She opened the door quietly, looked around, then walked out of the door. When she closed the door, the room was already as bright as day. Afraid that the firelight would be exposed, she quickly closed the door, and the original darkness returned to her eyes. Cheng Mingxiang carefully locked the door and left. When she stood on the road and looked back at the dim alley, her home was still in darkness. Then, she cautiously hailed a taxi. After getting in, she looked at her watch again: one-thirty-five in the morning.
"Miss, are you still out doing business so late?" the old driver asked.
"Well, I was so immersed in the conversation that I forgot the time." Cheng Mingxiang smoked a cigarette calmly, "Please turn right there."
Cheng Mingxiang deliberately walked in the opposite direction, got out of the car at a suitable location, and then changed to another taxi. This time it was in the direction of "Fangxian Hotel". She got off the car about 500 meters away from "Fangxian Hotel", and then deliberately walked in the dark alley in the opposite direction in front of the driver. The driver waited for Cheng Mingxiang to get off the car and sat in the driver's seat to fill in the daily report. Cheng Mingxiang felt that this time seemed extremely long. After a while, the taxi finally drove away from Cheng Mingxiang. She walked to the back door of "Fangxian Hotel". Fortunately, she was not bumped into by her colleagues. She instinctively looked at the sky behind her. There were only a few stars hanging in the sky. Of course, she couldn't see the tongues of fire rising from her home from here.
She knew the trick to cross the garden through the back door and then enter the guest room. The lights in the garden would go out at twelve o'clock in the night, and the old man in charge of the boiler would sometimes come out to patrol. Fortunately, he didn't catch her.
The lights were turned off in every guest room, which seemed to be occupied by tenants. She took off her shoes and stepped lightly onto the lawn, quietly walked to the door of Room 112 and stood there. She knocked on the door quietly, and the door opened immediately, and Xiao Long appeared in front of her. Xiao Long pulled her in, and she suddenly had an urge to hug Xiao Long.
"Hurry up and change your coat." Xiao Long closed the door and whispered softly. He looked at her nervously. She opened the next door, and there were quilts in the room inside. In fact, Xiao Long didn't need to stay overnight at all. She quickly took out her clothes from the closet and took off her coat and formal dress. Until now, she was so nervous that her hands were shaking and she couldn't grasp the zipper on her back. Because her whole body was shaking so hard, her trembling feet seemed to make a sound on the floor. In another room, there was the sound of the collision of wine cups and bottles from Xiao Long's side.
After a lot of effort, Cheng Mingxiang finally put on her pajamas and tied her belt, but it just wasn't tied beautifully. She quickly wrapped the clothes she took off in a cloth and walked to Xiao Long's side. At this time, she fell down as if paralyzed, gasping for air, and felt that the bright room had a dim feeling of insufficient power. Xiao Long silently took the bag of clothes, put it into the suitcase on the floor, closed the lock and locked it.
"It's one forty now." Xiao Long looked at the gold case watch in his hand, then toasted to Cheng Mingxiang, "Let's have a drink!"
She couldn't hold the wine glass steady, and the bottle rattled.
"You drink two or three drinks first." Xiao Long said with a smile, "Between half past eleven and two o'clock, you drink with me in my room, you understand!"
She nodded.
"Put on some lipstick, your lips will no longer be bloody."
She silently took out the powder box and looked at her face in front of the mirror. Her expression looked stiffer than usual. She pursed her lips, turned away the lipstick and applied it, and then spread it evenly with her little finger. This time it was thicker than usual.
"That's good," Xiao Long smiled, "It seems that the food to go with the wine is not enough."
Xiao Long muttered and reached out to pick up the phone in front of the alcove. Cheng Mingxiang stared at his movements intently.
"Let's make some delicious dishes to go with the wine. I'm a little hungry. Miss Cheng Mingxiang and I are the only ones here. Please bring us something for two." Xiao Long put down the phone and took out a cigarette, "Fire!" Xiao Long He demanded to the confused Cheng Mingxiang.
Cheng Mingxiang finally collapsed in front of Xiao Long's knees. Xiao Long saw this and gently shook Cheng Mingxiang's shoulder. "Don't worry, stay calm." He said, "Don't show a panicked expression. Let's chat. You can talk about whatever you want. Do you want to listen to me sing a song?"
