Chapter 43 The kiss was short, but it felt like eternity.
On New Year's Eve, sporadic firecrackers rang out across southern Beijing, and occasionally, a few early test fireworks exploded in the distant sky. Gao Xing sat on the sofa, staring blankly out, the dark cloud from his parents' recent incident still hanging over his brow.
Seeing that she was uneasy, Shen Xingjian knocked on the bowl to signal her to stop being in a daze and come over to eat.
Gao Xing stood up from the living room and walked to the dining room, only to find that the usually plain table suddenly had several spicy dishes, one of which was even red oil brain flower.
You know, what Shen Xingjian hates most is offal. He usually refuses to even touch it, let alone things like pig brains.
She looked at him in surprise.
Shen Xingjian slid his wheelchair over, the wheels making a slight sound as they pressed against the wooden floor. He pretended to be casual and said, "This is a gift from the supermarket during the New Year sale. I can't let it go to waste!"
It's good enough that the prices of things in supermarkets don't increase during the Chinese New Year. There's no need to offer discounts or free gifts. His excuse is a bit too far-fetched.
Gao Xing couldn't help laughing, but she didn't expose him and sat down at the table. Come to think of it, she hadn't eaten brains in a long time.
"Try it?" Shen Xingjian handed her chopsticks.
In the small white bowl, the brain that shrunk after cooking became a small piece, soaked in a bowl full of red oil, sprinkled with green and red peppers, giving off an enticing aroma.
In my happy memory, although brain flower is not good-looking, it melts in your mouth like tofu after being cooked, and melts on your tongue with just one sip.
When eating, if you add ground peanuts and sesame seeds, dip them in the base sauce and absorb the red oil, you will get a slight nutty aroma when you bite them.
The numbing taste of Sichuan peppercorns, the sharp flavor of chili peppers, and the aroma of garlic will roll around in your mouth layer by layer, and paired with the unique dense oil of brain flower, it is smooth and sticky.
Gao Xing thought so, picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it in his mouth, and then...
“How is it?” Shen Xingjian asked expectantly.
Gao Xing put down his chopsticks, elegantly took out a napkin to wipe his mouth and said with a smile: "Delicious."
"real?"
On the one hand, Shen Xingjian expressed doubts about whether the pink squiggle would be delicious, but on the other hand, he was very confident in his cooking skills, so he picked up the chopsticks and picked up a small bit and put it in his mouth.
As soon as he took a sip, the first thing he felt was the spicy and fresh flavor of the seasoning. He was about to savor it, but the next second, the taste of pig brain came up strongly, and the strong fishy smell spread on his tongue, spreading unscrupulously in his mouth like a plague.
His face immediately turned green and he vomited on the spot.
His evil desire was fulfilled, and Gao Xing finally couldn't control himself and rushed to the bathroom to vomit violently.
“You did it on purpose, you did it on purpose!” Shen Xingjian was furious.
"You obviously cooked the dish yourself, and you blame me?" Gao Xing felt wronged.
The two of them were fighting over the poor faucet in the bathroom on the first floor. One of them was brushing his teeth frantically towards the faucet, while the other was rinsing his mouth with cup after cup of water. Half an hour later, they returned to the dining table, looked at the dishes on the table, and smiled at the same time.
The New Year does not necessarily have to bring about any new developments. It is good just the way it is, just as ordinary and plain.
"Have you ever thought about what you want to do in the future?" Gao Xing suddenly asked with his eyes lowered at the dining table.
Although his death is still an unknown, Shen Xingjian knows that he cannot be too optimistic, so he just remains silent.
"During this time, I've been thinking about a lot of things I've never thought about before. I used to think that as long as I ran away, hid somewhere where no one could find me, it wouldn't matter which city I went to, or what kind of life I lived. As long as I was far enough away from them, I could start my life over again..."
Gao Xing turned his head and looked at Shen Xingjian: "But I was wrong. No matter how far you run, some things will still follow you like a shadow. If they can find my door this time, they can find any of my jobs and any of my friends next time."
Her eyes gradually hardened. "I've finally figured it out. Escaping won't solve any problems. To deal with evildoers, you must be more ruthless than them."
“What do you want to do?” Shen Xingjian’s heart tightened.
Gao Xing smiled but didn't answer. Instead, she asked him, "What about you? What are you going to do?"
Seeing him stunned, she gently pointed it out, "These days, you've been borrowing my hot topics from time to time, saying that you want to research the future of AI photo editing, but in fact you're looking into Xu Jiakai, right?"
Shen Xingjian was stunned. He didn’t expect that she knew everything.
"At this point, you're not going to tell me?"
It’s not that Shen Xingjian doesn’t want to say it, but the scope of possible involvement of this matter has far exceeded his expectations.
In a happy time and space: On April 1, 2015, Shen Xingjian died;
On April 20, the construction of Mingjing Lake Resort project officially started;
On May 6, news broke that Xu Jiakai and Shi Yunran were engaged;
On May 12, Minghong Group made additional investment in the Mingjing Lake Resort project;
In early June, Guanya Technology was officially renamed Guanya, and Xu Jiakai was appointed as the R&D manager.
