You stay in my heart

chapter nine

When eating hot pot that day, Xu Bai wished Xie Pingchuan a happy marriage and a successful career, she did not dare to say "you will be admitted to the school", because she did not understand the so-called application mechanism.

But at the end of the next winter - the end of the winter vacation and the beginning of the new semester that month, Xie Pingchuan received several letters in succession, and before long, his name was on the school honor list.

He was admitted to Caltech.

There are several other schools besides Caltech. The upperclassmen always spoke of him with admiration.

Xu Bai was very happy during that time, and also mentioned to his mother: "Mom, his name has been hanging in the honor list, although other seniors are also very strong, but I saw him at a glance."

It was a Sunday evening, and Xu Bai's mother was painting in her study.

The sun shone through the shutters, creating a tapestry of colors. Xu Bai's mother is standing in front of the easel, writing about the sunset landscape sprinkled with gold, as well as the rolling sunset clouds.

"How time flies," she said to her daughter as she painted. "When we first moved here, Xie Pingchuan was only eight years old. He was just a little older and now he's going to college."

Xu Bai held a box of jelly, scooped up a spoonful and said: "Yes, he is going to college this year." He also told me he would go to Caltech."

Then she said no more.

California is far from Beijing, China.

Even if you have raised a cat for ten years, there will be inseparable emotions, not to mention two people who are close in age and relative day and night.

Xu Bai thought that her indescribable feeling of loneliness was due to the separation coming in June.

But at the end of the day, she was happy. It is undoubtedly a good thing that she can go to her favorite school to study the major she is interested in, just like herself, she also wants to go to a famous translation school to specialize in English and French.

Xu Bai's mother also said to her, "Hasn't Xie Pingchuan been preparing to go abroad?"

Xu Bai nodded: "Yes, he prepared for several years."

She wanted to congratulate him on getting what he wanted.

The mother put down the paintbrush in her hand: "It is better to be young, and you can do anything you want to do."

The scenery on the easel was lifelike, but Xu Bai's mother unveiled the painting paper. The paint box fell to the ground, and together with the whole painting paper, Xu Bai's mother put it into the trash can.

Xu Bai saw this, some at a loss: "Mom..."

She was sitting on a chair holding the jelly, and she was holding a spoon in her left hand, which was written on her face. She didn't understand what was happening -- to her taste, it was a beautiful picture.

Xu Bai was brought up by her mother, perhaps because of imperceptible influence, she also likes to draw. Her father, who worked in management, was too busy on weekdays to take care of his family, while her mother, by contrast, had a career as a housewife and a painter.

For this reason, Xu Bai's mother missed a lot of development opportunities.

If her husband can fully understand her, this sacrifice is understandable. However, she has been busy with the art exhibition in the last six months, and her husband has quite complained about it, and the two people have been quarreling for a week.

She had to admit that in her husband's eyes, she was a housewife, not a professional painter. She is responsible for cleaning, taking care of the elderly and her daughter, even if their incomes are equal, she is still on the wrong side.

Xu Bai's mother will not tell her daughter these words, she and Xu Bai said: "the color is not good, I will draw a new one."

The study is full of light, the floor is clean, her mood is not calm, the outline of the line is more messy.

Xu Bai could not guess his mother's thoughts, and Xu Bai continued to ask, "Mom, when you were studying in Italy..."

Before she finished asking, her mother interrupted: "At that time, I was young and not sensible, and I did not finish my undergraduate study."

Mother's next words are also logical: "So Xiao Bai, when you go to college in the future, don't leave yourself regret."

Xu Bai nodded vaguely.

At this time, people seemed to come to the courtyard, and the originally quiet outdoor noise. Through the shutters of the study, one could clearly see three men standing in the courtyard.

It was Xie Pingchuan's mother and a couple he had never met.

The couple's dress was fashionable. Even the husband wore a gold necklace and a fancy coat. He spoke in a loud voice, but with a foreign accent, Xu Bai could not tell where he was from.

"My wife and I want to live in this kind of old Beijing apartment," he said. "The price is not an issue. You can ask for it."

