desensitization therapy

The end of January in Linchuan is the depths of winter.

Fang Zhilian is particularly sensitive to the smell in the cold winter air. First, the sense of smell, then spread to the central nervous system, and then the endless coughing.When the seasons change, what he perceives always comes a little earlier than the temperature change in the weather forecast.

Maybe it's because of the cold wave in the past two days, accompanied by the yellow warning of snowfall and frost, when the wind blows, there is always a chill that seeps into the bones.

There is no such thing as morning peak and evening peak on the Second Ring Road on weekends. It seems that there is a traffic jam 24 hours a day. Fang Zhilian has lost his temper since he got out of the garage.

He put one hand on the steering wheel, his slender fingers curled up, and tapped rhythmically, making a "click" noise, and the other hand was free to hold the phone, and sent Zhu Wen a WeChat message: "I may be late by ten How many minutes."

Zhu Wen replied quickly, with an OK expression.

Fang Zhilian put down his phone, drove forward for tens of meters, stopped again, and continued to be stuck in traffic.

There was less than 500 meters of driving left, and it was blocked intermittently for half an hour.Fang Zhilian drove underground according to the parking lot address pointed by the navigation, but the underground parking space was full. He wandered around and returned to the hotel entrance.

After going around and finally parked the car, Fang Zhilian went in through the revolving door of the hotel. Before he could find the elevator in Block A, he heard a voice calling him: "Fang Zhilian!"

Fang Zhilian looked in the direction of the sound source, and Zhu Wen was standing not far away, waving at him with a smile on his face.

Zhuwen Station is located under the most eye-catching chandelier in the center of the hall, and it can be seen at a glance.He was wearing casual clothes, his skin was a little darker than before, his hair was a little shorter than before, but other than that, he didn't seem to have changed much.

Fang Zhilian also showed a slight smile, and walked towards Zhu Wen: "Why did you come down?"

"I'm afraid you went wrong. This hotel is divided into ABCD seats. Trouble." Zhu Wen said while looking at him, and after a long while, he made a big fuss, "You have changed a lot?"

Has it changed a lot?Fang Zhilian was not sure: "I don't think you have changed much."

Zhu Wen nodded approvingly: "I also think I'm as handsome as before."

Fang Zhilian was dumbfounded. The embarrassment and silence he had imagined before were washed away by Zhu Wenyi's confident speech at the beginning.Zhu Wen led him to the elevator in Building A, and waited for the elevator gap before remembering to ask, "How long are you going to stay this time? Are you going back to the United States?"

Fang Zhilian said, "I won't be going back, but I shouldn't be staying for too long. Let's spend a while here."

"By the way, the real estate agency you introduced to me," he hesitated, and said thank you politely. You eat."

Zhu Wen immediately regained his spirits: "How can I not be free for Cengfan! Next week is the holiday, so it will be the next year."

"Okay." Fang Zhilian said.

Just then the elevator came, Zhu Wen entered the elevator first, helped him press the button to open the door, and asked casually, "But you've been there for so many years, aren't you used to it, why did you come back all of a sudden?"

Fang Zhilian leaned forward slightly, almost stepping into the elevator car, his vague shadow reflected on the cold metal wall.

He didn't answer right away.

Before answering, he thought of the night of New Year's Eve again.

Times Square in New York is crowded with people. People in twos and threes hug each other to keep warm. The huge LED screen spares no effort to light up, and the light belonging to the city evenly falls on everyone's head.

Fang Zhilian wore a down jacket that reached below the knee, and was also crowded in the crowd.The cold air sank, he rubbed his cold forehead, exhaled a cloud of wet white air, which quickly dissipated.

I don't know how long it has been crowded, probably when Fang Zhilian No.20 regretted why he came here once, numbers were displayed on the screen, and at the same time there were sparse countdown sounds.

Time is always unreasonable, the last minute before midnight seems to be extraordinarily long, and the couple beside him have already started kissing impatiently.

