After Sheng Min returned to City N, Li Xuan always felt that time passed faster. These days, like the golden autumn sunshine, a minute, a day, a week, passed in the blink of an eye.
Sheng Min got up early and sat by the bed to change clothes. Li Xuan slept late last night. Hearing the noise, he subconsciously went over and hugged his waist: "Are you leaving?"
"Sleep a little longer. There are wonton soup with chicken in the casserole. Remember to eat it before going to the company..." Sheng Min said softly. Seeing that Li Xuan didn't say anything, she bent down and kissed his cheek exposed outside the quilt. "Remember? I'm going to the recording studio first."
Li Xuan didn't let go, closed his eyes, raised the corners of his lips slightly, rested his head on his legs, and rubbed against Sheng Min's waist and abdomen. The temperature dropped, and Sheng Min changed into a sweater, which was soft and furry to the touch: "What time do you finish recording today? I'll pick you up."
"It should be seven o'clock... You'll pick me up? You're not working overtime today?"
Li Xuan shook his head and said lazily, "There was a bug in the system yesterday. It has been fixed... It is up to me to decide whether to work overtime or not. I will go to the theater with you tonight? Didn't you watch today's show last night?"
"To justify your ticket, I go to the theater three times a week. It's not like I just watched the show last night... Why are you in such a good mood today? Is it a special day?" He looked at Li Xuan and jokingly made a cross with his fingers, using a childish tone, "We've known each other for a hundred days, and it's been... A hundred days of dating?... That's not it..."
"It seems that I am indeed a dereliction of duty as a boyfriend. I said I wanted to accompany you, but I was still suspected of having ulterior motives." Li Xuan pretended to sigh and held his fingertips against his face. "But, are you settling accounts or fortune telling? Why are you counting the days?"
"I have a good memory." Sheng Min whispered awkwardly, and Li Xuan brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them again: "It's okay. I remember it too... but our memories are different? Aren't the days of falling in love and knowing each other the same?"
"Is it the same one?"
"Of course not?" Li Xuan asked unconvincedly, "I thought we fell in love the moment we met... It's impossible for me to drown alone?"
He always took the opportunity to flirt with her, but Sheng Min answered him sternly: "I was afraid you would drown, so I jumped down to save you."
"Thank you very much. You learned how to swim for me, too." Li Xuan hugged him and smiled. Sheng Min also smiled and said, "I'm not watching the play today. The tour will be on Friday. There is a Kunqu Opera today. Do you want to watch it?"
"Same." Li Xuan didn't care much, "I see you, today is the day I can see you for five more hours."
Sheng Min held his hand back: "Actually, you don't have to accompany me... You are a competent boyfriend, I will give you a guarantee on this. If you have work to do, go and do it. I don't feel any difference if I go alone."
"What kind of capitalist are you?" Li Xuan pretended to be serious. "You only allow yourself to rest, but you don't allow me to have a day off?"
"I mean, you have your own things to do and you don't have to accompany me." Sheng Min knew that he did it on purpose, but still explained seriously.
"Then stay with me." Li Xuan turned his face to ask for a kiss from Sheng Min, "Stay with me."
Sheng Min pretended not to understand, stretched out his hand to scratch his chin, and finally said: "Okay, I'll accompany you... ... I'll pick you up. It doesn't start until 8 o'clock. It's about the same time if we go from the Software Park."
Li Xuan paused for a second, then said in a relaxed tone: "We'll talk about it later. If I finish my work today, I'll come here early."
"That's fine. It's not much closer either way." Sheng Min took the coat and felt visibly better. "Then I'm leaving."
Li Xuan rested his hands on the edge of the bed, the light falling on his slender shoulders, his shoulder blades like undulating mountain peaks. He said lazily, "Are you leaving now?"
Sheng Min stopped and saw that he was still looking at her with a smile. She quickly turned back and kissed him, then touched his earlobe: "See you tonight."
The dubbing went smoothly today, and it was only 6:15 when I left the recording studio.
"I'll take you home later." Sheng Min said to Yang Xu as they entered the elevator, "You don't have to follow me every day when I do dubbing. You don't have anything else to do, so just wait for me there. I clearly asked you to stay at home with your aunt... Yang Xu?"
"Ah?" Yang Xu asked in a confused tone.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Brother, I didn't hear what you just said."
"I said I'll give it to you."
"No need to send me off, I'll take a taxi back... I'm your assistant, so of course I have to work with you. My mom doesn't like me because I stay at home every day."
Yang Xu answered absentmindedly, and then pressed the first floor again, twisting his fingers, looking at the numbers jumping on the screen, and then looked at Sheng Min, as if he had made up his mind, and called him: "Brother."
"Um?"
"I've been following you for the past few years and have saved a lot of money." He pointed to a number with his fingers, "This much."
"Oh." Sheng Min was stunned and smiled, "What's wrong? Are you showing off?"
