half-baked life

When Li Tao was here, the tender love in Xiong Yunhao's eyes and the sweet affection on his eyebrows were like a snowman thrown under the bright sun, quickly collapsing and melting, leaving only a pool of dirt. The dirty sewage, together with his thin tears, fell into the bathtub below him one by one.

Gu Xia's body leaned back suddenly, as if he had been punched by Xiong Yunhao.

His first reaction was that he heard wrongly, but Xiong Yunhao continued to say, repeating those two sentences over and over again, he wanted to die, please help him.

Gu Xia suspected that Xiong Yunhao had practiced repeatedly in private.

Because he spoke these words very clearly, almost the same as ordinary people, which made him want to deceive himself and others and pretend that he heard them wrong, but he couldn't help it.

"really."

These two words popped up in Jiang He's mind unexpectedly. The weird thing just now was "sure enough" that she was not overthinking it.

For a moment, Jiang He felt that it was normal for Xiong Yunhao to want to die.

He is so young, but his soul is trapped in this body that is decaying and unable to move. This is even more cruel than losing freedom.

However, this condescending thought was quickly squashed and rubbed out of Jiang He's mind in disgust.

Something must have happened, otherwise an optimistic and strong person like Xiong Yunhao would not suddenly seek death.

"...Haha, old bear, you...stop joking."

Gu Xia laughed suddenly, took a clean towel, and carefully wiped Xiong Yunhao's tears and nose.

"It's so good, why do you suddenly...suddenly say such things? Are you willing to let Li Tao and Duo..."

He didn't say it was okay. When he mentioned Li Tao and Xiong Duoduo, Xiong Yunhao suddenly became more excited.

His chest rose and fell violently, and the index finger of his only movable right hand twitched convulsively, tracing over and over the edge of the bathtub, leaving behind a trail of wet marks in vain.

Just as Jiang He was about to offer words of comfort, Xiong Yunhao suddenly screamed hysterically.

The atrophy of his vocal cord muscles made his voice extremely unstable, like a rusty electric saw cutting inferior tiles.

A series of messy and rapid footsteps came from far and near, and the person who came was naturally Li Tao.

As soon as she heard Xiong Yunhao's screams, she left the two restless members of the business committee behind and rushed back regardless, even throwing off one of the slippers on her feet.

"Old Xiong, what's wrong with you? What's wrong with you?"

As she spoke, she pulled Jiang He away. Jiang He was unprepared and sat down on the ground.

Jiang He was grinning in pain, and Li Tao was already throwing herself next to the bathtub.

The bathtub was inflated and its center of gravity was a bit high. When she hit it, it immediately swayed from side to side.

If Gu Xia hadn't held him in time, Jiang He would have probably turned over, but even so, a lot of bath water inside was still spilled out.

Jiang He hurriedly pushed himself up, thus avoiding the embarrassing scene of getting his butt wet.

Gu Xia rushed over and helped the person up. Xiong Yunhao stopped screaming, but cried harder, as if he had been greatly wronged, and said something vaguely while crying.

Jiang He didn't understand a word, but Gu Xia obviously understood.

He looked at Xiong Yunhao in disbelief as if he had been struck by a ghost. However, Xiong Yunhao didn't even look at him, and only focused on weakly shouting "It hurts" to Li Tao.

"Old Xiong, you are... Li Tao, Old Xiong must have misunderstood, we didn't..."

Gu Xia opened her mouth to explain clearly, but she was rudely interrupted by Li Tao just halfway through her sentence.

"You two get out! Get out right now!"

She hugged Xiong Yunhao's upper body, completely ignoring that her clothes were wet with water, and roared at Gu Xia and Jiang He like a she-wolf protecting her calf. She was no longer as gentle and polite as before.

Gu Xia's face turned red. He obviously wanted to say something more, but Li Tao had already lost control of her emotions and started crying while hugging Xiong Yunhao. She was still asking the two of them to go out, but this time she was not forceful at all. The choked voice was full of pleading.

