After midnight

After An Yan tore up the letter, he and Su Ziling went out early in the morning. She didn't know what they did, but Qi Qi sat alone at home all day. She didn't think An Yan would go to Fang Hao for a whole day, but she didn't know what he would do.

An Yan hadn't come back for a day, which made Qi Qi uneasy. This was something she had never experienced since she came to this family. But the source of Qi Qi's uneasiness was not An Yan, An Yan never made her uneasy. An Yan was the regret she was chasing, and now she was about to get rid of this regret.

Qiqi's uneasiness came from Song Yu and from the letter that was only written once and never followed up.

Qiqi's uneasiness came from Wusi. Qiqi never thought that Shiyi would be the first one to die among them, but this was a foregone conclusion. Song Yu lost his best sword. What would he do next? Would he gather the scattered chess pieces together again?

It is very likely to go to the meeting, but Qiqi doesn't know what tricks Song Yu can come up with.

It was nearly half past ten at night when An Yan, Su Ziling and Xiao Su returned home. As soon as she saw An Yan, Qi Qi clenched her fists and warned herself that she didn't need to worry. Because May Fourth was not somewhere else, but in Xindu, where An Yan could reach. So, Qi Qi, you must be patient, the time is not yet ripe.

"Qiqi?"

"It's okay, I'm just a little worried because you guys came back a little late."

"Feel sorry."

Qiqi was stunned and let go of her hand.

"An Yan, I'm going upstairs to sleep. Qi Qi, Xiao Su, good night."

"Wait for my brother Ling, I'll go up too. Dad, Sister Qiqi, good night." Xiao Su said as he and Su Ziling went upstairs.

Qiqi looked at them playing and knew that they were having a very happy day. Qiqi was a little envious, and before she took her eyes off the two of them, she heard An Yan say to her, "Qiqi, I'll go upstairs first, too."

"Well, go ahead. Good night."

An Yan took the large and small bags he was carrying upstairs, and then turned off the lights in the corridor on the second floor. He closed the door, blocking Qiqi's gaze from staring at him. In his dream tonight, he once again fell into the past.

An Yan dreamed that he was walking alone under a dim light. He was walking in a narrow passage, looking straight ahead. He was walking alone, short, and kept walking forward, as if he would keep walking like this, with no way forward and no way back.

But suddenly, one day when he woke up after falling asleep, he was lying in a warm and bright room.

"You're awake."

An Yan looked in the direction of the voice and found a strange old man sitting by the bed, looking at him eagerly. After just one glance, he closed his eyes reflexively because it was too dazzling. An Yan blinked and felt a little wet in his eyes, which were physiological tears, but he couldn't help but open his eyes because common sense told him that this dazzling light was the sun.

"It's the sun. You may not be used to it yet. I'll draw the curtains." said the strange man.

"Sorry, maybe I should introduce myself first." With a rustle, the man drew the curtains, and the room instantly became much darker. The man came over and sat down again, but An Yan didn't look at him. He looked at the curtains behind the man, which were sky blue.

"Hello, Anyan, I'm Lin Yaoyue, you can call me Uncle Lin. Don't be afraid, you are safe now. This will be your home in the future, don't worry, it belongs to you completely." Lin Yaoyue looked at him lovingly, but Anyan just looked at the intricate patterns on the curtains in silence.

"Okay, what you need most right now is rest. I'll come see you tomorrow. I've left everything you might need outside. Food, clothes, and your house keys. Oh, and I've left a glass of water on your bedside table. Remember to drink it."

The man who claimed to be Uncle Lin turned and left. When the whole room returned to silence, An Yan shifted his gaze from the curtains to the transparent glass water cup at the bedside, and then he closed his eyes.

An Yan closed his eyes and opened them again, repeating this several times, and then he suddenly pulled his arm out from under the quilt and raised it in front of his eyes. The thin arm, with a child-like firmness, was the arm of An Yan, who was only thirteen years old.

An Yan seemed to have just woken up. He suddenly turned over, stepped on the brand new slippers on the ground with his bare feet, rushed to the window and pulled open the closed curtains. He opened the window, and outside there were birds singing and flowers blooming, and the sun was shining brightly. The fresh and warm sunlight shone on his face, creating a warm touch.

