Zhou Wenli reached out and grabbed the metal door handle. The chilling moment made Zhou Wenli's palm sting. She hurriedly opened the door and entered the residential building.

The large iron door made of iron railings cannot block the cold wind outside, but the surrounding cement walls also play some role.

Zhou Wenli thought of going home and taking a hot shower, turning on an electric blanket, and nestling comfortably in the warm quilt. Just imagined this way, her body seemed to be getting hot.

Zhou Wenli stepped on the stairs and the sound of footsteps made the voice-controlled lights light up layer by layer.

She felt something and looked up at the layers above.

It seems that someone is going downstairs on the roof, and the lights on the top floor light up, and then the lights on the lower floor lights on one by one.

The sound of two footsteps up and down made the voice-controlled lights in the entire building illuminate.

Zhou Wenli stopped.

Her footsteps stopped, and no footsteps came down.

Zhou Wenli shivered. Although she didn't know what was going on, she always felt something was wrong.

She quickly found the key to her security door and rushed towards the door quickly.

The key is inserted into the keyhole, making a slight friction sound.

On New Year's Eve, neighbors did not go to bed so early. The voices of each household and the sounds of the Spring Festival Gala played on TV intertwined in the building to form a hazy echo.

The sound of the key inserting into the keyhole was amplified, highlighting from those echoes.

In addition, Zhou Wenli heard the breathing behind her.

That moment, the breathing was not too fast, and it sounded so loud, like a seriously ill person was gasping for difficulty.

A cold sweat broke out from behind Zhou Wenli.

Her heartbeats faster, and the sound of blood vessels contracting and swelling hitting her eardrums. She didn't want to look back, and wanted to pretend that nothing happened, so she hurried home, but her hands trembled unconsciously and lost their strength. She couldn't even do a simple move to twist the key. Her legs were a little weak, and she imagined someone in her mind quietly sticking to her back. She also thought of a lot of news and stories she saw when she was young.

When Zhou Wenli was young, social security was not good. Zhou Wenli's parents were still alive at that time and often told them to be careful when they went out. One year, a murder occurred not far from where they lived. When the family of three came home, they were targeted and followed them to the door. When the father opened the door, the criminal rushed forward and pushed the three into the room, locked the door, stabbed the father to death, and then caught the child and forced the mother to take out all the hidden property in the house. The child's crying attracted the neighbors. The group of robbers killed the people and ran away from the window before they had time to take away the finances.

Zhou Wenli forgot whether the gang of gangsters were caught in the end. She only remembered her parents’ advice to her and the days when she was worried about her younger brother Ajun going to and from school. At that time, everyone in the neighborhood was in danger. Occasionally, when they met passers-by, both sides were alert and prepared.

Zhou Wenli hasn't felt this kind of fear for many years.

No, not right.

She had just experienced something similar not long ago.

She unexpectedly discovered the little boy not long ago... The little boy was squatting on the stairs behind him...

Zhou Wenli trembled even harder when she thought of this.

That boy...is not a human at all...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of sniffing.

The whistling sound of a child sniffing replaced the heavy breathing sound.

Zhou Wenli was stunned and slowly turned around.

The little boy squatted on the stairs, holding the stair railing with both hands, pressing a mark on his forehead with his head against the iron railing. His face was pale and his hands were red and swollen. He sucked his nose, wearing thin clothes and pants, looking like a wandering child.

Zhou Wenli opened her mouth.

The previous times she saw this boy, she saw him as terrible as he was naughty or staring at a person, but now she looked like another person.

The boy was still staring at the person, but seemed to have lost his previous energy, like a poor sick child.

Zhou Wenli was stunned for a moment and forgot her fear.

She didn't understand why the boy was doing well a few days ago turned out like this.

If you want to talk about cooling, it will cool before the New Year, and a new round of cooling has to wait until after the New Year. This Spring Festival is sunny, with sunny during the day and temperatures not low, and the cold at night is just...

Zhou Wenli suddenly remembered that she felt extremely cold before.

After leaving her younger brother Ajun's house, her body has not been very warm. The crowded and air-conditioned buses cannot make her feel warm.

This is a psychological cold.

Imagine the familiar water heater and electric blanket at home, and she will feel hotter. She spent the New Year’s Eve in previous years like this.

The difference this year is probably that the people who eat the New Year’s Eve dinner together are different. The people who want to have the New Year’s Eve dinner together are not here, but instead spend the New Year’s Eve with people she didn’t expect.

Thinking of Sha Kai who would only come back to work after the New Year, Zhou Wenli felt cold again.

The little boy sniffed and suddenly stood up.

