zombie log

The bumper beads on the table kept shaking back and forth, and the marionette stared straight ahead.He rents in the basement of this old residential building.This is a place no one wants to live in. When it rains, water seeps out of the ground, and the sun can only shine through the small slender windows on the wall for a few minutes in the early morning every day, and then quickly disappears. .

Hearing that someone wanted to rent this room, the owner was very happy to give up the price, but he also made a request that he should not ask him to take care of anything in the house.

Bei Xinmiao wouldn't ask him to take care of it, even if there were drops of water constantly seeping from the basement wall.He could no longer feel the discomfort that this humidity brought to his body.

A window in the basement faces the corridor of the residential building, and people coming and going must pass through here.He opened that window, put up advertising slogans, and turned it into a window for renting books.

And the books piled up on the shelves near his window were all brought from his mother's house, and they were the books he had read when he was a child.

At first there was no one who rented books.And he would only open the small window for renting books after get off work every day and at night.He doesn't need to sleep, he can just sit by the window and wait all night.

Finally one day, he was discovered by that person.

Tang Guan squatted down in front of the small window pasted with the words 'Rent Books' at the entrance of the corridor.Looking at the list of book titles written on a piece of paper next to the window.

"The cartoon version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms?" Tang Guan wondered to himself. "How ancient it must be." He raised his head and looked into the long window.Can't help but be stunned.

Behind the desk in the small window, black-rimmed glasses were facing him motionlessly.

"Bei..." He was stuck, forgetting the last two words of the name. "Do you live at my feet?"

It turned out that Tang Guan's house was the one above Bei Xinmiao's head.

There was no expression on Bei Xinmiao's stiff face, and a ray of light from the setting sun refracted from the building opposite was reflected on the lenses of her two glasses.

Tang Guan looked at the two large characters 'rent books' pasted on the edge of the window. "Working as a handyman in the school's gymnasium, and renting out old books at night? Are you short of money? Why did I hear Teacher Xiao say that you used to be the top student in your class and went to the best university? ... and now you have come to this point field?"

There is no echo in the window.Tang Guan was even more curious. "What's going on?"

"Do you want to rent a book?" A voice came from the window, low and hoarse.Like a machine in disrepair.

Tang Guan pondered for a while, then reached into the pocket of the school uniform to fumble, and only found five yuan in the end. "Three Kingdoms."

Without getting up, Bei Xinmiao took out a rectangular box the size of a shoebox from a nearby box.Pass it out the window.

Tang Guan was a little reluctant, but his attention was quickly attracted by the printed pattern on the box. He sized it up and carefully opened the lid. On it was a row of old cartoon books neatly placed. "Sure enough!" He exclaimed, looking at the person in the window, "an old edition that is at least 50 years old... how can you rent this kind of book? It's probably worth ten thousand now... no, one hundred thousand! "

These words seemed to remind the people in the window.The voice came out slowly. "Gold...fifty."

"Do you understand? If you are short of money, sell it! Fortunately, you met me, and other people will give it to you, and then never return it."

"deposit……"

"Did you hear me?" Tang Guan was surprised and dissatisfied, "Is that smart guy Mr. Xiao said really you? Are you sure you're not an idiot? I only have five dollars." He put a piece of money in his hand Spread out a banknote for Bei Xinmiao to see. "My dad always forgets to give me pocket money. If mom is..." He turned his head to the side for a moment, then turned back quickly, there was no sadness on his face, just a little more anger.

"Schoolbag... made of gold."

Tang Guan was stunned for a moment, and immediately took off the backpack on his shoulder and threw it into the window. "Anyway, I can't read books, let alone do my homework. I'll come back tomorrow morning to change my schoolbag." After speaking, she glanced seriously at Bei Xinmiao in the window again, seeing those big glasses and stiff mouth, still like a statue.Tang Guan sneered self-deprecatingly. "Is it a piece of wood?" He picked up the book and went upstairs.

Bei Xinmiao gently closed the small window and opened Tang Guan's schoolbag.Take out the textbooks and homework for high school students one by one and place them on the table.There are several recent exam papers with surprisingly low scores.

A report card shows that Tang Guan's grades have only recently started to decline.

He didn't write any homework in the past three months, and was reminded by the teacher with a red pen over and over again.

Bei Xinmiao took out a pen from her schoolbag and corrected the wrong questions on the exam paper one by one.Open the homework paper again...

The next night, Tang Guan came to kill him like a gust of wind.He blocked his face on the long window, and after seeing someone inside, he disappeared from the window. A few seconds later, the basement door was suddenly pushed open, and the door hit the wall with a thud.

