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"If I can do it, I will definitely do it for you."
After he finished speaking, the atmosphere became noticeably quiet.
Gu Xinglan lowered his eyes and saw milky white water droplets dripping from mid-air onto the floor. He looked up and saw that it was the popsicle that Li Hetai was holding.
Looking further up, he saw Li Hetai staring intently at him, and he quickly avoided his gaze.
Didn't you want him to keep his promise? Why isn't he saying anything...?
After a long pause, Li Hetai's somewhat hoarse voice was heard: "It's good that you remember. You still owe me a favor."
In his line of sight, a half-melted popsicle was handed to him. Milky white liquid was slowly sliding down the stick and dripping onto the ground, forming a sticky water stain. The outer layer was already soft and limp, as if it had been steamed out of shape by the heat, leaving only the middle part that barely retained its original shape.
“This… has melted.” Gu Xinglan pointed to the popsicle.
Li Hetai's hands were wet from the melting ice cream, with a few drops of milky white liquid still clinging to his fingertips and slowly dripping down.
But the boy didn't seem to care. He just looked down at what was in his hand and said in a calm tone, "It's still edible even if it melts."
"Never mind, I'll buy you a new one. This one's all ruined."
After saying that, Gu Xinglan turned to walk towards the convenience store, but was blocked by Li Hetai who walked a few steps faster.
"No need to buy," the young man said casually, glancing at Gu Xinglan. "I'll eat it myself."
After saying that, he raised the popsicle to his mouth, ready to take a bite.
But his expression wasn't nonchalant; in fact, it showed disappointment, as if he was waiting for something.
Gu Xinglan felt somewhat uncomfortable.
This was the first time the boy had bought him something to eat.
"Never mind, I'll do it. Go buy a new one yourself." Gu Xinglan readily took the popsicle.
The melted cake slowly slid down the stick and dripped onto my fingers, leaving a sticky and unpleasant feeling.
Gu Xinglan forced herself to take two bites.
The ice cream melts in your mouth, and the sweet taste spreads instantly throughout your palate.
The taste was not bad, but it was too sticky, which he found a little unpleasant.
Gu Xinglan swallowed, and when she looked up, she found the other person looking at her.
The darkness in his eyes was layered upon layered, making it impossible to know what he was trying to express, but one could vaguely sense an uncomfortable sense of oppression.
"Don't stare at me like that," Gu Xinglan said helplessly.
He devoured the ice cream in two or three bites, and suddenly summer didn't seem so repulsive anymore.
When they returned, the air conditioning had been turned back on. Song Zhengsi was drinking with the people at the next table, the air conditioning was blowing at full speed, and the group was playing drinking games and drinking.
Song Zhengsi had been drinking, so he couldn't drive today, and Gu Xinglan didn't have her ID card on her.
"We can't stay in hotels, and the villas are too far away. If we can't find a place to sleep, we'll just have to sleep in the park."
Without hesitation, Gu Xinglan started looking for nearby parks on her phone.
It's late at night, and the last bus has already left.
"Drink! I can still drink!"
Song Zhengsi hugged the bottle and sipped at it haphazardly, enjoying the cool, refreshing feeling.
The smell of alcohol almost permeated his entire being.
"Stop drinking." Gu Xinglan put away the bottles and jars. "Let's go to the park and have some."
The hand holding the bottle was suddenly grabbed.
It wasn't cold; it was warm and soft.
Completely drunk, Song Zhengsi looked up in a daze and saw Gu Xinglan, who was a few years older than him. "Brother Xinglan..." Song Zhengsi chuckled several times.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a delicate and pretty face...?"
Unable to reason with the drunkard, Gu Xinglan asked the waiter, "Do you have any hangover cures here?"
The waiter seemed a bit dazed, and quickly shook his head and then nodded.
"..."
This waiter looks like he's been given quite a bit of alcohol by the customers here.
