Chapter 45 Telephone
Xu Hongdou was wearing a skirt suit today. She wore a simple white T-shirt as a base. The pattern of the jacket and skirt matched each other. The high-waisted and slim design of the skirt outlined her slender waist. The hem of the skirt dropped to about three inches above the knees, completely revealing her smooth and straight calves, and she wore a pair of simple white flat shoes.

Mature and intellectual, yet youthful and exuberant, these two temperaments are harmoniously intertwined in Xu Hongdou, without any sense of incongruity.

Chen Mo watched Xu Hongdou walking towards him. Her graceful figure was a little dazzling under the evening glow.

Although this was not the first time he had seen this scene, Chen Mo still found it very pleasing to the eye and never tired of watching it.

In fact, Chen Mo feels that waiting for Xu Hongdou to get off work every day is like opening a blind box, full of anticipation and surprises.

He had clearly expected this, but every time someone came towards him, his eyes always lit up, as if there was always endless beauty for him to discover.

So Chen Mo didn’t think waiting for Xu Hongdou to get off work was boring. On the contrary, he enjoyed the anticipation of waiting.

"Sorry for the long wait." Xu Hongdou said as she approached.

"No, I just arrived too. Get in the car." Chen Mo said with a smile.

They both got in the car, fastened their seat belts and started for home.

"I remember you said you would only wait for me for five minutes?" Xu Hongdou suddenly asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Chen Mo nodded.

"It just feels like every time you wait for me, our timing is just right." Xu Hongdou turned and looked at Chen Mo.

"I didn't miss it once. Isn't that strange?"

"What's so strange about this? I always send you a message before I leave." Chen Mo said.

"But I came out ten minutes late yesterday, and you just arrived too." Xu Hongdou looked at Chen Mo and asked.

"After I sent you a message yesterday, I was delayed by something. Plus, I came out late and there was traffic jam, so I was a little late as well." Chen Mo explained.

"That's really a coincidence." Xu Hongdou nodded suddenly.

"That's right." Chen Mo said with a smile: "So yesterday I was afraid that you would wait too long and left first, but I didn't expect that it was just right, and we didn't have to wait long."

Xu Hongdou turned her head and said nothing more.

"By the way, your sister will arrive tonight, right?" Chen Mo asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Xu Hongdou said.

"Oh, I wanted to ask if you need to pick her up at the airport? I happen to have nothing to do so I can go with you."

"No need. I asked her. She won't arrive until late tonight, and the hotel she booked offers airport pick-up service." Xu Hongdou shook her head.

"Is that so?" Chen Mo nodded.

"So where are you planning to take Lingling to play tomorrow?" Chen Mo asked again.

"It should be somewhere like an amusement park or a zoo." Xu Hongdou thought for a moment and said, "Kids like these kinds of places."

"Besides, my sister has promised Lingling to go several times, but she never has the time to take her there, so I, her aunt, have to go."

"Oh." Chen Mo was thinking about what to say.

"What's wrong? What do you want to say?" Xu Hongdou looked at Chen Mo as if he had something to say.

"Cough~~" Chen Mo coughed lightly, his eyes full of nostalgia, and he said with emotion:
"In fact, I also loved going to the amusement park when I was a kid. At that time, I always envied other children because their parents could take them to the amusement park on weekends."

"Didn't your parents take you there either?" Xu Hongdou asked.

“My parents were also busy at that time, so I rarely had the opportunity to go.”

"And even on weekends I had to practice piano and learn foreign languages, so I would watch other kids playing together while I could only learn piano and talk to the piano by myself."

[Children, do you have a lot of questions?
Why are others reading comics there?
But I am learning to draw and talk to the piano
Others are playing games
I leaned against the wall and recited my ABCs.

Chen Mo listened to the song in his mind and was speechless for a moment.

Didn't he expect that as he was saying these words, he began to believe them in his heart?
Is this what is called self-deception?

First deceive yourself, then deceive others.

In fact, Chen Huaisong was quite busy when Chen Mo was a child, but Fang Shuyun had relatively ample time teaching at the university, especially for art subjects such as music, which did not require research in the laboratory like engineering and science subjects.

Moreover, Fang Shuyun is a person who keeps her word, so she can basically do what she promised to Chen Mo.

If Fang Shuyun said she would take Chen Mo to the amusement park, she would definitely take him there. Of course, if she said she would spank Chen Mo's butt until it broke, it wouldn't just be breaking the skin.

As for learning piano and foreign languages, it was because Chen Mo listened to a foreign song at the time and watched the singer playing and singing on the stage, and thought it was so cool.

Then Chen Mo begged Fang Shuyun to hire a foreign language teacher for him. As for the piano, Fang Shuyun could teach it himself.

