The Eye of the Storm

On the way back, Cao Ye drove the car, and images of Liang Sizhe kept flashing in his mind. He squatted halfway to watch Xiao Xiaobai say "Thank you", and when he stood in front of him, the slightly red eye sockets above the mask were still shining. There was the deep look in his eyes when he turned around to say goodbye.

On the night of Liang Sizhe's birthday, he received a text message of congratulations that kept his phone vibrating non-stop, which means that he must have many friends in the circle, right?But why does he look so lonely?

His parents passed away ten years ago, and the dog who has been with him will also leave ten years later. How sad must he be to make his eyes turn red from the emotions he has not shown?

Cao Ye impulsively wanted to turn the steering wheel back to the airport and accompany him to the set for a few days, but he thought that he would not break his promise to take care of Xiaobai. He had to stay here and accompany Xiaobai to the end of his life for Liang Sizhe. last leg.

The car stopped at the intersection of traffic lights. He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He took the lighter and lit the cigarette, then took a deep breath.

Back at the pet hospital, Xu Yunchu was still guarding Xiao Xiaobai.

Xiaobai was still lying on his side, not knowing whether he was feigning sleep or really falling asleep. Due to illness and aging, his vigilance ability had also degraded, and he didn't even notice when Cao Ye walked over.

"Mr. Cao," Xu Yunchu saw him coming, got up and asked him, "How is Si Zhe feeling?"

"not too good."

Xu Yunchu sighed, she didn't seem to know that this dog had something to do with Cao Ye, and explained to him: "Sizhe has raised this dog for ten years, and it seems that he has been raising it since the filming of "Thirteen Days". The first thing I did after the first filming was to take it away from me, treat this dog just like you would treat your own relatives, now it is not in good condition...you can imagine how sad he is."

Cao Ye let out a "hmm".

"I may not have enough time recently. The new boy group under my hand will debut this month, and I have been busy with this matter. I will go to Guangzhou on a business trip tomorrow. Xiaobai has to ask you, Mr. Cao."

"Don't call me President Cao," Cao Ye said, "Liang Sizhe calls me Cao Ye, so you can call me Cao Ye too."

Xu Yunchu is in his mid-thirties, and has always been known in the industry for his ability, shrewdness, and resoluteness, but he couldn't control Liang Sizhe, probably because he was frightened by Liang Sizhe's willful way of doing things. After Liang Sizhe, all the artists she took over took the idol route , It doesn't matter if there are real materials or not, but first you have to be obedient.

"Okay, Cao Ye," Xu Yunchu smiled, "If there is anything wrong with Xiaobai, you can call me, and I will come over as soon as I have time."

"Okay." Cao Ye replied.

"However... I have a request," Xu Yunchu lowered his eyes and pondered for a few seconds, and said, "If Xiaobai's situation is not good, please try not to tell Sizhe as much as possible... As you know, the early stage of the script this time is very difficult. Comedy style, he is not in a good mood during this period of the year, and now Xiaobai's life is in danger at any time, he is a good actor, he can adjust his state and enter the role, but the emotional contrast is too great, he will be too emotional in this scene tired."

"I know, don't worry." Cao Ye said.

That night, Xiaobai finished his fluid transfusion, and Cao Ye took him home. Xiaobai had no strength to walk, so Cao Ye got out of the car and carried him to the elevator.

Maybe it's because he hasn't been able to eat recently. Compared with last month, Xiaobai has lost a lot of weight, almost to the point of skin and bones, and his hair seems to have lost its luster, covering his bony bones limply.Cao Ye still remembered how Liang Sizhe bathed him with his hair tied up about a month ago. At that time, Xiaobai looked lively and healthy, but now his life was passing quickly on him.

For more than half a month after that, Xiao Xiaobai's condition was up and down. Occasionally, he could stand up and walk around for a while, but most of the time he lay on his side on the balcony, basking in the sun listlessly.

When it was in good condition, Cao Ye took a short video and sent it to Liang Sizhe. If Liang Sizhe didn't film again at night, he would send the video to watch Xiao Xiaobai.

Cao Ye asked the chef in the clubhouse to cook white porridge, took it home every day, and tried to feed Xiaobai, but most of the time he vomited after eating, so Cao Ye had to drive him to the pet hospital for infusions every day.

Despite daily infusions, Xiaobai still lost weight after half a month. In the next few days, Cao Ye seldom took videos of Xiaobai and sent them to Liang Sizhe, fearing that he would be sad.

