Abyss Express

It's a strange feeling to be back in my hometown.

He watched the renovation of the old street a few years ago, and took the airport bus back to the Yuming River Bridge in the county.

In just over a thousand days and nights, everything changed.

The lives of ordinary people have never been full of ritual like BOSS.

There are no tall and magnificent buildings here, and there are no colorful bustling streets.

Looking from the window of the bus, there is not even a single building over 30 stories to be found in the front and rear scenic belts along the river.

The ship at the ferry was still carrying its cargo, and the sand dredger at the beach was rumbling.

On the fishing boats on Xiaoxizhou's artificial island, there are still men basking in the July sun, trawling shrimp hard, and shouting loudly.

In the side streets and alleys of Linjiang's main road, there are second-hand computer and mobile phone stalls in front of the small market, and the gate of the human resources market is still deserted.

There were not many people at the big curved ruler counter in the People's Mall, and the gold wares under the table were the same batch as a few years ago, but the clerk had a new face.

The asphalt crossing on Daxing'anling Road has been refurbished. A few years ago, the intersection would be blocked for half an hour, but now it only takes eight minutes to cross the traffic lights.

The old residential area in Hexi has not been demolished. It is said that the demolition fee is too expensive, and this place can no longer be demolished. Later, the municipal government simply put up a signboard of historical relics in this area for people to visit.

You can still see old posters from the past few years here, saying that a meteor once fell in an old house, and the TV station also came to report it, but nothing happened afterwards.

In the streets and alleys where people come and go, occasionally a few familiar faces appear.

——All this made Jiang Xueming feel inexplicably at ease.

There are fireworks in the world everywhere, and there are people who are running around for their lives.

This is Hengyin City, the "big city" that Xue Ming visited when he was a child. From childhood to adulthood, all the strange things flowed from this city to his hometown of Pingyang County.

"Brother! Look!" Jiang Bailu sat beside Xue Ming, pointing out the bus window, "That's where you used to work!"

Jiang Xueming looked at his sister's hand.

The environmental protection absorption tower of the battery factory stands there, next to several cooling towers that have long been abandoned.

The workers wore simple blue overalls and little yellow helmets and rode electric bicycles to the gate of the factory.

——Jiang Xueming used to be one of them.

He replied: "Yeah"

Jiang Bailu said enthusiastically: "Brother! When you were in the second class, you rode to the school to pick me up after work! I hugged you in the back seat. Then the two of us drove like lightning and whizzing all the way. Whiz home!"

He thought that when the three shifts used to work, the second shift was considered the most normal schedule. Start work at 8:00 am and end work at 4:00 pm. There are only two days a week to pick Bai Lu home.

Sitting on the back seat of her brother was the happiest moment for Bai Lu.

Jiang Xueming still just said "hmm", like a piece of wood.

Xu felt that his brother was really boring, Jiang Bailu pouted and looked sullen.

Across the aisle of the bus, she stretched out her small hand to tug on Xiao Qi's clothes.

"Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law! Brother bullies me! He ignores me! He ignores me when he has you."

Xiaoqi slept soundly and didn't wake up at all.

"Don't disturb people's sleep." Jiang Xueming stroked his sister's head: "Be good, I'll take you to buy new clothes, buy you delicious food, and take you to see cats."

"Okay!" Bai Lu immediately became happy, and didn't disturb her dream anymore.

It's just that Xiao Qi sitting next to him didn't know what kind of dream he was having.

He could vaguely hear a few words in his sleep, as well as the frenzied smile on his face.

"Hold me. Yes, yes, hold me tight, yes, yes, yes"

Hear these ambiguous words.

Both Xue Ming and Bai Lu had weird expressions on their faces, as if they were watching a horror movie.

The bus stops at the bus station of Binh Duong Agricultural University, which is the western suburb of Hengyin City, close to the countryside.

From here, they have to choose other means of transportation to return to Pingyang County.

Before going home, Xueming still has a few things to do.

After getting off the car, he put a hat and mask on Bai Lu so that no acquaintances would recognize her.

He first took the two girls to a small market around Pingyang Agricultural University. I bought some cheap clothes, went to a cool shop near the farmer's market, brought back six pairs of fake shoes, and prepared to go back to fool my parents.

Then walk along the food street of Xiaodongmen to the entrance of the campus of Agricultural University.

Many people on the road knew Jiang Xueming and greeted him.

It looks like the red signboard of the fake Meiyijia, the owner of the Xinmeijia convenience store, also came up to deliver cigarettes when he saw Xueming.

"Hey! You're back?! I haven't seen you for several years, and your family seems to be looking for you!"

"Thank you, boss, I still don't smoke." Xue Ming blocked the cigarettes delivered with a polite smirk.

He dragged his sister forward and heard the laughter of the boss behind him.

