【Summer Five】Iron City Wall

The next day, Xia You and Wu Tiao visited East Fourteenth Street again.

Diana opened the door, still wearing the old oil-spattered apron.The beautiful girl's blond hair was tied back in a mess, her eye sockets were bruised, and there was still a long thin bloodstain on her cheek, which could make people understand what happened the night before without words.

"You two wait a moment." She smiled wearily, turned back into the room, and handed over a letter when she came out.

The sparrow perched on the telegraph pole, twittered a few times and then flew away, and the old envelope passed by a small shadow.

Xia You took it, remained silent, and finally said, "Apart from this letter, do you have anything else to say...do you want us to convey it?"

He asked cautiously, and Wutiao still glanced at him with some dissatisfaction.The girl wiped her hands on the apron, clenched the fabric tightly with her fingertips, a deep loneliness appeared on her face.

"It's gone. I told him that I was engaged, and I said goodbye to the old feelings, and it has nothing to do with it." She said, her voice became lower and lower, and the last word almost fell into the mud.

A few more birds flew away, their wings passing through the air and making crisp whistles.The wire swayed, and the shadow that fell on the envelope moved accordingly.

Xia You maintained the action of receiving the letter, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, in a state of opening her mouth to speak.But the words were frozen in his heart, and he realized that he had no position, and he was not qualified to make any judgments, so he stayed where he was, and could only hear five shallow breathing sounds in his ears.

The wind crashed into the dark blue awning, and Diana seemed to have regained some strength from the short silence, and continued: "We are not suitable, and having extravagant hopes will only make the fire of karma burn more fiercely, and eventually I will be smashed to pieces. I just It’s just that he woke up earlier than Carlo, and one of us must wake up and stop the loss in time.”

Thanks to the dance troupe resume, Diana's rhetorical level is quite high.At least to Xia You's ears, the increasingly hoarse voice properly interpreted the melodious sadness and determination.The matter has come to this point, and the words have come to an end. They should have turned around and left, handing the letter to Carlo to end the commission.

But the door panels of the rental house were so thin, and the mourning and sobbing that came out of it were too clear, as if they were close to his ears, making him feel stuck in his throat.

Xia You thinks that he has never been a good old man with a lot of kindness, and he shouldn't worry about other people's trivial matters: but Diana and Carlo are like a mirror, from which he can see himself and Wujo.Behind them was the heavy snow that ruined civilization and the gray city walls that towered into the sky. It was so cold that they had to retreat.

He didn't want to back down, he knew he couldn't back down even half a step; so he spoke resolutely on the crumbling and messy East Fourteenth Street, as if making a decision for himself.

"Haven't you thought of another way? Any way is fine, as long as it's not the current way."

Diana's eyes were wide open, and every fine line of haggard, distressed and fragile was piled up, crushing the old pride and making that beautiful face look like an old woman.She was half crying and half laughing, with a pale and confused expression, and she spit out a sharp knife-like answer:

"How do you know I haven't tried it? People don't see me struggling, begging, and stubbornly resisting, and they only think that it's no wonder that I have to blame myself for everything. My mother sold me to Fourteenth Street, why did she ask my wishes? Carlo You poured out love words to me without authorization, and made me fall into a trap, so why have you ever really worried about me?"

The sound of the wind was getting louder, she straightened her neck, there were faint tears in her eyes, but her expression settled down, almost forming some kind of dusty fortitude.

The postmen finally left, drifting away from the desolate Fourteenth Street.

Xia You remained silent, and the letter she held in her arms slowly turned into a bag of ice slag, which was about to frostbite her torso.Wujo looked up at him, seemingly puzzled by this uncharacteristically "nosy".

He stretched out his hand to grab the summer oil, and clasped his fingers tightly, as if he wanted to warm up the biting coldness.

"The drama ends, the dancers leave, and the swan under the spotlight slowly dies. But this swan is just a speck of dust among thousands of swans. It is neither outstanding nor unique, so why regret it." Wutiao Wuyi said.When he said this, he kept his expression down, and his tone was usual casual.

"What are you afraid of?" He asked almost firmly, his fingers clenched even tighter, as if he was asking for an answer.

Xia You listened to his words and wanted to laugh, but she still couldn't pull the corners of her mouth smoothly.Perhaps the wind in early spring was too cold, and the smile finally froze, and the arc became bitter.

After all, he couldn't ignore the five items, and he said desolately: "I'm afraid I will end up in the same end. In the past, I was very high-spirited and fearless, and I dared to make any kind of promise; but in the end, it fell into dust and no one cares about it."

"Wu, I'm afraid of being stripped of my pride, falling into the abyss, and begging for mercy. I'm afraid to see my future, which will mean the collapse of my beliefs and the wasting of my years. The loess will swallow everything, and no one will die well."

"I'm afraid of many things, Wu, I'm just a mortal."

The damp and cold air also condensed, and the asphalt road stretched far away, black and gray mixed into a stagnant and meandering river.The sky is very blue, the clouds are thin and transparent, and narrow and long shadows can be vaguely glimpsed on the soles of the feet. There should be sunshine, but there is no warmth at all.

Xia You exhaled, and the heavy boulder in her heart was suddenly pulled away, she didn't know whether it was relaxation or fear.I shouldn't let Wu have any expectations, he thought, Wu should understand that I'm just an ordinary person.Only when he understands, accepts and puts aside all unrealistic delusions, can the future have a glimmer of life.

The hand was let go for a short while, and Xia You's heart was emptied.When the feeling of weightlessness was about to rush towards him, someone caressed the side of his neck preciously and planted a kiss on his forehead.

