My friend

My friend

Xiang Zhixing was quite busy today. He was just planning to go to the cafeteria for brunch, but on the way he encountered a naughty kid who sprayed him with a water gun. Unfortunately, he was distracted at the time, and the water gun hit him right in the eye.

A sharp pain shot through him. He turned his head and saw that the child, unaware of how dangerous his actions were, was still wiggling his bottom with glee.

Xiang Zhixing was in a bad mood at the moment, and the child just happened to walk right into his line of fire. Without saying a word, he rushed over, grabbed the child, and carried him to the police station like a chick.

He even took him to the local police station, insisting on filing a case for the child, who was so frightened that he cried all the way there.

Fortunately, the parents were reasonable. The other party was an elderly person who took care of the child, and when they heard that the child had made a mistake, they immediately prepared to pay compensation.

It was at that moment that Xiang Zhixing saw Shen Muwei and Song Yuanbai rush in together.

He watched the family's happy time from the corner for a long time. His eyes felt like a burning spot, gradually spreading until his whole body was burning, numb, and tingling.

Zhou Chengming rushed over upon receiving the news and first accompanied him to the hospital.

My left eye has retinal damage, and I can't see anything.

At that moment, he wished he could be blind in both eyes.

Zhou Chengming, like an old father, accompanied him downstairs to get his medicine and paid the medical bills. As they walked, he kept sighing, "Sigh, why are you so unlucky this month? You've been to the hospital so many times already, you could practically get a VIP card."

Xiang Zhixing stood silently to the side, his lips tightly pressed together, his face as dark as could be.

Zhou Chengming was already used to his expression and continued, "Just rest in your dorm today and don't go anywhere. I'll bring you food. Hey, you probably need to watch what you eat..."

He was quite obedient in the afternoon, sitting in the dormitory and not going anywhere.

After six o'clock, I don't know what got into me, I suddenly got up to change my clothes and go out.

Zhou Chengming pleaded with him like a grandfather begging, "Brother Xing! I'm begging you! Please take good care of yourself, okay? You've done so much for that Shen Muwei these past two days. Do you have such a deep grudge against her? If it really comes to it, can't we take revenge after we recover?"

He didn't listen, only saying that he was just going out for a bit and would be back soon.

He may be despicable, but he felt he couldn't miss such a good opportunity to play the victim.

What he didn't expect was that Shen Muwei didn't even notice that he had such a big eye patch on his left eye when he arrived. He looked dejected, just said "Hi" and walked into the park.

-

Shen Muwei moved closer, but she wasn't tall enough. She beckoned him to bend down so she could get a good look, but to her surprise, he stood up even straighter.

She didn't press him further, but simply asked him how he did it.

"I did it by accident."

"You accidentally need to wear a gauze eye patch?"

"..."

Shen Muwei glanced at the park and felt that the lighting wasn't good enough, so she asked him, "How about we skip it tonight and go back to school?"

Why should we just let it go?

"You can't even see, you should go back and rest. Besides, sweating isn't good for your recovery."

Xiang Zhixing turned his head away, and Shen Muwei saw that his jawline was sharp and clear.

She waited a moment, then saw Xiang Zhixing look at her again: "I don't want to break my promise..."

Shen Muwei paused for a moment, then comforted her, "It's okay, you don't have to come if you have something to do. Just let me know. Zhang Wenhao just messaged me saying he has something to do tonight and won't be coming."

"Since we're already here..." Xiang Zhixing said, "How about we take a walk?"

Shen Muwei tiptoed and tilted her head to examine his eyes more closely: "Are you really alright?"

"Um."

The night run was thus changed to a walk, with the two walking on the very edge of the sidewalk to make room for the runners.

The evening breeze rustled the reeds not far from the lake, causing them to sway gently. Her hair brushed against the corner of Shen Muwei's mouth; she tucked it behind her ear, the wind whispering coolly past her earlobe.

"Are you unhappy today?" Xiang Zhixing asked her abruptly.

