Inferior by Nature

The island has everything to eat, drink and have fun, but there is no place to wear glasses.Although I can't see everything without my glasses, it's always inconvenient. On Saturday, I left the island with Chen Qiao and went to the city.

I went to the optical shop, and Chen Qiao went to the bank next door to handle business, saying that he wanted to send money to his grandma and mother in his hometown.

"Brother Ning, are you free tonight? Treat you to dinner." Chen Qiao was usually careless, but when he said this, he showed a bit of shyness that suited his age.

"Bring me to dinner? Is it your birthday?" It's not right, he showed me the tattoo on his waist before, and said it was the tattoo's birthday, but it doesn't seem to be this month.

"No." He scratched his head and said with a smile, "I got promoted, and I will be able to do more important things with the eldest son in the future. I am here today thanks to you and brother Yao, and I want to treat you to a meal."

It was only when I was on the island that I found out that this kind of club has a strict promotion system, one level at a time, depending on seniority and contribution, and it is not easy to leapfrog.If it weren't for Ran Zheng's great service in protecting the lord, Ran Qingzhuang wouldn't be able to become a group cadre at a young age.

"I didn't help you with anything. How could it be thanks to me? I also want to thank you for taking care of me during this time. You are the one who picks me up and down every day. It should be me who invites you." Chen Qiao It's not easy to save some money, and I don't want to let him spend it.

Chen Qiao saw what I was thinking, and said bluntly: "I was promoted because you completed this task well. Oh, it doesn't cost a lot of money, I will take you to eat a special food stall, which is cheap and delicious. Go , it’s rare for me to invite a guest.”

He said so, and knowing that he didn't need to spend a lot of money, I was relieved, so I nodded and agreed, let him go to the business, and went into the optician's shop.

Chen Qiao was in a good mood, grinning and waving his hands while telling me: "I'll come to find you soon, don't run around!"

After two incidents, I am followed almost everywhere I go, like a three-year-old child, under strict all-round protection.

"Okay." I said goodbye to him reluctantly.

Chen Qiao's promotion is considered a happy event. After I finished pairing my glasses and filled out the delivery address, I saw that there was a sale of sunglasses next to them. The style was trendy. It was very suitable for a young man like Chen Qiao, so I wanted to buy him a pair as a treat for him. return gift.

I picked a few pairs and thought they were good, but it was difficult to choose for a while, so I took a photo and sent it to Ran Qingzhuang, asking him to choose a pair.

[The second pair. 】

After waiting for a few minutes, Ran Qingzhuang replied.

Then the second pair.

I asked the salesperson to wrap it up, and after a short while, Chen Qiao finished the business, opened the door and came in to meet me.

"Brother Ning, do you want to buy anything else? It may take more than an hour from our side." Chen Qiao looked at the time on the phone and said.

"No need, let's go." I took the bag, I didn't give it to him immediately, I planned to give him a surprise when I was eating.

I have always had mixed feelings about Chen Qiao.He is not a few years older than his younger sister, who is still studying at school, but he has already made a living in society early.

Obviously just like the kid next to him, Sunshine loves to laugh and has no violent tendencies, but he wants to imitate others and join the club, so he still dare not tell his relatives what he is doing.

Once he called his family on the phone, and I heard him tell his grandma in a strong local accent that he worked as a driver for a company and drove to pick up the proprietress every day.

Ashamed to speak out, it shows that he also knows that what he is doing is not the right way.

With the lessons learned from Ami, I always want to persuade him to stop staying on Lion Island and try to do something else, but I am afraid that it will be too direct to offend him. After all, we have only known each other for more than two months.

Forget it, everyone has their own fate, and I can't leave the island myself, and I can't go ashore, so how can I persuade others to go ashore.

For some reason, the elevated highway was blocked on Saturday, and it was blocked for a full two hours. When Chen Qiao and I arrived at the food stall, Ran Qingzhuang had already arrived, and at the same table was Chen Qiao's roommate. Yam.

"You guys are finally here, I'm going to have peanuts three times." Mochi said and called the waiter to take an order.

"Isn't this a traffic jam? I'm thirsty." Chen Qiao swung his cup roughly, and poured herbal tea for me and himself.

I sat next to Ran Qingzhuang and asked him in a low voice, "Have you guys been waiting for a long time?"

Ran Qingzhuang peeled the peanuts and said, "No, I'm only 10 minutes ahead of you."

The waiter quickly brought a piece of menu for us to check, Mochi took it and gave it to Ran Qingzhuang, Ran Qingzhuang didn't even look at it, he lifted his chin towards me and said, "Give it to him."

