Chapter 67: The Song of Taotie (VII) Sisyphus's Pie. ...
The next day, Zhang Deng and Wei Yuanye did not go to work either.
Li Mai applied for a leave to recuperate, but it was said that it was only for two days, which was definitely not enough for her to recover. However, she also needed to consider some practical factors. The company's pace was very fast, and everyone was assigned their own position. It was impossible to give her a long leave. Even if she was really allowed to recover before coming back, her financial situation would not allow it.
Zhang Deng himself had experienced such times, and he understood the precarious existence of young people, vulnerable to falling down the social ladder at any moment due to illness or job resignation. Furthermore, because modern professions are so narrowly divided, if a field declines, its students will follow like dominoes, and it will be difficult for them to recover with dignity.
Zhang Deng's major in literature had already experienced such a tragic accident. In the end, Zhang Deng hesitated for a long time between his ideals and reality before choosing to make a living as an editor.
Wei Yuanye was washing up in the bathroom when Zhang Deng suddenly had some inspiration and quickly wrote it down in the memo on his mobile phone: mother and daughter, trauma.
But he himself found it difficult to clarify what he understood.
"Let's go." Wei Yuanye said.
Zhang Deng looked up and was once again struck by Wei Yuanye's handsomeness. He had washed his hair but hadn't blown it dry, leaving water droplets along the roots. He looked incredibly fresh and clean. Zhang Deng said seriously, "Come here."
Wei Yuanye walked over, confused, and Zhang Deng kissed him on the cheek.
"So handsome," Zhang Deng said, "This is a reward for you."
Wei Yuanye pulled him back: "Can I reward you too?"
…
It was already ten o'clock in the morning when I left the house.
The two took a taxi to Century Plaza where the accident happened yesterday. On the way there, the driver gossiped with them about the accident.
"They're all students. I heard they couldn't handle the blow because they didn't do well on their final exams," the driver said. "I can't even count how many have died in the past few months."
The driver commented: "Children nowadays are too fragile."
Zhang Deng asked, "Are they all women?"
The driver said decisively: "No, there are men too."
"One of our company's drivers killed someone," the driver said. "It was a man. He seemed to be drunk, but there was no alcohol in his blood during the autopsy."
Zhang Deng: "How did it crash?"
"He couldn't say for sure," the driver said. "I don't know the details, but he said his eyes were blurry and when he opened them he had already crashed."
The two got off the bus at the station and found that the accident scene had been cordoned off. People were still coming and going around, and it seemed that this incident had not caused any impact on anyone.
Century Square is considered the center of the city, with a huge flow of people. Even if people heard some weird rumors, it was impossible for them to go to and from get off work for it.
The bodies of the deceased have been removed, leaving only black and red bloodstains on the ground. Some tissues have not been completely removed, and it is probably difficult to completely remove them. Their bodies fell from a high place, smashing a huge deep hole in the hard road.
I looked up with the lights on and saw that the buildings were reaching up into the sky.
"What a tall building," Zhang Deng said, "It must have at least thirty floors."
Wei Yuanye said, "Let's go up and take a look."
The top floor of the building is a huge platform. When Wei Yuanye opened it, he found that it was locked, as if it had been smashed open by force. The wind was so strong that it hurt his face. Zhang Deng barely stood firm and was startled when he turned around. He pulled Wei Yuanye's clothes and pointed in a direction. Wei Yuanye looked in the direction of his hand and saw a huge face in front of them.
Wei Yuanye's pupils constricted as he realized it was the 3D effect on the billboard. It must be the billboard of an actress named Li Ya, facing the top floor of the building. His eyes scanned it, and it seemed alive.
Zhang Deng said, "I really didn't expect this billboard to be so big."
"It wasn't this big when it first came." Wei Yuanye said confidently.
Zhang Deng: "What do you mean? Is she growing up?"
Wei Yuanye walked forward facing Li Ya's gaze and stood right in front of the rooftop. Looking down, he saw a lot of traffic downstairs. This was the place where the three students jumped off the building.
Zhang Deng felt uneasy and held Wei Yuanye's hand, fearing that Wei Yuanye would also jump down due to his depression.
The actress looked down and interacted with the people on the street. Her body looked huge from above, but when she looked down, it seemed to become smaller and did not look so scary.
Zhang Deng had a reasonable fantasy as a novelist: "Is it possible that she is devouring other people's lives, and that's why she is getting bigger and bigger?"
"The question is, who is devouring her?" Wei Yuanye looked at the virtual image, as if asking himself, "What exactly is she?"
Oh yes, Zhang Deng thought, this is the core of the problem.
Zhang Deng called Li Mai when she was getting off the elevator. Li Mai was obviously still chewing when she picked up the phone. She said casually, "What's the matter? Did you miss me?"
Zhang Deng asked, "Did your father and the others come looking for you again?"
"I called a few times," Li Mai said, "but I didn't answer. I think everything is fine now."
"That's good. ...By the way, can you contact your sister?"
Li Mai was puzzled: "Why contact her?"
Zhang Deng glanced at the advertisement above and said, "I wonder if something happened to her."
Li Mai: "How is that possible? I saw her fans saying she's still filming on the set."
"Really?" Zhang Deng and Wei Yuanye looked at each other.
Li Mai asked: "Why aren't you at work? What happened... If nothing happened, then come and play with me."
Anyway, they have no idea now. It is true that they cannot see Li Ya just by the two of them. Zhang Deng and the others have been following Li Ya's news these days. According to the official statement, she is indeed filming, but there are no photos at all. They just say that the filming is to be kept confidential and even fans are not allowed to enter.
