There is only cold in the early morning of winter, entangled unreasonably, drilled into the pores of people, pierced along the gaps in the bones, and lingered like ghosts.

Wang Qi took a small school bag for her daughter at home, carefully put on a woolen scarf and gloves for her, and was about to drive her to the kindergarten, when he suddenly received a call from the bureau, and had to comfort her daughter, let his wife take over, and hurriedly run to the scene of the crime.

When he got there, Wang Qi had already learned about the case from his colleagues.

The deceased was seventeen years old. She was a student in Class 5, Grade 3, No. 1 Middle School. The crime scene was in the bedroom. The time of death was between 1:00 am and 1:30 am. The cause of death was very special. To be exact, it should be said to be weird.

The atmosphere was very stuffy, and the investigators present seemed to be forcibly stuffed into sealed tin jars. Their backs were drenched in cold sweat, they had difficulty breathing, and they felt uncomfortable all over.

The young policeman made a sound, his baby face was full of disbelief, “Impossible, drinking water can kill people?”

The forensic doctor corrected, “Preliminary identification shows that it is water intoxication, and the specific situation will not be known until after inspection.”

The young policeman still couldn’t believe it. He pointed to the dead body on the bed, “My Jie had such a big belly when she gave birth to my little niece, but my Jie’s whole body was swollen and fat. She doesn’t have any, her limbs are slender, her belly is so bulging, it’s very uncoordinated, it feels like her belly will burst at any moment, how much water does she have to hold in order to make it bulge like that?”

Everyone else shivered inexplicably, and couldn’t help discussing it on the spot.

“There are many ways to kill a person. The common ones are to use a sharp weapon to cause fatal injuries, or to die from excessive blood loss. Others are suffocation techniques such as covering the mouth and nose, sealing the throat…… pouring water into the person’s mouth for killing, the first time was saw it.”

“Is there any meaning for the murderer to do this? Like some kind of ritual? Apart from this, I can’t think of any other reason.”

“Even if the enemy came to seek revenge, it is impossible to do so?”

“Probably not a homicide,” the forensic doctor said.

As soon as these words came out, the temperature in the bedroom dropped a lot, and the cold wind came in from the half-closed windows, whistling in their ears, making their scalp numb.

Wang Qi said calmly, “Okay, don’t talk about it, first take the body to the forensic department, and this mineral water bottle, to see if there are other substances in it, and then check the fingerprints on the bottle, by the way, where is the family of the deceased? Where is she?”

Someone responded, “She is crying in the hall on the first floor.”

Wang Qi took out the cigarette case, bit one in his mouth, and didn’t light it. He picked up the pink mobile phone in the bag, “Let’s go.”

As soon as the group left the bedroom, they heard hoarse crying downstairs.

The middle-aged woman was crying with snot and tears all over her face. She and her husband were so different in personality that they couldn’t get along after a long time. The two really couldn’t become a family. When their daughter was less than three years old they separated.

After the divorce, the life of a middle-aged woman focuses on her daughter, and everything revolves around her daughter. The only goal is to cultivate her daughter into a talented person. Now that her daughter has left suddenly, for her, the sky is falling, and she has nothing left, and she can’t live anymore.

As soon as Wang Qi and the others came down, the middle-aged woman jumped up agitatedly and yelled incoherently, “My daughter never had any grudges with anyone at school. Teachers and classmates like her very much. Who killed my daughter? I beg you to catch the murderer, he must be caught!”

Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were red and swollen, and she looked terrifying. She said to herself like crazy, “My daughter’s grades are very good, and she is good at painting. She was going to the Academy of Fine Arts.”

“You see, the paintings on the bedroom wall are all drawn by my daughter, aren’t they very good? The studio teacher said that she is very talented……”

The middle-aged woman cried and screamed miserably, and her body trembled and she passed out.

Wang Qi asked the two people to stay and take care of her. He waited for the deceased’s family to wake up and feel better before making a statement.

The statement was delivered to Wang Qi more than two hours later.

The young policeman who prepare the statement stood in front of the table and reported, “Wang Ge, according to the family members of the deceased, she went to the studio to pick up the deceased at around nine o’clock last night, watched the deceased go upstairs, and brought milk into the bedroom for the deceased around eleven o’clock. The deceased was not asleep at the time and was doing exercises.”

Wang Qi looked at the confession and found two words, “Puppy love?”

The young policeman said, “The family of the deceased just suspected that her daughter fell in love with a boy.”

Wang Qi looked down, “Has the supermarket’s surveillance been tuned out?”

The young policeman said, “I have already gone to the supermarket to discuss, and the monitoring will be obtained soon. The family of the deceased said that the mineral water bottle inserted into the deceased’s mouth was an extra bottle.”

