Sheng Min leaned on him and slept for another half an hour. Li Xuan's shoulders felt a little numb from being pressed, but he felt very happy.
Why can holding someone in your arms make your heart feel full? Even the most complicated program he has ever written cannot output such a result. Sheng Min moved in the quilt, and when he was about to wake up, he felt a little regretful.
"What time is it?" He probably slept soundly this time, and his eyes were not as dazed as before.
"Around eight o'clock." Li Xuan was reluctant to let go and tried to test her, "Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Sheng Min hummed in confusion: "Aren't you going to eat?"
"It's okay if you don't want to eat. It's up to you." Li Xuan pinched his fingertips, paused for a moment, and lowered his voice to ask him, "You just woke up and remember? I thought you forgot."
He felt sad and guilty, but also somewhat proud, and his tone was restrained and raised. Sheng Min took a moment to react, and then her memory came back. She avoided his sight and said in a steady tone: "... I don't remember."
He played dumb and Li Xuan didn't expose him, but he couldn't suppress the curve of his lips. Sheng Min gently pushed him again: "You're hugging too tight, I can't breathe."
"Let me loosen my grip a little." Li Xuan said, his arms still tightly wrapped around him without any sincerity. Sheng Min stopped moving and let him hold her docilely. He heard him call her name again.
How many times has this happened today? Sheng Min thought helplessly, but he couldn't hide his indulgent joy in his voice: "Got it."
Li Xuan also laughed, his heart trembling slightly as he laughed: "Know what?"
Sheng Min raised her face and pecked his lips quickly, her eyes lively: "I know everything."
After a while of being affectionate, we finally got up. When I left the lounge, I remembered that I was in such a hurry that I left my notebook in the meeting room.
"I'll get it and then we'll go out for dinner. What do you want to eat tonight? ... Do you want some seafood? There's a private restaurant nearby that's good."
"Okay." Sheng Min nodded, "Have the others finished get off work?"
"They should have all left. I asked them to leave after the meeting... The lights outside are off. Wait for me to take a look." Li Xuan took out his phone to order food and saw two missed calls from Qi Boyuan.
He frowned, opened the door and called back, then heard the phone ringing from the other side of the wall.
Li Xuan quickly hung up the phone and closed the door. The next second, his cell phone rang and there was a knock on the door.
"Li Xuan?" Qi Boyuan called him from outside the door, "You didn't leave?"
Li Xuan frowned slightly, turned his head and looked at Sheng Min, who pointed to the lounge: "Do you need me to leave?"
"I don't need it." Li Xuan said carefully.
"Then open the door." Sheng Min smiled softly, "It's okay."
Li Xuan glanced at him again, then opened the door again. Qi Boyuan hadn't been seen for a long time, and was about to leave. Suddenly he heard the door lock click, and turned back abruptly: "Li Xuan, I want to tell you..."
The moment he saw Sheng Min, his words were cut off and he froze. Sheng Min, however, smiled and greeted him first: "Nice to meet you again."
Qi Boyuan took a long time to come back to his senses, and stammered a hello. He was probably really confused and didn't know what to do, so he casually took out a business card and went over. After a flurry of activity, his eyes were still fixed on Li Xuan like bells.
"What are you going to say?" Li Xuan coughed and hesitated for a brief moment between admitting it directly or covering it up.
Qi Boyuan's next sentence helped him make a choice: "Is it really you in the video?"
"Let me make it clear that I didn't come back just to arrest you."
Sheng Min used the excuse of being thirsty to go to the tea room, leaving the two of them in the office. Qi Boyuan waited for him to leave and quickly explained.
"Talk nicely, who are you arresting?" Li Xuan frowned and cursed softly, "Why do I run into you every time? Didn't you go to Zhou Jia for dinner after the meeting?"
"Yes, I went." Qi Boyuan felt really wronged. "I was halfway there when Jiajia sent me a video and asked me if I was you... That's it."
"Don't turn it over. I've seen it. What did you say?"
"What can I say?" Qi Boyuan said helplessly, "They look similar to me, their clothes are similar, and the time matches... But in my opinion, you can't be that crazy, so of course I don't know... Then she said to me that she had something to go back to school and couldn't wait for me to eat."
Li Xuan raised an eyebrow: "Did I delay your date?"
"Can you not be so narrow-minded?" Qi Boyuan sighed, "I was simply explaining why I returned to the company."
Li Xuan didn't comment and shook his phone: "Are you calling to ask me about the video?"
"Why are you interrogating me like a criminal?" Qi Boyuan said with a sigh, "I asked you about your work. If you don't believe me, check your email yourself. I called you because you didn't reply... I thought you left. I came to your office half an hour ago and didn't see anyone..."
As he spoke he realized something was wrong and his eyes quickly swept across the door of the lounge, his face visibly stiffening.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Xuan felt a little uncomfortable for a rare time, so he picked up a pen and threw it at him.
"What can I think?" Qi Boyuan blurted out, "You two aren't that?... I'm not saying that, I mean... if you don't want to say it, forget it." He added at the end.
Li Xuan held up his head and asked impatiently, "Are you talking about tongue twisters?"
Qi Boyuan looked at his expression and said, "It's not what I thought, right?"
Li Xuan didn't say anything, and Qi Boyuan came to the conclusion: "It's just what I thought."
"Are you homophobic?" Li Xuan finally spoke.
