mayfly era

The next day, Xiangrong Lane.

T still didn't give up, and visited the rental house mentioned by the old man again early the next morning, and it was still the same as yesterday, with no one in the house and nothing.

He reluctantly exited the room, and happened to bump into the old woman who was renting on the first floor. The old woman began to clean the elevator as usual. When she saw T, she greeted him with a smile. When she saw him coming out of the rented room, she hesitated for a moment. He asked, "Little guy, do you know this new old man?"

T was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and glanced at the empty room again, making sure he wasn't dazzled, "Is anyone living here?"

"Yes... Yes," the old woman also began to wonder, "He greeted me last night and this morning, very polite old man."

"Where did he go?" T asked again.

"I went out early in the morning." The old woman scratched her forehead and said a little depressed, "You made me dizzy. Do you know this person?"

"I know." T laughed, the dark clouds on his face dissipated immediately, he seemed to see that his money was already flying back, he was so angry that he couldn't sleep last night.

The old woman picked up the cleaning tools, and she replaced a set of cleaning tools. While talking about the increasingly expensive electromagnetic drives and the fact that each batch of disinfectant water is reducing the antibacterial components, she started cleaning neatly.

"Hey, let me help you." T stepped forward.

The old woman swung her back and bumped T to the side, "Go aside, how can you young people do this kind of work, you still want to build this society."

T was amused by the old woman's words, he shook his head, "Not everyone of us is qualified to build a society."

"Don't argue with me, I can only do this, I have been doing this since I was a child." The old woman said, and suddenly took out a metal machine from her apron, "Please help me fix it, it has been broken several times God."

The metal block with a burgundy shell is a private channel receiver, commonly known as a mobile phone, a shape that has been outdated for decades.

Every mobile communication company is constantly upgrading software and hardware in order to eliminate old products and promote new ones. T is a little surprised that the old woman's mobile phone can be used until now.He looked up the product number and found that the company had gone out of business more than 20 years ago.

- Then it's no wonder that this phone can be used today.

Ridiculously modern technology.

T leaned against the wall and squatted down. He took out the iron ruler from his pocket, and drew a circle along the gap of the machine's shell.

"Grandma, where did you buy this phone?" T asked in a casual tone.

"Oh, I can't remember." When the old woman was speaking, the elevator car suddenly shook violently a few times, she calmly backed out, and walked in again after the elevator stabilized.

T opened the shell, and he couldn't help but open his eyes wide. This is an internal component that he has never seen before—there are many transparent thin tubes, about the thickness of a hair, and one by one silver-gray can be seen inside the tube. Some of the beads were still sliding quickly in the tube, while one was blocked because the tube crossed.Although the thin tube is extremely thin and the beads move very fast, each bead seems to be visually magnified and slowed down, which is extremely clear.

What's this? T looked a little panicked at the old woman humming and cleaning in the elevator.

"It's nothing serious, just restart it with an external terminal." T said.

"Hey, then please help me start it, thank you," said the old woman, seeing T not moving, and then showing a kind smile, "If you have to take it home for repair, then take it, I believe you. "

T said sincerely, "Thank you for your trust."

He quickly closed the phone case and put it in his pocket, and was about to go upstairs, when suddenly he saw a person standing beside the payment machine outside, and when he took a closer look, it turned out to be the old man who borrowed money.

"I'll go get the money back first, and I'll fix it and send it to you in a while!" T put down these words, and rushed out in three steps.

The old man's eyesight was weak, but his hearing seemed to be fine. When T approached, he turned his body to the direction T came from, and slowly straightened his crutches. T noticed that there was a red button on his cane, and the new film on it hadn't been rubbed off, so it should be rarely used.

"Is that you? Kind young man." The old man asked, but because his face was badly injured and deformed, even though his voice was warm, he was not kind.

"It's me," T didn't express his doubts and dissatisfaction with the old man, but said politely, "Are you still used to living here?"

"Not bad, the people here are very nice." The old man said with a smile.

"That's good."

The old man felt in his inner pocket, took out a bag made of imitation leather and handed it to T.The bag looks very thin, but in fact it is a high-strength material, which cannot be cut by ordinary sharp objects. T has some new views on the identity of this old man.

