Mason stood in front of the map of the subway station and it took him several minutes to figure out how to take the train and which station to transfer.
This was the first time in his life that he took the subway. Besides lamenting how dmn crowded there were, he was also glad that he knew the geographical features near Holden's house, otherwise he wouldn't even know which stop he should get off.
As the crowd squeezed into the carriage, Mason was squeezed against a pole, with an older woman's hand tightly gripping the pole pressing against his stomach. He tried to take a deep breath and move his body backwards to get away from the pole while facing the older woman's angry gaze, which said, "How can you be so uncultured that you want to hug a pole by yourself and don't even know to move away when you've pinned down other people's hands?"
After a long ordeal, when we got off the bus with one stop left, the number of people on the bus finally dwindled.
When Mason walked out of the subway station, he lowered his head and tugged at his clothes. Two small balls of white hair were blown by the wind and floated past his eyes.
Only then did he suddenly notice that he had walked all the way with a hole in his down jacket. The velvet in this compartment of his down jacket was already gone. Those two small clumps were probably the last two clumps.
Mason pressed the wound, and the knife wound on his waist began to hurt again.
Mason had actually only been to Holden's house twice. Both times he just passed by and stayed in for a while. When he went to the property management to get the key, perhaps because of his miserable-looking clothes, the property management hesitated and looked at him for a while, then called Holden to confirm that he was the person who was going to take the key.
Mason entered the house with the key, took off his coat and fell on the sofa, not wanting to move anymore.
He has lived for more than 20 years, and although he has done nothing all day and achieved nothing, he has no worries about food and drink. He has never experienced or even thought about what it means to have no money.
In other words, he never thought that he could reach this level without money.
Now he can't even buy a lunch box.
Hold!
Although he didn't want to eat the box lunch.
He was thinking about what he was going to do next. After taking a break and changing into Holden's coat, he should go out to replenish his card and buy his mobile phone.
But when he thought that the only means of transportation available to him were buses and subways, he didn't want to move at all and felt very annoyed.
What happened, why did things suddenly become like this?
Mason didn't want to ponder these meaningless questions, but they kept lingering in his mind.
He stayed on the sofa until lunch time, then he slowly sat up, walked into the bathroom, and looked at himself in the mirror.
My mental outlook is okay, not too decadent. After all, I have been dealing with mental illness for the past two days.
He turned sideways, raised his right arm, and saw the knife incision on his clothes, but there was no blood stain as expected. When he lifted his clothes again, he saw a dark red gash two to three inches long.
Mason turned on the faucet, dipped his hand in water and wiped the wound, wiping off the dried blood. Some more seeped out of the wound. The scene was gentle and not cruel at all.
Mason was not a man who held grudges, but he took note of Travis's inexplicable knife attack.
I will definitely find it back.
Travis was lying on his side on the bed, with a cat curled up in front of his face, fast asleep. Because the cat was too small and there was no guarantee he would be able to keep it alive, Travis didn't give it a name and just called it meow.
Among all the wandering cats, very few have names. Names are not what they need. All they need is to live.
name.
Travis has always felt that names are something magical.
The feeling of someone dying is completely different from the feeling of someone else dying.
Maybe the name is to prove that the person was alive when he died.
His nose felt a little itchy, probably because of cat hair. Travis didn't have time to turn his head and sneezed at the cat in front of him.
The cat, who was sleeping soundly, almost didn't wake up when startled. He jumped out of bed and ran under the cupboard.
"You're so brave." Travis rubbed his nose, turned over and lay down, closing his eyes.
The sun shone from the courtyard wall onto the bed, and his entire face was covered in a bright halo. His eyes were filled with shining and dancing spots of light, and a bright red behind the spots.
Travis raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes. When his hand blocked the sunlight, the light spot slowly disappeared, then moved away, the light spot jumped back, and blocked it again...
The light spot gradually became blurred, and the bright red in the background began to dim, revealing a bloody color.
Travis opened his eyes suddenly and sat up quickly.
The cat, who had just climbed onto the edge of the bed by grabbing the sheets, was frightened by his sudden move and fell back to the ground, then dived under the cupboard again.
Travis sat on the edge of the table in a daze. The phone rang for a long time before he picked it up.
"Are you going to Building 2 to collect rent in the past two days?" Lucy's voice was a little irritated. "On the second, fourth and fifth floors of Building 1, those three idiot households haven't paid their rent yet."
"It seems like I didn't pay it last month." Travis took out a cigarette.
"The person on the second floor hasn't paid for two months. If he doesn't pay for this month, he will be let go!" Lucy said, "I just looked at the family and asked them to take it easy. That's good. Who the hell can take pity on me?" ah."
