【Zhou Xiang】The Tropic

1.

Surprise was nothing but surprise. After the surprise, Sun Xiang ended with "Wahhahaha what a coincidence", and then quickly turned back to matters related to his team.

On the one hand, he was subconsciously convinced that continuing to discuss a car with twins would only increase embarrassment, and on the other hand, Zhou Zekai was obviously more interested in topics related to glory.

He briefly talked about the current situation of his team, and then couldn't help but mention Wu Yue's poaching to Zhou Zekai.

"Most Valuable Player?" Zhou Zekai asked suddenly, could he watch the opponent's game video.

"Okay!" Sun Xiang turned it over to him, "It's a bit long, are you really free this afternoon? Didn't you delay other things?"

Zhou Zekai glanced at his watch: "No."

I have repeatedly emphasized that I am really free, so Sun Xiang is too lazy to worry about it.He brought the cut oranges and leaned against the table to eat afternoon tea and chat with him.After a while, Sun Xiang found that all the oranges that the two of them shared had gone into his stomach—he wanted Zhou Zekai to taste it, but who would have thought that Zhou Zekai would look at it so intently.

"What's the name of this skill?" "Shortened straightness?" Zhou Zekai didn't talk much, but every time he commented or asked a question, he hit the nail on the head.

"You actually remember it so clearly. You can do it!" Sun Xiang said in surprise, "I'll think of you as soon as you retire, draw a line with Glory, and forget everything."

The speaker has no intention, the listener has the heart.

Zhou Zekai's eyes darkened, as if he had fallen into a certain distant time.

how is this possible.

He stared at the logo in the upper right corner of the video that had not changed for ten years, and more than 2000 special days instantly came to mind.They remain in memory like shining gems in the river of time, vivid and three-dimensional.And the impulse to immediately hold the mouse tightly and hit the keyboard is like forcibly snuffing out the seeds of vitality—every one is thrown into the corner by him pretending to be dismissive, moldy and dry... thinking that there is no possibility of sprouting again, but From the day they met again, there was a faint glimmer of life.

At this moment, every approach, confrontation, mediation, and every skill switch of the characters is being played on the screen at the original speed.

In the past, when they watched game videos, in order to improve efficiency, they generally opened 1.5~2 times the speed.This time Sun Xiang didn't know whether he forgot or did it on purpose, so he didn't call, and Zhou Zekai didn't move either.He watched all this almost greedily and intently. Even the voice-over of the commentary, which was far less professional than the old Glory, could make him very happy, feeling like he was breathing the oxygen called Glory freely.

After a while, Sun Xiang couldn't help asking: "How do you think he's playing? It's the battle mage on the right."

Zhou Zekai didn't respond immediately to the pair of eyes that clearly said "Praise me for my vision".Instead, he turned off the video, then found a new one in the folder with the same name, and opened it.

Sun Xiang: "..."

Well, the guests are the biggest.He went to wash another apple, and silently gnawed on it.

The screen continued to bloom gorgeous skill special effects.Amidst the variegated colors, Zhou Zekai's eyes inevitably reflected colors, making people feel much more vivid than before.

Sun Xiang was watching the game video, but couldn't control his gaze to Zhou Zekai.A few times, he noticed that Zhou Zekai closed his eyes lightly and then opened them again—it was obviously a very common action, but it gave him some kind of indescribable strange feeling—how should I put it, he To actually think that Zhou Zekai blinked to confirm whether he was dreaming is simply ridiculous.

If Sun Xiang could hear Zhou Zekai's inner voice, he would probably be even more surprised.

In fact, the latter did have a huge shock in his heart.

In the past five years, he has spent more time facing the computer screen than when he was in the military, but the content is vastly different.

Papers, PPTs, business documents, reports, forms... are all "serious things" that he instinctively dislikes but has no choice.Sometimes his eyes are sore, and after taking the eye drops, he will cover his eyes with the back of his hand to catch his breath, trying to trace back to "see" his previous life in his mind, but he can only observe a spot of light caused by visual fatigue.

