…
Zhou Qi leaned against the guardrail of the bridge, facing the lake, and kept watching quietly.
I don’t know how much time passed.
Until the street lights come on,
It's completely dark,
The neon lights of the city shine in the distance, and the flow of people on the bridge becomes denser.
Well... big cities tend to be busier at night than during the day.
Suddenly, he felt someone approaching.
Zhou Qi looked sideways and saw a mature man in his thirties walking from behind, walked to the side, and leaned against the railing.
The man was dressed in casual clothes and a black casual jacket. He had an ordinary appearance and was thin. His long hair seemed to have not been taken care of for a while. There was stubble on his face, which made him look a little worn out.
He looked at the lake with a complicated expression on his face, filled with an indescribable sense of joy.
After looking at it for a few times, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Little brother, are you having trouble?"
"...No." Zhou Qi turned around and continued to look ahead.
"What do you call it?"
"Zhou Qi."
"Oh, my name is Wang Ping."
"Um."
"..." The man who called himself Wang Ping was obviously choked and speechless by Zhou Qi's cold attitude. He looked around awkwardly and happened to find a little dust on his clothes, so he patted it a few times.
At this time, he noticed that Zhou Qi was only wearing thin short-sleeved shorts, so he asked again: "Aren't you cold? You only wear so little."
"not cold."
"..."
The air fell silent again.
Wang Ping seemed to want to say something, but hesitated for a long time and did not say anything.
After a while, he took out an unopened pack of cigarettes from his pocket and opened them in twos and twos.
Then he gestured to Zhou Qi: "Would you like one?"
"...?" Zhou Qi was stunned.
Wang Ping took out one and handed it over.
"..." Zhou Qi hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse. He took it and held the cigarette in his hand.
However, Wang Ping didn't seem to have a lighter. He touched his pocket and couldn't find it.
Zhou Qi took it out casually and took out a lighter on his body.
Reach out,
snap,
The flames burst into flames.
"...Hey, thank you," Wang Ping skillfully stretched out his hand to protect the fire. As he breathed, the tobacco began to burn, and smoke spurted out from his mouth. At this time, he patted Zhou Qi's hand.
Zhou Qi took back the lighter and lit it for himself.
The two strangers just puffed away on the bridge towards the lakeside scenery at night.
Different from the solemn expression of the man next to him when he smokes,
Zhou Qi showed no expression when he sucked.
But that solemnity was reflected in the thick smoke he exhaled, and it was extremely difficult to dissipate.
After taking a few puffs, Wang Ping seemed to have finally organized his words and said, "In this life, things are always unpredictable."
"Yeah." Zhou Qi responded.
"Are you interested? Let me tell you a story?"
"Can."
"..." Wang Ping exhaled a puff of smoke and said with some regret: "I have a friend who wanted to jump from here yesterday."
"……Um."
Zhou Qi glanced at him and already understood something in his heart.
But there was no reaction.
Anyway, I have nothing to do at the moment, so I might as well listen to other people’s stories.
Wang Ping took a breath of cigarette and continued: "...He has never stood out since he was a child. He has average looks, average studies, and everything else. His parents are ordinary people. He is not poor, but not rich either. He went to high school all the way. , went to college, and remained unknown until graduation."
Hmm...a very clichéd opening statement,
The friend he talks about is obviously himself,
Zhou Qi didn’t have any special feelings.
Because everyone has their own story these days, and hearing it too much can lead to resistance.
Wang Ping continued: "...he had been confused, struggled, and experienced many, many things. He thought he would stand out one day, but in the blink of an eye, he was over thirty years old, and his life was still not improving. At best, Don't cause trouble to others, but it won't be of any help to society... He once wondered, what is the meaning of his existence in the world?"
Meaning…meaning again.
Zhou Qi thought silently.
Why does everyone want to know the meaning?
The meaning of doomsday, the meaning of existence, the meaning of life...
Well, he wanted to know that himself.
Wang Ping continued: "...with a numbness to life, he ran around day after day. Later, he got married and had children... He became increasingly unhappy because he was busy at work and rarely communicated with his family. It’s difficult to maintain, and he needs money everywhere, but his career is always in the doldrums, and he can’t see where the future will be. His mouth is full of bitterness, he can’t say it, he wants to swallow it but can’t…”
As he spoke, he took a deep breath of cigarette and exhaled it slowly.
The smoke swirls into various shapes in the air,
It seems,
It's like adding punctuation to the words.
"And just a few days ago, he was scolded by his boss because of a trivial matter at work.
When I got home and wanted to drink some wine, my wife's expression immediately dropped and she kept nagging,
During the process, he also learned that the child had been very poor in studies recently, and the teacher invited his wife to school. After that, the teacher belittled the child in front of her and made him worthless...
As for my friend, he originally wanted to grit his teeth and endure it like before, but in the end, he was diagnosed with diabetes again..."
Wang Ping took the last drag of his cigarette, sighed heavily, and spit out all the smoke.
