No one knows how far the future is, but the present life is real.
A week later, Gu Tong happily called Xia Chan and said that her mother was so angry that she didn't want to care about her for the time being. To celebrate this happy event, she decided to open the sublet bar on Qingshi Road on Saturday, and named it "Six Sixes Good Luck", implying that her road to making money would be smooth sailing. She also asked Xia Chan to ask her friends Jiang Huainan and Ella to come over.
After contacting Ella by the roadside in front of her house, Xia Chan called Jiang Huainan and asked him to come with her. As soon as she put her phone back in her pocket, Ella had already packed up and rushed downstairs. She smiled and waved desperately at Xia Chan across the street, and Xia Chan raised a smile.
There must be such a kind of girls in your life. They accompany you throughout your youth, from the first acquaintance to the separation. You are accustomed to their existence as you are accustomed to yourself, and their importance is no less than any of the best things.
Ella came over like a naughty rabbit, her tight skirt stretched on her plump body and looked a bit tired. She gave Xia Chan a big bear hug: "Xia Xia, my passion for you is like a fire, let's burn together to Sister Gu's bar!" Ella always likes to add an "ah" before speaking, she explained that this makes her words more meaningful.
Xia Chan hugged back without hesitation, but found that she couldn't hold Ella, so she complained, "You've gotten fatter again," which earned her a Pegasus Meteor Punch. After finally breaking free from Ella's violence, Xia Chan smiled and said, "Okay, let's go find Jiang Huainan."
"Xia Xia, you are shameless. You only think about your Jiang Huainan." Ella muttered, and before Xia Chan could refute, she immediately waved to a taxi that was driving by, "Hurry up and get in."
As soon as the car stopped, before Xia Chan could even open her mouth, Ella kicked her in, and then her body, which was mixed with the scent of a young girl, rushed over . After reporting the address, Ella dropped her heavy head on Xia Chan's shoulder and closed her eyes to rest: "I'll take a nap, call me when we get there."
Xia Chan tilted her head and looked at the furry head on her shoulder, she couldn't help but laugh, and suppressed the idea of ​​chatting with her. When the two arrived at the Jiang family residence, Jiang Huainan was already standing by the roadside waiting.
Jiang Huainan is thin, with delicate features and more beautiful eyebrows than girls, a typical male protagonist in romance novels. His hair never goes past his ears, and he dresses simply and casually, with a sense of laziness, and looks deadly handsome. He has good grades and good looks, and is a favorite in the eyes of teachers. Only Xia Chan knows that under his handsome appearance, his temper can make people want to raise their fists.
But it was this Jiang Huainan that made Xia Chan obsessed, obsessed to the point of going crazy. Who could tell about feelings? There was only one place in her heart, and she had already settled in Jiang Huainan, leaving no room for anyone else.
"I'm here." Jiang Huainan simply greeted Xia Chan inside the car window, opened the passenger door and got in. Xia Chan stared at him and thought about it, and said "hmm" randomly. Jiang Huainan had already told the driver the address Xia Chan had given him on the phone before, and drove to Qingshi Road.
The bluestone road was a winding alley with a variety of people living in it and a variety of bars. It was difficult for taxis to get in, so Xia Chan and her friends got off at the entrance of the alley. The blank spaces on both sides of the road, which was more than two people wide, were covered with incomprehensible graffiti. Overhead, the electric wires of the old street residential area were crisscrossed, and women's underwear and children's diapers were hung on bamboo poles across the old wooden windows.
Gu Tong's bar was in the bar. Xia Chan and her friends finally found No. 319 according to the address Gu Tong gave them. There was a glazed plaque outside that looked like a broken wooden board with the word "zero" engraved on it. As soon as Xia Chan entered the door, she was startled by a half-human-high plaster statue of Van Gogh that looked lifelike.
As soon as Ella entered the door, she was attracted by the paintings on the wall: "Art, art, great art!" She opened her eyes wide, her face almost embedded in the wall, and lay on the wall to study a painting of "Starry Sky" hanging on the wall. Then she exclaimed "So cool" as if she had discovered a new continent, and jumped to chat with the bartender at the bar.
"Axia, your cousin is over there. See if she needs our help." Jiang Huainan reminded her.
Gu Tong, who was wearing a black V-neck dress, was busy with her hands on her waist and pointing. She spotted Xia Chan with a look of joy on her face: "The little girl is finally here." She walked straight towards Xia Chan in her high heels. When she saw Jiang Huainan, her eyes lit up: "Handsome Jiang is here too."
Her breath blew on Xia Chan's face, with a faint scent of lemon.
