Zhan Pengcheng got up in the morning. The corridor outside was still quiet, and none of the children were awake.
He washed and changed clothes in his room before coming out. As soon as he opened the door, he saw that the door to the balcony opposite his door was open.
Usually, before going to bed at night, Zhan Pengcheng would lock the balcony door. Last night, he even opened the door to check and saw that it was locked. Pei Qing and the others must have closed it when they left. How come the door was open early this morning?
Zhan Pengcheng felt strange and walked over to look at the balcony. He didn’t see anyone. He saw an oval potato suddenly appear on the ground in front of Zhan Weiyang’s empty flower pot. There were three small wooden sticks stuck on the potato. When he got closer, he found that it was a burnt incense stick, and the potato was still covered with incense ash.
At that moment, Zhan Pengcheng felt a chill on his back for some reason and shuddered.
He picked up the potato, went downstairs, and put it on the dining table.
There was the sound of Auntie Luo making breakfast in the kitchen, and Grandma was still in her room.
Zhan Pengcheng sat down not long ago when he heard footsteps coming down from upstairs, and Pei Qing appeared at the door of the dining room.
“Look at this,” Zhan Pengcheng tapped the table with his fingers, “was it Yangyang who did it?”
Generally, when faced with such puzzling situations, Zhan Pengcheng’s first reaction was always to suspect Zhan Weiyang. He frowned, feeling troubled by how increasingly incomprehensible his younger son was becoming.
Pei Qing stopped and looked at the remaining incense sticks and potatoes for a while and said, “It’s not Yangyang.”
Zhan Pengcheng was a little surprised, “Then do you know who it is?”
Pei Qing walked to the dining table and sat down, saying, “Did Uncle find it on the balcony on the second floor?”
Zhan Pengcheng hurriedly said, “Yes.”
Pei Qing said, “It should be Xiusong.”
Zhan Pengcheng looked confused, “Huh?”
At this time, Auntie Luo came out with a plate of buns, and saw the things on the table, and said, “This incense was burned by Songsong, right?”
Zhan Pengcheng asked curiously, “How do you know that too?”
Auntie Luo said, “This boy came downstairs very late last night, wanting to go out alone. I happened to see him and asked where he was going. He said he was going to buy incense. I told him that it was too late for any stores to be open, so I took some leftover incense from our last ancestor worship out of the cabinet and gave it to him. The potato was also something he took from the kitchen.”
After saying that, Auntie Luo heard the porridge boiling in the kitchen and hurried back.
Zhan Pengcheng looked at Pei Qing and asked in confusion, “What does it mean?”
Pei Qing took a box of milk, put a straw in it, and said, “It was about the quarrel between him and Yangyang yesterday. Yangyang wanted him to apologise to the flowerpot, and he sarcastically asked if he should burn some incense. Maybe out of spite, he actually burned a stick of incense.”
Zhan Pengcheng laughed dryly, “It’s not a big deal. Is it really necessary?”
Pei Qing also smiled and said, “It’s a big deal for them.”
“Oh my-” Zhan Pengcheng sighed, “So Uncle is old and doesn’t understand what these young people are thinking; this is why Yangyang doesn’t love his Dad anymore.” The more he talked, the sadder he became.
Pei Qing held the straw in his mouth, looked up at Zhan Pengcheng, and said nothing.
Not long after, the others came downstairs to have breakfast.
Zhan Pengcheng was eager to resolve the conflict between Zhan Weiyang and Zhan Xiusong. When he saw Zhan Weiyang coming downstairs, he said to him, “Your brother has apologised to your flower pot and even burned incense. Can you forgive him?”
Zhan Weiyang glanced at the potatoes on the table and turned to look at Zhan Xiusong, who was coming downstairs behind him.
Zhan Xiusong walked directly to the dining table, grabbed the potatoes and walked towards the kitchen. After a while, he heard him ask Auntie Luo in the kitchen, “Can this potato still be eaten?”
Auntie Luo said, “It can be eaten; no need to waste it.”
Zhan Pengcheng smiled and asked them to sit down and have breakfast.
Zhan Weiyang said to Zhan Xiusong, “Since you apologised to my flower pot and my flower pot is already healed, let’s forget it.”
Zhan Xiusong lowered his head and mumbled something that no one heard clearly.
Zhan Pengcheng was very happy, “Let’s agree not to get angry anymore. Let’s enjoy the rest of the holiday together.”
