After the people left, the surroundings became extremely quiet. The only sound was the strong wind hitting the windows. The white glass was covered with fog, and raindrops fell along the glass, as if they were weeping.
He leaned his head against the wall and slowly slid down to sit down. Ban Sheng turned his palm over and found a blood mark on it. Blood kept pouring out, which was shocking. But he didn't feel any pain at all.
Ban Sheng picked up his phone, found the familiar number and dialed it. There was a cold "beep" sound from the receiver. After a while, the phone switched to a gentle female voice, "Sorry, no one answered the number you dialed..."
Fight again, still the same.
With a "bang", the phone was smashed against the wall. The black body fell to the ground along the wall, and the screen film was broken into pieces.
Ban Sheng closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembled, everything was dark, and his eyes were filled with pain of being torn into pieces.
After a period of silence, there was a sound not far away, as if a figure was walking towards him. Ban Sheng's ears moved, and he opened his eyes alertly. He was stunned for a moment when he saw the person in front of him clearly.
Lin Weixia knelt down on one knee in front of him, opened the small medical kit beside her, her long eyelashes drooped like thin butterfly wings, and spoke softly:
"The aunt downstairs said you were injured, so she gave me a medical kit and left early."
Aunt Qin also said that on days like today, Ban Sheng usually just wanted to be alone, so they had to leave first. But Lin Weixia didn't choose to say this, and she consciously didn't ask why she didn't see Ban Sheng's family during her two visits to his house.
Lin Weixia unscrewed the iodine cover, raised her face, and leaned towards Ban Sheng with a cotton swab to apply to the wound on his face. When she got a little closer, she could smell the choking smell of tobacco on him. His high nose under the shadow was like a meticulous painting, with ups and downs.
Her fingers accidentally touched the skin on his face, scalding it so much that Lin Weixia's hands trembled, and semen dripped onto her cheek with a "pop" sound. She couldn't tell whether it was cold or hot, and Ban Sheng opened his eyelids and looked at her.
"I heard that today is your birthday." Lin Weixia looked away and quickly wiped the blood off his face.
Ban Sheng took a quick look and saw that Lin Weixia was wearing a white sweater today, with a slightly larger red velvet bow pinned to her long black hair. She had rosy lips and white teeth, and looked quite well-behaved at the moment, not as cold and distant as usual, which made people want to bully her.
Ban Sheng raised his hand and grasped hers. His broad palm wrapped around her tender flesh. His palm was very cold. Lin Weixia's heart sank and when she looked up, she met a pair of deep eyes.
“I don’t celebrate my birthday.”
Lin Weixia nodded, and Ban Sheng let her go, slumped down, and leaned against the wall. Lin Weixia applied the medicine to him and put the medicine box back downstairs.
The aunt had already left, and the whole building was empty. Half an hour ago, Ban Sheng had called out to chase people away, and Lin Weixia ran into the aunt as she was leaving with her folding umbrella downstairs.
The aunt smiled and walked up to her, handing her the medicine box. "Classmate, I heard from the young master that your name is Wei Xia, right? Can you help aunt deliver the medicine and watch him treat his wound?"
Lin Weixia didn't reach out to take it, and said in a distant voice: "Sorry, I have to leave."
Just as she took two steps, her aunt stopped her and explained, "Today is the young master's birthday. Every year on this day he goes out and comes back with injuries all over his body. He won't say anything when asked, and won't let anyone come up to him. He locks himself in his room."
"You are the first girl he brought home. He never gets close to others. Can you do me a favor? Go and apply the medicine to him, and he won't lose his temper."
"If Ah Sheng did anything wrong, Auntie would like to apologize to you on his behalf."
…
The sound of rain hitting the glass brought Lin Weixia back to her senses. She put the medicine box back to its place and went back to the second floor. She found that the lights in the living room had dimmed and the room had been turned into movie-watching mode.
Ben Sheng was watching TV with his waist slightly hunched and eyebrows lowered, holding the remote control in his hand. The TV was playing "Game of Thrones". A sharp sword on the projection screen happened to scratch his face, but his face had no expression.
Lin Weixia walked over, sat down next to him, and watched TV quietly with him.
The two watched an episode and a half of TV together, hardly talking. With the sound of wind and rain outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the atmosphere was unexpectedly harmonious.
"Which character do you like in Game of Thrones?" Lin Weixia looked at the screen intently, her eyelashes very long when she opened her eyes.
Ban Sheng raised his eyebrows, but instead of answering directly, he asked, "What about you?"
"Arya, she's very brave."
Xing had been sitting for too long. Ban Sheng leaned back on the sofa, stretched his long neck, and answered her question: "I don't like any of them very much. The characters in them are all tragic. If I have to pick one, it would be the little devil."
On a cold day, Ben opened a can of beer, and with a "pop" sound, white foam gushed out instantly. His expression was gloomy, and a sarcastic arc appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"He was born a mistake."
Indeed, the audience of this drama knows that the little devil's mother died in childbirth because of his dystocia, and he grew up in the hatred and ridicule of his sister. His father personally sent him to the trial and wanted him to die. Everyone in King's Landing feared him, but also hated his greed, lust and hypocrisy.
"But in my opinion, he is greedy, lustful, and cynical. When facing the manipulation of power, the little devil is pretending to be kind. When facing the prejudice of the world and the hatred of his relatives, although he is a dwarf, he has always lived bravely. He recognizes the truth of life but still lives well." Lin Weixia said quietly while looking at the screen.
