After saying that, Jiang Zhihuo didn't care about Yan Mu's expression or reaction. He changed into slippers and locked himself in the bathroom.
He placed his hands on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror.
The corners of his eyes, cheeks, earlobes, and neck were all red, as if he had just been severely bullied.
Jiang Zhihuo knew that he always had this expression after every kiss.
Jiang Zhihuo was not sure whether he was used to it or not. The action he had to repeat several times every day for more than two months had almost become an unavoidable conditioned reflex. The moment the fever rose, his first thought was to pounce on Yan Mu, wanting to touch him, kiss him, and smell his pheromones.
…
Jiang Zhihuo, wake up!
Ahhh!
Jiang Zhihuo poured a handful of ice water on his face and patted his cheeks several times. After the unnatural redness on his face faded away, he took a deep breath, opened the door and walked out.
Yan Mu did not react too much to what happened just now and remained calm. When Jiang Zhihuo came out, he had already changed out of his school uniform and a bag of inhibitors was placed beside the bed.
Now is the time for dinner.
Jiang Zhihuo forced himself to forget the embarrassing situation just now and pretended to be calm and said, "Have you ordered takeout?"
Yan Mu: “Not yet.”
Jiang Zhihuo: "Together?"
Yan Mu: “Yeah.”
Jiang Zhihuo sat next to Yan Mu as he usually did when ordering takeout, and asked, "Noodles? Rice?"
Yan Mu replied, "Rice."
Jiang Zhihuo picked out a few restaurants that tasted good: "Barbecue rice? Chicken soup rice? Chicken soup rice, maybe? I want soup."
Yan Mu: "Yes."
After placing the order, Jiang Zhihuo put the inhibitor into his bag and took the initiative to say, "You study, I'll go outside."
Yan Mu stopped him: "I don't plan to study."
"Oh." Jiang Zhihuo looked at Yan Mu blankly, "So?"
Yan Mu: "... No need to go out."
Since Yan Mu said so, Jiang Zhihuo was no longer polite.
The bed is definitely more comfortable than the sofa.
He put on his headphones, opened a shooting game, and started a round for fun. Not long after, the takeaway arrived. The two of them had a silent dinner together, cleaned up the table garbage, and then washed their hands. Jiang Zhihuo took out a special inhibitor, held it in his hand, and kept reminding himself: test the medicine, test the medicine, don't pounce on people.
One and a half hours is very short and we arrived there in no time.
When the feeling of fever began to swell in his body again, Jiang Zhihuo bit open the cap of the special inhibitor and thrust it into the gland.
After the drug was injected, the back of my neck felt numb and tingling, but after a while, the pain gradually subsided. Apart from a thin layer of sweat on my back, there was no other feeling unusual.
Jiang Zhihuo stared at the empty syringe in disbelief.
Surprisingly... it really works...
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Jiang Zhihuo should have been feeling happy and cheering, but he just felt inexplicably lost, very lost, extremely lost.
After a long silence, Yan Mu first clapped his hands lightly, opening and closing his palms twice in a very perfunctory manner, then crossed his fingers and overlapped his thumbs: "It worked, congratulations."
Jiang Zhihuo turned his eyes away from the injection tube and stared at him blankly, with a slight arc on the corner of his mouth: "Ah, thank you, and congratulations, you are free. I promised you that I will leave as soon as you get better and return you to your white moonlight."
Hearing this, Yan Mu frowned and stared at Jiang Zhihuo's eyebrows.
His eyes were dark, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. After a moment, he said "hmm" and asked, "When?"
"Tomorrow?" Jiang Zhihuo said, "I have a shift tonight, so I'll probably be back quite late."
Yan Mu: “…”
He stopped talking.
The living room fell into awkward silence again.
At 6:55, Yan Mu set off for school for evening study, while Jiang Zhihuo packed his clothes and went to the bar.
The best time for bar business is from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., when the nightlife has not yet begun, there are not many people and the huge venue is empty.
