Salted Toffee

Chapter 24 Looking at the stars "Fu Cizhou." He called out again. ...

Nearly nine o'clock in the evening, the party ended.

Zhu Yu changed her skirt and wrapped her own clothes when she left the classroom.

The snow was getting heavier, and it was blown into the corridor by the evening wind.

Someone stepped out of the classroom before them, and leaned over the railing of the corridor to catch the snowflakes.

Zhu Yu pulled up his collar, buried half of his face in the heavy clothes, and let out a long breath.

There was still a blush at the end of his eyes, and the mist he exhaled wrapped around the tip of his nose, making the profile of his face a bit blurred.

Fu Cizhou lowered his eyes slightly, squinted at the young man beside him, and heard him humming in his throat.

"So happy?"

The two walked side by side through the corridor, then turned and entered the stairwell.

There was a lot of noise in my ears, and it was all the laughter and slapstick of my classmates.

"Happy," Zhu Yu jumped up and down the stairs one by one, "Aren't you happy?"

Fu Cizhou lifted his hat: "What did Chu Yao tell you?"

Zhu Yu was two steps lower than Fu Cizhou, and when he turned to look at him, he had to lift his chin: "Master, you are very curious."

Fu Cizhou drooped a pair of dead fish eyes, suddenly a little angry.

He didn't know where this "qi" came from, but it didn't prevent him from venting this "qi".

"If Chu Yao's brother comes to look for you again, I won't go."

Fu Cizhou tugged Zhu Yu's hat back, Zhu Yu let out a "hey" and was forcibly dragged back to a ladder.

"Don't be angry," Zhu Yu fluttered back and forth, and then went down the stairs with Fu Cizhou, "I have nothing to do with Chu Yao, we just chatted casually."

The door to the exit of the teaching building was open, and before Fu Cizhou stepped into the hall, he was fed a mouthful of cold wind.

Zhu Yu squinted his eyes, put his hands in his pockets: "I'll go, it's so cold."

Fu Cizhou subconsciously glanced at Zhu Yu's legs. This man had already changed into black sweatpants.

The trouser legs are tucked into the shoes, making the calves look extraordinarily slender.

"It's not cold in a skirt." Fu Cizhou said.

"You don't even wear it," Zhu Yu bumped into him with a smile, "I still want to see it."

The topic seems to have changed. Originally, Fu Cizhou should shut up and stop asking about Chu Yao.

No matter what, it's still a private matter, and it seems a bit too much to get involved.

But he inexplicably remembered Zhu Yu who was in a daze in the corridor not long ago.

The other party seemed to be staying there, turning his head to look at himself with strange eyes.

Obviously not right.

"Do you like her?" Fu Cizhou asked without thinking.

Zhu Yu "Huh?" for a moment, as if he didn't turn around this huge bend.

Fu Cizhou glanced at him, he understood again, and sighed heavily: "No, don't talk nonsense, there really isn't."

If you don't have it, you don't have it, and repeat it twice, just like a guilty conscience, there is a ghost at a glance.

"Then what did she tell you in the corridor?"

The smile on Zhu Yu's face was still there, as if he was tired from being asked, and his smile gradually became restrained.

He cast his gaze forward, frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed it again.

"There was something wrong with you at that time," Fu Cizhou knew that he was annoying others, but he still insisted on telling the whole story, "There was something wrong with you this semester, and you didn't say what it was."

Zhu Yu stopped and turned to look at Fu Cizhou.

The curvature of the corners of his eyes and lips, the smile at the bottom of his eyes, and even the way he placed his hands and feet, all revealed a slight embarrassment.

Probably because he has been with Zhu Yu for a long time, Fu Cizhou can always feel something abnormal.

He has no idea, no evidence, but he knows.

"I don't want to say it." Zhu Yu finally answered seriously without a smile in his words.

Fu Cizhou snorted coldly: "Whatever, I don't really want to hear it."

The atmosphere suddenly fell below the freezing point, just like a vertical downward broken line in the point-line chart.

Fu Cizhou quickened his pace, left Zhu Yu aside and walked to the school gate.

Zhu Yu looked at Fu Cizhou's back, feeling inexplicably sad.

In the past six months, except for the head teacher, this is the only person who has asked him what's wrong.

Street lamps lined up in two rows on both sides of the road, and orange lights sprinkled from the sky.

Snowflakes fluttered and fell on Fu Cizhou's shoulders.The tall boy seemed a little impatient, and after patting his hair twice, he stuck the hat on his head.

"Fu Cizhou!" Zhu Yu chased after a few steps.

It's a pity that Fu Cizhou walked fast and didn't stop.

Surrounded by classmates in twos and threes, many of them were smiling, as if they were still immersed in the atmosphere of the party just now and did not come out.

Someone confessed, I wish Yu You could hear it when they were making a fuss.

Just like what the monitor of the third class said, once at the age of 17, they have to let go and play.

17 years old...

Zhu Yu stood where he was, coldness fell on his eyelashes.

He was 16, 17, still.

do not know either.

