Rust II

Chapter 36

After a short period of turmoil, City C quickly got on the right track in all aspects. The deputy SZ, who was newly transferred from Lin City to be in charge of city economics, was said to have been thoroughly checked by his superiors before he took office, to ensure that his resume was clean. The weeds could not be found, so they were released.Moreover, this person is a down-to-earth man of action, quite a bit like Li Ping when he was in power. He has only been in power for more than a quarter, and has already pushed down several new regulations vigorously from point to point.

And among them, it naturally also includes the most hotly discussed "Helping the Poor Village" plan in C City, which means that the advanced units or enterprises selected by the districts in the city in the past years will target the relatively backward areas in the suburbs and can Ongoing help.To put it bluntly, it is to press the oily and thick gates to open the gate and encourage enterprises to build factories in designated areas charitably. While creating jobs, it will also drive economic growth in marginal areas.

And Xu Xin's pharmaceutical equipment company is naturally classified as an "advanced and excellent" enterprise.

So after a few days of comfortable life, Ding Hua could only look up to the sky and sigh, resigned to his fate, and restarted the spinning top working mode.With more work, the number of large and small meetings of different forms will naturally increase. Therefore, in the following days, the place where Ding Hua most often sees his brother will become the place where these meetings are held. .

However, Ding Hua, who has always been the most restless in the meeting, did not show too much impatience this time, all because 90.00% of his remaining energy was spent on Enter Xu Xin in order to observe.

I don't know if it's his illusion, Ding Hua always feels that his brother's behavior is very abnormal these days: he always detains himself alone without reason after the meeting, and often intentionally or unintentionally when reporting work in other departments "Sneak peeking" at himself, and when he found out that he was ready to face the past generously and give him a tacit smile by the way, he would always take the initiative to look away quietly.

After a few times, Ding Hua was stunned, what's going on?

Was it because he made a mistake in his work, or was he sued by the marketing department next door who just got upset a while ago?

Manager Ding, who has always been unable to hold back things, pondered for a long time alone. Finally, he was called into the office again for no reason and had lunch with his immediate superior, and after that they spent another lunch break together. The doubts in my heart poured out.

Unexpectedly, all he got was Xu Xin's unclear glance, and then he was detained and asked a few business questions casually, and then he was released back at the point of going to work in the afternoon.

This strange phenomenon lasted for almost two months. Later, it was not spared even during off-duty hours—Xiao Wang, who was in charge of picking up Xu Xin in the past, was sent to Xu Xin by Xu Xin for some reason. Yuanyuan's place, and Ding Hua, without warning, was promoted to his second full-time "driver".

On this day, seeing that the Spring Festival is getting closer and closer, there is a more and more festive atmosphere everywhere on the way to work. Advertising slogans symbolizing the Year of the Dog and warm-up music for the Spring Festival are played everywhere, especially during the opening hours. Near a large shopping supermarket like RT-Mart and Tesco, the noisy crowd and the endless loop of Gong Xi Fa Cai can make the car owners' ears swell and their minds dizzy when they are stuck in this area.

Ding Hua is obviously also one of this group of blocked people who are about to collapse, and he feels that compared to other blocked car owners, his situation is even worse.Anyway, I can take advantage of this gap to chat with people in the car and tell a joke, no matter how bad it is, it’s not bad to talk about the latest hot news or celebrity gossip, but Xu Xin is good, every time after getting on the car, Either closing his eyes in the co-pilot and resting his mind, or sitting in the back row with a notebook and continuing to concentrate on his work, Ding Hua, who is a natural chatterbox, has nothing to say, so he can only listen to music and hum songs for his own entertainment, and keep his own place So honest, he really became a full-time driver.

But such dire circumstances are not without exception.

For example, tonight, Xu Xin appeared in the garage around 7:[-] pm as usual, and since he got into his car, he didn't say too much, just walked quietly in the back, browsing from below. Various reports and meeting summaries were uploaded, until a phone ring suddenly rang in this relatively quiet carriage.

"Who is..."

