When You Shulang walked down the stairs of the pharmaceutical research base, he felt a little light under his feet.
Freed from the air-conditioning, the humid and hot summer air rushed over. You Shulang subconsciously took a step back, unable to accept the jump from the warm early summer to the scorching hot midsummer.
The ground was a little damp, and there were puddles of water in the low-lying areas. Did it rain just now? You Shulang hadn't paid attention to the weather outside the window for a long time.
He stayed in this pharmaceutical research building for two months and twenty-three days, and rarely went out during that time.
The process optimization of honeysuckle drink is not complicated. It only requires improving the quality and effect of drug preparation while controlling costs.
It sounds easy, but only the project team members can understand the hardship and urgency involved. As Huang Qimin's first assistant, You Shulang had to complete an almost impossible task within three months, and the weight of the burden on his shoulders can be imagined.
The scientific research team looks at academic qualifications, seniority, and the quality and quantity of published papers, so You Shulang's identity as the first assistant was not widely recognized at first.
You Shulang, who had no advantages, became a key figure in promoting the overall progress in the late stages of the project. In addition to his hard work day and night, everyone had to admit the importance of talent and giftedness.
In addition, You Shulang is experienced in human relations and treats people sincerely. He handles all matters in an orderly manner, so the entire project can be advanced rapidly without any interference or resistance. Now the project has basically been completed and has entered the stage of data collation, review and evaluation.
Although it had just rained, it was still very hot. You Shulang stood in front of the building for a while, but didn't know where to go. Lao Zhou said that he would take his children to the amusement park to have fun for a day after the project was over; Xiao Li was looking forward to celebrating his girlfriend's birthday; Tian Xiaotian was determined to eat three bowls of hand-rolled noodles made by her mother after the project was over; even Huang Qimin sighed as he missed his old dog...
Only You Shulang hesitated when asked what he most wanted to do after the project was over.
Before this, what he did depended on what Fan Xiao wanted him to do.
Fan Xiao hasn't appeared for a long time. Since the last time the two of them made an appointment in the office in March, You Shulang moved from Fan Xiao's apartment to the R&D base that day, and they haven't seen each other since.
At first, You Shulang was worried about what kind of trouble Fan Xiao might cause. Later, as he worked day and night, he gradually forgot the name and person Fan Xiao.
The project was gradually coming to an end, and You Shulang's heart was hanging in the air again as the date was pushed back. He didn't know what crazy and absurd thing Fan Xiao would do next. He was even afraid that as soon as he walked out of this door, he would see Fan Xiao who had been waiting for him.
"Brother You, what are you thinking about? I'm asking you, what are you going to do after the project is over?"
"Sleep, sleep for three days and three nights." He answered with a smile.
You Shulang, who was standing outside the Pharmaceutical Research Building, did not see Fan Xiao. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the park along the narrow shadow under the eaves.
This is the outskirts of the city, and there aren't many cars on the road. A few minutes later, a black car pulled up in front of You Shulang, and the driver stretched his neck and asked: Do you want to go?
You Shulang was stunned for a moment, then nodded, opened the passenger door, got in, and gave a nearby address.
The first step after getting off the car was a ball of mud. The old community was not much better than the shantytown, and the sanitation work was not done well.
After finding a relatively clean place to stand, You Shulang took out his mobile phone and sent a WeChat message.
The name displayed above the dialog box is Bai Ting. She lives here. You Shulang once sent her here, and she vaguely remembers that it was this location.
"Are you free, Bai Ting? I'm passing by where you live. If I don't bother you, can we have a meal together?"
It is five o'clock in the afternoon now, Bai Ting should be awake. She sleeps during the day and goes out at night, leading a life that is completely opposite to that of normal people in terms of time.
Bai Ting escaped from her marriage in the mountains. Her family exchanged her for her brother's marriage and future. They received a huge betrothal gift and promised her to a notorious old pervert who was about to die.
Bai Ting escaped, and was nearly caught twice while moving around. He called the police, and his father and brother were also detained, but he still did not change his bad habits after he was released. He spent all the money for the betrothal gift and always dragged people back to pay off the debt.
Bai Ting had no education or skills, and was harassed because of her beauty. In the end, she ended up with nothing and became a prostitute in a place of entertainment.
You Shulang once wanted to help him find a proper job, but Bai Ting refused.
"I got used to it and no longer resisted like I did in the beginning. I wanted to make more money, buy a house and a car, and never rely on others again." Until now, You Shulang still remembers the sadness and stubbornness in her eyes, "Only with money can you be powerful and control your own destiny."
