desolate

Zhou Ze stared fixedly at the wide open door.

He was the only one left in the private room, and the food on the table did not move at all, slowly spinning round and round.

As she wished, Ma Wenjing was pissed off.

And he left as soon as he said, and immediately called a ride back to Seoul overnight.

"Xiao Ze, why did your mother leave? You don't want to eat this meal..." Zhou Haiyang saw Ma Wenjing in the hall, and ran back in a hurry without stopping him, "Did you and your mother quarrel?"

Zhou Ze slowly picked up his chopsticks, fiddled with the eyes of the plate of steamed sea bass on the table twice: "No."

Zhou Haiyang sat down puzzled: "Then why is she leaving in such a hurry? There is another job in the laboratory?"

Zhou Ze answered honestly: "I don't know."

Zhou Haiyang served himself a bowl of rice, and the more he talked, the more he felt that he had guessed right: "It must be—you said that your mother did the same, she ran all the way here and didn't spend much time with her son, and she ran back so late... hey , Forget it, but it’s not easy for your mother, if you are brought up by yourself, you should understand her more.”

"Ah."

"..."

Now there are only the two of them left in the private room that can seat ten people. The built-in lights in the corners of the wall exude a warm yellow light. After the conversation was cut off, the room was so quiet that even the sound of breathing and the sound of chopsticks touching Brief and frequent.

Zhou Ze buried his head and concentrated on it, but Zhou Haiyang was suffocated to death.

"Xiao Ze... Do you want to visit your dad a few years ago? I'll take it to you in my car." Zhou Haiyang brought up a topic, "It's been a while since you both..."

Zhou Ze paused with his chopsticks, and then said, "It shouldn't be convenient for me to go."

Zhou Haiyang didn't even think about it: "What's so inconvenient..."

But as he spoke, his voice slowly stopped.

Zhou Ze also saw his hesitation, and smiled slightly: "I heard that Aunt Qu is pregnant, and the due date should be New Year's Eve. Dad is busy at that time, so I won't cause trouble."

Zhou Haiyang said suddenly: "If my child goes, why is it causing trouble..."

After finishing speaking, he seemed to think of something, shook his head again, and swallowed all the next words in his stomach.

After the meal, Zhou Haiyang wanted to drive Zhou Ze back to school, but Zhou Ze refused, saying that he wanted to take a walk after the meal. Zhou Haiyang couldn't persuade him, so he had to drive away by himself.

Except for the passing cars, he was alone on the main road.

Zhou Ze hailed a taxi in the night wind, reported his destination, and got a green light all the way. It was exactly 11:30 when he arrived at Gezi.

At that time, Xiao Jia in the day shift was doing the calculation of the day's accounts, and while he was doing the calculations, Zhou Ze waited boredly beside him.

"Forget it, I'll leave the rest to you!" Xiao Jia walked behind him, yawning.

"Ah."

Zhou Ze glanced at the amount in the ledger, then turned his back and sorted out the sloppy snacks on the shelves.

"Network administrator, exchange fifty coins." Someone knocked on the counter.

"coming."

Zhou Ze took the money, bent down and took out a tray of one-yuan coins from the counter, counted fifty and took out an empty tray to hold them, and when he was about to hand it to the man, he froze again.

"...Why are you standing there?" Pei Ye skillfully took a new lighter from the counter to light a cigarette for himself, and put it back when he was done, "Are you on the night shift today?"

"Yeah." Zhou Ze still held the plate of coins in his hand, "Didn't you come to surf the Internet?"

Ask knowingly.

Pei also smiled: "The coins have been exchanged on any Internet."

He took the coins and sat down in front of the slot machine on the side of the counter without going far.

The two haven't seen each other for a while, and the previous unhappiness seems to be an illusion.

Zhou Ze's gaze followed his back.On the hand with blue knuckles, there are some engine oil marks on it, whether it can't be washed off or accidentally rubbed on it, the right hand grabs a small handful of coins in the plate, stuffs a few into the coin slot, and the left hand fills the rest. Flourishing.

Compared with the few people next to him who were taking pictures of the game console loudly, his movements were particularly slow.

Zhou Ze nested behind the computer, very close to him, but one was inside the counter and the other was outside the counter.

"Network administrator, turn it on for four nights."

The new students pulled back Zhou Ze's thoughts.

"Oh, okay, do you have an ID card?"

"No."

