The Eye of the Storm

On the way to the airport, the sporadic light rain fell heavier and heavier. The raindrops fell on the car glass and splashed into water splashes. The taillights of the car in front were blurred. Scrape down the sides.

Cao Ye felt that his current state was probably not suitable for driving. He was preoccupied with Liang Sizhe. As soon as he stopped at the intersection of traffic lights, he would fall into a state of daze. There were several times when the car behind him honked several times before he noticed. The light has changed to green.

But he couldn't stop, the thought of seeing Liang Sizhe became more and more intense in his brain since it appeared.

After more than half of the journey, Cao Ye remembered to call his assistant and ask her to book a ticket to Shanghai on the earliest flight tonight.

"Tonight?" The assistant seemed to think he heard it wrong, and reminded, "It's raining outside, the flight to Shanghai should be canceled tonight, right?"

It was only then that Cao Ye realized that he was completely out of reason. He drove all the way in the rain, and he had to wait for someone to remind him before he realized that the flight would be delayed in rainy weather.

He subconsciously cursed in a low voice, and then asked, "Is there still a high-speed train?"

The assistant quickly found out the information: "There is still one more train, which will leave in an hour, and I will book it for you?"

After hanging up the phone, Cao Ye turned around and drove towards the high-speed rail station.Hurry up, Cao Ye got on the high-speed train before the departure time.

Sitting in his seat, Cao Ye looked at the pattering rain outside. The rain was not in a hurry, but it showed no signs of stopping.How about Liang Sizhe?Is it raining a lot?

Cao Ye took out his phone and called up the chat interface with Liang Sizhe. He typed a few words: "Is it raining over there?" He stared at the words for a while and then deleted them, changing them to " What are you doing?" Thumb hovers over "Send," then deletes after a moment.

It seems that no matter how you ask, the words do not express the meaning.

It is almost possible to think of the news of Liang Sizhe's return - "downloaded" or "reading the script".Then, what should I say?

I want to talk to Liang Sizhe, meet, and get closer, but I am afraid to talk to Liang Sizhe, meet, and get closer.

What a contradiction.

Forget it, let's talk after we meet.Cao Ye raised his hand to turn off the screen, and put the phone back in his pocket.

The drive of more than four hours should be difficult. Cao Ye searched "Liang Sheng Zhu Meng" with a pad. The video website gave a score of 7.1, which is not a very good score.Xu Yunchu said that Liang Sizhe made this film because of him, and he was a little curious about what kind of story it was.

He had seen this film in Wu Tuo's cinema three months ago, and that day was the first time they met after the breakup. Maybe he was in the wrong mood to watch it, so he didn't watch the film that day.

Cao Ye put on his earphones and looked at the pad screen.

The movie began to enter the picture, and on the distant and blurry stage, two theater actors raised their voices and sang in duet:

"If your brother Liang is undecided, my younger brother will be your matchmaker—"

"My virtuous brother is my matchmaker, but I don't know who the daughter is?"

They sang the Yue opera "The Butterfly Lovers".

In the opening title, Cao Ye still remembers that it was a woman in her [-]s holding the remote control, squatting on the ground and looking at the screen of the TV with some ecstasy.

Then the woman was called "Mom" back to her senses, stood up in a hurry, turned off the TV, and began to rush around her teenage daughter. A few minutes later, the woman stood by the window and watched her daughter fall Downstairs, there is a boy waiting for her on a bicycle downstairs.

The woman stood in front of the window for a while, then suddenly raised her voice and sang softly: "If your brother Liang is undecided, my younger brother will be your matchmaker—"

There was a sound of footsteps in the room, and the woman's voice didn't stop, until the man interrupted her a little annoyed: "The theater is closed, why are you still singing? Didn't the confinement company ask you to go for an interview in the morning, or do you want to go? "

The thin drama stopped abruptly, the woman was startled, and replied: "Go."