He felt that if this continues, perhaps one day he will gradually forget that there are more interesting things that can appear on the screen.

Fortunately, he saw this video today.Almost the moment the Honor logo came into his eyes, he knew that he could not forget, and he would never forget.

The blood bars of both sides on the screen are approaching the bottom limit, and the blue slots only have one big move left, but under the blue slots, there is actually a third golden thing called SP.

He had a vague guess in his mind, but he was not in a hurry to ask Sun Xiang for confirmation. Instead, he enjoyed this rare state of ignorance.

The game continued to evolve in the days when he was not involved, adding countless new concepts and new designs, which is the evidence that it will have a longer life.

"The timing of your entry is very good." He restrained all his emotions in the end, and only said this to Sun Xiang.

2.

Zhou Zekai didn't answer his question directly, which was unexpected by Sun Xiang.However, seeing that this friend went on to click on the third video, Sun Xiang's eyes showed a hint of understanding. He was amused at first, and slandered that this person obviously still likes Glory. He guessed that the resistance at home was high and it was not easy for the wealthy to survive.However, this happiness only lasted for a short while, and then began to slowly shrink, as if being squeezed by an invisible hand.This was the first time he watched others watch his team's video, and felt unhappy, as if he was wronged for this person.

In order to escape from the strange emotions, Sun Xiang took the initiative to ask: "So interested in New Glory? How about I share the edited video with you on the cloud disk later? There are both new and old professions."

The video Sun Xiang mentioned is of course not the kind that anyone on the Internet can see, but the materials that each team organizes in a targeted manner, with special entry points and editing methods, rounded up as commercial secrets.Normally, his own juniors would hide Sun Xiang very well if they wanted to see him, but if it was Zhou Zekai, Sun Xiang had full confidence that the other party would not leak the secret.

As a former professional player, Zhou Zekai certainly understood what Sun Xiang meant.He hesitated for a moment, tore off the sticky note, and wrote a string of English: "My private mailbox."

"OK." Sun Xiang took it and complained casually, "The first contact method you gave me was actually email. We seem to be filming a TV series going back to the 90s."

Zhou Zekai opened his mouth, and was about to say something, "Pa-ta", a short but clear sound of water droplets falling on the ground, attracted the attention of both of them.

"Where is the sound of water drops coming from? It seems a little close?" Sun Xiang threw the apple core into the trash can, pulled a paper towel and wiped his hands before turning around. The next second he was stunned: "Damn!"

The sofa bed, small cabinet, and floor in the guest room are all water!

Following his intuition, he raised his head and found that the ceiling of his home had been wet by more than three or four square meters.

3.

"There's a water leak!" Despite being angry, Sun Xiang's thinking was still sharp, "Zhou Zekai, call the property for me, I'll go upstairs and close the water gate first!"

He took out his mobile phone, flicked through the address book a few times, cut to a business card, and handed it to Zhou Zekai.

Before Zhou Zekai had time to say anything, Sun Xiang rushed out the door in a hurry.

Two minutes later, accompanied by the sound of the door closing heavily, Sun Xiang's extremely displeased voice also floated in: "Believe the idiot construction team upstairs! Don't dare to do a closed pressure test if the ground pipe is not connected properly! The whole pipe exploded." The first reaction after that was not to close the gate, but to continue to look for other leaks? Absolutely! Not only my house, but the living room of the neighbor next door suffered too! By the way, Zhou Zekai, did you call the property—”

He walked into the room angrily, but was slightly taken aback by what he saw in front of him.

It turned out that there was still some time before he arrived at the gate after he left, enough for the disaster to continue to expand.More and more water trickled all the way to the open wall around him filled with glory.And there, in addition to figures and clay, there is no shortage of paper sculpture scenes and a series of limited peripherals that are destroyed when they touch water.

