"Later, I stood in the shade of the sycamore tree in the summer, but I could no longer see that familiar figure."

—

The day after the end of the New Year's Day holiday, it was a sunny and sunny day.

Lai's parents finally returned from Hong Kong and asked her to accompany them to a dinner party at the Baiyue Hotel tonight.

Li Cang sat in a roadside café and hung up the phone in a huffy mood, with no extra expression.

Lin Jiajia looked at her face, but she understood very well.

"It's not going to be Baiyue's dinner tonight, and your parents are going to drag you there, right?"

"Hmm."

Lin Jiajia let out a long sigh.

Her parents had informed her a few days earlier that they would take her with them at that time.

As they get closer and closer to the age of eighteen, parents seem to be anxious to bring them into their proper social circles, and all kinds of banquets and connections, whether they like it or not, are all forced over.

As if sensing her words, a new message popped up on her phone.

She looked down and was instantly dejected.

"My mom also told me to go home and put on makeup, and said that the driver was already on his way to pick me up."

"Go ahead, we'll see you at the venue in the evening."

"I'll see you at the venue in the evening."

Lin Jiajia leaned on Li Can's shoulder, reluctantly, and relied on it for another twenty minutes.

It wasn't until she saw her elongated Lincoln parked under the plane tree outside the window that she straightened up and officially said goodbye to Li Cang.

Li Cang waved at her, and watched as she pushed open the ancient brown café door and stepped into the golden winter sun.

The elongated Lincoln, which was so black and shiny, caught his eyes as soon as it stopped on the side of the road.

Lin Jiajia got into the car in a look of curiosity and envy, as thousands of people have done, leaving a burst of unenvironmentally friendly car exhaust on this Wutong Avenue that is always bare in winter.

Li Cang's eyes were taken away from the Lin family's car, and there was a new message from his parents on his mobile phone.

"Can you get home at two o'clock in the afternoon? If you can't get home, we'll pick you up with the driver, the dress and makeup artist are ready, just go straight to their studio when the time comes. ”

It's only 12:50 p.m.

Getting home before two o'clock in the afternoon is actually more than enough.

But Li Cang listened to that voice repeatedly, and it didn't take long for him to type a text reply.

[No, you can come and pick me up when the time comes.] 】

She threw her phone in her bag, no longer wanting to hear her parents' follow-up.

The sun outside the café seems to be pretty good today.

She stared blankly at the powerful shadow of the sycamore tree branches outside the glass window, and it didn't take long for her to resolutely choose to get up, put on her coat and bag, and pushed open the somewhat heavy door of the café.

When she stepped into the cold and windy street, she was stunned for a moment.

The sunlight that looks extremely warm in the house, only when you actually go outside the house do you know that everything is an illusion.

She shrunk her neck and silently raised her scarf.

Standing in front of the café and struggling with her way, she clearly saw a figure walking in front of her.

That was the second time he saw Shao Qingyan in Li Cang's memory.

Visitors who had just left the experimental middle school for less than two days still have vivid memories of the teenager who was posted first on the honor list.

A two-inch photo of a standard school uniform with a blue background.

Those certificates and honors that can't be written at all.

Li Cang's eyes moved, and he stood quietly in front of the café as he pushed a beat-up bicycle.

The young man's posture was more upright than she imagined, and he was taller than she thought, with clear eyebrows and eyes, and his bones were first-class.

The cold wind under the warm winter sun didn't seem to have much attack on him, and she saw his hands quietly propped up on the handlebars of the bicycle, and saw him pushing the bicycle slowly, without showing any difficulty from beginning to end.

The direction he was walking was a less obvious uphill path.

Li Cang stood quietly in front of the café and watched for a while, until a new customer came in, and she came back to her senses and remembered to make way for others.

She used to carry her bag behind her back and play with the phone in her hand.

Remembering what Lin Jiajia said during the experiment a few days ago, she struggled for a long time, and took a clear photo of his back while the person had not gone far.

The young man under the plane tree, his figure is tall and resolute.

She sent the photo to Lin Jiajia.

Lin Jiajia didn't understand what she meant, and slowly sent a question mark.

Li Cang typed with both hands: [Encountered, Shao Qingyan. 】

Lin Jiajia still doesn't understand: [Who is that? 】

Dare she talk nonsense to others for so long that day, and in the end she didn't even remember their names?

Li Cang was patient and typed her four words again: [Escort Tsinghua.] 】

【Oh! 】

Lin Jiajia remembered.

[Wow, Cang, did you meet him? Help, is it so coincidental? But I've just left, harm, it seems that there is no fate! 】

Li Cang ruthlessly debunked her: [You don't even remember people's names, so you don't want to have a relationship with others, right? 】

Lin Jiajia: [Hehe, I will talk about it that day, who knows you remember it so clearly. 】

Li Cang pursed his lips and put the phone away again.

On the bare Wutong Avenue, a cold wind blew again.

She crossed her arms in front of her, and couldn't help but glance at the figure in the distance.

In the summer, it always blooms to the leafy boulevard, which is lined with all kinds of petty bourgeois cafes, and it is only two roads away from the experimental middle school and only two roads away from her Siming International.

