4

"Run, the athletes of the 12th class of the third year of high school, sweat on the vast field, gallop on the field, create miracles, and witness miracles."

I finished the refueling with a sonorous voice and turned off the microphone.

"Whew-"

I stared at the arena, and the athletes were already in place at the starting line.

Incense sticks in front of the number 6, the outermost track, and is the closest of the six athletes.

Even so, I couldn't make out her expression.

The cheerleaders are loud, and the cheers come and go.

"Ready—ready—"

The referee's voice was loud. The tension also affected me.

"Start—"

Bang!

The starting gun sounded, and the six athletes of the group walked like arrows from the string.

Incense stick is injured, and her performance may not be so ideal......

So fast?!

Before the echo of the gunfire had disappeared, she had already thrown her opponent three positions.

Halfway through it in a moment, only a few seconds later?

I sighed.

In the time I sighed, she had crossed the finish line and deserved first place. Judging from this state, not only is it the first in the group, but it is estimated that it is also the top few among all the participants, and it is even likely to be the champion.

At the end of the competition, she seemed to be at ease, and in the cheerleading team cheering for her, several girls approached her excitedly, presumably her classmates.

The incense stick dodged their physical contact, presumably not wanting them to find out that they were injured.

[Among the audience, I found a familiar flat-headed boy, who was quite outstanding in height. 】

……

It's funny.

At this time, a skinny, male student in a school uniform walked into the radio room. He wears black glasses and looks quiet and delicate.

"Senior, it's hard work."

He said. It seems that he is the classmate who changed classes.

"Ah...... No no. ”

It turns out that he is a junior junior?

I stood up and put him in his seat.

The work is temporarily over.

Walk out of the radio room and pull out your phone and look for a phone number in your address book that you never dialed.

Hopefully he didn't change his phone number.

Toot beet – I dialed the phone.

"Hello? Hello. ”

"Eh—Arbor, where are you?"

He doesn't seem to know it's me, and he doesn't seem to have my phone number on it.

I only knew his mobile phone number at a party at the Hong Kong Club.

I don't know much about Qiao Mu, I only know that he is a dropout, but I don't know why he dropped out of school, and I don't know why he joined the Hong Kong Club. It's just that in a few limited meetings, I feel that he is a person with a sense of justice, and that's it.

"Ben Xu? I'm still in school - what's wrong? ”

He replied.

I stood up and looked not far away, the floor of the playground was lower than average, and I had to climb a few steps to reach the road of the school, which could be used as a spectator seat.

There is a wooded road above the playground.

I roughly estimated the direction and said:

No, I'm from the south, I don't look at the south, I don't know which side is the north.

"Uh...... With your back to the rostrum, there is a forest in the distance, go there. ”

"Isn't that the woods south of the playground?"

Qiao Mu said cleanly.

It turns out that in front of me is the south, why can he distinguish between the southeast and the northwest.

"Ah, that's it, go there."

"Why do you tone so much like the black-clad organization that carried out the extermination operation?"

……

Unable to refute.

Hanging up, I headed south into the woods.

…… Sure enough, it's not customary to use the direction to express the location.

Rounding the edge of the track, the next race is the 400m, which will take the entire playground and should be the last race of the morning.

Many spectators watched the game in the soccer field of the playground, walked through the lawn of the soccer field, and climbed several high stairs to the woods.

"Yo-"

The arbor was already standing in the woods and greeted me when he saw me.

"That's fast."

It's noon, and although the sun is shining in the sky, due to latitude, the sun can only shine obliquely on the land of Sensugi City at noon in winter.

"Is there anything you want me to do?"

Qiao Mu asked the question directly.

"Ahh

I really don't know if Arbor understands it.

"What?"

[Although it was a question sentence, the tall flat-headed young man in front of him did not show a puzzled expression. 】

"About willow threads."

I uttered this sentence slowly.

"Ahh

“……”

"You saw it."

