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Autumn here was just like spring. It lasted for less than two weeks. Sometimes, it would change from summer to winter in just one day. The only evidence of autumn's existence was the fragrance of osmanthus flowers in the city, which lingered in the cold autumn wind.
Yang and Qi Zhe had two large osmanthus trees in their small courtyard. One was a glistening yellow osmanthus, while the other was a redder osmanthus. During the monthly break, Le Zhishi and Song Yu were called by Lin Rong to pick osmanthus flowers.
The two were woken up early in the morning. Coincidentally, they were wearing the same sweater that Lin Rong bought last year. Song Yu's was black, while Le Zhishi's was milky white.
Lin Rong spread a large clean tablecloth on the ground around the osmanthus trees in the courtyard. The two boys used thin bamboo poles to knock on the branches, and the golden powder scattered in the fragrance. Le Zhishi liked to do this since he was young. Although other flowers were also fragrant, osmanthus flowers were different. Its fragrance was sweet and seemed to be connected to the taste buds.
"Enough, enough." Lin Rong smiled and put away a cloth full of osmanthus flowers. "There's not much left. Leave some for me to smell."
The two stopped. Song Yu put away the bamboo pole. He turned his head and saw Le Zhishi's fluffy hair full of osmanthus flowers. It was yellow like a layer of maple syrup on a Souffle. He quietly reached out his hand. The end of the bamboo pole swayed from behind and finally knocked on the back of Le Zhishi's head.
Le Zhishi suddenly covered his head and turned around. The osmanthus flowers on his head fluttered, but he still saw Song Yu put away the bamboo pole. "You hit me."
Song Yu had no intention of admitting it. The bamboo pole had been put behind his back. He put his hands behind his back and didn't say anything.
"Aunt Rong, my brother knocked on my head." Le Zhishi chased after her, the bamboo pole in his hand fell to the ground, sending osmanthus flowers flying.
Lin Rong helplessly smiled. "Hey, watch out for the flowers!"
Instead of stepping on the flowers, Le Zhishi ran over and stepped on a corner of the tablecloth. Le Zhishi slipped and fell forward. Fortunately, Song Yu caught him.
The sweet fragrance smashed into his chest, and the fine petals hidden in the fibers of Song Yu's sweater were also knocked out by Le Zhishi's fall. They were like little thoughts that spilled out, unnoticed.
"Stop fooling around." Song Yu held his elbow and helped him up.
"You're the one who started it." Le Zhishi didn't let her off.
Song Yu glanced at him. "I wanted to remind you that there are many flowers on your head."
"Aren't you the same?"
In the end, the two of them lowered their heads and patted off the osmanthus flowers on their heads.
They collected two large pots of flowers, which were mixed with many withered flowers and flower stems. The three of them sat at the table in the empty dining room and began to pick the flowers while chatting. The petals were only the size of rice grains, and the flower stems and stems were even finer. Le Zhishi picked until he was dizzy, but it seemed like he couldn't pick them all.
"I know why this is delicious." Le Zhishi turned his neck. "It's not the flowers that are delicious, it's the time."
"That's a good saying." Lin Rong was a little surprised and a little emotional. "The time spent makes the food more delicious. Actually, it's not just about making food. It's the same for everything. "
Song Yu thought of the book "The Little Prince" that he read to Le Zhishi when he was a child. He probably didn't remember it himself, but the words of these bedtime readings still remained in his mind.
[You spent so much time on your roses. That's why your roses are so important.]
Sometimes, he wondered if this was also their relationship. The time and companionship that he had spent on her had become sunk costs that he couldn't give up now.
The large pot of golden osmanthus flowers was washed and dried. It was beautiful and clean. Lin Rong sprinkled a little salt and mixed the osmanthus flowers to get rid of the astringent taste. Song Yu and Le Zhishi disinfected the glass jar with boiling water. The processed flowers were divided into two parts. One half was used to make sweet osmanthus flowers, and the other half was used to make sweet osmanthus flowers syrup.
The process of making sweet osmanthus flowers was very simple. A thick layer of osmanthus flowers was placed in the glass jar, followed by a thick layer of white sugar. Then, a little white wine was poured on top of the white sugar to cap it and cover it properly. All that was left was to be brought home and refrigerated.
