It was raining outside, and the cold wind kept blowing the raindrops in through the open window.
Li Hanzhang, who would turn 32 in three days, sat in front of the computer, staring blankly at the stock market. Looking at the green, jumping data was like looking at the eyes of countless vicious wolves in the dark night.
1.2 million. 60,000 left. Everything felt like a dream. Everything was so illusory. Only the fluttering curtains and the occasional cold raindrop on his face made him feel conscious.
Everything was over. He was a pauper again. At that moment, Li Hanzhang's heart was as cold as the autumn rain outside the window.
That night, his wife, Lin Zihui, handed him a divorce report. "I hope to see you signed by tomorrow morning.”After saying that, she walked into the bedroom and locked the door with a bang.
"F * ck you, bitch!" Li Hanzhang cursed in his heart. At that moment, he really wanted to kill someone.
In fact, Li Hanzhang had long predicted that this day would come sooner or later. As early as three months ago, he had detected Zi Hui's disloyalty to him with his sixth sense, but he did not have any evidence. Besides, it was better not to look for that kind of evidence.
Some men always wanted to know what kind of man their wives slept with. They followed them in secret, as if they would not stop until they saw their wives sleeping with another man. Li Hanzhang thought that it was just an act of sprinkling salt on his wounds and was not worth imitating.
What did it matter what kind of man he was? Perhaps it was a wealthy man, perhaps it was the boss of his wife's unit, perhaps it was a young handsome man, or perhaps it was a beggar on the street. In short, a man entered your territory when you were not paying attention and took advantage of your wife's lack of effort to cultivate the land that originally belonged to you.
Everything was related to stocks.
Li Hanzhang himself did not understand why he was obsessed with stocks. Thinking back, it was the stocks that made him abandon his business, and now it was the stocks that found his wife a man.
For the past two years, Li Hanzhang felt that his surname wasn't Li, but Bei. He was unlucky, and he had memorized everything. Otherwise, why did the stock market keep falling as soon as he entered the stock market? Why was it like there was a devil's hand controlling him, always making him buy at the highest point and sell at the lowest point? Why did he always grab a new round of decline every time he tried to rebound?
His bad luck was not only reflected in the stock market, but also in his body.
Ever since he entered the market, that thing of his was not as good as before. Every time he panted and rolled down from Zi Hui's body, Zi Hui would say disdainfully,"That thing of yours is almost the same as your stock.”
Li Hanzhang was always so ashamed that he didn't say a word. He was anxiously waiting for a miracle to appear. He knew that if the stock market still couldn't get out of the market, his weakness would never have any hope of rising.
The reality was that the stock market was still persistently creating new lows every day, and he was weakening day by day. It was during those weak days that Zi Hui made him a cuckold.
Li Hanzhang was carrying an old suitcase that contained a few pieces of his clothes. When the door closed behind him, he looked up at the door number. Room 401. It used to be his home. Who knows which man's house it will be in the future. Perhaps tomorrow, a strange man would move in and sleep on the big bed that she had slept in before. He would then f * ck the woman that she had slept with before, while the woman would repeat the obscene words that she had said to the new man.
With a wave of heart-wrenching pain, Li Hanzhang covered his chest with one hand, spat at the door, and turned to leave.
This was an old building from the 80s, a simple room that people of that era were proud of but despised by people today. He was grateful to his parents for leaving behind this small kennel, so that he could avoid the wind and rain when he was homeless and have a place to stay.
When Li Hanzhang walked to the entrance of the corridor with a broken suitcase, he saw five or six white-haired old neighbors, who were his parents 'old friends who were still alive. They looked like they were looking at aliens.
These were all experienced Jianghu veterans who were proficient in the cold and warmth of the world. They could tell all the tragic stories that had happened to Li Hanzhang from his gray and depressed face and the broken suitcase in his hand.
What an arrogant person! Didn't he have to return to this broken house to lick his wounds now? Young man, the older the ginger, the spicier. If you don't listen to the old man, you'll suffer a loss in front of you!
Li Hanzhang slipped into the corridor like a stray dog, leaving a buzzing sound behind him.
After the divorce, Li Hanzhang held a simple ceremony in the dilapidated house his parents left him. Of course, only he himself participated. He poured himself a cup of soju and looked at himself in the mirror for a long time. He raised his cup and said,"Cheers, you bastard!" Then, he began his secluded life.
Li Hanzhang seemed to be deliberately punishing himself. He lowered his standard of living to the lowest limit of survival. He only ate instant noodles and drank tap water every day. The only luxuries he had were cigarettes and liquor.
The computer was no longer a tool for analyzing stocks, but a toy that an adult like him could never get tired of. In fact, he never looked at the stock market again.
For a while, he was obsessed with strategy games. He felt like he was the commander of the three armies, commanding every battle in the game. Later on, he started browsing adult forums and indulged in the beauties of all countries until he remembered the taste of instant noodles when he saw a erotic film.
He never went out during the day. He would only sneak out of the corridor like an abandoned dog at night or when the sky was just beginning to brighten. He would wander aimlessly on the dark road. Sometimes, when he looked at the brightly lit windows, he would think of his old home, that woman, and imagine what that woman was doing at the moment. He would feel confused, as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at him in the dark corner. Then, she would return home as if she was running away and continue her dark life.
The days without a wife, the days without a woman, the days of being alone passed day by day.
