Wu Tao tried to call Xu Xilin several times when he was half-dead, but Xu Xilin didn't answer the phone. After that, he didn't keep in touch much. He heard that he was going to work as a physical education teacher after graduation.

It’s also a funny thing. Those who yearned for distant places when they were young tend to stay in the local area when they grow up. Those who pampered and loved their families as children will go further and further away. Those who are the most trouble-making as children often live a simple and down-to-earth life. Those who study well when they are young,

What makes people worry...maybe they will intensify their efforts to regain those rebellious qualities that were not expressed in the early years.

On the contrary, he grew up in love with him and continued to leave messages and phone calls to Xu Xilin. He used his shameless spirit and became the only high school classmate Xu Xilin had contact with after graduation.

In those years, Xu Xilin never went to groups with his high school classmates, never watched them chat, and never attended any gatherings.

He didn't know how to face his former classmates.

It's not that Xu Xilin doesn't believe in Lao Cheng and Wu Tao. Although those two people are two hundred and fifty and a bastard, they will not publicize other people's private affairs to the world. But if they don't publicize it, it doesn't mean they won't tell others. After all, after going to college or even

After leaving the society, the middle school classmates who knew each other well became their own people, and they talked to each other freely, and it was inevitable that a few words would slip out occasionally.

Where in the world is there a wall that is airtight?

Rather than believing or suspecting that others were telling the truth all day long, Xu Xilin simply didn't expect anyone to keep his secrets for him.

After Cai Jing was sentenced, they tried to find out where he was being held. Several times someone wanted to send something to him, but Cai Jing refused to see him. After Xu Xilin's job stabilized, one day Lao Cheng called him.

He said that some classmates went to see Cai Jing and he seemed to be willing to meet people.

The two people hurriedly made an appointment to visit Cai Jing.

Cai Jing had a thin crew cut and was wearing a prison uniform. Xu Xilin almost didn't recognize him at first glance - the Cai Jing that stayed in his memory was still a talented and handsome young man, not half the same as the somewhat hunched and gloomy man in front of him.

It has nothing to do with it. Some of the bones that the boy had not grown back then have been sharpened by the iron window into a rough outline, which has nothing to do with the word "comely". He has also gained weight, but his complexion is not good. The quiet and gentle temperament of that year is no longer

Nothing was left of him, and a certain smoothness and composure with complex components precipitated on him.

When he met them, Cai Jing just smiled politely and distantly and said, "I almost didn't recognize them."

Xu Xilin knew that he was completely different in other people's eyes.

Lao Cheng didn't know what to say for a moment, so he had no choice but to ask: "How have you been these past few years?"

Cai Jing said calmly: "Now that we are here, what else can we do? Just like that."

He was like a topic terminator, silencing the two people opposite him with one sentence.

Even if they meet old classmates, it is nothing more than reminiscing about the past and communicating about their respective lives. Unfortunately, even if Xu Xilin and Lao Chengdu feel that they live like dogs, it is inconvenient for them to bark in front of Cai Jing.

The three of them used to sit at the front and back tables, hanging out all day long, and sometimes even calling each other at night. No one thought that anyone talked too much. Now they sit together with big eyes and small eyes, looking at each other, and they are actually a little speechless.

Lao Cheng coughed dryly and signaled Xu Xilin to come to the rescue with his eyes.

Xu Xilin rummaged for a while and said to Cai Jing: "We have saved some money and plan to open a kebab shop called 'Grandpa', which will be near your home. In the future..."

When Cai Jing heard this, he glanced at him. As soon as Xu Xilin met his eyes, he knew that he had said something stupid. He could see that Cai Jing was not only unmoved by this small thought, but he might also feel a little bit amused.

.

Xu Xilin thought about it again and found that it was indeed the case. If he and Cai Jing were to change places, he would not want to mention the word "go home". There is no family at home, only the resentful spirit of a bastard, so why go back?

?

When they were young, they also remembered how sincere it was when it came out, but now it seems that it is actually quite ridiculous.

