Chapter 2 second quarter

Three and a half months ago. It happened to be Christmas Eve. After dealing with daily chores, Wu Ze returned to the apartment at ten o'clock in the evening, took out the key and was about to open the door of the second and fifth rooms where he lived, when he suddenly stopped with an "oops".He was going to put the key in, but it wouldn't fit in the keyhole on the doorknob.It can only be inserted halfway, and then it can't be inserted at all.He wondered if the key was bent, so he pulled it out from the lock and held it up to his eyes for a closer look, but there was no sign of any bending.

Is there a problem with the lock? Wu Ze bent down and squinted his eyes to see the keyhole on the doorknob.The surroundings were too dark to see clearly, so I had to continue to bend down and tried to insert it into the keyhole several times, but there was still no change, at most it could only be inserted half way.Did I get the wrong room?No, the words "Twenty-five" are clearly written on the house number. "what happened……" Looking at the door in front of him, Wu Ze was helpless.I want to contact the landlord, but I can't remember the phone number.Is there no way to open the door without a key?Wu Ze really had no choice.Although he has done a lot of vicious things, but he just didn't learn the lockpicking technique.The only thing he uses on his body is his mouth, but he is not good at anything that requires fingers.It seems that the only way to find a locksmith who comes to unlock the door... Is there such a shop nearby?Wu Ze couldn't remember.

The year-round icy wind blows in from the outer corridor of the apartment. "Well, by the way, advertising flyers." Wu Ze suddenly thought of this, and hurried down the stairs of the apartment to the front of the mailbox.There are five rusty red-brown iron mailboxes in a row, and there are two rows on the first floor and the second floor.Originally, the number of rooms on each floor was limited to No. 6, but it seemed that the developer was superstitious. There was no room No. 4 on each floor. After No. 3, there was No. 5. Wu Ze found the mailbox with "Second Five" written on it.The small iron box is stuffed with leaflets and other things, just like the treasure chests I saw in picture books when I was a child.Wu Ze has not opened this small door for a long time.There are two reasons: one reason is that because of some previous experience, Wu Ze has a little fear of opening the door of the mailbox; the other reason is that no one knows - no one should know - Wu Ze I live here, so there shouldn't be any important letters.

"Locksmith...locksmith..." Wu Ze pulled out a large number of leaflets from the mailbox and began to flip through them one by one.Fortunately, what I was looking for was found immediately.The third is a flyer that says "Lock & Key Enters Sichuan". "Twenty-four hours for emergency repairs. Please hand over the keys and locks to Irikawa at any time!" - The slogan is too long and looks a bit tiring, but Wu Ze decided to leave it to Irikawa.He pulled out his outdated cell phone and dialed the number on the flyer. Wu Ze briefly introduced the current situation, and said on the other end of the phone that he would be here soon.Wu Ze told him the address and the name of the apartment.

"What's the room number?" "Two five. Room five on the second floor." Wu Ze deliberately added a sentence, and then hung up the phone. While waiting for the locksmith to come, Wu Ze was so cold that he had to run to a nearby vending machine to buy coffee, put the warm coffee can on his belly, which was only wearing a sweater, and walked back to the apartment.On the way, Wu Ze took out the key from his pocket and looked at it carefully, but he still didn't see anything strange, neither folded nor bent—— wrong. "This thing is..." Some kind of white powder was attached to the concave and convex part of the key, like snow crystals, or powder shaved from something.Wu Ze put the key under his nose and smelled it, and there was a slight pungent smell.

The sound of the motorcycle made Wu Ze raise his head.A motorcycle stopped just in front of the apartment.The man driving the car was wearing a yellow jacket with the words "Enter Sichuan" printed on it in big letters, as if the unlocker had finally arrived.Just in time to ask him what this strange white powder is.Wu Ze held the key with his fingers and walked over. It was a small middle-aged man who came.He took out a handmade three-plywood toolbox from the trunk of the motorcycle, and stepped up the stairs in three steps at a time.Wu Ze didn't have time to call him back, so he had to rush to the apartment while watching him go upstairs and walk in the corridor on the second floor.The man was carrying a toolbox in one hand, looking down at the box as he walked forward, and tinkling through tools with the other hand.He stood in front of Wu Ze's door and rang the doorbell.

"Is there anyone here? This is Irikawa—" "Hi, I'm here, I'm calling." Wu Ze greeted from below. "Ah, there you are. Hello." "I'm going, I'm going." Wu Ze climbed up the stairs and handed him the key in his hand. "I also said on the phone that the keyhole only fits half way. What do you think of that?" "Well... I haven't seen it yet, so it's hard to say." "Look, that's what I just found out, too. There's something like white powder on the key. What do you think of it?" "Hmm... so I haven't seen it yet..."

"Then take a look." "Oh well." The man first looked at the white powder stuck in the crevice of the key, thought for a while, then took out a pen flashlight, looked at the keyhole on the door, and then pulled out a very thin awl-like object from the toolbox. The same tool was inserted into the keyhole and fiddled with it.From time to time, he pouted, raised his eyebrows, and seemed quite surprised——suddenly, he stopped what he was doing. "oops……" The man sighed and seemed sorry. "Hey, what's the matter?" Wu Ze leaned over.The man kept his previous appearance, looked up at Wu Ze sideways, blinked his small eyes and said, "I'm afraid someone did this on purpose."

