The light is dim, and the camera flickers, pulling from high to low.
Shang Muxiao and Zhou Yanyi appeared in the picture, with a huge projection cloth behind them. Not far away, young men and women gathered with microphones in twos and threes. Judging from the decoration, this should be a KTV.
"He wants to unspoken rules for you?" Zhou Yanyi took a sip of whiskey, his face stunned, "Beida doesn't look like that kind of person?"
"Then do I look like a liar?" Shang Muxiao turned the ice ball in the glass, his eyes were heavy, and it seemed that just mentioning this matter made him lose his appetite.
"It's not that I don't believe you, but there's no reason to say it. Beijiao looks like asexual. I'm shocked when you say that he likes women, not to mention men like you."
Shang Muxiao raised his eyebrows: "What happened to me?"
Zhou Yanyi looked him up and down: "You're too easy to mess with hahaha."
The camera shakes, as if the photographer couldn't help but laugh.
Shang Muxiao rolled his eyes, put down the cup in his hand, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one of them, and bent over to light the lighter on the coffee table.
With a "pop", the red flames twisted twice, and soon disappeared again.
The white smoke slowly drifted away, and the camera zoomed in at this time, and a close-up of Shang Muxiao's well-defined profile was taken.
Shang Muxiao took a deep breath and let it out slowly. During this period, he glanced over here, facing the camera, but quickly looked away and didn't say a word to the photographer.
"Then let's make a bet?" With the cigarette between his fingertips, he turned to look at Zhou Yanyi.
The camera zoomed out a little further, including Zhou Yanyi again.
"What are you betting on?" Zhou Yanyi asked, putting down the wine glass on his lips.
Shang Muxiao thought about it and said, "I bet whether he likes me or not."
Zhou Yanyi couldn't help laughing and laughing: "Why, you have to sacrifice your color to let him dive? Okay, if you can catch Beibei, I can say whatever you want."
When Shang Muxiao heard this, his shoulder blades trembled slightly, as if he was amused.
"It's not easy to chase him? Look at him like that, he must be very lacking in love. As long as you give him some warmth and sunshine, he will obediently come to my hand."
His face was no longer facing the camera, and there was no way to know the expression on his face when he said this, but judging from his voice, he was quite certain, as if he was already winning.
Zhou Yanyi shook his head and said, "Don't talk too hard."
Shang Muxiao didn't care: "What are you betting on?"
"Just bet..."
The video ends abruptly here, and the screen falls into darkness.
I held my phone for two minutes before slowly putting it down.
It turns out that liking is also fake.
Thinking about it now, when he suddenly approached me and pursued me, he was always weird.
Even more confused, I held my forehead, trying to sort out the matter.
It all started from that misunderstanding. I wanted to give him a chance to not fail the course, and asked him to come to the office, but he thought I was going to dive into him, and the two broke up. After the mutual aid group goodbye, his attitude began to change.
Since then, has he been figuring out how to get me obediently into his hand
Lack of love... So that's how he sees me.
After chasing me, why continue to be with me? He has already won, whether it is for me or Zhou Yanyi, he can remove his pretense from then on, and laugh at my overreaching as a winner.
Why don't you break up, why make me fall deeper
I tried to think back, thinking about everything that happened after we were together, and suddenly remembered the quarrel not long after we agreed to date. The week-long Cold War caused by Yang Haiyang.
Yes, we should have ended there.
No matter how you think about it, it's already "the end". But he suddenly changed his mind and came to apologize with a gift.
If he is with me, it is not because he "likes", then he finds me to reconcile, nor is it because he is unwilling to part with me...
I thought he was too young, too young to know how to properly handle his emotions and manage a relationship. But what if he never thought about running a business? Because I don't like it, I don't appreciate it. My existence is just a means for him to stimulate his family. Or even more unbearable, it can also be used to retaliate against Yang Haiyang and me...
While thinking about it, the phone suddenly rang, and I snapped back to my senses. Seeing that the caller was Director Dong, I pressed my heart and reached out to connect.
"Hey… "
"Hello? Beidou, Happy New Year." Director Dong's voice sounded a little out of breath, as if recovering from a serious illness, "That's right, I have something to trouble you..."
It turned out that last New Year's Eve, their family was eating out, and they didn't know which dishes were not fresh. Eight of the ten relatives on the table had diarrhea. He himself even vomited and had diarrhea. He was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. The hospital is overrun.
Coincidentally, on the third day of junior high, he had to go to other provinces early in the morning to attend a philosophy lecture. The itinerary was set early in the morning, and it was really inappropriate to release the organizer's pigeons, and they might not be able to find a rescue guest during the Chinese New Year. Director Dong thought about it, and wanted to ask me for help to attend the lecture for him.
"I asked the organizer. It's okay to change people. They are even more happy to change you. After all, you rarely attend lectures in other provinces. It's up to you now. If you're not free, I'll ask others."
It's just to attend the lecture. I'm alone, and there is no difference between the New Year's Day and the usual one. Besides, Director Dong has treated me well these years, and if I can help, I always have to help.
"I'm free," I said. "You can ask the organizer to contact me. I can go."
Director Dong was overjoyed and kept thanking me.
"By the way, I heard something wrong with your voice. Do you have a cold? If it's serious, don't go there. I'll find someone else..."
I touched my throat and said, "No, maybe I just came back from outside and drank the cold wind. I'm fine."