“Brother Xinglan, come with me. Let’s not stay at the Li family anymore. Let’s go work somewhere else. The salary there is several times higher than at the Li family…”
The person who was helped out was still shouting.
Stepping out of the restaurant, a blast of hot air hits you.
Feeling cold and the wind hot, Song Zhengsi suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. Just as he was about to hug the person next to him, he was suddenly struck hard on the forehead, the pain causing tears to well up in his eyes.
"Oh no, my head is bleeding, my head, my head..."
The object thrown was a hangover cure, and the person who threw it was Li Hetai, who was walking on the zebra crossing with a blank expression on his face.
"Wake up!" Gu Xinglan patted the person on the ground several times.
The man cried out twice, then suddenly fell asleep on the ground, unresponsive to any patting.
"I come."
Li Hetai looked indifferently at Song Zhengsi lying on the ground, rolled up his sleeves, and slapped Song Zhengsi's face several times before pinching his nose tightly.
Soon, the drunkard who had fallen into a deep sleep woke up again, his stomach churning, and Song Zhengsi vomited all over the floor.
Now, forget about going to the park, even whether I can sleep tonight is a problem.
"Hello, is this 120? There's someone here who seems to have alcohol poisoning, in the middle section of Jiangnan Street, Wushui..."
After calling the ambulance, Gu Xinglan couldn't bear to look at the person on the ground.
The smell of alcohol seeped into the surroundings in wisps.
The restaurant waiter hurriedly ran over with a broom and a bucket.
Three o'clock in the morning.
"Customer, would you like some bottled water? We can provide it for free." The waiter looked at Gu Xinglan.
An ambulance drove by on the street, its siren blaring, drawing everyone's attention from inside the store.
As luck would have it, Gu Xinglan, who was sitting on a bench, was about to go to the hospital with the ambulance when she was grabbed tightly by someone.
"Gu Xinglan?"
The person who came out spoke in a somewhat dazed voice, and there was a faint smell of alcohol.
Upon seeing that unmistakable face, he gasped and roared, "It really is you!"
The voice was extremely familiar. Gu Xinglan turned her head and saw that haggard yet excited face.
"you you!"
Lu Yinian opened her bloodshot eyes wide in disbelief, her hand trembling as she very slowly touched Gu Xinglan, murmuring:
"It really is you...you're not dead..."
Who knows what happened when he went to the urban village? People there said that Gu Xinglan was killed in a gas explosion. He died without anyone to see him off. He could only set up a memorial tablet for Gu Xinglan himself and make offerings to him every day. On the seventh day after his death, he even rented a small mourning hall, set up offerings, burned paper money and incense. The black and white portrait is still in his house.
Before you know it, spring, summer, autumn, and winter have all passed.
"You damn bastard! If you're not dead, why didn't you even call me?!"
Gu Xinglan took two punches to the chest from Lu Yinian, the force of which was great. She had no way to avoid them and was knocked back onto the bench.
Immediately afterwards, his shoulders were pressed down hard by the other person's hands, trapping him inside the bench.
"You, you need to calm down first."
The hot air emanating from above kept hitting Gu Xinglan's forehead. If Gu Xinglan tried to escape, Lu Yinian would grip her shoulders even tighter.
"You, Gu Xinglan, I've called you hundreds of times, even called the police and filed a lawsuit for you, and not only have you disappeared, but the police treated me like an idiot. Are you just playing with me like a dog?!"
The more Lu Yinian cursed, the more energetic he became, and his face grew increasingly rosy. Suddenly, he was struck hard on the back of the neck, and his vision went black and he became dizzy.
He fell to the ground with a thud.
The one hammering the man was none other than Li Hetai, who exuded a chilling aura, his hand still raised high.
Just as one problem was about to be solved, another arose. While Gu Xinglan was still in a daze, Lu Yinian, who was next to the chair, had already been carried into an ambulance.
The nurse waved her hand a few times in Gu Xinglan's eyes, "Sir, are you alright? Sir?"
PDLP