Wutiao was half a head taller than him, and he could show two dry and cold lips just by bowing his head slightly.There is no obvious emotion in the young man's eyes, even if he says "love", it is just a casual word for him, and it is extremely difficult to taste the taste out of ten; but the sky and the sea are indeed much brighter and softer, From unfettered freedom and broadness to a pool of water in a goblet, it is clear, shallow, thorough and gentle.

Just as Xia You never thinks that he can bind Wutiao—he can swear, he can also make promises, but who can guarantee that this is not the whim of the little god?Even if everything is false, Xia You only wants those eyes to reflect her, and only looks at herself.

This comforting kiss affirmed the teenager's "vain attempt".He no longer cared about the fact that Wutiao did not respond positively, and instead pulled the other party's collar to lead him towards himself, touching the tips of his noses.

They looked at each other within audible distance of breathing, Wujo's heart silently missed half a beat.The black-haired boy had a pair of fox eyes slanting upwards, the ends of his eyes were slightly crimson from the air-conditioning, his eyes were as dark as ink, and there was a bit of seductiveness in his gaze for no reason.

"I'll take it as if you understand." Xia You bit Wutiao's upper lip and whispered softly, there was a well-disguised coldness in her words.Wujo was disturbed by his breath, and he was also feeling a little emotional at the moment, so he absent-mindedly said "um", and lowered his head vaguely to ask for a kiss.

They dropped this half-way conversation on a street corner and let the wind blow it away. "To be afraid or not to be afraid" seems to be just a whim of the five articles, just ask it out, and never get to the bottom of it.Xia You also let him go, just as if she had never felt uneasy, and when she opened her eyes, she was still a flawless smiling tiger.

After all, the letter reached Carlo.It took only a few minutes for the young man to go from apprehensive and hopeful to unbelievable, almost crumpling the letter paper.He threw down the summer oil and Wutiao and rushed out the door, yelling some incomprehensible words, and the door panel was slammed loudly.

It doesn't help, and everyone knows it.

A few days later, the final payment was credited to the account, and they settled the entrustment and returned to District [-] without any further contact with Carlo.This talented Second District scholar is really too young. After living in an ivory tower for half his life, he thought that everything would go smoothly in this life and there would be no taboos.

Little do they know that the debts owed will eventually be repaid, and the fleeting dreams will eventually wake up.

Even if the horn that awakens him destroys him, throws reality out of his sight, sinks him to the bottom, and sees for himself a world that "just works without everybody."

East [-]th Street is still the famous Fireworks and Willow Lane, where the fishy smell mixed with the musty smell creeps into the rubble of the door panels, where the unrestrained men and women degenerate to the bottom.Xia You once stepped on the fork in the road, hesitated for a long time, but finally never knocked on the door again, and saw the withered blonde dancing girl.

She chose to kill that noble and beautiful swan with her own hands, and even though there might be external coercion on the way, she never let go of those slender and white hands.Giving up may indeed be the easiest choice, as long as you walk away, no matter how anxious others are to persuade you, you will not be moved.

As for how this dance drama will end, it has nothing to do with outsiders.

The postman's first commission was successfully completed and the reward was high.Wang Laoer also brought other orders, most of which were within the five districts, and he only needed to run back and forth a few times on Shitiao Street in the east and west districts.

On those bright or gloomy afternoons, the client instructed carefully, and the words in black and white vibrated into a concise design draft, and the strokes were woven into firewood.The alloy and driving fluid flow between the iron tanks, the high temperature burns the bottom of the hammer red, and the core melts layer by layer, peeling off the sincere and sincere love inside.

When waving the instrument, Xia You would briefly think of Carlo.According to Diana Gu, he was born into a scholarly family, his parents both worked in the second district, and he was carefree since he was a child.The value superior to ordinary people endows Carlo with talent and talent, and these bargaining chips will lead his way forward to a broad road.

The proud son of heaven picked up the oyster from the mud, mistook it for a precious diamond, and tried to polish it to his liking with the most extravagant craftsmanship.Until the "diamond" suddenly shattered, the rough quicksand quietly passed through the genius's fingers and fell into the dust, and it was bleak.

No one is born with everything, even if it looks like this, God will still take the corresponding price from him—this may be one of the few "fairness" within the iron city wall.

The snowfield is vast, and the sky is so low that it seems to embrace the earth.The sun dappled through the shadows of the trees and fell on the five trembling eyelashes, as if full of water.

He bit his pen and thought hard, with a scribbled design drawing spread out in front of him, his sunglasses hanging loosely on the tip of his nose.Behind the dark lenses, there is a bit of ice diamond-like blue, which is dazzling.

"Enlightenment," Xia You called out, "Enlightenment."

Wujo then raised his head, the corners of his lips raised slightly as usual.He seemed to be smiling like this only in front of Xia You, and the nine points of playfulness and disdain were gone, leaving only sporadic laziness and fleeting sinking.

The shadow of the tree fell to the back, and the boy's silver hair was as pale as his skin.Xia You didn't say a word for a long time, Wu Tiao blinked, and half of the bud slipped from the branch and fell into the tip of her hair.

"Jie?" He spread his five fingers and waved in front of Xia You's eyes, his smile softened the inherent coldness.

"It's okay." Xia You replied in a low voice, lowering her eyes, suppressing the traces of uneasiness.

The days continued to run forward smoothly, until a commission was handed to them.After several months, I finally got a cross-regional order—this time, it came from the fourth district with abundant grass.