【Zhou Xiang】The Tropic

1.

When he received Ye Mingkang's WeChat message, Sun Xiang had just parked the car and removed the first box from the trunk.

With a vibration in his pocket, he casually pulled out his phone and glanced at it.Seeing the words "Ye Mingkang", his expression subconsciously changed.

Ye Mingkang: So boring.Guess where I am?

Sun Xiang frowned slightly, sat down on the edge of the trunk, stepped on the trunk with one leg bent, and replied to the other party.

Sun Xiang: ... at home?

Sun Xiang was instinctively wary of this great Buddha.Even though the other party was warm and friendly from the beginning to the end, his first reaction was "go to the Three Treasures Palace for nothing".I'm too lazy to reason, but I have to.

Sure enough, Ye Mingkang's news returned quickly.

Ye Mingkang: Bingo!The second question, where do you think Zhou Zekai is?

Sun Xiang firmly rolled his eyes.

That's the question, where's the second option?

Sun Xiang: With you?

Ye Mingkang: Binnnnnnnnngo!

Sun Xiang: ...

Ye Mingkang: Today, the old man called everyone to celebrate Zhou Zekai's birthday. He just called people into the study alone, and he probably needs to hand over some things to him.

After Sun Xiang thought about it, at the age of 30, there seemed to be no problem with living a solemn life.He had a vague idea of ​​what the "thing" Ye Mingkang was talking about, but he knew he shouldn't be curious, so he didn't take the initiative to ask.

He thought for a while and replied: Oh.

Ye Mingkang didn't seem to realize his indifference, and sent another longer message.

Ye Mingkang: The old man originally planned to hold a grander birthday party. It was semi-public and announced that Zhou Zekai would also enter the succession sequence.It's a pity that I suddenly changed my mind half a month ago. I just said to have a light meal and not invite outsiders to participate, otherwise you can come together.

Sun Xiang: What do you want to say?

Ye Mingkang: I'm bored, let's play guessing with you.Why do you think the old man suddenly changed his mind?Is it because Zhou Zekai played e-sports before and took a detour that is not recognized, or is it because he didn't bring a reliable girlfriend?

Sun Xiang was just dealing with the other party. When he saw the words "playing e-sports", he got angry and ignored the second part of the sentence "didn't bring a girlfriend".

He understood the truth, but couldn't help it was another matter: "In what age is it now, it's still unreasonable to co-author e-sports? What's more, Zhou Zekai is such an outstanding and beloved player?"

After a second.

Ye Mingkang: Laugh.jpg I am his uncle, so of course I agree with him.It was just boring, just to tease you.

Sun Xiang was so angry that he didn't want to talk, and was about to put away his phone, but another new WeChat message popped up.

Ye Mingkang: Well, to be honest, various situations have happened recently, and I am worried that there will be disturbances in today's meal.

Sun Xiang was stunned: Waves?What's the meaning?

Ye Mingkang laughed, saying no, he was there, but it was indeed a long conversation, it shouldn't be.

Sun Xiang hit three question marks in a row.Ye Mingkang suddenly fell silent.

2.

Sun Xiang stared at the phone screen, it would automatically go dark in one minute, and Sun Xiang turned it on again, and after five or six rounds of this, Ye Mingkang still had no response.

Sun Xiang's brows gradually wrinkled into a ball.

again.

again

He realized that every time he was worried about Zhou Zekai's state, it was completely different from the worry that Zhao Yaoyao had hit his car when he heard that Fang Minghua was ill.

I can't tell the truth, but it's obvious, it's different.

At other times, although he was in a hurry, his thoughts remained calm and clear.But right now, he always felt that his sanity was like water in a bottle on an off-road vehicle—sloshing wildly, never calm enough to assist in thinking.

He couldn't help, and told himself that maybe it was just that the phone didn't have a signal or the battery ran out, but then he overturned the conclusion-funny, if it's just this level, how could it take so long to find a solution.

The more he thought about it, the worse he became. He couldn't help but think of the TVB dramas he watched with his mother when he was a child, and the various conspiracies and struggles of the big families in it.

What a fucking annoyance!Not knowing what to do, he kicked the garage wall unconsciously in a state of anxiety.

How to do?

In fact, Sun Xiang also knew that he had no choice but to worry.

He considered calling Ye Mingkang, but he felt imprudent, for fear that if the other party really had something important to do, he would be disturbed by him.

Finally, after waiting another 10 minutes at the same place, Ye Mingkang's dialogue box remained silent.Only then did Sun Xiang absent-mindedly pack up the remaining luggage.

Going back to the apartment, installing the computer, placing clothes, cleaning, and completing this series of tasks with extremely low efficiency, his anxiety has not diminished.

