Lu Xiao held his arm steadily to prevent him from falling.
Ye Cheng looked up at him, and said in a low voice, "I heard movement in the room, so I came here to see."
He remembered that Jiang Yirong had said that Lu Xiao was very shy about his family affairs, and he was a little worried that he might misunderstand.
Lu Xiao's eyes were bottomless, but there was no blame or anger.
"You wait at the door for a while, I'll take care of it." There was a bit of comfort in his tone.
Ye Cheng nodded in a daze, watched him walk in, then turned and closed the door.
The moment the door closed, Meng Li looked up, as if he had just noticed their existence.
After a while, there were struggles and screams from inside, as well as the sound of something falling to the ground.
Ye Cheng's palms were sweating a lot, and she couldn't help feeling nervous. He leaned against the crack of the door to listen to the movement in the room, sweating in his heart.
Lu Xiao seemed to be talking all the time, but couldn't hear what he said, and Meng Li's shouting gradually turned into whimpering.
Ye Cheng could vaguely hear her crying, repeatedly saying "he's playing tricks on me", "he's doing it on purpose", "I'm not going".
Lu Xiao's voice was indistinct: "Okay, I won't go, don't go anywhere, just stay at home."
He stayed inside for almost ten minutes before walking out while making a phone call.
When he opened the door, he made a "sorry" gesture to Ye Cheng, and Ye Cheng nodded to him.
Lu Xiao closed the door, took Meng Li's mobile phone to the side to make a call.
"Yes, Dean Huang, she seems to be unstable these days."
"Well, I've given her a sedative, shall I go to the hospital tonight?"
"...Okay, I'll trouble you then, we'll wait for you tomorrow."
He said a few more polite words before hanging up the phone.
When he called out "Dean Huang", Ye Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and he understood everything in an instant.
It turned out that Qingshan's "sick relative" was Meng Li.
No wonder she looks like she is not in a good state of mind. She is often sad and happy, unable to control her emotions.
Lu Xiao walked in front of him, her voice was a little low: "I'm sorry, I surprised you."
When he heard the noise, he ran out hastily, without even his shoes on.
Ye Cheng shook her head, at this moment, Mrs. Wang came up with cleaning tools.
She was as proficient as if she had done this kind of work hundreds of times, without even looking at them, she pushed the door and walked into the room.
The eyes of the two fell on each other's feet at the same time, and they blurted out: "Are you not injured?"
When the almost simultaneous words came out, they were all taken aback.
Immediately, Lu Xiao saw the red blood spots on the back of his feet.
"Got it?" He squatted down and directly grabbed Ye Cheng's instep with his hand.
Ye Cheng was startled, shrank back, and said unnaturally: "It's nothing, just a little skin trauma."
"Skin trauma also needs to be dealt with. It will be troublesome if it gets infected." Lu Xiao said, leading him back to her room.
He asked Ye Cheng to sit down on the bed, and searched through boxes and boxes to find a medicine box.
The cut didn't look big, but the blood was smeared on the pale skin, which made people feel a little shocking.
Lu Xiao squatted down and put his feet on her knees.
This posture made Ye Cheng feel very awkward, but she was too embarrassed to move around.
Lu Xiao wiped off the blood bit by bit with a cotton swab, very lightly, and asked "Does it hurt?" from time to time.
Finally, I picked the smallest band-aid and pasted the wound carefully.
Seeing that Ye Cheng was silent, he took the initiative to say, "Didn't you hum when you were hurt? Why are you so quiet today?"
"I didn't whine as soon as I got hurt." Ye Cheng retorted.
Lu Xiao sneered.
Ye Cheng said, "I'm just worried about you."
This time it was Lu Xiao's turn to be quiet.
He slowly restrained his smile.
Ye Cheng watched him put away the medicine box and put it back to its original place, without any expression on his face.
He said indifferently: "There is nothing to worry about, I am used to it."
Ye Cheng hesitated for a moment, but still asked: "When did Auntie's illness start?"
Now that it has been broken, and Lu Xiao doesn't seem to resent him knowing, then he has to figure out what's going on, and the incompleteness has something to do with his dropping out of school.
