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Chapter 45 - Newly-married couples are also called “paper weddings” because they are more fragile than you think.

The knock on the door sounded violently again. Sheng Yiqing was so frightened that she almost screamed.

The first call was to Chen Zhuan, but the call could not be connected.

She gritted her teeth in hatred, and called the property management at the door for the second time. After more than ten beeps, no one answered. Just as she put down her phone, there was another rapid and powerful knock on the door, "dong dong dong".

Her heart was hanging.

She was half sober.

Women living alone will always encounter many dangers. In the process of a girl growing into a woman, the word "vigilance" is engraved in her bones. Sheng Yiqing was very careful and deliberately chose an apartment with good security. The contact person left for the takeaway delivery address must be "Mr. Sheng". At this moment, Chen Zhuan's old men's slippers were still placed at the door, but she didn't expect that the pervert outside the door would be unyielding.

The imagination of being persecuted is rooted in the bones of independent women. The fear brought by violence can easily shatter their hard shells, and Sheng Yiqing is certainly no exception. Women always share their experiences of living alone in forums. The latest saying is that if you hear noises outside the door, don't rush to look at the peephole, because some perverts will suddenly attack you from outside the door when you get close to the peephole, taking the opportunity to poke your eyes out.

This world is always crueler than you think.

"Sui Sui, why did you abandon me?" The person at the door saw that knocking on the door was fruitless, and he turned the doorknob violently and started to curse.

"Come out! Please come out, don't get engaged to him, okay?"

He spoke loudly, his pronunciation was unclear, and his accent was strange.

Sheng Yiqing didn't know where he came from, and couldn't help but respond: "You found the wrong person, I don't know you at all!"

The man continued: "You recognize him! Don't hide! Don't think you can hide from me. I know I can't do anything well, but I will try..." His voice was crying, and in the end he actually sat at the door and cried loudly.

His movements made Sheng Yiqing tremble with fear, and the voice-controlled lights in the corridor lit up and dimmed, dimmed and lit up again. Sheng Yiqing's house is a two-family building. Logically, such a big noise would surely scare the neighbors across the street. However, it just so happened that the family of three who lived across the street thought the house was too small and just moved away half a month ago, resulting in her being the only one living on this floor recently.

Fortunately, at this time, the phone rang. She thought it was Chen Zhuan, so she quickly picked it up, but it was a strange voice on the other end: "Hello, this is a private large-amount loan. Madam, do you have any financial needs recently?"

Harassment call.

Sheng Yiqing was furious and yelled at the phone: "Do you know that what you are doing is illegal? Be careful, I will call the police right now!"

Instantly, the other end of the phone and the door were quiet.

She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the person was scared away, but not long after, there was another noise at the door. She only heard the man twisting the door handle again, muttering: "You don't want to open it, right? Okay, then I'll go find the key."

Sheng Yiqing remembered shouting: "Aren't you afraid that I will call the police?!"

"The police don't care." Still a strange accent.

Before she finished speaking, Sheng Yiqing heard the sound of something exploring and inserting into the keyhole. It was so soft and rustling that it seemed to go straight into her brain. She was even more panicked and tremblingly raised her phone to call the police. Fortunately, at this moment, she finally heard the elevator bell ring, followed by a loud shout outside the door:

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Then there were the sounds of several people arguing and shouting, and then, as if someone recognized the man, they shouted "Mr. So-and-so!", and then there was a "bang" sound, as if something heavy hit the ground, accompanied by a muffled groan.

Finally, everything returned to silence.

Sheng Yiqing leaned against the door tightly and dared not leave. After it was completely quiet, someone knocked on the door and said, "Madam, don't worry, we are the property management, we can open the door."

Sheng Yiqing paused, still worried, and asked, "Why did you suddenly come to the door?"

"The light in your stairwell is broken. Someone reported it during the day. The maintenance worker heard someone knocking on the door and found the property management."

She looked through the peephole and saw three men standing in the corridor. She couldn't see their faces through the peephole, and asked again, "What's the property management phone number? What are your names? What's your work number?"

The person at the door was stunned and answered with a smile.

She still didn't dare to act rashly. She went to the community information network to check carefully. After checking it carefully, she carefully hid the fruit knife in her pocket behind her, and then she opened the door with confidence.

