At a family dinner, from the moment they sat down, Zhu Xiaocheng began her routine conversation.

Grandma Xu sighed in a theatrical voice, Aunt Du was in charge of crying with her, and Xu Xilin and Dou Xun, the "enemies" who pretended not to know each other, each had a look of grief on their faces.

Xu Jin was almost going crazy because of Zhu Xiaocheng's repetitive talking. She and the two naughty kids formed a three-way low pressure situation. Doudou Dog, who was locked in the basement, kept crying like a wolf.

Dou Xun knew that Zhu Xiaocheng wanted to send him to live in someone else's house for a few days, so as to free up space for the couple to perform. To be honest, there was nothing to miss about their house, which was so smoky and chaotic. Anyway, he had gotten used to living under someone else's roof over the years.

He had nothing and could only follow the arrangements of Dou Junliang and Zhu Xiaocheng, who paid his living expenses. The unrealistic expectations he had for his parents when he was a child had become numb due to repeated disappointments. Dou Xun had originally thought that he could just stay in No. 6 Middle School for a few months, settle down, and then enter a university as soon as possible, leaving that weird couple to do whatever they wanted.

Who knew Zhu Xiaocheng would bring him to Xu Xilin's home!

As soon as Dou Xun saw Xu Xilin's expressionless face, he knew that from the perspective of "being disgusted with each other", the two of them had reached a consensus.

He had only been in No. 6 Middle School for less than a semester, and no one near the school was willing to rent him a place for a short period of time. He had just had a quarrel with Wu Tao and his gang, and living in a dormitory was also a lot of trouble. Dou Xun thought about it over and over again with Zhu Xiaocheng's nagging in the background, and finally made up his mind, thinking: "I might as well find a hotel near the school to live in."

You can stay as long as you want, someone will clean the house for you, and you can also take care of your three meals - perfect.

When Grandma Xu whispered to Dou Xun to rest assured, Dou Xun finally found an opportunity to speak: "I..."

But he only had time to utter one word before Grandma Xu suddenly reached out and touched the top of his head and the sides of his face.

Her hands are a little thin. As people get older, their skin becomes less plump, but with proper maintenance, they still look fair.

There was a moist bracelet on her fair wrist, and the cuffs emanated a scent of soap, mixed with the faint scent of old-fashioned domestic skin care products, the kind that women used more than a decade ago - Dou Xun twitched his nose slightly - this was the smell his grandmother had when she was alive.

"Is it called Pechoin? Yumeijing? Or some tuberose vanishing cream?" Dou Xun's thoughts, which had just been perfectly connected, suddenly split in half.

"Poor thing." Grandma Xu said, "Your mother said you are very smart in studying. How old are you?"

Dou Xun was distracted by everything from ancient times to the present, both at home and abroad, and when he suddenly heard the question, his lips moved slightly, but before he could react, his face turned red.

In this way, he missed the opportunity to express his opinions and let the adults decide his future destination for a period of time.

As soon as Dou Xun and the others left, Xu Xilin rushed into Xu Jin's study in a rage.

Xu Xilin: "Comrade Xu Jin, let me tell you, I don't agree."

Xu Jin silently took out his wallet and pulled out a dozen red cash from it: "Spend it and don't bother me."

Xu Xilin controlled himself with principle: "Don't give me that crap, can I be bought with money? It's fine for you to adopt an orphanage, but it's not okay to let that... Dou come!"

Xu Jin raised his head and glanced at him: "Why, do you know him?"

Xu Xilin: "...He was the one who fought with me that day."

After listening to this, Xu Jin raised his eyebrows slightly and replied calmly: "That's really a bad fate."

Xu Xilin: "Mom!"

"Xu Xilin, what's the point of you talking after the fact now? When I asked you, you agreed without even thinking about it, leaving me isolated and helpless in front of your grandma. I had no choice but to give in." Xu Jin sighed, "Oh, now you don't want to do it again, it's too late!"

Xu Xilin: "You didn't say you were going to bring in this kind of person at the time!"

"Don't mess with me," Xu Jin said, "I've told you so many times that you should be consistent with others and yourself. This is the basic principle of being a human being. If you change your mind every other day, what will happen?"

Xu Xilin: "I'm not a human, shameless, I'm a dog, okay? Woof woof woof!"

