```htmlDai Qing. Dental caries

Chen Yi has always had poor teeth, possibly due to his sweet tooth.
Dai Qing touched the edge of the bed and felt the coldness, suddenly waking up. He opened his eyes, put on his clothes, and got out of bed, seeing Chen Yi brushing his teeth in the bathroom.```
The mirror reflected Chen Yi's face, his brows slightly furrowed, with a ring of white foam around his lips, giving him a somewhat childish appearance.
Dai Qing said nothing and went to the kitchen to prepare a cup of warm water for him, adding a bit of salt.
Chen Yi finished brushing his teeth and wiped his face with a towel as he walked into the bedroom. His gaze briefly landed on the glass cup before moving on.
He asked, "Did I wake you up?"
Dai Qing shook her head.
陈一就轻笑了一声，在他的额头上亲了亲:“想要了？”
戴青望着他，陈一的眼珠子很黑，又漂亮又晶莹，像是一面湖泊。戴青不知不觉入了神。
At that moment, Chen Yi's phone suddenly rang. He lowered his head to answer it and then smiled.
Chen Yi said he had something to attend to and that he would be leaving first.
Both of them knew exactly what the matter was.
The neon lights in the city are too bright, making it impossible to see any stars. Dai Qing opened the window, and the wind suddenly rushed in, tousling his hair.
The taillights of the cars gradually blended into a myriad of scattered reds, and Dai Qing gently wrote the name Chen Yi on the transparent glass with his breath.
He felt that the water in the glass had already cooled down, and he drank it slowly.
It was very bitter and salty.
The next day, Dai Qing received a call from his father, saying that his mother had broken her leg while changing a light bulb last night and was now in the hospital for emergency rescue.
He checked the balance in his card, pressed his lips tightly together, and transferred fifty thousand to his father.
The man was still not very satisfied, feeling that the money Dai Qing sent was too little, and audaciously asked him for the hospital's meal expenses.
It is said that Dai Qing's mother is in poor health and needs to supplement her nutrition.
Dai Qing also doesn’t understand why his mother is with this man; he vaguely remembers that the man is not his biological father. As for who his biological father is, Dai Qing's mother has never mentioned it.
Dai Qing took his stepfather's surname. His stepfather was originally an elementary school math teacher, but later became addicted to gambling, which spiraled out of control, even selling the car and real estate.
Dai Qing has never met his grandparents, and his mother hasn't mentioned them either.
He thought for a moment that perhaps not everyone needs to know so much.
In the past, when Dai Qing was in school, he was often bullied; some boys in the class would intentionally like to pull down his pants and then laugh hysterically at his flustered appearance.
The head teacher doesn’t care about these things; the children here generally have wild personalities and can't be disciplined. The last teacher who intervened was attacked by students with bricks on the way home and ended up hospitalized in the town for a full two weeks.
Dai Qing's academic performance is poor, and he dropped out a long time ago.
The financial aspect is only part of the issue; more importantly, he no longer wants to study.
His poor grades mean there’s no future for him even if he graduates.
```htmlOnly the mother became very angry after she found out and gave a big outburst.
His mother is a well-mannered person who never scolds anyone and does not quarrel with others, but on that day she scolded Dai Qing for a long time, and her disappointment was evident.```
In fact, Dai Qing doesn’t understand why his mother has so many expectations for him; he is quite ordinary, even inconspicuous, just like everyone else.
Why is it that this world does not allow for the existence of mediocrity?
Dai Qing can't figure it out.
The next day, Chen Yi has a dental appointment, and the other person is busy, so Dai Qing accompanies him.
Chen Yi always unintentionally reveals a bit of childishness.
For example, he needs someone to accompany him to see the doctor, and he likes to eat candies.
His lips are slightly parted, and his brows are slightly furrowed.
Occasionally when it hurts, his brow tightens considerably.
There's quite a bit of blood flowing; the doctor told Chen Yi to pay more attention to brushing his teeth and to eat less sweet food, as he already has many cavities. If it gets worse, he'll have to get some teeth pulled.
