"Hold the ball! Run! Intercept him!"
With fifteen seconds left in the fourth quarter, the two sides on the court were once again in a stalemate after a tactical instruction.
This is the school playground of Shizhong.
The students standing outside the court gathered in a row and could see six boys, all about 1.8 meters tall, rubbing their hands together and testing their skills.
The tallest boy stood in the middle of the field. As soon as he caught the ball, he bent his palms, slightly concave them, and dribbled the ball quickly around the opponent's two defenders on the field, heading straight for the opponent's dangerous area.
This is Xing Cheng. He is the top-notch player in the school basketball team, Xing Cheng, who is very successful in the eyes of most people.
In the battle, he was confronting the attacking party of the enemy team, standing firmly in horse stance, upper body leaning forward, breathing heavily, and his whole body was extremely aggressive.
The basketball kept passing between Xingcheng's left and right hands. The cheers and applause from the people around him were endless, leaving him no room for any ambiguity.
But he was distracted because Ning Xi was sitting under the one-arm basketball hoop where he was going to shoot.
Ning Xi, who lived downstairs from his house and had always been followed by him since childhood.
Ning Xi, who is three years older than him.
Ning Xi was still wearing his jersey and had a popsicle from the canteen in his hand, which he was applying to his arm that had just been hit by the huge impact of the ball. He had a calm expression as he observed the situation on the court.
His hair was cut short and was wet with sweat so that it couldn't stick to his forehead. It was too hot, so he lifted up his shirt a little to fan himself, revealing a section of his white and well-proportioned abdominal muscles.
Ning Xi breathed a sigh of relief, as if enduring some pain, and applied the popsicle to his arm again.
Xing Cheng didn't know that Ning Xi's eyes had actually been following him. But as soon as Xing Cheng caught him looking and their eyes met, he quickly dodged.
Ning Xi watched Xing Cheng scoring points one after another on the court. Every move was taught by him. Ning Xi suddenly felt a cool breeze around him, and his eyes were filled with the summer he loved.
"Get into the three-second zone! Block his shot!"
This is Shizhong, located on the first ring road of the city center. It has convenient transportation, many restaurants nearby, and a very beautiful school. Only the high school department is here, so it is not crowded during school commuting.
Xing Cheng just entered his second year of high school this year. He is tall and handsome, and is a small forward on the school team. He is totally focused on basketball, and his skills have become famous throughout the district. His playing style is top-notch, fierce and neat.
When I was a kid, the kids in the yard would gather in groups of three or four after dinner to chat and tell ghost stories. The story of the glass marbles upstairs was particularly popular at the time. It was said that the sound of the marbles was actually made by falling eyeballs...
Little Ningxi pretended to be calm and said he was not afraid. Only Xiao Xingcheng, who was peeking at him, knew that he was really scared.
The two of them lived on one floor, upstairs and the other downstairs. After returning home, Xiao Xingcheng would play marbles upstairs every evening.
After playing for two or three days, Xiao Xingcheng felt that he had done something wrong, so he used a rope to hang comic books for Xiao Ningxi, CDs and toys outside his bedroom window. Although Xiao Ningxi always refused them, he simply closed the curtains so that he wouldn't be annoyed.
After a while, Xiao Xingcheng stopped hanging things.
Later, the two children grew up. Little Xingcheng ran downstairs and knocked on the door of Little Ningxi's house every day: "Brother Ningxi, can we play together? Anything is fine!"
Little Ning Xi, who was already much taller than him, opened the door and threw a basketball to the ground: "Come and play."
Xing Cheng was so scared that he dared not move, and tried to kick the basketball with his feet.
Xiao Xingcheng was so amused by a basketball thrown by Xiao Ningxi, who was three years older than him, that he lost his guard and admitted defeat. The two of them became friends from then on, but they were always incompatible.
Whenever little Ningxi practiced ball in the community yard, he would put the ball bag in the middle of the court as the "38th parallel" and look at his younger brother Xingcheng who was standing outside the court.
"If you dare to come over, I will beat you." Ning Xi said at the time.
