Chapter 13 third quarter

Xiaoxing told me that her father left home a year ago. "I left the watch at home, so I brought it." As she spoke, she took out the old watch from her skirt pocket. "Just so I want a watch." I suddenly remembered the playfully designed watch my mother gave me for my birthday last year, but I had stopped winding it. "Didn't you catch any bugs today?" Xiao Xing asked as he shifted his gaze to the insect net at his feet.We were sitting side by side on the grass on the embankment. I shook my head ambiguously. "There are already too many at home."

Looking back now, I didn't use a bug net once until that winter came and there were no more bugs in the river. Xiaoxing asked me to tell her about the bugs in the house, so I did.At first I was worried that she might misunderstand her as a dark-hearted guy, so I didn’t talk too enthusiastically, but I gained momentum when I was talking, and when I came back to my senses, I was already intoxicated with the talk and gestures.The black-tailed curly is good at rolling leaves; the mulberry beetle is very like a bee; the long-petaled tree cricket has a beautiful cry--clap your hands to scare them all and stop making the sound, but after a while they utter "lululu" together sound.Xiao Xing lowered her head and listened to me silently, raising her head when she didn't understand something.But as I repeatedly explained, she showed an expression of understanding, and lowered her head to listen again.

"I will do insect research in the future." This is the first time I have expressed this ambition to others.There is a kind of pleasure in the bottom of my heart. "Become an entomologist and catch bugs no one has ever seen before." The childish excitement seemed to have infected Xiao Xing, she kept nodding, saying that I know so much now, and I will definitely become an entomologist in the future.There was no hint of preaching in Xiaoxing's words, and I always felt that her words were like adding an insurance policy to my future. Xiaoxing took out the watch from the pocket of her skirt to look at it again.

"I'm going back." She stood up quickly, and I subconsciously followed her. "Is there a problem?" When I asked, she nodded first, then shook her head again. "If you don't go back..." The wind from the river swallowed her words. "Mom...was..." Did she mean that she would be scolded by her mother?But it is not yet six o'clock.Is Xiaoxing's mother such a strict person?Before asking these questions, Xiao Xing had already smiled at me and took a step back. "Thank you for telling me about the bugs." As she turned to leave, the smell of hair came to my nose.It wasn't the scent of shampoo and conditioner, but Koko's soft body odor mixed with sweat and dust.

The next day and Monday of the following week, I went to the river.Xiao Xing will definitely wait for me at the same place, and we will sit side by side on the grass on the river bank.She doesn't talk much, and usually just listens to me with her head down.Although she is like this, she does not give people a gloomy impression, probably because of her straight back.Once, when she was helping me fend off mosquitos that had stalked my face, I caught a glimpse of her white underarms through the half-sleeved sailor suit.A slight tremor stirred in my heart like peeping into the shell, and I looked away immediately.

It is said that Xiao Xing was born in a small town on the northeast coast. "But I don't remember anything about that town. My father and mother brought me here as a child." "Aren't you going to visit your relatives?" "When I came out, my father had a big fight with his relatives, so he couldn't go back." The mother was already helpless, Xiao Xing added lonely. "So my mother and I stayed at home during Obon and New Year's Eve." She folded her knees and looked towards the river.A few river pheasants flew by, their tails pointing to the water, and flew away again.

Next week, next week, we all meet by the river.We didn't make an appointment in advance, and felt that if we did, it would destroy the current relationship.The coolness is getting stronger and the bugs have disappeared from the river bank, but I still carry the bug net and plastic bag.Those were the "unwritten constraints" of my young mind.When she was on the embankment, Xiao Xing never looked at the insect nets and plastic bags that she had never used. This must be her silent answer. We shared the sweet coffee I bought.At the beginning, with the empty bottle as the boundary, we fell silent on both sides.But after I gossiped about the seniors, Yuki laughed heartily.Our conversations grew gradually after that, until it eventually got to the point of laughing shoulder to shoulder.

Xiao Xing raised her small chin and looked at Qiu Chilong.In the evening, I lamented that the clouds can change colors at any time.I imitated a certain teacher's way of walking, and she bent over with laughter.