"Fu Cizhou." He called out again.

The volume is a bit low, and the small sounds are drowned in the noise.

But the figure beside the school gate turned around and disappeared behind the fence.

The excitement here does not belong to him.

Nor did their 17 belong to him.

Zhu Yu is like a small fish covered by glass, looking at the sea through a layer of transparency.

The sea is colorful, warm and free.

He hit his head badly, but he couldn't find the exit.

Fu Cizhou asked him on the other side of the glass, "What's wrong?"

He opened his mouth and couldn't say anything.

He couldn't go, and no one could help him.

He could only look at the vast expanse, trying to imitate the similarities with them, pretending that there was no such barrier.

Just like what he said to Fu Cizhou one day in midsummer.

—— "I really envy you."

After New Year's Day, the final exam will follow.

Zhu Yu has been sleeping in class recently, and now he has only started to review for a few days before the exam.

Wang Ying saw that Zhu Yu was writing and drawing on A4 paper, and leaned over to see the framework summary of several chapters of chemistry.

A pen and a piece of paper, without reading a book, filled it with eyes closed.

"Awesome." Wang Ying almost didn't applaud him.

Zhu Yu handed the paper forward: "Here I am."

Wang Yingmei took the summary happily, Fu Cizhou glanced at it, and saw that Zhu Yu started to draw creatures again.

Since New Year's Day, Zhu Yu has been bored in the corner, and Fu Cizhou didn't talk to him, so he just shut up and acted dumb.

Originally, Fu Cizhou thought that Zhu Yu was a person who couldn't be idle, but these days, if he said he was idle, he would be idle.

Just ignore him.

Ignore it.

The final exam was scheduled for mid-January, Zhu Yu finished the paper and threw it behind his head, and started the wonderful winter vacation directly.

Zhu Qin is busy making pickled products recently, and a string of sausage and bacon is hanging on the clothesline in the yard.

Zhu Yuren is in the room, when the curtains are drawn, chickens, ducks and fish are like wind chimes, rattling and swaying when the cold wind blows.

It's Chinese New Year, I have to go back to my hometown.

In the past, it was Wei Xia who was busy returning to her hometown. Since her death, it has become Zhu Qin's busy work.

In fact, there is nothing to be busy about.

Zhu Yu's grandma loves sausage, and grandpa loves salted duck.

The old people are getting old, it is not good to eat too much salt, but they can't help but like it, so when they go back to their hometown, they will bring some homemade to make them happy.

Zhu Yu was not involved in this matter. He has been staying in the room since the exam, planning to start the general review after studying all the subjects.

In mid-to-late January, just a few days away from New Year's Eve, Zhu Qin handed over the clinic to others and planned to return to his hometown early for the New Year.

Zhu Yu didn't pack his clothes, and Zhu Qin didn't remind him.

The father and son maintained a tacit understanding, and the day before leaving, Zhu Qin sent a large amount of red envelopes to Zhu Yu.

"Go out and hang out, don't stay at home all the time."

Zhu Yu nodded, and roughly understood what Zhu Qin meant—he didn't have to go back to his hometown this year.

This is a very relaxing result, and he himself doesn't really want to go back.

"Go out and relax, don't worry Dad."

Zhu Qin patted Zhu Yu on the shoulder, and what he said seemed to be outlier and heavy.

Zhu Yu was slightly taken aback, and gave a soft "hmm".

Since when did he become a concern?

The next morning, when Zhu Yu woke up, Zhu Qin had already left.

The leaves of the brandy in the corner of the living room had all fallen off, leaving only a bare trunk that looked as if it was dying.

Zhu Yu stood at the dining table and drank half a glass of cold water, turned on his phone and randomly selected a city with cheaper tickets.

Yuanzhou, the place name is quite nice, it is a small town in the north.

It is probably not suitable for winter travel, so there are only a few tickets.

That's all.

As soon as he said he would leave, Zhu Yu casually packed up a few clothes, carried his schoolbag and went to the station.

At this time, it coincides with the Spring Festival travel season, and there are many people on the road.Zhu Yu chose the sleeping berth and sat for a day and a night to reach another place.

Yuanzhou is not too far from Nanhuai, nor is it close.

Surrounded by unfamiliar faces, no one knew his name.

He can finally not be confined in a box named "Zhu Yu", he doesn't want to talk, and he doesn't want to laugh.

There was breakfast on the street, so he bought a vegetable pancake that was not too oily, and ate it while walking through the winding long streets.

There are red lanterns all over the street, and New Year songs on a single loop.

The crowd pushed him forward, not knowing where he was going or how to get back.

When the night falls, every house is brightly lit.

Zhu Yu threw away the milk tea that he had finished, and only then realized that he had nowhere to go.

I was too lazy to book a hotel, so I slept on the long street.

Looking up at the stars all night, Zhu Yu yawned when the first ray of morning light broke through the clouds.

Sleepiness swept over, bringing a soreness in the nasal cavity.

He rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw the shocked Fu Cizhou.

"Congratulations?!"

"Why are you here?"