Of course, Chen Mo regretted studying after two days and wanted to give up.

But Fang Shuyun didn't give him any regret medicine, and all Chen Mo got was a clothes hanger and slippers, so Chen Mo could only finish his studies with tears in his eyes.

"Was your childhood so miserable?" Xu Hongdou said with a little sympathy.

A picture has already emerged in Xu Hongdou's mind: a small person, bent over by a big schoolbag, and arranged by his parents to attend various remedial classes.

Chen Mo nodded with a "heavy" look on his face.

"Fortunately, although I rarely went to the amusement park when I was a child, there were still all kinds of new and interesting things at my grandma's house in the countryside." Xu Hongdou felt fortunate.

"Although I didn't grow up in a bustling big city and didn't have a playground with flashing neon lights, I could run carefree in the fields when I was a child, feel the freedom in the wind, listen to the cicadas chirping at night, and look at the stars in the night sky," Xu Hongdou recalled.

Looking back now, Xu Hongdou still thinks that was the best time of her childhood and still misses those days because her grandma was still alive at that time.
"That's great." Chen Mo was also attracted by the picture described by Xu Hongdou.

"But you didn't have anything to play with when you were children, so now you can happily go to the countryside to experience it. But now it's very difficult for us to take root in big cities," said Xu Hongdou.

Beijing Drifting, this word carries the dreams of so many people.

"It's still different." Chen Mo thought about it and shook his head.

“I’ve traveled quite a bit, too.”

"Those scenic spots and historic sites are the work of nature, and the mountains and rivers are full of natural beauty."

"I was amazed at the time, but after I left, apart from taking a few photos, I didn't miss anything."

"But when I was a child in my hometown in Guangdong Province, I would think of that ordinary little town with my grandfather from time to time."

"But if you let me go now, I won't have the same feeling as when I was a kid, except for nostalgia."

If you want to buy sweet-scented osmanthus with wine, it doesn't seem like you are a teenager.

"That's quite fair." Xu Hongdou said.

"Enjoy the joyful childhood and the busy and helpless adult life."

"Spend your childhood under heavy academic pressure and enjoy a colorful adult life."

"I find that you are sometimes stubborn and strong-willed. You would rather stay in the capital alone, but sometimes you are quite sentimental." Chen Mo couldn't help but say.

"As humans, it's inevitable that we can be pretentious sometimes." Xu Hongdou also laughed.

“Isn’t it about the three major questions in life: Who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going?”

"I don't want to do the first two, but for the last one, when I'm confused, I can't help but be a little hypocritical."

"Think about what you are doing and what the meaning is."

"But I can only think about it before going to bed. When I wake up tomorrow and start working, I will have to forget everything." Xu Hongdou stretched and became open-minded again.

"Tomorrow is the weekend, you can think about it after you wake up." Chen Mo joked.

"Go to hell." Xu Hongdou said happily, "I have to take Lingling out to play tomorrow. I can't let my good mood be ruined so early in the morning."

Chen Mo then remembered the main topic: "Actually, I can go to the amusement park when I grow up, but I always feel embarrassed to go alone."

"What's there to be embarrassed about?" Xu Hongdou didn't understand.

"Hey, it's normal for you girls to go. I'm a grown man, I don't have any kids, and I don't have any girlfriend, so it always feels weird to go alone."

"so what?"

"So can I go with you guys tomorrow? I want to go back to my lost childhood." Chen Mo finally revealed his true intentions. Xu Hongdou turned to look at Chen Mo and said, "You've come to this conclusion so far, just to say this last sentence."

"Well, that's not it." Chen Mo denied it.

"I was just attracted by the joy of childhood you described."

"Is it such a coincidence? You suddenly want to go to the amusement park?" Xu Hongdou asked.

"A man remains a boy until he dies." Chen Mo said seriously.

"I can't just live this rural life anytime soon, but I can still find some fun times for children in the city during the weekends."

"I want the happy laughter of children in the playground to cleanse my soul which has been dusted by the busy life." Chen Mo said "longingly".

"Can you please fulfill my wish?"

"Why don't you ask Congwen to go with you?" Xu Hongdou suggested.

"Have you ever seen two grown men going to an amusement park hand in hand?" Chen Mo said in shock.

"Who told you to hold hands? Please don't exaggerate," said Xu Hongdou.

"I asked him to go with us. I'm glad he didn't laugh." Chen Mo said.

"How could this be possible?" Xu Hongdou didn't believe it.

"If you don't believe me, I'll call you and show you how." Chen Mo said.

Because the mobile phone was connected to the Bluetooth in the car, I used the car display to call Jiang Congwen and then played the voice out loud.

The call was quickly connected, and Jiang Congwen's voice came from the car's stereo: "Hello, what's the matter?"

