Out of place

After hearing Xiang Xi's clear voice at that pervert Tan's home last time, Cheng Boyan once again learned his good voice.

And this time because it was in a small car, Xiang Xi shouted loudly, Cheng Boyan almost drove the car directly onto the sidewalk.

"Why you!" He pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped, looking at Xiang Xi.

"Cheng Boyan, you are so stupid, you should tell me your birthday earlier," Xiang Xi glared at him, "I was afraid of being ashamed to follow you to have dinner with your friends, but now it's your birthday! You should be early Say I won't buy this outfit, save it for gifts!"

"Who asked you to buy a gift, I didn't say it because I was afraid that you would buy a gift." Cheng Boyan thought for a while, looked him up again, and said with a smile, "I just bought this body?"

"That's right, I'll wear it for dinner in the future." Xiang Xi still stared at him, "Do you understand the dress!"

"It's a good match. I didn't see that you have a good eye just by looking at your Moxican before." Cheng Boyan gave him a thumbs up.

"It's okay. If I hadn't been ruined in Zhaojiayao for more than ten years, I would probably learn design or something..." Xiang Xi stopped halfway through, "What are you talking about! Wait for me!"

"No need to buy gifts." Cheng Boyan locked the car when he reached out to open the door.

"Don't worry, it won't be very expensive," Xiang Xi glanced at him, "I've run out of money."

Cheng Boyan was silent for a while, unlocked the car, Xiang Xi jumped out of the car, patted on the door, and ran into a disgraced supermarket nearby.

Not to mention that Xiang Xi has no money now, even if he has money, he can't buy any high-end birthday gifts in this place. This supermarket is considered the most awesome shopping place in this area, and it is basically a vegetable market.

Xiang Xi quickly turned around the shelves twice, but didn't see anything suitable. He had never bought a gift for anyone, nor had he received a formal gift. He had no idea what a gift should be like.

Finally, he stopped in front of the snack aisle to buy something to eat.

But after looking around, he didn't see anything like a gift among the snacks, and he was hesitating when he saw Cheng Boyan at the door got out of the car and was walking to the supermarket.

Somewhat anxiously, he took down a lollipop the size of his face, and ran to the cashier.

When Cheng Boyan watched Xiang Xi running over with a colorful lollipop the size of an electric mosquito swatter, he struggled to hold back his laughter.

"Happy birthday." Xiang Xi ran up to him and handed him a lollipop.

"Thank you." Cheng Boyan took the lollipop.

"Grow up quickly." Xiang Xi said again.

"Okay." Cheng Boyan said with a smile.

"There's nothing decent here," Xiang Xi scratched his head in embarrassment, "Let's make do with it, and I'll give you another gift tomorrow."

"No need, this one is very good." Cheng Boyan turned the lollipop in his hand and walked towards the car, "I like it very much. I haven't received a gift of lollipop yet, and I haven't eaten it either. Lollipop."

"The lollipop is unhealthy, Director Xu will definitely not let you eat it." Xiang Xi followed behind and laughed twice.

"You can try it today." Cheng Boyan got into the car.

The road was a bit congested, and he hadn't reached the place after driving for almost an hour. Cheng Boyan answered two calls while waiting for the red light, urging him to hurry up.

Xiang Xi could hear the lively voices coming from the phone, and the voices of several people came out at the same time.

Cheng Boyan smiled and said that he would be there soon, and Xiang Xi suddenly became nervous when he heard this.

The people waiting at the restaurant are all Cheng Boyan's friends. Cheng Boyan said that they are basically classmates, from high school and university, and they hang out with each other after playing too much.

Not to mention anything else, they must all be those people in this city who have their own regular and stable life with self-confidence written on their faces. Xiang Xi lowered his head and looked at himself, an outlier like himself...

When we arrived at the hotel parking lot and were looking for a parking space, Xiang Xi almost wanted to tell Cheng Boyan that I would not go.

"My friends are very chatty," Cheng Boyan slowly drove the car, "Talk about whatever you want, talk to me if you don't want to talk to them, eat if you don't want to talk, it's okay."

"I don't think I can get in on what they're talking about," Xiang Xi still lowered his head, "What international events, economics and military affairs..."

"Ouch," Cheng Boyan laughed, "You're really giving them face, do you see what I usually say?"

"What do you say?" Xiang Xi looked up at him.

