If you are still together when you wake up

Chapter 14 Number Seventeen
She smiled embarrassingly, but didn't know how to explain, and suddenly smelled the aroma of pork ribs, her eyes lit up: "Did you bring something to eat?"

Su Ruhao walked in, closed the office door, put the grocery bag on her desk, and said in a reproachful tone, "What time did you check? Did you forget to eat dinner?"

Xia Huixi opened the disposable lunch box and cheered: "It's pork rib rice cake!"

This is her favorite.The small shop is a bit far away, you need to go across the campus to the small street behind.Xia Huixi was a little embarrassed: "How do you know that I like this? It's too troublesome to run to buy..."

Su Ruhao helped her organize the documents on the table, and said nonchalantly, "I drove there. It's not too far."

She let out an "oh" and lowered her head to eat contentedly.The hair on her forehead fell down, and he stretched out his hand to brush it away for her, but his slender fingers suddenly paused on her forehead, and slightly frowned and said, "Why is there still a scar?"

Xia Huixi twitched the corners of her lips, saying that she didn't care, but after all, she was a young girl. Sometimes she looked in the mirror and saw the faint scar on her forehead, and she was inevitably a little frustrated.Now hearing what Su Ruhao said, she casually found a clip from the drawer, pinned up her long hair on her forehead, and smiled: "It's okay. It will fade after a long time."

After a distance of about half a meter, his eyes still fell on her forehead.The scar looked like someone had scratched it with an eyebrow pencil, and the short, light-brown scar was very conspicuous among the creamy tones.

Xia Huixi put her hands on her forehead uncomfortably, and said in a low voice, "Don't look, I'm even embarrassed."

But he gently took her hand away, rubbed her fingertips very gently, and said slowly: "That time it was my fault..."

"What does it have to do with you..." Xia Huixi took the last bite and packed up the food bag, "I'll throw it away, you sit for a while."

When Xia Huixi walked through the corridor, the voice-controlled corridor lights turned on one by one, like a clear white mist, and like white flowers blooming under her feet one by one.She walked hurriedly and quickly, the sound of her heels was crisp, echoing in the narrow space, like the long ringing of bells and drums in a temple.

It was so quiet and so cold that goosebumps began to appear. Xia Huixi hurried back to the office and quickly sorted out the documents on the table.The cases given by Professor Peng were registered according to the codes. Just now I went through them and messed up the order, so I followed the numbers on the pages and sorted them out one by one.Counting the stack of cases, there were 23 in total, and she put them away one by one, but suddenly found that the number seventeen was missing.Because she was absent-minded, she thought that it was messed up in another experiment summary. She was afraid of wasting too much time for Su Ruhao, and she didn't have the heart to find it again, so she folded it neatly and put it in her bag: "Let's go."

He sat on the chair with a dazed look on his face, and it took him a while to realize: "Well, are things sorted out?"

Thinking of the missing page, Xia Huixi was slightly annoyed, nodded and said, "Okay." She looked at his stiff face again through the light, and suddenly felt a little worried: "Are you okay? Is it today?" Too tired? What did Professor Peng ask you for?"

"Oh, it's nothing." He held the door for her, and turned to let her go first, "Just to talk about my previous master's thesis."

Su Ruhao sent her downstairs and watched her go upstairs.Xia Huixi walked a few steps, waved at him in the warm yellow light in front of the car, and ran away.In fact, it was very late, and there was some distance away, and he didn't know if the soft smile on the corner of his mouth could be caught by her, but he patiently maintained that gentle smile until the figure in his sight became farther and farther away, and finally became thin and tender. Invisible.

Looking back slowly, the piece of paper in Su Ruhao's palm has been crumpled into a ball.He opened it again.Number seventeen——He read it word by word by the small light on the top of the car, and the inexplicable smile on the corner of his mouth gradually faded away. , and finally flattened the piece of paper, folded it carefully, and put it in his pocket.

It was not too early when he returned to his home, Su Ruhao came out of the bathroom, and opened the closet to find a T-shirt.Her suit of clothes before was piled casually on top of her own, and it wasn't folded well. I can imagine how shy and flustered she was that day.When Su Ruhao's fingers touched the suit, his heart suddenly felt soft. He took out the suit, spread it on the bed, and folded it again carefully. When he was about to put it in, a small piece of paper The pieces fluttered down, as if the white petals fell off from the bones, dragging a slow arc, unfolding in front of my eyes.

