The self-circulating air in the cabin seemed to be poisonous, making everyone on the plane fall asleep automatically.
Not long after takeoff, Xie Lan put down the small table and fell asleep. He was so sleepy that he didn't even open his eyes when the flight attendant served breakfast.
He could hear the roar of the airplane engine all the time in his ears, and he was in a deep and trance-like state. At one point, he was half asleep and half awake, and he actually felt like he was on a plane back to London.
Xie Lan suddenly became unhappy in his sleep and subconsciously hugged the schoolbag under his head.
I started thinking about how to escape from Xie Jingming's clutches next time.
Until the huge vibration of the plane landing woke him up. He raised his head suddenly and heard a series of mobile phone notification sounds around him.
He was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly woke up from his dream and reached for his cell phone in his pocket.
The moment the signal was restored, a string of messages from Dou Sheng came in, all voice messages.
Xie Lan hurriedly put on his headphones and continued listening.
"I'm asleep. I'm sorry, sorry. The emergency department in the neighboring ward was called several times last night. I and my mom couldn't sleep and didn't fall asleep until after three o'clock."
"I guess you've already taken off. Sleep well on the plane, little Xie Lan."
"We are going to have breakfast now. Mom will have an intramuscular injection later. We will test her blood afterwards. If there is no major problem, she will be discharged from the hospital and go home to rest. Not to mention the liver, even the blood pressure is unstable... Oh, of course, you can't say that. The biochemical test that the doctor recommended yesterday did not show any results, so other diseases cannot be ruled out."
"I chatted with your mom again at midnight yesterday, and then... well, your mom asked me to talk to you later. I guess you'll get off the plane by now."
There were a few short gaps after that, until another one appeared forty minutes ago.
Dou Sheng's tone was very unpleasant this time.
"Xie Lan, what's going on? Why did you put the violin in the room? Did you take Aunt Xiao's notebook? What do you mean?"
"I just finished telling my mom everything. She promised to accompany you to take the exam. Just wait for me."
A threatening tone.
Xie Lan was stunned for a moment. People around him stood up and lined up to get off the plane. He sat in his seat in a daze for a long time and sent a voice message.
"What do you mean? What's Aunt Zhao's attitude?"
Dou Sheng replied within a few seconds of sending the message.
"We are almost at the high-speed rail station. Let's talk about it when we meet in the evening."
"My mother doesn't have any attitude, but you have to make up your mind, Xie Lan."
"?"
Xie Lan sent a voice message: "What's decided? What happened?"
He held his cell phone in his hand and whenever he had a chance, he joined the queue, followed the large group of people off the plane, walked through the jet bridge, and entered the spacious airport.
Just as I followed the crowd to the lobby, Dou Sheng called.
"Fuck, what's the fucking meaning of you putting the violin on the bed? You've lost your fucking memory, what do you want to do? Going to take an exam and not coming back after the exam? Leaving without saying goodbye? I can't figure it out, young man. You're so arrogant all the time, but you start to act miserable at the critical moment, right? I haven't given you the confirmation yet, and you're going to run away?"
Listen to your mother's voice.
Xie Lan was in a trance for a moment. He didn't know whether it was the familiarity of the airport that brought him a sense of space and air, or whether Dou Sheng was speaking really fast.
Anyway, he felt for the first time in a long time that he couldn't keep up with Dou Sheng's conversation.
He frowned and digested it for a long time, grasping the unfamiliar word, "What is a sad drama?"
"What do you mean by saying this? You want to run away!" Dou Sheng's tone was filled with suppressed anger. He had never been angry with Xie Lan before. He gritted his teeth and suppressed his temper helplessly. There were noisy voices all around him. "We're getting into the station. Anyway, just wait!"
Xie Lan was confused.
"Run away?" He responded to Dou Sheng's exasperation with an innocent tone, "Why are you running away? You're here to take the exam, don't you know?"
As soon as he finished speaking, before Dou Sheng could reply, his train of thought suddenly connected with the other key words in the long string he had just spoken.
