Dead but not stiff

A black Bentley Mulsanne broke through the night and drove at a constant speed on a cement road leading to a villa in the middle of the mountain not far away. The wrought iron gate at the end of the road opened slowly in response to the sound, and the car drove in steadily and stopped in an open space. .A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes got out of the car, and the butler who was waiting in front of the steps of the main house trotted over all the way, and took a large bouquet of fresh champagne roses from the man.

"It's for Madam." The middle-aged man confessed, and then casually asked the housekeeper, "Is Jingzhi coming back tonight?"

The housekeeper followed the man towards the main house, and answered him with a smile: "The young master has been home for dinner these days."

"It's sensible." The man happily praised, lifted his foot and walked up the steps, the housekeeper stretched out his hand and opened the door for him, Jiang Jie, who was sitting on the sofa in front of the huge French window not far away, looked up, smiled lightly, softly Said: "Come back."

Huang Huaisheng entered the room and handed the coat to the servant beside him. He couldn't wait to walk over, put his arms around Jiang Jie's shoulder and kissed her on the forehead, took the flowers from the housekeeper, and said happily: "Come back When I passed by a flower shop, I saw that the flower looked beautiful, and I thought you would like it, how about it? Do you like it?"

Jiang Jie happily took it, but said angrily: "I like it, but you and I are both at this age, so this kind of romantic thing should be left to young people."

Huang Huaisheng looked at Jiang Jie affectionately, and said softly, "No matter how old you are, you will always be a little girl in my heart."

The housekeeper at the side interjected at the right time: "Madam is naturally beautiful, and I have not dared to tamper with your appearance. Of course, there is also Young Master Jing, who has inherited your beauty from Madam, and the little girls outside are madly infatuated with it."

Jiang Jie pursed her lips and smiled lightly, and handed the flowers to the butler again: "Go find a vase and put it in."

The housekeeper took the flowers and retreated. Huang Huaisheng sat down with Jiang Jie. Jiang Jie poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. She watched him drink tea with her head down. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I'm going to visit next month. City C."

Huang Huaisheng put down his teacup and nodded, "I know, I will accompany you when the time comes."

Jiang Jie suddenly sighed softly, and under Huang Huaisheng's questioning eyes, she said with a heavy heart: "Huaisheng, I want to take Xiaoen over, come to City B, or a place within my reach, and stay there forever." I can't feel at ease when I leave him outside like this."

Huang Huaisheng was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled comfortably, "I take it as something, you can take it if you want. But my suggestion is that you can ask him what he thinks first, and see if he is willing to come over."

Jiang Jie didn't say a word, got up and walked to the French windows, stared at the green plants in the yard covered by the lights of the house for a while, and then said slowly: "I owe him too much. To him, I am a very Incompetent mother."

Huang Huaisheng walked over, put his arms around her shoulders, squeezed her shoulders, and said in relief: "You couldn't do anything back then, but no matter what, you are also his mother. It's still the one who gave him life and brought him into this world, I don't think he really blames you."

Jiang Jie turned her head to look at Huang Huaisheng, with a trace of confusion and eagerness in her eyes: "If he really doesn't want to come, what should we do? I don't want to let him stay alone in City C anymore. He has been here for so many years." Living outside my world, I don’t know anything about him. You know, he is not like Jingzhi after all, he grew up beside you and me, and we educate and guide him. Xiao En is different, I am afraid of him... ..."

Jiang Jie suddenly stopped when she said this, and then shook her head slightly, as if she didn't know how to continue.

Huang Huaisheng heard her implication, and hurriedly asked: "Did something happen?"

Jiang Jie didn't answer, she just put her hand on the back of his shoulder and patted it lightly, as if she was looking for comfort and strength.

At this moment, the door was pushed open from the outside, and a clear voice was swept into the house accompanied by the early winter night wind of City B: "Mom, I'm back."

The two standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows turned around together, and saw their son Huang Jingzhi walk in, dressed in seasonal casual clothes, wearing a peaked cap, sunglasses hanging on the neckline, and a shining earring on the right ear was illuminated by the indoor chandelier It was shining brightly, and a youthful breath rushed over.

After changing his indoor shoes, he looked up and saw Huang Huaisheng, and hurriedly added, "Dad, why are you back when you're free?"

