Act bravely to help others
The prosperity of City B and City C have two completely different rhythms.
The prosperity of City C has a kind of settled and leisurely foundation, like a pot of slow-cooked soup, while City B is more like a never-ending torrent that never stops day and night.
The glass curtain walls of the skyscrapers reflect the dazzling sunlight, the overpasses are like huge steel vines winding around, the pedestrians on the streets are always walking fast, and everyone's face has the urgency of being chased by time.
When Zhou Jianxing was surrounded by endless crowds, he often felt like an ordinary worker ant in an ant colony, busy running along the set track, so small that he couldn't cause even a ripple.
All the sorrows and joys are insignificant in front of this behemoth.
When Zhou Jianxing first arrived in City B, he did experience some minor discomfort with the local climate.
The dry air in the north made her throat tight when she woke up in the morning, and there was blood in her nasal cavity. Her food tasted salty and heavy, and her stomach began to protest after a few days.
But after enduring the first half month, she unexpectedly felt that she was getting more and more adapted.
·
The new environment was like a hard cocoon, separating her from the past. It turns out that changing the environment can really change one's state of mind.
Those memories that I once thought were unforgettable and gnawed at my heart every night, now under the double cover of physical distance and a new daily routine, traces of them are still there, but they no longer stir up any waves.
In City B, she no longer had to live in constant fear, like a frightened bird, afraid that she would unexpectedly run into the person she most wanted to see and was most afraid of seeing at a street corner, in a cafe, or even just by looking up in a crowd.
This certainty finally made the invisible stone that had been hanging in her heart since the breakup fall to the ground safely.
However, Wen Lingyi did not completely disappear from her world, but instead appeared frequently in her dreams.
Those dreams are bizarre, illogical, and full of jumps.
Sometimes it is a sweet kiss, a soft hug, or a hot body temperature.
Sometimes it's cold confrontation and hurtful words.
Sometimes it was just a blurry, walking away figure, and no matter how hard she chased, she couldn't get closer.
Fortunately, as the days pass by smoothly, the frequency of dreams is gradually decreasing.
Zhou Jianxing thought that this was probably a good sign, proving that although time was a slow and painful medicine, it was ultimately effective.
As long as it takes long enough, she will always recover completely and return that person to the crowd in one piece.
Just like when the tide recedes, no trace is left on the beach.
·
Since that drunken night, she once again blocked all of Wen Lingyi's contact information, including phone and WeChat, without hesitation.
Even if Huang Haifu deducted money for this, she would accept it.
Her life needs to be completely restarted, without any hesitation or repetition. Any thread that may pull her back to the past must be cut off.
During his time in City B, in addition to concentrated study, Zhou Jianxing also made new friends and was actively preparing to start a new relationship.
In her spare time, she likes to wander aimlessly around the city alone, buy a subway day ticket, take the train with its extensive and complex routes, travel from one end of the city to the other, and observe all kinds of people.
Look at the white-collar workers in suits walking hurriedly, look at the mother holding her child with a gentle smile, look at the couple snuggling together and sharing a pair of headphones.
Feel the vibrant and powerful heartbeat of this northern heart.
On weekends, she would often take a long, crowded subway ride, cross half the city, and go to the famous old shop in the city center to buy half a roast duck, a pancake and sweet noodle sauce, sit in the bustling shop, and eat slowly and contentedly.
There is also roast duck in City C, but the taste is different. The one she eats most often is the one sold at the vegetable market near her home for 25 yuan each. The skin is not crispy enough and becomes tough after being left for a long time. The meat is also often not tender enough and is a bit difficult to chew.
Her appetite slowly returned to her.
·
In the blink of an eye, it is May, the turn of spring and summer. The weather has warmed up completely. The sun has become generous, bright but not scorching, and it fills every corner of the city. The leaves of the trees along the road are shiny green.
The intensive study is coming to an end, and she will be returning to City C soon.
When I thought about leaving, I felt a little complicated and reluctant.
