When Ji Minglun replied to that message, Jiang Lin had already fallen asleep on the pillow, and his hiccups finally stopped without him noticing.
At night he dreamed about what happened during the day, but when he was in the bathroom, Ji Minglun saw that he couldn't stop hiccuping, so he didn't let him go to the stands to rest, but pressed him against the wall and kissed him for a long time. Until he was short of oxygen and couldn't breathe, the hiccups naturally stopped.
The next day, when I looked at the four simple words on WeChat and thought about my dream, a feeling of shame and regret crept up my cheeks.
Ji Minglun's concern for him now is at most the level of an ordinary friend, but he is dreaming about that kind of thing. If Ji Minglun knew about it, he didn't know what he would think of him.
When I arrived at the store in the afternoon, Deng Feng was fiddling with a projector.
There is a very wide white wall in the store, which originally had three landscape paintings put together hanging on it. Now they have all been taken down and placed in the corner, and replaced by a large projection screen.
He tied on an apron and went to help Zhu Zhu take orders. Not long after, a burst of laughter came from the guest area. Zhu Zhu went over to take a look and asked him to go over and take a look.
Deng Feng has already set up the projector and drawn thick pastoral-style curtains on the surrounding windows. The light in the store has dimmed, but the picture on the screen has become very clear. A variety show is being played.
The customers in the store were all watching. Deng Feng chatted with them for a while. After returning to the dining area, he heard Zhu Zhu say that this was a great idea and asked how she came up with it.
Some time ago, Deng Feng went to a friend's store and saw that the store was decorated like this. Although it was not new, the atmosphere and feeling in the store were completely new. He also wanted to try it, so he discussed it with Ji Minglun.
Ji Minglun also thought it was feasible, so he chose a popular model and waited for almost a week before it was available.
While Zhu Zhu and Deng Feng were talking about the projector, Jiang Lin was concentrating on trading and didn't say anything. Deng Feng walked up to him and asked, "Deng Yi said you were hiccupping yesterday. Are you okay?"
Jiang Lin didn't even raise his head as he vigorously mashed the ice and lemon in the jar: "It's ready."
"Let me do it."
Deng Feng reached out to take it, Jiang Lin gave it to him, and turned to get the items he needed from the cabinet next to him. Because the two were close to each other and he was not wearing a baseball cap today, Deng Feng smelled a faint, familiar smell.
After hesitating for a moment, Deng Feng asked, "Are you also using sandalwood cedar scented shampoo?"
The action of closing the cabinet door paused, and Jiang Lin looked a little unnatural: "Yeah."
"What a coincidence," Deng Feng said with a smile, "Ming Lun also uses this."
Jiang Lin didn't say anything more, and took two dragon fruits to the sink to wash. He was usually quiet, so Deng Feng didn't suspect him and continued to crush the ice and lemon slices in the jar.
As the projector in the store was playing variety shows all the time, business started to get better in the afternoon and the three of them were simply unable to handle it. In the evening, Deng Yi came to the store to help, and around seven o'clock, Ji Minglun also came over, carrying two large bags of Dongtang.
The two met in the store. Ji Minglun still did not take the initiative to talk to Jiang Lin as before. Jiang Lin also did not pay attention to him because he had more than a dozen orders on hand. It was not until Deng Feng came over and reminded Jiang Lin to go to the lounge to eat first.
Jiang Lin focused his attention on the cups of coffee smoothies in front of him that needed to be filled with cream. Without even looking up, he said, "I'm not hungry yet. Let Zhu Zhu and Deng Yi eat first."
Deng Feng turned around to call Zhu Zhu. After a while, Jiang Lin was confirming the order with the customer at the cash register. Someone walked up to him and whispered, "You go eat first. I'll take care of this."
The voice was deep and deep, and when he spoke close to her, the heat hit her ears and it was a little itchy. Jiang Lin turned his head to look at Ji Minglun, but the man didn't meet his gaze. He stretched out his arm to block him behind him, and looked at the guests outside with a smile on his face, asking them to repeat their request.
Jiang Lin told Deng Feng that he was not hungry. In fact, he was not really that hungry. He had eaten a lot at noon. Thinking of Ji Minglun who had just said he had not eaten, he pulled the back of that man's T-shirt and said, "Let me do it. I'm not hungry. You go eat first."
Ji Minglun ignored him, tore up the receipt and gave it to the customer, then glanced back at him and said, "You have stomach problems. If you have an attack, the store will be one less helper."
Ji Minglun finished speaking and continued to receive the next guest. Jiang Lin looked at him for a moment and had to walk towards the lounge.
When he opened the door, Deng Yi and Zhu Zhu were sitting around a round table enjoying their meal. Seeing him come in, Deng Yi patted the chair beside her and said, "Hurry up and sit down. Ming Lun bought some private dishes from Dongtang today. You are in for a treat."
Zhu Zhu handed him a box of rice and a pair of chopsticks: "Yeah, we are really lucky today, but Ming Lun, is there something good going on? You are treating us for two consecutive days."
Zhu Zhu didn't attend the basketball game yesterday, but he heard that Ji Minglun treated everyone to a buffet, so he came again today. Looking at the twelve sumptuous dishes on the table, Zhu Zhu, who didn't have enough to eat at noon, was so greedy that his eyes sparkled.
Before going abroad, Jiang Lin often ate the private dishes of Dongtang. He took a bite of the fried small green dragon in Bifengtang with chopsticks. Although he hadn't tasted it for more than a year, it still tasted the same as before. Just when he wanted to take the braised pork with abalone, Deng Yi next to him said, "The abalone is not cooked well."
