The first time Xu Xilin met Zheng Shuo in a fast food restaurant, he ruthlessly hit him with a not-too-hard nail, but by then all his willfulness had almost withered away.

When we met again half a year later, Xu Xilin had become more sensible and polite.

He stepped aside to let Zheng Shuo in, then turned back and whispered to his grandmother who was coming. Seeing Aunt Du quietly picking up the things he had just dropped, Xu Xilin went to make tea and water, and then brought the fruit plate and put it aside: "Please sit down."

Zheng Shuo placed the souvenirs he brought at the door, looked at Xu Xilin with some emotion, and said to Grandma Xu: "I should have come to see you earlier, but I was afraid that you were in a bad mood recently, so I didn't dare to disturb you."

"Xiao Zheng is very thoughtful." Grandma Xu is the type of person who never reveals her likes or dislikes. She is considerate and gentle to everyone. At first glance, it is hard to tell who she likes or dislikes.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries in a friendly manner. The old lady was an exquisite and elegant old lady, and the middle-aged man was a graceful middle-aged man. They looked very pleasing to the eye. They casually reminisced about the past, and their conversation was also decent and pleasant. Xu Xilin sat silently beside them, responsible for adding tea and water, and was a little distracted.

He felt that compared to the impetuous and free-spirited Xu Jin, these two seemed to have the same style.

Zheng Shuo chatted with his grandmother in a friendly atmosphere for a while, then suddenly turned to Xu Xilin and asked him, "How are you doing in school recently? Has your study been affected?"

Xu Xilin instinctively disliked his elder's attitude, but he couldn't keep silent, so he replied calmly: "It's okay."

Zheng Shuo changed his sitting position, tried to please her with a serious look, and carefully considered his words before saying, "You're going to be a senior this year. Do you have any ideas about what direction you want to go in the future?"

Xu Xilin raised his eyelids and thought, "What does this have to do with you?"

But Mr. Zheng is not Dou Xun, who is used to fighting with him. Xu Xilin paused for a moment and politely replied: "I am not biased in any subject. I can study anything. I am still considering it recently. It depends on the specific situation."

Mr. Zheng said "Oh", then turned to his grandmother and said with a hint of meaning: "It's really not easy for these children in our country. They have to go through the college entrance examination at such a young age."

Grandma Xu didn't respond. Her skinny hands slowly stroked the jade bracelet on her wrist, and her cloudy eyes flashed.

The next moment, Zheng Shuo asked Xu Xilin: "How is your English?"

As soon as he said this, Xu Xilin who was entertaining guests on the sofa, Aunt Du who was cleaning up the mess, and even Dou Xun who had been listening to the conversation downstairs... all of them became collectively sensitive and sensed Zheng Shuo's hidden meaning in advance, and the atmosphere suddenly froze.

Zheng Shuo realized that he was a bit too hasty, but the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back. Now that he has said this, he can only continue.

Zheng Shuo smiled in a soothing way. He didn't dare to act like a "father" in front of Xu Xilin. He said as sincerely as possible, "Look, such a big thing has happened at home now. Your grandma is old and doesn't have the energy to worry about you. Aunt Du has to take care of the elderly and do so many housework every day. It's also very hard. You are in a critical period in the past few years. You have so many things to learn and you have to determine the direction of your future development. You can't be without someone to take care of you. I have missed your growth for so many years, and I also want to do my best - of course, the premise is that you are willing... Well, studying abroad is actually a good choice..."

Before he could finish his words, Xu Xilin stood up suddenly.

He wondered, what was this person doing earlier?

When he was asked about his parents when he was a child, he lowered his head and answered, "My mother's name is Xu Xiaohui and my father's name is Xu Jin." Where was he going?

Xu Jin has elderly parents and young children to take care of. Where was he when he started from scratch and worked non-stop for several months without ever going home?

Now he comes to show his kindness and harvests the seedlings in other people's fields that he has not even planted. Is there such a good deal in the world?

It's so shameless!

Zheng Shuo noticed that his expression was not right, and quickly said: "Dad, this is just a suggestion, I don't mean anything else. You see... I haven't been able to fulfill my responsibilities for so many years, and I feel guilty. Now I want to ask you for a chance to make amends. Of course, it's up to you whether to give it to me or not..."

The anger that Xu Xilin had just forced himself to suppress almost burned the roots of his hair, and he could start a fire and cook as soon as he opened his mouth.

And just then, grandma spoke.

Grandma Xu interrupted without any worldly concern. She said, "It would be good to go out and see the world. It would be a waste of your time to stay with a useless old woman like me every day."

Xu Xilin was stunned for a moment and looked at his grandmother in disbelief.

Grandma lowered her head slightly, her hair was snow-white and there was an old-fashioned pendant hanging on her ear, swaying in the wind.

Xu Xilin suddenly realized that although grandma stayed at home today, she was not wearing her usual home clothes. Grandma had always been very particular about her life. Whenever there were guests at home, she would always wear the right clothes to meet the guests. She would never wear slippers. Her jewelry and hair must be in perfect condition. When her hair was not gray, she would even draw her eyebrows...

Why is she dressed like this today? Is it because she knew Zheng Shuo was coming?

Xu Xilin put the whole thing together in an instant - yes, at Xu Jin's funeral, Zheng Shuo knew that his grandmother didn't like him, so he stayed in a hotel by himself and didn't dare to come to her house.

Then why did he dare to come again today?

