"Are you going to take a leave to go home?" In the classroom, the girl in the blue and white school uniform tilted her head and asked Cui Zuojing.
"Well, I've already asked for a good leave. My mother insisted that I go back to celebrate my birthday." Cui Zuojing wrote down the homework written by the representatives of each subject on the blackboard in a small notebook, and sorted out the books and exam papers to be done. At the first class in the afternoon, the students left the classroom together, or went to the cafeteria, or went to the street in front of the school to solve dinner.
The key high schools in the northern education province are always so busy. Classes end at 6 o'clock, leaving only 40 minutes for them to have dinner. The English listening is broadcast on time at 6:40. After the listening, there will be three evening self-study sessions. School until nine thirty in the evening.
Cui Zuojing has already asked the teacher for a good leave. For good students with excellent grades, any teacher will always be assured to give more tolerance and preference.
"Do I still need to bring you breakfast tomorrow morning?" Chen Murphy stood up and was about to go to dinner. She was a very thin girl, her wide school uniform was empty, her long black hair was so pale that her skin was even a little unhealthy, and her lips were unhealthy. The blood color is very pale, and the wrist exposed at the cuff is so slender that it seems to be broken if touched.
She is also the teacher's favorite student. When choosing seats based on grades, the top two naturally occupied the best two positions in the class and became the same table.
Unlike Cui Zuojing, she is a resident student. She just happened to pass by the cafeteria every day from the dormitory to the class, and it was convenient to buy food. So after a few months passed and the two became familiar with each other, she also helped Cui Zuojing buy food on the way.
"Take it, it's still the same." Cui Zuojing pulled out the schoolbag and accidentally took out an envelope from the hole.
Chen Murphy was surprised and said with a smile, "Is there anyone else sending you a letter?"
Cui Zuojing looked over and over, hurriedly stuffed the envelope into the schoolbag, stood up to make way for Chen Murphy so that she could go out, and threw the schoolbag over his shoulder, saying, "Who knows, I'll go first."
The girl patted his arm and said in a cheerful tone, "Happy birthday!"
Cui Zuojing smiled and stretched out his hand: "It's not enough to say happy birthday, what about my present?"
"You're thinking about eating shit." Chen Murphy gave him a blank eye and went to the cafeteria to eat.
On the way downstairs, he said goodbye to the classmates who came back from buying food one after another. Cui Zuojing was among the many students entering and leaving the school. His home was not far from the school, and it only took fifteen minutes to walk by the path.
It was the same this time. He walked down the alley where he went home as he had done for countless days, but it was different from being with a group of students from the same community. Today, he was alone.
The street lamps in the alley dutifully illuminate the road, and there seems to be some unimaginable danger lurking in the dark corner. The sound of footsteps echoes, reflected by the wall, and the sound of the traffic in the distance. It took only two seconds from appearance to disappearance.
Cui Zuojing felt a little chill inexplicably, as if someone was staring at him in the shadows, the sharp knife reflected the cold light, calling for the desire to drink blood.
He quickened his pace and crossed this alley that he had walked through countless times.
When I got to the main road, I felt a lot more reassuring. There were many people who came out for a walk after dinner. Cui Zuojing relaxed, only to find that there was a cold sweat on his back.
What are you nervous about? In a society ruled by law, it is very safe. He shrugged and walked in the direction of home.
The key was turned to unlock the door, Cui Zuojing pushed open the door, leaned against the wall with one hand and lowered his head to change his shoes at the entrance. The words repeated every day came naturally: "I'm back."
"It will be ready soon, go and wait for a while." From the kitchen came the sound of mother's voice and the sound of cooking vegetables, Cui Zuojing responded and put the schoolbag on the bed in his bedroom first. Thinking of the envelope that appeared in the hole of his desk for some reason, he sat on the edge of the bed and opened the bag, tore it open, and an invitation letter fell out.
