Wu Tao tried to call Xu Xilin several times during the time when he was half dead, but Xu Xilin didn't answer. After that, they didn't contact each other much. I heard that after graduation, he became a physical education teacher.

It's really a fickle thing. Those who yearn for faraway places when they are young tend to stay in their hometown when they grow up. Those who are spoiled and homesick when they are young tend to go further and further away. Those who are most likely to cause trouble when they are young tend to live a simple and down-to-earth life. Those who are good at studying and worry-free when they are young... may become more rebellious in the future and show off the rebelliousness that was not expressed in their early years.

On the contrary, it was the old man who showed deep affection for Xu Xilin and kept leaving messages and making phone calls to him, showing his shameless spirit and becoming the only high school classmate that Xu Xilin kept in touch with after graduation.

During those years, Xu Xilin never joined the group of his high school classmates, watched them chat, or attended any parties.

He didn't know how to face his former classmates.

It's not that Xu Xilin didn't believe Lao Cheng and Wu Tao. Although one of them was an idiot and the other was a bastard, neither of them would spread other people's private affairs to the world. But just because they didn't spread it didn't mean they wouldn't tell others. After all, after going to college or even entering society, high school classmates who knew each other well became family members. They spoke without restraint to each other and it was inevitable that a few words would slip out occasionally.

Is there any impenetrable wall in the world?

Instead of believing or doubting whether other people are keeping their secrets all day long, Xu Xilin simply doesn't expect anyone to keep secrets for him.

After Cai Jing was sentenced, they found out where he was imprisoned. Several times, some people wanted to send things or visit him, but Cai Jing refused to see them. After Xu Xilin's work stabilized, Lao Cheng suddenly called him one day and said that some classmates had visited Cai Jing, and he seemed willing to see people.

The two of them hurriedly made an appointment and went to see Cai Jing.

Cai Jing had a thin crew cut and was wearing prison clothes. Xu Xilin barely recognized him at first sight. In his memory, Cai Jing was still a talented and handsome young man, who had nothing to do with the gloomy man with a hunched back. The young man's bones, which had not grown fully in those days, had been worn down by the iron bars into a rough outline. He was no longer "handsome". He was fatter, but his complexion was not good. His quiet and gentle temperament was gone. He had a complexion of slickness and calmness.

When he saw them, Cai Jing just smiled politely and distantly and said, "I almost didn't recognize you."

Xu Xilin realized that he was completely different in the eyes of others.

Lao Cheng didn't know what to say for a moment, so he just asked, "How have you been these past few years?"

Cai Jing said calmly, "We've come this far, what else can we do? Let's just leave it like this."

He was like a topic terminator, and with just one sentence he silenced the two people on the other side.

Generally speaking, when old classmates meet, they just reminisce about the past and talk about their lives. Unfortunately, even though Xu Xilin and Lao Chengdu feel that they live like dogs, it is inconvenient for them to bark in front of Cai Jing.

The three of them used to sit at tables in front and behind each other, hanging out together all day long, and sometimes even calling each other at night. No one complained about the other talking too much, but now they sit together staring at each other, and are actually a little speechless.

Lao Cheng coughed dryly and signaled Xu Xilin with his eyes to come to the rescue.

Xu Xilin racked his brains for a moment and said to Cai Jing, "We have saved some money and plan to open a barbecue restaurant called 'Grandpa' near your home. In the future..."

When Cai Jing heard this, he looked at him. When Xu Xilin met his eyes, he knew that he had said something stupid. He could see that Cai Jing was not only not touched by this small thought, but might even find it a little ridiculous.

Xu Xilin thought about it and found that it was true. If he put himself in Cai Jing's shoes, he would not want to mention the word "go home". There were no family members at home, only the resentful spirit of a bastard, why would he go back?

They recalled all the stories they had experienced when they were little, and their sincerity back then seems quite ridiculous now.

However, although Cai Jing looked unmoved, he still accepted their stupid and embarrassing kindness and nodded politely: "Call me 'Grandpa'? Sure, I'll go see him later, but I don't know how long I have to wait."

