As soon as Xu Xilin said this, the effect was almost the same as throwing a string of firecrackers at the sofa. The table fell into complete silence, and for a moment even the gurgling sound of the hot pot seemed a lot quieter.

Dou Xun's hand holding the cup froze in mid-air.

Lao Cheng was so frightened that he felt like he was caught stealing a landmine.

On the contrary, Cai Jing, who should have been horrified, quickly came to his senses after being stunned for a moment, and clinked glasses with Xu Xilin quite calmly: "Well, I think so, this explains it."

Lao Cheng turned his neck with a creaking sound and continued to look at Cai Jing in shock.

Cai Jing shook the tea in his cup and said, "If I reflect on myself and do not shrink, even if I am wearing a coarse and wide robe, I will not be afraid; if I reflect on myself and shrink, even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will go ahead."

Lao Cheng and Xu Xilin's Chinese teacher died early, and the two looked at each other. Only Dou Xun raised his teacup and clinked tea with him - they had taken away all his lines, so Dr. Dou simply spoke in silence.

Xu Xilin asked Cai Jing: "Have you thought about what you will do in the future?"

"I'm thinking about it," Cai Jing slowly picked up a piece of boiled meat, rolled it in sesame sauce, and looked at Xu Xilin with a smile, "My body has been reformed through labor, so it's quite strong. I can think about it slowly, no rush - you should pay more attention to yourself."

After dinner, Lao Cheng and Cai Jing went back to the flower shop, while Dou Xun stayed behind to pack up and refused to let Xu Xilin get involved.

Xu Xilin washed his hands, walked around idly for a few times, and hugged Dou Xun from behind.

Dou Xun raised his eyebrows slightly: "Hmm?"

Xu Xilin was fine, he just came here to cause trouble. He was like a human-shaped tail. When Dou Xun was washing dishes, he just stood there, holding his hands quietly. When Dou Xun put the dishes into the cupboard, he followed him around.

Xu Xilin: "When will you move back?"

Dou Xun had a slight smile on his face, turned his head to let him kiss him, and said nothing.

Xu Xilin: "Bean filling, bean filling, bean filling..."

Dou Xun's ears were very sensitive, and he almost got hard from his yelling. He pushed Xu Xilin's hand away and said, "Let me show you something."

Xu Xilin had long been thinking about the "thing" that Dou Xun said in front of his bedside that day, but since he didn't mention it, he didn't feel comfortable asking. After waiting for a long time for Dou Xun to remember it, he immediately followed him over eagerly.

Dou Xun wiped his hands and opened the locked door opposite the master bedroom.

Xu Xilin didn't think there was anything wrong with the room at first, and he didn't feel anything special when he saw the photos Dou Xun sent him before. But when Dou Xun opened it in front of him, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of shame, and he hesitated at the door for a long time and didn't dare to go in.

Just then, a gray shadow flew by.

The grey parrot was quite mean and would go wherever it was forbidden to go. It would squeeze in whenever it found a crack in the door and get there first while its cowardly father was hesitating. It landed on the desk and looked at Xu Xilin with its tail raised.

Xu Xilin: “…”

He took a deep breath and walked into the room. He saw a paper box on the table. It was cut into the shape of a chocolate box and there was a shabby heart stuck on it with brightly colored insulating tape.

Xu Xilin couldn't help but lower his voice: "What's inside?"

Dou Xun leaned on the desk, his legs casually crossed, like a handsome man in a picture: "See for yourself."

Xu Xilin decisively grabbed his son and threw him out of the house, closed the door, and walked to the handsome man.

He opened the lid of the paper box and saw a thick layer of smooth chocolate candy wrappers inside.

Since the first day he met Dou Xun, Dou Xun's schoolbag has always been filled with snacks. He has been eating them since he was a teenager until he was almost thirty, and he has never repented or gotten tired of them. Xu Xilin couldn't help but feel a little worried: "How much chocolate did you eat, baby? How many teeth did you get cavities?"

Dou Xun: “…Shut up.”

Xu Xilin suppressed his evil smile and picked up a piece of candy wrapper: "After all this trouble, you're giving me a bunch of candy wrappers? I thought at least there should be a ring. Even if there is no ring, at least leave me a piece of chocolate..."

Then he stopped talking about teasing Dou Xun because he saw words on the back of the candy wrapper. They were very small and could only be read clearly by holding them up to the light. They were all handwritten.

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, it rained lightly.

