Wish you a happy birthday!

  I've never seen a chicken not take money from guests, at least I'm not that kind of person. We're all in the same industry, the only difference is that ducks are generally more expensive than chickens. I asked him with wide eyes if he really didn't want any money? He nodded and said he didn't want to spend the night alone tonight. I smiled and told him, you don't take money, then I have to collect it, how much will you give me?

  The devil thought the chicken would also follow the trend and quack like a duck, he was obviously surprised, looking at me with some disbelief, I didn't bother to respond to him, I felt that he must have looked at me with a neurotic gaze. I hailed a taxi and was about to get in when he grabbed my arm and asked me how much money I wanted.

  A number popped into my head, and I casually said two thousand. He nodded and we got into the taxi together. The driver looked back at us but didn't say a word. A man visiting a prostitute was just another normal thing.

  He took me back to his place, a roughly thirty-square-meter single room, with all sorts of guitars hanging on the walls and a piano that clashed with the simple decor, enough to show how much he loved music.

  As soon as I entered the room, I saw his bed, which was a metal bunk bed that looked like a school dormitory bed. It was very clean and tidy, with a music score placed on the edge of the cabinet.

  There was no stool in the room, and the only place to sit was on that bed. He didn't even have anyone coming over to his place. He poured me a cup of hot water from the thermos and stood politely aside.

  His gentlemanliness made me laugh a bit, according to the tyrant's temperament, he should have told me to roll into the bathroom and wash myself from head to toe, then come out and serve him. I asked if I could go take a bath? He nodded and helped me turn on the gas water heater. Actually, the bathroom was just separated by a layer of frosted glass, the space was very small, turning around would touch the wall.

  I took off my clothes one by one and stood under the shower to cool down, but soon the water turned cold. I was so frozen that I shouted out loud, and he apologetically told me that the water heater was old and had some problems, and it would be fine if he just turned it off and on again. As he spoke, his eyes were looking directly at mine, his gaze didn't wander to my body even once, and there was no lust or passion in his eyes.

  He handed me his long T-shirt and shorts, I didn't say anything and quickly put them on. When I came out, he was playing the guitar and singing Pu Shu's "Life is like a brilliant summer flower", his voice was hoarse, with a strong melancholy, I think many women can't help but go up and hug this lonely white-shirted man.

  After he finished singing a song, I sat beside him and told him that I didn't like Pu Shu's songs. He turned his face to look at me seriously, as if expecting me to say the following words. I said life is already full of helplessness and sorrow, why add more trouble for oneself.

  He smiled, revealing neat and clean teeth. Because he himself was tinged with desolation and sorrow, his smile made the whole room brighter. My vocabulary is limited, so I can only describe his beauty and charm in this way.

  I looked up at him and said, I think many women must have told you that you're handsome. He reached out and gently tucked the hair stuck to my mouth behind my ear, his movements as tender as if he were treating a lover. He said, there are also many men who say you're beautiful, aren't there? I smiled lightly.

  He asked me, "What's your name?" I told him without hesitation that my name is Lu Xiaowen. He said his own name was Lin Yuhuan, and he was afraid I wouldn't know the characters, so he took out a pen and paper and wrote them down stroke by stroke.

  I said that's a nice name, I'll definitely remember it. He nodded and smiled in response, yeah! That was the name my father gave me, he's a poet, and he even published a collection of poems before. He took out a collection of poems from his drawer and handed it to me, and also brought out an album.

  He flipped through the album, pointing to a photo of a man wearing glasses and said, "This is my dad." I couldn't associate the elegant man in the photo with a drug addict. He pointed to a smiling woman and said, "This is my mom, she used to be an art soldier."

  I can imagine how happy this family used to be. I looked up and asked him, "Don't you hate it?" He said he used to hate it before, but later came to understand that one has to live on for oneself first. He gazed at me and asked, "What about your mother?"

  I shrugged and said, "My mom was bought back from Vietnam by my dad for 3,000 yuan. At first, she cried and made a fuss, but after giving birth to me, she settled down. Everyone thought that having a child would make her more docile, but one day, she went to the market with the neighbor's wife and never came back."

  He asked me how old I was at that time, and I held up my index finger and middle finger, then bent the middle finger down halfway. He looked at me with a more relaxed expression and said happily, "Then I'm luckier than you!" I couldn't say who was lucky, as I had no impression or memory of my mother, nor did I know what she looked like. In fact, I didn't have any feelings for her, and I hadn't experienced the pain of losing her.

  He and I huddled together on the iron bed, which was also very small, and it was impossible for us to lie down flat. I just slept sideways. He turned his head to look at me, and I thought he wanted to kiss me. Honestly, if he wanted to, I wouldn't refuse him, because I didn't dislike him, so I agreed to sell myself to him. There's another reason: I also don't want to spend the night alone tonight.

  I'm not a woman of high moral standards, I don't understand what it means to be chaste and self-disciplined. I'm just a young lady, those three obediences and four virtues, the ethics and morals can't bind me.

  He asked me, "Do you know what holiday is today?" I replied with a smile, "Is it your birthday?" His hand was placed on my cheek and he didn't say anything. I knew I had said the right thing.

  What a pathetic person would want a mistress to accompany him on his birthday. I'd like to ask him, what about your father? Don't you have any other relatives or friends?

  I couldn't help but think of myself, my family has been unreliable for a long time. The nightclub sisters would sweetly call me "sister" this and "sister" that, but what am I really to them? Those bosses who take care of my business would boldly promise me that they can be found for anything, but their goodness is nothing more than wanting to get in bed with me, what do I have anyway?

  I said happy birthday to him, he smiled and said thank you.

  He and I didn't do anything, we just hugged each other, the smell on his body smelled really good, like some kind of soap fragrance.

  The next day when I woke up, I saw 2000 yuan placed beside the cabinet. I hesitated for a moment and took the money. I didn't want to have any further contact with him because I sensed a kind of despair from him, but of course, I also understood that he just wanted to find someone who could empathize with his situation to listen to his story.