034
Memories flooded back like the sea. He saw himself and Xi Jiang face to face, their background a weed-covered county street. Xi Jiang held a carton of milk in his hand, deliberately bending over and saying, "Call me brother, I can give it to you."
They were a head apart in height, and Xi Jiang's posture looked like a thug collecting protection money.
Xu Yu saw his fierce eyes and straightened his body: "I don't need it."
"I like honest children."
"I'm honest."
"Then I like it."
"I'd rather love to lie."
Xi Jiang raised his eyebrows: "Do you want it? Not everyone can take the milk in my hand."
Xu Yu was still on guard: "I don't need it, please don't sympathize with me."
…
Their eyes overlapped, and Xi Jiang had exactly this expression.
Where did these memories come from? Why did he completely forget? He stared at Xi Jiang and froze in his tracks.
How much memory did he lose in that car accident?
Xu Yu wanted to ask, but couldn't speak. Instead, he lowered his head and said, "Let's eat. Let Auntie clean up. Otherwise, we can't live here."
Xi Jiang slowly got up, stepped on the harsh glass fragments and walked towards Xu Yu, and put his head on Xu Yu's shoulder: "Xu Yu, I'm so tired."
Xu Yu closed his eyes.
I'm so tired too.
"I often lose track of time. It's fine when I'm working, but when I'm not, my world is always dull and uneasy." Xi Jiang laughed at himself. "The psychologist my mom found said I need treatment. Xu Yu, am I abnormal?"
“Normal.”
"I don't know I'm sick, and I don't want to be sick." Xi Jiang stared at Xu Yu, "Can you come to see me every day?"
Xu Yu tilted his head slightly: "Okay."
Xi Jiang smiled and walked downstairs: "Then I'll listen to you. Let's eat."
Halfway down the stairs, he came to his senses and quickly entered the room: "I'm going to change clothes, wait for me."
The door clicked shut. Xu Yu looked at him and saw that, apart from being a little depressed, he was mentally normal and didn't see anything wrong.
Going downstairs, Xu Yu was washing his hands in the kitchen. Assistant Zhao, looking worried, came over and gave him a thumbs-up: "Mr. Xu really has a solution. I'll have to trouble you again in the future."
"Trouble me?"
"Yes, I'm transferring to the Product Department next week, and the new president's assistant will take over my duties. After I officially start, I won't be able to visit President Xi anymore," Assistant Zhao said. "My wife was looking for a suitable candidate, and now you're here, so I'm relieved."
Xu Yu turned off the faucet and wiped his hands with toilet paper: "How long have you been following me?"
"It's been six years now, counting this year." Assistant Zhao couldn't help but sigh, "It would be a lie to say there's no affection."
"Did we meet when I first came to live with you, brother?"
Assistant Zhao hesitated for a moment and said, "Of course, I'll pick you up."
Xu Yu stared at his expression and could not see the slightest trace of guilt, but this sentence seemed to have been practiced thousands of times and was extremely natural.
There were footsteps on the stairs. Xi Jiang changed into his home clothes and came downstairs. Assistant Zhao immediately went out to drive, leaving Xu Yu with him.
"Let's have steak." Xi Jiang said, "We ate at a good place last time."
Xu Yu had no objection: "It's all fine."
The restaurant is located in the city center. It is a Western restaurant with a luxurious exterior and an even more gorgeous interior. The language is entirely English and the waiters are all foreigners.
It was Xu Yu’s first time here. He sat down opposite Xi Jiang and listened to him order food fluently.
"I really like the sauce here." Xi Jiang held up his knife and fork. "The quality of the meat is also good."
Xu Yu nodded: "I will try it carefully."
The steak arrived, its aroma filling the air. The waiter poured the red wine. Xi Jiang forked the meat and began to cut it. He placed a small piece in his mouth, chewed it gracefully, and then slowly continued to cut. The only sound in the air was the sound of the meat being cut.
Xi Jiang ate the second piece a little faster than the first one, his teeth repeatedly crushing the meat, and his eyes moved from the meat to Xu Yu.
He swallowed, wiped his mouth, and turned to scrutiny: "Compared to Zhu Wenxu and me, who is the most important to you?"
