The entire classroom was quiet for a moment, and they all turned to look at the seat next to the window.
Jiang Xun was lying on the table catching up on his sleep when he was woken up by an elbow from Duan Qizhao. He frowned and raised his head. Before he could get angry, he saw the clerk wearing a pink apron at the door smiling at him.
"Jiang Xun, right? This is your cake, please sign for it."
Jiang Xun didn't move, Duan Qizhao ran over and took the carton and asked by the way, "Who ordered it?"
"We don't know this," the clerk shook his head. "A man called and ordered it. He said he wanted to order it for a whole year. It will be delivered every Wednesday afternoon. The money has been paid in full."
Duan Qizhao came back with the cake. Half the class stretched their necks to look over. He put the carton on Jiang Xun's table and opened the lid.
A six-inch piece of cheesecake, baked golden brown on the surface, with neatly broken biscuits on the edge.
"Holy shit," Duan Qizhao swallowed, "The cheesecake in this store is delicious. Last time I waited in line for forty minutes to buy one. Who is so generous as to order it for a whole year?"
Jiang Xun didn't answer. He stared at the piece of cake and pursed the corners of his mouth into a straight line.
Duan Qizhao turned out a card from the side of the paper box. There was nothing written on it, it was blank.
"No signature?" He turned the card over and looked at it twice, "Who is this, so mysterious?"
Jiang Xun pushed the cake box towards Duan Qizhao.
"You eat."
"Ah? You don't want to eat?"
"Don't eat."
"Why? This cake looks like--"
Jiang Xun's face turned cold.
Duan Qizhao keenly caught the flash of emotion in his eyes, closed his mouth wisely, picked up the fork and silently dug a large piece into his mouth.
It's really delicious, it melts in your mouth, and the cheese flavor is rich but not greasy.
But as Duan Qizhao chewed, he felt something was wrong. As he ate, he secretly glanced at Jiang Xun's expression. The latter had turned his face to the window, leaving him with only a round back of his head that showed no emotion.
From then on, every Wednesday afternoon, the pink apron clerk would appear at the back door of Class 3 classroom on time, rain or shine.
"It's your cake again," she handed the carton to Duan Qizhao skillfully, "It will be the same time next week."
Duan Qizhao has developed muscle memory for the action of catching the cake. Lifting the lid, touching the fork, and making the first cut are all done in one go.
The people in the class evolved from just watching and discussing to not being surprised at all. Occasionally, someone passed by and wanted to take a bite, but Duan Qizhao slapped him away. "Go, go, this is a reward from my brother!"
Jiang Xun has never touched it once.
Every Wednesday afternoon, he would turn his head to the window before the landlady appeared, and wait for Duan Qizhao to swallow the last bite of cake before turning back.
Don't look at it, don't ask it, don't mention it, just treat the box of cheesecake that appears on time every week as nothing.
Duan Qizhao finally couldn't bear it anymore when he ate the sixth piece of cake.
"Xun'er," he said tentatively, licking the last bit of cheese on his fork, "don't you think this cake might be yours--"
Before he finished speaking, Jiang Xun turned around.
That look made Duan Qizhao feel that the temperature in the classroom dropped by five degrees. He swallowed the unfinished words back into his stomach along with the cheese, and made a zipper motion on his mouth.
But he has a clear mind.
The case is solved, Jiang Xun can also guess who sent it. Not only does he know it, but he is also angry.
It's good to be angry, because being angry means you care.
If you really don't care, it doesn't matter who sent the cake, just eat it, there is no need to push it away.
Duan Qizhao threw the empty box into the trash can, wiped his mouth, and secretly glanced at Jiang Xun's profile.
If the cake is really sent by Shen Wangjing, it means that Shen Wangjing is still at Capital City, at least not far away.
At least he is still thinking about Jiang Xun in his own way - silently, clumsily and pretending.
But he just doesn't show up.
