Although he didn't want to admit it, Xu Sheng was not having a good night.
The peaceful remains of his mother lying in the coffin and Xu Hefu's gaze from not far away brought Xu Sheng a kind of delayed, subtle and unignorable pain.
Most of the time, Xu Sheng's pain seemed to be peeling off and he had been entrusted to a specialized nursing home to take care of him.
When he saw his mother lying on the other side of the glass with her eyes closed, Xu Sheng seemed to feel a slight pull of loss, as if he felt the pain of being tortured in a distant nursing home.
However, the feelings of helplessness and loss disappeared after about three to five seconds of soothing him.
Xu Sheng had three thoughts in no particular order: he wanted to work immediately, be alone with Tang Zhi, and go to the hospital with Tang Zhi to see Xu Keyu.
Tang Zhi sat next to Xu Sheng and looked at Xu Sheng many times with concern. Tang Zhi was the person who cared most about Xu Sheng in the entire mourning hall, bringing little warmth and color to the silent and dark space.
Xu Sheng couldn't help but wonder, if her mother knew that the person Tang Zhi cared about was actually Xu Sheng, would she choose to stand on her side or favor Xu Keyu.
He had no chance of knowing the answer.
At around eleven o'clock, only Xu Sheng, Tang Zhi and Xu Jin were left in the mourning hall.
He received a text message from his mother's lawyer, hoping that he could call him back at his convenience. Xu Sheng walked out of the mourning hall and called the other party back.
In the courtyard at night, the air was a bit cold, which made Xu Sheng more awake.
The call was answered quickly, and the lawyer seemed surprised by his quick call back. He asked him if it would be convenient for the will to be read out tomorrow night, and also informed him of the time when the will would take effect and the shares would be transferred.
The lawyer was very quiet and his voice was steady. The branches and leaves of cypress are like the shadows of the dark night, condensing the night dew together. Xu Sheng also communicated with him calmly and mentally estimated the important time points from the handover of the shares onwards.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Sheng turned around and saw Xu Jin walking out of the door.
Xu Sheng put away his cell phone and politely called him: "Uncle."
Xu Jin smiled at him, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and handed him one. Xu Sheng waved his hand and refused, so he lit one himself.
Xu Jin likes to smoke high-tar cigarettes. The smoke is suffocating. Xu Sheng took a step back and planned to return to the mourning hall, but Xu Jin stopped him.
"Xu Sheng..." His face was hidden behind the smoke, and his voice was hoarse.
Xu Sheng turned around and Xu Jin moved closer to him: "Uncle will have money to pay you back soon."
He was not tall when he was young. Time and the habit of indulgence pushed his back downwards, so Xu Sheng could only lower his eyes and look down at him.
"That's good." Xu Sheng said gently.
Xu Jin moved his hand holding the cigarette a little further, and the smoke drifted away. The two looked at each other for a second. For some reason, Xu Jin flinched, moved his lips, and said, "But..."
"There is a small amount of money..." he hesitated, "you have to call me for a few more days to turn over."
"Otherwise, my uncle's business will not be able to turn over, and it will be difficult for us," he said.
Xu Sheng looked at Xu Jin gently, looked at it for a moment, and said sincerely: "Uncle, you have everything I have. If you take it out as a mortgage, grandpa will know about it."
Xu Jin choked for a moment and suddenly said after a while: "Your mother's will will take effect soon."
What he said did not surprise Xu Sheng, but Xu Sheng didn't really want to answer and stared at him without speaking.
Xu Jin seemed to be timid for a short time, but he didn't know what gave him the courage, so he said to Xu Sheng: "Good nephew-"
"—Uncle," Xu Sheng interrupted him and told him truthfully, "She only left me the shares, and all the cash and property were given to Keyu."
Xu Jin was surprised: "Keyu?"
"Ke Yu...how can I get the money?" His expression suddenly changed, and he added, "Can her husband inherit it for her?"
