Dou Xun looked at Xu Xilin without blinking, feeling that he still didn't look carefully that day, because he was surprised to find something - Xu Xilin was wearing thicker clothes. In the past, he would only wear a pair of pants, a T-shirt and a coat even in the coldest days of winter, but now he was actually wrapped in a sweater and coat, and a scarf was rolled up to cover half of his chin.

However, people did not feel any warmth and he still looked cold.

Dou Xun's gaze was too obvious, Xu Xilin could have noticed it even if he was blind. He knew that he couldn't let go, but he always felt guilty when facing that person. I guess Dou Xun really let it go, so he had such a calm gaze, right?

Fortunately, Cai Jing looked up and smiled at Xu Xilin at this time. Xu Xilin quickly took the opportunity to avoid Dou Xun's lingering gaze and sat next to him: "I'm sorry, I didn't pick you up either..."

Cai Jing cut half an apple and handed it to him: "It's okay, grandpa didn't call you, he knew you were busy."

Just as Xu Xilin was about to say something, someone beside him said, "How much is Mr. Xu worth now? Does he have a wife? If so, does he have a mistress? I'm recommending myself!"

Xu Xilin: “…”

Dou Xun had a blank expression on his face, pretending to be nonchalant as he opened a bottle of iced black tea, but in fact his ears were perked up high and his eyes were almost shooting through the small coffee table in front of him.

Xu Xilin turned his head and said to the group of people who were making trouble, "Go away, what are you doing? I'll get you some cards later and add two dishes to the New Year's Eve dinner."

Deng Shu: "My husband is so nice!"

Luo Bing: "Hubby, I want one too!"

Yu Yiran: “Old, old…”

The "husband chain" ended with her. Yu Yin continued to call "grandma" for a long time and laughed so hard that she fell over.

Xu Xilin waved his hand and sent a WeChat message to his account manager, asking him to send some gift certificates when he was free in the evening.

Dou Xun's ears, which had pricked up, drooped silently again. It turned out that Xu Xilin still didn't like to talk about his family affairs in front of others.

Some people were singing, some were chatting, and the girls were talking about their respective stages of marriage. Deng Shu said, "My mother-in-law is obsessed with my affairs. She has to stay at my house and complain about my expensive groceries all day long. Hey, you say, I earn my own money and spend it myself. I have never touched a penny of her son's money. I am happy to let her throw money away. What's it to you?"

Wu Tao was showing his daughter to his brothers. He had blatantly violated the policy of late marriage and late childbearing by getting married right after graduation. No wonder he gained weight earlier than others. "Just this little brat, how long do you think it takes for her to drink a bucket of milk powder? How much does a bucket cost? Ours had to be imported, it costs more than a Ferrari... Hey, Old Xu, Mr. Xu, do you sell milk powder?"

Another part was talking about their respective "careers".

The young people's flattery of each other sounded a bit childish to Xu Xilin - in comparison, the middle-aged and elderly men were more creative in their flattery. He was too lazy to participate, and he was not in the mood to show off, so he sat quietly on the side, and was occasionally pulled aside by the girls to tease him.

Fifteen years ago, Xu Xilin felt it was terrible that he couldn't fit in with the crowd and was not gregarious. Seven or eight years ago, Xu Xilin felt it was terrible that his "secret" spread among his old classmates and everyone discovered that he was an outlier.

Later, he wandered around the dark old factory dormitory and the world dizzyingly, and felt terrible about himself for becoming indifferent to many things.

At their age, some are married, some are preparing to get married, and some are still busy with blind dates. Everyone is on their own track, enjoying the anxiety of being in the middle of nowhere. They are stumbling and trying, and can't wait to share their experiences and confusions with people around them. When they get together, they have more to talk about than at gatherings in college.

In comparison, Xu Xilin and their corner seemed too quiet.

After Lao Cheng opened and ruined a kebab shop, he suffered from a belated middle school syndrome and concluded that "life is precious, but love is more precious. If it means freedom, both can be thrown away." He successively opened and ruined a coffee shop, a Tibetan jewelry store, and a milk tea shop. Now he is selling flowers... and telling fortunes part-time.

Needless to say, Cai Jing's best years ended in a withered fruit, and he didn't dare to have too much expectation for his own origins.

There are also Xu Xilin and Dou Xun, a couple who appear calm and composed on the surface, but are secretly turbulent and silent.

For this weird group of four, things like "mother-in-law", "blind date", "milk powder"... sound like things from another world.

Cai Jing listened for a moment and laughed silently, a dozen expression lines appeared at the corners of his eyes, showing premature aging.

Xu Xilin said to him, "I didn't expect you to come."

Cai Jing said nothing and took a bite of the apple. He ate very slowly and was very careful with his food. After chewing for a while, he changed the subject awkwardly: "You can eat it in there too, but it doesn't seem to taste like this."

Xu Xilin was stunned for a moment as he did not expect Cai Jing to actually take the initiative to talk about his time behind bars.

The old man on the other side scratched his head and said, "Well... I called the meeting. I didn't think it through. I didn't expect that... Old Cai was also giving me face..."