Shen Muwei touched her face with the back of her hand: "Is it that obvious?"

"If you seem a little distracted or unhappy, you can tell me."

Talking to him won't do any good... Shen Muwei looked down at her toes, alternating between walking forward and backward.

"I'm fine."

Since she didn't say anything, Xiang Zhixing stopped asking her and just walked slowly forward with her.

The atmosphere was too quiet tonight, and the two of them walked along the lakeside, gently propelled by the breeze, each lost in their own thoughts.

On a wide platform not far ahead, someone was holding a guitar and softly singing "Suddenly".

The melodious singing drifted over here, and my heart suddenly calmed down.

As they approached, Shen Muwei stopped, watching others sing and breathing softly.

When she came to her senses, Xiang Zhixing was no longer by her side. His tall figure walked down the steps and toward the person who was singing.

After some negotiation, the man shook his head, handed him the guitar, and stepped aside.

Xiang Zhixing slung his guitar over his shoulder, adjusted the microphone stand, looked up at Shen Muwei, and said, "This song is for my... good friend. I hope she's happy."

Shen Muwei's heart skipped a beat.

His fingers were long; he pressed the strings with his left hand and strummed them with his right, as if dancing on the strings. The music was uplifting and the rhythm was joyful.

I had a dream last night

I walked into the Sahara Desert.

No one was standing in the sun.

66.6 degrees Celsius

It's about to incinerate my eyeballs.

Suddenly a heavy rain began to fall…

Shen Muwei heard someone whispering that he was handsome, and she re-examined the boy standing in front of her.

It was a confidence in him that she had never noticed before, and she didn't know he could sing so well. His voice was low and magnetic, not too grainy, and on such a night, it had a refreshing warmth.

"It's raining, the rain is pouring down."

The clouds are crying.

It dripped into my heart with a splash.

...

I just hope that I can be able to again.

Returning to that beautiful time once again

Unbeknownst to her, Shen Muwei was also moved by his singing, and took two steps forward to sit on the steps next to him.

He always watched her sing, and when he saw her smile and sit down, the corners of his mouth would also turn up.

His action was noticed by the girl next to him, and one of them let out a small scream.

He finished singing quickly and said softly, "Thank you."

Thunderous applause erupted from below, and Shen Muwei smiled and clapped along with him.

The guitar was back in its owner's hands. He ran towards Chen Muwei, full of vigor. For a moment, she suddenly felt that he looked familiar, but the feeling was fleeting and she didn't catch it.

Shen Muwei smiled and clapped gently for him: "You sang so well, you've been hiding your talent."

He smiled and said, "So you're feeling a bit better now?"

"Thank you, I feel much better after listening to your song."

There were girls shoving and pushing each other in the corner, not daring to come over. Shen Muwei saw them and guessed that they were probably looking for Xiang Zhixing's contact information, so she waved to them to come over.

The girl finally mustered up the courage to walk over, and Xiang Zhixing followed Shen Muwei's hand to look behind him. When he turned around and met Shen Muwei's gaze, he raised an eyebrow with a question in his eyes.

Shen Muwei also raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes full of expression, signaling that he should seize the opportunity.

The girl walked over, and the first thing she saw was Xiang Zhixing's calm, dark face. She couldn't help but think that she should have believed what her friend had said: there must be a story between him and the girl next to him.

But having already come this far, she still spoke up: "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you, but could I get his contact information?"

She was speaking to Shen Muwei because Xiang Zhixing's face had already darkened, and she didn't dare to talk to him.

Shen Muwei: "Sure, we're not related."

As she spoke, she glanced at Xiang Zhixing, nudged him with her elbow, and gestured for him to speak.

He looked up at the girl helplessly and said, "No."

"Oh, okay, sorry to bother you." The girl said and quickly slipped away.

Shen Muwei nudged him: "Why is your face so dark?"

He put on a normal expression again: "No."

