Qiu Xiaochen's father booked a room for each of the five people. After a night's rest, the thunderstorm returned, and the music festival scheduled for the gymnasium was delayed. Qiu Xiaochen had to go to class on Monday, and he missed the opportunity.
Everyone was going to the hotel restaurant for a limited-time buffet breakfast. Qiu Xiaochen wailed on the bed and refused to get up: "Why is the weather forecast lying? Didn't it say that the cloudy rain turned into a heavy rain? Has the cloudy and light rain been eaten by it? Why? There will be heavy rain as soon as it comes up?"
Everyone else has packed up and can check out, but his great expectations have come to nothing, and he can't get out for a while, so four older college students have to go to his bedside to persuade him.
Tan Min said: "I can't watch the music festival, but there are other things to watch. There is a big movie released recently, shall we go to the movies?"
Young people are often stuck in the mud because of a trivial matter. In fact, adults can do it too, but when they are young, they can vent it regardless. When they are old, they are bound by the intricate reality and must endure it silently and dissolve themselves.
Qiu Xiaochen said: "If I don't go, I just want to watch the music festival."
"But the music festival has been postponed." Tan Min was amused by his childishness, "Come again next time you have a chance."
Qiu Xiaochen couldn't finish it when he got up, and said with red eyes: "But next time you may not come to my mother's place. Sister Tan Min and Brother Mian are promoted to junior, then everyone will be senior, and from now on..."
When he said this, he suddenly turned over and got out of bed, ran into the bathroom and hid.
Tan Min called him: "Xiaochen?"
She cast complicated glances at Xia Mian, and seeing that he didn't intend to take care of Qiu Xiaochen, she walked to the bathroom door alone, and coaxed Qiu Xiaochen out by exerting her female omega's motherhood and tenderness.
After going around and around, the five of them changed to going to the cinema to watch a movie.
"Romance, horror, action... which one should I watch?"
That year, online ticket booking was not yet popular, and they only started to choose movies when they arrived at the theater.
"Look at the horror first, then the action, thrilling and exciting!" Qiu Xiaochen said.
Tan Min laughed at him: "You are too greedy, we have to go back to the villa before dark, and you have to go home early, are you willing to spend the whole day in the cinema?"
Qiu Xiaochen thought about it: "Then go to the Internet cafe?"
Tan Min: "..."
After all, a simple little boy. Tan Min went to bars and KTV at his age.
"I dare not take you to an Internet cafe. Let's watch two movies in a row." She said.
The horror movie is about to start, and there are only scattered seats left, and at most two people can buy a seat together. Qiu Xiaochen was attached to Tan Min, and another classmate knew that Xia Mian and Li Li had a good relationship, so he offered to take the only separate seat.
The audience is seated and the movie begins. In the darkness, there is only the light from the big screen.
Horror movies deliberately create an atmosphere, and even the most daring people will be surprised by sudden music and transitions. Li Li looked directly at the big screen seriously, but he didn't react at all when the hideous grimace popped up accompanied by the horrifying soundtrack.
He's not watching a movie, he's distracted.
The pitch-blackness of the projection hall is like the sea water submerged above the head, with a depth that the light of the screen cannot penetrate. Li Li's ears were buzzing, and he felt that the screams of the audience around him were muffled and indistinct, as if they were really submerged in water.
The female ghost in the movie said: "I am a ghost, aren't you afraid of me?"
"I'll help you fulfill your long-cherished wish. If your wish is fulfilled, go reincarnate." The human protagonist trembled with fear, but said firmly.
Li Li was ups and downs in the black ocean, physically and mentally exhausted, almost falling asleep. Suddenly, a cold hand reached out and grabbed his palm.
Li Li tilted his head and saw Xia Mian staring at the screen in front of him, it seemed that the movements of his hands could be separated from his emotions.
The black sea water receded, and even though the lights were dim, Xia Mian's side face was still clear and eye-catching in Li Li's eyes. The weak light gave his outline a cool bright edge, and his thin lips were pursed into a straight line without ups and downs, expressing indifference and indifference everywhere.
His hands were as cold as ice, and he spread out Li Li's palms, and stroked his palms with varying degrees of severity, once and again, causing sore itches that spread all over his body. Li Li couldn't help but want to close his palms tightly, Xia Mian put his palm wider than him against him, inserted five fingers between his fingers, and rubbed each finger along the joints.
"Your resentment has been lifted, why do you still follow me?"
The female ghost laughed sharply: "I will haunt you for the rest of my life, and when you reach the next life, I will go to find you."
