21. Courage
Love really requires courage,
Believe that we will be together.
I can feel you in the crowd
In my palm,
Your sincerity
— Fish Leong, "Courage"
The two of them went around in circles and returned to the starting point. The house of about 100 square meters was still the same. Bai Jiming sprained his ankle, so he refused to wear slippers and jumped around barefoot on the floor. Liao Weixin helped him lie down on the sofa in the living room, and put the various foods he bought on the way on plates, heated them up, and placed them on the coffee table. Then he turned on the TV, stereo, and DVD, and randomly pulled out a pirated disc that Bai Jiming had found - "The Shawshank Redemption" - it was really old.
"Haven't you seen it?" Liao Weixin frowned.
"Watch it again." The protagonist Andy is Bai Jiming's idol, so of course he would not pay attention to Liao Weixin's weak objection. Liao Weixin smiled, put away the disc, and threw the remote control to Bai Jiming: "Look, ancestor."
"I think the movie adaptation is better than the novel." Bai Jiming made a rare comment, and then fell silent. The two of them ate all kinds of delicious food while watching the poor male protagonist being framed and imprisoned.
Unfortunately, Bai Jiming had already dozed off when Andy had just asked for beer for the prisoners pouring asphalt on the roof. He had been busy until the early hours of yesterday, but he only slept for four or five hours.
Seeing that he was very tired, Liao Weixin took out a quilt to cover him, then changed his coat and prepared to go out.
Bai Jiming opened his eyes: "Where are you going?"
"Go to sleep. I'll buy you a few sets of clothes. You don't need those clothes. It will be troublesome to move them here and there."
Bai Jiming sat up and thought for a moment: "Then don't buy something too expensive, just buy something that's good enough."
"Why?" Liao Weixin teased him, "Are you afraid that you won't be able to pay it back like last time?" Bai Jiming smiled unnaturally and didn't respond.
Liao Weixin was just joking, but he didn't expect Bai Jiming to react like this. Instead, he took it to heart, stopped putting on his coat, and looked at Bai Jiming.
Bai Jiming didn't dare to look him in the eye, he pursed his lips and turned his head away.
Liao Weixin's affection gradually cooled down. He slammed his coat on the shoe cabinet and said coldly: "Do you want to include the water and electricity bills?" He wanted to continue, but when he saw Bai Jiming's face suddenly turned pale, he finally couldn't bear it. However, he didn't want to stay in a stalemate like this, so he turned and went into the study, slamming the door.
The autumn sun was very bright, shining in through the large floor-to-ceiling windows. However, Liao Weixin felt that his whole body was trembling. He touched the cigarette on the desk, took out a cigarette at random, lit it, and stood in front of the window sill looking down.
The leaves have all fallen, and the late autumn in S City is very ugly. The flowers have long since withered, but the winter snow has not yet fallen. There are very few maple trees, and the whole place is gray and drab. Even if there are some evergreen trees such as pine and cypress, they are of a dull gray-green color, as if they are sick and standing helplessly.
I knew it wouldn't be so easy. Liao Weixin almost smiled bitterly and put out the cigarette in his hand in the ashtray. He took a long breath and calmed down. He ignored the dullness on the ground and looked up at the sky.
Very blue, very clean, exuding a clear and refreshing feeling.