"Come back to accompany your mother." Huang Huaisheng said bluntly, Huang Jingzhi trotted over, raised his hand to pinch Jiang Jie's shoulder very skillfully, and put on a hurt expression to complain: "Hey, I knew it, anyway, I am a cheap son, I Mom is the baby on your heart."

Huang Huaisheng stretched out his hand and flicked his head, emphatically saying: "Stinky boy, it's good that you know, so don't make your mother angry, otherwise I won't be able to forgive you."

"How could I make the fairy angry?" Huang Jingzhi asked obediently, and winked at Jiang Jie: "I am the good son of the fairy mother."

Jiang Jie was amused by him and smiled, the haze and worry hidden in her eyes finally disappeared a little bit.

The butler came over at this time and told them that dinner was ready. Jiang Jie took her son's arm and walked towards the dining table, pinched the flesh on his forearm, and said distressedly: "I think you seem to have lost weight recently, In the evening, I asked the kitchen to cook some dishes you like, and you should eat more."

Huang Jingzhi was aggrieved and defended: "Mom, I have a new play recently, which has strict requirements on body shape, so I can't eat too much for dinner."

Huang Huaisheng glared at his son, Huang Jingzhi immediately understood, and hurriedly changed his words: "But it's okay to eat once in a while."

Huang Huaisheng gave his son a look of knowing that you are a kid, but Huang Jingzhi turned his head and responded with a grimace.

C City Design Institute, Gu Xien was sitting in front of the computer and concentrating on changing the drawings. The passing colleagues saw that he had no intention of leaving get off work, so they asked casually: "It's past six o'clock, or you can order a takeaway first."

Gu Xien came back to his senses, rubbed his stomach that was really hungry, raised his head and said to his colleagues, "You're really hungry after you say that, let me have a look, do you want to go together?"

The colleague shook the computer bag in his hand and declined his kindness: "I won't do it, go home and eat, my wife is ready and waiting for me."

"Yeah." Gu Xian nodded with a smile, "See you tomorrow then."

After saying goodbye to his colleagues, Gu Xien remembered the phone he had discarded and forgotten for a long time. He took it and turned on the screen. As expected, the WeChat message notification from Shen Bai had already occupied the whole screen in a mighty way.

He raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, and clicked to browse through them one by one.

Shen Bai: What is the daughter-in-law doing?

Shen Bai: Gu Xien, are you missing me?

Shen Bai: Remember to have dinner.

Shen Bai: On the way home from get off work, I came across a stall selling roasted sweet potatoes, so I bought one and tried it.

Shen Bai: It's not tasty.

Shen Bai: Gu Xien, where are you?If you don't call me back, I'll call.

The last message came from 1 minute ago. Gu Xien turned to here and was about to type a reply, but the WeChat interface was suddenly forcibly cut out, and Shen Bai had already called in.

Gu Xi'en answered the phone with a guilty conscience, and Shen Baixing's voice of accusation rang in his ears: "I haven't responded to the message for so long, but the call was answered quickly. Are you off work?"

Gu Xien replied truthfully: "I was busy just now and didn't pay attention, and I was still working overtime."

Shen Bai immediately asked: "Have you had dinner?"

Gu Xien just spit out a word without thinking, and immediately changed his words: "—— Eat."

Shen Bai let out an oh, understanding well: "That's why I haven't eaten."

Gu Xien bit the bullet and returned to him: "I'll eat right away."

Shen Bai started the nagging mode: "Gu Xi'en, as I said before, eat three meals on time and eat regularly."

Gu Xien Shunmao: "Okay, it's not too late, aren't you on your way from get off work? Drive your car with peace of mind."

"My daughter-in-law is still hungry, how can you make me feel at ease. If you don't take good care of yourself like this, I will forcefully take you back to S City, and I will take care of you myself."

Gu Xien: "...how come you have learned how to push your nose to your face."

"You little heartless, I care about you and you still take Joe with me."

"If you go on, it's time for dinner." Gu Xien pinpointed Shen Bai's weakness precisely.

"..." Shen Bai raised his hands in surrender: "Then I'll hang up first, don't stay up too late if you work overtime, go back early."

