Life in siheyuan era

Han Xue made a decision and, standing in front of the building, said, "I'm home, you can go back now."

"I'll walk you upstairs," Zhou Zhiyuan said, locking his bicycle.

This attitude slightly surprised Han Xue, but then she thought of the dark stairwell and how nice it would be to have company. She led Zhou Zhiyuan into the lobby, parked his bicycle, and said softly, "The elevator operator is off duty at this hour, so we'll have to take the stairs."

Zhou Zhiyuan replied casually, "I heard Zhang Yong mention it."

Han Xue said nothing more, leading him across the lobby to the stairwell.

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at the stairs and said softly, "It's quite secluded here."

Han Xue replied, "This building has five elevators, three in the main building and one on each side. The stairwells in the main building are on either side. This stairwell is closer to my home, with Zhang Yong's home at the other end."

Hearing her explanation, Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "No wonder you and Zhang Yong haven't met before."

Han Xue replied, "Even if we met, we might not recognize each other."

"Your words imply a slight disdain for Zhang Yong."

"Don't try to stir up trouble. There are hundreds of people living in this building, and many don't know each other."

They walked upstairs while talking. When they reached the third floor, Han Xue stopped. She felt a wave of dizziness and leaned against the wall to rest for a moment.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Zhiyuan said softly, "Lack of exercise."

Han Xue replied, panting, "My alcohol tolerance is poor, I feel dizzy."

"I'll carry you," Zhou Zhiyuan turned around and squatted down.

Han Xue hesitated for a moment before getting on his back, then wondered, "Why am I letting him carry me?"

She thought about this question but had no answer, unsure of what she had been thinking earlier.

But she had no intention of getting down. She felt comfortable on Zhou Zhiyuan's back, and the dizziness was gradually fading, but sleepiness was washing over her.

But she tried to stay awake, repeatedly pondering in her mind, "Why am I letting him carry me?"

When they reached the fourth floor, she had an answer in her heart, "I trust him."

So she said softly, "I live on the seventh floor," and then closed her eyes.

Zhou Zhiyuan carried her and continued upstairs. When he reached the sixth floor, a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart. He stopped and looked around. There wasn't a single person in the dark corridor.

It was too quiet here. He felt as if he were standing in a dark space, far from the world, cold and without a trace of life.

This environment reminded him of some novel plots he had seen in dreams, and he wondered, "A 'phantom array' or a 'closed space'?"

Thinking of this, he shook his head. He was thinking too much. How could there be a "phantom array" or a "closed space" in reality?

He smiled faintly, raised his wrist to look at his watch, and concentrated his mind in the darkness to see the hands on the dial, ten past nine.

At this moment, he felt Han Xue's body sliding down, and he quickly reached out to hug her other leg to stabilize her body. Just as he was about to step forward, a question suddenly arose in his heart, "Why is Han Xue not moving?"

He turned his face and his chin brushed her hair, letting him know that Han Xue was lying on her own arm.

He listened carefully to her breathing. The slow, steady sound put him at ease.

"She actually fell asleep," Zhou Zhiyuan shook his head gently and stepped forward. After walking for a while, he stopped again, feeling puzzled.

He should have reached the seventh floor by now, but looking at the surrounding environment, he was still wandering in this space, according to his intuition.

So he thought, "Orange needs a tracking target." He separated a strand of his mind and transformed it into a round figure.

Zhang Yong lived on the sixth floor, so this round figure should cause Orange to emit an orange thread to point the way.

But he was disappointed. Even after the round figure disappeared, Orange remained motionless.

"He's not home?" Zhou Zhiyuan deduced that Orange needed an object to emit an orange thread, and now it seemed that there should also be a distance.

Making this judgment, Zhou Zhiyuan thought of Teacher Luo, but Orange still did not respond.

At this time, Zhou Zhiyuan began to suspect that this environment was a "closed space," and his mind could not project out.

He only had one way now. He supported Han Xue's body with his right hand, freed his left hand, reached into his pocket, took out the copper ball, rotated it in his hand, and threw it out.

"Awoo..." A shrill cry came, like the cry of a baby.

Immediately, he saw a black spot flying towards him. Zhou Zhiyuan moved to dodge, and only when the black spot was close did he realize that it was the copper ball he had thrown out. He hurriedly reached out to catch it, but then two beams of green light suddenly appeared after the copper ball and shot towards him.