"Do it on purpose?" "The white one is glue. It's poured into the keyhole." "why?" "So, I guess someone did it on purpose." "Who did it?" "Ok……" The man exhaled white mist and scratched the back of his head in confusion. "What are you going to do? The lock is no longer usable, should you change it?" "Is there no other way?" "No more." Is it appropriate to just change the lock without saying hello to the landlord?Wu Ze was a little hesitant, but a certain interest strongly attracted him, and finally asked the man to change it for him.The total cost was 25,000 yuan.Even so, it is cheaper than big stores, the man explained, and then he went back to the motorcycle side first, and returned with a forty-centimeter-sized wooden box that looked very strong.Under the sliding lid, various metal barrels are arranged.

"what is this?" "Cylinder. Locked—well, what's in it." Wu Ze watched the man work with great interest.After all, it was necessary to change the lock from the locked door. The project was quite complicated, but it took about ten minutes for professionals to finally remove the old lock cylinder from the door. "Okay, so we can finally go in." "Ah, is it? Oh, okay, but it's fun to watch you work, and I'm fascinated by it-wow, it's amazing, it's really glued in." Wu Ze narrowed his eyes and stared at the old lock cylinder in the man's hand and said.The glue in the lock cylinder has dried and turned white.The white powder on the key should be this.