Before going out, the two quarreled again, because of a very trivial matter-the man went out to drink last night, and when he left, he forgot to take the garbage with him.

The first half of the film is full of trivial details of life. Men and women constantly quarrel and compromise, killing time meaninglessly and torturing the patience of the audience.

Until the woman became a Yuesao and went to the home of a young couple to take care of the postpartum pregnant woman and newborn baby.There she met the teacher of the drama class who used to be in the drama class. The teacher took her hand and introduced to her daughter: "Liang Yan and Zhu Huaishan, they were the golden boys and girls in our drama class at that time, playing Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. , Liang Zhu on the stage, Zhu Liang off the stage, there is a couple on stage and off the stage, I am really envious of others..."

The voice of the narrator gradually faded away, and the camera gradually blurred, and turned to the backstage of the theater. Zhu Huaishan and Liang Yan, who were in their early twenties, were putting on makeup.

They are the most popular celebrities on campus, they are childhood sweethearts, and they hit it off.When they were young, their love affair was full of twists and turns. They overcame the resistance of their families, the interference of outsiders, and each other's paranoia. I made sacrifices for each other, went to a small private theater troupe together, and continued to be Liang Zhu on stage and Liang Zhu off stage.

The dust of the vigorous love affair settled, the golden boy and the jade girl lived a life like a fairy tale, but in the end they were worn down by life and turned into the most trivial appearance.

That night when Liang Yan came home from get off work, she asked Zhu Huaishan a question before going to bed: "If Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai didn't turn into butterflies in the end, but lived together, what would happen?"

"What will it become?" Zhu Huaishan, who was about to fall asleep, muttered impatiently, "It will become like us."

A few months later, the two went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to go through divorce procedures. When they came out of the hall, they were still arguing about the custody of their daughter.

The camera took close-ups of the two of them respectively, capturing their bored eyes and the unconscious corners of their mouths when they were arguing.

The film ended and the subtitles began to scroll.This film is so realistic that it is breathless. It is hard to imagine that Liang Sizhe spent two years filming such a story.

Honestly, it's not too bad either.The shooting techniques and transition methods are remarkable, but this story is so realistic that people don't want to watch it.

After the movie ended, another video popped up automatically. It was a video of Liang Sizhe being interviewed during the release of "Liang Sheng Zhu Meng" three years ago.The film did not do well at the box office. At that time, many media ridiculed Liang Sizhe for taking too big a step, but he stumbled.

The reporter holding a microphone followed behind him and asked, "Now that the film has been released for a week, the box office has just exceeded [-] million, and the number of films in theaters is very small. Do you regret spending two years making such a work?"

Liang Sizhe, who was walking forward, turned his face and glanced sideways at the reporter who asked the question: "Why do you regret it?"

"The box office and word-of-mouth are not good, you shouldn't care about the audience's comments at all, after all, the film is made for people to watch..."

Before he finished speaking, Liang Sizhe interrupted him without turning his head, and said: "Can't I take a picture to cross myself?" After finishing speaking, he strode away.

It took two years to film the film... Cao Ye looked at Liang Sizhe's back on the screen. Why did Liang Sizhe choose such a realistic story to film?

Movies are the art of creating dreams, but this film made by Liang Sizhe is precisely to break a beautiful dream for others to watch.Liang Sizhe must know that this film will not be the type that the public likes, but he still spent two years shooting it.

Cao Ye typed the words "Liang Sheng Zhumeng" on the search box, clicked on the movie review page, and briefly glanced at a few of the most praised movie reviews:

"Mourning. Just a suggestion, don't read it, watch it for fear of marriage."

"It's hard to imagine that Liang Yingdi would choose such a realistic subject for two years. What is he thinking?"

"What would happen if Liang Zhu didn't turn into a butterfly in the end, but lived together? The story after the prince and princess lived happily together... It's terrifying to think about."

