Xin Chen looked up at the house she lived in, her balcony was now full of greenery and flowers, completely different from the neighbor's closed balcony or full of debris.

After going to the advertising agency, she found a restaurant and ordered a kelp pork rib soup and a piece of rice for lunch, and then went to the supermarket to buy some essential food at home, and walked home lazily.

On a hot and gloomy afternoon, not many people in the residential area were hanging outside, but now neighbors were gathering everywhere, pointing out the newly posted demolition notices on the wall, and there was a lot of discussion at the same time.

This residential area is in the prime area of the downtown area, the building is old, a few years ago was included in the planning red line, there are rumors of demolition, and surveyors have been seen with instruments and equipment to do surveying and mapping, but all to no avail. Many people still have the same mentality, but some well-informed people have begun to release exclusive information with a little mystery: "It is said that a large group in Shenzhen has taken this land and is going to make a shopping mall and office building, and this time it is for real." "The next step is to inquire about each other's compensation for demolition and resettlement.

Xin Chen was not interested in any of this, she said that day she couldn't remember how long she had lived here, and as soon as she said it, she couldn't help but laugh at herself, because the time was actually very clear, she had lived here since she was born, and it has been a full twenty-five years now.

This is the dormitory assigned by Xin Chen's grandparents, after the two old men died one after another, Xin Kaiming gave up the inheritance despite his wife's opposition, and at the same time asked his younger brother Xin Kaiyu to give up and write the house under Xin Chen's name, "If you make money in business, you can naturally give your daughter more, but this house is written in your daughter's name first, which is considered to give her the most basic thing, and it also saves you a loss of money, so that your daughter doesn't even have a place to live." ”

Xin Kaiyu knew that his eldest brother didn't trust him, nodded in agreement, and went through the formalities together.

Xin Chen, who was only 12 years old, has since become a propertied person, although it is only an old two-bedroom dormitory. She had no idea about this move at the time, but later she understood her uncle's hard work and couldn't help but be grateful to him.

Whenever Xin Di told Xin Chen about liking her father Xin Kaiyu, Xin Chen had a conflicting feeling. Of course, she loves her father, a father who is so happy and doesn't put pressure on his daughter, a father who hasn't even been angry with her since she was a child, and tries her best to spoil her little temper, how can she not love?!

However, Xin Kaiyu is also a man who allows him to live happily and without pressure. He will arrange for his daughter to register at a small restaurant nearby, and wait for him to settle it at the end of the month, because he can't cook at all and doesn't have the time; He would come home late, not at all like other parents to help with homework and check homework, even if he was not on a business trip, he would sometimes not go home at night, only calling her to sleep and close the doors and windows; He would also answer a phone call in the middle of the night and go out in a hurry, and the caller knew it was a woman without asking.

He had brought a woman home, and although the beautiful aunt had cleaned up the room and started cooking as soon as she came, she behaved very virtuously, but Xin Chen did not feel that the room was tidy, and having a hot meal on the table was a reflection of a normal family order. Growing up, there were too many women who pampered her, knitted sweaters, hats, and cooked food for her, and once they broke up with her father, they disappeared.

She didn't like the newcomer of course, and after eating she said to her politely, "Why don't you go home yet?" ”

The beautiful aunt couldn't help but be embarrassed, Xin Kaiyu acted indifferent, and only smiled and asked her daughter to hurry back to the room to do her homework. But Xin Chen was not so easy to deal with, she called her in front of the two of them. The child has the most accurate intuition in some aspects, she knows that the aunt doesn't like herself, and the uncle loves her as much as Xindi.

Xin Kaiyu has always indulged Xin Chen's petty temperament, and heard her tell her uncle on the phone that her father had brought a strange aunt back again, and she refused to leave at night, hindering her from doing her homework. He didn't get angry, just smiled bitterly and touched his daughter's head, "Good baby, don't make trouble, I'll send my aunt home." ”

When Xin Kaiyu sent his girlfriend back, Xin Kaiming also rushed over and was checking Xin Chen's homework, and sure enough, when he saw him, he had a cold face and taught him a good lesson.