Then he added, "Do you plant all the flowers here?" He was standing in the courtyard, which had become green in the early spring, and with his left hand he pointed to a geranium in full bloom. "This grass is unlucky. In my hometown, only old people keep it. Let's pull it up some day."

Geranium was not planted by Xie Pingchuan's family, and the plant was favored by Xu Bai's mother.

Xie Pingchuan's mother seemed to feel that the yard was not the place to talk, and she took the couple into the door of her own house, and Xu Bai could not hear their conversation.

She stood stunned at the window, her mind buzzing.

Apparently, Xie's mother plans to sell the house.

Beijing's housing prices are far ahead in the country, and if you decide to sell, the return is not small change. Xie Pingchuan family wealth is not false, but who will be too much money?

Xu Bai's mother put away the easel and patiently explained to her daughter: "Their family is going to immigrate to the United States, and the house is still on hold, and it is not strange to sell it now."

Xu Bai replied, "That's right." She was like a bamboo pole, standing by the window in a daze.

At the dinner table, the atmosphere was different from usual.

There were four dishes and a soup on the table, steaming like white fog. In particular, the pot of kelp pork rib soup, boiled to the degree of thick soup, is Xu Bai's favorite on weekdays.

But she's not in the mood for soup today, and she's looking down at a spare rib. Of course, the bones are very hard, Xu Bai has always preferred soft food, do not like to bite things, but today suddenly make force, the ribs to bite open.

There was a loud bang.

Her father said, "Little White, why are you chewing on a bone? You are not afraid of breaking your tooth?"

Xu Bai held the ribs in his mouth and did not speak out.

So her mother replied, "I have been boiling this soup all afternoon, and the bones are already soft. You can rest assured that you won't damage your teeth if you bite them."

Xu Bai's father picked up the rice bowl and smiled when he spoke: "I care about the child, did I say the wrong thing?" He picked up a chopstick of kung pao chicken and put it into his wife's bowl: "I usually work so busy, it is not easy to have a meal with my family."

He thought that after saying this, his wife would understand. But after he had finished speaking, his wife, a painter, threw down the bowl and scribbled, "Are you the only one busy?" I haven't finished today's drawing, and I'm going to the study to write a draft. Don't bother me."

Xu Bai's father did not say anything. But after his wife left, he asked his daughter, "What happened to your mother today, did you make her angry?"

Xu Bai's parents rarely argued. They married very early, and matched, both of them are excellent in appearance, temperament is also relatively similar, in the eyes of outsiders, it can be said that it is a match made in heaven.

Because of this, Xu Bai did not know how to deal with the quarrel of his parents.

She is a flower that grew up in the greenhouse, and is regarded as the apple of her parents' eyes. Any academic problems, have Xie Pingchuan to help her solve, she rarely encountered urgent troubles.

Perhaps it is the growing environment, Xu Bai's emotional intelligence is sometimes very high, sometimes very low - she can not guess what the mother is angry about, subconsciously associated with the evening courtyard, so Xu Bai opened his mouth: "The aunt next door seems to be selling the house, the uncle who comes to see the house does not like geraniums, said he wants to pull out this grass."

Xu Bai specifically highlighted the "pull out this grass" to show the seriousness of the situation.

"Is that all?" Her father said, "Be merciful to others, pull a few grasses, and she is so angry." When the new neighbors move in, life will be difficult."

No, that's not true.

Xu Bai thought in his heart, that small piece of flower bed, originally belonged to their family, and there were only three geraniums, why should people pull out.

But Xu Bai did not contradict his father. Their cat sat at her feet, rubbing her head against her slippers, Xu Bai immediately sensed, holding the China bowl grilled a bite of rice.

Under the cover of the rice bowl, she deliberately threw down a spare rib with a large piece of meat on it, and the soup was also free of oil and salt - in order to take care of the family cat, Xu Bai put the spare ribs over the water, and very carefully shabu again.

The cat found the food and sat at her feet and ate it.

Xu Bai's father said, "I see no other family has a cat like you. You have been used to it inappropriately since childhood."

