God said I would meet you

Shanghai is not only prosperous and beautiful. The cramped alleys, the laundry water on the ground that seems to never dry up, and the clotheslines that stretch like spider silk between the dark low buildings are also part of the magic city.

Wearing a hat, Lin Jinyu walked along the damp alley among the laundry water, clotheslines, cobwebs, and old men playing chess loudly. The pursuers were nowhere to be seen. He put one hand in his pocket and the other fingertips He touched the wall, and when he walked, he left a long gray scar on the wall that hadn't been properly cleaned in many years.

The sun is gradually taking away the last light, the sound of hot oil sizzling from the window on the first floor, the uncle who played chess closed his stall and went home to eat, and the alley was shrouded in a golden silence.There were children playing and giggling on the side of the road. Lin Jinyu looked at them and sat down at the entrance of someone's corridor.

This place is completely in two directions from his and Zhang Xinli's small home, just like a rabbit hiding from a hound and keeping away from its nest, Lin Jinyu deliberately didn't run in the direction where he lived when he ran. to get home.

It was getting late, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry to go home. Instead, he just sat on the steps of someone else's corridor in a daze, sitting for two, three, 10 minutes.

Occasionally, a tenant upstairs came down to get takeout and cast strange glances at him. Lin Jinyu didn't eat, but miraculously, she didn't feel hungry at all and didn't want to move.

He fumbled in his pocket and found an empty cigarette case.

With his growing addiction to cigarettes, a pack of cigarettes would be gone within two days. Lin Jinyu held the empty pack in her hand, looked at the sparrow on the opposite window eaves from a distance, and thought: No more, I can’t buy it in the future , I'm always spending money.

The sun slowly sank into the horizon, and along with the darkness came Zhang Xinli's phone call.

Lin Jinyu stared at the caller ID for a long time before pressing the connect button. He put the phone to his ear but didn't speak.

"Jinyu," Zhang Xinli obviously called secretly, speaking very softly, as if he was afraid of being discovered: "Zhou Hui called me and said you..."

"I'm fine." Lin Jinyu was still staring at the sparrow opposite, with a very calm tone: "I just dumped it a few times, so go to work."

"Are you home?" Zhang Xinli was obviously not at ease: "They didn't pester you?"

Lin Jinyu was sitting at the foot of some old broken stairs, thousands of miles away from home, but he said in a very casual tone: "Well, it's early, you can go to work at ease, it's seven or eight o'clock, and I'm still reading. "

Zhang Xinli was most afraid of disturbing his study, so he said, "Okay, you can watch at ease and pay attention to the movement outside the door. If anything happens, call me and call the police directly."

"Got it," Lin Jinyu faced the air, smelling the aroma of other people's food: "Stop talking, I'll eat first."

call ended.

After the safety report, no one will look for him again. Lin Jinyu turned off his mobile phone, got up and walked towards home - when he got off work, he swore to Zhang Xinli that he was going to read and review at home at night, but when he arrived at the door, he didn't go upstairs.

There is a row of supper stalls near the old community where they live. At night, plastic chairs are set up to open for business. It is extremely noisy. Recently, Lin Jinyu saw a notice posted at a stall saying that the stall owner’s wife was pregnant, so he hired a dishwasher. If you go to wash the dishes for three or four hours after get off work, you will be paid 80 yuan.

"Hello," Lin Jinyu, who had just finished saying 'Reading at night, it's already April, so I need to speed up my progress' walked around a folding table with paint peeling off the floor, walked into the cramped and narrow shop, and said to the boss, "You are still looking for a dishwashing machine here." Is it?"

……

Most of the tables, chairs, pots and pans at the supper stand are greasy, and even the owner's hand holding the spatula, the apron around his waist, and the banknotes in his pocket seem to have been soaked in lard.

Lin Jinyu endured the inexhaustible greasy feeling in her palms, counted and counted the greasy money while going upstairs and home.

The corridor was dark, and the sound-activated light on the first floor was broken, but the landlord was reluctant to spend money to repair it. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, put the money in his pocket, took out the key, opened the door, entered the house, and covered himself with the smell of oily smoke Take off your son's clothes and put them in the washing machine.

Zhang Xinli should be back soon, Lin Jinyu looked around, and hid those oily and old money in one of his bags - Zhang Xinli had no curiosity, and he didn't know how to rummage through his things.

The old-fashioned front-loading washing machine was buzzing. Not long after he hid it, he heard a light knock from the door lock, and Zhang Xinli came back.

"Not asleep yet?" Zhang Xinli entered the door, saw him in the living room, and was stunned for a moment: "Don't wait for me."

"No, it's late for review, and I was just getting ready for bed," Lin Jinyu said calmly, putting her wrinkled hands behind her back, "You should wash up and rest, too."

"Well," Zhang Xinli changed his shoes, walked over, touched the back of his neck, and said, "Do you feel okay...you smell like oily smoke."

"I was hungry at night, and I ate barbecue halfway through." Lin Jinyu calmly said the lie she had prepared, reached out to hold the back of his hand, and said, "I'm fine now."

His expression was calm, neither irritable nor joyful, what was there was just an imperceptible emptiness, which made it impossible for people to see the real heart under the body.

He was still in the mood to eat barbecue... Zhang Xinli thought he was really fine, he was in good condition now, and thought it was a good time, so he said, "That's good, this weekend... I'll take you to the hospital for a follow-up visit."

Lin Jinyu frowned, blinked faster, and a strong irritability welled up in his heart, but he quickly covered it up: "No need," he said, "I'm fine."

"Routine follow-up visit," Zhang Xinli said, "I'm not saying you're sick."

Of course, this is just rhetoric, Lin Jinyu said: "Oh, since you're not sick, you don't have to go, save the rent and pay the rent."

The sound insulation effect of the door was almost nonexistent. He knew that Zhang Xinli had already paid the rent, and he also knew that he only had 800 yuan in his hand, but he pretended not to know.

"..." Zhang Xinli didn't want to tell him that he was shooting himself in the foot with a stone at this moment. He wanted to refute and didn't know how to refute, so he could only say: "The rent is the rent, and it's not bad for the follow-up visit."

"Are you sure?" Lin Jinyu looked at his face: "Since you're not sick, why did you go?"

"Routine," Zhang Xinli said, "Even if I don't have money, your cousin has it."

"..." This is very strange, Lin Jinyu said, "Since when... have you been willing to ask others for money?"

When the family gap between a couple is too large, the disadvantaged party is often easily described by a particularly ugly word. When Zhang Xinli was a student, Lin Jinyu's mother bought him a set of brand-name clothes, and he would send them back. Lin Jinyu's pen, to show that he and his family owe nothing. He has the ability to stand on his own, and knows how to measure. He will pay back everything that should be paid. He is not a "phoenix man" who is so peaceful that he asks for money and eats and uses others.

But now, Zhang Xinli said: "He will not refuse."

It's about my cousin, so of course my little cousin won't refuse. Although he's just a newcomer who has just started working for a year or two, he still has a mortgage and doesn't have a lot of spare money, but he can afford a follow-up visit, but Zhang Xinli's words seem to be It's too natural.

"No time," Zhang Xinli spoke a little fast, with a short ending: "Don't ask."

He had no choice but to be irritable, and Lin Jinyu was also irritable, but the two irritable people had to pretend nothing happened.

"One more thing..." Zhang Xinli continued: "I plan to find another part-time job, and deliver food when I'm free during the day."

The author says:

Note: "You Hid Me" is a song by Chen Baiyu.