On the purple-brown floor, a thin piece, like an ice crystal, lay quietly under his feet.

He leaned over and picked it up.

The handwriting is messy, and because it is written in pencil, the traces are not too thick.

At the beginning, I wrote the date and a few concise sentences, like a diary.

He read the first line of words carefully, very earnestly, and the beautiful handwriting fell into his eyes one by one. After a while, he judged that such a description could only be a record kept in a diary.

In fact, in the social sciences, such research methods are very important.However, it also requires a lot of perseverance and patience.It seems that Xia Huixi has been insisting on recording her dreams as research materials and analysis materials.

Although there was some secret curiosity in his heart, he still subconsciously took the note a little further away, as if to give himself time to consider whether he wanted to see her privacy.

A few seconds later, curiosity still overwhelmed the remaining hesitation, smoothed the paper with his slender fingertips, he slightly raised his lip line, and continued to read.

The scenes that were simply recorded seem to be vivid in my memory——

"As usual, I can't run anymore. The runway continues to extend infinitely, until I am exhausted and can't see the end. The next moment I returned to my hometown, and my parents were smiling at me."

Day after day...an inescapable nightmare?

Su Ruhao sighed from the bottom of his heart until he saw the last sentence, which was a separate paragraph.

"His face, looming through a mist, was smiling at me."

The young man turned his head to look at the night sky outside the high-rise, and the misty and bright city night scene flowed under his feet.He stood up, facing the boundless darkness, his handsome face softened little by little.Just like a child, facing the boundless sea and starry sky, he was slightly confused.

At this moment, he forgot the theories and methods of psychology, but he was just thinking——who is "he"?

There is inexplicable confusion and a touch of uneasiness in my mind.

From the very beginning, she was an accident to herself, an unplanned accident.

Now, he is finally convinced that he cares about her more than he imagined.

He knows what he cares about.

This is her dream, her subconscious.

And that person, could it be Pei Yueze?
Xia Huixi was not in a very good mood. When she went to see Director Peng, she asked around the bush and confirmed that the materials included 24 cases, all of which were in the archives of the research institute.In other words, it needs to be returned after inventorying.And she had searched through her office and home before, but still couldn't find the missing page of documents—she had never lost any documents since she entered school.

When she met Su Ruhao at the academy in the afternoon, she also mentioned this matter.After hearing this, Su Ruhao rubbed her hair and smiled: "I thought it was such a big deal. If you don't mention such a stack of materials, who would know how many pages are missing." He changed the subject as if nothing had happened, "What was it all about? The stuff you were talking to yourself the other day? Depression or something?"

Xia Huixi shook her head: "No. Those are case studies of my psychological counseling." She looked at the time and walked towards the teaching building, "I'm leaving first, class is about to start."

When I was fast entering the classroom, Pei Yueze's assistant called: "Miss Xia, Mr. Pei has gone abroad during this period, so the consultation will be temporarily canceled. Is there any problem?"

"No." Before Xia Huixi hung up the phone, he suddenly remembered something, "I need to prepare some props for the next consultation, I hope you can help me."

On the other side of the phone, Xiao Zhang wrote down her request, and seemed to feel a little strange, and finally couldn't help asking: "These things..."

Xia Huixi explained: "Actually, we also have these things in our laboratory. But Mr. Pei doesn't seem willing to come to my place. So I trouble you."

Xiao Zhang stopped asking very tactfully: "Okay, I will get ready before the next start."

The course has reached the final chapter overview, and the rate of student attendance is higher than ever. Everyone is pricking up their ears, hoping that the teacher can give a hint about the exam at 01:30.Her classes are no exception.In order to reduce the burden on the students, she slightly delineated some areas.After class, she called Yu Ke over and asked her, "When will you go home for the New Year?"

She didn't expect the teacher to ask herself this question, she was taken aback for a while, and replied, "Not sure yet. I might be a student's tutor a year ago, and I won't go back immediately."

Xia Huixi patted the chalk dust in one hand, and continued: "That's right, you know about the psychology seminar that Nantah University will hold soon? We are recruiting staff, are you interested? Maybe you can't work until after the holiday It's over, if you have no problems with your final review, I think it's a good opportunity for you."

It could be seen that Yu Ke was very happy, and quickly agreed, and said: "No problem. Thank you, teacher." Then he asked a little embarrassedly, "Mr. Xia, why don't you continue to do that program? I Looks like I haven't had you for a few episodes."

