0012 Night Rose-C.TLAY, Night.12 Ruan Mei bent down, tied the bag in the trash can and picked it up. When she stood up, she saw the corners of her mouth turned up in the makeup mirror on the chest of drawers.

Hey, be decent, I was just throwing away some trash.

Rubbing the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, she walked towards Chen Shanye who was already standing by the wooden door, carrying the garbage bag.

"I'm leaving. You have to come out and lock the door." Chen Shanye took the garbage bag and turned the brass door handle.

"Okay." Ruan Mei ran back to the cashier counter, put on a pair of flip-flops under the table, and trotted a few steps to catch up with him.

Strings of fireflies on the tree trunks are still flickering in the night. There is a cool breeze on the summer night, and the outdoor unit is buzzing, but it can't block the rustling whispers of the leaves.

Chen Shanye planted his feet on the ground to steady the bike. The safety light on the back of his helmet turned on, flashing a regular red light in the darkness. He held the handlebars with one hand and the garbage bag with the other: "Lock the door and go in."

Ruan Mei nodded and yawned, locked the door, turned around and walked a few steps. When she turned back unconsciously, she found that the man was still standing outside the iron gate and had not left.

Turning around, her skirt and hair fluttered in the night breeze. Ruan Mei tucked her hair behind her ears and said sleepily, "Aren't you leaving?"

"I'll wait until you go in before I leave." Chen Shanye didn't move. The street light made the shadow at his feet dark and long.

"You go first."

"You go in first."

"You first." Ruan Mei stamped her feet.

Chen Shanye stopped talking and just looked at her quietly through the carved iron pillars.

The air was quiet for a few seconds, and Ruan Mei was the first to relax: "Then I'll go in, you go back quickly."

"Well, you go in." Chen Shanye raised his chin.

After Ruan Mei entered the house, she lifted the white gauze curtain on the door and watched the small red light slowly get smaller and dimmer in the dim light, and then disappear from her sight.

She picked up the cigarette box and lighter on the table and walked out the door. She lit a cigarette, tilted her head back and blew the white smoke upwards. The light smoke lingered around the lemon yellow light bulb.

Gong Xin was right, she was really soft-hearted.

*

Chen Shanye threw the garbage in his hand at the garbage point, rode out of the main road, walked about two hundred meters forward, and stopped at the bus stop.

There were three or four men waiting for the last bus like him. One was wearing the uniform of another designated driver platform, and the others were on the same platform as Chen Shanye.

A short man wearing glasses recognized Chen Shanye and greeted him: "Calling out so early today? Heading back to Tangxia?"

Chen Shanye answered as he packed up his car: "Yes."

"It should be pretty good tonight, right? We've all run around a lot." The short man handed Chen Shanye a cigarette.

Chen Shanye took it and put it in his mouth. He lowered his head to the lighter and lit the cigarette. The spark flickered at the corner of his mouth.

He thought about the orders he had taken tonight and nodded: "Yes, it's very good tonight."

A few of them chatted idly, and when their cigarettes burned out, the bus arrived. This was the last bus that would pass through Tangxia Village. Chen Shanye had sent passengers to the nearby community several times before, and since he didn't want to take any more orders, he took a bus here to go home.

It turned out that he was so close to her. Chen Shanye lowered his head and smiled, put out his cigarette butt on the trash can, and followed the team into the car.

"Hey, Yege! Come sit here, there's a seat available."

"Hey, Shanye, you're up so early today!"

The few passengers on the bus were almost all designated drivers. Some of them dozed off with their heads down without even taking off their helmets, some were watching videos with earphones in their ears, and some were eating meat buns bought from a convenience store as a midnight snack.

The two people who greeted him both lived in Tangxia Village. Chen Shanye greeted them one by one and sat in the empty seat at the back door of the car.

At first, a few people were still talking and laughing, and telling a lot of dirty jokes. As the bus stopped and started, the voices became quieter, and finally, almost all the men fell asleep.

The drive took more than half an hour. Chen Shanye usually took a nap, but he couldn't bear to sleep tonight. He watched the warm yellow light quickly pass across the helmet of the big brother in front of him.

Suddenly remembering that he had not saved Ruan Mei's phone number, he took out his phone and saved the number ending in 2799 into his address book.

He opened WeChat and saw a small red dot in the address book. He clicked it and it was a friend request.

The WeChat avatar is a rose, like a blazing flame in the dark night.

The WeChat name is two English words, Rose Slave, which is the same string of English words on Ruan Mei’s shop sign. He knows the first word, but he doesn’t know the second word.

Chen Shanye approved the application, changed her name in the note, and sent a message, "Did you sleep?"

But Chen Shanye didn't receive a reply until he got off the car.

The urban village is a place that never sleeps. It is still bustling with activity after two in the morning. The shops on both sides of the street are closed, but the food stalls, kebab stalls and convenience stores are crowded with people, and low tables and small plastic chairs fill the narrow streets.

An oil-soaked brush was quickly wiped over the barbecue. Under the illumination of a simple light bulb, cumin powder fell like gold foil, and sesame oil dripped into the stove. The burning black charcoal burst into tiny scarlet sparks, and the meat skewers rolled on the iron net and the flames. The rich meat aroma made people salivate.

Chen Shanye passed by the sounds of finger-guessing games and the clashing of glass ping-pong balls. When he passed by the hair salon, he saw that it was lit up in a gaudy pink. The curtains on the glass windows were drawn, but passers-by could still catch a glimpse of the charming pink inside through the glass door with the red words "Welcome" posted on it.

He sped past and turned into a dark alley that needed to be lit both day and night.

The shoes in the corridor were kicked everywhere again. Chen Shanye was still walking while pushing the shoes back to the resident's door. The female anchor next door was still singing, and her sweet voice in the afternoon was a little hoarse.

There was no light coming through the crack in the door of Zhong Mang's room. After Chen Shanye returned to his room, he sent him a message, asking him to just have a midnight snack and not drink too much.

He glanced at the newly added number. Ruan Mei didn't reply to him. She must have been asleep.

Chen Shanye threw the dirty clothes into the washing machine. He had to wait for Zhong Mang's to be washed together. The house that Zhong Mang rented was a single room and there was no washing machine.

He lay shirtless on the mat, staring blankly at the dim ceiling. The fan was rustling, bringing out a not-too-cool breeze. Someone in the next building was still having sex in the middle of the night. The woman's shrill voice and the man's rude dirty talk came in fragments from the window.

The distances between the buildings here are short, so usually everyone is used to hearing this kind of lovemaking sound, but tonight Chen Shanye felt uncomfortable and extremely irritated when he heard it.