Halfway through September, the studies of both of them were on track. Xingcheng trained and studied during the day, and after finishing his homework at night, he would hide and talk to Ning Xi for a few words. At half past ten, Ning Xi would urge him to go to bed.
Xing Cheng seldom goes to bed so early, but in order to develop a good work and rest routine, he still listens to Ning Xi, puts the phone to his ear, and listens to his brother coaxing him and saying good night to him.
Later, Ning Xi became busier and busier. He had classes to attend during the day and elective courses on weekends. He also said he was very busy at night. He had less and less time to call. Xing Cheng would occasionally forcefully ask to talk more, and Ning Xi did not refuse. She still said good night to him one by one.
"Today, two new juniors came to the school team. Their skills were terrible. I don't know why Lao Zhang accepted them. But they played solo with us this afternoon. Their crooked skills really pissed Lao Zhang off!"
Xing Cheng turned over in bed and heard Ning Xi ask him, "And then?"
"It's open," Xing Cheng said, "Brother, why is your throat a little hoarse?"
Ning Xi sniffed and smiled, "It's the change of seasons. I caught a cold."
Xing Cheng was silent for a while, and felt his throat getting uncomfortable. If it were in the past, he would have climbed through the window and gone downstairs to the drugstore on the corner to buy medicine, and served tea and water to force his brother to take the medicine, instead of doing nothing like now.
"What's wrong? You want to chat with me but you don't talk," Ning Xi couldn't help coughing, "It's autumn now, you should wear more clothes."
"In autumn, wild geese still have to fly south..."
Xing Cheng regretted what he had said and asked in a low voice, "How long will it take you to come back?"
"I'm not by your side. You should eat when you're hungry, rest when you're tired, put on more clothes when it's cold, do your homework, play basketball well, and... don't fight," Ning Xi continued on the other end of the phone, word by word, "Don't fight for others."
What Xingcheng had not expected was that among the group of new kids in the school team, there were a few with pretty good skills, so the coach kept them. After all, a group of main players had graduated from high school, and Xingcheng and his group had entered a busy study life again, with high-intensity training and high-intensity homework. Worried that their bodies wouldn't be able to cope with it, the coach lowered the standards and recruited quite a few substitutes, saying that if they were trained, they might be better than Xingcheng and his group.
Xing Cheng had no objection to this statement. He actually wished he could bring out a few more talented younger brothers. Otherwise, if Shi Zhong lost the first place in the district and city competitions in the future, it would be so embarrassing and would bring shame to his brother, who was the best shooting guard in the district back then.
After reviewing in the afternoon, they would go through tactics together on the court and teach each other some unique secrets. Those were the skills that Xingcheng and his friends had acquired through hard work on the street court. Occasionally, some junior high school students would want to talk to Xingcheng, and when a few of them got together and had fun, they would inevitably brag and talk about irrelevant things on the court.
"Brother Cheng, you are so handsome, why haven't I seen you have a girlfriend in the three years of high school?"
He must have done his homework in advance and heard some rumors about Xing Cheng. The little brother was backing away while bouncing the ball.
Xing Cheng laughed and joined them in boasting, "My 'girlfriend'? My 'girlfriend' is in college."
The brothers on the team started to make a fuss, some screaming, some yelling, and the substitute sitting on the sidelines guarding the water dispenser also started waving the towel in his hand, making so much noise that the coach blew the whistle repeatedly: "Play well!"
A group of boys who were watching the fun were happier than Xing Cheng himself. The junior threw the ball to Xing Cheng and shouted, "Brother Cheng can really catch any kind of top student!"
Ren Mei was holding clothes for Xing Cheng and started to make a scene while swinging her arms: "Oh! An older sister-brother relationship!"
"That's right, holding a gold brick."
Xing Cheng held the ball and shot a three-pointer into the net, with an ambiguous smile on his face: "Haven't you seen how hard I am trying to get into Beijing?"
Ren Mei covered her face and didn't want to look at Xing Cheng like this. She thought, based on how smart Xing Cheng was, it was indeed his love affair that delayed Xing Cheng's admission to Tsinghua University.
Xing Cheng trains in the wind and rain every day, runs several thousand meters at any time, and cannot eat too greasy food. What's the point of this?
The moment the head teacher announced that senior high school students would not have a holiday on National Day, Xing Cheng was stunned for a second, then his mood became a little depressed. He lowered his head and began to tidy up the drawer, taking out the homework books one by one and spreading them on the table.
Seeing this, Ren Mei was dumbfounded, and quickly advised: "Boss, don't get excited."
Xing Cheng held his breath and said nothing. There was a scar on his elbow from yesterday's training. He accidentally bumped into the corner of the table and gasped in pain.
He cursed softly in a hoarse voice.
He was in pain, he was suffering...
He is enduring his powerless current situation, his longing for those thousands of miles away and his youth that is rushing by.
It’s autumn in Beijing.
The sky is high and the mountains are green, the water is misty and the clouds are rosy. Fallen leaves brush against the old red walls and bricks and tiles, and trained pigeons and domestic birds fly over the eaves, bringing this metropolis back to the depths of time.
The autumn here is beautiful but short. The leaves on the treetops haven’t even turned yellow for long before it’s already the cold end of autumn.
Ning Xi made a few friends in the dormitory. They occasionally ate together, but usually went their separate ways. It was actually difficult for them to get along because they were from different regions and had different ideas. He didn't think it was necessary to force it. University was different from high school. Everyone thought more about the future and had their own busy things to do.
After all, there are still buddies who can talk and play together, but when it comes to sincere people, it is really difficult to count them in a different place.
The sun set behind the mountain, and probably because it rained last night, the air was filled with a damp smell.
