Seeing those two people, I was a bit surprised. But apart from them, I really couldn't think of anyone else.

  It was just after noon, and the Chen family's courtyard was very quiet. The sky was overcast with white clouds, and the accumulated snow had not melted. Zheng Zhiwei was wearing only a thin shirt, with a large coat on top, and his shirt buttons were not all fastened. He stood with one hand resting on the staircase, looking at me and Tan Jiao, his expression not very pleasant.

  Chen Baozhu stood behind him, wearing only a sweater and a skirt. Her medium-length hair was messy, her face was red, and she slightly lowered her head, looking very embarrassed.

  In the narrow storage room, four people faced each other. Zheng Zhiwei finally smiled and spoke first: "How did you two end up here?" He also glanced at Chen Baozhu: "I thought no one would come this afternoon."

  "I told him that the professor asked me to fix a pipe and come over to get a wrench." I didn't intend to tell the truth. Tan Jiao was very perceptive and remained silent.

  A man like Zheng Zhiwei is really not to my liking. Arrogant, self-conceited. He smiled and said: "Oh... I thought you guys were also looking for a place like this."

  I frowned, and Tan Jiao behind me had already spoken up: "Mr. Zheng, I didn't understand what you just said, why are we looking for a place like this?"

  Every time I paid attention to her, she also flipped through a few pages. She seemed to understand even more than me. I smiled, but Tang Jiao was topped with such a non-soft and non-hard sentence, Zheng Zhiwei didn't get angry, just smiling at her.

  At this time, Chen Baozhu, who had been silent all along, said: "I'm going back to my room." Zheng Zhiwei grabbed her hand and coaxed softly: "Don't be angry, blame me." He looked up at us and said: "You can look for whatever you want, but please keep your mouths shut."

  I nodded, and Zheng Zhiwei put his arm around Chen Baozhu and left.

  Tang Jiao and I were silent for a while, then she hesitated: "The basement... are we still going? After all, they just... cough, it's not very convenient, is it?"

  I couldn't help but laugh, and patted her head saying: "What a mess of thoughts in that brain of yours." I went downstairs first. She trailed behind me, hesitantly, and under the sunlight outside, there was clearly a tense and excited glint in her eyes.

  A look of complete understanding.

  Suddenly, a few days ago, she jumped out of her mouth and said that sentence, and her heart suddenly jumped.

  She actually doesn't understand anything.

  The basement was also piled up with things, but there wasn't much flammable material. There were only a few crumpled up balls of toilet paper on the floor and a woman's coat hanging on the storage rack, which should have been Chen Baozhu's.

  I don't want to stay here for long either, "Let's go."

  Tan Jiao's face had already turned somewhat red, and she said: "Should we bring Chen Baozhu's clothes up to her?"

  "I said: 'Never mind, she'll come and get it herself.'"

  We went back upstairs, Tan Jiao's face was still red and puffy, but her expression was a mixture of nonchalance. I thought for a moment and said: "Do you still think Zheng Zhiwei is okay? He brought a woman to this kind of place and didn't even close the door, he doesn't respect his own girlfriend at all."

  Tan Jiao replied: "He is indeed too frivolous and not steady, I don't like this kind of person."

  I have to admit that sounds pretty good to me, and I looked at her saying "Yeah, you're right."

  She suddenly smiled. It was that kind of clever smile, as if she understood everything. The kind of smile that makes men's hearts itch with curiosity. Thinking about her nonsense all day today, I felt a sense of vigilance, but at the same time, there seemed to be some expectation, an expectation that shouldn't exist. So I turned my face and said, "Let's go."