Exclusive Memory Chapter 9 Part 6

 The next day, it was drizzling, I hurriedly rushed back, took off my shoes, quickly put down my bag, and prepared to go to the living room balcony to dry off halfway, and found that Mu Chenghe was actually at home, standing on the balcony at the moment, with a basin of Junzi Orchid at my feet.

Because it was raining, the air outside was particularly fresh and pleasant.

There is an acacia tree in the yard, which is more than ten meters high, with luxuriant branches and leaves, and stands out in front of a group of low plane trees. It was very close to the building where Mu Chenghe lived, and the branches of the nearest one basically extended to the balcony. There are still drops of water on the leaves at the top of the branches. I saw Mu Chenghe reaching out to catch the water droplet on his fingertips, with a mischievous look on his face, while the other hand was hanging by his side, with a cigarette between his index finger and ring finger.

Mu Chenghe played with the raindrops on the leaves, raised his hand to take a breath of his cigarette, and then saw me.

He froze for a moment.

Instead, I became embarrassed by my voyeurism, and hurriedly said, "You...continue."

He smiled, "How is today?"

"Touched a nose of ash." I unconsciously looked at the cigarette in his hand. (I think she was saying his cigarette ashes were about to fall)

He immediately understood something, walked back to the living room, and extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray of the coffee table. Before, I always thought the ashtray was a decoration.

"I thought you didn't smoke." I have never seen or smelled smoke on him.

"Smoking one or two once in a while. Not in class or work," he smiled sheepishly, "and smoking is bad for your health."

There was nothing left to eat at home at night, we went out to eat together, and met Liu Qi on the way. He was going down from the escalator opposite, while Mu Chenghe and I were going up from the other side. A slender girl was standing next to him on the same step, talking softly to him.

When I saw Liu Qi, he also saw me.

I smiled at him, but he became embarrassed, as if he wanted to stop me, but he had scruples, and in the end no one stopped anyone.

At night Liu Qi called, and I went to the balcony to answer.

"Xiao Tong, I..." Liu Qi stammered.

"I understand."

"What do you understand?"

"We weren't right and we broke up last month."

He sighed, "You know I've been dispatched now, but I don't know if I can be transferred back. Our bureau chief usually takes good care of me. His daughter is our school girl, and she's a very nice person. I..."

"Liu Qi, I'm really not angry." I said.

"Xiao Tong..."

"Is it because of that person that you broke up with me before?" He asked.

I froze.

"It seems that I am still relatively slow, I should have seen it earlier. I always thought I wasn't trying hard enough, so I was waiting for you to really pay attention to me, but... It's too hard." Liu Qi said.

"I'm sorry." I bit my lip.

"I don't have the willpower to wait forever, so..."

Just after hanging up, Song Qiqi's long-distance call came in.

"I heard that you and Teacher Mu are living together." Song Qiqi said with a smirk.

"Bai Lin is such a gossip, she's been sending you information from such a long distance." I said.

"I went on a blind date today."

"Okay, how do you feel?"

"The conditions are okay." Song Qiqi said, "But it's not suitable for me."

"You..." I hesitated to speak.

"It's not because of what happened in the past. I just simply feel that his personality is not suitable for me." Song Qiqi said, "Actually, I think about it now. I used to think that I would never forget him, and I would never be able to love someone else again in this life. But less than a year later, I found that the reality is different from what I imagined."

After chatting with Song Qiqi for a while, I closed my phone and went back to the living room. Mu Chenghe was working at the desk. The room was extremely quiet, and one could hear the sound of his pen brushing across the paper. I sat back on the sofa and recalled Liu Qi’s expression when he said “Because you are cute” to me in the library, but I couldn’t remember it.

If Bai Lin knew, she would definitely scold Liu Qi for being a white-eyed wolf. However, I was wrong first, and I used him first.

I also thought of Song Qiqi and Xiao Zheng, and I remembered Song Qiqi crying and saying to us in the office of the Fourth Education: "I have fallen in love with him since I was seventeen, and he has never lied to me from the beginning to the end."

Probably because my expression was so silly when I thought about this, Mu Chenghe glanced at me, got up and turned on the TV, "You can watch TV." After finishing speaking, he returned to the desk and continued to work on his business.

"Will it affect you?"

"No." He replied without looking up, and then continued to work.

Mu Chenghe was leaning towards the TV, but no matter what program I changed, I never even glanced at it. In the meantime, he frowned deeply, wearing glasses, while fiddling with the 3D graphics on the computer, while concentrating on modifying the data next to him.

"You don't watch TV, what do you watch me do?" He asked.

"Uh..." I brushed my ears and hair in embarrassment, "I didn't find any good shows."

