"Brother, can you even drive such an antique train?" Xia Mi leaned against the door, twirling a strand of hair with his fingers.
"I am from the Department of Alchemy and Mechanical Engineering. My professional teacher liked old-fashioned steam machines very much. He once asked me if I was interested in writing a final paper on the Victorian Steam Age. I agreed, and he took me to visit all kinds of old-fashioned steam machines in his collection.
Steam Machine.”
In the driver's seat, Chu Zihang adjusted the instrument panel and said softly, "You should have left first."
"What? Do you like to show your heroic temperament in front of girls so much?" Xia Mi's somewhat cold voice came from behind.
"No." Chu Zihang began to slow down, "At that time, one of us must survive. Only one of us can survive to spread the news that we were attacked to the school, so that we will not all die in vain."
"Oh." Xia Mi lowered his head and played with the hair in his hand, and said casually, "In your world, ladies are given priority at this time?"
Chu Zihang stared at the instrument intently and whispered: "You are a freshman and have never taken any formal courses. You should not die here."
"Is it the tradition of Kassel College that the oldest die first?"
Chu Zihang was silent.
He really didn't understand girls, but he could tell that Xia Mi's words were full of spikes, like a little hedgehog with spikes all over his body.
But hedgehogs put up their spikes to protect themselves, what about Xia Mi?
"Senior brother, do you really want to die?"
"Of course not."
"Oh, then you really like cos heroes?"
"No." Chu Zihang paused and whispered, "It's just because someone died behind me once before, and that time I chose to run away and did nothing. I just kept driving forward.
Run... From then on, I told myself that I would never be the first to escape."
"who's that person?"
"my father."
There was a moment of dead silence in the carriage.
Chu Zihang continued to control the old-fashioned steam train, the lines at the corners of his lips were cold and hard.
He is stopping the train. An unmanned train is very dangerous at night, and he only knows the most basic operations.
As for his junior brother... he was actually not worried. When his junior brother stood in front of him, he felt that he could settle everything.
Xia Mi was silent for a long time this time, so long that both of them had vaguely forgotten the conversation they had just had.
Xia Mi sighed and softened his voice: "Because you have made mistakes before, why don't you allow yourself to make mistakes again? Senior brother, you are really extreme."
"Some mistakes you can only allow yourself to make once. Even if you make it once, you will regret it for the rest of your life. How dare you think about what will happen if you make it again next time." Chu Zihang responded softly.
"If you keep showing off like this, you will really die one day."
"It's okay, everyone will die. The only difference is whether the death is valuable."
"But what if someone doesn't want you to die?"
The fragrance of plants after the rain came from behind him again, carrying the scent of sunshine and rain.
The girl stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear one word at a time.
It was eerily quiet once again inside the carriage.
"Actually, I was very happy when you invited me to the amusement park that day."
Xia Mi suddenly spoke and broke the silence in the carriage. Chu Zihang breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time, he felt that silence could be so terrifying.
"Why?" He seized the opportunity to change the topic and change the atmosphere in the car.
"Because I thought you remembered me. As I said, I recognized you when we first met, but you didn't recognize me." Xia Mi tilted his head and said.
"...I'm sorry, I didn't forget you on purpose." Chu Zihang took a deep breath and said in a low voice.
He still doesn't know why he forgot a girl so completely, and then suddenly recalled all the past events about her that day.
It's like...fate.
"It's okay. I don't blame you. After all, you have worked really hard." Xia Mi sighed, "Don't say anything yet. Listen to me."
Chu Zihang cooperated and closed his mouth.
"I was very happy that day because it was the first time I went to an amusement park with someone. I really like amusement parks. I have been there secretly by myself before, but it was boring to be alone..."
Chu Zihang was stunned.
He now had his back to Xia Mi and could not see Xia Mi's expression.
But in his mind, Xia Mi's dark eyes before lying on the table appeared subconsciously.
He is a frequent visitor to amusement parks. In his stepfather's opinion, amusement parks with colorful flags are the place that best reflects family affection.
For example, you can often see a silly child wearing a clown's red nose on TV. On the left is an "elite and loving father" and on the right is a "gentle, virtuous and good mother". The three of them giggle at the camera and make a "click" sound.
Take a photo and the background is a colorful amusement park.
Stepfather liked this feeling very much, so Chu Zihang’s family would go to the amusement park together every year for his birthday and take countless photo stickers.
And the man who died six years ago would only take his son to the public bathhouse, drink Coke and soak in the muddy soup, and ask Chu Zihang to rub his back.
