withered lover

Du Zhinian didn't stop much, and drove out of Du's manor directly.

There was little traffic late at night on weekdays, and the viaduct and the main road in the city center were unimpeded all the way. It took more than an hour to go there, and it took less than half an hour to come back.

Du Zhinian parked the car in the underground garage downstairs of the apartment, went home, changed his clothes, and went downstairs to take a taxi to a nearby bar.

The late night bars are far more lively than the streets outside. Even if the bar is cleared, the bar after eleven o'clock is still full of people.

When Du Zhinian walked into the bar, he saw that his usual seat had been taken up, so he tucked himself into a booth in the corner.

He didn't order fancy cocktails, but chose the most common Scotch whiskey.

The classic glass contains clear and transparent whiskey, and a hockey puck floats in the brownish-yellow liquid, and it taps the glass lightly with the shaking of the glass, making a crisp and pleasant sound.

Du Zhinian took a sip of the wine, and the smoky and special peaty liquor slid into his stomach.

Alcohol seeped into the blood vessels from the stomach, and was transported to the whole body as it flowed through the heart. It gradually paralyzed Du Zhinian's restless brain, and slowly erased the words of Du Hengyu and Wen Qiong that had been echoing in his mind.

"Pa--", Du Zhinian put the empty wine glass on the solid wood table.

He wiped off the remaining alcohol on his lips, rubbed the corners of his red eyes, and strode out of the bar door.

Du Zhinian hurried to the bar, and left in a hurry after drinking, just to sit in the booth and feel the atmosphere of someone drinking with him.

He still has a bottle of whiskey half-drinked in Kaifeng at home, and he would have a few drinks when he was insomnia, but he was troubled by someone today, and it sounds too bleak to go home and drink alone to relieve boredom.

Du Zhinian stopped a taxi at the entrance of the bar. After reporting the address, he leaned on the back window of the car and watched the diners hanging shoulder to shoulder at the barbecue stall outside the window.

The diners were flushed, bragging loudly, and burst into laughter from time to time.

The voice was very noisy, but the corners of their eyes and brows were filled with joy from the bottom of their hearts, completely throwing away the depression of the day.

The same may be true of the colleagues who went to dinner tonight, but these have nothing to do with Du Zhinian.

Du Zhinian has worked so hard for so many years, but his name will never be written on the training notice.

He was just a fish raised in an artificial pond, seemingly free, but in the end he was still under Du Hengyu's control.

After returning from the bar, Du Zhinian lay down after washing up.

He picked up the phone, clicked on Shen Guiwan's blank avatar, stared at the last message in a daze.

The chat history of the two of them was still before the last time they met. Du Zhinian asked Shen Guiwan to make a choice, and Shen Guiwan sent two words: dinner.

After that, except for a phone call in the afternoon, Du Zhinian never chatted with Shen Guiwan.

Du Zhinian scratched the few chat records, typed a line in the dialog box, and pressed the send button.

It's already past midnight, Shen Guiwan should have already rested, Du Zhinian didn't wait for his reply, put down his phone when sleepiness struck, rolled up the quilt and fell asleep.

At 07:30 the next morning, Du Zhinian was woken up by the alarm clock of his mobile phone.

He dazedly cut off the alarm clock, lifted the quilt and prepared to get out of bed and change clothes.

As soon as his feet stepped on the floor, the chill that spread from the soles of his feet woke up Du Zhinian instantly.

He fell asleep before he could turn off the alarm clock last night, and when he heard the familiar reminder ring, he almost forgot that he had a rest today.

Du Zhinian sat by the bed, rubbed his aching temples, took out his phone from under the pillow, and started to check the news.

The mobile phone received the push of the morning news, and also received a voice message from Zheng Yi in the middle of the night.

It was probably drinking gibberish again, but Du Zhinian didn't listen to it, so he just clicked the bookmark.

He jogged downstairs for half an hour, bought another breakfast and came back, eating while watching the news.

After finishing breakfast, Shen Guiwan's reply was long overdue.

Shen Guiwan: Got it.

Last night Du Zhinian sent Shen Guiwan a message, telling him to meet downstairs at eleven o'clock, and asked if he would like to eat Western food, Shen Guiwan didn't know whether he ignored the question, or answered with "Got it".

His reply was too brief, Du Zhinian looked at those three words and smiled helplessly.

Du Zhinian simply tidied up the room, and when it was almost the appointed time, he went downstairs slowly.

He passed through the artificial lake between the apartment building and the gate, and saw Shen Guiwan waiting for him outside the gate.

Shen Guiwan stood under the tree at the gate of the community, the light golden sunlight passed through the treetops and fell on his body, blurring the clean profile of his face.

Du Zhinian looked over through the gate, the figure looked a little unreal.

He quickly pushed open the door, and called out to the people under the tree: "Shen Guiwan."

Shen Guiwan turned his head, the sun slowly climbed from his body to his face, the dazzling light made him squint his eyes.

Du Zhinian walked up to him and asked with a smile, "Have you been waiting for a long time?"

Not seeing each other for a week, Shen Guiwan seems to have lost some weight again, wearing his own overcoat, the whole body is wrapped in camel-colored cloth, looking a little petite for no reason.

"No." Shen Guiwan replied in a low voice.

He didn't know how long he stood outside the door, his face was bloodless by the wind, and he looked a little haggard.

Du Zhinian raised his hand, rubbed Shen Guiwan's pale skin on his cheek, and said warmly: "The place to eat is not far away, let's walk there."