Because Cai Jing had no relatives, before he entered, he only had this group of classmates around him, who could barely be considered to have some connection with him. Lao Cheng did not consider that he would not be able to integrate into the current hurried and turbulent mainstream, and only now did he begin to regret it.

Xu Xilin looked up at him, and as a result, he not only saw Lao Cheng, but also Dou Xun next to him.

Xu Xilin would feel upset for a long time if he looked at him for a second. Dou Xun was like a particularly important exam for him, but he performed poorly. He knew how badly he had done in the exam, and he wished he could be reborn on the day of the exam and start over again. Now that the results were out, his aunts and uncles were urging him to check the scores, but he was the only one hiding his admission ticket, desperately deceiving himself.

Dou Xun waited for a long time and finally saw him, but he slipped away quickly like a dragonfly skimming the water, and he suddenly felt a little tight in his chest.

The sofa in the private room was very low, and Dou Xun's long legs were stretched out sideways. He stretched forward as if intentionally or unintentionally, and his toes lightly touched Xu Xilin's shoes.

Xu Xilin munched on the apple given by Cai Jing without any appetite. He didn't dare to shrink his feet. He felt that all the neurons in his body shifted and crowded under the nerve endings of his feet. In the cold winter day, he was sweating all over with his hair standing on end.

"What about my future?" Xu Xilin asked himself.

He secretly despised himself and decided to take the initiative, so he went around in circles and started with Cai Jing: "What are your plans? Do you want to go to my place and find a job first?"

Cai Jing: "Forget it, I'll just have to get used to it for a while and go help out in grandpa's shop."

Xu Xilin glanced at Dou Xun and turned to Lao Cheng, "What future can I have with him? Lao Cheng, you've been going backwards in the past two years. Others have accumulated a lot of academic qualifications, but you have accumulated a lot of bankrupt shops."

The old man smiled with his head shaking and his tail wagging. At the same time, he did not disappoint Xu Xilin's expectations and naturally took over the topic: "If you want academic qualifications, go to Master Dou - Master, are you going to leave after you come back?"

Xu Xilin gave Lao Cheng thirty-two thumbs up in his heart, and followed the crowd to turn their attention to Dou Xun.

Before Dou Xun met Xu Xilin, it didn't matter whether he stayed or left, as he looked for job opportunities. After meeting Xu Xilin, all his eight hundred plans went up in smoke. Now, whether he stayed or left depended on someone - but that someone was only concerned with making friends everywhere, and it took him a long time to even give him an eye.

Dou Xun was very depressed and said expressionlessly: "Not necessarily."

Xu Xilin's heart was hung by his cold "not necessarily". He really wanted Lao Cheng to ask a few more questions for him. At the same time, he was too hot in the private room and took off his coat.

Lao Cheng failed to grasp the spirit. When he saw Xu Xilin's sweater with a thread unraveling on his shoulder, he immediately diverted his attention: "Look at our General Xu's hardworking and simple Yan'an spirit. He still wears it even though it's unraveling. Are you wearing a patched autumn sweater underneath?"

Xu Xilin casually said, "My son scratched it."

Before he finished speaking, Dou Xun suddenly retracted his foot, changed into a sitting posture that was almost serious, and his cheeks suddenly tensed.

As soon as he retreated, Xu Xilin felt as if half a mountain pressing on him was gone. He moved his legs uncomfortably and found that they were numb.

But soon, the pressure was gone, and Xu Xilin began to feel uneasy and confused. He subconsciously wanted to explain, but how to say it?

It seems very deliberate no matter how you say it.

He seemed calm on the surface, but in fact he was becoming increasingly restless... He had never been so nervous even when he was a pimp and was trying to trick both sides.

Fortunately, the little angel Cai Jing rescued him. Cai Jing asked in surprise: "You have a child? Boy or girl?"

Xu Xilin hurried down the stairs with tears in his eyes: "Public!"

After saying that, as if he was afraid that others didn't know that "his son" was not a human, he took out his mobile phone to show Cai Jing the photo of the grey parrot, and at the same time secretly glanced at Dou Xun, but unexpectedly his eyes met Dou Xun's.

Dou Xun sat upright, leaning slightly forward, and still leaning straight forward.

His mood had gone through a lot of ups and downs, and the adrenaline had not yet subsided. While his scalp was still swollen, he mustered up the courage to speak to Xu Xilin: "You are in your teens, right? Let me see, what do you look like now?"

Xu Xilin handed the phone over. Not sure if Dou Xun did it on purpose, his fingertips touched him lightly. Xu Xilin felt that the neurons that had been illegally gathering on his feet just now collectively stood up with their stools, and gathered at his fingertips, working together to turn the slightest disturbance into a thunderbolt.

Xu Xilin secretly pinched his numb fingertips and coughed dryly.

"I asked my classmates to buy this for me." Dou Xun smiled and returned the phone to Xu Xilin. "How many words can you speak now?"

"It's about to become a spirit," Xu Xilin deliberately relaxed his sitting posture. Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and put himself in a position to test it. "Have you been staying in a hotel?"

"No," Dou Xun said, "I got the job before the New Year, and I want to find a house during the off-season these two days - wait, can you...um...give me a ride? I have an appointment with a real estate agent to look at houses."