Lu Xiao stood in front of the bed and looked at him, and said lightly, "It's been many years, no one took it seriously before, and always thought she was forced by my father. Then she fell ill and jumped into the river with me in her arms. Not feeling right."
Ye Cheng was stunned and said, "Jump into the river?"
"Don't be nervous, isn't it okay, we are all still alive."
Lu Xiao seemed tired from standing, so she walked over and sat down by the edge of the bed.
Ye Cheng also got up from the bed and sat next to him.
The underfloor heating keeps the entire room at a constant temperature, and the floor is also warm.
It was snowing heavily outside the house, and the two of them leaned on each other's shoulders, feeling very relaxed with each other.
Lu Xiao said slowly: "She and my dad didn't live in harmony for a day. When my dad was in China, he suspected him of cheating all day long, so he sent a private detective to follow him."
"Later he really cheated, and my mother went crazy. She sharpened knives and ropes at home in the middle of the night, saying she was going to kill Xiaosan."
"Our family has no history of mental illness, all of which are caused by my father."
Ye Cheng gasped, he didn't expect Meng Li to be so sick when he got sick.
"She is nice to me when she is not crazy, but she will attack people when she is sick."
"Sister-in-law Wang was afraid that she would hurt me, so she asked someone to take me to Baize, and she stayed here to take care of my mother." Lu Xiao was very calm, as if she was telling someone else's story.
"I didn't understand mental illness when I was young. I just thought my mother was a lunatic. I fought with a bunch of gangsters all day long, and no one cared about me."
"Didn't you ask me why I have so much fighting experience?"
"It was cultivated from that time. Because others laughed at my mother as a lunatic, I would fight with them one by one."
Ye Cheng stopped talking, and couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
It turned out that he lived in Bai Ze, why didn't he meet earlier? If only I had known him when I was a child, he thought silently.
Lu Xiao continued: "One day, our school organized a movie watching, and I sat in the last row. Suddenly the back door lit up, and then my mother walked in, came over and sat next to me."
Ye Cheng looked at his side face, with a smooth nose bridge and jaw line, with a hint of warmth in his stubbornness.
He laughed: "It's like a dream, do you understand?"
"I looked up while eating popcorn and said, 'Mom, are you here to pick me up?' My mother hugged me and cried on the spot. Then the next day, she picked me up from Baize .”
Ye Cheng didn't know what Lu Xiao looked like when he was a child, and there were no photos of him when he was a child in the old house.
But he could imagine how she couldn't hold back crying when a fierce and tiger-headed little boy asked Meng Li this question expectantly.
"When she's not sick, she's really fine." Lu Xiao emphasized again helplessly.
Ye Cheng suddenly wanted to hug him, and he really did.
He stretched out his arms to wrap around Lu Xiao's shoulders, hugged him as much as possible, and patted him on the back.
Lu Xiao's muscles stiffened, she raised her eyebrows and said, "What are you doing, take pity on me?"
Ye Cheng put down her hand guiltily, and said, "It's not that you're pitiful, I just think... there's a reason why you have such a bad temper."
In order to hide his mood, he deliberately found an excuse to hurt others.
Lu Xiao really smiled: "Don't think I dare not beat you."
Ye Cheng asked him: "How did your father treat your mother? Did you ever quarrel or...fight?"
Lu Xiao smiled and said, "He doesn't hit women, he only hits me."
Ye Cheng became even more confused, so Jiang Yirong really misunderstood
"And he never goes home, even if he goes back to Nandu." Lu Xiao said, "Even if he comes back and quarrels with my mother once, my mother will be happy to eat three bowls of rice."
"Understood, cold and violent." Ye Cheng said thoughtfully, "Then are they going to divorce?"
Lu Xiao sighed: "To be honest, I look forward to their divorce every day. But that's impossible. My mother is like this now, and I can't leave at all."
Ye Cheng nodded, it is indeed difficult for couples with mental problems to divorce.
The two were silent for a while, and the wall clock in the room was ticking.
Although the night was up and running, Lu Xiao still liked this conversation very much, as if he was a little closer to Ye Cheng.
He has always disliked others meddling in his own business, but it was different for Ye Cheng.
