On the third day after Tang Zhi and Xu Keyu’s wedding, Xu Keyu had a car accident.
That wedding was ridiculous, and Tang Zhi remembered every detail of it.
The house was full of guests, the white gauze moved slightly, and the scorching sun burned the back of his raised right hand.
Xu Keyu held his arm tightly, raised his face, and called his name - at the end of the ceremony, the groom must kiss the bride.
Tang Zhi lowered his head and looked at Xu Keyu. Xu Keyu's eyelashes were trembling in the sunlight, and he shyly said to Tang Zhi, "Husband."
Tang Zhi did not respond to Xu Keyu immediately, but looked up at Xu Sheng who was sitting in the first row. Xu Sheng happened to be looking at him too, so the two of them made eye contact for a very brief moment.
Xu Sheng gently held the hand of Mrs. Xu, who was leaning on the wheelchair and had been bedridden for a long time, and sat upright.
He looked at Tang Zhi relaxedly and calmly, and nodded to Tang Zhi.
Tang Zhi couldn't find any special emotion in Xu Sheng's eyes.
Compared with the bride's brother, Xu Sheng is more like a routine director. He indifferently watches the actors he hired with high salary perform on the stage and has no interest in the wedding itself.
"Husband!" Xu Keyu called Tang Zhi softly again, reminding him that it was time for a kiss.
Tang Zhi lowered his head again and happened to see Xu Keyu closing her eyes. He hesitated for two seconds, kissed her forehead, and then reached out and hugged her tightly.
The audience at the wedding scene collectively breathed a sigh of relief. After a brief silence, cheers broke through the silence and poured in from all directions towards Tang Zhi.
In the turbid and noisy air, Tang Zhi let go of Xu Keyu.
He saw the happy smile on Xu Keyu's butter-like cheeks, saw the light blue balloons, green land and the sun, and then smelled the slightly astringent aroma of grass juice.
Somehow, three days later, when he heard the housekeeper tremblingly tell the news about Xu Keyu's accident, what suddenly appeared in front of Tang Zhi's eyes was not the memory related to Xu Keyu, but Xu Sheng's almost calm eyes without any emotion. Eyes with foreboding.
More than two months ago, on the night of February 4th, Xu Sheng found Tang Zhi.
At that time, Tang Zhi could not bear the harassment from Xu Keyu, so he quietly resigned. Under the introduction of his former boss, he ran to a nearby city and found a job as a brand warehouse manager in a department store. He also rented a hotel near the mall. small apartment.
He changed jobs in a hurry and did not have time to carefully select a house. When he moved in, he discovered that most of the furniture seen in the sales pictures had been taken away by the original tenants. There was nothing else in the room except the bed, sofa and TV that the landlord temporarily purchased.
But even if you live in a rented house with nothing, it is more comfortable than being pestered by a rich girl with mental problems who does not seek medical treatment in time - at least you will no longer be woken up by strange phone calls in the middle of the night and listen to Xu Keyu's murmurs on the other end of the phone. He said that he was already downstairs from Tang Zhi and asked Tang Zhi to go downstairs immediately and take her to elope.
When Xu Sheng appeared, Tang Zhi had just cut the fruit in the refrigerator and sat on the sofa.
The moment the TV was turned on, a burst of brisk music came from the doorbell loudspeaker next to the door.
Tang Zhi was stunned for a moment.
In order to avoid Xu Keyu's entanglement, he did not tell anyone his new address. For the first time in two weeks of living in his new apartment, he heard the doorbell ring.
Tang Zhi's breathing was slightly blocked, his heart sank, and he did not get up immediately.
The doorbell rang for a while, stopped for two seconds, and then rang again.
The wind outside was strong, causing the window glass to shake and bang against the window frame. The news on the TV was very soft, which made the doorbell ring louder.
Tang Zhi couldn't ignore it and felt anxious. After sitting for a while, he finally couldn't help but stand up, walked to the door, and looked out through the peephole.
The sensor light at the door was a little dim, and he couldn't see the exact appearance of the person coming, but he could make out that they were two tall men, at least not Xu Keyu himself.
