For several weeks in a row, she had no close contact with that man, and every time she passed the door, her heart was in turmoil, and she had nowhere to rest. When you didn't see him, you were lucky and relaxed; when you saw him, you had to pretend you didn't see him, your heart beat like a drum, and you looked calm and saw nothing else on the surface.
He was going to leave his number that day, but he never received a call from an unknown person or harass him with a text message. Days passed by, and nothing seemed to change except for the occasional meeting.
Lu Qiang didn't make it difficult on purpose, as if he really gave her time to think about it. In front of outsiders, greet with a smile, decent and friendly, occasionally glance at him, always meet those aggressive eyes, a smirk, a trace of determination, as if she was under his control and never escaped.
Lu Yin glared at him fiercely, and watched his back. I don't know when, the fear of him disappeared, and I always felt that this man's face was hateful, and she hated her so much.
But no matter what the state of mind is, it is undeniable that her life has been disturbed by him, like a needle's eye, suddenly appearing in her life, unable to get rid of it for a while, trying to ignore it, but constantly dangling in front of her eyes.
...
On Friday evening, on a whim, Lu Yin went to the market to buy vegetables and wanted to make a good meal by herself.
She was walking home with bags of all sizes, and met an acquaintance in front of a restaurant outside the community. She recognized him almost at a glance, a figure too familiar to recognize without searching.
Lu Yin quickly turned around and took half a step, but it was already too late.
A voice came from behind, "Yinyin?"
Lu Yin stopped. At that moment, her expression was almost distorted, and she subconsciously wanted to escape, but the voice came over: "Lu Yin! Yinyin?"
She turned her back and did not move. Soon, the footsteps were getting closer and closer, and he walked around in front of her, leaving a distance of one meter between them. Lu Yin lowered her head, clutched the bag tightly in her hand, and didn't look at him.
"It's really you," the voice could hear a bit of surprise, paused, and slowly turned cautiously, "I thought it was my eyesight, and I was wrong."
Lu Yin lowered her eyes and happened to be able to see the toes of his shoes. The leather shoes that used to be shiny and black were now covered with dust. Eyelashes lifted, the hem of his shirt was hanging out of his trousers, the corners were wrinkled like a rag, she had never seen such a messy image.
She finally met his eyes and smiled. She knew that the smile should be ugly.
Seeing her smile, Liu Zecheng grinned and looked at the things in her hand: "Go shopping?"
Lu Yin gave an 'hmm' and had nothing else to say.
Liu Zecheng glanced at her hand again. It was a transparent bag, which could be seen at a glance. It contained onions, ribs, broccoli and two bottles of white wine, but no catfish or celery.
His eyes were dim, and he smiled wryly: "Are there any guests at home?"
"No." Lu Yin said, "I eat by myself."
He paused, like sighing: "That's right, what you do is the healthiest."
After saying this, there was an eerie silence for a few seconds, Liu Zecheng coughed lightly in embarrassment, and wanted to raise his hand to block it, but realized that his hands were all cumbersome, and put them down halfway.
It was only then that Lu Yin noticed his hands. On one side was a big bag of snacks and daily necessities, on the other side was carrying three packs of diapers and packed meals, and the lady's backpack was slung across his shoulders. Her heart ached uncontrollably, and Lu Yin admitted that until now she still couldn't remain indifferent.
Turning on her toes, she wanted to leave, but Liu Zecheng talked too much: "The catfish I ate today. Thinking of our door..." Realizing something was wrong, he quickly changed his words: "The door here is doing well. Came here to eat...”
His voice was vague, with vague nostalgia and regret, his eyes greedily stared at her face, unwilling to move away.
After a few seconds, Liu Zecheng moved forward an inch, and finally asked, "Yinyin, how are you doing?"
With tenderness in his eyes, he carefully described her facial features, trying to show the pity in his heart on his face.
Lu Yin smiled lightly: "As you can see, go to work, earn money, do housework, and occasionally make a good meal to reward yourself." She was glad that she didn't meet him two months ago, at least her face is rosy now. Thinking about his mood, he asked, "How does it feel to be a father?"