Then he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out.
"This time, he couldn't help it anymore. He really felt that he had no other choice. The only thing he could think of was to commit suicide so that he would no longer suffer and no longer cause trouble to his family."
"Then what?" Zhou Qi also threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and asked casually.
He was definitely a little more interested.
Because if this man can still stand here and talk, then things must have turned around.
and,
This reversal should still be benign.
"Then..." Wang Ping's expression suddenly became strange. He took out two more cigarettes, handed one to Zhou Qi, held the other in his mouth, and then started touching himself again.
He seemed to have forgotten that he didn't bring a lighter.
So Zhou Qi reached out and lit it for him again.
Wang Ping took a puff of cigarette, his expression became more complicated. After all, he still couldn't open his mouth to explain clearly. Instead, he turned around and leaned against the guardrail of the bridge. After looking at the crowd for a few seconds, he suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed: "Look , that is my wife and son."
Zhou Qi looked along and saw that she was a woman with her hair tied up and dressed in simple clothes. She was holding the hand of a little boy to buy something in front of the carpet. She seemed to be a loving mother and a filial son, quite harmonious.
However, when he saw the other party's appearance clearly, he was stunned for a moment.
On the side, Wang Ping gestured with a cigarette in his hand: "They were not like this before... My wife was originally a very gentle person, but after getting married, she became very stubborn, lost her temper, rarely smiled, and had a cold face every day. For me, especially the past few days,"
At this point, he no longer "made friends out of nothing" and said it directly and generously:
"... You don't know how amazing it was yesterday. I woke up early yesterday morning and started thinking about how to commit suicide. I thought of many ways, and finally decided to come over and jump off the bridge at night... But I didn't expect that yesterday afternoon, quickly When I got off work, my wife actually came to pick me up!”
As he said that, he grinned: "You know, I have been married to her for so many years. This is the first time I saw her so emotional. In front of so many people, he threw himself into my arms and started crying. She said I'm sorry, husband, you're tired, don't let your husband take it too hard... Haha, in just that moment, she was so obedient that she caught up with what she said a year ago..."
"..." Zhou Qi looked at him again, with an inexplicable meaning in his eyes, "So, you don't want to commit suicide?"
"Yes, when she cries like that, I don't want to die at all..." Wang Ping looked at his wife with soft eyebrows and murmured.
However, after a pause for a few seconds, his face suddenly became excited again.
He said to Zhou Qi with a mysterious face: "Don't worry, the next step is the key! Later, after I got home, I asked my wife how she knew? At first I thought she had discovered some clues, or happened to see me browsing the website Recorded...guess what the result was?"
"..." Zhou Qi had already guessed what he was going to say.
Sure enough, Wang Ping looked very strange and said: "My wife actually told me that someone sent her a text message at about noon yesterday! That text message was not an ordinary text message. It actually said that she should pay attention to her safety. The end is coming... Don't laugh. Seriously, that text message was very true. In order to gain my wife's trust, it also mentioned some secrets about our family, especially her husband, who is me. , what happened to me recently, what disease did I get, let her take care of me..."
"Hey, I don't even know how to describe this!" Wang Ping took a puff of cigarette and said with a weird smile: "My wife, she is a very suspicious person, what is said in the message So evil, she must have verified it, but... the end of the world didn't come, but she found out that I was really like what the message said, and she really found out that I was going to commit suicide or something. This scared her so much. Qing, quickly ran to my company..."
"..." Zhou Qi didn't speak.
Instead, he turned back and looked at Wang Ping's wife and children.
The mother and son had finished shopping at this time and happened to look over.
Wang Ping threw away the cigarette butt and waved at them.
They came over here.
Wang Ping turned around again, looked at Zhou Qi, and said with deep joy and emotion in his tone: "I'm fine now. From last night to now, today I found that my wife has completely changed. She has changed again." He finally became gentle and even hid in my arms and spoke love words to me... Little brother Zhou Qi, do you think it's magical or not? I was saved by such an inexplicable text message..."
Zhou Qi nodded: "Magical."
"Haha," the man laughed even louder: "But that's not the only magic! My wife and I saw the message clearly last night, but when we looked at it again today, the message was gone!
To this day, I don’t know who the person who sent the text message is, and I don’t know if I can see him again in the future... It would be great if I could. I really want to say thank you to him, he saved us. A family…”
"Maybe we'll see you." Zhou Qi also threw away the cigarette butt and replied in a calm tone.
He was still looking at Wang Ping's wife.
Well, it doesn't mean anything else.
Just simple recognition.
Met at the end of time.
This woman does not play a big role in the end of the world. Although she is always a good person, she has no special talents and has never done anything great. She even often causes a lot of trouble.
As a result, she died early every time.
However, she saved Zhou Qi.
A long time ago, when Zhou Qi was reborn a few times and was not yet able to adapt to the end of the world,
Saved twice.
Therefore, Zhou Qi remembered her, as well as her past and the things around her.
