When the city fireworks make people fall
The one who holds you tightly should be me
—Jacky Cheung, "The End Is Not What I Want"
Liao Weixin carried his breakfast and walked up the stairs slowly according to the address on the note. This building was very old and I heard that it would be relocated soon. The corridor was gray and the thick heating pipes used for heating each household stretched across the top of the stairs.
The floor numbers on the wall opposite the stairs had long disappeared, replaced by large black letters: □□! Phone 13XXXXXXXX. Fortunately, Bai Jiming's rental house was on the top floor, so he didn't have to bother counting the floors.
An old lady came out with a dog and glanced at Liao Weixin with an undisguised look of confusion and even vigilance on her face - his neat suit was really out of place with this place.
Liao Weixin smiled and turned aside to let the old man go first, carefully avoiding bumping into the little pug, then looked up at the house number and stood in front of the door on the left.
The security door was iron-gray, with mottled Spring Festival couplets on both sides. Only half of the upside-down blessing character on the door remained, and the upper half was covered tightly by countless small white or red posters. Neither the doorbell nor the door mirror could be found. Liao Weixin hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Two minutes later, Bai Jiming's voice came from inside: "Who?" Almost at the same time, the door opened. Liao Weixin said nothing, but he did not miss the surprised expression that Bai Jiming had no time to hide.
In just a moment, Bai Jiming's face immediately turned cold. Liao Weixin didn't wait for him to refuse and spoke first: "Jiming, I brought breakfast, would you like to eat first?"
"Mr. Liao, you are too polite, but I don't think it's necessary." Bai Jiming's tone was as cold as ice.
Liao Weixin sighed, he had known it wouldn't be that easy: "Can we go into the house first?" He turned back intentionally or unintentionally to glance at the old lady with the dog who was standing on the terrace and staring at the two of them.
Bai Jiming followed his gaze and his expression softened immediately as he smiled: "Grandma Sun, do you want to walk the dog?"
"Yeah, you haven't gone to work yet?" The old lady's suspicious eyes moved back and forth between the two of them, "He..."
"Oh." Bai Jiming was still smiling. He wanted to say that he was a colleague, but Liao Weixin didn't look like a teacher in the way he was wearing. He wanted to say that he was a classmate, but Liao Weixin was obviously much older than him. After a slight hesitation, he said, "He is my friend. He brought me breakfast." He turned aside and Liao Weixin walked into the room.
The old lady was relieved: "Ah, your friend is very good."
"Grandma Sun, please come downstairs slowly. I'm going back to the house to eat."
"Go, go. You have to eat in the morning. It's not good for your health if you don't eat." The old lady trembled and finally went downstairs.
Bai Jiming closed the door gently, let out a long breath, turned around and saw Liao Weixin standing at the entrance, looking up and down at his residence.
Actually, there was nothing to look at. It was only about 30 square meters, and everything was clear at a glance. There was no refrigerator, no TV, no computer, and even no phone. There was a double bed, a set of wardrobes, a kitchen and a bathroom. It was too simple to be a modern place.
Liao Weixin couldn't help but frown, and heard Bai Jiming say behind him: "Boss Liao, please take your breakfast and leave here quickly. I still have to go to work and don't have time to chat with you."