I Just Came to Borrow a Light

"She sank little by little, the water spread from her waist to her chest, and then to her shoulders, the chill gradually soaked into her body, the tingling was followed by numbness...

There is a somewhat uneven riverbed under her feet, densely covered with waist-length water plants, and she can feel that they are full of strength and tenacity through the thick pants. Every step she takes is slow and heavy...

Water poured into his mouth, nasal cavity, and ears, and quickly eroded his last breath with despair and indifference, without a trace of mercy...

After a brief blank, she began to struggle hard, raised her head, desperately wanting to retreat or go up...

But she has been firmly tied to the bottom of the river, no matter which direction she is, she can't move, every movement of her arm is like splitting into a huge jelly, her legs can no longer move, those green, The aquatic plants that would normally be disconnected with a light pinch have now become a strong rope...

Even if she looked up three inches above the shining water, her lungs could no longer take in even half a mouthful of air...

She seems to have been planted on the river bed, swaying slowly in the water along with the aquatic plants around her..."

It was very quiet outside the window, and occasionally there were fish diving down from the water surface, and the sound of the water brought by the tail of the fish rubbed against the dazzling sunlight in the afternoon, making people feel drowsy for a while.

Yuan Wu leaned on the cushion behind him and lit a cigarette, saved the half-written novel, and closed the computer.

This kind of short idleness like an 80-year-old man sitting at the door with an old dog lying on his feet is mixed with a bunch of unfinished things but repeatedly comforting himself "so what" feeling makes him very comfortable.

Before he finished smoking a cigarette, he heard the sound of thumping footsteps outside. He was running very happily, and the footsteps were very heavy, causing the boat planks under Yuan Wu to vibrate slightly.

Yuan Wu closed his eyes and sighed, took two quick puffs and then pinched out the cigarette.

When the footsteps were still a few meters away, they suddenly slowed down and then disappeared.

He waited for a while, then stood up and walked lightly to the window, and suddenly stretched out his hand to fish out the window to the lower left.

"Ah!" A string of crisp laughter sounded, with a childish nasal voice, "I've been caught again!"

Following Yuan Wu's hand and being held up by the collar, standing up was a five or six-year-old boy.

"Big head, did I tell you that if your IQ grows according to this trend, you will probably not be able to find a girlfriend in the future?" Yuan Wu looked at him, "Do you have no other place to hide?"

"What?" Datou raised his face.

The big head is actually quite cute. Compared with his parents, his facial features are not like his own, and his head is not big.

Such a small name may be due to the good wishes of the people on board. Yuan Wu looked at the water outside the window, and it is not easy to sink to the bottom with his big head.

"No, I said you were too heavy, and the noise of running was too loud." He leaned back on the mat.

"Brother Xiaowu," Datou walked in through the cabin door, "Do you know..."

"Uncle." Yuan Wu said.

"Uncle," Datou immediately changed his words, "Do you know..."

"Take off your shoes." Yuan Wu said again.

The big head quickly kicked off the slippers on his feet, ran to him and sat down beside him: "You know what."

"I don't know." Yuan Wu gave him a popsicle from the mini refrigerator next to him.

"Then let me tell you," Datou leaned close to his ear and put his hands over his mouth, "people drowned again at the pier, and many people are watching."

"Have you seen it?" Yuan Wu glanced at him.

"No, my mother said that children can't watch, and they will be hooked away." Datou said seriously, and after he finished speaking, he pursed his lips tightly, looking very nervous.

Yuan Wu smiled, and took out a piece of money from his wallet: "Go buy a pack of cigarettes for Uncle."

"Well," Datou took the money, "How about I drink a bottle of milk today?"

"Okay, you can also eat lollipops." Yuan Wu stood up and walked towards the hatch.

"Where are you going?" Big Head asked after him.

"Collecting wind." Yuan Wu replied.

