The setting sun took away the last rays of light, and the fine light quickly filled the tall buildings in the distance like fireflies.

The boy sat on the low wall of his yard and stared at the velvet curtain of the night.

The courtyard is not large, and there is a stone table and four stone benches in the middle. In the east corner of the wall are pots of well-tended flowers.

"Jiang Qiao, what are you looking at?"

A crisp sound came in the breeze, and the boy withdrew his gaze and looked instead at the source of the sound.

In front of the courtyard wall is a long and narrow bluestone road, and each family leans on this path to form an alley.

A girl in a sports casual dress with a high ponytail stood at the entrance of the alley not far from here, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead, as if she had just returned from a run.

Maybe it was too boring, Jiang Qiao's eyes rolled, and he said something with a bit of banter: "Look at you." ”

"Boring you, you'll be there!" I don't know when, the girl has already walked under the courtyard wall, patted Jiang Qiao's swaying calf with her hand, and handed the bag in her hand up.

"Oh, I just bought it at the door of No. 1 Middle School, and it's freshly baked."

Jiang Qiao glanced twice into the bag, which contained two boxes of plum blossom cakes, and the fluffy surface was dotted with sesame seeds, pine nuts, jam and some other ingredients.

He took out a box, and as soon as he opened the lid, the rich fragrance immediately came out.

Cheng Ruoxi held a bag in one hand, supported the courtyard wall with the other, kicked a few bags of cement under the corner, and a vaulting horse also sat on the courtyard wall.

The two of them sat like this, swaying their feet and puffing out their cheeks to eat, occasionally smiling a friendly smile at their neighbors as they passed by.

In fact, it was mainly Cheng Ruoxi who smiled, and Jiang Qiao would only nod his head silently to say hello, and then look at the sky in the distance in a daze.

He has lived in an alley with Cheng Ruoxi for as long as he can remember, and they are all classmates in kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school.

Until Cheng Ruoxi went to the best high school in the city, No. 1 Middle School. He went to the second-ranked high school, No. 2 Middle School.

Because the high school promised him a scholarship that would cover enough tuition and living expenses. Perhaps out of an inexplicable teenage self-esteem, he wanted to try to survive on his own.

"Hey, are you done with your homework? There are only two days left before the holiday. Cheng Ruoxi swallowed the pastry in his mouth and continued.

"Nope."

"You don't want to copy the answer, I'd rather not write than copy the answer." The girl arched his shoulders.

"Cut, when did the master do that kind of thing?"

"I believe in you," Cheng Ruoxi stroked his hair, "Didn't my uncle send me a message this morning telling you to study hard...... You're throwing a tantrum with your uncle again?"

"What did he tell you?" Jiang Qiao ignored the last sentence and stared at the neon in the distance.

"Study hard, eat more vegetables, fruits, meat, and don't stay ......up late," Cheng Ruoxi actually broke his hands and counted.

"Stop, stop!" Jiang Qiao hurriedly stopped, "It's almost there, why does he tell you everything." ”

Cheng Ruoxi stared at him and didn't say anything more.

……

After Jiang Qiao finished eating the plum blossom cake, he twisted the entire cardboard box into a ball, aimed at the trash can opposite, and threw it.

Successful throw.

"Do you have the quality?" Cheng Ruoxi jumped to the ground with one hand on the courtyard wall, patted the ashes on his buttocks, and then picked up the paper ball and threw it into the trash.

She stood under the flickering street lamp, and there was no one around, only the sound of water still ticking.

"What do you eat at night?" She asked.

Jiang Qiao touched his stomach, indicating that he was very full.

"I knew you were always so casual." Cheng Ruoxi put his bag of pastries on the courtyard wall, and there was more than half of it left, "Eat this too." ”

She turned around and left with the light on her back, and turned back halfway through: "By the way, my uncle also said, let you pay attention to the hygiene of the house, and remember to tidy up those rooms or something."

This time she was really gone, Jiang Qiao looked at her back and the ponytail flicking behind her head until she turned a corner.

Jiang Qiao jumped down with the bag and walked straight into the house.

Turning on the light, Jiang Qiao lay down on the sofa and took out the box of plum blossom cakes that Cheng Ruoxi gave him and solved them one by one.

Cooling it does not affect its overall taste.

