salt by salt

As expected, the behind-the-scenes buyer who took the picture did not meet Lao Luo, which made Lao Luo a little disappointed.But he cheered up quickly, laughed and said, "These bosses are very mysterious, it doesn't matter, this price is the greatest recognition for us!"

He ordered a banquet to celebrate the auction regardless of the price.This time, it sold for 50 yuan, which was a big upset. I went to the staff to confirm that the buyer did not refuse to pay, and I felt confident.Although he didn't get the money, Lao Luo was already full of pride: "Let's go to eat!" He dragged me to the restaurant without any objection.

Song Cheng called to say that he had just separated from his friend and was rushing to our side now.As soon as Lao Luo came to the table, he clinked glasses with me regardless of previous suspicions. He smiled so fatly that he couldn't see his eyes, and kept saying that I was his nobleman.I squeezed the wine glass awkwardly, whether I drank it or not.

He poured another full glass on his own, and raised his hand to me: "I know that you senior white-collar workers are definitely not short of money. But half of the money can help Xiao Song, and half of it is your credit. This cup is to respect you. Jun Yan, no matter why you concealed your identity in the first place, we know how you treat Xiao Song. If you treat me as a friend, I will help you talk about it here today, and everyone is happy."

I rolled my throat hard, raised the wine glass and touched it to my lips.Lao Luo raised his head and drank the whole cup, then lit the bottom of the cup to me: "Okay! Just wait for him to come."

Song Cheng... On the surface, I still want to listen to the excited old Luo talking, pretending to be extremely happy, and my hands under the table have already clenched into fists.

"Sorry, I'm late." His hair was still a little messy when he opened the door, and Lao Luo and I looked up at him at the same time.It's just that I was nervous and Lao Luo couldn't wait. Song Cheng sat down apologetically and asked, "How about the auction?"

Lao Luo immediately talked to him vividly and vividly, because I had heard it just now, so this time I was bored to eat food with chopsticks and no chopsticks.Song Cheng listened, and occasionally echoed a few words, while quietly holding my hand from below.

His fingers were dry and warm, and he squeezed my palm comfortingly.I felt uncomfortable, but I didn't break free, and held his hand almost greedily.

In the future... there will be no such moments.

Song Cheng had already eaten with his friends, so our meal was tasteless—Lao Luo was too excited to eat, and I lost my appetite because of anxiety.The dishes on the table were not very disturbed, and most of the time we were chatting—mainly Lao Luo was talking, and Song Cheng and I listened quietly.After eating, Lao Luo, who usually asks for a receipt for a bowl of noodles, was extravagant. Instead of asking the waiter to pack it, he invited us to sing.

"What's so good about just singing, let's play something more interesting." Lao Luo went to the front desk to order a drink, and after entering the box, he suddenly turned to us with a smile, "Have you heard of the confession?"

My heart skipped a beat, Song Cheng asked blankly, "What is that?"

"I asked before, they have a turntable here that we can borrow. If you lose, you can drink a glass of wine, or tell your secret. It's okay to make jokes or pranks before. Our children Song is simple, this is still the way you young people play! But I am also half a young man." Lao Luo blinked at me, I was full of bitterness, knowing that this was Lao Luo's excuse to let me have a showdown, "play Don't play? It's rare to be happy today!"

"It takes a lot of people to play. There are only three of us." Song Cheng frowned in embarrassment, "And drinking too much is bad for your health. I'm afraid Jun Yan won't feel well..."

"Hey, I didn't say anything. I asked Jun Yan, and he has no shift tomorrow." Lao Luo looked at me pointedly, "Jun Yan, what do you think?"

I forced a smile: "Well, let's play."

Song Cheng glanced at me, and the colorful rotating lights fell on his face.I hurriedly looked at him and then lowered my head. There were some emotions different from usual in those gentle eyes, but I couldn't understand what it was.He stroked my hair and paused for a moment: "Okay."

So Lao Luo turned around to get the turntable, and we started this "confession game" with each other's thoughts.

I have to say that Lao Luo is very good at playing. At first it was Song Cheng and I's turn, we couldn't let it go, we just drank silently.When it was his turn, he told several embarrassing things about himself, which made the atmosphere much more relaxed and happy.The next time it was Song Cheng's turn, I thought he would stretch out his hand to the wine bottle and pour myself another glass, but I didn't expect him to smile shyly: "Let me tell you about my childhood, if I drink again, I will get drunk."