“It’s obviously there, why are you saying it isn’t? I’m not blind.” Shen Muwei said, “Shall we continue? I’m a little thirsty, I want to go to that supermarket we went to last time to buy some water.”

Xiang Zhixing clapped his hands, stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and raised his chin: "Let's go."

"I think you look pretty cool right now," she said, pointing to her left eye.

His ears turned red without him even realizing it.

No, I don't think so.

"Why are you still embarrassed?" Shen Muwei laughed at him.

"I didn't."

"Being quick to make excuses means you're embarrassed."

When she said that, he simply stopped talking.

Under the dim streetlights of the night, her dimples held the first joy of the evening.

His gaze fell on the shimmering light in her eyes, and he asked softly, "Are you happy now?"

She paused for a moment, then her lips gradually straightened: "Thank you."

She wasn't in a great mood to begin with, because Song Yuanbai's sudden confession had disrupted her train of thought; she had never felt so disoriented before. But now, standing beside Xiang Zhixing, she felt incredibly relaxed and at ease.

"You're welcome," he said.

He didn't know if it was her thanks that made him feel better or the sight of them walking side by side that made him feel better, but in any case, he held his head high, looked ahead, kept her in his peripheral vision, and the corners of his mouth gradually turned up.

Seeing his expression, Shen Muwei couldn't help but laugh: "I've discovered that you're easily satisfied. I just thanked you and you were happy."

He nodded, neither confirming nor denying. But actually... it's because I'm with you...

The route they took for their last run was slightly different from the route they took for this walk. This time, the two paused briefly at the small square before setting off onto the lawn.

Not far away was a basketball court, where people were playing basketball, and the whole area was filled with the sound of basketballs hitting the ground.

Shen Muwei was still concerned about his eyes. Since he wouldn't say how he got injured, she asked him how he felt.

"Does it still hurt?"

Before he could answer, his expression suddenly became complicated. Shen Muwei thought he was in too much pain, but the next second he uttered, "Be careful!"

After saying that, he subconsciously pulled her behind him, but Shen Muwei reacted quickly and turned around to see the basketball hurtling straight toward her.

She broke free of her neck with both hands and caught the basketball in mid-air.

"Hey beautiful, could you please throw this over here?" someone called out.

Shen Muwei stood outside the basketball court line, dribbled the ball a couple of times to get a feel for it, raised the ball, stared at the basketball hoop, and easily flicked his right wrist forward, throwing the ball in a perfect arc. The ball rolled once on the rim before falling into the basket.

A beautiful three-pointer that went in from outside the court.

"nice shot!"

Two boys playing basketball on the court applauded for her.

She smiled shyly.

The two men invited her, "Want to come and play together?"

Shen Muwei made a good shot just now. She hasn't played basketball in a long time and her hands are itching to play. When the other person invited her to join, she wanted to join.

"No, you guys do it."

After she finished speaking, she turned to look at Xiang Zhixing and saw that his face was expressionless.

Shen Muwei: "Let's go."

Xiang Zhixing didn't move, but looked at her and said, "If you want to go, I'll wait for you here."

She glanced back at them, her eyes filled with reluctance: "No, thank you. I was just walking with you. What would it mean to leave you alone?"

"Go ahead, it's okay. I'd really like to see you play."

"Really?"

"real."

Well, Xiang Zhixing is indeed not the kind of person who likes to lie. She didn't see any obvious resistance in his eyes. He seemed to be genuinely letting her have fun.

"Then I'll go."

He nodded.

“I’ll do it!” She raised her hand in that direction, her face shining.

"Hey buddy, do you want to..." A boy on the field extended an invitation to Xiang Zhixing, but before he could finish speaking, he noticed the gauze on Xiang Zhixing's eyes.

Xiang Zhixing habitually raised his hand: "No, thank you." As he spoke, he pointed to his eyes.

The person on the other end raised their hand, indicating that they hadn't noticed.

Xiang Zhi walked to a bench and sat down to rest, gazing intently at Shen Muwei, who was skillfully dribbling the ball on the court.

