Chapter 16: Alive
The rain of rose petals was getting heavier. Jiang Jinyue shook her wings like a puppy, shook her hair, and tugged at the hem of her big white T-shirt that looked like a miniskirt, turning around in a circle.
"Why? Is it too big?"
Jiang Jinyue obviously didn't grasp the key point in Lu Qingmian's words, which was white.
Lu Qingmian's eyes were very dark, making it impossible to see any emotion in them.
He stepped on the rose petals on the ground without mercy and walked towards Jiang Jinyue step by step.
Lu Qingmian's aura was too strong. Every time Lu Qingmian walked towards Jiang Jinyue, Jiang Jinyue subconsciously wanted to run away, but there was no place for him to escape in the bedroom.
It only took two or three steps from the small bedroom for Lu Qingmian to stand in front of Jiang Jinyue.
He unbuttoned his coat, took it off, turned around and faced Jiang Jinyue, "Put it on."
Jiang Jinyue reached out his hand obediently and put on Lu Qingmian's coat. The coat still retained Lu Qingmian's warmth and scent. Jiang Jinyue had the illusion of falling into Lu Qingmian's arms.
Lu Qingmian suddenly leaned over, opened his arms and moved closer to Jiang Jinyue, as if he wanted to hug Jiang Jinyue.
The rain of rose petals continued to fall on the hair and shoulders of the two people. Jiang Jinyue opened her lips slightly, her shoulders shrank, and she stood where she was without dodging.
Lu Qingmian reached behind Jiang Jinyue and buttoned the bottom two buttons of his coat.
"You can change your clothes after I leave. For now, just make do with this."
After he finished speaking, Lu Qingmian turned around and left the bedroom.
Jiang Jinyue was the only one left in the bedroom, with flower petals raining down from the sky and 3D surround piano music playing in his ears.
Jiang Jinyue raised his hand and shook off the overly long sleeves of his coat. He was confused and hadn't figured out what was going on.
He walked out of the bedroom in his slippers, his hands on the ground, and rose petals dripping from his eyes.
In the living room, Lu Qingmian was sitting on the sofa playing with his cell phone.
As Jiang Jinyue came out, the rose petal rain and piano music background music followed.
Seeing rose petals beginning to fall in the living room, Lu Qingmian finally set his sights on Jiang Jinyue again.
Jiang Jinyue obviously didn't expect it to turn out like this. He thought Lu Qingmian was going to ask him why. His mind was racing, but in the end he couldn't figure out how to explain it to Lu Qingmian.
In the end, Lu Qingmian didn't ask.
Lu Qingmian looked around the living room and soon found the umbrella hanging by the door.
He took the umbrella, sat back on the sofa, and opened the umbrella with a "whoosh".
The umbrella was a small flower umbrella that Jiang Jinyue bought during a discount. It had clusters of closely packed red and purple flowers on it, matched with green leaves. The colors were particularly bright and eye-catching. When Lu Qingmian put it on his shoulder, there was no sense of disharmony at all. There was even a sense of fashion that Jiang Jinyue did not understand.
"Let's eat." Lu Qingmian pointed to the food he brought.
Jiang Jinyue walked slowly to the opposite side of Lu Qingmian, pulled over the only chair, and just as he was about to sit down, he heard Lu Qingmian say:
"Sit next to me."
Jiang Jinyue was puzzled. Lu Qingmian flicked a rose petal off the table with his fingertips, tilted the umbrella to the side, leaving a little space for Jiang Jinyue, and said, "You want to eat flowers?"
Watching the rose petals quickly falling all over the table, Jiang Jinyue sat down obediently next to Lu Qingmian. Although they shared the same small flower umbrella, they still carefully kept a certain distance between them and neither of them touched the other.
After dinner, Lu Qingmian sat on the sofa and continued playing with his mobile phone. He looked like nothing was wrong. He didn't talk much to Jiang Jinyue, nor did he leave. He just sat there.
Jiang Jinyue has never had many friends and doesn't know how to get along with others, but Lu Qingmian never makes Jiang Jinyue feel uncomfortable.
Although Lu Qingmian didn't speak, his presence was very strong, and Jiang Jinyue would glance over at him from time to time.
He felt a little happy and had a comfortable feeling of being in someone's company.