The cold skin felt like a snake, and Xia Mian's slender fingers wrapped around Li Li's fingertips, like a thin snake coiling around. Li Li's breathing quickened a bit, and it seemed that there was a snake hovering in his body. He was so cold by the snake, so he released more heat to warm it up. There is no rest, taking and taking, until one day he burns himself out.
Li Li shuddered.
His mind went blank, and he tried hard to break away from Xia Mian's hand.
"I'm going to the bathroom..." he said in a low voice.
Xia Mian didn't speak, nor looked at him. It was a look of indifference to anyone and anything.
Li Li walked out of the auditorium, staggering slightly.
Under the thunderstorm outside, he sat in the public rest area with glass floor-to-ceiling windows, staring blankly at the dark clouds outside the window.
The dense rain lines blurred the city's landscape, and the skyscrapers seemed to fall from the sky, full of oppression and grayness.
Li Li had chest tightness and shortness of breath, bent down in pain, and supported his head with his hands.
His hand was warm at first, but after being held by Xia Mian, it cooled down together with him.
Is he not covering him
There's nothing terrible about burning himself out, and he doesn't think it's a pity, what he's afraid of is that he won't be able to warm Xia Mian even if he burns himself out.
Three years, three summers, countless times of physical intercourse, what does he mean to Xia Mian
"Are you in a daze here?"
A familiar voice sounded. Li Li looked up and saw Xia Mian standing in front of him, his eyes were not very happy.
Li Li breathed a sigh of relief: "The movie is too scary, I can't get used to it, so I came out to sit for a while... What about you, did you come out to use the bathroom?"
Xia Mian sat beside him, glanced at the rainstorm outside the window: "I'm here to find you."
The soft sofa sags toward the side due to the weight of another person. Li Li sat up straight with his hands clasped, not daring to turn his head to look at Xia Mian.
The rainwater on the glass windows flowed down in a continuous line, there was no one else in the rest area, Xia Mian and Li Li fell into silence, only the flowing water droplets were alive.
Li Li pondered for a long time before he said, "After school starts, I will be a senior. I will graduate next summer, and I probably won't have the chance to come to Teacher Xu again."
Xia Mian paused for a while, then said, "Yes."
His reaction was flat, but he was listening anyway.
Li Li continued: "I originally wanted to be a graduate student in our school. If I am lucky enough to be admitted to Teacher Xu, I can come to her during the summer vacation. But due to some personal reasons, I have to work independently as soon as possible, so I still can't do it in the end. Going to take the exam."
How can time go by so fast? Three summers are like three dreams. Sometimes when Li Li thinks back on other seasons, he will wonder if Xia Mian is a hallucination he had under the high temperature.
"... My hometown is a small town, and there are not many job opportunities. After discussing with my classmates, I think it is good to stay around the school. But... I think City B is also very good. Although the living pressure is greater than here, the salary level will also be higher. High, I want to try."
He took a deep breath, and searched for courage from all parts of his body, "I have prepared my resume and portfolio, and after school starts, I will deal with the chores, and then I will go to City B for an internship."
"Boom—"
There was no thunder and lightning roaring in the sky, it was Xia Mian's own chest that roared.
Xia Mian's school is in City B. It is the highest school of science and engineering that he worked hard to get into, and it is also the place where he can be far away from his father.
"... The internship has not been finalized, but I contacted the senior who works there, and he said that I have no problem."
When Li Li talked about this, he never heard Xia Mian respond to him. Under the disappointment, he had already given up on himself.
He looked at Xia Mian with soft and fragile eyes, as if saying: You can hurt me.
You can hurt me all you want.
"When I really arrive in City B, can I visit you at your school? I don't mean anything else, I just want to know what you look like in seasons other than summer..."
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
Xia Mian heard the turbulent waves and tsunami.
"Aren't you afraid?"
"What?"
Li Li opened his eyes wide in doubt, and saw Xia Mian's eyes filled with emotions he couldn't understand.
"You ran to my place to see me outside of summer, aren't you afraid that I will do more unreasonable things to you?"
Li Li thought about the meaning of "excessive" for a while, shook his head, covered his hot cheeks with his hands, and said, "I never thought you were 'excessive', I..."
Before he finished speaking, Xia Mian stood up abruptly, went to the theater ticket counter and asked the waiter what he had written while leaning over the stage after borrowing a pen.
After finishing writing, he came back and handed Li Li a white handkerchief with a string of numbers written on it.
The eleventh digit is the phone number.
Xia Mian said, "Call me if you are sure you want to come, and tell me when you will arrive and which bus you will take."