When this sentence was asked lightly, Liu Zecheng blocked her and heard her ridicule. The peaceful life that was once ruthlessly squandered by him is now a luxury. After a moment of silence, he whispered, "No, there is still one month left."
Just after finishing speaking, someone called from behind: "Husband?"
Shocked, Liu Zecheng hurriedly responded, before he had time to say hello, he ran towards the hotel entrance.
A woman walked out of the door, with a belly as big as a pot, standing on the steps with her waist supported.
The man coquettishly said, "Husband, what are you doing?"
"Isn't this waiting for you?" He stretched out his arm, handed it to the steps, and let her help him down.
The woman complained: "What a broken place! The toilet is so dirty, I won't come here again."
Liu Zecheng kept his head silent, and the two walked slowly in opposite directions.
The woman suddenly asked: "I saw you talking to someone just now, I didn't see clearly, so who is it?"
Liu Zecheng was startled, and lowered his eyes: "No one, just a colleague."
The woman said 'oh', but didn't ask any further questions, and babbled, "My feet are sore, help me pinch my hair when I get home, my hair should be washed... By the way, you didn't buy me shampoo..."
Liu Zecheng responded, turning his head back seemingly unintentionally. The place where he was standing was empty, and there was no figure of the woman there.
***
Lu Yin returned home, took a shower, changed her clothes, and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
She behaved as usual, no different from usual.
Boil the water, blanch the pork ribs, rinse off the blood, wrap them in dry starch, and fry in an oil pan until golden brown; pick the broccoli, pat the garlic cloves and chop them into granules, heat the oil pan 70%, throw it in and stir fry quickly...
She moved skillfully, with quick hands and feet. The two dishes were quickly brought to the table, she poured another half glass of wine, sat down, and did not move her chopsticks for a long time.
I always felt that it was too monotonous, so I found half a pack of shrimps and green peppers from the refrigerator, washed the shrimps with water, and cut the green peppers into small pieces.
After putting them on plates, she began to process the onions, peeled off the outer skin, and cut them horizontally with a knife. Within a few seconds, a spicy smell filled the air, her eyes hurt, and tears flowed out of her lacrimal glands uncontrollably. He sniffed, raised his hand to wipe it off, and made another cut, the water in his eyes was even more turbulent than before.
After putting the ingredients into the pot one by one, she still couldn't open her eyes from the pain. Lu Yin put down the spatula, turned on the water valve, leaned over, and rinsed with water.
She thought of that time, not long after the two moved in, the small family they formed together was full of happiness everywhere and romance in everything they did. At that time, Lu Yin didn't know how to cook, and the skin of the yam was itchy and painful when the skin of the yam touched her skin... The two squeezed into the kitchen as big as a palm, and Liu Zecheng held her hand, smeared it with vinegar, and gently blew...
Thinking of this, her thoughts drifted away. The water flowed from the valve like a pillar, and the vegetables in the frying pan sizzled. After an unknown amount of time, a burning smell finally woke her up. Before turning off the gas, a jet of pressurized water rushed towards her...
... She broke the water valve in a hurry.
In just a moment, Lu Yin's whole body was soaked, and the white vest was stuck to his skin. Water splashed everywhere, and it rained all over the kitchen.
Lu Yin hesitated for a while, then came to her senses, frantically blocked the water valve with her hands. Old residence, outdated equipment, water valves in disrepair for a long time, already fragile, usually used with care, did not expect to accidentally break it today.
Lu Yin ran back to the living room and called the security room with her mobile phone. She clearly remembered that it was Lao Li who she saw when she came back just now. He was the one who fixed the toilet leak last time.
The phone was connected quickly, and she said anxiously: "Master Li, come and have a look, my water valve is broken again, and water is coming out."
There was a moment of silence: "Do you have any tools at home?"
"No." After finishing speaking, he was taken aback, "... where is Master Li?"
There was a low smile: "Master Li has something to do, he changed shifts with me, there is only one Master Lu here."
Lu Yin stomped her feet anxiously, and turned her gaze to the kitchen.
