The bedroom door was pushed open.
Sister Pi watches Korean dramas, the youngest listens to songs and reads comics, and the youngest goes out on a date with Liu as usual.
Everything is as usual.
Bai Lu has a restrained personality, and she is not usually good at pushing the door with such force. Sister Pi raised her head from the computer and looked back.
"The director is back. By the way, our hard drive was not forgotten in the store, I found it on your desk."
Bai Lu nodded silently.
Sister Pi felt something was wrong, she took off her earphones, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Bai Lu said in a low voice.
"Did they say anything after reading the poster?"
Bai Lu took a breath and shook her head slowly, "No, just do it like this, I'll go tomorrow—"
Before he could finish speaking, there was a knock on the door behind him.
"Dorm head? Lulu? Are you there?" It was Huang Xinying.
Bai Lu turned to open the door. Huang Xinying was wearing a light-colored suspender skirt, her hair was tied up high, revealing her broad and bright forehead. Because of the hot weather, her face was faintly red.
Bai Lu said, "What's wrong?"
"I'm here to tell you something." Huang Xinying held a small notebook in her hand, "The class is counting the number of people having dinner, will your dormitory participate?"
"Dinner?"
"Yes, it's in Xu Hui's shop." Huang Xinying said, "I've taken care of all the rooms, the biggest one."
Hearing Xu Hui's name at this time, Bai Lu couldn't express the feeling in her heart. Seeing her pause, Huang Xinying immediately said: "You have to come, you don't have a cooperation with his store, so you can't do it if you don't go. And it's fun. Ah, let's cook and make dumplings by ourselves! How about it, come or not?"
Probe in to see Sister Pi, "Sister Pi, come together."
Sister Pi also wanted to go, she didn't know why Bai Lu hesitated, but adhering to 517's consistent management philosophy, Sister Pi didn't express her opinion immediately.
With a calm face, "Director, it's all up to you."
Huang Xinying looked back at Bai Lu again, with natural doubts in her eyes.
There was indeed no reason to refuse, Bai Lu nodded, "Well, all four of us will go."
"That's great." Huang Xinying clapped her hands, "The meal costs 50 yuan per person."
For junior students, dinner parties are far more attractive than exams. With one week left, the math class representative has already started to calculate the ratio of meat and vegetables to buy.
From Monday to Wednesday, Bai Lu didn't listen to a single class.
She was in a chaotic and complicated state, her mind was dry, and she felt chest tightness, shortness of breath and anxiety from time to time.
This is not a state she often has, and she has been adjusting for three days without success.
On Wednesday, she sat in the study room all afternoon, and finally realized a truth just as the sun was about to set.
She is tense.
It's a bit like taking a test you're sure you won't pass, or fighting a war you can't win.
Failure is inevitable.
At the last moment, Bai Lu quickly wrote a sentence in the English reference book, as if discouraged, with force piercing the back of the paper.
"Between two people, the one who made a mistake last will always be inferior."
After finishing writing, she closed the book and left with her backpack.
There are few people behind the square at the school gate. There is a small fountain next to a huge metal decorative sculpture. The land here is open and the lights are dim. Occasionally, some people chatting and walking pass by, and they don't know each other.
When Bai Lu came, Xu Hui had already arrived.
He sits on a chair behind the sculpture, his arms outstretched across the back of the chair.
There are thick bushes beside the chair, and insects chirp in the summer night.
Xu Hui lowered his head and couldn't see his face clearly, but Bai Lu still recognized him at a glance.
His figure was very recognizable in the night.
Bai Lu walked over, but he was motionless, as if he was asleep, his long legs were slightly stretched, and the metal belt buckle could be vaguely seen on his curved abdomen.
"Xu Hui."
When Bai Lu called him, Xu Hui was a little slow to respond and raised his head. He should have just come out of the shower, his hair was not completely dried, and it was still heavy, hanging on his forehead.
"Oh..." He really just noticed Bai Lu, "You're late."
Bai Lu didn't look at her watch, she knew she wasn't late, but she didn't want to argue with him either.
"Sit down." Xu Hui said.
He was sitting in the middle of the chair, and he didn't intend to get out of the way. Bai Lu looked at it, and could only sit on the left side which was slightly more spacious.
As soon as she was seated, she felt something was wrong.
The smell is too strong - Xu Hui's body.
She knew that he used perfume, and she also smelled honeysuckle last time, but that time it was elegant and indifferent, not as strong as this time, so strong that it was so pungent.
Bai Lu turned her head slightly, and saw that the corners of Xu Hui's eyes were red, his lips were pale, and his eyes were lifeless.
Xu Hui is a fastidious person, maybe this is the usual characteristic of rich people, no matter how sloppy he looks, his food and clothing are still much more refined than children from ordinary families.
In short, this is a man of class.
There's no way he'd go out wearing perfume like that unless—
Those bottles and cans, 4.9% Aldinger beer, appeared in Bai Lu's mind...
Folding her fingers together, Bai Lu lowered her head and said, "Stop drinking."
He couldn't hear clearly.
"… what?"
Bai Lu shook her head, "It's fine."
There was another silence.
If life is regarded as a problem, then the situation at this time must be a large-scale proof problem, which requires extremely detailed analysis to sort out the answer.
But time is too tight, and there is no time to prepare anything.
Xu Hui said indifferently: "You asked me to come out and just sit down?"
