Oral period

There is still a week before the deadline at the end of the month, and the plot of the comic has been changed in various ways, leaving only the cover and promotional illustrations to draw. Xia Jingzhe looked at the few documents on the desktop and felt that there was enough time, so he canceled the original plan. I decided to do some less "troublesome" work such as refining the plot.

The back injury is not on the right side, but it will affect the quality of the painting to some extent, and he doesn't want to embarrass himself.

The outline of the serialized manga in hand was thought up a long time ago, based on the commissions he received in the past six months, presenting the common or not-so-common troubles of high school students in the form of chapter comics, interspersed with the hero and heroine's emotional lines His development——now it was time to confess, but he still couldn't come up with a suitable scene. After sitting frozen in front of the computer for a few hours, he realized with some helplessness that he seemed to have fallen into a bottleneck that he hadn't seen for a long time.

It's not that he has no clue, but no matter what he thinks of, his thoughts will eventually turn back to him, and it will inevitably point to someone who upset him.

The boy sighed silently, closed the computer, attributed the reason to "this computer has been idle for too long, and it is not easy to use", then got up and walked to the bed, and fell into the bed as if giving up struggling.

It would be too cruel to ask him to write someone else's perfect confession plot when his unformed feelings have just been disturbed by others.

In fact, he is not sure what he thinks about Zhenxiao. He was really moved by the behavior of the other party who helped him speak for him and accompanied him to stand for punishment yesterday morning, but he has never been able to distinguish the boundary between friendship and love. It was like this when he was a child. It's still the same after ten years, and even fell on two people with similar personalities, which can be called repeating the same mistakes...

The last time he was betrayed before the window paper was pierced, this time he learned that the other party had someone he liked and wanted to chase before he had time to think clearly, and he had to forcefully move himself back to the position of a friend's wingman—if he had to choose If it’s not the case, he would rather the other party leave without saying goodbye, than hang him close at hand, so that he has to face this problem, and beware of the vinegar-smelling dog food that may be fed to his mouth at any time .

At first, he felt that Zhenxiao was somewhat similar to his playmate in memory, and he really thought about using him as a stand-in, and unknowingly made a friendship, but he knew it well, from a certain point in time, His secretly changing mood has already left the scope of familiarity, and has begun to be shaken by Zhen Xiao's behavior itself.

When did it start—probably when he noticed that Zhen Xiao's attitude towards him had also changed.

This person has a bad personality, likes to tease him, and will threaten him with such and other reasons, making his life uneasy, but it can arouse the soft emotions in his heart. When he treats people well, he is really considerate and reliable. Watch him His eyes are focused and attentive, and occasionally tenderness appears, as if looking at a lover. It is true that he lacks a sense of boundaries, and it is true that his heart beats faster when he crosses the line... and that face, with gentle brows and eyes, is actually very flattering like.

If there is no chat partner who is said to be somewhat similar to him and makes the other party confess that he wants to pursue him, if Zhen Xiao continues to treat him so well, he may really repeat the same mistakes and realize that the friendship in his heart has changed one night. Quality, and then try to find a way to express your mind...

The wound on his back was still painful, so he couldn't turn over and lie on his back. He could only keep lying on the bed, bury his face in the soft bed, and let himself slide down bit by bit until he slipped off the edge of the bed. Kneeling on the side of the bed in a strange shape, with his hands stretched straight forward, as if he was paying homage to some god that does not exist.

——Zhen Xiao pushed open the door, and this was what he saw.

"...It's nothing, you continue," Zhen Xiao was taken aback by Shang Xia Jingzhe's slightly dull eyes, closed the door with some embarrassment, and explained through the crack of the door, "I just want to borrow a charger, I'll Come again."

Realizing that the misunderstanding was a bit deep, Xia Jingzhe hurriedly supported the bedside table and straightened up. The wound on his back was involved in the movement, and his shoulders stiffened with pain. He gasped and said softly: "I just slipped down, hiss, the charger is on the bedside table. Come on, come and get it yourself."

Zhen Xiao walked to his side, but didn't pay attention to the charger, and first reached out to support him, so that he could stand up and sit on the bed without embarrassment - Zhen Xiao's strength was stronger than he imagined, The hands supporting a boy who is 1.8 meters tall are also very steady, but the posture is so close that it is almost ambiguous, which makes him a little at a loss.

"Does it hurt so much?" Feeling that his ears were a little red, Zhen Xiao was startled, and carefully reached out to touch his wound, "It doesn't seem to be swollen..."

"It's okay, I got involved just now." Xia Jingzhe's eyelashes drooped, trembling slightly unnaturally, he subconsciously wanted to back away and then held back, only to feel that the other hand behind him was hotter than the wound itself, as if putting All his tactile sensations were twisted into a ball, and they fell on that point impartially.

Zhen Xiao looked at his expression, half-believed, and took back his hand after a few seconds, got up to charge the phone, and said seemingly unintentionally: "By the way, I read your previous comics, the first one..."

Xia Jingzhe breathed a sigh of relief, and finally regained the leeway to think rationally, and recalled for a moment: "That black history book, why did you suddenly read this?"