I had a strange dream all night. I dreamed that Xu Xilin was walking in front of me. I wanted to catch up with him and say a few words to him, but he didn't respond when I called him. So I had to chase him and run until I woke up, but the feeling of despair was still there.

The date is about seven years ago.

On a certain day of a certain month, cloudy

There was a new Chinese girl whose last name was also Xu. I chatted with her for a while, but found it boring. When I came back, I realized that I was just looking for my own shadow in others, and I would be sensitive for a while when I heard someone with the same last name.

The date is six years ago.

…

"I never spoke to her again after that." Dou Xun came over at some point, saw the candy wrapper in his hand, hugged him from the side, rested his chin on Xu Xilin's shoulder, and spoke with a slightly nasal tone.

Xu Xilin: "You use candy wrappers to write your diary?"

Won’t I get diabetes if I write like this for a few years?

Dou Xun somehow heard the hidden meaning in his words and bit his neck lightly in anger.

"It's written in the book." Dou Xun said. Then, without waiting for Xu Xilin to ask "Where is the book?", he explained, "I threw it away after moving twice."

I moved twice, wanting to get rid of you, get rid of the past, and leave behind all the scattered traces of ink and old things, as if in this way I could run towards a new life with ease.

Unexpectedly, memory is like a hard drive that can never be formatted. After many years, the discarded book has turned into pulp and joined the recycling of a foreign country, but every word can be memorized.

Xu Xilin didn't know what to say for a moment. He felt a little uncomfortable, a little sad, a little complacent about his position in his heart, and a little helpless - Dou Xun's way of thinking was still as simple and crude as usual. When he found out that someone had preserved an old room from many years ago, he had to dig out his own thoughts and show them to him... He was so stupid. Dou Xun had made no progress in his life, just like his fried rice.

As expected, Dou Xun looked down at the ridiculous candy wrapper, tightened his hold on Xu Xilin's hand, and asked uncertainly: "Should I still prepare a ring... You don't seem to like chocolates anymore recently."

Xu Xilin carefully put the candy wrapper back into the box and closed the lid. Then he pulled Dou Xun up like pulling an onion and threw him on the small bed next to him... His movements were mighty and domineering, but it was a pity that he had injured his strength a while ago and sprained his wrist.

In order to maintain his image, Xu Xilin did not say anything. He secretly put his twisted wrist behind his back and moved it. He bent down and lifted Dou Xun's chin with his good hand. He lowered his voice and said, "I don't eat chocolate. Can I eat you?"

Dou Xun had no objection and wished he could skin it and pull out its tendons immediately, adjust the saltiness himself, and jump into the soup pot for him to eat.

The two people soon became entangled with each other. On the bedside table were still Dou Xun's hand-drawn class notes. In the corner of the closet were his cookie-cutter shirt, jacket and sportswear. Two pairs of limited edition sneakers from that year had turned yellow and were placed side by side in the corner, leaning against the uniform that the middle school master wore when he practiced Muay Thai...but the figure reflected in the dressing mirror had matured.

Dou Xun quickly stripped off Xu Xilin's coat and began to unbutton his shirt. He had been starving for half a year and was now drooling over the food. He wanted to swallow it all in one gulp, but he didn't want to eat it too fast and waste the taste.

Just as he was having a painful struggle with his "appetite", the cell phone he had thrown aside suddenly rang.

Dou Xuncai didn't bother to pay attention and turned a deaf ear to it.

Unexpectedly, after the phone was automatically hung up, it rang again after a while.

The ringtone was the soul singer Grey Parrot's out-of-tune "Congratulations on Your Fortune" sung across the Pacific Ocean, which was extremely cheerful - this magical ringtone also inspired the person recording next door to sing. Xu Xilin's shabby house had poor sound insulation, with only a thin layer of door panels, and a duet of "the best ones please come over, the bad ones please go away" echoed one after another from inside and outside.

Dou Xun: “…Fuck!”

Xu Xilin felt that Dou Xun's expression was enough to make him laugh for the rest of his life. He raised one arm to cover his face and laughed so hard that he couldn't breathe.

Dou Xun took the phone with a sour face, pulled open his arm, grabbed his half-exposed collar, pulled him over, and put his hands in to touch him like a spoiled child. He answered the call from the strange number in a bad mood, and decided to complain to this courier company: "Hello?"

Then a female voice came from the other end of the line: "Is that Dou Xun?"

