Strawberry West Toast

The temperature rises in the afternoon, and the sun shines into the room from the balcony, dispelling the continuous cold since the first lunar month.After cleaning the dishes, Pei Yiwei picked out a movie and sat on the sofa with Wang Zhen to watch it.When the house was built facing north, the curtains in the living room were half drawn, the TV was dimly lit, and the people on the screen reflected white light.

Wang Zhen watched for 10 minutes, then put his hand next to Pei Yiwei's little finger.Pei Yiwei felt that his fingers were cold, so he picked them up and put them in his palms. After covering them for a while, both hands began to sweat.When the movie was over, Wang Zhen's palm was covered with sweat, and he felt clean and refreshed when he rubbed against Pei Yiwei's chest.

There were not many vegetables and meat left in the refrigerator, so Pei Yiwei counted them and asked Wang Zhen, "Do you want to eat hot pot?"

Wang Zhen thought for a while and said, "Do you have any materials?"

"I have ingredients at home," Pei Yiwei said, "I'll go to the supermarket to buy vegetables later."

At this point, the vegetables in the supermarket are not fresh. Wang Zhen accompanied him to choose for a long time, and only bought spinach, enoki mushrooms and lettuce. There are ready-made meat and vegetable freezers, which are very convenient to handle.Wang Zhen helped to choose and arrange the dishes, washed them, put them in the drain basket, and brought them to the table.The soup boiled quickly, and bubbles rose from the bottom of the pot with gurgling bubbles, bringing out white mist.

There are not many seasonings at home, only soy sauce and mature vinegar.Wang Zhen eats lightly, and can eat without dipping in sauce.Pei Yiwei turned on the TV, and TV stations around the country were broadcasting Chinese New Year programs with the same content.He changed several channels, and at this moment, the sound of salutes suddenly sounded outside, coming from the darkness downstairs, once, twice, deafening.

Wang Zhen looked at him, put down the bowls and chopsticks, walked to the balcony, and looked towards the source of the sound.

A group of men and women gathered in the small courtyard on the opposite floor, five boxes of salutes were piled on the ground, and the fireworks fired off the outer wall of the sixth floor, shining brightly on the tiled floor of the balcony.

"Can you set off fireworks here?" Wang Zhen said.

"Well," Pei Yiwei glanced out, "I don't care about the Chinese New Year."

"Is there anyone selling cannonballs? It's been a long time since I played." Wang Zhen asked.

"There should be. After eating, go downstairs and look for it."

When Wang Zhen was in elementary school, the Wang family usually returned to the countryside for the New Year, but after the old people in the countryside passed away one after another, they seldom returned to their hometown.The throwing cannon is a thing in the canteen in the country, not in the city.After eating hot pot, Pei Yiwei took him to look for shops.Hui City's prohibition order was not strictly enforced in the lower corner, and the two bought fairy sticks and ice cream cone fireworks at a small shop on the corner.

The night wind of the first month is not dry, but blows warmly across the cheeks, reminding Wang Zhen of spring.Pei Yiwei used his lighter to light a fairy stick, and he raised his phone to take a photo of Pei Yiwei.

"Laugh." Wang Zhen grinned at him, motioning him to imitate himself.

Pei Yiwei raised the corners of his mouth and looked at the camera. Wang Zhen immediately pressed the shutter, and with a click, the light of the flash flashed in front of Pei Yiwei.

"It's ok." Wang Zhen handed him the phone—in the photo, Pei Yiwei has bright eyes and a relaxed expression. He is wearing a black down jacket and the ends of denim trousers are tucked into low-top leather boots. His face is between a boy and a youth. So handsome.

"There is a painter named Hammershoy who has been painting his wife for decades. The content of each painting is his wife and their home. It is very interesting to look at those paintings together," Wang Zhen said, "If a few times a year It should be fun to take a picture of you and save it for five or ten years before looking at it.”

Pei Yi smiled: "See me being hammered every day, and then getting old?"

Wang Zhen pinched his cheek, and laughed while talking: "Yes, become an old man, don't take a bath and don't change clothes, it smells disgusting."