Wang Qi looked up, “The extra bottle? What do you mean?”

The young policeman motioned him to turn the page, “The deceased went to the supermarket halfway to buy water and toothpaste. Her family looked through her bag and found a bottle of water in the bag. The deceased said the girl didn’t know it at first, but then she became absent-minded, and had a secret.”

“Wang Ge, could it be that the bottle of water was tampered with? The deceased drank it, so……”

The young policeman didn’t go on. If it was poisoned, the corpse would not be free of signs of poisoning, but if it wasn’t for poisoning, what else would a bottle of water have?

“We won’t know until the results come out from the laboratory.”

Wang Qi read the confession verbatim, he stood up and walked to the window to catch his breath, this time the accident happened again underage, and there are four things in common with the previous two.

First, the lives of the three deceased will always stay at the age of seventeen. Second, they are all senior high school students. Third, they all studied fine arts. Fourth, they all studied painting in the studio of the Agricultural University.

Are these four things in common just a coincidence?

Wang Qi’s brows were deeply furrowed. In their line of work, he had many cases in his hands, and all his manpower and material resources were invested in the homicide case, so he didn’t spend much time on those two cases.

Now that he has pulled out all the details, he is surprised that there are many doubts.

Xia Wei died on the bed of the rented house. She didn’t want to live anymore, she could directly puncture the main artery, why bother to puncture other places on her neck? While waiting for the blood in her body to flow out, what was she thinking, why did she press her face and leave a bloody palm print?

According to Xia Wei’s classmates, she was going to the Town God’s Temple the next day. What happened that night, what made her choose to give up her life?

Wang Qi wondered if he should find some time to visit Xia Wei’s Biao Jiu, look at the paintings in her room, and then go to the hospital where her father stayed to see if his condition is better, maybe we can sit down and chat.

There is also Lin Mao who was poisoned by carbon monoxide and fell to his death accidentally.

Wang Qi thought of Lin Mao’s roommate, that is, the youngster named Zhang Shuran, and remembered what he said. He said that a voice was calling Lin Mao, and that if Lin Mao didn’t come out, he wouldn’t die.

He doesn’t know what’s wrong, the more Wang Qi thinks about it at this moment, the more weird he feels, the baseball jacket inside his sweater was soaked with sweat, even if he was in the middle of a hail of bullets and was pointed at with a gun, he had never sweated so much.

Wang Qi went away from the window, he returned to the desk, and continued to pick up the statement.

The deceased was close to a boy in the studio before she was alive. Coincidentally, that boy Wang Qi had contact with him twice, both because of the murder.

“Shen Liang……”

Wang Qi wanted to make a phone call, but the young policeman knocked on the door, saying that the result had come out.

He went to the examination room, didn’t go in, just sat on the chair outside and smoked. When he heard footsteps approaching, he asked, “How is it?”

The forensic doctor took off his gloves, “The results came out. The cause of the deceased’s death was the water in her stomach. My guess is correct. She killed herself.”

Wang Qi took a puff of cigarette in silence, waiting for the next sentence.

“No other ingredients were detected in the bottle. There are only fingerprints of the deceased on the bottle. She has no trauma, and there are no other valuable discoveries in her stomach.”

The forensic doctor said unhurriedly, “We didn’t find any traces of restraint or struggle on the limbs of the deceased. In other words, she poured water by herself, which eventually led to death.”

Choked by the smell of smoke, Wang Qi coughed loudly, “Why did she pour water by herself? If it was just suicide, jumping directly into the river or putting the head in the bathtub can achieve the same effect, and it will be much easier.”

The forensic doctor said, “I don’t understand either, but all we can see is the test result.”

Wang Qi coughed a lot, extinguished the cigarette with his fingertips, and panted, “Judging from the shoe prints collected at the scene, the deceased had never left the bedroom or been in bed since she went to bed, that is to say, she drank water while lying on the bed, but the water in a mineral water bottle could only quench thirst at most, it would not kill a person.”

The forensic doctor did not speak, and fell into silence.

Wang Qi rubbed his temples, “The deceased’s belly was so high like a large bucket of water poured into it. How did she fill herself with water, and where did she get the water? Could it be that the bottle can produce water by itself? After pouring it out, will there be more? “

A series of questions were lined up in front of him, so unbelievable that he had to doubt the truth of the case.

The meaning of the forensic doctor was unclear, “Wang Ge, you should stop thinking about this case.”

Wang Qi frowned, “What do you mean?”

“The deceased committed suicide, that’s what it means,” said the forensic doctor.