Xu Jin was shocked by her precious son's shamelessness for a moment, but soon recovered her fighting spirit: "It's useless to tell me, this is the decision made by my mother, your grandmother. Can you deal with your grandmother?"

Xu Xilin: “…”

"If you can, go ahead and deal with your grandma. From tomorrow on, I'll call you dad." Ms. Xu Jin spread her hands and said shamelessly, "Otherwise, you can just go wherever you want. Get along well with your classmates and don't fight anymore - you're a room taller than me, and you're not ashamed of yourself!"

Xu Xilin and Xu Jin have always been cowards in front of their grandmother. They looked at each other, neither of them dared to be angry but dared not say anything.

In this way, Dou Xun packed his simple luggage and moved into Xu Xilin's house.

That night, in order to express his implicit protest, Xu Xilin did not go home for dinner, but ran to McDonald's where Cai Jing was on duty.

"This is intolerable." Xu Xilin said.

Cai Jing knew that Xu Xilin was just complaining casually, so he made no comment.

When Xu Xilin thought about the fact that he would be seeing Dou Xun all the time in the future, he felt like a volcano was brewing in his heart. He wanted to explode, but he couldn't do it in front of Cai Jing - Xu Xilin never took off his shoes in front of girls other than Yu Yiran to show his stinky feet. Similarly, he was not used to swearing rudely in front of Cai Jing.

It’s not that he regards Cai Jing as a girl, but it is also difficult for him to regard Cai Jing and the mature people like Wu Tao as being of the same country.

Xu Xilin always subconsciously protects Cai Jing. Those who play basketball with him know that even though Cai Jing can't dribble well, it is always more efficient to have him keep an eye on Xu Xilin - Xu Xilin has developed a lot of reasonable collision skills from the gangsters on the school basketball team, but he never dares to use them on Cai Jing.

Xu Xilin couldn't curse out loud, and squashed the cup of tea he had just finished drinking in annoyance: "No wonder..."

He wanted to say, "No wonder Dou Xun looks so irritating, it's because no one wanted him since he was a child," but he came to his senses before he finished his words - it was not appropriate to say this in front of Cai Jing, so he quickly swallowed the second half of the sentence.

Cai Jing waited for a long time but nothing happened, so he asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"

Xu Xilin sighed and said, "...No wonder my eyelids kept twitching the past two days."

After hastily evading the question, Xu Xilin felt even more suffocated in his chest and regretted coming out to look for Cai Jing - he would have been better off going to an Internet cafe with Lao Cheng and the others to play a game of CS.

When Xu Xilin returned home that night, he saw Dou Xun sitting with Grandma Xu in the living room. On the coffee table was Grandma Xu's out-of-tune radio, which had been disassembled into pieces. Dou Xun was holding a small cotton swab dipped in alcohol to wipe the dusty parts inside.

Dou Xun and Xu Xilin glanced at each other, neither of them pleasing to the eye, and then they turned their gazes away coldly at the same time.

Grandma kept on rambling, "He ran away all night without a trace of anyone. He didn't even say hello when he came into the house. He really knows more as he grows older."

Xu Xilin pretended not to hear and asked, "What is this for?"

Grandma complained, "The radio doesn't work anymore. I've been telling you guys about it for a while but no one has fixed it for me."

Xu Xilin: "Didn't I buy you a new one?"

"That new one looks weird, and I don't have any use for it..."

Feeling that she would continue to ramble on and on, Xu Xilin hurried upstairs.

Grandma Xu turned to Dou Xun angrily and said, "Look, he came here impatiently."

Dou Xun didn't know how to respond, so he nodded stiffly. After a while, he felt that he should probably smile, but the situation had changed and there was no reason to not smile at the time and make up for it later. He could only focus on the work at hand, carefully refurbishing the radio that had been in disrepair for a long time, and replaced the batteries. He pushed the radio to Grandma Xu: "It's done."

Old people are all nostalgic. Grandma Xu was very happy and pulled Dou Xun aside to ask him all kinds of questions.

Xu Xilin was worried that Dou Xun, this heartless bastard, would say something rude in front of his grandmother, so she took the opportunity to get a drink from the refrigerator and pricked up her ears to listen all the way. She found that Dou Xun was actually very well-behaved, answering every question she asked and showing no intention of biting anyone.

