Reverse Approach

[I’m looking for you in City B and waiting for you at the gate of your community. ]

Liao Nanqing didn’t know how to paint with words, he simply told Su Beimo and went straight to the station to buy tickets.

The train to City B took an hour and a half, and Liao Nanqing sat in his seat with anxiety. It seemed like just yesterday since the last time he came to City B. Looking back in time, his memories were stuffed with a little sourness.

Last time, he got on the long-distance bus in the middle of the night, praying restlessly and frightened all the way, but this time he was lucky to buy a train ticket, and the mood turned from wandering to recklessly moving forward.

Outside the window was a speeding scenery, with twilight and lights shimmering.

The night scene far away in the sky passed through the silence, fell into the eyes, as he held this cake in his hand, slightly cold.

Knowing that he was going a long way, the bakery owner specially put a lot of small ice packs in his packaging and Liao Nanqing’s palm was cold across the box. The passengers next to him slept with their heads up, snoring lightly, and the spread legs occupied most of his position. Liao Nanqing leaned himself towards the window, shrunk into a corner, and counted the time silently, one minute at a time.

He wanted to see Su Beimo soon.

He hoped that time would flow into a long line, hooked to his seat, and moved forward fast.

Anxiety, urgency, all of them squeezed his timid mood. But thinking that he would be able to accompany Su Beimo on his birthday immediately and seeing Su Beimo, made him gather up those uneasy emotions and simply purse his lips and smile.

City B.

At the entrance of the elegantly decorated hotel, Su Beimo took the drunk President Li into the car, bid farewell to others one by one, and then walked out with his steps. Before he walked a few steps, he was called by the waiter of the hotel. He said that there was a drunk lady in the restroom, who seemed to be from their private room.

Su Beimo went over and saw that it was Qiu Lu.

She was so drunk that she hid in the bathroom after a few drinks and waited for everyone to leave before coming out. She sat on the couch in the hall with a face dripping with tears. Qiu Lu was in a really bad mood today, first she knocked off Su Beimo’s phone and then she heard Su Beimo say he had a girlfriend.

After a few glasses of wine, she was a bit drunk, her body was limp, but her mind was still clear. Qiu Lu was not stupid; when she thought about it, Su Beimo said he didn’t have a girlfriend before he went on his business trip, but now he suddenly had one, so he was undoubtedly avoiding rejecting her.

She was particularly unwilling and couldn’t help but to find the opportunity.

Under the pressure of the relationship between work and colleagues, the end of the business trip made her inexplicably relaxed. Sitting alone at the moment, she couldn’t help crying. She couldn’t tell whether it was intentional or unintentional.

“Qiu Lu, I asked the waiter to call a cab, I’ll take you home.” Su Beimo could not let a drunken girl stay here in the middle of the night and walk away on her own.

Qiu Lu shook her head, feeling aggrieved: “No need.”

“Okay, then you take care of yourself.” Su Beimo called out to a waiter and gave him some instructions, probably saying that he would get a room and let Qiu Lu stay there.

Qiu Lu really didn’t expect Su Beimo to leave as soon as she said he would, and he didn’t even bother to send her back, so she picked up her bag and chased after him, falling down in the process. The high heels caused her to twist her foot, albeit slightly, but her palm rested on something, causing a long scar, and Qiu Lu cried out in pain.

Su Beimo turned back and his head grew big. He hurriedly called a car and sent her to the hospital for disinfection and dressing.

Tossing back and forth, and in the blink of an eye, it was past twelve o’clock in the morning.

Su Beimo didn’t know that Liao Nanqing was waiting downstairs in his community. If he knew, he would have rushed back even if he had to leave Qiu Lu alone in the hospital on such a cold night.

Qiu Lu was just a colleague, and Liao Nanqing was his concern.

He could tell the difference.

But he couldn’t shake off Qiu Lu who was determined to confess her love for him.

“You know I’m seeing someone and you’re still confessing your love to me?” Su Beimo’s phone was still black and he couldn’t look at the time. His eyes were fixed on the clock on the hospital wall, thinking that it was too long before he could go back tomorrow morning.

Qiu Lu sat on the hospital’s promenade, draped in Su Beimo’s jacket, and choked out, “It’s my business to like you, it has nothing to do with you…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Su Beimo said, “It really has nothing to do with me.”