Jiang Zhihuo arrived at work early, changed into work-wear shirt, trousers and vest, carefully tidied the bar, and wiped the wine glasses upside down on the table until they were spotless.
His movements were serious, but his eyes were expressionless, as if he was daydreaming.
Qu Xiao stretched out his hand, snapped his fingers in front of Jiang Zhihuo, and said in a melancholy tone: "Give me a Moscow Sunrise."
Jiang Zhihuo came to his senses, took vodka and rum as the base, mixed with orange juice and lemon juice, shook it and poured it into the wine glass. Let it settle for a while, waiting for the liquids with different solubility to layer, and then put a thin layer of cream on the top, garnished with red cherries and mint leaves.
Faced with a cocktail that was both beautiful and tasty, Qu Xiao drank it in one gulp without even glancing at it, slammed the glass heavily on the table, and sighed, "Ah!"
Jiang Zhihuo maintained his persona, lowered his eyes and said indifferently: "What's wrong?"
Qu Xiao raised his glass, looked up at the cream remaining at the bottom of the glass, and sighed, "I'm heartbroken."
"I was dumped after just three days, three days!!" Qu Xiao raised three fingers.
He didn't even understand why the girl dumped him. He covered his face in distress and said, "I don't know what I did wrong! She asked me to go out with her the night before, but I was playing games and didn't see it. When I saw the message, I had already been blocked and deleted."
"So what did I do wrong?"
Jiang Zhihuo: “…”
After Qu Xiao finished speaking, he handed him the wine glass. Jiang Zhihuo took it and rinsed it carefully.
Qu Xiao didn't expect the aloof Shin to give him any good advice. He was melancholy for a while and found that Shin's condition was not right. He had been brewing a cup for ten minutes and it was still brewing.
"What's wrong with you?" Qu Xiao asked.
Jiang Zhihuo continued to tidy up the bar, and after a moment he said, "I'm moving."
This was not the first time that Qu Xiao had been heartbroken, so he adjusted his mentality quickly and said, "Moving is a happy event, congratulations."
Jiang Zhihuo was stunned by these words: "Yeah, it should have been a happy thing, but now I don't feel that happy."
Qu Xiao picked up a cup, poured himself some warm water, and clinked the cup against the empty one.
The sound of the wine glasses clinking was very crisp.
Qu Xiao was about to speak when Jiang Zhihuo took off his gloves and suddenly said, "Boss, I'm going to take a day off tonight."
Shin has always been a man of personality. He turned around and left without waiting for his boss to approve his leave. When Qu Xiao came to his senses, only his straight back was left.
Qu Xiao: “…”
He drank two glasses of warm water, faced the empty bar, felt that the world was boring, and started to send messages frantically to harass Yan Mu.
Qu Xiao: Yan Shao, Yan Shao, Yan Shao.
Qu Xiao: I’m heartbroken.
Qu Xiao: The girl deleted me after playing the game. What did I do wrong
Yan Mu didn't reply.
It was normal that Yan Shao didn't reply during the evening study session at No. 1 Middle School at this time. Qu Xiao didn't care and continued his one-man show.
Qu Xiao: I’m not the only one who’s in a bad mood today.
Qu Xiao: Shin doesn’t look good either.
Yan Mu: What happened to him
Qu Xiao:
Qu Xiao: No way, you didn’t reply to me when I broke up, but you replied immediately when I mentioned shin
Yan Mu: What happened to him
Qu Xiao: Don’t you know
Qu Xiao: So you two have completely broken up
Qu Xiao: Was the confession made while drunk or was it real
Qu Xiao: Mr. Yan, please tell me. I am really feeling depressed.
Qu Xiao: Seeing Shin's look, I felt embarrassed to ask him directly.
Yan Mu is still those four words.
Yan Mu: What happened to him
Qu Xiao: …
Qu Xiao: I don’t know the details. He said he was moving and he was unhappy, so he just asked for leave and left.
