Glass Butterfly

Due to the time difference, before coming to New York, they had two video contact with Jiang Jilan, and the rest of the time they mainly communicated by email.

For the first time, Tang Tu and Jiang Jilan discussed the details of Fengwushi's move based on the venue.

The video conference lasted for two hours. At first, Ruan Youqing's brain was tense, and the conversation with Jiang Jilan was also a little reserved.

"Is Youqing uncomfortable?" The person in the screen suddenly paused.

Tang Tu was staring at the document and inputting the English exhibition name that had just been finalized. Hearing this, he turned his head and glanced at Ruan Youqing, who was sitting behind him, and hurriedly dragged him and the chair to his side: "What's wrong?"

Under Ruan Youqing's close observation, the other party's eyes were clear and shallow, and the way of shaking hands under the table was to interlock his fingers, and the pulp of his thumb gently rubbed his knuckles.

At this moment, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that all the unhappiness in Tang Tu's heart had been completely overturned: "No, English is not good, a little... I can't understand."

"Then you go to take a shower and sleep first." Tang Tu squeezed his fingers hard before releasing, "We still need a little time."

He pondered for a while, nodded, and said briskly to Jiang Jilan on the screen: "Brother, good night."

The second time was just last week, at the end of the exhibition, when the works arrived, at midnight, Jiang Jilan sent a video request to Tang Tu at the appointed time, asking him to simply check and accept the results.

Originally Ruan Youqing planned to say hello and go to sleep, but Qin Xiaoran suddenly appeared on the screen and took the phone: "I'll take it for you, just turn around. Go sit and rest for a while."

As soon as this child appeared, Ruan Youqing's heart rang alarm bells. In his eyes, this was a self-centered rich second generation. He was worried that this person would speak rudely to Tang Tu again, so he could only force himself to sit and stare at the camera. .

But this time he was obviously overthinking, the rich second generation held his mobile phone and acted as a tool man incompetently, letting them take a closer look at the scene through the screen.From time to time, the working staff greeted him, as if they were very familiar, which showed that he was often helping in the exhibition hall.

It was Tang Tu who reacted first and said thank you for your hard work.

Qin Xiaoran glanced at the camera, nodded, and returned the phone to Jiang Jilan.

The winter in New York is colder than expected. After eight months of meeting again, Jiang Jilan and the driver picked them up alone, with a little rosy face, looking better than last time: "My downstairs house has been cleaned, and the scenery is beautiful. Well, it’s safe, the transportation is convenient, and it’s easy for us to meet, anyway, it’s empty anyway.”

Ruan Youqing habitually held Tang Tu's hand along the way, and her ears still felt uncomfortable after getting off the plane, so she leaned directly on Tang Tu's shoulder and closed her eyes to catch up on sleep.He took off his hearing aid, the conversation became murky, and he fell asleep soon after smelling the reassuring smell.

"Hey... Ruan Youqing... Wake up." He was always whispered in a soft voice, but the suddenly hard tone woke him up instantly.

In front of him was Qin Xiaoran's face, with his mouth pursed and his head lowered, deliberately avoiding his sight.

Standing up and looking back, Tang Tu was standing by the trunk unpacking his luggage.

"Long time no see." Ruan Youqing greeted the other party out of politeness.

"Also, it hasn't been long..." The other party's tone was a little awkward.

Jiang Jilan stood at the rear of the car, and while arranging for the driver to help Tang Tu carry the luggage, she said to Qin Xiaoran, "Xiaoran, take the suitcase up, it's very hard for them to fly for more than ten hours."

"They are in the business class, so they came all the way lying down and sleeping." Qin Xiaoran said reluctantly, but still snatched the suitcase trolley from Ruan Youqing and Tang Tu.

"Myself..." Tang Tu was interrupted before he finished speaking.

"Let me do it, save me from neglecting the young teacher, and someone will take advantage of it and think I'm wrong." After speaking, he turned around and left, dragging the box.

"You!" Jiang Jilan smiled at them awkwardly, "Don't pay attention to him. I don't know what's going on."

There's nothing I don't know about this.Ruan Youqing was amused, but she didn't speak.He finally knew who the "mind" person Tang Tu had mentioned earlier was. It seemed that the two of them hadn't made any real progress.

The four of them still ate dinner at Jiang Jilan's house. In the first half of the journey, Jiang Jilan and Tang Tu discussed the details of the art exhibition while eating. Ruan Youqing and Qin Xiaoran listened and ate quietly.

"Youqing, let's get some fruit to eat later, do you want wine and cheese?" Jiang Jilan had a small appetite, and for most of the time he only talked without moving his chopsticks. After eating, he looked at his phone and got up to go to the kitchen. Don't need to get up early, if Tang Tu doesn't like porridge, I'll ask the chef to deliver two crab leg meat sandwiches!" He shook his phone, "Australian snow crabs just arrived by air."