Lu Qingmian put the umbrella on his shoulder and leaned on the sofa carelessly, with the umbrella covering his face, leaving only his chin exposed. He played with a thin silver-white mobile phone in one hand and rested his other hand on the umbrella handle, tapping it lightly with his slender fingers from time to time, as if he was playing an instrument.
Jiang Jinyue took out a big plastic bag from somewhere and was kneeling on the ground picking rose petals into the bag.
The rain of petals continued, and Jiang Jinyue soon filled a bag with petals. He immediately took out a second bag and continued picking.
He opened the window, and the sound of the drizzle accompanied by the piano music was a bit hypnotic.
Lu Qingmian lowered his eyes and watched Jiang Jinyue sticking his butt out picking up rose petals. Because he had been kneeling on the ground, many petals soon fell on his wings. Jiang Jinyue would shake his wings, and not only the petals would fall off, but also many feathers.
After picking up the trash for a while, Jiang Jinyue would run to the window and look down. Every time he looked down, the expression on his little face was very nervous, as if he was afraid of seeing someone jumping off the building again.
Lu Qingmian naturally knew what Jiang Jinyue was afraid of, but he didn't ask.
His eyes fell on the plastic bag filled with rose petals and he asked, "What are you picking these petals for?"
Jiang Jinyue looked over with rose petals in her hand, but only saw Lu Qingmian's chin.
He was a little embarrassed: "I want to wash the petals, dry them, and make tea with them."
Lu Qingmian: “…” The fingertips tapping the umbrella handle paused.
Jiang Jinyue felt even more embarrassed. "My mother bought that kind of flower tea before. It was so expensive. A small bag of only 10 bags cost more than 20 yuan. I looked at those dried flowers and they didn't seem to be anything special. Now there are so many petals, it would be a waste not to pick some up."
Under the small flower umbrella, there was silence. Lu Qingmian didn't speak for a long time. Jiang Jinyue thought Lu Qingmian would dislike him for this, but he didn't expect a cold word to come from under the flower umbrella: "Oh."
There was no ridicule or extra words, I just asked out of curiosity and let it go after getting the answer.
Jiang Jinyue's eyes seemed to light up, with a faint golden light flowing in them. He said lightly: "I'll give you some after they are dried. Don't worry! I will wash them very clean!"
Lu Qingmian slightly raised the umbrella, revealing a pair of calm black eyes. He looked at Jiang Jinyue steadily, his voice still cold and clear: "Okay."
Jiang Jinyue picked up the petals even harder.
The rain of rose petals continued for several hours before gradually stopping. After the rain of petals disappeared, the piano music surrounding the living room also disappeared.
It was already dark at this time. The lights in the living room were on, and it was still raining outside the window. The night was affected by the rain and became a little darker.
Lu Qingmian didn't leave and even fell asleep on the sofa.
Jiang Jinyue had cleaned up the rose petals. He was sitting by the window, staring at the rain outside in a daze.
For some reason, he always felt uneasy in his heart, as if something bad was going to happen.
He wanted to go to 903 to see Chen Keai several times, but now he has wings, which makes it inconvenient for him to go out, and he is also afraid that Chen Keai will feel annoyed.
Discussions about Chen Keai are still going on in H Forum, but they have been replaced by other gossips and are not as popular anymore.
When Jiang Jinyue leaned out the window, Lu Qingmian woke up at some point and suddenly said in a cold voice, "You can't watch Chen Keai 24 hours a day."
Jiang Jinyue was startled and turned to look at Lu Qingmian in panic. When he met Lu Qingmian's dark eyes, he felt as if everything about him was seen through.
He looked away somewhat embarrassedly and said softly, "I know, but I..."
But he couldn't let it go, he couldn't just stand by and watch.
Jiang Jinyue not only saw the shadow of his father Jiang Wangfeng in Chen Keai's father, but also saw his own shadow in Chen Keai. In some aspects of their experiences, they were so similar.
At 9 o'clock in the evening, it was quiet outside the window. Jiang Jinyue was dozing off by the window, his head nodding. From time to time, he would wake up and immediately stand up to look out the window.
Lu Qingmian left once, went back to his own house to get his mobile phone charger and came down again. He sat back on the sofa and played games while charging. The noisy background sound of the game made the living room seem less quiet.
Jiang Jinyue wanted Lu Qingmian to go back to sleep several times, but every time he opened his mouth, Lu Qingmian seemed to predict what he was going to say, and would look up and give him a cold look even when he was playing games.