"Do you want to go online?"

"It's not fun to. I'd better continue watching TV." After I finished speaking, I sank my whole body on the sofa, holding the remote control and pressing it back and forth.

After I flipped through more than 70 channels four or five times, he finally couldn't help asking: "Do you have anything else to do tomorrow?"

"No. What's the matter?"

He took off his glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I'll rest tomorrow, and I'll take you out to play."

In the morning, he told me to bring sunscreen, and I realized that he really wanted to teach me how to dive. After driving more than 30 kilometers, we arrived at a shallow bay on the outskirts of City A.

Because it has been raining for the past few days, after the clearing, the sea is boundless and far away.

"The Big Blue," I couldn't wait to take off my shoes, ran to the beach and marveled, then turned around and said to Mu Chenghe, "Have you seen this movie?"

""blue sea, blue sky"?"

"Yes! Every time I see the blue sea, I will think of these four words and the picture inside."

"To know that you are so happy, I would've brought you here earlier." Mu Chenghe followed me and smiled lightly.

"But I'm afraid of water, so I can't swim. Every time I come back to the beach, I step on the water and go back."

"Then let's change something else this time."

There were several cars parked in front of the diving club, and everyone seemed to be very familiar with Mu Chenghe.

"Why are everyone so tanned, but you are the only one who is white?" I asked.

"It means I didn't work as hard as they did."

"I didn't expect you to be quite rebellious in your bones."

"Why?" he asked back after fetching the oxygen tank and diving suit.

"You want to do what the doctor doesn't want you to do. How can you not be rebellious?"

"Who said, I have always been an obedient and good boy since I was a child."

"Never be late, never talk, never miss, finish homework on time every day, and get full marks in the exam?"

"Not...not all," he said.

I gave him a "that's it" look, then took the wetsuit he handed me and went to the locker room to change.

Before going into the water, he repeatedly said: "When wearing diving goggles, the nose will also be pinched. You have to give up your nose and breathe through your mouth."

"For a while, we can't talk after we go down, we can only make gestures." He clasped his four fingers together, with his thumb up, "If you feel uncomfortable, give me this gesture, that is to go up. When the thumb is down, it means that you can continue down."

"I'm always here, don't be afraid, this has nothing to do with swimming, you have oxygen tanks."

After I learned these words by heart, I was still very nervous when I went into the water.

"What if I can't float?" I asked.

"..."

As soon as the water submerges the head, the heartbeat speeds up, the blood circulation speeds up, and then oxygen is needed. I habitually inhaled through my nose, but unfortunately my nose was sealed and I couldn't breathe in anything, so I panicked and began to struggle.

Afterwards, Mu Chenghe lifted me up.

Helplessly, I clung to him, spit out the respirator I was holding in my mouth, breathed in the air above the water, and said discouragedly: "I won't play anymore."

He smiled, "The key is to not be nervous and breathe through your mouth."

After I recovered, I practiced my breathing method a few more times, and then dived down.

This time, it was a success.

At the bottom, he kept grabbing me.

Occasionally, I can see small fish swimming past me slowly. I feel like I've become a fish too. Although this fish is very stupid and can't even swim, it can breathe freely in the water and can clearly see the bottom of the sea.

When I got out of the water, I was very excited and kept telling Mu Chenghe what I saw, what I touched, how my eyes felt, and how my ears felt.

Mu Chenghe smiled silently.

The eldest brother A on the boat said: "Little sister, you will fall in love with this feeling."

Later, we took a boat to a little further sea area.

"Will it feel different?" I asked curiously.

"Well. The water is clearer, there will be more fish, and it's colder than before, so I let you wear a diving suit."

"Can I go down to the bottom?"

"It's best to take your time. If your body can't take it, you must make a gesture to me in time, don't be brave."

"How deep is it here?"

"More than ten meters."

"How deep did I dive just now?"

"Three or four meters."

"..."

"How far can you dive?"

"Usually about 20 meters. I haven't tried it at most. I'll try it next time."

"You... don't try it yet."

"Are you afraid that if I go down, I won't be able to get up?" He smiled.

"A little bit." I confessed honestly.

The sea is very blue, except for the slightly wrinkled waves, it looks very quiet. The land is not far from us, and there is deep sea water under our feet. Looking around, we can see the fishing boats at the end of the sea level...

We go in the water first, and then they put the oxygen tanks down.

Mu Chenghe took me by the hand, raised the corner of his mouth and said to me: "Little girl, welcome to visit the heart of the sea."

I was exhausted, so I had to go to the boat to rest after a while, then continued to apply sunscreen, and said to Mu Chenghe, "Do you want to put on some? You'll get tanned."

