late snow

Ji Huai looked at the other party's handsome eyebrows, thinking that he was dreaming in a trance.

He had imagined the situation when he found Zhan Hua countless times. In his imagination, Ji Huai should be crying with joy, excited, angry, and ecstatic... In short, those emotions that are too extreme to be controllable will flood him. Annihilation, all of his crazy obsessions in the past 11 years.

Make him look less like a joke.

However, there is no hysteria, nor the surprise and grief of old people who have been reunited for many years.

He stood on the bustling street, blowing the spring breeze that had brought the heat of early summer, so calm that it was unbelievable.

The buzzing voices in his ears fell silent, Ji Huai looked at Zhan Hua, who was familiar yet unfamiliar, and smiled at him, "Zhan Hua, long time no see."

"You are—" Zhan Hua's handsome face showed a hint of doubt.

Ji Huai took off the straw hat on his head.

However, the other party still looked at him as if he was looking at a stranger.

He doesn't remember me?

Or did I change too much and he didn't recognize it for a while?

Or...he doesn't want to recognize me?

The smile on Ji Huai's face couldn't be maintained, and his voice was difficult and hoarse, "I'm Ji Huai."

He didn't know what kind of mood Zhan Hua had when he went to die, and he didn't know whether he wanted to make a clean break with him or never see each other again, or whether it was a coincidence.

They have been separated for too long, so long that he has added a lot of guesswork and doubts to this not very honest relationship, and even added a lot of beautification that they have no regrets for each other.

Ji Huai knew this clearly, so he became more and more hollow and disappointed.

Zhan Hua nodded to him politely and distantly, "Sorry, I can't remember many things before, are we friends?"

When he just woke up, he did hear that a friend named Ji was looking for him.

Ji Huai suddenly felt a void in his heart.

He is like a person who is struggling on the edge of a cliff with only one hand. He persisted for 11 years, and finally met the person he wanted to see, and then willingly let go of his hand.

It turns out that the reunion without knowing each other is more heartbreaking than the two not seeing each other.

"No, we are—" Ji Huai choked suddenly.

friend?No, they're certainly not friends, they used to be far closer than friends.

couple?No, they are still far from the point where they promise each other that they will never leave each other for life. Even before Zhan Hua died, he had a moment of doubt.

They have never established an unbreakable trust and honesty from beginning to end.

They are just a pair of intrigues that ended up being defeated... old acquaintances who had no destiny.

Zhan Hua is still waiting for his next words.

Ji Huai smiled a little sadly, and couldn't find an excuse to deceive himself for a while, "It's a friend."

Zhan Hua nodded, "Can you tell me something about the past?"

Ji Huai was naturally very happy.

Even though he knew little about Zhan Hua's affairs, he was much more detailed than others.

Ji Huai followed behind Zhan Hua and thought, at least I know how many moles he has on his lower back, and I also know some unexplainable little hobbies of his...

Ji Huai's wild thoughts stopped abruptly when he saw the dilapidated house in front of him. It took him a long while to find his voice, "You live here?"

This house is in a remote place in the outskirts of the mountains. From the outside, it looks like it is leaking from all sides. The thatched tiles on the outside are old, and even if the wind is strong, it can be blown into powder. The boots were already muddy.

Ji Huai couldn't imagine Zhan Hua living here.

"I woke up here half a month ago." Zhan Hua opened the door and went in with a very calm expression, "Someone left me a letter, only telling me my name and surname, and let me find my own way of life."

Only then did Ji Huai notice Zhan Hua's appearance.

His appearance hasn't changed much from 11 years ago, the only difference is that his hair has finally grown out, but he probably doesn't know how to tie it, and it is tied behind his head with a ribbon, looking messy.

The person looks thinner and paler, and the clothes on his body are a bit worn out, but Zhan Hua likes to be clean, and the clothes are as white as snow.

"You don't remember the past at all?" Ji Huai's eyes were locked on him, trying to find some clues.

"I only vaguely remember some things from my childhood." Zhan Hua recalled: "Occasionally I can think of some fragments, but they are very vague."

As he spoke, he picked up the chipped bowl on the table and planned to drink it.

Ji Huai snatched the bowl away.

Zhan Hua looked at him puzzled.

"I..." Ji Huai stood there awkwardly holding the bowl, thought for a while and said seriously: "You and I used to be very good friends. Now that I have found you, I can't let you suffer here. I'll go back."

Zhan Hua's eyes are sincere, like Ji Huai, who was not deeply involved in the world back then, with a little hope amidst doubts and entanglements, "Brother Ji, is it convenient for me to take me in?"

Probably during the first half month after waking up, it was very difficult for him to live alone.

"Convenience." Ji Huai threw the bowl away, and a strange and distorted joy rose from the bottom of his heart.

He has been thinking about the person for 11 years day and night, and he has been looking for the person for 11 years like crazy, and asked if it is convenient to live with him.

That's really convenient.

