A month is like flowing water, and summer begins in a blink of an eye. Senior high school students prepare for the college entrance examination, and the themes of several on-campus morning meetings are encouraged for them.

Senior high school students are still one year away from this important level and are infected by the tension. Many people have begun to sprint with all their might and strive to continue to improve in the second year.

Since the club activity, Chen and Zhao Lijie have greatly reduced their contacts.

Dongzhi, who "can't show others" has already shown him, and there is nothing to do with Chen anymore to avoid suspicion. At any time, Chen would walk with her. Sometimes when he got off get out of class early, he would pick up the car and wait for her in front of the convenience store outside the school gate.

Either they are with Miao Jing, Wen Cen, or Chen, Dong Zhi's daily life is so simple that it is boring and there are no other surprises.

After the last class on Saturday afternoon, Dongzhi and Chen went back together.

Among the crowds outside the school, those who belonged to the second year of high school were really watching before passing the convenience store.

Dongzhi slowly unlocked the lock and picked up the car. Her bicycle was parked at the door of this row of shops. Chen pushed the car and waited for her, quietly without any impatience. Dongzhi was not in a hurry, and he was not worried that he would run out of patience.

This is just a very common thing for her.

In the past, many girls used excuses to invite Chen, and they all had all kinds of excuses. He always refused politely and rarely interacted with girls alone outside the school. So when he and Zhao Lijie had a good relationship, everyone was watching secretly with gossip, surprised and curious.

Now.

I heard that Zhao Lijie always took the initiative to invite him and smiled. Everyone knows Dongzhi, which is a bit weird and elusive. She doesn't look very proactive about Chen, and is always light, but Chen sticks her tightly, like a tail.

"It's not right to say that..."

A group of girls passing by were chatting about them, looking at them secretly and whispering.

"Didn't Chen even ride a bicycle to carry Zhao Lijie?"

"That's Zhao Lijie's foot hurt."

"That's only carried her!"

"No, no!" Another person interrupted and leaned over, "I walked by next to them that day and heard them talking. Chen was complaining, saying that Dongzhi refused to take his car and insisted on riding his own bike..."

"Really or not?"

"Make it up."

"Why are you lying to you? I'm lying to gain ten pounds! I really heard that day..."

While chatting, they looked at the main person in the topic, and the two of them rode their bikes side by side and slowly moved away.

...

Because it was Saturday and there was self-study in the evening. Dongzhi and Chen rode home together and had dinner, and made an appointment to go to school together.

Mrs. Dong Qin went out, and there was only one at home. She had a simple dinner and pushed the cart to the door of Chen's house and waited for him on the side of the road. On the way back, Chen casually mentioned, "My mother is not at home today."

In early May, summer just began. The sound of insects among the plants and trees has revived, and the bleakness of winter has gone away.

Dongzhi pushed the bicycle and stood by the roadside, feeling slightly ecstatic, thinking nothing, listening to the sound of insects chirping in the open space.

The door opposite suddenly opened, and she looked up and was stunned. A car drove out, and the driver was hired by the Chen family. Dong Zhi had seen it and recognized it.

The car drove out and turned a little, heading towards the exit of the road.

The car body passed by Dongzhi and she was about to move a little bit, but when she hesitated, the car stopped.

The glass window with black film was placed down, revealing Chen Wenxi's face.

He looked at her majestic eyes and asked in a deep voice: "Are you waiting for Chen Ju?"

Dongzhi didn't say anything and nodded.

Chen Wenxi was looking at her.

Dongzhi and Dongyu were born a little like each other. Dongyu used to praise her president. She collected all the advantages of him and Dong Qinsao's face, perfectly avoiding other minor flaws.

"It's hot now, why don't you go in and wait?" Chen Wenxi looked at her for a while and said, "Go to the living room and wait."

Dongzhi just looked at him and didn't say anything.

Chen Wenxi didn't say much to her anymore, sat in the car and gave an order. The window slowly rose until it closed, and the car left in front of her.

The dense green leaves on the trees were shaking by the wind, and the afterglow of the sunset passed through the branches and leaves, and the light was mottled and shining on the ground.

Dongzhi was bathed in this thin layer of light, not feeling hot, not even warm.

A few minutes later, Chen pushed out with his bicycle. Seeing Dongzhi waiting on the roadside, the front of the car turned towards her.

"How long have you been waiting? Why don't you send me a message?"

"It's not long." Dong Zhi's voice was a little silenced.

"What's wrong with the throat?"

She raised her eyes and shook her head slowly, "It's okay." She coughed lightly and said, "I just went out."

Chen raised his head slightly and frowned, "That's not good either."