Dai Qing saw that the teeth of Chen Yi, which had originally sprouted small black spots, were now smooth and bright as new.
On the way home, Chen Yi casually bought a bracelet for Dai Qing.
A small porcelain cat, with a snow-white belly bearing the character "Chen".
晚上在家的时候，陈一将戴青的手指放进了自己的口腔里。
湿润而高热，紧裹着他的指尖。
戴青甚至能摸到陈一柔软的舌头。
```htmlHe held Dai Qing's hand, running his fingers over his own teeth in rows.
“I see you’re quite curious about my teeth,”
Chen Yi said.
Dai Qing remained silent, simply lowering her eyelashes.```
```htmlChen Yi didn't come the day before yesterday.
Chen Yi didn't come yesterday.
Chen Yi didn't come today.
Dai Qing was leaning by the window, sketching some meaningless symbols on a sheet of white paper. He suddenly felt bored again, tossed the pencil aside, and Chen Yi had asked him to learn painting, for which he even hired a very expensive teacher.```
In fact, those things are very simple; Dai Qing can easily grasp the main points the teacher makes, but he deliberately chooses not to.
He doesn't want to be exactly like that person.
At least not for now.
Dai Qing touched the silver earrings on his ears, a gift from Chen Yi. His hair was untied and messy, and he looked up at the sky through the gaps in his hair.
支离破碎的。
对于跟陈一做.爱这件事情，戴青并不反感，虽然疼痛，虽然朦胧，但他不讨厌。
他能感受到自己是被渴求的。
被渴求使他心安。
忽然下雨了，从厚重的云翳之间降下一场湿润的尘埃。
戴青没有开灯，小腿肚子紧紧贴着玻璃窗，有点刺骨的寒意。
The door lock was turned.
Chen Yi, dripping wet, pushed the door open.
He didn't say a word and roughly pressed Dai Qing against the window.
Sweet rainwater seeped in through the screen, along with a hint of the acrid dust.
Dai Qing guessed that Chen Yi must have quarreled with Lin Jiang again.
Because every time they argue, Chen Yi will come here.
Chen Yi hasn’t left.
He’s unusually stayed here for a long time.
In those days, they were just like the most ordinary couple, having meals, shopping, and watching movies.
Chen Yi got so excited about Dai Qing looking at the goldfish by the pond that he eagerly used a paper net to catch the goldfish, getting himself all wet.
Finally, Dai Qing was holding that goldfish.
The goldfish swayed its tail fin in the transparent bag.
Chen Yi said he was going to the bathroom.
When he came back, he was holding a handful of roses and a box of cake.
Chen Yi said to Dai Qing, "Happy Birthday."
The sweet strawberry cake ended up all smeared on Dai Qing, making Chen Yi eat it off her.
That night, Dai Qing pressed against Chen Yi's warm chest and listened to his heartbeat all night long.
The next day, Chen Yi left again.
Dai Qing fell to the floor while sleeping.
The bed was cold.
He woke up from the dream.
Dai Qing waited for a long time, long enough for the roses in the glass bottle to wither and die, but Chen Yi still did not come.
The last leaf of the rose had fallen, and Chen Yi finally sent a message to Dai Qing.
"Let's not contact each other anymore."
He said this.
Dai Qing swept the roses into the dustpan, along with her heart, and threw them into the non-recyclable trash bin.
Illusory love, utterly meaningless.
Later, Dai Qing's mother was critically ill, suffering from diabetes and urgently needed a kidney transplant. His father took all the savings from their account and fled without a trace.
戴青找到了陈一。
陈一正在跟其他人喝酒，喝得很醉了。
He explained the purpose of his visit.
于是周遭便有人起哄了。
“陈小少爷，这是来找您售后了啊。”
“I think he looks pretty good, why not just keep him?”
Chen Yi said, “Is it not over yet?”
This sentence, it's unclear who he was speaking to, carried a hint of impatience, and the room suddenly fell silent.
Chen Yi asked again, "How much do you want?"
