dogma

Chapter 18 A Strange Call

Beijing in March is still very cold.A few years ago, New Hope Academy did not have such complete facilities as it does now. The access control downstairs of the dormitory is entirely in charge of the dormitory teacher. Shen Chunlan’s dormitory is on the second floor, 203. They can often hear the dormitory teacher talking to the students downstairs. sound.

It was such a gloomy spring day, too.Cao Hui and everyone in the dormitory have gone to the movies, and the campus is very empty on weekends.Shen Chunlan just had a cold and didn't want to go out to blow the cold wind, so she huddled in the dormitory and slept alone.

They lived in the old dormitory building, six people in a dormitory, three bunk beds lined up against the wall, and on the other wall were six desks, plus cabinets and miscellaneous things.There are no toilets and bathrooms in the dormitory, and the public ones are at the ends of the corridor.

The dormitory building is also very quiet. Occasionally, someone can be heard passing by the door, with hurried footsteps, and it seems that they can't help the chill.

Shen Chunlan lived in the lower bunk. He sat under the quilt and rolled himself into a ball.

The heating stopped in two days, but he always felt that the temperature in the dormitory was getting lower every day, as if the heating also knew that he was about to finish work, and gradually began to slack off.

He turned on a small desk lamp and read comics for a while.This manga has been drawn for a long time, and the author has suspended publications too many times. He saw college from primary school, and the protagonist is still a stunned kid in shorts. He has not grown up in appearance, but he has accumulated many friends.

Shen Chunlan turned out to take a look when she was free.He wanted to take risks but couldn't, so he especially liked reading such stories.

The protagonist and his companions are about to raid the enemy's territory. Although Shen Chunlan has watched it many times, he is still nervous: because he knows what will happen next, he is more nervous.

That's when the phone rang.

There are telephone lines in the old dormitory buildings of New Hope College, and each dormitory is equipped with a small hanging phone. In an emergency, you can contact the dormitory teacher with just one button.

But no one has used this phone, because to use the phone, you must buy a campus phone card. When dialing, you must first enter a 16-digit card number, and then enter a 12-digit password before continuing to dial.This is too troublesome, everyone has a mobile phone, big and small, in short, it is better than this phone.

Shen Chunlan lived in the dormitory for a year and a half, and this was the first time he heard it ringing.

He raised his head, his unkempt head emerged from the ball-like quilt, staring blankly at the black phone on the wall.

The bell was still ringing, vibrating in the empty dormitory as if it was persistent.

Shen Chunlan caught a breath of unexpected events from the sudden ringtone.He threw away the manga in his hand, got out of bed under the quilt, and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

There was a slight hissing sound on the phone, and he didn't know if it was the sound of the circuit or the equipment of the other party or himself.After the greeting, there was silence for a few seconds, followed by a man's voice: "Hello, I'm looking for..., I'm his friend, is he there?"

Shen Chunlan pressed the microphone tightly to her ear: "Who?"

The man repeated the man's name again.

Shen Chunlan: "You made a mistake, we don't have this person here."

The man let out a soft "ah".Shen Chunlan heard him muttering in a low voice: "Did I dial the wrong dial..." There was the sound of slowly turning the pages over there.

Shen Chunlan didn't hang up the phone, he was still trying his best to listen to the voice over there.It was too quiet around, the spring was too boring, the cat hadn't planned to go out yet, and all the trees were still quietly holding their strength. He needed something else to pass the time.

The man's voice was a little hoarse, but because it was deep, it wasn't harsh.For no reason, Shen Chunlan felt that he should have a good temper and be very gentle.

"Are you here...?" The man said a series of numbers, which should be phone numbers.

Shen Chunlan had never used this phone at all. He looked left and right, but he didn't see anything on the phone that marked its number.

"I don't know." Shen Chunlan replied honestly, "This is the landline in our dormitory. I haven't used it before, so I don't know."

Man: "Dormitory? Are you a student?"

Shen Chunlan: "That's right. You made a mistake, sorry."

"Which school are you from?" the man suddenly asked.

Shen Chunlan frowned: "Why are you asking this?"

Man: "Maybe we are alumni."

Shen Chunlan's vigilance disappeared immediately: "Alumni? You used to be from New Hope too? Are you from your department?"

"New Hope?" The man repeated slowly, "New Hope Advanced Management Academy?"

Shen Chunlan agreed.The man seemed to laugh, with complicated meanings. "I'm from the Talent Planning Bureau." He whispered, "I'm older than you, how are you?"

Shen Chunlan pulled the stool beside her and sat down, still wrapped in the quilt: "What did you learn?"

"International Relations," said the man, "already graduated."

Shen Chunlan asked again: "International relations? What do you study specifically?"

The man didn't answer, but asked him instead: "What about you? What do you study? Is the curriculum of New Hope the same as that of the Talent Planning Bureau?"

Shen Chunlan: "It's different. Our school has six departments, administration, life sciences, agriculture and forestry, civil engineering, education, and physics. Do you need more talent planning bureaus? Your school even called me after I took the college entrance examination, and wanted to ask I went to the Talent Planning Bureau to study. They said that the Talent Planning Bureau also has education majors, or special human education, which is very targeted.”

Man: "Then why don't you go?"

Shen Chunlan: "New Hope has a high employment rate."

The man smiled.The changed laughter entered Shen Chunlan's ears through the old receiver, and Shen Chunlan became interested in the senior from the school next door: "You haven't told me anything about international relations. The Talent Planning Bureau heard that apart from sentries and guides , and other special human students?"

Man: "Yes, underground people, semi-zombified humans, vampires who came to study abroad, and tea grandmas and snowmen unique to our country."

Shen Chunlan: "No, the snowman is not unique to us. There are also Nepal and India. You are too unprofessional to learn."

