Hunter and Hussar

Chapter 17

The impetuousness of the last day before the holiday can be clearly seen in the cafeteria in the early morning. Everyone cooks and eats very sloppyly. It seems that they hope that time will go faster and the eight-day vacation will begin immediately.At least Mi Le and I ate decently, and didn't completely perfunctory.When I came to the class, I found a finger cake on the desk, which was still warm.I looked back to the back of the classroom, looking for Zhang Taotao, but he wasn't there.After a while, he came in through the front door, didn't take anything in his hands, didn't look at me, and went back to his seat on his own.

Did he go to class two?Sure enough, after school at noon, Mi Le told me that Brother Tao had given him finger cakes.

I forgot to say thank you to him again.But why did he bring me bread?We just listened to what happened to him, and we didn't provide him with even a little real help, and we didn't even say much to comfort him.

Taotao didn't go back to the dormitory at noon, and didn't see anyone in the afternoon, maybe he took half a day off and went home.He didn't pack up and salute, although he didn't have much to take with him.

"Ke Ke, how many days will you be home for the National Day?" Mi Le asked me during the lunch break.

"Leave me alone, you should go home."

"If you have nothing to do, why don't you stay at my house?"

"Huh?" I was a little confused, and almost never stayed overnight at my classmate's house.

"There's no one in my house. What are you afraid of? My parents won't come back until the [-]th. Anyway, you don't have a place to go. You might as well come to my house and forget about it. Just don't feel disgusted."

I agreed.

"But there are conditions, you can't live in vain." He shook his finger.

"What conditions?"

"Take me out to play for two days. I have been in Jiangyuan for a month, and I haven't played much, and I don't know where to go."

How hard is it to think about it?Every National Day, the most famous scenic spots in Jiangyuan are crowded with people. When the two of us go, we will be squeezed into meat sauce in all likelihood.After I said that, he pouted and said that you are from here anyway, so I will leave it to you. If you are not good at being a tour guide, you will go to sleep on the floor.

"Hmph, then I won't go." Of course, this sentence is too lethal, so I won't say it.

Jiangyuan is also considered a famous historical and cultural city in China, but I know very little about these things.My sister used to say that I lived too "lightly" and never paid attention to history or news.She's right, I've been living my life from day to day, as if nothing outside of my own life has anything to do with me.Mi Le's question made me feel a lot guilty. Except for the occasional random thoughts when I was distracted, it seems that my understanding of the place where I lived since I was a child is far less than that of my peers.

Those cultural relics in Jiangyuan are very scattered, existing in the corners of every community or the streets of downtown, but I don’t necessarily know about them.Unlike some cities, there are very concentrated attractions located in a certain area.It seems that it is also difficult for the locals to name a landmark that they must go to when they come, and if they do not go, it means they have not come.The history of Jiangyuan seems to be a part of the daily life of this city. A tree or a bridge passing by may have experienced a hundred years of time.We have long been accustomed to it, and perhaps because of this, I have not paid attention to the stories behind them.The green hills where emperors and generals are buried, the alleys where talented men and women leave their romantic affairs, the city walls and ancient temples that have been beaten by wind and rain for hundreds of years, the people related to them have long been turned into dust, and we still live in these places. Own day and night.Why do we have to know the past events that are difficult to distinguish between true and false?We are also part of history and becoming part of it.

Well, next time my sister talks about me again, just push back like this and see what she says.

After school, I packed up in the dormitory. I took a few sets of clothes and homework assigned by the teacher.Mi Le was different. He stuffed almost all his textbooks into his schoolbag, and the result was bulging and another hill.

"Didn't you say you want to go out to play? What are you doing with so many textbooks? Do you want me to go home with you for self-study?"

He said that it would be troublesome if he couldn't find the textbook while studying.The schoolbag was as heavy as a meteorite, and when he carried it on his back, he was like a bent sapling, which was about to break at any time, and he was afraid to look at it.In the end, I asked him to divide the textbooks in half and put them in my bag, and I would give up a few books that are really unlikely to be used.Even so, there are still a lot left, and it seems that he won't feel at ease if he doesn't bring them all back.

