The girl carried a cup of traditional brown sugar ginger tea and tilted her head. Her clear eyes were filled with sunlight and smiles.
Chi Xu was momentarily at a loss for words. He remembered that she and Zhou Xiangmeng had met before, and indeed they were not very familiar with each other. He had been presumptuous. He shook his head with a smile.
"Okay, I misunderstood. You should go back and rest quickly." Chi Xu gently patted Jiang Yuan's head, as if stroking a kitten, watching her hair shine against the light.
Feeling guilty, Jiang Yuan didn't jump up angrily to scold Chi Xu for his bad behavior of patting her head for the first time. She tightened her grip on the takeout bag and stepped into the elevator, looking back three times at each step.
Chi Xu watched her leave, then turned around and walked towards his dormitory.
He took out his phone from his pocket and scrolled down to see if there were any new messages.
The moment he opened the app, a news alert popped up on the browser.
"The kindergarten principal is deeply in debt, and all the kindergartens under his name have closed. Banks, employees, and parents are all asking him for money. Being hounded for debts has become a daily routine."
His gaze fell on the second sentence. Everyone was asking the principal for money, and being chased for debts was a daily occurrence.
The smile on his lips gradually faded and disappeared into the shadow.
The sun was shining brightly on the horizon. Chi Xu had already escaped from those two chaotic years.
But now, when he thought about it, he still felt trapped and couldn't save himself for a long time.
...
Three years ago, the distant sky was fragmented by the window in the room. The continuous dark green was sealed in the fragments along with the hoarse cries of the cicadas.
The scorching sunlight spilled all over the place and spread recklessly.
Chi Xu watched Jiang Yuan leave, holding the doll she had angrily thrown at him just now. It was as cute as her.
He thought he guessed what Jiang Yuan wanted to say.
It seemed that the feelings of youth were always like this, hot and sincere, eager to express. He didn't think much of it before, but it was only after his heart was filled with someone that he had this heavy feeling of love.
On the day when the high - school entrance examination results were announced, the key high schools also announced their cut - off scores at the same time. Chi Xu was admitted as expected.
Near noon, he lazily threw off the quilt and got out of bed to wash up. Looking at his messy hair in the mirror, he was quite dissatisfied.
He had to look good for Jiang Yuan.
So Chi Xu washed his hair and took a shower, put on his newly bought clothes, casually cooked something to eat, and waited to go out at one o'clock in the afternoon to meet her by the artificial lake in advance.
He wanted to surprise her.
At half past eleven, there was a rapid knock on the door.
Chi Xu lazily opened the door in his slippers. The two people standing at the door were extremely unfamiliar to him.
They were his parents whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
Chi Xu froze in place for a moment, then stepped aside to let them in. When he closed the door, he looked up at the opposite door. There were no shoes outside, so maybe the whole family had gone out for a meal.
"Why are you here?" Chi Xu's tone was cold. He poured two glasses of water for his parents, and suddenly thought of something. He let out a soft laugh. "Don't you only think of me during festivals?"
His parents were always busy with business and on the go. Their family didn't seem like a real family but more like strangers.
Mrs. Chi ignored Chi Xu's sarcasm and grabbed the hand he was using to hand over the water. Chi Xu lowered his eyes and didn't say a word.
Instead, Mrs. Chi stammered and tightly held onto Chi Xu's arm. "Xiaoxu, hurry up and come with us. Hurry up and leave here with us. They know you're here. They won't let you go, and they won't let us go either..."
Chi Xu stopped and looked up at his mother, seemingly unable to understand what she meant.
He shifted his gaze to his father, hoping that he could give a reasonable explanation.
Mr. Chi started smoking as soon as he entered the room. The smoke was swirling. He tapped the ash into the ashtray and said heavily.
"The company went bankrupt due to poor management. At first, we thought we could hold on for a while to see if there was any chance of a turnaround. But unexpectedly, something went wrong with the project at the construction site, and the capital chain was completely broken. I've already owed a lot of people money."
"Now my phone is constantly ringing with calls every day. People send me text messages threatening and intimidating me to pay back the money. Your mother has become神经衰弱 because of this."
"This matter has nothing to do with you originally. But somehow they found out your address and said they would use you to threaten us to pay back the debt. But we're penniless. How can we pay? We can't afford to pay at all."
"Yes, yes. Xiaoxu, let's go quickly. Leave quickly. We don't know when those people will come." Mrs. Chi hugged Chi Xu's arm and cried softly.
"Do we really have to go?" It seemed like a century had passed before Chi Xu found his voice. He uttered the words with difficulty and bitterness, his empty gaze falling on his mother.
When had his mother's hair turned so gray? There were a few more wrinkles on her face, and she looked dull and no longer as glamorous as before.
"Son, you're our lifeblood. Do you know how terrifying those people are? They really can do anything. If they really hurt you, how can we live?"
His mother was crying and sniffling, tightly holding onto his arm so that he couldn't leave.
"Can we leave later? Lat..." Chi Xu thought that he hadn't said goodbye to Jiang Yuan yet, and he hadn't officially bid farewell to her. If he just left like this, how angry Jiang Yuan would be with him.
He had only said half of the sentence when Mr. Chi suddenly panicked. "Those people have already chased us to Haining City. They, they sent me a text message. Let's go quickly. If we don't leave now, it'll be too late."
Startled, Mrs. Chi kept urging Chi Xu. "You go and grab a few clothes quickly. Just put some change - of - clothes in a bag. As soon as you're done, we'll leave."
"But I..." Chi Xu looked up and gazed into the distance through the front door of his house. He wanted to wait for Jiang Yuan to come back and say goodbye to her in person.
