Walking from his seat to the nearest restroom, Ji Minglun encountered more and more audience members leaving the venue, and was even stepped on. But he was not affected by such trivial matters. All he could think about was where Deng Deng and Jiang Lin were going to have a midnight snack.
He followed the signs to find the nearest restroom. Before he went in, he almost bumped into a boy coming out. He didn't even look at his face and just walked around him. However, the boy recognized him from the back and made a phone call. Soon, a figure ran out from the women's restroom next door.
After going to the bathroom, Ji Minglun fixed his hair in front of the mirror and hummed the last song, but he stopped as soon as he walked outside.
Deng Yi was standing a few steps away. Seeing him coming out, Deng Yi asked, "Why are you here? Didn't you say you didn't want to come?"
Glancing at the buzz-cut boy behind Deng Yi, Ji Minglun replied expressionlessly, "I've finished my work, and it just so happened that another friend of mine also had a ticket, so he came to watch."
"Why didn't you call me when you were free?" Deng Yi walked up to him in two steps. "You guys clicked on my row a few times just now."
He said: "Don't you have Yang Hao to accompany you?"
The guy with the buzz cut heard this and raised his hands from his pockets: "I really just came here to keep her company. She couldn't make an appointment with you, and I just happened to be free."
Deng Yi looked up at him, her eyes full of grievance, and Ji Minglun couldn't say anything harsh. However, thinking that Jiang Lin was still waiting in his seat, Ji Minglun said, "It's good to have someone to watch with you. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. You should go back early too."
He wanted to turn around after he finished speaking, but Deng Yi quickly grabbed his arm and asked, "Who are you with?"
"Yang Hao and I are taking a taxi, but now there are so many people and we can't move. Can we take your car together?"
Yang Hao also chimed in: "Minglun, look at Deng Yi's feet. It's not good for her to squeeze in with these people in high heels."
Deng Yi was wearing a pair of 10cm high heels. Ji Minglun was speechless for a moment and pulled his hand back. Just as Deng Yi was anxiously trying to grab it again, he said, "The car is in Area B."
Deng Yi showed joy on her face and immediately followed him, but he was a little annoyed and took out his cell phone to send a message to Jiang Lin.
[I have something urgent to do, I will wait for you at the Lao Yu Congee Shop near your home]
After sending the message successfully, he put the phone back into his trouser pocket. As soon as he let go, he felt the phone vibrate. He took it out and saw the reply from "Rin" on the lock screen: [OK]
After patiently following the crowd for more than ten minutes, he finally got into the car. Deng Yi opened the passenger door and got in. Yang Hao leaned over the car window and said, "I won't be with you. You two can go now."
Deng Yi smiled at Yang Hao, showing her white teeth: "Thank you for today."
Yang Hao patted the car door, smiled, took a step back and said, "Let's go."
Ji Minglun fastened his seat belt, closed the car window and turned on the air conditioner. After the cars in front of him drove out one after another, he also drove out of the parking space, followed the flow of traffic, slowly drove to the intersection and stopped again.
There were too many people leaving at the same time, and several exits were gradually blocked by cars.
After waiting for a while, the cars behind them could no longer be seen. Deng Yi looked at Ji Minglun's fingers tapping on the steering wheel and said tentatively, "Play some songs."
Picking up the phone on the door, Ji Minglun opened the music app, but his finger stopped before touching the play button. He then clicked on the search box at the top and entered the name of a song.
A familiar melody sounded in the car. Deng Yi said with a relaxed look, "The atmosphere of the last song is really good. I heard that the band is preparing to release an album. Are you interested?"
"What are you interested in?"
"They're signing albums, and they're definitely going to have a small fan meeting or something like that later."
"I don't play music." Ji Minglun answered absentmindedly. Through a window, he could still hear the music and cheers coming from the venue not far away. He wondered if Jiang Lin had come out or if he was also stuck in one of the traffic jams.
Deng Yi looked at the back of his head, thinking about how he had been in a bad mood since just now. Although she really wanted to know who he came with, she finally held back and did not ask any further questions.
After waiting for a while, the car in front started to move, but unfortunately it slowed down again after driving onto the bridge. Countless red taillights were floating between the cross-sea bridges, which made me dizzy after watching for a long time. Ji Minglun set the song to single loop, closed his eyes and rested from time to time. When the road ahead finally became smooth, he realized that Deng Yi had been silent.
Turning around, I saw Deng Yi staring out the window in a daze.
His attitude just now was not very good, but when he thought of Deng Yi's feelings, he felt that nothing he said would be inappropriate, so he simply remained silent all the way and drove to the downstairs of Deng Yi's residential area.
The car stopped by the roadside. Deng Yi rarely stopped and thanked him before unbuckled his seat belt, got out of the car and walked into the gate of the community.
Picking up the phone next to the car door, Ji Minglun called Jiang Lin.
It had been an hour and a half since they had parted. Not long ago, Jiang Lin sent a WeChat message saying that the porridge shop would be closing soon and asked if they wanted to go somewhere else.
"Do you feel sleepy?" Ji Minglun asked first after the call was connected.
"Not bad," Jiang Lin said, "I'm just very hungry."
"Where are you now?"
"I'm parked in the roadside parking space opposite the porridge shop."
