Can You Hear Me

Chapter 32: quicksand

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Halfway through the meal, Lin Sen suddenly ordered a half dozen beers. Three glasses were brought over. He opened the beer, and the beige hops flowed into the glasses.

Lin Sen brought the wine to Lin Weixia and asked with a smile: "Would you like to try it? It tastes quite good."

There was a boy wearing a baseball cap sitting next to me. His face was not visible, only half of his sharp jawline was exposed. He didn't order anything, just a pot of tea. He was drinking the tea leisurely. When he heard the words, his hand holding the teacup tightened, and the veins on his slender arms bulged.

"I'm allergic to alcohol." Lin Weixia said.

Lin Sen smiled gently and did not force her. He drank by himself. By the end, he was a little drunk. Lin Weixia breathed a sigh of relief and turned to talk to Liu Sijia:

"Scarlett, I need to tell you something."

Liu Sijia was sipping mung bean soup. She looked up and was startled by Lin Weixia's gaze. Her eyes were like glass beads, very bright and revealing a calmness, as if she was ready to say something important to her.

"I have something to tell you too." Liu Sijia threw the spoon into the bowl with a bang.

"What do you think of him?" Liu Sijia raised her chin towards Lin Sen who was sitting across from her. She supported her chin with her fingers tapping her cheek unconsciously. "His family is very rich. Although he is a nouveau riche, he is a good match for you. He is also good-looking."

"I-"

Lin Weixia was about to say no when Lin Sen came over and smiled at her. He was drunk and his alcoholic breath filled her face as he spoke:

"Student Lin, how about I perform a magic trick for you?"

"Need not."

Lin Weixia refused, but he still came closer to her, put his hands on her shoulders, took out a bank card from his pocket and threatened to perform magic for her.

Lin Sen was drunk, and the smell coming from his body was extremely stinky. Wherever he touched, Lin Weixia felt as if a poisonous snake was crawling across her body, and she struggled instinctively.

Facing Lin Sen's verbal and physical harassment, Liu Sijia pushed him hard and continued to lobby: "Xia Xia, he goes crazy when he gets drunk, don't take it to heart."

"But what do you think of him? I specially arranged this party today. I think he is a good candidate for development..."

Liu Sijia's lips were opening and closing, and with the stench emanating from Lin Sen, Lin Weixia gradually could not hear her voice clearly. Her tinnitus came back, and her right ear was buzzing with a sharp sound. She subconsciously covered her ears.

With a "bang", a teacup flew straight over and hit the back of Lin Sen's hand that was on Lin Weixia. The boy immediately let go of his hand in pain.

The teacup hit the ground next to his hand, made a "bang" sound, and immediately broke into pieces.

"Who is it! Who is the psychopath?" Liu Sijia stood up suddenly.

Sure enough, nothing good ever happens in this shabby street.

Liu Sijia looked in the direction she was looking at. At the table two tables away from them, there was a boy wearing a black baseball cap with his back to them. He was slightly hunched over, with the ridge in the middle of his back raised and his head and neck straight.

It looks a little familiar.

The boy stood up slowly and walked towards them. His dark brows beneath the brim of his hat contained a murderous look. He slowly raised his head and gently turned his wrist.

It’s Ban Sheng.

Liu Sijia felt a panic in her heart and subconsciously took a step back.

Lin Sen knew at first glance that the other person was not a good person. But there was nothing to be afraid of. He had seen and played with children from wealthy families doing both extraordinary and inappropriate things.

Lin Sen took off his glasses, and the back of his hand turned red, which soon turned purple, causing him to feel excruciating pain whenever he exerted the slightest force.

"Are you looking for death? Are you sick?" Lin Sen rushed over.

As soon as the man rushed in front of him, Ban Sheng stretched out a hand to intercept the other's arm, his eyes remained sharp, and twisted his hand back. He didn't even blink, and with a "click", the sound of Lin Sen's wrist bone being dislocated could be clearly heard within the range of their table.

