1 (return)
a certain day of a certain year
In a special medical rehabilitation facility.
"From today onwards, you can return to society and be reborn as a human being. Remember not to touch these things again, and don't let your family down on you again." The staff in police uniforms filled in the information hard while writing the recovery certificate. The ID was handed to a young man sitting in front of them.
"I understand." The young man responded to the staff in front of him calmly.
After receiving the certificate, the young man discovered that the name in the certificate was not his original name.
"What's going on? Why is this name different from mine?"
"Zhu Zhikang, in order for you to be readmitted when you return to society, and to ensure your personal safety in the future, we have unanimously decided to give you a new name and return to society with a new identity. You will be called "Zhu Chiyun" from now on."
The young man took the new ID card and looked at the three Chinese characters "Zhu Chiyun" displayed on the ID card. He thought with emotion that his previous self was dead. Perhaps the name Zhu Zhikang had died in the execution of the mission, and now the name "Zhu Chiyun" Identity returns to society to live anew.
"Thank you for your continued care." The young man bowed to express his gratitude, stood up from his seat, followed the staff's instructions, picked up an old luggage backpack, and left.
"Brother Kang! Congratulations!"
"Brother Kang, you have to take more care of me when you are outside."
"Brother Kang, we need to get together more after we are discharged from the hospital." The patients who knew him rushed to the side to talk to him, but they were all stopped by the staff, and the young man smiled politely at them. Under the escort of the staff, he walked towards the door of the institution.
"Quiet! Please disperse and do your own thing." The staff waved their batons and shouted, and then the patients dispersed and returned to their respective wards.
In the special medical institution, the skinny patients all stared at him, hoping that one day they could recover as smoothly as he did and regain their freedom.
The young man looked at the place where he was about to say goodbye and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He thought to himself that he had finally gotten through these dark days. How should he live in the outside world next? He didn't have any plans at the moment, and he couldn't help but feel very confused when he thought about his life after being discharged from the hospital.
Bang!
The two staff members in front of me slowly opened the iron door, which made a harsh noise.
When the noise stopped, a ray of sunlight shone on Zhu Chiyun, making him look particularly dazzling.
Zhu Chiyun walked outside the iron gate step by step, saw pedestrians and cars that he had not seen for a long time, took a deep breath, the air was extremely fresh, and quietly felt the joy of regaining his freedom.
The staff then closed the iron door and said to him.
"I hope we won't see you again and just start a new life."
After leaving these words, the staff turned around and left. This was a hospital set up by a special medical institution in a third-tier city.
Just a few steps before walking out of the door, Zhu Chiyun's mind flashed to scenes from TV series showing certain people being discharged from the hospital. Their relatives and friends would welcome them home from the hospital.
But he knew that he had made an irreversible deal for his family's livelihood and for his sister to go to college, but he was misunderstood by his family.
Will people who have been hurt accept themselves again? It shouldn't be possible. Zhu Chiyun gave up the idea of having relatives to greet him and walked quickly towards the station.
Not far away, Zhu Chiyun found a girl running towards him.
"Brother! I'm finally here." The girl in the distance ran over quickly. Seeing her panting and looking anxious, it could be seen that she cared about Zhu Chiyun. She was probably late because she didn't know when she would be discharged from the hospital. arrive.
The girl has elegant long hair and a delicate face that is somewhat similar to the boy. From the name the girl calls him, it can be seen that the two are brothers and sisters.
"Are you Zhu Cuiliu?" Zhu Chiyun looked at his sister whom he hadn't seen for several years, suppressed his inner joy, and asked calmly, pretending to be calm.
"It's me. I flew here early this morning. I don't have your phone number and I don't know when you will be discharged from the hospital, so I can only take the earliest flight and come here to wait for you. Fortunately, I arrived. But it's just me. Someone will pick you up." His sister Zhu Cuiliu said with an embarrassed look.
"That can't be helped. I know they won't want to see me." Zhu Chiyun understood that his parents didn't want to see him again, and he was very satisfied to be able to see his sister.
Zhu Chiyun recalled the last time he saw his parents.