He was not in a good mood yesterday, but he slept soundly through the alcohol, and now seeing the invited lover again, the tight string in his head was slowly relaxed.

Shen Guiwan nodded, and lightly rubbed his cheek with Du Zhinian's hand a few times, his pale skin soon turned pink.

He was a little cold, and his hands were kept in the pockets of his coat. Du Zhinian saw it and didn't reach out to hold him, but stood side by side with him.

The two kept a close distance and walked towards the western restaurant.

The western restaurant is near the hotel where the two had sex for the first time.

Shen Guiwan followed Du Zhinian through some familiar streets, looking at the black marble signboard in front of the hotel, the scars on his chest and back suddenly began to ache again.

Du Zhinian took two steps and found him lagging behind, stopped and turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

Shen Guiwan looked away from the marble, met Du Zhinian's eyes, and shook his head slowly, "It's nothing."

Shen Guiwan sat on a chair in the western restaurant, and handed over the control of ordering to Du Zhinian.

This is the first time he has eaten in a restaurant this year. He has been out of touch with the society for nearly a year. Looking at the dazzling pictures and dish names on the menu, he just feels that he has no idea what to do.

Fortunately, with Du Zhinian around, Shen Guiwan could give him the right to choose, so as not to fall into a more embarrassing situation.

Du Zhinian flipped through the menu, turned his head slightly to talk to the waiter.

After he ordered the appetizer and soup, he turned the menu to the middle, and looked up at Shen Guiwan when the waiter standing aside asked about the main course in a low voice.

"Didn't ask you in advance last time, besides chili, are there any other taboos?" Du Zhinian paused, and added: "Maybe you don't like it."

This was just a routine inquiry before the dinner party, Shen Guiwan listened, but was stunned for a long time.

His mother passed away three years ago. After that, Shen Lu didn't regard him as a human being at all, and that so-called ex only wanted to sleep with him. Shen Guiwan couldn't remember the last time he was asked a similar question something happened.

No one cares about what he likes and dislikes, after a long time, even Shen Guiwan himself forgot.

Now that Du Zhinian asked, Shen Guiwan suddenly didn't know how to answer.

He thought about it carefully for a long time, and it was only when Du Zhinian was about to ask again that he didn't seem to like onions.

It's not because of allergies, nor because I hate the smell of onions, the ingredients at home are often difficult to fill my stomach, Shen Guiwan has no room to pick and choose.

He doesn't like to eat it, just because his mother always tears when chopping onions.

Mother cried very sadly every time, so sad that Shen Guiwan, who was cooking with her by the side, was so sad that she couldn't breathe.

"onion."

Shen Guiwan touched the edge of the tablecloth, rubbing the rough edges of the fabric with his fingers, and repeated again: "I don't want to eat onions."

Du Zhinian noticed Shen Guiwan's strange emotion, but he didn't ask.

He turned his head, confirmed the main dish with the waiter in a low voice, and then ordered: "Change his portion of onion and black pepper, and ask for another glass of orange juice, thank you."

The speed of serving food in western restaurants is very slow, and each dish will not continue until the guests have finished eating.

Shen Guiwan had no appetite, every dish was tasteless in his mouth.

He is like a rusty old machine, the gears are turning hard, making jerky and harsh sounds, barely maintaining the minimum daily activities.

To Shen Guiwan, eating is just the simplest survival procedure, but he is still quiet and does not disturb Du Zhinian's interest in eating.

Shen Guiwan was too quiet, and Du Zhinian, who was sitting across from him, also noticed it, and couldn't help but began to reflect on his behavior.

He guessed that perhaps his words had poked at the memories that Shen Guiwan didn't want to touch, which made Shen Guiwan instantly depressed.

But thinking back on what he said just now, Du Zhinian couldn't find any problems.

Shen Guiwan was still chewing the lettuce quietly, Du Zhinian no longer provoked the topic casually, and ate slowly with him.

Shen Guiwan ate slowly, and Du Zhinian also waited. After more than half an hour of dawdling, the main course finally came.

The main course was Wagyu steak. Du Zhinian's was sprinkled with black pepper, but Shen Guiwan's was replaced with red wine sauce, and the onion was replaced with lightly roasted cherry tomatoes.

The milky aroma of the steak and the unique aroma of the red wine blend together and spread in the air.

Shen Guiwan smelled the tempting fragrance, looked at the cherry tomatoes on the plate, and suddenly called out softly: "Du Zhinian."

Du Zhinian put down his fork and looked up at him.

Shen Guiwan was silent for a while, and then said: "I can live outside for a while, but not for too long."

Shen Lu was only on a business trip for one month, so there were only about ten days left.

Du Zhinian raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Is your father out?"

Shen Guiwan glanced at him and didn't speak, but Du Zhinian got the answer from that look.

Du Zhinian raised the corners of his lips, looked past Shen Guiwan, and looked at the French windows in the distance.

The sun is shining brightly outside the window, and the glass curtain wall of the office building refracts the less dazzling light, casting irregular light spots on the marble floor tiles of the western restaurant.

"Go for a walk in the park in the afternoon and then go back. You seemed to have been watching it when you came last time." Du Zhinian said as he looked at the clouds slowly emerging from the back of the office building.

The fork in Shen Guiwan's hand dropped onto the plate, and there was a very light and shallow answer mixed with the crisp sound of the collision.

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