"Don't you think that death is actually a kind of relief and redemption?"
When the warm sake was poured into the cup, You Shulang heard Fan Xiao's casual words.
"Kuokunke".
Fan Xiao put his hands together to thank You Shulang, then took a sip from the cup. His deep and strong voice was a little soft when he spoke Thai. Like a spoiled child, the ending of the voice was evocative and smiled, like a feather scratching someone's heart.
You Shulang loves men, and he has to admit that the Thai words just now touched his heartstrings for a moment. It's not like he hasn't heard other men speak Thai before, but none of them spoke it as sexy and seductively as Fan Xiao. You Shulang smiled to himself, at his momentary distraction.
"What did you just say? What liberation and redemption?" He poured himself a glass of wine and asked, holding the glass.
"Nothing, I'm just still feeling emotional about what happened this afternoon."
After hearing this, You Shulang raised his cup and gently touched it to Fan Xiao's cup: "Cheers to your heroic deeds."
Fan Xiao shook his head and smiled, then raised his glass: "To you, too."
Two hours ago, You Shulang and Fan Xiao were still in the hospital, and a mother and child were hanging outside the fence on the third floor of the hospital. The woman's desperate howling seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Her hand holding the railing slid down several times, and then struggled to hook it back. The child in her arms also slid from her chest to her abdomen little by little, making everyone's heart rise again.
"She won't be able to hold on until the rescuers arrive." You Shulang judged with a frown.
Fan Xiao raised his eyebrows and asked, "The firefighters said that if a woman falls, she cannot be rescued, but if a child falls, they can be rescued. But if a woman and a child fall together... what should we do?"
You Shulang clearly heard the cold tone, but when he looked over, he only saw the worried look on the man's face.
He retracted his gaze, fluttered his short and dense eyelashes twice, and said in a deep voice: "In order to avoid more serious consequences... we can only..."
Before he could finish his words, he heard a woman's scream and a series of gasps.
When she looked up again, she saw that the woman had been grabbed by several security guards through the glass fence and was being pulled inside with force.
Some people stretched out their arms to hold the child, but because the woman was exhausted, she let go and grabbed nothing! !
"Child!" everyone shouted!
A child who was less than a hundred days old fell straight down in front of everyone's eyes. A woman's screams came from above, making people's scalps numb!
The incident happened so suddenly that everyone was still in shock. You Shulang, who was the closest, had already grabbed the clothes and rushed out! His movements were so swift that the few people who were holding the corners of the clothes loosely didn't react until the clothes slipped out of their hands. Only Fan Xiao held tightly, and was forced to follow him when he pulled him.
Fan Xiao's eyes were dark and unclear. He grasped the corners of his clothes with both hands and stared at You Shulang.
You Shulang raised his head. He had no time to calculate his position. The thin child was like a rapidly falling bomb, breaking through the wind and smashing down!
"Oh my God!"
"Fuck!"
"No!"
Everyone shouted in unison, and many people even covered their eyes!
Bang! A muffled sound was heard, and the usually noisy hospital suddenly became quiet...
Breathing, heavy and rapid breathing. You Shulang heard his own heavy breathing in the seemingly still time. His mind went blank due to excessive tension. As far as he could see, he could only see Fan Xiao who was also breathing slightly.
The silence was broken by deafening cheers. You Shulang finally came to his senses and looked down at the child sandwiched between himself and Fan Xiao.
The loud cry came late, and You Shulang's eyes blurred instantly. A doctor quickly took the child away for examination, and more people came to express their heartfelt praise.
You Shulang was good at dealing with this kind of situation, but today he made a mistake and hid behind the tall Fan Xiao. His mind was blank, and he only remembered the man in front of him turning his head and saying softly, "Are you crying?"
He had not shed tears since he was ten years old, but today he was defeated by the cry of a baby.
You Shulang's fair and slender fingers wrapped around the ceramic cup, and he smiled sincerely: "Cheers, for us."
The two seemed to have similar interests and drank a lot of wine. You Shulang had a rare moment of relaxation, so he leaned against the wall of the Japanese-style room and lit a cigarette and smoked it slowly.
He was surprised that Fan Xiao still used matches to light his cigarette. He looked at the colorfully wrapped cigarette box with Thai characters printed on it and asked, "Are these cigarettes good?"
Fan Xiao threw the cigarette box over and raised his chin: "You will know after trying it."
You Shulang pressed the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray, pinched the wine glass and drank a glass of sake before touching the cigarette.
As soon as his finger touched the lighter, he heard a "swish" sound. Fan Xiao struck a match and sent the flickering flame to You Shulang across the table.
Matches carry a faint smell of burning gunpowder. The ancient method is used today to add a touch of solemnity to something as ordinary as lighting a cigarette.
You Shulang glanced at Fan Xiao across the blue firelight before moving closer with a cigarette in his mouth.
Fan Xiao extinguished the match, and seeing You Shulang exhaling a long puff of smoke, he asked, "Is it good to smoke?"
You Shulang was about to nod, but paused and shook his head, saying with a smile, "I can't get used to it. It smells like rouge."
With You Shulang's way of dealing with people, he generally wouldn't try to curry favor with others, especially in trivial matters like offering cigarettes. When asked how the cigarettes tasted, he would always answer "not bad".