When computer games were no longer as tasty as wax, and there was nothing new in the erotic forums, Li Hanzhang indulged in endless sleep, having all kinds of strange dreams. Once, he dreamed of his dead mother. His mother still looked the same, not changing at all. She stood by his bed and said to him with tears in her eyes,"If you really can't endure it, come early.”
This was the best dream he had ever had. Every other dream made him sweat profusely and wake up with a splitting headache. In the end, the endless sleep was accompanied by sleepless nights. He often stared at a black spot on the wall for seven or eight hours, falling into nothingness.
On this day, Li Hanzhang was lying in bed and daydreaming when he heard a knock on the door. At first, he didn't pay much attention to it. He thought that the knock was part of his dream, but then the rapid knocking on the door finally pulled him back to reality.
Someone outside wanted to come in.
He lay on the bed and imagined the appearance of the person knocking on the door, hoping to include him in his daydream.
The person who knocked on the door seemed to know his intention. In an even more persistent way, it was as if he was knocking on his heart. Li Hanzhang finally couldn't take it anymore. He got up from the bed and opened the door in anger.
A woman, a pretty woman. He couldn't remember who else he had anything to do with. "You must have knocked on the wrong door."
The woman sneered, pushed Li Hanzhang away, and walked into the house. It was so familiar that it felt like she was at home.
She frowned and looked at everything in the room. There were four or five paper bowls of instant noodles on the table. The cigarette butts in the ashtray next to the computer were piled up like a small mountain. Dozens of wine bottles were placed high and low along the wall, as if they were being inspected by their owners. The room was filled with the smell of Amonia.
"Li Hanzhang, stop pretending to be retarded. You already look very similar if you don't pretend.”What a familiar voice, what penetrating insight. Who else in this world could it be other than her?
Li Hanzhang slapped his own mouth. "I was really blind. I couldn't even recognize my wife.”
Zi Hui ignored his joke and took out a piece of paper and a carbon pen from her bag and threw them on the table. "Take a look and sign it.”
It turned out to be an IOU.
Lin Zihui looked at Li Hanzhang and said," Back then, I borrowed 150,000 yuan for you to invest in stocks. I've already paid back the money. Now, you owe me. I know you don't have the money to pay me back. It's not too much to write a note first, right?"”
Li Hanzhang thought that it was true. He picked up the carbon pen and wrote his name on the paper. Anyway, a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water, and a lot of lice were not afraid of itchiness. He did not care even if it was 1.5 million, let alone 150 thousand.
Zi Hui didn't seem to expect Li Hanzhang to sign so readily. She picked up the IOU and looked at it suspiciously for a while. Then, she stood up and sized up Li Hanzhang. "I almost couldn't recognize you. Take care of yourself." After saying that, she shook her butt and left.
This woman's butt was even bigger than before.
Li Hanzhang sat on the sofa and smoked one cigarette after another. He did not move until night time.
"I almost don't recognize you anymore." Thinking of what Zi Hui had said, Li Hanzhang came to the mirror. There was a complete stranger inside. He couldn't help but turn around to take a look, only then did he dare to confirm that the person in the mirror was him. He didn't expect to grow such a lush beard. With his long hair, he looked like an artist on TV.
Could this be his true appearance? He had been pretending in the past and only revealed it today? Even the woman who had slept with him for seven to eight years could not recognize him.
Li Hanzhang lost himself in an instant. He made all kinds of strange expressions and postures in front of the mirror. After verification, he sadly admitted that the down-and-out artist in the mirror was himself, or rather, he was the person in the mirror. As for who this person was, he suddenly couldn't remember.
Li Hanzhang put on his clothes. He desperately needed fresh air.
He stood at the door and thought about where to go. His eyes saw the small skylight that led to the roof above his head. He moved the small ladder beside him and climbed up to the roof. The roof was dark, and the cool autumn wind felt very cool.
The five-story building didn't feel tall. Li Hanzhang looked down a few times and hesitated. Jumping from this height might not be fatal. What if he broke his legs and was still alive? It was said that people who had died once and did not die successfully would find it difficult to make up their minds to die a second time. Besides, that would be too cruel to him.
It wasn't that Li Hanzhang hadn't thought of other methods. For example, he could get two bottles of sleeping pills and boil a pot of porridge to drink. He could eat his dinner and end his life. It was killing two birds with one stone. But then he thought about it, dying in his sleep lacked the experience of the process, and dying in a muddled state was not the way he liked.
He still felt that jumping off a building was better. At least he could experience the feeling of flying in the air.
He had wanted to find a higher building, such as one hundred meters or more, so that he could fly in the air for a longer time. However, everyone was nostalgic. He only wanted to die at the entrance of the corridor where he had played since he was young. Besides, even his ex-wife could hardly recognize him in this state. Those old ladies with blurry eyes would not be able to recognize him for a moment.
The truth was that a person who looked like an artist had jumped off a building and died. An artist jumping off a building was just the last creation of his artistic career. Who would notice? Even if people finally learned the truth, his heroic spirit would be far away by then. Who would care about the flood?
Li Hanzhang felt deeply disappointed. Who would have thought that the builders would cut corners and build a five-story building so low that it could not satisfy his desire to soar in the sky?
Extremely disappointed, Li Hanzhang felt his legs go weak, and he simply lay on the cold roof. Finally, he couldn't die.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]