"Want to eat hotpot?" Ji Minglun thought of a hotpot restaurant. "There is a hotpot restaurant that has only been open for half a year. It is open all night and has special dishes."
"Eat," Jiang Lin's voice suddenly became energetic, "Where is it?"
"It's not far from your place. I'll come pick you up. Wait for me."
After finishing the call, Ji Minglun turned around and took a shortcut to Jiang Lin. The journey that would normally take nearly half an hour only took him a dozen minutes to reach his destination.
Jiang Lin got out of his car and sat in his passenger seat, and he smelled a faint fragrance.
Deng Yi has the habit of using perfume, and she usually wears Miss Coco the most. Jiang Lin has been in contact with her for a while and is very familiar with this scent. He can't help but look at Ji Minglun: "Did you run into Deng Yi just now?"
Ji Minglun didn't intend to hide it: "She didn't have a car, and it was difficult to call a car just now, so I could only give her a ride."
When leaving, Jiang Lin was also stuck for a long time, and nodded after listening. The two of them fell silent, and the music in the car regained its presence. Jiang Lin listened to the lyrics for a while and couldn't help asking: "Does she also want to invite you to the music festival tonight?"
Ji Minglun looked at the road ahead and responded without any expression.
After asking this question, Jiang Lin stopped talking. Ji Minglun looked at him twice from the corner of his eyes. He leaned back in his chair, his right elbow on the car door, his palm against his lips, and he didn't know what he was thinking.
"Are you sleepy?" Ji Minglun asked.
"No," Jiang Lin raised his left hand and turned down the music, "How long will it take?"
"Two streets down."
Ji Minglun pressed the music pause button and parked the car in front of the store. He took Jiang Lin upstairs and sat down in the empty seat by the window.
It was late outside, and most of the guests had almost finished their meals. Ji Minglun ordered the original clear soup pot and handed the menu to Jiang Lin to order hot pot dishes. Jiang Lin pushed it back to him: "You know what I eat, you order."
Ji Minglun picked up the pen and circled a dozen dishes skillfully. They were mostly vegetarian dishes and mushrooms, with no seafood, beef or mutton. Jiang Lin said he wanted to add beef and oysters, but he pointed at his finger with the pen cap and said, "Be careful."
I had an eczema attack at noon today. Although I took medicine to suppress it, my fingers are still red. Jiang Lin took a sip of tea and said dejectedly, "Why not just eat vegetarian spicy hot pot?"
Looking at his sunken mouth, Ji Minglun held back his laughter, called the waiter to ask if there was any more taro rice pudding. The waiter said yes, and he asked him to serve one portion first.
Hearing the name of the dish, Jiang Lin's eyes followed the waiter's back. Ji Minglun circled two more bottles of Wang Laoji. When he put down his pen, he heard him ask, "Is the taro rice pudding here delicious?"
"Why would I bring you here if it's not delicious?" Ji Minglun handed the menu to another waiter to place an order. "The taro rice pudding here is very popular. Many people come here just for it."
Jiang Lin likes all foods with taro flavor, especially taro paste. However, eating taro paste alone is easy to get greasy, so he prefers eight-treasure rice with taro paste in the middle.
The restaurant served food very quickly, and soon the waiter brought a plate of hot taro rice. The black glutinous rice was sprinkled with fragrant sesame seeds, and when it was peeled open, the soft and smooth taro paste could be seen. Jiang Lin scooped a mouthful with a spoon, blew on it a little, and put it into his mouth. He was reluctant to spit it out even though it was burned, and chewed while breathing out air.
Ji Minglun hadn’t seen him eat so voraciously in a long time. He opened a bottle of Wang Laoji and handed it to him: “Drink a few sips, don’t burn your mouth.”
Not wanting the taste of Wang Laoji to affect his taste, he pushed the drink away again. After he finally swallowed this mouthful, he handed the spoon to Ji Minglun: "You eat it too, it's really delicious."
The cutlery at their hands had not yet been unwrapped, and Jiang Lin's spoon was brought up with the plate. Staring at the round stainless steel spoon, Ji Minglun did not move for a moment, and Jiang Lin also realized from his hesitation that they were no longer in a relationship where they could share cutlery.
Jiang Lin held the handle of the spoon tightly and tried to act naturally when he took it back, but before he could move, Ji Minglun grabbed his hand and scooped up a mouthful in the same way he held the spoon.
The slightly cool back of his hand was wrapped in the warm palm. Jiang Lin watched Ji Minglun open his mouth and eat the spoonful of eight-treasure rice. Ji Minglun did not deliberately avoid touching the spoon.
As his lips brushed against the silver surface, Jiang Lin's attention stayed on the thin, oily lips, and the feeling of the kiss a year ago unconsciously emerged in his mind.
He was so shocked at that time that he could no longer remember the process of exchanging saliva with Ji Minglun. He only remembered that the man's breath was very hot, but the lips pressing against his were very soft. His breathing was rapid, but his movements were not rough.
The sweet taste in his mouth had not yet dissipated, but the heat on the back of his hand disappeared first. Ji Minglun let go of his hand, took out a piece of paper to wipe his mouth, and reminded him: "It tastes the same as I tasted last time. Eat it while it's hot."