In Class 3-4 of Senior Grade 12, everyone was concentrating on doing their homework. It was as quiet as a pool of water, with only the faint sound of pen tips scraping across the paper.
At the back of the classroom came the sound of chairs sliding across the ground.
Everyone looked back and saw Yan Mu suddenly stand up from his seat, walk out of the classroom in a hurry without looking back.
"Thank you, Qiu. Thank you," the people around him whispered, "What happened to Brother Yan tonight?"
Xie Qiu was also confused: "I don't know."
Yan Mu has been acting weird tonight, absent-minded, his eyes always staring in the same direction. When I asked him about it, he just didn't say a word.
Xie Qiu thought for a moment and then said, "Brother Yan looks like someone who has been heartbroken."
Yan Mu walked into the office and casually said that he was not feeling well and wanted to ask for leave. The head teacher of Class 4 did not doubt what the academic genius said and quickly approved the note and reminded him to take care of his health.
After leaving the school, Yan Mu called Jiang Zhihuo and rushed towards his residence.
Yan Mu: "Where are you?"
It was very quiet on the other side of the receiver.
Jiang Zhihuo said: "In the bar, what's wrong?"
Yan Mu pointed it out to him: "Very quiet."
Jiang Zhihuo said: "I'm in the locker room, of course it's quiet."
As soon as he finished the last word, the elevator door opened. Jiang Zhihuo, who had just said that he was in the locker room of the bar, walked out of the door with his head tilted, holding his cell phone, and carrying a suitcase.
The call was not disconnected, but the distance was too close and a slight electric sound came from the receiver.
"… "
“… … ”
Jiang Zhihuo smiled awkwardly: "What a coincidence."
Face to face, the voice came again through the receiver.
Yan Mu hung up the phone.
He walked to Jiang Zhihuo, took his suitcase, and said, "I'll take you there."
Jiang Zhihuo didn't have much stuff, and he only had one box when he moved here. He usually kept his things in the suitcase. When he wanted to leave, he just closed the lid, zipped it up and was ready to go.
Jiang Yanmu's action was too strong, Jiang Zhihuo had no room to refuse, and could only respond dryly: "Okay."
Probably because he was discovered when he tried to sneak away, he felt very embarrassed the whole way. He thought that when Yan Mu said "send you away", he just meant send you to the bus stop, but he didn't expect that he would get on the bus with Jiang Zhihuo.
They sat in the last row, and the awkwardness between them still remained as the bus pulled into the driveway.
Jiang Zhihuo leaned against the window, under the pretext of enjoying the scenery, without looking at Yan Mu or talking to him.
The night scene passed by the window, and the neon lights could not outrun the wind and were all left behind.
Jiang Zhihuo's residence is in the old neighborhood, which takes 40 minutes to get there. The bus stop is built at the entrance of the alley. The houses on both sides of the road are dilapidated. At the end of the street stands a century-old banyan tree with tangled roots. A few wisps of osmanthus fragrance and the cool evening breeze sway in the ancient streets and alleys.
Jiang Zhihuo stopped in front of a residential building, took the box, and said, "I'm here, thanks."
Thank you for these days and tonight.
Yan Mu said nothing, just calmly: "Yeah."
Jiang Zhihuo waved his hand.
Yan Mu nodded and turned around.
Under the dim light, the shadows grew longer and longer, one moving forward, one moving upward, and the distance between them became farther and farther.
Jiang Zhihuo lived in a small single room on the fifth floor. He hadn't been home for more than two months, and the room was covered with a layer of dust. He simply cleaned it, put on a new set of sheets, and lay down on the bed.
After Li Muhe went to college, he didn't want to live with Li Hao, so he rented a single room. Jiang Zhihuo was very adaptable, and he renovated the house. He used to live alone freely, the rent was cheap, and the money from part-time job was enough to save a little. Now he feels that everything is not good, it is small and broken, and the bed is hard.
How long have we been gone? Less than two hours, right? I already miss Yan Mu's big bed and Simmons mattress.
