Chapter 12 Section Eleven

Tan Gongda came to the auditorium of Meicheng Middle School, and the performance of "Fifteen Strings" by the Shengxi Troupe was about to begin.He quickly found his seat, which turned out to be on the side of the last row in the auditorium.There is no worse seat.Tan Gongda stretched his neck vigorously, but he could only see the high bun on the head of the female announcer.Tan Gongda was muttering in his heart, why did Bai Tingyu choose such a seat for him, and suddenly found a girl in a black dress sitting beside him, and at the same time, he also smelled a faint fragrance of orchids.

Bai Xiaoxian pretended not to see him, and looked towards the stage with straight neck.She held a bag of melon seeds in her hand, and her hair was wet, as if she had just taken a bath.Even after the lights in the auditorium went out, he could catch a glimpse of her neck in the dark.So white, so long.Tan Gongda greedily inhaled the fragrance and the smell of the hair, his throat was salty, and the blood all over his body only rushed to his head, and he felt a little dizzy unconsciously.This Bai Tingyu!Why didn't you talk to me beforehand?He tried his best to gather himself, looked around the theater, and when he was at a loss, Bai Xiaoxian handed him the paper bag in his hand, but without looking at him, he asked, "Do you want to eat?"

Tan Gongda smiled, wiped the sweat from his hands on his trousers, and grabbed a few melon seeds from the paper bag.The initial embarrassment was finally over.He cracked a few melon seeds, and began to realize Bai Tingyu's ingenious arrangements and painstaking efforts.This is the most secretive and secluded place in the theater: from Bai Xiaoxian to the right, there are five or six seats that are vacant, and they must have been carefully considered in advance.And since the emergency exit is next to the exit, if they have no interest in the drama (in this case, watching the drama is usually not the most important purpose), they can choose to leave at any time...

Sure enough, after a while, Bai Xiaoxian said to herself: "Oh, I'm most annoyed by watching theatre! Sitting in such a ghostly place, I can't see anything!" Although he didn't say this to Tan Gongda, because there was no other person beside him, Tan Gongda naturally asked in a low voice: "Xiaoxian, do you like Xi opera?" "I don't like it," Bai Xiaoxian said, "What about you?" "Me? I don't like it either." Tan Gongda muttered. "Go?" Bai Xiaoxian turned her head and said to him. "Go!" Tan Gongda didn't dare to look her in the eyes, and replied in a low voice.

The two of them stood up almost at the same time, walked to the emergency door, pushed it, and the door was locked.A staff member wearing an armband next to them said to them politely; "This door will not be opened until the end of the show. If you two want to leave, you can go through the main entrance." The two of them went out the door one after the other.As soon as he came down the high steps of the auditorium, he saw Yao Peipei and Tang Biyun holding hands and running towards this side, panting.Seeing Tan Gongda, both of them stopped. "County Tan." Haggis called him sweetly.

Yao Peipei put one hand on her waist, twisting her body and panting continuously. "Why did you come so late?" Tan Gongda asked. "Has the play started yet?" Biyun asked, at the same time keeping looking at Bai Xiaoxian. "The show has started, the show has started, you two, go in quickly!" "The county magistrate, why didn't you read it?" Yao Peipei asked him with a smirk. "I feel like sitting in there, feeling a little bored in my heart, so I come out for a walk." "Oh..." Tang Biyun was still staring at Bai Xiaoxian, seeing the latter turn her back in embarrassment, "Then, let's go in then."

After speaking, he pulled Yao Peipei and ran away.When they went up the steps, one of Yao Peipei's shoes fell off, and she tiptoed again, jumping down step by step to pick it up. "Who were those two people just now?" Bai Xiaoxian asked. "Hey, two crazy girls from our agency!" Tan Gongda said, and couldn't help turning his head to look at the entrance of the auditorium.The overhead light on the porch has gone out, and there is no one outside the door. It was just after eight o'clock, and the streets of Meicheng were already dark.They walked north along the street for a while, and Tan Gongda asked if he should go to his house.Bai Xiaoxian thought for a while, and said: "It's said that your house is haunted, I dare not go." Tan Gongda said again: "Then how about going to my office?" Xiaoxian didn't say anything.

