Under the magnificent and dazzling nebula, the two embraced each other and exchanged a warm and lingering kiss. The starry sky covered their shoulders, covering up their deepest desire for each other. Xia Xiqing reached out for Zhou Ziheng's hand, wanting to hold him, but when he let go, he accidentally lost the switch of the universe.
As she stepped back while holding his shoulders, Xia Xiqing accidentally stepped on it with the tip of her beautiful leather shoes. The red nebula explored and condensed in an instant, turning into endless darkness. Zhou Ziheng's reaction was faster. He hugged Xia Xiqing tightly and kissed him deeply and lingeringly. The wet sound of water was amplified by some sense that failed in the darkness, like an invisible hand stirring the increasingly intense breathing.
"Ziheng..."
"Don't be afraid." Zhou Ziheng's arms were tightly wrapped around his waist, and his body pushed Xia Xiqing's body, groping in the dark. The physiological fear and the burning desire covered each other layer by layer, and it was hard to tell who defeated whom. Xia Xiqing only felt that he was retreating again and again, with no room for retreat. His back was against a wall. Zhou Ziheng's kiss was full of aggression, as if he was still craving for it. His soft tongue made his heart beat disorderly and his legs weak. He had to stick his palms to the wall to stabilize his body that was beginning to flow like quicksand.
"Turn on the light." After much difficulty, he found a gap in the hot and wet kiss, like a green escape sign in the darkness. Zhou Ziheng's white sweater seemed to glow in the dark night, with a faint glow of fireflies.
He longed to find light in him.
"Beg me." Zhou Ziheng bit his lower lip. The soft and fragile touch made him addicted.
"… Please."
He had already given his all, so this little bit of pride was nothing.
Zhou Ziheng stretched out one hand to turn on the light, and covered Xia Xiqing's eyes with the other hand. The moment the light reappeared, all Xia Xiqing felt was the red light flowing between Zhou Ziheng's fingers, soft and ambiguous.
He licked his lips which were dry due to the evaporation of saliva, then opened his lips slightly, and looked at Zhou Ziheng with a pair of watery eyes, like a fish thirsty for water. His arms unconsciously wrapped around his neck again, which was the way he always liked.
The two of them kissed passionately at the entrance, leaving scorch marks of desire all along the way. Xia Xiqing's legs became weak from kissing, and when she was being hugged by him, she accidentally tripped over a box on the ground. Fortunately, Zhou Ziheng pulled her and she didn't fall.
"What is this..." Confused, Xia Xiqing squinted and saw a note on the box.
My great gift to you. — Zhao Ke.
"What is this?" Xia Xiqing turned to look at Zhou Ziheng, with a look of confusion on his face, but Zhou Ziheng's evasion was too obvious, "Nothing, let's go into the room."
"Oh?" Xia Xiqing raised the corner of his mouth. He pronounced this word a thousand times and it accurately caught Zhou Ziheng's heart. While he was distracted, Xia Xiqing used the tip of his leather shoe to hook open the lid, and the things inside made him sober up all of a sudden.
"What the hell is this?" Xia Xiqing wiped the corner of his lips, squatted down lazily, hooked a black satin blindfold inside with the tip of his index finger, shook it in front of Zhou Ziheng's eyes, then took out a pair of handcuffs, broke them twice, and pulled out a long rope.
“If you don’t know, you might think it was sent by the props team of A Way Out.”
Zhou Ziheng laughed dryly twice, and when he saw that there were even more extreme special props in the box, he was really confused and almost pissed off to death by Zhao Ke. He had worked so hard to make things so romantic, but it was all ruined by him.
"He unilaterally forced these on me. They do not represent my own will."
Hearing Zhou Ziheng's death struggle so rigidly, Xia Xiqing almost laughed, but he held it back. He picked up the blindfold, handcuffs and rope from the box, and swung the rope with his fingers, like a hunter preparing to trap his prey. He raised the tail of his eyebrows, and his eyes were frivolous. Zhou Ziheng was trapped in this way, and he changed from a hesitant hunter to a prey that could be taken at will.
Time ignites the flame, throws it into the sky, and explodes into clusters of fireworks, which finally fall into the calm ocean, and the sparks melt into the ripples.