The man smiled again, and approved his words: "Yes, my grades are not good, so I lost my job."

The two chatted back and forth for an entire hour.Shen Chunlan held the microphone so hot that until the other party said that he had something to hang up, he still felt that there was more to say.

"Leave a contact information, I can't see your number here." Shen Chunlan said happily, "How about we add a friend? Can you tell me about the special human education major in the Talent Planning Bureau? I haven't Think about whether you want to take a postgraduate entrance examination or go directly to employment in the future.”

The man was stunned for a moment, and then lowered his voice after a while: "Just use the landline to contact me. My job is a bit special, and it's not convenient to leave contact information for strangers. Can I find you just by calling this number?"

Shen Chunlan had no choice but to answer: "Yes, you can just find Xiao Shen. What's your name?"

The man smiled and said, "I'll tell you next time."

He hung up the phone.

Shen Chunlan was so excited by this mysterious phone call. For a while, he felt that the person on the other side must be someone from the Intelligence Management Section of the Crisis Office, maybe he was telling his own story, and then thought that the man might be an absconded criminal, so he didn't dare to keep himself Information.

He rolled back to bed, stopped reading the comics, and happily texted Cao Hui about what happened just now.

But when he was talking, he was suddenly taken aback.

The man clearly stated that he was unemployed before, but just now he said that "the job is a bit special"?

Shen Chunlan recounted it to Wen Jing as simply as possible while recalling.

In fact, Cao Hui didn't know much about it in detail. At this time, even the guitar was put aside, and Wen Jing and Wen Jing were eating grapes while listening. Snow Leopard's tail still hooked Wen Jing's ankle and yawned.

"He lied to you?" Wen Jing patted her knee, "Is this the phone scam that often appears in "Today's Statement"? Do you really believe it?"

Shen Chunlan was angry: "I was only 20 years old at that time, and I was very innocent!"

Cao Hui: "Come on, you, you are simple, you write my student number and name with the dormitory teacher every night when you come back, you are simple... If you are simple, why don't you call me when you climb over the wall and go online at the Internet cafe?"

Shen Chunlan: "Didn't you care about the flirtatious looks of your followers back then? Wen Jing, he wasn't fat at the time, and besides me, he was the second most handsome in the class, and he had peach blossoms all over the school."

Wen Jing was very calm, and was not distracted by the two's gags at all: "No, Shen Chunlan, what then? It's impossible for you to be disciplined after answering a phone call? What happened afterwards?"

Shen Chunlan: "..."

Cao Hui: "I'm sorry I can't help you."

Shen Chunlan held his forehead for a moment, and his ears gradually turned red.Wen Jing caught his embarrassment and was very happy: "Did you really play on the phone?"

"No." Shen Chunlan still covered her face, only showing her two red ears, "Ah... Actually...he told me about him and his lover."

Wen Jing: "What's the matter?"

Shen Chunlan: "...everything, everything, everything, any details."

Wen Jing was stunned for a moment, then grabbed Cao Hui's hand.Cao Hui saw sparks of excitement in his girlfriend's eyes, stronger than when he confessed his love to her. "All the details?!" Wen Jing was speechless, "Including...including...that..."

Shen Chunlan: "Including."

He finally put down his hand, his face was red, he bit his lower lip, and there was a little confusion on his face.

In fact, looking back now, he himself didn't understand why he was so curious about the stranger on the other end of the phone, and even began to look forward to his weekly phone calls.

Every Saturday afternoon, Cao Hui and others either went to play basketball or went out to play games and date. Most of the time, Shen Chunlan stayed in the dormitory alone.The man always called at around three o'clock in the afternoon, and the ringtone was like a haunting sound that attracted Shen Chunlan to approach.

The man has always refused to say his name, repeatedly emphasizing that his job is special.Shen Chunlan pointed out that he was lying, and the man laughed a few times and asked back: "Which sentence do you think is true?"

Of course he would not answer Shen Chunlan's question.Shen Chunlan gradually didn't care anymore.He would tell men about things in school, about the daily life in the dormitory and classmates.The man told him how he usually works.

"He said he was a hunter." Shen Chunlan recalled, "and the kind of hunter who explores minerals."

Wen Jing: "..."

Shen Chunlan: "I know! I know it sounds like a liar... But what he said is really interesting, his work, where he has been, mountains and rivers, and all kinds of minorities. People in the ethnic group, invite him to drink, invite him to eat game, in short, a lot. You will believe it, he is too good at telling stories."

The story attracted Shen Chunlan.Later, the man started talking to him about his lover.

"I sometimes go into the mountains with my lover," said the man. "Did I tell you about him?"

The young Shen Chunlan sat next to the landline and immediately replied: "No, he is also a mineral hunter?"

"No." The man smiled, "He is our team doctor and a biologist, much handsomer than me."

He paused, then asked again: "Do you know how we met?"

Shen Chunlan: "How would I know?"

The man said "hmm": "Have you ever been to a bar? That kind of bar, no matter if it is an ordinary human or a special human, will look for the bar of the same kind of people. I met him there."

He began to talk about his lover, about his handsome appearance and tall and acquainted figure, about his lips, his earlobes, the vertebrae at the back of his neck, the muscles of his abdomen, and the skin, sweat, breathing, smell, moaning, Talk about his moves, talk about your excitement and feelings.

The man described the details seriously and calmly, with a low tone and a slow speaking speed.The sound of his breathing was mixed in this process, like hot wind.

Shen Chunlan blushed, but he couldn't convince himself to put down the receiver.

The author has something to say:

Today, I invite Hazel, a guinea pig, to perform a mime for everyone, "Life of Calm".

(Duration 1 hour and 30 minutes, viewers are advised to bring their own bedding)