When Tan Yiming hurried back to the table after closing the account, he was sensitive to find that the atmosphere between Xiang Gu and Yao Yin was a bit strange.
Just now, the two of them were friendly and harmonious, but now they are like a pool of stagnant water, even if a cotton flower falls on it, it will sink to the bottom.
If Tan Yiming took a closer look, he would find that Xiang Guai had the words "guilty of being a thief" written on his face, while Yao Yin had a playful look on his face, as if he knew something interesting.
"It's getting late." Tan Yiming pulled Xiang Guai, "We're going home."
He acted like a second-year middle-aged man who deliberately showed off, and his emphasis was on "home".
"Home" is a very wonderful word, and every time you read this sound, the corners of everyone's mouth will involuntarily be pulled apart to form an expression similar to a smile.
Tan Yiming likes this title. Before Xiang Gu came in, it was just a house that required him to repay the loan every month, but now Xiang Gu has filled it with white roses, spider plants, ceramic mugs, and old dancing shoes to let him became a "home".
Now, he and Xiang Gu are going home.
Tan Yiming deliberately held Xiang Guai's hand in front of Yao Yin. He had already made sufficient psychological preparations. If Xiang Guai was thin-skinned and shook off his hand, he would treat it as "accidental touch". To", absolutely not showing the slightest on the face.
But—Xiang Guai actually took the man's palm back.
Not the usual hand in hand, but interlocking fingers. The boy spread Tan Yiming's fingers with his fingertips, and slowly but firmly integrated the temperature of his palm into Tan Yiming's palm.
Tan Yiming's face remained calm, but if he were to bring a heartbeat engine to him now, the speed of his heart would definitely push human technology a big step forward.
He even wondered if all this was his hallucination, he subconsciously tightened his fingers, squeezed Xiang Gu's little hand, and then squeezed again.
Xiang Gu's response was to hold him back with heavier force.
Palm to palm, pulse to pulse. Tan Yiming felt that his soul was filled at this moment, and he had never been as satisfied as he was now.
Tan Yiming didn't know why Xiang Guai, who had been hesitant before, accepted his offer so suddenly; he also didn't know what Xiang Guai and Yao Yin had talked about in the few minutes he left. . But he couldn't think about those things anymore, he just wanted to go home now - go home with his guesses.
Tan Yiming doesn't even remember how he said goodbye to Yao Yin.
He dazedly led Xiang Gu back to the parking lot, and all the way, he held him tightly, like he was holding a beautiful balloon that could fly to the sky at any time.
The snow was getting bigger and bigger, from small pieces of snow at the beginning, to large flakes of snow.
On the way home, many people couldn't help but set off fireworks. Xiang Guess looked out of the car window fascinatedly, and saw those purple, red, and golden fireworks rushing into the sky, penetrating the snow curtain, illuminating the night sky and the road ahead.
And they were driving towards the place where the fireworks rose.
…
The living room was bright.
Tan Yiming went out in a hurry and forgot to turn off the lights in the living room. The hot pot ingredients he prepared in advance were placed on the table, and the vegetables were rinsed one by one and neatly piled on the plate. The mushroom soup base he prepared before going out was still simmering in the stew pot. Now it has jumped to the heat preservation gear, and the whole house is filled with the mellow aroma of thick soup.
All this makes the whole house full of fresh home atmosphere.
Dabao, who was sleeping in the incubator, heard the movement of the door. He opened his eyes lazily and glanced at the two masters. He flicked his long tail and plunged into sleep again.
The two huddled at the entrance to take off their jackets. Xiang Gu was afraid of the cold. The down jacket they bought was full of 80% down, making him look like a fragrant and fluffy bread.
Because of the snow, the soles of both of them were covered in a lot of slush. The white tiled floor was trampled, so Tan Yiming quickly took a mop and wiped it clean.
Xiang Guai walked to the restaurant and saw that the table was full of hot pot ingredients. He thought about the unbearable dinner he had in the restaurant just now, and his heart was churning again.
Xiang Gu asked, "Do you want to put away the dishes on the table?"
Tan Yiming asked him in return, "Have you had your fill in the restaurant just now?"
"..." Xiang Guai blushed and shook his head.
Tan Yiming laughed, and frankly said that he was not full.
But it is very late now. If you eat hot pot now, you will definitely not be able to sleep at night.
So Tan Yiming simply put two strands of dried noodles in the mushroom soup he simmered, served with beef slices, tofu, various fish balls and shrimp balls, and before serving, he grabbed green vegetables and threw them in for decoration... Less than ten years before and after. In minutes, two bowls of steaming supper are ready.
Late at night, the two sat side by side at the dining table, arm rubbing arm, thigh against thigh...
Xiang Gu swears, this is definitely the most delicious bowl of noodles he has ever eaten in his life.