Thankfully, Zhou Zekai has "removed" most of them to a safe and dry place right now.

Sun Xiang's hanging heart fell, and his chest was touched. After recovering from his senses, he quickly walked forward and patted Zhou Zekai's shoulder: "Thank you! Fortunately, you rescued them in time, otherwise I would have to fight upstairs !"

Zhou Zekai shook his head: "You're welcome. The property management said they will contact the landlord and come over later."

"Ghost knows how long it will take," Sun Xiang said angrily and helplessly, "Now we can only wait."

"Things," Zhou Zekai calmly pointed to the surrounding area on the desk, "Where do you put them?"

"Oh yes!" Sun Xiang slapped his head, "Put them in a waterproof box first!" The box he was referring to was a large plastic file box. It is said that he used it once when he moved a long time ago, and later felt that it took up space. He stuffed them all on top of the master bedroom cabinet.

Sun Xiang took the short ladder from the balcony, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to climb up when his cell phone rang.

"It's the property." Sun Xiang stepped on the ladder with half his foot.

"I'll come." Zhou Zekai signaled him to answer the phone.

The two switched positions, Zhou Zekai unbuttoned his cuffs, pushed his shirt up to his elbows, and climbed up without hesitation.

While listening to the property owner's lengthy apology and situation statement, Sun Xiang raised his head to watch Zhou Zekai's every move, to prevent him from accidentally stepping on the air and falling off.

Seeing this, Sun Xiang was stunned again.

Because of the angle of view, he could just see a shallow mark on the side of Zhou Zekai's two forearms, the one on the left hand was close to the elbow, and the one on the right was located in a third of the way.

4.

He understood what it was almost instantly - only in the reincarnation training room for a long time, using a table of that size to operate the mouse and keyboard, would the edge of the table wear out such marks - he also had it on his arm.

After retiring, some players are more concerned about their image, and they will deliberately go for medical cosmetic treatment to remove it. With Zhou Zekai's family background, if he really planned to "cut the past", he should have dealt with it early. How could he keep it until today?

It reminds me of Zhou Zekai’s focused gaze that he couldn’t hide even though he was hiding it when he watched the game video and chatted with him just now, thinks of Fang Minghua’s words about Zhou Zekai’s mother, and then thinks of Zhou Zekai’s sentence " Mr. Ye", Sun Xiang had an astonishing guess about the retirement of his former best partner——

Zhou Zekai's retirement probably wasn't a voluntary decision.

Even the clean break with Glory after retiring may not be under his subjective control.

unacceptable!

Sun Xiang's hand holding the ladder tightened slightly, he put himself in his place, and just vaguely thought about the possible situation, he could feel overwhelming anger and unwillingness.

As a Glory player, he inevitably felt strong regret and sympathy.

He stared at the marks on Zhou Zekai's forearm and felt that there were countless questions and things he wanted to say in his heart. If his will and reason hadn't controlled him, maybe he would have pulled Zhou Zekai off the ladder right now and had an in-depth chat with him.

...he held back.

Although he was still the young boy with the courage to climb over the wall and dye his hair, Sun Xiang was no longer easily impulsive under the mature shell. He understood that there are many difficulties in the world that cannot be solved with enthusiasm and kindness alone.

For Zhou Zekai, he is an outsider, he can only simply imagine the pain of the other party, but he cannot understand more details that only he knows.

Wait for the opportunity later, he said to himself.

5.

The property owner told Sun Xiang that the owner upstairs is on his way and it will take half an hour.

No way, just wait.

During these half an hour, he and Zhou Zekai were busy packing the important items in the two rooms, everything that should be packed and locked, and dragged to the living room. I have to say that the cooperation between the two is really efficient.

After that, Sun Xiang took pictures with his mobile phone and carefully checked the "disaster damage" of the house.The study room is the most serious. Almost the entire ceiling has different degrees of water seepage. The master bedroom is slightly better, but at least half of the walls need to be repainted, plus necessary steps such as drying and deodorization. up.

