early

Chen Zhouyou pushed open the window, only to feel that his eyes were full of green. The leaves and grass were all green overnight, and the leaves were washed by the light rain of the previous night, and shimmered like flakes of gold leaf in the transparent sunlight.

He turned around and shouted to Shui Hong: "Lazy cat, get up quickly, didn't you say several times that you want to go to the street, how about going today?" ”

"Great!" When Shui Hong heard this, she immediately sat up from the bed.

The two of them had a simple breakfast, because they remembered the last time they went out on a bicycle, Shui Hong didn't dare to be careless, found an outdated thin tweed skirt to put on, and carefully combed the "makeup". In addition to changing the skin color, he specially drew the two eyebrows thickly, and asked Zhou You to wear a pair of color-changing glasses, and the two of them locked the door and went downstairs.

The weather is really good, in Beijing in May, there is a sweet spring in the air, there is no wind, the sun is warm, crisp and lazy. Under the locust tree on the side of the street, a silvery white locust flower fell on the ground, which was blown to the sidewalk by the wind, accumulating day by day, stacking up a layer of dry petals, like foam on the beach by the sea, stretching the comfort and tiredness after surfing. The tall paulownia trees bloomed even more vigorously, and as far as the eye could see, the whole street was surrounded by a lilac cloud, wafting with bursts of floral fragrance......

As she walked, she picked up the huge fallen flowers of the paulownia tree under the tree. The flower swirled and fell from the branches, and she thought she could hear the heavy, painful thud as it hit the ground. She picked them up one by one, picked the largest one, and pinned it to the buttons of Zhou You's trench coat. The fallen flowers were still fresh and intact, but the color was so pale that they seemed to fade......

Neither of them was in a hurry to "fight", and walked all the way down the street at will. Under the spring sun, Zhou You has the temperament of an artist, and he looks particularly handsome.

"Zhou You, your return rate is also very high, you see that girl is still smiling at you, the girl in Beijing is much bolder than the girl in the south."

"That's not bold, that's crazy." Zhou You said teasingly. "Don't look at them visiting fashion stores twice a day, in fact, they can't wait to go to the salon ball naked. I really want to design them a sheer gauze skirt that is sexier than a three-point dress. Oh, once, two seventeen or eighteen-year-old fashion models came to my warehouse studio, I just asked them who they were looking for, they didn't say a word, like taking off their coats, unloaded their dresses to their heels, stood in front of me and said, Zhou You We have known you for a long time, today this mannequin is free, as long as you give us one of us a painting. I was so shocked that I joked with them: If it were one person, I could consider it. They laughed at my old hat, saying that it had long been popular outside that there were two men and women mixed three dozens, and many big names and big money were defeated by them. ”

"Did you compete?"

"I said I'm a super big name, I can use one as ten, you go find eight more, and I'll play. The two chicks put on their dresses and ran away, leaving a small packet of latex products on the windowsill. ”

"I can't imagine that you can still sit still? I don't see it. ”

"How is that possible? Am I that kind of person? I'll be honest with you, I'm because ...... Because the night before, I was squeezed dry by another woman......"

"Shu Li again?"

"No, Shu Li had just left at that time, and I was angry. A woman called me to ask me to go to her house, saying that a friend had just brought a video of this year's most popular feature film from the United States, which was a passing film, and asked me to watch it quickly. This woman was a well-known actress, I met her at a friend's party, and she asked me to paint a portrait of her, but I didn't know her very well. When I went that day, I found out that she was already divorced and living alone. You don't know how romantic and sexy the bedroom of a single woman in Beijing is now, and the interior decorations, bedspreads and curtains are as soft as a woman's skirt, semi-transparent, fluttering as if to pounce. There are huge bright red lips painted on the walls, or partial enlarged photos of naked men and women, and sometimes there are sculptures and toys brought back from abroad, imitation of primitive totems of sex objects, and the bed in the room, so low that it is almost next to the ground, and it is so soft and tempting that you don't think anything is wrong, and the person has already fallen inside...... Even if Takakura Ken goes in, he will be dizzy and his legs will be weak. All you have to do is step into her bedroom, and you're going to be out of your mind......"

