Chapter 7
Mu Nan was awakened by a knock on the door. He turned around and saw Qin Huai sleeping soundly, so he got up quietly. But when he moved, Qin Huai opened his eyes immediately. It took him a moment to realize where he was. Hearing the knock on the door outside, he grabbed Mu Nan who was about to get out of bed and said, "Lie down, I'll go check."
The person knocking on the door was someone from the community who came to register. After knocking for a long time, no one answered. He thought no one was home, and just as he was about to leave, the security door was opened. The person handed Qin Huai a notebook and said, "Write your name, contact information, and house number on it. Is there anyone living next door to you?"
Qin Huai nodded, wrote down his own information first, and then filled in Mu Nan's information. The community investigator took a look and said, "Only one person in a family, right?"
Qin Huai hummed, and the investigator took out a piece of paper with a QR code: "This is the community group, divided by building. This is the one for your building. You can add one. We will notify you of any news in the group. Try not to go out during this period. Contact us if you have any difficulties in life."
Qin Huai added WeChat, thanked him, and then closed the door.
When he returned to the house and saw Mu Nan looking at him, he said, "I'm here to count the number of people. I've filled out all the information."
Mu Nan suddenly asked, "Do you know my phone number?" Because the door was open, he heard the registrar asking for his phone number. He thought Qin Huai would come in and ask him, but he just filled it out directly.
Qin Huai nodded. Although he had not appeared in Mu Nan's life in these years, Mu Nan had never disappeared from his life. He remembered the other party's phone number more clearly than his own.
Mu Nan lowered his head: "You know my phone number but you never contact me. Do you know that I have tried every possible way to find you in the past few months? Even when you were about to come back, you didn't even call me." If she knew his phone number in this life, then she must have known it in the previous life as well. However, until his death, he never received a call from Qin Huai.
Qin Huai's heart ached: "I thought you still hated me for leaving him, and thought you didn't want to see me. I thought you were living a good life. Jiang Xuan has always had my contact information. Hasn't he been in touch with you? I thought if you need to find me, you can definitely contact me as long as you find him. Knowing that you were looking for me, I almost rushed back immediately, but I didn't expect continuous heavy rain first, and then thick fog. Neither planes nor trains were running. On the way back, I almost couldn't help calling you several times, but I was afraid that you knew I was on the way back and you would be anxious to come out to find me."
The Mu Nan in Qin Huai's memory is still the same Mu Nan from before, with a somewhat willful and stubborn temper. If he called before he came back, and Mu Nan couldn't wait for him, she might really get anxious and look for him. His car was out of gas, and he rode all the way back, and he couldn't guarantee that there would be a place to charge on the way. If Mu Nan couldn't contact him, wouldn't he be even more anxious and scared? After thinking a lot, he resisted the urge to call.
At the beginning, he went abroad with that man and later left his contact information for Mu Nan. However, Mu Nan was very angry and broke up with him at that time. When he couldn't even control his future life, no matter how much he said, it would be useless except to ask someone to help take care of him.
It was also because Mu Nan had never contacted him over the years, so even when he came back later, he could only secretly check on him to see if he was doing well. He was not ready yet. He was afraid that Mu Nan would tell him that he had grown up over the years and no longer needed a little brother.
Although Mu Nan had never used the living expenses he sent to her, the process of saving money every month to pay for her living expenses made him feel that there was still a connection between him and Mu Nan.
Just as Mu Nan was afraid of facing Qin Huai who had become a stranger, Qin Huai was also afraid of facing Mu Nan who no longer needed him. Before they had the courage to face the changes brought about by time, they always thought that there was still time to take it slow.
Mu Nan was even more confused after hearing Qin Huai's words: "Jiang Xuan? I haven't seen him since you left. Before, I... when I first started having those nightmares, I looked for Jiang Xuan and wanted to ask him if he knew where you were. I wanted to find you, but he said he hadn't contacted you."
