Chasing Summer - Chapter 50

The thunder continued.

The raindrops fell down heavily and sharply like finely divided stones.

The rain intensified in just a few minutes.

Lin Zhexia put down the cake, faintly having a bad feeling.

“Hey, Da Zhuang,” she called He Yang, “what are you doing?”

He Yang: “I’m at home, it’s raining so hard, maybe I’m still running outside.”

Lin Zhexia continued to ask: “Are you happy at home?”

“…”

“Doing homework at home is not happy.”

Hearing this sentence, she realized that Chi Yao was not at He Yang’s house either.

Sure enough, He Yang said in the next sentence: “Brother Yao’s birthday today, I spent a lot of money to give him a new skin, but he hasn’t replied to my message, and no one opened his door when he knocked on the door. How is this man? Birthdays are such a drag.”

He Yang said again: “Did he call you back? Are you two together now? Today is such an important day, do you need me to come over and eat cake?”

Lin Zhexia: “The signal is not very good, hang up.”

After hanging up the phone, she glanced at the clock on the wall, it was already night.

The hour hand turns past ‘9’ and turns to ’10’.

eighteen years old.

This number is like magic by God.

At that time, they didn’t realize that after the age of 18, when a broader life unfolds, people will start to face more things. The simple straight line began to change for no reason, and many unexpected forks appeared.

About ten minutes later, Lin Zhexia made a decision.

She stood alone in the empty room, hearing the thunder that frightened her.

But at the moment the thunder seemed far away from her.

There was only one thought in her mind: she wanted to find him.

Even if it is thundering outside. Even if it’s late at night.

Even if she didn’t know what happened to Chi Yao and where she went.

She was going to find him.

After this thought came to her, she took the umbrella standing by the entrance and walked outside to the rainstorm without hesitation.

The community in the late night rainstorm looks lonely.

She walked through the garden of the community all the way to the bottom of the street sign.

The rain washes over the road signs.

The Nanxiang street sign with white letters on a blue background has become old without knowing it, and it is slightly different from the memory.

Lin Zhexia stood at the intersection, and there was a crossroad in front of her. She clenched the umbrella in her hand, and for a moment she didn’t know which way to choose. The umbrella in my hand also became very heavy because of the heavy rain, and it fell heavily from the top of my head.

Lin Zhexia braved the rain to find many places that night.

Aimlessly, she searched all the places she and Chi Yao have been to. There are canteens that the two of them often go to, breakfast shops, game halls, and the streets where she is brutally murdered by barbers every time she goes. Barber Shop.

The neon sign of “Meijuan Barber Shop” was on.

Business in the store was sluggish.

Lin Zhexia’s haircut has always been very bad. No matter how she communicated with the barber, even if she brought a high-definition reference picture, she would always be cut into an unattainable hairstyle under the barber’s magical brain circuit.

So she was very nervous every time she went to the barber shop, and would drag Chi Yao to accompany her.

“I’ll go with you,” Chi Yao at that time always looked at her and said coldly, “Can you change the barber’s operation level?”

“…”

At that time, Lin Zhexia tugged on his clothes: “Although it can’t, it can make me feel better. Besides, I’m afraid I can’t help it.”

Chi Yao: “Can’t help beating someone?”

Lin Zhexia: “I can’t help crying in the barber shop.”

Chi Yao said “Then you cry”, and would still accompany her.

He would sit on the red single sofa chair in the corner of the barbershop, and sometimes after waiting for a long time, he would cover himself with his clothes and close his eyes to sleep. There is a white puppy in the barber shop, who occasionally bites Chi Yao’s trousers while he is sleeping.

Once, Chi Yao was treated as an apprentice in a barbershop by an aunt waiting for a haircut because of her excessive sleeping position: “Young man, I want to wash my hair.”

Chi Yao pulled off the clothes covering his face: “…wash your hair and find the shop assistant.”

The aunt who ironed the red wool roll: “Aren’t you the clerk?”

Chi Yao: “…”

Lin Zhexia’s haircut that day still turned over, but he didn’t have time to be sad. Hearing this conversation, he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“Jingle Bell-“

Lin Zhexia hastily pushed open the door of the barbershop. When she pushed the door open, the door pendant rang a few times.

She glanced at the barber bending over to sweep the floor inside, as well as the vacant sofa chair.

The male barber, who was no longer as young as he remembered, straightened up and recognized her immediately: “Isn’t this Xiao Xia, come to cut her hair?”

Lin Zhexia: “If you don’t cut your hair, I’ll take a look. Excuse me, Meijuan.”

“How many times have I told you that my name is not Meijuan! Don’t think that my name is Meijuan just because this shop is called Meijuan Haircut. This is my mother’s name,” the barber jumped behind her, “I have My name is Daniel—Daniel!”

Before Lin Zhexia left, she found that the dog in the store was missing: “Where is the dog?”

