Morbid Addiction

Zhou Yan's hometown is a small county town surrounded by mountains and rivers. The county town is surrounded by mountains behind and a big river flows slowly in front of it.

Not far from the expressway, you can see several tall buildings along the way, and as the car gradually drives deeper into the county, you can see mostly old buildings with six or seven floors.

They haven't had lunch yet.

Ning Junyan asked Chen Yuncheng: "What do you want to eat?"

Chen Yuncheng didn't answer, he felt that he could eat anything, even a bowl of noodles at a small noodle restaurant by the side of the road would not matter, but he felt that it was too casual and felt wronged Ning Junyan.

"I'll eat whatever you want," Chen Yuncheng finally said to Ning Junyan.

Ning Junyan nodded. He slowed down and drove forward on the streets of the county seat. He didn't find a place to park the car until he saw a Chinese restaurant with a good decoration and environment on the side of the road, and got off for dinner with Chen Yuncheng. .

It was past lunch time, and there was clearly no one in the restaurant, so Ning Junyan still asked for a private room, and sat at a small round table with Chen Yuncheng to eat.

"There are no private rooms anymore," Ning Junyan said.

Chen Yuncheng rinsed the dishes with tea and said, "This kind of Chinese restaurant usually doesn't have small private rooms for two people."

When putting the cleaned dishes and chopsticks on the table, Chen Yuncheng originally wanted to tell Ning Junyan that it was hard work for him to accompany him on this trip, but before he could say the words, he was worried that Ning Junyan would not be able to pick up his words, so in the end he simply give up.

The lunch dishes were ordered by Ning Junyan alone. There were three dishes and one soup, both meat and vegetables.

When the waiter brought the soup, Chen Yuncheng picked up the soup bowl in front of Ning Junyan and filled it for him. Ning Junyan kept his eyes on his hand and said softly, "Thank you."

Chen Yuncheng could only say, "You're welcome."

After eating, Chen Yuncheng asked the waiter to pay the bill, but the waiter told him that Ning Junyan had already settled the bill after ordering.

Chen Yuncheng suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness and powerlessness. When they came out of the restaurant, Chen Yuncheng stood by the side of the road and asked Ning Junyan: "Do you think I'm poor, so you don't treat me as a brother?"

Ning Junyan was holding the car keys in his hand, and was going to pick up the car, but when he heard his question, he turned to look at him and asked, "Why do you say that?"

Chen Yuncheng felt that he was a bit hypocritical. He would not have minded these things before, and he would not have to speak out despite the embarrassment of the atmosphere, but he has been in a mess these two days, half because of Zhou Yan, and the other half because of Ning Junyan, He couldn't help but said: "You accompanied me so far to find Zhou Yan, and you didn't even let me invite you for a meal? Do you think I can't even bear this little money?"

Ning Junyan's expression was very calm, and he replied, "I didn't think about it that much. If you want to invite me to dinner, you can invite me to dinner."

Chen Yuncheng was a little taken aback by what he said, and immediately said, "I'm sorry."

Ning Junyan said, "Is this important?"

It really doesn't matter, Chen Yuncheng didn't know what was going on in his head, he laughed at himself and said, "It doesn't matter, just ignore me. I'm a little confused."

Ning Junyan asked him: "Is it for Zhou Yan?"

Chen Yuncheng glanced at him, nodded, and didn't say it was because of him.

Ning Junyan said suddenly: "You never thought of looking for me when I left."

Chen Yuncheng was stunned for a moment, at first he didn't realize when Ning Junyan said he left, but later he thought maybe it was the year they separated, Chen Yuncheng was standing by, watching Ning Junyan's parents take him go.

Ning Junyan didn't seem to need his answer, turned around and walked towards the parking place before he could speak, "I'm going to drive."

Chen Yuncheng lost his temper with Ning Junyan inexplicably, and he felt sorry all the time. After getting in the car again, his voice when talking to Ning Junyan became gentler.

He found the address on Zhou Yan's ID card and showed it to Ning Junyan: "Can you navigate here?"

Ning Junyan said, "Try."

They are all coming to this county for the first time and rely entirely on mobile phone navigation to find their way.

Zhou Yan's household registration address is in the yard of an old community in an old street in the county seat, and the car can't drive in, so he can only park the car on the side of the nearby street and walk over.

There is no gate control in the community, only a lazy old man sitting in the guard room watching TV.

