Ruojun soaked some dried bamboo shoots in clean water in the kitchen, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said to Cuiliu beside him while taking off his apron: "Okay, Cuiliu, it's late, you go to sleep." ”

Cuiliu smiled: "Grandma, you should also go and rest quickly." ”

Ruojun said: "Go ahead, I'll check if there's anything missing, and then go to sleep." Cuiliu nodded and withdrew.

Ruojun checked in the kitchen again, then turned off the lights, closed the kitchen door, and slowly walked along the path to the front yard, just when Zhou Ruikang walked in from the gate, the two met and said hello a little awkwardly.

Ruojun smiled: "Is tonight's movie good?" ”

Zhou Ruikang was already worried about Ruoli's affairs, and when he heard Ruojun mention the movie, he felt that he didn't know how to answer, but he just said "uh-huh" perfunctory.

Ruojun said: "Ruoli is still young, if there is anything ignorant, Ruikang you should take care of it more." ”

Ruikang was silent, Ruojun smiled and said, "Ruoli is a lively and cheerful girl, she will bring you a lot of laughter." ”

Ruikang was still silent, he didn't know what to say, he felt that it was not appropriate for him to say anything, Ruojun was a little overwhelmed by his silence, looked up at him, and saw him shrinking his neck, his hands in his pockets, his face was red from the cold wind, and he hurriedly said, "Where's your coat?" How can you wear so little? ”

Before he finished speaking, Ruikang couldn't help but sneeze twice and said, "I wore the coat for Ruoli, and I forgot to take it back when we broke up." ”

Ruojun complained softly: "This Ruoli is really, and she is still so careless." Busy and said: "Come to the kitchen, I'll make you a bowl of ginger soup to get rid of the cold, otherwise you will really get sick." ”

The two came to the kitchen, Ruojun turned on the light and said, "It's still relatively warm in the kitchen, you hurry up and sit by the stove to keep warm." As she spoke, she put on an apron, lit a small stove, took a small fan to light the fire, put a small pot of water on it, and took two pieces of old ginger, and cleaned them on the cutting board.

Ruikang looked at her around in front of his eyes stupidly, in fact, he knew that he shouldn't be alone with her, this was not allowed in the Zhou family, he thought she must have forgotten this family rule, but he didn't want to remind her, and he didn't want to leave her, he liked to watch her busy in front of his eyes, he felt very happy, very comfortable, and very relieved.

Ruojun put the ginger slices into the pot, fanned the stove again, looked back at Ruikang who was sitting by the stove, and smiled: "Soon, I will put some brown sugar in it, firstly, it tastes better, it will not be so spicy, and secondly, the brown sugar is also blood-invigorating, so it will feel warmer faster." ”

He just looked at her, frowning lightly, as soon as she saw his eyes, her heart kept jumping wildly, and the scene in the carriage when Sanchao returned to the door came to her mind again, she couldn't help but take a step back, frowned, turned around, and said softly: "You go to the hall and sit down first, the ginger soup is ready, I'll send it to you." Yes, she remembered that she shouldn't have been alone with him.

"I want to sit here." He said.

She sighed silently and stopped looking at him, she was afraid to look at him, she couldn't look at him, she opened the lid of the pot and stirred it with chopsticks. The soup in the pot began to churn and make a gurgling sound, and the atmosphere in the kitchen was ambiguous and tense, as if there was an energy, a little bit of existing energy permeating this small kitchen.

"Why are you still here at this late hour?" Ruikang asked, breaking the awkward atmosphere in the room.

Ruojun hurriedly said: "Daddy and mother will have a treat at home at noon tomorrow, but Zhao's mother is sick, and I will be in charge, and I am afraid that I will make mistakes in a hurry tomorrow, so I will prepare all the materials in advance." ”

Ruikang smiled: "It's a pity that I'm not at home at noon tomorrow, so I can't eat anything delicious." ”

Ruojun also smiled slightly and said softly: "I'll keep it for you, and wait for you to come back in the evening to eat." ”

Ruikang looked up at her and smiled, "Okay." His eyes were bright and affectionate, his voice was warm and soft, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly to the side when he smiled, which was very charming.

The two couldn't help but glance at each other, and quickly avoided each other, Ruojun added two spoonfuls of brown sugar to the ginger soup, stirred it, tasted the taste, and said: "Okay", Ruojun carefully poured the ginger soup into the bowl, put a spoon, brought it to Ruikang, and said: "Be careful of scalding, but drink it hot, so that you can sweat and drive away the cold." ”

Ruikang gratefully took the soup bowl and tasted it carefully, Ruojun asked, "How does it taste?" ”

Ruikang smiled: "Whatever you do is delicious." ”

Ruojun blushed and said, "Drink it quickly, go to bed early." ”

After drinking the ginger soup, Ruojun extinguished the fire, the two walked out of the kitchen, it was already midnight at this time, the people had already slept, the quiet Zhou family compound, only the two of them walked in the yard, under the bright moonlight, the figures of the two were stretched long, and both of them couldn't help but look at the shadows under their feet. Although the two of them walked side by side, they were far away.

Ruikang said: "Sure enough, after drinking ginger soup, I don't feel cold." ”

Ruojun said: "Go back quickly, cover the quilt at night and sweat." ”

"Okay." He nodded. The two walked into the backyard and passed by the study, Ruojun involuntarily glanced at the study. There was no light in the study for a long time, and Ryan had already fallen asleep, Ruojun sighed slightly.

Ruikang noticed her move very carefully, and also sighed and shook his head, at this moment, both of them knew in their hearts what each other's sighs meant.