Bai Lu's chest felt heavy.
She is not used to this kind of communication.
For Bai Lu, the communication between people is within a certain range, but if it involves a deeper level, it must be carefully considered.
Now this kind of situation where she is greeted with a naked face makes her restless.
Finally, Bai Lu asked:
"Why did you come to Hangzhou?"
Xu Hui: "What do you think?"
Bai Lu naturally had her own considerations, but she couldn't say them out—she had already been humiliated once.
Thinking this way in my heart, my hands were already ready and clenched into fists.
If you don't make it clear, meeting is meaningless.
Still the same sentence, stick to it.
She looked at him, "Did you come for me?"
Xu Hui listened and snorted.
Bai Lu pursed her lips, turned her head before he finished laughing, and looked at the fountain in the distance.
The wide view relieved her tension a little.
"...Xu Hui, I'm sorry for what happened two years ago."
Xu Hui moved slowly, took out a cigarette and lit it.
The flame flickered on and off in the corner of my eye, and Bai Lu went on to say, "I haven't formally expressed my humility to you. At that time, at that time..." Bai Lu also felt a little hard to say when she recalled the time.
"I took it so far, I didn't think it would be like that at first."
"What kind?" Xu Hui asked.
After a pause, Bai Lu didn't explain in detail, "Anyway, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."
Xu Hui flicked the cigarette, "It's been two years." His voice was much lower than before, I don't know if it was also related to alcohol.
"You haven't talked too modestly to me for two years. Do you think it's useful to say this now?"
In fact, she said too modestly, on that New Year's Eve with brilliant fireworks, it doesn't matter now.
"I'm sorry." She knew she was powerless, but that was all she could say.
Xu Hui threw away the cigarette and got up to leave.
"Xu Hui."
He turned his head, waiting for her to speak.
Bai Lu originally wanted to persuade him not to drink too much, but the moment before she spoke, she didn't know what tone and identity she was going to use to say this sentence.
As early as in the kindergarten, the teacher told the story of "The Wolf is Coming", and gently warned the children that it is terrible to lose trust.
Without trust, sincerity is worthless, and a lot of words will only increase suspicion and ridicule.
Bai Lu swallowed the words that came to her lips.
"Our class had dinner in your store on Saturday, and Huang Xinying said that we might need to borrow kitchen utensils."
Xu Hui nodded, "Understood."
Turning around to leave, hands casually stuck in trouser pockets.
His shoulders were thin and his back was thin. Bai Lu looked at him, suddenly her brain became hot, she stood up, and shouted at him:
"Xu Hui!"
He stood still and turned around.
"Stop drinking!"
Against the faint light of the fountain, Bai Lu couldn't see his face clearly, nor did she know what his expression was.
That roar cleared Bai Lu's mind, and many memories crowded into her mind at once.
The past two years ago, his laughter and tears. And a few days ago, Sun Yuhe said loudly "he is doing well now". Mixed with the pale face at this time, the pungent perfume, the thin silhouette...
In the end, time froze, and everything turned into that silent phone call.
In the cold world, there was a shallow breath.
Break free? Have a good time
Something is wrong.
"Xu Hui, your brother—"
"Okay." He quickly interrupted Bai Lu with a calm tone. "Ah He told you?" He frowned impatiently, "...is sick."
There was resentment in his heart, Bai Lu thought, he was not willing to just trust her like this.
Xu Hui lit another cigarette, looked at Bai Lu, and said, "I've already left, there's no need to say anything."
Bai Lu stared at him, Xu Hui caught her gaze, sneered, and said, "Have you already finished what you should say, or—" turned his head slightly, raised his eyebrows, "Didn't say enough?"
Bai Lu's lips trembled slightly, but luckily the night blocked it.
"You hate me." Clenching her hands beside her, Bai Lu said to Xu Hui, "How can you swallow this breath?"
Xu Hui looked at her coldly, smiled disdainfully for a while, then turned and left.
It was a long time after he left that Bai Lu came back to her senses, and by the time she realized it, there was already a thin layer of sweat on her body.
No one likes to get up early on Saturdays. The class committee forced a few boys to work as laborers, carrying vegetables and goods. Fortunately, Xu Hui's store is not far away, just across the road.
No one is happy to be unable to sleep late in the morning to carry cabbages. Someone complained to monitor Huang Xinying, but Huang Xinying stopped her with one sentence, "The girl is here to move, are you cooking?"
For the sake of convenience, everyone decided to only make dumplings with cabbage and pork. The dumpling wrappers were bought ready-made in the supermarket, and the fillings had to be made fresh.
Bai Lu's dormitory arrived at the store at two o'clock in the afternoon. There were already more than a dozen people in the room. Huang Xinying was making cards at the door. When she saw Bai Lu and the others coming in, each of them handed out one.
"Here, it's for games at night, and I can write anonymously on it."
The youngest asked: "What are you doing?"
"For the whole person."
"Write what?"
"Whatever, when the time comes to play games, go up and draw one by one, and do what you draw. Ah! Don't write too much, just forget about jumping off a building."
Holding the piece of paper in her hand, Bai Lu walked to the inner room.
This is a suite, the room inside has a double bed, and the boy who has finished moving things is watching TV and blowing the air conditioner in the room.
After a while, Sister Pi and the others also came in, and everyone put down their bags and went to the bathroom to help wash the vegetables.