Wang Qi got a little angry, “Have you ever seen such a method of suicide? Now all the physical evidence points to suicide, but it’s obviously very unreasonable, and it’s weird from everywhere, isn’t it?”

“Then what are you going to do? There’s nothing to check.”

“I want to think, let me think about it, there is something, and there is definitely something else to investigate.”

Wang Qi went to the other side and asked about the situation of the deceased’s cell phone.

The colleague said, “The fingerprints on the mobile phone belonged to the deceased. Her last call was to her home. The call lasted three minutes and twelve seconds. This has been confirmed by her family.”

“By the way, there is a text message in the draft box of the deceased.”

Wang Qi asked, “What content?”

He took the note from his colleague, with a sentence written on it——I will always be by your side, guarding you, and never leaving you.

As a rough man, Wang Qi is married and has children, and became a father, but he has never been exposed to this kind of love confession, he has never received it, and he has never given it to anyone. It was a little uncomfortable at the moment.

Just a minor, still in the third year of high school, is her emotional awareness that high? Be with all the time, watch over, never leave, these words are casual words, but are they really a kind of promise, a vow?

Wang Qi rolled up the note and put it in his pocket, “Did you find anything else?”

The colleague said, “The deceased’s photo album is full of paintings, and the signature on those paintings is not her own, but a person named Shen Liang.”

The name of Shen Liang popped into Wang Qi’s mind for the second time. He went to the studio alone, very low-key and fast, and when he got there, he called him out alone.

Shen Liang stood in the cold wind, “Officer Wang, what do you need from me?”

Wang Qi took out a photo from the pocket inside the leather jacket, “Student Shen, do you know this girl?”

Shen Liang glanced at the photo, “I know, why?”

Wang Qi didn’t put away the photos, “I heard that you guys have a very good relationship.”

Shen Liang didn’t say anything else, but admitted, “Yes, the two of us can chat better, and we usually communicate with each other when drawing.”

Wang Qi looked over, “She is interested in you.”

Shen Liang also admitted this time, “It should be, but I won’t talk about relationships before the college entrance examination.”

Wang Qi raised his eyebrows, “So, you don’t like her?”

Shen Liang scratched the back of his neck, showing an expression that echoed his age, a little shy and a little dazed, “I don’t know what liking is, I just know that I don’t have enough time every day, I’m so busy that I’m either painting or doing questions, and I don’t have the mind to think about other things.”

Pausing for a few moments, Shen Liang frowned, “She may be busy today, and she hasn’t come to the studio until now. If you want to find her, you can come and see her in the afternoon.”

Wang Qi said, “She died.”

Shen Liang suddenly opened his eyes wide, “Dead, dead?”

He smiled, his breath was a little messy, and the muscles on his face were all stiff, “Officer Wang, why are you making fun, she was sketching with me in the studio last night, and everyone else saw it, how could something happen to her?”

Wang Qi said with a straight face, “Student Shen, I won’t joke about human lives.”

His sharp eyes swept away, and he said in a deep voice, “I came to you today because I wanted to hear about this girl from you. After all, you have been with her recently. I think you should know……”

The blood on Shen Liang’s face was drained, he interrupted loudly, his emotions were on the verge of losing control, as if he had been greatly stimulated, “I don’t know, I don’t know anything, Officer Wang, I’m sorry, my mind is in a mess right now, How did she die, why did she die……”

Wang Qi patted the boy on the shoulder, “Calm down.”

Shen Liang wiped his face, his body was shaking, he seemed to be quite frightened, “I’m sorry, I can’t calm down, Officer Wang, I want to be alone, please tell the teacher for me.”

After he finished speaking, he left, his figure was a little staggering, and he squatted down after a few steps, his back was slightly arched, and his face was buried between his legs.

Wang Qi saw the boy’s shoulders trembling. He walked over and pulled him up. When he saw a face full of tears, he was sure that the boy was crying instead of laughing.

Just now he had the illusion that a teenager was laughing, Wang Qi licked his chapped mouth, and felt that he really shouldn’t be riding an electric bike on the way here, his mind was blurred by the wind, and was in a mess.

Shen Liang broke free from Wang Qi’s hand, and walked away in a daze.

Wang Qi watched the boy leave, he squinted his eyes on the spot, turned around to meet another target, Zhang Shuran.

Hearing the news of the death of the girl from No. 1 Middle School, Huang Dan didn’t feel surprised. It seemed that from the moment she became a model and had no face, he was already prepared for something to happen to her.

Huang Dan couldn’t figure out two things.

One is, something strange happened to Shen Liang’s painting, why didn’t he die?

