under the filth

Standing on a mountain of books, with opened books everywhere at his feet, Tang Cen, surrounded by mountains of books, stood in the only place in the center, holding a heavy dictionary in his hand.He lowered his head, rubbed his fingers on the lines of printed words, the shadow cast by the pile of books swallowed his upper body, and the expression on his face became dark and blurred.

The dictionary in his hand was flipped to the end, and Tang Cen stared blankly at the blank page. "Crack", he closed the dictionary, casually threw it into the pile of discarded books at his feet, then raised his hand, and took out another one from the mountain of books in front of him.

Open, close.

In the closed space, only the sound of pages turning and books falling to the ground.Tang Cen stood for a long time, and only sat on the floor when his legs felt numb. His half-curled back was set off by the huge pile of books, which made him look extremely thin.

"Yeah——" The door was opened from the outside, Tang Cen raised his head from the pile of books to look at the sound, he couldn't see the face of the person coming from the backlight, he only saw the person outside waving at him.He looked down at the unfinished book, pinched a certain page with his fingers and rubbed it a few times, then put down the book and stood up, walking towards that person with his sore legs.

"I didn't go to school anymore. After staying in the room for a month, I was sent to England by my father." At the end of the first month, Tang Cen only reluctantly told He Xiu these things.

Having been ill for many years, most of Tang Cen's memories have become incoherent fragments.In every conversation during this month, he paused many times, and it took him a long time to remember what happened afterwards, and most of them only had a vague impression.

He Xiu had also come into contact with several high school students before, and he saw the shadows of those students in Tang Cen, but they couldn't completely overlap - the students' roars were hysterical, and Tang Cen's confession was an understatement.

"The courses I took are not particularly difficult to understand, but it is too difficult to finish the two-year courses in one year, and I can only apply to a... less famous school in the end." Tang Cen tilted his head and leaned on it. On the soft pillow, it took him too much energy to dig out the long-term memories from the forgotten corners, but he still insisted on continuing, "Actually, I couldn't get used to the life there in the first half year when I first arrived in the UK, but I You had to force yourself into that environment."

Living alone in a completely unfamiliar environment is indeed a torment. He Xiu, who studied in the UK with Tang Cen, has a deep understanding.He went abroad earlier than Tang Cen, and he made more preparations, but even so, during the initial period of time, He Xiu couldn't help but resisted everything in Britain.

He Xiu's resistance was written on his face, while Tang Cen's resistance was buried in his heart.

The unfamiliar environment and poor communication in the UK forced Tang Cen to study harder, and Tang Songyuan used some connections to compress his original two-year course into one year.

In addition to the lessons arranged by the school, Tang Cen held a thick dictionary every day, flipping through it day after day.On the day he got the offer, the cardboard on the cover also lost the support of the last bit of paper, and the dictionary split into two.

He Xiu, who immigrated to the UK with his father in junior high school, naturally experienced A-level.Students in the UK usually spend two years completing this course, and halving the time means double the pressure, but when it came to Tang Cen, what he said was just a plain "I can't get used to it".

"Even so, you still entered the University of Bath in less than a year and a half." He Xiu stood up, walked slowly in front of Tang Cen, and put the back of his hand on his forehead to test his temperature. "Tang Cen, you are excellent."

Tang Cen raised his head to look at him, but his eyes began to become a little distracted: "That's because I took a shortcut." He Xiu's hand was a little cold, but the temperature was just right, and it was comfortable to put on his forehead, but he quickly I took it back.

"You have to be able to take shortcuts." He Xiu smiled, pulling on the soft pillow to adjust his position, while helping Tang Cen to lie down, "Next time, maybe you can tell me about your time in England—high school at the University of Bath."

However, Tang Cen's memories of his high school days are completely blank, even the first half of his schooling at Bath University is almost the same.The beginning of his memory is the day he met Lu Sheng, so there are very few things he can mention to He Xiu now, but it is what they most want to know.

When people are in pain, they will subconsciously choose to forget and escape, but Tang Cen's forgotten pain is only insignificant.No one knew that Tang Cen left behind the most tormented pain he had endured in constant forgetting, and he carefully preserved the pain left to him by those people as if it were a precious relic.

He Xiu tucked up Tang Cen's quilt, and patted him on the shoulder lightly through the quilt: "Sleep."

Rongcheng in the early spring is still a little cold, and it is very comfortable to take a nap wrapped in a quilt.The needle on the back of Tang Cen's hand had already been removed, he shrank into the warm quilt, his eyelids began to fight, but he still insisted and asked, "When will Dr. He come again?"

He Xiu put his hands in the pockets of his white coat, pondered for a while, and said, "Afternoon the day after tomorrow."

