Chen Yang's life was filled with pain and sorrow, and he had also witnessed other people's misfortunes, many and various. But when he heard Wen Qing say that, he still felt suffocated for a moment.
"That day, my mother took M to the street and bought him his favorite donuts. He only ate half and took the other half home to his sister." Wen Qing said, "As long as his sister ate the donut, she would stop crying."
Seeing Wen Qing fumbling with the coin for a long time without saying anything, Chen Yang asked, "Did his sister eat it?"
Wen Qing raised his face and smiled: "I ate it, and cried too."
Chen Yang put most of the apple on the coffee table. He wanted to smoke a cigarette, but unfortunately he had none in his pocket.
"Sister was lying on the bed saying she was in pain, m wanted to comfort her and the pain would go away, sister hugged him and cried again." Wen Qing said, "m went to beat dad, came back and said to sister, sister, I helped you beat dad, sister cried even harder, she said she didn't have a dad anymore, m didn't understand."
"Several days passed before my sister went to school. She stopped smiling and kept crying. M wanted to run to her room, but my mother told him not to disturb her." Wen Qing told the story, "One time when M was playing with a female classmate in kindergarten, he pressed her down and moved like my father did on my sister..."
Chen Yang glanced at Wen Qing and saw him grinning. He said slowly, "The teacher said that was wrong and only bad guys would do that. So M knew that his father was a bad guy. He went home and complained to his mother, who beat him up. His father told him to stop crying, but he didn't listen. So his father grabbed his hair and smashed his head against the wall. He heard his sister screaming. His sister rushed over and hugged him."
"After the wound on M's head healed, Dad was still Dad, Mom was still Mom, and Sister was still Sister. The family was happy, just like before." Wen Qing leaned back and lay on the carpet. "It's fake." He laughed, "Dad was acting, Mom was acting, Sister was acting, and later... M also learned to act."
As the last word of Wen Qing fell, the air in the living room froze.
Wen Qing got up, bit the straw and took two sips of Coke, pointing at the apple next to him: "Why don't you eat it? Is it not delicious?"
"Wait a minute." Chen Yang leaned back into the sofa.
"Then I'll continue. The story isn't over yet, it's not over yet." Wen Qing murmured, "Oh, by the way, let me add that the sister is very beautiful and the brother M is very ordinary."
Chen Yang supported his head with one hand, his palm covering half of his face, and looked at Wen Qing with half-closed eyes.
"The next step is the climax." Wen Qing deliberately slowed down his speech. "That Spring Festival, M heard the bed shaking in his sister's room again. It was shaking very loudly, but he didn't hear his sister crying, not even a single cry."
"M was awakened by his mother's crying in the morning. He went out holding his sister's old doll and saw that his father was dead in his sister's bed." Wen Qing smiled with his eyes wide open, "How was it? Was it exciting enough?"
Chen Yang remained silent.
"Handsome guy, you are such a boring person. You didn't even applaud for such a magical story." Wen Qing put his hands behind his head. "Let me think about what happened later." He stretched out his voice. "Later..."
Chen Yang heard Wen Qing say: "Later, my mother wanted to beat my sister to death. M was also often beaten. He and his sister were homeless. Later, his sister committed suicide."
He glanced at the storyteller; he had already closed his eyes and was trembling slightly all over as if he was getting very excited.
"Before committing suicide, my sister gave her piggy bank to M. Inside it were 17 coins she had saved. She hoped that he could grow up safely, leave home and live well, and never come back." Wen Qing smacked his lips. "M was six years old at that time. He already understood a lot of things. The old doll my sister gave him was her favorite. My father was not a bad guy, but a devil. My mother was a servant of the devil. My sister was killed by them, and he could do nothing. He was locked up..."
"In July of the following summer, my mother took M, who was covered in new and old wounds, out, saying she wanted to buy some delicious food because my father had returned from another city." Wen Qing winked at Chen Yang, "Yes, that's right. M's mother went from being a servant of the devil to being a lunatic."
Chen Yang guessed the direction of the story from Wen Qing's eyes.
