desolate

After that day, Pei never saw Zhou Ze again.

Regarding the ending of that incident, it was Ma Wenjing who came out to clean up all the mess.She got a psychiatric appraisal, claiming that Zhou Ze suffered from mental illness and was not guilty of assisted suicide, but she still lost a lot of money to the hospital and to Pei Ye.

Pei Ye refused to ask for the money at first, and only asked to see Zhou Ze, but Ma Wenjing disagreed. Later, when the two met, she changed from her usual decent and neat, and she was a lot tired, but when she spoke, she suddenly became The woman in Pei Ye's memory.

...businesslike, indifferent.

Whether it is outsiders or his own son, there is always such a distance, and I am afraid that when he is closest, he is reprimanding.

Today is the end of Bailu, Mengqiu, and the beginning of Zhongqiu.

is a new turning point.

Although, it looks like a very ordinary day.

Pei Ye finally accepted the compensation because he had to pay off his debts, bury Su Ya, and deal with a lot of things, and these things would not be resolved because of his stubbornness and guilt.

Man is forever forced to grow up.

Urged and rushed by time, in the end, if you don't pay attention, you become an adult who faces the world.

In the later days, he started to be very busy, sometimes with a purpose, sometimes just for the sake of being busy, in short, he gradually ignored the influence of emotions during his busyness.

In the sixth year, Pei also received a wedding invitation.

In fact, he rarely communicates with his former classmates. Everyone is busy with their own lives and can't even see each other. But because he hasn't changed his mobile phone number, he will always stay at the top of the recommended contacts on social software.

Qin Yan added him as a friend through this method.

The electronic version of the wedding invitation seemed to be sent out in a group, without even the name of the invitee, if someone else hadn't seen it, but Pei also silently wrote down the address, and went back to the banquet thousands of miles away.

I don't know, just think there is something tricky between him and the newcomer.

At the banquet, he met a few classmates who stayed in his hometown to work. Among them, the best one was the best.It's strange that Pei also remembers his name, but he can't match his face.

Hindsight is right and wrong.

Xu Duozhi also came. The last time Pei Ye and him met seemed to be two years ago. At that time, he deliberately picked a time just to have a meal. Later, Xu Duozhi went back to his hometown to open a breakfast restaurant. There is no goodbye.

Speaking of Zhou Ze, Xu Duozhi always feels guilty.

"It would have been better if I hadn't called Yangzi." He looked disappointed, "That thing wouldn't have happened later."

Pei also felt that what he said was not completely correct. No matter what, it should be said that it would be fine if he didn't show up.

The new couple is giving a speech on the stage. Qin Yan looks much richer. The groom is a middle-aged man in his 40s working on a construction site. The flower girl is their daughter. It is said that she was born in Qin Yan's junior year of junior high school. She dropped out of school because of this and met at home husband and son.

When he came to their table to toast, the groom was already a little too drunk. Qin Yang had just finished talking with the others, when he turned around and saw him dragging the nearest Pei Ye to call him a brother.

"Brother, when I see you, you look kind, let me tell you..."

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Qin Yan was stunned when she saw Pei Ye, a little embarrassed, "Old Cheng, you drank too much, this is my classmate, don't drag him..."

The groom pushed Qin Yan away, wanting to hook up with Pei Ye: "Don't mess with me, I'm talking to my brother... Let me tell you, brother, our company is going to negotiate a big deal of 1000 million soon... ..."

The strong smell of alcohol struck.

Pei Ye twirled the jade strings with his fingertips, and the palms were warm and lubricated: "... let go."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!"

Baijiu dangled in his hand, Pei Ye grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, the groom finally let go of his hand in pain.

Qin Yan quickly supported him: "Are you all right?"

In order to avoid further disputes, Xu Duozhi stood in front of Pei Ye swiftly: "Squad leader beauty, brother Pei drank too much, you know...you should take your husband away quickly."

After the little farce was over, Pei Ye brushed off the ripped collar of his suit, picked up the tea on the table and drank it in one gulp.

"…I go first."

"Leave so soon?"

"Well, something happened."

Pei quietly left the table without greeting anyone.However, when he reached the entrance of the hotel, someone stopped him from behind.

"Pei Ye, wait!"

Qin Yan changed out of her toast attire, and ran out of the banquet hall with her hair still in the bun, holding a guest gift in her hand.

Pei also stood still at the same spot, watching her indifferently as she walked up to her.

"This—you forgot to take it." Qin Yan handed him the accompanying gift.

"No need." Pei didn't answer either.

"Then... are you leaving now? Li Ping'an may soon..." Qin Yan continued.

"Forget it." Pei Ye interrupted her, "He probably won't come."

At this time, the car parked at the door honked twice, as if to urge.

Qin Yan glanced at the car logo, and then hastily mistook her gaze. Seeing that Pei was about to turn around and leave, she faltered and said again: "Pei Ye... Are you looking for Li Pingan because...Zhou Ze? I heard that the two of you ..."

"Yes." Pei Ye quickly replied, "I'm looking for him. If you have any news about him, please let me know."

"He hasn't contacted us since he transferred to another school, and Li Ping'an is the same, but I heard from our classmates that he didn't take the college entrance examination because..." Qin Yan raised her chin, with a tone that she didn't even notice. Fortunately, "Because I killed someone."

"Who told you that?"

Hearing the second half of the sentence, Pei Ye's heart twitched hard. Although his expression was not obvious, his tone suddenly turned cold.

"It's all on the local news, and our classmates all know about it." Qin Yan said, "I also heard that he has a mental illness, so he..."