The eldest brother A on the boat said: "A man is more sexy if he is darker." Then he wrinkled his dark face and smiled, showing two rows of big white teeth.

The eldest brother B on the boat said to me: "You don't know, Mu Chenghe can't get tanned."

I turned my head and asked him, "Are you really not tanned?"

"Don't listen to them telling you nonsense, how can you not get a tan."

It wasn't until lunch time that I realized that it wasn't that he couldn't get tanned, but that no matter how tanned he was, his skin would turn white as soon as he shed his skin.

"You must be a snake." I concluded.

"Then you are probably a crab," he said.

"Why?"

"When I taught you how to drive, the twenty-meter-wide road was not enough for you to drive alone."

"..."

In the afternoon, we went to the small island on the other side. There is a natural bathing place on the island. It is the peak tourist season at the moment, and many tourists come here by boat. It took us just over half an hour to walk around the island. And I found that apart from public toilets and docks, the only building on the island is a building that looks like a boat.

"What is this thing?"

"A hotel."

"Hotel? Will someone come to live here?"

"Well, it's said that it's always full. And we're staying here tonight."

"Aren't we going back?"

"It's too late, the boat will be gone in a while." After finishing speaking, Mu Chenghe asked back, "You want to go back?"

My head shook like a rattle in a hurry, how could it be possible.

Mu Chenghe lives next door to me, and all the rooms in the hotel can see the sea. Downstairs is a freshwater swimming pool. Children are playing in the pool. The laughter and children's voices are mixed together, which sounds very pleasant.

The big sandy beach that serves as a bathing place during the day is another scene when the sun sets.

Most of the tourists who came to travel have left the island, and the rest are hotel guests. There was a seafood stall on the side of the road, and a stage was actually , with a projection screen standing on it, illuminating the lights. There is a band playing above, and the lead singer is screaming at the sea with a microphone.

Some people sat down and drank.

Some people simply called food stalls and put them under the stage to eat.

Only now did I know that there were really many people staying in the store.

After I ate something, I ran to the forefront of the beach and shouted to watch the sunset. Unexpectedly, the direction was wrong, so I chased the sunset and ran around the island again.

"I can't see it." Mu Chenghe smiled.

"I'm sure you can see it on the other side of the island." I was not convinced, but I didn't have the time to reason with him, because I was afraid that the sun would disappear in a few minutes. So I took off my slippers and said without looking back, "Help me hold the shoes, I'll go after them."

Mu Chenghe was left alone to follow slowly.

When I was panting and running to the westernmost end of the island, I suddenly understood that what Mu Chenghe said was the truth.

Outside the beach is the sea, and on the other side of the sea is the land we came by boat.

The orange sun was slowly sinking to the other side of the mountain.

I never thought that the entire coastline is on the east side of the continental shelf, so it is generally impossible to see the sunset sinking into the sea.

I'm depressed.

Then, seeing him swaying along with a triumphant smile on his face, I felt even more depressed.

I walked back, took my slippers from him, and suddenly felt like a puppy, and he was the one who threw the frisbee. I huffed and went to pick up the Frisbee, and he watched me from behind.

"Next time we go to an island farther from the mainland, I guess you won't be disappointed." Mu Chenghe said.

We went back to the place just now to grill and eat.

The roasted corn is golden yellow, and according to my strong request, people densely dipped a lot of peppers on it. I took my first bite and was hooked.

"It's delicious. I haven't found that it's so delicious when baked."

I ate two or three mouthfuls, and found Mu Chenghe was staring at me, so I pointed to the corn and asked, "Do you want to try it?"

Mu Chenghe smiled and waved his hands, "It's so spicy, how can I eat it."

Then, I happily handed over the food to Mu Chenghe for safekeeping, and went to the beach to tread water.

A wave hit, and the slippers beside me were dragged down by the water. I screamed and chased the waves, and managed to snatch the slippers back and put them away neatly. After a while, it was found that they were sadly taken away by the waves again.

After repeating this several times, I had had enough, sat down next to Mu Chenghe, took the corn and started to eat it again.

When I turned my attention to the sea, I suddenly found that it was completely dark.

At the end of the sea, there are some little lights, ups and downs, as if the night pearls in a string were placed on the sea and floated with the waves.

"What are those lights? Fishing boats?" I asked.

"Seems to be."

The sea breeze blows away the heat and brings coolness.

The waves beat on the beach again and again, gradually getting closer to us.

"It's high tide," I said.

"Yeah," he said.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I'm thinking," Mu Chenghe said, "if I smoke a cigarette now, it will definitely feel good."

"..."

"I really don't want to go back, I'll just sleep here at night." I put down my body and casually lay on my back on the beach, regardless of whether the fine sand would get on my hair or leak into my clothes.

