like the abyss

Chapter 12

Lu Yuan sat with Lao Wen for a while.The air conditioner was turned on too high, and the room was a bit stuffy.Lu Yuan walked to the window, pushed open a little, took out the cigarette case from his pocket, took out one, lit it, and took a light puff.

Old Wen also came over. Lu Yuan handed him the cigarette case and lighter. Old Wen didn't push them away. He held the fire with his hands, lit it, took a deep swallow, raised his head, and exhaled a large cloud of white smoke.

Old Wen returned the cigarette case to him, "It's right for them to go. You know the situation in the agency, and even I don't know how long it can last. Maybe tomorrow the manager will read our earnings, and with a wave of his hand, the magazine will be closed. Stopped."

Lu Yuan took the cigarette case and put it in his pocket, "It takes a day to produce a manuscript."

Old Wen took a little smile, shook his head, and suddenly changed the subject, "Change the topic, Hesia's matter has something to do with the higher authorities, and it won't pass the review if you write it."

Lu Yuan asked him, "How do you know?"

Old Wen took another breath and looked out the window, "A caller called me, asking if I was checking."

Lu Yuan didn't speak, thought for a while, and nodded again.Over the years this happened a lot.At first, Lu Yuan was still not convinced, and insisted on checking. After checking and writing the manuscript, the magazine was printed, and it was detained in the printing factory and could not be shipped out.Lu Yuan was still with Zuo Li at the time, Zuo Li didn't let him show up, and he and the editor-in-chief drank together and apologized to others.

Lu Yuan never rebelled. Compared with those seniors who were forced to resign, were beaten in revenge, framed, and arrested, he was lucky enough.

He didn't know how the other party found out, but the matter had come to this point, so he could only shelve it.

Old Wen calmed down a lot after smoking, and patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder, "Okay, let's go back."

Lu Yuan let out a "hmm" and put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table.When Lu Yuan turned to close the door, he saw Old Wen still standing by the window.

***

It was already noon when I got home, and Qin Suzheng was not there.Lu Yuan took out his mobile phone, and there was a WeChat message, sent by Qin Su, [Temporary business trip to country I.Send me lunch photos. 】

Looking at the time, it won't be long before he leaves the house.Lu Yuan didn't know if he got on the plane or not, so he didn't make a call, so he clicked on his WeChat avatar.

Qin Suzheng's WeChat is very monotonous, and Lu Yuan doesn't know if it's his work account.The profile picture was a landscape photo with blue as the main color. Lu Yuan clicked on the big picture, and there was a curved lake with a dense forest in the distance.The circle of friends is even more lackluster, with no traces of private life. There are only a few forwarded articles such as "The Central Bank Launches 1875 Billion MLF Operation Today" and "Gao Shanwen's Subversive Interpretation of the Financial Crisis". The date is already a month ago.

Qin Suzheng didn't reply, so he might have already boarded the plane.Lu Yuan exited from the chat interface and clicked into Moments.

Coincidentally, the first one belongs to Bai Ru'an, and it's located at C City Airport, with a picture of a smiling selfie, [Reading Week, Go Home for Chinese New Year/Blow Kiss/Blow Kiss/Blow Kiss].

Lu Yuan liked it.

Putting down his phone, Lu Yuan was a little hungry, so he went to the kitchen to find something to eat.The ingredients in the refrigerator are all fresh, probably filled before Qin Suzheng left.Lu Yuan ate alone, tossing lazily, closed the refrigerator again, opened the cupboard where the instant noodles were hidden, and searched for a long time, but there was nothing.

Lu Yuan looked inside, not to mention the instant noodles, even the old godmother he hid was gone.There was a piece of post-it note on the bottom board of the cabinet, Lu Yuan peeled it off, it was written by Qin Suzheng, it was written in flamboyant, [don't even think about it].

Lu Yuan's treasures were wiped out, so he had to look in the corner of the refrigerator for quick-frozen food.Qin Suzheng didn't touch the compartment where he put the ice cream. Lu Yuan dug out a package of quick-frozen dumplings from the bottom of a large box of ice cream and put them in the pot. After the dumplings floated up, put them in the pot. He took a photo and sent it to Qin Suzheng.

This time Qin Su came back quickly, and Lu Yuan could see him pursing his lips in displeasure across the screen, 【Where did the dumplings come from? 】

Lu Yuan took another photo of the plastic package and sent it to him.