The second is, assuming that those few things are all done by people, according to
the number of the previous missions, the target is not Chen Shi, but the people around him, Qi Fang, Zhou Jiaojiao, the teacher, the people in the studio, they all are suspects.

If it’s a ghost, it’s hard to catch.

The question in his ear brought Huang Dan back to his senses. He couldn’t procrastinate any longer. He had to use this policeman and rely on the other party’s resources to get him closer to the mission goal. “I was washing my hands at the sink in the yard last night. The girl talked to Shen Liang standing on the slope outside the door, and she gave something to Shen Liang.”

Wang Qi immediately asked, “What?”

Huang Dan thought for a while and said, “At that time, the distance between me and them was a bit far, like a letter.”

Wang Qi understood, he had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run away, and nine out of ten that letter was a love letter from the deceased to Shen Liang, but Shen Liang didn’t mention it, and kept it a secret, “Then what?”

Huang Dan said, “The girls separated from Shen Liang.”

He thought for a while and said, “Last time, the girl fainted suddenly in the studio. Shen Liang was very nervous and insisted on carrying the girl to the hospital. Whatever the teacher said was useless.”

Wang Qi was surprised, he didn’t expect this to be involved, “It seems that Student Shen is very helpful.”

Huang Dan pursed his lips, “There is something strange. Shen Liang hasn’t been to the studio for a few days before. When he reappeared, he seemed to be a different person, and his temperament was different from usual.”

Wang Qi asked, “Why is it different?”

Huang Dan said, “It’s hard to describe.”

Wang Qi pondered for a while, “There are many reasons for a person’s temperament to change. Maybe it is because the problem that has been troubling him has been solved, or there is a way out of the dead end. He thought he would die, but he found a chance to survive. Individuals and moods will undergo earth-shaking changes.”

Huang Dan’s eyelids twitched, something flashed through his mind, but he didn’t catch it.

Wang Qi stomped his cigarette butt into the mud, and brought up another closed case, “You said a few words to me when your roommate had an accident, and now I’ll ask you again, have you changed your mind?”

Huang Dan said, “I still have the same idea, and it won’t change.”

Wang Qi stared into his eyes, and the lines of his hard face eased a little, “Go and draw, and we will contact you later.”

When Huang Dan returned to the studio, he found that everyone was talking about the girl’s death, and the four words “impermanence of life” were crushed and stuffed into their hearts. A group of people who hadn’t grown up had already begun to discuss fate and feel emotional about life.

Chen Shi called Huang Dan to a corner, “What does the surname Wang want from you?”

Huang Dan said, “Asking about that girl.”

Chen Shi’s eyebrows were knotted, and his complexion was not very good, “You don’t know her well, why did the surname Wang find you? Even if he wanted to ask about the situation, he should have asked Shen Liang and the teacher, and it will never be your turn.”

Huang Dan said, “Officer Wang said my eyes were not deceiving, he thought everything I said was true.”

Chen Shi tsk-tsk, ” Surname Wang is really pitiful. People in middle age still fall into this kind of trick.”

“Little guy, your eyes can’t deceive, but you can.” He stretched out his index finger to poke the youngster’s head, “You’re quite bad.”

Huang Dan said, “I’m not bad to you.”

This sentence has another meaning. When necessary, he will have unkind thoughts towards people other than Chen Shi, and use some means to achieve his goal.

Chen Shi heard it, he hummed on purpose, thinking carefully, “I don’t believe it, you have to prove it to me slowly.”

Huang Dan’s thinking was distracted by him, “Okay, as long as you want to see it, I will continue to prove it.”

The confession came naturally, without any awkwardness.

Chen Shi’s eyes were extremely dark, he panted lowly, his heart beat faster, and his heart ached unbearably, “You said this, Zhang Shuran, if you dare to lie to me, I will find a way to settle accounts with you even if I go to the underworld.”

Huang Dan’s face became hot, “This is the studio.”

Chen Shi moved away from his cheeks, and smiled, “Don’t worry, everyone is whispering excitedly about the dead, and no one is paying attention to our side.”

Huang Dan，“……”

He glanced around and found that what Chen Shi said was correct, the others were really chattering, including Zhou Jiaojiao.

“I don’t know how she died.”

Chen Shi licked off the taste that didn’t belong to him on his lips, “Never mind her, people are dead, what difference does it make? Thinking about this issue is purely a waste of time, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Huang Dan said, “First Xia Wei, Lin Mao, and now that girl, they all had accidents, and they all happened within two or three months.”

Chen Shi smiled irrelevantly, “So, everyone has their own destiny.”

Huang Dan raised his eyelids, “Chen Shi, what will you do if it’s my turn?”

