In the third month after confirming the relationship, Cui Zuojing moved to Dong Zheng's residence.
His rental house is a bit far from the company. Together with Dong Zheng, they can commute to get off work together every day without paying 3,000 monthly rent, and their living conditions have improved exponentially. Although they are already in a relationship, Cui Zuojing I'm also embarrassed to eat and live in other people's homes, so I have to bear the water, electricity and property costs.
Of course, the property fee in the community where Dong Zheng lives is not cheap, but compared with the rent, it is not sure how much cheaper.
Time just passed by day by day.
Working, eating, sleeping, holding hands, hugging, kissing... For most people, there are not too many thrilling and Ou Henry-style turns in life, but this ordinary warmth has already made them feel Very happy.
At 11:30 in the evening, Dong Zheng finished washing up. Cui Zuojing was leaning on the bedside and watching a book waiting for him. He was not used to wearing pajamas. down, and finally covered in a quilt.
Dong Zheng lifted the quilt and went to bed. He glanced at the name of the book, which was the first in the series "Hyberrian" by Dan Simmons.
"Does it look good?" Although he has heard the name for a long time, Dong Zheng has never read it.
Cui Zuojing didn't look up: "It's good-looking, especially the first and second books, the masterpiece, I've already done it four times."
Dong Zheng snorted and kissed Cui Zuojing's lips, the young man turned his head sideways, and the two exchanged a kiss.
Lips divided, Dong Zheng didn't bother him anymore, took his tablet, and dealt with work emails.
Cui Zuojing has completely memorized the content of the book, but every time he rereads, the beautiful language of those poems and the mixed style of fantasy and coldness always bring him new surprises and feelings—
"You have been chosen to return to Hyperion as one of the Shrike pilgrims," the voice continued.
[Hey]
"If the Outcasts take Hyperion, then we must eliminate their spies. No matter what the cost, the Tomb of Time must be sealed. The Overlord's fate is here."
[Can you see this sentence?]
Cui Zuojing was stunned. In the past, he was sure that it wasn't his dazzling eyes. Gray words did appear between the paragraphs!
That strong sense of unreality struck again, and he squeezed the page with an involuntary force, and quickly browsed down—
At that moment, the Consul suddenly realized that he was the only sentient being on this unnamed planet.
[You have been dreaming for a long time]
The consul remembered the unforgettable pleasure of hunting, and the same deep consolation of being alone: loneliness. That was the loneliness he got after enduring countless pains and nightmares in Hyperion.
[Please wake up quickly]
The mysterious Shrike Church allows pilgrims from the outside world to set off on cruise ships to the weathered and barren places around the Time Tomb at the northern foot of the mountains. No one has come back from anywhere.
[I'm running out of time]
It defies all laws of physics and communicates only through slaughter. Although the hut was warm, the consul shivered.
The night and the storm have passed. Dawn was about to break, but sooner than the dawn was the harbinger of another storm.
[Please, wake up quickly]
Cui Zuojing touched the words that should not have appeared with his fingers in disbelief. He grabbed Dong Zheng's arm and said, "Come and see this!"
"What?" Dong Zheng was slightly taken aback by him. He leaned over to look at the place where Cui Zuojing pointed, and saw the lines of prayer-like words.
"what is this?"
"I don't know. I bought this book when I was in college. I've never seen it before. How could such a strange thing appear?"
Dong Zheng turned to the first few pages and read all the words since the "hey" appeared. He didn't understand what was going on. Did someone deliberately play tricks? But since Cui Zuojing moved in to live with him, no one should have touched Shushu.
Dong Zheng couldn't explain it either, he frowned and could only say, "Don't think about it, it might be someone's prank."
"Is it your prank? That really scared me." Cui Zuojing didn't want to continue reading. He closed the book and put it on the bedside table. Said: "It's strange, I often have a feeling that everything around me seems like it shouldn't really exist."
Dong Zheng also became serious, because the situation that Cui Zuojing said also happened to him: "When did it start?"
"Sixteen years old, I feel quite serious."
The two were silent, and after a while, Cui Zuojing said, "You said... Could the brain in the vat really exist?"
The brain in a vat is an interesting hypothesis: add that you've been operated on by an evil scientist, your brain is soaked in a petri dish, electrodes are plugged in, and a computer program generates all kinds of senses and thoughts, and you can even be typed in codes, 'feelings' 'Go to yourself reading an interesting and absurd text here.
So how can one ensure that one is not in such a predicament? No one has yet come up with a convincing answer.
"Or... Inception, maybe I'm being invaded by Inception and lost in my dream?"
Dong Zheng: "It may also be the world of Truman, but I don't think there is an answer to this question. It's like if you are reading a book, how can you know if the people in the book are actually reading the stories of those people in the book? And you?"
