Chapter 4 ants, ants, ants

Night, unfathomable.I can't sleep without the sound of my wife's slight breathing by my side.It was so quiet that I stared at the dim ceiling, ringed with rings of water stains that had changed color.Time passed slowly and I still couldn't fall asleep, so I got up and went to the balcony to breathe fresh air. The wife has been missing for more than a month.In this cold and humid season, even mice and wild cats are too lazy to come out to look for food, so where else can she go?Thinking made my head hurt. After my wife disappeared, I searched everywhere. I accidentally fell and knocked my head to blood. Since then, my brain is not so good, and I often forget things.For example, I can't remember why the factory manager sent me here. Is it because I have done something wrong?After thinking about it, there was nothing but a headache, and I didn't bother to think about it.Fortunately, my job is just to watch over this broken factory area, so I don't have to worry about it.

I know that people in the world, except for wives, are all hypocrites. But why is she leaving?Every night, I numb my nerves with alcohol, hoping to see her come back at some inadvertent moment.However, for a month, I didn’t even have hallucinations. I was really disappointed. I used my fingers to kill the ants crawling on the wall one by one, filling this endless and boring night with their tiny corpses. There is always peanuts as an appetizer, which is a favorite food for ants, and these small black insects can often be seen gathering next to food crumbs.When my wife is here, I often treat these little things very gently, rewarding them with some leftovers or watermelon rinds. She squats in the corner with relish and can look at them for a long time. She is really a kind woman.However, she is no longer there, and these ants have lost the meaning of survival.

When the phone rang, I was on the balcony using the nails of my little finger to cut the larger soldier ants in half. Seeing them struggling and dying slowly, my nerves were relieved a lot, and my head didn't hurt anymore.I can't remember how I have an affair with such an annoying woman as Ning Xue, she always calls late. "Hasn't she come home yet?" Ning Xue's voice had obvious anticipation, "You've been waiting for another day." "Yes, there's still no news." I rubbed my temples, my head ached. "Do you want me to accompany you?"

"No, maybe she will come back." I hung up the phone, my wife was everywhere in the house, and I didn't want other people to spoil it. I found a bottle of beer, threw three painkiller tablets into it, and shook it vigorously. The tablets slowly melted and white foam appeared.I poured the beer into my mouth and went back to bed. Ten minutes later, my head exploded, I felt the blood start to flow backwards, my temples tightened, and I finally passed out. After a dreamless night, I sneezed in the first rays of morning light.I swallowed hard, and heard clear footsteps on the stairs, it was Ning Xue.The woman came early in the morning.I put on my coat and opened the door. She went straight to the bedroom, put a bag of KFC breakfast selections on the dressing table, and then sat on the edge of my bed, her fair complexion flaunting her legs under the short skirt.

"If she doesn't come back, can we continue as before?" She stretched her legs under my quilt, cold and slippery. I lowered my head: "Maybe, we shouldn't start at all." At a distance of ten centimeters, Ning Xue's eye circles were obviously covered with powder. She must have not slept well last night: "Maybe she will never come back, otherwise, she would not leave without saying goodbye like this." A hot tear fell on the On my cold forehead, I was a little tempted. "Don't cry, the factory manager..." Before I finished speaking, Ning Xue's plump lips had covered my mouth, and the warm fragrance like a mother animal began to invade my nerves. After all, I am no stranger, and passion is easily overwhelmed arouse.Ning Xue took off her clothes, the longing for warmth made me hug this woman even tighter, my hand slid down, the lines of my palm suddenly swelled, I heard the surging tide under the blood vessels, my breathing became short of breath, rising in the sun Before, I finally freed myself.

"That's great, that's how I like you." Ning Xue said coquettishly. "This is our last time. Don't do it again." I said in an iron voice, "I've already let her down, and I can't go on wronging her." Ning Xue was stunned for a while, as if she didn't believe that I would be so heartless, no matter how her eyes tried to test her, I had already put on my clothes and got out of bed, and even opened the door. When Ning Xue was about to leave, she tried to kiss me unwillingly, I pushed her away and said, "Don't do this, I can't give you anything."

I stood on the balcony and watched her back fade away, hating myself a little, since I was about to die, but I couldn't resist her body, my nerves were always not hard enough.I munch on a cold hamburger, tasteless.Ning Xue will not understand my feelings for my wife, just like she will not understand why I only like to eat noodles made by my wife. There must be something about Ning Xue that I once liked, but I can't remember it.This is really bad and a headache.I want to retrieve my lost memories, and maybe I can also find clues about my wife's disappearance. Having nothing to do after breakfast, I squatted in the corner to watch the ants.The hamburger is very suitable for the appetite of ants, and the aroma has attracted a large group of ants. They gather at the feet and swallow the dregs happily.On the other side of the balcony, there was a large group of ants lining up to climb up the water pipe, and many of them were holding white eggs.They are obviously not the black group in my family, they are bigger and dark red in body.Is it going to rain today?Looking at the rare clear sky in winter, I have some doubts. Is there any better place for these ants to settle down?