Zhu Zhu was just chewing a piece of abalone meat, and asked with puffy cheeks, "What's wrong?" Will cheating help you with your disability reexamination
Deng Yi looked a little disgusted: "The abalone is not fresh enough. The last time Minglun and I went to their restaurant to eat, the abalone was very fresh and tender."
"I think it's pretty good. If you don't want to eat it, I'll take two more pieces." Zhu Zhu swallowed the abalone in his mouth and said to Jiang Lin, "Jiang Lin, you try it too. Deng Yi is too picky. I think it tastes great."
A few days ago, Jiang Lin mentioned a lot of matters related to studying abroad in Los Angeles. Zhu Zhu became familiar with him and took care of him with good food and drinks these days.
But no one knew what he was thinking. He just stared at the plate of braised pork with abalone without moving. He only reacted when Zhu Zhu touched his arm.
He didn't make any comment on the dish, and he looked like he had no appetite. He only ate half a bowl of rice and went out to help.
Today is the weekend, and the store's closing time has been extended to 10 o'clock. Around 9 o'clock, Ji Minglun received a call and told Deng Feng that he had to leave first because of an emergency at home. At that time, Jiang Lin was cleaning up the guest area in the back, and it was half an hour later when he knew he had left.
Ji Minglun's parents divorced when he was in junior high school, and later both started new families. However, Ji Minglun's relationship with his parents was not as strained as his and Jiang Jianchen's. Although he also started living alone early, Ji Minglun had a good attitude. As long as his parents gave him enough money to spend, he didn't bother to care about adults' affairs.
I wonder what the emergency is that made him leave in such a hurry, Jiang Lin thought as he wiped the table. After closing, he walked out of the store and found that the wind outside was much stronger. The leaves of the palm trees across the street were swaying in the wind. Deng Yi held down the straw hat on his head, looked at the cloudy sky and asked if there was another typhoon.
Zhu Zhu was behind her, putting the water cup back into the canvas bag and saying that the weather forecast had said yesterday that a typhoon would hit in two days.
Xiamen is a coastal city, and people who have lived here for many years are no longer surprised by typhoons. After everyone said goodbye to each other, Jiang Lin returned to the car and sent a WeChat message to Ji Minglun: [Deng Feng said that you had an emergency at home and left first. What is the emergency? Do you need my help? ]
After sending the message, he leaned back in his chair and waited. After more than ten minutes, Ji Minglun still hadn't replied. He couldn't help but call him, but he heard the notification that the phone was turned off.
After sitting in the car for a while, he was still worried, so he drove to the neighborhood where Ji Minglun lived. When he arrived at the basement, he didn't see Ji Minglun's car, and it seemed that he hadn't come back yet, so he waited in the car for more than two hours. During this time, he was so tired that he fell asleep. When he woke up and looked next door, Ji Minglun still hadn't come back.
He called again, and this time it was a voicemail. Just as he was considering whether or not to go to Ji Minglun's parents' house to take a look, two beams of headlights shone in from the turning road ahead, and then an Aurora blue NIO slowly drove in.
There was a stranger sitting in the driver's seat, while Ji Minglun was sitting in the passenger seat, leaning against the headrest with his eyes closed without moving. After the car slowly backed into the parking space, the driver turned off the engine and woke up the person next to him.
Ji Minglun seemed to be drunk. He squinted his eyes and said something to the driver, then fiddled with his phone. The driver opened the driver's door, took out a folding electric bike from the trunk, and rode away.
Jiang Lin waited until the driver left before getting out of the car, then walked to the passenger door and waited for Ji Minglun to get out.
Ji Minglun didn't move. He just finished his phone and fell asleep again, not noticing that there was another car in the parking space next to him. Jiang Lin tapped the window twice, and when he opened his eyes again, he said, "Open the door."
Ji Minglun squinted his eyes and took a moment to recognize who the person was in the backlight outside the window. He lowered the window and asked unhappily, "Why are you here?"
"What happened at your home? Why are you drinking?"
Ji Minglun glanced lazily at Jiang Lin and didn't want to answer, but Jiang Lin reached his arm in while he wasn't paying attention, unlocked the passenger door and opened it.
Ji Minglun and Jiang Lin stared at each other, and it seemed that they didn't want to move. Jiang Lin simply leaned into the car, unbuckled the seat belt around Ji Minglun's waist, and got him out first. As a result, Ji Minglun grabbed his hands and pushed him out impatiently.
Jiang Lin was originally standing with his back bent, and Ji Minglun suddenly pushed him, causing his head to hit the roof of the car with a dull "bang".
Jiang Lin immediately covered his head. The pain was so severe that he almost saw stars. Ji Minglun also heard the noise. He looked up and saw that he had hit the roof of the car. He sobered up immediately, unbuckled his seat belt, got down, let him lie on the car door, and checked the place where his head was hit.
Untying the braid behind Jiang Lin's head, Ji Minglun pulled at her hair several times, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he was sure that there was no breakage or swelling. When Jiang Lin turned around, he said with some guilt, "I didn't mean it."
Jiang Lin looked unhappy. Ji Minglun thought he was angry, but he didn't expect him to ask again, "What happened at home?"
Based on the accident that just happened, Ji Minglun could no longer maintain a tough attitude, so he had to close the car windows and doors: "It's nothing, you go back, I'll go upstairs to sleep."
Jiang Lin didn't stop him, locked his car and caught up with him. When entering the elevator, Ji Minglun didn't want Jiang Lin to come in. When the two were deadlocked, Jiang Lin was quick-witted and covered the place where he had just hit and said, "My head hurts, find some ice for me, it seems to be swollen."