Chapter 4 Thank You Dad

"Dududu-"

The horn of the car behind made Kang Zhuo return to his senses, and the signal light had turned green at some point.

Kang Zhuo's father, Kang Shicheng, works in the city hall and cannot be said to be a high-ranking person, but he is often seen on TV news, much more often than Kang Zhuo sees him at home.

Kang Zhuo's mother left early, and his father didn't come home often. The closest elder turned out to be Quan Xiao, who had no blood relationship with him. She was a close friend of Kang Zhuo's mother. As her own child, if Yin Dongfan has something, she will prepare a copy for Kang Zhuo, even better than the one for Yin Dongfan.

So even if it sounds unbelievable, the truth is that Kang Zhuo doesn't know how to get along with his father, and he and Kang Shicheng will feel as awkward as being with a stranger.

Turning a corner ahead, he was almost at the door, but he would pass Quan Huachen's house before arriving home, so Kang Zhuo had to experience the embarrassment of that night again in his memories.

Kang Zhuo remembered that Quan Huachen didn't live here before. In the past so many years, the next door was extremely desolate, and even the flowerbed at the door was two pieces of wasteland.

Thinking of this, Kang Zhuo slowed down and opened the window to look over.

No wonder he would admit his mistake, because the flowerbed that used to be a wasteland was planted with flowers and plants at some point, and Kang Zhuo mistaken them for his own lawn in a state of confusion that night.

Before the sky was completely dark, Kang Zhuo carefully observed the flowers in the flowerbed.

But there is a flower that is different. It is kept in a delicate flower pot and placed on the open windowsill. It looks like it has been taken care of by the owner.

The distance was a bit far, Kang Zhuo was not sure what kind of flower it was, but only saw the white petals clustered tightly together on top of the green leaves.

Kang Zhuo stepped on the brakes and wanted to check the flower species carefully, but suddenly saw a figure in the house walking towards the window.

As expected, Kang Zhuo rushed all the way to the end of the driveway, 108,000 miles away from the door of his house, and had to turn around.

When Kang Zhuo got home, he saw Aunt Zhu cleaning the dust on the coffee table with a duster.

"Wish Auntie."

Aunt Zhu has not worked at Kang Zhuo's house for a few years, and is only responsible for cooking and cleaning, but because there is often no one at home, if Kang Zhuo and Kang Shicheng are going home for dinner, she will be notified in advance.

"Xiaozhuo is back." Aunt Zhu smiled at him. "You can eat when you come back. Your father is upstairs. I'll call him?"

Kang Zhuo shook his head: "I'll call."

Going up to the second floor, Kang Zhuo knocked on the door in the study. After receiving a response, he opened the door and saw Kang Shicheng looking down at the document at the table.

"Dad, I'm back, come down for dinner?"

Kang Shicheng didn't look up: "Well, you go first, I'll come right away."

"Okay." Kang Zhuo went downstairs, thinking about what Kang Shicheng was going to tell him. Generally speaking, it's not a good thing. The last time Kang Shicheng said he had something to talk about, he was going to be transferred. In two years of working in other provinces, Kang Zhuo has only seen him five times in total.

Downstairs, Aunt Zhu started serving dishes on the table, and Kang Zhuo went over to set the dishes.

"Are you two going to eat at home tomorrow?" Aunt Zhu asked.

Kang Zhuo will defend tomorrow. Although he is the first in the morning, all students must be present until the last student in the afternoon.

"Tomorrow I have to defend, I won't be back at noon, my father's words..." Kang Zhuo paused for two seconds.

If Kang Zhuo is not at home, Kang Shicheng will probably not go home for dinner. He always has work to do, and tomorrow is a working day.

"Let me ask him." Kang Zhuo replied.

A few minutes later, Kang Shicheng came downstairs, walked to the dining table, and sat down opposite Kang Zhuo.

He changed into home clothes and was a little more relaxed than he looked on TV, but his stern face still looked serious.

The two ate for a while without saying a word, and then Kang Shicheng opened his mouth.

"It's the end of the term, are you going to take the exam?"

Kang Zhuo raised his head from his job, his gray-toned eyes flickered: "Dad, I'm graduating in my senior year this year, and there are no final exams."

Kang Shicheng paused for a while and asked again, "Have you found a job yet?"

"I'm a graduate student, and I'll be studying at A University in the future." Kang Zhuo buried his head in the rice.