Cheng Boyan found a parking space and slowly backed the car in: "So-and-so is getting fatter and disfigured, so-and-so has a baby who looks like a pig, when will we go to the beach together, etc. Parties are all about having fun, not meetings."

Xiang Xi smiled.

Regardless of whether Cheng Boyan's words were true or not, Xiang Xi'an was greatly relieved.

However, following Cheng Boyan to the door of the box, when Cheng Boyan pushed the door open, Xiang Xi immediately became nervous again when he looked inside.

Growing up in Zhaojiayao, he used to quickly judge the various states of a stranger when he first met him, such as friendly, unfriendly, approachable, inaccessible, and stealthy , those who are not easy to steal, those who are easy to cheat, those who are not easy to cheat, those who can be beaten up, and those who see you should run away...

There were a dozen or so people in this room, gathered around an enlarged table, and when Cheng Boyan opened the door to enter, there was a burst of lively laughter and greetings.

Xiang Xi glanced at him with a friendly smile and a relaxed greeting, but at the same time he could see that no matter what these people were talking about, they were not from the same world as him. Their smiles, temperament, and atmosphere were all too far apart .

"Hey, I said I'm bringing a friend here, birthday star, let me introduce you." Someone said in the midst of the excitement.

"My friend, Xiang Xi," Cheng Boyan grabbed Xiang Xi's shoulders and brought him to the table, "I'm just 19 years old, do I have to call you uncles and aunts..."

"Then I call you Brother, right?" A girl answered immediately with a smile, "Shou Xing has a big face."

Xiang Xi followed with a smile, but didn't speak.

The people in the room quickly shifted their attention and began to squeeze against a fat man.

Xiang Xi sat down with Cheng Boyan and breathed a sigh of relief.

Probably because they are too familiar, Cheng Boyan is not a child, the focus of the birthday party was still on the party, after the dishes were served, everyone toasted Cheng Boyan and started chatting while eating.

Xiang Xi ate in silence, then looked around the box again.

This box is probably the highest-class box he has ever entered in his life. It is decorated like a palace, with a sofa as wide as a bed and a TV that takes up half of the wall. Those boxes he and Uncle Ping have entered before Compared with here, the gap between him and these people in front of him is even bigger.

There are a lot of things on the sofa, and you can tell they are gifts when you look at them, Xiang Xi glanced at them casually, and can see from the box that there is nothing like a lollipop for children...

"Xiang Xi, is your name Xiang Xi?" A girl sitting on the other side of Xiang Xi asked him.

"Well, yes." Xiang Xi nodded.

"My name is Xiao Lang, try that fish." Xiao Lang stretched out his hand and turned a plate of fish on the turntable in front of him. "Their signature fish is delicious. Do you like fish?"

"I like it very much," Xiang Xi picked up his chopsticks, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Xiao Lang said with a smile, "Do you think there is a generation gap between us all older than you?"

"There is definitely no generation gap with me," said a person sitting opposite immediately, "I measured my mental age two days ago, and I was just 15 years old. Xiang Xi and I are the same age."

"It's over," Cheng Boyan held a big meatball for Xiang Xi, and said in a row, "It's over, it's over... Lin He, how can you deal with a 15-year-old? Song Yi, please sue him."

"Damn it!" Le Le called Lin He next to him.

"The old vegetable gang told me a lot of dirty jokes." Song Yi said solemnly.

A table of people laughed for a long time.

Just like what Cheng Boyan said, the content of these people’s chats is very casual, and there are not many profound things. Others are not strictly speaking the same category.

Xiang Xi laughed as he listened to what they were talking about. Although he still felt that he couldn't put his mouth in on what they were talking about, he was not as nervous as before.

But he didn't quite understand the relationship between Lin He and Song Yi.

Are these two men a couple?

Everyone didn't seem to care about the two of them at all, just like a male and female couple, Xiang Xi was a little uncertain.

But these two people looked familiar to him, and after thinking for a while, he remembered that they were the two who went to Fengbozhuang for dinner with Cheng Boyan last time.

Just as he was thinking, he heard someone call his name.

"Xiang Xi," a fat man sitting opposite called him, "Eat more, why didn't you move your chopsticks, I could have eaten all the dishes on this table when I was your age."

"Oh, Fatty Chen, what kind of tone are you talking about? It's too revealing of your age." Xiao Lang said with a smile.

"I'm not underage like Song Yi, I have a mature heart, looking at Xiang Xi is like looking at a child..." Fatty Chen said.