"The road was bustling, the whole world was bustling, M stared blankly, he wanted to blend in, but he couldn't." Wen Qing said, "After walking for a while, M saw a car turning from an intersection and heading towards his mother. He didn't shout at his mother to remind her to run away, but just like his mother did to his sister when she was bullied by their father, he covered his mouth tightly without making a sound."
"Then my mother was hit and killed!" Wen Qing laughed. "So what? Was this the direction you expected?"
Chen Yang did not respond.
"Do you think it's over?" Wen Qing sat up and picked up the Coke. "This is the first volume. There is also a second volume."
Chen Yang thought of Wen Qing's last name "Shao" and guessed that the next volume would be related to his biological parents.
"You are smart, since you have almost guessed it," Wen Qing curled his lips, "I will summarize it in the next volume."
"That accident was reported in the news, and M was found by his biological parents. Half a month later, his biological parents showed up, and he had a father, a mother, and a home again. Oh, and a brother and a sister. From then on, the five of them lived a happy life. Happy ending!"
The young man sighed and said, "The above is a fairy tale. It is not what I am talking about. This is a story. It is just a story, not a fairy tale."
"M's brother and sister don't accept him?" Chen Yang said.
"Wrong." Wen Qing raised a finger and shook it, "My brother and sister can't see him."
Chen Yang: “Can’t see?”
"Ignore it, that's it," Wen Qing smiled. He didn't know who he was imitating, pouting in disdain, looking at it like disgusting garbage, "Humph, I don't want to talk to someone who looks so ordinary!"
"Oh my, I said I would summarize the next volume, why is it so detailed?" Wen Qing put the coin on his eyelids. "M's brother and sister ignored him, but the worst thing is that his biological parents don't like him. It's a tragedy."
"Are you wondering why they want to take M back?" Wen Qing blinked his eyes, and the coin moved with him. "Because they don't want to be in the newspapers. If they don't take him back, it will affect the stock market of the family business. As for family affection? It doesn't exist."
Chen Yang looked towards the balcony, feeling the brightness outside.
"M spent a few years in a cold and violent environment and entered adolescence. He felt that life was really boring and he had no energy at all, so he cut his arm with a utility knife. He cut a few times each time, but never cut his artery because he couldn't do that." Wen Qing laughed for the second time, "Don't you think it's funny? He wanted to die but couldn't."
Chen Yang said: "Why?"
"Didn't I tell you? He has a grandfather." Wen Qing said in surprise, "The old man took away the piggy bank left by his sister and only gave him two coins because he was afraid that he would die or leave. Look how thoughtful he was. How kind he was."
Chen Yang picked up the slightly oxidized apple and asked, "Doesn't M have brothers and sisters? Why is his grandfather still holding on to him?"
"They are all mentally retarded. None of them is ambitious. M is so disappointed in his brother and sister that he always hopes that his beloved brothers and sisters will take away the family property. But in the end, they are all cowards who can only talk big." Wen Qing put the coins on his eyelids into his pocket, stood up and went to the balcony to let Nini, who was scratching the glass door, in.
Chen Yang shouted: "Where's the end of the story?"
"No, I'm still writing." Wen Qing stroked the dog's fur with his back to him, his movements gentle, "Okay, that's it, I'm done."
Chen Yang took a bite of the apple, his eyes moving around randomly, and he suddenly discovered something, and paused. There was an old doll among the pile of dolls at the other end of the sofa.
"Nini, calm down and listen to me. That's my friend. He has a little cutie. Maybe she's your sister or your boyfriend. It concerns the rest of your life..." The young man's voice of instruction was heard beside the glass door.
Chen Yang leaned on the sofa and watched. The reason why Wen Qing didn't commit suicide was not only because of the fifteen coins, but also because his sister wanted him to live well. But he revealed in the task at the beach that if he lived a boring life, he would die.
The real world cannot arouse the interest of the literary youth, so he can only rely on every task and every rule in the task world. He sets the stage to attract the attention of other taskers and gains a sense of existence and happiness from the glory of being noticed.
This is also the reason why Wen Qing never thought about unbinding his ID number. He was unwilling to reach the end.