Kang Shicheng didn't speak any more. After a while, he gave Kang Zhuo a piece of braised pork: "Don't just eat rice, eat some vegetables."

"Thank you dad."

Kang Zhuo stuffed the piece of braised pork into his mouth, he felt that Kang Shicheng was still looking at him, thinking that he was probably about to start talking about that.

"Study is one aspect, but interpersonal relationships are also another aspect." Kang Shicheng's right chopstick was still dipped in the brown sauce of braised pork, his tone changed, "Do you know that your Uncle Yin has come to find me here. ."

Kang Zhuo raised his head sharply.

"If you want to fall in love with Dongfan, just have a good talk. Don't make troubles all over the city with just a little thing. You are one year older than Dongfan. He is ignorant, so are you ignorant?" Kang Shicheng looked serious, with a hint of The majesty of a high-ranking person who issues orders in the officialdom all year round.

Kang Zhuo felt that the piece of braised pork was stuck in the center of his esophagus, and he couldn't get up and down, which made him very uncomfortable.

"I didn't mess with him."

"Then why didn't you answer the phone? Dongfan said that he made hundreds of calls, waited at our door for three days, and went to your school for another day, but he couldn't find you. What kind of conflict do you have with him? Would you like to have a good talk? You want Uncle Yin to come to me with a face."

Kang Zhuo looked down at the half bowl of rice left in the bowl, and said after a while, "I'm sorry Dad, I was wrong."

"Let's eat." Kang Shicheng took another piece of braised pork and put it in the bowl of Kangzhuo, meaning that the matter was over, "How much money do you have in Cary? Is there enough living expenses?"

"Enough, there's a lot left." Kang Zhuo didn't want to be choked anymore, he chewed the piece of meat in small bites, "And I still have a scholarship, you don't have to worry about me."

Kang Shicheng said "um" and stopped talking. The father and son finished their dinner quietly.

After the meal, Kang Zhuo helped Aunt Zhu send the dishes into the kitchen. Kang Shicheng was going to go back to the study to read the documents. Kang Zhuo's out-of-the-way vision caught him going upstairs, and immediately ran out of the kitchen and stopped him.

"Dad, are you free these two days?"

Kang Shicheng looked back at him from the stairs, thought about it, and said, "Isn't your mother's death a few weeks away? I'm going to the grassroots tomorrow, and I've been very busy recently. I'll wait until that day... I'll talk about that day."

Kang Zhuo stood still, looking up at him from under the stairs.

Kang Shicheng had already raised one foot and walked upstairs. He was stopped by his eyes and asked, "Is there enough money? I'll call you again if it's not enough."

"Enough." Kang Zhuo looked down at him.

"That's good."

The sound of footsteps resounded on the wooden stairs, Kang Zhuo stood in the empty living room and said softly:

"Thank you dad."

Kang Zhuo revised the speech for the second day's defense last night and slept very late, but when he woke up in the morning, he didn't feel too sleepy, he was more nervous and excited.

When he went downstairs, he felt that he got up early. He didn't expect Kang Shicheng to go out. Aunt Zhu came out of the kitchen and said, "Xiaozhuo woke up? Your father just left, what do you want to eat in the morning? I'll make it for you."

Kang Zhuo wanted to go to the defense room early to prepare, so he just took a steamed bun and a bottle of milk and left. It was less than 7:00, and the morning rush hour had not yet begun. Kang Zhuo arrived at the school at 7:30, and there was still half an hour before the defense began.

It didn't take long for Kang Zhuo's classmates to arrive one after another, and when they passed by Kang Zhuo, everyone patted him on the shoulder to show sympathy and encouragement.

Kang Zhuo wasn't too worried at first, but he couldn't stand everyone showing him a "well going" look. Chu Weilin, who was sitting next to him, kept discussing the tragic experiences of previous defense students with the classmates in the back seat, which caused Kang Zhuo to go blank when he came to power and almost said the title of his thesis wrong.

There were four teachers sitting under the podium. Three were from our school. Kang Zhuo had taken their classes. There was also an unfamiliar teacher from another school, a chubby old professor with a Mediterranean hairstyle.

The teachers looked at each other and smiled when Kang Zhuo said that the title of the thesis was a bit stuttering. The professor at the foreign school asked Kang Zhuo while he was flipping through the PPT: "Classmate, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Eat." Kang Zhuo's throat was a little dry. He guessed that the teacher probably thought that his face was not good. In fact, he felt a little cold, and the air-conditioning in the defense room was too much.