Witnessing the life passing by Xiaobai's body day by day was not a good feeling, and Cao Ye was also a little depressed in those few days.He wanted to see Liang Sizhe, and wanted to talk to him a few more words. He always felt that Liang Sizhe needed company during this time, but Xiao Xiaobai was not in good condition, and he felt that if he deliberately avoided talking about it, Liang Sizhe would always be aware of the clues, and then Mood can be affected.He is such a smart and sensitive person.

What Xu Yunchu said is right, but a sad person has to pretend to be in high spirits to act in a comedy. This kind of contrast between inside and outside the play will make people extremely exhausted.

In the past few days, he himself was very tired from the torment. One night, Xiaobai was foaming at the mouth again, and his body curled up in pain. He sent it to the hospital in the middle of the night, his eyes turned blue from the torment.When he went to the company the next day, Cheng Duan teased him about his overindulgent appearance. Cao Ye was depressed and let him go.

After half a month, Xiao Xiaobai couldn't bear it anymore.For two days in a row, as soon as the painkillers wore off, his body curled up in pain, whimpering from his throat, which seemed unbearable to let him continue to suffer.

The doctor suggested euthanasia for Xiao Xiaobai again. After all, when it is struggling to breathe, life has become a burden.

Cao Ye couldn't bear to see it continue to suffer, so he sat in the office and struggled all afternoon, and at night he called Liang Sizhe and told him about Xiaobai's situation.He was mentally prepared for Liang Sizhe's refusal, but he didn't expect that Liang Sizhe seemed to have expected this result and quickly agreed.

"Then euthanasia," Liang Sizhe said on the phone, his voice a little hoarse and deep, "If the result is inevitable, then instead of suffering painfully, it's better to end it as soon as possible. You can take it to do it tomorrow."

There was no emotion in his voice, but Cao Ye could always think of the red circles under his eyes in the VIP passage at the airport that day.He was arrogant when facing the media, and he was very comfortable when facing himself, but when Cao Ye thought of Liang Sizhe now, he could only think of his fragile and tired eyes under the hood.

"Are you sad, Liang Sizhe?" Cao Ye couldn't help asking.

There was silence over there, and after a while, he said: "It's okay, I'm used to it." After a pause, he added, "Whether it's a person or a dog, there will be a day when you leave, sooner or later, that's all. I figured it out years ago.”

Cao Ye didn't sleep well all night.

With eyes open and eyes closed, it was all about Liang Sizhe wearing a hood and mask, leaning on the car seat and looking out the window sideways.At the intersection of traffic lights that day, a car on the other side of the lane passed by, and the lights of the car were reflected on Liang Sizhe's face and then disappeared quickly. At that moment, it seemed that time was flowing on his face.

I also dreamed that ten years ago, Liang Sizhe was standing behind that door, stopping the scene of those inside the door discussing that he could no longer play the violin, and the clenched, slightly trembling restrained fist.

The fragility after ten years is surprisingly consistent.

The next morning, Cao Ye went to the operating room

On the clean and white operating bed, Xiao Xiaobai lay on his side.The anesthetic from the needle was pushed into its front legs, and the pain in Xiao Xiaobai's eyes seemed to have eased a bit, and at the same time, his eyes became loose and numb.

The whole process of euthanasia was carried out very quickly. One shot of anesthesia and one shot of potassium chloride completely relieved Xiaobai from the pain.

Xiao Xiaobai died completely in the sunlight, Cao Ye reached out to close his half-closed eyes for him, and when he covered Xiao Xiaobai's eyes with his palm, he had a thought, he and Liang Sizhe, with ten Another connection was broken between the two teenagers on Yinsi Street a few years ago.

He delusional to return to Yinsi's way of getting along with Liang Sizhe, delusional to nothing about Cao Xiuyuan, but ten years have passed, and the years have changed. Things have actually happened, how can it be so easy to go back to the beginning?

It seems that these years, he and Liang Sizhe have relied on these memories of their youth, going round and round until today, but the memories will always be forgotten and destroyed by time bit by bit, just like the Lanyan was razed overnight, Yinsi Street Being dismantled into rubble, Xiao Xiaobai's life came to an end, and all losses and changes are irreversible.When the day when everything about Yin Si is forgotten, what will happen between him and Liang Sizhe?

After leaving the pet hospital, Cao Ye contacted a pet cemetery and took Xiaobai to bury him.