"Brother Fang told me to go to his house," Sun Xiang muttered while returning Fang Minghua's message, "It's too troublesome."

The latter contacted him on WeChat, saying that he had helped drive the car to the basement of the office building and asked him to pick it up when he was free.Sun Xiang sent him a few photos to describe the accident, and it didn't take long before he received an enthusiastic invitation from Fang Minghua.After Sun Xiang was moved, he refused very simply.

"My daughter doesn't concentrate on her studies when she sees me, and then her sister-in-law will be so angry that her blood pressure will rise again."

"Well," Zhou Zekai agreed, "it's not convenient."

"I'll take a look at the hotel..." Sun Xiang searched the APP, "Damn it, are the neighborhoods so expensive?"

He turned off his phone, got up and went to the living room for a stroll. After serious consideration, he said, "The club is busy spending money recently, so I'd better save money. It should be no problem to just lay a floor in the living room!"

Zhou Zekai frowned, and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door suddenly.

Sun Xiang glanced through the cat's eyes: "It's the property."

The door opened, and a man in uniform wiped his face with sweat and said apologetically, "Mr. Sun, the owner upstairs has arrived. Ms. Zhang next door to yours has just gone up to talk, but it seems that we can't reach an agreement..."

Can't agree?

Sun Xiang frowned, and sure enough, there was a vague sound of dispute coming from the corridor.Combined with the response of the property, it is estimated that the situation is not the usual "negotiation".

He picked up the key: "Let me take a look!"

6.

Sun Xiang originally thought it was his own business, and didn't plan to bring Zhou Zekai along, but he went out with his front foot, and Zhou Zekai followed him into the elevator.Sun Xiang glanced at the apprehensive property next to him, and reminded Zhou Zekai in a low voice: "You can watch from the sidelines later."

Ever since that conjecture became more and more certain, he has subconsciously developed a sense of a protector towards Zhou Zekai, for fear that if another eventuality happens, this guy will make headlines and face all kinds of embarrassments at home.

As everyone knows, after hearing Sun Xiang's words, the property management team secretly took a look at Zhou Zekai, thinking, this man looks handsome but not strong, so he may not be able to fight, Mr. Sun's instructions are reasonable.

The elevator on the first floor was fast, just enough for Sun Xiang to finish speaking, and Zhou Zekai gave a noncommittal "Yes", and then the door opened.

First, I heard an excited female voice yelling: "You won't pay, will you! You're a rascal! I'm going to sue you!"

Then another impatient man followed suit and yelled: "Cen, if you scold me again, I won't cultivate anymore!"

"What's the situation?" Sun Xiang asked another property owner who was standing nervously at the elevator entrance.

The latter explained helplessly: "The conversation started well...Ms. Zhang asked Mr. Yang to pay her a sum of money, and then she found someone to decorate it herself. Mr. Yang thought the amount was too high, and the other party blackmailed him. There was a quarrel. I almost started a fight just now, and I was worried about hurting the pregnant woman, so I tried to fight, but Mr. Yang beat me instead."

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and showed the two of the pinch marks on his arms.

"Pregnant woman?" Sun Xiang came home late on weekdays and hadn't seen his neighbors for a long time. Only now did he notice that Ms. Zhang, who was flushed with anger, had a big belly, and the tall and strong man opposite her was also flushed. But his eyes looked very strange, as if...he looked like he had been drinking!

When they communicated, the other end became more noisy and more agitated, and from time to time there was a situation of pulling and parrying, and the situation would only get worse if it continued.Sun Xiang made a decisive decision: "You, go with me and pull them away!" Then he turned to another property, "If you see something wrong, call the police immediately!"

Before Zhou Zekai could stop him, Sun Xiang walked up to them in two steps and grabbed the man's shoulder: "Calm down, don't make any noise!"