Tang Guan stood at the door and stared at Bei Xinmiao who was sitting at the small table, that guy didn't even turn his head.Tang Guan frowned at the door, the damp smell coming out of the door mixed with the pungent smell of preservatives.He paused, rubbed his nose, strode in, walked all the way to the table, and lowered his body to look at it.

"You are either a genius or a lunatic." He waved the schoolbag in his hand, "Why did you do such a strange thing? Why did you change my exam paper and finish all my homework? It's just one night, so many papers, you How did you do it?"

Bei Xinmiao didn't respond.

Tang Guan threw his schoolbag on the small table, and threw his body heavily into a chair on the side.His eyes fell on the box of Romance of the Three Kingdoms that he had returned that morning in the middle of the shelf.He rubbed his hair, "But I haven't even finished reading five books in one night. Will you still borrow me tonight?"

Bei Xinmiao didn't respond.

"I will also press the schoolbag for you. You can also write the next papers." Tang Guan said, showing a mischievous smile on a rare occasion, and muttered in a low voice, "You did everything right. It seems that ...You are indeed the top pick in the class."

Bei Xinmiao's stiff lips slowly opened. "Why...don't you study?"

"What?" Tang Guan stared at Bei Xinmiao's mouth with interest, those lips were as shiny as wax.He raised one corner of his mouth inexplicably, "What does it matter to you? I just want to be a detective now. What's the use of going to university. You are famous for your studies. I heard that you were admitted to a key university. So what now ?”

"I... forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"My past...life here."

Tang Guan's expression changed.There seemed to be a flash of sympathy. "You don't even remember? Have you lost your memory? Have you got some kind of brain disease?"

Bei Xinmiao slowly turned her head towards him.Hollow eyes stared ahead through the glasses.

Tang Guan stared at him. "From this point of view, you look very handsome. Why do you have a weird look? Are you trying to be cool? Did you learn it from the Internet?"

Under the weak light in the basement, Bei Xinmiao's face shone like wax.Tang Guan's nose flapped again. "Something's broken," he said firmly.Suddenly his eyes turned to the direction of the small window, and a person's two legs had just walked through the corridor outside the small window.He bounced off his chair. "My dad is back. I have pocket money." He ran out, turned around and ran back before reaching the door, and picked up two old books from the shelf. "Leave the schoolbag to you!"

After Tang Guan left, the room seemed to become quieter.Bei Xinmiao's eyes stayed on the schoolbag.There is a big stain on my schoolbag today.

late at night.Heavy rain came suddenly.

There was also a vibration from the ceiling above, as if something heavy had been thrown on the floor upstairs.Then there was a loud slam of the door.Someone ran out with a thud, and a pair of legs ran quickly past the long window.Bei Xinmiao was still sitting on the chair in front of the window, and the stains on the schoolbag had almost been wiped off by him.

On a small street on a rainy night.There are no more pedestrians.

A figure stood on the side of the street.Looking at the occasional passing vehicles.Take a picture of the license plate number of each vehicle with your mobile phone.He put his hands in his armpits when no cars passed by.The rain in the deep winter is already very cold.

Bei Xinmiao looked at him from a distance.An hour passed.The boy trembled all over.His head was almost retracted into his shoulders.

Bei Xinmiao put the hood of the hoodie on her head.Holding a black umbrella, he approached slowly.

When the umbrella covered the boy's head.The boy didn't seem to notice, his shoulders were still trembling, but the trembling became more and more severe.Bei Xinmiao was holding the umbrella stiffly and motionlessly like a wooden stake.Eyes stare blankly ahead.

Tang Guan turned his head suddenly, he couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears running down his face and dripping from his chin.He was shivering, there was nothing dry on his body, only the mobile phone wrapped in a plastic bag was carefully held in his hand.With the wet clothes sticking to him, he looked like a very small child at this moment.He is only fifteen years old, no more than sixteen at most.

"I've been standing here at this time every day for three months, taking thousands of photos of cars..." He said to Bei Xinmiao in a trembling voice. "But I don't know which car it will be? I don't know if that car will pass here again... I don't know anything! The police just say let's wait, wait, wait! But what do they say?" May care!"

"Your mother...wouldn't want to see you...like this..."

"Don't tell me to do nothing? The bastard who killed my mother and took her bag. Just for the robbery! He wants to ruin my life just for such a small amount of money. I will never give up in my life!"

***************

On February [-]th, it rained heavily.

I think of many past events.

The boy was crying on the street.

Just like me back then.

But he is braver than me, at least he is not afraid and does not hide his thoughts.Back then, I didn't have the courage.

I suddenly understood that timidity and cowardice were a reflection of my past.

I was once someone else's son...

But I don't have the courage to be a brave child.

*************

"Help me find the murderer! I'll help you remember the past! How about it, Bei, Xin, Miao!"