Now both of them are not "light".What's more troublesome is that the bus stops are full of people, and there is no place to sit down and relax.It is conceivable that there is absolutely no seat on the bus.During the peak hours of get off work and the holidays, getting on the bus at this time is basically a rush.

My phone also rang and had to take my wrist off the armrest, brush through a thick clump of hair, then a sweaty back, dodge the other dangling arm, and fumble it out of my pocket , and at the same time have to make way for those who are about to get off.

Who has to call at a time like this?
"Hello, Wei Wei, hello?" The elder sister on the phone kept saying "Hello" as if she couldn't receive any signal when she read my nickname.My "Wei" is always pronounced in the third tone. The only one who has insisted on reading it correctly over the years is only my cousin, even my parents are sometimes not so firm.

Maybe Xianxian will too, but he usually just calls him brother.

"What's the matter?" I replied.

"Nothing, are you going home for National Day?"

"No, what's the matter?"

"Don't tell me you're at school for eight days."

"if not?"

"Why don't you go back for a few days, you don't need to go back all the time, just stay for a while..."

"My parents asked you to be a lobbyist again?"

There were a lot of people on the bus, and Mi Le was squeezed a little far away from me, so he probably couldn't hear what I was saying.

"Well, you have to go home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, right? On the [-]th, our two families have dinner together, can you give my sister some face? Please."

Why is she still acting like a baby?
"But I told Mi Le that there is no one at his house, so I will go to his house to accompany him..."

"Why don't you go home with Mi Le during the Mid-Autumn Festival. My aunt and uncle will definitely agree. It's not easy for him to be alone, so let's spend the holiday with us."

That's a really good idea.

"Well, then I'll ask him."

"Really? That's great!" The other end of the phone was overjoyed, "Then you must come, manly man, once you say something, it's hard to follow."

"But I haven't asked him yet..."

"Anyway, you promised, don't go back on your word!"

After she finished speaking, she hung up the phone.

We had to pull ourselves out of the bus in order to get off.It may be that the bus is too bloated. It was supposed to arrive in a few 10 minutes, but it took almost an hour to go.The school uniforms we were wearing were drenched in the car, and when we got out of the car, the autumn wind approaching October greeted us, sticking to the clothes to take away the heat from our bodies.The quiet blue color presses the last light of the setting sun to the horizon, and the electric poles on the side of the road are slanted randomly, conspicuous like a row of crows under the deep blue sky.We walked to a residential area that was neither old nor new. Mi Le swiped his card, and the tall iron gate slowly opened.

"Don't think my house is bad, after all, it is a rented house." He pulled me into the dark doorway, pressed the elevator button, and a dull voice came from top to bottom.

There are elevators, where can I go?
Miller pressed the button for the tenth floor.When he came out, he turned on the corridor lights.I thought he was going to take out his key to open the door in front of him—he did have the key in his hand, but he waved to me to go upstairs.The two of us climbed up another floor under less bright lights, which was the floor that was not shown on the elevator, No. 11 floor.It may be a bit mysterious or scary to say this, but in fact, it is the rooftop when you go to the top.Mi Le opened the door of the roof with the key, and turned on the light inside the door.After I walked up, he locked the door behind his back.

Once inside I saw a half-lit overhead lamp and a moth hitting it.A row of kitchen utensils are placed near the light switch. The stove, gas tank, cutting board, kitchen knife and refrigerator are all available.The small kitchen is covered by a blue awning and ends with a very simple plastic door.Mi Le opened the door and beckoned me to go out. He came back and turned off the light and closed the door behind him.

I saw the high and low buildings in the distant city scattered under the sky, shining like a honeycomb.The wind blew randomly, scurrying across the dark rooftop with the smell of sweat stains.It's too high and too cold here.Mi Le had an extra flashlight in his hand, shining a round light. He was like a parent taking a child home in a park late at night, holding my hand and walking forward.Although it is not too scary, at this moment it seems that he is the only one I can rely on.We came to a door, which was about five or six meters away from the kitchen behind me. In the unfamiliar darkness, I couldn't see its shape until the light of the flashlight illuminated it.