Suffering always changes us beyond recognition.
A few months ago, on the rooftop of the Municipal Building, Fan Xiao threatened You Shulang with leaking Bai Ting's information to her family. Bai Ting had helped You Shulang before, and Fan Xiao was well aware of You Shulang's character and bottom line, and was certain that he would never implicate an innocent and miserable woman.
Standing in the sun, You Shulang smiled bitterly. Fan Xiao really understood him and had a firm grasp on his weak spot.
He looked down at his phone. Bai Ting didn't reply. He tried to dial a number, but it was turned off.
You Shulang sighed in his heart, wondering where to go and what to do next?
After walking a few steps in a dry place, he heard someone calling him.
"Hey, who is that? Are you Bai Ting's friend?"
You Shulang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young woman dressed up gorgeously. In such a shabby neighborhood, she was wearing extremely high heels and had big wavy hair, which attracted countless obvious and hidden contemptuous glances.
You Shulang guessed that she might be Bai Ting's roommate, as he had heard Bai Ting mention her before.
"Hello, my name is You Shulang, I'm Bai Ting's friend. Is she not at home?"
You Shulang was not afraid of the unfriendly looks. He walked up to the woman and asked politely.
"You don't know where she is either? I was going to ask you." When the woman jumped over the puddle, she tilted her body. You Shulang reached out to help her and heard high and low clicking sounds, mixed with the faint sound of "indecent".
He ignored her, his mind on the woman's words: "What's wrong with Bai Ting?"
"I don't know either." The woman stood firm, looking a little anxious. "She seemed a little uneasy after receiving a phone call the day before yesterday. I asked her, but she didn't tell me. She didn't come back with me after work that day, and I couldn't contact her again afterwards."
You Shulang's expression gradually became serious: "Have you asked her other friends? Doesn't anyone know her whereabouts?"
"Bai Ting doesn't have many friends. She's a little... well, people say behind her back that she's aloof and puts on airs when she's out selling herself, but I know she just doesn't want to get too involved."
"Has she behaved in any other abnormal way in the past two days?" You Shulang asked again.
The woman was silent for a while and uttered a low "ah".
"A man came to see her the day before yesterday. After she received the call, he booked a large private room and asked her to be alone. But the man left after a short while. He ordered tens of thousands of drinks and didn't touch them. The company gave Bai Ting double the commission. The sisters all said that she was lucky. It only took half an hour and she didn't get harassed, but she made such a big order."
Under the scorching sun, You Shulang felt his fingertips slowly losing temperature. He asked with difficulty, "What kind of man?"
"Tall and handsome, he looks gentle and refined."
"Any characteristics?"
The girl thought for a moment and spoke slowly, "There's nothing special about him. There's just one thing that's quite strange. He was wearing long sleeves in such a hot day, as if he was afraid of the cold."
The distance from the fingertips to the heart is indeed not far. In just a moment, it became cold.
You Shulang never expected that Fan Xiao would repeat the same trick and use Bai Ting to control him when the project was about to end!
The sun was shining brightly, and the water on the ground evaporated in just a dozen minutes, but it was helpless against the coldness on You Shulang's face, which could neither be dried nor melted...
Fan Xiao pushed open the door and casually threw his briefcase onto the cabinet in the entrance. He did not turn on the light, went to a fixed place to change his shoes, walked to the refrigerator in the dark, opened the door, and took out a bottle of ice water.
The sound of a lighter was heard behind him. Fan Xiao turned around abruptly and saw You Shulang sitting on the sofa in the living room with the light from the refrigerator.
He was extremely surprised and hurriedly turned on the wall lamp, stumbled to You Shulang, rushed over and hugged him tightly in his arms.
"Shulang, you're back!" He buried his face in You Shulang's neck, like a fledgling that had fallen from its nest and found its way home again, "Why didn't you let me pick you up? It's such a hot day."
"It's so hot, Mr. Fan, why is he still wearing long-sleeved clothes?"
You Shulang's face was expressionless, and his words were cold, but Fan Xiao was completely unaware. He was still immersed in the joy of You Shulang's initiative to come back, and subconsciously replied: "It's still a little cold in the morning and evening."
After saying this, she felt that she had wasted her time, saying these trivial things and delayed her from kissing You Shulang.
With one hand supporting the side of You Shulang's face, his kiss seemed impatient, but when the two lips were about to touch, You Shulang put the cigarette in his mouth.
The man bit the cigarette, exuding a kind of cold calmness, and was indifferent to Fan Xiao's enthusiasm.
