◇
Shi Jin was unable to answer this question in the end because the host on the red carpet read out his pen name.
He breathed a sigh of relief and walked onto the red carpet.
"Hiss, he is Shi Qian?"
"It seems so. Didn't you hear the host's introduction just now?"
"Oh my god, I thought he didn't show up because he didn't look good, but now I see, this is..."
"I have to say, he is so handsome."
The young man with a handsome face was wearing an elegant and straight white suit. He had a tall figure and light amber eyes. When he looked across the red carpet, even the host who was already experienced in hosting such occasions was a little dazed.
But the host was a professional after all, and he quickly regained his professional qualities.
He watched Shi Jin walk onto the stage: "Teacher Shi Qian, good afternoon."
Shi Jin: "Good afternoon."
The host began to ask questions according to the questions prepared on the host's cue card: "Is this the first time for Mr. Shi Qian to attend the author conference?"
Shi Jin: “Yes.”
Host: "What do you think about this author conference, Mr. Shi Qian?"
Shi Jin's eyes fell on the seats below the stage and he thought for two seconds: "... a lot of people."
The host was a little stunned as he didn't expect to get such an answer, but he quickly reacted and joked with a smile: "It seems that Teacher Shi Qian is a humorous person, hahahaha."
"Then we have one last question."
The host looked at the cue card. This was a fairly routine question, so he asked without hesitation: "Just now, Mr. Chengmi said in an interview that you are his most admired author. Does Mr. Shiqian have anything to say to him?"
There was a slight pause.
The reporter holding the camera nearby turned the lens towards his face at the right moment.
This camera is connected to the live broadcast platform, and the live broadcast room on the platform is refreshing the screen frantically.
[Help, help, how can the camera be pointed at the face and still look so good? ]
[Why write a book? Just make your debut. I will support you with money! ]
[How come I haven't heard of any intersection between Chengmi and Shiqian? It's a bit strange that he suddenly said he liked her in an interview. ]
[It's not strange, the author also reads books, it's normal for them to admire each other, and they seem to have some intersections. I remember they seemed to have recorded a variety show together before, but that variety show hasn't been broadcast yet. ]
[Wow? What variety show? Let me go squat! ]
[Don't ask the wrong question, let's see how Shi Qian answers. ]
Zhong Sisi, who was sitting in the first row of VIP seats, nudged her cousin next to her with her elbow: "Hey, Yu Ci, what do you think he will say?"
What's there to guess?
Yu Ci glanced at her, his upturned peach blossom eyes clearly saying "don't guess".
Zhong Sisi pestered him to guess: "If you don't guess, I will tell Shi Jin later, and tell you, tell you..."
She thought for a while, but couldn't think of anything to say, so she just said, "Say you're going to confess to him later!"
Yu Ci raised his eyebrows: "Who told you I wanted to confess?"
Zhong Sisi: "My aunt, she said you were going to confess your feelings at the writers' conference."
Yu Ci glanced at her, his peach blossom eyes half-smiled: "Come on."
Zhong Sisi was stunned: "What do you mean by come on?"
At the same time, a young man's clear voice came from the stage, his tone calm: "Yeah."
"come on."
Zhong Sisi suddenly realized.
I guess Shi Jin would say come on.
The host obviously didn't expect such an answer. He waited for a while, but nothing came of it: "That's it?"
Shi Jin nodded: "No more."
The host glanced at the cue card and said, "Then please take a rest at your seat, Mr. Shi Qian. We will have our award ceremony later..."
Shi Jin stepped down.
The waiter waiting at the table led him to the corresponding seat: "Teacher Shi Qian, your seat is here."
Shi Jin paused in front of his seat.
He looked at Zhong Sisi on the left, then looked at Yu Ci on the right, his calm eyes paused slightly: "......"
Shi Jin looked at the waiter: "Are you sure this is my seat?"
The waiter smiled perfectly: "Yes, according to the seating chart, your seat is indeed here."
After a pause, he asked again: "Do you have any questions?"
Shi Jin: “…”
"No." He pursed his lips and thanked the waiter: "Thank you."
The waiter smiled: "You're welcome."
Shi Jin had just sat down when Zhong Sisi, who was sitting on his left, came over and said, "Teacher Shi, what a coincidence! We are sitting next to each other."
"Also, you look really good today."
Shi Jin paused.
Her words reminded him of the unfinished conversation before he went on stage.
The same person came to mind was Yu Ci.
He raised an eyebrow, a smile on his face: "The clothes are nice... or the person is nice?"
Zhong Sisi answered quickly without hesitation: "Of course they all look good."