I don't remember how long it took, but Xia Xiqing gradually regained his sanity and clarity, and felt that his soul, which had been knocked out, had finally returned to this muddy body. His whole body was weak, his bones were sore, and he lay on Zhou Ziheng's chest like a young animal without the ability to take care of himself, letting his arm go around his shoulders and his fingers play with his sweaty hair roots.
The sound of his heart beating hit his eardrum through his chest like an intimate greeting.
"Are you tired?" Zhou Ziheng raised his neck and kissed the top of his head. He heard Xia Xiqing hum in a hoarse voice and found it cute and funny, but he couldn't laugh or say he was cute. This was the wrong way to pet a cat backwards.
Xia Xiqing glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and found that it was almost midnight, so he took out his mobile phone to check Weibo.
"You only have so much time left for your birthday," Zhou Ziheng snatched the phone away with some dissatisfaction, "Can't you leave it to me?"
"I want to see the name of your perfume."
Zhou Ziheng was amused, "Then ask me."
Xia Xiqing snatched the phone back and said, "No, I just want to watch it myself." He just wanted to wait until 23:59. The sense of ritual of waiting satisfied him.
Finally, the official Weibo of the perfume brand announced the names of the two perfumes on time, which made Xia Xiqing feel funny. He had waited in vain.
"What are you doing? One is called nc27 and the other is called g23, and they look like the same lipstick color." Xia Xiqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Although he understood what Zhou Ziheng meant, how could others understand it
Who would have thought, even Xia Xiqing didn't expect that there would be these replies under the Weibo post revealing the name of the perfume.
[Field of Hope: As a loyal viewer of the show “Get Out”, I had the urge to decipher the code when I saw the name of this perfume… I was too immersed in the show…]
[Study hard: Isn’t Zhou Ziheng, the science and engineering guy, really asking puzzles?]
[My beloved alpha: When I first saw this design, I thought the name of the perfume would be related to stars or roses, after all, there are quicksand and roses. Who would have thought that the name would be so hardcore, hahahaha.]
[Escape from the Heavens: I don't think it's that simple. The combination of numbers and letters easily makes people think of passwords. Using the fence password from the first episode, the plain text is divided into two columns by jumping positions. Assuming that these are the two columns, the plain text should be ngc2237 when it is restored. But it doesn't seem to make any sense when it is solved... It may also be that my imagination is too big and I am too immersed in the drama. Just take a look at it, haha.]
[Heng Heng attacked the universe and replied to Escape from the Heavens: It makes sense! Sister, you are awesome! I just checked, NGC2237 is the name of a nebula, the shape of this nebula is like a rose, I even posted a picture of it, it is super beautiful.]
[Zhou Ziheng is an angel: Oh my god, that picture is so beautiful, and the design of these two bottles of perfume is one is the universe, and the other is a rose, put together it is ngc2237, the rose in the universe! Oh my god, what kind of romantic science and engineering man is Zhou Ziheng! ]
[I Hengchao A: Zhou Ziheng has completely overturned my mate standards, because I simply can’t find a man like him… Or maybe he should come out of the closet so I can completely give up.]
…
"They actually cracked it." Xia Xiqing found it magical.
Zhou Ziheng put his arm around his shoulders and smiled, "After watching so many episodes of the show, I've developed this sensitivity." He suddenly lowered his head and looked for something in the gap of the sofa, and finally found it where Xia Xiqing was lying.
"What are you looking for?"
Zhou Ziheng put his hands behind his back, grinning. Xia Xiqing reached out to grab it, but he took it out obediently. It turned out to be a bottle of perfume. The dark liquid was shimmering with quicksand, sparkling under the light. In the center of the bottle was a small red rose.
"This is a combination of nc27 and g23, ngc2237." He stuffed the perfume into Xia Xiqing's arms, "This is the real limited edition, the brand made this one just for me." Zhou Ziheng's tone was a little childishly proud, "Others only have half, but you are complete and unique."
At this time, it was difficult for Xia Xiqing to maintain his emotional control. Is there anyone in this world who would not be moved by Zhou Ziheng? The answer must be no.
"Why don't you try it and see if you like it?"