"Ahh—" Lin Sen was stretched over by Ban Sheng, with his left hand tied behind his back, unable to move. His whole face turned the color of liver because of the pain.

"Ban Sheng!" Liu Sijia frowned, "Let him go."

Liu Sijia's words had no effect on Ban Sheng at all.

Ban Sheng dragged him forward like a dog, and Lin Sen yelled, attracting many guests to watch. Ning Chao was helping people open beer, and greeted them in a sophisticated way: "It's okay, eat without worry."

Lin Weixia's tinnitus hadn't healed yet, so she sat there covering her ears. The scene was in chaos, and Ban Sheng dragged Lin Sen to a corner, took off his watch, grabbed his collar and threw him against the wall, and the glasses man's screams never stopped.

When he got tired of beating, he started kicking people instead. Ban Sheng kicked him expressionlessly while speaking slowly:

"Did you enjoy touching her?"

"Dare to touch me," Ban Sheng patted his face, a cruel look flashed across his face, and then he lifted him and slammed him against the wall, and slowly spoke:

"If you're tired of living, just say so."

Liu Sijia knew who Ban Sheng was. If he continued to go crazy, he would definitely beat Lin Sen to death. She looked anxious and went to find Ning Chao who was busy: "Tell him to stop."

"How could I have that ability?" Ning Chao was eating the skewers with an indifferent attitude.

"Just think of it as something I owe you!"

Liu Sijia pushed Ning Chao, and he happened to be holding pepper powder in his hand. When she pushed him so hard, his shoulder subconsciously tilted to the side, and his hand shook, spilling half a can of pepper powder, ruining the dish of grilled meat for the customer.

Ning Chao gritted his teeth and was about to scold her, but when he saw Liu Sijia's red eyes, he suddenly lost his temper and whispered:

"I owed you in my last life."

Ning Chao lit a cigarette and went around to the back of the food stall to persuade Ban Sheng, saying calmly, "That's enough. If we make a big fuss, it will be hard to end it."

Just as Ban Sheng was about to raise his hand and let it fall, Ning Chao's words easily hit his vital point:

"Aren't you going to check on my deskmate? When I first came over, I thought she had some discomfort in her ears."

Ban Sheng really stopped and followed Ning Chao back to the food stall. He walked up to Lin Weixia, grabbed her arm and was about to take her away.

Ban Shengxu put his arm around Lin Weixia. The boy's broad shoulders formed a safe shadow that trapped the girl. He held her arm.

The treasured actions and nervous eyes immediately hurt Liu Sijia.

He didn't even look at her.

Liu Sijia shouted at the backs of the two people who were about to leave: "Lin Weixia, don't you have anything to say to me?"

The slender figure paused for a moment, and Lin Weixia turned back, her eyes revealing calmness and alienation: "I have nothing to tell you."

Lin Weixia had never looked at herself like this before. No matter how cold she was to others, she always looked at Liu Sijia with tolerance and extreme tenderness.

"Really? Then what is this?"

Liu Sijia walked up and pulled the keychain on her right hand hard, but Lin Weixia pressed her thumb against the corner of the little dinosaur's tail and refused to give in.

The two of them were pulling hard, their fingers turned white, and red blood welled up on the backs of their hands from the excessive force.

The two girls looked straight at each other. They were almost the same height, the wind blew their hair, and neither of them was willing to give in.

From a distance, it looked like just two girls holding hands.

Not knowing who let go first, Liu Sijia took out her phone from her pocket, logged into Weibo, and found Cheng Wusuan's personal homepage. The screen was directly in front of her and asked:

"Explain it."

What Lin Weixia was confronted with was a group photo of friends’ gathering updated by Wu Suan on Weibo. In the photo, Ban Sheng only showed half of his profile, and he was as nonchalant as usual. He didn’t even bother to look at the camera, while others were making funny gestures.

Just as Liu Sijia was about to like this Weibo post, she noticed that there was a small dinosaur pattern on the baseball cap that Ban Sheng was wearing.