However, although Cai Jing looked untouched, he still accepted their stupid and embarrassing kindness and nodded politely: "Can you call me 'Grandpa'? Okay, I'll go check it out later, but I don't know what to expect."

It's time."

The three of them chatted for a while, staring at each other. After the things were delivered, they had to leave.

Xu Xilin and Lao Cheng actually discussed it on the way here. When they met Cai Jing, they should not ask him why he did what he did. However, Lao Cheng was a person with no ambitions and couldn't sit still. After all, he couldn't hold it back and asked more questions before leaving.

Cai Jing said: "Old Cai, what was your reason at that time?"

Cai Jing still had a smile on his face, shook his head, but said: "It's over, I've long forgotten."

Xu Xilin raised his hand and pressed the back of Lao Cheng's head, pressing his head and forcing him back. He waved to Cai Jing, indicating that he would come back after a while.

Time has passed, will you pull out that knife again?

This kind of question is as meaningless as "if you could do it over again, would you still like someone?"

After leaving Cai Jingna, Lao Cheng solemnly said to Xu Xilin: "I want to open a kebab shop, can you help me?"

It is not easy to open a kebab shop. The main resistance comes from the old family.

Although Lao Cheng missed out on his first choice, he also got a good degree. After graduation, at the request of his parents, he worked hard for several months and got admitted as a civil servant. It was only half a year after he joined the job, and it is said that he has already transformed into a civil servant.

The "grand prize" in the hands of his family's three aunts and six wives are not willing to introduce it to ordinary girls when they meet. You have to have particularly good conditions to meet this "treasure of the store".

Now, the treasure of the store actually wants to quit his job and work as a shopping cart, which is equivalent to devaluing himself from the "final product" to the "disposal product". The family's fourth uncle, three mothers and two uncles and other relatives and friends have collectively exploded and committed suicide.

This launched a tireless persecution against Lao Cheng and his future kebab shop.

In the preliminary work of the kebab shop, Lao Cheng focused on dealing with the feudal remnants of his family. Xu Xilin spent his spare time helping him with a lot of trivial matters such as choosing a store location, negotiating rent, obtaining a license, decorating the storefront, etc.

After working, although he occasionally worked overtime, Xu Xilin's life became much more comfortable.

Compared with the chaos of the war in his college days, working was almost like providing for old age. He felt that he had nothing to do all day long. His hobby was to go home and cook for his grandma. He was doing more and more decent dishes, including Huaiyang cuisine, Shandong cuisine, and government cuisine.

I know how to cook a little bit, and I basically have the ability to hold up a table.

Being busy with the skewers shop, he was a little uncomfortable with it at first.

However, Xu Xilin may have a bit of a "busy with nothing" factor in his heart, and he quickly found his groove.

He was familiar with the trivial matters of starting a business, and the procedures were carried out in an orderly manner. Three months later, the two of them jointly dealt with internal and external troubles and opened a kebab shop.

On the first day of opening, Song Lianyuan came over with a large group of young men to support him, and the shop was packed to the brim. A group of men ate skewers while watching the national football team, and they were noisy until midnight. Xu Xilin felt that the atmosphere that day was so good that he got some inspiration.

They simply used the fans’ skewers shop as a gimmick and hung the team’s logos on the windows of the shop. Whenever there was an important game, they launched a “Watch the Football Together” campaign and packaged Grandpa’s skewers shop into a fan club.

The club is indeed a money-spinner, the skewers shop pays dividends at the end of the year, and most of the "9981" people in Lao Cheng's family have shut down under the light of the RMB.

After the shop got on the right track, Xu Xilin left it to Lao Cheng and turned his back on him, becoming a shareholder who quietly took dividends. However, after this battle, he became a little uneasy and slowly sank into a mediocre job.

His "stable" job, combined with the scattered income throughout the year, is barely enough for his family to pay the property's water and electricity bills.

But this time, Xu Xilin was not in a hurry to resign and go to work. He had suffered enough from "lack of preparation" and "impulsive decisions". While doing his job, he firmly suppressed his desire to resign every day.

I started by slowly helping people with business planning in my spare time and began to consciously accumulate experience and connections.

