Floating Perfume Shop

In fact, in Xiao Chongyun's impression of that period of time, there are still vague memories, like standing in icy water, frozen all over, and forced to smile.At that time, he did experiments day and night, wrote papers, recorded every trace of inspiration and formula in a hard-shell notebook, and then carefully stored the notebook.He joined a perfume club called God's Nose. He rarely participated in the club's afternoon tea discussion before, but in those few weeks, he was always there, and sometimes he was the first to go to the coffee bar, wearing a white shirt, sitting alone in a white On the high stool on the window lattice, holding a book, waiting for the students to arrive one by one in the afternoon sun.

Xiao Chongyun has a perfumer friend whose friendship is purely based on copying homework for exams, named Ben Custer, and asked him very sadly: "Dear Xiao, what's wrong with you? Can you stop coming so frequently?"

Castor was particularly sad: "Girls used to write love letters to me at this kind of discussion, but since you came, I haven't received a single one."

He protested: "Can't you continue to make the oriental Xiao, the mysterious Xiao, and the handsome Xiao a legend?"

Fragrance is a science that has extremely high requirements on taste and culture. Therefore, in addition to perfume courses, Fangdan-Jolles will also provide a series of elective courses covering a wide range of subjects every semester, from the history of Oriental literature to fashion design. , and even cooking, which aims to broaden students' horizons and enhance their appreciation of Yangchun Baixue.Ben Custer, the British who won the runner-up in the "Star of Paris" college student fragrance competition, chose Chinese because of his yearning for the mysterious oriental culture, and at the same time, Xiao Chongyun also chose Chinese in order to cheat his credits.

Comrade Custer, an international friend, died in the four tones of Chinese in the first semester, so he had to find Xiao Chongyun to get close before the exam: "Xiao, although you don't remember, we actually participated in the same competition."

He called up the photos of the contestants on his mobile phone to take a group photo: "Look, I am the runner-up, and you are the champion."

Xiao Chongyun didn't go to the "Paris Star" awards ceremony. His mother happened to be ill, so he rushed back to Kuala Lumpur temporarily, so he wasn't in the photo.Ben Custer couldn't find it for a long time. He was very frustrated and thought of a reason again: "We are still in the same club—although you don't come often, we should share life and death together, so during the test on Friday, can you give me a little more attention?" Move the test paper to my side?"

This pure friendship lasted for five years, until Ben Custer memorized a thousand Chinese idioms and passed the Putonghua third-level B test.

So Xiao Chongyun smiled: "There is an old saying in China, which says that if you have flowers, you can pick them straight and break them. Don't wait until there are no flowers to pluck branches. I think the flowers in the garden are beautiful until spring is almost over."

Foreign friends didn't understand very well, and he explained: "Now I suddenly realize that instead of shutting yourself in the laboratory, it is interesting to take time to attend such gatherings every day and listen to other people's opinions and opinions."

Ben understood: "Not everyone can get an invitation to 'God's Nose', and you shouldn't be absent for so long. We discuss it here every afternoon, Shaw, you have to come often."

Xiao Chongyun nodded: "If there is still a chance, I also hope that I can come here often in the future."

When he was in France, he would call his mother every morning to check on his health, which had been a habit for many years.In the past, the phone calls were always brief, greeting each other and then hanging up, but recently Xiao Chongyun was very disturbed, and asked about trivial matters at home on the phone.He didn't say anything about black tea and poison, but he persuaded his mother to change her breakfast drink from iced tea to hot soup.Xiao Chongyun checked the characteristics of that heavy metal, which is difficult to dissolve in water above a certain temperature.The mother agreed, but not long after, he talked on the phone with the maid he knew at home, and the little girl said on the other end that the wife still drank black tea for breakfast recently.

Xiao Chongyun suddenly broke out in cold sweat, and immediately called, but Mrs. Xiao comforted him: "You are too nervous. More than ten years ago, the Xiao family was indeed in danger for a while, and then your father solved it. You have to trust him. "

His mother told him his father's reply on the phone: "The Xiao family is also investigating what you said, but nothing has been found yet. Your father asked me to tell you, trust Wenshan. After all, he is your brother. Look You grew up, and besides, he is in the country now, so he probably has nothing to do with this matter. I am in good health now, but I just have a cold, so don't worry too much."

