Rust II

Chapter 33

"What's the situation? How did you get food poisoning?"

Ding Hua turned to the back of the grape arbor in the yard, and as soon as the phone was connected, he asked urgently in a low voice.

After seeing the text message, he greeted some relatives of the Ma family who were sitting beside him, walked around to the back door of the small living room in the back, asked someone to open the door, and the cat was in the corner, and quickly dialed the Chen family. floor number.

"Chenjialou, you can do it. The boss has always told you to take care of Linzi in Gannan. You have only been taken care of in a few days, and you have been taken to the hospital. Be careful, he knows and cuts you!"

Chen Jialou was exhausted after running around the hospital for Lin An's emergency for a long time in the afternoon, and finally waited for everything to be dealt with, freeing up time to send a text message to Ding Hua, and he had to go downstairs later Taking medicine from the pharmacy is also annoying, so Ding Hua's indiscriminate rebuke made him angry.

"How the hell do I know!" Chen Jialou replied angrily, and after a meal, he said: "He is such a big man, what can he eat and what can't he don't know? He just climbed that ladder for nothing. What kind of light bulbs should I change for the students? Fuck me, the broken lamps have been hanging there for many years, and I haven’t seen the old men at the school take care of them.

As Chen Jialou said, he took out a cigarette from the chair with his arms around the phone, but before he could light it, he was stopped by a passing nurse: "Sir, smoking is not allowed here."

He raised his head and gave the other party a fierce look, frowned and stuffed the cigarette back.

Ding Hua heard the commotion on his side, and after the other side became quiet again, he asked inexplicably, "No, what do you mean? Didn't you mean food poisoning? Why is it related to changing the light bulb?"

Chen Jialou was silent for a while, and after a while, he continued to explain impatiently: "When he had a seizure, he happened to be stepping on a ladder, but suddenly his eyes turned black, he fell from it without paying attention, and broke a little finger .”

"What?!"

Ding Hua, who was far away in City C, was shocked by Chen Jialou's understated words.

"Damn, why didn't you tell Chen Jialou about such an important matter earlier?"

"Why are you nervous?" Chen Jialou didn't seem to take it seriously, raised his eyebrows slightly, glanced at the opposite ward, and said, "Anyway, the stomach has been washed and the hands are fixed, it's just a minor injury, just rest for a while, I Sending you a message means letting me know." After that, he smiled inexplicably, and added with a bit of sarcasm: "And I also want to see when you will give me some feedback. "

Ding Hua was speechless for a while, and chatted with the other party about Lin An's current situation in detail, then hung up the phone and returned to the dining table worried.

Xu Xin was still sitting on the seat with a smile on his face, his slender hand was pulled by Xu's mother, and clasped on the hand of Ma Jiaqi who was sitting on the other side of her, and he was quietly listening to what the other party explained.Seeing Ding Hua go back and forth, he glanced at him without leaving a trace, paused for a while, and then quickly moved away from the side.

Ding Hua didn't notice it, and kept his head down, sending messages to Chen Jialou about the content of the call from time to time.His calm and honest appearance was in stark contrast to the eagerness he had been ten minutes ago.

The others didn't feel anything, but Xu Xin, who knew Ding Hua very well, felt the abnormality of Ding Hua sensitively almost immediately.Therefore, when the other party left the meeting again with the excuse of going to the bathroom after more than ten minutes, Xu Xin also greeted Xu's mother and followed out calmly.

The two met in the hallway leading to the bathroom next to the stairs.

"What's the matter?" Xu Xin asked Ding Hua slightly frowning when he saw Ding Hua's flustered reaction when he first saw him.

Ding Hua was taken aback by the tall figure that suddenly appeared in front of him. He put the phone behind him with some guilt for no reason, and then fell silent.

Xu Xin looked at the slightly weird expression on his face, calmed down, and asked again:

"...Is it a matter of work?"

Ding Hua raised his eyes and glanced at him again, then looked away and shook his head.

At the same time, he laughed again.

"...Heh, where can I do it?"

The not-so-large corridor was completely silent.

Xu Xin didn't continue to ask any more questions. In the silence, a certain vague premonition in his heart seemed to be confirmed in this silence, so the way he looked at the other party gradually changed.

