salt by salt

When Lao Luo asked me to take off my shirt, I was a little hesitant. The heating in the bungalow didn’t make me feel cold, but the windows were opened very wide for the daylight, which made me feel a little embarrassed.But Song Cheng had already taken off his coat without saying a word, so I could only sigh and unzip the down jacket, then took off the sweater and shirt, exposing my naked upper body.

"Take off your trousers, wear this." Lao Luo brought over two silk trousers, which were full of drape, and held them lightly in his hands.

"It looks like old men and old ladies who practice Tai Chi." I teased, "Immortal style."

Song Cheng smiled softly at me, took old Luo Ti's makeup box with familiarity and started to put on makeup.

"Is there no makeup artist?"

I looked around blankly, Lao Luo lit a cigarette and crossed his arms: "Xiao Song can do it by himself, you want to show your back later, turn around and let me see."

I knew I had to listen to the photographer at this time, so I carried it obediently. He looked at it for a while and said, "Jun Yan, your back looks like a woman. Very good."

This is probably a compliment, I laughed twice.Song Cheng moved very quickly, he put on his own makeup in silence, skillfully, Lao Luo walked up to me and said in a low voice: "When he first came, he had no money, and he had to take on all kinds of jobs. It was colder than now. In the cold weather of March and September, he stood in the river for a whole morning. When he came back, he had a high fever and almost died. Most of the time, the jobs were cheap, the models were rich and the money was low, and the makeup artist had no time to take care of everyone. Xiao Song learned how to make up by himself. Those days were very hard, it was not easy for him..."

He swallowed the following words and the ending together, leaving only light blue smoke in the air, and he could taste the bitter breath.I said, "He's great."

"It's all boiled out." Old Luo was a little shorter than me, squeezed my arm and commented, "Look at you, you look like a young master with thin skin and tender flesh."

With my heart hanging in my throat, I turned my head to look at him.He didn't notice my abnormality at all, and said vaguely with a cigarette in his mouth: "Xiao Song was more delicate than you looked when he first came here. Jun Yan, people have to suffer in this world, and they don't know when they will be the first. Xiao Song Song signed the company, at least he has something to look forward to, and you should make more plans for yourself, there will always be no way out as a waiter."

I said awkwardly, "I understand."

Over there, Song Cheng had already tidied up, and the scars on his face could not be seen at all.His muscular lines are beautiful and strong, the color of his skin is darker than his usual skin color, and he looks inexplicably erotic in those white silk trousers.He asked Lao Luo: "Does Jun Yan want to make up?"

"No, you take out the wig from the drawer and put it on for him. The black one is long and straight." Lao Luo took out the remaining cigarette and threw it under his feet to crush it, "Start work."

I sat astride Song Cheng facing each other, and he put one arm around my waist so that I could lower my head on his shoulder.The wig hanging down made me itchy, so I asked him in a low voice, "Are you tired? How long do we have to keep this position?"

"You are very light." He said, "Listen to Lao Luo, he told us to change it."

Lao Luo took several photos of this pose before and was not satisfied. He said that he wanted to take the photo at noon when the sun was the best, but he thought it would not look good when the light fell through the glass window, so he had to open the window, and there was a gust of cold wind. I poured it in, and my back was cold.

"Jun Yan, can you be more charming? Don't stretch your back." Lao Luo came over to play with me dissatisfied, and demonstrated the posture by himself, like a clumsy and fat penguin, making me stand up and slump.There was nothing wrong with this posture, but the hot air from Song Cheng's breath hit my chest, making me think about it in a numb way.Lao Luo yelled again: "Jun Yan, hold Xiao Song's head, hey, you have to feel that snuggling feeling, don't be so far away——Xiao Song's arms tighten up!"

Song Cheng's fingers seemed to be sinking into the skin on my waist, he looked up at me apologetically: "Does it hurt?"

I suppressed a smile and said with my mouth: "It's okay."

The sun fell on my back, and I felt a little warm, but it was not as strong as Song Cheng's strong arms.Although this wig is real enough, it hurts and itches a bit on the neck. I was afraid that Lao Luo would say that I ruined his adjusted posture, so I dared to move my shoulders a little to get rid of the broken hair on the neck.Song Cheng noticed my movements and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

"The wig is uncomfortable, and the organza inside is a little uncomfortable on the neck." I said, "Forget it, I will bear it for a while..."

Before I could finish speaking, Song Cheng gently stretched his other hand up from behind my back, gently inserted his fingers into the long wig, and flexibly stroked the flat gauze around the edge of the wig: "Is it better? "

I saw Lao Luo fiddling with his video camera before and didn’t have time to look here, so I leaned on Song Cheng’s body to facilitate his adjustment: “Pull it down a bit, it feels like it’s about to fall.”

"It won't fall." He comforted me. "Are you more comfortable now?"

"much better."

"This is very good!" Lao Luo's voice suddenly sounded, "This one is very good, very natural, great—stop posing, come and take a look."

I got off Song Cheng's body in a daze, because my ankles were a little numb from sitting astride for too long.Lao Luo showed me the picture he just took, which captures the moment Song Cheng stretches out his hand.

"When the time comes, it will be black and white, and it will be more emotional." He said quite proudly, "It's just the action I imagined, and the atmosphere is all in it."

