Chapter 53

Jiang Qihuai remembered very early. Other children seemed to have to remember things in kindergarten, but they always felt that their memories had already begun since they were two or three years old.

The memory was originally black and white, with a large room filled with dozens of beds, a dim corridor with mottled walls, tall and old iron doors, children wearing uniform white clothes running in groups, and the dean's aunt who had never smiled with a stern face.

The colors began to appear, the day when we met Jiang Qinghe.

It was a rare activity time after lunch. Children gathered in a circle on the grass to play games, and Jiang Qihuai was alone under the tree in the corner of the wall alone.

The small insects lined up in neat lines, holding white objects larger than their bodies in thin claws, disappearing from the bottom of the tree one by one.

The child, who seemed to be only three or four years old, squatted under the tree honestly, hugged his knees and lowered his head, and looked silently for a long time.

Until a shadow is cast in front of your eyes.

Xiao Jiang Qihuai raised his head.

The old man squatted beside him and looked at him with a smile: "What are you looking at?"

Xiao Jiang Qihuai didn't say anything, raised his hand silently and pointed to the bottom of the tree.

Jiang Qinghe looked over and said, "This is an ants, they are transporting food."

The child had no expression on his fleshy face, and his beautiful eyes were staring at him without blinking.

The old man smiled and explained, "Did you see those white things? They took them home to eat so that they would not let themselves go hungry."

Xiao Jiang Qihuai lowered his head, stared at it seriously for a while, and then spoke in a slight voice: "Their food is bigger than their bodies."

The old man nodded: "It's amazing. They can carry things much heavier than themselves."

Xiao Jiang Qihuai stopped making a sound, and the little one hugged it under the tree and looked silently.

Jiang Qinghe didn't speak either.

The old and the young watched the ants scattered into the holes in rows until the sun was slanted and the last one disappeared.

Xiao Jiang Qihuai stared at the small hole hidden in the soil. After a long time, he whispered: "The ant is back home."

"Yeah," the old man replied, "The ant is back home."

The child stopped making a sound and looked straight at the small hole, with a desire that could not be hidden in his eyes.

The old man looked at him with a curved corner of his eyes: "Do you want to go home?"

"I don't," Xiao Jiang Qihuai shook his head and said, "Auntie of the Dean said that only children whom someone like can have a home."

He did not show any sadness or grievance, but Jiang Qinghe's eyes turned red.

He raised his hand and touched his soft hair: "Ahuai is also a child whom some people like."

Xiao Jiang Qihuai still shook his head, and said stubbornly and slowly: "I don't have one."

"So from today on, grandpa likes you, okay?" Jiang Qinghe looked at him with moist eyes, his voice soft, "Grandpa takes you home, Ah Huai will always be with grandpa in the future."

Jiang Qihuai remembered that day, the sun was so big that people couldn't open their eyes. Green trees covered the sky and the grass was large and fluffy and tender green buds.

The old man's palms are warm and thick, and he has a pleasant and reassuring smell on his body.

That was the first color in his life.

-

Jiang Qihuai opened his eyes.

The moonlight was light and a layer of pale white gauze was laid on the floor. The bedroom was silent. He stared at the ceiling and stopped for a long time.

Two books and a paper were spread out on the desk beside the bed, and the wall clock on the wall walked quietly, with a "click" sound, and the hour and minute hands overlapped.

The screen of the phone on the desk illuminates and then starts to vibrate. The buzzing sound appears particularly clear in the quiet environment, and it perseveres in the sense of existence.

Jiang Qihuai sat up on the bed. He leaned against the head of the bed for a while before raising his hand to grab the phone and picking up the phone.

"Your Highness!" The girl's voice kept ringing, "What are you doing? I've been beating for a long time."

"Hmm? What's wrong?" His voice hoarse.

"Did you just wake up?" Tao Zhi said in disbelief, "You went to bed before twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve?"

Jiang Qihuai raised his neck and pressed his head against the head of the bed: "Aren't you going to be a holiday?"

"That's different," said Tao Zhi, "get up quickly and come to the window."

