Xu Tangcheng didn't have an ID card, so they found a small hotel that night to make do with it. The room rate is cheap, correspondingly, the environment is not very good. The bedding in the room had a bad smell, but Yi Zhe didn't notice it. Although Xu Tangcheng smelled uncomfortable, he didn't say anything. The small hotel was located on the edge, and the noise from the passing vehicles made Xu Tangcheng never fall asleep.
In the second half of the night, the wind picked up, and it rained. The sound of the rain was pattering, as if it was coaxing people to sleep. Xu Tangcheng squinted drowsily for a while, and he was half awake. A heavy object outside the window fell to the ground. Xu Tangcheng was awakened, and he has no sleepiness since.
Insomnia all night, lying down for too long, he turned over several times when it was almost dawn to relieve the pain in his lower back. YiZhe, who had always been sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up as if he had sensed something.
"Didn't you sleep well?"
Xu Tangcheng nodded, raised his hand, and rubbed the position of his temple: "Headache."
"Then sleep for a while?"
Xu Tangcheng shook his head.
The curtains of the small hotel are not as good as those of the home, and when the sky breaks, it has already spread to the indoor space. YiZhe stared at Xu Tangcheng's profile for a while, then stretched out a hand and covered his eyes.
"Can you fall asleep like this?"
YiZhe's voice was right next to his ear, and his breath swept to the auricle along with the soft words. Unable to restrain himself, Xu Tangcheng immediately laughed: "How could I fall asleep like this?"
The corners of his curved mouth went straight to the hand that was blocking the light. YiZhe saw his heart move, moved his body, and kissed the corner of his mouth.
Different from the silent acceptance in the past, after a brief period of stunned, Xu Tangcheng tilted his head and brought YiZhe's lips together.
It was hard to let go of the kiss at the end, YiZhe touched Xu Tangcheng's face, and from a very close distance, his eyes were on his eyebrows: "I accompany you back?"
"No." Xu Tangcheng shook his head, "If you go, they will be even more angry."
Xu Tangcheng returned home, and it was Xu Tangxi who came to open the door. Her blackness was so striking that Xu Tangcheng immediately frowned, "Didn't you sleep well?"
Xu Tangxi nodded, hesitated, and looked back at the direction of the kitchen.
The room was very quiet, Xu Tangcheng waited for a while, and heard the sound of dishes colliding in the kitchen. Xu Tangcheng changed his shoes, but kept standing at the door and didn't go in.
"Mom and dad... are you okay?"
"I didn't sleep much yesterday." Xu Tangxi replied in a low voice, "I had been trying to persuade my mother, but then they told me to leave it alone and go back to sleep. But when I got up at three o'clock to go to the bathroom, the lights in their room were still on. ."
Xu Tangxi said and stopped, looking at Xu Tangcheng, his lower lip moved emptyly.
"Just say something."
Hearing this, Xu Tangxi's face instantly collapsed.
"Mom told you not to come back... When will you be with brother Yizhe..." Xu Shi was uneasy and helpless, Xu Tangxi kept stirring the corners of his clothes with his fingers, she raised her eyes, a little aggrieved, "Separated, when will you come back? Come home."
This is actually not surprising, he had already heard it yesterday.
Xu Tangcheng pursed his lips tightly, stood for a while, then nodded his head lightly and said, "I see."
He took off the slippers he had just changed and put back on the sneakers that had been soaked in some rain.
"Brother..." Xu Tangxi sensed something, took a step forward and grabbed his arm.
Xu Tangcheng patted her hand and felt that her hand was cold, so he reached out to hold it. But the two brothers and sisters are similar in physique, and neither can warm the other.
"Help me get my wallet and keys out." Xu Tangcheng flattened the hem of her ruffled clothes for her, and said, "I won't take the car keys, you give them to Dad, it's easy to use when you want to use the car. ."
After he finished speaking, Xu Tangxi did not move.
At this moment, there was a sound in the kitchen, the sound of dishes being put into the pot.
Xu Tangcheng urged again softly.
This time, Xu Tangxi finally turned around.