Gu Xian replied to him softly: "Well, I know."

After hanging up Shen Bai's phone, Gu Xien opened the drawer beside him and took out a bucket of instant noodles, got up and walked towards the tea room.

He stood quietly by the window of the pantry waiting for the instant noodles to heat up. The window next to him was full of lights from thousands of households. It was the time when every family was preparing dinner, and there was a faint smell of oily smoke from various hot pots in the air. , scrambling to get into people's noses.

For no reason, Gu Xien's heart was suddenly invaded by a huge feeling of loneliness and loss mixed together. There are not many chances for this feeling to appear now, but even Shen Bai's existence cannot completely defeat it. It was like an age-old tarsal maggot, which would suddenly appear at a specific opportunity, sweeping over the sky and covering the sky, making him fall into it in an instant and feel the pain.He knew that the phone call from his mother the day before yesterday was the trigger for this emotional collapse. He thought he was already invulnerable, but in the end he found out in horror that he was completely vulnerable.

Gu Xien stared blankly at a certain place in the air for a while, and suddenly took out his mobile phone to find the number his mother called last time. He hesitated for a long time on the dial button, and finally pressed it.

The bell rang for a long time, during which it rang countless times, Gu Xien thought to just hang up and forget it, what can he say when he got connected, although he and her are mother and son, the way they get along is more like a pair of strangers.

Just when he was hesitating, the ringtone was suddenly cut off, and Gu Xien's heart rose to his throat in an instant, and then he heard a young male voice from over there, asking him briskly: "Hey, who is it?" ?”

Gu Xien subconsciously pressed his back against the cold wall, but as if he had found a support, he slowly said to the man, "I'm looking for Jiang Jie."

"Oh, wait a minute." The phone was taken away, and he heard the voice of the man shouting "Mom, I'm looking for you." A gust of wind and waves was set off, whizzing and hitting the psychological defense line he had just established. He quickly took the phone away from his ear as if electrocuted, and pressed the hang up button without hesitation.

However, a few seconds later, the phone rang again.

Gu Xien stared at the caller ID on the phone screen, and fixed his finger on the answer button for a long time, but he refused to let it go. He let the ring ring for more than a minute before the other party finally died down.

Gu Xien leaned against the wall as if he had let go of his strength. After a while, he took a deep breath, put his phone in his jacket pocket, and walked out of the tea room with the instant noodles.

In the blink of an eye, it was Friday again. Shen Bai had an appointment with someone outside to talk about things in the morning, so we decided to settle it outside together for lunch. He put his car keys in his trouser pocket and came out of the elevator leisurely, only to bump into him head-on. Fang Shi buried his head in the elevator.

"What's wrong with being in such a hurry?" Shen Bai sideways avoided, and asked casually.

Fang Shi stopped in embarrassment at the elevator door, raised his eyes to look at Shen Bai's eyes full of anxiety and helplessness, "Mr. Shen," he wiped the corner of his eyes with his hand, and whispered, "There is an accident at my house." something, I need to go back."

Shen Bai was a little stunned, and asked out of concern: "What happened?"

Fang Shi choked up and said, "My dad is in the hospital. He is left alone in the hospital. I want to go back and take care of him."

Shen Bai was surprised, "What about the rest of your family?"

Fang Shi lowered his head, looking ashamed to speak, the elevator was about to close at this moment, Shen Bai stretched out his hand to help hold it down, and greeted Fang Shi: "Then go quickly, be careful on the road, if you need my help, just Speak."

Fang Shi didn't move at all, with an expression on his face as if he had finally made up his mind, he looked at Shen Bai and begged, "Boss Shen, can you go with me?"

For a moment, Shen Bai thought he had heard it wrong, and replied in a daze: "Huh?"

Fang Shi lowered his head and said sadly and helplessly: "My dad was actually injured by a debt collector. My mom doesn't care about anything. My brothers and sisters are the biggest in my family, but I'm also afraid. What can I do?" ? So Mr. Shen, can you help me and go back with me?"

Shen Bai was surprised, Shen Bai knew that Fang Shi's family was poor, but he didn't expect that such a terrible thing would happen to him. However, due to emotion and reason, he didn't have to agree to Fang Shi's request.