"He didn't kill anyone, nor was he sick." He paused. "And, so what if it's true?"

Pei Ye looked down at her, with the light behind him, and his face was unclear: "In the past, you thought he studied well and looked good, so he was your good classmate and friend, but now you have joked about him for so many years because I have a bad life, so I look for a sense of superiority in him? Fortunately...he didn't regard you as classmates."

The whistle sounded "beep" again, more urgent than last time.

"No wonder Li Ping'an didn't come... I feel disgusted."

Pei also opened the car door and sat in.

This call made Qin Yan's face turn pale again and again, as she watched the car drive away, leaving behind an unpleasant exhaust fume and a cloud of dust.

Through the car window, Wang Yihua in the driver's seat glanced at Qin Yan who was still standing there, and then glanced at Pei Ye next to him from the corner of his eye. You came all the way here, don’t you just because of other people’s wives? Ouch—as your brother, I can’t stand it, shame on you!”

The car quickly drove to the high speed, and Pei also slowly lowered the back of the co-pilot's seat.I walked too fast the day before, so I rushed over overnight, and now I have work to go back, so I can only rest in the car for a while.

"You say you, my wife, why are you making such a fuss? Later, my brother will introduce you to two."

Wang Yihua lowered his head and glanced at him while driving.Seeing his displeasure, he quickly added: "Okay, okay, I'm just kidding, I know you're here for that...Zhou Ze, but you haven't heard anything from me after looking for it for so long, isn't it obvious that I'm avoiding you?" I couldn't figure it out all the time, and asked many times, "I said, what did he do to you, as for?"

"As for." Pei Ye's voice was very low, but his tone was firm, "It's a big deal until I die."

Wang Yihua did not forget to strike at the end: "You look for it, you look for it, maybe you will have a chance in your next life."

The wind noise in the car suddenly became louder. Wang Yihua opened one side of the car window to smoke, and the whistling wind poured into the car.

Pei also closed his eyes and turned his head to the car door: "...What did Chen Erxi say in the voice in the group?"

"Oh, he said he was going to a party tonight, let us know."

"It takes more than 40 seconds to send this?"

"You don't know him?" Wang Yihua snorted, "He can write [-] characters if he farts."

Wang Yihua babbled on again, but Pei didn't answer. He was so bored talking to himself, and took a moment to look down, only to find that the person in the driver's seat had fallen asleep, still clutching the phone tightly in his hand.

Before the screen went off, he saw the boy on the wallpaper again, with the same face.

Because it was a holiday, the highway was a bit congested, and they didn't arrive in Seoul until [-]:[-] pm, but Pei was woken up by the phone when the car was halfway, talking about all kinds of bosses.

Wang Yihua drove the car to the door of a club, and Pei Ye didn't react when he got out of the car, and didn't ask why he was here until he walked in.

"Sign a contract with Mr. Ma! Brother, you won't forget, right?"

He reminded him again, and Pei Ye remembered who Mr. Ma was.In fact, they had negotiated this business a long time ago, and both parties were satisfied, so they only had to sign the contract. However, according to the usual practice, the final contract had to go through the wine table again.

Wang Yihua warned: "The grandson may have drunk, you should drink less, he was admitted to the hospital a few days ago."

"know."

If you know it, you know it, but you can't drink less wine.

Until the early hours of the morning, Mr. Ma happily signed the contract with two curvy young models in his arms.

The private room was finally vacant, the colorful round lights were turning tirelessly, Pei Ye lay on the sink and retched, the sound of the water was vaguely overshadowed by the music in the room.

Wang Yihua staggered over and patted him on the back: "You said... why did you drink so much?"

Pei Ye rinsed his mouth with water, then vomited again: "...It's not in vain."

As long as you drink to your heart's content, maybe you can get a little more profit on the contract.

Wang Yihua persuaded: "It's not like before, it's not that difficult anymore, we don't need to work so hard."

Pei Ye pressed his abdomen hard and leaned against the sink, feeling very uncomfortable. He turned his head and called him: "...Hua Zai, where is my phone?"

"It seems to be on the sofa, let me find it for you."

Wang Yihua went back and found Pei Ye's cell phone in the gap of the sofa, but he shook his head after looking at it: "It's not this one, it's that old cell phone."

Wang Yihua said, "Isn't that in your clothes?"

Pei also hesitated for half a second, then touched his body, and finally took out an outdated smartphone.

For the model six years ago, it took a lot of effort to turn it on, and every swipe would freeze for a long time.

He clicked on WeChat, and Zhou Ze's account was logged into the phone.

Over the years, many people have sent messages to this WeChat one after another. In the first two years, there were some greeting messages, but because there was no reply, there was no more messages. Later messages gradually turned into various mass advertisements.

...as if the world was forgetting him.

Only he remembers.

Pei also clicked on his own chat box at the top. There were more than ten unread messages this month. He imagined Zhou Ze's expression when he saw these nonsense——

You may feel speechless and boring.

So he returned a string of ellipses and a question mark to himself.

A second after the message was sent, a message prompt box popped up on the other phone, with the familiar profile picture and notes, as if these six years were just a dream in the middle of high school.

Long and redundant, without end.

Pei Ye was clutching the old cell phone, and wanted to imitate Zhou Ze's tone and reply to himself a few words, but every time he wrote, deleted, deleted, and wrote, he never sent a word.

The chat history slides upwards. In the past six years, hundreds of repeated ellipses and question marks can make him happy for a short moment each time, although he will fall into long-term and unbearable disappointment afterwards.

It's like seeing an oasis in a mirage in the desert, and dying tirelessly—

But he was content with it.

The author says:

Zhou Ze: ...?