Zhao Xin dragged a small suitcase out of the train station with the bustling crowd. When he looked at the familiar and unfamiliar city with tall buildings and busy traffic in front of him, tears almost burst out of his eyes. He touched a hard spot on his chest.
box, crying sadly in my heart: "Mom, have you seen it? We are finally home..."
"Classmate, which school are you from?" Just as Zhao Xin's heart was surging and he was thinking a lot, a pleasant voice sounded in his ears, like a clear spring in a deep valley flowing through his heart, making him suddenly feel sad.
Wake up.
Slowly turning her head, what came into view was a pretty girl. Although she was not beautiful, the bright smile on her face made her look sunny and full of youthful vitality. Even when people came
Her presence also added a dazzling color to the crowded train station.
She also wore a red ribbon slanting across her body, which read: Freshman Reception Volunteer!
Only then did Zhao Xin notice that many simple sheds had been temporarily erected in the square in front of the station, with banners with many school names hanging on them. There were many volunteers wearing the same clothes as the girl in front of the square and in front of the station.
Most of the students in the ribbons are young and beautiful girls. They are like butterflies in flowers, flying among the bustling crowds, leading some freshmen-looking students and parents to the reception points of each school. And the freshmen next to them are naturally
Parents carrying large and small bags are indispensable. Some even have two or three parents accompanying each new student.
Looking at these youthful students, Zhao Xin couldn't help but feel sad. Once upon a time, he had also longed for a colorful life in the ivory tower, but fate seemed to have played a big joke on him. After ten years of detention in the dark, he suffered a lot.
He suffered inhuman torture; three years of bloody revenge, almost death, and living in endless killings almost every day... He had almost forgotten that life could be so beautiful and simple.
With a forced smile on his lips, Zhao Xin said slowly: "I'm not a student."
"Ah..." The girl looked a little surprised, stuck out her tongue, and said to Zhao Xin embarrassedly: "Well, I'm really sorry, I, I thought..."
"It's okay!" Zhao Xin smiled, as bright as the sun suddenly jumping out of the clouds in a hazy weather, making people's eyes light up.
The girl was stunned for a moment. After being stunned for a moment, she turned around and ran away in a panic, as if she had just woken up from a dream. Her heartbeat was like a pounding deer. As a sophomore girl, she was not new to love and was not familiar with the world. School
There were at least a row of boys pursuing her, but she had never felt such a beating heart.
In fact, in her opinion, Zhao Xin was not handsome. He even looked a little tender at first glance, so she mistook him for a new student. But it was the heaviness and vicissitudes of life that he inadvertently revealed.
But it seems to have an indescribable charm, and it attracts my attention involuntarily like a magnet.
After running a few steps, I suddenly heard Zhao Xin ask from behind: "Which school are you from?"
The girl couldn't help laughing. She had encountered all kinds of pick-ups, but how could she ask the school without asking for her name and phone number?
She turned around and looked back with a smile: "I am Southwest University of Science and Technology, my name is Tang Tang, remember..." With a burst of laughter like silver bells, the girl jumped and quickly disappeared into the hustle and bustle.
In the crowd, like ethereal elves, they suddenly come and go without any warning beforehand and without leaving any trace afterwards.
"Haha, Southwest University of Science and Technology? Interesting..." Zhao Xin smiled slightly, turned to look at the banner of Southwest University of Science and Technology in the most conspicuous place in the middle of the square, and then slowly merged into the crowd while dragging her luggage.
…
As the car sped along, Zhao Xin looked at the changing scenery outside the window, and his mood fluctuated. The closer he got to the destination, the more complicated his mood became. He was looking forward to arriving as soon as possible, but deep down he seemed to be inexplicably afraid. Right there.
Amidst such entangled emotions, the car finally stopped.
"Here we go, 43 yuan for trouble." The driver pressed the meter expressionlessly, then turned to Zhao Xin and said.
Zhao Xin seemed not to have heard anything and stared blankly out of the window.
Thirteen years, exactly thirteen years, but this place seems to have become a forgotten corner. The city is developing with each passing day, almost the same every day, but there is no change here, and the scene remembered in Zhao Xin's mind
Almost exactly the same: dilapidated and mottled tube buildings, messy asbestos tile sheds, messy wires like spider webs, potholed streets, sewage flowing freely and emitting waves of stench... What Zhao Xin remembers most is the tall tree on the roadside.
The sycamore tree. He still remembered that his friends loved playing under the tree, but he could only look on with envy.
"Hey, we're at the place, can't you get off?" Seeing that Zhao Xin hadn't moved for a long time, the driver seemed a little impatient and urged angrily, honking the horn heavily. If business hadn't been bad today, he would have gone.
He didn't pick up any customers after several laps. He didn't want to come to a place like this at all. The dirty and messy public security was not good. I heard that taxi drivers had been robbed near here before. Fortunately, it was broad daylight now.
Otherwise, he would rather be complained and refused transportation than never come here.
Zhao Xin took a deep breath, tried her best to calm down her turbulent emotions, took out a hundred-yuan bill from her pocket, handed it to the driver and said, "No need to look for it." Then she opened the door and got out of the car.
The driver took the hundred-dollar bill in astonishment and seemed very surprised. He had been driving a taxi for almost ten years, and it was not that he had never received a tip. Some foreign friends would also give some tips after taking a taxi, but they were not too much. At best, they were not tipped.
It's like five yuan or ten yuan. It's rare for a tip like this to be higher than the actual amount of consumption. What's more, Zhao Xin came to a shantytown known as urban psoriasis? Aren't the people living here all miserable poor people?
?
