When He Smiles - Chapter 24

The voice is as familiar as the blue sky and white clouds she sees every day, and she still can’t describe her mood at that time. That was the throbbing she had never had when she was with Lu Sibei, maybe it was not what she used to be after such a long time.

“Hi.”

The voice sounded behind him again, somewhat casually.

Meng Shengnan breathed slowly, then closed his eyes and turned around calmly. At that moment, she looked at each other, and she felt a little surprise flashing in the man’s eyes, it was only a short ○.○1s, and then she calmed down again.

“It’s you.” His voice was faint.

She was stunned. The man in front of him was still tall and thin, with a little shaggy beard, and extremely short hair. Upon closer inspection, his temples turned out to be a bit pale and there was still a cigarette between his fingers. He was kicking on his old white sneakers, his white short sleeves were not too old to be marginal, a little yellowish, loose black pants, sloppy and sloppy.

I haven’t seen it now, it’s been two or three years.

He raised his eyes, glanced at Meng Shengnan faintly, and repeated the first sentence.

“Repair your phone?”

Meng Shengnan slowly nodded with dull eyes.

“Are you the shopkeeper?” she asked softly.

He looked at her and laughed, not reaching the corner of his eye.

“I look at the phone.”

She is still slightly absent, ‘huh? ‘There was a cry.

“Aren’t you here to fix your phone?”

His tone was rather weak, and so did his eyes. Meng Shengnan made a very slow “Oh”, took out the phone from his bag and handed it to him. Then the man slightly bypassed her and entered through the one-meter-wide narrow aisle next to the glass cabinet, sitting at the table full of parts, biting the cigarette, turning on the lamp, and bowing his head.

“Water got in?”

After two minutes, he asked.

“Ok.”

Meng Shengnan has slowly approached and talked to him from the distance of a glass cabinet. The man inside was conscientious and focused, his brows tucked lightly, his thin lips pursed and he stared at the phone in his hand that had been dismantled more than half of his hands.

“When?” he asked again.

Meng Shengnan clenched the strap tightly and said, “It’s been two or three days.”

“Two or three days?”

He stopped the movement in his hand, looked up, and repeated in a low voice. That means probably: Then you are only repairing now?

Meng Shengnan stammered an explanation: “I have been to several shops, but they all said they couldn’t be repaired.”

He didn’t say a word again, and then lowered his head to fiddle.

“The problem is a bit big.”

After a while, he took down the cigarette and put it out in the ashtray beside his arm.

“What?” She didn’t hear clearly.

He looked up at her: “Nothing.”

“Oh.”

He said again: “Sit down.”

Meng Shengnan smiled dryly: “Uh, no need.”

He glanced at her, stood up, and asked, “Would you like some water?”

Meng Shengnan shook his head.

He pointed to the phone and explained faintly: “Just wiped the water and let it dry for a while.”

She didn’t understand what kind of water that ‘water’ was, so she obediently ‘oh’. Time slowly passed by, and there was no one else in the store, and the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward. He took a cigarette out of his pocket, leaned on the door of the compartment, tilted his head and asked, “Mind?”

She smiled and shook her head.

The man bit the cigarette in his mouth, lit it, squinted his eyes and took a deep breath, his voice was muffled.

“Working here?”

She nodded slightly, and stopped talking a little.

He looked at her for a while, then smiled without a smile.

“Want to ask me why I am here?”

Meng Shengnan was surprised at his directness, his eyes flashed: “No.”

“Oh?”

He looked at her and took the cigarette from his mouth.

She bowed her head slightly and twitched the corner of her mouth.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked.

Meng Shengnan raised his eyes and shook his head dryly with his lips bent: “Nothing.”

He squinted again, not the same as smoking.

“How is Lu Sibei?”

Meng Shengnan stayed, but he didn’t expect that he would ask her this question. Logically speaking, the contact between the two of them should be more frequent than her. She stared at some place in the glass cabinet, but for a moment she didn’t know how to answer.

“Divided?” His voice was low.

She was surprised and raised her eyes.

He chuckles: “You women all look like this after breaking up.”

Meng Shengnan: “…”

Then without saying more, he straightened up and squeezed out the cigarette, turned to check the phone, and fiddled with various machines that she couldn’t understand. Still pursing his lips, frowning slightly. After a while, look at her.

“Is there any problem?” She knew it was not easy to fix.

He licked his teeth and handed her the phone.

“Try to make a call?”

The phone screen was on, and she was secretly surprised by his craftsmanship. Back then, I knew from Lu Sibei that he was a student of IT, which was very good. He just asked if he wanted to know how she would be here, but her response went against his will.

Meng Shengnan slowly pressed the key and pressed it to his ear.

“No sound.” She looked at him and said.

He asked: “Which number did you dial?”

“friend.”

After a brief look at each other, he actually laughed low.

“No wonder Lu Sibei likes you.”

Meng Shengnan pursed his mouth and fell silent for a while.

He turned his head and took something from the table and shook it: “The phone card is not plugged in, how can I get through?”

She blinked and blushed: “Then you let me hit—”

He raised his lip lightly and said, “I just want you to try the receiver if there is any problem.”

Meng Shengnan said dryly.

“Hit 112.” He said.

She lowered her head and dialed the number he said, and then handed the phone back: “No problem.”

He nodded and took it, then flipped around on the table.