Xing Cheng played basketball so hard since he was young, and finally became the pillar of the school team, all he wanted was to defeat Ning Xi once. However, this dream was only fulfilled in one game in his first year of high school, but he did not feel much satisfaction at the time.
As long as he was playing against Ning Xi, even if he won, in Xing Cheng's heart, he had lost.
Ning Xi has always been the "other people's child" in the eyes of Xingcheng's parents. She has good grades and looks good. Although she looks cold to everyone, she has a warm heart.
Apart from his imperfect family and the fact that he did not do well in the exam last year and had to repeat a grade, Ning Xi did not have any problems that were cause for concern. However, no one around him could figure out his true character.
Xing Cheng swore that this was his last time on the court this week. He was supposed to represent the school team to fight against the challengers from other schools, but he met Ning Xi who felt that the pressure of senior year was too great and wanted to go down to the court to play some ball.
Once Xing Cheng's mind wandered, it seemed as if he could never come back.
Suddenly, a hysterical roar exploded in Xing Cheng's ears: "Xing Cheng! Cut him off!"
The guy guarding the water dispenser in the team shouted passionately, which made Xing Cheng want to laugh. How could he steal the ball quickly after saying this?
Ning Xi laughed and followed suit, with the corners of his mouth raised, which made Xing Cheng dazed again.
At this time, the defense time was about to end, and the person confronting him took the lead and came over to steal the basketball from his hand. The situation on the court did not allow Xing Cheng to delay for even a second. Although he was stunned, he immediately came to his senses and moved aside!
Xing Cheng quickly changed hands to hold the ball, rushed into the offensive zone, jumped up, and slammed the ball with a hook shot...
Two seconds on the buzzer, the ball goes in!
The orange ball went through the net with a “swish” and the tie was instantly turned into a win!
The crowd cheered and whistled: "Oh my God! Xing Cheng is amazing today!"
Xing Cheng stood firmly on his feet, and his first reaction was to turn his head to look at Ning Xi.
Ning Xi was also sitting there, the popsicle in his hand was almost melted. He had handsome eyebrows and eyes, and was the type who would not say a word for a long time. Most people had the impression that he liked to be quiet, and he often sat there alone, not knowing what he was thinking.
The teammates who were squatting nearby rushed into the field and looked at Xing Cheng who was in high spirits. Ning Xi was just about to be happy for him.
Xing Cheng was surrounded by a group of people in the middle of the field, and he was almost lifted up and thrown away. However, he was indeed taller and stronger than many of his peers, so no one dared to throw him.
Xing Cheng turned his head and glanced at Ning Xi again, with an elusive look in his eyes...
The latter was looking elsewhere and took the popsicle apart and put it in his mouth. Judging from the color of the popsicle, it should be quite sweet.
Ning Xi lowered his eyes, and the wound that had just been covered by the popsicle and his hand was revealed. It was a slightly swollen abrasion, not serious, but it looked crimson from a distance.
The game was intense and everyone in the team was angry. The player who had injured Ning Xi before glanced at Ning Xi with an unfriendly look. Xing Cheng immediately picked up the mineral water bottle in his teammate's hand, raised it and pointed it at the man's forehead, with the bottom of the bottle almost touching the man's forehead.
Xing Cheng's gaze seemed to lock the person in front of him in place, unable to move: "Look at him one more time, you can try."
Both sides had several friends behind them persuading and pulling them back, and no one dared to move.
Xing Cheng couldn't keep calm when faced with this kind of situation: "Go apologize to my brother, or have a one-on-one bullfight..."
Ning Xi didn't bother to offend Xing Cheng, but said coldly to the boys who attacked him: "Basketball is about technique and tactics, but you are not as good as others and you still play dirty. Who are you provoking?"
Xing Cheng's brows were tightly knitted together, and he clearly felt Ning Xi putting his hands behind his back and quietly pulling the hem of his short-sleeved shirt.
Xing Cheng calmed down a lot in an instant. The irritable emotions that were surging in his heart were quietly calmed down by Ning Xi's hand.
Xing Cheng watched Ning Xi walk to the one-arm basketball hoop, pick up his school uniform jacket and the short-sleeved shirt he had changed out of, stand still, and then turn around.
He waved his hands, and his tall figure cast a long shadow under the summer sun.