Shui Hong smiled: "How did you see people in their bedrooms when you watched the video?" ”

"Gee, her TV is in the bedroom. She turned off the lights, the film was very clear, and after a while, some ** shots came out, of course, it was by no means a tertiary film, I was nothing, she had already hugged me naked, it was as simple as that. In hindsight, I seem to have been ** by her. ”

"Well deserved!" Shui Hong scolded gently. "But don't you think that the shift from passive to active in modern Chinese women is precisely an important symbol of women's emancipation?"

"That's it. How can I not make an effort not to make an effort to sponsor this freedom of love without the need for a reluctant marriage because of the love of a single man and a woman in the city, which produces free sexual relations that no longer need to be achieved through reluctant marriage? So...... So I had to be generous. ”

Shui Hong ignored the ridiculous explanation, and pondered: "I think this is just a phenomenon of **freedom, and men and women living in this state will inevitably have another level of spiritual needs." ”

"Maybe," Zhou You stopped and waited for a taxi. "But when she got up the next morning, she said she was going to marry me, because she was already in love with me, and once she had love, it had to be carefully guarded in the traditional way......"

Shui Hong was happy, a "noodle" came, and the two got into the car, only to find that they hadn't discussed where to go. Shui Hong thought about it and said, then go to the art museum first, I haven't been there for many years.

Along the way, Rainbow was as excited and curious as a prisoner who was occasionally allowed to get out of prison for sightseeing.

"Beijing is really big, dozens of times bigger than Suzhou."

"More than half of them are from other places, including me."

"The city is still very good."

"Good what?"

"It's not easy to meet acquaintances."

"Maybe. Sometimes a lot of them at once. ”

"That's great, too."

"It's big and inappropriate, it's expanding more and more, and it's getting the disease of urban swelling."

"No, Beijing still has the style and atmosphere of a big metropolis, and even taxi drivers, when they talk about the sky, are cynical and only talk about national affairs."

The driver snorted in the front row and said, "That's not like being forced to do nothing." It's not blowing, and whoever drives the car is not like a mirror in his heart. What are we afraid of besides the police? What kind of people have never seen in and out of the car......"

The car arrived at the art museum, and the two people got out of the car. Shui Hong said thank you to the driver, and the driver waved goodbye to her. This goodbye also made Shui Hong emotional, she said that in the south, the driver is too lazy to talk nonsense with passengers, and the first thing is to make money.

Shui Hong and Zhou You walked around the art museum, several exhibition halls were empty, there were few audiences, only some flowers, birds and landscape paintings were displayed on the wall, there was nothing new, neither of them was very interested, and they walked out in less than fifteen minutes. Shui Hong lamented that it is a pity that the buildings of the national art museums are so old and the equipment is backward, so that people can't feel any artistic atmosphere, no wonder the paintings on display are also bland.

Zhou You grabbed her hand, crossed the road together, and walked in the direction of Wangfujing. He remembered that Shui Hong said that in addition to visiting the mall, she would like to see what Wangfujing Old Street in Beijing has become now.

Zhou You patiently accompanied Shui Hong, and walked around the large and small shops, shopping malls and boutiques densely packed on that street for a while, buying some daily necessities and books. Shui Hong also bought two dresses for Ah Ni to wear in spring and autumn, two ties for Lao Wu, and a pair of soft-soled casual shoes for her mother-in-law, saying that she would send them a parcel tomorrow. Zhou You carried a large bag like a model husband and enjoyed a family weekend with great satisfaction. Shui Hong shouted that he was hungry, Zhou You looked up and looked around, and said that there was a roast duck restaurant in front, would I invite you to eat roast duck at noon today?

The two of them entered the hotel and sat down in a quiet corner. Zhou You ordered duck gizzards, duck wings and a few other cold dishes she liked for Shui Hong, asked for beer, and ate it first. When eating almost, the oily and crispy roast duck and the noodle sauce and green onion cake also came up, Shui Hong was very interested, and said to Zhou You, this white cake green onion red duck chestnut sauce, the color is really rich, in fact, the process of smearing the sauce burrito wrapped in roast duck slices can also be regarded as a kind of folk performance art. Zhou You's mouth was stuffed full, and he nodded his head, but he didn't care about speaking.

While eating, Zhou You felt that someone had slapped him on the shoulder, and a voice said behind him;

"Good boy, it's not easy to see you now!"