But today, he actually told the truth to someone he had only met twice, which even he found unbelievable.
Maybe this person had saved a child with him, he thought, or maybe he was the only one who saw him crying.
How hypocritical! You Shulang laughed at himself and put aside his slightly boring thoughts.
Suddenly, the phone rang in the private room. You Shulang picked up his phone and saw that it was Lu Zhen.
He was about to get up and go out to answer the call, but Fan Xiao motioned for him to stay. The man patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "I'm going to the bathroom. Don't bother."
You Shulang felt somewhat touched by Fan Xiao's thoughtfulness. Normally he was the one who cared for others, and now that he was being taken care of, it felt quite good.
Lu Zhen had just got off work. He was a flat model, unknown and not very well-known in the circle. However, he had just graduated from university last year and had only been in the industry for a short time, so he was still full of hope and fantasy for the future.
Lu Zhen has a lively and outgoing personality, which complements the calm and rigorous You Shulang. The two met three years ago at a promotion event held by You Shulang's company. Lu Zhen, who was still a college student, was one of the many models invited to the event.
You Shulang is very charming at work, calm and relaxed, yet decisive. The man who can easily control the overall situation makes the inexperienced Lu Zhen fall in love with him at first sight.
It was not easy to pursue You Shulang, and it took Lu Zhen half a year. This made Lu Zhen, who had been sought after since childhood, very frustrated, but to this day he is glad that he did not give up, because You Shulang was too gentle and considerate after they established their relationship, and from him Lu Zhen enjoyed all the happiness of being cherished by a lover.
When Fan Xiao returned to the private room, You Shulang's call was not over yet.
The man had a smile on his face, holding the phone in one hand and a cigarette he described as "rouge" in the other. His voice was vague and hoarse, and at the end of the words, it was raised ambiguously, and his amber eyes were filled with a seductive smile.
Seeing Fan Xiao coming back, he said a few simple words to the other party. It seemed that the other party was acting coquettishly again. He chuckled, whispered "be good", and then ended the call.
The corner of Fan Xiao's eye twitched, and he looked at You Shulang with a frank and explicit gaze. He exuded an unhappy aura, and his inky black eyes were deep and dark, churning with unknown emotions.
Sitting on the tatami, he lowered his eyes until he heard You Shulang ask "What's wrong?", then he raised his eyelids and smiled and said: "You and your girlfriend have a really good relationship."
He was that easy-going and friendly guy again.
"I really envy you for finding your soul mate." He drank the wine in the empty glass and poured himself another one.
You Shulang smiled and said, "Soulmate? Not that exaggerated."
"Do you love her very much?" Fan Xiao seemed to like this topic very much and asked.
You Shulang was stunned for a moment. He was not the kind of person who would talk about feelings all the time, and because of his sexual orientation, he had never discussed this topic with anyone.
"Well, yes." He replied perfunctorily, intending to turn the page quickly.
Fan Xiao sighed like an old friend: "Alas, it seems that I am the only one who is still alone."
You Shulang flicked the ash off his cigarette and said unconcernedly: "You must be too picky."
Fan Xiao did not refute and admitted it with a smile: "That's also the reason."
Maybe it was because the atmosphere was too relaxed, or maybe he was drunk, You Shulang gave up on self-discipline and asked without much hesitation: "Mr. Fan, what kind of person do you want to find?"
Most of the Japanese food was cold, and only the Sukiyaki pot was still steaming. Fan Xiao put away his smile and looked straight at You Shulang through the not-so-abundant steam.
"I think your girlfriend is pretty good," he said.
Suddenly, both were speechless.
Fan Xiao saw a hint of displeasure and doubt in You Shulang's eyes. It was not until the man's knuckles holding the wine glass slowly turned white that he smiled again: "Did I express myself incorrectly? You always make a fool of yourself because you don't speak Mandarin often. I mean, your girlfriend must be very good. I believe in your vision. If she has any sisters, can you introduce them to me?"
This explanation was a bit far-fetched. At least You Shulang had never heard of Fan Xiao making a fool of himself because of his words, except for this time. But he couldn't think of any other reason to explain the strange feeling in his heart again, so he could only believe that this was a slip of the tongue, not a targeted provocation.
He raised his glass and said calmly, "It's a pity that he has no sisters."
After the meal, both of them were a little tipsy. They said goodbye at the entrance of the Japanese restaurant and got into their respective cars after calling for a designated driver.
After the car door was closed, You Shulang's tipsy feeling disappeared completely. This was his philosophy of life. When drinking with others, if the other person is drunk but you remain sober, it is a kind of suppression of ability and also a manifestation of being unsociable. No one likes you to remember their ugly drunken state, unless you are also drunk.
Therefore, as long as it was not a business banquet that required You Shulang to be sober, when attending a banquet, he would generally maintain the same level of drunkenness as the other party. For example, today, Fan Xiao was slightly tipsy, and he was also slightly tipsy.
Fan Xiao in the other car was not drunk at all. In the dim environment, only one roof light was on, and the light shone from top to bottom on the man's well-defined face, illuminating his protruding brow bone and nose bridge, but his eyes were trapped in dark shadows.
"Check who You Shulang's girlfriend is?" The corner of his lips, also hidden in the shadow, curled up, "I think I should have a relationship."