It's been three days since I stepped out of the cabin, and I didn't feel it when I stayed in the cabin, but when I stepped out and stood on the deck, Yuan Wu realized that the sun today is particularly unrestrained, it's almost five o'clock, and it's so bright and moving.

He squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky. It was all white, and after ten seconds, he had the illusion that he was already flying in the sky.

He sneezed and looked back.

It's a long way from here to the pier, and it takes about seven or eight minutes to walk.

Yuan Wu walked slowly along the plank between the two boats.

This place is called Shenqiao, a wetland on the outskirts of the city.

Two rivers pass through here, leaving a large area of ​​water, each connected like a small lake. In summer, it will be covered with reeds, and occasionally there will be one or two spots that are only a dozen square meters in size.

The side where Yuanwu lives is a bend in the river. After the old pier was abandoned, all kinds of old boats were parked here layer by layer. Some are unowned, and some are owned but have not been repaired. The ground is squeezed together and connected by various wooden planks of different widths, like a water maze, with many fish cages in the middle.

Yuanwu is not the only one who lives here, for example, the Datou family and their neighbors, the cage guards, and those who have no houses on the shore or those who have houses but are used to living on the water.

But he was indeed the only one who lived so far from the pier.

There are dozens of meters away from the old pier, and you can see a lot of people around there, as well as people carrying cameras. It seems that people from the TV station have also come.

Yuan Wu didn't go to the pier, but squatted down on the bow of a nearby boat, and lit the last cigarette in his pocket.

The drowning person has been carried away, and the spectators have not yet dispersed. The reporters who are watching the TV station are interviewing a few people who often fish in this area.

In a place that is usually too calm and tranquil, something can make people inexplicably excited for a long time.

Yuan Wu didn't know the specific situation, but it was not uncommon for someone to drown in Shenqiao.

Shenqiao can be regarded as a tourist attraction in the suburbs of the city, but it does not include the old wharf. The old wharf is too far away from the road, the water surface is narrow, and the water conditions are complicated. Most tourists will not come here, and several farmhouses are yellow.

However, in summer, occasionally people come to play in the water in order to avoid the flow of people, so every year, a few people who do not understand the underwater situation and find the right place to enter the water float up from the bottom of the water.

He listened for a while to the unsatisfactory discussions of the spectators. The people who didn't come up this time disappeared three days ago and were found in the East Bay today.

Dongwan is in the depths of the reeds. There are several large patches of lotus that grow well, and there are also some small dry lands. Except for the villagers who used boats to carry cattle to farm, there are almost no people.

Datou's mother asked him mysteriously, do you know why the lotus in Dongwan grows so well?

"I know," Yuan Wu nodded, "Many people died."

The big head stared at him for a while: "You are very strange and scary."

"Huh?" Yuan Wu also stared at her, "I didn't push those people down, so what's so scary."

After that day, Da Tou's mother wouldn't let Da Tou play on his boat, even though Da Tou didn't miss the first time.

Yuan Wu finished smoking and was about to leave. The female reporter from the TV station jumped onto the boat unhappily, and walked over unsteadily: "Hi, fellow, can I ask a few questions?"

Yuan Wu made no sound.

"My fellow, do you live here?" The female reporter asked again.

"Yeah." Yuan Wu stood up, turned and walked back.

"Do you live on the boat or in the village over there?" The female reporter stopped him, "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"No." Yuan Wu replied very briefly, bypassing her and continuing to walk forward.

"Then do you know about people drowning in East Bay?" The female reporter was a very young girl who seemed to have just graduated, and she followed up very persistently, asking a series of questions, "The number of drowning people in the past two years is higher than that in the past few years." Many, what do you think is the reason? You should be a local villager, can you give some relevant safety advice to tourists?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it, I can't," Yuan Wu stepped onto the plank connecting the two boats, glanced at the feet of the female reporter crowded beside him, and stretched out his hand to stop her, "When..."

