The eleventh day of the Lunar New Year.
4:30 in the morning.
It's dark.
The streets were quiet in winter, and the faint noise of cars whizzing past on the overpass could be heard.
The Spring Festival had just passed and the temperature had not yet fully risen. There was a dark chill in the air, so cold that breathing felt like a sharp knife leaving a slight pain in the respiratory tract.
Qi Wei felt a tingling sensation in his throat. He gulped twice and spat twice onto the roadside.
He could smell the greasy smell of his own body, mixed with sweat and cigarette smoke. After a night in a mahjong parlor, everyone would have that smell, as if their pores automatically absorbed it.
When he thought of everything that happened last night, Qi Wei couldn't help but let out a rude curse in the narrow alley that smelled of urine.
Qi Wei suspected that he might be having bad luck recently——
He owes a large sum of money.
He had barely been able to survive a while ago, but these past few days, the other party was frantically pressing him for payment as if his parents had died. Others might not have noticed, but Qi Wei knew that he was at the end of his rope.
After all, he has borrowed money from everywhere he can, and now even the online loan software has blacklisted him.
In fact, when Qi Wei just swindled more than 2,000 yuan from Gu Hezhi, the pretty boy, he just wanted to plug the hole a little bit first.
As a result, when they were halfway through the walk and passed by a mahjong parlor, Qi Wei's heart was suddenly touched by the sound of mahjong being rubbed together inside.
As if possessed by a ghost, a voice in his heart whispered, urging him to give it one last try - even if he immediately used the two thousand yuan on hand to pay off his debts, it would be a drop in the bucket. It would be better to take a gamble, just in case he could turn things around?
After hesitating for a few seconds, Qi Wei went into the mahjong hall again.
When he came out again, the little money in his phone had disappeared without a trace, and he had several more debts out of thin air.
At this moment, Qi Wei was walking on the street in the early morning of the first lunar month. When he thought of the high-interest loan, his whole body turned cold.
Damn bad luck...
He cursed the mahjong parlor inwardly for being so stupid, tightened his collar, and walked slowly towards the rental house with his head hung and his neck shrunk.
Just as he was about to enter the old high-rise building in the city center that had long lost its former prosperity, he suddenly heard a faint sound of breaking wind.
He instinctively stopped and hid beside the stairs.
"Bang--"
Only a heavy muffled sound was heard.
It seemed as if something in the night sky fell straight from the top of the building, hitting the illegally built awning of the shops on the ground floor, making a loud noise.
Did someone jump off the building?!
Qi Wei was startled and looked in the direction of the sound, but saw nothing.
Aside from the faded awning dangling in the night, the ground was clean, devoid of any shattered bodies. Even so, Qi Wei's heart continued to race uncontrollably for a while—after all, the noise just now truly sounded like someone jumping from a building.
There was still silence all around.
Because the environment and property of this building are not very good, on weekdays there are basically only tenants coming and going.
It was the middle of the first lunar month, and I guess some people were still in their hometowns and hadn't returned yet, so despite such a loud noise, no one came out to check.
"call..."
Another gust of wind blew, and Qi Wei felt a little nervous.
Just as he was about to continue walking home, his toes touched a small object that was neither hard nor soft. Looking closely, Qi Wei found that the object he had kicked out was actually a wallet.
The man's eyes lit up uncontrollably.
He looked around and saw that there was still no one there, so he hurried forward and picked up the wallet.
Judging from the half-worn feel, the wallet clearly belonged to a man, and the best part was that, in this day and age, it actually contained a wad of cash.
Qi Wei was so overjoyed that even his hands were shaking.
Could this wallet be the one that was just dropped?
He didn't care about anything else. He quickly stuffed his wallet into his pocket, took two steps at a time and rushed into the lobby of the building where the rental house was located, and hurried to the elevator.
He didn't know why he was so lucky today. Whatever he needed came to him.
Occasionally, there would be quarreling couples in this building who would throw things out, and I'm afraid the loot he just took was one of them.
It's such a windfall that it makes you laugh to death just thinking about it.
Qi Wei thought happily and pressed the elevator button very quickly, for he was afraid that the owner of the wallet would realize the situation and come downstairs to look for it.
"Ding Dong——"
As a result, the metal elevator door had just closed when it was opened again the next second.
A man with his head bowed walked in slowly.
Qi Wei stared ahead expressionlessly, but his peripheral vision involuntarily fixed on this uninvited guest.
Why didn't he notice that there was someone following him?
Qi Wei felt a little nervous, and he didn't know whether the other party had seen his little action just now.
Fortunately, after his observation, he found that everything on this man was branded, so he must be quite rich.
It's good to have money. Rich people usually don't bother with this kind of thing...