"I'm still looking for a wife! It seems that I made a fortune outside!"

At this moment, Xiao Qi's face blossomed into a smile.

Jiang Xueming turned around and said a few words.

"It's a loss, it's a loss! I've lost a lot! Bring my wife back and prepare to live a good life. Don't you still have a house at home?"

The discussion behind him also became lively.

"This kid, come home and eat the old man hahahahaha!"

At the end of Xiaodongmen, there is a paper-making shop that sells funeral supplies.

Xue Ming stopped at the door of the shop, and stopped to watch.

Xiao Qi immediately asked, "Why don't you leave?"

"I'm looking for someone." Xueming replied immediately, "The owner of this store is very close to my elder brother. After I resigned from the battery factory, they treated me very well and arranged a lot of odd jobs for me."

"Oh, what exactly is it?" Xiao Qi felt inexplicably terrified as he looked at the crowd of gods in the paper shop store. "It looks weird."

Those Buddha statues are different from the golden statues in the usual temples. Under the light of the red lanterns, they look evil and awe-inspiring.

It is said that things like dolls are made with the wisdom of the craftsman. The people who made these Buddha statues are probably not normal people.

Jiang Xueming didn't care about Xiao Qi's words either.

He just went in and pulled the red wire switch of the lantern. Replaced with a bright white light.

When Xiaoqi went to look at the Buddha statues on the shelves on both sides of the store, he became solemn, joyful and healthy.

On the temple, there is a holy body of martial arts, with couplets written on the plaques on both sides.

The first couplet is called "but don't ask ghosts and gods if you do good deeds"

The second line is called "You dare to enter my door if you are ashamed in your heart"

There are three large characters written horizontally.

"It counts"

Xiao Qi pondered in his heart that the meaning of this couplet was cute and playful, both good and evil.

She also saw that the Qinglong Yanyue knife in her hand was broken on the dharma body of the second master Wusheng, and she still wondered why a dilapidated old statue was enshrined on the main seat of the altar

At this moment, a blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner wearing round sunglasses emerged from the back room.

"Mr. Chen." Jiang Xueming said immediately, "I'm back."

This "Mr. Chen" is the owner of the paper making shop, a serious American who has been doing funeral business outside the Agricultural University for more than ten years.

Jiang Xueming didn't know exactly when he came here, but he only knew that this fake foreign devil was a philistine, and he spoke Chinese like a thief.

At the beginning, Xueming was unwilling to sell his youth in the battery factory, so he asked the boss to introduce him to a milk tea shop outside the Agricultural University as a handyman, and occasionally delivered food.

"Oh! You've come home!" Mr. Chen took off his sunglasses, revealing his pair of blue eyes, speaking in an authentic Beijing accent, looking at Xiaoqi again and again: "He brought his girlfriend back! If Jiang The old man knows that this story must not be spread from the mouth of the dam to Shiwan, and the villagers with a radius of a hundred miles can hear him bragging."

"Is Boss Ye in the milk tea shop?" Jiang Xueming asked about the old man again.

This Boss Ye is Xue Ming's former employer, and he has a lot of connections in Hengyin. Xue Ming has seen Boss Ye deal with people from the police station before, so he is a very reliable person.

Xueming is going to send his sister to Boss Ye's shop to hide for two days.

"It's not convenient for Bai Lu to go back, is it?" Mr. Chen saw Jiang Xueming's difficulty at a glance: "I know, your parents will probably go crazy when they see Bai Lu - I'll keep this matter a secret for you. Xiao Bei should be in this meeting In the store, he has a long vacation, you can go directly to him."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Chen." Jiang Xueming thanked, and backed out.

Bai Lu also bowed and thanked: "Thank you, Uncle Chen!"

Mr. Chen pouted with displeasure on his face: "Call me brother! Make your voice sweeter! I hate you millennials telling the truth the most!"

Xiao Qi was still wondering at the door. There was a gap on the concrete floor in front of the store, which seemed to be made by a bullet, but the depth of the spider web crack was as smooth as a chisel. The shop is getting more and more mysterious.

Xue Ming was about to leave.

"Wait! Wait, wait, Xiaojiang!" Mr. Chen took out an oiled paper bag from the back room and stuffed it into Jiang Xueming's big backpack.

Xueming asked: "What is it?"

After stuffing the things, Mr. Chen put the zipper on and clapped his hands: "Just when you come home, I asked you to bring something to your parents. Don't ask what it is, don't open it privately, I won't go Don’t worry about sending a bomb to your house.”

"En." Xue Ming nodded: "Then I would like to say thank you on behalf of my family."

Jiang Bailu changed to a sweet voice, pinched his throat and put on a show: "Thank you, Uncle Chen!"

Mr. Chen rolled his eyes. On the way back to the store, he almost stumbled over the threshold and fell to his death. "I hate brats."