Jiang Zhihuo suppressed the melancholy in his heart, closed his eyes for a long time, and finally fell into an uneasily sleep.
When he woke up the next day, there was no one around him except him. Jiang Zhihuo was stunned for a moment and thought that the god of study really didn't need sleep. He was already up before dawn.
After another moment of silence, Jiang Zhihuo finally realized that he had returned home and no longer lived with Yan Mu.
When I realized this, the last bit of sleepiness I had left instantly disappeared.
It's only half past five in the morning.
Jiang Zhihuo rested his head on his arms, his mind starting to wander uncontrollably.
Why are you so sad
Jiang Zhihuo thought about it for a long time and decided to put this sadness aside as a habit.
Many people say that habits die hard.
Many people also say that it takes twenty-one days to develop a habit.
I've been living with Yan Mutong for more than two months and I've gotten used to it.
Get used to having such a person around you, get used to quarreling all the time, get used to hurting each other.
To be honest, he and Yan Mu were indeed too close.
Although they had to touch each other because of the marking, in the final analysis, they had kissed, hugged, and slept in the same bed together.
We've been rivals in love, we've quarreled, and we've disliked each other.
After going around in circles, they returned to the original place and everyone returned to their original life trajectory.
Jiang Zhihuo sighed silently in his heart and gently pinched his left shoulder with his right hand.
There is a tattoo on his shoulder, a pattern he drew himself two years ago.
The tattoo artist was quite responsible. Seeing that he was not very old, he asked him to think carefully, "It's very difficult to wash off the tattoo. Do you really want to get it?"
Jiang Zhihuo said: "Definitely."
The pattern is very simple, just half a shell. The tattoo artist mixed some very beautiful colors and tattooed it on the shoulder. It is not big and not conspicuous.
It's the past he doesn't want to give up and the person he doesn't want to forget.
He thought of a day long ago.
Yun's father and mother cried as they handed him over to a middle-aged man whom he had only met once.
In exchange for another boy of his own age.
He didn't know until that day.
His family, his name, his childhood sweetheart.
None of it belongs to him.
Same thing, after going around in circles for eight years, he didn't even have time to say goodbye before he was forced back into his own, completely unfamiliar life.
Jiang Zhihuo forced himself to take a nap, and then got up and washed up when it was time.
He was not late today. The bus was very crowded. At one stop, there were many elementary school students wearing small yellow hats, chattering and greeting their companions they met on the bus.
There were also office workers on the bus, wearing suits and carrying briefcases, holding soy milk and steamed buns in their arms, leaning against the window drowsily.
Jiang Zhihuo opened the car window, and the morning breeze blew on his face and blew into his clothes along the collar, feeling a little cold. Jiang Zhihuo ignored it and tried to adjust his mood.
The world is always magical.
When they were still rivals and enemies, Jiang Zhihuo felt that he could run into Yan Mu everywhere. The tall, handsome and aloof boy was the focus wherever he went and could be seen at a glance. They could even be seen at the same table in the cafeteria by accident.
Now that they have gone around in circles, there is no reason to quarrel anymore, but they can't see each other anymore. They are clearly on the same floor and in the same physical education class, but there is no trace of Yan Mu anywhere.
Jiang Zhihuo sat on the basketball hoop, looked up, and drank the cold, sweet drink in big gulps, feeling relaxed both physically and mentally.
Chang Luo gently threw the basketball over, the ball hit the floor and landed in Jiang Zhihuo's hands.
Chang Luo also sat down beside him: "Brother Huo, are you in a bad mood today?"
Jiang Zhihuo thought he didn't show it, and asked in surprise, "Is it that obvious?"
Chang Luo pointed in a direction: "I can't tell, but some junior high school girls over there asked me to ask."
Jiang Zhihuo looked in the direction Chang Luo pointed and saw several freshman girls standing near the basketball court. When they saw Jiang Zhihuo looking at him, several girls nearby pushed one of them forward. The girl put her hands behind her back helplessly and lowered her head shyly.
