0021 Night Rose-C.TLAY, Night.21 The warm wind rustled through her moisture-covered hair, and the slightly rough fingertips ironed her scalp from time to time. Ruan Mei looked at the man in the mirror who was carefully drying every strand of her hair. Her chest seemed to soften into a ripe peach, and the juice would be squeezed out of it with a light pinch.

The five fingers brought hot air to her heart, leaving a few soft, warm indentations.

"Touch it yourself and see if it's dry now." Chen Shanye rolled the ends of his hair around his fingers and twisted one of the strands to feel how dry it was.

"It's done! It's done!" Ruan Mei shouted as the hair dryer made a loud noise.

The world became quiet the moment the hair dryer was turned off. Ruan Mei pushed her fluffy curly hair to her left chest. Chen Shanye put away the hair dryer cord, looked up at her back, pursed his lips, and reached out to brush her hair back behind her.

"What's wrong?" Ruan Mei was puzzled. The exhaust fan in the bathroom was on, but moisture was still gathering. The warm air from the hair dryer had just made her sweat on her back, and she felt uncomfortable with her sticky hair hanging down.

"Your back is covered in marks." He put the tidied hair dryer back into the drawer and patted her butt: "Go get dressed."

After saying that he liked her, he began to plant petals on her back, and the bright red petals flew everywhere, just like those falling on her legs.

Not only on the back, but after changing two positions, there were red marks on the sides of the neck, collarbone, and breasts.

Ruan Mei glanced at the culprit in the mirror, pointed at the red mark on her chest and pursed her lips: "Look, even the front is covered with hickeys, I can't wear a small vest these two days."

Chen Shanye tried hard to divert his gaze from her fair breasts and apologized as she said, "I didn't mean to do that."

Ruan Mei turned around and slapped his hard chest: "Didn't you mean it? But I saw you were really happy biting me just now."

Chen Shanye scratched his itchy eyebrows with his fingers and pursed his lips and stopped talking.

The air conditioner sent bursts of cool air, and the flames danced happily in the emerald glass dish. After putting on his underwear and pants, Chen Shanye took the clothes handed to him by Ruan Mei, a black T-shirt with the collar washed to a pale color.

"Your shirt is wet, so just wear this."

Ruan Mei also took out a loose T-shirt and put it on: "You should be able to wear this. Although it is a piece of clothing I wore in high school, it is quite big. It is an extra large size for boys."

She knew that Chen Shanye's pants were also wet, but her pants were not big enough.

Chen Shanye spread out the clothes and tried to wear them. They were indeed wearable. The clothes were one or two sizes larger than his usual T-shirts and were almost as long as his hips.

He put on his clothes and asked, "Why do you have such a big piece of clothing?"

"I was fat and insecure in high school, so I kept buying extra-large sizes for clothes." Ruan Mei pulled her long hair out from her neckline. "Later, I lost weight and kept a few of my old clothes to remind myself. They also doubled as nightgowns."

I didn’t expect Ruan Mei to be such a nostalgic person, Chen Shanye thought to himself.

Ruan Mei walked out of the bedroom and came back with a pair of slippers a few moments later, placing them next to Chen Shanye's feet. "Here, I haven't mopped the floor yet after seeing off the guests. You can try them on first. They might be a little small, though."

The slippers looked brand new and were black.

"When did you buy the slippers?" He put his feet in them. They were a little tight, but he didn't care.

"When I went to the supermarket a few days ago, there was a special sale. Buy two pairs and the second pair was half price, so I bought another pair at the same time." Ruan Mei took out a new bed sheet.

"Oh." Chen Shanye took it and skillfully helped her take out the wet sheets and replace them with new ones.

The pure white fitted sheet was lifted in the air, trapping the fragrance of the bed sheet. Chen Shanye had long arms, and with a few strokes he straightened the edges, then gently smoothed the snowy field with his palm.

The two cans of beer on the coffee table had returned to room temperature, with a small pool of beer forming at the bottom of the cans. Ruan Mei didn't know which can she had drunk, so she just picked up one and took a few gulps.

Both times I had sex with Chen Shanye, I felt very thirsty.

Chen Shanye's mobile phone was already half full. He used the shared power bank in the store, and Ruan Mei helped him scan the code.

He picked up another can of beer on the table, drank it while turning on his computer, and as soon as he connected to the Internet, messages came in non-stop.

Zhong Mang sent the most messages, constantly asking why his phone was turned off and whether something had happened to him.