After a few times, Jiang Jinyue stopped mentioning it obediently.
At this time, downstairs, inside 903.
Chen Keai, who was pretending to be dead on the bed, held the phone tightly in his hand, his fingertips trembling as he clicked on a number several times and turned off the phone screen several times.
Finally, after hesitating for a day, Chen Keai dialed the number.
After the dial tone rang a few times, the person on the other end picked up the phone. The voice was soft and slow, not as angry as Chen Keai had expected.
"Lovely, why are you calling so late?"
Chen Keai's lips trembled, and hope flashed in her eyes: "Mom... I... I'm sorry about what happened at your workplace..."
"Oh, your father told me about this matter. He said that you talked back to him and were not convinced. Keai, you can't be like this. Your father is doing this for your own good. You have been getting into trouble since you were a child. It's always your father who helps you clean up the mess." Chen Keai's mother's voice was still calm. There was no anger in her voice, but there was a kind of coldness as if facing a stranger. She kept talking about how difficult life was for Chen Keai's father. From beginning to end, she never asked Chen Keai if he was scared or if he felt wronged because he was bullied.
Chen Keai felt cold all over, and the fingers holding the phone became stiff. After her mother's nagging came to an end, Chen Keai immediately said, "Mom, I was secretly photographed. I am very scared and wronged. I..."
Mother Chen interrupted him: "Cute, mom is pregnant."
Chen Keai's blood ran cold: "Mom? What does pregnancy mean? Don't you want me anymore?"
There was silence on the other end of the line.
After a long moment, Chen's mother spoke: "You're so cute, why...are you different from the child I expected? Can't you like girls? Can't you...be like a normal person?"
Chen Keai hung up the phone.
He stood up like a ghost and walked towards the open window.
When Jiang Jinyue looked down again, he found that in the darkness, he could vaguely see a person standing on the air conditioner outside the window of 903. Because the lights in 903 were not on, he could not see clearly, but Jiang Jinyue knew that it must be Chen Keai!
He stood up suddenly, stepped on the chair and wanted to fly away, but was suddenly grabbed by his sleeve.
Lu Qingmian walked over without knowing when, his eyes were cold and his voice was terribly low: "Jiang Jinyue, I told you before, someone who wants to die cannot be saved, unless he wants to live himself."
Jiang Jinyue looked into Lu Qingmian's eyes. The golden light in them grew stronger and stronger. His expression was firm and his tone was extremely serious. "Lu Qingmian, I can feel that he doesn't want to die. He wants to live. He wants to live! Can you believe me?"
Lu Qingmian looked at Jiang Jinyue and finally slowly loosened his fingers.
Jiang Jinyue flew out suddenly, and Lu Qingmian looked at the wide-open window for a long time without moving.
But as soon as he flew out, he found that there was no one on the air conditioner outside the window of 903.
Chen Keai has already jumped down?
Jiang Jinyue's heart tightened, as if it was being tightly grasped by a hand. He dived down, flapping his wings violently at an extremely fast speed, but when he was about to fly to the ground, he did not see Chen Keai.
There is no one in the air, no one on the ground, where is Chen Keai?
There was a flash of thunder and the rain kept falling.
Jiang Jinyue looked up in the lightning and saw Chen Keai hanging under the 903 air conditioner outdoor unit. He held the iron guardrail wrapped around the air conditioner outdoor unit tightly with both hands, and kicked his feet weakly in the air, as if he would fall at any time.
Chen Keai's hands gripping the iron railing gradually lost strength. He looked up at the dark sky, and rain fell on his face. He couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears. He kicked his legs, trying to find something to step on, but to no avail.
He knew he couldn't hold on for long, and he regretted it the moment he jumped. He grabbed the iron railing but couldn't climb back.
It’s too late, Chen Keai thought.
He was really going to die this time. At this moment, many images flashed through his mind, including his chaotic 20 years of life, his parents' faces, his friends' faces, and even the face of his first love boyfriend who had broken up with him for a long time.
The thunder grew louder, the rain heavier, and the iron railings became more slippery.
Chen Keai's body fell down little by little, with only the last bit of his fingers hooked on the iron railing.
Despair appeared on Chen Keai's face.
At this moment, a dazzling white light illuminated Chen Keai's body, as if the sun was rising only beside him.