He turned around, and the person behind him was Lao Zhao, a painting dealer he hadn't seen for a long time, dressed in an Italian brand-name suit, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and several rings of various colors and materials embedded in his fingers. His eyes quickly swept over Rainbow's face, his gaze as critical and sharp as a dealer used to examine and evaluate a painting.

Zhou You admitted that he was unlucky, and he happened to run into this guy. Lao Zhao is a well-known "painting worm" among the art dealers, who started by reselling calligraphy and paintings, and then bought the works of famous domestic artists at a low price, and sold them to Hong Kong businessmen and foreigners at a high price. Sometimes, when he buys paintings and sells them, the price can increase several times or even more than ten times. Zhou You didn't like this art dealer, and suddenly remembered that Lao Zhao took a batch of paintings to other places for exhibition, and it is said that he sold three of his paintings, but he still hasn't paid him the money.

"Zhou You, where have you been for more than half a year?" Lao Zhao took out a box of three or five cigarettes and lit it himself. "Remember, you don't smoke. To be honest, big brother, I still miss you, and my friends are also thinking about you, are you getting into a beautiful girl again, Jinwu Zangjiao, drunk and dreaming of death! As he spoke, the misty eyes glanced at Shui Hong again.

"Where else can I go? It's not about painting and selling coolies. ”

Zhou Youpatiently greeted him, asked some friends in the circle about the recent situation, and wanted to talk to him about the paintings, but he couldn't remember the price of those paintings for a while. Just as he was hesitating, Lao Zhao suddenly slapped his head and exclaimed: "Hey, look at my memory, I haven't given you the money until I sold my paintings...... But I don't blame me all, I can't see your face all the time, and I don't know where to send you money......"

Zhou You said with a calm face: "Then let's do it today, don't delay it any longer." ”

"Done!" Lao Zhao happily agreed, took out a Great Wall card from the pocket of his suit close to his chest, and shook it in front of Zhou You. "I'll take a taxi to pick it up for you. But you ...... I'll have to wait here for a while. Or...... That's right, I have a friend here, let him open a private room upstairs, you and this young lady go up to have some tea first, wait for me, I'll come back and marry you in a while, buddy, how about talking, how about it? Come on, come with me......"

Zhou You saw Shui Hong smiling but didn't answer, hesitated for a moment, then picked up Shui Hong and followed Lao Zhao to the private room upstairs. When Lao Zhao was leaving, he seemed to be very uneasy and told him again: You must wait for me, I will come as soon as I go......

After Lao Zhao left, Zhou You seemed to hear him talking on the phone at the corner of the stairs. After making the call, he left in a hurry.

"This guy is quite enthusiastic." Shui Hong said as she drank tea.

Zhou You snorted with his nose, not knowing how to introduce this Lao Zhao to Shui Hong. In addition to the inverted paintings, Lao Zhao seems to have dealings with people on the underworld. That year, Lao Zhao's deputy manager of the company jumped ship with his network, and within a few days, he heard that the man had a concussion in a car accident and was about to become a fool after being discharged from the hospital. Zhou You found that Lao Zhao's enthusiasm today is a little abnormal, in the past, if you ask him for a painting, it is tantamount to seeking skin with a tiger, he can drag it out, and he can rely on it, and there has never been a happy time. Zhou You was a little puzzled in his heart, and a little puzzled, I don't know what old Zhao's idea was. Looking at his sneaky appearance, it seems that something is wrong. He decided to wait only half an hour, and if he didn't come back after the time, he would open the way with Shui Hong.

The owner of the hotel sent a tray with whiskey, beer, champagne and fruit, snacks and so on. Shui Hong put the things she had purchased, rested on the sofa for a while, and then walked to the window and looked at the scenery in the alley in the distance. Zhou You paced around the room, looking very restless. He suddenly pulled up Shui Hong and said, "Go, get out of here, I know what's going on, let's go!" ”

Shui Hong looked at him puzzled and asked, "Tell me, what's wrong?" ”

"Well, I'll talk to you when I get home. It's not that something happened, but I suddenly remembered that this old Zhao knows Shu Li, it's not good, Shu Li has already returned to Beijing, he went to find Shu Li, I don't want to see Shu Li again......"

