Qiao Nan stared at the books that looked like death talismans in the dark, thinking about what he had committed to meet the nemesis of the Mu family.

After a while, he still got up anxiously, sat at the table, pulling his hair and turning on the book.

****

The dinner table of Mu's family's dinner became more and more abundant as Mu's parents' income increased.

The aroma of the food filled the small restaurant. Qiao Nan, who was dizzy when he was doing the exam, covered his head and saw Mu Ma holding a pot of fish soup from the kitchen with a smile on his face. Only then did he realize that he had to ignore an equally important thing. After Yingcheng's second-year high school entrance examination, he still had to hold a parent-teacher meeting.

He sat down and drank the rich and fragrant crucian carp soup stewed by Mu's father. Just as he was about to speak, he heard what Mu's father and Mu's mother were chatting, and mentioned that Mu's mother would go to another city X next month.

Qiao Nan was stunned: "What are you doing in City X?"

The couple who were stuck together and discussing what clothes to wear in the weather in City X noticed their daughter. Dad Mu smiled brightly: "Dad found that the ingredients in the stalls at home consumed a lot, and it was a bit unprofitable to buy the price in the vegetable market A. Uncle X introduced us to a poultry farming factory in City X, saying that it could be directly supplied to us. Dad's legs and feet are inconvenient, so he asked your mother to go and take a look. If it is suitable, he would probably save a lot of material money in the future."

When talking about this, we have to talk about the new business of the Mu family’s parents.

At first, they only set up breakfast stalls in the Youth Square to sell rice noodles. They went out early every day and ended at about ten o'clock. For most of the day, they could stay at home to rest.

The breakfast stall income is good, and it can be fixed in four-digit net profit every day. In addition to being busy when it is sold, there is not much to prepare after returning home. This life rhythm, which can make a lot of money after busy for half a day and rest for half a day, obviously makes many small self-employed people in City A envy, but Mu’s father didn’t know what was stimulating, but after moving to his new home, he suddenly got blood-

It's really too slack!

Therefore, he quickly figured out a new way to make money, which is to sell roasted flavor.

In fact, I just want to braise chicken, goose or something at home. I will take it out with the rice noodles ingredients in the morning. After breakfast time is over, I will put it on and sell it for a while.

The traffic of people around Youth Square was quite large throughout the day. My father originally thought that it was a pity that the whole afternoon of the afternoon after making breakfast was abandoned, so he wanted to use it to make something.

Unexpectedly, these newly added products were surprisingly popular. At the beginning, Mu's father strictly packed the braised poultry until the rice noodle stall was packed before it was put out. However, after more and more old customers returned after purchasing, he couldn't wait for that time recently - the breakfast time was not over, and the chicken, duck and goose meat he was ready to sell in the afternoon is often sold out in advance.

Mu's father brought more and more ingredients every day, and the pots in the kitchen of his new home were getting bigger and bigger, and the aroma of braised soup was emitting 24 hours a day. The couple obviously planned to develop this business well. After all, the extra income was so generous that it was no less than making breakfast.

Qiao Nan picked up a chopstick on the table and understood their popularity very well. The delicate and tender fleshy fibers were soaked in Mu Dad's special marinade, and the rich taste layers gradually unfolded with the rich chewing movements. This is a kind of enjoyment that spreads from smell to the tip of the tongue.

Qiao Nan's spirit that was tortured by the books was much more relieved.

He had no special feelings about the couple's business development. He just found out from his father's words that they were quite business-minded and had already had a vision of how to reasonably control costs before the business was growing. Then he asked Mu's mother about her departure time.

The raw material inspection is not a trivial matter. Mu's mother seemed to have to stay in X City for a few more days. Qiao Nan calculated the time and found that it was very unfortunate that she would run into Yingcheng's parent meeting.

Seeing that he was so meticulous about his inquiry, Mu Dad asked while picking up food for him, "What's wrong? Is there something you want to ask your mother to bring back from City X?"

Qiao Nan shook his head. He was worried that Mu's father was unable to move and did not want to work hard on parent-teacher meetings. There was no way out in this way: "No, our school will hold a parent-teacher meeting after the unified examination next month. I guess you will have to work hard."

As soon as he finished speaking, Dad Mu, who was leaning out from the upper body and picking up food for him, suddenly froze: "I...I'll go?"

"Yes." Qiao Nan saw his face and was about to ask what was wrong. Dad Mu suddenly put down his chopsticks and stood up in a depressing manner: "I, I'll call the X City Breeding Farm and ask your mother to leave after you have finished the parent-teacher meeting."

