Chapter 22 Hotpot and a Taxi
With Tang Xiaomang around, my stagnant days actually picked up a bit of life.
He and I both went to Lao Zhang's company. We clocked in together in the day and clocked out together at night.
Lao Zhang even joked that he was my little tail.
I laughed and snapped, "Get lost." I did not really mind it.
Tang Xiaomang was diligent. He saw work that needed doing. His cooking was far better than mine; I had only ever scraped by.
The house slowly took on the smell of cooking. At night there was always a hot meal waiting.
Only, as the days piled up, I seemed to catch something off.
The way Tang Xiaomang looked at me did not seem like a younger brother looking at an older brother anymore.
There was too much dependence mixed in, even... what looked like a careful kind of admiration.
It made my skin crawl a little.
On the winter solstice, a few guys at the company we got along with pooled some money, bought meat and vegetables, and set up a pot in the warehouse for hotpot. It counted as celebrating the holiday.
The mood was loud. Everyone drank a bit.
Tang Xiaomang could not hold his liquor. A few beers in, his face went pink, and his eyes started to go unfocused.
When he got drunk he did not raise hell like some people. He got extra well-behaved. He just... stuck to me especially hard.
He sat beside me, almost plastered to my body. Under the table, one hand quietly held the corner of my clothes and would not let go.
When it broke up, his whole body hung on my arm, his steps floating.
His mouth mumbled, "Qin Ye... Qin Ye..."
I held him up and got us into a taxi.