Years are warm

In winter, it seems that even the senses become numb, and the days are inadvertently shortened. Sometimes it is already dark outside before get out of class is over in the afternoon.

In this season, it seems that their day and night have also been reversed.

There was a little snow the night before, and the ground was wet and slippery, so Xie Zhiyao held Xu Huaian by one hand in physical education class, and stepped on the snow happily behind.

The thin winter sun shines down, infiltrating a little warmth in the cold air.

Thursday is Christmas, and the shops outside the school have been warming up a long time ago. Unfortunately, these activities have nothing to do with these high school seniors. After all, after Christmas, it means the last monthly and final exams for the next semester. 's arrival

The knowledge points have been learned as early as the second year of high school, and the monthly exams this semester are actually a warm-up for the mock exams in the next semester.The winter vacation of the third year of high school is only half a month. Once the New Year is over, they will face the city and the province when they return to school.

According to the teachers, the first two mock exams should be the closest to the college entrance examination.

Xie Zhiyao went out of school the day before to buy two apples. In order to prevent the other two people in the same dormitory from teasing again, she simply threw one to Li Siyuan to share with Zhang Xin, and took the other one to the laundry room Find Xu Huaian.

The weather is too cold, and there is no heating in Shenning. Most people just throw away their clothes and go back to the dormitory, so as not to suffer from the cold here, so there are no people in the laundry room.

Xie Zhiyao went in through the back door, walked around Xu Huai'an in a big circle, stepped forward lightly, jumped over and wrapped her shoulders from the back door.

"Merry Christmas!"

Not only Xu Huai'an, but also the other people who stayed here not far away were startled by her sound.

Having lived on the same floor for so long, everyone has actually met each other at least face-to-face, and it is no surprise to see the two of them like this, so they started to be taken aback. Later, they found out that it was the two of them, so they went to do their own things.

Xu Huai'an was holding a vocabulary book in his hand, but she almost threw the book out with a trembling hand when she made such a fuss.She turned around, raised her hand and tapped the book on her forehead, pretending to be angry, and said, "How grown-up are you?"

Calling her a child every day, she turned out to be the most childish.

Xie Zhiyao stuck out his tongue, took out the apple in his hand like offering a treasure, and said, "Then...you can't be scared by touching the hair, so I will give you the Ping An Guo to make amends?"

As he said that, he went to grab someone's head.

Xu Huai'an didn't tie her hair up, and it was messed up by her rubbing. She raised her hand and slapped her hand down, then stroked it twice before saying, "Isn't it stupid to run out to deliver apples in the cold weather?" .”

Although it was a bit of complaint, Xie Zhiyao could hear her voice rising uncontrollably. She smiled and put her hand into the pocket of the girl's down jacket, resting her chin on her shoulder.

It snowed heavily during the few days of the exam, and the sky was groggy, which made people feel a little unmotivated. In addition, this time, I didn't know if I wanted to beat them, so the final papers were extremely difficult.

When Xu Huai'an walked out of the examination room, he was still wondering if his English listening was not good enough. After all, she was sitting by the window, and the north wind was beating against the window, making people upset.

But anyway, this semester is finally over.

Xu Junyi sent a message saying that he would pick her up at the door. When Xu Huaian packed up his things and went out of school with Xie Zhiyao, he happened to see his father who was leaning on the car door and making a phone call.

He probably remembered Xie Zhiyao, so he just nodded and opened the car door, signaling them to get in the car first.

The snow that had fallen for two days had stopped, and now the sun was shining outside, and the air conditioner was turned on in the car to keep the cold air out.

"Is the question difficult?" He hung up the phone and got into the car, asking casually.

"...It's okay." Xu Huai'an pursed his lower lip, "It's the end of the year, isn't the company busy?"

Xie Zhiyao glanced at her, put his hand on her wrist and stroked it twice.

Xu Junyi shook his head. He probably wanted to say something else, but seeing Xu Huaian's head down through the rearview mirror, he didn't continue.

Coincidentally, when the car stopped at the intersection, I happened to meet Xie Yuanhong who was coming back from school.

"Yaoyao?" With something still in his hand, he waved to Xie Zhiyao who was thrown over at the intersection, and then glanced at the black car parked at the intersection, "You are..."

The car window was rolled down at the right time, and Xu Huai'an greeted him from a distance.

There is a short distance, but the view is good today, and people can still see who is driving.

Xie Yuanhong smiled and nodded at her, waited until Xie Zhiyao approached, and then asked: "Did Xiaoan's father send you back?"

"Yeah." Xie Zhiyao responded, and took a closer look at the things in the bag in his hand, "Dad, what did you buy? It smells good."

"It's all what you like to eat." Xie Yuanhong raised his hand and scratched her nose, and said with a smile as he walked into the community, "Wait a while... Well, I'm going to pick up your grandpa for dinner."

Xie Zhiyao paused, then lowered his eyes and answered in a low voice.

"It's like this once a month." He sighed helplessly, and reached out to rub her hair, "It's been so long, and the old man is getting older, don't make trouble for everyone, just turn a blind eye and close it." .”

It has indeed been several months... Xie Zhiyao lowered his head and did not speak.But... She still didn't feel that the old man felt that he had done something wrong.At least in the past few months when his father went to pick him up, they still didn't say a word between them.