"I pity you," Travis lit a cigarette and glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside, "I'll bring someone to check it out later."
"You don't have to be too aggressive with those on the second floor. You can't make any money even if you die, and the children are still young," Lucy explained. "You can do whatever you want with those on the fourth and fifth floors. I've long been tired of looking at those two on the fifth floor. If you can't do it, just drive away." Walk."
"Then just chase him away." Travis said.
"That won't work!" Lucy said in a louder voice, "You have to get the money before you leave!"
"I know." Travis smiled.
"I'll be back for dinner later," Lucy said. "I've made a big pot of sweet and sour pork ribs, your favorite. Bring some wine when you come over."
"Yeah." Travis responded.
At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Travis asked Connor to call two people and go to Building 1 together.
Building No. 1234 is Lu Qian's rental house in the urban village. Each building has seven floors. Most of the rent is paid monthly in cash, which Travis takes away and collects.
He called Lu Xi’s sister of ten years, and he watched over the construction of Buildings 1 to 4.
He lived in Building 1 for several years. After Lucy bought the house, she let him live in the old house now. When he moved out, he was a little reluctant to leave.
At first, every time I went back to collect rent, I felt like I was revisiting my old place, but as time went by, I didn’t feel that much anymore. After all, I went there dozens of times a year, and it was very annoying to see so many unlucky ones every month.
"A hard one or a soft one?" Connor followed him, walking very domineeringly. If Travis didn't hide a little, Connor would probably step on his feet eight times in ten steps.
"Just come straight." Travis said.
"What do you mean by straight?" Connor patted the steel pipe inserted in his trouser leg. "The steel pipe is straight."
"Walk," Travis glanced at him. In order to protect Connor's image in the eyes of other brothers, he tried hard to restrain himself from yelling, "walk in a straight line, and then put your fcuking feet in front of me and come on." I'll give it to you."
Connor was stunned for a moment and then became happy: "It's not like you only found out today that I walk with splayed legs."
"Is what you're doing called a splayed kick?" Travis said, "You're doing a sweeping kick."
"I'm building momentum for you!" Connor said, "Building momentum, do you understand?"
"Just collect it," Travis sighed, "We are just collecting rent, not robbing."
Half an hour later, Travis felt that today might be more like a robbery.
"If you don't open the door, it will be smashed!" Connor patted the door of 502, "Open the door!"
"I have the key." Travis waved his hand behind him. A child behind him put a bunch of keys in his hand and picked out the key for 502. He glanced at the child and asked, "What's your name?"
"Just call me Dabin, Third Brother." The child smiled.
Travis nodded, took the key and opened the door.
After twisting it twice, the door lock didn't respond. It must have been locked from behind.
"You have ten seconds to open the door," Travis threw the key back into Dabin's hand, fumbled in his pocket, took out a receipt, took off the two paper clips on it, and slowly straightened the needles, "Once I open this door myself, it won't be as simple as collecting rent."
There was still no movement inside. Travis frowned and clicked his tongue. He inserted two paper clips into the keyhole, twisted it a few times with his fingers, and the door lock opened.
"dmn it!" Connor pushed open the door.
The scene inside the door was quite shocking. At least Connor was stunned when he stepped in.
The tenants of Room 502 were a young couple. The girl was very thin and petite, and because she always wore heavy makeup, Travis had never been able to see what she looked like. The boy was quite strong, with a beard, and he liked to go shirtless when he had nothing to do. He had tattoos from the neck to the waist, but he didn't know if he had any on his but.t, since he had never had s3x with him naked.
Now this strong man was sitting shirtless on a chair facing the door, holding a knife to his neck. His thin girlfriend was sitting on the bed next to him, crying. .
"What the hell is going on here?" Connor was very shocked, but he still showed his strength. After exclaiming, he added, "fcuk you!"
"I don't have any money," the strong man said in a low and firm voice, "If you have the guts, come and take my life!"
Travis didn't say anything. He took two steps forward and pushed the sturdy man on the elbow when the sturdy man's gaze turned from Connor to him.
The strong man was surrounded by him and changed into a posture of hugging himself with one hand. The knife on his neck also moved. Travis pressed his elbow without letting go. He reached over and twisted the knife from his hand. Come down.
Very relaxing.
Travis was so relaxed that he had doubts about the strong man's physique.
"You drew these muscles using your wife's eye shadow, right?" He handed the knife back to Connor.
"This knife is real." Connor tossed the knife in his hand.
"What!" The strong man jumped up from his chair, very angry, "You still want to steal money!"
Travis slashed his face with a knife, followed his inertia, grabbed his hair and pushed him on the bed: "Are you here with me to make a movie?"
