Chapter 36

◎ A bright future ◎

There are not many locals in Shenzhen. The bustling city is mostly empty. In a few days, before the New Year, it will become an empty city.

Du Ningyang dragged a foldable small bed from the grocery store and propped it up in the space between the coffee table and the sofa. She didn't know or think about how long she would stay here, but Zhu He's condition was too bad. She was hanging on with only one breath left. She looked miserable to anyone who saw her, as if she would die at any time.

Zhu He didn't have the heart to let the little girl sleep so badly, so he gave her the bedroom and bed. The two of them lived in peace, without much talk and without any physical contact.

Fortunately, Zhu He recovered day by day, and his dry skin regained its color. He even gradually got rid of the bad habit of reversing day and night. After not playing games for a long time, he slept longer at night and sometimes snored peacefully.

During the day, they would go out for a walk when the weather was good. They had no destination and walked around casually. They ate at random times and ate whatever they saw, like two homeless people.

If they encountered unpleasant rain, they would move the stools to the balcony and watch the rain attack the neighbors' clothes and clothes drying racks that they had not had time to collect, watch the raindrops fall on the anti-theft net, watch the wind blow the electric wires everywhere, and watch the sneakers of people walking on the road step into the puddles.

They kept silent about Wu You, as if this person had never appeared. They talked about current news and interesting things in the past, things that happened before Wu You appeared and after Wu You left.

Sitting on the fountain platform in the corner park, Du Ningyang was eating a ham and egg sandwich, with a bottle of milk in a glass bottle at hand. They were all bought before the convenience store closed last night. They were discounted goods that would expire the next day. They were cheap and delicious, and she didn't care even if they went bad.

Two thin legs dangled, and the off-white canvas shoes she wore when she came had turned gray.

Zhu He tilted his head up to bask in the sun, took out a train ticket from his pocket, and put it on the table between them, "Du Ningyang, here, you can go back."

There were some toast crumbs on the corner of her mouth. She was stunned when she heard this, and she hadn't finished chewing yet. She didn't say anything, just looked at him.

Zhu He said: "Thank you for taking care of me during this period, especially thank you. If it weren't for you, I don't know if I could have survived, but you've been here for too long, it's not appropriate."

Yes, it's not appropriate.

After all, they are just ordinary friends, after all, she is just a good friend of his sister, after all, she is just one of the many little friends he had when he was young.

He didn't dare to ask her why she appeared in the dark corridor at that time, he didn't dare to ask why she chased him out without even an umbrella, he didn't dare to think if it wasn't for her, would he still be here now

. He didn't dare to ask if she had a friendship with him that went beyond friendship, because the answer was obvious, and his beloved had just left, he had no reason to accept a new relationship, especially one out of gratitude.

He unscrewed the cap of the milk bottle for her and passed it to her mouth, "I'm fine, I'm fine now, I promise you I will cheer up, the most important thing for you now is to go home, spend the New Year with your parents, study hard after the New Year, and make progress every day."

"Your life must get back on track," he said, "You can't delay it here with me."

She didn't mention her breakup with Jin Zhenqi to Zhu He, her life was actually off track.

Du Ningyang finally swallowed the sandwich, saying one thing and thinking another, "It's not a delay, I am, I am... I stayed here because I like Shenzhen. Not because of you."

Not because I'm worried about you, not because I pity you, not because you are here.

It was a clumsy lie, and even he didn't believe it when he told it.

Zhu He suddenly turned around and asked seriously, "Do you really like it here?"

The silly girl nodded stupidly.

Perhaps the friendship of youth is different. The days when they always chatted flashed before his eyes. They were obviously boring and childish, but they seemed to have endless things to say.

He had nearly a thousand friends, and each of them made a "dong dong" sound when they came online, and "di di di" kept ringing every day. He was annoyed and even turned on mute when playing games.

But just by chance, he could always see her immediately whenever she came online. He always poked her avatar and asked her: [The little brat didn't study and went online again.]

She said: [You want me to control you.

] He replied: [I want to control you, call me brother.

] She said: [Yes. Brother.]

In the end, she never called him brother, and never accepted his control. Now she was controlling him and pulled him back from the edge of collapse.

On his 20th birthday, she was in a very low mood. He vaguely saw her across the big round hot pot table;

since that day, they never chatted again. He saw that her avatar never lit up again, and realized belatedly that he had been deleted.

He probably knew, he actually knew everything. But he likes to sort by first come first served, and he likes the later ones more, so before everything officially started, he gave up the first ones.

But the later ones left, and the first ones came back.

He is a bastard, a scumbag, but he is really lucky, right?

Zhu He felt guilty about Du Ningyang. He turned his head, looked at the flashing water in the pool, and said, "Du Ningyang, give me some time. I don't think it will be too long. You continue to live your life. When I get back on track, I will go back to Huaicheng to find you."

The sparkling water in the pool was filled with golden soft light, casting a blurred and gentle filter on that winter. She heard his voice, full of sincerity and sincerity.

He said, "If you are still willing to accept me at that time, are you willing to be with me?"

She picked up the train ticket and looked at the gray words on it carefully. The departure time from Shencheng to Huaicheng was 8 o'clock that night, and there was a countdown of eight hours from now.

Du Ningyang took a deep breath, looked at the congratulations, and said word by word: "Then, see you then."

-

Du Minda and Fang Fang were upset about the breakup of Du Ningyang and Jin Zhenqi, and always felt that there must be room for maneuver. Although he didn't know the cause and effect, he was sure that it must be the fault of his daughter.

