Chapter 7 second quarter

It was less than six o'clock when Luo Yang entered the house. This was the earliest time he came home in recent years. The house was quiet.The house has four bedrooms and two living rooms. Because there are no people, it seems too big, empty, and too lifeless.Luo Yang took off his coat and stood in the somewhat empty home, but suddenly found that he didn't know how to settle himself down.When he got home, he was at a loss and didn't know how to settle himself. This feeling made him flustered.Why is it so quiet!What about the stereo? What about DVDs?What about TV?They were so small in the big house, so small that he didn't see them, so they were mostly silent when they were brought back from the mall, becoming a vulgar decoration.Only a potted rubber tree in the passage connecting the rooms is vivid, thick and reliable.Luo Yang stopped in front of the rubber tree. He quietly looked at those vivid, thick and lush leaves. The dark green clusters gradually calmed his flustered heart.

Maybe it was too quiet, Luo Yang heard the cat's breathing.He walked into the living room, and the white purebred Persian cat probably just finished his afternoon nap, squatting on the sofa and yawning listlessly.Just like a person who just got out of bed, yawning is a necessary foreshadowing for his complete sobriety.Royan doesn't like cats, and cats don't like him.When the Persian cat saw Luo Yang coming in, it jumped off the sofa and rushed to the storage room, vacating the space that originally belonged to Luo Yang. Luo Yang walked to the three-seater sofa, just about to lie down, but looked up and saw two glasses on the coffee table, filled with leftover tea, and a cloisonné ashtray full of cigarette butts.It was used yesterday, when I was in a hurry and didn't pour it away.He looked at the glass, the leftover tea in it had turned dark brown under the action of the heating.

Under normal circumstances, if Luo Yang's used teacup or ashtray is not cleaned by himself, no one has ever taken care of it, even if it is moldy. Liu Xu once said that she has rhinitis and is afraid of peculiar smells, such as smoke or strong tea.She wrinkled her nose as she said this, and sneezed loudly and exaggeratedly.Since they got married, Luo Yang didn't want to embarrass her about household chores, and never embarrassed her.For example, Liu Xu doesn't want to cook, because she is afraid that her clothes will be stained with oil, and her hair will smell of oily smoke, so she doesn't have to cook.Even if they cook occasionally, they are noodles. Northwesterners often eat pulled or rolled noodles, which are boiled in white water and poured with soy sauce and vinegar; Roast duck, sauced pig's trotters, pickled mustard, fermented soybeans bought from the grocery store, and occasionally cucumbers mixed with vinegar and tomatoes mixed with sugar.Luo Yang doesn't eat this kind of meal very often, after all, he eats too little at home, so he doesn't care about being picky.Liu Xu stopped washing clothes five years ago. She said that washing powder hurt her skin, and her hands should have been taken care of long ago.Except for underwear and socks, she sends all the laundry that needs to be washed to the laundry.Underwear and socks cannot be easily shown, and cannot be sent to the laundry. These small things have been washed by Luo Yang from the time of marriage to the present.Many things in the family do need people, and a woman is needed to take care of them.Liu Xu is unwilling to hire a nanny or a part-time worker. She said that she is worried about new people in the family, but she did not specifically say what she is worried about, people or money?Or people and money?Many things are just so sloppy.

However, at this moment, the leftover tea and ashtray in front of him became a problem for Luo Yang. When he saw the marble coffee table piled with overnight tea and cigarette butts, he looked unkempt and embarrassed, just like seeing his own mess. Judging from Luo Yang's obligatory washing of underwear including his wife's socks for the past 20 years, he is not a typical northwestern male chauvinist.However, today he just didn't want to clean up those overnight teas and ashtrays, and he didn't want to continue to face them.Then let them air out, airing out the embarrassment of this family is also airing out one's own embarrassment.He threw down the garish coffee table and went to the kitchen.The kitchen window is made of single-layer glass, which is not tightly sealed. You can hear the sizzling sound of the neighbor's cooking, and the smell of fried hairtail wafting in.It's time for dinner.Luo Yang opened the refrigerator, and there were only ham, sausage, canned tempeh fish, iced juice, and a piece of hard dry bread.