"Well, can you accompany me to the amusement park tomorrow?" Chen Mo said.

"Amusement park? With whom?" Jiang Congwen asked.

"Just the two of us." Chen Mo said.

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then with a beep, the call was hung up.

"Look?" Chen Mo gestured to Xu Hongdou.

Chen Mo knew Jiang Congwen very well and was not afraid that Jiang Wen would have a different answer.

Because Chen Mo thought that if he put himself in Jiang Congwen's shoes, if he asked him and Jiang Congwen to go to the amusement park, he would definitely not go.

"Maybe he just felt it was a little sudden and thought you were joking." Xu Hongdou said.

In fact, Xu Hongdou didn’t quite understand. Is this how boys get along with each other?
Anyway, when she and Nanxing were talking on the phone, neither of them would hang up without saying a word.

Chen Mo didn't say much and hit him again in front of Xu Hongdou.

The call was quickly connected, and Jiang Congwen's voice came again, but this time his tone was obviously impatient:

"what?"

"Why did you hang up before you even answered me?" Chen Mo said.

"Are you sick? Or did you take the wrong medicine?" Jiang Congwen asked "politely".

"How can going to an amusement park be considered crazy? There are regulations on how old you can be to go to an amusement park?" Chen Mo said.

"Are you serious? Are you kidding?" Jiang Congwen still couldn't believe it.

"Of course, I'm serious." Chen Mo said affirmatively.

"Brother, when people go to the amusement park, they either bring their girlfriends or their wives and children." Jiang Congwen was speechless.

"We two grown men, should we go to the amusement park and hold hands while riding the carousel? Or should we ride the roller coaster together and scream 'Ahhhhh'?"

Chen Mo glanced at Xu Hongdou, his meaning was very clear: "See?"

Xu Hongdou didn't understand the logic behind this idea.

"Don't be so exaggerated, let's go back to find the feeling of childhood." Chen Mo repeated what Xu Hongdou had just said to him.

"Brother, it's not that I don't want to go with you. If we were still in college, I would have gone with you."

"Now we are both sixty years old in total. Don't you think it's strange?" Jiang Congwen felt a little awkward.

"Why don't you ask Hongdou to go with you, and you can make a date at the same time to improve your relationship." Jiang Congwen thought for a moment and suggested.

When Jiang Congwen spoke to the end, Chen Mo coughed repeatedly.

Xu Hongdou just sat in the passenger seat and listened quietly.

Jiang Congwen had no idea that Chen Mo was talking on the phone loudly and that Xu Hongdou, the "real boss", was right next to him.

"It's really possible. I've thought of the reasons for you." Jiang Congwen's mind opened up and he became more and more excited as he spoke.

"You just said 'A man is a boy until he dies', and then you talked about that stupid childhood you just mentioned."

"."Chen Mo.

Chen Mo fell silent after hearing this.

Xu Hongdou glanced at Chen Mo with a playful expression.

Chen Mo quickly reached out to the car display screen and wanted to hang up the phone, but was held by a white hand next to him.

With four fingers on the back of her hand and her thumb on the palm, Xu Hongdou gently held Chen Mo's hand.

It was obvious that Xu Hongdou wanted to hear Jiang Congwen's "battle plan".

Chen Mo felt that Xu Hongdou's hand was a little cool, which was different from the feeling when Xu Hongdou fell and he held her hand.

This time, it felt wonderful to be "actively wrapped" by a delicate hand that was obviously smaller than his.

But at the moment, Chen Mo was in no mood to feel the difference. He was still driving. After Xu Hongdou blocked his action to hang up, Chen Mo could only put his hand back on the reverse wheel.

On the other end of the phone, Jiang Congwen was still talking:

"Really, listen to me, this is better than the daydream you had in the company a few days ago."

"If Hongdou doesn't agree, you can call Nanxing along like we did last time, and we'll have a team building, and I'll be your assistant."

Chen Mo honked the horn several times before Jiang Congwen finished speaking.

"Huh? Are you driving? Why is there a horn sound? It's so loud?" Jiang Congwen asked puzzledly.

"Driving, on the way home." Chen Mo said.

"So you didn't pick up Anko today?"

Jiang Congwen asked. He had known for a few days that Chen Mo would pick up Xu Hongdou from get off work every day.

"I got it." Chen Mo said briefly.

"Answered?" Jiang Congwen repeated, then fell silent. After a while, he spoke uncertainly:

"I can hear your speaker so clearly, are you playing it out loud now?"

"Yeah." Chen Mo didn't say anything extra.

But Jiang Congwen on the other end of the phone clearly sensed something was wrong, and cautiously asked:

"red beans?"

"I'm here." Xu Hongdou replied gently.

"." Jiang Congwen.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)