They really liked Jin Zhenqi, and privately called him "son-in-law", and even prepared to "if he chooses to develop in Huaicheng, then go and ask people to see if there is any way to arrange him into a good unit."

Unexpectedly, Du Ningyang shook his head and said, "Don't think about it, there is no possibility for Jin Zhenqi and I."

It's not "we", not "the two of us", but "I" and "Jin Zhenqi".

The change of this title made them very distant, and it was really impossible.

Du Minda and Fang Fang sighed deeply, but they didn't dare to ask the reason. Du Ningyang was a firecracker that would ignite at any time.

But it was hard for them, as they had to go back to the life of fear they had two years ago at such an old age - would the next boy they brought home be an unreliable young boy?

But Du Ningyang did the opposite, and behaved himself for a long time without causing any trouble.

Time passed quickly and it was the end of summer this year. The seniors who did not plan to continue to take the postgraduate entrance examination began to prepare for the autumn recruitment.

Fang Fang "kindly reminded" them: "Ningning, I heard that you have to take an exam to become a teacher now, and you can only be interviewed after passing the exam. Do you need to review for a while?"

Du Ningyang was packing his suitcase for returning to school, and he unceremoniously crumpled up his clothes and threw them into the suitcase. When he heard this, he paused for a second.

It was not her style to hide things. She said, "I don't want to be a teacher anymore."

"Ah?" Fang Fang couldn't help but exclaimed, "Didn't we agree on this before? I finally got the certificate, and I spent so much effort..."

"Plans can't keep up with changes. Now I don't want to be a teacher."

Du Ningyang was too lazy to explain so much to her. The more he explained, the more troublesome it would be. Fang Fang was just that kind of person. If you told her one more detail, she would think about it for several more hours.

Fang Fang's face suddenly wrinkled like a bitter gourd. She walked forward and pressed Du Ningyang's hand that was packing up. "Then tell your mother, what are your latest plans?"

She had been in contact with Zhu He, and they talked on the phone every day. Originally, her roommates had made do with each other in the second semester of her junior year. Thinking that it would be difficult to take away graduation things, they thought about using data to hold on for another year, but she was very determined to pull an Internet cable.

Otherwise, the inter-provincial phone bills would kill her.

Zhu He told her, "Since you have made up your mind to start over, you have to leave the old environment. I found a new house with very convenient transportation. It's a ten-minute walk to the subway station. It's a bit expensive, but it's convenient for commuting. There are big companies on Line 1. The living area is a little smaller than before, but it's enough for two people. After I move in and settle down, I'll go out to find a job."

"By the way," he added, "I plan to sell some things, which are scattered and troublesome to move."

She said, "Okay, I know, move over and take pictures for me."

Zhu He said "yeah, yeah," and said yes.

The whole spring and summer were spent like this. He shared with her little by little changes and painted a busy and prosperous picture of Shenzhen for her - passionate, high-spirited, and starting over.

She thought that her future was in Shenzhen, a city that she didn't like at first but gave people endless hope.

She said to Fang Fang, "I want to go to Shenzhen to try my luck."

"Shenzhen... the south, that's too far away. How can your mother feel at ease if you go to such a far place?"

Fang Fang only looked up this place when she went to Shenzhen for tourism. She had a vague impression of Shenzhen. It was more than a thousand kilometers and took more than ten hours by train.

Her black and white eyes were shining with spirit. She looked at Fang Fang firmly and comforted her heart, "Don't worry, I will come back if I can't stay. Besides, you can take the high-speed rail or the plane after making money. It won't take that long."

Fang Fang looked at her daughter in front of her. She had grown into a graceful young lady. Unknowingly, she was already 22 years old. When she was a child, she was a noisy fat girl. In middle school, she was rebellious but self-conscious. When everyone was worried that she would not be able to pass the undergraduate entrance examination, she actually knew how to "return to the right path".

They shouldn't worry about her choices and ideas. She always knew what she wanted. This guy has a very stubborn personality, like a cat. If you touch her fur in a favorable way, you can still negotiate with her, but if you touch her fur against her, she will get angry.

Fang Fang's attitude softened, and she soon joined Du Ningyang in the same camp, "What do you plan to do after you go to Shenzhen? It's such a far place, and we can't help you. We don't know anyone and can't talk to them."

"We'll see after we get there, but there are many opportunities in big cities, and you won't starve to death," she said, "There are young people there, and everyone is focused on 'making money'."

Fang Fang began to fold the clothes that she had crumpled up and piled in the box one by one. She had so many questions to ask her, "When will you graduate, when will you get your diploma, and when will you leave? You need to rent a house and buy a suit when you first go out. How much will it cost? Mom will prepare it for you in advance."

Du Ningyang didn't know why, but his nose suddenly felt a little sour, and his eyes were red. Pretending to be strong, she said, "It's still early. I've just started writing the thesis and haven't even started writing a single word."

"Hey, I also know a lot of people whose children go out to study and never come back after graduation. Some time ago, I was rejoicing to your dad that our naughty kid still knew to stay in Huaicheng to study... Hey."

She came again, muttering, "But, you naughty kid changes every day. Maybe you will change again when you graduate - you will be very active to stay and become a teacher."

These words made Du Ningyang want to cry even more. She followed her words and said, "Well, maybe you will change by then."

In the early summer of the following year, on the day of taking graduation photos, Zhu He appeared on the wind and rain playground of Huaimei University holding a bouquet of champagne roses.

He said, "Du Ningyang, happy graduation, I wish you a bright future."

She smiled at him and corrected, "It's our bright future."