The Pentium Era - South to North

Zhang Chen closed his laptop, stood up and thought for a moment. He picked up the car keys on the table and walked out. He took the elevator downstairs and went to the parking lot outside. He found Lao Xie's car, got in and adjusted the seat. and the rearview mirror, Zhang Chen took a deep breath before starting the car.

He knew that the distance from Huandao Tide Hotel to Wenming East Road was very close, almost in a straight line, and it only took ten minutes to get there.

Huandao Tide Hotel is on Haidian Island. Zhang Chen drove to the Heping Avenue at the entrance and drove in the direction of downtown Haicheng. After driving for five or six minutes, he arrived at the Heping Bridge connecting Haidian Island and downtown Haicheng. After passing Heping Bridge, you will find Heping North Road. If you continue driving along Heping North Road, you will see the Wenming Overpass at Wenming Intersection.

From under the overpass, turn right to Wenming Middle Road, and turn left to Wenming East Road. Zhang Chen turned on the left turn signal, held the steering wheel and turned left onto Wenming East Road. After turning not far, he arrived at a place that Zhang Chen was familiar with. That alley entrance.

Everything here was still the same, and Zhang Chen felt his heart pounding.

Parking was not allowed in the alley, so Zhang Chen pulled over and parked on Wenming East Road and got out of the car.

When he reached the entrance of the alley, Zhang Chen stopped. He hesitated whether to continue walking forward. The entire alley was almost unchanged. Standing here, the familiar scenes roared from the depths of his memory.

Zhang Chen felt as if he saw himself riding on a motorcycle, roaring through the alleys, and he also seemed to see himself wearing flip-flops, swaying left and right while riding the bicycle, just like the bicycle in front of him. Like the young man who entered the alley, he rode deeper and deeper into the alley.

Zhang Chen took two steps back and looked to the right. He saw that the video rental store he used to frequent had now been transformed into a flower shop. Zhang Chen even hesitated for a moment, whether he needed to go there and buy a bouquet. Hua, by the way, let’s see if the boss has been replaced.

Zhang Chen calmed down and decided to walk towards the alley. After walking fifty or sixty meters, he saw the house in front of him. The door in front of the first floor hall was open. Zhang Chen felt his heart beating again.

Zhang Chen walked up the steps to the door and frowned when he saw the inside of the door. He also saw that the light in front of the hall was dim and the red-painted wooden chair inside was no longer there. Haibatian would sit on it every time he came back. On this chair.

The entire front of the hall was empty, with no furniture at all. There were only three or four bicycles parked near the innermost wall. Where the desks used to be, the desks were gone. Instead, they were stacked and dismantled. The cardboard boxes were piled almost to the ceiling.

Zhang Chen continued walking inside and reached the patio. He saw the well and the terrazzo platform where two Hainan girls liked to sing and wash clothes. There was a woman on the terrazzo platform, "swish" with the back of a kitchen knife. She was scraping the fish scales on the ground. When she saw Zhang Chen coming in, she paused for a moment, turned to look at him, then turned back and continued to scrape her own fish scales.

Zhang Chen stood for a while and started walking upstairs. The woman didn't even bother to ask who he was looking for.

Zhang Chen walked to the second floor. Before he reached the top of the stairs, he smelled a very pungent toilet smell. Zhang Chen couldn't help but frown again.

He passed the door of the toilet and tried his best not to look into the open door. The entire second floor was quiet, and the doors of the three rooms were closed. Even the color of the doors and windows, Zhang Chen vaguely remembered, was still the original color. It's just that the paint has been mottled, showing a dilapidated look.

Zhang Chen passed by the window of the room where Xiao Lin used to live and looked inside. There was no one inside, but he could tell from the furnishings in the room and the simple coated cloth wardrobe that this place was rented out to someone else.

Zhang Chen continued to walk forward and reached the room where he used to live. The furnishings inside were roughly the same as Xiaolin's room. Zhang Chen turned around and walked to the door of the original office, where he stood at the stairs leading to the third floor. Zhang Chen remembered that the last time he saw Gu Shufang, she was standing on the stairs, holding her hands on her chest, looking at him coldly from top to bottom.

Zhang Chen couldn't help but tremble.

He looked in the window and saw that the original office was probably rented to someone else now.

Zhang Chen stood there, hesitating, and listened quietly. Except for the sound of the woman downstairs hitting the enamel basin with her kitchen knife, there was no other sound. Quietly.

Zhang Chen took a deep breath and continued walking upstairs. Even he could hear his "pounding" heartbeat.

He walked to the middle of the stairs, and his head had already stuck out of the third floor. He looked around, and he felt discouraged instantly. He heard something break somewhere in his heart, and he Sighed heavily.

The doors of the three rooms upstairs were also closed, but he saw that the upstairs was dirty and messy, with rubbish piled at the foot of the walls. On the original platform, where Gu Shufang planted various peonies, the peonies had disappeared. Instead, a simple shed was set up with a red and white rain cover, and a stove was placed inside. It looked like a kitchen.

Zhang Chen shook his head, and his heart became cold. He concluded that Gu Shufang was no longer here. It was impossible for her to survive in such an environment. No matter how desperate she was, she would at least clean this place, and even more Wouldn't allow anyone to remove her peonies.

Zhang Chen endured the disappointment in his heart, thought for a while, and continued walking up. He saw that the original kitchen and dining room, where Gu Shufang cooked Suzhou dishes for him, had now become someone else's house.

