Chapter 13
The car drove smoothly on the way back.
While waiting for the red light, the cell phone in Tang An's bag buzzed.
"Help me answer it," he said, looking straight ahead, "it should be Mom."
Chi Ying took out his cell phone from his pocket with ease, swiped his finger to answer the call, and the screen lit up, reflecting a face that looked about half similar to Tang An, but more gentle and beautiful.
Chi Ying immediately put on the sweetest smile, and said in a voice that was enough to make people choke: "Mom——"
When Tang's mother saw him, her eyes curved with a smile, her voice tinged with honey: "It's Xiao Chi. How are you doing lately? Have you finished the crispy pork I brought back last time? Come back for some when you have time."
Chi Ying nodded hurriedly: "That's enough! Mom, your cooking skills are amazing. Tang An and I eat them every day and there are still some left. Tang An just kept saying that he wanted to eat the dumplings you made next time he comes back."
Tang's mother was so delighted that she said, "Oh, Tang An, you little greedy cat. Let me tell you, Xiao Chi, when Tang An was a child, he was admitted to the hospital because he ate too many rice dumplings. The doctor rubbed his stomach, and he cried loudly..."
Tang An: “…”
I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense.
Chi Ying listened with great interest, and even took the time to give Tang An a teasing look as if to say, "So you have such a dark history."
“…”
Tang An's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel, and he uttered through his teeth, "Mom!"
Tang's mother finally realized: "Oh, Tang An is here too?"
Chi Ying very considerately turned the camera of her phone towards the driver's seat: "He's driving, so it's not convenient to pick him up. We just finished dinner with Tang An's senior and are on our way home now."
The word "senior" was pronounced particularly clearly and with a drawl, as if it had rolled on the tip of the tongue three times before being spit out.
Tang An: “…”
What's the point of emphasizing "senior"? It's like I'm cheating and you're here to catch me!
Tang's mother was very perceptive and immediately caught a glimpse of something unusual. She cautiously asked Tang An, "Is it... the child named Su He whom you mentioned during military training?"
"Yeah." Tang An did not deny it.
Chi Ying immediately turned the phone back in front of her, her eyebrows raised dangerously: "How did Mom know about that kid?"
Tang's mother felt guilty and didn't dare look at Chi Ying: "Tang An mentioned this person to me during military training..."
Before the woman finished speaking, Chi Ying probably guessed what was going on.
Tang An came out in junior high school, and his sexual orientation was no secret at home.
Just like what the other party said before, who doesn't have someone they like when they are young? Based on his personality, he must have shyly talked about this person with Tang's mother during military training.
Chi Ying: “…”
So annoying.
Can't I be like him? Since I was little, I've always felt that the men around me were stupid and the women were like incomprehensible alien creatures.
What's with all the blushing and heart-pounding about first love? It's all just an excuse for not being able to control your lower body and hormones! So low-brow! So vulgar!
Seeing her son and daughter-in-law's expressions were off, the clever Tang's mother quickly changed the subject: "By the way, you two don't have any plans for tomorrow, right?"
Tang An took the lead and said, "Yes..."
"No!" Chi Ying said firmly, drowning out his voice.
Tang An: “…”
Tang's mother smiled happily: "That's perfect. Tang An's father caught a really big fish today. It's delicious. Will he come back for lunch tomorrow?"
Tang An: "No..."
"Okay, no problem. Thanks, Mom. See you tomorrow!" Chi Ying spoke quickly and hung up the phone neatly before Tang An could refuse.
Tang An's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot: "What's more important, life or that fish?"
Chi Ying skillfully unlocked Tang An's phone password without looking up: "There's nothing I can do anyway..."
There was a hint of giving up in his tone.
Tang An was so angry that he really wanted to throw him out of the car window. Coincidentally, a foolish car in front of him forced its way into the line. He angrily slapped the horn, and a harsh "beep" sound echoed through the street: "Who cares! I don't care!!!"
The horn beeps, Ji Ying is very hypocritical.
"no."
