Zero-sum game

As soon as Zhou Xingchuan entered the door, Sister Lin took the things in his hand and whispered casually, "Miss Mo Qiang has been here, and I chatted with my wife all afternoon, and my wife is in a particularly bad mood."

Zhou Xingchuan nodded, knowing in his heart that his mother probably knew about Shen Yan's incident. Sure enough, as soon as he entered the living room, his mother sat uncharacteristically upright, holding a string of Buddhist beads in her hand, pointed to the Buddhist altar in the corner, and said: "Go and offer incense. Kowtow, get rid of evil spirits."

Zhou Xingchuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "What did Mo Qiang tell you? It's not what it says on the Internet."

"Then Shen Yan, is it true that he has been to that kind of place to work part-time?" Zhou's mother asked.

"……that is because……"

Zhou's mother didn't listen to his explanation, she walked over to offer incense and kowtow, and then said: "I'll go ask you for a cleansing amulet tomorrow, and you don't want to associate with children with bad character like that in the future."

"I've said it all..." Zhou Xingchuan wanted to defend himself, but Miss Lin tore his clothes. He looked up and saw his father was coming down the stairs.

His father was in his prime, and he still dressed like a top cadre, with a slight frown between his brows, as if he was a leader at home.

"You don't understand what your mother said, do you? Don't do that drama, it's a waste of time."

Zhou Xingchuan didn't refute anything this time. He went to the study on the first floor to get the things he wanted, and walked out without stopping for a second.

Zhou's father said sharply: "What! You can't even listen to what you say, can you! What do you think you can do in theater?!"

Zhou Xingchuan's back froze for a moment, but he quickly walked out without looking back, leaving his father's scolding at the door.

Back at the apartment, Zhou Xingchuan hesitated for a moment before entering the door, but he quickly adjusted a relaxed expression, opened the door and walked in.

Shen Yan was sitting on the sofa preparing things for going to the theater at night, and he seemed to be in a normal state. Zhou Xingchuan's worry was slightly reduced, and he asked, "Are you ready?"

"Well, I heard that tonight's tickets sold well, and the attendance rate was about the same as the first one." Shen Yan said.

Zhou Xingchuan stood where he was, hesitated for a while, and still didn't ask him if anyone made things difficult for him when he went to class today, but said: "That's good, I'll take a shower first, the car's air conditioner doesn't seem to be doing very well. , it’s so hot driving all the way here.”

"Hmm." Shen Yan put all the scripts into a special file bag, and carefully closed the seal.

He looked at his palm and felt a kind of fear for no reason, as if he was preparing for the last performance in this life.

As the case progressed, the matter fermented faster and more intensely than he had imagined. If Liang Zhe inside knew this, he would definitely feel relieved.

But at the same time, he also received a lot of accusations, which he had anticipated but was only belatedly aware of.

He expected that he would become a point of fermenting public opinion, but he didn't expect to be oppressed by the sight of others.

When I went to class today, the sights on the campus and in the classroom, the discussions that drifted into his ears from time to time, the camera secretly shooting in the corner...

It feels like back in high school, there is a cage around him, isolating him from the majority of the mainstream, he is a monster to be exhibited, a monkey to be teased, a talking point and a laughing stock for others.

But he has no right to complain, because everything is the truth.

He just covets the money that can be easily earned, and covets the momentary comfort. He noticed that something was wrong, and even understood the methods of those people, but he failed, or even made a little effort, to save others from "sounding" and the hunting of those people.

He is a coward, and what he deserves now is what he deserves.

Before leaving for the theater, Shen Yan looked back when he walked out the door. His mobile phone was placed on the coffee table, and the screen lit up in the dark, as if he had received some news, but he didn't intend to take it away.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Xingchuan pressed the elevator and asked.

Shen Yan shook his head, "It's nothing, let's go."

He closed the door.

When they came to the theater, they arrived a little later than usual, Shen Yan felt that everyone looked at him with complicated eyes, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that he couldn't lift his head.

The soundproofing of the lounge in the backstage of the theater was not good, Zhou Xingchuan went out to pour water, Shen Yan sat in the room, listening to the unscrupulous discussions from next door, his eyes were out of focus.

Zhou Xingchuan took the water glass and passed by the open lounge next to it, and a few words in it reached his ears. He paused, picked up the sympathy snacks on the table next to him, knocked on the door, and said with a smile: "Everyone wants to taste Do you want to try this? It tastes good."

