"Your signal isn't very good."

"Probably...... Elevator ......"

You Xuezhen sighed and wanted to hang up the phone: "It's okay, you can finish it first!" ”

"Wait." The elevator clanged, "I'll be done in a moment." ”

He seemed to be walking down the hallway, the sound of footsteps tapping and tapping, and the sound of her footsteps, the two of them overlapping.

He asked, "Where are you?" ”

You Xuezhen wanted to make a haha, but felt the need to report to him, so she said honestly: "I'm taking your suggestion." ”

He immediately understood: "Is it about starting a radio station?" ”

"Yes, so let's start by working to earn money and take our time."

"Working so late?" There was a faint knock on the door, and the door opened, "Hello, your meal." ", close the door. His voice returned to her, "Where do you work?" Is this time a convenience store? ”

You Xuezhen waited quietly for him to deliver the meal, and when she heard him ask again, she suddenly felt a little proud and replied to him: "You will never guess the place." ”

"Then I guessed that there is a reward?"

"You guessed it first."

"Hotel?"

"That's not right!"

"Airport?"

He walked to the elevator and seemed to be waiting for the elevator to go down, when the footsteps stopped, and only hers remained.

"No, there's one last chance."

He surrendered: "Hmm...... Can't guess. ”

"Hmph." Ding Dong, the elevator on his side opened, and You Xuezhen then reported the answer, "-Funeral home." ”

The other side was stunned: "Funeral home? Which one? ”

You Xuezhen reported his name, and there was a brief silence on the other end before he said, "That Yongan funeral home on the mountain? ”

"You guessed that."

He was puzzled: "How did you think of going to the funeral home?" ”

"Because of the high salary, eh, now the elevator signal over there has improved."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard his footsteps sound again.

"No, didn't you take the elevator down?"

"Hmm." He seemed to have walked into the hallway, and his voice was more empty than before, "The elevator will be disconnected." ”

"If the signal is broken, the signal will be broken."

"Then you'll be scared." His tone was like a cloud, floating over and holding her, "You don't have to wait to take the stairs, we can talk all the time." ”

You Xuezhen stopped unconsciously, her nose was suddenly sore, and she was suddenly speechless. All that was left was the long, slow sound of him coming down the stairs.

She fluttered her nose and deliberately exaggerated her voice to hide the inexplicable sourness that rushed up her throat.

"I'm not afraid."

"Good...... "I'm scared, this apartment is scary." ”

She shrugged softly: "Then you are so cowardly. ”

He hummed, "So you have to talk to me." ”

"Okay......" she paused, "aren't you tired of walking like this......

"I'm not tired, it's only a few floors."

"That's right."

In the past, she had seen the door of the funeral home, and in the earpiece, Meng Shilong's footsteps down the stairs had not stopped.

He clipped his phone to his ear, not missing a single sound, as he took off his sweaty coat.

Someone walked into the building to go home, and Meng Shilong, who had been parked just now, pressed the elevator on the floor and finally slowly descended from the sky.

16th and 15th floors......

Chapter 38

On the first night of working part-time at the funeral home, You Xuezhen encountered a white incident scheduled for tomorrow.

She handed over the work to the people in the first half of the night, and was told that she needed to set up the mourning hall in the second half of the night, and she had to assist other groomers to help with makeup, mainly handing over tools and other chores. While it is not necessary to actually touch the remains, it is essential to face them directly.

The families of the dead surrounded the church for vigil, low sobs, soothing conversations, footsteps from one end to the other.

Only the center of the mourning hall is quiet.

Another professional groomer was working on applying makeup to the body, You Xuezhen stayed on the side and listened to the instructions, not daring to look at the body more - it was an old man, wearing a meticulous Mao suit, cloth shoes, and a hat, as if he had just forgotten to take off his clothes when he was sleeping.

The air was filled with surging emotions, and You Xuezhen kept handing over cosmetics, and it felt like she was lifting a thousand pounds of heavy objects, which was very difficult.

The whole process came down, and it was almost dawn. After the plastic surgery of the body was completed, the groomer instructed You Xuezhen to pack up her things. She nodded, and cleaned the utensils and cosmetics that were used to dispose of the bodies one by one before storing them in the box.

Makeup brushes, sponges, foundations, blushes, lipsticks, eyebrow pencils...... These cosmetics that look the same as usual, when she uses them, are only used as a means to become beautiful, to go out, to party with friends, to attend some important occasions. It represents brilliance and brightness.