"Let's go." If Dong Zhi pushes his cart forward, Chen will be side by side with him.

After walking two steps, she said, "I just saw your dad. The driver drove out and stopped beside me."

Chen paused, "Have he said something?"

Dongzhi said: "He opened the car window and said a few words to me."

"What do you say?" He became obviously nervous.

"I didn't say anything. He asked me if I was waiting for you. I nodded, and he asked me why I didn't go in and let me in."

Chen's face cleared a little and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"My mother went out at noon today. My father was not at home, but suddenly came back." He said, "My father... he was fine. He rarely took care of the family affairs, nor was he like my mother. My mother should have told him that he knew we were having a quarrel, but he didn't say anything. I remember when I was a kid, my father liked you very much..."

The wheels rolled on the ground and moved forward. Dong Zhi held the handlebars tightly, and Chen's words came into his ears, but it seemed that there was nothing, and he couldn't know where he floated.

It broke, scattered, and then disappeared without a trace.

...

Earlier on Qingming Festival, the school had a day off, and Dongzhi and Dongqinsao went to visit Dongyu's grave.

But they have always paid more attention to Dong Yu's death day than this day.

On weekdays, Dongzhi took a leave, got up early, helped Dong Qinsao clean the house, and tidy it up. Then he placed the offerings, and dragged the dining table where he usually ate to the living room as an altar.

Chicken, duck, pork head; fruit, cooked food, rice; sesame oil, candles, scented silk...

It's the same every year, nothing can be left out.

After worshiping at home, go to the cemetery.

Mrs. Dong Qin first put three incense sticks, and then Dong Zhi also put three incense sticks.

"Check if there are any things to bring." While wiping the table, Dong Qinsao asked Dong Zhi to wash her hands quickly.

The basin was placed next to it, Dongzhi rubbed his fingers in the water, and heard Dong Qinsao say behind her back: "When I come back from the cemetery later, I will buy some vegetables, get some food your father likes, and make some food you like... Today I took a leave, and my salary was deducted for one day, and I wouldn't go in the afternoon and evening."

Dongzhi was rubbing the water droplets on his hands with a towel. He heard this and turned around and frowned and asked, "Why should I deduct my salary?"

"This is not a leave..."

"Then you didn't use up your vacation last month, and you didn't even have a month off."

"By the month, last month was last month, this month was this month," she said. "If you have something to ask for leave, you won't ask for leave if you have nothing to do. It's fine last month, so I didn't have a rest."

Dong Zhi had a stern face: "It's okay to do it in vain, but if you work less for a day, you will be deducted?"

"You can't say that, you're petty..." Mrs. Dong Qin frowned, put the fruit on the appartment, and said quietly, "Your father has been in the Chen family for so many years. Since he was a child, he can eat food, wear clothes, and study well. It was not easy to go to high school at that time... Your father's burial money was taken over by the Chen family."

Dongzhi moved his lips and wanted to speak. Dong Qinsao sighed, "When your father was there, he often said that he would earn enough money to change us to a new house. I was incompetent, but I couldn't let go of his wish. Unfortunately, he had been away for so many years and I saved up a little bit. I don't know when I could buy a new house."

She stood at the table, looking at the black and white photo that was right in front of her, her eyes were filled with emotion.

"If there was a day when I really wanted to polish your dad's portrait to shine and place it in the best place for the new home. He said every day that our house's eaves were too low, wet, and dark, and you read and write, and I did needlework, which was not good for your eyes..."

In the room, her voice was low and finally as low as annihilation.

"mom."

Dongzhi suddenly called her, and Dong Qin's wife turned around, "What are you doing?"

Looking at her vicissitudes of face, the fine lines on the corners of her cheeks began to grow, and after passing her, Dong Yu's face turned black and white in the portrait on the altar.

A stream of energy flows back and forth in the internal organs, only Dongzhi himself knows this feeling.

"...It's nothing." swallowed the scorching burning sensation in the throat, and Dongzhi said, "I'll go and see if the things are all in one go, let's go."

When everything was right, he stood at the door with his things in his arms. Dong Zhidi looked up at the front countless times.

The building that covered most of the day was Chen's family.

It's the Chen family.

...

One week after Dong Yu's death, Chen asked Dong Zhi to go to the movies at night on weekends. It was the same shopping mall I had been to before, so you could go for a walk, chat, have supper, and then go to the cinema on the top floor.

The two left separately, Dongzhi went out earlier, and found a rest place on the first floor of the mall to sit and wait.

People are always around, with adults taking care of children, young people coming together, and students who come out for vacation to have fun... They talk about things related to their lives, and everyone has their own world.
To be continued...