He was stronger than the people in the property management team, and with the cooperation of Zhou Zekai and the property management team, he managed to separate the two of them who were about to get into a ball.

As a result, at this time, no one thought that the female proprietor, who was still angry, would raise her foot and kick the man fiercely under the premise that her hands were held up.

"Damn it! You fucking want to die, don't you!" The man yelled in pain, the anger that had finally subsided a little in his eyes came back, he suddenly swung his shoulders, bursting out with unexpected and amazing strength, breaking free from Sun Xiang's restraint in an instant, With his right hand clenched into a fist, he went straight towards the pregnant woman.

At this very moment, Sun Xiang stepped sideways between the two of them, grabbed the guy's wrist with a sharp eye, and shouted: "Stop!"

Then he ordered the property owner without looking back: "Take Ms. Zhang away!"

With his actions, the entire stairwell fell silent in an instant.

He smiles a lot on weekdays, and when the property owner greets him occasionally, he will get a bright and hearty smile.Therefore, everyone called him Mr. Sun or Boss Sun in person, and privately said that this friend is more like an idol star, but he is more mature and low-key than ordinary stars.

But at this moment, he suddenly lowered his face and stared at the male proprietor warningly, his aura was completely different.It was no surprise that Zhou Zekai was the only one who understood that this was honed little by little from team captain to being in charge of his own career, and it was more than enough to bluff most people at critical moments.

Sure enough, as Zhou Zekai imagined, after Sun Xiang finished yelling, the hostess complained in a low voice, and then dared not speak any more.The male proprietor, on the other hand, was panting heavily, staring at Sun Xiang angrily, but he didn't dare to make any more moves.

The scene seemed to be temporarily under control.Sun Xiang let go of the male proprietor's wrist, and said politely: "Brother, I'm sorry, I was afraid that you would hurt the pregnant woman, so I acted harder."

The male owner still smelled of alcohol, pursed his lips and stared at him silently.

Sun Xiang thought for a while, then took out Bao Zhonghua from his coat pocket - he doesn't smoke, but it's a habit to carry it with him when he talks about business on weekdays - and handed it to the male owner: "How about it, let's talk?"

The other party frowned slightly, took the cigarette, took out the lighter and was about to light it, but Sun Xiang held his hand: "There is a pregnant woman here, let's talk about it first."

"Why are you so fucking busy!" The man, Xu Shi, hadn't drunk his wine completely, and his weak reason couldn't withstand Sun Xiang's repeated tossing. He violently pushed the unsuspecting Sun Xiang.

The latter staggered and took a few steps back, the back of his head almost hitting the protruding part of the water pipe on the wall.Fortunately, Zhou Zekai reacted quickly and caught him, so a bloody incident was avoided.

No matter how good-tempered Sun Xiang was now, he was also angry. He stepped forward in two steps and grabbed the other party's collar: "If you have something to say, what a hero to do it!"

The man tried to break it with his backhand, but he didn't break it. He repeated his old trick and raised his fist to hit Sun Xiang.

Because of the distance, the property owner knew that it was too late to stop him at a glance, so he closed his eyes and screamed, but when he opened his eyes again, he found that the fierce and strong man had been slandered by him at some point." The man who didn’t seem to be able to hit” turned his wrists behind his back, clamped them, and pressed them against the wall. He couldn’t move at all except for cursing.

Sun Xiang's degree of surprise was not much better than that of the female owner and the property owner.

How did Zhou Zekai learn fighting skills, this is too powerful... He swallowed this sentence, and was about to step forward to persuade Zhou Zekai not to cause obvious injuries, when Zhou Zekai said: "Assaulting pregnant women, attacking property and owners , there are surveillance videos, if you want to enter the bureau, I will help."

"Niang Xipi—" that guy was still swearing in a daze, Zhou Zekai raised his voice and interrupted him, his tone was so calm as if he was caring for his friend: "It was just the criminal part just now. As for the compensation for the water leakage, it must be paid now, or," He paused, the man met his eyes, and couldn't help shivering, and then he heard Zhou Zekai whisper, "Either it's included in the criminal compensation, and we can receive a summons together."