Chen Yang and Wen Qing were involved in two missions. This was their first meeting in the real world. They couldn’t be called close friends, but they were definitely old teammates and comrades-in-arms.
Chen Yang did not comment on the life and world of the literary youth, nor could he participate in it. He just asked: "Why is the protagonist of the story named M?"
"This is the name his biological parents gave him." Wen Qing picked up Nini and brought her over.
Chen Yang: "Which name's m?"
"Monsters." Wen Qing said with a smile, "The m in monsters."
Chen Yang nodded, slowly swallowed the apple flesh in his mouth, and glanced vaguely at Wen Qing's forehead covered by thick bangs.
There was a dark birthmark there, probably the size of one and a half coins.
Chen Yang retracted his gaze and scratched his forehead. Birthmarks will expand as you get older. When you are young, they may only be the size of a soybean, which is easy to remove. It will also be easy to remove when you grow up.
The birthmark is still there, and there is only one explanation that makes sense: Wen Qing is unwilling to remove it. He covers it with his bangs in disgust, but at the same time allows it to exist.
"I'm going back." Chen Yang stood up from the sofa.
"Are you going back now? The game disc hasn't even been opened yet." Wen Qing said dissatisfiedly.
Chen Yang pointed at his dark circles and said, "I'm a patient."
"Nini, did you hear that? My friend said he's a patient, lovesick." Wen Qing hugged Nini exaggeratedly and complained, "Is it a big deal to have a boyfriend? Is it a big deal to be in love?!"
Chen Yang: “…”
Wen Qing’s story was not long, and every word was wrapped in heavy negative energy. Chen Yang only got out of it after a good sleep.
Chen Yang couldn't contact Chao Jian. He was knocked on the door by the literary youth every day, and his time except for rest was almost entirely occupied by him.
The literary youth was very active in spreading his wings in Chen Yang's circle of life.
A week after Chao Jian left, Chen Yang missed him so much that he dreamed of him. In the dream, Chao Jian stood in the crowd and looked straight at him with ardent admiration.
When he looked over with sensitivity, Chao Jian tilted his head to scratch the back of his neck, then turned his head back the next second, pursed his lips and smiled at him, with shy stars in his eyes.
Chen Yang woke up feeling lost. He stubbornly and sadly believed that it was not a dream, but Chao Jian in a memory he had forgotten.
"How much have I forgotten..." Chen Yang muttered to himself. The cell phone beside his pillow lit up like a life-saving straw, and he hurriedly picked it up to answer the call.
"Hello." Chen Yang uttered a word with difficulty.
There was no ringing on the phone.
It was three o'clock in the morning, and the air conditioner was set at 26 degrees. Chen Yang had goose bumps on his back, and he shouted again: "Hello..."
A few moments later, Chen Yang heard the voice he missed and replied, "Yeah."
"Brother." Chao Jian said, "I couldn't help myself and called you."
"It's okay." Chen Yang was terrified. It was the first time he heard Chao Jian speak to him in such a weak voice. He couldn't sit still and stood up.
"Are you hurt?" Chen Yang walked back and forth on the bed, kicking the quilt into a mess.
"I'm just a little tired." Chao Jian didn't know what happened, he groaned, and seemed to have put away his phone.
Chen Yang's heartbeat was about to jump out of his throat. He held his breath and called out several times before Chao Jian responded to him, his breath even weaker than before.
"A course of treatment is over." Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang was stunned. One course of treatment a week? How many courses are there? How was he treated? Why was he so exhausted? He sounded like he was dying. He sat down on the bed with weak legs, his face pale: "Chao Jian, how about..."
"Otherwise, just try and finish the second half of the sentence!" Chao Jian panted sinisterly.
Chen Yang swallowed the words "Why don't we give up" and said, "I don't dare. You insist. If you insist, I will insist."
The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be shaking and his breathing was very irregular.
"Got it." After a while, he chuckled hoarsely at Jane.
Chen Yang wanted to mention the information revealed by Ding Huichun, and also wanted to ask Chao Jian what things he had forgotten, but he felt that it was not easy to get through on the phone, and he should not talk about those things.
