After midnight

The sun came out the next day after the snow, fluffy and warm. The wind blew, and it was cool. An Yan stood in his own small yard, looked into the distance for a while, and then went back to the house.

"You went out? When did you get up?"

Su Ziling had just gotten up and was standing in the corridor on the second floor when he saw An Yan just coming back from outside.

"I went out for a while. I got up at nine o'clock."

It's already half past ten, and Su Ziling is coming down from upstairs. "It must be a nice day outside today, what are we having for lunch? Is Xiao Su up?"

"I don't know, you can go call her."

Su Ziling stood in the clean and bright living room and stretched. "I won't go. She is the ancestor during holidays."

"the same as you."

Hmm... Su Ziling did not answer. He went into the kitchen, drank a large glass of water, and asked again: "What are we having for lunch?"

"What do you want to eat? I'll go buy some food later."

"I don't know. I'll go with you."

"You rarely take a day off, why don't you go see your brother?"

After An Yan's birthday, Su Ziling did not look for his brother again. Su Ziling thought for a while and said, "Forget it. With Sister Wuying here, he won't starve to death. Besides, every time he sees my brother, he always says something about me."

"Okay, let's go out now?"

"Okay, you tell me, when will Sister Wuying become my sister-in-law?" Su Ziling said as he walked to the door and put on his shoes.

"Next time you see your brother, ask him."

"No, he will definitely beat me. My brother didn't even tell me how he knew Sister Wuying. He doesn't seem to be willing to talk about his past with me. Do you know An Yan?"

"I don't know. Yin has always been very mysterious. I only heard about him briefly from my senior brother before. Before I met him, my impression of him was similar to that of an ordinary person."

"Oh, I see." Su Ziling followed An Yan out.

The supermarket where they buy groceries is not far from where they live, but it is not close either. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there. It should be because it is cold and it is almost noon, there are few people in the community.

"Why is it windy? Are you cold?" Su Ziling said as he zipped up his clothes.

"Cold." An Yan replied. Unlike Su Ziling, he was wrapped up very thickly from the beginning.

"The snow will melt soon." Su Ziling said again.

"Yes, but there will be more."

"It's definitely not as big as this one."

"Maybe." An Yan and Su Ziling walked in the middle of the road where the snow had been shoveled away.

After they walked out of the community, the place suddenly became much more lively. On weekends, the streets were full of people, and the supermarkets were also full of people.

"What do you want to eat?" An Yan asked Su Ziling again.

"You can buy whatever you like. I'm not picky."

"Okay." An Yan walked towards the vegetables and fruits section, and Su Ziling followed him. He rarely had the opportunity to go shopping with An Yan. He watched An Yan picking and choosing, picking up and putting down, and laughed out loud.

"why are you laughing?"

"I laughed at how you buy groceries the same way as my mom does."

An Yan glanced at him, and Su Zi Ling shut up. An Yan walked around and simply picked some meat, potatoes, onions, and apples, and then took some boxes of strawberries. Finally, he walked to the snack area.

"Why, do you want to buy some snacks? I haven't had any snacks in a while."

"I bought it for Xiao Su."

"Oh." Su Ziling shut up in disappointment.

Su Ziling followed An Yan around row after row of shelves, and after careful consideration, he spoke. "It's not good for children to eat so many snacks... You don't have to put them back, give me some too."

An Yan smiled angrily. After queuing up to pay, the two of them carried two large bags and walked home. It was almost twelve o'clock when they got home. Xiao Su heard the bell and rushed over instantly.

"So you guys went to the supermarket, why didn't you call me?"

"Which little piggy slept until eleven o'clock and still didn't get up?"

"Dad, I didn't get up, I just stayed in bed."

"Really?" An Yan said.

"Okay, I was wrong."

"By the way, Xiao Su, your brother Zi Ling is coveting your snacks."

"Hmm? Brother Zi Ling?"

"No, no, they're all yours."

Seeing Xiao Su entangled with Su Ziling, An Yan happily went to the kitchen. He plugged in the electrical appliances and turned on the fire, and a buzzing noise sounded. When the smell of food just filled the living room, Su Ziling and Xiao Su each occupied one side of the long sofa, panting, and their chase game had just ended.

"Brother, what are we having for lunch?"

"Your An Yan's father just bought potatoes and meat. What do you want for lunch?"

"Okay." Xiao Su sighed and said, "I want to eat hot and sour rice noodles."

"Where did you learn all this? Thinking about eating junk food every day?"

Xiao Su looked at Su Ziling with resentment. Su Ziling also sighed and said, "Okay, I'll take you out to eat tonight."

"Yeah! That's what you said."

"Okay, I said it." Su Ziling rubbed Xiao Su's hair, and Xiao Su chuckled.

At lunch, An Yan really brought out a plate of fried potatoes and meat. Su Ziling and Xiao Su looked at each other and took decisive action. Please, I'm almost starving after not eating breakfast.

"Xiao Su, what movie do you want to see this afternoon?" An Yan asked halfway through the meal.

"It depends on the time. I'll watch whatever's playing in the cinema."

An Yan didn't expect this answer. He thought it would be a cartoon that was just released today.

"So when are we going? After dinner?"

"Okay, Dad." Xiao Su said obediently.

After dinner and the movie, he wandered around the mall and had dinner. It was about six in the afternoon. After saying goodbye to An Yan and Xiao Su, Su Ziling walked alone to Xishui International. The Black and White Bar was about to open.

When I walked into the bar from the mall, it didn't feel noisy anymore. Soft music was playing slowly overhead.