The man pushing the old bicycle is moving forward step by step, without distraction.

Li Cang stood in place for a long time, so long that his ears on both sides were already frozen to cold, and his cheeks were also blown by the cold wind.

The heat that used to come out of the café is long gone.

She finally came to her senses, and pulled her scarf again, covering most of her face.

She took a step and walked in a completely different direction from Shao Qingyan.

The direction away from home is also getting farther and farther away.

—

Shao Qingyan pushed the bicycle and put it in front of the door of the repair shop, and the dilapidated rusty scrap iron creaked, and then, the already crumbling wheel rolled down completely.

"Another one?"

The boss, who was immersed in repairing the car, looked up at him with a smile: "Good boy, you sit in the house for a while, and then I will get you money after I finish repairing this." ”

"Okay."

Shao Qingyan sat down quietly on the low stool on the side, but did not rest, but skillfully helped the boss to set up his hand.

The boss took the wrench from him, the black gloves, and it was vaguely clear that it should be pure white and flawless when he bought it.

He shook his body casually in the cold wind and said, "By the way, Xiao Shao, you went to Beicheng a while ago, how was the exam?" I heard Xiaofeng say, you have been escorted to Tsinghua University, is this true? ”

There was inquiry and surprise in his words, but in fact, there were not many doubts and surprises, probably because he had known Shao Qingyan's outstanding results.

"Yes."

"Good boy."

Gu Jianhuai stood up and sighed.

"I met your mother a while ago, and she also said that you can take the Yunda exam, and she is thankful, sure enough, I know that her nonsense can't be believed, this blink of an eye, you are directly escorted to Beicheng, so can't you even save the college entrance examination directly?"

"Yes, there is no need for the college entrance examination."

"Good."

Gu Jianhuai sighed heavily in the cold wind.

"If my Xiaofeng has half of you, I don't have to worry about his future."

"Xiaofeng's grades are not bad, and it is not a problem to get into a normal good university."

"It's not bad, it's not bad, isn't it far worse than you."

Gu Jianhuai sighed for a long time, and finally repaired the chain of the bicycle in front of him.

"Anyway, now that you're escorted, don't you have to go to school? Can you have more time to earn money directly? ”

"Hmm." Shao Qingyan nodded, "Teacher Lin introduced me to another student two days ago, and I will go over tomorrow to try it." ”

"That's good. Graduating early can also help your mother reduce the burden earlier. ”

Gu Jianhuai took off his gloves and got up, first went to the side to wash his hands under the simple water hose, and then walked to the innermost part of the room full of scrap iron and tools, and found a twenty yuan cash from the drawer.

"In a few days, Xiaofeng's birthday, remember to come to the house to eat cake."

"Okay."

Shao Qingyan put the cash in his pocket, got up and left the car repair shop, and walked back along the Wutong Avenue where he came.

Li Cang stood at the door of the coffee shop and stopped.

She was only halfway through and suddenly remembered that the gloves were still in the store, so she came back to pick them up, but she didn't expect that on the way back, she would meet this person again.

It's just that this time he was walking on the road opposite her.

And the worn-out bicycle is gone.

Shao Qingyan.

She chewed on the name over and over again in her heart, and her calm gaze couldn't help but follow his figure again.

"Buzz—"

The phone in the coat pocket shook twice, and it was the mother who sent a new message.

[Your dad and I are about to leave, send me your address.] 】

Li Cang glanced down and selectively snuffed out the light of his phone.

The eyes that raised again involuntarily walked through the crowd and the streets, still falling on the young man named Shao Qingyan.

The shadows of the sycamore branches that leak in winter, the people walking under the dead branches, the warm golden sun in the afternoon, and the foggy white breath that sometimes wafts in front of you......

All of them constitute Li Cang's impression of the second side of Shao Qingyan.

She stood quietly on one side of the street, looking at him on the other side of the street, like an ordinary passerby.

Soon, the phone rang again with a non-negligible tone.

Li Cang was helpless, looking at the constantly beating screen, which displayed a call reminder.

Caller: Ms. Sun Wei.

She could only press the answer button.

"Hey, Cang, what are you doing? Why don't you reply to messages all the time? ”

"Oh, my phone was muted just now, I didn't see it."

"What's the silence in broad daylight? Forget it, where are you now, your father and I are ready to leave immediately, and now come to pick you up. ”

"On Hengshan Road."

"Oh, then you can just send me the address, and then stand there and don't move, I'll call the driver to drive over directly."

"Good ......"

Li Cang looked at the prompt on the other side to quickly hang up the phone again, pursed his lips habitually, opened the WeChat page, and sent out the location sharing.

She didn't look up again, but stood under the tree and played with her phone idlely.

In just ten minutes, after an extended Lincoln had been parked under the plane tree on Hengshan Road an hour earlier, a brand-new serial Maybach had also stopped in front of this ordinary café.

Li Cang got into the car, and Maybach quickly drove away.

Leaving behind a burst of repeated envy from the people around him, and the usual muddy exhaust in the air.