The slender fingers twisted the light bulb, and the spiral pattern slowly turned, making a squeaking sound.
After spinning three or four times, the light bulb fell off the ceiling and was thrown casually by Fan Xiao into a trash can not far away.
At this point, this small storage room completely lost its artificial light.
After throwing a few cushions in, Fan Xiao stood at the door and examined the small space.
He took out a box of matches from his pajamas pocket, held it in his palm, and then walked in step by step.
With a flick of his finger, the door slowly closed, blocking out all light sources and the entire world.
The sea water surged up and had already covered the ankles. The icy temperature seemed to have just melted from the glaciers, freezing every inch of the bones and soul through the skin and flesh.
Fan Xiao curled up tightly, hugged his knees with his arms and shivered. The sound of his upper and lower teeth knocking against each other vibrated his head, and the huge echo made him seem deaf, unable to hear any sound from the outside world.
There is no sound either.
At first, you could hear some people running and shouting for help, but now there is nothing, even the sound of the surging waves has disappeared, and the whole world is dead silent.
"Mom." Fan Xiao called softly.
His mother built him a very high platform, but it was unstable. He squatted on a broken tabletop and barely found a foothold to keep his balance.
Mom hadn't spoken for a long time. When her mouth and nose were submerged by the seawater, Fan Xiao still had two matches left. He used one, and in the dim flickering light, Mom smiled and told him.
To survive.
The seawater had already reached his calves. For the first time in his life, Fan Xiao thought about death. It didn't seem like a big deal. Living wasn't much better, with his eldest brother's disgust and accusations, his second brother's instigation and plotting, his frightening father, and his gossipy relatives. There was nothing to be nostalgic about.
So, must you survive?
No one answered him. He had one last match left, and if he lit it he would be able to see his mother.
My hands were shaking and the match head was placed on the side wall of the matchbox, but it didn't slide.
His palm suddenly tightened, crushing the last object that could provide light.
Darkness is the safest place. You can't see the sea water that is constantly swallowing people, and the silent mother in the sea water.
The water level was still rising, even if the boy stood up straight, it was still above his chest. For the first time, Fan Xiao didn't want to listen to his mother. Who said death is not a kind of relief? Who said that we must live with hope?
Why do we live? For whom do we live?
If he had to find a reason, Fan Xiao slowly opened his tightly closed eyes. His pupils could not focus in the darkness, but he saw his father who left mercilessly while fleeing in a hurry, regardless of his own fall; Fan Yu who was the first to get into the car and shouted to drive quickly; Fan Bo who leaned half of his body out of the car, with hesitation on his face, and was finally pulled back into the car.
Too many people wanted to board the "Noah's Ark" and countless hands reached out to the car door. In the end, the car locked without hesitation, started up with a roar, and drove away quickly, stepping on the water marks.
Only the mother who had just pulled up her child was left, drowned in the zombie-like fleeing army.
Fan Xiao finally found a reason to live.
I want to live! And drag everyone in that car to hell with me!!
"Who will save me?"
On an island in Southeast Asia, the wall of a shabby utility room was slapped. Small hands slapped the wooden board vigorously. If one hand was not enough, two hands were used. When the hands were numb from slapping, and when there was no strength left, the head was used to hit the board!
The tunnel of time twisted and connected, tearing and crumbling the lonely room like a piece of paper, and projecting it into another space. 19 years later, in a storage room where the light had just been cut off, the adult Fan Xiao was doing the same thing as the young Fan Xiao.
Also banging his head against the wall!
The hoarse roar sounded like a ghost, crashing around in the narrow space but unable to find any way out.
His arms were so weak from flapping that they couldn't even hold up the wall. Fan Xiao could only use the strength of his body to swing his head against the wall again and again.
"Save me! I want to live, I must live! I live so that you can die! All of you, die!"
The sticky liquid slowly slid down from the forehead, and the smell of blood gradually filled the small space.
The rough wall was stained with thick blood. Fan Xiao seemed to feel no pain, and repeatedly hit the wall with the same position.
The blood kept flowing, dripping from the jaw, blurring the eyes and covering the lips. The warm liquid gradually turned cold and fell to the ground, adding to the dirtiness.
"You Shulang." The manic man suddenly stopped his self-abusive behavior, and the name blurted out with heavy breathing was like a shot of spiritual freshness, which made the man regain his sanity briefly.
"Shulang, please save me." In the void of darkness, only the man's hoarse and broken voice could be heard, "I'm so scared and in pain, You Shulang, please save me."
