25/Blueberries
Song Ai sat on the sofa, aimlessly flipping through channels. She switched from the news channel to a soap opera about romance before finally stopping. A corner of the screen was shattered from being smashed, and the room was a mess, filled with the smell of alcohol. Beer bottles lay sprawled on the floor, the foam from their openings spreading out in a dark patch.
She heard snoring in the bedroom. Looking at her phone, she realized it was almost time for their appointment, so she went into the room and woke Chen Song up.
Chen Song was woken up from his sleep with an impatient look on his face. The man's hair was messy and he smelled bad, but his face still looked heroic despite the passage of time.
The man, still a bit tired from his hangover, his hoarse voice choked with rage, looked at his wife, who was only wearing a sundress, with unusual good temper and asked, "What are you doing?"
Song Ai handed him her phone. "You didn't answer the phone. Old Wang said he got some new stock and sent you several messages early this morning, but you didn't reply, so he came to me."
Chen Song immediately perked up, picked up his phone from the bedside table, and sure enough, Lao Wang had sent him a message at eight o'clock in the morning.
Old Wang is the owner of the card and mahjong parlor. Chen Song doesn't know his real name. At first, everyone who went there called him Brother Wang. The owner was quite tactful and said that how could he let customers call him that when he was running a business? So gradually everyone started calling him Old Wang.
Even so, there are still different levels of social standing. The interpersonal relationships in that small card room are like a pyramid. Drinking and eating skewers together after playing all night is a small kingdom of interpersonal relationships. Old Wang, who knows everyone, is nothing more than the king of it. It is said that Old Wang has a smattering of everything and his business is huge. The net profit of the card room alone can reach 10,000 yuan every month.
Previously, Lao Wang had only chatted with him casually over drinks, without going into much depth. But after attending a friend's wedding, Lao Wang suddenly changed his attitude and started taking him to play other games, even promising him that they would go into business together and make a fortune.
Chen Song's laziness was overcome just like that. Old Wang's text message was more effective than the summons of the Heavenly King. He immediately got up, went to the toilet naked, cleaned himself up, and came out looking presentable. He glanced at the empty dining table, didn't get angry at Song Ai, and went straight out the door. With a loud thud, the ground shook.
Song Ai scoffed lightly.
I sent a message to Lao Wang on the other end of the phone: He's gone.
The reply came quickly: Is it convenient for me to come to your house at three o'clock?
She leaned against the door and replied to the other end: Okay.
After waiting for about half an hour, she heard the door open. She turned her head while sitting on the sofa and saw Chen Mian standing at the door in her school uniform, holding a bunch of keys in her hand.
Song Ai stubbed out her cigarette and pointed to her room with her red-nailed finger. "Your dad opened the door for you beforehand."
Chen Mian glanced into the bedroom, unsurprised by the mess. She went in and picked up some review materials and test papers she needed. When she opened the wardrobe to get clothes, she saw that her underwear drawer was open, and her underwear had been pulled out, messy, with clumps of dried white fluid on it.
Underwear, bras, school uniforms—all the clothes that were pulled out were covered in dried white residue, like toothpaste that had been accidentally smeared on.
But Chen Mian knew that wasn't the case.
It's essence.
Song Ai appeared at the door at some point, leaned against it, and chuckled lightly as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, saying to her, "That night, your dad turned all your clothes out and only came after smelling your underwear. Do you want to know what he said?"
Chen Mian looked at her and said calmly, "Whether I want to or not, you will tell me."
"Of course, you can't think that moving out means you're severing ties with this family, can you?" Song Ai's words were like a knife, instantly piercing through the superficial prosperity. She chuckled and said to her, "Your dad said he raised you all these years and you've never even had sex with anyone else, you've just let others have sex with you."
Song Ai, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, looked at Chen Mian and said, "You'll understand sooner or later that for someone who has no trump cards but only beauty, being beautiful is the original sin."
*
Chen Mian walked out of the building and saw Shen Yu leaning against a tree, smoking. A scarlet dot was burning on his fingertip, and the cigarette was thin and white.
People who aren't addicted to cigarettes use them more as a pastime, and they only usually stick to the two flavors: mint and blueberry.
He only took out a cigarette to smoke now. He wasn't wearing his school uniform on the weekend; he was dressed in a gray hoodie and black trousers. Occasionally, young girls passing by would glance at him a few more times.
After the morning rain and mist, the sky cleared, and sunlight streamed down like thin gold through the sparse clouds.
The scene seemed to transform the cracked and moldy apartment building in the background into a scene from a comic book.
As the lines were drawn down, Chen Mian was reminded of the painting that Qiao Zhiwan had left at Shen Yu's house. The boy seemed to be drawn out of the painting by the sunlight, leaning there in a lazy posture with clear eyes and eyebrows. Hearing footsteps, he looked up at her, the cigarette in his hand still burning, with wisps of smoke rising upwards.
It's a bit too eye-catching.
Shen Yu had just lit a cigarette and hadn't even taken two puffs when he heard a sound coming from the hallway. He looked up and, sure enough, Chen Mian was standing there looking at him.
"What are you doing standing there?" Shen Yu asked her, "Standing like a doorman?"
Chen Mian was about to say no.
A fat, bald man walked towards her, glanced at Chen Mian as he passed by, and then disappeared into the dark stairwell.
The smell of alcohol wafted over on the wind. Chen Mian frowned and subconsciously turned her head to look back, but her hand was suddenly empty. The item had been taken by Chen Yu. The weight that was difficult to carry seemed light in his hands, and he even had a free hand to press on her forehead and turn her around.