Jiang Zhihuo raised the corner of his mouth and smiled.
Then he said to Chang Luo: "Don't do this kind of thing in the future."
Chang Luo took a sip of his drink and said, "Brother Huo, it looks like you are in a bad mood."
Jiang Zhihuo said in a deep voice, and suddenly asked, "Let me ask you a question."
Chang Luo: "You say."
Jiang Zhihuo: "We kissed, held hands, and slept in the same bed together... can we still be friends?"
Chang Luo almost spit out his drink: "???"
"What did you say?" Chang Luo's eyes widened. "Brother Huo, who have you... kissed, held hands, slept with?"
Jiang Zhihuo explained: "It's not sleeping! It's just sleeping on a bed!"
This news was too sudden, and Chang Luo could no longer maintain his slow tone: "It doesn't matter, who are you doing this with?!"
"It's not me, it's... a friend of mine." Jiang Zhihuo lowered his eyes, "Forget it."
He didn't continue the topic, put down his drink and returned to the court. When exercising, one won't have time to think about other things. He puts all his strength into every shot. It feels good to sweat and the wind created by running is also comfortable. There is no reason not to let himself play to his heart's content.
The opposing team was so defeated that they couldn't defend, let alone score points from Jiang Zhihuo. This one-sided crushing didn't end until the physical education teacher blew the whistle.
After the group was dismissed, the boy who played basketball with him put his arm around Jiang Zhihuo's shoulder and said, "Brother Huo, you were so fierce today."
One of them said in a nasty way: "Is it because there are girls watching on the sidelines?"
"Those pretty school girls just now came to see Brother Huo, right?"
"Maybe you came to see me?"
"Come on, you're not good at playing basketball and you're not even handsome. What are we looking at? Your sexy big eyes?"
The boys were still full of energy after the physical education class. After the exercise, Jiang Zhihuo's inner entanglement was suppressed.
Walking back to the classroom with the boys, the afternoon sun shone on the skin that had just been sweating, making it a little red. Jiang Zhihuo lifted his collar to wipe the sweat off his face, chatted with the boys for a few words, and when he looked up, he found Yan Mu and Xie Qiu walking towards him from the other side of the playground.
The moment I saw that face, the anxiety that I had suppressed with great difficulty surged up again.
So, after kissing, holding hands, and sleeping in the same bed... can we still be friends
Jiang Zhihuo didn't have time to think about it in his heart. The distance between them was getting closer and closer. Jiang Zhihuo adjusted his expression, showing a look that he thought was sunny and handsome, and raised his hand to greet Yan Mu.
Maybe I was too nervous, worried that I wasn't acting natural enough, so my heart beat faster and hit my chest hard.
Yan Muyun nodded slightly to him calmly.
After that, the two passed each other and had no more communication.
Jiang Zhihuo: “…”
Jiang Zhihuo: “… … …”
Damn it, how can Yan Mu be so calm!!!
The party for Class 1 was scheduled for Saturday. Lao Ding booked the daytime session from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The students' parents were very supportive of this activity. They thought their children needed to go out and relax after studying all day. The parents even provided food for the day.
There were many things to do in the party hall. A group of people first gathered in a big circle to chat, and then split into different small groups to play different games. Jiang Zhihuo brought a group of boys and girls to occupy a room and play Werewolf.
Brother Huo has first-rate acting skills, strong reasoning skills, and many tricks, and when he's a civilian he can accurately identify which werewolves are, and list one, two, three, and four holes in their speech, and carry the whole way, not to mention when he's a god or a werewolf.
Brother Huo was too strong and could set the pace of the game very fast. In the end, he was forced to be God, knowing everything but being able to do nothing and say nothing. He had to watch the civilians doubt the prophet, the werewolf stabbing himself to get the antidote, and his teammates harming each other.
The squad leader also joined in the fun. During the intermission and chat, he glanced at his phone and the smile on his face suddenly froze.
"Banban, what's wrong with you?" Tang Anmiao asked.
