"What time did you arrive?"

  "Eight forty-three."

  "Have you eaten yet?"

  Zhou Mei replied: "I've had breakfast."

  "What did you eat?"

  "Congee with millet, and also a boiled egg."

  Li Qian asked again: "Then, at noon, you just kept waiting here and didn't eat?"

  This time, Zhou Fen just nodded.

  Li Qian's new classmates, who had been very interested and gathered around him, as well as the parents of two of his classmates, heard this conversation and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of disorder.

  This doesn't sound like a conversation between two young people, but rather like parents talking to their child.

  Moreover, Zhou Fen looks young, but judging from her temperament and dressing style, she is obviously older than Li Qian who has just entered university. But strangely, Li Qian looks like a father, while she looks like a child.

  Of course, a beauty is a beauty. Although everyone has no idea why Zhou Mei, such a perfect artistic beauty from head to toe, and Li Qian are related, or why their conversation is so dull and lacking in nutrition. But it can't be helped that people love to watch beauties, especially a group of young artists who have dedicated themselves to the film industry. When faced with an artistic and elegant woman, they almost have no resistance, and their eyes just stare at her without blinking.

  No matter how many people looked, no matter how scorching those gazes were, Zhou Mei was completely oblivious to them all, her eyes fixed timidly on Li Qian as if she feared he would blame her for running to the school entrance to block him.

  At this time, Li Qian sighed and turned to several new classmates with a apologetic face: "Can't stay, I have a friend, haha, haven't seen each other for a long time, what's up, you guys should go or go back to your place. This meal is on me, I owe it to you. Next time I'll invite you guys, okay? Sorry about that! ... And, uncle and aunt, sorry!"

  Everyone had just started school. They had only known each other for a few hours, of course they weren't familiar enough to casually join in on meals together. As soon as Li Qian said that, everyone knew he wanted to gather alone and they all politely excused themselves before turning around and leaving.

  Of course, even if they walked away, there were still people who couldn't help but stiffly turn their heads and keep looking back this way.

  When everyone had left, Li Qian smiled and said: "Congratulations, you've successfully found me... Let's go!"

  Zhou Fen smiled and followed behind her.

  In the end, they walked forward shoulder to shoulder.

  Zhou Mei's slanting shoulder bag swayed back and forth, her eyes almost always drifting over at an angle.

  After a moment, she finally couldn't help it and spoke up, asking: "They... are they your classmates?"

  Li Qian nodded and smiled: "Seeing them drooling like that, you should know how much killing power you have on us big boys of eighteen or nineteen!"

  Zhou Wen smiled and seemed very pleased that Li Qian could praise her for being beautiful, and asked with some shyness: "So you also think I'm good-looking?"

  Li Qian smiled and stopped in his tracks, "So you like it when I praise you?"

  Zhou Mei smiled awkwardly.

  Turn down this street. Li Qian's off-road vehicle was parked by the side of the road.

  In fact, when Li Qian came to take the exam, he had already investigated and found that the alleys nearby were too narrow to park. So today, when he came to report, he wisely parked his car on the outskirts.

  Two people got on the bus, Zhou Fen touched here and there with a curious face, as if she was gradually finding that familiar feeling, or perhaps savoring those few days when she stayed in this car.

  Uh. Opening the glove compartment, those several bound thick books that she had thrown in were gone, but there was an additional hair clip - ivory white in color, very simple and elegant, but obviously not high-end goods.

  Zhou Mei's eyes narrowed slightly, then she turned her head to look at Li Qian, smiling and asking: "Is that your girlfriend?"

  Li Qianla fastened her seatbelt, turned her head and took a glance, nodded, "Ah, it's here! This morning she was still complaining to me that she lost a hairpin... Hmm, my girlfriend's."

  As they spoke, he reached out and, as he had every time before, fastened her seatbelt for her.

  Then he looked at her and smiled, asking: "Hungry? Say, what do you want to eat?"

