Just like the night when Xu Keyu had an accident and he came home drunk.
It's just that Xu Sheng lost his temper because he drank too much that day.
Tang Zhi felt the heat coming from Xu Sheng's body and casually recalled Xu Sheng's reaction when he woke up.
Probably because he felt very humiliated, Xu Sheng gently moved Tang Zhi away from him and went upstairs without anyone noticing.
At that time, Tang Zhi had many opportunities to see Xu Sheng, but he did not want to spend more time with Xu Sheng.
He felt that Xu Sheng was extremely arrogant and was always criticizing and ridiculing him.
Now Xu Sheng is no longer so condescending to him, and is willing to lie with Tang Zhi when he is awake. When he is injured, he will accompany him to the hospital to change his dressing, help him cover his eyes, hold hands without any obstacles, and help him kiss him. His Xu Keyu pulled away.
But there won’t be many opportunities to meet in the future.
Xu Sheng hugged Tang Zhi uncomfortably.
Tang Zhi still raised his hand and touched the back of Xu Sheng's hand.
"Xu Sheng." Tang Zhi called him gently, "Are you asleep?"
The room was so dark that you couldn't see anything. Tang Zhi put incense in the closet. The ambiguous smell was mixed with the aroma of lemon, which made people feel nostalgic.
Xu Sheng put his head on the back of Tang Zhi's neck and asked Tang Zhi, "What's the matter?"
"If you are not sure about the time of your return," Tang Zhi asked him, "when can I go to your house to pack my luggage?"
Xu Sheng probably thought for a moment and said to Tang Zhi, "Anything is fine."
"Call the driver before you go and ask him to pick you up." He added.
Tang Zhi said "Yeah" and they were silent again.
Normally, Tang Zhi and Xu Sheng wouldn't sleep badly when they slept together, but this night, Tang Zhi had trouble falling asleep.
He closed his eyes and didn't dare to open them. His consciousness was in a trance. He didn't know whether it was a dream or a random thought about Xu Sheng's sneaking away in the morning. He immediately fell asleep again.
Tang Zhi became worried because of this, and gently groped and pulled Xu Sheng's sleeve. At first, he thought Xu Sheng was not awake, so he pulled absentmindedly a few times. Xu Sheng suddenly moved, adjusted the position of holding him, raised his hand, and caught the back of Tang Zhi's erratic hand.
During his movement, the sleeves slipped away from Tang Zhi's hands.
"Stop moving," Xu Sheng said to Tang Zhi in a sleepy voice, "Sleep well." Then he hugged Tang Zhi a little tighter.
Tang Zhi reluctantly lay down until dawn.
When Xu Sheng got up, Tang Zhi was woken up by him.
He pretended to be asleep listening to the sound of Xu Sheng getting up, washing and getting dressed.
After a while, Xu Sheng was probably ready to leave, and the sound of footsteps approached Tang Zhi. After two or three seconds, Tang Zhi felt Xu Sheng touch his hair and cheeks, touch his eyelashes, chin and lips.
After a while, Xu Sheng removed his hand, stood up and walked out of the door.
Xi Manxiang's retrial begins on Tuesday.
Before the trial, Tang Zhi and Lawyer Zhong met, went back to his old high school to get a transcript, met a teacher who was kind to him, and had a meal at a small restaurant next to the school.
Tang Zhi told the teacher that he was going to continue school. The teacher was very happy and made an exception to drink some wine. Tang Zhi also took a few sips, said goodbye to the teacher, and walked out of the restaurant.
That night, there was not much wind in Bingang, and the restaurant was very close to the place where he rented a house. He decided to walk back to relieve his drunkenness.
Passing by a convenience store, Tang Zhi went in and bought a pack of cigarettes.
His head was a little dizzy and his face was a little hot. He opened the cigarette case and took out a cigarette, but did not light it immediately.
In the afternoon, he received a message from driver Xu Sheng, saying, "If Mr. Tang needs to go back to get something, you can contact me. I am available at any time."
Tang Zhi replied "Okay, thank you", but he didn't really want to go.
He had very few things to sort out, and there was nothing missing in his new house. He wanted to wait until Xu Sheng came home to get it, so that he could see Xu Sheng one more time.
Tang Zhi walked to the entrance of a small alley, stopped, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and put down his hand, wondering when Xu Sheng would be able to go home because he was so busy.
If you ask Jiang Yan, will Jiang Yan say that
Just meeting once will not harm anyone.
Restless, Tang Zhi waited until Tuesday.
On Monday night, he went to bed very early, had two nightmares, woke up several times during the night, sat up and stared at the dark room in a daze.
The nightmare of retrial upholding the original verdict dragged Tang Zhi to hell over and over again. He got up at half past four, took a shower, and while drying his hair, he stared at himself in the mirror as pale as a ghost for a few seconds, then raised his hand to turn off the bathroom light.