This was an admission. Qi Boyuan stared at him for a long time, and this time he spoke more carefully: "Not really, but I didn't know you were."
Li Xuan shrugged: "I didn't know that before."
He said this, but his expression relaxed, with a little bit of ease and joy. This kind of expression was really rare for him. On the day when "One Corner" was launched, Qi Boyuan didn't remember him being so excited. The gloom of the past few days was swept away.
"I actually suspected it." After a while, Qi Boyuan said in a troubled tone, "There are only a few people around you, and I have basically met them... Every time Sheng Min is mentioned, you act as if someone has stepped on your tail... I suspected it several times, and I overturned it again. This is not just a matter of gender. You two seem to be from two completely different worlds. There is no way you can get along..."
Li Xuan had not reacted to the long speech, but he immediately raised his head after hearing the words: "What's wrong with that?"
"this... ... "
This question really stumped Qi Boyuan. He thought carefully about the two times he met them. With a new understanding of their relationship, he could not find any incongruity. He had to admit that he was misled by his preconceived prejudice. "Okay, stop glaring at me. If you want to talk, my opinion as an outsider will not count. I have no objection, and I will not tell anyone."
Li Xuan hummed, and then said: "What opinions do you have? If you have any opinions, I will fire you."
"You're at a loss. I took your salary but haven't done any work yet." He looked at Li Xuan's rare smug look and couldn't help but be curious. "How did you two know each other?"
"how do you say?"
They were the last table of guests in the restaurant. After finishing their meal, they went down the stairs. The waiter's voice behind them was heard, welcoming them to come back next time. The glass door closed and the lights behind them dimmed.
This is an old wooden building by the river. With the urban renewal in recent years, the facade has been renovated, but the windows are still small and tall, and the light from the street lamps cannot come in. Only the hazy moonlight falls on the texture of the wood.
"I picked it up on the roadside." Li Xuan laughed softly.
Going down the last step is Binjiang Road, a rare cool place in N City in summer, where many old people and children come to cool off at night. As the night deepens, the crowds have all dispersed, leaving only two or three wild cats, meowing and nimbly leaping over the white marble railings.
"Really?" Sheng Min asked back with a smile.
Li Xuan looked at his bright eyes and could not make any jokes. After a while, he raised his hand and gently touched his soft hair: "I am so lucky. I don't know how such a big pie fell from the sky and hit me."
He looked so serious that Sheng Min didn't know what to say. He coughed to cover up and said, "I'm listening to your nonsense."
Turning around and walking forward, Li Xuan quickly caught up with him and gently grabbed his hand.
From five meters away, you can already see the parking lot sign.
"Let's walk another round." Li Xuan paused and discussed with him in a low voice.
So they walked along Binjiang Road several more times, and even bought two portions of brown sugar jelly cakes from a vendor's cart that was about to close. Using the night as a screen, they held hands unscrupulously, like all ordinary lovers.
When they walked under a street lamp or met pedestrians, they would quietly loosen their hands, with the back of their hands still rubbing against the lines on the other person's skin. Then, at the next intersection, they would tacitly clasp their fingers again, even if their palms were wet with a thin layer of sweat.
When the car stopped downstairs of Sheng Min's house, a female voice on the car radio was announcing that it was twelve o'clock.
Li Xuan couldn't help but think of that night by the stream in the ancient town.
Who is Cinderella? It doesn't matter. After twelve o'clock, tomorrow and countless tomorrows, the pumpkin carriage will never turn back into a pumpkin.
"I'm going up." Sheng Min said.
Li Xuan's eyes fell on him and he was reluctant to move away: "Go to bed early."
Sheng Min hummed softly, and the two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing again. Li Xuan quickly unbuckled his seat belt and came over to kiss him.
"He's really gone." After they separated, Sheng Min said in a low voice.
"Let's go back." Li Xuan lowered his head and rested it on his collarbone. "I can't make up an excuse that I'm thirsty and need to go upstairs for tea."
Sheng Min touched his earlobe and whispered, "If you want to go up, don't make excuses."
Li Xuan was startled and raised his head suddenly, but Sheng Min had already avoided his eyes.
"Don't bother me." Li Xuan put his arms around his waist again, complaining a little bit, "You have to rush back to the studio after recording the show tomorrow."
"What I mean is that your bed hasn't been taken down yet." Sheng Min explained slowly.
Li Xuan tilted his head and bit his lips to vent his anger. He was afraid of hurting him, but he was reluctant to use force. In the end, he just gently stroked it with the tip of his tongue.
They whispered in each other's ears for a long time. Li Xuan thought that he still had work to do tomorrow and couldn't bear to see him sleep too late, so he finally let go reluctantly.
"Drive slowly and text me when you arrive." Sheng Min reminded him.
"Okay." Li Xuan nodded and got out of the car with him. "Go back. I'll watch you go upstairs."
Sheng Min agreed, but after walking a few meters forward, she stopped unconsciously and looked back at him.
The night breeze was gentle, and there was a faint scent of tuberose in the air. The fragrance was like an invisible silk thread that entangled them together.
Li Xuan sighed, and hugged him sweetly and helplessly: "Go back to sleep, if you continue like this, I really can't leave."
"Then...see you next week."
Li Xuan touched his face and said softly, "Good night."
The author has something to say:
Good night everyone, see you the day after tomorrow.