quail

December 31, [-], Sanlitun, Beijing, POPLAR Salon.

first day.

"Because I have worked with Mr. Li for many years." Zhu Yantang faced the camera, skillfully putting on an energetic expression, and his Mandarin was indeed almost the same as that of mainlanders. "Starting from one of my movies, Including some film festivals and shows later on, we have invited his team."

The host took the opportunity to pick up the topic: "For example, was it the Golden Horse last year! Some fans of yours have summed up that Mr. Li's styles are always lazy and refreshing—"

They chatted and stopped looking left and right to focus on others, Li Bai heaved a sigh of relief.He held up a lock of brown hair, looked at the delicate and expensive face in the mirror, and could already foresee the effect of the show in the near future. Zhu Yantang was in the center of the screen, and there were a few "classic looks" from his men on the corners.Sometimes Zhu Yantang would lower his head slightly, as if he was embarrassed by the praise, and sometimes he would smile like a child.

It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and in about five hours, there was a charity dinner waiting for him.What is being filmed at the moment is a mini-short film similar to a supporting variety show. The organizer selects a few guests with high topicality, and gives them a day and 10 yuan to leave the company or the studio. After solving the problem of styling, what kind of image will you present at the dinner party?As for the remaining funds, it will be automatically attributed to the love fund, which will be donated together with the charitable funds prepared by the artists themselves, and the opportunity to broadcast the mini-short film will only be available to the artist with the highest amount of love fund.

Obviously, the less you use and the more you donate, the more you can stand out. At the same time, for a person like Zhu Yantang, even though he considers himself an acting school, the public's impression of him is still on the top of "fried chicken that relies on his face to eat" , If you pack up and go on the red carpet casually, it would be too fake and too showy-the trade-off becomes a difficult problem, and what you want is this effect that seems to be full of unexpected possibilities.

In truth, of course, there were no surprises.Zhu Yantang greeted Li Bai as early as a week ago, sent him the clothing arrangement, and asked him to design makeup and hair accordingly, Li Bai also agreed seriously, and he could do it with confidence.Therefore, the salon began to restrict customers from the morning. About an hour ago, Zhu Yantang came to visit with a plain face, and Li Bai also pretended to be leaving get off work soon.

The outside story is that he and Zhu Yantang have been good friends for many years, and he still owes Zhu Yantang a favor-about half a year ago, when POPLAR just opened, the current big star took a plane from the set and personally Cut the ribbon for him.After staying for less than half an hour, I left, and the spectators lined up from the store entrance to the escalator.From then on, as soon as the title of "Zhu Yantang's Queen's Hair Stylist" was called, the business in this shop was never bad. Even most of the time, when I came, I couldn't meet Li Bai moving the scissors.

Then it is logical that the styling is free this time, it meets the requirements of the topic very well, and can be photographed beautifully, and then talked about by fans.The windshield of the microphone hung furryly on top of Li Bai's head. When he handed the hair dryer to his assistant and leaned over to brush Zhu Yantang's eyebrows, his face, like his hands, was clearly captured by the camera.

It was as if there was a huge eye staring at Li Bai, staring at him closely, making him uncomfortable, but he was still the same, neither excited nor dodged, with a white shirt rolled up to the sleeves and jeans with worn-out trousers, just like himself Plain and loose, he would nod shyly and reply with a few words to some questions that were occasionally directed at him.

Anyway, for a stylist, hands and eyes are much more important than mouth, aren't they?

Li Bai only hoped that the crew and future audience would not give him any attention, and Zhu Yantang had better leave quickly.

The recording was about 05:30, the evening rush hour was already blocked, and we had to hurry to the hotel where the dinner was held. The program team was busy carrying large and small items, and the assistant ran out in a panic to the convenience store Buy a salad for Zhu Yantang, and eat it in the car later.There were no idlers around, so Li Bai sent people to the hall downstairs, when Zhu Yantang suddenly heard him say, "Let's write it down, it's the last payment for [-], Brother Mingyi will ask someone to settle it with you in a few days."