Qi Wei thought about it and still felt a little uneasy.
The man's clothes were too dirty. Such expensive trendy brand clothes were covered with mottled dark brown stains. I don't know how they got there.
The old elevator was running with a clanging sound, making a somewhat harsh noise.
In the elevator, Qi Wei kept glancing at the person beside him.
It was late at night, but the man was still wearing a hat. The brim was pulled down low, casting a shadow on the upper edge of his cheek. For some reason, it was impossible to see his face clearly.
Under the pale light of the elevator car, the only thing Qi Wei could see clearly was a long scar on the man's lower lip - the scar almost ran across the man's chin like a centipede, looking particularly abrupt and conspicuous.
Damn, could it be some gangster?
Qi Wei began to get nervous again. At this moment, as if noticing Qi Wei's sneak glance, the man tilted his head slightly and smiled at him.
"You live here?"
I don't know if it's because of the scar on his mouth, but he has an unclear tone when he speaks.
"Ah... Yeah."
Qi Wei frowned, not expecting the other party to actually talk to him, and hummed vaguely twice.
The man's mouth curled up and he smiled widely.
But that smile made Qi Wei feel a strange feeling in his heart.
"very nice."
The man started talking to himself without waiting for Qi Wei's response.
"I also want to live here, but my husband doesn't agree."
"So I could only come quietly every time, because I was afraid he would get angry if he saw me."
"It would be great if we could live together, so I could see him more often every day..."
"but..."
"Ding Dong——"
The elevator bell interrupted the man's mumbling. Qi Wei ignored him and rushed out of the elevator in a hurry.
Behind him, the metal door of the elevator creaked shut quickly.
The number on the panel changed from 14 to 13, then to 12... and then fell straight back to the first floor.
What a weirdo.
Qi Wei's face was gloomy. He stared at the dirty elevator door for a few seconds and suddenly felt something was wrong.
Wait, that guy didn't press the floor button when he entered the elevator just now.
He just followed me to the 14th floor for no apparent reason, and then went downstairs by himself?
What the fuck is this for?
Qi Wei's nerves suddenly tensed up, and he subconsciously touched the wallet he picked up in his arms.
Several minutes passed like this, and the number on the elevator panel remained at "1"—it seemed the man hadn't gone to any more floors. Qi Wei was now truly alert. He quickly glanced around, then quickly rushed back to Room 1401, quietly opened the door, and slipped inside.
The fourteenth floor was a circular structure with many rooms for rent. Qi Wei didn't believe that the guy could find his way to his house one by one.
He comforted himself in his heart, always feeling that the guy in the elevator just now was indescribably creepy.
As a result, Qi Wei was changing his shoes when he heard a "creaking" sound behind him -
He suddenly turned around and found that the security door, which he thought was closed, was actually open a crack.
"grass."
Qi Wei was startled and quickly reached out to close the security door again.
Why is it so weird today...
He muttered softly.
Worried that the strange man had followed him again, Qi Wei cautiously moved closer to the cat's eye and took a look outside.
It was pitch black outside the door.
This building is too old, and the sensor lights have long been insensitive. Qi Wei also deliberately lowered his footsteps just now, so the lights in the corridor were not on at all.
However, the light was not on when Qi Wei entered the door, and it was not on when he closed the door.
Just as he was about to put his face to the peephole and look out, the sensor light suddenly lit up inexplicably.
However, the corridor was clearly empty, without a single person.
Qi Wei opened his eyes slightly and waited for a long time without seeing any ghost. Then he curled his lips unnaturally and left the security door.
It must be a malfunction...
He said to himself.
Tsk, it's just that he's getting older, why has he suddenly become so timid? He's so suspicious.
Qi Wei pondered in his heart and walked towards his room.
After arriving at the room and locking the door, Qi Wei hurriedly took out the wallet he had just picked up under the light of the desk lamp.
After counting the money, the uneasiness of the previous few minutes suddenly turned into complete joy.
There are almost four thousand dollars in this tattered wallet!
An uncontrollable smile instantly appeared on Qi Wei's face. After counting out all the cash, he unwillingly turned the entire wallet over again, trying to find more valuable things -
When he put his fingers into the lining of the wallet, he felt a wet spot.
It was easy to identify that the sticky liquid with a rusty smell on the fingertips was blood. Qi Wei subconsciously threw the wallet to the ground, only to find that a corner of the wallet had already been soaked with blood.
It's just that he was so busy counting money that he didn't notice it at all.
Moreover, when the wallet fell to the ground, the bank cards and ID card originally placed in the interlayer fell out at once.
Qi Wei looked closely and unexpectedly found familiar names and faces.
That is Dong Ruiming's ID card.
"Fuck, are you kidding me?"
