Chapter 25: Life off track (Part 1) (Starting with inverted v)
The bathroom was filled with steam, and the glass was fogged up, making it unclear.
There were two people standing in the bathtub.
Jiang Yanyu held the shower head and gently wet Luo Qinglin's hair, while Luo Qinglin raised his left arm high, closed his eyes and let the warm water flow down.
The wet pajamas hung around his waist, sticky and uncomfortable. Luo Qinglin even felt a little regretful for making the decision to let Jiang Yanyu help him take a bath just to cheer her up.
The fragrance of mint shampoo lingered in the air, and Jiang Yanyu's fingertips were gently caressing his scalp, rubbing it gently. His ten fingers lightly flicked through his hair. Wherever they passed, it felt like being tickled by feathers, and Luo Qinglin unconsciously tightened his shoulders.
"Have you finished washing?" Luo Qinglin asked urgently.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Jiang Yanyu said slowly, "This is just the beginning."
Luo Qinglin pursed his lips and bit his lower lip, trying to focus his attention elsewhere, but Jiang Yanyu's hands were always restless, and while washing, they reached the back of his neck, Adam's apple, and collarbone.
After waiting for a long time for the water to wash away the foam on his head and body, Jiang Yanyu did not let him go. He squeezed another pump of facial cleanser into his palms and gently rubbed his face.
In the mist, Luo Qinglin closed his eyes tightly and said nothing. He was as nervous as a child who was afraid of bubbles getting into his eyes.
Feeling playful again, Jiang Yanyu curved his eyes slightly, avoided Luo Qinglin's eye sockets with his fingers, and smeared all the foam around his lips, forming a white "beard".
The upper half of Luo Qinglin's face was frowned, his innocent peach blossom eyes were closed, and his eyelids were wrinkled, while the lower half of his face was covered with a Santa Claus-like "beard". He looked like a little adult with a sad heart, very cute.
While no one was paying attention, Jiang Yanyu quietly wiped his hands, calmly took the phone from the shelf, and took a commemorative photo of Santa Claus Luo.
Click.
The shutter sound of the mobile phone was not turned off, and it was very loud in the small bathroom. Jiang Yanyu quickly coughed, trying to cover up his crime with the belated sound of human voice.
"I heard it." Luo Qinglin snorted coldly.
Jiang Yanyu turned on the shower to rinse off the foam, and said shamelessly: "Mr. Luo was so cute just now that I couldn't help but take a photo as a souvenir. Could it be that Mr. Luo didn't allow me to take the photo and wanted to sue me for infringing his portrait rights?"
How did it get into the issue of portrait rights? No one in this world can defeat Jiang Yanyu. Luo Qinglin curled his lips, too lazy to argue with him.
After washing the upper body, Luo Qinglin urged: "You go out, I will wash the rest myself."
"Can you take it off with one hand?" Jiang Yanyu asked, pulling the belt of his pajamas.
"Yes!" In order to prevent the male vixen from pulling his pants down, Luo Qinglin quickly grabbed the waistband with his right hand.
The evil plan failed. Jiang Yanyu stared at Luo Qinglin for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and said with regret: "Okay, then you wash it yourself. I'll go out first."
After saying that, Jiang Yanyu didn't insist, but obediently stepped out of the bathtub and walked out of the bathroom barefoot.
The sound of the door closing was heard, and Luo Qinglin was finally able to take a breath.
Not sure if it was because of the fever or because of Jiang Yanyu’s hand, his cheeks were burning hot and his head was dizzy.
Luo Qinglin slapped his face with his right hand to regain consciousness, then bent his right arm and struggled to untie his belt with one hand.
With his belt unbuckled, Luo Qinglin was about to pull his pants down when the bathroom door slammed open again, scaring him so much that he almost banged his head against the wall.
Luo Qinglin covered his pounding heart, turned his head and asked, "What happened again?"
Jiang Yanyu poked his head out from behind the door and said, leaning his body, "It's so inconvenient to wash with only one hand. Besides, washing for too long will aggravate the fever, raise the body temperature, and fall into a coma."
"..." Luo Qinglin had an indifferent expression on his face. He didn't say anything and just waited for Jiang Yanyu to continue making up lies.
"You really don't need my help?"
"unnecessary!"
"Okay, then hurry up and take a shower. I'll wait for you in bed." Jiang Yanyu shrugged, snorted, and slowly closed the door.
What was waiting for him in the bed! Except for the first day, they didn't sleep in the same room! This guy really can't feel comfortable if he doesn't say something frivolous for a day.
Luo Qinglin blushed and turned back speechlessly, facing the wall tiles covered with water stains.
The shower was turned on again and the humidity was too high.
Condensed water droplets flowed down the light-colored limestone wall tiles, leaving winding water marks on the tiles and dripping onto the ground.
Snap!
Water dripped from the ends of her hair onto the floor.
Qin Xiaoxi turned off the shower, dried her hair with a towel, picked up a ten-yuan punk-style black T-shirt from the hanger and put it on, then turned up the volume of the "Linkin Park" playing on her phone.
After leaving the bathroom, my phone automatically connected to the small Bluetooth speaker in the bedroom. Passionate new metal music was playing back and forth in the room, and the strong sound waves seemed to shake the floor.