No one responded, as silent as a woman sinking into the water.
Except for Fan Xiao's own breathing, everything was hopelessly quiet.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of hitting the wall rang out again! After a brief awakening, Fan Xiao fell into the abyss of nightmare again.
But this time, in his dream there were not only people from the old times, but also You Shulang.
"Shu Lang, please come back! Do you really not care about me? You said you loved me, you told me not to be afraid of all this, you said you would protect me!"
The voice gradually changed from pleading to ferocious and cruel: "Why don't you keep your word?! Is your love so light? You say you love me and you don't love me?! Aren't you a Bodhisattva? Aren't you kind? Then why did you abandon me?!"
In the bloody smell in the room, the man roared madly: "You Shulang, who allowed you to leave me?!"
After venting his anger, the man's breathing became weaker. In the narrow space, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of blood dripping on the ground, ticking, ticking.
Until everything fell into silence. From the darkness, Fan Xiao saw that the car that Fan Bo and Fan Yu were riding in had already driven away; the woman slowly sank into the dark water; You Shulang also dropped his baseball bat and turned away expressionlessly...
Everything became blurry, the sea water surged higher and higher, Fan Xiao slowly closed his eyes and thought, I can finally die as I wished.
Suddenly, a series of shrill telephone ring tones broke the silent air.
Fan Xiao suddenly opened his eyes!
With eyes almost covered with blood, he looked at the mobile phone thrown not far away. The faint light from the phone screen made Fan Xiao, whose half body was covered in blood, look like a ghost demanding his life.
He stretched out his trembling hand, spread his arms, took the phone, looked at the words jumping on the screen, and his turbid and empty eyes suddenly lit up.
He raised his eyebrows slightly, cleared his throat several times to make his voice return to normal, then opened the phone and called out politely, "Mr. Huang."
The dormitory that You Shulang applied for was a double room, and his roommate was an ordinary employee of the pharmaceutical factory.
The young man in his 20s was always a little nervous when he saw You Shulang. He either didn't talk much or always ran to the next dormitory.
You Shulang was a mid- to high-level manager of the company, and the people living in the dormitory were mostly ordinary employees. People were coming and going, and although You Shulang had behaved very approachably, when they saw him, they were still like seeing the dean of education. They were excited one moment and silent the next.
You Shulang was also somewhat helpless, and planned to go out and share a house with someone he didn't know or had nothing to do with, so as to avoid such embarrassment.
But this is another expense, and he is not well off recently.
Lying on the old balcony and smoking, You Shulang flicked the ash into an old and ugly soap box. The weather was getting warmer, and a few grasses emerged from the cracks in the balcony's cement, but they were pecked by some annoying sparrow, leaving them with gaping teeth and looking very ugly.
The phone in his pocket rang. You Shulang took the last puff of his cigarette, put out the cigarette butt in the soap box, and then took out his phone. When he saw the name on the phone, he smiled unconsciously, answered the call, and called, "Boss Huang."
Huang Qimin loves tea, and he and You Shulang made an appointment at an old teahouse.
The two men looked very close. You Shulang helped the fat Huang Qimin to sit down and poured him tea personally.
"This is the top-quality Tieguanyin I took from the factory director's office. Please try it."
In the still chilly early spring, Huang Qimin also took out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He smiled like a Maitreya Buddha: "Okay, okay, let me taste this tea to see if it has the smell of thieves."
You Shulang sat opposite with a smile and ordered some nut snacks to go with tea.
While Huang Qimin was drinking tea, his eyes, which had become smaller due to his fat, were always looking at You Shulang.
"Why do you look so bad?" He put down his teacup. "I saw you last year and you weren't this thin?"
You Shulang peeled a few hazelnuts and pushed them in front of Huang Qimin, then changed the subject gently: "Teacher, you said you had something to talk to me about on the phone, what was it?"
Huang Qimin was indeed misled by him. His eyes narrowed into slits. He leaned forward slightly and said, "I would like to invite you to join my scientific research team."
You Shulang was startled: "Invite me to join the scientific research team?"
Huang Qimin nodded: "Have you carefully read the information I sent you before the New Year?"
"You mean honeysuckle drink?"
"Yes, that's the project." Huang Qimin drank some hot tea and wiped his sweat with his handkerchief. "Now we plan to optimize the process and put it on the market."
"Not cooperating with other pharmaceutical companies? Not using the OTC channel?"