"Why am I showing off to you?" Yang Xu took back her hand a little embarrassedly, as if she had made a great decision. "I just want to say that even if I don't work as your assistant anymore, I still have a way to make a living. I can open a bookstore or something. Don't think I don't read. I really like reading comics. I can open a bookstore next to a school. It's easiest to make money from children. A lot of my pocket money when I was in school was taken away by the owner of the bookstore next door."
Sheng Min paused, looked at him and asked softly, "Why do you suddenly say that? Who told you anything?"
Yang Xu lowered her head and stared at the tip of her shoes. "Brother Zhang asked me again yesterday, what do you think of the script, and when will you take a new job... He keeps asking me this recently, and he thought I couldn't hear him. He just wanted to ask if you plan to renew your contract... He really took me for a fool."
"You're not stupid, you're the smartest."
"elder brother!"
Sheng Min still spoke in a gentle tone: "What did you tell him?"
"I told you to look, but you didn't find the right one. It's because he has a bad taste. You don't like any of the books he sent you. He keeps staring at you every day, so you might as well do your job well." Yang Xu was indignant. Sheng Min didn't express his opinion, so he was a little weaker. "... When I told him, of course I was more tactful, but that's what I meant."
He looked like he was asking for praise. The elevator door opened to the lobby on the first floor. No one came in, so Sheng Min pressed the door-closing button again.
"Don't go out. I told you I'd take you there." As the elevator continued to go down, she smiled again, "It's okay. Next time he asks you, let him ask me himself... But I should ask you, what do you think?"
"I want you to be happy." Yang Xu blurted out without thinking, "As long as you are happy. Just like I don't like Li Xuan very much, I support you if you are happy with him..." He scratched his hair a little embarrassedly, "It doesn't really matter whether I support you or not."
"It's very important." Sheng Min smiled, "Thank you."
"Don't thank me." Yang Xu blushed. "I didn't do anything. I just wanted to say, brother, just do what you want to do. Don't worry about me. I'm very nice. Don't worry about the company. You don't owe them anything."
"No one owes anything, and no one owes me anything."
"It's obviously you who doesn't care." Yang Xu sniffed, "Anyway, I'll listen to you. Even if I'm not your assistant anymore, you're still my brother."
The elevator stopped at the garage on the underground first floor. Sheng Min smiled: "Yeah, of course."
Yang Xu had probably prepared these words for several days. She was a little excited after she finished speaking. She didn't have time to observe Sheng Min's reaction, but she was moved first. She blinked desperately and gasped softly.
This recording studio is located near the outskirts of the city, and there are only a dozen or so cars in the parking lot. Sheng Min didn't want to expose Yang Xu, so he pretended not to notice. He deliberately moved his eyes to the side, was stunned, and then smiled again.
"Brother?" Yang Xu looked over in confusion when she saw that he suddenly stopped leaving. Then she said with a bit of disdain, "I'd better go back by myself. Don't send me off."
"You can drive my car back." Sheng Min handed him the keys. "Be careful on the road."
"You are the one who pays attention to safety..." Yang Xu's sadness disappeared, she pursed her lips, looked at Li Xuan's car, and walked away looking back every few steps like a worried old father.
"Yang Xu looked at me as if I were a beggar." Li Xuan said as Sheng Min got in the car.
"Yeah, you tricked me with candy."
"Really?" Li Xuan took the candy box that Sheng Min had prepared for him from the armrest box, "Mint candy?"
Sheng Min pursed her lips to take it, but Li Xuan quickly withdrew his hand and spread out the palm of his other hand like a magic trick. Inside the glass candy wrapper was the rose gummy candy that Sheng Min often ate.
They shared the candy with a kiss, and the rich scent of the rose spread between their lips and teeth until it was replaced by the fresh aroma of the lily of the valley at the tip of their noses.
Today we performed the Kunqu opera "The Jade Hairpin". The hall was very small, so the staff thoughtfully prepared fresh jasmine flowers as souvenirs, which they distributed to the audience at the door.
The bouquet came from nowhere, and the white stamens were still covered with dew. Even after the song "Autumn River" was sung and the lovers finally got married, the dew was still crystal clear.
"Do you want to take it back?" Li Xuan handed the flower in his hand to Sheng Min, who sniffed it gently, and Li Xuan asked.
"Yes." Sheng Min nodded, "Take it home and put it in a bottle. If you take good care of it, it can live for a long time."
"Like it? Then next time when you buy flowers, add the hosta as well." Li Xuan said.
Since Sheng Min came back, Li Xuan bought flowers for his family every day. It was a joke on the phone, but he practiced it as if it was some kind of golden rule. Sometimes the flowers arrived before he came home. After being told twice by Sheng Min, he changed his mind to bring one home after get off work, alternating between sunflowers and gerberas, always with warm and bright colors. Each one was carefully taken care of by Sheng Min. A week ago and today, they were all in full bloom in the ceramic vase on the dining table.