Xie Lan was stunned and speechless. After a long while, he glanced at the passers-by and whispered, "I left my violin with you. I was afraid Aunt Zhao would get angry. If I'm not at home, you will have to face the collapse of the sky alone... The collapse of the sky and the tsunami? Anyway... Oh, actually, I put the Wutong in your room as well. Did it run away?"
The other end of the line went silent for a moment.
Xie Lan sighed, and then suddenly found it a little funny.
The capital also had blue skies and white clouds, and the wind was warmer than in H City. He followed the large queue to line up for a taxi, "So what did Aunt Zhao say? Did she suddenly agree to let you come?"
"It's not sudden, is it?" Dou Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and muttered, "Let me take it easy first. My blood pressure soared as soon as I got home and played the violin. I almost died. Let me take it easy first."
"Okay." Xie Lan pulled the heavy bag onto his shoulder and couldn't help but say, "But you should use your brain. The violin... well... if I have to go back to London, whether I come back or not, I can't leave it to you. I can't be without it."
Dou Sheng: "…Thank you, I feel comforted."
Xie Lan remained silent for a moment, and suddenly heard Dou Sheng's low laugh from the other end of the line.
Dou Sheng smiled, and he smiled too, unable to tell why. He clearly didn't know Aunt Zhao's reaction, maybe it was because she heard her boyfriend's voice all of a sudden, or maybe it was because the weather in City B was really good, as long as there was enough sunshine, people would never feel uncomfortable.
Xie Lan put his phone in his pocket and listened to the broadcast from Dou Sheng's high-speed railway station through his headphones. Neither of them spoke.
After waiting for a long time, the taxi arrived at Xie Lan's place. Xie Lan got on the driveway and said, "T Northwest Gate."
The master glanced at him through the rearview mirror and said, "Top student, are you going back to school?"
"No, I'm taking an exam." Xie Lan was a little embarrassed, "I'm not a student of T University."
Dou Sheng said in the headset: "Northwest Gate? Aren't you going to check in?"
"It's too late." Xie Lan flipped through the message from He Xiu on his phone, "I'll go take the written test directly, and then check in after the test. He Xiu wants to have dinner with me tonight."
"That's perfect for us." Dou Sheng said, "Please tell the senior to come and add me. Are you taking the exam in the Mathematics Building?"
Xie Lan nodded, "When you have finished all the exams here, I will send you the location of the restaurant."
"That's fine." Dou Sheng said.
The car is already running.
The airport highway in City B is very beautiful, with large patches of small flowers blooming all around. The light purple petals droop tenderly, and the tender yellow stamens are full of vitality. When the car windows are rolled down, a breeze brings in a gust of fragrance.
Xie Lan described the flower to Dou Sheng in the headset in a low voice. After listening, Dou Sheng smiled and said, "I know, it seems to be called February Orchid. I used to think the name of this flower was rustic, but maybe because you returned to China in February, now when you hear February, it doesn't seem so rustic anymore. I feel... I can't explain it, but I just feel something different in my heart."
Xie Lan hummed softly into the wind.
After a few minutes, Dou Sheng became quiet. I guess he went to check his ticket and entered the carriage.
Then he whispered, "Your mother kept questioning you yesterday. Actually, you had thought about it several times before, but you didn't think it was reliable. You were almost scared when you bumped into me yesterday. At first, she was very unhappy and said that you were selfish and irresponsible. She thought that you were ignorant and were led astray by me. Anyway, she kept blaming you and felt sorry for your mother."
Xie Lan was stunned when he heard this, "Is that what your mother thinks?"
"Well, anyway, I think my own son is outrageous. He is worthy of being called a father." Dou Sheng sighed, somewhat speechless.
Thousands of kilometers away, Xie Lan seemed to be able to see the indifferent look on his face as he curled the corners of his mouth.
Xie Lan then asked, "What happened next?"
"Later..." Dou Sheng hesitated for a moment, "The hospital was very noisy yesterday. The patient in the next ward seemed to be dying, and the one in the same room had a dispute with his family. Anyway, we couldn't sleep. I told you about the video of you when I was a kid. Well... I exaggerated a little bit, anyway, I made myself look pretty miserable. Your mother felt sorry for you, so she was willing to listen to your detailed account of the cause and effect of our relationship. I have to tell you, all those things were nonsense. In the end, I had to lie to you to keep you calm for a while."