After a while, a mobile phone screen that was silently handed over appeared in the hanging eyes.

"...cough, what?"

Ding Hua seemed to be hesitant. He stared at Xu Xin who was silently fixed on the phone for a while, and then faltered and added to the few text messages displayed on the screen: "...Chen Jialou said... ...He...was seriously unaccustomed to the environment when he first arrived there. In addition...the conditions were relatively difficult, and he refused to stop and rest. He worked desperately, so his resistance dropped sharply. "

Xu Xin listened without saying a word.Ding Hua paid attention to his state for a moment, and saw that his expression was not as cold and stiff as before, and he didn't intend to stop himself from speaking, so he licked his lips, and continued to speak cautiously: " Then let’s wait until this morning. In order to thank him for his conscientiousness, a parent of a student in their class asked her son to bring home-made local vegetables and said that she would take them to him as a side dish for lunch. You said How can Lin Zi's temperament be rejected by others? So when he arrived at that ghostly place, his stomach was already tossed enough, but he just ignored it and poured it into his stomach. The result was good, and he had an attack before lunch break Well, when the attack happened, I was lucky to be alive, and I happened to be on the ladder, and if my foot slipped, I would have fallen."

As Ding Hua spoke, he gradually returned to his long-winded nature. Once he opened his voice, he couldn't stop it. It wasn't until he suddenly remembered Xu Xin who had been standing beside him for a long time that he didn't move at all, that he suddenly stopped speaking, and secretly turned to him again. The opponent glanced over.

I saw Xu Xin standing with his head down, his eyes were like gel, still fixed on the mobile phone in his hand.

But apart from this, there were no other actions, and no unnecessary reactions.

With this situation, Ding Hua couldn't help but make the already a little guilty Ding Hua even more confused, wondering if he had accidentally said something wrong again.After all, after experiencing the embarrassing bump into a wall a few months ago, he is no longer as sure about the relationship between the two as before.

So there was an unreasonable silence between the two of them again, until 2 minutes later, Ding Hua spoke again with a little helplessness, breaking the suffocation on his own initiative.

"...Boss," Ding Hua called out to him.

Xu Xin's eyes moved accordingly.

"...Then what, I know... Telling you this now is a bit of a thing, and it is indeed... not suitable, after all, you and the Ma family..." Ding Hua said, his tone suddenly froze, After thinking about it, he didn't say the word Ma Jiaqi directly.

"But Lin Zi... how should he say it?" So he had to change the direction tactfully, sighed a little sadly, and confide the worries in his heart, "Oh... it's really not easy for him. of."

After saying that, he looked at the other party tentatively, and after hesitating for a while, he asked in a low voice: "So how about... someday I'll take your place..." Seeing that the other party's brows seemed to be frowning again, he immediately changed his words, "Oh No, it’s not for you, it’s me, myself... go to Gannan to have a look?”

After finishing speaking, he smiled wryly again: "Just take it as a chance to meet up with old friends."

Xu Xin still did not respond.

Ding Hua waited and saw that the other party was still just like a sculpture that had lost the ability to sense, staring at the mobile phone he had withdrawn a long time ago, couldn't help but stepped forward a little bit, and called him again as a reminder : "Boss?"

After screaming, he scratched his head, and asked embarrassingly, "Is it okay? You can give me an accurate answer..."

The one who answered him was still silent.

It wasn't until some time later that a hoarse voice finally sounded in the stagnant air: "...no need."

But for some reason, the voice was so deep and astringent that it was almost inaudible.

"Ah?" Ding Hua was taken aback, and quickly asked, "Boss, what are you talking about?"

"...I said no."

Xu Xin closed his eyelids, opened them after a while, and the slightly rippling eyes had quietly returned to calm.

Ding Hua was stunned again, and after a while, he nodded in disappointment, "...OK."

After a pause, he couldn't help but added with a complicated expression: "As long as you don't..."

However, before the words "just worry about it" could be uttered, they were interrupted by another voice suddenly coming from the other end of the aisle.