"What? I..." The female reporter refused to give up this interview opportunity, followed closely by a step regardless of obstacles, and then let out a short scream, "Ah!"

Yuan Wu's hand that stopped her hastily changed to pulling her, but it didn't work, so he made a fool of himself: "Heart."

The boards made by refitting the door panels under the feet are a bit old, and some of them have rotted. The female reporter stepped on it very well, and she fell into the water before she could finish her sentence.

There was a burst of laughter on the pier. The pier was shallow, but the female reporter was still very embarrassed by the sudden fall. She screamed and thumped several times in the water before standing up.

Yuan Wu sighed, turned and walked away.

The female reporter who was dragged ashore by her colleagues amid laughter finally gave up the interview and did not chase after her.

When he returned to his own boat, Datou was sitting on the bow with a pack of cigarettes, and a big gourd was placed beside him.

Seeing him coming, he raised his hand from a distance: "I bought it back."

Yuan Wu gave him a thumbs up.

"Did you see the dead man?" Datou asked, the word "curiosity" was almost written on his face.

"No," Yuan Wu put the gourd tied with a rope on his back, "you go home."

"I don't want to go home," the big head turned, "I want to chat with you."

"We have no common language." Yuan Wu took the cigarette in his hand and threw it into the cabin.

"Oh." Datou replied.

Yuan Wu entered the cabin, took out a cigarette from the box and put it in his mouth. When he was about to light a cigarette, he took a look outside and found that the big head was still sitting on the bow.

"Hey, big head." Yuan Wu took out the empty cigarette case from his pocket and threw it on the gourd behind him.

Datou touched the gourd with his hands behind his back, and turned to look at him.

"Go home." Yuan Wu said.

"What is the common language?" Big Head asked.

"It's the common language." Yuan Wu took his arm and picked him up.

"What's the common language?" Big Head asked again.

"It's the common... language." Yuan Wu carried him across the board and put him on the boat next to him.

"What is common?" Big Head continued to ask.

"You have what I have." Yuan Wu turned back to his boat, and when the big head was about to step on the board, he pulled the board away.

"Where's the language?" Datou asked standing there.

"Just talking." Yuan Wu opened the hatch.

"Then we are talking the same thing," Datou said unyieldingly, "why there is no common language?"

Yuan Wu didn't speak, walked into the cabin and closed the door.

Through the crack of the door, Datou could be seen standing and thinking for a while, then turned and left.

He breathed a sigh of relief, lay down in the cabin, and lit his cigarette.

The boat is small, with a small bookshelf and a mini-refrigerator, and other places are Yuan Wu's bed, clothes and computers, as well as some messy books and snack bags thrown around.

To cook, we had to go to the stern, where a shed was set up, with pots and pans, a gas stove, and a tank of gas.

This gas can be used for a long time, because the main function is to cook noodles and dumplings, not all at once.

Yuan Wu hadn't had a serious meal all day today, so he lay down for a while and accidentally fell asleep, and then woke up after being frightened because the surroundings were too quiet, and then went to cook himself a bowl of instant noodles.

After eating the noodles, he made another pot of coffee and turned on the computer to see if he could finish writing this chapter tonight.

The avatar on the Q was beating, he clicked on it and looked at it, it was a message sent by the editor after three o'clock in the afternoon.

Hold a knife and wait for updates: Didn’t you say that the pit will be opened at the end of the month?I have been waiting for two months!I'm knocking on the basin, can you hear me?

Yuan Wu put a piece of sugar in the coffee, stirred it for a long time before taking a sip, and then replied to the editor.

Laughing and drinking a glass of wine: There are too many things, and this week will be held.

There are too many things. When Yuan Wu typed this sentence, he still felt that he was telling the very sincere truth, but after sending it out, he began to feel a little dazed again. There were too many things... What did he do?

Can not remember.

In fact, he suddenly couldn't remember how he spent the three days in the cabin.

I thought about it slowly, but didn't think about it.

He opened the document and looked at it. The word count showed that this chapter had 3666 words.