The door opened with a click, and two community security guards and a maintenance worker standing in the corridor, holding electric batons and explosion-proof forks in their hands, and a man was lying at Sheng Yiqing's feet. He was dressed in black and loose shorts lying on his back on the ground. He was holding a half-drunk bottle of wine in his hand, and the wine was all over the floor, with a strong aroma of soy sauce.

He seemed unconscious, the door opened, and the light shone on his face. He opened his eyes slightly, lowered his head, and was still mumbling something. After a moment, he lowered his head again, fainted, and changed to a curled up position.

Looked very harmless.

"…Is he…shot dead?" Sheng Yiqing was stunned.

"…No, no, he roared twice, and then he fell straight down. He must have been drunk."

Smell of alcohol.

Sheng Yiqing retracted her disgusted look and looked at the security guard: "Brother, don't we have facial recognition downstairs? How did he get up here? Should we strengthen the management of our community? And what about this person? Can you help move him away?"

Unexpectedly, the security guard patted his head and said confidently: "Madam, this is really not our fault. This gentleman is a resident of our community."

"... Do you recognize him?"

"Of course, I just dealt with him today. He is not like this when he is sober. He is a very good guy. He must have knocked on the wrong door when he was drunk."

Then the maintenance worker also spoke: "I recognize him too. The light in the stairwell on your floor is broken. He just reported it this afternoon."

"Huh?" Sheng Yiqing became more and more confused.

The security guard pointed to the door opposite her and said cheerfully: "He just moved in today and lives opposite you!"

The security guard and the maintenance uncle seemed to have a very good impression of this "neighbor". Several people helped him to sit down in front of their door. Only then did they realize that this man was not only drunk, but also hot all over, probably with a high fever. No wonder he was unconscious.

Sheng Yiqing watched for a while, and her conscience took over. She turned back to the house and took four bottles of mineral water to hand to the people outside the door. Seeing that several big men were guarding him at a loss, she thought that this was not a solution, and suggested: "He is drunk and has a fever. Why don't we send him to the emergency room?"

The ambulance came 20 minutes later. During this period, the male neighbor had been sleeping quietly. The medical staff came to do a preliminary examination. With the light of the corridor, she took a serious look at him.

After one look, she couldn't help but take another look. It was a highly three-dimensional face, with clean skin. At this moment, the eyebrows were tightly locked, and the eyelashes were like crow feathers. Under the light, a shadow was cast under the eyes.

This look is indeed difficult to associate with the "evil man" who knocked on the door in front.

"He is still a handsome guy. Drink so much?" The doctor sighed with a smile, picked up the stethoscope and checked his heartbeat again: "Oh, it's really a high fever. It's okay, it's not a big problem."

While speaking, they worked together to put him on the stretcher. Sheng Yiqing watched from two meters away, not far away, and looked at his door number. After they got on the elevator, he closed the door and went into the house.

Chen Zhuan had just studied the structure of the whitening cabin. He took off half of his shirt, and walked to the mirror with his clothes to look at his back, and then got close to look at his face - there were indeed two shades.

A handsome man is more or less self-aware. He probably knows that he is not bad looking, and therefore, he rarely pays attention to his face. After being said by Sheng Yiqing today, he became a little anxious.

"It's a bit embarrassing." He thought, but such a big whitening cabin would be a waste if not used.

It wasn't until Chen Zhuan came out of the whitening cabin again that he saw Sheng Yiqing's missed call. He hurriedly called back, but no one answered. He added a WeChat message: I just took a shower. What's up?

As he said this, he wrapped himself in a bath towel and glanced at the instructions for use. Only small words were printed: Effective in a week.

He was quite disdainful. After thinking about it, he sent another message to Sheng Yiqing: By the way, I'm a little busy recently. I'll talk to you in a week.

.

Qu Fanyi was dragged out of the house by Mrs. Jiang after noon. She was nearly 5 months pregnant. She wore a loose cotton floral dress, only applied natural cream and sunscreen on her face, and cut her hair very short, like Daisy in the movie Gatsby. The two of them sat in the nugget with a pot of tea and two snacks in front of them and chatted for an afternoon.

