tempting

The hot summer sun is too poisonous, the concrete floor is almost dry and cracked, and people are always wet and sweaty.

Su Tang came to report to Cheng Zhiya's house on time every day, and learned to swim diligently. After half a month, he finally swam well, and his skin peeled off, and his skin turned darker.

The two of them still ran around the lake early in the morning, and then swam in the open-air swimming pool in the courtyard. They almost ate three meals a day together, chatting without saying a word, although most of the time Su Tang said Cheng Zhiya listened, When the hormones are on the rise, go to bed and continue to do some exercise.

It's just that they tacitly stopped mentioning Shen Ling and Su Tang's invitation about a bed partner.

Cheng Zhiya didn't go to the bar anymore, and his life seemed to be on the right track again.

One day, Su Tang rang the doorbell, but Cheng Zhiya didn't come to answer the door, and no one answered the phone.The two of them had no mutual friends except Shen Ling, and since they couldn't find the right owner, Su Tang had no choice but to sit on the steps in front of the door and wait.

Looking around while sitting idle, there are clusters of rose bushes planted in the corner of the courtyard, and rose potted plants are also placed on both sides of the path leading to the gazebo.Although the flowering period is over, it is full of greenery everywhere.

This suburban mansion was left by Cheng Zhiya's father, Cheng Mian. After Cheng Mian passed away, Cheng Zhiya's mother went abroad to live alone, leaving Cheng Zhiya alone in the big house.There were no roses planted in the courtyard, at least not when Su Tang came to the house for an interview for the first time.

Apart from the bottom of Cheng Zhiya's heart, this is the only imprint on Shen Ling that he can't erase.

Shen Ling was surprisingly fond of roses, and because of his words of liking, Cheng Zhiya actually planted roses all over the yard.Speaking of which, Su Tang also did similar stupid things for Shen Ling, writing sour love words on each piece of paper, folded into 99 roses and sent him to him, it was funny and vulgar.

It turns out that it is silly to use too much force in love.

Counting the time and seconds passing by, the past struck, Su Tang remembered that he had waited so stupidly for Shen Ling in the past, and the other party came late after the movie ended, and it was not delayed by any important things, but just forgot , did not remember.However, at that time, Shen Ling only needed to coquettishly refrain from the appointment, and he could prevaricate it.

But he still minded, minded Shen Ling's indifference, minded that he didn't get the ideal response after his hard work, minded that he was not seen during this relationship.However, he became more and more numb when the things he cared about piled up, he was always enduring, and always forgot to be compassionate to himself, so that he was about to break up, and the pain also plagued him for two or three years in a late-conscious and long-lasting way.

In a relationship, if you take yourself too seriously, you will end up asking for trouble.

The other party doesn't love you that much, and you don't need him that much.

Fortunately, now he will no longer be fussy about such a trivial matter, and secretly feel uncomfortable.

After waiting for almost three hours, Su Tang suddenly smiled in relief, got up and left.

He stayed in the city library all afternoon, and in the evening, with a group of high school buddies, he had a farewell party for Zhou Shang, who was about to participate in the aid construction in Africa.

On the way back to the apartment, I checked my phone and found that there were more than a dozen missed calls from Cheng Zhiya.Surprised, Su Tang dialed back immediately.

"Teacher Cheng, what's the matter?"

"Su Tang, where are you?"

"Outside, having a party with friends."

"Did you wait for a long time this morning? I was in a hurry today, and I forgot in a hurry, so I didn't have time to tell you."

"Hahaha it's okay, I just waited for maybe ten minutes, or 5 minutes? Anyway, I will leave soon."

There was an instant silence on the phone.

"Teacher Cheng?"

"What's wrong!"

Cheng Zhiya's tone seemed displeased.

"No, no, I just feel that I have already learned how to swim, so I won't bother you in the future..." Su Tang quickly walked to the gate of the community, caught a glimpse of Cheng Zhiya's car, and froze in place.

Cheng Zhiya just turned around and met Su Tang face to face, but didn't answer.

Su Tang was the first to react, hung up the phone and ran over: "Hey, why is Teacher Cheng here?"

"It's nothing, just passing by home."

Believe his nonsense, the two of them live in the east of the city and the west of the city, one is near the city center and the other is in the suburbs, how can they make a way?

But Su Tang didn't expose it after all, he let out an oh, with a smile on his face.

"Did you just want to say that you don't want to learn?"

"I'm not afraid to disturb you."