"If you refuse to cooperate, we plan to use our own 'Changling' brand."
You Shulang saw Huang Qimin's eyes light up and said, "As long as we can make this project a success and let the Changling brand gain a foothold in the market, we can launch other projects one after another to continue to support this brand."
At this moment, Huang Qimin's double chin showed a proud look: "The investor said that we rely on the reputation of Changling University's scientific research team. As long as the marketing is done properly, it will be easy to build a brand."
"Investors?" You Shulang asked, "Has capital intervened?"
"Yes, otherwise how can we have money? Besides, we only know R&D, not sales." Huang Qimin looked expectantly, "Shulang, you are my most proud student, come back and help the teacher."
A flash of brilliance flashed across You Shulang's eyes, but he slowly suppressed it after thinking about it: "Teacher, my current job..."
"Shulang, it's a waste of your talent to be the office director. Although you've done a great job, I know you're not interested in this. If you weren't in a hurry to make money to support the family, and I'm really poor and can't give you a decent salary, how could you not even go to graduate school and rush out to find a job that's not related to your major?"
Huang Qimin pointed at You Shulang's chest and said, "Ask yourself, do you like this job?"
You Shulang took a sip of hot tea, then smiled helplessly and said, "I don't really like it."
He was telling the truth. There was nothing wrong with the job of office director. You Shulang was well-versed in human relations and handling affairs, so he could do the job with ease.
But I don't like it, and even feel a little annoyed.
Tired of the social conventions and comings and goings; tired of resolving endless conflicts and problems every day; tired of the politeness and hypocrisy during cups and drinks; also tired of the saunas and dirty jokes after drinking.
However, he worked his way up to this position step by step from being an ordinary employee. His current position is not low and he earns a lot, which has fulfilled his wish of earning money to support his family when he started the job.
In fact, You Shulang's college entrance examination results were very good, enough for him to leave the city and go to a better university outside. However, You Shulang was afraid that his adoptive mother and brother would be bullied, so he chose Changling Medical University in the city after careful consideration.
When You Shulang graduated from university, his adoptive mother had passed away. He ignored his mentor's repeated requests to stay and chose a job that was not related to his major but paid well, and worked there for five or six years.
But, to be fair, he yearns for a simple and pure scientific research team, enjoys the ease and pleasure of immersing himself in the world of micromolecules, and is more willing to explore the wonderful combination and decomposition of chemical elements, which makes him feel at ease and interesting.
But now, he has nothing again, and even has some debts on his credit card. He has to make a living and support his younger brother, so You Shulang can't give up his high-paying job easily.
"Are you worried about the salary?" Huang Qimin said.
He raised his mouth again, revealing a nouveau riche smile: "Now you don't have to worry, don't we have an investor? You come to be my team's deputy leader, and take care of all external affairs, I'll give you this amount."
Huang Qimin raised a few fingers and raised his eyebrows.
You Shulang said with a smile: "When you are away for three days, you should look at him with new eyes. Boss Huang is really rich now."
"Will you come?" Huang Qimin continued to persuade, "I heard that you sold your house and have no place to live. I happen to have a student who is going abroad to study. His rental apartment has more than half a year left. You can stay there temporarily."
You Shulang pinched the teacup with his fingers a few times. He was very tempted by Huang Qimin's proposal.
In fact, this attraction was not entirely due to the ideal job and salary. Another point was that if he continued to work in Bohai Pharmaceutical, he would definitely meet Fan Xiao again.
The two of them have now come to such a point that You Shulang doesn't know what attitude he should use to face Fan Xiao at work, and he can't guess what attitude Fan Xiao will use to face him.
Fan Xiao's fear lies in his uncontrollability, and he has also lost control many times in this relationship, often making irrational moves. You Shulang doesn't want to bring his chaotic emotions into work, so leaving Bohai is the wisest choice.
After taking a deep breath, You Shulang said, "I'll pay the rent for the house, and for the rest... just follow the teacher's orders."
Huang Qimin clapped his hands and was very happy: "Then it's settled. My project has already started, and I urgently need you to come to the post early, so you should resign and come here tomorrow."
You Shulang poured tea for Huang Qimin, and said helplessly: "You have to give me some time to hand over the work. By the way, who is the investor of our scientific research team...?"
"Yes..." Huang Qimin choked and stammered, "Xinruida, a long-established investment company."
You Shulang nodded: "I will perform my duties as soon as possible."