Glass Butterfly

The woman's eyes penetrated the black gauze woven with pearls, and Ruan Youqing was sure that she was looking at herself.They stared at each other silently for a long time, until the pastor finished reading the long poem and life, and ended the first half of the memorial.

The woman turned back, stood up with the others, held the tall man beside her and said something quietly, the man turned his head slightly and glanced at Ruan Youqing, his gaze was much colder than the woman's.

Tang Tu also saw it, and told him in a low voice, "It's my parents."

Ruan Youqing guessed it.

It was only after four o'clock, and the orange color of the setting sun was revealed by the gray clouds in the sky. Tang Tu asked him to wait alone in the church. Only relatives were allowed to enter the burial part of the cemetery.Ruan Youqing watched as five or six men, women and children in black followed the coffin into the drizzle. Tang Tu walked quickly to his parents and said something.

About half an hour later, they returned to the church. Except for the red eyes, the group still had a calm look on their faces, which seemed not to be grief.Including the mourners who are still waiting around, the atmosphere is not very heavy.They lined up to shake hands and hug the relatives of the deceased, and left after talking briefly.Standing in the center of the church, Ruan Youqing saw a long strip of orange-yellow glass inlaid longitudinally on the wall behind the cross. No matter day or night, rain or shine, as long as there was light coming in, the glass would filter out a sacred and solemn atmosphere.

"Young Qing." Tang Tu called him from behind, he turned his head and found that everyone had left, only the three of them were left waiting at the door.He walked over quickly and bowed to say hello: "Mr. Tang, Mr. Wu, hello. I'm Ruan Youqing."

Tang Chenxuan nodded and stretched out his hand to him, not too condescending, and his smile was a little less gentle than Tang Tu's before: "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The other party seemed to be waiting for him to say something, but Ruan Youqing had no idea what to talk about when meeting an elder other than a teacher for the first time.On the other hand, the beautiful woman, who was holding her husband's arm, smiled brightly, and asked lightly as if she was out of trouble: "I heard from Xiaotu that you make sculptures?"

……

If Tang Tu hadn't staged a scene in front of his eyes, the smile gradually disappeared, Ruan Youqing almost thought that he had heard wrong, what is Xiaotu?

"Go back and talk, don't stand here." Ruan Youqing's voice sounded hopeless, as if he was more tired than when he just got off the plane yesterday.

When they came to the hotel, Tang Tu explained the dinner arrangements with his parents, and opened a room to go upstairs with Ruan Youqing.

"You ask..." He opened the suitcase, took out the beautifully wrapped gift box and put it aside, without even looking at Ruan Youqing.

"...Xiaotu...is that the little rabbit I thought..." Ruan Youqing was really shocked.

"Yes. My mother didn't know how to coax children when she was young. I always cried, and she yelled on a whim... At that time, she told me to agree to everything... She got used to it later, but after I went to school, she just Occasionally shout like this." Tang Tu clicked his tongue, "It was probably because you were young and worried that you would be nervous. After all, I told them that you are my boyfriend, so I probably thought you knew."

"Little Rabbit." He chewed on this nickname, which was far from Tang Tu's now, and insisted on something to do with it, probably because his eyes were prone to redness, whether it was sleepy, tired or angry.

"Let's go." Mr. Xiaotu obviously didn't want to talk about it, and mentioned the gift to urge him to go downstairs.

Not long after they were seated, Tang Tu's parents appeared. During the dinner, Tang Chenxuan only chatted with his son whom he hadn't seen for a long time.After hearing Tubai's situation, he frowned slightly, and his casual comments were also from a bird's-eye view.In the end, it even became more gunpowder: "The market is still not perfect, and it has not made much progress after so many years, and it is still in the trial and error stage. Not many galleries are serious about cultivating artists, and they are all making quick money. Those who are talented Do you feel comfortable going back and making a fuss like this? What have you achieved?”

Tang Tu didn't get annoyed or rebuttal, took a sip of after-dinner black tea from the exquisite English-style porcelain cup, and explained with a half-smile: "No trouble."

"Don't say this at the dinner table." Wu Feifei changed out of the black dress she wore for the funeral. The burgundy dress showed her extremely thin shoulders and collarbone, but it had a somewhat representative oriental charm: "How old are you young?" gone?"

"25 is old."

"It doesn't look like it, it looks like 21 two." Wu Feifei propped her chin, her face was calm, but there was a bit of coquettish look in the corner of her eyes, "He said he was going to bring his boyfriend back, and he thought he would be older. Who knew you would eat tender grass, and I was shocked when I saw you this afternoon." She turned to her son and asked, "Don't you respect artists, why did you eat the ones by the side of the nest?"

Tang Tu had no choice but to smile at his mother and suffered a lot, but he didn't have the same way as outsiders.

"There are not many people engaged in glass art in China. I heard that there was an exhibition not long ago?" Every time Tang Chenxuan opened his mouth, he lost the feeling of relaxation in the family room. The dining table became a meeting room, so Ruan Youqing had to take out his mobile phone and open the album of his works. In the past, the other party didn't answer, and looked at his hand with a gesture, nodding from time to time.Ruan Youqing watched him turn the page, and then turned to the part of the solo exhibition, Tang Chenxuan was willing to reach out to take the phone, and even squinted his eyes to operate and zoom in to see the details.