In his impression, Xia Mi was not like a child from a poor family, and a trip to the amusement park did not cost much.
And Xia Mi is very beautiful, so it stands to reason that many boys would line up to invite her to the three holy places: amusement parks, aquariums and movie theaters.
He remembered clearly that at that time, Xia Mi was both the captain of the school cheerleading team and the leader of the dance troupe. Although she was still in junior high school, she was already a tall girl. The girl next door had grown up, and she had a smile that could brighten the sun.
"Are you confused?" Xia Mi suddenly asked, "On the Ferris wheel before, you wanted to ask me why I was the only one at home, right?"
"Yes." Chu Zihang said honestly, "I didn't expect that this would be your first time going to an amusement park with someone."
"To be precise, I experienced going to an amusement park with someone for the first time in my life with the boy I had been to the aquarium and watched the movie with."
The girl's lazy voice came, "Isn't that too convoluted?"
Chu Zihang instantly became mute.
"I have a brother who is a dementia child." Xia Mi paused, "A dementia child can't go to the amusement park. He can't play anything. The staff has to drive him away. On weekends, his parents usually stay with him at home. I want to
If you go, you can only go by yourself, but what’s the point of visiting an amusement park alone?”
"We are twins. My brother was born earlier than me. Because I couldn't grow old, the doctors and nurses were so anxious that they forgot to take care of my brother. He couldn't breathe and suffocated for a long time, so he became dementia."
"So my parents said that my brother gave me the opportunity. My brother would have been smart and excellent, so I should do better than others, because my share is half as good as my brother's."
Xia Mi stuck out her tongue, "Are your parents attending your parent-teacher meeting?"
Chu Zihang turned his back to her and nodded.
"But they rarely attend my parent-teacher meetings. I have been number one in the class since I was a child, and they don't think it's strange anymore."
“In my freshman year of high school, I won the gold medal in the Mathematics Olympiad. I ran home happily and wanted to tell them. But when I got home, the house was in a mess. Furniture had fallen over. Clothes and quilts were everywhere. I would step on them and tear them if I took just two steps.
No one could see the torn cloth and cotton, and I couldn't get through my phone calls, so I just sat in the mess waiting for them, and finally fell asleep."
"My parents came back after dawn and said that my brother was unhappy for some reason. He banged his head against the wall and tore things randomly. So they found a lot of people to hold him down and sent him to the hospital. They gave him a sedative and stayed with him.
whole night."
Chu Zihang's breathing suddenly became a little heavy.
Because Xia Mi's voice was murmuring like a trance.
"They were very sleepy when they came back. They told me about my brother's situation and went back to the room to sleep. No one asked me how I spent that night, and no one cared that I won the award.
"You don't like your brother?" Chu Zihang asked in a low voice.
"No, I like him very much. Because we are twins, he is very clingy to me, very clingy. My parents can't quiet him down, but as long as I talk to him, he will quiet down."
Xia Mi smiled and said,
"The reason why he lost his temper that night was because I was always tutoring during that time and he couldn't see me. He thought I was hidden by my parents and it wasn't because I was sick."
"Later I went to the hospital to see him. He was lying on the hospital bed, staring at the roof, refusing to sleep. But when he saw me, his eyes changed. I held my hand for him, and he was in my hand.
After sniffing it, I felt that the smell and appearance were right and she was the real sister, so she held my hand and fell asleep."
"Just like a puppy, don't you like your puppy?"
Chu Zihang apologized: "Sorry, I can't keep a dog."
"Senior brother is so stupid. There is no need to apologize for this kind of thing." Xia Mi sighed, "I like my brother very much, I like him as much as he likes me."
"I hate people bullying him the most. When I was in junior high school, I took him out to go shopping. Everyone looked at him with disgust, saying who's adult was so irresponsible and let a little girl carry such a child?
Is the fool out?"
"No one was willing to get close to him. Although he was stupid, he was very sensitive. He could only grab my skirt and glare at those people fiercely. I was not sensible at that time. I felt that the way people looked at me
It was also very strange, and I disliked him very much. I didn’t allow him to follow me closely on the way home, and asked him to walk ten meters behind me. I ignored him when he walked in.”
"He was afraid that I would ignore him, so he walked behind me. The distance of ten meters was enough. I felt unhappy and walked very fast without looking back. After walking for a while, I suddenly felt something was wrong and I looked back and couldn't find it.
