countdown to winter

Chapter 43

The night is over, the day.

Taking advantage of the holiday, Wen Xia threw the dirty clothes she saved into the washing machine, then spread a blanket on the balcony, and read "Utopia" in the light of the setting sun.

"Evil can never understand virtue and evil itself, but innate virtue can eventually understand evil and virtue itself through education."

At 05:30 in the afternoon, the phone rang.

Shi Xing's voice came, "Teacher Wen."

Wen Xia closed the book, "What's wrong?"

"Can you come out to dinner with me tonight?"

Wen Xia was a little surprised: "Okay—it's just why you suddenly asked me to eat?"

"I just want... to meet you," Shi Xing said, "Just the barbecue on Jiusong Street, okay?"

"It's not long since you were discharged from the hospital, so don't eat such greasy things," Wen Xia got up, "I'll ride to your house to take you, and you can wait for me at the gate of the community."

Wen Xia took the key, pushed the bicycle, and arrived at the gate of Xinghuayuan within 10 minutes, and saw Shi Xing in the distance.

Shi Xing was wearing a flaxen cotton cap, wrapped in a scarf, with his hands in the pockets of the black down jacket, and his feet were rolling over stones. He heard the sound of bicycles, and Wen Xia suddenly smiled when he saw Shi Xing.

Wen Xia stopped the car, propped up one long leg, and said with a smile, "I'm wearing a hat."

Shi Xing touched his hat, "Without a hat, the bald head is too ugly."

"boarding."

Shi Xing sat in the back seat and hugged Wen Xia, which seemed to be tighter than ever. With some unresolved emotions, Wen Xia said, "What's wrong? I don't feel very good."

"No," Shi Xing didn't know whether he was responding to Wen Xia, or saying to himself, "No."

Wen Xia brought Shixing to the hot pot restaurant.

Shi Xing said, "Isn't this greasy?"

"Mandarin duck pot is fine," Wen Xia said, "I eat spicy food, you eat clear soup."

The word "Mandarin Duck" inexplicably put Shi Xing in a good mood. He stared at Wen Xia's face and said, "Okay."

Wen Xia ordered a lot of dishes, but he didn't order much meat. He mainly considered Shi Xing, so he asked Shi Xing: "Look, what else do you want to eat?"

Shi Xing took the menu and ordered three bottles of beer.

"..."

Wen Xia: "Why do you suddenly want to drink?"

"Light it up," Shi Xing said, "I have something to tell you."

The hot pot was steaming, and the mixed aroma of clear soup and spicy soup was enticing. The dishes came out quickly. Wen Xia scalded potato chips and enoki mushrooms, and said, "Is there anything you want to tell me, huh?"

Shi Xing bit his chopsticks and said, "I might have to leave."

Wen Xia gave a hand.

"What do you mean?" Wen Xia said, "What 'go'?"

"Leave here and go to Beijing," Shi Xing said, and answered the next question, "I don't know when I'll come back, and it's possible that I won't come back."

Shi Xing said everything, very calmly, as if he was telling someone else's story.

All the struggles and pains were resolved yesterday.

When he was unable to make money independently, he was completely put in a passive position, and he had nothing else to do but accept it, no matter how unwilling or thoughtful, he couldn't.

Wen Xia was silent, and poured in the remaining dishes, most of which were in the clear soup, and there were very few dishes in the spicy soup, Shi Xing couldn't help but said: "I can't eat so much."

The wine was served.

"It's okay," Wen Xia said, "If you can't eat it, just throw it into the spicy soup."

Shi Xing opened the wine, poured a full glass, drank it himself, his Adam's apple moved, the wine went down his throat and entered his stomach, a little choking, Shi Xing coughed a few times.

He blushed from coughing and raised the wine bottle, "Come?"

The night is never alone.

Neon lights, thousands of lights, pedestrians walking quickly with their heads down, plants and trees looking up at the universe, Shi Xing listened to every bird song, suddenly it was like a love story to heaven and earth.

The eyes of night watched them.

Wen Xia also had a drink.

Shi Xing poured him another glass, Wen Xia was about to refuse, but Shi Xing said: "This may be our last meal, I'm leaving tomorrow."

Wen Xia was too strong to drink, but it seemed that "the last time" was an excuse for indulgence, and he really couldn't bear to refuse, he gritted his teeth, and took the glass of wine.

Shi Xingcai ate very little and kept pouring wine for him.

Beer is not easy to intoxicate, but it also divides people.

After Wen Xia drank the fourth cup, he became a little confused. He waved his hand and stopped drinking. Shi Xing drank a cup by himself, and his whole body seemed to be hot.

Is winter gone?

Wen Xia's eyes were a little blurred, he was eating something casually by instinct, suddenly a voice came from his ear, Shi Xing came over at some point, and said softly, "Teacher Wen?"

Wen Xia is inexplicably obedient after being drunk, and doesn't make trouble, because she drinks less and is less likely to vomit, as if she just came to this world, with a little ignorance and clarity.

Wen Xia was helped up by him, put his hand on the back of his neck, Shi Xing said, "Shall we go?"

Drunkness passed through the internal organs, gently and forcefully took away the reason, Wen Xia didn't drink much, and could only see the night lit by lights outside, and the wind picked up.

Wen Xia walked passively, and finally didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, and fell down on a soft place in a trance, under the warm yellow light, he stared blankly at Shi Xing who was sitting cross-legged - he didn't know what he was thinking, his brows Screw it up.

In his memory, Shi Xing was always silent more than when he laughed, Wen Xia suddenly reached out, patted Shi Xing, and said softly, "Hey."

Shi Xing looked at him, "Huh?"

"when are we leaving?"

Shi Xing had already told him, but Wen Xia stubbornly wanted to ask him again.

"tomorrow morning."

They seemed to chat for a long time, Wen Xia couldn't remember clearly, only remembered that there was a last quarter moon outside, no clouds, and there were a few stars, and he stared at those stars, as if he wanted to travel through them to the boundless Cosmos and wilderness.

"Will you still remember me?"

"Yes." Shi Xing repeated, "Yes."

At this time, when the sky rises, it is still blue and can’t see the edge. The white line drawn by the plane will still be regarded by children as the steps leading to heaven. There are still unfinished questions in the test papers in the classroom. Still spring comes with flowers, summer comes with enthusiasm, winter snow will fall for a long time, covering layer after layer, and burying countless lies.

Shi Xing finally deleted Wen Xia's calling method.

He didn't want Wen Xia to continue to be entangled, he didn't want to embarrass him, he wanted to temporarily... forget Wen Xia.

But he knew that in his lifetime, he could not forget that string of numbers, nor could he forget the memory of a few months, everything was engraved in his bones and accompanied him until he died.

Shi Xing still longed to look at him again.

It's daytime again.

Before Shi Xing left, he looked at Wen Xia's face. He was lying on the bed with messy hair. Suddenly he turned around and lay flat on the bed.

Step back.

Shi Xingban knelt down and kissed his lips reverently and tenderly as a final farewell.

He will always remember it.