suddenly tired

Chapter 14 Apricot Garden-11

Zhong Lei has been living in a semi-reclusive life for the past few years. He wears a mask when he goes out, does not chat while driving, and never joins in the excitement. He hides from troubles whenever he can. Although he was in a band before, he is definitely not a hot-blooded and impulsive character. .I don’t know what’s wrong this time, maybe it’s because I’ve been with Sister Liao for a long time and I really treat her as my sister, knowing what will happen to her when she returns home; or it may be that she has a sense of righteousness out of thin air, and wants to save people from fire and water without caring about anything or just Ji Sumian's teary eyes, begging him to save others as he helped himself.In short, he brought Xiao Chen, called Lao Zhang and Brother Yu, picked up the ones that were handy, made a determined effort, and rushed to the cry of Sister Liao.

Before leaving, Ji Sumian and Lao Fang were pushed through the door by him, "Keep an eye on him, don't let him go out."

The two looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing exactly who Zhong Lei made to stare at whom.They didn't say it clearly, but it had the desired effect. The two of them didn't move, they sat quietly at home, listening to the movement with their ears open, waiting for news.

The old Fang saw that Ji Sumian was holding the phone nervously, and had already typed the three numbers 110 on the call interface. He only needed to tap the green dot to call the police immediately, but he might be too anxious, and his fingers trembled slightly.Lao Fang slowly pulled out his mobile phone and put it on the table.

"I'm afraid that if you shake your hand, you'll punch it out."

"Uncle Fang, don't you really need to call the police?"

"If you can't fight, two of them will come, and at most they will just quarrel. Don't worry, Brother Lei won't suffer."

"Oh, why haven't they come back yet?"

"Maybe they are negotiating. I guess they will leave first tonight. It is not certain when they will come back or whether they will bring more people."

"Huh? Will you come again?"

"Son, don't you watch movies? Did the villain completely disappear after being driven away in the first round? These are all her neighbors, and there is no one who can really go all out to protect her. Her family may come back tomorrow, making trouble." It is also possible that they will call the police first.”

Ji Sumian was speechless, he felt his childishness.

What Lao Fang said was right, as expected, there was no fight.Zhong Lei and Xiao Chen brought Sister Liao back, and Xiao Chen's wife also followed to help Sister Liao deal with her injuries.

Sister Liao was still in panic, trembling all over, unable to speak. Ji Sumian handed her a glass of warm water. Seeing that her hands were shaking too much to hold the water glass, she could only hold her hand and slowly , Feed her in small bites.There are crooked scars on her arms, which are old injuries, and blood oozes around the nails. It should be that she was struggling to grab something when she was struggling just now.The sourness in Ji Sumian's heart became more intense. These hands are ingenious hands. She often wears the uniform she mended. Her smiling face is very gentle when meeting her. Ji Sumian feels like crying. When she looked up, she saw Zhong Lei watching him , and held back again.

Zhong Lei looked away and asked Lao Fang: "Based on your experience, what should we do now?"

Lao Fang thought for a moment, as if he had made up his mind: "Run, let's go tonight."

Sister Liao was stunned, tears streaming down her face, she cried for such a long time, she didn't know how much grievance she had pretended in her heart, and there were still so many tears.

"I'm going to run away again... I've been here for two years. I used to be afraid to go out, make friends, or talk to people. Now I finally have a few people who can talk to me. ...I can't bear to..."

Lao Fang seemed to have seen these scenes before, his voice was not loud, but he spoke loudly: "I know, but your brother obviously won't give up, listen to me, the safest way is to hide somewhere else for a while, You can’t find someone you know, you can only start over, and you can’t stay here anymore. We don’t care, but there are still a lot of old people and children in Xingyuan, and we don’t know what will happen if we get too big, understand?”

Speaking of children, Sister Liao looked up at Xiao Chen and his wife, and nodded: "I know, I know, I can't implicate you."