Xia Xiqing was reluctant to let go, but this feeling was like a young girl who was not very experienced in the world, hesitant. He finally took off the cap and gently sprayed a little on his wrist. The cool mist covered it, and a storm of roses rolled up, but it was not the kind of sweet smell. It was cold and empty, mixed with a hint of pepper, and the clean white musk was tainted by the breath of love that had not yet dissipated in the air, which was a bit ambiguous.
How could one describe this complex aroma? He stretched out the inside of his wrist, rubbed Zhou Ziheng's neck, and then leaned into his arms to smell it.
Maybe it's a passionate rose in the cold world.
"Like it?"
His body felt weak and his head felt dizzy. The perfume covered him from head to toe like a soft piece of silk. He could only nod and kiss Zhou Ziheng's neck with his face tilted. He whispered "I like it" softly, but perhaps it was too soft. He repeated it firmly, "I like it."
"Great." Zhou Ziheng hugged the person in his arms contentedly. He couldn't describe how good his mood was now. This time, the perfume also made him experience creation beyond performance. It turns out that designing and inventing something can give people such great pleasure. Most importantly, Xia Xiqing likes it.
This is the highest and supreme value standard in Zhou Ziheng's creation.
Gently shake the beautiful glass bottle in your hand, and tiny sparkling fragments flow, and the little rose is like a living heart.
"I want to see that too." Xia Xiqing rested her pointed chin on Zhou Ziheng's chest and looked up at him, "Show it to me."
Zhou Ziheng rubbed his soft hair, his tone full of doting, "Okay." Then he sat up, took the gray blanket on another sofa and covered Xia Xiqing with it, picked up the controller on the ground, turned on the hologram, turned off the lights in the living room, then climbed onto the sofa and hugged Xia Xiqing. The two of them huddled in the soft and warm blanket, looking at the brilliant nebula in front of them.
"Do we look like a couple camping on the top of a mountain?" Zhou Ziheng laughed.
Xia Xiqing leaned his head against his shoulder, looking at the slowly flowing starlight, and said in a calm tone, "What you are talking about is the setting of a horror movie. Generally speaking, they will die in the next shot."
Zhou Ziheng smiled and reached out to pinch his face, "How can there be an artist as unromantic as you?"
How could there be a science and engineering guy as romantic as you? Xia Xiqing thought to himself.
But he didn't say it in the end. He just stared at the rose in the universe. After a long time, he spoke, "Actually, I've always been curious about why you chose to study physics. From my perspective, it seems a bit contradictory that someone who has participated in performing arts since childhood would hardly devote himself to scientific research. No, I mean..."
As he was speaking, Xia Xiqing suddenly overturned his own words. He raised his head and looked into Zhou Ziheng's eyes. His pupils were filled with starlight, which had a kind of fascinating attraction. "It's not a contradiction, it's just puzzling. Even if you are really a genius, people will doubt whether you are too greedy."
Zhou Ziheng pursed his lips and smiled, "I am just greedy. This is my nature."
I think the most beautiful things in the world, I want to give you.
"But no matter what, this is a great choice," Xia Xiqing lay back in his arms, "I have always felt that physicists are special and romantic."
"Why?"
Xia Xiqing's voice was very soft and a little hoarse. "Because they care about love and romance. And the way they care is different from poets. It is a kind of concern and thinking about the essence. From this starting point alone, most people in the world have been excluded, because too often we only care about appearances."
He stretched out his hand, as if trying to grab a handful of the illusory starlight. "How can you say that a person who really cares about the direction of wind and water flow, the laws of the alternation of the sun and the moon, and the origin of the universe is not romantic? Not only is he romantic, but he is also a broad and great romance."
I don't know why, but when Zhou Ziheng heard these words from Xia Xiqing's mouth, he felt a subtle touch. It was as if under the Milky Way, there was a pair of hands flashing like fireflies, knocking on the door of his lonely heart.
His soul was taking a stand, no, speaking out.
He said, I am the same person as you.
This kind of soul contact made Zhou Ziheng's mind blank for a moment. He suddenly didn't know what to say, so he had to go back to Xia Xiqing's previous question, "I want to answer your previous question about why I want to study physics. In fact, I did come into contact with physics after I started acting, probably..."
