If there is a meaning of home, then this room in an old building in a remote community that was almost abandoned by Wen Jialuo should be considered as home for them.
After the car arrived, the driver left the car and left. Wen Jialuo and Xu Shiqi stood in front of the building, both in a trance for a moment. There are many things that were unexpected at the beginning, so the unexpected memories of the past become special.
Wen Jialuo tried her best to put all the bags in her left hand, and then held Xu Shiqi's hand with her right hand. Xu Shiqi glanced at her, took a few bags from her, and left first.
As soon as you open the door, you can feel that the windows are clean and the room is bright. Although it is not an aesthetically pleasing layout, when you can see everything at a glance, it also fulfills everything in your heart.
However, after Wen Jialuo turned around, he was stunned.
It was obvious that the aunt had just come to clean the room, but there shouldn't be any extra things. Two new pairs of slippers were placed at the entrance, the TV in the living room was replaced with a wall-mounted one, the old TV cabinet was gone, and the space suddenly became more spacious, but the old sofa was also replaced; the tea set in the kitchen was also changed, even the cup she often used to brush her teeth was gone, and two new ones were placed in its place, but the color and style were different.
The most outrageous thing is that the room next to her bedroom, which was originally used as a study, now has a bed out of nowhere, and is fully equipped with bedding; and the study has been moved to the front room, facing the kitchen.
Wen Jialuo stared at the bed, then stared at the woman beside him who actually laughed.
Xu Shiqi picked up his own luggage and walked towards the bed, but before he took a few steps, he was stopped.
"You can't sleep anywhere else except my bed." Wen Jialuo said confidently, dragging her and her bag back to her room. Xu Shiqi smiled and didn't struggle. Anyway, she was teasing her on purpose.
While helping Xu Shiqi take out clothes, Wen Jialuo started making a phone call.
The call was to her mother. Luo Linyi sounded very excited. It turned out that all the changes in the house were arranged by her. The daughter used to live in this apartment alone. She had no intention of sharing the apartment with others, so she only prepared one bed. It was always troublesome to do such details after they arrived. Luo Linyi simply arranged for someone to do it and kept it secret on purpose, just to give her daughter a surprise.
My daughter keeps saying that she wants to atone for her sins, and as a mother I can only support her.
Wen Jialuo's mouth twitched as she listened to her mother's praise for her, but she couldn't help but give her a reward, so she had to praise her a few words. After her mother hung up the phone contentedly, she saw that Xu Shiqi had already hung all the clothes in her closet - it felt really good.
Xu Shiqi was fiddling with a desk calendar at the moment. She placed it on the table beside the bed, flipped through it for a few times, and then took out a few books she had been reading recently and placed them on the bedside table.
As more items were added, popularity would also increase. She got used to living alone, because the extra person was the one in her heart, and naturally even the space became fuller - it tasted like homely food no matter how she looked at it. Wen Jialuo hugged her from behind, rubbing against her neck, and Xu Shiqi turned his head and leaned against her face intimately.
"It's like a dream." Wen Jialuo murmured, "Will it be nothing when I wake up tomorrow?"
Being held in her arms, she couldn't get paper or pen to write, so Xu Shiqi touched her head to comfort her.
In fact, sometimes words are redundant. At least at this moment, both of them are willing to enjoy the quietness.
But they are not the only two people in the world. Wen Jialuo's cell phone rang at an inopportune time. She scratched her hair in annoyance and her tone was not very good when she answered the phone.
The call was from Du Mengmeng, who said that he knew she would be coming today and would host a welcome party for her in the evening.
"I was in the bar this afternoon. All the staff have to come to a meeting today. As one of the bosses, don't you want to come and show your face?"
Wen Jialuo glanced at Xu Shiqi and said, "As long as you are here, I don't care."
"Hey, since you're already here and you don't want to go to work, why are you staying home?" Du Mengmeng said in a delicate voice, "How about I pick you up?"
“… Never mind, we’ll come over by ourselves later.”
"Hey, who else is there among us..." Du Mengmeng was about to ask when she heard the phone was hung up. She was so angry that her teeth were itching.
After hanging up the phone, Wen Jialuo told Xu Shiqi that she, Wen Yu and Du Mengmeng had opened a bar together.
"Come with me later." Wen Jialuo asked cautiously.
Xu Shiqi smiled, and while the girl was on the phone, she took out a pen and paper and wrote a line for her.