"It's fine." Qin Xiaoran, who hadn't said much all night, finally frowned, got up and pushed him back on the seat, "Don't worry so much. People may not need you."

"Xiaoran! What's the matter with you..." Jiang Jilan was taken aback for a moment, then her face turned cold, seeing that the originally harmonious atmosphere suddenly deteriorated.

"He's jealous of me." Ruan Youqing answered simply.He really didn't understand Qin Xiaoran's awkwardness, like a big dog occupying a territory, vigilant and full of sense of loss.

He is obviously a big man, so why be so dishonest.

"...cough, cough, cough." Tang Tu seemed to have choked on his tea, and hurriedly turned his head to cover his mouth with a tablecloth, and coughed in a muffled voice.

Immediately afterwards, a strange blankness unfolded in the restaurant.

Jiang Jilan picked up the white porcelain spoon and lowered her head to play with it. Qin Xiaoran sat beside her, her face turning red and white.

Tang Tu finally stopped coughing, silently winked at Ruan Youqing, and got up to say goodbye: "Let's go to the exhibition venue tomorrow afternoon to continue discussing the remaining issues. Youqing and I will go back to rest first."

"Huh? Ah...well, okay, then we'll see you tomorrow..." Jiang Jilan came to her senses, got up and sent them to the door.Qin Xiaoran also bounced up from his seat reflexively, lowered his head and began to pack up the empty tableware.

Ruan Youqing felt that Qin Xiaoran's utter devotion to Jiang Jilan was clearly no secret, even someone as slow as him could see clearly that Jiang Jilan treated him special, everyone was no outsider, so what is there to deceive himself?

"Brother, don't see us off. It's just downstairs." After changing her shoes, Ruan Youqing was really worried about Qin Xiaoran, so she deliberately raised her voice and said, "Speak well and don't quarrel. Even if you quarrel, don't run around."

As soon as the voice fell, there was a crackling sound from the kitchen.

In the elevator, Tang Tu couldn't help asking, "Did you do it on purpose just now?"

"Yeah." Ruan Youqing nodded, "I'll stay for more than half a month. If this kid keeps doing this, everyone will feel uncomfortable. Is it true that my brother and I will not contact him for the rest of our lives? He should learn to be more mature."

Tang Tu burst out laughing: "Yes, Brother Youqing is right."

Tsk... a word called "brother" made him distracted.

They made an appointment to meet at Jiang Jilan's house during lunch the next day, and then went to the art museum to check the exhibition hall that had been set up.

In the end, Qin Xiaoran was the only one sitting in the living room waiting for them.

"Wait a minute and I'll drive you there." Qin Xiaoran startled Ruan Youqing when he opened his mouth today.Listening to this normal to somewhat gentle tone, it is completely different from yesterday's bitterness.

Ruan Youqing was stunned for a long time before remembering to ask: "Where's brother?"

"He's still sleeping." Qin Xiaoran stared at the bowl in his hand, staring at the fine-grained rice like a gold digger focused on the river, "He's not feeling well, so I won't let him torment."

Ruan Youqing was startled, and asked subconsciously: "Is it important? Are you going to the hospital? Yesterday I saw that he looked fine... What's going on..."

There was a trace of panic in Qin Xiaoran's eyes, which made Ruan Youqing even more horrified: "It's serious? I'll go and see him." After he was told to put down his chopsticks, Tang Tu who was beside him held him down and comforted him, "Don't worry. Xiao However, if you have a sense of proportion, it will not be serious if you don’t go to the hospital.”

"Ah, that's right...it's not too serious, just get some more sleep..." Qin Xiaoran replied hesitantly, and didn't even respond to Tang Tu's slightly intimate title.

Ruan Youqing looked suspiciously at the calm Tang Tu, who shook his head slightly at him, mouthed "It's okay", and compared himself to the back of his neck quietly.

Ruan Youqing looked up at Qin Xiaoran, who was in a daze, and suddenly found a few unusual light red marks on the back of his neck, which looked like scratches left by cats. Brand new wounds floated on the surface of the skin, which made people immediately associate to certain ambiguous moments.He glanced at Qin Xiaoran in shock, and hurriedly lowered his head to eat, hoping to get rid of these embarrassing traces from his mind as soon as possible.