Xu Xilin felt as if there was something stuck in his throat, and said with difficulty: "Grandma, do you want to send me away?"

Grandma Xu glanced at him, and Xu Xilin felt that there seemed to be tears in her eyes, but it was only a flash and he did not see it clearly.

"Thirty years ago, I could still look after you and take care of you," Grandma Xu said softly. "Now I won't come anymore. Go with your father. How can a young man not care about his future?"

Xu Xilin's eyes swept over her, then looked at Zheng Shuo who was a little nervous, and he understood everything in his heart.

He thought he was capable of standing tall and having the final say, but in fact, in the eyes of his grandmother and others, he was still a kid who knew nothing and always needed someone to take care of him. His malicious speculation about Zheng Shuo just now was purely self-righteous and wishful thinking - Zheng Shuo came to fulfill his obligations, not to fight for rights; he had a change of heart, not to snatch their son away.

Because he is only qualified to have a "duty" and does not have the qualifications to have a "right".

The most ironic thing is that Xu Xilin couldn't refute this, because half an hour ago, the guy who was jumping up and down in the house was none other than himself.

Xu Xilin's nose suddenly felt hot, and then he saw Zheng Shuo stood up a little panicked, as if he wanted to touch him but didn't dare.

Xu Xilin reached out his hand blankly and wiped away a handful of blood.

Aunt Du, who was wiping the furniture in a casual manner, ran up quickly and said, "Oh! Look up! Look up quickly, don't suck it back!"

The whole family was in a panic. No one knew what was wrong with Xu Xilin's nose. It didn't hurt or itch, but it was bleeding like a flood. No matter how much they wiped and applied cold compresses, the bleeding wouldn't stop.

He waved to Aunt Du and went to the bathroom to wash. Halfway through, Xu Xilin raised his head to the bathroom mirror and saw his face clearly - his cheeks were sunken, there was a circle of dark circles under his eyes, there were bloodshot eyes, and he looked like a person with kidney deficiency as described in ancient pornographic books. There were some bloodstains on his lapel. If he was put on the screen, he could play the role of a living ghost without any makeup.

The most ridiculous thing is that while others lose money on alcohol, sex, money and anger, he actually watches horror movies!

This is simply the purest kidney deficiency in history.

Xu Xilin propped his hands on the washstand. The cold water and blood loss made his brain a little numb. He lowered his head and took a few deep breaths, thinking, "I'm going to be great."

Zheng Shuo was afraid that his son would develop high blood pressure, so he stayed there for a while, feeling very uncomfortable, and then said goodbye to Grandma Xu. Xu Xilin's nosebleed stopped for a while, so he simply locked the bathroom door, held a box of tissues, and wiped it as it flowed. When he was almost done, he flushed it with water.

It took more than ten minutes for the bleeding to stop completely. When Xu Xilin opened the door, he saw Dou Xun waiting for him silently at the door.

This big cat usually ignores everyone and looks like a hermit who is oblivious to the world outside, but in fact it keeps its eyes and ears open. Occasionally it will appear silently and secretly pay attention to you. Once discovered, it will pretend nothing happened and walk away.

The two people who had just had a thorough quarrel upstairs looked at each other in silence for a moment. Xu Xilin knew that it was unrealistic to expect Douxianer to speak first, so he turned around and took out two bottles of beer from the kitchen refrigerator - which Xu Jin had frozen in there a long time ago.

After thinking for a while, Xu Xilin put one of the bottles back and handed a different drink to Dou Xun: "...That's not what I meant just now."

Dou Xun glanced at his bloodstained shirt and asked without thinking, "Are you going with him?"

"No, I'm not leaving." Xu Xilin said without hesitation, then shut up without further explanation.

Dou Xun watched him drink beer one sip after another, suspecting that he was trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol. He opened his mouth to stop him, but then, remembering the situation where he almost came to blows, he swallowed the wine back in distress.

Fortunately, Xu Xilin had no intention of drinking too much. He only drank one can and then went upstairs slowly.

He returned to his room, ejected the CD, put it back into the box and put the deposit slip away. Then he took off his schoolbag that someone had repacked, took out the folder full of small notes, and read through what everyone had written to him.

Finally, he found a blank piece of paper inside. At first glance, he thought it was mixed in, but when he reached out to touch it, he could feel the obvious bumps and depressions on it. Xu Xilin had an idea and took a marking pencil and lightly marked a small area on the paper.

Sure enough, a line of words written with the popular "invisible pen" gradually appeared.

He knew at first glance that it was written by Dou Xun. Dou Xun's handwriting was quite distinctive. It couldn't be said to be good-looking or ugly, but it was considered to be relatively neat among boys. However, he wrote with great force, and the tip of the pen scratched on the paper with great violence. The invisible pen could not hide the sharpness of his strokes that penetrated the back of the paper, and easily revealed the traces of his attempt to hide something.

Dou Xun, who had just kicked off his door lock and pointed at his nose and scolded him, wrote: "Hold your hand, it's okay, don't cry."

Xu Xilin was stunned for a while, his nose felt sore. He thought he was going to bleed again, so he quickly took a tissue to block it.

However, after being stuck in traffic for a long time, there was nothing.

Xu Xilin leaned back in the chair, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes slightly. He felt that their family's Douxian might have watched too much "Red Rock" recently.

The author has something to say: Note: In "Red Rock", Liu Siyang's secret reply to Cheng Gang: "Hold your hand tightly"