During this period, he couldn't tell how many times he took out his mobile phone, and how many times he put it back in his pocket in frustration.He made lunch, fried a random topping, ordered a bowl of noodles, and almost sprinkled sugar into the pot as salt.

After struggling like this until after 1 pm, Sun Xiang was washing an apple when the cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

He didn't even have time to get a hand towel, so he wiped his hands on his jeans twice indiscriminately, and after barely drying, he hurried to touch his phone.

It's Ye Mingkang!

Sun Xiang showed joy, and quickly pressed the call button. The next second, a panting male voice came out——

"Zhou Zekai just left, so I don't know where to go. If he looks for you later, call me quickly!"

3.

The time goes back more than 40 minutes to the old house of the Ye family.

The dishes were almost ready, but Zhou Zekai and Mr. Ye did not show up for a long time.

Suddenly, there was a "boom" in the study room. It was not a loud noise, but it was enough for most people to hear.

Ye Mingkang was the closest, and was the first to rush over, bumping into the housekeeper.

"What happened inside?" Ye Mingkang asked anxiously.

The butler's eyes flashed, and he stopped him: "It's okay, Master Kang. The nanny accidentally broke the cup, and I have already asked someone to clean it up."

While speaking, the door in the corridor opened.Zhou Zekai walked out slowly with the help of Old Master Ye. Both of them looked very calm, and the atmosphere was harmonious, and there was nothing unusual about it.

"What a fuss." Seeing Ye Mingkang and the children who came behind him one after another, the old man paused on his crutches, "Why are you standing there, won't you eat Zekai's birthday party?"

Everyone exchanged a round of glances, and immediately laughed and said that they were nervous and let the old man watch the joke.

Afterwards, they all sat down, and the kitchen served the dishes in an orderly manner.The Ye family respected eating silently, except for the slight clash of bowls and chopsticks, the whole banquet was quiet and peaceful, which was very normal.

The accident happened at the end of the banquet.

After finishing his last sip of soup, Mr. Ye put down his chopsticks: "Ze Kai."

"Grandpa." Zhou Zekai nodded as if he had expected it.

The others didn't know where it came from, so they stopped their chopsticks one after another.His eyes focused on Zhou Zekai and the old man.

"I won't take back what I promised you. I'm busy at the end of the year. After this meal, you don't have to run to the old house for the time being."

4.

As soon as this word came out.Everyone's expression changed drastically, but the reasons were different.

Lisa is because of the surprise—she can never learn to hide her emotions in critical moments, and she almost has "Oh my god, that's great" written on her face.

Ye Wanyi's usual composure was lost, because she was too shocked, she opened her mouth slightly, and her eyes frantically flicked back and forth between Mr. Ye and Zhou Zekai.

Ye Mingkang was also caught off guard by this development.His first reaction was to look at Zhou Zekai and his father—although these two were too good at hiding their emotions, but the common advantage of blood gave him a sensitivity beyond ordinary people—he quickly realized that this scene was similar to a certain scene a few years ago. There is something familiar about this scene.

His brain was running fast, and he felt that he was close to the truth, but in the next second, he was taken aback by his own guessing. Immediately afterwards, his whole head hurt, and he didn't know where to get angry for a while. Better.

"No, Zekai, Dad, no..." He couldn't organize his words at all, but he knew that he had to say something, otherwise the situation would get worse.

Unfortunately, someone was one step ahead of him.

"Okay." Zhou Zekai put down his chopsticks, picked up a napkin, wiped his mouth gracefully, and drank the last sip of tea in his cup calmly, "Grandpa, Lisa, uncle, aunt, mom, thank you for helping me celebrate my birthday. I'm leaving."

5.

Zhou Zekai had no regrets or hesitation when he said these words.

It's not that he never regretted it—at least, after blurting out that question just now in the study, he did taste the short-term regret.

That thunderbolt not only hit Ye Hongyuan, but also him.The old man raised his hand and threw a cup straight at his forehead.He didn't dodge.The cup was off by half an inch, hit the low cabinet, and shattered.

At that moment, his brain went blank, and then he squatted down mechanically and began to clean up the broken porcelain pieces. His reason and fear gradually came online—he reflected on his impulsive speech, worried about his grandpa's physical condition, and thought that he "didn't know which nerve was tied up." wrong".

But soon, he pulled out of that emotion.It was replaced by determination and calmness.

If it is said that Ye Mingqin's question broke through the ambiguity for the first time, it made him start to indulge himself intentionally or unintentionally to confirm whether the heartbeat is real.

But this time, his instincts were exposed at an absolutely inappropriate time, forcing him to face his heart, it was more like something destined to happen somewhere.

Going deeper, it might be the word "girl I like", which hit him hard and aroused the same paranoia in his bones as Ye Wanyi.