Zhou Ze paused for a moment, then took out a thick stack of ID cards from the drawer, took out four more, and said, "Ten yuan for the general area, twenty yuan for the private room."

"We want the seat over there." The leading student pointed to the direction of the dark room.

Zhou Ze glanced at it, and the position of the mouse was slightly off.

"Twenty over there."

"I'm helping us make four bowls of instant noodles, sauerkraut, and sausage."

After turning on the computer and making instant noodles, the students finally left in a lively manner.

The front desk became deserted again.

After Zhou Ze put away the large pile of ID cards and plastic trash, he subconsciously glanced at the direction of the game console—it was empty, and there was only another game console, and there were two slumbering people sitting around it.

When did people leave?

This question flashed through my mind.

"Calculate the money."

Suddenly, a bottle of green tea "flyed" in front of him.

Zhou Ze looked up along the bottle in astonishment, only to see Pei Yezheng half lying on the counter, looking down at him.

Zhou Ze lowered his head: "Three yuan."

Pei Ye said, "There are more."

Only then did Zhou Ze see that besides a bottle of green tea, there was also a plate full of coins on the counter, which was more than double the original fifty coins. It seemed that Pei Ye had just won these.

The coins are stacked neatly, making it easy to count.

Zhou Ze handed over the banknotes: "A total of one hundred and eight, excluding the money for green tea, I'll find you 170 seven."

"Thanks."

Pei Ye was still half lying on the counter, and there was a faint smell of green tea in the air.

Seeing that he had collected the money but had no intention of leaving, Zhou Ze stared at him instead: "Is there anything else?"

Pei also asked casually, "How is work?"

Zhou Ze thought for a while, and replied: "It's okay." Except that he tends to get sleepy when working night shift.

After finishing speaking, he asked back: "What about you?"

Pei also raised his eyebrows: "Me?"

He grabbed the green tea bottle, pinched a hole with his index finger, and restored it with his thumb. He went back and forth several times before he said, "That's what I'll do."

Zhou Ze hesitated and asked: "I heard from Xu Duozhi that... are you going to drop out of school?"

Pei Ye was slightly taken aback, and didn't refute after he realized it, he just scolded: "That big mouth with curly hair, why can't you say everything..."

"Why did you drop out?"

"I can't read anymore." Pei said indifferently, still playing with the bottle in his hand, "It's a waste of money to continue reading, so I don't want to read it anymore."

Zhou Ze touched the bracelet on his wrist and said nothing.

After twelve o'clock, fewer and fewer customers came in to the Internet cafe.

Pei didn't intend to leave, and Zhou Ze didn't ask why he didn't go back. The two of them nestled together behind the counter, one leaning to the left and the other to the right, separated by two fists.

Sometimes the two of them would chat for a while, and sometimes they would not say a word, and use the computer to play a bad movie that made people yawn.

In the middle of the night, Zhou Ze was already drowsy, and finally couldn't hold on anymore, so he fell asleep on the table for a while.

When I woke up, it was time for the shift.

Zhou Ze got up from the table and saw that Pei was also helping himself to settle accounts.

"Hey, why are you here?"

At this time, He Chang, the owner of Style Internet Cafe, just came in with a briefcase.The other party obviously knew Pei Ye, and was startled when he saw him.

Pei Ye quickly pushed the accounting book in front of Zhou Ze, and turned out of the counter himself.

"Wait, are you here to make money from me again?" He Chang stepped back warily, as if he had a premonition, "Xiao Zhou, did he come to play the slot machine? How much did he win?"

Both of them stared at him, Zhou Ze opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer.

Fortunately, Pei also stopped him: "Not much, a hundred dollars."

He Chang didn't really care about it, and cursed: "Gui grandson, I owe you something, right?"

Pei also shrugged his shoulders indifferently, and made He Chang very angry again.

He Chang pushed him away: "It's alright, alright, get out of here—Xiao Zhou, you can get off work after the account is settled." He Chang walked into the counter and found that there were still two bowls of finished instant noodles on the table , turned around and asked Pei Ye who was about to leave: "Have you stayed here all night?"

"hold head high……"

"Is something wrong at home?"

"It's all right."

"you……"

Before He Chang could finish speaking, Pei had already disappeared.

"The boss seems to be calling you..." When Zhou Ze stepped out of the elevator, he turned his head uncertainly.

