Rebirth: Growing Up Together

Page 284

He snatched the camera bag from the girl's hand and dragged her so close to him that their arms were touching.

Feeling the familiar touch on his arm, Lin Wanzhou happily pressed his arm even closer.

"You took quite a lot of photos. Let me see what you did today." Xu Cheng turned on the camera and checked the photos taken by the girl in chronological order.

The first photo is of a residential community in the early morning, with clear light, emerald green leaves, and the asphalt road of the community. With the wide-angle effect, the girl's feet also appear in the camera, and the cute little white shoes give a lively and refreshing feeling.

"You're quite good at taking photos." Xu Cheng couldn't help but turn around and compliment him.

The girl turned her head away embarrassedly and snorted.

I had a thousand hopes in my heart. I wanted Xu Cheng to continue watching and share with him everything that happened today.

"Is this a movie theater? What movie are you watching?"

"Let's go today."

"Oh."

Xu Cheng had some impression of it. "Does it look good?"

"It's great. Let me tell you about this movie..."

The girl was very interested in telling Xu Cheng the plot of the movie, and it seemed like she couldn't stop talking.

Xu Cheng pulled her little hand and said, "Lin Wanzhou, let's close our eyes and tell me again."

"why?"

"Just imagine we're watching it together in a movie theater."

"……childish."

Although she looked down on Xu Cheng's childish tricks, Lin Wanzhou still obediently closed her eyes. She felt that Xu Cheng seemed to have turned off the lights in the living room. There seemed to be only the camera on the coffee table in front of her eyelids, emitting a faint fluorescence, just like the screen in a dark movie theater.

"Do you want popcorn?" Xu Cheng asked her seriously.

The girl said "eat", wanting to see how this guy could make popcorn, but he pulled out a small bottle of Kopiko potato chips from his bag and stuffed it into the girl's mouth.

"Eat some popcorn."

"Why does it feel like playing house?" the girl muttered, and suddenly recalled her childhood when she cooked with instant noodle seasoning and foxtail grass.

She opened her little mouth slightly and put the "popcorn" into her mouth. It was crispy and had a tomato taste.

"The opening scene is a fat man bathing in a pool..."

"Lin Wanzhou, are you watching other men take a bath? I'm going to be jealous."

After hearing what Xu Cheng said, the girl still felt a little guilty, so she said in a soft voice, "...I closed my eyes at that time."

"Then how did you see the plot?"

"Do you want to hear me? No talking in the cinema."

Xu Cheng obediently closed his mouth. The girl softly narrated the development of the plot. From time to time, she would think of the parts she had missed and immediately fill them in. Sometimes when she talked about the funny parts of the movie, Xu Cheng, who was listening, didn't understand yet, she would laugh and bend over.

The two people sitting on the sofa held hands without knowing when.

"That's it in the end. The movie is over. Wasn't it great?"

"Well, it's beautiful."

They both opened their eyes.

The girl looked at him beside her, and the little hand he held in his palm, and suddenly felt that all the regrets of the day had disappeared in an instant.

"I want some popcorn, too."

"for you."

Xu Cheng picked up a piece of tomato-flavored "popcorn" and put it to the girl's mouth, and Lin Wanzhou swallowed it in one bite.

"After watching the movie, what did you do afterwards?"

"Look, look."

The girl who had told the whole story didn't feel thirsty anymore, so she pointed at the camera on Xu Cheng's lap and told him about the two girls buying ice cream cones, clothes, eating hot pot, then visiting the park, watching the musical fountain, and finally getting caught in the rain together, and finally the photo of someone else wearing a wedding dress.

"What a beautiful wedding dress." Xu Cheng couldn't help but admire.

"Yeah, the Chinese-style phoenix crown is much more beautiful than a wedding dress."

Xu Cheng looked in the direction of the girl.

"Do you want to wear it too?"

Lin Wanzhou felt as if his secret plan had been exposed and nervously hit him on the arm.

"I didn't."

It seemed to be drizzling outside again, and the crackling sound of drops of rain hitting the leaves was very pleasant.

Xu Cheng looked out the window and said, "Let's go out for a walk together, Lin Wanzhou."

“But it’s raining.”

