0067 Night Rose Night.67 (3400+) When Chen Shanye called, Ruan Mei was packing things at Xu Ziling's house.
"Hey, Ruan Mei, where have you been?"
Chen Shanye clamped his cell phone on his shoulder, pulled up the collar of his T-shirt and wiped the sweat behind his ear.
There are many old trees in this neighborhood, and the chirping of cicadas is like the endless purple-red sea of clouds in the sky. The evening heat locks people into an airtight plastic bottle, and even breathing normally becomes a luxury.
He had just returned from the vegetable market, with heavy red and white plastic bags hanging from his fingers, and the blood oozing from the freshly cut beef slices was as red as the sky.
When he arrived at the store, he found that the iron door was locked. He had the key, but he didn't open the door. He stood at the door and called Ruan Mei.
"Oops, I forgot to tell you."
Ruan Mei tapped her forehead with the clothes hanger in her hand in annoyance, and then briefly summarized the matter and told Chen Shanye.
Ruan Mei also held her phone between her shoulders and folded some clothes into her suitcase. "I might stay with her for the next few days. I haven't told her yet, and I don't know if she'd let me stay."
"Then wait for you to decide. If you stay, I will send you some clean clothes later." As soon as he knew that Ruan Mei was fine, Chen Shanye started walking towards the rental house.
"I'm sorry I couldn't have dinner with you tonight. Did you buy the beef?"
"Just buy it and put it in the refrigerator. I'll make it for you when you come back."
After putting away the clothes, Ruan Mei walked towards Xu Ziling's study. Xu Ziling said that she didn't need to help her with anything, but she had to take the laptop.
"Okay, then I'll continue helping people pack up." Ruan Mei was about to say goodbye, but when she raised her eyes, she was breathtakingly taken away by the scenery outside the study window.
The tall tower with smooth lines in the distance sank deeply into a sea of blood that was so thick that it could not be moved. She could even smell the rusty smell of blood with every breath.
My heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.
She calmed her heart and asked, "Are you still going out for a designated driver tonight?"
"Well, if you have nothing else to do, go run some orders."
"Then drive carefully."
"Okay, I know, you too. Drive slower and don't forget to eat dinner."
Ruan Mei pulled the curtains and stopped looking at the horrifying blood-red outside the window. She leaned against the desk and said coquettishly, "Chen Shanye, kiss me."
Chen Shanye paused, his ears burning from the setting sun, even his neck was red. He looked around, every corner of the residential area at dusk was filled with the smoky smell of fireworks. Neighbors waving fans passed by him, carrying large and small bags, and the aroma of roast goose wafted from the bags.
"Ah——Chen Shanye, kiss me..."
The voice of the spoiled kid on the other end of the phone was as soft as a lump of rice porridge eaten by a baby. Chen Shanye moved the phone away a little, wiped the sweat from under his nose with his wrist, and then leaned over to the microphone.
With a chirp, the 1.80-meter-tall man stood in the sunset and took a sip of the air.
The sound drowned out the irritating chirping of cicadas that had been irritating all day.
*
Ruan Mei stayed in the hospital that night. Chen Shanye gave her some clean clothes. The two of them stayed affectionate outside the hospital gate for a while before separating.
When she returned to the ward, Xu Ziling, who had undergone various examinations in the afternoon, was wearing headphones and holding a video conference with her subordinates on the computer. Ruan Mei couldn't understand what they were saying, so she took her clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower. When she came out, the meeting was still going on.
There was a small bed in the ward, and Ruan Mei just made do with it. It was not until the young nurse came to check on her for the umpteenth time and sternly asked Xu Ziling to rest, saying otherwise she would not have the energy for tomorrow, that Xu Ziling ended the call.
"Go to sleep." Xu Ziling washed up and went to the hospital bed. She looked much softer without her strong woman makeup, and her eyes were less aggressive and shrewd. The pink hospital gown made her look more girlish.
