Qinghong

There are not many kinds of vegetables in the refrigerator. I took out the chicken marinated in the morning, a piece of green onion, a piece of ginger, and two potatoes.

Ning Hong teased the cat for a while, washed his hands, squeezed into the kitchen, and stood beside me in front of the stove: "How can I help?"

"Don't bother me." I bent down to peel the potatoes, and I didn't have time to chase him away.

He slumped his shoulders: "Teacher Zou, give me a chance to perform."

"What will you do?" I asked.

"Steam rice." He said, "Wash rice, put it in the rice cooker, add water, and press the start button."

"Okay, then you can steam the rice." I said, "The rice bucket is in the first cabinet on the right."

I put the peeled potatoes on the chopping board and cut them into small pieces with a knife. If they are too small, they are easy to stew, but if they are too large, they will not taste good.Pour the oil into the pot, heat it up, put the onion, ginger and garlic, saute until fragrant, put the marinated chicken and bean paste, stir fry evenly, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, hot pepper, salt, rice wine, fry the meat until there is no water vapor, Put half a scoop of water into the pot and simmer for 15 minutes on low heat.

I put the lid on the pot and turned around. Ning Hong was still standing behind me, standing upright like a ghost.

"Scare me," I said, "what are you doing standing here?"

"Watch you cook." He said, holding up the rag in his hand, "while you're frying the meat, I'll clean up the sink."

I looked at the sink. The stainless steel basin for marinating the chicken was cleaned, the potato skins were put into the trash can, and the chopping board where the onion, ginger, and garlic had been cut was wiped dry and stood against the wall. There was no splash of water around the sink.Ning Hong is a man with winks and quick workmanship. I don't dislike cooking, but I hate tidying up the kitchen and washing dishes.I have to say that Ning Hong's actions made me care less about what he said before, and made him more pleasing to the eye.

I don't know if he is unconscious or deliberate, his remarks about Ning Qing always hurt me.

Accepting Ning Qing's death is not an easy task. Although Ning Qing is gone, his traces permeate every aspect of my life.When he was alive, he was my longing. When he died, he became my shadow.I miss him, whether in the sunny day or the dark and silent midnight.

As for Ning Hong, he has a face similar to Ning Qing, and he entered my life with endless puzzles.I could feel the slight malice in his words, very subtle, like dust floating in the air, and I was on guard against him, for fear that he would steal something from me.

What do I have for him to worry about?I asked myself, probably not.

Ning Hong is a dormant viper, he pretends to be close, observes patiently, and when I relax my vigilance, he kills me with one blow.

"Teacher Zou." Ning Hong said, "The pot is almost dry."

I woke up suddenly, reached out to open the lid of the pot, poured half a scoop of water into it, then added seasoned cinnamon star anise, scooped a spoonful of soup with a spoon, let it cool down, and tasted it.

A little bland, I sprinkled a spoonful of salt.

The cooker hood was booming, and the aroma of stewed chicken permeated wantonly. Ning Hong took a deep breath: "It smells so good."

"Are you hungry?" I said, "After 10 minutes of boredom, it will be out of the pot."

"Hungry." He said, "The rice is almost ready."

I rarely have the experience of cooperating with people in the kitchen to cook ingredients, including Ning Qing.

Ning Qing does not have high requirements for the quality of the food, as long as it is cooked.I don't like to clean up the kitchen. When we eat, we either eat out or order takeout. We hardly think of cooking for ourselves.

"Does Teacher Zou often cook?" Ning Hong asked.

"No, quite a few." I said, "I don't like washing pots, dishes and stoves."

"Let me help you." Ning Hong said, "I don't cook well. It's either salty or bland." He scratched his head, showing a little embarrassment.

I said, "Thank you." It was from the bottom of my heart, and if someone wanted to help, I could just pop into the kitchen.

He smiled, his eyes curved, and a dimple appeared on his right cheek.

The chicken was out of the pot, I walked to the dining table with a plate, Ning Hong walked across to me with a bowl of rice in one hand, sat down, and handed me a pair of chopsticks.

I can't say anything about food, and besides, we are really hungry, and I gobbled it up for a while. I wiped out the rice in front of me and burped.

"It's delicious." Ning Hong praised me, "Can I come to your place to eat more often?"

"It's up to you." I said, "You can do the dishes."

"No problem." He agreed wholeheartedly, "Don't talk about washing the dishes, the range hood is also washed for you."

"...what do you do at the airport? Cleaning?" I asked.

He took a mouthful of rice and almost choked himself: "Ahem, cough, cough, cough, is the housekeeping reasonable?"

"I thought you could also wash range hoods. You have a lot of skills." I said, "That's right, you don't have to be overwhelmed by your skills."

"A plane pilot," he said, "fly once and take two days off."

As a pilot, it’s no wonder that the money is out of bounds, and the income is much higher than mine. I said, “Yes, Captain Ning.”

"...not the captain, the deputy." He said, "but Mr. Zou, you spend so frugally, doesn't your professor have that...research funding?"

I was amused: "I teach mathematics, research funding? You mean the money to buy draft paper?"

He put down the bowl, blinked, and choked out three words: "That's it."

"There are usually some small projects, and the money earned is divided among the students, and there is not much left." I said, "Save money for marriage."