He dried his hair without turning on the light. He grabbed his cell phone on the sink and opened it to see that the text messages he had with Xu Sheng were still from last week.
The phone screen was the only source of light in the bathroom, and the entire room was dark.
Tang Zhi wanted to have a phone call with Xu Sheng, even if Xu Sheng scolded him. He didn't want to be alone anymore and was panicking like crazy, but that was wrong.
It's wrong to harass Xu Sheng.
Tang Zhi looked at the text message interface on his cell phone in the bathroom and said in a very soft voice, "Xu Sheng, I'm so scared."
He heard his own panicked voice, closed his eyes, and said, "I'm so scared."
The phone screen went dark, then suddenly lit up again, and music played.
Five o'clock arrived and the alarm clock he set rang.
Tang Zhi paused for a while and turned off the alarm clock. Before he could move his finger from the screen, he received a message.
He was stunned for a moment, then opened it and saw that it was from Xu Sheng, asking him "are you awake?"
Tang Zhi stared blankly for a long time, then replied to Xu Sheng: "Yes."
After only a few seconds, Xu Sheng called him.
Tang Zhi picked up the answer, but Xu Sheng didn't speak immediately. Tang Zhi heard a very soft breathing coming from Xu Sheng.
After a while, Xu Sheng asked him, "Are you okay?"
Tang Zhi said "not bad".
"Tang Zhi," Xu Sheng said, "don't be afraid, don't worry."
Xu Sheng's voice was very low, and the background was very quiet, with no noise.
Tang Zhi said "Yeah" softly, and the two were silent for a while. Tang Zhi called him "Mr. Xu."
"Are you still on a business trip now?" Tang Zhi's left hand grasped the cold edge of the sink and asked.
After a while, Xu Sheng said "yes".
"When will you be back?" Tang Zhi said slowly with his eyes closed, "I haven't picked up my things yet."
Xu Sheng paused for a second and said, "Tomorrow."
"Come back tomorrow," Xu Sheng said, "You can come tomorrow."
"Okay," Tang Zhi closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and said to Xu Sheng, "Then I'll come tomorrow."
It was all said and done, but neither of them hung up the phone. After waiting for a while, Xu Sheng suddenly said: "Did you sleep last night?"
"Sleep," Tang Zhi lied to him, "sleep very well."
Xu Sheng said "hmm" noncommittally, and Tang Zhi said, "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." Xu Sheng said.
Tang Zhi forced himself to hang up the phone.
From leaving the house to arriving at the court, every image in front of Tang Zhi's eyes was real and engraved in his brain, but it was difficult to quickly understand the meaning of the images.
His heart was beating very fast, and he sat in the gallery without saying a word, watching the people related to this case appear one by one.
The tables, chairs and walls in the courtroom are a bit old.
The varnish on the wooden table has an oily sheen and is a little sticky when touched with your hands.
The door opened again, and Tang Zhi raised his head nervously. I saw Xi Manxiang from a distance. She was wearing a prison uniform, she was in good spirits, her face was serious, and she didn't seem to be relaxed.
She also glanced at Tang Zhi, smiled stiffly, then was taken to a seat and sat down, lowering her head.
Tang Zhi thought of his two nightmares and quickly forced himself to focus elsewhere.
The flow of time was so slow that Tang Zhi felt tortured.
He watched Lawyer Zhong make an impassioned speech, and the sentence Xu Sheng said when he first met him suddenly appeared in front of Tang Zhi.
"Don't you want to meet your mother outside the prison?"
"Think." Tang Zhi said slowly in his heart.
At 2:03 p.m., Tang Zhi got a good answer. Release and compensation in court.
Tang Zhi stood up, and Xi Manxiang raised her head briefly. As if unable to control her emotions, she raised her hands to cover her face and put her head on the table, her shoulders shaking slightly.
Tang Zhi thought she might be crying, so he looked in her direction with wide eyes. His eyes were also a little blurry, but he quickly suppressed her.
The endurance and pain will pass.
It will be fine in the future, Tang Zhi thought.
He watched Xi Manxiang being taken down and walked towards her slowly.
He and Xi Manxiang talked on the phone through the glass for more than ten years. Later, they saw her lying on the hospital bed. Now they were standing together and realized that she was much taller than her mother.
Tang Zhi once again saw the lines on Xi Manxiang's face clearly. Her eyebrows, which were tattooed more than ten years ago, were blue. Her short black hair seemed to have been washed just last night, and it curled up irregularly after sleeping.
"Mom." Tang Zhi called her.
He leaned over slightly and buried his face on Xi Manxiang's shoulder, so as not to press on her wound, he placed his hand very gently on her back.
Xi Manxiang also hugged him, wrapping her arms around Tang Zhi. Her body smelled of laundry soap, and she made a choking sound in her throat.
After a long time, she called Tang Zhi "baby" in a hoarse voice.