She said that she regretted that she had not had time to say many things before the end, so that she would never have the chance to talk to her husband and children.
She said that she really loved them. Seeing her husband working hard every day and her son being under great pressure, she wanted to do something, but she couldn't do anything and couldn't express it...
Zhou Qi cannot guarantee anything.
Even in the end of the world, he won't ask her to be his teammate.
However, she was silently put into the "reminder list".
Every time, before the end, I would give her some reminders and help, and I would give her a hand when conditions permitted.
In the blink of an eye, an unknown amount of time has passed, and he has reminded me many times...
At this time, Wang Ping's wife had already approached with her child.
She first nodded to Zhou Qi as a greeting, and then scolded Wang Ping for smoking again.
Wang Ping held his head and said it was wrong and he would stop smoking.
After two quarrels, the couple calmed down. Wang Ping whispered in his wife's ear: "You take your son and wait for a while. This little brother and I still have something to say..."
Upon hearing this, Wang Ping's wife looked at him, then at Zhou Qi, nodded slowly, and then took her son away.
Wang Ping looked at their backs and took a deep breath, then turned to Zhou Qi and said: "Brother Zhou Qi, actually what I want to say is that I have seen you a long time ago. Before it was dark, I saw you there. Standing here, our family has been shopping for two times now, and you are still here... It has been at least almost an hour, right?
I know that you may have encountered some troubles or obstacles that you can't overcome, but no matter what, you must not be impulsive..."
"..." Zhou Qi looked confused.
Wang Ping's attitude was sincere: "I was rescued by an unknown stranger. After thinking about it all night, I finally figured out some truth... I found that there are many things that are really worth living to see. Maybe life in ordinary times will be very bitter and difficult, but as long as you experience those things once, you will never want to die again..."
With that said, Wang Ping patted Zhou Qi on the shoulder: "Brother Zhou Qi, you only have one life. There are still many things worth seeing. Don't give up..."
"..." Zhou Qi nodded.
This man's way of expressing himself is actually very nagging.
But with an inexplicable affinity and appeal.
You can hear that there is still a bit of confusion in his words, but you can also feel a newly rekindled power from his words and actions.
one share,
The tenacity to straighten up again after going through the storm.
fine.
Although such a person will not live long in the apocalypse, in a safe world, he should be able to achieve great results in the future, right?
Zhou Qi felt a little subtle.
He didn't expect that he had already done the routine reminder of numbness, and could actually save a person and a family safely.
Wang Ping said seriously again: "Brother Zhou Qi, it's okay... If you have any troubles, you can talk to us. You are still young. I have been here. If you don't mind, I can help you enlighten me. enlighten."
As he spoke, he took out two more cigarettes and handed them over.
But this time, Zhou Qi didn't answer.
Instead, he waved his hand and said, "Brother Wang, to be honest, my little things are nothing compared to you... Thank you for saying so much to me. I have figured it out and it's okay."
Upon hearing this, Wang Ping's face turned serious:
"Why is it nothing? How can there be any big or small things? People's experiences are different. For you, it is a big deal... It doesn't matter. If you say it boldly, Brother Wang will definitely not laugh at you! "
As he spoke, he stuffed the cigarette he handed to Zhou Qi back into the cigarette case, and held the other one in his hand.
Zhou Qi once again reached out his hand to hand over the fire.
The tobacco burns, and this time, the mouth that spits out the smoke is smiling.
but,
"..." Zhou Qi fell silent again after lighting the cigarette, because he really didn't know what to say.
If I really wanted to say it… I wouldn’t be able to finish it in just a short while.
At this time, Wang Ping suddenly said with a bit of ridicule: "Is it related to girls? Are you broken in love? Or was you rejected after chasing a girl?"
Zhou Qi blinked, thinking that his guess was quite accurate.
So he simply nodded: "Rejected."
Wang Ping laughed: "Haha, let me just say... I have a way of judging people."
After laughing, he turned to speak seriously: "Brother Zhou Qi, Brother Wang, let me tell you the truth, at your age, chasing girls is not an easy task, of course, except for fun... But, if If you really make up your mind and want to be with her for the rest of your life, then you must consider several issues."
Zhou Qi thought thoughtfully: "Which ones are they?"
Wang Ping said seriously: "First, is she worth pursuing? Second, are you worthy of her? Third, what does she really want?"
"..." Zhou Qi was silent.
Wang Ping turned around and faced the lake again.
He looked into the distance and continued:
"Men, you don't have to chase someone you like when you see them. Many people look back and think it's a pity that they didn't speak up or catch up. But in fact, the real regret is that they lost it after they had it... Little brother, listen to me A word of advice, if you really like someone, the best way is to improve yourself first..."
Zhou Qi was noncommittal.
Wang Ping wanted to say something else, but at this moment...
"Plop!"
Accompanied by several exclamations not far away,
A dull sound of something falling into the water came from the other side of the bridge.
Then there was an uproar.