"You..." The sturdy man struggled to get up, but soon stopped moving again.
A knife slipped out of Travis's sleeve. He held it with no fingers, and the tip of the knife gently stuck into the strong man's beard.
The beard was quite thick, and it probably didn't even touch the flesh, but the strong man immediately fell silent.
"Look for money." Travis said.
"Look for it!" Connor waved his hand, and several people began to search the house.
The girlfriend who had been crying beside me finally stopped crying and wiped away her tears: "Where did I get the money from? If I had money, would I still let you bully me like this?"
"Who is bullying who?" Connor glared at him. "You didn't pay for the rent for two months. Who is bullying who?"
"No money!" The girlfriend kicked her legs and lay on the bed, yelling at Travis, "Sleep with me if you can! Pay with your body!"
Several people in the room were stunned.
Travis was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses and sighed: "You really wish for it."
Compared to the sturdy man who looked very social, this girlfriend was much more difficult to deal with. When Connor and his two brothers were looking for money in the house, Travis had been circling in the house, avoiding his girlfriend who kept throwing tantrums and grabbing him for s3x.
In the end, he couldn't bear it any longer. He picked up his thin girlfriend and threw her on top of the strong man. He pointed at the strong man and said, "Hold her tight. Let go and I'll castrate you."
The strong man hugged his girlfriend tightly.
Connor rummaged through the cabinet a few times and turned around suddenly: "Third brother!"
Travis walked over and saw that he was holding a small sealed bottle with half a bottle of something that looked like tobacco in it.
"This guy is also a pilot." said Connor.
"Call the police." Travis said simply.
The strong man who had been watching them rummaging through boxes and cabinets indifferently finally exploded, threw his thin girlfriend on the bed, and rushed over.
Travis regained his body and kicked him in the chest. After he fell to the ground, he was held down by Connor and Dabin. Another kid took his thin girlfriend's pantyhose and tied his hands tightly.
"Third brother, third brother!" The strong man was anxious, twisting on the ground, "That thing is not mine, the last renter left it here! Don't call the police, don't call the police!"
Travis said nothing and glanced at Connor. Connor took out his cell phone and turned around and walked out.
After finishing all the work, Lu Xi's third call came. Travis sighed: "I shouldn't have called her sister at the beginning. I should have called her mom."
"Sister Qian will whip you." Connor said with a smile.
"How is it?" Lucy asked on the other end of the phone.
"I'm going to eat now," Travis said, "everything is done."
"Hit him!" Lucy raised her voice. "Doing this in my house! Son of a b!tch!"
"Beat him." Travis said.
"Okay, come here quickly. Just come directly. I've already bought the wine and stuff." Lucy said.
"Yes." Travis responded and hung up the phone.
"I'll go over to eat too." Connor looked at him.
"Take them to dinner," Travis took out his wallet from his pocket, "You've made such a tiring trip, and we'll have to pay them back tomorrow."
"I have it here." Connor held his hand.
"Come on," Travis frowned, "You are so poor that you want to rob even a ragpicker."
"...Jaeger-LeCoultre is not a rag picker," Connor took the card he handed over, "I'm wearing a watch worth hundreds of thousands...but you still have the ability, this watch I got it as soon as I said I would..."
"I didn't say I wanted to take his watch," Travis gritted his teeth, "Get out of here."
The new house Lucy bought is quite big, and it is where she and her four Alaskans live.
When Travis came in, Lu Qian had already laid out all the dishes and placed six stools, and one was empty.
"Stay away from me." Travis pointed at the dogs sitting on both sides as he sat down.
The two dogs moved aside very cooperatively.
"Do we have to go tomorrow? Let's just go to the one on the fifth floor today?" Lucy scooped him a bowl of soup and poured him some wine.
"Yeah." Travis nodded.
"Come with me to pay for the house in the morning." Lucy said.
"Buy again?" Travis glanced at her, "Don't you already have an empty set?"
"That one is rented out. You can go to the real estate agency in the next two days," Lucy handed him a piece of pork chop. "It's already decorated, so just put it up. You can rent it or sell it."
"Yes," Travis nodded, "that apartment is in a good location."
"Tell the agent not to rent to just anyone, but to find a cleaner and more elegant apartment," Lucy frowned, "I don't want to end up with something like the one on the fifth floor today."
"I can't afford to rent your apartment." Travis smiled.
Mason was meditating in Holden's house until the third day when Bradley called.
Mason stared at his phone. It rang for almost thirty seconds before he picked up the phone: "Hello."
"Where are you?" Bradley asked immediately, "How is it?"
"Under the bridge," Mason said, "I just picked up half a box of leftovers."
