At 4:45 p.m. local time in Madrid, Guan Shanyue finally returned to the hotel. When he opened the door of the room and quietly walked into the room, he saw Gong Xiping sitting on the sofa in the living room, holding a book and reading. When Guan Shanyue walked into the room, Gong Xiping glanced up at him, and then said very casually: "You're back." Then I went back to reading his book.

In fact, before coming back, Guan Shanyue had already thought of a lot of excuses and excuses, no matter how Gong Xiping asked him, he had a way to prevaricate the past. It's just that he never expected that when Gong Xiping saw him come back, he neither angrily questioned his whereabouts, nor excitedly said that he had been worried for a long time, but just said "You're back" very plainly, as if Guan Shanyue didn't sneak out, nor did he go out for a long time, but just went to the next door to hang out. This surprised Guan Shanyue.

"Uh...... I am back. Guan Shanyue replied while observing Gong Xiping's expression.

Gong Xiping closed the book, then stood up, stretched his waist, and said, "I've been reading the book for a long time, and my neck and waist are a little sore." I went back to my room. ”

After Gong Xiping finished speaking, he took a step and walked out of the room. Guan Shanyue didn't expect Gong Xiping to react to his quiet slip away, so when Gong Xiping walked in front of him, he subconsciously said, "Hey, you ......"

Gong Xiping stopped, looked at Guan Shanyue, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Guan Shanyue looked at Gong Xiping's face and asked, "Don't you have anything to ask me?" ”

"Nope."

"Really?"

"Not really."

Guan Shanyue was stunned again. He thought about it for a long time, and finally held back a sentence: "Don't you want to know where I went?" ”

"I don't want to." Gongxi replied indifferently and simply.

Gong Xiping's answer greatly surprised Guan Shanyue's expectations. He didn't expect Gong Xiping to be so calm, and he didn't seem to care at all about what he had quietly slipped.

"Anything else?" Gong Xiping asked.

"Uh...... It's okay, it's okay. Go back to your room. Guan Shanyue waved his hand and said.

Gong Xiping glanced at Guan Shanyue, then continued to take a step, and after passing him, he opened the door and walked out. Guan Shanyue turned his head and looked blankly at the back of Gong Xiping leaving, and suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

He sneaked out today, there was indeed a reason for him, he didn't want Gong Xiping to know, because he felt a little embarrassed. When he decided to sneak away quietly without Gong Xiping, he had already thought of various countermeasures, and even quietly rehearsed several most likely scenarios, and he thought that he was foolproof. But who knew that man was not as good as heaven, and in the end, the situation he expected did not happen.

He was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses. He walked slowly to the couch and sat down on it. Then, he caught a glimpse of the Chinese cigarettes and lighters left by Gong Xiping on the coffee table, so he picked up the cigarette case and took one out of it and lit it.

Guan Shanyue rarely smokes, and as a doctor and scientist, he knows how damaging smoking can be to his body. Moreover, he did not want to suffer a health breakdown due to smoking, which would affect his scientific research. It's just that when he feels a little bored, he occasionally smokes one.

Now he's a little bored. He didn't feel bored because of Gong Xiping's indifferent performance, but because of what he had experienced before, which made him feel very bored. It's been a long time, and this boredom seems to have been lost for a long time. I remember that there was a time like this before, that was after breaking up with Noriko Mishima, because of longing and loneliness, he had a boring mood. But for what reason this time?

Guan Shanyue took a few puffs of cigarettes, and the mobile phone in his pocket rang. Guan Shanyue immediately snuffed out his cigarette butt, took out his Nokia 7610 from his pocket, and after glancing at the caller ID, he connected the phone.

"Abel, old friend, what are you looking for me? Well, well, yes, I've already been to the embassy. Oh, and I want to thank you for that, thank you for informing me. No, thank you well. If you have time, come to country Z, come to my house, and I will ask my daughter-in-law to cook you a few authentic dishes of country Z. Oh, by the way, let you meet my son. Hehe, you haven't seen this kid in years. Well, that's a foregone conclusion. Good bye. ”

After Guan Shanyue hung up the phone, he let out a long breath, and then casually put the phone on the coffee table. He looked at the Chinese cigarette in the ashtray that was still half extinguished before he finished smoking, hesitated for a moment, picked up the half Chinese cigarette from the ashtray, re-lit it, and continued to smoke.