Opening his eyes in the dark, An Yan turned sideways towards the window. The curtains were not drawn tight, revealing a little moonlight. He touched his forehead, and the warm touch seemed to have not dissipated in his sleep. How could he dream about this? That was the first day An Yan returned to this world. It was a sunny day, the most beautiful spring day of the year.

An Yan quietly opened his eyes. It would be six in five minutes. The sun always comes later in winter.

After An Yan woke up, he couldn't fall asleep. He counted every brief encounter with Qiqi and thought that there was nothing special about them. So why was Qiqi so obsessed with him? If Qiqi was a very emotional person, he might understand, but it was obvious that Qiqi was not.

The alarm rang at six o'clock, and An Yan dawdled for a while before getting up.

When Qiqi woke up, it was bright. She could even see the magnolia trees planted outside the road through the closed window. She looked aimlessly for a while before getting up. She opened the door and found the living room empty. Qiqi closed the door with only a bang.

I don’t know when it started, but they stopped waking Qiqi up for breakfast.

One day, Qiqi woke up and saw the breakfast left for her on the dining table in the living room. She was stunned and accepted it silently. Qiqi opened the door and walked into the bathroom on the first floor, feeling a little lazy and free.

An Yan didn't come back until almost noon. When he came back, Qiqi was sitting in the living room, bored.

"boring?"

"A little bit." Qiqi put the pillow off her legs and stood up.

"Why don't you come and have a chat then?"

"What to talk about?"

"Let's talk about...May Fourth?"

"He doesn't have anything to talk about."

Qiqi didn't know at this time that she had already exposed her importance of the May Fourth Movement in front of An Yan.

The person you avoid talking about is the one you cherish the most in your heart. The same goes for Qiqi.

"So do you want to talk about you and me?"

Qiqi immediately became alert, An Yan seemed a little abnormal today.

"Okay." An Yan sighed, unexpectedly a little distressed. "I recently remembered some of the connections between you and me. I mean, the connections that happened in that place. So, I don't quite understand why you are obsessed with me."

Of course An Yan wouldn't understand, and Qi Qi didn't want to talk about that anymore, so she turned back to the previous topic. "Wu Si and I were once locked in the same room. There were fewer and fewer people in that room, and finally only we were left. Wu Si and I were partners, and we survived by luck, that's all."

An Yan looked at Qi Qi silently without saying anything.

"An Yan, I'm hungry."

"Okay, I'm going to cook."

When An Yan entered the kitchen, Qi Qi touched her heart, which was beating restlessly.

An Yan finally remembered, but Qi Qi didn't dare to ask An Yan what he remembered. After she moved into this house, she realized that although time can't erase everything, it can dilute and blur everything. She didn't want to think about or face the dark past, even if it was related to An Yan.

An Yan didn't know why she was obsessed with him. It was because she never said that she survived because of him.

She remembered very clearly the most critical moment in her life. At that moment, the water power was about to be completely integrated into her body, and whether it could be completely integrated depended on her life or death.

"Number 115, heart rate 135- beats per minute, intense."

Qiqi was lying on the white hospital bed, gasping for breath, and the emotionless bass voice recorded her vital signs. She was very familiar with this sound, but today, she clearly realized that it was different from the past. It was precisely because she was still conscious that she knew this clearly. She knew how much pain she was in now, and what kind of torture she would endure next.

"Seventh hour of observation, heart rate 155."

Qiqi had never wanted to escape more than at this moment. She felt dizzy, nauseous, and couldn't breathe. She tried to sit up from the bed and squat down with herself, tried to mobilize her weak limbs, and tried to breathe deeply, but it was in vain. She didn't even move, and everything in front of her began to become blurry.

"It's the thirteenth hour."

Qiqi felt like a fish out of water, she could only roll her eyes and breathe weakly. She had completely lost all feeling, she didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't want to think about anything anymore, nothing could help her. She couldn't imagine, because at this moment, she had lost the feeling of pain in her body.

"What a pity. Her previous indicators were obviously very good."

"Can't hold on any longer?"

"If the situation remains like this."

“How many finished products are there?”

"Only two."

"What a pity."

"Yeah, it's a shame, but there's nothing we can do about it. I heard the 'Son of God' is no longer here."

"Is this true? Did the Son of God really get out of here?"

"Really? Yang Rong told me. Okay, let's continue observing."

Are they talking? What are they talking about? Qiqi tried hard to distinguish and identify, and finally captured the most important information in their conversation. Although by the time her brain waves analyzed the meaning of this information, at least five minutes had passed since their conversation ended.

