During lunch break, Jiang Suichu still took his books and left the classroom.
Jiang Suichu originally planned to read somewhere else in the future, but now she couldn't find any other place besides the woods. Lu Zhinian is not at school today, so he is not afraid of meeting him.
After coming out of the teaching building, Jiang Suichu walked around the canteen and found an aisle full of pomegranate trees next to it, which extended into the grove.
The pomegranates are almost ripe this season and are hanging on the branches one by one. The school also grew them as ornamental plants and they were not carefully taken care of. The fruits were cracked and the red and white flesh could be seen inside.
She rarely walked this way and didn't even know there was a row of pomegranate trees here.
The flowers blooming in spring must be beautiful, Jiang Suichu thought.
She paused and saw a cat running into the woods happily.
Jiang Suichu hugged the book and chased after him softly. The kitten jumped on the stone road in the forest with brisk steps, and ran all the way up to the pavilion in the middle of the woods.
It was as if he was luring her there on purpose.
Jiang Suichu ran a few steps and was slightly panting.
"Whose little cutie are you? How can you run around?" She carefully touched the kitten's head.
The kitten is a small native cat with yellow and white patterns. It is a little dirty. It must be a stray cat.
Meow meow~~
The kitten meowed weakly, stretched out its tongue and licked its whiskers.
Jiang Suichu glanced at its flat belly and touched it, "Are you hungry? Can my sister buy you ham?"
Meow~
The kitten seemed to understand and responded to her excitedly.
She smiled, stood up and put the book on the stone table, "Then just wait here for my sister."
When she came back from shopping, she found that there was another person in the pavilion. He was sitting on the stone bench, his arm on the table, and his forearm just pressed down on her Chinese book. There is a half bottle of mineral water next to it.
The kitten that was originally squatting on the stone bench was now lying on the table, obediently licking the water from his hand.
Jiang Suichu's footsteps paused.
Hearing the footsteps, Lu Zhinian turned around and was not surprised to see her. He looked down and saw two ham sausages in her hand.
Jiang Suchu's hand tightened subconsciously, and he took a silent breath and walked over under his gaze.
Didn't he take leave? Why is he here?
"Didn't you ask for leave? Why..."
Jiang Suchu thought this in his heart and asked the same question out loud. Only after he finished speaking did he realize what a stupid thing he had done.
Why is it that my brain is so hard to use when I meet him?
Jiang Suchu was a little annoyed and despised himself in his heart.
Sure enough, Lu Zhinian remained motionless and looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes: "You pay so much attention to me?"
The tone seemed a little pleasant.
Jiang Suchu said 'ah' and waved his hands quickly, "No. I was having dinner with Tang Mi at noon and heard her talking to Tang Zi."
Lu Zhinian did not continue to joke with her. The water in his palm had already been licked clean by the kitten. He picked up the mineral water and rinsed his hands, "Do you know Tang Mi?"
"We just met." Jiang Suichu told the truth.
Looking at his white and slender fingers, she looked down at her own hands, feeling a little embarrassed.
How can a boy's hands be so beautiful?
Lu Zhinian shook off the water on his hand, "Are you her new good friend?"
New best friend.
Is this how Tang Mi introduced herself to them?
Jiang Suichu nodded: "Probably so."
Jiang Suichu peeled off the ham sausage in his hand, broke it in half and fed it to the kitten. Anyway, I’ve already asked, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Tang Zi said your dog is sick."
Lu Zhinian looked at her and hummed lightly.
"is it serious?"
"It's not a big problem, it's just that I'm older." Although he said this, the frown between his brows betrayed his thoughts.
The kitten ate very quickly. After a while, half of the ham was finished. Jiang Suichu picked up the other half and fed it to it.
"Have you been raising it for a long time?"
She had been concentrating on feeding the cat and didn't notice that Lu Zhinian's eyes were always on her.
"Almost ten years," he said.
ten years.
Jiang Suchu was stunned for a moment. It had been almost ten years since she left Yun City. Lu Zhinian's family didn't have any pets when she left, which meant they had them the year she left.
why.
She remembered that when he was a child, he didn't like cats and dogs.
The breeze blew by, and Jiang Suichu seemed to smell a faint smell of tobacco. She was stunned for a moment, raised her eyes to look at him, and met his deep gaze.
Her heart tightened, she blinked quickly to steady her mind, and asked him with some uncertainty: "...you smoke?"
Lu Zhinian's eyes moved slightly and he looked up at her: "Did I choke you?"
He didn't deny it.
He rarely smokes, but Beibei's condition is really not good these days, and he feels a little irritable.
"...No." She shook her head and said, "I just didn't expect you to smoke."
He whispered, "You know me very well?"
Jiang Suchu's eyelids trembled, and he forced himself to smile calmly and said, "It's just a feeling."
"Oh -" Lu Zhinian raised his eyebrows and looked at her, "Then besides feeling that I don't know how to smoke, what else do you feel?"