Good. I have nothing to do here, so why don't I go work in the bar
"No." Wen Jialuo shook her head decisively. Although the bar here completely adopted the concept of Wen Yu's bar at home, and safety was the first consideration, she still couldn't rest assured.
Xu Shiqi tilted his head with a look of disappointment on his face, then gritted his teeth and lowered his head to write.
Do you want me to sit at home every day
Wen Jialuo began to struggle. Originally, I wanted to change her environment to relax her mood before inducing her to talk. It was definitely not right to lock her up at home, but it seemed impossible to find another job under the current situation. It seemed that... Only a place like the bar I opened could let her relax a little.
"Then let's go take a look first." Wen Jialuo nodded reluctantly, helped her put away the things she brought, and rested for a while before going out.
The driver had left, and Wen Jialuo was driving the car. She felt nervous for a moment as she held the steering wheel. The image of the day of the car accident flashed through her mind, causing her to tighten her grip.
The other hand was gently placed on the back of her right hand. She turned her head and saw Xu Shiqi smiling and looking at her with the kind of gentle expression that she could not resist the most.
Who needs encouragement from whom? Wen Jialuo started the engine and her heart became calm. Her life was not only her own now, and she lived not only for herself. This feeling of being handed over was good. Although the steering wheel was in her own hands, her heart was in the hands of the woman next to her.
The bar is located between high-rise buildings, like being at the bottom of a deep ravine. It is a bit deserted during the day, but at night, it is like putting on gorgeous dance costumes and wearing a seductive mask, releasing another side of the city's character.
Du Mengmeng had already received the call and was standing on tiptoe outside the bar. When she saw her car arrive, she rushed forward happily. When she got closer, she found that the person sitting in the car was not Wen Yu as she thought, but the woman who had the car accident with Jia Luo.
The disappointment on her face was not hidden. Du Mengmeng pouted her carefully painted red lips and said, "I thought it was Brother Yu who sent you here."
"If you want to see him so much, just call him yourself." Wen Jialuo smiled at her and looked up at the new sign of the bar.
The name of this bar is "Temperature", which was chosen by Du Mengmeng alone. Wen Jialuo said from the beginning that he was only responsible for paying the money and making the necessary connections, and let Du Mengmeng decide the rest; and for Wen Yu, opening a bar was just for his own fun, since she asked him to, he let her have fun. He took a manager from his own bar and let her do whatever she wanted.
So, it was not until the bar sign was completed and hung up that the two siblings knew about the name.
Wen Yu said that the name was okay, as the bar's positioning was originally relatively gentle; while Wen Jialuo knew that the name was derived from the surnames of their Wen and Du families, but she did not expose Du Mengmeng's intention not to be lazy but just out of some selfish motive.
Du Mengmeng knew at a glance that Wen Jialuo had guessed her little secret, but she was not angry. She just said generously: "Rather than having an unfamiliar person as your sister-in-law in the future, why not let me be your sister-in-law, isn't it better?"
Wen Jialuo thought about it, and suddenly she felt enlightened, so she turned around and stretched out her hand. Xu Shiqi also got out of the car at this time, walked to her side, his eyes paused on the hand, but he still held it, and then smiled at Du Mengmeng.
Du Mengmeng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered that this woman had hurt her throat in a car accident. Could she be mute? She turned to look at Wen Jialuo in confusion, but was glared at by him. Du Mengmeng was startled, and before she could recover, she was surprised to find that this person changed his expression faster than Sichuan Opera, and he was already pulling Xu Shiqi gently: "Let's go in and take a look."
Du Mengmeng was very dissatisfied. Wasn't her childhood friend and future sister-in-law less important than this woman? Although she had added the phrase "future sister-in-law" in advance, she thought that Wen Jialuo had hurt her throat, and she felt that her attitude out of guilt was understandable.
As soon as you enter the bar, it feels like you are walking into a willow shade. The graffitied walls in the dim vision are full of three-dimensionality, but although the space is extended, it still looks crowded. Imagine that at night, this road will be crowded, and every touch will collide with ambiguous sparks, burning people's desires.
Staring at Du Mengmeng, who was acting as the commentator, Wen Jialuo said, "Then this bar should be named Boiling Point - be careful that our grandmother will not agree with your ambiguous desire."
The word "we" greatly pleased Du Mengmeng, and she smiled brightly: "I'm just talking, if you don't believe me, go in and take a look."