Qin Suzheng dialed the video directly.The camera is facing his chest and jaw, he should have just got off the plane.Lu Yuan turned on the speaker and pushed the phone away.Qin Suzheng looked down at the screen, "When did you buy it?"

Lu Yuan bit the tip of his chopsticks and thought for a while, the last time he went to the supermarket to buy something was half a year ago, this dumpling may be earlier.Lu Yuan didn't look at the screen, but lowered his head and ate another one, "It's been half a year."

Qin Suzheng was about to say something when he was interrupted by someone next to him.Seeing that he was busy, Lu Yuan didn't speak, and slowly blew the dumplings on the chopsticks.

Qin Suzheng took off his earphones and listened to the assistant's schedule while watching Lu Yuan eat.Lu Yuan was afraid of being scalded, so he ate very slowly. He often picked up a chopstick first, puffed up his cheeks to cool it down, and when it was almost done, he stuck out the tip of his tongue to try it, and then ate it in one bite.When Qin Suzheng sat across from him to eat, he always felt that he was very reluctant to eat. Now through the screen, seeing him eating with his head down and his eyelashes covering half of his eyes, his mouth suddenly became very dry.

After the assistant finished speaking, Lu Yuan had almost eaten.Qin Suzheng put on the earphones, while Lu Yuan was putting away the bowl. "Is it tasty?"

Lu Yuan was very honest, "It's not delicious."

Qin Suzheng saw how he was eating slowly, and the slight anger at him that he was disobedient had already disappeared quietly, so he could only read him helplessly: "I don't want to see if it's overdue."

Lu Yuan seemed to have known what he was going to say, and answered quickly, fearing that he might not believe it, so he lit the bottom of the bowl for him, "It's over."

Qin Suzheng knew what he meant by saying "It's already eaten, and it's useless after the expiration date", so he pretended to be vicious and said: "Go back and clean you up."

The mobile phone was placed on the high shelf. Lu Yuan washed the bowl neatly, took out a piece of paper to dry his hands, took off the mobile phone, puffed his cheeks and made a lip-smacking expression. Before Qin Suzheng could react, he hung up the phone directly. The video is broken.

Qin Suzheng was caught off guard when the phone was hung up, and the expression on his face froze for a second.Lu Yuan's expression was too vivid, as if he had changed in an instant.Thinking of this, Qin Suzheng's face darkened, and he turned off the screen silently.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Yuan lay down on the sofa.He is actually not in a high mood, but he doesn't want Qin Suzheng to know.The question in hand was stopped, Lu Yuan didn't know what to do, in fact he didn't want to do anything now, it wasn't tired, it was just blank.The sun was just right at noon, and Lu Yuan could vaguely hear the conversations of people walking downstairs.He suddenly felt sleepy, so he pulled away the blanket and rolled himself in, squinting his eyes against the warm, fluffy pillow.

***

When Lu Yuan woke up, the sun had already set.Reluctantly cheered up and sat up, packed and saved the news from the hospital and the statement of the family of the deceased that I had found before, and sent an email to the informant, telling the other party that there was no need to check again.

After dealing with these matters, Lu Yuan opened the last game.Just after recalling the archive, the phone rang, and it was Bai Ruan who dialed the video.

Bai Ru'an didn't return to China for two years, and Lu Yuan and him haven't seen each other for a long time, only occasionally calling.Compared to before going abroad, Bai Ru'an looked fatter and tanned.Bai Ru'an probably just arrived home, and the suitcase was still standing beside her.He slumped on the sofa in the bedroom and greeted Lu Yuan: "Yuan'er! I saw you liked me!"

Bai Ru'an is one year younger than Lu Yuan, but he doesn't call Lu Yuan's brother, he just keeps shouting after Xiao Zhoujing and the others.Bai Ru'an didn't call him that when he first arrived at Lu's house, but sweetly called him "Brother Yuan" with his beautiful eyes bent.

Lu Yuan thought, it seemed that after changing rooms, he fell ill, and Bai Ru'an never called his brother again.

They were both young then.Two days after Bai Fangping brought Bai Ruan to live in, Lu Jiming asked him to give up the bedroom to his new brother.Lu Yuan knew that this was Bai Fangping's shaming, but he had no intention of confronting her, so he obediently moved to a shady room.