Chen Shi’s facial expression changed instantly. He reached out and grabbed the youngster’s arm with great force, cursing obscenities, “Fuck, why the fuck are you saying such things?”

Huang Dan gasped in pain, clenched his teeth, “Just talking casually.”

Chen Shi kicked down the easel next to him, the veins on his neck stood out, and his eyes stared angrily, “You can’t say it at all, do you hear me?!”

The second half of the sentence is his roar, which is really terrifying, like a wild beast, but his hands are constantly shaking. Just that sentence, a hypothesis, makes him scared to death.

Huang Dan’s voice was full of tears, “I heard it.”

Chen Shi ignored the gazes cast by the others after hearing the movement, and went out with a livid face.

Huang Dan squatted down covering his grasped arm.

Zhou Jiaojiao ran over nervously, she was about to cry, “Shuran, Shuran, what’s wrong with you? Where did you get hurt? Stop crying, why is Chen Shi so angry at you, is he crazy? “

Huang Dan cried and said, “It’s my problem, it has nothing to do with him.”

Zhou Jiaojiao went to her bag to get a pack of tissues, quickly tore open two and handed them over, “Stop talking for him, it has nothing to do with him, so who does it have to do with?”

Huang Dan didn’t speak anymore, he wept subduedly, waiting for the pain to subside.

Zhou Jiaojiao glared at the other people who were watching the fun, “What’s so interesting, don’t look at it.”

Everyone looked away in embarrassment. Logically speaking, there was nothing to see. However, it was the first time they saw a boy crying so hard. It was fresh.

Zhou Jiaojiao saw Chen Shi outside the courtyard, “Do you know that Shuran is crying?”

Chen Shi leaned against the corner and smoked, but didn’t respond.

Zhou Jiaojiao persisted, “I’m talking to you, what do you mean by pretending not to hear, Chen Shi.”

Chen Shi said coldly, “Scram!”

Zhou Jiaojiao snorted coldly, and said surprisingly, “I know the secret between you and Shuran.”

Chen Shi’s face was covered by the smoke, so she couldn’t see the expression clearly, but heard the laugh in voice, “So what? Go tell the teacher? Or use a loudspeaker and shout it several times in the Agricultural University?”

“I won’t say it.” Zhou Jiaojiao said as she walked around, the ponytail behind her shoulders kept flicking back and forth, “I won’t say it, it’s not because of you, it’s because of Shuran, I want to protect him, not like you who only know how to hurt him and make him sad.”

As she spoke, she became angry and kicked a large piece of snow at her feet, “What’s so good about you? Why does Shuran like you?!”

Chen Shi walked out of the smoke with a cigarette in his hand, walked up to Zhou Jiaojiao step by step, and looked down at her face, “I just want to say once, he is mine. Don’t break his mind, otherwise, what I will do, even I don’t know.”

Zhou Jiaojiao’s face was pale.

Seeing that Chen Shi had left, Zhou Jiaojiao went back to the studio. She moved a stool and sat next to the youngster who had stopped crying, and didn’t mention what happened just now. “Next week is the single-entrance exam registration. How many colleges does Shuran plan to apply for?”

Huang Dan’s eyes were red, “I’ll see when the time comes.”

Zhou Jiaojiao looked at his side face, curled her lips, “I plan to take the entrance exams for six or seven colleges, if I take a few more, I might be able to get into one at least.”

Huang Dan said, “Some college’s registration fees are not cheap.”

Zhou Jiaojiao said it was fine, “If I run out of money, I’ll call my dad to ask for it. He’d like me to get into a hundred colleges.”

Huang Dan，“……”

Zhou Jiaojiao sighed softly, “I wish I could go to college.”

Huang Dan said, “Hurry up and practice, before you have time.”

Zhou Jiaojiao scratched her face, lowered her head to pick the nail polish on her fingers, “It’s too late……”

She regained her spirits in the next second, “Shuran, do you eat preserved plum? I bought a good preserved bag, and I will give you a bag to eat.”

Huang Dan remembered what Chen Shi said about eating other people’s food, softened mouth and taking other people’s things shortened hands, so he pursed his lips, “I won’t eat, thank you.”

Zhou Jiaojiao drooped her eyelids unhappily, “It must be what Chen Shi meant.”

Huang Dan was taken aback, guessing something.

Zhou Jiaojiao didn’t speak anymore, she picked up a pencil and drew a big apple on the drawing paper, the lines were messy.

Looking at her apple, Huang Dan frowned and taught her how to arrange the lines.

Zhou Jiaojiao raised her round face with a smile, “Shuran, you are so good.”