Qiu Lu’s drinking spirit hadn’t gone down yet, and she was dumbfounded, and then she wished to slap Su Beimo in the face. But she couldn’t, she confessed purposefully, so she had to pretend to be weak. In Qiu Lu’s mind, a man couldn’t get past the tenderness-like trap.

Today she was drunk or something, intending to fish out of a net and hit the road to the end. She reached out pathetically and took Su Beimo’s hand, her eyes dense: “Are you still taking me home?”

“En.” Su Beimo said, “but don’t get me wrong, it’s too late and it’s not safe.”

“En, en. I know. Su Beimo, my ankle is twisted, can you carry…”

“I’ll borrow a wheelchair for you.” Su Beimo interrupted Qiu Lu. He remembered that this side of the hospital rented out communal wheelchairs, scanning the QR code, and paying the deposit.

Qiu Lu was dumbfounded.

And Su Beimo did so, but unfortunately this hospital’s communal wheelchair could not be pushed out much further than the hospital, otherwise Su Beimo would have really pushed the wheelchair to take Qiu Lu home.

Qiu Lu breathed a sigh of relief and as expected, Su Beimo carried her on his back to the cab. The two lived close to each other, and the car passed Su Beimo’s house before going to Qiu Lu’s house. Qiu Lu had already heard about Su Beimo’s neighborhood from her close friends, but she didn’t know exactly which building it was in. She had been preparing to chase someone for a long time and must have had her own little plan in mind.

“I don’t have my keys…”

When she said this, Su Beimo’s face was so dark that it couldn’t be darker anymore.

“I called my roommate, but she seems to be staying out tonight. She hasn’t replied to my message.” Qiu Lu lowered her head, looking pitiful, “Did she not bring her cell phone with her, I haven’t been able to call…”

No way.

Su Beimo asked the driver to find a hotel to park at the entrance of the hotel. Qiu Lu refused to get off of the car and kept telling some social news that it was not safe for girls to stay alone. The dim look of tears made the driver’s master couldn’t help but add a few words of jealousy. Qiu Lu’s mind was really obvious, she wanted to live in Su Beimo’s house.

“That’s fine, you live in my house, I live in a hotel.”

Now Qiu Lu’s face was black.

Su Beimo was bored by the toss, but it was not good enough to get angry. He got out of the car, took Qiu Lu and walked towards the community building, the tone was raw: “After you leave tomorrow, lock the doors and windows. You can return the keys to me on Monday.”

“…”

“Also, I’m really seeing someone.”

“You lied to me, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t lie to you, I hope you can keep a distance from me, otherwise my partner will be unhappy.”

It was the first time Qiu Lu met a guy who spoke so bluntly and was shocked, “You’re talking too much.”

“Qiu Lu, it’s not too much if I leave you behind” Su Beimo did suppress his urge to do this, “You don’t have to misunderstand too much, we are colleagues. If anything happens to you, it’s not my fault.”

This Qiu Lu first showed kindness to him in front of all his colleagues, causing everyone to think that they were ambiguous, and now she was playing a perseverance drama.If he really had a girlfriend, she would be furious when she found out.

Qiu Lu was really beautiful, and a pure face really made many boys move, but people with good-looking faces should not pursue others in this way.

Besides, Su Beimo had repeatedly emphasized that he already had a ‘girlfriend’.

Furthermore, this person who was called ‘girlfriend’ ——Liao Nanqing. At this moment, was standing dumbfounded in front of them.

At one o’clock in the morning, Liao Nanqing’s nose was red from the cold, and his hands were cold and numb. He wore thin clothes and waited for Su Beimo in the cold wind for several hours. In the middle of the night, he couldn’t bear to buy a bottle of hot milk for fear that he would miss the time for Su Beimo’s return after walking away for a while. So he didn’t leave a step, taking root, just waiting so stupidly.

Liao Nanqing knew he hadn’t come back when the lights on the floor where Su Beimo lived hadn’t been turned on for a long time.

Otherwise, with Su Beimo’s work and rest habits, how could he go to bed so early.

But the time slowly passed, and the alarm clock at zero o’clock pierced the ears. Liao Nanqing silently pressed it off and worriedly called Su Beimo several times and sent countless messages.

He was worried that something had happened to Su Beimo, but didn’t know where to look for him.

Except for a small broken cell phone, Liao Nanqing had not heard a single word from Su Beimo. The bond was limited to one cell phone number, and if one party did not receive it, the contact ceased to exist.