Pei Yiwei patted him on the waist, Wang Zhen shrugged his shoulders, and was about to speak, when a series of footsteps suddenly sounded a few steps away—someone was coming this way.

Carrying a white paper bag, Pei Jie walked under the street lamp. When he saw Pei Yiwei and Wang Zhen, he was stunned for a few seconds, then raised his eyebrows, walked quickly towards Pei Yiwei, and greeted him.

"Why didn't you stay at home?" Pei Jie glanced upstairs and asked Pei Yiwei.

Pei Yiwei did not expect that Pei Jie would come to visit at this time, so he hesitated for a moment and said, "Go downstairs for a walk."

"Oh, let's go upstairs then?" Pei Jie stepped forward, exchanged glances with Wang Zhen for a short while, and walked upstairs on his own.

"What's the matter?" Pei Yiwei interrupted his pace and asked him.

Pei Jie slowly became aware of Pei Yiwei's hostility, and said without changing his face: "It's nothing, I'll come and see you, your mother went to my aunt's house?"

Pei Yiwei nodded silently, and Wang Zhen said at this time: "Uncle, I have urgent matters with him, Pei Yiwei, and I'll be back in a while, look..."

Pei Jie looked at Wang Zhen, then at Pei Yiwei, and said, "Then I'll wait upstairs, you guys do your work first."

Wang Zhen and Pei Yiwei looked at each other, Pei Yiwei looked at Pei Jie hesitantly, and took Wang Zhen away.

After leaving the unit building, Wang Zhen immediately took Pei Yiwei's hand and asked cautiously, "Go to my house?"

Pei Yi shook his head slightly: "I'll take you back first."

The little sheep stopped downstairs in the unit. Pei Yiwei sent Wang Zhen to the subway station. The fireworks could not be inspected. Wang Zhen handed them to Pei Yiwei, pulled him into the toilet cubicle, and whispered; "If you don't like it, don't go there." .”

Pei Yiwei didn't speak, but stroked Wang Zhen's hair and pulled him into his arms.

"How can I leave like this," Wang Zhen said, "Don't go, really."

"My father hopes to have someone to rely on when he grows up," Pei Yiwei said, "Leaving aside the past, I do have this responsibility."

It was as if a corner of Wang Zhen's heart had been dug out. Some thoughts surged up and sank, lingering in his chest several times, and finally turned into a light sentence: "...then you pay attention to safety, call me if you have anything to do." Telephone."

"Well," Pei Yi stroked his vest slightly, comforting him, "Go back and have a good rest, I'll find you tomorrow."

On the way back, Pei Yiwei quickened his pace.Pei Jie stood at the stairs, his slanted shadow hit the ground, and a bit of soot slowly fell.

"Your classmate has gone back?" Pei Jie broke the silence.

Pei Yi nodded slightly, took out the key to open the door, and let Pei Jie in.

The smell of hot pot in the room has not dissipated, Pei Yiwei pushed open the sliding door of the balcony to ventilate, and hung the bag of fireworks on the hook on the wall.

"The building materials company I invested in is on the road. According to the current situation, the money owed to Mr. Xue and the others can basically be paid off in one year," Pei Jie said, "I have issued a card for you. You can buy things from Carina."

Pei Jie handed the card to Pei Yiwei, but Pei Yiwei didn't pick it up.

"Who did you borrow the investment money from?" Pei Yiwei asked.

Pei Jie was startled, smiled slowly, and put the card on the coffee table.

"Take care of your mother," Pei Jie answered irrelevantly, and put the white paper bag next to the bank card. "This is the medicine I entrusted someone to bring from the United States. The side effects are lower than the one she usually takes."

Pei Yiwei looked at the paper bag, did not refuse, got up and stuffed the bank card into Pei Jie's arms.

"...You are my only son," Pei Jie continued, "I am willing to give you anything, I will not harm you, you take it."

Pei Jie closed the door and left, leaving the lonely paper bag and bank card flat on the coffee table.