Xie Lan's heart tightened all of a sudden, "What little lie? It's such a bad time, you're lying?"
Speaking of this, Dou Sheng suddenly became hesitant.
"Speak." Xie Lan was anxious, so anxious that she wished she could travel back to H City and grab her boyfriend's neck and shake him.
Dou Sheng hesitated for a while and hissed, "After we had a heart-to-heart talk yesterday, I feel that your mother can actually accept it, and you are not a closed-minded person. But I am afraid that we will mess around without knowing what we want and waste our lives. I am especially afraid that you will lead you astray, you are so innocent... Anyway, the psychological pressure on me is not ordinary, you understand?"
Xie Lan nodded repeatedly, "Yeah."
"So the key to this matter is to make you understand that no matter whether we are together or not, your and my sexual orientation is the same. This is not a sudden impulse. Even if we break up, we won't fall in love with girls separately." Dou Sheng hesitated, "But this matter... I have to persuade you. You know, it's easier to prove than to disprove, so I'll just do it."
"Please speak frankly!" Xie Lan couldn't help but say, "You are saying this to a half-English person whose Chinese is so rubbish. Are you asking him to do some reading comprehension?"
As soon as he said this, he looked at the driver in the rearview mirror, coughed, and shrank back into his seat.
"Just tell me straight." He whispered while picking up his phone, "Please, just tell me straight."
Dou Sheng cleared his throat forcefully.
"I had no choice but to tell my mother, then..."
Xie Lan was confused from the bottom of his heart. He simply couldn't imagine anything in the world that would make Dou Sheng so hesitant.
After a long pause, Dou Sheng said, "Your mother pressed me too hard, and I couldn't think of a better story. I can only say that I have always liked men and have been with someone for several years. After you returned to China, you...ah, you also fell in love with him. We were unhappy at first because of my cousin, so I just told my mother that it was because of that someone's jealousy. Later, we got to know each other better, so I just let go of that someone and we got together."
"?"
Xie Lan was confused.
This is even more complicated than the most complicated question I have ever asked.
He was dumbfounded for a long time, not caring about the driver's weird look, "Wait! I don't understand, how many people are there in this story?"
"Let's call it four, or three. Anyway, it's me, the current you, the former you S, just a tool person... let's call you A." Dou Sheng patiently helped him sort it out, "I have been with A for six years, and I have admired S on the Internet for four years. When you just returned to China, I fell in love with A, and we had a lot of unpleasantness because of this. But suddenly one day, I found out that you were S, so I dropped A and liked you instead, and started to pursue you. After being influenced, you no longer liked A, so we were together."
Xie Lan's IQ continued to rise as he spoke on the phone.
The people who went out with him lost his calm and his sanity value dropped sharply.
Dou Sheng hesitated for a while, "Do you understand? In fact, this story is very consistent with the real situation. The only change is the addition of an instrumental variable a. If you remove a, isn't it the original fact? Hey, putting it this way suddenly makes me feel that it is not a lie. When doing research, we also need to add instrumental variables. Anyway..."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Xie Lan didn't understand what he heard, but he was shocked. "So who is A? We've been together for six years... Can you make this up? Can Aunt Zhao believe it?"
"Yes...ah." Dou Sheng paused, "The one I edited is Dai You."
"?"
Dou Sheng was silent for a long time. "That makes sense. Dai You is the smartest one. I didn't even have time to inform him. My mother called him on the spot to ask about it, and he actually only hesitated for a short while."
Xie Lan's heart suddenly clenched, "What did he say?"
"He said... He said to me through the speakerphone, damn, it's been so long since the incident, why are you still complaining to your mom?"
There was an awkward silence on both sides of the phone.
After a long time, Dou Sheng sighed.
"You are such a piece of shit." He sighed, "But this is also to let your mother understand our current situation as soon as possible. When you recover and your mood stabilizes, I will kneel down and apologize to you."