"You heard it wrong." Pei also grabbed the spare helmet and threw it to him, "Put it on."

Zhou Ze was at a loss: "Where are you going?"

Pei also buttoned his helmet with one hand, and patted the back seat of the motorcycle: "Have breakfast, aren't you hungry?"

It's okay if you don't mention it, you will be hungry if you mention it.

Zhou Ze had no choice but to follow him obediently.

"Are you going to eat duck blood fans?"

"Eat fried... vermicelli."

"Are you a fan?"

Ten minutes later, the two sat in the breakfast street in Pingjiang.

The golden sun only showed its head at this moment, and the yelling of the vendors and the barking of chickens and dogs followed one after another, as if they were trying to compete.

After ordering the meal, he became sleepy, and Pei also became a little listless. When two bowls of fried vermicelli were served, he even closed his eyes and took a nap.

"Hey, it's time to eat."

Zhou Ze patted his shoulder with his hand.

The moment his hand touched it, Pei Ye suddenly opened his eyes, and Zhou Ze was slashed with knife-like eyes.

Zhou Ze withdrew his hand indifferently: "Eat."

Only then did Pei Ye lazily close his eyes, snorted sullenly, and lay down for a while before sitting up: "What time is it?"

Zhou Ze replied, "It's almost eight o'clock."

"Are you going back to school later?"

"Maybe."

During the meal, the two occasionally spoke a few words, but most of the time they were silent.

Zhou Ze served the mung bean soup on the side. The soup in the enamel bowl was still warm, and the white porcelain soup spoon made a soft clang when it touched the bowl wall. The fried noodles were too dry. He took a big gulp, his cheeks bulging , Out of the corner of the eye, he looked at Pei Ye who was opposite him.

This master's sitting posture is rather wild, with one leg lazily stepping on the bench, his elbow resting on his knee, and the speed of eating noodles can be said to be like a gust of wind, and the chopsticks will bottom out when they are pulled.

"Boss check out."

After he finished eating, he stood up, wiped his mouth, and waved to himself.

Soon, noticing Zhou Ze, he sat down again: "I'll send you back to school later?"

Zhou Ze drank the soup and nodded, agreeing.

Pei also sat and waited for him.

After breakfast, the two rode their motorcycles on the road, but before they drove two streets, Pei Ye stopped on the side of the road again.

Not for anything else, just because the phone in his coat pocket kept vibrating.

"Why don't you pick it up? In case it's urgent."

Because Zhou Ze was holding the sides of his clothes, he couldn't ignore the sound of his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Pei Ye stared at the series of local numbers on the missed call page, and his thick eyebrows were tightly knit together: "What can there be..."

hum- hum-

The call came in again.

"……Hey."

"..."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

The other party chattered a lot, and Zhou Ze listened to it, but saw that Pei Ye had a serious face the whole time, hung up the phone halfway through listening, and then started the car neatly, completely forgetting that there was a person sitting behind.

The black locomotive passed through the criss-cross streets and alleys like a flying arrow.Pedestrians and trees, vehicles and buildings are all transformed into countless lines.

This was not Zhou Ze's first time riding in Pei Ye's car, but the speed of the car had never been so fast before, as if he was desperate.

It wasn't until the car drove near a residential area that the speed slowed down, and finally stopped near the mahjong parlor.

A small facade surrounded by a large circle of people.

Zhou Ze suddenly let go of his waist and got out of the car.

As soon as Pei Ye stopped the car, he ran towards the group of people.

The neighbors automatically moved out of the way when they saw him, Zhou Ze followed behind Pei Ye, and saw two groups of people confronting each other in the mahjong hall at a glance.On the left, he recognized Su Ya and her new boyfriend, and two young men in suits, and on the right were a few middle-aged men and women who were unfamiliar.

As soon as Su Ya saw Pei Ye, she stopped talking.

"It's gone! It's gone!"

Pei also walked into the store while reaching out to chase people away.

"Xiao Pei, it's not that we're being unkind this time." Among the middle-aged men and women on the right stood out a fat woman with a string of gold necklaces around her neck. , but if it is rented or resold to our family for [-]%, it is written, she is good, secretly passed it to someone else and bought it? Isn't this taking advantage of loopholes?"

The paper that the woman took out was handwritten, in black and white, and she slapped Pei Ye.

The author says:

Note: The settings such as "slot machine" and "black Internet cafe" in the article are background needs, please do not imitate~