Chen Hechuan also sent a message saying that Chen Siyang wanted to video chat with him and asked if he was busy.

He looked at the time. It was already half past ten. Chen Siyang should have gone to bed.

"I'm going out to make a phone call." He gestured to Ruan Mei and walked out.

It started raining outside again, and the water droplets were crackling on the black awning. Three or two flying insects were flying around the cast iron lamp on the door, desperately trying to catch the light. The small tree in the corner of the yard had lost some leaves due to the rain, and the light strip on the trunk did not get enough sunlight on the cloudy day, so it was emitting a dim light listlessly.

Like a firefly whose wings have wilted in the heavy rain.

He called Chen Hechuan directly. When his father answered the phone, his voice was very low: "Hello, Shanye."

"Dad, is Siyang asleep?"

"He's asleep. He was a little unhappy because he couldn't find you. Your mom coaxed him for a while before he fell asleep."

Chen Shanye scratched the back of his head: "My phone ran out of battery this afternoon. I'll video chat with him tomorrow morning."

"Okay, are you working now? I saw on the news on my phone this afternoon that there's a yellow rainstorm warning in your area. Is it raining heavily?"

"It was quite heavy this afternoon." Chen Shanye thought about the chance encounter in the heavy rain that afternoon and couldn't help but smile: "It's raining now too, but the rain is much lighter. I didn't go out tonight to run errands. I was busy with something."

"Oh, okay, you should drive more carefully if it rains."

"I know. You should go to bed soon."

"Okay, hanging up."

Then he called Zhong Mang. Before he picked up the phone, the wooden door behind him creaked open. He turned around and saw Ruan Mei walking out of the room full of colorful lights. The light cast a charming shadow on her shoulders and head.

Seeing that he was still holding the phone, Ruan Mei raised the cigarette box in her hand and said sorry: "I thought you had finished your call. I'll come out later."

Chen Shanye didn't let her go. He put his arm around her wrist and brought her to his side: "It's okay, just stay here."

Zhong Mang picked up the phone and started shouting at the top of his voice, "Brother, you finally showed up! Where have you been?! I almost called the police!"

Chen Shanye moved the phone further away: "It's so noisy, stop yelling... What can happen to me?"

"What could be the problem?!" Zhong Mang raised his voice again: "Have you forgotten about the robbery?!"

The sound coming from the microphone was so loud that Ruan Mei could hear it clearly. The cigarette in her hand went out before the flame reached her lips. She frowned and looked at Chen Shanye.

Chen Shanye took the lighter from her hand, relit it, and held it in front of her. He mouthed the silent words "I'm fine" before answering Zhong Mang, "Have you forgotten who beat those young people to tears?"

Ruan Mei leaned forward and lit a cigarette next to him, listening to the nervous voice on the other end of the phone: "That's because those people are too weak. What if they have weapons? Hiding a knife or something..."

"You've been watching too much TV. Stop imagining things." Chen Shanye saw the small hill between Ruan Mei's eyebrows getting higher and higher, and wanted to end the call quickly: "What else do you want to talk to me about? If nothing else, I'm hanging up."

"Hey wait, wait, it's okay, but where are you now? It's raining tonight and there are so few drivers outside, but the system keeps sending me orders." Zhong Mang's voice was filled with unconcealable joy, and there were sounds of wind and rain in the background.

Ruan Mei waved the cigarette box in front of Chen Shanye and asked him if he wanted one by mouthing the same words he had just done.

Chen Shanye nodded and said to the phone: "I'm outside. I won't be going home tonight. Just open the door of my room and go in to wash clothes."

Zhong Mang immediately thought of Chen Shanye's unusual behavior recently and became excited: "Brother, are you with a woman? Did you go to your girlfriend's house?"

Ruan Mei, who put the cigarette into the man's mouth, heard the sound and suddenly felt a little playful.

She exhaled the white smoke from her mouth, looked through the smoke at Chen Shanye's black eyes, which were tinged with warmth by the light, and opened and closed her mouth to utter a few silent words.

Although there was no sound, Chen Shanye still knew what Ruan Mei said.

In an instant, my heart sank into the mud that was softened by the rain.

Zhong Mang was still talking excitedly in his ear. The lighter that had just been heated by the flame became cold. Chen Shanye lit a cigarette for himself, and a thin mist appeared in front of his eyes.

He looked away, and the last light of the dying fireflies on the tree trunk flashed into his eyes.

He said to Zhong Mang: "No, I'm at a friend's house."

Chen Shanye told himself to wait a little longer, until the day when he could be justified.