"I think my son is crazy." Song Yi said while playing with his mobile phone while lowering his head.

"That's what you said, you two will go crazy in the future." Fatty Chen sandwiched a piece of ribs for Song Yi, "Shut up...Xiang Xi, are you really 19?"

"Yeah." Xiang Xi nodded.

"Do you go to school? Is it Junior Boyan?" Fatty Chen asked.

"No..." Xiang Xi was quite embarrassed, this casual and normal question made him suddenly unable to sit still, "I don't go to school anymore."

"Working," Cheng Boyan said, "much better than when we were 19 years old."

"That's true, work can train people." Fatty Chen took a bite, looked up at Xiang Xi and asked, "Where do you work?"

Xiang Xi's hand holding the cup and about to take a sip of his drink stopped in the air. This question made him suddenly want to turn around and leave the box. Chen Fatty's question may be a bit of a question, but if it was anyone else, the answer would be different. Will be as speechless as he is.

"I'm working in Sha County." Cheng Boyan said calmly.

Xiang Xi was completely stunned.

"Shaxian? Shaxian snacks?" Someone asked.

"En." Cheng Boyan responded.

There was a brief silence in the room, but soon someone said again: "That was hard work, wasn't it?"

"...It's okay." Xiang Xi smiled.

"Speaking of hard work," Song Yiyi patted the table, "When I was working part-time, I was so tired that I didn't want to live..."

The topic was quickly diverted by Song Yi to the hard work experience of everyone in school.

Xiang Xi remained silent the whole time, and after taking two sips of his drink, he ate with a sullen head.

"What's wrong?" Cheng Boyan whispered in his ear.

"I shouldn't be here today." Xiang Xi glanced at him and whispered.

"I..." Cheng Boyan saw some small flames in Xiang Xi's eyes, and was stunned.

Before he could speak again, Xiang Xi said, "I'm going out for a while," got up and walked out of the box.

Cheng Boyan hesitated for a moment, then stood up, and before going out, he looked back at Song Yi, and Song Yi mouthed to him: "You're an idiot."

This floor is full of private rooms, except for a few waiters in the corridor, Cheng Boyan didn't see anyone else.

"Where is the boy who just came out of our box?" he asked the waiter standing at the door of their box.

"Going to the bathroom," the waiter pointed to the end of the corridor, "turn right at the end."

"Thank you." Cheng Boyan quickly trotted over there.

Because there are toilets in the private rooms, there is basically no one in the public toilets on the floor. Cheng Boyan opened the door and went in but saw no one.

"Xiang Xi?" He called out, walking over to knock on each door.

No one answered him, but one of the doors was locked and couldn't be pushed open. Cheng Boyan knocked on the door a few times: "Xiang Xi, are you inside?"

The people inside did not speak.

"I'm sorry," Cheng Boyan said, "I didn't know you minded so much, I'm sorry."

The people inside were still silent.

Cheng Boyan bent down and looked in from the gap under the door. He saw Xiang Xi's new jeans and new running shoes, straightened up and hesitated, and walked into the next compartment.

There is no peculiar smell in this bathroom, and it is quite clean, but for Cheng Boyan, what he has to do is still too challenging.

He pulled out a few paper towels, put his hands on the toilet lid, then stood up, stepped on the water tank with the wall, and then used the paper towels to pad on the board between the two compartments, holding the partition with his hands , poked his head over there.

He saw that Xiang Xi was sitting on the toilet seat with his head down.

"Hey, how dirty." Cheng Boyan said.

This sudden sentence startled Xiang Xi, when he looked up and saw a head on it, he jumped up from the toilet seat and hit the closed door.

"You're crazy!" Xiang Xi yelled, "I'm so scared that I want to pee my pants!"

"I made quite a noise, didn't you hear?" Cheng Boyan carefully kept his hands from touching the partition, "Come out, let's talk."

Xiang Xi opened the door, kicked it, walked out of the cubicle, and stood in the middle of the bathroom with arms folded.

Cheng Boyan jumped off the toilet and went out of the cubicle, went to the sink to wash his hands, and walked to Xiang Xi.

"No more disinfectant?" Xiang Xi looked at him.

"In a while," Cheng Boyan shook the water off his hand, "Are you angry?"

"No." Xiang Xi muffled his voice.

"I'm sorry," Cheng Boyan apologized again, "I really didn't think there was anything wrong, so I just said it directly."

