Lu Yin has a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder, so he didn't have time to cook when he was busy. After cleaning up by category, he collected two or three bags of garbage and put them against the wall, waiting for him to throw them out together.
Lu Qiang put on a T-shirt and no coat, carried a pocket in one hand, and threw it into the trash can outside the community.
Lu Yin was mopping the floor when she came back.
Lu Qiang glanced and wanted to take the mop from her.
Lu Yin clenched her hands: "You can't drag it clean, just stay aside."
"Is your period over?"
"No," she glanced at him, "it's only the next day."
Lu Qiang didn't understand, so he asked her: "You women can't be tired these days?"
"Not so squeamish."
He thought for a while: "Don't be brave, just sit on the bed."
"It's almost over."
Lu Qiang said, "Let's put it aside."
Lu Yin tied her broken hair behind her ears, pursed her lips, and let go of her hands.
The house is not big, with old yellow floor tiles. His back was arched, his hands were long and his feet were long, and his movements were not flexible. When the heels of his feet touched the legs of the stool, he was kicked to the side.
Lu Yin sat by the bed, her eyes following the mop.
The room was fully heated, and the high temperature made the air a little dry. He took off his clothes as soon as he came in, and was bare-chested without any scruples.
Lu Yin's eyes fell on his hands holding the mop. They were powerful hands with wide palms and calloused palms. The fingers were thick and long, not slender and clean like a refined gentleman. His forearm is very strong, and the veins on it are especially clear, just lurking under the wheat-colored skin. His eyes followed, and his muscular back muscles stretched and relaxed with his movements. He didn't wear a belt, and a strip was exposed at the back of his waist, which was much whiter than the skin on his back. It made people imagine out of thin air what color was hidden under the fabric.
Lu Yin recalled it carefully, her face became hot and her eyes were a little dull.
Lu Qiang glanced at her: "Haven't seen enough?"
"… Um?"
"Look at me?"
"No," she straightened her back, "supervise your work."
Lu Qiang sneered: "Your eyes are easily misunderstood."
She cleared her throat and fled quickly: "then you go ahead, I'll do the laundry."
Lu Qiang obviously couldn't keep up with her, and went to grab the clothes after dragging the floor, a little annoyed: "I don't know what to do, how many times can you come?"
Lu Yin said, "The clothes are all dirty, you don't wash them."
"My lord, it's not that particular."
She made room for him and squatted beside him: "It stinks to death."
Lu Qiang glanced at her: "Whenever I went to your bed, it stinks of you," he said, "It's not all washed very clean."
"Can't you be more serious?"
He said with a straight face, "it's not proper to do that."
It's obviously obscene and shameless words, so they must be said in a serious manner, as a matter of course. Lu Yin stood up: "I don't bother to talk to you." She glanced at the time, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon, and asked him, "Are you hungry?"
Lu Qiang buried his head: "I didn't eat in the morning."
Lu Yin went to the kitchen, "Then cook some noodles first, and cook the vegetables you bought at night?"
He didn't lift his head: "You can figure it out, what to do and what to eat."
There was a slight noise in the kitchen.
Lu Qiang didn't have that much patience, he basically grabbed the clothes and rubbed them a few times before throwing them into the basin next to him. Indeed, he had accumulated quite a lot. The out-of-season pants hadn't been washed yet. He picked up a pair of sweatpants that he often wore a few days ago. They were soft in texture and had a slightly different feel in the pocket.
Lu Qiang took it in along the way, and a ball of paper was softened by water. He dropped his pants and unfolded them. A few words were written crookedly on them, blurring into a blue mark.
He squinted his eyes, vaguely distinguishing the words written on it.
——Jinzhou Road Chemical Family Building, Shinan District…
He paused before he remembered that it was Lao Deng who gave the address. When he came back from Xiaoshanghe that day, because Liu Zecheng was making trouble, he visited Lu Yin and forgot about Lao Deng's explanation.