Since the conversation with Pei Yueze that time, I don't know if he has given orders there. After she expressed her intention to resign to the program group, she quickly received a confirmation reply.

Xia Huixi joked slightly: "I'm busy with work now, so I won't do it there. Unexpectedly, I also have fans."

A student came in from outside the door and heard this sentence, and interrupted with a smile: "Mr. Xia, it's a pity that you don't do it. We follow every issue, really."

The atmosphere became active all of a sudden, and some people were talking about which episode of the program was the most moving.In the end, a boy said: "I think several episodes are quite fake. It looks like it was arranged in advance, right teacher?"

Immediately someone said: "Mr. Xia, he is the one who watches every episode. But since you stopped being a guest, he hasn't watched it."

Xia Huixi recognized that the boy was the one who rushed to help her at the barbecue event. She held back her smile and raised her voice to greet everyone: "Okay, the joke is over, let's start class."

When the end of the term comes, time always flies by.It was as if the last drop of water was squeezed out of a sponge. In the short few weeks, apart from preparing my thesis, the final student assessment work was also very complicated.In order to produce a satisfactory test paper instead of hasty, Xia Huixi racked his brains to find cases for students to analyze.

Fortunately, Pei Yueze went abroad during this period, so he didn't need to prepare for psychological counseling, which saved him a lot of effort.Even so, I still feel overwhelmed.

The deadline for the thesis is approaching. She carefully studied the case materials that Professor Peng gave her. After analyzing, she felt that the project was not well designed. Several control variables could be improved during the experiment, and finally died prematurely. It's a pity.When she handed the thesis to Professor Peng for reading, she also talked about her thoughts by the way.

Professor Peng thought for a while and said: "Actually, I also feel very sorry for this experiment. The idea at that time was to set up a mutual aid psychological organization similar to the West. There are very few such methods in China. But halfway through the process, the effect of removing it is not ideal. In addition, there was a bit of an accident. The sponsor canceled the financial support, and the project was aborted."

He didn't say in detail what the accident was, but it could be seen from the conversation that it was quite regrettable.

Xia Huixi didn't say anything else, and wrote down a few revisions, planning to go back and polish the draft for the last time.

Professor Peng called her to stop, with a big smile on his face: "Oh, have you seen the brochure of your psychological assistance organization? It's a good shot. It shows all the demeanor of our college."

The old man is not in charge of administrative work, but what he said aroused Xia Huixi's curiosity. She shook her head and said "no", and asked, "Where did you read it?"

"I'm looking for it... Someone sent me a few copies yesterday. Hey, Xiao Xia, why didn't I give it to you? You are also on it!" He said and found a copy for her, "Look through it yourself, I will I'm envious after seeing it. Why didn't anyone ask me to take pictures? Probably because I think I'm old." I laughed while talking.

But Xia Huixi didn't smile, she turned one by one, her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

The pictures are well taken, unpretentious, and each picture is a scene of volunteers working.I know almost all the people above, and most of them are my students.And one of them is even more familiar.

It was the last event I participated in, and I was with that little girl named Liu Yuanyuan.Because of the good angle, I didn't notice that there was a cameraman at all. The expressions of both of them were natural, and they were both smiling. The side faces of the two, one big and one small, were photographed. Their eyes were extraordinarily clear, like a pool of warmth. The spring water in the spring, the sunshine outside the window, flickering Lingling.As far as the eye can see, there is an ivy plant with vines entangled on one side of the wall. Although it is cold winter, it is still full of greenery and vitality, and it is the best footnote of this picture.

Apparently, the editor of the brochure also thought that this one worked well, so he spared no effort to put this one in the most prominent position.A thick stack of brochures, this photo can be seen everywhere.

She breathed out lightly, her eyes stayed on the face of the little girl in the photo, her eyes were as moist as jelly pudding, and she innocently looked at the outside world.

Does such a small child know what role he is playing in this world?The lucky one who was discovered by a social charity organization?Maybe... From then on, with this photo, he changed his destiny?

Xia Huixi stared at the photo for a long time, and then returned the brochure to the teacher: "I have seen it."

Director Peng didn't answer, just said: "You take it, I still have several volumes here."

With a stiff expression on her face, she stuffed the booklet into her bag and turned to leave.