-

The yard that Ji Huai bought is really not that big, but his original intention was just to rest here, and he didn't plan to live there for a long time.

But it is different now.

Zhan Hua walked into the yard, and Ji Huai walked behind him and locked the door directly, for fear that he would disappear if he was not careful.

"Brother Ji——" Zhan Hua watched him put the iron chain on the gate without saying a word.

Ji Huai was still holding a small half of the chain in his hand, and when he heard the sound, he turned his head, his expression made Zhan Hua suspect that it was not the gate he wanted to lock but himself.

Zhan Hua instinctively took a step back.

Ji Huai fastened the chain and said solemnly: "There are a lot of thieves recently, lock it up for safety."

Zhan Hua is skeptical.

Ji Huai took a deep breath and showed a pure smile, "Take a rest first, I'll go and heat up these meals."

The cooked food he bought on the street before was originally intended to be rice, but now that there is no rice, he can only make do with it.

Ji Huai skillfully lit the pot, put the food he bought into it, and sighed regretfully.

In the storybook, when old people meet again, if one party holds something in his hand, he must let go of his hand in surprise and back away, and the thing falls to the ground to express his shock.

It would be even better if there are treasures such as bowls and chopsticks or gold, jade and coral, and the sound can bring out the atmosphere better.

But not only did he not retreat, but he still held the food tightly in his other hand.

Neither shed tears nor hugged Zhan Hua into his arms in surprise, or kissed him regardless of the occasion as he hoped most.

Ji Huai stared blankly at the rising mist.

Is it really as someone said, whether he can find Zhan Hua is actually not that important, because what he is looking for is not Zhan Hua at all, but self-punishment in the shell of affection.

It shouldn't be like this.

Ji Huai frowned, reached out and touched his heart, the heart beat peacefully, which made him angry and resentful.

"Brother Ji?" Zhan Hua's voice sounded behind him, followed by footsteps.

Zhan Hua sat down on the wooden block beside him.

It was already dark at this moment, and there was no light in the kitchen. The wind outside the window was a bit rapid, with the coolness of late spring, and the dancing fire in the stove reflected the surroundings dimly.

"Don't call me Brother Ji, you used to call me Ji Huai." Ji Huai threw a piece of wood into the stove and turned to look at him.

Half of Zhan Hua's face looks very good under the firelight, while the other half is hidden in the shadows and cannot be seen clearly, "Ji Huai."

The familiar voice fell into the ears, the smell of food lingered in the small room surrounded by the smoke of burning firewood, and Ji Huai's eye sockets were suddenly burnt by the fire.

His gloomy first 20 years, the absurd year of entanglement with Zhan Hua, and the later 11 years of muddle along, seemed to fall into the fire with the sound of Ji Huai, and burned up completely.

He was sitting here, on an ordinary spring evening, in this shabby and ordinary small kitchen, side by side with Zhan Hua, waiting for a not-so-delicious dinner.

That's enough.

"Is it cold?" he asked Zhan Hua.

"A little bit." Zhan Hua stretched out his hand to warm the fire in the stove.

Ji Huai took off his outer robe and put it on Zhan Hua.

Zhan Hua turned to look at him again.

Holding a branch in his hand, Ji Huai fiddled with the burnt firewood in the stove with downcast eyes, "The roasted chicken might not taste so good after it's steamed."

"Why?" Zhan Hua also pulled out a branch from the side to help him poke the exposed firewood.

"Because it's a roast chicken." Ji Huai tapped Zhanhua's branch with a branch, "It's not tasty if it gets cold for too long. After steaming, there's too much water in it, and it doesn't taste the same anymore. It turned into a four-faced chicken."

Zhan Hua stared at the steaming pot and said firmly, "But it's still a chicken."

Ji Huai choked suddenly.

"I haven't eaten meat for half a month." Zhan Hua turned his head and looked serious, with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Ji Huai felt distressed and a little funny, "It will be fine soon."

Zhan Hua stared at the pot with burning eyes, Ji Huai originally wanted to steam it for a while, but seeing this, he had to bring out the chicken.

Zhan Hua ate quickly, but neatly, just looking at it was pleasing to the eye.

"Ji Huai, don't you want to eat?" Zhan Hua raised his head to look at him, under the light of the candlelight, his long eyelashes cast a light shadow on his eyes, making Ji Huai's heart sore.

"I'm not hungry, I've eaten before." Ji Huai handed him a chicken leg, "Eat more if you like."

Zhan Hua's wind swept away, and there were only scattered chicken skeletons left on the plate.

Ji Huai wiped his hands with a wet handkerchief.

Zhan Hua's straightforward gaze made him feel a little uncomfortable. Just as he was about to let Zhan Hua wipe it off by himself, he suddenly heard Zhan Hua ask, "Ji Huai, are we really just friends?"

Through the wet veil, he felt the warm fingertips of the other party.

Ji Huai slowly raised his head.