Tentative

The movie tickets were well placed in his wallet, and when he came back to his senses, he realized that there was no point in standing here any longer - Qu Zhe and Jiang Yuzhao had already left.

The movie he chose started at 11:30 in the evening, and there is still more than half an hour left.Shen Yizhuo ignored the burns on his hands, and walked towards the cinema with his hands in his pockets.He seldom slacked off like this. It wasn't that his mood was slack, but that the outer layer of gentleness and elegance was temporarily put away.On the contrary, his mood can probably be called tense.

At the moment when Qu Zhe followed Jiang Yuzhao coldly and left without hesitation, anger and jealousy mixed together and became a stiff and rough hand, tightly grasping his heart.

That's where the tension comes from, but it doesn't get any better after they're out of sight.

Shen Yizhuo arrived at the theater alone. At this time, in accordance with the movie he chose, there were very few people coming, and the front desk was silent, only the accompanying moviegoers chatting in low voices.He arrived almost on time and entered the screening hall with the movie ticket.

Unsurprisingly, it was a very small auditorium, but somewhat unexpectedly, there was no one in it except him.

Advertisements were still playing on the big screen, and the lights were still on.When Shen Yizhuo secretly speculated that he would not be the only one who would watch this movie, finally a few people came in and sat down.The lights went out, and the title of the production company appeared on the screen... The movie is about to start.

There were about fifty or sixty seats in the auditorium, but there were only four other people besides him.

The movie is called Falls in Joe, and it was actually filmed in Joe—but there are no waterfalls in Joe.When Shen Yizhuo watched it for the first time, he wondered why he chose a city without waterfalls to shoot a story about "waterfalls".The film was first released in 1992, the year Shen Yizhuo was born, and was filmed at the place where Shen Yizhuo was born. Now, 25 years later, cinemas are subtly releasing its remake.

And today is Shen Yizhuo's birthday.

For some reason, the date of birth on his certificate was not true. He had mentioned this matter to Qu Zhe, and only to Qu Zhe.But perhaps as fate would have it, after his mother died, he never came back to spend this not-so-special day with anyone.

The film is grayish in tone, lengthy and profound.

His left and right sides were empty, and he focused on the screen, trying to immerse himself so that he could forget about other things for the next two hours.

"If you want to leave, I can help."

Qu Zhe led him to eat skewers at a nearby night market.The stall was very simple, and the cheap seats were placed on the side of the road. They sat facing each other, eating and drinking beer.After Qu Zhe told him some irrelevant gossip, Jiang Yuzhao finally couldn't help asking this sentence, and then he watched Qu Zhe gulped down beer, lit another cigarette, and said nonchalantly, "I'll go .”

"...Actually, you are the most incomprehensible person," Jiang Yuzhao said without beginning and end, "Your sister is already married to him, and they will live a lifetime... Do you want to stay with her forever?"

Qu Zhe didn't say a word, Jiang Yuzhao went on to say, "So just stay by Shen Yizhuo's side forever?"

"I do not know."

"Qu Zhe," realizing that he might have said too much, Yu said in a slow tone, "Only you know if you are lying to yourself." Jiang Yuzhao didn't say the following words, he was afraid that it would be too hurtful—— Maybe Qu Zhe just wanted to stay with Shen Yizhuo in a legitimate way, and the so-called younger sister was the excuse.

"I'm not... I will leave." Qu Zhe said calmly, smoking a cigarette, "I will leave when her child is born."

"Where are you going this time?" Qu Zhe said very truthfully, Jiang Yuzhao had no choice but to follow his words, "Or find a place where no one can find?"

"I don't know either. I won't think about things that haven't happened yet."

No matter how you think about it, this rhetoric seems to be an escape.

Jiang Yuzhao finally gave up asking for more substantive content, or about Qu Zhe and Shen Yizhuo, and just silently picked up the wine bottle and took a big sip, saying bluntly: "...the taste here is not bad."

"That's right, it's my first time here too." Qu Zhe smiled, "When will you get married?"

"Hurry up, it hasn't been decided yet." Jiang Yuzhao replied truthfully, "The family hopes to hurry up, and she also hopes..."

"how about you?"

"I don't know, it doesn't matter whether you get married or not."

The conversation couldn't go any further.The two of them drank wine with their own thoughts, and not long after midnight, Qu Zhe proposed to go back, Jiang Yuzhao didn't say much, and naturally followed him all the way and sent him home.

It wasn't until he arrived at the downstairs of the apartment that Jiang Yuzhao said, "If you want to leave, call me anytime."

"it is good."

"I don't mean anything else, send you off or... make arrangements for you." Jiang Yuzhao said, "I mean, at least you don't have to make it so hasty."

"Okay, I will tell you before I leave." Qu Zhe smiled just right, "Just send it here, thank you, come out for dinner when you have time."

Jiang Yuzhao nodded, but he also knew that this was just a formality.

He watched Qu Zhe walk into the elevator before leaving, and took a taxi home alone.He didn't live with Jiang's father for a long time, but bought a new three-bedroom apartment by himself.Because of the existence of Qin Shi, Father Jiang agreed after a little consideration.Jiang Yuzhao was not the kid who was always making troubles back then, and he had enough reasons to rest assured that he wouldn't mess everything up even if he lived alone.

