Chapter 2 The Sky 1
Let the kite fly farther away.
Let go of your hands?
Can you leave with the kite?
Chen Qiaoluo was discharged from the hospital after three days. He continued to skip classes as usual. I heard that someone saw him in a car repair shop in the city.
Although I am his friend, I know very little about him. He said he skipped classes to chase beautiful girls, but everything I heard now seems to be very different from what he said.
I went to the repair shop after school and saw him squatting there with his head down, fiddling with tools. I had never seen Chen Qiaoluo like this before. His hands were covered with stains and his face was sweaty from the sun.
Shock swept over me in an instant, and I stood there for a long time before I took a step forward and walked over.
"Chen Qiaoluo." I called softly from behind him.
After a while, Chen Qiaoluo turned around and looked at me. He seemed to have never expected me to be here. He was startled and then asked, "Hello, Zhu Yun, why are you here?"
"I..." The words were stuck in my throat for a few seconds before I asked in a low voice, "Didn't you say you were chasing after beautiful girls? Why are you working here?"
Hearing my question, Chen Qiaoluo looked at me awkwardly, stood up from the ground, looked me straight in the eye and said, "I have my reasons. Zhu Yunhao, you won't understand."
This Chen Qiaoluo is completely different from the one I remembered. I managed to ignore the sadness in my heart, bit my lip and said, "Okay, just pretend I don't understand. But, Chen Qiaoluo, I hope you can tell me anything in the future, after all, we are friends."
He was stunned for a moment when he heard what I said, then he laughed and said jokingly as usual: "Hello Zhu Yun, please can you not be so artistic, be a little tougher to suit your temperament."
As expected, Chen Qiaoluo and I were not suitable to talk like this. Before my sad mood could continue to surge, I was amused by his words. I put down the schoolbag on my shoulder and threw it at him, cursing: "Chen Qiaoluo, you really don't know what's good for you."
"Yes, yes, it's my fault. I shouldn't have made Miss Zhu unhappy."
"You're smart." I snorted and asked, "When do you get off work? I'll take you out for a nice meal."
"It's probably more than an hour away." Chen Qiaoluo looked at the time and said, "Why don't you go sit in the cold drink shop next door and I'll come find you later."
"Forget it, I'll wait for you here and help you with the work." I shrugged and said.
"Come on, you're the only one working, don't make me suffer." Chen Qiaoluo looked at me with amusement.
"Don't disbelieve it."
As I said that, I took the hammer and started to help Chen Qiaoluo. He tried to pull me away several times but I refused.
It was not until after six o'clock that we left the repair shop.
I was already smelling of sweat because I had done a lot of things, so I made an appointment with Chen Qiaoluo to meet at a night market not far from the school in an hour, and then we both went home to take a shower and change clothes.
On the way back, I thought about many things. Chen Qiaoluo skipping classes to work is not a good idea at all. Although I don't know why he does this, he is still a student after all. Skipping classes for such a long time will not have a good result. We are all about to graduate. If he continues like this, he will not be able to enter university.
Worry swept over my heart in an instant.
But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't persuade him. Chen Qiaoluo was such a person. No matter how much you said it was for his good, as long as he didn't want to, you couldn't make him change.
When I got home, my dad hadn't finished get off work yet. I called him to tell him I was going out for dinner and then went to the bathroom to wash up. When I came out, the neon lights outside were gradually lighting up. I checked the time, picked up my bag and keys and walked out.
When I arrived, Chen Qiaoluo was already waiting there. It was almost eight o'clock, and the whole street was filled with the aroma of food. I found a store with him and sat down. The place was already full of people.
This street is near the school and is a famous night market street in City A. This store is already packed with people.
While ordering food, Chen Qiaoluo complained to me, "Luckily, I know the owner of this restaurant and asked him to help reserve a seat for us, otherwise we would have to wait tonight."
"Chen Qiaoluo, you are awesome." I said with a smile.
