Chapter 17
"Brother, come quickly!"
When Qin Huai came out of the shower, he saw Mu Nan holding the sweetest piece of watermelon with a spoon and holding it towards him. So he walked over with a smile and ate the watermelon in one bite. The icy, sweet and refreshing watermelon almost instantly dispelled the heat left on his body after the shower. Looking at Mu Nan's expectant look, Qin Huai smiled and said, "It's very sweet. This watermelon is a good buy."
Qin Huai didn't like to eat fruit when he was a child. He didn't like to eat any fruit. Mu Nan was different. He liked to eat all kinds of fruit. The sweeter the fruit, the better. Every time he ate watermelon, he especially cherished the sweetest piece in the middle. His family knew that he loved to eat it, so they would give it to him. Once when he came home from school, he saw Mu Nan sitting alone in the living room. He took a small wooden spoon and finally dug out the sweetest piece in the middle. He probably wanted to tease her at that time, so he ate it in one bite before Mu Nan had time to put the piece of watermelon into his mouth.
At that time, Mu Nan was still in kindergarten and was so young. He thought he had eaten his favorite food and Mu Nan would definitely cry. But Mu Nan didn't cry. Instead, he smiled when he saw him. From then on, Mu Nan would save the sweetest half of the watermelon core for him.
Mu Nan smiled smugly, "I went to Shandong specifically to buy them. The watermelon production there is high, so without the transportation costs, they are very cheap. When I bought them, the wholesale price was 90 cents per pound. I bought several truckloads of them. I also bought a lot of rice and flour there. Rice and flour are cheap there, and they taste good."
Qin Huai said: "Eat less. Watermelon is cold in nature. Just eat some to relieve the heat and thirst."
Mu Nan said "oh" but didn't refute. Qin Huai didn't need to tell him that he couldn't eat much. When he was a child, he was actually quite good at eating. He could eat half of a big watermelon weighing six or seven pounds in one go. Later, he stayed up late for a long time, stayed up during the day and went out at night, and ate takeout every day. His health had indeed deteriorated a lot. He felt a little full after eating half a watermelon.
After eating a few more bites, he saw that Qin Huai had almost dried his hair, so he put the remaining watermelon in Qin Huai's hands: "You eat some too, put it in the refrigerator after eating, and I will put it back in the space. Brother, is it time to cut your hair?"
Qin Huai took the watermelon and sat down beside the bed. Seeing Mu Nan's eager look, he said, "Let's do it tomorrow. Cut it for me before I take a shower tomorrow."
Mu Nan was immediately happy: "I'll go find the scissors first. I bought several pairs of hair-cutting scissors." Fortunately, they are boys, so they can just cut their hair short. If not, they can just shave it all off because it will grow fast. If it were girls, it would be difficult to deal with long hair.
When Mu Nan was placing the scissors in place, he was suddenly startled by a loud noise downstairs, which sounded like someone banging on the door or kicking it. His hand loosened and the scissors fell straight to the ground. Fortunately, Qin Huai reacted quickly and pulled Mu Nan away, otherwise the tip of the scissors might have poked his foot.
Qin Huai picked up the scissors from the ground and threw the few scissors that were already on the table into the drawer. Mu Nan patted his chest with lingering fear: "You scared me."
The noise was probably coming from the downstairs floor. They were probably banging on the door. The noise was so loud that even the iron door upstairs was shaking slightly. Along with the banging, there were also fierce insults. It was unclear what hatred or grudge they had, but they were causing a conflict at this time.
If someone had made such a fuss in the past, the neighbors would have come out to watch the fun, but now, even if they were full of gossip, they would not dare to go out casually, and at most they would prick up their ears to listen to the noise outside. Because Mu Nan and his family were facing only two families facing each other, and there was a skylight next to them, so as long as they opened their own door, they could hear the situation downstairs clearly without opening the iron gate outside.
Mu Nan was a little curious about what was going on downstairs, so he squatted at the door to listen to the noise. Maybe it was because Qin Huai came back, his mentality began to change a lot, and he became more interested in life and the surroundings than before. When there was a loud noise downstairs just now, Mu Nan remembered that there was such a thing in his previous life. At that time, he was drawing in the room and had no interest in the noise outside. He even wore headphones to isolate himself from the outside noise because he was a little annoyed. Afterwards, he didn't have the curiosity to pay attention to the cause of the noise.