"How can this be done?" Xu Jin became excited. "How can our Xu family's things be cheaper than those of an outsider?"
"He can't get it," Xu Sheng explained. "The will has a clause that only Ke Yu can inherit it."
Xu Jin was stunned for a moment, said "Oh", and relaxed a little. His slack eyelids and cheeks were drooping, and greed and unwillingness showed in his eyes.
"You can think of a way for uncle again," he said. "It's really not much. It's less than what you gave me last time."
"Your grandpa is not young anymore," Xu Jin added. "When I inherit his property, I will be able to give you much more than he can give you."
Xu Sheng looked at him, waited for a while to think, and said, "This is the last time."
Xu Jin promised: "The last time."
A gust of night wind blew, and the cigarette ashes in Xu Jin's hand were very long. When the wind blew them, they flew up on the back of his hand.
Xu Jin shrank from being burned, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and crushed it with the sole of his shoe.
Standing outside his mother's mourning hall, Xu Sheng transferred the money to his uncle's pleas.
He felt a little relaxed but also tired. When he saw Xu Jin lighting up another cigarette, he said, "It's getting late. Let me help you call your aunt out."
"Okay, okay." Xu Jin nodded repeatedly.
Xu Sheng turned around and walked into the mourning hall, and saw Xu Rong's hand on Tang Zhi's arm, talking close to Tang Zhi.
Xu Rong's voice was very soft, and there was a Taoist priest chanting beside him. Xu Sheng couldn't hear anything, and could only see Tang Zhi's pale face, tightly pursed lips, and eyes widened due to nervousness.
He knew that Tang Zhi was afraid and had thoughts that were unlike him and not very polite, but in the end he did not act on it and interrupted Xu Rong.
Tang Zhi was still absent-minded until he got home.
Xu Sheng thought that Tang Zhi might be frightened and forgot to come to his room to look for him, so he called Tang Zhi.
Of course, if Tang Zhi joins Xu Sheng in the bedroom tonight and stays with him, Xu Sheng will indeed feel better.
Xu Sheng waited for Tang Zhi to come from the room. After waiting for a long time, he became a little impatient, so he said something that made Tang Zhi unhappy.
Then Xu Sheng realized that the discomfort caused by waiting was nothing compared to seeing Tang Zhi's uncomfortable expression.
Fortunately, Tang Zhi quickly understood. Tang Zhi said, "Forget it." Xu Sheng immediately hugged Tang Zhi.
Tang Zhi cares about Xu Sheng very much, so in their long future, Xu Sheng will also try to give Tang Zhi some of the care that Tang Zhi longs for.
Tang Zhi was held by Xu Sheng for a while and asked Xu Sheng: "Are you going to get up early for the funeral tomorrow?"
He glanced at the grandfather clock in Xu Sheng's room: "It's one o'clock."
"The funeral is at nine o'clock." Xu Sheng said to him.
Tang Zhi said "Oh" and said to Xu Sheng without looking into his eyes, "Then we have to go to bed early."
Xu Sheng agreed, and they lay on Xu Sheng's bed and turned off the lights.
Tang Zhi's hand was still wrapped with gauze, but as long as he didn't pull too hard, it wouldn't hurt anymore.
In the darkness, Xu Sheng hugged Tang Zhi face to face. Probably because he was afraid that Tang Zhi would be hurt by him, his hug was not very strong, but it was still very tight.
Tang Zhi put his hand on Xu Sheng's back and stroked it up and down very gently.
He made a rough calculation and found that Xu Sheng had not slept for nearly three days. Listening to Xu Sheng's breathing, it seemed that it would be difficult to fall asleep tonight.
Xu Sheng's breathing was long while he was sleeping, as quiet as a child. There was a bit of domineering and willfulness in his sleep, and he hugged Tang Zhi even tighter.
Tang Zhi waited in Xu Sheng's arms for a while, maybe twenty minutes, and then asked Xu Sheng, "Still can't sleep?"