"It's boring," Ning Xi yawned, covered the wound on his arm with his school uniform, and said to Xing Cheng, "Let's go home."
After saying that, Ning Xi turned his back and walked away without waiting for him. Xing Cheng loosened his hand and took a step back. All the teammates around him dispersed and watched his movements, a little nervous about what he would do next.
Xing Cheng said nothing, but threw the mineral water bottle in his hand to the ground.
He strode to the basketball hoop, took off the sweaty wristband and threw it into the trash can, then silently followed the figure in front of him.
A ball game on campus on a summer afternoon ended just like that.
Xing Cheng could have chosen not to participate in the game that day, as he had already decided to study hard.
In the second semester of his senior year, when the students were divided into arts and science, he also chose arts, just like Ning Xi, even though the liberal arts major was particularly difficult for him.
In order to study and be with Ning Xi, Xing Cheng changed from boarding school to day school and got up half an hour earlier every day.
That year, Xingcheng was in the first grade and Ningxi was in the fourth grade. Xingcheng finally got promoted and Ningxi went to junior high school. They finally went to the same high school. They could walk to and from school next to each other, and the times they met in the corridor were almost the same.
Xing Cheng, a freshman in high school, was recruited into the school team as an exception. He obviously had the ability to start, but he insisted on sitting on the bench and being a substitute for Ning Xi, a senior in the third year of high school.
By the time Xingcheng was in the second semester of his senior year, he was playing very well as a substitute and was very popular. Ning Xi had also quit the basketball team to concentrate on his studies.
After following Ning Xi into this high school, Xing Cheng saw a slogan painted on the wall at the basketball court. The words were very large, with almost one word occupying a small area of ​​the wall.
"Exercise for an hour every day and live a healthy life forever."
Xing Cheng stood on the court holding a basketball, his hair warmed by the sun, his eyes fixed on Ning Xi, who was dashing and agile on the court.
Xing Cheng felt that Ning Xi suddenly grew from seven or eight years old to seventeen or eighteen years old, and the time passed so fast that he was caught off guard.
At that time, he felt that before he graduated from high school, he must take a photo with Ning Xi under the slogan wall that read "Live a Healthy Lifetime".
The night Xingcheng came back from playing ball, he did his homework so seriously for the first time. He read the history test paper over and over again, memorized the timeline so badly that he almost tore up the book.
Xing Cheng was leaning back in his chair thinking about how to memorize the liberal arts exam when his cell phone rang. It was a text message.
Ning Xi sent only three words, and they were very cool: "Throw the rope."
Xing Cheng's next move was very quick. He opened the window and threw the rope down. After a while, he felt the rope became heavier.
He carefully lifted it up bit by bit and found it was a notebook. The notebook was quite old. When he opened it, he saw dense handwriting all over it, and there were also highlighted key points. It looked like it was Ning Xi's comprehensive liberal arts notebook from the year of the college entrance examination. He turned to the first page and saw that the word "Ning" was crossed out by Ning Xi himself with a pen.
Next to it was the word "行驰" written in a powerful stroke, and a crab was drawn.
"Rampant" crab.
Shizhong, Class 2-3 classroom.
"Boss!" It was his deskmate Ren Mei calling him.
Xing Cheng turned around, and the pen in his hand had not stopped writing. He kept writing, and when he turned back again, the words were all outside the draft paper.
"Ying Yuchen said that he is now so good at dribbling that he can dribble two balls with one hand. He can cooperate with you! Let's go and take a look?"
Ren Mei came walking in with her school uniform slung around her waist. After he said this, Xing Cheng put down his pen.
Xing Cheng took out a blank piece of draft paper, spread it on the table, turned his pen, and sat upright. His legs were a little numb from sitting still for so long. "Didn't you say that we don't have to go down to practice during the break? Let him come to me after school."
Ren Mei still had a Sprite in her hand and nudged him with her elbow: "Your brother is here too."
Xingcheng's chair suddenly moved back, and with a "whoosh" sound, he stood up and took off his school uniform jacket in the classroom. He was wearing a pure black NBA short-sleeved shirt with a pattern of daytime fireworks burned to the hem, looking very handsome.