Ding Hua, who was doing nothing, stopped singing immediately, and looked at the mobile phone screen beside him, only to find that the name displayed was the name of a sales team leader in his department. Lamenting that his life is really miserable, being squeezed by the boss is not counted, and being pestered by his subordinates after work is miserable, really miserable.

But after thinking about it, he has always been able to work and play well, and his hands are neat, and once the phone is connected, the expression on his face has seamlessly switched from a frowning face to a seriously serious one that can scare people.

On the other end of the phone, Xiao Qiji, the most capable assistant and team leader in his department, gave full play to his eloquence as the gold medal team leader in the sales department, and babbled on the recent good performance of the newly assigned team members. After nearly 20 minutes, I still didn’t forget to take credit for the whole team at the end: "Brother Ding, if these orders can be taken down, our department will not have to worry about lying down for the next six months. Hehe, can you have dinner then?"

Ding Hua listened carefully the whole time, and answered twice from time to time. He was so happy that he couldn't help laughing and cursing at the same time: "You son of a bitch, this slick tongue is a bit like the true biography of his invincible salesman who talked all over the market back then."But his face remained tense, he pretended to be a leader, and earnestly gave instructions to this proud disciple, then shook his head, sighed and hung up the call.

But he didn't want to take off the earphones, and Xu Xin, who had never said a word behind him, suddenly said, "Who's calling?"

Ding Hua let out a "squeak" and moved a little forward following the slow-moving traffic, but within a second he was stuck in the same spot again. He frowned and tapped the steering wheel speechlessly. Immediately afterwards, he replied casually: "Xiao Qi, I came here for a reward. They have been talking about the list recently, and they are a little smug. I will ring the alarm for him." Xu Xin glanced at the rear, turned his neck and asked in the direction of the back seat in surprise: "Hey, boss, you finally finished reading your watch? Are you free to talk to me?"

Xu Newsyan's eyes only flickered slightly, but he didn't answer. After looking at each other briefly, he lowered his gaze silently.

Ding Hua, who was left out again, couldn't help but rolled his eyes, then pouted his lips as usual, turned around and continued to stare bitterly at the motionless road. Sitting in such an automatic refrigerator, no matter how sentimental and lingering love songs are, there is no taste.

The songs in the machine played one after another without interruption. After a while, the bustling traffic finally loosened. Ding Hua heaved a sigh of relief, and hurriedly left this road. The Hongmei District in the swamp ran to the elevated road not far away as if fleeing.

Deviated from the center of the urban area, the road is much easier to walk, the driving is smoother, and people's mood becomes more relaxed. Ding Hua is immersed in several pop songs that suddenly became popular this year, shaking his head for a short time, and then drove into Went to Yunling Road where the bamboo garden is located.

Xu Xin returned to his quiet and indifferent state after the sudden inexplicable question just now, until the car stopped in front of the bamboo garden, Ding Hua just finished singing a song, blew a short whistle contentedly, and returned He turned his head and said to him excitedly: "Hey, it's boss, see you at the company tomorrow?"

Unexpectedly, when he heard this, he would turn off the computer and respond lightly, then Xu Xin pushed the door and got out of the car. Today, he just sat in the back seat silently for a while, and then suddenly lifted up from behind the laptop screen. He closed his eyes and looked straight ahead at Ding Hua who was turning his head to look at him. After a while, he quickly turned his eyes away again. He looked at the greenery outside the window in silence for a while, and asked in a deep voice. Question: "Chen Jialou...hasn't contacted you recently?"

Ding Hua couldn't react for a while, "Huh?" Then he subconsciously and quickly continued: "...No, no."

"Yeah." Xu Xin's eyes on the still green magnolia tree in that winter night flickered slightly, then lowered quietly, and explained lightly as usual: "Go back early, pay attention to safety on the road", He got out of the car with a calm face.

Ding Hua stared at the figure of the other party who disappeared in the villas not far away through the car window for a moment, then Monk Zhang Er blinked in confusion, restarted the car, turned the steering wheel and drove towards the elevated direction when he came, but reached Halfway, a flash of inspiration suddenly came to my mind, and a thought rushed from the bottom of my heart, and then I slowly parked the car on the side of a certain road near the elevated road.