Mrs. Jiang is a typical pushover. She decided on a kindergarten when her baby was still in her belly. When she just got married, she bought an apartment in the school district of Xicheng. Her home overlooks Chaoyang Park and is only a five-minute drive from Qu Fanyi's home. She did a thorough investigation of more than 20 kindergartens in the surrounding area in the early stages of her pregnancy, and made a table of prices, environment, teachers, and distance.

"After comparing them, there are only three left." She handed the tablet to Qu Fanyi: "Apple Grass, Golden Bay, and Love Children's World. They are all nearby. You can accompany me to go shopping. I plan to pay the money tomorrow and reserve a seat early."

Qu Fanyi's eyebrows jumped, and she forgot which kindergarten Zeng Yuqiu was in. She just stood up and said she had to go to the bathroom. After a while, she came out of the bathroom. Mrs. Jiang took a close look at her and laughed: "Are you still putting on makeup?"

Qu Fanyi pretended to be stupid and laughed.

Apple Grass Kindergarten is surrounded by a fence, and there is a row of low shrubs inside the fence. Looking further inside, there is a two-story building with colorful paintings. The windows of the music classroom are open, and bursts of children's singing can be heard.

Even Mrs. Jiang slowed down her pace, pointing at the blue sky, green trees and the painted walls of the kindergarten, and sighed: "Look, these things, and the children, are the most beautiful things in the world."

Qu Fanyi nodded, her heartbeat accelerated as she approached the small building, and a thought also rang in her mind: "Yes. There is also love, heartbeat, everything you want to touch but dare not touch, which is also the most beautiful thing in the world."

The door of the kindergarten is in the other direction. They called in advance and there will be special staff waiting to lead them on a tour. Turning the corner, Qu Fanyi was wondering whether she would visit the piano classroom, when she saw Mrs. Jiang suddenly pull Qu Fanyi's hand and whispered: "It's a handsome guy!"

Zeng Yuqiu stood at the door.

Hands in pockets. He wore a dark green work vest over a short-sleeved jacket and knee-length shorts. He had a wolf-tail hairstyle that was over his shoulders and tied it casually at the back of his head. He tied a Japanese-style headband on his forehead and pushed his bangs to the sides.

He looked at Qu Fanyi as she came over. When their eyes met, he looked away without leaving a trace and looked at Mrs. Jiang, bowing slightly: "Hello, are you Mrs. Jiang? I am the employee who accompanied you on the tour today. Just call me Xiao Zeng."

After saying this, he smiled at the two of them, revealing a row of white teeth.

Qu Fanyi then understood what he said when they first met: "I often deal with other people's wives."

So this is the kind of dealings he had.

Apple Grass Kindergarten was not big. Zeng Yuqiu put one hand in his pocket and introduced the kindergarten familiarly, from the classrooms, cafeteria, kitchen, playground, bathroom to the children's schedule, to the teaching materials and teachers, and finally to the sand pool, slide, swimming pool, reading room, dance room and laboratory in the outdoor activity area.

The three of them shuttled around the small campus.

Everything for children is miniature, mini chairs, mini tables, mini slides, and even mini laboratories. Qu Fanyi likes children to begin with, and when she sees everything colorful, the corners of her mouth rise unconsciously. Mrs. Jiang followed Zeng Yuqiu slowly. At this moment, the bell rang, and a group of children were led out of the classroom by the teacher and lined up to go to the bathroom.

"So cute!" Qu Fanyi turned around, but met Zeng Yuqiu's eyes. He didn't know when he had been looking at her, with a smile in his eyes, and his eyes were shining, and he blinked at Qu Fanyi.

Mrs. Jiang was busy recording with her mobile phone. After taking the video, she turned around and took Qu Fanyi's hand and said, "If you like it, you should also ask Dr. Chi to catch it!"

Qu Fanyi quickly responded loudly, "Oh!" and stopped looking at him.

My heart was pounding.

The last stop of the visit was the principal's office. Mrs. Jiang needed to discuss the details of the children's education and the specific costs with the principal.

The cherry wood doors were locked, and only Qu Fanyi and Zeng Yuqiu were left in the corridor. The two were speechless.

The principal's office was on the second floor of the classroom. Not only the exterior but also the interior was painted with colorful paintings. At the end of the corridor was a wooden door painted lemon yellow. Zeng Yuqiu glanced at her and said, "Come here."

After saying that, he walked straight forward and pushed open the door.