As he caught the copper ball, a claw covered in black smoke simultaneously grabbed the copper ball. Without thinking, he drew back his right hand and chopped out with his palm, like a steel knife chopping on the claw.

"Awoo..." The shrill cry rang out again, and the two beams of green light disappeared instantly. The surrounding air fluctuated, and black ripples appeared before his eyes, twisting strangely.

Zhou Zhiyuan found a mental target. Under the starry sky, two beams of green light flashed and disappeared, and an orange thread shot out immediately.

Immediately, he reached out and hugged Han Xue's legs, dashed towards that direction, broke through the twisted ripples, and rushed upstairs. In this dark stairwell, the orange thread shot out again.

Again, he ran upstairs without hesitation, eighth floor, ninth floor, rushing to the rooftop following the direction indicated by the orange thread. At this time, the orange thread suddenly disappeared, and Zhou Zhiyuan braked urgently, standing on the edge of the roof. He took a long breath, he almost fell down.

The two beams of green light should have jumped off the building, but he didn't have that ability. Standing on the edge of the roof, he looked down. The dark ground was more than thirty meters away from him. Jumping down would mean him and Han Xue would both die.

He took a step back and looked around. Dim streetlights reflected a few figures hurrying by, and the surrounding buildings cast a little silver light in the moonlight.

"Nice view," Zhou Zhiyuan muttered, turned around, and walked back. Carrying Han Xue, he came to the seventh floor, stopped, and called softly, "Section Chief Han, wake up."

But Han Xue was sleeping soundly, with no reaction at all.

"So lucky," Zhou Zhiyuan sighed, raised his wrist to look at his watch, and could see the hands pointing to nine thirty-five without concentrating his mind.

In those short twenty-odd minutes, he had experienced a bizarre and thrilling adventure, but the sleeping Han Xue was completely unaware.

Now a problem arose, "Which direction is Han Xue's home?"

Zhou Zhiyuan stood at the stairwell and looked left and right. Both sides were long corridors. His intuition was not sharp enough to know which direction Han Xue's home was at a glance. He didn't know whether to go left or right.

Helpless, he gently patted her thigh with both hands, pa pa pa, pa pa pa, with the rhythm of drums.

After a while, Han Xue's whisper came: "What are you doing?"

Zhou Zhiyuan quickly stopped patting and said softly, "You fell asleep, which way do I go?"

Hearing him say that she had fallen asleep, Han Xue muttered in surprise, "Fell asleep?"

Then she said, "Go right."

Zhou Zhiyuan went to the right, following Han Xue's guidance to a door and stopped. He squatted down and put Han Xue down, hearing her say softly, "It's late today, I won't invite you in. Ride slowly on the way back."

Han Xue said, took out the key to open the door, looked back at him, and stepped into the door.

Seeing her close the door, Zhou Zhiyuan hesitated, pricked up his ears to listen, and heard a slight breathing sound from inside the door. Han Xue seemed to be leaning against the door and did not go inside.

After a while, a woman's voice came, "Xiaoxue, why don't you come in?" Hearing slight footsteps from inside, Zhou Zhiyuan turned and left, came to the roof again, closed his eyes slightly, and raised the Star Chart, but saw that Orange was still motionless.

His tracking had completely failed. He sighed softly, turned and went downstairs, came to the lobby on the first floor, walked out the door, came to the bicycle, saw a round figure speeding over, turned to look at Zhang Yong stopping in front of him.

Zhou Zhiyuan asked softly, "Went out with Guo Yanhong?"

"Went out with Yanhong to see a movie," Zhang Yong replied.

Then a mysterious expression appeared on his face, and he asked in a low voice, "Sent Han Xue back?"

Seeing Zhou Zhiyuan nod lightly, Zhang Yong immediately said, "Han Xue is pretty good, try hard."

"She has a boyfriend."

Zhang Yong said indifferently, "Having a boyfriend doesn't mean she's married. Just make her break up with him, won't that be fine?"

He said it simply, as if Zhou Zhiyuan could do it with a little effort.

Zhou Zhiyuan changed the subject: "Are there any air-raid shelters nearby?"

"No, why are you asking this?"

"Just asking, go upstairs, it's too late, I won't go upstairs to see Teacher Luo."

"If Teacher Luo knows, he will definitely scold you."

"If Teacher Luo knows, I will scold you."

"Heh..." Zhang Yong smiled, pushed his bike and walked inside.

Zhou Zhiyuan rode his bicycle away. He had a feeling that the two beams of green light would come looking for him again.