Pei Yiwei opened the paper bag and looked it over. The instructions for the medicine were written in English, and he couldn't read them easily, so he knew that the gift was indeed sincere.He put the paper bag back in place, sat on the sofa and pondered for a moment, thinking of Pei Jie's words—"You are my only son"—why did he suddenly emphasize this?

The new year has been more uneventful than expected.After the first day of junior high school, for five consecutive days, Wang Zhen spent every day visiting relatives. Time passed by, and Pei Yiwei also had many relatives leaving. Except for contacting by phone and WeChat, he hadn’t seen Pei Yiwei again for nearly a week until The day before school started, the foster cat at my sister-in-law's house had a fever. Pei Yiwei sent the kitten to the pet hospital, so Wang Zhen met him in a hurry.

"Pay attention to keeping warm, and turn on the air conditioner as much as possible," said the veterinarian at the pet hospital. "Go back and feed more water. The rest is basically fine. Come back if you have any problems."

Wang Zhen thanked the doctor, put the cat back in the bag, and walked out with Pei Yiwei.

"Its physique is not very good," Wang Zhen said, "I have been sick four times since I picked it up."

"Maybe it's still young," Pei Yiwei said, "I asked my sister-in-law to give it more nutrition."

"Well," Wang Zhen glanced at his watch, "Where are we going now?"

"I'll go to the bookstore to pick out some books," Pei Yiwei said, "for school."

"Okay." Wang Zhen nodded.

What Pei Yiwei wanted to pick out were a few exercise books, Wang Zhen looked at them from the side, and found that each book was not thin.He thought of the bookcases in Pei Yiwei's room. He used to think that it was easy for Pei Yiwei to maintain his current grades, but after getting along for a long time, he realized that Pei Yiwei's relaxation was superficial. In fact, he was also under a lot of pressure, but he was used to hiding his emotions. In the bottom of his heart, even though they were so close, he still rarely confides this to him.

At the beginning of the new semester, in order to cope with the upcoming training camp, the number of professional courses began to increase.Wang Zhen stayed longer in the studio and was often unable to participate in evening self-study for several consecutive days.I can't finish my homework, so I can only make up after the evening self-study. Sometimes I am busy until two or three o'clock in the middle of the night, and my mental state is not good the next day. Dozing off in class has become the norm.

After the first monthly exam was over, Wang Zhen returned to his seat after reading the scores. The Chinese teacher walked into the classroom to comment on the test papers. The slideshow showed the excellent compositions of this monthly exam. Wang Zhen saw Pei Yiwei's name.

"Read this classmate's article carefully. It's the only full-score composition for this monthly exam," the Chinese teacher said. "It's the same topic, let's see how he explained it."

Wang Zhen carefully read it twice—the article with simple words, but the understanding of the topic and the depth of discussion may not be achieved by the third-year students. It is not easy to achieve this.

Wang Zhen didn't know whether to be happy for him or to be disappointed by the gap between himself and him. These two feelings were equally strong, although his expression was calm.For the rest of the time, Wang Zhen always thinks about other people's reactions when they read this composition: envy, inferiority and admiration.But no matter what, no one would associate him with Pei Yiwei, because they are so different kinds of people.

In the last week of March, Wang Zhen went to an art school on the outskirts of the city to participate in a competition. Pei Yiwei had an extra math class that day and couldn't spare time, so he took Liang Qing's car to the scene.After the game, it suddenly rained outside.Before coming here, Wang Zhen didn't bring an umbrella, so he stood under the eaves for a while. The rain was getting stronger, and the students trapped in the building began to call home.Wang Zhen planned to wait until the rain stopped before leaving.Next to him, a boy in a gray cardigan suddenly called out to him.

"Hi," Meng Tao held an umbrella in his hand, as if he had just come down from upstairs, "You're here too?"

"En." Wang Zhen responded.

Meng Tao observed him for a few seconds and said, "Mr. Zuo will drive the students from our studio back later, do you want a piece?"

Wang Zhen shook his head: "No, thank you."

"Okay," Meng Tao smiled, "Then how do you go back?"

"Take a taxi when the rain subsides." Wang Zhen said.

