Reply to Keats - Chap 20
Chen Wan’s heart sank rapidly. Before he could react, he heard a “bang” and the photoelectric bullet flew through the wind and hit the bull’s eye that had moved behind him at some point.
He stood there, his mind blank.
The rake on the wall was moving, but it just happened to float behind him.
Zhao Shengge loaded the gun. His goggles covered his face, so his expression could not be seen. He changed direction and quickly fired another shot.
He fired the gun with decisiveness and authority.
The mechanical female voice read out ten rings in succession, echoing throughout the hall.
There was less than a second between the two shots. The sounds exploded beside Chen Wan’s ears, and countless scenes flashed before his eyes.
His expression did not change at all, but in fact he was already covered in cold sweat.
Zhao Shengge looked at the center of the bull’s eye to confirm the number of rings. Their eyes met for a ten-millionth of a second, and the meaning was unclear.
Chen Wan was even more frightened.
He was almost certain that this was a warning from Zhao Shengge.
Even if his ulterior motives were not exposed, he must have done something that made Zhao Shengge feel uncomfortable and crossed the line.
Chen Wan’s mind quickly reviewed each and every thing, trying to guess what Zhao Shengge was warning him about.
He thought he had hidden it well enough. Even Zhuo Zhixuan often said, “I doubt whether you really like him.” What was the problem?
Chen Wan couldn’t understand.
It’s not that he cares what Zhao Shengge thinks of him.
It would be best if he was just an ordinary person with zero presence in the eyes of the other party.
This will make it easier for him to do what he wants to do without attracting attention or alarming the other party.
But if his existence has caused trouble to Zhao Shengge, then that would be going in the opposite direction.
This is causing trouble for people.
Secret love requires courtesy, and there are basic rules for secret love.
Not alarming me is the bottom line, and keeping quiet is the principle.
There is no reason and no reason for Zhao Shengge to bear even the slightest influence of his emotions.
He did something wrong.
Chen Wan pursed her lips tightly, her heart sinking completely into the trench.
When it was over, he changed his clothes and went out to wait for others at the edge of the lawn.
The weather in Hai City is ever-changing. One second the sun is shining brightly, then a cloud floats over and the city becomes gloomy again.
Chen Wan looked at her phone for a while, walked to the side of the road, followed a boy carrying a snakeskin bag, and helped pick up a few empty bottles that had fallen out.
The child was startled, turned around and said thank you.
His face was sunburned, only his eyes were particularly dark, and he was sweating all over and looked timid. Scavenging was not allowed in this area, and he was afraid of offending the important people. He crossed the highway and sneaked in, because he could not rob anything on the road where scavenging was allowed.
The child was afraid of alerting the security guards, so he put on the snakeskin bag and left.
“Wait a moment.” Chen Wan opened the bottle cap and drank the black tea, then handed the bottle to him.
The boy looked at him hesitantly. Chen Wan handed the empty bottle to him again. The child smiled shyly and said thank you again in a low voice.
Chen Wan knew very well what he was afraid of. She stared at him, not knowing what she was looking at. She said softly, “It’s okay. They won’t come here.”
The child was a little embarrassed. Chen Wan looked at his full snakeskin bag and suggested, “Will we be able to fit more if we flatten the bottles?”
“Mea?”
Since he couldn’t speak Mandarin, Chen Wan spoke to him in Cantonese and took out a toy from his snakeskin bag to demonstrate how he flattened it, stacked it up, and tied it up. His movements were skillful and smooth, and he completed the task in one go.
The child was stunned. Chen Wan asked, “Together?”
The children joined in the work and dealt with the remaining bottles in the snakeskin bag.
Chen Wan chatted with him: “Where do you usually look for it?”
In a low voice: “Eastern Street.”
Chen Wan tied all the bottles together and said, “It’s hard to find over there, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” The child was frustrated.
“Then walk a few hundred meters towards Wong Tai Sin Park. There is a small doorway in the back alley of Temple Street. You should be able to get in. The security guards of the Shao Residence will not patrol there.”
The child looked at him and thought it was very inappropriate for someone with such style and temperament to teach him the experience of scavenging… Weird, he didn’t quite believe it: “How did you know?”
Chen Wan smiled and said, “Go there once and you’ll know if what I said is true.”
“oh.”
“Have you been to school yet?”
“Um.”
“Are you tired? Going to school and picking up bottles.”
The child nodded.
