1999

The name of the bar is an English word. Wu Jiusheng checked his mobile phone. The word is taken from the peat used to roast the wet malt in the production process of smoked whiskey to make the taste blend into the barley grain. He doesn’t know how to drink, Just by glancing at that word, a smell of earth and mine smog came out of my mouth. Different from ordinary dance bars with loud noises, this place has a more gloomy style.

I don’t know what a great performance there is tonight. It is said that it is a small foreign band. Wu Jiusheng saw the poster of the band on the wall behind the queue outside the main entrance. There are many foreigners in the team , Several unfamiliar languages ​​of different languages ​​filled his ears. He took a breath and leaned against Huda.

Huda also felt nervous for no reason.The scene in front of him was too unfamiliar to say anything, and he didn't even know where to put his hands and feet.There are so many people, including foreigners, and there are many people dressed in strange clothes. He even saw a customer who was obviously a man, wearing a wig, heavy makeup, and wearing all kinds of jingling bells. strange jewelry.

He embraced the young man to his side, and he didn't notice that such a move was actually a bit too abnormally intimate.

The waiting time was longer than expected, Huda hesitated for a moment, worried that the cream in the backpack would melt, after thinking about it, he took it out and handed it to Wu Jiusheng.

Wu Jiusheng was dumbfounded. It was a push stick, colorful, squeezed several layers of different fruits, and the flower-shaped cream on the top was dotted with a layer of red velvet-like powder.

Huda's face was hot.

"Big birthday cakes must be ordered in advance. I didn't expect you to be free today, so I didn't have time to prepare..." He said, rubbing his neck subconsciously again, "Small sliced ​​cakes can be put in the box, but bring them with you. It's not easy to ride a bike on my body, I'm afraid the cake will turn over in the box, and I won't be able to eat it. It seems that this is the most suitable, and it can be carried with you, but it's a bit crude..."

Huda was embarrassed.The young man in front of him was holding a thing farthest from the "birthday cake" in his hand in the radiance of the background, looked left and right, and finally didn't really peel off the package and eat it.

Huda wanted to sigh a little.

"Wait until next time, uncle will make you a better one next time."

As soon as he finished speaking, the palm of his hand suddenly felt warm. He lowered his head and found that the young man had pinched his palm at some point.

The darkness and noise around gave Huda a courage he had never had before.Instead of instinctively shaking off the young man's hand, he gently clenched the young man's fingers.

The young man looked up at him with shining eyes.

"No, Uncle Hu," he said to Huda, "I'm happy now, really happy."

The crowded line moved forward, and there was some commotion in the crowd. It seemed that the vehicles of the band that had come to perform had arrived at the back door, and some people broke away from the line and rushed over to watch.Hu Da and Wu Jiusheng were also surrounded by the crowd and moved forward to a position near the door.

Just in front of them were a few foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes, including older adults and children who were obviously still in adolescence. They seemed to be a family.

One of the long-haired women was holding a mobile phone, and asked the bartender guarding the door about the mobile electronic payment at the bar.She took out her mobile phone and tuned to the scanning interface of the payment software, asking how to pay.

The bartender's English is sufficient for simple daily communication, but when the woman asked questions such as exchange rate and tax refund, his expression obviously looked very hesitant.

That happened to be Wu Jiusheng's major. The textbooks of several of his courses were originally bilingual, and he was quite sensitive to related proper nouns.Hearing that the other party went back and forth several times without explaining the question clearly, he secretly glanced at Hu Da, and finally stepped forward boldly, patted the woman on the shoulder, and answered her question in a few short English words. Questions, and also explained to her some detailed rules of bank card binding.

The voice of their conversation was very low, and Wu Jiusheng's English was not so fluent, so he spoke as slowly as possible, trying to explain every sentence clearly.

Looking at the woman's expression, Hu Da gradually changed from being puzzled to being suddenly enlightened, and felt that the situation in front of him was like a dream.

He couldn't understand a word of what the young man said just now, but it was precisely because of this that he couldn't restrain himself and was so excited.

He had never felt so relieved, surprised, and proud before.The young man he loves is more capable than he imagined.He could never have imagined how outstanding and capable a young man Wu Jiusheng would become in the near future.

His limited knowledge was not even sufficient to describe such a future.

He only knows that he is happy, and he has lived half his life, but he is not as happy as this moment tonight.

At the same time, the dialogue between the young man and the other family is almost coming to an end.He helped to solve the problem, and the foreign man who looked like the child's father patted him on the shoulder gratefully.

He is a father himself, so he couldn't help but take care of the young man in English.

"Thank you kid. But are you of age? It was a great show tonight, but I think you should also ask your parents to see if this bar serves non-alcoholic drinks."

His wife suddenly poked him, interrupting his sentence.

"Don't be stupid," she said with a smile, "Although the faces of Orientals appear small, I think he should be an adult."

"Really?" The man was obviously surprised. "Looking at him, I thought he was only sixteen or seventeen years old, because his father didn't look very old."

Huda didn't understand that sentence at all, and didn't know that the topic had already quietly shifted to his own head.He was just surprised when Wu Jiusheng suddenly laughed out loud, seeing the young man covering his mouth, shaking his head, and suddenly started gesturing to those foreigners.

"No no no no," he said, "I'm an adult, in fact, I've turned 20, today. As for him, he's not my father, he's my partner, we're a lover. "

He didn't know why he said it like that.