"So much sugar." Le Zhishi stared at the glass jar, and the glass tube reflected his face.
"You've worked so hard in school. It's only right that you eat more sugar."
Le Zhishi couldn't help but think of Senior Xu Qichen, who he had eaten with last time.
He looked like he needed to eat more sugar.
The way to make sweet osmanthus flowers syrup was more Japanese. White wine of the same weight and fine sugar were mixed with three times the water until it was slightly sticky. Lin Rong scooped a spoonful for Le Zhishi to taste. The sweetness was just right, so she poured all the osmanthus flowers into it.
"I want to give Senior Xu Qichen a bottle."
When he heard Le Zhishi suddenly say this, Song Yu glanced at him as if asking why.
Before Le Zhishi could answer, Lin Rong, who was stirring the syrup, also remembered the speech and asked Song Yu, "Those two kids also won awards, right?"
"Yes." Song Yu squeezed half a lemon and washed his hands.
"When I heard you mention it last time, I felt that Little Xu was quite pitiful." Lin Rong couldn't help but sigh. "This happened right before high school. If it were any other child, they definitely wouldn't be able to go to school."
Song Yu didn't reply. His first reaction was to give Lin Rong a look. Lin Rong realized something and changed the topic. "But this child is smart. He'll definitely be good at Peking University and Tsinghua University in the future."
However, this didn't divert Le Zhishi's attention. As Song Yu expected, he asked very directly, "What happened?"
"Nothing." Song Yu helped his mother ladle out the sweet osmanthus flowers syrup and said calmly, "He got into a car accident after his middle school exams and was seriously injured."
His parents had also passed away.
"I see …" Le Zhishi thought of how quiet Xu Qichen was during dinner that day. At the time of the car accident, Xu Qichen was only about his age. However, he couldn't say the words "pitiful" because he didn't like to say such words. He felt that Xu Qichen wouldn't like to hear them either.
Lin Rong changed the topic and pushed the lemon juice and wine glass in front of him. "Alright, Le, I'll leave the finishing work to you. You've also finished the last thing before accompanying your uncle on his business trip. "
Le Zhishi followed her instructions and poured three spoonfuls of lemon juice and two spoonfuls of orange-flavored liqueur into the sweet syrup. He separated them into jars of jam and considered it a great success.
When the sun came out in the afternoon, Le Zhishi and Song Yu sat at the stone table in the small courtyard. One was silently memorizing classical Chinese while the other was doing practice questions. Lin Rong brought out a pot of hot black tea with lemon slices and sweet osmanthus flowers syrup. Le Zhishi drank two large cups and ate a small plate of fried fresh milk drizzled with syrup. He was very satisfied.
The next morning, the first thing Le Zhishi did when he woke up was to see if his sweet osmanthus flowers had melted. When he opened the refrigerator, the layers of white sugar had indeed melted.
"Amazing." He whispered to himself. Then, he unscrewed the jars one by one according to Lin Rong's instructions and stirred the sweet osmanthus flowers inside.
They worked for an entire morning and only made six small jars of the flowers that a big tree painstakingly bloomed for a year.
The night before the couple went on their business trip, Le Zhishi excitedly distributed his gifts. "I have two jars of sweet osmanthus flowers. One jar is for senior, and the other jar is for my friend."
"What about your sweet syrup?" Lin Rong asked.
"The sweet syrup is for Song Yu gege!" Le Zhishi already had a plan. Song Yu's room also had a refrigerator. He put the sweet syrup in his room and found an excuse to go to Song Yu's room to drink tea.
He was a man of action. He carried the sweet syrup upstairs and prepared to stuff it all into Song Yu's refrigerator when he wasn't around.
When he opened the door, he suddenly found that Song Yu's refrigerator, which was usually empty, had a row of yogurt.
It was cheese-flavored.
On Monday, Le Zhishi brought the sweet osmanthus flowers and was careful to not break the glass bottle. He was going to give it to his best friend, Jiang Yufan, when he arrived at school.