This city, which she once felt was strange, huge, and even a little intimidating, had unknowingly embraced her chaotic days with its vastness and bustle, and left faint traces of her life there.
This Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining and the breeze was gentle.
Zhou Jianxing followed the huge crowd out of the subway station, his steps unconsciously becoming lighter as he walked towards the roast duck restaurant in his memory.
When passing by an open square, I saw a large crowd of people gathered in front of me, almost blocking the way. The noisy shouting and sharp curses coming from afar broke the leisurely atmosphere of the weekend afternoon.
Zhou Jianxing has had an incurable bad habit since childhood - he loves to join in the fun and is very curious.
I subconsciously slowed down my pace and tried to see what was happening inside over the crowd of people.
The crowd was so dense, like a thick wall, that she could not see anything. She could only clearly hear a man's furious, almost hysterical roar and a woman's terrified, helpless, sobbing scream for mercy.
She frowned, feeling a little uneasy. She leaned sideways and, with her relatively tall and thin figure, squeezed in little by little, trying to see the situation clearly.
After struggling to squeeze into the inner circle, in the center of the circle, a man with a hideous face and bulging veins on his neck was slapping a woman who was sitting on the ground and trembling.
The slap landed hard and loud, and obscenities kept coming out of his mouth.
"You bastard! You have no shame! Believe it or not, I will kill you right here today! No one will have an easy time!"
The woman on the ground had disheveled hair and a red and swollen face.
She tried in vain to protect her head with her arms, kicking her legs randomly on the rough ground as she retreated, trying to create some distance. Her voice was distorted and broken by extreme fear and crying.
"Let me go... please. We've broken up! Don't look for me anymore!"
The people around were talking and had different expressions.
Someone frowned and whispered to his companion, "It's difficult for a judge to judge family affairs, so it's better not to get involved, so as not to get into trouble."
Some people showed strong reluctance on their faces and whispered, "This beating is too harsh."
Several young men who looked strong and sturdy frowned and rubbed their hands, wanting to step forward to stop it, but they were worried about something. They looked at each other, hesitated and did not take the first move.
Zhou Jianxing's gaze was fixed on the man's lower back.
There, there was a shining dagger, which occasionally flashed a heart-pounding cold light in the afternoon sun.
"Who the hell agreed to break up?" the man shouted, raised his foot and kicked the woman hard in the lower abdomen.
"Even if you die, you have to die with me! Want to run? No way!"
The woman groaned in extreme pain and suddenly curled up, as if she had completely lost the strength to struggle.
Only the eyes filled with tears stared at the abuser intently and unyieldingly.
"You're not even human...you're a beast...If I don't run away...you'll beat me to death sooner or later..."
The crowd let out an uncontrollable cry of surprise because of this vicious kick, and some people began to shrink back subconsciously, fearing that they would be affected.
Some people looked solemn, walked aside, lowered their voices, took out their cell phones and called the police urgently.
At this moment, the man suddenly pulled out the dagger from his waist.
The silver blade was completely exposed to the air, drawing a dazzling and dangerous arc.
The crowd of onlookers seemed to be pushed by an invisible hand at the same time. They all took a big step back with exclamations, and the circle suddenly widened.
Zhou Jianxing felt the blood in his body rushing to his head with a "buzz", and even heard a roar in his ears, and his adrenaline soared in an instant.
The martial arts novels I had read suddenly flashed back to my mind.
The images of heroes in the book who saw injustice and drew their swords to help, the determination of "I will go forward even if there are thousands of people against me", and the sincerity of being willing to go through fire and water for the weak strangers, once made her heart surge, and she imagined countless times that she would become the protagonist of the story.
She never thought that the chivalrous fantasy in the fictional world would become reality at this moment.
An opportunity to be a hero was presented to her.
Of course, she is not a master with special skills. She is just an ordinary person who feels fear and pain. She was even thinking about the delicious roast duck just now.
But looking at the knife pointing at the helpless woman and the hesitant crowd around her, an almost instinctive impulse suddenly overwhelmed the fear.
Maybe she can't be a hero who shakes the world, but at this moment, she can at least be the first person to stand up.