Jiang Xuan was Qin Huai's classmate, and they had a good relationship. They often went to Qin Huai's house to do homework together, so Mu Nan also knew him. He couldn't say that they were unfamiliar with each other, but they were not too familiar with each other either. He and Jiang Xuan were only related because of Qin Huai. When Qin Huai left, what kind of connection could a former classmate of his brother have? If Jiang Xuan hadn't moved, he probably wouldn't even know where Jiang Xuan was.
Qin Huai's eyes suddenly turned cold.
Mu Nan looked at him: "So Jiang Xuan never told you that I was looking for you?"
Qin Huai shook his head. If he had told, how could he have heard it from a former squad leader he was not familiar with, and how could he have come back just now.
Mu Nan was silent for a while: "When did you return to China?"
Qin Huai said, "Half a year ago, in City B, I co-founded a company with someone abroad, and the branch was located in City B. I wanted to make arrangements there first, and then come to see you after you graduate from college to see if you are willing to go with me."
Mu Nan: "What if I don't want to?"
Qin Huai smiled and said, "If you really don't want to and don't need me anymore, I will let you go and let you live the life you want. If you ignore me just because you are angry and have a bad temper, I will coax you until you are no longer angry and follow me."
After Qin Huai finished speaking, he gently rubbed Mu Nan's hair. Sometimes because of time and distance, we always think about things in the direction we are most reluctant to face. But when things really happen, we find that the results may not be as bad as expected, and there may even be unexpected surprises.
They still had a lot to say, but they were not in a hurry now. Seeing that it was getting late, Qin Huai said, "Are you hungry? Have breakfast first. After breakfast, I will tell you everything you want to know."
There were a lot of ready-made things in the kitchen, and the refrigerator was also filled with various vegetables and fruits. These were all put in by Mu Nan while Qin Huai was taking a shower yesterday. At that time, he had not yet figured out how to tell Qin Huai about the future and the space. He thought that it would take some time for him and Qin Huai to get used to each other, but he didn't expect that in just one night, many things were actually talked about. The strange feeling that he had when he suddenly saw Qin Huai yesterday seemed to have dissipated.
Listening to the sound of frying eggs coming from the kitchen, Mu Nan felt that even though the sky outside was still covered with smog, his mood was obviously much brighter.
After breakfast, Qin Huai took out his phone to deal with some things and made a few calls. It seemed that he was making some work arrangements. After finishing, he turned off his phone, moved the small table with the computer in front of him, looked at him face to face and said, "Tell me about those dreams you had."
Mu Nan opened a small notebook beside the bed and handed it to Qin Huai: "These are all recorded after I had a dream, and some of the things recorded above will happen."
It recorded some approximate time and the environment at that time. Qin Huai read it very seriously. The more he read, the deeper his frown became. He turned the page and saw that it was no longer about the future events foreseen in the dream, but some food and supplies. Thinking of the large amount of money Mu Nan suddenly spent, Qin Huai said: "Did you use all that money to prepare supplies?"
Mu Nan nodded.
Qin Huai flipped through the pages again: "Is this what you are planning to buy, or what you have already bought? Where are you going to put these things after you buy them? Food is not easy to store, especially vegetables and fruits. If the environment in the future is as bad as you dreamed, these things will not be able to be stored at all."
Mu Nan said: "This is the second thing I want to tell you."
Qin Huai looked at him, and Mu Nan stretched out his hand to Qin Huai. Under Qin Huai's puzzled gaze, an apple suddenly appeared in Mu Nan's hand.
Mu Nan explained slowly, "The year you left, I transferred to a boarding school. One day I had a fever in the dormitory, and the teacher fed me medicine and left me to sleep in the dormitory. When I fell asleep, I felt very hot, as if I was going to be burned dry. When I was half-conscious, I seemed to be able to touch another layer of space, like another dimension. When I woke up after the fever subsided, the feeling was still there, and then I had an extra space, but this space was empty, with nothing in it. People couldn't get in, and living things couldn't get in. But fortunately, nothing would change if you put it in, as if it was frozen in time."