Ning Xi had just crossed the pedestrian bridge and was about to go to the bar for his shift from 6:30 to 11:30 when his cell phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw that it was Xing Cheng saying that he had just fallen while jumping the ball.
In just a moment, Ning Xi felt pain in his knees.
It is so difficult for them to feel each other, yet they are like conjoined twins, with such a tacit understanding.
Yesterday he saw a couple in a bar. They were drinking and arguing, and they were about to roll up their sleeves and fight. One of them left angrily, and the other one cursed her friends, "He's crazy." She sat for a while but couldn't sit still, so she followed them out.
Even if it's noisy, it's still life.
Ning Xi followed the crowd down the overpass and then walked along the street. Seeing the beautiful sunset in the evening, he raised his mobile phone to take two pictures and sent them to Ren Mei's WeChat.
Wuya: "The sunset in Beijing, could you show it to Xingcheng, please? Thank you."
After sending it, Ning Xi raised his head.
"Every time I looked at the sky before, I felt that it was the sky that was protecting us. Now when I look up, I feel that the sky is you."
Ning Xi walked while holding his mobile phone and wrote this sentence on the memo that he never stopped writing.
After evening self-study in his senior year of high school, Xing Cheng did not rush home. Instead, as usual, he got on a random bus that drove up from the bus stop in front of the school gate, found a seat by the window, and stood while sitting to an unknown place.
A round trip was enough time for Xing Cheng to make a phone call to Ning Xi.
During the evening study session that day, he flipped through several books but couldn't understand any of them. Ning Xi sent two photos to Ren Mei, which made Xing Cheng feel like he had been injected with chicken blood. He tried hard to calm himself down and read the book bit by bit.
His muscles have been sore from recent training, and he has been having trouble sleeping at night, tossing and turning. He doesn't dare complain to his brother, so he can only grit his teeth and bear it himself.
It is not easy for sports students or art students to have a career, even harder than some cultural students.
Ren Mei laughed at him, saying that he was about to uproot a weeping willow tree for love, so why was he training so hard?
Xing Cheng didn't feel ashamed at all, and said in a very casual manner: "Yes."
During weekend training, he would often stay up all night in the district basketball gym throwing the ball and running around the court. He would practice post-up singles with his teammates hundreds of times a day, including steals, screens, breakthroughs and switching defenses. He learned all of these from his brother. Occasionally, people from other schools who were familiar with him would come to practice and would say to Xing Cheng, "Brother Cheng, your moves are similar to Ning Xi's in the past."
Xing Cheng just smiled and said, "That's my brother."
That day, the coach taught a move called "reverse slam dunk". Xingcheng's hands were sore from practicing it, but he was the only one on the team who could do this move. So the coach asked him to practice this killer weapon on the court, saying that once his mid-range shooting became more stable, he would no longer be afraid of anyone on the court.
Xing Cheng has an unruly temper and never feels that he is afraid of anything, but he still practices down to earth. Ren Mei also joins him in making trouble when she has nothing to do on weekends. She is responsible for persuading the girls who come to the training hall to watch Xing Cheng play to stop watching. He said that his "girlfriend" is a college student who is beautiful and has personality, which is awesome.
The training ended late, and the clock in the field had already reached ten o'clock. The team was still punishing a few boys who were caught slacking off in the afternoon. Xing Cheng was tired, so he found an open space to sit down, holding a can of Sprite in his hand, and opened it with one hand, suddenly lost in thought.
Xing Cheng recalled that he used a can to throw a "three-pointer" into the trash can at the door of Ning Xi's classroom. Ning Xi thought that he was simply full of energy and couldn't find a place to vent it, so he scolded him for being childish.
He called Ning Xi during a break in training. The voice on the other end was hesitant, but also very quiet. It was obvious that his roommate was inviting Ning Xi to eat instant noodles together. Only then did he feel relieved.
But he was still angry: "Why are you eating instant noodles? Don't you have enough living expenses?"
Ning Xi didn't know where he was hurt, he took a breath and said quickly: "That's enough, I'm just too lazy to go out."
The roommate seemed to have brought some hot water over and shouted with a smile: "Ning Xi! Are you calling your brother again?"
Ning Xi smiled: "Yes."
He seemed to remember something, and slowly stood up. After a pause, he said to Xing Cheng, "Are you training?"
Xing Cheng hummed, but still worried, and said viciously: "Don't eat instant noodles all the time. If you lose weight, I will punish you."
Just as Xingcheng was about to say a few more words, the coach blew the whistle and called out to him in a loud voice: "Xingcheng! Come and practice your hook shot, hurry up! Are you still on the phone? Do you know how expensive the phone bill is from Beijing to Chengdu?"
"Old Zhang is still so popular," Ning Xi said, "You should go quickly and contact me after practice."
Xing Cheng was reluctant: "Are you going out after dinner?"
Ning Xi was stunned for a moment, then slowly said, "I won't go out, don't worry."
It was probably because Ning Xi was out every time Xing Cheng called him on the weekends, so his brother felt a little nervous.
Neither of them was willing to hang up the phone first. Ning Xi gritted his teeth, thinking that he had to apply the medicine, and then he pressed the end button with a hard heart.
Ning Xi threw the phone aside and watched his roommate help put the box of seafood instant noodles on the table. He went to get the alcohol and gauze in the plastic bag to change it for him and said thank you.
Ning Xi had a scratch of more than ten centimeters on his arm, with the flesh exposed. He was scratched by a motorcycle on the way to work and was bleeding profusely on the spot. The owner of the car got out and sent him to the hospital to stop the bleeding.
