under the filth

That afternoon, Tang Cen woke up from the heat.

Tang Cen had a habit of sleeping, no matter what the temperature was, he would hold the quilt corners on both sides of the quilt in his arms, wrapping his whole body in the quilt.Summer and winter were fine. In spring and autumn, Tang Cen got sick several times because he was so hot that he kicked the quilt in the middle of the night.But now that he was wrapped in a heavy quilt in spring, Tang Cen was soaked in sweat, even his shirt was soaked, and the cloth was stuck to his back.

Struggling to free his hands from the quilt, Tang Cen raised his hand to measure the temperature of his forehead, but his hand was wet, and sweat dripped down the bed sheet along the fingers, leaving a small dark spot of water.

"Ah...it's really terrible." Sweating all over, Tang Cen's nasal congestion was mostly healed, and he could naturally smell the smell of himself.

Rubbing his hair that was messed up when he turned over in the quilt, Tang Cen kicked his feet in the quilt a few times, until he pushed the quilt to the end of the bed and piled it up, and then he got up from the bed.

Tang Cen picked up the mobile phone on the desk and sent an email to Andy. While waiting for Andy's reply, he rummaged through the closet for a change of clothes.He waited for a long time but still didn't see Andy's reply. Looking at the class schedule posted on the wall, Tang Cen remembered that they had classes at this time today.

Still in class, and Andy is probably still busy taking notes, so he won't be answering him for a while.Tang Cen put his phone back on the table, took his clothes and went into the bathroom.

Turn on the shower, and the warm water hits the body, flowing down along the lines of the body.Tang Cen raised his head and combed his wet black hair back with his hands, the water droplets falling on his face blurred his vision.

In the dense heat, Tang Cen's left hand touched the lower right abdomen, and when he touched the small uneven scar, he couldn't help rubbing it several times.His brain still clearly remembered the pain that was brewing and erupting here, unbearable but not fatal, torturing his nerves bit by bit and eating away at his sanity.

No matter how long Tang Cen has lived in England, this scar has been on his body for as long as possible.The recurring scars on the wrist have faded away with the passage of time, but this one, like a brand mark, cannot be erased no matter what.

After washing under the shower for a long time, Tang Cen didn't come out of the bathroom until the sickness on his body was completely washed away.He didn't know how long he had been washing, but the feeling of hot water washing his body was so wonderful that Tang Cen really didn't want to close the valve.

The bathroom was steaming. Tang Cen wiped the water off his body casually and put on his pajamas. There were a few spots on his back that were wet from the unwiped water, and they stuck to his skin.His hair was still dripping, and there were several intermittent and transparent water marks on the ground.

Tang Cen took the towel and sat back on the bed to wipe his hair. After rubbing it several times, the already wet towel in his hands was soaked with water.Just when he was hesitating whether to get a new towel from the closet or go to the bathroom to wring out the water in the towel, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Three loud bangs of "bang bang bang" scared Tang Cen to jump up from the bed, the towel slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.There was too much movement, and it sounded like the other party was approaching menacingly. Tang Cen froze in place, and opened the door hesitantly until the sound of banging on the door stopped.

But when he opened the door, he saw a familiar dark face: "Andy?"

"Thank God you opened the door. I knocked for a long time and no one answered, and the phone couldn't get through. I thought something happened to you." Andy took his shoulders and looked back and forth, and he was relieved after confirming that he was all right.

Tang Cen didn't expect that he would make Andy so nervous after washing for a while in order to be comfortable. It seems that his half-drowsy and half-asleep appearance in class two days ago left a psychological shadow on Andy.Tang Cen's face was rarely filled with embarrassment when Andy made such a big commotion. He explained weakly, "I took a shower and didn't hear..."

"It's fine." The nervous mixed-race black patted him on the shoulder and heaved a sigh of relief.He carried the schoolbag behind him to the front, and after searching for a while, Andy handed two notebooks and a box of sandwiches to Tang Cen: "Here, I think you may be hungry if you haven't eaten, so I will give it to you on my own." Bought a sandwich and don't stay up too late at night."

"Gu—" As if answering Andy, Tang Cen's stomach groaned very appropriately.Under Andy's teasing gaze, Tang Cen blushed and took the notes and the sandwich: "Thank you."

Seeing that Tang Cen's face was rosy and he was in good spirits, Andy raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder after making sure he was fine, and walked out of Tang Cen's room with a smile: "I'll go back first, there is a party tonight, Lily listens You won't be angry if you said you were sick and didn't tell you?"

"I can't drink after taking medicine, next time." Tang Cen glanced at him helplessly, sometimes he really can't stand this overly enthusiastic friend, but if it wasn't for Andy's familiarity, maybe he is still hungry now Lying on the bed with my stomach full, I was worried about who to borrow my notes the next day.

Tang Cen shouted to Andy who was jogging downstairs: "Have fun." Seeing Andy waving his hand without looking back, Tang Cen closed the door.

Putting the notebook and the sandwich on the desk, Tang Cen picked up the phone and glanced at it. With a headache, he slid the five missed calls one by one before putting the phone back in place.He picked up the towel that had just fallen on the floor and threw it into the laundry bin in the bathroom. He grabbed the two corners of the quilt and shook out the piled quilt to make it flat.