Besides, the things involved in that part of the content need to be discussed face to face, and it is too cold over the phone.
Before Chen Yang could say anything, Chao Jian said as if he had tapped a wire in his head: "Just remember one thing, you will know everything you want to know. Wait for me to come back."
"Yeah." Chen Yang responded, leaning against the cold and hard wall. Chao Jian had once told him that he would always remember what he should remember, so he should just let it go.
Now a corner of the truth has been revealed and is unfolding to him little by little, but he is still very passive. The switch of his memory is hidden and has not appeared yet.
Ding Huichun said that he was not capable enough, so Chao Jian carefully pulled him forward slowly.
As long as his abilities are improved and Chao Jian's condition is under control, and both are well, then... the time is ripe.
"Chao Jian, are you still there?" Chen Yang shouted.
"Yes." Chao Jian said, "I bought us five minutes. We still have two minutes."
Only two minutes left? Chen Yang immediately deleted "The literary youth moved to the opposite door" and "The seeds are not moving". He sent a video call invitation, but was rejected.
Chen Yang was sure that he had seen it right. He took a deep breath, controlled his temper and coaxed, "Open the video, I want to see you."
There was no sound on the phone.
Chen Yang said, "Can you open it?"
"I look too ugly now. I won't open it." Chao Jian's tone was very firm and resolute.
"..." Chen Yang's tone became gentle, "Then take a photo and send it to me."
"Next time." Chao Jian said softly, "Chen Zao Zao, say goodbye."
Chen Yang didn't want to die so soon. There was a fire burning in his heart, but it also felt like a pile of snow, hot and cold, which prompted him to use the little fun between lovers in an unfamiliar way: "I asked you to video chat but you refused, and you refused to take photos. Why should I listen to you?"
"You," Chao Jian was embarrassed for the first time, grinding milk between his teeth, "Just listen to me this time, and I will listen to you from now on, okay?"
Chen Yang seemed to see Chao Jian biting the milk slice with a tense face.
"Two minutes are almost up, brother." Chao Jian panted tiredly and urged nervously, "Say goodbye, say it quickly, please."
Chen Yang closed his sore eyes tightly.
Just when Chen Yang was about to say "goodbye", the sound of a door lock turning was heard on Chao Jian's side. Someone entered his room. He seemed to have thrown something at him, and the sound was terrifying.
"Chen Zaozao! Say goodbye!" Chao Jian screamed in tears, "Say goodbye to me!"
Chen Yang's ears buzzed, and he responded subconsciously: "Goodbye..."
These two words seemed like a signal of salvation. Chao Jian hung up the phone after hearing them and died with his eyes closed.
Chen Yang was holding the phone in a daze. Why did Chao Jian care so much about the "goodbye" at the end of every call? Was it because he had not had time to say goodbye to Chao Jian...
Don’t think about it anymore. You have to consider the threshold. Chen Yang fanned himself and said, hold it in and wait for Chao Jian to come back. Don’t be too smart.
Chen Yang suffered from insomnia again in the middle of the night. He kept his eyes open until dawn, walking around the house in a daze, as if he had lost most of his soul.
It wasn't until something explosive happened that Chen Yang regained the feeling of being alive.
—The seeds sprouted.
Chen Yang was shocked. The soil in the flowerpot had grown hair a few months ago. The seeds buried in the soil should have rotted long ago, but the fact was...
Small green sprouts break through the soil and grow towards the sun.
Chen Yang moved the flowerpot to the table. He opened his red and swollen eyes and took a closer look, and found that the small tender shoots had a vigorous vitality.
"Okay, the whole world is mysterious, it's nothing." Chen Yang convinced himself. He took a photo with his mobile phone and sent it to Chao Jian.
The chat box was filled with his voice messages, which were very trivial. Chen Yang sent two more messages.
See? It’s sprouting.
I'm very panicked now. You know, I'm a flower killer. I don't even know whether I should water them. I'll go ask the hipster.
Chen Yang ran to the opposite side and knocked on the door. Wen Qing was not at home. Then he remembered that he had gone home for a board meeting.
