person in front of her with the wind.

The white bird is free, but never alone.

Xu Huai'an stood there and watched her for a long time. The night wind blew the broken hair at her temples. She pulled out her hand that was in her pocket and unbuttoned the two buttons on the top of her school uniform. The silver necklace and slender clavicle.

"That's why you carved the necklace like a dog tag?" She pretended to be teasing, and she ran away while she was still in a daze.

Xie Zhiyao was stunned for a moment, and after realizing it, he shouted and chased after him.

"Ahh! Xu Huai'an, you are really good at ruining the atmosphere! I told you that it's not a dog tag!!"

In the darkness, no one saw someone quietly blushing.

After such a toss, it was almost ten o'clock when we got home, Xu Huaian put the bag away, and while rubbing his wrists, he couldn't stop thinking in his heart that Xie Zhiyao was really merciless, it hurt so much.

But at least he controlled his strength, it was just that it hurt when he grabbed it, and there was no mark left.

She took out the rest of her homework and rushed to take a shower before twelve o'clock. When she came out, the light in the living room was turned off, leaving only a small lamp for her in the aisle.

She dried her hair, and somehow remembered Xu Junyi who was on a business trip in the capital.The happy birthday message on the phone was sent at noon. She didn't ask when she would come back, but just replied thank you dad as usual, and she didn't send red envelopes like before. I don't know if she was too busy and forgot or something. The contact between the two people stopped at these two text messages without warmth.

But she shook her head and didn't think about it, she leaned over and turned off the light to sleep.

I don't know how long it took, she seemed to hear a sound in a daze in her sleep, and it seemed that someone had tucked her quilt up, but the drowsiness engulfed her brain and body, and she fell into a dream before she had time to think .

When I wake up, the sky will turn white, and the alarm clock is buzzing, persistently interrupting the bedridden person's wish to meet Zhou Gong.

Xu Huai'an yawned, raised his hand to turn off the alarm, cleaned up and got ready to get up.

But the moment she opened the door, she froze for a moment.

There was a simple packing box on the floor by the door.

She stooped down to pick up the thing, checked the box carefully, but there was nothing written on it, not even a name.

Unpacking, inside is a brand new Polaroid.She recognized this brand and this retro design. Xie Zhiyao had mentioned that she wanted to buy it before, but unfortunately she gave up because the price was not friendly to students like them.

It turned out that she got the camera now.

But there were only three people in the family, and Yu Xiuyun had given her a gift before, so it was self-evident who gave it to him outside the door.

She subconsciously looked in the direction of the master bedroom.

The door of the room is still closed tightly, and there seems to be a sense of distance that is suddenly far and near in the twilight morning light.

She pursed her lower lip, put her things away on the bedside table, and closed the door with her schoolbag.

Yu Xiuyun came out from the kitchen with porridge, she took off her apron, she caught a glimpse of the subtle changes on her daughter's face out of the corner of her eye, walked over and reached out to stroke her hair.

"There is still class, let's eat first."

Xu Huaian was pressed on the dining table and chair by her, and licked her dry lips.

Yu Xiuyun served her a bowl of porridge, and said casually: "Last night, I came back from the plane after two o'clock. It was too late, so I didn't tell you."

Xu Huaian lowered his eyes, gently blowing the hot porridge in the spoon.

"Before, his friend was still saying that girls of this age like to take pictures. He asked his assistant to ask a few more questions, saying that this is very popular now."

She still didn't speak, but unconsciously curled up her fingers holding the bowl.

The pointer of the watch pointed to three, she put down the spoon, took the bag on the sofa, and said softly, "I'm going to school."

"Okay, be careful on the road." Yu Xiuyun didn't say anything else, she was as careful as usual.

The moment before the iron door closed, she suddenly heard the girl's cold voice.

"It's too expensive, and... I'm not good at taking pictures. I bought it and put it there to collect dust. Next time...you can ask if you want to send something." If you still remember.

The iron door was gently closed with the sound of falling.

With the cold wind blowing on his face in late autumn, Xu Huaian lowered his head and put his hands in his pockets.On the sea-crossing bridge, cars were speeding past, and the street lights were still on.

"Huai'an!" At the end of the bridge, the girl saw the figure here from a distance, and opened her hands to her mouth to make a sound.

"Hurry up!"

Xu Huai'an's eyes flickered, and suddenly a light laugh sounded from his throat.

"Understood...don't rush, come here now."

The author has something to say:

Huai'an's birthday is 11.17, and Zhiyao's is 4.18. They are both in the same year.