sunk into the earth

Chapter 17

When Li Xiaoyun pulled down the roller gate of the ballroom, it was already bright outside.She bent down, squatted on the concrete floor, and locked the door carefully.She has the same habit as Zhang Chen. After locking something, she always pulls it a few times to make sure everything is safe before she dares to leave with confidence.

She recently found a job watching the dance hall. From [-]:[-] pm to [-]:[-] am, her job was to play songs for people and prevent troubles. After [-]:[-], all the dancers left before she had time to take a nap in the small room behind.

It was already seven o'clock in the morning when she came out of the dance hall. She stopped by the vegetable market to buy a few cabbages before walking home slowly. It started at [-]:[-] p.m., when the sun became poisonous, and people came out of the house one after another.

Li Xiaoyun is alone in the cool breeze in the early morning. She is neither a wife nor a mother. During this period of time, she feels a rare relaxation and is in a good mood. She hums a Cantonese song she heard somewhere and walks to her neighborhood .

There is a strange woman squatting at the door of the unit building, wearing a dark blue dress, painted with bright red nail polish, her nails are frighteningly long, and her mouth is blood red. The strangest thing is that there is a pair of sunglasses on the bridge of her nose. There are no women here. Dressed like this, the obvious outlander.

The woman was originally squatting, idly staring at a row of pitch pine trees opposite, but when she saw Li Xiaoyun walking this way, she suddenly raised her vigilance and stood up, her eyes followed Li Xiaoyun's every move.

Li Xiaoyun took a strange look at this woman and planned to go upstairs, but when she passed by this woman, she suddenly slammed her shoulder hard, full of provocation.Before Li Xiaoyun could react what happened, she heard a "pop" from her ear, followed by a burning pain on her right cheek.

Li Xiaoyun was stunned by the sudden slap, she subconsciously covered the slapped half of her face, and turned to look at the strange woman with an incredulous expression.The woman immediately pinched her mandibles on both sides, freed one hand to pull down the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, revealing two eyes with painted eyelashes like flies' legs.She looked Li Xiaoyun's face up and down, and said, "Is that Li Xiaoyun?"

The woman's haggard face suddenly turned aggressive. Li Xiaoyun stared at her bloody red lips, and even forgot to ask why she was beaten, and said "yes" subconsciously.

The blood-mouthed woman was still pinching her jawbone, and looked her back and forth for more than a minute. Before anyone could react, she suddenly stretched out her blood-red claws from under Li Xiaoyun's shirt, pinching her flesh and calling out loudly: "Come on!" ! Let me see what treasures I have on my body? Shameless enough to seduce someone else's husband at an old age!"

Li Xiaoyun was so frightened that it took her a long time to realize what had happened. She screamed and grabbed the woman's hand that had been inserted into her clothes, but the woman was holding her breath and was using all her strength on her hands , not only failed to let Li Xiaoyun succeed, but also took the opportunity to scratch her waist several times with long nails.

The two women quickly wrestled together, Li Xiaoyun was still in a foggy state, while resisting with little fighting power, she said in a loud voice: "Don't slander me, how will I behave in the future!"

"Slandering you! My husband secretly took out the necklace he gave me when we got married and gave it to a woman outside. How can such an expensive thing be given away for nothing? Isn't it because he's asleep? Why are you pretending to me?"

The two of them wrestled into the yard, the woman hit hard, and even went to places that were usually not seen by others. After a few efforts, she even pulled Li Xiaoyun and pulled out half of the bra strap inside.

The commotion caused by the two of them was too great, and soon people from upstairs and downstairs ran down to watch the commotion, and half of them were women who usually did not get along with Li Xiaoyun.Among so many people, none of them stopped the two of them. Instead, they watched with relish, listening to the words and phrases of the two of them during the battle, they were very excited, and regardless of whether the two parties were still in the battle, they put aside and discussed Li Xiaoyun's usual style question.

"Damn it! She looks like a vixen, she doesn't hesitate to collect things, and now she's pretending to be a white lotus!"

The blood-mouthed woman got carried away with the beating, completely ignoring that the sunglasses on her nose fell to the ground, and the blood paws went to pinch Li Xiaoyun's face again.

Li Xiaoyun was thrown on the steps of the door by her, struggling to avoid her, because the continuous humiliation had already shed tears on her face, but her mouth was still stubborn, and she kept explaining: "I will take it if he gives it to me, and I will take the rest. There is nothing!" "Fuck your mother! Who would believe that I didn't do anything to give you a poor bitch a gift?" She said, turning her head to see the people who were gradually crowding around to see the excitement from all directions, even more excited. People asked: "Do you believe it? Do you believe it?"