At that time, his parents angrily asked him if he had joined a company that engaged in illegal trading and made unscrupulous money.
At that time, Zhu Chiyun did not clarify or explain. He only said, "I just do what I want to do." He was kicked out of the house, and his parents severed ties with him.
Even his sister asked him what happened? At that time, he also said arrogantly, "As you can see, why are you asking so many questions?" At that time, he remembered that his sister Zhu Cuiliu said in tears, "You have changed. You are not like this when I know you." My son." Then he left him disheartened.
But he couldn't figure out why Zhu Cuiliu came to pick him up from the hospital. He was confused, but he didn't know how to ask.
"This is for you." Zhu Cuiliu took out an older mobile phone from his pocket and handed it to Zhu Chiyun, but it could only make calls and send text messages.
"I didn't have a mobile phone when I first came out. It will be easier to contact me this way."
Zhu Cuiliu took out a relatively backward mobile phone of the same style and said.
"I still keep the birthday gift I gave you back then."
"Of course, it was a birthday gift you gave me when I was a freshman in high school. I have always cherished it."
Zhu Chiyun recalled the birthday gift he gave her. At that time, he said that he wanted to do a big career, so he stopped studying.
That year, a fire broke out in his father's factory, and the family lost all their money.
Because Zhu Cuiliu is a girl, the family has the concept of favoring boys over girls, and everyone is discussing not letting her sister continue to study. The family can no longer afford the tuition for both of them.
So in order to allow his sister to continue studying, Zhu Chiyun began to skip classes and work part-time jobs to make money so that her sister could continue to successfully complete her studies.
My sister didn't understand why he stopped studying after only leaving his mobile phone as a birthday gift. From then on, he rarely saw each other. The relationship between the two became more and more distant from that day.
I still remember that day, Zhu Cuiliu complained to him about the pressure of high school as usual, while Zhu Chiyun comforted her and gave her a mobile phone as a birthday gift, always encouraging her not to give up.
Then he casually said that he wanted to start a business, and told Zhu Cuiliu to be obedient and filial to his parents. Zhu Cuiliu did not realize that Zhu Chiyun was saying goodbye to her in an obscure way. That was the last time Zhu Chiyun said goodbye to her as an elder brother. Treat your sister gently.
"You must cherish this mobile phone I gave you in the future. I finally made money from my part-time job to buy it for you. The number and phone bill have been arranged for you." When did Zhu Cuiliu become so considerate? Can you take care of others? Zhu Chiyun was puzzled, wondering what had happened to his sister in these years. I feel a little distressed when I think of this.
How are you doing without me as your brother? Zhu Chiyun really wanted to ask this.
But he felt that he was not qualified to ask. After all, he had been indifferent to his sister all these years, but this was the only way to ensure the safety of his family.
"Okay, where to go next?"
"Next let's go to the city where I study in college."
"Going to the city where you went to college? Why?"
"Don't you want to start over? Or do you have any plans after leaving here?"
"That's not true..." Zhu Chiyun said with a confused look.
"That's it. I've arranged the air tickets and accommodation for you." Zhu Chiliu had already completed the check-in procedures for him.
"It's really efficient, but while I still have time, I want to go see her."
At Zhu Chiyun's request, Zhu Cuiliu agreed to take him there.
The two intercepted a taxi and headed to a cemetery.
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(2) New city, new life
Because it was not Tomb-Sweeping Day, there was no one in the cemetery. If there were not a few sanitation workers cleaning here, it would feel even more eerie.
Zhu Chiyun came to the tombstone with the name Guang Xiaoting engraved on it and put down flowers.
This tombstone is Zhu Chiyun's former girlfriend.
When they were together, Zhu Cuiliu angrily scolded him for hanging out with such a dishonest gangster. As a result, he was slapped by Zhu Chiyun and said, "It's none of your business! Get out of here!"
In order to protect Guang Xiaoting, he even beat his biological sister who he had been reluctant to beat since childhood.
Zhu Cuiliu stared at him with unfamiliar and desperate eyes for a few seconds, then left silently.
Since then, the two siblings have never contacted or seen each other.