He briefly recalled Xu Xin's recent performance, combined with the fact that almost two months ago, on the night after he answered the phone call from Chen Jialou who was suddenly drunk and crazy, Xu Xin also asked a question about The situation of that person—although it is not as obscure as tonight, it is not bad in Ding Hua's eyes, because he really can't think of the reason why Xu Xin will take the initiative to mention Chen Jialou. Besides Lin An, what else other reasons.

Ding Hua sat in the car and pondered for a while. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was the same thing. The two times he asked on his own initiative, he also ended the conversation with a cold attitude after hearing his own answer, so it is really impossible to be 100% sure.

Ding Hua, who couldn't understand Xu Xin's capricious attitude at all, thought hard for a while in the car, and finally decided to find out about the other party someday, lest the other party say "don't contact there anymore", "Don't tell me", or even more ruthlessly "I don't want to know" to block him back, isn't it me who is embarrassed!

So when Manager Ding was "invited" again to walk into Xu Xin's office with a lunch box at noon the next day, there was no trace of the previous "sorrow" between his brows. Xixi glanced straight at Xu Xin's eyes and saw a trace of inexplicable joy.

"Brother, are you still looking at the materials? Let's eat first?" Ding Hua pulled away the boss chair on the other side of the desk, adjusted the angle of the seat, and greeted courteously.

Xu Xin said "hmm", but still kept his eyes on the computer screen, and replied without moving: "You eat first."

"Oh..." Ding Hua laid out the dishes one by one in front of him. His heart, which had been beaten repeatedly in the past two months, gradually became numb under the indifferent response from the other party for thousands of years. He would not hesitate to pick up the tableware. He politely took the lead in eating.

But while eating, he couldn't stop looking at the mobile phone that was placed aside.

Twenty minutes later, Chen Jialou, who was "resigned in danger", finally appeared on the screen that suddenly lit up amidst a specially set ringtone.

Ding Hua quickly swallowed the food in his mouth, and grabbed the phone with lightning speed.

However, just as he was about to pick it up, he suddenly thought of something, turned his back slightly with "ulterior motives", and was facing a glass cabinet that could faintly reflect the scene behind him one meter away.

After doing all this, he quickly pressed the call button while looking at the figure reflected on the glass, and then greeted Chen Jialou on the other end of the phone with an unusually high voice.

"Hey, Xiao Chen? It's noon, what can I do with you, Brother Ding?"

In the next second, Xu Xin, who had been frowned and buried his head in his work, suddenly raised his eyes amidst the thunderous voices in the office.

This obvious move was immediately caught by Ding Hua, who was always watching his movements. He was sure, and at the same time couldn't help grinning secretly in his heart. On the glass cabinet where Xu Xin appeared.

Chen Jialou on the other end was confused, and when he heard his words, he couldn't help frowning and said: "...What the hell are you doing?" Tell me to give you a call after dinner, saying that there is something important to discuss?"

Ding Hua didn't answer the question, he only glanced at Xu Xin on the door of the closet, and continued to act casually:

"Oh... what? What are you talking about?!" Frowning, he deliberately lowered his voice, and urgently said in a very deliberate low volume that could be heard clearly by the people behind him: " Is Lin Zi sick again? Oh, I’m serious! Hey, I said Chen Jialou, what’s the matter with you, why can’t Lin Zi get better at your place? Nan is his own family, so he can't do without a hair there?"

Chen Jialou, thousands of miles away: "...Ding Hua, are you sick?"

Ding Hua didn't care about it, he just secretly stared at Xu Xin's reaction, while singing a one-man show, talking nonsense that he had a nose and eyes, he fell halfway, and even cooperated with his body movements, and stood up from the chair stand up.A series of actions made those who don't know the inside story read it, and it really seemed that something difficult happened.

Just like Xu Xin who was sitting on the other side of the table with a serious expression at the moment.

