【Summer Five】Iron City Wall

East [-]th Street is surrounded by stinky gutters, and the light blue plastic canopy covers the eaves, and the accumulated water drips down, knocking on the low threshold, making a damp and sticky sound.

The obese woman slammed the door out with her hair coiled up, her clothes pinned loosely around her waist, and her face was smeared with a thick layer of powder.She is about 40 years old, but her skin and flesh are sagging, and her hair is half-black with dye, covering the white hair mixed with withered grass.

"Damn girl, come out and open the door! Someone is looking for you!" She knocked on the door with a broom, and the hard wood hit the doorknob. With the heavy force, the house trembled, and the sound was so loud that it trembled. Out three blocks.

Behind the door came the movement of a woman in a hurry, as if she had just gotten up from the ground and was struggling to walk towards the door.This hut is in front of the sewer, with an indoor area of ​​[-] to [-] square meters, and a few pots of green plants are ingeniously planted outside the door.The ivy vines hang down from the roof and hang down to the door, which looks like a rather emotional curtain from a distance.

It's a pity that all the women on East [-]th Street are inseparable from the wine and meat business without exception. This long and narrow street has also become a "filthy place" in the eyes of many adults, and it is often used to threaten children to study hard.

Diana opened the door slowly and peeked out through the crack.In an instant, most of the blood on her face faded, and she subconsciously stretched out her hands to protect her shoulders and neck, trying to cover the bruises on her collarbone and jaw.

She immediately found that she was still wearing a suspender skirt that was comparable to a ball of pickles. There were many stains on the pure white skirt, and a shoulder strap slid pitifully onto her forearm, revealing most of her breasts.

"I'm sorry..." Diana apologized almost murmuringly, and she didn't know who she was saying, "I'm sorry."

Standing outside the door were two black-clothed teenagers, one with black hair and the other with silver hair, both of them were first-class and good-looking.Diana recognized them at a glance—Johnny's friends who had worked as a helper at the Big Hollow Theatre.No one can forget these two faces, especially the one with sunglasses.

Xu Shi reunited with an old friend, she bowed her head deeply, her shoulders and neck dragged out stiff and rugged curves, like a swan dying.

"Come in," said Diana softly, and opened the door.

Under the gaze of the woman, the two followed Diana into the room and sat down at the messy dining table.

"can I help you?"

The exceptionally tall one—Gojo Satoru—clicked on the table and replied, "Someone entrusted us to deliver something to you." As he spoke, Xia You pushed the large paper bag and a letter in front of Diana , indicating to her to inspect the goods.

Diana looked at them with surprise on her face, her fingertips stroked the envelope, and her plump lips trembled slightly.After seeing the signature clearly, she paused suddenly, then closed her eyes for a long time, shaking all over her body.

Xia You didn't speak.He seemed to have anticipated the situation, and only exchanged a look with Gojo, quietly waiting for Diana to recover.

In this dark and cramped hut, the girl wept silently, tears falling down like broken pearls, and wet the yellow-brown letter paper.Her long golden hair was broken at the ears, and the ends of her hair were forked and messy. There was still a strong redness around her eyes, as if her makeup had not been removed, and she seemed to have been crying all night.

Before reaching East [-]th Street, Xia You felt a little suspicious.Carlo didn't know Diana's specific address in the fifth district, but he and Wujo quickly realized that the recipient was undoubtedly the head of the dance troupe they had seen in the Big Hollow Theater.

According to the result of questioning Andre, the director, who was supposed to be well paid, resigned from his job a month ago, left the dance troupe, and moved into a cheap rental house on East [-]th Street alone.If it is not a personal choice, it could only be a family accident that prompted Diana to make a decision, but it is not their duty to investigate the details of the recipient, so Xia You did not delve into it too much.

He just knew too well what East Fourteenth Street meant in the fifth district, so he felt sorry for the customers who were far away in the second district.

At this moment, Diana took out the letter with difficulty, and read down word by word. The more she read, the more she cried, her fingers pinched the letter paper vigorously, leaving anxious wrinkles on the corners.

But she didn't cry aloud after all, her shoulders trembled like they were about to fall apart at any time.After calming down a little, the girl put the letter on the table and opened the paper bag.

The fiery red dance skirt fell into the hand, the tulle was dotted with star sand, and the waist was wrapped with a circle of petals carved from gold silk.The style was further modified on Kahlo's original design, and the hem was moved with a big knife, making this plain skirt with distinct layers and a great sense of design, which can almost be worn into a magnificent area without being ridiculed.

Diana was holding the dance skirt, almost dry tears streaming down her cheeks.She held the skirt into her arms pitifully, with heartache, happiness and cautious exhaustion on her face.

"Carol..." She softly called the young man's name, her tone was soft and gentle, as intoxicating as a yellow oriole's cry at night.

That tone is clearly for the one you love, so delicate and lingering, it seems that you can absorb endless power just by feeling the breath of that name brushing your lips and teeth.

The morning light was dim, and Xia You finally broke the silence: "Miss, do you need to inspect the goods?"

Diana forced herself to laugh, and shook her head: "I'm afraid I can't accept it, the dance troupe is a thing of the past, thinking about it will only increase the pain." She subconsciously touched the mottled marks on her body and repaired them neatly Qi's nails were dry and cracked, and she was so haggard that she could no longer dance.