The three of them stared at each other and forced a conversation for a while. The things had been delivered and it was time for them to leave.

Xu Xilin and Lao Cheng had actually discussed on the way here that when they met Cai Jing, they should not ask him why he did that thing. However, Lao Cheng was a simple-minded person who could not sit still and could not help but ask Cai Jing before leaving: "Lao Cai, what was your reason at that time?"

Cai Jing still had a smile on his face, but he shook his head and said, "It's in the past, I forgot it long ago."

Xu Xilin raised his hand and pressed Lao Cheng's head back, forcing him back. He waved at Cai Jing, signaling him to come back after a while.

As time goes by, will you pull out that knife again if the situation arises again?

This kind of question is just like "If you had the chance to do it all over again, would you still like someone?" It's meaningless.

After leaving Cai Jing, Lao Cheng said to Xu Xilin solemnly: "I want to open a kebab shop, can you help me?"

It is not easy to open a kebab shop, and the main obstacle comes from Lao Cheng's family.

Although Lao Cheng missed his first choice, he was admitted to a key university. After graduation, at the request of his parents, he worked hard for several months and passed the civil service exam. Now, he has just been working for half a year, and it is said that he has become the "treasure of the store" in the eyes of his aunts and uncles. They are reluctant to introduce him to ordinary girls, and only those with particularly good conditions can see this "treasure of the store".

Now, the treasure of the store is going to quit his job and become a shopkeeper, which is tantamount to degrading himself from "the top item" to "disposal item". Their fourth uncle, third aunt, second uncle and other relatives and friends are all furious, and have since then launched a tireless persecution against Lao Cheng and his future kebab shop.

In the early stages of the kebab shop, Lao Cheng focused on dealing with the feudal remnants at home, while Xu Xilin helped him with a lot of trivial matters such as store site selection, rent bargaining, obtaining licenses, decorating the storefront, etc. in his spare time.

After working, although he occasionally had to work overtime, Xu Xilin's life became much more comfortable.

Compared to the chaos of his college years, work is almost like retirement. He feels that he has nothing to do all day long. His hobby is to go home and cook for his grandmother. He is getting better and better at cooking. He knows a little bit of Huaiyang cuisine, Shandong cuisine, and official cuisine, and basically has the ability to serve a table.

He was a little uncomfortable at first because he was busy running the kebab shop.

However, Xu Xilin may have a bit of the "busy with nothing" gene in his bones, and he quickly found his state.

He was familiar with the details of starting a business and went through the procedures in an orderly manner. Three months later, the two of them teamed up to deal with internal and external troubles and opened the kebab shop.

On the first day of opening, Song Lianyuan brought a bunch of his friends to support the restaurant, filling up the shop. A group of guys ate skewers and watched the Chinese national football team until midnight. Xu Xilin felt that the atmosphere was so good that day that he got some inspiration and simply used the fan kebab shop as a gimmick. He hung team logos on the windows of the shop. Whenever there was an important game, he launched the "Watch the game together" activity, packaging the Grandpa Kebab Shop into a fan club.

The club is indeed a cash cow, the kebab shop pays dividends at the end of the year, and most of the "ninety-nine eighty-one difficulties" in Lao Cheng's family have been extinguished under the shining light of the RMB.

After the shop was on the right track, Xu Xilin handed it over to Lao Cheng and stopped running it, becoming a shareholder who quietly received dividends. However, after this incident, he became restless and slowly sank into his mediocre job.

The miscellaneous income from his "stable" job throughout the year was barely enough to pay for his family's property, water and electricity bills.

But this time, Xu Xilin was not in a hurry to quit his job and start his own business. He had suffered enough from "poor preparation" and "impulsive decision". While doing his job, he firmly suppressed his desire to quit every day, and began to consciously accumulate experience and contacts by helping people with business planning in his spare time.

