under fern mountain

Shi Ran felt that something was wrong with Pei Haojie.He never smelled the stench again, but a certain gloomy smell on Pei Haojie's body lasted for several days that night.

When he came home from get off work, he found that Pei Haojie was not very interested, and was very absent-minded when chatting at the dinner table.After eating and putting away the bowls and chopsticks, Shi Ran washed a plate of grapes and sat opposite him, picking and choosing.Pei Haojie likes to eat this, but he doesn't like the one with the skin on, so every time he peels off the skin for him.

Shi Ran peeled it so that his fingers were dripping with juice, and he threw the emerald green grape pulps on the white porcelain plate.

"Eat? I peeled it for you." Seeing that he didn't move, Shi Ran said.

Pei Haojie sat across from him dryly, but still didn't make a move: "Should we consider moving?"

Shi Ran was puzzled: "Why move properly?"

"The house is old! Now that our family has money, we can find someone with better conditions!"

"I think it's okay. My home is not small, and it's close to the company." Shi Ran peeled the grapes very skillfully, and squeezed and squeezed them into one.

"It's okay to find another one with better conditions not far away." Pei Haojie grabbed a few grapes and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing in a very mechanical way, "And didn't you say to do that with your buddies? We can go to the city Move east."

Shi Ran was even more puzzled: "I did it with him without saying anything. I haven't figured it out yet."

Pei Haojie licked her lips: "Is there such a possibility in the future, I mean. We can look it up online, I choose, you choose."

"I don't want to move for the time being. I've been too busy recently, so I don't have time to think about moving. Besides, we have so many things in our house. How tiring is it to move? What if we find another place far away from the company, and commuting will be even more burdensome?" The bunch of grapes has been ripped bald by him.

"After that, can I send you to and from get off work?" Pei Haojie took a deep breath.

Shi Ran's peeling hand stopped: "Why? It's sudden."

"It's nothing, I just want to move and find a house with better conditions."

Pei Haojie has been earning quite a lot recently, and Shi Ran knows this.Shi Ran thought, probably Pei Haojie had been going well recently, so he was impatient.

"Wait a little longer!" Grape juice dripped onto his wrist, and he got up to wipe it off with a piece of paper, "We've only been going smoothly for a few days now, so don't be in such a hurry."

"It's not just because of this." Pei Haojie said.

It has been three days.It had been three days since he had received such a courier.Most of the couriers contained animal carcasses or bugs.

He didn't know how many times he went to the police station and the Public Security Bureau, and even postponed the live broadcast for two days, but unfortunately there was no progress.He also contacted that die-hard fan online, but the other party didn't reply him, and his private message fell into the sea.The community property has also been searched, and they have provided surveillance in cooperation, and have never seen any suspicious people entering or leaving the community.The courier was placed in the courier storage point, but there was no video there, so it was impossible to verify.There is a combination lock in the apartment building, and the other party did not deliver it directly to their door.But he knew their house number and his cell phone number.

Pei Haojie didn't dare to think about what else the other party knew.

He didn't want to make a big deal out of it.He knew that Shi Ran was timid and would be afraid.

He wanted to get things sorted out before they escalated.

If you can't catch anyone for a while, the best way at present is to move as soon as possible.

"What happened?" Shi Ran was still asking him.

Pei Haojie's mind was in a mess, and she felt a little irritable: "I'm just tired of living here!"

Shi Ran was stunned for a moment, and joked: "We haven't made a fortune yet, are we in a hurry?"

Pei Haojie felt that her nostrils were filled with the smell of blood.He also had a nightmare last night, in which the disemboweled rabbit turned into Shi Ran, lying in a huge package covered in blood.He woke up covered in cold sweat.

"That's really not a problem. Let's change the house and buy a car. It will be convenient for you to commute to and from get off work in the future!" Pei Haojie said patiently, and her tone became irritable.

Shi Ran didn't speak, he lowered his eyelids and ate grapes one by one, the only sound in the room was the sound of him chewing.

"Not yet?"

"It's really generous. But what does this mean?" Shi Ran took out two more pieces of paper, and slowly wiped the paper one by one, "It's not like our family doesn't have a car. You don't usually use it, why don't I drive to and from work? Yes I don't think it's necessary! You say that now, it seems that you are condescending."

"That's not what I meant!" Pei Haojie pinched the bridge of her nose, a little annoyed, "Aren't I discussing it with you? Since you are so resistant, I won't mention it."

Shi Ran threw away the tissues and smiled, "Here we go again."

Every time Shi Ran laughed like this, Pei Haojie hated it very much, as if she was treated as a willful and vexatious object.His chest was heavily blocked by the airflow, and he was about to blurt out many harsh words.

Then his eyes fell on the plate of grape skins.

In the end, without saying a word, he got up and went straight back to the game room, closing the door.

Shi Ran stared blankly at the plucked grape branches, and sat there for a long time.

Early the next morning, Pei Haojie made a sandwich with egg and ham, wrapped it in plastic wrap, took a bottle of heated vitamin soy milk and put them together in a small striped pocket.After Shi Ran finished washing, he stuffed the small pocket into Shi Ran's arms and said, let's go, I'll take you to work.

Shi Ran did not refuse.Pei Haojie would occasionally be awkward, and he just thought it was some kind of cryptic way of apologizing.

He didn't expect that Pei Haojie would come to pick him up after get off work that day, and this state continued for several days.

"Is there something you are hiding from me?" Shi Ran asked.

Pei Haojie hesitated but did not speak, her fingers tapped the steering wheel intermittently.