After hearing what I said, he seemed to have heard something unbelievable, and it took him a while to utter a word.
He said, "Hello Zhu Yun, please don't say that. I can't stand it."
"Humph." I rolled my eyes at him and shouted, "I want roasted eggplant and twenty skewers of lamb."
"Hello Zhu Yun, are you the reincarnation of a starving ghost? Why are you eating so much?" Chen Qiaoluo yelled.
"What are you yelling about? Haven't you seen a girl eat?" I glanced at him with contempt and continued, "Add five more skewers of potato chips and a serving of spicy rice cakes, and hurry up."
Chen Qiaoluo was choked by my words for a long time before he said, "Hello Zhu Yun, I'm convinced."
The happiest thing in the hot summer is probably eating barbecue and drinking beer, but I don’t know if it was because I was drunk last time that scared him, this time Chen Qiaoluo refused to let me drink and only ordered a bottle of coconut juice for me.
I despised his unfair treatment while enjoying my meal.
I didn't expect to meet Guyu here. He seemed to have just finished his evening study and came to buy food with his classmates. After all, we had confessed our love and got rejected before. When I saw him again, my first reaction was to run away, for fear that he would find me.
But this store is small, and you can tell who is there with just a casual glance.
At this time, Chen Qiaoluo also noticed Guyu. His body stiffened and then he lowered his head like me.
The two of us were like people hiding from creditors, and we didn't feel relieved until Guyu left.
“Luckily no one saw us.” I breathed a sigh of relief and took a bite of the kebab.
It was rare that Chen Qiaoluo beside me did not agree with me. I turned my head and looked at him in confusion, but found that he was lost in thought.
"Hey, Chen Qiaoluo!" I shouted.
"Ah?" He seemed to be startled, looked at me in panic and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine, but you seem to be a little abnormal." I frowned and said in confusion.
"No, nothing." He poked the bowl in front of him with chopsticks and said, "Hello Zhu Yun, I have something else to do so I'll leave first. Be careful when you go home alone later."
"ah?"
Before I could react, Chen Qiaoluo stood up and walked outside, and the sound of me calling his name was drowned out by the noisy crowd.
Chen Qiaoluo disappeared again after that night. I called him several times, but no one answered. I went to the repair shop to look for him, but the boss said he had resigned a few days ago. Thinking back to his abnormal behavior that night, I gradually felt uneasy. I sent him text messages one after another, but still didn't receive his call.
I didn’t dare ask Aunt He Pei and could only worry silently.
The No. 12 Middle School holds a morning meeting every Monday during the break time. During this week's morning meeting, Chen Qiaoluo was punished for skipping classes for a long time. The Dean of Discipline said angrily, "Please tell the students who can contact Chen Qiaoluo that if he doesn't come to school again, we will expel him."
The words of the dean of discipline dropped like a thunder, and discussions gradually began to appear among the students.
The dropout rate in this school is very low, and there has not been a single dropout in the two years I have been there. But now Chen Qiaoluo is facing the risk of being dropped out because of skipping classes, how can this not shock everyone?
I was in a daze the whole day, constantly wondering where Chen Qiaoluo might have gone. But it was not until this moment that I realized that I didn't know Chen Qiaoluo as well as I thought, and this thought made me depressed.
I couldn't disturb Aunt He Pei, so I thought about it and it seemed that I could only call Brother Xiao Hei. I came to the door of "Old Time Blues" and called him.
When he heard that I was at the door, Xiao Hei came running out soon.
"Hello, Yun, why are you here? Come in and sit down." he said.
"No." I rejected Xiaohei's kindness and asked directly, "Xiaohei, do you know where Chen Qiaoluo is?"
"A Luo?" He frowned in confusion.
"I can't find him, and the school said that if he doesn't go to class, he will be expelled." I told him everything in one go.
Hearing what I said, Brother Xiaohei was also confused, and he comforted me and said, "Hello, Yun, don't worry, or I can ask Sister He Pei for you."
