I'm really out of money.
The dark clouds were piled up layer upon layer, mixed with the damp fishy smell before the heavy rain.
Wen Zichuan hates rainy days. He hates the sticky feeling of drizzle, and even more so, the isolation of heavy rain.
The rain would trap him in another world, which was dark, cold, lonely and empty, and accompanied by endless abdominal pain, like a black snake with hard scales coiled there, constantly stirring and gnawing, making him sick.
He was breathing coldly and ran forward aimlessly, trying to hide from the rain and go to a warmer place.
At the end of the rain curtain, there is a glow.
He walked into the light in two or three steps and found a small compartment similar to a bank's automatic deposit and withdrawal system.
As if his body was out of control, he inserted his bank card into the ATM machine in front of him and entered his password. Then, with a "click", the balance displayed turned into a countdown that changed at the speed of light. After instantly becoming a negative number, it continued to accumulate zeros at a rate of one second.
An icy chill immediately swept over his body. He hurriedly took out his cell phone, wanting to find someone for help, but he didn't know whether it was out of battery or broken, and no matter how he pressed the button, it wouldn't light up.
The feeling of panic became more and more severe, and even my breathing was strangled.
“No…! No—!”
"Teacher Wen? Teacher Wen!"
Someone pushed his elbow, and a sense of emptiness like white mist pulled him from the darkness to the light. The light penetrated his eyes and dispelled the strange dream.
Wen Zichuan opened his eyes drowsily. A ray of sunlight slanted in, illuminating the living room. The aroma of food wafted past his nose.
"Let's get up and have breakfast. We bought the soup dumplings from the Chenji branch, and the line is really long."
Wen Zichuan looked towards the source of the voice. His messy, furry hair was gone, replaced by a handsome face with a neatly combed hair and clear features.
"Oh, sorry," Cheng Sizhou raised his right hand that had touched him, "It looks like you had a nightmare, so..."
Actually, he has a rather dignified and well-proportioned appearance. A close-up portrait of his face would be a hit with the middle-aged men and women at the park's dating corner. However, his eyes are lively and expressive, giving him a certain air of self-deprecating sass. Adding a pair of glasses, his scholarly air subdues this sass, and he resembles one of those duplicitous, suave villains in movies and TV series.
"Nothing." Wen Zichuan sat up and looked at his slender knuckles hanging in the air, with distinct bones, which was more attractive than his face.
Cheng Sizhou handed over warm water and capsules with his handsome hands: "Take this on an empty stomach, and drink the powder half an hour after a meal."
Perhaps due to the good rest, the burning sensation in Wen Zichuan's stomach subsided a lot. He sat up straight and apologized, "Sorry, I slept too long. Is Zhou Yitang's mother here?"
"He said something urgent happened, so it will probably take a while."
I didn't notice it last night, but Cheng Sizhou realized now that Teacher Wen seemed to be particularly concerned about whether Zhou Yitang's mother would come or not. He kept asking the same question. Is there any other hidden secret?
"That Zhou Yitang..." Wen Zichuan heard the rustling sound of the pen tip scratching across the paper. It turned out that the little fan was lying on the dining table doing his homework, concentrating like an old monk in meditation, and didn't take them seriously at all.
"You can't escape the fifteenth day if you can't get through it. You can just write a few test papers and use them as a golden ticket to avoid death." Cheng Sizhou gloated.
"Well, you guys... have a good relationship."
"No, I already explained it last night..."
"Like brother and sister."
Cheng Sizhou was so attentive that it would be impolite for Wen Zichuan not to accept it. Besides, if he didn't take the medicine, the pain would only cause further delay.
"Okay, let's eat." Comrade Xiao Cheng implemented a new tactic to ensure his good intentions would not be rejected. "Zhou Yitang and I have already eaten. If you don't want to eat the rest, I'll take it out and throw it away."
Wen Zichuan moved the corners of his lips, finally picked up the chopsticks, and slowly began to eat.
"Here, your phone." Cheng Sizhou waited until he was almost done eating, then returned the phone to him. "It's fully charged. I tried it, and it turns on."
Wen Zichuan flipped through his phone and his face immediately turned cloudy. There were more than 40 missed calls and countless WeChat messages, and he didn't know where to start.
"If Zhou Yitang's mother doesn't come by ten o'clock, I won't wait any longer."
"It's 9:50 now." Cheng Sizhou repeatedly confirmed that he had read the time correctly. "Do you have anything to say to her in person? Otherwise, I'll take you to the Second Hospital..."
"No."
"Well, take the medicine with you."
"How much?"
"Not much."
Wen Zichuan didn't want to argue with him, so he opened the online shopping platform and checked the prices one by one.
Seeing him like this, Cheng Sizhou felt extremely upset. He spoke faster than his mind could think, "Why are you so picky?! How much are three boxes of medicine worth? I already bought them, so why not just give them to you for free?!"
It’s not worth the money, it’s given away for free.
This sentence repeatedly hit Wen Zichuan's sore spot. His pale face flushed slightly, and he secretly bit his back teeth: "I won't take it for free. I'll transfer the money to you later."