Qin Huai took a while to accept all of Mu Nan's words. Perhaps Mu Nan would dream about things that would happen in the future, and it might also be related to space. But compared to space, Qin Huai felt more sorry for Mu Nan who had been alone all these years. When Mu Nan was a child, he would make all kinds of noises whenever he felt a little uncomfortable, and it took a long time for him to take medicine. Even though he had anticipated these possible situations when he left, when he heard Mu Nan say that he had a cold and a fever and was sleeping alone in the dormitory, his heart still felt depressed and ached.
Qin Huai exhaled slightly. What happened in the past could not be undone. He would not let Nan Nan bear this alone in the future. He repeatedly asked whether the existence of the space had any other negative effects on him. After hearing Mu Nan say that there was no other abnormality except for an extra place to put things, he asked, "Who else knows about this except me?"
Mu Nan said: "I'm not stupid."
Qin Huai smiled, and seeing Mu Nan was obviously more lively than yesterday, he felt relieved and continued, "Have you written down everything in the notebook? Are there any other details?"
Mu Nan said, "I wrote down everything I remember. I bought everything listed here." Then he flipped out another notebook and said, "This one records the quantity I bought. Unfortunately, I have no money left, and it's too late."
Qin Huai opened it and saw several pages of paper. There were large items and small things. He even bought a box of sewing boxes. He thought it through very carefully.
Qin Huai read it over from the beginning: "In your dream, the smog was followed by extreme heat. Did everything get chaotic as soon as it got hot, or was there a normal period in between?"
Mu Nan said: "It gradually became chaotic, but it was not the kind of chaos that got out of control. The country has always been in control. It's just that the weather became more and more extreme, and many things could not be produced, so it became more and more difficult."
Qin Huai suddenly looked at Mu Nan: "Is your dream coherent?"
Mu Nan lowered his head and picked at things with his hands, avoiding Qin Huai's eyes: "Not really, it's quite fragmented, but it can be pieced together."
Qin Huai didn't think much about it, and just said: "Then there is still some time. I will deal with my affairs and get some funds back."
Mu Nan raised his head suddenly: "Do you still want to go back?"
Seeing Mu Nan's big reaction, Qin Huai quickly said, "I won't go back. I said I won't leave again, so I won't leave. Just do it online. Nan Nan, I won't leave again. I promise."
Mu Nan also felt that he had overreacted, but he would rather Qin Huai give up those assets, since money would be worth less than paper in the end, than take the risk of leaving. The things in his space were enough for the two of them to use for a lifetime, but at least they would not starve to death in the next few years, so there was no need to take risks for those material possessions.
When Qin Huai was sorting out his assets, he received a message from Jiang Xuan. He and Jiang Xuan were classmates from junior high school to high school, and they kept in touch after going abroad. Because he relied on Jiang Xuan to find out about Mu Nan's situation in China, they had been in close contact over the years. Even after he returned to China, Jiang Xuan quit his original job and came to work in his company.
Because Jiang Xuan's home is here, he comes back quite often. He often asks Jiang Xuan to help him look after Mu Nan. He also knows a lot about Mu Nan from Jiang Xuan, such as he has made new friends and has a good relationship with them, he is very popular in school, he often participates in some painting competitions and wins prizes, he lives a good life and is very happy every day. Jiang Xuan even makes a copy of Mu Nan's annual physical examination report for him to see. He thought that Nan Nan and Jiang Xuan had a good relationship over the years. Because of this relationship, he never thought that Nan Nan would not be able to find him if something happened. He didn't expect that Nan Nan had never seen Jiang Xuan, and even Nan Nan took the initiative to find Jiang Xuan, but Jiang Xuan said that he couldn't contact him.
If Jiang Xuan had told Nan Nan where he was when Nan Nan looked for him three months ago, then Nan Nan wouldn't have to bear all this alone in the past few months.
He remembered that Jiang Xuan once told him that when he met Mu Nan, Mu Nan said she didn't want to talk about him and said it was all in the past. Because of Mu Nan's attitude learned from Jiang Xuan, Qin Huai had been suppressing his urgency to meet Mu Nan in the past six months since returning to China, so Jiang Xuan had been lying to him all along.
Looking at the two words "Jiang Xuan" on WeChat, Qin Huai's eyes turned cold.
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