Before the words fell, the door had been pushed open, and with a strong smell of perfume, a young woman in colorful clothes floated in from the door like a gust of wind, and just shouted Zhou You, she rushed over and plunged into Zhou You's arms. That familiar breath rushed straight to Zhou You's brain, he was full of excitement, and his body was a little unsteady - the woman in his arms was indeed the Shu Li he was most afraid of seeing.

Zhou You was very embarrassed for a while, neither pushing nor leaving. Holding Shu Li's arms with both hands, it took a lot of effort to separate her from herself and press her lightly on the sofa.

Lili...... How did you...... Coming back? Zhou You raised his head cautiously, "I...... I don't know if you're back, so am I...... Also just came back from a business trip......"

Shu Li in front of her seems to be younger and more beautiful than when she left him two years ago. Dressed in luxurious rose-red professional women's clothes, she set off her slender and plump figure, her long curly hair was draped in waves, and her complexion was slightly black and red by the southern sun, emitting a porcelain enamel-like luster. Her makeup is very thick, her big full lips are bright red, and her whole body is full of the air of a sexy woman.

Zhou You glanced back at Shui Hong and saw that she was looking at Shu Li with a smile, and there was a look of appreciation in her eyes. He didn't know how to introduce Shui Hong to Shu Li, Shu Li seemed to have caught a big wolf that had been chasing him for a long time, took off her coat, leaned closer to him, and grabbed his hand. The towering crests of her tipped breasts under her velvet coat were so aggressive that they almost touched his arms; She fixed her eyes on him, their eyes hot and piercing, and her face radiant with excitement.

"Zhou You, why don't you ignore me? Even if I'm sorry for you, you can't just say goodbye to me! If Lao Zhao hadn't called me and told me that you were here, you would still want to avoid me for the rest of your life. She turned a blind eye to the rainbow in the corner of the house and continued in one breath. Don't speak, listen to me first. What I'm going to Shenzhen for, it's not for the two of us. After all these years, don't you know me? You are too unmodern, so you want me to guard you, but at that time, your paintings couldn't be sold for a lot of money, how can you live these years? You really don't know how much risk I've taken outside in the past two years to get mixed like a person, no, we deserve to be fated to meet you on the third day after returning to Beijing......"

As she spoke, Shu Li hugged Zhou You's neck and cried. While crying, he said, "...... Your friends have said a lot of bad things about me, but it's not all true...... I'm not that evil, if you want to know, I'll tell you everything. Didn't we just say at the beginning, you always have other girlfriends, of course I can have other boyfriends......"

Zhou You was still thinking about Shu Li's old love at the beginning, and he couldn't bear to embarrass her too much, but after listening to the next few words, he evoked the resentment he had against her in the past two years. He shifted himself away from her, and said indignantly:

"A friend is a friend, a sugar daddy is a sugar daddy, those are two different things. If you have a boyfriend, I won't interfere, that's your freedom; But if you have money, I will have to say goodbye to you. You know what my friends in the circle say, they say that I am poor and crazy, and let my hardest lover out to cheat money! No matter how poor I am, I won't be so indiscriminate. You can go, but I still tell my friends everywhere that this is for me, as if we really colluded and cooperated, and it became an inexplicable fact. Are you doing that for my own sake? Anyway, it's useless to say anything now, you have money now, go spend it yourself, if you think that sugar daddy is losing your identity, then find a handsome guy to pamper you. Don't mention the past, and now I'm just going to make it clear to you......"

Zhou You said, got up and walked out, but let Lao Zhao block the door.

"Don't price, don't price," Lao Zhao held him down. "If you have something to say, why are you in a hurry...... Hey, if you want me to say, how can a painter like you care about what others say about you? Now who is not scolded for being shit-you make a lot of money, just say that your heart is too dark and your way is evil; If you make less money, you will say that you are a whole wreck; You have too many women, and you say that sooner or later you will get AIDS; You have fewer women, saying that you don't look like a man, and that you are going to be sick. In these days, even good people don't want to say that they are good people, so that people don't have to be scolded as hypocrites. Zhou You, I see that you are locked up in the studio, painting yourself in a daze, and now everything is fake, fake heart, fake liver, fake **, fake hymen, people are bored. But Shu Li's love for you, I think it is indeed genuine, you know, looking at paintings, no one can blind me; I am more accurate than looking at paintings. No, Shu Li found me the day after she came back from Shenzhen, asked me about you, and asked friends all over the world to look for you, Shu Li's sincerity, where do you find it? If I had such a beautiful girl who really treated me, I would have married her immediately. ”