When the two of them walked to the gate of the county committee compound, Tan Gongda felt a little regretful.It's so late, in a dark place, but he took a girl to the office, if the old man at the porter asked, how would he explain it?Fortunately, the gate was open. Seeing Tan Gongda and Bai Xiaoxian walking towards this side, Lao Chang shrank his head and pretended not to see it, avoiding the embarrassment he imagined. Tan Gongda led Bai Xiaoxian to the office on the third floor.Turning on the light, one could see Yao Peipei's dark blue overalls hanging on the wall, and two white sleeves draped over the back of the chair.

Without waiting for him to greet her, Bai Xiaoxian sat on the bench next to the wall, still kneading her melon seeds, and at the same time raised her head, looking at everything in the room curiously.Tan Gongda asked her if she wanted some tea, and Xiaoxian kept saying yes.She kneaded too many melon seeds, and she was indeed a little thirsty right now.Tan Gongda glanced at her: "Then you still knock!" Sure enough, Bai Xiaoxian immediately stopped knocking and smiled at him, revealing two rows of small and white teeth. There are no teacups for guests in Tan Gongda's office.He walked to the desk and took a look at the tea-stained glass bottle he was using. The nylon mesh used for heat insulation on it had been stripped.He saw a white porcelain cup on Yao Peipei's table, it was very delicate, and there was a printed pattern of red bees on it.He rinsed Pepe's cup and made tea for Bai Xiaoxian.The water in the thermos was already a bit cold, and the tea could not be boiled, but Bai Xiaoxian said that she didn't care.

She took the cup from Tan Gongda, turned it around in her hand, and said, "Whose cup is this? Why are you so particular about it?" Tan Gongda said: "It belongs to a colleague in the office. It looks a little cleaner." Bai Xiaoxian smiled and said: "I don't shy away from this." After speaking, she raised her neck, gulped down the water, and wiped the tea leaves from her mouth. Tan Gongda's heart that had been hanging all this time finally let go.He felt that his worries along the way were unnecessary, as Bai Xiaoxian was not as violent as he imagined.After speaking a few words, the two seemed to have known each other for a long time, without any distinction or restraint at all.Tan Gongda pulled out the chair, sat in front of Yao Peipei's desk, tapped the glass on the desk lightly with his fingers, and said to Bai Xiaoxian, "Your parents went back to the countryside afterward?"