Zhang Chen saw the frosted glass of the bathroom door. The bottom half was broken and covered with a large sheet of horse manure paper. Then he looked at the living room where he used to draw, with thick carpets and huanghuali furniture. , carpets and huanghuali furniture are also gone, and there are also simple beds and simple wardrobes inside.

Zhang Chen walked to Gu Shufang's original bedroom and saw the same scene inside.

Although Zhang Chen was prepared in his heart, he still felt palpitations when he stood at the window and looked inside.

He stood there in a daze, and the scene from that night came back. He thought of himself standing at the door, pushing gently, and to his slight surprise, the door opened, and then the lights in the room turned on. Zhang Chen saw Gu Shufang sitting on the bed and looking at him blankly.

With tears in her eyes, she said with a trembling voice: "You are finally... here."

Zhang Chen sighed, turned around and walked downstairs.

When he walked to the patio, the woman had already cut open the fish, and there was a pile of fish entrails piled on the cement table. She turned her head to look at Zhang Chen, and waved her hand holding the kitchen knife, as if she had gone through such a process. After thinking for a long time, she remembered to ask:

"Who are you looking for?"

He spoke with a mainland accent as soon as he spoke.

Zhang Chen said: "I want to find a landlord here."

The woman shook her head, not knowing what he was talking about.

Zhang Chen continued: "It turns out that the landlord who lives on the third floor is a woman and she is also from Mainland China. Have you seen her?"

"There is no landlord upstairs. It seems that a few Guangxi people live on the third floor. They are all tenants and there is no landlord." The woman said.

Zhang Chen was unwilling to give in and continued to ask: "Who rented your house from?"

"Agency company," the woman said.

Zhang Chen understood. He said thank you and walked to the outside gate. Before going down the steps, Zhang Chen turned around and walked back and asked:

"Sister, I would like to ask, which agency did you rent from?"

"It's the one in Liuhe Building on Wenming Middle Road. I can't remember the name." The woman said, "You want to rent a house? I advise you not to live here. The few Shandong people on the second floor are so noisy that they drink and fight every day. It's going on till dawn, but there's no room here anymore, or I can sublet this room to you."

The woman pointed to the room on the first floor where the two Hainanese girls lived. Zhang Chen quickly said thank you, thank you, no need.

Zhang Chen walked outside, walked out of the alley, walked to his car, opened the door and got in. He was stunned for a while, and then started the car.

When the car reached the pedestrian bridge at the intersection in front, Zhang Chen did not turn right onto Heping North Road and go back, but kept driving until he passed the intersection and arrived at Wenming Middle Road.

Just after passing the intersection, you can see the Liuhe Building in the distance. The Liuhe Building is on the other side of the road. Zhang Chen drove to the opposite side of the road and pulled over, got out of the car, crossed the road and walked to the Liuhe Building on the opposite side.

On this side of the road, Zhang Chen saw a "Baixin Real Estate" on the first floor of Liuhe Building. Zhang Chen thought to himself that this must be the company the woman in front of him was talking about.

Zhang Chen walked in. It was very small inside. There were only two desks facing each other. There were three steel folding chairs against the wall. One of the two desks was empty. Only the one facing the door had a little girl sitting there. , had nothing to do, staring at his ten curled nails.

Zhang Chen sat down opposite her. The girl looked up at him and asked, "Want to rent a house?"

Zhang Chen reported the house number of the building and told her that I wanted to know about the situation of this house.

The girl whispered the house number that Zhang Chen said, and took out a handout folder from the row beside it. She spread it out and flipped through the pages. When she couldn't find it, she put it together and inserted it back, then took the notebook. The one on the top, spread out, still flipping through the pages, turned to one of the pages, and tapped the page with her finger. Zhang Chen knew that she had found it.

The girl looked at it for a while and said to Zhang Chen, all the rooms in this building are rented out, do you want one nearby?

Zhang Chen said: "I'm sorry, I'm not here to rent a house, but I want to inquire about the landlord of this house."

The girl snapped the handout folder shut and said impatiently: "That won't work, we can't reveal the landlord's situation."

Zhang Chen quickly said: "Just tell me, is the landlord's surname Gu?"

"no."

"Is that a surname?"

The girl rolled her eyes at him and said nothing, but her expression told him that he had guessed correctly.

Zhang Chen stood up, said thank you and walked out.

Zhang Chen got into the car and let out a long breath. He was about to start the car when his cell phone rang. He looked at it and saw an unread text message. The caller was Lao Xie. Zhang Chen quickly answered it. Get up, Lao Xie said:

"Mr. Zhang, did you see the text message I sent you earlier?"

Only then did Zhang Chen know that the unread text message was from Lao Xie. Lao Xie must have sent the text message and called Zhang Chen when he saw no response.

Zhang Chen quickly said: "Sorry, Mr. Xie, I was outside and didn't pay attention in front."

"Haha, it's okay. Let me tell you, dinner will be at Xinbu Island, right at the end of Changdi Road. From that fork in the road, turn to Xinbu Island. Don't go to Xinbu Bridge. It's just at the end of the bridge. Seafood by the Jinshuimen River. The boat is on the Meilan, booked in my name." Lao Xie said.

"Meilan? On the ship?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Yes, the box is on the boat."

Thank you, Tin Soldier, for the reward of two fishes, one up and one down! Thank you to Baby Tin Soldier, Lu, Don’t see a future and only remember your original intention, Why can’t you change your name, Major7, and Pi Wusun for your monthly votes! Thanks for all the votes and reading! I wish you all good health!