Xing Cheng put his coat on his shoulders, took out a wrist guard from the drawer and put it on, squatted down to tie his shoelaces, grasped the sleeve of his school uniform in his hand, and said, "Let's go!"
Ren Mei wanted to laugh, but after sitting with Xing Cheng for two years, he was used to Xing Cheng's attitude and teased him: "Why don't you go look in the mirror?"
"No need," Xing Cheng was very confident. He didn't think he was that handsome, but he still had the spirit of a young man. He walked out and said, "Let's go down and see how good Ying Yuchen is at bragging."
For a boy like Xingcheng who is stuck at the peak of puberty, there is no need for any explanation. He just combs his hair, puts on sneakers, and stands there like a pillar, or the kind with a lion totem carved on it. He always looks the coolest when he wears slippers and dribbles past opponents on the court.
The playground was really crowded during the morning break. All the people in the school who had finished doing radio gymnastics gathered at the playground to watch the fun.
The school playground is connected to the basketball court. There are six basketball courts in total, and one of them is used specifically for training of the school team.
Before Xing Cheng joined the school team, he would be the first one to run after school every day. He would rush down the teaching building to grab the space next to the school team training ground. He would even have a buddy behind him who would hold his ball bag for him, just to be beaten by Ning Xi.
Ning Xi has a very clean scent on him, which can be smelled if you get a little closer.
Ning Xi often saw Xing Cheng walking over with a basketball bag. After a while, coupled with some trivial things in life, he knew very well that Xing Cheng's feelings for him were the purest between boys, with the most sincere heart and the most precious naivety.
Ning Xi threw the ball to the ground, patted it, held it in his arms, and looked into the distance. As expected, Xing Cheng had run down during the break, followed by a few sophomore boys who couldn't catch up with him.
In campus basketball, six people can play a full court together. The current situation is the same. There are only six people on the school team, and Xing Cheng is the seventh. Ning Xi, Xing Cheng, Ning Xi's team friend Ying Yuchen, the school team coach, and three school team teammates.
Ying Yuchen stood next to Ning Xi, holding the ball in his hand, smiling with his eyes narrowed.
This guy looks very well behaved, with round eyes, and he loves to laugh and is cheerful. But in fact, he is full of bad intentions. Every time he goes out to compete, the first one to find fault is either Xing Cheng or him.
Xing Cheng himself is tall, and Ning Xi is older and shorter than him. He can probably just lean his head slightly to the height of Xing Cheng's shoulder.
Xing Cheng hadn't played basketball with Ning Xi for a long time, so he was very nervous when they met suddenly. However, physical contact is inevitable when playing basketball, and Xing Cheng simply couldn't ignore Ning Xi's aggressiveness.
The two people's eyes met silently, one chasing, the other escaping. Ning Xi felt uncomfortable being stared at, and he started to stare at Xing Cheng with a provocative look. Xing Cheng couldn't help it and dared not look anymore.
Ning Xi, who was preparing to catch the ball, was like a leopard ready to pounce, with sharp eyes and sweat dripping from the tip of his straight nose, flowing down his delicate chin into his loose vest.
The game lasted for half time, and at the end, Xing Cheng performed a very beautiful alley-oop in front of Ning Xi. He threw the ball onto the backboard and the ball bounced back into the air. Xing Cheng jumped and shot the basketball directly into the net from the air!
The movement was extremely fast and the force was so explosive that even the basketball hoop shook.
Ning Xi's group of three lost to Xing Cheng and his group again.
How many times has this happened this year?
Ning Xi doesn't remember.
Ning Xi stared at the crowd expressionlessly, sighed in his heart, and thought to himself that his ball skills were not as good as they used to be. Xing Cheng had really grown up now. Back then, he had been teased by him with a ball in the yard and burst into tears. He chased after him as if to seek revenge, although in the end he still followed him eagerly and asked him if he wanted to go to his home to see the bird he had just raised.
It seemed that later, Xiao Xingcheng let the bird go. He searched the whole yard for a long time, trying not to cry.
