August 12, overcast.
Qin Manjiang picked up the glasses on the bedside table and put them on. He turned his head and looked at the time. It was half past seven in the morning.
Although the curtains were drawn, a ray of morning light did not leak in. It looked like a cloudy day.
Get up from bed, turn on the TV, and the morning news is playing.
He picked up his mobile phone and sent a message to the monitor.
"I don't feel well, so I will continue to ask for leave."
Soon, he received the voice of the monitor who also got up early:
"Qin Manjiang, if you don't come here this semester, you will all fail. You still..."
His voice was very gentle, but Qin Manjiang did not continue to listen.
He doesn't like his name very much.
This name was given by my father. He is not a man of culture. He has never been out of the riverside village in his life. I just heard that when he was born, it was dusk. The old village was full of poetry. Looking at the red river, he read, "A setting sun spreads in the water, half the river is rustling and half the river is red." So Old Qin got inspired and decided that half the river is so beautiful, Then my son must be at least a whole river.
At the suggestion of the old village head, the name Qin Quanjiang was replaced by Qin Manjiang.
Qin Manjiang was also very lucky. Fortunately, Old Qin didn't have the brains to get Qin Sese for him.
However, later Qin drowned in the river where he had depended all his life. After that, Qin Manjiang didn't like his name very much.
"It doesn't matter, monitor. Please ask for leave as usual. I will find my own way to fail the exam."
Qin Manjiang replied.
Then he put down his mobile phone.
As an ordinary peasant child by the river, Qin Manjiang had only two major events in his ordinary life 20 years ago:
One is that he was admitted to a university, and it is Fucheng University, which is ranked well and not too far from home.
Another is the death of Lao Qin.
Old Qin was a country man with a big heart. Although he lost his wife in his early years, he lived happily and heartlessly. Qin Manjiang didn't believe that he would commit suicide when his son entered the university.
But the words of Laoqin's suicide were said by his sister herself. She watched helplessly as Laoqin walked slowly into the river on the same evening as Qin Manjiang's birth day. The river water covered his body and soon disappeared. When he was found downstream, he had become a floating corpse swollen with water. After identification, the body was indeed Laoqin.
Normally, my sister witnessed the suicide process, so there is no need to doubt and investigate.
But after Lao Qin committed suicide, her sister's mental state has been very strange. She is full of aggression and always looks at everything around with vicious and frightened eyes.
After examination, doctors came to the conclusion that Qin was satisfied with a variety of mental diseases, the most serious of which was the delusion of being killed. If he was free, it would cause great harm to society.
Qin Manjiang didn't follow the doctor's instructions to send her to the mental hospital, but left the school dormitory and rented a suite in Fucheng to take care of her.
Even so, Qin was satisfied that she lost consciousness completely a month ago, and she was sent to the hospital for rescue. Until now, she hasn't come to her senses.
This is also the reason why Qin Manjiang skipped classes all day.
He needs money. Although it is almost natural for students of Fucheng University to find a job with good salary as long as they graduate normally, he can't wait.
A medical instrument that can maintain Qin's satisfactory life will cost a huge sum of money to operate once. He needs a lot of money.
She can't just die.
Whether as a sister or as a direct witness to the suicide of Qin.
Qin Manjiang picked up the remote control, slightly amplified the sound of the news broadcast on the TV, and then walked to the bathroom. He had just squeezed toothpaste on his toothbrush, but before he could reach his mouth, his mobile phone rang again.
This time it was not the monitor, but a phone call. The monitor didn't have his phone number.
Sure enough, after wiping the water on his hands, he picked up his mobile phone and looked at the incoming message. Qin Manjiang's eyes were slightly bright.
People all have friends. Qin Manjiang also has one. Although birds of a feather flock together, Qin Manjiang's friend is a real rich second generation.
Qin was satisfied with the initial treatment costs, which were almost all paid by him.
His surname is Li, his name is Xijiu, and his brother is Wang Dongcheng. One of the brothers is Wang, and the other is Li. This is probably the reason why he was able to mix with Qin Manjiang, a wild boy from the riverside when he was young.
The family business and the like are left to the elder brother who inherited his father's name. He is mainly responsible for living and spending money.
Only contented people deserve happiness, and Li Xi is very contented.
However, Lixi has not studied.
It's not that he couldn't get into the university. He even got into Fucheng University like Qin Manjiang.
But he was expelled shortly after his freshman year.
The reason is that one night, when he was running on the playground, he saw a group of people fighting outside the wall. On a whim, he climbed up the wall and sat on it to eat melons.
I was so happy that I didn't know who pushed him, or who slipped his butt and fell off the wall. It happened to fall into the middle of two groups of people, who were pushing hard. When I saw that the person didn't know him, they thought he was the one called from the opposite side, so they hit him together.
How can the second generation of rich people who have done anything but learn from childhood suffer from this?
He said he would fight back.
At last, the police arrived for an examination, and the two groups of people were almost pushing and bustling, without hurting each other at all.
On the contrary, Li Xi's face was black and blue when he greeted them.
This matter was later caught as a typical case. Li Xi could have settled it with his brother, but he didn't want to go to school, so he left Fucheng University quickly.
In a word, this guy is tall, handsome and rich. Apart from his poor brain, he has almost no shortcomings.
Maybe the brain is not very good, which is not necessarily an advantage.
But even if you think about me again, is it a bit too much to call in the morning?
Qin Manjiang presses Answer:
"What?"
He asked doubtfully with toothpaste foam in his mouth.
"Brother Qin, I'm watching movies!"
Lixi's voice was quite excited.
Qin Manjiang glanced over his shoulder at the time on TV and watched the movie so early?