Lao Zhao took a sip of wine from his wine glass, and didn't let Zhou You interject at all, and the more he talked, the more energetic he became:

"Zhou You, I didn't say you, you are still a master, in this primitive accumulation period, can you still care if the money is clean or not? Shu Li earned the hundreds of thousands of dollars at the beginning, and she won a bet with Boss Xin; Later, she relied on her own to speculate in stocks, pre-sale properties, and business and doubled. Of course, Boss Xin also helped her a lot. Although that person is black-hearted, he is really good to Shu Li. Once Shu Li overdrafted and speculated in stocks, she lost all the principal and interest and lost 200,000 yuan, if it wasn't for Boss Xin's help, Shu Li would have been miserable. Later, Boss Xin lent her money to turn over the book, taught her hand-in-hand, and communicated with her, so that she could lose money and earn hundreds of thousands, and then go to other businesses, is it easy for a girl in her twenties to earn more than one million? Tell me that it's not Boss Shu Li Pang Xin, but Boss Xin Pang Shuli. People divorced the marriage for her, if Shu Li really wants to make a big deal, why does she come back to you? Zhou You, you kid is really not righteous, Shu Li is not a woman you want to dump......"

"I don't need you to talk too much about Shu Li's affairs." Zhou You glared at Lao Zhao. "I'm not the man she wants to dump and want. If you don't come to me, I won't look down on people who always want to play in front of me. Did you get the painting back? Let's clear it up, I'm leaving. ”

Lao Zhao opened his briefcase, took out a wad of money and handed it to Zhou You, saying: "Dot, one large one is two thousand yuan, and two small ones add up to three thousand yuan, a total of five thousand yuan, and I have saved it here for more than a year, plus one thousand yuan of interest, a total of six thousand yuan." I'm sorry, I paid according to the original price, I didn't expect the price of your painting to rise so quickly, I'm really sorry. ”

Zhou You took the money, and handed it to Shui Hong without counting it. He didn't want to bargain with Lao Zhao anymore, he just wanted to get out of here quickly.

Shu Li, who was sitting on the side, turned her back and drank a glass of beer in one go, suddenly smiled slyly, and said to Zhou You:

"Just left? Speaking of paintings, I remembered that you didn't forget to ask for the money that Lao Zhao owes you for the paintings, but what about the two paintings you owe me? That year, I helped you get sponsorship for the art exhibition, and you said that you would give two paintings to others, but I left in a hurry and didn't have time to take them. It's been a long time, and the company still thinks I'm fooling them, what do you say? In a few days, I may still have business with them, how can you let me meet them? ”

Zhou You thought that there was indeed such a thing, and he was speechless for a while.

"Are you still going to give it to me?" Shu Li's face still had tears on her face, but her expression had become much brighter.

"That painting...... I've kept it, of course. ”

"Okay, then I'll pick it up from you tomorrow. It just so happens that we still have a lot to say, and we have to talk about it separately. Shu Li put down her wine glass, lit a slender kun cigarette, glanced at Shui Hong and said, "This is really not a place to talk. ”

Zhou You hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Don't go to me, I don't live at home at all, you can't find me, and it's in vain to go." ”

"So what do you say?"

"Or ...... Or ......"

"Why don't you send it to me?" Shu Li couldn't help but cut off his words. "I still live in the old place, and my phone number hasn't changed, just a 2 after the first number."

"Why don't you make an appointment at the door ......of a hotel?"

"That's not good, if you don't come, I won't want it, let the company go to court with you."

Zhou You was silent for a while, and said helplessly: "...... It's also good...... I'll send it, I'll send it. ”

"What time do you say? It can't be delayed any longer. Shu Li asked staringly.