Ban Sheng chuckled, tilted his head back and took a sip of cold beer, then asked her, "Have you finished reading it?"
Lin Weixia shook her head: "I didn't watch it on TV. I finished reading the original novel A Song of Ice and Fire."
If Ban Sheng remembered correctly, the original novel was five volumes thick, and the relationships between the characters were intricate and complex. He raised his eyes and looked at her: "You can finish it too."
“Because I didn’t have many friends before.”
Lin Weixia thought of something and looked out the window. The shadows of the trees outside were no longer swaying. She suddenly stood up and said, "The rain has stopped. I'm leaving."
The sofa beside her swelled up immediately because she stood up. Ban Sheng's eyes moved and he raised his hand to hold her wrist. Lin Weixia turned around and met his eyes. Ban Sheng looked at her from bottom to top, but his words were strong:
"Didn't you promise to have dinner with me and leave after eating?"
At the same time, Lin Weixia's phone buzzed. She took it out and unlocked the screen. It was a text message from her aunt: "How was it? Did you eat with him?" Xia Xia, you have to thank him. He is a great benefactor to our family.
Although they were going to have a meal, the aunt left earlier. Ban Sheng, the young master, just buried himself on the sofa, drinking and watching TV, with no intention of eating anything.
Lin Weixia had no choice but to open the refrigerator door of Ban Sheng's house and prepare to cook for the "benefactor" her aunt mentioned, but she found that all the ingredients inside were empty. Instead, there was half a bag of dumplings that her aunt had previously wrapped. She suddenly remembered.
Today is the winter solstice.
In the kitchen, Lin Weixia stood in front of the integrated stove and turned on the switch. The blue flames ignited, reflecting on a pair of amber eyes. The cold water in the pot gradually began to boil, and the dumplings were put into the pot, and their bellies turned up in an instant.
White wisps of smoke came out from the gap in the pot lid. Lin Weixia was cutting vegetables with her head down. She looked serious and she didn't even notice when Ban Sheng came in and was leaning against the door, staring at her.
Until the cell phone in Lin Weixia's pocket kept ringing, Ban Sheng walked over and took it out.
Lin Weixia couldn't free her hands and originally wanted to let Ban Sheng answer the phone. She glanced casually and when she saw the caller, she subconsciously stood on tiptoe to grab the phone.
Unfortunately, Ban Sheng was more observant, and took advantage of his height to raise his hand and clicked to answer the call. The boy stood behind her, his chest almost touching her back. He held the phone, leaned down slightly, and put the receiver against Lin Weixia's ear, and a faint smell of tobacco came from it.
The warm fingertips inadvertently rubbed the white and tender tip of the ear.
Lin Weixia's ears slowly began to burn.
He definitely did it on purpose.
At the same time, Liu Sijia's usual high-pitched voice came over: "Hello."
Lin Weixia didn't know whether to advance or retreat. She froze and dared not move. She was trapped in a small space by Ban Sheng. If she moved the slightest, she would bump into the hard chest behind her.
"What are you doing?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the person behind him clenched his fist and coughed lightly to suppress the sound. He reached out and threw the soup spoon on the sink, and the spoon hit the marble with a "bang" sound.
"Is there someone on your side?" Liu Sijia asked vigilantly.
Lin Weixia blurted out: "Promise to have dinner with someone."
Lin Weixia regretted it right after she finished speaking. She didn't want to lie to Liu Sijia, and she didn't think Ban Sheng was a good friend. She just used someone to refer to him. But she found that the three words "someone" sounded more ambiguous.
There is a kind of welcoming feeling that seems to want to say something but cannot.
The temperature behind her ears was getting higher and higher. She didn't know if her hearing was wrong, but Lin Weixia heard a very light sneer behind her.
The next second, Liu Sijia said in a teasing tone: "Oh~ You have someone you like."
"No." Lin Weixia denied.
There was a "click" sound of a gun igniting from the other end of the phone. Liu Sijia seemed to be lighting a cigarette on the other end of the phone, and her tone was more depressed than ever before:
"Bansheng rejected me. I don't know how long I can hold on."
"I wish he could like me one percent as much as I like him."
"Zheng Zhaoxing confessed his love to me today, that idiot. I just want to be Ban Sheng's girlfriend."
The atmosphere seemed to suddenly cool down. The water in the pot kept boiling after the dumplings were boiled. Lin Weixia bent down to turn off the fire and finally found an excuse to get away. Her eyes became clear again:
"Wait a little longer."
There was only one light on the dining table. The two of them sat face to face and began to eat dumplings. It began to rain outside the window again. The TV was still on. From time to time, the sound of cold weapons clashing could be heard. The old man's script made it impossible to guess who would be the next to die.
Neither of them said much. In fact, the dumplings were a little overcooked, but Ban Sheng had a big appetite. He ate one bowl after another, and pushed his chopsticks down. Ban Sheng didn't pay attention or look carefully. He lowered his head and took a bite, and the taste of the runny poached egg overflowed between his lips and teeth.
Ban Sheng looked at Lin Weixia.
Lin Weixia picked up a poached egg from the bowl with chopsticks and said, "One for each person."
"Happy winter solstice."
"The Winter Solstice is a day worth celebrating." Lin Weixia looked at him with her eyes open and said.
Ban Sheng's originally calm eyes changed, and he suddenly lowered his head and laughed. He sat lazily, but the expression on his face did not seem to be joking. He looked at her and slowly spoke:
"Lin Weixia, you only make me like you more."
"I'm going to chase you."