The noodles were very hot, and while he was eating, he whistled in a low voice.
Tan Yiming turned his head to look at him, and gradually, he didn't even bother to eat what was in his bowl.
Tan Yiming knew that this was the life he longed for in his heart.
Xiang Guai knew that Tan Yiming was looking at him. He remembered his bold speech in front of Yao Yin, and the shyness came up again. Xiang Gu didn't dare to look back, so he could only put the noodles into his mouth one by one. His forehead was sweating, and the tips of his ears, cheeks, and even the tip of his nose were red.
Tan Yiming teased him deliberately: "It's so hot?"
"It's not hot." Xiang Guai stammered, "Yes, it's too spicy."
But there is no chilli in the noodles at all. Having only heard that alcohol is not intoxicating, people are self-intoxicating, and Xiang Chai is simply a new generation of idealist philosophers.
After supper, Xiang Chai buried his head and rushed back to his room.
Tan Yiming stopped him and told him to wait.
"I have a gift for you." The man said gently, "It's not something valuable, but I think you should be able to use it."
He took out a large carrying bag, heavy and bulging.
Xiang Guai took a look and unexpectedly found that the entire bag contained bags of Chinese herbal soup in plastic packaging.
Xiang Guai asked at a loss, "What is this? Is it a tonic?"
He feels that he is in good health and does not need to drink Chinese medicine tonic.
"This is not for drinking." Tan Yiming laughed, "Don't you often have cold feet? Where I went on business this time, there is a famous local Chinese pharmacy, and I chatted with the old doctor who was sitting in the hall about you. If you have symptoms, ask him to prescribe some medicine for you. Here are 30 packets, which have been boiled in advance and filtered through the slag. It can be mixed with hot water for feet soaking every night to dispel the cold and strengthen the bones. "
With that said, the man took out a pack of medicinal soup from the bag, jolted it in his hand, and said, "...I don't know your specific illness, the old doctor said, you should try it out for a month, if it doesn't work, he will Adjust the prescription again."
This pack of medicinal soup alone weighs half a catty, and thirty packs cannot be put on a plane at all. Tan Yiming switched to the high-speed train and carried them back purely by physical strength.
Tan Yiming knew clearly that the reason why Xiang Guai had cold feet was related to the criss-crossing scars on his feet. More than a dozen shocking scars covered his skin, and the longest one stretched across his feet. Tan Yiming couldn't imagine what Xiang Gu had experienced.
He could not ask, but he could observe. Xiang Guai was only in his early twenties, but he was extremely afraid of the cold. In summer, even if the air conditioner is turned on a little lower, he has to wear socks. In winter, he even puts two layers of woolen socks under his plush boots.
Like Chai loves dancing, but his feet can't make him a dancer.
Tan Yiming felt sorry for him and pityed him. So the man brought back these traditional Chinese medicine soups from afar, just to relieve the pain on Xiang Guai's feet.
When Xiang Guai first received the gift, there was a vague smirk at the corner of his mouth. But when he understood the effect of these medicinal soups, the smile on the corner of his mouth gradually disappeared.
He stared blankly at the gift in his arms, thirty packets of medicinal soup, thirty hearts that could not be melted, thirty words of unutterable concern and tenderness.
Xiang Gu once thought that he had "looked at" the injury on his foot. His rehabilitation is relatively successful; he has been taking calcium supplements for years; in summer he wears flip-flops like his peers;... He is not as concerned about his foot injuries as he was five years ago. brooding.
But at this second, when he faced these medicinal soups, he seemed to see himself waking up crying on the hospital bed.
It turned out... That fragile and helpless boy never left.
…
Xiang Guai sat on the sofa, his pajama pants rolled up to his calf. He carefully tested the temperature of the water in the basin. It was hot, but comfortable.
He slipped his feet out of the plush slippers and took off his fluffy socks, revealing the pale feet in the light.
The medicinal soup was added to the water in advance, and the dark brown soup turned light brown, and the air was filled with the smell of Chinese medicinal materials.
Tan Yiming squatted beside the water basin, watching Xiang Gu put his scarred feet into the medicinal soup.
"His..." The boy took a breath subconsciously.
"It's hot?" Tan Yiming asked quickly.
"It's a little hot, but it should be fine in a while." Xiang Guai was not used to being stared at by Tan Yiming, he was a little nervous, and his right foot rubbed the instep of his left.
But Tan Yiming misunderstood his actions, "The wound is itchy?"
"How could it be." Xiang Cai was helpless, "This is an old injury from many years ago. Where does it itch? Actually, you don't need to be so nervous, it only hurts when it rains or snows."
This is the sequelae of fractures. Even if the bones grow well, there will be dull pain around the wound when it is cloudy. Especially when a scar like Xiang Guai is pressing on the scar, the pain is like shoving your feet into an ice cave, piercing your heart.