Roughly counting the time, more than two months have passed.
He looked at it for a while, crumpled the ball of paper, and threw it into the trash can next to it.
In the afternoon, the room was finally restored to cleanliness. Although the furniture was old, it was well placed and looked orderly.
The two slept in the morning on the narrow single bed, Lu Qiang lay flat on the bed, the space in the crook of his arm was just enough to fit her, her two insteps were curled up, softly sticking to his calf, nestling into a small ball.
Within a few minutes, the breathing on the side gradually became longer.
Lu Qiang opened his eyes, and woke up in the morning without any sleepiness at night. He lay on the bed for a while, carefully pulled out his arms, lifted her head, and put a pillow on her.
Lu Yin hadn't fallen asleep yet, her voice was vague: "What are you doing?"
Just as Lu Qiang stepped down one leg, he stopped and stroked her hair, "Go out to do some errands, you sleep."
She narrowed her eyes: "when will you be back?"
Lu Qiang pulled the quilt over her and said, "Wait for me to eat tonight." He kissed the tip of her nose and got out of bed lightly.
...
The area around Jinzhou Road is easy to find. It is also an old town, much cleaner and tidier than where he lives. The family area is quite large, all dark yellow and small buildings, rows of orderly, regular and conservative layout, showing the rigidity of scientific research.
Lu Qiang looked for it according to the house number, and after a long time of knocking, no one answered. A woman in her forties poked her head out and looked like a countryman.
The door was only half open, and he asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Lu Qiang looked at her for a moment: "Is this family surnamed Deng?"
"No." The woman wanted to close the door.
Lu Qiang stopped him with one hand. He knew that Deng Qiong's daughter was named Deng Qiong. His ex-wife Liang Yarong remarried 20 years ago.
He asked one more question: "Has this family changed?"
"Not sure, but..." the woman looked at him, "I've been working here for eight years, and I haven't changed it."
Lu Qiang said, "The hostess is called Liang Yarong?"
The woman paused, "You know him?"
"A friend asked me to come and see her." Knowing that he had found the right one, Lu Qiang picked up a few bags in his hand and waved them in front of her eyes.
The woman's guard was weak, she asked a few more questions, and let Lu Qiang in enthusiastically.
The house is spacious and bright. The entrance is directly facing the bathroom. There are bedrooms on both sides. The living room is very large, with good ventilation and lighting.
Lu Qiang looked around, and the woman pointed to the sofa next to her: "Sit down, I'll pour you a glass of water." She walked quickly to the kitchen and raised her voice: "Seeing how young you are, you should be a student of Sister Liang, right? , also work in the chemical industry?"
Lu Qiang didn't want to explain further: "My friend knows her well."
The woman brought water and sat down on the stool opposite him: "Sister Liang and Professor Wu are not here during the day, but they get off work very early. Let me check the time... oh, there is still an hour."
Lu Qiang asked, "Professor Wu?"
"That's right, it's Sister Liang's lover. They both work in the chemical industry and usually come back together." She paused: "Eh? Don't you say you know each other?"
Lu Qiang said, "I haven't seen it before. My friend asked me to bring some things."
The woman nodded knowingly. Both Liang Yarong and Wu Guoshou are professors of the Academy of Sciences. They lead a lot of students and are highly respected. Usually, there are quite a few people who give gifts around the bush. She only considers Lu Qiang as one of them. If she receives many such guests, she has some experience.
She pushed the cup: "You drink water."
Lu Qiang didn't move, looked up at the living room furnishings, looked down at the phone a few times, had nothing to say to her, and left after sitting down for a while.
The woman said, "I'll give Sister Liang a call."
"No, I'll leave later," Lu Qiang put the phone on the table: "Only the two of them?"
The woman said, "I have a daughter who is not yet married."
Lu Qiang made some calculations: "It's already working."
"Yes," she replied, "I work at the Financial Street in the city center."