This wasn't the first time he'd noticed; she always seemed different when she was in her area of ​​expertise. The aura she exuded always made him feel like a rat in the gutter.

That might not be the most accurate way to put it, but it's true.

It was just a game between the three of them, and Shen Muwei wasn't going all out. She kept looking back at him, and he would just smile at her, indicating that he was fine.

Bumps and knocks are inevitable when playing ball. Although Shen Muwei is considered tall among girls, it doesn't matter much here. Her opponent is twice her height and build.

The two boys on the field didn't expect Shen Muwei to be so skilled. They started to get serious while playing, and ended up knocking Shen Muwei to the ground while defending.

My elbow was scraped, and a few drops of blood were seeping out.

Xiang Zhixing saw it clearly: one of the boys hit her hand and knocked her to the ground.

The man knew it was his fault and squatted down to apologize repeatedly.

Shen Muwei was sweating from playing ball, and her bangs were wet, sticking to her forehead in strands. Her hair on the left side also stuck to her cheek as she fell.

Her face was flushed, and the pain from rubbing her elbow caused her to shed tears that welled up in her eyes.

Xiang Zhixing, who had walked over at some point, squatted down and asked her, "You're not going to fight anymore?"

Shen Muwei nodded: "Let's not fight anymore, we need to take care of something."

The people around him were still apologizing when Shen Muwei waved her hand, took Xiang Zhixing's outstretched hand, and used it to stand up.

His palms were warm, and a dry heat gradually spread from his palms to his whole body.

Neither of them realized they had been holding hands as they left the basketball court.

Whether out of genuine concern or ulterior motives, the boy who bumped into Shen Muwei ran over with his phone and asked to add Shen Muwei on WeChat.

Before Shen Muwei could refuse, she heard the boy next to her say in a cold voice, "Add my ass."

"Hey? Hey? Hey?" Shen Muwei stared at him with wide eyes, but he still held her hand and left without looking at her.

After walking quite a distance, the convenience store sign ahead shone with a bright white light. The store's transparent glass door was tightly closed, and the inside was as bright as a crystal ball, like a bright destination seen in the dark night.

Shen Muwei's thirst reached its peak at this moment.

Xiang Zhixing led her to the outside of the store. There were several wooden tables set up at the entrance. He asked Shen Muwei to sit down and went inside to buy something.

As Shen Muwei sat there, her thoughts unconsciously focused on his moving figure through the glass doors and windows.

He's tall, and no matter where he goes in the store, you can see his head moving around, a bit like the Pac-Man game we played as kids, wandering around to complete game tasks.

Finally, he went to the cashier, lowered his head, and scanned the code to pay.

Shen Muwei was sitting at an angle that was blocked by the small poster on the glass door, so she didn't see what Xiang Zhixing was holding when he went to pay.

When he came out, she saw that he was carrying iodine, cotton swabs, band-aids, a pack of wet wipes and dry wipes, purified water, and a bowl of oden.

The items were placed on the table one by one, and he first unscrewed the cap of the purified water bottle for her and handed it to her.

Shen Muwei took it and gulped it down; she was incredibly thirsty.

He gently pulled her arm over, and the abrasions on her elbows became more noticeable. Blood beads gathered down the wounds, some of which had already flowed down her forearms, but she was completely unaware of it.

Without saying a word, he unfolded the wet wipes, gently took her hand, and wiped the blood off her forearm.

Then he went to unpack the cotton swabs and unscrew the iodine bottle cap.

Shen Muwei remained in this position with her elbows pointing outwards, waiting for him to clean her wounds.

He glanced at her; she had a baby face, and her features still showed signs of immaturity.

But seeing the injury on her hand, he couldn't bring himself to laugh, so he said stiffly, "I bought the oden for you, eat it."

This was the first thing he said to himself after the silence that followed. Shen Muwei didn't ask any more questions, and honestly took a crab stick, blew on it to cool it down, and then ate it.

