It was getting dark, and I stood on a high spot and looked at the street lamps that had been lit not long ago, like a dotted line with a broken point. After looking at it for a while, the dotted lines gradually turn into pulsing points of light, and then become a world of their own, sheltering every inch of the space illuminated by it.

Just a moment later, I received a reply from Xiao Ai, who first sent a smile, and then a voice message: "Send a photo to see." ”

I also sent her a voice message back: "Let's keep a little mystery for now, when will you be back?" ”

"Not necessarily, I want to invite all the shareholders of the group to have a meal today, as well as the leaders of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development...... It's all bad people, and it's going to be late, so don't wait for me to eat. ”

"Okay, I'll go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities first, if you have anything to buy, I'll send a list later, and I'll buy it for you."

"Okay, I'll call you after dinner, and you can pick me up at Huayang Hotel."

"Well, if you can't cope with it yourself, try to say as little as possible, and your father's old subordinates will definitely help you support the dinner...... Drink less alcohol, you know? ”

"Don't worry, among these people, I am the one who has followed my dad the longest, and I know all the routines in his business, and I can handle it."

My heart widened a little, and I put the phone back in my pocket and went downstairs with my wallet.

……

Due to the increasing population density on Tulip Road, a large supermarket that saw a business opportunity also set up a branch here, and then officially opened last week, diagonally across from the new neighborhood. I heard that on the day of opening, the housing prices in the community generally rose to yuan on the side of the real estate agent. It's not that I feel sorry for the demolition compensation house that was transferred to Jinqiu, but I just think that when the wave of commercialization comes, there will really be some people who will become lucky and get it for nothing. Now, the original residents in the old alleys generally have two or three sets of demolition compensation houses, at least a net worth of several million. This is how many struggling young people who have drifted from other places will never be able to struggle in their lifetime.

Standing at the door of the newly opened "Lotte Mart" large supermarket, looking at the endless stream of people, and then looking back at the place where there were originally many food stalls, but found that it was unusually deserted, but on both sides of the road there were a lot of floor tiles that had not yet been paved.

I didn't rush to buy daily necessities, but in the store on the first floor of the communication operator, I reissued the mobile phone card that I had stolen along with my mobile phone in Rome, and then bought a domestic mobile phone with a good reputation. It wasn't until this time that I felt like I was finding myself again.

I logged in to WeChat, swiped through the circle of friends, and inadvertently saw a post posted by Chen Yi at two o'clock tonight. She is in Chongqing, and after filming overnight, she is having supper with the main creators of several crews.

I remember that when I was abroad, she was always worried about me, and I had no reason not to say hello to her when I came back. So, I left a note under her post: "I have returned to China, you don't have to worry." Also, pay attention to your body when you are working, and it's best not to stay up late! ”

After sending this message, I found a trolley, took the escalator up to the second floor with the crowd, and bought a lot of daily necessities like shampoo and laundry detergent. After that, I went to the third floor again and bought some snacks and ingredients for cooking.

By the time the payment had been settled, an hour had passed. At this point, it was almost past the time to finish eating. I stood at the door of the supermarket with two large bags of things, and I knew that I should have driven the borrowed Cruze over when I had to buy so many things. But if you take a taxi, it doesn't feel worth it, because it's only three or four hundred meters away from where I live.

At this time, the mobile phone rang in my pocket, this call was from Chen Yi, presumably seeing the message I had just left under her dynamics.

I connected, and she spoke to me first: "Jiang Qiao, I saw you, are you carrying two big black bags?" ”

I looked around, but I didn't see her at all, so I asked, "Where are you?" ”

"I'm upstairs."

I looked into the community, and there was a light on in the direction where Chen Yi's house was located, and there was a figure shaking in the window. I couldn't help but sigh, "Your eyes are so good!" ”

"It's too bright for you......"

I looked at my shadow reflected by the lamp, was silent for a moment, and then changed the subject and said to her: "At two o'clock in the morning, you were still eating supper in Chongqing, why did you go back to Nanjing at this time?" ”

"After supper, I flew back to Nanjing with the flight at half past three, and I made up for sleep during the day, and I just woke ......up at this time," she paused, and she said: "It's good to see the information that you came back!" ……”

I smiled, then looked in her direction again, and replied, "Not only is I back, but I will stay on this tulip road for a long time in the future." ”

"Hmm...... Have you eaten, if you haven't eaten, let's eat together. ”

……

Chen Yi went downstairs after a while, she helped me carry the relatively light bag, and then went to the "Wutong Hotel" together. Once seated, we asked for a large plate of spicy lobster and a few bottles of beer, and we started chatting while eating. And such a night, if it had been placed three years ago, would have been very common, but now it is inevitably a little embarrassing. Because, I haven't paid attention to her life for a long time, and I haven't paid attention to every circle of friends she has posted as much as before.