He recalled, "When I was ten years old, I had a very deep impression. At that time, I was waiting for a night scene on the crew. Because the crew was in the mountains, I could see a beautiful starry sky when I sat on a recliner at night, unlike Beijing now."
Xia Xiqing was like a child, leaning on his chest and listening quietly, the ethereal scent of roses and white musk surrounding him.
"At that time, I had memorized all my lines, so I was reading a book. I remember I was reading the Feynman Lectures on Physics. There was a passage in it that completely changed me. It was actually a story. There was once a physics researcher who studied the reason why stars can emit light and heat continuously without interruption."
As he spoke, Zhou Ziheng pressed the controller in his hand, and the magnificent Rose Nebula in front of Xia Xiqing suddenly enlarged, as if it was rushing towards him with countless stardust.
Finally, it stopped, and the center of the pistil flashed with a dazzling light.
"This is a star. Why can it shine and emit heat all the time? Where does its energy come from and where does it go? This is what the team that the researcher is in is studying. Later they found that the energy comes from the uninterrupted nuclear reactions on the star. Then one day, he and his girlfriend were taking a walk together. His girlfriend looked up at the starry sky like many people, and like many people, she also made an exclamation that was so common that it was almost subconscious."
Extending his fingertips and touching the virtual and shining star in front of him, Xia Xiqing suddenly said, "How bright this star is."
Zhou Ziheng was amused by this tacit understanding. "Yes, that's it. Then the researcher said to her, 'Yes, at this moment, I am the only person in the world who knows why it glows.'"
After saying that, Zhou Ziheng turned around and looked at Xia Xiqing. "I was still a kid who knew nothing at the time. After reading this story, I felt my blood boiling. It was really cool. Maybe it's because I have acted in many dramas. The common problem of acting made me unconsciously put myself in the shoes of the researcher. When I thought about what if I was the only person in the world who knew why the stars shine, I got goose bumps."
His voice was sincere with a hint of excitement. "It was that resonance that changed me and made me choose this path. At first, others just thought I had good looks when I was a child and led me into this industry. But physics is not like that. It was a completely independent decision of mine. Even if I can't become the 'only' discoverer at the moment and become a follower of pursuers, it can still be regarded as a heroic martyrdom."
Xia Xiqing could not deny that Zhou Ziheng was indeed an impressive idealist. Other idealists always made people laugh when they talked about their dreams in front of him. But Zhou Ziheng was different. His sincerity and excitement would even infect you, pulling you into the vast starry sky and making you surrender to the dignity and greatness of science.
He was also very sure that Zhou Ziheng's future journey would be more than just a script. His focus would shift and he would return to his own track.
"I want to know, does the book mention how the researcher's girlfriend responded?"
Zhou Ziheng smiled and pressed the controller in his hand to reduce the range of the nebula. A complete rose appeared in front of him. "She just smiled and said nothing."
Just as Xia Xiqing expected.
Whether artists or scientists, they are often lonely, so Xia Xiqing never cares about other people's opinions and just pretends that no one understands him.
But the next second Zhou Ziheng held Xia Xiqing's hand, "But I know you are not."
Xia Xiqing was a little confused, "What?"
"If, I mean if I were that researcher, and I said that to you, you would definitely not think I was joking." Zhou Ziheng turned around and gave Xia Xiqing a warm smile, "You would definitely ask me seriously."
“Why does it glow?”
Xia Xiqing's eyes suddenly felt dry for some reason. He even felt that Zhou Ziheng's words moved him more than any passionate and sincere confession. This was a great recognition, and he never wanted to admit it, but he had to admit that he liked this recognition.
He likes this shining person in front of him, he is better than anyone else in the world. And this person is telling himself in a firm axiomatic way that you are the only one who truly understands me among billions of lives.
You are my soul mate.
The author has something to say: Ten-year-old Hengheng found the direction of his life under the enlightenment of a star.
In the same year, the fifteen-year-old Xi Qing auctioned off his first work of life, marking the starting point of his artistic life.
Ten years later, Zhou Ziheng returned the painting to Xia Xiqing, along with love, dreams, and Zhou Ziheng's own life enlightenment.
Tomorrow is the final chapter.
I was originally planning to finish it today, but I still want to release this chapter separately. It is a communication that is of great significance to both me and my study.