TCOR CH18

Chapter 18 :The Drawbridge Effect

This person is too dedicated to teach at a time like this, isn’t he?

I didn’t cry. Tears in the body are always annoying, when you are angry you shed tears, when you are sad you shed tears, when you are touched you shed tears, the tears in the body are like workaholics, the moment there is a slight emotional fluctuation they have to manifest their existence.

I just don’t understand why you have to be like that all of a sudden. I sniffled and opened my mouth to breathe, trying to hold back the bubble of tears in my eyes.

If a man sheds a tear now and then, others might think you’re sentimental; more than that, you become synonymous with weakness and uselessness, and no one will think highly of you.

What good are big tears? It’s not a pearl, no one cares if you shed a lot of them.

I stretched out my hand a little and solemnly said to him, ‘I won’t accept your sponsorship, and I don’t want to take any shortcuts, even if I end up choosing the path of photography and I’m not famous, that’s still my own choice.

He may think I’m being silly and pretending to be noble, but I always feel that there are more important things in this world than constantly climbing up and chasing success, like …… love. Love for my family, love for my interests, love for everything. It’s the unshakeable heart, the bedrock that shaped me, the only thing I can look back on in my barren life after the age of thirteen and take comfort in.

I didn’t want anyone to destroy it, not even myself. What’s more, I don’t want to tie my success or failure to another person, especially not to Shen Wunian. As soon as money and interests become involved, the relationship will be tainted and we may not even be friends in the end.

But can Shen Wunian and I be considered friends? I couldn’t help but have a little doubt.

I apologise to you once again, I hope you will forgive me. Shen Wunian suddenly reached over and touched my eyelashes.

I reflexively closed my eyes, and the tears I had been holding back in my eyes fell with such foreboding that he caught them all at once.

I’ve said these words many times to others, and you’re the only one who’s ever rejected me. He looked at the tear and meticulously wiped it and the blood from his knuckles with kitchen paper, ‘Most of them would have taken it in stride and quickly come up with even more brilliant ideas than I did.

Tears stained my eyelashes and the wetness made my vision blurry, and since I was already broken, I just stopped pretending and raised my arm, vigorously wiping away the remaining bit of tears with my sleeve.

You are forgiven.

Having wiped one eye, I was about to wipe another when Shen Wunian grabbed my wrist and gently led me away.

Don’t use your sleeve, use a handkerchief to wipe. He pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me.

I took it willingly, folded it in half, then put it to my eyes and asked casually, ‘Those people who accepted your offer, did they all succeed in the end?

There was a rustling in front of me, which must have been Shen Wunian putting the cotton buds, iodine and other things back into the medical kit.

Une ordure comme ?a? Il n’a a aucune chance. “Ta” sound, the medical box closed, Shen Wunian’s voice line is soft and gentle, seems to carry infinite blessings: ‘With such ambition, they will always succeed. ‘

When I heard his answer, I sighed slightly.

It is also true that the pursuit of fame and fortune is the norm in this world, I may still be in the ivory tower before I feel deeply subverted imagination. Ten or twenty years from now, when I am worn out by the years, I may not be any more eager to succeed than they are.

My inner feelings made me not even care about Shen Wunian’s tugging at the bird’s tongue.

Afterwards, because of my glorious injury, Shen Wunian would not let me into the kitchen, so I had to stay in the living room and read to pass the time.

An hour later, the sky was completely dark and Shen Wunian’s dinner was ready.

A tomato and brisket risotto, an egg roll with meat loaf, and baked prawns with asparagus and broccoli.

Each dish was full of colour and flavour, and what shocked me most was my portion of risotto, where the rice was actually pinched into the shape of a kitten.

The kitten, with coffee-coloured spots, lay at the bottom of the plate, covered in a blanket of tomato brisket, and winked at me.

“Why isn’t yours? I looked at Shen Wunian’s plate, which was just plain rice.

‘It’s a reward for being a good boy. He shared his fork with me and greeted me as I sat down to eat.

Small talk could always be avoided at meals, but usually I was the one talking and Shen Wunian was the one listening. It was comfortable to talk to him, the kind of comfort where you could say whatever you wanted. He even knows my biggest secret, what else can’t I tell him?

When you talk to Bai Qi Xuan, you can tell him more about his work. He’s under so much pressure at work and usually has no one to talk to, so he’ll like you as a listener. After finishing the meal and cleaning the dishes, Shen Wunian suddenly said.

It took me a while to react, he was talking about my date with Bai Qi Xuan next Saturday.

Oh, okay.

If he hadn’t reminded me, I would have almost forgotten the purpose of my visit today.

After dinner it was time for the last step of the evening, watching a film.

Shen Wunian asked me if I liked horror films, and I froze for a moment and repeated, ‘Horror films?

If you want to improve your relationship, of course you have to watch a horror film,’ he teased with his eyes, ‘or else watch The Iliad?

I unconsciously swallowed, ‘I …… don’t have much of a preference, you make the choice.

So Shen Wunian chose a classic horror film that I, who never watch horror films, knew.

