sunk into the earth

Cheng Sheng couldn't figure out Zhang Chen, but he dared to assure that Zhang Chen also couldn't figure out his current self. At least his useless competitive spirit was a little balanced in this round.He thought so arrogantly in a half-dream and half-awake state, and when he opened his eyes, he was surprised that he still had such a competitive spirit.

The light outside the window was dimly lit, and there was no one around. Cheng Sheng touched the bed and stood up. After getting out of bed, he walked around the bedroom. First, he went to the bathroom to drain the water. The door was gently opened, and a peek inside, Zhang Chen inside was frowning with earphones on, pressing chords on an electronic piano, memorizing a few strokes, probably writing a song.

It’s a bit weird for a guitarist to write songs with a keyboard, but it’s not too weird. Although they are both writing songs, the creative logic of the two instruments is not the same. Cheng Sheng saw him on the sofa in the recording studio for the first time. I asked this question when I was creating. Zhang Chen only said that he had an unexplainable obsession with the piano keys. After thinking about it, Cheng Sheng felt that his obsession was roughly similar to his own. There is an almost revenge-like desire to repay what you get.

Zhang Chen pressed the keys very lightly, he only pressed half of them slowly at a time, and stopped pressing when he felt the sound. Cheng Sheng guessed that he was afraid of disturbing himself, so he leaned against the door and looked for a while before retreating to the bedroom.

There was a big mirror in the bedroom. Cheng Sheng stood in front of it and took a picture. The person inside was a skeleton with a few taels of flesh. He looked at his face and felt disgusting. With a slap on himself, the bangs on his forehead flew to the other side.He looked at it again, and felt that his appearance was not enough for people to atone for, so he dug out a pen from the bedside table and stabbed it around the kneecap with the thin tip, first into the flesh, and then along the flesh. After a few strokes, when the place where the pen tip penetrated slowly oozes blood, he turned the pen tip to his thigh again, and vented in the same way.Satisfied with his smooth paddling, he was finally willing to take off his pajamas and put on the original tattered clothes, just to cover the new wound.

These years he has always dreamed of Li Xiaoyun. In the dream, the beautiful 40-year-old woman who still has charm is gently touching his face. Her hands are dry and haggard, and the palms and fingertips are thick calluses accumulated over the years. Cheng Sheng enjoys it This kind of touching with the breath of the earth, but touching her will turn into a pool of blood, only the sharp voice pierces the tympanic membrane of the process——in the dream, she said: "I will forever curse you and your hypocritical family."

At this time, Cheng Sheng would suddenly wake up from the nightmare, his eyes would be pitch black, and his body would be covered with cold sweat. He couldn't see anything clearly, and could only keep chanting "I'm sorry" and "I'm sorry" to the air.

Cheng Sheng doesn’t believe in religion, he is just looking for an exit, he has worshiped all the gods or masters or Buddhas in the world, some people told him the spirit of Christ, others said that reading scriptures and copying scriptures can cure all diseases, he tried them one by one and found the effect of redemption The best way is to hurt yourself with a knife or the tip of a pen.

But every time he finished self-injury, he regretted it very much, and lost his blessings on the spur of the moment. Cheng Sheng frowned and sat on the bed until it was almost dawn. Pen scriptures and books, lying on the table next to the bed and quietly copying scriptures.What he copied was the Sutra of Exalting the Dead, and he copied it whenever he had time, and he copied it all to Li Xiaoyun and the people he thought he was sorry for. Tune and recite it again, sincerely hope that Li Xiaoyun can receive his gift in the sky.

When the sky was completely bright, Cheng Sheng had already tidied himself up. He took the keys on the coffee table, didn't go to the study to disturb Zhang Chen's songwriting, and went out to buy the two of them's breakfast today.

He poured out the truth last night, and this morning he confessed sincerely again, immediately relieved a lot of pressure from him.There was a chill in the wind in the early morning, and Cheng Sheng took a leisurely stroll around Zhang Chen's residential area, watching the wind wrap the leaves along the way, and felt that the community was well greened.He was not familiar with this place, so he walked through the main entrance for a long time before finding a breakfast stand. He stood with a few students in school uniforms and asked the boss to pack two bowls of bean curd and two fried dough sticks.

The two students who were also waiting for the meal, a man and a woman, seemed to be high school sweethearts, discussing a math problem in whispers.Standing behind them, Cheng Sheng heard a few arguments, and silently pieced together the problem in his mind. He hadn't touched a high school math problem for more than ten years, and he was itching to go through the solution of this problem in his mind. Still discussing, Cheng Sheng has already come up with an answer.

After finishing the solution, he began to kick the stones on the side of the road boredly. After kicking a dozen times, he felt bored again. He quietly observed the way the two student couples got along with each other.

The girl with the ponytail was discussing seriously with the boy opposite, but the boy had no eyesight, so he had to tease her from time to time, until the girl hung up her face and kicked her straight away, but she didn't pay any attention to that boys.

