Chapter 77 Zhuang Zhou Mengdie
Chapter 77 Zhuang Zhou Mengdie
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Hongzhi walked out slowly from the Shaxian snack bar downstairs in the community. This time he did not buy on credit, but paid off all the bills he had previously evaded at once. When he came out, he felt that the proprietress's eyes looked at him a little softer.
When he was leaving, the owner of the snack bar caught up with him and patted him gently on the shoulder.
"What's the matter? Do I have any bills that I haven't paid off yet?" Liu Hongzhi asked with a smile.
The snack bar owner was amused: "Oh, you won money? Even your tone of voice is different now?"
"That's right. Money is the backbone of a man. Even the thing down there is made of gold. It's impossible not to have a strong backbone." Liu Hongzhi said with a smile, "Tell me what's the matter?"
"Nothing." The shop owner wiped his hands on his apron, his face slightly serious, like an elder speaking with great sincerity: "You've been buying from me on credit for a long time, and you suddenly came here today to pay it back. I guess you won some money.
I won't ask you how much you won, you can keep whatever you won, it's best if you can pay off your gambling debts, don't gamble with it again, find a decent job... don't let your parents worry about it."
"Okay, okay, I know." Liu Hongzhi waved his hand and left the Shaxian snack bar.
The boss looked at his back as he left and sighed heavily. The boss's wife came up and said, "This guy is like this. He gets cocky when he wins a little money and never learns his lesson. It won't be long before he loses it all and ends up in debt."
"It's a pity for his old mother, she's over 80 years old and still has to do housework for others..."
The couple stood at the door and chatted for a while, then went back to work in the store. Liu Hongzhi walked away gradually, and the carefree smile on his face gradually disappeared, leaving only a look of fear and hesitation.
The couple at the snack bar thought that he had won money by chance and was here to spend it, but only Liu Hongzhi himself knew that he had not won any money at all. The reason he had money to pay off his previous credit and gambling debts was because he... sold his life yesterday.
With a piercing palpitation and fear, Liu Hongzhi walked into a high-end restaurant and ordered a table of the most expensive dishes and the most premium wine without even looking.
The food was served, the wine was opened, and the tempting aroma filled his nose, but he had no appetite at all. It was difficult for a dying person to be interested in enjoying the happiness of the living.
The waiter standing nearby came forward and asked politely, "Sir? Are you dissatisfied with anything?"
"Hmm..." Liu Hongzhi shook his head: "I need to go to the bathroom."
"Okay, the bathroom is right here..."
Liu Hongzhi, dressed in rough clothes, walked through the magnificent corridor of the high-end restaurant and walked straight into the bathroom door. It was the cleanest and tidiest bathroom he had ever seen in his life.
Liu Hongzhi did not go to the toilet, but went straight to the sink, turned on the faucet and washed his face with cold water.
He raised his head, and the water drops hanging on his eyelashes blurred his vision. The mirror on the wall showed a skinny, decadent man with a pale face. The stubble on his face was sparse and messy, and his canvas jacket was suspiciously stained with oil. The waiter didn't call him a beggar because of his high quality of service.
Looking at his blurry self in the mirror, Liu Hongzhi's mouth drooped and he began to sob, unable to make any sound.
"mom……"
Liu Hongzhi covered his face with his hands and sobbed to prevent his crying from being heard outside the bathroom.
He still remembered 'that thing' that happened last night.
Last night, Liu Hongzhi just lost all the 500 yuan he got from stealing an electric bike at the gambling table. He was beaten up and kicked out because he hid the cards in his crotch.
He was cold, hungry and in pain, and in a daze he walked down the sidewalk along the river to the bridge hole, intending to ask his friends under the bridge for something to eat.
It was drizzling by the river that day. Liu Hongzhi looked at the rolling waves and suddenly had an urge to jump in. He bit his lip and walked a few steps toward the shore. Suddenly, a voice came from behind:
"Don't jump too quickly, buddy."
Liu Hongzhi turned around and saw a tall and thin man wearing a well-cut high-end windbreaker and a hideous demon mask on his face.
The masked man walked up and patted him on the shoulder. His low, hoarse voice seemed to come from hell: "Can't live anymore, or don't want to live anymore?"
Liu Hongzhi was a little confused: "Is there any difference?" "The difference is huge." The masked man put his arm around Liu Hongzhi's shoulders without any disdain, raised his hand and pointed to the broad river in front of him: "I don't want to live. People don't want to live in the first place. Just like that person who has depression, even if he is given fine clothes and delicious food, he still feels that life is meaningless, and he just wants to die.
If you can't survive, it means life is too hard, so hard that it's better to die than to live.
Suffering alone is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing is that there is no end in sight for these days of suffering. You don’t know why you are suffering, and you don’t know when this suffering will end. People have no hope for the future. Rather than struggling to survive and suffering for a lifetime, it is better to die early. ”
Which one are you?
Liu Hongzhi thought about it seriously and said, "I... probably have both."
"You seem to be a little disappointed." The masked man smiled and said, "Don't even think about jumping into the river, buddy. You don't value your life anyway. Do you want me to name a price and you sell your life to me?"
"Ah?" Liu Hongzhi was stunned: "You, you are..."
"It's not a good thing to know too much, brother." The masked man shook his head and said, "You just need to answer whether you want to sell it or not. Sell this life to me, and I will write off all your gambling debts for you. There will also be a large sum of money for you to squander and enjoy a rich life. How about it?"
"Decide as soon as possible, or I'll find someone else..."
It didn't rain heavily that day, and Liu Hongzhi didn't drink much, but the outline of this masked man of unknown origin seemed so blurry and unclear, like a cloud of misty smoke.
For some unknown reason, Liu Hongzhi nodded.
When he came to his senses, he was already lying in the cold bridge tunnel. There was no masked man in a windbreaker, nor any life-threatening deal. Everything he had just experienced seemed like a dream, and what was waiting for him was still the next muddled day.
Until this afternoon, when he used WeChat to pay at a Shaxian snack bar, the balance was again shown as insufficient. Liu Hongzhi clicked on bank card payment with some joking intention.
He knew that there was no money left in his bank card.
But unexpectedly, the payment was successful.
Liu Hongzhi frantically used the store's WiFi to re-download the bank client. When he logged into his account, facial recognition failed several times due to his untidy beard... When the incredible balance actually appeared on the screen, a bolt of lightning struck his brain.
He really sold his life.
"Will I die..." His thoughts flew back to the present. Liu Hongzhi wiped the water drops off his face with trembling hands. Looking at his crazy self in the mirror, the corners of his mouth twitched morbidly.
He left the bathroom and returned to his private room, where he ate a table full of delicacies from land and sea.
A few minutes after Liu Hongzhi left the bathroom, a beautiful butterfly quietly landed on the sink.
"Okay, another life is in hand." Ning Zhe stood in Liu Hongzhi's original position. The outlines of his organs had begun to appear distorted on his face in the mirror. It was a sign that he had acquired too many memories in a short period of time and his self-cognition was once again shaken.
"I am Ning Zhe." He said, staring into his eyes.
"I am also Ning Zhe." He said again.
"We are all Ningzhe..."
After re-stamping himself with thoughts to steady his mind, Ning Zhe turned into a butterfly and left the hotel.
He was about to do something dangerous and needed to be prepared to die there.
There was no high-sounding and legitimate reason for asking Liu Hongzhi to save his life. It was simply because this gambler had been soaking in the fetid swamp on the fringe of society for many years, and no one would care even if he died at any time.
Maybe his old mom would care? Who knows.
(End of this chapter)