Ning Xi took the prescribed medicine and completed the bandage without crying out in pain the entire time.
I remember that when Xing Cheng was around, whenever he bumped his leg, Xing Cheng would cry out in pain for him.
Ning Xi asked for leave from his manager and did not go to the bar. He returned to the dormitory and found that his roommate was still there. He was sweating and hurriedly changed the medicine.
But Ning Xi didn't dare to say a word to Xing Cheng.
The coach was still there blowing the whistle. Xingcheng put his old cell phone into his coat pocket like a treasure, folded the coat, put it on the bench, and asked someone to watch it.
This is simply his lifeblood.
Xing Cheng picked up the basketball, held it tightly in his arms, rested his increasingly angular chin on the ball, and wiped the sweat off his face.
I don’t know why, but Xing Cheng felt that the basketball in his arms was a little hot. Then he thought that it must be because his body temperature was high. The training was too tiring and his whole body was hot.
I am really tired now, but being tired is also a kind of happiness.
He still remembered that he leaned on Ning Xi on the bus before. The two of them didn't speak from beginning to end. They just looked at the birds flying outside the window and the dark clouds hanging high in the sky in the distance.
This scene remains deep in Xingcheng's memory.
"Don't hang up! Just tell me where you were. You weren't at school, were you? Why is it so quiet over there? If you don't tell me, I'll have people go to every bar in Haidian District to catch you..."
When Ying Yuchen said this, Ning Xi was writing a paper in the dormitory. The other three roommates were typing very quietly on the keyboard. His ears were almost hurt by Ying Yuchen's yelling. It was inconvenient for him to speak loudly, so he took his cell phone and a cigarette and stood on the balcony.
It was late autumn in Beijing, the dew was heavy at night, and the wind made his body float and look even thinner.
Ning Xi was very cool. He tilted his head to light a cigarette. His fingertips seemed to be burned by sparks. He frowned slightly, made a hissing sound, and whispered to the other end of the phone: "I didn't go. Really. I'm still in the dormitory writing my thesis."
"It would be even better," Ying Yuchen was really angry, "Who would go to work part-time right after the start of college? Are you really not afraid of falling behind in your studies? I know all the bars over there! Xing Cheng doesn't know, right? If he knew, he would have to fly over here..."
Ning Xi felt a headache: "Don't tell him."
"Your brother, your brother, your brother, you only know your brother!"
Over there, Ying Yuchen had just come out of the university gate, hanging out with a group of friends and was about to go clubbing. He was wondering where to have the most fun. When he heard Ning Xi's condition, he felt that he was not living comfortably in Beijing. As the so-called "host", Ying Yuchen felt depressed and even more uncomfortable.
Ning Xi also knew that Ying Yuchen was doing this for his own good, so he adjusted his tone and said soothingly, "I'm just a little tired, don't worry."
After hanging up the phone, Ning Xi lit another cigarette and put it in his mouth. The smell of orange filled his nostrils. Domestic cigarettes had too much tar, so he gradually replaced his regular cigarettes with foreign ones, which tasted light and sweet.
Ning Xi was afraid that Xing Cheng would not be used to it, but now he wanted to do something bad... he wanted to choke his brother's face with smoke.
The wind made him feel cold all over. He went into the house, put on a jacket, and lay on the balcony. Ning Xi went to look at the starry campus at night again, a place that countless people yearned for.
Ning Xi did not go home during the National Day holiday. He found several junior high school tutoring classes in Beijing and worked overtime. He made a pile of lesson plans. The wound on his arm had scabbed over, and the fabric of his clothes rubbed against it, causing him some pain when he moved.
Ning Xi looked at his roommates who were busy in the room, took out his mobile phone, and opened the aviation APP (software) almost out of habit. The page jumped directly to the flight information from Capital Airport to Shuangliu Airport. The price was still the same, and the duration was still the same.
Ning Xi smoked very lightly, and the fire that he had finally lit went out again. He just held it in his mouth, watching the wisps of smoke coming out of the other end.
The plane flies so fast, but it still takes more than two hours to get from Chengdu to Beijing.
——Xingcheng, how far are we now?
In order to make time go by faster, Ning Xi started to keep himself busy. Even if it was just reading more books or watching a few more NBA games, it was better than sitting idle. If he sat idle, he would not be able to do anything good as his mind would be full of thoughts.
This city is so big, with the first, second, third, fourth and fifth ring roads encircling him so tightly that he can't find a sense of belonging anywhere.
Ning Xi is working hard on many things, such as adding an extra bottle of pomegranate soda to dinner every day, joining the school basketball team to play games to win some honor, and insisting on sending a "good night" to Xing Cheng before going to bed every day.
Ning Xi would occasionally think of the graduation "shout" when Xing Cheng stood on the teaching building and led a group of brothers to shout his name. The sweat and the boy's youthful and powerful voice mixed together and could be heard from far away.
Xing Cheng wishes him success in the imperial examination and a bright future...
That ostentatious and unrestrained look was the brightest star in Ning Xi's eyes that day.
High school is great, and youth is great too.
In a blink of an eye, Beijing entered November.
The first day of mid-November was the weekend. Ning Xi got up early and ran to the basketball court to find a ball.
Ning Xi has already led a small team on campus with his superb basketball skills. He said that when there are no classes, everyone can get together and play five-on-five, one-on-one, or bullfighting. It's all fine. No matter how fierce you are, you can do it. We have been holding back for too long, so it's time to relax in the winter!
The wound on Ning Xi's hand had scabs on a small area, and new flesh had grown in some places. When he rolled up his sleeves, red marks were left on his supposedly fair arm, which was particularly eye-catching.
