“…”
Lin Zhexia held the emerald green glass bottle, feeling very complex: “I’m touched to have a mother who went to the great grasslands and didn’t forget to pick grass to bring back for me.”
But having processed it didn’t mean they wouldn’t get angry when seeing her.
Lin He: “As soon as I see your face, I remember how you ran off to Haicheng City without a word.”
Lin Zhexia took a few steps back, retreating to her bedroom door: “Then I’ll temporarily disappear. Don’t look at me.”
“Ask Chi Yao to come over for dinner tonight,” Lin He called from the living room, “You ran over there, causing him so much trouble, he had to take care of you while busy with the competition—did you hear me?”
Lin Zhexia leaned against the door panel and responded loudly: “Got it.”
Chi Yao coming to her house for dinner wasn’t a big deal.
Everyone was quite accustomed to it.
After dinner, Wei Ping pulled him to chat in the living room.
Lin Zhexia was a girl, and Wei Ping’s interaction with her was different; sometimes Wei Ping and Chi Yao had many topics that were just between the two of them.
Wei Ping: “Help me look at this car model, what do you think? Uncle wants to assemble one.”
“…”
Lin Zhexia washed her hair after dinner.
During this time, her phone rang, and she shouted with a head full of foam: “Can someone answer my phone for me?”
The scene looked a bit chaotic. Lin He was busy in the kitchen, and Wei Ping was wearing glasses but couldn’t find her phone after a long search.
Finally, Chi Yao found her phone in the couch crevice.
Wei Ping: “Who’s calling?”
“He Yang.”
“Then answer it for her,” Wei Ping consciously sat back down, “It’s business between you kids, I won’t interfere.”
The call connected.
He Yang was smug: “I knew you would answer my call. I deliberately didn’t call Chi Yao because he sometimes doesn’t pick up—aren’t I clever?”
Then He Yang heard Chi Yao’s voice coming from the other end of the phone: “Mm, clever.”
He Yang: “…”
He Yang: “Wait, why is it you?”
Chi Yao: “State your business.”
He Yang: “We have a cat at home now. My mom’s colleague’s cat gave birth to several kittens. She brought one back, and I wanted to ask if you guys want to come over and play.”
The contact content between the childhood friends of Nanxiang Street was very trivial.
Content often included who bought a new computer, who bought a new game console, or going together to raid the scratch cards sold at the corner store.
Chi Yao wanted to say “not interested in cats,” but the words only turned in his heart; what came out of his mouth was: “She’s washing her hair, wait a bit.”
“Alright,” he revealed his ultimate purpose, “Before coming, could you help me buy some cat food from the corner store? It came so suddenly, and we don’t have anything prepared to eat.”
“…”
He Yang: “You’re coming to visit, bringing a small gift isn’t too much, right?”
Lin Zhexia finished washing her hair, only half-dried it, and eagerly pulled Chi Yao out to see the cat: “He’s exploiting us, just tricking us into buying canned food for him.”
Chi Yao: “Then why are you still going?”
Lin Zhexia: “I’m doing it for the cat’s sake, otherwise I wouldn’t bother with him.”
Before leaving, Lin Zhexia looked for her coin purse, then took her phone and keys, her hands so full she couldn’t hold anything else, so she handed the hair tie on the table to Chi Yao before leaving: “Hold this for me first, I’ll take it after I put my keys in my pocket.”
Chi Yao stood at the door waiting for her, reaching out to take it.
Lin Zhexia’s hair wasn’t completely dry, still half-wet, so she couldn’t tie it up yet. Therefore, after putting away her keys, she completely forgot about the hair tie.
She headed straight for the corner store and searched around, finally finding kitten food on the bottom shelf.
When they went to He Yang’s house, He Yang pretended not to know and accepted the canned food: “Oh my, just coming is enough, why bring gifts? You’re too kind.”
Before entering, Lin Zhexia said: “I specially brought a gift, aren’t you feeling embarrassed?”
He Yang feigned politeness: “Yes, yes.”
Lin Zhexia fiddled around for a moment, then pulled up a QR code on her phone: “Then pay up, 48 yuan in total, scan my code.”
He Yang: “…”
He Yang was speechless, just about to say “I lost this round,” when he looked up and saw the person standing behind his Xia Ge.
The young man leaned against the door, his eyes lowered, barely noticeably tugging at the corner of his mouth, seemingly amused by Lin Zhexia.
Lin Zhexia played with the cat at He Yang’s house for a while.
The cat was only two months old, a white, long-haired cat. A few of them sat together discussing what name to give it.
Lin Zhexia: “How about Dian Dian? Look at how it walks, quite bouncy.”
“…”
At two months old, the cat was almost always sleeping.
A few of them watched for a while until someone finally broke the silence.
Chi Yao: “Do you find this interesting?”
Lin Zhexia: “…”
He Yang: “…”
Chi Yao stood up: “Let’s go.”
Lin Zhexia also stood up: “Although it’s very cute, it’s always sleeping. Three people staring at a cat watching it sleep seems a bit silly.”
He Yang: “Then I won’t see you out.”
When Lin Zhexia and Chi Yao went out, the sky had darkened a bit.
After the small holiday, summer was coming to an end, and the cicada sounds were gradually becoming weaker.
When Lin Zhexia went out, she was going against the wind, her hair blown up and covering half her face.
She only then realized her hair was dry.
Remembering to tie up her hair, she searched herself: “My hair tie…” Where did I put it?
Before she could finish speaking, a hand extended across.
The young man’s wrist was thin, and at the protruding wrist bone, a very thin black hair tie was wrapped. It was the one she had handed over before leaving.
In the faint sound of cicadas, Chi Yao’s cold, weary voice sounded: “Your thing, take it.”