"It's raining, it's snowing..." Tan Yiming murmured.
- It's snowing tonight.
In the eyes of ordinary people, snowing on New Year's Eve is romantic, but for Xiang Guai, it is torture on his feet every second.
Tan Yiming remembered that the previous stage accident in "First Love Wants to Take Advantage of Now", Xiang Gu flew back from Chengdu to Huacheng for emergency. On the day of the landing, it was raining heavily in Hwaseong. Xiang guessed that he didn’t rest for a minute after the theater. After putting on makeup, he hurried on stage, sang and danced for two hours, and the last dance had a very difficult lift…
Tan Yiming asked him, "How did you persevere? Don't you feel pain?"
"It hurts, of course it hurts." Xiang Gu smiled, "But if it hurts a lot, I'll get used to it."
He is like a little mermaid walking on the tip of a knife. He is used to smiling and pain.
Tan Yiming's throat rolled, and a heavy choking sound came out.
"Do you know how many bones there are in a human foot?" The boy lowered his eyes and looked at his feet calmly. He bent down and dipped his palms into the medicinal soup. He asked himself and answered: "26."
The medicinal soup was translucent light brown, and it could be clearly seen that the boy's fingers were slowly resting on the longest scar on his right foot.
Xiang Gu's fingers are pressed against the second metatarsal. "It's broken into three pieces here."
Then the feet. "There are two steel nails here."
Next is the heel. "For a comminuted fracture of the root bone, the doctor just picked the bone residue for a long time."
His hand slowly moved up again and landed on the ankle: "The callus here is very thick, and it stings when the weather is cold."
In the end, he wrapped his hand around his ankle and rubbed the Achilles tendon with his thumb: "I had two surgeries in this position, the first one failed, and the second allowed me to stand up again."
This was the first time he had mentioned that past event to others. He thought he would cry, and his teeth would chatter... But no, not at all.
His tone was calm, calm enough to tell someone else's story.
He talks a lot. He talked about the family full of quarrels, the parents who had gambling debts, the car that hit him and ran over his feet repeatedly.
He used to be the pride of the school, affectionately known as the Little Prince of Ballet by his classmates, but when he woke up from the hospital bed, he lost everything.
That year, Xiang Guai fell from the sky to the bottom of the valley. He was obviously a swan that could soar in the sky, but he forgot how to flap his wings.
Tan Yiming looked at Xiang Chai's face and wanted to wipe his tears for him, but found out that it was himself who was crying.
He was wondering if he had done something wrong, he shouldn't have given this gift hastily, and he shouldn't have brought up the boy's painful memories.
"When I switched to the singing and dancing major, I actually gave up a bit." Xiang Chai said mockingly, "For me who can no longer dance ballet, the singing and dancing major has something to do with dancing, so I settle for the next best thing. chose it."
"But..." Xiang Chai stood up and looked into Tan Yiming's eyes, "You made me realize that sounds can also convey feelings."
The sound of crying, the sound of laughing, the sound of happiness, the sound of pain.
Seventeen-year-old Xiangchai was moved by Wang Qingyun's voice. He fell asleep listening to his voice every night, imitating the tone of his reciting his lines, imitating himself on the stage to perform joys and sorrows.
It was Wang Qingyun who led the young man out of the predicament of his life. He put on his dancing shoes, he auditioned for Billy Elliott, he lost, he accepted his imperfection.
Wang Qingyun brought Guess his first heartbeat. In the lonely years, it may not be true love - but it is the prototype of love.
And now, that egg has hatched.
The boy in ballet shoes has gone through five years. He grew up from a teenager to a young man, he grew from inferiority complex to self-confidence.
He appeared in front of Tan Yiming, and he showed him everything about himself.
And what Xiang Gu wanted was—
"Can you accept me like this?" Xiang Guai asked softly. He lifted his right foot from the cold water basin, and stepped on Tan Yiming's knee, leaving a dark watermark.
Xiang Gu said: "I don't have any family, but I have two or three confidants and countless pairs of dancing shoes. I've been in love, but I can't learn how to manage a relationship. I've been hurt, not just on my feet. , more in the heart."
Xiang Chai added: "I'm actually very impulsive and naive, but sometimes I look forward to the future."
Xiang Chai finally said, "I'm not good at all. I'm not the proud and excellent little swan in your heart at all."
Tan Yiming's answer was to hold up his scarred right foot and kiss it solemnly.
The hot kiss fell on Xiang Chai's toes, and then on his feet and ankles.
He kissed the cascading scars on his feet, the marks left by the torment of the years.
"I love you." Tan Yiming replied, "Of course I love you, all of you."
Tan Yiming fell in love with the little swan flying high in the sky.
—It was Gu Gu who yearned for the sky even though he was covered in dust and fell into the abyss.
The author has something to say: Guess, someone will accompany you in the future.