Zhong Lei has been leaning against the door of the kitchen without saying a word. He trusts Lao Fang and his solution: "In this way, Xiao Chen will take his daughter-in-law and Sister Liao back to pack up things. Go to train station."

Ji Sumian watched him take the car keys, then took out the rarely used card from his wallet, which he used to pay for him at the club, and put it in his pocket.

No one said goodbye to Sister Liao. In such a situation, I don't know if there is any possibility of meeting again.

The development area on the edge of the city is like a carefully wrapped gift waiting to be sold, as if happiness is contained in these high-rise buildings.But no one knows what kind of shanty town it was before it was knocked down and rebuilt. Those who moved out of the demolition area were full of joy from the sky, but there are still unplanned ones, such as Xingyuan Village, where renters live here People don't have to think about anything, and it has nothing to do with them. Everyone is pushed forward by time without realizing it. There is no way to keep traces of their past lives here, whether it is the eyes that woke up in the early morning and struggled to open, or The color painted on the face before going out, everything is bound to go away from them, and nothing can stay.

Before Zhong Lei went out, Ji Sumian told Zhong Lei to be careful, and went to bed first, but he didn’t feel sleepy at all. He thought, if the apricot orchard was demolished, if he really wanted to leave one day, what kind of excuse could he continue to follow that person .

It was three o'clock in the morning when Zhong Lei came back, and he sent Sister Liao to the train. He didn't ask where he was going, but only left her his mobile phone number, and said that if he had any difficulties in the future, he could contact him, but he knew it in his heart, yes The best way for Sister Liao is not to contact people she knew before, so she won't be found easily.

When he got home, he tried his best to keep his footsteps light, but he still heard a sentence from upstairs: "Brother Lei?"

"Well, can't you sleep?"

"My heart is sad."

Driven by some kind of mood, Zhong Lei climbed up to the attic, turned around and sat on the floor with his hands propped up, his feet still stepping on the ladder.

Seeing him coming up, Ji Sumian also sat up, and the small lamp downstairs shone up from below, Zhong Lei was sitting in that piece of light, and Ji Sumian himself was in the dark, they just looked at each other one by one, but Nothing was said.

In the end, it was Ji Sumian who spoke first: "Sister Liao, will you remember us?"

"I hope she forgets, because if things don't go well in the future, a little kindness and warmth here will make her sadder."

"She was really unfortunate. After you left, Uncle Fang told me that there seemed to be no better way for her to escape than to keep running away."

"Correct."

"Sister Liao, does she have any children?"

"No. No, there was. She was beaten by that bastard. She ran out of the hospital that time."

"what……"

They chatted like this, talking about people they knew in Xingyuan Village, and said that Xiao Chen was originally an ordinary company employee, but one day his parents called him back to his hometown, saying that they suddenly provided him with a marriage partner.Xiao Chen was terrified, and ran away from home overnight and ran back to Donghai. Later, the girl added him on WeChat, perhaps because she was forced to, and the two chatted and thought that the other party was okay, so they got married smoothly and stayed in their hometown.But the first child had a congenital heart disease. He spent all his family's wealth and owed foreign debts for the treatment of the disease. He couldn't make money in his hometown, so the family moved to Donghai to start a breakfast business.

Speaking of the girl who lived here before, after Zhong Lei moved here, he found a thick notebook in the corner of the attic, opened it, and at first it was a normal hand-drawn book with colorful stickers and collected movies Ticket stubs look like they love life and have fun, but later, there are more and more words and less and less colors. The boy in the group photo left, and the girl locked herself in this attic, and she didn't want to go anywhere except to go to work.Later, there were fewer and fewer texts about boys, in fact, not only about boys, but also fewer and fewer texts, and the frequency of recording became less and less, and finally appeared, "Can you stop forcing me to marry , I don’t have the energy to love another person, why can’t I be alone.”

Ji Sumian listened to the stories of these people. Their sadness and hardships are the norm in this urban village, which cast a layer of paleness on this place. He looked into Zhong Lei's eyes, and his lips moved and closed, his head became more and more dizzy. The more dizzy, but there seems to be a volcano hidden deep in the body, and there is a futile restlessness under the ground, as if Zhong Lei touches it lightly, and it can break through the shackles and erupt.

Zhong Lei supported him when he was about to fall, half hugged him and laid him flat on the bed, and went downstairs by himself.

A week after this incident, Ji Sumian was in a better mood.He is still the teacher Aiden who sings and plays games with the children every evening, but today, he also has to take care of the babysitter.

When Qiaoqiao's grandmother came to pick him up from class, he sprained his foot in the elevator and was sent to the hospital. His mother rushed to take care of him, but his father was on a business trip and was still on his way back. Ji Sumian volunteered to wait with him and brought him Zhong Lei, who picked him up from work, was also trapped.

Zhong Lei looked helpless: "You are really kind and generous, why don't you take care of other things, can you take care of it?"

"I wasn't like this before, but since I met you and you helped me when I was desperate, I know that the world needs such people."

"Okay, blame me!"

"Oh no, brother Lei, let's go have dinner together, okay? I heard that there is a cafeteria upstairs. The second person is half price for two people traveling together, and there is no charge for children under 1.4 meters. Do the math, let's go three , what a bargain!"

Zhong Lei looked at the one in his hand, and it was indeed less than 1.4 meters. "Okay, let's go."

Zhong Lei is in the cafeteria, and the appetite is worthy of his "half price". He still eats a little and doesn't eat. He is only responsible for picking up food for the two of them, but the children are not polite at all. When other children are clamoring for cake and ice cream At that time, he chose expensive shrimp, abalone, crab legs and the like, he was so good at living!Zhong Lei looked at him with admiration, at first he had nothing to talk to, but gradually he became acquainted.

After a meal, Qiao Qiao's father hadn't arrived yet. They walked around the shopping mall to digest food, passing by the piano in the lobby, playing melodious tunes alone.Ji Sumian said: "I'm most afraid of this thing. Although I know it's automatic, it's automatic, can't you just make a sound? If you have to move the keys, it's so scary. It's like seeing a ghost."

Jojo said, "Then I'll play a piece for Mr. Aiden?"

"You can play the piano?"

"Yeah, I practice the piano every day, and I go to lessons twice a week."

"Okay, what can you play?"

"Recently I practice Canon, but I only know a short section."

Zhong Lei asked from the side: "Is that the main theme?"

"Yep!"

He smiled: "Then let's perform a four-hand combination for Mr. Aiden. You play the main melody, and I will do the rest."

Teacher Aiden was fascinated. In fact, the kid really only knows a short section, most of which are played by Zhong Lei. It’s not that Ji Sumian has never seen him play the piano. You can often see him playing the piano in the previous videos of the Archaeological Band, but at this time the pair are playing the piano. The dancing hands on the keys are like neon lights flashing in front of your eyes, smart, dazzling, and directly hitting your eyes.

Zhong Lei, who plays the piano, has a rare, light joy, but also a little pride and ease.The color flowing out of his fingertips danced to the sound of the music and came out, bringing the children together, similar to the rhythm of teacher Aiden singing English nursery rhymes in class, so in this time and space, nothing is quiet, nothing is ordinary, and nothing will be lost again. No one is unhappy, and Ji Sumian even felt a little oppressive, aggressive, as if repeating a sentence: Admit it, this is your return, your destination, your karma and your unforeseen circumstances, you stand in the way The sun will not rise and the moon will set, let alone stop you from loving him.

Seeing him, Zhong Lei couldn't believe it: "What? Can't taxi drivers play the piano?"

Ji Sumian was speechless.

"Hey, are you stupid? Now this piano doesn't look like a ghost, does it?"

"...It's a fairy."