Perhaps because he spoke a language that did not belong to him, he could finally express himself clearly for the first time without any scruples.

The eyes of the parents became very surprised in an instant.They looked at the young man, then at Huda who looked confused, and lingered between the two of them for a while.

Wu Jiusheng smiled at them.He wasn't sure what the other party's reaction would be after hearing that, they would be surprised and put on a look of disbelief, he knew it was because of his and Huda's gender, and also because of their age gap , but he is not afraid, everyone in this world doesn't know the stories that happened between him and Huda, so they can't understand, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

The foreign man who was the father swallowed his saliva, and finally understood the situation in front of him.There was a hint of embarrassment in his expression, as if he wasn't sure what to say to apologize.His wife reacted faster than him. She pushed her husband away, stood facing Wu Jiusheng and smiled at him, winking.

"I apologize for the stupid things my husband said," she said, patting the young man's arm. "By the way, you are such a lovely couple. Bless you and hope you enjoy tonight's performance."

That's it, nothing more.When Wu Jiusheng relaxed and let out a breath, he realized that he had unconsciously held his breath for a few seconds just now.

The family who finished the conversation turned around and paid to enter the venue according to the procedure. They didn't say anything to him, and they didn't look back at him secretly with such strange eyes.Everything is so commonplace, but it is the most ordinary little episode of the night.

Wu Jiusheng's chest became lighter as if a cloud was stuffed into it.

See, it's not that difficult.

Warm joy quietly melted into his blood, he grasped Huda's hand again, turned around and said to Huda in high spirits:

"Do you know what they just said?"

"Say what?" Huda approached in bewilderment, leaning over one ear to listen.

"They said...we will be together forever." Wu Jiusheng playfully bit Huda's ear.

Huda blushed.

Before the start of the concert, there is a warm-up performance by the resident singer of the bar.Hu Da and Wu Jiusheng found a round table in the dark and sat down, watching the MV playing on the big screen on the stage.

The host at the scene seemed to be talking about some current news. Wu Jiusheng saw several people sitting next to him pull out their mobile phones to refresh the latest news from the client.

It turned out that Hong Kong, on the other side, was holding a parade for the rights of LGBT minorities.

The host didn't know what to say next. The Cantonese singer on the stage sat down beside the erected piano, lifted the cover of the keys, and began to play and sing "Fate Hard" by Jian Tian.

That was the first time Wu Jiusheng heard that song.He is from Shandong, and he can't understand the lyrics of Cantonese songs very well. He just stares at the scenes of various couples cuddling together in the MV.

He didn't hold back either, and took out his mobile phone to refresh the news reports in Hong Kong.He slid through the pictures and watched the rainbow flag flying against the blue sky in the video clip, gradually clenching his palms tightly.

Nice, he thought.

He was a little envious, but he also felt a little hope.It'll be all right, he told himself, times are changing, and they're on this side of the channel, but it's going to be all right.He and his Uncle Hu will definitely wait for the day that belongs to them.

The waiter passed by the table and put down a fruit plate in front of him and Huda.

Wu Jiusheng stopped the other party in surprise, shook his head and told him, "We didn't order."

The waiter smiled and pointed to another group of people not far away in the dark.

"It was given to you by the guest sitting over there."

Wu Jiusheng blinked.He let go of the waiter's hand, turned off the phone screen, and looked into the darkness.He saw the blond-haired and blue-eyed family sitting next to each other in a small booth against the wall, looking at the stage happily.

They felt the young man's eyes and raised their glasses to him through the turbulent atmosphere in the bar.

"Happy birthday, kid." They said to Wu Jiusheng, making eye contact.

Wu Jiusheng hurriedly lowered his head, trying to avoid looking at that family as if he wanted to hide.His eye sockets were sore and hot, and he almost couldn't help crying.

This is not okay, he is really, too crying.How can you shed tears on such a good day today.

He forced himself to stare at the plate of fruit that exudes a fragrance.In the center of the compote, there is half a sliced ​​strawberry.Wu Jiusheng wiped his eyes, and took advantage of the moment when the lights in the bar dimmed to match the performance, he picked up the strawberry and bit it in his mouth.

With the little pink fruit in his mouth, where the sweetest and softest tip was exposed, he aimed at Huda's half-open mouth, and leaned over to send it.

Hu Da froze back and dodged, but was grabbed by the collar of his clothes by the young man.

"Uncle Hu, today is my birthday..." The young man said vaguely, sticking to the corner of his mouth, "It's already agreed, whatever wish I have, you can grant me..."

Huda was dumbfounded, as if he suddenly lost his whole body's reaction.Wu Jiusheng opened his mouth to catch his, threw the strawberry over his lips and tongue.

The juicy, sour-sweet fruit is stirred and ground between the lips and teeth, with the sweetness that makes the tongue salivate, and finally disappears in a lingering kiss.

A small-scale whisper spread around them, but in the end, with the fluttering music, it gradually returned to calm.

This world is still this world, nothing has changed.

Wu Jiusheng's lips were stained with that bit of remaining juice, and he leaned on Huda's body and smiled incomparably relieved.

"Thank you, Uncle Hu, this is the best birthday I've ever had."

After he finished speaking to Huda, he picked up the wine glass on the table in front of him, raised his neck, and drank the amber liquid in one gulp.