“It should be because the internal startup is not good, the parts are damaged completely, and the screen needs to be changed.”

“Oh.”

He raised his eyes, “Let’s do it, come over and get the phone the next afternoon.”

Meng Shengnan opened his mouth and pressed it again.

“Can it be fixed?” Her question was a little naive.

He laughed: “What do you mean?”

Meng Shengnan thought for a while, and then asked: “You just said about the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, about when?”

“Anything.”

He turned around as he said, lowering his head to play tricks. Meng Shengnan stood there just like that, looking at his back. The man seemed to notice something and turned around for a while.

“Is there anything else?” he asked lightly.

“That—” She bit her lip and couldn’t speak.

He asked with his eyes.

Meng Shengnan looked at him: “How much is it?”

Raised, he suddenly smiled.

“How much do you think?” The voice was short and strong.

She thought about it seriously: “Two hundred?”

He pressed his tongue against his cheek, and his eyes didn’t make a sound. I don’t know if it was an illusion. At that moment, Meng Shengnan suddenly remembered the look in the dim corner of the school gate many years ago when he looked up. The content is not the same, but that means it’s right.

“Three hundred?” She asked again, not sure.

He touched his nose and asked a question she didn’t expect.

“Did he mention it after breaking up?”

Meng Shengnan was startled and silent. He smiled faintly, no longer grasping the question, just glanced at her calmly, and his voice was as quiet as usual.

“In other words, you are also his ex-girlfriend, and you will get a share when you talk about money.”

Meng Shengnan could hear the accent of the ‘ex’ girlfriend in his mouth.

There was a sound of wind outside the door and couldn’t stop.

Meng Shengnan slowly said: “I will come over to pick up my phone the day after tomorrow, and I will count it together then.

He suddenly raised his eyes to look at her.

“Thank you.”

Meng Shengnan nodded slightly, and the hand holding the strap trembled. After speaking the last two words before he could respond, he immediately turned around and left the shop. When she reached the first intersection, which was the traffic light, she slowly turned her head to look at it.

She didn’t stay any longer and took the bus home.

At that time, the ceremony was ready, and Meng Hang saw her figure running out of the living room to pick her up. It seemed that her mood slowly calmed down at that time. She took Xiao Menghang’s hand and asked with a smile, “What did your mother do tonight?”

“Sweet and sour pork ribs.” The little boy was greedy.

Meng Shengnan said calmly, “Your mother should have made it for me.”

The little boy was unhappy: “Sister.”

He stretched the tone, Meng Shengnan couldn’t help laughing.

“What do you want me to do?”

The two had reached the door of the living room, and she bowed her head to change her shoes.

Meng Hang suddenly said, “I really don’t want to tell the truth.”

“what?”

“My mother said you picked it up.”

Meng Shengnan: “…”

Meng Jin helped the ceremony and walked out of the kitchen now.

“Why can’t I get through with my mobile phone when I come back so late today?”

Meng Shengnan squeezed Meng Hang’s small face and said, “The phone is broken. I went to lie down in the city.”

“Is it fixed?”

“Let it be taken the day after tomorrow.” She paused and said.

During the meal, the ceremony brought up the topic of blind date again. Meng Shengnan was too lazy to take the conversation, just immersed himself in eating. The festival sang a one-man show for a long time, suffocating.

“I don’t bother to care about you and me.”

Meng Shengnan giggled: “Thank you mom for not paying attention.”

Meng Hang chewed the vegetables and talked: “Sister, I also think your mother has been a bit long-winded recently.”

The other three: “…”

Meng Shengnan couldn’t help laughing, “That’s a good point, sister will buy you delicious food.”

The ceremony glared at them and shook his head helplessly.

That day seemed to pass so fast, she almost went dark without doing anything. Later, the family sat in the living room and watched TV for a while. She and Meng Hang rushed to compete for the remote control, but was finally defeated by his rogue. By the time I went back to my room to sleep, it was already half past nine.

Jiang Jin has updated his blog on the computer.

She read it carefully, envying his freedom from the bottom of her heart. In the past two years, everyone else has gradually lost contact. Only he is still the same, running around the world, as if he never knew it was tired. Occasionally, I will send her a message, and my brother will have to toss again.

The window was ajar and the wind rolled in.

At that moment, she suddenly thought of the shabby man. He has changed so much from boy to man. It seems that the only constant is the courteous alienation and his cynical eyes, occasionally indifferent and occasionally playful.

A few years ago, she had searched on Renren.com.

He is a good friend of Lu Sibei, and Meng Shengnan easily found his Renren account. At that time, I don’t know what kind of mentality she was holding. She saw his number displayed on the pop-up window in the relevant contacts on the computer. She couldn’t describe it, but she wanted it in high school and didn’t dare to add it, afraid he would refuse. So I would rather not know the kind of mood, complicated and tangled. She had seen that nickname in Lu Sibei’s Penguin, so she recognized it at first glance. A capital Z with a period in the lower right corner of the letter.

Z.

Chi Zheng (Z).

Downstairs, the ceremony was still interrogating Aunt Kang through the wall. Meng Shengnan returned to her senses. She glanced at the endless darkness, and flashed past the dilapidated storefront in the dilapidated street and the desolate person in her head. Looking back, an advertisement popped up on the web page.

“Do you remember the person you had a crush on back then?”