Ma Yifu looked at the serious-faced two people standing near the handrail of the stairs not far away, and smiled from afar:

"Hey, let me just say why the table suddenly became empty. So you two ran away one after the other, and you should hide here." Yu Biren had already walked behind Xu Xin, and put his hands together familiarly. Lie on the other party's shoulder, "What are you talking about, why don't you pick me up?" After finishing, he smiled quite affectionately, "Hey Xu San'er, you are not kind, leaving my sister there alone to deal with your family, Do you still have any self-consciousness as a prospective fiancé? Hmm?"

The atmosphere suddenly fell into a brief and strange silence.

Ding Hua has always disdained the other party's hypocrisy and hypocrisy. At this moment, there is no elder present, so he directly turned his face to the other side.

Ma Yifu didn't take it seriously, just glanced at him from the corner of his eye, and then with a clear goal, he hugged Xu Xin's arm tightly, chasing after the question he just asked.

"Hey, tell me, what were you talking about secretly just now?"

Xu Xin's complexion was as usual, and the fluctuation caused by Lin An a few minutes ago was smoothed out quietly.

He smiled lightly, and replied in a loose and calm tone: "It's nothing, the company's business problem."

"Really..." Ma Yifu also smiled, and his eyes quickly turned around between Ding Xu and Ding Xu. Instead of getting too entangled, he let go of his arms and went straight to his original goal: "Hey, when it comes to work , Xu Xin, I happen to have something to tell you too."

Ma Yifu was obviously in a good mood, his brows were rarely sunny, and it was rare to see a trace of gloom.

Obviously, this meal from Xu's family touched his heart.

He smiled and extended an invitation to Xu Xin: "Your brother should have told you, Zhonghui Lab will officially cut the ribbon for opening at the beginning of next month. At that time, please come to Xu Sanshao to help us out?"

Xu Xin smiled, congratulated, and did not refuse.

Ma Yifu felt quite complacent, and chatted a few more words about the experimental factory, then tilted his head in the direction of the dining room and motioned, "Okay, I won't say much, let's talk in detail when we have a chance. Go back now? "Said with an ambiguous smile, "Jiaqi is still waiting for you."

So the three of them turned back the same way.

During the meeting, they still talked happily.

Xu Xin returned to the table for the second time, and after greeting several elders, he walked around his original seat and sat down next to Ma Jiaqi.

When everyone here noticed this change, they all laughed tacitly. Xu's mother was so happy that she gave the other party a blank look pretending to blame, and said helplessly: "Look, how long have you been sitting next to me? I can't wait any longer."

After saying that, he glanced at Ma Jiaqi, who was overjoyed, and joked: "The chair next to Jiaqi is more comfortable than the chair by Mom's, right?"

Everyone laughed.

Xu Xin didn't say a word, but whispered thank you to Ma Jiaqi, who was holding the chopsticks and serving some dishes for her.

The sweet and intimate gesture can't help but reflect the alienation and indifference when hearing Lin An's news in the corridor a few minutes ago.

Ding Hua sat across from each other and watched silently, he couldn't help sighing again in his heart, completely extinguishing the remaining faint hope in his heart.

Then we got together for about an hour, and when it was nearly nine o'clock, the situation finally showed signs of breaking up.

Ma Hui and Ma Zhongping chatted with Xu Guang in the living room for a while, while the others gathered at the door and exchanged lively greetings. After a delay of nearly 10 minutes, they each left one after another in front of the gate of Xu's old house.

Xu Xin personally sent Ma Jiaqi and Ma Zhongping back, drove from the south of the city to the west of the city, and then drove in the opposite direction from the west of the city to the new district in the east of the city.

At this point in time, except for the city center, everything else in City C has become quiet.

There are few pedestrians on the road, and even cars are becoming rarer. Only the piercing roar of one or two motorcycles passing by at high speed occasionally are still fighting against the quiet and deep night.

Xu Xin stared ahead, walked slowly among the rows of street lights that receded regularly, dragged the illuminated tail lights, drove through the criss-cross elevated roads, passed the fragrant plum garden, passed the solemn and solemn Huaide Road, and finally Slowly stopped outside the gate of the bamboo garden.

The tall magnolia still looks graceful, standing silently on the boulevard where few people come.

Xu Xin sat in the car for a while, stretched out his hand to lower the car window, and in the silence, his eyes silently fell on a tree not far away.

The light wind kept blowing in from the open window, and suddenly, it seemed that it was blown in together with the cold winter night not long ago.