Although it is an old house, the interior decoration is exquisite and comfortable.

Jiang Qiao has lived with his father Jiang Hanlin since he was a child, and he has never seen his mother since he was five years old, and the neighbors said that his mother couldn't stand the marriage and left. He wasn't impressed.

After that, Jiang Hanlin became very silent, running around the world with the engineering project team, and sometimes he couldn't go home once a year.

Jiang Qiao was entrusted to Cheng Ruoxi's family from then on, and when he was a child, Jiang's father would bring a few large bags of things to Cheng's house every time he came back, and left a fee.

After growing up in junior high school, Jiang Qiao returned to his own house to live, eating and washing alone, but Jiang's father would still carry things to Cheng's house once a year.

The father and son rarely communicated, and at first they would ask some questions about life, but in the end they had nothing to say.

Naturally, Cheng Ruoxi played the role of a telephone microphone.

She came over with some food from time to time, and when Jiang Qiao was not there, she squatted at the gate of the courtyard, or simply climbed over the courtyard wall and sat in the courtyard and waited. Sometimes on weekends, I will come to help Jiang Qiao wash the quilt, just like a sister.

After entering high school, for the sake of his poor self-esteem, Jiang Qiao studied hard.

But unfortunately, every time the city's joint entrance examination is taken, his ranking always swings between 50~100, and Cheng Ruoxi ...... It ranks among the top three in the city.

But they are all in the top five of their respective high schools. I have to say that the difference in strength between the two high schools is sometimes greater than the difference in the color of the two pastoral dogs.

The gap in educational resources and IQ can sometimes make a big difference.

……

The time was almost eight o'clock, Jiang Qiao had already cleaned up the meal, and he used the news on the TV as BGM while taking out his chemistry textbook to review.

With the sound of TV news in the background, he won't feel too bored and lonely when he is revising.

Halfway through it, he remembered what Cheng Ruoxi had told him and cleaned the whole house, especially the room he hadn't entered much.

The house has two floors, each with a few rooms. The second floor serves as a storage room, so you don't need to tidy it up.

There are a total of two bedrooms on the first floor, except for Jiang Qiao's own bedroom, only the east one remains.

Jiang Qiao tilted his head to look at the room opposite his left oblique, the door was closed, and the word Fu on it was dim and crooked.

It used to be his parents' room, and since his mother left, he had only been in a handful of times, and the last time he went in seemed to be a few months ago. Moreover, every time Dad Jiang comes back, he will not enter this room, but will go to the second floor to live.

Jiang Qiao didn't know when he walked to the door, and a thin layer of dust fell on the doorknob.

Want to clean it up? The slanting moonlight shone in through the door, illuminating the somewhat deserted courtyard along the way.

Let's go in and have a look. Jiang Qiao grasped the doorknob and twisted his wrist.

What's going on? Why are the doorknobs so tight? It's been too long? Jiang Qiao exerted a little force, but the handle didn't move at all.

Locked up?

Jiang Qiao hurriedly found the key, but after trying for a long time, he still couldn't open the door.

A few layers of fine sweat broke out on his forehead, and his heart gradually became impetuous. An irrepressible thought came to him: he must open this door.

Humiliated by a door, that's okay.

The voice of the news channel host on the TV floated in front of his ears: The temperature trend is very abnormal across the country, and residents must take measures to deal with it.

But he couldn't hear anything, and he twisted it with both hands, and pushed his shoulders against the door with all his might, almost with all his strength.

The wooden door began to tremble, and the gap next to the door slowly widened, and along the edge of the gap came a bright blue light.

He felt that he was pushing not a wooden door, but an ancient, heavy bronze.

The angle grew a little bigger, so big that he could roughly see the scene behind the door.

Jiang Qiao froze.

Behind the door it was like another world, with the bed, table, chair, fluorescent lamp he remembered...... Almost all of them are gone, replaced by quaint blue crystal chandeliers, half-human-high tables carved with mysterious patterns, and bottles of potions boiling in various colors on the long tables......

and a broom flying towards him in the air.

it! Jiang Qiao let out a painful sigh, his forehead was firmly hit, and he stumbled to the ground.

A frightened female voice came from the shadows under the light behind the door, like a frightened oriole:

"Who?!"