This time he was a little curious about what could have happened that would make people come out and make trouble at this time.
However, after listening for a long time, Mu Nan could only hear people shouting "open the door" and "pay back the money". Some of the Mandarin with local accents was spoken too fast and excitedly so Mu Nan could not hear clearly. But he could still understand some of the curses, such as "die a horrible death", "retribution", "whole family wiped out" and so on. The words were as cruel as they could be.
There was also the sound of someone kicking the door, so loud that it seemed like the door was about to be kicked through.
Qin Huai reached out and pulled the person who was listening to gossip at the door in: "Don't go out after taking a shower. Even squatting at the door is not allowed."
Mu Nan asked: "Do you remember which family lives downstairs from us? Is it the one with the teacher?"
Qin Huai said: "Yes, it's the teacher's."
Mu Nan found this strange: "The teacher's family is pretty nice, who did he offend?"
Qin Huai motioned for him to look at his phone. This matter had already become a big deal in the community group. In just a short while, the chats in the community group had reached 99+. Mu Nan directly clicked on the top and started scrolling down. It turned out that the origin of this matter was group buying.
As people are confined indoors for longer and longer periods of time, many people have to risk going out to find a way to make a living in order to have three meals a day. Not everyone has savings, and some heads of families have to support a whole family. The pressure is no less than the life-threatening effects of the virus. So even though there is no specific medicine yet, because the protection is in place and the number of infections is decreasing, some people have begun to risk going out. Therefore, in order to make a living, more and more group purchases from various private vendors are occurring.
But it is impossible for private vendors to directly respond to residents one by one, so they will create a product group through some information channels, and residents who are within the delivery range will join the group to buy things. It is impossible for people to deliver things to you just for one or two items, so someone is needed to take the lead in group buying, gather the purchased items into a certain quantity and place an order, and then people will deliver the goods.
The resident downstairs from Mu Nan's house was a teacher, but he had been retired for many years. His wife passed away early, and his son was born with a disability. A few years ago, he found a woman who did not despise his disabled son with the condition of local household registration, married her and had a child. Not long after the child was born, the woman passed away, so the father and son raised the child together. The boy was one year older than Qin Huai. Mu Nan remembered that the boy downstairs was Qin Huai's senior in the first grade.
This matter was caused by the guy downstairs who organized a group purchase. Now, to meet the needs of the masses, various group purchase apps have emerged on WeChat. If you become the group leader, you will get a rebate of a few thousandths after the transaction is successful. Prices are rising sharply now. Rice, which used to cost two or three yuan per catty, has now risen to ten or twenty yuan, not to mention those vegetables and meat that are consumed more. If you just form a group order, the rebate you receive can be as little as a few dozen or as much as nearly a hundred.
Having tasted the sweetness of success, the guy at No. 9 on the 16th floor specializes in helping others to start groups and become a group leader. He only needs to start a group in the group, and others will choose the products and pay in a queue. When the group size is reached, he will wait for others to deliver the goods to his door. All he needs to do is wait downstairs when the goods arrive, and then distribute the items according to the house numbers. It is very easy to get the money.
As a result, this time, I was wrong. A vendor who had a wide range of products and the most important thing was that the prices were very cheap. He held a limited-time event and started a group buying event. Because the products were really cheap, he also placed an order. Out of kindness, he wanted to benefit others, so he actively pulled people into some large groups. As a result, the group buying event was successful, the money was paid, but the products disappeared for several days. The product link provided by the vendor was removed from the shelves, and the phone was turned off. Even a fool would know that he was cheated.
The guy on the 16th floor couldn't contact the vendor no matter what. Others had bought things in a group from him, but they didn't see the goods, so they naturally went to find him, the person who started the group purchase. Even if the money never touched him from beginning to end, either they had to find the vendor or he had to take responsibility. There had to be an explanation.
But now prices are high, and the total price of a group tour is over ten thousand. He doesn't have much savings. Although his family does have money, the money of the older generation is all in the passbook. Even if he wants to compensate, he can't come up with the money at this time.
He has explained the situation to everyone, called the police, and sent the police case record to everyone in the group. He himself was a victim and had bought hundreds of dollars worth of things, so he was also very anxious.