Director Dong did not suspect him, and after he finished his business, he began to tell me not to overdo it during the Chinese New Year, to pay attention to my health, and not to go to the hospital during the Chinese New Year as he was. The nagging is a bit of nagging, but I know that he cares about me. After listening patiently, I also let him recuperate.
Hanging up the phone, there was no sound in the room, and it returned to the silence that could be heard by falling needles.
The snow was still falling outside, so huge and so silent. The cold gradually took over every corner, piercing the human body, scraping the bones, as if even the blood was about to coagulate.
Going to the window, I looked downstairs. The streets are sparsely populated and there are not many cars, and the whole world seems to slow down.
The snowflakes were blown by the wind and danced in the air, like slow motion.
What a nice view.
The all-white world is breathtakingly beautiful.
Open the window and reach outside. In the cold wind, the snowflakes fell on the palm of the hand, and before they felt the coolness, they turned into a pool of miserable snow.
I stared at my palm for a long time. Until the five fingers gradually became numb, the melted snow slipped down the palm lines little by little, and hit the ground with gravity.
Tightening your fingers, trying to hold something, only accelerated the melting of the snow, making it less for you to have.
The more you struggle, the more you have nothing.
The nails sank deep into my palm, stinging, and I clenched my fists until my whole hand was shaking slightly from the force.
I closed my eyes, and finally had to recognize the reality, stop fighting, let go of my five fingers, and let the last trace of snow dissipate with the wind.
I lied.
I lied to Director Dong that I was fine.
But how could I be alright...
Half an hour ago, I was still hesitating whether to "go ahead" or "stop here", and I was still telling myself that even if it was difficult, but as long as he liked me, I was willing to give it a try. I'm just... so funny.
Shang Muxiao coaxed me to have a sweet dream and made me feel that everything was getting better. Now I wake up and find that nothing has changed.
He was right, as long as you gave me a little warmth and a little sunshine, I would succumb to the illusion he created for me called "love", open up my heart to him obediently, and easily hand over everything I have.
I was stupid and naive to really think that someone... would love a crippled like me.
In the end, my heartbeat, my sinking, and all my compromises seemed to him nothing but an expected victory.
A little bit, enduring the pain, I opened the scabbed wound and showed him my true heart. I thought he would be happy, but he actually didn't need it at all, and he might even dislike it. Seeing me working so hard, he didn't know how to laugh at me as a fool behind my back, laugh at me being fooled by him so easily and surrendering my sincerity so easily.
Maybe I did catch a cold. I had a headache and a sore throat. It was like sleepwalking. I rolled up the quilt.
"Among the few of us, Bei Jing is the best to cheat." Jing Shen was reading a book in the upper bunk, and suddenly pointed his head and said.
Lu Feiheng was playing computer games. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "He even believes that Yui Hatano is your fiancee, what do you think?"
I raised my head from the paper and defended myself: "I said it all, that's because Jingshen showed me a photo and said that the girl in it was his wife, so I thought it was really someone he knew. …”
"I know, why don't I know?" Jing Shen shouted, "She is my wife!"
Xu Wei came out of the bathroom with a plate of fruit in his hand. He walked over to each bed and stuffed a handful of crispy dates.
"If you know a fart, you know how to bully Xiaoji." Xu Wei is the oldest among us, and he always thinks of himself as a big brother, "Is Xiaojie easy to deceive? No, he is just kind. He doesn't know, there are some people in this world. You don't need a reason to lie." As he spoke, he touched my head.
"It doesn't matter, there will be us in the future. My eyes are poisonous. Let me tell you, no one wants to lie to us, little mustard, when we are covered!"
Jing Shen said with oath, and Lu Feiheng flew a jujube nucleus to the center of his forehead.
"It's just that you lied to him all the time, you still say it, you still say it!"
"Lu Feiheng, don't lose your quality..."
I looked at them, and my heart was full of disappointment, and I couldn't explain why they were so sad.
Just a little longer, let me stay in this moment a little longer...
Unfortunately, even if it is my own dream, it is not up to me to call the shots.
I blinked, woke up from the darkness, raised my hand to wipe my face, and touched a cold tear.
Liars are all liars.
There are too many liars in this world.
It's only four in the morning, but I can't sleep. I went into the bathroom and washed my face with cold water. When I looked in the mirror, I was a little scared by how bad I looked.
Her hair was messed up, her eyes were red and swollen, her face was pale, her lips were dry and chapped... Most importantly, her eyes had no expression at all, like a walking corpse.
The porridge was cooked in the rice cooker, I hurriedly took a shower, changed my clothes, took care of myself a little, and when I finished washing, the porridge was ready.
After two bowls of hot porridge, the figure seemed to come alive.
The mobile phone in the living room is fully charged, there are several missed calls and many unread text messages.
After flipping through it, there are group text messages from colleagues, promotional advertisements from businesses, and... Shang Muxiao's.
Why don't you answer my call
You're still mad at me, aren't you
What do you want me to do so you don't get angry
I may be annoyed that I am so ignorant of praise, so hard to coax. The last message was sent at eleven o'clock last night, and he hasn't texted or called since then.
I ignored him, deleted the text message, read the next one, and found that it was from Shang Yunrou.
She asked me to meet at a cafe in the city center at two o'clock in the afternoon.
It's still coming.