All these things happened in just two months. In other words, in these short two months, Xu Jiakai's life changed dramatically and entered the fast lane.
He didn't believe that there was such luck in the world, and the people behind it, whether it was Minghong, Shangcheng, or the Shi family, were far from being easily shaken by them.
"The Shi family?" Gao Xing thought of his father Shi, who was dying in the sanatorium ward.
Mentioning Shi Yunran's father again brought back some bad memories. If Shi Yunran was just selfish and stupid, then her father was completely cold and hypocritical.
When the car accident happened, Uncle Shi, who had always been close to the Shen family, went to the hospital to see him. At that time, he thought he was there to show concern for him, but unexpectedly, he was not concerned about his injuries, but about his own career.
The young man who hit someone came from a prominent family. If the incident became a big deal, it would inevitably be exploited by political opponents, and some positions would be forced to reshuffle. So they wanted to label it an accident, and threatened to force my grandfather to sign the accident report by threatening surgery.
It was clearly an intentional homicide, but it was tampered with into an accidental traffic accident, and afterwards they had to pretend to be giving alms. For the first time, Shen Xingjian realized that human hearts could be so ugly.
From then on, he no longer had a good face towards Shi Yunran and the Shi family.
"If my death is really related to them, I don't want to put you in danger..."
After a long time, Shen Xingjian said in a deep voice: “It’s not worth it.”
He is a disabled and dying man. Why should he drag others into it when he wants justice?
At this moment, there was a "whoosh" sound outside the window, and the first firework of New Year's Eve bloomed in the night sky.
They were drawn to the courtyard, and under the dazzling lights, Gao Xing didn't judge him. Instead, she asked softly, "You're the only person around me who's seen me at my most miserable and miserable. Do you despise me?"
“Of course not.” Shen Xingjian didn’t know why she suddenly asked this, but answered without hesitation.
"What if you could go back to Xijiang with me now and face everything together? Would you be willing?"
"Of course!" He answered with equal determination.
Gao Xing said that she was not expected since she was born, and how did she get through those unexpected days and nights, those long times, alone?
Whenever he thought of this, Shen Xingjian couldn’t help but feel distressed.
But he never felt that he should live under someone's wings just to be happy. She was never a flower that needed shade.
She is a tree, a birch, a pine or a cypress, able to take root and grow on her own! This is her remarkable thing!
If possible, he would like to be the earthworm that loosens the soil, the bee that pollinates, the insect-eating bird, and be her companion species, allowing her to grow according to her wishes.
The night breeze was cool. Gao Xing looked at his profile in the wheelchair, which was illuminated by fireworks, and said with a burning gaze, "Me too."
Shen Xingjian’s breathing suddenly stopped.
Above his head, there was another colorful explosion. Her eyes looking at him were so bright that people couldn't help but want to be obsessed with them.
His heart was beating wildly in his chest, making his fingertips numb.
At this moment, he suddenly wanted to kiss her.
But as soon as the thought arose, he suppressed it. How could someone, whose life was about to end, have the right to desire such unattainable things? What was the point of him kissing her now? Was he taking advantage of her?
Unexpectedly, in that moment of intense conflict between reason and emotion, the person before him keenly caught the fleeting wavering look in his eyes. Then, without giving him any chance to retreat, she leaned forward and gently cupped his cheek with her cool fingers.
The kiss came unexpectedly.
Fireworks bloomed above their heads, but Shen Xingjian's world was completely silent at this moment.
The soft yet firm touch on his lips, carrying Gao Xing's unique scent, was like a thunderbolt that split open all his defenses.
He froze in place, forgetting even to breathe. He could only feel her warmth and see her eyelashes trembling gently so close to him.
This kiss was short, but it felt like eternity.
As Gao Xing slowly retreated, Shen Xingjian still kept his head tilted back, his pupils still reflecting the shock that had not yet dissipated. He unconsciously gripped the armrest of the wheelchair tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"you……"
He opened his mouth, but found that he could not make any complete sound. The words were stuck in his throat and turned into a disordered heartbeat.
In the night, her eyes were surprisingly bright, as if the shocking action just now was a shot in the arm for him: “Shen Xingjian, no matter what lies ahead, I am willing to face it with you.”
She spoke each word as if she were swearing, "I will find your murderer. I promise you."
The fireworks in the night sky became more and more intense. She squatted down, wiped the moisture from the eyes of the person in front of her, and said softly:
“Alan Shen, let’s spend the next New Year together, okay?”
The fireworks bloomed into a dazzling galaxy behind her, but at this moment he felt that none of the thousands of colors could compare to the one in front of him.
"good."
The word fell from his lips, as solemn as a promise.
The night wind blows through the courtyard. All the unknowns and dangers are still waiting ahead, but at this moment, vows and promises have become the brightest light illuminating the way forward.
Nothing could be more important than this.
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