The first time we met in such a long time was when Zhu Cuiliu welcomed him out of the hospital.
However, at that time, Guang Xiaoting discovered that after Zhu Chiyun slapped her sister, her hands had been shaking and she showed a very painful expression, but she instantly changed back to a arrogant look.
Although Guang Xiaoting is his girlfriend, she still cannot see his true heart, let alone his true identity.
Later, Guang Xiaoting suffered a gunshot wound. Zhu Chiyun carried her seriously injured to the hospital for rescue, but it was too late.
Guang Xiaoting told him before she died that although many people began to suspect that he was a traitor, she still loved him regardless of whether he was a traitor or not, and believed that everything he did was involuntary and there must be compelling reasons. .
Recalling every moment of that year, Zhu Chiyun held back tears.
And left a sentence.
"I'm sorry, thank you for always trusting me."
But Zhu Chiyun knew very well that his true identity was undoubtedly a traitor in Guang Xiaoting's society. Although their identities were different, Zhu Chiyun's feelings for her were real.
Just as Zhu Chiyun left the cemetery, a man in a black windbreaker stared at him silently in the distance.
"...Is it him?" Although his face was obscured by the hood of his windbreaker and his appearance could not be identified, he could tell from his voice that it was a girl.
After leaving the cemetery.
Zhu Chiyun followed his sister Zhu Cuiliu's arrangement and took a plane together to the city where Zhu Cuiliu was studying in college.
On the plane, Zhu Cuiliu told him about her college life in the past few years. The two seemed to have returned to the time when brothers and sisters got along well. Zhu Chiyun occasionally asked her if she still regretted what he did back then, but Zhu Cuiliu said generously that there was no overnight feud between brothers and sisters, and that Zhu Chiyun was willing to go to a strange city to start life again, which made her very satisfied. She said that everything could go back to the way it was before.
But Zhu Chiyun could see it.
His sister Zhu Cuiliu seemed to be hiding something and deliberately did not tell him. After all, this expression was very similar to the expression Zhu Chiyun showed when he was an undercover agent for the police force.
Maybe Zhu Cuiliu has grown up in the past few years and knows how to take on certain things, but this sister who is no longer angry and willful makes Zhu Chiyun very distressed and guilty.
As an older brother, I will return to her and protect her silently from now on.
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After getting off the plane
Zhu Chiyun followed Zhu Cuiliu to a strange first-tier city.
The place is prosperous and lively, and the roads are so complicated that people can’t find their way.
But his sister clearly led him to his destination, so he didn't worry about getting lost in the big city.
Zhu Chiyun is relieved that in recent years, his sister has finally come to a big city to study at university, and his sacrifice is considered worthwhile.
Under the leadership of Zhu Cuiliu, Zhu Chiyun came to an exquisite apartment and settled down.
Zhu Cuiliu told her that she lived on the second floor and Zhu Chiyun lived in a single room on the first floor. This was also to take good care of each other.
In this way, Zhu Chiyun came to the city where his sister was studying in college and started a new life again.
After Zhu Cuiliu finishes class every day, he will take Zhu Chiyun around in this first-tier city, and let Zhu Chiyun get familiar with the city.
However, he couldn't always be taken care of by his sister and become a burden. Zhu Chiyun decided to find a school to study all the university courses, and then find a part-time job to enrich himself.
"Cui Liu, I plan to find a school to continue to catch up on the courses I didn't take well before. What do you think?"
In the evening, Zhu Chiyun picked up Zhu Cuiliu after school as usual, and the two were walking together. Zhu Chiyun mentioned the idea of finding a school to continue studying.
"Are you really sure you want to continue studying?" Zhu Cuiliu didn't expect that he wanted to go back to study, and was surprised. After all, she remembered that Zhu Chiyun said that he was not interested in studying.
"Don't worry about the details. I'll go to an adult university first, and then plan to get an undergraduate degree." Zhu Chiyun said confidently.
"Okay, let me help you find which university is more suitable for you."
"Then I'll trouble you."
"I'm also surprised that you would discuss this matter with me."
"This is your territory, of course I have to discuss it with you."