Cheng Sheng watched with relish from the back, thinking that this is a copy of him and Zhang Chen ten years ago, but he is the ignorant little boy who is bluffing and ignorant, while Zhang Chen is young but has a serious face girl.

Not long after, he saw the boy who was still smiling just now begging for forgiveness by pulling the girl's school uniform sleeve, but the girl still ignored him, and just got the plastic bag handed by the boss and threw it into the boy's arms without looking at it. He angrily went to the side to push the bicycle, muttering: "I don't want to eat, you can eat it yourself!"

The boy was chasing after him with two plastic bags containing deep-fried dough sticks, with a bitter expression on his face.Cheng Sheng almost burst out laughing when he saw this, thinking that his previous appearance was exactly the same as that boy's, so he opened his mouth at first, and waited for his dull self to realize that he really annoyed people, and then he went to coax him pitifully.

On the way back, he was carrying a few foggy plastic bags, and before he reached the door of the apartment building, he ran into Zhang Chen who was running downstairs.

Zhang Chen was wearing a tracksuit. He stopped as soon as he saw him, stroked his hair that was blown by the wind, and walked towards him, "I thought you were embarrassed and slipped back to my house early in the morning." .”

It was fine if he didn't mention it, but when he mentioned it, Cheng Sheng felt so flustered that the breakfast he was carrying almost fell to the ground.He quickly stabilized the plastic bag in his hand, fled to the door of the unit, turned his back to him and said, "I'll put my breakfast home first, and come out and run with you right away!"

Halfway through his escape, he realized that someone was grabbing his shoulder, and the person next to him quickly followed up, hugged him and said, "Don't run away, I'll go back to have breakfast with you."

No one mentioned the involuntary kiss last night. Cheng Sheng thought that he would be thirty in two years, and it was nothing to kiss someone if he couldn't control himself. What's more, Zhang Shen didn't respond and didn't mention it again. It's probably safe. I still want to continue to be friends with him.

The two walked side by side to Zhang Chen's house, the cool breeze blew gently on the road, and the birds chirped in the trees. Cheng Sheng was a little obsessed with this early morning, thinking from the bottom of his heart that the scripture he had just copied had shown its effect.

On the way, Zhang Chen suddenly asked him: "Which band do you like? You haven't talked to me before, only know that you like punk."

Cheng Sheng was taken aback when he suddenly heard an unfamiliar topic. He no longer remembered the songs he had heard, so he randomly picked the band that impressed him the most, "Sex Pistols, the bass player is really cool."

Zhang Shen was not surprised at all, and even nodded clearly, "I guess so, you like this kind of intense and extreme style?"

Cheng Sheng didn't think much about it, and continued, "That's true, you are also quite fierce."

After he finished speaking, he realized that he had swallowed his mouth, and immediately turned back to look at Zhang Chen, only to find that Zhang Chen was also staring at him. In a panic, he tugged on his pilled short sleeves, and halfway through the tugging, he realized that his movements were so wide. It was too big, it seemed deliberate, he cleared his throat in embarrassment, and didn't say anything more.

But Zhang Chen, who was next to him, saw that he had regained his character, so he leaned closer to him, inadvertently put his arms around his shoulders, and picked up the topic just now: "But you believe in Buddhism now, and you still like it." Such a strong style?"

Cheng Sheng was embraced by him, his shoulders were pulled back unnaturally, and he still corrected him: "That was the band I liked in high school, and now I haven't been in contact with these for many years, and I don't even know about the new bands. And I'm not an extremely religious person, I'm just sincerely chanting scriptures to find an exit, don't make me so mysterious."

After a pause, he poked Zhang Chen with his elbow and asked, "What about you? What do you like?"

Zhang Chen also said casually: "Sleep forever, God is nagging, I like it."

It was an old band that Cheng Sheng had heard before. He searched in his mind, and immediately agreed with certainty: "No wonder your band's songs are so cold, there are traces to follow." He suddenly thought of something, and deliberately asked: "But they Will you also sprinkle water and throw microphones on the stage?"

"Who did you hear?"

Cheng Sheng began to laugh: "Old Qin told me that you sprinkle water before diving when you are high, the drummer throws away the sticks, the lead singer puts down the guitar and dives, people who usually don't talk to you can touch you at that time, If it’s not fun enough, you have to smash things.”

Zhang Chen was not embarrassed at all by being seen by Cheng Sheng on the other side of himself, and admitted frankly: "What a normal thing."

Cheng Sheng also laughed: "Yeah, I like the Sex Pistols and you like eternal sleep, but it's normal to smash things and jump into water."

For a whole week, he and Zhang Chen had no more contact than friends and colleagues. On Mondays and Tuesdays, Cheng Sheng wanted to interview newcomers, and on Wednesdays, he went out with Frank to discuss the contract.