Jiang Huainan had an inexplicable sense of alienation in his eyes, and frowned as he said, "Hello."
"Okay." Gu Tong's eyes were filled with a smile of joy at seeing the handsome guy. A waitress with short chestnut hair happened to pass by. Gu Tong reached out and took the plate from her hand and handed it to Xia Chan, saying, "Please help me for one more day today. I will treat you to dinner another day. Chengzi, take her to change her clothes first."
Xia Chan nodded, thinking that Ella and Jiang Huainan were both guests, and asking them to come over could not really make them do hard labor. So she put her hands behind her back, took a step forward, and followed the person called Orange to the compartment.
"I'll come with me." The boy next to him suddenly spoke.
Xia Chan tilted her head slightly to show her surprise. Jiang Huainan easily took the tray and walked beside her. The orange-yellow indoor lighting was just right, and the fragmented light cast on Jiang Huainan's profile, making it bright and dark.
Under the light and shadow, Jiang Huainan was set off with a quiet temperament. Xia Chan had to admit that Jiang Huainan, who was occasionally gentle and attentive, was a deadly poison to her. In that moment, her heart was tightly grasped and beat irregularly.
Xia Chan tilted her head in a daze. Jiang Huainan looked at her with his dark eyes and a bright smile. Xia Chan avoided him guiltily and followed him awkwardly: "Okay."
When she glanced at the left side of the bar, Xia Chan frowned. She noticed that a boy in a dirty shirt was staring at her. The boy had medium-length hair, sharp features, and a three-dimensional sense of a European and American male model. His eyes were very deep and dark under the dim light. His lazy body sank into the large leather sofa, and one of his legs was carelessly placed on the coffee table in front of the sofa, which already had seven or eight empty beer bottles on it.
Xia Chan frowned at the boy's unruly smile and wanton gaze. She felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
When she came out after changing her clothes, the bar was already filled with music, and the colorful lights and wildly dancing bodies made her dizzy. The boy was gone. Xia Chan pulled her skirt down to her thighs, secretly cursing Gu Tong's taste in clothes, then took a few deep breaths, held up the tray, looked at the table number on it, and went into the crowd.
There were so many people in the center of the hall that they looked like sardines in a can. Xia Chan lowered her head and squeezed forward against the crowd, dodging left and right and shouting "Make way." She was dazed and hadn't moved far when she bumped into a thick wall of flesh. The pungent smell of alcohol and sweat choked her.
Xia Chan wanted to go around the wall of flesh, but a malicious hand grabbed her.
"Are you new here, little sister? You're very cute." The dirty hands pinched Xia Chan's slender arms, and the touch of skin made Xia Chan feel nauseous.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Xia Chan retracted her hand reflexively, apologized to the chubby man in front of her with a smile, changed direction and wanted to leave.
"Hey, our Fat Brother doesn't accept apologies. Come on, beautiful lady, have a few drinks with us and we'll let this matter go." His retreat was blocked by someone, and a young man with dyed yellow hair came close to him, his hand rubbing Xia Chan's shoulder dishonestly.
Xia Chan tried her best to distance herself from them, and hurriedly stood on tiptoe to look in the direction of Gu Tong and Jiang Huainan. However, in the dark and twisting crowd, the music and lights made her dizzy, so how could she find someone she knew to ask for help?
When she was so anxious that her back was covered in cold sweat and she was at a loss, the tray in her hand was taken away, and a hand was put around her shoulders from behind. A handsome face smiled at her without any hesitation: "Found you."
That gentle expression and that doting tone almost drove Xia Chan crazy.
Monet looked at Xia Chan, whose body was slightly stiff, with a mixture of laughter and tears. He ruffled her bangs and raised his eyebrows to ask, "Does it look good? Are you stunned?"
"Boy, what's going on?" The fat man folded his arms and watched the show with a sneer on his face. When he opened his mouth to continue his ridicule, the young man next to him leaned over and whispered something in his ear.
Then, the fierceness in the fat man's eyes faded away. He stared at Monet with a bit of fear and said, "So it's the son of Mr. Mo's family."
Hearing this, Monet slowly turned his head, looking domineering.
He said coldly: "Get out before I change my mind!"
When the fat man saw Monet's arrogant attitude, he wanted to reach out and grab his collar. The young man hurried forward and held him tightly, his face livid, as if facing a disaster: "No, no, Fatty, don't, I can't afford to offend you!" After saying that, he made way for Monet and said to him in a flattering way: "You go first."
Monet grabbed Xia Chan, pushed the two of them aside rudely and walked forward.
Xia Chan stared at his back, trying to break free, struggling angrily: "Where do you want to take me? I don't know you."