After the monthly exam, their class changed their seats. Now, Le Zhishi was sitting in group four by the window, while Jiang Yufan was sitting in group one by the window. He arrived early for the morning self-study session. When he saw that Jiang Yufan's window was open, he stood in the corridor and took out the jar from his bag.
The incandescent light in the classroom made the sweet osmanthus flowers look crystal clear and very attractive.
Jiang Yufan's deskmate's eyes lit up. "Wow, what's this? It looks delicious. "
Le Zhishi was about to speak when he was suddenly hit in the back. He almost dropped the glass jar in his hand. His back hurt. Le Zhishi put down the jar and turned around with a frown. He saw four boys surrounding a short boy and pushing him toward the bathroom.
"Ignore them," Jiang Yufan's deskmate said to Le Zhishi. "Wang Jie from the next class is a delinquent. The short one is a kid who skipped a grade. I think his name is Cheng Mingming. He's always being bullied. "
"Why?" Le Zhishi asked, still frowning.
"I heard that his family is rich and that his grandparents are taking care of him. I don't know how they got into trouble. The delinquents in his class are always blackmailing him."
Jiang Yufan's deskmate was very disdainful. "If you have the ability, go challenge the bigger one. What's the point of bullying a kid without parents? Isn't that right? "
"You're right." Le Zhishi took his bag and put it on Jiang Yufan's desk. He turned around and went to the bathroom. Jiang Yufan's deskmate saw that something was wrong. He leaned on the window and wanted to call out to him. "Hey, no, Le Zhishi!"
He didn't turn around. Jiang Yufan's deskmate was puzzled. This student was famous for his good temper. Why was he so brave today? But he didn't dare to follow him. If something really happened, he wouldn't be able to get away with it.
There was a lot of people in the bathroom. There was even a lookout at the door. Le Zhishi was stopped when he went over. "What are you doing?"
"Washing my hands," Le Zhishi said.
"I'll wash it later." The other party recognized him. After all, he was a famous person in the middle school department. He didn't want to be too rude. "Can't you see that there's something going on inside?"
Le Zhishi looked at him innocently. "What's going on?"
The other party was obviously choked by his words. He looked back awkwardly. Le Zhishi took this opportunity to push his arm away. The other party hurriedly pulled at him, but Le Zhishi shook him off. After all, Le Zhishi always compared himself to Song Yu. That was why he always felt that he grew slowly. But compared to the boys in the same grade, he had the advantage of height.
"What are you doing?"
The fierce-looking guy with the buzz cut standing in the middle was probably the Wang Jie that Jiang Yufan's deskmate was talking about. Le Zhishi calculated in his heart. Calling him by his name showed more respect. After all, he didn't want to fight or cause trouble.
"Wang Jie."
As expected, the guy with the buzz cut turned his head and sized him up. "What's the matter?"
Le Zhishi nodded like a human alarm clock. "There's still 15 minutes before the morning self-study session."
"Do I need you to remind me? Do you think you're a good student? "Wang Jie said harshly, but he turned around." It's not your business. Mind your own business. "
Seeing that his reminder didn't work, Le Zhishi sighed and said bluntly, "Don't bully your classmates."
"Do you think you're acting in a school drama?" Wang Jie sneered with dissatisfaction. "Don't think that you're a big deal just because some girls are supporting you. Who do you think you are?" He kicked the student in the corner. "Are you close to him? He's helping you because he wants to use you to show off, right? "
The few people who followed him also came over and seemed to be ready to block Le Zhishi, but they were still pushed aside by Le Zhishi. He went forward and directly helped the student up from the ground, and found that the bottom of the child's pants pocket was flipped open, so he looked up at Wang Jie. "Return his money to him."
Wang Jie was annoyed and pushed Le Zhishi hard. "Who do you think you are? How dare you meddle in my business!"
Le Zhishi's shoulder blade hit the wall. He frowned in pain, but he didn't want to get entangled with people like this. Besides, they outnumbered him. If they really fought, he would be at a disadvantage.
Le Zhishi hadn't done anything to show off since he was young, so it was strange to him. When he encountered something he didn't know what to do, his habit was to imitate it and imagine how he would deal with it if it was Song Yu.