  Zhou Fen smiled and glanced at the hairpin again, then closed the glove box. After thinking for a moment, she curiously asked: "Why is it that every time we meet, all we do is eat?"

  Come to think of it, it seems like that's really the case.

  This question momentarily stumped Li Qian.

  He thought for a moment and smiled: "Maybe it's because I think you're still too thin? So whenever we meet, the first thing that comes to mind is to stuff food into your belly?"

  Zhou Fen heard this and disagreed, stretching out her arm, unbuttoning her sleeve, shaking it back and forth. Her small, snow-white arm was revealed. "Hey, I've gained weight! Do you remember how thin I was when we were in Dunhuang? Look at me now... I'm not thin anymore!"

  Li Qian helplessly shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, it's mainly because I love eating too much!"

  Zhou Fen smiled and thought for a moment, saying: "I want to eat braised pork ribs."

  Li Qian heard this and immediately understood what was meant by "braised pork ribs", but he still couldn't help being stunned for a moment.

  Then he smiled and lit a fire.

  The car started, Li Qian suddenly turned the steering wheel and reversed direction.

  …………

  A very ordinary restaurant, a table of simple home cooking.

  Half a month later, Li Qian and Zhou Fen sat together again.

  After a busy day of moving, Li Qian was really hungry and didn't eat much for lunch. He wolfed down his food as soon as he started eating. In contrast, Zhou Mei was different. Even though she was also very hungry, she still ate slowly and elegantly, and her appetite was really small. It seemed like she had only eaten a few mouthfuls before she was full.

  She then leaned on her hand and watched Li Qian eat.

  Li Qian ate his fill, wiped his mouth and asked the boss for a pot of flower tea. While waiting, he smiled at Zhou Feng and said: "Indeed, you've gained some weight, your face is starting to show some flesh."

  Zhou Fen smiled silently, saying nothing.

  Then, the atmosphere between them suddenly turned cold.

  Even Li Qian was suddenly at a loss for words at this moment.

  How are you?

  No need, really no need.

  Then what should we talk about?

  It seems that what needs to be said, should be said, and wanted to be said, has all been said and exhausted along the way.

  What's left is what I want to say but dare not say, and also cannot be said.

  After a while, the waiter came over with a teapot and Li Qian got up to take it. He poured a cup of tea for each of them, sat back down, took a sip, and then finally spoke: "Why were you afraid that you wouldn't be able to find me again?"

  Zhou Fen was startled by his words and looked up at him timidly.

  Li Qian's eyes were bright and piercing.

  Then she lowered her head again.

  Apprehensive, timid, hesitant, entangled.

  After a moment, she lifted her head and looked at Li Qian, finally opening her mouth to ask: "Then if I didn't come looking for you, would you have gone looking for me?"

  Li Qian nodded without hesitation, "Will."

  Cutting nails and chopping iron.

  Zhou Mei suddenly burst out laughing.

  It was as if this single character "hui" possessed boundless magical power, instantly igniting all the positive energy and vitality within her - at this moment, she had a sweet and pure smile, with happiness overflowing from the corners of her eyes and eyebrows.

  Then, the conversation box was suddenly opened.

  Recently, Wu Ma has been making delicious food for herself. She just discovered that the best drink is actually millet porridge, and nothing else is added, just plain millet porridge. After experimenting, Wu Ma found that using well water directly to cook the porridge makes it stickier and sweeter.

  It's like the little turtle she raised, which she hadn't noticed before, but now it's gradually becoming apparent that it really grows very slowly. Like the grapes in the courtyard, they say this year there were a lot of them. But by the time she got back, they had all ripened and she didn't even get to eat any. It's like when she thought about quitting smoking before. She tried for two days, but if she doesn't smoke, she feels anxious in her heart. Blah blah blah.

  Li Qian didn't say anything, just drank tea and listened to her talk.

  And she seems to always have something to say, a little bit of this and that. Small things that most people wouldn't even bother talking about, but she talks about them with great relish, never getting tired of it.

  It's as if... her silence day after day was just to save up all her words for today.

