"Boy, come here!" the young man hooked his hand at Xia Lian.

Xia Lian's previous eyes disappeared at this moment, leaving only an expression of pain, grievance, anger and unhappiness.

"It's okay, do you want to take you to the hospital?" The man held Xia Lian's face, looked carefully at the wound on his forehead, and then said in some surprise: "You can still carry it, just a little skin injury." As he spoke, he took out a band-aid and skillfully and quickly pasted it on Xia Lian's head.

"Thank you!" Xia Lian thanked in a low voice.

The man was still expressionless, ignored it, and said directly: "Let's go, someone wants to see you!" After speaking, he almost lifted Xia Lian's arm and went to the black BMW not far away.

"Boy, what's your name?" the middle-aged man in the back seat asked faintly, rolling down the window.

"My name is Xia Lian, Xia of Summer, Lian of Exercise!" Xia Lian replied honestly. This made the middle-aged man frown slightly, as if he was a little surprised by his well-behaved reaction at the moment, or perhaps, because the name was somewhat familiar.

After looking Xia Lian up and down for a while, he asked again, "Who taught you to fight?"

Xia Lian didn't know how to answer, and buried his head slightly. Seeing that Xia Lian didn't answer, the middle-aged man stopped asking and said directly: "Go home quickly." Then he rolled up the window.

"Big brother, why are you suddenly so interested in a strange child?" asked the young man in the driver's seat with some curiosity.

The middle-aged man pursed his lips and said, "At first, I just thought that his fighting movements were very special, and now high school students are basically junglers, but that kid should have received some kind of training." ”

"Boss, students should study hard. ”

"What's wrong with the student, hehe, how can you call a man if you don't like to fight, aren't you also something I value and then cultivate?!"

"Thank you, Boss. The young man thanked him solemnly.

"I'll go, who asked you to give me a thanks, will you chat?" the middle-aged man scolded viciously.

"I should have thanked you, if it hadn't been for you......"

"Ouch, okay, okay, I really can't talk to you, wooden head!" the middle-aged man waved his hand speechlessly, and the driver immediately shut up. After a short silence, the middle-aged man thought of something and said, "By the way, Xiao Liu, do you remember how many big people with the surname Xia in our Yuzhou City?"

"Now, it seems to be Xia Zhixuan, the president of the automobile in the North District. ”

"What about before?"

"I didn't know before, what's wrong boss?"

"Nothing. The middle-aged man gently stroked the back of his head and said, "I just think that the child's name is a little familiar, but I just can't remember it." Forget it, let's go to the gym now. ”

Xia Lian returned to his home on Zhongshan Road in the south of the city, which was very different from where he grew up as a child, where they used to live in an upscale neighborhood with spacious roads and bright street lamps, as well as beautiful and clean landscaping. But now, all there are rows of old buildings, litter and dog shit everywhere, and dim and dilapidated street lamps. Every day, you can hear neighbors arguing over trivial matters, and choking fumes from the kitchens of every house.

Ten years ago, shortly after he was trafficked, his father also suffered a business failure and died in a car accident. Because of the debt, all the assets of the father during his lifetime were used to offset the debt, and the mother, who had nothing, had to move to this place with cheap rent, and continued to search for her son's whereabouts while living a difficult life.

For such a change, Xia Lian, who had just returned home, had already learned from his mother's crying, but now he can't do anything. When he arrived at the door, Xia Lian just wanted to take the key to open the door, but the door was slammed open.

"Xiao Lian, is school out?" A man in a suit and rimless glasses almost collided with Xia Lian.

"Is something wrong?" the man asked, looking at Xia Lian's somewhat embarrassed appearance and dirty clothes.

"Oh, it's okay, I accidentally fell. Xia Lian told a lie that almost no one would believe, and then immediately asked, "Uncle Changsheng, don't you want to sit for a while?"

"Your Uncle Changsheng still has something to do!" Before the man named Changsheng could speak, his mother, who was still in the house, answered first.

This person's name is Liu Changsheng, who used to be the one who almost watched Xia Lian be born, and he was also his father's former right-hand man. After Xia Lian returned home, he also took the initiative to help him contact the school and pay his tuition, and his mother, who didn't know why, found a decent job, which can be regarded as the benefactor of their mother and son. But at this moment, for some reason, his mother's attitude towards him was very cold, as if she had ordered him to be expelled.

"Oh, yes, I'm just coming to see you, I really have to leave now. Liu Changsheng didn't have any dissatisfaction on his face, but touched Xia Lian's head with a smile and said, "You are still used to it at school, if you have any trouble, tell your uncle, I will leave first, and I will come to see you another day." As he spoke, he stuffed a stack of hundred-yuan bills folded in half into Xia Lian's pocket, and then disappeared into the stairwell as if fleeing.