Qu Fanyi refused to move and stood there pretending not to hear.

Not long after, a piano sound came out from the crack of the door.

The music classroom was painted to look like a forest, with a green lawn on the ground and a blue sky on the ceiling. Even the round benches for the children were in the shape of tree stumps. Zeng Yuqiu was sitting behind a painted piano at the moment. Qu Fanyi recognized the melody, which was "Streets Where the Wind Lives".

When he saw her follow in, he tilted his head nonchalantly as a greeting. Then he turned his head and looked out the window. Outside the window was the same blue sky as in the classroom. The lemon-yellow curtains were blown up by the autumn wind, like sails on the sea.

After a while, the cushion beside him sank slightly. He turned his head and saw Qu Fanyi sitting beside him, staring at the piano keys seriously.

"Can you play?" The melody stopped.

Qu Fanyi didn't say anything, but stretched out her right hand and played the beginning.

The tune was not familiar, stumbling like a child walking. Zeng Yuqiu understood and stretched out his left hand to cooperate with her. She played slowly, he played slowly, she stopped, he stopped. Neither of them spoke, lowered their heads, one concentrated on recalling the music score, the other concentrated on cooperating.

Burning eyes.

Qu Fanyi didn't dare to look at him. I don't know what his expression was at the moment, smiling? Indifferent? Or still, indifferent?

The wind outside the window was warm and gusty. On the piano chair, next to her left hand was his right hand, so close that they could feel each other's body temperature. Her heart began to beat uncontrollably again, and the melody under her hands was fast and slow.

A tingling touch came from her left hand, and she was stunned. She slammed the keys hard, and her heart skipped a beat.

She lowered her head suddenly——

It was not his kiss, but a ladybug landed on the back of her left hand.

"Are you afraid of insects?" Zeng Yuqiu laughed, his voice deep, "Such a big reaction?"

"I..."

"Like a child." He smiled, raised his hand to her, and gestured: "Get up, raise your hand, and come to the window with the teacher."

The autumn air was slightly cool. Zeng Yuqiu supported her arm and raised it to the window, then lowered his head and moved forward, spraying warm breath on the back of her hand, a gesture like a kiss, her heart tightened, and her eyes were drawn to his profile.

Time is an illusion.

The sun and wind shone on her face, and she suddenly remembered what Einstein said: time is not fair, it will expand with the speed of the object's movement. When the heartbeat accelerated infinitely, everything that just happened seemed to become slow motion, breathing slowed down, gestures slowed down, and even the flow of air slowed down.

"Huh——" Zeng Yuqiu put the ladle

The insects were blown away, and then he stood up and smiled at her, with a look of satisfaction between his eyebrows: "Teacher Zeng is amazing, right?"

Qu Fanyi did not speak.

It was difficult for her to describe this feeling. There was a slight sour addiction in her heart, like a feather that someone accidentally placed on your heart. Like the short and light melody at the end of "The Street Where the Wind Lives", you want to resist, but you also want it to continue. It is a lover who is close at hand, but out of reach.

She stared at Zeng Yuqiu, and slowly withdrew her hand.

Autumn has come in Beijing, and you can see flocks of birds flying across the sky at dusk.

Looking down from the sky, the streets are like dense and continuous square boxes, high and low, cut by wide streets, revealing the meridians of the city. Across the street, you can see the sign of Guangde International Apartment. Behind the gilded revolving glass door is a lobby decorated with marble tiles. Chi Wei, who got off work early, sat on the sofa in the lobby, quietly waiting for Lin Shan. The slightly clenched fists, the tension could not be stopped.

Going east along Chaoyang Park, in a corner of an old residential area on Chaoyang North Road, Chen Zhuan sat in front of his computer, spent an entire afternoon drafting a recommendation letter, and pressed the send button. He stretched himself, walked to the second bedroom, and pressed the whitening cabin.

In the autumn afternoon in Beijing, the sky was blue and the clouds were sparse. If you look out from the window of Chen Zhuan's corridor, Sheng Yiqing, who lives in the residential area opposite, has just come out of the gym. She entered the corridor, the elevator door opened, and she found a square white packaging box at the door, tied with a silver-gray ribbon.

On the ribbon was a beige card with neat notes:

"I'm sorry for what happened last night, and please accept my little gift - your neighbor, Yu Yue:)"

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