"Bai Ming." Su Ziling shouted.

"Su Ziling?" Bai Ming was a little surprised. He quickly put down the cup in his hand and asked, "Why are you here? What would you like to drink?"

"I didn't drink anything, I just came to sit and rest. Where's Xu Xing?"

"Don't mention it, he's still working overtime."

"Working overtime on your day off?"

"Yeah, he's fixing his stuff."

Bai Ming was probably referring to the battle window, so Su Ziling changed the subject. "I see the store is hiring, right?"

"Well, Xiaowu is gone, and the store is too busy."

On the day Wu Si left, Su Zi Ling heard An Yan mention this matter. He looked at Bai Ming, and there was no excessive expression on Bai Ming's face. But it was this calm expression that made Su Zi Ling feel a little uncomfortable. "Did he say anything before he left?"

"He said he would be back."

"That's good. I believe Xiaowu will come back."

"Well, you came to the bar to see me, you really don't want to have a drink?"

"Okay, have a drink then. Any one will do."

Bai Ming nodded and began to mix the wine. Su Ziling felt very happy watching his movements. "Here, this is for you. It's a glass of Rainy Night that Xu Xing mixed for An Yan."

Su Ziling took it and tasted it, frowning. It tasted a bland, sour taste.

"It doesn't taste good, right? But some people love it."

"Are you talking about An Yan?"

"I mean him, but Xiaowu likes him too. People and time are the two most complicated things. Su Ziling, you seem to be much more complicated now than when I first met you."

"Me? It's getting complicated?"

"Ah."

Su Ziling smiled. "No one won't change, only An Yan would be so wishful. Bai Ming, do you know why I came to your bar? Because when I'm happy, I get carried away and don't think about anything else. I'm just afraid that I'll be too happy."

"You're like a little girl, thinking too much."

"I can't help it, Bai Ming. Which world do you think is real? I feel so uneasy."

"Why do you think so?" Bai Ming was a little puzzled.

"Perhaps it's because of these few days that I have the illusion of going back to the past."

"You only have this thought because An Yan let you off a little. The future is going to be good. Zero One, Three Two, Six Nine and the culprit Song Yu, they will definitely be defeated by us in the end. Do you feel more at ease when you think about it this way?"

"It's much better." Su Ziling forced a smile. He knew that besides them, there was another person who had to be dealt with. That person was a knife stuck in An Yan's heart.

Seeing Su Ziling pursed his lips, his expression was still a little serious, Bai Ming didn't know what to say. He lowered his head and worked on his work. After a while, he looked at Su Ziling who was absent-minded and patted his shoulder. "Sit here for a while, I'll go and greet the guests."

Bai Ming said this and left the bar, but when he came back a few minutes later, Su Ziling was gone.

Bai Ming looked left and right and was about to pick up the cocktail and pour it out. He looked at the almost transparent liquid and felt that sometimes he couldn't tell which world was real and which was fake. But then again, even in the same world, is there no difference between real and fake? No.

Su Ziling was flying high in the sky on a hanging window. He had just received a letter from An Yan, saying that Yin was looking for them.

After the window was lowered, he hurried into the house. An Yan was waiting for him in the living room. "Let's go."

"Okay." Su Ziling responded. After a moment, they passed through the secret passage.

Once again, Su Ziling and An Yan were shrouded in the unique darkness. He remained silent and felt a little uncomfortable.

"You're here." I don't know when it started, but whenever they were notified, Yin would sit in the living room and wait for them. "Come on, follow me to the study. I have something to tell you."

Yin remained silent all the way after he finished speaking. When he arrived at the study, he did not speak a word but just brought out a model. The model had seven floors, which surprised Su Ziling. But when he looked at it carefully, he found that the model had many large and small holes and faults, and was not complete.

"This model was built based on the map left by Jian Qiqi."

"How could it be?" Su Ziling couldn't help but blurt out. How could Qiqi leave behind a broken map?

"It's true. I was also surprised. But the map Qiqi gave me is not complete."

Su Ziling immediately looked at An Yan after hearing this. An Yan seemed a little surprised. But he quickly calmed down and accepted it calmly. "Yin, can I take this thing back and have a look?"

"of course can."

"Thank you."

After finally making a breakthrough, he was stuck again. For a moment, Yin's study fell into silence. Only An Yan said after taking a quick look at the model: "Yin, I want to ask you a favor."

"If you have anything to say, just tell me."

"Wusi has been away from Xindu for three or four days. I would like to ask you to help me find out where he went."

"You think the other part of the map is on Wu Si?"

"I don't know. I did look for him because I wanted to know where he was, but on the other hand, I felt that since Wu Si was the reason why Qi Qi did all this, the answer must also be found in him."

"I see. I'm worried about him too. Once we find him, we'll go ask Wu Si directly."

"Okay, as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, I will send someone to find him as soon as possible. That's all for today. I actually took some time out to come back and study this, but the result..." With the facts right in front of him, Yin couldn't help but shrugged his shoulders.

"Brother, are you busy recently? I see He and the others are not here." Su Ziling asked.

"There's a new situation at the Song Corporation, so I'm a little busy. But it doesn't matter. I'll tell you once I figure it out."

"What's new?"

"Song Nan seems to be missing." Su Ziling asked directly, and Yin answered directly.

"Gone?"

"Yes, Song's seems to be running normally, but I know Song Nan has been missing for quite some time. I'm worried that he hasn't really broken up with Song Yu, but there's no definite news yet about where he went."

After Yin finished speaking, the room was left in silence again. The deep meaning behind this is self-evident.

The weather is the coldest after it snows.