It was already past eight o'clock, already past dinner time.
Three old people were watching TV in the living room, eating fruit and chatting.
When they saw their eldest grandson walking in, the three of them immediately stood up happily and gathered around him, happily asking here and there.
"How come you can come back tonight?
You don’t have to be on duty tomorrow, right?”
"Great! I haven't seen you for several days!"
"Stay home and sleep tonight! By the way, while Lao Li and the others are still in the big kitchen, let them make you some midnight snacks, okay?"
Cheng Huanran smiled and nodded: "I just got off work, so I don't have to be on duty tomorrow.
I thought I haven't been back for several days, so I came back quickly to make you feel better.
I’m so hungry and I haven’t had dinner yet!”
"Ouch!"
Liu Ying took her grandson's hand, feeling very distressed and said, "Let's go! I'll take you to the big kitchen to find something to eat!"
Xue's mother suggested: "Let Lao Li steam some shrimp dumplings and steamed buns, and then cook you a bowl of chicken noodle soup and add two eggs, okay?"
"Yep!"
Father Xue hurriedly picked up a plate of fruit from the table and said: "Let's fill our stomachs first, and eat these after meals - fruits after meals!"
Cheng Huanran nodded happily and went to the large dining room surrounded by his grandparents.
After a while, the three of them gathered around the eldest grandson, looking at him wolfing down the food with distressed expressions on their faces.
“Is the hospital still so busy?
Look! You seem to have lost weight again these days!"
"My face doesn't look very good, it's a little pale."
"My dear grandson! Eat slowly, don't eat too fast."
Cheng Huanran asked with a smile: "Have the third son and Xiaoxin not gone home these days?"
"Come back as usual on the weekend."
Xue's father replied: "I haven't replied in the past two days, probably because I am busy with homework."
Xue's mother explained: "Sometimes they don't have much homework. When there are no classes in the afternoon, they run home to eat, sleep, and then rush to school early the next morning."
Cheng Huanran was very envious and said: "You can get there by taking the subway in a few stops, but you have to walk a long way.
If a driver takes you to the expressway, you can get there in less than ten minutes.
If it were me, I would definitely go home every day."
"Hahaha!"
The three old men all laughed.
Father Xue teased: "Why didn't you do this when you were studying?
It’s just a little far away!”
"More than half the distance."
Cheng Huanran smiled bitterly: "It takes too long to go back and forth, there are many and busy homeworks, and there are so many extracurricular activities, I really can't be separated! Whenever I have time to sleep a little longer, I will definitely go to the dormitory to sleep."
Xue's mother couldn't help but feel distressed: "Medical students are all very busy... ugh!"
Liu Ying patted her eldest grandson's arm and said warmly: "Don't be too tired, make sure to take a good rest.
Before I became a doctor, it was reasonable to be busy. I had to study and do research.
Unexpectedly, becoming a doctor would still be extremely busy.
However, no matter how important the work is, it is not as important as the body and bones.
You are a doctor, so you should pay more attention."
"Grandma, I know."
Cheng Huanran muttered as he ate shrimp dumplings, "We will have more time in the future. If we work a day shift plus a night shift, we can have a day and a night's rest.
I have a rest tonight, and I can rest tomorrow too."
Mother Xue said hurriedly: "Eat, take a rest, take a hot bath, and then have a good sleep.
Look at you, your eyes are all black."
"Grandma, I'm fine."
Cheng Huanran smiled coquettishly, "Go to bed early tonight. When I wake up tomorrow, I can accompany you to hang out in the back garden."
The three old men all laughed.
After a hearty meal, Cheng Huanran held a fruit bowl and watched TV and chatted with the three elderly people.
He is the only junior in the family, and all the elders' attention is on him, and they circle around him when they come and go.
At around nine o'clock, the three old people went back to their rooms to sleep.
Cheng Huanran went back to his room, took a hot bath, then put on his pajamas and lazily went to bed.
The screen of his mobile phone flickered a few times from time to time. He grabbed it and found that they were all work groups and colleague groups, and no one was there, so he browsed through them casually.
"Xiao Qiao" did not send any messages, neither on WeChat nor QQ.
He looked at the familiar profile picture and felt tired and sighed. He had no desire to open it and simply threw the phone aside.
Although he was tired, he didn't feel sleepy, but he was familiar with the warm room, the quiet back garden with mottled tree shadows, and the mountain peaks in the distance. He looked at it, closed his eyes unconsciously, fell asleep lightly, and then fell asleep deeply.
.
A dreamless night.
The next morning, he was awakened by the chirping of birds outside the window.
It was already slightly bright outside, and the oriole birds were flying around, chasing each other, singing sweet and clear tunes, flapping their beautiful little wings, and swaying their chubby bodies as they shuttled back and forth among the trees on the branches.
Cheng Huanran rubbed his eyes, felt refreshed and stretched his limbs.
He grabbed his phone and took a look and found that it was already past six o'clock.
I slept for a full eight hours last night. It has been a long time since I went to bed so early, and it has been a long time since I slept a full eight hours.
It seems that the last time I went to bed early was at home, and it was during the Chinese New Year holiday.
During the annual vacation, in addition to reading, he also had to help Qiao Hui collect some reference materials for her thesis. He stayed up late for several nights and only went to bed early and got up early on two days.
Thinking of this, he sighed unconsciously.
He doesn't know why, but now whenever he thinks of her or mentions her name, he can't help but feel sad.
He lay lazily on the bed for a while before going to wash up and brush his teeth.
Three old men were walking on the garden corridor. He changed into a set of casual clothes and ran over to walk with them.
After a while, Xue Zhilan and Xue Huan came.
Cheng Huanran didn't see them for several days, so he hurriedly stepped forward to greet them.
"Uncle! Uncle Huan!"
Xue Zhilan laughed and explained: "We just sent Xiao Yue and Niu Niu to school, so we stopped by for breakfast."
Xue Huan patted Cheng Huanran's arm and teased: "You are already tall enough, there is no need to maintain such a thin figure.
Otherwise, I'll give you my uncle's belly."
Everyone laughed.
Dad Xue suggested: "After breakfast, let's go pick pomegranates! The pomegranates on the two pomegranate trees in the corner of the garden began to fall. I originally asked the third child to help pick them during the weekend, but unexpectedly he said he wanted to paint a pomegranate painting.
Let's wait.
After the painting was finished, he ran back to school in a hurry.
The pomegranates were still hanging on the tree, and two fell off yesterday and rotted.
If you don’t pick it up, it will be too late.”
"good!"
"Go right away after you're done eating!"
... Everyone was happy to eat breakfast, chatting while eating, and eating for more than forty minutes to eat.
After eating, the group slowly went to pick pomegranate fruits. They picked them up with fruit sticks and tasted them while chatting and laughing.
Later in the evening, Xue's father went to play chess with his cousin, and grandma and grandma went to squeeze juice, leaving only Xue Huan and Cheng Huanran sitting under the tree.
"What's wrong?"
Xue Huan raised his eyebrows and asked calmly: "The eyebrows are sad, did you have a fight with your girlfriend?"