Insert the key, turn it, and the door opens.What I saw was very simple room.In the left hand is a small table with a computer on it.On the right is a white door, which should be the bathroom.Walking two steps forward, two beds were placed, very close together, like a layout of an express hotel.Pillows and quilts were neatly stacked on the head of the bed, and there was a chair on each side of the bed, which probably served as a bedside table. It was empty and no clothes were thrown around.There are two tables on the opposite side of the bed, one of which has a slightly old TV set, and a row of sockets on the wall.There were no curtains because there was no window at the end of the room, just two cupboards and a closed door with a yellowed air conditioner hanging on it.

Is this Miller's home?

"It seems a little crude, but how should I put it, it's rented, so I don't like to touch other people's things, so let's just let it go." He explained to himself, and then pulled me away generously Come to the table and let me put the bag down first.

After carrying it for a long time, I forgot how heavy the things on my shoulders were.

"Didn't expect my house to be like this?" He was still grinning.

I don't know what to say.After being dazed for a while, I asked him, where would I sleep if he forced me to sleep on the floor.

"Of course I sleep on the roof, and I can count the stars lying down." He was a little proud, "How about it? Your house doesn't have such a big balcony, right? Do you want me to count the stars with you?"

I smiled and said that was fine, for fear of being blown downstairs by the wind.He asked me if I was afraid of heights, and I said no, I was afraid of falling.

"By the way, I think the kitchen outside is illegal, don't demolish it someday." Mi Le pulled me to sit on the bed near the door.Its sheets are blue, and there are many little sheep like clouds running on it.It must be his bed, the one next to it is a little bigger, it belongs to his parents.The sheets were also plainer, with little pattern or decoration.

"Will this room be demolished?"

"That's not the case. This room is considered to be an attic on the tenth floor. Look at the door inside. You can go down to the tenth floor from there. This place must be a gift for buying the top floor. You should have guessed it now, our landlord is Residents on the tenth floor. He sealed the back of that door so that the top of the roof becomes a separate room that can be rented out."

"So he also built the kitchen?"

"That's right, he even locked the roof. You need two keys to get in." As he spoke, he turned the key ring on his hand to show off.

Not knowing what to say, I patted his shoulder.

"It's very fun to say, you know? Although it's windy outside, the room is very stable. The only trouble is the rain, can you imagine? It was raining the day I came to Jiangyuan. My parents were already here I’ve lived here for a while. But it surprised me. Others used to collect their umbrellas when they entered the house, but we had to prepare to open the umbrellas when we entered the house. Because we have to walk a few steps from the kitchen to here, and we need another umbrella. Hold it up. It was super funny that night. My dad was cooking, and my mother brought the dishes from the kitchen in the dark under an umbrella, just like the people in the movie secretly delivering food to the Eighth Route Army. Fortunately, I was here, and I could give them a flashlight. take something...

"I didn't actually live here for a few days, mainly because my parents lived here. I guess the summer is quite difficult, and the air conditioner doesn't seem to work well. But generally speaking, the rent should not be expensive. It's okay to find a place like this in Jiangyuan. Not bad."

He nodded while talking to me, and occasionally patted him on the back.

"So you know why I always want to get good grades? My parents are so hard. They buy me everything I want, make me not even a little worse than others, and try to send me to the best school here. .I feel that my efforts are too insignificant to compare with any of their hard work in a day..."

I couldn't speak, so I just rubbed his soft hair and leaned my head against him.After sitting for a while, he smiled and said that it was all right. In fact, everything was fine. My parents planned to buy a house in Jiangyuan next year to settle down. Maybe they would be near my house, and we could play together.Take a shower, change clothes, and go eat.If it is late, the landlord will use water below, and it will be very inconvenient to take a shower.

I really regret that I even asked what would happen if his parents suddenly took him away from No. [-] Middle School that day.

(End of this chapter)