The knife Xu Yu was using to cut meat slipped and scratched the plate. The harsh sound disrupted the normal rhythm of the meal.
"Brother, you two are not comparable."
Xi Jiang chuckled, a flicker of joy in his eyes: "In your eyes, are we equally important?"
How could someone who was always there for you be snatched away so easily?
"Yes."
Xu Yu didn't want to anger him.
"When you were with him, was he nice to you?"
Xu Yu hummed: "Very good."
The fallen leaves outside the floor-to-ceiling window rustled down. Xi Jiang glanced outside and tapped the goblet repeatedly with his index finger.
Then he suddenly smiled.
"Is it good for you to have me?"
Xu Yu could tell something was wrong with his words: "No."
"Then you ran away with him?" Xi Jiang changed his posture. "Why?"
Xu Yu held the knife and fork in his hand and replied calmly, "I didn't run away."
Xi Jiang immediately pretended nothing had happened and continued to cut the meat. After a brief silence, the knife made a sharp scraping sound and the medium-rare steak was cut into tiny pieces.
I have no appetite anymore. Xi Jiang wiped his hands and threw the handkerchief on the table: "If you are full, let's go back."
He didn't have the same expression as when he heard Xu Yu say something important just now. His face was as droopy as the beams of a dilapidated building, ready to sink at any moment.
Assistant Zhao had already gone home, so they had to drive themselves. Xu Yu got in the driver's seat, and Xi Jiang reclined in the passenger seat. The car smelled sweetly of alcohol.
"Brother, shall we call a designated driver?"
"Don't you have a driver's license?" Xi Jiang said, "Drive."
The car had a manual transmission, and Xu Yu wasn't very good at driving. It took him a while to start the ignition and get on the road. The journey back wasn't far, so Xu Yu drove very slowly, fearing a rear-end collision.
While waiting for the red light, Xu Yu turned on the music. Xi Jiang, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stared at Xu Yu's operation in the front view mirror, occasionally looking at his phone, with no expression on his face.
The car got back on the road and entered another wide road. Xu Yu's palms were sweating and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable for a while. The feeling of drowning under hypnosis came over him again.
He braked and buried his face in the steering wheel: "Brother, let's take a taxi back?"
Xi Jiang stood up and touched his forehead with his hand: "What's wrong with you?"
It was hard to describe the discomfort. Xu Yu looked at his reaction and suddenly thought about asking about the car accident indirectly, but she was afraid of angering Xi Jiang, who would stop him from seeing a psychiatrist.
"I just feel uncomfortable. When I drive on the road, I always feel like something is going to happen."
Xi Jiang held his face up and asked, "Do you want to go to the hospital?"
"Don't bother. I'll take a break."
Xi Jiang insisted: "You should go to the hospital. If you get sick, it will be very troublesome later."
Xu Yu: "Brother, let me rest for a while."
Not going his way, Xi Jiang's face looked very ugly, but he said nothing and got out of the car to smoke.
Xi Jiang held a cigarette and squinted at the incoming call alert. After three rings, the call was connected.
Sun Xuefan's voice came from the other end: "Aren't you going to the hospital?"
Xi Jiang puffed smoke: "I'm not sick."
"Wei Pei'er is in the hospital." Sun Xuefan paused, "She beat the child."
He stopped smoking for about three seconds, took a deep puff, and when he tilted his head back to exhale, he watched the wind blow away all the smoke.
People live in this world to live. When Xi Jiang mentioned Wei Pei'er, he could not ignore her relevance to his own life. According to normal development, he would marry her, have children, and have the life his parents always wanted.
Xi Jiang threw the cigarette on the ground and took a deep breath of cold air: "Take care of her for me."
"A Jiang, you can't..."
The phone was hung up.
He opened the car door and was about to drive Xu Yu back when he noticed a Maybach had parked opposite him. The driver got out, holding a pharmacy bag like a magician, ready to give all the medicine to Xu Yu.
Xi Jiang took out another cigarette, lit it, leaned against the side of the car, and watched Zhu Wenxu get closer.
"Have you been following Xu Yu?"
Zhu Wenxu: "I am not you."
"Don't make yourself sound so upright." Xi Jiang smiled. "I know that after you first met Xu Yu, your people have been following Xu Yu behind his back. What? Don't you want to admit it now?"
