Chapter 173 Her body temperature intertwined with his
In early summer, smoke rose from an open-air barbecue stall, mingling with the aroma of cumin and chili powder, lingering in the dusky air. Beer bottles clinked against each other at the next table.
Not wanting to be outdone, Song Suiyang also raised his glass.
"cheers!!"
Qin Tian and Yuan Junruo raised their glasses in response. Tang Zhixu lazily poured himself a glass of Coke and raised it. Song Suiyang reached out and pushed down his glass.
"You're not mistaken! This dinner is to celebrate Qin Tian's promotion to Associate Researcher! The youngest Associate Researcher in the history of the Shanghai Museum! He also opened the world-renowned Chunjun Tomb! You're actually drinking Coke on a day like this?!"
"I just went to Beijing the day before yesterday." Tang Zhixu was unmoved.
"You can always have that one glass, right? Do you deserve to have a beer on a day like this?" Song Suiyang was still unconvinced.
"I can't drive after just one drink. It's too annoying to ask for a designated driver. I might as well not drink at all."
Yuan Junruo poured another glass of beer: "I'll drink it for Teacher Tang."
Song Suiyang smiled and patted his shoulder: "Yuan Junruo, you can do it. I think you have a bright future."
Qin Tian smiled as they played and joked, while Tang Zhixu silently watched her. It had been a long time since he'd seen her smile like this. Half a year had passed in the blink of an eye, and it was time to forget.
The meal lasted until midnight. Yuan Junruo called a designated driver, while Song Suiyang called her boyfriend. Qin Tian looked calm as he greeted Song Suiyang and offered some words of advice to Yuan Junruo. Tang Zhixu knew she could drink quite well, but he estimated she had drunk more tonight than ever before, and he was a little worried.
"Let me take you back."
Qin Tian wanted to push her away, but she had just stood up and staggered, and the impact was just beginning.
Tang Zhixu didn't say much, took her arm and walked towards his car. Qin Tian got in the car, tilted his head and fell silent. Tang Zhixu thought to himself that this is what she does when she's drunk, no noise, just sleeping. She's quite good at drinking.
The street lights on the overpass flew by quickly, and the music on the midnight radio was swaying.
He no longer had a crush on Qin Tian. But sometimes he'd think about how difficult it was to fall in love with and understand someone again. If he and Qin Tian were destined to have a partner in life, why couldn't he be that person? There were many different types of marriages, and marrying someone familiar might not be the best, but it was still an ideal choice.
He parked the car downstairs of her building, the interior lights came on, and he patted her.
"Wake up, we're home."
She let out a long sigh, turned her face away, and a tear slid down from her closed eyes and flowed into the corner of her mouth.
Tang Zhixu was stunned.
Qin Tian opened his eyes with all his strength in the salty taste, wiped the corner of his mouth, and asked drowsily: "Am I drooling?"
Tang Zhixu didn't answer, but got out of the car, walked to the passenger seat and opened the door. Qin Tian held onto the door, his steps unsteady, and he couldn't even stand steadily, feeling even weaker than before.
Tang Zhixu put his arm through her ribs and led her into the corridor. But she kept turning her head to look back, her legs got tangled, and she almost tripped, but fortunately he held her up.
"Walk carefully, what are you looking at?"
"Stars," she replied vaguely in a low voice.
He turned to look. Where were the stars? The building across the street completely blocked out the sky. It was one in the morning, and there were no lights, only a pitch-black skyscraper. It seemed she was truly drunk.
He took her to the doorstep as if he were holding her hostage.
"Where are the keys?"
She smiled and said, "No, there's someone at home."
Then he started knocking on the door: "Dad, open the door, it's me."
Tang Zhixu quickly took her aside, feeling both amused and helpless. He had said before that she was a good drinker, but he didn't expect that this was just the beginning.
"Stop shouting, your dad is asleep. He can't open it for you even if he's awake."
"Asleep? Going to bed so early? I still have something to say to him."
Tang Zhixu took her bag and reached for her keys.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow if you have anything."
"No, I tell him that every day. I haven't told him yet today."