Xu Yunchu also went there with him. In the past ten years, whenever Liang Sizhe went out to film, she was always taking care of Xiao Xiaobai for Liang Sizhe, and she also had feelings for Xiao Xiaobai.

After returning from the cemetery, Xu Yunchu said that she was going to Liang Sizhe's house. Liang Sizhe had called her last night and asked her to take away everything about Xiaobai.

"I'm probably afraid that when I come back from filming in a few months, I will feel emotional when I see those things," Xu Yunchu said, "Sizhe usually hides his emotions, but he...is actually a very sensitive person." She and Cao Ye chatted, "A person with acting talent is actually more sensitive to the outside world than others, but he keeps everything in his heart and doesn't tell others."

Cao Ye drove the car and asked after a moment of silence, "Those things, do you want to throw them away?"

"I haven't thought about it yet, and it would be a pity to throw it away, but if I give it away..." Halfway through her words, she seemed to be lost in thought.

"If you don't have any plans," Cao Ye said, "can you let me go first?"

"You have a dog too?"

"There are plans for this."

"If you need it, that would be great," Xu Yunchu quickly agreed, "Then you go with me? I packed it up, and you can take it away in your car... Actually, there are not many things, probably just toys and dogs I also have some food, and I will bring it to you when I have time."

"Okay." Cao Ye said.

Seeing that Cao Ye was not in a good mood on the way back, Xu Yunchu told him a few interesting stories about Xiao Xiaobai and Liang Sizhe. He said that when Liang Sizhe went out for a walk with his dog, Xiao Xiaobai ran away when he encountered a paparazzi secretly photographing him. He didn't notice it yet, and wanted to pull it back, but Xiao Xiaobai didn't know where the strength came from, so he dragged Liang Sizhe back home.Afterwards, the candid photo of Liang Sizhe walking the dog was published in the newspaper, and Liang Sizhe knew why he suddenly ran away that day.

"Sizhe's sensitivity to paparazzi was probably trained by Xiao Xiaobai." Xu Yunchu laughed.

This incident made Cao Ye laugh too, and he seemed to be in a better mood.

In the past, they were all business contacts and had no in-depth contact. Now, because of Liang Sizhe's dog chatting, Xu Yunchu discovered that Cao Xiuyuan's only son, whom the media has always been curious about, is like a lovable child in private, with all his happiness and anger written on his face. It was very different from the Cao Ye she had contacted when negotiating the contract in Lomont.

No wonder Liang Sizhe became friends with Cao Ye, Xu Yunchu thought, these two are the focus of media attention, but one is in the light and the other is in the dark, and their temperaments look inexplicably similar, so they should be able to chat.

"Si Zhe has also recorded many videos of Xiao Xiaobai over the years," she thought for a while and said, "They are all engraved on a CD, if you want to watch it, I will tell him and I will find it for you when I arrive later. "

"Okay." Cao Ye said.

The car stopped at the door of Liang Sizhe's house. Xu Yunchu took the key to open the door, but saw Cao Ye touch the fingerprint recognition screen with his index finger, and the door lock opened with a "click".

She was a little surprised: "When did you take your fingerprints?"

"Last month."

"I only know that your father is kind to him, but I didn't expect you to have such a good relationship."

"Are you surprised?" Cao Ye smiled, and suddenly wanted to let Xu Yunchu know that his relationship with Liang Sizhe was closer than she imagined, "I chose the name Xiaobai ten years ago."

"Really?" Xu Yunchu was even more surprised. She was absent for the two years before Liang Sizhe won the award, and Liang Sizhe didn't talk too much about Yin Si, so she always thought what the media said was true. "The media It has been rumored that you competed for the role of Xiaoman back then, and the competition process sounded like life and death, so the truth is not like that?"

"There was a competition, but it's pure nonsense." Cao Ye said, lowering his head and sending a message to Liang Sizhe—"Your manager said you recorded a video of Xiaobai, can I find it? "

It was five or six o'clock in the afternoon, and it was probably time for the crew to eat. Liang Sizhe quickly replied: "You can ask Yunchu to find it for you, she knows which set it is."

Cao Ye thought it would be better to watch it together in Liang Sizhe's screening room. He stayed here once and felt that the screening room was very comfortable.He sent another message asking: "Then can I borrow the screening room?"

I don't know if there was something temporary and I couldn't reply in time. It took a few minutes to reply to the message.

——"Use it."