The three exhibition halls have been completed, and the works that bought high insurance have traveled across the ocean and have been placed properly. Only the interactive installation room and a few people are left repeating the simple hanging work.As soon as Tang Tu and the person in charge of the scene met, they began to discuss the lighting issue. Ruan Youqing walked through the exhibition hall alone. The layout was basically the same as that of Tu Bai, but there was an additional exhibition hall for the entire set of "Escape from the Twilight Layer" that Jiang Jilan had already collected.The jellyfish, whom I haven't seen for a long time, are suspended in the quiet deep sea, kind and lovely.

He stood in front of the operable electronic screen and swipe the page, there is his artist profile, the title is "listening to the silence", listening to the silence.The story begins with Ciqing more than 20 years ago, with the timeline of place names as the key word, and the graduation exhibition, Otaru and Kanazawa awards, as well as solo exhibitions and auctions as the dividing points, and thousands of words are eloquently written.Like a bystander, he read the full text against the English dictionary.

"This was written by Tang Tu and Brother Jilan together." Qin Xiaoran's voice suddenly appeared in his ears, startling Ruan Youqing.

"Well, I've seen the Chinese version. It's a little different. The English version is more... well, exaggerated." To be honest, he was still a little embarrassed when he saw words like "genius".

The Amakusa jellyfish exhibition hall is very dark, and they can't see each other's expressions clearly.He instinctively felt that Qin Xiaoran chose this time to show up because he had something to say, so he put the phone back in his pocket, raised his head and looked into the other person's eyes.

"Ruan Youqing. I'm sorry about what happened last time." After he finished speaking, he turned his head aside and took another deep breath, "I mean, I'm sorry."

"Well. It's okay." After so long, Ruan Youqing didn't care about it long ago: "So, did you confess your love to brother last night?" He asked casually.

"Cough cough cough...cough cough..." Hearing the words from last night, Qin Xiaoran had a choked expression, and was actually coughing due to choking on her own saliva.

"What's the matter? Have you caught a cold?" Jiang Jilan suddenly appeared at the entrance of the exhibition hall, wearing an overly fluffy down jacket, before taking off the scarf, she asked as she pulled the fabric around her mouth with her fingers.

"...Ahem, why are you here!" Qin Xiaoran went up to meet him first, and reached out to touch the man's forehead: "How did you come here?"

"The driver brought me here."

Ruan Youqing took a few steps back silently, then turned to go to the deepest installation room to check the progress, Tang Tu glanced at him distractedly: "How is it?"

"It's similar to the feeling in China." He dragged the transparent chair and sat in the corner to watch everyone busy. Tang Tu quickly communicated with the person in charge, "It's almost time to go. Your brother is not here, I think Qin Xiaoran is also absent-minded, Let him go back now."

"He's here, he's outside." Ruan Youqing dragged Tang Tu towards the door, and saw two figures stacked on the wall next to the jellyfish from a distance, the taller one was leaning over the wall, and the shadow outlined a standard The wall-dong posture. .

He hurriedly stopped in his tracks, turned his face away before he could see the picture clearly, and do not look at evil.

"That's..." Tang Tu lowered his voice and smiled, "You can't hold your breath after all." After speaking, he broke the doorknob next to his hand and made some noises, reminding those who had lost their minds outside.

When they went out, Jiang Jilan had been arranging the scarves, but she still couldn't hide the weird flush on the tips of her ears.

The name of Fengwushi in New York has been translated into Seasons. It can be seen that Jiang Jilan has made complete preparations in advance, and all the important practitioners and media present were present.In the second week, Ruan Youqing even saw his name and photos of the exhibits in New York newspapers. In the article, he praised the young and mysterious artist for bringing soft and ever-changing light, shadow and color similar to Monet, but without losing the subtlety of the orient beauty.

The exhibition, which lasted from mid-December to New Year's Eve, attracted more than [-] people. Although the art market in New York was already thriving, it was of great significance to a fledgling artist like Ruan Youqing.

On New Year's Eve, the two of them went back to the Japanese restaurant that they regretted missing last time to have a full meal, and then stood in Times Square to celebrate the last moment of the year with the exaggerated crowd.

Crowded among the unfamiliar faces, Ruan Youqing spotted the frowning and nervous Qin Xiaoran not far away. Like a Doberman pinscher on a mission, he put Jiang Jilan in his large down jacket to protect him.

He turned his head and glanced at Tang Tu, who was also peeking happily.

"Do you want it?" He couldn't help but unzip his down jacket and asked Tang Tu.

"Don't make trouble." Tang Tu glanced at the ubiquitous large electronic screens in the building complex, pulled the zipper back for him, approached him in harmony with the countdown sound, and gave him the first long kiss of the new year .

"Happy New Year."

Whispering interspersed between kisses, Tang Tu took off his hearing aid and kissed his ear.

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After Youqing Tang Tu left that night, what happened to Jiang Jilan and the others will be put into the episode, and the main text will not take up much of the scene~