Duan Qizhao also heard about what Shen Yuxing said at the door of Jiang Xun's room last time.
Shen Wangjing That person has been depressed for almost twenty years. He swallows everything in his stomach and carries it on his own if the sky falls.
He could be buried under the mine for six hours while still shouting Jiang Xun's name, he could sharpen a telescope with his wood-chopping hand, and he could carve Jiang Xun's name on the eyepiece one stroke at a time - but he just refused to stand in front of Jiang Xun.
Duan Qizhao leaned on the back of the chair, getting more and more angry as he thought about it.
He recalled that the first night Jiang Xun moved to the villa in the east of the city, the chef cooked a table full of dishes. Jiang Xun sat at the dining table and ate two bowls of rice. After drinking the soup, he went upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. He was so well-behaved.
Duan Qizhao was still relieved at that time, this kid had finally calmed down.
As a result, he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and when he passed the door of Jiang Xun's bedroom, he heard something moving inside.
I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. The sound of rolling around on the bed and crumpling the quilt into a ball was so familiar.
So Duan Qizhao simply moved himself to the door of Jiang Xun's bedroom, and got up every hour to patrol. This was the case for the first three nights.
Both of them have the same virtues, one is silent and the other is pretending not to want to, just Duan Qizhao jumping up and down in the middle like a matchmaker.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had a heavy responsibility. The most important thing right now was to stay with Jiang Xun. His brother was finally willing to eat and go to school. He couldn't bear to expose that scar again.
But he had to investigate the cake matter, but before he could find out, he had to keep his mouth shut.
-
On the way to school, Duan Qizhao was slumped in the back seat of the car, scrolling through his cell phone.
A message popped up in the work group. It was sent by the director of "Metamorphosis", who added him and Jiang Xun, saying that the program team was doing a return interview special and wanted to invite them to record an interview. The time was scheduled for this weekend, and the location was up to them.
Duan Qizhao turned to look at the person next to him who was staring out the window in a daze. "The director wants to interview us, are you going?"
Jiang Xun was stunned for a moment when he heard this.
"As you wish."
He threw these two words in a cold tone, and after saying that, he turned his face to the window again, leaving Duan Qizhao with only the back of his head and half of his face reflected in the car window glass.
Duan Qizhao was not in a hurry to reply to the message. He leaned half an inch closer to Jiang Xun. From this angle, he could just see Jiang Xun's high-speed trembling eyelashes.
He didn't say a word. He lowered his head and sent a message back to the director. "I'll come to the villa in the east of the city on the weekend. I'll send you the specific address."
After finishing speaking, he leaned back in the chair, and the curve of the corners of his mouth revealed his detachment of insight into everything.
-
At nine o'clock on Saturday morning, the director, along with the cameraman Old Zhao and the radio guy, rang the doorbell of the villa in the east of the city on time.
The servant led the person into the living room, where Old Zhao set up the machine in a familiar manner. The radio guy squatted on the floor to sort out the wires. The director threw his bag on the sofa and looked around.
Jiang Huaixiao tidied up this house so well.
The vases in the entrance and the carpet in the living room, everything has an "expensive but low-key" atmosphere.
But the two people paralyzed on the sofa quickly dissipated the atmosphere - Jiang Xun was leaning on the armrest of the sofa playing games, Duan Qizhao was sitting cross-legged on the carpet and chewing an apple. Potato chips, spicy strips, chocolate bars and half a box of uneaten fried chicken were spread out on the coffee table.
Director: "..."
Getting back to the topic, she cleared her throat and picked up the card. The opening remarks were prepared in advance--
""Metamorphosis" is a special return visit. Today we came to the homes of classmates Jiang Xun and Duan Qizhao to talk about life after the recording of the show..."
"Director."
Jiang Xun interrupted her, her eyes dark and bright, looking straight at her.
The director's movement of flipping cards stopped.
"That day in the ward, you gave him a brown paper envelope."
"What exactly is in the envelope?"