"I'm not here to argue with you," Zhu Wenxu said, "He looks unwell."
"I'm not feeling well either."
"Then let's go to the hospital." Zhu Wenxu knocked on the window and asked Xu Yu, "Are you okay?"
Xi Jiang took another deep puff, deliberately tightening his stomach as if he wanted to swallow the cigarette. His eyes looked back and forth, and he couldn't help laughing out loud. His laughter interrupted the conversation that Xu Yu and Zhu Wenxu were about to have.
Xu Yu couldn't see Xi Jiang's expression from his position, and Zhu Wenxu in front of him stood up straight first.
"Zhu Wenxu, don't you feel that you have changed?"
"Everyone changes." Zhu Wenxu said calmly, "Including you."
"If you hadn't left, perhaps I wouldn't have become what I am now. Ultimately, it's all your fault. It's your problem."
Zhu Wenxu put one hand in his pocket and held Xu Yu's hand in the car with the other. Hearing too much blame was boring, especially when it came from Xi Jiang, it became even more ridiculous.
He and Xu Yu both knew that Xi Jiang would never see the problem with himself, and even if they told him, he wouldn't listen.
"We are not children anymore," Zhu Wenxu said. "We should all move forward."
Xi Jiang hammered the hood of the car: "I'm just living in the past, so what?"
Zhu Wenxu opened the driver's seat, pinched Xu Yu's thin shoulders with one hand, and held his hand with the other.
Without saying a word, Xu Yu understood what was going on. He stepped out of the ground and stood in front of Xi Jiang.
Xu Yu saw Xi Jiang's thorny eyes.
"Are you going to follow him again?"
Zhu Wenxu's attitude was equally unpleasant: "You can't take good care of him."
Xi Jiang threw away the cigarette, stepped forward and grabbed Xu Yu's arm: "He can't go with you."
"He's not your toy."
The wind started to blow, fueling the smoke in the air. In silence, the unwilling looks in each other's eyes turned into naked hatred, magnifying all the hatred in this life and making it impossible to remain calm.
Xu Yu struggled a bit: "We are on the street now, can we find a place?"
He didn't want Zhu Wenxu and Xi Jiang to be photographed and become the topic makers, and he didn't want to deepen the hatred between them.
"Do you think I'm in the mood now?" Xi Jiang said coldly.
Zhu Wenxu held Xu Yu's hand and reminded Xi Jiang: "Let him go first."
"I feel uncomfortable when you do this." Xu Yu panted, "Physically."
Not only did Zhu Wenxu loosen his strength, but Xi Jiang's strength increased again, so much so that he could break bones.
Xu Yu hissed, "Brother."
Zhu Wenxu grabbed Xi Jiang's arm, and before he could react, he was punched hard in the face. He was temporarily blinded, and after he came to his senses, he started bleeding from the nose.
Upon seeing this, the assistant secretaries who had been silently cheering Zhu Wenxu on in the car all got out of the car to escort him, some taking paper and some waving hands.
"Mr. Zhu——"
"Please respect yourself, Mr. Xi."
Xi Jiang's punch not only stunned Xu Yu, but also himself. He didn't know why, but once the anger started to burn, he lost the ability to think.
But when he saw Xu Yu caring about Zhu Wenxu at the first moment, the guilt of this punch instantly disappeared.
How can you blame him?
"Do you want to go to the hospital?" Xi Jiang said calmly, "I'll reimburse the medical expenses."
Zhu Wenxu's glasses fell off and he fell to the ground. He didn't look embarrassed, but before he got up, his face darkened and his aura was different from before, like a leopard that could easily tear its prey apart.
But there was no attack. He simply stood up and casually wiped the blood from his nose with his thumb. The red, swollen, and painful brow did not affect his appearance in the slightest.
"Xu Yu, I want to take you away."
Xi Jiang hadn't originally thought Xu Yu would go with him, but now he was worried she might abandon him. He pulled out his phone and tapped twice, a triumphant gesture.
No need to read it, no need to take out your phone to look carefully, the title of the contract in the photo is enough to explain what it is.
Xu Yu remembered that there was still one year left on the contract.
"He can't go with you." Xi Jiang chuckled, "If I can't get Zhu Wenxu, then you can forget about it either."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