There were two or three boys in the team who couldn't help but talk to Ning Xi because he was so handsome and had good grades. Some of them didn't like him, but he never said much. Following his style of playing on the court in junior high and high school, he would make his teammates fall down with just one ball and all of them would admit defeat.
Ning Xi's current game is three on three. Since he is not particularly tall, he plays the shooting guard position, which is his most comfortable position. In the game where three people are on a team, he also has the serve right of the point guard position.
In a split second, Ning Xi grabbed the ball and was about to break into the three-second zone, but unexpectedly the cell phone in his pocket rang. He quickly apologized to his teammates, called for a timeout, and took out his cell phone to check. It was Xing Cheng.
Ning Xi has already developed the habit of keeping his cell phone with him all the time, even when he is playing basketball, otherwise he will feel insecure and anxious.
The teammate next to him was squatting to tie his shoelaces. He looked up and asked him with a smile: "Hey, Ning Xi, are you still answering the phone while playing basketball?"
"It's urgent," Ning Xi smiled and shook his phone, "At home."
When Ning Xi picked up the phone, Xing Cheng on the other end sounded like he had just gotten up in the morning and was on his way to school. He was breathless as he spoke, "Brother! What day is it today?"
"It's not like you don't have a cell phone," Ning Xi frowned, annoyed that his brother had finally called him and was still talking nonsense, then his tone softened, "No. 11."
Xing Cheng seemed to be running: "Brother, how are you going to celebrate your birthday tomorrow?"
"Don't spend it, save it." Ning Xi glanced at his teammates around him, all of whom were waiting for him to finish the call.
Xing Cheng suddenly became arrogant: "I bought you a gift, you must accept it."
Ning Xi asked him: "Valuables?"
"For you, yes."
Ning Xi thought for a while, still holding a vague expectation in his heart, biting his lip and compromised: "Okay."
Ning Xi turned the basketball in his hand again and again, and added: "Send an insured one, it would be a shame if it gets lost."
Xing Cheng was holding his old, worn-out cell phone on the other end of the line, smiling with his eyes curved: "It won't be lost."
As soon as the call ended, Ning Xi stood there in a daze for a while, and his teammates began to run zone defense and called out to him: "Hurry up, look over here after the game!"
Ning Xi nodded and rushed in with the ball.
After a game of ball, at night, the temperature in Beijing in early winter dropped to around zero degrees, and the first snow fell.
It was the first snow in the north, but the amount of snow was not large. Coupled with the severe smog in Beijing, the light snow not only failed to form a snowy scene, but instead wet the ground. People's footprints turned into dirty snow water when they stepped on it.
But here there are red walls and bricks, towering ancient trees, and occasional fine snow drifting down, and even the double-eaved hip roofs of the ancient buildings are covered with clusters of lonely white snow.
Ning Xi’s roommates are all relatively homebodies, so the four of them got together to cook mutton noodles. Ning Xi likes it spicy, while the other three don’t. They all saw him holding the chili can and pouring chili into the bowl, and they all admired him. Awesome!
"You guys in Sichuan are all so good at eating spicy food?"
Ning Xi's fair cheeks turned red from the spiciness: "It's okay, it depends on your taste."
A boy from Jiangnan reached out to pull the dormitory curtains and exclaimed, "It's snowing! First snow!"
Ning Xi stood up and turned his head to look, and heard the boy from Jiangnan say, "I have to tell my girlfriend, let's go see the snow!"
Another boy wearing glasses sat down with his bowl in his arms and rolled his eyes: "What a fuss! You southerners have never seen snow."
"I have seen it," Ning Xi said calmly, "It snowed in Chengdu last year, too."
Last year's snow was particularly gentle, covering his and Xing Cheng's shoulders with snow. The two of them stumbled and ran for their lives, their faces turning red, and their footprints were left all the way.
The boy with glasses finished his mutton noodles in no time and wiped his mouth with a tissue: "It's still snowing in Chengdu... No, I have to go out and see. I think all the girls from our school are out. I have to grab one!"
Both of them were wearing down jackets and were anxiously tying scarves around their necks. The other one was leisurely cleaning up the dishes on the table. He raised his eyelids and asked Ning Xi: "Aren't you going to take a look?"
Ning Xi liked snow, but since Xing Cheng was not there, he had no interest in going out. He shook his head and said, "No."
"Okay, I'll go take a look too," the roommate also picked up his coat and put the key in his pocket, "If you want to go, take the key with you. Just call me when you come downstairs. I'll take a look around the school..."
The three of them left the dormitory in an instant. Ning Xi looked at the snow and felt cold for no reason. He put on another piece of clothing, leaned against the table to read a book entirely in English, copied down a sentence, typed it into his phone, and sent it to Xing Cheng.
Ning Xi wanted to see if his brother had made any progress in English recently.
Ning Xi also "threatened" Xing Cheng not to read books or use Baidu, otherwise he would be punished when he returned to Chengdu.
After sending the message, Xing Cheng didn't reply for a full half hour. Ning Xi looked at the time. It was eight o'clock, so he was probably on his way home from the classroom.
Ning Xi read dozens of pages in one breath. When the boys next door returned to the dormitory one after another, he remembered to check the time. It was already ten o'clock.
Three roommates sent messages in the group. One of them went out of school with his girlfriend, one picked up a girl and took her to a bar, and one was by the lake on campus, asking Ning Xi to come over and bring him a bag of Lanzhou.
It was quiet downstairs of the dormitory building. The crowd who had come down happily to watch the snow had all dispersed. The street lights on campus seemed so lonely. Occasionally, someone passed by on a bicycle and almost tripped over the snow.