In the last ten seconds of the countdown, Fang Zhilian strenuously reached into the pocket of his down jacket to fumble for his phone. He wanted to take a picture of the moment when the fireworks bloomed, even though he had no one to send the picture to.

The countdown voices around became mixed, and people of different languages ​​and skin colors looked up in the same direction for the same New Year worth looking forward to.

When the bell rang, the fireworks exploded, and the colorful paper tapes fell from the sky. Fang Zhilian took his hand out of his empty pocket, and his ears were filled with "Happy New Year" in different languages, but he didn't seem to hear it. He picked up a piece of colored paper tape that fell on his face, and stared blankly.

Fang Zhilian remembered the night he often dreamed about.In the empty box, tinfoil ribbons were all over the floor, he picked up one and folded it into stars maliciously, and pasted it on Song Feijue's eyes.

Song Feijue brushed his hand away, and the stars on his face fell lightly to the ground, and he heard Song Feijue say "it's over".

After the grand ceremony, all that is left is nothing but emptiness, like colored paper tapes on the ground that are too late to clean up.Even after thinking about it over and over again, Fang Zhilian still couldn't tell whether what was in front of him was illusion or reality.

The alarm from the elevator brought Fang Zhilian back to reality. He raised his eyes and saw Zhu Wen looking over blankly: "Come in?"

Fang Zhilian came back to his senses, entered the elevator, and pressed the button for the seventh floor for Zhu Wen.

The elevator doors slowly closed.

He hasn't forgotten to answer the last question: "Because I lost my phone on New Year's Eve."

"what?"

"I have my return e-ticket from New York to Seattle in my phone, and there are many more... Nothing, but luckily I didn't lose my wallet. I stood in front of the screen at the airport and thought about it, so I bought a return ticket."

"..."

Zhu Wen asked dubiously: "Isn't it possible to book tickets at the airport? Is it true or not, because of this?"

Ding, the elevator stopped on the seventh floor.

Fang Zhilian walked out of the elevator first. He pressed the button to open the elevator door so that the metal door would not close. Then he looked at Zhu Wen who was still standing in the elevator in a daze, tilted his head and smiled.

"Fake, just kidding," he said.

The seventh floor of the hotel is a small banquet hall. Fang Zhilian followed Zhu Wen to the left and walked through a straight corridor. The beam of light from the crystal lamp wall fell on his profile intentionally or unintentionally.

The two doors of the banquet hall were open, and soothing jazz was playing from inside.

Fang Zhilian seemed to have seen many faces that were either familiar or unfamiliar, of course most of them were unfamiliar.And Zhu Wen seemed to be much more comfortable than him, as he walked forward, he greeted each of them familiarly.

"Fang Zhilian?" Someone called him in an uncertain tone.

Fang Zhilian stopped, and Zhu Wen, who was walking beside him, also stopped, and smiled and put his arms around his shoulder: "Xiaoyou, do you still recognize him?"

"I almost didn't recognize it, I watched it for a long time," the girl Zhu Wen called Xiaoyou smiled, and raised the goblet in her hand to Fang Zhilian symbolically, "You have changed so much, I just now I’ve been looking at it, and I’ve been wondering if it’s you.”

"But even more handsome." She stuck out her tongue and added.

Fang Zhilian also smiled politely, the three of them chatted for a while, Zhu Wen led him to continue walking, and after walking for a while, he whispered a reminder: "You Li, do you still remember?"

"Of course I remember." Fang Zhilian's eyes wandered between Zhu Wen and You Li who had gone away for a moment, and then asked, "Have I changed a lot?"

After all, we haven't seen each other for eight years. Unlike Zhu Wen, who often attends high school parties, Fang Zhilian transferred from another school only in his third year of high school, and the only person he has contact with is Zhu Wen.Even if they get along day and night and drift away, the others haven't seen each other for so many years, and if they can barely remember a name, they already have a good relationship.