Sure enough, the view at the end of the dark willows suddenly became clear. The layout was similar to the bar at home. It seemed that Wen Yu treated this place as a branch.
"I don't really know how to run a bar, I just wanted to create some opportunities for me to spend time with Brother Yu." Du Mengmeng said aggrievedly, "I didn't expect that he hasn't been here often recently."
Wen Jialuo patted her shoulder to comfort her: "If he doesn't come, you can go find him and use any excuse. He won't reject you too much." Then she took Xu Shiqi's hand and found a seat to sit down. "Shiqi, are you thirsty? Do you want to drink anything?"
Du Mengmeng originally wanted to ask Wen Jialuo about the issue of "chasing a brother" while the heat was on, but she changed her mind in the blink of an eye, as if she was afraid of neglecting that woman - but weren't the two of them a little too good? Du Mengmeng glanced down and happened to see Xu Shiqi trying to pull his hand away but Wen Jialuo didn't let go. Her heart skipped a beat, and she was shocked by the subtle changes in the two.
"I'll go get you some drinks." Du Mengmeng hurried away. She turned to the bar, not knowing what to do for a moment. Finally, she poured out two cups of coffee that she had ground herself.
"She can't drink anything stimulating." Wen Jialuo moved the coffee away from Xu Shiqi, "If there is nothing else, just some warm lemon water."
Seeing that Xu Shiqi just kept his head down and didn't say anything, Du Mengmeng had to hide the doubts in his heart even deeper, nodded, and left.
As soon as she left, Xu Shiqi turned to look at Wen Jialuo and smiled slightly.
"Don't smile like that," Wen Jialuo squeezed her hand. "Since we live here, it's inevitable that we'll meet her. We can't just keep pretending. Rather than letting people know about it all of a sudden, it's better to let them find out slowly."
Is she okay? Xu Shiqi asked her by mouthing.
After figuring out what she meant, Wen Jialuo shrugged and said, "Meng Meng likes my brother. She pursued him before, but failed, so she went abroad in a huff. The place where she studied passed the same-sex marriage law, and there are big gatherings every year. Even if she hasn't been there, she will be influenced by it and receive some positive influence. If we are discovered, I can say that she will be the first person. She will see more, so the probability of discovery is naturally higher."
Xu Shiqi frowned.
"Don't worry." Wen Jialuo smiled, "She likes my brother so much, she can only have a chance if she stands on my side. Just like she said, instead of having an unfamiliar sister-in-law in the future, she is more suitable." As if she had guessed what Xu Shiqi wanted to say, she continued, "If my brother had no interest in her at all, I don't think he would give her the opportunity to open a bar with him. I know him, he is still holding on."
Maybe it was because she was in an unfamiliar environment and had no restrictions, so she naturally relaxed a little. Xu Shiqi listened to her words and gradually felt that there was some truth in them. Although she didn't know this woman named Du Mengmeng, seeing that Wen Jialuo was so confident, she had no choice but to believe her.
There has to be a breakthrough, and it should be okay to start looking for it from now on. Holding the girl's hand a little deeper, Xu Shiqi pursed his lips and smiled.
Soon, the staff recruited by the bar began to arrive one after another. Wen Jialuo was not interested in holding a meeting with them, so she sat aside and listened to Du Mengmeng's general mobilization. After the meeting, she pulled Du Mengmeng aside and asked if there was any work that could be assigned to Xu Shiqi.
Du Mengmeng did not answer her immediately, but just said that she should think about it. Fortunately, Wen Jialuo was not completely willing to let Xu Shiqi work here, so she hurriedly said not to rush and to think about it slowly. In fact, she still wanted to spend some leisurely days with Xu Shiqi.
Du Mengmeng chose a new restaurant for dinner because Wen Jialuo kept repeating in her ear that Xu Shiqi couldn't eat spicy or salty food, hot food or even cold food. This curse annoyed her to death, so she found a restaurant that made some pretty good steamed dishes.
During the meal, Wen Jialuo's first task was to serve food to Xu Shiqi. Her purpose was to fulfill what the other party had said to her before, which was to fatten him up.
Du Mengmeng was sitting opposite them, watching them with great boredom. Finally, she put down her chopsticks and said calmly that she didn't want to stay in a hotel and she didn't have a house here, so she wanted to squeeze into Wen Jialuo's house tonight.