The sudden quarrel disturbed Zhou Yitang. She smiled and said while spinning her pen, "Teacher Wen, you can take it. Cheng Sizhou is just like that. He respects the elderly and loves the young, is kind-hearted, a role model of morality, and a March 8th Red Flag Bearer..."
"Shut up!" Cheng Sizhou wanted to kick her.
"I'm leaving." Wen Zichuan wanted to say "goodbye", but he knew they would never see each other again, so he didn't say it.
He put his hand on the door and was about to open it when there was a sudden "click", the lock cylinder turned, and the door was pushed open from the outside.
"Xiao Cheng? What are you doing...?" The person who came was Zhou Yitang's mother, Shen Huifang.
"Sister Shen!" Cheng Sizhou's mood seemed to be on a roller coaster. It would have been better for Officer Shen to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. She is truly the people's savior!
He didn't have time to tell Shen Huifang in detail about what happened last night. The call didn't go through, so he sent a message to say that Zhou Yitang went to the National Exhibition and Convention Center to watch a performance and accidentally sprained his ankle. He was sent to the hospital by an acting teacher. The doctor examined him and said he was not seriously injured.
Shen Huifang looked at the three people in the room and quickly grasped the situation. She then said to Wen Zichuan in a businesslike tone: "Yudeng District Police Officer, Shen Huifang, please show me your ID card."
Even on holidays, Officer Shen still wore his police uniform meticulously, with a calm gaze and standard movements, leaving no room for suspicion in anyone's heart.
What was supposed to happen finally happened. Wen Zichuan cooperated very well and "identified himself" to her. Cheng Sizhou poked his head over stealthily and squinted his eyes to peek at other people's identity information.
Wen Zichuan. February 12, 1994, his birthday.
Before she could take a second look, Shen Huifang had already returned the item to its rightful owner. She then pulled out a bulging envelope from her pocket and stuffed it into Wen Zichuan's pocket. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wen, for keeping you waiting until now. Thank you for taking Zhou Yitang to the hospital last night. Please accept this. It will put my mind at ease."
Wen Zichuan's expression finally eased, but the envelope was a bit thick. He realized that Officer Shen might have given too much for his medical expenses, but if he opened the envelope and counted the money carefully, he would probably be labeled as "careful".
Shen Huifang noticed his hesitation and quickly smiled and said, "It seems that Teacher Wen is about to leave. Why don't you go ahead and do your work first, and come over here to play when you are free tomorrow."
Cheng Sizhou's heart was gripped tightly. What kind of social leader is Sister Chen? Not only did she give Teacher Wen a way out, but she also thought of a way out for him.
"Okay." Wen Zichuan said, "Thank you."
He knew it was not a good thing, but he was really short of money.
In a glamorous city like Dengyuan, there were many people like them who had no shortage of money, food, or drink, and who could freely extend kindness to others. A few dozen or a few hundred yuan was nothing to them, but for them, it was enough to cover their living expenses for several days.
"Hello, Lu Dao." He chose a less annoying one from the dozens of missed calls and called back.
"Wen Zichuan! You are still alive! You didn't answer the phone and didn't reply to messages. Do you know that we have been looking for you all night? If the person who called the second voice hadn't seen you getting into a taxi with a woman, we would have called the police!" Lu Dao roared.
"What's up?"
"The boss lady is treating everyone to dinner tonight, are you coming?"
"A dinner? A farewell dinner?"
He and Lu Dao are both voice actors of YaYaYiYu Studio. According to the contract, the studio is responsible for taking orders and promotion, and they also have to split the money they earn with the studio on a 50-50 basis.
However, the studio's performance was not good and it had not received any work for most of the year. At the beginning of the year, it was in talks for an animation, which was said to be three seasons and the price was reasonable. However, it was intercepted by the industry's largest audio platform, Second Voice, and the cooked duck flew away.
"That's too much, isn't it? You've been at the studio for two years. They've recommended you for every good project they've had. The Quan Zong and the boss lady have been good to you, right? But what about you? You knew Second Sound had cut our orders, yet you still went to their events? Do you have any backbone at all? And now you're cursing the studio out of business?!"
"What's the use of backbone? Can it be eaten as food or spent as money?"
"The more difficult it is, the more we need to work together. Tell me where you went last night? Could it be that you've been persuaded by the Second Voice? How much money did they offer you... Beep—"
Wen Zichuan couldn't stand it anymore and hung up the phone.
Lu Dao is a person with a poor brain. To put it simply, he is an idiot.
In the past two years, several young voice actors have been working hard to find work for a monthly salary of two to three thousand yuan. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has made a lot of money, but told them that they cannot pay their salaries and asked them to be patient.
Although he hadn't received a penny for half a year, Lu Dao still wanted to stick with the studio, fearing that someone would think of jumping ship.
Wen Zichuan is short of money, but he is not short of brains. The Second Sheng came to him and invited him to participate in the performance. Such a good opportunity is right in front of him. If he doesn't go, is he waiting to starve to death?
What's more, he has to hand over half of his appearance fee to the studio. Isn't this extending the life of Lu Dao's so-called "moral integrity" and "collective honor"?
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