"I..." The monitor slid down for a while, then looked up blankly, "My goddess is getting married publicly."
The people around came over to look at the monitor's phone screen.
The class monitor's goddess is a famous foreign voice actor. Most of the roles she plays are mature women, many of whom are the heroines of popular movies. The voice actor herself is also good-looking. She debuted as an idol singer a few years ago, and her popular songs are still circulating in the circle. She is regarded as a goddess by many otakus.
Today, the goddess posted her wedding photos on Twitter. The man is another well-known male voice actor in the circle.
The comment section below was filled with wailing.
The monitor was wearing a T-shirt that matched the first character of the goddess. He put down his phone and said gloomily: "I'm heartbroken."
"It's okay, monitor! You can look at the old anime again!"
"Hey, this character! I know this character too! My childhood goddess! They have the same voice actor!!"
"You're actually getting married? My youth is over!"
"There are thousands of voice actresses, why should we only focus on one?"
The monitor emphasized: "I'm heartbroken!!"
The squad leader was genuinely upset. Jiang Zhihuo hooked his shoulder, hooked his finger at the people around him, motioning them to come over, and suggested mysteriously:
"Breakup is a big deal. How about we get drunk with the monitor tonight?"
On Saturday evening at 8:30, Yan Mu came to Xiangyao.
Qu Xiao and Wen Da were already there, having ordered fried chicken and popcorn and were drinking cocktails.
The two were a little surprised that Yan Mu took the initiative to ask them out. They were wondering what had happened to Yan Mu, but they didn't expect that he just buried his head in drinking as soon as he came in and didn't say a word. After asking for a long time, they couldn't get a single word out of him.
Okay, maybe Mr. Yan just needs company.
In fact, Yan Mu was not unwilling to say it, but just didn’t know how to say it.
Jiang Zhihuo suddenly wanted to move in in a domineering manner, and then wanted to move out without saying a word, leaving cleanly without leaving any trace.
The house is still the same house, with no more or less things. I have lived alone in it for so long, but it has never felt so empty.
"Mr. Yan." Wenda approached Yan Mu and tried to get information through chatting. "Did... someone provoke you?"
Qu Xiao rolled his eyes: "Who dares to mess with Master Yan? Do you dare?" He also thought of an excuse, "Did you not do well in the exam this time?"
Wen Da said disdainfully: "Your question is even more ridiculous than mine. No matter how bad Yan Shaokao's exam result is, he can still score 300 points higher than you. Do you believe it?"
"..." Qu Xiao asked casually, "What happened? Did Shin make you unhappy again?"
Yan Mu’s hands froze.
Wenda: “Really?”
Qu Xiao was filled with indignation: "What did Shin do to you? I said that we would not get along if we had the same personality as Master Yan. We should fire him earlier. Master Yan, as long as you give the order, Xiangyao will no longer have this employee starting today!"
Yan Mu: "He..."
The music in the bar was too loud to be heard clearly, so Wenda and Qu Xiao couldn't help but move forward.
Just as he opened his mouth, Yan Mu's cell phone rang, and he stopped talking abruptly.
The screen showed Jiang Zhihuo's number. When he picked up the phone, the voice that came out of the receiver was Chang Luo's.
Chang Luo was usually mild-mannered, and was a little afraid of Yan Mu's distant and cold aura, so he asked cautiously, "Yan, Yan Shen, Brother Huo is drunk, and he specifically asked you to pick him up, how about... you come over here?"
The author has something to say: I posted both chapters together because I was afraid of being beaten.
If you're drunk, you have to do something.
—
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Doudou (2); rencontres, Dr. Amnesia, Li, and Lan Weilan (1);
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Tijian Jinghonglueying, Wumu Wuli 10 bottles; Ansheng 9 bottles; Shixi 6 bottles; 40577594, Mengmeng 6.6, Fengjian Alisha 5 bottles; z~h~r 3 bottles; Xiatianchushou, Chenxiao 2 bottles; Jiahe, Buku, Muchuan, Chujian 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!