Only at business dinners and board meetings will a literary youth be Shao Wenqing.
Unable to ask for help from his neighbors, Chen Yang searched the Internet for the answer, but even after finding it, he still had no idea, because as far as he could remember, he had given away flowers and plants with the help of enthusiastic netizens more than once.
Plants are n times harder to grow than my sister. Chen Yang anxiously went to his sister's room and sat at the desk, browsing his phone. Chao Jian attached so much importance to the seeds, he couldn't let the little bud die.
"No fertilizer can be applied for the time being. Water must be half-drained. Too much water will cause the roots to rot..." Chen Yang scrolled down the webpage, reading whatever he saw. He held the phone until it became hot and put it down with a sore eye.
The desk has three horizontal drawers, which contain little gadgets collected by his sister, such as marbles, cardboard, pen refills, hairbands, candy wrappers, etc. Chen Yang had sorted it out a long time ago, wiped off all the dust inside, and emptied the middle drawer to put a small box in it.
Chen Yang opened the drawer and took out the box. He wanted to look at the sparkling diamonds to relieve his eyestrain, but the more he looked, the more uncomfortable he felt.
"Hey," Chen Yang sighed and closed the box. He reached into the drawer and took out a stack of candy wrappers. "Sister, you have to bless your brother and his boyfriend."
The candy wrapper had no taste, so Chen Yang sorted it out and put it back. He was about to put the box into the drawer when he accidentally glanced at a cardboard. A few words on the upward paper caught his eye, "true leaves" and "water thoroughly". He had just searched a lot of information on flower cultivation and was very familiar with those two words.
Chen Yang was stunned for a moment. He quickly picked up the cardboard and opened it, his expression becoming colorful.
All along, Chen Yang thought that the cardboard was paper torn from a storybook, but this time he accidentally discovered the truth.
Not a storybook, but... a guide to flower care!
Chen Yang took apart several other cardboards. Based on the contents, he determined that they were connected pieces of paper, and the content revolved around how to take care of newly sprouted seeds.
I don’t know how long the cardboard has been folded, the creases are so deep that they are fluffy, and the writing is a little blurry and yellowed.
How could it be such a coincidence? Could it be that my sister was also involved in this mystery? Chen Yang couldn't describe his feelings. He sat there in a daze for a long time before he moved the corners of his stiff and pale mouth.
"Okay." Chen Yang laughed and muttered to himself, "Then follow the maintenance guide you left for my brother."
The maintenance guide was very useful, and the little bud grew slowly under Chen Yang's care.
When Xiangdong went to see Chen Yang, Chen Yang was on the balcony holding a flower pot and basking in the sun, just like he was holding Chao Jian.
The house was not very tidy and Chen Yang was too lazy to clean it. If he didn't want Chao Jian to see a dead body when he came back, he wouldn't even bother to eat.
Xiangdong kicked the trash can away: "Do you stink?"
"Almost there." Chen Yang sat in the chair with his head tilted like an old man.
Xiangdong was so irritated by his weak energy that his face turned pale: "Damn it, you might as well enter the mission world!"
"I want to too, but the problem is that it's not my turn yet." Chen Yang said faintly.
"Get up!" Xiangdong pulled him, "Get up for me! Pack your things and go to the street!"
"No." Chen Yang leaned back in his chair.
Xiangdong turned on his phone, switched to selfie mode, and pointed the screen at him: "Look at what a freak you look like."
Chen Yang glanced at it casually: "Isn't this good?"
"What a bunch of good." Xiang Dong was so angry that he cursed, "Get up, get up, you have to go out today, you're going to rot, you know that?" He forcefully snatched the flowerpot that Chen Yang was holding in his arms, "Chao Jian is being treated for illness, he's not fucking dead and the grass on his grave is two feet high, you are so mournful..."
"Thirteen days." Chen Yang said suddenly.
Xiangdong stopped twisting his fingers and asked, "What?"
Chen Yang held the flower pot in his arms again and faced the sun: "He hasn't called me for thirteen days."
