Rebirth: Growing Up Together

"What are you doing?"

"Did Zhou Zhou go to your place?"

"No, she didn't go home?"

When Gao Manman heard that Lin Wanzhou did not return home, her heart suddenly tightened. As a result, as soon as Lin's father hung up the phone, another call came from an unknown number.

"Hello, who is it?"

A deep male voice came from the other end of the phone, muffled as if there was a rag stuffed in his mouth, and with a strong local accent.

"Lin Wanzhou's mother, right? I've kidnapped your daughter. Don't call the police, or you'll be responsible for the consequences. I'll call you again tomorrow."

After just saying this, the call was hung up. Gao Manman was confused at first, but when she realized the message on the phone, she almost fainted.

In a roadside telephone booth.

"Bah bah bah."

Xu Cheng spat out the paper ball that was stuffed in his mouth.

Fortunately, I have watched a lot of movies and TV series and have rich experience. I have seen the kidnapping scene dozens of times, if not hundreds of times, and I am very familiar with the lines.

Lin Wanzhou looked at him anxiously, "Xu Cheng, will my mother be too worried about me to sleep? I don't want my mother to be sad..."

Xu Cheng touched her head and said, "Silly boy, the more your mother worries about you, the more she will blame herself. Only in this way will she realize her mistakes. Besides, a short pain is worse than a long one. It is worth being sad for a day so that things can be resolved smoothly."

"Stop calling me an idiot!"

Lin Wanzhou said seriously, "I'm not that naive. In fact, I have thought about it seriously. Apart from this rather extreme method, I really can't think of a way to calm them down and have a good talk, so I won't give up easily."

Xu Cheng smiled and took her to continue towards their destination.

Basic move, brilliant move, common move, this time Xu Cheng chose a bold and brilliant move. To use popular words, Xu Cheng was reckless, and in the game, recklessness usually leads to loss.

So Xu Cheng has to stay safe now and make detailed arrangements. Not only must he plan every step in advance, but he must also protect Lin Wanzhou and take good care of her.

He set a time limit of one day for the entire plan, and would probably complete it by tomorrow night, so that the effect and scope of the kidnapping would be just right.

And this day just happens to include a night.

Overnight stay became a big problem. He couldn't take Lin Wanzhou home, let alone leave her on the streets. The chaotic social environment meant too many uncertainties for two underage children.

Fortunately, he had established connections early on...

He took Lin Wanzhou to stop at a small two-story hotel. There was a lot of people here. He took the initiative to hold Lin Wanzhou's hand. Lin Wanzhou seemed a little nervous and let him hold her hand tightly.

Noticing that Xu Cheng frequently looked towards the small hotel, Lin Wanzhou whispered a reminder in his ear.

"Xu Cheng, it seems that you need an ID card to stay in a hotel."

"Don't worry, we are waiting for the servants here."

In order to wait for the person to come soon, the fat man Li Qiuyang mixed in the crowd, glanced at Xu Cheng, and then walked past him as if nothing had happened, and secretly stuffed a room card into Xu Cheng's hand. The whole set of actions was like an informant contact in a spy blockbuster.

"Good brother, be loyal!"

This small hotel was owned by Li Qiuyang's family. Xu Cheng asked him to help get the room card of this room, so that they would have a place to stay. And after the matter was over, as long as he and Lin Wanzhou insisted that they slept on the streets at night, Li Qiuyang would naturally not be involved.

I swiped my card to open the door. It was not a large room, not a luxury suite, but just a narrow single room. Fortunately, the environment was clean and there was a large color TV.

Lin Wanzhou's eyes were shining, and there was an indescribable sense of wonderful freshness.

This experience was so special. It was the first time that she lived in a room outside with her peers instead of her parents.

Independence, freedom, casualness, and laxity... When these taboo words for children are broken, the joy they feel is incomparable.

This is why all the first experiences in life are portrayed more carefully and lastingly.

"Let's eat instant noodles." Xu Cheng took out the bucket of noodles he had bought on the road just now, made by Master Kang, luckily it didn't have pickled cabbage.

