Dou Xun felt that there was a huge trap in front of him. He could see the dragnet, but he was still attracted by the bait in the middle of the net without hesitation. He turned around anxiously, wanting to accept his fate, but also wanting to struggle.

"I'm still a loner." Dou Xun said, "I don't like hanging out with a bunch of people I don't know well, and I don't like you not being in front of me all the time... I've seen a psychologist and read a lot of books, trying to change myself, but it's hard to change one's nature."

Xu Xilin understood. He broke the contract once. Dou Xun had learned to be a villain first and a gentleman later. He had said the ugly words in advance. He nodded: "Yes."

Dou Xun added: "Sometimes I stare at you all day and night, but I still don't know what you are thinking. I am just... just a piece of expired adhesive tape. It won't stick to anything I stick it to."

Xu Xilin served all the prepared dishes and placed them in the dining room: "Why are you suddenly so self-aware?"

"When you are in a high position, you think everyone in the world is a fool," Dou Xun gently touched Xu Xilin's calf, "One day you tripped and fell, and got a mouthful of mud. After tasting that, you realized that you are not much smarter than others."

"I caused you such a big mistake, why don't you find someone better?" Xu Xilin sat on a small stool in the restaurant, sighed, bent down, leaned forward slightly, took Dou Xun's hand hanging by the side, and pressed the still protruding knuckles on the back of Dou Xun's hand back and forth, just like when they said goodbye with difficulty that year.

Xu Xilin asked: "Is it because none of them are as handsome as me?"

Dou Xun's eyes were slightly red.

Dou Junliang was very honest back then. Everything changes very quickly. In the past ten years, the country and the banks really went bankrupt. Xu Xilin really went from poverty to wealth overnight. And he will never say "forever" again, because he knows that he will break his promise and get rich.

The flesh of mortals will eventually decay, and the soul will not be immortal. Even a person cannot predict what he will become, either because of temptation or coercion. Reeds are not strong, and rocks will eventually move. Even if you keep making vows, they may only serve to slap your face.

So how can a relationship that has no insurance or compensation, but can easily break people's hearts, continue?

Dou Xun whispered, "Well, because none of them are as handsome as you."

...It's probably the "I still love you" that is both "drinking arsenic with a smile" and "flying into a flame"?

Xu Xilin accompanied Dou Xun to eat a hot meal. Although they had agreed to catch a flight the next morning, they still dawdled until very late. He told Dou Xun how the grey parrot became the eighth ghost story in the haunted dormitory, and the legendary story of how Song Lianyuan sold himself for a cause. It was as if they were back in the small living room of the Xu family's old residence. The two of them each occupied one side of the sofa, fighting over a bag of beef jerky. They could only see each other on weekends, and every time they talked so much that they would talk until their voices were hoarse.

It was past ten o'clock in the evening and Xu Xilin had no choice but to leave, so he said goodbye.

"Then I'll leave." Xu Xilin picked up his coat and said to Dou Xun.

Dou Xun's fingers curled up subconsciously, as if he wanted to grab something, and looked at him eagerly: "What time do you fly tomorrow?"

Xu Xilin: "Eight o'clock."

It takes forty minutes to drive from his home to the airport, so we have to leave after six o'clock.

Dou Xun struggled to correct his overly strong clinginess and possessiveness, and repeated the words "If you leave, I won't see you off. If you come, I will pick you up no matter how windy or rainy it is" in his mind two or three times. He forced himself to be considerate, and reluctantly put away his reluctance and stood up to see him out.

Xu Xilin put on his clothes slowly. For some reason, he stood at the door while changing his shoes and lingered: "I might not be back for a month or two, maybe I can avoid the whole summer. You... um... forget it, let's talk about it when you come back. I'm leaving now. Bye..."

Dou Xun thought he would be back in a few days, but when he heard "one or two months", he was immediately confused.

What do you mean by "I won't send you off"? Go to hell! Don't leave!

Before Xu Xilin could finish saying "bye", Dou Xun pounced on him and took him back without any explanation.

The door he had just opened was slapped back by Dou Xun: "I'm closer to the airport, don't leave today."

Xu Xilin: "My luggage and documents are all here..."

Dou Xun: "I'll go back and get it for you tomorrow morning."

Xu Xilin was startled by his sudden change of expression after tearing off the mask, and was unable to recover for a moment: "But..."

Dou Xun stopped him from talking and grabbed his waist and dragged him back.

Xu Xilin: “Shoes, shoes, shoes…”

Dou Xun was impatient and kissed him on the corner of his mouth: "I'll take you to the airport."

Xu Xilin: “…”

Dou Xun was getting used to it and was not satisfied with just one kiss, so he slowly moved forward and touched the tip of his nose a few times as if testing something, awkwardly giving himself a chance to express his tenderness that he had no way to express.

When he approached, Xu Xilin's mind suddenly went blank. He grabbed a handrail, and the handrail seemed to be pulled down and moved down along with the force of his hand. The door of Dou Xun's bedroom opened.

