Chapter 1: Strange Old Man
"Mengzhen, braised pork ribs, from Shuangmu Street. The owner of the takeaway restaurant disdainfully threw a boxed lunch with an order in front of Mengzhen.
Looking at the address on the order, Meng Zhen began to complain in his heart again, every time this kind of long-distance order was delivered by him, he was often scolded by customers for being late, and a lot of salary was deducted, plus the nagging fifty-year-old landlady at home made him very tired. But there is no way, the people who work here are taken care of, and he is an orphan, and he can work in this store by relying on the relationship of the director.
Out of the store, the dream is really "violent" to start the motorcycle, on weekdays even the car will occasionally compete with him, last month because of the inexplicable failure of the brakes, resulting in him accidentally hit a silver Mercedes-Benz, if not the owner of the more "atmospheric", I'm afraid there is no current him.
Driving to the commercial street, the surrounding luxury cars come and go, this is a gathering place for successful people, every time he passes by here to deliver food, he secretly resolves that one day he will open a company of his own here, get rid of this humble status, and no longer be ridiculed by others, of course, this determination also becomes more and more small with driving out of the commercial street.
Today's weather is good, although it is already December, the sun is unusually abundant, and the weather forecast says that there may be sleet today, but now it looks like no warning.
"It seems that we had good luck today. Dream really muttered to himself weakly.
The car drove onto the Huanhe Bridge, and Mengzhen shook his head back and forth to the rhythm of the music in the headphones. At this time, he noticed from a distance that there was a person standing on the other side of the fence, and when he got closer, he saw that it was a girl.
"What are you doing standing outside, and you're not afraid of falling. "The dream is so simple.
As soon as the words fell, the girl took a step forward, and then disappeared from Mengzhen's sight.
"Holy! ”
Mengzhen immediately stopped the car and ran to the fence to watch the situation in the river. And there was no movement on the surface of the river, except for the ripples.
"What should I do?" Mengzhen hesitated, although the dean taught swimming a few times when he was a child, he never tried to save people. The surrounding cars were speeding by, and no one noticed that a girl had just jumped. It was too late to call the police, thinking of this, he gritted his teeth, after all, he couldn't see death without help, so he immediately took off his down jacket and jumped off the bridge.
It only took two seconds to fall into the water, but it took him two seconds to realize that the temperature of the water in December did not seem so simple, but it was too late at this moment.
He struggled in the water, but the cold water made it almost impossible for him to control his limbs, and he had to sink deeper and deeper.
Dream Zhen slowly exhaled the air he had just inhaled uncontrollably, and the memories in his mind became clear at this moment. It's ridiculous, I want to save people but put myself in, and it has become the object of ridicule in the public's mouth. Since birth, he has been an orphan, he was bullied by other children when he was a child, and he was excluded by others when he grew up, and he didn't know why the world would never get along with him, and now he was brought to the rhythm by a girl, of course, he couldn't blame that girl, after all, he jumped into the water for the purpose of saving people, in the end, he was also kind, and he hoped that he could have a good baby in the next life.
Gradually, Yumejin felt that his body was no longer so cold, but he didn't want to do any useless struggles, and his eyes began to become dim, and it seemed that it was the point.
When I opened my eyes again, the snow-white walls met my eyes.
"Am I going to heaven?" he sighed inwardly.
"You're not dead, it's the hospital. An old voice came.
"Huh?" Mengzhen tried hard to sober himself up, looking for the direction of the sound and looking at the past with some difficulty, only to see an old man with a strong local flavor flipping through yesterday's newspaper.
"Are you?" asked Mengzhen, a little confused.
"Yo, it looks like you're recovering well, and sure enough, you still have to go to the hospital to save your life. He smiled slightly, and the wrinkles on his face were squeezed even more obviously.
Meng Zhen raised his somewhat weak left hand and tried to rub his eyes, but he couldn't.