After the game, Ning Xi reached out and high-fived Ying Yuchen. Because they were about the same height, their shoulders bumped. Ying Yuchen glanced at Xing Cheng, who looked unhappy, and took Ning Xi aside, whispering, "Hey... why is your brother so fierce?"
Ying Yuchen's whisper was neither too loud nor too soft. Strangely enough, Xing Cheng just happened to hear it and was furious.
——What do you think?
Ning Xi was not surprised and remained calm: "He is just like that."
As soon as he finished saying this, Ning Xi saw Xing Cheng being called to the basketball hoop by his teammates. A girl handed him a bottle of Pulse, which was peach flavored. Ning Xi stood far away and watched, and his eyelids twitched.
Peaches should be quite sweet.
Xing Cheng was very polite in handling this matter. He shook his head, said thank you to the girl, refused the bottle of drink, just took the tissue to wipe his sweaty hands, and said thank you again.
Immediately afterwards, Xing Cheng turned around and walked over, and Ning Xi immediately turned his head back, pretending to look around at the scenery, the stadium, and the students who were watching the fight.
The next second, Xing Cheng wiped his clean hands, gently pushed Ning Xi's shoulder forward, and reminded him: "Brother, your shoelaces are untied."
There were so many people on the court, all staring at the field. The basketball net on the hoop was gently caressed by the summer breeze. The sunlight near noon was also dazzling, pouring down from the sky like a net, and a layer of gold gathered on Xing Cheng, making him look so dazzling, a treasure of the court.
Xing Cheng squatted down and tied the loose laces on Ning Xi's shoes.
Ning Xi subconsciously took a half step back, lowered his head, looked at his sneakers, and said calmly: "Xing Cheng, this is a dead end."
Xing Cheng was stunned for a moment. He was probably distracted just now, and because he was too excited, his hands were shaking. He clearly wanted to make a bow!
Xing Cheng stood up, and his height advantage gave Ning Xi a sense of oppression, and Ning Xi almost took a step back.
"Then just tie him up to death." Xing Cheng's face was against the light, and his outlines were particularly sharp and tough.
Ning Xi shook his head helplessly and wanted to raise his hand to slap him on the back of the head, but he thought he was fooling around, so he ignored him and didn't care about his shoelaces. He wiped the sweat off his face and lifted the corner of his jersey to fan himself.
Not sure if he was feeling uncomfortable or just hot, but he lowered his eyes, and his eyelashes flickered like the golden light behind the fiery clouds in the summer evening.
Ying Yuchen was tying his shoelaces and stood aside. He couldn't bear to watch and couldn't help but say, "Xingcheng, can you stop being so pretentious?"
He even helped tie my shoelaces. He's so fierce normally, but now he's acting like a docile kitten?
Although Ying Yuchen is a senior in terms of grade, has good grades and can play basketball, he should be respected and admired, but in the school basketball team, whoever plays well is the boss.
Xing Cheng is the most arrogant one. He has never been polite to Yu Chen. Why should a transfer student from Beijing take his place and hang around Ning Xi every day?
Upon hearing this, Xing Cheng felt a little bit like he was being stepped on, and he took out an individually wrapped wet wipe from his pocket. This was the only one he had left.
Ning Xi's face was covered in sweat from playing basketball and he had to wipe it off.
Xing Cheng ignored him and opened the package. He felt his hands were a little dirty again. He twisted the edge with his right hand, put the wet tissue on the back of his hand, put the package underneath, and moved it in front of Ning Xi: "Wipe the sweat off."
Ning Xi glared, wondering how come this little bastard started giving him direct orders when he grew up.
Ning Xi had no choice but to take it. He also heard the younger students in the team next to him asking for it, or shouting, "It's great to have a brother!"
"Why?" Xing Cheng grinned, "It's great that I have a brother."
The school team members began to pack their clothes on the field. Ning Xi also quickly packed up his things, followed by Ying Yuchen. The two of them went into the convenience store next to the field one after the other.
Ning Xi took out a twenty-yuan bill and spread it on the cash register. After thinking about the person who was helping to turn the score board , he said to the aunt in the canteen, "Auntie, could you please give me ten bottles of mineral water? Thank you."
Ying Yuchen beside him glared and said, "Ning Xi, are you treating us today?"
