After the meal, the students were still pestering Xia Mian to talk, and Li Li left the table early, holding a cigarette case and a lighter in his hands, as if looking for a place to smoke.
Xia Mian turned his head and saw that Li Li was walking towards the terrace while opening the cigarette case with his head down. The back was so thin that he didn't look like a man in his prime.
Didn't you say you want to give him a gift after the meal? Why did you leave early
Xia Mian turned around, and suddenly felt that the dining table surrounded by young students was a bit boring.
"Talk slowly." He said, standing up from the table.
The students hurriedly persuaded: "Don't go, the senior will talk to us again!"
"Yes, yes, we still have a lot of questions to ask. Anyway, Teacher Xu hasn't come back yet, so everyone is idle."
Xia Mian picked up the cigarette case Li Li gave him, and refused bluntly, "I still have a job."
His tone was cold and his expression was not gentle. A group of students who had never been out of the ivory tower looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't dare to say anything to keep him, so they could only say "goodbye" reluctantly.
Xia Mian walked up to the third floor, entered her room, stood in front of the French window and looked towards the balcony. Sure enough, Li Li was leaning on the balcony railing to smoke. The light on the terrace was dim, and Li Li was carrying Xia Mian on his back, so Xia Mian could only see his blurred outline and the orange flame of the burning cigarette at his fingertips.
Half a minute later, the fire went out and Li Li left.
He kept his head down and walked slowly into the room. Maybe it was the cool night in the suburbs, even though he was wearing a turtleneck sweater, he still arched his back slightly and stretched out his arms to hug his arms.
He shrank into a small one, staring at his toes. —
This appearance made Xia Mian's dusty memories loose again.
He quickly closed the curtains, he couldn't see anything in front of him, but his throat started to itch, as if he had an addiction to cigarettes that didn't exist.
He raised his hand and stared at the cigarette case Li Li gave him. It was a silver-gray cigarette case, the same color as the watch Li Li was wearing today. He remembered that Li Li asked him about his favorite color before, and he said it was gray.
The cigarette case was opened, and there were three hand-rolled cigarettes inside. Li Li used very thin cigarette paper, which faintly revealed the brown shredded tobacco inside. The filter tip is white, with a small diameter, and is very slender in the hand, like an elegant lady's cigarette.
Xia Mian took out a cigarette, only to find that there was still a business card inside the cigarette case.
He pulls out his card—
"Yixin Children's Art School, art teacher, Li Li."
Immediately afterwards, there were Li Li's phone number, WeChat, and the school's address.
When Xia Mian went downstairs just now, he heard Li Li say that he was an art teacher in middle school, and the job on his business card was probably his part-time job.
Looking at the familiar address, Xia Mian was stunned for a moment.
If the business card is not fake, Li Li's part-time company is only one street away from Xia Mian's company, and the business and transportation of each other are intertwined, and the walking time is only ten minutes.
Xia Mian frowned, his throat became more and more itchy.
He put down his business card, took a cigarette and lit it, and put the cigarette rolled by Li Li to his mouth as if to vent his anger.
When the smoke is inhaled, the taste is drier than the finished cigarette, but richer and more mellow than the finished cigarette. Presumably, the nicotine content and tar content are not low. Xia Mian seldom smokes, but every time he smokes, he will go deep into his lungs. When this cigarette passes through his throat, it feels a little stinging, but after entering his lungs, it becomes much smoother. When he exhales through his nose, a distinct bitter taste fills his mouth, and then changes. For the sweetness with great stamina.
Xia Mian suddenly realized.
No wonder Li Li gave him cigarettes. The taste of this cigarette is very similar to Li Li's pheromone, bitter but sweet, no matter how much you taste it, you will never get tired of it.
At night, thirty-year-old Xia Mian dreamed of nineteen-year-old Li Li.
Xia Mian was eighteen years old that year. He had just entered university and chose the long-awaited computer major. During the long vacation, he disassembled his desktop computer into scattered accessories and brought them to his mother's villa in big bags.
Here, Xia Mian only spends a few days with Xu Xin's husband and stepson before they travel abroad, leaving Xia Mian and Xu Xin alone. Xu Xin had nothing to talk to him, and was busy entertaining the students, so Xia Mian took out the desktop, chose a cool and rainy afternoon, scattered things in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the room and assembled the host to pass the time.
"Xiao Mian—"
Just halfway through the installation, Xu Xin ran upstairs and knocked on his door, "Come out, my student is here, say hello to him."
Xia Mian turned his head and said to the door: "Come here, wait for me for half a minute", then hurriedly put the parts in his hand, went out and locked the door, and then followed Xu Xin downstairs.
"What's the lock? I won't go in secretly. It's hard to clean like an aunt like you." Xu Xin felt a little helpless.
"I'll clean it up myself, don't worry." Xia Mian said.
He had no interest in his mother's pupils. When guests came to the villa, he was only worried about them running around, breaking into his room and messing with his things.
After going downstairs, there was a slightly cramped student standing in the living room. He was Li Li. That year he was a freshman and promoted to a sophomore year, and he was the first student to live in the villa this year. He had no experience before, and there were no seniors or sisters in the villa to support him, so he was unavoidably a little uneasy.
"What are you doing standing up, sit down quickly." Xu Xin greeted kindly.
Li Li called out "Hello Teacher Xu" cautiously before sitting down on a nearby sofa. He looked at Xia Mian curiously and timidly, his eyes widened, and he stared at him for a long time.
"Oh, you didn't change your shoes when you came in?" Xu Xin lowered his head and saw Li Li's yellowed canvas shoes.