Cao Ye and Xu Yunchu went up the stairs one after the other, opened the door and entered the screening room. Xu Yunchu raised his hand to turn on the wall lamp in the room, then walked into the room, closed the folding door and closed the curtain.The afterglow of the setting sun that sprinkled the room was blocked outside, leaving only dim lights in the room.

Cao Ye suddenly thought that when he came to this screening room for the first time that day, Liang Sizhe first walked into the room and closed the door, and then asked him to turn on the light. An idea suddenly came to his mind, the normal sequence should be to turn on the light first and then turn on the light. Go in and pull the door, this is Liang Sizhe's home, it stands to reason that he can't make a mistake in such a basic order, so that day... Could he have done it on purpose?

"It should be in this area," Xu Yunchu stood in front of the display rack against the wall, looked up and searched for a row of CD cases, "it seems to be this one," she raised her hand and took a CD case down, and looked down at the blank one. Cover, looked up at the display rack again, and took out another one near the CD, "It's still here... I don't remember very well, Cao Ye, please help me turn on the projector, we Take both of them out and put them away for a try."

"Oh, good." Cao Ye walked to the desk, turned on the projector, and then lifted the screen of the laptop on the desk. Just like last time, the computer was not turned off, and the screen lit up with a slight movement.

Following Liang Sizhe's operation sequence last time, Cao Ye clicked on the minimized video interface at the bottom of the screen, waited for a while to connect to the projector, and the playback interface popped up, staying on the screen Liang Sizhe had seen last time.

Same as last time, blurry picture quality, off-white picture, overhead shot, and the closed elevator door.

Why did Liang Sizhe watch this video again?Cao Ye stared at the picture and thought.This time he saw clearly that this was indeed the surveillance footage in the corridor near the elevator door, not the "random footage" that Liang Sizhe said.

The last time I looked at it was too hasty, I didn’t notice a row of time displayed on the bottom right of the screen, Cao Ye looked at the row of numbers, 2014-06-0321 37:26:[-], Cao Ye is very familiar with this time, five years The night before Liang Sizhe's birthday.

No one knows what happened that night better than him.

The heart suddenly began to hit the chest forcefully, and every time it beat, it made a loud, noisy sound.

Cao Ye felt that his fingers suddenly lost strength, and he had to use his strength to hold the mouse.He dragged the progress bar of the video forward for a while, and then he saw the teenager squatting in the corner of the elevator, with his head buried low like an ostrich, his fingers hanging feebly from his knees, looking decadent and helpless.

"Is the projector turned on?" Xu Yunchu walked over with two CDs, and then she looked up, and saw the surveillance-like picture displayed on the huge projection in front of her, and the one crouched in a ball in the corner of the elevator. Young man, she was a little puzzled, "What is this? I seem to have seen it on this computer before. Who is this person... Doesn't he look like Sizhe?"

"This man..." Cao Ye said, his voice suddenly became a little hoarse, something seemed to be blocked deep in his throat, he cleared his throat before continuing, "It's me."

The video continued to play, the elevator door opened, the boy stood up against the elevator wall, and walked out of the cramped space.Then there was the scene in the hotel lobby. He saw himself suddenly quicken his pace, walking faster and faster until he started running, and then strode through the crowd as if fleeing, and ran out of the hotel.

When the progress bar reached the end, the video automatically started to play in a loop. He and Liang Sizhe were standing outside the elevator. He was emotional and retreated step by step.But Cao Ye retreated into the elevator room, the elevator door closed, Liang Sizhe stopped in front of the closed door, the picture seemed to be still, and then someone came to talk to him, he didn't listen, he opened the elevator door and walked in quickly.

Cao Ye looked down at the screen on the computer screen.

Xu Yunchu looked up at the screen on the projection.

The video broadcasts to the first scene, the closed elevator door, the off-white picture, the overhead perspective, and the blurry picture quality.

"It turned out to be like this," Xu Yunchu said suddenly, and murmured, "So he hit the reporter, filmed "Liang Sheng Zhu Meng", and then followed up with the reshoots of "The Darkest Choice"..."

"What did you say?" Cao Ye came back to his senses as if he had just woken up from a dream, and looked up at Xu Yunchu, "What hit the reporter?"

"No wonder..." Xu Yunchu didn't look at him, but still looked at the little boy huddled in the corner on the huge projection screen, "It turns out that he has been swallowing it with a blunt knife for so many years, not for the so-called repayment... it is for you."