Zhou Wenli was only sure at this time that the child was indeed very young and had a thin figure, and looked like a primary school student.

He stood up quickly and rubbed the iron railings, not only showing his forehead with red marks, but also rubbed the hem of his clothes by the iron railings, causing the hideous scars on his stomach to flash in front of Zhou Wenli's eyes.

Zhou Wenli's mind was blank. When she saw the boy turning around and going upstairs, she blurted out and said, "Wait."

The boy stopped and tilted his head to look down at Zhou Wenli.

Zhou Wenli didn't know why she called her. When she saw the boy's dark eyes staring at her, she didn't blink for a moment, a trace of fear arose in her heart.

She didn't say anything, and the boy didn't leave.

The voice-controlled light suddenly went out.

Zhou Wenli was shocked and stamped her feet.

The light lit up, and the image just now remained in Zhou Wenli's retina, and she suddenly saw that the boy had been pressed in front of her.

Zhou Wenli could feel the chill coming from the boy through her thick clothes.

She took a step back and put her back on the security door.

The little boy raised his head and still stared at her with that kind of straight look, not knowing what he was thinking.

"What's your name?" Zhou Wenli was in a panic and only thought of this question.

The boy didn't answer, but looked at Zhou Wenli for a while, suddenly grinned and smiled.

The child's innocent smile made Zhou Wenli lose the ability to think.

She remembered a long time ago, when she had not divorced, Shakai smiled and called her mother to run towards her.

Shakai was even younger than the boy in front of him at that time, and he couldn't even walk steadily.

No, it seems to be older than the boy in front of me, so I should have studied at that time...

Zhou Wenli can't remember it clearly.

After her ex-husband took Sha Kai away with her tough and refused to visit her, she stopped thinking about this. At that time, she was full of thoughts about her younger brother Ajun, and she was busy taking care of Ajun in the hospital. Every day when she saw the rounds doctor, she was extremely nervous, afraid of hearing bad news. When Ajun was discharged from the hospital, Ajun completely recovered, Ajun had her own life, and even married and had children, she remembered Sha Kai again.

She is not a competent mother.

She never thought Shakai would be filial to herself.

only……

The boy seemed to see Zhou Wenli's distractedness, took a few steps back, and distanced himself from Zhou Wenli. He was like a flexible monkey, leaning back against the handrail of the stairs and then turning down the stairs.

Zhou Wenli was frightened and rushed to the stairs.

The voice-controlled light goes out and turns on again.

Zhou Wenli only saw the empty stairs and steps, and no longer saw the little boy.

Zhou Wenli's heart was empty.

She came back to her senses until the voice-controlled light went out again.

She has been standing outside for too long and her hands are frozen.

She slowly opened the security door and entered the house, only to see the darkness.

Zhou Wenli turned on the light, didn't rush to take a hot shower, nor did she turn on the electric blanket to warm up the bed.

She sat on the sofa, tilting her body with some strength off.

She thought of Sha Kai when she was a child, Zhou Nuan who had grown up since childhood, and the little boy she had just met.

She obviously has an adult son, but she has never experienced the adolescence and rebellious period of her child. She has never been worried about her child’s high school entrance examination and college entrance examination, and has never been worried about her child’s study and work...

Ah, she had worried about Ajun's work. Ajun's first job was when she was busy and asked her relationship to help her. Her ex-husband also helped. But not long after Ajun worked on that job, she got sick and didn't take enough sick leave, so she had to quit. Then, it was a busy medical treatment process. When Ajun was in good health, he found his current job through the community neighborhood committee. She originally thought that Ajun would stop working in such a way. After Ajun found a job, she told her about this. She also persuaded her that she had despised the neighborhood committee for meddling in other people's business, but Ajun did not listen.

Zhou Wenli's head was empty for a long time, and the ringtone of her cell phone rang, waking her up.

It was the call from my younger brother Ajun.

Zhou Wenli hurriedly answered.

"...Well, I've been home long ago. I forgot to call you. Don't worry, it's okay. I'm going to bed. You guys go to bed early too. Well... Good night too. You go to bed early. Well. Goodbye."

Zhou Wenli hung up the phone and found that there was a message on WeChat.

When she opened it, she saw that there were New Year's Eve blessing messages sent by many people, including pictures and text.

The row of red dots pulled to the end, and Zhou Wenli saw the "son".

Sha Kai sent New Year's Eve blessings after dinner. Although it was copied and pasted, Zhou Wenli felt at a loss.

She suddenly remembered that she had no idea where Shakai's job came from. Like those college students in the news, she submitted resumes online? Attend a job fair when she graduated? Or was it introduced by his school teacher? Why did she come here to work and not stay with his father?
To be continued...