Although Xia Huixi resolutely rejected the original invitation to be an image endorsement, but now there are not only her but also students in this group of pictures.The introduction of each volunteer has a short sentence, such as: xxx, a third-year student of Applied Psychology at Nantah University.And next to his name, it reads: Xia Huixi, guest host of the xx program, lecturer in the Department of Psychology of Nantah University, PhD candidate.Apart from the slightly longer title, there is nothing special about it.

In addition, there is no commercial atmosphere in the brochure, and the group name of CRIX only appears on the back cover.The content only reflects the most daily work of the volunteers. There are records of activities in Cuixiang, and there are other activities such as the school for children of migrant workers.It also briefly introduced the work content of the volunteers, including some common sense knowledge, such as how the volunteers resolved the influence of negative emotional projections they suffered after the event, and so on.

The picture that focuses on publicity seems to have been selected "inadvertently".

From all these aspects, it seems that there is nothing to complain about.

Sometimes I think about it, is my resistance too hypocritical?Is it precious because of your own face and image?After all, isn't he just an ordinary volunteer?

After convincing herself so reluctantly, what Xia Huixi never expected was that the promotional strength of this event was much greater than what she imagined.

Not everyone will watch the show they host, but at least most people will go to the bus stop to wait for the bus.Just in the afternoon of this day, when she passed by the bus station at the South Gate, she was horrified to find that even there had been replaced with a brand new and huge promotional photo.

The self in the photo is familiar and unfamiliar, because it has been magnified several times, and even the slight curl at the end of the eyelashes can be clearly seen.She saw it in Su Ruhao's car, she was speechless in shock for a moment, subconsciously turned her head to look at him, her voice was a little broken: "Please help me to confirm, am I right?"

He took a careful look and nodded affirmatively: "That's right. The one in the subway is also very conspicuous."

She was dumbfounded: "You mean... the subway station?"

Su Ruhao smiled lightly, and reached out to caress her cheek in his busy schedule: "I heard from others, and I changed it a few days ago. Besides, for charity, the greater the exposure, the better."

I am busy with academic forums, and I hardly leave school. It turns out that the world has changed so quickly.Xia Huixi covered her face, and said in a sad tone: "Then what should I do? I can't take the bus, and I can't even enter the subway station."

He smiled: "Don't you still have me? Why don't you make good use of the free driver?"

The car drove straight to the liberal arts building and parked in the garage. Before getting out of the car, he asked her again: "Are you ready?"

She took a deep breath hard, tried to forget the previous topic, and returned a smile, bright but not hazy.

Among the Psychology January activities hosted by the Department of Psychology of Nantah University, the most notable international academic forum started two days ago.And today it was Xia Huixi's turn to give a thesis report at the meeting.In fact, it is just a regular academic discussion. The paper has been reviewed by the sponsor and is only for internal reference and discussion. The small lecture hall is filled with scholars and psychology students from all over the place.

In front of her were the reports of three scholars, and she was the last one this afternoon.When I finally came on stage, surprisingly, there was a flashing light.A security guard ran over: "You are not allowed to take pictures here, sir, where is your attendance certificate?"

After a little commotion, she settled down and started her own discussion.In fact, as soon as he came on stage and opened his mouth, he had no idea about the passage of time.She didn't notice the audience's reaction until she said the last sentence "This is the end of my report, thank you everyone".

Some people are nodding, others are whispering.

She didn't have time to observe and notice them one by one, but only saw one of them, to herself, had an unusually clear and handsome face.

It was strange, with so many people in the audience, his position was neither forward nor backward, and he was unremarkable, but at first glance, he was the only one he saw.

Su Ruhao was talking sideways with someone else, but she could see his cool sideburns and slightly curved lips from such a distance.After a while, he turned his head and applauded with the crowd.He blinked his eyes inadvertently, as if admiring and encouraging, his focused gaze was like a small silver arrow, and it fell into the bottom of Xia Huixi's heart in a whizzing way, with the tail of the arrow still trembling slightly, rippling microwaves little by little .

She habitually flicked her long hair from her sideburns, and listened to the experts' comments with a humble attitude.Originally, this was the moment she was looking forward to the most, and it was always the most fulfilling moment.But the state of mind was changing quietly, and the uneasiness was suddenly diluted by the silent understanding just now.

She heard the words of those professors, but she didn't seem to hear them. Finally, she couldn't help raising her head, and sighed softly in her heart: What did she do before she met him?What are you busy with?It turns out that compared with feelings, there are so many things in this world that seem so boring and uninteresting.