"Okay, okay, go ahead and tell me. Your dad is listening."
"Can you hear it like this?"
"I can hear it. Walls have ears, don't they?" He searched for a long time but couldn't find the key.
Qin Tian leaned his head against the wall, his eyes fixed on the empty darkness.
"Dad, I found the Han Dynasty gilt plate. It's the real Han Dynasty gilt plate. The Han Dynasty gilt plate you've been looking for."
Tang Zhixu's hand stopped, and the only sound in the silent corridor was each other's breathing.
"So this is the real reason. Did you dig up our ancestors' graves to help Dad fulfill his wish?"
Qin Tian chuckled, then chuckled again, returning to silence. Just when he thought she wouldn't answer the question, a pale voice sounded calmly.
"Because of me, there was no other way for him to know that I had found the Han Gilded Plate."
She was truly drunk and talking nonsense. Even if the news broke about the exhumation of her ancestors' graves, for Alzheimer's patients, ignorance was simply ignorance. Tang Zhixu sighed inwardly and pulled his phone from his trouser pocket to take a picture of her bag, but he still couldn't find the damn key.
Her bag was packed with everything: folders, a laptop, sunscreen, tissues. There were no dividers, and everything was jumbled together, which was why he couldn't get his keys. He reluctantly set the bag on the floor and took a few things out. As he pulled out the folder, the rain started pouring down. The shadow above suddenly grew larger, and Qin Tian collapsed to the ground. He dropped the folder and lunged forward.
White paper flew all over the sky, and there was a dull pain in his chest. Qin Tian fell on him. Her long hair spread out and fell on his face.
Late at night, outside her house, he lay face up on the ground. He tried to push himself up, but his shoulders ached, so he let go again. Warmth and heat, the scent of her alcohol and peach-scented hair lingered in the early summer night.
He stared aimlessly up at the old, yellow-black ceiling. Let him rest a little, wait for this wave of pain to pass. Her heartbeat rippled like running water. He seemed to hear the sound of dripping water, even feel its dampness. The scalding water flowed into his ears, filling his ear canal drop by drop.
As if sinking to the bottom of a river, the sounds around him began to distort, making it difficult for him to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Her sad sobs were intermittent under the water, like a mermaid's elegy.
"Because I'm afraid... I'm afraid he'll forget me... I don't want... him to forget me..."
He stared at the ceiling with wide eyes. Who was that him? He was her father, right?
After a moment, he helped her sit in the corner. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming calm and long.
He sat with her in the corner, running his fingers through his hair.
The discarded folders fell apart, and the papers inside were scattered all over the floor.
He sat for a while, then pulled himself up and bent over to pick up the papers one by one. His movements became slower and slower until he stopped.
The paper in his hand had the same content. It was covered in bright red seals, from one word to three, from incomplete to complete. This was the test paper. She carried it with her simply because all the papers had that person's name on them.
He picked up all the papers and put them back in the folder, his heartbeat still calm. The key, in the side pocket of his bag. Something he couldn't find, searching through all his drawers, was right there in plain sight. It was as if the answer he was looking for had been known for a long time. He opened the door and carried her to the sofa.
When I walked out of her house, there was a piece of white paper lying on the ground in the dim corridor.
He held his aching shoulder as he picked up the last test paper and pressed the elevator button. The old elevator made a dull, monotonous mechanical sound, and the chain "clattered" as it turned. The sensor light suddenly lit up.
Under the pale light, the white paper in his hand was filled with the name, Tong Zhongyuan.
The elevator door opened heavily, and he folded the paper and walked in.
The elevated highway was clear at midnight, and he sped along. Tears in his ears, a broken lament, a bright red stamp. He pocketed the exam paper, wondering how he would return it to her tomorrow.
The paper unfolded in his mind again. Suddenly, his heart tightened, he turned on the hazard lights and found the nearest barrier to stop the car.
He pulled the paper from his pocket and turned on the interior lights.
This seal test paper was different from the others. It must have been a seal test after the seal was engraved. She had meticulously carved a circle of patterns around the name. And this pattern...
He picked up his phone, turned on the flash, and illuminated the circle of patterns.
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