Bradley laughed: "Come on, it's not like you're really leaving the house with nothing. You don't have to ask your dad for money, and you have a lot of money on hand."
Mason smiled and said nothing.
"Where are you? I'll pick you up later and ask them to come out at night to calm your nerves together." Bradley said.
"Asked Cheng Cheng if he was scared," Mason yawned, "Without his nod, the shock cannot be suppressed casually."
"It's boring to talk like that," Bradley laughed dryly, with embarrassment in his laughter, "I really didn't hear the phone ringing that day, and then I called it but it didn't go through."
"I left my phone at home, so I borrowed someone else's phone to call," Mason didn't want to embarrass Bradley, "You guys can have fun tonight, I won't go."
"No, it will be boring for us to play without you." Bradley said.
Mason sighed softly: "I really don't want to go, I still have to find a place to stay. I've been really busy and tired these days. Let's talk about it later."
"Well... okay, I guess you are quite busy. There must be a lot of things to do in the new store." Bradley said.
In the store? Mason was stunned and said nothing.
"I heard about this. Did Adrian give you the shop he bought before?" Bradley said, "Just do it first. Although it's a little small, it's already on the right track. You can get familiar with it in a few days, and you don't have to worry about it in the future..."
"Ah." Mason responded.
Bradley didn't continue talking. The two chatted for a few minutes and then hung up the phone.
Mason sat up and stared at the tree outside the window for a long time.
He only just began to react to what Bradley had said.
Adrian bought a bar some time ago, but never managed it after that. He only went there occasionally with a few of his friends. Mason had never been there once and didn't even know the specific address. Now it suddenly became his?
The key is that no one in this store really wants to give it to him.
Mason didn't know where Bradley heard this from. He just felt that after living with Adrian for more than 20 years, he still didn't see through him.
Suddenly I felt a chill in my back.
Holden came back in the middle of the night. When he opened the door and entered the house, Mason was still lying on the sofa, fascinated by the TV. He didn't know what was playing inside.
They were both shocked when Holden entered the house.
"You stayed up most of the night?" Holden looked at him in surprise.
"I was so scared," Mason sat up, "I thought there was a thief."
"There's nothing to steal in this room," Holden smiled, "Besides, if thieves really break in, it won't be a problem for you to deal with them one by one or two."
"Why didn't you go home?" Mason asked.
"Come here first to see what's going on with you," Holden said. "I didn't know you had a falling out with your family until Bradley called me yesterday."
"Did you tell him that I'm here with you?" Mason asked quickly.
"No," Holden threw his luggage and coat on the floor, poured a glass of water and sat next to him, "I felt that this matter was not that simple, so I didn't say anything."
"Thanks." Mason breathed a sigh of relief.
"Did you have a falling out with your dad or with Xiaoyi?" Holden looked at him.
"It's all the same." Mason said.
"If you need any help, just ask." Holden did not continue to ask.
"I'm looking for a house these two days," Mason leaned back on the sofa, "I'll stay here with you for a few more days."
"Where do you want to buy it?" Holden asked.
Mason glanced at him and said, "Rent."
"Oh," Holden smiled, "Want to ask for you?"
Mason hesitated for a few seconds and shook his head: "No, I can do it myself, I don't have anything to do."
"Okay, I'll take a shower," Holden said, "I'll go home in a while."
"No," Mason suddenly felt a little embarrassed, "You sleep on yours in the middle of the night. I've been sleeping on the sofa these days."
Holden stood up and looked at him: "You..."
Ah what?
Holden didn't say anything more, and Mason didn't ask anymore.
I feel that these friends, whether they are familiar with him or not, probably think that he is quite useless. Even for something as simple as renting a house, Holden will habitually ask if he wants to help.
Mason is a person who can't even rent a house.
"Did you buy all the things in the bathroom?" Holden asked as he came out shirtless after taking a shower and drying his hair.
"Ah, yes." Mason glanced at him and quickly returned his gaze to the TV.
He didn't know Holden very well and didn't play together much. He first met Holden because Holden came to him through Bradley and asked him to help record a sand painting video.
"Why don't I rent this one to you?" Holden said.
"I can't afford to rent it," Mason said, "it's too high-end."
Holden laughed for a long time: "I am a little uncomfortable hearing you say this."
"Don't worry about it," Mason said, "I'm not used to living here with you."
"Okay." Holden nodded and went into the bedroom.
Mason continued to stare at the TV. He didn't want to stay with Holden for too long. Apart from the fact that they were not very familiar with each other, he also didn't want to involve Holden in his family's troubles.
He looked at the agent's phone number saved in his phone and decided to go and see the house tomorrow.
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