Even with a cigarette in his mouth, his words were clear: "The laboratory part of the process optimization of honeysuckle drink has been completed. The next step is to submit it to the National Review Center for review. The time is difficult to predict. It depends on the number of projects submitted at the same time."
Fan Xiao didn't take it to heart and simply nodded twice. Risking being burned by the smoke, he tilted his head and kissed the corner of You Shulang's mouth.
"Let's not talk about this for now, Shulang, Director You, I miss you so much. I don't know how I managed to get through these past few months."
You Shulang lowered his eyes and looked at the outside of his thigh, where something hard was pressing against it. Based on his understanding of Fan Xiao, this lustful man could not maintain his rationality for three minutes.
"The project is about to end, so you are thinking about how to threaten me again, right?" You Shulang went straight to the point.
"What?" Fan Xiao paused for a moment as he hit You Shulang in the face, "I didn't."
"Have you met Bai Ting?" You Shulang pushed Fan Xiao away from him, raised his eyelids and looked at him directly, "Because Changling Technology no longer has any evidence in your hands, you thought of her again?"
Fan Xiao slowly sat up straight, his gaze faded away, leaving only a deep feeling of powerlessness.
"You came back just to question me about this, right? I was just being sentimental. I thought you... forgave me."
A light sneer broke the gloomy air.
"Fan Xiao, if I do to you what you did to me, will you forgive me?"
"If it were you, I would accept whatever you did to me."
You Shulang rubbed his teeth, "Never be self-righteous. You will never know how much it hurts until the bullet hits you." He said angrily, "I don't want to talk to you about love right now. I just want to ask you if you have seen Bai Ting? Where is she now?!"
Fan Xiao placed his arms on his knees, his back slumped, and after a while he stood up, answering the irrelevant question calmly and seriously.
"You Shulang, do you really not want me anymore?"
The cigarette between his fingertips had already burned to the butt, and a little fire formed at the base of You Shulang's fingers. The man put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray beside him and gave the answer straightforwardly: "I have said this hundreds and thousands of times. If you want to hear it again, then it will be as you wish."
You Shulang looked at Fan Xiao coldly: "I only feel disgust when I see you now, without any other feelings. I don't know how you have survived these past few months, but I have gained unprecedented ease in these few months."
"Not only do I not want you anymore, I also want to completely forget you, forget all the pain and suffering you have brought me, and forget that I ever knew you!"
The room was so quiet that even breathing was barely audible. If it weren't for the watch on Fan Xiao's wrist, which made a noise when he stroked it, the oppressive silence in the room would have lasted for who knows how long.
"Will you fall in love with someone else in the future?" Fan Xiao's eyes seemed to hide the sadness of the whole world. "Love him especially, protect him with all your strength, cook for him, put his picture in your room, let him wear gloves when you make love..."
"Yes." You Shulang interrupted him, "Fan Xiao, apart from being extremely bad, there's really nothing special about you."
Fan Xiao took out a cigarette from the box with shaking hands, as anxiously as a drug addict trying to prolong his life.
After taking a few deep breaths, a voice finally rang out in the smoke: "I went to find Bai Ting, hoping that she would play a trick with me, like a hero saving a beautiful girl. It would be best if I could get stabbed a few times, so that you would feel distressed and softened, be moved by me, and then forgive me."
Fan Xiao's jaw moved slightly. "But Bai Ting disagreed. I threatened her that if she didn't cooperate with me, someone would come to her house. She was scared away and I heard she hasn't been to work for two days."
He took a deep puff of the cigarette, and because he inhaled too deeply, he started coughing. He smiled as he coughed: "You Shulang, you have too many weaknesses. Bai Ting, Huang Qimin, and even your annoying brother are all your weaknesses!"
There was madness mixed in with his smile: "Now that Bai Ting has escaped, your brother is in prison, and Huang Qimin is legal, so what? Don't think that I can't do anything to you now. I want to keep you by my side, and your dead adoptive mother will help me!"
Fan Xiao slowly raised his eyes: "Isn't she your weak spot?"
"You!" You Shulang suddenly stood up and grabbed Fan Xiao by the collar, "She has been buried, what do you want to do? Are you still a human being?!"
"Haven't I already been a devil in your eyes?!" Fan Xiao flicked away the cigarette in his hand and said coldly, "You Shulang, I want to fuck you now. Do you want to go to bed and wait for me, or do you want me to carry you over?"