After getting the wallet, Xu Tangcheng opened the mezzanine and took out a bank card. There are only two bank cards left in his current use, one is the one he and Yi Zhe did together, and the other is this one in his hand, which has been used for many years and holds most of his savings.
"This card is for you. If I give it to my parents, they probably won't want it." He handed the somewhat old card to Xu Tangxi, "Just in case."
"I don't want it." Xu Tangxi pulled back his hand, lowered his head, and glanced away, "Parents are just angry now, you can talk about it after a while, that's fine, there's no need for this."
Without arguing with her, Xu Tangcheng just smiled lightly, took her hand again, and shoved the card into her palm.
"Anyway, you should take care of your parents these days," Xu Tangcheng said after a pause, and then added, "Especially Mom, you should spend more time with her."
After explaining these few sentences, Xu Tangcheng took a step back. He wanted to close the door, but Xu Tangxi resisted it. Xu Tangcheng patted her head: "Be obedient."
These two words made Xu Tangxi's eyes turn red instantly.
"Brother, I'll be on your side, and I'll help you persuade your parents." After speaking, the two strings of tears swept down, and Xu Tangcheng wiped them continuously.
"Okay, I see, don't cry." Xu Tangcheng felt sour, sighing helplessly, "How old are you?"
Xu Tangxi ignored his advice.
She grabbed Xu Tangcheng's hand very hard, looked into his eyes, and asked, "Then can you not leave?"
When they returned to Beijing, they did not buy a high-speed rail ticket, so Xu Tangcheng and Yi Zhe took the express train back to Beijing. Yizhe went to the window to queue up to buy the tickets. Seeing that he brought back two sleeper tickets, Xu Tangcheng was surprised: "It's only been over an hour, why are you still buying a sleeper?"
"The hard seats are not next to each other."
In the messy ticket hall, Yi Zhe walked out with Xu Tangcheng. A rain last night took away a lot of the temperature in the city, Xu Tangcheng shuddered after leaving the hall, and followed Yizhe even more closely.
This station is old and the economy of the small town is not developed, so the environment inside the station is still roughly the same as when it was just built. The waiting hall is very small, and there is not even a shop for drinks and snacks.
Fortunately, fast food restaurants have always been standard in stations. Seeing that there was still some time left before YiZhe left the car, he dragged Xu Tangcheng to KFC next to the station, bought a glass of hot milk, and let him hold it in his hand.
They were sitting by the window. The milk was a little hot at first, but Xu Tangcheng didn't drink it, so he kept looking out the window, biting the straw in a daze.
"Uncle and aunt, what do you say?"
Xu Tangcheng was in a bad mood last night, and Yi Zhe didn't dare to ask. But even if Xu Tangcheng didn't describe any situation at home to him, he could probably guess some, but he didn't know how serious it was.
"It's... quite opposed." Xu Tangcheng still didn't say everything, only said, "It's a little troublesome, their thinking is quite traditional, and it's not easy to explain."
YiZhe understood this. He had watched some TV dramas by chance before, and then he would have felt that the families played in them were very similar to Xu Tangcheng's family, and they were all big families. Not to be rich, but to have stable, harmonious and complex family relationships.
"so what should I do now?"
The milk cooled a bit, and Xu Tangcheng finally took the first sip. It is said that drinking milk on an empty stomach is not good, and Xu Tangcheng has always avoided this practice, but at this time, he felt that the milk was comfortable and ironed after eating.
"I don't know." Xu Tangcheng said, "Take your time, they are very angry now and don't want to listen to me."
The tickets for two people are one upper bunk and one lower bunk. They didn't bring luggage, and naturally sat side by side on the lower bed after getting on the train. Maybe it was because the slight bumps of the train had a hypnotic effect, or maybe it was because he was too tired, Xu Tangcheng curled his legs against Yi Zhe's shoulders, and fell asleep after a while.
He had a dream. In the dream, he was standing in a strange space with white walls on all sides and above his head, like a huge bell jar. He was not used to this confined space, and tried to punch out an exit, but found that the walls were soft, like cotton wool, which made him completely unable to exert his strength. After a while, the cotton balls in one direction suddenly spread out to both sides, not gradually dissipating, but like the bell jar was forcibly torn out, forcing him to see the clear world.