Ding Hua secretly observed the other party's reaction for a while, and he also knew that the drama should not be too much, otherwise it would be easy to show his flaws, and Chen Jialou on the other end of the phone had obviously been annoyed by the scapegoat he had inexplicably put on his head. Unhappy, according to his understanding of the other party, if he continues to talk nonsense like this, the guy will start to scold him, so he quickly accepts it as soon as he sees it, and after muttering and making up a few lines, he pretends to be relieved and says: "... ...Oh, I told you sooner! I thought something big happened, it turned out to be this little problem... Okay, okay, I get it, right, so what, it's been really cold recently, you Both of you should pay attention, don't let this year pass, and you will all fall." After finishing, he asked: "Is there anything else, if not, hang up first, I'm still busy here."

After speaking, without waiting for any response from the Chen family building, he immediately put down the phone.

Then he breathed a sigh of relief, slightly adjusted the expression on Fan's face, then turned around and pretended to be calm, picked up the chopsticks that were set aside again, and continued to eat with a relaxed expression.

He looked calm and composed throughout the whole process, as if he had no intention of explaining the content of the phone call just now.

So after this weird call ended, there was only a slight sound of chewing and the occasional sound of drinking soup in the huge office.

Ding Hua buried his head in eating, and he didn't know how long it had passed before he heard a question from the figure opposite him that he had been waiting for for a long time in the silence.

"What happened."

Ding Hua was overjoyed, but his face remained motionless, he only raised his eyes, squeezed out a little bewilderment from his bull's eyes, and even pretended to be stupid and said "ah?"

Xu Xin's lips were tightly pursed into a line, and the eyes that fell on him seemed to contain a trace of imperceptible coldness.

When Ding Hua touched it, his heart froze again, he smiled a little embarrassedly, quickly looked away guiltily, and replied vaguely: "...Oh, you said Xiao Chen's side." He moved stiffly as he spoke. He moved his shoulders and explained more vaguely: "Hey, it's nothing, that's all... Isn't it that the temperature has dropped across the country recently? Lin Zi may not be able to guard against it, so he caught a cold and a little fever. The throat is also inflamed and swollen, so I have been absent from class for the past few days." Yu Bi quickly glanced at the expression on Xu Xin's face, and by the way, he did not forget to keep the pot in the far away place. On Chen Jialou in Gannan.

"It's all Chen Jialou's fault. He was surprised and didn't speak clearly, which made me think that something big happened like before, but in fact nothing happened." As he spoke, he couldn't help but glanced at the other party again, Pretending to be extremely natural but quickly said: "Hey, boss, don't worry."

Xu Xin's eyes moved slightly, but he didn't say anything.

The office fell silent again.

Ding Hua was a little embarrassed for a while, and in this slightly weird silence, he recalled his passionate performance just now, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that what he just said to Xu Xin was full of loopholes——Chen Jialou always compared I am prudent and shrewd, even when both of them are young and have little knowledge and experience, most of the time the other party behaves calmer and calmer than myself, so it is often unavoidable to yell at me , when he came to him, he only deserved a disdainful white eye and a sneer.How could such a Chen family building make a phone call just because of such a trivial matter?Not to mention with such a big reaction.

As for this point, it is impossible for Xu Xin to be clear about this point after getting along with them day and night, but for some reason, the always sensitive opponent did not investigate carefully this time. He opened his mouth in a low voice, lowered his eyes and asked a question completely irrelevant to what he just said: "... How often... have you been in touch recently?"

Ding Hua was stunned for a moment, then touched the back of his head, and replied, "Oh...about two or three months..."

Xu Xin's hand on the keyboard moved slightly, and after a while, he gave a low "hmm".

Ding Hua heard him, looked at him quietly, followed suit, and after about ten seconds, tentatively followed up: "Hey, what... how about... I will raise this frequency to... a little bit later. Mention?" And while speaking, he stared closely at the change of expression on the other person's face, and by the last three words, his voice was so soft that it was almost negligible.

Xu Xin's eyes were still lowered, and he didn't respond directly, but he didn't have the tough and clear attitude of opposition like the previous few times. He only blinked his eyes slightly after a long silence, and then turned his eyes back to the computer screen. On the table, he replied noncommittally: "After dinner, let the old Shen of the market bring up the plan in the afternoon."

Ding Hua was startled, a smile appeared in his eyes.

"That's it." He raised his eyebrows, and he knew what to order, so he entangled too much on this topic, lowered his head and quickly took a few more mouthfuls of food, and then let go in advance, I went back to my office.