"Why are you curious about everything?"
The person looked strange and unfamiliar; he wasn't a resident of this building. Everyone here was a familiar face, someone Chen Mian knew.
Normally, Chen Mian wouldn't be interested in a stranger, but just now upstairs, she saw a text message on Song Ai's phone screen. It was from someone whose contact name was "Brother Wang," saying: "I'll be there soon."
Just as Song Ai didn't understand Chen Mian, Chen Mian didn't understand Song Ai that well either.
She subconsciously felt that Song Ai was plotting something to so openly bring people home.
While she was still thinking, Shen Yu pulled her wrist and led her forward. He had just stubbed out his cigarette and didn't know where to throw it for a moment, so he held it between his index and middle fingers, letting out a wisp of blueberry smoke.
"You can't look at real handsome guys, but you can't take your eyes off a bald guy, huh?" The boy, who had been waiting for a long time, spoke with a barbed tone, but his palms were warm, and the sweet scent of blueberries lingered between them.
Chen Mian was distracted by the smell and looked at his hands, ignoring what he said.
Shen Yu thought she was just curious, so he put the cigarette in her hand.
He had a teasing thought in mind, probably wanting to see what Chen Mian would do.
Chen Mian was still feeling nauseous.
The semen stains on her underwear left her nostrils constantly filled with the smell of rotting fish.
In addition, Shen Yu's cigarettes were fruit-scented, so she picked them up and took a puff just like Shen Yu. As a beginner, she didn't have any skills at all, and only after inhaling did she realize that it wasn't sweet like fruit. Even though it was packaged as fruit-flavored, it was still a cigarette.
Chen Mian choked and coughed, her nose turning red.
Looking up, she saw Shen Yu standing there, laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking. His schoolbag was hanging on his shoulder, and the bag he was carrying was a tattered cardboard bag that Chen Mian had just picked out. The rope looked like it was about to break, but it was being held firmly in his hand.
He laughed and confiscated the cigarette from Chen Mian's hand. "Do you know what you're doing?"
Chen Mian was still coughing, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Wh-what?"
Shen Yu said, "He's bad at the game but loves to play."
"..."
While that makes sense, the sarcasm doubled when Shen Yu said it in his indifferent voice.
Chen Mian retorted, "You smoke too."
Still not convinced.
Shen Yu glanced at her, his voice laced with laughter, "I can still fuck you, can you?"
As he spoke, he pulled a fruit candy from his pocket, peeled it, and stuffed it into the person's mouth.
The cool, hard candy was pushed in, and the soft fingertips touched their own lips.
The sweet taste of strawberries immediately spread.
Shen Yu lectured her, "Will you dare to take other people's cigarettes and smoke them again next time?"
With a candy in her mouth, Chen Mian mumbled, "I can buy it myself."
"Can you say something nicer?"
The boy looked at her coldly; this had almost become his catchphrase.
Chen Mian stopped being angry, reached out and squeezed his wrist, her voice very soft, "Chen Yu, I'm not smoking anymore."
The place where she was being held was warm, and her tone could be described as obedient, but her absent-mindedness was written all over her face.
Shen Yu glanced upstairs, but didn't ask what had happened inside. He simply asked, "Do you want to go back or come out with me?"
What to play?
"KTV, bars, billiard halls."
"Are minors allowed in bars?"
“Minors can’t, but bar owners can.”
"..." Chen Mian was speechless for a moment, then said to Shen Yu, "Why don't you just say that the entire Suibei region is your family's property?"
To everyone's surprise, Shen Yu nodded. "Pretty much."
The two chatted idly, exchanging a few words here and there.
When they reached the car, the driver took the things from Shen Yu's hands and put them in the trunk.
As Chen Mian stood by the car door, about to crawl inside, she turned her head and glanced at the stairwell, which was only half-lit.
Space appears to be fractured.
Luxury cars and dilapidated residential buildings seem to be products of two different times and spaces.
The boy in the hoodie standing there replying to messages and the drunken man upstairs were from two completely different worlds.
Do typical senior high school students go to karaoke bars, pubs, or billiard halls?
Shen Yu looked down at her and, mimicking her tone, said slowly and deliberately, "Would a normal senior high school student have sex with someone and stay at their house?"
Chen Mian gave a muffled "oh," then scooted a little further in, making room for Chen Yu to sit down.
As the car door slammed shut.
Shen Yu heard Chen Mian say in a very soft voice, as if talking to herself, "But my life has never been normal to begin with."
Shen Yu paused his reply.
The girl sitting next to him had already turned her head to look out the window, her hands on her sides, her back slightly hunched, like a child curious about something new, her long hair gently draped over her shoulders.
The scenery of the old neighborhood outside the window flashed by rapidly, with newly built supermarkets, clothing stores, and high-rise buildings standing side by side.
She turned around, met Shen Yu's eyes, and smiled as she said to him, "But thankfully, Shen Yu, you're not normal either, are you?"
yes.
Therefore, they are destined to be attracted.
/
In Po City, this plot seems a bit too innocent.
If you don't like it, just skip ahead. The climax is a bit slow, and there's a transition period. There are a few events that need to be written before the college entrance exam and the death of that father (as well as the synopsis).
Except for the H chapter, the rest are free. I'm not very good at this, but I wrote it with all my might. It's a bit bad, but thank you for liking it.
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