YiZhe rode his bike from that gap and stopped in front of him.
Mountain bikes are red, the only color in my dreams.
Xu Tangcheng wanted to find him, but he didn't know what force was holding him back.
In the dream, he was a little confused about the situation, so he could only stand and watch Yi Zhe approach him at a leisurely pace. But when YiZhe was halfway through, the road between them suddenly broke. Xu Tangcheng watched helplessly as the sky collapsed around YiZhe. He wanted to shout in panic, opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't make any sound.
In the dream, Yi Zhe seemed to be unaware of the changes around him, and was still pushing the cart towards him.
With a violent shaking, Xu Tangcheng woke up. He regained his senses, opened his eyes, and saw that his head slid down YiZhe's shoulder and was already supported by a hand.
"Have a nightmare?" YiZhe asked, bowing his head.
"Yeah." Xu Tangcheng rubbed his eyes, only to realize that his throat was working so hard, "Is it coming soon?"
"Well, there are ten minutes left, and I was about to call you."
Xu Tangcheng looked out the window, the train hadn't entered the station yet. He put his head back on YiZhe's shoulder again, put his arms on his knees, and waited quietly for the train to slow down.
There was a girl sitting on the opposite bunk. Ben was reading with a book in his hands. For some reason, he kept looking at them. Xu Tangcheng was in a trance, but YiZhe frowned and looked back, forcing her to lower her head.
When he was about to get off the bus, he wanted to exchange the ticket. Xu Tangcheng took his jacket from the side and planned to rummage through the two tickets in his pocket. When I took the coat, my wrist accidentally touched the folded quilt. It felt soft and could dissipate strength. It was exactly the same as the "cotton cover" in my dream.
He suddenly discovered that this dream was not meaningless, the cotton cover was their current situation. When facing Eucalyptus, he could spare no effort to protect Yi Zhu and stab him with the utmost strength, but Zhou Hui and the others were never enemies.
It's not a war, they don't have forts to break, and they don't have ammunition.
Xu Tangcheng lost his mind for a while, but Yi Zhe had already leaned over and helped him take out the ticket.
The days after that actually passed faster than Xu Tangcheng imagined. He thought it would be difficult, but he was busy graduating and starting a job, and any of them consumed him too much energy, and the time for worry could only be moved to the evening.
He still insisted on going home, but Zhou Hui and Xu Yueliang still avoided him. At the beginning, Tang Xi would come to open the door and talk to him in a low voice for a while, but one day later, he knocked on the door for a long time, but no one opened it. When he turned the door with the key and entered, he was greeted by a loud closing sound.
Xu Tangxi stood in the living room, looking at him a little aggrieved.
Xu Tangcheng understood what Zhou Hui and Xu Yueliang meant, and he didn't go back after that. He just contacted Xu Tangxi on the phone to find out about the situation at home.
Zhou Hui and Xu Yueliang had a bad life, and Zhou Hui's eyes were always swollen. This fact made Xu Tangcheng even more difficult at night. It's not that YiZhe didn't notice it. He tried every means to help Xu Tangcheng relieve his insomnia, such as warming milk, calming the nerves and nourishing the brain, massage before going to bed, telling stories... He even tried to learn the lullaby, but it seems that Neither one worked.
Until one day, Xu Tangcheng accidentally broke the glass at home because his hand was suddenly numb and cold, and was forcibly dragged by Yi Zhe to the hospital for examination. The doctor's diagnosis was neurasthenia, and if it is serious or not, it is really nothing. Xu Tangcheng knew his own situation, but he didn't feel anything, but Yi Zhe was silent for a whole night.
A month later, when Xu Tangcheng saw Xu Tangxi again, she suddenly ran to the door of his company. The little girl lost weight, and the tip of her nose was red from the cold. It was already nine o'clock in the evening. Seeing her, Xu Tangcheng quickly bid farewell to his colleagues who came out with him and ran over.
"Why did you come here?" Xu Tangcheng became anxious after touching her cold face, "I just caught a cold a while ago, and you haven't been neat. Why are you running and freezing? It's been a while since you waited. ?"