The kid who was beaten was very scared. He stuck to Le Zhishi's back and trembled. Le Zhishi tried to make himself look calmer, like Song Yu always did. "If you just hit someone, it's not a big deal. In front of the teacher, you can say it was a small conflict between classmates. But if you don't pay the money back, it's robbery. You can go to the police. "
Le Zhishi said seriously and pointed outside. "Look, there are many people in the corridor who saw it. There are also cameras around the corner. If they really did call the police, there will be a lot of evidence. "He winked and asked Wang Jie," Have you been to the police station? "
Wang Jie's face suddenly changed. Although he was called a hooligan by everyone, he was still a third-year middle school student. He hadn't really mixed in with the underworld and had never been to the police station. Although he didn't say anything, he was still a little nervous. "F * ck, I'll see if you dare to call the police!"
Cheng Mingming, who was bullied, was so scared that he hid behind Le Zhishi. Le Zhishi held his arm tightly. "Even if he doesn't dare, I can take him to the police station. Anyway, we only need to take a statement."
In fact, he had never been to the police station and didn't understand the process. Statements and whatnot were all seen in TV dramas. But he saw that Wang Jie was just a paper tiger. He wanted to scare him first.
"You!" Wang Jie choked and cursed. He turned around and ordered his "underling." "Give it to him. It's just a little money and he still thinks it's a big deal."
The underling threw the two 100 yuan and one 50 yuan on the ground. Le Zhishi bent down and picked them up for him. He arranged them one by one. "See if there's anything missing."
"Missing my ass!"
Hearing Wang Jie scolding, Le Zhishi only frowned and ignored him. When he saw Cheng Mingming shaking his head and whispering that there was nothing missing, he felt that the matter was almost settled. So, he helped the scared kid out of his wits and walked out. Wang Jie felt that he had lost face. Even though it was over, his mouth was still not clean. "So f * cking unlucky …"
Le Zhishi was too lazy to respond. He didn't stop walking. When he reached the door, he heard another sentence.
"Your mother must be dead to let you be so nosy. F * ck."
Le Zhishi retorted with a sobbing tone. "You made me cry."
Song Yu didn't say anything. He still looked like he wasn't good at coaxing people. Le Zhishi buried his head in his shoulder. This time, he didn't dare to wipe his nose. He sobbed and asked intermittently. "Won't the clothes get dirty?"
You really like to ask questions.
Song Yu said in a deep voice, "If it gets dirty, you wash it."
This time, Le Zhishi cried without restraint. Just like when he was young, his cries were earth-shattering. Song Yu lay there quietly, his eyes empty. This scene was unfamiliar to the two teenagers, but they often hugged each other like this when they were young. To Song Yu, Le Zhishi was a noisy little toy that followed behind him like a clockwork. He was like the duckling in Cat and Mouse that couldn't be shaken off. But as long as he hugged him, he would calm down and quickly fall asleep.
After he fell asleep, he became very obedient. Just like how the adults described him, he was like a doll.
After growing up, Le Zhishi seemed to be asleep when he was awake. He was very obedient and didn't cry. He was sensible and lovable. Adolescent children were ashamed to cry to their hearts' content. It was as if their troubles weren't worthy of being called troubles. They were not worth mentioning and were insignificant. It was as if they were pretending to be worried. Only in front of Song Yu could Le Zhishi release his emotions without any burden.
Le Zhishi's crying became softer. Song Yu guessed that he was going to speak, so he paid attention. Unexpectedly, he touched Song Yu's arm and pulled his hand to his back. He made a small request with a nasal voice. "Can you pat my back?"
Song Yu didn't refuse. He raised his hand and patted him gently. Le Zhishi looked up at him. "When I said 'pat', I didn't mean a quantitative unit."
"Okay." Song Yu responded. He clapped his hands gently and asked, "Are you still upset?"
They understood each other without any barriers. Le Zhishi quickly understood and gave an answer. "He's not particularly aggrieved. What he said is also the truth. Maybe he himself can't figure out why he was beaten by me." At this point, Le Zhishi actually laughed through his tears. "But he deserves to be hit for bullying classmates. You don't know, but he always used his feet to kick others."
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