The long steel dragon departing from S City pierced the night and roared away.
Jiang Kezhou sat by the window, staring at the flashing lights outside the window with ecstasy, his face seemed calm, but his heart was already overturned with a supermarket spice rack.
It was his aunt Jiang Linying who called him, whining and crying that his uncle had been in a car accident a few days ago, and asked vaguely if he had time to come back. Jiang Kezhou has dealt with them for so many years, and he knows the elegance after hearing Xiange, and immediately understands that he is short of money to play the autumn wind.
His father is nothing, but his mother has a very deep relationship with Jiang Kezhou. Moreover, his uncle's financial support made him breathe a sigh of relief. Although there were quarrels between the two parties, they were serious relatives, with both family affection and kindness. Uncle and the others didn't know about his relationship with Ye Zheng, and it was impossible for Jiang Kezhou to use Ye Zheng's money to help them. His salary is limited, even if he is not self-effacing, he can only do his best.
So "something" is really something, but there is no rush, it's just being used by Jiang Kezhou as an excuse to escape when he is in a state of confusion. He didn't know what kind of face he should use to face Ye Zheng—do he pretend to be indifferent with suspicion, or tear his heart out in front of him, putting all the ugly emotions such as suspicion, unwillingness, and retreat on the table
The phone stopped ringing as if he was tired of singing, presumably Ye Zheng finally gave up looking.
fair enough. Aside from his sourness, he couldn't help feeling a bit of relief. The appearance of warmth that the two had tried to maintain for several months was finally lost, and they fell to pieces on the ground with a click. It would be a lie to say that it doesn't hurt, but the tiredness when holding it is also true.
Regardless of whether Ye Zheng was confused or knew about his leaving without saying goodbye, it is the best choice for each to separate and calm down for a while. This relationship has been a city wall floating on the water since its establishment. It is naturally bonded by impulse, hormones and habits. It looks majestic, but inside it is bricks and tiles. The two of them demolished the east wall to make up the west wall all day long, and they were so embarrassed that they were stretched. But a sudden gust of wind came over the lake, and the unreliable city wall collapsed like a bean curd project.
It's been so hard so far.
It was two o'clock in the morning when the high-speed train arrived at the station, and he didn't want to have any contact with Ye Zheng in any form for a short time, so he didn't go back to the villa or the apartment, but found a fast hotel to stay.
Jiang Kezhou was preoccupied with something, and after being sleepy again, of course it was impossible to fall asleep again, so he just closed his eyes and rested on the bed. He stayed up until the sun rose, and the hot white mist rose from the surrounding alleys. He sat up with two huge dark circles under his eyes, went to the bathroom to clean himself up, and went downstairs to have breakfast.
Jiang Kezhou hasn't been to his uncle's house for almost two years, and all he can see are unfamiliar buildings. Carrying fruit and milk, he asked for directions several times before he found the door of the unit. According to Jiang Linying, the taxi driven by Uncle Wang Yi forcibly rear-ended a large truck on the highway, got under the truck's chassis, got stuck and dragged for hundreds of meters. The driver's arm and leg bones were broken, and the two passengers in the car were seriously injured and are still lying in the hospital. Wang Yi was fully responsible for the accident. The taxi company and the family members of the injured chased him for compensation. In order to save money, Jiang Linying asked him to move home after only two days in the hospital.
Before Jiang Kezhou entered the door, he smelled a strong smell of medicine. After staying with Ye Zheng for a long time, his nose became delicate, and he was choked unexpectedly. The woman complained at the top of her voice, through a door, protruding her auditory nerves like a machine gun.
"Are you still staring at me? Did I misunderstand you? If it weren't for your family to be what it is now? It would be nice to have medicine for you, why didn't you just hit you to death! The hospital is a bottomless pit... Smashing pots and selling iron, you say It’s easy, you just have to lie on the bed with your legs dangling around to order people around when you’re in love, and the family doesn’t need money for food and drink? A school doesn’t cost money? The family is so poor that only the northwest wind is left, what am I going to sell?!”
