suddenly tired

Chapter 4 Apricot Garden-1

Zhong Lei couldn't explain how he was persuaded. After saying "No, it's not convenient", he saw a face that pretended to be open-minded, and a pair of trembling hands picking up the stickers of the drink bottle. He felt the blood all over his body. The movement slowed down, the breathing slowed down, and the time seemed to be lengthened accordingly.

One day three years ago, I must have been in the same mood. On the surface, he looked calm and composed, but in fact, the overwhelming accusations and abuse made him feel like he was in a fire, the air around him was burning, and there was darkness in front of him. direction.

So he took the child home, Xingyuan No. [-] Village, Binhai New District, an urban village that is bound to be demolished in the near future.

The taxi stopped in an open space, and Ji Sumian got off, took the suitcase, and followed Zhong Lei step by step.This is a low-rise bungalow with illegal buildings everywhere. After turning two corners and stopping at the entrance of a narrow alley, Zhong Lei turned around and pointed upwards and said: "If you see a lot of umbrellas on this balcony, turn in." , the alleys are very narrow, and it is easy to go the wrong way." Ji Sumian nodded obediently, "Remember."

At the end of the alley is Zhong Lei's house. When you enter the door, you can see the whole picture. It is small, short and dark.

"The bathroom is on the left, and the kitchen is on the right." Zhong Lei pointed lazily.

Ji Sumian looked around, and there was nothing in the room except a small square table from IKEA: "Then where do you live?"

"Attic." As he said, he took two steps forward and pointed to the iron ladder hanging on the side wall of the kitchen. After climbing the ladder, he could see a bed and a row of low cabinets next to the bed. There is so little furniture that it seems that people don't live there very often.

Zhong Lei raised his hand and pulled out a rope from the small round box on the wall, and hung it on the same device opposite. "The rope can be pulled over to dry clothes. If you need personal space, you can also hang a curtain or something on it, but don't interfere with drying clothes."

"Personal space? You mean, I sleep here?"

"What else? Upstairs is where I live."

"I sleep...on the ground?"

Zhong Lei narrowed his eyes: "How about, young master, you sleep upstairs and I sleep on the ground?"

"No, I'll sleep, I'll sleep, I... I can do it."

Ji Sumian said "yes" on his lips, but there was no sign of "yes" in his actions. He himself stood awkwardly in the corner and was at a loss. He begged the taxi driver to take him in, but unexpectedly When I arrived at his house, it was like this...the house was completely empty.

Zhong Lei threw down a mattress from the attic, "The floor is not dirty, but it still needs to be wiped down. You should sleep on this tonight."

Oh, that's great, Ji Sumian breathed a sigh of relief, his plan a second ago was to spread all the clothes in the box on the floor for one night.

The mattress was not thick, but it was enough to sleep on. Ji Sumian wiped and made the bed, and put a small square table by the bed.Zhong Lei jumped off the ladder with a quilt in his arms and handed it to him. Ji Sumian took it over, covered his legs, lay down on the small square table, and smiled at him: "It's really like a tatami mat. I've wanted a warm bed for a long time. The table is actually realized here.”

Zhong Lei frowned, feeling very puzzled. With this kind of living conditions, his eyes were shining with stars, and his smile was refreshing and bright. Is it so easy to be satisfied?

"How much is your rent? Can I pay half of it?"

"No, there is not much money."

"No, I can't live in your house for nothing. Although this place is a bit hard to find, it's clean and not cheap."

Zhong Lei was tired of this business-like tone, and exhaled impatiently from his nose: "The rent is 300 a month, and you only live for a few days. I won't charge you two or three yuan."

Ji Sumian looked in disbelief: "300? No way, how can there be a house at this price now, and there are more than one shared rent, don't lie to me."

"The place is clean and tidy mainly because the last tenant was a girl, and the house was well maintained, but she committed suicide, lived alone, and was found after many days of death. Since then, the house has been unable to be rented out. It's so cheap." Zhong Lei spoke more and more slowly, as if deliberately creating a terrifying atmosphere, and looked down into his eyes, "Are you afraid?"

Ji Sumian didn't show any signs of fear, her eyes still shimmered: "There's nothing to be afraid of. A girl who can take care of the house so well must be a gentle sister."

Zhong Lei was stunned for a moment, then withdrew his joke: "Okay, just don't be afraid, it's nice to have a few neighbors, if someone comes to deliver food, you can accept it, the next door sells breakfast, sometimes it's not sold out in the morning The neighbors will get a point, which is usually hung on the doorknob."

Ji Sumian quietly listened to him explain the precautions for living here.Zhong Lei doesn’t wear a mask at home, so he can observe his face at a close distance. His double eyelids are a bit wider than the average person’s, and his beard looks more like a European. His beard is not pure black, but occasionally mixed with some red and gold, shining , It's amazing; he doesn't smoke at home, maybe because the house is too small, he will light one after getting out of the car, and smoke it to the door just to extinguish it. There is an abandoned landscape flower pot at the door, which has been completely reduced to an ashtray. The cigarette butts are neatly arranged in a small pavilion, in an absurd order.

Ji Sumian slept soundly that night. Although the air conditioner is old, the cooling effect is not bad.The driver master didn't go to the airport at night and got up early. Ji Sumian slept very lightly. He woke up when he jumped off the ladder, but he didn't move. He listened quietly to him.After hastily washing up, Zhong Lei went out.

The village in the city really exists like a slum. After the completion of the Binhai New District, residents with a little money bought commercial houses and moved out, leaving only a few widows and elderly people. The rest are tenants, almost all of whom are migrant workers .From four o'clock in the morning, many people got up to deal with the ingredients needed for breakfast; at five o'clock, electric tricycles continued to go to wholesale vegetables, and just after dawn, they would smell an unusually fragrant bittern in the air. Tang Weier, this is the braised vegetables shop started to work; when it was seven or eight o'clock, the whole village in the city became lively.