After finishing all this, Tang Cen turned on the lamp on the desk, and flipped through Andy's notebook while unpacking the sandwich.Tang Cen thought it would take him a long time to search for Andy's handwriting, but he didn't expect that Andy's handwriting became clear from the day he didn't go to class, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Tang Cen chewed on the sandwich and turned back a few pages. Andy's handwriting on the last two pages was a bit floating, but it was easier to read than the previous ones. He could probably imagine that Andy scratched his head and had to patiently write clearly. The appearance of notes.

After stuffing the last bit of sandwich into his mouth, Tang Cen wiped his hands with paper, took out a pen from the pen holder and wrote the first word in his notebook.

While filling out the notes, Tang Cen thought, let's treat Andy to dinner another day.

Tang Cen didn't pick up his phone to check the time until he finished making up the notes for the first day. It was 08:30 in the evening, which was still early.He moved his sore wrist, opened a new page of the notebook and continued to fill in the notes for the next day.

The consequence of sleeping too much during the day is that you will suffer from insomnia even if you toss and turn in bed at night.Originally, Tang Cen thought that he would go to sleep when he was sleepy while writing tonight, anyway, he could make up for the weekend anyway.But it turned out that it was not until 12:30, when he was about to start writing today's notes, that he realized to his horror that he was not sleepy at all.

Tang Cen hesitated for a long time, and finally chose between finishing his notes and going to bed.

So the next afternoon, Tang Cen appeared in the cafe with faint dark circles under his eyes.

Since I met Andy and Lily during the freshman week, they will meet here every two weeks, drink afternoon tea, and chat.Sometimes the content of the chat is complaining about the professor's homework, and sometimes discussing when to go shopping in the city, but most of them are the young couple Lily and Andy talking, Tang Cen listen, occasionally Let me add a few words.

Lily likes to be lively, and even after a party last night, it can't stop them from continuing to party this afternoon.

From a long distance, Tang Cen saw Andy waving at him. Lily had her back to him, but she turned her head and smiled exaggeratedly at him after seeing Andy's movements.After bypassing a few round tables and walking in front of them, Tang Cen handed the notebook in his hand to Andy before pulling out his chair and sitting down: "Thanks, I'll treat you to dinner another day."

"We've known each other for so long, why are you being polite to me? Is this also the habit of you Chinese?" Andy stuffed the notes casually into the bag, and joked with a smile, "I usually don't miss Let me borrow your notes, do you want to cover all your dinners for next month?"

Andy's words provoked Lily to burst into laughter, and Tang Cen was a little at a loss for what to do by this incongruous couple, so he raised his hands in compromise: "...Forget it then."

"Andy, you're really thick-skinned compared to Don." Lily stretched out a finger painted with wine-red nail polish, and poked Andy's face.

"Puchi", Tang Cen couldn't help laughing.

Teased by his girlfriend and ridiculed by his friends, Andy grabbed Lily's finger that was playing tricks on his face: "Lily!"

"Isn't it? You were embarrassed when you first started school, but then you kept looking for Tang every time. If I were Tang, I would have broken up with you long ago." Lily took her fingers out of Andy's palm and squeezed The (soft) flesh on the sides of his cheeks said, "Honey, you really should pay for his dinner."

Andy opened his mouth again to defend himself, but when Lily pinched his face, what he said was also vague.Tang Cen was amused by his appearance, but he was embarrassed to laugh at him blatantly, so he turned his face to the side and covered the extravagant smile on his face with his hand.

Normally, this young couple would laugh and fight unscrupulously in the cafe like this, and everyone around them knew each other, so they were used to such scenes, and occasionally passing by one or two classmates would directly ignore the young couple and say hello to Tang Cen.

But today an unexpected person appeared.

Tang Cen was watching Andy and Lily fight, when a strange male voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Meet you again, Tang."

The man who appeared suddenly broke the happy atmosphere between the three of them. Tang Cen turned his head and looked at the man in front of him. He looked familiar but couldn't remember the identity of the man for a while.

Lily looked at the man, and was about to say something when Andy grabbed his hand from under the table.With his back turned to Tang Cen, he shook his head at Lily.

Seeing Tang Cen's confusion, the man smiled, "I accidentally bumped into you when I was looking for books in the library yesterday, and your face looked terrible at that time, are you okay today?"

Hearing what he said, Tang Cen remembered what happened yesterday morning on the third floor of the library. It seemed that he...was still held in this man's arms.

"I still had a cold yesterday, but I'm fine today, thank you for your concern." Tang Cen politely thanked him for his concern, but he didn't know his name and asked hesitantly, "Lu?"

"Lu Sheng, Lu of Lu You, Sheng of 'Da Sheng Xiao Shao Jiu Zuo Cheng ①'."

"Tang Cen, Tang of the Tang Dynasty, Cen of Cen Shen."

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

① It is taken from Song Dynasty poet Chao Duanli's "Partridge Sky: Several Rides Flying into Fengcheng".