Zhou Jianxing rushed out and kicked the man hard in the back from the side.
The man was caught off guard and was concentrating on inflicting violence. The sudden kick made him stumble forward several steps and almost fall.
Zhou Jianxing took the opportunity to quickly walk around to the limp woman on the ground and squatted down. He reached out his hand to pull her up, his voice tense with nervousness: "Get up! Go! Get out of here!"
"Cinema!" The man quickly steadied himself, his face distorted with rage.
He turned around suddenly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Zhou Jianxing who was squatting on the ground, and stabbed straight at him with the dagger in hand.
"Who are you, bitch, meddling in other people's business? I'm going to kill you first!"
Zhou Jianxing reacted extremely quickly by dodging the first attack that was aimed at her vitals by moving sideways. She took advantage of the situation and grabbed the man's thick wrist tightly, resisting with all her strength, her nails almost digging into his flesh.
At this point, the enraged crowd around them could no longer bear it.
"Beat him to death!" "Catch him!" Angry roars rang out one after another, and several brave young people rushed up to help and tried to take away the murder weapon.
A chaotic scuffle broke out instantly.
Zhou Jianxing was entangled with a man. The man was half a head shorter than her, but he was strong and powerful, like a mad beast.
While struggling and pushing, Zhou Jianxing's hand slipped, and he felt several sharp, piercing pains in his chest.
The force was so strong that she was stunned and could not stand steadily.
The warm liquid quickly gushed out, soaking the thin spring shirt, bringing a sticky and warm touch.
In the last moment before she fell, her vision had begun to go black, but she still subconsciously used her body to protect the woman behind her who was almost scared and unable to move.
Everything happened so fast, like a bizarre nightmare that was fast-forwarded.
After a brief silence, the crowd was completely ignited by this bloody scene, and the angry voices almost overturned the entire square.
Amidst the shouts of "Murder!", more people rushed up with red eyes, and pressed the man who was trying to struggle after committing the crime to the ground with their fists and kicks falling like raindrops.
"Quick! Look at that girl!"
"Oh my god! There's so much blood! My clothes are all stained red!"
"Hold him down! Don't let this beast escape! Beat him to death!"
·
Zhou Jianxing lay on the cold, hard floor tiles. The May sunshine shone in her eyes, but she could not feel any warmth.
The strength in the body was rapidly draining away along with the warm blood, and the limbs began to feel cold and numb.
The hearing became unusually clear, as if it were amplified.
She could hear the heart-wrenching cries of the woman on the ground who had survived the ordeal, and the angry curses and beatings from the onlookers.
She heard someone squatting beside her, asking her repeatedly in a trembling and anxious voice: "Girl! Girl, how are you? Can you hear me? Hang on!"
The excitement and courage brought by adrenaline quickly receded, and the intense fear and desire to survive belatedly grabbed her like a icy water pouring over her head.
My body was so cold that I started to shiver uncontrollably.
She felt a little regretful. Was she too impulsive just now?
Why do you have to be so strong?
The scene before my eyes began to shake, blur and fade.
Many people's faces flashed by frame by frame like the images from an old film projector that had stalled.
My mother was busy in the kitchen, wearing her old apron that had been washed so much that it looked white. There was soup stewing in the pot, and steam was rising from it.
Dad was wearing reading glasses and reading the newspaper under the floor lamp in the living room, his finger pointing at the words as he scrolled down line by line.
Ajie and Xiaomin hugged her shoulders and laughed heartily with their mouths wide open.
Chu Wei was holding a pot of her favorite mountain Michelia and waved for her to come over.
…
The last thing that was frozen was Wen Lingyi's face, so clear that it seemed as if it was right in front of her.
Even the small mole at the end of the left eye can be seen clearly.
The emotion in those beautiful peach blossom eyes was hard to discern, as deep as a pool of water.
There seemed to be a faint, imperceptible smile at the corner of his mouth.
In the past few months, she told herself every day, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be best if she never saw Wen Lingyi again in this life.