Xin Kaiming held the hope of what happened, and first asked his younger brother if he was ready to fall in love and start a family, "If that's the case, I don't object to you taking her back, slowly getting acquainted with Xiaochen and cultivating a relationship, and getting along well in the future, but you also have to be self-respecting, and you can't stay overnight." ”

Xin Kaiyu shook his head and smiled as usual, "I only plan to fall in love." Get married? I haven't thought about it now, and I don't plan to find a stepmother for Tatsuko. ”

It would be strange if Xin Kaiming was not angered by this answer, "Then don't take Zhang San and Li Siquan to the house, Xiaochen is only 13 years old, and the girl's mind develops early, do you think it is good for her to let your daughter get in touch with your affair history so early?" It's better to find her a peaceful woman to be her stepmother. ”

Xin Kaiyu didn't intend to go against his old-fashioned eldest brother, but admitted that his words had some truth, "Okay, big brother, I promise you that you won't take anyone home in the future, it's okay." ”

He did what he said, and indeed never brought a woman back. This family maintains a state of no hostess, Xin Chen has no concept of his mother, and he doesn't feel that this is a big gap.

In fact, Xin Chen felt that his life was not flawed at all.

If she hadn't met Lu Fei, she would have always thought so.

That's because you've never tried to have it, and Xin Chen bitterly told himself that as long as you haven't had it, you can pretend that you don't need that, including mother, including love.

But when she was 14 years old, these things came in a flood of water, without asking her if she needed them, and then roared away, leaving her still living in this old dormitory, like a deserted beach after low tide, and she was left alone.

"Do you feel sorry for your flowers, Xin Chen?" An old, hoarse voice pulled her back to reality.

The person who asked the question was Master Lu, who lived in the opposite building, he was in his fifties, he had a kind and cheerful personality, he had been living here, and he had watched Xin Chen grow up.

Xin Chen smiled, "I plant a lot of herbaceous plants, I can only live until autumn, I don't have to feel distressed, and I can also give away other moves." Uncle Lui, what about your pigeons? ”

Master Lu has been hobbying carrier pigeons for decades, and his neighbors are very disturbing, and when he caught up with SARS and bird flu, he was ordered to deal with it himself. However, he was not discouraged, and always packed the pigeons and shipped them to the country, and when the limelight passed, he transferred them back as usual.

Xin Chen used to hate being woken up in the morning by the cooing of pigeons and not being able to sleep lazy. But later, she slowly accepted the existence of this sound, and in her spare time, she often sat on the balcony of her house and watched Master Lu train carrier pigeons to fly, which not only soothed her eye fatigue, but also relaxed her mind.

Master Lu smiled, "I just moved to the suburbs, the air is fresh, the place is open, and I can raise more babies who can compete." It's been dismantled, it's been dismantled, I've been looking forward to this day for a long time. ”

Xin Chen smiled and nodded, took her things upstairs, turned on the air conditioner, the indoor temperature was quickly cool and pleasant, she lay down on the chaise longue, and suddenly didn't want to work.

"It's time for me to get out of here, too."

It wasn't the first time Xin Chen had this idea, but that day in front of Lu Fei, it was the first time she said it directly, and this sentence echoed in her ears again, with a little distorted echo, not quite like her own voice.

So where to go?

After graduating from university, Xin Di once wanted to work in a place where the coastal garment industry was developed, and she went to other places for internships, and the famous clothing company was so impressed by her design work and the awards she won during her studies that she was interested in signing a contract with her. But her mother Li Xin suffered from rheumatic heart disease, such a chronic disease suddenly had an acute attack that summer, her father was a leader of an agency, busy with work, and really lacking skills, she could only return to the local area to take care of her, and then with a little melancholy, she submitted her resume to Suo Mei, and was successfully hired, and has been until today.

Although her development is considered good among her classmates, she has always envied her cousin for being free and able to control her own life, "Tatsuko, you can go wherever you want, much freer than me." ”

Xin Chen smiled but didn't answer, of course, it was true in theory. Xin Kaiyu started doing business in Kunming when she was a junior in high school, and has already settled there half-way, only returning occasionally. The only one who wants her to stay is the uncle, and the reason is just that a girl is better off not going out and suffering.

Everyone thought that Xin Chen, who liked to travel and hike since college, would go to work in other places, and in the year of graduation, she even said that she was going to try out job opportunities in the metropolis, and Xin Kaiming couldn't stop her. However, to everyone's surprise, she went out for more than half a month, but came back quietly.