  Then, when she came to her senses, she found that the sun was already about to set.

  The two of them finally settled the bill and left.

  Li Qian's memory was still good, and this time she didn't need directions to find Yangquan Hutong.

  When they arrived at the gate, Li Qian locked the car and Zhou Fen directly pushed open the big door, jumping up and down excitedly. "You didn't even come in last time, come quick and see how I've tidied up! This is my courtyard!"

  Li Qian smiled and turned back to close the large gate, following her gaze to take in this exquisite quadrangle courtyard.

  At this time, Wu's mother had already heard the sound and walked out of the main room.

  Seeing Li Qian, she exclaimed and hastily said: "Hello sir, welcome to our home, I am Zhou Feng's nanny!" Then she hurriedly invited him in, saying: "Come on, come on, please sit inside the house!"

  Li Qian smiled and nodded at her, calling out, "Hello Aunt Wu!"

  Wu's mother suddenly smiled with joy.

  Zhou Mei is a good person, sincere and not pretentious, but she seems to be missing a screw in her head. Although she's very nice to Wu Ma, she never remembers to call out "Auntie". When she first arrived, Wu Ma said, "According to the old rules, I'm just a servant, my surname is Wu, so you can just call me Wu Ma!" And then she believed it, all these years, she's been calling her "Wu Ma", "Wu Ma" without ever thinking of using any other title.

  But Li Qian is clearly different from her.

  As soon as the simple "Auntie" was called out, Wu Ma's warmth immediately increased by another level. While letting Li Qian enter the house, she busied herself saying: "We have tea at home, it was given by Mr. Zou last time he came, you all sit down first, I'll go make some tea for you!" As she spoke, her feet didn't stop moving, and she quickly went to get the tea leaves.

  Zhou Fen glanced at Li Qian and then at Wu Ma, her eyes blinking repeatedly.

  Of course, that's all, she immediately became excited again, suddenly pulled Li Qian's hand and walked into the living room, click click click turned on all the lights, bright and spacious, proudly said: "Hey, living room! It was an old house when I bought it, I asked a master to help me design and renovate it, isn't it beautiful?"

  Then, without waiting for Li Qian to boast, he pulled Li Qian to the windowsill and pointed, "Hey, my little turtle is stupid! The thing I like to do most every day is to carry it together with the basin to the corridor, then I sit on that old rattan chair, watching it crawl out. But it can't get out, and finally 'whoosh' back down!"

  Li Qian hehe smiled foolishly, she looked at Li Qian and also hehe smiled foolishly.

  With a turn of her head, she caught sight of the nail on the wall and suddenly remembered that she hadn't removed her big straw hat yet. She took it off with one hand, released Li Qian's hand, walked over, and hung the tattered straw hat on the wall, beaming with pride. "This nail was hammered in by me personally, and using it to hang this straw hat is just perfect!"

  Li Qian smiled again, and this time it was genuine.

  Seeing her show off, flirt and be playful like a little girl, without needing any extra description or sentiment, you will feel that she is super, super, super, super cute, super, super, super, super fun.

  Zhou Fen saw Li Qian smile and she also smiled along with him.

  After a moment, she suddenly let out an "ah" and turned around, walked a few steps, opened a cabinet, pulled out a small paper box, slapped it onto the coffee table, opened it herself, pointed inside and said: "It's for you! This is all my songs, albums, singles from when I first started to now! There are CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl records!"

  Li Qian walked over, picked up two CDs and took a look, smiled and said: "Great, thank you!"

  Zhou Yun was as if she had done something earth-shattering, and was incredibly beautiful.

  At this time, Wu's mother brought in the tea tray. Seeing the two of them, she smiled foolishly and said: "Come, have some tea!" while beckoning Li Qian to sit down.

  Li Qian thanked him and sat down.

  At this time, Wu Ma couldn't help but take a few more glances at Li Qian. The more she looked, the more pleasing he seemed to her eyes. She thought that the young man was tall and handsome, gentle and polite, and most importantly, Zhou Yan seemed to like him particularly. Before this, she had never seen Zhou Yan smile so happily - or perhaps it should be said, she had never seen Zhou Yan laugh so many times in such a short period of time.