The lights in the ward were turned off, and the non-blackout curtains filtered the white moonlight, which fell to the ground like broken silver. The cicadas that had been bombarding the window all day finally died down.
"Sister Ling, are you asleep?"
Ruan Mei lay on her back and looked at the mottled shadows of trees swaying on the ceiling. The quilt and pillow were provided by the hospital. The strong and bitter smell of disinfectant penetrated her nostrils.
"No, you say."
While Xu Ziling was in the meeting, Ruan Mei was checking the process of induced abortion. It was called a surgery, but in fact it was basically the same as a normal birth.
The life is strangled by drugs, and then a hole is drilled in the woman's body through drugs, allowing life to swim out like a small boat.
This is a process of enduring double physical and mental pain and sorrow alone, and feeling what you once had slipping away bit by bit.
Ruan Mei had a lot to say, but her throat was like a rusty faucet, unable to squeeze out a drop of water.
In the end, he only said: "You are not a coward at all..."
*
After leaving the hospital, Chen Shanye received a call from Chen Hechuan.
Chen Siyang had a conflict with other children in kindergarten during the day, and the teacher talked to Shen Qing after school.
"What kind of conflict happened?" Chen Shanye braked suddenly and stopped under a tree.
Chen Hechuan glanced at the little boy quietly playing with cars on the living room floor and lowered his voice, "Kindergarten taught a nursery rhyme today that's about mothers. Yangyang asked the teacher if they could change 'mom' to 'dad'. The teacher agreed after knowing our family situation, but when he sang it, it was different from the other kids, and they laughed at him."
Chen Shanye's throat choked: "Dad, please give the phone to Yangyang, I want to talk to him."
"Okay." Chen Hechuan turned to Chen Siyang and called out, "Yangyang, it's Dad calling. Come over and talk to Dad."
Unexpectedly, the little boy who always stretched his neck waiting for his father to call refused to answer the call this time and ran into the bedroom with the car.
"Hey, Yangyang! Where are you going?... Hey, this kid..." Chen Hechuan picked up the phone and said helplessly, "He's not in a good mood. Your mother went to comfort him. If he feels better later, I'll call you again."
"...Okay, let's talk about it later."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Shanye stayed there for a long time.
He thought about the last words Chen Hechuan said.
"The teacher said that left-behind children of this age are more sensitive. Yangyang is particularly sensible, but parents still need to pay more attention to his mental state. We're worried that he might gradually become strong and optimistic on the surface, but fragile and sensitive on the inside... Parental companionship is still very important..."
Around me were phantom bubbles of all sizes passing by hurriedly. Not far away, the giant screen on the exterior wall of the shopping mall was playing a promotional advertisement for a certain real estate project in a loop. The night sky was illuminated by the neon lights all over the city, making it as bright as day.
Chen Shanye looked up, but there were no stars. The moon sometimes peeked out from the clouds and sometimes hid back in the clouds, as if it could not bear the endless noise on the ground.
With a long sigh, he began his evening work.
After connecting a few orders, it soon reached the peak period of ten o'clock. Chen Shanye's fleet had a shift scheduled for tomorrow morning, and he planned to work until eleven o'clock and then start to head back.
Having just completed an order, Chen Shanye was still using the platform app to end the trip when a distress signal appeared in the designated driver group. A blood-red SOS emoticon package was spinning on the screen.
Designated drivers have to deal with all kinds of drunk customers, and many drivers are beaten for no reason by drunk passengers. As a "service industry", one of their "professional ethics" is that they cannot talk back if they are scolded or fight back if they are beaten.
Designated driver drivers are now outsourced to other companies by the app platform. The drivers are not formal employees and their rights and interests are not protected at all. In order to protect themselves and facilitate communication, they set up groups where they can share their designated driving experiences and locations of good orders, and they can also ask for help.
If a driver encounters an unreasonable and arrogant passenger who poses a threat to him, he can send a distress signal to the group and attach the location, so that if his fellow passengers happen to be nearby, they can immediately go to the location to provide support.