"The filming is very sincere. It's just that actor Liang has been in so many relationships, yet he has such a pessimistic attitude towards love?"

Cao Ye stared at the following comment in a daze: "This film has a miraculous effect on people who can't love it, because it breaks love, telling you that if you get it, it may not be so good. I guess Liang Sizhe is probably the same as me. A person who can't love, and is persuading himself to let go through this film."

Take a photo to cross yourself.

So Liang Sizhe has been persuading himself to let go in the past few years.

Cao Ye took the phone and glanced at the chat interface with Liang Sizhe again.The last message stopped when Cao Ye asked if he could borrow the one in the screening room, and Liang Sizhe said "use it".After that, Liang Sizhe never sent any news.

For a moment, Cao Ye felt a little flustered.

He never thought about taking a step forward from being friends with Liang Sizhe, but now that he knew that Liang Sizhe might let go of his hand and retreat at any time, he was a little at a loss.

Yin Si has changed, Lan Yan has been dismantled, Xiao Xiaobai is gone, and the connection from ten years ago seems to have been cut off bit by bit by time—could it be at the moment when he found out that he likes Liang Sizhe, Liang Sizhe chose to let go?

After leaving the high-speed railway station, the torrential rain in Shanghai poured down on his body. Cao Ye didn't bring an umbrella, and he was soaked in the moment he stepped out.

He called a car with his mobile phone, opened the door and sat in. The driver turned around and handed him a tissue: "This rain is heavy enough."

Cao Ye didn't speak. He looked at the raindrops on the car window, and suddenly thought of the umbrella that Liang Sizhe was holding that tipped towards him on the set of "The Darkest Choice" two months ago.

The car was driving on the road, like splitting the rain curtain all over the sky.

Sitting in the car, Cao Ye felt like he was galloping in a dream.They stayed in Yinsi ten years ago, and it rained so heavily that night. They spent a boring day in Lanyan, discussing the script of "Thirteen Days" without feeling bored at all.

In a flash, ten years have passed.

He thought of the ten years he and Liang Sizhe had known each other——

Backstage at the Golden Statue Awards presentation, he was leaning on a pillar to talk to his friends, pretending not to see Liang Sizhe, but he couldn't help but glance at him, and then again, but when Liang Sizhe turned his head to look over, he quickly turned his face away avoided his gaze.

After beating the producer of "Quarantine Zone", Liang Sizhe covered his face with his fingers and walked through the crowd. At that moment, there was a faint smell of red wine on his fingers, the cool temperature of his palms, and the sour and bulging chest. It feels like he still remembers it clearly after many years.

On the night of the breakup, he fell asleep briefly, and then dreamed that Liang Sizhe suddenly came to him and said that he would not act in Cao Xiuyuan's movie. At that moment, he fell into a huge ecstasy, and then instinctively felt that he was dreaming.After waking up, he found that it was really just a dream. He stared blankly at the darkness for a long time, feeling empty in his chest.

For the next five years, he deliberately avoided all news about Liang Sizhe, and fell in love one after another.Everyone around knew that Liang Sizhe couldn't be mentioned in front of him, so Cheng Duan joked that Liang Sizhe and Cao Xiuyuan were two untouchable scales on his body.

It's ridiculous to think about it.He had unconsciously liked Liang Sizhe for so many years, yet he still deluded himself into not realizing it.

What have you been doing all these years, Cao Ye?Three months ago, she flirted with Lin Huan in front of Liang Sizhe, and one month ago, she arranged Qin Zhenzhen and Liang Sizhe into the same crew. After doing so many ridiculous things, why does Liang Sizhe stay where she is and wait for you?

The car stopped at the entrance of the hotel. The driver turned his head and was about to say to take him out with an umbrella, but he saw that Cao Ye had already opened the door and got out of the car.

Stepping into the hotel lobby, the doorman opened the door for him, and all the guests waiting in the lobby looked at him.