"Go back to London in two days. If you are interested, you can visit my gallery. It just so happens that I haven't signed any glass artists. Talent shouldn't be buried. This place is better than domestic..."

"Cough, Dad..." Tang Tu put the metal stirring spoon on the teacup tray with a ding, and cleared her throat, "It's agreed that business affairs will not be discussed at the dinner table. And... at least the people who dig me should not be in front of me."

"Okay." Tang Chenxuan glanced at Ruan Youqing, and was not polite to his son, "Then go to my gallery another day to discuss in detail."

They did not go back to London together, so Tang Chenxuan and his wife naturally flew back.

Tang Tu didn't reveal to his parents the real reason why they didn't take the plane, but only said that he wanted Ruan Youqing to try the famous afternoon tea on the train.

The winter rain in the UK is exceptionally plentiful, and the sun has not been seen for two consecutive days. There are water marks lying on the car windows, distorting the scenery outside the window.Ruan Youqing and Tang Tu sat face to face in the clean and spacious first-class seat and ate sweet dim sum with sweet black tea.

"Your scone is better than this one." He took two bites and put it down.

Tang Tu was drinking tea at first, so he put down the cup, picked up a pound cake he bit into and tasted it: "Well, it's not as good as his craft."

Seeing that Ruan Youqing was confused, he explained again, "Our housekeeper."

"Did anything happen to you?" The atmosphere among Tang Tu's family was really unusual, polite and alienated.

"No, he replaced the old housekeeper when I was in high school. We only got along for three years, and he didn't talk much. I lived on campus most of the time, so we didn't have much interaction. Later, I went abroad when I was in college, and we only saw each other during the holidays. get."

"Why don't you like him? And he seems to be used to it..."

"I didn't know about his relationship with my mother until I was in college." Tang Tu looked at the dark brown liquid in the cup, and there was no real warmth in his eyes. Teenagers treated her that way. And, my dad knew it too. Although my mom told me that there was no real crossing between them, I always felt a spark between them...especially in After I also realized what love is. They look as if nothing happened. My mother tends to forget the time when she paints. Hot tea or milk, watching her from behind her. Occasionally they look at each other, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with relief. How logical it would be if it was my father who did all this, but unfortunately not, it was our housekeeper This sense of betrayal actually made my mother even more willing, eating up betrayal and contradictions as inspiration. But my father also understood and accepted it. He said that an artist has to sacrifice something to feed talent."

Tang Tu spoke very calmly, even a little intoxicated: "If I hadn't been in the incident, I think I would have enjoyed this story, this platonic love, watching without desire, very touching." He looked up at Ruan Youqing , "Why don't you talk? What do you use to feed your talent, artist?" Tang Tu poked his forehead with considerable strength.

"It doesn't make sense for me to vent my anger." Ruan Youqing didn't hide, and let him poke a red mark on her forehead, and then rubbed it distressedly.

When they arrived at their home in London in the evening, Tang Tu went to the study to meet his father. Ruan Youqing unbuttoned his shirt collar and sat alone in front of Tang Tu's window looking through the old booklet he put on the piano. It was his sketch practice in his youth.Lighting, shadows, and proportions are controlled quite precisely.Looking at the date, it was probably when Tang Tu was 13 or 4 years old.

Tang Tu opened the door and came in, seeing that he was still wearing a suit: "Why don't you take a shower and change?"

"Waiting for you. You were better at drawing than me at that time." Ruan Youqing shook the notebook in her hand, looked up and saw the small oil painting on the shelf, it was Tang Tu's 16 or 7-year-old work, it was remarkable.

"The painting is exquisite, the strokes are in place, and the basic skills are solid." Tang Tu laughed at himself, "That's because I started to hold a paintbrush when I was 3 or 4 years old. It is futile to work hard without talent. I started to touch oil painting when I was a teenager, and it didn’t take long for my father to be completely disappointed.”

"Do you regret it?" Ruan Youqing didn't have a father, so she couldn't empathize with the pressure of expecting her son to become a dragon.

"A little bit. I envy people like you who are full of imagination and creativity." Tang Tu is very calm, "When I was a child, I felt distressed when my parents were disappointed, so I simply fled London and went to other countries to go to university. The more people you can see, the slower you will be." Slowly let it go, after all, people are different. Although I can't be an artist, I can discover them, help them, and achieve them. By the way, I can use them to make money."

"That's it?" Ruan Youqing repeated: "Discover him, help him, achieve him, use him."

"...It's okay..." Tang Tu grabbed the sketchbook in his hand and threw it aside, then dragged his half-loose tie and walked backwards to the bathroom.

It was agreed to go to bed early after washing, but the two of them tossed in the bathroom for more than 2 hours.When turning off the lights, Ruan Youqing regretted that she had been too obedient, and said that she would go to the Victoria and Albert Museum tomorrow, and she didn't know how long Tang Tu would stay in bed after all this trouble.

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Eat the grass beside the nest, it is very tender.