Dou Xun thought it sounded familiar, but he was upset at being interrupted and didn't feel like searching his memory, so he asked rudely, "Yes, who is it?"

The woman sighed quietly: "Can't you hear me? I'm your mother."

Dou Xun: “…”

Zhu Xiaocheng came back once when Grandma Xu passed away, and there has been no news from her for all these years. People who don’t know her probably think that she has achieved enlightenment and gone to paradise.

She was more self-aware than Dou Junliang. She always knew that she was occupying the empty position of "mother", but the title of "mother" was not justified. She was quite polite to Dou Xun: "I will only stay for a week when I return to China this time. Can I see you in the next few days? The place you booked has changed so much that I don't recognize it anymore."

Dou Xun was silent for a while and then agreed.

It’s strange to say, although Zhu Xiaocheng is a less reliable mother than Dou Junliang, Dou Xun doesn’t have a strong dislike for her. It may be because she was always absent, so he never had too high expectations of her.

Zhu Xiaocheng said again: "Can you ask Xiaolin to come along?"

Dou Xun frowned and subconsciously refused: "Forget about it for now. He was just discharged from the hospital a while ago and his health is not very good yet."

Zhu Xiaocheng: "I heard your father say..."

Dou Xun's phone call was not leaked, but Xu Xilin was too close to him and inevitably heard it.

Dou Xun felt the body in his palm stiffen noticeably.

"He also has to call me godmother," Zhu Xiaocheng said softly, "Of course, if he doesn't want to, forget it. We can be together or apart as fate dictates. I won't force it."

Since she had said this, Xu Xilin had to bite the bullet and go to meet her no matter what. He couldn't help feeling nervous - more nervous than Dou Xun, because as her godmother, Zhu Xiaocheng treated him better than Dou Xun.

They made an appointment for the next day while Dou Xun had not yet returned from vacation.

Xu Xilin got up early on purpose, and went into the mall as soon as it opened. He looked around and carefully selected a set of jewelry for Zhu Xiaocheng - it had to be beautiful, expensive, and have a sense of design, but not too much of a noblewoman's style - because monks believe in the four elements of emptiness, and although they need to be materially wealthy to practice spiritual cultivation, it is not convenient to wear things that are too gaudy.

Zhu Xiaocheng arrived early and was waiting for them in the restaurant. She was still younger and more beautiful than her peers. Perhaps because she lived a wealthy and carefree life, she had developed an indescribable temperament. Xu Xilin had almost forgotten how she looked like a resentful woman who dragged Xu Jin and cried in her early years.

Zhu Xiaocheng accepted the gift and seemed to like it very much. She showed great concern for Xu Xilin's health in a very decent manner. She then leaned back slightly, looked at the two young men she hadn't seen for a long time, and said frankly: "I didn't expect that sending you to the Xu family would have such a result. If I had known earlier..."

Xu Xilin grabbed Dou Xun's hand, his back tense, ready to apologize to Zhu Xiaocheng for "hooking up with her son" at any time.

Dou Xun looked at the woman who spoke after the fact with some displeasure.

Zhu Xiaocheng said, "Even if I had known earlier, I wouldn't have entrusted you with anything else. Maybe it's all destined."

Xu Xilin: “…”

After not seeing her for many years, she is still irresponsible and open-minded. She is really a heartless weirdo.

"I talked to Dou Junliang and advised him. He is already this old. What is the point of working hard? What is there to worry about?" Zhu Xiaocheng said, "Oh, yes, I haven't told you why I came back? Dou Junliang was diagnosed with liver cancer a while ago. It's in the late stage. He is now arranging his funeral."

Dou Xun was startled, and suddenly remembered the phone call that day at the airport when Dou Junliang seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Later, Dou Junliang contacted him several times, without saying anything, just wanting to ask him out, but at that time Dou Xun was in the hospital and was overwhelmed by Xu Xilin, so how could he have time to talk to him? He either didn't answer or just said "let's talk about it later" to get by.

Dou Xun felt a little complicated.

"He said he asked you out several times, but you refused to see him. He thought you still had a grudge against him, so he asked me to come." Zhu Xiaocheng shrugged. "He's desperate and is trying all kinds of methods. I'm not as good as him in your case. I don't know what's the point of asking me to come."

Dou Xun: “…”

Zhu Xiaocheng left a hospital address and said sincerely: "I'll bring his message here. If you want, go and see him. I would go if I were him. Dou Junliang has plenty of money, enough for you to work less for many years. You can't let that little vixen get away with it all."