After flicking the hundred-dollar bill in his hand to confirm that it was not a counterfeit, the driver in a good mood rolled down the window and shouted to Zhao Xin: "Hey, buddy, do you want me to wait for you here? It's not easy to take a taxi here.
!”
Zhao Xin waved her hand and said, "No, thank you!"
"Okay, this is my business card. If you need a car, call me anytime. I'm waiting 24 hours a day!" I don't know if the hundred-dollar bill played a role, but the driver seemed very enthusiastic.
Zhao Xin did not refuse, took the business card and said: "Thank you, I will call you when necessary. But the most important thing you should do now is to check your car. The air filter should be clogged, and the crankshaft is probably
There is also too much sludge in the tank. It is not a big problem, but it may cause problems if it is not dealt with in time."
"Really?" the driver said doubtfully, "You don't think there's anything wrong with the car?"
He is also an experienced driver who has been driving for more than ten years. I can’t say that he is very proficient in cars, but he is relatively knowledgeable. He usually fixes any minor problems by himself. But he didn’t even notice that there was a problem. The man in front of him
He actually knew it after only one ride. Is he just talking nonsense, or is he really an expert in this field?
"Haha, I just said it casually, you don't have to take it too seriously." Zhao Xin smiled slightly, turned around and walked away, dragging her suitcase, leaving the driver scratching his head.
If Zhao Xin continued to persuade him that there was something wrong with the car, then he might regard Zhao Xin as a liar, but Zhao Xin left so lightly, and he was a little undecided. After a long while, he decided to sell the car.
Drive it for inspection and get peace of mind whether there is any problem or not. They rely on the car for a living, and if something serious goes wrong with the car, the loss will be huge.
Zhao Xin walked slowly along the familiar narrow street, looking around as if he was looking for a way or an unforgettable memory. Maybe he had gone to work during the day, and the street seemed deserted.
When he saw one or two people, they looked at him with strange eyes.
The door next to "Crunch" opened, and then a basin of water poured out. Zhao Xin subconsciously turned his body, and almost instantly the person had hid aside. The water splashed to the ground, and the splashed water droplets just fell on him.
There was only a slight difference between the shoes and his pants and shoes would get wet. The distance was as if it had been accurately measured in advance.
"Ah? I'm sorry, I didn't notice anyone outside." Seeing that someone was almost splashed, a young woman in her twenties walked out of the room with a doll on her back and said with an embarrassed look. She looked pretty.
She is pretty, but the hardships of life seem to have left a mark on her face.
"It doesn't matter." Zhao Xin said nonchalantly.
He recognized at a glance that the young woman in front of him was his former neighbor. Although more than ten years have passed and her appearance has changed a little, some deep-rooted memories will never change. Especially in these years, although he has
He has always been struggling on the edge of life and death, but these precious pictures appear in the depths of Kemeng all the time. They seem to have been engraved in the depths of his memory and become a part of his soul. Without these precious spiritual powers, he would
I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on any longer.
"Hey, I've never seen you before? You're not from here, are you?" The shanty town is not big, and most of the people living here are neighbors who know each other well, so when a stranger comes occasionally, everyone feels very strange.
Zhao Xin nodded and said, "Yes, I'm here to find someone."
"Looking for someone? Who are you looking for? I grew up here, and there is no one here that I don't know." I don't know whether it was because she felt friendly subconsciously or just by nature, but the woman said enthusiastically: "Tell me who to look for.
I'll take you there."
"I..." Zhao Xin hesitated for a moment, and then said with some difficulty: "I'm looking for Yao Weiwen..."
This seemingly ordinary name seemed to have some kind of magic power. Zhao Xin almost used all his strength to say it. After saying it, he gasped for breath, and his heart felt like a knife.
of pain.
"Yao Weiwen? Aunt Yao?" the woman asked in surprise: "Why are you looking for her? Aunt Yao and his son have been dead for many years." When she said this, she couldn't help but shook her head, with a look of surprise on her face.
With a regretful expression, "Aunt Yao is a very kind person and a rare warm-hearted person. Although her son has a somewhat withdrawn and weird personality, he is smart and sensible. We will always ask him for homework that we cannot do. It is a pity that an incident more than ten years ago
In the fire, both mother and son were buried in the flames, and neither one of them escaped..."
A drop of crystal tears flowed from the corner of Zhao Xin's eyes and slowly flowed down his cheek.
Of course Zhao Xin knew about the raging fire, and it was this blind night that rewrote his life. He clearly remembered that that day he was preparing to wash up and go to bed after helping his mother with the housework as usual.
The house felt like there was a shadow moving in the darkness, thinking it was a thief, but before he could shout, he lost consciousness. In a daze, the last thing he saw was the firelight rising into the sky, illuminating the night like day.
And this fire has become a nightmare that he will never get rid of in the future. Every time he is awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, the dream is indispensable with a raging fire.
"By the way, who are you from their family? This is the first time in so many years that I have met someone looking for them!" the woman asked with some surprise. To be honest, if Zhao Xin hadn't mentioned it today, she would have almost stopped.
I almost forgot that such a dependent mother and son once lived in the shanty town.
Zhao Xin wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes without leaving a trace, and asked without answering: "Do you know where they are buried? I want to pay my respects."
"In Fenghuang Mountain Cemetery, the neighbors pooled money together to bury them. But it was said to be a burial, but in fact, the burial inside was just some of their various clothing that had been burned. The fire burned everything.
Even the bones are not intact, it’s really pitiful..."
"Thank you." Zhao Xin thanked her politely and turned to leave.
It wasn't until he walked around the corner and disappeared from the woman's sight that the woman murmured to herself in surprise: "Hey, why does this person look familiar to me? It seems like I've seen him somewhere before?"