Ning Xi recalled the night when they rode their bikes from Binjiang East Road to the school gate to take the oath. The street lights were bright, illuminating the moonlight on the night bank and the passers-by.
At the end of the ride, Xingcheng got off the bicycle and walked step by step without saying a word. Perhaps it was because the night wind, which had nowhere to hide, was blowing from Xingcheng's direction.
At that time, he felt that he was really lucky.
After a while, Ning Xi's phone vibrated and he answered it almost immediately.
"Brother, the express has arrived, go down and get it."
Ning Xi stood up, rubbed his cold face, and whispered "Okay".
Two minutes later, Ning Xi ran downstairs in a short-sleeved shirt. It was freezing cold and a cloud of mist could be seen when he opened his mouth.
Ning Xi saw Xing Cheng standing downstairs of the dormitory building.
It’s just like waiting for him to finish school.
Ning Xi also heard Xing Cheng holding up the phone and saying with a smile: "If you come later, the courier will freeze to death."
The snow in the capital was not heavy this year, but it seemed to blur Ning Xi's eyes and the distance of thousands of kilometers.
Xing Cheng, wearing a black down jacket, finally stood in the place he had fantasized about countless times, waiting so long that even ice fell on his eyelashes.
"You," Ning Xi said with difficulty, "Xing Cheng..."
"I'm here."
"Xing Cheng..."
"I am here."
After not seeing each other for such a long time, perhaps because of the scorching sun during training all day, Ning Xi felt that Xing Cheng had become darker, the muscles on his arms were more obvious, and he seemed to have grown taller. He had shed a lot of his childishness and looked so hot and dazzling.
Gradually growing into a man of integrity.
But now, Xing Cheng rushed over, stood still, lowered his head to hug him, and called him "brother". He felt that Xing Cheng seemed to have just gone to the grocery store at the entrance of the community to buy two bottles of pomegranate soda.
It seemed as if they had never been apart.
"I'm here," Xing Cheng put on the hood of his down jacket and looked at him as if they were saying goodbye at the airport, "I'm here."
Seeing Ning Xi remained silent, Xing Cheng rubbed the back of his head, as if comforting a child, and said in a hoarse voice: "Didn't you send me an English text message saying that you wanted to see me?"
——I have grown up, I have grown up.
Ning Xi still didn't say anything, just looked at his brother and sighed deeply.
Sure enough, no matter how far the north and south are, it cannot stop a burning heart, and risking one's life recklessly has nothing to do with distance.
Ning Xi felt a little pain from being hugged by Xing Cheng, and then he remembered that he was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, so he turned sideways to cover the scar on his hand.
Ning Xi saw the sweat on Xing Cheng's forehead and said, "You're sweating and then you're in the cold wind. You won't feel well unless you catch a cold every winter."
"It doesn't matter," Xing Cheng smiled and touched Ning Xi's forehead, "I'm going to infect you too."
Occasionally, boys from the dormitory would go upstairs to fetch water. Xing Cheng was big, so he turned around and blocked Ning Xi's view. He said in his ear mischievously, "Are you going upstairs to get something?"
"Here," Ning Xi pushed him away, "Let's go up together."
Ning Xi's dormitory was clean and tidy, and the beds of the other three boys were also acceptable. Xing Cheng looked up and saw the layout of the desk under the bed, the position of the books on the bookshelf, and the habit of placing tissues and water cups. He subconsciously thought of the small bedroom in Ning Xi's house. Every time he entered, his nose was filled with the fresh fragrance of the sun.
After his brother went to college, Ning Xi's stepfather came a few times and moved some old appliances away. Xing Cheng looked at the door several times, but the door of Ning Xi's bedroom was always tightly closed and no one could get in.
The small table that Xingcheng bought with his own money last year is now placed next to Ningxi's desk in the dormitory, with a small pot of succulents on it.
"What are you looking for?"
Xing Cheng closed the dormitory door from behind, walked over to look at him, and whispered, "Brother, you've lost weight again."
Ning Xi said as he searched: "Look for a change of clothes. You need to bring pajamas."
"Okay, I'll wait for you." Xing Cheng leaned against the bed frame in the dormitory and continued to look at Ning Xi.
Ning Xi was about to speak when Xing Cheng, with his sharp eyes, noticed the large scratches on his arm and asked with wide eyes, "How did you get this?"
"I got scratched by a motorcycle on the road. It's nothing."
Ning Xi didn't care at all. Xing Cheng grabbed his face and pinched him hard: "Why didn't you tell me?"
Ning Xi looked at Xing Cheng calmly, stretched out his hand, and touched the end of his eyebrows, the corners of his eyes, his chin, and even his collarbone with his fingertips: "Then you have injuries here, here, and here... Why didn't you tell me?"
"There's nothing much to say." Xing Cheng said.
"Let's go find a place outside," Ning Xi patted Xing Cheng's shoulder, "It's not convenient to talk in the dormitory."
Xing Cheng nodded and said, "Okay."
The target hotel is located in a market near the school. It looks like the style of Hong Kong dramas from the 1980s and 1990s, with neon signs scattered around and flashing dazzling red lights.
On their way to the hotel, there was construction going on nearby, with vehicles speeding past and raising clouds of sand. Xing Cheng's first reaction was to lower his head and hug Ning Xi's head.
Xing Cheng patted his hat in amusement and whispered, "There's dust all over my forehead, brother, can you blow it away for me?"
Ning Xi pinched Xing Cheng and brushed the sand off his back: "Silly."
Along the way, Xing Cheng, wearing a coat and hat that covered half of his face, kept shielding Ning Xi from the dust.
At three or four in the middle of the night, in the middle of winter, the two people said they had enough and went to sleep.
