Celestial Masters Alliance

The candlelight dances, the sky changes from blue to purple, and night falls. Unknown insects started chirping all around. Why didn’t I notice it last night? Maybe it was too lively yesterday and too lonely today.

Zhao Shuang and I sat face to face on both sides of my grandma's portrait. Our heights seemed a bit ridiculous sitting on the small wooden bench. You have to say something at this time, otherwise the whole night will be difficult. Since meeting Zhao Shuang, we have only been reminiscing about old times and have not understood each other's current life situation at all. If you want to understand others, you must first open yourself up. I suddenly felt that I was clumsy and I didn’t know where to start.

Zhao Shuang looked up at me, then quickly looked down at his hands, and asked in a deep voice: "How have you been since you left here?"

I'm grateful, it's a great start. I relaxed my body, found the most comfortable sitting position, and began to talk: "After my mother took me away, she settled in a place called XX in Guangdong. It was just established as a city and it was more than an hour's drive from Guangzhou. There Except for speaking Mandarin in class, they all spoke Cantonese at other times. So I was ostracized in school and they called me "Lao Zai", which was not a nice word. I had no friends and almost kept to myself."

Hearing this, Zhao Shuang suddenly looked up at me, and I met his eyes. Fortunately, there was no pity in them, otherwise I wouldn't want to continue talking. He slowly lowered his head and frowned thoughtfully.

"When I was in sixth grade, my mother married a primary school vice principal. I called that man Uncle Gang. I didn't get along well with him. He had two children. The girl was two years older than me and had a weird temper. I heard my mother say that she suffered from neurasthenia, but I thought it was more serious than that, probably autistic or something. She and I were almost strangers. Uncle Gang’s son is one year younger than me, but he and I are pretty close. We went to junior high school I moved back to my own home to live alone. Uncle Gang's son went to the same middle school as me, so he often lived with me. After all, my home was close to the school, which was convenient. He taught me how to speak Cantonese. In less than a year, I My Cantonese proficiency can pass CET-4 or CET-6.”

I was a little proud when I said this, and Zhao Shuang curled his lips and was happy for me.

"When I get into college, I want to get into medical school. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid. You know that." Zhao Shuang nodded lightly.

"But I probably wouldn't pass the exam, so I took the Agricultural University exam to be on the safe side and became a veterinarian. Animals are much easier to take care of than people. Animals are simple. I like a simple life, and I also like my career."

Zhao Shuang raised his eyes again and met mine: "Yeah!" He snorted with a slightly nasal voice. Actually agree with my strange point of view. Then I stood up to refill the incense candle for my grandma. I waited for him to sit down before continuing: "After graduation, I used the money I saved from working to open a small pet shop. At the beginning, the business was idle and I did everything. Including pet grooming within the scope of my work." I pointed to the scissors with my hand, and Zhao Shuang smiled slightly when he saw it.

"The business became more and more prosperous. I moved the store several times and hired an aunt to help with cleaning and cooking. In fact, the aunt's main purpose was to marry her daughter to me."

Zhao Shuang chuckled. I was a little embarrassed, but this is the truth.

"Later, after being recommended by a customer, I took on an apprentice. His name was Xiaosi, a guy who loved to do me no favors and get into trouble. This time when I came out, I left the store to him to help take care of it." I sighed softly. , some worries.

"One time I took Xiaosi to go on a medical visit. It was a farm located on Jiangxin Island. All the working dogs fell ill collectively. During working hours, all the boats on the farm were on duty, and there was only one primitive wooden boat available for us to use. Treatment completed , the farm owner and I carried a seriously ill dog onto a wooden boat, preparing to take it back to the shop for treatment. At some point, Xiaosi untied the reins used to secure the boat. I waved him on board, and he actually dropped the pole and jumped on. The boat. The boat was affected by inertia and drifted away from the shore in an instant. The owner and I stared blankly at the pole that he threw on the shore, unable to speak for a long time. "

Zhao Shuang pursed his lips and chuckled, looking at me with questioning eyes. I didn't show off, and continued: "Later, the owner of the farm jumped into the water and swam back to the shore with the reins, and we were able to return safely. For this reason, I waived the medical fee and apologized a lot. Every time Xiaosi got into trouble. Later I would ask him, is your real name Bayi? Are you sent by Buddha to test me? Every time he would answer seriously. I pinched my throat with my hands and imitated Xiaosi's tone and said: "elder brother! My name is Qiu Chengjie! "I think he is my sorrow!" "I poked my furrowed brow with my finger and said with great emotion.