"You won't beat him?" Xiangdong was so angry that he almost died. He must have done ten unforgivable evils in his previous life, and in this life he gave up his comfortable life and drove around half of Qingcheng to come to his house and act as both a father and a mother.
"I called but it said it was turned off. Every time he would call me when he felt he was fine. This time it took such a long time, which means his condition is very bad..." Chen Yang's eyes were very dark blue.
"So what? You haven't even made this mental preparation?" Xiangdong snatched his flowerpot again, "Is multiple personality disorder so easy to treat?"
Xiangdong looked at Chen Yang who looked half dead and gritted his teeth and said, "I've consulted a doctor for you. Usually, it takes at least half a year to a year for a patient to control his emotions. Even if Chao Jian is awesome, he's still just a fucking human being..."
Chen Yang gave him the flowerpot, stood up and walked towards the living room.
Xiangdong yelled: "Where are you going?"
"Wash your face, it's all your saliva." Chen Yang said.
Xiangdong: “…” He lowered his head and looked into the eyes of the emerald green seedling, “Chen Baicai has withered on its own, but he has kept you so energetic and precious. Could it be that you are the real body of Chao Fengpi?”
"Haha, I know. The painting on the basin was drawn by that guy." Xiangdong commented objectively, "It's really fucking ugly. It's so ugly that it's out of outer space. It's an eyesore."
Xiangdong put the flowerpot on the ground and suddenly stopped when he was straightening up. Something was wrong. The painting technique on the pot seemed familiar. He seemed to have seen it somewhere.
Where was it? Xiangdong flipped through his memory bank, but couldn't find the corresponding fragment. He sighed, thinking that he had remembered it wrong.
While thinking this, Xiangdong stared at the painting on the flowerpot thoughtfully.
When Chen Yang was dragged out by Xiangdong, he happened to meet a young intellectual who had returned from abroad, and so the three grown men went out to the street together.
After wandering around for more than an hour, the three of them sat on the grass by the lake, with kites flying above their heads.
It was the weekend and many people came to the tent. The adults played with the children and the children smiled at the adults. It was a peaceful and peaceful time.
Xiangdong also bought a kite with a bumblebee pattern. When had he ever flown a kite? It was obviously his first time but he was still trying to save face. The result was unbearable to watch.
The young man chewed gum and gave instructions: "Idiot, pull it up, it's about to fall, back off, pull it in."
The kite fell down.
"Oh no." The hipster gloated.
Xiangdong picked up Wen Qing like a chicken and pushed him towards the kite: "Go pick it up!"
"What does it have to do with me?" The hipster blew bubbles.
"If you hadn't been buzzing in my ear, the kite would have been in the sky earlier." Xiangdong said shamelessly.
The young man smiled and called over a kid not far away, pointed to the east and said, "Little boy, what do you think of this uncle's kite? How would you rate it?"
"Zero points." The child looked at the kite lying on the ground.
Wen Qing laughed so hard that he fell backwards: "Zero points? Hahaha, I thought you could get 10.8 points."
Xiangdong's face stinks like a stone covered with moss in a toilet.
Wen Qing nudged Xiangdong with his elbow, motioning him to look at Chen Yang lying on the grass: "Lovesickness is coming on fiercely, and that person has lost a lot of weight because of the torture."
"I want you to force me?" Xiangdong squinted, "You're so lovesick that you don't even have a chance."
Wen Qing calmly counterattacked: "Same here."
Xiangdong said with contempt: "I don't want to, but you can't. They are two different things. Don't fucking tie me up."
Wen Qing said: "The endings are not all the same."
As soon as Xiangdong clenched his fist, Wen Qing ran towards Chen Yang exaggeratedly: "Brother Yang, save me!"
Chen Yang took away his arm that was blocking his eyes, and squinted his eyes to watch Xiangdong and Wenqing playing around. He couldn't help but wonder, what would happen when the mission was over? How many comrades would he have at the end of the road
The wind was strong, and the dead leaves were blown towards Chen Yang. He picked up a few leaves and played with them. It was autumn, and Chao Jian had not returned yet.