Deserted Village Apartments

Chapter 11 The Eighth Day

It's raining again.

The dripping rain has cooled Shanghai at the turn of spring and summer, and all the plants are growing wildly in the rain, spreading green branches and leaves to every gap.Under the shadow of the lush climbing vines, I quietly went out with an umbrella, surrounded by misty water vapor, covering me like a raincoat.

There is also a musty smell in the subway on a rainy day, which is uncharacteristically deserted and lonely.I walked through the ticket gate unhurriedly and went down to the slightly empty subway platform.Instead of standing behind the yellow line and waiting for the bus as usual, I picked up a seat and sat down leisurely, then took out a book and read it.

The subway train roared into the station, and I watched the door open coldly, people inside came out, people outside went in, but I sat on the platform chair without making any expression.After waiting for a few seconds, the doors closed again, and the train sped away again.

After a while, the train from the other direction came again, but I was still sitting firmly on the platform chair, watching the train leave.In this way, 10 minutes passed, I was always sitting in this chair, and several trains came and went from both sides of me.

Suddenly, I left the platform and walked up to the upper lobby.

At this time, I quickened my pace and quickly walked out from the ticket inspection exit.

Just when I was about to leave the subway station, there was a burst of clear and hurried footsteps behind me.I immediately turned around vigilantly, and saw a girl in her early twenties, wearing a black dress, running towards me with her legs spread out, and her hair fluttered accordingly. It is eye-catching.

I found that while she was running, those eyes were still staring at me, and we looked at each other coldly until she ran past me.Suddenly, I reached out and grabbed her wrist, which felt as soft as pinching a cat's bone.She gave a soft cry and struggled a few more times, but I wouldn't let her go.

"Nie Xiaoqian?"

I stared into her eyes and asked.

She was stunned for a while, with depression and stubbornness in her eyes, then she lowered her head and stopped struggling.

At this moment, Ye Xiao finally came running over. He looked at the woman in front of him and said, "It must be her. I have been watching her quietly for 10 minutes, and she has been watching you from afar, and she followed you when you left the platform." , at this moment I came over to ask her a question, and she immediately ran towards the exit."

It turned out that last night, Ye Xiao thought of a way for me to find this "Nie Xiaoqian" by "leading the snake out of the hole".When I entered the subway station, Ye Xiao quietly followed me.I acted like a fool, sitting still on the platform, and deliberately missed many trains, so that if anyone was watching me, they would miss as many trains as I did, and would be easy to spot.Sure enough, Ye Xiao noticed this strange girl and concluded that she was the one following me.

Now, she is in my hands.

She finally raised her head, looked at me with somewhat wronged eyes, and slightly opened her lips: "You hurt me."

"sorry."

My hand immediately retracted like an electric shock, and I became a little at a loss when facing this lovely and pitiful young girl in front of me.She was nothing like the harasser I imagined, and I can't remember a word of a long line of words that I was about to throw a tantrum at.

She rubbed her wrist, looked at Ye Xiao and me and said, "Now you have caught me, so you can dispose of me as you please."

Immediately, like a deflated ball, I said timidly, "Don't worry, we won't do anything to you."

At this time, I said softly to Ye Xiao: "Thank you for helping me find her, I want to talk to her alone, okay?"

Ye Xiao looked into the girl's eyes, then whispered to me: "Okay, but you have to be careful, don't be too soft-hearted, according to my experience - angels and devils are often together."

After saying the last meaningful sentence, Ye Xiao smiled and patted me on the shoulder, then said solemnly to the girl: "I'm sorry, I frightened you just now. I am a police officer and he is my cousin , we are not bad people, I hope you will stop harassing him in the future, otherwise I will find you again. Goodbye."

Ye Xiao quickly left the subway station, leaving me alone looking at the girl in black, I couldn't help feeling a little nervous.She let out a breath slowly, stared into my eyes and said, "I am Nie Xiaoqian."

Unbelievable, she gave me the feeling at the first sight, just like Nie Xiaoqian in Liao Zhai——

I remember reading the vernacular book Liao Zhai when I was a child. Whenever I read "Nie Xiaoqian", the image of a woman in ancient costume would appear in front of my eyes: she haunted ancient temples silently, with black long hair and slender waist. , a beautiful oval face like a fox fairy, and a pair of eyes like a spring pond. The most alluring thing is the faint sadness in her eyes, as if they are slightly rippling across the water——

Now, she is in front of me.

But I didn't dare to look at her anymore, her face was like a movie screen that was played repeatedly, and once again brought back my memory of my teenage fantasies, I couldn't help but sighed softly: "It's so similar."

"What do you say it looks like?"

As heard on the phone, her voice is like a magnet. Is this the voice of the heroine in Liaozhai?
I shook my head in embarrassment and said, "Nothing - can I buy you a cup of tea?"

She turned her face sideways and said, "I'm already your prey, so do as you please."

So, I took her out of the subway station, the rain outside was heavier than before, and we walked into a small teahouse on Shaanxi South Road.

As soon as she sat down, she looked into my eyes and asked, "You seem a little nervous."

"Am I nervous?" I deliberately avoided her eyes, looked at the rain scene outside the window and said, "Of course, sitting and drinking tea with people who ran out of Liaozhai, how can I not be nervous?"

But she didn't take it seriously, she still stared straight into my eyes and asked coldly, "Have you really been to a deserted village?"

"Really, I've been to a deserted village, and I definitely didn't lie to you."

"But your "Desolate Village" has too many mistakes, it is not true at all."

""Desolate Village" is a novel, and a novel is a hybrid of reality and fantasy."

She said contemptuously: "Then you are too far away from the truth, your deserted village is just a picture seen through the telescope."

"Yes, there must be many secrets in the deserted village that I don't know." I didn't want to be led by her, so I immediately changed the subject, "Now it's your turn to answer. Is your name really Nie Xiaoqian?"

In an instant, a trace of panic flashed across her eyes. I guess she seemed to think of something, but it slipped over again.She nodded and said, "Yes, my name is Nie Xiaoqian."

She pronounced the last three words for a long time, which almost alarmed the people at the next table.

"It's unbelievable that there are such coincidental names in the world." I said with a wry smile, "Your father must have never read Liaozhai, or——reading Liaozhai was too fascinated."

"Enough, does it really matter what a person's name is?"

I stared at her erratic eyes and said, "Yes, it's very important. Do you know that? You really look like Nie Xiaoqian in the book."

"Okay, I'll give in." She shrugged helplessly, "If you insist that the name Nie Xiaoqian reminds you of the female ghost in Liaozhai, then please call me Xiaoqian."

"Xiaoqian?"

"Yes, Xiaoqian from the Nie family."

I nodded quickly: "That's right, it sounds much better this way, and I feel like the girl next door——Xiaoqian."

Suddenly, she became a little impatient: "I have already made a lot of concessions to you, can I go now?"

"But I still have a lot of questions to ask."

"Now I have to go to work, I will ask slowly later."

She stood up hastily.

I followed her and asked, "But who knows where to find you?"

"I work at the ice cream shop across the street, so you can come to me anytime."

She rushed out of the tea shop like a deer, with the heavy rain pouring on her, she ran across the crosswalk with her head down, and flashed into an ice cream shop across the road.

I didn't realize it for a while, and I was still at the door of the teahouse, wondering if I should go to the opposite side.A few minutes later, she appeared behind the ice cream counter, already in an orange smock, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Nie Xiaoqian who sells ice cream?"

I laughed suddenly, and some rain fell on the tip of my nose.

(End of this chapter)