"Stop teasing me," Li Bai said with a smile, "Advertise me for free, and I still charge money?"

"You don't pay 3000 yuan for a haircut now—" Zhu Yantang also laughed, "I have done so much, look at your stinky face!"

"No, no." Li Bai was absent-minded.

"I'm serious, you look like you're going to die, are you in a bad mood?" After descending the last step, Zhu Yantang turned his hands behind his back, looked at Li Bai, and walked backwards.The guests in the hall have been cleaned up long ago, leaving only white floor tiles, black swivel chairs, and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, reflecting the shining him and the dim Li Bai.

"I haven't been like this all the time. Maybe I've taken too much medicine recently and I've lost my energy." Li Bai put his chin into his pocket and pointed to the door, "I'm waiting for you."

"Oh, I see—I can't wait to go back and watch the new year with Teacher Yang, right! Prefer sex over friends, over sex over friends." Zhu Yantang seemed to have completed his self-answer, and walked towards the assistant who had already dusted off his down jacket. He walked briskly, "Happy New Year!" When he got into his sleeves, he seemed a little worried, and turned his face back for the last time.

"Happy New Year." Li Bai smiled and waved to him.

As soon as the large troops evacuated, only Li Bai and a dozen of his employees were left in the glass house. Most of them were still packing up in the VIP room upstairs, or clearing out the goods in the warehouse. Only the little girl at the front desk stayed on this floor. Made a pot of coffee for Li Bai.

The water was very hot, and the heater was also exaggeratedly hot. Li Bai poured out a cup and squeezed two packets of syrup, but he had to wait for it for a long time.He sat on the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the fog at the mouth of the glass, then shrank in the corner closest to the glass, and lay down on his back.

The mirror decoration on the ceiling showed his face, which was quite ugly, and the short back rested on his bones, which was quite painful.

It's just that this set of sofas is gray-brown. This Morandi-style color always makes people lose their minds.The solid wood and the lambskin are originally very soft, and sometimes he would sleep on the longer one, but now he feels very uncomfortable when he sits up.Well, indeed, he was in a bad mood. Li Bai always knew that this was not the numbness caused by taking the medicine, but that very bad feeling, which was very general and very real.He recalled the feeling before going out in the morning—the suffocation—if it wasn’t for Zhu Yantang’s incident, he wouldn’t have left the house and come to the store today, but now that it’s finally finished and he can go back, he As if he had lost the courage, he inserted the key into the lock and opened the door of the house.

It still suits him here, or this corner. In the first month of POPLAR’s opening, there was always a homeless person staying here, who would come here as soon as the door opened in the morning, and sit there all day long, as if this sofa has been dyed with a nondescript atmosphere since then.Let's call him a "vagrant". Although he is young and neatly dressed, and the screen of his mobile phone is not small, he always looks like he is doing nothing. He sits down on the sofa, flips through magazines, eats snacks, and goes to the toilet in the store. Very uncomfortable.

Of course, a hairdresser in a prime location that requires an appointment cannot be so hospitable. Li Bai's eloquent employees have all joined the battle, trying to figure out what this great fairy is going to do, and finally find that he really just wants to eat, eat, use the Internet, and use the air conditioner.He tried to persuade him, but couldn’t persuade him to leave. He said that he just hadn’t decided what hairstyle to do; he also reported to the police, but the police came and said they couldn’t do anything about it, so they had to calmly mediate a few words, because this person didn’t disturb the law and order. order.It can be said that it is impossible to do both soft and hard. Li Bai thought about being more violent, and regardless of the customers in the store watching, he picked up the collar of the homeless man and dragged him outside the store. As a result, the man knelt down and got up, As soon as Li Bai let go of his hand, he simply lay down and did not move.

It's a blessing not to pretend to be dead and extort money.

