Like me, he can speak Mandarin, has no father or mother, and lives with his grandmother. However, he has no parents, not because his parents divorced, but because his father died. At a certain time, I thought very radically, I would rather be like him, at least when I think about it, my father had to leave me, rather than take the initiative to abandon me.

Like me, he is a man who will retaliate, but maybe because he is a boy, maybe because he has no experience in living with his stepfather and stepmother, his counterattacks are all aboveboard, unlike me, who always betray. He is very good at fighting, and one person can beat three senior boys who bully him. No matter what you scold him, he will beat you to convince him anyway, and he uses pure power to make everyone dare not provoke him again.

Li Datou is three grades older than me. Although they both live on Mazu Street, they can often see each other when they go to school and after school, but there is no gathering at all. Until one time, when I was surrounded by my classmates in the woods of the school, Bī asked me, "Did your mother run away with the wild man?" Li Datou suddenly appeared, rudely chased everyone away, and warned them not to provoke them again. Me, or he sees and hits once.

Since then, I have followed Li Datou. Gradually, we learned the Hokkien dialect, and we also spoke a little Li language, and integrated into the island life. Later, he became good friends with the real native Jiang Yisheng on the same street.

The three of them played together for more than three years, and they were so good that they almost wore the same pair of pants. It was not until I received Li Datou's qíng book when I was thirteen that I suddenly realized that I was a girl and he was a boy. Facing Li Datou's crooked words "I like you", I was completely stupid and didn't know how to reply.

When I was struggling with how to reply to the first qíng book in my life, Li Datou’s grandmother died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. His mother came back to pick him up and left in such a hurry that he didn’t even have time to say goodbye to us. The qíng book was naturally There is no need to reply.

I heard from neighbors gossip that his mother was lucky and married a wealthy man. She was an overseas Chinese from Nanyang. She was very kind to her, but she never had children. This time Li Datou passed by, as long as he was liked by his stepfather, he would definitely enjoy it.

With the passage of time, Li Datou gradually faded away in my memory, but because he accompanied me through the most difficult three years of my life, and the qíng book that I never responded to, he became increasingly blurred in me. A corner has always been firmly occupied in my memory.

Jiang Yisheng gave me a push, "Why are you in a daze? Do you remember?"

I came back to my senses, and my heart was full of mixed feelings for a while, and even a little embarrassed that I couldn't tell the truth, I smiled reluctantly, "How can I forget my friends who have played together for more than three years? Come in and sit! "

I was busy moving rattan tables and rattan chairs, and beckoned them to sit. Jiang Yisheng told me not to be fussy, but I turned a deaf ear, ran into the kitchen and cut up the remaining half of the watermelon, and when the slices of watermelon were neatly stacked in the fruit bowl, my heart really calmed down.

I walked out of the kitchen with a fruit bowl and a fruit fork, and saw Wu Julan, Jiang Yisheng, and Zhou Buwen sitting together, chatting with each other. Wu Julan introduced himself with a smile and said, "My name is Wu Julan, I'm Xiaoluo's cousin, and I just came to the island yesterday afternoon."

I staggered under my feet and almost smashed the fruit plate on Wu Julan's head. Wu Julan, however, seemed to have anticipated it long ago, and firmly supported me with one hand, took the fruit bowl with the other, put it on the rattan table, smiled at me and said, "Xiaoluo has always been independent and good-natured, and doesn't like to trouble people in everything. But the more she is like this, the more worried I feel, anyway, I am free to work, so Xing came to accompany her for a while."

Zhou Buwen asked, "What does Mr. Wu do?"

"Programmers, commonly known as coders, we do this kind of work the same everywhere, as long as we work on time according to customer requirements."

Are you still a programmer? Who poked and pinched at the computer this morning? I stared at Wu Julan.

Wu Julan glanced at me with a smile, dragged me to sit on the rattan chair beside him, and said to Zhou Buwen very politely and kindly, "Just call me Wu Julan, otherwise I will have to call you Mr. Zhou too. ."

Jiang Yisheng complained half-truth: "Xiaoluo, you never told me that you have such an excellent cousin."

I laughed and said, "Everyone eat watermelon." I never knew that I had a cousin, but he explained his appearance very reasonably, and he entered the house and moved into my house without causing me any trouble. I decided to take back the evaluation of him as "upright and not lying". It's not that he doesn't know how to lie, but that he is too smart, so he doesn't even bother to tell innocuous lies.

Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen seemed to be reluctant to talk about my cousin, and they both knew that my relationship with my mother was awkward, so they didn't talk about it more interestingly.

Zhou Buwen pointed to the beautiful girl beside him and said, "Xiaoluo, let me introduce you. Zhou Buyan, my cousin."

I smiled and said, "Hello, I'm Shen Luo. I used to be Zhou Buwen's neighbor and good friend."

Zhou Buyan smiled sweetly and said, "Hello, Sister Shen, I often hear my brother talk about you, but I've always wanted to see you!"

I thought she had something to say, but I couldn't tell what it meant, so I could only smile politely.

Zhou Buwen apologized to me: "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I knew it was you, but I pretended not to know it at all."

I said, "I understand, you're doing it for my own good." With her stepmother's temper, if she knew that I was acquainted with the attorney handling the estate, she would definitely suspect that the will was a forgery.

Jiang Yisheng said: "Stop chatting, let's talk about what you want to eat at night!"

Zhou Buwen and Jiang Yisheng were discussing where to eat. I ran outside for a day today, I was very tired, and I wasn't in such high spirits.

Zhou Buwen said with a smile: "It's a lot of trouble to run around. We focus on getting together with old friends. It doesn't matter what you eat, or you can order takeout."

