"He's not my problem, he's my only way out."
At dusk in the county town, we meet on a narrow road.
In the autumn when he was seventeen, Xu Yanshu was waiting for someone at the door of the county Internet cafe.
Didn't wait.
But he borrowed a lighter.
From a transfer student wearing a black sweatshirt. The man's eyes were very beautiful, like a frozen lake in winter, and the cigarette he smoked was a Chinese brand.
Later, he moved into the house next door to Xu Yanshu that had been vacant for three years.
Later, they went to school together every day, separated by two steps, one walked in front and the other walked behind, and neither of them spoke.
Later, someone drew an indelible heart next to Xu Yanshu's name on the honor list.
Later, they wrote letters from Beijing to the county seat, and from the county seat to Beijing.
Later, they were admitted to Tsinghua University together, and in that ten-square-meter partition, they said, "This is our home."
He was his only way out.
From the age of seventeen to twenty-seven, from the county seat to Beijing, from the beginning to the end.
Wildfire burns endlessly.
Intention: He is not my trouble, he is my only way out.