Xu Xilin suddenly leaned against empty space, and the two of them fell into the house due to inertia, hitting the chair at the door, and the mountain of books that Dr. Dou Luo had been reading there collapsed.

All these years have passed - and he still hasn't gotten over his habit of using chairs as bookshelves.

Dou Xun's hips collided head-on with the heavy back of the chair, making a loud noise.

The chair flew.

Dou Xun: “Hiss…”

Xu Xilin stepped on a pile of "engineers of human souls", touched the wall twice with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and turned on the wall lamp. The dim light illuminated Dou Xun's face which was a little distorted in pain. The two looked at each other for a while, and Xu Xilin: "Puff——"

Dou Xun rubbed his nose, feeling very embarrassed.

Xu Xilin: "Did I catch up with your transformation?"

He raised his eyebrows slightly as he spoke. Dou Xun had not thought much about anything just now, but now, standing opposite him in a small space, the evil intentions that had not been nipped in the bud grew rapidly, and in an instant, it completed the process of sprouting and growing into a towering tree, breaking through years of separation and sadness.

His heart began to beat wildly in his chest and his throat was so dry that he couldn't speak.

Xu Xilin coughed dryly. In order to ease the atmosphere that was about to get heated, he used the opportunity to divert attention by picking up the books on the floor. Picking up the first book, Xu Xilin glanced at the cover inadvertently and made small talk: "Oh, I bought this book too - why didn't you just tell me earlier and take it from me?"

Dou Xun then remembered this matter and his face turned red all the way to his ears.

"I also have this book..." Xu Xilin glanced at the book that fell on the ground, and finally realized something among the familiar faces. He looked up at Dou Xun in disbelief, and the corners of his mouth moved up and down several times.

Dou Xun dodged his gaze for a while, then got angry and glared back at him.

Xu Xilin waved a book in his hand and said, "We are... that, so we are like psychic, right?"

Dr. Dou was finally fed up with his teasing and closed the bedroom door without saying a word.

What happened next seemed to be a natural progression, and it also seemed like an old dream coming true.

The thoughts and entanglements across the ocean condensed into a bunch of fuses in the chaotic night, and a fire burned through it and exploded. The quiet wall lights were layered and blurred, and those words that dared not be spoken or were inconvenient to be spoken were all blurred into a piece of paper, turned into fog, and turned into chaos...

It becomes a silent confession that is understood by everyone.

Dou Xun felt that he should be tired and satisfied, but he didn't sleep much the whole night and woke up once every ten minutes on average.

He habitually maintained the posture of occupying half of the bed, and before reaching the critical point of half asleep and half awake, he would vaguely forget where he was. He always felt that there was only an empty set of pillows and quilts around him, and he would open his eyes in shock to confirm.

After doing this several times, even a dead person could not fall asleep. Dou Xun became completely alert and lay facing the ceiling for a while. He could not help but reach into the quilt, grabbing Xu Xilin's hand, then hugging him. He had to touch something to feel at ease.

It was past three in the morning when Dou Xun got up as if he had taken stimulants.

People who are not used to living with others for a long time tend to sleep lightly. Xu Xilin was about to wake up in a daze. He turned over with a frown, but was turned back manually by the lunatic Dou Xun.

"Where are the keys?" Dou Xun leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I'll go get your luggage for you."

Xu Xilin had low blood pressure in the morning, and he felt so uncomfortable that he couldn't open his eyes.

When Dou Xun saw him frown, he didn't want to argue anymore. He touched his face gently, went to pick up the coat that Xu Xilin had thrown on the ground the night before, and found the key in his pocket.

He walked to the door and suddenly remembered the wicked things he had done when he was young - he woke up Xu Xilin who was on vacation at home early in the morning, kissed him, ran out for a while, felt unwilling to give up, ran back and woke him up again, just to kiss him the other way.

Dou Xun felt a little amused and felt that he was really annoying at that time. If he could go back to the past, he would definitely catch that kid who disturbed his sleep and give him a good beating.

Dou Xun drove Xu Xilin's car to his house. Xu Xilin often went on business trips, so the suitcase was placed next to the shoe rack.

After opening it, Dou Xun briefly checked his spare clothes, charger, computer wallet and ID, and seeing that they were all packed, he knew that he had sorted them in advance and could just pick them up and go.

The grey parrot, who had been left alone at home, finally saw a living creature and cried out pitifully, "Congratulations, I wish you great wealth and prosperity."

As a result, it flew out and found that the person coming was not Xu Xilin at all. It thought that its feelings were deeply wasted and ran away in melancholy.

Dou Xun, who had received the auspicious words early in the morning, was in a good mood and changed the water and added food for the parrot. He waved to the grey parrot hiding far away and said, "I'll send your father away first and come back to see you later."

The parrot was stunned—love rival! Stepmother!

Dou Xun's long-cherished wish was fulfilled, and his whole temperament became softer. At this moment, he found everything in the world pleasing to the eye, and did not take it seriously, but walked away with a smile.