The snow outside had stopped a long time ago. The temperature was low that night and the water had frozen into lumps. Occasionally, broken ice would fall against the upstairs windows, making soft knocking sounds. Ning Xi half opened his eyes, took a hazy look, and went back to sleep.
Ning Xi had originally slept very soundly, but after being woken up by the snow, he began to feel a little groggy.
At around four or five in the middle of the night, Ning Xi dreamed that Xing Cheng had returned, and woke up almost instantly. Before waking up, his consciousness was hazy and he felt extremely sad. After he recovered, he found that Xing Cheng was quietly beside him, and he was sleeping very soundly.
Ning Xi moved closer to look at him and found that this man was only well behaved when he was sleeping.
Ning Xi moved his body loudly, causing the corner of the quilt to open a little, perhaps allowing some cool wind to leak in. Xing Cheng, who was clearly asleep, actually stretched out his arm to tuck in the corner of the quilt for him.
"Xing Cheng?" Ning Xi called out softly, "Are you awake?"
Xing Cheng didn't move at all, his eyes were still closed, and his breathing was even. Ning Xi was stunned. How could this man fall asleep and still...
After not seeing each other for more than two months, Xingcheng had grown taller and older, and had some "manly medals". He would make demands to him, make decisions "on his own", and could even travel so far away by himself.
Ning Xi woke up early in the morning, took a shower, and climbed back into bed for a nap.
Around eleven o'clock, Xing Cheng got up first to take a shower, then quickly jumped onto the bed. Ning Xi blocked him with his arm: "It's time to pack up and go to dinner. We have to check out!"
After dinner, Xing Cheng took another shower and said that he had used up all the shower gel. Ning Xi said, "Use shampoo."
Xing Cheng said, "Will that work?"
Ning Xi was puzzled and asked: "Why can't it be used?"
Ning Xi leaned against the head of the bed. The lights in the room were not on. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his trouser pocket and lit it. While smoking, he looked at the scenery outside the window.
The snow stopped.
When we were taking a walk to school in the afternoon, Xing Cheng suggested sitting by the Weiming Lake for a while.
Xing Cheng watched the college students passing by them one by one. Occasionally, a boy would greet Ning Xi with a smile. Ning Xi nodded, smiled back, and said "hello" politely. However, Xing Cheng didn't recognize any of those faces, and the damn depressed feeling in his heart came up again.
Xing Cheng suddenly felt that Ning Xi was very far away from him.
"Brother," Xing Cheng called him, "what time is it?"
Ning Xi took out his phone and looked at it, then said, "It's almost five o'clock, it's almost time."
"Let's go," Xing Cheng stood up and patted the dust off his trouser legs, "Let's go."
The road from Haidian District to the airport is neither short nor long.
It was so short that Ning Xi didn't have time to take a good look at Xing Cheng, but it was long enough for him to save these pictures and think about them in the future.
In this world, people live in groups and then go their separate ways.
No matter how playful and lawless they are during their adolescence, they will eventually have to make peace with the secular world.
Ning Xi couldn't bear to look at Xing Cheng, so he turned his head to look at the Capital Airport gradually appearing outside the car window.
Walking is the only thing in his life that he is unwilling to grow up.
They exchanged boarding passes, found the security checkpoint, and bought some food. Everything seemed so familiar. Yes, it was Xingcheng who sent Ningxi away last time, but this time it was the other way around. Looking at the "Xingcheng" on the ticket, in just a moment, Ning Xi understood how Xingcheng felt that day.
The two of them stayed together for a while, and Ning Xi went to help him adjust his hoodie. He subconsciously adjusted the collar, but found that Xing Cheng was not wearing a school uniform.
Ning Xi smiled, stood on tiptoe, and patted his brother on the head: "Remember to tell me when you get there."
"Okay," Xing Cheng's old cell phone in his pocket was getting hot. He didn't let Ning Xi see it at all. "Tell me when you return to school."
"Don't wear so little, otherwise..."
Xing Cheng continued speaking, as if he had thought of something: "How about I send you my coat. Would it be warmer if you wear my coat?"
Ning Xi was stunned for a moment, then nodded and stopped refusing: "Okay."
Xing Cheng only had 40 minutes from security check to boarding. He stood more than ten meters away from the security check and called out to Ning Xi: "Brother, you go first!"
Ning Xi stood there, unable to move, and said, "You go first."
"I can't bear it," Xing Cheng tied the scarf tighter around Ning Xi's ears, "I can't bear to let you see my back."
The two men confronted each other for a while, and finally Xing Cheng took the lead, turned his back, and walked to the security check. He couldn't help but look back at Ning Xi, who was standing there with half of his face hidden by the scarf.
Xing Cheng wanted to tell Ning Xi that Chengdu had a not-too-cold winter this year. It hadn't snowed yet and the ginkgo leaves hadn't fallen yet. But it would probably snow and the leaves would fall when Ning Xi came back.
At that time, they will walk from the beginning to the end of the kilometer-long street.
He walked four times and turned back three times. On the fourth time, Ning Xi pinched his face and said, "Go back to study."
Xing Cheng almost walked backwards and asked him loudly: "Brother! When will you come back?"
Ning Xi also replied loudly: "Tomorrow!"
It was as if he was really going back tomorrow.
Ning Xi watched Xing Cheng pass through the security check, then looked at the take-off information on the mobile phone APP. Seeing the data of the plane gradually increase, he got on the airport bus and returned to school.
Ning Xi stood in the dormitory for a while. He looked at his roommates who were busy with their work and thought about everything that happened yesterday.