"Alright, don't bother. The old man put the newspaper aside, and then lay on the side of the hospital bed with his hands and said proudly, "Although I am saved, I still need to rest now, after all, the water is so cold, people can't stand it if you soak it for a few minutes, let alone you who almost drowned in it." ”
"The girl?"
"Which girl? I only know a girl who rescued you ashore, but it's strange to say, no one saw that girl jump, how could she save you ashore?
This remark made Mengzhen more sober, he recalled the process at that time, and explained: "At that time, there was a girl who was about to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge, and I just wanted to save her, but as a result..."
"As a result, I put myself in, haha, you young people, it's really easy to think about it, you can't swim and you want to save people, you really think you're a fairy. ”
The old man's words made Mengzhen more and more excited, and immediately asked, "Who are you, how did I come to the hospital?"
"I'll answer your second question first. The old man suddenly became solemn, "I called an ambulance to take you to the hospital, I paid all the expenses, and the family confirmed, I told the doctor that I am your grandfather, anyway, I don't have the surname Meng, I can't take advantage of you, hehe." ”
"You haven't taken advantage of me yet?" replied Mengzhen with disgust.
"You are an orphan, you grew up in an orphanage, and you have no relatives, how can you take advantage of you. ”
"How do you know I'm an orphan and you've gone to where I work?"
The old man smiled kindly and said, "Child, there are many things in this world that you have not been exposed to, and you don't understand it when I tell you now." ”
"What? Are you an immortal, or a Taoist priest? I've seen similar novels, and many male protagonists are like me who suddenly experienced something and then became very spoofy, do you want to take me to save the world?" Mengzhen pretended to be interested.
The old man laughed, stood up and walked out of the house and said, "You think too much, how can that kind of fantasy thing be true, and when you are almost recovered, open the second drawer next to the bed." ”
After saying that, he turned around and winked at Mengzhen, and then left the ward.
"An old man glared at me, it couldn't be that he had met a philosopher. Mengzhen muttered to himself.
However, the situation just now also made him have a lot of questions, as soon as he woke up, he met this strange old man beside him, and helped pay the medical bills, although he looked very old, but he didn't look like an old man at all.
Just thinking about it, a nurse walked into the ward to check Mengzhen's physical condition, and at the same time asked sweetly, "How is it, is there anything uncomfortable?"
"Nothing uncomfortable. Meng Zhen also replied with a smile, "By the way, Miss Nurse, how many days have I been here?"
"I just got here yesterday, but you're lucky to recover so quickly after soaking in such cold water. ”
"An old man just walked out of here, did you see it?"
"Your grandfather, he is very good, he has been paying attention to your physical condition, yesterday I saw that he was almost eleven o'clock and hadn't slept yet, I really envy you for having such a good grandfather." ”
"He..." Meng Zhen just wanted to explain, but he was worried that he would cause trouble after explaining, so he quickly changed his words: "He has been very good to me since he was a child, by the way, sister nurse, can you help me open the second drawer?"
The nurse did so very cooperatively, and when she opened the drawer, there was only a business card inside, and then the nurse took it out and handed it to Mengzhen.
"Dream House?" "Dream is really puzzled and looks at the words on it, the words are still handwritten.
"This should be left by your grandfather, because this ward is just you and your grandfather, no one has lived in it for a while, and we have cleaned it. ”
"Oh, okay, thank you, nurse. Mengzhen thanked.
"It's okay, if there's a problem, press the button next to it. With that, the nurse left the room.
Mengzhen carefully observed this "business card." "Although it is similar to the material of the business card, I have found nothing other than the handwritten words Dream House.
"I believe you're a ghost, you old man. Mengzhen casually tossed the business card aside.
Another day passed, and after his body recovered, Mengzhen left the hospital without delay, but when he left, he found the business card again, and I don't know why he always felt that he might use it later. After returning to work, his colleagues looked at him with puzzled expressions and asked, "What did you order?"
"I'll come back to work. "Dream is really a little surprised.
"Work? Yesterday your grandfather came to help you resign, and came here with your ID card, you... Don't know?"