Bai Ru'an was still at an age where he didn't know what to do. He stayed here for a few days, but he didn't know where he heard that the room was originally Lu Yuan's.He was naive and soft-hearted, thinking that he had robbed Lu Yuan's room, and insisted that Lu Jiming let Lu Yuan live back.Lu Jiming was noncommittal, but Bai Fangping was blown up while listening, wiping her tears and complaining that Lu Yuan bullied Bai Ru'an.

Lu Yuan didn't know anything when Lu Jiming called him to the living room.Bai Fangping was crying sadly, and Lu Jiming felt that Lu Yuan was threatening Bai Ru'an to change the room back when she cried like this, and he believed that Lu Yuan was thinking deeply, and there were veins throbbing on his forehead when he was angry.Bai Ru'an had never seen this kind of scene before. His usually gentle and amiable parents suddenly changed their faces, and they just looked at them in bewilderment.

This is what Lu Yuan saw standing in the living room.Bai Ru'an trembled in fright, and wanted to lean towards him, but Lu Yuan pushed him away before he was ready to see him.

This push angered Bai Fangping.She didn't like Lu Yuan at first, and Lu Yuan's rejection seemed more like he was some kind of pervert who wanted to hurt her child. Bai Fangping rushed to Bai Ruan's side, knelt down and hugged him tightly, without saying a word, just full Looking at Lu Jiming with tears on his face.

Seeing Bai Fangping crying miserably, Lu Jiming didn't seem to notice that it was Bai Ruan who approached on his own initiative, picked up the ashtray on the table and threw it at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan turned sideways to hide.He is still outside the situation and has no intention of enjoying this emotional drama.He knew Lu Jiming's attitude towards him before his mother died, so he didn't expect any "fatherly love" and "compassion" from Lu Jiming.Lu Yuan even suspected that he might not be Lu Jiming's own.Bai Ru'an was so frightened that he couldn't speak, and Lu Yuan had no way of knowing the cause and effect.The glass products shattered on the marble floor tiles, and the splashed fragments scratched Lu Yuan's ankle.Lu Jiming was still puzzled, and asked Lu Yuan to stand in the courtyard and reflect on himself.

Lu Yuan naturally went out to reflect.The autumn night was no longer hot, and Lu Yuan was only wearing a cotton pajamas.He stood outside for a while, not knowing what they wanted to reflect on himself, let alone why they had to cooperate with this, and asked his aunt to help pass the word that he wanted to go in.

After a while, Lu Jiming came out and stood at the door, with the bright lights of the living room behind him.There was no light in the courtyard, and Lu Yuan was asked to stand under the steps by him, and he couldn't see Lu Jiming's face clearly even if he looked up.Lu Jiming asked him: "Have you reflected on yourself?"

Lu Yuan said truthfully, "I don't know what to reflect on."

Lu Jiming gave him a condescending look, and told his aunt: "Close the door, he can't come in tonight."

Lu Yuan stood outside all night.Said it was one night, maybe it was only half the night, because Lu Yuan fell asleep at some point.The cold air on the ground was even heavier, so he naturally fell ill as expected.

After recovering from his illness, Bai Ru'an never called him "brother" when he saw him. Similarly, he only called Lu Jiming "uncle".He apologized to Lu Yuan, saying that he had done something wrong and caused him to be punished and sick—Lu Yuan didn't care, what is there to care about with an ignorant child?He just hates Lu Jiming more.

Bai Ru'an didn't know Xiao Zhoujing at first, so he called him Lu Yuan, Lu Yuan's, and later, he kept calling him "Yuan'er".Lu Yuan was different from him, he couldn't say "Ru'an", but only called him by his first name and surname.

Bai Ru'an was still full of energy, and when he was talking to him about something interesting in school, he suddenly thought of something and asked him, "Yuan'er, have you been busy lately?"

Lu Yuan thought for a while, then shook his head, "Not busy."

Bai Ru'an looked very excited, and leaned closer to the screen, "Then let me treat you to dinner! Let me introduce you to a senior of mine. He just returned to China a while ago, and he is super nice!"

Lu Yuan didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm, so he agreed: "The time and place are fixed, you send me a message."

Bai Ru'an nodded, "Okay, then I'll hang up first, I'll call him to make an appointment! Yuan'er, good night!"

Lu Yuan replied to him: "Good night."