Zhao Shuang put a fist against his lips and narrowed his eyes with a smile.

I stretched and continued: "In the past three years or so, I have also saved some money. I have renovated the old house and plan to open my small shop, marry a wife, have a son, and live a good life. I That’s it, it’s your turn!”

Zhao Shuang put down the fist on his lips, looked down at his toes, and his expression turned cold to the one he had when they first met. He was silent for a long time, and I didn't even dare to speak out. I have heard some things about Zhao Shuang's family from my grandma and second aunt. What I want to know most is whether he is doing well now.

"After this training holiday, I will go to work in Xiangzhou." I could hear his deep voice trying to be as relaxed as possible.

"My dad's original unit was the Serious Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation Brigade." He continued: "Actually, before you left, my dad was transferred. At that time, I didn't know if he would take my mother and me to Hunan. I didn’t tell you. When I was in junior high school, he took on a major human trafficking case. He and two colleagues sneaked into the trafficker’s den, set fire to it, and exploded gas. No one could come out.”

I stared at Zhao Shuang, unconsciously covering my mouth with both hands and breathing lightly. Anything that happens when I take pictures of myself triggers emotions that I can't handle.

Zhao Shuang paused for a while, breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued: "When I was in high school, my mother fell down the stairs and hit her head. She died not long after."

I know more about this than what he said. I heard it from my second aunt. Zhao Shuang's mother rolled down the stairs and fell from the stair window because she was trying to stop a group of students from fighting. She stayed in the hospital for three days and then died.

"I live alone in the existing house, and my parents' colleagues take care of me." I felt particularly uncomfortable when I heard this. During his most difficult time, I didn't know anything about him and didn't do anything to help him.

"I swear, I must figure out why there are so many accidents surrounding me, so I became a policeman." The candlelight in the mourning hall danced, reflecting on his lowered face, and there was a trace of water in his eyes. Will it be tears? I didn't dare to look, so I kicked my own bench and sat next to him. I looked sideways at Zhao Shuang, and he had returned to his normal appearance, as if the watery glow just now was my illusion, or I hoped it was an illusion.

I turned my back to him and leaned against him lazily. He started to stiffen, but didn't move. I was afraid that I would inadvertently show mercy and be spurned by him. Because mercy is the most useless and hateful thing in the world.

We were silent for a while, and Zhao Shuang turned his body slightly and turned his back to me. We sat back to back. I feel so warm and I hope he does too.

"My dad is not dead!" Zhao Shuang said suddenly. I turned around and looked at him in surprise, but he remained motionless with his back to me. I could only return to my original position, wanting to hear him continue. "Do you remember that I told you that my dad has six toes?"

"Yeah! At that time, I often asked Uncle Qiming to take off his shoes to prove it!" I recalled.

"I looked at all the corpses brought out from the fire, and none of them had six toes. The corpse they identified as my father was just based on the unburnt police ID in the clothes. My mother asked me to remain silent, and I didn't I understand why she did this." He raised his head and sighed, leaning the back of his head against the back of my head.

"Where did your dad go? Why didn't he come back to find you?" I asked doubtfully.

"I also want to know why." He said with a slightly hoarse voice.

"People are always unable to face life and death seriously and objectively." Actually, I wanted to say that there is no need to worry about things that you can't understand, but what I ended up spitting out was this sentence. I really want to slap myself to death.

"Before you left, we buried the time capsule, do you remember?" Zhao Shuang asked suddenly. I was relieved that he didn't pay attention to the nonsense I said.

"Remember! It's buried under the big locust tree in front of the supply and marketing cooperative." How could I forget that the supply and marketing cooperative was the old home of the Zhu family, and the big locust tree was planted by the Zhu family's ancestors when they first settled here. So we put what we thought was the most important thing at the time in an iron box, buried it under a tree, and called it a "time capsule."

"It would be great if there was a time capsule that could keep us all in the most beautiful moment."