"Not long." Xu Tangxi was normal when he said these three words, but after he finished speaking, he suddenly burst into tears.
Colleagues in the back saw this situation, they were afraid of what happened, so they kindly came to ask. Xu Tangcheng surrounded Xu Tangxi and waved to them: "It's okay, my sister."
Xu Tangxi also realized his gaffe, quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and buried his head very low.
Xu Tangcheng took Xu Tangxi home, called Yi Zhe and asked him to pack an extra meal.
"Tell me, what's the matter with you, you sneaked out of the house?" Xu Tangcheng asked, leaning against the dining table after putting down the phone.
Xu Tangxi held a cup of hot water, took a sip, and nodded.
"Hurry up and call home, what should my parents be anxious about?"
Xu Tangxi listened and shook his head: "I didn't bring my cell phone."
"You really..."
Putting the education aside, Xu Tangcheng hurriedly sent a message to Xu Yueliang, telling him that Xu Tangxi was with him and would send her back tomorrow.
"You quarreled with your parents?"
At the beginning, Xu Tangxi didn't speak, but when Xu Tangcheng started walking towards her, she choked and said, "I just want to persuade them... You haven't been home for so long, don't they miss you? I don't I understand, you didn't kill people and set fire to them, is it really because of this that you won't be allowed to go home for the rest of your life?"
At the age of early twenties, there are many things that I do not understand, understand, and accept. Xu Tangxi asked, "What's the point, for men and women, as long as you live well?"
"You think so, they don't think so." Xu Tangcheng didn't dare to let Xu Tangxi cry, he patted her on the back, trying to calm her down, "How traditional is our family's concept, you didn't realize it since you were young. Are you there? You have to go home during the festivals. I said that I went to the south for the New Year, but my parents refused. My cousin got divorced.
"No one can accept it from the beginning," Xu Tangxi raised his head and looked at him stubbornly, "Everyone has something they can't accept, but at least try it, I just thought about it all night. Want to understand. But they are not, they don't accept it, their thinking is old and stubborn, and they directly convict people without a chance to speak."
At this point, Xu Tangcheng has basically understood Xu Tangxi's thoughts. She is really on her side, hoping that her parents can understand her. But I always felt that I was right, and before I knew it, I would gradually become angry in such a confrontation.
"Think about it, my parents are in their fifties, and it's really hard for them to change their ideas for so many years." Xu Tangcheng pulled out the stool and sat beside Xu Tangxi, "We can't use our ideas to make decisions. Measure them because they are different from the environment we grew up in. Although we can't say how open the environment around us is now, we are indeed provided with opportunities to learn about open minds in some ways. But in them In these cultures that I have been exposed to, there has always been only marriage, childbirth, and family building, and no one has told them that same-sex love can be loved. They have never heard of it, let alone seen it.”
Xu Tangxi's fingers have been digging at the outer wall of the cup. After Xu Tangcheng finished speaking, she wanted to refute, but found that she had nothing to say.
"Most people are ordinary. You can't ask them to create something out of nothing and create their own ideas. So I said I can understand them." Xu Tangcheng stretched out his hand and stroked Xu Tangxi's messy ponytail, "Put the environment The lack of culture is entirely attributable to the backwardness of the individual's thinking, which I think is harsh."
Xu Tangxi's eyes flickered, he bit his lip and didn't speak.
Xu Tangcheng stopped for a while and asked Xu Tangxi, "Do you think so?"
"Is this always the case?" This is an admission that what Xu Tangcheng said is reasonable, but the little girl is not reconciled and is still arguing, "Always communicate, if you don't go home, they won't give in. Parents have lost a lot of weight. , you see there is no flesh on your face..."
"I don't know what to do, but let's do it now. Wait for the New Year," Xu Tangcheng said with a wry smile, "My parents probably didn't tell the uncle and the others about this. I always have to go home during the New Year, and they probably won't either. Oppose it, otherwise the rest of the family will not be able to say it. Tang Xi, I don't really want to force them to accept it, so don't force them either. Listen to me, take care of your parents, and don't let them hurt their bodies because of this."
Xu Tangxi was quiet for a long time, and finally took a breath and said, "Okay."