Huang Dan gave her the pen, “Draw it yourself.”

Zhou Jiaojiao lowered her face, “Oh.”

Huang Dan went to look outside after a while, but Chen Shi wasn’t there, which meant he got angry, and it couldn’t go away for a while, and he rubbed his forehead, not in the mood to continue painting, so he slipped away before the teacher came.

Zhou Jiaojiao didn’t have time to shout, she wrinkled her nose, “Wouldn’t accompany me.”

Huang Dan returned to his room.

The door of the room was open, and there was a smell of tobacco coming out of it. He stepped in and saw a person leaning against the head of the bed, with long legs folded there, puffing.

Huang Dan coughed twice.

Chen Shi pinched his cigarette, “Come here.”

Huang Dan closed the door behind his back, walked to the bed obediently, was grabbed by one hand, which dragged him onto the bed, and bumped his head into the warm chest.

Chen Shi rolled up the youngster’s sleeves, saw the bruise on his arm, felt so distressed, and became angry, “Damn, why are you scaring me when you are alright? Do you know that I was scared by you, and my hands are still shaking till now?”

Huang Dan said, “I was wrong.”

Chen Shi’s chest felt tight, he pulled the youngster into his arms, and bit him hard, “Scare me next time, and see how I deal with you!”

Huang Dan’s face was bitten and it hurt very much. He didn’t beg for mercy, but let Chen Shi bite while crying.

Chen Shi bit the youngster’s face, and a little blood flowed into his mouth, “You’re so disobedient, I really want to swallow you into my stomach.”

Huang Dan hoarsely said, “If I die before you, you can do that.”

When Chen Shi heard the youngster saying this, his body trembled, he was stunned, and it took him a while to make a sound, “You really……”

The next moment, he raised his hand and slapped the youngster’s butt.

Huang Dan was wearing long johns, wool trousers, and a pair of jeans over it. It wouldn’t hurt. As he thought about it, his buttocks suddenly felt cold, and goosebumps instantly lined up to stand in line.

Chen Shi didn’t attack lightly. The fire in the studio hadn’t been extinguished yet, and a new fire was added. His internal organs were almost scorched, “You want to piss me off on purpose, don’t you?”

Huang Dan’s butt was in hot pain, and he cried and said, “I don’t.”

“Still said no, don’t you know I can’t hear that dead word? If something happens to you , if something fucking happens to you……”

Chen Shi couldn’t go on anymore, his throat choked, “Zhang Shuran, it was you who insisted on breaking into my life, you have to spend your whole life with me, no, one life is not enough, if I won’t kick you out, you can’t run away, answer me!”

Huang Dan rubbed his wet face against the quilt. He didn’t expect that this person would have such a strong resistance to death. He would react like this if he said it. If it happened one day, he didn’t know what it would be like.

“I wouldn’t run.”

No matter how many times Chen Shi asked, Huang Dan replied.

His hands were lowered, Chen Shi finished the beating, and he felt so uncomfortable that he was dying. He looked at the palm prints on the youngster’s buttocks, went to fetch water and put a towel on it without saying a word.

Huang Dan hissed and cried again, “Don’t, take the towel away.”

Chen Shi said in a hoarse voice, “Hold on, the swelling will go down.”

He wiped away the tears from the youngster’s face, “Why don’t I take you to the hospital.”

Huang Dan said no, “It will be fine in the afternoon.”

Chen Shi hugged him tightly in his arms, and patted his hands, “Zhang Shuran, you are not yet an adult, and you have a long time to go, so do I, you know right?”

Huang Dan was groggy, and said in a vague voice that he knew.

Listening to the youngster’s breathing, Chen Shi sighed, “I’m really going crazy……”

“I was not like this before, Zhang Shuran, you turned me into a crazy person, you have to be responsible for me, don’t leave me alone.”

When Huang Dan woke up, it was already dark.

It wasn’t that he slept too long, it was that the winter night came too early, which caught people off guard.

Huang Dan opened his eyes in a daze, smelling the aroma of the food, he yawned, but he didn’t get up from the bed, “Chen Shi.”

The curtain was lifted, and Chen Shi took a clip to one side, “Get up and have dinner.”

Huang Dan looked at the SpongeBob SquarePants apron on his chest, “Where did it come from?”

Chen Shi touched his forehead sadly, and said with a sigh, “You really don’t care about me, I told you before going to bed yesterday.”

Huang Dan remembered, it was a gift from the supermarket, “It looks good.”

Chen Shi’s face twitched, “Is this thing still good-looking? Just lie to me, anyway, you often lie to me.”

Huang Dan said, “It’s really good-looking, I didn’t lie to you.”