Ning Xi didn't say anything. He took five bottles and asked Ying Yuchen to hold them. He held five bottles in his own arms, turned around and walked out of the store and headed towards the stadium.
When they arrived at the stadium, the remaining five members of the school team and the people who came to help turn the scoreboard squatted on the ground to reflect on the problem and discuss tomorrow's training.
Xing Cheng sat with his back to Ning Xi, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his upper body slightly leaning forward, listening attentively to the coach's speech. The fabric of the short-sleeved shirt was shaped by the muscles on his arms, and the lines looked particularly beautiful.
"Ning Xi is treating us today, so don't be polite, everyone! Drink what you should drink, take what you should take, and thank your brother Xi!" After Ying Yuchen finished speaking, he put the water on the floor, and Ning Xi followed suit.
Hearing Ying Yuchen's shouting, everyone else started laughing. They were really not used to the Beijing accent.
Xing Cheng turned around and saw that there were only two or three bottles of water left on the ground. He grabbed a bottle, unscrewed it and took a few sips. He was like a rice seedling that had received fertilizer. He instantly recovered his strength and said to his teammates happily, "Let's go. I'll buy you a Coke tomorrow!"
Ning Xi walked more than ten meters away, turned around, and saw Xing Cheng had drunk a bottle of mineral water and was throwing it into the trash can in the arc of a basketball shot. With a "bang", he hit it.
Ning Xi felt relieved, turned around and continued walking.
Seeing Ning Xi's erratic state, Ying Yuchen was a little curious: "What's wrong? Why do you keep looking at your brother today?"
"It's okay." Ning Xi continued to walk, quickening his pace, without turning back or looking at Ying Yuchen, "I glanced at him."
The falling leaves beside the playground were blown by the summer breeze, and the leaves rubbed against the ground, making a rustling sound in the ears.
After school at noon, Xing Cheng was surrounded by a group of boys in his class and walked towards the dining area at the school gate.
He was the tallest among the five or six people, reaching a height of 1.85 meters, which made his brothers wonder whether this guy grew up eating rice from the south?
Xing Cheng was so tall that he was very eye-catching, like a searchlight standing in the crowd.
He slowed down and looked at the senior high school classroom. The lights had been turned off, so why couldn't he see Ning Xi?
Ning Xi failed the college entrance examination and had to repeat his senior year, while Ying Yuchen was demoted and transferred from Beijing. The two who were supposed to be freshmen are now in their senior year. One is in the arts department, while the other is in the science department. They are in the next class and have a pretty good relationship. However, Ying Yuchen has an older brother who often picks him up to go out for dinner, so Ning Xi often eats alone at mealtime.
When he first came to school, Xing Cheng asked him several times if they could have dinner together.
Ning Xi had a cold face and almost threw a rice bowl at his head.
At that time, the senior year students were dismissed half an hour earlier than the freshman year at noon, and had to start classes an hour earlier in the afternoon. How did they eat?
So Xing Cheng skipped class one day and left early to wait for Ning Xi to eat. As soon as Ning Xi walked out of the classroom, he saw Xing Cheng standing there in his school uniform with a bag on his back. Several classmates in the class were shouting, "Ning Xi! Your brother is here !"
Ning Xi is about to collapse, can you please stop making trouble?
For a whole week, Ning Xi ignored Xing Cheng. Xing Cheng didn't know what to do, so he wrote a 500-word self-criticism and hanged himself from the building for Ning Xi.
At that time, Ning Xi was reading by lamplight with the curtains half-closed. He looked up and saw a piece of paper stuck on a wooden board. His blood immediately boiled and he stood up to tear it off.
In the past, every household liked to grow an evergreen climbing shrub called Bougainvillea outside their windows. When Ning Xi pulled it, two or three petals fell onto his palm.
Xing Cheng's handwriting was crooked, and Ning Xi had to read them one by one for a long time before he could understand the 500 words.
Ning Xi took out a piece of draft paper from the drawer and tore it up quickly. He spread the scraps on the table, took out his cell phone, took a picture of it and sent it to Xing Cheng.
QQ was still popular at that time. Ning Xi’s avatar was pure white, and his online name was just two words: Do Not Disturb.