"Of course you don't think there is anything wrong," Xiang Xi said, "It's not you who is ashamed, at most people can say how Cheng Boyan got mixed up with such a person!"

"...No one would say that," Cheng Boyan looked at his face, "Even if you say it, it's nothing to care about..."

"You don't care! I know! You don't care!" Xiang Xi suddenly stepped forward and stared at him, "But I care! I care! You don't care because it's not your business! I care because This is me! It is me who accepts the eyes of others! Not you!"

Cheng Boyan did not speak, looked at him for a long time, and finally sighed softly.

"The eyes of others," he said softly, "how do you know that I haven't accepted it? There are quite a few types, despised, strange, sympathetic, and curious."

Xiang Xi glanced at him and remained silent.

"But I still have to say I'm sorry, I didn't consider your feelings." Cheng Boyan said.

"I'm not angry with you," Xiang Xi took two steps back and leaned against the sink, "I just feel...depressed."

"Is it depressing to work in Sha County?" Cheng Boyan looked at him, "We all rely on our ability to make a living. Now I will do what is within my ability. As long as I work hard, no one has the right to criticize you."

"It's easy to say," Xiang Xi smiled, "It's like telling someone with a 1 yuan mobile phone to someone with a 100 yuan mobile phone that your mobile phone is good and practical."

"I won't feel anything with a 100 yuan mobile phone." Cheng Boyan frowned.

"Nonsense, it's because of you, and everyone who knows you knows that you can't afford a [-] mobile phone!" Xiang Xi narrowed his eyes, "Now you say you are working in Sha County, and no one will look down on you. There is a reason."

Cheng Boyan opened his mouth and didn't say anything. It took him a long time before he said, "Suddenly I can't speak to you...well, Sha County, then you should work harder and get from Sha County to Shashi!"

"People like me," Xiang Xi pointed to himself, with tears in his eyes, "I can only rely on this little hope to support me. I'm very empty but I have to hold on to it, for fear that I'll fall if I relax. Can't get up again, but you know, it's so hard, just pumping yourself up and leaking air at the same time! Shaxian? I'm kidding you! I can't do anything with casserole and jump into a fucking slot Shaxian, do you still believe it? How fucking naive!"

"Huh?" Cheng Boyan was stunned, "What's going on?"

"What's going on," Xiang Xi laughed, raised his hand to wipe his eyes, and suddenly yelled, "What else can happen! If it comes out of the mud, it stinks!"

"What's the matter?" Cheng Boyan stared at him, "Tell me, if I don't tell you, just tell me if there's anything wrong?"

"What are you talking about! What can I say! Doctor Cheng, I am in trouble again, Doctor Cheng, I am in trouble again, Doctor Cheng, I am again! Again! Again!" Xiang Xi shouted, tears slipping down, " I'm going to tell you everything, if you don't hide in the sky, I don't have the last name Xiang! God took laxatives and made you fucking congest your brain and always treat me as a friend! I'm just you, I Dare I say it, dare I use my strength!"

Xiang Xi's voice lowered, and tears poured out uncontrollably: "Do I dare, I'm not afraid that if I get too strong, I'll break it and run away...Then where can I find another one... I won't do it again..." There will be..."

Cheng Boyan was speechless for a long time. He always felt that Xiang Xi was inferior and sensitive, but he also saw through many things. Tears probably wouldn't appear on Xiang Xi's face.

Now the tears that were like a dike collapsed made him a little at a loss.

And distressed.

"Don't cry," he stretched out his hand and scratched the top of Xiang Xi's head twice, "Xiang Xi, don't cry."

"None of your business! Just cry!" Xiang Xi said in a crying voice.

Cheng Boyan sighed, stretched out his arms and put Xiang Xi into his arms, and patted him on the back: "Okay, then you cry, and cry again in a few different ways."

Xiang Xi also hugged him, pressed his eyes on his shoulders and cried fiercely for a few times, then fell silent.

"Out of breath?" Cheng Boyan patted him on the back a few more times.

"Fuck," Xiang Xi whispered, "I'm crying so hard, I can't cry anymore..."

Cheng Boyan smiled, and took out his mobile phone from his pocket: "Isn't it just that I lost my job, or was I just being troubled by someone, it's okay."

"Standing and talking doesn't hurt my back." Xiang Xi said.

"I'll introduce you to a boss, you should work hard," Cheng Boyan dialed a number on his mobile phone, and after connecting, he said, "Song Yi, come to the bathroom in the corridor."