Without even turning his head, Monet said, "Bathroom. I just saved the girl and spilled some wine all over me. You have to compensate me."
Xia Chan let out an "ah" and looked at the young man who had been staring at her and was now grabbing her and walking away. She felt a little confused and even a little scared.
Her strength was no match for the restraints on her wrists, and he walked very fast without paying any attention to her steps. Xia Chan was so angry that she wanted to curse.
She was wondering if she had met a bad guy and whether she should shout for help, but she didn't expect Monet to suddenly stop.
This is the corridor leading to the restroom. There is a thick ethnic-style carpet under your feet. The walls are covered with gold-patterned wallpaper, and the soft warm lights give off an ambiguous atmosphere.
Monet let go of Xia Chan's hand, and Xia Chan immediately jumped a few steps away from him, rubbing her aching wrist and staring at him defensively: "Hey, although I am very grateful that you helped me out just now, this is my cousin's territory, don't have any bad intentions."
Unexpectedly, Monet smiled, stood for a while, walked up to her, leaned down forcefully, raised his chin, and asked in disbelief: "Really?"
Xia Chan stared at his wicked smile, her heart almost jumping out of her chest. She kept backing away until he pressed her body tightly against the wall. She was really afraid that this guy would do something stupid.
She nodded continuously, and put her hand against his chest which was getting closer and closer. She felt like she was touching a ball of scorching fire.
Monet watched all this with great interest , and moved closer to her face mischievously, with his nose almost touching hers, and puffs of hot air came out from his thin lips.
"I don't have many good qualities, except that I'm brave. You also said thank you to me. You know that in ancient times, women who were rescued would say they would repay the man with their bodies. Do you want to... thank you with a kiss?"
This shameless guy!
Xia Chan opened her eyes wide and glared at him fiercely. As they were now too close to each other, she didn't dare to breathe.
"Wow, did I guess right?"
Monet narrowed his eyes slightly, pretending to think carefully, as if he was really thinking about whether to kiss her or not. Xia Chan was so scared that she closed her eyes and shook her head desperately, wanting to hide behind the wall.
Time stood still for three seconds.
After a terrible silence, a cold index finger hooked Xia Chan's chin, and Xia Chan trembled all over as if an electric current passed through her, making her feel numb and tingling.
"So confident..." There was an undisguised teasing tone in his voice, and then a chuckle suddenly sounded beside him, which slowly turned into a loud laugh.
When Xia Chan opened her eyes in annoyance and looked at the man in front of her who was laughing like a convulsion, she had the urge to beat him up for the first time. She was so angry that her teeth were chattering, and the depression in her heart burst out: "You are a scoundrel, you have no skin and no shame!"
Her mind was in a mess due to excessive tension, and for the time being she could only throw out these words that had no fighting power at all.
"Hahaha……"
Monet smiled without saying anything, holding his stomach as if he had heard a funnier joke.
Xia Chan was somewhat puzzled by his smile. She looked at the mottled red wine stains on his wrinkled white shirt and remembered that they must have been splashed on him when he came to see her in the hall.
He laughed until his twisted face finally returned to normal. He stretched out his hand, pretending to shake hands, and said, "Girl, you are so funny! How did you know my nickname is Rascal?"
"You..." Xia Chan didn't know how to answer.
He raised his outstretched right hand and said, "My name is Monet. Do you know the French Impressionist painter? The one who painted Sunrise. I have the same name as him. You see, we are so destined to meet today. Can we be friends?"
"No."
Xia Chan's face looked very bad. She uttered two words in a decisive tone, clenched her fists, and walked away with her back to Monet.
"My shirt, the shirt stained with your merits, why don't you wash it for me?"
A voice of unwillingness to give up came.
Xia Chan's face turned pale. She slowly turned around and glanced coldly at the laughing man in front of her. A hint of coldness appeared at the corners of her mouth. She said word by word: "Wash your head."
People who are familiar with her know that this is a sign of Xia Chan being extremely angry.
She was too lazy to argue with a scoundrel, and she felt disgusted just by looking at him, so she quickened her pace and ran to the cubicle. After such a commotion, she had no intention of continuing to work. Xia Chan took out her mobile phone and sent a message to her cousin, saying "Sorry, I have something to do and need to go back first", then packed her bag and quickly left "Zero".
When I got home, I saw a strange middle-aged man. He had very short hair, hard facial lines, and his narrowed peach blossom eyes were filled with an unknown smile. He was a little plump, but still had a romantic vibe. Xia Chan had read about people with this kind of face in books before. They were lustful by nature. He was flipping through a comic book that Xia Chan had thrown on the sofa.
