The environment of the nursing home in the west of Yanning City is not bad. There is a long flower corridor in the courtyard. From a distance, the bright spring light seems to be overflowing. When you get closer, you will find that there are dim and old people under the colorful flowers.

His eyes turned around slowly, with a look of despair in his eyes, always looking aimlessly at the passing living creatures.

Zhang Meizhen didn't want to stay among the elderly, so she quickly walked through the flower corridor and came to the activity room next to the hall on the first floor.

There was stuttering piano accompaniment in the activity room, and the college student volunteer who came to volunteer might have been temporarily trained. His hands could not be separated, and he was busy on the keyboard. This young man knew that his skills were not good, and his face was red.

Don't dare to look up at anyone.

There were more than a dozen old people sitting on the sparse plastic chairs, each holding a sheet of music in his hand, singing the same lyrics and moving to his own tune. The singing and the accompaniment were completely different, not touching each other, and the two lines ran parallel, which was quite lively.

.

The one with the loudest voice was an old man by the door. He wore a tight black shirt that was tied up to the buckle and had a patch on his elbow. He sat with his pen straight and spoke as if there was no one else around, like a tonality.

The magic needle.

Suddenly, the old man in a black shirt seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. He turned his head and looked at Zhang Meizhen who was waiting at the back door.

Zhang Meizhen nodded towards him.

The old man in the black shirt clenched his teeth, stood up and walked out.

As soon as the "Tune-setting Needle" left, the singing in the activity room immediately became like dandelion seeds blown by the strong wind - everyone went their separate ways. The accompanist's college student's ears were wet and he suspected that he was deaf in the song of the donkeys howling together.

.

The old man in the black shirt closed the door behind him, blocking the sound behind him. He clenched his fists, held them behind his back, and asked Zhang Meizhen coldly: "You? What are you doing here?"

Zhang Meizhen knew that the other party had nothing to do with her, so she got straight to the point: "Old Song, I'm here for Yang Qing."

The old man in the black shirt sneered: "Replacing the old gang leader? What do you think is going on? You're quite shameless."

Zhang Meizhen said: "Yang Qing asked me to talk to you about things that happened more than thirty years ago..."

The man in the black shirt interrupted her abruptly: "I have nothing to talk about."

Zhang Meizhen continued: "Your mother and daughter-in-law were both in that fire..."

When the old man in the black shirt heard this, he became angry: "Get out! Get out!"

Being interrupted again, Zhang Meizhen pursed her lips and fell silent. The piano in the activity room made a "dong" sound, the torturing songs and accompaniment stopped at the same time, and the surroundings became silent for an instant.

The old man in the black shirt turned around and left.

"Yang Qing said," Zhang Meizhen said calmly from behind him, "Thirty-six years have passed and we are all about to be buried. Before we leave, please stop deceiving yourself and clear up everything."

The old man in black shirt paused in his steps.

"It's stuck in your heart. Don't mention it when it's bad or bad. Don't you feel uncomfortable?" Zhang Meizhen said, "If you want to go to hell, you have to be clean and happy. If you hold back all the troubles, you will sink to the bottom."

The man in the black shirt slowly raised his hand and grabbed the patch on his elbow.

"On the last day of this month," Zhang Meizhen picked up her bag, "No. 110 Courtyard, come here, Yang Qing has something to say."

After saying that, she stepped on her cat-heeled boat shoes and clicked the ground to leave.

"Hey... people," the man in the black shirt suddenly called her. There seemed to be an adjective before "people", but it was too vague. No one could hear it clearly except himself, "Are you all going?"

Zhang Meizhen said: "I don't know. Anyway, I will notify you one by one."

"...Is everything okay?"

"Some are still strong, and some are not." Zhang Meizhen replied, "Now I basically live by myself. After that incident, almost no one started a family again."

The man in the black shirt's throat moved slightly.

"But that's nothing," Zhang Meizhen smiled at him vaguely, "Whoever reaches the end will always be left alone? I'm leaving, please take care of yourself."

Light flooded in from the entrance of the corridor. After Zhang Meizhen finished speaking, she walked in that direction. Her edges were blurred in the light, leaving only a silhouette, which vaguely resembled the graceful appearance of her youth.

At the same time, the main road in the northwest suburbs of Yanning had just opened.

To the north of the road is a large and dense residential area. If you look around, you will see that they are all tall and bare buildings. During the day, the residents collectively boarded various means of transportation and rushed into the city like a high tide. At night, they came back when the tide ebbed and climbed to the Ant Nest Building.

Sleep in one of the rooms. Because there are many people and few roads, and people move in the same direction, main roads are often blocked into parking lots.

The scenery on the south side of the road is different. It is said that there has been a plan there, but there has not been time to demolish it. The temperament is between a village and a town. Although it is not a dirt road, the road surface is also "up and down" due to disrepair. On both sides

The curbs go in and out, and the street shops squeeze out a space that can barely accommodate a car.

At the end of the path, there is a three-story building. The first floor is a supermarket. There is a "chess and card room" with mottled plaques on it. You have to enter the supermarket and enter through a small door that looks like a warehouse to go upstairs. Foreigners are here.

I couldn't touch the door at all. From the supermarket to the chess and card room, everything was deserted and looked like it was a shame.

However, the third floor is a "different place".

