Chapter 1 Back to the Past
Su Chengyi lowered his head and leaned against the platform. The heating in the subway station was turned on fully, but he still felt a little chilly.
It was the rush hour after get off work, and the passers-by were all in a hurry, which was in sharp contrast to him standing there like a sculpture.
"Am I suffering from paranoia?"
He could only think of this possibility.
Otherwise, he was obviously on his way home from get off work, but in a daze, how could he be standing in the subway station from ten years ago wearing his middle school uniform?
Listening to the sound of the subway whizzing by, long-dusted past events flowed into his mind like the wind.
Sharp memories rushed like shards of glass, and he only felt an unusual headache.
"Su Chengyi!"
A crisp and charming call pulled him out of his chaotic thoughts.
He raised his head blankly, and in front of him was a long-haired girl wearing the same school uniform, with bright eyes and white teeth, looking at him with a tilted head and a smile.
Su Chengyi stared into her bright eyes and opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
The girl in front of me frowned and asked with some worry:
"What's wrong with you? Why do you look like you've lost your soul?"
Ah, Remembered.
Her name is Chu Qingmian, and she was the monitor in high school.
In Su Chengyi's impression, the two of them had little contact in private, and the only ones closest to each other were probably the names on the report card.
So he shook his head and replied:
"I'm fine, I just forgot what I was doing here."
Chu Qingmian chuckled again He came out, grabbed his sleeves and pulled him out.
"Idiot, of course you have to go home!"
Yes, it is Saturday afternoon.
It was already the final stage of his senior year in high school. The weekends prescribed by the school were only Saturday night to Sunday afternoon. He originally took the subway to go home.
Thinking of this, Su Chengyi let her hold his cuffs, and the girl kept chattering along the way.
“I saw you as soon as I got off the subway. At first I thought you were waiting for someone, but you looked weird, so I said hello to you.”
"Why did you run away before school ended today? Remember to go to Li Tianwang to collect your scholarship tomorrow."
"You have been here for so long, are you hungry? I brought milk... ."
Chu Qingmian in memory didn't seem to talk so much, and Su Chengyi felt that the noise made her headache even worse.
When the two of them got on the escalator out of the station, Chu Qingmian finally calmed down for a while, lowered her head and rummaged for something in her bag.
Rising from the dark underground to the ground, the dull heating in the subway station was blown away by the cold wind.
The dazzling winter sun shone down, and he subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it.
“Here, here it is, strawberry flavored.”
After adapting to the light, what came into view was Chu Qingmian’s bright smile, with a shallow dimple appearing in the light. It looks particularly dreamy when fainted.
The girl's hair fluttered gently in the breeze, carrying a faint fragrance of fructose.
Su Chengyi reached out and took the box of strawberry milk, turned away and whispered: "Thank you."
Chu Qingmian immediately felt as if she had won a lottery, and came up to him with joy:
"Wow! You actually accepted it! A great success!"
"..."
< br>That seems to be the case. In the past, I would never accept anything from others, and I would never speak more than three words to my classmates.
It’s not so much aloofness as a character flaw.
Severe social anxiety coupled with an avoidant personality meant that he had few friends since he was a child.
This situation did not improve until he graduated and officially started working.
Fortunately he is a programmer.
Eight out of ten programmers are as quiet as him.
But high school students are different.
They basically have endless energy to vent, and a desire to judge anything that is unreasonable.
Although they are not inherently malicious.
Su Chengyi is the "heretic" who is outside the crowd and was tried.
So his high school career can almost be said to be a complete nightmare.
No matter where he goes, he is followed by sizing eyes. Now he feels a little uncomfortable just thinking about it.
When their thoughts wandered, the two of them had already reached the crossroads side by side. Chu Qingmian on the side seemed to be in a very happy mood, even humming a ditty:
"One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, looking at the sky~"
Su Chengyi He stood still and coughed lightly: "I'm going this way."
Chu Qingmian took two more steps forward and turned around with her hands behind her back:
"I know! Su Chengyi, see you tomorrow."
Su Chengyi watched her cheerful little rabbit disappear out of sight, then walked towards her home.
After about ten minutes of walking, the surrounding high-rise buildings gradually turned into somewhat dilapidated old-fashioned buildings.
Ever since he was admitted to college, he has not been back here.
Looking at the surrounding scenery, I felt a sense of change.
As soon as he turned into the alley, an old lady carrying a vegetable basket recognized him and called him out with a smile on her face: "Hey!"
Su Chengyi tried hard to combine the person in front of him with the name in his memory corresponding.
The old lady did not wait for him to say hello, but took out two eggs from the vegetable basket and stuffed them into the pocket of his school uniform.
"You take home your own local eggs and steam them to eat. It will replenish your body and look how thin you are! A young man can't just grow taller but not fat..."
"Thank you, Xu Mother-in-law.”
Finally remembering the title, Su Chengyi bowed lightly to her.
As if she didn’t expect him to respond, Granny Xu was so surprised and happy that she forced him to go home for dinner.
"Let's go, come to my mother-in-law's house for dinner, she will cook braised pork for you!"
Su Chengyi quickly excused herself and said that she had a lot of homework today, so she would do it next time.
Then he managed to break free and got into the corridor next to him.
The corridor looked a little dark because of the backlight, and the voice-activated light was probably broken.
Small advertisements can be seen everywhere, covering the cement walls.
There were debris piled up at the turning point of the middle partition. As he walked past, the air was filled with the smell of dust.
Going to the fifth floor, the key was inserted into the keyhole, and the old security door made a "creak" sound.
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled into the house through the glass windows, stretching his shadow long.
"Did you forget to draw the curtains?"
He closed the door gently and walked to the window.
It was already dinner time, the symphony of pots and pans began to play, and the children after school ran through the alley laughing and playing.
His hand hesitated on the edge of the curtain for a second, but in the end he did not pull it closed.
Turn around and lie down on the sofa, Su Chengyi closed his eyes, his thoughts fluctuating.
Feeling the sunlight slowly disappearing and darkness creeping in from the window.
Why is it me who is reborn?
Finally escaped from the quagmire of collective life and returned to his own besieged city.
The salary is enough to cover his expenses in a first-tier city; except for the lack of sleep, he is healthy enough; he has never been in love and has no emotional problems
If I have to say it, he is unhappy.
Human beings are essentially social animals, but their relationships with other people are as indifferent as a layer of tissue paper, leaving no trace of a passing goose.
He lives in this world like a walking corpse with no sorrow or joy.
If you really think about it, the majority of people in the world are unhappy, right?
As the saying goes, things often go wrong as you wish, but you can tell people the same thing.
Perhaps those who are happy in the eyes of others also have unspeakable pain.
Study hard and stay away from his hometown. All the efforts he put in in his previous life were just weaving a cocoon shell just to wrap himself up.
And now the cocoon is broken.
Su Chengyi opened his eyes, darkness had enveloped the whole world, and the lights of every house were dotted like stars.
In the Magic City, he had countless nights like this, silently looking out the glass window at a world that had nothing to do with him.
The lights of the world, which seemed so far away at that time, now seem to be within reach.
He sat up and suddenly felt hungry.
Touching the box of strawberry milk in the pocket of the school uniform, an unconscious smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
For some reason, he suddenly became less resistant to rebirth.
(End of this chapter)