For more than half a month thereafter, Xu Xin no longer recruited Ding Hua to him inexplicably as soon as it was time for dinner, nor forced Ding Hua to be his driver after work.On the contrary, Ding Hua started to rush into his office when he had nothing to do. Not only did he not have any complaints about the unpaid extra task of eating and chatting with him, but he was stuck in the city every day even when he was taking off work time. The half-hour driver's job in the district is also very enjoyable.

And all these changes stemmed from the subtle changes in Xu Xin's attitude when he heard about Lin An again.

In fact, Ding Hua didn't dare to be too obvious at first. After all, although Xu Xin didn't object to his proposal to raise the contact frequency, he also didn't have any positive response, did he?

Therefore, Ding Hua, who has suffered several times from the opponent's hands, has learned to be smart this time, even if he pressed Chen Jialou to go to a certain Hope School in S County, Ganzhou the next day to talk to someone. After hard communication for most of the day, I also tightly held all the messages I received in my hands, looking at Xu Xin's face like squeezing toothpaste every day, and tentatively let them out bit by bit.

For example, first, he pretended not to talk about the recent speechless weather in City C, and then changed the subject, and said to Xu Xin, who was obviously not very interested in this topic: "Hey brother, I heard from Xiao Chen that southern Jiangxi has also been very cold recently. Affected by some kind of current, the temperature dropped several degrees, and it was below zero. Yesterday, hailstones, which are rare in their place, hit his motorcycle parked outside several times. Angry.

Sure enough, at this time, no matter how focused the other party was on his work, he would raise his head calmly, not to mention how intense the reaction was, at least he would look at him.

So Ding Hua would add another sentence more naturally: But Lin Zi seems to be unaffected.

Then he glanced at Xu Xin and saw that although the other party looked calm, but his eyes were focused, he was obviously still listening, so he inevitably had to add a few more words.

After several times of probing like this, Ding Hua finally had a complete confidence in his mind, so he became more courageous several times. The news about Lin An, no matter whether it was interesting or not, began to be leaked out whenever possible.

For example, how many courses did Linzi teach this semester? Did he lose weight or gain weight this year? The ability to be spicy is also growing, and such trivial things that can't be smaller are all poured out with embellishment, and some even talked about it more than once.

But Xu Xin never showed the slightest impatience.

For a while, observing Xu Xin's subtle reactions to these trivial matters became one of the most interesting things in Ding Hua's boring and tedious work life.

And with these little funs as condiments, the days are like riding a hot wheel for a while, running fast, and the new year is approaching, the company's people's hearts are obviously fluctuating more and more violently, everyone is looking forward to it Looking forward to the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, I wish that every day when I open my eyes, I will gather together to celebrate the joyous and lively New Year's Eve.

In fact, when there is less than a week before New Year's Eve, except for some employees in the marketing department and sales department, most of the other employees in the company have already used their annual leave, and those who have asked for personal leave have taken personal leave and retreated early. up.

Of course, this must not include their big boss Xu Xin, who is known as the "workaholic", and Manager Ding, the most competent and number one servant under the big boss.

In fact, Xu Xin has no requirement for Ding Hua to stay behind, but Ding Hua's parents have passed away long ago, and he is used to wandering around since he was a child. Going there to celebrate who to celebrate with, it is better to stay in the company honestly, at least with Xu Xin as a company.On the last day, he could rely on his brother to go with him to the other party's old house for an extremely sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner.

why not?

So this year is no exception. On the evening of the New Year's Eve, Ding Hua appeared in front of Xu Xin's office on time, and "invited" with a smile: "Hey brother, happy Chinese New Year, do you want to go home after work? Take your brother Me alone?"

Xu Xin, who was used to this scene, showed a rare smile on his face, simply tidied up, put on his coat, walked to the door, patted the other person on the shoulder, and said, "Let's go."

When the two arrived at the old house, the front hall was already full of people. Needless to say, Xu Guang was next to Xu's mother, and was talking to each other with a smile on his face. When he saw Xu Xin enter the door, he turned his face and smiled With a sound, his wife and children, who had also been transferred to City B since he was transferred, immediately stood up enthusiastically, and walked over to Xu Xin to chat with him.