These densely packed little things made my heart feel inexplicably chaotic. I went to the kitchen to get some hot water and splashed it on the ants team. Immediately, the formation was in chaos, and many ants were scalded to death and fell from the wall of the sixth floor. down.I think they shouldn't be brains overflowing and blood flowing when they hit the ground. Their body structure is far more suitable for survival on the earth than humans. I thought that I sent them to heaven and they should thank me. It would be nice to go to heaven and not have to do coolies anymore.But they didn't appreciate it. Some of them climbed onto my slippers and took revenge on me with their hard jaws. My non-socked feet immediately felt tingling, and several small bumps swelled up, which was extremely itchy.I got some medicated oil to rub on, but it didn't work.

Only when it really itch will you know that the pain is easier to bear than the itch. After repeated application of medicine was ineffective, I decided to go to Lao Litou's booth to ask him to help me. Before retiring, he was a factory doctor.After listening to my narration, Old Li regained some energy, blinked his shrewd eyes and said mysteriously: "Fortunately, it wasn't that kind of red ant that bit you, otherwise, it is possible to lose your life." Alarmist talk, I didn't take his words to heart.But he continued on his own: "Black ants are just ordinary house ants. Their formic acid is not so poisonous. Wash it with soapy water and it will be cured. Red ants are very powerful. , you should buy some of my ant medicine, it is very effective, one pack at a time, put it in the place where ants are infested, and you put another pack every three or four days, basically there is no problem."

I thought about it and paid for three packs.Old Li was very happy. When I left, he even told me: "Don't touch the nest of red ants." Although Lao Li made some money, his prescription was really good. After washing with soapy water, the itching stopped.After tossing and tossing for a long time, I lay lazily on the bed to rest, and my eyelids became heavy. "Pa", a heavy slap fell on my face, and the pain woke me up.When I opened my eyes, my face was itchy, and there were two dark red spots on my hands, which were the corpses of ants.My eyes were right on the large circle of water stains on the ceiling. The ants on my face all fell from there, and some were crawling on the ceiling, looking for something.