Tang Zhi raised his voice slightly and asked, "Who?"
"Hello, Mr. Tang, my name is Jiang Yan," one of the people outside the door said in a loud voice, as if he was afraid that he could not hear clearly, "We have something urgent and want to interview you. Could you please open the door for us first?" ?”
After that, he slipped two pieces of paper from under the door of the apartment: "Look, these are our business cards."
Tang Zhi leaned over and picked it up to look at it. One picture showed Jiang Yan, the assistant general manager of Xu Real Estate, and the other picture only had a name but no title, which read Xu Sheng.
Tang Zhi stared at Xu Sheng's name for a few seconds and finally opened the door.
Xu Sheng was wearing an iron-gray suit that was incompatible with the messy environment of the corridor. He stood outside the door of Tang Zhi's house, lowered his eyes slightly, looked at Tang Zhi and nodded: "Hello." He was exceptionally tall. Tang Zhi was not short, and he had to raise his head to look at him.
There was only one light in the corridor, and the light was very dim. Most of the left side of Xu Sheng's face was illuminated in the shadow of the bridge of his nose.
When Tang Zhi saw Xu Sheng clearly at first glance, he felt that this man was a little too handsome.
Xu Sheng has high brow bones, a pair of slightly sunken eye sockets, slightly drooped eyelids, a straight bridge of the nose, thin upper and lower lips, a sharp chin, and a slightly exotic temperament in his face.
His eyes were calm, and he told Tang Zhi with a politeness that was almost indifferent: "I am Xu Keyu's brother."
Tang Zhi was stunned, looked at him for a few seconds, then took a step back: "Come in."
Xu Sheng walked into the room and Jiang Yan was waiting outside the door.
Tang Zhi didn't intend to let Xu Sheng stay for a long time, so he didn't pour water. He just asked Xu Sheng to sit on the sofa. He pulled up a chair, sat down not far away, and asked bluntly: "What do you want from me?"
Xu Sheng did not answer immediately, but looked at Tang Zhi and Tang Zhi's home with an appraising look, as if he was giving Tang Zhi a score.
Tang Zhi felt that Xu Sheng was probably thinking, "How could Xu Keyu like this kind of person?"
Coincidentally, Tang Zhi was also thinking about it, and Tang Zhi also wanted to know the answer.
About half a minute later, Xu Sheng finally spoke: "Mr. Tang, have you ever been in love with Xu Keyu?"
Tang Zhi said: "No."
Xu Sheng didn't seem surprised and told Tang Zhi calmly: "But in the two weeks since you left, she cut her wrists three times and said she would die if she couldn't be with you."
Tang Zhi frowned, and Xu Sheng continued: "I am usually busy with work, and I neglect to care about Keyu. I don't understand her emotional life, and I don't know that her mental condition has reached a level that requires intervention and treatment."
"I planned to send Keyu to Mingxin Hospital for admission, but she didn't agree." At this point, Xu Sheng suddenly looked at Tang Zhi and paused.
He seemed to be waiting for Tang Zhi to ask Xu Keyu why he didn't accept treatment, so that he could explain his purpose in a more honorable manner.
Tang Zhi wanted to ask casually, but Xu Sheng's eyes and pauses made him feel nervous and unhappy, so he did not answer, but asked lazily: "Take a mentally ill person for treatment, and you also need to ask for his opinion." ?"
"That's right," Xu Sheng explained, "Both the doctor and I hope that she will be emotionally stable and cooperate with the treatment when she is admitted to the hospital."
Tang Zhi paused for a long time, then said "Hmm" and asked, "How can we make her stable?"
"Ke Yu made a condition, and I agreed."
"What conditions?"
Xu Sheng looked at Tang Zhi and told him smoothly and naturally: "She wants to marry you."
For a brief moment, Tang Zhi suspected that he was hallucinating.
He glanced at Xu Sheng. Xu Sheng's expression was so serious that one would never expect such ridiculous words to come from him.
"Xu Keyu wants to marry me, what's the use of whether you agree or not?" Tang Zhi asked doubtfully.
