Yuan Ben likes to observe others since he was a child, according to Yuan's mother's recollection, when little Yuan Ben can not fully describe a thing, he often moved a small bench to sit under the tree in the compound and stay with a group of sisters and aunts, he looks cute, has a well-behaved temperament, is quite popular with women, and can always get all kinds of small snacks. Yuan Ben's purpose is not to eat, but to listen to their chat, every day before and after meals, the women in the courtyard will gather under the tree, pick vegetables and chat, eat and gossip, he always has to hear the last scene before he is willing to follow his mother who came to him home. If Yuan's father asked about something, Yuan's mother always quipped: "Ask your son to go, there is nothing in this courtyard that he doesn't know." ”

His hobby, when he was fourteen or fifteen years old and taller than 180, he was no longer good at piling up with women, and then he found that boys' gossip was no worse than that of girls, which is a later story.

Based on this hobby, participating in a meal without talking has always been a pleasure for Yuan Ben, he can eat and drink well and observe the life on the dinner table to his heart's content, and enrich his inner small theater.

However, he couldn't do it today, because Xu Douxiao was beside him.

They ate in a new Dunhuang-themed fusion restaurant, with the dim light of a cave, the bright colors of red and green, and in order to sit down everyone's long table and have to be tightly seated, Yuan Ben's legs and Xu Douxiao's legs were next to each other, and they could touch it with a slight movement.

Although Yuan Ben is not well-read, he has read enough and miscellaneous, and the book says that people and animals are eager to touch, which is out of a desire for security, but no book can tell him how to control himself from touching his ex-boyfriend's thighs, not touching his arms by the opportunity of the cloth, and not counting the number of times his eyelashes flutter by the dim light.

For the first time, Yuan Ben felt that the crooked reasoning in the chicken soup for the soul of love was actually very reasonable, no matter how rational you are, there is always someone who can break through the strength of the soul. He was particularly uneasy at this meal, to the point that Gu Miaomiao was worried.

As soon as the dinner was over, Boss Gu, who had other things to do first, pulled him aside: "Teacher Yuan, look at your absent-mindedness, are you not feeling well?" ”

Yuan Ben was embarrassed: "Indeed, it is indeed a bit of a headache." ”

"Then I'll let Novel pick you up?"

"No, then no, just pass the wind, I'll just go back by myself."

"Lao Yuan and I walked two steps together, and it just so happened that we hadn't seen each other for a long time." After saying goodbye to his partner, Xu Douxiao walked over.

"That's fine, Mr. Yuan, if you don't feel well, just ask for leave to rest, don't be in a hurry to work."

"Okay, thank you. You're busy first. ”

waited for Gu Miaomiao to get in the car and leave, leaving Yuan Ben and Xu Douxiao standing on the side of the road.

"Will you tell him about it too?" Xu Douxiao asked thoughtlessly.

Yuan Ben was looking at his shadow, and he didn't react for a while: "What? ”

"Will you tell Thomas about today?" There was jealousy and grievance in his voice that he had never even noticed.

Yuan Ben shook his head: "No." ”

"And who will you tell it to?"

"No one." Yuan Ben sighed, "There's no need for that. ”

Yuan Ben told Xu Douxiao out of an uncontrollable impulse to share, he couldn't wait to share every minute and every second, all happiness or unhappiness with him, and wanted their lives to be closely linked, that kind of closeness without privacy at all, if there are five senses shared in this world, he must not hesitate to open to Xu Douxiao. But this kind of irrational, over-enthusiastic emotion can only happen to him once in his life, if everyone has a passion meter, then it took him twenty years to accumulate blue, and now it has been consumed.

"Why?" Xu Douxiao didn't understand, he always thought that Yuan Ben was a person who was extremely happy to tell stories, and he once got up and brushed the dishes and turned his face because he didn't finish listening to one of his jokes.

"I'm old." Yuan Ben shrugged, I can't say it's because it's not you, I just love to talk to you, "Besides, I don't like to chat in the first place." ”

The silent air turned into a viscous liquid flowing between them, Xu Douxiao felt that his body was wet and sticky, and he was bored and uneasy, and the two of them walked on the path full of plane trees one after the other, the street lamps cast dappled light and shadow through the leaves, and he suddenly found that this was an extremely familiar road, and when he was in college, he used to work in this neighborhood. At that time, it was around Christmas, Xu Douxiao took a job playing the piano in a restaurant, and he could earn hundreds of yuan a night, and he could earn two months of living expenses a week. He still remembers that Yuan Benben picked him up at the restaurant on Christmas night, and when the restaurant ended late, he sat at a nearby McDonald's and read a book, bought a cup of coffee and continued the night. It snowed that night, very small, very small, Xu Douxiao came out of the restaurant and saw Yuan Ben wearing a down jacket, a red cashmere scarf, smiling stupidly, a thin layer of snow fell on his head and shoulders, his nose was red, he took out an apple and gave it to him, like a silly Santa Claus.