Chen Shi was overwhelmed, and came over to fish the boy out of the bed, and kissed him on the lips, “Gege looks better without clothes on, I’ll let you see enough at night.”

Huang Dan’s face was flushed, he had just left the bed, he was wearing long johns and was shivering from the cold.

Chen Shi had already stuffed the youngster’s clothes at the end of the bed to cover, he quickly took them out and threw them over, “Put on the clothes quickly.”

When Huang Dan touched it, it was warm, “Thank you.”

Chen Shi almost fell to the ground, he raised eyebrows, “Fuck, are you still so polite to me?”

Huang Dan，“……”

Chen Shi gritted his teeth, “I really want to beat you.”

Huang Dan’s butt was aching, “Don’t beat me, it hurts.”

Chen Shi’s breathing was stagnant. He spanked the youngster’s butt in the afternoon, and his intestines were almost green with regret. How could he do it, but he said, “Then are you obedient?”

Huang Dan said, “I am obedient.”

Something welled up in Chen Shi’s eyes, which was suppressed by him, and he opened his arms towards the youngster.

Huang Dan leaned over to give him a hug.

Chen Shi hugged the boy, tightened his arms and strangled, “Plump.”

Huang Dan，“……”

At night, Huang Dan heard the sound of ticking. It was the icicles under the eaves melting. The sound was so loud that he couldn’t sleep. As soon as he turned over, the hand on his waist tightened a little, “Sleep .”

Huang Dan nestled in Chen Shi’s arms, “It’s very noisy.”

Chen Shi clamped other’s feet with his legs, stretched out his hands to feel them, and finally it was warm, “It’ll be fine if the icicles outside melt away.”

Huang Dan lay down for a while, but still couldn’t fall asleep, “I’ll get up and get a glass of water.”

“What water to drink in the middle of the night, you lie down, I’ll go.”

Chen Shi was in good health, so he didn’t wear a coat, so he went outside in thin clothes and trousers. When he came back, he held a mug in his hand, “I mixed it with cold boiled water, and it was just right for drinking.”

Huang Dan took a few sips, and Chen Shi drank the rest.

The ticking sound outside the door continued, especially in the silent night.

Huang Dan took Chen Shi’s phone to play Snake.

Chen Shi was very sleepy, but he didn’t sleep, so he coaxed the youngster, “Sleep.”

Huang Dan said, “Listen to the sound of dripping water.”

Chen Shi, “I think you just slept too much in the afternoon.”

He yawned, pulled both his eyelids, and rubbed his face again, “I’ll get you some test papers to do.”

Huang Dan，“……”

So in the middle of the night, Huang Dan was lying on the bed doing test papers, and Chen Shi was reciting English words by the side. The teacher can be tearful if catches sight of it.

The next day, the original owner’s parents came over and brought a lot of things from home, including rice, cabbage, yams, eggs……the house didn’t feel empty at all.

Chen Shi greeted them politely, calling Shushu and Ayi, just like a mature and stable da Gege. (Ayi=aunt)

The original owner’s parents boasted that Chen Shi was sensible and wanted their son to learn more from him.

Chen Shi said shyly, “Shuran’s homework is better than mine, and I still have to ask him what I don’t understand.”

The original owner’s parents thought he was being polite.

Huang Dan watched from the side, and silently twitched.

After putting everything away, the family went to the relative’s house for dinner, and brought two large bottles of rapeseed oil, some home-grown vegetables, and a bucket of free-range eggs.

The relative is in his thirties, not tall, about 1.6 meters, and his wife is a little taller. Both of them pay attention to health preservation and like green and pollution-free food.

The original owner’s father received the cigarettes from his relatives, saying that they were given by others, that he doesn’t smoke, and that he still has good wine.

There was a great atmosphere at the dinner table.

Chen Shi originally wanted to warm up the unfinished braised pork, and then make a soup with half a piece of tofu and green vegetables, which would be meaty and vegetarian, but he couldn’t see any person, so he felt listless.

The room was deserted.

Chen Shi casually took a bag of instant noodles to fill his stomach, too lazy to boil water and soaked, and ate it dry.

It was almost nine o’clock when Huang Dan returned, and there was no light in the room. He yelled, and the light bulb turned on, casting a dim yellow light on the top of his hair.

Chen Shi didn’t know when he fell asleep, there was a bag of instant noodles on the bed, “Where are your parents?”

Huang Dan took off the scarf, “Left.”

Chen Shi sat up and scratched his disheveled hair, “It’s so late, I thought they were going to stay for the night.”

Huang Dan said that they were reluctant to pay the hotel, “What did you have for dinner?”