"Everything can conquer everything." Xu Xilin felt relieved. He felt that his grandma was still his grandma, sweeping across the universe, pacifying the four seas, and being invincible.

Dou Xun was very quiet at Xu's house and would not leave the house unless someone called him.

Every morning, when Xu Xilin just got up, Dou Xun had already gone to school. When they arrived at the classroom, the two ignored each other. After school, Xu Xilin had a lot of activities, but Dou Xun would pack up and go home first, close the door, and never come out.

The two of them ignored each other and managed to maintain an odd peace.

Three days later, the first monthly exam ended.

No matter whether it is a big exam or a small one, the self-study class in the afternoon after the exam is always the most lax in discipline. Half of the class is doing math and the other half is chatting.

Just as the chaos was going on, Qilixiang, who had some kind of menopause problem, rushed in and started to lecture us: "Look at what state you are in! Thirty-six assignments were handed out yesterday, and three of you haven't handed them in yet. Who told you that you don't have to hand in your homework for the monthly exam? You dare to deal with my class like this, so what about other subjects? What do you want to do?"

Qilixiang's breath sank into her dantian, and she suddenly slammed the table: "Those of you who haven't handed in your homework today, stand up!"

After a moment's silence, several people slowly stood up.

Qilixiang angrily interrogated them one by one: "What's wrong with you?"

The first person said, "Teacher, I wrote it, but I forgot to bring it this morning when I had time."

Qilixiang: "You forgot to bring your homework, what can you remember? Go home and get it!"

The second one was more cunning. While Qilixiang was scolding the first one, he secretly took out the half-finished physics paper, and without even looking at the questions, he filled them out in a sloppy manner, making sure there were words under each question, creating the illusion that he had finished the paper but forgot to hand it in.

When Qilixiang came closer, the man handed it in first: "I'm sorry, teacher, I forgot to hand it in this morning."

Qilixiang snatched it away, and after scanning the words "Yangko Dance and Lion Dance" on it, she knew what was going on, and then roared: "Who are you trying to fool! Stand back!"

At this time, Cai Jing gently poked Xu Xilin under the table and pointed backwards.

Xu Xilin looked back and was delighted. He saw Dou Xun standing upright in the corner of the classroom with a nonchalant look on his face.

Qilixiang walked over in eight-centimeter high heels: "What's wrong with you?"

Dou Xun disdained to make cheap excuses and looked back at her calmly: "I didn't write it."

Qilixiang didn't expect someone to dare to contradict her like this, and she gasped: "You...what did you say?"

"I didn't write it." Dou Xun repeated word by word.

Qilixiang asked in disbelief: "Why didn't you write it?"

Dou Xun: "Because most of the questions have been seen in other exercise books."

In high school science, the "sea of ​​questions" tactic is inevitable. People can't do a question even if they see it every day. Qilixiang has never heard of anyone using such a rebellious reason to resist homework. She was so angry that she almost stuttered: "Repetition is... Repetition is a learning method! It helps you consolidate and fill in the gaps..."

Dou Xun uttered something even more outrageous and interrupted her slowly.

"Teacher," he said, "repetition is not a way to learn, it is a way to train dogs."

The thirty-odd wolfhounds in the class were silent for a moment, and then they heard the "keeper" roaring like thunder: "Call your parents over, immediately, right now! If your father doesn't come, call your mother!"

Dou Xun said casually: "My mother became a nun in the United States."

Qilixiang: "Go stand outside!"

Dou Xun glanced at Qilixiang, packed up his things, picked up his schoolbag and went out directly through the back door. Before leaving, he closed the back door of the classroom politely.

Qilixiang was so angry that she trembled on the spot for a minute, then chased after him in anger.

Lao Cheng turned around and said to Xu Xilin: "What a man!"

Xu Xilin ignored him. He hid under the table and called Xu Jin.

Xu Jin: "If you keep playing with your phone during class, you should bring your IC card to school from now on."

"Your Majesty, I have something to report to you." Xu Xilin looked around the class like a thief. "Mr. Dou Xun was dragged out of the Meridian Gate just now because he didn't hand in his homework and talked back to the teacher. His head is about to fall to the ground. Do you think you need to come and collect his body?"

Xu Jin was silent for two seconds, then he let out a long sigh: "Got it."