Christmas is a legal holiday, and one day is on holiday according to the customary practice.

As soon as the door opened, I saw the festive atmosphere all over the street. The street lamp poles were covered with yellow ribbons, and golden dragon balloons were held in their hands by people. There was a team of Cosplay boys playing role-playing in front of a video game city across the street. One was dressed as Captain Zhang Tingyu, a great hero more than two hundred years ago, while others played enemy officers from Portugal and Spain, fighting with plastic sabers.

Li Zhen and Qi Yuanshan moved two benches and sat at the door waiting for customers to come to the door, basking in the sun while squinting their eyes and looking at the street scene.

Qi Yuanshan lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and then said for a while: "Oh, you said that if I had studied hard, I would have been like those college students today, and I could have been on vacation on the street."

Li Zhen glanced at him: "It is not allowed to smoke in college."

Qi Yuanshan smiled and pointed to the men and women who were walking towards this side: "Do you think they are college students? That man is still smoking..."

Li Zhen followed his gaze and looked carefully: "Those are high school students, with the school badge of the No. 2 Middle School on their chests." Halfway through his words, he was stunned and did not take Qi Yuanshan's next sentence "Why do you still know the school badge of the No. 2 Middle School?"

Because he discovered a familiar face.

The smoker was a big fat man with a pouty fat face. Behind him, two girls were talking and laughing in a low voice, covering their mouths from time to time, and waved away the smoke coming from the front. The fat man turned his head and said something while walking. One of the girls pushed him away and said, "Stay away, there is a smell of smoke, you won't learn well."

Li Zhen looked at that face, and the noise around him disappeared in an instant. Everything turned pale, like a cloud and a fog. Only the face was left in his sight, the face that was once extremely familiar, and had tears in front of his bed.

"Ko Suan..." He squirmed his lips and squeezed a low, hoarse voice from his throat.

He sat on the stool at the door, repeatedly looking at the slender figure wearing a thin pink down jacket, confirming that he was not in a dream. He woke up like a dream and stood up in a hurry, watching them walk into the store from beside him.

Zhang Kesong didn't even look at him.

I changed...she didn't recognize me anymore. He thought in his heart with a loss.

Qi Yuanshan poked him over there: "Aren't you? You don't have to stare at me like this when you're pretty girl - they'll be scared away later."

Li Zhen realized his incompetence, forced a smile, moved the stool, sat on the other side of the door, and looked at the four people who had already sat down from the reflection of the glass.

Are you an ordinary classmate? He thought. Zhang Kesong had been talking to the girl in red clothes next to him. The other three boys, one was shorter than Zhang Kesong, the other was a huge fat man, and the other kept talking to the girl in red.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang Kesong's QQ number seemed to be discontinued after he "dead". He could not believe some other classmates on QQ. Although he had tried to leave a message to Zhang Kesong, he probably hadn't seen her reaction today. Does she have a sad expression on her face? Li Zhen couldn't tell it.

She must have been in college... Why is she still in her senior year? Is it because of me that she didn't take the college entrance examination? He had countless thoughts in his mind, and even wanted to call her out and told her that she was Li Zhen.

However, inferiority and fear prevented him from doing this as usual. He looked down at the slightly greasy work clothes on his chest... If you read that right, Zhang Kesong was slightly avoiding it when he came in and passed by just now, right?

What's more, I am such an ominous person... No, maybe I can't be considered a human being anymore. I can't get her in... I can't get her in like my parents.

Thinking of this, the young man slowly walked past their table and walked towards the kitchen with great sadness that almost occupied his body and mind.

When he passed by Zhang Kesong, he sniffed hard.

However, the familiar fragrance was covered by the smell of smoke, just like their past yesterday, completely disappeared without a trace.

By noon, the store was full of four tables. Zhang Kesong and the others ate and chatted. Li Zhen served dishes six times in total. The girl in red and the other four boys were drinking beer. Zhang Kesong only brought a glass of orange juice and sipped in a small sip. It was obvious that Tan Xing was no longer so strong.

What they said was nothing more than some trivial matters in school, plus some online games. Li Zhen has a very good listening experience now. He found that when someone mentioned Zhang Kesong's past, she would become a little sensitive and avoid talking about it.

Seeing that the barbecue food on that table was gradually gone and the few people had no intention of ordering dishes, Li Zhen began to feel very uncomfortable. I don’t know when I would see her again when I left.

At this time, I suddenly heard a scream from the kitchen, followed by Aunt Liu's nagging and complaining, Yu Yingying's apology - it seemed that she had knocked something over in a hurry.

Then Aunt Liu walked out while unbuttoning her apron and said to Li Zhen: "Li Zhen, help me take care of the collection of money, I'll go buy salt."

But these were voice-overs for him. He nodded casually, walked to the counter, and continued to pretend to be casual while waiting for the kitchen to deliver dishes. He used the last time to look at Zhang Kesong's beautiful face greedily.

However, not long after Aunt Liu walked out of the door, she hurried back. While walking to the counter, she pushed Li Zhen away, she took out the money. Her sighing look made Li Zhen temporarily withdraw her attention and asked her: "Auntie, what's wrong? You have to get so much money to buy salt?"

Aunt Liu counted the money while saying "Oh": "What kind of salt to buy? I finally calmed down for two months, and the debtor came again!"

"You want debt?" Li Zhen was stunned, "Where do we still owe people money?"

"Oh, don't worry. They are all born into a group of evil ghosts. Send them away quickly and clean them up." She finally counted forty dollars and hurried out again.

Li Zhen didn't understand what was going on. At this time, Uncle Sun from the kitchen asked him to go in and wait for the delivery of food, so he took this opportunity and stood beside the stove and asked quietly: "Uncle, do you know what's going on? I heard from my aunt that the debt is coming again."

Uncle Sun was stunned for a moment, then frowned and thrust the skewers hard: "It's those little bastards again. A group of gangsters come to ask for money every month."

Only then did Li Zhen figure it out that he had encountered a "protection fee". He frowned: "Is there really such a thing? I thought it was all performed on TV. Why didn't you call the police?"

Uncle Sun laughed in anger: "What's the use of calling the police? I've been arrested and released after two days. I'm even more powerful. It's better to send two money away. I guess they are looking at Christmas today, the store is doing well, and they plan to come here to ask for two more money. Who has time to make a fuss with them... that little money is not enough to delay the compensation for this day."

Qi Yuanshan listened next to the dishwasher for a while, shook his hands, wiped his apron, turned his head and walked out - no one in the kitchen noticed it.

So Li Zhen stopped talking. Although he was helpless, the truth was just like Uncle Sun said... It would be better to lose money and avoid disasters.

============================================= Thanks to the book friend Muran blue shirt, the sun and moon in the wine, OokkoO1's evaluation tickets~
Chapter completed!