Chen Shi said it was instant noodles.

Huang Dan frowned, “Isn’t there food and vegetables? Why do you want to eat that?”

The person on the bed was strong and full of strength, and he couldn’t be underestimated sitting there, but he put on a pitiful look, “You’re not here, I don’t want to eat.”

Huang Dan said, “Nonsense.”

Chen Shi’s face was on fire, he got out of bed and walked in front of the youngster, lowered his head and took a deep breath into the youngster’s neck, feeling that half of his life had come back.

Huang Dan’s body was cold and his hands were cold, so he put it under Chen Shi’s clothes, “The stove is still burning, let me warm up food for you.”

Chen Shi shivered a bit, cursed, but grabbed the youngster’s hand into his arms, and took it out after warming it up.

When there is one more person in the room, Chen Shi gets excited, he circles around the other person, “Your parents are very satisfied with me.”

Huang Dan said, “Yes.”

Chen Shi hugged the youngster from behind and bit his ear, “Zhang Shuran, in the future your parents will ask you to marry a wife, will you marry?”

Huang Dan said, “I’m already married.”

Chen Shi didn’t realize it all at once, but when he did, his neck was red, “What are you talking about, you are my wife.”

Huang Dan said, “It’s the same, you are always mine.”

Chen Shi was dumbfounded. It took him a long time to break out of laughter. He stroked the youngster’s slender waist, put his chin on it, and said lazily, “Zhang Shuran, where did you learn your love-talking skills? Teach me.”

Huang Dan thought, you taught me.

When the food was ready, Chen Shi went to get two sets of bowls and chopsticks, “Come and eat together.”

Huang Dan went over to eat with him.

Chen Shi asked about the business while eating, “What University are you going to apply for, tell me in advance, I will go to the Internet cafe to search online.”

Huang Dan shook his head, “I won’t take the single-entrance exam.”

Chen Shi was taken aback after hearing this, “I’m already fucking prepared to take the single-entrance exam with you, and you are telling me you won’t take the exam?”

Huang Dan was also stunned, “You didn’t take the exam last year, so I thought you wouldn’t take the exam this year either.”

This time it was Chen Shi who was stunned again, the two of them stared at each other like two idiots, they both were thinking of each other.

Chen Shi backed away after being stunned, “Then tell me, should I take the exam or not?”

Huang Dan pursed his slightly swollen lips, “If you only participate in the unified entrance exam, the risk will be a bit high, what do you think?”

Instead of being stubborn, he was asking his little companion.

Chen Shi’s hands were dishonest, and he touched the inside of the youngster’s neckline, “I can do it, just listen to you.”

Huang Dan hurt a little from his touch, “Which University do you want to go to?”

Chen Shi shrugged, “I don’t care.”

Huang Dan said, “Then I will choose.”

Chen Shi raised his eyebrows at him, he was extraordinarily handsome, “Okay, see you at the university then.”

Huang Dan said, “Okay.”

Chen Shi buried his face in other’s neck, pressed his lips against the warm skin, and rubbed his chin with green stubble, “Now I know what it’s like to like someone, even a fart is sweet.”

Huang Dan，“……”

Chen Shi’s arm encircled the person, “If you don’t believe me, you can give it a try.”

Huang Dan said, “I don’t have one now.”

Chen Shi shook his shoulders and smiled, “Zhang Shuran, why are you so cute? I found that I like you more than the last second.”

Huang Dan said, “Me too.”

Chen Shi cursed in a low voice, lifted the person up and threw him on the bed, then pushed himself up.

The death of the girl brought a bit of sadness to the studio, which soon gradually diluted in the busy atmosphere created by the senior high school students.

The time left for them is getting less and less. If they don’t do well in their majors, there is no point in going back to school.

Shen Liang’s popularity is even better than before. He always smiles when he talks to anyone, it’s not a big deal to ask him to look at the painting, and it’s not a big deal to change two strokes. Even in the studio exam, his total score was suppressed by Huang Dan and Chen Shi, and he didn’t feel depressed at all.

Teacher Zhang often praised Shen Liang in front of everyone, saying that he had a good attitude.

On the seventh day after the girl’s death, there was heavy snow in the sky.

It was cold outside, and Shen Liang didn’t go to the studio to sketch. He copied a piece of gouache in the room, packed up the painting tools, lay down under the quilt, picked up the Chinese textbook, and prepared to recite a text.

When Shen Liang turned to that page, he looked down for a moment and found a letter inside, which was a love letter from that girl to him.

After the girl left that evening, he threw the letter into the trash can without even looking at it. Why did it appear in the textbook now?

Shen Liang touched the letter with shaking hands.