Yu Ci's gaze fell on Shi Jin, and his tone was quite meaningful: "...Good vision."
Shi Jin's eyelashes moved slightly, he pursed his lips, avoided Yu Ci's sight, and said to Zhong Sisi: "Thank you."
Zhong Sisi was so excited that she wanted to say something more, but a look from her cousin stopped her in her tracks.
She weighed the consequences after being hesitant to do anything, but finally shut her mouth and quietly acted like a vase.
The person beside him suddenly became quiet, and Shi Jin glanced sideways slightly.
"Oh."
A light laugh sounded in his ear, and then a hot breath approached, spraying hot air on the side of his neck, and the words almost whispered against his ear: "Look at what she's doing?"
The sensitive sides of the ears were almost instantly infected with redness.
Shi Jin moved away uncomfortably, his dark eyelashes drooping: "No."
Yu Ci looked at him leisurely: "What?"
Shi Jin pursed her lips: "...I didn't see it."
“Pah.”
Something rolled over from the back seat.
"Brother Shi, can you help me pick up the pen?" The boy's sweet and soft voice sounded at the same time.
Shi Jin lowered his head and saw a black pen lying quietly at his feet.
He picked up the pen, turned around and handed it over: "Here."
Yu Ci raised an eyebrow and looked back at him.
Cheng Ke blinked, with a deep dimple on the side of her face, and smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Brother Shi."
Shi Jin shook his head and turned away.
Cheng Ke looked at Yu Ci, smiling unchanged, and stared at him quietly for a while. He suddenly tilted his head, and his dark pupils slightly widened: "Uncle, why are you looking at me?"
Yu Ci looked at him and suddenly frowned.
"Yu Ci, cousin?"
Zhong Sisi pulled Yu Ci's clothes and said, "Let's go. It's our turn to go up."
The sponsors also needed to walk the red carpet. Since they had taken Yu's quota, they naturally had to walk around on behalf of Yu.
Yu Ci retracted his gaze: "Yeah."
Before leaving, Yu Ci glanced behind him, feeling a little worried for some reason. He frowned and looked at Shi Jin: "Don't wander around, wait for me to come back."
Shi Jin nodded: "Okay."
Yu Ci and Zhong Sisi went on stage.
Shi Jin sat in his seat and looked up at the stage.
At this time, Shi Jin once again realized one thing - some people are born to shine.
Whether it is on a large, spacious stage, a small stage with a red carpet, or a simple piano in the middle of a square, as long as he stands there, the light will follow him.
He looked quietly at the people on the stage with flamboyant features, somewhat absent-minded.
At a certain moment, the man on the stage suddenly looked over here, and his smiling peach blossom eyes accurately met his gaze through the dozen cameramen and cameras in the middle.
Shi Jin's heartbeat stopped slightly.
He lowered his eyelids and suppressed his emotions.
The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. Shi Jin clicked it and saw that it was Shi Yi who sent him a WeChat message.
He looked up at the stage and saw the host holding the microphone for an interview, which seemed to take a while.
Shi Jin hesitated for two seconds, but still stood up.
Shi Yi did not say anything specific in the WeChat message, only asking him to meet him on the sixth floor of the hotel.
Because the process had to be arranged in advance, many editors arrived at the hotel a day in advance. Shi Jin had indeed heard Shi Yi say that the room arranged for him by the organizer was on the sixth floor. He also heard him complain that the TV in that room was broken, causing him to miss the important game last night.
Before leaving the venue, Shi Jin glanced in the direction of the red carpet.
When he looked away, Cheng Ke, who was sitting on the chair, waved at him from afar with a sweet smile.
Shi Jin paused slightly, then looked away calmly.
In the corner of the meeting room, Shi Yi was hunched over and squinting at the ground.
Qiaoqiao glanced at him and asked him, "Shi Yi, are you looking for something?"
Shi Yi't even raised his head, his eyes wandering around the ground: "I don't know where I lost my phone. It was clearly there just now."
Qiaoqiao was speechless: "The phone is so big, if it fell on the ground, wouldn't it be visible at a glance? Did you leave it in the rest area and didn't bring it out?"
"No?" Shi Yi said hesitantly, "I remember I brought it out."
"Editor Shi Yi." A boy with a sweet smile appeared out of nowhere: "Are you looking for your phone?"
Shi Yi glanced at him, a little cautious about this mentally challenged teenager: "Yeah."
"Is this it?" Cheng Ke smiled and took out a cell phone from behind: "I just found this in the toilet. I remembered that your cell phone looked like this, so I came to ask you."
Shi Yi's eyes lit up, and he quickly took the phone and smiled: "Yes, that's it, thank you."
