Night.81 (3100+)
A busy road is like a river that will not stop just because a stone is missing.
The sun sets and the moon rises, and the city, like a steel castle, works day and night, wheezing and running every gear, big or small, inside its huge body.
There are countless coffee shops and upstairs shops in the residential area that survives between several bustling shopping malls. The neon signs facing the street start to light up in the afternoon. The peach-pink light tubes outline a winking long-eared rabbit, blowing kisses to passers-by in a coquettish manner.
Tony looked at the girl's fiery red curly hair in the mirror, twisted the ends of her hair with his fingers and rubbed them like petals. He pouted his thick lips in dissatisfaction: "Are you sure?"
Ruan Mei nodded: "Yes, come on, there will be a chance to dye it back later."
"Who made you willing to be a good and innocent little white rabbit again?" Even though Tony was unwilling, he could only snap his fingers and let the studio assistant prepare the black dye.
"It's not a question of whether I'm willing or not, it's just that there was an occasion where it wasn't appropriate for me to go with red hair."
"Then you can wear a wig. After dyeing your hair black, you need to let it grow for a while before you can bleach it again."
Not every Asian is suitable for flaming hair color. Tony has a special liking for Ruan Mei's red hair. When he does styling, he always considers the overall feeling of each person instead of blindly piling all the fashionable elements on the person. Ruan Mei is the one who is born to be suitable for fiery red hair color.
"It's so hot, and I have so much hair. Wearing a wig would be too ugly." Ruan Mei saw that Tony was reluctant, and she smiled. "Oh, wait a while, you can pour any color you want on my head. I'll be your experimental guinea pig, okay? Don't be unhappy, baby."
"Okay, I got it."
After dyeing her hair black and straightening it, Ruan Mei looked at herself in the mirror and found that she looked a bit like the young girl she was when she first entered university.
After saying goodbye to Tony, she drove to the South High-Speed Railway Station. The high-speed train of Grandma Zhong Mang and Chen Shanye's father would arrive in more than an hour. She and Chen Shanye were at opposite ends of the city, so she didn't go a long way to pick him up. Chen Shanye took the subway to the South Station by himself.
The flame that had burned for so many years was suddenly extinguished. Ruan Mei was a little uncomfortable with it, and she always used the front camera of her mobile phone as a mirror when she stopped at a red light.
After parking the car in the parking lot, Ruan Mei received a call from Chen Shanye, saying that he was already waiting at the exit.
From a distance, she saw Chen Shanye standing in the afterglow of the sunset, almost blending into the orange and red.
Ever since the torrential rain that threatened to drown the entire city two days ago, the water-washed sky has become astonishingly gorgeous. Every evening when the sun sinks into the sea of fire, my friends' circle is always flooded with beautiful sunset photos from all angles.
Ruan Mei walked past the man who was looking at his phone, her black hair shaking. Seeing that Chen Shanye didn't respond, she turned back and walked past him again, coughing.
There was no reaction at all. Ruan Mei pouted, took a big step forward to him and looked up at him.
Chen Shanye raised his eyelids slightly and glanced at her. He didn't see the girl's face for a moment, but only saw her straight black hair. He wondered why he was trying to flirt with her again. He clicked his tongue impatiently and wanted to step back.
Only when he lifted his heel did he notice something was wrong.
"What are you doing? Why are your hair..." Chen Shanye opened his eyes wide, so incredulous that he didn't even finish his words.
"Well, I've had red hair for too long. I need a change of pace." Seeing the man's surprised expression, Ruan Mei suddenly lost some confidence in her new hairstyle. She took out her phone and took a picture of herself, frowning and asking, "Isn't it weird? I look like a high school student now. Aren't I pretending to be too young?"
Chen Shanye reached out and twisted a bunch of black hair in his palm. His fingers slid down from her cheek to the ends of her hair, and the soft black hair fluttered in the air. "No, it looks good. It looks very similar to the photo on your ID card."
He naturally knew that Ruan Mei would not get her hair done just because she was in a bad mood.
Tomorrow is Zhong Mang's farewell ceremony, after which they will drive Zhong Mang's ashes back to his hometown for burial. Ruan Mei has been dressed in black clothes and black pants since yesterday. He never thought that she even dyed her hair black.
Chen Shanye tucked her hair behind her ears: "Although you look good no matter what, honey, you don't need to be like this..."
He didn't want to change Ruan Mei's original living conditions.
Ruan Mei shook her head and took his hand, which was as warm as the summer breeze: "I think it's necessary."
Chen Shanye looked at her starry eyes that were filled with thick amber honey by the setting sun, and reached out to ruffle her soft and smooth hair.
Many words eventually melted into a sigh: "You..."
When Ruan Mei arrived, Grandma Zhong's bus would not arrive for half an hour. The two of them stood at the exit and watched the deep-sea whale swallow up the warm golden toast that had just come out of the oven.
Chen Shanye took out his cell phone to check the time more and more frequently. Ruan Mei, standing beside him, could feel the tension in him growing tighter and tighter.
After dawn that day, Zhong Mang's body was transported to the funeral home, and Chen Shanye also called Chen Hechuan after he got up.