Jiang Sui first glanced at him. He looked a little tired, his eyelids were drooped and he was not energetic.
"I feel like you're a little unhappy now."
His unhappy expression was not much different from when he was a child, with a languid expression and a look of indifference to others.
"Is it because... Beibei?"
The lifespan of a dog is not long. Ten years is considered a long life for a dog.
She thought it might be because the dog she had owned for so many years was sick, so she was in a bad mood.
Lu Zhinian's right arm was still pressing on her Chinese book, he looked at her with a heavy gaze and exhaled a deep breath.
"Not really," he said.
The last bit of ham in his hand was eaten up. The well-fed and drunk kitten was very carefree. He rolled around on the table and jumped into the bougainvillea flowers to play with butterflies.
Jiang Suichu twirled the residue on his fingers, feeling a little sticky and uncomfortable. When he used his other hand to feel for any tissues in his pocket, a slender hand held half a bottle of water and handed it over.
Lu Zhinian unscrewed the bottle cap and said, "Rinse it."
"Thanks."
He held up the water bottle to help her pour water. Jiang Suichu lowered his eyes and rubbed his fingers carefully.
She remembered that when she was a child, every time she touched the kittens and puppies, he would pull her to wash her hands with a look of disgust on his face.
For a moment, no one spoke, only the sound of water dripping on the ground.
Lu Zhinian suddenly said, "What's your name?"
Jiang Suchu's fingers suddenly stopped and he raised his eyes to look at him blankly.
Lu Zhinian looked at her motionless fingers, twitched the corners of his mouth almost imperceptibly, and put the water bottle on the stone table.
Looking at her, they were silent.
He raised his drooped eyelids and looked at her lazily with a pair of black eyes.
Her eyes flickered and she remained silent.
"Prefer not to say?"
Jiang Suchu pursed his lips and nodded slowly.
"Why?"
He kept asking questions.
Her face looked a little unnatural, and she turned away to look at the kitten that had run away.
"Not familiar."
Hearing her answer, Lu Zhinian sneered mockingly. He looked at her profile, at her fluttering eyelashes, and tightened her jawline.
"OK."
He nodded sarcastically, then stood up.
He did not leave immediately, but lowered his eyes to look at someone who still did not dare to look at him, and then his eyes slid to the Chinese books on the table.
His deep voice sounded above her head, as if he was talking to her or to himself.
"Beibei is the child of a stray dog."
Jiang Suchu was a little confused by the lack of beginning and end of the sentence, and looked up at him.
He lowered his eyes and looked at her lightly, his thin lips pursed tightly, and a shallow mark appeared in the dimple on his right cheek.
Somewhat cold and distant.
"Its mother's name is Xiaobao." The corners of his eyes drooped, not missing any expression on her face. Seeing her pupils suddenly shrink, he said calmly: "I think you should be familiar with this."
Jiang Suichu's half side body tensed up unexpectedly, and the air seemed to be gradually stagnant at this moment. Every limb and limb felt this strange feeling of being at a loss, and he couldn't even think or move.
There is an abandoned basketball court behind the family compound, which is a secret base for the children of the compound. Jiang Suchu was very naughty when he was a child. He would run around behind Lu Zhinian and Pei Shuo every day. Xiaobao was discovered by them when they were playing hide and seek on the basketball court. Xiaobao was already pregnant at that time, dragging her big belly and hiding in the abandoned basketball court. She wanted to take it home, but her parents wouldn't let her, so she cried and fussed. Later, Grandpa, the guard, couldn't stand it anymore, so he kept Xiaobao in the guard room, saying he was half a guard.
Xiaobao's name was given to her by Jiang Suichu, who was asked by the guard's grandpa. At that time, she was just a kindergarten child with limited knowledge, so the name was chosen to be cute and easy to remember.
From then on, she went to the guard room to play with Xiaobao every day. When her father saw that he really liked her, he promised her that he could adopt one after the baby was born. As a birthday gift.
She was so happy at the time that she immediately shared the good news with Lu Zhinian. She also told him that she had already thought of a name for the puppy.
Beibei.
Lu Zhinian asked her why she was called Beibei.
She said: Because it is Xiaobao’s baby.
Later, Xiaobao left Yun City before she was born and even before her birthday.
Did Lu Zhinian adopt Xiaobao's cub and use her name?
I don't know how long it took, but when Jiang Suchu came back to his senses, Lu Zhinian had already left.
got windy. The sky was dark, the branches were swaying, the pages of the book on the stone table were blown open by the wind, and the pages were turning with a clatter.
Jiang Suichu's hand that reached out to pick up the book paused in mid-air.
Her name is written on the title page of the book.
Lu Zhinian's arm was just resting on this book. He must have seen it, so he said these words.
He must be angry, angry that she lied to him.
——"I mean before, did we know each other before?"
——"I don't think you know him. I've never been to Yun City before."
She picked up the book and looked up at the sky. There were dark clouds and it was going to rain.