Although most people were angry, they also knew that the guy on the 16th floor could not be blamed entirely, and the loss of a few hundred yuan was not enough to warrant a fight. So they naturally held a grudge against the fraudulent vendor. But among these people, there was one who was mentally abnormal. He was an elderly man living alone on the top floor. He was not that old, only in his sixties, and had lived alone for many years. Normally, other people ignored him, and he didn't pay much attention to others either. Even if he was a little weird, he was not harmful, so no one cared about him.
This time he also joined the group purchase, but he didn't know how to pay online, so he used cash to pay with his downstairs neighbor and asked him to buy the items for him. But the items he bought didn't arrive, so he went to find the downstairs neighbor. The neighbor was just trying to help but didn't want to cause trouble, so he told him to find the group purchase leader, and then he found the guy on the 16th floor.
After looking for him several times, the guy on the 16th floor thought that the man was an elderly widower and had some cash at home, so he was ready to return the money to him first. However, the man refused to give it back and insisted on the things he bought. He wanted the things but not the money. The problem was that the vendors had all run away, so where could the guy go to find the things he bought? It was obvious that he was looking for trouble. The guy, who was already very upset about this matter, suddenly lost his temper. He threw the money away and directly refused to let the man in.
This time, he really got into trouble. The old man on the top floor came downstairs three times a day and knocked on the door to ask for things, but he didn't get anything. This time, I don't know why he got so anxious, he started banging on the door and cursing, and became very aggressive, so what happened today happened.
This matter is still being hotly discussed in the group, and most people are criticizing the old man on the top floor. They think that having such a psychopath living there is too dangerous.
The people downstairs naturally couldn't just let others bang on the door like this, so they contacted the community and called the police. Soon people came. First, the community people came to persuade him, but it was of no use. The people who used to be able to communicate with him seemed to not understand anything they said now. He just wanted to bang on the door. Fortunately, this man was old, so he was easily subdued by several young people from the community. In the end, there was no way out. He would bang on the door as soon as they let him go. It was estimated that he would run away if they sent him back, so he was taken away by the police.
After such a commotion for half the night, the downstairs finally became quiet.
Mu Nan sat cross-legged on the bed, eating potato chips and sighing, "So people must have a companion, otherwise if they are alone for a long time, they will slowly become abnormal in the eyes of others."
Qin Huai looked at him with amusement: "I thought you would conclude that one should not be the first to stand out."
Mu Nan nodded: "This is also very important. Don't rush in without any reason. Most people will remember grudges but not kindness."
Qin Huai rubbed Mu Nan's hair, which had grown longer and thus became very soft: "Go to bed, it's late."
Mu Nan lay down on the bed, and waited for Qin Huai to turn off the lights and get on the bed. Then he turned over to face him and asked softly, "Brother, if I hadn't spent all the money you gave me and hadn't come to find you, would you have come back to find me after the haze cleared and the epidemic was over?"
Qin Huai said: "I will not wait until the epidemic is over to come to you. I will rush back immediately when the epidemic starts. I want to make sure you are fine, not sick, and safe at home. Otherwise, I can't stay for a day."
Mu Nan was silent for a while after hearing this: "If you didn't come back, what would be the reason?"
Qin Huai tilted his head, tracing the other person's outline in the darkness, and whispered: "If I don't come back, it will only mean that I can't come back."
Hearing Qin Huai say this, Mu Nan felt a dull pain in his heart. He didn't dare to think about what happened to Qin Huai in his previous life. Thinking of that terrible possibility, even breathing hurt, so he didn't dare to tell Qin Huai that he was reborn. He knew that Qin Huai was the same as him. Even though they were right in front of each other now, the possibility that might have happened was still unbearable.
Mu Nan leaned towards Qin Huai and hugged him like she did when they were little. After listening to his heartbeat and gradually calming down, Mu Nan said, "Don't leave me alone anymore. I don't want to be alone for too long and become a psychopath in the eyes of others. If there is no way to survive in the future, we can die together, okay?"
After a long time, in the silence, Qin Huai's "OK" was heard softly. If there was really no way out in the future, he would not bear to let Mu Nan struggle alone. Death with a companion might be happier than living alone.
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