Dear Mr. Cui Zuojing:
Please take this invitation to ████ on May 16th and I will be waiting for you here.
Invited by: ██
The place name and the name of the inviter are blacked out, and May 16th is today.
"What the hell." Cui Zuojing thought it was a prank, and muttered, he stuffed the invitation back into the envelope, threw it into the drawer, ignored it, and walked out of the bedroom.
My sister, who was in elementary school, was doing her homework in the study. When she heard him go to the living room, she immediately jumped off the stool.
Several dishes were already served on the table, and the cake box tied with red ribbons was placed in the middle. On the balcony, Dad was smoking by the window, and the smoke drifted outside with the evening wind.
"Stop smoking!" Cui Zuojing shouted, "Strangle all smokers to death!"
"Stinky boy." Dad scolded with a smile, pressed out the cigarette butt on the wall outside the window, and closed the window with the smell of smoke.
It was an unusual night, and it was also Cui Zuojing's sixteenth birthday.
Children can't hide their thoughts. My sister was curious and wanted to fiddle with the cake box to see what was inside. Cui Zuojing turned on the TV, untied the red ribbon, opened the box, and fulfilled her wish.
The news of the serial killer's escape from prison was broadcast on the TV, and when he saw the photo on the wanted notice, Cui Zuojing's breath stagnated, and cold sweat soaked his whole body instantly. Fear was like the monstrous flood that drowned the world in those days, mercilessly drowned him.
He didn't know why he was so afraid, obviously... Obviously this has nothing to do with him
Dad clicked his tongue and said, "How can someone escape from prison? It's too scary, Ah Zuo, I'll pick you up from self-study these days, don't come back."
Cui Zuojing calmed down, hummed, and picked up the remote control to change the channel.
The children's channel was playing his sister's favorite cartoon, and the topic was brought over. Cui Zuojing breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the cake on the table, and his mood slowly regained his ease.
He is only sixteen years old, there will be a lot of good times in the future, and a murderer or something... It's impossible that he happened to meet him, right
And four hours ago, a thousand kilometers away.
The young Dong Zheng sat in the co-pilot of the Cayenne, fastened his seat belt, and his father was driving, while his stepmother, Su Daijun, sat in the back row, with Dong Zheng's carry-on luggage in the backpack next to him.
They have just attended the family activities organized by Dong Linhai School and are now heading to Hongqiao Airport. 16-year-old Dong Zheng will take a two-hour flight to the United States to study.
Dong Zheng put on his headphones and opened the glove box to find something to drink, but he saw an envelope.
"What is this?" He picked up the envelope and asked Dong Yi.
Dong Yi, who was driving, glanced at it and said, "I don't know, can you take a look?"
Dong Zheng opened the envelope, and a piece of invitation-style cardboard fell out, but only a few numbers were written on it.
Dear Sir:
Invite people:
Young Dong Zheng frowned, stuffed the thing back, and threw it into the glove box.
"What?" Dong Yi asked.
Dong Zheng took the soda bottle: "A piece of paper with nothing written on it."
"My dad and I can't really find time to accompany you in the past two days. You have to be more careful alone. If you need anything, I will go to your Uncle Wu." Su Daijun checked the inner pocket of Dong Zheng's package and put all the change. After sorting the coins and coins into different categories, he said, "I brought you two thousand dollars. It should take a while. We will go over there to see you after a while."
"Okay." Dong Zheng agreed, with a mature and steady face that did not belong to his age, "Don't worry, I'm no longer a child."
Eight-year-old Dong Linhai didn't go to see him off, because the three people in the car knew that Xiao Linhai couldn't bear his dearest brother, and would definitely cry at the airport so that no one could coax him.
Dong Linhai, who was picked up by the nanny, went upstairs to the bedroom gloomily. He sat at the desk and took out the pencil case, the tattered textbook and the workbook rolled up in the lower right corner, ready to write homework.