Except for the first day of work, Zhang Chen’s principle of not working overtime was actually implemented in this start-up company. Colleagues were amazed, saying that they had never seen a card king who was more exaggerated than Zhang Chen. For coffee, I went to see it at seven o'clock, and all the people and shadows disappeared.

But Zhang Chen was surprisingly efficient, never procrastinating on work, Cheng Sheng couldn't find a reason, and had nothing to do with him, he could only watch this man calmly walk out of the company building amidst a crowd of overtime workers every day.

On Thursday night, Cheng Sheng, who had just finished negotiating the contract, finally couldn't take it anymore. He stopped at Zhang Chen's work station at seven o'clock sharply, because he was afraid that other colleagues would hear him, so he pressed his body on Zhang Chen's shoulder and leaned into his ear to do business. He asked in a calm tone: "You see that everyone else is working overtime. Isn't it good for you to leave like this alone?"

Zhang Chen felt that he was baffled, and said in a low voice: "I have finished all my work."

"I know." Cheng Sheng was still lying on his shoulders, trying not to let the colleagues around him hear him: "But everyone is working overtime, can you put on a show occasionally? Otherwise, you are the only one who gets off work on time every day, and everyone is worried." Balance, what should I do if they all come to me to make a revolution, which will affect the corporate atmosphere.”

Zhang Chen was even more puzzled, "Of course I have to work overtime before I finish the work, but why can't I leave when I'm done?"

Others in the company gradually put down the keyboards in their hands and looked here. Cheng Sheng saw someone glance at them from the corner of his eye. He thought that the leader must not be taken away by the employees. His body was still pressed on Zhang Chen's shoulders, and his tone was rare : "I don't care, you have to work overtime here today, and do the work arranged tomorrow."

Zhang Chen felt that the boss was a little hooligan and making trouble out of no reason, but after thinking about it, he put the bag he had just carried back on the chair, nodded and said, "Okay, give me a full hour, and at the end of the month it will be calculated as overtime pay."

Hearing that this person actually wants to calculate overtime pay on time, he is more careful than his boss, and the flames of being made difficult when negotiating contracts with people in the afternoon suddenly ignited. He whispered in Zhang Chen's ear: "Add it to one o'clock in the morning for me, and you are not allowed to leave before this o'clock."

He just said something casually out of anger, but Zhang Chen didn't have any objection.At ten o'clock in the evening, almost everyone in the company was gone, only Cheng Sheng, Frank and Zhang Chen were left in the big office.When he was about to leave, Frank felt that something was wrong. He winked at Cheng Sheng next to him, and leaned over to ask him quietly: "What's the matter with Zhang Chen? Doesn't he never work overtime?"

"I asked him to add it, treat him."

Frank shrugged, and while tidying up the things on his desk, he said, "Why do you get so childish when you meet him?"

"He's so irritating, sometimes I can't bear it." Cheng Sheng followed him to clean up. The two waited side by side for the elevator. During the waiting process, Cheng Sheng looked back at the office behind him. Zhang Chen was still facing the dimly lit room. The computer screen was working, and he looked serious, without any intention of taking advantage of loopholes.

Cheng Sheng was suddenly a little annoyed. As soon as he got off the elevator and exited the door, he turned back and pushed Frank to say goodbye: "You go home first, I suddenly remembered that there is an unfinished job, go back to the company and finish it before leaving."

"Ah? Are you all right today?"

Cheng Sheng looked very anxious, he just explained this sentence and then rushed and pushed Frank to leave. After driving him away completely, he did not return to the company building, but instead turned to a 24-hour pizza shop next door.

At 10:30, Zhang Chen, who was facing the computer, got up and went to the tea room to make a cup of black coffee to refresh himself.He walked back with the cup in his hand, but before he reached his desk, he suddenly found an abrupt person appearing out of nowhere beside the table.

The man was holding a box of pizza in his hand, with a slumped face, and reluctantly asked: "You haven't eaten tonight, do you want to have a supper together?" Zhang Chen saw the man's aggrieved expression through the top light. Quan, in a good mood, pushed him away, stretched his legs and sat back in front of the computer, and said to him without looking up: "I have to work overtime until one o'clock in the morning."

The person above said: "I am the boss, and now I say you don't need to add it."

Zhang Chen still didn't look at him, and concentrated on the work at hand, "As I said, adding a little bit is a little bit."

"Why can't you be flexible?"

Zhang Chen crackled the keyboard, and said seriously: "You paid overtime, I have to make the money you paid back worth it."

The person above was so angry that he couldn't lose his temper, and finally sat down on the workstation next to him, rustlingly opened the pizza box, took off a piece of pizza with plastic gloves on, and handed it to Zhengxin In front of Zhang Chen who was working, "Open your mouth, I'll feed you."

Zhang Chen moved his eyes from the computer screen to Cheng Sheng's face, and opened his mouth to take the pizza he handed over without saying anything.