Later Li Bai found out that this person was a famous thick-skinned man in Sanlitun, and he was not the only shop that had been tortured in this way.Even though it is still in the operation stage where the expenditure exceeds the income, Li Bai has also begun to consider hiring a security guard. Someone will stop him at the door, and if he sees this person, he will not be allowed to enter. It seems that it will be much safer.The job advertisement had already been posted, and several people who wanted to come for interviews called, but in those few days, Yang Jian forgot to bring his house key and came to him to get it. On the wall, someone is sitting on the sofa, biting a biscuit, looking relaxed.

"Who is this?" Yang Jian seemed to want to laugh, but also a little annoyed, he picked up a cigarette and asked.

Li Bai had been standing at the door waiting for a while, his face covered with sweat, he leaned on Yang Jian's shoulder, wiped it with the man's sleeve, and whispered about his recent experience.

Yang Jian couldn't believe it, mainly because Li Bai didn't say a word about these matters at home.After smoking half of the cigarette, he stuffed it into Li Bai's mouth, and then walked into the shop.

After walking around to the sofa in a few steps, the man was lifted up by him, and sure enough he was about to pretend to be dead again, but Yang Jian didn't care about it, he didn't even care about bumping into the coffee table and the trash can, and the man was in pain after walking a few steps , stood up by himself.And Yang Jian was still holding his collar, passing Li Bai like a sheep leading a horse, and just like that he got him out.

I don't know where it went, but about twenty minutes later, Yang Jian came back to get the key again, as if nothing happened, and didn't mention half a word about what just happened.

It's just that Cengchi Daxian came back out of the rivers and lakes not long after. It is said that his nose is still bruised and his face is swollen, but he never harmed POPLAR again.

Thinking of this, Li Bai wanted to laugh.Now this seat has become his favorite. Sometimes when he nests in it in the middle of the night, he would fantasize that Yang Jian would find him suddenly, break down his door, carry him out, find a place where no one is around, beat him up, and send him a message again. Hugging him tremblingly, answering all his questions—the narrow gap between those buildings would be suitable, or the underground parking lot, or the lawn where he was thrown on it a long time ago.Is it still there?Li Bai only knew that the music bar had turned into a cat coffee shop.

It doesn't matter.

What makes people sad is that Yang Jian will not do this to him.

Even if they quarreled, no matter how fierce the quarrel was, Yang Jian would only go to the office for a few nights, come back suddenly one day, apologize to him, or listen to his apology.Later, when I went to a public middle school, there were only grid seats, so Yang Jian would change into his clothes and wait in the car, squint until dawn, and go straight to work.

Why go to a public high school?

Obviously, the income from another job is enough to buy a Lexus ES in just a few years.

This is something Yang Jian would not tell him.

But there are too many such things.

Li Bai went downstairs to knock on the car window, wearing a singlet and shorts, dizzy from the cold, Yang Jian would not open the car door.

Some scenes were in front of us a few weeks ago, but now they feel far away.Li Bai picked up the mug, only to realize that the coffee was already cold, and the albums played in the store had been switched, and who was crying.Time is really a blurry thing sometimes.He yawned, turned his face, and saw that the sky outside the window was completely dark, and a big Christmas tree full of bells and gift boxes was in the center of the courtyard, with colorful lights flashing up and down. It had just finished celebrating Christmas and came back to welcome the New Year.

Anyway, it's a store discount.

Li Bai once smelled its pine needles, so he knew it was a real tree.Such a small piece of soil is only enough to fix the roots, and it's okay to die after living for a few days, it is pitiful enough.

He drank up the bitterly sweet coffee and sent a WeChat message to his assistant.

Two minutes later, the sound of clapping and greetings came from upstairs, "Get off work early today!" The cheers had already begun, "The boss treats you to dinner!"