The Christmas traffic was bad, and they walked back to school because they were young, and it was also this plane road that was crowded with people because it led to the church, and everyone happily hugged each other, and no one noticed that they were holding hands.

Xu Douxiao felt that his heart was empty, and his hands were empty, he clenched his fists and coughed.

"Yuan Ben, you still owe me a Christmas gift."

Yuan Ben looked back at him puzzled.

"Right there." Xu Douxiao pointed to a bench under the plane tree, and a big, fat green mailbox stood next to it, "I gave you a set of handmade bookmarks and a box of candy, and you didn't give me a gift." ”

Yuan Ben squinted at the ordinary bench and remembered the past.

Xu Douxiao's part-time cafeteria is a long way from the school, and they are not religious, nor do they have the obsession of going to the church to join in the fun, so they finally gave up after squeezing in the crowd for more than half an hour, and after a lot of hard work, they found a chair that was still empty, and decided to sit there and wait for the clean point before leaving.

This is the second Christmas after the two of them are together, and on the first Christmas, they all had dinner at Wang Xiaoxiao's, eating full of fat brains, drinking a lot of meat and vegetables, plus they were preparing for exams and papers before, and neither of the two rough men wanted to give gifts like this. This year is different, everyone has their own destiny, arrange the time early, they can live a two-person world, Xu Douxiao began to think about what to send a month earlier, all kinds of forums and stickers strolled around, what "sending these will definitely make your boyfriend happy", "Gifts that boys want Top10", "Gifts are heart" He has repeatedly studied it, and the electronic products that boys like Yuan Ben bought faster than anyone else, The clothes are basically under Wang Xiaoxiao's control (he doesn't have the courage and ability to challenge), and he doesn't have the taste to choose books for liberal arts students (after giving away the chicken soup for the soul books that year, Yuan Ben's eyes that want to dislike and feel that he feels very cute really don't want to look at it anymore) After thinking about it, he decided to do it himself.

Xu Douxiao's hands-on ability, if you say that the full score is 100 points, he can only score 10 points, and when he grows to 20 years old, he has not even been able to order a button, and the only thing that can be talked about is to wrap a book cover for himself, with that kind of plastic transparent, a set of convenient models that will be done in it. Now he wants to challenge himself for love. After two weeks of repeated failures, he finally succeeded in making a set of 12 handmade bookmarks, each with a small poem and his stick figure.

Let's just draw it. Xu Douxiao thought that they have lines and colors.

In order to make this gift not look too much like the kindergarten work, he deliberately paired it with a pack of Yuan Ben's favorite plum lollipops.

Xu Douxiao took out a gift on the chair, a brown paper box, and a bow tied with thick hemp rope, Yuan Ben was pleasantly surprised, and smiled after opening it.

"Don't laugh at them, you can't imagine how hard they work!" Xu Douxiao buried Lian in a scarf, revealing only a pair of eyes to murder him.

"I don't." Yuan Ben picked up a bookmark and looked at it carefully, on it was a river of bent spring water, and there was a small triangle representing the lonely boat, "It turns out that you asked me what painter I like a while ago for this matter, I thought you had changed sex, not to mention, your two strokes do have Ni Zhan's style." ”

"Get out!" Xu Dou grabbed him for a while, turned sideways and didn't look at him.

"Eh, what I said is true, is your painting an imitation of him, if I guess wrong, you can punish me casually." Yuan Ben handed the bookmark under his nose, Xu Dou glanced at it reluctantly, not to mention, it is true.

At the beginning, he asked Yuan Ben about his preferences in painting, just to find the relevant elements to draw bookmarks, although he was hit by the painting.

He actually saw it! Xu Douxiao is very proud, it seems that I still have talent.

What I want to say here is that it is not that Xu Douxiao is talented, nor that Yuan Ben's understanding of Ni Zan has reached the point where he can be identified from a curve and a triangle. Instead, Xu obediently copied the inscription of the painting on the bookmark.

Xu Douxiao: "Count you amazing." ”

"No, no, no, not as good as you. Thank you, dear. I'll treasure it for the rest of my life. Yuan Ben opened a sentence and put the plum candy in his mouth, "The sugar can't be saved, I'll eat it first." ”

"Where's my gift?"

"Huh? Didn't I just give you an apple? ”

"Does that count?" Xu Douxiao pretended to be angry, "That one you bought casually, it must be the last one that can't be sold by any student under the dormitory." ”

Yuan Ben, who was exposed, scratched his head: "Then what do you say?" It's too late to buy it now. ”

"You want to spend money on a gift?"

"Then, so be it, I owe you a wish, which is valid forever, as long as it does not violate the laws of the country, as long as you open your mouth, I will definitely complete it."

"It's a deal."

After many years, Xu Douxiao did not use this gift, and Yuan Ben never needed him to make a wish.

Today, he unwrapped the gift.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to stay with me all day tomorrow."

"Okay."