On the second day after Xingcheng left, Ning Xi threw a three-pointer at the basketball court on campus. He bought some southern snacks when he saw them on the way. When he went to class, he suddenly laughed while looking at the blackboard. The white sweater he was wearing was softened by the sun, and even the breeze blowing in from the dormitory window became warm.
He walked up the stairs step by step, as if he was stepping on singing strings.
The pomegranate soda in Ning Xi's hand tasted sweeter than ever. He had been looking for it for a long time and bought it in a chain store.
All the roommates asked Ning Xi: "What are you so happy about?"
Ning Xi smiled, closed the book, and said that his younger brother's grades were getting better and better.
For more than 20 years, Ning Xi has never felt that loneliness is bad. He is used to being self-reliant.
But during the years that Ning Xi and Xing Cheng had been together, Xing Cheng, his brother who was three years younger than him, taught him to be cheerful, taught him how to embrace the world with a warm warmth , and taught him how to express himself.
Ning Xi thought about Xing Cheng's back as he turned back for the last time, and suddenly realized how unbearable loneliness was.
Ning Xi took out his cell phone and sent a message to Xing Cheng.
"After you left, Beijing didn't seem so cold anymore."
As soon as Xingcheng returned to school, the temperature in the city began to drop. The weather forecast kept reminding us to put on more clothes as the temperature dropped and to remember to bring cold medicine.
"Remember to bring cold medicine."
A text message was sent to Ning Xi. Xing Cheng was filling out a courier form at that time. He had never written in such clear handwriting except for essays. He buried his head and filled out the form. He looked at the line "No. 5, Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing" and was stunned for a while.
The package was quite heavy, containing a black cotton jacket and two sets of autumn clothes. It was what Xingcheng's mother asked him to bring to Ning Xi.
Xingcheng's family didn't even notice that the kid had been away for a day. They just thought that he had trained too late and stayed at Ren Mei's house for the weekend. The money for the plane ticket and the hotel was all Xingcheng's savings, which he had previously put in a book and kept neatly pressed.
It was very late when Xingcheng got off the plane at the airport. Xingcheng's father came to open the door in his pajamas, glanced at Xingcheng, and didn't say anything else.
In the morning, Xingcheng was ready to go out with a big plastic bag filled with clothes. Xingcheng's mother knew what he was going to do and went back to her room to get two sets of autumn clothes. She also asked him, "Xingcheng, ask Ningxi if he likes the food there. Send some kimchi over there. I heard that the food in Beijing is especially sweet!"
Xing Cheng was stunned for a moment, but said nothing. He folded his autumn clothes neatly and stuffed them into his pocket. He lowered his head to look at his mother, moved his dry lips, and said slowly, "Thanks, Mom."
Xing Cheng stood beside the table at the express delivery point, holding a pen, and filled in his address: "No. 93, Wenmiaoqian Street, Chengdu City".
Xing Cheng went to Beijing and spent Ning Xi's 21st birthday with him. He felt as if he and Ning Xi had never been apart.
It’s just that Xing Cheng fell asleep while Ning Xi was giving him extra lessons. He had a very long dream, and when he was woken up again, it seemed that in the next second, Ning Xi would appear in front of him, roll up the test paper and hit him on the head, saying that he didn’t study hard and dared to sleep!
Xing Cheng closed his eyes.
When the weather got a little colder, Xingcheng rode his bike home and took a detour to the road where ginkgo trees were planted at Sichuan University. Seeing that the leaves had not fallen yet, he felt relieved and rode back.
These leaves are with him, waiting for his brother to come home.
Training during the day and doing exercises at night, Xing Cheng has become accustomed to this repetitive pattern. He does not find doing exercises tiring at all. He simply puts a small commemorative photo album of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the table. Whenever he feels tired, he looks up at the album and is instantly filled with energy.
He is a man, he must do what he says. This one is so good that even eight leopards, let alone four horses, cannot catch up.
The memo on the phone hadn't been updated for a few days. Ning Xi copied a few paragraphs of English on paper and was about to reach out to flip through it when Xing Cheng called him even though he was clearly in training.
Xing Cheng called him anxiously: "Brother! Call my name!"
Ning Xi couldn't hold it in any longer: "What are you doing?"
"Just one sentence, I'm so tired from training, my legs are almost broken..."
Ning Xi didn't waste time with him and spoke in a serious tone: "Xing Cheng!"
"arrive!"
"That's all?"
"That's enough!" Xing Cheng held the phone between his ear and shoulder. He untied and retied the sports bandage around his waist to delay his rest time. "When you come back, you must stay with me for a while."
"I was accompanying you just now." Ning Xi said.
Xing Cheng was fiddling with the wristband on his hand, the one Ning Xi bought for him: "What?"
Ning Xi went to look at the corner of the curtain that was lifted by the wind and said, "It's windy."
This year's Christmas came with great fanfare. The snow in Beijing had stopped, and Ning Xi began to try to go out with his roommates. They found indoor courts to play basketball, and he no longer went to the library alone. Occasionally, the roommate from Jiangnan would take him to eat some fermented glutinous rice balls and osmanthus cakes, which were particularly sweet.
Ning Xi didn't want to read at night, so he went back to the dormitory to watch an NBA regular season game. He opened a can of wine and put it next to him. After watching the game, he drank all the wine.
Ning Xi recalled that when he was in junior high school, his favorite team and Xing Cheng's favorite team were playing against each other, and it was a peak competition during the playoffs.
A group of boys stood in the courtyard of the community, peeking at the uncle in the guard room's TV, which was broadcasting the live broadcast of CCTV-5. It was obvious that Xingcheng's favorite team had won. Ning Xi glanced at him unconsciously, and he didn't dare to cheer.