Ding Hua, as the only complete outsider present, exchanged a few words with the old faces present, and then consciously chose an inconspicuous seat to sit in, then looked around, and began to habitually look for the old face in the past. Seeing Xu Yuan, the number one overlord of the Xu family, whom he would never let go.

But after looking around, she realized that the girl had suffered from some kind of illness, she was sitting alone on the round table farthest from the main table, which was only put together temporarily when guests came.

Ding Hua stared at the other party with some amusement for a while, then walked quietly behind her, poked his neck and glanced at the mobile phone the other party was playing with in his hand, raised his hand and slapped her in the other's ear. Snap your fingers.

"Yo, what are you looking at? So focused."

Xu Yuan was taken aback, but after reacting, she only turned her face to look at him, then suddenly rolled her eyes, muttered something in a low voice, and quickly walked away holding the phone.

"Ratchet of the same feather."

Ding Hua stood at the back speechlessly and carefully distinguished for a while before he figured out what the other party said should be these four words.He shook his head helplessly and amusedly. He didn't expect this girl to be the most angry and vengeful girl in the Xu family, because her favorite "Ms. Lin" was forced to resign, and Xu Xin didn't help with this He has been angry for more than a year, and now seeing her uncle still has angry eyes, and he is also troubled by himself.

In the following time, the quarrelsome girl seemed to have changed her sex, and she just sat on the sidelines sullenly until the banquet was about to start, and Xu's mother called her in front of everyone: "Yuanyuan, Come here and sit next to grandma." Reluctantly got up, and slowly moved over, when passing by Xu Xin, he called out in a low voice: "Uncle."

Xu Xin glanced at her and agreed.

Since then, there has been no conversation between the two.

The New Year's Eve dinner was very lively. As the eldest in the family, Xu's mother was naturally coaxed to smile by the juniors. I got a little relief in the celebration of the family gathering together tonight.However, after all, the incident at the Ma family was too ugly and sudden, and it hadn't been long since, so when I saw the youngest son who was the quietest in the family, I still felt very blocked.

So this New Year's Eve dinner was lively and at the same time full of sadness and joy.

It was rare for Xu's mother not to routinely urge Xu Xin to marry him at the once-a-year reunion dinner. She only sighed secretly when her eyes swept over Xu Xin.

After the meal, everyone gathered in the living room again. While listening to the party on TV, they formed a game of cards and played several games in turn. It was not until almost ten o'clock at night that they all said their goodbyes and left the Xu family's old house.

As for Xu Guang and Xu Xin, naturally they all stayed during this day, sat in the living room and chatted with Xu's mother for a while, and then went upstairs to their own rooms.Ding Hua followed Xu Xin up to the third floor as in previous years, and stayed in the guest room next door that he had prepared earlier.

After taking a shower, the time is approaching zero.

Xu Xin sat on the sofa and wiped his hair for a while, remembering how his mother hesitated to speak when facing him downstairs not long ago, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, then threw the towel and pulled it out of the coat that was placed aside. A cigarette came out.But within two seconds of holding it between his fingers, he looked down again and saw a black ashtray placed on the low table, his eyes suddenly dimmed again, he stared at the table for a long while thinking about something, then put the cigarette down , stood up silently, and walked to the balcony connected to the room.

The stars all over the sky flooded into sight in an instant.

Xu Xinwei raised his head and looked at it. At some point in his mind, another figure suddenly appeared, standing quietly beside him in the same silent night.

The night wind flew across the sky, he looked sideways, looked at the empty corner illuminated by the light for a while, then silently retracted his gaze, and was about to turn around and go back to the room.

But just as he was about to move, the door of Ding Hua's room next door seemed to be sensed. With a click, even the door of the small balcony was gently pushed open by a hand.

Then a greeting that was slightly suppressed but still hard to conceal joy came from the other side without warning, successfully making the person who was about to turn back and leave completely frozen in place.

"Hello? Lin Zi? Hey, me! You Ding Ge! Hehe, do you remember?"