You Shulang suddenly swung his fist and hit Fan Xiao hard in the face. He pushed Fan Xiao against the opposite wall, grabbed his neck, and said sternly: "Fan Xiao, you are indeed a devil, but does the devil have no weaknesses?!"
He took his phone out of his pocket and unlocked the screen.
"Look what these are! They are your criminal evidence!"
His thumb slid across the page, and the text kept scrolling upwards: "Fan Xiao, you are suspected of multiple economic crimes, including falsifying accounts, tax evasion, and bribing Thai officials while in Thailand. Any one of these crimes is enough to send you to jail for several years!"
"And these." You Shulang switched pages. "These are the evidence of Fan Yu's embezzlement of public funds and personal gains. No wonder he has been trying to get the things in your computer. Does he already know that you have evidence against him?"
With a flick of his finger, he switched to another screen: "This is evidence of your eldest brother's crime of using illegal means to coerce your eldest sister-in-law and suppress her father's company."
"And more!" You Shulang exerted force again, tightening his palms, causing Fan Xiao's breathing to become rapid. "And these are evidence of your father's crimes! He actually made and sold counterfeit drugs in Thailand! Those are drugs! They are related to life!"
Fan Xiao's face flushed due to lack of oxygen, and he said with difficulty: "What are you going to do?"
"What? What do you think?" You Shulang's eyes slowly moistened. He raised his phone with his thumb hovering over it. "Now, with just one click, the evidence of your crime and that of your entire family will be transmitted to the public security, judicial and legal departments of Thailand, as well as all the well-known media in Thailand!"
Fan Xiao's face was gloomy: "Are you really going to do this?"
You Shulang was confused for a moment, and a dull pain swept through his heart: "Fan Xiao, I once wanted to give you the best of everything. As long as I can do it, I will do my best."
"I feel like you are the gift that God gave me as compensation because he felt sorry for me. You made me feel that I was no longer alone, and allowed me to have an intimate relationship that I would miss. It's not physical intimacy, but the kind of attachment that I miss so much that I can't let go of it."
Despair filled the air instantly, and You Shulang shouted at the top of his lungs for the first time: "When I was little, I envied other kids for having candies. When I met you, I thought I finally got to eat that candy. The funny thing is, all the candies I ate were poisoned! Fan Xiao, do you know how I felt when I heard you insulting me behind my back? Do you know how I felt when I heard you call Lu Zhen 'Zhen Zhen'? Do you know what you were thinking when you pushed me into a desperate situation on the rooftop?!"
"I wonder if I can get away from you, this demon, by jumping from there?!" Tears rolled down his cheeks, and You Shulang wiped them with his shoulder. "I haven't shed tears since I was four years old, because I know tears are useless and can't solve any problems. But Fan Xiao, I'm in a mess now. The beliefs I've worked so hard to build up over the years seem to be wrong. I don't even know where to go now?!"
"Meeting you is not a gift from God to me, but a punishment! It would be fine if you punished me alone, but you also want to bring others with you!" The faint light from the mobile phone screen inserted between the two of them, like an unbreakable barrier.
You Shulang pressed hard on Fan Xiao's Adam's apple: "Mr. Fan, how does it feel to be threatened?"
"Not good." Fan Xiao forced a smile, "These are the evidence I found against them. I planned to use it to threaten them in the future, but I didn't expect that I would be the first to be harmed."
"After all, we once had feelings for each other. Director You, you are so soft-hearted. How could you bear to send me to jail?"
Fan Xiao glanced at the phone, raised his hand and gently wiped away the tears on You Shulang's face: "Shulang, your gift is me, and your punishment is also me. I will not let you leave me!"
You Shulang's hand holding the phone trembled slightly: "Don't force me."
Fan Xiao's eyes were slightly red, and he was obsessed with it: "I've forced you so many times, and I always won. Director You, why don't you just accept your fate."
Veins bulged on the hand holding the phone, and his thumb moved to the send position.
So much love, so much hatred, intertwined, swarming in like a movie scene, the smiling, naughty, gentle Fan Xiao, and the sinister, cold, crazy Fan Xiao mixed together, frequently alternating in front of You Shulang, using the same face to make different expressions, saying different words...
You Shulang almost collapsed!
The slender and bony hand rested on the back of You Shulang's head, first rubbing the hair there, and then pulling him over.
Fan Xiao leaned over and kissed You Shulang.
"พระโพธิสัตว์ ข้าจะไถ่บาป เจ้าเป็นอิสระ (Bodhisattva, I will atone for your sins and you will be free.)"
Holding down the last syllable, Fan Xiao pressed on You Shulang's thumb and the email was sent!