Countless stars hang in the deep night sky.

"It's more comfortable that way," I said.

He looked up at the sky, followed my advice and lay down together.

"I only know the Big Dipper, and I don't understand the rest of the stars." I said.

"What is your zodiac sign?" Mu Chenghe asked.

"Scorpio."

"That's lucky, Scorpio is the brightest constellation in summer."

"Can I see it now?" I became interested.

"That very bright star is one of the constellation Scorpio." Mu Chenghe raised his finger to the night sky.

Through the moonlight, I saw a scar on the outside of his arm, about an inch long. In summer, it was covered by short sleeves, so I didn't notice it until now, when he stretched out his hand while lying down, the sleeves slid down, revealing a part of it.

"Huh? How did you get it? ”

"Knife wound."

"Knife wound?" I'm digesting the word in my head.

"Cut by someone." He said.

I widened my eyes and turned to look at him, "Impossible?" How, how is it possible.

"I'm not going to lie to you. When I was studying in Russia, in the passage of the subway station, three or four children were only in their teens and attacked me. The first time I stabbed me, I blocked it with my arm."

"Why?"

"There are some groups in the local area, especially in big cities. They hate..." He hesitated for a while, obviously choosing his words carefully, "Hate foreigners, so they attack single foreigners traveling in remote places. I stayed with your teacher Chen, and he was very ill that day, and I passed by in the middle of the night to buy medicine for him.”

"And after?"

"It happened that the police came, and they dispersed."

"It's so dangerous, but I've never heard you say that they are bad." I couldn't help but stretch out my index finger and stroke the long and narrow scar on his skin.

"I didn't say how good they are." He smiled, "The evaluation of things should be from an objective standpoint. And it is impossible for a person to gain knowledge and valuable life experience somewhere, but be full of complaints and disdain."

I took a bite of the corn cob in my hand, and suddenly remembered something, and showed him my elbow joint, "I also have a big scar here."

Hearing this, he moved his head closer.

"When I was young, my father was a worker in a factory, and my mother took me to live in the countryside. She bought a bicycle to take me to kindergarten so that it was convenient for her to learn. There is a ditch in front of our house, which is so wide," I gestured a little more than a foot away, "I sat in the back seat. The first time she drove me home, it was raining. When I was about to reach the ditch, my mother said: 'Tongtong, I think we can ride without getting out of the road. I have to pass this car. I didn't understand anything, I just hugged her waist and nodded in a daze. Finally..."

"In the end she rode over, but you didn't?" Mu Chenghe asked.

"Yes, yes, how do you know?" I couldn't help giggling alone.

Mu Chenghe looked at me with interest.

He was exposed to ultraviolet rays during the day, and now the skin on the bridge of his nose and cheeks began to turn slightly red.

Suddenly, I found that our posture was quite ambiguous.

A man and a woman lay on the beach on their backs. There was a little distance between them, but we were so involved in the chat that we got together unconsciously. I hurriedly sat up, and in order to hide my embarrassment, I handed him the corn in my hand.

"I haven't eaten that side, you can try it."

But I didn't realize my action to just lift up my arm drew up all the fine sand. The sea breeze blew it into his face.

"The sand is blowing into my eyes." He blinked, probably still feeling uncomfortable, and stretched out his hand to rub it.

Don't rub it yourself. Show me." I threw away the corn in my hand and lowered my head to look at eyes.

Through the starlight, I saw some sand on the base of his eyelashes, so I put my hands on the ground and blew into his eyes. After observing, they still haven't disappeared, so I blew hard again twice. Finally, he said contentedly, "Okay."

First, his eyelashes trembled, and then a pair of eyes appeared under the eyelids, which were reflected by the night, making them appear crystal clear and bright. His eyes flicked over my eyebrows, nose, and finally lingered on my lips.

I suddenly had an ominous premonition, "What's wrong? Can you hear me..."

Suddenly, he covered the back of my head with his hands and pressed my face close to his. This sudden movement robbed me of half a sentence I hadn't spoken yet.

I was startled suddenly, so I had no choice but to lie on his chest, and the broken hair tucked behind my ear also slipped down.

He lifted his head slightly and kissed me. The first time seemed to be a test, he only carefully pecked the corner of my lips.

I was caught off guard, with my mouth open, stunned, my mind was frozen instantly like a DVD player that had been paused. Not to mention thoughts, even the heartbeat disappeared.

Mu Chenghe stared at me with turmoil in his eyes, and then, slowly, with his face sideways, he kissed me again.

The last sound in my head was him murmuring to me, "You can close your eyes."

The sea breeze is blowing gently, and the stars are shining brightly.

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