The people who were discussing lively just now were all still, and a row of people only stared at the two women who were wrestling in disheveled clothes with round eyes, and no one answered her aloud.

Both sides were in a stalemate. Suddenly a boy rushed down from the corridor, followed by another panicked boy. The two of them seemed to have just heard the noise and rushed down. The person who rushed down first frowned, and the person behind wanted to pull him. , but couldn't keep up with his footsteps, his steps were weak and broken, and he looked overly frightened.

It was Zhang Chen and Cheng Sheng who followed him home last night.

The two of them were stunned for a second when they saw the face of the woman in sunglasses downstairs, but soon Zhang Chen came back to his senses, rushed in front of Li Xiaoyun, and tore the woman away.

He pulled it hard, and directly lifted the woman onto the broom and dustpan where the sundries piled up in the corner. Those things were not used for many years, and the surface was covered with a thick layer of dust. The dust that was thrown up made people cough, but everyone didn't want to miss it The rare good show in the boring life, even after being choked up, they were reluctant to leave, they covered their noses and mouths, and stared at the good show.

The woman seemed to have been greatly wronged. She tremblingly stood up from the pile of brooms and dustpans while leaning on the railing. When she saw that the person who pushed her was Zhang Chen, she gave him a "pooh" and cursed: "One family is a partner!" Are you bullying me?"

She took out a stack of photos from her messenger bag, there were more than a dozen of them, all of them were Li Xiaoyun and another middle-aged man.Holding these photos, the woman leaned in front of Zhang Chen, pasted the photo paper on his face, and scolded nervously: "Do you recognize your mother? The other one is my husband. See what your mother is doing? "

Zhang Chen, who was holding his breath, looked at the photos in front of him, and was stunned, and the energy in his hands disappeared.In the photo, another strange man is lowering his head to put a necklace on Li Xiaoyun. Zhang Chen has never seen Li Xiaoyun smile so shyly. With his hands in his mouth, he muttered: "Hurry up and go! You don't have to worry about the adults' affairs."

These words stimulated some nerves of the woman opposite, she immediately rushed up, grabbed Zhang Chen's arm and shouted: "It's not over! It's not over!"

Cheng Sheng stood stupidly on the stairs. He had never seen such a chaotic situation. He wanted to go down to stop it, but suddenly remembered that Zhang Chen had warned him not to mind his own housework. He stopped, and could do nothing but stand still.

The woman suddenly glanced in Cheng Sheng's direction, with malicious intentions, causing Cheng Sheng to panic and subconsciously avoided her gaze.

In the next second, a voice came from the corridor. The woman pointed at Zhang Chen's face, as if she wanted to die together, and shouted loudly to the onlookers in the community: "Mothers seduce other people's husbands, sons are gay, a family Can't live without a man?"

These words caused an uproar in the audience.

Every family has extramarital affairs, and 80.00% of the subjects of people chatting in the courtyard at night are whose men go whoring and whose women steal men. It is so common that it can hardly arouse the interest of big guys, but homosexuality is so novel, in a small town in the 90s Who has ever seen a homosexual ostentatiously?Extramarital affairs are almost nothing compared to it, everyone fell silent and looked at the mother and son like dumb.

Li Xiaoyun was also frozen, she was still holding her son's hand, and looked at him blankly, but Zhang Chen avoided her gaze, looked directly at Cheng Sheng who was opposite him, pointed at the door with the other finger, and told him with his eyes: you go now.

The woman got her way and became addicted to cursing, and shouted at everyone: "Yesterday I came to block this bitch, but she didn't come home all night. Who knows which man is in bed?" Soon the blood-red nail turned to Cheng Sheng, and she continued to shout: "When I was waiting for this girl at the entrance of the corridor, guess what I saw? Her son is hugging another boy under the opposite tree." Kissing! The two kissed and touched, as if they were going to melt together, who knows if they rolled on the same bed when they went back? Do you think it's disgusting! Is it disgusting!"

Cheng Sheng froze in place. He had never been so humiliated in full view.He is a high-achieving student, a half-time musician, an entry-level programmer, and a reserve member of those famous Ivy League schools in the United States. How could words like disgust appear on him? Cheng Sheng was frightened, and went to see Zhang Chen for help, but Zhang Chen was holding him Mother's hand, and did not leave him a look.

