matchstick heaven

"Have you lived in an Internet cafe before?"

The car drove to the suburbs, and the scenery along the way gradually became lush.An old song was playing on the stereo, and Shen Qing often listened to it.

"Who will buy my matches/Who will ignite all my hopes/Who will buy my loneliness/Who will fulfill my homesick call."

Shen Qing rolled down the car window a little bit to let the wind blow on his face, so he could wake up a bit.

He seemed to be in a good mood: "Before I was a coach, I had no place to live. I helped people watch night shows in Internet cafes, and I got free food and lodging. Later, I started working as a coach. I was still poor in the first few years, but I could live in In the base, the environment is better than the Internet cafe.”

"what about now?"

"Now? That must be different, the salary is so high now."

Zhou Chenshan wanted to ask him why he wanted to live in an Internet cafe, but he didn't ask.

But Shen Qing suddenly asked: "Oh? Is it okay not to celebrate the New Year at home?"

Holding the steering wheel firmly in his hands, Zhou Chenshan drove onto a slightly empty road.

"No, it's boring to be at home during the Chinese New Year."

Shen Qing looked out the car window: "Where is this going?"

"Pudong Airport, let's go to Dunhuang."

"what?"

"So surprised?" Zhou Chenshan turned his head to look at Shen Qing, and asked with a smile.

Shen Qing scratched her head: "I thought it was going to the beach or something."

"The plan is to camp in Mingsha Mountain. I brought a tent and camping tools, and I also brought you a few convenient clothes. I bought you sneakers and winter clothes, as well as binoculars. You can look at them later. Look in the bag."

Shen Qing nodded blankly: "Oh..."

To be honest, this journey was a bit beyond Shen Qing's expectation.

But just after the high-intensity training schedule of the year before, he was really sleepy. He slept for a while in the car, and then slept again on the plane.

When they got out of the airport at noon the next day, the two had a simple lunch. Seeing that Shen Qing was so sleepy that his eyelids were clenched, Zhou Chenshan opened an hourly room nearby and let him sleep well all afternoon.

At 5 o'clock, the two had an early dinner at the hotel, and then Zhou Chenshan rented an SUV and drove it by himself. Shen Qing fell asleep after getting in the car.

When arriving at the place, Zhou Chenshan said with a smile: "Why don't you get enough sleep?"

Shen Qing blushed and scratched her head, looking around.

This is his first time in Dunhuang.I just fell asleep on the road, and I didn't see anything interesting except for the lighted goddess-shaped installation.

But it's different here.

Although the area of ​​Mingsha Mountain is not very large, it looks like it is in a desert at the moment.Stepping on the soft sand, a group of late camels walked by.Because it is almost Chinese New Year, it is deserted here, and there are not many light sources, but the starry sky above the head is particularly bright.

A band of the Milky Way stretched across the sky.

"It's so beautiful..." Shen Qing couldn't help feeling softly.

Zhou Chenshan asked, "Are you tired?"

Shen Qing shook her head: "It's okay."

He fell asleep all the way, and it was night again, and it was the time when he was at his best.

"Aren't you afraid of driving by yourself?"

Zhou Chenshan said: "No, I drive this section of road once a year, don't worry, I won't cheat you."

"Do you come every year?"

"Camping here can be regarded as my annual repertoire, I will take you to experience it once."

"Then KUP...does it matter if you're not here?"

"Do you think those department managers under me are decorations?" Zhou Chenshan joked, "Now the first wave of enthusiasm for the new series of 'Baopin' has just come down, and the second round of activities and announcements will soon begin. I also seized the time to relax, and I still have work to do when I go back.”

The two found a simple ladder uphill.

The sand underfoot was so soft that it was almost impossible to exert force, and the uphill process was very strenuous.Shen Qing was relatively "reserved" at the beginning, and after climbing for a while, she lost her face, took Zhou Chenshan's hand, and was half-lifted and half-lifted to the top of Mingsha Mountain.

Shen Qing collapsed when she reached the top of the slope.It was a bit cold on the top, Zhou Chenshan took out the jacket and asked Shen Qing to put it on.

Here is very close to the night sky, and there are no people, as if temporarily far away from the secular world, and many worries, desires, and ties are gone.

"It's so quiet." Shen Qing said in a very soft voice, afraid of disturbing the tranquility.

Zhou Chenshan smiled silently.

As the temperature dropped, the two sat for a while and began to descend towards the camping base in the direction of the back mountain.