The address on Zhou Yan's ID card was detailed to the unit and house number, so Chen Yuncheng went directly to the doorman, showed him Zhou Yan's ID card, and asked him if he recognized this person.

The old man picked up a pair of presbyopic glasses on the table and put it on the bridge of his nose, carefully looked at the ID card photo, shook his head and said, "I don't remember it, but the address is indeed in it."

Chen Yuncheng asked him: "Then do you recognize this family?"

The old man looked carefully for a while, did not answer directly, but raised his head to look at Chen Yuncheng and Ning Junyan, and asked, "Who are you?"

Chen Yuncheng said to him: "This Zhou Yan is our friend. He went back to his hometown some time ago and couldn't be contacted. His son fell ill again. We came to look for him."

The old man said "oh", without any intention of going into details, and said, "I don't know if this family is his or not, but there are two couples living at this address, the man's surname is Qi, the woman's surname is Li, and there is no one surnamed Zhou. "

Ning Junyan asked, "How old are they?"

The old man said: "Nearly fifty."

Chen Yuncheng thanked the old man, and walked into the community with Ning Junyan, intending to go to this family's house to inquire.

"Have you met Zhou Yan's parents?" Ning Junyan asked.

Chen Yuncheng shook his head, "He was sent back to his hometown by the police, I have never seen his family." And too many years have passed, even if he met him when he was young, Chen Yuncheng probably doesn't remember his face.

"He has a bad relationship with his family," Chen Yuncheng said slowly, "He never talked to me about his parents."

Ning Junyan was silent and did not speak.

The community is not too big, and there are four old buildings in it. Chen Yuncheng found Zhou Yan's household registration address, went up to the third floor with Ning Junyan, and knocked lightly on the door after spotting the house number.

He wanted his appearance to be as unobtrusive as possible, at least not to scare Zhou Yan's family.

The building is really old. The original white walls and ceilings in the corridors have turned gray with dirt deposits, and broken cobwebs can still be seen in the corners.

Ning Junyan stood behind Chen Yuncheng, neither of them was short, and in the narrow and cramped stairwell they felt oppressed besides the darkness.

Chen Yuncheng didn't hear any movement in the room, so he knocked on the door twice more, with a little force.

While waiting for a response, he turned his head to look at Ning Junyan, "Are you going to work? If you are less than 50 years old, you should not have retired yet, right?"

"Today is Saturday," Ning Junyan said to him.

Chen Yuncheng was not sure, "What about working overtime?"

Ning Junyan walked sideways past him and approached the door, raised his hand and knocked on the door forcefully, "Maybe I just didn't hear it."

There was still no response from the house, but the resident next door heard the sound, opened the door a crack, and looked outside vigilantly.

"Hello," Chen Yuncheng asked before the eldest sister next door closed, "Is this family home?"

The elder sister looked at him first, and then at Ning Junyan, maybe she felt that they didn't look like bad guys, so she replied: "Sister Li went back to her natal family last week, I don't know if Brother Qi is here."

Chen Yuncheng asked again: "Do you know they have a son?"

The eldest sister frowned at the question, and suddenly said after a while: "You mean Zhou Yan?"

Chen Yuncheng and Ning Junyan looked at each other.

The eldest sister said: "Zhou Yan went out to work for many years, and he never came back."

"Haven't you seen him recently?" Chen Yuncheng asked.

The elder sister shook her head, "I haven't seen her since I left, it's been many years."

Chen Yuncheng thought for a while and asked her: "Then do you know when Zhou Yan's mother will come back? Or when his father will be home?"

The eldest sister still shook her head, "I don't know." After she finished speaking, she was about to close the door.

Chen Yuncheng still didn't give up, and asked quickly: "Then do you have the contact information of their family members? Can you ask for me?"

The eldest sister seemed unhappy.

Chen Yuncheng said, "Please, sister."

The elder sister looked at him carefully and asked, "Who are you?"

Chen Yuncheng repeated what he said at the doorman's place.

After listening, the eldest sister said: "Is the child sick?" She seemed very hesitant, "Then you wait." She took out her mobile phone and sent a WeChat message. After a few seconds of waiting for a reply, she raised her head and said to Chen Yuncheng: "Li Sister said she would come back tomorrow morning, why don't you come over tomorrow morning."

Chen Yuncheng smiled and said, "Thank you."