Then, the rebellious answer, accompanied by intuition, jumped to his lips in an instant.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help feeling amused.How much Ye Wanyi wanted to eliminate any uncertain factors that affected Zhou Zekai's return to her back then, and now she wants to eliminate the possibility of "other partners" appearing in her life.

does it worth?

he asked himself.

I soon realized that this question seemed to need no answer.

Although it has been more than ten years since we first met.But he was very sure that his feelings for Sun Xiang were definitely not something that was cultivated slowly and slowly.It was more as if, since a long time ago, he had found the piece that made up for the gap in his soul, but he hadn't discovered its existence until recently.

It doesn't matter either.he thinks.The conclusion is so clear-his future must have him.

Then why hesitate?

After figuring this out, the last trace of fear in his heart also slipped away, on the contrary, a strong sense of relief and "it really is so" swept over.

From another perspective, the rash act of conflicting with the elders, on the contrary, dramatically strengthened the conclusion of "I really like him" and "really like him".

Zhou Zekai took off his napkin and got up while everyone was looking at him.Every movement and demeanor was calm and elegant, and he even didn't forget to gently push the chair back when he left his seat. Compared with Ye Mingkang, who stood up straight up in anger and knocked the table and chair with a loud bang, his etiquette was outrageous.

It's a pity that some people want to simplify this description even more - "It's outrageous!" Ye Wanyi slapped the table angrily, "Ze Kai! Hurry up and apologize to Grandpa!"

She didn't know exactly what happened in the study, but one thing was certain—the current situation ran counter to her wishes.She never expected this kind of thing to happen, she was extremely disappointed and angry, and while shocked, she was unwilling to reconcile and wanted to continue struggling.

Lisa glanced at Ye Hongyuan, and said with a smile: "Wanyi, what's the hurry, the old man just feels sorry for Zekai's busy work at the end of the year, and you care too much."

"Can't you just say a few words?" Ye Mingkang interrupted her angrily.Essentially speaking, in this family, only he has the right to be arrogant.

But he also knew that no one could shake Ye Hongyuan's decision.After yelling, he pulled the napkin and hurriedly chased after Zhou Zekai.

"What, what's going on..." Ye Mingbei's family was anxious but didn't know what was going on. The situation came too fast like a tornado, and there was no room for meddling.

6.

However, Ye Mingkang was still one step too late.

When he arrived at the door, Zhou Zekai had already started the car. Ye Mingkang wanted to stop him, but Zhou Zekai kicked the accelerator and sped away.

"Why tell me what's going on right away? Damn! You have the fucking ability to be brave, but you don't have the ability to say hello to me?" As the beneficiary of this farce, Ye Mingkang couldn't be happy at all. He was trembling with anger, No manners are needed.

After calming down, he immediately called Zhou Zekai.As a result, shutdown.

Ye Mingkang really had no choice but to dial Sun Xiang's number.

In the few seconds before the connection, he was thinking, what a mess.He was thinking that the Ye family was making an earth-shattering disturbance, but the guy on the other side of the phone was ignorant of everything.For a moment, he even wanted to yell directly - "One or two pretend to be me! What are you just a former colleague! Do you know what you mean to him!"

Fortunately, reason finally prevailed.In the matter of enduring pain and hiding secrets, he and Zhou Zekai are also strikingly similar—before he has sufficient evidence, he knows that he is not suitable to rashly drag an innocent guy into the whirlpool.

So in the end, when Sun Xiang connected the phone, Ye Mingkang shouted under his breath, "Zhou Zekai just left, I don't know where to go. If he looks for you later, call me quickly!"

7.

It was more than half an hour since Ye Mingkang's call.

During this period, there was a rumbling thunder outside the window, and the whole sky suddenly became gloomy. The winter rain came as soon as it was said, and the branches with few leaves swayed wildly in the wind.

The weather has an immediate effect on mood.Even though he knew that the elevator was directly connected to the basement, even if Zhou Zekai wanted to come, he would not get caught in the rain, Sun Xiang still couldn't control his anxiety.

He had already turned on the PS4 and wanted to play a few rounds of APEX, but he couldn't concentrate and died quickly forever.

In the end, he simply stopped playing the game, grabbed his phone and waited where he could see the entrance.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and suddenly, a "di--" sounded in the quiet space.

It is the sound effect of successful fingerprint recognition!

Sun Xiang rushed over in three steps and two steps, and almost at the same time, the door was opened.

"Zhou Zekai, you..." How about the three words, it seems unnecessary to ask.

It was obvious that Zhou Zekai was terrible.

His hair wasn't wet, it was true, but it was very messy.His skin was pale and cold, his lips were tightly pressed, and he looked straight at him.