"Then it will be better like this from now on."
"Tch, do you really want your brother to ask your opinion every time?"
"It's okay. If you have anything you can't figure out, you can ask me." Zhu Cuiliu became very reliable, acting as if I can even take good care of you now.
He is no longer the follower who always relied on his brother.
After Zhu Chiyun wanted to become an informant for the police force, he had no further contact with his family.
Later, the illegal trading group was destroyed, and he received treatment in a special medical institution for more than a year. During this period, no relatives or friends visited him. He wanted to know how Zhu Cuiliu and his family lived. Whether it's good or not, but there's no way to know.
Now I see my sister has grown up a lot, and I feel very happy, but she also feels a little more strange.
A few days later, Zhu Cuiliu found Zhu Chiyun a university that was willing to accept him. Of course, Zhu Cuiliu lent him the tuition fee first.
After a week, Zhu Cuiliu patiently tutored and tutored him, and Zhu Chiyun successfully passed the exam and was qualified to enter the university.
Everything is gradually getting back on track, and all I have to do is find a part-time job.
That night.
"Didi drip drip drip drip..." The warm water sprayed from the showerhead sprayed all over his body, relaxing and enjoying the long-lost comfort.
The water droplets bounced on the ground, and the mist filled the entire bathroom, making it even warmer.
Zhu Chiyun, who is thin, has many scars on his body from stick wounds, rope wounds and knife wounds. These scars seem to tell the story of the tragic past he has experienced.
"Brother, I'm back!" As soon as Zhu Chiyun finished taking a shower, Zhu Cuiliu took several large bags and placed them on the dining table.
The bag contains condiments for cooking and some snacks.
"Okay, I don't have any ingredients or seasonings at home... Do you order takeout every day?"
"Hahaha, yes, I am usually too busy and have no time to cook."
Zhu Chiyun found that the kitchen didn't even have oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, so he had to ask Zhu Cuiliu to buy it. After all, eating takeout all the time is not good for the body and has no nutrition at all.
"Okay, you don't have to worry about it now that I'm here." Zhu Chiyun promised that he would be responsible for the breakfast the next day.
"Then we'll be in trouble tomorrow!" Zhu Cuiliu said helplessly. In fact, she didn't have the habit of getting up early to have breakfast.
"You've worked hard today, let's take a rest first."
After Zhu Cuiliu helped Zhu Chiyun with his tutoring, the two sat tiredly on the sofa, eating snacks and watching TV.
The two accidentally saw a science fiction news broadcast on TV.
"Today we invited an expert to explain about the space-time crack incident that has occurred in recent years. In our lives, a space-time crack will suddenly appear out of thin air. This time-space crack leads to another world that is completely different from ours now. , do you think the rumors about time and space rifts are real? Or are they deliberately exaggerated and used for hype?"
Zhu Chiyun was not interested in this type of topic. When he was about to change the channel, his sister stopped him.
"What's wrong? Are you also interested in this kind of science fiction news?" Zhu Cuiliu nodded. Girls were probably more interested in these mysterious subjects, so Zhu Chiyun didn't pay too much attention.
"This kind of hot news basically likes to report things that have no scientific basis."
"They are just trying to stabilize other people's emotions. There will be a day when the fire can't be contained." Zhu Cuiliu murmured to himself, looking very serious.
"Haha, don't worry. If there really is any space-time rift, I will crawl out even if I get in."
"This is not a joke. People have been missing for no reason recently. You have to be careful and pay attention." Zhu Cuiliu didn't know why his expression was so serious. It didn't look like he was joking at all.
This made Zhu Chiyun feel like he couldn't understand her now. What had Zhu Cuiliu experienced in the past few years?
"It's okay, don't worry, I won't leave you again." Zhu Chiyun put his arms around Zhu Cuiliu's shoulders and comforted her, also to give her a sense of security.
"Okay, then you promise me to return to a normal life."
After the two of them took a short break, Zhu Cuiliu continued to help him make up lessons until the end.
After studying all night, Zhu Chiyun was so tired that he lay on the bed and didn't want to move.
"Hey, I'm so exhausted..."
