After returning home, Sang Zhi immediately went back to her room, took a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Before she took off her clothes, she suddenly remembered the skirt she had just soiled and ran out quickly.
Sang Zhi walked around the living room and entrance.
Didn't see the bag.
She glanced at Sang Yan's door again, but it was not closed. But there was movement in the kitchen, and she could hear him tinkering with things inside, crackling.
Didn’t you just come back from eating?
Sang Zhi muttered "It's really delicious" and then walked back to the room. At a glance, he saw the bag placed beside the desk.
She took the bag back to the bathroom, took a basin and threw all the dirty clothes in it.
This was Sang Zhi's first time washing clothes by herself. She squeezed out the laundry detergent, rubbed her hands together and rubbed the stained areas, her movements were clumsy and slow, and she washed them thoroughly.
By the time Sang Zhi came out of the bathroom, almost an hour had passed.
She hugged the basin and trotted to the balcony to dry her clothes. Sang Zhi was about to go back to the room, when she heard Sang Yan's voice.
He seemed to be on the phone, his tone slightly impatient: "It's cooked."
"What do I care about? I haven't seen her feeling uncomfortable." Sang Yan said, "What kind of red dates and angelica should be added? No, Mom, why didn't you tell me earlier? I didn't know."
"Aren't you coming back tomorrow? You can take care of it by yourself then. I'm exhausted. You can take care of your daughter by yourself, okay? I've taken care of you for two days and that's all I've done - okay, just drink it like this."
After a few seconds, Sang Yan seemed to have hung up the phone. Soon, he walked out with a bowl. When he saw Sang Zhi, he didn't feel guilty at all, and said coldly: "Come and drink by yourself."
Sang Zhi slowly approached and said, "Why don't you want to see me so much?"
"If I didn't want to see you." Sang Yan clicked his tongue and said word by word, "I would have beaten you to death by now."
"..."
After saying that, Sang Yan didn't bother to pay attention to her anymore and returned to the room.
Sang Zhi walked to the dining table, carefully picked up the bowl on the table, and returned to the room. She sat down at the desk and took a sip from the mouth of the bowl.
Still a little hot.
She simply put it aside. Looking back, she noticed Doraemon who was placed on the bed.
Sang Zhi walked over, picked up the doll and put it on the corner of the bed, next to another doll that Duan Jiaxu had given her before. She lay on the bed, her legs dangling, and poked the doll's face with her fingertips.
He quickly turned over again, lying on his back, looking at the white ceiling.
Lost in trance.
It seems a bit embarrassing today.
And inexplicably, he seemed a little happy.
This sudden menarche, apart from abdominal pain and a sinking feeling, Sang Zhi actually didn't feel too uncomfortable. But the next morning, she woke up with pain, as if someone had stabbed her abdomen with a needle.
Liping and Sang Rong had come back and cooked a bowl of millet porridge for Sang Zhi.
"Are you still feeling uncomfortable?" After she finished washing, Li Ping sat next to her and talked to her, "It's good to be here. I heard from your aunt that Xiaobing suddenly jumped to 1.7 meters after her menstruation."
Sang Zhi sipped her drink. After hearing this, she thought for a moment: "Little cousin?"
"yes."
Sang Zhi said suspiciously: "Isn't she already over 1.6 meters tall?"
Li Ping: "Yes. If you think about it this way, you might be able to grow to 1.6 meters in no time."
"One meter six..." Sang Zhi swallowed the porridge and shook his head, "I want to be taller, preferably one meter seven."
"Then we just have to eat well." Li Ping said softly, "Slowly we will grow taller."
After breakfast, Sang Zhi felt so uncomfortable that he lay in bed all day, not wanting to do anything. But he thought about growing taller, which was the first sign of growing up, and that he would no longer look like a child.
The pain doesn't seem to be that bad anymore.
The next Wednesday is Fu Zhengchu's birthday.
Originally, Sang Zhi had already made up her mind not to go. After all, she was not familiar with the people in that circle. Li Ping also helped her sign up for a summer painting class. But she compromised because of Yin Zhenru's serial life-threatening calls.
Yin Zhenru's home was nearby, so she came to see Sang Zhi early and planned to go together. Since the ktv was located in another district, the two of them went to a nearby bus stop to wait for the bus.
In August, the weather was still very hot, and the surface temperature was scalding hot with an earthy smell. Two little girls were wearing short-sleeved shorts and standing under the station sign holding umbrellas.
After waiting for a while, Sang Zhi was so hot that he was a little irritable: "Isn't it one o'clock in the afternoon? Why did you come out so early?"
"I forgot to buy a gift..." Yin Zhenru stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, "Anyway, we are going to Shang'an. We happened to be strolling around there. If we bought the gifts, we went to find Fu Zhengchu and the others."
"It's only ten o'clock."
"It takes an hour to get there by car." Yin Zhenru looked at his watch, "It should be eleven o'clock when we get there. After shopping, we can go have lunch. Isn't it just the right time?"
Sang Zhi groaned: "Can I go directly to have lunch?"
"No! How can I go shopping alone!" Yin Zhenru said, "Also, didn't you say that you and Fu Zhengchu were in the same class for six years in elementary school? Why do I feel that your relationship is so bad?"
“It’s just pretty bad.”
"..." Yin Zhenru couldn't believe it, "Real or fake? I thought Fu Zhengchu... was just that... you know."
Sang Zhi frowned: "What, I don't understand."
Yin Zhenru leaned close to her ear and whispered: "I have a secret crush on you."
"..."
The car just arrived.
Before Sang Zhi could reply, Yin Zhenru immediately dragged her into the car.
The bus was empty, there were not many people, and there were still many empty seats. The two of them found a seat in the back row and sat down.
