born criminal

Chapter 36 Past Events

Chen Jian didn't express anything special about Yang Zhou's arrival, he didn't even lift his eyelids.His glass was empty, and he patted the coffee table next to him with his left hand, fumbling for the remaining half bottle of brandy.

Yang Zhou moved the bottle to the other side and whispered, "Don't drink."

Chen Jian looked up at him, and after a few seconds, he sneered inexplicably.

Yang Zhou sat down at the other end of the couch, with his hands on his knees, his fingertips curled up unnaturally.He stared at the incomprehensible abstract oil painting on the wall, and suddenly said, "Can you tell me about your childhood?"

Chen Jian collapsed on the back of the sofa like mud, raised his eyebrows in surprise, he was silent for a moment, and finally said coldly: "There is nothing to say."

Yang Zhou turned his head slightly, looked at Chen Jian's face from the corner of his eye, and asked cautiously, "Then... where's your father?"

"Who allowed you to mention him!" Chen Jian was furious immediately, his shoulders bounced off the sofa like an attacking beast.He stared at Yang Zhou with sharp eyes and full of hostility.

"I just want to know more about you." Yangzhou said gently.

Chen Jian took up the conversation with a sneer on his face: "Then tell that woman to make her feel at ease."

"No." Yangzhou sat upright, pinching his knees with his fingers, like a cramped primary school student.Maybe it was because the warm yellow light was too gentle, he said in a strange way: "Because I don't know a lot of things that Fang Xing said, so if you can tell me..."

Chen Jian didn't drink much, but now he felt drunk.He felt a numbness and a sharp pain in his left chest, and his tongue got stuck. He tried a few times before he could speak: "Why should I tell you? Don't you also hide a lot of secrets?"

Yang Zhou could not refute.

Chen Jian didn't know why he was angry, and his tone was weird, and he said mockingly: "Is it necessary for us to get to know each other better? Before, we didn't ask each other, but now we find out that we are brothers, so I want to know?"

What he said was cruel, but it was also true.No matter how ambiguous they were in the past, they always regarded each other as objects to be guarded against, so they didn't ask about their origins and privacy—but now, the blood relationship that fell from the sky made people feel confused, and Yangzhou suddenly had a strange impulse, I want to get closer to Chen Jian's past.

Maybe it's because of the image of the little Chen Jian he put together in a few words, which made Yangzhou feel a little distressed.

After all, this is a long time ago.Chen Jian didn't want to mention it, and Yang Zhou wouldn't force it either.

They sat for a while, the lights above their heads became dimmer, as if the roof was transparent, allowing the night to gradually diffuse in.

Needless to say, it was D3's fault again.

Only a vague outline of each other in the darkness, turning into a mass of dark brown shadows.Yangzhou took a look at him and decided to go upstairs and stop being annoying.

Just as he was about to get up, Chen Jian suddenly said in a calm tone: "My dad... If I hadn't seen the photo that day, I would have almost forgotten what he looked like."

"He was very handsome when he was young, but because he didn't like to smile, he looked a bit gloomy. He cooks delicious food, and he also has some weird crafts, such as carpentry and ancient techniques to make dried flowers," Chen Jian recalled the box half of the scarf in his pocket, and smiled lightly, "I can also knit sweaters."

An image of a young man with his shirt tucked into his jeans, beating on the wood came to Yangzhou's mind.He didn't know what Chen Beimin looked like, so he replaced it with Chen Jian's face.He watched the man wipe the sweat from his brow, carefully scrape off the wood residue, and then lean on the newly made chair to light a cigarette.

For some reason, Yang Zhou felt his heart was burning.

Chen Jian's eyes became distant, he was immersed in the memory, and continued in a low voice: "I was very naughty when I was young, and I often fought with others, and my dad couldn't control me, so he could only keep cleaning up the mess for me. It was a parent who came to ask for medical expenses. Once, I accidentally beat up the son of a gangster at the time, and the lackeys came to the door and insisted on cutting off my hand. It was obvious that the idiot bullied me first, but they bullied others , It’s unreasonable. There were so many people on the other side, I was scared at the time, but my dad... I always thought he was pretty useless, but that time he was crazy, and he wanted to fight them desperately with a knife. "

Chen Jian paused for a moment, and a vague "grunt" came from his throat, as if he was choking.