He wants to understand this person, and he also wants the other person to understand himself.
Lu Xiao turned to him and said, "Don't talk about me, where is your mother? Don't talk about it, let me guess."
He looked at Ye Cheng intently, "Auntie must be very beautiful to give birth to someone as good-looking as you, and she must have a gentle personality."
Ye Cheng raised the corner of his mouth,
"You guessed it, what else?"
"Auntie should also be a top student, the kind with excellent English." Lu Xiao was really speculating seriously.
"Well, she is good at mathematics. She used to be a professor of mathematics at Nandu University." Ye Cheng recalled.
Lu Xiao hissed, "Fuck, I said why I can't learn it, I dare say it's hereditary. My mother hasn't studied since she graduated from high school, and my father is a better cook. He dropped out of junior high school, and then he bought a college degree."
Ye Cheng couldn't help laughing: "It's not possible, uncle can run such a big company anyway."
In his impression, Lu Yaoshan was a ruthless and tyrannical character, and he never knew that he didn't even go to high school seriously.
"Aren't you able to start a business with a few filthy money these days, and besides, he has a military adviser, and his subordinates are all talented students from the Ivy League." Lu Xiao said disdainfully.
Ye Cheng felt that what he said made sense: "No wonder, highly educated people usually work for others, and my mother also has to work for the school."
Lu Xiao wondered: "I went to your house last time, why didn't I see Auntie? Does she live in a university dormitory?"
Ye Cheng twitched the corner of her mouth: "My mother has been dead for many years."
Lu Xiao was stunned, and it took a long time before she opened her mouth and let out an "ah".
"I, I didn't do it on purpose..." He sat up straight and explained stumblingly.
Ye Cheng smiled and said, "It's okay, it's been almost twelve years, and I've already desensitized."
"So when you said that my aunt went to pick you up from the movie theater, I was quite touched." He said, "I don't even have any impression of my mother, and I don't remember how she picked me up from the kindergarten."
Before, Lu Xiao had no expression on her face, but now that she heard what he said, her expression was so sad that she was about to cry.
He shook Ye Cheng's sleeve and said in a low voice, "I'll pick you up when you watch a movie."
"I'll wait for you after school, and accompany you for dinner."
"Don't be unhappy."
Ye Cheng is not unhappy, on the contrary, he still wants to laugh and is touched.
Just as he was about to speak, Lu Xiao asked softly, "Can I give you a hug?"
Unbiased, he had the same impulse as he had just now.
Lu Xiao looked at him nervously, as if afraid of his rejection.
After all, in his impression, Ye Cheng rarely initiates physical contact with others, let alone hugs.
The air was quiet, Ye Cheng opened her arms and said, "Yes."
Lu Xiao took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and stretched out her arms tremblingly to hug her.
He originally wanted to follow Ye Cheng's open arms and wrap his arms around his waist; but he felt that this posture was a bit inappropriate, so he put his arms on it instead.
This moment of hesitation seemed clumsy and green.
Ye Cheng couldn't help laughing, she moved forward and hugged his waist.
Because of the mistake just now, Lu Xiao's whole body became more tense, and the heartbeat in his chest was deafening, and he himself was afraid of disturbing the person in his arms.
This was the first time he completely embraced Ye Cheng in his arms, with a gesture of possession and acceptance.
Not as soft as expected.
He thought Ye Cheng would be soft, after all, this person's skin is white and his face is soft, so he should look like that kind of plush toy.
Actually quite different.
The boy's bones are slightly pierced, and he is so thin that he can wrap his whole body around with one hand.
The hair is full of his smell, a touch of bluebells.
From midsummer to early winter, from fingertips to heart.
Lu Xiao felt her heart palpitations were severe, and the desire in her body became more and more intense. He slowly closed his arms and held the other party firmly in his arms.
Feeling his strength, Ye Cheng didn't struggle a bit, and let him hug her tighter, burying her face on her shoulder.
Someone has done an experiment, which proves that after two people hug for a long time, they will have a sense of trust in each other.
But Lu Xiao felt that the experiment was not rigorous enough.
Because the moment he hugged Ye Cheng, he felt that the whole world belonged to him.