Zhu Wen said: "Yeah, many people probably won't recognize you, but Yuli can still recognize you, it's strange."

As soon as the words were finished, the people in front suddenly turned their heads, Zhu Wen stopped to greet them, and someone looked at Fang Zhilian behind him with questioning eyes.

Zhu Wen introduced the past to them one by one, and the two sides responded with "Oh" to each other, and they didn't know if they remembered it.

Fang Zhilian exchanged pleasantries for a long time, and the smell of the freshener in the hall made people dizzy, and he refused to wander around the hall.So Zhu Wen took two glasses of champagne and moved with him to an inconspicuous corner.

"Do you hold a party every year?" Fang Zhilian took the champagne and asked casually, "Who took the lead in organizing it?"

Zhu Wen said another name, Fang Zhilian had no memory of it at all, Zhu Wen explained: "Now he has made a name for himself in business, I heard that the company's annual turnover can reach tens of millions, and every year he raises money."

Not far away, Yuli, who had just greeted them, was standing at the entrance of the hall. She seemed to be waiting for someone and kept looking around.

But within a few minutes, the person waiting for You Li came, and the person who came was facing You Li, facing Fang Zhilian, only showing his back, a black skirt, and light brown curly hair.

"Tao Jiaqi is here too." Zhu Wen saw that Fang Zhilian was looking there, thinking that he didn't know him again, so he explained.

Fang Zhilian nodded and said nothing.

You Li and Tao Jiaqi stood at the door for a while, then went to the dessert table together, without noticing this side.

At the same time, a man in a black suit stood on the banquet stage at some point. He held a microphone in his hand and coughed twice, as if he was adjusting the microphone.

Someone at the bottom whistled and called "Mr. Xu", and Zhu Wen curled his lips and said, "He likes to do this. Every time he starts to speak, it's the same as the leader's year-end summary."

Fang Zhilian knew it, swirled the champagne in the glass, but didn't drink it.

However, today's microphone didn't seem to be very popular. Mr. Xu spoke a few words, but the microphone was still silent, so he had to step off the stage to change the microphone.

After he stepped down, the voice in the hall became much quieter, probably because the party was about to start, and many people started looking for seats.

"I'll find a place." Zhu Wen said.

Fang Zhilian said "OK", he leaned lazily against the wall, staring down at the golden bubbles in the champagne, but his eyes were not fully focused.

The sound of the two voices seemed unusually abrupt in this quiet atmosphere.

"Hasn't Song Feijue been released from prison after serving his sentence?"

"It's a lifetime thing to have a criminal record. Do you think Tao Jiaqi can still like him?"

Like a frozen frame in a stop-motion animation, the air suddenly became very quiet.

For a few seconds, no one spoke again.But many people heard the content of the conversation. Some people looked at the two people who made the voices, and some turned their heads to look at Tao Jiaqi's expression.

Fang Zhilian raised his head reflexively, he was not curious about Tao Jiaqi's expression, it was just a subconscious reaction when he heard a familiar name.

Tao Jiaqi didn't sit down, she was still standing at the corner of the dessert table just now, holding a small plate of macarons in her hand.

Her face was ugly, and the hand holding the plate trembled slightly.

Standing next to Tao Jiaqi, You Li seemed a little at a loss. She whispered something in Tao Jiaqi's ear, and Tao Jiaqi reluctantly supported the table and turned around, blocking those subtle scrutiny behind her.

Then she raised her head, and from a distance, she just met Fang Zhilian's sight.

Fang Zhilian didn't know what kind of expression he should show now, but Tao Jiaqi's expression had changed from simple ugly to surprised, complicated, perhaps mixed with a little sadness.

Tao Jiaqi liked Song Feijue, and everyone in the whole grade knew about it.

Song Feijue and Fang Zhilian used to be a pair of secret lovers who did not see the light, and only Tao Jiaqi knew about it.

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