Cheng Ke smiled and waved at him, saying in a sweet tone, "You're welcome."
"When will you change your memory?" Qiaoqiao shook her head: "You can even leave your phone in the toilet, I think you will lose yourself next time."
"That's not the case." Shi Yi chuckled: "Isn't this carelessness?"
The two chatted for a few more words, and Qiaoqiao turned around to look at the stage.
Shi Yi flipped through his phone twice: "It seems that Cheng Ke's illness is not that serious. At least he looks normal on the outside."
but......
He looked at the young man's back as he quickly left the place not far away and scratched his head in confusion.
"…Did I just go to the bathroom?"
The other side.
As Shi Jin walked out of the elevator, Shi Yi sent him another WeChat message, saying that the door was not locked and asked him to go in directly and he would come over later.
Shi Jin replied with a "OK" and his eyes fell on 603 not far from the elevator.
The door was indeed not locked, it was just ajar.
Shi Jin pushed open the door, revealing an empty room.
The room prepared by the organizer was a standard room with two 1.5-meter double beds placed in the middle. A football game was playing on the TV opposite the bed, and there was a round table by the window.
The glass door leading to the balcony was not closed, and the cold air entered the room from the balcony. The temperature in the room was lower than the hotel corridor with heating on.
Shi Jin noticed something was wrong almost as soon as he entered the room.
His brows furrowed suddenly and he wanted to turn around and leave, but the door was locked with a click.
Shi Jin looked calmly at the person standing by the door: "Cheng Ke."
The fair-skinned boy tilted his head and smiled happily: "Brother Shi, it's me."
Shi Jin frowned: "Did you send me a WeChat message?"
"Yes, I was afraid you wouldn't come if I asked you to."
Cheng Kexiao was a little shy, with two dimples on her cheeks faintly visible: "So I borrowed Editor Shi Yi's phone, and look, you're here as expected."
Shi Jin's eyes fell on his hands: "Where's Shi Yi?"
"He's at the venue." The young man seemed to have just noticed his gaze. He tilted his head and raised the knife in his hand a little higher: "Brother Shi, why are you looking at my knife?"
Shi Jin stared at him with a cold expression and said nothing.
However, this silence seemed to have touched Cheng Ke's nerves. His smile suddenly withdrew, and his dark eyes stared straight at Shi Jin: "Brother Shi, why are you silent again?"
"Why don't you speak? Don't you like me?"
"But you should like me. I like you so much. After you moved away, I looked for you every day, but I couldn't find you anywhere."
"It's okay if you don't talk to me. I can just talk to you, but——" The boy suddenly spoke in a heavy voice. He tightly clenched the knife in his hand and lowered his head: "I saw you talking to someone else. That uncle was so close to you, but you still talked to him."
"You can't do this, this is wrong." Cheng Ke raised his head suddenly, his black and white eyes were bloodshot: "You should be mine, mine alone."
He held the knife and walked towards Shi Jin step by step: "Brother Shi, you are mine."
"You are mine."
"No." Shi Jin raised his eyelids, looked at the approaching boy expressionlessly, and spoke each word clearly.
"I belong only to myself."
——
When Yu Ci walked off the stage, he happened to run into Shi Yi who came to look for Shi Jin.
Seeing Yu Ci, Shi Yi asked, "Excuse me, do you know where Shi Jin went?"
He saw that their seats were next to each other and thought that Shi Jin might tell him where they were going.
Yu Ci frowned slightly. He looked over Shi Yi's shoulder at the seat, but only saw an empty chair: "Did you call?"
Shi Yi nodded: "I called and sent a WeChat message, but there was no response."
He said with a bit of anxiety: "He didn't answer the phone, nor did he reply to WeChat. He never does this."
Yu Ci frowned, took out his cell phone and called Shi Jin. Not surprisingly, the call didn't go through.
His face suddenly darkened, which scared Zhong Sisi who was standing beside him: "Cousin, it should be okay. Maybe the teacher's phone was out of battery and turned off, or he didn't hear it."
Yu Ci glanced at the empty seat not far away, and the premonition in his heart became stronger.
Frowning and thinking for two seconds, Yu Ci looked at Zhong Sisi and said, "Go to the hotel to check the surveillance, and focus on the period from 3:50 to 4:00. Be quick."
The hotel belongs to the Zhong family, and no one is more convenient than Zhong Sisi in adjusting the surveillance footage.
Zhong Sisi screamed, then quickly reacted and ran to find someone, holding up her skirt.
Yu Ci looked at Shi Yi: "The boy sitting behind Shi Jin is called Cheng Ke, do you know where he lives?"
