As night falls, the lights come on.
The neon lights of the city illuminate the dark night sky.
Zhuang Ziang walked to the gate of the community with a strawberry cake in his hand, looking up at the lights of thousands of houses, but he could not feel a trace of warmth in his heart.
Because no light is lit for himself.
The key was inserted into the lock and turned, opening the door, and a chill came towards him.
A ten-year-old boy, holding a half-broken bamboo flute in his hand, was dancing barefoot in the living room, making a biubiubiu sound.
Zhuang Ziang's eyes widened: "Zhuang Yuhang, you entered my room and rummaged around again!"
This little boy is his half-brother.
He has been spoiled since childhood and has a bad personality.
No matter how clean Zhuang Ziang cleans his house, he can make a mess in ten minutes.
The bamboo flute in Zhuang Yuhang's hand was the prize Zhuang Ziang won in a music competition when he was a child, and he treasured it in the depths of a drawer.
But now it was roughly twisted into two pieces, dancing in the air.
A tingling sensation rose from the bottom of my heart.
"Zi'ang is back? You haven't played the flute for a long time. It shouldn't be a problem to let your brother play for a while, right?" Qin Shulan came out of the kitchen with a fake smile on her face.
"Aunt Qin, why do you always indulge him to enter my room casually? This is an invasion of my privacy!" Zhuang Zi'ang asked harshly.
"You are a little kid, what privacy can you have?" Qin Shulan was very dissatisfied with Zhuang Zi'ang's attitude.
Didn't you just go into your room and take out a broken flute, and you yelled at your stepmother?
Really uneducated.
Zhuang Zi'ang took a few steps forward, snatched the half bamboo flute from Zhuang Yuhang's hand, and then found the other half in the gap of the sofa.
Twisted them together to test the sound, fortunately it didn't break.
"Zhuang Yuhang, I warn you, if you come into my room again, I will be rude to you."
"Zhuang Ziang, stop scaring me, what shameful things are there in your room, why don't you let me in?" Zhuang Yuhang ignored Zhuang Ziang's warning.
From childhood to adulthood, he always called his brother by his name.
In the past, when the two brothers quarreled, Zhuang Ziang would choose to be tolerant.
But this time, he couldn't bear it anymore and grabbed Zhuang Yuhang's collar: "Do you believe I will beat you?"
Zhuang Yuhang immediately shouted: "Mom, Zhuang Ziang is crazy."
Qin Shulan came out of the kitchen again, saw this scene, and shouted to the bedroom: "Zhuang Wenzhao, your son beat my son, do you care?"
"What are you yelling about in the middle of the night? Can you be quiet?" Zhuang Wenzhao suddenly opened the bedroom door and rushed out.
He lost money playing cards today and was in a bad mood.
Seeing this scene, he was even more angry.
"Zhuang Ziang, what's wrong with you? Let go of my hand and apologize to your brother."
"Dad, he was the first to enter my bedroom and rummage around. Why should I apologize?" Zhuang Ziang looked sad.
"As a brother, shouldn't you give in to your brother?" Zhuang Wenzhao shouted.
"When did he ever call me brother?" Zhuang Ziang asked back.
Zhuang Wenzhao was speechless and stood there in a daze.
Zhuang Yuhang's disrespect for Zhuang Ziang is inseparable from his parents' indulgence.
Perhaps deep in their hearts, this should only be a family of three.
Zhuang Ziang is clearly redundant.
"Zhuang Wenzhao, look at your good son. Yuhang's clothes are very expensive. What if he tears them?" Qin Shulan fanned the flames.
"Zhuang Ziang, I order you to apologize to your brother immediately." Zhuang Wenzhao raised his voice again.
"What if I don't?" Zhuang Ziang refused to give in.
From childhood to adulthood, he has always been a good boy, forbearing and yielding in everything.
But emotions have been suppressed for too long, and there will always be a day when they explode.
There is a saying that there is a Buddha in the heart of an honest person, and the devil is suppressed under the Buddha. If you push down the Buddha, I will be possessed by the devil.
"Zhuang Ziang, do you know what you are doing?" Zhuang Wenzhao was really angry.
"Of course I know, I have been submissive for more than ten years, and I don't know what I am doing!" Zhuang Ziang's eyes were red.
He exerted force on his hands and clenched Zhuang Yuhang's collar again.
The anger in his chest erupted like a volcano.
"Dad, I am obviously your biological son, why am I not even one ten-thousandth as good as him in your eyes?"
"I ranked first in the grade every semester, but you never cared."
"He is obviously as stupid as a pig, and you will be happy for a long time if he barely passes the exam."
...
The past scenes emerged in his mind.
Zhuang Ziang lived cautiously in this family, took the initiative to take care of many housework, and was often looked down upon.
Zhuang Yuhang only asked for clothes and food, but he was loved in every way.
Why?
When he was twelve years old, Zhuang Ziang woke up and found that the three of them had left him and went on a trip to see the sea.
He felt abandoned by the whole world.
"He's crazy, he's crazy, let him let go of my son." Qin Shulan shouted at the top of her lungs.
She was afraid that Zhuang Ziang would hurt Zhuang Yuhang in a moment of impulse.
"Zhuang Ziang, let go."
"I won't let go unless you ask him to apologize to me!"
With a snap, Zhuang Wenzhao slapped Zhuang Ziang in the face.
Zhuang Ziang staggered and finally let go.
Zhuang Yuhang took the opportunity to escape and hid behind Qin Shulan, still instigating: "Dad, hit him again, beat him to death."
Tick-tick-tick.
Drops of warm blood flowed from Zhuang Ziang's nose and fell on the white floor.
The bright red blood was the same color as the tassel at the end of the bamboo flute.
Zhuang Ziang's eyes fell on the box of strawberry cake, feeling extremely ironic.
What a fool, actually wanting to ease relations with them.
"What is that?" Zhuang Wenzhao followed Zhuang Ziang's gaze.
"The cake was originally bought for him." Zhuang Ziang pointed at Zhuang Yuhang and laughed at himself.
"Who wants to eat your crazy broken cake?"
Zhuang Yuhang took two steps forward and kicked hard, crushing the cake and the box together.
What was also broken was Zhuang Ziang's desperate heart.
Just like his own dignity, being ruthlessly trampled on.
"Dad, I don't want to go back to this house. I will apply for a dormitory at school tomorrow. If you are in a good mood, you can come to pick me up in three months. It doesn't matter if you don't come."
Zhuang Ziang said this, turned around resolutely, and walked out of the house.
Three months later, he should not be in this world.
It doesn't matter if this body is burned to ashes and buried somewhere, or blown away by the wind.
Life is so bitter, there should be no next life, right?
Zhuang Ziang held the bamboo flute in his hand and walked aimlessly on the street under the night.
He used a lot of tissues, but still couldn't stop the nosebleed.
He suddenly remembered that he also had a nosebleed when he was with Su Yudie at noon.
The girl held the back of his head with her hand, her fingertips were warm, and she easily helped him stop the bleeding.
When he thought of Su Yudie's smiling face, his lonely and indifferent heart seemed to have a little warmth.