After drinking a bottle of beer, I looked at her with a somewhat haggard face and asked, "Are you busy investing in new dramas all this time?" ”

Chen Yi raised her head to look at me, her face was full of complexity, but in an instant, she smiled lightly and replied, "Can there be a specific range of this time you said?" …… What are the days after you go abroad? It's still the days after I return to China, and if it's the days after I return to China, then I can say it. ”

"The days after I went abroad."

Chen Yi shifted her gaze from looking at me just now, and the smile gradually solidified on her face, and after a long time, she whispered to me: "I divorced Wang Ze, just three days after you left......

I was stunned for a long time before I replied, "Why is it so sudden?" ”

"You don't go through those processes, and of course it feels sudden...... For Wang Ze and me, there is no point in holding on to such a marriage. Perhaps, I didn't listen to my parents at the beginning, and having a child with him was the most correct decision I made in my life! It's going to give me a little more choice in my life...... However, Jiang Qiao ...... What exactly is choice? Do you understand? Why is everyone talking and choosing, but in the end there will still be so many unsatisfactory lives? ”

I don't know how to answer such a dialectical question. So, I picked up the beer in front of me and took a sip, then bought myself some time to think, and then put down the bottle and replied: "Since it is a choice, it should have right and wrong, good and bad." And man seems to be a high-level animal, but in terms of the ability to choose, he is not necessarily better than other low-level animals, because man is too greedy! And greed is like a glass of liquor, it will make people drunk. ”

Chen Yi looked lost, she was not good at drinking, so she drank all the unfinished beer in her hand, and the evening breeze blowing through the street made her look even more lonely.

At this moment, I really don't understand it, looking along the trajectory of Chen Yi's life, it shouldn't be the current situation.

When she was a child, she was a good child in the eyes of her parents, and she was an honor student in the eyes of her teachers, and after graduation, she became the pride of her neighbors. How could such a woman get divorced? Shouldn't she have a harmonious and warm family?

If I had failed her, I wouldn't believe it. There must be a deeper reason behind this, but I can't fully see it yet.

I finally comforted: "If the marriage between you and Wang Ze has really become a burden, then let it go...... You are such a good woman, there will definitely be a better choice. ”

Chen Yi smiled and asked, "Isn't it that I'm not greedy?" …… However, when I chose to be with Wang Ze, I didn't covet him at all, and among the men who pursued me, he could only say that his conditions were average...... Therefore, in the days after the divorce, I have been asking myself, what did I plan for the first marriage in my life? …… However, I didn't have an answer, I just vaguely remembered that on the night of my wedding, I talked to Wang Ze...... I married you because you were too good to me, not because I saw hope in you for life. If one day, you don't treat me as well as you do now, maybe I'll leave you. ”

I bowed my head and was silent, I seemed to vaguely understand what Chen Yi's problem was. And Chen Yi finished saying this, and did not continue. She just called the waitress and settled the money for our meal. Then he helped me carry a bag and sent me back to Flora International, but stopped on the elevator.

She smiled faintly and said to me, "Jiang Qiao, I probably heard something about you and Xiao Ai...... I can only say that I envy her a little, but today your firmness is what she deserves, because she is really a woman who can jump out of this social system and stand on her own...... Okay, I'm not going to go up. This is your home, and it is up to her, the hostess, to see everything you have prepared for her first. ”

After Chen Yi said this, he turned around and walked out of the hall. But I don't know why, I looked at her lonely back, and I wanted to cry a little, I would think of those days when we were inseparable when we were children...... Putting aside the feelings of so many years, she seems to have become a relative of mine.

Chen Yi seemed to remember something, she stopped, looked back at me again, still with the same smile on her face as just now, and whispered to me: "Jiang Qiao, I am not as sad as you imagined, nor as lonely as you imagined. Because, I lost a marriage, but I also gained a loved one. ”

"Wang Ze?"

"No, it's you...... If there is a next life, I hope to be your own sister like Yang Qu. Or, my sister can do it. In this way, I can be spoiled with you for the rest of my life, and treat your smiling face as my own happiness for the rest of my life. ”

……

In the intermittent evening breeze, Chen Yi's figure had disappeared, and the next moment I received a call from Xiao Ai, who asked me to pick her up from the hotel where they were eating right now. This was a lot earlier than I thought.