Qiao Nan was stunned and looked at his back who was very difficult to walk because of his ankle discomfort, and he was a little confused: "Why are you doing so troublesome? You can just go there by the way in City A? Parents' meetings usually take the afternoon, and it won't delay business."

Dad Mu looked back at him, his expression moved slightly, but he hid back into the house quickly.

Qiao Nan had no choice but to turn his gaze to Mu Ma. Mu Ma sighed, looking a little sad, but said nothing, and just shook his head silently at him.

****

at night.

Mu Xiangyao held his chin and looked at the two apples on the table.

The warm light in the study was scattered on these two shabby little fruits. Mu Xiangyao stretched out a finger and gently touched them. The fingertips could feel the hard and cold touch. The sad and panic-like appearance when his mother stuffed them into her arms came to her mind again.

Why are you panic? Why are you sad?

The mother stood at the entrance of the elevator with a confused look, as if she really wanted to keep herself. The father also said that when she saw her, she remembered her "daughter". It's so good. She changed her body, but there was still an indescribable connection between them.

I don’t know how my father is doing, but does the twisted ankle still hurt. The fragrance from the room was really strong at the moment when I opened the door. It was hard to think about it. Mu Yao knew that it must be his work. The dishes my father cooked had a unique taste. Many, many years ago, this taste was deeply engraved in Mu Yaoyao’s memory.

My father's sideburns turned much darker and his spirited face lingered in front of me. Is it because I started working? At this moment, Mu Xiang thought I vaguely understood what Qiao Nan once said, "What men need is certainty."

Her nose was sore, she took out two tissues to carefully wipe the two apples, and with the slightly red peel, she seemed to have touched the temperature of her family.

The phone suddenly rings loudly. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the screen. It was Qiao Nan.

Mu Yao thought about it and remembered that there was such an informant at home. When he answered the phone, he was about to ask the other person's father's ankle.

Qiao Nan's voice rang before that: "Hey? Mu Xiang, I have something to ask you."

Qiao Nan recalled Mu's father's reaction while reading the book. He was so difficult that he could not review it well. But Mu's mother refused to explain anything. So in desperation, he had to call Mu Xiangxi.

Mu Xiangyao was stunned: "What?"

Then, listening to Qiao Nan's narrative, she fell into a long silence.

Many memories that I thought had been forgotten came out of my mind without warning.

Until the next day, Mu Xiangxiang stepped off the bus to the English-Chengdu Foreign Language School, he was still addicted to it.

Yingcheng is rare and lively, after all, it is an annual inter-school league. Even the school is very considerate of the students' excitement and cancelled all the courses for the whole afternoon of the day. The students from junior and senior high school came out in full swing and scattered to various corners of the campus to perform. Mu Xiangyao was discovered almost the moment he stepped into the school gate.

Mu Xiang thought about receiving the ubiquitous attention to Qiao Nan's body handed over everywhere, and his mood was a little complicated.

It should be more sad than the nervousness of worrying about being discovered?

Qiao Nan has been away for more than a year, but "Mu Xiangyao" stayed here for a longer time.

But the smiling faces around her were always separated by an insurmountable barrier from her. Mu Xiangxiang had never held the luxury of making friends since she entered this school.

Or maybe she has realized her difference since junior high school.

That day Qiao Nan told her that Yingcheng wanted to conduct the unified examination and hold a parent-teacher meeting, and asked her why Mu's father was so resistant to going to school.

This made Mu Xiang think about how to answer? In fact, the attendance of her and her younger brother Mu Song’s parent meeting by her mother has long been an unwritten rule for the Mu family. Even if Mu’s father is present, he will usually wait at the school gate and will not appear in front of the teachers and students in the school.

As for the reason.

It seems that I was half a year after my junior high school?

Mu Xiangxiang looked at Yingcheng's wide campus with a deep look. She thought of that day, she helped her father out of the teacher's office. Her father was smiling from ear to ear with her full score. Then, they met a large group of classmates chasing and fighting.

She could not remember what those classmates looked like at this time, because she had never said a word to them in the entire junior high school period since then.

But their surprised eyes and unthinking questions were still stuck in their chests like a knife-

"Wow! The first place in the class, I didn't expect your father to be a disabled person!"

Then they pushed each other and started learning that Mu's father was walking, but they were soon driven away by the head teacher who ran out of the office after hearing the noise.