"I'll help you." Lin Wanzhou ran over to help Xu Cheng fetch water and tear the seasoning bags like a virtuous hostess.

It is said that the seasoning bags of instant noodles were very difficult to tear at first. One year during the Spring Festival Gala, Niu Qun and Feng Gong reflected on this problem in their crosstalk "Dot Company", and only then did seasoning bags with serrated edges come into the market.

If this happened on the Spring Festival Gala 20 years later, this would be something that we would never dare to think about.

Xu Cheng took two mouthfuls of noodles and happened to see Lin Wanzhou sitting by the bed, rolling the noodles with a fork over and over again, finally rolling them into a big lump before stuffing them into his mouth.

Looking up and meeting Xu Cheng's gaze, Lin Wanzhou blushed in embarrassment, "I just wanted to try it... Mom would get angry if I ate like this at home."

"Oh, it turns out that the good girl Lin Wanzhou can also be rebellious at heart."

"I hate you." Lin Wanzhou shook her legs in embarrassment and lowered her head. "Actually, I'm not being good either. I'm trying hard to act like the person my mother likes in order not to make her angry."

"And... I always feel that I'm the kind of scheming woman described in the astrology books." Lin Wanzhou said softly, her clear eyes dimming a little.

"My parents were always busy with work, so we seldom had the chance to go out as a family. Even if we went out occasionally, they would often leave for something. So when I was a kid, I pretended to like riding the Ferris wheel. In fact, I didn't like it at all, and I would even break out in a cold sweat. But I still asked my parents to take me there, because in that small cabin, no one in our family would suddenly leave..."

Xu Cheng stretched out his finger and gently scratched the tip of her nose. "Don't think like that. Be gentle to yourself. You are just a child of the universe, no different from plants and stars."

Lin Wanzhou raised his head and looked at Xu Cheng, his eyes were like a pool of clear water without a trace of impurities.

"Xu Cheng always speaks encouraging words like an adult."

"It's not me who said that. It's from Max Elman's book," Xu Cheng explained.

“But I love this quote!”

In fact, Lin Wanzhou has a bit of a people-pleasing personality. Because she is afraid of losing, she always tries hard to meet her parents' expectations of her.

Like eating etiquette, speaking etiquette, studying hard, serving as class leaders...

In fact, she may not really like doing these things in her heart. She is just like a girl carefully picking up shells on the beach, afraid of losing everything.

Listening to Lin Wanzhou's confession, Xu Cheng couldn't help but touch her hair, "Don't make yourself so tired all the time, at least I will always be here." Looking at Lin Wanzhou's crystal eyes, he said softly, "Have you forgotten that we said we would grow up together? I will always be by your side."

"What if I make you angry?"

"Then I'll spank you."

"Disgusting~"

After a busy day, both of them were very tired. They turned off the lights and lay on the bed. Lin Wanzhou talked to herself incessantly, and soon she fell asleep beside Xu Cheng because of sleepiness.

The room fell silent. Xu Cheng could clearly hear her breathing, and the air she exhaled hit his body, wet and hot.

"Dong dong dong."

Such silence was broken.

The room was not soundproofed and noises could be heard from upstairs, the sound of gongs and drums, accompanied by the chirping of beautiful women, mixed with the panting of people who had done heavy work.

Lin Wanzhou was awakened at some point. After listening for a long time, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Xu Cheng, what are they doing? What's that noise?"

Xu Cheng coughed lightly, "They should be...cutting trees."

"Cutting down trees?" Lin Wanzhou exclaimed in surprise. An image of a man and a woman holding axes and chopping down trees appeared in his mind. It really matched the image.

The two men stopped talking, and the man upstairs seemed to be tired of chopping wood, so he took a break for a while. But it was quiet for only a few minutes, and then the sound of machines was heard again.

“Now it’s time to use a chainsaw!”

Lin Wanzhou said with great confidence.

Chapter 30 I Want a Coke

"Xu Cheng, what are we going to do today?" Lin Wanzhou rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Go rent a camera first and take some pictures to send to your parents."