"Xiao Lian, how much money your uncle gave, show me. Mother Yang Zhen let Xia Lian into the house, and while talking, she directly searched out the money that Liu Changsheng gave him just now from Xia Lian's clothes, and said without counting it: "Don't easily accept anyone's money in the future, understand? If you need money, your mother will find a way." ”

Xia Lian nodded without any rebuttal and asked, "Mom, what's wrong with you and Uncle Changsheng......?"

Before Xia Lian could finish asking, her mother interrupted a little angrily: "Why do children ask so much? By the way, is there anyone bullying you at school? Tell your mother what's the matter? Mom will call the teacher." ”

"Mom, it's okay, you don't care, I just accidentally fell, and then the students in the back tripped over me without reacting, and the ground was a little dirty, so that's it. Xia Lian continued to make up reasons, these things as boys are generally unwilling to let their families know, even if they let their families know, it has no effect, in today's society, parents in the face of their children's school violence is nothing more than to find the teacher to coordinate, or directly find the bully student. This does not do anything at all and may expose those involved to more ridicule and violence.

"And what's the matter with your forehead?" the mother continued.

"I said you don't care!" Xia Lian avoided his mother's outstretched hand a little angrily: "I'll go take a bath and sleep first." After saying that, he rushed into the bathroom. The mother looked at the hastily closed bathroom door, sighed, and went back to her room.

The hot water in the bathroom was buzzing, and the steaming heat quickly filled the room. Xia Lian wiped the mirror covered by the mist, looked at the somewhat emaciated but sturdy body in the mirror, caressed the dark, rough and scarred skin, and pondered. Unconsciously, some childhood images flashed quickly to my mind, like a movie projector, clear but fast.

The brain fell into a heart-piercing pain again, as if the brain had been squeezed by a force, and even his vision was distorted. He hugged his head so hard that it seemed like his head was going to explode in the next second.

It took a while for the pain to subside and my vision to return to normal. He lay on the sink as if he were falling apart, gasping for air.

"It's painful, isn't it?" a low, playful voice poured into his head. Xia Lian was so shocked that he propped up his body violently, looking for the source of the sound. But there was no one around but the rushing hot water and a faint mist.

"Don't look at it, I'm you!" The voice sounded in my head again, clear and permeating: "I'm in your head, or I'm you!"

After Xia Lian continued to look around in a panic, his gaze finally fell on the hazy mirror, on which he seemed to be another face, looking at him with a cold smile at this time.

Xia Lian hurriedly wiped the mirror again, and unconsciously rubbed his eyes. Yes, that's right, the look of himself in the mirror is really different from his expression at the moment, revealing a kind of bone-soaked darkness.

"No, no, no, you're hallucinating, you don't exist at all?" Xia Lian looked at his head in disbelief, and his body retreated against the cold tiles.

"Don't you remember?" the voice continued to ring in our heads: "We were tortured together in that shabby village where birds don't shit, and those ignorant and ugly villagers and perverted old men Zhang, the torture that made us hysterical...... You can't forget that, are you just pretending that you haven't experienced it?

At this time, Xia Lian seemed to gradually calm down, and with the familiar and real feeling brought by those emerging images, he began to believe and accept this voice. "What exactly do you want to say?" Xia Lian asked.

"I just want to ask, are you happy with what happened to you? Are you still intoxicated by almost being a street rat? If I hadn't forced myself to come forward today, you might have been ruined by those bastards. The voice said with a slight sneer.

"What the hell are you? I don't care about it, I like my life now, at least I'm like an ordinary person, I have a normal and ordinary life. ”

Ordinary people will not be beaten every day for no reason, nor will they watch the people around them fall from the building and be seriously injured, and ordinary life will not let you have an extremely gloomy and painful childhood. For some, the ordinary comes at a price. ”

The voice said, and actually laughed lowly: "I just said, I am you, it's only because of the long-term pain that you chose to hide your former truest self, so you can't feel me." The long-term torture makes you dare not resist anymore, or even contradict others. How long do you want to live like this? a year, ten years, or a lifetime? After so many years, don't you understand that it is impossible to get what you want by patience, even if it is only freedom and dignity!"

"So what do you want to do? Do you want to fight with those thugs all day long? What do I get at the end of the day? Get expelled from school, and then be the same as before, with nothing and everyone will be suspicious?!"

Xia Lian's tears flowed unconsciously. He has been patient, because he cherishes the present life, and he forced himself to forget the misfortunes of the past, but today, when Wang Ze fell from the building, when he was punched and kicked, those pictures, the girl who fell off the cliff, and those real feelings are back.