This is Qin Xiaoxi's small rental house, with one bedroom and one bathroom, and the entire house is only ten square meters. The walls were covered with band posters, some of which were yellowed and faded, while others were rich in color and looked brand new.
Qin Xiaoxi dragged over the black rattan rocking chair she bought from Xianyu and half-lay down facing the window.
Closing her eyes and moving her toes to the rhythm, Qin Xiaoxi wrapped her arms around her shoulders and hugged herself tightly.
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Qin Xiaoxi first met Luo Qinglin during the filming of a beer commercial two years ago. At that time, she was a wild model and a dodder who relied on her "boyfriend" for a living.
Eighteen years old is the breaking point in Qin Xiaoxi's life.
Before she was eighteen, Qin Xiaoxi was just a carefree student. Her family was well off: her father owned several catering companies and her mother was a dancer in a cultural troupe. She studied in an international high school with high tuition fees and was picked up and dropped off by a BMW every day.
After the age of eighteen, when the wave of mobile Internet hit, e-commerce, short videos, and live streaming, too many people gave up their well-run businesses and plunged into this seemingly glamorous industry. In the end, they lost all their money and were heavily in debt. Qin Xiaoxi's father was no exception.
In order not to burden the family, my father and mother divorced and sold the house and car. She and her mother moved from a coastal villa to a village in the city and began to live a difficult life overnight.
Her mother scraped together enough money to pay for her final year of high school, but the huge gap still made Qin Xiaoxi feel aggrieved because she could no longer afford her favorite crystal chandelier high heels.
So when a man driving an Aston Martin stopped in front of her school, rolled down the window and whistled at her, she smiled and got in the car without hesitation.
The man was a second-generation rich man who had no education and opened a modeling company for fun.
He saw Qin Xiaoxi's desire for money at a glance, so he agreed to let her work as a model in his company, but on the condition that she would be his girlfriend.
Qin Xiaoxi readily agreed, thinking that it was just a romantic relationship, and the man was rich and handsome, and she could get the money, so why not?
When her mother saw the man sending her home, she was furious and said that this was not love at all but a sexual transaction and asked her to break up the relationship immediately. But Qin Xiaoxi didn't care because she received high heels, necklace and ring from the man.
After two slaps, Qin Xiaoxi covered her face and said viciously: "We can't even afford to eat, what's the point of having self-esteem?"
The mother said with tears in her eyes: "This is the life of ordinary people. People can lose money and power, but they cannot live without backbone."
"Then you live by your backbone. I have no backbone."
Just like that, Qin Xiaoxi left home with nothing but her ID card, dropped out of school, and left Nanyue forever, never to return.
When Qin Xiaoxi arrived in Beijing with the man, she found out that he had more than one "girlfriend".
She had a premonition that this would turn into a sex trade, but she was blinded by the easy money and stubbornly called it love, using the word "love" as a fig leaf to cover up the corrupt reality.
From the age of nineteen to twenty-four, the lost lamb lives in the vanity of money.
Qin Xiaoxi turned a blind eye to the female companions who changed every few days around her man. She waited for him to come home in her apartment where she lived alone every day. Only when she was really bored would she occasionally go out to shoot some print commercials.
When the man was happy, he would take her to social events with a smile on his face. When he was unhappy, he would press her against the wall and beat her, saying, "Without me, you are nothing. You can't survive without a degree and formal work experience."
Yes, she couldn't live without him. Qin Xiaoxi also thought so at that time.
The superficial vanity and the inner decay pull at each other, creating a false balance.
But finally one day, the precarious balance was broken.
After five years, the man finally got tired of her and asked for a peaceful separation, and even generously helped her introduce a new "boyfriend".
Qin Xiaoxi was silent for a moment with a wooden face, then agreed. She thought to herself that her life was already rotten anyway, so what did it matter if it got worse?
The new "boyfriend" is a middle-aged beer company owner.
It was a sunny day, and she was sent to the island to shoot a commercial as a model. She knew that once night fell and the shoot was over, she would be waiting in the hotel for the filth to arrive.
Because of her absent-mindedness, Qin Xiaoxi's print advertisement was a mess, but the photographer named Luo Qinglin was not angry at all. Instead, he spoke softly and guided her step by step to get into the right state.
After all the photo shoots were completed, she saw several models coming forward to ask for Luo Qinglin's contact information.
Luo Qinglin stood in the sun, the smile on his face radiant and shining, like the light that she would never be able to find in her entire life.
From the conversations of other models, Qin Xiaoxi knew that Luo Qinglin was an outstanding student at Renmin University. Although he was not a photography major, he had been a photographer for a long time and had been shortlisted for the World Press Photo Award. He was extremely talented.
Qin Xiaoxi didn't dare to go up and talk to him. She hadn't even graduated from high school, so it was better for her not to talk to such a bright person.
So Qin Xiaoxi took the sightseeing bus back to the hotel alone, and sat by the window quietly waiting for the sun to set. The fiery red sunset looked so warm, but her body temperature gradually dropped and she was shivering and shaking in the rocking chair.
As the stars streaked across the sky, the door made a beeping sound, and then creaked open...
The author has something to say:
Don't be afraid, the light is coming soon.
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