As Xu Cheng spoke, he gritted his teeth and rubbed his arms, which felt tingling as if they were electrified.

Because the bed was not too big, and Lin Wanzhou had bad sleeping habits and was always moving around, he somehow ended up falling on Xu Cheng's arm.

"This is so painful..." Xu Cheng shook his arms vigorously a few times and complained, "You often pressed my arms during nap time in kindergarten."

Lin Wanzhou stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, "I didn't mean it..."

The two children walked along the street where the hotel was located and found the "Hongying Photo Studio". Like many traditional photo studios of that era, the store was very small, with some sample photos posted at the door for display, including class reunions, family portraits, travel photos...

Xu Cheng rented an old Fuji digital camera, and the owner asked him curiously.

"Will it work?"

"My dad knows how to do it. I rented it for him."

Xu Cheng once again passed the blame to Xu Jianghe. He put away his camera and was about to leave when Lin Wanzhou gently tugged at the corner of his clothes.

"Xu Cheng, let's play this." She said, pointing to a big pink machine in front.

This is called a photo booth machine. It was once all the rage and is a memory of youth for many people born in the 80s and 90s.

When the curtain was drawn, with the "Shamatte" background picture and shape, and funny or cute scissors hands gestures, it was as cool as it could be. However, it ended very quickly, and almost overnight it was no longer seen on the streets.

"Do you want to play?"

"We haven't taken a photo together yet!"

Xu Cheng thought for a moment, "Isn't it the kindergarten graduation photo?"

"That doesn't count!" Lin Wanzhou said angrily.

"OK then."

Xu Cheng fulfilled her long-cherished wish and paid the owner to sit in.

The curtain was drawn, blocking most of the outside light. The two people looked at each other, their faces glowing with the fluorescent light of the electronic screen.

Lin Wanzhou rummaged through the storage box and found a very beautiful pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, which happened to be her favorite color pink. She put them on happily.

"How do you wear this?"

"Ah? Is there a charge for this?"

"No, I just think it looks cute on you."

"whee."

Lin Wanzhou adjusted his sunglasses and showed a cool expression.

After taking the portrait, it was time for today's real shooting task. Xu Cheng wanted to find a background like an abandoned factory site, just like in the movies.

But until Lin Wanzhou said with a bitter face that he could not walk anymore, he still did not find it. He only found an abandoned van in a remote woods next to the park. The door of the van had been welded and could not be closed, and there was a strong smell of engine oil around the car.

"Right here, I'll tie you up and take some pictures, get in the car."

"Oh, then help me take down my schoolbag."

Xu Cheng carried her little cherry blossom backpack on her shoulders, Lin Wanzhou gently climbed in through the car door, and sat down on the worn-out seat.

"what!"

Lin Wanzhou, who had just sat down, seemed to have seen something terrifying. He jumped out of the car in fear and threw himself into Xu Cheng's arms.

"Xu, Xu Cheng... there's a pig here!"

"Where are the pigs?"

"What are you talking about? It's a spider!"

Lin Wanzhou is very afraid of insects and mice, which may be inherited from her mother. Xu Cheng once saw Gao Manman fainted because of being scared by a mouse.

"It's far away from you, still at the steering wheel. If you're really scared, I'll cover your eyes for you."

Lin Wanzhou gradually calmed down and realized that she was actually hugging Xu Cheng. She quickly let go of her hands and looked down shyly.

It seemed as if all the blood in my body was concentrated in my face, making it feel hot.

"Are you okay, Lin Wanzhou?" Xu Cheng stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Lin Wanzhou.

"No, it's okay..." She stammered to explain to Xu Cheng, "I'm not that timid... I just felt scared when I saw it suddenly..."

"Eh? Why is your face so red?"

Xu Cheng asked with concern, reaching out and touching her forehead, "It's so hot, don't tell me you have a fever."

"No, no!"

Lin Wanzhou put his hands on his waist and said with great momentum.

"Shall we continue filming?"

Lin Wanzhou hesitated for a few seconds, finally took a deep breath, and said "hmm" with a firm look in his eyes.