Qi Wei almost cursed out loud.
I thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure out why Dong Ruiming threw his wallet out in the middle of the night.
However, after being stunned for two or three seconds, Qi Wei's expression instantly relaxed again.
There are no surveillance cameras in the building, and there was very little noise when I entered the house.
Dong Ruiming had no idea he was the one who found his wallet. If he hadn't found it, someone else would have found it after daybreak anyway, so it might as well be that Ruiming help his brother alleviate his immediate problem.
After figuring this out, Qi Wei calmly took out all the cash and put it into his wallet, then used scissors to cut up the wallet along with his ID card and bank card and threw them into the trash can.
After doing all this, Qi Wei clapped his hands. The sky was already getting bright. He yawned, contentedly put on his clothes and fell on the bed. He fell asleep in a short while.
And in the last moment when the surging sleepiness engulfed his consciousness, he vaguely heard the faint cry of a woman coming from Dong Ruiming's room across the wall.
"Wuwu… Wuwu…"
"Woo…"
Ah, it's Xiaoqi.
Qi Wei thought.
That kid Dong Ruiming... he really has no sympathy for women...
By the way, I can find a chance to tell him tomorrow... I can pay a little more for bringing someone home to spend the night...
call...
*
"Bang."
"Bang, bang."
However, Qi Wei could not sleep well.
Along with the faint sobbing of a woman on the other side of the wall, he didn't know who was banging on his window.
At the beginning, Qi Wei went to work in a factory arranged by his family. The reason he didn't stick with it was that the foreman would keep knocking on the glass window in front of his bed in the dormitory every time he was about to get up.
Qi Wei was very annoyed.
In a daze, Qi Wei turned over and covered his ears with a pillow.
But no matter how he tried to hide, the knocking on the window that happened from time to time still followed him like a shadow, constantly turning into his ears.
"Fuck, is this ever going to end——"
Finally, Qi Wei couldn't bear it anymore. With red eyes, he jumped out of bed and started cursing at the pale face outside the window.
"Knock knock knock your mother—"
…
After a few seconds, Qi Wei's shouting stopped abruptly.
He stared at the window with wide eyes, and belatedly realized that he was no longer a poor factory worker, and the place he lived in was no longer a simple and cold dormitory.
This is the 14th floor. How could someone be lying outside the window and knocking on it?
…
After being stunned for a few seconds, Qi Wei stared at his own face reflected in the glass window and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn, I'm speechless. I'm scaring myself.
These days, I feel like my mind is in a daze because of dealing with debt collection.
Qi Wei rubbed the back of his head, trying to clear his mind.
Probably due to lack of sleep, his temples were aching and a nerve behind his ear was throbbing.
"Bang--"
Then Qi Wei heard the muffled knocking sound again. The sound came intermittently from the living room of the rental house through a door.
*
"Qiao Liang, what's wrong with you? You're banging here so early in the morning—"
When Qi Wei opened the door, he immediately saw a thin man holding a broomstick, poking and knocking around in the living room.
He cursed at him angrily, and sure enough, he saw the man's back tremble.
Qiao Liang was a little slow before he slowly sat up from under the sofa.
"Yes, I'm sorry."
Qiao Liang murmured to Qi Wei.
"But the mice are so noisy... I didn't want to bother with them, but they seemed to have run into my room last night..."
Qi Wei was almost annoyed to death by Qiao Liang.
"Rats, rats, rats again! As a man, do you really need to mess with a few rats? If you really care about rats getting in here, why don't you go buy some rat poison? Why are you knocking here? Are you crazy?"
Qiao Liang was already nervous yesterday. In Qi Wei's opinion, Qiao Liang seemed even more abnormal during the day than last night.
His dark circles were almost reaching the corners of his mouth, and his eye sockets were a little sunken due to poor sleep. His eyes were red from staying up late, and he couldn't focus when looking at people.
"Yes, I'm sorry for disturbing you... I'm not bothered by the mice... it's them..."
Qiao Liang stammered and tried to explain, but when the words came to his lips he realized how poor his language organization skills were.
He didn't know how to explain to the aggressive Qi Wei that the mice in the house this time seemed completely different from the small rodents he had encountered before.
They were literally making a lot of noise all over the house day and night.
And, worst of all… they were not only noisy, they seemed exceptionally bold.
Yesterday, Qiao Liang was lying in bed, barely falling asleep with the help of earplugs, when he vaguely felt something moving back and forth beside his pillow.
"I thought I was dreaming, but then I woke up with a start. Then I found that they were lying on my face and feet, and even wanted to get into my quilt... They wanted to bite my face and toes..."
Qiao Liang spoke incoherently, but all he got was a roll of the eyes from Qi Wei.