Xing Cheng was just feeling anxious, wondering if his brother would be touched this time, but then his phone lit up with concern, and Ning Xi's message popped up directly on the screen.
Do not disturb: "Write again, this is what will happen to you."
Xingcheng was only fifteen or sixteen years old at that time and was still a little fragile.
Xing Cheng thought about it for a long time, and felt that the color of the torn paper Ning Xi sent was different from the one he wrote. He even compared them and felt that based on Ning Xi's personality, there was an 80% chance that he had torn up his own letter of apology.
From then on, Xing Cheng never skipped class to wait for Ning Xi at noon.
But on this day, he suddenly felt like seeing his brother.
This was how it was during student days. Everyone wore the same school uniform and their heights were not much different, but Xing Cheng could always spot Ning Xi among the large numbers of students pouring out of the school gate.
The school implements a one-card system and there is access control at the school gate. One card is for each person and the management is very strict. The senior high school repeater class must enter the school one hour in advance. For lunch, Xingcheng led a group of brothers to eat at the noodle shop opposite the school gate.
Xing Cheng was enjoying his meal and thought that noodles mixed with vinegar were really delicious. He wanted to add some more vinegar and was about to add it to the noodles. He was holding the vinegar bottle to mix the vinegar into the noodles when he heard his deskmate Ren Mei yelling, "Xing Cheng, is that your brother?"
Hearing this, Xing Cheng's hand holding the bottle trembled. He stared at Ning Xi who was stopped outside the school and frowned, "Why were you stopped?"
Ren Mei also stretched her neck to look: "Did you drop your school card? I can't seem to find it in your pocket..."
Five or six boys were sitting at the entrance of the noodle shop, all looking towards the school gate.
The road in front of the school gate was quite narrow. The security guard there was stopping people and was on high alert. Naturally, he also saw a few of them peeking and looking over there.
Ning Xi also turned around, and almost at the same time, Xing Cheng hurriedly held down Ren Mei's head, and both of them buried their faces in the bowl of noodles. The other brothers also supported him and quickly continued to pretend to eat.
"Don't you know Ning Xi? That's impossible." A boy spoke up.
"That's not necessarily true," Ren Mei picked up a peanut and threw it into her mouth, her face serious, and she touched Xing Cheng's with her knee, "Xing Cheng, we just changed the security guard last month, remember? I guess he probably doesn't know your brother."
Xing Cheng stole a glance at the school gate, thinking that if he delayed any longer he would be late, so he wiped his mouth with a tissue, picked up the Coke bottle and took a few gulps like drinking wine to build up his courage, then slammed the table and said, "I'll go first, I'll be back soon."
One boy was anxious: "How are you going to get in later?"
Xing Cheng didn't care about all that. He took off his school uniform and reached for his school card in his pocket. He took it out and put it on the table. He stood up and said, "Climb over the wall!"
Then, Xing Cheng crossed the road with his school card, without even looking to see if there were any cars, and just ran past.
He ran to Ning Xi in one go, took out his school card, took a breath, and stuffed the school card into Ning Xi's hand: "Brother, I left your school card here..."
The security guard next to him had a gloomy look on his face. He wasn't sure if he had seen Xing Cheng sitting among the group of boys just now, but he clearly knew this boy who played around every day. He usually dared to enter by swiping his face!
Ning Xi's paralyzed face relaxed a little, but what about his brother?
Before Ning Xi could ask, Xing Cheng pushed him towards the card swiping area: "If you don't go in now, you'll be late!"
Ning Xi was pushed to swipe the card. Once he passed the access control area, he looked back in panic and saw Xing Cheng turning around and walking towards the small noodle restaurant across the street.
Ning Xi suddenly felt that this figure from behind was much more reliable than when he was a child .
The distance from the school gate to the classroom seemed particularly long. Ning Xi looked down at the school card in his hand as he walked.
The boy's face in the ID photo is no longer as childish as before. His strong features are now angular, with sharp eyebrows, bright eyes and a smile on the corners of his mouth. He looks a bit arrogant and his eyes are extremely sharp.
Two words were printed neatly next to the photo.
Walking.