There is no door number on the third floor, and the curtains are drawn. It is said to be a staff dormitory. There is an iron door between the second and third floors of the stairs, which is locked with a combination. You can hear the bustle of people above in the corridor. Walk in and take a look.

, the dark room has lights on, day and night, and is full of smoke. There are three mahjong tables, a card table, and a dice player. The mahjong table and card table are both full, and those who come late can only come forward and watch.

Playing games, playing dice, or gathering in twos and threes to drink and chat.

This is an underground casino.

The iron door opened with a creak, and then there was the sound of light footsteps. Someone came up. The enthusiastic gamblers on and off the card table didn't pay attention, and no one looked back. The man didn't say anything after he came in, quietly.

I found a plastic bench in the corner and sat down, watching others play mahjong.

When the waiter pouring wine passed by, he took a strange look at the hooded guest. He couldn't see his face, but he must be a stranger - because the man was holding a book in his hand. It was not a pornographic and vulgar newspaper, it seemed to be a book.

It was a serious book, and there was a note paper with notes sandwiched between the pages. This strange guest just started drawing with a pen and his legs crossed amidst the crisp sound of mahjong rolling.

The waiter who served water and poured wine here saw a few crazy people and lunatics on average every day, but this was the first time he encountered such a unique lunatic, so he walked over and asked: "Their table has just started, and they have to wait for a long time."

, why don’t you go see something else, or have something to drink?”

The strange guest holding the book raised his head: "A bottle of mineral water."

waiter:"……"

The guest looked past the waiter and looked at a gambler on the mahjong table with his back to him, and said: "Or something else will do. I don't drink your food. If it's not good to just sit there, I'll buy a bottle of drink."

Just leave it here and meet the minimum consumption standard, don't bother me."

Her voice is not high, but her enunciation is extremely clear. Her words are like a "stick", but her tone is that of a smooth old Jianghu.

The waiter felt that the words were not meant for him, so he followed her gaze and saw an unshaven middle-aged man at the mahjong table. His back stiffened, he turned around slowly, and looked at this person as if he was seeing a ghost.

A mysterious visitor.

The waiter smiled: "Brother Ma, are you looking for this?"

"Brother Ma" is a frequent visitor to their place. He lives nearby and will bring people over every now and then. He has a group of people who are all entrusted to work on the move and specialize in defrauding the demolished households.

This table seems to be a random game. In fact, except for the target fat sheep, the rest of the people playing with him are all Ma Ge's people. The routine is to feed the fat sheep cards first, so that he can lose and win, win big and lose small.

, fed his poker addiction, and then invited him to dinner after playing cards, and played together. He played the game for two months, and he was almost ready to master it. It was time for the demolition compensation to be paid. He closed the network and set up a trap to defraud people out of their money.

Let him owe a loan shark again.

Brother Ma raised a hand as if he was paralyzed: "You..."

"It's out." The guest, Gan Qing, put the book in his hand back into his bag, walked around Brother Ma with a half-smile, came behind the bearded "fat sheep", bent down and looked at his cards,

Then he turned over the money he won on the corner of the table.

"Fat Sheep" was confused: "Hey, what do you do?"

Gan Qing rolled the money into a roll and stuffed it into the fat sheep's chest pocket. He patted him on the shoulder and pointed his chin at the other two card players - these two just pretended that they didn't know each other.

However, the trap was exposed and they all stood behind Brother Ma.

Gan Qing: "Loud tyrant, you haven't seen the trick yet. Just accept it when it's good. If you don't accept it, you'll make a mistake."

"Fat Sheep" was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed, he quickly packed up his things and ran away without looking back.

The waiter felt that something was not right in the atmosphere, but the visitor was alone and she was a woman. If she came here specifically to cause trouble, she would be a bit too brave. He was not sure whether she had called the police, and he was afraid that if he called someone else, he would be arrested.

So he quickly winked at the people watching the scene.

"Don't be busy," Gan Qing said, "I used to live next door to Brother Ma, and this time I came to see him to talk about old times and personal feelings."

Brother Ma lowered his voice and said: "Don't... don't say it here, let's go out."

Gan Qing seemed to smile lowly, raised her hand to pull the hood, and a small blade flashed between her fingers, and cold sweat started to fall from Ma Ge's forehead - Ten years ago, the person in front of her was still full of student spirit.

When I found myself in a dance club, I refused to drink anything there, so I simply asked the waiter to bring me a random drink at the minimum price.

Later I heard that she had killed someone.

Brother Ma always remembered that young and creepy little girl. When he heard those familiar words, his hair stood up immediately.

Brother Ma took her to an open-air breakfast stall. He looked around slyly and saw people coming and going on the street. He seemed to have gained a little sense of security. He lit a cigarette and took a deep breath: "You

How did you find it?"

"The resettlement house is here for the demolition of the back alley of Nitang," Gan Qing said. "If I am interested in looking for you, I will know after a little inquiry - you are doing well, Brother Ma. Back then, you were gambling on your own and owed a lot of debt. Now you have changed.

, became the one who decided the game, what do they call this? Industrial upgrading?"

Brother Ma nervously picked at the corner of the table and muttered: "But I...I have no enmity with you, and I have also helped you..."

Brother Ma was a gangster who lived in the back alley of Nitang before he was severely punished. He was a gangster and a bad gambler. Instead of being beaten to death by the debt collectors, he joined the other side's camp. All because of his skills.
To be continued...