Ruikang turned around, looked at Mei Ruojun deeply, was silent for two seconds, and said softly: "You should rest early, tomorrow will be enough for you to be busy." With that, he went west back to his own Yongmei Garden.

This night, whether it is Zhou Ruikang or Mei Ruojun, Mei Ruoli or Cheng Jiaqi, it was a sleepless night.

//

The sun is shining, the spring is getting stronger, in the beautiful scenery of the Peking University campus, Zhou Ruikang is alone in the pavilion leaning against the pillar to read, surrounded by students strolling and talking.

"Hey, Ruikon!" A delicate voice shouted at him, and Ruikang looked up to see Cheng Jiaqi standing in front of him.

"Jiaqi? What a coincidence. Ruikang smiled and asked her to sit down.

Cheng Jiaqi sat down and said with a smile: "I had a lot of fun at your house two days ago, but we are such a large number of people, so noisy, didn't we cause trouble to my uncle and aunt, right?" ”

Ruikang closed the book and said with a smile: "How come, my parents are people who love to be lively, before the situation was not chaotic, our family was often full of friends, but now the world is not good, everyone lives cautiously, so there is less contact." When you came that day, my father and mother were very happy. My mother praised you later. ”

"Really?" Cheng Jiaqi's eyes lit up, the joy on his face couldn't be hidden, and he said softly: "What are you praising me?" ”

Ruikang laughed twice and said, "It seems that you like to listen to compliments, well, my mother said that you are generous and decent." ”

Jiaqi smiled shyly, Zhou Ruikang suddenly remembered that Mrs. Zhou had said that Jiaqi might be interested in herself, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed, stood up, looked at the lake, he didn't want to touch his feelings, Mei Ruoli's bold confession had made him unable to resist, he was at a loss, he didn't want to have any misunderstanding with Jiaqi again.

The two were silent for a while, and Jiaqi slowly stood up and faced the lake, the sparkling lake light reflected on the faces of the two, and both of them were thoughtful. After a while, Cheng Jiaqi took a breath and said softly: "Ruikang, I may be about to get married." ”

Ruikang looked back at her in surprise and said, "What? Engagement? ”

"Yes. In fact, they had been looking for me for months. Jiaqi said.

Ruikang turned his head and was silent, Cheng Jiaqi couldn't see whether he was happy or sad, and asked slowly, "Don't you have anything to say?" ”

Ruikang looked at the corner of Hushui's mouth with a helpless smile, shook his head, and said, "I just have doubts about what I once insisted on. We marched together, organized speeches together, propagated new ideas together, broke feudal superstitions, broke free from the shackles of the old times, advocated freedom of love, and insisted on freedom of marriage, but I watched an unchangeable tragedy unfold in my home, and I didn't expect that even you ...... now."

"So, are you mad at me?" Cheng Jiaqi asked cautiously.

Ruikang smiled bitterly twice and said, "I just feel helpless and powerless. ”

Cheng Jiaqi sighed lightly and said, "If you are not happy, I can decide this family." She smuttered with her head down.

Ruikang glanced at her in surprise, and was about to speak, when someone in the distance shouted, "Ruikang, Jiaqi!" ”

The two looked up and saw that it was Cheng Jiawei running from the boulevard, with a happy face, holding a magazine in his hand and waving it in the air.

Cheng Jiawei ran out of breath, gasped for breath, and said, "Oh my God, you're really hard to find...... Good news...... The article you wrote last time, 'The soul of the clan is immortal, China will live forever' was published, look, and ah, I just met a few professors, and they all said that they want to publish your article to major newspapers, hey, Zhou Ruikang, I really convince you!"

Zhou Ruikang happily took the magazine, looked at his article, and the flame of hope ignited in his heart again, and said: "Great." Jiawei, I'm so happy. Yes, I still want to write, I want to criticize all kinds of injustices and injustices at the moment, and I want to ridicule those who sell their country for glory. Let's go, let's go to Xu Ziyan and them, I still have an idea, why don't we set up a 'patriotic literature club'? ”

Cheng Jiawei said with a smile: "Okay, hey, but it can't be only people from your Chinese language department, patriotism is not limited to those who chew words, but also all walks of life, such as our architecture department, you can write how to build a house, build bridges and pave roads, patriotism can not be achieved without these classes, and there are foreign language departments, you can let them translate our articles into English, German, and Russian, so we have to absorb the elites of each department." ”

"Haha, yes, indeed, patriotism can't just be a one-sided slogan, all walks of life need it, patriotism, a strong country, a rich country, the country has hope." Zhou Ruikang said excitedly, his eyes shining.

Cheng Jiawei nodded again and again, but found that his sister Cheng Jiaqi was standing aside silently, a little strange in his heart, and asked, "Jiaqi, what's wrong with you?" On weekdays, you have a lot of ideas and a lot of words, why are you stuffy today? ”

Cheng Jiaqi squeezed out a smile and said with a smile: "I'm listening to your great plan, it sounds like you plan to mobilize the whole school." But it's a good idea. I know a few girls from the Department of Foreign Languages, and I can go and talk to them, and I can translate our articles into foreign languages and send them to foreign newspapers and magazines. ”

Zhou Ruikang smiled and nodded to her, he was very grateful to her in his heart, since he met, she has always been helping himself, supporting himself, comforting himself, encouraging himself, he can't turn a blind eye to her, maybe he should try to open the door of his heart to accept, he doesn't know, he still hesitates in his heart, there is a shadow in his heart, a shadow that lingers in his mind all the time......