There was no publicity or showing off, it was all about silent thinking and preparation. Once you have accumulated enough experience points, you can proceed to the next stage in an orderly manner.

Unexpectedly, things are unpredictable, and before he could finish his business, the "Grandpa" skewers shop had passed its short period of glory.

Since "Grandpa" skewers became popular, several "clubs" with different names have been opened within a radius of one kilometer, which inevitably diverted the customer flow and at the same time, the rising rent every month has also become a problem.

It happened to be a real estate boom at that time. Housing prices in urban areas were soaring. Small shops on the street became the most popular ones. Landlords were overwhelmed by the price increases and came to raise rents all day long. Operating costs skyrocketed.

.

However, Lao Cheng, with the stubbornness of a young foodie, refused to compromise on quality at all and insisted on using the best meat and the best spices. However, the neighbors around him could not tell the difference between the quality and quality of the food. At most, they would say "Your food is of good quality".

"It's delicious", and then ruthlessly fall into the arms of a cheaper one.

After a few months, the skewers shop successfully turned a profit into a loss.

I persisted like this until the end of the year, but finally it was still unsustainable, and the kebab shop, which was operating poorly, closed its doors.

For the first time in his life, Lao Cheng experienced the pain of failure. He got drunk on the moon and cried so hard that he tugged on Xu Xilin's sleeves: "In my four years of college, I have achieved nothing except playing games. I haven't even achieved anything.

I have never been in love before, so I was directly rushed into the blind date market...Now they are starting to introduce me to second marriages...I, am I worthy of my youth these past few years? My youth has been eaten by dogs..."

Xu Xilin stroked his dog's head: "It's okay, let's let him spit it out. Be good, don't cry anymore."

Xu Xilin comforted him casually while browsing the web on his mobile phone. From time to time, he said "hmm" to Lao Cheng, indicating that there was a living creature next to him.

He has become very indifferent to gains and losses of this level.

Song Lianyuan was a little worried when he heard that they had ordered a lot of wine in their private room. When he came over to take a look, he was amused by the bored Xu Xilin and the heart-rending Lao Cheng.

Finally, Lao Cheng drank so much that he broke his tablets and lay down quietly.

Song Lianyuan then poured the mineral water from Xu Xilin's cup, and the two of them each poured half a cup of beer and drank slowly.

"Is the work going well?" Song Lianyuan asked.

Xu Xilin: "It's okay, but the money is not much and it's not interesting."

"It's all the same, just take your time to gain qualifications. In fact, the crooked moon is not interesting," Song Lianyuan raised his hand and pointed at the slightly outdated decoration in the private room, "It was like this many years ago, and it is still like this now. It was fashionable back then, but now...

…Oh, I’m planning to leave.”

Xu Xilin was surprised.

Song Lianyuan dropped out of junior high school, started working as an errand boy, and has been working as a waiter until now. It is said that besides the boss in Yuebanwan, he is the one who was the big gangster back then. Song Lianyuan has become Manager Song.

Xu Xilin: "Brother, where are you going?"

"Let's go to the south first," Song Lianyuan said. "I want to make a living on my own. If I don't break in, I'll get old. I'll be here all my life, waiting to go bankrupt and go home to look after the gate. In the future, if my brother is gone, you have to take good care of yourself.

meet……"

Song Lianyuan wanted to say, "I'll settle down when I meet a cute girl," but he glanced at Xu Xilin and swallowed his words: "Forget it, you know what you are doing."

Song Lianyuan originally planned to leave after the Spring Festival, but he couldn't leave because he was stopped by one thing - Ms. Su Wenwan, the idol old lady who was popular in the elderly community and Xu Xilin's grandmother, was gone.

That day happened to be the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Xu Xilin, who had nothing to do, got up early in the morning and had a sudden idea. He fried a pot of pancakes, which ruined half a barrel of oil. The pancakes didn't look good, but they tasted good when they came out of the pan. Xu Xilin wanted to present a treasure to his grandmother.

Only then did I realize that it was past nine o'clock and grandma still hadn't gotten up.

