until the last minute

That night Zhou Yin went to the convenience store where Li Qing worked part-time.He asked the driver to drop him off early, and walked over half the distance by himself.Walking on the road, he felt inexplicably relaxed, feeling a sense of joy after unloading the burden. Now that there is a solution to the problem, the problem is no longer a burden on his heart.

As for him and Li Qing, compared to the unresolved and stagnant pain, the predictable ending almost made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Knowing that it is a dead end, and knowing that there is no turning back, he doesn't have to do anything to forcefully save it, as long as he waits for the rest of the time.

Only then did Zhou Yin realize the feeling of walking to the end, and his heart was very calm and quiet.Just like on this extraordinarily quiet winter night, there was wind but it passed around him, the clouds were high and far away, the sky and the earth were like wilderness, and he was so lonely as if he was the only one.

Zhou Yin smiled and stepped into the convenience store. He came to say goodbye to Li Qing, although Li Qing would not know.

He took two cans of Coke from the freezer and walked to the cash register to pay.Perhaps because there were other customers, Li Qing scanned the QR code to collect the payment in a serious manner, his eyes and words were very restrained, and he did not exceed the rules at all.

After paying the bill, Zhou Yin took away a can of Coke, pulled off the tab on the other can, and finished drinking it standing in front of the convenience store.

After the other customers left, Li Qing came out and opened his palms to Zhou Yin, "Where's my Coke?"

"It's over." Zhou Yin said.

"Won't you leave it to me?"

"No." Zhou Yin laughed so hard that his eyes crooked, he walked to the cashier again, looked down at the cigarettes in the alcohol and tobacco display case carefully, and pointed casually, "I want this, can you take it out for me?"

"Not good, smoking is harmful to health," Li Qing returned to the counter and said seriously, "It is forbidden to sell cigarettes to minors."

Zhou Yin stared at Li Qing, and protested: "Hey, there is no such thing as you, can you still do business?"

"I don't want to do your business." With a smile in his eyes, Li Qing casually picked up a stick of Alpine hard candy from the small shelf at the cash register, "Do you want to eat this?"

"No, it's too sweet." Zhou Yin wrinkled his nose.

Li Qing changed to another kind of candy, but Zhou Yin still shook his head, "I don't want any, it's very sweet."

"What do you want? Except smoke."

Zhou Yin rolled his eyes around, glanced at the condoms on the shelf, and signaled with his eyes, "Well, what about that one?"

Li Qing said without thinking: "No."

"You're so annoying, Li Qing." Zhou Yin took a step forward, half-truthful and half-truthful.

"If you hate it, just hate it, as long as I like you." Li Qing didn't care, he looked at the time, hesitantly said: "Do you want to go to my place first? It's very late."

"No, I'm going home tonight."

Li Qing nodded, "Alright, go back quickly, see you at school."

When walking out of the convenience store, Zhou Yin suddenly turned his head, looking at Li Qing with bright eyes, "Christmas is coming, what wish do you have?"

Li Qing, who was caught off guard by the question, obviously didn't think about it, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

"If you don't say anything for five seconds, you'll give up," Zhou Yin smiled slyly, "Want to hear my Christmas wish?"

"You said."

"The school organizes a winter long-distance running competition every year. I want to see you take the first place this year."

Li Qing was puzzled, "Why do you want to watch this?"

Zhou Yin smiled but did not answer, he stretched out his hand and waved, the voice of farewell was very soft, failing to attract the slightest attention, "Goodbye, Li Qing."

Li Qing closed the store at two o'clock in the morning, pulled down the shutter door and was about to leave when he suddenly found a bag on the ground beside the door.He picked it up and saw his old school uniform inside. There was a can of Coke pressed on the uniform. There was a post-it note on the body of the Coke can with the words "add clothes in cold weather" written on it.

Li Qing raised the corner of his mouth, he was already wearing his school uniform, but he still put his old school uniform on his body.The night was the deepest, and everyone in a radius of a hundred miles fell into a deep sleep. Li Qing rushed to the rental house against the cold wind. He wore two school uniforms, and his steps were as brisk as if he had stepped into a spring.

The next evening, Zhou Yin walked into the laboratory again.He inspected tiny cameras hidden in chalk boxes and pre-stuck a pocketknife into a desk drawer.

A new message popped up on the phone, and Chen Ke asked him to come out tonight to discuss how to cooperate internally and externally.Chen Ke thought it would be good to just put on a show, and rushed in to rescue him at the critical moment.

He lied and lied to Chen Ke that it was tomorrow.In fact, he made an appointment with someone today, and now it is less than 10 minutes before the appointment time.

The sound of the campus radio came faintly from outside, and Zhou Yin listened intently for a while. The announcer was announcing the upcoming winter long-distance race to be held on New Year's Day, calling on students to sign up for the competition.

After Zhou Yin finished listening, he clicked on the WeChat chat interface with Li Qing, thought for a while, bowed his head, typed, deleted, and deleted in the dialog box, and finally sent a sentence: Waiting to see you get the first place.

Li Qing didn't reply immediately, he should be working part-time in the library during this period of time, presumably he was too busy to read WeChat.Zhou Yin turned his mobile phone to silent, and there was a sudden knock on the door. He turned his head and stared at the door.

The people outside knocked on the door persistently, Zhou Yin clenched his fists, his body tensed up.He felt in a trance that he was a hot machine gun, the muzzle was pointed at outsiders, and the bullets fired would eventually bounce back and hit his heart, giving him a long lingering delay.

Just get over it, he said to himself, he let go of his fist suddenly, and walked to open the door.

