Tao You sat at the desk, listening to the music of the square dance outside the window, and pondered intently, how to take the tennis racket to school is now secondary, and how to take it out of the utility room downstairs is the most difficult thing. Tao You knew that the key to the utility room was in the bedside table in his parents' room, and if he wanted to get the key, he had to avoid Tao's mother. This is the first time she has been doing things behind Tao's mother's back, and she doesn't know where to start.

"Xiaoyou, eat some fruit." Dad Tao walked into the room with a freshly cut apple, saw Tao You lying on the table, thought she was tired, and said to her, "If you are sleepy, go to bed early, and you can do your homework tomorrow." ”

Tao You sat up straight, ate an apple, shook his head and replied, "I'm not sleepy, I'm just thinking about things." ”

"By the way, Dad, on Saturdays and Sundays, is Mom going out?" Tao You rolled his eyes, had a flash of inspiration, and asked.

Speaking of this, Dad Tao also remembered, swallowed the apple in his mouth, and said, "She should go out to eat tomorrow night, and you can solve dinner by yourself, the unit has been busy recently, and I have to work overtime tomorrow." ”

Tao You saw that there was a chance tomorrow night, and he instantly came to his senses, urging Tao's father: "No problem, I'll just burn noodles." Get out of here, I'm going to study. "She needs to make a careful plan now in case she is discovered by Tao's mother.

Dad Tao took a deep look at her before going out, and intuitively felt that she was playing some bad idea, but he was not in a hurry to ask, if Tao You wanted to say it, she would say it, and she couldn't do anything excessive.

"Xiqi, are you free tomorrow night?" As soon as Tao's father brought her the door, Tao You immediately called Hong Xiqi, and she called several times before answering, Tao You asked straight to the point.

Hong Xiqi was very noisy around, she covered her ears so that she could hear Tao You's words, and walked to the balcony to close the door, and the noise around her was quiet before she spoke: "There are guests at home in the past two days, I guess I can't go away, do you have anything to do?" ”

Tao sighed silently, a little lost, but he didn't bother her: "It's not a big deal, you're busy with yours." ”

Hong Xiqi wanted to continue, if there was really anything to help, she could still find time to go out, and just as she wanted to reply, someone behind her opened the balcony door and said to her: "Xiqi, what are you doing standing on the balcony, go make tea for your aunt!" ”

"It's coming!" Hong Xiqi responded, and the noise got into the microphone, she increased her volume, and walked in as she spoke, "Xiao Youyou, I won't tell you first, you can just leave me a message on WeChat, and I'll get back to you later." ”

Tao You responded casually, hung up the phone, looked at the WeChat contacts, and thought about who else to ask for help, the music outside the window became more and more intense, and her mood became more and more irritable. She hasn't lived in Weicheng all these years, and her friends who have a good relationship are basically not here, even if they can, they can't help. Tao You went through the contacts three times in a row, and began to blame himself for why he didn't take the initiative to make friends during the time when school started, otherwise he wouldn't be unable to find anyone to help now.

'I'm going to play tomorrow.' Song Yimian sent a message.

'Help you get back to basics, and you'll be able to progress a little faster. ’

Tao Youzheng was upset: 'What to play, the racket is still in my mother's hand!' ’

'Mine for you. ’

'No, I've got a way to get it out, and I'm trying to get a school. ’

'I'll help you. Song Yi replied without hesitation.

Tao You looked at Song Yimian's reply and hesitated, relying on the relationship between Aunt Tingwan and Tao's mother, she was afraid that as soon as Song Yimian brought it home, Tao's mother would receive the news.

Before she could think about it, the phone rang, it was Song Yimian.

Tao You pressed the mute, got up and quietly walked to the door, gently opened a crack, glanced at his parents watching TV in the living room, closed the door lightly, and sat back at the table before pressing the call button: "Hey." Her voice was very low, for fear that her parents would notice.

"You didn't tell Aunt Shujiang?" Song Yimian has a smart brain, and he probably guessed what was going on at this time.

Tao You was also very helpless, and sighed: "You don't know what my mother's temper is, she is now explicitly not letting me join the club, saying that it is too wasteful of time, my college major or something, my mother has arranged it for me, and it is enough to work hard in the cultural class." ”

"You ......" Song Yimian didn't know how to speak for a while, but after thinking about it, he said, "What Aunt Shujiang chose for you, is it what you want?" ”

The topic became serious, Tao You's train of thought hadn't changed, she opened her mouth, she didn't know how to answer, she had never seriously thought about this question.