The situation was so sudden. Even if Jiang Yuan resented him, he would accept it.
It was his fault for not keeping the appointment.
Maybe because Chi Xu had been standing still for a long time, Mrs. Chi got up and went into Chi Xu's bedroom. She took a bag and casually stuffed a few clothes into it, then was about to drag Chi Xu away.
Chi Xu struggled to break free from his mother's hand and said calmly. "Give me a minute. Just one minute."
He ignored his father's angry shouts and his mother's heart - broken cries.
Chi Xu took a piece of scratch paper from his bedroom and quickly wrote the four big characters "Wait for me to come back". He threw the pen aside, folded the paper with the words on it, and put it on the living - room table.
He thought he couldn't involve Jiang Yuan.
Those people had even investigated where he lived. If he didn't leave, they would find Jiang Yuan. He couldn't let Jiang Yuan get involved in danger.
Jiang Yuan would wait for him by the artificial lake at two o'clock in the afternoon. If he didn't show up, Jiang Yuan would surely come to ask him.
She had the key, and it would be easy for her to open the door. Then when she came in, she would see the note he had left in the living room.
This way, it wouldn't be a goodbye without notice.
As soon as he put the note on the glass table in the living room, his father grabbed his arm and pulled him out. He quickly changed his shoes and staggered downstairs with his parents, leaving Haining City.
He didn't expect that this departure would last for a long time. Even all his previous contact devices were forcibly changed without his consent, leaving only an old - fashioned useless mobile phone.
The last connection with Jiang Yuan was also broken.
In the first year, Chi Xu hid here and there with his parents. He went to school temporarily wherever they were hiding. Maybe halfway through the semester, his parents would suddenly come in and go through the formalities to take him away.
Or the debt collectors would find out where he was studying and block him at the school gate, spitting and scolding.
This seemed to add a little spice to the dull campus life. Almost everyone was talking about that boy in a certain class.
They changed to another city and another school. This cycle repeated itself, and Chi Xu was exhausted. He was getting farther and farther away from Haining City.
In the dead of night, he often missed that little girl with the beautiful braids, who always ran after him and often quarreled with him.
More than halfway through the second year, his parents finally settled down. Maybe the debt collectors were tired too, and they didn't chase as aggressively as before.
Chi Xu skipped a grade so that he could become independent as soon as possible and get rid of this situation.
One hundred days before the college entrance examination, Chi Xu secretly bought a ticket to Haining City alone.
It was already afternoon when he arrived. Returning to his hometown, Chi Xu felt both sad and happy.
The past recklessness had been ground into pieces by reality.
He didn't know what kind of mood or identity he should use to face Jiang Yuan.
In the past two years, how had Jiang Yuan been? Had she forgotten about him?
Following his old memories, he came to the community and hid on the floor above the one where he used to live, wanting to see how Jiang Yuan was now.
Until twelve o'clock at night, no one went in or out of that house.
Chi Xu sat on the steps, hugging his knees tightly as if seeking warmth.
The key to his old home was long gone, and he couldn't get in.
The next day, a kind - hearted person saw Chi Xu still sitting there. After asking the reason, the kind - hearted person told him that the Jiang family had moved out half a year ago, and she didn't know where they had moved.
Chi Xu left there numbly. The sunshine in early summer was bright but not very glaring, but Chi Xu was in a daze and didn't know where to go.
It was noon when school was over. Chi Xu was bumped into by a junior high school student. He subconsciously looked over, and the school uniform was very familiar to him because he had worn it for three years.
He had a bold idea. He decided to go to Haining No. 1 Middle School. When filling out the high - school application form, he remembered that Jiang Yuan's first choice was Haining No. 1 Middle School.
It was worth taking a chance.
Unfortunately, he waited there for a whole day but didn't see Jiang Yuan. He didn't even find a similar figure. Later, his parents finally found him and forcibly took him home.
After graduating from high school, he applied to Peking University because he remembered that when filling out the high - school entrance examination application form, he and Jiang Yuan had discussed which university to apply to, and they had made an appointment to get into Peking University together.
After his freshman year, the family's situation improved. They gradually paid off their debts and re - established a team to start a company.
Everything was getting better, and Chi Xu gradually got out of that shadow.
Chi Xu was still not reconciled. He stubbornly believed, firmly believed, that Jiang Yuan was still at Haining No. 1 Middle School. It was an intuition.
He bought another ticket to Haining City and went straight to Haining No. 1 Middle School.
The road after school was bustling. The snack stalls at the school gate were full of high - school students. They were smiling brightly and full of hope for the future.
Chi Xu waited at the school gate for two days. This time, he really saw Jiang Yuan. There was a boy beside Jiang Yuan. The two of them came out together to buy dinner.
She had changed a lot, becoming both familiar and strange.
All of Chi Xu's attention was on Jiang Yuan. He saw her leave the school gate, saw her buy dinner, and saw her go back to school with that boy.
He didn't think Jiang Yuan had any other feelings for that boy. The intermittent discussions about schoolwork reached his ears along with the noisy shouts from the stalls.
Taking advantage of this time, Chi Xu sneaked into Haining No. 1 Middle School. At the entrance of the senior - three teaching building, there was an honor roll of the last monthly exam results.
Jiang Yuan ranked first.
Seeing this, he vaguely understood something. It turned out that he wasn't the only one working hard to get into Peking University. There was another person working towards it in a place he didn't know.
Chi Xu left with a smile. He would wait for Jiang Yuan at Peking University.
Waiting for the day when they would meet at Peking University.