Due to the season, there are almost no people in the campsite, only a team of National Geographic photographers are looking for angles to take pictures of the stars.

They did not rest long, and soon began to pitch their tents.

Shen Qing didn't understand how the tent was built the whole time. Anyway, Zhou Chenshan instructed him to support wherever he held it, and he pulled whichever side he told him to pull.

After the tent was set up, Shen Qing sat paralyzed in the sand.

Zhou Chenshan took out the lantern he brought and lit up a small area around him.The main color in front of my eyes has turned into golden yellow, occasionally mixed with a small amount of ivory white.Shen Qing put her backpack and stood beside the lamp, and the lamp also illuminated the silver dragon cup held by the fat eagle.

A song was played on Zhou Chenshan's car. It was an English song that Shen Qing was not familiar with. The two of them didn't talk much, but the quiet atmosphere was not bad.

"garrulous."

He hands over a can of something.Shen Qing saw that it was Coke.

Zhou Chenshan opened a can of beer himself and sat beside him.

It was very cool at night, and the wind blew over the severely eroded surface rocks in the "Devil City" on the side of the road, making a "woo-woo" sound.A silver waning moon hangs in the sky full of stars.

Shen Qing looked up: "There are so many stars."

He couldn't help but stretched out his hand upwards.

Zhou Chenshan said: "Looking at the starry sky from here, it seems to be very close to us, it's very low."

"I've never been to the desert before." Shen Qing said softly.

"Do you prefer the seaside?" Zhou Chenshan asked.

Shen Qing was taken aback by the question, and shook her head: "No...it's just that I don't usually think of going to the desert. There used to be a club owner who liked to take us to team building during the holidays. They were all in the mountains or by the sea."

"Next time you have a chance, bring your team members along."

Shen Qing quickly refused: "Don't, don't, don't... Actually, we don't like team building, so why not organize a few online competitions at the base, then buy some food and drink, and have fun."

Zhou Chenshan smiled and said, "Okay, you have the final say."

Shen Qing blushed.

He felt that his relationship with Zhou Chenshan had become very strange.Under this dry marriage, the two of them were forced to be tied together. He thought it would be a very cold relationship, but Zhou Chenshan seemed to keep getting closer to him.

If it's a cold and distant relationship, he would be very good at dealing with it, but like now...

It can't be said that he hates Zhou Chenshan's closeness that crosses the line, but he is a little at a loss.

He remembered that in the nursing home, Zhou Chenshan calmly talked to him about the dying old man.

Is that a confession?Zhou Chenshan... Is he as lonely as him?

"Why do you want to live in an Internet cafe? Where are your family members?" Zhou Chenshan asked softly amidst the distant wind.

Shen Qing paused for a moment, and then replied relaxedly: "My father and mother were in a car accident, and both of them are gone. The other relatives are far away. There is a sister-in-law who used to send me some living expenses. Later, when I became an adult, she He didn't care about me anymore. It was a coincidence that Brother Rong was living there, and it happened that he recruited the night shift gateway to take care of food and lodging."

Zhou Chenshan didn't speak.

Shen Qing turned her head and looked at the man with a blurred complexion beside her.People say that he is the proud son of heaven, that he will master all of KUP in the future, and that he is ambitious and wants to be the number one toy dealer in the world.But no one had come to drink beer with him in the desert and watched his expression from such a close distance.

After a brief silence, Zhou Chenshan said: "My parents also passed away a long time ago."

Shen Qing froze for a moment: "Huh?"

"But they should still be alive, maybe they live more comfortably than me." Zhou Chenshan said with a smile, picked up the beer and touched Shen Qing's Coke.

"them……"

"You want to get out of Grandpa's control. There will be people like this in the Zhou family from time to time. Grandpa won't pay attention to them. He will leave as soon as he leaves. The Zhou family has no shortage of people."

"Did they... come back to see you?"

"No."

Zhou Chenshan took a big gulp of beer, the crisp smell of wheat made him sober, and his eyes brightened.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this," he said.

Shen Qing stared blankly at Zhou Chenshan's side face, that face was amazing, brow bone, eye tips, nose bridge, lips, jaw...all facial features were like the artist's handwriting, smooth and profound.The background is yellow sand and dead wood, the outline is traced by the edge of the light, half of which is illuminated by the moonlight, like an oil painting rendered.