But the girl's fingers on the skirt slightly curled up, as if instinctively unwilling to let go of the anger that once belonged to her.

"No matter what situation you are in, our work must be completed." Xia You tried to keep his voice as soft as possible, "You have to sign for it and write a reply letter to Mr. Carlo before we can complete the business."

After all, Diana didn't want to hurt others.She stared blankly at the letter, as if she could sense the writer's deep thoughts from Junyi's handwriting.

"I understand." She trembled, "how is he...Carol?"

Xia You then recalled that the researcher was worried about the defense mechanism of the dance skirt for the fifth time, and was not satisfied no matter how he looked at it.Seeing that he was so annoyed at that time, Wujo simply closed the doors and windows, asked Carlo to arrange the dance skirt on the chair, and then ordered Xia You to "move" this stupid young man aside, and hide himself behind the sofa Install a silencer into the barrel.

No one reacted, he pulled the trigger and fired six shots, completely emptying the revolver's magazine, and scattered bullet holes all over the place.

Xia You helplessly spread out the dance skirt to show Carlo. The frightened customer saw that there was not even a single scratch on the fabric, so he nodded quickly, otherwise the silver-haired boy who was still twisting the muffler might be able to trust it. Cut off your own head too.

He couldn't help laughing, and replied: "It's very good, I'm busy tinkering with things in the laboratory all day, so don't worry, miss."

Diana nodded her head and repeated the word "good", her chest heaved violently, as if she was holding back the next wave of tears from bursting out of her eyes.

She finally accepted the dance skirt, took out a pen and paper and began to write a reply.

"You two must be very curious." During the pause of writing, Diana smiled wryly and took a sip of her cold tea, leaving a puddle of ink on the tablecloth with the pen. "Carol and I met at the ball in the second district - I was the chief dancer of that dance drama. He came to the backstage to find me after the curtain call and said he fell in love with me at first sight."

The setting sun cast its afterglow slantingly, and Diana's whole body was immersed in that orange light source, but she was far from the shining dancing girl in the past.Wutiao was usually the most impatient to listen to other people's stories, and almost fell asleep with his head tilted. Xia You had to support his weight with half of his shoulders, and listened to the girl's venting narration with a faint smile.

"It's a very common love story. We fell in love with each other after being together for a short time. Carlo always said that he didn't care about the difference in our immediate value. It doesn't matter if you can communicate by letter, or you can only meet when you are on vacation or when the dance troupe is on tour."

Diana was about to bite her lower lip to bleed: "I know it in my heart—it's impossible. As long as he treats me sincerely for a day, the resistance of ridicule and ridicule will never disappear. Across multiple classes, I and him It's just the cloud and mud passing by, even if I risk my life and self-esteem, I can't reach Carlo."

"Miss, what difficulties did you encounter?" Xia You asked.

Diana nodded hurriedly, lowering her eyes and not daring to meet his gaze. "My father... had an accident on the construction site, and my mother's mental state has not been very good. The family can only wait for me to take care of it. Originally, the salary of the dance troupe was quite sufficient, but I only found out that my father owed a lot of debts outside. It can be paid off in a year."

"So you quit your job and moved to Fourteenth Street?"

Just as Diana was about to answer, the door was suddenly knocked, and the door frame almost came loose.

"Bitch, open the door!" The man's rough voice resounded heavily, causing Diana to tremble all over, and almost dropped the pen.She immediately jumped up and pulled a shawl from the shelf, hurriedly wrapped it around her scarred shoulders, and said to Xia You in a panic: "Please leave first, and come back tomorrow to pick up the letter."

The yelling and cursing of the man outside the door became more and more vulgar, and Wu Tiao woke up with a frown, and was firmly grabbed by Xia You.

"Do you need help?" Xia You looked at Diana without contempt.

She smiled gratefully, put away her dance skirt and letters, and shook her head amidst the deafening shouts and knocks on the door: "No, thank you both for running for us."

The door opened, and Diana pushed the two of them out, passing the burly man.She smiled flatteringly, and the strong man slammed the door hard, and blurted out a few obscenities that went straight to his forehead.

Xia You and Wutiao stood outside the swaying door, hearing heavy objects being dragged inside and a woman begging for mercy in panic.

"Yo, are you fighting with your mistress again?"

The woman sat on the curb with her legs wide open and a pipe dangling from her mouth.

She turned her head to see Xia You, waved her hands, and the smoke covered half of her blue-faced and fangs face: "I have no money to pay off my debts, and I was brought here by that lunatic old lady. Picking up customers is the most profitable business - you can make money while lying down." , isn’t it? That face, that figure, tsk tsk tsk, it’s really reckless.”

A few bicycles passed by from time to time on the road, the sky sank a little bit, and the wind began to cool down.

Xia You didn't speak.He didn't even know if he was angry or not.

There was a cold touch from his right hand, and five fingers that were tightly held by him were separated, intertwined with his own fingers one by one, until the fingers intertwined.

In the tight temperature, he heard Wujo sigh, as if he was considering his words.

"It's just a personal choice, you have no right to criticize." Wujo said, "Who knows what she thinks? She was the one who broke the oath first, and she was the one who withdrew. A relationship with too much class gap cannot last long. It depends on how to write this reply."

Their palms touched, Xia You could only feel a heavy coldness in his heart.

He swallowed back the "what about us" that he was about to say, fastened the five straps silently, and walked home against the evening wind.