During the few seconds when Shen Bai was silent, Fang Shi's eyes finally filled with tears. He grabbed the corner of his clothes and bit his lower lip, and said regretfully, "I'm sorry, I lost control of my emotions and made excessive demands. , Mr. Shen, please be busy, I will go first."

After Fang Shi finished speaking, he turned his head and rushed into the elevator that had started to issue an overtime alarm, but was held by his arm halfway. He turned his tear-stained face and saw Shen Baiyu said to him unbearably: "I Let's take you to the airport first, and then call your teacher Tong, I really have something to do and can't leave, let's see if he can accompany you there."

Shen Bai drove Fang Shi to the airport, and called Tong Ying on the way, but learned that he was not in S City these days, Shen Bai was helpless, feeling that he was forced to accept a hot potato.

He looked at Fang Shi who was sitting in the co-pilot, sighed and said to him: "I asked Xiao Zhao to book a ticket for you, you go back to take care of your father first, and keep in touch with me and your teacher Tong at any time."

Fang Shi lowered his head and twisted his fingers, his mood was extremely low and depressed, Shen Bai patted him on the shoulder, but in the end he didn't continue to say anything, he turned his eyes and looked straight ahead and drove steadily.

Taking advantage of his inattention, Fang Shi glanced at him cautiously, his eyes were full of unwillingness and grievance.

When he was about to arrive at the airport, Shen Bai's cell phone rang suddenly, and his eyes lit up when he saw that it clearly showed that Gu Xien was calling.

Shen Bai quickly connected the phone without any shyness, and Gu Xien's voice came over with a smile: "I'm back, I just got off the plane, see you later."

Shen Bai was taken aback at first, and then said happily: "It's too coincidental for you to be in time."

Gu Xien hummed suspiciously, Shen Bai smiled openly, and his whole body was bathed in the excitement of seeing his wife soon: "I'm sending someone to the airport, don't take a taxi, wait for me for a while, I'll just pick you up."

Knowing that he was driving, Gu Xien didn't ask any further questions, and replied with a smile, then hung up the phone.

Shen Bai hung up Gu Xien's phone, turned his head to look at Fang Shi, and spoke in a much softer tone: "Don't worry, we'll be there soon."

Fang Shi raised his head abruptly, his eyes suddenly burst into blatant madness and impatience, and he begged quickly: "Mr. Shen, can you really not accompany me?"

Shen Bai didn't look at his expression, but was a little displeased by the aggressive tone, and continued to politely refuse: "Sorry Fang Shi, as your boss, there is only so much I can help you with."

Fang Shi withdrew his eyes and looked at the scenery outside the car window, his eyes were sad and sluggish, and his nails subconsciously cut a deep mark on the seat.

Before it was too late, Fang Shi comforted himself in his heart, he was too anxious.

It is far from mature now, so be patient and wait slowly.Mr. Shen, definitely, it will be his.

Sending Fang Shi to the departure floor of the airport, Shen Bai couldn't wait to turn the car around and drove to the place where Gu Xien was waiting for him. From a distance, Shen Bai's eyes had already automatically caught the road that made him dream like a radar. The figure was standing on the side of the road looking down at the phone.He drove over slowly and honked the whistle twice. Gu Xien raised his head, blinked at him, and smiled from his eyes.

Shen Bai got out of the car, took the luggage from him, and pinched him on the face as if he was taking advantage of it.

"You actually know how to play surprise attacks." The two got into the car, before Shen Bai waited for Gu Xien to do it himself, he hastily leaned over to help him fasten his seat belt, and when he retracted his body, he lowered his head again A kiss on the cheek.

Gu Xien tilted his head to look at him, and said with a sly smile, "Practice what you have learned. What? Are you afraid that I will ruin your good deed?"

While starting the car, Shen Bai dragged his voice deliberately, and said slowly: "Yes, hey, tell me, if I am really snatched away, what should you do?"

"Cold salad." Gu Xien replied lightly.

"Hey," Shen Bai was dissatisfied, "Am I so light in your heart?"

Gu Xien turned to look at him and smiled, and asked back, "Then you will?"

As soon as Shen Bai stepped on the accelerator, he snorted and said decisively: "Just wait, there will never be such a day in your life."