"If you can marry her once," Xu Sheng continued without answering, "I can give you enough cash to support you for a lifetime."
"Of course, if you want anything else, you can mention it directly," he added. "As long as she can be admitted to the hospital smoothly, we can talk about it." Then he said a number.
Perhaps this figure was nothing to Xu Sheng, because his expression did not change at all, but to Tang Zhi, it was indeed money that could not be spent in a lifetime.
Tang Zhi looked at Xu Sheng, not knowing what to say for a moment. In the silence, Tang Zhi thought of some insignificant old things. He suddenly thought of the pale sun hanging high in the sky that afternoon when his mother was sentenced to life imprisonment.
He thought of the early morning when he was dismissed from school three years ago. He was carrying his schoolbag and clutching the hanging strap of his schoolbag tightly in his hands, walking alone through the deserted playground. There was a strong wind blowing throughout Bingang City. , his ears hurt a lot from the blow, but he kept walking.
Tang Zhi remembered the day he met Xu Keyu again. Xu Keyu bought almost all the clothes, shoes and bags in the store where he worked.
"Wrap them all up," Xu Keyu said, "I bought them all and I will count your performance."
Tang Zhi didn't want her performance and didn't want to meet her, so he changed shifts with his colleagues. He was informed by his colleagues that Xu Keyu had not been able to guard him, so he found a few strong men to guard outside the store.
Xu Keyu at that time seemed to have no resemblance to the calm and rational Xu Sheng in front of him, but they seemed to be exactly the same.
Tang Zhi suddenly smiled sincerely at Xu Sheng: "You are really rich."
Xu Sheng didn't know whether he really didn't understand the meaning of Tang Zhi's words, or he was pretending not to understand. He still asked Tang Zhi in a gentle and cold tone: "Isn't it enough? You can ask for how much you want." Just like Tang Zhi was Goods placed on display racks for sale.
Tang Zhi looked at Xu Sheng and said to him, "Get out."
Xu Sheng's expression did not change, as if he had never been offended by Tang Zhi's rudeness. He looked at Tang Zhi for a while, then suddenly called Tang Zhi's name and said pointedly: "As far as I know, on the second week of every month, On Saturdays, you will go to Chengshan Women’s Prison.”
Tang Zhi was stunned.
A cold chill ran from Tang Zhi's spine, mixed with anger and rushed straight to his fingertips and top of his head. He said a curse word to Xu Sheng, stood up quickly, and cursed: "Where will I lock you every month?" What the hell?"
Then he raised his hand and pointed at the door: "Get out of here right now."
Xu Sheng seemed not to have expected Tang Zhi's reaction to be so violent. He frowned slightly and looked at Tang Zhi. After a while, he said: "You don't have to be so excited. I just want to ask if you don't want to meet with your father outside the prison." Face?"
"I found someone to look at her case," Xu Sheng said. "It's not that there is no room for overturning the case."
Tang Zhi stared at Xu Sheng's calm face, his anger slowly draining away, leaving a lot of confusion and little pain. He felt incompetent and weak, but he didn't know what to do.
After a long time, he replied: "My mother's sentence is life imprisonment, and the trial is final."
"I know. Just tell me if you want it or not." Xu Sheng said simply.
Tang Zhi looked down at Xu Sheng and couldn't help but notice that his handsome face and expensive suit looked very awkward in the living room filled with cheap items, and were incompatible with everything Tang Zhi owned.
Thinking about it afterwards, Tang Zhi always felt that there were countless intense emotions swirling in his heart at that time.
For example, humiliation and unwillingness, anger and depression, anxiety and longing; for example, hating Xu Sheng and Xu Keyu for being superior, and hating themselves for being weak and incompetent; for example, despicably longing for their mother to regain her freedom, and fearing that Xu Sheng would lie to him and give him endless hope. , all came to nothing in the end.
He felt like he struggled almost all night before making up his mind.
But in fact, Tang Zhi didn't let Xu Sheng wait for too long, maybe only ten seconds, or fifteen seconds, before he said "I think" to Xu Sheng.