Li Xin pouted, concluding that she couldn't find a job and had to go home, Xin Kaiming said: "Why did you lose so much weight, it's okay, it's okay, I'll figure it out after graduation." ”

Xin Chen, who was called to his house for dinner by his uncle, did not explain or say anything, and there was an almost fixed smile on his emaciated face.

Xin Chen came back from his uncle's house, opened his door, looked at the depressed and cold home, and suddenly asked himself for the first time: How long have I been living here, and how long will I live here?

Later, this question often hovered in her mind, but she not only lived, but also made a little money, renovated the house, and began to plant flowers, which made her uncle nod in approval. Xin Kaiming has always believed that "those who have constant birth have perseverance", and he felt that this child finally did not inherit his unstable younger brother, and this move can be regarded as a fixed mind.

Only Xin Chen herself knows that she is just coaxing herself to live in peace, this house has left too many memories, and she can't live without thorough renovation and changes.

Xin Chen stayed up for several days and nights in order to catch up with the work at hand, she lay on the chaise longue, fell asleep in a daze, and dreamed chaotically. The mobile phone rang, she subconsciously answered, it was a customer who explained a detail of the design draft, she casually agreed, asked him to send an email backup, the customer only thought she was careful, only she knew that she was still half-asleep and half-awake, and she didn't listen to anything at all.

Turning the phone to silent and throwing it aside, she continued to sleep until the doorbell woke her up again, and the doorbell gradually became clear from distant and blurry, and rang persistently, but she couldn't move at all, only felt that it was difficult to breathe, her whole body was paralyzed, and she lost the ability to control her body.

It was not the first time Xin Chen had encountered this situation, and she had consulted a doctor specifically for this, so she was not panicked at this time, she only tried to concentrate her consciousness, waited for her breathing to stabilize and moved her arm first, and then slowly regained her mobility, and then slowly got out of bed, walked to the door, and looked outside through the cat's eyes, Lu Fei was standing at the door, his face was solemn, and his hand was pressing the doorbell again.

She opened the door, "What's the matter?" ”

"Why haven't you opened the door for so long and haven't answered the phone?"

"I didn't hear it when I fell asleep." She said simply, leaned over to let him in, pushed the swivel chair in front of the computer desk to him, sat back on the chaise longue, picked up the phone casually, and saw that there were several missed calls on it, she deleted all the strange calls, and then replied to the familiar numbers one by one, "It's done, yes, I'll show it to you tomorrow, well, okay, okay, goodbye." "I've said it all, I can't make her Zhang Ziyi, the only thing the two of them have in common is gender, if you want to PS a star face, you don't need to look for me, you can do it yourself." After a pause, she smiled impatiently, "Okay, that's it, you explain it to her yourself." ”

Xin Chen just put down the phone, but Lu Fei took out his mobile phone to dial, the phone flashed silently in her palm, it was an unfamiliar number, he looked at her, "Save my number, don't delete it as a strange call." ”

Xin Chen hesitated for a moment, did as he said, then raised his head and said with a smile, "Is there anything else?" I still have work to do. ”

"Have you stayed up late these days?"

"No, I must have slept before twelve o'clock."

Her tone was casual, and Lu Fei looked her up and down, "Did you have another nightmare just now?" ”

Xin Chen's smile froze, she knew that no matter how much she pretended to be fine, it would be in vain. How could she forget that she had experienced this nightmare for the first time since she was 14 years old, and from time to time there would be such a situation commonly known as "ghost pressing", and the person in front of her had seen her haunted by nightmares and struggling in horror. He once hugged her, gently patted her on the back to comfort her, and later took her to the doctor to determine the cause of the situation.

Of course, with a scientific explanation, it is not terrible, it is just a kind of sleep paralysis, when you wake up suddenly, part of the nerve center of the brain has woken up, but the nerve center that innervates the muscles has not fully woken up, so although there is an uncomfortable feeling, you can't move, it can be regarded as a normal physiological phenomenon, and it has nothing to do with ghosts, and it will not have any adverse effects on your health.

After she started hiking outdoors regularly and had a regular schedule, sleep paralysis occurred less often, and even if she did, it was not a big deal, but she just waited quietly for it to pass. But today, in the face of his deep and calm eyes, she only felt that for the first time after waking up completely, she had lost the ability to move, and seemed to have fallen into a nightmare about the past again.