He said.

Judging by his reaction, he seems to be in the know.

"I'll find out before you do."

He said.

"What do you know? Why don't you tell me. ”

"Because this is not in the mission of the 'Hong Kong Council', it is just my personal interest, and I don't have accurate information."

"What do you mean?"

I was puzzled, I didn't know what he was trying to say.

"I don't know how to explain it, but two weeks ago, I met wicker incense for the first time, and just like you, I found the 'big stone god pendant' she carried. In my notepad, I recorded the clues you provided earlier, so I took the opportunity to investigate. ”

Two weeks ago? Congress? What exactly does an arbor do?

"Two weeks ago, Qianshan City held a city-wide sports meeting, and I met her in a long-distance running race."

Seeing my bewildered expression, he shrugged and explained.

"Citywide Games? Only professional athletes can participate. ”

I remember.

"Actually, anyone who has the ambition to become a professional athlete can participate. In that game, willow incense was the champion of the city. In the near future, he may have to represent Qianshan City in the provincial competition. ”

Qiao Mu said with a smile.

Willow incense turned out to be such a powerful character.

I secretly admired. Judging from her performance just now, she really deserves her reputation, and she still ran like that when she was injured.

"And then? What you found. ”

Back to the point, I asked Xiang Qiaomu.

"Let's put it this way...... I looked into the fire that happened seven years ago, the same fire you had. ”

“……”

Hearing the word 'fire' made my heart feel very uncomfortable, and just two words woke up bad memories from my mind.

["I found the surname 'Liu' among the victims, and this surname is rare. ”】

When I heard this, I was shocked.

"So she's from the harbor?"

"Well, a native of Harbor, he was admitted to Qianshan No. 2 Middle School in high school, so he came here."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean when you just said that you saw the 'surname Liu' in the 'list of victims'."

I have doubts about his first sentence.

"She was an only child, her parents were killed in the fire, and she escaped by attending classes outside the home. - It seems to be a sports course, and their family wants to train it to become professional athletes from a young age. ”

Her story is similar to mine, but I've never heard of a resident in the same building with the surname 'Liu'.

"Her family lives on the 13th floor, room 1308 if memory serves."

Qiao Mu continued.

I think back to the structure of that house, a total of 15 floors, the house has two entrances A and B, divided on both sides, the elevator is also separated, room 08 should belong to the area of entrance B, our house generally gets on the elevator from entrance A.

In this way, it is indeed difficult to intersect. After all, there are so many residents.

After the fire, she was adopted by her uncle, who was a relative, and has lived with him ever since, who also lives in Harbor City.

It sounds like what happened to her.

The fire broke out in the evening, just in time to get home from work and take a shower for dinner.

"I see—did you inquire about the origin of the 'Stone God Pendant'?"

"I once asked in a roundabout way, but she didn't answer me."

"How did you get this from her?"

Hearing me say that, he suddenly blushed.

"Ahh It's a long story. ”

His tone, though hesitant, showed a happy smile.

What's the situation?

"Uh-how?"

“……”

I felt a little impatient.

"Let's put it this way, his uncle was a wealthy businessman. It's the kind that is very rich, the kind that is super super rich. ”

His language began to show a tendency to give up on himself.

"So powerful? What is his name? ”

"Zhang Minggang is the general manager of a steel company."

"Well, I haven't heard of it."

I replied casually.

Well? The name is somewhat familiar.

I tried to remember, as if I had heard of it somewhere.

"Hmm......? Why is his uncle's surname Zhang? ”

"Because the incense stick follows her mother's surname, her mother is a lawyer and has a tougher personality."

A lawyer family determined to train their daughter to become a professional athlete?

It's unexpected.

Zhang Minggang didn't want Liu Lianxiang to be a professional athlete. Maybe she thinks the incense sticks are too petite and doesn't want her to step into this highly competitive and easily injured industry. ”

Qiao Mu guessed what others were thinking.