But on this night, You Xuezhen touched those too bright colors, and her heart shook.

They adorn the sleeping skin, the undertones are silent, and those who gaze at the faces of these makeup piles up will have tears in their eyes. All the beauty and ugliness are shattered, and what remains is a farewell that I don't know how to face.

You Xuezhen buckled the box and took another look at the already very decent body, but she didn't feel fear at all.

She remembered something else.

On the day he said goodbye to his grandfather, he also lay in the center of the black coffin, covered with flowers on both sides, and the skin on his grandfather's face was no different from flowers, soft, white, and calm. It was so calm that no matter how hoarse she was, her pores didn't tremble for half a minute. She remembered that she reached out to pinch her grandfather's feet, and her father knocked her hands off, and she didn't move or cry anymore, her grandfather would be sad. She sobbed out of breath and retracted her hand, thinking, how could grandpa be sad when his body was so hard?

He wasn't going to be soft on anyone anymore, including her.

Maybe that's a good thing.

When grandpa was cremated the next day, she didn't need her father to scold, she didn't make a sound, and she didn't move anymore, just watched through the glass as her grandfather's completely hardened body was slowly engulfed at the end of the incinerator.

The fire was big enough to burn anything hard, and her tears rolled down quietly.

Since then, her vocal cords when she cries have been burned clean by the fire, and she will never make a sound. Because Dad said that people who hear her cry will be sad.

But she knew in her heart that there was no such person, no such person.

*

You Xuezhen picked up the makeup box and walked to the steps outside the lounge, her knees aching to the point of soreness. She sat down on the floor, rubbed her legs, and buried her head until the shift came.

She stared at You Xuezhen's eyes and said, "Little sister, you won't be scared to cry, right?" ”

You Xuezhen rubbed her eyes, hurriedly said that she was fine, and stepped out of the funeral home with her head down very embarrassed, while taking out her mobile phone and preparing to navigate down the mountain, but just now she came to the mountain while navigating with a flashlight, and the mobile phone lost power quickly, and the mobile phone that had been used for three years had been automatically turned off after one night, and she forgot to bring the power bank out of the house.

The winter nights light slowly and gradually, with a faint white light in the distance, and the middle ground is the night where morning and dusk meet, and the overhead is still pitch black.

This point of skylight in the distance makes the way down the mountain look less terrible than when it goes up the mountain, but it is precisely because of that little distant skylight that the street lights that are close at hand know that it is time to turn off the lights automatically, and they all turn off.

You Xuezhen exhaled, cheered up and walked down the mountain road where the lights were out.

The winter dawn is so quiet that you can't even hear the sparse chirping of insects.

Humming a soft song, she walked down in a hurry, not knowing if it was a hallucination, and saw a point of light in the shadow of the turning tree.

Until the shadow of the tree became brighter and clearer, You Xuezhen slowed down, stunned in place, and looked at the light source of the point of light - it was the flashlight of the mobile phone.

And the person holding the mobile phone is walking in front of her step by step, from bottom to top.

You Xuezhen's words were a little unreasonable: "You ...... How did you come here? ”

He replied, "Look at you're almost out of work, but it's still dark." ”

“…… I was not afraid. ”

He suddenly took another step forward and leaned down in a position that almost wanted to kiss her.

You Xuezhen stiffened with fright at this moment, her body reflexively leaned back slightly, and her round eyes looked at his magnified face.

He stopped an inch from the tip of his nose.

Meng Shilong approached just to see her expression clearly, to verify that the swollen eyes were not his delusion.

He stepped back, his brow furrowed, "You cried?" ”

You Xuezhen continued to stiffen her mouth: "No? ”

"......," he asked, not being fooled, "are you really scared to cry?" ”

“…… Look down on me so much? ”

"So it's really crying."

You Xuezhen flattened her mouth, shook him off and walked forward first, and said vaguely: "It seems to be." ”

"What happened? Bullied? ”

"No ......"

Seeing that You Xuezhen really didn't want to speak, Meng Shilong quieted down and silently followed behind her.

The mountain road fell silent again, and after walking a short distance, You Xuezhen took the initiative to speak again: "Let me ask you, what floor did you walk down from last night?" ”

"Forget."

"Then you show me your delivery address."

"......" he surrendered, "16th floor." ”

You Xuezhen lowered her head, kicked the small stone in the mountain on her toes, and rolled down the slope with a grunt.

She whispered, "Then you got home very late, what time did you get up?" ”

"Half past four."