  Taking advantage of Li Qian's tea-drinking, she couldn't help but ask Zhou Fen with a smile, "Was it found after all? I said so, heaven doesn't disappoint those who work hard!"

  Zhou Mei listened to this and became even more pleased, chattering on about how she helped sell ice pops for someone else, saying that Boss Wang's business was especially good. Then she complained about herself being too stupid, originally just waiting for someone, but ended up waiting a whole day in vain without seeing when the person went in. In the end, it was Li Qian who took the initiative to find her.

  Wu's mother smiled with a hint of doting, "As long as you've found it, that's all that matters, right?"

  After finishing speaking, she said to Li Qian: "Then you sit and drink tea first, I'll go get dinner ready for you!"

  Li Qian quickly put down his teacup and said, "No need, Auntie, we've already eaten. You just make the portion for yourself!" He paused, turned his head to look at Zhou Fen, stood up, smiled and said, "You saw that too, I know you live here, so I'll definitely come over to chat with you next time. But today is already very late, so I won't stay any longer. I'll come back another day!"

  With a swish, Zhou Yun's movements seemed to be frozen for a second.

  Then all the excitement, pride, show-off and joy seemed to disappear in an instant, her movements suddenly became cautious.

  She carefully put down the teacup in her hand, carefully stood up, and carefully looked at Li Qian.

  "You...are in such a hurry?"

  Li Qian smiled and said, "It's mainly because it's too late, if we wait a bit longer, I'm afraid we won't be able to find the way out."

  "Y-you can stay here!" she said cautiously, then hastily added, "There are several bedrooms in this courtyard, I can ask Wu Ma to tidy up one for you!"

  Listening to her speak so sincerely, Li Qian felt a bit embarrassed and could only smile and say: "No need, I'll come back another time!"

  But Zhou Fen looked at him, with a hint of pleading in her voice: "You stay overnight, really nothing will happen, stay and keep me company for a drink, let's chat, chat all night, okay?"

  Mentioning this, Li Qian became serious and reminded him: "Drinking should be kept to a minimum, smoking even more so, try not to smoke at all. Don't forget, you're a singer and musician, taking care of your throat is your duty!"

  After finishing speaking, he bent down and picked up a small carton, saying: "Let's go!"

  Zhou Fen puckered up her lips.

  Madam Wu, who had been standing on one side watching this and that, finally chimed in at this point, saying: "Actually, there's really nothing to it. I'm always here accompanying the young lady at night, besides, you're all good friends, and at this age, what's there to be so modest about?"

  Li Qian smiled, "Auntie, don't follow her to persuade me anymore. I really have something to do. Today is the first day of reporting, and the counselor will definitely check the dormitory. How can I not return to the dorm on the first night?"

  At this point, even Wu Ma couldn't say anything more, but she couldn't help but mutter to herself: With this mature and steady demeanor, is he really just a freshman?

  Before leaving, Li Qian looked at Zhou Fen and smiled, "Not happy? I really have to go! Don't be unhappy, ah, next time I'll definitely come find you, then I'll accompany you for a drink."

  Zhou Fen stared at her, her eyes unblinking.

  After a moment, she suddenly said: "I still don't know what your name is!"

  "Huh?"

  Li Qian was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it for a while, he found that it was indeed the case. They had known each other for more than 20 days, and they had been together for over a week, but he had never actually told her his name.

  But unexpectedly, I didn't realize this point at all before.

  And yet, she suddenly spoke out now.

  But at this time, before Li Qian could speak, Zhou Fen suddenly said: "I don't know where you live, I don't know what your name is, I don't even know your phone number, and you never come to find me..."

  At that moment, she was on the verge of tears.

  At that moment, Li Qianmo inexplicably felt a faint ache in his heart.

  "My name is Li Qian."

  He said seriously: "Mu Zi Li, modesty is modest."

  ***

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