Zuo Xingjian came out of the rain holding an umbrella, was startled when he saw Wang Zhen and Meng Tao standing together, and then called Meng Tao's name to let him come over.

Meng Tao said to Wang Zhen, "Then you should be careful on the road," and then left with Zuo Xingjian.

But after a few minutes, a Buick commercial parked in front of the building through the rain and fog, flashing double flashes. Meng Tao waved at Wang Zhen through the car window. Noticing that Wang Zhen didn't respond, he got out of the car and walked towards him. Said: "I just read the forecast, the rain won't stop for a while, and it's too remote to take a taxi, why don't you come with us?"

"Thanks, I really don't need it, we are not on the way," Wang Zhen said, "My friend is coming to pick me up now, and I will take his car back."

Meng Tao's expression was slightly hesitant, Zuo Xingjian honked the horn to urge him, Meng Tao hesitated for a moment, handed the umbrella to Wang Zhen, turned and returned to the car.

The Buick disappeared behind the rain curtain, and the people in the building were basically empty. Wang Zhen's cell phone vibrated suddenly, and he pressed the answer button. Pei Yiwei's voice was blurred by the rain, and he said, "I'm at the door, which building ?”

"No. [-]," Wang Zhen looked at the building number, "come in from the gate and go straight, turn left at the end and you will be there."

Pei Yiwei didn't hang up, she should be listening to the phone with the pair of AirPods he gave him.The noisy rain overwhelmed his breathing, Wang Zhen heard the hum of an engine not far away, and the headlights of Little Sheep flickered twice.Pei Yiwei was wearing a dark blue raincoat, his forehead was stained with rain, and he looked a little embarrassed.

Pei Yiwei saw that he had a red automatic folding umbrella in his hand. He remembered that Wang Zhen didn't like red, so he asked, "Borrowed from a classmate?"

Wang Zhen put on the raincoat that Pei Yiwei brought him, and said, "It's not a classmate, you've seen that boy who was with my teacher at the aunt's stand before."

After getting in the car, Pei Yiwei slowed down. The road was wet and slippery in rainy days. On the way he came, a private car hit the guardrail due to tire slippage, causing the traffic on that road to be completely paralyzed.

With the headlights turned on to the maximum, Wang Zhen's hands were slightly cold from the rain. When passing the cross-river bridge, the sound of the motor became a little weird, as if it was coming out of a muffled curtain.Within 5 minutes, Pei Yiwei stepped on the brakes, parked the car on the side of the road, got out of the car to check, and said, "The battery is broken."

"Do you want someone to tow the car?" Wang Zhen asked.

"It's almost there," Pei Yiwei pulled the key out of the lock and stuffed it into his coat pocket, "Push it back directly."

Seeing that most of his cuffs were wet, Wang Zhen opened his umbrella and walked to his left so that he could push the cart on the right.

"The person who gave you the umbrella," Pei Yiwei suddenly said when the two of them walked across the stone bridge, "is he?"

Wang Zhen realized what he meant, said "um", and said, "He seems to be interested in my former teacher."

Wang Zhen would not take the initiative to mention Zuo Xingjian in front of Pei Yiwei, one is afraid of offending Pei Yiwei, and the other is that whether he mentions it or not is already in the past, and there is no need to bring it into his current life.

There was a repair shop in the lower corner, and Pei Yiwei pushed the car directly into the shop, left his contact information and left with Wang Zhen.Wang Zhen felt that he was more silent than before. When he walked into the alley, he took the initiative to hold Pei Yiwei's hand. Pei Yiwei didn't speak and let him hold it, but his fingers were stiff and he couldn't exert any strength.Walking to the door, Wang Zhen stuffed his hand into his key pocket, hesitated, and kissed his chin.

Pei Yiwei washed very vigorously today, and the floral soap fell on Wang Zhen's chest. The skin like spring snow became rosy and tense, but it was far from what Pei Yiwei hoped for.He wanted to tear up the red folding umbrella, throw it in the trash, and burn it, but in the end he didn't do anything, he was used to restraining his urges.Some things cannot be thought about carefully, just like Wang Zhen will not ask too much about his family affairs, nor will he explore the traces on Wang Zhen's body: smoking, familiarity with art history, and the straightforwardness of kissing him.Because they constitute Wang Zhen and are his charm.Without them, there would be no Wang Zhen.