On the second day of their quarrel, he asked a lawyer to draft a formal lawyer's letter and send it to the former live broadcast platform-his die-hard fans used to work there.Sure enough, the courier did not come again on the fourth day, and neither did the next two days.No matter who delivered the courier, Pei Haojie guessed that he just wanted to disgust himself, and there might not be more.

The psychological burden was reduced, and he did not take it lightly.While still picking up Shi Ran to and from get off work, Pei Haojie was sorting out her emotions.

He has his own way of treating people well, and he is unwavering.Frankly...not his way, but maybe it can improve the relationship between the two.

He wants to learn to restrain himself and make some attempts to improve.

"Let's talk later when we get home!" he said.

It's a pity they didn't make it home.

When there were only two traffic lights left before home, Shi Ran suddenly received a call from Tietou.

Li Qing'er's father suddenly suffered a heart attack when he went out to buy vegetables, passed out in the vegetable market, and is currently being rescued in the emergency room of the Third Hospital.

"I'm working out of town, and I'm already rushing back after receiving the news! You—"

"I'll go right away!" Shi Ran said nothing.

The call was connected to the car stereo, and the moment she hung up, Pei Haojie turned around at the intersection and went straight to the third hospital.

Across the corridor of the hospital, Shi Ran saw Li Qing'er's pale and calm face.There were two friends beside her who kept saying comforting words, but Li Qing'er didn't say a word either.Shi then felt that Li Qing'er might have vaguely had a premonition.

The lights in the emergency room were on for three hours.Three hours later, the doctor opened the door, took off his mask, and pronounced him dead.

The two friends around Li Qing'er immediately covered their mouths and their eyes turned red, and even Shi Ran's head buzzed, but Li Qing'er's reaction was very calm... so calm that it was abnormal.

She mechanically signed everything the hospital asked to cooperate with, and then disappeared by herself while the four of them were not paying attention.Li Qing'er's two friends, including Pei Haojie, were terrified, and the four of them went downstairs separately to find someone.No one replied to the message, and the phone couldn't get through. Shi Ran finally found Li Qing'er in front of the flower bed in the inpatient department.

She sat in a bush with lush branches and leaves, staring at a certain point in the air in a daze.

"Is there any smoke?" She knew that Shi Ran was coming.

"Li Qing'er!"

"Is there?" She asked softly again.

Shi Ran was silent for two seconds, then took out cigarettes and fire from his pocket and handed them to her.Li Qing'er was a bit unfamiliar with a cigarette in her mouth, puffing out the clouds, her eyes still passed through Shi Ran in front of her, and landed on an unspecific point.

Shi Ran stood in front of her, not daring to leave an inch, and called everyone one by one to report that they were safe.

The last call was to Iron Head.He told him that Li Qing'er's father could not be rescued.

There were almost no stars that night, but mosquitoes were infested. Tietou rushed to the hospital before Li Qinger almost emptied a pack of cigarettes.

Shi Ran saw Li Qing'er, who had been calm for several hours, throw herself into the arms of her lover at that moment, and burst into tears, her long hair could not cover her broken face.

Tietou was sweating profusely, panting, and embarrassed, but he kept hugging her and kissing her.

Shi Ran suddenly understood what it meant to be wide-eyed.

Shi Ran received a call from Tietou in the evening of the next day, and the person on the other side was already drunk and couldn't speak clearly.When asked what was going on, he just kept calling him out and asking him to drink with him.

The call was answered quite suddenly, Pei Haojie was cooking in the kitchen.Shi Ran told him, but he didn't respond too much: "Should we go after dinner?"

"No need, save some food for me, Tietou is already waiting there!"

"It's good to have two bites." Pei Haojie transferred the vegetables in the pot to the plate, "I'll take you there after eating!"

Tietou called again, he was there like urging his life, he didn't speak, he just cried, probably he called Shi Ran when he was too drunk.

"No need, save some food for me!" Shi Ran no longer hesitated, and rushed out like a wildfire.

"Last night, I said I have something to tell you when I get home." Pei Haojie chased after the door with a spatula in his hand, "You eat two bites, I have something to say!"

"Now?" Shi Ran looked down at the time, and said coaxingly, "Wait for me to come back, I'll talk to you when I come back, okay?"

"All right." Pei Haojie looked at him for a while and said, "Call me after the evening, and I'll pick you up."

"Understood." Shi Ran closed the door.

Pei Haojie ate two mouthfuls of food by himself, and today's news was on the TV, and he suddenly felt very boring.Can't eat.It was obvious that my stomach was very empty, but it couldn't be filled. In the end, more than half of the plate of food was poured into the bone crusher.

At eleven o'clock in the evening, he received a call from Shi Ran.His words were very vague, he only said that Li Qing'er had gone back to her mother's house and would not let Tietou follow her.He was worried about Tietou being alone, so he sent him home, and he might have to watch him tonight.

"I'll pick you up." Pei Haojie said without a doubt, "Where are you? Give me an address, and you will wait for me where you are, and don't run around."

Shi Ran also drank a lot that night.He didn't have the habit of drinking too much, and he hadn't drunk so much for a long time, almost drinking himself unconscious.

When Pei Haojie felt the place, the two lay unsteadily under a street lamp, laughing at each other and saying that they were performing.

Pei Haojie thought of that kind of dog rolling in the mud for a moment.

Shi Ran seldom went crazy like this. He had seen them when they were playing disco before. They were acting crazy together, kissing in the middle of the night on the road without cars... How long ago was that?

The so-called 'confession' was never spoken.

When he got home at one o'clock in the morning, Shi Ran fell asleep drunk. Pei Haojie wiped his face and neck with a hot towel, and kissed his eyes under the light.Shi Ran looks carefree and childish when he sleeps, unlike a 30-year-old man who works from nine to five.

Forget it, he sighed inwardly.