The limited courage of the moment.

When Xi Lanyu turned around and went back to the room, Ning Zhi suddenly grabbed his wrist, the force was very light, and the palm was extremely soft.

She exerted herself slightly, not daring to look at him, tilting her head, her breath was still unsteady, and her heartbeat was unconsciously quickened, "Actually...... I can...... Help, help you......"

The rain outside the window stopped, but the rain in the hearts of the two was still dripping and unfinished.

Ning Zhi clearly felt that there was silence in the air for a moment, and something was silently brewing.

She closed her eyes slightly, and the moment her hand reached for it, her trembling fingertips were grasped, and the tip of her nose smelled the rich smell of cedar mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees.

Xi Lanyu clasped her wrist, the force was very heavy, he bent over, his gaze was quite aggressive, his Adam's apple rolled, and his voice was low, "Don't worry, baby." Rubbing his fingertips slightly, he kissed her wrist, "You're tired today, rest well." ”

-

Ning Zhi was off until next Saturday.

It seems like a whole week.

She didn't have a shift schedule that day, but Xi Lanyu had something to do with the company, so Ning Zhi took a book and sat on the sofa while reading and waiting.

Recently, it has been rainy in Beicheng, and the sky is gray and heavy, and it will never end from morning to night.

Ning Zhi turned on a soft reading lamp, wrapped in a blanket, crossed her legs casually, she lowered her head, the warm yellow light shrouded her head, she listened to the sound of the rain ticking outside the window, and just read-

"The sound of the rain was like dwelling by a stream.

I'd rather rain every day,

I think you're not coming because it's raining." *

Xi Lanyu pushed the door in with a dampness.

It was evening, and when the door opened, he seemed to come from the depths of dusk, and he looked particularly lonely.

Ning Zhi was in a trance for a moment, she put down the book, got up and walked towards him.

Xi Lanyu habitually pulled the loose tie first, he slightly stretched his jawline, put away the big black umbrella in his hand, and then leaned over to Ning Zhi and kissed the top of her hair with thin lips.

For a moment, Xi Lanyu lowered his eyes slightly, and his still somewhat moist fingertips touched Ning Zhi's cheek, "Clean up and follow me somewhere." ”

……

It wasn't until the car started to drive towards the suburbs that Xi Lanyu withdrew his hand from the window.

He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyebrows, and explained to Ning Zhi a little tiredly, "Today is my mother's death day, and there is a high probability that I won't be able to go back at night, so I'll send you to the villa first, and you'll wait for me there." ”

Looking at the direction in which the car was driving, Ning Zhi guessed that the villa in Xi Lanyu's mouth should be the same Chinese garden-like building they lived in when they first met.

In fact, she felt a little emotional, the last time she passed, it was just to avoid her grandmother's sight.

At that time, Ning Zhi would never have imagined that her relationship with Xi Lanyu would undergo such earth-shaking changes a few months later.

She couldn't help but shake Xi Lanyu's hand and asked softly, "...... Don't I have to go there? ”

Ning Zhi would not feel that it was disrespectful for Xi Lanyu not to take her to this kind of occasion, on the contrary, she knew that this was Xi Lanyu's protection of her in disguise.

Maybe it's time, maybe it's a growing relationship.

She could feel it almost instantaneously that Xi Lanyu didn't really want to deal with this.

Even, compared to work, Ning Zhi felt that this was the root cause of his low pressure today.

Xi Lanyu tilted his head, he looked at her, flipped his palm, wrapped Ning Zhi's hand, and asked in a deep voice, "Do you want to go?" ”

Ning Zhi paused for a moment and shook his head, "To be honest, I don't think much of it, I don't think Mr. Xi is very easy to get along with......

But in the next second, Ning Zhi leaned over again, she looked at Xi Lanyu's eyes seriously, and smiled, "Although I don't really want to go, I want to accompany you more." ”

The weather was not good, it was gray, and at first glance, it looked like the end of the world.

However, this is only outside the car, and the inside of the car is very different.

In this closed and secluded space, what is slowly flowing at this moment is the warmth that almost makes people's hearts soften.

Ning Zhi raised his head to confirm, "Xi Lanyu, you are really...... You want me to be with you, right? ”

Xi Lanyu didn't speak.

But what responded to Ning Zhi was the hug that almost hurt her bones.

It was very hard, as if it was going to rub her into her body.

Xi Lanyu leaned over and pecked her on the top of her hair, her voice was low, mellow and long.

After a while, he closed his eyes deeply and said, "Yes." ”

……

On the way over, Ning Zhi probably heard Xi Lanyu talk about the life experience of this old lady Chen.

Chen Lanyin used to be a high school Chinese teacher, but when Xi Yueting's business improved slightly, she quit her job and devoted herself to supporting him.

However, her strict habit of teaching and nurturing people remained.

Chen Lan was strict with herself, and she was even stricter with Xi Lanyu.

Since she was a child, she never allowed Xi Lanyu to become second, and it was not until later, when their own child was born and her attention was diverted, that the suffocating shroud dissipated a little.

Oh, Ning Zhi only knew about it from this time.

It turned out that Xi Lanyu said that day, "He was not originally surnamed Xi", was not a parent's orphan, but just simple, Xi Yueting and Chen Lan had not been pregnant for many years, and they thought that there was something wrong with their health, so they went to the welfare home to adopt him.