At eight o'clock in the evening, the lights of the theater were turned off on time, and the third performance of "Daydream" began.

Shen Yan, who was lying on the prop bed, felt a burning sensation in his stomach, spreading to all his limbs.

The performance has just started, and there is still more than an hour to go, so I have to bear it to death, and I have to endure the pain to death.

Shen Yan's hand under the quilt kept pinching his palm, trying to wake himself up.

In the first scene, Shen Yan didn't have many lines, but Zhou Xingchuan noticed that his lips were frighteningly white, but he couldn't say anything on stage.

In the next scene, they played on different sides. Zhou Xingchuan watched Shen Yan turn around and leave in a hurry, his eyes full of worry.

"...I don't care anymore. I already understand that individual will can hardly surpass the collective will. The justice of the majority has been slaughtering my special case..."

The second act was about to end, Shen Yan finished speaking this line, and walked to the prop sofa beside the stage. At this moment, he felt something flashing in front of him, and saw a mineral water bottle flying towards him.

Consciousness told him to dodge, but his feet were too heavy to move.

The bottle filled with most of the water hit him violently on the forehead, and the air froze for a moment, before the exclamation of the audience and other assistants reached Shen Yan's ears.

The pain seemed to be dull for a moment, and then it doubled and surged up.

Zhou Xingchuan looked at the boy who threw the mineral water bottle in the audience, and knew in his heart that he was deliberately looking for trouble, and was about to pull Shen Yan down, but Shen Yan just paused, and then continued to finish his lines, "Our needs The less we have, the closer we are to God..."

"Go down!" A voice suddenly came from the audience.

"Go down!"

"nausea!"

"Stop acting!"

"..."

The shouts one after another became louder and louder. Shen Yan looked at the audience, and suddenly found that it was different from the day of the premiere. He was so close, but he couldn't see the expressions of the audience clearly. Everything in front of him seemed to be covered by a mask. Layers of gauze, I can't see clearly.

Attacks were thrown towards Shen Yan one after another, Zhou Xingchuan couldn't care about anything else, and rushed forward to pull Shen Yan off the stage.

Only then did he realize that Shen Yan's palms were covered in cold sweat, and his whole body was shaking. As soon as he reached the side stage, he immediately sat down on the ground with exhaustion.

The shouting and cursing outside became louder and louder, the theater manager had to ask someone to close the curtain, the lights in the theater came on, and more and more people shouted "refund". After a while, it seemed that Tian Xin came on stage and was say something.

"Stomach pain?" Zhou Xingchuan asked.

Shen Yan nodded his head, then stood up and bowed to the assistants and staff beside him.

"I'm sorry everyone, it's all my fault, I ruined the show." He didn't dare to look up at their expressions and eyes.

There was a dead silence among the crowd, and finally someone said, "This is also the last show. The investor has decided not to sponsor the subsequent performances, and the reserved theater has also been cancelled."

Shen Yan felt something collapse in his heart.

After an unknown amount of time, everyone scattered and left, Zhou Xingchuan said to Shen Yan in a low voice: "I'll take you to the hospital."

Tian Xin, who had finished appeasing the audience, also came over at this time, her tone of voice was indifferent with helplessness and disappointment, and said: "Let's go to the hospital first."

Shen Yan was so weak that he looked like a walking corpse, and Zhou Xingchuan let Zhou Xingchuan take him into the car.

Zhou Xingchuan handed him a tissue and said, "Wipe your face first."

Shen Yan just looked out the window.

At this time, it happened to be a red light, and the car stopped.There were only a few cars at the intersection, and the dim streetlights made the street look desolate.

Shen Yan took it over, the two of them didn't speak for a long time, the red light was extraordinarily long.

After a while, Shen Yan said: "Why didn't you ask me..."

"Ask you what?" Zhou Xingchuan asked.

"Ask me those things, is it true..."

The signal light turned green at this time, Zhou Xingchuan started the car and continued to drive forward.

He turned onto a closer path, where it was quieter, and the dim street lamps would break every few times.

"I only--"

Before Zhou Xingchuan could finish his sentence, a huge truck suddenly rushed out from behind and slammed into their car. The loud whistle ripped through the sky, and the huge impact and inertia caused the car to roll over a few times and go far away. Accompanied by the sound of metal scraping and tearing, there was a bang from the car body, and a cluster of flames burst out.

Shen Yan's eyes were blurred, and the severe pain made his throat sob. In the haze, he saw Zhou Xingchuan's side face was covered with blood, and his eyes were closed as if he had lost all life.