Even so, when he saw Sun Xiang for the first time, Zhou Zekai still raised the corner of his mouth and tried to smile.Said it was all right.

"What is this!" Sun Xiang's eyes were sharp, his eyes fell, and he saw that there seemed to be some kind of dark brown marks on the fingers clutched by his side, and he anxiously broke them off.

Zhou Zekai didn't have time to stop it.In the next second, the injury that the entire Ye family hadn't noticed was caught by Sun Xiang.

Sun Xiang was anxious and angry: "What did you do? Did you go home or fight?! No one bandaged it for you?!"

Zhou Zekai quickly withdrew his hand, passed Sun Xiang and walked into the house.

"Wait!" Sun Xiang turned around and chased after him.

"I'll deal with it now." Zhou Zekai stopped, "Don't worry."

After finishing speaking, he walked towards the master bedroom without giving Sun Xiang any time to react.

Sun Xiang stomped his feet angrily, and felt that Zhou Zekai didn't want to let him see the wound. After struggling for a while, he finally remembered Ye Mingkang who he had forgotten.

The phone call was too loud, so he took out his phone and sent a simple message.After posting, I originally wanted to inquire about the reason for Zhou Zekai's injury, but I was already typing halfway through the conversation, and finally deleted all the content in the input box for some reason.

When Zhou Zekai walked out of the master bedroom, he saw Sun Xiang lying on the sofa in a daze with his head propped up.

Zhou Zekai didn't know that the other party was worrying about how to make himself happier, so he asked, "It's all over? Do you want to help?"

Sun Xiang was stunned for a moment, then got up abruptly, curled his lips: "I'm not efficient, I've already finished it."

Zhou Zekai said he wanted to see it, but Sun Xiang hesitated to speak. After thinking about it, he still took him to the guest room.

"What's new? Haven't you seen all of them?" Zhou Zekai muttered while leaning against the door frame with his chest folded when Zhou Zekai was studying Sun Xiang's figurines.

Zhou Zekai asked him some irrelevant things again, but Sun Xiang answered absently, and couldn't bear it after a while, and sold Ye Mingkang: "Well, your uncle just called me and said that you ran away from home suddenly...but Isn't today your birthday party?"

"Well," Zhou Zekai put down the figure of One Autumn Leaf, turned around and looked at Sun Xiang, there was something Sun Xiang couldn't understand in his expression: "Are you going to comfort me?

Sun Xiang choked on Zhou Zekai's straight ball.

After a long while, he scratched his head and said honestly, saying that he didn't intend to be a lie, but firstly he didn't know the reason, secondly, you didn't seem to want to say it, thirdly, I hardly ever comforted anyone, the only time was when Zhao Yaoyao fell in love and I accompanied him go drinking……

"How much did you drink?" Zhou Zekai interrupted him.

Sun Xiang was speechless, this person changed the subject, and there was nothing he could do about him, and said angrily: "Not much. It's fine if he's drunk, I have to stay sober and call a driver and pay the bill!"

Zhou Zekai turned his head away, as if he was smiling.Sun Xiang stared at him inexplicably.

After a while, Zhou Zekai turned back and squinted his eyes: "Congratulations, you succeeded."

Sun Xiang was taken aback for a moment, and when he understood Zhou Zekai's meaning, his heart was filled with inexplicable anger. He quickly stepped forward, thumped his shoulder heavily, and said, come on, it's just the two of us, why not pretend!

Zhou Zekai suddenly stopped laughing.

His eyes were still crooked, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, but Sun Xiang understood that this guy was still shrouded in a heavy discomfort.

"Stop pretending! Are you interested?" Sun Xiang raised his voice suddenly, then lowered it to a very low voice, a little incoherently speaking, "I'm sorry, I...why did I mess up again."

"I was the one who messed up." Zhou Zekai interrupted him suddenly.His eyes were lowered, and his voice was extremely hoarse.

Sun Xiang's heart tightened, his body reacted before his brain, and hugged Zhou Zekai.

Zhou Zekai's body froze for a moment, slowly raised his hand, and hugged Sun Xiang back.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

Sun Xiang could feel Zhou Zekai trembling slightly.

They had a similar interaction yesterday, but within 24 hours, the original ease and ease disappeared, replaced by bewilderment and panic - blame Zhou Zekai.He had always maintained a calm and strong image in front of Sun Xiang before, and he had never shown such a fragile emotion, so he made Sun Xiang mess up.

He patted Zhou Zekai on the back, so unskilled and cramped, he just kept repeating: "It's okay. All big things will pass."

for a long time.

There was a vibration from the tightly pressed chest: "Yeah."

Sun Xiang heaved a sigh of relief, his hanging heart slowly fell back, but he couldn't see it, and a smile appeared on his lips.

TBC