T also counted the money in the bag politely, then took out his share, and returned the bag to the old man, "Thank you for keeping your promise."

The old man didn't answer, he shook his head, "It's all for you, take it."

The money in the bag was not too much, exactly ten times the rent, but for a young man living in a slum, this amount of money was enough to commit a crime. T's hand shook a few times, he was struggling.

"Accept it, child, such good luck is not always there." The old man said again.

T shook his head, "I've seen a lot of traps, as long as I put it in my pocket, you can immediately call the 'patroller' to take me away, operate the law strip system, and I will be able to 'live' in the future." Dungeon."

There was a helpless smile on the old man's face, "You are very cautious. Since yesterday, you didn't lend me money by showing off or giving money in front of other people. I know that you will definitely be someone in the future."

"Wish I had this chance," T said.

"Take it, I'm going to die, just this month." The old man said.

T was a little surprised, even though the old man seemed to have been tortured by injuries for a long time, but his clothes, and the daughter he said, T did not believe that such a person could only wait for death in the face of illness.But come to think of it, how could a wealthy patient with a desire to survive come to live in a slum.

"Then why are you living here? This is your last time." T asked.

"There's nothing wrong here." The old man said with a smile.

The water and electricity are constantly cut off here, the constant temperature system only exists in the name, the water pipes and walls are cracked at any time, the noise is constant day and night, every neighbor is a potential criminal, and the elevator may have an accident at any time.

It's definitely not good here.

T couldn't help sneering, he felt that the old man's words were just a soft mockery of the poor life of the inferior.

"Take it," the old man persuaded again, "this winter will be very cold."

He shrugged. He was not a strict and self-denying gentleman. The reason why he refused the old man's money was simply because he didn't want to cause trouble.

"Then thank you, I'm really short of money, you have to know that the people living here can't be proud."

"You can put a new thermostat in it, or buy some warm clothes," the old man said.

"Is your money sent by your daughter?" T also wanted to dig deeper into the identity of the old man, maybe it would be part of his red circle information.

The old man didn't hide it, "Yes, she sent it with the 'Asuka' service."

"Then why don't you live with your daughter for the last month."

The old man was lost in thought, and after a while, he opened those crippled eyes, revealing two chaotic yellow eyeballs, T was startled, for a while he couldn't tell the old man's pupils from the whites of the eyes. .

"To my children, I am a sinner." The old man's voice was sad.

T's voice unknowingly became sharper, "Do you think living in a slum for a month before death can redeem your sins?"

After speaking, he immediately regretted it. He knew that it was both unreasonable and dangerous for him to vent his long-standing anger on a strange old man.

The old man was taken aback by his sudden question, and the tip of his cane rubbed hastily on the ground a few times, making a "creaking" sound.

"I... I didn't think so," said the old man.

"Sorry," T apologized to the old man, "Only your children are qualified to say that, I don't, I'm sorry."

The old man shook his head, and he said in an apologetic tone, "They never said that about me, so they allowed me to do a lot of wrong things. Before I died, I ran out willfully. The son's celebration banquet, the daughter finally returned I didn't even think about going home, I'm such a bad father."

"You must have been a big shot before." When T said this, his eyes became cold.

The old man smiled wryly, "If you tell an old man who is dying about his past, he must only remember those regrettable things."

"I haven't aged or succeeded, I don't know," T said.

"The success of ordinary people is nothing but self-satisfaction, not more meaningful than a puff of dust." The old man said.

"It doesn't matter whether you are ordinary or not, you only have one life to live. Damn, no one can stop you. Isn't self-satisfaction the most important thing?" T said coldly.

The old man seemed to have a new epiphany because of T's words. He said regretfully, "It's a pity that I'm going to die, otherwise I still have a lot of propositions I want to talk to you about."

"I wish you a happy time this month." T was unmoved, and ended the conversation on his own. His thoughts now flew to the strange mobile phone of the old woman.

"I also wish you a bright future." The old man said.

When T returned to the apartment, the old woman had just finished cleaning. She took out the small iron piece that was stuck on the elevator door. Seeing T, she said enthusiastically, "You're back? It looks like you had a good chat with that old man."

T nodded perfunctorily, then got into the elevator car, said goodbye to the old woman briefly, and took the turtle-speed elevator back to his room.

"What the hell is this..."