Zhou You wanted to ask Shui Hong's meaning, but he didn't dare to look at her, for fear that Lao Zhao and Shu Li would be suspicious. Shui Hong had long been left out by everyone, and she sat quietly on the side, but she seemed very patient. Zhou You thought for a while and replied, "Then tomorrow morning, it will be delivered early." ”

"Don't change your hexagrams! I'll wait for you! If you don't come, you won't want to have a peaceful birthday in the future. Shu Li laughed and spat out a round smoke ring, like a gradually expanding collar, floating towards the top of Zhou You's head.

Seeing this, Lao Zhao hurriedly poured wine for everyone, and walked over specially and handed a glass to Shui Hong. He smiled and said, "Come on, come on, drink and drink, are they all old friends...... he took a sip himself, lit a cigarette, and said: "Zhou You, when will you take me to your studio to have a look?" Let me pick a few more paintings, and this time, I'll pay a lot of money. ”

"I didn't paint much this year, and I gave away some of them. Send more, sell less......"

"I heard that your paintings were very sensational at last year's autumn art exhibition, where are those paintings? I want them all. ”

"I don't sell those paintings."

"Why?" Lao Zhao asked disappointedly.

"If you don't sell, you don't sell. That's my exploration, and I'm going to have to experiment with it. ”

Shu Li smiled mysteriously and said, "Heh, I know, if you refuse to sell paintings, you must be sick again." I saw the evaluation of you at that art exhibition in Shenzhen, and then I heard that you disappeared, and no one can hide it from me. Maybe it's because I can't stay in Shenzhen, God knows why I came back. Zhou You, you have to tell me the truth, you said that you won't be married before the age of forty......"

Zhou You hesitated, and if he really wanted to be cool, he would introduce Shui Hong to them and disclose the secrets of the year. But he saw Shui Hong behind them and shook his head slightly, hesitated for a moment, and said, "No comment." ”

Shui Hong felt as if there were countless small insects crawling on her face. Lao Zhao and Miss Shu Li's four sharp eyes, like four small spatula, were constantly peeling off the makeup on her face. Shu Li was puffing on a cigarette, as if she wanted to blow off the shaved remnants of her face. Lao Zhao smiled and toasted to Shui Hong, who had to hold up his cup out of politeness. She felt Lao Zhao's gaze fixed on her hand. It was the only part of her body that was "exposed" without concealment.

Lao Zhao winked at Shu Li, took a sip of wine, and said slowly:

"Zhou You, a few years ago, I have poured gems and jadeite in Yunnan, and I have witnessed the 'gambling stone', and I can be regarded as half of an expert in appreciating jade and jade. Don't look at the jadeite wrapped in a layer of broken stones, I only need to look at the water mouth a few times, although only a little bit is exposed, I can judge whether there is a large piece of beautiful jade hidden inside, or a very high degree of jadeite. Zhou You, I'm afraid you have a priceless treasure that is more precious than painting, right? Why don't we gamble today, the four of us will go to the indoor swimming pool of the Scitech Hotel now, go and relax, then the original form will be revealed, what do you think? ”

Zhou You's face was gloomy, he drank all the wine in the cup in one gulp, and said, "Don't talk nonsense, I still have something to do in the afternoon, I'm out of company, let's get together again in the future." ”

He picked up those large bags and small bags, and hurried out with Shui Hong.

Shu Li chased him to the top of the stairs, but this time she didn't pester him anymore, but shouted behind him: "See you tomorrow, don't forget!" ”

Zhou You stopped a Xiali and got into the car with Shui Hong. The car drove in the direction of Xicheng, and he breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a cold sweat had broken out on his back, and he was damp and cold.

After a long while, Zhou You regained his strength and muttered:

"Okay, I don't have to say anything this time, you see it all. It's just that Shuli. ”

Shui Hong looked out the window and was silent.

Zhou You said: "People say that she is very good, and she is one of the few famous girls in Beijing, but I always feel that she seems to have shortcomings." Fortunately, she is gone, if she doesn't go to Shenzhen, I may not have a chance to meet you in my life......" Zhou You put one hand around Shui Hong and put his face on her hair. "I'm going to see her tomorrow, and I'll have to end my affair with her sooner or later. You don't mind, do you? ”

Shui Hong turned her face, rested her head on his shoulder, and said in thought:

"But, Zhou You, I don't think she's exactly as bad as you say, she's cute and candid...... It's a pity that she has a deep pain in her heart, but you don't understand her......"