Jiang Qihuai paused, then lifted the quilt and quickly turned over and got out of bed: "Are you downstairs?"

He directly exposes her little thoughts without any interest. Tao Zhi said with some dissatisfaction: "Why are you not interested in at all? At this time, you should ask me why, but you can't guess where I am."

As she spoke, Jiang Qihuai had already walked to the window.

It was dark and the night was so dark that he couldn't see the figure clearly, but he saw her at a glance.

The little girl wore a white down jacket and a red scarf almost wrapped around half of her face. She stood under the old street lights of the residential building, hissing and hissing, haha, and kept jumping around.

She looked up with her head upwards until she saw a figure appearing by the window. She raised her hand and pulled the scarf down, revealing the tip of her nose and small chin.

She looked at him with long eyes bent, and raised her big smiling face to him through the window. The voice happily reached her ears through her phone: "Happy New Year, boyfriend."

Jiang Qihuai didn't say anything.

Tao Zhi stood under the street light and jumped, exhaling white anger: "Why don't you ignore me? I ran out of my house secretly. It's such a cold day!"

She said exaggeratedly: "So you treated me so cruelly."

Jiang Qihuai spoke slowly: "Why did you run out of your home secretly?"

"Tell you a happy new year."

"I can't tell it on the phone."

"That's different," Tao Zhi said for granted, "I hope that in the new year, the first person I see is you."

Jiang Qihuai curled up his fingers holding his cell phone, and his breathing stopped for a while.

Tao Zhi continued overbearingly: "The person you see at first must be me."

The heating in the old residential building was not that sufficient. At night, the quilt was still a little cold when he got out. When he walked to the window, he was not wearing slippers and stood barefoot on the cold floor, but suddenly he couldn't feel the cold.

Jiang Qihuai laughed: "Is it enough to just take a look like this?"

Tao Zhi stood downstairs, tilting his head, as if he was a little puzzled.

Jiang Qihuai's throat was dry. He stared at the small figure under the street light, his voice hoarse: "Come up."

-

Tao Zhi felt that Jiang Qihuai had been with her for a long time and seemed to have learned a little bad.

Even such extraordinary things can be done.

Invite your girlfriend to his house in the early morning!

She was still a little worried, but considering that it was too late, Jiang Qihuai had fallen asleep and Grandpa Jiang was at home again, which seemed a bit inappropriate.

But they all came.

The security door in front of him was opened from the inside, and Jiang Qihuai stood inside wearing a thin cotton long suit and trousers, leaning against him.

Tao Zhi quietly entered the door, then held the door handle, and moved very slowly, carefully closing the door.

Even though she had moved almost an inch in a second, the moment the door knocked on the door lock, it still made a crisp "click".

Tao Zhi stopped moving immediately. She licked her lips nervously, and her whole body was still in place, pricking her ears to hear if there was any other movement.

Jiang Qihuai looked at her with his head down against the shoe cabinet: "Why are you--"

She raised her hand quickly and made a false gesture.

Jiang Qihuai shut up, pulled a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and put them under her feet.

Tao Zhi stepped on slippers and almost followed him into the bedroom with his toes.

When the bedroom door was closed, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Jiang Qihuai walked to the desk and turned on the desk lamp.

The bedroom lights up and Tao Zhi raises his eyes.

The boy stood in front of her. He must have just woken up. His black hair was messy and his eyelids were drooping listlessly, which was a little soft and thinner than usual.

Not looking very happy.

Tao Zhi couldn't help but look at him for a while.

Jiang Qihuai noticed her gaze and raised his eyes: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She slowly took off her scarf in circles, folded it in half and put it on the back of the chair in front of the table, and then continued to take off her coat.

Jiang Qihuai looked at her unbuttoning her coat one by one and suddenly asked, "Do you eat strawberries?"

“…”

Tao Zhi had dinner early and didn’t have snacks at night. She was a little hungry at this time, but it was already twelve o’clock.

She waved her hand: "Where do you go to buy strawberries if you want this?"
To be continued...