"It's overdone, and it's Christmas Eve." "It's gone too far, and it's Christmas Eve." "It still looks like superglue, doesn't it?" "It looks like it." "Where did you buy it?" "what?" "Hundred yen store?" The man looked at Wu Ze in confusion. "I don't know about this." "Yes, sorry, I thought you knew." The man's expression froze for a moment, but he immediately smiled wryly, and turned his attention back to the doorknob, creaking and continuing to work. Wu Ze watched his movements, and then asked: "How did you know it was this room just now?" "what?" The man asked back, without taking his eyes off his hand. "I said room two and five on the phone, but how do you know it's this room?" "Ah, isn't it written on the house number?" The sign posted on the door did say "205". "But, you were looking through the toolbox while walking in the corridor just now, right? You kept looking down, didn't you see the sign on the door?" The man let out a "hmm" and looked back at Wu Ze. "Well... When I was walking, I really didn't look up to see the house number. But it's like this. Even if I keep my head down, You can always count how many doors you have passed. " "Oh, it's based on the number of doors." "Ok." "You counted five doors from the stairs at the beginning of the corridor, so this is room two and five?" "yes." "what a pity." "What a pity?" "You got Fooled." "What's the trick?" The man's voice became anxious.Wu Ze turned to face the stairs and said, "This door is the fourth one." Wu Ze could feel the man taking a slight breath behind him. "There is no room number four in this building. Therefore, room two and five are actually the fourth rooms from there." One, two, three, four, Wu Ze counted door by door on purpose, then turned around and asked the man, "That's right", and then said: "Have you been relying on this kind of trick to make a living? , is this the first time?" "I have no idea what you're talking about." Although the man is still pretending to be stupid, for Wu Ze, his acting skills are only equivalent to the level of acting at a middle school party. "I said unlocking. The reason why you knew this was my room without looking at the door plate was because you just came here today? Although I don't know whether it is day or evening, you came here when I was not around anyway? Standing in front of this door, shivering and peeking around, squeezing glue into the keyhole quickly, just so I can get you to change the locks, right? That's the kind of trick you make a little money on ?Choose a house where no one is there, first stuff the leaflets from your store into the mailbox, and then tamper with the keyhole. In this way, people who can’t enter the house have no other choice, so they will naturally call you .You rush over enthusiastically, change the lock, and get twenty-five thousand yuan—that’s what I guessed, is my guess wrong?" "I guess I guessed wrong." Acting has dropped to the level of a primary school gala. "Oh, anyway, I don't care. You are wrong if you say it wrong. So be it. But, you probably won't be able to sleep tonight, because you are afraid that I will tell someone what happened today. Do you This kind of thing happened, and I refused to admit it, which made me sullen, and I have to say it again when I meet someone—you will be so worried. And it’s not just tonight, you will be worried tomorrow. And it’s not just tomorrow After three days, another week, or one month, I don’t think you will be able to sleep at all. In the end, it’s a kitchen knife. Things like this are almost all kitchen knives in the end. It is easy to go crazy. You will open the kitchen door at night, pull out the kitchen knife, as if some huge and terrifying dark monster has attached to your body, making your body move around involuntarily. Then you suddenly I want to cut my wrist. But the kitchen knife is not fast enough. When I cut my wrist, I think it will make a sound, creaking." "do not talk--" "When you hear that sound, a string in your brain will snap, and then what will you do? You will hold the kitchen knife tighter, and you will make a strange noise, like the sound of fingernails scratching glass. You Will continue to stand up straight and keep cutting off his own hands. Like vegetables. Like pork. Until the consciousness is gone and only the hands are left—” "say no more--" The man's face was completely twisted into a ball.He just turned his face like that, hugged Wu Ze's legs, and muttered in a thin, high-pitched voice like a mosquito.He seemed to be confessing his crime, but the voice was too muffled to make out. "If you admit it at the beginning, it's over..." Wu Ze looked down at the man and snorted. Although the lock hadn't been changed yet, Wu Ze opened the door and pushed the man into the room.It would be troublesome if the word spread out that someone who opened the lock cried at his door. "do not Cry." The man still hugged Wu Ze's leg and kept saying "no, no". After the man calmed down a bit, Wu Ze started asking questions from the beginning.Sure enough, just as Wu Ze thought, this man is a habitual offender.He confessed that he started looking at the houses in this area about two months ago, and he used the same trick every time, choosing a suitable house, and stuffing flyers from his store into the mailbox when the people inside were out. Then squeeze the superglue bought at the 100-yen store into the keyhole. "You never thought about when it would be exposed?" "I've thought about it... I've thought about it..." "Then why do you keep doing this?" "Because there is no money...no money..." While crying, he said that the large chain stores opened branches in the town and launched a powerful publicity campaign, and his own small store was about to close down.But Wu Ze felt that even if he knew about this kind of thing, it was useless. "where is your family?" "The wife is dead...the child is gone...speaking of it...speaking of it, the death of the wife—" "Okay, okay, let's not talk about this kind of thing." Wu Ze saw that he was about to start talking about the hardships of life, so he quickly stopped him.While wiping his eyes with his clenched fists, the man sobbed for a long time, and finally said in a staccato voice: "One, one, impulsive." "An impulsive habitual offender?" Wu Ze's rhetorical question made the man cry even more fiercely.Wu Ze couldn't help feeling a bit like he was pinching a soft persimmon, and he couldn't help but cry. "Yes, do you want the police to arrest me?" The man raised his sticky face.Snot and tears are all on it, dirty. "Police? Spare me." Wu Ze frowned and shook his head, the man's dirty face suddenly brightened, as if a white clean light suddenly shone on it. "Don't call the police? Will I not be arrested and go to jail?" "I don't know about that. Well... Anyway, as long as you don't turn yourself in, and you're not caught by others, you'll probably be fine." "Great……" The man said word by word, as if squeezed out from the bottom of his heart. "I'm not a bad guy. I was forced to, really—really, there's nothing I can do about it." He obviously didn't question him, but he started to make excuses. "Look, if it's a bad guy, I'll just open the door and go in, right? Then, all the money, all the jewelry, steal it all, right? I didn't do that kind of thing. Never did." That's right, Wu Ze thought. "You tell me this too—" Suddenly Wu Ze stopped, looked down at the man's face and asked, "Can you pick the lock?" The man nods. "Yeah...it was originally for lock repair." More questions.Just watched him work. "Well, I can do many other things. My craft is pretty good. Besides, if you don't believe me, I can speak a few words of English. I have learned it." This guy seems to be starting to boast, really confused about the situation.Wu Ze thought for a while and made a suggestion. "How about going to dinner together?" "Huh? Me? But the lock—" "It's okay, there is nothing to steal in this room." So Wu Ze led the man to a nearby noodle shop that he often went to, and when he came back, he stopped by the convenience store and bought him the leftover beer from the Christmas sale.The two-pack of beer comes with a Christmas tree, bells, silk satin, and a gold star made of tin.They are all used to deceive children. Two months after that incident, the guy's "going bankrupt" shop seemed to have really closed down.He sold the small shop that doubled as a residence, and after paying off the parts bill with the money from the shop, there was no money left—that guy explained, and moved into Wu Ze's residence on his own initiative. . "I can't find anyone who can help." The man pouted his dolphin-like mouth, whimpering and complaining while crying.This guy can bring nothing but trouble, Wu Ze thought.But it would be pitiful if he were really driven out.Wu Ze decided to let him live here for a while. "What's your name?" "Irikawa Tetsumi." "dolphin?" "Wah." This name is too troublesome to call, Wu Ze decided to call him Laotie. The luggage brought by the old iron is really messy: several sets of replacement clothes; old tools; a tattered English dictionary with countless notes written on it; a kettle; .I don't know why there is a cup of Alale, the cup is plastic, and there is something like tea stains on the bottom, and the picture of Alale on the surface of the cup has peeled off a lot.Wu Ze asked Lao Tie, and Lao Tie said that this was something his dead wife liked very much since she was a child.Ah, that's all Wu Ze replied. "Old man... what are you going to do next?" On the night when Lao Tie moved in, Wu Ze asked while drinking canned beer.This kind of problem is also logical.However, the old iron's answer is not logical at all.He slowly sipped the beer in Alare's glass and replied, "I want to fly, me." The old man really said so. "I've been crawling on the ground to live, and I've always been lying on the ground and looking up at people. So—so I always think about when I can fly." No matter how much I looked up, the only thing above my head was the gray ceiling of the apartment room.But Wu Ze could never forget the profile of Lao Tie looking up as if he was looking for some kind of dream.

---

Notes: