life after marriage

When you've been living in darkness, the absence of light doesn't seem like an unbearable thing.

When Yan Jing was five years old, he had already learned to forage for food from the pile of dead people.He scratched open the worn pockets with a sharpened stone, looking for any scraps of food in the crevices between the fabrics.

Occasionally, if you are lucky, you can find some small change, which can be exchanged for a piece of fruit candy in a dilapidated shop deep in the street.

An apple suddenly appeared on the grocery store—a fresh apple, that red and big apple that exudes a fragrance in the stale air, like a round moon, untouchable.

Yan Jing shrugged his nose, holding his breath and didn't want to spit it out, he wanted to store the aroma in his stomach.

"Three yuan." The boss picked out a small blue candy from the box, only the size of a child's little thumb. Compared with other candies, it looked like a malnourished child.

Yan Jing looked at him silently, his dark eyes were as sharp as wild wolves.

The boss shook his cigarette pouch, revealing his missing teeth. When he raised his eyelids, he looked like a crumpled melon: "If you have no money, get out."

Yan Jing pointed to the apple: "How much is this?"

"20 yuan." The boss touched the lovely apple lovingly, as if he was stroking his lover, and there was an almost tender look on his cold face: "It took me so much effort to get it."

A strange symbol was engraved on his cheek, and Yan Jing also had it, but he was too small, so it was engraved on the forehead.

The little Yan Jing said "Oh", and handed the boss a sticky stack of worn-out banknotes.

He peeled off the shiny candy wrapper, carefully licked a mouthful, and the fruit candy smelled like an apple on the tip of his tongue.

He looked up at the apple almost reverently, washing it from top to bottom with his gaze—how was he going to get this?

The boss ignored the kid.

A person who lives in a garbage street would rather buy a piece of candy than a life-saving bread. If this child does not have a brain problem, then he has already entered a desperate situation.

He lowered his head to sort things out, and the child quietly left in front of him.In a few days, this little thing will die in a corner... He thought casually.

Suddenly a pair of boots appeared in front of the boss.

Compared with everything around them, these boots are really strange.This does not refer to its standard, but it is too clean, terribly clean, too clean, no matter how you look at it, it feels out of place.

The boss's heart skipped a beat, he looked up and saw a young man standing in front of his shop.

His face was pale, and his short hair was neatly combed, with only a few strands of hair falling on his forehead.From this angle, one could just see his long black eyebrows and his delicate chin concealed in the scarf, which looked like a thin ink painting.

In the breast pocket is a pair of gold-rimmed monocles, and the thin chains hang down, which is the only place in the whole painting that is close to reality.

He doesn't have that weird symbol on his face.

The boss's hands trembled involuntarily, and the cigarette ash fell in several places, even the bong was about to fall off.

The young man didn't seem to notice him, he picked up the box of fruit candies on his own, raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw the traces of dismantling, and asked the boss kindly: "Mr. The kid bought it?"

The boss nodded his head in panic, and hastily pointed out the way for him: "I just walked from here!"

"Thank you."

The young man took out a stack of brand new banknotes from his pocket and smiled at the boss: "Don't tell anyone about me."

What I got was naturally a desperate nod.

He put the candy in his pocket, finished his snack and left leisurely like a customer drinking morning tea.

……

The boss slumped on the chair, and the worn-out chair made a long "squeak" because of too much movement.Trembling, he took a long drag on his cigarette, rubbed the sweat on his forehead, and then his neck, only then did he feel that he was still alive.

All the people in Junk Street belong to that one.

Everyone knows his name because his name is etched on everyone's face.Anyone who enters Junk Street will have those two words engraved on their faces, and they will never leave this place for the rest of their lives.

The boss squinted his eyes, and the little cloudy mung bean eyes were full of fear. He probably walked around in front of Hades today.

----

Yan Jing leaned against the wall, watching the person in front of him warily.

"Child, do you want some candy?"

The man squatted down, and Yan Jing saw that the corner of his clean clothes was hanging on the ground, and was quickly wet by the sewage, leaving a dark stain.

He spread his hand, and on his white hand lay a plump, bright red candy, which was so beautiful against each other.

"..."

Yan Jing was silent for 3 minutes, and the man waited like this for 3 minutes, with the same smile on his face, without the slightest hint of impatience.

In the end, it was Yan Jing who couldn't help it anymore. He suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed the candy in the man's palm and ran away.

He ran fast, his small body turned around the large and small holes in the ruined wall, and quickly lost sight of the man.

He bowed his head and panted heavily, his palms were sore from the sugar.After making sure that there were no more footsteps from that person chasing him, Yan Jing peeled off the transparent paper of the candy and took a sip.

Strawberry flavored, too sweet.

Yan Jing frowned and walked out, thinking that the apple flavor was better.

As soon as he walked out of the corner, he bumped into something. When he looked up, his face turned pale.

The man was leaning against the wall, looking at him with a smile.

"If you eat my candy, you have to follow me."

--------

"and then?"

Qin Jian's heart was about to twitch.

He was so nervous just listening to Yan Jing's dictation. He was only six years old at that time.Such a small Yan Jing wants to live alone in such a place, Qin Jianzhi dare not think about it.

"What else can there be? Then, I can't fight, I can't run, and of course I can only be taken away." Yan Jing shrugged, "Speaking of which, if I hadn't met him, I might not have survived. .”

"What did he do with you?"

"Hmm..." Yan Jing thought for a while, "Probably to teach me some martial arts or something."

"that's all?"

"Of course it's more than that." Yan Jing rushed over, hugged Qin Jianzhi's head and gnawed it down: "There is still this."

Qin Jian's face turned pale with anger.

He wanted to say how old you are, that man is simply a beast—worse than a beast!He was so angry that he only hated that he could not swear in his life, otherwise he would have scolded that beast until his mother didn't even know it.

But after seeing Yan Jing's expression, he couldn't say anything, his face was gloomy and indifferent, the sunlight passed through the window lattice, but it happened to be blocked by the wall between himself and Yan Jing, and only shone on himself—— He looked like he was in another world.

Qin Jianzhi sighed: "Then what did you do to him later?"

Yan Jing hooked Qin Jianzhi's chin, and said casually: "When I was running, I stabbed him."

His slender index finger touched Qin Jianzhi's chest: "It's right here... I stabbed in with the dagger he gave me."

Qin Jianzhi put his arms around Yan Jing's slender waist, buried his head in his neck, and said sullenly, "I really want to give him another stab."

He felt Yan Jing's slender fingers inserted into his hair, as if to comfort him.

The door on one side opened with a faint creak.

Qin Jianzhi raised his head and saw the child looking at them timidly.

An extremely absurd idea appeared in his mind: "...This child, could it be that beast who hired you to replace you?"

He had just read this plot in that ridiculous book, and it was so weird to complain about it at the time.

But Yan Jing nodded and agreed with him.

"I need to slowly..." Qin Jianzhi covered his face weakly.