Chen Wan’s trouser legs were stained with dust. He bent down to brush it off, then squatted on the side of the road and looked at the child straight in the eye: “Why don’t you try to treat it as an extra treasure hunt game.”
“Treasure hunt? What can I find?”
Chen Wan was looking at him, but not looking at him, and said softly: “I don’t know, you have to find it yourself, everyone finds something different.”
The child showed some interest and said, “Okay.”
Chen Wan helped him tie up the snakeskin bag, her movements were skillful and neat, as if she had done it thousands of times, and she said, “This amount is enough for you to go to the recycling station to weigh it once. Don’t collect too much each time, and don’t wait until dark to go.”
The price will be lowered at night, and there are also old hands waiting to get something for nothing by stealing other people’s fruits.
The door opened and someone came out. The child was afraid of being scolded, so he looked at Chen Wan reluctantly, then hurriedly left carrying the heavy snakeskin bag. He turned his head twice, moved his lips, but said nothing.
The person who came out was Qin Zhaoting. He walked to Chen Wan and asked, “Is it the beggar?” He explained, “We have asked people to patrol more, but we can’t prevent it.”
Chen Wan did not comment and changed the subject.
Behind him, on the second floor, in front of the window of the innermost dressing room, stood Zhao Shengge, looking down at the scene downstairs while taking off his wrist guard.
Qin Zhaoting talked about something with Chen Wan, but he smiled and put his arm around her shoulder.
Chen Wan was also smiling, and there was a very subtle difference between the smile she gave to Qin Zhaoting and the smile she gave to the ragpicking kid.
The second floor couldn’t see clearly, but Zhao Shengge’s insight was too sharp.
After changing their clothes, everyone came out one after another, talking as they walked towards the parking lot. Halfway through, Chen Wan stopped and said that he had left something behind and was going back to get it, so everyone else went first and didn’t need to wait.
He walked back with his head down, his hands clenched tightly.
He has made up his mind not to care about things that he shouldn’t care about.
There are so many poor people in the world, and Chen Wan also lives in fear and cannot be a savior.
but.
The child was dragging the overloaded snakeskin bag very slowly, and Chen Wan quickly caught up with him.
The child turned around defensively. Chen Wan smiled and said, “It’s me.”
The other person’s eyes lit up for a moment. Chen Wan glanced at his bleeding toes and said, “Do you have a phone at home? Or how can I contact you normally?”
The child shook his head and gave an address near Wong Tai Sin Park, which was a small base of his and no one knew it.
Chen Wan didn’t say much, just nodded and said, “Go back and bandage your foot, and see you next time.”
The child kept looking at his back. The setting sun gave the young man a layer of gentle and holy golden edge. He descended from the sky like a god, and gradually walked away and disappeared.
When Chen Wan arrived, the only seat left was next to the host.
A group of young masters usually eat too much delicacies, so Qin Zhaoting specially prepared some authentic home-cooked Cantonese dishes today to change their taste.
Even the dessert after the meal was the bowl-shaped cake sold by street vendors in Luochangwan.
Many flavors, red bean, coconut, pineapple.
These people eat Bo Zai Gao just for the nostalgia, after all, it was a popular snack in Haishi during their childhood.
Before the feast of fish and meat, the refreshing dessert was unexpectedly popular. When there was only one piece left on the plate, Zhao Shengge and Qin Zhaoting raised their chopsticks at the same time.
The scene suddenly became a little subtle.
Tan Youming leaned next to Shen Zongnan, his eyes almost shining with excitement as he watched the show.
This is not a matter of the previous game, it is just the current thing.
He is a mean guy who likes to see people embarrassed. It should be interesting to see Qin Zhaoting embarrassed or Zhao Shengge embarrassed. He has never seen Zhao Shengge embarrassed in his life.
It’s a pity that he didn’t get to see the good show. It was really hard to feel awkward when Chen Wan was around.
Chen Wan asked Qin Zhaoting if he wanted to have his share.
The bowl-shaped cakes were all served individually, and Chen Wan didn’t touch them after the waiter placed them in front of him.
Qin Zhaoting has an easy-going personality, and Chen Wan happened to be sitting next to him, so she asked casually. After all, it was impossible to let Zhao Shengge eat other people’s food.
Qin Zhaoting asked: “You don’t want to eat?”
When Zhao Shengge saw the slightly curved eyes looking at Qin Zhaoting, he politely said that he was full and it would be best if Mr. Qin was willing to help him finish it, otherwise it would be a waste.