The person on the bed fell silent for a while, curled up quietly in the blanket and fell asleep, He Xiu brushed the overlong hair on his forehead: "I'm leaving."

He Xiu walked to the window and closed the window next to Tang Cen, drew the curtain again, and left the room quietly.

The next morning, as soon as He Xiu stepped into the studio, he saw his assistant pointing in the direction of the reception room quietly.

"Coming?" He Xiu looked over there and asked in a low voice.

The assistant glanced at the reception room secretly, with a look of embarrassment on his face: "I've been here for 10 minutes."

He Xiu patted the assistant's shoulder reassuringly, handed the things in his hand to the assistant, and walked directly towards the reception room.He knocked on the door of the reception room before pushing it open and walking in. A man in a suit and leather shoes was sitting on the sofa, and there were two assistants standing beside him.

Sitting in front of the man who had already been waiting inside, He Xiu showed no embarrassment of being late, but said calmly, "I've been waiting for a long time, Mr. Tang Qian."

"I came early." Seeing He Xiu sat down, Tang Qian put down his legs that had been crossed.After he waved his hands to let the two assistants beside him go out, he thought for a while before opening his mouth solemnly: "Brother...how is he now?"

"I don't really repel my touch now, but the progress is relatively slow. I haven't been able to ask about Lu Sheng for the time being. It will take a while." He Xiu put his hand on the armrest of the sofa, and lit the dark coffee color with his fingers. Suede, "He told me something about the time when he first went abroad. I will try to talk to him about the University of Bath tomorrow afternoon."

Tang Qian didn't expect Tang Cen to mention such a long-term matter with He Xiu. Although it seemed that it had nothing to do with Tang Cen's illness, he still couldn't help mentioning a few more words: "When my brother went abroad, I was still very young. , I just remember that he suddenly didn’t go to school for a while, and stayed in his room to read, and then he went to England.”

"Did anything happen during that time?" Tang Qian wasn't sure if he had missed any key points, but he was only seven years old at that time, and he vaguely noticed something from the atmosphere at home, and couldn't remember any details , I don't even know why.

Listening to Tang Qian's question, He Xiu raised his head and looked at him twice more: "As far as I know, Mr. Tang Cen was forcibly sent abroad by Mr. Tang. His A-level time."

"Forcibly sent to live in an unfamiliar environment, he was given double pressure, and he had to respond to excessive expectations. As far as his mental condition is concerned, what is the most likely consequence? I don't know if you should know "He Xiu's tone was very gentle, but his words were so cold that there was no warmth.

"If someone had noticed his condition at that time and pulled him in time, he wouldn't have come to this point now." He Xiu supported his chin, the light reflected white light on the lens, making Tang Qian unable to see his eyes clearly .

He Xiu's lips moved, Tang Qian guessed what he might say next, and tightly shook the hands on his knees.

Sure enough, the moment he let go of his fist, He Xiu's voice sounded: "But he is too restrained, no one can see it."

"Father never said anything about it!" After being poured with cold water, Tang Qian suddenly turned up his voice in shock, and asked angrily, "If it wasn't for my brother, please don't speculate!"

He Xiu could see a lot from Tang Qian's expression.No one in the Tang family thought about this incident, nor did Tang Songyuan think about the impact it would have on Tang Cen.Everyone simply and rudely believed that Tang Cen's serious illness was the cause of Lu Sheng, but they didn't realize that each of them was the murderer who pushed Tang Cen off the cliff, even if those things seemed insignificant.

Facing Tang Qian's anger, He Xiu's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't answer Tang Qian's question directly, but just looked at him calmly, waiting for him to calm down on his own initiative.

Being stared at by He Xiu made his back feel cold, Tang Qian leaned over, put his elbows on his knees, covered his face with his hands and let out a long sigh: "Sorry, I lost my composure."

"He only told me 'I couldn't get used to the life there in the first six months when I first arrived in the UK, but I had to forcefully integrate into that environment', and it wasn't my random speculation." He Xiu raised his face He took a sip of the steaming tea, "He has forgotten a lot of memories, and I'm not sure how much he can remember about Lu Sheng, so I have to make two preparations."

The young man in power of the Tang family couldn't control his emotions well, Tang Qian rubbed his hair irritably: "We are also investigating in the UK, but some things can't be found out in a short while .”

"Then I will trouble you." He Xiuwan held a warm teacup, trying to warm up his cold hands, "One month is too short, it is only enough for him to let go of his guard against me, many things still need time Take it easy."

Tang Qian stood up, straightened his messed up hair, and didn't see the angry look just now: "I know, then please Dr. He, if anything is found in the UK, I will send someone to send a Come."

He Xiu followed him to stand up, walked to the door first, and put his hand on the doorknob: "I will send you an email to notify you of any other progress. Before that, please stay calm."