"The flower shop must remember you." Sheng Min smiled at him.
"I'm a big customer. If I don't buy something one day, I'll get a call."
While chatting and laughing, we walked to the theater lobby. As usual, the people in line were waiting to enter in an orderly manner under the instructions of the staff.
The publicity wall next to the ticket window was still covered with various publicity pictures. Because of the recent drama tour, Yin Qianpin's dramas over the years naturally occupied the most prominent publicity booth, including "When the Moon Falls" that I watched on my birthday, and "Not on the Mountain".
This scene was so familiar, it was like it happened again yesterday. The difference was that the text of the actor recruitment had been changed to "selection in progress" and the registration deadline had already ended.
Sheng Min often came to the theater these days, so he had seen it a long time ago. He still stopped unconsciously, took another look, and sighed very softly, almost without any sound, only the dew on the petals trembled slightly.
Li Xuan gently grasped his wrist bone under the cover of his body: "What are you looking at?"
"It's from the play we watched last time." Sheng Min smiled to hide it, and pointed at the promotional poster. "It's also included in this tour. I think it's next week. I remember it's included in the ticket you bought. If you have time on that day, can you watch it with me? The actors are the same two as last time."
When he got nervous, he would talk a lot. Li Xuan just replied softly: "Okay, there's time."
"Yeah." Sheng Min nodded randomly and turned his eyes away from the wall. "Then let's go to the restaurant first. The reservation time is almost up."
Dinner was at a Cantonese restaurant. Neither of them was too picky about food, but their preferences were obvious. This shop, which they discovered by chance, made all kinds of porridge well, and the sweetness of the dim sum was also to Sheng Min's liking. The only downside was that the location was a little remote, far from home or Li Xuan's company, but it was on the way from the theater.
As usual, I ordered a bowl of lily porridge and a bowl of sashimi. As I was afraid of indigestion at night, I only ordered red rice sausage and rice cake for dessert. I saw that there was water chestnut cake on the menu, so I ordered another portion. I placed them on both sides, with a clear sweet and salty distinction.
Sheng Min always eats little for dinner, mainly to keep him company. Now she is in no mood at all. She didn't touch the porridge much, but she ate two more pieces of water chestnut cake.
"Shall I order another one for you?" Li Xuan asked.
"I can't eat anymore." Sheng Min shook his head. He sat by the window and the night wind made his hair a little messy. He looked a little lonely. When he saw Li Xuan looking at him, he smiled and said, "Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?"
"You don't have it on your face, but I'm afraid you have it in your heart." Li Xuan looked at him with a smile and said easily. He put down his chopsticks and poured a cup of Pu'er tea to help digestion. After drinking it, Sheng Min didn't say anything and brought back the previous topic, "Can I go order another portion of water chestnut cake to take back?"
He stood up and saw Sheng Min still sitting, so he also sat down with a smile: "Two servings?"
Sheng Min didn't respond, looked at him for a while, and suddenly said, "You did it on purpose."
"Is he trying to feed you some meat on purpose?"
"You definitely did it on purpose." Sheng Min gently kicked his calf, and Li Xuan walked around the table and sat next to him. "That's unreasonable. Didn't you pretend to be stupid with me first?"
Sheng Min was silent for a moment, then he started to speak: "Didn't you ask me today what Yang Xu was talking about with me when we left?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about whether I should renew my contract." Sheng Min briefly told him, then lowered her eyes. "Yang Xu has been with me for many years. I actually know that he probably thinks I'm not happy in the company, and he really wants the best for me. You see, I might be the same..."
"I don't think so." Li Xuan denied, "But I hope you can do what you like more and don't let anyone influence you."
Sheng Min's tone was a little melancholy, and he rested his hands on the windowsill: "I have been thinking about it for a while, but I still can't come to a conclusion. Sometimes I want to give it a try, but... ... I don't feel lost every time I see those promotional pictures, but as long as you are here, I will... ... Actually, it's okay."
"I know." Li Xuan nodded, "But you tell me first, but what."
"But there are many." Sheng Min deliberately made his tone light, "For example, Mr. Yin's drama does not want experienced artists, and my contract still has two months left..."
"You just need to tell me whether you really want it or not." The gaze she gave him was always gentle but firm.
"... I don't miss it." Sheng Min exhaled, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it in one gulp, "Next time."
"Why wait until next time?" Li Xuan said.
Sheng Min really laughed now: "It's too late. You did this so late at night and didn't even notice that the registration date had passed..."
Before he could finish his words, Li Xuan took out his cell phone, turned on the screen and handed it to him, and Sheng Min paused for the rest of his words.
It was an email with a very simple content, inviting Sheng Min to go to Room 1006 on the tenth floor of the theater office area next Friday to participate in the selection of the leading actor of "Bu Jiu Shan".
"It's not too late." Li Xuan smiled gently and rubbed his face, "I have already registered for you."