Even though he was mentally prepared, the scene outside the door still made him uncontrollably change his expression.

There is not one person outside the door, but three people with their own ghosts.

One of them smiled darkly at him, and said, "I forgot to inform you in advance, my brother also wants to come, more people are more fun, don't you mind?"

"I seem to have only collected money from one person." Zhou Yin said with a cold face.

"Money is a trivial matter. We have plenty of money. Besides, aren't you very cheap?" The three looked at each other and laughed at the same time. The leader bumped into him and walked into the laboratory majestically.

"Hey! Are you still coming in?"

"Which of us will start first? Or together?"

The unbearable words made Zhou Yin tremble all over, he stood there for a few seconds, then turned around.He suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity to create a more tragic and spectacular situation than a bullet shot into the heart and blood flying everywhere.

Zhou Yin closed the door, and slowly approached the three men who were staring at him.He took off his coat and sweater to keep out the cold, leaving only a short sleeve on his upper body.Suddenly exposed to the cold air, the bare skin of the neck and arms trembled slightly.

He put together three tables into one, then lay down on it, and said coldly, "Who will come first? Only one person at a time."

The change of sight caused him to only look at the ceiling, but could not see the expressions of the three people.He noticed that someone was approaching, and then his ankle was grabbed, the man tried to take off his pants, Zhou Yin bent one leg to stop his movement, and ordered: "You come up."

A burst of obscene laughter came, Zhou Yin ignored it, he held his breath, and waited for the man to climb onto him.

An anxious face came up, Zhou Yin understood that now, like a nimble beast, he bent his knees and kicked the lower body of the person in front of him viciously.

With the sound of wailing, he straightened up and quickly pushed the person down, then jumped down and reached into the drawer, showing a sharp blade.

The three people on the opposite side suddenly changed their colors and exchanged winks, one grabbed the knife and the other two restrained his hands and feet.The moment he was pushed to the ground and punched and kicked, Zhou Yin even wanted to laugh out loud, to do everything for his tricks, and for his wish to be fulfilled.

He thought he would be beaten to death, but the door was slammed open, and a female voice came in abruptly, "I informed the teacher, they are coming now."

The fist that landed on his body was withdrawn suddenly, Zhou Yin heard hurried footsteps, guessed that the three violent people had left and would not come back, he should be safe for the time being.

When he didn't have to clench his teeth to hold on, the pain that he had deliberately ignored just now hit like a mountain, and his eyes turned black.Zhou Yin curled up, feeling cold, pain and humiliation intertwined. His consciousness and consciousness were about to be stripped from his body, and he floated in mid-air to help him look at himself who couldn't even get up.

like a dog.

But he still wanted to laugh, he included himself in the calculation, this dead game would come alive with his pawn, he was the most important move on the chessboard.

He began to imagine the day when disaster would fall from the sky, and no one looked forward to that day more than he did.

Zhou Yin suddenly coughed violently, and the taste of rust gradually filled his throat and mouth.Someone walked up to him and carefully helped him up, "I called an ambulance, it will be here soon, just hold on."

The soft and slender arms hugged him from behind, Zhou Yin felt that the body supporting him was thinner than him, and needed more protection.He raised his eyelids and saw an unexpected person.

Ruan Wei looked calm, "I didn't call the teacher over, don't worry, you tell me what I should say, whether to tell the truth or help you lie to the teacher."

Zhou Yin twitched the corner of his mouth, "To be honest, what did you see?"

"I saw that you entered the laboratory first, and those three people entered later than you. I also saw you lying on the table. It was you who attacked them first."

"Just tell others like that, don't hide it for me."

"I know other things, so should I tell the truth?" Ruan Wei suddenly raised her voice, "I followed you here because I heard a ridiculous rumor, they said—"

"Zhou Yin is very cheap, you can stay with me for a night with a few hundred yuan," Zhou Yin said for her, with a subtle smile on his lips, "If you are willing to help me, just say this to the teacher, and to everyone The person you inquired about said."

Ruan Wei asked in shock, "Why?"

"I will tell you later." Zhou Yin coughed again, which inevitably affected the wound. He endured the pain and spoke quickly: "Now I ask you one thing, there is a chalk box on the podium, help me Get the contents out."

Before being pushed into the ambulance, Zhou Yin, who was lying on a stretcher, glanced at the crowd of onlookers. There were more and more people, and Ruan Wei in the crowd rushed up and shook his hand vigorously, leaned over and said to him, "I'll do it for you." Put it away, but I won’t pass on the words for you.”

Zhou Yin blinked, with a little regret in his eyes.

"If I tell the truth, Li Qing won't forgive me." Ruan Wei let go of his hand and watched him being pushed into the ambulance.

Zhou Yin coughed violently again, and the smell of blood filled his mouth. He wanted to ask Ruan Wei one more thing, don't tell Li Qing, don't let him know the cause and effect.But he didn't have time to ask anything, the ambulance door cut off all the noise and right and wrong.

Zhou Yin regained consciousness, in fact, there is no need to hide from Li Qing, they will be fine soon.

After Li Qing finished his part-time job in the library, he opened WeChat and saw the message Zhou Yin sent two hours ago. He replied, and then sent a grinning emoji.

He heard about today's disturbance on the way to the commissary.The students described the incident with embellishment. It is said that an ambulance drove into the school, and the face of the person who was carried on the stretcher was covered with blood.Some people said it was a relationship dispute, while others said it was related to a rumor that was circulating in school recently.

Li Qing didn't take it seriously, he rushed to the canteen to get dinner, and printed out the registration form for the long-distance race.