Trust this person completely and be willing to give everything to him.
I want to feel his happiness, feel his pain, and empathize with everything about him.
A very stylish sentence rarely appeared in his mind——
I am not a person who likes to work hard, but if the end of the hard work is you, I am willing to give it a try.
The snow falling outside the window is lingering and sentimental, smearing the hazy feelings in the room.
Early the next morning, Qingshan sent a car to pick him up.
Meng Li changed his madness from last night, and was sent to the car with dull eyes, and was taken away by Mrs. Wang.
Ye Cheng returned to the guest room yesterday, calmed down and thought for a long time, thinking that things might not be that simple.
Judging from this trend, the reason why Lu Xiao will leave school in the next semester is probably related to Meng Li's illness.
And Lu Yaoshan also intervened in this matter, so regardless of whether the domestic violence is true or not, he will definitely return to China next year.
By then you should know what happened.
Ye Cheng watched the ambulance leave, and asked, "Are you really not going to escort me, I can go back to my home."
"No." Lu Xiao also looked at the ambulance that was drifting away, and said, "My mother never let me follow her for treatment. If I saw that process, she would go crazy even more."
Ye Cheng nodded clearly.
He heard from Huang Sheng'an that some mental illnesses require electric shock therapy, which sounds cruel, and of course the family members can't see that kind of picture.
Lu Xiao was used to sending Meng Li away like this, and she went back and forth countless times.
He yawned and said, "Let's go back and do my homework for the winter vacation. Didn't you say that the winter camp has no time to do it?"
The winter camp they applied for started in three days. Ye Cheng had participated in the summer camp of this organization before, and it really made people too busy to take care of schoolwork.
The two entered the door while talking, and the adults in the family left, leaving only them and an aunt who was in charge of cleaning and cooking.
Lu Xiao asked, "What exactly are you going to do these two weeks? Are you talking to foreigners around the campfire?"
The corner of Ye Cheng's mouth twitched: "It's almost like this. This institution pays attention to learning while playing games. There is a high probability that it will hold a few salons or parties, and then let us communicate by ourselves."
"That's great, I just need to communicate with you." Lu Xiao pushed open the door of the study and let him in first.
Ye Cheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "If you only communicate with me, why are you applying for winter camp?"
They sat down at the desk, which was so wide that each of them occupied a space.
Lu Xiao had many questions: "Then where do we live, do we live in a tent?"
Ye Cheng said: "Based on past experience, it should be a hotel where two people share a standard room."
Lu Xiao's mood finally brightened a little: "Can I share a room with you?"
"Of course, just tell the teacher." Ye Cheng opened the winter homework and said.
Lu Xiao ignored her homework and said while the iron was hot: "Then can you come to my room to sleep tonight?"
His tone was like a child clinging to an adult, Ye Cheng smiled and dragged out his voice: "Yes—"
Satisfied, Lu Xiao grabbed a pen and started to work on the questions.
There was silence in the study room, only the sound of paper and pen rubbing against each other.
This was not the first time they studied together, but after Lu Xiao wrote two questions, her attention began to scatter, and she always wanted to look at the people next to her.
His eyes flicked around the paper and the right side, and he didn't know what he was writing indiscriminately.
Ye Cheng was much more attentive than him, with Airpods in her ears, she was concentrating on doing math problems.
The room seemed too hot, Lu Xiao licked her dry lips, and moved around on the seat, as if bitten by ants.
After a while, he reached out to grab Ye Cheng's earphones, looking for something to say: "What are you listening to, listen to me too."
Ye Cheng was caught off guard by him taking off one earphone, and his callused fingertips brushed against his earlobe.
He raised his head in a daze, only to see Lu Xiao put the earphone into his ear.
Lu Xiao originally thought that he would listen to some light music or white noise to help him concentrate on the questions.
But what came from the earphones was indeed a love song, a very old one—"Like Love".
Recently I have the same mood as you/
it's something like love
On the same day / find love is approaching
that's love / not maybe
…
The lyrics of the 2000s are very straightforward, and the melody is soft and pleasant.
Although the singing sounded a bit unsmooth, Lu Xiao was still poked hard.