Cui Zuojing fell into contemplation, Dong Zheng rubbed his hair with a smile, and said, "Don't think about it, whether it's true or not, as long as I live happily and live up to my life."
"Indeed." Cui Zuojing sighed, "I'm already very happy now, but what to say, I still care a little bit."
Dong Zheng put down the tablet, turned off the reading light, and the bedroom fell into darkness. He was holding Cui Zuojing's hand under the quilt, and said in a low voice, "It doesn't matter, no matter what, I will accompany you."
"Participate in the art exhibition? Don't go." Hearing this extra arrangement, Dong Linhai subconsciously refused.
Dong Yi raised his eyes to look at him, "The charity art exhibition requires family members to go there. If your brother wants to work, he can only go with you."
"What's the point of me going to the art exhibition? I don't have any artistic skills, so I can't understand anything." Dong Linhai pouted, but he wasn't the kind of kid who knew how to play tricks when he was particularly disobedient, and said, "Okay."
So that day, Dong Linhai, a month after the college entrance examination, followed his parents to the scene of the charity art exhibition. This charity dinner was as boring as the ones he had experienced before, and he sneaked away after the opening.
Dong Linhai walked all the way along the gallery, and soon the voices in the banquet hall faded away. His father might spend a lot of money on a painting that he couldn't understand at all, but who cares, what does he want with his money? Spend whatever you want, it's for charity anyway.
Dong Linhai stopped. He didn't know where he was now. There were large and small picture frames hanging on the walls on both sides of the long corridor. Different from the delicate, abstract and postmodern paintings in the exhibition hall, these paintings were of different sizes. Color contrast is very strong, and the visual effect is strong.
The bear hugging the girl weeping tightly in the dark bedroom; the twin towers far away in the vast snowfield, the huge cocoon hanging in the center, like a miracle left in ancient times; the cruise ship that was entangled in countless tentacles and broke in the middle; from the ground Crawling out, the demon gods with wings covered with bone spurs covering the sky; the circus performing a freak show; the red and black trains are pulling out from the platform built from the giant branches and leaves... These are impossible in reality. The scene that appeared, a magnificent scene full of fantasy, was just presented in front of Dong Linhai.
Dong Linhai was deeply fascinated. He studied the paintings carefully. Everything on them was so familiar to him, as if he had seen them with his own eyes.
But he was sure that he was seeing these paintings for the first time.
"Sorry sir, these are not for sale, and the exhibition hall is on the other side." The girl's voice came from the other side of the corridor. Dong Linhai turned to look. It was a girl of similar age to him, with loose curly hair and delicate facial features. A doll, wearing an apron for painting, and there are traces of unwashed paint on her fingers.
"Did you draw all these?" Dong Linhai asked, looking at the train exiting the platform on the tree again, a strong sense of familiarity struck again, along with a subtle sense of unreality.
Wang Que smiled embarrassedly: "Yes, the painting is not very good."
"No, I like it very much." Dong Linhai stepped back and admired it. Suddenly, he saw a painting in the far corner.
Hidden in shadows from the light, the painting was a blue room, empty and empty.
The moment he saw the painting, Dong Linhai only felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. He raised his hand to cover his chest with a hiss, as if a knife had been stabbed on it once.
He forcibly looked away, looked at Wang Que again, and asked, "Can I ask how you came up with the idea of drawing these?"
Wang Que said: "Every time I pick up the brush, there are often blurry pictures in my mind, so I draw them."
"Is it really not for sale?" Dong Linhai asked again reluctantly, "The price is easy to negotiate."
Wang Que hesitated for a moment. As a prospective college student from an ordinary family who has spent a lot of money to study art, she also doesn't want to have a hard time with money. Although she likes every pair of these paintings, if she can hand them over to someone who also likes them, She'll be happy too: "Which one do you want?"
Dong Linhai thought for a while, pointed to the train map, and said, "Is this okay?"
Wang Que nodded: "Yes."
Dong Linhai didn't know how much the normal price of a painting should be, but he thought of the abstract works in the hall that cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, and decided to give a tenth of the price to try his words: "How about eight thousand?"
Wang Que was startled by this number, and hurriedly waved his hand: "No, no, this is too high."
"Although I don't know much about art, in my heart, it's worth the money." Dong Linhai was sure that he didn't lower the price, so he was relieved, and immediately took out his mobile phone to transfer money to Wang Que, "By the way, I still pay. I don't know what your name is."
"My name is Wang Que, the bird's bird." Wang Que didn't expect to meet a local tyrant. Seeing that the other party had made up his mind to pay so much, she said the truth, compared to making a huge sum of money soon. The excitement is more than the joy that someone actually appreciates his work.
Wang Que carefully removed the frame from the wall and handed it to Dong Linhai, who took it in his hand and looked at it carefully again.
The black and red train pulled out from the platform at the top of the giant tree, heading for an unknown destination. Who will be sitting in this car, and what kind of story will it have