"What! resignation?" "Dream stood there incredibly.
"I thought you were really an orphan, but I didn't expect that there was a grandfather who found his own home?"
At this moment, Mengzhen was furious in his heart, as if he had met an old liar, and muttered to himself, "Why did he do this?"
At this time, another employee suddenly said, "Oh yes, he said you would come back, so he gave me an envelope and asked me to pass it on to you, and your salary for this month, and he said to let you take it yourself when you come back." ”
Hearing this, Mengzhen was completely blinded, and if he wanted to say that he had nothing to deceive, he wouldn't take away this salary, but why did he quit his job? Thinking of the dream house written on the business card, Mengzhen quickly shook his head, not daring to think about the content behind, a philosophical old man, plus the dream house, this is a picture that is not suitable for children, no, and adults are not suitable for either.
"Won't you open the envelope and take a look?" one employee wondered.
"No, I'll go first. Without hesitation, Mengzhen walked out into the street and hailed a taxi back to his home.
As soon as he walked to the door of the house, he heard the familiar footsteps, Mengzhen lowered his head heavily, and then took out the paper bag containing his salary, and pulled out a few "red" banknotes from it, and the paper bag that was not thick was a little thinner.
"Yo, where have you been hiding these days? If you say which girl you go out to live a good life with, I won't smoke you, you have money to waste and no money to pay rent, and I hate rabbits like you the most. The landlord yelled harshly.
Mengzhen turned around and bowed forward while holding the money in both hands and reaching out to the landlord.
The landlord squinted, lit a cigarette and said with a wicked smile: "Okay, if you're happy enough, let's hurry up and prepare next month's rent." ”
After the landlord left, Mengzhen walked into the house, sat down on the ground and complained: "The old woman in menopause deserves a divorce." That old man is really, why don't you help me settle this place when you help me resign, and I'm scared when I see that I still owe half a month's rent?"
At this time, the dusty cardboard box on the wardrobe next to it suddenly fell down and landed right on the crotch of Mengzhen. He exhaled vigorously and blew away the dust he had raised, only to find that there were some photographs inside, and it was impossible to tell the location in the background, but strangely enough, each photo showed a person who had been completely mosaiced. Although there are no features, judging by the color and silhouette of the clothes, there are only two people in total. These two people were secretly photographed and then mosaiced, but why did they appear in their own homes?
Originally, he didn't want to open the envelope, but at this moment, he really wanted to get rid of all this, and after making full psychological preparations, he was ready to accept all the unimaginable possibilities.
When the envelope was opened, there was a marked map and a phrase: bring that business card here.
Puzzled, he followed the prompts to the location marked on the map, which was very remote, on the edge of the suburbs, and there were several supermarkets or restaurants, but on the very edge, he saw a sign with four big words written on it: Psychological Clinic.
Mengzhen muttered about the dream house, looked at the sign again, and said suspiciously: "This old man me! No wonder he has to write by hand." ”
As soon as the words fell, the old man walked out of the clinic, and after seeing Mengzhen, he smiled happily and said, "I knew you would come." ”
"What do you mean, it says Dream House, it's a clinic like this in the end, it's not as good as that takeaway restaurant, by the way, why did you quit my job?" Meng Zhen complained.
"If I don't quit your job, you won't be able to come to me, don't look at my clinic, this clinic is small, it's not very useful. ”
"yes, it's useless to build in such a remote location. ”
The old man shook his head kindly, then stood aside and waved his hand into the house, signaling him to come in.
Mengzhen was very disgusted and refused: "After making trouble for a long time, you want me to work here, forget it, I'd better find a new job, I'll give you the medical expenses when I earn enough money, and then we won't be in arrears." ”
After speaking, he got up to leave, and the old man hehehe, and said with a smile: "Then don't you want to know what the parents in the photo look like?"
Mengzhen stopped, turned to look at the plainly dressed old man, and asked, "Is there anyone else giving you a job?" Those photos were taken secretly, and people of your age don't have that ability." ”