Xiao Long's singing voice is full of magnetism. At this time, a greeting came from the corridor, and the sliding door was opened immediately. The young waitress delivered the food on behalf of Xiaomei.
"Thank you for your hard work." Cheng Mingxiang said in a particularly calm voice, "Are you still busy over there?"
"I'm not busy, I'm not busy. Please use it slowly!" Dai Xiaomei glanced at the two of them, bowed her head and stepped back with a smile.
"She didn't raise any suspicion." Xiao Long said, "Everyone believes that you have been staying here..."
At about four o'clock in the morning, Cheng Mingxiang went back to the staff dormitory and went to bed. Xiao Long took a taxi and left at 2:30 in the morning. The female employees in the dormitory were snoring one after another. Cheng Mingxiang couldn't sleep because of her nervousness. Although she drank several glasses of wine under Xiao Long's persuasion, she didn't feel as relaxed and tired as usual.
"Drink some wine, have a few drinks, and then have a good sleep." Xiao Long said just now and poured wine for her. While she was drinking, she was still paying attention to what was going on outside. She remembered that after drinking for about four ounces, a car with a honking horn passed by at high speed.
"It's a patrol car." Xiao Long said, as if he was correcting Cheng Mingxiang's misunderstanding. He still kept a calm smile on his face, and his eyes seemed to soothe Cheng Mingxiang's emotions. Cheng Mingxiang listened absently, but his mind was elsewhere. .
At this moment, she was lying in the dark room, not sleepy at all. Suddenly, she felt as if the white light of a spotlight was shining on her closed eyelids. She was so frightened that when she opened her eyes, she saw the illusion of tongues of fire rising in front of her eyes. She tossed and turned and kept changing sleeping positions, but her sleep was still restless.
The phone at the counter rang. Since Mao was on duty tonight, Cheng Mingxiang listened carefully, but the ringing tone had disappeared and no other sounds could be heard. It turned out to be her illusion. If the call was from Sister Guan, it would probably be at this time. No, in fact, he should have called earlier. When he and Xiao Long were drinking in the room, Cheng Mingxiang was most worried about the phone ringing.
She tried to calm down and not think about anything, or let some unrelated things pop up in her mind, such as recalling childhood memories or memories of previous travels. She also tried to hypnotize her by counting sheep, counting from one to ten. Repeatedly, maybe this monotonous way can induce drowsiness.
Suddenly, the sirens roared again. She opened her eyes again and looked at the dark ceiling, her ears chasing the distant sound of police sirens. It seemed that there was only one car, and it didn't ring the bell. It was indeed a patrol car. After the patrol car passed by, there was no sound anymore, and even the distant sirens disappeared.
If a fire breaks out there, the fire trucks here will also be dispatched. Although it is a bit far from here to there, no, even if it is far away, support will be provided. Of course the fire trucks here will be dispatched. However, there was no movement at all.
Cheng Mingxiang thought that the plan might have failed. Maybe the neighbor noticed a fire in the house and rushed in to put it out. As a result, only the door and floor were burned, and the unknowing husband was still sleeping soundly in bed. Cheng Mingxiang suddenly felt a surge of hatred. How long will that guy live? His vitality is as strong as an animal. She couldn't help but feel sad for her failure: Compared with Zhao Kuan who was sleeping unconscious, she who didn't kill him was more pitiful. When she began to hate her husband, her nervous excitement finally relaxed.
At seven o'clock in the morning, Cheng Mingxiang woke up. Even if I go to bed later, I will still wake up at this time. The rigid work began at this time. I cleaned the room in the morning, but nothing happened. The weather was surprisingly sunny, the bright sunshine shone into the room, and the trees in the courtyard were full of spring.
It was as if nothing had happened, and the memory of last night was like a dream. Whether it was walking on the road at night, pouring gasoline on the coal stove, or rushing back in a taxi... these have gradually faded from memory. The memories of last night and this morning seemed to be completely interrupted and there was no way to connect them.
"Cheng Mingxiang, you guys were quite close last night." A colleague said, squinting at Cheng Mingxiang.
This sentence was a dig at her for spending more than two hours with Xiao Long in the guest room last night. Xiao Long is a distinguished guest of "Fangxian Hotel" and has a special liking for Cheng Mingxiang. This is a well-known fact. Other colleagues think that Cheng Mingxiang has caught the distinguished guest.
