He set off from Shanghai Hongqiao Train Station at around 11 in the morning.
After a seven-hour drive, he ordered a lunch box on the high-speed train and spent the rest of the time staring blankly at the scenery outside the window.
He didn't listen to music, didn't surf the Internet on his phone, and didn't rest.
At six in the evening, he arrived at his destination, Xia City.
As he walked out of the train station with his suitcase, he felt the air that was different from that of Shanghai. The temperature was just right, and it lacked the bleakness of autumn in Shanghai. This city that was closer to the south still had a pleasant warmth in this season.
He took a taxi and went to the hotel he had booked in advance on his phone.
He checked in at the front desk.
He swiped his card in the elevator to the floor where his room was and put his suitcase down in the room.
Then he sat on the edge of the bed in a daze. He didn't know what to think. After half an hour, he finally took a deep breath, took out his phone, opened the map app, and entered the name of the internet cafe that his friend had told him.
Lin Feng was stupefied when he heard the reply.
Le City.
This was the name of the internet cafe that his friend had told him. It was also the only information he had about his friend when he decided to come to Xia City at the last minute.
When he was on the high-speed train, he did think and worry about whether this so-called "Le City Internet Cafe" still existed after so many years, or if it had changed its name.
But he didn't expect that although he did find the name "Le City" on the map app on his phone, this Internet cafe called "Le City"...
In Xia City, there was more than one.
Fourteen.
A bystander would definitely not know whether to laugh or cry when he saw this result.
But for someone who used these two words as the only clue, it became a kind of ironic black humor.
The bad news was that among the fourteen Internet cafes and internet cafes with the name "Le City," seven of them had left their contact information, so it was convenient for him to use his phone to call the number and ask.
The bad news was that after the seven calls were made, a certain someone had clearly stated his partner's name on each call, but there was nothing.
So...
There were seven left.
There were no shortcuts to the rest.
Putting down his phone, Lin Feng smiled bitterly and shook his head. This was something he hadn't thought of before he set off.
But...
Perhaps this was also a test for him, or perhaps it was a punishment.
...
Out of the fourteen internet cafes, seven were eliminated from the telephones, leaving seven.
Thus, he took the elevator downstairs and walked out of the hotel.
According to the distance between the remaining seven internet cafes, he took a taxi to the one closest to the hotel.
Although it was already dinner time, he wasn't in the mood to fill his stomach.
The first house was indeed not far away.
Three to four kilometers away, the internet cafe opened next to a shopping mall.
I walked in and arrived at the front desk, but I didn't see the familiar figure that I was expecting. I politely asked an employee about it, but I didn't get the answer I was hoping for.
After thanking him, he turned around and left.
He took out his phone, hailed a cab, and headed to the second house.
The second Le Cheng Internet Cafe was located in an old residential area. It was located in a rather narrow alley, and it took a lot of effort to find it. The shop looked very shabby, and the front desk manager was probably the boss. He was smoking lazily, and as he puffed out the smoke, he answered casually, "I'm sorry, but I don't know.
"Who?"
"Never heard of it."
"What? Looking for someone? Tsk tsk, how strange. Xia City is such a big place, and you only know the name of an Internet cafe. It would be strange if you could find anyone — "
After hearing those words, Zhang Xuan smiled bitterly.
Then, he politely thanked him and left.
The third address was two to three kilometers away. It wasn't troublesome to take a taxi there, but when he arrived, he found that what was supposed to be an Internet cafe had been replaced by a hot pot restaurant. He went in and asked, and found out that the original Internet cafe had closed down more than a year ago.
He crossed the third line on the memo.
Then he continued to the fourth house.
More than an hour had passed. It was past eight o 'clock at night in Xia City, and the air carried the scent of the sea breeze.
Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, he looked out the window at the busy traffic and the night view of the lights.
He didn't think of anything.
He just lowered his head to look at the remaining four addresses on the memo on his phone again, silently thinking that if he still couldn't find these four, then perhaps he could go back and ask the seven he had eliminated earlier.
In fact, there should have been a simpler way, such as asking Senior No. 1 and the others for confirmation.
But …
Perhaps it was because of some complicated and indescribable feelings that caused him to choose this clumsy and even stupid way to continue working hard.
…
The fourth house.
It was located next to a university town.
He walked in and still went to the front desk. He didn't see the figure he was expecting, but after the setbacks and failures of the first three houses, he didn't feel too much regret. After all, he had already made up his mind. No matter how difficult the process was, no matter how much effort he had to put in and how much wasted time he had to put in, he had to find the person he was looking for.
He asked.
The answer he received was as expected.
After thanking him, he was about to turn around and leave when the front desk employee seemed to have thought of something. He patted his head in realization and kindly reminded him,
"Walk a little further ahead. There's another one at the intersection called Le City."
He took out his phone and glanced at it. It seemed that the address given by the employee wasn't among the seven in the memo.
Thus, he once again expressed his heartfelt thanks sincerely.
He turned around and left.
He followed the address provided by the fourth Internet cafe and walked forward. After all, it was near the university town. There were many night snack stalls on both sides of the street. The air was filled with the aroma of barbecue skewers. He could vaguely hear the young students sitting in front of the stalls talking and laughing, and the sound of them clinking glasses.
Not far away, he could already see the signboard of the Le City Internet Cafe that the employee had mentioned.
He was about to walk forward quickly.
But suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
Because closer to him, at a night snack stall with only three to five folding tables, he saw a figure that he hadn't seen for a long time but was still incomparably familiar.
So, he was stunned.
He stood there in a daze, motionless like a wooden man.
He just looked at that familiar side profile, looked at the slightly lonely figure who seemed to be minding his own business and didn't participate in the conversation of the other young people at the table.
Then, the other person inadvertently raised his head.
It seemed that he also saw this.
And then, he recognized him.
The empty wine jar fell and rolled to the side, rolling to his feet.
Lin Feng slowly lowered his head and looked at the wine jar at his feet. He then raised his head and looked at his old friend sitting at the table. His lips moved.
Along the way.
He had never thought about what his first words would be if he really met this old friend of his in the past.
Even at this moment, his mind was still a little blank.
There was a long silence.
Finally, Xia Ziyou, Sun Zheng, Wu Tian and others at the table vaguely noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with their "coach". They subconsciously turned their heads in the direction of the former's gaze and were surprised to see a boy who seemed to be about the same age as them with black hair.
The boy tried to smile.
"Qiu."
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