Chen Wan didn’t like to eat Bo Zai Gao. The young masters were used to eating delicacies from land and sea, and it was a new thing to change the taste, but it was not a good memory for Chen Wan.
At that time, Song Qingmiao hid him in a ten-square-meter building with no one to watch over him. The slum was a mixed crowd, and bullying was commonplace.
The older kids would throw the bowl cakes left by Song Qingmiao into the dog hole, forcing Chen Wan to fight with the dog for the food, or they would press his head and force him to eat it after a few people stepped on him…
No matter how sweet the bowl of cake is, it tastes bitter in Chen Wan’s mouth.
Tan Youming missed the show and fiddled with Shen Zongnan’s phone with regret.
The last piece of cake on the plate finally fell into Zhao Shengge’s bowl, but he only took a bite.
Being good to Zhao Shengge was ingrained in Chen Wan’s bones. Seeing that the other party didn’t eat much, he subconsciously picked up the osmanthus seeds, thinking of adding this to try, but when he got halfway, he immediately remembered that he shouldn’t do this now, so he didn’t pass it over.
Tan Youming glanced at Zhao Shengge and said, “So what?”
Zhao Shengge glanced at Qin Zhaoting, put down his chopsticks, leaned back in his chair, and commented: “Nothing special.”
Chen Wan was stunned for a moment, lowered his eyes, and put down the osmanthus seeds. Qin Zhaoting took them directly from his hand and asked, “What is this?”
Chen Wan showed a smile that no one could see was unusual: “Honey brewed osmanthus seeds, sprinkled on the bowl cake and eaten.”
Qin Zhaoting asked: “Add directly? How much? Can you help me do it?”
Chen Wan mechanically took her portion of the bowl cake, added a small amount, and placed it in front of him.
Qin Zhaoting took a bite and said to everyone with a smile: “I think it suits my appetite.”
Changpei Literature Network (https://www.gongzicp.com)
During the tea break, the waiter came in and placed cigarettes on the table.
Tea cigarettes are popular in Hai City nowadays. Special tea leaves are added to the tobacco, and the aroma of tea is infiltrated into the nicotine, which is very popular.
Some wealthy people, in order to show off their taste, do not smoke ready-made cigarettes but prefer to roll them themselves, so restaurants and hotels have added cigarette-rolling utensils to their tea tables.
Chen Wan didn’t like to show off, nor did she try to make connections. She just stayed quietly in the corner rolling a cigarette. After she finished rolling it, she realized that it was a Dahongpao cigarette.
He felt something was wrong and wanted to destroy it immediately, but Qin Zhaoting saw it and asked in surprise: “Chen Wan, is there anything you can’t do?”
Chen Wan shook his head and said with a smile: “Just do it casually.”
Qin Zhaoting asked: “What is it?”
Before Chen Wan could figure out what to say, Qin Zhaoting figured it out himself: “Da Hong Pao.”
“Should I try?”
Chen Wan was reluctant to give it, as he knew exactly who it was for. Even if Zhao Shengge disliked it, he didn’t want to give it to anyone else.
“This one fell on the ground and is dirty. I’ll roll another one for you.”
Anyway, I’m bored, so I’ll roll a few more. Zhuo Zhixuan likes to smoke Tieguanyin, Tan Youming likes the sweet Yinzhen, and I’ll roll some of the others too. Whoever wants to try can come and get one.
“Okay.” Qin Zhaoting took the one in his hand and put it aside, saying, “You do it, I’ll learn from you.”
Tan Youming saw it and said dissatisfiedly: “You two are playing with good things secretly!”
He called for everyone to come and choose tobacco, Baihao, Dancong, Zhengshan Xiaozhong. Zhao Shengge looked around and saw Dahongpao thrown alone in the trash can, with its scattered leaves and pieces mixed with fruit peels and paper scraps.
Zhao Shengge stood quietly for a while, and no one noticed.
Someone didn’t bring a lighter, so gentleman Chen Wan handed over his.
It’s not a Cartier, it’s a Zorro.
It turns out that Chen Wan has a lot of beautiful lighters.
Expensive, but actually very cheap.
The lighter returned to Chen Wan’s hand and he put it into his trouser pocket.
After returning from sea, he replaced the lighter he carried with him with the latest and best one.
But I will never use it again.
Everything is becoming meaningless.
Chen Wan used to be certain that as long as he didn’t disturb or affect Zhao Shengge, he could continue to pursue his dream quietly.
But it seems that it is not working, the dream is about to end.