I was supposed to have a good afternoon tea at the leisure club just now, but a woman named Lu Xia disturbed her, so I didn't eat a bite of the pumpkin pie.At this time Luo Yang felt his stomach growling.However, he had no appetite for the junk food in the refrigerator, so he left the kitchen and returned to the living room to turn on the heat switch of the water dispenser.After the water boiled, he made a cup of instant coffee and brought it to the study, where he sat on a soft leather chair beside the desk, drinking coffee while reading the day's "China Legal News": The court made a verdict, and the dust of the largest software piracy lawsuit in China is now settled; the director of the judiciary directs the fraud case; pornography invades the primary and secondary school campuses... After flipping through a newspaper, Luo Yang looked up and saw a small piece of paper pressed against the ink bottle on the desk , he picked it up to look at it, it was a movie ticket for 8:00 p.m., and then pressed it back under the ink bottle.It's been so many years since the passion for watching movies, and it's rare for anyone to keep it up.

After a while, Luo Yang heard the door opening and footsteps, and knew it was Liu Xu. Liu Xu entered the door and saw that the door of the study room was ajar. She poked her head inside and said, "You came back early today? Have you eaten? I went to the beauty parlor for treatment, and I ate fast food at Tiankelong by the way. If you I haven't eaten yet, and there is bread in the refrigerator." She spoke very fast, almost without a pause, and a paragraph of words continued into long sentences, like a faucet turned on, more like talking to herself nervously. Quickness is the style of catkins, no matter what it is; fastness can't avoid being frizzy, and can't avoid losing things.At this time, she quickly finished expressing her meaning without listening to Luo Yang's answer, turned around and left the study, and hung her coat and handbags in front of the simple closet in the corridor.The handbag fell to the ground in a panic. She changed her slippers to pick up the handbag, and scattered the keys, wallet and cosmetics.

It is said that fuss for no reason is a characteristic of menopausal women. Luo Yang walked out of the study, wanting to say something to Liu Xu.Seeing her fuss, he hesitated and said, "I... came back from dinner." Liu Xu looked back at him, "I knew it." "I think, should we... talk about family affairs." Luo Yang felt that he was a little struggling to speak to her, and that he was a little bit careful in his words, and his words didn't convey the meaning.Maybe it was her thoughtless fuss that messed up his thinking. He originally wanted to talk about the teacup and dinner, but now he didn't know which one to talk about first, or whether he needed to talk more.

"There is nothing to do at home. Oh, in the morning, the property manager said that owners who have cats and dogs will charge more for sanitation. At noon, the lawyer downstairs sent two movie tickets. I will make dinner for Xueer, and we will watch a movie later. "Liu Xu said, washed her hands and ran to the kitchen.In the absence of outsiders, the way she walks can be called "Ben". Cher was the name of the purebred Persian cat.Catkins prepared a rich dinner for it, boiled sausage, fried ham, and hot milk.Only then did Luo Yang realize that the food in the refrigerator was for cats, and he felt nauseated.

Liu Xu put a plate of thinly sliced ​​sausages, ham and a small pot of warm milk on the ground, and whispered: "Moo... woo!" Xue'er crawled out from under the sofa, shaking her snow-white body. Fur, meowed at the owner a few times, and buried himself in chewing those sausages.After eating from the plate, he dipped his mouth into the milk again, and let out a hearty gurgling sound from his neck.The half pot of milk was quickly finished, it raised its head and shook its fur again, the snow white all over its body gleamed with a silky luster under its shaking, very beautiful.Xue'er probably also knows this very well. Whenever it is happy after eating and drinking, or when it wants to please its master, it will shake its body to show off its dazzling beauty like silk.Then it started wandering around the house.Because of overeating, its belly is bulging, its fur is more shiny, and it walks waddlingly, showing a fat and graceful posture.In this way, Xueer took small steps slowly, staggered and awkwardly walked from the sofa to the TV, and then walked back, wandering around the hostess.Liu Xu sat in the middle of the three-person sofa. She hugged Xue'er in her arms, cleaned its fur and paws with a wet towel, and combed it with a transparent horn comb.

When the time for "News Network" came, Luo Yang also came to the living room, sat on a single sofa, and turned on the TV with the remote control.The sofa in the living room is a combination of three, one for three, one for double and one for single, arranged in an L shape.This set of sofas and soft leather chairs in the study are a set, both made of calfskin. The sofa is wide, black, dignified and luxurious.Luo Yang is most satisfied with the things at home. This set of sofas was made by him at the furniture store.When there is no one around, he can lie on it, and sometimes he simply puts his bare feet on the armrest, fully enjoying a rare looseness and freedom.But when he and Liu Xu are in the living room at the same time, he never just sits on the single sofa, even if he watches TV from a slightly skewed angle, which is a bit awkward.