Jiang He quickly pushed Gu Xia and told him to go out first. He took the cell phone he was shooting from the tripod and then quietly left.

Jiang He gently closed the door and found that the people from the property owners committee hadn't left yet.

A man and a woman were looking around at the entrance door. When the man saw Gu Xia, he walked straight in from the outside and took out a cigarette from his pocket as he walked, "Brother, what was that..."

"Get out!" Gu Xia's face turned cold and full of intimidation.

The man obviously felt guilty, but felt that he could not lose face by just leaving. He was still thinking of a few words of defense. The woman outside the door quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him outside, not forgetting to apologize to Gu Xia.

However, Gu Xia didn't react at all and directly closed the security door.

"What did Old Bear just say? Did you get so angry?"

Although Gu Xia has a straightforward temper, he is gentle and rarely conflicts with others like this.

"He said... I abused him!" Gu Xia sat on the sofa with a straight face and said angrily.

"Old Xiong probably just doesn't want Li Tao to know what he wants...his true thoughts."

Jiang He didn't want to say the word "death", so she raised her hand to cover Gu Xia's hand and comforted him.

Gu Xia's two hands were twisted together so hard that his knuckles cracked.

"Don't take it personally." Jiang He patted her twice, and Gu Xia grabbed Jiang He with her backhand, with an unusually gentle force, just like holding a baby bird with bright yellow feathers.

"Not only because of what Lao Xiong said, but also because... when Lao Xiong said that he wanted... that he wanted to die, for a moment, I felt that he was right to think so."

Gu Xia mustered up her courage and raised her eyes to look at Jiang He, obviously blaming herself for the bad thoughts that had crossed her mind. "Gentlemen still 'discuss their deeds but not their hearts', let alone ordinary people like us... I am definitely not trying to comfort you. I have had the same thought as yours."

Jiang He met Gu Xia's surprised eyes and nodded with a wry smile.

She looked at the closed bedroom door, "Both Lao Xiong and Li Tao are so powerful. There's no way we can compare. We just have better luck."

Gu Xia's mood calmed down a lot, but Jiang He was still full of anxiety.

Although she has the video in hand, which can prove that it is Lao Xiong's "malicious frame-up", but if Li Tao is more serious than Zhen'er and makes the matter bigger, the audience will naturally believe the absolute weaker side.

Even if the evidence is conclusive, Jieping's reputation for bathing will be greatly affected.

If he wanted to completely avoid this outcome, he had to let Li Tao focus on the old bear's "wanting to die" and have no time to care about anything else.

Thinking of this, Jiang He pinched his eyebrows with a headache, but doing so would be too cruel.

"...Don't think about it, your mind is so messed up that it almost hurts my eyes."

Gu Xia raised her hand to cover Jiang He's eyes and pulled her into his arms. The back of Jiang He's head immediately rested on Gu Xia's chest, which was harder than anything she had spent a huge sum of money to buy. The first-class duck down pillow is perfect.

It's a pity that she didn't enjoy it for a while. The bedroom door opened and Li Tao walked out with a tired face.

The two of them immediately sat upright, and Jiang He had already organized a set of words in her mind that seemed to her almost perfect.

Jiang He was going to make insinuating remarks first, and then remind him in detail. In short, he had to let Li Tao focus on Lao Xiong's mental health.

If it didn't work... Jiang He pursed her lips. She hadn't thought about whether to show the video to Li Tao.

"Old Xiong wanted you to help him commit suicide, but you refused...right?"

Li Tao said directly.

These words were too straightforward, as if a hammer hit Jiang He on the back of the head. Jiang He suddenly forgot all the words he had finally thought of.

She stared blankly at Li Tao, who smiled sadly at her and bowed deeply, much larger than 90°.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

"No... it's nothing. Don't be so polite. Li Tao... you sit down first, sit down first."