After leaving the venue, Su Ruhao was waiting for her at the stairs.

"After listening to your report today, I think it's not a loss for you to call me senior sister a few times before." Su Ruhao said teasingly, "Senior sister, shall we celebrate?"

Xia Huixi chuckled: "Okay, junior brother, I need to learn more from my senior sister." She took his arm very naturally, "Actually, I'm relieved, the hard target for graduation is finally one less."

They don't like to take the elevator, they like to walk down slowly.The corridors are winding and winding, very quiet.The words of each other spiraled down, with a clear and shallow texture, refracted back along the space, and then hit the eardrums, with an unreal clarity.

"Mr. Xia, your file bag."

Fortunately, he didn't take a few steps, and Yu Ke was still able to catch up.Holding Xia Huixi's yellow file bag in her hand, she looked at the brothers and sisters in front of her with some anxiety and stopped talking, and said in embarrassment: "Uh... did I interrupt you? I'm sorry."

Xia Huixi quietly took out her hand, and said quickly: "No, have you eaten yet? Let's go eat together?"

She quickly refused: "No. Thank you teacher. There are working meals over there, and my work is not over yet."

Yu Ke looked much healthier than at the beginning of the semester, and his expression was lively and moving. Xia Huixi smiled and looked at her back, and called her again: "Yu Ke, you did very well in the final exam of my course. Not bad. Top marks."

Yu Ke's footsteps stopped, his face flushed slightly, he seemed a little shy, but also happy, he hesitated for a while, and then slowly said: "Mr. Xia, thank you."

Xia Huixi waved his hand: "You don't have to be so polite. I appreciate your hard work and progress this semester."

The students had already run away, Xia Huixi tugged on Lasu Ruhao's sleeve: "Let's go."

But he didn't move, he looked at her side face thoughtfully, and raised his eyebrows: "Actually, she has good grades, she can get a scholarship, and she doesn't have to work so hard."

"No, you don't know. There is a difference between getting a scholarship and earning money by yourself." Xia Huixi said casually, "Sometimes, when I see her, I think of myself."

She was wearing a black suit, and her hair was tied into a bun at the back. From the back view, she looked capable and graceful.After Su Ruhao was stunned, he quickly caught up with her, and tightened the bracelet around her shoulders little by little, almost half-embracing her, which was unbelievably warm.

Xia Huixi struggled anxiously: "Don't do this, there are too many people here."

He laughed in a low voice, his voice persuading her ears, and said unhurriedly: "Isn't it advocating to be in line with international standards now... When I was studying abroad in university, I often saw such scenes..."

Her eyes were black and white, translucent as water, and she only had time to ask "what scene", when her body was pulled by a strong force, and she was already in the stairwell in the middle of the floor when she recovered her senses.The milky white door swung back and forth a few times before finally calming down.He stared at her for a long time, finally folded his eyebrows, and slowly bent down.

This kiss is not as gentle as before, very strong, and seems a little helpless.He exhausted the remaining air in her heart and lungs, and gave her the meager but unstoppable fresh hope little by little.I don't know how long the time has been out of order, Xia Huixi couldn't push him away, and listened to the sound of footsteps in fear, and could only grab his shoulder weakly.

Su Ruhao pressed her head against his shoulder, touched her hairband with his fingers, pondered for a while, and with light force, spread out her somewhat messy hair.

When the long hair fell, there seemed to be a bang, and a shallow sound fell on Xia Huixi's little reason left.She was startled, put her back against the wall, and pushed him away forcefully: "You are crazy, what should you do if someone sees you?"

He took the time to straighten her hair, and kissed her cheek lightly, as if perfunctory her a little casually: "No."

She glared at him, warning him not to act rashly again, freeing her hand to fix her hair.

However, with only one movement, his wrist was firmly held by him again.

"I like to see you like this, don't tie up." He said simply, the voice-activated light on the top jumped away, and the ground was full of silver light, "I don't want you to look so independent...with me, You don't have to work so hard..."

The ball of his thumb gently rubbed against the delicate skin of her neck, under the thin texture like light snow, blue veins were looming.Xia Huixi didn't dodge, she just raised her head and met his gaze, where there seemed to be shimmering lights, waves and ripples.

She heard herself muttering: "I don't have to work hard... Well, after meeting you, I really don't think it's hard work."

His handsome brows and eyes were shining brightly, he smiled, and lightly repeated for her: "I will remember what you said today."

(End of this chapter)