I also wanted to be polite. Jiang Yisheng glanced at me and said, "It just so happens that I'm too lazy to run away, so let me call you!" He is a somewhat reputable attending doctor on the island, and he is willing to give him face, not to mention sending him away. A take-out shop is a shop that doesn't deliver take-out. If he makes a phone call, he will also deliver the items.

Jiang Yisheng asked about the foods that everyone should avoid, and called for takeout.

More than half an hour later, a guy riding a battery car brought the takeaway, and Jiang Yisheng called for a barbecue. Two large plastic boxes, one with all kinds of barbecues, are tightly wrapped with double-layer aluminum foil, which is clean and warm. When the aluminum foil is opened, it is still steaming; Chilled drinks and beverages.

I looked at the grilled fish, grilled shrimp, grilled oysters, grilled mushrooms, grilled corn on the table... More than 20 kinds of grills were dazzling. This barbecue restaurant is famous on the island because of its fresh ingredients and good taste. There are long queues every night, not to mention takeaways, and they don’t even accept reservations. He bowed his hands to Jiang Yisheng in admiration.

Jiang Yisheng turned to customers and greeted everyone with a smile, "Eat it while it's hot. If it's not enough, we'll call again. The delivery time is about the same as the waiting time in the store."

Several people took beers and clinked glasses to celebrate the reunion of old friends after many years. After a glass of beer, the atmosphere warmed up a bit.

Zhou Buwen handed me a bunch of grilled squid, "You liked to eat this when you were a child, and I don't know if you still like it now?"

I took it over with a smile, "I still like it." I ate a bowl of rice noodles outside at noon. I was really hungry, and it was something I liked, so I immediately took a big bite.

While I was eating with satisfaction, I looked at Wu Julan. I was worried that he would not be used to it again. I didn’t expect that after he took a bite of the grilled fish, he smiled at me and took a second bite, showing that he also likes this restaurant. food.

At the same time as I felt relieved, I sighed inwardly, it seemed that my own craftsmanship was indeed poor.

Both Wu Julan and Zhou Buyan knew that they were just accompanying guests tonight and had been eating quietly.

I have not been a good talker since I was a child, and I didn't speak much. I have always listened to Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen. From their chats, I got a general idea of ​​Zhou Buwen's situation - he first went to Malaysia with his mother and father. After graduating from high school, he went to study in the United States. Now he lives in Fuzhou and works in a well-known law firm. Work, parents are healthy, no girlfriend.

From his description, I can feel that his stepfather treats him very well, so he calls him "Dad" affectionately. If it wasn't for an old friend who knew the details, he would definitely think it was his biological father.

Jiang Yisheng and I are both smart people. Regardless of whether Zhou Buwen minds or not, we deliberately avoided the past, and did not ask when he changed his name. Even when we were young, we omitted the surname of "Li" and just called him "" Big Head", as if he had always called Zhou Buwen.

When Jiang Yisheng and Zhou Buwen finished talking about their own affairs, and talked about me worriedly, I realized later that they are both social elites, and they have everything except one girlfriend. In comparison, I was the most miserable one. In Beijing, which is full of talented people, my qualifications were mediocre, and I had a very ordinary job. Now I don’t even have this job, and I am unemployed.

Zhou Buwen asked concernedly, "What are your plans? Are you planning to go back to Beijing to work?"

I said, "I'm not used to living in Beijing, and I don't want to go back to Beijing anymore."

Zhou Buwen said: "You can think about Fuzhou. If you want to find a job, I can help."

Zhou Buyan smiled and said, "My brother is usually a fool, but he speaks so conservatively to Sister Shen. Sister Shen, don't listen to my brother's modesty, he will definitely be able to help you get a good job, at least, the uncle is here There are companies in Fuzhou, and they definitely need finance.”

Before I spoke, Jiang Yisheng had already thought about it seriously, "Fuzhou is pretty good, it's not too far, and the food and climate are similar. But, Xiaoluo, you're gone, what should I do with this old house? No one lives in the house, it won't be long. It's desolate."

Zhou Buyan said, "Sister Shen, I happen to have something I want to discuss with you."

I asked in confusion, "What's the matter?"

Zhou Buyan bit his lip and said, "I've been wandering around the island for the past two days and found that the old houses here are very interesting. I like it very much here, and I also like these old stone houses. I wanted to buy one. But after talking with the owner of the inn, I realized that the old house here is not a commercial house. The government does not allow it to buy and sell, and foreigners can only rent it for a long time. The owner of our inn is a long-term lease with a 20-year lease. I just left. When I came in, I liked this house very much, since my sister is going to work in another place, and the house is empty, it is better to rent it to me for a long time, and I am willing to pay 100,000 rent a year."

I was a little surprised to hear the rent of 100,000. As far as I know, even those old houses with excellent location and sea view can only rent seven or eight thousand a year. No matter if Zhou Buyan has money and nowhere to spend, or because of Zhou Buwen's face, he is very sincere. I smiled and said, "Thank you for liking the house, but I have no current plans to rent it out."

Zhou Buyan glanced at Zhou Buwen, and said with a little pleading: "Sister Shen is afraid that I will damage the house? Sister Shen, don't worry, I don't plan to rent it for business, I just come here to live a few times a year. Month, at most, rearrange it, and it will never change the layout.”

Zhou Buwen said: "Buyan started painting in elementary school, and now she designs jewelry. She likes old houses, old furniture, and old jewelry very much. She cherishes these old things very much. If you rent them to her, you can really rest assured. "

Jiang Yisheng was obviously moved, and also persuaded: "Xiaoluo, old houses need popularity, and they will deteriorate faster if they are empty. Anyway, if you want to go out to work, it will be empty if you are empty, so why not rent it! The big deal is to sign a shorter lease agreement. , Anyway, we are friends, everything can be discussed."