Xu Sheng didn't answer him at first, but after a while, he put his hand on Tang Zhi's waist and simply said, "Yeah."
Tang Zhi opened his eyes. Because the room was dark, he saw the outline of Xu Sheng's chin. He leaned over and gently touched it with his lips.
Xu Sheng tightened his waist, lowered his head, kissed him, and then moved away.
"Be good." Xu Sheng asked Tang Zhi.
Tang Zhi couldn't help but smile.
After another moment of silence, Tang Zhi suddenly wanted to know, so he asked him: "Did you have a happy childhood?"
When Xu Sheng was quiet and young, he said: "I was very happy before I was eight years old."
"When I was a child in the capital," he told Tang Zhi calmly, "my parents divorced when I was eight years old, and I moved to Bingang with my mother."
"There's no need to be unhappy after returning to Bingang." In the darkness, Xu Sheng said.
Tang Zhi thought of the childhood photos of Xu Sheng, who was bulging with baby fat, and felt an unknown sadness that was many times more than curiosity.
"Tang Zhi," Xu Sheng said suddenly, "do you want to see the things I liked when I was a child?"
Tang Zhi was stunned for a moment, then said, "Yeah," and then said, "I think so."
Xu Sheng sat up and turned on the light.
The overhead light was very bright. It was so bright at first that Tang Zhi felt dazzling and cold. It took him a while to get used to it before he could fully open his eyes.
Xu Sheng adapted quickly. While Tang Zhi was sitting blankly on the bed, he had already walked into the dressing room.
Tang Zhi followed and saw Xu Sheng opened the bottom drawer at the back of the dressing room and took it out completely.
There is a small space under the drawer with some cardboard boxes inside.
Xu Sheng took out all the boxes and opened them one by one. Tang Zhi helped him dismantle one, which seemed to be some parts for building a toy.
"I brought it back from the capital." Xu Sheng told Tang Zhi, connecting the two parts together.
They sat on the gray short-pile carpet. Xu Sheng's shoulders were broad, his eyes were calm and peaceful, his hands were big, and there was no trace of any connection with the toy in his body. But when he put the parts together, Tang Zhi felt that it was not inconsistent.
"When I was nine years old, Director Xu had people tear it down and dispose of it," Xu Sheng said. "I gave some money to the maid who threw it away and asked her to put it away for me. When the new house is built, I will get it. "
He built a model of a space station.
Among the toy models from twenty years ago, Xu Sheng’s space station should be among the most exquisite and expensive.
But over the years, the color on some plastics has inevitably peeled off, revealing the white underneath.
"After I moved here, I found this grid and took them back." Xu Sheng said without any hesitation.
Tang Zhi looked at Xu Sheng who was playing with old toys with his head down, and suddenly remembered the penguin Xu Sheng gave him.
"I disinfected it myself and set it up again." Xu Sheng said, and then asked Tang Zhi: "What do you think?"
Tang Zhi looked up at Xu Sheng and said, "Very good."
"Yes," Xu Sheng agreed and told Tang Zhi, "but some parts are missing."
He looked at Tang Zhi, pointed to a line extending from the door on an aircraft of the space station, and said, "There used to be an astronaut here, but it fell off."
"It takes two people to get the astronauts out of the cabin." He explained to Tang Zhi seriously,
Tang Zhi looked at the astronaut standing inside the door with his head stuck out. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He thought he might look ugly and smiled at Xu Sheng and said, "Really?"
Xu Sheng said "yes".
Tang Zhi came closer to Xu Sheng, rested his head on Xu Sheng's shoulder, reached out to touch the aircraft and the open door, pulled the stretched out line, slid it to the astronaut's exposed head, and touched it , said: "This seems a bit lonely."
Xu Sheng's shoulders stiffened slightly, he paused, and grabbed Tang Zhi's touching hand. Xu Sheng's hands were very hot and he held Tang Zhi's palm without using much strength.
After a while, he said to Tang Zhi: "It's okay."