Mother Wu Zhizi looked at Xia Chan's frowning brows, walked forward abnormally, took her hand affectionately, walked in front of the man, and introduced him with a wry smile: "This is your uncle Ren, you are meeting him for the first time."
"Hello, Xia Chan." The man stood up quickly, with a gleam in his eyes, and kept looking at Xia Chan.
Hearing this, Xia Chan stood there, not knowing what to say. She had never seen this person before, but she had heard this voice countless times, in the WeChat voice chats that Wu Zhizi had been having in the past few months.
Where should we start from? Should we start from the fact that when we went to the living room to get some water in the middle of the night, we heard Wu Zhizi still flirting with this man online, or should we start from the fact that Wu Zhizi dressed up like a fairy when she went out in the past two months?
An ambiguous relationship.
Xia Chan had confusion and fatigue in her eyes. She didn't want to interfere in Wu Zhizi's affairs. After all, her father had died in a car accident for so many years, so it was understandable that she was looking for another man. However, this man made Xia Chan feel uncomfortable. She was worried that Wu Zhizi, who was in a period of emotional emptiness, would be easily deceived.
Unexpectedly, the man continued to flatter: "My name is Ren Di, and I'm your mother's friend."
Xia Chan raised her head and asked with burning eyes, "Boyfriend?"
Wu Zhizi patted Xia Chan's shoulder with one hand, frowned and scolded: "How can you speak so disrespectfully, you dead girl? How could I..." Her face turned red, and her ears were stained with scarlet.
Ren Di's serious and inquiring eyes fell on Xia Chan, and he said lightly: "I am pursuing your mother."
As for the future, Xia Chan had never imagined what it would be like to have another person in her life with Wu Zhizi. At that moment, she could feel her whole body tense up and the air around her solidified. Adoptive father? When this word flashed through her mind, something weighed her down and made her breathless.
All the unknown things gave Xia Chan a headache and made her feel uncomfortable. She wanted to say, "Is that so? I wish you all the best," but her first reaction was to think of the close relationship she would have with this man in the future, so she blurted out, "Nothing else, I'll go back to my room first."
Perhaps she felt that the tone was too stiff and cold. When she was about to close the door, she added in a low voice: "I'm a little tired today, so I won't have dinner."
Wu Zhizi stretched out her hand and opened her mouth to say something, but Ren Di interrupted her and shook his head.
Xia Chan sat alone in front of the window of her room for a long, long time, until the sunset dyed the sky red, until the night fell, and the sound of insects could be heard in the bushes. It was the first time that she missed the person in heaven so much, even though she only had a vague impression of him when she grew up. Her thoughts and sadness filled the silence of the summer night, turning into a long mist and disappearing without a trace.
The next day when she went to school, she washed, changed into her school uniform early and went out.
Before leaving, she stared at the tightly closed door of the master bedroom for a long time. She didn't know whether the man had left or stayed, and she suddenly didn't want to see the truth behind the door.
Today she gave up riding her bike, and when she was still some distance from school, it suddenly began to drizzle. Xia Chan didn't hold an umbrella, she never held an umbrella in such a drizzle. As if she wanted to vent something, she stepped on the potholes with dirty water, splashing mud stars onto her smooth white calves, and her wet hair stuck to her forehead, looking very embarrassed. She puffed up her cheeks, pouted her lips and blew air into her bangs that were stuck together. The cold water drops flowed into her mouth, which tasted a bit bitter.
"Axia!" Following a reproachful cry, Jiang Huainan swept the back of his bicycle and stopped in front of Xia Chan, and a dark green plaid umbrella was immediately propped up above her head.
She looked at Jiang Huainan in front of her and smiled, and all the grievances she had accumulated came up all at once.
Jiang Huai looked at her upper body that was soaked by the rain, frowned and said, "When will you change your bad habit of not bringing an umbrella when it rains?"
Xia Chan seemed to be used to hearing this helpless yet caring statement. She looked at him with a relaxed brow and replied as a matter of course, "You will bring it."
"You won't run into me every time." Jiang Huainan looked angry.
"Didn't we meet today?" His tone of rebuttal lacked confidence.
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Jiang Huainan stopped nagging about it and gradually slowed down his tone: "Why did you suddenly go back yesterday? Ella was still complaining that she wanted to go shopping with you."
"My mother has something to talk to me about, so I'm going back first." Xia Chan made an excuse. For subconsciously didn't want to tell him about the bar.
Jiang Huainan didn't ask any more questions. He handed over the umbrella, patted the back seat gently, turned around and said calmly, "Go to class."
