Chapter XVII: Dereliction of Duty

"Where to go?"

Yan Ruisen's voice was like that of others, quiet and calm, and in this cold and windy night, the tone that did not have much temperature was even cooler.

Qiao Xiang stood in front of him, two people, the distance between their toes was less than one meter, and Qiao Xiang could only look at him with his face up.

"Canaan wants a drink, I'll buy it for him."

After Qiao Xiang finished speaking, he was about to pass by him, but Yan Ruisen grabbed her wrist, "Don't get used to him." ”

Qiao Xiang looked at the place he was holding, and struggled gently, and Yan Ruisen's five slender and white fingers slowly let go.

"What does it matter if a child gets used to it once in a while, whether the parent's education is successful, whether he is strict with his behavior and habits, and there can be no change because of a can of drink."

Qiao Xiang studied early childhood education and is the most qualified person to speak in this regard.

She just felt that Yan Ruisen was too harsh on Yan Jianan, and when she remembered Yan Jianan's excited appearance when she was holding the octopus balls, Qiao Xiang felt that the child must have lost a lot of fun in ordinary times.

What a trampoline, a sand playground, Yan Jianan has only heard from other children's mouths.

Yan Ruisen dislikes those places for being dirty, and every time he drives by, Yan Jianan's face is full of longing, and his father almost ignores it.

Qiao Xiang and Yan Ruisen passed by, walked a few steps, and heard footsteps approaching him behind him.

As soon as he turned around, he saw a tall and straight man with long legs following him.

"I buy a pack of cigarettes."

Yan Ruisen walked ahead of her, reaching for the elevator.

Qiao Xiang stood a few meters away from him, looking at his broad back, his straight legs under the black coat, and looking up, it was his meticulously combed black hair, and the neatly trimmed hair corners of his neck, which were hard to the touch......

With a "ding", the elevator door opened.

Yan Ruisen went in first, put his hand on the door, and waited for her.

Qiao Xiang walked quickly into the elevator.

The radiology department is on the fourth floor, while the commissary is on the first floor of the opposite inpatient building.

The two of them didn't say anything to each other in the elevator, and they came out together, and neither of them said a word first.

After many years walking beside him, thinking of the various things of the day, there is always an illusion of being in a different world.

The man who used to fight with her ears and temples and promised each other for life now has children with other women.

His son is five years old and looks a lot like him.

Every time Qiao Xiang looked at Yan Jianan's facial features that were identical to Yan Ruisen, his heart would always shrink and hurt. She thought she could ignore it, she could not care, in fact, not at all-

When he went out, Yan Ruisen walked in front with Yan Jianan, Yan Jianan's mouth shouted "Dad, Dad", although Yan Ruisen didn't respond to him much, but the tacit understanding between father and son, Qiao Xiang could see it clearly.

Especially when Yan Jianan naughtily reached out to touch the corners of Yan Ruisen's hair, Qiao Xiang actually had a terrible thought at that moment - six years ago, if we had a child, that child would definitely be the same as Yan Jianan, in your arms, calling Dad, naughty, touching your hair......

When he arrived at the commissary, Yan Ruisen went to buy cigarettes, and Qiao Xiang walked to the other end of the warm cabinet to buy heated drinks for Yan Jianan.

Qiao Xiang picked it and bought the kind of boxed juice with a relatively short shelf life, only fifteen days.

When he got to the cashier, he was about to take his wallet from his bag, when a slender hand handed it over to him, and he had a hundred yuan yuan in his hand.

Qiao Xiang looked back at him, but he only looked at the boss at the counter, and his two thin lips opened lightly, "Checkout, together." ”

Qiao Xiang noticed the cigarette he bought.

A box of Su cigarettes in pink flexible packaging costs 48.

Qiao Xiang didn't know if it was because this was China, and there was no kind of cigarette he used to smoke in New York, or was it because some of his habits had already changed......

Yan Ruisen took the cigarette and Yan Jianan's drink and walked out of the commissary first, and Qiao Xiang followed behind him.

Back and forth, it seemed to be quieter outside than before, there was no insect chirping in winter, and the footsteps of the two people were so clear in the dead of night.

Yan Ruisen walked neither fast nor slow, Qiao Xiang's pace was steady, he walked ahead, and she didn't mean to cross him.

The man in front of him was more than one meter and eight meters tall, Qiao Xiang looked at him, and it was his straight and tough back - Qiao Xiang was with him before, either he was holding his shoulders and walking in parallel, or she was in front of him, and he followed. Following him like this, looking at his back, almost nothing was done many years ago.

Beneath the black tweed coat is a rigid male body. His body Qiao Xiang is very familiar, because she has seen and touched every inch.

Qiao Xiang still remembered the situation when she lay on his bare chest and coquetted with him.

She asked him, "Yan Ruisen, what would have happened if I hadn't married you later?" He put one arm on her back, one arm resting on the back of his head, his eyes looking at the ceiling, and a doting smile on the corner of his lips, "If you don't marry me, I may not marry." ”

Those words still stayed in my ears so clearly, however, she didn't marry him, he still married.

Today, Yan Jianan is five years old.

Qiao Xiang walked absent-mindedly, looking at Yan Ruisen's back and losing his mind.

An ambulance came behind her, and the lights were so bright that she didn't even notice it.

It wasn't until the sound of the horn came incessantly that Qiao Xiang looked at the ground illuminated by the headlights, and then he turned back sharply.

Almost at the same time, a violent force came around her from behind her, like a gust of wind, and carried her to the other side in one fell swoop.

The headlights were gone, and the whitened ground was restored to its original appearance.

Qiao Xiang leaned against a big tree, frightened, Yan Ruisen's strong arms were still tightly wrapped around her waist, the two of them stood very close, and under the street lamp, each other's facial features fell into the two lines of sight so clearly.

Yan Ruisen held the cigarette in his other hand and held it a little far, because he was afraid that the cigarette butt would burn Qiao Xiang.

The hand that hugged Qiao Xiang was still holding a warm drink.

When Qiao Xiang came back to his senses and was about to push Yan Ruisen away, a thin smile appeared in the man's eyes, and a faint smell of tobacco penetrated into his nose, Qiao Xiang heard his deep voice saying, "You are very good at crossing the river and demolishing the bridge." ”

Qiao Xiang didn't want to pay too much attention to him, pulled his coat and turned around to leave.

Yan Ruisen walked behind, taking a puff of cigarette from time to time, and where Qiao Xiang walked, the smell of smoke blew behind itself, which was very strong.

"I'm sorry."

Suddenly, the man stopped and said such a sentence to Qiao Xiang's back.

Qiao Xiang was surprised, she didn't think that Yan Ruisen would apologize to herself.

She stood there and didn't go any further.

The smell of smoke between her breaths never dissipated, and she heard Yan Ruisen say, "Yan Jianan's trouble for you is my dereliction of discipline." ”