The snow had stopped when we left the festival venue, and although the sky was still gray, it was noticeably brighter.
Jiang Ji turned off the lights and the sound system, and in the dim morning light, the Chenguang stage returned to silence.
The two walked out from the entrance they had come in from before. Seeing Jiang Ji take out the remote control key and close the sliding door, Qin Qingzhuo asked the question he had asked before: "Did you borrow the venue from Duan Chong?"
"Well, we have to return the key to him later." Jiang Ji locked the door, put the key back in his pocket, held Qin Qingzhuo's finger and walked with him to the parking lot. "But Brother Duan Chong said that it's cold recently and there will be no music festival before the New Year. I can give it to Sister Qi during the finals."
Walking to the car, the two opened the door and got in.
"Brother Duan Chong, Brother Qi..." Qin Qingzhuo said while fastening his seat belt, "Why have you never called me brother?"
"You cried so hard just now," Jiang Ji looked at him, "and you still want me to call you brother?"
Under normal circumstances, Qin Qingzhuo would have definitely used this matter to tease Jiang Ji, but now, although his emotions had fully recovered, the nasal sound from crying had not completely disappeared, and he was really lacking in confidence.
"I've never heard you call me that before..."
He reached out and took a pack of wet wipes from under the center console. Just as he was about to wipe the tears from his face, Jiang Ji took the wipes from him.
"Let me do it," Jiang Ji pulled out a wet towel, turned sideways, and twisted Qin Qingzhuo's jaw with his fingers, "Turn it a little."
Qin Qingzhuo turned towards him.
"Close your eyes." Jiang Ji said again.
Qin Qingzhuo closed his eyes. He felt the cool wet towel rub his eyes, then his nose, cheeks, and forehead. Jiang Ji's movements were very gentle, just like taking care of a child, and he helped him wipe his entire face.
"Didn't I cry so ugly just now?" he said with his eyes closed.
Jiang Ji didn't say anything, but just laughed very softly and made a slight "hum" sound from his nose.
Qin Qingzhuo regarded his laughter as a tacit agreement, opened his eyes and looked at him: "Is it really that ugly?"
He felt that he had never cried like this since he could remember. He cried so awkwardly and looked like a complete wretch.
"Why do I always want you to cry even though your crying is so ugly?" Jiang Ji said.
After throwing the used tissue into the small trash can in the car, he took out a new one and continued to wipe Qin Qingzhuo's face.
"When did you always want me to cry..." Qin Qingzhuo paused before he finished speaking.
He saw the half-smile in Jiang Ji's eyes and immediately realized what this meant - Jiang Ji naturally wouldn't want him to cry at ordinary times, and only when he wanted to do that would he find ways to make him cry uncontrollably.
In fact, the two of them had made such jokes many times before, but perhaps because they had just had a quarrel not long ago and had no physical contact in a few days, the atmosphere in the car suddenly became a little subtle when these words were spoken.
But Jiang Ji quickly put away that look, leaned back in his chair, wiped his fingers with the wet wipes that had wiped Qin Qingzhuo's tears, then fastened his seat belt and started the car: "Let's go, I'll take you back."
Qin Qingzhuo heard a clue from his words: "What about you?"