7.

Sun Xiang suspected that Zhou Zekai's words sounded like a devil's spell in the man's ears.

After that, the man broke out in a cold sweat and instantly sobered up.

It’s not difficult to understand—those who can live in this community have some hard-earned family assets and social resources. On the contrary, they cherish feathers more and are afraid of losing them.

The man's attitude changed 180 degrees. According to the requirements of Sun Xiang and the female owner, he transferred the money on the spot to pay the compensation, and wrote a letter of commitment, saying that if there is a difference in the price of the decoration in the future, he can use the proof to ask him for reimbursement.

The entire negotiation process lasted less than a quarter of an hour, and Sun Xiang and Zhou Zekai had re-entered the elevator downstairs.

Recalling everything that happened just now, he felt grateful and complicated at the same time.

The reason for the complicated mood is very hard to tell—he couldn’t help but substitute into the scene where both of them were reincarnated and doing special training—in order to get the highest score given by the software, they competed with each other, and they didn’t want to lose to others— — He has to admit that after Zhou Zekai followed, for a moment or two, he really wanted to show his handsomeness to the other party, especially when he successfully grabbed the man's wrist, and the moment when he passed the cigarette to ease the atmosphere afterwards, in his heart Someone secretly said: "Look! Brother Xiang is much more mature and handsome than before!"

… Who knew that after being slapped in the face, the MVP of the audience fell to Zhou Zekai.

Just when he was slipping away, Zhou Zekai reminded him: "We're here."

Sun Xiang was taken aback: "Oh."

He walked to the door, took out the key to open the door halfway, and suddenly remembered something and said to Zhou Zekai: "I have to clean up the house and contact the decoration team. I guess I won't have time to entertain you. I'm really sorry today..."

Zhou Zekai: "Then?"

Sun Xiang was speechless, he had hinted so clearly, did he have to say it directly?

"Would you like to go first?" He felt shameless asking him to continue to bother Zhou Zekai.

Zhou Zekai frowned slightly: "Are you going to stay?"

"Otherwise?" Sun Xiang turned the key all the way and opened the door, "The living room can be lived in, as long as I clean it up."

Zhou Zekai looked at him with helpless eyes: "After finishing the decoration every day, do you change the sheets and quilts?"

Sun Xiang: "...!"

Zhou Zekai glanced at him with a "really so" look, walked into the room, and closed the door: "Clean up and follow me."

Sun Xiang: "Follow you? Where?"

"My family." Zhou Zekai lightly tossed out two words, and in Sun Xiang's ears, it sounded like a bomb, making an earth-shattering sound.

He was "surprised" several times by Zhou Zekai today, and he was already a little confused: "No, no, I have to stay for at least a whole week, isn't it good!"

Zhou Zekai nodded as a matter of course: "Well, you are in charge of cleaning."

Cleaning doesn't seem to take much energy, rounding up equals living for free.

Thinking of this, his position was precarious, and he was about to nod, but a certain voice in his heart reminded himself not to cause trouble.

He avoided Zhou Zekai's gaze, wondering whether it would be too late if he directly said "We don't know each other very well".

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zekai seemed to see through his thoughts, and added: "Lujiazui, XX Haijing No. [-]."

"Damn it!" Everyone knew where it was, and while Sun Xiang lamented the evil and rotten capitalism, he quickly thought of another question, "Isn't that right next door to my company?!"

"Well," Zhou Zekai seemed to have anticipated his reaction, "so?"

After about a century, Sun Xiang analyzed all the pros and cons, and finally realized that a hard-working entrepreneur like himself has no reason to refuse Zhou Zekai's invitation.

Besides, it's just a one-week stay, so what's so embarrassing!

Sun Xiang nodded with difficulty: "All right! Then I won't be polite!"

TBC