When Chen Shanye saw who was sending the distress signal, his heart sank.
It’s Zhong Mang.
The location was a bit off, but not too far from where he was now. Chen Shanye started the electric car immediately. He called Zhong Mang, but Zhong Mang didn't answer.
He twisted the handle to speed up and sent a voice message to Zhong Mang, saying that he would be there soon.
There was a newly built real estate development with a low occupancy rate. The high-rise buildings were dark with lights on. Many roads in the surrounding communities were still under construction, and there were real estate developments under construction next to them. The gravel ground was bumpy and dusty, and there were several sections of street lights that were not on.
There were no stars on the ground, and even wild animals were reluctant to come out.
The white light in front of the electric car illuminated a small area ahead. Chen Shanye was looking for Zhong Mang under a street lamp that had lost its light.
His electric bike was folded and not opened, like a baby curled up hugging itself. Zhong Mang leaned against the lamppost, looking up at something, his jeans and clothes were covered with yellow dirt and white ash, and he looked in a dishevel.
Chen Shanye stopped in front of him. Zhong Mang looked towards the light source. The overly bright white light made his eyes sore. He turned his eyes away and did not look at Chen Shanye who got out of the car and walked towards him.
"Where are you hurt? Are your legs or feet hurt? Can you get up?"
Chen Shanye squatted beside him to check his injuries. There were obvious red marks from the slap on Zhong Mang's face, and no blood at the corners of his mouth, but he didn't know if there was any other part of Zhong Mang's body that was attacked.
Zhong Mang shook his head, his voice hoarse as a bellows with a hole in it: "He slapped me a few times, kicked me, and drove away."
"Did you have an argument with that guy?"
Seeing that his voice was hoarse, Chen Shanye reached out to pick up the backpack that was covered in dust as if it had been thrown into the mud, and pulled out the thermos cup from the side pocket, but found that the cup was light and there didn't seem to be any water in it.
Zhong Mang paused, then quickly snatched the cup from Chen Shanye's hand. "There was no argument. I'm not familiar with the area, so the navigation system pointed me to this small road. I only realized it was a bad road when I drove in. The man got bumped around a few times and felt uncomfortable, so he scolded me for driving recklessly... I've finished my water. Do you have any water, brother?"
"Yes, wait a moment." Chen Shanye did not doubt him, went back to his car to get a cup of water, and came back to give it to Zhong Mang.
He felt so uncomfortable that his chest kept heaving. When he saw the gray-white shoe prints on Zhong Mang's thigh, his temples felt like they were being stirred by a silver needle, and the pain made the corners of his eyes twitch.
After Zhong Mang drank a few sips of water, Chen Shanye stood up from the ground and bent down to pull the man who was slumped on the ground to his feet: "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital for a physical examination, and then we'll call the police."
But as soon as her hand touched his forearm, it was violently thrown away.
Zhong Mang wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in his arms. Chen Shanye's water cup was loosely held in his hand and swayed.
"No, it's pointless. I'm not seriously injured, and I can't sue that guy... He drives a Mercedes-Benz and has a shiny gold watch. He's incredibly rich..."
During the time when Zhong Mang went astray, several of his friends were sent to jail for participating in a fight. He had some understanding of the sentencing standards in this regard.
Those slaps didn't cause any physical damage, but they severely crushed Zhong Mang's will. He was like a lonely fish pushed ashore by the waves, lying on the beach and slowly losing the ability to struggle.
Chen Shanye felt suffocated by Zhong Mang's lifeless appearance, and he felt powerless for a moment.
But he didn't give up and still wanted to pull Zhong Mang: "What's wrong with driving a Mercedes-Benz and wearing a gold watch? Does that mean you can just hit people? Stand up, I'm here, don't be afraid."
Zhong Mang shook off his hand again and buried his face deeply in his arms: "Brother, just treat me as a coward and leave me alone."
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