Ji Sumian just lay down like this, waking up from sleep, until Zhao Xinyu called, and scolded her head and face: "Ji Sumian, what do you mean?! I came home from get off work and said you moved? Where did you move? "

"Miss Xiaoyu, don't worry."

"Can you be in a hurry! Let me tell you, your dad was reported by Lin Liying, not me or my dad. You can't blame us. We haven't heard from that woman for many years. When she left, she was already a She doesn't exist anymore!"

"I know, I know, and I told my godfather, it's not because of this."

"It's not what is it? Don't lose your temper and get back!"

"Sister Xiaoyu, I'm just looking for a reason to move out. I'm currently staying at Zhong Lei's house."

"Who? The taxi driver?"

"Correct."

"What are you doing? Do you know him very well and live in his house?"

"It's not very familiar, after all, we have only known each other for a week, but strictly speaking, we are indeed very familiar."

"No, why can't I understand what you want to say."

"Oh, you don't need to understand. Don't worry, Sister Xiaoyu. I definitely didn't move out because of your mother and my father's affairs. I will only stay for a few days, and maybe I will go back after a while."

"You don't think you have a crush on him—oh no, that man must be 40 years old?"

"No way! 31!"

"Oh, okay. Anyway, your godfather is very worried about you, afraid that you will be cheated."

"Huh? What did he say?"

"He said, call Su Mian again and ask who's house he lives in. Something happened to him when he was young, so don't be fooled by anyone."

"Hehe, what do you say then?"

"I said, don't worry, it's fine if he doesn't lie to others!"

"Hahaha you are right!"

Zhao Xinyu is a carefree girl, Ji Sumian said it's okay if it's okay, she won't ask too much, anyway, if there is something that can't be solved, he will always come back.When he was a child, his family often forgot him, forgot to pick him up from school, and forgot that he hadn’t eaten yet. He always went to the tavern by himself. Once he had a drink, he was also thinking about going back to the tavern, and others went in without knowing it, thinking that he had drunk too much and was still thinking about the wine.

Ji Sumian turned on the computer and studied the recruitment website for a while, filled out his personal information and sent out some job applications, and then went out for a stroll.The urban village was a place he had never been to before. It was huddled among the surrounding high-rise buildings, like a dark corner.He saw many electric tricycles with signs parked in front of many people's houses. Xiaolongshengjian, steamed stuffed bun with soy milk, fried skewers fried rice, iron plate squid... almost all of them are common dishes in breakfast and night markets. Ji Sumian didn't know that at noon The food was delivered by which one, two meat buns with particularly large stuffing, the soup that flowed out after a bite appeased his stomach just right.

Zhong Lei came back near the evening, and threw him a hamburger and fried chicken set meal: "It was packed on the way." After a pause, he asked, "Have you had lunch?"

"I ate two buns, the ones hanging on the door are still hot."

"Buns? Fried or steamed?"

"Steamed, very big meat buns, delicious!"

"Oh, it's from Xiao Chen. Old Zhang's family makes pan-fried buns." He chatted with Ji Sumian as he climbed up to the attic, "What are you doing today?"

"I sent out a lot of resumes, waited for news, then went out for a walk, and came back without daring to go far."

Zhong Lei jumped down, carried his clothes into the bathroom, "I'll take a shower and go to the airport, you lock the door at night."

Ji Sumian followed him and was locked at the door of the bathroom. He asked loudly outside, "Aren't you back?"

"The house is small, you don't have to shout."

"Oh, I mean, if you get someone, you won't come back?"

"I'll call you again at that time. The law and order here is very chaotic. The door is locked. Don't open it even if someone knocks. Just pretend you're not there."

"Okay, I know."

After taking a bath, Zhong Lei washed an apple and leaned on the ladder to eat it. Ji Sumian hadn't finished eating the hamburger yet. He chewed the meat in his mouth and asked vaguely: "Master, have you eaten yet?"

"I ate it on the way. Don't call me master, it sounds like Tang Seng."

"That's called...Brother Lei?"

"Brother what brother, called uncle!"

"Oh, no wonder I came back to the alley in the afternoon and the uncle asked me if I was your nephew." Ji Sumian was depressed and a little frustrated.

"That's the old man who repairs shoes and umbrellas. You don't chat with others, because the people here have complicated backgrounds."

"Is it more complicated than me? My dad is almost officially in."

"He's only been out for a few years."

Ji Sumian was speechless.

"Okay, I'm leaving, lock the door."

Ji Sumian had been waiting for a call, but the driver uncle still didn't come back that night.The shanty town gave him a very novel impression, and poor conditions are inevitable, and he couldn't understand why he said that the neighbors here were nice, but also said that the background was complicated and the public security was not good. The robbery, murder and wounding cases all happened not far away, so I really realized the significance of his repeated emphasis on locking the door.

Zhong Lei has hardly slept at home for the past week. The house is too small and it is really inconvenient. He only takes guests home to take a shower when they pass by the Binhai New Area. On this day, he brought guests from the late flight at the airport. I didn't see anyone, so I took out my phone and found that Ji Sumian had left him a message a few hours ago.

Su Mian: My second uncle and my classmate invited me to dinner when they came back to China, so I will go back later today.

He was about to ask when he would be back when the phone rang and it was Ji Sumian.

"Are you Ji Sumian's uncle? Come to the Jincheng club, otherwise we will detain him as a young master. We are short of this white and clean style!"