There was no fanfare or showing off, just silent thinking and preparation, and once enough experience points were accumulated, the next stage would be carried out in an orderly manner.

Unexpectedly, things are unpredictable, and before he could get everything settled, the "Grandpa" kebab shop had passed its brief heyday.

Ever since "Grandpa" kebabs became popular, several "clubs" with different names have opened up within a one-kilometer radius, inevitably diverting customers while the monthly rent increases have also become a problem.

It was the time of the real estate boom, and housing prices in the city were rising rapidly. Small shops on the street became the most popular ones. Landlords were overwhelmed by the price increases and raised rents all the time, and operating costs soared.

Lao Cheng, with the stubbornness of a young foodie, refused to compromise on quality and insisted on using the best meat and the best spices. However, the neighbors around him could not tell the quality. At most, they would compliment him by saying "your food is delicious" and then turn their backs on him and ruthlessly throw themselves into the arms of cheaper food.

After a few months, the kebab shop successfully turned profit from loss.

They persisted until the end of the year, but finally could no longer sustain it and the kebab shop closed down.

For the first time in his life, Lao Cheng felt the pain of failure. He got drunk in front of Yuebanwan, sobbing and pulling Xu Xilin's sleeve: "I have achieved nothing in my four years of college except playing games. I have never even had a relationship and was directly pushed into the blind date market... Now they are introducing me to people who are married again... Am I worthy of my youth in these years? My youth has been eaten by dogs..."

Xu Xilin stroked his dog's head and said, "It's okay. Let's make it spit it out. Be good and don't cry."

While Xu Xilin was comforting him casually, he was browsing the web on his phone, and occasionally he would say "hmm" to Lao Cheng to indicate that there was a living creature next to him.

He no longer cares much about gains and losses of this magnitude.

Song Lianyuan was a little worried when he heard that they ordered a lot of wine in the private room. He came over to take a look and was amused by the bored Xu Xilin and the heartbroken Lao Cheng.

Finally, Lao Cheng drank too much and passed out quietly.

Song Lianyuan then poured out the mineral water in Xu Xilin's cup, and the two of them each poured half a glass of beer and drank it slowly.

"Is work going well?" Song Lianyuan asked.

Xu Xilin: "It's OK, but the money is not much, so it's not interesting."

"It's all the same. Just slowly gain experience. Actually, the crescent moon is not that interesting," Song Lianyuan pointed to the slightly old decoration in the private room. "It was like this many years ago and it's still like this now. It was fashionable back then, but now... Oh, I'm planning to leave."

Xu Xilin was surprised.

Song Lianyuan dropped out of junior high school and started out as a waiter running errands. He has been working his way up to now. It is said that apart from the boss, he is the only gangster in Yuebanwan. The former gangster Song Lianyuan has now become Manager Song.

Xu Xilin: "Brother, where are you going?"

"Let's go to the south first," Song Lianyuan said, "I want to make a living on my own. If I don't make a living now, I'll be old and spend my whole life here. I'll wait for Qing to go bankrupt and go home to look after the gate. When I'm not around, you have to take good care of yourself. If you meet ..."

Song Lianyuan wanted to say, "Settle down when you meet a girl you like," but he glanced at Xu Xilin and swallowed his words: "Forget it, you know what's going on."

Song Lianyuan had originally planned to leave after the Spring Festival, but he was stopped in his tracks by one thing - Ms. Su Wenwan, the idol old lady who was popular in the entire senior community and Xu Xilin's grandmother, was gone.

That day was the fifth day of the Chinese New Year. Xu Xilin, who had nothing to do, got up early in the morning and had a sudden idea. He fried a pot of fried cakes, which used up half a bucket of oil. The cakes were not good-looking, but they tasted good when they were just out of the pan. Xu Xilin wanted to show his treasure to his grandmother, but then he realized that it was already past nine o'clock and his grandmother had not gotten up yet.

He called the door several times but it didn't open, so he pushed it open and found that the old lady had closed her eyes quietly.