Xu Xilin's nerve cells were all working inactively in his fingers and feet. His heart was throbbing six out of seven orifices. He blurted out, "The agency next to Wal-Mart?"

"..." Dou Xun was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and nodded firmly, "Yes."

After Xu Xilin finished speaking, he realized that he had been confused just now - he had received too many orders, and when he heard the word "hitchhiking", he thought that the paths uploaded by both parties were the same, so he opened his mouth and confessed the real estate agency near their home. After he finished explaining, he came to his senses and found that Dou Xun did not place his order.

He looked at Dou Xun's nonchalant expression and almost suspected that Dou Xun was deliberately deceiving him.

However, he changed his mind and suppressed this wishful thinking.

Maybe Dou Xun was not very familiar with this place, and he just thought that since he had hitchhiked that day, it would be on the way?

There was no way he knew what was next to the real estate agency. Maybe he just watched him do something stupid and didn't expose it.

His bean paste has grown.

Lao Cheng knew something about the "inside story". He felt sick just watching their difficult conversation, so he simply organized everyone to go out for dinner.

Everyone came to Cai Jing to clink glasses, but no one dared to ask about his past and future. They all meant well, but their secrecy only widened the rift between them.

Xu Xilin could see that Cai Jing seemed to be nonchalant and accepted all the toasts, but he was actually upset... But he just watched from the side and didn't go up to stop him. Since Xu Xilin had brought the wine, he was ready to arrange a designated driver, but he had just agreed to Dou Xun's offer to take him to see the house, so Xu Xilin played tricks and started to toast and exchange glasses without touching a drop of wine.

In the end, this ride without any orders was not taken because they left too late and a lot of people were drunk.

Xu Xilin had no choice but to send the drunkards one by one into various taxis and let them go home to pursue their future.

In the private room, Lao Cheng was watching over a pile of unfinished games and singing "Li Ge" with a dizzy look on his face. Dou Xun was staring at the door for Xu Xilin's shadow that flashed by for a moment, while he was absent-mindedly listening to Cai Jing's drunken chatter.

Cai Jingdong staggered and murmured, "You all walked so far away, yet you came back to see me...hiccup, thank you."

Dou Xun: “You’re welcome.”

Cai Jing's eyes were flickering with the dim light from the private room, and he couldn't see clearly who was next to him, so he called out randomly: "Grandma, Grandpa, no, it's Tuan...Tuan..."

Dou Xun dutifully reminded, “Dou Xun.”

"Dou...Dou Daxian." Cai Jing grabbed his arm and shook it. "Were you all afraid to ask me...how does it feel to be in jail?"

Dou Xun turned his head and glanced at Cai Jing.

When he was in high school, all his sense of belonging came from Xu Xilin. It was also because of Xu Xilin that he mixed with those classmates. With such a layer of medium between them, they were never close. His impression of Cai Jing was limited to "silent", but he had no scruples.

Dou Xun respected the drunkard's opinion and asked bluntly, "How does it feel to be in jail?"

"It's not as hard as I imagined," Cai Jing said in an almost inaudible whisper.

He turned off the annoying music maturely and listened to Cai Jing's vague words, "It's just that sometimes I feel that my life is over. I can't hold my head up high after carrying this for more than a decade."

Dou Xun listened and nodded seriously, without trying to comfort him: "Yes."

"I wanted to die in the first few years," Cai Jing said to himself, "but then I got scared and didn't dare to do it."

Dou Xun didn't care whether he could listen or not, and faithfully performed his duty as a listener: "Most people don't dare, and neither do I."

Cai Jing suddenly let out a breath, and then burst into tears.

"I don't want to live," he said, "I don't dare to die..."

Dou Xun felt a string in his heart being plucked inexplicably, and he suddenly wondered if most of the pain could be summed up as "not wanting to do something, and not daring not to do something"?

At this time, Xu Xilin came back. He stood at the door tiredly, listening to Cai Jing crying and watching Dou Xun in a daze. When Cai Jing's crying gradually subsided, he sighed and walked back: "Where are you staying? I'll take you there."

Lao Cheng said with a big tongue: "I... our store!"

"Okay, get up and let's go." Xu Xilin said, reaching out to pull Cai Jing.

Cai Jing was 30 to 40 kilograms heavier than when he was a teenager. Xu Xilin had neglected exercise in recent years, so it was very difficult for him to drag the large Cai Jing.

Xu Xilin pulled Cai Jing up and was about to say "help me" when Cai Jing fell towards him like mud. Xu Xilin was knocked back half a step and happened to trip over a microphone that fell to the ground, and fell backwards immediately.

I don't know how Dou Xun reacted so quickly and caught him.

Afterwards, Dou Xun's body seemed to have awakened memories from many years ago. Before his sanity came back, he subconsciously hugged Xu Xilin tightly.

The touch became unfamiliar, and Xu Xilin struggled half-heartedly, but Dou Xun held his waist tightly and would not let go. After feeling Xu Xilin, he felt his heart beating violently, as if it was going to pierce his ribs and make a bloody path.