Chen Keai turned her head and saw Jiang Jinyue flapping his wings in the light. His overly long hair was half wet, and he was wearing a coat strangely inside out. There was even a strange bald spot on one of his wings where it was lowered.
But when his golden eyes looked at him, they were full of worry and anxiety. He flew towards him quickly against the increasingly heavy rain.
Chen Keai's eyes widened, her face showing a mixture of sadness and joy, her facial features distorted by the violent fluctuations in her emotions.
He looked at Jiang Jinyue and suddenly collapsed and shouted, "Save me! Jiang Jinyue, please save me! I want to live, I want to live!!!"
As the words fell, Chen Keai exhausted the last bit of strength, loosened her hands, and fell down.
Jiang Jinyue opened his arms and hugged Chen Keai tightly.
The moment Jiang Jinyue hugged Chen Keai, many scenes flashed before his eyes.
Time flew by, things twisted and deformed, and when everything settled, Jiang Jinyue pushed aside the years and once again saw Chen Keai crying for help. It was not a pretty sight, with tears streaming down her face and her facial features fluttering. Gradually, Chen Keai's face kept shrinking and changing, and finally turned into his own face.
Jiang Jinyue saw his tiny self, covered in scars and blood, huddled in a dirty corner of the room, whispering for help: "Save me, someone can save me, I want to live, I want to live..."
At this moment, Jiang Jinyue seemed to have saved his dying childhood self.
The rainstorm came again.
1203 By the wide-open window, the curtains were blown by the strong wind, and the heavy rain was blown into the room by the slanting wind, quickly soaking everything in front of the window.
Lu Qingmian stood by the window, letting the heavy rain blow in and hit his body.
His dark eyes were dead silent as he stared at the darkness outside the window.
Suddenly, a dazzling white light rose from the bottom to the top, illuminating the darkness in Lu Qingmian's eyes.
Jiang Jinyue rushed in holding Chen Keai. The two of them should have fallen to the ground together, but Jiang Jinyue was caught by Lu Qingmian and held tightly in his arms.
Chen Keai had experienced two life-or-death situations, and his emotions had fluctuated greatly. The numbness on his face completely disappeared, and he finally let himself break down and burst into tears. He sat on the ground like a child, crying and kicking his legs, yelling and shouting: "I'm so fucking wronged! I'm so fucking miserable! I want to live! I want to live! I haven't had enough of love! I haven't found a boyfriend who's really 18cm tall! Fuck it, I want to live! I want to live!"
Amidst the background sound of Chen Keai shouting, Lu Qingmian held Jiang Jinyue tightly with both hands, with such force that Jiang Jinyue felt pain.
It wasn't just pain, there was also a strange feeling, like rejection and desire.
He raised his neck, breathing hard and fast, his hands tightly grasping Lu Qingmian's chest. The repeated physical contact made the PTSD stress response come quickly and violently.
But he did not push Lu Qingmian away, instead he snuggled tighter into Lu Qingmian's arms.
"Lu Qingmian." Jiang Jinyue stood on tiptoe and leaned close to Lu Qingmian's ear. His voice was small, and his words became intermittent due to his uneven breathing.
"I saved Chen Keai. I'm very happy. I saved him..."
Lu Qingmian raised his hand and gently and slowly touched Jiang Jinyue's head. There was no longer a distance of several centimeters between them, and the warmth of his palm was actually transmitted to Jiang Jinyue.
His voice was incredibly soft: "Well, I saw it, you're amazing, you did a great job."
Jiang Jinyue's lips trembled, and tears rolled down the corners of his eyes. He took a deep breath, and the illusion that was always tightly wrapped around him like a hell of a body swayed and disappeared like ripples on the water. He saw Lu Qingmian's face clearly, and his tears rolled down his cheeks and hit Lu Qingmian's chest, soaking his clothes.
"I saved myself." A loud thunder sounded, and Jiang Jinyue's voice was drowned out by the thunder.
But he didn't care whether anyone heard it or not. There was a golden light flashing in his eyes, and the wings behind him trembled slowly, then stretched out and raised high. The next second, the second pair of wings broke out from Jiang Jinyue's shoulder blades.
Lu Qingmian lowered his head and witnessed with his own eyes Jiang Jinyue's transformation from two wings to four wings.
The holy light almost illuminated the night sky outside the window.
Chen Keai even forgot to cry. She stared blankly at Jiang Jinyue and murmured:
"I saw a real angel."
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