Gu Xia reacted first, and he stammered in persuasion, not forgetting to reach out to help Li Tao up.

His fingertips touched Li Tao's wrist, and he was surprised to find that Li Tao's skin was extremely cold, as if he had been soaking in well water for most of the night.

"Okay, why did it suddenly... just..."

In front of Li Tao, Jiang He found that she couldn't say the word "death" at all, so she quickly poured a glass of cold water and put it in front of Li Tao.

"Old Xiong knows." Li Tao seemed to want to smile to lighten the atmosphere, but the forced smile just forced the corners of her mouth to rise.

"Ever since he got sick, the Elephant Theater has been busy terminating his labor contract. They don't want to have anything to do with the old bear. Maybe... maybe they're afraid of being blackmailed by us?"

Li Tao shook her head bitterly, "The notebooks written by Lao Xiong were sent by email at the beginning, but I waited and waited day by day, and there was no reply. I just sent them there one by one, begging them. Take a look, but... they don't read it at all, they don't even read it for free... Lao Xiong writes so well, why don't they want to read it..."

Li Tao's voice suddenly got stuck in her throat. She took several hard breaths, pretended that nothing happened, and continued talking.

"I didn't dare to tell the truth to Lao Xiong. I had been lying to him all the time. I just wanted him to feel that he was useful. I wanted him to... I wanted him to live a little more."

Li Tao casually wiped the tears on her cheeks with her fingers, "But at the beginning of the month, the Elephant Theater suddenly started a live broadcast. I... I thought of many ways and reasons, but... But the old bear still found out. , his spirit collapsed all of a sudden, and although he pretended to be fine, I could see that he...he didn't want to live anymore."

Li Tao's body was shaking violently due to excessive suppression of emotions. In order to cover up, she randomly grabbed a cup to drink water without even noticing that the cup was empty.

Jiang He quickly handed over the glass with water, and Li Tao drank it down in one breath.

She drank so hard that she choked hard, and the water sprayed everywhere. Jiang He and Gu Xia were both badly affected.

Li Tao covered her mouth in panic and coughed violently. Even so, she didn't forget to say sorry.

"We're fine, just some water."

Jiang He took out several pieces of paper and stuffed them into Li Tao's hand while comforting him. Li Tao curled his fingers and clasped them lightly, then suddenly covered his face with force.

Her shoulders were shaking slightly, and her shoulder blades stood out as if they were about to pierce the flesh and thin fabric at any time.

She was crying, helpless and desperate but also crying silently.

Jiang He and Gu Xia looked at each other and saw something very similar in each other's eyes.

The two of them helped Xiong Yunhao bathe the first four times. Xiong Yunhao told him three times in total when the mic would be on in his notebook. Jiang He and Gu Xia would go out of their way to listen, but they never heard anything.

In Jiang He's opinion, the three elephant talk shows they listened to barely even met the passing standards, except for the occasional one or two who could speak well.

The fundamental reason is that the quality of the book is not good. Compared with the one written by Xiong Yunhao, it is not even a little bit worse.

After listening to this scene, the busiest thing about my body was not my mouth, but my toes.

The most outrageous time was that Jiang He fell asleep after listening to it for less than half an hour.

When she woke up, the talk show hadn't ended yet. Gu Xia had just endured a series of yawns with difficulty, but two long snores suddenly came from next to her. The moment they looked at each other, they laughed out loud. , that was also the only time Jiang He and Gu Xia laughed in the entire talk show.

They talked about it on the way here and lamented that their luck was not so bad. They rushed to cheer for each other, but they didn't even realize that the open mic that Xiong Yunhao was looking forward to did not exist at all. .

After a long time, Li Tao's mood finally relaxed a little. She cried until her eyes and nose were red and swollen, and her voice became hoarse. But when she opened her mouth, she was busy trying to apologize to Jiang He.