He was so helpless that he could only wait in place, not even daring to walk away. The cake sat on the bench beside him, alone, with a few thin candles and a plastic forked plate tied to it. Under the ribbon, there was a birthday card.

If you opened it, you could see Liao Nan’s refreshing handwriting and blessings on the inside.

When writing, the ink was still wet, and Liao Nanqing’s little finger accidentally touched the word, so there was a long imperfect ink mark on it.

The cake was ordered with the money he saved for several weeks, and because it was a bakery recommended by Xu Yanyan, the price was not low. For Liao Nanqing, this cake was extremely extravagant, and he would never buy it normally. There were thousands of cheap cake shops, but he was reluctant to buy those cakes that were not made of fine ingredients to celebrate Su Beimo’s birthday. He wanted to do his best to give Su Beimo the best.

Who knew, he came at a really bad time.

He unexpectedly ran into Su Beimo holding a petite and lovely girl striding towards the gate of the community.

Liao Nanqing almost subconsciously squatted and hid behind the bench, his heart was in his throat, blocking him, almost unable to breathe smoothly.

He was stunned, one moment he was expressionless, the next moment loss suddenly rushed to his heart, like several fine needles pricked his heart and there was a burst of pain. He had never seen Su Beimo hug anyone, nor had he ever thought Su Beimo would have a girlfriend. Liao Nanqing was so spoiled by Su Beimo that he almost forgot that Su Beimo was different from himself. He had friends, family, and the object of his affection.

He was the bright daylight, very different from the shadow in the corner longing for light.

The almost cruel reality knocked on Liao Nanqing’s head.

Only after they went upstairs did Liao Nanqing sluggishly stand up. He didn’t know what to make of his expression, but he lowered his head shamefully, staring at his brushed white canvas shoes that were incompatible with youth. His eyes seemed to see a hole in the ground, his numb expression was more solid than that of a glacier, and his eyes were red without knowing.

Liao Nanqing’s heart hurt badly, a burst of tightening, suffocating like a seizure.

Worrying about it.

It turned out that he liked Su Beimo.

This kind of liking, not the liking of a friend, but the liking that putting a person at the tip of his heart.

The tears were falling one by one, and he couldn’t stay for a second.

Liao Nanqing’s cry was even more distressing than a soft and weak girl like Qiu Lu. He did not make a fuss, only knew how to hide in the corner quietly with tears. The soundless, like the angry waves of the rising tide in the late night, intense but no one could see.

Liao Nanqing was in a trance, with intense emotions suppressed in his heart, so uncomfortable.

He didn’t stay much longer, turned around and left. The cake was left alone on the bench and would probably be picked up by the cleaners early tomorrow morning. It was his birthday gift full of thoughts and wishes, but unfortunately Su Beimo did not receive it.

It was too late today and Liao Nanqing could only wait for the earliest train to return tomorrow morning. He didn’t have much money with him; it was almost one o’clock in the morning and he was reluctant to spend money to stay in a hotel. He simply found a 24-hour convenience store, bought a box of instant noodles, sat at the door, and waited till dawn.

A sleepless night, Liao Nanqing’s face was a little pale.

The clerk asked with some concern whether to send him to the hospital, but Liao Nanqing refused.

He just wanted to go home quickly and sleep with his head covered.

Beautiful dreams and nightmare, always intertwined in a moment, Liao Nanqing would rather not distinguish.

But maybe last night, if Liao Nanqing walked one step later, he could see the angry Qiu Lu limping out of the residential building. She adjusted her dress, changed her gentle image in the past and rolled her eyes: “Shame on your face.” After cursing, she took a taxi and left.

And Su Beimo upstairs touched the cheek that was slapped by Qiu Lu and stroked his hair.

He took an ice towel to his face and lay on the bed, especially tired.

The business trip plus the social engagements, and Qiu Lu’s antics along the way, made Su Beimo feel like his head was about to explode. He took out the cell phone with the broken screen in his bag and plugged it in with a fluke. Fortunately, the broken screen lit up instantly, but unfortunately the power was drained and only an empty red charging alert was displayed on the top.

Su Beimo couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that he would be able to call Liao Nanqing in the morning.

He lay down on the bed with confidence, and because he was so tired, Su Beimo closed his eyes and slept until 7:30 in the morning.