Wang Yi didn't know what he said, and Jiang Linying burst into tears: "Bastard! That's your own son! Yixuan is only so old and you let him go to work? You are still not human!"
"Just your nephew, you fucking let him pay your debts!"
Jiang Kezhou couldn't listen anymore, so he raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Jiang Linying raised her voice impatiently: "Who is it?"
Jiang Kezhou: "It's me, aunt."
The room was suddenly buzzing and rattling, and after a while Jiang Linying came to open the door with disheveled hair and red eyes. When she saw him, tears rolled down her eyes: "Xiaozhou, you are back. Your uncle chanted every day. And you,"
Jiang Kezhou put down his things, and Jiang Linying welcomed him into the room while being polite. This kind of old building in the 1990s has a narrow layout and low roofs. People seem to have to bend over when walking in. Coupled with the dirty air mixed with medicine smell and peculiar smell, it is like a stuffy cage. No wonder Jiang Linying has such a temper .
Wang Yi was lying on the bed, with thick plaster casts on his arms and legs, and his thin body was sunk in the bedding, as if he was going to decay overnight. Jiang Kezhou's eyes were a little sour, and he forced a smile: "Uncle."
"Hey, hey," Wang Yi couldn't move, so he could only nod on the pillow, "It's good that you're here..."
Jiang Kezhou said softly: "I heard from my aunt about the situation. Take care of your health first, and then slowly plan to compensate for this. I can't help you. You take this little money, it's my heart."
He put a brown paper envelope beside Wang Yi's pillow. There seemed to be tears in Wang Yi's eyes. He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but Jiang Linying snatched the envelope and stuffed it into the cabinet: "Good boy, it's rare that you have such a heart. Thank you, auntie."
"..." Jiang Kezhou, "You're out of touch."
Jiang Linying cried and wiped her tears and said: "Such a big event happened in the family. As a woman, I have no idea. Yixuan is so young... I really have nowhere to go, Xiao Zhou, you must help your uncle more, he is your own uncle." .”
"Yes, I will help if I can." Jiang Kezhou responded, upset by her crying, and only hoped that she would shut up quickly, planning to leave after sitting down for a while.
"Auntie has one thing to ask you now..."
"Shut up!" Wang Yi suddenly stopped her, "Say something stupid in front of the child!"
Jiang Linying stared: "Shut up! Do you think I am willing? Isn't there no way?!"
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Jiang Kezhou hurriedly interrupted: "Don't get excited, don't get excited, it's okay, just speak slowly."
Jiang Linying gouged out Wang Yi's eyes, and Fang said to Jiang Kezhou: "You don't know, because of the car accident, all the savings of the family have been lost, but there are still hundreds of thousands of holes... The taxi company and family members come to us every day. I want money, but our old couple don’t have any money left! Your uncle won’t let me say it, but my aunt really has no other choice but to show her old face and beg you.”
Jiang Kezhou was a little puzzled: "What did you... say?"
"Xiaozhou," Jiang Linying asked, grabbing his sleeve, "can you lend me some money to fill this hole?"
"You think too highly of me." Jiang Kezhou understood what she meant, and smiled wryly, "You know my salary level, hundreds of thousands is really..."
Jiang Linying looked at him earnestly, the light in his eyes frantically frenzied: "Aunt knows you have a way. Your father owed gambling debts back then, didn't you sell yourself to help him repay it? Then your father had an accident, and it was also... that person I paid for it. I heard that it is a big boss, Xiao Zhou, if you go and beg him again, hundreds of thousands are nothing to people like them, huh?"
Jiang Kezhou froze on the spot as if someone had poured cold water on his head.
He never dreamed that Jiang Linying called him over with this idea.