["He wants to find a husband who is the right person for the incense stick. ”】

Qiao Mu said.

“……”

I don't know what to respond to, maybe that's what the rich think, or if it's the very traditional one.

"He has been in Zhang Luo recently, and it is said that he fell in love with a wealthy businessman's son in the UK and wanted to let the incense stick go on a blind date."

"That is to say......"

["He wants to send incense sticks to live in England. ”】

I felt like I heard the plot in an idol drama.

"Incense sticks are naturally unwilling, and they fight for reason. She is halfway into professional sports and can't give up so easily. ”

“……”

In my opinion, there may also be an element of incense stick's parents, after all, the athlete is what her parents expect from her.

"The result of the struggle is that if the incense stick does not find a suitable boyfriend in Qianshan City within a month, she will be sent to the UK on a blind date."

Qiao Mu said solemnly.

“…… What did you say? ”

I want to know if I heard it wrong.

I heard such a shocking thing in this era.

I thought this kind of thing would only happen in feudal times.

"Wait, wait a minute, let me be quiet and sort out my thoughts."

I reached out and pressed my forehead, accepting that I couldn't.

What kind of routine is this, and where should I start complaining?

"So...... Eh hey hey. ”

Qiao Mu ignored me completely and began to giggle to himself.

["In that long-distance running race, I lost to her by less than a position, and this was an opportunity for us to start a relationship. ”】

Qiao Mu recounts his emotional story.

["Gradually, she mentioned it to me and wanted me to be her 'temporary boyfriend'. ”】

"Got it, got it, don't say it."

I had a terrible headache.

["I went on a date with her yesterday at Yugi Square, and this is my first date with her. ”】

He said with a grin, not listening to me at all.

I gave him a blank look.

The reality is full of possibilities.

But in this way, it is very confusing.

Obviously, the incense stick has told Qiao Mu so much information, but he is silent about the 'stone god pendant'. Looking at her appearance, it is not that she wants to deliberately hide this matter, otherwise she would not have hung the pendant on her schoolbag.

"Have you ever met her uncle?"

I asked to the arbor.

"Not yet, but soon, the incense stick said that he would have to go back to the harbor in the near future."

Qiao Mu looked confident, confident to the point of being a little conceited.

["Then why don't you persuade incense sticks. ”】

I say.

"What?"

Qiao Mu showed a bewildered expression.

【“…… persuaded her to withdraw from the competition of this school sports meeting, obviously her injury was so serious. ”】

I whispered a casual remark.

"Huh? Injure? What hurt? ”

Qiao Mu seemed to think that my words were inexplicable, frowned, and looked at me puzzled.

“……”

I suddenly felt a chill down my spine.

"Forehead ......"

[I didn't know how to speak for a while, looking at Qiao Mu's appearance, he really didn't seem to know. 】

Bang!

The guns rang out for the 400-meter race, and soon the morning race was coming to an end.

"It's nothing, I should go back too."

I looked down and turned around.

The argument with her uncle, the bruises on her body, the expression of the incense stick, the things she tried to hide.

All seem to point to one result.

"It's not necessarily a good thing to get into the family of the rich."

I was standing at the edge of the runway, and the figure of incense sticks appeared in front of me, she was running hard for a certain goal, that was the end, and it was also the beginning.

On the lawn of the football field on the inside of the runway, the wind chimes hold the camera, concentrated, and do not want to let go of any detail.

Dark red plastic runway, imperfect ellipse. Cheered on by the sound of cheers, all the athletes are full of energy, and they have more or less certain expectations in their hearts, and they sweat here. The clear blue sky and the warm winter breeze seemed to be a reward from the gods. Every inch of land they step on releases the notes of their dreams. The peculiar vitality of young people hides all the sorrows of youth.

The city, gentle with everyone.

Here, people who intersect meet because of various opportunities and meet for various reasons. People create, weave, and enjoy their stories.