The barber paused with his hands sweeping the floor: “Let’s go, how many years have passed, and it is also old. I took it out for a walk and gasped for breath. I left two months ago.”

Finally, she found Chi Yao by the lake in the park.

That place where she likes to go to hide every time she encounters something since she was a child.

In fact, it was the last place she could think of.

If she can’t find Chi Yao again, she doesn’t know where to find him.

Fortunately, when she walked to the lake, she saw a vague but familiar figure in the distance. Familiar with it, she can recognize it just by looking at the strands of hair.

There was shelter near the benches but it was raining too much.

The boy was still wet from the rain, even his hair was wet, and the thin sweater on his body was also wet. He stepped on the edge of the bench with one leg bent. Much like some sort of unruly animal that gets wet in the street.

“…”

Chi Yao lowered his eyes, and suddenly an umbrella appeared above his head.

Lin Zhexia held up the umbrella, and the umbrella leaned towards him, covering the rainwater that leaked from above.

The rain hit the umbrella surface.

Make a “click” sound.

In the misty rain, he saw Lin Zhexia who was panting and also a bit embarrassed.

“So you’re here,” Lin Zhexia’s heart finally sank the moment she saw him, she held an umbrella and said, “I thought… I thought something happened to you, I’m afraid I won’t find you .”

Chi Yao didn’t seem to expect her to appear here, he raised his eyes to look at her in surprise, looked at her for a long time, his Adam’s apple moved slightly, and finally said nothing.

Countless lights on the street were dimmed by the rain.

Through the dim light, he saw the girl’s hand on the umbrella handle, her slender wrist, and above that, her pair of bright eyes.

Chi Yao’s eyelashes were stained with rain, he blinked: “Why are you here?”

“I sent you a message, but you didn’t reply.” Lin Zhexia said, “I went to your house to have a look.”

Chi Yao heard the words, glanced at the mobile phone beside him, and spit out two words: “I’m back.”

“?”

“News.” Chi Yao explained, “The signal is probably not good, so it hasn’t been sent out.”

Lin Zhexia was stunned for a moment: “Did you answer me, what did you answer?”

“I lied to you that I went to my parents’ place.”

When Chi Yao said “I lied to you”, he didn’t feel embarrassed at all. He knew that Lin Zhexia would definitely look for him on his birthday today. Except for using this as a cover, it would be difficult to avoid her. After speaking, he stretched out his hand to grab the phone, fiddled with it and said: “I didn’t have time to wait for the reply, the phone is out of battery.”

He also wanted to say “how could you not reply to your message”.

But this sentence is too ambiguous.

These words turned around in my heart, but I couldn’t say them in the end.

After a torrential rain that lasted for an hour or two, the rain finally started to die down.

Lin Zhexia didn’t know whether to ask further, she hesitated for a while, thinking that if Chi Yao didn’t take the initiative to speak up, she wouldn’t ask. Between them, there is no need for too many explanations and elaborations.

So she said: “You were ashamed to blame me last time. I think your symptoms are much more serious than mine. You don’t bring an umbrella when you go out on a rainy day, and you sit here in the middle of the night in the rain—can’t you change to a place where you can hide from the rain?”

yes.

How come here.

Chi Yao thought.

Lin Zhexia’s secret base had become his subconscious hiding place at some point.

From the moment he was stopped by those people, the series of behaviors he did were all abnormal to him.

Chi Yao pulled off his collar, and the rainwater fell into the collar along his chin.

—You are Chi Yao, right?

— Chi Hanshan’s son?

— It’s nothing else to look for you, but something happened to your family. As for me, I don’t want to see him have a good life, so I meet you in advance. After all, if the money your father owes me is not paid, we may meet more often in the future.

—Oh, by the way, your mother fell ill because of this, you probably don’t know it yet, do you? I’m kind enough to tell you that you have to thank me.

Facing this group of people at that time, he recalled Chi Hanshan’s withdrawn message on the bus more than two months ago, and the phone call that he felt inexplicable at the time.

— “Be careful at home, don’t talk to strangers when you meet…”

“Are you done?” He remembered saying these words.

“After finishing speaking, you can go.”

The group of people on the opposite side were stunned. They thought that the seventeen-year-old kid in front of him would be surprised and confused, but they didn’t expect to get these two sentences in exchange: “Your boy is quite calm.”

Chi Yao curled his fingers slightly, and said without showing much emotion: “I will find out the specific situation myself.”

“What I should face, I will not hide.”

…

“Something happened at home.” Chi Yao didn’t intend to hide it from her, but skipped the details, and said with self-deprecation, “It’s been a while.”

He said “it’s time to face it”.

But for him at this moment, “face” is not an easy task.

Lin Zhexia said: “Uncles and aunts should be afraid of affecting your class.”