He threw Xu Xilin's luggage into the trunk, and remembered that he had jumped down the last two steps, which was too brisk. Dou Xun paused, and reflected on himself for a moment, thinking that he was too cocky, and that he seemed to have no substance despite being an adult.

But ordinary men are so lacking in substance that the soul can only be touched through the body. In order to cure his conceited middle school cancer, Dou Xun has told himself countless times about facts and reason, convincing himself that he does not have the qualifications to be extraordinary, but his condition always recurs.

Until this moment, he admitted it wholeheartedly and thought to himself: "I am really vulgar."

Then he went off humming vulgarly.

Dou Xun acted as a driver and took Xu Xilin all the way to the airport.

"I'll be back as soon as possible, help me..." Xu Xilin said as he reached into his pocket for the key, but found nothing. Then he remembered that none of the clothes he was wearing belonged to him, inside or out.

"Feed the birds." Dou Xun shook his keys.

Xu Xilin had a feeling that if he continued to stick around he would not be able to leave, so he quickly ran away pulling his suitcase.

King Dou obtained a strange new territory and could not wait to go and inspect it. The grey parrot huddled on a high shelf like a slave of a conquered country, watching Dou Xun come and go in fear. He went out and bought a bunch of toiletries, which he secretly placed in a small cupboard for spare toiletries.

He picked up Xu Xilin's bath gel and shook it. He felt that there was only half a bottle left. His heart was full of anticipation - if he waited patiently for a few months, Xu Xilin would eventually return to the familiar smell.

Dou Xun admitted that he was a little morbidly nostalgic, and he knew that it was impossible to go back to the past, but he still couldn't resist the desire. He didn't dare to act too rashly in front of Xu Xilin, and was ready for a protracted war, wanting to make up for what he had lost bit by bit in a subtle way.

Just at this time, the part-time worker came. Before leaving, Xu Xilin gave him the part-time worker's phone number. Dou Xun said hello to her and went to train the grey parrot. It turned out that the part-time worker worked very quickly. After cleaning the living room, kitchen, bathroom and the small bedroom with the door opened, he ignored everything else and said goodbye to him and left.

Dou Xun asked curiously, "Are the other rooms not covered?"

The hourly worker politely told him, "The other rooms are all locked. I don't have to take care of them. Didn't Mr. Xu tell you?"

Xu Xilin really didn’t say anything.

Dou Xun sent her away inexplicably. He wanted to call Xu Xilin and take the opportunity to talk to him, but he was a little worried that he would disturb him by contacting him too frequently. Although Dou Xun confessed his excessive possessiveness and control in front of Xu Xilin, he did not dare to plant his bad habits on the other party's tolerance.

"What's in the room? Why is it locked?" Dou Xun asked the grey parrot.

The grey parrot made up its mind to keep silent in front of him.

Dou Xun thought about it and opened the small drawer on the shoe cabinet at the door - the Xu family's spare keys and change for buying groceries were always kept here - and sure enough, he found a few room keys.

Dou Xun took the key, came to the locked room, and asked the parrot bravely: "Can I take a look?"

The grey parrot thought about it, flew to his shoulder, and decisively surrendered to the enemy - large parrots are very curious, and have long wanted to explore the place at home where they cannot go. Finally, someone is willing to take it to do bad things, which is what it wants most.

The man and the bird hit it off immediately. Dou Xun opened the door of the north-facing  study -like room and recognized at a glance that it was the furnishings of Xu Jin's former  study

Dou Xun was stunned for a moment, then he grabbed the grey parrot that was trying to take the opportunity to fly in, and closed the door in time. The grey parrot wanted to bite him angrily, but he pinched its neck.

"Don't move here." Dou Xun said to it softly, his eyes involuntarily drifting to the door of another bedroom. At this time, Dou Xun discovered that the two sunny-facing bedrooms in this three-bedroom apartment were right opposite the door. If there was a living room in the middle, the layout would be exactly the same as the second floor of the Xu family.

He realized something and felt a tightness in his chest. He walked over slowly, step by step. He tried twice to insert the key but failed. Then he realized that his hands were shaking.

Dou Xun took a deep breath, lowered his head and smiled self-deprecatingly, thinking: "Don't be so self-indulgent, maybe it's just a storage room."

The door hinge let out a delicate sigh, and the truth behind the door lock burst into Dou Xun's eyes without any obstruction.

He saw the old desk that had been used for the summer vacation. There was an empty chocolate box on the corner of the desk. The expired insulating tape had been blown into the air, and the yellow heart shape had become mottled. Several books that he had not taken away that year were spread out  on the desk, and between  the pages there were still the violent handwriting of his youth...

The grey parrot took the opportunity to break free from his clutches and began to patrol the new territory as it wished.

All of Dou Xun's senses were paralyzed for a moment. He didn't know how long it had been before he came back to his senses from the old dream that was like his past and present lives, and found himself in tears.