During the holidays at home, Lu Zhinian no longer recorded English audio for her. Instead, he read English novels to coax her to sleep every night while they were video chatting.
Jiang Suichu felt for the first time that life at home was not so difficult.
The uncle who had been working outside for a whole year also rushed back home before the Spring Festival. He bought new clothes and shoes for everyone in the family, including Jiang Suichu.
The uncle is the second person in the family besides grandma who is really kind to her.
On New Year's Eve, every household in the village is decorated with red couplets and lanterns. At night, regardless of whether they have money or not, every family will set off a firecracker to pray for a prosperous new year.
In this small mountain village that has been quiet all year round, the sound of firecrackers continues one after another. The air was full of misty smoke and the strong smell of gunpowder.
After Jiang Suichu paid New Year's greetings to her grandma and uncle, she went to Jiang Minghao's house wearing the new clothes Aunt Shuyuan bought for her and the new shoes her uncle bought.
Every household in the village has a lively and festive atmosphere. Only Jiang Minghao's house is deserted. There is no New Year's Eve dinner or firecrackers to pray for blessings.
There were no lights on in the room, and Jiang Minghao was sitting on the threshold of the side door smoking, a scarlet flashing in the dark night.
Jiang Suchu knew that Jiang Guodong was not at home, so she pushed the courtyard door and walked in directly.
"Jiang Minghao." She walked over and sat next to him, "Have you eaten?"
"Yeah." Jiang Minghao glanced sideways and moved the cigarette in his hand to the other side.
Jiang Suichu: "What did you eat?"
Jiang Minghao: "Noodles."
"Oh." Jiang Suichu stretched out his legs and looked at the night sky, "I ate bacon feet, braised fish and chicken today."
Jiang Minghao took a puff of cigarette and chuckled, "Is it so good to eat?"
Jiang Suichu nodded, "Yes, there are also glutinous rice balls."
She tilted her head to look at him, "Jiang Minghao, do you want to eat glutinous rice balls?"
Jiang Minghao looked at her with a cigarette in his mouth, "What stuff is it?"
"Sesame." She took out the lunch box hidden behind her, opened it and brought it to him with a smile, "Would you like to eat?"
The dumplings were freshly cooked by her and were still steaming.
Jiang Minghao's eyes were filled with heat. He pressed the cigarette to the ground, crushed it out, and took the lunch box from her hand.
"Here, spoon." Jiang Suichu took out a stainless steel spoon from his pocket, wiped it with a tissue and handed it to him.
Jiang Minghao took the spoon, dug out a fat white glutinous rice ball and put it into his mouth. One bite, and the fragrant sesame filling explodes in your mouth.
He bit the soft glutinous glutinous rice balls in his mouth and said vaguely: "Jiang Suichu, let's change the filling next year."
It’s black sesame every year, I’m really tired of it.
Jiang Suichu glanced at his bulging cheeks, smiled and nodded, "Okay, next year I'll cook you... um... sesame and peanut filling?"
Jiang Minghao stopped chewing and swallowed the glutinous rice balls in his mouth, "The ones filled with sesame seeds are better."
Both of them knew that they couldn't decide what kind of filling the glutinous rice balls would be.
After Jiang Minghao finished eating the glutinous rice balls, the two of them sat side by side on the threshold, listening to the laughter of the village children going from house to house, chasing and playing.
No one spoke.
Jiang Minghao's cell phone on the stone pier by the door flickered on and off. Jiang Minghao picked up the phone, glanced at it lightly, and put it back on the stone pier.
Jiang Suichu glanced at the mobile phone that was buckled on the stone pier. The faint light flickered in the edge for a long time, then went out and returned to calm.
She calmly withdrew her gaze and looked into the distance.
The door of Jiang Minghao's house is facing the Bodhisattva tree on the hillside. Under the tree, someone is burning incense and praying for blessings.
Jiang Suichu put his hands in his pockets and elbowed Jiang Minghao beside him, "Hey, look, someone is worshiping the Bodhisattva tree."
Jiang Minghao raised his eyes and saw that the man was kneeling down to the big tree with a lit incense in his hand.
"Superstitious." He twitched the corner of his mouth mockingly, "I really don't know why they put their hope in a tree."
Jiang Suichu smiled faintly and exhaled a mist from his mouth: "Maybe it's because he can't do it, but he still wants it."