Shen Qing turned her head, looked at the Coke bottle in her hand, and said: "Before my mother left, she told me a lot of things, telling me to persevere, and to play hard when I really want to play professionally. Don't give up halfway. I still can often Looking back at her saying that, it's like she never left."

Zhou Chenshan said with a smile: "Then I'm different, I don't even remember what my mother told me."

The two briefly looked at each other and smiled.

"Do you like it here?" Zhou Chenshan asked.

Shen Qing hesitated for a long time, not knowing whether to answer or not.It seems that if you answer it, something will be different.

In the end he just said, "It's okay."

"We will stay in Dunhuang for a few days, then go home and rest for 2 days, and then send you back to the base."

"I live with you... Will it bother you?" Shen Qing asked.

Zhou Chenshan glanced at him, the expression on his face was dull, but his eyes were bright: "No, it's the first time I live with someone, it's quite fresh."

Shen Qing smiled: "Oh."

"There are a lot of things happening this year. I really wanted to come here some time ago. It's very suitable for thinking about something alone. But at that time, I kind of wanted to bring you here, just waiting for you to have a holiday."

Shen Qing lowered her head and asked, "Why do you want to bring me here?"

Zhou Chenshan thought for a while, and said: "I can't tell, maybe it just came up suddenly. I think you are also very suitable for this place. You are usually under such a lot of pressure, so you can relax here."

Shen Qing asked: "Do you like this place because of too much pressure?"

Zhou Chenshan drank all the wine: "Grandpa used to have very high demands on everyone in the family. He was very strict. Everyone was afraid of him, and I was also afraid of him. He taught us how to calculate others and how to pursue the highest income. How do you guard the people around you like you are guarding against thieves... But I seem to have quickly adapted to his way, but occasionally I need to take a breath."

"Then are you still as afraid of him as before?"

Zhou Chenshan smiled: "I was not afraid a long time ago. Since I started to find my position in KUP, I seem to know who I am and what I want to do, so I don't care about him. After I don't take him seriously, On the contrary, he has become very respectful of me, which is also quite ridiculous.”

He opened another can of beer and took a long gulp.

"The person who felt like a devil back then is just relying on those instruments to barely maintain his life. How much money he invests in it every month, he is like a waste. It seems that no one cares about which child he likes in the family anymore. Everyone now All I care about is when he dies."

Shen Qing said softly: "Then you shouldn't have to wait for a long time, and you will get what you want soon."

"Yes." Zhou Chenshan replied briskly.

"Then we can end the relationship."

Zhou Chenshan said: "Yes."

When the sky on the east side was slightly bright, Zhou Chenshan raised his head and smiled and asked, "Take me to play ranking."

"what?"

"There is a place where you can surf the Internet over there." Zhou Chenshan pointed to the side of the road not far behind him.

"Forehead……"

"Let's go, there's nothing to do sitting like this."

Zhou Chenshan's face illuminated by the moonlight was very close, and his eyes were fixed on Shen Qing, making him feel a weird illusion of being begged by a big dog to run out to play.

"All right……"

The place Zhou Chenshan mentioned was a simple Internet cafe, located on the side of the road a little way out of the Mingshashan area.It is also very exciting to be able to open LOL where you can see the dunes and connect to the national server.

Shen Qing felt that it was outrageous, but rather than chatting more and more deeply, he preferred to sit here and lead Zhou Chenshan to share.

"When did you practice so high?"

Zhou Chenshan smiled: "If I'm free recently, let someone in the company who knows how to play take me."

"……Like this?"

"They were also paid double overtime pay."

"……Good."

"What shall I choose?"

Shen Qing checked Zhou Chenshan's previous record, all of them were wins, so he smiled: "Whatever."

"Then what do you choose?"

"Well, this... Green Steel Shadow, I should be able to carry it."

Zhou Chenshan tilted his head and looked at him with his chin: "I think you've always been quite a carry, why didn't you fight?"

Shen Qing was still studying the lineup, and didn't pay much attention to it: "Why don't you play anymore?"

"Professional, why don't you fight?"

Shen Qing froze for a moment.

His face was alternately bright and dark in the light of the screen, and his emotions were melted into the light.

After locking Qinggang Ying, while looking at the lineup, Shen Qing subconsciously looked at the chat box for a while, and then looked at the friends' messages for a while, flipping through here and there.

Zhou Chenshan probed softly: "Do you still want to fight?"

"I don't want to." This time, Shen Qing answered very simply.