At first, to show his fearlessness, I also sat far away from him, but as the plot progresses to the climax, the picture is gradually thrilling, even if you don’t open your eyes, the horror of the sound effect is also pervasive, drilling into my ear canals, I can’t control to move the body, leaning towards the person next to me.

Shen Wunian had his hand on the arm of the sofa, felt my proximity, looked up and asked, ‘Are you scared?

I’m not afraid of the dark, not even of ghosts. When I was a child, after my parents died, my greatest wish was that they could become ghosts and come back to see me.

But not with that kind of shock, that is beyond my tolerance!

No, I’m just a bit cold. I said with a stiff upper lip.

In the next second, the film emitted a tragic scream, my heart pounded and I hurriedly grabbed Shen Wunian’s clothes.

Shen Wunian looked at his collar, which was about to be torn off, and said with a smile, ‘Would you like me to undress you?

‘Ah? No, no need. I forced myself to let go of his sleeve, feeling a little unsteady with my feet on the floor, and silently lifted them up and curled them in front of my chest.

A man’s soft laugh came from beside me, and Shen Wunian took the initiative to lean over and extend his palm towards me, ‘Give me your hand.

I was already stunned, not caring what his intentions were, I obediently raised my left hand.

Ten fingers interlocked and held tight, Shen Wunian’s above-average body temperature passing through his palm.

‘Better?’ He asked.

This was like a lifesaving straw in a sea of black wind and sin, coming just in time and just right.

‘Thank you, thank you, oh, much better. My body moved closer to his, my injured forefinger raw with pain from the strong grip, but I didn’t have the slightest thought of letting go.

Shen Wunian and I watched the whole film hand in hand. When the credits rolled, I secretly cheered in my heart and immediately felt as if I had gone through a thousand sails and had been reborn in an instant.

It was still ten minutes before eight o’clock, so I packed up and got ready to go.

I’ll go with you. Shen Wunian put on his coat, took the car keys and said.

I zipped the down coat all the way up, not enough, and put the hat on, so that when I shrank into the clothes, the sense of security was full.

Does …… have to be a horror film?’ Sitting in the car, I hesitated to ask.

‘It’s the drawbridge effect. Put simply, when you are with someone, the physiological response you have to fear can easily be mistaken by the brain for someone else’s heartbeat. If you don’t want to watch a horror film, you can go bungee jumping with Bai Qixuan. Shen Wunian replied professionally and coldly, saying, ‘One foot of the accelerator out of the basement.

I touched my heart and whispered, ‘Then it’s better to watch a horror film.

Horror films can at least empty the brain and escape, bungee jumping will really kill me.

As he waited for the red light, his vision perhaps not so clear, Shen Wunian took off his glasses, casually wiped them twice with a handkerchief and put them back on.

I think I asked him before why short-sighted people do not wear glasses, he said it was a prop so that others would treat him as a good person. At the time, I just thought the man was strange, but now that I think about it, could it be some kind of psychological suggestion?

Glasses? Shen Wunian tilted his face slightly.

I was startled and realised that I had asked what was on my mind.

‘Just a little curious. I said eagerly.

The neon lights outside the car blurred Shen Wunian’s expression; he seemed to smile and then he didn’t.

It’s the ‘primacy effect’. The car in front of him began to move slowly, he shifted into first gear and followed suit, “First impressions have a very important effect on interpersonal interactions. The first time you meet, what kind of person you think the other person is, then by and large, in the future together, that impression of yours will always remain, even if others tell you that he is not that kind of person, it will be hard to change your perception easily.

‘I see.’ I nodded, having learned a lot.

‘Little Ai ah, is the one who sent you here today the same Mr Shen from last time? Lili put on her lipstick and looked at me in the mirror.

I tidied up the mess on the sofa and sniffed in surprise, ‘How did you know?

I just happened to see it when I came in. Lilly was quiet for a moment and then asked, ‘Little Ai, you’re not in that kind of relationship with him, are you?

What kind of relationship? I unfolded a piece of paper and realised it was an invoice from two years ago, and as soon as I crumpled it up and threw it into a bin bag.

‘That is, look ……’ Lilly turned around, made a hollow fist with her left hand, extended her index finger with her right hand and stuck it in.

I furrowed my brow in confusion, ‘Drill?

Lili rolled her eyes, no longer selling, ‘Drill your head ah, I asked you and it is not a bed relationship.

‘Oh.’ I blushed, ‘Of course not, he and I are just …… friends.

When I said the last two words I was rather vain and my mid-air was not very sufficient.

Lili looked at me for a long time and then turned back to the mirror to make up, ‘It’s good to be friends. You ah, don’t learn bad with us, sometimes people are step by step degradation, today think kissing and going to bed is no problem, tomorrow will think it’s no problem to sell kidneys, after a few years the wife and children can be sold ……’.

Don’t worry, I won’t be bad, and he’s very good. I don’t know who threw all the underwear on the sofa, I hurriedly threw it in the bin and said to myself, ‘You’re not bad people, don’t talk about yourselves like that.

This time Lilly was quiet for longer, until I’d almost cleared the whole sofa, when she got up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and walked over to me and stroked my head.

‘You’re so well-behaved, how reassuring.’ She sighed.