"Thirty thousand."
Chen Yi took the watch and tossed it into the cup: "Guess how much this watch is worth?"
Small bubbles rose up alongside the transparent ice cube.
Dai Qing said he didn't know.
Chen Yi laughed: "Thirty thousand."
He pointed his toes, leaning back against the sofa, looking down at Dai Qing: "I won't give you a penny; I'm not your ATM. I advise you not to be too self-degrading."
```htmlBefore leaving, Dai Qing heard someone sighing that Chen Yi was ruthless, leaving no way out for others.
Chen Yi said, "Do you really think that a person's life is invaluable? That's just because what you offer is not enough."```
“The lives of the poor are not called lives, the lives of the rich are called lives.”
His mother died because he couldn't raise enough money for the surgery.
On the day of the funeral, it rained heavily, and many red wildflowers bloomed by the roadside.
A car accident occurred not far away.
The person who was run over was an old man known by Dai Qing.
He liked to wear a light-faded blue shirt.
The BMW owner got out of the car and suggested not to call the police, but to settle it privately.
The final price is three hundred thousand.
The two parties whispered to each other and then left.
The old man's body was carried back to the village.
Dai Qing held an umbrella as the torrential rain soaked his hair.
A drop of bright red blood fell from the fingertips.
It landed on Daiqing's shoe.
He held the urn, speechless.
Eventually, everything unfolded logically.
Daiqing went to the Chen family.
```htmlChen Yi fell off a cliff and died.
Dai Qing, upon hearing the news, remained calm and went about his day as usual, buying a lot of strawberries.
The strawberries he picked were always bland—neither sweet nor sour, just tasteless.```
While eating strawberries, he wondered why that car happened to be parked in the most conspicuous spot within his line of sight, why the surveillance cameras at the entrance of the villa didn't capture his figure, and why he thought of the method of tampering with the brakes for murder?
```htmlThe initial idea stemmed from Chen Yi mentioning a suspense movie that Lin Jiang had watched.
Dai Qing crushed this strawberry and then threw the remaining strawberries into the trash can.```
Later, someone came to find Dai Qing, saying he knew Dai Qing's mother.
Dai Qing returned to a resplendent villa.
Someone told him a story about his mother.
When his mother was young, she fell in love with her married university teacher and, against all odds, wanted to leave with him, even going so far as to drop out of school and elope, cutting ties with her family.
They showed Dai Qing many items from her mother's past.
Beautiful tulle skirts, expensive jewelry, exquisite leather shoes.
Her mother looked like a different person in the photographs.
Not the version worn down by time and life later on.
Dai Qing looked for a long time and then asked, "Is there any candy?"
From that day on, Dai Qing developed a liking for eating candy.
One afternoon, he suddenly had a toothache.
He went to see the dentist, who told Dai Qing that he had two cavities.
Dai Qing did not pull it out.
By that evening, he only saw Jiang Xing alone.
Today was still like yesterday, the sunset was magnificent, and the sky was a subtle golden color.
```htmlHe blew out the candle and scraped a bit of slippery cream into his mouth.
So sweet.
Jiang Xing would not let Chen Yi come to see him.
Dai Qing knew.
Of course, the greater possibility was that Chen Yi was lying in the intensive care unit, hanging by a thread.```
```htmlLast night, my teeth hurt a lot, and Dai Qing couldn't sleep all night.
If only I had gone to have my tooth pulled earlier.
Dai Qing thought to herself.
Before Jiang Xing fired the gun, Dai Qing loosened her grip on the bouquet of roses, her arms outstretched, her slender, bony fingers gently hanging down, pale and powerless.```
Dai Qing slowly raised his head, gazing at the sky, as he fell backwards.
The orange-red glow engulfed him.
With a loud "bang,"
someone downstairs began to scream.
The clamor of voices suddenly surged forth like a rolling dust cloud, and everything became noisy and mundane again.
```htmlThe rose fell to the ground, its petals scattered.
Just like the youth who fell onto the concrete floor.```