"Oh, so?"
Qin Manjiang asked casually, brushing his teeth.
"The movie was so interesting that everyone was immersed in it. The girl beside me was frightened and cried, but her face didn't take off her makeup. It was so white."
Lixi muttered.
"The world is so big that some people are naturally white and reflective, which is normal."
Qin Manjiang gripped the phone with his right shoulder and side face, and squeezed out the shampoo with difficulty.
Speaking of this, Qin Manjiang was stunned. What kind of movie theater was open at 7:30 in the morning, and from Li Xi's words "everyone", the audience was still quite large.
"That's reasonable," Li Xi seemed to be persuaded by Qin Manjiang, but he soon exclaimed, "Wow! Brother Qin! An old man just sat in the second row, and I had a word with you, and he just sat in front of me. How fast!"
"The world is so big, some people move fast and normally, and your own movement is not slow."
Qin Manjiang squeezed the shampoo on his head and rubbed it back.
"Also..." Li Xijiu's voice seemed to be a little lower. After a while, he asked with some doubt: "Brother Qin, the old man in the front row suddenly turned his head to look at me. Did he hear me talking too loudly... He turned his head around and didn't move his body. It's so powerful..."
"The world is so big that it is normal to have several people with strange bones."
Qin Manjiang still doesn't take it seriously.
"You didn't call me early in the morning just to tell me you were watching a movie, did you?"
"Huh?" Lixi's voice was full of surprise, "What early in the morning? Isn't it more than ten o'clock in the evening now? I thought you should leave work for any part-time job, so I was ready to see a movie for you, and then we went to have some supper."
As soon as Qin Manjiang stopped washing his hair, his body stiffened. At this time, a clear announcement came from the TV:
"In the early morning of last night, a fire broke out in a cinema at No. 36, Tiannan Road, our city. No survivors have been found so far. The specific casualties are still under investigation..."
Qin Manjiang subconsciously held his breath. He knew that Li Xi was not a joker.
"Where do you watch movies?"
"Tiannan Road!"
"What's the date today?"
"Ah?" Lixi's voice seemed very baffling.
"Answer me carefully. What date do you think today is?"
Qin Manjiang's attitude stunned Li Xi, but soon he replied honestly, "On August 11th, Brother Qin, what happened to you?"
This sentence seems to turn on some kind of switch.
At this moment, the whole world seemed to be saturated with water, and everything around it began to twist strangely. A sense of suffocation that was not strong, but actually existed suddenly appeared.
"Brother Qin... everyone in the cinema suddenly turned to look at me..."
Li Xi's stuttering voice came from his mobile phone. This was the first time Qin Manjiang felt this kind of mood from that boy.
Qin Manjiang took a deep breath, but he didn't realize it. The more strange the situation was, the faster he calmed down.
"Don't be afraid. They are just strange people. Don't act rashly. Answer me first. Is your cinema at No. 36, Tiannan Road? What time is it now?"
Qin Manjiang's description is just like a bunch of madness. Most people don't believe it, but Li Xi does.
"Yes... 36 Tiannan Road, Critical Cinema. It's 10:31 p.m. on August 11."
"I asked you, isn't it a joke?"
"Ah? What a joke! Today is......"
“……”
"Keep in touch, I'll find a way."
"No... No, brother, I have to hang up. I can't stay here anymore..."
The phone hung up before he finished speaking.
A blind voice came from the mobile phone, and the morning news about the fire at the Critical Cinema was still under report.
The fire has been put out, and firefighters are trying their best to search for possible survivors.
However, judging from the extent of the fire shown in the news screen, if the people in the cinema last night did not have accidents, they should have all had accidents.
After drying his hair, Qin Manjiang reached for his glasses and stopped in the air.
Brain activity and time seemed to stagnate for a moment.
That pair of glasses was given by Li Xi before the college entrance examination.
Frankly speaking, he and Li Xi are totally different from each other in terms of family background, personality, interests and hobbies.
Li Xi is a very blind and optimistic fool. The only time Qin Manjiang got drunk was when he died. He was afraid that Qin Manjiang would get cold when he got drunk, so he took down the table and covered Qin Manjiang. The two were almost beaten by the hotel owner.
"The critical cinema was severely burned down, and the chances of survival of the trapped people are extremely slim. We can see that several charred bodies have been transported out of the scene..."
Rationally speaking, Lixi is already dead.
The scene has been burned so that no one can survive, even it is difficult to extract DNA to verify identity.
But... I got a call from him.
He still lives at 10:30 p.m. on August 11th, and can call himself on August 12th!
Qin Manjiang took a deep breath.
Lixi at the moment, just like Schrodinger's cat, is in the superposition state of life and death.
This made Qin Manjiang hesitant. If a thing is not done, it may have two results. Once it is done, the final result can only have one. Human participation directly interferes with the result.
Now Lixi is still alive last night, but once he gets involved and breaks some delicate balance, or finds him from the dead, all the unknowns will collapse into one result - his death.
Qin Manjiang rubbed his long hair hard.
He could not even call the police to deal with this unusual and strange event, and he could not explain it.
But, just leave it alone?
At this moment, the mobile phone screen suddenly lit up. It was a short message sent by Li Xijiu. There was little information, but it was clear that there were only two words:
"Help me!"
Qin Manjiang took a long breath, and all the entanglements and doubts disappeared, because he clearly saw the other party's request.
After washing his face with cold water, he did not rush out to the scene of the fire immediately, but read the relevant reports of the fire, as well as some true or false information on the Internet.
He was silent, and returned a message to Lixi:
"Hide well and live."
"I'll bring you back."