Her face was the pale grey of a dead person, her head was tilted to one side, and her skin was sagging.

However, if you look closely, it seems to be smiling.

Xu Xilin stood blankly beside her bed for a long time. When he looked up, he was facing the photo of his grandfather when he was young on the bedside table. He had a gentle smile and handsome features. He was an old-fashioned handsome man.

Seeing grandma smiling so happily, it was probably grandpa who came to pick her up last night.

Travelers between heaven and earth, separated for more than thirty years, finally, they will meet again.

Ms. Su Wenwan died at the age of 78 without any illness.

All the relatives and friends came. The old man next door who planted grapes and cherry tomatoes in the yard every day cried like a widower, but was coaxed and persuaded away by his granddaughter who came after hearing the news.

Song Lianyuan was afraid that Xu Xilin could not handle it on his own, so he postponed his trip south and stayed at his house for a few days to help.

Zheng Shuo also came. After not seeing him for several years, he looked older. As soon as they met, he apologized to Xu Xilin solemnly, saying that his work arrangements in China had not been going smoothly. Xu Xilin understood immediately that the word "work" was used to shirk responsibility, and that there might be some problems in his new family.

However, he was no longer at the age of "hating irresponsible fathers", so Xu Xilin treated Zheng Shuo politely and felt that chatting with him was quite speculative, and perhaps Zheng Shuo would be of use in the future.

When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Xu Xilin couldn't help but send an email to Dou Xun, but still received no reply.

On the day of the funeral, Zhu Xiaocheng returned home specially and knelt down to recite a sutra for her grandmother, but Dou Xun did not join her.

Xu Xilin secretly crushed the hope and luck in his heart, and went forward to greet his godmother. Then he understood in his heart that the separation in the world was not much closer than the distance between life and death.

Even in this day and age when a plane ticket can take you to the ends of the earth, the people you cannot see will still not be seen.

Perhaps it was not until this time that Xu Xilin truly accepted the fact that Dou Xun had left him. He was like a slow-reacting gear that only turned once every three years, facing his own clear and long traces alone.

At this point, he was finally alone.

In fact, Dou Xun never received the letter at all. Xu Xilin didn't know that he went to Europe and was not in the United States at all. He had abandoned the old email address he used in China long ago, and he hadn't been in contact with his biological mother for eight hundred years - but that was all much later. Dou Xun once found his old email address in order to look up information for a forum account of his. He found an email from more than half a year ago. He was struck by lightning and immediately put everything aside and returned to China overnight... Unfortunately, when he came back, he couldn't find Xu Xilin.

The first decision Xu Xilin made after sending his grandmother away was to sell the house that he had cried and insisted on keeping.

At that time, there were very few low-density residential buildings like theirs in the city. In terms of quality and location, they were almost out of stock.

House prices were going crazy at the time, and he sold his house very quickly. The buyer seemed to be afraid that he would go back on his word and didn't even bargain.

Xu Xilin then bought three more houses - two small apartments of about 80 square meters with convenient transportation to rent out. The monthly rent was two thousand yuan higher than the salary and bonus from his crappy job combined.

Lao Cheng almost cried after hearing this: "I just lost my way after being cheated by my landlord, and you betrayed the revolution and joined that organization! You are really a close classmate!"

In addition to the two rented out houses, landlord Xu Xilin also bought a three-bedroom apartment in a slightly remote location for his own use.

He moved his own bedroom and Dou Xun's bedroom over there exactly as they were - chocolate boxes filled with candy wrappers, closets full of student-style shirts and jeans, childish and funny love letters with incoherent content... nothing was left out.

The remaining room was used as a study, and he moved Ms. Xu Jin's study and his grandmother's collection of old records there.

Xu Xilin decorated his "new home" into a huge souvenir, and then spent more than half a month to comfort the depressed grey parrot that was plucking its own feathers, and let it get used to the days of relying on each other for survival - then, he quit his job, left his hometown which he had not left for more than 20 years, and went south with Song Lianyuan without any nostalgia.