I went to a Cantonese-style tea restaurant across the road. A large box was full of young people. I ordered ten baskets of Shrimp Dumplings alone.They were clinking glasses and playing board games, eating too well, Li Bai was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette, watching them, no one invited him to join.This group of employees already understood his temperament, and knew that it was okay to have a lot of fun on their own at this time, and it would be dead to join in the fun with their faces on their faces.After waiting for more than ten minutes, the last box was packed in a plastic bag. Li Bai extinguished most of his cigarettes, got up and said "goodbye".

"Goodbye boss! Happy New Year!" Everyone looked very happy.

All the dishes to take away are good dishes, abalone rice, sea cucumber porridge, siu mei, cowboy ribs... and all kinds of dim sum, packed in three big bags, which made Li Bai's fingertips feel cold and his blood supply was insufficient .Including the big table in the private room, Li Bai settled more than 4000 yuan for this meal. When he put the bank card back into his wallet, he felt that the weight in his hand was more than half light—ridiculous, it was all for such a meal. There are many people who pay wages, and the money in their cards is often less than [-].

Who said doing this business is profitable?It is a high-end line, and those imported things are not cheap. After calculating the artificial rent, water and electricity bills, how much can I have a monthly balance, and how often do I need to go out to do short-term jobs to subsidize.More than half of the money for the renovation was borrowed from Yang Jian, and it has not been repaid yet.

That person never asked for it.

Li Bai lowered his head, unzipped his coat, and held all the lunch boxes in his arms.He was very unsteady, and the pads of his fingers touching the bottom of the plastic bowl were burning hot. He stared at his dark shadow under the street lamp, and stayed motionless for a while.Many people bumped into his shoulders, from the front and from the back, the aunt glared over and said "Ouch", the fat man with the walnut plate was cursing, the boy who was handling the nose of the plane hugged the girl in shorts and leather boots, and whispered so loudly Can hear clearly, everyone is restless and happy.But that shadow, Li Bai can only see it, very annoying, very at a loss, as if its blackness is different from that cast by others.

The phone in his pocket vibrated twice, and then twice, Li Bai put all three big bags on the left, and waved to stop a taxi.Even though he didn't pass the driver's license test and only got a motorcycle license, Yang Jian had given him the Yamaha to ride, and he could find it across the road. He was still planning to take the car home after a short 10-minute drive.

I'm afraid that the delicious food in my hands will get cold and spilled.

In the back seat of the taxi, Li Bai put the lunch box beside him and replied to the message that had just been delivered.It was Yang Jian's cell phone that shook, and the grade director sent a message: Take good care of your illness, and strive to come back to fight as soon as possible! [handshake][handshake][handshake]

Yang Jian is not in the habit of setting a password.Li Bai replied for him: Good! [struggle][struggle][struggle]

He also took sick leave for Yang Jian.Yang Jian said that on the afternoon of January [-]st, he had to go back to school to count the monthly test scores and prepare for the commentary.But the problem at home has not been resolved, so how can there be time?

So Li Bai used the photo of his infusion to cover the matter, imitating Yang Jian's tone, saying that he had acute gastritis and couldn't go back to school for a while.

I really need to take a break, the weather is so cold, and if I continue to work like this, maybe my immunity will drop and I will get sick?The three humidifiers in the house are turned on every day, but the man's fragile nose still occasionally bleeds a little.Satisfied, Li Bai closed the WeChat interface, locked the screen, and didn't look at anything else.He held this mobile phone in his hand for a whole day, and he only took sick leave. Just like on weekdays, Yang Jian's mobile phone was placed beside his pillow, and when he was taking a shower in the bathroom, Li Bai never slid it away. Flipping around like jackals and tigers.

The privacy in it is what Yang Jian should have, and it shouldn't make him covet.

He also knew that was not the problem.

So what happened to them?Now, what is happening now, what is it that cannot be rewound.

Seems like a stupid thing to do.