Similar to love, isn't it what he feels about Ye Cheng now
He turned his head away, Ye Cheng had lowered his head and continued to do his homework.
The sideburns partially cover the ears, and because of the close distance, the lavender blood vessels behind the ears can be clearly seen.
The long eyelashes flutter occasionally, the nose is straight and delicate, and the corners of the mouth curl up in a small arc when thinking.
Just looking at this face, Lu Xiao felt that she couldn't treat him as a brother.
There are so many good-looking people in the world, but he was the only one who fell into the hands of this person.
At first, she thought she was just bewitched by beauty, but Lu Xiao would only feel this way when he was Ye Cheng, not anyone else.
It is Ye Cheng who will supervise his studies and not allow him to degenerate.
It was Ye Cheng who would hug him and exchange secrets with him on snowy nights.
The more he understood this truth, the less he dared to express his heart rashly.
He was afraid—afraid that Ye Cheng would reject him, and even more afraid that Ye Cheng would break up with him.
In Lu Xiao's worldview, if you can't be a lover, you will die forever.
He has always been a courageous and impulsive person, but this time he lost all his determination, only temptation and hesitation.
Suddenly, Ye Cheng seemed to realize that he was peeking at her, and raised her head to look over.
Lu Xiao was caught on the spot, and she didn't even have time to look away.
He blinked his eyes in panic, thinking that Ye Cheng was going to mock him.
However, Ye Cheng just stretched out his hand and snatched back his earphones.
"If you don't concentrate on the questions and still listen to the music, how did you finish those 600 pages?" He said speechlessly.
Lu Xiao didn't dare to say anything, and let him take the earphones away.
I thought to myself, how did I brush it off? Because every time I think about you, I force myself to do history questions.
Later, as I continued to do it, I finished the six hundred pages before I knew it.
I don't even know how many times a day I miss you.
If Ye Cheng knew his messy thoughts, he would definitely feel that he was a prophet.
Lu Xiao is definitely a love brain, even more love brain than Tan Xiaoqi.
Once you are tempted, you will lose your mind and have no intention to study.
Ye Cheng could tell that his mind was not on homework, but he didn't know why.
He tried to ask: "What's the matter with you, do you want to play a game? Why don't you write a game first?"
It's okay for Lu Xiao to think about it, anyway, he can't read a word now.
So the two put down their pens, picked up their mobile phones and opened it.
Soon, Lu Xiao discovered that this method would not work.
Because he was not like before, he went up to the mang when he got the supplies.
He began to worry about Ye Cheng, worrying every step of the way.
I'm afraid that Ye Cheng will be hit, I'm afraid that Ye Cheng has no supplies, I'm afraid that Ye Cheng can't keep up with him.
In the end, Ye Cheng became irritable: "Brother, what are you doing? That person was so cheeky just now, why are you looking back at me?"
He only calls someone "big brother" when he really wants to roll his eyes.
Lu Xiao fell silent again.
Ye Cheng looked at him carefully and said, "Don't you want to play games? Are you addicted to cigarettes? Or do you want to watch cartoons?"
Lu Xiao was instantly angry: "You just want to watch cartoons, can you stop treating me like a three-year-old kid?"
He remembered Ye Cheng's description of his predecessor as "mature, steady, gentle and considerate".
Fuck, doesn't that imply that he is not mature enough, gentle and considerate enough
Lu Xiao couldn't bear it anymore and stood up, opened the door and walked outside to the terrace to blow the cold wind.
Ye Cheng looked puzzled. Isn't this person a three-year-old kid
A lot of icy edges formed on the terrace, and the cold wind blew, and my mind cleared up a lot.
Lu Xiao knocked off an ice edge with one punch, which was really annoying.
When did he become so indecisive
Fuck it, that's not his style at all.
Annoyed, he took out his cell phone and threw dice on his trumpet.
Odd numbers are confession, even numbers are stupid.
Then, throw three even numbers in a row.
Lu Xiao was about to die of anger, fuck, let people live
He rubbed his hair with his hands for a while, and finally, he secretly vowed in his heart: If he gets three A's in the exam, he will confess to Ye Cheng.