It seems that everything is moving in a good direction in an orderly manner.

Jiang Yuzhao was thinking about many things, and when he separated from Qu Zhecai, he would inevitably think of many things from the past.He once wanted to protect Qu Zhe so that he would not be so embarrassed anymore - to be honest, before this reunion, whenever he saw Qu Zhe, he would always look extremely embarrassed.

But he never felt this kind of feeling towards Qin Shi.

Or not to anyone else.

If he and Qin Shi get married and spend his life in a normal way, it seems like a good future.But Jiang Yuzhao always vaguely felt that this would not work.He told Qu Zhe very easily. In fact, about the marriage, it was Qin Yuan and Father Jiang's intention.

After thinking for a long time, when he was about to get home, he suddenly took out his mobile phone and called Qin Shi.

Qin Shi's voice on the other end of the phone was a little confused: "...Brother Zhao? I'm already asleep..."

"Sorry, I want to ask..." Jiang Yuzhao said softly, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"What's the matter, are you going out to play?"

"Well... Let's have lunch together tomorrow, and I'll pick you up." Jiang Yuzhao said, "Is it convenient to go downstairs to your company?"

"Okay, then at twelve noon tomorrow, there will be a newly opened store, I think it's good! I want to find time to take you there!" Qin Shi's voice became obviously excited when she heard that Jiang Yuzhao was going to find her.

"Okay, that's it, go to bed early, bye."

"good night!"

He hung up the phone without answering the good night, then let out a long breath, and walked into the elevator as if he had finished a big deal.But tomorrow's lunch is the real big deal, and he doesn't even know if he will stick to the decision he just made along the way when he wakes up tomorrow.

Qu Zhe returned to the apartment calmly, tidied himself up as before and went to sleep.

The next day he was on vacation, and made an appointment with Qu Xiaoyu to go for a walk outside with her.But after almost the appointed time, the car that came to pick him up was changed, and even the driver was changed.I don't know if it's Shen Yizhuo's secretary or Shen Yizhuo's driver, but it's a familiar face anyway.

From that day on, the person who came to pick him up was replaced by this stranger, Shen Yizhuo's text messages also stopped, Qu Zhe's world was restored to cleanliness, commuting to and from work, and visiting his sister almost constituted his entire life.

He bought a new pair of trousers, similar to the last pair, black plain straight-leg jeans.For Qu Zhe, two sets of clothes are enough to change, and those paper bags are placed on the edge of the coffee table, and no one cares about them.

Until one night when he was about to fall asleep, someone knocked on the outside door.

Qu Zhe subconsciously thought it was Shen Yizhuo. He didn't make a sound to confirm it, and didn't check the cat's eyes. He put on his pants hastily and opened the door.

There was a strange boy at the door.

The reason he was called a boy was because he looked like he was only eighteen or nineteen, or younger.He is slender, almost the same as Qu Zhe, even a little shorter.He wondered, "... who are you looking for?"

The boy was also surprised, perhaps even more surprised than he was, but soon regained his composure, and responded softly: "... I'm looking for Master Shen... isn't he here?"

"He doesn't live here."

"So..." the boy murmured.

Qu Zhe thought he would leave just like that, and when he was about to close the door, the boy stopped him with his hand, and said, "It doesn't matter if you're not here, I'll just go after I come to get something, is that okay?"

"Get something..." Qu Zhe hesitated for a moment, let go of his hand and turned around, "Come in."

"Thank you."

The boy came in, took off his shoes properly, and then opened the shoe cabinet to take out the slippers used by the guests and put them on, as if he had lived here all his life.There was a sense of restraint like a stranger entering the house. He watched the boy silently, followed him, and watched him walk into the study room where he had always lived.

The boy barely made a "find" movement, and calmly opened the cabinet next to him, took out a necklace from it, and stuffed it into his pocket.The cabinet stood by the window, but Qu Zhe had very few things, so he never used it.The boy turned his head and saw him standing at the door, and asked intentionally or unintentionally, "Do you live in this room now?"

"Yeah." Qu Zhe nodded.

The boy walked out and said, "I thought you were young master Shen's friend...so you are the same as me."

He only left this inexplicable sentence, just like when he came in, he put on his shoes, put the slippers in the cabinet, and finally said "don't tell Young Master Shen that I've been here, thank you", and then left.

No matter how stupid Qu Zhe is, he can still see some traces in the branches and leaves of this episode.

He used to live in this apartment, he used to live in the study, he was familiar with everything in this house, and he called Shen Yizhuo "Master Shen"... All this sounds like he is another dog raised by Shen Yizhuo.

Maybe it has been raised, maybe it is still being raised.

Qu Zhe sat on the sofa for a while, with his elbows resting on his knees, supporting his head, then inserted his fingers into his hair, and pressed his scalp with some force.

Aware of the relationship between the boy and Shen Yizhuo, he suddenly found that he could not maintain the calm he had been insisting on for a long time.