withered lover

Shen Guiwan didn't know that Du Zhinian had dragged him into the blacklist and then released him.

He slept from noon until three in the morning, and when he sat up in a daze, he touched the edge of the bed, and the cold touch made him sleepless.

Shen Guiwan turned on the light, the incandescent light dispelled the darkness and illuminated the whole room.

He looked at the quilts piled up on the bed in a mess, and only then remembered that he had already returned to Shen's house.

The cold wind blowing through the crack of the door blew past his ankles, and the biting cold pierced into the bones and climbed up along the bones.

This year's winter seems to be a bit colder than previous years, Shen Guiwan leaned against Du Zhinian's warm chest, and it always felt a bit uncomfortable to sleep alone again.

He stared at the mobile phone stuffed in the crevice of the mattress, patted his cheek with a cold hand, and dug out the blanket from the closet.

The blanket was very big, Shen Guiwan folded it in half and put it on the bed, covered the quilt on top, pulled the open corner of the blanket and slipped in.

The warm fluff completely enveloped Shen Guiwan, insulating the chill from the quilt and sheets.

Shen Guiwan's waist was still uncomfortable, he found a comfortable position, curled up in a ball with the blanket rolled up.

Shen Guiwan spent the whole day replenishing his sleep, and only started cleaning his room the next morning.

There wasn't much in his room, the sheets had been changed, and the only thing that needed to be cleaned was the desk.

The shelf of the desk is full of books, and Shen Guiwan wipes off the dust on them to complete the cleaning.

Looking at the empty room, he suddenly felt that there was nothing to do.

It was so cold that he seemed to have nothing else to do but curl up in bed and read.

After wandering around the room for a while, Shen Guiwan sat in front of the desk and picked up a book with yellowed corners on the shelf.

He looked at the lemon printed on the cover, and suddenly smelled a faint fragrance at the tip of his nose. There was a faint warmth in the fragrance, like the smell of lemons soaked in a cup of hot water.

Shen Guiwan thought of the lemon tea at Du Zhinian's house, and also thought of the medical professional book that he hadn't finished reading.

The lemon slices are soaked in hot water, the sour taste becomes strong, the air smells of lemon, and the cold winter becomes no longer boring.

Du Zhinian's professional books were obscure and difficult to understand, but the fresh knowledge made difficult reading interesting and filled Shen Guiwan's empty heart.

Shen Guiwan didn't know if he would have the chance to experience all this again, but he knew he couldn't fall into this.

He is Du Zhinian's lover, not any other more intimate relationship. When Du Zhinian gets tired of it, he will return to being imprisoned.

like now.

Shen Guiwan stood up, and put the book in his hand back on the top of the shelf.

Shen Guiwan nestled in the room for a week, except for necessary activities, he almost never stepped out of the door of the room.

He had forced himself to get used to it in the harshest of ways, yet his body and mind, after years of torment, were more resigned than he had imagined.

They got used to this living environment on the second day, and they had no resistance to cold and hunger, as if they had lived here from the beginning.

Shen Guiwan spent the rest of the day in a daze with such a body, and the day before Shen Lu was expected to return, he finally remembered the forgotten living room.

Shen Guiwan stood in the living room and reopened the window.

The living room hadn't been cleaned for a while, and even with the windows open to let in the wind, there was still a vaguely strange smell.

Shen Guiwan stood by the table, pressed his fingers on the solid wood tea table, and stroked lightly along the table, when he raised his hand again, his fingertips were covered with a thick layer of dust.

He walked into the kitchen, washed off the dust sticking to his fingertips, took out a rag and dampened it, and wiped the dusty furniture bit by bit.

Shen Lu is vain and flamboyant. There are many flashy things in the living room, which have not been cleaned for a long time, and the small grooves of the ornaments are already full of dust.

Shen Guiwan wiped it for a long time, washed the rag many times, and his hands were red and numb from the cold water before he managed to clean the living room.

He threw the rag into the sink. The rag was so dirty that the original color of it was soaked in the water, and the dirt adhering to the surface slowly fell down.