Yang Zhou bit his lip and asked softly, "What happened next?"

Chen Jian clenched his fists, and he tried to take a deep breath, but the breath was intermittent, as if blocked by great grief, and he couldn't take it out for a long time. "We were outnumbered. My dad had two little fingers chopped off by them. It took me some time, but I couldn't get them back." Chen Jian paused, and said coldly, "Later I joined their hostile gang. It broke, and cut off the man's two hands."

The bloody and chaotic past was just passed by him in a few words.Yang Zhou felt uncomfortable, but he also knew that comforting was useless, so he could only keep silent.

Chen Jian had no drink and knocked on the glass anxiously.

Yangzhou thought about it with complicated emotions, and suddenly felt that he had heard the details of the two broken fingers somewhere.

Where is it……

He fiddled with the communicator on his wrist that was disguised as a watch, and suddenly his eyes widened—yes, the story Colonel Zhou told before entering the base! Twenty years ago, a man managed to escape from the base, but was badly burned and died as soon as he reached the gate of the camp.At that time, Yangzhou was touched and asked a few more questions. Colonel Zhou said that the man only had eight fingers, and he was holding a piece of felt cloth in his fist...

Yangzhou's heart was pounding with fear, a certain vague and terrifying premonition fell on him again.He sat motionless, afraid of disturbing any ghosts, and asked in a low voice: "Then your dad now..."

Chen Jian rubbed his face vigorously, and sighed from between his fingers. "Do you remember when V-SARS broke out, it was—"

"[-]." Yangzhou took the words, and his heart suddenly started beating wildly.

In [-], at the turn of the century, the consequences of long-term abuse of antibiotics by humans finally broke out, and superbugs continued to appear.That year, an acute infectious disease swept the world. Because the symptoms were very similar to SARS, it was named V-SARS.

This terrible infectious disease has reduced the world's population by one-thousandth. If scientists had not developed drugs in time, this figure might have been even more terrifying.

"I was ten years old at the time, and somehow I was infected." Chen Jian recalled the days when his life was hanging by a thread. He felt a little tight in his chest and coughed twice. "A lot of people died at that time, but the therapeutic agent was just developed Come out. The whole world needs medicine, and the production efficiency cannot meet it. In the end, the United Nations Health Organization came forward to mediate the distribution. We, people with low genes, are naturally forgotten."

A gloomy wind blew head-on, as if some lonely ghost passed through his body, Yangzhou couldn't help shivering.He wanted to interrupt Chen Jian and tell him not to say any more, but Chen Jian had already forgotten Jin Xi He Xi, and said to himself: "At that time, many people in the base were infected with V-SARS, but except for a few rich and powerful people who could get it from outside Once the medicine is available, other people will have to wait to die once they are infected.”

"I had a high fever for seven days in a row, and I was unconscious. My dad asked for help everywhere, but he couldn't get any medicine. Later, I was really dying. He was very desperate. He heard that the troops stationed outside had medicine, so he decided to ask them. Help. Before he left, he told me to wait for him to come back," Chen Jian sniffed, "so I just kept waiting."

Yangzhou's heart throbbed, he grabbed the wine bottle on the table suddenly, raised his head and poured it into his mouth.He drank too quickly, and the wine flowed down the corner of his mouth.He quickly wiped it with his left hand, afraid that Chen Jian would hear the choking in his throat, so he covered his mouth and bit his thumb.

The fictional story he had heard was finally complete today. Twenty years ago, a man climbed over the high wall of the base, endured severe pain and crawled to the front of the camp. Before he could speak, he stopped breathing.A soldier opened his clenched right hand and saw a piece of felt cloth scorched on the edge, with crooked words: "Save my son."

Twenty years later, this story has become a half-truth and half-false legend. No one knows that there is still a child waiting for his father in the base.