The park's ecology is so good that even in mid-September, you can still clearly hear the chirping of insects and the croaking of frogs by the lake.

The place where the two were located was so quiet, and there was no one talking at the moment. They could even faintly hear the sound of someone singing in the distance.

To ease the awkwardness, Shen Muwei picked out a piece of fish tofu and handed it over: "It's quite delicious, do you want some?"

Xiang Zhixing lowered his eyes, his thick eyelashes obscuring them, preventing her from sharing the food with him. He simply shook his head.

If you don't want to eat it, then Shen Muwei will eat it herself.

However, she couldn't help but speak up, and asked, "Hey, I've never seen you swear before. Your swearing just now was quite interesting."

Xiang Zhixing had just finished treating her wound and looked up: "When did I swear?"

"Just now, that person asked me for my WeChat. You said you'd add me, but I didn't."

"Is this considered swearing?"

"No, it's just that it's not quite the same as what you usually say. You usually speak very kindly and gently, so it felt quite strange just now."

He didn't respond to her question, but simply asked, "Does it still hurt?"

Shen Muwei turned her hand over and looked at it carefully. There was nothing wrong with it; injuries are inevitable in sports.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

Suddenly, she chuckled.

"What a coincidence, we're both injured today." She pointed to her hand and then to her left eye.

It might be the angle, or the lighting, but she couldn't be sure. She felt that Xiang Zhixing looked familiar.

"That's strange," Shen Muwei said. "Have I seen you before?"

Xiang Zhixing was drinking water with his Adam's apple bobbing when he heard her say that. He applied pressure with his fingertips, causing the bottle to slightly dent inward.

He tightened his jaw and swallowed the last mouthful of water: "It's normal to have seen each other at school."

"No, that's strange. I feel like it was earlier, but I can't remember."

“Then don’t think about it,” he said. “You have a terrible memory.”

Shen Muwei pointed to the tip of her nose with one finger: "Me? Bad memory? I have a very good memory, okay!"

Her face turned red with rage, making her look somewhat fierce, but it was only on the surface.

Xiang Zhixing was amused by her appearance: "Good, good, you have a good memory."

"Seriously, you're talking nonsense. I'll beat you up." She kept rambling on, then lowered her head and continued eating her oden.

After a while, Xiang Zhixing looked at the swaying reeds in the distance and casually asked, "Shen Muwei, do you like playing basketball?"

She shook her head: "I wouldn't say I like it. I was in poor health when I was little, and my mom liked to get me to exercise. After trying various sports, I chose a few that were okay and stuck with them. What, you want to learn? If you want to learn, I can teach you. Anyway, it's all about exercising, so any kind is fine."

Then she added, "It's really strange. Don't you guys all like playing basketball? You're so tall, why don't you play basketball? If you did, you'd definitely be a great prospect."

Shen Muwei spent a lot of time with her mother, who would always say that this child was a good prospect for discus throwing, or a good prospect for running, and so on.

Over time, she also learned to judge other people's innate conditions, which she called her "occupational hazard".

Xiang Zhixing stared at her with his dark eyes, and after a long while, he said, "I don't like it."

"Oh, if you don't like it, then forget it."

Shen Muwei dislikes being someone's teacher and never tells others profound truths that everyone already understands.

"I thought you were going to try to persuade me."

Why should I advise you? Isn't this your own business?

He paused for a moment and then asked, "Does your friend, the one you went to the movies with yesterday, like playing basketball?"

When she casually mentioned Song Yuanbai, Shen Muwei's thoughts drifted back to the events of the day.

She rested her chin on her hands: "He likes it..."

The thought of having to be careful about any future opportunities to speak with Song Yuanbai gave me a slight headache.

She shook her head. She couldn't keep thinking about this. She couldn't figure out an answer to this for the time being, so she might as well let it go.

It would be better to ask about Xiang Zhixing's recent situation.

"How have you been lately? Is your condition improving?"

Caught off guard by her question, Xiang Zhixing was taken aback and instinctively asked, "What's going on?"