He called several times and the door didn't open, so he pushed the door open and went in. He found that the old lady had quietly closed her eyes.

Her face was the color of death, her head was tilted to one side, and her skin was sagging.

However, upon closer inspection, he seems to be smiling.

Xu Xilin stood blankly beside her bed for a long time. When he raised his head, he saw the photo of his grandfather when he was young on the bedside table. He had a gentle smile and handsome features. He was an old-fashioned handsome man.

Seeing grandma smiling so happily, grandpa probably came to pick her up in person last night.

Travelers between heaven and earth, separated for more than thirty years, finally meet again.

Ms. Su Wenwan died at the age of seventy-eight without any illness.

Relatives and friends all came. The old man next door, who planted grapes and tomatoes in the yard every day, cried like a widower. His granddaughter, who came after hearing the news, coaxed and persuaded her away.

Song Lianyuan was afraid that Xu Xilin would not be able to handle it on his own, so he postponed his trip south and stayed at his house for a few days to help.

Zheng Shuo also came. After not seeing each other for several years, Zheng Shuo saw his old age. When they met, he solemnly apologized to Xu Xilin, saying that his arrangements for returning to work in China had not been smooth. Xu Xilin understood it as soon as he heard it, and knew that the word "work" means

The excuse was probably because his new family had some problems.

However, he has passed the age of "hating irresponsible fathers". Xu Xilin received Zheng Shuo politely and felt that chatting with him was quite opportunistic. Zheng Shuo might be useful in the future.

In the dead of night, Xu Xilin couldn't help but send an email to Dou Xun, but there was still no reply.

On the day of the funeral, Zhu Xiaocheng returned home specially and knelt down to read a sutra to his grandmother, but Dou Xun did not come with her.

Xu Xilin secretly crushed the expectations and luck in his heart, and went up to greet his godmother. Then he understood in his heart that separation in the world is not much closer than the distance between life and death.

Even in today's era when one can fly to the ends of the earth with a single ticket, people who cannot be seen are still invisible.

Maybe it was only then that Xu Xilin truly accepted the fact that Dou Xun had left him. He was really like a slow-responsive gear that only took three years to turn, facing his clear and long traces alone.

At this point, he was finally alone.

In fact, Dou Xun didn't receive the letter at all. Xu Xilin didn't know that he went to Europe and was not in the United States at all. The old mailbox he used in China had long been abandoned, and he had no contact with his biological mother eight hundred years ago——

But that was all very later. Dou Xun once looked up his old mailbox in order to look up information for a forum account he had, and found emails from more than half a year ago. At that time, he felt like he was struck by lightning, and immediately put everything aside, overnight.

Returning to China...it's a pity that Xu Xilin can't be found when he comes back.

The first decision Xu Xilin made after sending his grandmother away was to sell the house that he had been crying and clamoring to keep.

At that time, there were few low-density houses like theirs in the city. In terms of quality and location, they were almost out of print.

At that time, housing prices were going crazy, and his house was sold quickly. The buyer seemed to be afraid that he would regret it, so he didn't even pay back the price.

Xu Xilin changed hands and bought three more apartments - two small apartments of about 80 square meters each with convenient transportation and were rented out. The monthly rent was 2,000 more than the salary and bonus from his shabby job combined.

After hearing this, Lao Cheng almost cried: "I was just cheated by my landlord and I couldn't find anything to do, and you rebelled against the revolution and joined that organization! You are really a close classmate!"

In addition to the two rented houses, Xu Xilin, the renter, also bought a three-bedroom apartment in a slightly remote location to live in.

He moved his bedroom and Dou Xun's bedroom intact - a chocolate box filled with candy wrappers, a cabinet full of student-style shirts and jeans, childish and funny love letters with mismatched prefaces and incongruous subtitles... nothing was the same.

fall.

There was one room left as a study room, and he moved Ms. Xu Jin's study room and grandma's old records collection into it.

Xu Xilin arranged his "new home" into a huge souvenir, and then spent more than half a month to comfort the gray parrot who was so depressed that he pulled out his own feathers, and let him get used to the days when the two of them depended on each other. Then, he
Chapter completed!