Holding the microphone, Xiao Chongyun felt chills all over his body: "Didn't you never trust your father?"

The mother's voice was far away and inaudible: "Yes, but he will never let me die."

After hanging up the phone for a long time, he was still holding the phone, standing in front of the window, speechless.

At the same time, all samples from the island arrived.He privately entrusted someone to take small portions of the drinking water and food at home, and sent them over through special channels, and handed them over to his friends for inspection.Because of the old example, the results of the test came out very quickly.The water and food are both safe. The strange thing is that a very small amount of almost undetectable poison was detected on the outside of one of the bottle caps.

It must be that Zhang Wenshan knew that the poisoning was discovered, so he changed another method.No one knows exactly where he changed the poison and what new method he used.His father didn't even suspect him at all—and Xiao Chongyun had someone investigate the maid who brought him the poisoned wine, but that woman had already been sent away, and there was nowhere to investigate.

He tracked down who gave away the maid, and everyone agreed that the girl resigned by herself and rushed home to take care of her seriously ill father.Her hometown is in a remote tropical rainforest village, and there is no telephone connection, so it is impossible to determine whether this person has really returned home.Xiao Chongyun checked the traffic route from Kuala Lumpur to that village, and there was only one transfer at the most convenient time, at [-]:[-] in the morning, and the first stop was Belon, but the maid rushed to leave that night.

Of course, maybe she has other reasons, but Xiao Chongyun couldn't convince herself.

Later, Xiao Chongyun had a flash of inspiration and called the concierge: "After the door is locked at home, there must be an exit ticket when going out. Who will let her go?"

"Ah Zhen," the concierge thought for a while, "at that time she was standing at the door when a car from the young and old came in, and she said that the family was pitiful, and let her go."

During that time, Xiao Chongyun often had nightmares. He dreamed that he was standing in front of his mother’s tombstone, but he couldn’t find the flowers for sacrifice. He turned around anxiously, and saw Zhang Wenshan walking towards him from a distance with a bouquet of white roses. .

Zhang Wenshan walked up to him all the way, put the bouquet of white roses in his arms, and smiled at him: "You lost, brother."

The Xiao family has always been winner-take-all, loser-lose.

Including the most important people.

Xiao Chongyun looked down at the rose in his arms, and there was a rusty, bloodstained bullet in the pale petals.

He woke up dripping with cold sweat, and found that he had spent the night in the laboratory, with a strange, large and warm coat draped over his shoulders.The elementary school boy was wearing a thin shirt, sitting beside him, staring at him worriedly: "Senior, did you have a nightmare?"

Xiao Chongyun returned the coat: "Thank you, is it cold?"

The elementary school boy sneezed: "It's neither cold nor cold."

The younger brother said that he had no class in the morning, and passing by this laboratory, he happened to see Xiao Chongyun lying on the table and fell asleep. It seemed that he didn't come home at night, so he came in to have a look, and the senior just woke up.The junior who insisted that he just passed by in the morning, with blue panda eyes, sat shivering in the laboratory, but looked extremely happy, and took out a folded newspaper from his pocket: "Senior, senior, you Do you know the result of this year's "Paris Star"? Senior, I remember you participated in it in the first grade and won the winning prize at that time?"

Now it seems that this is actually just a small competition. Xiao Chongyun has been too busy recently, and has not paid attention to it for a long time, so he rubbed his index finger on the bridge of his nose, opened the newspaper and took a look: "This year's winner is a Chinese, named Zhou Tianhao?"

The elementary school boy nodded sharply.

"I remember this person," unexpectedly he knew, "didn't you always be bullied by a bully organization called the Qinglong Gang? A bodyguard like a white tiger, and a few younger brothers. This scum's family is doing business in China, so he is a rich second-generation ancestor. I didn't expect to be very talented in perfume."

Xiao Chongyun read the newspaper carefully: "Looking at the works, the understanding of Xiangyun is quite similar to yours. I don't know if there are any photos."