"I probably didn't eat much, right? I'll eat some more after the meeting is over." The old professor smiled, "It's alright, don't be afraid, speak up."

"Thank you, Professor." Kang Zhuo felt better, smiled back at him, and took a deep breath: "Teachers, the topic of my thesis is..."

An hour later, Kang Zhuo sat in the dessert shop opposite the school, staring at the traffic outside the shop in a daze.

Kang Zhuo can't leave for too long, and he has to go back later, but Kang Zhuo was a little excited after a tough fight just now. So after the defense, he sent a message to Yin Dongfan, and Yin Dongfan replied almost in seconds, saying that he would come to see him soon.

Kang Zhuo began to review the defense just now in his mind again, reflecting on what he did not say well and what he did well.

Unexpectedly, the defense teacher did not embarrass Kang Zhuo, and let him down in less than 20 minutes. This is not exclusive to Kang Zhuo. The second classmate who went up was also asked questions gently by the teachers and graciously suggested revisions. The classmate was so flattered that he almost stumbled when he came down from the podium.

No one thought that these teachers would not follow the routine today. The students sitting in the back row of the defense room seemed to see the dawn in the doomsday. Everyone felt that they were lucky today, and some people immediately took out their mobile phones and bought a lottery ticket...

"Kang Zhuo."

Kang Zhuo came back to his senses and saw Yin Dongfan sitting opposite him with a metal chain on. Yin Dongfan bought two cups of milk tea and pushed one of them into the straw to Kang Zhuo.

"What are you looking at so fascinated by? It's really hot today." Yin Dongfan just rushed over from the outside and was sweating. block muscle.

"I didn't watch anything, I was thinking about the defense just now." Kang Zhuo lowered his head and took a small sip of milk tea, and the cold, sweet liquid rushed into his mouth.

"You study so well, a junior graduation defense must not be difficult for you." Yin Dongfan held the milk tea and looked at Kang Zhuo a little bit, "Kang Zhuo, I apologize to you, what happened that day was a misunderstanding, I lost my fist at that time. , want to eat a cookie with Su Yunxiang, we are not kissing..."

That night, Yin Dongfan's proud smile flashed before his eyes, and Kang Zhuo frowned: "Do you often play this kind of game?"

Yin Dongfan immediately denied: "No, no, it was the first time that day. Everyone did well in the test, so it was a little bit better. I really have nothing to do with him!"

Kang Zhuo took another sip of milk tea and ignored him. Yin Dongfan stood up and sat on the chair beside him, and released his alpha pheromone against him.

"Kang Zhuo, brother, don't be angry, forgive me, I promise I will never play such vulgar games again, okay?"

Yin Dongfan's pheromone is rum, with a sweetness in the spice, mixed with the hot body temperature of the young alpha, aggressively approaching Kang Zhuo.

This is Yin Dongfan's specialty. Since he was a child, as long as he makes Kang Zhuo unhappy, he will use this method to cheat. After he differentiates into alpha, he will use pheromones to act like a spoiled child. Their pheromone matching rate has reached nearly 93%. Kang Zhuo It's hard to refuse, Yin Dongfan succeeds every time.

"Brother, I know I'm wrong, please forgive me once, you know I only like you, I beg you."

Even though Kang Zhuo was still angry, the pheromone that alpha showed weakness made him want to compromise.

"Brother, what are you talking about, if you're not really angry, you can scold me or hit me." Yin Dongfan took Kang Zhuo's hand and hit him, but he didn't expect a piece of ice to stick to his palm, "You Why are your hands so cold? Let me give you a cover."

Yin Dongfan's hands are so big that he can hold a basketball with one hand, so he can easily wrap Kang Zhuo's two hands completely. His palms are hot, like an oven. Warm up.

Kang Zhuo turned his head to look at Yin Dongfan, and saw that he was staring at him, holding his hands in both hands, begging all over his face, with a pitiful look.

Originally, Kang Zhuo wanted to ask him, do you know how much I looked forward to that day? I made a lot of preparations with my heart and wanted to surprise you.

But he thought about it, what if Yin Dongfan knew it now, it was nothing more than a few more apologies, and Kang Zhuo would not do those things to him a second time.

The surrounding air was filled with the smell of rum, and the scalding heat was transmitted from the skin on the back of the hand to the whole body along the nerves, and Kang Zhuo didn't feel cold anymore.

"Forget it." Kang Zhuo sighed deeply, "Don't do it again."