Not a single apology, not a word of explanation.After grandma passed away, she hadn't been close to the old man, and the relationship is even worse now.

Xie Zhiyao was silent for a while, before asking him: "Father, does his doing that have something to do with the name Xie Tingning?"

"Who is this person you don't want to mention?"

"Alas..." Xie Yuanhong sighed and shook his head, and led her to a gazebo downstairs with a sudden stop.

The holidays for the third year of high school were much later. Some elementary school students in the community had already had their holidays. They were still having fun downstairs at this point, and the noise could be clearly heard from here.

"Sit down." He swept away the snow on the bench, and put a piece of paper to signal her to sit over, "Xie Tingning... Yaoyao, it's not good to call my aunt by her name so directly."

"Auntie?" Although he had guessed before, Xie Zhiyao couldn't help clenching his fists when he heard him say it himself.

Xie Yuanhong just thought she was surprised and didn't think about it. He tapped his fingertips on his knee and said, "Well, she is my sister, your real aunt."

It is also the person that everyone is least willing to mention now.

"Am I... like her?"

"Actually, it's basically not the same, but there are some things..." Xie Yuanhong smiled, as if thinking of something, "It's not like she was born, she looks like your grandma. You like to draw like her, then When the girl was young, she picked up a pen and couldn't finish it. Your grandparents told her many times that she didn't listen..."

His tone was very intimate. Obviously, for a long time in the past, the relationship between the two of them and even the family should have been good. Unlike now, they didn't even mention their names.

Xie Zhiyao blinked, remembering the painting tools in the old house and the gentle eyes of the woman in the photo, and waited quietly for him to continue.

"Don't look at your grandpa like this now, in fact, he doted on her very much when he was young, and left everything for her to choose first." He seemed a little helpless, but also a little nostalgic, "They always think that raising a daughter means pampering, and raising My son is different. But your aunt has been sensible and obedient since she was a child. When your father and I were being scolded, she would secretly pass sugar to me by the side... Cough cough, this is not like you, you were cute when you were young gone."

Xie Zhiyao: "Dad..." Can we not suddenly mention her?

The smile in Xie Yuanhong's eyes seemed to deepen a bit, but it soon dimmed, "You also know your grandpa's stubborn temper, he always thinks that girls should be more stable, learning painting like your grandma is too hard, Washing paint in the twelfth lunar month of winter should freeze your hands. So at the beginning, I was not really willing to let her learn it, but I couldn't bear her persistence, so I let her go."

"She is indeed this material. She did well in the exam. She went to CAFA in college, and was later sent to France to study abroad at public expense. At that time, the whole family was very happy."

At least it was then.

Xie Zhiyao pursed his lower lip, feeling that it was not that simple afterward.

Sure enough, his tone dropped when he went on to say: "The year she graduated from her master's degree happened to be the time when your mother and I got married, because I was too busy before graduation, so I didn't come back, and your mother asked her to give it to you first. To choose a name, she said that she would wait for her to return to China, and it should be just in time for the birth of her niece. She said that she would not be able to choose a name, but in the end she spent a whole day looking through the dictionary..."

"And then? Did she come back?" Xie Zhiyao's throat moved, she had no memory of Xie Tingning at all, "She now..."

"Yes, but now... she is no longer here. That was before you were born, but your name is indeed her name. There is nothing wrong with it." Xie Yuanhong pursed his lower lip and shook his head slowly, " Let's go, let's talk about the rest next time, we should go back. By the way, don't say what I told you in front of your grandpa, the old man doesn't want to mention it. "

Xie Zhiyao knew that he didn't want to go on, so he tactfully didn't ask any more questions, nodded obediently and followed.

There is actually more than one understanding of these three words.It could be literally not here, left to go somewhere, or it could be... out of this world.

No matter what it is, as he said, it is regret and scar.

Xie Zhiyao followed him to the elevator, and she hesitated for a long time on the rest of the journey, but she still didn't ask what was going on with the half of the photo left in that room of the old house.

Who is the other half that was torn apart?She was indeed curious, but at this time...it seemed really inappropriate to ask.

She sighed silently in her heart, and could only temporarily suppress her curiosity.

It seemed to be snowing again outside.

When Xu Huaian and Xu Junyi arrived home, there was a smell of hot pot in the room, and steaming water vapor floated in the air, dispelling the chill of the whole winter.

"Hurry up and change your shoes and come over to eat." Yu Xiuyun greeted the father and daughter to come in, and took off the apron.

Except for holidays, they rarely sit at the same table to eat, and such times are also rare.

The new year will be over a week away. This year, because Xu Huai'an will take the college entrance examination next year, they didn't go back and stayed here to celebrate the new year, but the three of them are a bit deserted here.

"I'll take you to Qingyuan Temple tomorrow." At the dinner table, Yu Xiuyun put a chopstick of vegetables into Xu Huaian's bowl.

"Huh? What to do?"

Xu Junyi glanced at her and spoke in a timely manner.

"I'll give you a lottery."

The author has something to say:

Because the main perspective of my aunt is Zhiyao, it is impossible to reveal it all at once. As for what it means to be gone...you can guess for yourself first (.