His throat was so dry that there seemed to be a mouthful of blood in his throat. He had to grit his teeth to keep himself from shouting. Jiang Kezhou took a step back, his back soaked in cold sweat was stuck against the dirty wall regardless, his eyes The cheek muscles were tense, the eyelids were drooping, and the warm eyes fell on the woman's yellow and haggard face through the thick eyelashes.
Jiang Linying looked away in fear.
He said softly, "We're okay now."
"Impossible, last time Yixuan said he saw you eating with him," Jiang Linying asked suddenly, "Xiaozhou, you don't want to help?"
The initial shock dissipated, replaced by a feeling of weakness on the soles of his feet, even the anger was weak. He realized that no matter how much he said in front of this woman, it would be a waste of words, so he said bluntly: "Don't say that I have nothing to do with him now. Even if there is a relationship, why should I ask someone to help you with money?"
"You can't say that!" Jiang Linying exclaimed, "You are willing to save your father who is not a thing. Your mother has worked so hard to raise you to such an age. Now that her brother is in trouble, you have the heart to stand aside and watch." ? Don’t you have any family affection in your heart?”
"Jiang Hongwei is my biological father, and I am his own son," Jiang Kezhou said coldly, "Uncle also has his own son, so why not let Yixuan save him?"
"How old is Yixuan? How can a child like him do such a thing?"
"Oh." Taking advantage of his height, Jiang Kezhou looked down at her, "I was fifteen when my mother died, and Yixuan should be seventeen this year, right? no?"
He raised the corners of his lips, but there was no smile in his eyes.
"Or, you think selling yourself to save your father is a feasible way, that's even better. Anyway, you all know Brother Song, if you ask him to introduce a good family to Yixuan, won't the problem be solved?"
Jiang Linying pointed at his nose with tears in his eyes: "Get out! Get out! Don't think of my son!"
"Why, do you feel distressed?" Jiang Kezhou pushed her hand away expressionlessly, turned and walked towards the door, "Your son is the only human in the world, and others can spoil it casually? With all due respect, you take yourself too seriously. It's over."
"Stay there, don't send it off."
There was a deafening slam of the door in the corridor.
Jiang Kezhou didn't know how he got down from upstairs. It wasn't until a basin of vegetable washing water fell from the sky and splashed at his feet, that he returned to his normal position.
"Homosexuality! Mental illness!" A woman screamed sharply from the window on the second floor, "Shameless thing, if you don't save your own uncle, you will go to the 18th floor of hell sooner or later! A bitch like you who is kept by men You have the face to stand on the street, I'm ashamed of you! Don't bring the virus to our house, get out of here, pervert!"
It was ten o'clock in the morning, and it was the time when retired grandparents, housewives, and unemployed people in the community had the highest attendance rate.
Because of the clear puddle of water as a mark, people on the side of the road stopped to watch this scolding scene. For a moment, countless eyes focused on the man who was splashed with water, accompanied by countless comments of surprise or contempt. The words "homosexual", "sick in the brain", and "abnormal" are particularly vivid.
Jiang Kezhou stood there for a while, didn't say anything, didn't look at anyone else, and walked straight to the gate of the community.
Wherever he went, it was like Moses splitting the sea, and the crowd gave way to a large space with a huff, as if he was carrying some kind of virus that would kill at the touch of a finger, and everyone was afraid to avoid it.
Those explicit gazes made his back burn hot. If there was real energy in his eyes, he would have been burnt to the point that not even bones remained.
Jiang Kezhou calmly walked out of the community and onto the crowded street.
It wasn't until this moment that he realized that from the moment he signed the contract, this nurturing relationship was like a dark cloud that would always hang over his life. Love, career, and family were not spared. He thought it was just a past, but the past will not pass. Even if the contract expires one day, its imprint will not disappear with time.
Abandoned, sacrificed, discriminated against, imprisoned... There are so many interests and feelings in the world, each of which is more important than him.