The woman suddenly rushed up and grabbed Cheng Sheng's shirt sleeve, shouting loudly: "He looks like a man, what's the benefit of mixing with this kind of people? Look at the way his mother took things and turned around and walked away." , can the son she teaches be a good thing?"

Li Xiaoyun turned her head stiffly to look at Cheng Sheng, stared at his delicate face for a long time, and suddenly thought of the two people who appeared out of nowhere on the rainy night and the door that was locked at night, she turned her head to look at Zhang Chen, and it took a long time to get out of the room. A few words popped out of his throat: "Really?"

Zhang Chen looked at Li Xiaoyun, but said nothing, neither affirming nor denying.

But Li Xiaoyun really knows her son very well, and she is sure of it without saying a word. She tremblingly grabbed Zhang Chen's hand, just like how Zhang Chen pinched the edge of his own table when he was angry when he was young, and pinched his palm hard with her nails. She was not strong enough. , but this time the pinch was unreserved, and soon Zhang Chen's palm was pinched to bleed.

Cheng Sheng didn't understand the meaning of silence. Looking at the silent Zhang Chen, he felt that his heart was drowned in the despair of being abandoned.

The sunlight above his head made him delirious. He vaguely recalled what happened after last night. They were laying on the floor next to the bed like last time. Cheng Sheng has completely adapted to life in Yuncheng, and he looks like a local. Accustomed to everything here, he helped Zhang Chen tidy up the house and hang the mosquito net with his hands and feet, and then they naturally became lingering together again. This extraordinary intimacy was enough to lure the two boys who had tasted the forbidden fruit for the first time. The hormones that can be released everywhere seem to be left at this moment, the two hug and touch each other for a long time.

At that time, Cheng Sheng's face was facing the window sill, and he could see a potted flower on Zhang Chen's window sill, but he didn't know what kind it was, and he walked around this old and small bedroom, suddenly saying that he couldn't go back , want to stay here forever.But Zhang Chen smiled and said it was impossible, he would have to leave sooner or later.Cheng Sheng didn't care, and said that Zhang Chen would leave next year, and they would go together and wander the world together.

Thinking of Cheng Sheng's heart ached, he raised his head and stared at Zhang Chen stubbornly, but Zhang Chen didn't look at him, only at his mother.

There was no sound around him for a moment, he seemed to be submerged in the sea, only the sound of chaotic water surging in his mouth, nose and ears, waves crashing around him, the women's scolding and the neighbor's discussion could not be heard, he was briefly After closing his eyes for a few seconds, as if he had made up his mind, he suddenly rushed to Zhang Chen and Li Xiaoyun, held Zhang Chen's hand, and shouted: "Zhang Chen."

The trembling voice made Zhang Chen glance at him. Zhang Chen saw that his expression was not right, and wanted to pull him to calm him down, but Cheng Sheng didn't give him a chance, and hugged him in full view the next second. , Said: "You can't be so tense, what can't you admit about homosexuality? Many people in this world are, and gay marriage is still legal in foreign countries, don't you deny it..."

Cheng Sheng stumbled and said halfway, when Zhang Chenti suddenly pushed the door out with his arms slipping, and warned him on the way: "Calm down, don't say a few words, this is none of your business, hurry back to your grandma's house."

Zhang Chen's words were originally meant to let Cheng Sheng stop being impulsive, but seeing his indifferent expression of trying to drive him out, Cheng Sheng misunderstood it, thinking that he was trying to draw a line with him, so he opened his hand and choked. He said: "Why are you so heartless? I used to be the one who chased you with shamelessness, but you kissed me first yesterday. Doesn't that mean you like me? We've done everything and we're only one step away. Don't deny it! "

The people around all gasped, Li Xiaoyun pinched her palm, tried to say something several times but got stuck in her throat, in the end she didn't say a word, just kept pinching herself.

The excited woman stopped scolding. She suspected that her husband was cheating, so she found a private detective to follow her. It took a week to follow up with the photos. After three days of crying, she took the train from other provinces to catch the rape, and found Li Xiaoyun. She didn't look down on this poor woman if she didn't ask for something from her. She just wanted to take revenge and disturb her peace. Now her goal has been achieved.

Zhang Chen frowned, grabbed Cheng Sheng's arm, and dragged him towards the gate of the family courtyard like an animal, but Cheng Sheng entangled him and kept hitting his chest with his arms along the way, yelling at him: " Bad thing! Why are you so bad!"

Seeing his crazy look, Zhang Chen took a few deep breaths, suppressed the thought of throwing this person out, patted Cheng Sheng on the shoulder, and changed his tone of voice, "Go back to your grandma's house, Okay? Don't make a mess."