×××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××× Gong Xiping returned to the room and sat on the sofa. I originally wanted to take out the cigarette case from my pocket to smoke a cigarette, but I couldn't find it when I touched it, so I thought about it for a while, and then I remembered that I had just put the cigarette case on the coffee table in Guan Shanyue's room. He was about to go back and get his cigarette back when he heard his phone ring. He took out his Nokia E66 and looked down at the caller ID, it was Ling Yu calling. So, he answered the phone.

"Light rain? If I'm not mistaken, it's 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, right? ”

Ling Yu's sweet and greasy voice came from the other end of the phone: "It's 11:50, dear." ”

"Why are you calling me so late?"

"Missed you......"

When Gong Xiping heard this, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Then you can call me at another time, and you don't have to wait until midnight." ”

"Well, I'd like to, but I'm so busy during the day that I don't have time at all. No, I just sent the manuscript that was rushed out to the printing house, and then I was free. So I'll call you right away. ”

Gong Xiping suddenly felt a burst of warmth in his heart. Although Ling Yu and him could only be regarded as a real and nameless relationship, and Ling Yu was usually busy with work, Ling Yu's concern for him all the time was not affected in the slightest. This made him feel not only moved, but also a trace of warmth. It's actually very happy to be loved.

"Okay, let's go home and rest, don't get tired. I was only here for two weeks and the two weeks passed quickly. ”

"But, people just miss you? I didn't think much of it when you were around, but when you suddenly went to Spain, I suddenly felt like something had fallen in my heart. Ah, yes! As if remembering something, Ling Yu suddenly asked, "Have you ever gone to the San Marino Orphanage?" ”

"Go." Gong Xiping replied calmly.

"You...... Did you really go? Ling Yu's tone suddenly felt a little sour.

"Really went. I went the first day I came. However, when I revisited the old place, I really found that things were wrong. The San Marino orphanage is not what it used to be, and the people inside have changed a lot. Time changes, and many things really change over time. ”

Gong Xiping talked about the matter, but lamented that the years had passed, the San Marino orphanage had become old, and Sister Marina had become old. However, Gong Xiping's sigh made Ling Yu understand it in a different way. She thought that Gong Xiping was referring to something, implying that the relationship between him and Susie was not what it was back then, and it was impossible to go back to that year. So, there was still some bad taste in my heart before, but now I suddenly became happy.

"Yes, you can't turn back time, a lot of things have changed, you can't change back. You've got to think about it. ”

Gong Xiping couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, and said, "When did you become old-fashioned when you spoke?" ”

"I've been messing around with you for a long time, and I'm getting old. No, no, you have to compensate me for the good years of my youth. ”

"Hypocritical ......"

"Huh? Why do I think you're laughing? Ling Yu's sixth sense was keenly aware of Gong Xiping's current state.

Gong Xiping was stunned when he heard this, and found that he was indeed laughing, and he was laughing quite happily. He immediately cleaned up his mood, coughed dryly, and said, "Don't guess, I'm no different from usual now." ”

Ling Yu couldn't help but sigh and said, "You are like this, you always like to hide your feelings in your heart, and you don't want to show them on your face. Like a thousand-year-old tortoise, it always wraps itself tightly with its shell. ”

Gongxi said flatly: "I'm used to it." ”

Ling Yu noticed that the atmosphere of the topic had suddenly changed, so he immediately changed the topic and said, "By the way, I read the email you sent me before, and then I synthesized the information I had before and re-edited it and sent it to our boss. After reading it, our boss felt that this case had to be continued. So, when you get back, you'll have to continue to help me investigate. ”

"Since I have accepted your commission, I will definitely do my best to complete it. But don't forget what you promised me. ”

"No problem. The boss said that judging from the information currently available, a series of follow-up reports can be published. The first issue will be published next week at the latest. Now it has been tentatively decided to publish three issues, but it will be decided whether there will be more reports later based on readers' reactions and social reactions. So, you're going to have to help a lot in the future. ”

"Isn't this commission a permanent surname?"