It is indeed a dark history. His first serial comic was probably produced three or four years ago. At that time, the style was immature, and there were no decent tools. The plot was procrastinated and boring, and the ending was not satisfactory. From the current perspective See, almost nothing.

Zhen Xiao didn't seem to think so, and she didn't comment when she heard the words. She sat down on the small sofa opposite him, fiddled with her phone with her head down, and said calmly, "It's pretty good, but the ending is not so good, your friend..."

Before he finished speaking, Xia Jingzhe still understood what he meant, and twitched the corner of his mouth a little bit bitterly: "He didn't die——no, I don't know what happened to him, that ending was fabricated by me, I Don’t you know the story with him, it’s over after separation.”

For some reason, the person in front of me tonight looks a little different, like a hedgehog with its sharp edges restrained, or some other dazed and harmless animal, so soft and disturbing.Zhen Xiao looked at his slightly blinking eyelashes, her throat choked, but she still forced herself to ask the original intention of him coming in to find her: "Then why did you draw this ending?"

Why use such a heavy and helpless reason as illness and death to clear him of his crimes, as if he had already forgiven him, and also as if he was determined to remove him from his life trajectory, and it was impossible to forgive him again.

The night is dark, and there are thousands of lights adorning it, but this bedroom is spacious and bright, but it seems to have fallen into the distant and silent darkness.

After a long time, Xia Jingzhe let go of her grip on the bed sheet, and smoothed out the folds of the fabric bit by bit. The bitter smile in her eyes caught her a bit, and it was more self-deprecating than helpless: "Because this is the only thing I can accept. It's over, if we don't meet again, at least I won't hate him."

Zhen Xiao was taken aback, and subconsciously asked: "Then if there is a chance to meet again?"

The other party seemed to sigh, and looked up at him: "Zhenxiao, if it were you, you would treat someone wholeheartedly for half a year, so good that you wish you could give him all the stars and moons, you can't even tell the difference between friendship and love, you only know that you want to like him His whole life, but that person suddenly left you and left without any explanation, and disappeared from the world, making you distrust others at the age when you should make friends, and almost never get out—you will want to see you again To him?"

"Meet again like an old friend, pretend nothing happened, or treat him well, or become the most familiar stranger, and never communicate with each other after seeing each other... What's the point, the influence left will not disappear, It might as well be gone."

Zhen Xiao has never seen his eyes like this before, the sadness is almost heavy, but there is still a soft temperature, as if he saw someone's shadow in him - after a few seconds, the imagination fades away, and then calmly moves away, looking at There was a starless and moonless sky behind him.

He is lying.

Zhen Xiao pursed his lips tightly, swallowed the rebuttal that could barely be said, and stated in a tone as irrelevant as possible: "But you said before, you have saved a lot of things you want to tell him, and you can beat him up and write it off... "

Xia Jingzhe was taken aback for a moment, as if he didn't expect that he still remembered, and after a few seconds, he said softly: "Well, that's also the truth."

He had a lot of words to convince others, but never really convinced himself.

"Okay, let's not talk about this, it's really uncomfortable," he waved his hand, forcefully interrupting the other party's questioning, pretending to be relaxed, "It's not that I can see him if I want to, otherwise I won't be able to find him after so many years." He—it's getting late, go to bed."

Looking at the awkward smile on his lips, Zhen Xiao almost blurted out: No, as long as you want, I can let you "see him" right now, and then tell you everything about the past, and then give You apologize, you can kill me or cut me up...as long as you are willing to forgive me.

In the end, he couldn't say it out, he knew it well, Xia Jingzhe didn't want to forgive him - it wasn't that he couldn't, it was because he didn't want to.

He lowered his eyes, glanced at the phone whose battery was not over half, and said insincerely: "Well, you should go to bed early, and I will go to check tomorrow. If you have nothing to do, don't go out, so as not to be troubled by others."

Xia Jingzhe raised her brows slightly, and muttered softly, "It sounds like only you can protect me..."

"At least I can carry you back." Zhen Xiao stood up holding the phone, and when passing by him, he stretched out his hand and patted the top of his head nonchalantly, his movements were gentle, like comfort but not at all, "good night."

The other party took advantage of the situation to hold his wrist, and looked up at him from bottom to top. There was a ray of light in the black eyes, which was aggressively bright: "Zhou Xiao, what about you?"

"what……"

The person he likes and feels guilty just looks at him like this, like a small animal who was bitten by a snake for ten years and is afraid of well ropes, his voice is trying to be calm, but he can hear the softness underneath: "Will you go?" , disappear suddenly like him, or alienate me unknowingly - wait for the day when you catch up with someone you like and don't need me..."

There won't be that day, the dominant person has never been him.

Zhen Xiao's eyelashes drooped, looking at the insecure sweetheart in front of him, he didn't seem to feel the pain between the wrist bones, he just slightly bent his fingertips, stroked his hair again, imitating his previous words, and whispered And solemnly promised: "No, I will be responsible for you, don't worry."

—responsible for the wounds left on you as a child, for the feelings you couldn’t let go of, and if you can, for the rest of your life.

I won't break my promise this time.