Mu Xiangxiang will always remember the tremor from her father's body at that moment. Her eyes were red with anger. She wanted to go up and fight with them, but her father was tightly held back by her father. The father and daughter walked silently for a long time, but in the end, her father took the initiative to squat down and gave her a hug: "It's okay, think about it, it's okay, don't be sad, don't be angry."

How can you not be sad? How can you not be angry? Mu Xiangxiang was holding his father's clothes on his back and cried - these classmates made his father sad!

Since then, my father has never appeared in her school again. All the activities that parents need to attend in the second and third grades of junior high school are Mu's mother.

However, the news that "the first grader Mu Xiang I have a disabled father" quickly spread in the class. At that time, the No. 1 Middle School in City A was the top junior high school in City A. There was a lot of pressure for the direct promotion quota of the high school department of our school. Most of the students in key classes started classmates since elementary school. Only when she always transferred to schools emerged from an inexplicable elementary school and steadily snatched away the throne of first grade, becoming a role model used by teachers to compare and inspire students to learn.

Mu Xiangxiang was like a target being erected. Every time he was praised by the teacher, a small group of people would scream, and then volunteered to come to her to learn how his father was walking.

Although the other students did not participate in the hype, they would choose to watch coldly.

Mu Xiang thought he would be angry at the beginning, but later he saw it a lot, and it was difficult for him to have another setback.

In short, these children who grow up with sound families are fundamentally different from her. Her poverty, her parents, and even her excellent grades are all things that can be made fun of when they are out of place with the surroundings.

Those students in junior high school who have no more advantages besides excellent grades all have such arrogance that is above her, let alone Yingcheng?

From the moment when he walked into the door with his cloth schoolbag that was different from the classmates in the classroom, and he got several surprising glances, Mu Xiangyao gave up struggling.

Poverty cannot be hidden, her words and demeanor, her dress, and she has nowhere to hide.

Therefore, compared to trying to get in touch but ending up in a bleak situation, she hoped that she could stay safe and silently and not be able to integrate into the topic of Hawaii travel. It doesn’t matter if she couldn’t get an invitation from her classmate Jiang Yan’s birthday party. It doesn’t matter if she didn’t have friends, it doesn’t matter.

"Mu Xiangyao" this person, this body, had nothing worthy of being highly regarded.

Mu Xiangxiang calmly withdrew his gaze from the students who were laughing and fighting in groups of three or five. A person hurriedly ran from afar. She identified the face for a while and found that it was quite familiar.

Jiang Hai looked at the cold and cold "Brother Nan" in front of him with a complicated expression, and supported her knees and panted for a while before speaking: "Uh, Nan... Mu Xiang wanted to ask me to pick you up."

Mu Xiang thought that he had heard Jiang Hai guessed the truth from Qiao Nan, so he rarely had no pressure on his old friend who faced Qiao Nan. She thanked him politely: "Thank you. Where is him?"

Of course, the question was Qiao Nan, who told her the day before yesterday to be present and no one was seen.

Jiang Hai faced those clear eyes, and the beautiful face that now belonged to his elder brother appeared in his mind. He felt subtle discomfort and coughed: "He is busy preparing for the game in the stadium."

Mu Xiangyao was stunned: "What is he preparing for-"

Jiang Hai was also stunned: "Don't you know? Nan... Well, he, he is going to play today."

Mu Xiang: "!!!"

Mu Xiangxiang couldn't react until he was taken to the basketball court auditorium. Jiang Hai found her a seat: "This is, um, he asked me to leave it for you."

Mu Xiangxiang was still surprised by Qiao Nan's intention to play against his body, and nodded absent-mindedly: "Thank you."

Jiang Hai scratched his head and was uncomfortable again for the sudden politeness of this familiar face. Then he quickly recalled Brother Nan's particularly irritable mood these days. He was afraid that he would be beaten up if he went back later, so he did not dare to stay. He left hurriedly after leaving a few instructions.

There were already many spectators gathered in the stadium, especially those cheerleading girls. Mu Xiangxiang recognized several familiar faces in it, such as Fang Lingli, and the rich and beautiful students in his class who had hardly spoke much.

Yingcheng's girls are still as passionate about the school's strife. Before that, Mu Xiangyao had seen them screaming and screaming in the venue while Qiao Nan and Jiang Hai were practicing.

Her head hurts, and she didn't expect Qiao Nan to do this.

Yingcheng's basketball court, such a place where countless eyes are focused is simply an occasion for people from another world. He is not "Qiao Nan" now. He appears rashly with his body "Mu Xiangyao", because he is afraid that he will live too easily in his daily life?
To be continued...