Nicolas jumped up, grabbed the newspaper, and put it back in his pocket: "There are no photos, no photos, how can such a scum put photos!"

Xiao Chongyun smiled: "There is nothing to envy. You are not inferior to him, and your level is actually about the same."

He thought for a while, opened the drawer, took out a notebook for daily inspiration, and handed it over: "I may have something to do in a while, and I may not be able to come back. This is for you."

He stretched out his hand to rub his junior's head again, and he seemed to like this action very much recently: "You are really talented. Chinese incense is a beautiful road. If one day I can't walk, I hope you can walk for me."

During that time, Xiao Chongyun felt as if he was standing in the ice and snow, trying to feel the last ray of warm sunshine falling on him.

He still texts with Zhang Wenshan.Although there was a six-hour time difference, Zhang Wenshan never sent a text message in the middle of the night, probably due to counting Xiao Chongyun's work and rest time.

His text messages are very short, usually just good morning, or two words of good and bad.Xiao Chongyun checked the map and finally chose Thailand.Spices, transportation, prices and costs are all considerations, and the most important point is that tipping prevails, visas are simple, and it is easy to manipulate.He agreed that the two of them would go back to Long Island together, and then go overland from Malaysia, first renting a small house there.Xiao Chongyun spent a lot of time thinking about how to persuade Zhang Wenshan to go with him to this place with hot climate and backward industry, but it didn't come in handy.

Because after he sent the location, Zhang Wenshan replied with one word: "Okay."

After a while, another message was sent: "You set a time."

The only long post was a message of explanation: "I have thought about the conversation last time. I will talk to Zhang's family to cut off some gossip and hope that we can completely reconcile."

Liar, Xiao Chongyun trembled with anger, you liar.

He responded to the text message and then deleted the message.

It was rare for Zhang Wenshan to reveal a little flaw and mentioned the forces behind him. In fact, the most appropriate way at that time should be to call back and talk in depth.But Xiao Chongyun was too desperate at that time to hide his broken and anxious tone, so he chose words.

"Thank you brother."

When Xiao Chongyun went to the cafeteria to have breakfast in a daze, the elementary school boy stayed where he was.The innocent and well-behaved image slowly faded, he whistled, took out his mobile phone and called Sun Fangzheng: "Fatty Sun, where were you yesterday?"

Xiao Qinglong squatted on the ground and gnawed on a sandwich: "Playing a game console in front of the door of your senior's laboratory, Boss - ouch, my mother is going to clear the level!!! Boss, wait a minute!!!!"

"Did you see it?"

"We squatted in Xiao Chongyun for a week, saw a lot of things in theory, and took a lot of photos. There were seniors eating, receiving love letters from girls, shaving, and changing clothes—Boss, which one do you want to see? "

Zhou Tianhao lowered his voice: "It depends on the person who followed him."

He didn't arrive at Xiao Chongyun's laboratory in the morning, but he had been squatting outside the senior's door and playing PSP with Xiao Qinglong since the evening. After seeing Xiao Chongyun fell asleep, he opened the door and entered the unlocked laboratory, sitting beside him, Admire the news coverage of his own award, while guarding his defenseless seniors.

Sometimes Zhou Tianhao couldn't understand why he was so attached to Xiao Dongfang, was it because of a bottle of amazingly talented perfume, or because when he was most depraved and helpless, he reached out and touched the top of his head, saying that you have Talent, you have a future.Later, he felt that it was probably because he was indeed very talented in perfumery, so he had a pure academic yearning for his seniors.

Xiao Qinglong became serious, put away the PSP and put it in his pocket: "It's taken, face to face."

"Show me," Zhou Tianhao said, "By the way, pass me the one with the clothes on."

When the gangster leader of the bully gang of foreign students was setting a photo of the senior wearing a tie as his phone desktop, Xiao Chongyun received a phone message from Zhang Wenshan.

Xiao Chongyun's phone is out of battery, and it has been automatically turned off since last night.Probably because there was no connection, the call was automatically transferred to voicemail.This was the first time he heard Zhang Wenshan's voice since the Christmas farewell.

"There is something wrong now," Zhang Wenshan's voice sounded a little hoarse, "I can't come to see you, sorry."