But this did not prevent her from being surrounded by great ecstasy in an instant. An Yan left here? An Yan left here alive? Then could she also leave here alive? Leave here alive and go to the outside world, Qiqi, you can do it.

I hope you never know how much power and courage this thing possesses.

"Qiqi! Qiqi!"

After a full twenty-four hours, Qiqi was soaked and almost out of strength when she was brought back. Wusi rushed to her bedside, not knowing what to do with her. Wusi didn't dare to touch her, but Qiqi kept raising her trembling hand to Wusi. "An Yan left here alive. Wusi, you have to live too, live with me."

"Okay, I promise you, we will live together." Wu Si hugged her carefully and answered firmly.

At that time, even though she was about to say goodbye to Wu Si, when Wu Si hugged her, Qi Qi's heart was so warm that she had never been so happy before, as if she could see the most beautiful sun right away tomorrow.

"What are you thinking about?"

Qiqi came back to her senses, feeling a little dizzy.

"Nothing, is the meal ready?"

"immediately."

An Yan went back to the kitchen, where the rice porridge was boiling in the pot and the dishes were all ready and could be put into the pot soon.

Qiqi looked at An Yan's back and smiled fondly. She was always grateful that he led her through that endless darkness. Wu Si later survived the life-threatening crisis, but unfortunately her life did not get better. Reality taught her that things that were taken by force will not be hers after all. She soon discovered that something was irreversibly wrong with her body.

She had put a lot of thought into this matter and successfully concealed it from everyone. When fate finally came, she would not tell anyone, let alone let anyone know. There is nothing better than things going well, even if that thing is death.

Qiqi shook her arms and decided to stand up. She had been sitting in the client room for too long.

"Qiqi." An Yan called her, "Pour me some hot water."

"it is good."

Qiqi took a bowl of boiling hot water and handed it to An Yan. An Yan poured it into the pot, simmered it for a while, and then simply stir-fried it. An Yan asked, "Have Lingyi or Song Yuyou written to you again?"

Qiqi shook her head. This was also the issue that worried and confused her.

"Be careful, this means they are no longer testing the waters but are ready to take action."

An Yan continued to cook and spoke casually, but Qi Qi's heart suddenly tightened. She was not worried about herself, she was worried about May Fourth.

"Okay, clear the dishes and eat."

An Yan turned off the fire. Qi Qi thought about it but finally went to the cupboard and took out two bowls and plates. A plate of hot and sour potato shreds and a plate of stir-fried meat. Since there were only two people eating at noon, An Yan made it a little simple. But no matter how simple the dishes were, Qi Qi ate very seriously. She lowered her head and didn't realize that An Yan was silently observing her.

An Yan put the shredded potatoes into the bowl and chewed slowly. He remembered the reason why Qiqi came to her in the first place. But now it seems that this deal is not as simple as it was said at the beginning. He must get the map of the underground of Xishan, but he also needs to know what Qiqi's real purpose is in advance so as to be prepared.

"Qiqi, I'm done eating. I'll go upstairs to rest for a while, you clean up."

"Okay, you go and rest."

An Yan returned to the room and opened the window for ventilation. As soon as the window was opened, the cold winter wind immediately rushed in, and An Yan shivered with cold. The situation is changing too fast now. In order to protect them, he has to take the initiative, especially after Eleven's death. There is not much time to indulge in the stable status quo. Otherwise, when the cold wind blows again, he will be caught off guard like now.

After Lin Xuanfeng's death, An Yan never wanted to lose anyone again. If they hadn't jumped out of An Yan's sight just after he recovered, An Yan would have found them one by one and annihilated them. If we want to figure out Qiqi's thoughts right now, I'm afraid May Fourth is the key.

What kind of person is Wu Sihui? He is heavy, painful, and hopeless, but he must hide himself perfectly while surviving. So where will he hide? Such a person can neither blend into the darkness nor embrace the light, so how will he choose to live?

This person of course refers to the May Fourth Movement.

An Yan closed the window expressionlessly. To find such a person, Dark Night was not the best choice, nor was the Revolutionary Army. Then who else could be used? Whose network did the May Fourth Society fall into? Who could be the most direct and effective way to find him?

With a bang, the window closed completely, and An Yan made up his mind.