As soon as the game was over, Xing Cheng added fuel to the fire by interjecting in the middle of a group of boys’ discussion: “I think the team that Xige likes is pretty good, probably because our team played so well today!”
Why did Brother Ning Xi leave?
There are simply too many such incidents to count. Kids who grew up in the community know that people who grew up fighting with each other in the same yard have done all kinds of things. On the mossy wall at the back of their community, there are many fake flowers that the kids brought from home.
Ning Xi remembered that the spring in Chengdu that year was very short. Many flowers withered before they had even opened. There were many flowers planted on the balconies of each household upstairs. When the wind blew, the petals fell down with warmth. He lay in front of the window and counted them one by one...
Xingcheng was still young at that time, about seven or eight years old, at an age where he was somewhat sensible but still confused. He observed the good-looking brother downstairs for a long time and thought that he probably liked flowers.
Xiao Xingcheng quickly ran over to Xiao Ningxi's window: "Only girls like flowers!"
Xiao Ningxi was so angry that he pulled the curtains!
It happened that after that day, in the elementary school handicraft class, the teacher asked the children to make paper flowers. Some children were lazy and directly took the artificial flowers at home. The teacher was always right. Xiao Xingcheng was the class monitor, so he collected all the artificial flowers, brought them back to the community, and stuck them all in the cracks between the bricks in the backyard. Against the backdrop of ivy and moss, they looked unexpectedly beautiful.
Xiao Xingcheng left a note to his brother from upstairs, saying that he was going to the backyard to take a look at the wall.
Little Ningxi didn't go. It seemed that his mother was going out that day, so he was locked at home doing his homework. He watched people coming and going in the neighborhood, but he didn't climb through the window. Instead, he wrote a note to Little Xingcheng, which was unusual: "What are you doing again?"
Later, he was thinking about it the next day, but he was in a hurry to go to school, so he didn't take it too seriously at that time. One day when he had some free time, he was playing basketball in the community. He threw the basketball too high and the ball rolled into the backyard, so he reached in to pick it up.
When I looked up, I saw the wall covered with ivy, among which were a dozen artificial flowers that had been washed by rain, some faded and some crooked.
There was only a little bit of spring breeze left that day.
In Ning Xi's eyes, the "flower wall" was as bright as ever.
If you want to talk about those who are more capable of mischief...there are some.
When Xingcheng was ten years old, he caught a cicada, put it in a bottle, and gave it to him like a treasure.
Ning Xi held the glass bottle, his heart leaping with joy, but he still said coldly, "It's so noisy."
Because Xing Cheng himself was noisy enough, he didn't think the cicadas' chirping was that noisy.
"Then, brother, don't you want it?"
"It's not easy to keep a living thing." Ning Xi couldn't say the word "no", so he could only say, "Let it go."
This time, Xing Cheng listened to what he was told and instantly disappeared into the corridor with the glass bottle in his hand.
That evening, Ning Xi ran upstairs and knocked on Xing Cheng's door for the first time.
Xing Cheng was confused: "I let him go."
Ning Xi was speechless: "Can't you put it further away?!"
Sometimes, Ning Xi would think, if there was a tool that could record his and Xingcheng’s childhood in the form of a movie, then he would be willing to stop reading for three years and sit in the projection room every day to watch how many petals fell from Grandma Qin’s potted plants upstairs, what his “annoying” brother downstairs did when he couldn’t see, what happened to the cicada in the end, why Xingcheng loved chocolate ice cream so much when he was a child and never gained weight…
Ning Xi has a dictionary that he has used since he was a child. Now he is in college. When he opens it, he finds a piece of yellowed paper inside. He can't remember the year Xing Cheng signed it.
There were two words, a big "行骋". He wrote "骋" five times, with four mistakes, all of which were crossed out with a red pen. The last time was filled in by Ning Xi on the side, neatly. He then wrote "宁玺" on the back.
The days of studying in Beijing were busy and fulfilling. Ning Xi was often busy around the clock, always thinking about Xing Cheng. Once he had some free time, the thought of him remained the same, but became more and more intense.
Ning Xi casually mentioned the senior named Xing and said to Xing Cheng: "In fact, in this world, there are all kinds of people and all kinds of love. No matter what, they are just a form. The only thing that does not change is that two people truly love each other."
Almost a year has passed, and Ning Xi has begun to change from his initial escape to facing himself, looking at himself squarely, trying to be optimistic, and also telling Xing Cheng that everyone is actually the same.
Xing Cheng also knew that they occasionally played basketball together and did not interact much in private. They would occasionally say a few more words, and Ning Xi was too lazy to argue with him.
"Brother, I should be your senior. I will be the one to welcome the freshmen of the high school. I will definitely catch you first and ask the grade director for study assistance so that I can help my junior to become the provincial champion!" There was a lot of noise on the other end of the phone, and it made a crackling sound.
Ning Xi had a hard time listening to him: "You're dreaming, you want to be my senior."
"Next time, next time..."
Xing Cheng paused for a moment. He didn't feel uncomfortable, but his throat felt tight and he couldn't utter the three words "next life".
Ning Xi was stunned for a few seconds and asked him, "What?"
Xing Cheng took a deep breath, held the phone, with the bandage still in his mouth, and answered seriously: "I'll be your senior next time."
Ning Xi said "hmm", closed the book, and leaned over the desk to play with the cigarette between his fingers, and said, "Senior sister."
This time it was Xing Cheng's turn to be confused: "Why is it Senior Sister?"
The sound of the basketball hitting the basket after being thrown in the training ground was so loud that it almost drowned out the question that Xing Cheng was asking.
Ning Xi suddenly didn't want to say anything more.