In a flash, Liu Sijia remembered the little dinosaur pendant on Lin Weixia's phone. Oh, it turned out to be a pair.

Lin Weixia looked at her and said, "I'm telling you this today, Scarlett, you don't give me a chance."

Today she had been wanting to tell Liu Sijia about the agreement she had made with Ban Sheng.

Liu Sijia's expression froze, her eyes turned red, and her jawline tightened to look fierce:

"Do you think I don't know how many times you've hooked up behind my back? Do you think I'm a clown? It was obviously me who knew him first!"

Ban Sheng was lowering his neck and raising his hand to wipe off the dark red blood on the back of his other hand. Hearing this, he sneered. It was unclear whether he was laughing at the first half of her sentence or the second half.

What started the discovery

Ban Sheng sent her home, Lin Weixia went to his house to practice piano, and there was also the time with the sports equipment... Did you think she didn't know

Every time Ban Sheng's eyes lingered on Lin Weixia, as long as their eyes met, no matter how flamboyantly she dressed or what kind of cool perfume she sprayed, Ban Sheng would not turn his head.

When they walked together, Lin Weixia's snow-white wrist would turn red, and Liu Sijia's eyes would sting a little.

He pulled it.

He touched her.

For such a long time, she felt like the character in the fable in the Chinese textbook who covered his ears while trying to steal the bell.

In fact, everyone knows

She was the only one who pretended not to know.

Liu Sijia seemed to be out of control. She kept pushing her shoulders and talking, "You came to Shenzhen High School. Who brought you into the circle of A students? Do you think that without my consent, you can still live a peaceful and glorious school life like now? In Shenzhen High School, I always drag you along in everything. I asked the aunt to make lunch boxes for two, bought gifts for you, and introduced boys to you. No one except you received this kind of treatment here. What is friendship to you? Are you being gullible, Lin Weixia?"

Raindrops hit her face, causing pain. Lin Weixia let her push it away. Her right shoulder ached, and her fingernails dug into her flesh, causing her to frown. In the silence and the noise, she finally spoke:

"I won't be angry no matter what you do to me, because I regard you as my friend. But you don't, Scarlett. I am not good at sports at all, and I don't want to join the basketball club. I like playing the cello very much, but my family is not well off and my family strongly opposes it. So when the school has free clubs, I want to join the cello club the most.

"I don't just like to read detective novels."

"My phone is always on for you. Whenever you encounter something and call me in the middle of the night to talk, I will answer the phone no matter how late it is, even if it's just a small matter. But when I call you because I need you, you won't answer the phone if you have something else to do. I'll postpone it until the next time when you have time to listen, but my emotions have already passed."

There are always many things in life. Sometimes when negative emotions come up and I feel at a loss, I subconsciously want to find the good girl around me.

I hope she will say: Weixia, don’t be sad, let’s go out and play together tomorrow.

It’s just like this, but she is never there when I need her. The phone is either not connected or she just replies perfunctorily: I’m outside.

Lin Weixia has always been calm and composed. Even when she is angry, she chooses to express herself in a gentle tone. But this time, the more she spoke, the more her voice trembled, like a patient with tonsillitis. Her throat hurt with every word she spoke.

"The relationship between us is not equal. Even if you introduce me to a boyfriend today, you think he is more than worthy of a deaf person from a family like mine. You have the upper hand in our friendship, and you have always been staring at me in this relationship."

Liu Sijia stood there in a daze. She didn't expect that when she called in the middle of the night, the girl's gentle and tired voice always made her feel at ease, but she didn't expect that it also contained complaints.

Why don't you say it

Why have you been tolerating

But the anger and pride in my heart that I had been deceived by was like a torrent, and now I was filled with dissatisfaction. Liu Sijia's eyes were red:

"I forgot to tell you that the spot in the last poetry writing competition was mine. I gave it to you out of pity for you! Do you really think you can get it by yourself?"