Sang Zhi was still thinking about Yin Zhenru's words, and her expression was a little subtle: "Who told you?"
"You can tell by looking at it," Yin Zhenru said, "He always asks me to ask you out. Class 6 is on the third floor, our class is on the second floor, and he always hangs out outside our class."
Sang Zhi asked again: "Then why didn't you say that he had a crush on you?"
"..."
"Otherwise, why didn't he come to me directly, but came to me through you?" Sang Zhi said with a matter-of-fact expression, "You two probably didn't know each other before."
"...What you said makes sense." Yin Zhenru curled her lips, "But if it wasn't about you, he wouldn't come to me at all."
silence.
Sang Zhi stared at her and suddenly pointed to the right side of her face.
Yin Zhenru was confused: "What are you doing? There is nothing on your face."
Sang Zhi pointed again.
Yin Zhenru immediately hid back, with a face full of rejection: "You won't let me kiss you, will you?!"
"What are you talking about?" Sang Zhi looked at her speechlessly, "I just want to tell you that I used to fight with Fu Zhengchu a lot."
"Ah? When?"
Sang Zhi recalled: "It must have happened in the second grade."
"Second grade? How old were you then?"
"I'm one year older than him." Sang Zhi said, "When I was young, some boys did hit girls, but not like him. He wouldn't do this to other girls, just to me."
"What?"
"Hit me like a man."
"..."
"Once." As if to confirm how outrageous what she said was, Sang Zhi pointed to the right side of her face and said clearly, "He punched me with his fist."
She deliberately bit the word "fist" harder.
Yin Zhenru: "Holy crap, is it serious?"
"Huh? I don't know if it's serious or not." Sang Zhi thought for a moment, and then began to emphasize, "It's not that I couldn't beat him. The main thing is that I was unprepared and fell to the ground."
"..."
"Then he knocked out a tooth." After a pause, Sang Zhi continued, "I was angry at the time and pushed him."
"……Then what."
"He also fell to the ground and suffered a broken bone."
"..."
As soon as these words came out, Yin Zhenruo gave up her idea. When buying gifts later, she did not persuade Sang Zhi to pick one for Fu Zhengchu.
It was as if they regarded the two as enemies and were extremely avoidant.
Sang Zhi was so happy that he followed her, looking at some gadgets by himself.
Yin Zhenru was very casual when choosing gifts. She bought a nice night light when she saw it. It was still early, so the two simply went into a dessert shop on the same floor.
This is a chain of dessert shops. The store is very small, decorated in a Chinese style, with wooden tables and chairs, dark colors, and dim lighting, making it look very warm.
The air conditioner was turned on low to block out the heat outside.
There were no other customers in the store, only one clerk.
Hearing the sound of the door ringing, the clerk raised his eyes, his tone sounded a little sleepy, and he said lazily: "Welcome."
The voice is extremely familiar.
Sang Zhi took a breath and subconsciously raised his head.
The man was wearing a brown apron and was sitting at the checkout counter. His eyebrows were slightly lowered, and his eyes looked lighter under the light. His gaze stopped on Sang Zhi's face.
Then, the corners of his eyes seemed to twitch.
Silence for two seconds.
Sang Zhi took the initiative and called out: "Brother."
Duan Jiaxu glanced at the girl next to Sang Zhi and nodded: "Come here to play?"
Sang Zhi: "Yeah."
Yin Zhenru's eyes rolled around the two of them, but she said nothing.
Sang Zhi picked up the menu placed on the cashier and asked hesitantly: "Brother, do you work here?"
"Yeah." Duan Jiaxu looked unconcerned, "Go find a seat and sit down. Come over and order what you want to eat. My brother will send it to you later."
Sang Zhi said oh, and sat in the farthest seat with Yin Zhenru.
Flipping through the menu, Yin Zhenru quietly looked in the direction of Duan Jiaxu and asked curiously: "Who is that? I remember your brother doesn't look like this."
"My brother's friend."
"You are so handsome." Yin Zhenru covered her chest, "I remember your brother is also very handsome, Sang Zhi, you must be so happy."
Sang Zhi: "Don't talk nonsense."
Yin Zhenru: "Ah?"
Sang Zhi: "Why is my brother so handsome?"
"..."
Soon, the two of them selected desserts. Sang Zhi held the menu and walked up to Duan Jiaxu: "Brother, I want a coconut milk sago and mango double skin milk."
Duan Jiaxu: "Yeah."
Sang Zhi calculated the price, then took out a twenty and a ten from her pocket, and fumbled for three coins. She touched them again, but couldn't find them.
Sang Zhi put all the money on the cashier. She turned around and wanted to go back to her bag and take another dollar out to top it up.
She had just taken two steps when Duan Jiaxu, who was behind her, called out to her: "Child."
Sang Zhi turned around: "Ah?"
Duan Jiaxu knocked the money on the table with his knuckles, rested his elbows on the edge of the table, leaned down slightly, and asked with a low smile: "Bullying my brother won't count?"
Sang Zhi reacted, pursed his lips, returned to his seat silently, took out a coin from his bag, walked to the cashier, and put the dollar in front of him.
Duan Jiaxu lowered his eyes and glanced: "There is still one piece left."
"..."
Sang Zhi felt that he was cheating her out of money, so she started to get serious with him: "One is eighteen yuan, the other is sixteen yuan, the total is thirty-four, there is still one yuan missing."
"Didn't you say that my brother is handsome?"
"..."
When did she say it? It was Yin Zhenru who said it.
And what does this have to do with this matter?
"I secretly watched my brother so many times, but if I show you in vain -" his voice swirled, sounding careless, "then my brother will suffer a lot."