From childhood to adulthood, Tao's mother did not have too many requirements for Tao You in life, only learning this matter, Tao's mother's requirements have always been very strict, she helped Tao You arrange everything, and told her how to do it step by step: When she was in elementary school, she did not require Tao You to get a full score in the second exam, but she must remain in the top five of the class, so that she could be admitted to the experimental class of the key junior high school. Classes are randomly arranged by computer;

went to junior high school, she asked Tao You's grades to remain in the top 100 of the year, only in this way could she be admitted to key high schools, and as a result, in the third year of junior high school, the two key high schools had a new priority admission qualification, to prepare for the subsequent competition class, the condition is that in the first half of the junior high school, the total ranking of the final exam is in the top 50 of the school, you can participate in the qualification exam held during the winter vacation, Tao You's science scores are too poor, and the next exam is delayed, under the supervision of Tao's mother, Tao You went to the most hated science cram school, but the effect is minimal, still dragged his feet in the final exam, and directly took the test to a hundred miles away.

That time Tao's mother was angry, the whole winter vacation pressed Tao You at home to make papers, even the year has not passed, and finally survived the high school entrance examination, Tao You thought that the next two and a half months can finally be liberated, just rested for three days, and even the travel plan after was almost arranged, Tao's mother took back a large stack of high school books, and told Tao You that this was carefully selected, and she must preview more than half of each course before the start of school, and even the training class was already looking for it, and as a result, Tao's father and Tao's mother were transferred before and after their work, Tao You followed them back to Reed City, and the almost brand new books were sold together when they moved.

After coming back, Tao's mother was busier at work, and the incident happened suddenly, she was more or less relaxed about Tao You's study, and she didn't have much time to help her arrange everything, but let her have a good summer vacation.

At first, Tao You tried to resist, but in exchange for more severe demands and Tao's mother's reprimand. After a long time, she has become completely numb to Tao's mother's requirements, and she can't tell whether this is what Tao's mother asked her to want, or what she wants, she only remembers that when she meets her mother's requirements, her mother will be very happy.

When I was in elementary school, there would always be classmates in the class who had unrealistic dreams and threatened to do great things when they grew up. Tao You also fantasized about those, watching the space documentary, she wanted to become an astronaut in the future, sleep hand in hand with the sun and the moon, and see if the stars over there were more shining than what she saw; Looking at the various disaster reports on the news, she wants to be a doctor, even a doctor without borders, who can go to the front line and save lives; Seeing that her favorite singer has more and more fans, and her songs are being sung by more and more people, she also wants to become a singer and sing the songs she wants to sing, and thousands of families know her songs; I accidentally saw an international tennis match on TV, she wanted to become a professional tennis player, stand on the highest podium in the world, and maybe at that time, she could meet Song Xiaopang again.

It's just that every time she goes home and talks about these things to Tao's mother, Tao's mother always says that she will help her pave the road, don't think about these messy, useless, what she needs to do is to study with peace of mind, get good grades, be admitted to a good university, choose a profitable, promising major, and even the various interest classes that she has learned since she was a child have also stopped her, many times, a few neighbors who have a good time come to ask her to go out to play, Tao's mother will come forward, on the grounds that Tao You wants to study, and occasionally, she will agree, over time, No one comes to Tao You to play anymore, Tao You's temperament has become more and more stuffy, and his temper has become unstable.

At this time, Song Yimian's words woke her up, and she didn't seem to have a dream to work hard for.

"Is it still there? Feed? Cubs? Song Yimian didn't get Tao You's response for a long time, afraid that something would happen to her, so her tone was anxious.

Tao You came back to his senses, lowered his eyes, twisted his clothes in his hands, and said vaguely: "I don't know." She answered the previous question.

The other end of the phone was quiet, and Song Yimian heard clearly.

The music of the square dance continued, mixed with the screams of children playing and the exhortations of adults, coming in through the windows; The sound of the TV in the living room, mixed with the discussion between Tao's father and Tao's mother, came in through the crack in the door below. Several voices scrambled to enter Tao You's ears and the other end of the phone.

Tao You's mind was chaotic, Song Yimian's silence made her whole person start to be irritable, her brows were furrowed, she was afraid that she couldn't help it, and she would lose her temper at Song Yimian in the next second, and said quickly: "Hang up." ”

"Wait." Song Yimian stopped her.

"Don't worry, there's still a lot of time for you to think. You understand the club plus point system, but Aunt Shujiang may not be so clear, you should sit down with Aunt Shujiang and have a good chat, don't be too rushed, tell her your own thoughts, she will understand. Song Yimian's mellow and gentle voice flowed into Tao You's ears, slowly soothing the irritability in her heart. Song Yimian is in addition to Father Tao, another one who has magical powers, can instantly extinguish her anger, calm her down, and can also light the fire in a word, he knows her very well.

Tao You's nose was sour, she inhaled hard, her tone was aggrieved, and the corners of her eyes were moist: "I have already tried what I can try, she is just unreasonable, no matter how much she talks, it is useless." ”

"Don't talk about this," Tao You didn't want to continue these topics that hurt her mood, and said with a resolute look in her eyes, "After all, I don't know what I want to do in the future, if I really have a goal, even if there are tens of thousands of my mothers in front of me, it will be in vain." Are you free tomorrow night? ”

"What for?" Song Yimian smiled in his words, and across the screen, he could imagine Tao You's rich expression when he said these words.