I am very interested in his past, but unfortunately he usually doesn't mention it very much, but now he has become more energetic.Lao Luo, who was sitting across from him, also sat up straight and seemed very interested. Could it be that he, like me, doesn't know Song Cheng's previous life experience?Before I had time to think about it, Song Cheng had already started to narrate:

"It's a secret, but it's actually a common thing. No one knows about it... I was just in the second year of junior high school. The school was a boarding system, far away from home, and the management was very strict. We paid special attention to physical training. Eight days of vacation, I don’t remember the details. For the rest of the time, we were all sent to the mountains for training. Every day with sandbags on our legs, we ran back and forth on the mountain roads, and the last ones who came back had no food—in short, for those who love to play For the boys, life is really hard."

Listening to him, I complained in my heart: What kind of parents would send their children to this kind of devil training camp?There is no humanity at all, no wonder Song Cheng doesn't mention his family very much.What impressed me the most at that time was probably the studio and study room, and the extremely elegant female teacher who taught me painting. The biggest amount of exercise was just sketching in scenic spots.

"Later we came up with an idea. Anyway, no one left a meal for the last one who came back, and the instructor who was waiting at the finish line also left. Why can't we take advantage of this time to sneak away? So we made a schedule and took turns to be the last one. One came back, and the others were in charge of covering for him to confuse the instructor who checked the bedroom, so that he could sneak over the wall and go to an Internet cafe in a nearby town to play half-night games."

Song Cheng said with a smile on the corner of his mouth, as if recalling the scene of a group of little boys working together: "Now that I think about it, I was really forced, and I think it's better to go out to get some fresh air... I'm not interested in playing games. When it came to me, I simply wandered the main road for half the night."

"What happened later?" Lao Luo listened with gusto, "Continue talking."

"Actually, we were exposed a long time ago, but the instructors felt that we were pitiful and ridiculous, and acquiesced in this behavior. Every night when that person turned out, they sent someone to follow him... Later, a boy was particularly alert and found someone following him. He hid himself to see who it was, but he just jumped out of his hiding place and bumped into his own instructor... Then we were picked out and criticized together."

Song Cheng said helplessly: "Write a thousand-word self-criticism and reflect on what I did when I went out. I am the worst, and I have to hold back a thousand-word explanation why I have to walk the road in the middle of the night-God knows why, I just want to relax!"

I was amused by his tone, and Lao Luo gave a thumbs up: "What do you mean? You are born to be different, and you are destined to do great things."

I asked him: "What did you write in the review at the end?"

"The review was not completed, and my dad took me home to teach me a lesson." He smiled and didn't continue, "Let's go to the next round."

The next turn of the carousel points to me.

I wanted to drink, but it seemed boring, and Lao Luo winked at me several times.But I wasn't ready yet, so I thought about it: "I'll also tell you a secret, which has nothing to do with me... No, it should have something to do with it."

Song Cheng looked at me with interest. Although I have a lot of secrets, there are not many that I can tell.

Now I have no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "When I was in high school, there was a girl in the school that everyone thought was excellent. She was at the goddess level. She was good at everything and she was pretty. Anyone who saw her liked her. The classmate in our class is already together, but it may be that the woman feels that it affects her study. In short, no one knows except the two of them. Later, this classmate got together with another classmate. Everyone thought it was an ordinary relationship. I thought it was Ban Cao secretly cheating."

"The girl was very sad, but she chose to retaliate wildly against this classmate, just like she did many times before. She used means to make some private affairs of the other party known to everyone, forcing him to transfer schools. This incident Few people know the root cause, and I also accidentally learned that it was her instigation, and I was very surprised... because she looks like a very obedient girl, and no one would have thought that she was such a person."

After I finished speaking, Lao Luo asked thoughtfully: "So Jun Yan, you had a crush on this girl at that time? Did you feel that your image had collapsed?"

In a sense, this sentence is the result I want to hear.So I nodded, pretending to be disappointed and said: "Women are really terrible creatures."

"Where's the girl who transferred to another school? How is she?" Song Cheng asked earnestly, "Obviously she did nothing wrong, she was cheated by a scumbag and even framed."

I was dumb for a moment, and after a moment of stupefaction, I said dryly: "I don't know... I guess I'm doing well now, so let's just smile about those things?"

He heard this answer and sighed softly: "But she is very pitiful."

My voice was choked in my throat, my nose was sore, I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

I want to laugh because I am a bit hypocritical for bringing up these old scars now; I want to cry because I have never heard a word of pity from others for so many years.

People who know these things—Lin Ya, Yang Chen, Xue Keming—are participants or bystanders, they don't feel any pain, and they can watch the fire from the other side without having anything to do with themselves.In the end, even I felt that my behavior of being so persistent and unwilling to let go was extremely ridiculous. It was just a small matter, not worth paying attention to.So I can finally tell this story calmly as a stranger on this occasion.

I don't even care about myself, why do you feel pitiful?

I looked up at Song Cheng, and smiled casually: "Don't be so soft-hearted, I will like you more."

...before I'm about to lose you.