"You're from the countryside, and you're still dreaming, right? You heard so many stories when you were little that you even thought rats would eat human brains and gnaw on your toes?"
Qi Wei stared at Qiao Liang's pale face and was speechless.
At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a sound passing by in the kitchen out of the corner of his eye. He was moved and shouted out immediately.
"Well, regardless of whether the rats gnaw on people's faces or not, I think it's because Gu Hezhi used the refrigerator that the house attracted so many rats. So, Gu Hezhi, think of a solution. Either hire someone to deal with it or put down some rat poison and cages. Anyway, it's better than just hitting them with a broom."
"Hmm...Okay."
But the next second, Gu Hezhi's voice came from behind Qi Wei.
"Wow, why are you here?!"
Qi Wei's eyes had been fixed on the kitchen, and he was startled by Gu Hezhi.
Gu Hecheng still had one hand on the doorknob of his room. He glanced at Qi Wei with some surprise: "I just got up and heard you calling my name, so I opened the door."
"Tsk, I thought you were in the kitchen."
Qi Wei breathed a sigh of relief and his voice softened a little.
"Ruiming, you too, be careful when you bring Xiaoqi back. The landlord said before that if you keep bringing people back, she will deduct the deposit—"
As soon as he finished speaking, he found that Gu Hezhi and Qiao Liang were looking at him strangely.
"What's wrong?"
He couldn't help but ask.
"Um, who are you... talking to?"
Qiao Liang hesitated for a moment and asked in a low voice.
"Dong Ruiming, what's wrong?"
"But he hasn't woken up yet and hasn't left the room..."
Qiao Liang said embarrassedly.
Qiao Liang couldn't help but frown. "Dong Ruiming is in the room, so who is that person in the kitchen? Who brought someone back without telling me—"
As he spoke, Qi Wei subconsciously walked towards the kitchen, but when he looked out, he was stunned.
He had clearly seen a figure standing in front of the kitchen sink just a few seconds ago, but now the kitchen was empty, with no one there.
Qi Wei felt confused.
Did I see it wrong again?
But, that figure was clearly there just now...
"Did the mice make some noise again?"
Behind him, Qiao Liang was staring at everything in the kitchen warily, muttering softly.
"I told you, they're not afraid of people and they're very noisy."
…
"I'll go buy some rat poison."
Finally, the little episode in the morning came to an end with Gu Hezhi's indifferent voice.
When he picked up his phone and prepared to go out, Gu Hezhi paused at the entrance.
He stared at the shoe rack for a moment.
So strange.
The voice in my heart was whispering again.
The entrance was dirty and messy, and you could clearly see footprints left by several men.
The men's shoes placed on the shoe rack also gave off a strange smell... Of course, this is normal for several men sharing a house.
What's not normal is that there are only men's shoes on the shoe rack now.
But Gu Hezhi clearly saw Xiaoqi enter the room with Dong Ruiming last night.
So, why aren't her shoes here?
Did she leave alone last night?
*
Gu Hezhi bought rat poison and mouse cages at a grocery store near the community.
After buying these, Gu Hezhi suddenly had an idea and asked at the checkout counter: "Do you have an electrical lock...the kind used on refrigerators?"
The uncle sitting at the counter raised his eyelids and glanced at Gu Hezhi. A hint of surprise flashed across his face, and then he returned to indifference and nodded.
The building is too old and the people who rent it have everything, so these things sell quite well in the store.
However, the owner was somewhat surprised by the handsome young man in front of him. After all, Gu Hezhi looked like a delicate and gentle man, but he was ruthless in doing things. He could even speak so frankly in front of his roommate who was tall and strong with a scar on his face.
But... well, maybe these two are the only ones who have a good relationship.
After thinking about it for a while, the shop owner didn't take it seriously. The refrigerator lock with a password on the Internet cost 19 yuan each, and the shop owner paid Gu He more than 48 yuan. Including the mouse cage and rat poison, it cost a little over 100 yuan.
After watching the young man pay, the owner sat back in his seat, ate peanuts and sipped white wine, and happily watched the live broadcast on the short video software.
Then he felt a strong gaze falling on him.
"What else is missing?"
The shop owner raised his head and glanced at Gu Hecheng.
Gu Hezhi quickly withdrew his gaze from the bottle in the man's hand.
"Oh, it's okay, thank you."
Gu Hezhi's body trembled, he lowered his eyes, grabbed the plastic bag, and rushed out of the grocery store in a very embarrassed manner.
The shop owner was left looking at his back in confusion, muttering vaguely "weird".
Two men... so close...
The author has something to say:
Qi Wei had completely forgotten that in order to have a reflection on the glass window, the light outside the glass needed to be dark, and the light where he was needed to be bright...