Chapter 90: Thunder
A small opening was left in the window, and the cold morning wind slipped into the house, parting a corner of the curtain. The cool sunlight seeped in, just happening to fall on a pale and tired face.
It was as if he had had a very long dream. The pouring rain, the yellow and muddy concrete, the black umbrella that had fallen and was flying away in the wind, and the face that had been washed of its makeup by the rain, cold, clean, and also very gentle…
The deep and dark night was the background, and the storm was the music. At that moment, she was truly beautiful, a beauty that could not be described in words. It had easily plucked the messy and chaotic strings of his heart, and the beautiful notes were running wild in his heart, and he could not stop this riot that he was indulging in for a long time…
Su Yu opened his eyes in the cold white morning light. He squinted his eyes to let his vision slowly focus, and he stared at the clean and gray-white ceiling. As if he had suddenly realized something, his palm fumbled on the pillow next to him, and it was empty. His heart was as if it were being squeezed, and he couldn’t breathe. He turned his head and looked at the side of the pillow, and he only saw a few black and white coats neatly folded on the bed.
He rubbed his sore and swollen eyes as if he didn’t believe it. Even the bedsheet at the head of the bed was neat, and not a single long hair could be seen. The familiar shouting of the tofu pudding vendor suddenly sounded in his ear, and everything was as plain and ordinary as usual.
So it was really a dream…
A huge sense of loss enveloped him, and it suppressed the flow of air. He couldn’t breathe. He was like a fish craving air, craving something. If he couldn’t get it, his nose would be sour, and he would be so sad that he wanted to cry.
He sat in a daze for a long time before he finally recognized the reality and lifted the blanket. He got out of bed and stepped on the soft carpet under his feet. He walked out of the bedroom, which made him feel stuffy and hot because the air was not circulating, in a daze.
He felt as if he had a fever. His head was as if a fire had started, and it had melted his thoughts. He always felt that his head was empty, and only a strong and hot concern was lingering.
His face was reflected in the clean and transparent glass. His hair had grown long and was not easy to manage. It was always messy. His lack of sleep had made his eye sockets a little sunken, and there was a dark circle under his eyelids.
Su Yu licked his chapped and pale, thin lips and tasted the sweet and fishy taste of blood. He walked closer to the mirror and parted his thick bangs, revealing his clear and moist eyes, which were hidden under them. He controlled his eyeballs to turn a few times symbolically. Besides the fact that his eyes were a little bloodshot, they seemed to be fine. He reached out and touched the red corners of his eyes, and his fingertips rubbed them. A little bit of a water droplet was crushed and soaked into his skin.
Why… was he crying?
He was the only one in this house. No one would give him an answer.
He washed his hands and shook off the water droplets on his hands. Su Yu went back to the living room and walked straight to the refrigerator. He pulled open the refrigerator, and the originally empty refrigerator was suddenly full. The shelves were filled with all kinds of fresh vegetables and fruits…
He flipped through them in surprise and found a few boxes of fever-reducing medicine on the small shelf next to them. But he had never kept these things at home. The strong sense of unfamiliarity made him eagerly turn around and look back. The sofa behind him was still empty, and the house was quiet and deserted. From beginning to end, he was the only one.
It was not a sudden sense of horror or doubt. Instead, he was inexplicably a little disappointed, as if a secret expectation in his heart had been dashed. The refrigerator door was slowly closed by him, and a light yellow note suddenly jumped into his view.
His breathing stopped at this moment, as if he were afraid of disturbing the illusory dream in front of him. He took the note from the refrigerator door, and the elegant and powerful handwriting immediately stirred up his suppressed heartbeat. It was like a girl’s handwriting, and it was a little familiar.
“I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back later. There’s bread on the table. You can eat some if you’re hungry. Don’t run around. The fever hasn’t gone down yet…”
Su Yu held the note tightly in his hand. The strength that had been drawn from his body seemed to have suddenly returned, and it was transmitted to his body through this small note.
It wasn’t a dream…
He rushed to the balcony and looked down. The tragic scene after the storm was presented in front of him without any reservation. The trees were crooked and bent, and the flowerbeds were filled with turbid sewage. The yellow and dim mud was dragging on the ground and was spreading far…
The doorbell suddenly rang. It was as abrupt in the quiet room as the deafening thunder of last night.
Su Yu swallowed and suddenly turned and rushed out. His feverish body was a little frail and weak. By the time he reached the door, his head was already dizzy. He didn’t even have time to catch his breath and hurriedly reached for the doorknob. The door was locked from the inside…
He opened his mouth, wanting to tell the other party to wait a moment, but his voice was stuck for a moment. He could only speed up his search of the shoe cabinet. He had hidden a spare key in it.
But suddenly, the key was gone. It was as if God were deliberately playing a vicious game with him. He couldn’t quit, but he was desperately worried that by the time he found the key and opened the door, the outside would be empty. He knew that that was probably impossible, but he just couldn’t help but think that way. Things were always developing in a bad direction. He had lost the ability to hold on to hope.
Su Yu was still rummaging in the cabinet, his gaze anxious. A thin layer of cold sweat was on his back. He didn’t have many shoes, and the empty shoeboxes were scattered on the floor. The originally neat entryway was suddenly a mess.
He didn’t even notice that the door next to him had suddenly opened. It creaked twice, and the daylight from the corridor shone in. He was stunned for a moment and looked up.
The overweight landlady was staring at the mess in the entryway with a shocked expression. And he was with his messy black hair, his clothes disheveled, and he was kneeling on the floor in front of the shoe cabinet, constantly searching, and he was muttering something that was hard to hear.
Su Yu slowly realized that his appearance was a little off. The empty shoebox in his hand hit the ground. He supported himself with the wall and stood up with a trembling hand. He looked at the landlady outside the door with a dazed expression.
His back was bent, and the entryway was not lit. His gentle and handsome eyebrows and eyes were half-hidden in the darkness. His pupils were so dim that not a single ray of light could enter. He glanced elsewhere in a flustered way, and his thin, red lips were without a trace of blood. His eyes were dark and filled with a hint of an eager plea, like a setting sun in the west. Something at this moment was cut into pieces, but it was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Oh, what’s wrong with you, child? You were out in the rain all yesterday. If you have something on your mind, you can come and talk to me. I know you young people are under a lot of pressure, but you can’t joke with your own body…”
Su Yu waved his hand and blocked the landlady’s words. He couldn’t hear a single word. He walked up and held the landlady’s hand. He licked his chapped lips, which were stuck together, and forced a gentle smile. He wanted to make himself look as normal as possible. He pointed to the refrigerator in the living room and then held out the note for the landlady to see.
“These things, were they yesterday…”
“Oh, you mean this…”
The landlady took the note and glanced at it, frowning.
“There was a little girl here yesterday…”
It was as if a summer night’s thunderclap had suddenly exploded in his mind. A certain emotion was surging in his heart, and he could no longer hear anything else.