"Ah, I don't know." Shi Yi scratched his head: "But he stayed in a hotel last night, and I saw his name on the housing allocation list."
"Room number."
"I remember it was on the sixth floor, which room was it?" Shi Yi thought for a moment and said, "I think it was 603?"
He repeated it again with certainty: "Yes, it is 603."
Yu Ci strode out of the venue.
Shi Yi followed him blankly for a few steps: "What's wrong? Will Shi Jin be with him?"
"I don't know." Yu Ci glanced at the elevator, then pushed open the door to the stairwell: "It's just a hunch."
Before Shi Yi could reply, he saw Yu Ci striding up the stairs - it was obvious that he was going to climb to the sixth floor.
He hesitated for two seconds, looked at the elevator again, and finally gritted his teeth and followed.
While Shi Yi was climbing the stairs breathlessly, he kept repeating to himself: If Shi Jin is not on the sixth floor later, he must find Shi Jin and treat him to a meal, otherwise it would be a waste to climb the six floors.
But he soon realized that he probably wouldn't be able to have this meal.
Because they had just climbed to the sixth floor, a familiar voice came from the unclosed door of the stairwell: "Brother Shi, put the knife——"
Shi Yi didn't hear the rest of the words because he saw Yu Ci, who was not far in front of him, suddenly open the door and ran out.
There is a knife!
Shi Yi's heart stopped for a second. He took a deep breath and ran out following Yu Ci.
However, he had only run two steps when he saw Yu Ci stopped at the door of 603 not far from the elevator.
It's over. There shouldn't be any danger, right?
This was the first thought that suddenly came to Shi Yi's mind.
He didn't even have time to catch his breath and ran over there: "What's wrong, why don't you come in——"
As he spoke, Shi Yi had already run to the door of 603 and looked inside quickly.
Then he swallowed the rest of his sentence back into his stomach: "Uh..."
It is dangerous, indeed.
But it seems that Shi Jin is not the one in danger.
In the room, the handsome young man heard the noise and turned his head to look at the door with a calm expression. At his feet, Cheng Ke was tied up with ropes, trying to get up.
Yu Ci breathed a sigh of relief, but there was still a dull pain in his chest from his heart beating wildly.
He relaxed his frown slightly, glanced at Cheng Ke who was tied to the bed, and walked towards Shi Jin: "What's going on?"
Shi Jin was rubbing his wrist. Hearing this, he pursed his lips and said, "He wants to tie me up."
Shi Yi suddenly remembered that Shi Jin seemed to have learned Sanda for a period of time in order to write a book?
So he smacked his lips, and instantly imagined a lot from these four short words: for example, how Cheng Ke pounced on Shi Jin with his fangs and claws, and how he was pinned to the ground by Shi Jin with a back shove.
His blood boiled with thought, and just as he was about to speak, he saw the knife thrown at the foot of the bed out of the corner of his eye.
Shi Yi opened his eyes wide: "He really dares to hold a knife!"
Yu Ci's eyebrows, which had just relaxed, instantly locked again. He strode forward and looked up and down at Shi Jin: "Are you injured?"
"No." Shi Jin put down his hand, his face calm: "He couldn't get close to me."
"Call the police." Yu Ci glanced at the boy at the foot of the bed.
Since they came in, Cheng Ke stopped shouting. He just lay there quietly, staring at them with his pair of black eyes.
He frowned and looked away: "He's not in the right mental state. We can't let him stay out here any longer."
Shi Jin didn't raise his eyes: "I have already reported it."
As if in response to Shi Jin's words, as soon as he finished speaking, the sirens of a police car were heard outside the balcony door that was not closed.
Shi Yi: “…”
Wow, that's fast.
This farce ended before it even began with Cheng Ke being taken away by the police.
By the time Shi Jin finished recording his statement with the police, the authors' conference had already ended.
Shi Yi did not come with us. He just said on WeChat that he had received the award for Shi Jin and would deliver it to his home some other day.
Shi Jin replied with an "OK".
The police officer who was in charge of recording his statement escorted him out of the door of the interrogation room: "Mr. Shi, thank you for your cooperation."
Shi Jin put the phone back into his pocket: "Excuse me, will Cheng Ke..."
"In his case, we have applied for a mental evaluation." The police replied: "If the evaluation results come out and he does have a mental illness, we will transfer him to a mental rehabilitation institution for treatment."
Shi Jin was silent for a while, then he raised his eyes and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Oh, right." The policeman suddenly said, "Your friend is still waiting for you outside. You should go out quickly. It's very cold."
friend?