Mochi was taken aback for a moment, and immediately reacted, handing the menu in front of me.

"Sister-in-law please!"

I took the menu with a smile, asked Chen Qiao and Mochi if they had any taboos, ordered a few hot dishes, and ordered a piece of fish that Ran Qingzhuang ate a lot when I ate with Nanxian last time. When he had a big dish, he called the waiter to return the menu to the other party.

"Two more bottles of cold beer!" Chen Qiao added.

The waiter confirmed the dishes, put down the hourglass, and took out two bottles of beer from the refrigerator for our table.

Mochi spilled the herbal tea in the cup, filled it up for himself and Chen Qiao one by one, then held up the bottle and said to Ran Qingzhuang: "Should I call the driver after dinner? I'm happy today, brother Yao drink?"

Before Ran Qingzhuang could reply, I covered his cup and said, "Don't put it in ice, he has a cold."

Mochi looked at me, then went to Ran Qingzhuang, as if waiting for him to make up his mind.

I also went to see Ran Qingzhuang, smiled flatteringly at him, and said: "Drink the one at room temperature, it's the same at room temperature."

Ran Qingzhuang threw a peanut into his mouth, and didn't insist on it.

"Whatever," he said.

I hurriedly waved to the waiter to bring over two more bottles of beer at room temperature.While Ran Qingzhuang was not paying attention, Chen Qiao secretly stretched out a hand from under the table and gave me a thumbs up. When Ran Qingzhuang looked at him, he quickly put his hand down.

I took the paper bag by my feet and gave it to Chen Qiao, saying it was a gift for him.

He was flattered, and while talking about why he bought me a gift, he opened the bag with a smile.

"I paid the money, and your elder brother chose the gift." I said.

Chen Qiao put on his sunglasses, clasped his fists at us both with a smile and said, "Thank you brother and sister-in-law for your kindness!"

After eating, Chen Qiao kept wearing sunglasses, which were placed on top of his head, and never took them off.

Maybe it's because everyone is more at ease after being out of the island, so we enjoyed our meal very much.

"It's true, Ami, she leaves as soon as she says, without saying hello... If she was here, she would have a meal today." While eating, Chen Qiao was also a little drunk, shaking his glass and suddenly mentioned Ami .

My hand holding the food gave a slight pause, and it took a while before I put it in my mouth as if nothing had happened.Whether it's Nanxian or Chen Qiao, they all mentioned her during meals. It can be seen that Ami is really a lovely girl, and people can't help but miss her.

"Maybe she found a good man and went back to her hometown to get married. Why are you worrying about it?" Mochi said, spitting out fish bones, "Doing her job is not a long-term solution after all."

"Then wish her happiness." Chen Qiao made a toast to midair, "I hope to see you again sometime."

I took a sip of my tea and changed the topic: "How did you all join the Union Group?"

"I'm not educated, so I just want to make a living. I didn't learn well when I was a child, and I fought and caused troubles all day long. Then someone introduced me to the company and said it was suitable for me. I saw that it was really suitable, free, They are all brothers, and food and drink are also included." Chen Qiao said bluntly.

"I'm similar to Pineapple Boy, and I was introduced by someone else." Mochi might also be drinking too much, with flushed cheeks, uncharacteristically, and with a strong tone, "I'm an orphan, and I didn't have a home since I was a child. Lion King Island is my home. Those Those who say that Lion King Island is bad don’t understand Lion King Island at all. What are they? They know shit! Whoever wants to make trouble with Lion King Island will make trouble with me, and whoever makes trouble with me will kill him!”

Chen Qiao put his arms around his shoulders, clinked glasses with him, cursed those "them" together, and threatened to kill them one by one.

Chonghai was already very warm at this time, so I shouldn't feel cold, but when Chen Qiao and the others chanted the slogan "kill them", I still shivered unconsciously.

That is not the cold brought by the external body sensation, but a kind of cold that spreads from the heart to every blood vessel and every pore of the whole body.It was bone-chilling and frightening.

If they knew that Ami was dead, maybe they would feel sorry for her and feel sorry for her.But if they knew that Ami was executed for betraying Lion King Island and Jinchenyu, wouldn't they not feel sad or regretful for her at all, but instead feel happy?

I dare not ask, nor can I ask.I always feel that the answer will not be what I hope.

Can't help but look at Ran Qingzhuang, who rests his elbows on the table, cigarettes between his fingertips, his eyelids drooping slightly, and the smoke he exhales wraps around him, making it hard to see the emotions in his eyes.