Luo Yang was watching "News Network" slantedly and awkwardly, and suddenly caught a glimpse of the horn comb in Liu Xu's hand.He asked seriously, "Where did the comb come from?" "I found it on your bookshelf. I was looking for a book this morning, and I found this comb. It's small and beautiful. It's just right for Xueer, so I took it out." "Clean the comb and put it back for me! You are not allowed to enter my study from now on, I don't have any boring magazines you want to read!" His voice was not loud, but it was very important. Liu Xu threw Xue'er down, and slammed the horn comb on the ground: "Did you take the wrong medicine?! It's a broken comb!" "You, you, pick it up for me!" Luo Yang clenched his fists, his knuckles were clenched, and his whole body was trembling. "Do you dare to hit someone? Try it with your finger!" Liu Xu yelled loudly, but her confidence was obviously lacking.She picked up the comb, threw it on the coffee table, and swept the teacup off the coffee table.There were only two crisp sounds of "pa-pa", broken glass and residual tea splashed everywhere, and two dark brown tea stains appeared on the light blue tiled floor. "Crack!" Luo Yang stood up and slapped Liu Xu on the face.In fact, he didn't strike hard, but Liu Xu was shocked, his face was red, orange and purple, and the stars were shining in front of his eyes.She opened her mouth, but didn't make a sound, and stood there dumbfounded.Luo Yang is always honest and peaceful, and she has never seen him lose his temper so much.After being frozen for about half a minute, she finally accepted the fact of being slapped. Like a furious female beast, she rushed over with a low growl: "You beat me to death today!" The doorbell rang suddenly.Liu Xu withdrew her hand, even the angry expression on her face immediately subsided, took a broom to clean up the broken glass and tea leaves on the floor, and signaled Luo Yang to open the door. The mess in the house was quickly cleaned up. "What are you doing at home? There's a lot of commotion." Lawyer Si and his wife Tan Meijuan came in. "Xue'er jumped on the coffee table and knocked over the teacup." Liu Xu handed Lawyer Si cigarettes and a lighter with a smile, and called Tan Meijuan to eat melon seeds, so peaceful that she didn't look like she had just quarreled. Xueer just ran up to the hostess and licked the corners of her trousers intimately.Liu Xu took advantage of the situation and kicked it.Xueer ran away with a "meow". "So it's a cat?! I still treat you as a couple..." Tan Meijuan smiled teasingly. Lawyer Si didn't light a cigarette, and he interrupted Tan Meijuan: "Don't babble, the movie is about to start. Lao Luo, you didn't come home at noon? The movie ticket was issued by my wife's work unit. I didn't see you, so I had to give it to you." Ma'am, are you free tonight?" Tan Meijuan is the conductor of the Municipal Cultural Palace, and she is also responsible for cleaning when there are no performances. "A handyman", Liu Xu somewhat looked down on her.And Liu Xu has been laid off from the work unit very early. Although she is called a "full-time wife", she can't get rid of her identity as a housewife no matter what.Tan Meijuan can often talk about work in the unit infinitely superiorly in front of Liu Xu.However, the two men who are lawyers are dating, and Luo Yang bought a car a few years ago, and often took the trouble to take the Si family's children to school along the way, and Tan Meijuan often sent free performance tickets.The two women felt that they were on equal terms with each other, and they just kept going back and forth like this, which seemed to be a bit affectionate. "I'm sorry, I can't go tonight due to business, you can see." Luo Yang said. "Forget it if he doesn't go. Liu Xu, you come with us. I'm getting an internal viewing ticket for this film's Spring Festival premiere. I'm very nervous." Tan Meijuan said. Liu Xu was so angry for no reason, she had nowhere to go for entertainment, and she was afraid that Tan Meijuan would see the unhappiness at home, so she agreed, put on her coat, put on lipstick on her lips, packed up in a hurry, and took the movie tickets with her The lawyer and his wife went out. Soon, there was the deafening roar of lawyer Si's second-hand Santana when he stepped on the gas pedal downstairs. Luo Yang sat weakly on the sofa, picked up the horn comb on the tea table and stroked it, a sour feeling welled up in his heart.