The TV was reporting that a mysterious collapse had occurred somewhere.
They found a very small barbershop that could only accommodate three people at a time, with only one barber.
"Is the end of the world really coming?" the hairdresser muttered to herself as she watched the news on TV, cutting He Xueqing's hair while reminding her daughter not to eat too much candy.
"Even if it really is the end of the world, let's not do it after I finish my exams," Cen Yu said, watching TV.
He noticed that He Xueqing in the mirror wasn't looking at his hair, but was secretly staring at him—he just assumed He Xueqing was too introverted.
Cen Yu glanced at the little girl eating candy in the corner, then looked at the street.
This is an old street near the No. 1 Middle School in the city.
There are all kinds of shops, and in the corner there is a DVD shop that Cen Yu went to when he was a child. Later, it lost business and became a snack shop with a retro decor.
The news was still on TV; although everyone was discussing the end of the world, few people took it seriously.
That was in 2012, a time when rumors of the end of the world were rampant.
Cen Yu saw someone talking in the class group chat, asking him where he was and whether he was coming to play ball.
"I'm not coming, I'm busy," Cen Yu replied in the group chat.
He looked up at He Xueqing again and found that her hair had been cut. She was probably not used to not having bangs to block her vision, so she touched her forehead a little awkwardly, and then looked at Cen Yu, looking like she was looking forward to his feedback.
Cen Yu looked at it for a while, then said, "Not bad."
He Xueqing then smiled.
He Xueqing paid and left the barbershop with Cen Yu... They bought some food on the street. In the snack shop, everyone was discussing the mysterious dent in the news. Cen Yu, while eating noodles and watching the news, asked, "Do you know when the end of the world is coming?"
He Xueqing didn't know either; he could only sense that it was almost time.
So he shook his head and then said, "It should be soon."
Immediately afterwards, people in the snack shop started discussing the restaurant in the next alley that had been mentioned a while ago.
"Luckily, I don't go there often," someone said. "The owner is really unethical..."
"They picked up meat from garbage bags and fed it to people without caring what it was."
Cen Yu pricked up his ears, quickly bit off a piece of noodle, and leaned closer. "What despicable thing?"
Upon seeing Cen Yu's school uniform from the No. 1 Middle School, the man told Cen Yu about what had happened at the food street next door.
The story goes that a shop owner picked up several bags of meat that had been thrown on the road, and thinking it was something valuable, he took them to the kitchen intending to cook them for people.
"I heard that someone went missing, and the last time they were seen was when someone threw meat away in front of that shop."
"They found the unused portion in the freezer; it belonged to the missing person."
Cen Yu exclaimed in surprise, "That's terrifying?"
"That's right!"
"I heard that many people who went to his restaurant felt so nauseous that they had to have their stomachs pumped."
After listening to all this, Cen Yu sat back down opposite He Xueqing. He Xueqing had naturally overheard his conversation with the other customer. He watched Cen Yu continue eating noodles in front of him and asked, "Isn't it disgusting?"
“But we can’t waste food!” Cen Yu said.
"It was pretty disgusting," Cen Yu said thankfully. "Luckily, I didn't go that day."
He Xueqing remembered the day Cen Yu was called away to eat off-campus. He gripped the chopsticks in his hand and asked, "You didn't go?"
“It’s too much trouble, and I don’t know a lot of people.” Cen Yu knew he was popular, so he made an excuse not to go. He propped his head up and looked at He Xueqing. “Luckily I didn’t go, otherwise I would have to go get my stomach pumped right now.”
"Are you going to tell them?" He Xueqing asked again.
"Let's not talk about it anymore," Cen Yu said. "Sometimes not knowing the truth is a kind of happiness."
He Xueqing looked at the noodles in his bowl, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Which school do you want to go to next?"
Cen Yu mentioned the name of a school that was located far away from the city. He had good grades, so getting into that school shouldn't be a problem.
He Xueqing thought to herself, "Why don't I go to this school too?"
He didn't really know Cen Yu. After thinking for a moment, He Xueqing probed again, "Would your family agree to you going to such a far place?"
“It’s just me,” Cen Yu said.
He Xueqing looked at Cen Yu with some surprise.
"You don't know?" Cen Yu asked, puzzled. But after thinking about it, she realized that He Xueqing didn't talk much to anyone in the class, so it wasn't surprising that she didn't know.
He briefly explained what was going on at home, and finally said, "No need for words of comfort, they'll give me goosebumps."
He Xueqing had to swallow the draft he had prepared. He nodded at Cen Yu and then lowered his head to eat his noodles again.
"And you?" Cen Yu asked as well.
"About the same as you," He Xueqing said.
Cen Yu said "Oh" and continued watching the TV in the snack shop.
"I hope the world ends, but if it does, I hope it doesn't come too late." He added, "If the world ends right after the exams, that would be such a loss."
After finishing his bowl of noodles, it was getting late, and Cen Yu was about to go home when He Xueqing called out to him, "I don't have your phone number yet."
Cen Yu recited a string of numbers, then asked, "Did you join the work group?" He thought for a moment and then said, "Never mind, you definitely didn't."
After seeing He Xueqing's old-fashioned mobile phone, Cen Yu finally understood why he hadn't joined the class group.
He gestured for He Xueqing to bring him the phone, and then dialed his own number.
After saving He Xueqing's phone number, Cen Yu returned the phone to him, saying, "It's like the end of the world."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