The water was stained a muddy gray, Shen Guiwan rubbed his frozen hands, washed the rag, squatted on the ground and wiped the tiles covered with thin ash one by one.

The living room was huge, and Shen Guiwan felt his legs numb after squatting for a while, but his knees were sore from the cold when he knelt on the tiles.

Shen Guiwan didn't know how many times he would fall on these tiles after Shen Lu came back, but now that he cleaned them up a bit, at least he wouldn't feel so uncomfortable when he fell down.

He squatted and wiped for a while, then changed to a kneeling position, and when his knees couldn't take it anymore, he got up and rested for a while.

After repeated countless times, Shen Guiwan finally finished mopping the floor.

He dragged his numb legs back to the room, sat down and opened his trouser legs, and found that the joints were red and swollen.

Shen Guiwan lightly touched the red and swollen place, a dull pain spread from the bone seam.

The knees were not too swollen, but recovery was slow in winter. Shen Guiwan took out the medicinal wine from the drawer, poured it into the palm of his hand and rubbed it twice before pressing his hot palm on the knee.

The warm medicinal wine was applied to the red and swollen area. Although the dull pain did not subside, at least it was not so uncomfortable.

Shen Guiwan put the medicinal wine back into the drawer, and the phone in his coat pocket suddenly vibrated.

The meaning of this vibration is self-evident, but Shen Guiwan didn't take out his phone in a hurry.

After putting away the medicinal wine, he went to wash his hands, wiped off the water drops, and then slowly took out his phone.

Shen Guiwan put his left hand in his pocket to keep warm, turned on the screen with his right hand, and saw two unread messages.

He didn't need to click to open it to know that it was from Du Zhinian, but before he could check it, Du Zhinian called again.

Du Zhinian's name was displayed on the screen, Shen Guiwan was in a daze for a few seconds, and when he regained consciousness he had already pressed the answer button with his fingers.

"Are you free this weekend?" Du Zhinian's deep voice came from the phone, "I haven't seen you for a long time, I miss you."

Listening to Du Zhinian's voice, Shen Guiwan tightly gathered his fingers in his pocket.

The hard object crushed the flesh, and there was a heart-rending pain in the palm.

The intense stimulation triggered the body's protection mechanism, Shen Guiwan let go of his hand, but he could still feel the lingering pain in his palm.

He touched the part of his palm that was crushed by a hard object, and muttered to himself, "No."

Du Zhinian didn't seem to hear what Shen Guiwan said, he was stunned for half a second before asking back, "What did you say?"

Shen Guiwan was silent for a while, then said slowly: "Du Zhinian, I'm not free."

"Don't want to see me?" Du Zhinian on the other end of the phone asked with a smile.

Shen Guiwan heard the sullenness in Du Zhinian's tone, and once again tightly clenched the hand holding the hard object.

"Shen Lu is back, I can't get out." He said stiffly, syllables popping out from his lips one by one.

Shen Lu never came back, but listening to Du Zhinian's voice, Shen Guiwan would always think of the scars on Lu Xing's back.

Those scars were vivid in his mind, Shen Guiwan was still unable to face Du Zhinian calmly.

Hearing his unnatural answer, Du Zhinian smiled and said, "Got it."

Du Zhinian hung up the phone, Shen Guiwan listened to the "beep" busy tone, and pulled his hand out of his pocket.

He spread his hands, and in the palm lay a small folded note.

It was Lu Xing hastily stuffed it into his sleeve that day, and Shen Guiwan kept it in the pocket of his coat without opening it.

He put down the phone that ended the call, and slowly unfolded the note.

The note has been stored for a long time, the creases are rough, the broken white fibers are rolled up, and the writing on it is also a little blurred.

Shen Guiwan looked at it for a long time, and vaguely recognized an English name and a phone number that did not belong to this country from the scribbled handwriting.

He wrote the number down in his notebook, refolded the note, and stuffed it back into his pocket.

The next chapter starts with V.

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