Seeing that the cat looked relaxed, the father took the chopsticks again and continued to teach his daughter: "You have a pet, you have to take care of it after dinner?"

Xu Bai has eaten at this time, plus she reacted, her father made her mother unhappy, she also followed unhappy.

"I started having a cat when I was nine years old," Xu said. "He grew up with me. I wanted to be nice to him.

His father answered softly, "Little white, dad didn't say you made a mistake, but let you grasp the degree, just a cat, you don't care too much, you have to put your mind to work."

The dining room was brightly lit and the clean table top was slightly reflective. There was still a chicken leg left on the plate, and the father picked up the chicken leg and put it into Xu Bai's bowl: "In addition to this cat, Dad also wants to tell you that Xie Pingchuan from next door is going abroad, and you have been on good terms with him since childhood."

Father put down the dishes, as if in memory: "When you first entered primary school, he also taught you to do homework." Xie Pingchuan is a good boy, and I have watched him grow up..."

Xu Bai looked at his father and waited for his next word.

As the saying goes, "Know a woman more than a father" - her father finally put this into practice, and there are words in the words: "When Xie Pingchuan went to the United States, he should not come back, young boys, should go their separate ways."

Young boys, go their separate ways.

This sentence, like a soldering iron, was printed into Xu Bai's heart.

When the moon was full and the spring was cold, she sat with the cat on the steps in the backyard and rubbed the cat's PAWS every once in a while.

Xie Pingchuan dont know when to appear, he took a coat, put on Xu Bai's body.

"What are you thinking?" Mr. Xie asked.

He naturally sat next to her, half his face in the shadow of the corner, and from Xu Bai's perspective, it was a perfectly composed picture.

The figures in the painting are too pretty to be realistic. She put her hand on his shoulder and lowered it slowly, landing on top of the cat.

"Meow..." The cat in her arms gave a little cry.

Xu Bai spoke more quietly. "I have a question I want to ask you."

The moonlight is thin, the light is like the Milky Way flowing, and the distant lighthouse flashes brightly, as if it propped up a night. Xu Bai looked up at the lighthouse and asked directly, "Will you stay in the United States in the future?"

Before Xie Pingchuan could answer, Xu Bai added: "Work there, settle down, and never come back."

Xie Pingchuan said, "You sat all night for this question?"

Yeah, you caught me.

Xu Bai answered seven words in his heart, but his mouth was slow to say it. It's not her usual style. She's always been outspoken and unscrupulous, and now she's got something to hide.

If this is called growing up, she can stay at fourteen years old.

Now, at the age of 15, Xu Bai's words are: "I was just thinking, the world is so big, we are still young, always confined to one place, it seems a bit of a loss."

Xie Pingchuan followed her words: "It is true, after all, people have different aspirations."

As soon as he finished this sentence, he reached into his pocket, took out two pieces of lemon candy, and put them into Xu Bai's hands.

Xu Bai clenched the candy, not wanting to eat. Xie Pingchuan sat down beside her and said, "You just asked me if I would work in the United States? I plan to start my internship in my freshman year and try to get a chance to lead a team before I graduate."

Xu Bai wore Xie Pingchuan's coat, listened to him without saying a word, and then said: "When I return home, I will not be eliminated by the domestic IT industry because of the poor level."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Bai looked at him.

The night wind blew the green leaves of the locust tree with a small rustle. The sound seemed to turn into a lake, spreading into the shallow bottom of my heart, inch by inch, watering out a soft sense of satisfaction.

Xu Bai couldn't help laughing: "Really? You will return to China in the future, join the IT industry and develop domestic software." She said so, in fact, still not at ease, so stretch out the little finger, stood in front of Xie Pingchuan.

"You can't cheat me, you have to hook me." Xu Bai Dao.

Xie Pingchuan clearly willing, on the surface to make fun of some: "What is the use of the hook?" You're still the same as when you were little."

Having said that, he also stretched out his little finger and hooked Xu Bai's finger. They've done it countless times, but never as seriously as now.

He listened to Xu Bai whisper: "Hook hanging 100 years do not change."

Xie Pingchuan always remembers that it was the early spring of 2007.