"No, my commission has nothing to do with how many issues the report will issue. The content of my commission hasn't changed, you know. ”

Only then did Gong Xiping settle down and said, "Okay, I understand, I will complete your commission as soon as possible." ”

"Well, I knew you were a heavy promiser. Lately, though, I've been wondering if you'd have done my job if it hadn't been for the conditions I agreed to you. ”

Gong Xiping was silent for a while, and finally replied, "Yes." ”

Now it was Ling Yu's turn on the other end of the phone to be silent. After a while, Ling Yu said faintly: "My dear, if I were by your side now, I would definitely hug you tightly and kiss you fiercely." ”

Gong Xiping was silent when he heard this. He generally doesn't know how to deal with this kind of scene, so he doesn't know what to say.

However, the empathetic Ling Yu also understood why Gong Xiping was silent, so she smiled and said, "I owe it first, and I will pay it back when I come back." ”

"Uh...... Good. ”

"By the way, how about Spain? I haven't been there for so many years, so it must have changed a lot, right? ”

"Well, the change is a little bit, but it feels pretty much the same. It's just that the pace of life seems to have become faster. ”

"Aren't the girls in Madrid pretty and fashionable?"

Gong Xiping didn't understand why Ling Yu asked this, and replied very calmly: "It's actually similar to Shencheng here, there are many fashionable and beautiful girls, there are also mediocre-looking girls, and of course there are strange-looking girls." ”

"Well, don't mess with pretty girls." Ling Yu said playfully.

"Who are you and me?" Gong Xiping said with some displeasure.

"I'll give you a heads-up first, anyway."

"Alright, it's late over there, get some rest early. Don't get tired, don't you hear? ”

"Yes, sir."

"Well, well, goodbye, Xiaoyu."

"Well, goodbye. I'll call you when I miss you. ”

"Yes."

After Gong Xiping finished speaking, the two hung up the phone at the same time.

Gong Xiping looked at his phone and suddenly smiled bitterly. Counting the day he got on and off the plane, he came to Spain for a total of 3 days. But whether it was Duanmu Jiao or Ling Yu, they couldn't wait to call him, as if he had been abroad for a few months. Aren't they a little too exaggerated?

Gong Xiping put the phone back in his pocket and wanted to take the cigarette again, but immediately remembered that the cigarette was still in Guan Shanyue's room. Just as he was about to go to Guan Shanyue's room to retrieve his cigarette case, there was a knock on his door.

"Gong Xiping, it's me, Guan Shanyue."

"Come in, the door is unlocked."

Guan Shanyue pushed the door and walked in, holding Gong Xiping's Chinese cigarette and his lighter in his hand. Putting the cigarette and lighter on the coffee table, Guan Shanyue said with a smile: "You forgot your things in my room." ”

Gong Xiping didn't say a word, immediately picked up the cigarette case, took out a cigarette to light it, and then said, "Well, I just want to come over and get it." ”

Gong Xiping smoked a cigarette and looked at Guan Shanyue. Guan Shanyue also looked at Gong Xiping, hesitated for a moment, and finally couldn't help but say: "I said, don't you ask me, I sneaked out quietly without you, where did I go?" ”

Gong Xiping looked at Guan Shanyue, took a puff of cigarette, and said, "Since you slipped out without me, then you just don't want me to know." Since you don't want me to know, I ask you again, and most of the answers I get are also excuses used to prevaricate me. If that is the case, why should I bother to ask you more? ”

Guan Shanyue suddenly felt that the young man in front of him, who looked like he was only 17 years old, was actually a good person. He has eyes that can penetrate everything, and can read a person's mind. In front of him, any disguise is useless, and he can easily see through the disguise.

"Well, you're right, I really don't want you to know, and I've prepared countermeasures to deal with you. But you didn't ask anything, which made me feel very uncertain. ”

"Professor Guan." Gongxi said flatly, "My task is to protect you, and to cooperate with your research." As for your private affairs or your **, I am not interested and there is no need to know. Unless it's something that endangers your life, I won't ask about it. However, because I want to keep you safe, I will try to avoid saying goodbye like today in the future. If something happens to you during this time, then I will be fully responsible. ”

Guan Shanyue nodded and said very sincerely: "One word is a certainty!" ”