His father was silent on the other end of the phone for a long time, so long that Chen Shanye's back, which had just straightened up, was about to bend again. Then Chen Hechuan spoke: "I will drive to the village later to talk to grandma about this in person. I will discuss Zhong Mang's funeral arrangements with grandma and then we will see what to do."
Chen Shanye lowered his head and sobbed into the phone: "Dad, I'm sorry."
"Yanye, this is not your fault."
Chen Hechuan was also a little lost for his own voice, and said a few more words before hanging up the phone.
Soon after, Shen Qing called to reconfirm.
The mother cried and said that they had dinner together in Guangzhou last month, how could this person just disappear like that, and how could the child be so stupid as to touch this broken thing.
Chen Shanye hadn't slept all night. He was wet in the rain and sweating, looking like a homeless person. His cell phone had been running out of battery after making calls all night. Ruan Mei took the dirty man home, washed his hair and gave him a bath. She stuffed him into the quilt, took out her own eye mask and earplugs and put them on him. She climbed around Chen Shanye like an octopus, preventing him from moving.
Ruan Mei wanted him to sleep for a few hours so that he would have the mental and physical strength to deal with Zhong Mang's funeral.
Chen Shanye couldn't sleep at first, but his vision and hearing were deprived, so he could only close his eyes and pretend to sleep.
It was not until almost noon that a call from Chen Hechuan brought the two out of their half-awake state of sometimes walking on clouds and sometimes falling into a whirlpool.
Ruan Mei gave the bedroom to Chen Shanye, closed the door, took some ice cubes from the freezer and put them in two plastic bags, then lay on the sofa to soothe the sore eyelids.
The door of the room was thin, and every time the man said sorry, the ice on his eyelids melted a little in this living room which was still extremely hot in late summer.
How could such hot weather not melt away the guilt in Chen Shanye's heart?
Ruan Mei was crying and thinking wildly.
…
When the train was about to arrive at the station, Chen Hechuan called to inform her. Ruan Mei held Chen Shanye's hand tightly, feeling his originally dry and fresh palms become damp and sticky with sweat, and there was unconcealable pain and sorrow under his straight back.
A large number of passengers poured out of the exit like a black tide. They waited for a while, and after the crowd had dispersed, Chen Shanye saw his father slowly walking out with Grandma Zhong.
Ruan Mei felt the man beside her suddenly shake. She bit her lip and held his hand tighter.
The sky darkened and the station lights outside were turned on. The bright white light was cold and useless except for illuminating the vague shadows of people fleeing like panicked water birds under their feet.
Ruan Mei pulled his hand, tilted her head to see his Adam's apple rolling, and said, "Go help your father with his luggage?"
After a while, Chen Shanye hummed and walked towards the person who came.
Ruan Mei was just a few steps away and was about to call for help when the man walking beside her stopped and without warning, he knelt on his knees with a thud.
My heart seemed to actually stop for a few seconds.
During those few seconds, Ruan Mei could not hear any sound. She lowered her head and the image of the man kneeling on the ground was carved in her eyes like a sharp chisel.
After a few seconds of nothingness, my heart started beating again, jumping around like a mad rabbit.
Trying hard to suppress the tears in her eyes, Ruan Mei wanted to bend down and help the man up, but she didn't.
How guilty must he be to kneel down in a crowded station?
Chen Hechuan frowned, and before he could say anything, the little old lady he was supporting had already let go of his hand and walked forward faster.
The noise was so loud that passersby gathered around to watch. Ruan Mei looked at the old woman approaching them and called out helplessly, "Grandma...it's really not his fault..."
Grandma Zhong already had a head full of white hair, and losing her grandson overnight made her back bend even more, and tears glistened in the corners of her wrinkled eyes.
But the old man's voice was crisp and clear: "Yezi, stand up."
"Grandma, I..."
The old woman didn't give him another chance to apologize. Her thin, weathered fingers pinched Chen Shanye's ear and twisted it hard, just like she had done to her disobedient grandson many years ago. Her angry voice trembled, "Don't you even listen to an old woman like me?"
Grandma's strength naturally had no effect on him, but Chen Shanye was afraid that she would get angry, so he quickly stood up from the ground and bent over to let her continue twisting his ears: "Grandma, please don't be angry, don't make yourself hurt..."
Grandma Zhong quickly loosened her grip and pinched the stubborn big man's arm, her voice choking: "You bunch of rascals, one or two of you... you never let an old woman rest easy..."
She patted Chen Shanye's shoulder. How could she not know the temperament of this child whom she had watched grow up?
"I made it very clear on the phone. This isn't your fault, and you shouldn't blame yourself. Just listen to grandma, okay?"
Chen Shanye bent his back and nodded in agreement.
Ruan Mei, his parents, his grandmother, and Long Bei all said that it was not his fault. He also knew that he was being stubborn and impulsive by holding on to these things.
But he just couldn't let it go. As soon as he closed his eyes, the content of his last phone call with Zhong Mang would come to his mind.
Those were Zhong Mang’s last wishes.
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