That afternoon, Zhan Xiusong took the initiative to show his goodwill to Zhan Weiyang and asked him if he wanted to play basketball together.
Zhan Weiyang looked at Pei Qing, “Are you going to play basketball too?”
Pei Qing said, “If you want to go, go.”
Zhan Weiyang said quickly, “I want to go!”
Pei Qing smiled and said, “Then go.”
The four of them went out with basketballs. There were no empty courts near the neighbourhood. Zhan Weiguang said there was another court near their school, but it was a little far to walk there, so Pei Qing went back and drove everyone there.
Zhan Weiguang and Zhan Weiyang went to the same high school, and he was more familiar with the outside of the school than Zhan Weiyang. He showed Pei Qing the way and asked him to drive the car to a nearby cultural palace and find an empty basketball court.
Zhan Weiyang followed Pei Qing to the basketball court. He was a little excited because he had wanted to play basketball with Pei Qing and Zhan Weiguang a long time ago, but they never took him to play.
Pei Qing held the basketball in his hand, suddenly stopped, and passed it to Zhan Weiyang with some force.
Zhan Weiyang reacted quickly and caught it, smiling. He hugged the basketball and continued walking. But as soon as he walked into the court, he saw several people playing basketball on the other side of the court, and his smile froze on his face.
No one noticed it at that time.
There were two courts here, and the four of them only needed half a court. The other court was quite lively, as if someone was playing a game, and several teenagers had occupied the court on their side.
Those teenagers were students from Zhan Weiyang’s school, and he was quite familiar with one of them, Xie Ling.
Zhan Weiyang’s System had not harassed him for several days. He almost forgot about Xie Ling, but he didn’t expect to see Xie Ling suddenly today. At that moment, a buzzing noise sounded in his head.
He stopped and looked in the direction of Xie Ling with a pale face. He felt like that sound was the System starting up. Though he hadn’t conversed with it, it continued to harass and erode his emotions, leaving him with an inexplicable sense of panic.
Pei Qing was the first to notice that Zhan Weiyang was not in the right state. He followed Zhan Weiyang’s dull line of sight and glanced at the court over there, saw Xie Ling, then walked in front of Zhan Weiyang, bent down slightly to look at him, and asked him, “What’s wrong, Yangyang?”
Pei Qing occupied Zhan Weiyang’s line of sight, and the noise in his head disappeared at once. He suddenly came back to his senses, his gaze fell on Pei Qing’s face, and said, “Ah?”
Pei Qing said, “You are in a daze.”
Zhan Weiyang was a little flustered. He lowered his head to look at the basketball in his hand and said, “I’m not.”
Pei Qing turned around and looked at Xie Ling again. He wanted to ask Zhan Weiyang what he was thinking of, but when his gaze fell on Zhan Weiyang’s forehead, he found that his face was not only pale but even sweating a little. So the words he originally wanted to say were changed to, “Are you feeling uncomfortable? If you are not feeling well, let’s go back.”
Zhan Weiyang raised his head quickly and said, “No.” He had wanted to play basketball with Pei Qing for a long time.
Pei Qing raised his hand and patted his shoulder, “Then let’s play basketball?”
Zhan Weiyang nodded quickly.
Zhan Xiusong and Zhan Weiguang had already stood at the bottom of the court. Zhan Xiusong urged Zhan Weiyang, “What are you doing? Come over here quickly.”
Zhan Weiyang heard this and threw the basketball in his hand to him first and then slowly walked towards the court. He followed Pei Qing and secretly stretched out a hand to grab Pei Qing’s clothes. He only lowered his head to look at Pei Qing’s back and tried not to look at Xie Ling.
They walked to the basketball stand, and Zhan Weiguang lowered his voice and asked Pei Qing, “What’s wrong?”
Pei Qing shook his head and turned to look at Xie Ling on the opposite court.
Xie Ling didn’t notice them. He was concentrating on dribbling past people and then made a beautiful jump shot, but unfortunately, it was a little off. It hit the basket frame and didn’t go in. He landed on the ground, moving his wrist and walking two steps on the spot.
At this time, a teenager who was playing basketball with him picked up the basketball that was rolling on the ground, held it in his hands and walked towards Zhan Weiguang and the others, waving his arms and shouting loudly, “Zhan Weiguang!” Xie Ling then looked up and saw Zhan Weiyang hiding behind Pei Qing.
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