"I'm a little disturbed," Cheng Zhiya continued without any ups and downs, "but you still haven't learned how to swim the butterfly. You have to start and finish when you do things."

Su Tang was stunned for a moment, carefully savoring Cheng Zhiya's words, and suddenly asked: "Teacher Cheng, is it worth your attention to teach me this?"

Cheng Zhiya looked a little unnatural: "It's nothing, I promised you, I will do what I say. Isn't this the most basic principle of being a human being?"

Said it really awe-inspiring.Su Tang thought to himself.

Seeing that the other party did not return, Cheng Zhiya frowned even deeper: "If you are not happy..."

Su Tang rushed to talk: "Okay."

Cheng Zhiya nodded and said hello, the corners of his mouth seemed to raise a small arc, and after a while, his cold face returned.

He got in the car and was about to leave, but Su Tang kindly reminded him: "Mr. Cheng, don't go around in circles anymore."

Cheng Zhiya glanced at him without saying a word, started the car and left.

Su Tang still stood there for a long time, watching the subtle spark in his heart creaking and growing, he could even foresee a raging fire that was about to ignite, if he had been on the first level of alert before, he had taken measures early Extinguishing.

But at this moment, he had no intention of putting out the fire.

Maybe, it wouldn't be bad to try to burn again.

*

The tail of August had just emerged, and the North City ushered in a heavy rainstorm, with strong winds, thunder and lightning, poor drainage, and the central city became a water park.

Su Tang was also trapped in Cheng Zhiya's house, watching the rose bushes outside the window being roughly torn by the wind, leaving only a ground of broken leaves, the protective measures he had taken in advance were useless.

Cheng Zhiya stared at him firmly, his brows were tightly furrowed, and the worry and anxiety on his face were clear at a glance.

Su Tang said lightly: "Don't worry, Rose is not as delicate as you imagined."

Cheng Zhiya glanced at him, his eyes were difficult to distinguish, and he replied after a while: "I know."

But you still worry.Su Tang understood it and smiled.

It is said that it is the time spent on roses that makes them so precious.

After Shen Ling left, Su Tang watched Cheng Zhiya meticulously take care of the roses every day, and the pace of time also slowed down here. Occasionally, he would stare at those flowers and suddenly fell into a deep silence. Caught by some memory.

I'm probably thinking about the past days when I was troubled and happy about him and the rose in my heart.

The rose may not be the best, but it must be the one he wants most after exhausting all his efforts.

So do people.

Now Cheng Zhiya can't see any traces of broken love, his life and creation are the same as before, but this doesn't mean it's really over.

After suffering severe superficial pain, the scars are hidden deep in the heart. The weather here is unpredictable, dark and humid, and any harsh environmental conditions are hindering the healing process of the wound, resulting in repeated injuries.Until one day the wound was not afraid to see the sun again, and suddenly realized that the scab had already scabbed and new flesh had grown—in the countless days and nights that no one knew about, and countless struggles.

Until that day actually comes, no one will know when the moment of full recovery will come.

Even Su Tang, who has been here, doesn't know the moment when he suddenly didn't love Shen Ling.

The only thing he knew was that he had been waiting for this moment for a long time before.

He stretched himself, not wanting to get entangled in such silly things that hurt the spring and the autumn.

"I should go back."

As he spoke, he walked to the entrance to put on his shoes, wondering how he would get through the heavy rain curtain later.

Cheng Zhiya doesn't like to spend the night with others, and Su Tang still has to give this point of mutual respect between bed partners.

As soon as the door was opened, soybean-sized raindrops hit him heavily on the face, accompanied by a thunder and lightning roar that almost shocked Su Tang.

If he really went out in this bad weather, it would probably be worse than the roses in the garden.

Su Tang was still on the spot, but it was Cheng Zhiya who reached out his hand decisively, and with a bang, the gate completely cut off the storm, cutting out an extremely peaceful world in an instant.

"You want to leave?" Cheng Zhiya asked.

Su Tang pretended to be relaxed: "Yes, it's getting late."

"It's windy and rainy outside, and it won't stop for a while. It's not safe for you to go back, and..."

"You're staying with me overnight?"

Cheng Zhiya thought that Su Tang's rhetorical question meant reluctance, and asked in a muffled voice, "You don't want to stay overnight at my house?"

The one who doesn't like to spend the night with others here is obviously Cheng Zhiya. He insisted on this principle for no reason and was not afraid of offending Su Tang. He used to send him out no matter how late he was, but now he is acting like the most picky person. The person is Su Tang.