“…”
Chi Ying did not return the phone, but took advantage of the inconvenience of driving to open Tang An's green bubble software.
When he found out that his post wasn't pinned to the top, he instantly got angry and raised his phone to complain to the person: "You didn't pin me to the top???"
Tang An glanced at it indifferently: "Is this important?"
Chi Ying slid her finger downwards, accurately hitting another name, her voice changing tone: "Then who is this 'ex-husband who picks shit out of his mouth'???"
Tang An turned the steering wheel and said in a chilling tone, "Oh, then who are you, 'Tang An with a nice butt'?"
Chi Ying: “…”
The carriage fell into silence, with only the hum of the engine as the only sound.
We drove into the underground parking lot in silence.
Before getting off the car, Chi Ying used "If you don't pin me to the top immediately, I will kill you in this car" as the ultimate threat, successfully making Tang An complete the pinning operation with a sullen face. As for the name of the remark, Tang An used the killer weapon "If you dare to force me to change the remark, I will go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to divorce tomorrow", which turned the tables and forced Chi Ying to compromise with gritted teeth.
The two walked out of the parking lot one after the other, and the cold air hit them in the face.
The elevator was empty and quiet, with only the red numbers on the floor display slowly jumping, gradually getting smaller.
Tang An looked at the jumping numbers, as if staring at a countdown hourglass, and suddenly whispered: "Chi Ying, do you think..."
"I can't save myself."
Chi Ying was just about to follow up on the conversation with a joke, but the moment he turned around and met Tang An's gaze, he was stung by the uneasiness hidden in his eyes.
The numbers on the floor display changed from big to small, just like his heartbeat at this moment, getting slower and slower.
Chi Ying didn't think there was anything wrong with Tang An seeing through his hidden thoughts, but when he heard the unconscious tremor in the other person's calm tone, he thought he should give a reason.
The elevator door slid open with a "ding" and stopped at the basement floor.
The door opened, and Chi Ying and others walked in first, and only stepped in when it was about to close.
In the elevator, he pressed the number 6, and the metal button emitted a faint light.
As the elevator began to rise, feeling slightly weightless, Chi Ying finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse:
“…I still can’t believe it.”
If he could still regard the first time he turned into a dog without any warning as an absurd nightmare, then the successive transformations brought him a fear of this strange power that penetrated deep into his bones.
It was not until the fourth time that Chi Ying clearly heard the damn rabbit's emotionless voice pronounce the countdown, and when he counted on his fingers the twenty days left to live, that the huge sense of absurdity was crushed by the cold reality.
It turns out that death is really close at hand.
The elevator reached the sixth floor smoothly, and with a ding, the door opened. The layout of one apartment per floor made the corridor so empty that an echo could be heard. This also made Chi Ying's voice particularly clear, with a hint of imperceptible fragility:
"I admit... I was scared."
The rabbit gave Chi Ying a "Scumbag Reconstruction Plan" and vowed that as long as he followed the plan, he would not turn into a dog. However, Tang An had already noticed the problem.
From the beginning to the end, he didn't think Chi Ying met the standards of a scumbag top.
If it was called the "Bad Mouth Transformation Plan," that would be more appropriate.
So, the rabbit seemed to have given a test paper, but the correct answers were not printed on it at all.
If Tang An could think of this, Chi Ying could definitely think of it too.
For the first time in the dream, Mr. Rabbit was interrupted. If my memory serves me right, he only unfolded a portion of the parchment, which should have been divided into 12345...
This is an unsolvable proposition.
All that awaits Ji Ying is death.
The fifth time he turned into a dog, Tang An smoked many cigarettes in front of Chi Ying.
In the silent living room, there was only the light "click" of the lighter and the subtle "hiss" of the burning tobacco. The orange-yellow sparks flickered in the darkness, and eventually turned into gray embers that fell to the ground.
Tang An leaned his head back on the sofa, the smoke from the cigarette in his mouth blurring his tired eyes and brows.
Chi Ying's nose was itchy from the strong smell of smoke. He pawed at the air in dissatisfaction and protested with two "woooo" sounds.