It was only then that Cao Ye realized that he was drenched all over and how embarrassed he looked.

Forget it, no matter how embarrassed she looked, Liang Sizhe had seen her before.Cao Ye took out his mobile phone and called Liang Sizhe.

After the phone rang a few times, it was connected, and Liang Sizhe said on the other end, "Cao Ye?"

"Liang Sizhe," Cao Ye tried his best to sound calm, "I'm in the hotel lobby, please ask Song Qingyan to pick me up."

"Have you come to Shanghai?" Liang Sizhe seemed to be slightly taken aback, and then responded, "Okay, wait a while."

After hanging up the phone, Cao Ye stood in the hotel lobby in a daze.He ran over as soon as his head got hot, so what would he say after seeing Liang Sizhe?say i like youBut he didn't seem ready to take the step from being a friend and becoming a gay person.

terribly upset.Afraid to go further, afraid to stay in place, and even more afraid of Liang Sizhe's sudden retreat.

Before he could clear up the thoughts in his mind, Cao Ye saw Liang Sizhe walking over.

Liang Sizhe didn't let Song Qingyan come down, he went to the hotel lobby to pick up Cao Ye himself.

He only wore a black mask, just walked towards Cao Ye, stopped in front of him and looked at him, his eyes looked dark.

A few sporadic people in the hotel lobby turned their heads to look over, but Liang Sizhe ignored them.

He won the bet.Liang Sizhe looked at the drenched Cao Ye and thought.

His teenager was waiting for him like a wet puppy.

"Go upstairs." Liang Sizhe raised his hand to hold Cao Ye's wrist, Cao Ye didn't hide, and let him lead him forward.

There was no one in the elevator, they were standing side by side.

Cao Ye smelled the vague smell of alcohol on Liang Sizhe, so he turned to look at him: "Liang Sizhe, have you been drinking?"

"Yeah." Liang Sizhe loosened his grip on Cao Ye's wrist a little bit, and went down to touch it vaguely. Seeing that Cao Ye didn't hide, he then took Cao Ye's hand.

The dry palm touched the wet back, and then got wet.

No one spoke, and it seemed as if they could hear each other's heartbeats in the cramped space.

Let's pretend this is a dream, Cao Ye closed his eyes, he can be bolder in his dream, and do whatever he wants.

After opening the door and entering the room, Liang Sizhe poured hot water for Cao Ye, watched him drink it, and asked him if he wanted to take a bath first.

Standing in the bathroom, Cao Ye took off his drenched T-shirt and looked at the hand that Liang Sizhe had just held. The warm touch hadn't faded away, and he stood still for a long while in a daze.

Coming out of the bathroom, Cao Ye was wearing Liang Sizhe's clothes, a cotton white T-shirt and gray trousers, and he walked towards Liang Sizhe.

Liang Sizhe was sitting on a chair on the balcony, with a bottle of wine and a wine glass in front of him.On the glass was a spoon with a white lump of sugar resting on it.He sat there the whole time, as if waiting for him intentionally.

"Happy 26th birthday." When Cao Ye approached, Liang Sizhe looked at him and said.

Cao Ye was stunned for a moment, he only remembered that it was the end of September, but he didn't remember that it was his birthday today.

"Why, you don't even remember your own birthday?" Liang Sizhe looked at him and smiled.

Cao Ye walked over and sat opposite Liang Sizhe.

Liang Sizhe got up and turned off the light, the room was completely dark, and then there was a soft "cha", and the fire jumped and lit up.

Only then did Cao Ye see that Liang Sizhe was holding a box of matches in his hand.

Liang Sizhe took the burning long-handled match, sat down, and stretched out his hand to bring the flame close to the wine glass.The wine in the glass suddenly ignited a strange blue fire, and it only took a second or two. After the fire died down, Liang Sizhe picked up the spoon, poured the melted sugar into the wine and stirred it twice, and the transparent liquid in the glass became It became a kind of green similar to emerald.