But now, on the verge of losing consciousness, my body felt as cold as if I had been immersed in an icy river, and the only thought swirling in my mind was...
I really want to see her again.
Just one side. Even if you don't say anything.
Will it be possible... that we will never see each other again?
Huang Haifu also painted a rosy picture for her, saying that the company will open up a new market in City D and set up a branch this year.
Maybe then I could let her try to become a technical expert on her own.
Zhou Jianxing secretly thought in his heart that maybe he could also try to learn to do it clumsily, it shouldn’t be too bad, right?
"120! Urge 120 again! Where are they?" Someone shouted in her ear at the top of his lungs, the voice changing in pitch due to anxiety, sometimes far away and sometimes near.
It's so noisy.
She felt very tired, more tired than ever before. Her eyelids felt heavy as if two stones were weighing on them. She just wanted to fall into a deep sleep and ignore everything.
"Don't let her sleep! Talk to her! Keep her awake! Don't let her sleep!" someone else shouted anxiously.
Then someone really leaned over and kept talking in her ear, chattering very quickly, but the content was blurred into a mess, and she couldn't hear a word.
Her lips were dry and sticky, as if glued together, and she couldn't make any clear sound no matter how hard she tried.
"I'm a doctor! Everyone get out of the way! Keep your distance! Give her air! Don't move her!" A calm and steady voice pierced through the surrounding noise.
She felt a chill on her chest, and the blood-soaked clothes stuck to the wound were carefully cut open, making a clear "swish" tearing sound.
Then, strong fingers pressed on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. The severe pain made her arch her back uncontrollably, and a broken and weak moan escaped from her throat.
Someone gently pried open her eyelids and checked her pupils with a flashlight.
The blinding white light made her eyes see clearly.
In a trance, she seemed to see countless tiny dust particles flying and spinning in panic in the dazzling halo. The scene was inexplicably familiar.
It was just like a midsummer morning in my hometown, when the sunlight shines through the old glass window in the kitchen, illuminating the tiny particles floating in the air, and falling gently and quietly on grandma's old apron.
I can almost smell the aroma of rice bubbling in the pot.
"Hold on! Tell me, what's your name?" The voice claiming to be a doctor sounded again, and someone continued to pat her cheeks gently, trying to restore her scattered consciousness.
She tried to move her lips in an attempt to respond, but what rushed up her throat was a sweet and fishy liquid with a strong smell of rust.
Zhou Jianxing. The three words stuck there, unable to form, and eventually turned into pink blood foam overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
In the distance, the sounds of sirens and ambulances came closer and closer, sharp and rapid, tearing through the afternoon hustle and bustle of the city, and became louder and louder.
Close at hand was the crisp, cold sound of the hemostat hitting the metal tray, one sound after another, regular and urgent, knocking at the edge of her gradually blurring consciousness.
If her parents knew she was so badly injured and lying on the streets of a strange city, they would definitely be very sad.
You must be heartbroken and unbearable.
When she rushed out, she was full of passion, so why didn't she think of this at all?
Although Zhou Jianxing's life for more than 20 years was ordinary, it was always smooth and stable, and he rarely got sick.
Is this not the only time I'm so unlucky?
She is brave and righteous. God should bless her a little because of her good heart, right?
She still has so many ordinary days to live.
She still had a lot of things to say to her parents, no time to give them a good hug, and no time to have another meal with Chu Wei and the others to brag and talk about what she saw and heard in City B.
As for Wen Lingyi...she didn't seem to have anything special to say.
Thousands of words, entanglements of love and hate, all seem redundant in the end.
If I have to say one thing, it would probably be: I forgive you.
From now on, you must live a good and happy life.
Wen Lingyi is a bad woman and the only person she has ever loved in her life.
No matter what, she hopes she is happy.
Even if this happiness has nothing to do with me anymore.
If she really goes to heaven, Zhou Jianxing will bless Wen Lingyi.
She would become a star in the sky, and wink mischievously when she saw Wen Lingyi from afar.
Consciousness finally sank into a boundless, warm darkness.
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