The speed shocked him.

How many days did he write just these 3000 characters?

He sighed, lit a cigarette and drank it, looked at the lines of words on the screen through the smoke, and when he saw the sixth time, he finally raised his hand and typed a few times on the keyboard.

"When did the sky get cloudy? He didn't notice it. When he felt the cold wind blowing more and more quickly, the surrounding area was already dark as if someone had splashed it with ink. There was still darkness behind the wisps of darkness... ..."

It's still dark...it's still dark...it's still dark...and then and then and then he taps his fingers on the keyboard and then takes a sip of coffee.

Yuan Wu took a sip of coffee, but it wasn't delicious enough, so he got up and climbed to the side of the coffee machine, poured half a carton of milk and started frothing.

Climbing back to the computer with the rebuilt Mocha, he continued to stare at the screen.

After taking two puffs of cigarettes, he raised his hand again.

"There was a sound of breathing coming from behind. It wasn't close, but it was clearly heard in the wind. He stopped, but the sound disappeared again...

The light of the street lamp in front of him began to beat slightly, and he felt a little scared for no reason. As he continued to walk forward, he heard that breathing again in his gradually rapid heartbeat, which was heavy but rhythmic...

It gradually became consistent with the beating of the lights..."

A cloud of cigarette ash fell on the back of his hand, and the small pain caused him to shake his hand and throw the cigarette butt into the coke can next to him.

"He has to turn back..."

"The sky suddenly lit up, and the surrounding area was like daylight for a moment..."

Suddenly a light flashed outside the dark window, Yuan Wu was startled, and subconsciously turned his head to look over. The cognition of "this is lightning" has not been fully conveyed in the brain, and a thunderclap followed by a low-altitude sound .

Yuan Wu suddenly had the feeling of standing naked in the middle of the square, as if a kick had exploded under his crotch. He was so shocked that he overturned the coffee cup with a wave of his hand.

"Damn." When he came back to his senses, he quickly threw a roll of paper onto the spilled coffee.

When Datou came to play yesterday, he said that there would be thunderstorms today. He still thought it was impossible for the sky to be so clear, but now he looked out of the window and saw the raindrops as big as fists... no, raindrops the size of half a fist had already fallen. , the surroundings changed from dark night to gray and white mist.

The roll paper sucked up all the coffee, Yuan Wu threw the roll paper into the trash can, and was about to make another cup of coffee when there was a bang sound from the bow of the ship amidst the sound of wind, rain, thunder and lightning.

He stopped his hand reaching for the cup, and turned to look at the hatch.

The cabin door was just two wooden boards with a glass window that couldn't be opened at the top. He was sitting in the cabin, and he couldn't see anything from the glass window from this angle.

But he could see it through the crack of the door. When his eyes fell on the crack of the door, he found that a small colored flag with its big head stuck on the ship's side was blocked by something.

Someone was standing at the bow.

"Who?" Yuan Wu asked, staring at the crack of the door, fumbled in the messy pile of clothes beside him, and pulled out a speargun.

The law and order at the old wharf is quite good, because the people living here are poor people. You can’t get anything out after opening the door. The only thing that may attract thieves is the fish in the cages.

But the net cage was not close to Yuan Wu's boat, and any thief with normal intelligence would not walk onto his boat.

So Yuan Wu took out his spear gun.

He got this speargun from Datou's father, and he has never used it to fish. The only time he used it was when he pulled the trigger and shot an arrow at his calf while holding the research.

The people outside didn't answer, but the figure swayed a bit and approached the hatch.

"Welcome!" A passionate female voice sounded from the boat.

The people outside seemed to be taken aback, and quickly backed away.

"Welcome to come again next time!" The enthusiastic female voice sounded again.

Yuan Wu felt that the people outside should have been blinded, so he quickly jumped to the hatch, and stretched out the front end of the speargun through the crack of the door.

"Go away," he said.