“Parents, it’s all like this. If my mother and Uncle Wei encounter anything at work, they will definitely not tell me. In their eyes, no matter how old I am, I am a child.”

Lin Zhexia didn’t know what to say, at this moment, she looked extremely clumsy.

And no matter what she said, it didn’t seem to actually solve the problem.

Apart from wanting to be with him, Lin Zhexia couldn’t think of any other way.

Moreover, the word “children” seems to have gradually drifted away from them since that night.

Children always grow up.

After a while, Lin Zhexia asked him: “Chi Yao, are you cold?”

“If it’s cold,” she continued, “I can also lend you Brother’s coat.”

Chi Yao seldom gives people a sense of embarrassment when he is drenched in the rain, he still looks like the proud Chi Yao: “No need.”

Lin Zhexia took his words cautiously: “…Because, you just want to have this handsome posture wet by the rain?”

She then said, “Your burden is really heavy.”

“Don’t say it’s okay, you caught a cold last time you went back.”

“…”

This familiar conversation brought people back to the winter vacation of the first year of high school.

In the same position that winter, Chi Yao, who was wearing a thin sweater, gave her the jacket and insisted that he was more handsome like this.

The atmosphere relaxed because of these words.

Chi Yao seemed to be amused by her, put one hand on the edge of the bench, turned his head slightly, and gave a light snort.

While speaking, Lin Zhexia thought of a very important thing: “What time is it?”

Chi Yao reminded: “My phone is out of battery.”

She hurriedly took out her mobile phone, turned on the screen, and saw “11:58” displayed on the screen.

“It’s twelve o’clock soon.” She said anxiously.

“What about twelve o’clock?”

“It’s your birthday! I want to send you birthday wishes at twelve o’clock.”

It was only two minutes before twelve o’clock, and her twelve o’clock plan was completely disrupted.

Originally, in the plan, she should have gotten stuck and sent Chi Yao a cake.

But now the cake is not around, and she and Chi Yao are even outside in the rain.

…

Lin Zhexia was thinking about what to do, when she put the phone back into her pocket, she accidentally touched something with a bit hard edge, separated by a smooth plastic film.

After two seconds, she remembered that it was the package of candles and lighter that the cake shop owner forgot to put in the gift box in the afternoon and chased it out for her.

“I have a solution,” Lin Zhexia stuffed the umbrella into Chi Yao’s hand, “Take it.”

Chi Yao sat down and took the umbrella.

His hands were stained with rainwater, his knuckles were bent, he held up the umbrella calmly, and tilted the umbrella towards her.

“What, you want to do magic again?”

When Lin Zhexia celebrated his birthday one year ago, he specially went to learn a crappy magic trick.

That magic is called turning roses out of thin air.

Even though her magic tricks were going terribly wrong that day, the rose didn’t appear out of thin air, and eventually slipped out of her sleeve.

Lin Zhexia also recalled that dark history that was forgotten, and said: “This time the magic will definitely not fail, you just look forward to it.”

After speaking, she took the candle and lighter out of her pocket.

After a “click”.

In the dark rainy night, a faint light unexpectedly burst out.

“Chi Yao, happy eighteenth birthday.”

“I prepared a cake for you, but I can only cut it when you get home—but fortunately, you can make a wish without a cake,” Lin Zhexia urged, holding up the burning candle, “You Make a wish quickly.”

“The wishes made on birthdays are the most effective.” She emphasized again.

The umbrella is a bit small, and the wind blows from around.

Chi Yao stared at the candlelight and was stunned for a moment: “Where did you get the candle?”

Lin Zhexia: “This is the magician’s secret.”

Chi Yao glanced at her again.

She stopped talking nonsense and confessed honestly: “When I left, the boss almost forgot to give it to me, so I could only stuff it in my pocket.”

It’s still raining.

Chi Yao’s eyes lit up for a moment.

He looked at the candlelight that seemed to be able to dispel the darkness in the rainy night in front of him, and the delicate outline of the girl outlined by the light.

Before Lin Zhexia came, these few hours were blank for him.

After she came, time began to continue to flow.

Lin Zhexia was afraid that the candle would be blown out by the wind, so she reminded him: “To make a wish, you must close your eyes.”

Chi Yao’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, and then he closed his eyes.

At this moment, it is difficult for him to think about what “wish” he has.

He fell into a wonderful hallucination of nothing, but surrounded by everything. The little temperature brought by this candle, soft and warm, resisted the violent wind and rain. Out of thin air gave him a kind of courage to try to face no matter what happened.

“Have you finished your promise?” Lin Zhexia asked.

Chi Yao responded softly.

“What wish did you make?” She asked again.

After asking, she reacted: “No, you can’t say your birthday wish, don’t…”

Don’t tell me.

Before she finished speaking, Chi Yao opened her eyes and called her name: “Lin Zhexia.”

At the same time as he opened his eyes, the candle had just gone out.

“Let me give you a hug.”