Lu Qiang asked: "Do you need it?"
Lu Yin bit her lower lip: "... yes."
He asked again: "Which position is broken?"
She tried to describe: "In the kitchen, the water valve... the water outlet..."
Lu Qiang made a 'huh' sound.
Lu Yin was completely confused: "What should I do now?"
It was extremely calm over there, with a low and hoarse voice, accompanied by steady breathing: "Wait, wait for me."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yin's heart inexplicably calmed down. After wiping the water off her face, she ran back to the kitchen to stop the water valve.
Within five minutes, Lu Qiang came and Lu Yin ran to open the door for him.
The moment the door opened, his nostrils fluttered and he frowned. Lu Yin stood in front of the door, looking embarrassed and funny, he glanced from top to bottom, his eyes fell back to her chest, his eyes dimmed, and he immediately looked at her face.
Lu Qiang walked in: "Crying?"
Lu Yin sniffed: "No."
He teased her: "The one that was watered?"
Lu Yin ignored him this time.
This is the second time that Lu Qiang has come to her house. Before that, he just stood in the corridor and didn't know what it was like inside.
The windows in the room were closed, the air conditioner was on, and the small space was filled with a strange smell.
He opened all the windows, then went to the kitchen and turned off the gas valve.
Lu Yin followed him closely, anxiously urging: "What are you doing? Can you hurry up?"
It was still raining in the kitchen, Lu Qiang took off his coat, and inside was a black wrap T-shirt, which was soaked instantly.
He took a moment to glance at her: "What kind of nose do you have, it has a strange smell, can't you smell it?"
Lu Yin was taken aback for a moment, then remembered that the water pipe burst when the gas was turned off. The fire was doused, so she forgot to turn it off for a moment.
After a while of fear, Lu Yin took a few steps forward to open the exhaust hood.
He scolded her before touching her, and she withdrew her hand. Lu Qiang said, "I don't have any common sense? Ignition of the exhaust hood will produce sparks, which can easily cause an explosion." He picked up two towels and folded them in half. Seeing that her eyes were red, she breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, this situation is probably caused by a large amount of gas leakage... But it's better to be careful."
Lu Yin pursed her lips and stood by the door without saying a word.
Lu Qiang smiled, looked away, wrapped the towel in his hand around the water pipe, and tied it tightly with a rope. After being buffered, the soaring water column disappeared immediately, and the water flowed down the towel into the sink.
Lu Yin's eyes widened before she realized that this was okay.
Lu Qiang said: "I know how to cry when something happens, and use my brain to think about how to solve it... It's better than crying."
"You made me wait." Lu Yin argued in a low voice.
"I told you to wait, but you just wait?"
Lu Yin: "..."
"Oh, now I know I'm obedient." He snorted, "I asked you to be nice to me! Why don't you listen?"
Lu Yin opened her mouth, wanting to give him some words, but she always felt that the atmosphere was weird, so she didn't make a sound.
Lu Qiang opened the toolbox, took out pliers wrench, metal buckle and a brand-new water valve, and muttered, "I stare at me all day, are my eyes crooked? I just rely on my pride and not your knowledge." He paused After a pause, the voice was much softer: "If it's someone else, just lose your temper and pick out your eyeballs."
He squatted halfway, wrapping tape around the metal buckle, talking to himself, wondering if she heard it. Out of the corner of my eye, a pair of calves were standing straight half a meter away, with a few round toes, light pink in color, obediently staying in the slippers. The movement of his hands was slow, he raised his head, and followed his eyes. This woman was full of water, wearing a pair of home cropped pants, a white vest tightly wrapped around her body, her curves were exposed, her hair was loosely tied behind her head, and a few strands of hair The silk sticks to the cheek.
Lu Qiang remembered that rainy day, when she suddenly appeared outside the chaotic car window, from that moment on, a touch of poignant whiteness changed the world in front of his eyes.
It's also her who let him know what it feels like to be heartbroken.
Lu Yin was horrified by him, and subconsciously took a step back.
Lu Qiang's mouth was dry, and he asked, "Blue?"