Wang Zhen groaned, put his hands on his chest, and frowned complainingly.Pei Yiwei pulled up his ankle, the slender arch of his foot was like a white moon, and the aroused love and compassion disappeared into nothingness.He grabbed his waist with brute force, he was startled, his legs retracted in front of him, and then he laughed.

"It's too itchy." Wang Zhen shrank his shoulders and pushed his hand, "Don't grab my waist."

Pei Yiwei pinched his earlobe, rubbed it twice, kissed him, carried him out of the bathroom, put him on the sofa, then sat down at the desk, and began to complete today's exercises.

Wang Zhen half leaned on the back, propped his chin and smiled at him, stepped on the desk restlessly with both feet, and kicked his problem sets into a mess.

"Pei Yiwei," Wang Zhen kicked the desk out of his voice, "Stop writing."

The desk was kicked thumping, like a marching song.The water from Wang Zhen's toes wet the test paper, and the words on it were blurred, and Pei Yiwei had to move his feet away.But after a while, Wang Zhen put his feet on his knees again, and rubbed them up and down like playing with a plastic toy.Pei Yiwei's temples jumped a few times immediately.

"Brother Xueba," a copy of the test paper fell off the table, Wang Zhen didn't pick it up for him, and pressed it under the sofa, "Your ass is on fire, still writing?"

Pei Yiwei put down his pen and turned his chair towards Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen leaned over and sat on the desk without any explanation.

"Okay, don't write," Pei Yiwei looked at him, "What do you want to play?"

Wang Zhen took out the "Salome" on his bookshelf and flipped through it. The illustrations in it were very interesting, in a gorgeous and grotesque style.

"Read to me," Wang Zhen thought for a while, and handed him the book, "You have a nice voice."

Pei Yiwei opened the book and said, "Don't laugh later."

"Don't laugh," Wang Zhen sat back on the sofa, "When did you read me laughing?"

Pei Yiwei sat beside him, leaned on the armrest side by side with him, picked a paragraph and began to read aloud.

"I am fascinated by your body, John, which is as white as a lily in a field never visited by the reapers... Allow me to touch your body."

"...Stand back, Babylon's daughter!" Wang Zhen read out suddenly, looking at Pei Yiwei with a smile.

Pei Yi was slightly startled, then continued to read.

"It's like the bow and crossbow of the king of Persia dyed with cinnabar and decorated with coral." He stared at Wang Zhen's lips and read slowly, "There is nothing in this world that can be as bright red as your lips. Please allow I kiss your lips."

Wang Zhen continued: "Don't even think about it! Daughter of Babylon! Daughter of Sodom!"

"Please allow me to kiss your lips, John." Pei Yiwei brought a firm tone into it, and slowly approached Wang Zhen.

"Aren't you afraid?" Wang Zhen didn't back away, just stared at Pei Yiwei, "Herodias' daughter?"

Pei Yi smiled slightly: "I will kiss your lips, John."

Wang Zhen pushed his chest away: "You have been cursed, Salome."

"You don't take me to heart at all, John." Pei Yiwei lowered his voice and made his speech speed up, showing Salome's madness, "Just treat me as a slut, a whore, I, Salome Lemi, daughter of Herodias, princess of the Kingdom of Judea!...I know you will love me, the mystery of love is far greater than the mystery of death. We must think only of love."

At this point, Salome has already cut off the head of John, her favorite, and placed it on a silver plate to admire and kiss.

"...John, I kissed your lips." He turned sideways, stayed on Wang Zhen's lips for a moment, slowed down his speech, and continued to read, "Your lips taste a bit bitter. Then Is it the smell of blood? Maybe it's the smell of love."

Finally at the end, Pei Yiwei put down the book and read softly.

"People say love has a bitter taste, but what does it matter?"