Li Li blushed instantly, shrank his feet, and had nowhere to hide the shoes, so he could only explain stammeringly: "I don't know where I can change the slippers, but I wiped the soles before I came in..."
Xu Xin smiled reassuringly: "I don't blame you, look, your trousers are all wet, and your shoes must be wet too. I just wanted to say it when I saw you dragging your luggage and knocking on the door. You don't know Take a taxi here, it’s far away from the bus station, and you still take the bus, what should you do if you catch a cold in the rain?”
Xia Mian looked down and saw that Li Li's trousers were indeed wet, presumably the pair of canvas shoes also got water. Looking at the places he walked, there were indeed no dirty footprints, only a few shallow water marks.
Xia Mian knew that her mother didn't mean to blame Li Li, but she was just nagging habitually as a teacher. But Li Li was extremely ashamed, with his head bowed deeply, as if he would be beaten or scolded.
"How about this, Xiao Mian, Li Li has just arrived and is not familiar with this place, so you take him to the bathroom and teach him how to use the bathroom, and let him take a bath and change into dry clothes?" Xu Xin said.
Xia Mian secretly sighed, feeling extremely impatient, but didn't want to reject her mother: "Okay."
He stood up and said to Li Li, "Let's go."
Li Li raised his head blankly, and looked at him without moving.
"Go with him." Xu Xin urged, "Go get a change of clothes first, and let Xiao Mian get you anything missing from the toiletries, and ask him if you don't understand, it's okay."
Li Li woke up like a dream, lowered his head and looked away, and followed Xia Mian to the bathroom. For some reason, the face that was flushed with embarrassment became even more red, not only the ears were red, but even the neck was pink.
"... If you want to use hot water, open this valve first. Usually, no one uses the bathroom on the first floor, and it is in the use room, so this valve is not often opened. If you are going to live for a holiday, you don't need to close it after opening it this time. It's gone." Xia Mian took Li Li into the bathroom, and while introducing the hot water valve, looked around to see if there were any subtle details to remind Li Li.
He had only been here not long ago and hadn't used the bathroom on the first floor.
"How many of you are there this time?" he asked.
"... four in total."
"Did my mother tell me where you live?"
"They all live there." Li Li pointed to the right.
"That means we all live on the first floor." Xia Mian said, "You share this bathroom, and you can discuss how to arrange your toiletries. Auntie will come to clean every day. If you are worried that she will mess up your things, you can tell her directly. "
"En, um." He said, Li Li nodded slightly, secretly glanced at him from time to time, and then hurriedly avoided before making eye contact with him.
"Do you have any other questions?"
Xia Mian asked indifferently.
He wanted to go back to his room. He is obviously not the owner of this villa, but he wants to lead Li Li to familiarize himself with the environment like a master, which makes him feel very awkward.
"Well... there is one more question." Li Li said softly, "I want to ask if you remember me? My name is Li Li, Muzi Li, the hat of the bamboo hat, the one with the initials of Cao. I am a student sponsored by Teacher Xu. It was funded at the beginning of elementary school. Teacher Xu said that there were many candidates at that time, and you chose me, so she funded me."
funding
Xia Mian thought for a while, and dug up this old incident from the depths of his memory.
After his parents divorced that year, his mother remarried with someone who was also devoted to art and charity. The father put down his harsh words, saying that he would never let Xu Xin see his son again. Before the two parted, Xu Xin brought a stack of impoverished students' materials and asked Xia Mian to help her choose one, so that even if they couldn't meet each other, they would help those in need together, leaving an invisible connection.
Faced with these materials, Xia Mian felt numb and didn't read much, but just picked the middle one hastily.
"That's it. Congratulations on being admitted to university." Xia Mian said perfunctorily.
There was no ups and downs in his heart. Li Li was funded by Xu Xin and had little to do with him. He will not feel superior because of this, nor will he look down on Li Li because of it.
In essence, he and Li Li are the same kind of people.
"Thank you..." Li Li looked overjoyed and overly nervous, his eyes watered and his voice was tense, "I have always wanted to pass the exam. I have always wanted to pass the exam since I was a child. My major is not very good, but this year's exam Among the students, my culture score is the highest."
"..."
Xia Mian didn't know what to say.
Is he showing off
"If you can be recorded, it means that your major is not bad, keep working hard." Xia Mian used a set of vague rhetoric.
"En!" Li Li nodded vigorously, his eyes were red with excitement.
Xia Mian felt that he was exaggerating. They just met for the first time, how could a casual word make him so excited
And they're about the same age, it's too weird to be called "you".
"You take a shower, I'm going out first." Xia Mian said.
"Okay, that... Which floor do you live on?" Li Li's eyes were like lotus roots, sticking to Xia Mian's body reluctantly, wishing to replace those hands that dared not stretch out to grab him.
"I live on the third floor."
After speaking, Xia Mian opened the door and went out.
Stepping upstairs, he figured out how to continue assembling his desktop. But he didn't think about it for a long time, and a thought flashed through his mind:
Li Li is an Omega.
His pheromone has a faint bitter taste, and it takes a while to taste the sweetness wrapped in it. So he is not too sweet at all. If you can convert this sense of smell into taste, even people who don't have a sweet tooth will definitely like this taste.
At this time, Xia Mian didn't know that there are many Alphas and Omega whose sex hormones match more than 90% in this world.
He and Li Li are just one of them.
This means that as long as he releases pheromones, Li Li will fall in love with him. As long as he wanted, he could even put Li Li in heat at any time.