The background is dark red arranged by Lao Luo, with bright sunlight, it feels like an oil painting.I didn't even think that my back would have a gender-ambiguous slenderness. If I didn't say that it was me in the photo, I would be in a daze for a second about the gender of this person.The light fell on my back, most of Song Cheng's body was in the dark, and he raised his head in the shadows as if talking in my ear.He stretched out one hand to embrace me, let me in the photo sit straddling him with a white back, a few strands of long black hair hanging down, the other hand climbed up my back, fingers gently The tail of hair is like a gentle caress between lovers.

"This picture is very emotional," Lao Luo said, "especially Jun Yan's back, which is very beautiful and charming, like the painting by Adolphe Bouguereau...what is it called...the light and shadow on this back are very similar to the painting Part of it. I forgot what the painting was called..."

""The God of the Forest and the Fairies"?" I answered casually, and Lao Luo slapped his thigh: "Yes, this is the one. The back of a fairy in it happens to be the most prominent part of the picture, but you need to be thinner."

Song Cheng silently helped me adjust my wig, I raised my head and smiled at him.

"Continue to shoot." Lao Luo waved his hand, "Keep in shape and strive for the end of the day."

It was getting dark quickly in winter, and when Song Cheng and I went back, the street lights were all on, and Lao Luo's house stood alone in the mud, making it even more desolate.I asked worriedly: "Is there still a bus at this time?"

"There should be more. Once I went back later than now, and I caught up with the car." Song Cheng put his hand lightly on my shoulder and said relaxedly, "Today's shooting was very good, thanks to Jun Yan. "

"It's all Lao Luo's guidance." I remembered Lao Luo's funny way of demonstrating in person in order to put me in a suitable posture, and said with a smile, "I hope I can pass, I think it looks very good."

The process of waiting for the bus was very boring, and there were only Song Cheng and I on the dilapidated platform. He looked down at me: "Jun Yan."

"Ok?"

"Have you ever dated a girl?"

I just reached out and folded a piece of grass by my feet to play with, and exhaled a cloud of white mist in the cold air: "No."

"Why? I think you are such a nice person, you will be very popular with girls." Song Cheng said cautiously.

"No, no one likes me, not to mention that I have a family and a family, and I am so poor." I casually folded the straw in my hand, trying to weave it into a ring but it couldn't be formed, "It's you, who is so handsome. , there must be many girls chasing after him."

"I do not have either."

Another long silence.

"Is there really a car?" I couldn't help asking, "It feels like we are the only ones waiting, will the service stop?"

"I don't know." Song Cheng suggested, "Are you cold? If it's cold, we can go back."

"How long does this take?" I said.

"Walk for four or 10 minutes. There is a stop ahead. I know there must be a car." He looked at the quiet night around him, "I don't know if there will be a car. You can wait here..."

"Let's go." I made up my mind, mainly because I forgot to bring my gloves, and my ten fingers were freezing cold waiting here. It would be better to chat on the road than now.Song Cheng suddenly reached out to hold my hand, his hand was very warm, I raised my eyes to look at him, he smiled at me: "Give me a hug."

Anyway, there was no one around, so we walked hand in hand on the road, and occasionally said something that didn't match the preamble, to ease the boring atmosphere.

I looked at Song Cheng's side face next to me, and suddenly had an illusion, as if I was really a poor young man, Jun Yan, waiting for a bus with a friend who lived in the same poverty at an old bus station far away from the city. , simply walked back together, with a different kind of chic in helplessness.It seems that we are not just friends or lovers, just finished taking intimate photos commemorating love, and now we are holding hands and going back to our common home.In fact, I would never choose to walk if I could take a car, it would take time and effort, but walking with Song Cheng doesn't seem so bad, and it even makes me wish to keep walking.

"There are stars in the sky." Song Cheng said to me, "Look, Jun Yan."

There were a few stars hanging in the cold dark blue sky, and I looked up at the night sky: "The weather in City B has been very good recently. I haven't seen the stars for a long time."

"I used to watch it often. After I came to City B, I was busy every day, and I haven't seen it for a long time." Song Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, showing a gentle smile, "Life is indeed difficult now, but as long as you have hope, you can look forward to it again." No matter how hard it is, I can bear it."

I haven't experienced his helpless and wandering life, but I can't help but be moved by his serious tone: "It will get better and better."

"Jun Yan, I had a dream yesterday, and I dreamed of a very romantic thing." He stopped and said to me, his face was a little red, "But I don't know if you feel the same way, so I don't have the nerve to talk to you. Say, it might look funny to you..."

"Why don't you tell me?" My voice was very soft.

"I dreamed that the sky was full of stars..." Song Cheng and I looked at each other, those beautiful eyes were affectionate and focused, and he took a breath and continued, "Then you kissed me."

I smiled: "The sky is not full of stars today."

Seeing that he was about to panic again, I went on to say:

"But I can do it with a kiss."

Later, I thought, I was not born with ingenuity and handiness, and I couldn't weave a straw ring with a pleasing appearance.But in Xu's garden, I practiced the skill of catching butterflies. I caught them one at a time, and I held them tightly in the palm of my hand, refusing to let go.