Xia Chan's eyes shone with a strange light, as if she had enjoyed supreme glory. She took a step forward and sat on it.
She held the umbrella high with one hand and held the base with the other, not daring to wrap her arms around his waist. Jiang Huainan pushed with his left foot and the bicycle rushed forward.
"Asha, remember to dry your hair with a towel when you get to school."
"Um."
"Also, drink some hot water and take a few cold medicines."
"Um."
"Wait for me after school. I'm on duty today."
"good."
The wind blew her hair wildly, and Jiang Huainan's pleasant voice trembled in the wind and reached Xia Chan's ears. Her cold heart suddenly felt like it was scalded by hot water, and a warm current flowed from her heart to her whole body.
She liked to listen to his various voices, scolding, caring, and nagging.
Although, they were young and never made any promises.
At that time, she stubbornly believed that Jiang Huainan understood her, but perhaps he was just waiting for an opportunity, just as she was obsessed with him.
She stubbornly believed that Jiang Huainan's attitude towards her and her attitude towards him were two arcs drawn towards each other, and they would eventually be together one day.
Ever since she started to have a crush on him, she had already planned in her heart to spend her whole life with him, not a minute more, not a second less.
Jiang Huainan sent Xia Chan to the bottom of her teaching building, and left after making sure she would not get wet in the rain. Xia Chan was reluctant to leave, and watched him push the cart and disappear around the corner. Their arts and science classes were not in the same teaching building, Jiang Huainan was in the science class, and Xia Chan's classroom was the first one on the west side of the fifth floor.
"Did he really transfer to our school? I heard he's very famous in C."
"He was a bad boy, a famous figure. He was very arrogant at first, but I heard he was very handsome and his family was very powerful."
"Come on! No matter how handsome he is, it has nothing to do with you. If I were Monet, the first thing I would do when I arrived at the new school would be to hook up with the campus beauty."
"Is Monet related to you? Ah! I think it's possible. After all, it's hard to tell the difference between 'school beauty' and 'joke'."
A burst of noisy voices suddenly sounded, with a teasing tone. Xia Chan turned around and looked at three or five girls behind her chatting happily, and frowned slightly.
Monet? Why does this name sound so familiar?
Before she could regain her composure, the bell for class suddenly rang in her ears. Xia Chan's eyes became a little more flustered. She grabbed the strap of her schoolbag and ran towards the stairs. At the same time, she heard the girl behind her exclaim "Aiya" a few times, and she also hurriedly ran to the classroom after her.
One really shouldn't be too curious. When Xia Chan pushed the door open breathlessly and entered the classroom, the bell had just ended. She touched her chest to calm her breathing, annoyed at herself for taking too long.
The teacher hadn't arrived yet, and the classroom was noisy, like a hornet's nest, and the girls were all gathered around her seat.
Did she not come to the group to occupy her seat to copy homework? Or is there something strange and attractive on her desk?
Xia Chan walked towards her seat slowly. Someone shouted, "Teacher will arrive at the battlefield in three minutes." The students who had gathered together reluctantly dispersed.
As the crowd made way for her, Xia Chan looked up and met a pair of deep and evil eyes. She looked at him in surprise, and Monet looked at her without fear.
After a few brief seconds, Xia Chan's face changed slightly, but she didn't want others to find out that she knew this rogue. She cast her gaze on the empty seat in front of Monet, and thinking of his mischievous appearance in the bar, she had an illusion of wanting to escape.
She walked to her seat expressionlessly and gave him a cold warning glance. Monet leaned lazily in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand as if nothing had happened, with undisguised amusement in his eyes.
He suddenly turned away and started chatting and laughing with the people next to him, pretending not to know her.
Xia Chan breathed a sigh of relief.
Xia Chan was in a very nervous state throughout the class. She seemed to be listening to the class seriously and taking notes, but her attention was not on the book in front of her. She comforted herself to concentrate and not think about the messy things, but the things in the bar corridor kept appearing in her mind. Not only that, she also felt that there seemed to be a hot gaze on her back that was always torturing her sensitive nerves. She felt that she was going crazy.
The next few days went by peacefully, and Monet seemed to have forgotten that they had met before, and never provoked her, not even to say hello. It was only the occasional empty seat that reminded Xia Chan, the rogue, that she would skip classes.
I heard from the classmates behind me that skipping classes is a common occurrence for him.
If it weren't for what happened later, Xia Chan would have naively believed that he and she were from two different worlds, two parallel lines that would never intersect.
But it was this wind-like man who barged into her youth and her life unscrupulously, playing a role that belonged only to him during those exciting and turbulent years, and no one could replace him.