"Then hold an umbrella."

The girl stood up and went to look for her umbrella, her little pink umbrella, and she wanted to find one for Xu Cheng, but was stopped by the boy.

"We only have this one umbrella."

“This umbrella is very small.”

"That's all right."

"What if it rains?"

"Then let's get wet in the rain together."

Lin Wanzhou was stunned for a few seconds, then stopped looking and stood up to change his shoes, wanting to go out with Xu Cheng.

But before leaving, he remembered something and ran back to his bedroom and locked the door.

"I'll change my clothes."

Not long after, the door of the girl's bedroom opened. She was wearing a beautiful dress with small floral patterns and a pair of brand new thin-strap sandals. Her cute toes, like pearls, were painted with glowing light pink nail polish.

The whole person was fiddling with his hair in an unnatural way.

"So beautiful!" Xu Cheng looked from top to bottom and couldn't help but exclaim.

The girl patted his arm proudly.

"Let's go."

"But aren't you afraid of the cold?"

"Cut the nonsense."

It was drizzling outside, neither heavy nor light.

The sound of raindrops falling on the pink umbrella was particularly clear to their ears.

When the wind blew, the moisture mixed with water vapor made the girl shiver.

Beauty does come at a price.

Xu Cheng considerately opened his suit jacket towards her and said, "Hide in my arms, Lin Wanzhou."

The girl hesitated for a moment and then went in.

Her body felt indescribably warm and comfortable, so comfortable that she could close her eyes at that moment.

The two walked in the rain for a long time and passed by the government kindergarten where they once attended together. There were only sporadic lights in the building in the dark night, and the newly built children's playground was wet from the rain.

Passing by an abandoned construction site again, it seemed that nothing had changed after so many years. Xu Cheng glanced over there and tried to catch the girl's eyes. He found that she was also looking at him. The two just smiled at each other, with an indescribable tacit understanding.

The girl felt some cramps in her calves and a little pain in her feet, so she patted Xu Cheng's arm, then squatted down and gently rubbed her ankles.

“Although these shoes look nice, they are very uncomfortable to walk in.”

"I'll carry you."

Xu Cheng handed the umbrella to the girl, then took off his coat, put it on the girl, and squatted down.

Lin Wanzhou happily jumped onto his broad back, and when she felt something was squashed somewhere, she quickly climbed up to not give Xu Cheng a chance to discover her.

Through the thin layer of T-shirt, she could feel the burning temperature of his back, which helped her dispel the slight chill of the rainy night.

There were fewer tall buildings on the roadside, and the girl lay on Xu Cheng's shoulder.

"Xu Cheng, where are we going? Are we just going to walk aimlessly?"

"of course not."

Then gradually, noisy music began to sound in my ears and colorful lights flashed in my sight.

The girl had vaguely guessed something, so she kept silent and buried her head in Xu Cheng's shoulder until he carried her to the huge Ferris wheel.

"Lin Wanzhou, do you dare to sit down?"

"You dare?"

"I certainly do."

"Then I dare too."

It was just a drizzle, but the Ferris wheel didn't stop running.

There seemed to be few tourists around, so the two of them easily got into an independent cabin.

Looking at Lin Wanzhou sitting across the table, Xu Cheng asked.

"Won't you come sit over here?"

"I...I don't."

The girl looked out the window curiously.

However, as the altitude increased, she began to become visibly nervous, and Xu Cheng took the initiative to sit next to her. The girl no longer cared about being reserved and buried her head in his arms, clutching the corner of his clothes and not daring to move, for fear that she would fall because of some of her movements.

"Are you still going to sit here even if you are so scared?"

"..."

The girl hid in his arms and did not answer, but asked tremblingly.

"Where are we?"

Seeing her like this, Xu Cheng patted her back gently, as if coaxing a child.

"It's a very high place. I can see our neighborhood."

“Did it reach the highest point?”

"It's almost there, at the highest point...can I do that, Lin Wanzhou?"

"..."

The girl didn't answer.

After just a few seconds, she suddenly raised her head bravely and opened her eyes that had been closed for a long time.

Before my eyes is the darkening night, the dazzling and sparkling light, and the lights of thousands of homes like clusters of flowers.