"He has been unaccustomed to the environment since he arrived in southern Jiangxi. When he was serious, he wanted to vomit even porridge."

At this moment, the content of Chen Jialou's news flooded into my mind again without warning.

"I just don't understand, why the hell do you have to come here to make a fuss if you don't stay in city C?"

Xu Xin stared at the emerald green magnolia tree for a long time, and then his eyes flickered slightly, and then he suddenly retracted his gaze.

Then he stared at the steering wheel silently for a while, restarted the car and drove into the same thick night in the bamboo garden.

The days roll on without stopping, unaffected by any factor, and nothing can stop it.

So everything that happened quietly on this spring night was like a piece of gravel that accidentally fell into the tooth chain, and was mercilessly crushed by the rapidly rotating gears.

In the end, it turned into powder and disappeared in the endless torrent of time.

At the beginning of March, Ma’s Zhonghui Pharmaceutical Experimental Factory opened as scheduled. Xu Guang and Xu Xin were unable to attend due to personal emergencies. Although Ma Yifu was a little hesitant, he couldn’t say anything. With Ma Jiaqi's special relationship, she can only keep this unhappiness in her heart.

In mid-May, under the constant hints and urging of his mother, Xu Xin and Ma Jiaqi completed a low-key but solemn engagement ceremony at Ma Zhongping's residence.

The completion of this major event undoubtedly gave the entire Ma family a reassurance that was more effective than any panacea.Even Ma Yifu's arrogance when socializing outside was a bit more arrogant than before.

And as the relationship between the Xu and Ma families progressed further, Ding Hua received less and less news about Lin An from Chen Jialou.

After a long period of running-in, the other party seems to have fully adapted to the various conditions and environments in southern Jiangxi, so the stomach and other bodily functions have naturally entered the normal state and returned to normal.

-everything is fine.

Ding Hua looked at the last report text message from Chen Jialou that he received in his mobile phone at the end of last month. While he was relieved, he also felt inexplicably sad and uneasy.

In his opinion, Xu Xin should undoubtedly be happy in the past few months, his career is going well, and good things are coming.Although the Ma family has gone through many ups and downs over the years, and their family background and strength are far from being comparable to the Xu family today, they have always been famous in C City. Households are comparable.Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that the eldest lady of the Ma family and the rich third young master of the Xu family are a match made in heaven.

But Ding Hua still vaguely felt that there was something wrong, but no matter how wrong, this marriage full of intertwined interests would not allow him, a small sales manager of a company, to talk about it.

What's more, the current Xu Xin, since he officially changed his identity from Ma Jiaqi's boyfriend to his fiance, has completely become a machine madman who can only work. He flies around the country non-stop, and the workload of the company's employees also increases The duration of his business trips has grown exponentially year-on-year. Ding Hua even heard his subordinates discuss in the tea room several times, saying that the company's recent performance is crazy?In the past, I was always looking for work, but now I can’t even finish the work assigned. Fortunately, the boss is generous enough, the tasks are too many, and the salary has skyrocketed. Otherwise, I would really consider changing jobs.

There are also gossips from female colleagues, saying how I heard that our boss just got engaged, and Tian'er is not in City C, and he was still inseparable from the woman a few months ago. So recently I have vented at work.

Every time Ding Hua heard such remarks, he couldn't help but feel puzzled, but he never had a chance to find out, because since Lin An left City C, Xu Xin was still in the same position when facing the Ma family. Gentle, but his temper on weekdays has become a little bit colder than before, and even to him, a small iron buddy, he often does not pretend to be polite, so it is not to mention that he can be like before, and occasionally have time for the two of them Let's sit down and have a drink and talk.

And also feeling this inexplicable alienation is another rumored protagonist, Ma Jiaqi.

But after all, the two already had a marriage contract, so even if Xu Xin's attitude suddenly became less enthusiastic and positive than before, the Ma family did not pay too much attention to this abnormality.

Until one early morning in mid-August in mid-summer, when Ma Yifu’s family had finished breakfast in the living room, looked in the mirror in high spirits, and was ready to go, when they opened the door of the house, they found that they were not greeted by their own company’s full-time staff. The driver, but a summons from the JIANCHA agency.