Unexpectedly, Cheng Sheng didn't appreciate it. He shook off the hand on his shoulder, sniffed, and ran back to Li Xiaoyun.

Li Xiaoyun still hadn't recovered, looked at the young man in front of her who she always thought was Zhang Chen's friend, and said nothing.

But Cheng Sheng seemed to be greatly stimulated, grabbed Li Xiaoyun's hand, opened his mouth tremblingly, and spoke intermittently, "Auntie, I'm sorry, give me Zhang Chen."

Li Xiaoyun couldn't figure out what it meant, but just stared at Cheng Sheng's face.After Cheng Sheng finished speaking, he choked up for a while, and quickly continued: "How can you give him a future in such a dilapidated house? He is so smart, he shouldn't be dragged down by you, let alone stay in this kind of place , he can only find a woman who is not as good as your family here, and his life will be completely ruined. But I am different, doesn’t uncle want me to help him? I can help him with anything, and he will work when he wants to work in the future If you want to go abroad, you can go abroad, can you?"

Li Xiaoyun was overwhelmed by these provocative words, but Cheng Sheng's words hit the most unspeakable part of her heart, her lips trembling and trying to open, trying to refute him, but for a long time, the only sound coming out of her throat was suppressed panting Voice.

The group of neighbors who had been frozen finally came to their senses and whispered to each other. The words that came out of the crowd were "he really lied to men like his mother" and "look how infatuated that young man is with him hahaha".

These words were heard in his ears with the hot wind blowing in summer, he turned around, walked straight to these people in a daze, and yelled at them while beating them: "Fuck you! Take care of your own housework, don't be shy!" Don't worry about other people's families!"

This group of people was very frightened by the young man who was aggrieved just now and turned crazy in an instant. No one responded for a while, but soon everyone avoided him with a look of bad luck, muttering "Crazy!" Lou went back to his home.

Cheng Sheng didn't care about these people scolding him, and when they dispersed and there were only a few of them around, he went to grab the bloody woman who thought her husband was cheating, the woman reacted quickly and immediately shouted at the top of her voice: "Beat the woman! Here's a big guy who's going to hit a woman."

Cheng Sheng grabbed her neckline and pulled it in front of him, pointed at Zhang Chen with one finger, and poked the woman's face with the other, "If you want to settle accounts with her mother, find her mother, don't find the wrong person, he is a bitch son, but what has it to do with him?"

He wanted to continue talking, but Zhang Chen next to him suddenly took him by the shoulders and threw him out. His expression was horrifying, and the muscles on his face were tense, as if he was about to kill someone. Cheng Sheng glanced up, scared He fell silent, and didn't dare to say a single extra word.

Zhang Chen didn't care about the weight in his hands, Cheng Sheng was pulled by him so that he staggered and almost fell down. At this moment, he lost all the vigor of a handsome young master when he came to Yuncheng, and he was in a state of embarrassment written all over his body.Cheng Sheng felt like an unreasonable resentful woman who was throwing out without self-respect, and was still saying "I was wrong, I shouldn't scold auntie".

But Zhang Chen ignored him, half pushed and half lifted his shoulder, and threw Cheng Sheng out of the gate of the family courtyard.

It was almost noon, and the temperature was gradually rising, but Cheng Sheng broke out in a cold sweat and shivered all over.He was pushed and thrown to the shade of a tree outside the gate of the family courtyard. His legs and feet were unstable, and he almost fell to the road.

Cheng Sheng barely stood up straight with the railing, and in order to maintain the last bit of dignity, he pulled the messy clothes hanging on his body.The more he thought about it, the more he felt wronged. His heart and stomach were full of sulfuric acid, which climbed up his esophageal blood vessels, and even his throat was sour. He felt that he was going to die if he didn't vent, so he could only beat Zhang Chen's shoulders and chest.

Zhang Chen didn't hide, and let him hit without squinting. He didn't look straight at him until he had hit enough.Cheng Sheng was panting, his forehead was covered with sweat, and his clothes were ripped and wrinkled. He looked at Zhang Chen like this, and knew that if he didn't say anything, he would have no room left.He said a few words "I'm sorry" slowly, and then, as if he was about to cry, he grabbed Zhang Chen's hand and said, "I'm so uncomfortable."

At this time, Zhang Chen had completely calmed down, and the tense muscles on his face gradually relaxed. He looked at Cheng Sheng who was in a mess, touched his cheek gently, and said calmly, "Don't come looking for me."