When he arrived, I was so scared that I ran back quickly."
"Finally I found him in the alley. A group of people were pressing him to the ground and beating him. The leader was a boy from school who was not familiar with me but wanted to chase me. When he saw me coming, he quickly said that he was passing by and saw a fool.
He followed me sneakily, as if he was planning to do something bad, and stared at my legs with a silly smile on his face."
"A few of their friends wanted to push him down, but the fool was very strong and couldn't hold him down at all. It took a lot of effort, so he didn't have time to say hello to me..."
Xia Mi said faintly, "I saw my brother in the crowd, with traces of blood and dust on his face. He saw me smiling stupidly and stepping on his face with one foot. Not to mention how sad I was at that time...
...I told my brother that I don’t blame you, just beat them.”
"What do you mean?" Chu Zihang asked.
"My brother is good at fighting, he is very strong, and he is not afraid of anything. But I don't allow him to hit anyone casually. If he hits someone once, I will ignore him for a month."
Xia Mi continued, "Then he beat those boys to the ground, and I allowed him to continue to hold the hem of my skirt and follow me, and took him home. Those idiots didn't understand why my brother kept looking at me.
My legs, he actually just looked at the hem of my skirt, because he always held the hem of my skirt to follow me."
"You are very kind to your brother."
"No...it's far less good than how he treats me." Xia Mi shook his head and said, "Sometimes when I look at him, I wish he had never been born, so he wouldn't have to suffer so much."
"If he could also go to the amusement park... he would probably be very happy, right?" Xia Mi murmured.
Chu Zihang was silent for a few seconds and said, "Next time we return to China during the holidays, we can take your brother to the amusement park."
"Eh?" Xia Mi wrinkled his nose, "The staff won't let you."
Chu Zihang said calmly: "It's okay, we can book the venue in advance."
Xia Mi was a little dumbfounded in a rare moment, and muttered in a low voice: "Is this still possible? It's really your style, senior brother..."
"Some things really have no other way but to work hard, but some things can be done without working hard, you just need to change your perspective."
Chu Zihang said calmly,
"I saved some pocket money. If you don't mind, I can take you to the amusement park next time."
Xia Mi stopped talking.
Chu Zihang didn't speak, he just thought silently in his heart.
He thought of the absolute realm in EVA, the absolute spiritual realm.
Chu Zihang has always believed that everyone has such a field. You don't want others to come in, you just want to guard this land silently.
It's like he has a Maybach full of holes hidden in his heart.
Sometimes when he was awakened by the sound of rain in the middle of the night, he often felt that he was still sitting in that car, with it pouring rain outside and that song playing repeatedly on the stereo.
No one would want to enter such a desolate and sad place. No one would want to sit in the passenger seat and listen to the desolate rain and singing with you. Just like some sufferings do not need to be shared, just eat by yourself.
He used to think and do this, and he never invited anyone into his world.
But recently he discovered that he was wrong.
Not only is the junior brother willing to enter his world, willing to sit in the passenger seat and watch the cold rainy night outside the window with him, but the girl behind him is also willing...
In fact, Xia Mi didn't need to tell him this.
To her, these things were like the elevated road and Maybach to Chu Zihang six years ago.
Just because he shared with her a past event that had been hidden in his heart for a long time, the girl opened her heart and allowed him, an outsider, to step into her world.
Chu Zihang suddenly thought of something he once said to his junior brother and hesitated.
He didn't know whether that sentence was appropriate for the current situation.
He only said that to his junior brother because of the special circumstances.
Chu Zihang hesitated for a long time and finally decided to speak out.
He whispered awkwardly and hesitantly: "I'm sorry, if I had been there at that time, I would not have stood idly by, so that your brother would not have been knocked down, and this unhappy thing would not have happened."
When Xia Mi talked about this past incident, he was touched. Just like what his junior brother said, he was actually a bit of a nosy.
If he had been in that alley many years ago, before a few boys dragged Brother Xia Mi into the alley, he would have stood in front of Brother Xia Mi with a cold face. If the boys wanted to take action, that would be great. At that time,
Chu Zihang is already half-killed.
As for why he apologized... he didn't know. Maybe he wanted to comfort Xia Mi?
There was silence behind me.
Just when Chu Zihang couldn't tell whether he was relieved or disappointed.
There was a warm feeling on my back again.
Those small and soft hands hugged him from behind again.
Xia Mi gently put her head on his back and murmured: "What an idiot. I told you not to apologize for such things..."
This chapter has been completed!