Tao You sighed: "Do me a favor." ”

Tao You just hung up the phone when Tao's mother knocked on the door and came in.

"Who are you calling? How do I hear about tennis or something? Mother Tao's eyes were sharp and she asked.

Tao You's hand shook as he took the apple, and he was worried: I shouldn't have used the speaker just now, or did I speak loudly? What did Mom hear?

"No, you heard me wrong." Tao You tried his best not to glance at his eyes, and his voice calmed down, "Hong Xiqi asked me about my homework. ”

Tao's mother looked at the homework book on the table, nodded, no expression, and didn't know if she believed Tao You's words: "Hurry up and finish eating, don't stay up late, just get up early tomorrow to do your homework, you can finish it in one day, do some extracurricular exercises the day after tomorrow, the learning progress here is still not the same as that over there, you have to adapt as soon as possible, keep up with the rhythm here, don't fall behind." ”

"Oh." Tao You replied obediently, but he was seriously thinking about his future in his mind, and he didn't listen to Tao's mother's words at all.

The next day was cloudy, and from the afternoon, Tao You's whole person began to fidget, constantly wandering around the living room and room.

Mother Tao stopped mopping the floor, looked at Tao You's movements, and said, "What are you wandering around, it's cloudy, and you're not feeling well?" I had time to wipe down the tables and cabinets. ”

Tao You didn't have the heart to do his homework at this time, so he went to the balcony and got a rag and water and started wiping.

"Mom, when are you coming back in the evening?" Tao You wiped the table and said tentatively.

Mother Tao stood up straight with her waist and took a long breath: "It's estimated that it's going to be eight or nine o'clock, what's wrong?" ”

Tao You's hand kept moving, "It's not much, just ask." ”

"Then I'll order a takeout at night, I'm too lazy to burn." She casually picked up a topic.

Tao's mother rested for a while and continued to mop the floor: "Don't always eat those, you can cook the cleanest and cook the bowl of noodles so quickly." ”

Seeing that the topic was successfully transferred, Tao You didn't say much, and hurriedly agreed: "I know, I know, what's the matter with eating once in a while." ”

She got the approximate time point, and she felt more at ease, so she hurriedly wiped it and went back to her room to send a message to Song Yimian.

'When can you come, I'll have to be home after eight o'clock.' Tao Yu typed quickly.

'I just wanted to send you a message. Lao Tan just called me, and temporarily added an emergency training in the evening, from six to ten o'clock. ’

When Tao You saw the news, he panicked, and his hands became cold, "Then what should I do, my mother doesn't know when to go out!" You promised me first, don't regret it! In a word, Tao You was stunned and made mistakes several times.

Song Yimian was also very distressed, a minute ago Coach Tan called him to inform him that the autumn league was approaching, and he had made an appointment with the coach of Fengqiao Middle School tonight to have a friendly match, and he must be on time.

"Mom, when are you going to go out later?" Tao You leaned on the door and asked cautiously.

Mother Tao looked at her suspiciously: "It's past five o'clock, what's the matter with you?" ”

Tao You smiled: "Just ask, what's wrong." After that, he hid back in his room.

'My mom didn't leave until five o'clock!! Not enough time! Forget it, don't come here, where are you going to play a friendly match, I got the racket and went straight to you. ’

'That Reed City Stadium in the middle of the city. No. 15 bus direct, call me when you arrive. ’

The two agreed, and Tao You waited for Tao's mother to go out. She was very nervous, her body was tense, no matter how she rubbed her hands, she was still cold and stiff, her legs under the table were constantly shaking, her ears were pricked up, she listened carefully to the movements outside, her eyes looked at her watch from time to time, and she couldn't turn a page for half an hour of homework.

finally got to half past five, Tao's mother changed her clothes and prepared to go out: "Xiaoyou, hurry up and do your homework after eating, and play less with your mobile phone." I'll come back and check, don't order takeout. ”

"Oh, bye-bye." Tao You stood at the door and waved to Tao's mother.

As soon as Tao's mother closed the door, she rushed into the master bedroom. Before she could open the drawer, the door was unlocked again, and she hurried into the study opposite, pretending to be looking for a book in front of the shelf.

"Do your homework first and then read the book." Tao's mother went back to the room to get her mobile phone, and when she saw Tao You in the study, she couldn't help but nag.

Tao You agreed casually, this time she has experience, after closing the door, she put her eyes on the cat's eye and looked out, waiting for Tao's mother to go downstairs, the footsteps disappeared, and then went back to the master bedroom.

Sure enough, the key to the utility room was lying in Tao's mother's bedside table.

She took a photo before picking up the key, went back to the room to carry a small bag, and sent a message to Song Yimian while going out.

Downstairs, she didn't rush out, observed at the gate for a few minutes, turned into the basement, opened her utility room, turned on the light, used the fastest speed to find the racket bag that was randomly thrown in the corner, patted off the ash on it, didn't dare to delay, turned off the light and locked the door, and went straight to the bus stop.