I know that my chances of getting married in this life are slim, this sentence is just an excuse to scare Ning Hong, I originally wanted to save a sum of money and travel abroad with Ning Qing, but now that Ning Qing is gone, my thrifty habit remains .

"Married?" He looked at me, his eyes were level, his tone was raised with a hint of sarcasm, "with my brother?"

Here it is again, I was so annoyed by his ambiguity, I didn't answer directly, and said, "I was watching TV, and you washed the dishes."

After finishing speaking, I left the dining table, went to the living room and turned on the TV, filling the air around me with meaningless news reports, lest I think of Ning Qing.

Ning Qing is a policeman by profession. He is not the unsmiling person in the traditional impression. He has a gentle temperament and a lack of energy. He loves to listen to cross talk. He doesn't go to the cross talk in the teahouse garden, but finds a park to chat with the old man who plays chess. chatting.He took me to Changhong Park, and I stood aside without speaking, watching him and the old man having a good time talking, eyes curved like crescent moons, a cigarette between my fingers, and I was smoking idlely.The sun shines on him, outlining his slender and healthy body. I try to size him up casually and listen to him call me in a drawn-out tone: "Lan Sheng, what are you thinking about?"

"Lansheng, what are you thinking?"

The words in my mind overlapped with the reality, I woke up suddenly, turned my head to look at Ning Hong, and said in a slightly dissatisfied tone, "Don't call me Lan Sheng."

"What do you call that?" Ning Hong wiped his hands with a napkin and sat beside me, "Lan Lan?"

"...Go away." I got goosebumps from his crooked tone.

"What's on TV? You watch it so seriously." He said.

"It's nothing." I said, I didn't pay attention to what the good-looking female anchor said on TV, and my mind was full of the scene of Ning Qing and I walking in the park.

"Meow——" The white cat with different pupils dexterously jumped onto the sofa, swaggered into my arms, wrapped the tip of its tail around my wrist, as if wearing a fluffy bracelet for me.

After dinner, I was a little sleepy, and I leaned lazily on the sofa without speaking. The cat purred like a tractor, which was particularly hypnotic.Ning Hong sat beside me quietly, neither opening his mouth to annoy him nor leaving.The two of us just sat like this, and the sound of the TV playing outside floated in the living room.

Half asleep and half awake, I heard Ning Qing call me: "Lan Sheng."

"Don't make trouble." I said confusedly, "Sleepy."

I heard Ning Qing chuckle and hold my hand: "It's easy to catch cold when sleeping on the sofa."

"Hmm." My mind was full of confusion, and I was so sleepy that I couldn't tell the difference between the south, the south, and the north. I instinctively grabbed his hand, "Ning Qing."

The palms paused, and they froze stiffly. After a while, the other party uttered a single tone: "Huh?"

"Don't go." I hummed out of my nose.

Ning Qing, don't go, don't leave me alone, I don't even know where your tombstone is.

I often think, what a cowardly person I am, I just said I like you, and I just kept holding back for a whole year.

Ning Qing is an anti-narcotics policeman and has many medals. He told me about the fate of being an undercover agent.The drug dealers were mad and cruel like wolves. They not only killed the undercover agents, but also threatened their relatives and friends.After the death of many undercover agents, their names cannot be engraved on the tombstones, for fear that the family members will be targeted by drug dealers during the worship.

Ning Qing will also have a blank tombstone, which falls on an unknown hill, guarding one side of the territory.I am his friend, not his relative or lover, and I have no right to know the information. I can only keep thinking about the past and mourning the dead souls of the loyal.

In the dimness, I heard a slight closing sound of the door and fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up, my neck was sore, Ning Hong had already left, and the cat lay on the pillow of the single sofa and stared at me with wide eyes.

I looked up at the wall clock on the wall. At 09:30 in the evening, I picked up my phone and popped out a WeChat message [Ning Hong: Teacher Zou, I’m leaving. I’m free to see you. 】

I moved my fingers and replied [Zou Lansheng: Don't come, I'm not free. 】

Ning Hong should be free now, and the message reply speed is extremely fast [Ning Hong: [grievance]]

【Zou Lansheng: [Tom Cat is indifferent]】

I put down the phone, move my neck, my joints rattle, and the echo can almost be heard in the living room.

I usually take a half-hour nap at noon, but today I accidentally fell asleep after dinner, and I'm afraid I'll toss and turn again in the middle of the night.

I opened the door of the refrigerator, took out a box of pure milk, put it in the microwave oven for 1 minute, and heard the notification sound of my mobile phone [咚咚. 】

I took the warm milk box and stepped into the living room, picked up the phone, Xiao Ke sent me a picture, it was a painting [Xiao Ke: Teacher, this is for you. 】

I clicked on the picture and looked at it carefully. I don't know how to paint, so I can't comment on how the painting is from a professional perspective.In the painting is the outline of a human figure, standing against the light, unable to see the face clearly, stretching his hand forward, full of tension.He should be drawing me, I guess.

[Zou Lansheng: It’s so pretty, thank you, I’ll print it out tomorrow and frame it to hang at home. 】

[Xiao Ke: [Maomao covers face] I will send the painting to your office tomorrow. 】

[Zou Lansheng: I have the first class tomorrow morning, and I'm in the office at ten o'clock. 】

【Xiao Ke: Okay. 】

My empty heart felt warm. Some people died, some people lived, and some people narrowly escaped death.