Most people disguise this superstition as belief, but it is essentially the product of ignorance and fear.
Jiang Minghao was holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth, and there was no warmth in his narrow Danfeng eyes. "You have to learn to let go of things you know you can't get. Holding on sometimes doesn't make much sense."
It's just a waste of time.
Jiang Suchu didn't agree with his point of view and turned to look at him: "The meaning of many things is not to persist, but to start."
Jiang Minghao took off the cigarette in his mouth and asked her with a smile: "What about after we start?"
How to continue.
Jiang Suichu stretched out his index finger and pointed at his chest from afar, "Follow your heart."
The night was very dark, and Jiang Suichu could not clearly see the expression on his face, but could vaguely see that the fake smile on his face stiffened for a moment.
Then, he lowered his head and laughed mockingly, "Heart? You forgot that I don't have a heart."
In the years of stumbling and growing up with my own fists. More than one person has said that Jiang Minghao has no conscience, so don't mess with him.
Jiang Suchu shook his head and put his hand on his shoulder, "You have the most sincere heart in the world, which can't be felt by hypocritical people."
"You hide it deepest, afraid of being discovered, but also hoping that someone will see it."
Indifference is definitely not just his disguise, it is his armor to protect himself in this chaotic world.
Jiang Minghao raised his eyes and looked at her, his voice a little hoarse, "Jiang Suichu, what exactly do you want to say?"
The mobile phone on the stone pier began to flash again, and the faint light allowed them to see each other's faces clearly.
Both of them glanced at their vibrating phones.
When he reached out to turn off his phone, Jiang Suchu said, "It must be Tang Mi."
Jiang Minghao paused his extended hand, picked up the phone and held it in his hand, "Yes."
"Jiang Minghao." Jiang Suichu looked at him and smiled lightly, "Look, someone can see your heart."
The vibrating cell phone kept making his palms numb.
"Jiang Suichu, if she doesn't understand, don't you understand too?" He looked at Jiang Suichu with an indescribable bitterness in his eyes, "I'm not a good person."
At least, to her.
Jiang Suichu looked at him and said word by word: "Why don't I understand? You have relied on picking up garbage and doing odd jobs to support yourself in school since you were a child; you have good academic performance, and you can obviously go to a good key high school, but because of Jiang Guodong Went to a vocational school. But even so, you didn't let yourself fall. When others were dawdling in vocational schools, you worked hard to study and participate in various competitions. You obviously had various reasons to fall, but you never gave up on yourself. .”
"I know how good you are like this."
"Tangtang is a sincere and bright girl. She has never hidden her love for you. At the beginning, I also told her that you are not from the same world and asked her to think clearly."
"But you know what she told me?"
Jiang Minghao's thin eyelids raised a crease and looked at her.
"She said..." Jiang Suichu curled his lips, "The bad thing is the world, not you."
Jiang Minghao's tightened brows suddenly relaxed, his eyes full of surprise and shock.
Jiang Suchu glanced at the flashing mobile phone in his hand, stood up with the lunch box and prepared to leave.
She walked a few steps outside, then stopped and called him over her shoulder, "Jiang Minghao."
Jiang Minghao raised his head and looked at her. She stood in the thick smoke that had not completely dissipated and smiled at him.
"Brother, I hope you are loved."
"Because you're worth it."
Jiang Minghao looked at her back and slowly twitched the corners of his mouth.
The phone in his hand lit up for the third time. His Adam's apple rolled as he looked at the dancing avatar on the screen, and his fingertips slowly clicked on the green button.
"Jiang Minghao, you finally answered my call!"
Before he saw her, her slightly complaining voice reached his ears.
"Hmm." He looked at Tang Mi, who was wearing a red beret on the screen, and silently curled his lips in the darkness, "What do you want from me?"
Tang Mi pouted, lowered her head and whispered, "Can't I come to you if nothing happens?"
Jiang Minghao looked at her aggrieved look, was silent for a while, and sighed softly as if he was giving in.
"Tang Mi."
"Huh?" Tang Mi heard him ask her to raise her head and look at him.
Jiang Minghao touched his cheek with the tip of his tongue uncomfortably, "Happy New Year."
Tang Mi was stunned for a moment, then her fox eyes curved into crescent moons, "Happy New Year, Jiang Minghao."