Lu Qiang didn't ask any more questions. He glanced at the time and wanted to get up and leave. Suddenly a phone call came from the other end, the woman turned out from her pocket, looked at Lu Qiang with a smile: "Look, just as I was talking about her, there was a call."
She picked it up: "Qiongqiong, what's the matter?"
Lu Qiang lowered his head, and for a moment, his eyes flickered, and he quickly looked at her.
The woman was ignorant: "... I'm at home... what? I'll show you..." She quickly pushed open the door of a bedroom, and her voice came out faintly: "Yes, it's on your bedside table. Use? How about I send it to you... All right, I'll wait for you."
Not half a minute later, the woman came out, and she smiled: "Qiongqiong is on the way, and the materials for the meeting have been left at home, and I will come back to pick them up later. The child is too busy with work, and always comes back very late..."
Lu Qiang propped his elbows on his legs, buried his head, and turned the phone around in his hand: "Wu Qiong?"
The woman was startled for a while, and reacted for a while: "You mean Qiongqiong? ... Yes, her name is Wu Qiong, and you know her too?"
Lu Qiang didn't speak, and the phone spun around and around. The woman felt strange and called out: "Young man?"
Lu Qiang regained his senses, put a cigarette in his mouth, felt it up and down, but couldn't find the lighter, and he didn't take it off, just biting on it.
The woman babbled on something else, but he didn't listen. He sat for a while, then stood up: "Let's go."
She didn't react: "Hey! Young man, don't you wait for Sister Liang and the others?"
Lu Qiang lowered his head to change his shoes.
She chased after her: "You have to tell me what your name is, and I can't explain those things you brought, if you ask me."
He pretended he didn't hear it, and just slammed the door and went out.
The woman persevered and looked through the door: "Hello... young man, what's your name?"
Lu Qiang went out of the doorway, and a door was opened on the balcony on the first floor next to it, selling tobacco, alcohol and daily necessities. He went in and bought a lighter, the simplest kind, which only cost one yuan. Standing at the door for a moment, he lit the cigarette in his mouth with his hands clasped, took a deep breath, and a wisp of blue mist gushed out from his nose.
Next to it is a row of flower beds, the trees inside have become dead branches, half of the rotten leaves are blown by the wind, and half are buried deep in the soil. He took two steps in that direction, quickly finished one, snuffed it out, and then took the lighter out of his pocket.
This building is in the innermost part of the community, and the unit door is next to the road. At three or four in the afternoon, the sun is high and the wind is extremely cold.
Feeling cold, he tightened his front, took a few more puffs, and then walked towards the gate of the community.
A taxi came head-on and barely stopped in front of the building. There was a woman sitting in the passenger seat, tightly wrapped in a red cotton dress, with short hair at the ears, and a pretty face. She was lowering her head to take her bag, Lu Qiang stared at it for a moment, then passed by the car with a cigarette in her mouth.
The woman inside paid the money, looked up for a moment, and met a pair of deep eyes, her heart tightened suddenly, she bit her lips, in an instant, her eyes were filled with emotions, even she couldn't understand them. The man glanced into the car, and passed by with a blank expression in a short distance.
Wu Qiong tried not to shake his hands, opened the car door, turned around, and stood quietly in the wind. His back was tall and generous, and he walked away quickly without turning his head.
***
Turning to the main road, there was no building to block it, and the cold wind suddenly gathered. Lu Qiang pinched his cigarette, and there was still a big part, and put the rest in his pocket.
He could vaguely distinguish the monotonous ringtone from the whistling wind, and he took out his phone: "Are you awake?"
The tone over there was soft: "Preparing dinner."
He felt warmer, and couldn't help lowering his voice: "Wait for me, go back and do it together."
Lu Qiang hung up the phone and quickened his pace.
After leaving the gate of the community, he directly stopped a taxi.
The moment he opened the door, he glanced unintentionally, his movements stopped, and he saw a familiar car parked beside him.