The way they choose their children is also particularly utilitarian.

Chen Lanyin had prepared questions for all ages, and Xi Lanyu was the one who answered them best, and even though he was well beyond his best age at the time, they eventually took him away.

Perhaps, they really don't care whether Xi Lanyu remembers it or not.

What they wanted from beginning to end was a perfect heir with a smart head but who could repay their kindness.

Ning Zhi's mood was a little complicated for a moment, and in that complexity, it was mixed with fine and dense distress.

Xi Lanyu is so noble, such a person at the top of the food chain, has such an almost bleak past.

Ning Zhi felt so suffocated that she couldn't breathe, and she couldn't imagine what a lonely and lonely night Xi Lanyu spent alone when she was a child, when they adopted him and focused all their energy on their children.

No wonder he is always so silent, like the cool moon on the horizon.

Xi Lanyu saw Ning Zhi's thoughts, and he laughed, but he was very indifferent, "It's really okay." He paused, rubbed Ning Zhi's hair, and laughed, "Don't look at me with such pity, huh?" ”

Ning Zhi whispered, "It's not pity, it's distress." "When I was a child, I went to a welfare home with my mother, and I still remember how ...... the children there were Lonely ......"

"Mom said that the older the child, the less likely it is to be adopted, and if they want to grow up safely, they will have to work harder than others, so I brought my favorite toy and gave it to the boy in the corner who looked like he was already a big child."

Ning Zhi frowned slightly, a little distressed by his memory, "But he didn't seem to be very interested, so he didn't look up or reach out to take it." ”

Xi Lanyu held Ning Zhi's wrist and suddenly tightened, he lowered his head, his breathing was a little heavy, "Zhizhi, do you remember ......"

At this moment, the driver stopped, turned around and said, "Mr. Xi, you can't drive up any further, you and Miss Ning have to go down and walk a few steps." ”

Xi Lanyu said "um", looked outside, and swallowed the question.

He turned, picked up the black umbrella on his seat, opened the door with one hand, and opened the umbrella with the other.

Ning Zhi couldn't help but look at him.

Xi Lanyu's wrist bones are rugged and very good-looking, he holds the umbrella with a slight force, and the green tendons on the back of his hand are deeply convex under the reflection of the rain and fog at dusk.

Pale green, with distinct roots.

When the two arrived, Xi Yueting was already waiting in place.

Seeing them, he snorted, turned his face away, and reprimanded as soon as he opened his mouth, and the spearhead pointed directly at Xi Lanyu, "I only came now, what day is today, don't you know?" ”

After Xi Yueting finished speaking, he didn't want them to answer.

With the help of his staff, he walked into the rain in silence.

At this moment, he is just an eccentric old man who has lost his wife and son and is still celibate.

However, this thought only lingered in Ning Zhi's heart for a moment, because next, when he arrived at Chen Lanyin's tomb, Xi Yueting aimed this finger at Ning Zhi, "Lanyin likes children the most, and I don't know what you have been doing since you got married?" ”

Ning Zhi listened, and silently modified his impression of Xi Yueting in his heart: a strange feudal and annoying old man.

As soon as Xi Yueting finished speaking, Xi Lanyu quietly blocked the topic for Ning Zhi.

He spoke, his voice mixed with rain and mist, a little deep, "It's my problem." ”

Xi Yueting's cloudy eyes looked over, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Xi Lanyu did not shy away from it, "It's the same problem you thought was at the beginning." ”

Xi Yueting's face turned pale, and finally the crutches touched the ground fiercely, and the muddy rain mixed with mud almost stained Ning Zhi's skirt.

Xi Lanyu turned sideways to block it for her.

The three of them were silent in front of this tomb for a long time, until the sky completely sank, and Xi Yueting left in a car.

Before leaving, he instructed Xi Lanyu, "You go to see Xiaoqing again." ”

When the sound of Xi Yueting's car disappeared from the mountain, Ning Zhi tilted his head and asked, "Who is Xiaoqing?" ”

Xi Lanyu's expression was faint, "My younger brother, their biological son." ”

Ning Zhi thought for a moment that when she and Xi Lanyu returned to the Xi family's old house, the two black-and-white photographs that were placed in the suffocating hut were painted black.

Ning Zhi pondered the words, "Why did he ......?" after thinking about it, she used a more euphemistic word, "...... Leave? ”

It was a little dark in the mountains, Xi Lanyu held Ning Zhi's shoulder, and they walked into the darkness side by side.

After a long while, Xi Lanyu faced the wind and answered this question, "Unexpected." He explained in passing, "Chen Lan couldn't accept the blow, and a year later, he fell seriously ill and went with him. ”

In private, Xi Lanyu doesn't call his father and mother much.

The relationship between them is complicated, and it can never be summed up by a simple lack of intimacy.

Taking care of them, more than not, is an almost instinctive sense of responsibility.

Ning Zhi frowned and didn't speak.

She really didn't quite understand that since her biological son was gone, Xi Yueting should put her energy back on Xi Lanyu, but why, when she saw him several times, she felt that Xi Yueting had an almost hostile psychology towards Xi Lanyu......

Xi Lanyu instantly saw her thoughts.

At this moment, his whole face was hidden in the darkness, and in this lonely rainy mountain, it looked extremely lonely.