The door was locked, and Li Bai habitually inserted the key, but couldn't open it. Only then did he remember that he had turned the turnbuckle before he left.After entering the room and pressing the chandelier switch, Li Bai squinted his eyes because of the stabbing, only to see that Yang Jian was already awake, of course he was already awake.Still wearing yesterday's clothes, she was sitting on the sofa, silently looking at her palms, listening to him close the door, before raising her eyes to look at him.

"Are you hungry?" Li Bai kicked off his Martin boots, lowered his head and smiled, "I brought a lot of them back for dinner with colleagues, and they haven't touched them before."

Stepping on the socks, he approached. He put the plastic bag on the floor, and opened the lunch box on the coffee table one by one.He put his coat on the ground, rolled up the cuffs of his shirt, and knelt on the other side of the coffee table, just opposite Yang Jian.

Yang Jian did not speak.

"It's not poisoned. If you don't believe me, watch me eat it." Li Bai opened his chopsticks and picked up a chopsticks of bitter gourd and egg. Did he have to taste every dish? It seemed a little embarrassing, and his appetite disappeared, "No I know why," he pursed his lips, raised his eyelids and looked into Yang Jian's eyes, "every time I eat with you, I feel so weak."

Yang Jian still didn't say a word.

"You don't have to worry about the school. I've asked for leave. You can rest for a few days..." Li Bai sniffed, "Anyway, there are substitute teachers, so you don't need to be so anxious."

Yang Jian was so quiet that he was a little creepy. Is it anger or disappointment?If it wasn't for his dry and slow breathing, Li Bai would have had the illusion that the person in front of him had already gone out of his body.

He has already determined that he has done another stupid thing.

The stupid one.

But he had to do it again. When he did it, he was wronged and painful, but if he didn't do it, he didn't know what to do.

"I took your mobile phone, it was my fault, I cut off the internet cable and phone line while you were sleeping, threw it away in the toolbox, and locked you at home... It was all wrong, I know it was my fault," he put down awkwardly. Chopsticks, some dishes are still cold, and he needs to heat them in the microwave oven, and the humidifier on the table has run out of water, so he needs to pick them up. My own, but the rest of the world can all be pushed aside and ignored, "I just think, we can have a good talk, you don't go to school, don't stay in the car, right here, talk to me Let's talk."

"What are you talking about?" Yang Jian finally spoke out, very hoarse and tired.

It's cold.

Li Bai shuddered, "What's wrong with us?"

Yang Jian blinked.

what happened?

Yang Xie obviously loves herself, she is focused and honest, although sometimes clumsy and irritable.He is obviously so special.Nothing could come out of nowhere to separate them.

So what's up.Why can Li Bai see a minefield, mixed with a lot of incomprehension and mystery, not to mention stepping in, as long as he gets close, Yang Jian will push him away, and build his own wall a layer higher.

It was this wall that caused Li Bai to die.The roses were also there, as were the thorns growing on the ground. He stood on tiptoe desperately among such flowers, but couldn't see what was around inside, only his forehead hurt.He didn't want to see it at all, and didn't want to be aware of its existence, but he knew it anyway, and he couldn't pretend not to understand it anymore.

Because he saw the man who built the wall standing tall, but also in pain.

"Let's eat first, today is New Year's Eve..." Li Bai avoided those gazes, he broke off the chopsticks for Yang Jian, and put the cowboy bone on the rice noodles in front of Yang Jian, "Will I go to the store tomorrow?" Well, I won't leave the day after tomorrow... we'll talk slowly."

"I never want to go." Picking up the humidifier to add water, he suddenly cried, tears dripping on the machine, unable to penetrate the plastic shell above the sink, wiped it away immediately, no matter what Whether it's on the face or on the plastic, Li Bai didn't want to cry at all, he was just hungry and tired, and wanted to stay with Yang Jian and talk, he just couldn't tolerate that person ignoring his own festering and taking responsibility for others Responsibility, "Don't leave either. We're right here...Brother, don't leave."

Yet the emotions were too fierce.

Li Bai put down the humidifier helplessly and covered his face.