Su Tang deliberately resisted: "Well, I'm not used to sleeping in a strange bed, and I don't like sleeping with others."

Cheng Zhiya looked sullen: "If you really don't like it, I'll prepare a clean mattress for you, is that okay?"

"Okay, then I'll make it hard to sleep here."

Su Tang felt refreshed after taking advantage, took off his shoes and entered the house very bluntly.

Cheng Zhiya doesn't use other rooms on weekdays, and the guest room has been vacant for a long time.He went to clean up first, leaving Sutang to read in the living room.

Just as he was fascinated by watching, a mobile phone rang suddenly and hurriedly, and Su Tang was quite startled.

He looked towards the rear stairs, but there was no movement, so he reached out to touch the phone that was still ringing.

Familiar notes flicker on the screen.

Su Tang took a deep breath, calmed down his violent heartbeat, and connected the phone.

The voice from the other end of the microphone was low and hoarse, with an ambiguous tone: "Zhi Ya, I miss you, how have you been recently?"

Su Tang remained expressionless and said nothing.

"Zhi Ya? Is that you? Zhi Ya..." The other end of the phone continued.

Before Su Tang finished speaking, he hung up the phone and found that Shen Ling had sent a long text message more than ten minutes ago. The whole text was summed up as: "Cheng Zhiya, let's start again."

He didn't even think about it, and replied: "We are completely over, don't look for me again."

Press the send button, then delete the text messages and call records seeking reunification, completely block this number, and block all email addresses and various social accounts by the way, all in one go.

Su Tang put the phone back where it was, pretended to be a normal person, and walked to the second floor.

Cheng Zhiya was wearing a shower cap, glasses, a mask and an apron, and was fully armed with a feather duster in his hand to clean. The guest room was billowing with dust. Su Tang pinched his nose and dared to break in. He tugged at the hem of his clothes and shouted: "Don't sweep gone."

"You want to go back again? You said it's dangerous outside."

Su Tang shook his head: "No, I'll just sleep in the living room."

"No, I sleep in the living room."

"Then we sleep together?"

Cheng Zhiya's eyes exposed outside the mask blinked, and he was stunned and did not speak.

Su Tang smiled, and went back again: "You don't want to? Then I'll sleep in the living room."

Cheng Zhiya replied subconsciously, "No, I'm a sleeper..." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized that this was an endless loop, and it stopped halfway.

Su Tang laughed out loud, and asked again: "Then shall we sleep together?"

Cheng Zhiya was infected by Su Tang's laughter, and his face couldn't hold back any longer, so he also laughed out loud.

"Let's sleep together then."

He cleared his throat, so he concluded.

*

That night, the two slept together in the same bed, with a Chu River and Han boundary between them.

Even though they have done more intimate things in bed, they still care about this kind of co-sleeping without sex.

In the darkness, Su Tang quietly turned over and looked at the back of Cheng Zhiya who was lying on his side. This guy hadn't moved in this position since he was lying on the bed, and he didn't know if he fell asleep.

Su Tang moved to his side lightly, and the distance between the two was only a finger.

"Cheng Zhiya."

Tried calling again, but no one answered.

He closed his eyes, held his breath, and slowly poked his side face a little closer in the void until it was lightly pressed against Cheng Zhiya's broad and gentle back, rising and falling rhythmically with his breathing.

At this moment, there was a thunderstorm outside the window, and the hunting wind blew the glass windows rattling. One can imagine what kind of a frantic and restless world it is.

But across the window, Cheng Zhiya's warm aura built up a mountain-like barrier, which made people feel at ease.

This is a bit of warmth he stole.

It's a pity that there is a heart inside, and Shen Ling's name is still engraved on it.

He is a shameless thief who thinks twice when he gets one.

Had one night, just wanted to stay.

What benevolence and morality, what love sacrifice and dedication.

He no longer wants to suppress this greed.

From a long time ago, he made a decision that he must touch that heart and hold it tightly in his hand.

Hold for at least 50 years.

The coward who escaped in the middle of the field does not deserve any sincere love, and Cheng Zhiya's happiness must be given by Su Tang from now on.

Even if they do everything they can, robbing and coaxing, as long as they can have Cheng Zhiya in the end, it will be fine.

Now that he fell, Cheng Zhiya, who caused him to fall to this point, would never want to escape.

There is no escape.