Leaving Zhizhapu, Jiang Xueming found the main entrance of the Agricultural University, and finally saw the first destination of the trip.

It was a gorgeously decorated beverage shop, with a zenith of painted clay tiles, and reliefs of dragons and snakes painted on the two porch pillars. He still remembered that when he delivered food to this shop, he leaned on the pillars and took a nap.

Inside the shop porch is a mahogany counter and two rows of seats.

[Wangyou Milk Tea] is written on the plaque in front of the door.

It is full of the aesthetics of a group of upstarts with rich money, which basically means that they have money and no place to spend so much money on the appearance of drinks.

Jiang Xueming wondered for a while whether the owner of this store had some mysterious side business, and opened this store just out of interest.

The cat cafe and pet clinic next door are still open, and nothing has changed.

As they were walking, Bai Lu and Xiao Qi were fascinated by the cat next door and lost their minds. They walked into the coffee shop together with their necks out.

Jiang Xueming didn't care too much, he just came to ask someone to do something. He went straight into the milk tea shop.

The three girls at the counter have not changed. When we met last time, they were still freshmen working part-time. Now they have graduated and have no plans to change jobs. It seems that Boss Ye's salary is really high.

Jiang Xueming greeted politely: "Hello, is Boss Ye in?"

"Oh! Squatting in the warehouse." The little girl at the cash register didn't even raise her head, and was playing with her mobile phone when there were few customers.

Jiang Xueming walked in after hearing the sound: "Okay, thank you."

The little girl suddenly felt that something was wrong, and raised her head abruptly.

"Brother Xueming! Are you brother Xueming?!"

"Yes." Jiang Xueming walked a little faster when he heard the sound, feeling troubled, "Let's talk about the past later, thank you."

He turned into the back kitchen, avoided the bottles and cans in the kitchen, and came to the door of the warehouse, just as he was about to knock on the door but stopped.

Because he heard that someone seemed to be talking in the warehouse.

He thought in his heart that Boss Ye might be seeing a visitor and it was inconvenient to disturb him, so he waited a little longer.

There was a noisy quarrel inside the door, and Boss Ye's deep and hippie laugh.

After waiting for a long time, Jiang Xueming was a little anxious.

He finally raised his hand and knocked on the door, then pushed the door open and entered immediately.

"Boss Ye, I'm here to ask you for a favor."

Jiang Xueming immediately saw a picture with a lot of information.

Inside the door, a man was squatting, with a broken eyebrow scar on his face, wearing a clean sweater and jeans, he looked very young, his messy hair was tied behind his head and braided into a small braid.

It was Ye Bei, Boss Ye himself.

There is a pair of flying chess on the ground.

Other than that, no one else.

This scene is very weird.

Because the one who played chess with Boss Ye was a big white cat.

That cat, like Ye Bei, had a very high synchronization rate, squatting next to the chessboard in a human squatting posture.

The cat is wearing a small skirt, with a flower crown on its head, and a fire lotus pattern on its forehead.

It held the dice and chess pieces in its two little paws, its eyes were red from losing, it was aggrieved and fierce, and it stuck out its little tongue in a hurry.

Looking at the situation on the chessboard, it has already lost many moves and pieces, and the numbers on the scoreboard are even worse.

One person and one cat in the room turned their heads at the same time - staring at Jiang Xueming.

Jiang Xueming frowned and thought to himself.

Could it be that the conversation I heard just now and those noisy voices were Boss Ye chatting with this big white cat?

It was difficult for Jiang Xueming's head to process the information, and he closed the door very politely.

He felt that something was wrong, and then knocked on the door again, "Sorry, I'm taking the liberty."

Boss Ye's low voice answered from inside the door.

"Come in, stay safe, hero."

Hearing the yelling from the door, Jiang Xueming calmly pushed the door open again, and then broke into the warehouse in a serious manner.

He saw right in front of him that the table had been moved to the center of the warehouse.

Boss Ye sat upright, looking serious, like a dog.

The strange set of clothes on the cat on the table was gone—the previous set was more like punishment for women's clothing in a tricky game.

After such an analysis, Jiang Xueming came up with a very outrageous guess in his heart - Boss Ye was playing flying chess with this cat just now, and whoever loses has to wear a small skirt.

After all, Xue Ming has already been to the underground world, and the boss there is also a black cat, but it looks much more majestic than the big white boss next to Boss Ye.

Ignoring these chores, he cut straight to the point and said what he wanted on this trip: "Boss Ye, I want to go home, and I just want to leave Bai Lu in your shop for a few days. She can help, so I entrust you to take care of her. You Whether it is convenient or not."

Ye Bei snapped his fingers and smiled with vigor.

"no problem!"

The cat responded blankly, as if saying hello.

"Meow."