Surrounded by noisy people, with cobweb-like string lights above his head, and the smell of various tobacco, wine and food lingering in his nose, he seemed very lonely in such a lively environment.He looked like he couldn't get close to anyone, couldn't understand anyone, didn't care about anything, and left everything behind.

Thinking about it carefully, everyone on the island calls him "Brother Yao", but there seems to be no one who can really establish contact with him.

Feeling my gaze, he looked up, stared at me silently for a moment, and moved away first.

"drink!"

As if to refute my inner speculation about him, he directly raised the wine bottle, joined Chen Qiao and the others, and drank the rest of the wine in the bottle in a rough gulp.

He drank so fast that the liquid flowed down the corner of his lips, over his Adam's apple, and into his collar.Seeing this, I quickly took out a paper towel to wipe it for him. He put down the wine bottle forcefully, grabbed my hand, watched my eyes and pulled my hand off little by little.

"I'll do it myself." He took a tissue and wiped the alcohol from his neck.

I twirled my wet fingertips and gave him a piece of meat from the belly of the fish.He didn't move at first, but when I looked into the bowl again, he was eaten at some point.

Satisfied with wine and food, Chen Qiao asked someone to pay the bill, Ran Qingzhuang got up and went to the bathroom, and I hurriedly followed.

The restroom of the food stall is in the store, and it is very small and simple through the kitchen. There is only a toilet and a sink inside.After Ran Qingzhuang entered, I squeezed in behind him and locked the door with my backhand.

He looked at me in astonishment, not understanding what I was doing.

"If you are in a hurry, you come first." He gestured to open the door.

I blocked the door first, and leaned against the door with my back: "How...how did you get used to it?"

He paused: "What?"

The bathroom is already cramped, and it is very difficult for two adults to turn around while standing. He intentionally opened some distance, but the effect was minimal, and he was still very close to me.

"You said before that if I don't want to leave, I have to get used to it. What about you? How did you get used to it?" Through the door panel, you can hear the sound of the chef outside, obviously in the same space, and it seems Not in the same space, it was too quiet, so quiet that I could even hear Ran Qingzhuang's breathing.

"You blocked me in the toilet and asked this?" He looked at me incomprehensibly.

I was a little embarrassed by what he said, and explained: "Because after that... we didn't have time to be alone after that. When we returned to the island, there were people everywhere, and there were surveillance..."

The more I spoke, the quieter I was, thinking whether I was making too much of a fuss. After all, even if I couldn’t be alone, there is something called a mobile phone in this world, and I can still send messages to ask questions.

But on second thought, what if the mobile phone is not safe?Since Jinchenyu can think of installing surveillance in our residence, he can install wiretapping in his mobile phone.

So... it's still the safest way.

"Is it because of Ami? What Chen Qiao and the others said made you think of her?" Ran Qingzhuang hit the point straight and pointed out the crux.

I lowered my eyes: "She didn't do anything wrong..."

The police brought corrupt officials to justice through the clues she provided, and she did nothing wrong that cost her life.On the contrary, she did a good thing, a huge good thing, and she didn't deserve to be treated like that.

"Betrayal is death, the rules are like this." Ran Qingzhuang's tone was calm and cold, "I know you can't understand these things, but you are not here to change them, remember your own identity, and remember what you are here for."

Remember who I am and what I am here for.

I am Ji Ning, a cellist, a cancer patient, and a confessor; I am here to teach the young master the cello, to work, and to redeem my sins.

I can't change the mind of an island, I can only try to keep myself from being changed.

"I understand." Ran Qingzhuang's lonely figure flashed in front of my eyes, and I suddenly wanted to touch him. I ran my fingertips across his arm, and I gently tugged at his wrist, and said, "Are you always like this? Remind yourself?" That's why it looks so lonely, so out of place?

He glanced at the hand that was being held by me, broke free, put it back in its original position, and didn't answer my question.

"Have you finished asking? Can you go out quickly after asking? I'm still holding back my urine." He paused, narrowed his eyes slightly, showing a little indescribable expression, "Do you want to watch me pee?"

Those ups and downs were temporarily swept away, and I was taken aback: "No, no, no!"

I hurriedly turned around to leave, and accidentally caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, with cheeks and neck, and even ears were red.

"Wait, Ji Ning, I have something to tell you..." Ran Qingzhuang stopped me from behind, hesitating to speak.

I turned around and waited for him to follow up.

Ran Qingzhuang thought over and over again, but still said bluntly: "Can you restrain yourself a bit, and don't keep messing with me?"