"Do you still remember that movie?" Liang Sizhe lit another match, lit the candle on the table, looked at him and said, "Johnny Depp played it, I said I would give you a bottle when I waited for you Absinthe."

Cao Ye dodged his eyes: "How long has it been..."

"Well, it's been a long time," Liang Sizhe said with a smile, "Every year on your birthday, I will do this little trick for myself. This year is the tenth year, and I have practiced it very proficiently."

For a moment Cao Ye wanted to cry, he thought he was so worthless, to be so dazzled by such a cluster of flames that he wanted to cry.He turned his face away, trying to calm down his emotions: "It's been a long time since my birthday."

"Huh?" Liang Sizhe seemed a little surprised, looking at him, "Why?"

"I think," Cao Ye swallowed, "no one wants me to come to this world, don't you need to mention Cao Xiuyuan, my mother also said that she regretted giving birth to me back then. So later, I didn't celebrate my birthday .”

He didn't dare to look at Liang Sizhe, he thought that for so many years, Liang Sizhe must have liked the young Cao Ye ten years ago.

As for the present Cao Ye, perhaps Liang Sizhe would know if he got close, that he was really terrible.

He lowered his head and collected himself: "Liang Sizhe, have you ever thought that ten years have passed since the summer we first met. I am not the Cao Ye on Yinsi Street back then. I'm in a bad situation right now, the Cao Ye you know may not be alone anymore. I may... not deserve your 26th birthday for me, and I don't deserve you to open a bottle of absinthe for me .”

After his long words, Liang Sizhe was also startled.How did his young man come here all these years, to belittle himself to such an extent...

"How could it be?" Liang Sizhe looked at him and whispered slowly, "You can prove how precious this day 26 years ago was when you grew up like this."

He drank the glass of wine, suppressed his emotions, and then put the empty glass back on the table, "Of course I know that people will change, and I can distinguish between a 16-year-old and a 26-year-old you. I don't think it's necessary Deliberately distinguish, you should grow up like this, I can't think of a better result than this."

After he finished speaking, Cao Ye who was sitting across from him suddenly raised his hand to cover his face.

He saw Cao Ye's rolling Adam's apple.His teenager cried silently.

Liang Sizhe leaned over and squatted in front of him to look at him. Cao Ye's heart was clenched tightly, kneaded into a wrinkled ball, and his heart was terribly soft.

"Cao Ye." He called him in a low voice.

"Don't look at me," Cao Ye said hoarsely, "Shame on me."

Cao Ye covered his eyes for a while, and then took his hands away. He endured with great effort, and the tears didn't flow much, but his eyes turned red uncontrollably.

They stared at each other from a close distance.

Liang Sizhe saw the dancing flames of the candle reflected on Cao Ye's eyelashes, the flames were trembling, and Cao Ye's eyelashes were also trembling.

He suddenly couldn't restrain himself from wanting to kiss Cao Ye.

Maybe the timing wasn't right, his boy had just poked his head out of the shell, and he would scare him back anytime.But he couldn't restrain his heartbeat at this moment.

Drunken longings can be overwhelmed once they come to the fore.

He looked down at Cao Ye's lips. They were so close that they could feel each other's entangled breaths.He saw that Cao Ye swallowed his throat again. His young man was very nervous now, as if he was standing on the edge of a cliff, tentatively, hesitating whether to jump down or not.

"Cao Ye, I'm going to kiss you." Liang Sizhe looked at him with a low voice, "I heard that you are homophobic, so this action may make you feel uncomfortable. I will slowly approach you, you There are about ten seconds, you can avoid me at any time."

After he finished speaking, he slowly approached Cao Ye.

Cao Ye's wet breath came to his nose, trembling lightly, making people heartbroken.

Warm lips touched, Cao Ye didn't hide, his eyelashes quivered, and he closed his eyes.