Yin Dongfan hugged Kang Zhuo with a "wow": "Brother is so nice!"

The other customers in the store came to look.

"Don't be like this, sit down!" Kang Zhuo pushed him away, the tips of his ears flushed.

Yin Dongfan opened him up, but still held his hand and stuck to him with a smile: "Kang Zhuo, when can you meet with your friends, if you know them, you won't misunderstand them, although they sometimes It's unreliable, but the people are very nice."

"Let's talk about it later."

"Don't, haven't you finished your defense today? Su Yunxiang used their private plane to take us to the island to play, live in a villa with a sea view, and race on the coastal road. It's very interesting, you can come with us!" Yin Dongfan looked forward to it. Looking at Kang Zhuo, his eyes lit up.

Kang Zhuo hesitated for a moment: "When?"

"Let's go after lunch tomorrow at noon."

"Leave tomorrow?" Kang Zhuo was stunned for a moment, "No, there is still something to do at school, so I can't go."

"Why is there anything else? You clearly promised me before the college entrance examination, saying that you would accompany me throughout the summer vacation after graduation. Now that the defense is over, you still say that there is something else, you don't love me anymore!" Yin Dongfan began to cheat again.

"Don't make trouble, something really happened." Kang Zhuo thought about it for a while and came up with a compromise solution, "Well, when you come back from the island, how about I invite your friends to dinner?"

"That's what you said."

Yin Dongfan sent Kang Zhuo to the door of the teaching building, whistled and left happily.

Kang Zhuo slipped quietly to answer the debate room. The moment he sat down, he suddenly realized that something was wrong. It was obviously Yin Dongfan who came to apologize, but why did he finally coax Yin Dongfan again?

Kang Zhuo was frustrated, and Chu Weilin next to him poked him and whispered: "Where have you been? It's been so long since you came back, and you didn't see my heroic appearance just now. Just ten minutes ago, I was alone with the Confucian scholars! Then! Many academics have been defeated by my grand debate."

"Is it 'sophistry'?" Kang Zhuo was speechless, thinking that the teacher's temper was really good today.

Today's defense teacher's temper is really good.

Everyone thought this way, until the defense began in the afternoon, the atmosphere changed suddenly, the four teachers seemed to swallow 100,000 tons of gunpowder at noon, and in the afternoon a total of twelve defense students were sprayed to pieces, and no one survived.

But it's over anyway.

When everyone walked out of the defense room, looking at the sunset outside the window, they couldn't help feeling emotional.

For some people, graduation from senior year is the end of the whole carefree youth. Many people will go back to work immediately after the defense, and may never go back to school in the future.

Chu Weilin grabbed Kang Zhuo's shoulder and walked out of the teaching building. All the way, he complained about how terrible the afternoon defense teacher was. Kang Zhuo agreed casually. Well, the day after tomorrow is the graduation ceremony, we can have fun all night long."

Chu Weilin was also admitted to the postgraduate study of University A, with the same major as Kang Zhuo. They are still classmates when they start school next semester, and Kang Zhuo and his "bad relationship" have to continue for another three years.

Kang Zhuo pretended to be disgusted: "Who wants to play with you all night, don't stay."

Chu Weilin: "Then I invite you to talk about CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and pheromone receptor blocking all night?"

Kang Zhuo: "Then you can think about it."

Chu Weilin pushed him away: "Goodbye."

Kang Zhuo left.

"You're really gone, you heartless man?!" Chu Weilin chased after Kang Zhuo, catching him and beating him violently.

they are

campus

Laughing and playing on the boulevard, Kang Zhuo almost bumped into passers-by, and Kang Zhuo noticed the academic uniforms on them.

The graduation ceremony time of each college of University A is different. Today, there are already other colleges holding graduation ceremonies. Along the way, students wearing bachelor's uniforms gathered to take pictures. There were more people on the playground, and there were laughter and laughter everywhere.

Chu Weilin and Kang Zhuo stood and watched for a while.

"Don't be envious, we'll shoot the day after tomorrow." Chu Weilin touched Kang Zhuo's head, he was a little taller than Kang Zhuo, only one or two centimeters, but he always liked to show himself taller in this way.

Kang Zhuo would resist in the past, but this time he didn't. He asked Chu Weilin, "Are your parents coming to the graduation ceremony?"

Chu Weilin: "Come on, come here, they came here on purpose. My dad didn't want to come, but he was dragged by my mom, hehe."

Kang Zhuo: "Oh..."