Amidst the smoke, Tang An suddenly laughed softly, his voice trembling with a hoarseness: "I was thinking...if you really died, what should I do..."
The sadness in that tone was so heavy that it weighed heavily on me.
Chi Ying felt a pang of pain in his chest, and he pushed hard with his hind legs, leaped onto the sofa, and gently placed his furry head on Tang An's legs, rubbing it quietly.
Tang An subconsciously raised his hand and inserted his fingers into the thick hair on his neck, stroking it from time to time. There were thin calluses on his fingertips, and the touch of his fingertips sliding across his skin made Chi Ying squint his eyes in comfort, and a gurgling sound came from his throat.
"I've thought of two possibilities..." Tang An's voice came through the smoke, a little vague. He took the cigarette out of his mouth, slowly exhaled a long smoke ring, and watched it twist and dissipate in the air.
"One is that your soul... is gone, but your body, as it is now," he gently patted the dog's head on his lap, "is still alive. I think... I will take good care of it, and provide for its old age and see it to the end, just like... saying goodbye to an old friend."
Ji Ying's ears moved and the gurgling sound in his throat stopped.
"The other one..."
Tang An paused, looking at the ceiling with unfocused eyes, as if he was looking through the roof and at some distant place.
"Just like when my grandpa passed away... Grandma said he passed away peacefully in his sleep. I think... you'll probably choose a time when I'm asleep..."
His voice grew softer and softer, the last few words almost lost in the pervasive smell of tobacco.
"Leave secretly."
…
Tang An is very afraid of death because death means separation.
In fact, his original family was very happy. After his brother left, his parents gave all their love to him.
For example, when he admitted that he liked the same sex, the more traditional Tang's father and mother tried to accept and understand him after they were sure that Tang An could not possibly like girls.
Everything seems to be going smoothly.
From small things like dressing up to big things like life planning, Tang's father and mother only give suggestions and do not interfere, and they are also generous with money when needed.
But people are sometimes just mean. When the issues of his original family no longer burden Tang An, new issues come one after another.
He discovered.
I can't accept death.
From his brother who jumped off a building due to severe depression, to the passing of his grandfather who loved him the most, to the starling he raised as a child, to the stray cats he fed when he grew up, to now, knowing that his lover, whom he had been married to for seven years, would also leave him.
There is nothing more cruel than losing the life of a loved one.
Tang An's voice was light and weightless as it dissipated with the smoke, revealing his unfocused pupils.
He looked exhausted and dejected, and the hair on his forehead drooped like its owner, losing its strength.
Chi Ying discovered that Tang An seemed to have lost weight again, and the curves of her neck and shoulders were much thinner, adding a bit of slender beauty to her appearance.
He couldn't speak human language now, and was afraid that his dog voice was too noisy.
After all, the power of the Husky breed is obvious to all.
When he was seventeen, he was almost pushed into a pile of horse manure three miles away by his friend's Husky.
As time passed, the silent Tang An suddenly felt something warm, wet and soft licking his mouth.
He raised his hand expressionlessly, accurately blocking Chi Ying's second wave of "attack", and wiped his mouth indifferently.
Chi Ying was not discouraged. She continued licking from a different angle. Her slippery tongue was like a "green tongue" popsicle at room temperature.
Tang An: “…”
Sometimes, he really doesn't understand Ji Ying's train of thought.
But no matter what the purpose was, congratulations to Chi Ying for successfully interrupting Tang An's emo.
Without saying a word, he grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck, dragged it to the toilet, and grabbed the toilet plunger.
Tang An: "Open your mouth."
Chi Ying refused to obey: "Awoo awoo~"
【Nooooo~】
The Husky lowered its front body and shook its tail like a propeller.
Tang An couldn't bear to look at it, so he put the toilet plug back and held his forehead: "Chi Ying, you..."
Chi Ying nudged his palm with her wet nose: "Woof woof."
I'm kidding you.
"Woof!"
【Praise me now! 】
Tang An: “…”
He would rather believe that Chi Ying ate shit secretly than believe that this was just a lie.
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