In the evening, old man Li came to borrow sesame oil. He poured out half of the bottle and was a little embarrassed. Before leaving the house, he said to me: "Don't put down all my ant medicine at once, otherwise the roots won't be cut off, because..." He Before I finished speaking, I had already closed the door. He is just a person who likes to take advantage of small things. It doesn't matter if he doesn't listen to what he says. I put all the ant medicine on the corner of the wall, beside the trash can... I sprinkled it on all the places where ants like to haunt.I didn't listen to old man Li, I took all three packs at once, and I didn't want them to linger for a few more days, which meant that I might have to suffer another day of flesh and blood. Those medicines contained sesame seeds and peanuts that had not been ground into fine powder. Soon, the red ants and black ants smelled the smell and packed up the pie that fell from the sky.Soon, the three packs of ant medicine were all carried home by the ants. This night I slept more peacefully. I even saw my wife in my dream. She came back in a hurry. She said that she was in a much better mood, but the ants woke up, climbed up on her body, and killed her. .Red bumps appeared on my wife's face and body immediately, she cried and said to me: "You have to avenge me, kill them, these heartless things..." The medicine was really effective. For three full days, the ants stopped moving, and I lived a peaceful life for a few days. But three days later, many red ants parachuted down again from the water stains on the ceiling.It's just that this time they are very small. These immature little devils are lying in ambush on my pillow and on the sheets. They are too small to be found in the dark pattern of the fabric. I made up my mind to find the ant's old nest.Since they all crawled in through the cracks in the ceiling, maybe the ceiling is their nest, so I decided to go to the rooftop to have a look.I left in a hurry, and after I closed the door, I realized that I forgot to change my shoes. My feet were cold in the fur slippers that had been trampled on for nearly two months. I climbed up the rusted cast iron stairs. The roof is a two-meter-high gable roof insulation layer, and no one usually goes up it.However, the rust on the stairs seems to have been stepped on not long ago, and there are obvious footprints.Will there be thieves?I raised my vigilance. The insulation is much colder than the home downstairs, and it's a little dark around, but luckily I had emergency lights ready.I groped around to the ground above the ceiling of the bedroom, and the pale light was projected over it. A person was lying on the ground, and from her motionless posture, it should be a corpse. It was really a frightening female corpse, with a thick waist and no hair on her body. The murderer probably wanted to conceal her identity. Crawling in and out, her tiny body was reddened by the light as if she had drunk blood. Her hair had been burnt, and her hairstyle could not be seen.The fatal wound of the female corpse should be in the chest, where there is a deep gash, not wide but deep, and there is a large pool of blood stains that have dried up to dark brown under the body, and there are many small ants gathered, they are scraping the floor Every bit of dead man's essence, there is a thick crack under the blood stain, it seems that the red ants in the house crawled down from here. I saw many mutilated corpses of big ants on the ground being eaten by small ants, and in the abdomen of the female corpse, a fat queen ant died there. Under the belly that was so thin that it was almost transparent, many small ants were coming from it. The eggs crawled out. I finally understand why old man Li said not to use all three packs of medicine at once: one pack at a time is just enough for the ants to bite each other until they eat all their eggs, and once the medicine is overdose, they It will immediately die from poisoning, leaving behind a large number of eggs. On the finger of the female corpse, there was something reflecting light, and the silver was shining brightly. I took a closer look, and it was a platinum ring with very small diamonds. I put down the emergency light, took off the ring, and studied it carefully in front of the light. There was a line of small words on the inner side of the ring: love is stronger than gold, Shuhui my wife saves rewards. My eyes were blank, but my brain started to run at high speed.This female corpse looks to be about the same size as my wife's, and my wife's name is Shuhui!This ring is the only jewelry I gave to Shuhui. So, who killed her?Still throwing her here?Anger filled my body and began to dominate my losing sanity.I remembered that in my dream, Shuhui wanted me to avenge her by killing these little things with no conscience.I stomped like crazy on the ants on the ground, they used to enjoy her favor, but now they feed on her body. My killing seemed to irritate them, and after a short physical contact, they reached a certain consensus, and all the ants started attacking me.They climbed up my feet in slippers and crawled all over my body. A feeling of itching and pain that was almost tingling was intertwined. My hands began to be insufficient. I scratched and scratched. They crush to death. My mind gradually became numb from the increasingly intense pain and itching, and my hands and feet gradually lost control. There were a series of small transparent blisters on the feet, which were so itchy that I wanted to reach out and scratch them, but He lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground.More ants crawled up my body. I thought I was about to lose consciousness, but the lost memory suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. I never loved Su Hui. My parents died early.Shuhui is the neighbor's daughter, she looks very ordinary, she likes to play with me since she was a child.I have liked to lie to her since I was a child. She said that as long as I like her and I am willing to have a house with her, she will give me half of her dinner. I immediately nodded and said that I really like her.Later, Shuhui took the place of her mother and joined the work early. Although it was hard work, the benefits of the unit were good.I married Su Hui because she said she would use her salary to pay for my college tuition. When I was in college, I met Ning Xue.She used to be the school belle, but she only fell in love with me.But I told her that I must fulfill my promise to marry Shuhui.Ning Xue later committed herself to the director of our factory because he agreed to give me the title of engineer.After I became an engineer, I realized that I gave my body for me, Ningxue. I made a fuss with the factory manager, and he sent me to this ghostly place. Everything that Ning Xue did for me made me feel that I owed her, and to repay her, I had to hurt Shuhui.What's more, Shuhui's health is getting worse and worse. Her diabetes has become so serious that she needs to take insulin every day. Poor and lowly couples mourn everything.I think, as long as Su Hui dies, my life can start over.The beautiful Ning Xue was waiting for me with all her heart. She said that as long as I divorced Shuhui, she would have a way to take me abroad.I am longing for a new life. I am born to be a successful man. I have long been tired of living in this ghostly place. I fiddled with Su Hui's insulin dose, and she fell into a coma shortly after the injection.I moved her to the insulation layer and took off her clothes. Unexpectedly, she was suddenly awakened by the cold. Maybe it was the instinct to survive, and she began to call for "help".In a hurry, I took out the knife I carried with me and stabbed her in the heart.After she died, I scratched her face with a knife and set her hair ablaze with a lighter... I thought that before the body stinks next spring, I would be able to leave here and go abroad with Ning Xue. Maybe I was too nervous, or too excited. When I went downstairs in the dark, I slipped and fell on the ground first, and then I lost my memory. It must be Shuhui's sweet blood that attracted these little red devils. I once saw that after Shuhui accidentally cut her hand while cooking, ants soon surrounded the dripping blood. It must be the hidden conscience in my heart that makes me not want to think of the fact that I killed Shuhui. I have been deceiving myself that she is missing, and I have been deceiving Ning Xue in the same way. Conscience woke up after amnesia, I began to think that I should not continue with Ningxue, I started to be an ordinary good man, live and work honestly, and wait for Shuhui to come back. Regret is meaningless, I can’t open my eyes anymore, my thinking will stop, I’m really going to die, beside Shuhui, those ants who have eaten Shuhui have already started to eat my body , their small belly is the burial place of me and Shuhui. I remembered the wish that she whispered under the quilt on the night I married Shuhui: As long as we live, we live in the same bed and die in the same grave.