Bai Xiaoxian gave a "hmm", and then said: "They only stayed in the country for one day, and they rushed to the county seat overnight the next afternoon." "What are they doing again?" "I didn't scare my uncle!" Bai Xiaoxian said that after the quarrel between her parents and her uncle, they went back to Xiazhuang in a fit of anger that afternoon.The two stayed at home for a whole day, neither eating nor sleeping, and finally hired a donkey cart and rushed to the county seat.It was already past midnight when they found the Bai Xiaoxian Art Troupe.Neither of them dared to wake up the guard, so they just made do with the night in the grove at the door.It wasn't until dawn, when Bai Xiaoxian came out to run exercises, that she saw them under a poplar tree beside the playground.When my mother saw Bai Xiaoxian, she burst into tears on the spot, and kept saying that our family is over.Her father's face was also yellow, and he stood aside silently.The students of the art troupe all surrounded them to watch.Bai Xiaoxian had no choice but to take them back to her dormitory, and then slowly learned the whole story from her father. My mother said: "That's all right now, I also lost my head for a while and offended the two county magistrates in one breath! Your uncle kept saying that he would send someone to arrest me, even though the county magistrate Bai was originally your direct relative." Uncle, but right now, we have fallen out, for a person like him, with a background of carrying a gun and fighting in battle, can't do such a righteous thing like killing relatives!" My father looked ashen at the side, and said dully: "It's not possible to arrest us, but I'm just worried about the composition of our family. Those poor people and beggars in the village don't give us good looks all day long. I met the village chief at the head of the village, and I handed him a cigarette. He even said quit, quit, and then walked away from a distance, his face was ugly, and after walking a few steps, he turned his head and glared at me. One glance, do you think it's strange!" My mother cried: "My mouth is like a dog. I can't change it and eat shit, so I should be beaten! I have been with your uncle for a long time, and I don't see him as a county magistrate in my eyes. I just mess around with my temper. What should I do now? ?” Bai Xiaoxian saw her parents panicked over this matter, especially her father, who was looking at her helplessly, as if waiting for her to come up with something for him, and felt very miserable in her heart, and tears fell in her eyes unconsciously. "It's okay for us two old men to be arrested by them, but you are so young, and you managed to have such a good future, but you see it ruined by us again." Mother said, "Now we These two old faces are too embarrassed to go to his door again, please uncle..." Before her mother finished speaking, Bai Xiaoxian already understood what she meant.She comforted them indiscriminately, took them to a small hotel on the street to stay, and then went to Nandaowan to find her uncle. Bai Xiaoxian was thinking all the way, uncle might be working in the county right now, and aunt is a slow-tempered person with a good temper, if she can talk to aunt first, things will be easier.Unexpectedly, Bai Tingyu had a fever that day and was lying at home resting.As soon as she saw her uncle's face covered in purple lotion, she understood why her parents were so worried. When Bai Tingyu heard that Xiaoxian was coming, he quickly got up from the bed, didn't say a word about her parents, but began to criticize himself first.He said that he was too restless that day and offended his brother and sister-in-law, and now it was too late to regret it.Seeing that her uncle's anger had dissipated, Bai Xiaoxian felt relieved, and briefly talked about her parents' coming to the county overnight. Bai Tingyu panicked, "Look, look, I lost my temper, and they really got scared like this. You Hurry up and take the two of them home, and I will apologize to them face to face." Later, he asked his aunt to go with her. When Bai Xiaoxian was about to leave, Bai Tingyu suddenly remembered something, called Xiaoxian to the study in the back room, talked to her for a long time, and finally gave him a theater ticket. "What did your uncle tell you?" Tan Gongda asked. "What else can I say?" Bai Xiaoxian blushed, "He, he asked me to marry you." As soon as she said that, her face turned red to the base of her neck.Tan Gongda didn't even dare to look at her, and was speechless for a long time.At this time, if I rushed up and hugged her and refused to let go, would she get into trouble?Yes, or not? This is indeed a problem. Tan Gongda has been hesitating, thinking many times in his mind, and sneaking a glance at the other party, Xiaoxian is also pinching the corner of the skirt, bowing his head in thought, as if waiting for something.Tan Gongda's heart suddenly became a mess. Under the glass panel of Yao Peipei's desk, there was a piece of dark green flannelette.On the top of the flannel, there is a small photo, the photo is a little yellow and old, and there are some tea stains on it. In the photo, a couple is holding a little girl.The women were wearing fur coats with lapel collars, and the men were wearing neat suits and looking good.There is a line of small white characters on the top of the photo, which reads: If the chubby baby in the photo is Yao Peipei, Tan Gongda can easily figure out that Peipei is really only nineteen years old this year, about the same age as Xiaoxian.It turned out that her real name was Yao Peiju, and she was born on New Year's Eve. Seeing the other party staring at the table in a daze, Bai Xiaoxian stood up from the chair and said, "It's getting late, I should go back, after eleven o'clock, the gate will not be able to enter." Tan Gongda had no choice but to get up and send her downstairs.The two walked outside the door, and Tan Gongda vaguely saw a person coming down from the fourth floor with a folder in his arms.The lights in the corridor were dim, and he didn't have time to see who the person was. When the person saw them, he was also taken aback, quickly shrank his head, and hurried back to the fourth floor.