In the silent room, Yang Zhou's rapid and messy breathing could be clearly heard.Chen Jian glanced at him, and couldn't see Yang Zhou's expression clearly in the dim light, but he had an intuition that something had happened.He bent down and knocked on the coffee table, and said impatiently, "What are you doing?"

Yangzhou didn't want him to find out the clue, so he agreed vaguely.

Chen Jian was not so easy to fool, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "D3, turn on the light."

The sudden light completely exposed Yangzhou's distress.His eye circles were red, and his neckline was wet. Under Chen Jian's sharp gaze, he dodged uncomfortably.

Chen Jian walked up to him in three steps, grabbed his neck with his right hand, narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Are you still hiding something from me?"

Yang Zhou propped himself up on the sofa and wanted to sit up, but was pushed back by Chen Jian.Such a restrained posture annoyed him, but at this moment he couldn't bear to sprinkle salt on Chen Jian's wound, and tried his best to remain gentle: "Let me go."

The strength in Chen Jian's hand was even heavier, and he asked, "Do you know where my dad is?"

Yangzhou had difficulty breathing, and subconsciously kicked Chen Jian in the lower abdomen.Chen Jian let go of him and took a step back.He stared at Yangzhou, the eagerness in his eyes was unbearable.

Yang Zhou stood up and pursed his lips.At that moment, many thoughts flashed through his mind, like a hurricane passing through, and nothing remained in the end.

"He died." Yangzhou blurted out mechanically: "He died 20 years ago. He died as soon as he walked to the gate of the camp."

He said the word "death" three times in a row, and the temperature in the room dropped sharply, falling into a suffocating silence.

Chen Jian stared at him blankly, as if his soul had come out of his body, and his whole body froze.A few seconds later, his right leg gave way and his body fell to one side.

Before the word "you" in Yangzhou could be uttered, Chen Jian had already supported the mantelpiece next to him, stabilizing his figure.His eyes were out of focus, and his face was calm.

After a long time, Chen Jian raised his hands, as if he wanted to hug his painful head, but finally fell down powerlessly.

"You can't let me go," he said.

Yangzhou turned away, blinked his eyes suddenly, his eyelashes became moist and black and shiny.

If possible, he would not want to bring bad news to Chen Jian one after another.Why did he tell the truth when he should have concealed it?

Chen Jian turned and left. He walked slowly and steadily.Along the way, something flowed from his body like water, and when he reached the edge of the stairs, he couldn't hold on any longer, bent over and lay motionless on the handrail, like a tree that had been cut in half.

Yang Zhou was standing far away, he could vaguely hear a few whimpers, like the wind leaking in through the crack of the window.He regretted it, and called Chen Jian's name in a low voice, trying to tell him that he was lying, but the tip of his tongue couldn't control him, and he couldn't make fluent syllables no matter what.

Yang Zhou anxiously walked towards him, stopped two or three meters away, raised and lowered his arms, at a loss.

Without waiting for him to comfort him, Chen Jian straightened up suddenly, stepped on the steps with heavy steps, and quickly disappeared from his sight.For a moment, Yangzhou caught a glimpse of a little water stain in the corner of his eye.

It was late at night, and the clouds gathered and scattered on the dark blue sky, and the wind blew away the stars, leaving only a crescent moon with dim light, which aroused countless sorrows.

The bedroom is filled with smoke, and there are occasional flashes of red stars.Chen Jian was lost in thought with the cigarette between his fingers, until his fingertips were prickly, and then he snuffed out the cigarette.

The moon outside the window is very similar to the day Chen Beimin left.The thin thread hangs alone, as if it is about to melt into the endless night.

Chen Jian reached out to touch the cigarette and found that the cigarette case was empty. He stood up upset and paced by the window.

His father died, on an ordinary afternoon 20 years ago.The faith that had supported him to tide over difficulties and overcome dangers all these years finally collapsed now.