“It’s ridiculous.”

At that time, Liu Sijia was the recommended candidate for the competition from the beginning. Later, Old Liu found her with an embarrassed look on his face and said that Lin Weixia had also recommended herself for this opportunity, and the class teacher asked her to choose.

Compared to Lin Weixia, he couldn't afford to offend a child from a family like Liu Sijia's.

Liu Sijia chose to withdraw without hesitation, leaving this opportunity to Lin Weixia. She knew that she was short of money and wanted to get the bonus, and she knew that she wanted to rely on herself.

Liu Sijia hopes she can live a good life.

Lin Weixia was stunned, her heart filled with bitter emotions, like a balloon filled with water that kept sinking, her voice choked for a moment:

"I saw you cut my cello strings on the day of the cello concert."

"Believe it or not, I'm jealous of you."

Liu Sijia was stunned, with disbelief in her eyes. After saying these words, Lin Weixia slowly stood up and walked forward with her back to Liu Sijia. The ripples on her face disappeared, and her cold face returned to its usual calmness.

Lin Weixia was thinking about what she had just said to Liu Sijia.

I hate Liu Sijia for making requests in a condescending manner, and I will agree to them unconditionally.

Jealous of Liu Sijia's blatant coquettishness with others, doing whatever she wants, and everyone will compromise.

Envy her character is the opposite of hers, and she makes no secret of her ambition.

I want to be her, live freely and at ease, and pursue my dreams willfully.

Pretending not to see that she cut her own strings, she pushed the blame onto others and cooperated with her.

Because we are good friends,

No matter how much I complain, I still want to protect her in front of others.

A good friend is—

Liu Sijia has many shortcomings and small flaws, so I really shouldn't tolerate her next time. But when I occasionally hear others say something bad about her, I can't help but argue.

I am the only one who can tell about her shortcomings and bad temper.

None of you can.

Friendship between girls is complicated. Sometimes it is full of competition, and you may hate something she did today. Sometimes it is just simple friendship, and you may want to go out to eat together and use couple items.

When did it start to become like this? This friendship is like a torrent, accumulating emotions of dissatisfaction, complaints, and comparisons. Over time, the water rushed over violently, and in the end, all that was left was heavy mud and sand.

That's it now.

The friendship between the two is like quicksand; the tighter you hold on to it, the more it slips away.

In fact, what the two people were pulling was not a dinosaur pendant, it could be anything.

In fact, they all understand.

Just now, when the two of them were pulling the key chain, they forgot who let go first. Lin Weixia's right thumb is still numb, and her heart feels empty.

It was getting darker and darker, the wind started to blow, and the thick clouds rolled up and fell down in a dark mass, as if a heavy rain was about to fall. Ban Sheng followed the girl slowly, just in case something happened to her.

But Lin Weixia looked fine. She walked forward slowly, and halfway through she suddenly squatted down and buried her head in her knees.

Ban Sheng walked over quickly, his tall and slender shadow fell. He half-knelt in front of the girl, kneeling on one knee, bending his elbow, and touching Lin Weixia's fair cheek with his broad palm. Her thick eyelashes gently scratched his palm.

My palms were hot and damp.

She cried.

Ban Sheng frowned. This was the first time he saw her cry, and his heart seemed to be blocked. She didn't shed a single tear even when she was bullied by Zheng Zhaoxing at school. Ban Sheng raised his hand and pulled her up, looking at her.

Lin Weixia's tears kept falling and her eyes became redder and redder. He said nothing. The more he looked at her seriously, the more Lin Weixia cried. She made a "meow" sound like a kitten and her nose was red, which made the boy's Adam's apple slide up and down unconsciously.

Ban Sheng raised his hand and wiped away her tears with his fingertips, and used his thumb to push aside the loose hair on her forehead. At the same time, he thought his girl was a little funny and chuckled slightly. Lin Weixia glared at him, but his tone was really coaxing:

"Okay, how come I have a little crying butterfly."