They rushed to Li Mai's house and found some takeout boxes at the door. There were not many boxes, but Zhang Deng had helped her take away all the garbage when she left last night, and she ordered so many more this morning.
Li Mai limped to open the door for them, glanced outside warily, and asked, "Is my dad here?"
Wei Yuanye said: "Not here."
"If he says he's not here, he's not here," Zhang Deng explained authoritatively on Wei Yuanye's behalf. "He's smarter than a drug-sniffing dog."
Li Mai asked, "Why didn't you two go to work today?"
Zhang Deng made up a white lie: "I'm worried that your father will come looking for you again."
"Is this true?" Li Mai was a little stunned.
Zhang Deng said, "Really?"
In fact, there are some such reasons. Zhang Deng can only eliminate some of his guilt in his heart. At least he is really worried about Li Mai.
Li Mai felt like she was about to cry, tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly interrupted him and said, "Stop it, are you in love with me?"
Zhang Deng: "Don't repay kindness with enmity."
Li Mai burst into laughter, and managed to hold back his tears.
Li Mai found them drinks and slippers, and her service was obviously much more attentive than yesterday. She said, "Don't worry about me. My dad may be a jerk, but he's not a particularly bad guy. He won't go too far."
"What do you mean, maybe something happened to my sister?" Li Mai sat down on the sofa, picked up a bag of potato chips, tore open the package, and stuffed a handful into his mouth in one breath.
Zhang Deng said, "Didn't you say she was acting strangely yesterday? Maybe your dad will go look for her too."
"Oh, maybe." Li Mai actually thought this explanation was very reasonable and was a little worried. "My dad has really wanted to blackmail my sister for a long time. He wanted to do it when he was rich. Now that he's poor, he probably wants it even more."
"I'd better give her a call and ask." Li Mai picked up her cell phone, hesitated for a moment, and dialed a number. Zhang Deng sat next to her and quickly memorized the number in his mind.
Every time at this time, Zhang Deng felt that his brain was working well and had not been poisoned by various psychiatric drugs, and his memory was still excellent.
Li Mai's phone rang for a long time but no one answered. She said, "Maybe he's filming?"
"Maybe he'll call me back if he sees it later," Li Mai said uncertainly. She smiled and shrugged, "Or maybe he won't. He might even see my call and deliberately ignore it."
Li Mai emphasized again: "Our relationship is really just average."
But Zhang Deng felt that Li Mai must love her sister very much in her heart, even if she didn't say it. Just based on a few days of understanding, Zhang Deng felt that Li Mai was a girl who said one thing and meant another.
The three of them were bored together, so they sat in front of the coffee table, each playing with their mobile phones. Zhang Deng felt that there was nothing new after playing with his mobile phone for a long time, so he took out a book to read. There must be many books in this world that Zhang Deng has not read. If he had a lot of time, Zhang Deng would like to read them all.
Li Mai read a lot of romance novels, some fashion magazines, and a lot of inspirational books. Zhang Deng took a book titled: "How to Finish the Journey So as not to Let It Down" and read a few pages. He found that Li Mai had actually read it seriously and even underlined the key points in the book.
That chapter talks about desire and obsession. Li Mai underlined the following: "Many people turn the goal of living a life of low desire into a huge desire. In the pursuit of a simple life, the pure white room is covered with sores and pus."
Zhang Deng felt strange. Li Mai didn't seem like someone who would empathize with such words. No matter how he looked at it, Li Mai seemed to be embracing his desires enthusiastically.
Zhang Deng asked, "Do you like minimalism?"
"Hmm?" Li Mai had no recollection. She picked up the book and said, "This seems to be a gift from my sister."
Li Mai said, "Do you think I have anything to do with minimalism? My sister likes to explore mysterious things like desire and energy."
Zhang Deng discovered that Li Ya had indeed marked many similar words in this book: "The pursuit of desirelessness is the greatest greed in the world."
"A natural, whole person is supposed to be despicable."
"Your desires reveal your future life."
Zhang Deng seems strange no matter how I look at it. It seems to make sense, but also seems a little off-putting, a bit cult-like.
He turned the spine of the book, looked at the author, and called out, "Bai Yan."
"What an abstract pen name," Zhang Deng said. "What does this person do?"
Li Mai said: "He's a very famous author. My sister is a fan of his."
"I don't understand," Li Mai said, "I'm almost exhausted from work and too lazy to read. I'm different from Li Ya. When she wasn't famous, she stayed at home and didn't work. She read a lot of books and insisted on giving them to me."
Zhang Deng said, "Can you give me this book if you don't want to read it?"
"Sure," Li Mai said without taking it seriously, "Do you like it too?"
Zhang Deng looked like a literary young man. Li Mai said, "I thought you liked poetry and things like that."
"You can take it," Li Mai said. "This book is a signed edition, so it's hard to get."
Zhang Deng asked, "Is he having a book signing?"
Li Mai: "No, he doesn't seem to show his face. He only signs for his friends or students. My sister must have spent a lot of money just to get to know him. Can you understand? I really don't understand."
Zhang Deng understands.
There are also many people in the book circle who are overly obsessed, let alone books like this that impart life experience.
Zhang Deng has always held the view that if a person excessively promotes his or her own philosophy of life, then he or she is a kind of "religion" in itself.
A "religion" that does not require standards or constraints cannot escape its crazy nature.
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