A piece of hard paper was caught in his textbook, and Xiao Linhai frowned and tried to identify the words on it: "Dear Mr. Kong Kong, colon, why do you ask for a colon?"
He didn't know what it was, so he folded the cardboard in half and folded a plane.
"Hangzhi, the 15-bed patient will have a liver transplant tomorrow. Come and listen to the preoperative meeting." The intern tutor, the deputy chief physician of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, called out to the young graduate student in the office at the door.
"Hey, here we come!" Lin Hangzhi immediately put down the pen in his hand and followed.
"We want to transplant one-fifth of my father's left liver, and the current indicators of both of them are very good." The deputy chief physician explained. As the chief surgeon of this transplant operation, he will be responsible for the main operation of this operation. After the jaundice persisted and became more serious, he was later diagnosed with liver failure. In order to save the child, his father chose to transplant part of his liver to his son.
Lin Hangzhi carefully remembered every word of the instructor. As a graduate student, he was not qualified to go to the operating table, but the preoperative meeting was already an important lecture for him.
The preoperative meeting lasted for two hours. Lin Hangzhi was sitting in the corner of the long table. He remembered densely in the notebook. Afterwards, there was a ward round. He went back to the office to get the ward round record, but found an envelope on the table.
Not a word was written on the envelope. He asked around and didn't know who it was for. After hesitating, he had to open it himself.
A mess of... invitations
Lin Hangzhi threw it into the trash can.
After finally getting rid of the dog-skin plaster-like paparazzi, Xia Qiongyun was so annoyed that he finally arrived at the booked hotel.
As the daughter of the King of Heaven, there are always some unscrupulous paparazzi who want to spy on some of her private life. If they catch the best news, they can report it as the headline the next day.
Xia Qiongyun took off his coat and threw it at the foot of the bed, lying on the bed exhausted, raised his arms to cover his eyes, and sighed long.
The envelope appeared silently out of thin air in the crack of the door of her room.
No one took this strange invitation to heart.
Cui Zuojing spent his sixteenth birthday at home. After finishing his homework at night, he turned off the lights and lay on the bed, looking at the half moon outside the window, suddenly giving rise to a sense of unreality.
It's like... he shouldn't be going through this.
… It’s really idle, don’t go through these experiences, do you want to become Iron Man and save the world? He doesn't have that much money either.
Cui Zuojing rolled over, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Cui Zuojing belongs to the household who has absolute difficulty getting up. When he hurried up the stairs and stepped into the classroom, the bell for early self-study rang on time at 6:30. He calmly took out his English book, and the breakfast that Chen Murphy brought with him was already on the table.
The class teacher hadn't come yet, and the dean downstairs was catching him late. The students all took out their textbooks, but no one endorsed them for a while, and everyone was whispering and discussing.
"Have you heard, someone was killed last night." The boy at the back table said to his roommate.
"Ah? Really fake?"
Cui Zuojing was also attracted by the bloody news, he and Chen Mofei turned their heads together, so the four people in front and back formed a table.
"Really, it's a homeless man. It's near my house. It was discovered early this morning. The police came a lot. Didn't a murderer escape from prison yesterday? He must have done it."
"Ah? That's too terrifying. You have to pay attention to safety. How can there be prisoners who escape from prison?"
"Who knows."
"… "
The head teacher came late with a serious face: "Be quiet."
The class quickly quieted down.
"Speaking of a very important thing, we have been notified that a serial killer escaped from prison and killed a homeless man on Kunshan Road last night. Recently, everyone must be picked up by their parents when they go to and from school, and they must be accompanied by someone when they go out. During special times , everyone must pay attention…”
Cui Zuojing listened quietly, the sense of unreality struck again.
The rising sun, the thick green leaves on the treetops, the chirping birds, the rows of textbooks on the table, these morning reading Chinese and English tasks on the blackboard... to face.
He frowned, but soon the feeling was gone.