Shi Jin was slightly stunned, then realized that he was probably talking about Yu Ci.
He thanked the police and walked out of the interrogation room.
There is a long corridor from the inquiry room to the lobby of the police station.
Shi Jin turned the corridor and saw Yu Ci sitting on a waiting chair next to the lobby.
The man was still wearing the casual suit he had worn in the afternoon. The black hem of his suit was pressed behind him, winding and squeezing out from the gap in the seat.
He was not sitting upright, with his legs apart, his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers pressed against his forehead, and his usually flamboyant brows seemed to be tinged with a hint of fatigue.
Shi Jin glanced at the clock on the wall.
Eight twenty.
It had been three hours since they arrived at the police station.
He pursed his lips and walked towards Yu Ci: “Yu Ci.”
Yu Ci released his hand from his brow, his expression slightly relaxed, and he stood up: "Is it over?"
"Yeah." Shi Jin responded to him.
"Let's go." Yu Ci walked to Shi Jin's side: "Let's go home."
It started snowing outside without me noticing.
Large flakes of snow were falling under the pitch-black night sky, while velvety snowflakes were floating in the air, dyeing the roadside surface pure white.
The short trees along the road were covered with snow, and a few leaves on the branches that had not yet fallen were trembling with a few snowflakes. When blown by the night wind, they fell into the soil of the flower bed with the white snowflakes.
"Pah—"
The umbrella is opened.
The black umbrella carried two figures into the snow.
"Will it be cold?"
I heard the man's low voice asking in my ear.
Shi Jin shook his head slightly, looking quietly at the snowflakes flying outside the umbrella: "As far as I can remember, this seems to be the first time it snowed in Chuncheng."
“More than that.” Yu Ci searched his memory: “It happened once three years ago.”
"Really?" Shi Jin was slightly stunned.
"Yeah." Yu Ci suddenly asked, "Want to play a game?"
"What?"
"See that building up ahead?"
Shi Jin followed his gaze and looked forward, where a tall building stood silently in the dark night.
He didn't understand what Yu Ci meant, but he still responded: "I saw it."
"We don't know how many households there are in this building, but we can see that a few have lights on."
Yu Ci: "Don't look up now. Guess whether the number of lights is odd or even. The one who guesses wrong has to tell a secret that the other person doesn't know."
Shi Jin thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay."
Yu Ci curled the corners of his lips: "Then you guess first."
Shi Jin lowered his eyes and recalled the scene he had just seen in his mind. After a while, he said, "Even numbers."
"Then I'll guess the odd number." Yu Ci nodded: "You can look up now."
Shi Jin raised his eyes and looked at the building.
This was a newly built apartment building, and the occupancy rate was not very high, so he almost immediately counted the houses with lights on: "Six."
Shi Jin looked at Yu Ci, his eyes slightly lit up: "You lose."
"Well, I lost."
Yu Ci readily admitted: "Then let me tell you a secret."
The man stood under the umbrella, with white fluffy snowflakes falling behind him, and a smile on his outstanding face. His sparkling peach blossom eyes also curved up.
He said: "Shi Jin, I like you."
Shi Jin was silent for a moment. He looked at Yu Ci's dark eyes that were filled with smiles, and asked after a while: "Why?"
Yu Ci: “Have you seen Alice in Wonderland?
Shi Jin pursed her lips: "I have seen it."
Yu Ci: "Then do you know why the crow looks like a desk?"
Shi Jin's eyelashes moved slightly.
He raised his eyes and met Yu Ci's gaze.
Those beautiful peach blossom eyes were staring at him without blinking, with a deep-seated nervousness hidden in their depths.
Shi Jin suddenly curled the corners of his lips.
He raised his foot and walked forward: "Yeah."
"What do you mean?" Yu Ci was stunned for a moment. He looked at Shi Jin's back and chased after him: "What does 'hmm' mean? Do you know why? Or did you agree to be with me?"
Shi Jin slowed down his pace until his hand hanging by his side touched the slightly cool corner of his clothes.
Before Yu Ci spoke, he lowered his eyelashes: "Yeah."
"Me too."
It was a dark night with heavy snow, and there were only a few people on the street. In the cold wind of the snowy night, a black umbrella stepped on the falling snowflakes, leaving two footprints in the fluffy white snow.
Winter is short.
But the future is long.
"Do you know why a crow looks like a writing desk?"
"Because I like you for no reason."
The author has something to say:
The main text ends here——
There will be some small extras included later to explain some things that are not mentioned in the main text.
In addition, if there are any cute people in the comment section who have requested a special episode, I will try my best to satisfy them if I have inspiration——
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