In fact, why didn't Chen Jian understand? There has been no news for 20 years, and the possibility of being alive is extremely slim.It's just that he is not reconciled, the little child living in his heart is stubbornly gritting his teeth, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, he is willing to deceive himself and others to wait.Many years later, he held power in his hand, and he could clearly ask someone to inquire about his father's whereabouts, but he did nothing.Because he is too scared, he is afraid of bad news, he would rather wait for the unknown forever with hope. In his imagination, one day Chen Beimin will open the door and walk in with a smile on his face. He may have gray temples and a stooped back, but Still his beloved father.

But these beautiful fantasies disappeared in an instant.Yangzhou told him that his father was dead.

Yangzhou.Thinking of this name, Chen Jian couldn't help punching the wall.He must have been sent by the heavens to torture him. A shit lover, a shit brother, is clearly a poison that makes life worse than death.

There was a wind blowing outside the window, and on the small balcony connected to the bedroom, several potted flowers were blown down, making a crisp and cracking sound.Chen Jian was shocked, and suddenly called "Dad".

He looked around, the whole room was like a cage, oppressive and breathless.

Chen Jian was confused and just wanted to escape.He opened the door, and almost at the same time, the opposite door opened, and Yang Zhou came out, looking at him quietly.

Chen Jian's footsteps stopped, and his expression could not be seen clearly in the dim light, but he exuded a gloomy air all over his body.

"Are you okay?" Yang Zhou with a blurred face approached and apologized in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you."

Chen Jian's breathing became rapid, and the sound of swallowing was clearly audible.After a while, he asked, "How did you know that?"

"Before entering the base, I heard it from the soldiers stationed outside." Yangzhou recalled the scene that day, and secretly hated himself for asking a few words, "I didn't know it was your father at the time. It's been too long, even they Can’t tell the truth.”

Chen Jian remained silent, Yang Zhou felt sore, he stopped talking a few times, and finally asked: "You want to know the specifics..."

"I don't want to." Chen Jian supported the wall and interrupted sharply.

The two were silent for a while, Chen Jian smoked too much, his throat was dry and itchy, and he couldn't help coughing.Yang Zhou went back to his room and brought a glass of warm water, Chen Jian stared at him coldly, until Yang Zhou raised his hand sorely, and then brought him over to drink.

"Why don't you sleep?" Chen Jian asked in a rough voice, returning the cup to him.

Yang Zhou stroked the glass, and there was still warmth from Chen Jian's palm on it. He clenched it tightly and said, "I'm worried about you."

Chen Jian seemed to have been scratched by the little milk cat's fleshy paw, and his heart was so soft that it was unbelievable.

He knew that Yang Zhou was not lying, even though it was pitch black now, he could still describe Yang Zhou's expression, his eyes must be as gentle as the wind blowing in a wheat field.

Chen Jian felt ashamed of his faint joy, and snorted coldly, "Stop pretending to be brothers and sisters."

"I didn't pretend. I know it's hard for you to accept our relationship...me too." Yangzhou took a deep breath, his shoulders shrugged stiffly, "I'm sorry about your father, but if you can accept I... I can also be your relative."

Chen Jian laughed inexplicably, put the back of his head against the cold wall, and hit it hard a few times.

Yang Zhou has never been so open to others, Chen Jian's silence made him embarrassed, he waited for a while, left a sentence "I'll go to sleep if you're okay", turned his head and walked to his room.

Chen Jian suddenly grabbed his wrist, quickly moved forward, and hugged Yang Zhou tightly from behind.

Yang Zhou still instinctively rejects close contact, just after struggling a few times, Chen Jian's lips pressed against his ear, and he immediately froze, not daring to move.

In the darkness, the warm bodies were clinging to each other, and the heartbeat was desperate and enthusiastic.

"My father is dead." Chen Jian's voice was rustling, and every word he said brought trembling breaths, "I should have known it earlier, but I still don't want to believe it. Now that he is dead, I don't need my relatives anymore. "

They seem to be trapped in a dark and viscous dream, thinking and wandering, clinging to each other like babies.After a while, Chen Jian woke up suddenly, he let go of Yang Zhou, and punched the wall in a gaffe, walking away quickly with hatred and anger towards himself.